The first snow of the year had made its slow descent towards the ground. A white filly unicorn with a shock blue mane of different tones was seen excitedly rushing outside of a home, squeaking like a small mouse. Her high pitched squeaks were heartwarming, just as much as how she jumped to try and catch the falling snowflakes between her hooves.

Canterlot, situated upon the top of a valley was usually the first to receive snow and most of that first snow was light and the flakes it brought had very beautifully intricate designs. Out on the streets, accompanied by their parents, little fillies and colts were seen playing around as the snow blanketed the ground slowly. Well, most of them that is.

Looking through the window, you could see a white filly unicorn, staring outside into the world which was being blanketed with the cold white flakes of snow. She sighed deeply as she closed the drapes. Even if she closed the drapes, she still sat there, in front of the window frame. She turned her head over and saw her parents preparing breakfast. Trotting carefully, she approached them.

“Mother, father.” She spoke to them quietly.

“Yes deary, what is it?” her father spoke back.

“May I please go outside to play with the other fillies?”

“Oh no no no Rarity, it’s too cold outside and with our complexion we could easily get frosthoof out there” her mother replied.

She just looked at the floor, softly pawing it as tears started to well up in her eyes. “Yes mother” was all that she could muster out through her soft sobs. Her parents looked at each other, concern and guilt on their faces. Rarity went to the window frame again and opened up the drapes a bit, looking out into the now snow covered ground. Fillies and colts of all ages were seen running around, playing with the cold snow. Their laughter couldn’t be heard through the glass but Rarity could hear it in her heart. The smiles on the others’ faces were enough to make her sob a bit louder.

This winter was supposed to be Rarity’s family’s last winter in Canterlot as her parents were retiring from their work and wanted a different setting to live in, far from the class and royalty which revolved around Canterlot. They were to move to Ponyville by the end of the winter just in time for a warmer scenario. But for the past years it’s always been like this for Rarity. Her parents feared that if ever she were to go out, she could have easily caught some sickness due to the temperature and they couldn’t bear let their daughter get sick. Even they would rarely get out of the house, only going out to get some supplies for their pantry and for their jobs.

Rarity thought of ways to live it up inside the house even if she couldn’t go outside to play with the other fillies during winter. But when spring came the stories of the foals would just make her jealous. Because of this she was shunned out of her peers. Her parents fearing that she would grow depressed around other foals decided to home school her until they would settle in Ponyville. She found something to do during the winter time, making different designs for clothes. She even tried making clothes for her to be able to go outside of the house during the snowy months but her parents just wouldn’t let her out of the house. Although they did appreciate her talent for making clothing, this appreciation wasn’t enough to convince her parents to let her out of the house.

As she was busy looking out the window, a passing filly noticed the depressed filly from outside. This white coated filly with a blue mane became interested at the sight and drew closer to the window. She made sure that the other filly wouldn’t see her. She peeked through the window and took a closer look at the sobbing filly who now sat on her haunches. The filly on the other side of the window was sobbing as she slowly pawed at the carpeted flooring. Her tears were falling onto the carpet and were forming drops of wetness around her.

The sight made the filly wonder why she was sobbing; better yet, why she wasn’t outside playing. She shook it out off her system and slowly trotted away. But before she did, she wrote a small message through the frost moistened glass of the window. Half way through, she thought she heard something tapping. She turned around and saw the purple maned filly on the other side of the window, tapping the glass. She quickly galloped towards the window. The purple maned filly was writing something through the forming moist on the glass.

“.etorw uoy tahw daer i ,ereht yeh”

The filly outside tilted her head at this with a confused look on her face. The one inside then quickly erased the writing and began to breathe at the glass to form more moist. She then wrote something different, much clearer than the last one.

“Hey there, I read what you wrote.”

It made much more sense now. The purple maned one then erased the writing and formed more moist with her breath. “Do you really want me as a friend?” The blue maned filly outside nodded with a smile which spread across her face. Rarity felt joy in her heart. Some random filly who she barely remembered wanted to be friends with her. But then there was a thought that killed her joy instantly, she was to leave Canterlot in a matter of weeks. If she were to make a friend now, she would easily lose her when they move to Ponyville. That thought alone made her rethink her decision. But she wanted a friend to remember before she left.

“I’m Rarity, what’s your name?” At this the blue maned filly breathed at the glass and wrote her name.

“It’s a really long name but you can call me Vanilla.” Read the writings on the glass.

But as Vanilla started to write on, a mare came up to her and called on her.

“Vanilla dear, come now, we better head to the shop.” She spoke

Vanilla bowed her head low upon hearing those words. All she could do was look through the window one last time. She saw Rarity there with a frown on her face. Rarity as well knew that Vanilla had to go. Before Vanilla left, she finished her writing. “There’s this shop downtown called Sweets and Scents, meet me there.” Then, she galloped towards her mother.

It took a small amount of time before Rarity took it in. She then felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned around and saw her parents looking at her. Her father started.

“Rarity, we saw what happened and seeing that this could be the last winter you’ll spend here in Canterlot, your mom and I decided to let you go out and have fun with the other fillies and colts. Maybe you could even spend time with that nice Vanilla filly you were communicating with.” At this Rarity realized that her parents saw what went down between the two.

“You and I will go visit this shop and maybe you’ll get to have some fun with her.” Her mother spoke.

“Really, you’re letting me out of the house to play?” her smile nearly reaching her ears. “Why thank you, thank you very much Mom, Dad.”

Although her parents were happy to hear those words, they began to feel a bit of doubt. They knew that if she spent time to get to know this Vanilla, she would be leaving her and maybe that would cause too much of a heartache for their daughter. But, making friends before she left would be a better thing, at least in Rarity’s mind, she had friends that she left in Canterlot and those friends would mean a lot.