Edelweiss

Based on the Swiss bat pony SWYS introduced.

Pic here: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=339efca1381ad54a&id=339EFCA1381AD54A!108#cid=339EFCA1381AD54A&id=339EFCA1381AD54A!3607&v=3

 

>It was summer and my parents where about to ship me off to my relatives in the Alpine Region.

>Which is in the Crystal Mountains.

>Which is waaaaaaay up north.

>"Cordial, sweetie, you'll love it at your aunt and uncle's. It's so beautiful up there this time of year."

"But it's so far away!"  I whined. "And they all talk funny."

>My mother wasn't giving and inch.

>"That's no way to talk about your kin. And besides, there's nothing wrong with their accents. Goodness, if somepony from Canterlot where to hear you they might think you speak funny too."

>"Besides," she continued, "You can learn all about how they grow cherries up north."

"Don't wanna spend the summer learning about cherries..." I muttered.

>After all my name was Cherry Cordial; that would kind of imply that I knew a thing or two about cherries already!

>"Now, now, you'll have a great time. You'll have you're cousin to play with after all."

>That was true; my aunt and uncle had a daughter.

>They had adopted her years ago, but since the two halves of our family rarely got together I had never met her.

>I was the only sister out of four siblings so it would be fun hanging out with another filly my age.

>There was just one other thing bugging me.

>Cousin Edelweiss was apparently... different.

"Um Mom, what are bat ponies like? I mean, I've never even seen one before."

>"Well," she got a thoughtful look on her face. "I've only seen a few over the years. And those ones kept to themselves, mostly. But your cousin grew up her whole life on a farm just like you. You'll probably have a lot in common, don't you think?"

>Well when she put it like that...

"Hm, I guess so."

>"I know so! Now lets finish this packing. Ya'know, I hear there will even be some festivals while your up there."

>Festivals? Now that might make things less horrible.

>Still, I was pretty miffed at Aunt Jubilee for talking my mother into this.

...

>Two different trains and two days later, and I was standing on the platform in Horne.

>It was the village closest to my Aunt and Uncle's place.

>I looked around and a tall stallion with a long curled moustache waved to me.

>"Ah, you must be little Cordial, ja?"

I smiled. "That's me!"

>Okay, so Uncle Cherry Strudel didn't seem so bad.

I>n fact he seemed down right jolly.

>He had on a white shirt and these bright green shorts with matching suspenders.

>Lederhosen, I found out later.

>"Well, we are glad you are here. Now where is...? Ah!"

>He waved to somepony I couldn't see.

>"There you are. Come meet your cousin!"

>As another stallion moved out of the way I finally saw the pony that had trotted up to join my uncle.

>"Cordial, this is your cousin Edelweiss."

>She looked about my age and had on a pink dress with a broad brimmed sun hat.

>Even thought her dress was a little frilly for my taste I thought it suited her light tan coat and blond mane rather well.

>Because of the angle I couldn't see her wings, so to me she looked like a perfectly normal pony.

>I tried smiling at her but she kept looking at the ground and shuffling nervously.

>"Now, now my little blume, she is family! There is no reason to be shy."

>My cousin finally raised her head and I saw that she was also sporting a large pair of sunglasses.

>Was she some kind of mountain fashion diva?

>I had never seen a pony wearing so many clothes and accessories!

>Then again, all the ponies I had seen so far in Horne seemed to have at least one article of clothing on.

>Probably a habit from living in a colder part of the world.

>Oh well, if my cousin was the fashionable type than that was cool with me.

>After a bit more prompting from my uncle she managed to mumble a greeting.

>"I am pleased to meet you." she muttered.

"Yup," I agreed, "glad to be here! Finally."

>"Ah, ja. You have had a very long trip." Uncle Strudel started gathering up my bags. "We should get going."

>As he led us to his cart I finally got to see my cousin's wings.

>I had braced myself for how odd they would certainly look.

>After all, bat wings on a pony did sound really strange.

>But as I glanced down I was in for a shock.

>She was a pegasus!

>Confusion galloped through my brain for a moment.

>This WAS cousin Edelweiss, right?

>And my family had told me my whole life that she was a bat pony.

>I'm pretty sure I didn't dream that bit.

>But as I looked at the filly beside me I saw two light brown fluffy wings folded to either side of her barrel.

>What was going on?

>I looked back up and saw Edelweiss glance away.

>Great. She had seen me staring.

>But seriously, what was going on?

>I didn't want to make the situation more awkward so I didn't say anything about it.

>When we reached the cart, Uncle Strudel told us to hop in as he started hitching himself up.

>As we traveled down the road he peppered me with questions about the family back in Dodge Junction.

>I told him all about my parents and what everypony had been up too.

>While I did, though, I kept glancing at my cousin.

>She was doing everything in her power to keep to herself.

>Now anypony who knew me knew that I loved to talk.

>And if somepony was doing their best to avoid talking to me, well, that kind of bugged me.

>I decided to go on the offensive.

"So, Edelweiss. Is that a flower, or an herb...?"

>She gave a start, clearly not expecting the question.

>"It-it's a flower."

"Oh, neat! You'll have to show me what one looks like sometime."

>"You've never seen one?" she asked, genuinely surprised.

"Nope. Don't have 'em where I'm from. We have cactus though. In fact, we have so dang many of 'em you gotta be careful where you sit!" I snickered.

>She smiled at that.

>Finally! I had begun to worry that I wasn't going to be able to talk to her at all.

>I told her a bit more about home and in return she began to tell me about Horne valley.

>And a beautiful valley it was.

>When I told her I had never seen such green hills in my life she laughed.

>"When the spring comes all the plants put everything they have into growing. Just like us they must work hard to get ready for winter."

>Ugh, that reminded me that this might be my summer vacation, but I was still going to be busy helping out.

"So what do you do on the farm?" I inquired.

>"Ah, well, I help gather fruit from the trees, and I milk the cows. Whatever papa and mama need help with."

>"Not just that!" Uncle Strudel chimed in. "She is quite the baker!  And she has even won some ribbons at the fair for her preserves."

"Oh yeah? That's pretty cool."  I said sincerely.

>Edelweiss ducked her head and blushed.

>We continued like this for the rest of the trip and by the time we got to the main house my cousin had opened up quite a bit.

>Though she was still really quiet, at least she was looking at me when she talked.

>At least I thought she was.

>It was difficult to tell with the sunglasses.

>Something I noticed though: when she spoke I could catch glimpse of the inside of her mouth.

>It looked as though two of her teeth were longer than the rest and pointy.

>Just like a bat.

>By the time the cart rolled to a stop a portly pony with an apron around her neck was already trotting up to meet us.

>"Hello, dear heart!" My uncle called out. "Look who we have with us!"

>The mare, who I assumed was my Aunt Jelly Roll, swept me into an embrace that nearly knocked the wind out of me.

>Good grief, with that kind of strength I was surprised she didn't do all the farm work herself!

>"Oh, we are so glad to have you here!" she enthused. "Let's get your bags. I have almost got lunch ready."

>That's when I noticed the wonderful smells coming from the house.

>All of a sudden I was really hungry!

>When we got inside Aunt Roll told my cousin to show me to my room.

>"Oh, and Edel," my aunt added as we trudged up the stairs, "be sure to take those wings off before we eat."

>Take them off?

>My cousin blushed like I have never seen a pony blush before.

>Did that mean her wings were fake?

>I had never heard of such a thing.

>But it did explain my earlier confusion.

>Again I decided not to say anything.

>If she was wearing fake wings then it was obvious there was a reason for it.

>Edelweiss showed me to a nice little room with a rather comfy bed.

>After we set down my bags (which I noted my cousin had NOT used her wings to carry) she looked at me uncomfortably.

>"You know that I am not a pegasus, ja?"

"Yep. My mama told me about you."

>She sighed.

>"That's good. I..." she trailed off and looked down at the ground.

>She sighed again.

>Then, without another word she took off her hat and sunglasses.

>Her ears where different from any other pony's I had ever seen.

>They had little tufts coming off the tips that reminded me of a bobcat.

>And that wasn't all.

>Her eyes where also like a cat's.

>They were yellow and the pupils were slitted.

>She began to shrug her shoulders and move as though she were taking off a jacket.

>Her wings began to unfold.

>Except it wasn't her feathery wings that were unfolding; it was a pair of spindly limbs underneath them.

>What I had thought were her wings came away from her withers and I could see that they were actually wing shaped forms with feathers that were strapped to the tips of her real wings.

>Bat wings.

>Without looking at me she walked over to the dresser and set her fake appendages down.

>"You see now my real self, eh? Not so pretty." There was a surprising amount of bitterness in her voice.

>I stared at her.

>It's true that her wings were odd, and if I hadn't been expecting them I might have been startled.

>But she WAS family.

>I wasn't going to leave her out to dry.

>I walked over to her in a very deliberate manner.

>I reached out a hoof.

"Let me see one of 'em."

>She turned sharply.

>"What?"

"I said, let me see one of your wings."

>Looking totally confused she reached out one of her strange pinions and only flinched a little when I touched it.

>Seeing that the wing was mostly skin, I had expected it to feel gross; maybe even slimy or slippery.

>Instead it was surprisingly warm and the whole thing, on further inspection, was actually covered with very fine hairs that made it feel softer than I would have thought.

>After a moment I returned my cousins limb to her.

"See, you're just like an Edelweiss flower." I blurted out.

>"Eh?"

Realizing that made no sense, I explained. "I've never seen a bat pony before. So you're like an Edelweiss because I've never seen one of those before either."

>I grinned, hoping I didn't sound totally stupid.

"Just all kinds of stuff that I've never seen before, ya'know?"

>After a moment, and  to my great relief, she returned my smile with one of her own.

>"Ja, I see. That's pretty good! Like me. Like I have never seen the cactus before either." she chuckled.

"Yup. That's how it is."

>She folded both wings to her sides and seemed to visibly relax.

>"I am glad-" she began.

>"Girls, lunch!" my uncles baritone rang out from below.

>That stopped whatever she was going to say and we both headed downstairs.

>As I trotted down to the dining room I realized that any fears about my cousin being weird had pretty much been put to rest.

>She seemed just as nice as any pony I had ever met before.

>If anything, the fact that she was a bat seemed to bug her more that anypony around her!

>In any case, I was just glad that we had gotten off on the right hoof.

>As my thoughts turned to lunch one question did occur to me though.

>Did my cousin drink blood? Or was that just a rumor?

>Oh well, I supposed that I would just have to be patient and find out.

>I got the feeling that I was going to have to do that a lot this summer.

 

-Fin-