"One, please." Hone slid over his bits towards the mare manning the booth and waited for her to return with a ticket and a full set of skates. The chilled air around him allowed the stallion to see his breath, and he glanced out at the massive expanse of ice on which a few ponies were skating here and there. A glance down at the photo in his paw had him studying the mare it pictured; she'd be easy enough to spot out on the ice once he memorized her face. It was really awkward to be this shy meeting her here, after the many months of exchanging letters through a pen pal service. What had started as simple, short notes had become a blooming friendship.

It was because of that friendship that the normally workaholic pony was out at a skating rink, willing to give it a try. Scarlet had mentioned many times in her letters of her love of skating, while Hone had flat out mentioned he'd never tried. Somehow or another it came about that they'd been meeting here for their first face to face, and frankly Hone was nervous. It didn't help that he thought himself completely clumsy when it came to physical tasks, or that he hadn't slept at all with anticipation.

Not...that he'd tell her that. Oh Dreamer, did he have bags under his eyes? Would his face and his tail scare her away? He'd only sent one photo but he'd played it off like he was wearing a costume. Maybe that had been a mistake. Fardles.

His thoughts were interrupted by the return of the clerk. "Thank you." Taking the ticket, and the skates, the earth pony moved and sat himself down to get situated. Hopefully this ended painlessly and he didn't leave minus a best friend. A few snaps here and there had the skates on all four of his paws, and he waddled towards the ice with the intent to look for Scarlet.

Hone made it about three feet before he face planted on the horribly designed 1970s style carpet.

Ice_Dragon_Demon