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Heavy snow and blinking colorful lights, the surefire sign of a holiday in several places, although one of the two weren't bad.

Cassie sat at the window and looked out the window through her glasses. She let out a light sigh, though her breath was hot enough to fog up a portion of the glass. She tugged her arm in her sweater and gave the window a quick brush so she could keep looking outside and see blinking lights, but no snow. She heard enough horror stories about snow, how driving in it was a nightmare, but the white stuff was nothing short of an absolute beauty to look at.

'Christmas is the time for miracles! Snow would be nice.' Cassie thought to herself, then after a short pause she added. 'A gentle amount of snow. Nothing crazy.' Not that she knew of a way for wishes to come true, but the holiday season was the time for such things. Well, that or maybe some companionship. Family was proving harder and harder to connect with, and traveling was such a nightmare. "I guess I'd best head to sleep." Not that she had any plans on Christmas morning, but it was getting incredibly late. She could only see the blinking lights thanks to the illumination of said lights plus the moon overhead illuminating the earth

Cassie was already wearing her pajamas, just long sleeve pajamas and long pants. In fact, she was already in her bedroom on her bed! She was sitting up on her bed just looking at the sky, hoping for a miracle of some sort to happen, whether that be a better Christmas, or something else entirely. This year hadn't been the best year for her, and likely several at that. Sometimes she wished... she didn't even know what she wanted to wish for, but something better than what she was living as would be perfect.

The young woman went to bed in a comfortable warm blanket in nice warm clothes. While there was a lack of snow, that didn't make the night any less chilly. Being wrapped up in a nice warm blanket with warm clothing was a dream for her. She set her glasses aside, laid down, and slowly fell asleep.

Cassie's sleep felt short lived, though as she slowly opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded by darkness and a heat that was... surprisingly bearable, but much hotter than when she fell asleep in. 'Huh?' She patted herself and quickly realized there was no blanket surrounding her, but she was still in her warm pajamas. Had she been kidnapped? Did someone stuff her somewhere? She reached out and found she had a good amount of room to wiggle in, but it was impossible to stand up. The space was bigger than that of a back of a car, which she was very thankful for, but it didn't help tell her where she was. She felt the inside of the thing holding her in place. 'It's hard and kind of cold? It's not metal... What IS this material? I know I've felt it before.'

Cassie curled her hands into a fist and slammed her fist against the material hard enough to crack that material open as if punching through a wall! She pulled her fist through the hole she made and a bright light shined through, too bright to see what was on the other side. "Uhn... huh?" She thrust her hand again, making another hole next to the first one, and then she felt the edges of the holes she made. The edges weren't sharp at all, so she broke apart the material until she was able to burst her head through the opening itself, blinded by that same bright light, though as she broke through, she heard a voice call out.

"Oh, you're finally awake!" A female voice spoke up, a deep voice with a happy tone, one that sounded very close to Cassie.

Cassie rubbed her eyes as she attempted to adjust herself to the bright light. She hadn't been in the darkness that long, had she? She wished she knew, but regardless of how long she was in there, she slowly opened her eyes, she couldn't believe what she saw. She saw a pinkish dragon looking down at her with a smile, a feral pink dragon that could have easily swallowed her whole if the dragon so desired, but the dragon was looking at Cassie with a soft caring smile that immediately comforted her. At least before she felt a sudden chill in the air and noticed snow behind the massive dragon. "W-what's going on? Where am I? Who are you?"

"My name is Vixen, and I'm your mother." The dragon kept her smile. She leaned her large head down and stroked Cassie's side with it. "You must be cold. Newborns are always so cold coming out of their shell into this harsh winterland. Do not worry, you will grow into it. Once your scales develop, you will barely notice the chill at all!"

As Cassie's eyes adjusted to the brightness, she realized it was not only daytime, but that snow surrounded them from all sides, as if a white desert. She was sitting in a nest, though the nest was mostly made of rocks and snow, a crude attempt at a nest to keep eggs warmer, but better than nothing. She wrapped her arms around herself and noticed she was still wearing her clothing, and she was still a human. "But... I'm not a dragon." She spoke with sadness in her voice. Was this a dream? How was she so freezing if it was only all in her head?

"You will be soon." The dragon smiled down at Cassie. She spread her massive wings and lowered them down. She set her wings in the snow near Cassie, as if to serve as walls to protect her. "Just look at your hands. I can see your claws forming already."

Cassie confusedly looked at her hands as the dragon said, and noticed her once pink nails took on a white hue and were becoming awfully sharp. How hadn't she noticed that before? Then again, she was in pitch black earlier. It wasn't as if she'd be able to see them in darkness. "Huh... but... how?"

"Well, when a mommy dragon and a daddy dragon love each other very much, they spend a lot of personal time together. Then, mommy gets a big belly, an egg is made, and then you hatch out of the egg and become a dragon."

Cassie wasn't ignorant. She knew how babies were made! The dragon spoke down to her as if she were her child. Well, she did come out of an egg and, while she wasn't a dragon, this dragon did give off a comforting vibe. She was oblivious to a sleek tail that pushed up her shirt, a tail that was striped red and white, though no longer than a meter in length as it swayed behind her. Or maybe she always had it? It was hard to remember. "I become a dragon?" She had to ask about that last step.

"Yes! It will take some time, but I can see your tail forming. You'll get scales, wings, teeth, and you'll be a perfect baby dragon for me to take care of!" The dragon mother nuzzled Cassie. "Now, is my newborn hungry?" She turned around and bent downwards. "Crawl on my back and I shall take you to get some food!"

'My tail? I've... always had a tail, haven't I?' Cassie was confused as she looked back at her tail. Then, she looked at the various articles of clothing she was wearing. Why was she wearing these? Moreover, what was this thing in front of her face? She grabbed the strange small glasses on her face and tossed them down. Those things made her vision so blurry! She tried to remember what she was doing before she was in the egg, only to realize she couldn't recall! She was a... what was she? She wasn't a dragon, she looked nothing like her mother. She glanced at her mom, watching her bend down her back for Cassie to crawl atop her. She grabbed on with what was... they weren't claws, but they did have white tips on them. "What... what do we hunt? How do we live?" Cassie wondered.

"You'll learn in due time what we hunt." The dragon spread her wings and took to the chilly sky. It flew close to the ground at high speeds, and it constantly looked back to make sure Cassie was always with her every step of the way. "But for now, we shall visit the elves and get some milk and cookies. When you get older, we can hunt fish, penguins, and perhaps even bears. But your teeth are not sharp enough for that yet."

'My teeth?' Cassie ran her tongue along the inside of her mouth and felt small sharp jagged teeth. She briefly wondered if she had teeth other than this. She recalled a time when teeth were flat, but that couldn't be true. She was just born today! Maybe what she experienced was a bizarre dream, but it didn't explain the clothing when she came out of her egg. Did newborns have clothing when they came out of shells?

The chill from the air distracted her. She held on to the only creature that she knew of, the first one she met, her mother. Questions continued to run through her mind about life, about what to do. Being with her mother felt right, but also oh so wrong. Did the two of them look alike? She had a tail like her mother's, but her hands didn't look right... "Um... can I look at your hands when we land?" She asked, hesitant to call this dragon mom, though she wondered why not? She came out of an egg after all.

"Of course, we're going to be landing shortly." The mother dragon smiled at Cassie without showing her fangs. With one more flap of her wings, she spread them out far and wide as she descended down into the snow, landing with a soft thud with little force for Cassie to hang on. "You're still converting, and still so tiny, so your claws may not have developed fully yet." After she landed, she coiled up her wings and raised one claw up. "Hop off and take a look."

Cassie did just as she was told and nearly fell in the snow. She had to lean on her mother in order to prevent herself from falling, but she couldn't stop her feet from vanishing in the snow. She glanced at her mother's claws and noticed her back claws spread out in such a manner that they managed to stay above the snow somehow? Was there a hint of webbing in those claws? She rubbed her head confusingly. She really looked nothing like her mother. Her head kept telling her that she had another life before this, that she made a wish before an important day, a day that felt like ages ago now. What was today? What were days to begin with? How did she know these things if she was just born? Why couldn't she stop asking questions? She picked up her feet, but as she did, her shoes came off as if stuck in mud. She ignored the shoes and socks that she left behind as her mother didn't have them, so surely she didn't need them. 'How did I get them anyways? Maybe I'm shedding?' She had too many questions, but then again... newborns often had several to begin with. Maybe her mother was right.

Cassie went to the front of her mother and raised her hand to place up against her mom's raised claw. As she pressed her hand up to her mother's, she stared at the two, comparing them side by side. Her mother had pristine white claws, as white as the snow, and incredibly sharp at that. She imagined these claws could cut through a polar bear without much of a problem. Her claws looked the same, but not quite as sharp. Her hands had the hint of red and white scales growing above the skin which helped nullify the cold. Truth be told she was told, though it felt as if she were in a refrigerator than the freezer feeling she felt moments ago. "Huh..." Her hands really did look a lot like her mother's claws, but far more childish in nature. What was she before? Whatever she was in the egg had a sweater on too, and winter dragons didn't wear sweaters! She was actually starting to feel hot in the rest of her clothing. "You're very... um... big."

"I would hope I'm big compared to you." Cassie's mother chuckled. "I have many things to show you about the world, and about yourself, but while we have so much time, we also have so little. Would you mind removing your shell and showing me how much your wings have formed?"

'My wings?' Cassie must have wings underneath that sweater of hers. She was a dragon after all and not a... what was she originally? It felt like a bad dream, whatever she was. Maybe it all was one long bad dream. She had just been born! Though she had memories of that dream so vividly. She slowly looked around and saw snow banks for miles. She had dreamt of cities, houses, and other humans. Dragons were a myth in her dream, but that was surely a dream as a dragon stood right before her, her mother no less!

With a deep breath, Cassie pulled off her sweater and felt a rush of cold, an immediate relief on her back. She felt extra muscles that she was able to bend up and down, just like small wings, but unable to turn her head properly to see them. Light scales covered her front. 'I'm a newborn, but I feel so many years old already.'

"I can tell you are filled with confusion." Cassie's mother said with a smile. "You must have had dreams of other places, other things, right? I know child dragons have so many bizarre thoughts that go away over time. Forget about that dream and let us find you a meal. As a dragon I cannot exactly provide breast milk, but there are penguins and fish near here that you should have little difficulty with."

"A dream doesn't begin to describe it." Cassie looked down at her hands and the hands of her mother again. She saw the red and white scales continuing to develop, seemingly by the second the scales grew over the flesh underneath and gave her a much warmer feeling. Her tail moved back and forth in the snow behind her while her eyes glazed over the front of her scaled body. "Nor do so many other things..." Her stomach rumbled hungrily. While she was perplexed, it had been a lifetime since she last ate! Fish sounded surprisingly good. Why, she'd eat them bone and everything given the chance!

"I can understand how strange dreams can be. Why, I bet you think your name is something else when I haven't even given you a name! Your name is Peppermint. Just like the scales on your body match the colors of the cane, so will you look and be as sweet as one." The dragon kissed Cassie's cheek, the dragon was so large that she gave a quick peck, covering Cassie's entire cheek with only a portion of her lips. "Now, let's go down this hill here." She turned her head. "And we'll get some fish. Your scales looked developed enough to handle freezing cold water." She turned and slid on her belly down the snowy hill as if she were a sled. Her tail pointed straight behind her and her wings folded inward as she slid down. Once at the bottom, she immediately pulled her claws out in front of her and came to a quick stop inches from the edge of ice and water. She turned to Cassie, or Peppermint as she called Cassie, and smiled. "Your turn honey!"

Peppermint? Was that her name? The female mother dragon never even gave Peppermint time to look over herself or answer several of her questions about that dream! Peppermint raised her claw and saw the four white digits attached to the claw of white and red scales, swirling up to her red and white shoulders. Didn't she have something besides scales? Whatever it was, she couldn't remember it. She was a snow dragon and that was all she knew. Anything else in life, her mother would have to teach her. What did she look like? She looked at her mother and then at herself. She saw the sharp snout in front of her, flexed her fully grown wings, and lashed her tail. She must have been a much smaller version of her mother, just of a different scale color.

Peppermint saw how her mother went down the hill and tried to slide down in the same fashion. She put her hands and feet to her side and jumped onto the snow with her belly aimed down to the slope with her head forward, tail back, and wings folded. She hit the snow and... nothing happened. She didn't manage to slide down the snow at all like her mother. She swore her face turned red from humiliation as she opted to walk down instead, taking the path her mother left. "I... I still don't get it." She said quietly. "But... I trust you." How could she not? This dragon was her mother. What was her mother's name? What did it matter? She was going to call her... mom.

Peppermint's mother smiled down at her as the small dragon approached. Her mother wrapped a claw around her and held Peppermint close. "I understand you are concerned, but let us take this one day at a time. Worry not for your past, but about your future young Peppermint. Who you dreamt you were matters not, only what matters now. And now, I'm hungry, as are you. I will teach you to fish, so let's dive in!" The massive dragon dug her beak through the ice and dove underneath the water with a massive splash, diving deep down and vanishing underneath the ice.

Peppermint couldn't believe it, but her mother was right. Her dream was already fading. Her dream as a... whatever it was. With a small smile, she scampered to the massive hole her mother created and dove in after to start learning anew, how to fish, and how to live as a young baby dragon.