From the moment she was born, Sophie loved to skate. She got her favorite pair of aqua ice skates for her 7th birthday and would skate at a pond behind her house.

One day on a cold December night, she practiced her ice skating routine on her pond, when she spotted an orange tabby cat watching her. She skated over to the cat but it got scared and ran behind a bush. Sophie got closer and reached her hand out. The cat came closer to her and rubbed his head along Sophie's hand. 

Sophie said to the cat “I’m going to name you sunny, cause you look like the sun.” The cat meowed in happiness and his tail swooshed back and forth in the sunset falling on the pond. 

After she practiced her routine for hours, her nose was bright red like Rudolph. She walked home, toes frozen, and hugged herself to keep warm. She walked into her home, instantly hit by a wave of warmth and smells galore. She smiled, and walked up to her room, and put her head down for a good night's rest.

Sophie woke up to the sound of her parents not arguing but talking with confusion. She ran downstairs to see her parents staring out the window, she ran to the window and she could not believe what she saw.

It was summer, in December. The snow was gone, and the sun shined through the windows. Sophie was confused but immediately thought about the pond. She rushed and put on some clothes and ran out the door.  

Sophie ran straight to her pond and almost cried at the sight. The pond was now a swimming pool, it shined in the sunlight. She cried and ran home, not knowing what went wrong. When she walked into the house, she turned to the right to grab her favorite ice skates. All she saw was a blank space, her skates were not there.

She searched and searched but could not find anything. Had her ice skates been stolen just like winter? Sophie could not believe all that had happened. The only thing that she could think to do is sit outside by the pond where she used to skate. 

As she sat by the pond, her mind started to wander. How could this happen? She suddenly was frightened as she heard the dried out grass behind her crunch. She turned to see Sunny walked toward her. His fur glowed in the summer sun, and Sophie went out to pet him as he meowed in delight. 

Sophie said to Sunny, “Summer has come, in the middle of December, and my ice skates have gone missing!” Sophie’s eyes teared up with sadness. 

“I can help you bring back the cold and find the answer,” said a low, squeaky voice. Sophie turned in shock as Sunny the cat continued to talk. 

“Did you just talk to me? Can I fix this and bring back winter?” Sophie said with excitement. “Indeed you can if you listen to what I have to say” Sunny exclaimed. 

“Come follow me and I’ll show you the way, be prepared for an adventure of fun and delays,” Sunny said as he strutted away in that way that cats walk. Sophie got up with hope and followed Sunny into the sunlight 

Sunny and Sophie traveled far and wide, through thick in thin for days to find the answers. Sophie wondered where they were and asked Sunny, “where do you think we are?”. Sunny stopped and looked around for a minute, with a nod he said “we are approaching the forest of chocolate covered pretzels where many get distracted along the way. 

They continued on when they finally reached the front of what seemed to be miles and miles of chocolate galore. There were chocolate pretzel trees and lakes of milk chocolate. Sophie was scared that she would not make it through, but she double-knotted her pink aqua sneakers and led the way through the unknown. 

As they made their way through the forest, the sun started to set and the river of milk chocolate started to slow. Sunny suggested to Sophie “ We should stop for the night, here is a marshmallow for a pillow.” He rubbed his fur up against the biggest marshmallow Sophies ever seen. She didn’t realize how tired she was until her head hit the pillow and she fell into a deep sleep.

Sophie was suddenly awoken by a large thud that rumbled the ground. She looked around as the ground shook again. When suddenly a shadow was above her, she turned to see a giant duck. She was frozen in fear when suddenly the mighty duck spoke “Why are you here in my forest?” 

Sophie replied shaking “ I am trying to find the ice queen to convince her to bring back winter, I was simply sleeping.” 

“Ah yes the snow queen, my queen, she is just north.” The mighty duck said in a loud rumble.

“If you wish to visit her first you must complete a certain task to prove you are worthy to travel to her great land.” 

“What shall I do Mr. Duck?” Sophie asked

“You have to jump rope around this tootsie roll, then hula hoop across the chocolate pretzel."