//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Weathering Winter // by Sasha Nein //------------------------------// Winter Cold air ripped across the turrets and battlements of a castle positioned in the mountainous regions beyond the Everfree Forest. The castle itself was no great work of art but it served the purpose it was designed for quite well. The walls were much higher than it was safe to build siege towers and formed a perfect square. There were noticeable enchantments on the gates which no doubt made them nigh impervious. Inside the castle there were two buildings and both of them did little to enhance the beauty of the interior. The barracks was positioned outside the keep on the grounds and seemed big enough to house a sizeable contingent. There were dormitory and kitchen add-ons to either side of the keep which was nestled against the wall opposite the gate. The whole set-up left anypony left out in the large courtyard extremely vulnerable to the howling winds that found their way in over the walls. Earth ponies would be the safest to be out during a storm of this magnitude but even they would have a hard time remaining steady within the walls where winds swirled the air like a giant soup bowl. The wind created eerie moans which drifted up to where Twilight observed the castle.  She had positioned herself on an outcropping a respectable distance above and away from the castle.  From her vantage point, she studied the layout of the buildings and the guard patrols.  The rotation for the guard ponies was the hardest to monitor; to a casual observer there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to the intermittent guard rotation. Still, Twilight managed to deduce a pattern, it was individual guard rotation instead of groups.  However, she still continued to observe long after she discovered this. She would need all the information she could garner about the castle if she was going to sneak in. The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon when Twilight finally concluded there was nothing left for her to learn from her spectating. She was going to have to break in and overpower the guards. It would not be easy, but she knew that every single guard was only an apparition, a fake. They would easily fall to her magic. The hard part was going to be facing the unicorn responsible for all of this. Twilight was sure he would be exhausted from creating the castle and maintaining so many guard ponies. However, she was not so sure if she was in the right state of mind to have him under her control. Twilight removed herself from the ridge and moved towards the castle while there were still shadows left. Today would mark two whole weeks since Princess Luna had written to Twilight. Things had gone quite well all things considered. Nothing drastic had gone wrong and that was saying something. Twilight’s charge had been extremely rude and reluctant at first, but only to her surprisingly. They had survived Pinkie Pie’s welcoming party as well as all of her friends without any incident. There were signs of strain though, now that Twilight thought about it. Grinding of the teeth here, silence and indifference there, but nothing had prepared her for the outburst two days ago. She wondered guiltily what Luna would think about the situation when she found out Twilight had decided to handle the situation by herself.         Twilight moved closer to the castle, doing her best to remain hidden, she wanted to be as close as she could be before she teleported in. If she could just figure out where her friends were then she could end this quickly without having to go through much of her meager magic reserves. She began to sort through all of her memories of the past two weeks, surely there was something she could use to her advantage, something she might have missed during her time with the new unicorn in her care. *        *        * Dear Princess Luna I would be honored to accept your offer. I have thought long and hard about your request and I believe that I am capable of assisting you. There is so much I would like to ask, but I think that can wait until I meet your student in person. How would you like to meet? If you wish to meet me here, I am free tomorrow evening. Otherwise I will be able to join you in Canterlot the day after next. There are so many things I would like to go over, but I will just leave you with this: I want to help your student. But you do say he is powerful and rather spiteful of Celestia and I. I am not sure how this will turn out, but I’ll do my best to help him. Your friend, Twilight Sparkle Twilight looked over the letter, it had taken her two tries before she was satisfied with her response. The second paragraph always ended up being too long and full of rambling. Hopefully this would convey her sincere interest in helping Luna without leaving the impression things would be fixed easily or that she knew what she was doing. There was a faint patter of feet as Twilight sealed her letter. “So, you finished it finally? Ugh, you do realize that Luna is probably going to send a letter back as soon as I get to sleep? Can’t you send it in the morning?” Spike stopped behind Twilight and crossed his arms, he always was a little grumpy this late. “Spike, the princess will be going asleep by the time you wake up in the morning, so sending it then will ruin any chance of her meeting us tomorrow evening. I’m sure she will be considerate enough of you to give the letter to Princess Celestia so she can send it later in the morning.” Twilight said, her voice taking on a lecturer tone. “Yea whatever, just give it here.” Spike held out a claw, and took the letter.  Moments later it was on its way to Princess Luna. “Alright, I’m going to bed, what about you Twilight?” “Yes, I’ll be up shortly, I just want to clean up here.” Twilight stoppered the ink bottle and started clearing the paper she had laying on the desk. “see you in the morning...Spike?” He was already in bed and asleep. At least he made it there this time. Twilight was more than a little jealous of how easy Spike found sleep, she wished she could shut off her brain like he did. She yawned, if she did get a letter from the princess tomorrow, then the day would be cut short if she wanted to get some cleaning done. It was not long before Twilight herself was snoring away on her own bed. Usually it would be hard for her to put down books and sleep, but her day had been exhausting. If Twilight’s brain was hazy enough to block out the majority of thoughts, then sleep was not far behind. She began to drool, it was a good thing she had decided against taking a book to bed. * Spike was woken abruptly from his sleep as a letter exploded its way out of his throat. “Ugh, I knew it.” Spike said half asleep. He pulled himself out of his bed and put the letter on Twilight’s nightstand. He knew better than to try and wake Twilight at such a late hour. A faint light outside the window caught his attention and he moved towards the window. It was dawn. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, not enough light to brighten anything, but enough to see. Spike stood enthralled for a minute as the sun rose and covered Equestria in a soft light that seemed to permeate from everywhere. Looking behind, he observed the moon hurrying to its own destination on the far horizon. This was beautiful, Spike almost forgot about how early he had woken up, almost. Grumbling, Spike decided to begin breakfast, he would worry about Twilight later. If he knew Twilight, she had stayed up another two hours reading and would be in no condition for any mortal being to be around if she woke up now. Thirty minutes would be all though, it was going to be a busy day. * “Twilight! Wake up! Breakfast is almost ready! Daisy pancakes, your favorite!” Spike shook Twilight for all it was worth, yelling down at, what he assumed, was her protruding head. She groaned and dug herself deeper into the sheets. If Spike did not know better, he would have said she was still asleep. But, she slept like a brick, any movement was a clear sign that she was at least conscious. “Twilight, I know it is early, but you have gotten a letter already from the princess. I’ll be darned if you get to sleep in any further when I don’t.” Spike hopped up on the bed and immediately regretted it as the mound on it suddenly grew twice as high. He toppled off onto the floor, dragging half the blankets with him. “Alright alright, I’m awake.” Spike almost laughed, Twilight’s bed voice never got old. “I swear i just got to sleep an hour ago, there is no way it’s...morning?” Spike extracted himself from the blankets in time to see Twilight half sitting on her bed looking out the window at the morning sun. Her eye twitched, which looked rather disturbing when coupled with her unruly morning mane. “Um, extra strong coffee?” “With extra sugar.” “Ten minutes.” Twilight groaned and fell back, closing both bloodshot eyes. “Thanks Spike, I’ll be down in a few.” It never even occurred to Spike that letting Twilight sleep in was a good idea. She would have killed him if he let her sleep take priority over a letter from the princess. All in all, this would be the best way to start the day. Spike hurried back to the kitchen and doubled the usual amount of coffee for the water. Any satisfaction he felt for having Twilight get up so early was squashed by how hard of a day she was going to have. She was not a morning pony and while he might have not gotten as much sleep as he wanted, Twilight would have a horrible time functioning until noon. That meant his day was going to be, most likely, more stressful. Thankfully Twilight enjoyed a good breakfast, if she downed enough coffee then the morning might not be too bumpy. Twilight tottered down the stairs into the kitchen with as much grace as she could muster. Spike was just setting down a good smelling cup of coffee with her pancakes. “Mmm, thanks Spike, why are we up so early?” Spike looked over at Twilight, she did not look fully awake yet. “Uh, I told you I got a letter from princess Luna this morning. That was about fifteen minutes ago.” Spike said digging into his own pancakes. “I, right. Ok, right after breakfast then, I don’t think I could read anything right now.” Twilight moved groggily on to her chair as she said this, almost falling over the other side. Typical morning Spike thought, what would have been a surprise was if she had been excited. She was never excited until after eight in the morning at best. Still, she would probably go out of her mind soon after breakfast as the coffee began to kick in. “We probably need to start cleaning the library today,” Twilight mumbled between mouthfuls of pancake, “I am sure we won’t have time tomorrow if we must go to Canterlot.” She magicked over some parchment and a quill. Soon, a checklist of what needed to be done was formed and she gave it to Spike as she finished the last bite of her breakfast. “What do you think? Is there anything else we need to do or get today?” Spike looked over the list. Most of it was the usual cleaning jobs and errands for general library supplies.        “Um, yea, we are going to, most likely, be having another unicorn living here, so we will probably need another bed and food and-”  “Omigosh how could I have overlooked that!” Twilight said pulling the list back to her and writing furiously. “What do you think he likes to eat?” She asked presently. “Just ask him when he gets here Twilight, you should probably read the princess’s letter before you start making too many additions to your list.” Twilight gasped, “The letter! How long ago did you say you got it Spike?” “Just an hour and a half ago, here.” Spike hopped up and went into the library and up the stairs to their bedroom. There was a tray on the nightstand he placed all the personal letters they received when Twilight was not home or awake. There was a popping noise and Twilight appeared in front of him and hastily unsealed the letter. She began to pace as she read aloud. Twilight, I will be able to meet tomorrow evening, we can discuss everything when we meet. Send me a letter back if you cannot make this appointment, I shall arrive about 10pm, I am sorry that it will be so late, but I would prefer to attend my duties before taking the night off. Thank you, for doing this. Luna Twilight rotated the letter around searching for any more content. “This is it? She did not even send his name or, or anything I needed to do, or get, before then. Surely there is something that he would need? He is a thousand years old after all.” “Yes, but he is still just a pony Twilight. Can we just clean today? You can worry all you want tomorrow before he comes.” Spike said, hoping to avoid an exasperating day. Twilight took a deep breath, “Alright Spike, let’s just clean. Yes, that sounds fine. Then we can go purchase a bed, well, maybe we should ask if the princess is bringing one, and a dresser. We will send another letter this evening.” Spike placed a book on its proper shelf and sighed with relief. Today was going to be quiet, and hopefully enjoyable. It was probably going to be their last day together by themselves for a while. * “SPIIIIIKE! Where are you? The princess is going to be here any minute!” Twilight rushed through the library’s kitchen looking all around trying to find her number one assistant. He appeared at the foot of the basement stairs. “I’m here I’m here, calm down sheesh.” “Don’t ask me to calm down, we are about to be meeting the most powerful unicorn in Equestria who just happens to be the personal student of the princess!” Twilight said agitated. Spike rolled his eyes, “Oh come on Twilight, you give him way too much credit, just because he might know more than you about magic does not make him more powerful.  Even Princess Celestia is always saying she hasn’t ever seen a unicorn with your ability.” “Spike, I don’t want you talking about-” At that moment, there was a knock at the door interrupting Twilight.  Her eyes widened, but she finished in a whisper... “-about me like that in front of him.” She rushed to the door, but stopped and visibly calmed herself before opening it. Spike stood in the kitchen doorway trying to look relaxed. He would not admit it to Twilight, but he was a little nervous himself. “Good evening Twilight Sparkle, may we come in?” Princess Luna stood on the doorstep looking down imposingly on Twilight, but not without a faint smile. There was a unicorn behind her who was rather dark, but it was hard to tell what color exactly in the evening light. Twilight stood aside and beckoned them in.         Luna entered and walked to the middle of the library, her student followed. Twilight closed the door and turned to observe the newcomer. He was a bluish grey in color, sort of like a slate blue as Twilight looked closer. His hooves were a slightly darker shade, more like an azure blue, the same color as his mane. The other half of his mane was a maroonish red, like his eyes. He stood a little taller than Twilight and his tail came down to his hocks. None of his features stood out much more than another, he was not overly buff, but certainly well toned. He looked pretty good for a thousand year old pony Twilight thought. Her eyes caught on his cutie mark, it was a lightning bolt surrounded by falling snowflakes, all in a deep red. Interesting, in a cutie mark that color indicated aggressiveness. If the lightning bolt meant anything for a unicorn it was magic and power. But the snowflakes... She would have to read up on his peculiar combination. It seemed to her they brought out a rather scholarly side or at least potential for it.         She suddenly realized he was staring at her as well. She looked away and up at Luna quickly.         Luna broke the silence, “Twilight, I would like to introduce you to Winter-”       “I-just Winter, if you please, princess,” Winter said interrupting in a low tenor.         “Very well,” Luna said after a moment, “Winter, I would like you to meet Twilight Sparkle.”         “Hello!” Twilight said enthusiastically.         Winter glanced at Luna who raised an eyebrow, he sighed.         “Hello Cele-” he stopped and seemed to struggle mentally before continuing, “...Twilight Sparkle.”         Twilight cocked her head, wondering what he had been about to say. She was almost certain he had glanced at Luna again as soon as he stopped himself. Shaking off her curiosity, she turned and waved Spike over.         “Well, this is Spike, he is only a few years younger than I am so don’t let his size fool you. His knowledge of this library is just as good as mine and I don’t know where I would be without his assistance.”         Spike turned slightly red at the praise but luckily set himself down on the stairs before he tripped over himself. Twilight did not have ‘be embarrassed’ on her checklist and was not keen on having it forcibly added to her agenda.         Winter grunted noncommittally and ignored Spike. It seemed he was more than happy to observe everything in the library except the residents.         Princess Luna rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Twilight.         “Well Twilight Sparkle, I suppose there are quite a number of things you would like to discuss with Winter and I before I leave?” Luna questioned.         “I have- yes,” Twilight began hesitantly, “Um, I am afraid, with this being a library and all, we only have one bedroom and bath. I have a bed for Winter, but we will still have to sleep in the same room, will that be a problem?”         “You have got to be kidding-” Winter started loudly, but once again his eye caught on Luna and he stopped abruptly. He took a deep breath as Luna watched him with an expectant look. “It will be fine Miss Sparkle,” He finished with an unhealthy dose of venom.         “Winter, please, if there was any other way for this to progress, believe me I would take it,” Luna said exasperatedly. “I know you do not wish to be here, but until you can prove to me that you have mastered yourself and have made friends, at least on the outside, with a personal friend of my sister’s then we can spend more time together.” It looked as though Winter was going to interrupt, but Luna spoke over him. “I am sorry Winter, but my influence is just not the right one for you right now, even I can see that.”         Winter growled, but his response was pristine and polite, “Very well princess. If this is what you request of me, then I shall abide by your decisions.” He bowed.         Luna sighed again and turned to Twilight who was watching with fascination. She had never seen Luna speak so calmly and politely to anypony except her sister. She had not used the royal ‘we’ once yet. Another thing that was amazing to her was how upset Winter was with the whole situation but still treating his princess with the utmost respect. She was broken out of her stupor when Luna addressed her.         “Twilight Sparkle, I apologize for Winter’s attitude, I hope you are up to it. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?”         Twilight quickly went over her mental list checking off ‘bed’ and ‘bathroom’. "Yes princess, Just to be sure, does he...I mean, do you, Winter, eat normal food?"         “If what you eat is ‘normal’ food, then I suppose I can eat it too.” Winter said brusquely.         Twilight raised an eyebrow but continued, “Alright, well, is there anything I should know about now? You aren’t...going to like, I don’t know, tie me up burn my library down then throw me in a swamp full of snakes...are you?” Twilight tried to laugh casually, but Winter seemed intrigued by the idea and her amusement died quickly.         “Winter, explain what I told you, to her, now.” Luna said sharply.        Winter put his ears back and shut his eyes while taking a deep breath, but he complied unhappily with Luna’s order.         “I am afraid that I have been forbidden in causing you any harm miss Congeniality. Since I am a stallion of some repute, I will not stoop to ruining your livelihood even if I was allowed. If there is anything I do not wish you to do, I will be sure to make it known in a subtle and timely fashion.”         “As you can see Twilight,” Luna began quickly, “I have requested Winter to conduct himself appropriately. I know that he is honest and will not try to find any ways to work around what I have requested of him... since he knows that I would be displeased if he did.”         Winter gave Twilight a quick glare, but otherwise remained silent and still. She was not sure if this would be as safe an undertaking as she initially thought anymore. Twilight fumbled with her thoughts for a moment as she thought about questions to ask. Most seemed to silly to ask now, after all this was the princess she was speaking with, she probably had a tight schedule. Twilight watched Winter purposely trying to ignore her as he observed the library, however he did periodically shoot glares at her.         “Well princess,” she said finally, “I can’t think of anything else that is very important, Winter and I can probably figure out the rest, I suppose you probably have other places you would rather be?” Twilight turned a questioning look at the princess.         “I can remain as long as you need me Twilight Sparkle. One of the benefits of being a princess is that others wait on you, and they cannot say anything about it.” Luna responded smugly.         Twilight could not help her laughter this time. She had spent enough time with Luna to know she hated the politics required in her position. Twilight herself was inclined to agree, she had spent enough time around princess Celestia to develop a dislike of nobles and their constant vying for power. Unfortunately it was all necessary to keep the government turning without the princesses having to take direct action in everypony’s affairs.         Winter glowered as he watched his princess and Twilight enjoying a laugh. It was a little confusing as to how they got along together. Twilight had stripped the princess of most all her power and they still enjoyed their time together. It did not make sense that Luna had changed so much, the Elements of Harmony did not work like that from what he had seen. One side of him was intrigued and wanted to learn more, but the other half was still angry with the present turn of events.         Yes, he could observe Twilight Sparkle and meet her ‘friends’. He would find out what was so different about the Elements in the hands of these six compared to princess Celestia. They must be an extraordinary bunch of ponies to handle the power and use it so well. As much as he disliked Celestia, it was hard to believe that mere ponies, even six of them, would be more effective at using the power of the Elements than an alicorn. Hopefully his study would yield results interesting enough to present to Luna, and keep him from going insane from living with this Twilight Sparkle.         Twilight tried to unsuccessfully hold back a yawn, but preparing for a new arrival was taking it toll on her. She yawned again while trying to hide it, once again unsuccessful. Luna smiled before breaking the silence: “Well Twilight, he is your ‘student’ from here out, I suppose I may as well leave if you do not have any more questions. It will allow you to get acquainted quicker,” She leaned down to whisper in Twilight’s ear, “best of luck with all my heart!” She turned and walked over to Winter. They spent a few minutes conversing before, to Twilights surprise, they embraced before Luna walked out the door. As formal as they seemed, there was definitely a connection between the alicorn and pony close to, if not deeper, than friendship. Twilight moved tentatively forward, “Um, Winter, I suppose tomorrow we can figure out how things are going to go huh? I am going to bed, If you are still here in the morning I guess we can get to know each other then.” She paused, but he made no reaction to her as he continued to stare out the window towards Canterlot. She continued, “You are welcome to anything in the library if you wish to stay up, just, please take care. And, you know, the only place we had to put a bed for you was in with Spike and I. He is probably still up somewhere if you want him to take you on a tour, he should still be good for another hour or two; he took a nap this afternoon you see.” Twilight gauged him, hopeful for some sort of response. He merely shifted his weight and continued to ignore her. “Well, goodnight then.” She turned and was finally awarded a forced response. “Night,” was all that came. *        *        *         Snapping back into the real world, Twilight examined the castle walls up close. They looked solid enough. She began to charge Rarity’s gem finding spell but added a few modifications to it. If this did what she hoped, it would find everything but gems, telling her how thick the wall was and what lay beyond.         She cast the spell in a narrow focus, anticipating the influx of information to her brain. It was not long in coming and Twilight was suddenly aware that the wall was about six feet thick. Her eyes dilated when she pushed the spell farther as the information being sent to her became overwhelming. She could not tell what the materials were that she could see in her mind, but there was a room beyond the wall which contained the silhouettes of what appeared to be beds, chests, desks, chairs and all other manner of bedroom items. Concentrating through the information, she gasped as she made out many smaller items like candles, quills and ink on the desk, cracks in the wood floor, designs on the bed posts and hundreds of other small details that one usually overlooks.         Twilight severed the spell and tried to calm her breathing. She could no longer see beyond the wall, but the detailed memories remained in vivid perfection. Thankfully she had not seen any pony silhouettes, they might have noticed her magic if it had passed through them. She took a deep breath and prepared to teleport into the center of the room.         Moments later, Twilight stood in a bunkhouse seemingly designed for soldiers, all the beds were empty. She let out a sigh of relief and decided it was time to disguise herself. If all of the guards were magically created, they would probably be connected and could spot her easily if she only took on their physical appearance. Invisibility was out of the question, it would be too strenuous of a spell to maintain. Twilight moved to the door, it would be better to find someplace else to think about her next move.         Wait, why were there beds? The guards were all magically created, they should not need sleep. Twilight stopped, all the beds did not seem right, she looked over the room again. There were at least twenty bunks. “Think Twilight, think!” She hit her head with a hoof as conclusions and theories bounced around inside her head. If the guards were created with magic it would be impossible for the creator to keep tabs on all the guards, the information would be overwhelming. Twilight racked her brain for an answer to the beds, her mind began piecing together snippets from her studies and a theory began to form.         “Complete mind manipulation magic requires an extreme amount of mental discipline because of the strain of being in control of two minds at once. The caster would maintain an awareness to his own body and which mind was his own, but within his head he would have control of every function and sensation coming from the subject’s mind and body.”         This meant that being in control of twenty or more magically created ponies was nigh impossible. So, what could have been done to the created ponies that would allow the caster to maintain that many puppets? Twilight remembered, with a little embarrassment, one of the lectures she had received from Celestia on power distribution for spells.         “Twilight, giving certain conjured items or beings life to sustain themselves without your magic is wrong. I am proud that you were able to figure out and perform such advanced magic so young, but I am afraid that is not enough justification for your actions.”         Twilight, one day when she was still a filly, had been having trouble trying to play with her large assortment of pony dolls. She was still not strong enough to manipulate more than two or three at a time. It was purely by accident that she imbued them with enough life so that they were able to move and function without her having to strain herself. Celestia had been quite upset with her when she found out.         “These little ponies are not alive yet they have life, it is wrong. I do not want to ever see you doing this again. Only perform spells that you maintain yourself at all times. Now, I want you to dispel the magics from these toys right now, here let me show you how...”         That was it! Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized she could dispel the magic sustaining the guards. The magic was no longer connected to the caster and therefore the dispelling magic that Celestia had shown her should work. It had worked on the changelings after all. All she needed to do was modify her failsafe spell slightly to dispel all the magic and not re-order it like she tried to do with Discord’s magic. *        *        *         The sun shone into the library illuminating the dust that floated lazily in the air. Old books that had lain closed for a respectable time, when in the presence of a certain Twilight Sparkle, now laid open and scattered across her study area. The library was well stocked with history tomes of Equestria. There was only one reason those books had not been opened in a long while: Twilight already knew them by heart. The dust swirled and the sun danced as a pony figure cast shadows across the room. It moved to open windows and allow the morning breeze to flush the stagnant air out.         Winter slowly regained consciousness as the fresh breeze tickled his nostrils with a wide palette of morning aromas. He could feel the sun on his face and he basked in the warmth of it. It wasn’t that he did not like the sun, it was just that princess Celestia was an insufferable pony who refused to allow his mentor, his friend, to reach her full potential and enjoy life to its fullest. Another breath of fresh air filled his senses awakening him further.         He noticed he was in a sitting posture, and his pillow was rather uncomfortable. Winter opened his eyes and immediately regretted his decision.         “Augh!” He half yelled, half groaned. The sun seemed to burn right through his retina and if he did not know better, would have said it tried to kill him, not just leave him blind. He rolled over and his pillow came with him. It was a book, and it seemed to have attached itself to his face. Ugh, he really needed to stop reading himself to sleep, one of these days he was going to rip pages out.         He peeled the book off and closed it neatly. A sudden giggle from behind almost made him jump from shock. Winter spun around, almost too quickly, and had to plant his forelegs extremely wide to avoid falling. Twilight Sparkle stood there, a hoof to her mouth and her eyes wide with shock.         Twilight Sparkle, an insufferable mare who had been hoof picked by princess Celestia herself as a personal student. A mare who enjoyed princess Celestia’s company, and, if recent sources were to be believed, practically worshipped the sun goddess. She was supposed to be a powerful unicorn, but from what he had seen of the general unicorn population these days, he was not expecting very much. Still, she must have something going for her if she stood out to the princess.         “A lot like you and princess Luna,” A small voice whispered in the back of his mind. He squashed it instantly.         “She is nothing like me,” he snarled at it viciously. But he could still feel the thought nagging at the edges of his consciousness.         “Were you...laughing at me?” Winter said furrowing his brow. This mare was ridiculous, surely she realized he did not like her very much, and that he was more than capable of ripping her to shreds.         “I, no! Of course n-,” Twilight stopped as his glare intensified. “Yes I was,” she admitted guiltily.         Winter could still see a smile playing on her muzzle, obviously she was not very quick on the uptake. Usually his glares made ponies tremble in their hooves, and for good reason too. Didn’t she know who he was? He opened his mouth to explain, oh so carefully, what happened to ponies who acted out of place in his day.         “It’s just, Spike finds me sleeping, just the way you were now, quite often. I’ve never observed from this end, it is actually quite hilarious to see, no wonder he laughs at me in the mornings.” She said quickly, a hopeful look on her face, “I’m sorry, I’ll be more considerate in the future.”         Ugh, it was too early in the morning for this, he needed a shower and breakfast or Luna help him he was going to wipe that smile off of Sparkles face in short order. He ground his teeth, why in Equestria did Luna make him come here? What had he done wrong? Winter recalled his rather aggressive nature at the palace guiltily. He had not hurt anypony, she had forbidden him to, but he knew that he had gone out of his way to antagonize more than one pony. He recalled a few more incidents and more than one cold shoulder he had given his princess, as well as the sad, hurt glances he got in return. Perhaps spending some away time was in everypony’s best interest. Just, why did he have to stay here?         “Twilight Sparkle-”         “Please, just call me Twilight.”         Winter facehooved, this was going to be harder than he thought. Luna had been informing him on the equal status of ponies these days, as well as modern dialects and pony behavior. But this was more or less the first time he had interacted with another pony other than servants. Who were not very good ponies to interact with in the first place. They still performed duties more or less the same way they did a thousand years ago. This pony, Twilight Sparkle, just did not get it. Of course, why should she? After all, she had been the personal protegee of princess Celestia since she was a filly. She probably talked down to every pony in the palace. Her interruption made it clear that she thought herself better than him.         “NO, do not think like that. Remember that is how they converse these days, keep it together! You promised Luna you would remain calm and collected.”         “Twilight,” he managed to grind out, “Where are the...bathing facilities?”         Twilight gave him a cheery grin, seemingly oblivious to his frustration, “Oh, right, they are up the stairs, you can’t miss it, past the bedroom.”         He spun again on the spot and moved off up the stairs.         “Um, Winter,” He paused, but did not turn around, “Do you take coffee with your pancakes?”         Coffee, Luna had mentioned the drink and he had to admit, he was rather curious to try it. But he did not think that he was ready to sit down and try something new with this Twilight. She was loyal to princess Celestia and that made her a potential enemy, as well as a blind and brainwashed pony.         “Come on now, you cannot go around stereotyping ponies because of their relationship to princess Celestia. You cannot live in a secluded hole for the rest of your life. You have a chance to try again, make a new life. You are darn lucky Celestia did not kill you for your rash actions, because you would have done it in her place.” The voice spoke up again, it was cold, hard logic.         “SHUT UP!” he screamed inside his head, “EVERYpony treated Luna and I unfairly. Everything Luna tried to do was ignored even by her sister. Her beautiful night as well as her attempts at getting to know the population were always disregarded.”         Even as he tried to convince himself, he knew that it was not true. There had been plenty of times that Celestia had stayed up late into the night and watched in awe as Luna displayed her brilliant star tapestries in the sky. Even more times that he found Luna and Celestia sharing intimate sister to sister moments together in the evenings and mornings. Still, he was angry that Luna’s proposal to extend the night had been met with such opposition from her sister.         His anger at Twilight was unfounded, she was not Celestia. She had not done anything to him. He was being overly judgemental and selfish. Sooner or later he was going to have to interact with Twilight, he may as well make the best of it now. However, it was not that easy to drop all those years of hating Celestia for banishing Luna. It was only natural it poured into things Celestia held dear.         Winter suddenly realized Twilight was still staring at him, he was just standing there. He sighed and wilted. There was nothing for it, he was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the predicament, no sense in turning it into a torture session. He wasn’t that dumb....... Right?         Still, he would be dragon bait before he was going to let Twilight push him around and ‘change’ him at her whim. If this was what Luna wanted for him, it was not his place, or his desire, to argue. But if he had to change by the instruction of his arch nemesis’ pupil, he was going to make it the hardest thing she had ever done. If she was princess Celestia’s personal student, then she could probably handle some magical ‘problems’. Hopefully it would help him cling to some semblance of sanity while living with this... mare.         “Fine, I’ll try some...coffee,” He said finally, then promptly headed for the shower. *        *        *        Twilight watched Winter head to her private restroom. Even sleeping while sitting, his mane was almost as bad as hers in the morning. She wondered if her single tub would be private enough for two ponies and a dragon, especially if one pony wanted nothing to do with the other. They would have to make do somehow, there was not room to add another in the library.         Contrary to what most ponies thought, Twilight knew quite a lot about other ponies and their behaviors. It was just that she never practiced communicating until coming to Ponyville, and even now she spent a lot of time on her own. Winter clearly did not like her, she was able to put two and two together. It was because she was a close friend of Celestia. However, she could also tell that he was not a violent or crazy pony at heart, he had just built up those calluses of hateful thoughts from years of brooding. His brief interaction with Twilight told her that much. He wanted to put on the face of hating her to preserve the image he had donned so many years ago.  Twilight hoped that her interaction with him would prove that she was a simple pony. If she could just get him to see past the veil of hate he had for Celestia, that perhaps he would open up and be friendly.         Thankfully today was the day she had left open in case she needed to go to Canterlot. Now she had plenty of time to get to know Winter. Hopefully she would find out what topics interested him and what she should avoid. It would not do to bring something up that might make him explode at an outing with her friends.         Twilight walked into the kitchen and began making breakfast. Spike was still in bed, he probably stayed up helping scatter the books around with Winter. She started the coffee, it sounded like Winter had not tasted it before, this would be a fun experience. She had the pancakes well under way when Spike walked into the kitchen rubbing his eyes.         “Morning,” He said groggily.         “Good morning Spike,” Twilight said happily, “What do you want to do today? We could open up the library, but I already announced that it would most likely be closed today so there might not be much business.”         “Well, I wouldn’t mind a day off,” Spike said thoughtfully, “I could go see Rarity or hang out at Sugarcube Corner. I haven’t been by to get more ice cream from Pinkie Pie.”         Spike looked at Twilight bouncing around the kitchen and did a double take at the coffee machine. It was still brewing. Twilight, plus early morning, minus coffee did not equal an enthusiastic Twilight according to his math. So what the hay was she on?         “Um, Twilight, you aren’t usually this peppy in the mornings, what gives?”        “Oh, well, I guess it is our new resident, I can’t wait to get to know him! It is all so exciting!” She squeed a little as she flipped the pancakes. “I know he doesn’t like me much, but think of all the interesting things he probably knows, I have all day to try and make friends with him!”         “Uh huh, well, that sounds fine to me. Well you know where I’ll be if you need me today.” Spike said as he pulled plates out of a cupboard. “Is there anything you want do this evening? Should I be home early?”         “Hmm, I don’t know, It is crazy, I don’t even have a list of things we could do today,” Twilight looked a little worried now, “oh no, this is not good, I had probably better go and make something.” She rushed out of the kitchen and left the pancakes on the griddle. Spike wondered if Twilight would ever survive on her own as he grabbed a spatula.         Twilight ran out of the kitchen and right into Winter who was coming down the stairs. Twilight gave a hoarse yell as they both tumbled into the library.         “I-I’m s-so sorry,” Twilight said trying to extract herself from the tangle mess of hooves, “are you alright?”         “Sweet Celestia! You are the clumsiest mare I’ve ever seen! What that princess sees in you I...” Winter cut off as he looked at Twilight.         In the back of her mind, Twilight was not surprised, her shocked face was probably a good one. However, that face did not last long as she pieced together the whole of what he left unsaid. He did not even know her! He had no right to judge based on looks! Her brain was still trying to comprehend the fullness of what he had implied and had no time to come up with a fast response. By the time she was ready, he was already speaking.         “I shouldn’t have said that... sorry” Winter’s voice sounded forced, “that... wasn’t... fair.” As he ground the words out it seemed he was going to explode. But moments later, all the anger that was boiling out suddenly vanished. He took a deep breath and looked over at Twilight.         “I am fine, you?” His words were deceptively calm.         Twilight decided to keep her thoughts to herself. After all, she was supposed to be the doctor here, patients lashed out all the time... at least, that is what Twilight hoped.         “No harm done. Sorry for bumping into you, I, uh... the pancakes!” She finished agast and promptly rushed by Winter into the kitchen.         Thankfully Spike was already scooping the pancakes onto plates.         “Oh good, you are alright, I’m surprised you remembered the pancakes.” Spike said.         Winter followed Twilight into the kitchen and sat at the table putting his head in his hooves.         “Thanks Spike, I’ll just go get that paper now,” She said with a guilty look at Winter.         She was back in a moment with her writing utensils. As they sat down at breakfast, Twilight began scribbling up a list. It quickly became apparent that she had no idea what was happening in ponyville. She had been so focused on her correspondence with princess Luna and her preparations that paying attention to her friends’ plans got ignored.        “Spike, do you know what is going on in ponyville today?”         “Uhmm, I can’t think of anything right now, but there is always something going on at the market or theater. Or if you are just looking for activities why don’t you go around and see your friends?"         Twilight continued to muse over her list, “Well, I’m not sure if I should introduce Winter to them or not. Especially Pinkie.”        “Do you take coffee Winter?” Spike asked as he put pancakes in front of the two ponies.        “I’ve never had it, but I would try some,” Winter responded as he looked up.         “Alright, I don’t care for it myself, but Twilight usually can’t function on the morning without it.”         Twilight grinned sheepishly, that was usually how it worked. She was a hopeless addict, it did wonders to get her functioning in the morning though.         “Now, she likes to ‘doctor’ it up with sugar and cream,” Spike continued, “but I suggest trying it black before you test adding stuff to it.”         He brought two cups to the table along with the sugar bowl and cream from the fridge. Handing one to each of the ponies, Spike promptly dug into his own pancakes.         After some coughing and spluttering, Winter decided that he liked coffee best with a good dose of sugar, but all in all it did not look like he would be joining Twilight for it every morning. She took a large gulp of her own and went back to her list. Shame, it would have been a good opportunity for her to chat with him.         “Well I can’t think of anything very interesting, I guess we could just go into town and see what we could do. But, if I know Pinkie Pie she will be front and center before we make it very far into town. Maybe we should just stay here?” Twilight looked at Spike, who watched Winter facehoof.         “Twilight, why don’t you just ask him what he wants to do? He is like, sitting right here.” Spike raised an eyebrow and gestured for good measure.         “Oh, right,” Twilight giggled nervously, “So uh, I guess we could go into town and see all my friends or we could stay here. But that is about it unless you got something else in mind?”         Winter sighed, “from what I have heard, most of your friends are quite gregarious so I may as well meet them sooner than later.”         “Okay then, don’t say I didn’t warn you! We can head out and get started right after breakfast.” Twilight said enthused. As reluctant as Winter seemed, she liked how he took things head on.