//------------------------------// // Prologue: Crisis Averted // Story: Aptitude // by Kestrel //------------------------------// Prologue: Crisis Averted Aptitude MLP: FiM By: Kestrel The earth shook, sending the citizens of Hollow Shades sprawling. Thankfully, the rumbling was fairly minor, and the forest the town was built around was well equipped to deal with nature’s wrath. None of the buildings were showing any signs of structural damage, but it was dangerous to be exposed nonetheless. Young trees fell and clattering arose from within the houses as dinnerware and furniture tumbled about.         “Oh no… not again,” mumbled a lone unicorn gripping onto a sturdy tree near the edge of the town. His knees shook as he held fast to the tree, afraid of not the earthquake itself, but what would come after.         Hollow Shades had been suffering unexplained natural phenomena for the past several years, according to the rest of Equestria, but the citizens of the town knew better. Once the shaking had quelled to a mere rumble, a few ponies took to the streets, slowly making their way toward a house atop the crest of a hill.         The unicorn ran toward the house as stealthily as his snow-white coat could afford. He knew that while his neighbors were nice, but they were scared and upset, and they knew exactly where they could vent their frustrations at. Who they could blame for this.         Thankfully, the back of the house was devoid of the angry ponies at the front, and he slipped through the door into the well furnished house, making his way up the stairs and into his bedroom and throwing a sheet over himself with his magic.         Despite the sheet and being a story above the crowd behind closed doors, the poor young stallion could hear the ire of the other ponies and the raised voices of his parents trying to calm them down.         “Everypony, calm down! Blizzard Warning didn’t do anything wrong, he’s been in his room all day,” the night blue stallion tried to convince the crowd.         Blizzard’s dad was trying his hardest, but his argument seemed to fall on deaf ears. This kind of thing had been happening for the last five years or so, ever since Blizzard had gotten his cutie mark.         “Ever since your son got his cutie mark, this town has been a disaster area! We’re lucky nopony’s been hurt! Can’t say the same for our stuff though…”       More upset voices rang through the air. “We’re all grateful for your service and emergency response, but we can’t just ignore this issue because he’s the son of the great hero Lodestar. We're thankful for your service to Equestria in the Royal Guard, but you don't get special treatment.” “Yeah! Fix what’s wrong! You’re from the Starswirl bloodline! You can fix anything, so protect us from Blizzard Warning!”         “Mayor Lodestar, that child’s going to bring calamity to our village if you don’t keep a handle on him!”         Blizzard’s mother cut in quickly once the parentage of her child had been called into question. She was all but a blur of yellow and purple as she flew to the door, flinging it wide open with her magic.         “Now you ponies listen,” she began. “My son had nothing to do with this, even if there has been lots of things happening since his cutie mark appeared. It’s just coincidence that they all started happening now.”         The crowd fell hushed, at least to a dull roar as many of the ponies figured that Blizzard really didn’t have anything to do with the recent earthquake and decided to go home and fix up their houses. Relieved, Blizzard Warning removed the sheet from covering his head and popped his head up over the window sill. There were still a few ponies conversing with his parents.         Curious, he crept out of his room and toward the stairs, keeping out of sight, but within earshot.         “Look Honey Breeze, maybe you’re right and he didn’t cause anything,” a concerned looking mare said to Blizzard’s mom. “But we also can’t believe it’s just pure coincidence. I mean, these incidents have stuck around ever since your son got his cutie mark. Hollow Shades hasn’t ever had these sorts of weather patterns before.”         Honey Breeze looked down and scuffed the ground with her hooves, not knowing an adequate response to the statement.         “Sorry Breeze, but we’re afraid of what might happen if he grows up and has stronger magic,” an elderly stallion in the remaining crowd announced for the others. “It’s your job to make it safe. We don’t mind Harbinger living here, it is his home, but we can’t afford to let all of his antics go unchecked.         Breeze nodded while Lodestar stood by with a stern look on his face. He put his hoof on the door and pulled his wife back into the house.         “Thank you for your concern, but my wife and I can handle this, and his name is Blizzard Warning” Lodestar growled as he shut the door, his red mane seeming to flare up from its professional look. “We’ll handle this together.” Nopony could hear him after the heavy door closed, but Honey Breeze and Blizzard were comforted by his words.         Blizzard slinked back to his room and knelt on the floor while his parents shared a tender embrace. Slumped against his bed, Blizzard Warning began to wonder yet again about his place in town.         “Maybe it’s true…” Blizzard mumbled to himself. “Maybe my talent is only to break things and cause trouble for other ponies.” He put his hooves to his head and shook it out. “But I’m not a bad pony! I don’t mean to do that stuff, and it’s not always me either!”         The young stallion decided to retrace his steps in his mind. He had just gone out earlier into the warm summer day to explore the forest around Hollow Shades, and had found some wilting flowers in the shade of another plant that had grown next to it. Blizzard had figured out years ago that his talent in magic beyond simple levitation and illumination extended to nature spells, being able to conjure up weather changes and manipulate the elements.         He used his magic to dig up the flowers and then moved them to a more ideal location for them to grow. Blizzard Warning had felt pretty satisfied about himself for helping the flowers, but about five minutes later when he had come back to Hollow Shades, the earth started to shake.         It seemed like that kind of thing always happened whenever he tried to use his spells. What good was a cutie mark if you couldn’t practice your special talent? Maybe he was better off someplace else. It wasn’t like he had much to lose here. All the ponies he went to school with had started avoiding him out of fear after his first few episodes.         Blizzard turned to the window and looked out on the town. All the ponies in the town, mostly, earth ponies with some unicorns worked to repair the damage around their homes. He gazed into his reflection in the window saw his reflection looking back at him. His bright white and blue mane was in an unkempt mess as usual and his icy eyes were drooped in sadness.  He looked up to the sun, (wincing from the glare of the bright star) and asked Celestia’s advice.         “Princess Celestia, you’re the one who makes the sun rise and set. I’ve read it’s a star that’s real hot and it burns anything it comes close to. But you make just feel warm and nice. How can I do that? Any time I want to turn up the heat, things start to fire up, literally…”         Being satisfied with sending his worries up to Celestia, though he wouldn’t expect an answer to his prayers, Blizzard settled down to read his comics. Things had already gotten a bit hectic today, and he didn’t want to stir up any more trouble on accident. “Blizzard Warning, it’s time for dinner! Come on down!” Honey Breeze shouted up the stairs.         Blizzard closed his comic book and threw off his sheets haphazardly and took off toward the dining room. No matter how bad his day was, his mom’s cooking always made him feel better. Cherry changas! Or was it chimmy cherries? Whatever, they tasted amazing.         Eager to eat and bored of being holed up alone, Blizzard hopped into his chair and waited for his parents to join him.         After everypony had settled at the table, Blizzard dug into his cherry changa with delight. It took him a full minute of scarfing down his food to notice the unusual silence at the family dinner table. Soon enough, he noticed that his mom and dad were staring at each other, giving him occasional looks. Not wanting to be in the dark to whatever they knew, Blizzard broke the silence.         “What’s going on guys?” he asked. “Why are we all so quiet?”         Lodestar and Honey Breeze exchanged one more glance and nodded to each other before turning to their son.         “Listen, son,” Lodestar began. “I realize things have been difficult for you these past few years, and today wasn’t a lot of fun for you. While you were up in your room, your mother and I have been talking. We wanted to ask your opinion on living here. I understand that it’s been rough on you having to deal with everypony running scared.”         Blizzard put down his food and payed close attention. His father’s words had set him on edge somewhat.         “Ask me about what, Dad?” Blizzard asked.         “Well, we know that you’re trying really hard to work on your special talent and learning how to use it well, but we aren’t sure you can do that here. There are a lot of ponies who are scared of you, and nopony here at least knows what to do. We were thinking of enrolling you into a school.”         Blizzard rubbed his hoof through his mane in confusion.         “School? Uh… Dad, I’m already in one, you know. I get that you’re busy as mayor, but you had to notice that much,” Blizzard Warning said snarkily.         Honey Breeze decided to try and take it from where her husband ended, hoping she’d have better luck finishing the point.         “The school we had in mind would be away from home,” she said. “Have you heard of Starswirl Academy?”         Blizzard’s confusion was suddenly doubled as he scratched his mane once more. Starswirl Academy was one of the best schools in the country! Of course he’d heard of it! It was very prestigious, and very hard to get into.         “What’s my great-great-great-great-great-great-great… something-or-other grandfather’s school have to do with my… situation?” Blizzard asked.         “That’s where we’re planning to enroll you,” she answered. “We’re confident that the professors there will be able to help you control your magic while you learn how to use your talent.”         “Wha— wait, how the heck did you manage to swing that!? I’m not a bad student, but I’m not smart enough to go somewhere like that.”         “I suppose you should chalk that one up to your father. It turns out that being part of the founding father’s family gives us some extra leeway. The school would be delighted to have a member of Starswirl’s family return to the academy, so they’ll make sure to give you all the academic help you’ll need.”         Blizzard weighed the idea in his head. Leaving home and seeing a new place and being given a chance to fix his problems sounded like a great deal. But he didn’t want to leave his family behind, or his friends… well, if he had any of those here.         “Wait! But, what about you guys? Won’t you miss me being here? I do think it would be really cool to go and learn there, but I’m not sure I’ll fit in there either. I mean… what’s to say nopony would figure out that I’m the Harbinger?”         Blizzard’s face fell at his own mention of the nickname he had received from the villagers. Yup, the more or less solidified it. Nopony here appreciated him as much as he would have hoped.         “Blizzard,” Lodestar said with a low rumble to his voice. “That is not your name, and none of the ponies of this town ever had the right to call you that. You are a proud member of the Starswirl family line, and don’t forget it.”         Blizzard raised his chin and nodded to his father, managing a faint smile at his parents for their support.         “Now, remember, we only talked about this, nothing’s been decided yet,” Honey Breeze reminded Blizzard. “We wanted to ask you. We don’t want to take you out of what you’re used to unless you want to.”         “Yeah, I want to go. Maybe you guys are right and they can help me find out how to put my talent to good use,” he said. “I want to be useful to others, but I’m not sure how to be here.”         Lodestar and Honey Breeze looked to each other once more, trading smiles and knowing looks. They had expected he’d want to attend the school and see the rest of Equestria.         “Okay dear, we’ll go ahead and get things arranged for the fall term,” Honey said. “As you know, the school is out near Baltimare, so it’ll be a long train ride. Oh, and you’ll be living on your own, needless to say. There will be adult ponies there for you to talk to if you need them to help you out, but you’ll be in charge of cleaning and studying on your own. Oh, and make sure that you pack enough clothes for special occasions, since you’ll be doing your own laundry. Oh, and—”         Honey Breeze was cut off as Lodestar put his hoof over her mouth while she continued to talk, unfazed.         “Honey, don’t worry so much,” Lodestar interjected over her muffled voice. “We’ve got a few months to prepare for him leaving. We’ll make sure he’s got absolutely everything he could ever need for his temporary home.”         Blizzard gave his mom and dad the biggest smile he had managed to produce for weeks. Being registered in a new, awesome school far away from home would be so exciting. He’d be leaving all the ponies who treated him like an outcast. And to top it all off, cherry changas! In all the talk, he had completely forgotten the glorious food in front of him. Taking his favorite dish in his hooves, he continued to chow down like he wouldn’t live another day.         Then a thought hit him…         If he was going to move away to go to school at Starswirl Academy, then… then… no more homemade cooking! No more mom’s cherry changas!         “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”