• Member Since 17th Jan, 2012
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Skywriter


loves tiaras.

E

In which Cadance I of the Restored Empire is given a very unusual Hearth's Warming gift.

Now with a Spanish translation by the gracious SPANIARD KIWI!

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 152 )

looks interesting. Welp, time to get my reading glasses:moustache:

"And the cold is the king of the wastes without, ever hungry, ever greedy to claim our tiny island of warmth and light. We do not celebrate in the dark and cold. We huddle together, crying out to the howling void and praying that it will avert its jaws from us for one more day."

Merry Christmas, Skywriter!

Fantastic. This take on the Crystal Ponies' perfectly reasonable fear of snow and the rich history interwoven with supreme awkwardness and your amazing sense of humor made this a great read. Thanks for sharing.

Clearly what's needed here is for Snowflake Jake to just start bringin' everyone spices upon spices.

Really really interested to see where it is you're going with this.

3683001
Alas, I mis-tagged the story as "incomplete" by accident on original post, sorry. This is all there is going to be on this one chapter; block-breaking pieces like this one aren't compatible with multiparteredness (although, as part of a chronology, you may see and hear more of some of these events in the future.) And yes, I just made up the word "multiparteredness."

D'awh. The bit at the end was especially nice.

3683027

Aw, nerts. It's a great glimpse into end-cycle Cadence and Shiny, for what that's worth. I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with seeing them get there the normal way rather than just inferring from the future.

I love the idea that cadence greatly enjoys shopping and glitter.
For some reason, I can imagine future-Apple Bloom enjoying much the same things as well as frilly dresses, tiaras, make-up, the color pink, etc. All while still being crazy good at construction. Random thought there.

Also, I quite greatly enjoyed the greatest bubble wrapper in Equestria.

Also Also, I enjoyed this story!
I just read the Luna micro-series too! Wasn't that great?

I did say I'd read something Skywriterly and not be all ornery and "Oooh, a story—is that what you call this," didn't I?

Fine, fine, I'm capable of not being a jerk. At least for one day out of the year.

I quite liked the D—'s backstory bit, but the real scene-stealer for me here was Rose Quartz and her German existential ennui. I literally cannot get enough of German existential ennui. Like, if there were some sort of German-run camp I could go to, on vacation, to experience that terrifying sense of doom and horror, I'd totally sign up.

Ja, mein Skyführer.

Too soon? Too painfully inappropriate on a Christmas story? Too bad! That's how I roll, mischlingen!

Um. Okay. No longer sure this is qualifying me for "not a jerk at least one day out of the year". But in any case, it was a wonderful story and it's really making me want to go work on my own promised Hearth's Warming tale some more; though that probably won't manage to get finished until deeper into this winter. But at that point, we'll probably all need more holiday cheer, especially those poor, poor crystal ponies...

This is perfection!!!

Oh man. I thought Chivalry's tale was going to be the Hearth's Warming gift from Skywriter this year, but now I see that it was like the tiny package that is actually the keys to your real present, the big shiny chariot outside.

This is sweet and rich and so very you, which is always a pleasure. Hope you had a wonderful holiday. :twilightsmile:

I love your stories:scootangel:

This is awesome, much in the vein of CofC. I likes it.

Very sweet and funny (loved the wrapping scene), and so well-written as usual. Among many other things, I always love good imagery in stories, and maybe it sounds odd but the bath scene was especially enjoyable for me. Just loved the image.

Anyway, it's still Christmas day where I am, so Happy Hearth's Warming to you!

The proposal calls for, and I quote, 'an annual Snow Day where all citizens of the Empire will put aside their deeply-ingrained fears and celebrate all the ways that snow can be fun (and not at all a harbinger of annihilation and oblivion.)' That last little part is in really small type."

Generous bunch, those crystal ponies. :rainbowlaugh:

This is marvelous, sardonic and heartfelt in the best of ways. Very well done, sir.

Ah, the joys of Princess Culture Shock. Just wait until she tells them about the Winter Wrap-Up Rabbit, and how it leaves colored eggs all around the grass in the spring.
"Eggs, Your Highness?"
"Yes, colorful little eggs all painted up with stripes and pictures of baby ducks and rainbows. Some of them even have candy inside."
"It just seems like such an odd thing for a rabbit to leave behind. Are you certain he doesn't have a bird of some sort who travels with him?"

a3V

that lay just beyond the our shell

I am sure one of those words is not supposed to be there.

As for the story, and interesting premise. It's not exactly what I had in mind when it come to the crystal ponies and the snow. Was this brought up in the comics?

My god, where do you get it? Your timing. My browser was being incredibly frustrating the whole time I was reading this and I still laughed at most of this story. I had about the same reaction as Rose when "miss Doo" was introduced. I think that's what makes it work, having a character around who shares our reaction to things. Need a good Watson for every Holmes.

Cadence's capturing some of Celestia's advantages and techniques, was something. Something I liked. It reminds me of when Twilight picked up Cady's calming breaths. It's also definitely awesome that Celestia has such size on her side, but for totally different reasons.

The idea of a castle that responds to the mental state of it's owner. I don't know how this hasn't been a thing before. Again, how do you do it? Filling in the cracks so well with just the right ideas.

Shiny's proof of princess validity (in response to her impostor syndrome) was so right and touching. That she should accept the love of her subjects for the very reasons it agitated her. That she is right for them, and they know it.

There's totally gonna be happy wings later though, huh? You just had to go and remind us of the difference in lifespan this universe has for this couple though, didn't you. Can't anything just be nice?

Anyway. You get the picture. You wrote another thing, and it was awesome, as usual. This tab has crashed about ten times now while writing this, so I'mma wrap this up and go -make that eleven :twilightangry2: write a bug report or something.

3683471 Oh, so this is what you were talking about! Don't worry. This doesn't make you a bad person. Just, uh, interesting. Clever, perhaps, but who wishes ennui upon themselves?

That was a very good read.

Happy Belated Christmas to you too!:twilightsmile:

3684222
Fixed, thank you. No, the thing with the snow is entirely headcanon. I doubt it's what the writers have in mind, since the Crystal Ponies sell festive snow globes and everything. In this version of the story they are probably grim and dire little religious warning-icons that are passed out to children to teach them to mind their ways, and the poor CPs can't understand why all the tourists are delighted instead of dread-filled.

3683471
Your german fetish intrigues me, mein Freund.

---

Now, to the story in and of itself! A snug, little piece, this one. While I usually enjoy your Cadance more when she is somewhat of an emotional, teenage wrack, I can bear with her being content and emotionally stable for one short story.
Let's see, the usual stuff also, brilliant writing, especially on the dialogue part. As others have mentioned before, you handle imagery quite nicely, being able to keep the picture alive in the reader's head without the reader needing to do anything more than just, well, read.
Rose and Ditzy, while being relatively shortlived in their appearances, convey enough characteristics and life of their own to let them wander in your own mind and think of what happened to them once they left the room Cadance was in. They were alive characters instead of conversation pieces that kept the plot and character conflict going, so kudos to that, too.
I admit to raising an eyebrow out of curiosity at Sombra having a foible for german, but I guess that just comes with it being the mother language. If Sombra would've preferred arabian and I had been born in Egypt, I would've most likely shown the same reaction.
Let's see, what else... it's nice to read about Cadance being all lovey-dovey with Shining, what with her being so rude to him in their first encounter in your cycle. Conquering a woman that hated his guts. Truly a knight in shining armor, a champion for every hopeless romantic out there. You go, my man!
Also, when Shining described Spike as his sister's "cool little dragon familiar", I felt the urge to dig up my best 90's clothes, grab a skateboard from the next best twelve year old, and skate past everyone's favorite little drake, yelling: "You'll never be cool!"

Overall, a sweet little story about Cadance trying to teach her subjects the meaning of christmas, and receiving not what she wanted in return, but something the empire needs.
Yes, I am gonna end with a Batman quote. Because, as we all know, only Santa Clause is more Batman than Batman.

Stay frosty!

We searched our souls assiduously, Highness, and removed any impediment to our love and unity, but still you did not lift your dire glyphs and symbols. This worried us."
cdn.instructables.com/F50/893P/FNNKD3NE/F50893PFNNKD3NE.LARGE.jpg
THE HARBINGER OF YOUR DESTRUCTION
That line, it was just abut my favorite line in the whole story...until this one:

"Tell me you'll always be with me," I said.
"So long as I have life and strength," he said, "I will."

At which point I melted like butter left on a hot stove. I don't care what the rest of the fandom says about them, these two are absolutely adorable together. :twilightsmile:

3683471
Skyführer. That is too enormously inappropriate to not keep. :rainbowlaugh: Especially in the Harshwhinny group....:pinkiecrazy:

I also am a huge fan of poor Rose Quartz's snow-terror. :rainbowlaugh: Poor Cadance though - even her ideas for Santa Hooves were shot down by dictators of insanity past. :raritydespair: Being a nerd, I loved the throwaway line with "Epona bless his soul" - and really, that whole paragraph with the CP's theories about what Cady was up to with the tinsel and snow flakes was gold. And finally, finally I have a headcanon for Ditzy's cutie mark that perfectly blends her talent, profession, and natural state of being. Why wouldn't the most clumsy pegasus in Equestria be the best at clumsy-proofing her packages? Of course! :raritystarry: A beautiful and hilarious installment of the Cycle.

Very nice... achieved an impressive balance between comedy and drama - both distinct but neither overshadowing the other. I did enjoy it a great deal...

Buuuuut I kinda felt the ending lacked a certain degree of closure. I realize this may have been the point, but when you talk about how:

Those silly, wonderful ponies are reordering their entire society so that I can have a stupid little winter celebration.

I'd kind of like to see that reordering, at least a hint. Since, on the one hand, it would seem strange to them to have such a celebration, but on the other, Shining Armor (feels weird to spell that without a u) is right - snow is fun, and honestly, a holiday is probably the best thing to remind the crystal ponies of all the good things about the season, and cheer them up in a time of bleakness. So, yeah, I'd like to see how it does or doesn't work. Heck, if nothing else, I'd love to see Cadance give a speech or some such thing to that effect - that they shouldn't do this just for her, but for themselves as well, and that seeing them happy would be the greatest gift of all... though hopefully less cliched.

Still, this "complaint" should not be taken as such, as it basically amounts to "I want to see more", so make of it what you will.

This was great, I so love the relationship on display between Cadance and Shining. The dark, enduring stoicism of the crystal ponies is wonderful.

"Tell me you'll always be with me," I said.
Shiny clip-clopped back over to my bath. He leaned in close and whispered into my ear.
"So long as I have life and strength," he said, "I will."

:raritydespair:

This was delightful :heart:

A, dare I say, heartwarming story. (sorry)

Man, that was too sweet. Thank you to the best Cadence writer on the site

Comment posted by OddOneOut deleted Dec 26th, 2013

in the bleak midwinter, by gustav holst

Of course Ditzy is a master bubble-wrapper! It explains why she's indispensible at the post office, too. Head canon'd!

Also I love the image of Ditzy setting a town on fire with just bubble wrap. Because of course she could. And would.

Rose shuffled her hooves and gazed down at the carpet runner. "There were three prevailing theories amongst the staff. First, it was thought that you might be raising tributes to your father the Snow King, Epona bless his soul." She raised one hoof to the opposing shoulder in a ritual gesture. "We were uncertain why you had chosen to construct sacred patronial icons of cheap tinsel and carnival glass, but felt it was not our position to question. Secondly, it was proposed that you were cryptically warning us against succumbing once more to hatred and suspicion, reminding us of the cold and icy death that awaits our people should we ever fall once again into disunion. We searched our souls assiduously, Highness, and removed any impediment to our love and unity, but still you did not lift your dire glyphs and symbols. This worried us."

I think I love you. :twilightsmile:

Rose Quartz is my new favorite OC. No seriously, she's just made of amazing.

3683471
Ach, du lieber!

So. A mad king call 'The Snow King'...
Sound like anyone we know?

"Short days are long nights," said Rose. "And the cold is the king of the wastes without, ever hungry, ever greedy to claim our tiny island of warmth and light. We do not celebrate in the dark and cold. We huddle together, crying out to the howling void and praying that it will avert its jaws from us for one more day."

Which is exactly why you need to celebrate: to fight back against the dark and cold! :pinkiehappy:

Also: we haven't met Cadance's father yet, have we? :rainbowhuh:

3685717
According to the wiki, their was a chapter book that depicted Cadance as being found as a baby Pegasus by Earth ponies. Not sure how canon that is though.

3686284
Yep. That's ...Crystal Heart Spell, by G.M. Berrow. Rumor has it that the show's writing stable treats the origin as depicted there as the canonical one.

This still leaves open the question of her actual parentage, of course. I like to believe, no matter how old one claims she is, that Cady has a legitimate claim to the throne and was not simply "assigned" to the Empire by Celly. Canon is silent on this, with inconclusive evidence pointing either way.

So, now I think we have seen every part of Cadance's life in the "Cadence of Cloudsdale" cycle! Except, well, the part where Cadance goes to Cloudsdale. I can't wait!

Happy Snow Day to me!

This was a fun little piece.

Master bubble-wrapper, it all comes together.

If the CPs are sort of German, I'd think beer would definitely help her win them over.

That... that was amazing. I sometimes forget who can write the best princess Cadance on the site, but then you come down the Chimney and deliver this gift to all of our stockings. It's the second best gift I got (the first was a 3DS and Pokemon X, but you never had a chance). Happy Hearth's Warming!

*cracks knuckles* Well, time to get tropin'. I see a few tasty tropes just waiting to be documented.

I loved Derpy as bubble wrap master, even if I prefer her as underwater pegasus:
http://suikuzu.deviantart.com/art/My-special-talent-356927110
(mirror) http://twentypercentcooler.net/post/show/32567/blonde_hair-bubbles-bubbles_cutie_mark-derpy_hoove


I have a feeling that I'm making fool of myself but wouldn't this sound better with some extra word following "without" (like: without equal/mercy/etc.) ?
"And the cold is the king of the wastes without, ever hungry, ever greedy to claim our tiny island of warmth and light."
---
EDIT
Without like in "within and without" = inside and outside of ex. their city.
Yeah, I knew I was missing something :)

3689374
No, that's a good question! To give her speech more gravitas and emphasize her archaic sensibilities, she is using the word "without" in the way people used to use it, as synonymous with "outside" (in the moden day, this usage has fallen by the wayside and we now use it only to mean "lacking.") Thanks for the comment!

3689332
As always, I appreciate all your diligent Troping efforts. :pinkiehappy:

Comment posted by an1979 deleted Dec 27th, 2013

Well, I'm still waiting on my other admins, but but if indeed the contest is still on, this definitely has my vote to win it.

Beautiful and perfect

"And yet, they want you. We saved them, Hon. You, and me, and my sister's cool little dragon familiar.

No one ever remember's Spikes name. :pinkiesad2:

3689725
Fingers crossed!

How do ponies say that?

3691623
I'm sure he does. He just wanted an excuse to talk about how cool it is to have a dragon. Methinks Shiny is a tad jealous. :twilightsmile:

This is a great story, and like many great stories it left me thinking about it after I finished reading.

The document Shiny brings refers to it as a solstice celebration. Perhaps Cadance could get more whole-hearted participation by celebrating exactly that — the turning point when the days start getting longer and winter starts becoming spring.

They could maintain the gift giving tradition, but as a symbol of how the crystal ponies' generosity and love sees them through hard times. They could put up paper snowflakes, tinsel, and sparkly white cloth in the days leading up to the festival, but burn it in a bonfire on the solstice like the warmth of spring clears away the snow. This approach would help unify the empire with the traditions of heartland Equestria, while also representing and respecting the culture and history of the Crystal Empire. :twilightsmile:

3692534
That's a great idea and I would totally suggest it to her as a good new holiday tradition for Snow Day. :pinkiehappy:

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