New Pony Tales

by Gabriel LaVedier

Snow Magic

In a land very far away from the central Equestrian warmth, very like the region of Griffin lands or thereabouts, where the Aurora made the sky glow like a painting right after night, there lived a stallion. His name was Nikolai, but all that knew him called him Kolya, using a shortening known well to the Stalliongradi folk and others in the near environs with the same language.

Kolya was a proud and noble stallion, he was not of the larger sort but he was robustly constructed for a unicorn. His coat was the color of polished obsidian, his mane was a blazing orange and his eyes were a deep and soulful blue. His Cutie Mark was unimportant, the real matter was his job. He was guardian of his village. It was not small but it was not large. A good collection of homes and several businesses. They took much from the forest and gave back as much as they could. But few, if any went into the deep forest. Often they heard the howl of timber wolves, and rumors of worse.

His place as protector, which put him against stray timber wolves, ice creatures, bears, and even once a very small Ursa Minor, made him popular. Other stallions hailed him, and the mares all sighed and mooned over him. Gifts were plentiful, invitations to dinner ubiquitous and stammering proposals near-daily. Yet Kolya lived alone, in a cozy home just outside of town near to the forest.

Kolya had great respect and admiration for the forest and knew how to trot it with care. It was peaceful, filled with tall firs that provided delicious and nutritious cones as well as wood to be used for all they could need. In return the ponies planted and tended to the new trees. But even further in it was dark, even in the daylight, a contemplative space. He could spend hours wandering around, forever capable of hearing if the town required him thanks to the acoustics provided by the placement of the buildings.

One day as he was walking that deep forest path, in a place he had never been before, he found another pony. She was a unicorn, like him. Her coat was the purest, most pristine white he had ever seen, like fresh-fallen snow. Her mane was the same, and it flowed in a beautiful, straight, full cascade. Her eyes were pale as could be, the tiniest hint of blue-gray with a hidden spark within.

She was beautiful, and more alluring than any other mare he had seen. He approached her that first day with trembling and fear, the great protector rendered speechless. She spoke to him first, unsurprised by his sudden stumbling into the clearing in which she stood. “You are very handsome. Will you walk with me?”

They walked as in a dream. The dark forest had never seemed so light as Kolya walked with the mystery mare. She spoke at great length of the beauty of the deep forest, the strange creatures, odd plants and wondrous features. All through her talk Kolya remained absolutely enraptured, gazing on her with obvious adoration. He could not even speak.

At the end of the walk they were back again at the clearing Kolya had found. “Please... come back with me. I... I want to talk more.”

The pale mare pressed a kiss on his cheek and walked into the woods without a word, hoof-steps soon lost to the howl of timber wolves. Kolya returned to town, unwilling to risk having to face a pack of them at once.

He returned the next day to that very spot, following the remains of his hoof prints to find the mystery mare in the clearing again. “Will you tell me your name?” Kolya asked of her.

“Walk with me,” she said, with a smile.

It was as before. She led him through the deep forest, to see the beauty and wonder of icicle-crusted falls and caves filled with glowing mushrooms in strange and wonderful shapes. Kolya spoke throughout that trip while the nameless mare listened. His questions all went to her name, and his conversations were about himself, how each new sight reminded him of something he had seen before, but grander.

At the end of the walk Kolya took up one pristine hoof and gently pulled her towards the path to town. “Come with me to town. Please, for a visit and a meal. It is lovely.”

She kissed him again, and trotted out into the forest, again lost to the sound of the timber wolves swarming.

His routine became that. He would go into the forest to meet with the nameless mare and walk with her. His questions and requests fell on deaf ears. He never learned anything of her, nor did he care that much after a few weeks of being with her. At the end of one, however, one thing came to his mind. “I don't know your name, your past, or even where you live in this tangle of a forest. I know nothing.”

“You know I care.” She kissed him, as she always did, but lingered close. “I cannot leave. I cannot bear to be near so many strangers. But I am glad you found me.”

“Then... let me stay. Show me your home. Maybe... you will tell me more of yourself without saying a word,” Kolya begged, pressed closer to the white unicorn.

She pushed him away, looking to the side with tears in her eyes. “No... I cannot do that. Please... leave me. Let us... let us be as we are.” She left him there, vanishing into the forest without another word.

Now in that place and at that time there were bad ponies, as there can be even in times of peace. They were truly unlike most ponies, motivated by simple greed and unwilling to live in the town and work hard for a decent gain. They wanted to take and take, not caring about how they hurt others. The leader was a cunning earth pony, a dark gray all over, and she had a great hatred for Kolya, because he was very good at protecting his village. He could always stop her raiders, even when he was called from afar, because the watchponies were not fools and could see any approach no matter how they tried to hide.

The wicked mare had a different plan. She had heard of Kolya vanishing into the woods every day at the same time. And leaving at the same time. She brought all her raiders, and planned to catch him unawares at the moment he left, to keep the plot from discovery. That would end him.

“You cannot stay here as long as you have in days before, and you cannot leave as you have. You have to leave earlier and by another way. Please. There is danger in this forest. Do not ask how I know. But know it will be your end if you do no leave.”

Kolya actually laughed and flexed his muscles, then flashed his horn. Unlike most unicorns he was very strong, probably as a result of a wild talent that gave him earth pony strength. “This forest does not frighten me. You have shown me its wonders and I know it holds you. I feel like I could take it on.”

Kolya did not leave until his normal time, his nameless love pleading with him the whole time to leave before that moment. As he trotted out of the clearing he could hear the usual timber wolves behind him. But unlike other nights, they did not go deep into the forest, they seemed to pursue him. That mattered little to him once he saw what lay before him on his path out. All the raiders he had repelled before, and his hated enemy. “Kolya...” She purred, looking seductive even with a blade strapped to a foreleg and extended towards the unicorn.

“Nikolai, Koshka,” Kolya said with a hard tone.

“You used to call me Koshachka, vozlyubblennaya,” Koshka said with a wink and a grin. “We could have been unstoppable. I wanted you to come with me. I loved you.”

“You hurt ponies, Koshka. Nothing will change how I feel about that. And nothing will change how I feel about you,” Kolya said, lighting his horn and taking a hidden blade from his mane. “Do svidanya, Koshka.”

“A good, foolish, dedicated tovarishch to the end. Do svidanya, Nikolai,” Koshka said with hissing contempt.

Kolya was clearly outmatched. His skill with his blade was honed from defensive action, and both his magic and strength were formidible. But every earth pony raider had a similar strapped blade, all the pegasi had blades on their wings, and the unicorns were levitating either slashing blades or a collection of throwing daggers. The group was not overly large, but it was large enough, and headed by the formidable Koshka.

Before any of the raiders could lift their weapons for a charge Kolya heard the timber wolves again. But rather than simply scamper in the background, they leaped out in a concerted attack. They crashed against the gathered raiders like a wave against the shore. Every one was mobbed, save for Koshka.

The ground before Koshka exploded in a shower of dirt and snow, a barely-seen figure lashing out and managing to tear the blade away from her leg. The dust cleared to reveal a large, strong Diamond Dog female, her coat white as snow, her breed of the middle-sized, perked-eared variety.

Kolya could only watch in disbelief as the timber wolves and Diamond Dog reduced the raiders to a red heap in the snow. Even Koshka fell after only a few swipes from the Dog's powerful, stone-rending claws. Once the deed was done the timber wolves scattered, and left only the Dog there to face Kolya, her white coat stained with Koshka's blood. Her eyes, while sallow as any other, had pale blue-gray irises with a spark within.

Before Kolya could make a sound a flash of magic made him cover his eyes. When he looked again the nameless mare had appeared where the dog had been standing. “I warned you not to linger...”

“Who... are you?” Kolya whispered, slowly approaching.

“My name is Chalcedony Frost. I once lived in a very well-educated but small colony. I was off getting food from the surface one day, and came back to find them gone. I never learned what happened. It's still... I had to survive in the middle of the forest. I used my size and strength to become the alpha of the timber wolves. I am sorry if they bother your village, they are not from my pack.”

“And your... change?” Kolya put his blade away and slowly walked around Chalcedony.

“Underground, I found something. Something magic. It was very old magic, and it was very pure magic, pure as the snow. I came to understand what it meant. It would give me the power to change my form. But only in this forest. And only if... I never harmed another being. And now... now my magic is gone!” With another flash she had changed back into the Diamond Dog again. She gave a huge, heart-rending howl of pure grief and threw herself at the ground, vanishing in a cloud of soil and snow.

Kolya never told what happened. He only reduced the shifts and numbers of the watchponies. They could well have been removed, as they never had trouble with raiders again. The mares in town noted, with some alarm, that after that day Kolya was not his old self. He performed his duties without passion, did not respond to offers of affection with his usual humor, and in general seemed to be pining away for some unknown thing or being.

He also spent much more time in the forest. He trotted the paths he could remember, exploring every fall, clearing and cave for somedog lost to him. He did not fear the timber wolves, nor did he worry about any of the other creatures in the forest.

For the longest time he had searched in silence, first not wanting to antagonize the timber wolves, then not wanting to frighten Chalcedony into fleeing. He finally grew desperate enough to go into the clearing wherein they first met and call out, “Chalcedony! Please come back! I don't care if you are a Diamond Dog! It was the first true thing I learned about you, and when I finally learned your name! Please come back! Please!”

Kolya stood there in the clearing, his cry having silenced all the creatures of the forest. And in the middle of that silence he heard the sound of scattering soil and snow.

Author's Note:

Based on the song "Snow Magic" by Mercedes Lackey

Comments

[Kagitaar]

plot form discovery. from

I went and read the song (had no idea she wrote songs) and love how well you fleshed it out and adapted it, plus, you know, I'm a sucker for happy endings.