2023
"So, Pinkie?"
"What, Sagwa?" Pinkie Pie was interested in something.
"I had received a message from Amy Tan. She and majority of the TV adaptation crew had decided if we can return to television next year."
"Oh that's great! What would the new writers be?"
Sagwa pondered. "How about Kyle McCulloch, Eric Shaw, Ben Gruber."
"Who are Kyle McCulloch, Ben Gruber and Eric Shaw?" asked Pinkie.
"Kyle McCulloch used to work on South Park for the first twelve seasons even though he wrote only one episode of the show, and used to work on Spongebob back in Season 9, even though he only wrote one Season 4 episode. Eric Shaw worked on Spongebob's fifth season and two episodes of Season 6, which sucked....eggs, and wrote for Arthur in its dark age. Ben Gruber worked on the two abominations that was Teen Titans Go! and Breadwinners, but he did do good on Spongebob during its Reneccianse era."
"What about your mouse friends?" wondered Pinkie.
"They missed their old friend Jackelyn. So, Holly would be their new friend."
"YOU LOVE IT!!" shouted Rainbow Dash from the palace.
"SHUT UP RAINBOW!!" called back both Sagwa and Pinkie. Sagwa turned back to Pinkie and cleared her throat.
"Well, I gotta work on the Magistrate's study." said Sagwa. "So long."
"Bye Sagwa!" called Pinkie.
...
2024
Dear Miss Tan.
Thank you once again for the confirmation of the new revival to be filmed on our village, acting if it was the Qing Dynasty years. Allow me to extend the usual courtesies, that you may bring Miss Gautrial-Frankel, Mr Daugherty, Miss Shields and Mr Silberberg, and that your stay will once again be on China! Please be aware that there is a rodent infestation, and we can't afford to put you up anywhere else. A free brick has been given out to each guest, so don't worry about that.
Wishing you all the best!
Chang-Shoo the Foolish Magistrate.
P..S: Try and tell Mr Daugherty not to fall in the canal this time, please?
...
1882
Winter came in the Magistrate's village, and everywhere was white, thick snow. For whatever reason, the seasons didn't discriminate against snow, forcing it down whenever it felt like it, and therefore bringing everything to a stop. It was heavier than usual, and that was saying something considering how often it seemed to fall.
Lots of villagers hate snow and had to dig it out of their paths, but cats didn't mind the winter snow, unless blizzards come.
At the palace bedroom, the Miao kittens started to wake up. Sagwa stretches after she came out of her bed. She gasped as she headed towards the balcony.
“Wow! Beautiful!” she exclaimed as she saw the snow. "It was gonna be a wonderful day out in the snow if Mama decides we can play out here."
Suddenly, a gust of wind came in as Fu-Fu flew in, out of control, he lands on the soft, white pillow.
"Wow, it's freezing out there!" Fu-Fu said as he brushed the snow off him. Then, he saw Sagwa. "Hey Sagwa!”
Sagwa giggled as Dongwa came up to Fu-Fu on the pillow. “Got caught in the chilly breeze?"
Fu-Fu got up. “Just a little, but not a lot." he remarked.
Sheegwa saw Fu-Fu getting out of the pillow. "Hey Fu-Fu. What the heck happened? And why all the snow on-?”
Just as Sheegwa started talking, the door swang open as Sheegwa looked outside, of the balcony. Then she gasped. All three kittens watched as the snow came down. It was the most beautiful thing they had seen.
Mama Miao and Nai-Nai entered the bedroom. “Sagwa." said Mama. "It’s best if we- oh!”
Suddenly, Fu-Fu interrupted them. “Hello there. I just got caught in the chilly breeze, and I just thought I drop in. I’ll close
that for you! In case the whole place would be frozen."
"That’s nice of you Fu-Fu!" said Nai-Nai.
While Fu-Fu closed the door, Mama spoke to the kittens. "Baba and I are gonna do work for the Magistrate today, so that the villagers need insurances to keep safe. You can play outside, but try not to get caught in the snow, okay?”
Sheegwa was excited. “We will Mama! And why is that?”
Nai-Nai cleared her throat. “Snow can be fun to play in. Especially for a palace cat. However, we do not want to be
stuck in deep snow. I even hear that sometimes, they can be 6ft high and deep."
Sagwa was suspicious. “That high? But I always am careful Nai-Nai!"
“So would it be safe if we play in the snow, at the pond out back?” asked Sheegwa.
“Of course you would." Mama smiled.
“We’ll be careful Mama! We promise!" called Sagwa.
...
2024
"Hello, and welcome back to Ponyspotters, that short little break there was sponsored by Spottiswood and Company, proud owners of TV's Bertha! Spottiswood, where joy isn't manufactured, it's created! ...Did we really have to shill that, Nige, I mean, the joke didn't even make sense."
"Well Stan, if we don't want to get fired, we do! Now, there has been rather a slow newsday in the office at the moment, isn't that right. Stan?"
"Indeed, Nigel. However, while things on the political campaign for Ponyville's newest mayor has cooled down significantly since the heated debates between prospective candidates Drampf and Bedella, and the rather embarrassing incidents regarding Twilight Sparkle since rumors of her campaign manager abandoning her have been spreading. However, we have word from Mr Drampf that he has come into the possession of evidence that she and her friends will be airing on Ponyspotters for the first time publicly, information that she promises will change the way that one of our most senior Island residents is viewed. Fluttershy, she says in a official statement, will never be viewed in the same light again."
Fluttershy spat out her drink as Drampf's smug, smarmy looking face filled the screen. She was saying something about how it was high time that the ladies and gentlemen of Ponyville knew who it was they were trusting with their children, but it was like someone had fired a shotgun next to her ears. It was a murmur, a whisper compared to the very loud, very painful screams of panic in her head.
"Pinkie, head over to the store and give Rarity a hand, would you?"
"But Twilight!"
"Now!" Fluttershy was vaguely aware of one set of hooves walking off in the general direction out on the open snowy country, before Twilight came into her side of sight and spoke gently. "Fluttershy? Listen to me, you don't have to, but-"
Fluttershy snapped out of it. "Awah?" He coughed and focused his mind on creating actual words. "I mean, uh, it's okay. Trust me, Twilight, it's fine."
"...There any truth in what Drampf's saying?"
"...Well-"
"You're being obtuse, Fluttershy. Not like you. Which makes me think all the more that there is the very, very distinct possibility that perhaps...Drampf is right. Something is there that you don't want people to know. Now might be the best chance to tell me. I don't watch the news, but I imagine that it would be pretty hard for even myself to view the story that Drampf's going to tell with any objectivitiy."
For a moment, Fluttershy said nothing. Then, as Twilight looked down and began to back away: "If I tell you this...you have to accept one thing first."
Twilight looked up. "What's that?"
Fluttershy stared out at the warm, beautiful snowy sky.
"It was all my fault."
1996.
The fireworks had been a surprise, the Yellow pony had to admit. A bunch of drunken sailors had boarded their ship (A old rusting hulk of a tramper that bore the signs of intense burning and bomb damage, referred to simply as Krakatoa) and pulled them out of storage. Their captain had clearly gone off with a lady of less than reputable nature, and would clearly not be coming back for quite a while.
Fluttershy was slightly jealous. The captain got to get away from his annoying co-workers. She, on the other hand...
"Honestly, yellow pony, the way you handle the snakes was...average, at best." Eagle grinned, that little cocksure grin that Fluttershy was pretty sure was one of the most hated things on Ponyville. "Oh, but if Clozy Glow was here now. She'd tear you to pieces."
"Shut up, Eagle!"
"Now now, leave him alone, old boy." Dizzy smiled kindly to Fluttershy. "It's good, Fluttershy. It's very good. Don't listen to him. Just as long as you don't get the bullies too against you." Dizzy looked off into the distance. "Don't those stupid fools know what they're doing!? There's people here. Women and children! If they attract the Jerrys over here-"
"Spuddy's probably at home, toasting his feet over a roaring fire!" Eagle turned back to Fluttershy and grinned, rather savagely. "And what are we doing out here?" He slapped one of the snakes aggressively. "Trying to give laughing boy over there a lesson on the art of truck treatment? Give me a break."
"Now now, calm yourself." Flutterwise smile was proud, boastful, but warm. "I know it may seem hard to believe, but us bigger ponies
"Don't put that damn tosh on me, Thistle!" snapped the Yellow Pony. "I work just as hard as you all do, and I'm pretty sure that without me, you wouldn't have trains to run."
"Calm down, Fluttershy." remarked Biggles. "It's just the way that they treat you. Give it five or six years. By that point, all but Eagle will have grown out of it."
"You love me!" Eagle grinned at Biggles, who merely gave a quiet laugh in response. "See? Maybe one day, yellow pony, you'll be lucky to get as close as we are! Then you'll be helpful at last!" His hyena cackle came back in full force as Fluttershy gritted her teeth and set off a bomb machine.
Which was when the bomb exploded.
It had been a old one, one left over from the last war, actually. For years now, it had been left in the foundations of the dock, forgotten by all who had constructed the port and left alone, completely silent and untouched for a few decades. However, one of the fireworks had gone astray, and with a deafening bang, it pierced one of the warehouses. Finally, the bomb fulfilled it's purpose.
In the chaos, the mad chaos of screaming and shouting and wailing and terrified pleas for help, the ponies were momentarily all stricken dumb. Albert was temporarily blinded by the light, Eagle and Biggles were both on further off paths to the landing site of the bomb, and to make matters worse were drenched in the remains of some of the unfortunate trucks, and Thistle...Thistle was struck mute with shock. There'd never been such a explosion this close to the older pony, and it had stunned him completely.
No, the only engine in even remotely working state either mentally or physically was Fluttershy, and that was thanks to the incredibly lucky co-incidence of his shunting the trucks as the bomb went off. She stepped back, dazed somewhat. And then she snapped out of it. She had often been witness to many such bombs, as he had not been allowed out before, so this one didn't particularly shock her that much.
But what she did notice was that all of the ponies, the ponies that had mocked her, belittled him, patronized him, who considered him to be somewhat lesser because of his her were now completely out of it. In a brief, mad second, two very simple facts became apparent to her, as her parents and many other parents rushed towards the flames.
No one would suspect a thing if something was to...happen to them, would they?
No one would blame her for being unable to save them.
No one at all.
...
1882
“6ft deep? I can’t imagine that much snow!" exclaimed Dongwa as he, his two sisters and Fu-Fu were heading towards the Alley.
“We’d be shivering a lot like icies, if we were caught under!” added Sagwa.
“Look on the bright side." confronted Fu-Fu. "At least it’s the first day of winter I believe, and nothing bad will stop us”
At the alley, Jet-Jet was playing cards and drinking cat milk with his buddies when the four showed up.
"Hey!" said Jet-Jet. "Enjoying your first time in the snow?”
“It has been a while, since we last saw some snow." said Sagwa. "A blizzard even came at that time, as I almost lost Sheegwa. I thought she was frozen to the fur out there, but she was in bed."
“That’s something." said Jet-Jet. He then drank a sip of his cat drink. "So what are you four up to?”
“We’re heading out to the pond in the back. To play in the snow! That is where we usually play.” replied Dongwa.
"Well here’s what we can do for today." Jet-Jet whispered to them quietly.
TO BE CONTINUED