13. Winter's End, and Other Events
Raven woke up quite early on the last day of winter, carefully slipping out of bed so as to avoid disturbing Beast Boy. She gathered the winter gear and bundled herself up tight. She walked down the steps slowly, careful to avoid using any magic or make any loud noises. She snuck past the guest room - where Gilda had gotten even more territorially protective of her egg, wonderful things mothering instincts - and over to the door. She quietly nudged it open before ducking outside, letting it shut tight against the chill of winter.
Walking slowly across the snow, she listened to the absolute quiet of the early morning, disturbed only by the sound of her hooves crunching the snow beneath her. She resisted the urge to conjure a shadow disc to ride to render absolute silence. She watched the silent world with an expression of calm wonder on her face.
She had absolutely loved winter here, no matter how much she'd pretended to be indifferent to it, or only showing Twilight's usual enjoyment. These quiet moments where the world slumbered beneath a blanket of snow and not a sound could be heard...she loved it. Each morning before the sun rose this winter, she had snuck out, all bundled up, to witness the world blanketed in silent white. Jump City never managed to be this beautiful; it was a city of all hours, and the snow was often slush within moments of touching the ground - either from people walking or cars driving - and on occasion the snow would be stained red...or yellow.
Part of her wanted the winter here - the first she had truly enjoyed in years - to last forever, but she knew it couldn't. It was time for Winter Wrap-Up, to clean up Winter and let spring in.
Raven furrowed her brow. As much as she enjoyed the story and show, she'd be damned if she got dragged into a bloody musical number. She. Did not. Sing.
Reaching Town Hall, she slipped inside. She knew that this would be where Mayor Mare would have set up the plans for the cleanup process, and she wondered how fleshed out they were.
She found Mayor Mare fumbling with several large spreadsheets, maps of the town, and weather charts. She was struggling to get them all in order, but every time she got one properly situated, three others would collapse on top of her. Seeing her struggle, Raven grabbed all the sheets in her magic, lifting them up into the air. "Are you alright, Mayor?" she asked in concern.
"Oh, Twilight," she said in response. "I didn't see you there." She blinked. "What are you doing up?"
Raven smiled. "I was enjoying the silence of the early morning snow." She carefully set every chart against an easel or hung on a wall. "It looks like you could use some help. What is all this?"
Mayor Mare chuckled quietly. "I was trying to get Winter Wrap Up a bit more organized this year. It used to be we'd have a plan each year with everything set up to progress well and naturally, and we'd get it all done on time." She sighed. "Of course, back then, I had three assistants to help me plot out the entire town, the weather systems, and everything else. Since they all retired, and everypony else is too busy to take the job, I have to muddle through it on my own. ...hasn't exactly been successful, I'll admit."
Raven smiled to herself. Once more she was reminded of how different this world was from how the show presented it. Everything actually had a logical explanation. 'I wonder what the logical explanation for Pinkie Pie is going to be,' she thought suddenly, frowning. She then managed a smile. "Well, the library rarely gets visited, so I have plenty of time if you could use an extra hoof."
"Oh thank you, Twilight!" Mayor Mare said gratefully. "I didn't want to ask, since you are so busy with your studies for Princess Celestia-"
"Mayor Mare," Raven interrupted, "Princess Celestia assigned me to study the magic of Friendship. The only way I'm going to learn anything there is if I actually spend time with my friends, and make new ones." She smiled. "That kind of makes it my job to get involved in everything around town."
Mayor Mare chuckled to herself. "I see what you mean." She turned to the displayed information on the town. "Now, we need to get things organized if we're going to manage to have winter cleaned up before Easter rolls around-"
"Easter?" Raven asked, confused. She wasn't sure how Easter could be a holiday in Equestria...
"Oh yes," Mayor Mare replied, "it's a new holiday that has been spreading across Equestria. Apparently, there's an old story of the world hatching from an egg as it received the first eastern light of the sun, and to commemorate the event towns all across Equestria hold Egg Hunts for the little ones to find colorfully painted eggs made of chocolate. It's still a relatively new holiday, so I imagine it hasn't become that popular in Canterlot yet." Mayor Mare grinned conspiratorially at Twilight. "Truth be told, some executive at a candy company made it up to sell the candy egg idea his son came up with."
Raven held back her laughter as best she could. A small chuckle managed to escape, however. After calming down, she smiled at Mayor Mare. "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, we have pegasi on cloud clearing duty and retrieving the southern birds...the Earth Ponies are divided between any number of tasks..."
"Who are the team leaders?"
"Well, Applejack is in charge of replanting, Fluttershy is in charge of everything animal related..." Mayor Mare consulted her notes. "Rarity is in charge of making nests for the birds...Rainbow Dash is in charge of clearing the sky..."
"We should probably have Pinkie positioned somewhere centrally in town," Raven interrupted. "Her Pinkie Sense should help to catch anything that might be going wrong or putting anything in danger." She noticed Mayor Mare staring at her. "What?"
Mayor Mare coughed uncomfortably. "Well, it's just...most of the scientifically minded ponies like yourself have trouble accepting Pinkie's...Pinkie Sense. Our own Time Turner used to call it pure poppycock, whatever that means. I'm rather surprised that you're so...accepting of it."
Raven smiled to herself. She actually had answers for this from Twilight's own memories. "One of the stallions at Princess Celestia's school went by the name of Foresight. His special talent was to see the future, and his future vision was absolutely flawless. He was never wrong." She frowned, sighing sadly. "He was eventually driven mad when he foresaw his own marefriend's death and could do nothing to prevent it." She shook her head to banish the bad memories that weren't her own. "What I'm trying to say is that I KNOW that it's not only possible to perceive the future ahead of time, but that there are many ways to do it. Pinkie's method just happens to be the most unusual of the lot." She chuckled to herself. "It's no more strange than an old injury in an Earth Pony becoming sensitive to vibrations in the Earth so as to detect earthquakes."
Mayor Mare chuckled at the comparison. "So how do you explain Pinkie's Pinkie Sense, then?"
"Let me ask you this," Raven replied. "What's her success rate?"
"Pardon?"
"What percentage would you rate her accuracy at based on past performance?"
Mayor Mare thought for a time. "...greater than 99%."
Raven smiled. "With that kind of success rate, I don't have to. Whatever the cause, it can be relied on. As Applejack would say, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'"
Mayor Mare smiled. "Good way of looking at it. And you're right about central positioning, but you know her. She wants to help directly and doesn't know fully how it works either. She'll want to be actually doing something."
Raven looked at the map. "Well...the lake's rather centrally located...or as close to centrally located as anything in town short of putting her in charge of running snacks around to everypony..."
Raven and Mayor Mare looked at each other. "You know," Mayor Mare said, "I had forgotten how hungry everypony gets during these efforts, and that does tend to fray tempers and cause accidents. If we had a group specifically in charge of bringing refreshments around, that wouldn't be such a problem."
Raven smiled. "And having Pinkie running around feeding everypony would have her in position to Sense anything going wrong, as well as help with any dangers. Not only that, she loves making ponies smile, so she'd enjoy this job immensely."
"We get what we need from her, and she loves every minute of it." Mayor Mare smiled. "You know, Twilight, you'd make a pretty good Mayor yourself. You certainly know how to manage ponies well."
Raven smiled. "It's a knack." She grinned. "I promise I won't run against you for at least another two terms."
The two shared a chuckle before returning to their work. Mayor Mare then thought of something. "By the way, how is Gilda doing? I haven't seen her out and about all winter."
"She's been sitting on her egg the entire time," Raven said as she continued organizing the Winter Wrap Up effort. "The cold doesn't really agree with her just now. She'll be sure to help next year."
Mayor Mare blinked. "Egg? I didn't know she was going to be a mother. Didn't Pinkie throw her a baby shower? Why didn't I know?" She pulled out her day planner, flipping through several pages. "I'm certain I would have remembered-"
"She hasn't spread the news that far," Raven replied absently. "She's still a bit...sensitive with regard to how it all happened." Raven chose not to think about that just now, as despite the added control of emotion driven power being in Equestria gave her, rage still caused power fits on occasion. "Pinkie did throw a baby shower, but at Gilda's request it was a private affair. Just the twelve of us."
"Twelve?" Mayor Mare asked. "Who?"
"Myself, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Trixie and Gilda." She smiled. "And the egg, of course."
"Twelve plus one, huh?" Mayor Mare said jokingly.
Raven paused, then smiled. "Yes," she said quietly, as she turned back to work and other thoughts. "Twelve...plus one..."
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Later that day, Raven and the others retired to the Pony Oaks Library, Winter Wrap Up having gone without a hitch thanks to the plans she had made with Mayor Mare. Trixie had joined Pinkie's team to deliver refreshments around town, as it was decided healing spells would be exempted to the 'no magic' rule of Winter Wrap Up...although no actual healing was needed. She did, however, appear to be permanently stained pink in her facial region from the many compliments and unexpected flirtations she received from the single stallions...and mares, for that matter. While she was used to any number of comments regarding her act, personal compliments such as those she received still caught her off guard.
Raven sat down as everyone gathered. They all sipped some hot cocoa as they looked out at the setting sun, the last day of winter finished and cleaned up. She couldn't help but smile at all her friends. She frowned, though, as she noticed there was a face missing from the central table. "Where's Gilda?" she asked in confusion.
Beast Boy chuckled. "Still in the guest room. She won't leave her egg for anything just now."
A sudden screech from the Guest Room sent everyone rushing into the room, getting completely jammed in the doorway with their heads on one side and their bodies on the other. Raven quickly teleported them all into the room before anyone suffocated. "Gilda, what happened-"
"Hush!" Gilda snapped, now staring at her egg as she braced herself in front of it. "And back up." The egg was rocking.
Thinking quickly, Raven set up a one-directional light filter spell, so that everyone could see into the area where Gilda and the egg was, but nothing outside was visible from within. "This way you don't have to worry about accidental imprinting on the wrong mom," she told Gilda calmly.
Gilda nodded absently as she stared at the rapidly rocking egg. There was rapid tapping and scratching from within the egg...and then it paused.
Everyone held their breath.
Without warning, a crack ran completely up the front side of the egg and the entire thing unfolded along its vertical axis as the cub inside shrugged his way out with a spread of his still damp wings, screeching piteously. Without hesitation, Gilda scooped the little one up and pressed him against her side. Gilda suddenly inhaled, wincing. "...sharp beak," she muttered through clenched grin, as the sound of a suckling infant could be heard in the room for quite some time. When the sound died down, Gilda pulled the baby griffon out for a better look at him.
The baby still had his eyes closed as he stretched his body out and belched loudly. His lion portion was a brilliant gold, the fur at the tip of the tail and his wing feathers a blazing bronze. His eagle portion was snow white, gradiating towards sky blue at the tips of his feathers. He opened his eyes, revealing irises as red as rubies. He blinked at his mother for a time before smiling, nuzzling the claw that gently cradled him. Gilda carefully lay down, positioning her child against her side where he curled up and promptly fell asleep.
"Aww!" eleven voices said simultaneously as Raven dropped her spell. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo approached quietly to get a closer look at the new infant griffon.
Gilda couldn't stop herself from smiling as she stared down at the cub curled peacefully against her side. Despite the circumstance that had brought him into the world, it was plain the little guy had claimed his mother's heart. After a time of everyone just staring quietly at the sleeping infant, Gilda spoke up. "Red eyes...undeniable proof of his parentage there." At everyone's confused looks, Gilda explained, "Only the royal line of the Griffons have red eyes. It's supposed to be a sign of favor from our gods. That's where our current king got his name - Bloodeye. The red of one of his eyes consumes the entire eye utterly. When he took the throne from his father, he proclaimed that it was the god's sign upon him that he should rule forever."
"Forever?" Rainbow Dash asked, surprised. "But don't griffons, you know..."
Gilda shook her head. "A griffon can get sick, starve, or be slain...but unless they really let themselves go and their body collapses, old age holds no sway. Bloodeye has reigned for 800 years."
Raven managed to sum up everyone's response to this quite simply. "Whoa."
Gilda nodded. "Yeah. He's the first king in Griffon history to rule for more than 20, though. Most king's would get overthrown by their children within the first 10 years through a blood challenge."
"Blood challenge?" Robin asked curiously.
Gilda gestured towards the child's closed eyes. "The red eyes are supposed to be a symbol of divine blood. As such, any griffon with the royal red eyes may challenge the king to a blood duel, a battle to the death, to claim the throne as their own." She chuckled. "Of course, other griffons can challenge the throne as well. But the king's not required to answer those. Besides that, only someone crazy would."
"Why?" Starfire asked. "Sounds like the king has it all, from what you've said."
"For that exact reason. The king is the prime alpha of the flock, the cream of the cream of griffons. The bloodline has been selectively bred for power, speed, and agility for over 100 generations to be as close to invincible as griffons can become, and the king always trains himself harder than any other griffon. He's the symbol of the Kingdom's might." Gilda shook her head. "His distant ancestor united the kingdom by the simple expedient of proclaiming himself king and saying that any griffon who disagreed could challenge his claim in a fight to the death. He slew 500 challengers before the rest of the kingdom came to the conclusion that he was truly invincible." She closed her eyes. "The law that any griffon could challenge for the right to be king still carries over, but only princes have ever succeeded."
Scootaloo looked up. "I don't get it," she said bluntly.
Everyone laughed. "It's not important, fun size," Gilda replied, enjoying her nickname for the filly.
Smiling, Raven cleared her throat. "Actually, now that we're all here, there's something else I'd like to discuss." Everyone turned to her. She levitated out a large golden slip of paper.
Jinx spoke up. "Darling, isn't that your group ticket for the Grand Galloping Gala?"
Ignoring the gasp from Trixie, Raven nodded. "Indeed. As you may remember, this ticket is good for up to twelve, plus Spike's own ticket. And...if no one has any objections, I think I've picked the group I'd like to bring." Everyone held their breath as they watched her. She pointed to herself. "One," she said calmly. She then pointed to Starfire, Jinx, Melvin, Cyborg, and Robin in turn. "Two, three, four, five, six..."
She then pointed to the three fillies. "Seven, eight, nine." The three fillies gasped aloud, barely holding back squeals of delight as Sweetie's horn sparked and Scootaloo's wings fluttered ecstatically.
"Ten," Raven said, pointing to Trixie, who smiled widely, blushing slightly.
"Eleven," she then said, pointing to Gilda.
Gilda blinked. "Gee, that sounds...swell, but I've really got to take care of-"
"Twelve," Raven finished, pointing to the gently snoring infant.
Gilda blinked. "Really? You want me to bring him along to a stuck up, snooty event like the Gala?" she asked in surprise.
"Sure," Raven said with a smile. "That way if we all REALLY can't stand it, we have a ready-made excuse to ditch without offending anypony important."
That sparked a laugh out of everyone. Apple Bloom looked up. "Is the Grand Galloping Gala really that dull?" she asked, her voice quavering.
Raven shrugged. "Celestia seemed to think so. We'll just see if our being there doesn't liven things up, shall we?" Beast Boy groaned as he put a claw to his forehead.
Jinx suddenly gasped. "Oh my goodness! Idea!" She suddenly squealed. "If we're all going to the Gala, that would be a PERFECT time to show off my designs! I'll have to make all of us dresses for the gala! Oh, and I'll just bet that no pony designer has ever made a dress for a griffon before, I'll be breaking new ground!" She squealed with delight. "Oh this is just so exciting!"
Raven blanched. "Seriously, couldn't we just wear something simpler? Maybe something we already have just a little spruced up?"
Jinx gave her a look. "Twilight, you are the Element of Magic and Celestia's personal student. While I know you won't add any pomp or flair to your own life, you could at least use some for formal occasions."
Raven sighed. "I guess you're right."
"How wonderful!" Jinx said happily. "I'll get started on it tomorrow, and should have everyone’s done - after getting proper measurements - by the end of the week." She smiled. "I'll even have an adorable little tux set for Spike and this little fellow!" she said happily, gently stroking the infant griffon.
"Might as well not bother for his," Gilda said calmly. "Griffons grow like crazy. He's small enough to fit in my claw now, but he'll probably double his size before the week's out. He'll be about the size of Fun Size here by the time the Gala rolls around."
Jinx blinked. "Griffons grow fast, then?"
Gilda nodded. "As long as they get a good supply of meat with their diet." Gilda herself had shifted to mostly vegetarian after the egg was safely laid, so her growth had stagnated.
Fluttershy smiled. "I should be able to get him plenty."
Gilda nodded. "When he's old enough that he needs to learn to hunt, I'll take him to Everfree Forest. Good place for him to grow strong and tough."
While Trixie looked shocked at that statement, Raven smiled. "Seems like a plan."
"Speaking of plans," Jinx said happily, "why don't I get everyone's measurements now?"
Amidst groans of dismay, Jinx proceeded to measure everyone for their dresses.
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At the end of the week, Jinx wiped her brow as she looked over her work. They would all be coming today to see the dresses, and she hoped that they would appreciate her work. Currently, the dresses were hidden behind a curtain and wouldn't be revealed until everyone was there to see. The only real difficulty she'd had had been with Gilda's dress, as a griffon frame was a completely different shape from that of a pony and - as she'd discovered while taking measurements - had different stress points that had to be designed around, meaning the dress had to hang completely differently.
She heard the chime on her door and turned, smiling. "I'm so glad you all are here!" she said happily as the ten waiting friend came into the shop. "You're all just in time! I just finished the final details."
"We've all been waiting eagerly to see what you came up with," Raven said, smiling.
Jinx smiled. "Well then...without further ado..." Using her magic, she pulled the cord, opening the curtain and revealing her work.
The Mane 6 dresses had been easy enough to make, as she was able to skip the design step completely. She remembered the dresses designs quite well, having had quite the extensive miniatures collection in her room at HIVE Academy, including the Mane 6 in their Gala dresses.
(Of course, the whole collection had been destroyed when the Academy collapsed, but she tried not to think about that, especially the rarer ones from the earlier generations. She hadn't been able to rebuild the collection much yet, but Cyborg HAD gotten her the Rarity and Rainbow Dash Gala dress miniatures when she became a Titan. He'd been in her room at HIVE while undercover as Stone, and had known about her collection. It had been his way of apologizing for how much she lost because of him.)
Next had been Trixie's dress. She had taken the pattern from Trixie's stage cloak and expanded it into a full gown with a design similar to the one used in Twilight Sparkle's dress, but a bit tighter to hug Trixie's slimmer frame. She also included a hairpiece in the shape of Trixie's Cutie Mark to hang around her right ear, star in front with crescent moon behind.
Gilda's dress had been a bit more complicated to make, given the difference in frames. However, she had crafted a layered dress that cascaded over the back in dark purple and pale lilac, with a laced white bodice over her chest, with a jeweled pendant and feathered tiara as accessories. She had also included intricately laced gloves in the same colors for Gilda's forelimbs which wrapped around her talons for that extra flair.
For the CMC, Jinx had gotten rather creative in ways she hadn't anticipated, and wasn't sure herself what to make of them.
Apple Bloom's gown was a layered red on gold that hung gently on her small frame not unlike a pair of kimonos, with a green sash that wrapped around her waist. Sweetie Belle's dress was a tight fitting dark purple, with a pale purple extra layer just around her neckline in a starburst pattern. Scootaloo's dress hugged her frame gently, and was a crystalline blue with a pattern of white lines that moved across, turning at right angles, resembling circuitry. For a pendant, Jinx had shaped a pure blue sapphire into the shape of a lightning bolt and filled it with actual lightning, magically sealed within as it glittered back and forth through the facets.
As everyone gathered, marveling at the dresses (Gilda made a comment about it being a bit frou-frou for her tastes, but assumed Rarity knew what she was doing, being the fashionista), Jinx couldn't help but smile. She knew Beast Boy had also arranged a fashion show for the new designs, with Hoity Toity himself down from Canterlot to see them...and she was sure they would make Rarity a star.
However, she had to bite her lip to hold back tears when she heard Sweetie squealing for joy over the beautiful dress 'her big sister' had made just for her. She hoped Raven found out how to bring them all back soon. She couldn't stand this much longer...