//------------------------------// // Ch8 - Snowball War // Story: Celestia's Tiny Student // by CommanderX5 //------------------------------// Celestia’s Tiny Student - Chapter 8 Snowball War A thick blanket of snow covered the Royal Gardens, transforming it into a beautiful and wonderfully fluffy world, if a bit on the chilly side. Animal dens lay beneath the snowfall, filled with hibernating animals, and the tree branches were bare, save for the icicles and snow hanging from them. It would be a perfect, untouched world if it weren’t for the mass of guards, composed of ten pegasi and ten unicorns, in formation in the middle. “Errr... Does anypony know why we’re here today?” a guard asked uncertainly. “I don’t believe so, but it must be something really important if Lieutenant Armor asked us to be here. Did you see how serious he looked?” a reply came from one of the pegasi on the other side of the group. A low murmur spread through the crowd until they caught sight of the pony in question approaching. “Attention!” snapped Shining Armor, who was decked out in his officer’s armor, though he left his electric blue mane free of the accompanying helmet. Certain that he had the attention of all of the guards present, he continued, “You’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today.” The guards carefully maintained their impassive expressions despite their growing anxiety. Shining Armor gave a snort and grinned, “I thought so... You see, I have gathered you here by the order of Princess Celestia herself.” With impeccable timing, the princess took the opportunity to land next to Shining Armor just as he sounded the words to the suddenly nerve-wracked guards. “Have you gathered all of the guards that I’ve requested, Lieutenant Armor?” The princess’s tone was authoritative and steely, offering no room for pleasantry. “Of course, Your Highness. I’ve chosen them personally for the upcoming battle,” Shining Armor gave a sharp salute, before turning his gaze to the other arriving guests. “And I see that the others are here as well.” Despite the cold, the guards began sweating. None of them had been in an actual battle yet; Equestria had been at peace for over three hundred years and the most they had in battle readiness came from practiced drills and simulations. It didn’t help that Lady Cadence and the Captain of the Guard, Brave Blade, had joined the lieutenant and the princess at the front, along with Prince Blueblood, Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur de Lis, and a baby dragon, of all things. They were accompanied by several servants and two more guards, a pegasus guard and the unusual charcoal black unicorn whose ever-present scarf finally fit with the season. They joined the group already gathered there, but to the guards assembled in formation, these ponies weren’t nearly as important as the many important figures present. All of the guards looked warily between the two princesses and the Captain of the Guard, wondering exactly what prompted this collection of authority. With a curt nod, Celestia began speaking firmly, “Yes, it appears that everypony is here, Lieutenant Armor.” With another sharp salute, Shining Armor turned to address his guards, only to be interrupted by a magenta flash and a tiny lavender unicorn landing on his head. “Is everypony ready, BBBFF?” Twilight asked excitedly, barely able to contain her grin. The guards turned to look with confusion at the tiny pony standing on their superior officer’s head, though those more knowledgeable about Celestia’s prized student were already frantically attempting to figure out her role in the upcoming battle. Many worried for the safety of the tiny mare, though this was slightly overshadowed by the relief of fighting alongside one of the most powerful unicorns this side of Equestria and many more wondered if Celestia would finally dispel her shrinking spell to allow Twilight the use of her full power, for the good of Equestria. “Yes they are, Twiny, but it’s still their decision whether they would like to participate or not,” Shining Armor replied warmly to the dismay of the guards present, who quickly realized that they were about to take volunteers for whatever mission they needed completed, a sure sign of a suicide run or something equally likely to separate them from that nice thing called ‘breathing.’ It didn’t help that Overwatch had the most devilishly evil grin plastered on her face, happily telling the guards around her, “Lighten up, it’ll only be the biggest battle you’ll ever have in your life.” Shining Armor gave a loud, annoyed huff, quickly drawing the attention of the assembled guards, who were quite willing to ignore the crazy mare leisurely talking about their impending death. “Don’t think I can’t hear you, Specialist Overwatch,” he called, before continuing in his normal tone of voice. “But she’s right about this being one of the largest engagements you’ll ever have. You can back down now if you wish, but know that only the side with the stronger will to win will emerge from this battle victorious.” “That’s right! We’re going to war!” Twilight added courageously, standing on her brother head and pumping her hoof into the air. Many of the gathered guards, sweat pouring from their nervous brows, eagerly took a step back, leaving those few who had either mustered up the courage enough to fight for the tiny unicorn or those who were too frightened to step back. Shining Armor opened his mouth to speak, only to be beaten by his little sister, “Awww, only six? A snowball war would be a lot funner if more of you join, you know. It said so in my book,” Twilight began tracing tiny circles mournfully with her hoof on her brother’s head, oblivious to the fact that many of the assembled guards had suddenly decided that stumbling into the snow was much more preferable to figuring out exactly what the tiny unicorn had just revealed. Silence reigned for a long moment, until one of the assembled guards raised a hoof and asked, “Is this a joke?” Overwatch burst out into uproarious laughter, falling backwards into the snow as the gathered guards quickly aimed death glares at her, though Steel Blade simply rolled his eyes. Shining Armor gave a synchronized facehoof with Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence, “Great job Twilight. Way to ruin the prank.” “Prank? What prank?” Twilight asked, looking down at her brother cluelessly. Shining Armor could not help but smile at the anticipatory look on Twilight's face as he explained the events to his soldiers. The idea of a huge snowball fight in the sacrosanct Royal Gardens that not only was permitted, but would have a princess on one side took a little while to soak in, but eventually they all agreed it made a delightful change of pace from their normal drills. When Princess Celestia offered them two free days of leave as an apology for the prank, none of them refused the opportunity. *** With the circumstances clarified, everypony gathered around in a large group, save for the two team leaders standing in front of them, each wearing a distinctly colored band on a foreleg. The leader of Red Team was none other than Princess Celestia while the leader of Blue Team—to everypony’s surprise—was Twilight Sparkle, who was perched comfortably on top of the princess’s head with a band no larger than a piece of thick thread tied around her foreleg. “As with any game,” Celestia began, peering at the attentive faces of the crowd before her. “We must cover the rules before we start. Twilight? If you would.” Twilight gave an affirmative nod, “The goal of this game is to hit the opposing team’s flags, which, as you can see, are scattered throughout the Royal Gardens. Whoever can hit all of them will be the winner, but no one is allowed to gain an advantage by moving the flags to a more defensible position. You can only use snowballs to hit the flags or anypony on the other team.” “And finally, we’re all going to be playing on equal ground, meaning that unicorns will not be allowed to use magic and pegasi will not be able to fly,” Twilight elaborated, levitating a large collection of magic-restricting rings as well as several sets of bindings. Celestia continued Twilight’s explanation, “Indeed, all unicorns will have to wear an restraining ring and all pegasi will have their wings bound. In addition, because Earth Pony magic inherently increases their strength and stamina, all Earth Ponies will wear weighted vests to compensate.” She smiled warmly before continuing, “Just think of it as an extra workout.” She then levitated the leaden weights onto the ponies in question, nearly tripling the weight of the ponies wearing them, yet causing very little discomfort. Celestia then turned to her own weight and eyed it warily. I feel like I’m going to regret this, she thought as she levitated on the large vest made specially for her, weighed specifically in tons rather than kilograms. She groaned as the weight settled on her. Oh dear, I haven’t been lifting anything during my time as a ruler, have I? What did I just agree to? “As for me, I’m allowed to use my magic to compensate for my size disadvantage,” Twilight declared loudly as the ponies busily began putting on their handicaps. She reared up onto Celestia’s horn, standing on her two hind legs as she flipped through a tiny, but exorbitantly long, checklist that rolled down Celestia’s forehead and formed a little curl right over one royal eye. Satisfied, she looked up, and once she saw that most of them were finished, she continued, “If everypony understands the rules, we can begin forming teams. You can choose first, princess.” With that, she hopped down to Celestia’s left with a soft crunch on the snow and moved farther to the side as the princess scanned the familiar faces of her ponies, once again with a hidden smile. “I shall choose Lieutenant Shining Armor.” “Whaaaat! P-princess, why did you choose my BBBFF?” Twilight exclaimed, a pout on her face as Shining Armor hesitantly trotted forward, unsure of which side would win the upcoming battle for his body, but quite certain he was going to lose either way. “It’s very simple, my faithful student. Shining Armor is one of the strongest ponies here, even without his magic,” Celestia explained plainly, before she noticed the disappointed pout on her student's face. “Errr... but since I chose first, would you like to choose two for your team since I had my pick from everypony?” “Sounds fair, I guess.” Twilight’s pout remained, but she quickly capitalized on the offering, already running through who best to choose for her team and who she personally wanted. Two immediately popped into mind as she declared, “I choose Spike and Princess Cadence.” With that, Spike began energetically skipping to her side as Cadence followed at his heels, happy that she would not have to peg the tiny unicorn with a snowball while not bothering to hide her wings and horn behind an illusion among trusted ponies. Celestia raised an eyebrow as Twilight’s group exchanged smiles and hugs, “An odd choice, my faithful student. You know that choosing Spike will leave you at a disadvantage, correct?” Twilight simply shrugged, “We’re here to have fun, aren’t we? Does it really matter who I choose?” Celestia smiled warmly at her student before turning back to the group at large, tapping her hoof to her muzzle in thought. “If that’s how you want to play it, my faithful student, then I shall choose Fancy Pants.” Fancy Pants raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I say, I was rather expecting to be chosen last, given my shameful lack of interest in physical activities, but I appreciate being chosen so early, Your Highness,” he said before trotting over to Celestia’s group. “Aww... I wanted Fancy Pants on my team. No matter. I choose Blueblood then,” Twilight exclaimed loudly as she pointed out the surprised prince, who had just then been staring at Fancy Pants in envy. He looked unsteadily at the heavily-muscled Shining Armor on the other team, but managed a weak smile as he walked over to Twilight. Celestia gave a nod. “Very well. I choose Overwatch.” The mare in question smiled and trotted soundlessly through the crisp snow. “Hmm... Who should I choose?” Twilight asked aloud to the very attentive faces of the guards present. A few even raised one of their hooves, but Twilight managed to spot one familiar pegasus in the back, “I choose Steel Blade.” Steel Blade trotted over shamelessly, giving a warm smile at Twilight before looking over to the other team, soon noticing that Overwatch was giving him a knowing, wolfish grin while idly tossing a snowball in the air. Steel Blade suddenly looked very self-conscious as his eyes flickered between Twilight and Overwatch before he gave himself a solid facehoof and a small groan. Celestia looked amusedly at Steel Blade before turning to pick the stallion’s father. “Captain Brave Blade,” she stated, though she felt a bit guilty for taking the brilliant aerial mastermind and more than a bit dismayed at how one-sided the teams were starting to look, even with the advantage she’d left Twilight prior to the event. “Fleur!” Twilight exclaimed, and the mare moved elegantly to her side, exchanging a sporting grin with her husband on the other side. Celestia looked thoughtfully at the rest of the group before pointing a hoof to choose a guard near the front. Between Twilight and Celestia, the rest of the group was quickly split between the two sides, though many of the stallion guards and servants seemed strangely eager to be on a team with Twilight, Fleur, and Cadence. With teams finally established, both sides quickly split up, ready to make the most of their one hour of preparation time. “What’s the status on the fort, Cadence?” Twilight asked sternly, perched atop Spike’s shoulder as she levitated another block of ice over. “The fortress is almost ready, General Sparkle!” Cadence replied cheerfully, a smile plastered on her face. “Thanks to your freezing spell, we’ll have a solid defense against the enemy’s assault. I never knew Celestia taught you such advanced spells, Twilight.” Twilight blushed with pride, “She taught it to me after I levitated her for more than five minutes without having a power surge. I remember like it was week ago.” “It was a week ago, Twilight,” Spike mumbled. “I bet the princess taught it to you just for today’s game.” “I’m sure it was just a coincidence,” Twilight replied, dismissing it with a hoof before once again concentrating on freezing another bubble of water into an ice block. Spike shot her a deadpan stare before he turned to look at the pile of innumerable buckets of water left conspicuously beside every one of their flags. Steel Blade trotted up, snapping a salute to the tiny unicorn. “General, the time we had to prepare is almost up. As you ordered, we have stockpiled snowballs behind each barrier near our flags, and we are ready for their assault.” “Thank you, sir,” Twilight replied politely, checking a small timer. Noting its time, she cast a quick sound-amplification spell and shouted, “Everypony to your stations! The battle will commence in two minutes.” Her command instantly mobilized her forces, and though she lacked the military experience her brother had, her battlements were neat and organized, allowing her team coverage of nearly every zone. Cadence watched as the other ponies galloped to their places for a while before turning to Twilight. “You know they have both Princess Celestia and Shining Armor in the lead, right? And not to mention the Captain of the Royal Guard, Brave Blade, as well. Even if your brother has only just begun his training as a leader, he’s still smart, strong, and a wonderf—” Cadence paused, shaking her head “— experienced officer. We’re up against the Princess and two of the best officers in Equestria. Are you sure we can win, Twilight?” “Of course we can! I read all about it! And besides, we’re here to have fun, right? So let’s do our best!” Twilight shouted, to the enthusiastic whooping from the guards as they prepared for the oncoming onslaught. “We are in position and ready to attack on your command, Your Highness.” Brave Blade snapped a practiced salute, along with a squad of pegasus guards right behind him. Celestia nodded. “Thank you, Brave Blade. And just call me Celestia, please. This is just a game after all, not a real battle. There is no need to be so formal.” “Yes, Your Hi—I mean—yes, Celestia,” Brave Blade quickly corrected himself before turning to the battlefield, scanning it with an experienced eye. “I must admit though, your student seems to have inherited the same defensive nature as her brother. I’ve never seen such a powerful defense prepared in such a short amount of time, even under pressure.” Celestia beamed at this compliment. “I must agree with you, Brave Blade,” she replied pridefully. “She may lack formal military training, but she’s smart and has good instincts. I wouldn’t be surprised if she learned about fighting with a home advantage from her books. Or even from playing games with her friend...” Celestia frowned slightly. “What was his name again?” she mused, before her face lit up in recognition. “Ah yes. White Path, Fancy Pants’ son. Twilight told me they’ve played a few war games together, though you can imagine my surprise when I heard that she was interested in such coltish activities. It’s a shame we weren’t able to invite him, but I’d fear too much for his safety to allow him to get pelted by a guard.” “Perhaps it is better that he isn’t here then, Your Hi—Celestia,” Brave Blade remarked offhandedly. “I’m a little disappointed that we won’t be able to concentrate our attacks to take down her flags sequentially though. As much as I would like to blitz the entire game, it now appears that Shining Armor’s suggestion that we leave a few troops behind to defend has some merit, to defend against backdoor threats if our attacking forces are stuck sieging those fortifications.” Celestia looked concernedly at Brave Blade. “You say that there is merit in his suggestions now, but did you find an issue with his plans when he first suggested them?” Brave Blade shook his head. “No, Celestia. It’s likely just a difference in our methods. His plans are as solid as mine are, but we might have a few issues if two officers try to give contradicting orders to the same body of troops, especially in a group this small.” Celestia simply nodded. “We shall have to work those out as we go along then; our time for preparation is up. Are you ready, Captain?” Brave Blade stood straighter, looking powerful despite his age as he replied, “As ready as these old bones of mine will let me.” He looked over at Shining Armor near the front lines, already commanding soldiers to their correct places as a strong, charismatic leader. Such a vast improvement over these last few months, he thought, smiling. Carefully crafted by Celestia’s subtle hoof to such a fine, young stallion. I have no doubt he will become a suitable, nay, a superior candidate for Captain of the Royal Guard in the coming years. If it weren’t for Nightmare Moon, I’d be able to rest easy hanging up my sword. Red Team wasted little time in heading an assault against the first flag, with Princess Celestia herself at the helm of her little vanguard. They numbered eight Red Team ponies against the two Blue Team members, a pegasus guard and an earth pony maid, currently behind cover. Though the defending side had plenty of snowballs stockpiled, they were given little time to aim as snowballs continually pelted their little outpost. As four of the Red Team ponies provided covering fire, the other four were able to move up and so repeat the process to move the rest of the squad up. Blue Team wasn’t without their victories however; there was really no need to aim when there were eight targets on the field and the bounty of snowballs meant that they could simply continue throwing snowballs in the general direction of Princess Celestia to score hits on Red Team. Despite their numerical deficit, they were managing to hold their attackers at bay. Princess Celestia quickly blew a bit of snow off her muzzle and shrugged off any hits made to her leaden vest as she hid behind some makeshift cover. She gave a pout at the withering barrage from the fortification before ducking to make more snowballs for her team to push up, all the while cursing the extra weight she needed to carry around. As a mostly stationary pony, she was never as fit as she should be, but dodging snowballs was nearly impossible when she was the largest and heaviest target on the field. That, and she was afraid she might crush one of her teammates with her increased weight if she tried to roll out of the way. She felt a hoof tap her side as she finished with a small pile of ammunition and turned to see a pegasus guard, who spoke quickly. “I think we have enough for now, Your Highness. We’re ready to cover your initial push whenever you’re ready.” With a quick nod, she turned towards the edge of their cover, tensing her legs. With a sharp “Go!” she sprinted from cover, a sudden barrage from her side forcing the two defenders to stop their enthusiastic bombardment. Quickly closing another few meters to the fortification, she jumped, curled up, and hurled herself through the air, leading with her broad back. She landed with a heavy skid, quickly piling up snow in another makeshift barrier, and her troops quickly moved up to their new cover. Just another stepping stone forward. She grinned at her work, just before another snowball grazed the back of her neck and scattered little fragments of ice down the few warm parts she had left. With a convulsive shiver, she peeked over the edge of the barrier and blinked snow out of her eyelashes. Too bad this cover couldn’t stand to be just a teensy bit taller. *** “Are you really sure that it’s proper for us to assault the princess like this?” the earth pony maid asked nervously before haphazardly chucking another snowball over the cover. “Of course it is! Didn’t you hear her? Today’s the day I don’t have to act like a stupid statue all the time, and if the princess wants ponies to treat her like any other, I shall not refuse!” he exclaimed, throwing another snowball at the approaching ponies before ducking down again, avoiding the several frozen projectiles that just flew over his head. “And who else is going to be able to say that they pegged Princess Celestia with a snowball? This story’s going to be passed down through generations, I tell you!” The maid quickly suppressed a laugh, chucking another snowball over. She ducked back down, taking a quick glance around before her eyes suddenly widened in shock. “Watch out!” she shouted, jumping at the pegasus guard just as he rose to fire off another shot. The guard face-planted into the snow under the leaden weight of the earth pony mare, who was now conveniently three times heavier thanks to her vest. A hail of snowballs pelted the side of their fortification that Princess Celestia was decidedly not on. The pegasus guard spit out a muzzle-full of snow with a groan before peering over the cover at the new attackers. “It’s Captain Brave Blade. He’s flanking us while the princess pushes forward,” he stated to the mare before looking at their meager supplies of snowballs. He gave a defeated huff, “This post is lost. Get the rest of these over the walls at them and we’ll get back to the next defensive position.” The two worked through the rest of their stockpile exceedingly quickly, stomping out what they couldn’t throw before fleeing and allowing Red Team to take their first flag. “General, we’ve lost most of the flags on our front lines, and most of our forces have been pushed back to their secondary defensive positions,” a pegasus guard reported to the tiny mare perched on Spike, looking out from their central fortress. “Do we know how many are attacking?” Twilight’s voice was calculating as she tapped her hooves together in a tiny pyramid. “I counted six pegasus guards, five castle servants, and a single unicorn. Captain Brave Blade and Princess Celestia are leading the charge.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That’s a majority of their forces, though if I know my brother, he will probably be defending their flags at their base, which just makes things harder,” she mused aloud. “But if they keep pushing like this, they’ll be extended too far from their base to defend it. It’s a lost cause to hold our first line of defense, but they’ve brought us enough time to prepare for our offensive. Prince Blueblood!” Blueblood flinched. “Y-yes?” “I need you to take the majority of our remaining forces on a special mission. Your orders are to circle around into the rear of enemy territory and take out their flags from behind. It won’t take long before this fort is surrounded, but with most of their forces here, you should be able to overcome any of their remaining defensive forces,” Twilight stated authoritatively. Blueblood’s eyes widened in shock. “You can’t be serious! Everypony on their side is just waiting for the opportunity to peg me with a snowball. I’m sure that all of them will ignore the rest of my guards to aim for me!” Blueblood replied incredulously, not looking forward to facing the accurate snowy wrath of Shining Armor at all. Twilight gasped. “That’s brilliant! If you can distract the troops they’ve left behind and draw their fire, the rest of the strike team will be able to tag all of their flags with barely any resistance! That’s a wonderful plan, Blueblood!” she exclaimed happily before turning her attention to the ponies left in the base. “Everypony, Blueblood has offered to act as a decoy so that we can win this war! Let’s give him a big ‘hurrah’ before he goes!” Blueblood’s eyes opened further, but anything he was going to say was drowned out by a resounding ‘Hurrah!’ throughout the fort. He simply groaned, muttering a quick, “Thanks.” He straightened up after a moment and departed from the fort at the head of his chortling soldiers, determined to get through this with at least a few shreds of his dignity, if not his frostbitten well-being intact. With Blueblood gone, Twilight turned to the dragon she was still using as a perch. “Do you understand the importance of your mission, Spike? I’m counting on you to bring us a win!” Spike gave Twilight a wide grin. “Of course I’m going to bring us a win! With Spike on the job, we can’t possibly lose,” he said proudly before handing Twilight to Cadence and departing after Blueblood. Cadance looked around at the ponies still left in the fort, a small group of volunteers including herself, Twilight, and Steel Blade. “So it’s our job to buy Blueblood and Spike more time, right?” Cadence asked Twilight hesitantly. “Just remember that even if you can use magic, you’re still small, and what would be a harmless snowball for us may actually hurt you.” Twilight rolled her eyes on top of her new perch on Cadence’s head. “You promised you wouldn’t worry about me.” “And you promised you wouldn’t do anything I’d have to worry about, and allowing yourself to get hit by a speeding ball of ice bigger than you are doesn’t exactly fall in that category,” Cadence replied firmly. Twilight pouted and opened her mouth to reply, but she was interrupted by a shout from the sentry, “General, the enemy is advancing!” With a nod, Twilight teleported to the observation tower where she scanned the attacking forces, quickly spotting her mentor at its head. “Listen up everypony,” she called. “The time has come for us to make our stand against them! They may have taken down our outposts, but as long as we hold this point together, we can hold out long enough to win this! So LET’S WIN THIS!” She was answered with a resounding cheer from her gathered forces, and they prepared to unleash their avalanche of snowballs. “Hold on a second,” Celestia said, hiding behind a bit of cover as her forces prepared to move on the fort. “Exactly how many of the Royal Guards are hiding crushes on my student?” Overwatch grinned widely. “A lot. Dead serious. And can you blame them? She’s soooo cute, and she’s growing to be a fine, young mare. If it weren’t for the fact that she’s your student, and well, the size issue, I’m sure she would have received a polite request for a date by now.” Celestia blinked. “And you’re sure about this?” “Princess, you and I both know that stallions are terrible at hiding their emotions. You just need to take a look around, and it’ll be painfully obvious,” Overwatch spoke sagely before her mouth curled up in a sly grin. “But hey, at least you won’t have to worry about her love life. I imagine she might even have a cute line of candidates when she—” Anything Overwatch might have said further was cut off as she quickly ducked under a snowball speeding past where her head was. She raised a hoof in anger, shouting over her snowy barrier, “I saw that, Steelie! You get over here and fight me like a stallion!” She was quickly beset by a few more snowballs, one managing to pelt her right on her muzzle. She shook off the snow and narrowed her eyes at the fort, “Oh it is on, Steelie.” Celestia focused her concentration on the suspiciously well-aimed barrage that was pinning down her forces instead. There’s no way they should be able to hit us at this range, she thought, before noticing the light-magenta aura around each of them. “Watch out everypony. These snowballs are being levitated somehow.” She watched as several of the snowballs thrown by her own side landed miserably short while the enemy’s snowballs actually changed direction in mid-air to fling themselves at exposed ponies, easily making the distance. So she’s actually redirecting the snowballs rather than throwing them herself. No wonder they’re so accurate at this range. She was quickly distracted by a speeding snowball from her own side, which flew like a laser directly at an unfortunate pony on the fort. “Bam! Right in the kisser, Steelie! How'd you like me now?” Overwatch shouted, before doing a short victory dance and squinting for her next target. Celestia gave a confused blink. *** Steel Blade wiped the snowball from his muzzle and shook out the stars dancing around his head. He looked up at Twilight on her observation tower. “Permission to engage the sharpshooting unicorn?” “Permission denied, Steel Blade,” Twilight replied. “You know as well as I do that we cannot spare any more ponies merely to chase down just one of their—” The snowball that hit Twilight plucked her off the observation point so quickly that Steel Blade thought for a moment that she had teleported away. That is until Twilight came burrowing out of a loose snowdrift behind him, sneezing twice to clear her nose of impacted snow before looking him straight in the eye. “Get her.” Steel Blade gave her a salute, “Yes sir!” A distant call echoed over the snowcovered battlefield. “You afraid of getting your flank handed to you by a mare, Steelie?” Steel Blade quickly straightened up, furrowing his brow and quickly returning to his snowball pile, flinging them with renewed vigor at his distant target. There was a certain nervous prance to Blueblood’s trot as he led his mismatched forces on a circular route in the direction of the distant enemy flags. Even despite a dusting of snow, perspiration beaded his flanks in anticipation of a sudden ambush or assault that would pound him into a frosty heap while his soldiers merely laughed at his predicament. Or worse, joined in. “Nervous, Prince?” asked Fleur softly while trotting by his side. There was a natural grace in her tone that meshed perfectly with her effortless gait as her pace matched the prince’s unsteady hooves. Even though her presence was a welcome distraction from his thoughts, when she brushed up against his neck in a manner that was supposed to be comforting, the reaction was anything but relaxing. Blueblood jumped away as if he had been stung, but he recovered within a few steps and gave a short laugh that had not a single trace of humor inside it, only worry. “Nervous? Moi? Why would I, a Prince of Equestria, be nervous while playing some silly game created by low class ponies?” Fleur laughed, reading Blueblood just as effortlessly as if he were an open book with large print and little drawings on each page detailing his exact actions. “Oh! My dear, brave prince. Of course there is nothing to be nervous about! It is not like every pony on both sides would love to see you buried. Under snow, that is.” Fleur chided him softly, swishing her tail over his back while laughing in soft tones that brought involuntary smiles to the rest of the strike force. Blueblood rolled his eyes, “Fine... I am tired of acting. You and Fancy Pants could always see past my facade. So what if I fear the slings and snowballs of outrageous fortune today. Why should you care? Are you not concerned for your own safety? Admittedly, it is only snow, but do you think none of those handsome stallions would even dare to throw a snowball at your beautiful face?” There was a bit of annoyance in his normally snobby voice that only grew as he noticed the stallions trotting along with him all shaking their heads at the thought of actually assaulting the beautiful fashion model. “Whatever do you mean, darling?” Fleur asked innocently, pausing to toss her mane back and take a dramatic pose alongside a male servant, who blushed and almost fainted. Although some of the guards may have had a crush on little Twilight for being such a brave and strong mare, every male in the city just seemed to lose their mind when even looking at Fleur. Even some of the female servants tended to long, speculative looks when they thought she was not paying attention. *** To Blueblood’s immense relief, his conversation with Fleur was disrupted by a short barrage of snowballs from a nearby bush. To his regret, they nearly all struck him instead of his followers. “So, you were brave enough to show your pretty face on the field of battle after all,” said Shining Armor, hefting a sizeable snowball on one hoof as he emerged from behind a tree, along with several other well-armed stallions. “I had expected you to hide inside my sister’s fortress or just run away with your tail between your legs. Now you have blundered straight into my ambush! Attack! For Celestia!” As Blueblood and Shining Armor’s forces began to engage in battle, it quickly turned into something more like target practice than an actual fight. Besieged by a constant bombardment of snow from the enemy’s forces (and the occasional snowball that fell ‘short’ from his own), the handsome stallion quickly turned tail and fled. Unwilling to allow Blueblood to depart the field of battle unvanquished, Shining Armor and several guard pressed their pursuit, following him with a great deal of enthusiasm (and snow). “I may lose this game,” shouted Shining Armor, heaving another snowball at the hated rump of his nemesis, “but this is a once in a lifetime chance to repay this jerk for his behavior. Generations of snubbed mares and embarrassed colts will long remember this day, when justice finally caught up to his craven actions. Forgive me, Princess Celestia…” Taking a dramatic stand on top of a low snow mound, Shining Armor pointed at Blueblood and bellowed in a voice that could be heard outside Canterlot castle. TODAY WE BURY THE PRINCE IN SNOW!” As the stampede of enemy forces departed in pursuit of the rapidly accelerating Blueblood (taking a few friendly ones too), Fleur gathered her remaining soldiers and struck out for the field of red flags, now nearly defenseless. “Stallions,” she scoffed with a flip of her perfectly curled mane. The battle in front of Twilight’s fortress turned into a siege once the outlying fortifications had fallen, forcing a general retreat of the defenders to the final refuge of their icy walls. Twilight did her best to coordinate the defensive fire by way of levitation-guided snowy missiles while using her small size and teleportation spell to evade the few snowballs that wound up directed at her, but the situation was grim indeed and about to get worse. Unluckily for Twilight, a fortress made of ice did not make for firm footing, and eventually the inevitable slip occurred. Surrounded by the enemy and unable to teleport for freedom, she quickly used the shielding spell Shining Armor had taught her as she became the target of the entire attacking force. A veritable blizzard of snowballs bombarded her barrier, bashing and beating against the magical pink bubble until her knees trembled and sweat dripped from her face. The relentless assault continued without pause, keeping her pinned down just a few yards from relative safety. “Back! Back you fiends!” shouted Cadence, attempting to provide covering fire for Twilight by a steady stream of ammunition that took a heavy toll on the exposed attackers. But even as she attempted to jump outside the fortress walls on a suicidal rescue mission, the same slippery ice that had so rudely interfered with Twilight’s stability made her slip, the heavy lead vest she was wearing only making her embarrassing slide backwards on her rump down the inside wall of the fortress even more humiliating. Celestia hesitated for a moment in her throwing to admire how well her student was keeping her barrier up despite the constant attack. Although she did not want to fight against the tiny brave unicorn, she steeled her will to continue. It would not be fair to hold back her efforts, for both her ponies who were depending on her to lead them to victory and her student would not want her to play favorites, even if it was just a game. With a steady eye, she took aim at her student’s magical shield and raised her well-packed snowball for a powerful throw. I’m sorry, Twilight. This is going to hurt me a lot more than it’s going to hurt you. Despite the massive load of lead on her back, Celestia’s strength made the snowball fairly sizzle through the air, obliterating itself against the pink shield protecting her student and causing a spiderweb of little cracks to splinter across the impact point. The shield spell jerked back in recoil from the kinetic energy released, plowing Twilight’s little hooves backwards through the densely packed snow beneath her before she tripped and landed on her back. Ever so slowly, the little unicorn opened her eyes. The pounding of snowballs against her fractured shield spell had ceased when Celestia had put a crack in it, but now the huge white alicorn towered over her student, with snowball in hoof. “Please, Twilight. Surrender. Your forces fought long and hard, and there is no shame in surrendering when the odds are against you.” “No!” shouted Twilight, scrambling to her hooves as the shield spell resonated with her voice so everypony could hear. “I have ponies who are counting on me. I will not surrender! Do your worst, Princess Celestia.” “Very well.” Celestia raised her snowball high above the cracked shield that still protected her student, and threw it straight down with no small amount of worry. The tightly packed ball of snow hammered the magenta hemisphere down into the surrounding snow, and when Twilight struggled back to the surface, there were cracks all the way through her battered shield, even though she still held her head high. “You’ll have to do better than that,” she shouted, the cracks in the shield making her voice sound warped and distorted. Bracing her hooves against the snow, Twilight nodded at the princess and shouted, “Again!” Packing up yet another snowball, Celestia took a step backwards and aimed, trying her best to estimate just exactly how much was left in Twilight’s shield as to flatten it without hurting her student. Certainly once her shield was down, she would surrender. Right? A splatter of snowballs from the rest of her forces speckled the damaged shield over Twilight before Celestia spread her wings and commanded, “Hold your fire! This is between my student and myself. Do not interfere.” Hefting her own snowball once, she leaned back and flung it with calculated force at Twilight, feeling a sense of relief as the shield shattered under the impact without hurting her student. “Princess, is that the best you can do?” Twilight shook off the dusting of snow that had sprinkled her coat and braced her hooves. “I can take that all day,” she mocked with a note of challenge in her voice that matched the look of concentration in her eyes. “Surrender, Twilight! Your shield is down, and you are defenseless!” Celestia punctuated her demand for surrender with a snowball, thrown as gently as she could manage. Twilight did not even bother to evade the attack, lowering her glowing horn and meeting the missile in an explosion of snow that left her coat and mane tipped with little crystals of frost when the remains of the snowball had cleared. “Is that the hardest you can hit, Princess?” shouted Twilight, shaking her coat to scatter little bits of snow in all directions. “You’re stronger than that. I can take it. Don’t hold back on my account. I can take whatever all of you can dish out!” Nearly crushed beneath my hoof by accident a year ago, and you are still trying to prove yourself, my wonderful little student. After this, no pony will look down on you because of your size. I will respect your wish, even though it will hurt both of us. “Very well, my student. Catch!” Hefting another snowball, Celestia flung it at her student with more force than she felt comfortable using. A sense of pride filled her chest as the impact threw the little unicorn over a meter backwards, making Twilight land on her hind legs but still managing to maintain her balance. “More!” Twilight’s voice echoed across the battlefield, bringing a barrage against the small target that Celestia would have been horrified about just a few minutes ago. Due to her small size, many of the enthusiastically flung missiles actually didn’t hit Twilight, and those that did, she met head-on, in explosions of powdery snow that caused more than one sneeze to emerge from the obscured target. “Are you even trying, Princess? I’m right here!” Ignoring a twinge in her back that a more rigorous exercise program would have prevented, Celestia hefted a last snowball and took careful aim. It was time to put an end to this before Twilight got hurt, and even though this might be dangerous, it was far better if she did it then one of her soldiers, for she would find it far harder to forgive them than herself. Twilight spotted the determination in her mentor’s eyes, as well as the massive snowball in her hooves, and prepared herself. With hind legs braced firmly, she lowered her head and steeled her will for what was coming. The snowball was launched. It flew in a straight line, kicking up a rooster-tail of loose snow in its wake. Unstoppable. Until it hit. This time there was no simple explosion of snow upon impact. The purple target flew backwards, far harder than before as she smashed into the unyielding icy walls of the fortress and remained pinned there, surrounded by tiny cracks in the ice. “G-good one, Princess,” said Twilight, coughing out a little snow and shaking her head. “Are you prepared to surrender now, Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia spoke with all the authority of her position, but behind the mask she felt disappointment at having hurt her student when they should have been having fun instead. Certainly there would be other times when they could cast aside the burdens of their positions and just enjoy themselves in simple things like she and Luna used to do before… “N-now there’s the strength I hoped to f-feel f-from you princess,” said Twilight firmly, her breath showing in little white clouds as she was trapped against the ice. “B-but I am not g-going to surrender y-yet.” Celestia shook herself from her memories and made another snowball while she looked at her trapped student. Oh, Twilight. You are so much like her. If only I could make you happy without hurting you like this. She hefted the snowball and threw, a much more carefully calculated toss that did not meet its expected target, but instead stuck a much larger pink obstacle as Cadence dropped down in front of her student. “If you want to get Twilight, you must pass me first,” Cadence growled, fierce determination in her voice as her wings snapped forward, launching two large snowballs into Celestia’s surprised face. As if that had broken an informal cease-fire, Celestia’s forces responded in kind, peppering the pink alicorn with precisely propelled projectiles, preventing a proper rescue of her pinned prodigy by the pretty princess. Not to be outdone by a foalsitter, Steel Blade and six guards followed right into the withering fire, returning snowballs as rapidly as they could despite being severely outnumbered. “What are you d-doing?” stammered Twilight, still stuck to the icy wall of the fortress and unable to see the fight due to the number of defenders who had flung their bodies in front of her. “You’ve opened the door for the enemy!” Cadence spread a wing to shield her little charge while laying down a pattern of fire against several of Celestia’s soldiers. “We just couldn’t leave you face Celestia alone.” “And we’re not going to leave you hanging,” said Steel Blade, carefully freeing her from the ice wall and tucking Twilight under his wing to keep her warm, despite a sudden twitch when tiny icy hooves met warm pegasus underwing. The twitch was only amplified as a snowball caught him right upside the head, the voice of Overwatch giving firm indication as to its source. “Steelie! You’re doing it all wrong! You’re supposed to buy her dinner first! DINNER!” The final word was punctuated by yet another snowball finding its mark on Steel Blade’s muzzle. The pegasus stallion stood flabbergasted for a moment, blushing deeply as Cadence took a break from her barrage to giggle at the guards’ antics. Twilight simply popped her head up from under his wing, diving out of the warm feathers for other cover as Steel Blade quickly recomposed himself and rushed towards the source of the taunting. He quickly scooped up a pile of snow on the run, not once breaking stride as he boomed, “You asked for this!” The whirr of flying snowballs faded for a bit as the two sides watched Overwatch and Steel Blade fling themselves into a running battle, diving for cover and returning deadly accurate fire as they vanished over a nearby hillock with only the sounds of mortal combat filtering back. For a brief moment, all eyes were on Brave Blade as he shook his head over his son’s abrupt disappearance, and faint snickers and snorts could be heard across the battlefield. The moment of levity was broken, however, by Celestia’s abrupt call. “The doors are open! Now is our chance! Charge!” It didn’t take long for the rest of the flags in Twilight’s fortress to fall as what seemed like the entire Red Team rushed in. A ceasefire soon came into effect once the last flag was hit, and both teams began relaxing around the site of their battle, with some of the unicorns lighting small fires here and there. Hot chocolate was provided by a few servants who had not chosen to participate and the atmosphere loosened up as bodies began to warm. Celestia wrapped her cold student in her expansive wings, fluffing them out to release the warmth trapped within its feathery layers as she spoke reassuringly, “Don’t worry about it too much, my dear student. You may have lost, but the odds were against you from the start. I’m still proud that you still put your all into this game.” Twilight beamed up at her mentor from between the feathers. “I don’t think you’ve seen our all quite yet, princess.” “Indeed, I say. Princess, I have some err… bad news for you,” Fancy Pants spoke as he approached Princess Celestia from behind, a considerable amount of snow clinging to his winter clothes. Celestia looked up from the fire in front of her with a note of concern, made only stronger by Twilights suppressed snort of laughter from under her wing. “Report, please,” she commanded, her tone sharper than she intended due to the distraction of tiny frozen hooves warming themselves in her underwing. Fancy Pants flinched at the stern tone from his princess, but quickly composed himself. “But of course, Your Highness,” he said, his refined accent calm and collected. “While you all were attacking this fort, Twilight’s forces launched their own counterattack on our flags.” Celestia eyebrows drew together, although there was a sparkle of laughter in her eyes caused by a faint squeal of joy from under her wing. “What about Shining Armor and his defensive squad?” “He led a squad to chase down Blueblood when he appeared near our fortifications. When the bulk of Twilight’s forces attacked after he left, I was left the task of regrouping our rather meager defense. Needless to say, it didn’t quite work out in my favor,” Fancy Pants said apologetically, becoming slightly dejected as he continued to talk. “Very true, my love.” The light, airy voice of Fleur caused all heads to turn, and one stallion to be pounded on the back as he accidentally inhaled a few marshmallows from his hot cocoa. The Prench unicorn was gracefully trotting in the direction of her husband, a large snowball balanced on the top of her head and a look of mischief in her eyes. “I’m hurt that you ran away before I could give you my little gift.” Abruptly she burst into a run, darting for her husband at full speed. “Stop her!” shouted Brave Blade, and a few weakly thrown snowballs lofted through the air at the fashion model, who dodged them all without even disturbing the ball of snow balanced on her head. Some of the female combatants put more effort into their throws, but even then, Fleur danced through the line of fire unharmed, showing more agility than anypony had expected. “How careless of me, my love,” called out Fancy Pants, quickly scooping together a large snowball of his own. “I must find a gift of my own to return your—” The two meet in an explosion of snow as their mutual missiles found their respective targets, and when the icy flakes had finished flying, both snowcovered ponies were wrapped in a passionate embrace. “How romantic,” said Cadence, so stunned by the open display of love that she nearly dropped the cocoa she held in one hoof. Other ponies blushed, and Celestia turned her head to give her trusted subjects at least a little bit of privacy. “We won!” shouted Twilight as she burst out from under Celestia’s feathers and began leaping from soldier to soldier to their surprise. Even Fancy Pants and Fleur could not help but snicker at the ecstatic little unicorn, in particular when she bounced off their own heads on her leaps of joy. “Twilight? Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia attempted to get the attention of her student, finally resorting to simply shouting. “Twilight! My forces took out all of your flags before yours.” “I don’t think so.” Spike climbed up the ice fortress with his sharp claws and took a dramatic stance at the entrance. With his announcement, he became the focus of every pony’s attention even as the rest of Twilight’s forces began to straggle in behind him. “What do you mean?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “Oh, that’s simple. Before the battle even started, Twilight ordered us to make a small igloo over one of the flags and cover it in snow, a flag which you all missed,” Spike stated with a sly grin. “Twilight and the rest of the defenders tried to buy as much time as possible while Blueblood was acting as a distraction so that Twilight’s army could take out all of your flags,” Spike explained. “And what about fortifications that Lieutenant Armor ordered to build?” asked Brave Blade, looking up at the little dragon with a growing sense of unease. “Oh, those? I melted them with my flames. After all, the rules stated that we could only use snowballs to attack ponies and flags, it didn’t say anything about using flames against fortifications,” Spike replied proudly. Brave Blade chuckled and walked towards Twilight. “While we were busy attacking fortified positions one by one to take all of your blue flags, we expected that every one of your flags had a fortification. We didn’t expect you to hide one. To think, the ruler of Equestria, in addition to two of the most brilliant officers in the Equestrian military were outsmarted by a miniature-sized mare.” A bright red blush that had nothing to do with the cold snow rose around Twilight’s cheeks. “T-thank you. I am trying my best.” “Hey everypony, did we win? Did I miss anything?” Shining Armor asked as he trotted up to his sister’s ice fort, looking around the ponies gathered around drinking cocoa and laughing. For half of the ponies, the laughter abruptly stopped, while for the other half, it grew. ”We won... right?” “No, we did not win, you imbecile,” growled Brave Blade. “You cost as the victory. While you were off throwing snowballs at Blueblood like some happy foal, your sister outsmarted us.” Shining Armor glanced through the angry expressions of the ponies around him in mild shock before simply smiling contentedly. “Worth it,” he proclaimed with a broad grin to the begrudging agreement among the soldiers of both sides. Twilight relaxed in a small nest between Celestia’s wings, using a small mug of cocoa for both internal and external warmth. It had been a remarkable day, topped with a triumph, and even though Brave Blade was chasing her brother around with a mutual snowball pelting, they were both laughing nearly as hard as Celestia. It was a warm sensation that filled her heart, only partially from the amount of cocoa that was spilling whenever her mentor laughed, and it was a day she would treasure forever. So, despite his flaws, Blueblood really did do everything he could to distract my brother and his forces to give us the victory. When I grow up, I hope to become as brave as he is, ready to sacrifice my own good for good of everypony else. * * * Celestia’s laughter slowed as her two officers finished their snowfight. Twilight went over to her brother to help brush the snow off his back as Celestia went to Brave Blade instead and pulled the old pegasus up out of the snowdrift where the younger and stronger lieutenant had eventually dumped his commanding officer. “Captain, before we both take our old bones inside and sit in front of a fireplace for the rest of the day, we seem to be missing some ponies.” Brave Blade quit knocking snow out of his ear and looked around, slowly beginning to smile as he took inventory of the missing. “Your Highness, I don’t think you should worry. My guards are off-duty as of a few minutes ago, and there are more than a few budding romances among our armies.” Both of them carefully turned away from where Cadence was helping brush the snow from Shining Armor with Twilight’s assistance, with the older ponies trying their best to keep from breaking out in giggles at the sight. After a while, Celestia suddenly blinked as a thought occurred to her. “Brave, where do you think your son and Overwatch have gone?” Brave Blade merely shook his head in a motion that had become quite familiar. “They’re probably just hanging around somewhere with each other.” Meanwhile, deep within the Royal Garden… “I thought you weren’t allowed to use magic!” “I didn’t.” “Then how did you set this up so quickly?” “Tut, tut. You’re just not thinking broad enough, Steelie.” Steel Blade scowled as he swung slowly back and forth underneath the spreading willow tree, its broad snow-covered branches providing an effective cover preventing any noise he made from reaching the rest of the garden. Regrettably, its branches also gave a stout tie-down point for Overwatch’s scarf, which had been somehow wrapped around his body during the treacherous ambush. Now with his legs and wings pinned together, he was experiencing the ‘joy’ of being upside-down and helpless, with the smirking unicorn giving him little pushes to make him continue swinging to and fro under the branches. In desperation, he decided to use his absolute last option. “We’re missing the cocoa.” Overwatch gave the hogtied pegasus an extra push with just the slightest rotation, before she hopped down from the tree, landing with a soft crunch. “Nope. Just you, dear Steelie!” she called back as she trotted away. “But don’t worry, I’ll be back with your cocoa soon!” His shout of frustration was just out of hearing range from the rest of the celebrating army, headed back into the castle for warm fireplaces and great steaming mugs of delicious cocoa after a long day filled with excitement.