WINTER
Fresh snow fell in soft flurries from the clouded sky, leaving the ground covered in its powdered whiteness. It was quiet on the edge of the Everfree Forest. The silence only broken occasionally by the sounds of animals making their way through the trees. A rather large stone home sat near the treeline, completely covered in snow. A soft glow could be seen coming from certain places on the walls.
The lone inhabitant, Lucien LaChance, worked alone in his basement workshop. He toiled over the forge, hammering metals and mixing potions. This had been a constant for the past few days, only broken by his occasional visit to the greenhouse he had built in his backyard, or the mine that he had dug next to the greenhouse. Raw materials would always be needed by those who spend their days crafting, and Lucien was no exception.
As he worked, a song began to take root in his mind. It wasn't terribly perfect for what he was doing, but he would sing it nonetheless.
"Was a long and dark December, from the rooftops I remember, there was snow." He stopped to dunk the metal he was working with in a bucket of water. "White snow."
He walked over to the potion brewing stands he had in another section of the room. "Clearly I remember, from the windows they were watching, while we froze. Down below." With a quick flourish he plucked a potion from a stand and set it on a table amongst countless others.
"When the future's architectured by a carnival of idiots on show, you better lie low." He went back to the forge and pulled the now cooled sheet of metal out of the bucket. He set it down on a workbench and pulled out a tool for carving lines into metal.
"If you love me, won't you let me know?" The metal began to be decorated by lines and spirals, just how Lucien always did it.
"Was a long and dark December when the banks became Cathedrals, and the fog became God." The decorations were simple and done quickly on the small sheet of metal.
"Priests clutched onto bibles, hollowed out to fit their rifles and the cross, was held aloft. Bury me in armor, when I'm dead and hit the ground. My nerves are poles that unfroze." The metal was finished, and the next step was to attach it to the rest that he was working on.
"If you love me, why'd you let me go?" He brought over the other already done pieces of metal to the workbench. The final assembly was ready to be performed.
"I don't want to be a soldier, who the captain of some sinking ship would stow, far below." A small welding tool appeared in his hand. "So if you love me, why'd you let me go?"
The pieces were slowly and painstaking attached together in a way that would provide solid protection and not limit maneuverability. After a few minutes of welding, he was finished. He quickly conjured a long leather strap with a buckle and then fixed it on the back of the armor he had just made.
He sang the final part of the song while strapping the newly made iron armor to his right shoulder and partway down his right arm. The leather strap crossed around his arm and buckled down securely. "I took my love down to Violet Hill. There we sat in the snow. All that time she was silent still, said if you love me, won't you let me know? If you love me, won't you let me know?"
He took a step back from the workbench and picked up a nearby mallet. He smacked on his now armored right shoulder with a hard clang. Instead of feeling the pain of hitting himself with a hammer, he felt only a dull pushing sensation. Satisfied with his handiwork, he moved to go back to his forge and—
"That was a really nice song," said a voice from behind him.
He nearly jumped through the hard stone ceiling. Instead, he opted to turn and face his unexpected visitor, hands up and glowing in a mage's defensive position. Until he saw who it was, of course.
"No need to get all worked up, geez," said a winter saddled Twilight Sparkle as she rolled her eyes.
"Oh. Hey. Forgot where I was for a minute there," Lucien admitted. "Thought I was back home," he half mumbled. If Twilight heard him, she didn't say anything about it. "So what's up?"
"My friends and I are having a Hearth's Warming Eve celebration later this week. Want to come?" she asked.
"Hearth's Warming's Eve? Is that this world's version of Christmas?" he asked back.
"Uh, sure."
"Alright, count me in," he decided immediately.
"Great! I'll fill you in on the details when we get closer to the event! As for now," she paused to take a breath. "What's going on here? And here?" she gestured to the new metal decoration on Lucien's arm.
"Oh, this? Just a little something I made as a precaution. This world may look like Candyland compared to mine, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its own share of threats. That hydra a few months ago, for instance." "And Bronze Gear," he added in his mind.
Twilight shifted uncomfortably. "Alright, if you think it's necessary, I'm not going to argue." There was a bit of a lull in the conversation. It seemed like there was more she wanted to say. "Lucien . . ." she trailed off.
"Hmm?"
"If you don't mind me asking, who was that song about?"
"What?"
"'If you love me, why'd you let me go?'" she quoted. "Who are you singing about?"
Lucien waited a moment and read her expression. She was serious. Naturally, he burst out laughing. He tried to stop and regain his composure. But it broke again as soon as he saw how confused she looked. It took him a few minutes and several glances at Twilight's face to get him calmed once again. "No."
"No? You can laugh at something that sounds as serious as that?" she demanded, even more confused than before.
"No, no, you misunderstand. That's actually a not-so-popular song that I like from a band back home called Coldplay. I really like that song," he explained. "If only I had my iPod here," he added.
"Hmmph. I don't see why that isn't very popular. I think the lyrics are very deep," she stated, as if she was trying to prove a point to someone.
"You and me both, Twilight. You and me both." He started walking towards the exit of the basement. "So, is there anything I can do for you while you're here? Want a drink?" he offered.
"No, no drink, I just wanted to talk to you about something." The two entered the living room and moved to sit down on the wide couch.
"Alright then." He plopped down and a drink materialized in his hand, causing Twilight to jump slightly. He grinned at her. "I've been here for what? Three months? You still can't get used to my magic." He sipped from his can of Dr. Pepper. "I'm beginning to wonder if you'll ever get warmed up to me. And speaking of warm, is it too hot in here? You look a bit uncomfortable."
She began to remove her wintry saddle. "Yes, you could say it's a little warm in here."
"Okay, I'll turn it down." He got up and walked to a small panel on the wall. A short series of beeps could be heard, then the heat stopped flowing into the room. He sat down again, satisfied with his work.
"How did you do that?" Twilight asked, mystified.
"Oh, that? It's an air conditioning system I set up myself, completely operated by magic. Of course, I had to make room for air ducts in the ceiling and walls, but that only took a couple minutes. It helps when you can change your house around by sheer force of will," he answered smugly, proud of his work.
"Then what's the control panel for, if you operate it by magic?" she caught him slightly off-guard by the question.
He scratched the back of his head. "It isn't really necessary, I just put it there to make the place feel more like home." When she didn't respond, he continued. "Back on Earth, almost every home, whether standalone or apartment, had its own air conditioning system. They generally would be adjusted by control panels like this." He gestured to the small box on his wall. "Of course, all the ones back home were electronic and not magical, but that should be obvious." He sighed. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"I got word back from Princess Celestia about the note we found in Bronze Gear's basement," she said immediately.
"Wow, going right for it, huh? No beating around the bush?" He made a vague punching motion with a fist, but the implications were lost on Twilight. He sighed again. "I guess there's no avoiding this, what did she say?"
"We weren't able to trace the note, but there have been some reports of strange activity and magical spikes in certain areas of Equestria. We - they - believe that Bronze and the author of the note have something to do with it," she explained.
"So? Were any concrete conclusions made? What areas of Equestria are these spikes happening on, and, most importantly, how do we factor into this? Because I know how important you and the rest of the girls are on this planet. Are you going to have to use the 'rainbow of horrible shiny self-reflection' on something?"
"They didn't make any 'concrete' conclusions, per-se. They just think that the note has something to do with the energy spikes. They couldn't pinpoint the exact locations, but they were able to mark out general areas. The mana stores in those areas had been growing stronger ever since your fight with Bronze, and they've had their eyes on them ever since. I believe that we'll have more exact locations as time goes on and more energy is gathered." She paused to take a breath. "The areas themselves are the most cause for concern. Do you have a map anywhere?"
"Uh, yeah, I think. Took one with me on my trip to the Badlands to gather a few potion ingredients. Let me go grab it for you." He sped upstairs to go retrieve his backpack, and returned a moment afterward, breathing slightly harder than before. He unzipped the top compartment and reached his whole arm through. After a few seconds of digging, he gave a short triumphant, "Aha!" and pulled out the map. It was rolled into a cylinder and was crinkled slightly.
He made an uppercutting motion with his free hand and a square block of stone rose up in front of the couch they were sitting on. He promptly unrolled and spread the map across the improvised table. He conjured a simple pen in his hand and offered it to Twilight, who grabbed it in a purple glow.
"This is the best I can draw, based off of the description given in the letter." The pen touched paper and began to draw very large circles over chunks of land. After making four decisive circles she stepped away and gave Lucien his pen back. "From what I read, these are the areas. Of course, we can't be completely sure what place they're referring to, seeing how three of those circles encompass multiple locations. Besides the one at the ruins in the Everfree, I'm pretty sure that's accurate." She pointed to the circle in question. "I already sent a letter back asking what they wanted us to do about it. I haven't heard back, but I'm going to check with Spike when I head home."
Lucien was silent, eyes scanning over the map. "Wouldn't the source of the energy spikes be at the exact center of the circles you drew? Since mana behaves in waves, can't we track the source by looking at the center?" he asked.
"Well, no. It was explained to me that the areas are equal in mana distribution, but they are narrowing and growing stronger as time goes on. You have to understand that sensing and pinpointing these things are extremely difficult—
"How long?" he cut her off.
"What?"
"How long until they can pinpoint the exact locations?"
". . . I'm not sure. She didn't tell me. But given how long it's took just to find these, I'd say months, at least." She went silent for a moment.
"What about these major cities?" he asked.
"What about them?"
"Wouldn't one of them be the source, considering how there are so many ponies living in each? And couldn't they just search the city and scan for the spikes methodically?"
"Good question, and no. The origin of the mana gathering can be any location inside those circles. There's no way to be exact at this time." She stopped and looked at the serious-faced Lucien.
"You aren't scared, are you?" she asked softly.
He took a deep breath and considered his feelings for a moment before responding. "I'm... worried." He laughed nervously.
"Good, because I am too." Twilight looked away.
Something small inside of Lucien melted, and he put a comforting arm over her back. "It's alright. I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned about," is what he said, but what he felt was something a lot more serious than concern. "A lot of energy would have to be gathered in one place to be noticed like this. And what of the Ruins in the Everfree? We're going to have to check it out."
"What?" asked Twilight.
"Oh." "Shit," he added in his thoughts. "Did I say that last part out loud?"
"Yes Lucien, yes you did. And you're right about it, we're going to have to go check it out." She sighed. "I suppose we are the closest weaponized force to that area. There isn't any way around it." She rubbed a hoof on her eyes and Lucien removed his arm. "The girls won't enjoy hearing this bit of news," she chuckled.
"You don't sound too excited about it yourself," Lucien observed.
"Well, to tell truth, I'm not. I trust the Princess implicitly, it's just . . ."
"Just what?" he prompted.
"I'm not sure I like the idea of just being a weapon." She threw her hooves out in exasperation. "I know that sounds horrible, accusing Princess Celestia of using us like I think she is, but I'm starting to believe it's true." She crossed her hooves over her chest and sat back into the couch. "I've always believed in the Princess. Always. Since my very first day in her school, she's never let me down, and I've never questioned her actions, but now... Now I don't know what to think." She began to sniffle.
"I don't think that she is necessarily using you like that," he said.
"No?"
"No. But I also don't think she isn't using you."
"...Now you've lost me."
"Think of it this way. The six of you are a sword, and Celestia needs a sword to defend Equestria. She's not just going to let Equestria be razed by these superpowers. She's going to pick up the sword and fight back. It's just a gross coincidence that the sword happens to be formed out of living beings, you guys. There's no way around it, and there's no easy way to put it. She needs you six to be on the front lines, pacifying whatever evil threatens Equestria." He took a breath. "Just like you all defeated Nightmare Moon, and Discord, and even me!" He put his hands to his chest in a wild gesture.
She was silent for a few moments, and Lucien was afraid he had said something wrong. "Yeah." She said finally. "You're right. We are needed around here, but we aren't a simple tool. She has to know that."
"My point, exactly."
"And of course we couldn't let you take down Equestria. The ponies around here wouldn't like that at all," she jested.
He raised his hands in mock offence. "What do you mean? I'm a likable guy! They would've been fine with it!" They both laughed over the thought of it before calming down a minute or two afterward.
"By the way, how did you know about Nightmare Moon and Discord?"
"I read up on my history while I was holed up in here. Stopped by the library a few times, remember. You must've been out while I checked out one of the more recently published history books there." He smiled.
"Well it's nice to see someone taking interest in our fascinating history as a country," she said.
"Yeah, some pretty interesting stuff happened in the past," he said, reminiscing on his own planet's long history.
They both sat there on Lucien's couch for some time, talking with each other on some of the events that had gone by in the town while Lucien was busy being a shut-in. In response, Lucien told Twilight all about how busy he had been crafting heaters, a greenhouse, a Winter garden, and his armor forging. By the time she left, both had more than enough information on what the other was up to while they didn't see each other, and Twilight had the crafting recipe for both the heat potions and the heaters.
No plans were made for what to do about the energy spikes. Lucien took the map and pinned it to a wall in his study, but nothing else was done. He left it to the Princess to make the plans and he would just go along with it. For once, he wouldn't be in charge of what to do next.
And he was okay with that.
