//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 ~A Night of Darkness~ // Story: The snow mare // by pegasis23 //------------------------------// Snowflakes drifted by an old cottage.The family residing inside was poor,but it was a joyous occasion.A new baby filly was born.A filly with a magical gift. A little white,earth pony filly sat in Snowdrop's hooves. It's been months since Snowdrop could finally see and a filly was just born into the family of Snowdrop and her husband,Thunder Wave. Snowdrop cradled the filly and listened to the thumping of her filly's heartbeat. Beside Snowdrop,was her husband Thunder Wave.He crooned to the filly as the tiny thing tried to 'steal' her father's muzzle and fight against her mother's grasp. Suddenly,the filly slipped right out of her mother's hooves and was about to crash land on the ground when something sparkled.It was the filly's hooves! The shocked parents watched as a pile of snow magically appeared to cushion the filly's landing. The filly giggled and played about in the layer of snow . It was the birth of something beautiful and at the same time,fearful. In the ancient Castle where the two regal sisters lived,Celestia and Luna had sensed the strings of ancient magic. "What was that?"Luna said,sitting up from her relaxed position,her horn sending slight tingling sensations to her body. She had never felt magic like this and had only sensed it when she raise the moon or when her sister was raising the sun. Celestia looked over to the source."I don't know. It feels so much like how.... Wait,could it be? Another alicorn?"Celestia wandered out loud. "It can't be. Princess Platinum said that all alicorns except us were killed during the Chaotic War."Luna responded,closing her eyes and letting her instincts guide her to the source. Celestia,following suit,flew together with her sister towards the source while arguing with her sister of what could be causing the magic. "It's down here."Luna called over to Celestia,landing gracefully onto the porch of the little house where Snowdrop lived. Luna rapped the door,rousing the attention of the family inside. Inside,Snowdrop nervously opened the door,only to be answered by the gaze of her friend,Princess Luna. "P...Princess Luna!W...Whatever brings you to my house?"Snowdrop tried to smile as brightly as she could and used her body to hide the pile of snow in her house where the filly still sat playing. "No time for idle gossip,"Celestia said,"May we come in?" "Sure!I mean -you can't." Snowdrop raised her voice a little to hide the sounds of her daughter still playing in the snow,one of her eyelids twitching from nervousness. "Why not?"Luna questioned the behavior of her friend , raising a questioning brow as well. Snowdrop sighed in defeat when she saw Celestia doing the same action ," I'm not good at hiding things am I? Come in." The Princesses jaws drop when they saw how the tiny filly used the magic that was supposed to be in a alicorn with ease. 'Well this was ..unexpected.' Luna used her telepathy to quietly communicate with Celestia. 'Yes,quite unexpected.An Earth pony doing magic.It's like salt tasting like sugar.' Celestia responded through the telepathy. As the two continued using telepathy Snowdrop was busy biting at her hooves as the silence continued to grow,since she could not use magic to eavesdrop on their conversation,which Celestia and Luna had taken advantage of. Celestia then noticed the nervous parents and spoke,"We'd like a moment in private,if you don't mind." Snowdrop started and silently nodded,hustling her husband out for the Princesses to be alone with their child. The two sat in silence,watching the tiny thing play about . "This reminds me of you when Dad tickled you while you were sleeping."Luna remarked as Celestia tickled the filly. "Oh yeah?How do you explain this!"Celestia smirked as she used her magic to tickle her sister. The little time they had played together with the filly was interrupted by some terrible crashing. The two ponies rushed to see Thunder Wave slightly bruised with his wife hovering over him,shaking her head. Luna burst out in anger," Thunder Wave! What in the name of Equestria are you doing? Were you eavesdropping on us?" Thunder Wave dumbly nodded , rubbing his head while Snowdrop took some snow from the pile Winter Snow still sat playing to apply on her husband's aching head. " We have come to a decision." Luna towered before Snowdrop,who was on the floor with her husband ,trying to get him to stand up. "We must take your filly away to be taught under us. " Celestia finished simply,watching the reaction of Snowdrop carefully. Snowdrop spluttered,"What? Y... You want Winter S...Snow ?" The Princesses looked sadly at each other before turning to the Snowdrop with an answer," We must. In order that she could not hurt anypony else ,we must teach her to control them. If not,she could doom Equestria to endless nights of winter." Snowdrop,shell shocked at her friend Princess Luna and Princess Celestia,stared at them both with her mouth wide open. Thunder Wave smiled,searching for a sign that this must be some kind of prank,"This must be some kind of joke. She's just a filly. She can't possibly harm Equestria!" Luna countered,"Yes she can.If she can't rein in her emotions,the whole of Equestria can be frozen forever.Her powers is heavily based on her emotions. If a unicorn can rage-shift purely by magic,she can harm Equestria just by the slightest bit of negative emotion she comes across.Ever thought of that?" Snowdrop sighed,"You know,Thundy,she has a pretty good point." Thunder Wave turned to his wife,"So whose side your on?C'mon help me out here,Snowy!It's our daughter we're talking about! We can't just give our foal to a passer-by in the street!" Snowdrop opened her mouth,starting her first quarrel with her husband,"Ahem,it's the Princesses we're talking about here. Not some passerby as you call them. If we can't help our daughter, then don't you think that the Princesses will do a better job than us pegasi?" Thunder Wave grimaced at her voice then calmed himself before replying coolly,"Look here,sweetheart, it's our daughter or Equestria . My hooves are up. You make the decision,but if I were you,I'd choose my daughter." He then left the room,upset and angry as Snowdrop surprised by the anger and venom in her husband's voice,sat in the room in silence with the Princesses. "The ultimate decision is yours,Snowdrop." Celestia gently placed her hoof on Snowdrop's face,drawing it up to the Princesses eyes. "Then take her."Snowdrop let the words flow out of her mouth,knowing it will mean her separation with her husband and for the best of her foal. Luna,sensing the sadness within her best friend ,gently smiled at Snowdrop,"We'll let you have time with your foal ." The two alicorns excited the room,leaving Snowdrop with her foal,Winter Snow. Cradling her filly , Snowdrop began to sing her lullaby for the last time to Winter Snow with a clear voice,one like a flute," Rest now,my little filly. Let the stars,and the moon guide you to sleep. Wake up,with the sun shining bright, With eyes full of life. Fall asleep,with knowledge that we love you. Even if the thunder roars , Or if the winter grows cold, We love you Winter Snow. Winter Snow fell asleep as the lullaby finished,earning a motherly smile from Snowdrop.With a heavy heart, Snowdrop headed outside with the still asleep Winter Snow tucked in her wings to meet the two Princesses waiting outside of the cottage. Passing over her filly to the Princesses,Snowdrop was on the verge of tears. "Please take good care of her.."Snowdrop whispered as she hugged Luna. "We will."Luna softly replied,holding Winter in her forehooves and stilling Snowdrop's worries for her filly. As the two ponies flew off,Snowdrop tore up,her fallen tears crystallizing into ice crystals in the wintry weather . When she finally turned around to retreat to the warmth of her house,the angry face of her husband greeted her as she succumbed to the knife buried deep in her side,her blood splattering on the snow as he retrieved his weapon. "That's what you get ,you worthless thing."Thunder coldly muttered , going in for the kill. Snowdrop,now acting in self defense,mustered her strength within herself to change the course of the knife into Thunder's heart. Thunder ,in shock of what Snowdrop did and her strength within , pulled out the bloody knife and blacked out as Snowdrop's words echoed in his head,"Til death do us part." Snowdrop,weak from the effort she had placed in murdering her husband,finally died with her body lying across Thunder Wave's body.