//------------------------------// // Lighthearted // Story: The Chronicle of the Return // by DracoUnis //------------------------------// Winter has finally come to Equestria. I can tell because I'm crunching through three inches of snow as I make my way down Ponyville's main street. Even better, I forgot that it had been scheduled to snow today. So while I was wrapping up a quick patrol of the western edge of town the snow started falling. After a short internal debate between two options, spending the rest of the day at home sitting next to my warm fireplace or layering up and making sure all is well in town, I bundled up and started checking up on my pony friends. The townsfolk are giving me confused looks as I pass by. Thanks to some sadistic weather pegasus the temperature has been dropping like a stone all afternoon. Between the thick wool sweater, the two shirts I've layered underneath that, my wool-lined denim jacket, the knit beanie, gloves, and scarf I'm almost unrecognizable. In fact my duty mark might be the only clue the ponies have that it's me underneath what to them must seem like a ridiculous amount of clothing. Excuse me for lacking a nice layer of insulating fur to protect me from the weather. Luckily I can keep the chill off with a firebending technique that I have recently mastered. Occasionally I take a deep breath and exhale, tiny flames dancing among the steam my breath leaves in the cold air. At the same time the inside of my jacket becomes a few degrees warmer. The breath of fire augments my own body heat, keeping a steady temperature under my layers of insulating armor. Thanks to that I'm not nearly in as much of a bad mood as I would have been on a similar day back on Earth. Magic definitely has its advantages. After a while I feel like I'm being watched. I look behind me and I see a minty green unicorn with a harp cutie mark following me, watching me with almost disturbing intensity as I walk. Feeling slightly annoyed, I turn and ask, "Can I help you?" The unicorn stops in her tracks and shakes her head. "No, no. I'm just walking down the street. Going somewhere. Yah." I turn away from her awkward smile and continue on my way. After a few feet I hear someone fall, and sure enough the same unicorn is flat on the ground. It looks like she might have tried to walk on two legs? That hardly makes sense. Anyway, a light yellow earth pony with a three candy cutie mark walks by and drags the unicorn off before I can help her to her hooves. That was weird. Continuing my patrol I make a mental checklist of friends I've checked on. Sweet Apple Acres has been locked down by Applejack and family. Twilight has extensively winter-proofed her library, when I left she was going through the checklist a third time. Rarity is happy that the change in weather has slowed down business. With the "Welcome back Humanity" feast right around the corner the unicorn dressmaker has been nearly buried in orders for party gowns. Fluttershy is snug in bed, forced there by a minor cold. I know for a fact that Rainbow is up in the sky above me somewhere helping keep the weather in line. She's the one that reminded me about the weather schedule, after the snow started. Thank you very much, Dash. There's only one pony left to check up on. Pinkie Pie. With a quiet groan I change course and head towards Sugarcube Corner. I'm about to receive my dose of crazy for today. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The snow is coming down harder when I open the door to the confection-themed bakery. Thankful for the warmth emanating from the kitchen ovens, I remove my hat and stomp the snow from my boots. The main room is the same collection of tables and display cases that I've seen on my previous visits. The owners, the Cakes, are nowhere to be seen. They might be upstairs taking care of their twin foals. I don't see Pinkie anywhere either. I walk up to the counter and ring the service bell. Not a second later a pink blur zips down the stairs and skids to a stop behind the counter. "Hi Lanternlight!" Pinkie greets me with her usual enthusiasm. Her pink coat is smudged with patches of flour. She must be working on something. "What's up Pinkie?" I take off my gloves and start shedding layers so I can enjoy the warmth without getting baked myself. "Well, there's the ceiling, then the Cakes rooms above that, then my room that I rent from the Cakes. Oh! It's snowing outside too. Did you know that?" No, that completely escaped my notice. "I guess that's why you're wearing so much stuff. I love the snow. Actually I love the day after a big snow better! Then I have all day to make snow angels and snowmares and have snowball fights! It's the best part of the whole winter. Except maybe for Heath's Warming Eve, but that's a tough call. The year's first snow is fun, but there's all sorts of candy, cakes and treats that come with Hearth's Warming. What do you think?" I just stand there in front of the counter patiently waiting for the pony to finish her thought. "Actually Pinkie, I'm making sure everyone's safe and sound before heading home for tonight." A quick look around the shop gives me the feeling something's off. "Where are the Cakes?" Pinkie walks around the counter to gaze out the window. "They took a train up to Canterlot. Can you believe it? Princess Celestia herself asked Sugarcube Corner to help cater the feast! I was so excited when I heard!" "That's good news." Honestly, the Cakes are hard workers and great cooks. They deserve the recognition they'll get for catering one of the biggest events in the capital this year. "Yessiry! Oh." The suddenly places a hoof on her mouth. "I forgot, the twins are napping upstairs. We need to keep the volume down." Says the girl who breaks into song at unpredictable times. "Sure thing. When are Cup and Carrot supposed to get back?" "They have a ticket for the six o'clock express. That takes about an hour." Pinkie walks back towards the counter. She hops her forelegs up on the counter to bring her face to my eye level. "Want some hot chocolate before you head back out there?" Damn you mouth, stop watering right now or I'll try hay fries again. "No thanks. It'll start to get dark pretty soon, so I'll just start heading back. Maybe I'll come by tomorrow." I head towards the door, shrugging on my sweater and jacket on the way. As I reach for the door handle something, strange, happens to Pinkie. Even for her. Her ears flop, her eyelids flutter, and her knees twitch. "Wait," she shouts as I grab the door handle, "Lanternlight, don't open that..!" The door swings in faster than I intended, and next thing I know I'm bowled over by a micro avalanche. I burst through the snow to find a Ponyville buried under at least two feet of white. At least, as much of Ponyville that I can see. What had started as a light, gentle snowfall has become a small blizzard. Visibility begins to fade at maybe ten feet, and I can forget about trying to spot anything beyond thirty. The wind is flinging the snow about wildly. There is no way I can find my way home in this. "Oh no," I groan as I stand up. A few uses of the breath of fire technique renders me dry and toasty, which is more than I can say for the entry mat. "What the hay!" Pinkie says as she kicks the door shut. "It wasn't supposed to snow like this today. Somepony must have picked up the wrong cloud or something." "I'll help you clean up," I say, "grab a couple towels, I'll melt the snow." Pinkie gives me a look. "How?" "Uh," I light a flame above my index finger, "duh." "Oh, yeah! That's handy." She trots off to retrieve the towels while I form a steady but intense flame between my hands to melt the snow. In minutes the mess is cleaned up and we're looking out one of the front windows into the snowstorm. "Looks like I might have to crash here Pinkie." I am reluctant to do so. I like to keep a limit on how much time I spend with the physics-defying pink pony, but necessity is the mother of… Wait, I'm using the wrong proverb. Desperate times call for desperate measures. "Sure, you can sleep over. Hey, how about you tell me about more about the party games humans play! And we can play games! It'll be so fun." Remembering the foals upstairs, she lowered her volume. "As long as we keep it down." Is it too late to try braving the blizzard? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Sorry!" Pinkie says cheerfully as her blue pawn nocks mine back to the starting circle. I sigh and rack my brain in order to come up with some kind of strategy to keep her last piece from advancing the rest of the way to the home circle. We've been playing various board games for the past couple of hours and though some unfathomable combination of skill and dumb luck the pink pony has been winning non-stop. Except for the pony version of Risk, but of course the human wins a game based on conquest. That, and Pinkie's a horrendous strategist. Luckily a steady stream of hot chocolate and snack food has kept my spirits up. I guess this afternoon hasn't been all that bad. Certainly not as bad as I feared. My pony friend has been relatively calm, not to mention she's been excusing herself every so often to check on the foals. It's actually been rather relaxing. Of course, the minute I begin to enjoy myself this day throws another curve ball at me. Something bursts through the second-floor window. Cold wind tosses game cards, confetti, and snow around the room as a rainbow-streaked blur crashes into the room. "Lookout!" Rainbow Dash yells as she flies past us. The pegasus slams into the opposite wall, coming to rest upside-down with her back against the wall. "Dashie!" Pinkie runs over to the stunned flier while I push the window shut. "Are you all right?" The pink pony asks as she helps her friend get back on her hooves. "I'm not," the newly righted Rainbow Dash says, "the storm's gotten away from us! I've got to get back up there and help the rest of the weather team get it back under control." She tries to fly back out through the window, but I manage to grab hold of her tail before she hurts herself. "Hold on Rainbow." I swing her around to face me. It speaks volumes about the blue pegasus' flying skill that she remains airborne. "What happened?" "Okay, so a few hours ago some of those weird clouds from the Everfree Forest blew into the storm we were making. Usually we are able to catch them before they make any trouble, but with all the cloud work we've been doing lately somepony lost track of which clouds were going were." Rainbow points out the window to the worsening snowstorm. "Before we knew it, the storm was growing out of our control. I was trying to shift one of the banks when Ditzy Doo knocked me into a downdraft." "Oh no!" Pinkie rushes over to her closet and begins to pull out a variety of pony snow gear. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake should have gotten home by now. I've got pinchy knees, so I really hope nothing bad happened to them." With confounding flexibility the pink pony manages to slip into a wool-lined saddle and blanket, along with a quartet of boots and snowshoes and other cold weather gear. With her curly mane secured under a pink beanie, she begins charging down the stairs. "Come on, we've got to get to the train station!" I grit my teeth and vault the railing around the stairwell, landing directly in front of my frantic friend. "Stop and think Pinkie. You can't just run off and leave the twins alone." "But," she begins. "But nothing," I put a reassuring hand on her head. "Don't worry. Rainbow and I will go to the train station and find out what's going on. You stay here, maybe get a hold of Twilight and the mayor if you can. Make sure the town can get through this." Those big blue eyes are still full of doubt and worry. "Don't worry. I promise to do everything in my power to make sure the Cakes get home safe and sound." "Pinkie promise?" She asks. The request confuses me a little. Ponies don't even have fingers, so how would a pinkie promise work. Apparently Pinkie picks up on my confusion and clarifies. "Like this; 'cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.'" It even comes with a sequence of hoof motions. Okay, so a Pinkie Pie promise. I can do that. "Cross my heart," I reassure her. As I go through the ritual I mentally complete the human version of the oath. Hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. "I will bring the Cakes back to see their foals again." "Okey dokey lokey." She pulls me into and Dash into a big hug before returning to normal, Pinkie Pie standard super-hyper mode. "Don't you worry about a thing, Double-L. Pinkie 'Responsibility' Pie has Ponyville covered." She gives me a snowshoe salute and marches back up the stairs. Rainbow hovers over to me. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get moving!" "Give me a minute." The impatient pegasus watches me incredulously as I reapply my layers of heat-preserving clothing. "What? You don't expect me to go out there in only a tee-shirt, do you?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ponyville Station is the rural town's link to the rest of Equestria. In addition to the trains carrying goods and ponies to and from town, but because the building also houses the telegraph office. So the Station is still open, despite the weather. As we approach the building the office's delivery colt steps out into the storm with saddlebags full of telegrams. I wish him luck as Rainbow and I enter the station. The telegraph office is mostly empty. The only other people in the building are a unicorn mare who I assume is the operator, a pair of stallions wearing conductor's caps, and a donkey in heavy clothing. The unicorn behind the counter greets us immediately. "Good evening. Are you looking to send a message or… Oh! Mister Lanternlight, how can I help you?" "What can you tell me about the express from Canterlot? Did it leave on time?" "Well, yes. We got a wire from Canterlot Station about an hour and a half ago saying that the train was on its way." Although her expression is neutral, I can detect a note of worry in her voice. Rainbow flies up to the counter. "Were is it now? It should have arrived already." "If I were running that engine in weather like this," one of the conductors says, "I would'a stopped the train as soon as I saw the weather goin' belly up. Goin' full tilt into this much snow could cause a derailment." Rainbow's ears droop with concern, but I can't let the worst case scenario affect me. "Let's put together a search party and find out what happened, then." The donkey speaks up. "We're sending the word out that we're looking for volunteers, so once the weather clears up we'll get moving," "We can't wait that long!" Dash argues, hovering over the table and getting right in the donkey's face. "They could be out there right now, cold and hurt. Not knowing if they're going to see their families again. We have to go find them now!" The donkey places his front hooves on the tabletop and pushes back at the pegasus. "How do you expect to find the train in this mess, huh?" I grab the pegasus' rainbow-colored tail and pull her away before she can keep arguing. "Dash, I know you're eager to help but you have to listen to me now, okay?" "But this is my fault. I should have spotted those clouds before they got into the storm. I could have stopped them in time. Now Carrot and Cup could be dead and…" Her eyes brim with tears of frustration. "Hey, stay with me. I need you to go up there and help the weather team tame this storm." I give her a little punch in the shoulder. "They need the best flyer in town helping them out, right?" "Right." She says, wiping her tears away. "Now, I'm going out there. The search party should catch up with me when you can." I say, already heading out the door. "I'll give you a signal when I find them." "Wait," the unicorn calls after me. "The sun's setting, you'll freeze to death if you're outside too long!" Still facing the door, I snap my fingers to create a flame big enough to make my point without burning the wooden building down. "I think I can find a way to stay warm." Rainbow blows past me as we leave the station office. "Stay safe," she shouts over her shoulder as she climbs toward the storm. "You too," I don't know if the pegasus hears me before she's lost in the whiteout. With a sigh I turn towards the platform and start making a plan to back up my rash promise to find the lost train. Unfortunately the snowfall has covered the tracks in at least three feet of snow, so I won't be able to follow that without digging up the snow every few feet. I don't have time for that, and more importantly the passengers on the train have even less time. Who knows what condition they're in? Are any of them hurt? Can they keep warm until help arrives? Banishing those questions from my mind with a firm shake of my head, I refocus on how to find them. During my rumination I spot the telegraph cable. Tracking it through the darkening sky, out towards the mountains, I have an epiphany. The cable follows the train tracks! That way the crew can keep an eye out for problems like downed poles or faulty cables. I grin and punch my palm. I can find the train this way. Eager to find the train and get the trapped ponies to safety, I jump into the snow and start following the cable. Bless these ponies and their lack of wireless communications! This is going to be a piece of cake. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note to self. Trudging through three feet of snow for four hours is a bad idea. Doing so during one of the worst snowstorms on record is worse. Trudging through three feet of snow, in a snowstorm, at night when depending on firebending to keep yourself alive, for four hours may just win me the Darwin Award. Never mind the gnawing hunger in my belly that comes from skipping dinner. I huff another breath of weak flames, and once again manage to keep myself hovering just on the edge of hypothermia. My pants and boots are soaked from the snow, my nose is numb, and even with the thick gloves a definite chill is creeping up my fingers. To summarize, misery has been my only traveling companion for the last two hours. Yes, this is definitely not my finest moment. But as I see a faint light in the distance, all doubt flees my mind. When that light defines itself as one of several train cars, I definitely feel that this has been worth it. It is with high spirits that I knock on the door to the closest passenger carriage. The door opens cautiously, washing me with light, warm air, and the tantalizing scent of hot chocolate. A sophisticated-looking earth pony mare sticks her head out of the carriage door. "He-Wa ha ha," she screams as she sees me, jumping almost a foot strait up into the air. Okay, I can understand that my appearance is a bit of a shock to ponies. Probably more so now, since I'm almost waist-deep in snow and bundled up in enough wool to impersonate a sheep. But come on, I'm can't look that menacing. "Good evening miss," I say, careful to keep my annoyance out of my tone. "I am Lanternlight. I came up from Ponyville to look for this train." "W… I… huh?" She blabbers. "I get that a lot miss. Excuse me?" I step past her and shout into the car. "Carrot Cake! Cup Cake! You in here?" To my great luck and relief I spot the blue coat and distinctive pink mane of Mrs. Cake. The matronly earth pony immediately makes her way up to the front of the car. "Lanternlight! Thank Celestia you're here. My, you look exhausted. Come in out of the cold and we'll get some hot chocolate in you." "Considering the time, Princess Luna is probably the one you should be thanking." We walk into the car and to I get pushed into a seat. The car is well-lit by firefly lanterns and several ponies are huddled underneath blankets. Some kind of unicorn magic is keeping the air a comfortable temperature. A piping cup of hot chocolate is thrust into my hands by Mrs. Cake, who sits next to me with a concerned expression. "How's Ponyville? Is everypony safe?" "For the most part." After taking a sip of the hot beverage I continue, "The pegasi are scrabbling to get the weather under control, and we all got worried when the train didn't arrive on time. I volunteered to find you." Speaking of which, "Is your husband okay?" "Carrot's back in the dining car, helping the chefs prepare the hot chocolate and keeping the ovens going so we don't all freeze." I breath a long awaited sigh of relief. Now that I know the Cakes are all right I can fulfill my promise to Rainbow Dash. After thanking Cup Cake for the hot chocolate, I step outside and climb onto the train car's roof. The thin layer of melting snow makes for slippery footing, but I grit my teeth and take a wide stance. My feet almost slip, but I avoid performing an unintentional (and painful) full split. With big sweeping steps I advance, taking a big breath and building up a large fireball. Then I hurl it up into the air. It doesn't travel far before gravity begins to take hold. I wonder if this is going to work the way I think it will? Well, I won't know until I try. As my fireball reaches the apex of its climb I thrust a small flame dart into the center. The fireball appears to curl around itself before bursting like a firework, scattering smaller flames in all directions. A few even break the cloud layer. Satisfied with my improvised flare, I go back inside the car to await the search team. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun rises on a world covered in a thick layer of gleaming snow. Through the window I can hardly make out the terrain around us. I'm trying to estimate when the search party from Ponyville is going to be here when I hear something. Carefully stepping around slumbering ponies, I walk out into the cold sunlight. A quick breath confirms that my firebending is back to full power. That's nice, but what I see heading up the hill towards the stranded train is even better. The search party has arrived, and it is being led by none other than Pinkie Pie. The pink pony is singing some kind of marching song, with lyrics goofy enough to cause the ponies following her to laugh every few lines. She's also dragging along a bunch of balloons. Following her are Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, and a few others I don't recognize. Applejack and Twilight are pulling a sled along behind them, as are several other pairs. I spot Rainbow circling overhead. Waking up a few of the ponies in the car with care, I tell them to spread word that rescue has arrived before walking out to meet my friends. "HEY LANTERNLIGHT!" Pinkie shouts as soon as she spots me. "Glad you guys made it." I say when I get within a reasonable conversation distance. I look at Twilight. "How are things in town?" "A little snowed in, but fine." The purple unicorn steps up to whisper to me, "As soon as she heard we were following you, Pinkie joined in." The pony in question pops in between me and the unicorn. "Well, duh," she says, "you said you were putting together a search party. And if there's one thing I know how to do it's PARTY!" She rears enthusiastically and throws her hooves up, summoning a typically inexplicable bust of confetti. Twilight sighs and puts a hoof on her forehead, while Applejack just shakes her head and chuckles. Oh, Pinkie Pie, don't ever change. "Let's get these ponies out of here." I say, leading the way to the train. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flutteryshy says: Um… Please rate and comment. The author wants your feedback, even if it is, um, negative. Appa says: Rwor. FS: Oh, and we would love it if you recommend this fix to your friends. The more readers the better right? Appa: Grrrrrrrwom. FS: Poor baby bison, he had too much to eat and now his tummy's all achy. You're lucky Applejack is such a nice pony, she's a little mad that you got into her harvest. Momo: Eek ee. FS: Yes, you should apologize too. Shame on you, tricking Sokka like that. Momo: Eep. <._.>