Gathering Storm
The day was slowly starting on the small town of Ponyvile, Princess Celestia having just risen the sun past the horizon, signaling the beginning of a new day, a quiet tranquility filling the morning air as the first early risers started to get out of bed.
A tranquility that was suddenly shattered by a panicked shout originating from the library tree at the center of the town, the shout gaining nothing but cursory glances from the few ponies passing by at the early hour, the town having long since grown accustomed to its new residence particular quirks.
“Spike!” Twilight Sparkle shouted at the top of her lungs coming up from the basement of the Golden Oaks Library.
“Where are you Spike! I need a new set of mana crystals, and a thermal convertor! I don’t know what is happening, but all my experiments are facing thermal anomalies!” She shouted while anxiously trotting around the library main room. “If we do not fix it soon the results of my experiments will be completely skewed! Forcing me to remake all of them! This could disrupt the schedule for the whole week!”
Looking around and noticing the absence of her small draconic assistant did precious little to reduce the purple pony panicked state, a state that was not helped by the fact she had spent most of the night up trying to figure out what was causing her experiments to act as if the temperature was dropping to the point of freezing despite it being midsummer.
“SPIKE!”
“Calm down Twilight, I’m coming, I’m coming.” The small purple dragon said while carrying a box in one claw and covering a large yawn with the other. “Sheesh I don’t know what the problem is, it’s not like those experiments are important or something. You can always redo them later.”
“Redo them latter! And what if we have to do something later?! What if we have to postpone something important due to that?!” Twilight said in growing panic, her mane starting to frizzle strand by strand.
“What if because of that delay we miss something important?! What if that delays one of my friendship reports to the Princess?!” She said stopping her nervous trot, a thousandth yard stare entering her features. “I have never been tardy before! I can not disappoint Princess Celestia like that!”
“SPIKE! We cannot allow that to happen!” She shouted moving right in front of her assistant, her mane now a complete mess and her left eye slightly twitching.
A paper bag appearing on her field of view the panicking pony gladly grabbed it and started to breathe in and out inside of it, attempting to control the panic attack she was having.
“Calm down Twilight.” Spike said, putting down the box while watching as his Sister/Mother-figure/Boss/Oldest friend/It’s-complicated tried to calm down. “The Princess knows how much of a hard worker you really are and how devoted you are to your studies, so even if by some miracle it happens for you to suffer a delay she will surely understand.”
“Yup! I can even help you bake an ‘I’m-sorry-I’m-late-but-things-happened-and-it-couldn’t-be-avoided-cake’ for her in order to help!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully exclaimed from right behind her.
“Pinkie! When did you get here?” She questioned with a start, not having noticed her pink friend before, nor having noticed her even entering the building for that matter.
“I’ve been here all along, silly-filly.” Pinkie happily explained while bouncing into place, a large smile on her face. “You just hadn’t noticed me before because the narrative hadn’t deemed it important to mention me before now.”
Twilight simply stare at the still bouncing party pony, mouth slightly ajar as she tried to understand what exactly her hyperactive friend was saying.
“I gave you my paper bag.” Pinkie helpfully pointed out, smile still firmly on her face.
But before she could decide if she really wanted to try and understand what exactly Pinkie was talking about the decision was taken off her hooves as the door of the library was suddenly banged open and a high speed polychromatic blur crashed right against her, sending her splaying to the floor.
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash frantically shouted inches away from her muzzle, her eyes wide. “There are lots of snow clouds all over Ponyvile! And no matter how many of them I and the rest of the weather team pop more keep coming!”
“Rainbow… get off…” She grumbled trying to move the pegasus that was standing atop her to no effect.
“There shouldn’t be nowhere this many cloud’s from here to Applelosa! Weather schedule was supposed to keep things near-clear for at least the next week! Not to mention they are snow clouds for Celestia's sake! The weather factory shouldn’t even be working on them this time of the year! I don’t know what is happening but it’s not normal! I need you to do something!” Rainbow explained in a hurry, clearly baffled by what was happening.
Deciding to stop her futile attempts to wriggle out of her far more athletic friend grip Twilight concentrated for a moment, teleporting a few feet away from where Rainbow Dash was pinning her down against the floor.
But even as she opened her mouth to grumble about Rainbow’s actions she stopped short, taking in her friend frantic form and immediately deciding something was wrong, her own panic attack readily forgotten.
“Calm down Rainbow and explain what is happening, did a rogue storm mess up the weather schedule or something?”
“Do you really think I would come get you if that was all?! I mean wild weather messing things up is not unusual since the Everfree forest is so close by.” Rainbow continued in a frantic manner. “But while wild weather coming from there happens all the time, buck, we tackled a rogue thunderstorm just last week, this is not it!”
“Whatever this is, it’s definitely not natural, and it’s massive, as in covering the whole sky kind of massive!” She said throwing both of her front hooves up in the air for emphasis.
“And to top it all off it’s coming from the North! Not the Everfree!”
“Calm down Rainbow, getting frantic about it will not help matters.” Twilight said while moving towards the opened door, not even noticing the irony of her words or Spike slightly amused grumbles.
“And besides it really can’t be that bad…” She trailed of stopping at the doorway, eyes wide as she stared at the completely cloud covered sky.
“What?” She mumbled in surprise, seeing the huge mass of clouds up ahead, snowflakes slowly drifting towards the ground, while the weather Pegasi dashed back and forward in a frenzy, poping clouds and doing their best efforts in attempting to stop the unscheduled weather, to absolutely no effect.
“Do you believe me now?” Rainbow asked, once again stopping inches away from Twilight’s face. “And to make matters even worse, there seems to be no guide-flakes on those snow clouds, making them nearly impossible to control!”
“No guide-flakes? How’s that possible?” Twilight thought aloud, remembering the books she had read regarding weather magic.
Snow clouds due to their higher content of magic were far harder to be tamed when compared to rain clouds or even storm clouds, not to mention that ice was far more energy intensive to shape and alter.
In order to counterbalance that, snow clouds were seeded with specially treated snowflakes charged with Pegasus magic, which allowed those same clouds to be controlled and guided with far greater ease. Those flakes being appropriately named guide-flakes.
Point in fact before a young Pegasus filly from Cloudsdale had invented them winter had been a nearly uncontrollable season, wild magic all but dictating the weather, forcing ponies to all but bunker down inside their homes during the colder months of the year until it was time to end winter and for spring to be brought forth.
“Rainbow Dash! What in tarnation is happenin with the weather?! It’s chillier than an timberwolf’s bark out here!” Applejack shouted down the street, a stern frown on her face as she marched towards them, stopping Twilight’s train of thought.
“There is snow gatherin in my family’s apple trees! I may not be a weather pony, but I reckon snow on summer ain’t right, now is it!?” She sternly asked, stopping right next to them, clearly unhappy about the unexpected snowfall. “You lot better fix this right away, before all this snow spoils the harvest you hear.”
“It’s not the weather team’s fault!” Rainbow immediately responded defending her team while hovering next to the farm pony. “The weather schedule was to keep the skies clear for the rest of the week and there were no cloud shipments inbound from Cloudsdale either! I have no idea what’s happening, some crazy wild magic or something, which is why I came to the egghead for help!”
“I ain’t askin how this happened, I’m askin you to do your job and fix it!”
Twilight was about to interrupt before their discussion could go out of control when she saw something that made her stop, the two arguing ponies noticing the same thing moments latter and stopping in kind, eyes wide, as Pinkie's whole body started twitching in place.
“Oh it’s a doozy, and a big one!” Pinkie cheerfully exclaimed as her body stopped shaking all around.
“Horseapples…” Applejack tiredly mumbled, lowering her hat over her eyes.
Standing at her side Twilight couldn’t really blame the orange colored mare, remembering far too well her last brush with Pinkie’s so called Pinkie Sense.
“Don’t overreact Applejack, so Pinkie just predicted a doozy.” Rainbow Dash confidently said, hovering with her front hooves crossed in front of her chest. “Big deal, we can handle whatever it is. I mean, how bad can it really be?”
And as if answering her question Spike immediately coughed up a letter enveloped in green flames, Twilight and Applejack sending unamused glances towards a now sheepish looking Rainbow Dash.
Grabbing the letter Spike opened it and started to read it to the mares.
“My dearest most faithful student, Twilight.
A matter of great importance pertaining to the well being of Equestria has arisen, and the presence of yourself and your friends are needed here at Canterlot’s castle as soon as possible.
As such I would like to request that you and the other bearers to make haste and to come to the city on the first inbound train available.
I shall personally explain matters upon your arrival.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia.”
The three ponies stood there for a moment, simply staring at the piece of parchment gripped on Spike’s claws, until Rainbows Dash broke the silence with a sobering thought.
“You don’t think Discord escaped again, right?” The speedster asked, a tinge of worry entering her voice despite the brave front she was displaying. “Not that I’m worried or anything, after all we can kick his plot if he is back, but it would certainly explain the crazy weather.”
“I don’t think so. His actions last time were extremely absurd, flamboyant and eye catching. And while this is messing with the weather schedule, it is still just snow, nothing more. Making it snow seems kind of too… bland, for it to be his doing. This has to be something else.” Twilight replied, worriedly wondering what was happening.
“Oh! I know!” Pinkie exclaimed bouncing all around, her yes narrowing in a faux serious expression. “Perhaps an old friend of the Princesses who lost herself to the darkness during an epic journey, forcing Princess Celestia to seal her away due to it, has broken free from her seal and is now attempting to blanket Equestria in eternal winter!”
“What?” Twilight asked in befuddlement, voicing all their thoughts regarding the hyperactive pink pony.
“Just a hunch. Oh, I got to go pack my party supplies! And the cake! Can’t forget the cake! See you girls at the train station!” She shouted with a wide smile before diving inside a wooden barrel and disappearing from view.
Twilight started to head towards the far-too-small-to-hold-a-pony barrel before she mentally caught herself and stayed in place, once had been more than enough regarding the party pony uniqueness for her to learn not to question Pink Pinkness.
“No reason worryin about it I reckon, we’ll know when we get there.” Applejack simply stated with a shake of her head, turning around to go down the street. “I’ll go get Rarity, Rainbow, you go fetch Fluttershy.”
Watching the speedster nod in agreement before flying away in a blur of speed Twilight could feel the panic attack from earlier slowly returning as a sense of foreboding slowly gathered at the pit of her stomach.
Fighting back her rising panic she focused on the task at hand. She knew that something serious was happening but the Princess was counting on her and her friends, and she would not fail her mentor.
“Spike! Grab a scroll!” She said with finality, her mind set on what she had to do. “We are starting a checklist!”
Entering into the magnificent halls of Canterlot’s castle with her friends Twilight couldn’t help but notice the faint stings of nostalgia despite their current situation.
The polished floors of white marble, the grand columns of pure white stone supporting the great arches of the ceiling, the intricate decorations ranging from paintings to tapestries and finely-carved banisters, and the exquisite glass stained windows depicting important historical events, all glowing in the light of the sun making the whole scene into something capable of taking a pony’s breath away.
But to her the awe inspiring sight had a far more personal connotation, for her it would always be the place where her teacher resided, her own home away from home.
Thought the fact that now she and her friends had not one, but two of said glass stained windows made in their honor was something that still made her blush in embarrassment.
“Twilight darling, do you know why Princess Celestia asked to meet us in the halls and not in the throne room?” Rarity asked at her side breaking the purple pony out of her nostalgic thoughts. “I may not have had much contact with the Princess but this seems, unusual.”
Mulling on the subject for a moment as they passed a few of the castle staff on their near never ending quest of maintaining the huge architecture she gathered her thoughts before answering.
“No, you are right; it is highly unusual for the Princess not to meet us on the throne room. The only reason I can think about is that she wants to show us something pertaining to the current situation.” She said, starting to lecture about the are of the castle they were in. “These halls are known as the ‘halls of memories’ for a reason, for the stained glass windows within depict scenes from all of our history, I can only guess that she wants to meet us in front of a particular scene.”
“So she wants to show us the image of the bad guy whose plot we have to kick? Fine by me.” Rainbow cockily said from slightly above Twilights head, a confident look on her face.
“We still don’t know if this situation pertains to anything like that Rainbow.” She replied, her words not nearly as certain as she would have liked. “And besides I think I remember this area of the castle, it depicts events from the early days of Equestria, a few decades after its foundation, and as far as I remember there hadn’t been any kind of upheaval or major situations at that point in history.”
“Save for Nightmare Moon and Discord.” Pinkie happily interjected, bouncing alongside them in large arcs.
“Yes save for those…” Twilight grudgingly agreed.
“Oh hopefully is not anything like that.” Fluttershy said in a barely audible whisper from the back of the group, hiding behind her mane as she followed the others.
“Don’t worry sugar cube, everythin will be just fine, you’ll see.” Applejacked reassured the shy pony with a warm smile, seeing her almost shrink unto herself at the thought of the situation being that serious.
“Indeed, you shouldn’t let your worries get to you like that dear.”Rarity agreed with a nod while moving closer to her shy friend in a reassuring manner. “Whatever it is we can surely handle it together, especially with the help of the Princesses.”
Nodding her head in agreement alongside the others, a proud smile on her face, Twilight finally recognized the exact area they were approaching.
“Oh, I know where we are meeting the Princess! It’s been quite some time since I came here, but I’m quite sure up ahead is an alcove dedicated to Snowdrop.” She said, making the ears of the cyan Pegasus hovering above her head perk in interest.
“Snowdrop? As the inventor of the snowflake, Snowdrop? The Tamer of Winter? That Snowdrop?” Rainbow asked with excitement, her eagerness abating somewhat upon noticing the looks the others, most specifically Twilight, were giving her.
“What? Am I not allowed to know stuff?” She gruffly asked crossing her hoofs and turning her head away, her cheeks tingeing slightly in embarrassment. “I’m from Cloudsdale remember? There is a statue of her near the weather factory, she is practically one of the town’s heroes. And besides she was a blind Pegasus and still managed to be one of the best weather ponies ever, that’s awesome!”
“Really?” Twilight asked, her mind immediately searching for what she knew regarding the Pegasi floating city.
“Oh yes, nearly all Pegasi from Cloudsdale hear about Snowdrop and the tale of the ‘Stars of Winter’ at one point or another as they grow up.” Fluttershy quietly agreed, a small happy smile on her face as she remembered her own mother telling her the tale as she was a filly. “Of how despite her disability Snowdrop still tamed the winter storms so that ponies could properly enjoy the season.”
“Indeed thou art right; she was a most extraordinary pony. We art glad to hear that her memory hath been kept even to this day.” A deep regal voice said from behind them, surprising the mares.
“Princess Luna.” Twilight hastily exclaimed, dropping into a bow with her friends quickly following suit, while noticing that Luna was now far taller than her but still smaller than Celestia, her mane depicting a starry sky and wavering in an unfelt breeze.
“Please, there is no need for such; thou hath no need to bow to us.” The Lunar Princess said, gesturing for them to rise, a smile appearing on her face for a moment before disappearing under a mask of stern regality.
“After all it was thou that unleashed the powers of harmony upon us and took away our dark powers!” She suddenly shouted in a booming voice, making the mares drop back to the floor, their manes being tossed backwards at the volume of the shout.
“…And that was a good thing, right?” Twilight hesitantly asked after warily taking on the lunar Princess serene expression, confusion clear in her tone.
“But of course. We could not be happier. Is that not clear?” Luna replied a confused look entering her features in turn.
After trading a few uncertain glances between her friends before once again looking at Luna confused yet somewhat eager expression Twilight took a deep breath before deciding to explain the apparent problem.
“Well…It’s just that… it kind of sounds more like… you are yelling at us.” Twilight explained with a sheepish expression, clearly uncomfortable with pointing the fact out to Celestia’s little sister.
“But this is the traditional Royal Canterlot Voice.” Luna answered in befuddlement. “It is tradition to use the royal we and to use this much volume when addressing our subjects!”
“Yikes, seriously?” Rainbow mumbled while massaging her ears, immediately being elbowed by Aplejack as a warning to stay quiet.
Her eyes widening in sudden understanding as she remembered the information pertaining to the subject Twilight immediately addressed the problem, a smile appearing on her face.
“I think I understand the problem Princess, the Royal Canterlot Voice has fallen out of practice, as far as I know it hasn’t been used in over eight hundred years! I don’t think anypony save historians and scholars even know what it is. Using it will probably only make ponies think you are angry and shouting at them.”
“Yeah, you should really lower the volume.” Rainbow piped in, idly flying up to the Princess eye level. “Not that the booming voice trick wasn’t cool and all, but way too loud.”
“I see…” Luna said thoughtfully, a hoof idly rubbing against her chin,her eyes moving from Twilight to Rainbow Dash. “We thank thou for thy advice, we must admit that we art still familiarizing ourselves with the changes that hath happened during our absence, though we do not know if we would be able to reduce our volume while addressing our subjects.”
“Don't worry Princess we can help if you want. Why, Fluttershy can probably give you some great pointers on how to speak quietly.” Pinkie happily proposed, eliciting and startled squeak from the butter colored Pegasus as she dragged her forward.
“Thy offer is appreciated Bearer of Laughter; we shall consider it for the future. But for now we believe that thou hath been summoned by our sister as well?” Luna asked, gesturing for them to restart walking.
“As well? Does that mean you were also summoned Princes?” Rarity primly asked while her eyes lingered on the Princess floating mane, ideas quickly entering her mind regarding a new design.
“Indeed, though we know not the reason behind said summons, certainly something about the rogue weather that seems to be plaguing our skies.”
Mind awhirl Twilight wondered what the fact Celestia had summoned Luna could mean, but before she could ask any questions they turned around a corner, entering a small room depicting several light blue windows with winter motifs.
Her eyes scanned the room before immediately locking into Celestia awaiting form, the sun Princess staring into a larger window with the image of an ice blue flower, it’s petals forming a beautiful snowflake.
“Princess Celestia! Just as you asked we have come as fast as possible.” Twilight exclaimed darting forward, stopping right next to her teacher and offering a bow.
“Indeed sister. Here we are, now explain to us the situation at hand.” Luna said in kind moving closer to her sister.
“Rise my little ponies, and thank you for such a prompt arrival.” Celestia said, with a small tired smile, a tinge of sadness entering her tone despite her efforts in masking it. “You as well little sister.”
“Tia what is wrong?” Luna asked abandoning her regal posture as she immediately noticed her sister sadness. “You are distressed! Tells us what affliction ails you. Is this about the strange weather plaguing our skies?”
Twilight felt her own distress increasing as Celestia turned her face away for a moment, her eyes shut in sadness.
“Yes, this is regarding what is affecting the weather, or more specifically, who is affecting it.” Celestia said after clearly taking a moment to recompose herself, looking into her sister's eyes with a uncertain stare.
“Luna I don’t know how to tell you this…I… I have been waiting for the right time to tell you, but it simply never came. It was too early when you were first restored to us… and then you were so busy catching up with a thousand years’ worth of knowledge and changed customs… and then Discord returned…” Celestia started, her regal mask slowly slipping away, showing a glimpse of the distress beneath it.
“Calm down Tia, no matter what, we art here.” Luna comfortingly said, nuzzling her sister neck.
Closing her eyes for a moment, gathering strength from her sister's presence, Celestia re-centered herself. Only showing the regal figure all her little ponies usually saw upon opening her eyes.
“Thank you.” She calmly said, giving Luna a sincere smile before turning towards the other mares in the room, noticing their confused, unease, and in the case of her student, slightly panicking, stares. “Tell me, what do you know about the mare known as Snowdrop?”
“Snowdrop, is commonly known as the inventor of the snowflakes; While that is not exactly correct, she is the creator of the Guide-flakes, the best and most reliable way to control and direct snow clouds. Whose invention allowed the winter season to be properly controlled, while before it ponies had barely any control over cold weather phenomenon, which caused winters to be plagued by outburst of rogue weather. This in turn led to her most known title, the Tamer of Winter.” Twilight immediately replied despite her anxiety, as years of answering to the Princess questions as her student kicked in.
“She was an extremely kind mare, always willing to help others and also one of our closest friends, not to mention one of the few ponies who truly understood our night.” Luna replied whimsically, a fond bittersweet smile gracing her features as her eyes focused inwards in remembrance. “The world is truly a slightly lesser place due to her passing.”
“I’m sorry Luna, I know I should have told you sooner, no matter what excuses I told myself.” Celestia said in a constrict tone of voice, her eyes dropping towards the ground. “Snowdrop… is still alive.”
“What?!” Luna bellowed in surprise, quickly turning around to face her sister. “How could it be so?! She would be over a thousand years old if she was still alive!”
Her sad eyes moving from her sister to her student and her friends before stopping once again at the window depicting Snowdrop’s Cutie-mark Celestia let out a tired sigh, before once again turning to her audience.
“Gather around and please make yourselves comfortable, for this is a long tale which I have to share with you all.” She declared, sadness and regret clear in her tone.
“A tale of my own foolishness and what it cost us all millennia ago, a tale that few have ever heard.”
“Sit down as I tell you the tale of Snowdrop and Winter’s Tears.”