In the Bleak Midwinter
* * *
In the Bleak Midwinter
Jeffrey C. Wells
www.scrivnarium.net
* * *
I gazed up, satisfied, at the small mountain of presents piled upon the carpet in the center of the Chalcedonic Study.
"Now," I declared, in my best and most confident empress-y tones, "these get wrapped."
Rose Quartz, major-domo of the Crystal Castle and longtime servant of my father's house, gave me a quizzical glance. "Wrapped?"
"Mm hm!" I said, all chipper. "As you know, many of the beautiful crystalline snow-globes and statues and jewels and paperweights and desk sets I've just spent the entire day purchasing are extremely fragile. They need to survive a long and bumpy train ride back to the Heartlands so they can be properly gifted to the Canterlot nobility there." I smiled, beatifically. "To this end, I have brought in a specialist: the single greatest bubble-wrapper in all Equestria."
"Impressive enough, Highness," said Rose. "And certainly your correspondents deserve the very best, but... surely I could have assigned some of the castle servants to the task of wrapping all these up?"
"Thank you, Rose," I said. "I'm sure your staff would have been more than up to the challenge. But the day's been going so well so far, and I am now completely in the zone. As a result, there's a little part of me that's not going to be satisfied with anything less than total optimization and efficiency as we 'wrap up' my first holiday retail experience here in the Restored Empire." I gave a little chuckle. "I am so totally a nerd, except for with shopping instead of knowing about things."
"Yes," said Rose. "Quite."
"Besides, it's already a done deal." I raised my voice to the gleaming hallway outside. "Miss Doo, could you join us here in the Chalcedonic Study, please?"
"Okay, Princess!" said the little gray cross-eyed pegasus to whom I had called. She fluttered crookedly into the room, nearly knocking over a priceless sodalite statue that had probably been a thousand years old before the Empire had vanished for a thousand years. She saluted me with one hoof. "Ready and willing to serve the Restored Empire!"
Rose looked at the pegasus, then at the enormous pile of extremely-fragile gifts, then at me. Then she looked again at the pegasus, once more at the pile of gifts, then once more at the pegasus, and then finally back at me.
"Highness," she said. "A word, please."
"Certainly," I said, offering up my hoof in anticipation of the escort. "Miss Doo, you may begin your work. You'll find bubble wrap and tape and paper in ample supply over there in the corner."
"Oh boy!" said Miss Doo, zooming eagerly over to the packing supplies. To the noise of the pegasus's zealous rustling and crackling, Rose ushered me just outside the door of the study. She looked up at me with a stern little gray-eyed glare.
"Princess," said Rose, "you know I would never directly contradict you in front of the populace."
"I am aware, and I thank you for it. Go on."
Rose gestured warningly with one hoof back into the study, trying for a moment to find words. "Is this wise?" she eventually asked. "This one comes with a certain... reputation. You do recall, I hope, the instance at spring's beginning when she showed up at our doors inquiring as to where we were keeping all our migratory swallows?"
"I recall," I said. "Winter Wrap Up as practiced in the southern lands is not always easy for each and everypony to grasp."
"It was the difference of a thousand miles, and a diametrically-opposed cardinal direction," protested Rose. "And not the first time she'd made the error, to hear tell." My major-domo shivered a little, gazing out through a narrow balistraria at the frigid arctic wasteland that lay just beyond our shell of warmth and light. "Last time, the Empire was not here to offer her cocoa and warm blankets on her arrival."
"And fortunate was she this time that we were," I said, laying a hoof across her small shoulders and holding her close. There is something to be said for being physically larger than most of your subjects: it can turn your presence into a very comforting and maternal thing. Aunty has successfully used this trick to calm agitated ponies under her command for, literally, centuries. I am just now learning it. "Trust me, Rose. I'm not perfect. I make plenty of errors in judgment. This is not one of them."
"If you say so, Highness."
"I do," I said, ushering her back into the study. "See?"
Just as anticipated, my hired professional had already taken a substantial bite out of the immense pile of gifts. In place of the bite was an expertly-laid cordwood-like stack of perfect little individually bubble-wrapped holiday bundles. Even as we watched, two more gifts joined the pile. Rose's jaw fell slack at the sight of it.
Ditzy Doo turned at our arrival. "Hey again, Princess!" she cried, throwing her hooves wide, this time knocking the sodalite statue cleanly off its plinth. A quick shot of unicorn telekinesis from my horn saved it before it hit the floor, as Ditzy chatted obliviously on. "I gotta say, there's some really interesting wrapping challenges in this pile. Like that crystal elephant over there!" She gestured absently at a sleekly hemispherical paper parcel whose top had been folded into an exquisite origami flower. The recipient of such a gift would be excused for thinking that the parcel itself was his present, such was the careful beauty of its wrapping job. "Turned out, I needed to stand that big guy on his end and do a double lotus fold on the top to keep the tusks from intersecting any exterior impact points."
"Well done, Miss Doo," I said.
"Yes, quite," said Rose, recovering her words. "I must say, you are very unexpectedly good at this, Miss Doo."
"It's what my cutie mark is telling me!" said Ditzy Doo, threatening the sodalite statue for the third time today by backing casually into it. Sensing a pattern, I wrapped it in my magic and casually stowed it in a storage closet for the remaining duration of the pegasus's visit. "I'll never forget the day I first wrapped a package up in bubble wrap!" Ditzy affected a caricatured mocking tone. "Everypony else was all, 'You'll never be able to wrap that package, Derpy!' and 'Why don't you just give up now, Derpy?' and 'Help, you literally just set me on fire, Derpy, quick get some water!' But did I listen to them? No, sir, I did not. I just stepped right up and I wrapped that package up in bubble wrap, and that's the day I knew that I was born to be a delivery-pony. And then the whole town burned down, and when my hair finally grew back from being all singed off, I noticed I had earned this little girl right here!" She gestured at the line of bubbles on her flank.
"I see," I said. "I do hope the poor pony who was on fire made it through okay."
"Who?"
"The pony," I clarified. "The one who said you set him on fire."
Ditzy shrugged. "I guess somepony might have said something like that. Like I said, I didn't really listen."
"Well!" I said, not knowing quite what else to. "We'll leave you to your wrapping, Miss Doo. Feel free to retire to the castle kitchens after you're finished. Missus Saltcrust of the Day Kitchen should have some lovely hot crystalberry fritters down there for you to sample."
"Sounds really good, Princess!" said Ditzy Doo, as Rose and I left her to her work. "Bye!"
With that, the two of us slipped out of the Chalcedonic Study, en route to the Cathedral. "You see?" I said. "No need to worry. Say what you will about her, Ditzy Doo is the greatest bubble-wrapping professional in all Equestria."
"Forgive me for having questioned you, Highness," said Rose, bowing her head slightly as we walked. "I am now slightly more confident that your gifts will arrive in good shape and that your apologies will have their desired effect."
"Apologies?" I said, glancing down at Rose as we continued to walk.
"Well, yes," replied Rose. "I can only assume that there must have been some sort of major diplomatic faux pas that necessitated the purchase of all these gifts. I've been worrying about it all day, ever since you began your shopping spree."
I stammered for a moment, and then got control of my tongue. "No, Rose!" I said, trying desperately, on the fly, to mold my sudden startled laugh into something gentle and happy rather than chiding and patronizing. No sound must escape my lips unanalyzed; this is the one of the burdens of princesshood. "No! No diplomatic faux pas...ses. This was my Black Friday holiday shopping. That's all."
Rose shuddered a little. "'Black Friday' is a dreadful name for a holiday," she said. "Forgive me, Highness. It is likely different in the Heartlands where you grew up, but here in the North, we do not celebrate blackness. We fear and shun it."
"It's nothing like that," I said, laughing with perfect control this time. "It's just a silly little name somepony came up with. 'Black Friday' is merely the name for the first Friday after Llamastide is over and done with. We don't have to worry about our pies or our cranberry sauces or our Llamastide breads any more. We can just focus our minds with surgical precision on all our Hearth's Warming gifting."
A dreadful silence came from my major-domo.
"Pardon, Highness," said Rose Quartz, "but what is 'Hearth's Warming'?"
I blinked.
"Oh, dear."
* * *
One half-hour and two mugs of hot mulled crystalberry nectar later, we had yet to achieve a complete understanding.
"Hearth's Warming," I said, lounging deeply into the velvet cushion protecting my soft pony hide from the sharp crystalline angles of the Cathedra, the throne of the Empire. "It's a very important holiday in the Heartlands. My mind is actively being boggled, as we speak, that nopony here has heard of it by now. Through word-of-mouth, at least!"
Rose shrugged apologetically from the base of my throne. I had practically begged her to consider having this little drink-and-talk in one of the castle's many comfortable conversation pits, but the overfamiliarity quickly got to her and she ended up sort of spasmodically shoving us both here to the Cathedral where we could talk on a level "more befitting our customary stations." She took a timid sip of her nectar. "The Frozen North is very isolated," she said. "Additionally, Highness, please do recall that we have only been back in existence for a matter of months."
"Still, though," I said. "Hearth's Warming! It's an ancient festival. Easily older than the thousand years your people were lost."
"I am sorry, Highness. We have never celebrated it."
"I still can hardly believe it," I said. "Perhaps under a different name? It's the story of the Settlement, you know, when all three tribes of pony learned to live and work in harmony?"
"All three tribes?"
"Yes," I said. "Pegasi, unicorns and... earth ponies, and..."
My major-domo stared up at me, her crystalline eyes sparkling and her mouth small.
"...yes," I said. "Our people weren't actually included in that event, were we?"
"Some theorize that we are a post-Settlement offshoot of the earth tribe," Rose offered, helpfully. "But genealogy does not support this. Most consider that the crystal ponies arrived on this continent through a separate settlement event entirely, many hundreds of years before the southern tribes occupied the Heartlands."
"So all this time while I've been hanging snowflakes from the balustrades and laying sparkly white foam cloth over everything..." I winced a little. "...What exactly did it look like I was doing?"
Rose shuffled her hooves and gazed down at the carpet runner. "There were three prevailing theories amongst the staff. First, it was thought that you might be raising tributes to your father the Snow King, Epona bless his soul." She raised one hoof to the opposing shoulder in a ritual gesture. "We were uncertain why you had chosen to construct sacred patronial icons of cheap tinsel and carnival glass, but felt it was not our position to question. Secondly, it was proposed that you were cryptically warning us against succumbing once more to hatred and suspicion, reminding us of the cold and icy death that awaits our people should we ever fall once again into disunion. We searched our souls assiduously, Highness, and removed any impediment to our love and unity, but still you did not lift your dire glyphs and symbols. This worried us."
I rubbed at my poll with a hoof. "And the third theory?"
"That you had gone completely crackers, Highness," said Rose. "Forgive us, again, but madness does run in your line; and in your father particularly." Once again, she touched at her shoulder.
"Madness?" I asked, looking up, my gut sinking a little.
"Indeed," said Rose. "Your father was convinced that he was being stalked night and day by vicious shape-shifting insects who could impersonate other ponies at will."
"I may have been on the receiving end of a similar threat," I said, trying to blot out the dark memories of my wedding day and the dread specter of what might have been.
"Yes, quite," said Rose. "Only this was well before Changelings were known in the Frozen North, or anywhere, as far as we can tell."
I tried to summon up a bit of proper filial respect for the sire I never knew. "I suppose a little caution is a healthy thing?"
"Pardon, Highness," said Rose, sipping at her nectar, "but your father once outlawed all pets except sheep on the grounds that only sheep could be properly interrogated. The Snow King's fear proved contagious to his people, weakening the bonds of love and unity that had kept us safe for generations. It was your father who first let the snow in, Highness. Dread Sombra struck the blow that felled your house, but its foundations had been crumbling for years."
I sighed. "Don't your—I mean our—people feel the need to celebrate something in these short, cold days? To lift their spirits at least?"
"Short days are long nights," said Rose. "And the cold is the king of the wastes without, ever hungry, ever greedy to claim our tiny island of warmth and light. We do not celebrate in the dark and cold. We huddle together, crying out to the howling void and praying that it will avert its jaws from us for one more day." Rose took a little sip from her mug.
"Santa Hooves!" I practically shouted. "We can celebrate with Santa Hooves! You know, the mythical jolly red-suited reindeer who flies from house to house and hops down the chimney to fill the hoof-stockings of all good fillies and colts with presents!"
"The chimney can indeed serve as an access point to one's home," said Rose, staring mournfully into her nectar as though she were wishing there were more of it. "We certainly learned that well enough when Dread Sombra's diabolic Schattenpolizei were on the prowl, slinking from shadow to shadow and breaking into our houses to rearrange our furniture and change out our tea for different kinds of tea. We who supported the Freedom Call referred to it as the Zersetzung, the Decomposition, a subtle form of psychological harassment that was meant to destabilize the public mental health on a grand scale and prevent us from mounting effective resistance to his cruel regime."
"But," I said, my voice cracking, "it got better, right? I mean, surely, there has to be some kind of historical... thing from that period we could commemorate in order to actually celebrate the winter?"
"I am sorry, Princess."
"What about your eventual liberation?" I said, grasping at the idea like a drowning pony scrabbling for a cracked edge of ice. "We could celebrate that! How Queen Arborvitae heeded your call and dispatched Aunty Celestia and Aun—Princess Luna to liberate you?"
"All I remember is a light," murmured Rose. "A terrible brightness and a terrible darkness intermingling; and then nothing at all, as the great oblivion claimed us like the end of all days."
The silence in the Cathedral was complete.
Rose took another sip of nectar.
* * *
Close to two hours later, I was lying submerged up to my muzzle in a swirling hot and soapy bath. My eyes were closed, my ears were fully underwater, and all my senses could gather was a warm and roaring darkness that smelled faintly of lavender. The water of my bath was doing wonders to soothe the aching muscles of a hard day spent holiday shopping; it was doing nothing whatsoever to soothe the aching ego of a pretty little imported Canterlot princess who had no right whatsoever to be standing at the head of a battered people made strong and virtuous through a suffering that she couldn't possibly comprehend.
"I," I said, to the ceiling above me, "am a complete impostor."
Hot breath tickled the tiny hairs at the edge of my muzzle and a familiar smell filled my nostrils: the thick aroma of sweat and musk and armor-polish and the faintest suspicion of dandelion and peppermint.
I smiled, despite myself, and received a kiss on the tip of my nose for my trouble.
"If you are an imposter," said my kiss-or, as I lifted myself out of the water to greet him, "—and mind you, I am in no way agreeing to this statement, but if you are one—you are the single most beautiful impostor I have ever seen."
"Shiny," I said. I will never sound like anything but a little filly when I say it like that, and I do not mind one bit.
"You were in here for a while," he said. "I wanted to check up and make sure you weren't planning on falling asleep. Plus, I keep hitting my horn on the chandeliers, and as you know, low ceilings in this house means unhappy wifehorse."
"You're such a worrier," I said, once again mildly cursing my position as Fisher Queen of a profoundly magical empire. The Crystal Castle where I live shifts and changes according to the whims, desires, and personality of the mare occupying its throne, and while this certainly has its upsides—for instance, the full Pegasopolian spa-bath I was now sitting in that appeared quite out of nowhere one day—it does write my mood swings inconveniently large. "I thought nagging was my job."
"You're right," said my big, beautiful lunk of a husband. "It is your job. My job is the same as it's always been: keeping you happy and protecting you from yourself."
"Pooh," I said. "And before you start lecturing me on the condition of my wings with all this soap, I don't want to hear it. I will be quite responsibly re-oiling my plumage all evening, thank you very much."
"I wasn't going to say a word," said Shiny. "So long as you let me help."
I permitted myself a happy little shiver, but it was a short-lived one. I sunk mostly back beneath the surface of my bath. "If I sit here like this," I said, "I can pretend that I am the only pony in the world."
"I'm going to assume that this all has to do with the Rose Quartz situation this afternoon," said Shiny. There came a rustling of paper. "I am supposed to let you know that she 'begs your forgiveness' and apologizes 'profusely' for upsetting you in your 'joyous holiday time,' or at least that's what this extensive letter of regret says." Another rustling of paper. "I also have here a proposal from the Committee for Agreeable Solstice Observance, something I wasn't aware that we had. I'm actually pretty sure it was just convened for the first time within the last hour. The proposal calls for, and I quote, 'an annual Snow Day where all citizens of the Empire will put aside their deeply-ingrained fears and celebrate all the ways that snow can be fun (and not at all a harbinger of annihilation and oblivion).' That last little part is in really small type."
I groaned as Shiny neatly rolled the little scroll back up and sealed it with a band. "It awaits only your signature, H.R.H. Cadance the First of the Restored Empire," he said, with a little flourish.
"They're doing all this just to make me happy, Shiny," I said. "Those silly, wonderful ponies are reordering their entire society so that I can have a stupid little winter celebration."
"That may be," said Shiny, "but on the other hoof, snow is fun. C'mon, Cadance! They're giving you your own winter holiday as a winter holiday present! All recursiveness aside, this has gotta be the snazziest Hearth's Warming gift ever. As the Prince Consort of the Restored Empire, I'd recommend you putting your signature to this."
I sighed. "Very well," I said. "Just as soon as I'm out of the bath." I shook my head, then, making little splashing noises. "I absolutely cannot believe they're doing this. Just so I'll feel at home and can go shopping and glue glitter on things and hang tinsel and put presents under the... tree?" I frowned. "Did they tell you if we have trees with this new thing they're proposing?"
"It's only been an hour. Let's give the Snow Day traditions a little bit to work themselves out."
"I don't deserve this, Shiny. These are a good and noble people who have suffered terribly under terrible leaders, one of whom apparently was my own father. They deserve a better empress than me."
"And yet," said Shiny. "And yet, they want you. We saved them, Hon. You, and me, and my sister's cool little dragon familiar. We saved them from falling back into that cycle of terrible leaders. And it isn't just what you did for them; they love you, Cadance. They love the way that you calm their fears. They love the way you learn all their names and remember what they're doing with their lives. They love the joy and vitality that you've brought back to this wounded city. These are your people, Cady. Being their princess is in your blood."
"They don't feel like my people," I said. "They feel so strange, sometimes."
"You've been out of sync with them for the last thousand years," said Shiny, kissing me on the tip of my rose-pink horn. "Give yourself some time."
"Mm," I said, stretching out in my beautiful hot bathtub. "Okay. I'll give myself some time. And I'll have you know that the very first time I'm going to give myself is an extra fifteen minutes here in the spa-bath."
"Just be mindful," said Shiny. "Keep track of your heart rate, and don't overheat. And promise me you'll get plenty to drink afterward. Not nectar. Something hydrating."
"Nag."
"Never," said Shiny. "I am, and will ever be, your humble knight-protector." He kissed me again and turned to go.
At the door, he turned around. "And don't let the bath fool you," he said. "No matter how much you pretend, you will never be the only pony in this world. It is your destiny never to be alone, Mi Amore Cadenza. You will always have ponies looking to you to lead and inspire them. Whether this is a blessing or a curse is entirely up to you."
"Tell me you'll always be with me," I said.
Shiny clip-clopped back over to my bath. He leaned in close and whispered into my ear.
"So long as I have life and strength," he said, "I will."
"Thank you," I said. He kissed me once more on the lips, and then he was gone.
I settled down into the swirling waters of my bath, letting the hot, rushing water surround me until all the coldness of the bleak midwinter fell far away and was lost to distant memory.
"Happy Snow Day," I whispered to myself.
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looks interesting. Welp, time to get my reading glasses
Merry Christmas, Skywriter!
Fantastic. This take on the Crystal Ponies' perfectly reasonable fear of snow and the rich history interwoven with supreme awkwardness and your amazing sense of humor made this a great read. Thanks for sharing.
Clearly what's needed here is for Snowflake Jake to just start bringin' everyone spices upon spices.
Really really interested to see where it is you're going with this.
3683001
Alas, I mis-tagged the story as "incomplete" by accident on original post, sorry. This is all there is going to be on this one chapter; block-breaking pieces like this one aren't compatible with multiparteredness (although, as part of a chronology, you may see and hear more of some of these events in the future.) And yes, I just made up the word "multiparteredness."
D'awh. The bit at the end was especially nice.
3683027
Aw, nerts. It's a great glimpse into end-cycle Cadence and Shiny, for what that's worth. I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with seeing them get there the normal way rather than just inferring from the future.
I love the idea that cadence greatly enjoys shopping and glitter.
For some reason, I can imagine future-Apple Bloom enjoying much the same things as well as frilly dresses, tiaras, make-up, the color pink, etc. All while still being crazy good at construction. Random thought there.
Also, I quite greatly enjoyed the greatest bubble wrapper in Equestria.
Also Also, I enjoyed this story!
I just read the Luna micro-series too! Wasn't that great?
I did say I'd read something Skywriterly and not be all ornery and "Oooh, a story—is that what you call this," didn't I?
Fine, fine, I'm capable of not being a jerk. At least for one day out of the year.
I quite liked the D—'s backstory bit, but the real scene-stealer for me here was Rose Quartz and her German existential ennui. I literally cannot get enough of German existential ennui. Like, if there were some sort of German-run camp I could go to, on vacation, to experience that terrifying sense of doom and horror, I'd totally sign up.
Ja, mein Skyführer.
Too soon? Too painfully inappropriate on a Christmas story? Too bad! That's how I roll, mischlingen!
Um. Okay. No longer sure this is qualifying me for "not a jerk at least one day out of the year". But in any case, it was a wonderful story and it's really making me want to go work on my own promised Hearth's Warming tale some more; though that probably won't manage to get finished until deeper into this winter. But at that point, we'll probably all need more holiday cheer, especially those poor, poor crystal ponies...
This is perfection!!!
Oh man. I thought Chivalry's tale was going to be the Hearth's Warming gift from Skywriter this year, but now I see that it was like the tiny package that is actually the keys to your real present, the big shiny chariot outside.
This is sweet and rich and so very you, which is always a pleasure. Hope you had a wonderful holiday.
I love your stories
This is awesome, much in the vein of CofC. I likes it.
Very sweet and funny (loved the wrapping scene), and so well-written as usual. Among many other things, I always love good imagery in stories, and maybe it sounds odd but the bath scene was especially enjoyable for me. Just loved the image.
Anyway, it's still Christmas day where I am, so Happy Hearth's Warming to you!
Generous bunch, those crystal ponies.
This is marvelous, sardonic and heartfelt in the best of ways. Very well done, sir.
Ah, the joys of Princess Culture Shock. Just wait until she tells them about the Winter Wrap-Up Rabbit, and how it leaves colored eggs all around the grass in the spring.
"Eggs, Your Highness?"
"Yes, colorful little eggs all painted up with stripes and pictures of baby ducks and rainbows. Some of them even have candy inside."
"It just seems like such an odd thing for a rabbit to leave behind. Are you certain he doesn't have a bird of some sort who travels with him?"
I am sure one of those words is not supposed to be there.
As for the story, and interesting premise. It's not exactly what I had in mind when it come to the crystal ponies and the snow. Was this brought up in the comics?
My god, where do you get it? Your timing. My browser was being incredibly frustrating the whole time I was reading this and I still laughed at most of this story. I had about the same reaction as Rose when "miss Doo" was introduced. I think that's what makes it work, having a character around who shares our reaction to things. Need a good Watson for every Holmes.
Cadence's capturing some of Celestia's advantages and techniques, was something. Something I liked. It reminds me of when Twilight picked up Cady's calming breaths. It's also definitely awesome that Celestia has such size on her side, but for totally different reasons.
The idea of a castle that responds to the mental state of it's owner. I don't know how this hasn't been a thing before. Again, how do you do it? Filling in the cracks so well with just the right ideas.
Shiny's proof of princess validity (in response to her impostor syndrome) was so right and touching. That she should accept the love of her subjects for the very reasons it agitated her. That she is right for them, and they know it.
There's totally gonna be happy wings later though, huh? You just had to go and remind us of the difference in lifespan this universe has for this couple though, didn't you. Can't anything just be nice?
Anyway. You get the picture. You wrote another thing, and it was awesome, as usual. This tab has crashed about ten times now while writing this, so I'mma wrap this up and go -make that eleven
write a bug report or something.
3683471 Oh, so this is what you were talking about! Don't worry. This doesn't make you a bad person. Just, uh, interesting. Clever, perhaps, but who wishes ennui upon themselves?
That was a very good read.
Happy Belated Christmas to you too!
3684222
Fixed, thank you. No, the thing with the snow is entirely headcanon. I doubt it's what the writers have in mind, since the Crystal Ponies sell festive snow globes and everything. In this version of the story they are probably grim and dire little religious warning-icons that are passed out to children to teach them to mind their ways, and the poor CPs can't understand why all the tourists are delighted instead of dread-filled.
3683471
Your german fetish intrigues me, mein Freund.
---
Now, to the story in and of itself! A snug, little piece, this one. While I usually enjoy your Cadance more when she is somewhat of an emotional, teenage wrack, I can bear with her being content and emotionally stable for one short story.
Let's see, the usual stuff also, brilliant writing, especially on the dialogue part. As others have mentioned before, you handle imagery quite nicely, being able to keep the picture alive in the reader's head without the reader needing to do anything more than just, well, read.
Rose and Ditzy, while being relatively shortlived in their appearances, convey enough characteristics and life of their own to let them wander in your own mind and think of what happened to them once they left the room Cadance was in. They were alive characters instead of conversation pieces that kept the plot and character conflict going, so kudos to that, too.
I admit to raising an eyebrow out of curiosity at Sombra having a foible for german, but I guess that just comes with it being the mother language. If Sombra would've preferred arabian and I had been born in Egypt, I would've most likely shown the same reaction.
Let's see, what else... it's nice to read about Cadance being all lovey-dovey with Shining, what with her being so rude to him in their first encounter in your cycle. Conquering a woman that hated his guts. Truly a knight in shining armor, a champion for every hopeless romantic out there. You go, my man!
Also, when Shining described Spike as his sister's "cool little dragon familiar", I felt the urge to dig up my best 90's clothes, grab a skateboard from the next best twelve year old, and skate past everyone's favorite little drake, yelling: "You'll never be cool!"
Overall, a sweet little story about Cadance trying to teach her subjects the meaning of christmas, and receiving not what she wanted in return, but something the empire needs.
Yes, I am gonna end with a Batman quote. Because, as we all know, only Santa Clause is more Batman than Batman.
Stay frosty!
3683471
Especially in the Harshwhinny group....
Skyführer. That is too enormously inappropriate to not keep.
I also am a huge fan of poor Rose Quartz's snow-terror.
Poor Cadance though - even her ideas for Santa Hooves were shot down by dictators of insanity past. 
Being a nerd, I loved the throwaway line with "Epona bless his soul" - and really, that whole paragraph with the CP's theories about what Cady was up to with the tinsel and snow flakes was gold. And finally, finally I have a headcanon for Ditzy's cutie mark that perfectly blends her talent, profession, and natural state of being. Why wouldn't the most clumsy pegasus in Equestria be the best at clumsy-proofing her packages? Of course! 
A beautiful and hilarious installment of the Cycle.
Very nice... achieved an impressive balance between comedy and drama - both distinct but neither overshadowing the other. I did enjoy it a great deal...
Buuuuut I kinda felt the ending lacked a certain degree of closure. I realize this may have been the point, but when you talk about how:
I'd kind of like to see that reordering, at least a hint. Since, on the one hand, it would seem strange to them to have such a celebration, but on the other, Shining Armor (feels weird to spell that without a u) is right - snow is fun, and honestly, a holiday is probably the best thing to remind the crystal ponies of all the good things about the season, and cheer them up in a time of bleakness. So, yeah, I'd like to see how it does or doesn't work. Heck, if nothing else, I'd love to see Cadance give a speech or some such thing to that effect - that they shouldn't do this just for her, but for themselves as well, and that seeing them happy would be the greatest gift of all... though hopefully less cliched.
Still, this "complaint" should not be taken as such, as it basically amounts to "I want to see more", so make of it what you will.
This was great, I so love the relationship on display between Cadance and Shining. The dark, enduring stoicism of the crystal ponies is wonderful.
This was delightful
A, dare I say, heartwarming story. (sorry)
Man, that was too sweet. Thank you to the best Cadence writer on the site
in the bleak midwinter, by gustav holst
Of course Ditzy is a master bubble-wrapper! It explains why she's indispensible at the post office, too. Head canon'd!
Also I love the image of Ditzy setting a town on fire with just bubble wrap. Because of course she could. And would.
I think I love you.
Rose Quartz is my new favorite OC. No seriously, she's just made of amazing.
3683471
Ach, du lieber!
So. A mad king call 'The Snow King'...
Sound like anyone we know?
Which is exactly why you need to celebrate: to fight back against the dark and cold!
Also: we haven't met Cadance's father yet, have we?
3685717
According to the wiki, their was a chapter book that depicted Cadance as being found as a baby Pegasus by Earth ponies. Not sure how canon that is though.
3686284
Yep. That's ...Crystal Heart Spell, by G.M. Berrow. Rumor has it that the show's writing stable treats the origin as depicted there as the canonical one.
This still leaves open the question of her actual parentage, of course. I like to believe, no matter how old one claims she is, that Cady has a legitimate claim to the throne and was not simply "assigned" to the Empire by Celly. Canon is silent on this, with inconclusive evidence pointing either way.
So, now I think we have seen every part of Cadance's life in the "Cadence of Cloudsdale" cycle! Except, well, the part where Cadance goes to Cloudsdale. I can't wait!
Happy Snow Day to me!
This was a fun little piece.
Master bubble-wrapper, it all comes together.
If the CPs are sort of German, I'd think beer would definitely help her win them over.
That... that was amazing. I sometimes forget who can write the best princess Cadance on the site, but then you come down the Chimney and deliver this gift to all of our stockings. It's the second best gift I got (the first was a 3DS and Pokemon X, but you never had a chance). Happy Hearth's Warming!
*cracks knuckles* Well, time to get tropin'. I see a few tasty tropes just waiting to be documented.
I loved Derpy as bubble wrap master, even if I prefer her as underwater pegasus:
http://suikuzu.deviantart.com/art/My-special-talent-356927110
(mirror) http://twentypercentcooler.net/post/show/32567/blonde_hair-bubbles-bubbles_cutie_mark-derpy_hoove
I have a feeling that I'm making fool of myself but wouldn't this sound better with some extra word following "without" (like: without equal/mercy/etc.) ?
"And the cold is the king of the wastes without, ever hungry, ever greedy to claim our tiny island of warmth and light."
---
EDIT
Without like in "within and without" = inside and outside of ex. their city.
Yeah, I knew I was missing something :)
3689374
No, that's a good question! To give her speech more gravitas and emphasize her archaic sensibilities, she is using the word "without" in the way people used to use it, as synonymous with "outside" (in the moden day, this usage has fallen by the wayside and we now use it only to mean "lacking.") Thanks for the comment!
3689332
As always, I appreciate all your diligent Troping efforts.
Well, I'm still waiting on my other admins, but but if indeed the contest is still on, this definitely has my vote to win it.
Beautiful and perfect
No one ever remember's Spikes name.
3689725
Fingers crossed!
How do ponies say that?
3691623
I'm sure he does. He just wanted an excuse to talk about how cool it is to have a dragon. Methinks Shiny is a tad jealous.
This is a great story, and like many great stories it left me thinking about it after I finished reading.
The document Shiny brings refers to it as a solstice celebration. Perhaps Cadance could get more whole-hearted participation by celebrating exactly that — the turning point when the days start getting longer and winter starts becoming spring.
They could maintain the gift giving tradition, but as a symbol of how the crystal ponies' generosity and love sees them through hard times. They could put up paper snowflakes, tinsel, and sparkly white cloth in the days leading up to the festival, but burn it in a bonfire on the solstice like the warmth of spring clears away the snow. This approach would help unify the empire with the traditions of heartland Equestria, while also representing and respecting the culture and history of the Crystal Empire.
3692534
That's a great idea and I would totally suggest it to her as a good new holiday tradition for Snow Day.