• Published 29th Nov 2015
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The Twilight Years - Crimmar



Short stories about Twilight's and Raegdan's life in the years before the events of The Lunar Guardsman

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Snow

Snow.

There was snow everywhere, covering the castle gardens like a pristine white blanket. It was beautiful. It was serene. Angles had vanished under the gift of winter, replaced by the gentlest of curves. It was a pristine perfection, an unbroken smoothness of softness and comfort.

So naturally, Twilight Sparkle and Spike ran into it, leaving traces on it and throwing it around, making a whole mess and ruining the peaceful landscape like two Ursas on a rampage.

Celestia watched her young student and her dragon ward play in the snow with an excitement and abandon she wished she could emulate. Instead, she simply watched. It was a joy to do so nevertheless. Twilight and Spike looked adorable with their ear muffles, woolen caps, little boots, and colorful jackets.

She looked next to her, where her friend stood, dressed similarly, though with a lot of extras tucked on because his hairless skin offered no protection at all from the cold. Unlike Twilight and Spike, he wasn’t that adorable.

Mostly because of the stream of curses he kept muttering when away enough from the children. Raegdan wasn’t a fan of the snow. Too many bad memories.

Celestia turned her head sideways to hide the small smile that bloomed in her lips. Perhaps it was about time they made some happier ones for him to associate with it. Her eyes were tracking Twilight’s and Spike’s progress through the snow covered gardens, the mind behind them thinking and planning.

When Twilight’s parents arrived along with their colt, and her niece made an appearance too, she had a simple idea formed. One that she would enjoy greatly as well.

“Good morning, princess,” Twilight Velvet greeted her. Her husband, Night Light murmured something to that effect next to her. It was hard to tell what exactly he said. He was bundled up tight enough that Celestia wondered how he was able to bend his legs enough to walk, and his teeth were chattering against each other.

“Raegdan, how are you honey?” Twilight Velvet pleasantly asked.

“Pissed,” Raegdan answered.

Velvet lowered her stare to his crotch area.

“Oh come on! You know what I mean.”

Velvet shrugged. “I had to check. You might have needed a change. I’m sorry, but it’s kind of ingrained after your first child.”

Raegdan frowned and took a step back. Celestia asked herself, and she bet that Raegdan was doing the same, if Velvet would try to change him herself if she was given cause. Probably. The mare wasn’t ignorant to how Raegdan would take such an attempt, she simply found these situations too funny not to initiate them and she didn’t care much about making a spectacle of anypony, including herself.

Celestia always wished Velvet would come by more often.

She coughed gently, attracting everypony’s attention to her. “How would all of you like to play a game?”

“A game?” Cadance asked, intrigued.

“Yes,” Celestia affirmed. “A snowball fight actually. I was thinking that we could play colts against fillies.”

Night Light shivered hard, letting out a painful noise. “I’m- I’m sorry, princess, but I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it. I’d rather go inside where it’s warm, if that is ok with you.” He tried to smile bravely at her. “Of course, if you really want to, I suppose I could stay for-”

“No, no. It’s ok, Night Light,” Celestia assured him, and pushed him back towards the nearest gardens exit. “You go and have something warm to drink, and we will join you later.”

“Thank you, princess,” Night Light said with as much feeling as he could muster under the conditions. He delayed short enough to kiss his wife on the cheek and rushed for the sweet warmth of the castle.

“Wuss,” Raegdan said as Night Light walked by him.

“Suck my-” Night Light answered, the end of his sentence too garbled by distance and his shaking jaw to make out. She could make a reasonable guess though, especially when considering the sheer amusement on Raegdan’s face.

“Raegdan?” Celestia called to him. “We’re uneven. Do you want one of us to join you or do you think colts can handle it?”

“Neither,” he answered turning around. “I’m going to find a place with a good view of our surroundings and do my job.”

“But-”

He waved a hand, not looking at her. “Have fun,” he called out.

Celestia watched him walk away, doing her best not to let the dejection show on her face. She must have done less of a good job that she thought because Cadance put a covered hoof on her leg in a consoling fashion.

“It’s ok, auntie. We can make a snowpony instead. Let’s go!”

Celestia smiled at her niece and went along, followed by Velvet and Shining Armor. They could still have their fun. Maybe she’d be able to pull Raegdan into it later or tomorrow.


Blueblood, known to most ponies as Prince Blueblood, was walking the castle grounds wearing less than he should. The young colt’s white coat was standing on edge as it tried to preserve his body warmth as much as possible. Inside, the castle was warm and toasty enough, but Blueblood would rather stay out. It was a beautiful day despite the cold. There were more reasons than that, but if anypony asked that’s the answer he’d receive as to the reason he stubbornly stayed out and away from the heat.

He walked without really noticing where he was going. He didn’t have a specific destination in mind. Walking helped keep him warm, and that was enough for now.

Until he heard laughter.

Curious, the young colt followed the sound. He peeked around a corner of the castle’s walls, and watched. Princess Celestia herself was out here, building a snowpony along with another mare and a number of younger ponies. He wasn’t sure, but he believed one of them was Princess Celestia’s adopted niece, and a flash of purple let him know that the young filly she had taken in as a trainee, for some reason, was also there.

Blueblood watched them laugh and roll up snow, building the snowpony higher and higher, despite it crumbling down to a snowmound every now and then, taking the futility of their efforts in stride.

He took a shy step forward. Perhaps… perhaps he could join them somehow. If he pretended he was passing by and simply wanted to pay his respects, maybe he could find an opening to include himself in their company. Princess Celestia was safe. He could be around her and know he wasn’t going to be hurt, and, truth be told, joining them in simple fun would be… admissible.

Step by coat-shivering step, he moved towards them. He passed the castle’s corner, and something hit him hard on the sides.

He tumbled and rolled in the snow by the blow. His ribs ached, and he felt even colder now, almost freezing by the sudden dive in the frost. He looked over his side to see what had attacked him and saw what his father called “the little wretch’s guarddog”.

He was intimidating, to say the least. He was as tall as Princess Celestia, which made him a giant when compared to a young colt like Blueblood, and he had heard about things he had done to various ponies. It wasn’t something Blueblood ever wanted to meet, especially on his own. The huge, bipedal figure was obviously what had kicked him. He must have passed by right him without noticing him.

The tall creature bent his legs and crouched near Blueblood. as he still lay on the snow, with a puzzled expression. “Huh, you’re just a kid. Can’t be older than Shining Armor. What the hell are you doing here?”

Blueblood didn’t know the name, but he figured this could be his chance. “I- I wanted to ask if I could join in over there,” he said with a trembling voice, and pointed towards the ponies some distance away that hadn’t noticed them.

“What’s your name?”

“P-Prince Blueblood.”

The creature frowned. “Blueblood? You’re Sanguine’s kid, aren’t you?”

Blueblood nodded. “Yes, sir. He’s my father.”

The creature rose up and turned away. “Then go and find him. This isn’t open to the public. Fucking cold, fucking Sanguine, fucking snow...” he murmured as he left Blueblood behind.

Blueblood sighed, and tried to contain his disappointment. It wasn’t that bad. He could continue with his plan as it was. Keep walking, make sure he wasn’t found. He turned back and only managed a few steps before a stern, hated voice stopped him in his tracks.

He was found too soon.

His father was marching over his way. Any pony seeing him would think he was calm. Blueblood knew better. He could see how rigidly his father kept his neck straight, how stiff his steps were. His father wasn’t calm. He was furious.

“Where have you been, Blueblood?” his father asked. HIs face betrayed nothing, but there was anger in his eyes.

“I was taking a stroll through-”

His father’s gaze locked onto his side where some snow and mud was stuck on his white coat. “What is this?” he asked fiercely, making Blueblood shake. “Mud? You’ve been rolling in the dirt like a commoner?”

The hit was not unexpected. Blueblood knew it would come ever since he heard his father’s voice, and the hoof rose slow slowly and imperiously. He didn’t try to avoid it. It would only make things worse.

He fell on the ground once more. His father was raging over him, in his own, seemingly serene, way. He was naming Blueblood’s failings one after another, hurting him with something other than hooves. Blueblood did his best to ignore it. He had heard it all before. He had. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t hurt one bit.

It didn’t.

He glanced sideways. The creature was there, by the corner, watching. Blueblood felt a flash of rage for him. If he had let him go to Princess Celestia he would have been safe for a little while longer. Now he had to endure his father’s rage, a rage that wouldn’t stop until he dragged Blueblood back to their family manor and showed him his full displeasure.

He was going to completely shatter Blueblood’s spirit first though. He always took the time to do it, mostly the same way. It worked, that’s why. It worked every time, no matter how much Blueblood wanted to deny it.

“Hello, Sanguine.”

Blueblood’s father turned towards the creature that was coming their way. “The guarddog. Do you really need to befoul my air with your presence, you wretched-”

“Oops, I slipped,” Raegdan said, smiling.

Blueblood looked carefully, wondering what the bipedal creature was talking about. He seemed to be standing on his two legs just fine.

His father had been cut off by the non-sequitur too. He waited a moment to see if anything would come to it, and when it didn’t he continued. “You have no resp-”

Raegdan’s foot kicked Blueblood’s father straight up, flattening his face. Sanguine fell back and down to the ground, blood spilling from his broken muzzle.

“Damn snow,” Raegdan said, smiling widely. “I just don’t know where my legs will go. Let me help you up.”

Sanguine lifted his head, a spell forming on his long horn, and spittle was shooting out of his mouth as his facade of calm was ripped off. “You degenerate anima-”

Blueblood watched amazed how his father’s spell was extinguished the moment that the creature called Raegdan wrapped his hand around his father’s horn. A sound slap cut off his rant. Raegdan pulled Sanguine up, closer to his face, half lifting the large pony up.

“Hitting your own kid, Sanguine?” Raegdan growled, his voice low and threatening. “That’s the lowest anyone can go.”

“What I do with my son,” Sanguine spat, “is none of your business!”

Raegdan seemed to think about this for a second. “Yeah, you’re probably right. It isn’t my business.” His smile lit up in a wicked smile that scared Blueblood. “But then, when did I ever let that stop me?”

His knee came up to meet Sanguine’s muzzle. To his credit, his father barely grunted.

Sanguine’s front of calm seemed to restore itself, despite the fountain of blood running down his face. Raegdan let him fall back to the ground. Sanguine got up and cleaned himself, using a handkerchief to stem the blood flow. “You’re nothing but an animal. You’re not to blame for getting out of your leash. I should take this offence with your master, beast, shouldn’t I?”

Raegdan looked back, where the Princess and her entourage still enjoyed themselves, too far and blocked by various snow piles and hedges to notice what was actually happening some distance away.

“You should know better than that, guarddog. You should know there’s a price for touching me.”

The biped turned back to Sanguine, murder in his eyes. Sanguine smirked in return.

“Let us leave this place of stench, Blueblood. Come along.”

“No,” Raegdan said before Blueblood could even think of getting up from the ground. “You can strut the fuck away. Your… son, has been invited to join Princess Celestia.”

Sanguine’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. Raegdan kept talking. “If you hadn’t gone and started beating on him maybe he would have told you that he was heading back to the castle to get something warmer to wear before coming back.”

His father’s eyes stared at Blueblood. Blueblood had no idea what the creature’s game was, but if it meant staying away from his father just a minute longer… he nodded fervently, hoping his father would buy it.

He did. Sanguine harrumphed and turned away, leaving his son behind. Rich and powerful he might be, but he didn’t dare do anything that would displease the Princess, not if she could find out by what his father considered a reliable source. He was probably pleased with the idea that his son would be spending time near her. It fed into his obsession.

His father would nurse his bloodied muzzle, and he would plan. He’d find a way to make the strange creature suffer, somehow. Someday, he would get back at them, no matter how long it took. His father could be deadly patient in these matters. He’d wait.

Raegdan grit his teeth, and turned around to face Blueblood. The young colt was still sprawled on the snow, shivering, a small mark of his father’s hoof on his cheek. Raegdan looked slack jawed at him for a moment, before his eyes widened and ran his hand over his face, looking pained. He bent down to help Blueblood up, helping him clean up.

The biped put its hand on Blueblood’s back and felt him shaking. “You’re freezing.”

“I’m- I’m fine. I’ll go back into the castle and… what are you…?”

Raegdan removed his scarf and wrapped it around the stunned colt’s neck. Before Blueblood could protest he had taken off his heavy looking coat and laid it over the pony’s back. Blueblood could feel much warmer already, but… why?

Raegdan spoke up before Blueblood could do more than stammer in confusion. “Listen, kid. I’m… I’m sorry for hitting you.” The large creature’s gaze was locked to the ground, as if ashamed. “I’m sorry I… I shouldn’t have done this. I shouldn’t have left you in the snow like that, I shouldn’t- I’m sorry I killed you.”

“What?”

The small eyes met Blueblood’s with some confusion. “Nothing. Forget it.” He rose up suddenly, startling Blueblood, and started walking towards the ponies that were playing with the Princess. “Come on,” he ordered.

“I- where are we going?” Blueblood asked, a little afraid by now.

Raegdan stopped. “Could you throw a snowball straight towards Celestia’s face?” he asked.

Blueblood stood slackjaw at the question for a moment. “What? The Princess? No!”

“Huh. Alright. Then aim for Velvet or Cadance. If you’re going to throw one at Twilight make sure you don’t hit her face or you’ll have problems with me.”

“What?”

“Snowball fight. We’re having one.” He bent down and used his hands to form a snowball that fit perfectly in his palm. “No offence by the way, but I think I’ll kill your father one day.”

Blueblood bent his head. “I hope you will,” he whispered.

Raegdan had heard him and looked at him with a pleased smile. “Yeah, I’ll see what I can do. You like sleepovers?”

“Excuse me?”

“Sleepovers,” Raegdan repeated. “I’ll talk with Celestia. I think we could arrange for one. She’ll probably insist for one.”

Blueblood had never felt more confused in his life. What was happening? Why did he kick him one moment and help him the next? Why did-

They had almost reached Princess Celestia and the other ponies. Raegdan yelled out. “Hey! Celestia!”

The Princess turned around. She seemed to radiate a gentle light of her own. She was whiter and purer than the snow surrounding her, beautiful beyond approach. Caring like no other. Powerful. Safe. She smiled, like she always did, and that smile seemed to widen as she spotted them going to her. Her eyes flicked to Blueblood, and to the colt’s amazement, she looked happy to see him. The motherly smile was directed at him for a moment, and he felt a surge of-

A packed ball of snow hit her on the muzzle, knocking her head slightly back.

“First point goes to the colts.”


“They’re going to kick our flanks,” Shining Armor said in a monotone.

“Relax, you little wimp. It’s a snowball fight. We can take them,” Raegdan answered.

Shining Armor lifted his head over the hasty wall they had erected to defend their “base” before the battle started. Blueblood took a look himself, and was vastly dismayed at what he saw. The had managed a pretty tall, but thin, wall of snow made by virtue of packing a lot of it together and not shaking it too much lest it fell upon them.

The fillies team had a wall made of strong looking ice bricks and even had turrets at the side. A small pink flag was placed on one of them as they watched.

“We’re dead.”

“No, we’re not,” Raegdan insisted. “We can win.”

Shining Armor, Spike, and Blueblood simply stared at him. “They’ve got more magic power than we can shake a stick at,” Shining Armor said. “They have two Alicorns on their side, my mom, and the most powerful young unicorn. What do we have?”

“Battles are not won by sheer might,” Raegdan said.

“They’re not?”

“Ok, they are, but not in this case. Look, shields are out, right?”

Shining Armor pouted. “Yeah. How’s that for fair?” he grumbled.

“It’s worse for them. Half of us can’t use shields anyway. Listen, here’s the plan.” The colts and young dragon listened intently to the oldest and more experienced amongst them. “I’ll distract them. They’ll put all their attention on me. While they’re busy with me, you all go go around behind them and take the win. Got it?”

“How are you going to make sure they’re all focused on you?” Blueblood asked.

“I have my ways. Just don’t screw up. Everyone ready?”

They nodded. They weren’t, but more time wouldn’t help at all.

“I’m going,” Raegdan announced and ran sideways, moving the opposite direction the rest of them were supposed to go, trying to make it to another snow mound and yelling towards the snow castle’s defenders.

“Hey, Celestia? You know you all don’t stand a chance right? Fillies vs Colts? We could just call it Losers vs Winners. Guys rock the world, ladies can… well, you can guess the rest!”

Silence answered him for a moment. Not an empty one, but one that was full of something horrible, a dreadful menace. Blueblood shuddered. Something told him he really did manage to gain their attention.

Shining Armor motioned for them to start moving. They stuck as close to the ground as they could. Luckily, they had a small advantage with Shining Armor’s and Blueblood’s coat being white, and Spike was small enough to hide behind them, making them very hard to spot as long they kept their attention on Raegdan.

Something rose up from behind the perfect ice walls.

Hundreds of snowballs were floating up, caught in four different shades of magic. They all seemed to rotate and aim for the unfortunate biped who raised the ire of four very, very powerful mares.

Blueblood, Shining Armor, and Spike had almost made it around the walls.

They snowballs were launched by sheer force of magic, all of them at once. They heard Raegdan’s last words.

Holy mother of-

It wasn’t the crash of the huge amount of snow that made Blueblood cringe. It was that small moment when the first snowballs reached Raegdan, and he distinctly heard the splash of snow meeting flesh at impossible speeds. Blueblood felt bad for taking the biped’s thick and warm coat. They had to finish this quick so they could dig their poor comrade out of his frozen grave.

It was a slaughter. The mares had used every little scrap of snow at their disposal against Raegdan. They couldn’t defend themselves.

First round went to the colts.


Second round went to the fillies. Raegdan tried to pull off the same trick, even though he warned his fellow teammates it probably wouldn’t work.

He barely managed to open his mouth before the powerful alicorns and unicorns simply picked up the snow around the colts and threw it upon their heads, covering them all under a huge blanket of snow.


Third round was won by the colts.

Raegdan packed Spike into the center of a huge snowball, after covering him warmly, and pretended he tried to attack the fillies’ fort with it. The heavy snowball landed ineffectively, to the fillies’ amusement, right in front of the wall. The attack was answered with laughter and about six kilograms worth of snow at Raegdan’s face.

Spike crawled out of his hideout and used his fire against the fort’s foundations. A small push by Shining Armor’s and Blueblood’s magic made sure the walls fell inward. In their haste to dodge the falling walls their opponents left themselves wide open and fell before the colt’s onslaught.


On the fourth round the fillies simply tossed the remains of their fallen fort to the colts, walls and all.


“This here’s the tiebreaker round,” Raegdan announced. “We win this one, the game’s over. We can do this.”

“Unless they play to win,” Blueblood responded. “Has anypony else noticed that they’re toying with us?” Shining Armor and Spike nodded in the affirmative.

“Do you prefer to stand still and let them win?”

“It might be less painful,” Shining Armor said, rubbing his flank where a tower landed on him.

“What’s the plan, dad?” Spike asked, without much enthusiasm.

Raegdan pointed with his thumb behind him. “They know they can win, and they know I’m going to try to distract them. So, we’re doing something different now. I’m going to take out Celestia and maybe one more of them if I can. When I do, you guys pop out and take out the rest. Got it?”

“This won’t work,” Shining Armor said.

“We’ll try.” Raegdan peeped over the wall at the mares standing ready with hundreds of snowballs rotating around them. “I wish they stopped at one or even ten. I just know I’m gonna eat every last one of these,” he said, rubbing the reddened skin on his face. The cold and the forceful impacts had taken their toll.

He got up, and Blueblood and the rest watched him walk with a measured pace towards the mares. He kept his hands up, showing off they were empty. Princess Celestia and the rest were watching him approach with suspicious glares.

Raegdan went closer.

The snowballs stopped moving and stood still, their target clear.

He lowered his arms.

The magic around the snowballs got more intense.

A lot of things happened at once. Raegdan started running forward and the snow ammunition launched for him. The rest of the colts jumped out of their hideout to take advantage, doing their best to dodge the few snowballs that were directed at them. Raegdan somehow managed to reach Princess Celestia unscathed. He jumped, hooked his arm around her neck, and his weight dragged her towards a deep snow mound while shouting, “piledriver!”

Princess Celestia managed a weak “gaagh,” unable to utter more since Raegdan’s arm choked her and her tongue almost got left behind as she was forced into the snow.

Unfortunately, that still left two unicorns and an Alicorn against the rest, along with a few dozens snowballs they controlled.

The game was won by the fillies.


Blueblood did his best to gather what remained of his courage. It wasn’t because he was going to address Princess Celestia. It was because he would have to go back afterwards, away from her and back to his own life and father. He couldn’t stand here forever however, no matter how much he wished to.

The Princess was using a towel to dry herself off, unheeding of the scandalized looks her maids were giving her when they saw her usually pristine coat and mane shoot all over the place. Raegdan was talking with her in low tones.

When he saw Blueblood approach, Raegdan nodded at Princess Celestia and left, waving his strange hand at Blueblood as he passed him by. Blueblood couldn’t help but watch him go, picking up the little purple filly and the baby dragon on his shoulders before leaving the room.

A wave of jealousy overtook him for an instant. Must be so nice to have somepony watch over you.

“Blueblood,” the Princess said, quickly regaining his attention. “I’m so glad you joined us today.”

“Th-thank you, Princess. I’m glad I joined too.” He stood silent for a moment, trying to delay the inevitable.

Princess Celestia spoke up before he could. “Did you know I was adopted by one of your distant ancestors?”

Of course he did. His father wouldn’t let him forget even for a second something that grand. The smallest connection with Princess Celestia was something to be treasured and memorized. Blueblood was pretty certain that his father kept a log of every single word the Princess had ever directed at him.

“Yes, Princess. My father has told me of this.”

“Technically,” the Princess said with an air of thoughtfulness, “that makes me your aunt.” Blueblood’s eyes widened at the title, but the Princess seemed to roll the word in her mouth, enjoying it. “Yes, I think I like this. How about you call me Aunt Celestia from now instead? I already hear my title way too much.”

“I… If that’s what you wish, Prin- Aunt Celestia.”

“I do,” she said, smiling sweetly at him. She lowered herself by sitting on the floor. “And since you’re my nephew, I think you are in need of special education.”

“Excuse me?”

The Princess -his Aunt- used her magic to wear her symbols of office while she talked. “Some extra lessons from me. Of course, my timetable is so crowded I’m not able to make a proper schedule. So, I was thinking, that you could stay here so we can use every scrap of time I might have available.”

Blueblood couldn’t believe his ears. “Stay… stay here? I won’t go home?”

“Not unless you wish to or Prince Sanguine complains about it to me.” The smile on her face faded for a moment, before returning even brighter. “Think of it as… a long sleepover. What do you say?”

Blueblood hugged his aunt.