Chapter 3: It is well that snowball fights are so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of them.
Princess Celestia sat triumphantly on her newly made ice throne in the inner sanctum of Fort Shadowskull. The red and blue flags of Gale and Dusk’s teams sat on the armrests of her throne. The two of them had declined to continue the contest with their commander after their defeats in the latest round. ‘Twas probably for the best; ‘twould have been most difficult to get the Kicker children reorganized after the introduction of those from Canterlot.
Now all of them were doing as children did when they had plentiful fresh snow to play with, continuing smaller and less organized snowball fights, building snowponies, rising sleds down the snowmounds, and playing a variety of other games in the slowly fading sunlight. Even the ravens had taken to playing. Either joining the children on their sleds or rolling about in the snow. There was something harmonious ‘bout watching the children play, and it warmed my heart. I suspected that introducing the children to one another had been Princess Celestia’s intention from the start.
But I was not outside playing with the children; instead I was with Princess Celestia, Mother, Shadow, Gale, and Dusk, sipping on hot chocolate. While my magic was drained, ‘twas still not much of an effort on my part to give everypony seats.
“Well, I had fun,” I said to break the silence that had fallen on the room. Curiously, everypony else exchanged worried looks with one another. That was strange. “What? This was most enjoyable. I look forward to next time.”
Shadow frowned. “Midnight, I have thought it over and reached a conclusion.” She took a deep breath. “I am afraid I must announce that thou art no longer permitted to participate in our snow battles.”
I jerked back at the grave announcement. “B-but why?”
Gale narrowed her eyes. “Thou constructed a gigantic ice dragon that went on a rampage.”
Dusk wrapped a leg around his wife’s shoulders. “And likely traumatized an entire generation of children.”
I blinked slowly. “And?”
“I believe they feel thine enthusiasm for the contest was rather excessive,” Shadow explained.
I tilted my head, failing to understand their intentions. “Such a thing is possible? I always hear of parents complaining their children lack zeal in their activities and do not dedicate themselves to the task before them. I merely applied myself to the task Gale had given me.”
Shadow smile dryly. “I do not think Sunbeam will have any such complaints regarding thee. But aye, thou didst go too far.”
My ears wilted. It seemed that, despite my perfectly good logic, I had once again alienated those around me. “Oh. That was not mine intention.”
“It was supposed to be fun for the children,” Gale said gently. “It is not entirely your fault. I allowed my desire to defeat my husband to get the better of me. I should have ... explained mine intentions more clearly.”
“Thou art quite forgiven, my love.” Dusk rubbed Gale’s shoulder, and she leaned ‘gainst him in turn. They were the picture of contentment, and it greatly confused me. For a mare who always told me she despised the stallion she had married, she seemed most comfortable with him.
I decided to leave that mystery for another day and instead concentrated on more immediate matters. “I suppose the exercise was intended to teach the children strategy and teamwork, rather than merely serve as a display of my magic.”
Princess Celestia nodded. “We yet salvaged the day.” The loud and boisterous laughter and play of the children echoed in the courtyard outside.
I sighed, now realizing I had taken matters too far and considering what restitution so might make to the children of the Kicker Clan. “I fear I will never understand such things.”
Mother scooted closer to me on our bench and wrapped a leg around my shoulders. “What confuses thee, my child?”
“Contests such as these, and playing with children.” My eyes shifted to Gale and Dusk and strange feelings I could not describe stirred within me. “And a great many other things besides.”
“When something confuses thee ... ask,” Mother said.
Princess Celestia nodded. “I have found that asking questions is the easiest way to clear up one’s confusion.”
“That is probably the key to it.” I pointed out through the hole in the wall to the children playing outside. “I think part of my confusion is that I did not experience much of that as a child. I suppose I do not know what everypony considers ... appropriate.”
Shadow grunted, though I could not tell what she wished to convey with it. “Suffice to say, terror spells and gigantic ice dragons only belong on a true battlefield.”
Dusk nodded. “If thou dost see children fleeing in terror and sobbing uncontrollably, reconsider thine actions.”
Gale added, “If all thy friends counsel thee to stop and say that thou hast gone too far, heed their words.”
“Those are good things to know,” I said. “I will remember that for the future.”
Princess Celestia smiled. “I think that is all some very good advice.”
“Aye.” I sighed. “Even if I have been banned from having snowball fights ever again, sadly.”
“I think it best not to tempt fate,” Shadow said.
“Very well.” ‘Twas a great disappointment that I would no longer be allowed to participate in the Kickers’ snowball fights, but there seemed little point in pressing the matter. I could see in Shadow continence that she would not likely bend on the issue. At least I still had my books, if nothing else. “Once we are done here, I will return to my studies. That would seem best for everypony.”
“Very good, then.” Mother considered me for a moment. “And if ‘tis any consolation, thou didst show considerable magical skill.”
“I did?” I tilted my head. ‘Twas strange to hear Mother compliment me so. I expected her to put some addendum on that compliment, criticising me for some failure or telling me how I could improve. But for once the criticising did not come.
“The ice dragon was rather impressive.” Princess Celestia chuckled. “Even if thou didst terrorize the children with it. But I suppose I can forgive one indiscretion as long as ‘tis not repeated.”
A slight smile crept onto my lips. “I admit, that was a moment of inspiration on my part. It has been some time since I have exerted myself so.”
“How didst thou conjure it?” Mother asked. “A constructed body and bound spirit?”
I nodded. “Aye, ‘twas a construct made of ice intended to house an ice spirit. 'Twas merely a matter of summoning a spirit from the plane of ice and wind, and binding it to a vessel it would accept.”
“I see.” Mother grinned with satisfaction. “Good, my plan to counter it would have worked.”
Princess Celestia quirked an eyebrow. “Concerned that thy daughter might have exceeded thee, Sunbeam?”
Mine own eyebrow rose. Had I really come so close to surpassing Mother, even in this one thing? Mother said she had a counter for Icingdeath, but...
“It is only natural for children to exceed their parents, and the truest mark of a teacher is when they are surpassed by their student.” After a moment, Mother smiled proudly. “Though I think Midnight is not quite there yet. But some day she will be the mightiest magus in Equestria—that I assure you, my princess.”
“I will seek to please you, Mother.” I squirmed in place, feeling most awkward at her assertions. I wished to be as great as she wished for me to be, but ‘twas a great burden. There was still much I needed to accomplish before I could begin to declare myself to be so magnificent.
Mother patted me on the back. “I would expect nothing less of thee, my child.” That done, she rolled her neck and shoulders. “Now then, I believe there is only one other matter left unresolved.”
“And what might that be?” Shadow asked.
Mother grinned and her horn light up. “A matter of vengeance.” Her magic nudged a piled of snow that had been collecting out on the barricade, and it fell as a big clump onto Princess Celestia, burying her.
Mine eyes widened. “M-Mother! What are you doing?!”
Being the mightiest pony in Equestria, dealing with snow proved a trifle to Princess Celestia. There was a glow of golden light and the snow melted away from the Guardian of the Sun, an amused grin spreading across her face. “Ah, so that is the way of it.” She gathered up fresh snowballs while Mother did the same.
Shadow stood from her seat and stretched. “It seems the contest is not yet done. I suppose I shall—” She was interrupted when she was hit in the head with a snowball.
Gale picked up another snowball and grinned impishly. “What was that, Mother?”
Dusk grinned too, arming himself as well. “I believe she has started the games anew.”
“And ponies say I am mad.” I let out a put-upon sigh and started collecting mine own snowballs, knowing how this situation was going to escalate. “And now I am in a difficult situation, for now my loyalties have been divided.”
“I do not think there are any clear lines to this battle.” Dusk considered his snowball and then pegged his wife in the back, causing her to gasp in surprise at the sudden betrayal. She turned on her husband and returned fire, the two of them ignoring all others as they battled.
“Ah, so 'tis the last pony standing?” I pulled myself from the bench and prepared myself for one last battle. “That I can understand well enough.”
“But canst thou win?” Princess Celestia hurled a snowball my way.
I caught the snowball in midair and smiled. “In mine experience, there is only one way to find out.”
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Hey new story!
Midnight simply cannot Normal. At all. Poor, not-normal Midnight.
And her unwitting victims. But mostly poor Midnight.
Enjoyable read!
7306591
Midnight's complete inability to Normal is one of her best qualities. Or at least one of her most entertaining ones.
Oh Midnight, you so creep-adorable. Also, I think Midnight thinks she's in Game of Thrones.
7306299
Nothing changes Midnight. Reality merely has to flow around her, like a boulder thrown into a river.
7306356
I told you I wasn't done with writing yet.
7306336 7307259
Glad to hear you liked it.
7307814
Midnight knows she's on Game of Thrones, 24-7, living and breathing it at all times. Even when in the middle of snowball fight.
7308301
Thanks for catching those. I've gone ahead and fixed them. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
7309044
Yes, yes it is. I hate it when my phone auto-corrects stuff like that, and then I miss it during my editing runs...
7309063
Theirs is a bit of a complicated relationship, as will be shown in the future. Some of it is due to certain intimate gestures having different connotations, and part of it is due to issues between them. This will get explored more the next Midnight Shadow's story I write.
Well that was an entertaining read, and you're right: it's really nice to see the rebellion-era ponies doing stuff without politics and war looming overhead. I kinda want to see more slice-of-life stories with these characters now.
Also, this doesn't really have anything to do with the story itself, but I just now realized that I never got a notification about your reply to my comment the other day 7309149 Does Fimfiction no longer notify you when someone replies to your comment? Or is it a weird glitch? (I wonder if the reply has to be made on the same chapter as the comment for the notification to go through?)
Anyway, fun story! Look forward to the next one!
7310654
I'm not sure what happened with the notification system. I got a message that you had replied to my message, so I'm not sure what's up. Maybe it was simply some issue in the system that messed it up.
This was a really enjoyable read, even if my cringe sensitivity forced me to only read it with one eye to the screen.
It was great to get a look at the next generation of Kickers. It's interesting that Gale and Dusk are trying to have a kid, I think that's one of the things that we don't have a concrete answer for in any of the fics taking place in present day.
I wonder how you're going to continue this dynamic between Gale and Midnight. I love that she's starting to stand up for herself and not let Gale walk all over her as much.
Thirding Rebellion Era silliness. Twas a fun and enjoyable read that I knew I could favorite before I even read it, and it did not disappoint. And don't ever change Midy. However, is it weird that I find her antics completely adorable? Because I personally think she would be a fine mare to snuggle up with once she gets over her initial shock of the situation.
Oh the deplorable horror of the screens which separate us!
I may need some professional help.
Now for 7310654 and 7311900, I was told before that in order to receive a reply notification the reply has to have been left in the chapter itself and not from the story front page or a different chapter. Not 100% sure if it's true, but it seems to be so far.
7315020
I wouldn't think so, considering I find her antics adorable, and she would probably be very snuggable...in a creepy manner.
And huh, good to know about that.
Middy is best Sparkle. She was so perfectly characterized in this one. Well done.
7318755
I suspect Midnight has not seen the last of The Perfidious Filly.
7310654
7311900
There's a bug in the system where if you don't reply on the same chapter page, the notification doesn't get sent.
Arms races are truly terrible things. This story, however, is not. A delightful tale of how madness runs in the family, and apparently so does learning friendship lessons... some more fundamental than others. Thank you for it.
7329249
I sure hope Twilight never has to learn a friendship lesson about not making children sob in terror and flee for their lives.
7306594
uh... compared to her mother?
7334132
7329249
Oh come now gents! All that abject terror and fleeing in said terror builds character! Clearly Sunbeam taught her daughter well! The only thing was providing the moral support to dodge it and Sunbeam can't just chuck fireballs at them! Thats the thing with kids... can't live with them, can't flambe them when they're not yoursl
Really... I'm surprised at Dusk and Gale's surprise. Like... you invite Midnight and Sunbeam to any event and whatever it started out as is going to go belly up in a heart beat. And its either her husband being an insufferable so and so or having mad mares in the mix. Hmm.... tough call
So, final thoughts... I'm... wait, what...
<goes back and reads again.>
I'm... confused. So, Gale and Dusk are pretty much Steel Magnolias Weezer and her friends husband if they were married?
Shadow having foals... the idea of a hormonal Shadow is terrifying. And a son... oh boy.
And wow... Midnight telling off Gale. Honeymoons over I take it.
Its not nice to fuck with the foolish Dusk. Also what was his father doing as he grew up? Man rule one bro: no porking crazy. I shudder to think what faces Midnight makes mid frogging.
Seriously... Gale went for the scorched earth option?
7320481 One would hope that by then the Kicker clan would be able to find at least one proper warrior who could explain to her Why We Do Not Do That, Ever, Seriously, That Shit Gets Ponies Killed.
7339738
In this verse... yes, sadly, earth ponies get the short end. Earth ponies are fodder of one type or another. Make me my pie mud horse, Why should Sunbeam or Shadow care for them? They breed like guppies and are happy in their ignorance, and even at their worst, pegasi and unicorns never out right abused them. Look at Empress sunbeam... because they aren't apparently of use to her, she looks to either a pegasi or unicorn to bear the elements. After all, the mud ponies shouldn't trouble themselves over matters that greater minds find a burden. Its just better for them. It would simply be cruel to ask them to stand after all
After all, the Winningverse has Kickers and Celestia and Shadow and the Magus. The Strikers and Doo's were so cruel to demand of simple folk to stand... all Sunbeam and the nobles ask is them to kneel. See, how nice it is in Equestria. What a good little house and field tender, and don't you worry none about school! Just teach them to read and write and put them to work once they're old enough, and did you bake that pie yet?
Nope, earth ponies are just meant to be the animal tenders and food growerers. College is so much work and money, its just such a pain being nobles and worrying over this new tax raises to cover our over expenditures, and of course those silly earth ponies could never wear Shadow! To think of such a world where the Lady Protector actually view some dusty peon of being worthy to be bear her on their filthy backs, its like they think they have the right to defend themselves or be one of us! Go on back you your flower beds and forges, Cloud Kicker will take care of this... Okay, Shadow said no. Okay earth ponies, till we get some horn head or feather brain to be Shadows next bearer, we'll need to start chucking you beneath the wheels of leviathan and putting yourselves on Warlocks mercy and good will as we work to save you.
Yeah... the Winninverse is not kind to earth ponies. I'm back from being awesome at flying or the arcane! Where's that pie N- word horse!
i get it, okay? Pegasi flight and horns trumps green hoofs. But couldn't the still be treated as more then farmers or laborers?
This is an amazing story. And midnight continues to be awesome.
This is excellent. The continued escalation of the conflict... It was wonderful.
7410136
... Damn, I completely did not realize that that WASN'T a metaphor for a relationship. That was pretty fucking literal.
I need to sit down.
coincidentally, in the fantasy stories by R.A.Salvatore, there's a magical weapon called Icingdeath.
7600978
Who said it was a coincidence?
This was very good and very funny.
That was really fun, I'm glad I noticed it in the Also Liked at the end of Succession Crisis and realized I hadn't read it yet.
I can't help but wonder... Will Midnight find that which her heart clearly desires?
8668554
but do we know what she desires or should i say who
8669247
Seems obvious she is smitten by Gale... even if she is in denial over that fact.
8669420
ya i hope but the way she acted around dusk though
8669437
Yeah... Midnight holds feels for Gale, but Gale actually does love her hubby... poor Middy
This was a very enjoyable read
A Lunar Rebellion era slice of life... I like this. It's nice to see these characters getting to do something light-hearted for once. Reminds me of that one Freeport story about Kukri shopping for birthday presents.
Midnight's training seems to be going well after the end of the last story. And nothing overtly sinister seems to have come of her deal with Corva just yet, either. She's just her normal, baseline level of crazy. That's good. Seems she has a thing for Dusk Charger as well. That surprised me, given everything that happened in Lunar Rebellion. I understand why he's free, and I can maybe see why Gale was eventually able to forgive him, but I'd really like to know how he won Midnight over after all that, since I assume flirting wasn't an option at the time.
I'm curious what this means for her relationship with Gale, as well. I was sceptical that any romantic entanglement between the two could end well after the last story, but if Gale's husband is also onboard with it, then who knows. Maybe this will end up in some Winning Pony-esque herd relationship, like Sunbeam suggested. It's not like there isn't precedent for it in this 'verse.
I hope we see more of Ash Kicker in future stories, too. Now that he's of an age to actually be interacting with the rest of the cast, I feel like it's a tiny bit of a missed opportunity to not have more scenes with him. Depending on what camp you fall in, he's either Midnight's half-brother or the bastard son of an alicorn princess, and either possibility is genuinely fascinating and could make for all kinds of great character interactions.
A most amusing story, but ... having just finished the Lunar Rebellion, Dusk's carefree happiness and high station (and Midnight's casual acceptance of him) grates on me ... a lot. (Seriously, Dusk couldn't be trusted to lead the Chargers after the rebellion because of his treachery, but he can be trusted to be a general in the bloody Guard?! Which means White Knight has to take orders from the treasonous little shite that killed her brother in battle and effectively murdered her sister-in-law. And what the hell happened to "I shall avenge thee, or die in the effort.", Shadow?)
9571410
There was a bit of an issue where I wrote this story before Lunar Rebellion had been finished, and what was to happen to Dusk changed, especially regarding his heel-face turns near the end of that story. I would mark down his station a bit for future stories, and not have him at any kind of lofty heights at this point.
9572223 Ah, that makes sense, I hadn't realized this story was written before Lunar Rebellion was finished.
This was pure hilarity! I had a lot of fun reading this, definitely a favorite. Did answer some questions I had about the ponies involved though.
Surprised things turned out so well for Dusk but when I think about it it seems plausible. Celestia seems to have a "live and forgive" attitude and due to his marriage with Gale he has the ear of and a bit of leverage on the military high commander of the nation. It's the after war era too which much reform and rebuilding, and quite a lot of the former commanders are gone.
Odd but plausible, Midnight seems to be a big forgiver too.
That was a good story.