The Battle of Hearth's Warming

by XMark

Prologue

September 22, 1032 BCE (before Celestial Era)

On top of a stone tower, a bearded pony stood looking out on the surrounding mountains. The snow had just begun to fall, lightly frosting the ground. He looked around, seeing that the night sky was pitch black. Not a star or even a sliver of moonlight to be seen through the heavy cloud cover. A chill wind blew in, sending the snowflakes into wildly twisting and dancing patterns, flashing in and out of visibility as they drifted past the torches on the castle walls.

Starswirl the Bearded kept watch on the night sky. Unicorn guards walked by on the ramparts below, their footsteps the only sound he could hear other than the wind. Finally a crack opened in the clouds, and he could see four stars directly overhead. He walked to a small telescope on a tripod and peered into it, aiming it at the small collection of stars. Once it was in view, he looked at the dials on the side of the telescope and frowned. He quickly turned and walked down the spiral staircase into the keep.

It was late at night, and almost everyone in the castle was asleep. However, there were more night guards on duty than usual; The latest food shipment had arrived earlier in the day, but with the unexpected snowfall, the Earth ponies making the delivery had to stay overnight at the castle. Starswirl could see the group of six ponies asleep on the floor of the main hall, under the watch of three unicorn guards. No beds. Not even blankets. Starswirl felt ashamed at the sight. That was no way for anyone to treat a guest, especially one coming with a gift of food. But that was not the main problem which was weighing on his mind at this time. He walked past the Earth ponies and unicorn guards, and opened the door to the library.

A young unicorn mare was sitting at a table on the far end of the library, reading a book on astronomy, her pen scribbling notes on a scroll next to it. She looked up from her study to see Starswirl enter the room.

"Did you see anything?" she asked.

"Yes, Clover. We have some work to do. Watch your pen."

Clover had been simultaneously reading and writing without looking at her pen and realized it had wandered off the edge of the scroll and she was writing on the table. She let the pen out of her levitation field and rubbed the ink off the table with the back of her hoof, nervously smiling at Starswirl.

"I was only able to see a few stars," said Starswirl. "But luckily I recognized the constellation. You are familiar with the Ursa Major, correct?"

"If it's in the night sky I know it like the back of my hoof." she raised her hoof, saw the ink smudged in her fur, and grimaced. "Yuck."

Starswirl continued. "I focused in on the brightest star, the nose of the Ursa. The telescope was facing 15.3 degrees from North, and it was angled up 79.7 degrees. I made very sure of it."

Clover's eyes shot wide open. She bolted from her table and ran to a globe in the corner. Starswirl followed.

The globe was made of a semi-transparent material, and on the inside was a metal sphere, with tiny holes punched in specific locations matching those of the brightest stars in the sky.

"Turn off the lights." said Clover.

Starswirl nodded his head and every torch and candle in the library went out simultaneously. Clover then focused her magic to a single candle. Once lit, she lifted it up through a hole in the bottom of the metal sphere. The light of the candle shone through the tiny holes, through the semi-transparent globe of the Earth, turning the library around them into a projection of a star map.

"The nose of the Ursa is that star right there" she said, pointing to a point of light on the side of a bookshelf.

She started to turn and tilt the globe, while the metal sphere remained in place, keeping her eye on several degree markers written on horizontal and vertical grid lines.

"This is where that star was 5 years ago" she said, pointing to where the light of the star was shining through the globe.

She tilted and turned the globe some more. "4 years ago."

Starswirl felt his stomach turn. His worst fears were coming true.

Clover continued turning the globe and narrating. "3 years ago... 2 years ago... last year... tonight. The Earth's axis is tilting, and that tilt is accelerating, not slowing or reversing like we hoped it would. No way is this something on a regular cycle. Otherwise this would have happened every 20 years or so and we'd have historical records of the last time. Something has forced the Earth into a tilt."

Starswirl lowered his head. "It is as we had feared. A great winter is coming to these lands."

Clover nodded solemnly. "So... uh.. what are we going to do now, sir?"

"We must make this known. There is still time to prepare, but a great many of us will suffer if we don't. Come! we must talk to the Princess at once."

The hope he held in his heart was false and he knew it. But he still had to try.