• Published 21st Nov 2012
  • 10,062 Views, 508 Comments

The Prince of the Night - keaton-furman-prower



After attempting a new spell, Princess Luna becomes a stallion, and moves to Ponyville under the guidance of Twilight Sparkle.

  • ...
31
 508
 10,062

Winter Wonderland (Edited 3/7/16)

As Lucian entered his third month of living with Twilight, Ponyville began to feel the chill of winter. With Hearth's Warming Eve approaching, ponies all across Equestria were feeling more and more festive. Shops were lit up with bright lights of many colors, decorated trees were placed in houses and streets, and young ponies played in the snow while their older counterparts simply enjoyed the icy beauty.

It was just such an occasion for Lucian. As he stood under the branches of the Golden Oaks Library, he looked around, observing the snow that had fallen all around the library. Winter was such a peaceful time; due to the chill, relatively few ponies were willing to wander around, as they prefered to stay inside and read a book or drink some hot chocolate by the fire. In addition, the animals (particularly the rabbits) were either hibernating or simply hiding away in their burrows, and the birds had all flown away towards the warm south. Because of all this, winter was peaceful and quiet, much like the night. As a result, it was by far his favorite season.

That, and the memories of somepony very dear to him.

Unfortunately for Lucian, his peace and quiet would not last much longer, as he was currently taking care of three very chaotic fillies.

“We're never gonna get snowpony-makin' cutie marks like this!” Apple Bloom groaned as her most recent creation fell apart, its face still smiling in the snow.

“Why are we even wasting our time with this?” said Scootaloo. “We should be trying to get snowboarding cutie marks!”

“Are you kidding me?” said Sweetie Belle. “What we should be doing is getting our cutie marks in decorating for Hearth's Warming Eve!”

Meanwhile, not too far away, Lucian rolled his eyes at the crusader’s' discussion.

“Are they always like this?” said Lucian, turning towards Spike

“Pretty much,” Spike said with a shrug. “I don't get why they don't just do what they're already good at instead of trying to find crazy new things for their cutie marks.”

The pair shook their heads together as they watched the three fillies, who were currently trying to figure out what sort of snow-related thing would make the best cutie mark.

“How wicked would it be to have a snowboard cutie mark?!” said Scootaloo.

“Ah dunno,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah still want a snowpony-making cutie mark!”

“Nah, snowboards are so much cooler than boring old snowponies!” said Scootaloo.

“What's wrong with a snowpony?” asked Apple Bloom. “Ah think it would be real nice!”

“But it's not as awesome as a snowboard!”

"Snowponies!"

"Snowboards!"

"Snowponies!"

"Snowflakes!" Sweetie Belle said enthusiastically.

“Snowflakes?” said Scootaloo. “How exactly are you supposed to get a snowflake cutie mark if you can’t work in the weather factory?”

“I don't know,” said Sweetie Belle, “but I think it would be pretty neat, don't you?”

“Ah guess so,” said Apple Bloom. “What about you, Scoots?”

“Nah, forget it,” said Scootaloo. “Snowflakes sound like something really dumb.”

“How about you three forget about even getting snow-related cutie marks?”

The three fillies turned their heads up towards their caretaker, who was observing them with a raised eyebrow.

“What do you mean, 'forget about cutie marks?!'” the three ponies yelled in unison. While not quite as intense as the Royal Canterlot Voice, it was still strong enough to irritate the ears of the disguised prince and his dragon friend, as well as a few passing ponies.

“That is not what I was saying,” said Lucian as he clutched his ears. “I'm just saying that a snow-related cutie mark might not be such a good idea.”

The cutie mark crusaders stared at him, not quite understanding what he was trying to say.

“Okay,” said Lucian. “So, let's assume that you girls get a cutie mark that involves snow, be it snowboarding, snowponies, or just a snowflake. It sure sounds nice, and it would sure be useful when it snows, but for the rest of the year, you’d have to go somewhere else, like the mountains or the North Pole, far away from anypony you loved.”

The crusaders turned their heads, scratching their chins in contemplation. They then turned back towards their fallen creation, whose smile had collapsed into a frown, and sighed.

“I guess there are cooler things than snowboards,” said Scootaloo.

“Maybe snowpony cutie marks are overrated,” said Apple Bloom.

“And snowflakes are kind of lame, I guess,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Aw, come on girls,” said Spike encouragingly. “You still have all this snow to have fun in!”

The three crestfallen fillies looked up at Spike, still not quite happy about their predicament. However, to the surprise of every pony and dragon, Sweetie Belle suddenly perked up.

“Spike, how do you breathe fire?”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Why do you want to know?”

“Well, I just was thinking maybe I could get a cutie mark in dragon studying!”

Sweetie Belle’s fellow crusaders immediately came to life upon hearing her suggestion. Before he could even blink, Spike was surrounded by a trio of excited fillies dressed in white coats. He slumped to the ground, obviously annoyed.

“Specimen A possesses thick fireproof scales, which are perfect for protection against fire from himself or other dragons,” Apple Bloom noted while writing on a clipboard which had inexplicably appeared in her hooves.

“Specimen A?” Spike asked, his lack of enthusiasm evident by his tone.

“Bipedal locomotion suggests keen sense of balance, which would assist in aim and firing,” Sweetie Belle wrote on her own clipboard.

“‘Locomotion?’ Is that even a real word?” asked Scootaloo?”

“Girls, I’m not a laboratory specimen, I’m a dragon.”

“Exactly!” Apple Bloom pointed out. “Where else are we gonna find another dragon to study?”

Lucian couldn’t help but chuckle as the three excited fillies kept discussing Spike’s status as a ‘specimen’ for their cutie marks. Spike shot a few glares at him, but no one seemed to mind them. He then stood up and patted off some of the snow that was on him.

“Well, even if you’re gonna study me, you’ll never figure out how dragons breathe fire,” said Spike, trying to regain his dignity. “It starts way inside me, where you can’t see it!”

“Well, I guess that’s true,” Sweetie Belle noted.

“Ah guess we ain't gonna get firebreathin' cutie marks,” said Apple Bloom.

“Or,” Scootaloo said from behind him, “we could get our cutie marks in dissection!”

Spike screamed and ran behind Lucian as Scootaloo fell over laughing. Her fellow crusaders stared at her in shock, before bursting into laughter as well.

“Scootaloo!” Spike yelled angrily. “That was not funny at all!”

“Relax, Spike! We ain't gonna go cutting ponies- or dragons- open!” said Apple Bloom.

“Aw man, you should see the look on your face!” said Scootaloo.

Lucian watched the scene unfolding before him, unsure whether to lecture the crusaders or join them in laughter. However, after a few seconds of suppressing his laughter, he managed to regain his composure, and began to speak.

“Girls, while I know that you're just having fun and everything, I would advise you not to make those sort of jokes. I mean, just look at him!”

The three fillies turned towards the little purple dragon, who was doing his best to remain inconspicuous behind Lucian's legs. For a moment, he poked his head out from behind the blue stallion to observe the Crusaders, hoping that they were honestly not going to come out and dissect him.

“Oh... yeah,” said Scootaloo. “We're sorry, Spike.”

“Yeah, we really are,” said Apple Bloom.

“We’ll be nicer to you next time, said Sweetie Belle.

Spike peered out from behind Lucian, still reluctant to show himself to the crusaders.

“Promise not to use me for any crusading experiments?” he asked.

“Do we really-”

“Yes you do,” said Spike. “I don’t want to be anywhere near three crazy fillies.”

The cutie mark crusaders stared at each other apprehensively, then sighed and turned towards him.

“We promise not to use you for any crusading experiments,” they said in unison.

“Pinkie Promise?” said Spike.

“Ah don’t think that’s really necessary,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah mean, it’s not like we need you for any-”

“Pinkie Promise or nothing.”

The three fillies rolled their eyes and did a series of movements with their hooves. Lucian raised his eyebrows in confusion.

“What was that?”

An unseen voice beat the younglings to an answer. “That was a Pinkie Promise!”

The four ponies and one dragon jumped in surprise at the mysterious voice. They then turned towards the destroyed snowpony, which was looking at them with two large blue eyes.

“What in tarnation?!”

As if to answer Apple Bloom's question, every last flake of snow was violently shaken off, covering the Cutie mark Crusaders, Lucian, and Spike. As they wiped themselves clean, they were greeted by the sight of a certain pink party pony.

“Pinkie Pie?!” asked Lucian in shock. “How did you manage to get under there?!”

“Simple!” giggled Pinkie Pie. “I dug my way underneath!”

“Well... but why?”

“Well, you need me to explain what a Pinkie Promise is, right?”

Instead of an answer, the energetic earth pony was met with silence. As she looked around, she noticed that everypony and dragon seemed to be at a complete loss for words. If this bothered her, no one could tell as she simply smiled and carried on.

“A Pinkie Promise is a special promise that you must never ever break because breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!”

Lucian's eye twitched at the amount of emphasis Pinkie Pie placed on the word ‘forever’.

“But don’t worry!” Pinkie said as she turned towards the crusaders. “I’m sure you won’t make that sort of mistake, right?”


Snow trickled past the windows as Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash sat around a table, enjoying their mugs of Pinkie Pie’s experimental bubblegum hot chocolate at Sugarcube Corner.

“Huh, this is actually pretty good,” Rainbow commented. “I mean, bubblegum sounds like a weird flavor for hot chocolate, but honestly, it really isn’t that bad.”

“It sure is,” said Twilight. “I wonder where she gets these crazy ideas.”

“She’s Pinkie Pie,” said Rainbow. “What do you expect?”

“Yeah, I should have guessed,” said Twilight with a slight giggle.

“So, how's it going?” asked Rainbow.

“Eh, same old,” shrugged Twilight. “I’ve been reading and investigating.”

“Investigating what?”

“Oh, that’s not really important.”

Rainbow stared at her in surprise and confusion.

“What do you mean it’s not important?”

Twilight bit her lip. In any other case she would have happily talked at length about her most recent research project. However, in this case, there were several key differences. For one thing, she was not doing research for the princess or her studies. Also, she wasn’t even sure what the real value of her research was. And, perhaps the most important reason of all, she was investigating a crucial part of none other than Princess Luna’s past.

She sighed as she contemplated the difficulties surrounding her current investigation. Ever since Lucian had told her the story of Dusk Shine, she had been curious about him as well as the mysterious realm which he had protected, the Crystal Empire. For the past few weeks, she had spent much of her time searching tirelessly through her books for information about him. However, just like the elusive Crystal Empire, he seemed to have disappeared completely from the historical record. The only piece of information she was able to find was in a dusty old census book, and even then, she was only able to find his name, and nothing more.

Deciding to keep her research a secret for the time being, she turned to Rainbow and said “It’s something that’s sort of personal.”

“Oh, really?” said Rainbow. “Well, that’s cool too.”

Twilight smiled and took another sip of her hot chocolate. As she did so, she heard a voice behind her.

“Why, hello Twilight! What a pleasure to see you on this fine day! And… eh, hello, Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight looked towards Sugarcube Corner’s entrance to greet Rarity, but stopped just short of doing so when she noticed the glare in her eyes. Confused, she turned back towards Rainbow, who was giving Rarity a similar gesture.

“Yes,” snarled Rainbow, her voice laced with venom. “Hello, Rarity.”

As Twilight put two and two together, she groaned. She had been expecting a calm day of enjoying herself with her friends, not a brawl between them.

“Girls, I know you two have had some… disagreements recently, but that doesn’t mean you have to look at each other like you’re changelings or-”

“You think so, Twilight?” asked Rainbow. “Well, in case you didn’t know, Rarity here has been butting into my life when she ought to be minding her own business!”

“Butting in?! Moi?! Why, I have simply been attempting to find true love! You, on the other hand, have tried to steal my knight in shining armor for yourself!”

“Your knight in shining armor?” Rainbow repeated, smirking. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?”

“Ridiculous?! It’s the most fitting title I could ever give to my one true love!”

“For your information, he’s mine, not yours!”

“How dare you-”

“Girls!”

The two arguing mares turned towards Twilight, who was scowling at them as her left eye twitched.

“Listen. I know that you both like Lucian. And I know that, in the end, only one can end up with him. But you’re letting all this get in the way of your friendship! You’ve had arguments and fights before, but they’ve never been this bad! Is this what you want Lucian to see? Two mares who are willing to destroy their friendship in order to claim him as their own?!”

As Twilight finished her rant, silence fell upon the largely empty Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow and Rarity looked down at the floor, silently contemplating Twilight’s words and considering their actions for the past few weeks.

Suddenly the door burst open as a familiar friend entered the shop.

“Oh, hi everypony! I just got back from my deliveries! Oh, and I just saw Lucian! He didn’t know what a Pinkie Promise is! Can you believe it?”

Pinkie Pie laughed for a moment, but stopped as she noted the silence in the bakery. She looked around, wondering why everypony was so oblivious to her entrance.

“Huh? What’s going on? Did something happen? Or… are you playing a game?”

Her face lit up at the last thought.

“Ooh! I’ll bet you’re playing the ‘shh’ game, right?” she asked. “Fluttershy’s the world champion, but I’m pretty good too! Wanna see?”

Without waiting for an answer, she gasped in a lungful of air and closed her mouth. She then looked around excitedly at her fellow “competitors.”

After about a minute, Rarity broke her silent spell.

“I’m terribly sorry, Rainbow Dash. I shouldn’t have been so rude to you.”

Rainbow lifted her head to look at Rarity.

“I was kind of a jerk too,” she sighed. “I’m sorry too. If you forgive me, then I’ll forgive you too.”

“Agreed,” said Rarity with a smile.

“Friends?”

“Friends.”

The two mares walked up to each other and embraced each other. As they did so, Twilight smiled.

“I call for a round of bubblegum hot chocolates on me!”

Rainbow and Rarity turned towards her excitedly.

“Really?” giggled the blue pegasus. “That is so awesome!”

“That is very generous of you, Twilight, although I do find the idea of ‘bubblegum hot chocolate’ to be quite strange, and potentially even repulsive,” the white unicorn commented.

“It was Pinkie’s idea,” explained Twilight.

“Ah. That would explain it. I suppose, if Pinkie came up with the idea, then it can’t hurt to try some.”

As the three happy mares went off to order their drinks, a smile formed on Pinkie’s face.

“Did I win?”

Author's Note:

Remember how, back during the early seasons when I started this story, we had no idea how long a year lasted within the MLP universe, and just assumed that each season was one year? Yeah, those were fun times.

...Of course, given that they seemingly ended fall two weeks after wrapping up winter, we should have known better. Continuity was weird back then.