Three Months of Winter Coolness: Part Four of Five
10 - Human Nature
Twilight Sparkle arrived home to the now-familiar sight of Simon at his desk. He looked up when she entered and beckoned her.
“Need something?” She asked him.
Rarity came by looking for you. I told her I didn’t know where you were
“So you’ve met Rarity?”
Yes. She’s nice
He finished the page he was working on, and casually brushed it off the desk, letting it fall to the heap below. Twilight stamped her hoof.
“Simon! Haven’t you been organizing any of that?”
Without turning, he shook his head. Twilight’s eyes narrowed. She tapped his back. He spun around on his stool.
Her ears flattened, “You’re not making a mess of my library.” she growled and leaned in towards him. Simon leaned back and away from her. Her horn lit. The papers surrounding his desk lifted into the air.
“I’ll start organizing these,” she said cheerfully. She trotted upstairs with the papers, leaving Simon, still rigidly leaning backwards, his hands gripping the bottom of the stool.
Spike opened his heavy eyes and rolled over in his basket with a low groan. Through his blurry vision he saw Twilight lying down on the floor, surrounded by a flurry of sheets of parchment.
“History… Math… Culture… Math… Math… History… Hmmm…. Math,” she said aloud as she sorted them into neat stacks.
“What’s going on?” He asked, slurring his words.
“I’m organizing everything Simon’s written so far. It’s all over the place. Math, science, history, music...”
Spike slumped over and fell asleep again.
He was awoken by a forceful nudge from Twilight. She was levitating a sheet in front of her.
“Spike! Listen to this! It’s amazing!”
Spike groaned, but sat up. His blanket draped over him.
Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition set out for the south pole in 1914. The goal of the expedition was to cross the Antarctic Continent for the first time.
The Expedition consisted of 28 men aboard the Endurance. Her crew consisted of British and Commonwealth sailors. She last made port at the Dutch whaling station at South Georgia Island before heading for the Weddell Sea.
The 1914 Antarctic season had some of the worst ice conditions on record, and navigating the Weddell Sea proved difficult. By the end of 1914, the Endurance was locked in the ice. The crew prepared to spend the winter aboard the ship until the ice broke up. For months, the ship and crew did not move. The men kept busy performing scientific experiments, attending to their shipboard duties, singing songs and putting on shows for each other.
As the ice began to melt, the ocean currents forced the ice against Endurance’s hull; the ship was being crushed. Shackleton moved the crew off the ship. The Endurance sank not long after. Shackleton and his men were stranded on melting sea ice with three life boats. The ocean was miles away from where they stood. The crew dragged the lifeboats over the ice and to the ocean, where they rowed for several days, reaching the uninhabited Elephant Island. They were now hundreds of miles from their planned route; no rescue party would look for them on Elephant Island.
Shackleton and five others set sail for South Georgia Island aboard the lifeboat, “James Caird”. The distance was 800 miles, and required an unprecedented degree of navigational accuracy, using only rudimentary equipment. The lifeboat reached South Georgia, but the crew could not sail her to the whaling station. Shackleton and two others crossed the largely uncharted island on foot to reach the whaling station. It took four months to reach Elephant Island. No crew members were lost.
Spike listened intently to the whole story, “Wow. That is amazing.”
Twilight beamed. “It sounds like humans did a good job of looking after one another!”
“You mean like Harmony?”
“I think so”
Spike watched Twilight dig through more papers, hoping to hear another exciting story.
She read one. Her smile disappeared.
“What is it, Twilight?”
She told him.
The First World War began in 1914 and ended in 1918. It is the single most important event of the 20th century.
The war was a result of an array of factors. First was the tension between Serbia and Austro-Hungary.
Second was an assortment of alliances between European powers: Serbia had a treaty with Russia to aid in the event of conflict. France had agreed to assist Russia, and Britain had agreed to assist Belgium.
Austro-Hungary was allied with Germany.
Third was the assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian extremists. This began the war between Austro-Hungary and Serbia. Germany declared war on Serbia, Russia and France declared war on Germany. As Germany invaded France by passing through Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany as well. These nations, and their colonies spread across the world, were plunged into war with one another.
In 1917, the United States declared war on Germany following the sinking of the Lusitania.
The war changed the balance of power in Europe, and started the rise of both the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. to dominating economic superpowers. European influence on nations colonized by European powers was reduced.
In the most general sense, WWI changed the nature of international conflict. Prior to WWI, even major wars were fought on a relatively small scale. WWI has been described as “War on an industrial scale” because technology such as airplanes, weapons, and ships were manufactured with the efficiency and quantity of mass-produced products borne of the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, men were enlisted on an industrial scale as well. Very few families lived through the war without sending at least one member to fight in the war.
Casualty figures vary greatly, but a reasonable estimate is that 30 million people were killed or wounded as a result of the conflict.
Spike and Twilight were silent for a long time.
“1914. That was the same year the Shackleton expedition began” said Twilight.
“But Shackleton was a good person. How could everybody else do something so...bad?” Asked Spike.
“I don’t know. What do you think it means?” Said Twilight.
“Maybe people can do great good and great evil?” Said Spike.
“Do you think maybe it depends on the person?” Said Twilight.
“Maybe.” mused Spike.
“Those treaties all those countries signed. The people in those countries didn’t want to fight each other. They were just obeying the treaties. It’s like they pretended they were friends when they really weren’t. Remember when I told you false friendship was dangerous? I think this is like that.”
“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said it was dangerous,” said Spike, and after a pause, continued, “So, humans are pretty...something”
“Yeah, Spike. Pretty something.”
With heavy trods Twilight Sparkle descended the stairs. Simon’s work, fully organized, followed her. Rarity and Simon were scouring bookshelves.
“Hi, Rarity. I didn’t hear you come in.” Twilight announced her presence.
Simon didn’t turn away from his task.
“Twilight! It’s good to see you! Simon was just helping me find some books about Princess Platinum. Isn’t he a sweetheart?”
Simon rose from an awkward crouch to the tips of his toes. Twilight smiled.
“Yes, he is,” she said, “But all the books about the founders of Equestria are over here.”
Twilight levitated a stack of books from the shelves near the stairs. At the other side of the room, Simon finally turned away from the shelves he was checking and buried his face in his hands. He made his way back to his desk and sat down.
Rarity flipped through one of the books, “As I was telling Simon, I’m going to make my own gown for the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant, and I wanted an historical reference.”
“I can’t wait to see it!”
“Will you be bringing Spike?”
“He’ll be there.”
“And how about you, Simon. Will you be going?” She turned to him and asked.
Twilight opened her mouth to speak for him, but stopped when Simon nodded rapidly, and gave Twilight a broad, almost giddy smile.
“You will?” she deadpanned.
He nodded again.
“Come now, Twilight, dear. Don’t act surprised! I promise you won’t be disappointed, Simon.” Rarity strutted towards the door, “ Now, I must be off. See you at the pageant!”
Simon waved goodbye and watched the white unicorn leave. Twilight approached him.
“I’m glad to see you getting along with Rarity.”
He smiled and looked down to his feet.
“You want to go to the pageant? Why?”
Simon shrugged.
I love live theater
She looked at him. He’d never used the word “Love” before.
“You’re pretty something,” she said, and left him confused.
11 - Hearth’s Warming Eve
“Simon!” Twilight called cheerfully, “It’s time for the pageant!”
He put his quill down, and stood up to face the unicorn descending the stairs. She was wearing boots, a saddle and a scarf. She looked at him, and said with mock-seriousness, “We’re not going until you’ve washed up”
Simon rolled his eyes and walked to the basement door.
Spike rode Twilight to the see the Pageant. Even though Twilight wore a saddle, Simon observed that Spike didn’t use it; instead, he sat behind her head and wrapped his arms around her neck. Simon wrapped his arms around himself; he was cold.
The three of them were joined by Fluttershy. Simon didn’t know where the pageant was being held, and was surprised when they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres and proceeded into Applejack’s barn.
“It looks like the whole of Ponyville showed up!” Twilight observed.
“It probably is the whole of Ponyville. I don’t like it very much. It’s so… crowded,” Fluttershy muttered.
Twilight entered the barn. Simon passed Fluttershy, who hesitated and then followed them in.
The barn was made up with rows of piles of hay, which the ponies sat on, facing a faded and patchy curtain hung on a string. Twilight led the group up the rows to near the centre of the building, and picked out a string of adjacent seats near the centre. Simon passed in front of a barn filled with ponies. When he arrived at his seat, instead of sitting down, he looked out into the crowd behind him. They all looked at the curtain, or at each other in conversation. They seemed to look through him. The few that noticed him appeared to forget about him right away. He felt invisible; he felt strange.
“What is it?” Twilight asked.
Simon looked out into the throng again, then looked back to Twilight, and shook his head.
He sat down between Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, who were resting comfortably on their haunches. He felt his back crack as he lowered himself to the floor. He crossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his palms.
Fluttershy ruffled her wings. He looked at them closely. He watched the minute motions of their muscles. He reached out, and stroked the thick flight feathers. He gently grasped the tip of her wing, and extended it to look underneath it.
He was struck in the ribs on his other side. He let go of Fluttershy’s wing. He turned to Twilight Sparkle, who was frowning severely and shaking her head. He looked back to Fluttershy, who was quivering and looking away from him.
Simon buried his face in his hands, like a chastised child. His face felt hot. He wanted to leave the building. His stomach started to clench.
He looked again to Twilight, who turned away. He looked to Fluttershy, who looked straight ahead. He leaned closely to her, grasped his throat, and with a very quiet gargle said,
“I’m sorry.”
Fluttershy perked up at the sound of hearing him speak, gave him a big smile.
“I forgive you,” she said almost as quietly.
He smiled, but his joy soon gave way to the pain in his throat from speaking these two words. He fell into a fit of rough, painful coughing. A hoof rested on his shoulder until he stopped.
The lights dimmed not long after, and the curtain was raised.
“Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria…” began a small white pony. Her voice quavered with self-awareness.
“...Ponies did not know Harmony. It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart… by hatred!”
The audience gave out a frightful gasp. Simon was startled and looked around to see what the trouble was. There was none. He was very confused.
“During this frightful age, each of the two-THREE! tribes, the Pegasi, the Unicorns and the Pegasi...I mean, Earth Ponies! cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welf… welf-are.”
Simon's suspension of disbelief was broken by the foal narrating the play, who continuously stumbled over her lines and showed every sign of stage fright. He wished there was a better pony for the job. She was a young Unicorn - as young as Applebloom. She was white, with hair that was half purple, half pink, and pale green eyes. Her voice cracked.
The ponies silently acted out the roles of the three tribes: Pegasus ponies controlled the weather, in exchange for food from the Earth ponies, who also traded with the Unicorns in exchange for raising the sun and moon.
Being reminded of the roles of the Unicorns in the motion of the Sun and Moon, he had to hold his breath. Twilight leaned in and whispered, “Are you going to be okay?”
Simon closed his eyes and in a moment the feeling passed. He nodded.
Simon watched the ponies’ land become buried in snow, from a sudden, intense blizzard. They ran out of food. Each of the three tribes independently elected to abandon their land, and seek out a new home.
Echoes of familiarity were reverberating in his mind. Something about the story was reminding him of something else. He thought about Al.
Upon finding the ideal place, the three tribes again squabbled over petty differences. Snow began to fall. Clover the Clever discovered that it was evil Wendigoes who were causing all the snow.
Trapped in an icy cave, Clover, Smart Cookie and Private Pansy decided to face their doom together, as ponies. Something happened to drive away the Wendigoes, and Equestria was saved. Simon wasn’t sure what they did to drive them away.
“The three leaders agreed to share the beautiful land, and live in Harmony for ever afterwards. And together, they named the new land…”
“Equestria!” The entire cast shouted.
At last, the whole crowd stood and sang,
The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we’ll be to the very end
A great cheer went up from the town of Ponyville, and the curtain dropped.
With the end of the song came also the end of the play. The ponies, standing now, stretched and filed out of the barn.
“What did you think, Simon?” asked Twilight.
He hadn’t decided. He was still staring at the stage. His knees had moved up to his chin. He rocked back and forth.
“Simon? Are you okay?” Asked Twilight.
He seemed not to hear her. The barn was almost empty.
Without warning, he shot up to his feet and was hurrying out the door.
12 - The After Party
After the pageant was over, Twilight and her friends were invited to an after party, hosted by Pinkie Pie after hours at Sugarcube Corner. There was cake, ice cream, games, punch and all the staples of Pinkie’s parties.
Sweetie Belle and Rarity were still in their pageant costumes.
Simon sat in a booth in a quiet corner of the room, musing about the play he’d just seen.
Twilight wandered to Simon’s table to bring him some cake. He replied with a piece of paper that read,
They came from Scotland. Al told me Scotland had frozen over while I was gone. It lines up with the play.
Twilight was underwhelmed by the information Simon had presented her, “I don’t know what that means,” she told him soberly.
Me neither, but it’s true.
Twilight didn’t know what to say. He presented her with another sheet:
How did they get rid of the Wendigoes, and how did they get out of the cave?
Twilight raised her eyebrows, “The three ponies settled their differences and became friends.”
Simon raised his eyebrows back at her, Friendship and Harmony. Those were major themes of the story.
“Of course! Friendship is the most powerful thing we have, and through it we achieve Harmony and make Equestria what it is!”
Simon’s face did not change.
Is it a traditional cultural belief, or is it more like a superstition?
“Neither! It’s true!”
Simon and Twilight stared at each other in silence.
On the other side of the room, Rarity walked towards the punch table with her nose high in the air. Pinkie Pie leapt in front of her from somewhere.
“Say, Rarity, did you step in something?” she asked seriously.
Rarity turned around and looked down. Hoof-prints stalked her and snaked all around the room.
“Oh, no!” she said in a panicked tone, “Is it on the dress? IS IT ON THE DRESS?!”
With her magic, she lifted the dress and flipped it over to inspect the back. The white edge of the dress was pristine. She heard a snicker above her, and Rainbow Dash, hooves dripping with ink, descended and hoof-bumped her pink partner. The two rolled on the ground in hysterics.
“Very funny,” said Rarity flatly, and sulked away.
“What do we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Pinkie Pie saw Twilight and Simon, alone in a booth in the corner of the party. She leaned close to Rainbow Dash, and whispered her plan. A devious grin formed on Rainbow’s mouth, and she launched herself into the rafters.
Twilight couldn’t answer Simon’s questions.
“You know what I think? We’re here with our friends. Let’s just have some fun.”
Simon surveyed the scene. Applejack and Fluttershy were in conversation. Spike was helping himself to some punch. Pinkie Pie was laughing at something, and Rarity was heading their way.
He turned back to his parchment, put his pen to it, and hesitated. A heavy silence broke his concentration. He heard stifled laughter above him. He looked up. Rainbow Dash was hovering, no more than a foot above him, holding in her mouth a green branch.
“Look who’s under the mistletoe!” Pinkie exclaimed.
He looked at Twilight, who was also becoming aware of what had happened. Her face turned bright red. “Do you know what that means, Simon?” she asked.
Without thinking, Simon nodded. He looked around again. Applejack was holding her hat in front of her face, making a genuine attempt to hide her glee, Spike was gaping and looking directly at Twilight. Fluttershy seemed almost concerned by the distress the two were experiencing, and Pinkie was bouncing three times her standing height, emitting a constant, high-pitched squeal. He tried to return his attention to his parchment, but Rainbow Dash tapped him on the shoulder before he had a chance to get his thoughts back on track. Simon gave her a mildly irritated look, which she answered by pointing very deliberately at Twilight. Rainbow Dash was snickering now. Simon realized where he was in the situation at hand. His face felt hot.
Rarity had come up from behind Twilight and nudged her with her horn. “Well, go on. It’s tradition!”
Twilight moved closer to Simon. He gripped the bottom of the chair tightly, and planted his feet on the ground as though he was making to stand up.
Twilight was having trouble making eye contact. “Ready, Simon?”
Simon swallowed. His mouth became very dry. He nodded.
From Pinkie Pie there came a quiet, energetic “Yay!” She looked like she was about to go off like a rocket.
Twilight closed her eyes and leaned forward. Simon leaned back. Twilight was opening her eyes to see where he was when he quickly snapped forward.
Their lips never met. He felt his nose touch hers, and they both made a loud smooching sound. They immediately turned away.
The room erupted in laughter.
Twilight carried her dragon home. Arms wrapped tightly around her neck, Spike was almost asleep. Her human followed her.
They arrived at their quiet home. Her human opened the door for her. She went in. He followed her in, but was nearly hit in the forehead by dangling mistletoe. Whether it had come from Pinkie Pie, or Rainbow Dash, or some other pony or thing, he couldn’t say. Twilight and Simon were under it for the second time that night.
Simon shook his head, tore the plant from its string, and tossed it out into the cold.
Edited by Admari
Various assistance by Hustlin Tom
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Being thankful for Spring is hard in Texas where we only have Summer and Fall.
Sometimes it snows in really late Fall, but otherwise it's too hot for my taste.
Cool! Something to read at work on my breaks!
Yea dude it was like 80 degrees out today! Personally, I like all the seasons. By themselves. It's the shit that comes with them that bugs me. Like being cold. Not the cold, but me being cold.
imageshack.com/a/img33/5764/likethischapter.jpg
The italics are Simon writing, yes? While that's obvious to readers starting from previous chapters, you may want to specify that in at least the first use of italics.
That being said, Simon's acting really... weird. We get some inner thoughts on Simon but none pertaining to his behavior. Why is he suddenly curious about Fluttershy's wings? If it was a person, you wouldn't just reach out and start handling their hair no matter how long it was, that's just rude without asking for permission first. And while I can figure out why he might freak out a little over the Hearth Warming story when he figures it must have originated in Scotland, it's all circumstantial and something that needs a lot more research. Assuming he can keep from flipping out, asking the Princesses about it would be my first step as they are the oldest living beings around. (I'm being too logical I guess, I promise I'm not an AI)
Part five please?
Pretty please?
With sugar on top?
4267956
Is that supposed to be for me or Morphy?
4268812
That was meant for you.
Oops. My bad.
4267313 This is the same guy who gave Twilight a dental checkup on a whim. It isn't like this is the first time he's invaded personal space because the "horses = people" circuit in his head shorted out.
4269571
I'm sure Twilight could arrange something if he'd ask? But yeah, at least he's not flipped his cheese and ended up in a padded room. Kinda surprising how often that happens though. I mean, yes, Pinkie is a little overbearing but she's not some sanity-draining horror from Cthulhu. I bet if you grabbed some average joe (or jane) that used to play RPGs, they'd have no trouble whatsoever accepting Equestria and all it's quirks; like Pinkie Pie, timberwolves, magic, and the Princesses moving the Sun and Moon around at their whim. Heck, they might actually enjoy themselves because, well, magic! It's real. Hell yeah! Blow stuff up!
Ohmygod, I would be such a terrible influence on young unicorns... getting them to find new ways of exploding stuff.
4270050
I agree, lots of folk would readily accept the high-fantasy world of Equestria. That take on a Human in Equestria story has been done to death already (Citation Needed): It includes all Brony in Equestria stories, and others.
The faster Simon accepts the rules of Equestria and settles in, the sooner I'm out of ideas.
I'm not writing this story by chapters, saying, "let's do this and see what happens". This story is very deliberately going somewhere. I'm building up to it slowly.
Simon practically worships logic, so he's very put off by these apparent breaks from reality.
4270147
So I guess the last thing he needs is Pinkie Pie. Discord would probably make more sense to him in that regard. All things considered, he might have had a better time at an Earth Pony's house where the obvious magic is kept to a minimum-- though dealing with all the doorknobs covered in spit, ack.
Equestrians are all Scottish?
Cool.
4267313
You see, there are some in the writing community who insist on this rule: Show, don't tell.
They whip it out as though these three words are somehow the key to perfect writing. Indeed, they may whip it out whenever they come across anything they don't like. To me, it's utter BS, because all writing is telling. If I wanted to show the reader something, I'd work on a painting or a comic strip, not a story.
"Simon walked across the room". That's telling the reader that Simon has just moved from one spot to another.
"Simon pulled on his hair" may imply that Simon is anxious or stressed. This is, allegedly, "showing", but I "showed" the reader by "telling" them that Simon is pulling on his hair.
This is just my opinion, mind you. I am in no way an experienced writer.
Anyway, I'd have to look back on it, but I think I explicitly resolved to myself not to explain Simon's actions in this chapter at all. This is vaguely related to the "show don't tell" rule mentioned above. Call it an experiment.
However, there are times when I don't want to explain Simon's actions. For example, I've stated that Simon does not take his gun with him when he goes outside. Why not? I could go into how he's aware he doesn't need it, PLUS how he's not the gun-carrying type, PLUS he feels awkward carrying a weapon around harmless, pretty ponies, but phrasing reasons like that is just awkward and not worth it. Also, it forces me to connect Simon with violence, which is something I really, really don't want to do. So he just doesn't use it. It may also be the case that Simon just doesn't think about it, which is actually pretty plausible for a character.
As for Simon and Fluttershy's wings, there are two possibilities:
1. He doesn't see ponies as being on the same level as humans and doesn't feel the need to ask permission to study them. This could be him working through a form of prejudice that even he's not fully aware of.
2. He has very poor social skills, and forgot about Fluttershy's need for personal space while thinking about her wings.
Neither one of these can really be given an inner thought because they are both subconscious. It would be a disaster if I tried to put into words the process of not thinking about something
Of course, none of this addresses the true issue, namely that you weren't satisfied by the writing. I can sit here and justify myself all day, but what you perceive is still what you perceive. I'll try to keep readers more aware of what's going through Simon's mind consciously in the next chapters, but if you find something he does to be weird, it may be all you can do to say, "he's a weird guy".
4493685
Conceal, don't feel?
4592398
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold me back ay more!
Let it go! Let it go!
Turn away and slam the door!
I don't care what they're going to say!
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway.