Celestia often wished there didn’t have to be a winter. Some ponies counted it as their favorite season, and she could never understand why. It was always too much work. You had to move the snow out of the streets. You had to do a five-minute warm-up just to get your wings working properly. Heck, it was work just to stay warm.
But of course, there were plenty of good things about winter. You could romp around in the snow and build snow forts or make snow pegasi. You could fly over the land at night, marveling at the unbroken surface of glittering white that stretched to the horizon. You could stay inside, and with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, bond with your friends and family. And sure, you’d catch a cold, get frostbite, or have snow stuck In your mane, but in the end, Winter was a great time of year.
That is, it was a great time for most ponies. Being an alicorns princess gifted with a vastly extended lifespan, she’d done all of these things, and although they were still fun every once in a while, they didn’t outweigh the annoyances. One would think she’d get over those over time as well, but the opposite seemed true; it just got more and more exasperating.
Winter just wasn’t Celestia’s time of year, and the fact that Luna loved it made it all the more exasperating for her. Long ago, they’d split up the seasons, and Celestia had made sure that winter was Luna’s responsibility. She almost wished she’d done the opposite, just so she didn’t have to watch her sister enjoy it so much.
In fact, Luna was getting excited about it just at that moment, because despite what most ponies thought, Alicorns don’t need to sleep if they don’t want to.
“I can’t believe it’s finally here, Tia!” Luna squealed.
“Believe me, neither can I.” Celestia said, with more than a hint of derision. Luna didn’t seem to pick up on it.
“Sure, it’s already snowed this year, but I mean just look at those babies fall! I’d say that’s at least two feet.”
Celestia grumbled. Sometimes she wished Luna would use the old royal voice on her and not just the citizens. Right now, it seemed like her younger sister was bragging. After all, she’d been the one who’d added this particular blizzard to the weather schedule, flying in the face of the weather experts over at Cloudsdale.
“Tia?”
“What now, Lulu?
“You seem a little under the weather.”
No doubt about it now. Luna was definitely trying to get to her.
“It’s almost as if you’re paler than usual, kind of like … um …”
“A snowflake?” Celestia finished.
“Yeah, just like a snowflake! Like all those little white snowflakes floating around out there!”
Celestia, to her credit, kept herself calm and reserved, although she was clenching her teeth with almost enough force to break her jaw in half.
“I have a quick question, Lulu.”
“What is it Tia?”
“Why did you schedule this blizzard to start just as I woke up without telling me there was even going to be a snowstorm?”
“Oh, like you don’t do the same thing with those heatwaves of yours.”
She chuckled at that. “Yes, I suppose I do, but everypony likes a nice warm day.”
“Well I’m not everypony, apparently,” said Luna. She motioned with a hoof to the door. “Shouldn’t you be raising the sun right now?”
The sun goddess nodded. “Have one of the aides start up a warm bath, won’t you?”
“Sure. For both of us or just for you?”
Celestia ignored the obvious sarcasm, but she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of two alicorns in one tub. “Just see to it, alright?”
“Well you’re no fun this morning, are you?”
“Gee, I wonder why?” Celestia deadpanned.
“So do I, but if you want that bath to still be warm by the time you get back, you should get going.”
Luna was right of course. It wasn’t like the sun was going to raise itself or anything. Turning around, she gave Luna a wave. Her sister waved back and then departed, hopefully to get that bath ready.
Maybe if I think about that the whole time, it’ll keep me warm.
Other than mind-over-matter, she did have a few other tricks up her saddlebags. There were three different spells for body heat management: one for keeping the cold out, one for getting the body warmer, and one that summoned a big furry scarf. Just to be safe, she went with all of them.
Well, all except for the last one. That was just silly.
The spells only took a few moments, and when they were done, she prepared herself for the cold. She spread her wings, enjoying having any movement in them while it was still there. At last, she let out a long breath. She was ready.
She pushed the door open with her magic aura, dashed out of it, and slammed it behind her. That was about when she realized that she wasn’t ready at all. The snowflakes, which were normally graceful in their fall, pelted her at breakneck speed, and within only a minute, she had a good inch of the stuff piled up on her back. She also couldn’t see anything. For all she knew, the pits of Tartarus could have been right in front of her, and she wouldn’t have noticed.
But the worst part of it was the sheer cold. It felt like needles were poking her all over, and not in the good way like an acupuncturist, but in the bad way like, well, a drunk acupuncturist.
I knew I should’ve gone for the scarf, she thought only half-jokingly, because at that moment, she would have given anything for a good scarf. She bit her lip, put her head down, and trudged on. Although she couldn’t see it, she knew exactly where the altar was; it’s easy to get into a routine when you’ve spent more like ten-billions hours than ten-thousand doing it.
It only took her a few steps before her hoof hit something. Celestia winced, but shook it off, along with some of the snow that continued to pile up. It took her a few moments to correctly align herself, and by the time she was done, her hooves and wings were starting to go numb. Closing her eyes, she tried to separate herself from the snow around her. The spell required absolute concentration. No thoughts about Luna, that hot bath, Twilight’s letters, Davenport, or anything else Equestrian or otherwise. Only the sun.
She felt the glow her horn gave off as she completed the spell she’d done time and time again. It was one of the few things that hadn’t become easy routine for her. After all this time, it was still a challenge to life the celestial object. From experience, she knew when to stop the spell, which was lucky since there was no way to visually check to make sure the sun was in the right place.
As she tried to get her body working well enough to trot back indoors. When was normally a short stroll felt like a marathon now, her whole body shaking with the cold. At long last, she reached the door, and knocked on it loudly. The door opened and she was pulled inside with the strong tug of a hoof. She heard the door slam behind her, she saw the pony with a warm towel standing in front of her, and she felt relief all around her.
The towel felt like a warm cocoon of fuzziness. It was much better than the changeling variety of cocoon, that was for sure. But what she was really looking forward to was that bath. She could envision it now: the smell of incense filling the room, the bubbling water rushing over her, overtaking the cold. Not since the defeat of Discord had Celestia wanted something so much.
She had to be helped up the stairs because she was still shivering uncontrollably. With every step she left a wet footprint of melting snow. It was a long climb, but when at last it was over, she pulled her body into the bath room as fast as she could.
She flung the door open, and saw ... her sister.
“Luna … what are you doing?” asked Celestia, angry disbelief in her voice.
“Oh, just making sure the water’s warm enough. You don’t mind, do you?”
Celestia sighed. “You’re not getting out of there, are you Lulu?”
“Nope,” she replied, beaming.
Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle. She really couldn’t stay mad at her sister for very long (unless you counted that one time). And besides, the water did look very nice. She walked over to the edge of the tub, still smiling.
“Well if you’re going to stay, at least give me some room too.”
Luna couldn’t control herself. She burst out laughing, and took Celestia with her. The cacophony rang through the halls of Canterlot castle, a merry noise that said winter like nothing else.
In the end, winter wasn’t really that bad after all.
