Wishing snow, that’s what it had all started as. On that winter so long ago, little Snowdrop had prayed with all her heart, making a wish on the stars her blind eyes would never see. She had realized on that cold night that snow could be just as precious as the stars were, and had crafted the cruel particles of ice into trillions of little wishing stars.
Ponies everywhere had been making wishes on them for nearly a generation. The cruelty of winters without her snowflakes was now nothing more than an old story.
But not all wishes made on her snowflakes came true, because her snowflakes were not the only thing that was becoming an old story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Let me make this perfectly clear: never, do you understand me?” Celestia all but hissed, her normal angelic composure nowhere to be found.
The noble standing before her flinched at his monarch’s words, for the first time in his dealings with her, afraid to continue. “Please your majesty, I understand why you oppose any changes, I do. But the Court of Night can’t run exactly like it has traditionally, not forever. It’s just that…” The representative of the Court of Night chose his words very carefully. Above all he could not anger his only remaining princess any further. “It’s just that since Dream Catcher died, we haven’t had a decent overseer, and Waning Moon just isn’t qualified to singlehandedly be the judge and high overseer of the night court…”
Celestia interrupted, “If you doubt Waning Moon’s ability to judge, I will recommend somepony else to run the night court. That will be all.”
Though the representative tried to say that the issue had nothing to do with the leadership, Celestia’s tone had made the finality of her statement clear. Feeling utterly defeated, he backed reverently out of the room.
Celestia felt no better than he did though, the topic of her sister’s Court of Night and its proceedings had pained her heart,
Ever since she had lost her sister.
Celestia knew what the real issue was, nopony could possible manage the entire Court of Night, it had just as many details and functions as her own Court of Day did. The issue wasn’t bad leadership; the issue was that no one leader could oversee all of it.
No one pony could replace Luna.
The only logical solution was one Celestia knew all too well: The Court of Night would have to be liquidated, and divided up amongst many different parties, each to one particular aspect of its ruling.
And she despised that with every fiber of her being. Even Celestia could not forgive herself for what she had done to her sister, and to go tearing apart her Court, destroying all she had left of her sister.
Never
Celestia only wanted to continue the day’s court but nopony wanted to be the one to follow a hearing like that. Finally, the guards signaled to let the next pony in, and Celestia saw that a frail old pony, who was at the age of barely being able to walk on her own, slowly made her way towards the Princess of the Sun.
Celestia’s eyes grew wide in surprise. It had been many years, but she would never forget this pony, “Snowdrop? Snowdrop dear what are you doing here?”
Snowdrop smiled, it was the first time she’d heard Celestia’s voice in a very long time. “I really wanted to come and see you again Princess. I’ve been trying to get word through to you for a few months now, so I decided I should just attend the day court, go through the proper channels you might say.”
Celestia processed that for a moment before finally responding, “I don’t understand. Snowdrop, you’re a dear old friend. You don’t need to go through any “proper channels”.
Snowdrop simply responded, “Well, I never got any responses to my letters to the Court of Night, and the only response I’ve gotten from the Court of Day was that you were too busy holding court. I really needed to see you again, so I did what I had to do.”
Celestia was furious, not at Snowdrop, but at the Courts. Celestia stepped off her throne, turning to several guards, “Court is over for the day, but tell the representatives that I will need to thoroughly go over what is and what isn’t acceptable in regards to responding to my mail.
There was a terrified hush, and the royal court unofficially adjourned for the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia slowly guided Snowdrop to a side room of the palace where they could speak as old friends. She had the attendants prepare them both some hot tea and pastries to make Snowdrop’s visit more comfortable. It was with no small amount of disappointment in her staff that Celestia apologized to her old friend.
“I’d like to say again that I am truly, truly sorry. This sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen. The representatives are supposed to sort my mail, not throw it away if.”
Snowdrop tried to speak, but Celestia didn’t give her the chance, “I never should have let them handle all of my mail in the first place, As much as I get I should still have looked at it.
Snowdrop finally got to speak, “Princess, I haven’t been a regular at the castle for half a lifetime. It’s only natural the castle staff would change and I would be forgotten.”
Celestia stopped. She felt the heat of her rage go out, replaced by a cold, empty feeling.
Snowdrop had just addressed exactly what was bothering her so much.
“You’re right, you’re absolutely right Snowdrop. The world is getting older, and I am not. I know that the Court of Night is doing its best, I even realize that they’ve done better than anypony could expect considering how understaffed they are.”
Now that she was calming down, she also remembered that there had been a new secretary of the Day Court since Snowdrop’s last visit. It had been half a normal pony’s lifetime since Snowdrop had visited, of course the new staff wouldn’t know her.
Celestia realized that nopony was at fault, the world was simply changing. Snowdrop’s generation was dying off; their world was being forgotten, giving way to a new one.
But…
“I don’t want you to be forgotten Snowdrop. After Luna and I defeated Discord I thought everything would be wonderful. I thought we could build paradise together, and we did. But I’ve watched it slip away. I watched my friends die, I’ve watched the world change, I’ve watched the things that she and I built together become obsolete. I’ve lost my paradise Snowdrop, Equestria is still a wonderful place, it’s still paradise, but it’s not my paradise anymore.”
Snowdrop had a look of deep melancholy on her face, a sagely yet exhausted shine in her eyes. “I know what you mean.”
Celestia gave a half-hearted laugh at that, “Sorry Snowdrop, but I’m not sure of that. I know you’re old, but I’m much older than you are already, and I have to endure this for millennia still. But I appreciate the sentiment.”
Snowdrop appeared to be wondering something, as if she should speak or not, but she never did, and she sipped her tea.
Celestia somewhat regretted saying bluntly that her own troubles were worse than her friends, but didn’t know what else to say on the matter. She did know concretely however that it was getting late; she would need to raise the moon within the hour.
“Snowdrop, may I inquire how you got here, and how you intend to make your way back home?”
“Oh, well… I just asked some of the older colts in the weather team if they would fly my down to the capital. I was just going to hire a flying chariot to take me home.”
For the first time that day, Celestia smiled gleefully, “Now there’s something I can do.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia’s own personal chariot touched down in Cloudsdale. Celestia and Snowdrop disembarked and began their march towards the weather factory. “You really don’t need to escort me Princess, I know my way around and I don’t want to bother you.”
“You couldn’t possibly be a bother to me Snowdrop. It’s the least I can do. Besides, the best kind of factory inspection is a surprise visit.”
Snowdrop knew that was just an excuse to spend some time with her, but she didn’t mind. Being old can easily mean being lonely after all, and she didn’t mind the company. At last they arrived at the factory, and Celestia was amazed at what they had done with the place since the last time she visited.
The whole building was beautifully constructed out of majestic cloud formations. The room had to be chilled slightly for maintenance purposes, but the floor was warm to the touch of the pegasi’s hooves. It was nothing like a factory at all, but rather was bright, roomy, cheerful, an all-around wonderful place.
Celestia’s sight-seeing was cut short (as usual) by the nearby ponies flocking to her, some in amazement, some worried that they hadn’t prepared for her and wondering if they were supposed to, some simply in curiosity, but either way Celestia wasn’t going to get a quite visit.
Celestia gave her standard smile and polite waves and cordial greetings, everything that went with being royalty. Overall she enjoyed her visit, and tour, and the Cloudsdale weather factory.
Until they got to Snowdrop’s workshop.
Celestia had been expecting it to be wonderful, the best part of the factory. Granted she figured a blind pony’s workshop might not have the most detailed visual allures, but she didn’t expect it to be like this. The room was small, only a tiny workspace barely big enough just for her. It was all business and no pleasure, a crude workbench and supply of un-crafted snow.
And it was dark; the thunderbolt bulb overhead had burned out many, many years ago. Celestia knew for obvious reasons that Snowdrop had no reason to replace it, but somepony should have.
Snowdrop on the other hoof presented it to Celestia as if it was the most precious place in the world, her face the happiest Celestia had seen it. “And this is where we craft snowflakes. It’s all done by hoof, one-by-one.” Snowdrop went over to her seat and began crafting the little crystals of ice; each one she made was sculpted with every bit of love she had to give.
Celestia didn’t want to sneak away from Snowdrop, but she had to know, and she couldn’t ask Snowdrop. She flew across out of the room and over to some gathered pegasi. “Is Snowdrop the only one that makes snowflakes?”
The three pegasi gathered could barely answer her over the majesty of speaking to their princess, “Yes Princess, well by hoof at least.”
“I don’t understand, you have to make so many, why is she working alone?”
The pegasi blinked in surprise a few times before one bluntly responded, “You’re kidding right? Princess, do you know how many snowflakes it takes to make one snowball worth of snow?
It varies, but as many as a million, or more!
There’s no possible way we could hoof-make enough snowflakes to cover Equestria. If every pony on this planet worked all year, we might have enough to cover a small field, maybe.
It’s a waste of time to make any by hoof, but we let her because, well she says that if she makes enough she can wish for a miracle or something like that, and she invented them, she deserves that much.”
The other two pegasi didn’t like how forward the answer was, but showed no signs of disagreeing with the message.
Celestia couldn’t challenge that. A million would only make a snowball; there was simply no way they could do it. It wasn’t a matter of working harder, it was impossible.
The mare in the group put on a warm smile and gestured to a large well, more of a pond really, behind her, “Just so you know, we use a kaleidoscoping magic well. It is constantly changing like a kaleidoscope, and “printing” a snowflake every instance in time. It takes a round-the-clock team of pegasi to get it to work, so we employ a lot of ponies, and still get the job done on time.”
The only one yet to speak piped up, “Right! And Snowdrop still gets to keep her old job, but she’s more of an artist than a producer though.”
Celestia started to interject, but couldn’t find any reason to. Why did she hate the system anyway? Nothing the three pegasus had said wasn’t true. There wasn’t any way it could be done otherwise, and this way was so efficient. So why didn’t Celestia like it.
Celestia flew back to Snowdrop’s workroom, pretending she had never left. “You’re back! Sorry if I bored you.”
Celestia had been caught immediately, so she admitted it, “Sorry, I just wanted to know why…”
“Why I’m alone?”
Celestia felt the word sting her: alone.
Snowdrop continued to craft, “This is what my cutie mark stands for Celestia. This is what I’m supposed to do, and it’s what makes me feel like I’m alive, like it doesn’t matter if I can see or not. I can’t stop, even if I know it’s useless. Don’t get me wrong Princess, I support what the younger ponies are doing, and it works great, better than I ever did. What they’ve built is paradise.
It’s just… It’s not… my paradise.
This place is perfect but I have no place here.
I…”
Celestia wrapped her wings around the old snowmaker, “I understand.” Tears were now running down her face, “I understand. I know exactly what you’re feeling. I’m so sorry Snowdrop, I had no idea. I never realized. I’m so sorry, what I said back at the castle, I’m so sorry Snowdrop.”
Snowdrop wrapped her little wings around Celestia’s neck. Over her whole lifespan, Snowdrop had flown less than a few minutes due to her blindness, and as a result her wings weren’t even as developed as anypony else’s. But they were good at wiping tears away, and they were good at cradling those she cared about.
They just stayed like that, for a while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia walked Snowdrop home in silence. Celestia stopped along the way, realizing it was time to do the thing she hated most in the world. “Hold on a moment Snowdrop.”
Celestia flew up and bid the sun come down. She watched as the last ray of golden light dipped beneath the horizon. But her task was not finished. Celestia reached down beneath the world, down to the place where the moon was. She merged her magic with its, it felt magnificent, empowering, otherworldly. But it pained her; it was like a branding iron was pressed into her heart until it couldn’t beat. It was only a few moments, but it felt like forever. She had banished her sister, and now, like every night, she had to remember what she had taken, and what she had lost.
“Do you always cry, every time?” Snowdrop asked with worry. She couldn’t see Celestia, but she knew.
“Always” was her only answer.
Snowdrop spoke, pain in her voice, “I know Princess, I know how hard it must be on you. That was the night we both lost our only friend.”
Blind or not Celestia dared not look Snowdrop in the eye.
“I buried her Snowdrop. I buried her alive. In her own moon no less! I’ll never… I’ll never see her again! I have to live for thousands of years yet and I’ll have to move my sister’s coffin Every! Single! Night!”
Snowdrop responded the loudest Celestia had ever heard her speak, “You don’t know that. She could still come back, I know it.”
“I’ve checked, I’ve looked everywhere. I’ve read libraries of spell books; the magic to bring her back doesn’t exist.” Celestia let out a short wail of sorrow, “I’ve even tried to use the Elements of Harmony to banish myself to the moon, just so I could be beside her again!”
Celestia looked up so her tears could flow down, “But I can’t use them anymore because I lost my only friend!”
The two stood there for a very long time before either moved again. Celestia finally looked at Snowdrop again, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry it’s just, so hard. I’ve wished so hard, for so long.”
Snowdrop walked over to her Princess, and caught one of her falling tears; she carefully sculpted it into a matchless snowflake, one that looked like Celestia’s cutie mark. “You know Princess, stars don’t grant wishes.”
Celestia turned in shock. She hadn’t expected Snowdrop to say that.
“Neither do my snowflakes. I believe that… that… if you really want wishes to come true, you should try to grant someone else’s. The winter’s snow granted my wish when all I wanted to do was grant its.”
Celestia stared at Snowdrop, trying to understand something, as if watching her would reveal some secret that Snowdrop saw that she didn’t. “I don’t understand” she said at last.
“Maybe… Maybe wishes you make for yourself… maybe they shouldn’t come true. That’s why, rather than making a wish, I’ve already had my wish granted, maybe… I should give my wish back, maybe I should grant somepony else’s wish.”
Celestia just stood there, trying to understand.
Snowdrop took her silence to mean she was still thinking, “One thing about growing old, you realize how important doing things for others is. Your perspective of what’s really important shifts away from yourself, and on to the things that really matter.”
Snowdrop tucked Celestia’s snowflake away as carefully as she could, “Your wish will come true Princess, I know it will.”
Celestia watched as she started to leave, “How? How can you be sure?”
Snowdrop turned back to her, “Because if I could, I’d give you my wish. You need it much more than I do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia went through the next day feeling more dead than alive. The world around her was going about its business like it always did, like it always would. The sun had to rise every morning and the moon had to rise every night, no matter how she felt. She felt so taken for granted.
And when she began to feel taken for granted, she realized how Luna felt.
It never got any better from there.
But what was bothering her especially was that today was a holiday. It wasn’t much of a holiday, and no one even cared considering Hearth’s Warming was just around the corner. The only reason most shops were closed down was due to Celestia herself making it an official, national holiday, and even then everypony overlooked it with Heart’s Warming only days away.
But Celestia did not, could not, and would not ever overlook this day. It was one of the happiest, and saddest day of the year, for her.
It was the Winter Solstice. It was the Winter Moon Celebration. It was her sister’s day, or rather her night. Celestia had the Summer Sun Celebration every Summer Solstice, and Luna had this day. She used to.
Celestia though it was ironic, how little ponies appreciated these days. The Summer Sun Celebration was the longest day of the year sure, but it also meant that every day after it would be shorter, that from then on darkness would creep in.
Celestia felt her gut wrench at the cruel irony. On the one hoof, it was the best day for most ponies, the longest day, the day Nightmare Moon was defeated. After that, they all forgot about it, and the warmth in Celestia’s heart grew colder, and her joy darker, and darker, and darker, with no end in sight.
Inversely, most ponies hated the Winter Moon Celebration, because it was the greatest night of the year, not appreciating that it meant it was also the turning point in the battle between light and darkness. From this day forth, every day would be longer and brighter. Light would begin its annual upset victory in the battle against darkness. It wasn’t just to celebrate the night, but also to celebrate light overcoming darkness.
That, Celestia felt, was where the metaphor ended. Luna was never coming back. She had no way of even knowing if Luna was still alive. It would probably be better if she was dead and wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.
Celestia dried her tears, something she had grown unnaturally good at over the years. She had to keep her sister’s legacy alive, somehow.
Celestia garbed herself in the regalia and went over the various preparations they would be putting on in their capital city of Everfree that night. She spoke with the royal bakers, the decorators, the guards of course, and last, yet most importantly, the weather team.
“As you requested Princess, there isn’t a cloud in the sky. If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want us to postpone the snow until tomorrow? I don’t mean to question you, I’m just curious.”
Celestia nodded in understanding, “It’s alright captain, of course I understand. I simply want everypony to have a clear, unobstructed view of the night sky tonight. If it’s too snowy outside, or if the sky is overcast, nopony will be able to see the majesty this night represents.”
The weather captain smiled as the understanding set in, “Good idea Princess. Though I think most ponies are just going to stay in tonight, what with the day off and all.”
Celestia hung her head, “Maybe so” she said with no energy at all, “But at least I can encourage them. I want them to see it so much.”
There was enough sorrow in Celestia’s voice the captain was sure anypony else would be sobbing, but Celestia was hollow looking, “I’m so sorry Princess, I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s alright. Now about the snow” Celestia interrupted, “Would you ask Snowdrop to personally come by tomorrow? I want her to do the honors.”
The Captain looked like he was going to choke, “Sn… Snowdrop… Princess?”
Celestia raised a brow at this odd behavior, “Yes… Snowdrop.”
The captain looked around for any way out. When none appeared, he let out a defeated sigh, “Princess… Snowdrop was… so old, you must understand. She was the oldest one on the weather team by a long span, older than most ponies even.”
He never got any further, “No.” It wasn’t loud, Celestia was barely audible, “It can’t be. She was so…”
“If it helps Princess, it was in her sleep. She looked so, complete, like she was having a beautiful dream. I wasn’t there personally mind you. But that’s what everypony was saying.”
Celestia wasn’t holding back her tears; they had just dried up after a lifetime of loss.
“She must have known it was going to happen Princess. She kept the vase of snowflakes, every one she ever made. That must sound like a lot, hundreds of thousands of thousands at least, more than anypony else could ever make. But it’s still less than a hoof-full. She scattered them out, all of them, it was just last night.”
A million thoughts were going through Celestia’s head. Had Snowdrop done it for her? Was it based on the talks they had the night before? Did she really think that would ‘give the wish back’?
Celestia didn’t know, and didn’t want to think about it anymore, “That will be all captain.”
The poor captain felt heartbroken, “I’m so sorry you had to find out like this Princess.”
Celestia made her way to the dais where she raised the sun every Summer Solstice, and where she raised the moon every Winter Solstice.
Looking out over the crowd, she could see that the crowd was mostly either rich ponies, there out of formality, families bringing their foals to watch, and just as often one of her countless admirers.
Wordlessly, Celestia went through the motions, exactly on que. The sun sank beneath the horizon; it felt as if it had barely gotten to come up at all. With all its majesty, the moon climbed into the sky. Celestia had made it as bright as it could be, and also as close, making it grand and bright.
Celestia was vaguely aware that everypony was either cheering or applauding more gracefully, but it didn’t register with her any more than background noise. All she saw was the sky, the moon, and the stars. The stars were so beautiful this night, and that made it worse. She looked up at the visage of her sister in the moon.
She remembered an old song, and could hear it in her heart as she gazed at the moon and the stars
Celestia lowered her head, and began to go home.
Many nobles especially wanted to speak with her. She always permitted an audience of such occasions, but not tonight, tonight wasn’t the night for it.
The crowd was still chattering, some with disappointment that Celestia wasn’t staying, but one voice caught Celestia’s attention. It was a little filly, no, a filly was too old, she was just a tiny foal. Her words weren’t that much louder than anypony else’s, nor more important, but Celestia wasn’t the only one who overheard her, purely because of how impossible the words she was saying were.
“Louk mamma, id’s snowen.”
Many other ponies laughed or cooed at the cute little remark, but knew it was impossible. After all there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. There couldn’t be.
*ting*
Celestia herself looked up. It was true. It was utterly impossible, but it was true. Snowflakes, billions of them. No, if what the weather team said was true, and it took a million to make a snowball, then certainly they were too numerous to count.
Celestia looked up. Sure enough, there were no clouds, the snow was just falling. Each Snowflake, unobstructed by snow clouds, shown majestically in the full light of the moon.
“It… It looks like it’s snowing stars.”
Celestia wasn’t sure who had said that, but there was an unspoken agreement with that statement that swept through everypony present.
Ponies that had opted to stay home were beginning to poke their heads out to see the stars sprinkling down on them.
Everypony that saw the snow that night was enraptured by the majesty and awe of Luna’s night.
“Look honey, snowflakes. You know, they say you can make wishes on them.” It had been a caring father speaking to his little filly. Despite that, many other ponies began to close their eyes and wish. Some sincerely, some for fun, some to appreciate the moment. Regardless of their reasons, Celestia only saw her wish coming true, everypony, even for a moment, finally appreciated Luna’s night, and Snowdrop’s snow.
Then Celestia saw something she had seen only once before.
A snowflake danced around her horn.
One would have to look close to see it,
But it looked exactly like her cutie mark.
She could hear Snowdrop, she didn’t know how or why, but she knew.
“I told you your wish would come true.”
Celestia looked around for someone she knew wasn’t there.
“It’s ok Princess, you know your sister can travel through dreams. Well, I’ve seen her in mine for a long time.”
Celestia’s breath stopped. She hung on every word.
“She’s alive Celestia. And that’s only the least part. The stars are going to grant your wish after all.
On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape.”
Celestia let out a breath, one she had been holding for a normal pony’s lifetime almost.
“You and your sister will be together again Princess Celestia.”
Tears finally escaped Celestia. She knew her sorrowful tears had long since dried up, but these were not like those, these were tears of joy. Snowdrop had given her something she couldn’t have lasted without, something she thought she would never have again.
Hope
That was all she had needed in all those lonely years.
Snowdrop’s voice sounded more distant now, “Celestia, I can’t know for sure if snow or stars grant wishes or not, but I know we can try to grant each other’s.
Because a loving heart has more magic than all the stars in the heavens and all the snowflakes in the world.”
Celestia wept, tears streaming down her face. But she was not sad; sorrow was the furthest feeling in the world. She was laughing softly, but with warmth she’d not felt in a lifetime. She was the happiest anypony could be in that moment.
A snowflake that looked like the Element of Magic fell before her eyes, and she heard Snowdrop again, “But Celestia, don’t keep this just for yourself. Someday, a pony that can prevent eternal night will come along, and then you will need to grant that pony’s wish as well.”
Celestia looked to the heavens, “How will I know which one?”
Snowdrop sounded happy, “You won’t, so you’ll have to grant as many wishes, and make as many dreams as you can come true, so you don’t miss it.”
Celestia smiled, “I will, I promise.”
Snowdrop’s voice was barely audible now, “Then that will do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see my best friend again.”
