Clover glanced out the window, seeing the familiar outline of velvet carriages make their slow and steady way up the mountainside. But not too far. Princess Platinum had seen to it that the summit would be held somewhere close to the Mountain, justifying her effort with the statement that of the three races, the Unicorns were the most limited in travel capability. He quickly did a heat spell to warm up the room and cast a spell to organize the clutter he had made while she was gone, putting his texts in the right place.
He sat in the room, waiting patiently for the Princess to arrive. "Three... two... one." Clover said unhappily as the double doors swung open and the Princess marched in, her cape tied close.
"CLOVER!!!" Platinum roared.
"You called, m'lady?"
"Those... those... those brutes! The Earth Ponies absolutely refused to cooperate, and the Pegasi refuse to stop making the weather like this!"
"It's not Pegasus magic, m'lady. I've been sure of this for months."
"It has to be Pegasus magic!" She growled. "What other explanation is there? We've had weather magic outlawed for decades here!"
Clover frowned. "It's not Unicorn either."
Platinum let out a quiet sigh. "This... this... I know! Okay, Clover. I know, but what other explanation is there? No other species has control of the weather at the same scale as the pony races. And this is the farthest thing from natural a winter could be."
"But what would the point be?" Clover asked. "What good would a two-year winter do for anypony?"
Platinum turned as she heard hoofsteps down the hall. "...give ample reason to start a war." She said, almost as an afterthought, as she marched away to join her father.
"What?! Excuse me, Princess, but I don't think I caught that, war?!"
"Yes! War! Clover, you weren't at the meeting... I don't want to bring myself to the same level as those brutes, but we were at each other's throats at the summit. I have to say, I commend them for holding themselves back... if any of us struck each other, it'd be the start of a war that would end all of us."
The King came through the doors at that exact second. "What's this about war? How did the meeting go? Please, please tell me we aren't at war."
"Just barely. I thought that Hurricane was about twenty seconds away from going for my throat." She shivered slightly. Glaring at Clover. "Warm this place up! I just had to ride for three hours in that icebox! I'm sick of this whole country."
"Of course, m'lady." He walked back up to the fireplace, pouring more magic into the crystals, slowly warming the room and depleting their supply of firestone. They had ran out of wood to spare for kindling a few months ago, and coal was dangerously low everywhere in the country, and the unicorns that staffed the castle threatened to riot if they ever found out the King was stashing coal.
"It went that bad? I know I should have-" the King then collapsed in a coughing fit that brought him to the floor.
"Daddy!" Platinum shrieked.
Clover sighed, levitating the King to his feet and supporting his side. "Your Highness, I thought we agreed you were going to stay in bed today."
"My daughter averted a war! I think I can at least greet her at the door!!" The King roared before beginning to cough again.
"Father... I know this isn't the best time... but have you thought about my proposal?"
"I have. And I will not stand for it."
"Your Highness," Clover began.
"I will not," The King interrupted,"abandon our ancestral home because winter lasted a few months too long!"
"Your Highness, Winter is supposed to begin next week." The archmage frowned. "This is more than overboard, we have missed the planting season, we cannot live on stale bread and pickles forever sir! There is no knowing when this cold will stop! It could be eternal for all I know! It's been getting colder and colder, and soon not even every firestone in the Unicorn Kingdom will keep us from freezing to death!"
"Clover, calm down." The King began.
"No! You don't understand! Archeologists a thousand years from now are going to walk over here, go through our stuff and say 'oh look at this specimen, how interesting! It looks like it froze to death! How painful, why, why in the world, would he have stayed in this giant, cold, castle, when he could have simply moved south!'"
The King sighed. "Clover, Clover my boy, deep breaths now, calm down. I understand that you are upset. But this will pass. No storm can last forever, and we will be stronger for striving through it."
"It's not abandoning our homeland father." Platinum said, putting her hoof down with emphasis. "It's supporting it with new conquests. All the land in the valley has been claimed. The Earth Pony Republic cannot produce enough food to support us all. We need to expand south, set up a colony; set up roads back and forth. It'll bring a brand new wealth into the Kingdom. We'll finally be able to get the griffons off our back, and we'll get something substantial in the treasury. The Unicorn Kingdom will grow back to it's full stature!"
"The valley has been all we ever needed. These are the lands granted to us since time immemorial. It is from this mountain that we call the sun and moon to rise and sink every day! Unicorns exist only in this valley! That is how it always was and always will be. Understood? Daughter, I know you are doing what you believe is best for the Kingdom, but it is not our right to expand." He frowned. "The unicorns are the most magical of all species, of all ponies. We have so many divine gifts given to us. We have since time immemorial had uncontested rule over the valley, and given the great task of giving day and night to the entire world!" He stomped his hoof. "Many, many past Kings tried to expand, to conquer, to hold the world hostage with the wicked claims of holding the planet in eternal day and eternal dark, and every time the Kingdom was punished, the Unicorns forced back to the valley, where we belong. This is our place daughter. If we die here, it will be what the world requires. This storm is to be combated with our magic, held at bay with our walls. We will show our power, our resourcefulness, this way. The Kingdom, will not expand."
The King then began to cough harder than before, almost falling again and only saved by the magic of both unicorns. "...your majesty." Clover began.
"I don't want to hear of it."
"Please, your majesty, just allow a scouting force. We will not conquer, just... searching for charity outside the valley. A farmland where we can support ourselves where it's not so cold. A colony in a deserted land isn't making an attack on the world, your highness."
"...Clover, dear boy, have you asked what your Master thinks of this arrangement? The ancient wizard himself told me of the follies of previous Kings. He told me of the tragedies where the Unicorns fell and used their magic against the world when I was a mere colt. He's seen it happen, he's put down errant Kings with his own horn... if he thinks it's a good idea, then I'll allow it. A small colony, just to test the waters... but if it does not survive, if it provokes a war... you will not bring it up again. I'd prefer our greatest young mind and the future bearer of the title 'Queen' were more focused on preserving our Kingdom rather than building colonies."
"I... will, Father." Platinum said, bowing slightly. She turned away, bundling up to go back out into the cold, her Arch Mage following with his own coat being telekinetically tied on.
Outside, a shadow on the window unfurled it's wings and flew away with a sharp-toothed grin.
"COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" Roared the chancellor as he burst in through the door, slamming it behind him. "Where in all that is good and wonderful are you?!"
"By the chimney sir." The mare shouted from the next room.
"Why are you at the chimney?!"
"You came down that way yesterday."
"You expect me to use the same method of entrance two days in a row?! Are you mad, mare?! The assassins will be expecting it!"
"You've been using it for eight weeks straight." The Earth Pony mare said matter-of-factly.
"That's because I know that they know that I know that they'll be watching every entrance except for the one I used the previous day!"
"So why stop now?"
"It's @#$%ing cold and I don't want to waste time climbing upstairs in the snow!"
The mare looked down sadly. "Well, that's seven bits for a ladder we'll not see again."
"So...."
"..."
"..."
"Oh! Yeah, almost forgot, the summit! So, how are we standing with the other tribes?"
"Not very well in the slightest! Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane were completely and utterly aggresive. Both were pushing for war, it almost came down to fisticuffs. To think! I was pushed almost to the level where I was willing to consider knocking sense into a lady!"
"I understand you sir, from past dealings with Hurricane I can see where you're coming from. Nopony would blame you."
"...Hurricane's a mare?!"
Cookie put a hoof to her forehead.
"Anyways, they accused us of hoarding food!"
"We are."
"I know, and I told them as such, but only because the Pegasus are refusing to deal with this snow!!"
"Sir..."
"I know. And I told them as such!" The stallion turned dramatically to face his secretary. "So then, now that I'm back, what did I miss?"
"Three different farming companies are reporting their bankruptcy-"
"What? How."
"...It got too cold for them to continue growing their products, they weren't able to make a profit with the little they had stored. Same as almost everypony else."
"...yeah, just about figured that. Ah well, so then! Anything else?"
"A rebellion was ignited yesterday in the western province."
"Ooh!"
"It quickly surrendered from lack of food supplies."
"Oh."
"And the townspeople here in Riverton recently held a rally to demand why we haven't done anything about the snow for an entire year now."
"Well! Uh..."
"I told them we were investigating, and that you were contacting the other leaders at the summit in order to come up with a united approach."
"Oh thank the stars. Where would I be without you Cookie?"
"Probably tied to a pole on top of a sizable bon fire."
"...that's... surprisingly specific."
"It's a very well made bon fire, it'll burn beautifully. I just hope that we will be watching it from a safe distance away."
"Heh... heh..."
Smart Cookie looked to the side. "Sir... if the summit was a bust... and things are just going to get worse from here out..."
"I... I know. I know. I think... it's about time the Earth Ponies left the valley."
"What?!" Cookie shouted.
"I know, you think it's too drastic... but this isn't just a simple winter. It's getting colder. It won't melt, it's magic. The pegasus are driving us out. I think we should give them the satisfaction." His eyes darkened. "Let them starve themselves to death for all I care..."
"Chancellor... you're acting too hastily."
"I'm not standing for any more of it!! You should have seen the summit Cookie... the both of them... they absolutely loathed me. They loathed each other."
"You loathe them."
"...yes. I do."
"Chancellor."
"No! Don't talk me out of it, this is something that needs to happen."
"Chancellor."
"And don't you dare mention the budget, I don't know where we're going to get the money for this, but we'll arrange it somehow. This is something that needs to happen!"
"Chancellor."
"And don't even begin with the amount of effort it will require to get the other leaders to agree, let alone leave their estates and lands... which makes up most of their fortunes... which ensures their position... oh stars, what about my land! That's my estate... what am I going to do if I lose this position, I won't be able to-"
"Chancellor."
"...yes?"
"Before you talk yourself out of this, let me say one thing."
"..okay?"
"I agree completely. This is something that needs to happen."
The chancellor's eyes widened and began to tear up, he rushed over to the mare and held her close. "Oh Cookie! Where would I be without you! Oh thank you... bah! Who needs some crummy thousand-year-old estate! Hey, do you think if I sold everything my family owns I'd be able to raise the budget enough to move our whole race?"
"Not even close... and if you start making speeches about abandoning our fields and estates, you're going to have a state-supported riot on your hands. Now then... we have to be subtle."
"Subtle? Yes... subtle... no big speeches... or maybe just one really good one..."
"Exactly. Now then, phrasing is key, and you have to focus on scale."
"Scale? Phrasing?...Maybe... just a few thousand of us? And we're not abandoning our estates or fields... we're just..."
"We are acquiring new, better lands, not abandoning them. And not thousands... hundreds... low-risk, in comparison to staying and freezing."
"Yes... yes! That's genius!"
"Glad you thought of it sir."
"You know Cookie, I'm going to make it my life mission to make sure history remembers that you were the smart one."
"I'd prefer your life mission was launching our new colony."
"Oh believe me Cookie, if this colony works out, I'll have actual time to get a new life mission."
"I'll begin running the finances... are you sure you want to bet your entire estate."
"At least 80%. After all, I'm going to go with them!"
"Very good sir."
As the two went off to speak to various other members of government a shadowy figure listening by the wall smiled a toothy smile and flew off into the winter storm.
Any second now... any second... oh dear... how... how am I supposed to do this...." The colt stood in place on the cloud-marble, shifting back and forth in nervousness. "Oh dear..."
What, you haven't heard of Commander Hurricane? She's the most fearsome Pegasus to have ever lived, and I worry about the fate of the world if she isn't the last.
He shivered as he heard the clacking of hoofsteps down the hall.
You know the phrase 'don't stab the messenger', the previous dictator made it famous by shouting it at her from across the room. Or rather; 'stop stabbing the messengers'.
Private Pansy was a messenger.
Have you heard about the previous commander? He was found with an entire horseshoe stuck in his face... Nopony has found the killer yet... but Commander Hurricane made her acceptance speech of his position with only three horseshoes and a brand new boot.
He gulped as the doors swung open, and he fell to a bow, holding out the scroll with the insignia of the Dictator upon it.
"Get. Out." Hurricane growled, a hoof wrapping itself in Pansy's mane and throwing him out the door, his scroll snatched in the same movement.
The doors were willed shut by Hurricane and Pansy sat there in a shivering mess on the floor. "I'm... alive? Hehe.... I'm alive! I'm alive!" He got up and began doing a dance, before turning to walk away cheerfully. "If I could deliver a message to Commander Hurricane after she got back from a summit with the other tribe leaders, I can deliver a message to anypony!"
"Get back in here!" Shouted Hurricane, the doors flinging themselves open with a beat of her wings.
"I have no regrets." Whispered Pansy to himself as he hurried back into the room.
"What is this?" Hurricane hissed, slamming the scroll on her desk.
"Um... as this is a scroll from the Dictator, I am not allowed to read it. It is above my station, I am but a humble messenger-" He let out a squeal as a knife buried itself in Hurricane's solid cloud desk.
"I know that." She whispered harshly. "Now tell me something I don't know?"
"...messengers are more useful unharmed?"
"...Is that a joke? Are you joking with me?"
"No! It's a legitimate fact!"
"...is that so? Fine then. You now answer to me, consider yourself transferred-" she glanced at the name sewn into his bag. "-Private Pansy." Pansy felt his stress level inflate. "If you're so useful, after all." She picked up the scroll and read through it once more. "How close were you to the workings of the senate? The Dictator wouldn't stand for this idea the first time I suggested it... before the winter even started... What changed now?"
"...what idea?"
"The colony! The Dictator approved of my idea to send out a colony!"
"A... colony?"
"Yes! A large group of Pegasus, and I along with them, will head south, establish a stable base, and send back most of the riches we find... but every single drop of the lifeblood of the Pegasus empire will flow through my hooves." She smiled widely at the messenger. "What made him change his mind?!"
"...Well... apparently he had a dream about it... he's been plagued by nightmares for weeks, and at the end of each dream, just before he wakes up, he sees happy Pegasi flying out of the valley and heading south..."
"...really? Really?! He has a few bad dreams, and that's more convincing than my hundreds of well-thought out letters!?"
"You should have seen him, he's nearly gone insane by now."
"...Well... It doesn't matter how or why. I'll be out of reach of this insane unicorn winter. I'll be the center of trade amongst the Pegasus." She smiled slyly. "That old coot gave me almost total control of organizing the colony... Well... let's see how much I can get away with, eh Pansy?"
"Er.... can I go?"
"No..." She began writing a series of instructions on a new scroll. "I believe I finally have need of a personal messenger." She pushed it against his chest and he took it nervously. "Do not fail me."
A shadowy figure hiding in the cloud above their heads, seeing as it was not Pegasus, it could pass through the hardened walls like they were fog, smiled and stealthily rose out of her ceiling, spiraling into the sky with glee.
He winced and felt his knees buckle as the sheer amount of hatred that leapt up from the valley coalesced, becoming silver-blue clouds. He sent them adrift with another spell, where they merged with all the other clouds over the valley, spread out so thin that not even the master Unicorn mages would be able to see exactly what was wrong with them. But the result was plain to see. The clouds continued to snow, and snow, and snow. The tiny amount of hatred stored in every beautiful flake counteracting the effect of pony magics- Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus alike. The snow could not be forced to melt by magic, it would not wince under the magical illusion of heat from a fire spell.
The ponies of the valley, just like every creature born without inherent magic, would have to simply wait for the snowfall to stop. They would have to wait until their dear sun would melt the snow with it's light. They would have to burn coal and wood, rather than rely on their own horns and wings for heat.
They would not be able to cope.
They would leave.
They would leave behind their fields, fertile, but only waiting for light.
They would leave behind their castles, perfectly built and protected, but too cold for comfort.
They would leave behind their mines, their gems, their armor, their riches. Anything that would slow them down too much in their effort to abandon their ice-filled valley.
They will leave it all behind, and continue on in a better life somewhere else... and leave their paradise ready for new occupants.
The Windigo looked down at the valley, his eyes narrowing as three shadows shot across the landscape.
The three Shadows were suddenly in front of him, with a flare of his magic the three solidified.
"Were you all successful?"
"The pegasus have approved a colony."
"The Earth Ponies have begun planning one."
"The Unicorns are considering one."
"Good." He smiled. "That's the first step. Let them get a hoof in a new country and then make the old one a thousand times worse. They won't be able to leave fast enough."
