The sun was bearly rising above the horizon. Beaming it's cooling, fresh light upon the slumbering land. Dew drops hung heavy on the emerald green fields. Gently splashing to the moist ground. Birds were still asleep in their nests, keeping their young ones close. Everything was so still in this great land. With hardly anyone awake. Only a small hoof-ful, who were grumpily preparing for their work in the day.
The grand bustling towns and cities stayed silent. Not even a bird sang, or a hoof clopped in the large cities. Leaving a eerie feeling as the light mist began to clear.
Dainty, white clouds drifted in the crisp sky. Eagerly awaiting for pegasi to take them away around the land. They gently bounced around in the quiet breeze. A large silhouette of a castle lay over the enormous city.
However, as every single creature slept, waiting to rise for the coming day, one pony was awake. One small filly.
~~~
The short, young filly was a light violet. With beautiful, curly white locks, tied up into two pig tails, that bounced beside her head as she struggled to clamber onto a light blue bed. Her icy purple wings fluttering madly.
She huffed as she finally climbed up, and grinned. She began to shake the pony in the bed. Who was curled up into her covers.
"Snowea. Psst. Snowea! Psst." The little filly whispered, trying to wake her sister. But the filly in the bed did not stir. The light violet filly began to bounce on the blue bed.
"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." She squeaked shaking the filly under the covers.
"Go back to sleep, Glacy." The older filly mumbled. Her tufts of ruffled ice blue near to white hair covering her cyan blue face.
Glacier threw herself onto her older sister's side. Staring up at the ceiling of cloud.
"I can't." She complained. "The sky's awake. So I'm awake. So we have to play." She raised her tiny hoof to her forehead as she spoke dramatically. But her older sister grumbled, and rolled over. Pushing Glacier off the bed.
"Go and play by yourself." Snowea muttered. Burying her face into the pillow. Glacier huffed again as she fell to the floor. She was so glad that the floor was made out of fluffy cloud. She sat their and sighed in defeat, until an idea suddenly came into her head.
Quickly, she dragged herself onto the bed again, opening her sister's eyelid with her hoof.
"Do you want to build a snowmare?" She asked with a smirk. The filly beneath her smiled. Gazing at her bright blue eyes, matching her own.
~~~~~~
"Rainbow? Hello? Rainbow Dash, dear?" A prim and prissy unicorn called quietly. Waving her hoof in front the frozen mare.
The cyan pegasus stared straight ahead, not blinking or reacting to anything before her.
Three mares stared at her in concern.
"Rarity, I think you broke her." The violet alicorn whispered to her unicorn friend, who nervously smiled.
The four mares were sitting around a table in a small cafe. A pot of red flowers were placed in the middle of the table. The fashionista of Ponyville thought to buy her friends lunch. Especially after they helped her with a couple of her orders. However, two of hwr friends had to bail out. One due to a large amount of ill animals that needed tending to, and the other was on her shift at the town's famous bakery. But the apple farmer's chores and work was done, the princess had no duties and the pegasi had no schedule for the week.
"Don' worry. Ah know wha ta do." The apple mare smirked as she grabbed the cyan mare's wing. She yanked at the strong, pegasus wing and pulled out several of her feathers. Making the pegasus gasp in pain and punch the amber mare.
Twilight and Rarity stared, wide eyed, at the pegasus who blinked a couple of times as she returned back.
She glanced at the mare beside her, who was holding her bloody snout.
"Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry, Applejack! I didn't mean to! It's a reflex. I don't think about it. It just happens. I'm sorry, please forgive me." The rainbow maned mare frantically begged.
Applejack waved her other hoof as her nose stopped bleeding.
"Ah'm fine. Ah'm fine." The orange earth pony sat up again, beginning to wipe the remaining blood under her snout. The others winced as they saw the large amount of blood, staining the mare's nose and hooves.
"I'm so sorry." Rainbow apologised again.
"Ah'm fine, Rainbow. Ah've had worse." Applejack lightly chuckled. "But Rainbow, ya pack quite a punch."
"You ripped out my feathers. My primaries. Of course I'll hit you hard." Rainbow's wing twitched as it remained in shock from the sudden amount of pain. "Owie." She muttered as she rubbed her wing.
"Ah'm sorry. Ah should have thought of somethin else. But ya jast froze. Like water inta ice."
"I did?" Rainbow titled her head. Her concentration wavering off everywhere. Usually she was so concentrated. Why did she start daydreaming?
"Yes, you did." Twilight explained. "Rarity asked you a question and you just tuned off."
"I say, Rainbow Dash. You never seem to just 'tune off'." Rarity snorted. "I simply asked you about that gorgeous necklace of yours. I've seen anything like it." The unicorn pointed at the sparkling charm around the speedster's neck.
It was a clear crystal snowflake, that when it glimmered in the sun, it glowed like the Aurora Borealis. Blues, purples and pinks shone off the crystal, making the three mares stare in complete awe.
"You aren't really the type of pony to wear trinkets. Especially something as fabulous as this." Rarity hovered the necklace, undoing the clasp and bringing it towards herself. Rainbow Dash gasped quietly as pushed something away inside her mind.
"Conceal it, don't feel it. Remember what father said." She thought to herself as she uneasily smiled at her friends, as they gazed at the beautiful charm.
"Yes, well, I usually keep it in my mane. Tucked away. Out of sight, out of mind." She said nervously. She suddenly felt a tingle in her front hooves, a cold tingle. Her mind swirled in to utter panic as her body temperature began to drop.
"Just don't touch anything. Tuck your hooves away." The cyan mare smiled and placed her hooves around her cup.
"This is just amazing, Rainbow. Where in Equestria did you get it?" Twilight asked, her violet orbs stuck on the shining charm.
"Err...My errr...father made it...it was a....umm..birthday...present..." She lied. Well, most of it was true. Her father indeed make it, but it wasn't a birthday gift. It was something more magical.
"He must love you dearly to make something beautiful like this."
"He does, well he did."
"Wha's tha, sugarcube?" Applejack questioned, turning towards her winged friend.
"He's dead. And so's my mother. They died at sea." Rainbow explained. Glancing at the the frost that was beginning to cover the cup.
"No. Not now. Any time but now. Why is this even happening now? They've been dead for three years now. Stop panicking."
"Oh, sorry, darlin'. Ah didn' know." Applejack apologised.
"Nah, it's fine. It's been three years. They were close....but...I'm over it." Rainbow trailed off, staring at her hooves. The cup completely encased in ice and frost. She coughed as she quickly threw the cup behind her, and into the bush.
"Girls, I've got to go." She quickly grabbed her charm, clasped it back around her neck.
"Why the sudden hurry?"
"Errr....weather duties. I forgot. They want me back at HQ for a meeting today." Rainbow lied again, standing up and flapping her wings. A small patch of grass began cover in ice, the pegasus glanced at it and began to have a mental meltdown of panic in her head.
"But you said you had nothing planned."
"Well....umm...I've got to...I've got to..." Rainbow glanced at her wing, and the loose feathers hang limply to it. "I've got to re-preen my wings."
"Re-preen?" Rarity repeated, confused.
"Well, since AJ ripped out my feathers, I have to re-preen them. Otherwise, I won't be able to fly straight." She laughed nervously.
"Okay, then. We'll see you lat-"
"Yeah, thanks bye!" Rainbow Dash quickly muttered as she sped off, into the sky. The mares watched the fading rainbow as a voice shouted from a distance. Shocking the mares and making the others in the cafe jump in fright.
"TWILIGHT!! I FOUND IT!!"
"Yeah, thanks bye!" Rainbow Dash quickly muttered as she sped off, into the sky. The mares watched the fading rainbow as a voice shouted from a distance. Shocking the mares and making the others in the cafe jump in fright.
"TWILIGHT!! I FOUND IT!!" It screamed. The three mares squinted until they saw a purple and green figure running towards them. The violet mare stared with disbelief as her little assistant ran up to them, holding a very large book.
The small dragon coughed and wheezed as he stopped at the table. Panting as the boiling sun beamed down on him.
"T-Twilight...I-I...I found the bo-ok." He panted as the alicorn lifted up the book and placed it beside her. Her fashion designer friend hovered the tired dragon into her lap, letting him rest and capture his breathe again.
"Thanks, Spike." Twilight smiled at the wheezing dragon. She used her aura to hover Rainbow's empty cup, and fill it with water, using a spell. She then carefully handed the cup to her young friend, ignoring the ice and frost covering it.
Spike quickly grabbed the cup and gulped down the cold water. Before staring at the frost cover cup.
"Twi, what's with all the ice?" He asked as he pointed at the cup.
Twilight rolled her eyes. Even though she was an alicorn, and that her talent was magic, her spells were still sticky. It annoyed her so much that for a princess like her to be getting things wrong. Especially when everyone expected her to be as perfect as Celestia.
"Just a side effect." She muttered, but she didn't know whether ice was a side effect to her spell or not
"Anyway, thank you, Spike. Where did you find it?"
"Behind the bookcase. My yoyo fell behind and as I was grabbing it, I found the book." Spike explained, staring at the white beauty before him.
"If I may intrude, what book is that?" Rarity asked.
"It's Equestria's record of royals. Now that I'm a princess, I want to see what other royals I'm related to." Twilight explained as she opened the book. Her two friends watching closely, reading the contents.
"How about tha Royal family of tha Gryphon Islands?"
"No. They're not technically related anymore."
"What about this? The Royal family of the Skies?" Rarity pointed her white hoof at the stained, aged paper. Twilight stared, confused, at the scribbles upon the paper.
"I've never heard of them before." She flicked to the page that was written on the contents. As they found the page, their eyes gazed upon the feather patterns around the border of the page.
"The Royal Family of the Skies ruled the grand city of Cloudsdale. Caring for all pegasi all over Equestria. The Royal Family of the Skies were to be known as the kindest royals in all Equestria's history." Twilight read out loud.
"How come we've never heard of them?"
"Because they closed the gates." A voice murmed behind them. Making the mares, and the dragon, jump in fright.
"Cloudkicker?"
A purple pegasus mare smiled gently at the princess. Behind her, a yellow mare with a tousled blue mane, and a grey stallion with an ice blue mohawk. Their saddle bags tightly strapped around their waists.
"Sorry for intruding, Twilight. We just overheard you." Cloudkicker apologised, but the princess just smiled back.
"That's okay. But who is this Royal Family? And the gates you mentioned?"
"Our Royal Family have always been here. Their castle is the largest building in Cloudsdale. That used to be open for everpony." Raindrops waved her hoof across the sky.
"Used to be?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, something happened. Nopony knows what, but one day, the gates closed. Nopony saw the recent King, Queen or their daughters. Ever."
"They must be King Windy Skies and Queen Misty Breeze. But they're dead." Twilight gasped as she read the about the deaths of two innocent ponies. She's never been too keen on death. She's read about it in books and novels, but she's never actually had a pony close to her die. She just hoped these princesses were okay.
"And what of the two princesses?" Rarity inquired, only just able to read the two names as Twilight's hoof covered them. But decided not to read them out loud, in case they were wrong.
"One's dead, the other is being coronated. To be a queen. Tomorrow."
"A queen?!" The three mares squealed.
"Yeah. Apparently she's beautiful, and sweet." Raindrops added.
"And hot." Thunderlane sniggered, earning a punch from one the pegasi mares.
"Yes, well, you are welcome to come. Many earth ponies and unicorns are coming. They are going to be charmed by other unicorns who know the cloud walking spells." Cloudkicker informed. "And you have to go, Twilight. You're royalty anyway. Celestia has to go as well, after all, she's crowning the princess."
Twilight was overcome by so much new information. Her mentor, her second mother, had never told her of such. She was never told of this Royal Family. Nothing. No history books either.
"Thank you. But where are you going?"
"To Cloudsdale of course. Every pegasus in Ponyville is going."
"That's probably why Rainbow was in such a hurry. She probably forgot to pack last minute." Rarity whispered to her amber friend, who nodded in reply.
"Okay then. We'll see you later then." Twilight and the others waved as the pegasi began to flutter away. Towards the large city of Cloudsdale.
"Come on, girls. I guess we are going to have a trip to Cloudsdale." Twilight stood up. Flapping her aching wings. "I'll tell Pinkie and Fluttershy. Meet us at the library and I'll get a royal carriage for us. Okay?" The alicorn hovered her assistant and the book onto her back, her friends nodding.
"Sure. A trip would be delightful." Rarity grinned.
"It sure would be fun." Applejack tipped her hat as she stood up. "See y'all tomorrow than."
As the three ponies departed to get ready for tomorrow, the prim and prissy unicorn grew puzzled over the two names she saw in the book. But dismissed it. She wasn't a bookworm like Twilight, but she knew something big is going happened soon.
