Chapter 1: Auguries -Not edited yet-
Twenty years had passed since Equestria’s foundation. In those years, cities started to grow and the population had undertaken a relatively prosperous life; at least better than what they had experienced in their previously nameless home. Pegasi were in charge of the weather, earth ponies cultivated food for everyone who required it, and unicorns had been assigned the most important commitment; the rise and descent of the Sun and the Moon, which sustained the life on the complete planet. Thus, when the time to decide who would govern their land with both care and rigor, the three races representatives reunited, still deeply attached by the bounds which had been born in that cave the unforgettable day in which harmony among the pony kind was brought back to life. After a serene deliberation, the following conclusions were reached. The domain over the land would be executed by the unicorns, with the then Queen Platinum on head. The defense of the kingdom would be assigned to the fierce yet wise pegasi race, as well as the climate control. And lastly, but not for that less relevant, the earth pony kind would carry out the labors of provision of aliment.
Even though the ground over which the new born empire was erected, many ponies portended its imminent fall, or at least that is what they believed. According to them, diverse species cannot coexist without differences of inequality showing its disagreeable visage. However, much to their surprise, the kingdom grew stronger and happier as years went by without meeting any misfortune, besides the occasional disputes against other races such us griffons for the vast territory.
The realm was principally composed by diverse small and humble villages separated ones from others by obstacles imposed by nature or simply extremely extensive distance. They would eventually grow into the splendorous cities now known by everypony, but at those times they were mere vestiges of life. Our story begins in one of those numerous villages.
The tiny population did not contain anything particularly relevant, apart from ponies trying to make a living and going ahead. Farmers, storms makers, the solely presence of a doctor… But nothing unusual. Yet appearance is nothing but a mirage for foolish eyes.
In this hamlet, whose name has been lost in the pages of History, a couple lived, formed by a pegasus mare and a unicorn stallion. They were certainly young, around their twenties, but that was not an impediment from keeping them to get married. In those times, despite what you might think, that kind of events were not a matter of surprise.
He, on one hand, was named Sun Pride. This unicorn, whose only duty was to contribute along his colleagues to raise the Sun and lower the Moon, was extraordinary strong, at least for a unicorn. His might could easily become a fearful rival for some of the greatest adversaries in the usual tavern brawls in which he tended to participate. However, his dominance over magic was actually very rough. Despite this, his conflictive facet had not been an obstacle for him to attract his current wife.
Grey Weather; on the other hand, was a pegasus black as night, feature that was commonly pointed by her friends in innocent satiric comments. However, that did not affect her in any moment, since she could perfectly understand the jocularity behind those words. In fact, she was often branded as a prankster by her kindred. Grey Weather was actually a filly inside a mare´s body. Tenacious, joyful and innocent, this black pegasus used to bring light to those who surrounded her with her kind nature.
The day she had met her present husband was, undoubtedly, one of the happiest she could remember. Along his imperfections, Sun Pride was still a loving companion who would give his life for her.
Their belongings, though scarce, were more than enough to guarantee their happiness. A house where to shelter, a bed where to sleep, a pantry to be filled with the little food they could acquire and their mutual company was all they needed to satiate their ambition.
That was, at least, until one day, so abruptly they could not even react, the urgent necessity to fill a void inside their hearts appeared. At first they found no explanation for this unprecedented and extremely powerful sentiment. But as days and weeks passed, they gradually began to discern through it dense mist. However, and despite their avid desires to finally be able to distinguish it, they were scared too, as that ambition corresponded to a new born. That is, an offspring. They were young, they had been blessed with a home and a powerful bond, but they still paled before such idea as conceiving a baby.
Their internal struggle prolonged for weeks in silence, inside each of them. Sun Pride felt reluctant to satisfy his parental need, but much more intensely than his beloved wife. A little difference existed between the dread that afflicted husband and wife. While the strong unicorn was worried about what this new life would entail to his current routine, the lovely pegasus was actually stormed by her own future´s child safety in the cruel and vile world she lived in. What would happen to her little one, subdued by the corruption of a rotten land that, despite their slow progress to a brighter future, was still depraved?
Her worries tormented her as the course of days and nights passed, restraining her emotions from her husband as he did not seem to comprehend them. That was not new, unfortunately. Along their life as a marriage, they had overcome several crises; or maybe it would be more correct to say that she had overcome them. Sun Pride was not always there to be her support as he had sworn before the pews. But that had contributed in Grey Weather´s fortitude; feature than in less than a year would prove to be vital.
And meanwhile, Sun Pride accustomed to dedicate all the possible time to his friends, and they would always meet in the same place; the only existing bar in the hamlet. A couple of drinks, followed by a good intentioned brawl were everything he required to freed from all the accumulated tension of a hard day of work, followed by a lovely soiree with his wife once he arrived home. This reunion, however, did not entail nothing but a humble meal and a few caresses as they lay before their crackling fire. And that was enough for Sun Pride. He might suffer of numerous defects, but being an unloving pony did not figure among them.
•••
The night, which had been brought a few hours ago, exhibited its splendor before those who could contemplate it. The pale moon beams shyly pierced the dense clouds, bathing the pony land under their silver light. An occasional gust traversed the alleys in which only a few laggard ponies could feel it. The wind panted through the dying leaves, whose brown color announced the imminent advent of the autumn. Though the coolness would be brought in brief the creatures which swarmed by the woods had already began to make arrangements for the coming merciless winter, example followed by the pony race. Yet however, the coldness was not a matter of worry for the mares and stallions reunited with warm friendliness in the always welcoming town tavern. And I beg for your forgiveness, my dear listener, because even though it possessed a name formerly I am unable to recall it, as it has been lost in the passage of centuries.
In its interior there was no place for nothing but cheer. A musical group, among whose instrument a lyre, a laud and a vocalist figured, flooded the room with their unworried and harmonic melodies. Diverse tables lay over the wooden floors, on which ponies gathered in groups plunged in animated conversations. A rudimentary heater provided the internal structure with a grateful warm, around which some elders rested on comfortable rocking chairs as they recalled old memoires of lives as tough as memorable. The bar, craved in oak dark wood gave support to the numerous bottles as well as their drinker´s arms. The bartender did not have a second to cease in his labor of supplying his always loyal customers with their expected beers and cider, although he always would serve you with a warm and sincere smile graved on his visage.
The buzz of assorted conversations, along the loudness of the tankards colliding with each other in mere gestures of friendship were unable to uproot Sun Pride from his absorption as he stared at the moonlight through the window. The nocturnal fresh showed its presence by forming small drops of water zigzagging by the glass on its exterior surface. Sun Pride approached his mug to his mouth and gulped from it the little beer it remained. He then set it on the table with a sonorous movement, although it was unperceived due to the very environment that surrounded him. He let a sad sigh escape from his mouth and returned his eyes to the sight of the starry night. The stars sparkled in the firmament, offering a precious spectacle which was almost hypnotizing. Meanwhile, his mind was occupied in other subjects, much more earthy.
Grey Weather. Lately it seemed that she was everything he could think about. Something that escaped from this understanding was tormenting her, even if she did not express it through her words. But her unhappiness was easily perceptible for him. He would not admit it, as ironically his pride was one of his mightiest characteristics, but he was aware that perhaps he was who should be blamed. And that bitter sentiment was ruining his night. Even the beer´s miraculous effect had been mitigated until almost disappearing. He was feeling the urgent necessity of seeing her, becoming the listener who he rarely was, as if someone superior to him had somehow pulled a string and directed his movement. Until he could not bear it anymore. Sun Pride abruptly stood up from his chair and said goodbye to his friends, who, questioning, inquired in the reason of his sudden departure. He limited to respond with a mere “I simply would like to be at home now.” Some of them internally evoked a laugh when they imagined what that meant.
In the very instant Sun Pride left the tavern the gelid night wind stroke him mercilessly, but that just urged him to hasten to arrive home.
After a short race, he finally reached his house where his wife would be awaiting his arrival, although this early coming would be a surprise.
As he opened the door, Sun Pride´s body felt an intense feeling of strangeness towards his home. The house itself was treating him as an intruder, or that least that is what he perceived. Sun Pride, still musing about that odd sentiment proceeded to close the door, fast but quietly. Once the wooden piece obstructed the gelid night, he lightened the room with his horn. It provided worse illumination than a lamp, but better than a candelabrum. The sensation still persisted. What could be the cause? The stone walls were exactly as he remembered them, the wooden ceiling had not changed a bit, the cold floor felt as usual. So then, what has the reason behind that annoying hunch of oddness?
And then is when he noticed the silence. An ineffable quiet that, as far as he knew, that house did not know, at least while his wife was present. No singing, no movement of the furniture, not even a whisper. It was like if the commonly noisy Grey Weather had vanished.
Slightly worried, perhaps a little more than what he imagined, Sun Pride advanced towards the living room, where the smoking plates of soup would always await him, with his wife by their side. Nothing. He quickly attributed this to his sudden arrival, so he then headed to the kitchen. Again, empty. A quick examination to the perfect wood stacked bedside the stove denoted that she had not even started. His belly roared before this fact. Sun Pride had inspected the entire low floor and had obtained no result. He exhaled an exasperated sigh.
Where the hell could that mare be at that time? What could have caused such delay? Apart from his unusually early coming there was nothing else. He suddenly heard the mocking voice of his friends in his head.
“Grey Weather has been a bad mare, it seems.”
“That´s right! Where can she be at this hour right now, when markets are closed and everyone rests at home?”
Sun Pride tried to detach from those deceitful ideas. She could not do that, right? Perhaps she had just gone to the tavern searching for him and due to an inconvenient coincidence they had not happened to meet. It had to be that.
But that kind of treacherous thought possessed a conviction difficult to be opposed to. Sun Pride shook his head in denial, as his faith slowly disappeared. And then, for second time that night, he had another revelation. The superior floor. He had presumed so stupidly that he had to contain a guffaw due to the very ridicule of his own conjectures.
Sun Pride quickly ascended the stairs guided by his glowing horn until reaching the top, where their bedroom was located. The steps cracked sonorously under his mighty hooves. Finally, he reached the end of the stairs, which led to an only door, the only entrance to the bedroom. Ironically, it could be considered a dormer more likely. However, it was spacious and comfortable; it hosted a marriage bed, a dressing table, a chest of drawers in which the clothes they used to wear in winter reposed and a mere candle whose light was enough to illuminate the entire room.
The door opened with roughness accompanied by an unpleasant squeal. Just when Sun Pride was considering greasing the old and oxidized hinges, a little glimmer of light was descried by his brown eyes. Lightly surprised, he put out his head with curiosity through the ajar door. In the very instant his eyes laid upon the figure that showed before him his heart resounded so loudly that he would have been surprise if she had not heard it.
His more immediate thought, besides his own lasciviousness, was comprehending why the every single room of the house was plunged in darkness. One after one, all the candles had been taken and lightened for that exclusive habitation. Their faint fire glowed timidly, dancing along the rhythm of the wind what found access through the open door. The numerous lamps were positioned in the most recondite spots, so perfectly that they had actually embellished what usually was a sad and even distressing alcove with the shadows they projected. The furniture silhouettes seem to come to life in the walls. And finally, reserving the best for the end, the most precious sight: Grey Weather laying on the bed, partially covered by her blankets, stripped from her regular clothing, with naughty eyes contemplating the stallion that had just entered, as a tiny seductive smile culminated that example of the feminine beauty.
The silence that had established between them in a mere second seemed unswerving. Like two strange planets, whose orbits allow them to contemplate their figures with all clarity, but without contact, the couple scrutinized each other with great thoroughness. Grey Weather suddenly felt a wave of shyness, being before her husband in such way, even if her sentimental companion was the only pony in the entire world who could see her in those conditions. But she was decided to obtain that what she desired. Erasing those noxious thoughts she slowly sat up stirring her blanket in the process. Her countenance did not alter a bit when she said the following:
“You´ve come earlier than usual. Thank goodness, I don´t know if I could have waited any longer.”
If Sun Pride had felt shocked, that feeling could not even compare that what the sentiment that had ignited inside him.
“What is the meaning of this?” Demanded Sun Pride, a little a little surlier than what he intended.
Grey Weather hesitated once more; that “naughty” behavior was not natural in her, but that was the only method to attract her husband´s attention. She licked her lips and said:
“It means that I was waiting for you, silly” she contrasted that statement with a giggle. “I simply wanted to show myself to you from a different approach.”
Sun Pride gulped as he sensed “something” growing in his inner thigh.
What Grey Weather was interpreting as shyness was actually nervousness. Sun Pride was not a saint; he had already committed the carnal act before, differently from his wife. Who, where and when are not of our concern, I fear.
However, what had awakened the dread in him was the idea that undoubtedly had germinated in his mare. She ached being a mother, a conception that endangered his current routine; always marked by a pleasant tedium and monotony.
“Well, here you have me” he answered with the most veracious smile he was able to outline.
“Why don´t you come here with me? I bet the streets must be freezing.” She responded with a mischievous grin.
Sun Pride smothered the desire of accomplishing her will. Struggling with all his strengths, he encountered the words.
“Please dear, can we be serious for a moment?”
Grey Weather was about to urge him to approach with a gesture, but that though did not become an action.
“Alright” she answered with a glimmer of disappointment.
“I know what you want, darling.” Stated Sun Pride with all the tenderness he was able to compile.
“You do?” She contemplated the conviction of his eyes and affirmed. “You do”.
They shared a quiet glance before she resumed.
“I am sorry if I startled you. I do am. But I really need to do this. I want to conceive a creature who to call my child. Is that really so horrible? Am I really such a despicable being?” Her voice broke as she concluded.
Sun Prided hurried to approach to her and surround her neck with his arm. The heat his body transmitted served to soothe her before succumbing to her emotions.
“Of course you aren´t. You have simply gotten me on low guard. I didn´t expected to see you, such an innocent flower, exhibiting yourself in such manners.”
She bitterly chuckled.
“Perhaps you have a wrong concept about me”.
“Maybe I do.” He quietly responded, yet discernible enough for her to hear.
“But, why not?” She inquired again. “We love each other, our home is big enough for three, and both of us have a job which sustains either our basic needs as punctual cravings. We can perfectly handle the presence of a third member in our family.”
Suddenly, all her inquietude had dissipated as the heat after a brusque gust of cold air. Her words were charged of serenity and reason. All those fact were correct, and Sun Pride knew it.
“So then, why not?”
Sun Pride contestation died before reaching his lips. He attempted to compose that phrase again, but it vanished once more before he could proffer it. He simply was not able to admit it.
“I am scared”.
If Grey Weather´s visage had not altered her expression he would have confused that statement for an inner thought.
“Is that it? Honestly, I had never imagined you would ever expose me your feelings.”
He grunted impatiently, but its sentiment quickly disappeared when he heard Grey Weather´s guffaw.
“I am just kidding, don´t get angry.” She said between chuckles. Looking at her husband eyes, she added: “I am scared too. I am aware of the great responsibility that raising a son or a daughter entails, but we can overcome it; together.
“But there will be so many changes…” he murmured.
“Thousands before us suffered all those changes, so will we. But we can overcome them, I promise. Everything will be alright.”
They exchanged a profound stare, and envisaged the hope which resided in her eyes. Either she was wearing a perfectly opaque mask behind which a lie hid, or she really believed in her own words. Sun Pride opted to believe.
“I trust you” he firmly yet tenderly stated, while his hoof discreetly slipped to the dark mare.
An electric current traversed her entire body exiting every nerve termination, which provoked an abrupt unfurling of her wings. As soon as they unfolded, Grey Weather was invaded by a sudden embarrassment which directly reflected in her visage as colorful rouge. A growing smile appeared in Sun Pride´s mouth accompanied by a lascivious chuckle.
“Should I presume you are glad to see me?”
Grey Weather futilely attempted to conceal her blush before realizing that that was what she had intended from the very beginning.
“Really glad…” she responded with a playful voice.
No other word was needed before the stocky stallion pounced over the delicate mare.
Aware of her virginity, Sun Pride acted with rigorous tact, fighting with all his strengths in order not to be overpowered by his carnal yearning. She immediately felt overwhelmed by her husband´s member; she had not expected such vigor from it. A part of her was afflicted by a terrible guilt, and the responsible was the education imbued by that time society. Her mother had reiterated in numerous occasions during her childhood and early adolescence the importance of sealing that aspect of her life under lock and key. Her father, on the other hand, had inclined for a much more direct approach; keeping every horny pony away from his daughter. But now that she was free from all those pernicious ideas instructed during most of her life, a much greater part of her was enjoying the experience.
Sun Pride´s attacks intensified, gradually enough for her not to complain. In fact, the high-pitched moans of the mare increased, which Sun Pride understood as an indication of a well done job.
The scene prolonged for ten minutes, of which none of them notice passing. Their minds were absent; only their bodies prevailed, moved by a lustful desire in which nothing but the seek of pleasure mattered. The two corpses exchanged passionate kisses, loving caresses and even little displays of inoffensive pain, such as tender bites while the clock hands advanced impassible. And for an ephemeral instant, they were one; two souls mingled in one single being.
Sun Pride was the first to culminate, only to be followed by Grey Weather three second later, bursting in a sonorous howling of satisfaction. They collapsed over the bed covered by a film of warm sweat, with the sound of their faltering panting as the only melody to be listened. Staring at the ceiling, the pairing kept a sepulchral silence, at least in what concerns to words. After a minute, Grey Weather found the fortitude to turn her head still lying on the blankets, now soaked with their exudations.
“How was I?” She asked still afflicted by her tenacious gasping.
Sun Pride slowly turned his head until meeting his wife´s eyes.
“Fantastic” he responded with absolute sincerity.
Grey Weather dragged by the bed´s surface and put against Sun Pride, wrapping him with an affectionate embrace. Sun Pride grinned before her action and surrounded her neck with his robust arm. She exhaled a sigh of comfort before falling asleep, Sun Pride following her in her sweet sleep.
•••
That afternoon, a few hours before the sunset, the tavern was inundated by the acclamations of its congregation in honor for the young future parents. Mugs toasted with their vacuous sound, cheers of joy deafened everyone close enough to hear them, and numerous signals of joyful support were shown.
“For Sun Pride and Grey Weather!” exclaimed an earth pony. “And for their future offspring. May it be as strong as his father… and beautiful as his mother” he added with slight mischief.
“You´d better watch out your mouth, pal, and your eyes as well” exclaimed Sun Pride, though no display of reproach was heard in his words. He then uttered a loud guffaw.
“Please sweetie, if I am beautiful I won´t deny it!” Commented Grey Weather with a charming grin that extended from ear to ear.
Everypony shared a laugh that made the windows tremble.
The earth pony who had leaded the toast yelled:
“Feather, give this pair a good drink! I invite them!”
“Attention everypony!” yelled Sun Pride. “For the first time in History, Ronald is going to pay for a beer!”
As before, that comment aroused another wave of guffaws.
While Feather was bringing the two cups, Grey Weather dedicated a look to her surroundings. Her eyes analyzed every customer with fugacity, and what she saw produced her an acrid sentiment. There were very few ponies in the crowd she could recognize; obviously none of her friends were present. Sun Pride noticed that and lifted her head. Somehow, perhaps because of the mighty bound that linked them, he could foresee what was afflicting her.
“Don´t worry, they´ll come. Roger told me he had gone to tell them of what was happening here.”
She nodded in response. But who was Roger? Her husband´s kin was a mystery to her, and the only and main reason was that Sun Pride had decided it to be that way. Along the years, even before they consecrated their marriage, Sun Pride had erected a solid blind wall of silence that isolated his life with her from his life in that tavern. She trusted him? Of course. She felt comfortable with that situation? Absolutely not. But who was her to refute his husband´s decision?
Those apprehensions flew away as she awakened by the dry impact of the mug against her table.
“Here you go!” shouted Feather over the noisy throng.
She directed him that kind glare that would always accompany her eyes and thanked him.
Sun Pride´s mug quickly vanished from the wooden surface of that table and posed in his lips. Before Grey Weather was able to count to five, the mug laid empty, excepting a few specks of bubbling foam, on the table.
“And then you wonder why I never invite you, little drunk” screamed with amusement who seemed to be Sun Pride´s most loyal comrade and whose name still remained as a mystery to Grey Weather.
She giggled while she took the jar and slurped the golden liquid. She was not a usual drinker, in fact, that was the first cup she had ever had the “pleasure” of tasting. Its flavor was sharp, but no complain left her lips as she did not intended to reject a gift so disinterestedly bestowed.
Then, she quietly left the jar resting once more before feeling a soft touch of a wide hoof pressing against her back. Grey Weather turned startled only to find her husband staring at her.
“It looks like you were in your little world” he said with a grin.
“Guilty!” she joyfully exclaimed, with a slight and dismal accent that the Stallion was unable to detect.
“Anyway, it seems one of your pals has just arrived. Go talk to her!” suggested Sun Pride.
“Are you sure you won´t miss me?” replied Grey Weather half serious half joking.
Sun Pride uttered a brief guffaw before answering.
“I´ll be alright, don´t worry. Go and enjoy her company.”
“Alright”
Grey Weather got up sluggishly thanks to the lethargy of her own legs in such a narrow space and directed to the door, even without seeing what friend he was talking about, although she had a presentiment of who could be.
And there she was, standing before the doorstep and scrutinizing in search of her. Her hair, blue as the sea in its most profound state of the ocean was gathered in a dense ponytail, falling by her shoulders until reaching her back. Her tail descended tracing a much more linear arc. The darkly white color of her coat shined under the sunbeams that filtrated by the open door.
An instant after she descried her with her purple eyes she immediately executed fervent waves with her arm. Grey Weather´s visage witnessed a smile spreading over it before returning the salute. Making her way through the populous room she finally reached her and before she was able to react, her friend had already jumped to her arms.
“Look who is here!” exclaimed the just arrived mare. “It seems as if we hadn´t met in forever!
“Well, since yesterday” responded Grey Weather struggling with the weight of her enthusiastic friend. “By the way, I am glad to see you too.”
Tottering, Grey Weather helped her to put her hooves over the floor again.
“Last time you did that your weight was considerably minor. I think you were just a filly.” Mentioned Grey Weather.
“You and your fancy words. Always so eloquent.” Replied the mare amused.
“I suppose.” answered Grey Weather shrugging.
The pony looked around with curiosity, analyzing her surroundings.
“I had never taken you for the kind of pony who likes celebrations. I mean, you´ve always been really shy. Has the course of time changed you, maybe your husband?”
“I am just the same, Glimpse. But this occasion deserves a good celebration, doesn´t it?”
“How wouldn´t it!?” Glimpse yelled. “This is possibly the most important event you´ll ever go thought, and it has to be juuuuust perfect.”
Grey Weather couldn´t help but laugh at her comment; not the comment itself, but the constant enthusiasm that Glimpse accustomed to spread everywhere she went. Not a trace of her had changed along the years, since the day they forged their friendship at school to the present controlling the weather hoof in hoof.
“So, you are going to be a mama!” Said Glimpse, interrupting Grey Weather´s own amusement. “You must be really scared”.
“I´d lie if I said the contrary, but I am a little nervous. I mean, this is no laughing matter, raising a foal these days is really difficult.”
“Not as much as it used to be, Buzz. Our parents had the toughest time raising us, with all that cold and famine. We are actually really fortunate.”
Buzz; a tender nickname Glimpse had minted for her and which nopony else employed. However, its origin was legitimate. Glimpse had named it for the first time in one of the numerous flights Grey Weather used to carry out during her childhood, always swift as lighting and leaving a characteristic buzz behind her. That is from where that pseudonymous proceeded.
“Yes, that is true.” Sentenced the dark mare. She could still evoke the numerous night in which her mother, before the warm fire had related to her the many penuries she and her family had survived. A cold shiver wriggled by her back when she remembered those querulous days.
“What do you prefer, a filly or a colt?” Asked Glimpse invading.
“Honestly? A filly. I guess it will be more natural for me to guide her is she is a girl. Sun Pride wants a colt, so it is all in nature´s hooves.”
“It doesn´t matter, your child will have the best mommy in the whole world!” Claimed Glimpse.
“And a fantastic aunty by the way” replied Grey Weather with a mischievous smile.
After she heard that statement, Glimpse took her hooves to her mouth.
“Oh, you are such a sweetie!” said Glimpse touched. Her response was complete once she tightly hugged her with all the strengths she possessed.
Grey Weather sorely laughed and wrapped her dearest friend´s body with her thin arms.
•••
The following hours passed with gentle contentedness. Those aged walls heard the tale of hundreds of stories, most of them recalling past and younger times. Sun Pride captivated the audience with the story of the day he had gathered the courage to declare to his current wife, to which he was responded by effusive sighs by the mares and yells of pride from the stallions. Grey Weather returned to an even more remote part of the journey they had gone through together, that is, the day they met. A short and usual love story which, despite the fact that it was known by almost every occupant of the tavern, seduced every pair of ears. More mugs toasted and the reserves to beer and cider of that day lessened more than any other day of the ending year. What cause provoked this? The answer is simple, my dear listeners. In a small village as such, isolated from almost every trace of nearby cities, such insignificant event as the birth of a new foal was motive of celebration. Of course, this case was a rare exception among any other acclamations, given the popularity which the couple enjoyed. Sun Pride, the loyal comrade provider of so many memorable moments brought by his bright and festive character. And Grey Weather, the kind mare who could see good in everything, in who rancor, avarice or any display of pernicious emotion had never been witnessed.
The golden sunbeams filtering by the filthy windows served as an indicator of the day reaching its end. They advanced through the slits of wrongly splinted wood boards that composed the walls, projecting grotesque yet beautiful shadows on the walls. The reserves of drinks and aperitifs had trespassed the fine line which defines the difference of scarcity and absence. The numerous empty mugs laid on the floor, tables, window shelves and any other imaginable spots, mostly in its totality dumped, a few still remaining standing with perishable pride. The same could be said about its users. However, a few ponies maintained certain lucidity, enough at least to notice the course of events taking place around them, although not enough for pegasi to fly or unicorns to cast the simplest spell.
Sun Pride hiccupped sonorously before bursting in inebriate laughter. Grey Weather held his shoulders in an attempt of maintaining him straight before he opened his head against the floor.
“I think you´ve had a little bit more beer of what you should have, honey.” Stated Grey Weather struggling to maintain the weight of his corpse.
“I am fine, really!” affirmed Sun Pride with the oscillating voice of a drunk. “You worry too much. And I love you for that.”
Accepting the praise of a drunk pony was a risky bet, but Grey Weather nodded at his statement.
“She´s such a cutie!” he shouted.
Grey Weather, biting her lips of pure shame attempted to obstruct that fetid cavity that in that moment was her husband´s mouth. However, the strong stallion retired her hoof and screamed again, much to Grey Weather´s dismay. And palpating her belly, he said:
“Hiar is my son, for all ya to know!”
This time, the red that took over her visage could not be even dissimulated by her dark coat.
“That´s it, we are leaving”. Murmured Grey Weather.
Hiving all the strengths that characterize the wrath of an angry mare, Grey Weather took his resistant body with both hooves and propelling with her wings disposed to leave the building dragging her husband if necessary.
“But I wanted to haf more fuuuuuun!” he demanded like a little child would do. And perceiving this, Grey Weather replied as a mother would do.
“You´ve already had enough fun for a day, mister. Now, I´m taking you to bed.”
The witnesses could not restrain their thunderous laughs as the lavish scene progressed. Though, Grey Weather was not enjoying the moment as much as the spectators. She charged once more, expecting Sun Pride to cease opposing resistance, but that kind of consideration was a febrile conjecture. He simply would not yield. Grey Weather´s impatience, now increased by the inebriated guffaws reverberating behind her, illuminated her mind and gave her a wicked yet effective idea. She abruptly dropped her husband´s extremely heavy legs and turned without dedicating him the merest glace. Sun Pride, abstracted in his own mental realm, apparently without noticing the fall and consequent impact of his legs against the fissured wooden floor.
Grey Weather approached to the bar where a few stallions and mares rested their heads immersed in an unshakable lethargy; some of them with fine threads of saliva falling from their superior lips and wobbling due to their own exhalations of alcoholic breath.
Grey Weather occupied the only available stool and firmly hit the bar; act that did not importunate the sleep of her seatmates. Feather, following a process that had become a second nature after years and years of service for the hungry and thirsty emerged from the curtain that led the way to the kitchen.
“What a day, huh?” Said the barman with an exhausted grin that did not lose its cordiality.
“I couldn´t have said it better” agreed the mare in black with the same expression the old horse had employed.
“I regret to tell you that you´ve run out of drinks, my dear. If you want anything else, please, tell me.”
“Actually, there is a kind of drink you have probably not been ordered in the entire evening.” She declared with a smile that struggled to surge.
“Oh really?” inquired with curiosity Feather.
“Could you please give me a little glass of water?” requested Grey Weather, with very syllable being reinforced as the phrase progressed.
Feather fleetingly examined her naughty glare and immediately evoked the thought that was flowing by the mare´s mind. Without the least objection he filled one of the few clean mugs left with an archaic artifact of transportation of water and gave it to her. That expression, once witnessed in her visage, was unmistakable. The kind side of her had been eclipsed by her rascal other self, and that would certainly provide him with some entertainment.
Grey Weather slowly approached to her lying husband, delighting herself with every given step. She detained her advance until being completely stopped before him. Face to face, if she had descended to his level they could have kissed. “He would have liked to wake up like that” she thought amused.
“Hey, Feather” said Grey Weather lifting her head to the barman. He, who had been absorbed by the mere thought of how he would react once he awoke, made eye contact with her startled. “How cold is this water? I´d be a pity if I accidentally dropped over your floor… or somepony else…” She restrained a giggle of innocent evil.
“Whoops”
The water fell with altering and fleeting moves over the unconscious stallion. The impact was brief, yet pleasant for the two ponies observing how that scene flew as the water itself. Sun Pride opened his eyes without any delay. His nape swiftly abandoned the floor as he felt the newly acquired weight of his soaked mane pressing against his skull. And that was not the only thing he sensed, unfortunately. An extremely sharp pain assaulted his head as he felt the effects of the beer and cider dissipating. All those emotions concentrated in one single scream:
“You son of a bitch!”
Sun Pride looked around him with ardent eyes of ire seeking for the prankster who had had the courage to wake him from his inebriate dream. And the responsible stood before him, with her tongue stuck and a glitter of innocence in her eyes. Even after contemplating the fury within him her expression did not hesitated.
“Really sorry, honey, I didn´t mean to!” She said with jocularity.
In that instant, he had to restrain the indomitable desire of deal her a punch and erase that expression with all his strengths. Was it for the action itself or maybe due to the fact that she did not profess him any fear? He could not know, and honestly, he preferred not to think about it.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden laugh.
“I´m sorry, but you know what happens when you stretch my patience too far. It could have been much worse.”
With the growing pain inside his skull, he ventured to ask in a mumble:
“How?”
She smiled and responded.
“By imagining the hangover you´ll suffer tomorrow.”
Sun Pride sensed how his strength abandoned him after she said that. She was right, and the fact that she would enjoy it was not bearable. But suddenly, as abruptly as it had arrived, her naughty side was substituted by the mare everypony in town knew.
“Come here” she added surrounding his neck with her arms “I think you´ve had enough now. How about this? I´ll take you to bed, and while you try to rest I´ll go to the doctor and ask him for one of his remedies for this kind of situations.”
His fervent rage immediately vanished and left him reduced to a little colt who really required a mother´s attention.
“I´d love that… Thank you sweetie, I really love you.”
Grey Weather composed a light grin and sweetly kissed his lips. It was an innocent kiss, the kind of display of love fillies and colts used to transmit, but what its significance laid on its humility.
“I love you more”.
And so, the young couple, under the vigilant stare of the silent Feather, abandoned the tavern melting in one with the light of the sunset as the day came to its end, as well as the new stage of Grey Weather´s life widely opened.
•••
In small towns as our current protagonist´s there are two kinds of days: Tedious days, reigned by the presence of hard work, crowded markets, children innocently playing and the satisfaction of an earned cessation to simply enjoy the last hours of day before going to bed and entrusting into realizing the same routine the following day. Some fortunate days, however, some kind of occurrence could enlighten the visages of many. Though predetermined in most cases, some of them tended to be true surprises. Well or bad received, they ensured some entertaining. And the life of Grey Weather would never be the same after one of those days.
The town had just woken up from its lethargy, and the same could be said of its inhabitants. The timid sunbeams revealed themselves through grey thick clouds; indicators of the imminent rain. The earth ponies sighed relieved at this fact, as their harvest had started to resent from the approaching coldness. The crowd assembled in the town´s plaza shivered as the coolness mockingly went through their coats. Their breath, perfectly visible, was not the only thing that left their mouths as each of one submerged into conversation with their allegiances.
Surprisingly, many of them ignored the reason of their presence there instead of attending their obligations as they were supposed to be doing. They had simply agreed to be carried by their neighbors who knocked their doors claiming that a crucial reason was behind it. Grey Weather shared the same feeling than them. And Glimpse was the neighbor who had taken her and her husband there.
Grey Weather fleetingly observed her surrounding exhaling a sigh of resignation as the remembered the warmth of her bed. Thirty minutes ago she had been still drifting in her dreams with her blankest as boat and Sun Pride as her boatswain. Twenty minutes ago she had been awoken with a kiss, the weight of a pony upon her and a daring proposition, which she had agreed without hesitation. She could not help but giggling when she recalled that moment. During all her life she had lived with fear of her own body, restrained to the taboos of her time, and now that she had overcome them her intention was to regain all the lost time. Ten minutes ago, only a few seconds after finishing –she still could not believe her luck- Glimpse had hysterically knocked the door and imperiously urged them to accompany her to the plaza. Grey Weather remembered that a bright rouge still prevailed in her visage, added to the sweat drops that slipped by her coat and how Glimpse had attempted to fake a convincing ignorance about them. The young couple hastily dressed and departed after their friend. She put on her typical long dark purple tunic while Sun Pride opted for wearing the same white shirt he had employed the last day. Grey Weather thanked to the invisible –and inexistent- deities the ponies of that time worshiped that Sun Pride had not complained. The couple had not even had time to refuel their lost strengths in their passionate love by merely eating before leaving.
So there they were, hungry, sleepy, and with unceasing shivers mortifying their bodies. A perfect way to commence a day, I must say.
“Could you please tell me again why we are here?”
Glimpse scrutinized Grey Weather´s entire self as if she had heard one of the greatest nonsense in Equestria and even further.
“Isn´t it obvious?!” she exclaimed partly dismayed.
“Oh, for goodness sake…” Grey Weather muttered with quiet exasperation. “You´d better have a good reason, because half of myself is still sleeping and I am in a very bad mood.”
“Varea has convoked us all here! And if she does so, it must be for a very good reason.” Replied Glimpse with absolute solemnity.
Grey Weather felt a knife sinking in her flesh and cutting until reaching her entrails when Glimpse pronounced that name.
“You can´t be serious, are you?” Responded Grey Weather soothing the fire igniting within her. “Varea, the “great and powerful seer whose magical abilities cannot be wasted in such a banal task as is collaborating along everypony else to control the course of day and night”? She, who remains in her house with her stupid crystal ball scrutinizing the future of us, unfortunate souls and never shows for any reason in town, even when she is required, but still achieves to enrich from the desperation of those who attend to her in seek of answers to an uncertain future? That Varea?
Glimpse nodded vehemently incapable of perceiving the palpitating sarcasm of her expression.
“I had no idea you have her in such high esteem! Answered Glimpse.
Grey Weather sighed and surrounded her friend´s neck with her arm.
“Glimpse, you know I appreciate you. No, in fact, I love you. You are one of my few true friends, but sometimes you proof to be too naïve.
“”Naïve”?” She questioned. “I am not naïve, silly. She does see the future!”
After fifteen years of friendship, Grey Weather had acquired certain patience with Glimpse and her effusive manners, as well as her stubbornness. But every time Varea became the subject of their conversation Grey Weather´s serenity was quickly deteriorated, to say the least. She took a deep, slow breath and sworn to herself that time would be different.
“Tell me at least three examples of her “sagacity””. Responded Grey Weather cutting.
“Alright! Let me think… how about that time when she foresaw that Chalice´s foal would be a filly?”
“That proves nothing. I don´t know if you have noticed, but there are much more mares than stallions in Equestria. Simple statistics.”
Glimpse weighted that idea for a second before venturing to resume her argumentation.
“Alright then… Don´t you remember that she told everypony about the Windigos twenty years ago?”
“ Neither you nor me had been born by that date. Who told you that?” Asked Grey Weather with suspicion.
“My mother!” Responded Glimpse without trace of enragement or impatience.
“And? Anyone with a book of Parapsychology can find that out. In fact, I have editions at home given by my mother in which the Windigos figurate, among all kind of creatures.”
“You are stubborn one, aren´t you?” She replied amused.
“Indeed. One last try, Glimpse.”
“Um… I know! This one is in fact a personal one…” she added enigmatically.
Grey Weather arched one eyebrow with interest. Descrying that sudden alteration in her countenance, Glimpse´s riddling smile widened.
“But it is so secret that no one aside of us must now.” She whispered.
Grey Weather, intrigued, approached her ear to Glimpse´s mouth. Glimpse slowly licked her own lips and whispered:
“She told me that a skeptical friend of mine is going to believe in her auguries.”
That statement was followed by Glimpse´s intense laughter, while Grey Weather futilely tried to frown before accompanying her in her guffaws.
“Wow, she really told you that?” Questioned Grey Weather as her laughter gradually attenuated.
“Oh, you bet so! I was really surprised by that!” Despite her smile from ear to ear, Glimpse was serious, a feature really atypical in her. It was actually worryingly for Grey Weather.
“How much did it cost you, out of curiosity?” Inquire the dark mare.
“Nothing much, 20 bits”. Answered Glimpse diminishingly.
Grey Weather´s eyes broadened with both amazement and consternation. For that quantity in those times a pony could acquire supplies for an entire week, perhaps going to the blacksmith for a brand new pair of horseshoes or even affording a carriage trip to the very Canterlot for one day. And instead they had been vainly wasted in a despicable deceiver.
Grey Weather was about to finally release her emotions and throw them to Glimpse´s face, but she was suddenly interrupted by a yell that reverberated through the entire plaza.
“Attention everypony, Varea is here!”
Every pair of eyes directed to the newly arrived mare that marked her pass through the crowd as they stepped aside with solemn respect. Glimpse squeaked while Grey Weather rolled her eyes. The old pony continued her path, enjoying the glory that she was being professed. Obviously she was a loved character in the town. Though some other ponies shared Grey Weather´s opinion, most of them still remained in the comfort of their homes. And although Grey Weather would have preferred to follow their example, she did not regret being there with the mere purpose of contenting her best friend.
“I suppose you´d prefer to have her all for your own.” Whispered Grey Weather. Due to the profuse silence that reigned in the plaza she was afraid of raising her voice.
Glimpse nodded effusively without separating her eyes from her idol. Grey Weather puffed amused and left her friend until locating her husband and joining him by his side. Apparently he had been conversing with his usual tavern mates, but remained in the same silence everypony did. If you asked him his opinion about Varea and her “extraordinary abilities”, he would shrug with indifference. For many things, he simply opted for the lack of judgment.
Varea made her way across the hallway the ponies were docilely composing for her with a smile on her lips. She was wearing an old and shabby habit that decades ago had been of pure blue; now a pallid sickening grey. It was ample enough to upholster her cyan coat, degenerated by the cruel pass of time. Her hood laid upon her shoulders, leaving her gray mane uncovered. Two fine yet resistant braids intertwined around her head as a laurel crown. Her pink eyes exuded a provocative sense of superiority over those who devotedly contemplated her. Grey Weather would have been pleased to erase that look if she had the chance.
Her advance continued uninterrupted until she reached the center of the square. Everypony maintained an expectant silence as she prepared to talk. Varea cleared her throat and commenced.
“Ladies and gentlecolts, I presume I require no presentation seen the reception you have granted me. I thank your hospitality” She then proceeded to bow over the crowd who she maintained enchanted. “I have provided you with services that elucidated your future, I have guided you through the uncertainty, and I have been there to offer my advice to anyone who needed it.”
“If they paid you…” murmured Grey Weather with acridity.
“But today I am going to illuminate the mist of not only of a mere pony, a marriage, a family or this village, but of Equestria´s destiny!”
Some jaws gradually opened with amazement while other discretely showed their stupor. Varea grinned with delight after noticing the stupefaction her words had caused. Grey Weather, unlikely to be enchanted by her eloquence, perceived her rejoice.
“I dictate that, in exactly nine months our beloved monarchs will be blessed with the heir they have prayed for so long, whose wisdom, kindness and humility shall bring prosperity to our afflicted land. She will be a vigorous filly who will grow into an attentive mare always disposed to protect her reign from the perfidy and evil which stalk us.” She proclaimed with a mighty voice that filled everypony´s heart with tranquility and bliss. However, nopony showed any vocalized display of emotion, though their visages illuminated bright as the sun.
“This is not all! Their heir will not be alone; her sister who shall profess loyalty both to her own blood as to her commitment will accompany her during her reign. Ten years will distance their ages though not the extremely mighty bond that will link them for all eternity.” Noticing the bewilderment which coursed between the ponies after her last statement she proceeded to elucidate them. “So it is, my little ponies. I couldn´t find a logical explanation, but these new members of the royalty will not be regular foals. The starts told me this, yet they refused to explain what characterizes them, or I should better say what will characterize them. But what it is clear is that they won´t be mere mortals.
The crowd burst in an unintelligible murmur which propagated until covering the entire area. Even Grey Weather could not hide her stupefaction, not due to the presumed veracity of such prophecy, but by its very audacity. Varea had attended to more reunions with troubled souls than what she could imagine, yet they were characterized by a strict policy of confidentiality. This time however, Varea had exposed her cards to the entire town, so whether she was a fraud or not, the question would finally be answered. And Grey Weather couldn´t be any more satisfied. At least, temporarily.
“So then” a pony raised her voice over the buzz not without difficulty “you mean that our following rulers will prevail over the pass of time? Like…”
He was unable to evoke that last work, as it could be comprehended as a heresy. He grappled between dread and curiosity while the murmur slowly faded, until he found the courage to speak.
“Goddesses?”
As he had presupposed, some ponies from indeterminate location inhaled with consternation before such sacrilege. In our modern times those past false deities have been eclipsed by the silhouette of our still beloved rulers, but at the time those entities of intricate names were acclaimed and worshipped with vehement devotion. Thus, the idea of a god on earth was unconceivable. Nevertheless, Varea did not share such exhorted veneration.
“Right you are, little colt!” She exclaimed ignoring the indignant expressions of the most conservative members of the congregation.
Grey Weather quietly wished for Verea´s expression to be erased with the impact of a tomato on her face, but that did not happen.
“The celestial corpses what enshrine our farming will be theirs to control, since their magic will know no rival. They will be able to control the course of days and nights on their own.”
As the words surged from her mouth, her statements grew more and more ridiculous, yet that didn´t seem to dissuade the admiration the ponies were professing to the conjurer.
“But my prediction might not be as benevolent as it you believe, I fear.”
In less than a second she had regained all the attention that she could have lost. Her visage had acquired a perturbing obscurity what inspired fright among the presents. Such sudden change had even awoken the skeptic grey mare´s intrigue.
“Because, despite the light and happiness the sisters will toss over our land, a dark malevolent cloud will attempt with all its strengths to eclipse them. He, whom shall be named after chaos itself, will bring the destruction of our homes and families with an unimaginable power which will turn our entire world upside down. And despite our greatest efforts, there is little we can do to halt him. This bearer of disharmony will accompany the oldest princess birth, but I cannot know when he will manifest his true nature. Perhaps the same day of his arrival, perhaps in a thousand years. But be sure that his coming won´t be unnoticed.”
After Varea stilled, the very world did so. No sound left anypony ´s throats; not even their respiration could be perceived if it wasn´t for the stressed breath by the coldness. Animals continued with their daily chores, but without manifestation. The matinee wind softly stroked the tree´s dim leaves, wailing through their cavities. The silence penetrated everypony´s mind as a dagger whose blade has been soaked with venom. It possessed such solemnity that none of them dared to break it. But curiosity profaned the respectful silence that had settled in that plaza.
“You said before that the royal family would be host of the newborn bearers of harmony.” Somepony said with a brittle voice. Varea nodded, which led him to continue. “So then… do you have any idea of who will bring this… this… monster to us?”
Varea outlined a smile of sadness, though really faint. Diverting her eyes from the questioner to the general crowd she responded.
“The bringer of the apocalypse is fated to be born in this very village. That is why the stars selected me as preacher of their desolating news. Destiny is sealed for us, since this beast was conceived before I could transmit my message. Fear ponies, because among us walks the progenitor of who will bring the doom to our world!”
Grey Weather´s heart throbbed untamed. She slightly looked at her belly, feeling how every glare laid upon her. Her, and the creature gestating within her.
Author's Note
Well, first of all I request an applause for you, dearest reader, for reaching this part after that sea of words. And if you are here just because you wanted to see how long this is and haven´t read it yet, well, now you know. Go ahead and read it already! This is long; that´s undeniable, but I wanted to develop the scenes at my own rhythm. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this, and wait for some more! I don´t know if every chapter will be this long, but that will depend on how inspired I feel when I get back to work. By the way, as you have read in the tittle, due to his busy agenda my friend Alex wasn´t able to edit this chapter and correct its mistakes yet, so if you want to point out any remarkable or little error, please, do it! I am not perfect. In fact, I am still learning English :D Remember, if you any doubt about the plot, the characters, etc, or any suggestion feel free to comment!
