A Cold Heritage

The constant chugging sound a train makes as it barges its way through a snow covered track at high speeds is enough to send anyone around the bend, however in this instance, this was not the case. The train was cold-looking from the outside with its ironclad-like armor and weathered black paint, a small banner of its proud nation was barely visible through the back window much like the inhabitants of the vehicle. The inside was much different however everyone seemed very jolly with the proud singing of the national anthem and the naive excitement of young uniformed stallions. Winter, although sitting more or less alone, smiled among his fellows and watched the industrial buildings whiz past the window. They would be at the docks soon, he knew, things would change then.

Winter Luck was born and raised in a small farm north of Canterlot, his parents had emigrated from Germaney at a time before the conflict but they raised little Winter in an Equestrian fashion. He was a hard worker in the fields and always pulled his weight for the family but he was ever loyal to his fatherland and proud of it.

Winter was a light blue land pony and in his childhood had a dark blue scruffy haircut, most of the time it was tucked under his brown wide brimmed hat. His dark blue eyes were often a shining beacon of cheer when he was with his friends along with his big cheesy grin.

Aside from these friends, Winter had a somewhat lonely childhood, most others shunned him because of his heritage.

There was, one particular day from his childhood that he always remembered however. It was just a regular school day, Winter was walking through the corn fields as a shortcut to the road when he spotted his two best friends, Tinker Sky, a filly unicorn with a strange passion for engines and Frothing Brew, a blank flanked colt who was quite well versed in chemistry for a land pony of his age. When the two saw him, Winter made it rather apparent that his cutie mark had appeared by grinning sillily and exposing his side. A snowflake with a violin bow was what they saw.

“Oh my gosh!” Tinker exclaimed in her high pitched, young, trans-Atlantic accent as she immediately rushed to him nearly bowling over Froth in the process.

“What does it mean? When did you get it? Please tell me you can play the violin! Please-please-pleeeeeeeeaaaaseee!”

Winter was so shocked at her enthusiasm that he nearly tripped when she rushed him.

“Slow down a tick Tink, I got it last night while I was playing the violin, yes I can play by the way, it came up just like that, poof, I swear I could feel the excitement rush through me like lightning as I played the final note of that piece.”

They all laughed together.

It was Froth who re-initiated the discussion.

“So what do you think it means Wint?”

“Yeah what does it mean!”

Winter smiled at his friends before he contemplated his response.

“Well, I’m pretty sure it means that I will play the violin… and… umm… nope that’s it” he beamed.

“Then what’s the snowflake?”

Winter’s eyes raised quickly as he remembered what his father had said.

“Oh I remember! It was to symbolise my music bringing happiness even in the cold winters.” He announced gleefully.

Tinker quickly jutted in.

“Well I hate to interrupt but… We are running late for school again!” She jumped as she finished and quickly darted off in the direction of the school with the other two still regaining their senses.

They quickly chased her down the road just as a beautiful rainbow glimmered in the sky in the shape of a circle.

A popping champagne cork woke Winters with a start as the excitable atmosphere had died down to a dull roar. His spike topped helmet had tipped over his eyes as he slept so he raised it up again to view his surroundings. His booth had gained a couple of stallions who were bickering away like excited school-girls about what seemed to be the war. Winter tipped his helmet back down again and drifted off.

Princess Celestia paced in her personal quarters while Princess Luna simply stood in silent contemplation.

“It deeply troubles me that we must build a war room in the castle dear sister.” Celestia stated. “What is to become of our peaceful lands?”

“Worry not big sister, we have dealt with threats before and we can deal with this also, diplomatically or not.”

“Yes but all of those were within our borders, war with another major nation is not in our blood, it will be a black mark in our history.” Celestia stopped her pacing and sat down on her new rocking chair. This would be a very difficult dispute to resolve. Several assassinations in the name of Equestria had been the cause of tension, alongside their already poor diplomatic relationships, this would undoubtedly lead to war with Germaney.

Many years had passed since his cutie mark had appeared and Winter was sitting in his room, it had been a long day of work and he was tired, he could have slept there and then but his violin was beckoning him to play some more. His smile began to form, a rare occurrence at the time as his friends were in Canterlot for the holidays. Winter quickly rushed up and put on his favourite record and prepared his violin to play alongside it. The slow march began the tune and the operatic singing continued it. As the piece finished Wint relaxed his tensed muscles and simply lay there on his bed in complete serenity.

It was a mere minutes after that when his mother opened his door and informed him that he had a letter from Canterlot. His eyes flashed open in excitement, it had been a while since his friends had mailed him so this was an exciting time. It was only after he had opened it that he realised that it had not only been to Canterlot, but all over Equestria, the anticipation was killing him as he quickly unfolded it and read it aloud.

A calling back to the fatherland? This was the most exciting thing that had happened to him in years! He could leave the farm and go on an adventure with his fellow brothers, he would finally be accepted by all and not just a few. A chance to start life over in Germaney.

Packing his bags was hard but the goodbyes had been the hardest part, not with his parents but with his friends as he had to farewell them over the mail, they would be what he missed most he thought, aside from the occasional family member that dropped by, Tink and Froth had been Winter’s only friends. He decided to pack the photo of the three of them that he had in his drawer, no sense in forgetting his best friends even if he would make new ones.

He boarded the train to the docks and waved one last goodbye to his family, he would miss them, he thought, but his national fervour would keep him company during the cold nights, and that was when he remembered, he forgot to pack his violin.

The loneliness kicked in at boot camp, it seemed that everyone hated him for being a foreigner, even more so than back home… home, this was his home now and he had to accept it, even if it wasn’t the same.

He worked hard to achieve his uniform, he sang the national anthem louder than the others and he kept his bunk and locker as clean as soap. But deep down inside he knew that he had made a mistake. At first he tried to make friends, but no one wanted to have anything to do with him. Winter worked on his German accent to try and fit in but it seemed that nothing he did had any effect on his status, der Ausländer.

It was after one year of boot camp and one year of reserve service that the army finally decided to attack the enemy, Equestria. It at first came as a shock to Winters but it eventually sank in, two years in the German army had given him a boost to his national loyalty and maybe when it was all over he go sightseeing, he had never been south of Canterlot castle before and it was most likely that that was where they would go. This was starting to get less and less disturbing and more exciting! Winter pushed aside his nagging doubts and boarded the train to the docks, this was going to be interesting.

“A surprise attack with a small force to take Las Pegasus and White Tail Woods” the commandant spoke in German over a megaphone. “You shall land on the west coast of Equestria as a secondary force to the main army on the east, you will move in to take the Woods to the west of Canterlot and act as a skirmisher force from there.”

Everyone shuffled about in the cold winter air, after departing from the train, the regiment had all gathered at the docks for a speech. Herr Commandant Iron Cross had planned the entire attack out, we would rush for the woods and begin our attack as a diversion, we would create chaos and then the rest of the regiment would come in to reinforce our line and break theirs. All before the main army land at the east coast.

“Hail the mighty Kaiser!” Herr Commandant shouted.

The regiment repeated the chant and boarded the ships. As Winter finally settled in for the long trip he noticed something in his pack, it had been wrapped up in an old potato sack that looked old and forgotten. He unravelled the small item and to his immense shock, he felt his heart sink and begin to ache as his throat tensed up. What he held was the photo of his real fatherland, and his real people.