Chp. 1. Birth, Hearths Warming Eve, and Magic Kindergarten
Chp. 1. Birth, Hearths Warming Eve, and Magic Kindergarten
As the carriage rushes through the street, ponies are running this way and that, trying to not end up as the next mess the poor sanitary workers would have to clean up tomorrow. The carriage is accompanied by an escort of Celestia’s finest, one could swear that there were moans of pain coming from inside the carriage. The carriage makes a sharp turn, nearly hitting one of Canterlot’s lower class, aristocrats that no other pony gives a flying feather about.
“Driver! Gallop faster! My wife is just about ready to burst!” screams one of the angry passengers, a unicorn aristocrat, no less, with a blood vessel almost popping from the stress of becoming a father. He’s already feeling his mane turning grey. Relief sweeps over his face as the driver skids to a halt at what he hopes is a hospital.
A nurse steps outside with a wheel chair, and before she can say anything, the young father-to-be takes the wheel chair from her, and rushes inside the hospital. He feels like he is forgetting something when he looks down at the seat where his wife should be.
“WELLINGTON!”
That scream. If it was the screech of a harpy, or even the roar of a dragon, he would at least still be able to run for cover. But no; this scream was a scream that could freeze any stallion in his tracks. He knows that he would not be able to hide from it, for it was the scream of his angry, pregnant wife. With the speed of ten Wonder Bolts, he rushes back to the carriage, hoping to avoid his ill-gotten fate.
“Sorry dear, didn’t mean to forget you!” The young stallion says as he turns to face his wife. She is a beautifully stunning mare. Her blond mane flowing in the evening wind was only complemented by her sapphire blue eyes and her light green coat. Wellington himself isn’t a bad looking stallion, either, with his snow white coat, deep, dark purple eyes, and a blond mane that matched his wife’s.
She glares at him, not saying a word as she clutches her belly, where their child is.
“Get me in that hospital NOW!” Was all he hears her scream as she doubles over from the child that may at any minute pop out. In a frantic rush, the young Wellington dashes over to help her into the wheel chair, hastily pushing her through the hospital doors and into the hospital itself.
The nurse at the front desk is rather sleepy eyed from working numerous late night shifts, and when she hears the hospital doors open, she looks up and is about to tell the couple to take a number, that is, until she sees the pained look upon the green mare’s face, and the worrisome Sir Wellington. Before Sir Wellington could say anything, the nurse hops up and pushes a button, paging nurses and doctors alike, informing them all of the young mare that is about to give birth right on the hospital’s new carpeting.
A pair of doctors take the wheel chair from Wellington, and rushes his wife to the ER while the nurse takes the snow white stallion to where he could sit outside and wait for his wife to deliver the young colt or filly. As the nurse sits Wellington down, he pulls out his handkerchief, and lets out a nasty cough. Making sure he’s okay before continuing on, the nurse asks if he needs anything.
“No thank you,” Wellington says, “I’ll be fine.”
The nurse shrugs her shoulders and grabs the clipboard and takes a seat next to him.
“Now sir, I’m going to need you and your spouse’s full name, as well as job occupation, and family members that might be able to come to the hospital to join you.” She starts, as she sneaks peeks here and there at the well-built, handsome unicorn stallion that sat before her.
“My wife is Gala Moneysworth, and I am Wellington Moneysworth Jr., I am currently the CEO of Unicorp. International, and as for family… We rather wouldn’t let any know of this right now.” The nurse is amazed to be standing in front of the unicorn who runs a company that has virtually anything anypony would need to make life easier. Before the nurse could inquire about him, or his company, one of the doctors steps outside.
“Sir, we have run into…complications with the birth.” The doctor says, trying to avoid as many details as possible.
“Complications?” Sir Wellington replies, “What do you mea- Oh, those kind of complications. Well, don’t worry, my wife is one of those country earth ponies that are as tough as nails and know the value of hard work,”
“But sir! She cou-“
“She’ll pull through; in fact, she could probably deliver the child in a few minutes, knowing her.”
The nurse looks at Wellington, who, just minutes ago, was panicking about becoming a father, yet shows no signs of fear of his wife dying! She is not only bewildered, but rather angry that this stallion who is so nonchalant about the situation, but before she could rebuke him, she is called back to the front desk.
The doctor was about to say something as well, still needing an answer from Wellington Jr., when another nurse pops her head out of the doorway.
“Sir, the mare’s condition is stabilizing. We shouldn’t have any more problems.”
The doctor, dumbfounded at what the nurse just said, looks at Wellington, and back to the nurse, before proceeding back into the room. A few hours pass, before the same doctor walks out of the room. He pulls off the face mask and trots over to the new father-to-be.
“Sir, the delivery was a success. It seems your wife has given birth to a healthy baby colt. Congratulations on becoming a father.”
Wellington walks right on in to the room, to find his wife, Gala, holding something wrapped in a white bundle. Gala, looks up at her husband, and beckons him over to see their new child.
“Congratulations daddy, he’s your son…” Gala says, tired from giving birth to their child. He holds his son in his hooves. He has a pale green coat, a blond mane, like both of his parents. When he opens his eyes to look at the stallion holding him, Wellington catches a glimpse of his dark blue eyes, dark as Luna’s mane in all of the pictures of her he has seen. Wellington can’t help but shed a tear. He was a wealthy stallion, built a booming business, and had a beautiful wife, but of all of his achievements, this was his finest.
_____________________4 Years later_________________________
“Wellington Moneysworth the Third!” Screams an impatient mother downstairs, “If you do not come down here, We are not, I repeat, are not, going to the Wonderbolts Hearth Warming Eve Derby you want to go to tomorrow!” She yells up the stairs as she taps her hoof, waiting for her son to come down, and come down he does… actually, more like tumbles down.
A ball of blond and pale green hair comes tumbling down the stairs, frantically getting up to avoid the punishment that the matriarch of the house has laid down.
“I’m ready to go Mommy! Is Daddy coming with us?” The young colt says, with excitement gleaming in his eyes. It was, after all, his first Hearth’s Warming Eve play. Gala smiles at her son, just as she always had at the young energetic and enthusiastic colt who brings a smile on her face.
“I’m sorry Wellington, but your father had to work today, but he promised that he would go with you to the Derby tomorrow.” Gala replies, trying to hide the sadness in her voice as well. Wellington Jr. has become unusually busy lately, arriving home later than usual, and now, going to miss the first Hearths Warming Eve’s play with his family. “Come, we need to leave so we won’t be late.” Gala says as she and her son step outside, and into the carriage.
“Where to, Madam Moneysworth?” The driver says as he politely opens the door for the foal and his mother.
“To the Royal Canterlot Theater, Please.”
“With pleasure, Madam”
With a rather uneventful ride to the theater, and forgetting his coloring book back at home, Wellington III gazes out the window, admiring the white snowflakes, descending gracefully from the sky onto the ground. Mesmerized by their downward dance, he slowly loses track of time, eventually arriving at the theater, Gala taps her rather oblivious son to let him know of their arrival.
They step inside, and after taking their seats, the lights dim, save for a spotlight, that shines brightly on the narrator. He begins with a brief history of the land the ponies came from, and that life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. The earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns all hated each other, for one reason or another.
The story moves on to the meeting of the three groups, for the land is ravaged by famine and out of control weather. What comes as a shock, and a surprise, was that Wellington sees his father playing the role of the humble secretary of Clover the Clever. While the conversation went on between the three ponies, Wellington Jr. winks at his son, acknowledging his presence. As the play goes on, Wellington III ponders as to why his father is in the play. He doesn’t pay much attention to what is happening. He starts to lose interest in the play, day dreaming of the presents that would be under the Hearths Warming Tree on Hearths Warming day, when the shouting of two stallions, and a mare broke him out of his trance.
“Earth ponies are fools!”
“Pegasi are brutes!”
“Unicorns are snobs!”
As the argument rages on between the three representatives, ice starts to form over their bodies, freezing them in place. What they fail to notice, are the Windigos circling above them, and their assistants. Private Pansy, Smart Cookie, and Clever Clover scream as the snow falls from the ceiling of the cave, with the windigos circling about, waiting for more strife and anger to spur between the three ponies.
“Wha…What is that th-thing?” Private Pansy asks with a voice saturated with fear.
“They must be Windigos!” Clever Clover replies, amazed at the sight of the Windigos.
“Windigos?” The earth pony secretary and pegasus private ask at the same time, not knowing at all what a Windigo was.
“My mentor Star Swirl the Bearded taught me about them. They’re winter spirits who gain their power from the fighting and hatred of others. As our hearts freeze over with hatred, so will our land and so will our bodies.” Clever Clover replies, fearful of being frozen over just like Princess Platinum.
“This is our fault. We three tribes brought this upon ourselves by fighting and not trusting each other and now… Now it’s destroying our new found land and us along with it.” Smart Cookie adds, despairing for his homeland and the new world they had discovered no more than a few hours ago.
“Now we as three tribes, who should have lived as one from the start, will become as cold as our hearts because of our foolish hatred for each other.” Clever Clover finishes, with his head hanging low, awaiting the inevitable coldness of death to sweep across his body. He feels ashamed of his tribe for all the pain and suffering their bigotry has caused.
“Well, I don’t hate you; actually, I hate Commander Hurricane far more that I hate any of you.” Private Pansy says, hoping to comfort the other ponies.
“Really? Now that truly is something I thought I’d never hear a non-earth pony say; at least not in my life time.” Smart Cookie says, chuckling a bit from Private Pansy’s last statement.
“Actually,” she continued, “I can’t really say I hate him so much as I dislike him.”
“Then I see no reason as to why hatred should dwell in my heart for either of you two.” Says Smart Cookie.
“Nor do I.” Clever Clover adds.
As they gather around to keep warm, ice begins to consume and over take them. It covers them completely, save for the horn of Clever Clover. At that very moment, the horn glows purple with a blinding intensity.
The ice that had nearly marked the end of their lives becomes weak. It cracks and in the following instant, shatters. Shards and chunks of ice shoot in every direction. The three ponies find themselves free of the cold and painful grasp of the ice.
“What was that?” Private Pansy asks, both scared and surprised to still be alive.
“I know of no unicorn with such ability!” Smart Cookie adds.
“I don’t either. I’ve never read, or heard of something like this happening! I don’t think any unicorn does have that ability. It must have come from us: from three tribes living in harmony as one.” Clever Clover stated.
Taking that as his cue, the Narrator starts to speak, as the trio behind him does the various activities that he describes.
“Through the rest of the night, they kept the small flame of friendship in their hearts burning by singing songs together and telling stories, which made that small candle flame grow in to a bright fire of love. The loving warmth of the fire in their hearts began to melt the ice that had consumed their leaders, and then their leaders join in the storytelling and singing, and on that day, the three tribes lived united as one, as we do today!” (Credit goes to Hasbro and the Hub)
After the play is over, Gala and Wellington III go backstage to talk with Wellington Jr.
“Daddy!” screams Wellington, “I thought you had to go to work!” He looks up to his father, who lets his raggedy cloak drop down to the floor.
“I did this to teach you a very important lesson,” Wellington Jr. replies. “a lesson that will help carry you through life, just as my father taught me.”
“But what lesson is that, Daddy?”
“Well son, it’s the lesson of fairness: a lesson that most Canterlot Unicorn aristocrats fail to learn. Do you remember how everypony treated each other on the stage? Well, most of the unicorns still treat earth ponies, pegasi, and even some of their own kin, like the dirt underneath their hooves, just because they think that they themselves are better than everypony else. I don’t want you to grow up like that. I want you to grow up to be like the kind ponies we were meant to be. Too many ponies in this town and society think too much of themselves and not enough about others. They forget to smile, acting as machines, with a machine mind, designed only to focus on the task at hand, and machine hearts, cold, unforgiving, and void of laughter. The reason I went to audition for this play was that I didn’t want you to be a machine like everypony else, I wanted you to learn to be genuine… I wanted you to learn to be yourself.”
“…Daddy?”
“Yes son?”
“I’m tired.”
“Alright, son, lets go home. Wellington Jr. says with a small chuckle. “Gala, could you take him to the carriage? I just have to go grab something from the dressing room.”
“Sure thing dear. Just don’t take too long. I have a surprise for you when you get home.” Gala responds, giving him a small wink as she takes their colt to the carriage.
With Wellington Jr. walking over to his dressing room, he begins to think to himself. “Sure, this may confuse just about every foal, but hopefully he’ll take this to heart, and remember my little speech when he needs it most.”
He enters the dressing room, and glancing over at the table by the door, spots his grandfather’s old watch he gave to him at his Cutemitzvah. Using a levitation spell, he grabs it and puts it on his left forehoof. He then exits the dressing room and-
Hack, Cough!
Wellington doubles over, coughing up drops of blood on the floor boards. He struggles to get up, but manages to, with the help of an earth pony.
“Wellington! Are you okay?” The earth pony asks. Wellington looks up at the dark brown stallion and recognizes him as Herbal Tea, the pony that played Smart Cookie in the Hearths Warming Eve play. He has a mint green mane, is a bit of a slender, and skinnier stallion than most, then again, as a Tea merchant, he doesn’t get much time to exercise.
“Thank you Herbal, and for your information, no, I’m not alright. This blasted cough has plagued me for the past seven years, and only seems to be getting worse and worse.” Wellington replies, steadying himself, trying not to fall over.
“Have you seen a doctor yet?”
“Yes, and there isn’t much he can do. He’s worried it might be some kind of terminal disease.”
“Oh my, do Gala and your son know?”
“Gala yes, but Wellington III does not. He’s too young to be worrying about such things.”
“Do you need any help getting back to your carriage, Wellington?”
“No Herbal, I should be fine, but thank you. Have a good rest of the night.”
“You too, Wellington!”
And with that, Wellington trotted off to his carriage, with a worried Herbal watching him, hoping he’ll get better.
_________________3 Years later_____________________________
“Don’t worry honey; I’m sure you’ll do fine!” Gala says, as she struggles to get the colt, almost seven years old, off of her leg and into the building. It’s Wellington’s first day at magic kindergarten, and like many foals that were before him and would come after him, he is scared to go inside. He doesn’t want to fail in such an important part of his life, especially when this is one of the hardest magic schools to get into.
“Mommy, can you stay with me? At least be there when it’s my turn?” The worried pale green unicorn pleads. The anxiety in his voice is enough to make Wellington’s mother give in.
“All right sweetie, I’ll stay with you.”
Unfortunately, the only other unicorn in the family, Wellington Jr. is away at the hospital, having a checkup. Wellington III did remember Mommy saying something about him getting medication for his coughs. He even blacked out once, which made Gala so worried, that she scheduled the doctor’s appointment her self, and had it be as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it fell on the day Wellington III was to go and take his entrance exam for magic kindergarten.
“Thanks Mommy.” Wellington says as he lets go of her leg. The poor thing is worried and stressed out like anypony is when they’re trying to get into magic kindergarten. “Will I be able to get in? If I do, will I be able to make any friends? I hope I don’t embarrass myself. Will mommy and daddy still love me if I don’t make it?” All of these thoughts, and more race through his mind as he thinks about the challenge to come. They step inside the building, and are directed to a waiting room to wait to be called in next. After what seems like hours, Wellington III is finally called in.
When he steps in, three unicorns are sitting at some desks, looking at some papers on a clip board. An older mare, with a gray mane and coat, looks up, then back down at her papers. Using her magic, she flips through a few sheets, before finally reaching Wellington’s dossier.
“Wellington Moneysworth III, I presume?” The older mare says in her quizzically cold tone. She yawns, obviously wishing she was somewhere else doing something different right now.
“Yes ma’am?”
“It says on your dossier here that you can control how strong, or weak, your magic is; is that correct?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Well then,” the mare says, taking a sip of her coffee, “Your first test will be to hatch this unfertilized dragon egg, and from there we’ll decide whether or not you have any potential.”
“Ok.”
“Good. Bring in the dragon egg.”
A pony with a black mane and blue coat pushes in a cart, with a white and black polka dotted egg. Wellington takes a moment to concentrate his magical energies, aims his horn at the egg, and… nothing. The bolt of magic strikes the egg, but fizzles out. He could hear the judges’ pencils scribbling notes they were taking on the young colt, which only pressures him even more. He looks back to his mother, who only offers a nervous smile.
He takes another breath, and shoots another magical bolt of energy from his horn. The egg cracks, but once again nothing. Sweat starts to drip down his neck, and he summons up as much strength as he can. Taking one more breath, he shoots the magical bolt of energy at the egg one last time. The egg expands as Gala, Wellington, and the three judges looked in amazement! It continues to expand until… BOOM!
The egg explodes, leaving everypony covered in dragon yolk and the egg white. The Judges sigh as one of them takes out their pen, scribbles something on the clip board, and looks at Wellington, and Gala.
“Next!”
Wellington, with ears and head bent over, and a frown on his face exits the building with his mother.
“It’s alright honey, so what if magic isn’t your forte or special talent? We could always try something else.” Gala says with a sympathetic tone, hoping to comfort her son. “Is there anything else you want to try?”
“I want to try to do what daddy does.”
