//------------------------------//
// The Ballad of the Snow 
// Story: The Ballad of Hearthswarming 
// by The Dimension Diver 
//------------------------------//

A flutter and a chill upon 
The Autumn’s icy wind
Was all the warning given as
The winter blundered in.

The treetops cracked beneath the strain
As gust repeated gust,
And many crops upon the earth 
Were frozen past the point of worth
Beneath the snowy dust.

The cotton clouds were chased away
Upon the stormfront black.
Their darkness swallowed up the sun
And such eternal night begun
Beneath the choking pack.

It speared the land with arrows of
Impenetrable frost.
Though many fought against the tide
No matter how they pushed or tried,
Each one of them had lost.

The cities of the unicorns
Upon their haughty crag
Were buried underneath the snow
And neither hoof nor magic’s glow
Could loose the icy snag.

The fortress of the Pegasi
Was on all sides assailed.
They martialed every class and rank 
To fend the storm from every flank
‘Till their dear city froze and sank
Unto the ground and failed.

But worse the earthen ponies fared,
With neither wing nor horn;
Their farmlands froze beneath the drifts,
And though they worked on triple shifts
So little fruit was borne. 

The harvest was but little, with 
The happiness forgot.
As each race turned themselves about,
Their spite was mixed with fear and doubt;
The accusations fired out
Without much given thought.

A second council eagerly
Was called as was before.
The leaders of the races came
Each lacking good rapport.

The final line was drawing taut
As councilponies knew.
They stood upon the verge of war,
The winter making hatred soar
Too bitter to be true.

First Chanc’lor Puddinghead spoke out,
His mind upon the storm.
“You pegasi have made it snow 
When weather should be warm!”

Commander Hurricane replied,
“This is not our design!
If we have had enough to eat,
To beat this storm would be a feat
That we’d pull off just fine.

“Just ask those snobbish unicorns:
What happened with the sun?
Why do we keep a winter moon?
Why does the sun go down so soon?
The night is long, the day’s a boon
We’re freezing, everyone!”

The princess shook her head, forlorn.
“The storm will not subside.
The sun will never warm the clouds,
Though long and hard we tried.

“Our magic never caused this mess,
This unbecoming snow!
The only thing that changed around
Was that those ponies on the ground
Hogged all the food we know!”

The chancellor grinned wide and smirked.
“We didn’t hog the chow!
The harvest gathered dry this year.
The little food we gathered here
Could never feed a cow.”

The princess leveled him a gaze
That well could pierce a soul.
“We shall once more make our demand.
What we stood for before we stand
Again. I am no foal.”

“If anyone can fight the storm,
Our magic it will be.
We must be at our peak of strength
So we can set us free.”

“For magic is more elegant
Than Pegasi can deal
And I refuse to see us crushed
Beneath their steel-shod heel.”

Then Hurricane grit all his teeth
And stared the princess down.
“You think you are that special, just
Because you wear the crown?

“I’ve never bucked a mare before, 
And hope I’ll never try.
But as for you, I’d buck you in
So you could see your toothless grin
And look you in the eye.”

He snatched his helmet viciously
And thrust it on his head.
“I’m leaving this unwholesome place,
Where you would offer such disgrace
To our heroic airborne race.
We’ll stand alone instead.”

“Well, I am leaving far before 
The likes of you set out!”
“And I’m a-going so I don’t
See both you losers pout!”

The trio stumbled past the door,
While never looking back.
The winter dropped its crystal tears
Upon those ponies’ necks and ears;
For once in all those bitter years
Both skies and hearts turned black.

Flew Hurricane within the storm,
His loyal guards with him.
The winds held fury of the sea
And nightmares past the rim.

Till breaking through the cloudy bank
The city came in sight.
It crossed the verge of faltering,
And slowly lost its fight.

Upon his entry, Pansy came
With gravely rendered news.
“Sir,” she saluted him in fear,
“We cannot hold position here.
The clouds close in, our city dear
We dread that we will lose.”

“The Unicorns won’t help us,” said
Commander hurricane.
“And those who make the plant life grow
Have not a stalk of grain to show
For all their sweat and pain.

“If what you say is accurate, 
A single option stands.
We leave the city of our sires
And find untainted lands.”

The princess and her entourage
Returned amid the cold.
Their castle stood its lonely guard
And watched as years unfold.

Where once proud edifices gleamed,
Now barren crystals hung.
Despite the lack of cold inside
No songs of hope were sung.

Advisor in things magical,
The clever Clover came
And bid the princess welcome home,
And welcomed in the shame.

“Good princess,” spake the unicorn,
Her face alight with hope,
“Did they agree to work as one,
Apart from how we’ve always done?
Or did they choose instead to run
From cliffs without a rope?”

“I tire of your adages,”
The weary princess drawled.
“They never offered hoof nor wing
To help our cause. They only sting
Our dignity,” she bawled.

“The only action I see fit 
Is flee away from here.
I cannot handle all this snow,
And, after all, how much can go
Awry when you are near?”

The night had set its piercing breath
Upon the pony town
Where good ol’ chanc’lor Puddinghead
Returned well past sundown.

Smart Cookie waited at the hearth
For Puddinghead to come,
When down the chimney with a crash
The fire snuffed beneath a mash
Of slush and frozen scum.

The chancellor emerged from thence
A swagger in his stride.
“The door would be a better choice,”
Said Cookie in a meager voice,
Though Puddinghead just sighed.

“The chimney was sufficient for
The door was blocked by snow.
But all those ponies were absurd,
Not caring aught about our herd
With spite of wrath and bitter word
Infesting them like so!

“We’ll have no friendships with their kind,
The valley won’t survive.
But wait, what’s this? I have a plan!
We’ll go and find another land
Where we can grow and thrive!”

The same conclusion all the three
Agreed without consent.
And thus began the journey’s start
With sleet on icy air and heart
They foraged to a land apart
And this is how it went.





The thunder ‘round the city-clouds
Grew ever in its might.
Where all the pegasi around
Had gathered high above the ground,
All clinging to a hope they found-
The dread before the fight.

The rows and ranks were glistening
Within the failing sun.
Their armor, swords and shining shields
Were small defense a pony wields;
Where victory’s the battlefield’s
The storm already won.

Then Hurricane addressed his folk,
Though thin and worn they were.
“The day has come when Pegasi
Should fight to save their fur.

“Beyond these clouds a new land lies,
The winter bars our path.
‘Tis time to show this tempest here 
Our unforgiving wrath!

“I never hoped to see this day,
I hoped it would not come.
But hope is dashed to smithereen’
As doom is standing in between!
Your shields be strong, your swords be keen,
Now beat the battle drum!”

The Pegasi set grim their eyes
And took formations fast
With Hurricane up in the lead
And Pansy trailing last

One thousand Pegasi took flight
Into the stormy sky.
One thousand charged the bitter cloud
With swords at ready, shouting loud;
One thousand hit the blackened shroud
As fast as they could fly

As weakened they already were,
They thrashed within the gale.
The lightning roared, the tempest blew,
The sleet, like arrows, ran them through-
And everything that they could do
Was little of avail.

But hard they pressed it onwards,
And hard they pressed it true.
One thousand ponies made the charge.
Five hundred made it through.

Five hundred saw the new land,
So dearly was it bought.
And victory was bitter
For all of those who fought.

And Pansy, wheeling in the storm
Was struck upon her shield.
And down she plummeted to earth
And landed in a field.

The minutes passed like hours.
She called aloud for aid.
And one earth pony heard her cry
And came back with a spade.

“Cookie’s the name,” he said to her
And dug away the snow.
He pulled the private to her hooves
As quick as she could go.

He took her slowly back to camp
Where ponies stayed the night.
And though some gave her scornful glares
She did not want to fight.

The pony gave her shelter
And bandaged up her wing,
And said that kindness has no fee,
A freely given thing.

Upon the high-peaked mountainside
The Unicorns set forth,
With Platinum well at the lead
Still thinking of her hearth.

They pushed their way through snowy drifts
Near freezing as they went.
For lack of food and needing rest
Their strength was all but spent.

The roar of water echoed ‘round,
The princess cringed in fear.
A river’s current came to view,
So wide and deep and fast it flew
That bridges broke, collapsing too;
No ford could happen here.

“This is a painful happening,”
The stricken princess said.
“But though the river’s harsh and cold
We mustn’t stand here getting old.
Would Clover step ahead?”

The princess beckoned forth her aide
And pointed to the side.
“Assistant, would you be a dear
And teleport us all from here
Across the river wide?”

Said Clover, “Tis a miracle
Which I could never make.
A levitation is more sure
To take us all across from where 
We stand, for pony’s sake!

“Then ferry us,” said Platinum,
A-gathering her gown.
The horn of Clover glowed with light,
And with the force of magic’s might
She set the princess down

Upon the river’s other edge.
She panted with the strain.
For she had not a scrap to eat
And could not ease her pain.

Remaining were the commoners
Their hearts a weight of doubt.
But one by one, they took ahold
Of one another, and they pulled
Across the river’s route.

But all were not as lucky as
The royalty had been.
For many, weakened wan and starved,
Lost hold and tumbled in.

But Clover rallied to their aid, 
And pulled the drowning free.
Upon the freezing riverbank
The cold set in, the dim sun sank,
But They, despite the cold and dank
Pushed on relentlessly.

The last to cross was Clover, but
She could not cross alone.
Those on the other bank prepared
Their magic; even as it flared,
She plummeted like stone.

The icy torrent swept her far,
And tore her from her breath.
She struggled hard to stay afloat
And cheat a freezing death.

But pony hooves clutched ‘round her neck
And pulled her from the stream.
She held on tight as up she flew
Suppressing quite a scream.

Her rescuer, a pegasus
With one undamaged wing
Strained hard against the frozen wind
Her wingbeat faltering.

They landed far away from thence
Within a patch of sun.
“I’m Pansy,” spake the pegasus,
As they began to run.

Said Clover, “I am grateful for
Your well - timed charity.
But I must race away this cold
Before the frost bites me.”

And thus departed Pansy, now
A-questing for her kind.
And Clover ran to find a way
Before the night snuffed out the day
Where, in the distance long there lay
A campsite all too kind.

She hurried to the travelers
Where all were near despair;
And all of them were earthen folk,
Who welcomed not the mare.

The Chancellor within his tent
Stood gazing at the map.
For half had holes inside the sheet
Where somepony had tried to eat
The paper in his cap.

“Confound this storm,” said Puddinghead,
His face a comic blue.
“There are no stars to navigate,
We’re lost, we’re starved, last time I ate
I couldn’t fill a quarter plate.
What ever shall we do?!”

Said Cookie, “We’ve been going on 
In circles for a day.”
The two sat dismally forlorn,
When in there stepped the unicorn.
Who pointed out the way.

She took the map from Puddinghead
Who nearly burst with rage,
And set a course beyond the edge
Depicted on the page.

They traveled straight as Clover
Had commanded them to do.
And she departed in the night
And took a trail so that she might
Find ponies whom she knew.

But three days hence for all the tribes
A new land found the three.
‘Twas fresh and warm and full of grass,
They entered merrily.

The Pegasi set down their flag
Up high atop a cloud.
“This land be Pegasopolis,”
Cried Hurricane aloud.

The Unicorns their banner lay
On hills alive with jewels
“This land is Unicornia,
A land bereft of fools!”

The ponies raised their standard high 
Within the fertile vale.
“Why this,” Cried Puddinghead “Is clear
To be the best dirt of all year!
This place is Dirt-ville and right here
We ponies will prevail!”

But as the banners all unfurled
The colors caught the eye,
And every eye looked ‘cross the plain
And saw two other banners reign.
They looked abroad with bitter pain
On valley hill and sky.