Prince of Equestria - Bonds Born of Falling Snow, Part 1

>Celestia chewed her banana nonchalantly, turning the pages of her newspaper with one spell, stirring her tea with the other.
>There were days when being the ruler of all of Equestria, the one who raises the sun and moon, was a pretty nice thing.
>However, in the middle of winter, the days were shorter and less intense, meaning her workload was reduced.
>When you’re raising an eight year old son, though…well…
>It makes you want to send whoever invented Winter Break to the moon.
>The table rattles as you appear out of thin air, landing on the surface.
“Morning, mom!”
>”Good morning Anon…” She takes another bite of her banana as she levitates her tea set high off the table.
>Good thing to, otherwise Anon’s head would have taken it out when Shining Armor teleported in from above, landing on the young prince much to his chagrin.
>The impact causes the table to buckle. By some miracle, it holds.
“HEY! GET OFFA ME!”
>Celestia sighs as Armor grins down at Anon, glancing up at her.
>”Morning, your majesty. You look especially radiant today.”
>Celestia sips her tea, continuing to read her paper. “Good morning, Armor.”
>You teleport out from under Armor, reappearing on his back.
“GOTCHA!”
>Armor rears back in surprise, managing to kick the tea pot in midair.
>This promptly relocates a good amount of tea onto Celestia’s head.
>Armor snorts in protest of your cowboy act as the two of you disappear.
>Celestia sets her tea back down, taking another bite of her banana.
>Perhaps…it was too early to give Anon the circlet that allows him to focus and use magic…
>She looks across her now brutalized breakfast table.
>Yes…too early.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH_7mUflj2s
>For his effort, Armor manages to send you flying into the snow as the two of your reappeared.
>This time, you two managed to make it outside the palace gates.
>Snowflakes float lazily down from the sky as birds play in the drifts sitting high on the branches.
>Even with the hustle and bustle of the city before you, all of creation looks like it is sparkling in the winter sun.
>You laugh as you pick yourself up, dusting off your clothes.
“Wow Armor, you’re getting good at that.”
>”Yeah! That’s my furthest yet! Dad said my shields are getting pretty good too.”
>You sigh and flex your fist.
>Concentrating, you manage to extend a short blade from it, pulsing with a dark blue power…before it fizzles and dies.
>Crescent said you lacked control…potential, but control.
>”Eh, buck up Anon. Remember, your mom said humans could only do magic if they were infused with it, and even then it was hard to learn control, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember…”
>You sigh and kick the snow.
“So, what are we going to do today? No class, Cadence is out of town with her family and I have no real desire to hang out with Blueblood.”
>”You and me both.”
>You stretch and look around as the two of you start to meander into Canterlot proper.
>”We could always go to Donut Joe’s.”
“Ugh. Last time we went there I ate so much I was sick all day.”
>”Want to go explore the ruins?”
>You shake your head.
“Mom said I need to stay out of there, and I think that’s one thing I should mess around with.”
>You look around.
“Hey…want to go check out the forest at the base of the mountain?”
>Armor snorts. “What’s down there besides little animals and a lot of snow?”
“I dunno, you got any better ideas?”
>Shining Armor thinks for a moment.
>…
>”Nope.”
“Well, that settles it. Who knows, maybe will find a gem or something. Meet you at the city gates in 30 minutes?”


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>It’s been 40 minutes.
>Of course Shining Armor is late.
>You sigh and pull your cloak tighter about your shoulders.
>Dark blue with a silver fur lining around your neck.
>For some reason you’ve really taken to these colors.
>The sigil of the sun still shines brightly on your back.
>”Your majesty, would you like to at least wait inside?”
>You shake your head to the gate guard, a brown pegasus in Royal Guard armor.
“Oh, no no. I’m fine. In fact, he should be here any…”
>Shining Armor appears in a flash in front of you, startling the guard.
“…minute.”
>You cock your eyebrow and fold your arms as Armor smiles sheepishly.
“You’re late.”
>”Yeah, sorry…my parents wanted me to bring her, and it took her forever to get ready.”
>Wait, her?
>There’s a small purple mass peeking at you from behind Shining Armor.
>”Come on Twily, I’ve told you about my friend Anon before. He’s not going to bite.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNxt4aSVxmk
>A small purple unicorn filly walks around Shining Armor, wide eyes studying you intently.
>Most of her is wrapped in a simple brown cloak, her pink-striped tail matching her mane.
>Alright, the staring is getting creepy.
>Ok…might as well try that intro Mom wanted you to work on.
>You cast your arm out to your side, sending your cloak fluttering as you draw it in to your chest, bowing slightly.
“I am Anonymous, son of Celestia and Crown Prince to the nation of Canterlot. What is your name?”
>Armor can barely contain his sides. “Dude, what the heck is that?!”
>You glare at your friend.
“Shut up, I’m working on it.”
>”Not hard enough!”
>With an annoyed grimace, you stand straight and readjust your cloak back around you.
>The filly is still staring.
>”….Nope. He won’t do.”
>She then turns and starts walking down the path.
>Your jaw just hangs open as Armor grins sheepishly.
>”That’s Twilight Sparkle, my sister. My parents wanted me to get her out of the house, away from her books.”
“…What does she mean I won’t do?”
>Armor rolls his eyes as the two of you start following the filly.
>”Well…she reads a lot, and some of her favorite books are adventures where the princess gets saved by a dashing young prince.”
“Yeah, and?”
>”Well, she got all excited when I told her you were a prince…see…she wants to know what it’s like to be a princess in those books of hers.”
“Waitaminute…I can be dashing! Is she calling me ugly?”
>Armor just laughs and continues as you stop to stamp your foot in the snow.
“WHY DO I EVEN CARE SO MUCH?!”
>Armor’s laugh just grows more boisterous as you jog to catch up.

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>A white pegasus with a blond mane checks off something on her clipboard.
>She looks up at the machine she was inspecting.
>The Snow Regulator.
>If not for this baby, Cloudsdale couldn’t regulate the amount of snow falling at any given time, and the land would be swept into a blizzard.
>Good thing Surprise, Safety Inspector, is on the case!
>She pounds her chest. Hoorah!
>She pounds  little too hard.
>A button from her jumpsuit goes flying off.
>Into the machine.
>The groaning of gears grinding to a halt hurts your ears.
>But not as much as the machine collapsing into a million pieces.
>Uh oh…
>Surprise nonchalantly whistles as she wanders off.
>Everything will be just fine…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXRXMDHv-TM
>The three of you left the beaten path several hours ago, the noon sun hanging high in the sky.
>Why did you think this was a good idea?
>Twilight seems to be having the time of her life, dashing through snow drifts and staring intently at trees.
>Apparently, the bark of some trees changes in the winter.
>Is it just you, or is the snow starting to pick up?
>You look behind you. Your tracks disappear after a short distance.
“Hey, Armor…is it just me or is it getting colder?”
>Armor nods. “I know what you mean…but Twilight’s having fun, and the weather’s not supposed to get too bad.”
“I hope you’re right…I got a bad feeling about this.”
>”That’s what you said about convincing Blueblood that there was hair gel in the grease bucket.”
“This is…different.”
>You pull your cloak tighter around you as the snow continues to pick up.
>Yep…not such a good idea after all…