au Frozen Stars (Attn: PrinceoftheNight, Invite/PM to Join only)

[IceStorm]

It had been a few months since Ice Storm had been to the castle. In fact, it had been most of the summer. For the past several years now, Ice Storm had been running her Snow Cone shop in Ponyville, and while it was an amazing business in the summer time, it wasn't that fruitful in the winter. She had tried opening the store here in Canterlot before but it didn't really take off well in the location that she had. She decided to move it to Ponyville just over about four years ago. Her mother was a bit upset to see her go away during the summers, and truthfully, Ice Storm didn't really like leaving either. However, she couldn't rightly just stay in the castle and just live off of the princesses. Not after her mother had done so much for her. It had been her that had taught her how to refine her magic, and how to manipulate the ice and snow better than anypony else around. It was this mastery of Ice that let her open her business, and is what allowed it to flourish.

 

Ice Storm remembered like it was just yesterday how they had come to be. How she was laying in the park during one of her walks while her moon was at it's peak in the sky. She remembered the following conversations, the flash of light, and her reaction to the story that had been given to her. From that day forward, she had looked to Luna as her mother, taking in her words and following her lessons and rules. She didn't always like them or agree with them, but she was never in any position to protest them either. Especially since for the most part most of the rules were easy to follow and boiled down to treat everypony with respect and dignity. Something that she felt was a given anyway, with the exception of the upper class nobility. Ice Storm always had a distinct dislike, and almost hatred of nobility for what it did to her original family. She wouldn't go out of her way to disrespect them, but she would most definitely be curt when dealing with them when she had to. Most of the time she simply chose to avoid them.

 

All of that was more in the past though. Today she sat on the return train from Ponyville to Canterlot. Ponyville had just seen it's first blast of cold and it's first snow. With that in mind, she said her temporary good-byes to her friends in Ponyville and told them that they could always come see her in Canterlot over the winter months and of course she would be back for Nightmare Night with her mother, as they were every year. The train itself was nothing unique. Just an ordinary train. She was already on the second day of the ride back, and was sitting in the passenger car. The would be pulling into the station soon, so she would need to be ready. She knew that a lot of the ponies would also be getting off here so she wanted to make sure she was ready to go just like everypony else. She imagined that her mother would be waiting of her at the station, presuming that she was able to get away from her courts. Of course it was usually Celestia that took care of the day courts, and the train was supposed to be coming into the station at around noon. It was now eleven fifty-seven.

 

*DING* We are now approaching Canterlot Station. Estimated arrival time is two minutes. For our passengers who are departing us, thank you for choosing The Equestrian Express, for those who are passing through on the way to Solstice Heights or Stalliongrad, please remain seated until the departing passangers have left. There will be a four hour lay over while the train is resupplied and refueled. Please feel free to explore and stretch your hooves a bit afterwards. All departees should report to the baggage car to pick up the belongings that could not fit in their personal rooms. That said, we are pulling into the station now, please remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop, and again, thank you for choosing The Equestrian Express.

 

With that Ice Storm gathered her belongings with her magic and began to organize everything in her saddle bags. Once she had everything where she wanted it, she waited for the train to stop before standing up and following the rest of the passengers outside. It was quite cool outside, but perfect for Ice Storm. Being pretty much one with the element of Ice, her body temperature was a lot lower than most ponies, so she could withstand the cold a lot better than most. It took quite a lot to get her temperature down to a near fatal level, but didn't take much for the temperature to go the other way. An average pony temperature for her, was a near fatal fever. As she stood outside, her saddle bag on her back, she moved to the baggage car which had the rest of her belongings. It wasn't much. Just a few more suitcases. She didn't bring much because she presumed that she would still have a good amount of supplies from her last stay. Once she had her bags, she proceeded through the station to the landing platform and began to look out for her mother, or if she couldn't find her, the lunar guard that she would have sent to get her.

[PrinceoftheNight]

(Finally!)

 

"Hmmmm... the train should arrive soon..." A grey stallion said to himself as he looked at a nearby clock next to the train station. "I should go and wait for her." He then added to himself as he walked into it. This stallion was rather tall, and easy to spot actually. He was even bigger than Shining Armor himself, and was wearing a black, heavy looking, night guard armor, but rather decorated, which made him stand out just a bit more, yet it was easy to miss him if you didn't knew who were you looking for. He had a black mane, making all of his tone of colors rather neutral, but his eyes were as blue as the sky itself, no doubt a mare could fall for them.

 

He was sent to see this mare he had never met before, but from what the night princess told him, she was her adoptive daughter. He never heard about that, though it made sense since he had seem a mare going into the castle several times to see Luna herself, even without giving him the notice even though he was now the captain of the night guards. Well, there was always a first time. He was sent instead of her since she was rather busy with the preparations for her arrival.

He looked around once the train arrived and the ponies started to walk down of it, so he poked his head out. One could easily see him since he stood out from the rest, yet a lot of ponies didn't seemed to be that amused or found it silly. Perhaps they were used to is?

[IceStorm]

The trip to the baggage car was relatively quick. Her baggage hadn't moved around all that much from the travel and was pretty much right where she left it. With a quick flip of her magic, the bags were on her back and she began to make her way towards the main landing platform. "Okay, bags, check... essentials," she said opening the bag a bit to make sure everything she'd need for the duration was in them. "Check... and finally..." she finished pulling out one of her paper cones and a water bottle, before freezing it into a fine snow with her magic and placing the perfect ball after a bit of red came out of her saddle bag and mixed with it. "Snow Cone, check." she smiled as she happily bit into the cone as she began to wander around the landing dock for a bit until she spotted at least somewhat of a familiar face. She hadn't ever met him personally, but she knew that her mother spoke a lot about him. It was the captain of her Lunar Guard.

 

And a sight he was! The armor that he had was dark as night, and specially made for the night guard. She could see that it was highly decorated with ribbons and bars and the like, although she wouldn't even begin to be able to tell you which bar meant what. Although she had always wondered why she hadn't seen him before, but she presumed that he would have been busy handling more pressing issues and wouldn't have really been seen around the castle at all hours of the day. Being the captian of the guard she imagined that he had a lot of responsibilities that just simply made it impossible for them to actually meet until now. She was, however, both honored and slightly worried that her mother had sent him to pick her up from the train rather than the normal guards. One, she felt honored to be held in such high regard from her mother, but at the same time, was there something that was going on that warranted that much of a security increase? She'd have to make sure to ask her mother about it later once they have settled in for a bit.

 

"Captain Knight, It is an honor to finally meet you," she spoke to him approaching him, bowing lightly in respect. "Mother has spoken highly of you, although I can't say that it's too surprising, given your record," she said pointing to the bars. "Not that I can tell you what any of those mean or anything that is. I presume that mother sent you to bring me home for the winter?" she asked. It was more rhetorical than anything, as she had already concluded that would in all reality be the only reason that he was here, unless they were expecting heavy resistance from a train. The though of the train standing up and chucking it's wheels like frisbees momentarily popped into her mind. It didn't last very long, but made her giggle a small bit. That said though, it wasn't something that she would actually say was impossible anymore with all of the weird magic that had been flowing around. It seemed that something was always going on in Ponyville. She supposed that it was to be expected, since Ponyville was a border town right on the Everfree Forest. However, that didn't mean that she didn't look forward to coming back to the much calmer Canterlot, even if it meant that she had to put up with some of the snootiest nobles in Equestria for a brief period. She made a note to herself to stay out of the nobles district this year unless she absolutely had to go in there for any reason.

[PrinceoftheNight]

Darkness couldn't help it but smile a little bit once he saw the mare Luna had tasked him to bring to the caatle. She was just... Cute. He didn't thought on a other better way to descrive her. The way she looked, talked, even her giggle were cute, and now thatbshe was eating what it looked like ice cream made her even more adorable. He wondered where she got it after a moment. He had never seen any of those being sold on the train, but he soon remembered another detail Luna told him. She exceled with ice magic, so he deduced she made it herself.

 

"Glad to meet you, Miss Ice~" he said with a gentle bow to her, closing his eyes for a bit. He ws acting as a gentlepony, since he was talking to a mare and Luna's daughter... Adoptive daughter, but still. 

"And don't worry about those..." he said, regarding his decorations, medals and bars. "I even forget what they mean sometimes." added with a soft chuckle. "Your mother is currently busy with some affairs she had to deal with, and asked me to take you to the castle." je soon explained.

 

[IceStorm]

Ice Storm couldn't help but let out a small giggle and smile as she returned the bow to the captain in a manner of respect. He returned the honor saying that he was glad to meed her and that she didn't need to worry about all of the honors on his uniform, because it's been so long not even he remembered what it all meant all the time. When he said that her mother was currently busy with some affairs she nodded. "I kind of expected as much. The train got here earlier than I was expecting, so I figured she was finishing up with her mid morning courts before turning in for a few hours. That said, I don't have much with me. Just the saddle bags really cause I'm sure mother has everything from a few months ago from when I was here before, and I don't think I've grown any since last year," she said with a smile.

[PrinceoftheNight]

Darkness made a small node to the young mare. "Alright~" he said with a soft smile as he turned around to lead her to the castle.

If she payed close attention, she would see that he had a rather numerous amount of scars along his back part of his body, severl on his flanks and back legs. A lot seemed really old, yet others more new.

"Lets go now." he said with a small smile to Ice. He also had a really faint scar across his left eye, yet it was hard to see it unless you were looking for a scar on his face.

[IceStorm]

Ice Storm nodded and started to follow Darkness as he lead her out of the station and towards the castle. As she followed, she noticed that there were many scars on his body, and some of them looked fresher than others. Sure he was the captian of the Lunar Guard, but there were an awful lot of battle scars there. Was Equestria really in that much danger that combat had to be fought that frequently? She hoped not, but at the same time, she'd seen her fair share of angry complaints with her mother and sister, no doubt some of them might have been stupid enough to try things that were beyond what they could handle. Still though, she followed. "Thankfully the weather isn't that bad out today, a bit warmer than I'm used to for this time of year though, especially for Canterlot being on the mountain."

[PrinceoftheNight]

"It has been a bit hot for the last few days." Darkness said with a soft smile to Ice as they walked, the soft sound of metal against the floor and other parts of the armor making it's presence at each step he gave. "But I checked the weather  schedule yesturday. Should be more cold soon enough." he soom added as he turned to her. "You dont seem like the kind of mare that likes hot places, dont you~" he soom added with a soft grin to her.

[IceStorm]

Ice Storm frowned a bit when she heard the captain mention the weather and how it had been quite warm for the time of year so far. She felt a bit of relief though when she heard him tell her that he had checked the weather schedule yesterday and he told her that there was quite a cool down coming within the next couple days. News that she very much looked forward to. When he commented that she didn't seem like the kind of mare that liked hot places, she shook her head. "Not at all. In fact, an average summer in Ponyville could kill me if I ever lost use of my magic for a couple days for any reason. Making ice on my body is how I stay cool during the summer and works for great air conditioning. But my internal temperature is actually much cooler than an average pony's. In fact, I've been told by Redheart a few times that what would be considered an average temperature for a pony, would actually be a near fatal fever for me. She's made absolutely sure that particular fact has been published in red ink on all records so that ponies don't presume that I'm okay when I'm not," she told him pretty much explaining her weakness to heat and fire.

[PrinceoftheNight]

"Oh..." Darkness said as he looked at her. Well, he expected her to have more in common with Ice, but to have a really low temperature in her body and stay alive, that was really something he had never heard. "I... uhm... I will make sure you stay in cold places while you stay here." He soon added to her with a small bow, like telling her she had his word.
"Princess Luna will be quite happy to see you." He soon added. "I think she said she was making sure the room you are staying will be adequate for you. I guess she meant that..." he looked back to the front. "She was going to make sure it was cold enough for you: "

[IceStorm]

When Ice Storm heard the stallion comment after describing her situation, she smiled a bit. "Oh, it's not really that bad, but you'd be surprised how many ponies would find a temperature in the average range and say they are fine and everything is in their head. She mainly has it there as a precautionary thing. Besides, I know my own limitations enough to where I've been able to adjust for it. Like I said, having the natural ability to create ice, I'm my own air conditioner," she said hoping that he it would helped his impression a little bit. When he told her that Luna would be quite happy to see her, and that she was making sure the room that she would be staying in would be adequate for her, she nodded. "That among other things," she said in regards to her mother making her room colder.

 

"I must say, I have been eagerly awaiting this day for a while now. This part of the year is always my favorite part of the year. It's the year I get to come home, and be with my family and friends that I have here in Canterlot without having to open shop. So there's more time for me to enjoy the time of those around me" she told him. There were a few friends that she did want to connect with while she was here, but connecting with her mother, and spending as much time as she could with her in the short amount of time that they would have was going to be her priority. She knew that this next couple of months were going to go by much quicker than she would like, and that she would have to return to Ponyville and her shop. Those were thoughts to be put off for now though. She would worry about that when the time came. Right now though, she just got here, so she was going to make sure that she enjoyed it.

[PrinceoftheNight]

"Fair enough for me." Darkness soon replied to Ice after he heard her explanation of the temperature of her body. Well, she mad a valid point, and who was he to blame her or think less to of her? She was the adoptive daughter of his velobed Luna. Though he wondered how exactly would she react to the fact Luna and him were now a couple. But that could wait until Luna told her herself.

 

"I am gald you feel like that. Luna has also been looking forward to this day." He soon replied to Ice regarding the second part. He remembered the days when he was with his family to spent holidays, but those days had been long gone. Yet it was not bad. He had the night guards, Celestia and Luna as his new family, and he was more than happy with that. He was respected among all the divisions of the royal guards after all.

It didn't took long for them to reach the gates of the castle.

 

A pair of guards looked at Darkness and after a simple nod they oppened them for the two. One recognized the mare, since he had seen her before and was always allowed to access, but never knew who she was exactly.