Out With a Bang
Jan. 25th, 2016 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twilightponyAfter breakfast on the second day, all bleary eyed for some of us that had danced until the wee hours of the morning, we put on our saddlebags and winter garb and headed to the fairgrounds. Two official ponies ran up looking for Spike, and finding him with us, spirited him off to stand with Festival princess and announce archery and jousting events.
We watched those events, ate ice flower nectar on the snow, cheered on the snowshoe race (how do those ponies keep from tripping over their own feet?), admired more ice sculptures in the making, ate from the food kiosks, went down the giant ice slide, and had a real good time. We were invited to supper with Princess Cadence so we headed back to the castle as night was starting to fall, passing the evening Festival parade on the way. Spike caught up with us at supper, looking a little worn out. He fell asleep in his plate. During the supper, Princess Cadence told us that we must go out for a walk in the streets of the Crystal Empire later. She wouldn't tell us more, just that we should be in for a nice surprise. So after dessert, and after tucking Spike into bed, we met by the door and went out to look for this mysterious surprise.
Outside it was snowing. That wasn't much of a surprise, I had noticed Cloudsdale's arrival earlier that afternoon. The only unusual thing was that they had the clouds snowing at night. I guessed it was to avoid interfering with the festival events? So we kept walking, circling the castle. It was very nice out. Not too cold, the fallen snow making everything look softer, rounder and quieter. The snowflakes were very nice, stellar dendrites, geometric and crystalline, perfect for the Winter Festival. There were happy crystal ponies walking alone and in pairs, like us, watching the snow drift down from the sky.
Suddenly I felt a surge of happiness that is almost palpable. We turned toward the castle just as The Crystal Heart started to flare, sending skyward rivers of rainbow hued light. It painted the clouds and bounced back into the city, reflecting off every snowflake and causing them to spin through the air in time with the Crystal Heart. I was in total awe. Thousands, millions of Crystal Hearts, all around us. I had never seen anything so beautiful.
I barely noticed that we had been turned to crystal, same as the crystal ponies nearby. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and myself, all we could do is sit down right there, hug and stare up in agog. As we hugged, we too began to glow. Crystal ponies looked out of windows and doorways and those in the street stopped to stare as the bouncing reflections from the Crystal Heart entered our translucent bodies and accumulated. That attracted more of the liquid light to us, building up until all I could see was brilliance everywhere. Every snowflake, every building, every pony around us stood out in blinding but minute detail. Dazzling, beautiful, and painful. And then we let go. In one blast, the light within us was released, flash flooding the entire Empire, rocketing down every street, in all directions and lighting up the countryside in rainbow hues.
I think all of Equestria must have seen that flash. When we got back yesterday, from the moment when we got off the train in Ponyville and clear across town, everypony we met wanted to know if we had seen and felt the glorious flash from the north. Yes we had.
We had seen the flash and it was us.
I'm still a bit shaky.
I had weird dreams that night. I think we all did. Although with Pinkie, it's hard to tell sometimes. We ate a late breakfast. Spike had already left for the fairgrounds. Cadence came down to eat with us and hear all about our experience of the night before, straight from the horse's mouth. Let's just say that the flash was not the surprise she'd expected. But we were OK so we said goodbye to Princess Cadence, thanked her for stabling and feeding us and we went off to enjoy our last day at the Winter festival.
There were no snowshoe races or archery that day, but instead there was ice skating and a food fair. I left the stating to Pinkie and Rarity, but the food fair was fantastic! So many strange but tasty concoctions, dishes and grasses. But best of all were the teas, aromatic herbs, spices and flavors! I bought quite an assortment, in doubles so I can share with Zecora. We spent most of the day grazing on all the good food that was just everywhere. We never did stop for lunch. Or supper.
After Spike made one last appearance in the evening parade, we collected our things and caught the last train back to Ponyville.
The festival is not over. It lasts two weeks, with still more activities, such as the costume ball next week. Spike will be going back for the closing parade and fireworks.
We watched those events, ate ice flower nectar on the snow, cheered on the snowshoe race (how do those ponies keep from tripping over their own feet?), admired more ice sculptures in the making, ate from the food kiosks, went down the giant ice slide, and had a real good time. We were invited to supper with Princess Cadence so we headed back to the castle as night was starting to fall, passing the evening Festival parade on the way. Spike caught up with us at supper, looking a little worn out. He fell asleep in his plate. During the supper, Princess Cadence told us that we must go out for a walk in the streets of the Crystal Empire later. She wouldn't tell us more, just that we should be in for a nice surprise. So after dessert, and after tucking Spike into bed, we met by the door and went out to look for this mysterious surprise.
Outside it was snowing. That wasn't much of a surprise, I had noticed Cloudsdale's arrival earlier that afternoon. The only unusual thing was that they had the clouds snowing at night. I guessed it was to avoid interfering with the festival events? So we kept walking, circling the castle. It was very nice out. Not too cold, the fallen snow making everything look softer, rounder and quieter. The snowflakes were very nice, stellar dendrites, geometric and crystalline, perfect for the Winter Festival. There were happy crystal ponies walking alone and in pairs, like us, watching the snow drift down from the sky.
Suddenly I felt a surge of happiness that is almost palpable. We turned toward the castle just as The Crystal Heart started to flare, sending skyward rivers of rainbow hued light. It painted the clouds and bounced back into the city, reflecting off every snowflake and causing them to spin through the air in time with the Crystal Heart. I was in total awe. Thousands, millions of Crystal Hearts, all around us. I had never seen anything so beautiful.
I barely noticed that we had been turned to crystal, same as the crystal ponies nearby. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and myself, all we could do is sit down right there, hug and stare up in agog. As we hugged, we too began to glow. Crystal ponies looked out of windows and doorways and those in the street stopped to stare as the bouncing reflections from the Crystal Heart entered our translucent bodies and accumulated. That attracted more of the liquid light to us, building up until all I could see was brilliance everywhere. Every snowflake, every building, every pony around us stood out in blinding but minute detail. Dazzling, beautiful, and painful. And then we let go. In one blast, the light within us was released, flash flooding the entire Empire, rocketing down every street, in all directions and lighting up the countryside in rainbow hues.
I think all of Equestria must have seen that flash. When we got back yesterday, from the moment when we got off the train in Ponyville and clear across town, everypony we met wanted to know if we had seen and felt the glorious flash from the north. Yes we had.
We had seen the flash and it was us.
I'm still a bit shaky.
I had weird dreams that night. I think we all did. Although with Pinkie, it's hard to tell sometimes. We ate a late breakfast. Spike had already left for the fairgrounds. Cadence came down to eat with us and hear all about our experience of the night before, straight from the horse's mouth. Let's just say that the flash was not the surprise she'd expected. But we were OK so we said goodbye to Princess Cadence, thanked her for stabling and feeding us and we went off to enjoy our last day at the Winter festival.
There were no snowshoe races or archery that day, but instead there was ice skating and a food fair. I left the stating to Pinkie and Rarity, but the food fair was fantastic! So many strange but tasty concoctions, dishes and grasses. But best of all were the teas, aromatic herbs, spices and flavors! I bought quite an assortment, in doubles so I can share with Zecora. We spent most of the day grazing on all the good food that was just everywhere. We never did stop for lunch. Or supper.
After Spike made one last appearance in the evening parade, we collected our things and caught the last train back to Ponyville.
The festival is not over. It lasts two weeks, with still more activities, such as the costume ball next week. Spike will be going back for the closing parade and fireworks.
