Chapter 12: a snowy day.
"AHHHH!" Alpha screamed as he woke up violently. He looked around, finding out where he was and let out a sigh of relief as he remembered he was having a dream. He looked at the red coals where the fire was. He raised his eyes, looking at the snow, watching it. It snowed just yesterday and Alpha had no idea what it was and he did not care, until it began to snow harder and harder. When work ended early, Alpha raced to his Cave and rushed to start a fire. He never felt this cold in his life.
It's been 3 months since Alpha and Beta had broken into the Castle and stole the map. After Celestia realized that the map had been stolen, there has been a lot of activity happening at the Castle and in Equestria. More guards have arrived at Ponyville. Celestia blamed the new security as "reinforcing the Equestrian wall." Since then, Alpha decided to lay low, wait it out. His idea worked, after a month of intense paranoia, the guards left. But some of the paranoia stayed. Since breaking into the castle, Alpha hasn't heard or seen Zeta at all.
For the past 2 months, Alpha and Beta had memorized the map in case it was ever taken from them or was lost. The bond between them was growing stronger and faster. As Alpha trains on flying, his stamina increases. He can now go for hours on end without food or the need to stop and have a drink. Beta has grown immensely, magic wise. He can now fire spells without pause, dual fire spells at different objects, cloak Alpha more effectively by cloaking the sounds he makes, and teleport with causing much pain to Alpha.
Alpha stood up, leaving his wing laying on the rock wall and walked out into the snow. He smiled, laughing out loud as he walked in the snow, listening to the crunch whenever he placed his hoof on the snow. He grabbed his wing with his bag and slipped both on as he ran to the Village. Once there, he saw multiple ponies playing in the snow. Some colts were throwing balls of snow at each other, while some fillies where making what looked like a pony out of snow. He tilted his head in curiosity, watching as one of the fillies, which he recognized was Scootaloo, placing a black top hat on the snow-pony and letting out a sound of disappointment while staring at the figure. Scootaloo looked around and saw Alpha staring at the figure.
"Daddy, He is here!" Scootaloo said to her father. John's face popped out where the figure's head was supposedly to be. He laughed as he saw Alpha's face.
"Don't worry about me. I'm up." Beta said as he woke up. "What's wron…." Beta stopped midsentence as he looked at John. "What the hell?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Alpha muttered, looking at John. Scootaloo galloped up to Alpha.
"Alpha!" Scoot said as got close to Alpha. She looked at him with a worried face. "What's wrong?"
Alpha looked down at Scoot. "Oh, sorry, didn't see you there." He said, realizing where Scoot was. "I was confused what you and your father are doing."
"What do you mean?" She asked, confused, walking to her father.
Alpha followed her. "What are you building? Aren't you cold?"
"I'm not cold, and I'm building a snow-pony." Scoot replied.
"Oh." Alpha said. "Wait, what?" he replied a few seconds later.
"A snow-pony, silly!" She said as she tried to put more snow where her father's face was.
"Hey Alpha," John said, his mouth poking out of the snow.
"Hey John," Alpha said, looking at the snow thingy.
"How are you?" replied the red mouth that was sticking out.
"Cold, very cold." Alpha admitted, shivering.
John shook off the snow on his head and looked at the white colt standing in front of him. His skin was nearly the same as the snow, the only thing standing out was his hair and eyes. The colt was looking around. "I take it this is your first time seeing snow."
"Mine? Yes. His? No."
"His?"
Alpha glanced at John, his eye glowing red.
"It's the first time I have seen snow since I was here. It's a relief that it still snows. It used to be my favorite time of the year." Beta said aloud.
Scootaloo ran up to Beta. "Are you Beta?"
"Right now? Yes, I am. What is troubling you?"
"Legend has it that if a pony builds a snow-pony, puts a black top hat on it, and says some magical words, it will come alive. Sadly the magical words were lost as the legend was told. Daddy says that you were alive when ponies made snow-ponies come to life. Is that true?" Scootaloo said cheerfully.
"Believe it or not, that was true. I do not remember saying words to make it come alive though. I do remember that it wasn't just a pony, but an Alicorn. Create a snow-alicorn, don't give it a hat though. Instead give it a name, and it should come to life." Beta replied.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO MAKE A SNOW-PONY?!" Scootaloo complained. "I had to use my daddy as a mold to create one."
"That is why it is so hard to bring them to life. If they were easy to create, no pony would forget how to make one. But because it had to have wings and a horn, ponies forgot how to make them. Create an Alicorn out of snow, give it a name, and it will come to life. I promise you that." Beta explained. "Use water with snow to help it stick. Don't get the snow too wet or it won't stick."
"Daddy, can you help me?" Scoot said.
"Nah, I'm too cold to help, maybe later." John said as he shook off the snow. "I will be at the Market if you need me."
"Ok daddy, Bye Alpha." Scoot said as she ran after her friends.
"Alpha, walk with me." John said in a serious tune as he walked to the market.
"Yes, John?" Alpha replied as he followed.
"I did some…er….looking. And I found someponies. Two ponies in the matter of fact."
"And?"
"I think I found your parents."
Alpha stopped dead in his tracks. He looked around himself, looking for something.
"And they want to see….Alpha?" John said as he looked behind him. "Alpha, is everything alright?" John walked to Alpha. He waved his hoof in front of his face. "Alpha, are you listening to me?"
Alpha was not listening to John. He wasn't aware that he was near John. All the snow and the village was gone. He was having another flashback, and he knew what he was watching. He saw two Pegasuses walk down a grassy hill, a white colt with a black-turning-blue mane and two white wings running to the other colts, away from the Pegasuses, supposedly its parents. He looked to his right to see a Brown pony with black-turning-red hair and red eyes walk up to him.
"So this is how happened?"
"Yeah, this is how it happened."
The two watched as day turned to night and the white colt playing with the colts until there was only one remaining left. They watched as the colt left with his parents. leaving the white colt alone, waiting for his parents who would never return.
"That was harsh. They never came back?"
"No, I stayed there all night, thinking, hoping that they forgot about me. But they never came back."
The flashback and Beta faded away as he saw John staring at him.
"What is wrong, Alpha. Why are you crying?"
Alpha blinked and felt the warm liquid run down his face. "My parents abandoned me." He said, slowly, wiping his tears away with his hoof. "I don't want to meet them. I already have enough going in my life; I don't want to have to deal with them. Besides, I have something much more important to tell and show you. Come with me."
Alpha said, walking to the market, John following.
"I'm sorry, I did not know." John said.
"It's okay. You did nothing wrong." Alpha said as he walked to a table.
"I'm going to go get some hot chocolate. Do you want some?" John asked.
"Some what?"
"Yeah, you will want some." John said as he walked off.
"What is "hot chocolate"?"
"I really need to keep reminding myself about how long you stayed at the RF, because this is just gone too far. You really don't know what hot chocolate is?"
"No. I don't know what it is."
John came back with two cups of hot chocolate. He sat down and gave Alpha a cup. "Here."
Alpha watched as john gave him a cup and stared down at the cup. He took the cup with one hoof, and took a sip from it. "ACK!" He said as the liquid burnt his tongue.
"You don't like it?" John asked.
"I haven't tasted it yet, it's too hot. Anyway," Alpha said reaching in his bag and taking out the map. "I got something from the castle. Celestia raised the security 2 months ago because I broke in and stole it. What she says about "protecting the Equestrian line" is bullcrap." He said as he rubbed his eyes, dark bags were formed under them. "Look." Alpha said, pointing his hoof at Cloudsdale. "It's crossed out. I'll give you three guesses why."
"Is this a map of the Facilities across Equestria?" John said, his eyes widening.
"Yeah, Each X is a facility. This means there are more to destroy."
"No offense, but you nor your friend can destroy them alone."
"I know, Im considering on leaving Ponyville for the City. Start there, take out the corrupt cops and place cops that I know will make a difference. Start something new."
John choked on the drink. "Are you serious? I thought you destroyed the Factory and done doing stuff like that. You are serious of changing everything? Really?" He said, sounding more excited than worried.
"Yeah, why? I thought you knew that."
"I was not aware of that."
"I destroyed the factory because it needed to be done. Although I was free, I felt like I had a responsibility to free every pony that was stuck there. And I did. But now I realize that my work is not yet done. And I will do what I and Beta can to complete it." Alpha replied. He took another sip of the hot chocolate, this time being much more careful. He smiled as he tasted chocolate for the first time. It tasted sweet; unbearably sweet, but it had a dark tinge of bitterness. He let the liquid stay in his mouth as he tried to figure out what it tasted like. After a while he swallowed it and took another sip, this time gingerly. It was warm now, not too hot but not too cold. "I still don't know why I was allowed to live after I was punished for sparing that red mare 3 years ago." Alpha said as he touched his scar.
"That is in the past. You can't change the past."
Alpha laughed. "I know I cannot change the past. I know it's impossible. Im trying to figure out why it happened the way it did. I don't understand why. If I don't learn why it happened, at least no pony will have to go through what we went through at the damned facility. It's like a backup plan. If I don't learn why it happened, no pony goes through the RF." He looked to his right and watched as Scootaloo rolled around and played in the snow. "She goes to school, right?"
"Yes, she does." John replied, taken back with the sudden change in subject.
"I'm only 13. I am supposed to be in school, right?"
"Take away your time at the Facility, your wing being taken off, your parents abandoning you, and you not meeting Beta, yes, you are supposed to be in school."
"What is it like?"
"What is what like?"
"What is school like?"
John became silent. "I always hated school. I never fit in with the other ponies; they would call me names and isolate me."
"Story of my life." Alpha muttered. He frowned as he took of his metallic brace and rubbed what was left of his right wing with his left hoof. "I know I will never have a normal life. I never had a normal life and I never will." He looked John in the eye. "I will destroy ever factory in Equestria or I will die trying. Beta and I already memorized the map. Take it and find the others who escaped. Make Ponyville a hoof hold, a safe zone. Use the map and destroy the factories." He got up; slipping on his brace, this time making sure it was on tight. He flexed both wings, stretching for the journey ahead. Alpha looked back at John. "It was nice seeing you again."
"Daddy, look!" Scootaloo screamed. Alpha and John looked at her to see the snow-pony walk around Scootaloo, playing with her.
"I told you it would work. Good job." Beta said aloud.
Alpha extended both wings and flew upwards, a halo of red and blue exploded as he broke the sound barrier. He banked hard right and started to fly toward the city. He was eager to get started.
He wasn't the only Pegasus eager to get started. A blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane was eager to get back to work after the snow was cleared.