CHAPTER-1 SNOWMEN “Chryst,” called out Celestia, walking downstairs, “Do you realize I have been calling you for so long?” “I do.” Called out Chryst, he looked up at Celestia, in her dress, wearing her tiara. “What’s the matter?” he stood up, Celestia finally made it down. “You told Aurora about Questria? Don’t lie.” She growled. “No! – In Fact, yes! I mean- I told her only a bit!” “A bit?” She asked, “You told her the whole story like it was all connected to her, like she was the chosen one!” “Aurora needs to know all of this!” “No, she doesn’t!” Celestia yelled. Chryst’s blue eyes stared into Celestia’s empty, hazel eyes, he grasped her hand and took her away from the hall where anyone couldn’t hear them, he took her to the pantry. Celestia was leaning against the wall, Chryst was sitting on the bags of rice. “It’s now or in the future, Aurora has to learn the truth!” He whispered, still holding Celestia’s hand. “But, I- “ He covers her mouth, gestures her to not talk, he sensed someone was approaching, Celestia was still trying to talk, Chryst takes her to the far corner of the pantry, and whispers- “Someone is outside, probably Aurora.” “I- I just want to- “ “Celestia, please?” It was Aurora, the child who was told the entire story about who her mother, and her father are, which she wasn’t supposed to ever know. “Mom? Where are you?” Aurora called out. “I’m he-!” Celestia was about to answer but Chryst covered her mouth again. “Please don’t talk, this isn’t the right time…!’ A while after Aurora left, Chryst lets Celestia speak. “What’s wrong with you? I am talking to my daughter!” She pushes him away, and walks outside. Chryst grabs her and he comes closer to her, “Don’t ever think of leaving me or Aurora” “Huh, you’re just pathetic! I wonder why my brother thought it was the greatest choice of his life, that he was to get me married to the prince like he was the best!” she groaned.“Maybe your brother found me different! Also, why not we go see the snowfall?” “Please Chryst! I never asked to be a part of your stupidity.” “It’s now or never!” He grinned “Oh god! –” He runs to the stable, holding Celestia’s hand, firmly. They see a white horse with lustrous, silver mane, golden eyes and shining in the stable alone. “Sit on it, I’m coming.” Chryst walks to the place where the ropes were, he readied the horse while Celestia was swinging her feet. Then Chryst ran inside, Celestia groaned. He came outside with a hat and a shawl. “It’s going to be sunny out there, wear the hat, since it’s windy, I got you a shawl.” He said while giving her the hat and the shawl. After Celestia wore the shawl and the hat, Chryst sat behind her, held the horse’s rein, and rode swiftly to the meadows. Indeed, it was quite windy and sunny at the same time. Celestia held her hat tightly, “Go slowly!” “The more, the better!” Chryst retorted, his voice was not fully hearable as the wind was fast, eventually the clouds covered the Sun, and it started snowing. “Oh dear! Chryst, we better go back, ‘When it snows it is a sign that one shall not stay outside unless it is not a snowstorm!’” “You’re such a scaredy cat! You’re frightened by snow? You haven’t seen how fun it is!” Chryst yelled while Celestia covered her face in Chryst’s coat. Gradually, they reached the top of the hill, the panorama was mesmerising, if only Celestia has no snow in her hair! Chryst knelt at the bank of snow, his fingers carving lines into the white surface as if he were to carve the battlefield by himself.
“Do you see?” he murmured, voice low but insistent. “The snow is so soft, like us! It’s not that I was wrong- that Aurora isn’t learning family matters.” Celestia pulled her shawl tighter, her eyes darting to the horizon where the meadow blurred into a curtain of white. “You and your perspective often surprise me; you, you think that one shall be open to children. I-I think that we shall tell one when they are mature, you just burdened a child, who hasn’t learned how to wear a corset!” He rose, brushing the flakes from his coat, his eyes locked on hers. “I think I did the right thing’ she is mature enough! Aurora isn’t a small child anymore.” Celestia stepped back, her boots sinking into the drift. “And yet, you would drag me into the storm before the path is clear.” The horse stamped, its golden eyes flashing, mane glittering with frost. The meadow seemed to hush, as though listening. Chryst’s voice softened, almost pleading now: “Celestia, if not now, then when? Aurora would once learn it! Not from us, then from someone else! You can’t baby a grown-up girl.” She turned from him, her breath clouding in the cold, and whispered to herself, “I am not “babying” Aurora, I’m just trying to make you understand the difference in responsibility and force; which perhaps is the same for you.” Chryst didn’t answer. He was crouched in the drift, shaping snow into a figure, his laughter breaking the silence. “See? This one is Aurora,” he said, patting the snowman’s round head. “And this one—this is you.” Celestia’s eyes burned. “You think this is a game? You told her what she should have known later, and now you sit here building snowmen as if nothing matters?!” Chryst looked up, his eyes bright with mischief. “Snowmen don’t lie, Celestia. They stand, silent and simple, while storms rage. Maybe Aurora deserves the same—truth, even if it chills her.” Her voice rose, sharp against the wind. “Truth is not yours to scatter like snow! My duty is to protect her, to keep her from burdens she cannot carry. You’ve stolen that choice from me.” The horse stamped, restless, its golden eyes flashing. The meadow seemed to hush, listening to her words. Chryst’s grin faltered. He pressed another clump of snow into place, but his hands trembled. “You call it theft. I call it destiny. Aurora must know what is the story; the story that you know half!” Celestia stepped closer, her shawl trailing in the storm, her hair crowned with flakes. “No, Chryst. I know the whole story, I needed you to keep one, one, simple, yet hard, a secret, from Aurora till her 18th birthday. You couldn’t even do that!” The snow fell heavier, covering the fragile figures until they began to collapse. Celestia watched them sink into the drift, her voice steady: "And like these snowmen, your visions will melt away. But my duty will remain."
