4:38 a.m.
“A what?” the cyan Pegasus yelped, clearly in disbelief.
“I said it was a wendigo, Dash.” The draconequus sat across of her with arms crossed, along with 4 other unhappy ponies.
“Ok, I get it! I messed up ok!” she shot up, hooves on her head. “If I knew there were pony-eating monsters on this mountain I would have never thought of doing this in the first place!”
She continued to receive angry glares from her friends.
“Seriously Dash, what made you think this was acceptable in the first place?” a white unicorn mare spoke up. "Scaring us, kidnapping us, and look what you did to your hair!"
“It was just a prank! I thought everyone would get a good laugh in the morning!”
“By almost drowning Fluttershy?” she turned back to the angry draconequus. If she wasn't careful with her next few lines, she might be the one getting drowned next.
“Hey! She’s still alive isn’t she?” she said defensively, earning a hiss from the draconequus.
“Listen! Bottom line is, Pinkie Pie has been taken by one of these ‘wendigos’, and we need to save her!” she shouted, arms in the air.
Everyone exchanged glances. They all had the urge to strangle her. But that wasn't going to help their situation.
Twilight spoke up.
“It’s not just Pinkie Pie, Dash. Starlight and Spike are out there too. And we have no idea what happened to them.”
“Relax, I’m sure Starlight can protect the both of them. Right?” she said, trying to brush her worst fears aside.
Twilight shook her head disapprovingly. The cyan Pegasus remained silent.
Suddenly they heard knocking. Everyone turned to one another.
“Open up! Open up!” the banging continue.
They knew that voice. Everyone raced to the door.
“Umpff!” Starlight landed on the floor. The cold wind started blowing in. “Close the door!”
Discord cocked a brow. “I’m guessing you’ve met the wendigo?”
“What?” the purple unicorn, still dazed, scrambled to her feet.
“White eyed, pale skinned, spider like creature.”
“Yes! H- How did you know?”
“Take a seat Star.” The draconequus motioned. Everyone resumed giving angry glares at Rainbow.
“Wait.” Twilight stopped her mid-track. “Where’s Spike?”
Starlight looked away, biting her lip.
“No, please tell me he’s alive!” The purple alicorn grabbed her. “He can’t be dead!”
“Twilight,” Discord placed a paw on her shoulder, then pulled her into a hug. She sobbed.
"It's ok. Just... let it go."
Discord glared at Rainbow again, who tried her best to evade her gaze.
Then came another knock. Everyone turned. There stood a silhouette they didn’t recognize, but Starlight did. She hurriedly pulled open the door.
“Alright ponies, let’s get down to business.” The griffin stepped in. He had a rough voice, and an even rougher exterior, one that showed the effects of living in wasteland for 40 years.
“And who the hay are you?” Applejack piped up.
“I was the one who saved her life,” he replied, pointing at Starlight. “And now I’m gonna tell everyone what’s going down tonight…”
“Wendigos,” Discord blurted, not even giving the stranger a chance to start.
“Wait. You know? Well did you know…”
“Spirits that possess the hungry and cold. Can only be killed by fire. ” He deadpaned.
“Huh.” The griffin looked displeased. It wasn't everyday he'd have his thunder stolen by somebody else. “Then there’s not much left for me to say.”
“What’s your name?” Starlight stepped forward, haven't been given the proper introduction she deserved.
The stranger exhaled. “Garbackle.”
Starlights's eyes widened in surprise. “Wait! You were one of the miners who got trapped in the mines! I've read about you!”
“Yes, I’m sure you have.” the griffin said, paying no attention to her, brushing snow off his feathers.
“But the report said you didn’t see any wendigos, and here you are now!”
Garbackle didn't say anything for a while. He stared at the floorboards, trying to find the right way to say things.
“Well, what happened in the mines, stay in the mines.”
"What does that mean?"
Garbackle continued to avoid eye contact. He softly replied, "I lied."
“But- But why?!”
The griffin took a deep breath. “Because I saw what they did. To Swift. They tortured him, fed him all sorts of pills, strapped him to his bed. It wasn't long until the wendigo took over him,” he said shaking his head. “I didn’t want to have the same fate.”
Everyone looked depressed. But Rainbow butted in.
“Ok we get that your life was interesting and all, but can we get to the problem here? My friend Pinkie Pie has been abducted by these wendigos and we need to save her!”
Garbackle proceeded calmly, “When was the last time you saw her?”
“She was tied to the shed,” Rainbow replied, looking rather sheepish.
“And why the hell was she tied to the shed?” the griffin asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what the hell happened to your hair?"
“Erm...” Rainbow blushed. "It's a long story."
“Doesn’t matter,” he said, “What’s important now is that we need to get her back alive. Now who’s up for this mission?”
Everyone pointed to Rainbow Dash.
“Well I guess yer a lucky fellor then,” he beamed, passing her a shotgun. “Follow my lead and you might not die…”
“Uh… Yeah sure…” a hint of uncertainty in her tone. She turned around, hoping her friends wouldn’t just let her go like that, but she saw Discord drawing a claw across his neck. She gulped.
“Garbackle sir,” Twilight stopped them at the door, “We have another friend that’s missing. He’s a baby dragon…”
“I'll keep my eyes peeled. But I'll be honest with you, if I were you, I’d assume he’s dead already.”
Twilight winced at the comment, and he and Dash went out into the snow.
Snow drifted calmly. A tiny snowflake drifted past Dash's nose.
“So umm… Garbackle right? How many wendigos have you killed?” Rainbow asked nervously.
“Too many to count."
“Oh, uhm... so have you always been living on this mountain? Like no offense, but you look really old..."
"I wasn't always a miner in these parts. I used to be a farmer, just like everybody else. Then the mine rush happened and practically everyone became miners because of the profit. And I joined in. Like the idiot that I was..."
They were both silent.
"If only I just stayed in Baltimare. Everything would be fine. I would never have seen the things I've seen..."
Rainbow tried to find the right words to say.
"Uhmm..."
“Shhh…” he covered her mouth. “We’re here.”
“Oh,” she looked up, realizing that they were indeed already there.
Garbackle motioned her to follow closely, as he pushed the door to the shed open, revealing an empty pole.
“Oh no…” Rainbow studied the scratch marks where Pinkie was.
“Well, that’s a shame. We best get going…” he turned for the door.
“You gotta be kidding me right?” Rainbow shouted, only to be met with another mouth full of talon.
“Shhhh!!! Do you wanna get us killed?” he whispered angrily, they both turned their attention to the outside.
There were rustling in the trees outside. Garbackle looked through the window. They were wendigos.
“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked anxiously, only to get her head held down.
“Shh." he said, "Wendigos outside.”
“Really?” Rainbow excitedly poked her head up, and was held down again.
“Stop moving! You’ll get us killed!”
Rainbow stopped moving.
The aged griffin breathed slowly, watching the wendigos as they watched them back.
They weren't going anywhere.
"Listen kid," he spoke, still holding her head in his talons. "Only one of us is gettin' outta this." He swallowed hard.
"Wha-?" Rainbow asked, only to have her mouth covered again.
"I'm gonna run outside to distract them. You take the shotgun and run."
"But-"
"Just do it." He glared her coldly, not wanting to waste any more time.
Rainbow nodded uncertainly as she watched him get up from their hiding spot. He peered through the crack in the door, and before she knew it, he was already gone.
Alright Dash, game time.
Rainbow dashed out the other end, making sure that no wendigo was following her. She beat her wings as fast as they could go, hoping to make a safe flight all the way to the lodge. But fate had other ideas.
From the corner of her eye she could see a white figure following her, and it was catching pretty fast. Rainbow zipped between the trees hoping to lose it, but it was way faster than her.
It jumped. She turned. She shot.
The wendigo flew a couple feet back, and Dash pummeled into the snow.
She got up quickly. According to Discord, a gunshot wasn't really going to slow it down for long. Rainbow picked herself up, and started zipping through the forest again.
No doubt, the wendigo got back up again, and was chasing Dash once more. This time, she had made sure it didn't come to close.
*BANG*
The gunshot rang through the woods.
"Yeah! Take that you skinny freak!" Dash mocked as she flew on up the trail.
Finally she saw the lodge.
She flew as fast as her wings could bring her, banging loudly on the door.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she called.
Out from the corner came Fluttershy, still looking distressed as she were before.
"FLUTTERSHY! FLUTTERSHY OPEN UP!"
Fluttershy turned around, only to stare wide eyed at the pony who had put her through unspeakable things.
"C'MON OPEN UP!"
Fluttershy just stood there, in shock as she recalled the hellish night she went through.
"FLUTTERSHY PLEASE!"
Fluttershy couldn't move. She didn't know how to react to Rainbow Dash anymore. Her best friend since fillyhood who wouldn't think twice about drowning her.
"FLUTTERSHY!!!!!!"
And that's when she saw it.
The beast. 5 feet tall crawling behind Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy just stared, unable to move.
Rainbow noticed. She turned around.
*SCREEEEEEEEEECH*
The wendigo's voice was deafening. It held out a claw, ready to strike.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Rainbow screamed, closing her eyes.
Then she heard a loud shot. And the sound of glass breaking.
She turned around. It was Twilight.
Twilight opened the door and pulled her in.
Before she could thank Twilight for her rescue, she was already being carried by her aura. "We need to get downstairs. Now." Twilight said sternly.
She and Fluttershy were being dragged by Twilight down the hall. Fluttershy was still frozen from the shock, and Rainbow, looking back at the door where the glass was shattered, was stunned from her near death experience.