Twilight and The Doctor left Ponyville and headed toward Canterlot. The Air was constantly getting colder, and this slowed them down quite a bit. Even with Twilight’s warmest saddle she was still a bit cold. They traveled close together trying to use each other to stay warm. It took most of the day to reach the caves under Canterlot. Going inside, Twilight reached into herself and focused a light spell into her horn, illuminating the area around them.
The Doctor took out a rod of some kind, and seemed to turn it on, and held it in his mouth as he walked.
“What is that?” Twilight asked.
“Oh,” Time Turner said passively, “It’s just my sonic-screwdriver. I will use it to scan the walls to see if I can find a way into the mines from her.”
“A what,” Twilight said, “I have never heard of anything like that.”
“I kind of can’t explain it right now,” The Doctor said, avoiding the question.
“Well fine maybe later,” Twilight said, though this was not going to be the end of it, “At least tell me how we can find this entrance.”
“Just watch,” and with that The Doctor started walking as he scanned the wall.
They walked on mostly in silence, with the Doctor talking to himself most of the time. Twilight didn’t mind though she had her own problems to think about. She had to decide what she was going to tell the princess and what they might be able to do about this problem without the elements. She didn’t want to think of what might happen if she could not return Ponyville back to normal, but she could not help it, and the more she thought about it the more her anxiety began to slip in again.
They continued on for about an hour when the doctor suddenly stopped, “There should be an old entrance right here.” He inspected the wall for a bit then, “This entrance was covered up when the train was built.”
“Move,” Twilight said, “I got this.” Twilight lowered her head as she focused as much of her power as she could into her horn, releasing it in one blast. This was not an easy task for her since this was a relatively new spell, and it left her a bit exhausted.
The Doctor inspected the wall, “That was a good hit. It may have not knocked the wall down it weakened the structure. Now we might be able to kick it down if we work together, but first you need to rest.”
Twilight rested for a few good minutes before she decided to get up, “Ok,” she said, “I think I am ready to do this.”
Twilight backed up on the wall with Time Turner next to her, “On the count of three, One… two… three…” Twilight and The Doctor reared up at the same time and bucked the wall as hard as they could. Twilight was not prepared though. As she felt the wall cave in a little she lost her footing and landed on her face.
“Are you alright?” the Doctor asked out of formality.
“Yes, I just didn’t expect that.”
Twilight got herself up right, and together they did it a few more times. Finally they were able to knock the wall down.
As they stepped inside, they began to look at their surroundings. The walls were of rough cut stone. The gems that were once imbedded into the walls were long time mined out, leaving behind small crevices. The caves were obviously very old from the stalactites and stalagmites forming solid pillars. The one thing that was different form the last time Twilight was in her was that everything was covered in ice. It seemed that the winter that was covering Canterlot was compressed into these caves. The clouds that were the hallmark of the windigos’ blow covered the ceiling and seeped down creating a light cover of fog throughout the caverns.
Twilight began to have second thoughts, but this was the only way. She could not allow herself to back out now. The fate of Equestria depended on her again, but as always before she would not let it down.
Slowly they stepped through the caves. Each step was taken carefully. The Doctor led the way with his device. The walls frozen in ice did not change the view of the caves that much since the walls were normally covered in clear gems anyways, but Twilight had only been down her once before and then she had been hurrying through trying to escape. This time she took her time picking up any small detail that she could find. She would have to report this to the princess, for if she could find a way through it would only be time before someone else did too.
It would not take as long as expected to navigate the caves. The mines were one big twisting labyrinth, but twilight could teleport when necessary and the Doctor’s device would help to point them in the right direction.
Over time they could hear the howls of the windigo in the clouds, but to what Twilight understood was that so long as they did not fall to the hate that was filling all Equestria, the windigos could not affect them, or so she hoped.
There, she could see it. She now remembered where she was. They had reached the end and the exit should be close. But as she got closer to it the cold fog began to grow thicker and the howls of the windigos sharper. As she stepped toward the exit four windigos stepped form the clouds before them.
“Now what,” Twilight said, “I have never had to fight a windigo before.”
“Well,” The Doctor said, “What are these windigos?”
“They’re spirits that feed off of hate,” Twilight answered quickly, “They create winter storms, and the more hate they have to feed off of the stronger the storm they create, and they go wherever there is hate to feed off of.”
“Ah, so that is why this harsh winter has come.” The Doctor said, “I just assumed that maybe the pegasi where just in a foul mood too. Though it does make sense that they would have to suffer the cold weather too.”
The windigos began to close in on the two of them. There flanks were tight so Twilight would not be able to find a way through. Each second gave the windgos time to advance. The Doctor stood there mumbling to himself a few calculations from his device.
“Ok,” he said, “I can tell that they are actually a part of the storm they create and that if we were to try and run through them we would probably be frozen solid. As for the rest of this data I can’t quite make out what it means. I have never come across anything like this before.”
Then Twilight looked up just in time to see two icicles shoot past her, just barely missing. Now she knew she was in trouble. She stepped to the side and as another flurry of them came right at her.
The Doctor knew there was only one way to get past them, “Twilight, I am going to run straight for them and distract them. They won’t expect it. Then you have to run past them and make it out of here. That is our only choice.”
“No I can’t let you do that,” Twilight pleaded, “Please don’t make me do it.”
“I’m sorry Twilight, but it is the only way, just don’t let my sacrifice go to waste,” and with that he charged forward, not giving Twilight the time for a rebuttal.
Twilight was stunned for a second but recovered for she knew that he was right. Though she could not stand the thought, she also would not let him sacrifice himself in vain. She launched herself around the windigos while they were distracted by Time Turner, and leaped through the exit that leads into the castle of Canterlot.
All she could do was to keep on running until she made it to the main hall, where the throne was. She would not stop for anything and she would not let anything stand in her way. Only once she was through those doors would she ever allow herself the rest.