The Coming of the cold
"I tell you, Princess Celestia was the kind ruler!" Applejack snapped angrily, with the mares behind her nodded their heads in agreement. "She ruled the solar empire, and protected us all from the tyrant Nightmare Moon!"
"Nightmare Moon was just a piece of lying propaganda! How dare you talk like you were actually there!" Cherries Jubilee snapped back at her. "Princess Luna was the savoir of Ponykind, she protected the Lunar republic from her evil sister!"
What had started in the friendly debate in the garden, had turned into a seriously heated argument over the topic Sun Shimmer had assigned to most of these mother's children the day before. Just as she had intended, the mothers had read the enchanted text, and fallen under her spell just as their daughters had. The mare smiled as she passed the garden, reveling in the strife and arguing she had successfully caused.
"These gullible fools are falling right into my hooves like a moth to a flame." The mare thought to herself, as she trotted away from the castle gardens "Just throw the right fuel onto the fire, and it spreads just like a virus!"
As she trotted by the kitchen, the unicorn heard another argument coming out from the entrance, as two mares devoted their energies to another argument based on her second and third homework questions.
"I'm telling you, Pinkie Pie was a cannibal!" Sweet Stuff roared, an uncharacteristic anger spweing forth from the kind pony. "She served up Rainbow Dash as a a plate full of desserts!"
"No she did not! It was Rainbow Dash who was the monster!" Gingerbread whinnied back angrily. "That Pegasus ground up foals in Cloudsdale to make rainbows!"
She peeked her head around the corner into the kitchen, to see the two cooks hurling pots and pans at each other. Giggling to herself, the mare trotted her way down the hall, where Posey and Surprise argued about Equestria once being overrun by zombies, and Wind Whistler and Fizzy screamed at each other about Equestria forcibly turning humans into ponies on the other.
At the end of the hallway, Sun came to the iron gate to the stallion's quarters in the castle basement. The powerful unicorn Mimic held the gate in place with her magic, as the stallions behind it snarled and kicked at the gate angrily.
"You unicorn devil!" Thundercloud roared from behind the gate, as Miss Shimmer past by on the other side. "What the flank have ye done ta our mares?"
"Oh shut your trap, you filthy male!" The mare snorted back. "It's a shame you and your friends are immune to my magic due to your devolved stallion brains. Don't worry though, your ends will come soon enough." She turned to Mimic. "Make sure you keep them down there, the human sorceress has them under her control!"
"No problem, Miss Shimmer!" The mare with the glowing eyes turned and slammed her hoof against the grating. "Be silent, you stupid stallions. This is for your own good!"
Sun kept walking, finally making her way into the throne room. There, Twilight Shine protected herself and Megan beneath an energy shield her magic was generating, as other unicorns and earth ponies slammed against the barrier.
"Oh no, Twilight!" The frightened human girl cried out. "They going to get through!"
"Don't worry Megan, I can keep this shield up!" But as she saw the teacher, the unicorn with the glowing horns eyes went wide. "You! You're the cause of all this, you fork tongued old nag!"
"Ahhhh, there you are, Twilight!" Sun Shimmer sneered, as she trotted up behind the ponies that were trying to attack the two friends under the shield. "I should of figured you'd be protecting the human tramp from her just deserved justice."
"You, you old witch!" Megan yelled, clenching her fists as she glared at sun. "What have you done to our friends!?"
"Oh, just opened their eyes, with a little enchantment I put on my loyal students' homework." Sun chortled. "Can you actually believe that there is a mind manipulation enchantment that warps and clouds mares minds, that's activated simply by getting the mare to read the cursed text? Quite a brilliant genius, that old Starswirl the bearded was."
"So you were trying to take control of their minds?" Twilight asked, as the ponies continued to chip away at the shield. "But why the historical revisionism? Why teach lies if you were just going to brainwash them anyway?"
"The enchantment weaves it's magic though lies, Twilight Shine." Sun sneered. "It uses deceptions to work it's way into the brain, and so warp a mare's judgment that they are easy for me to control." She pointed a hoof back at the attacking ponies with the glowing eyes. "When I tell the foals lies like there Rainbow Dash sacrificing foals, or Pinkie Pie making her friends into cupcakes... well, it was easy to twist their minds with such fantastic falsehoods. I had to step it up with the adults, but the little kiddies led them right into my clutches."
"But why?" Megan asked, wrapping her arms around Twilight's neck defensively, as the mare tried desperately to keep the shield up. "Why are you doing this to Dream Valley?"
"Payback, for what my mother went though." The mare's eye twitched, as she glared at the pink unicorn. "Sunset Shimmer...does your family remember that name? Your ancestor left her in the human world to rot, and when she finally found her way back, Equestria was gone!" The angry mare turned away, as she tried to fight back her tears. "You... your family... this whole stinking kingdom that sheltered the house of Twilight... you're all going to feel the pain my mother did!"
"You won't get away with this!" Megan screamed defiantly, her hatred of the mare before her driving her anger. "when Queen Majesty gets back, she'll-"
"By the time your mighty Queen returns, there won't be a Dream Valley." The mare smiled, looking up through the glass dome in the center of the throne room. "You see, the second phase of my plan is about to take place."
The young girl looked up at the skylight, where she saw tiny snowflakes falling onto the roof above. a sudden chill began to fill the air, and Megan could hear the sound of a spectral horse's whinny coming from outside.
"What's that's sound?" The young girl asked, suddenly more frightened. "And why is it snowing in late May?"
"It seems all this fighting in Dream Valley has attracted some... unwanted attention." Sun looked back down at the two friends her magic could not control. "It seems without their weekly horsemaster meditations and prayers to keep them calm, the mares of the castle have gotten awfully angry..."
"The windigoes..." Twilight replied in horror. "So that's it, you're planning to freeze us all to death!"
"Oh, not you two!" Miss Shimmer chuckled. "I am going to get the shear entertainment of watching your dear friends tear the two of you limb from limb. The looks of horror on your faces before they reduce your corpses to a blood-stained mess of meat and bone will be priceless!"
"You sick demented mare!" Twilight snorted. "Take your revenge on us, if you so wish, but spare poor Megan! She has done no harm to you!"
"She will die with the rest of you!" Sun spat. "That human is the worst scourge ever visited on your herd! Taking away Dream Valley's self-reliance, leading all of you around by the nose..." The unicorn glared at Megan. "You are against everything Equestria stood for! I hate you, hate your sickeningly sweet smile, hate your cuteness and your repulsive kindness! I absolutely hate how you poison this perfect world with your sickening human presence!" The clearly insane mare shrieked, saliva flying from her mouth as she raged. "A little girl like you has no place in the world of ponies!"
"As opposed to what, hairy old men?" Megan snapped back, trying to use sarcasm to hide her fear. "I'll never leave my little ponies, you demented sicko!"
"ENOUGH TALK!" Sun raged, stamping her hoof in anger. "Now, all of Dream Valley shall feel my mother's wrath! And you two shall never leave this room alive!"
The mare's maddened laughter echoed though Dream Castle. The skylight overhead suddenly imploded, and several ferocious looking horse-like spirits swooshed around over their heads. Ice began to creep up the columns, and the hooves of their equine attackers, and Megan and Twilight huddled together to keep warm, as the energy shield slowly iced up all around them...
"M-megan..." Twilight wimpered, nuzzling up to the little girl as the last of her strength went out. "I-t's so c-cold..."