//------------------------------// // It Begins // Story: Revenge of the Windigos // by Solid Script //------------------------------// Ponyville From the trees in the Everfree forest, three pairs of energized eyes watch the preparations for the Hearth Warming festivities with disgust. Cumulus, Nimbus, and Stratus had indeed reformed after their fight with the princesses and were severely punished they were cursed by their king to stay trapped in their empowered forms and to be in constant agony from the power that flowed through them. Century after century of watching the celebration of their defeat and the constant torture they endured year round, enraged the three spies to no end but the ponies time was coming, they’ve waited this long a little longer wouldn't hurt. The Windigos looked at each other and nodded knowing that it was time as they turned away from the town and flew deeper into the Everfree forest. They then came upon a thicket of brambles, flew over to a giant rock over top a hole, changed into their fog form, and seeped past the rock into the hole. They glided down through the cave until they came upon the Mirror Pool, the perfect place to secretly contact their king. Of course, there was a close call when some hyperactive mare came and kept using the magic waters but in the end, it had worked out in the windigos favor for it had insured that nopony would ever disturb this place again. The spies formed their legs as they landed near the edge of the pool. They lowered their heads over the water and blew a freezing breath onto the pool freezing the lake’s surface. They breathed once more on the pool causing a dark cloud mass to form on the surface until it took the shape of their king. “Myy kiing Noreeasster, wee haave newsss to repooort,” Cumulus said. “Weee have fooound whaaat iss left oof the Nightmaare Fooorce,” Nimbus said. "And whaaat of the Changelingsss and the Alicooorn Amuleeet?!" demanded Noreaster. "The Changelingsss aaare still traaapped beneeath theeir cassstle, the amulet, ssstiill remaaains under the guard of the Zeeebra enchaaantresss," Stratus said. “Excccelleeent my loyal spiiies. retrieeeve what remaaainss of the Nightmare Fooorce and the Parasiiitesss and briiing theeem to meee!” Noreaster commanded. "Whaaat of the Alicooorn Amuleeet?" Nimbus questioned. "Leeeave it beee for nooow, I dooo not want any suspicions aroused of my plaaans, at least, nooot yeeet." "It shaaall be asss you saaay my king, however, there isss the proooblem of the alicorn filly,"said NImbus. "A neeew power iss grooowing within her, an anciiient pooower that manifesssted itseeelf after the fall of Tireeek." "Is ssshe awaaare of her powersss?" "Nooo my king, if anything, sssheee is afraaaid of it, hiiides it, and repressess it. Her seeelf loathing isss...intoxicating," said Stratus his eyes twinkling with lust. "Curbe your urgesss! I know of the fiiilly's truuue powerrr I feeelt it the minute sheee wass brought into this miiiserable wooorld, but sooon whatever threeeat sheee poooses will be nuuullifiiied along with the othersss. Until then, just keep waaatching heeer," Noreaster ordered. “But myyy king, the filly isss weeeak we should striiike her nooow before she ruins your plaanss!” Stratus argued. No sooner than the words had left Stratus's mouth that he wished that he could have taken them back. Suddenly, the temperature dropped, the cave became so cold that a thick layer of ice formed along the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cave. The surface of the frozen lake became as black as tar. The three windigos starred in horror as long tendrils of lightning burst forth from the lake. Cumulus and Nimbus quickly moved out of their's king line of fire as a tendril snaked out and grabbed Stratus and lifted him over the ice to stare into the furious and merciless eyes of the king reflected in the icy surface. “YOOOU INSSSIGNIFICANT FOOOL!" Noreaster shouted in fury sending a cold blast of wind across Stratus's face.'WHOOO ARE YOOOU TO QUESSSTION MEEE?! “Fooor...giiive meee my kiiing!” Stratus pleaded. “III miiisspoke." Noreaster flung Stratus against the wall. Cumulus and Nimbus flew over to their brother as he got to his feet. The tendrils receded back into the ice. “Neeever quuuesstion me again!” Noreaster commanded in a low but powerful voice. “Weee exiiist only to seeerve yooou my kiiing,” Cumulus said. “Dooo...nooot...faaail...meeee. NOOOW GOOO!” Noreaster commanded. Noreaster’s image vanished and the lake unfroze. The spies seeped out of the hole and went about their business. In the dense part of the Everfree, forest there is a hut and in that hut lives Zecora the zebra. She takes out a cup from her cupboard and goes over to her herb shelves. She searches until she finds the tea leaves she desires and places them in the tea, she then waves her hoof over the cup and piping hot tea filled the cup. As Zecora took in the tea’s aroma a look of pure pleasure formed on her face. She sat down and began to drink as she nearly drained the tea from her cup thinking of her Hearth Warming plans a strong gust of wind blew into her window. Zecora put her tea down and walked over to the window, but as she was about to close it shut she saw an unfamiliar mare in front of her hut. Zecora could not see the mare’s face the only features that could be seen where the long spiral white horn from her forehead and the Ursa Major cloak the covered her. Zecora let out a gasp as she backed away from the window. The snow spiraled around the mare and she was gone. “A star cloaked mare all alone in the snow presents a great omen of danger and whoa,” Zecora said to herself. Zecora rushed back to her table and took her teacup in her hoof. She closed her eyes and began to chant. However, she was not casting the spell on the tealeaves she was casting it on herself. The information on tea leave reading is greatly misconstrued and for the most part is a lot of crock, for the tea leaves cannot tell the future but can be used as a focus for ponies that can and Zecora was one of those ponies. She didn’t use the gift too often because knowing the future can be a dangerous thing and the gift can be turned into a crutch if used too often. As Zecora finished her chant, she opened her eyes and starred into the cup as the leaves began to take shape and form. “A grave future for Equestria I see for this year shall return an ancient enemy. However, I see the future doesn’t just rely on the mane six but in the inhabitants of this nation and especially little Nyx. A terrible trail she must face and regretfully I see it is the only way for her to come into her destiny. The outcome of her trial is blurred but in order for even the smallest victory to be assured of these things I must not say a word,” Zecora said sadly remembering another reason why she didn’t like to look into the future. As Zecora was about to put the cup down the leaves once more swirled around until they shaped themselves into a familiar shape of a certain piece of jewelry that she now protected. “So unwelcomed visitors soon I will get and they wish to steal the Alicorn Amulet. Though futile for certain future events to impede, the thieves will get the amulet over my dead body,” Zecora proclaimed. In another part of Everfree the windigos fly over to the castle of Nightmare Moon. When Nyx had briefly taken over Equestria, Spell Nexus had insisted that a new castle be built in honor of their new ruler. When Nyx was returned to normal the castle was abandoned, nopony ever went there…well almost nopony. The Windigos entered the castle and flew through its empty halls, it seemed as though loneliness itself lived there, the howling winter winds made it sound as if the castle itself wailed like an abandoned foal. They flew into the throne room until they had come upon the discarded remains of Nightmare Moon’s armor. The spies were impeded the first two times they had tried to claim the armor for their king for both times the princesses were there and they would have sensed their presence. However, the wait was worth it for the power that this armor could now provide since it was from the queen of nightmares herself while she was in her own physical body was so much stronger than the armors used by the host the Nightmare Force had possessed. Cumulus and his brethren landed around the armor. Cumulus closed his eyes and dark energy began to radiate around his eyelids. Normally, it would be impossible for a windigo to use dark magic and that fact would have held true if not for the "Blessing of Noreaster". As Stratus watched his brother, he was reminded of another that had received the blessing besides themselves, King Sombra. In ancient times, the Crystal Empire battled an evil race of demons called the Umbra Ponies and imprisoned them deep beneath the land of their empire, their leader and her child however, were cast into the frozen waste and placed into a timeless sleep and that is how they would have remained if not for the interference of Noreaster. When the time, came during the reign of Princess Amore, Noreaster commanded his spies to find the Umbra Queen's prison and to use the spell that he had made to wake her up. Cumulus, Nimbus, and Stratus searched the frozen waste until they found a crystalline structure the color of blood. The three brothers encircled the statue and cast their spell. Suddenly, the statue began to glow bright red and the entity within the crystal began to stir, until it fully awakened. "Who awakens me!?" The Umbra Queen demanded as she looked at the three windigos. The three brothers said nothing as they stood in front of the queen, their eyes lit up and the wind, snow, and ice began to construct itself into an imposing statue of Noreaster, as the statue finished forming, the windigos bowed down their glowing eyes to the ground as the statues final features took shape. The statue then opened its eyes and looked at the queen. "That would be me my lady," Noreaster said using his power to speak through the statue in the Equestrian tongue. "I am Noreaster, King of all the Windigos. Through my magic I was able to wake you from your timeless sleep." "The Windigos, I have heard of your work, big fan, though I hope that you are not offended that I have never heard of you," said the Umbra Queen. "Quite the contrary my lady, I am very well known, it's just that those who discover me never make it back to tell the tale," Noreaster said as malevolent chuckle escaped his lip. "Ponies, weak minded creatures who meddle where they don't belong," The Umbra Queen said with a snarl. "I feel your pain my lady which is why I will get right to the point, you and I have a common goal in bringing Equestria to its knees, the Crystal Empire in particular," said Noreaster. The Umbra Queen let out a hiss of disgust and rage. "Those ponies and their "love" are the bane of my existence!" "My lady I couldn't agree more. Which is why I have a proposition for you, to help free you and your people," said Noreaster. "You have that kind of power?" The Umbra Queen said in awe. "Unfortunately, my lady I am just as much a prisoner as you, so my magic is limited, for now. Besides, the spells that keeps you and your people contained are strong and any attempt at freeing you would alert the current ruler. However, that foolish Queen Bleeding Heart, must have felt some pity for your son, because the spells on his prison are weaker. Should he ever wish to change his ways he would be able to break out," Noreaster said. "Typical pony, so weak minded and naive, if it wasn't so pathetic I'd laugh. So, I assume that you know a way to free son so that he can be sent behind enemy lines," The Umbra Queen said eagerly. "Yes, even though I cannot free you I have weakened your prison enough to do small things with your magic. I will use my magic to create a hole inside the spell then you can erase his memories of who and what he his is save his name. An alarm will be sounded, my minions will take him to a place where he will be found. My only concern is whether or not they will take him in." "Put your mind at ease Noreaster, the current ruler of the empire is just as weak as her ancestor she will take him in and try to convert him to their love," The Umbra Queen said with a shudder of disgust. "However, he will learn about his true enemy and the darkness within him will draw him back here and he shall embrace his destiny." "My lady I will ensure he does just that," Noreaster said with an evil smile. "So what do you gain from this Noreaster?" The Umbra Queen asked. "I will finish what I started all those eons ago. Without the light of the Crystal Empire this world will become the cradle of its own despair!" Noreaster proclaimed. "What a lovely world you describe a paradise for Umbra Ponies and the perfect way to even the score on those disgusting pony pest. Noreaster you have a deal," said the Umbra Queen. Noreaster smiled as the statue of him broke apart, its debre surged towards the little crystal prison that held the umbra pony that would later be known as Sombra. The crystal began to crack, as a little hole formed within the crystal the Umbra Queen sent a beam of red energy that struck the foal in the forehead, erasing his memories and freeing him from the prison. Cumulus, NImbus, and Stratus arose from their genuflection and walked towards the unconscious colt and teleported Sombra to where he was later found by the crystal guard. One the day that Sombra saw his destiny within the crystal heart, he started to his whispers inside of his head, that spoke with the wispiness of the wind and they encouraged his fears and his sadness. When Sombra's friend, Hope Radiance, gained her cutie mark the whispering became louder until it drove him to the outer reaches of the Crystal Empire where he met his mother and officially became the King of Monsters. “IIIt’s a shaaame reeeally,” Stratus thought to himself as he watched Cumulus work his spell. “Wooould have maaade our kings plaaans eassier if that foooal had ssurvived. Whaaat a wasste, even wheeen we aaaided hiiis escaaape he faaailed once mooore. At least hiss horn provided uss with sso much information.” Stratus was pulled from his thoughts as he saw Cumulus’s eye lids shoot open to reveal energized light green glowing eyes. Cumulus looked around the throne room, now able to see what was unseen because of his spell and unfortunately, for Equestria he found what he was looking for, the dark memories of Nightmare Moon all that remained of the Nightmare Force. Although Nyx did defeat her evil self, she did not destroy it but merely tore it apart to the point that it couldn’t hurt anypony ever again and be trapped in this room forever. “It isss all here brothersss, let uss begin,” Cumulus instructed. Nimbus and Stratus nodded as they drew upon the dark arts. When their eyes matched Cumulus, he motioned for them to take their place. Nimbus stood at the bottom right of the armor, followed by Stratus who stood at the bottom left. Cumulus took his position at the top center of the armor and began his spell. Suddenly, three green lines began to form midair air above the armor formed in the shape of a triangle. Light shone down from the triangle forming a funnel around the armor. The Nightmare Force particles began to stir and began to swarm around the windigos like a hoard of bees. Unable to resist the dark spell the Nightmare Force was sucked into the funnel and placed into the armor until there was none let in the throne room. The funnel then descended around the armor and formed an inescapable pyramid around it, the armor then disintegrated into mist, their spell now complete the windigos eyes returned to normal. Cumulus engulfed the pyramid in his being and then motioned for his brothers to follow him as they flew out the window towards the direction of the castle ruins. Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters Cumulus, Nimbus, and Stratus soared through the night sky until they reached the entrance of the ruin. While the Twilight and her friends had gone good repair work, they still had a long way to go. Stratus's eyes and mane flared as looking at the ruin with loathing. Nimbus turned towards his brother. "I know Stratuss it mockss me too. A consstant reminder of oour defeat." The grass at Nimbus's hooves begins to turn black and charred as they release small charges of lightning into the ground. "Enough, we have no tiiime to dwell on passt failuress. Come, we sshould let our hosst know that we are here," said Cumulus. "Stratus you know what to do." Stratus nodded and took his spectral forms and went about the castle making calculated messes to get the attention of the only thing that lived in those ruins. As Stratus blew over a line of armor, he noticed something moved out of the corner of his eye. Stratus sneered, "Finally got your attentiooon hmmm." As if to answer Stratus the shadows under him feet suddenly grew long and shaped itself into mare wearing a long cloak. Opening its dark yellow eyes the Shadow Pony glared at the intruder that dared to destroy its home and the fierce look in its eyes made it perfectly clear that Stratus and his brothers would pay. With a cocky grin, Stratus zipped down the hall with the Shadow Pony chasing after him, until they came into the throne room. It was then the Shadow Pony had decided it had enough of the game and extended an elongated hoof and grabbed a hold of Stratus's shadow causing him to come to an abrupt halt. The Shadow Pony slowly rose from the ground until is shaped itself into a physical form and slowly pulled Stratus closer to it. Suddenly, the feel of dark magic filled the air, the Shadow Pony released Stratus in shock as it felt that it was being pulled towards something. The Shadow Pony turned its head around and saw Cumulus and Nimbus standing near an open obsidian sphere alight with green fire. The Shadow Pony tried to struggle but it could not escape the pull of the flame, with a silent scream the Shadow Pony was sucked into the orb as it sealed itself shut. “We have done it brothersss, the Nightmare Force is now under the control of the Windigoss,” Cumulus said as placed the pyramid next to the orb of swirling mass. He then turned to Stratus. “Take thesse to our kiing, me and Nimbuss will retrieve, the Parasites. “Asss you ssay,” Stratus said as he swirled around the pyramid and orb and vanishing without a trace. Cumulus and Nimbus went about the task of making sure that all evidence of their presence was gone. When their task was complete, they flew out the entrance and onto their next target. Kingdom of the Changelings Deep beneath the castle of Queen Chrysalis, her majesty and her subjects endure the torment of the singing of that Pinkie Pie costume. All attempts to destroy get past or at least to silence this pink menace had all failed. For the fifth the time that day, Queen Chrysalis banged her head repeatedly and slowly against her crystal ball in her royal chambers. “What could I have possibly done to deserve this torment?” Chrysalis asked herself. “Well you tried to take over Canterlot and drain the love out of Equestria, then you tried to drain Twilight Sparkle of her power and turn her into your student, not to mention the kidnapping…I KNOW WHAT I DID YOU IDIOT THE QUESTION WAS RHECTORICAL!” Chrysalis screamed at the changeling. “All I wanted to do was drain the love out of few ponies is that so wrong…DON’T…say…a …word!” Chrysalis shouted at the changeling. “Being imprisoned is one thing but being trapped with that…thing is just cruel and unusual, after all it’s not like we plunged all of Equestria into eternal chaos. I swear the next country I enslave I’m doing a background check on its inhabitants.” Suddenly, the singing stopped. Chrysalis and her subjects raised their heads and listened for any sign that the Pinkie Pie costume would resume singing but there was only silence. “We’re free, we’re free, and we are finally free of that overgrown Hoovesbro reject!” Chrysalis shouted with glee as she levitated into the air. As the changelings joined the reveling of their queen, a dark fog began to ever so slowly seep through the doorway. The cheering slowly stopped as the changelings began to take notice of two dark specters forming behind their queen. “Come my subjects let us plot our revenge against Twilight Sparkle and the ponies of Equestria the day of our revenge will soon be at hA…what the hey are you starring at!” Chrysalis shouted as she saw the look of terror across her changelings faces. One of the Changelings raised his hoof and pointed behind Chrysalis. “Who dares intrude in my palace and strikes fear into the heart of my subjects?! After all, if they should be cowering in fear of anybody it should be me,” Chrysalis thought as she channeled her magic to her horn. She whipped around to confront the intruders, her eyes widened in shock at the terrible creatures that stood in front of her, before she could utter so much as a scream the creatures enveloped her in dark clouds and all Chrysalis could see was darkness.