Silent was the new ruler of the Winter Palace. The kitchen, always full of food scents and happy cookers laughing and working happily, was now empty and dark. The voices of the servants couldn't be heared in the halls and corridors anymore. There were no soldiers watching over the doors. Nopony could be found in the castle.
Nopony, but Blizzard.
There have been two days since everypony left, but she still hadn't came out of the Throne Room. She remained there, not eating or sleeping in all that time. She was just sitting on the throne, without moving, her gaze focused on the door in front of her. She knew that she was slowly loosing her mind, but she didn't care.
Suddenly, she looked to her right with fear, believing that she saw a strange pony next to her. But it was even worse than that.
There wasn't anypony there, just a mirror (the portal was a mirror when it wasn't activated).
A mirror. She had been scared by her own reflection.
And for good reasons.
Her mane and tail were dirty and disheveled, the feathers of her wings looked all messed up, and her eyes were bloodshot and with dark circles around, because of the lack of sleep and the hours she spent crying.
Blizzard could not take it any longer: she raised her forehooves and smashed the mirror, shattering it into a million pieces. But it made it even worse: now she could see her disturbing eyes in all the pieces, a million of crazy eyes staring at her...
Blizzard finally let out a scream of pain and desperation and collapsed to the ground, shivering and covering her eyes with her hooves, unaware of the blood coming out of her hooves and covering her face (she didn't realize that her hooves had been wounded by the glass pieces).
She remained like that for a while, bleeding and bawling like a banshee, until she heard something that made her stop.
"Poor little thing..."
Blizzard raised her head with fear. She was suposed to be alone, where was that voice coming from?
"I'm here, darling, just in front of you..."
Shivering, Blizzards looked again were the mirror was(well, what remained of it) and gasped. Her reflection was gone. Instead, there was a pair of red, dragon-like eyes staring at her. And the voice was coming from them.
"Don't worry sweetie, i'm not here to harm you. In fact, I came because you need my help".
"Who...who are you?"-Blizzard asked.
"Well, let's say that I am...the part of yourself that you never knew." The voice said back "But that's not the important question. The question is: What are you going to do to make justice?"
Blizzard sighed "What can I do? I'm not powerful enough to face the three of them, and nopony is gonna help me..."
"You have more power inside you than you can even imagine, princess, you just have to let it go. But until you can do it, there is something more you can use against them. Don't you remember the book...and the Spell?"
Blizzard eyes widened. Of course, the Spell!
"Infinity said that they can't be punished because they are royalty. But if they loose their control over the Season, they will no longer be princesses..."
"And they will can be punished."-Blizzard finished, with a dark smile.
"But there is a problem, little one. That spell is not irrevocable, they could get their power back using the magic of the Temple".
Blizzard's smile faded.
"Then what should I do?"
"After the spell, they only need two things to get their powers back: the Temple and themselves. I think I don't need to tell you what you
should do..."
"I...I'm not sure..."-Blizzard hesitated.
"Well...we will think about that in due time. For now, you must cast the spell."
Blizzard nodded and used magic to bring the book from her room. When she found that book for the first time, she was about to destroy it, because it was about dark magic. But when she accidentally found that spell in a page, she decided to keep it...just in case.
It seems like she made the right decision.
She opened the book and started reading it. The spell was easy, but dangerous, because she had to use a very powerful dark magic to perform it. She was about to try it, but the voice spoke again.
"Wait a second, princess. I think you should take a look on the next page".
Blizzard did it, and found some information about the spell. Apparently, after casting the spell, all the magic released from the princesses would be trapped on the Temple, but there were three ways to set it free. The first one was, obviously, bringing it back to the princesses. The second one was destroying the Temple, freeing the seasons forever. And the third one...
Blizzard eyes widened while reading it. The third one was an even powerful spell that allowed the pony who used it to absorb all the power!
"Think about it, darling. With all that power, you will be able to protect your precious daughter from everything! You deserve it more than them and you know it!"
"But Cronos and Infinity..."- Blizzard said.
"You owe nothing to them! They turned their back on you, remember? And once you have all that power, you won't need their help anymore!"
Finally, Blizzard nodded "What should I do?"
"First, you have to cast the first spell. You can do it right now. But the second one must be performed in the Temple, and you need some...ingredients."
"What kind of ingredients?".
"A blood sample from each princess, and something more, like a feather or a hair lock, you know."
"They'll never give that to me". Blizzard said.
"In that case, you will have to persuade them, don't you think?"
In that moment, Blizzard heard noises at the corridor.
"Well, well, well. Looks like you have a visitor, little princess". The voice said in a mocking tone.
Then the door opened and a brown alicorn went into the room.
"Autumn..."-Blizzard muttered to herself. The other princess didn't see her at first.
"Blizzard, where are you? Where is everypony? Please, come out, we need to talk!"-Autumn called.
"What are you doing here?" Blizzard hissed, suddenly coming out of the shadows.
"Finally, there you...OH MY GOSH!!! Blizzard, what happened to you!?" Autumn stared at her in horror when she saw the blood covering her face and hooves, and the disturbing look in her eyes.
"Are you deaf? I said: What the hell are you doing here?"Blizzard asked again, not hiding the anger in her voice.
"You didn't come to the Change of Season yesterday, and I was worried. I see I was right!". Autumn replied.
"Worried? You? About me? Please don't make me laugh! You never care about nopony but yourself. You are here to make sure that I fulfill my mission, so you won't lose face, don't you?".
"Well... we were all worried about you, but Cronos and Infinity had to go back to Canterlot, so they asked me to come to check on you and try to convince you to go and do your job". Autumn admited awkwardly.
Blizzard felt her rage growing.
"That's it! That's the only matter for you! The freaking duties! You ruined my life, all of you, and you still dare to come to my house and demand me to do my job!? Well, you know what!? I WILL NEVER BRING BACK THE WINTER AGAIN, NOT NOW, NOT EVER!!" I WILL USE A SPELL TO RELEASE ME FROM MY DUTIES!"
"You have to be kidding"- Autumn slowly said.
"I have never been more serious. With that spell, I will stop being a princess. And so will you and the other two bitches!"
"You can't do that..."
"I can and I will! With THIS!" Blizzard said, showing her the book.
"Wait...DARK MAGIC!? Blizzard, are you mad? That's the most dangerous thing you can do!"
"If it's the only way to make you pay, I will take the risk" Blizzard replied.
Autumn sighed. It was being worse than she feared.
"Blizz, listen to me: You are not thinking clearly. This is what we are going to do: You are going to give me that book, then I will clean your face and hooves and we'll get out ot here to find you some help."
"Come closer and you will be the one needing help" Blizzard snarled.
"Don't talk like that, you know I'm doing the best for you. Now give me that book." Autumn said with concern.
"Stay back."
"Blizzard, please don't force me to do this the hard way."
"You will not hurt me."Blizzard said, placing a hoof over the book.
"I don't want to, but if you keep acting like that..."
"You didn't understand me. You will not hurt me, because you can't. I'm stronger than you and you know it".
"Enough! I'm going to put an end to this!" She gently pushed Blizzard and reached for the book, but before she could touch it, a hoof smashed her face. Autumn recolied clumsily, feeling the taste of blood in her mouth.
"What you think you are doing?" she asked.
"I told you to stay back, but you ignored me, as you always do.- Blizzard glared at her- Now leave my castle and I may forget about you."
"Last chance, Blizzard. Give me the book or I'll take it by force."
"Fuck you."
"I'm sorry." Autumn sighed before charging against her.
She really didn't want to hurt her, so she was just trying to knock her out for a while in order to get the book and destroy it. But she didn't count on something.
Blizzard wanted to hurt her.
So when Autumn used her magic to throw a jar to Blizzard and the other princess stopped it with and ice wall, and then she blasted a powerful ice beam to her, she wasn't expecting it. The eyes of the brown alicorn widened when the beam hit her chest. Autumn hit the wall and then fell to the ground. She was unable to move and could barely breathe, but was still conscious.
Ignoring her former friend, Blizzard opened the book and finally casted the spell. Autum tried to shout her to stop, but she was too weak, so she watched helpless as Blizzard unleashed the dark magic. And then she fell it: a sharp pain in her heart. It just lasted a few seconds, but she knew the spell worked. She was devastated, but it wasn't over. The dark magic was slowly surrounding Blizzard, and suddenly covered her, making her scream in fear. Autumn tried to get up, but it was in vain. The screams finally stopped, and when the darkness faded, the creature remaining there was no longer Blizzard.
It was an alicorn in fact, but very different from Blizzard. She was very tall, even taller than King Cronos. Her fur was purely white, and so were her mane and tail wich floated magically around her. Her horn was extremely long, and looked like a sharp stalagmite. The creature turned and looked at Autumn. Her eyes were red and she had the pupils of a dragon.
"My, my, Autumn, look at you.- her voice was creepy, like two voices at the same time.- Well, don't say I didn't warn you. You will never be strong enough to beat me. But you had to try anyway, didn't you?".
"B...Blizzard, pl...please..." Autumn begged, but she ignored her.
"You have always been so stubborn... I gave you a chance to run away and save yourself, but you decided to fight. Brave girl...but you must know that your decission will only make things worse for you and the others."
"N...no...p...please...I beg you..."
"Taking your royalty away was the punishment you deserved for your crimes, but you still dared to try to avoid it, just like the rat you are. Well, if I can't have justice, I will get REVENGE!"
Autumn began to cry in pure fear. The creature grabbed her chin with her magic mane,making her shiver,because it was extremely cold, and forced her to look into her eyes.
"What is that, Autumn? Tears of regret? I don't think so. I'm sure you still claim that you did nothing wrong, don't you? The little perfect princess..."
Saying this, the creature levitated a sharp piece of glass from the broken mirror and used it to cut Autumn's braid. The brown princess let out a scream of fear and surprise.
"Oh, shut up! You don't look so bad with a short mane, smug girl. Besides, I need your hair to complete the punishment, and also a little blood sample. Calm down, don't look at me like that! I will just take a few drops..."
Without a warning, the glass sliced Autumn's throat.
"...the rest will stay on the floor!" The monster finished with a mad smile.
Autumn convulsed over the floor, shaking her wings without control and trying to stop with her hooves the blood coming out of her neck and mouth. The ice alicorn looked at her without regret, until her eyes went white and she stopped moving and breathing. Then, when she made sure that the princess was dead, she used a small flask to take some blood, and putted it and the braid in a saddlebag that hung at her side.
"That should be enough. Now if you excuse me, I have more ingredients to collect. Farewell, Autumn".
With that, the twisted creature left the castle, looking for her next unaware victim.