Winds of Wintercrest

by Lost_Marbles

Furies in the White

As Rarity and Rainbow Dash made their way along the mountain wall, the storm picked up until it was as bad as before, if not worse. The sparse dead trees downhill of them slowly vanished in the growing fog of snow. They were once again reduced to staring at the ground in front of them instead of the direction they were going. It seemed as though time itself were frozen as the two made their way to the cliff that started up towards Cure’s cave. The whole way, Rarity kept going over what happened in her mind - Astral’s story, Cure’s story, Winter Lily, the fall, the storm.

If only this were a dream, then she could wake up and find herself back on the Friendship Express. She had just dozed off after helping Cheerilee escort the students on a tour around the Crystal Empire. They had never stopped for repairs, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had never heard the tale of Wintercrest and gone out into the snow to find the banshee or the ice pony that haunted the woods.

But this biting cold felt too real to be a dream.

They trudged along through the snow uphill while hugging the mountain wall beside them. Rainbow said that Astral had told her that Rarity and the beast fell. He had pointed her in the direction that they had fallen and told them how to climb back up the mountain and meet up with him after she had found Rarity; in the meanwhile, he had gone into the cave to search for his horn and the fillies. Rainbow said that Astral had claimed he’d have better luck finding her with his horn, but that didn’t make Rarity feel any better.

They came to the bend and found the start of the path up to the cave. Once more they went up the narrow ledge that led to Cure’s cave.

When the pair made it to the cave entrance, the wind blew through it and produced a howling noise that prickled Rarity’s spine like needles. They walked from the white into the gaping darkness. A scuffling of icy hooves on rocks echoed throughout the chambers. Rarity and Rainbow followed the desperate mumblings of the frantic ice pony deeper into the cave. What little light made it into the cavern reflected off Astral and made him somewhat visible. His shoulder was no longer fractured and was completely healed. Even when the two came close to them, he didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, to care as he continued turning over every stone he came across.

“Hey, Astral! Rarity’s okay!” said Rainbow Dash.

Astral continued to turn over rocks. “Great.” He leaned up against a wall and peeked into a crack. “Help me find my horn. It’s here somewhere.”

“We have it right here! Rarity found it.”

Rarity held her breath as Astral snapped his head around and stared at her with wide, baggy eyes.

“You have it? Give it to me!”

Rarity presented the horn to Astral, who snatched it from her magical grasp. He ran to the mouth of the cave and stuck the base of the horn into the snow before placing the horn on his snow-covered head. Once the horn fell into place, the snow in the crack froze. With a shake of his head, the loose snow fell off and revealed that his horn was healed, and there was no sign of any previous damage.

He squinted his eyes in concentration, and his horn glowed a deep blue. He grinned. “Yes.”

Rarity inched up behind Astral. She sucked on her lips in anticipation. Certainly Astral was entitled to feeling satisfied at being whole again, as well as being able to save his wife. But why wasn’t Rarity as happy as she thought she would be? Every second that passed made her anxiety worse. The uncomfortable chill she got from being with Astral didn’t help, either. “Uh, Astral, darling, I’m very happy for you that you’ve gotten your horn back; shall we find the fillies, head back down the mountain, and get to Winter Lily?”

Astral turned his head slightly. “Huh? Oh, yes.”

Snow stung her face like pins. Trees only a few yards away were nothing more than fuzzy grey shapes against the white. She and Rainbow walked alongside Astral; none of them ever said a word. Astral lit his horn every so often, but Rarity wasn’t sure what he was doing, because it seemed he was walking based off of memory rather than any magically-aided navigation.

After searching the whole cave, there was no sign of pony life. No bones, no fur, no feathers, no other broken horns, no nothing. Rarity was relieved to find a lack of evidence supporting any nagging thoughts that Sweetie Belle had been taken by Cure, but that was only a small portion of her worries. She didn’t want to think any more about what was happening. So many stories, so many lies. She just wanted out.

In an hour or so, Rarity would be back down to the lodge in front of a cozy fire underneath a blanket with hot cocoa, her sweet little Sweetie Belle by her side. No more complicated love triangles. No more ice ponies or banshees. No more nagging uncertainty. She took a long, icy breath and endured the cold one step at a time.

There was a loud cracking noise, and Astral stopped in place. Rainbow nearly bumped into his backside, and Rarity into Rainbow as Astral surveyed the area around them before continuing on his way.

After what seemed to be several moons, the three made it back to Wintercrest. They trudged through the snow and into the cellar of the dilapidated house Lily was imprisoned under. Soon she would be free and reunited with her lover. The thoughts of how happy she would be to be free of that purgatory warmed Rarity on the inside, fueling her to pick up the pace.

Astral too walked with urgency, much differently than his usual cautious skulking. He didn’t even bark at Rarity or Rainbow to shut the cellar door behind them before letting in the light and standing in front of Lily.

He glowed his horn and stared at her frozen face; his breathing was rapid and shallow. Rarity closed the door and sat there silently. She wished she could be happy for him. For Lily. But she couldn’t. Not after what she had heard. Not after she’d had time to think over her situation. Even if Lily was freed, Astral was still an ice pony, and Cure was still a monstrous beast. They couldn’t leave with her, nor could she stay up here. And there was also the love triangle. If anything, she was probably better off frozen. The ice protected her from the hardships outside of her prison. Rarity pawed the frozen dirt below her as she waited, for what she wasn’t sure.

The wind outside whistled. The floor beams above them groaned.

“Lily,” whispered Astral. His horn began to glow.

Rainbow flapped up next to Astral. “Alright, Astral! Let’s free her, find the girls, and get off this mountain!”

Astral’s horn stopped glowing and he turned to Rainbow. “No.”

Rainbow flinched. “What? We had a deal! We all need to get off this mountain.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Rarity flinched as Astral turned and stared at her. “Darling, I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but we should--”

She felt her heart race as Astral walked up to her. “Rarity, tell me. Is the monster dead?”

Rarity looked away then back to Astral. “Astral, I don’t think that matters.”

“Oh, it matters.” Astral snorted and leaned in closer. “Is. Cure. Dead?”

“Hey now!” Rainbow jumped in and pushed Astral back. “What’s got your tail in a knot?”

“If he’s out there, tell me.”

The doubts that bubbled in the back of Rarity’s mind began to boil, frothing over and burning her with the desire to flee. There was something troubling Astral, and she didn’t want to upset him any further. After being left isolated for many moons on his own, she didn’t want to test him in case he forgot restraint.

She straightened her back and put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, signalling her to move aside. “Astral--” she lifted her boot up and showed the boot stained with sticky blood-- “Cure is not dead, but he is severely wounded.”

Astral twitched his nose and breathed in large, rapid breaths. “No,” he whispered. “No. He was supposed to die. Why didn’t you kill him when you had the chance!?”

Rarity stood her ground and at the same time tried to work out what to say next and which way to dodge if things went from bad to worse. Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow seemed to be planning her next move as well. “The plan was to get your horn back. We never agreed to kill anypony. Cure is too wounded to stop us. Let’s reunite you with Lily and get to safety.”

“No! I’ve lost her already. I’m not going to lose her again.”

“Hey!” Rainbow flared her wings and jabbed a hoof at Astral. “We’re trying to help. We’re not taking her away from you!”

A blue beam shot from Astral’s horn and hit Rainbow in the hoof, and ice engulfed half of her leg. Rainbow pulled back and flapped her wings with all her might, but the leg stayed firmly in place.

“She’s not going anywhere,” said Astral with a snarl. “She’s not going anywhere until Cure is dead. I won’t risk losing her again. He won’t take her away from me. You will not take her from me. Kill Cure, or take her place. Forever.”

Rarity stepped back and lit her horn. “Astral, please listen to what you’re saying. Why do we need to kill Cure? Let’s get away now!”

“I know what I said. Cure is relentless. He’ll be here any moment. He comes back. He always comes back.” Astral heaved as he stomped the ground. “We’ve fought many times. I’ve cut him, dropped rocks on him, pushed him off cliffs; but he heals. He comes back.” Astral reached up and tapped his horn. “But now… now I have my horn back. Thanks to you two. You’ve done well, but not well enough. Miracle Cure must die.”

“Astral, listen to me - there’s no need for this!”

“No! There isn’t any other way. I won’t give Lily up! Not for you, not for Cure--” He aimed his horn at Rarity. “not for anypony!”

A loud crack shattered the air, and a long white leg reached through the floor and swatted Astral aside. He rolled on the ground and hit the wall with a thud. As Astral rushed to get onto his feet, Cure above ripped the floor apart beam by rotting beam, and snow poured in through the gaping hole.

Astral shot an ice beam at Cure, but Cure shielded his face with an arm. Ice built up on the fur and swallowed up the appendage. With his free hand, Cure grabbed a plank of wood and swung it against Astral; it broke against his side and knocked him off his hooves. Cure reached in with his long arms, grabbed Astral by a back leg, and dragged him out of the cellar. “You monster! You shan’t have her!” screamed Astral as he kicked at the spindly fingers wrapped around his leg. The cursing continued as Astral was dragged out of Rarity’s sight, and a monstrous roar boomed above them.

“No!” shouted Rarity. “Stop fighting! This won’t help anything!”

She turned to run out the cellar door but remembered about Rainbow. She turned and kicked at the ice anchoring Rainbow to the floor. After a few hard kicks from both ponies, it still remained intact. In desperation, Rainbow began to dig at the dirt around the ice, but she made no progress.

Rarity looked about the cellar. She strained her eyes searching the room for something, anything, to help, but she found nothing useful. Then she remembered the tools in the first cellar they had taken shelter in. “Rainbow! I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” She gave her leg another tug. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

Rarity rushed out of the cellar, but before she could look about for the other houses, she was blinded by a flash of white. She covered her eyes as they adjusted to the sudden change in brightness. When she could make out shapes, she rushed through the snow to the house in which they had first taken shelter.

The fighting raged on behind her. The sounds of growls, howls, and violent magic pierced the winds of the storms. She managed to reach the house, but she struggled to remember which side the cellar entrance was. She ran around the corner and hit a hoof against a plank of wood hidden under the snow, hit her head on something hard, and rolled down a slight incline.

More so disoriented than hurt, Rarity struggled to regain her sense of location and what was around her, but when she looked up, she saw something that froze her. High up, the dark grey sky swirled like a hurricane, and along the perimeter of the eye of the storm several blue, ethereal beings soared, shrieking violently--a war cry provoking the hate below. The storm raged around the eye as the fury within pushed away the winds and the snow.

Rarity shook her head; she had to stay focused. No matter what was thrown her way, she had to save them. They weren’t beyond saving! She rushed up the hill and circled the house until she found the cellar entrance. In the cellar, Rarity found the discarded tool-heads where they had left them. She grabbed a pickaxe head and rushed back to Rainbow.

The distance between the houses seemed to have grown as Rarity hurried through the now-knee-deep snow. She dared to look above and saw the windigos again, circling the dark skies as they were before, feasting on the hate below.

It shouldn’t have turned out this way. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. All Rarity had wanted was to help two lovers find their happily ever after. Reunite a couple separated by forces beyond her control. To guide, to aid, to save. Love was supposed to be a thing of beauty. Just like in her stories. How could something so pure create so much negativity? She shook away those distracting thoughts. There were lives were at risk.

Back at Rainbow’s side, Rarity held up the pickaxe head to one side. Rainbow leaned as far away as she could from her and stood still. With a mighty swing, the pickaxe hit the ice, but nothing happened. She tried again, and this time the ice cracked. Rarity swung again and again, and each time, the crack grew larger and small chunks broke loose. With a final swing, the ice cracked and loosened enough for a kick from Rainbow to shatter it and free her hoof.

“Come on, we have to stop them!” shouted Rarity.

“Stop them? How are we supposed to do that?”

Rarity closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Ooooh. I don’t know, but we must try.”

“But one of them’s a monster! We can’t talk sense to a monster.”

“Cure is not a monster! He’s a pony just like us.”

“Do you hear yourself? You’re making excuses for a monster that almost killed you.”

“Rainbow, he didn’t take the fillies like Astral said. He may have done bad things, but-- but-- ooooh. We need to stop this before this situation becomes any worse.”

“I think it’s too late for that.”

The two raced out of the cellar. The fighting still raged on, but the sounds of the shouting and growling was muffled by the howling winds to the point that they couldn’t tell where they had gone. The blinding white made it hard for them to find the tracks and kicked-up snow left by their struggles. But there was one thing the snow couldn’t cover up--the windigos. Rarity looked up towards the sky for the giant cyclone of hate-fueled spirits.

She saw the windigos a distance away and pointed ahead. “Over there!” Rainbow looked and saw the windigos. She opened her mouth, but no words came. She shook her head, recovered her wits, and charged ahead with Rarity on her tail. The two rushed through the snow and into the woods. Trees had fallen in the snow, their rotten trunks snapped in half by powerful blows. Others were covered in ice, whole branches snapped off under the weight of the ice crystals that had formed on them. Others were painted red with blood. This trail of destruction led Rainbow and Rarity to the two furies battling in the white, between where the forest ended and the grey sky began, at the lip of a cliff where no trees grew. An isolated arena of the damned surrounded by a wall of horrific winds and stinging snow.

Astral blasted Cure with ice shards that tore at his flesh, while Cure bashed him with his fists and slashed him with his claws. The blood on Cure’s thighs was dried and dark red, but his arms and chest were damp with fresh, bright-red blood. Astral was covered with scratches from head to hoof.

“Stop!” shouted Rarity. “Stop this! You don’t need to fight!”

“Hey!” Rainbow flapped up into the chillingly calm air and flew at the two. “Stop it!”

Astral turned and pointed his horn at Rainbow. “Stay out of this!” He fired several shards at Rainbow, who managed to veer to the side and avoid the projectiles.

Cure took advantage of the opening: he grabbed Astral by the front leg, swung him like a mace, and slammed him into a tree, which exploded into splinters. Astral fell to the ground, the bottom half of his leg broken off at the knee. Cure lifted up the war trophy over his head and roared before he threw it over the edge of the mountain and charged at the three-legged unicorn.

Without getting up, Astral turned his head and shot a huge ice ball at Cure’s legs, and he buckled as the boulder smashed his knee cap. Astral shot another huge chunk of ice at Cure, but he rolled aside, and the ice boulder rolled along the ground and off the cliff. Cure dragged himself toward Astral, reached out, sank his long claws into Astral’s thigh, and dragged him closer while Astral squirmed about to free himself.

Rarity ran up to the two as fast as she could. “Please, stop this! Think of Lily! Think of--”

“This heartless pony ruined her life. He ruined mine. He brought this curse upon our village!” shouted Cure. “He must be destroyed. There’s no other way!”

“Please! Let’s talk about this.”

Cure swatted Rarity away and turned back to the pony in his grasp.

“Hey!” shouted Rainbow. “We’re trying to help!”

Cure pushed off the ground with his good leg and snapped his jaws at Rainbow. He missed, but with a swipe of his free hand, he hit Rainbow on the wing and tore off some feathers. She screamed in pain and fell onto the ground.

Rarity got up and saw Cure reach for Astral. She shocked his hand with a weak spell, enough to make him flinch and get his attention before jumping in between them. “Please, listen to me! You don’t need to do this. There is no reason you need to kill each other. We can all get out of this and leave the mountain.”

Cure snorted. “And how do you propose we do that? Let Astral take my wife and go, leaving me, a monstrous deformity, to spend the rest of my days rooted to this barren mountain?”

“No! That’s not what I’m suggesting.”

Cure leaned over Rarity and pushed his green, elongated snout against hers. Rarity could feel his hot breath rush through her fur. “Then what are you suggesting?”

“Please. Let’s put this feud aside. We can go down the mountain and talk this out.”

Cure laughed. His breath washed through Rarity’s mane and burned her nostrils. “Talk? Talk? I’m afraid the time for talking is long gone. I tried to talk, but he won’t listen.”

“You have a funny way of ‘talking,’ Cure,” said Astral as he climbed up on three legs. “Luring ponies into basements and then ambushing them?”

Cure slammed the ground next to Rarity. “You attacked me!”

Against her better instincts, Rarity put a hoof on Cure’s large fist. “Boys, boys, please! Let’s settle down. There’s no need to--”

A blur of white whizzed past her face, cutting off a bit of her mane and embedding itself into Cure’s shoulder. He howled in pain and grabbed his shoulder. He ripped the ice shard out and dropped it.

Rarity found herself shaking. She had been only inches away from death. Was Astral willing to risk killing her to get what he wanted? Before she could even process anything else, she saw Cure raise his left hand over his right shoulder and bring it quickly down at her. She saw the hand coming at her. It hit her on the side, right in the ribs, and laid her flat in the snow.

With no more distractions, Cure pounced on Astral and took him in both hands, lifted him up, and slammed him on the ground. He picked up the pony again, but Astral turned his head and blasted Cure in the face with a barrage of ice shards. Cure shrieked in pain and dropped Astral on the ground while covering his face with a hand. Blood trickled down from his eyes.

Astral pushed up from the ground and fired an icicle into Cure’s other leg. It pierced the skin and remained lodged in the flesh. Cure roared in pain and lashed out with both hands in front of him. Both of his eyes were shut and leaking blood.

Astral laughed. “It’s over, Cure. You won’t have her. She is mine!”

Cure lashed out at the voice, and a claw scraped Astral’s snout. He threw his whole body at Astral and fell on top of him. Astral kicked and cursed as Cure struggled to get a solid grip on him. He turned his head and blasted a chunk of ice at Cure’s injured leg, and Cure howled and buckled before rolling over with Cure in hand. He rolled downhill towards the edge of the cliff.

The windigos above shrilled in delight as the winds around the storm blew harder and faster. Trees were ripped up from their roots or snapped in half. The cracks and rumbles of destruction filled the air with the cries and blows of the battle below.

“Let go, you vile thing. Let go!”

Once more, Cure tried to get up, but the pain was too much, and he fell to his knees. Pinned to the ground, Astral wiggled in Cure’s claws. With his free hand, Cure felt about until he found Astral’s head and slammed it against the ground. He kept Astral’s head down and his horn pointing away. Both of them were covered in blood, as was the ground beneath them. Cure swayed as he held the struggling Astral beneath him. The blood dripped from his arms, chest, and face. He leaned back, picked up Astral by the head and torso, and slammed him on the hard ground. Bits of Astral’s body broke off, and cracks spread through his body. Cure lifted Astral up and smashed him against the stone ground.

Again.

And again.

Each slam came with a pause, and each pause became longer as Cure’s strength faded. Astral’s struggling weakened as well until he stopped kicking and hung limp in Cure’s grip.

All the while, Rarity cried out to them from where she lay as she watched with tears in her eyes. Back up on her hooves, she got close and pleaded for them to stop, but neither listened. She wept for them, called out their names, and Lily’s, until her throat was sore and her voice was raspy.

Cure tried to lift up Astral one more time over his head with shaking limbs, but his grip loosened. The ice pony fell on top of him, rolled off his shoulder, and over the side of the mountain.

Cure himself swayed and collapsed before slipping toward the abyss, but Rarity grabbed a hand with her magic and pulled. She was only able to slow Cure’s descent, not stop it. As she pulled, she saw the extensive damage the fight had done to his body. There were so many deep cuts, open wounds, and pieces of ice jammed into his body. His fur was completely caked in blood. His eyes were damaged beyond repair. He would never see his love again, even if he survived. Rarity cried as she pulled. She didn’t want to let go.

But Cure didn’t move.

As Cure’s torso slipped over the edge, the sudden shift of weight was too much for Rarity. She let go, and below Cure’s body disappeared into the white.

Comments

[Mal Masque]

OOOOH! That was awesome! You took my expectations (I was worried for cliché, for a moment) and blew them out of the water! And wow, what a brutal way to go for the lot of them... But who was truly right in the end, I wonder?