Snowblind

by CrowMagnon

~ Interlude: Snowfall ~

Snowblind
by crowmagnon

~ Interlude - Snowfall ~

Once the mutant is unconscious, I withdraw Winter's chill from my talons so as not to freeze it to death. The thought occurs to me that I would not have to leave it alive to use it as an example. I could simply freeze it solid and drop it in the middle of the ponies' town to show them what I am capable of. A lesser griffon might do just that, but I know these ponies all too well. I know the lengths that they will go to for their herd, and such an example would have far less value than a living hostage.

For a moment, I almost feel pity for the creature. Who knows what sort of lies and treachery the Sun and Moon put into her head? Is it loyal to its true rulers, or merely to the masks they wear? After ages of unopposed rule, one can only expect them to do to their own people what they did to mine.

I close my eyes and see the day they came for me playing out as if I were there once more. The scene is captured perfectly, frozen in my mind's eye with absolute clarity.

-----

My palace of ice was beautiful, then. Every gleaming facet of its construction was carefully shaped and crafted out of ice so pure and infused with the magic of Winter that the interior could be kept at a temperature fit for living beings without melting. That day, however, was cold. So very cold that even I would have felt the chill if not for the far deeper cold that had seized hold of my heart.

I sat upon my throne, thinking upon what I had learned some weeks before. It had been time to relinquish Winter's hold upon the land, but how could I, knowing what I did? Even as all the lands of the world grew colder and refused to make way for Spring, I knew that there was no alternative. After what I had seen, there could be no surrender. No quarter asked for, nor any given.

One of my Winter Knights had approached, and I could see him trembling. Not from the cold, no. My knights wore armor crafted from ice that was infused with the same magic as the palace. No, he came to me full of fear, and there could only be one reason for that. "Your majesty, two envoys have arrived from Equestria seeking an audience," he said, bowing his head in a pathetic attempt to mask his emotions, as if I could not see his heart pounding frantically in his chest.

"Then what are you waiting for? Have we not always embraced our Equestrian friends? Have we not always been paragons of hospitality toward them? Let them in," I replied, not even bothering to hide the venom in my voice. The knight flinched and did as he was told, making his way back to the doorway to allow the 'envoys' in.

The two ponies entered, one average-sized for a pony, the other quite noticably larger, wearing hooded cloaks heavy enough to protect them from the blizzards outside the palace. Though the hoods they wore hid their faces, each of them had a small hole for the unicorn horns that poked through. The taller one's horn was white with a touch of pink, the other blue. It was only my naturally reserved demeanour that kept a sneer off of my face as they bowed in a mocking display of false modesty and respect.

"Thank you for seeing us, Gertrude," the white-horned mare said as she her horn glowed so that she could pull back her hood. A long, flowing pink mane fell free around her face as she revealed herself. "My sister and I feared that we would not be welcomed into your court." While she spoke, the other unicorn pulled her own hood back to reveal the shy face of the younger Princess of Equestria, her face partially hidden behind a light blue mane.

I regarded them both in cold silence for a mere second before giving my reply. "What a surprise. When my knights said that envoys had arrived, he did not mention that it was you." My voice was flat and utterly devoid of emotion. In that moment, seeing the Princesses of Sun and Moon before me, I felt no rage. I felt nothing. A nothing so deep and empty that every ounce of fondness or mercy I had ever felt was simply swallowed up in it.

I stepped off of my throne to approach them. "And why should you not announce yourself, Celestia? Have I not always considered you and Luna to be my dearest friends? Sisters, even?" When I stood in front of the Sun Princess, I lifted up my foreleg, holding my talons inches from her face. "Did you think that there were limits to my affection for you? If my closest friends came into these halls and asked me for this very leg, I would rip it from my body this instant and offer it to you."

Celestia merely looked slightly disquieted by the offer, but Luna actually turned rather green at the thought. "N-no, we don't want anything like that," the Moon Princess replied. "Please, we just need you to end the Winter."

"So many creatures are going hungry," Celestia added as I lowered my talons. "Not just our little ponies, but animals that have been waking from hibernation, only to find the land still barren and frozen. What would you have them do?"

"What would you have me do," I retorted, clenching my talons in a fist. "To whom would I relinquish the season? Are you prepared to forgive Shangwe, after what she did to those children? Have you found the prodigal Sun Dog? We certainly know that the Warden of Autumn can't bring life back to the land any more than I can, so to whom should you entrust this sacred charge? Hmm?" I circled around the pony sisters, staring through them the entire time "Of course, how could I not have realized it? The mare who raises the sun is right here in front of me. Surely with a little help from her devoted subjects, she can usher in the Spring to make up for the absence of our fallen sister. When Summer comes... well, you have already filled in for the Sun Dog once, so I am sure that it will be easier next time. And the time after that, and the time after that, and the time after that. Oh, but what will you do when Autumn comes?"

I turned my gaze upon Luna then. She shrank back, pressing up against her sister's side as her heart pounded with fear. "Well, Autumn is months away, isn't it? Who knows what tragedy could befall our mischievous brother by the time it comes? He might fall from grace as Shangwe did. Or vanish like the Sun Dog. Or be attacked in the night by some unknown enemy, forcing dear little Luna to take his place. Tell me, do you expect him to see the knife coming, or did you plan on distracting him by batting your pretty little eyes before disposing of him?"

"ENOUGH!" Celestia's voice boomed throughout the palace of ice as she interposed herself between me and Luna. Not in the voice used among friends and equals, but the amplified voice used to cow and intimidate her subjects. Even though I had been expecting her to reveal herself in this way, I was still unprepared and found myself pushed back by the force of it before bracing myself. She was glaring, then, eyes filled with the fury of the blazing sun. "WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE THOU HAS OBTAINED THESE NOTIONS, BUT THOU SHALL NOT ADDRESS OUR SISTER IN THIS MANNER!"

Immediately, the Winter Knights rushed into the audience chamber. Most came in through the large doors, but others flew in through the windows or through side doors and hidden passages. Each of them was heavily armored and trained to great proficiency with the spear. My Knight Captain, the greatest warrior of all the Griffon clans, was so skilled that even the Sun Dog respected his strength and prowess.

His spear, as with the rest of the Knights, had been pointed at me.

"And so they finally reveal themselves," I mused, my lack of surprise or shock speaking louder than any outrage I could have mustered. To the Knight Captain standing behind me, I asked, "And how much was your loyalty worth, Gunther? Did they buy you, or is it that you have always been looking for this opportunity?"

I heard him swallow as he pressed the tip of his spear against my back, between my wings. "Please, Your Highness. Just end the Winter. It has gone on for too long, and our people are suffering. Simply allow the ponies to bring about Spring, and we can figure out what to do after that."

I closed my eyes, then, and laughed with no mirth behind it. Where Gunther's spear touched me, it quickly began to freeze over in a thick layer of ice which ran up to his talons. I heard him struggle as the ice spread, merging with his armor and working with the enchantments already in place to rapidly spread to the Knights on either side. In merely a pawful of seconds, every one of my Knights was part of a frozen ring that now surrounded me and the pony Princesses.

I opened my eyes to see the Princesses of Sun and Moon gawping in horror. Their allies in this coup had not brought about the swift surrender they had hoped for. With a faint frozen crackle, I stepped away from Gunther's spear.

"G-gertrude... how could you?!" Luna's voice quavered as she looked about at the frozen warriors. They could only watch, locked in place but still alive and aware enough to see what was to transpire.

"You know that I have always had a giving nature," I replied, reaching back to caress Gunther's frozen-over cheek. "I have simply given them a reward befitting traitors who would give away everything to a pair of power-hungry schemers too cowardly to even show their faces."

Before either of them could protest, I whipped around and threw my wings out forward toward them. A blast of Winter wind galed at them as a flurry of dagger-like ice feathers filled the space between us. The feathers ripped through the air around them, slashing the coats they wore to ribbons while the Princesses reflexively shielded themselves with magic to protect their bodies. This unexpected surge of magic forced them to drop their masks and reveal the faces that they had hidden under far more than mere hoods.

After the volley subsided, Celestia and Luna stood up to their full heights, revealing themselves. Celestia had always been large for a pony, representing the pinnacle of earth pony and unicorn traits amplified through bearing one of the Elements of Harmony. Now she was even moreso, with the addition of wings and a multi-colored mane that twisted and writhed even in the absence of a breeze. Similarly, while Luna was still smaller than her sister, her unicorn and pegasus traits were now accompanied by an increase in size that would allow her to tower over her subjects. Her coat had darkened, and her mane had transformed into patch of night sky that also writhed about as if to reach out and draw everything around it into that dark void.

"So this is what you have become," I said, glaring at the royal sisters. "It was not enough for you to guide the sun and moon through the sky. Shangwe is no longer in your way, so you took her place. The Sun Dog is no longer in your way, so you took his place. Did you think that I would not see this coming? That I would not expect you to come and push me out of your way as well?"

Luna was still unsteady, but Celestia braced herself. Her grotesquely elongated horn began to glow as she prepared a spell. "Gertrude, we do not know what has happened to you," she said as though I were the one in the wrong, "but it is still not too late to simply end this madness. We are offering you one last chance. For your sake and the sake of every creature, we urge you to take it."

I flared my wings and drew upon the ice surrounding me to gird myself in armor. A spear formed in my talons. "I have given so much over the years, Sun Princess. To you and yours in particular. But for my sake, and the sake of every creature, surrender is the one thing that I cannot give."

Those would be the last words I spoke in what must now be centuries.

I lost, of course. Glutted on their newly-acquired power as they were, I could not match them both. Even in the heart of my palace, where the ice that formed it could be shaped and wielded with ease against them, Celestia's connection to the sun made her a powerful opposite. Our battle raged through the halls, and entire wings of the palace were either destroyed by solar magic or wielded as a weapon against the Sun Princess.

Ultimately, however, it was Luna who landed the final blow in our battle. Though I did everything in my power to deny them the satisfaction of an easy victory, I was eventually so drained by Celestia's relentless attacks that the Moon Princess was able to sneak in and twist my own magic back upon me. Celestia was as drained and beaten as I by that point, so I gripped my spear with what strength I had left and staggered toward her to finish it when I found myself unable to lift my paws from the floor. I looked down to see that the floor was shifting beneath me, ice rising up and wrapping around my legs to hold me fast. I then felt that the magic flowing through it was not my own, so I followed that magic to its source.

There Luna stood, wide-eyed and trembling, her horn glowing as she manipulated the ice that was slowly engulfing my body. I attempted to wrest control of it back from her, and had I been stronger I could have done so easily. However, Celestia had seen to it that I simply had nothing left with which to fight her magically. I reflexively tried to break the ice with my spear, but as it was with Gunther, it merely became frozen in place upon contact with Luna's spell.

I believe that I began screaming, then. There were no words that could articulate my rage. Nothing but one last primal howl of rage and spite directed at the monsters I had once called sisters. In hindsight, perhaps there were words, though at this moment I cannot recall exactly what I might have said. Eventually, the ice crawled far enough up my body to freeze my beak shut, which is when the battered and weakened Celestia staggered up to speak.

"We did not want this," she lied, "but we had no choice. We are only doing what Harmony demands of us. We... I do not know if you will be able to reflect on this in the time to come, but if you do, then remember this: One day, you will be free again, and when you are, we will be waiting for you."

The Sun Princess then did something incomprehensible. She leaned forward and softly kissed my forehead, just above my eyes. She then stepped back toward her sister and for a moment... just for a moment, I saw them as I had before. Their new forms still remained, but in that instant they were not monsters gorged on ill-gotten power, but something beautiful. Despite the changes they had gone through, I could still see the sisters with whom I had shared so much from the very first days we met, long before any of us bore the Elements of Harmony, let alone my assumption as the Warden of Winter or Queen of the griffon clans.

It was the cruelest of illusions. A sick glamour to fill my head with rose-tinted nostalgia in the hopes that I would ignore the horrible truth before me. It felt as though I was ripping out my own heart, and perhaps I was in a metaphorical sense, but I used what was left of my mental strength to shatter the illusion and focus on their true faces. The last thing I did before the ice surrounded me completely, wrapping me up and cutting me off from the world, was to glare defiantly at my former friends.

-----

I open my eyes once more to face the present. There is no more need to reminisce on the past. For an unknown span, I existed in a sort of timeless fugue state. Vaguely aware of my surroundings but unable to tell whether seconds were passing or years, I simply waited until finally I felt the last of the magic binding me fade from the ice, allowing me to break free from my frozen prison.

And what had I found upon waking? Naught but ruin. Even the parts of my palace that had not been damaged in the battle with Celestia had fallen to the relentless passage of time. The Winter Knights were gone, either freed by the Princesses as a reward for their treachery, or disposed of for the same reason. I could not bring it upon myself to care which.

It was the loss of the Element of Harmony that I once bore which truly concerned me. They took it, of course, though I did not know how they ever intended to wield it after what they did. The answer would not come to me until later, upon sensing their presence in the town below. It made so much sense then. The Princesses may be greedy, but they would know better than any creature that there are threats beyond their ability to face without the Elements. All they had to do was take the time to play the benevolent dictator and mold ponies of purer hearts than their own to faithfully wield the Elements in their name, just as their subjects now oversee the turning of the seasons. The Sun and Moon see them as nothing more than tools, just like their assassin.

The assassin. I turn to look at it, and for a moment... just for a moment, with no immediate danger presenting itself, I see it... her as merely a mare like the many down below now caught up in my blizzard. Her breathing is shallow and labored as she curls up as tightly as possible to stay warm, even in her unconscious state.

With the rocky outcropping gone, snow and ice have accumulated over the mare during my moment of nostalgia. As I look down upon the poor creature, I feel a faint trace of heat on my forehead, just above my eyes.

I clench my eyes shut and bring a talon up to my head to clear it of the unpleasant sensation. When I open them once more, I see the assassin as it truly is. A weapon set upon me by the Princesses. A reminder that they will be prepared for the fight to come.

Nevertheless, I reach down and touch the snow covering the mare. I bestow upon it the magic of Winter, purifying the snow and transforming it from a deathly shroud sapping the life from the mutant into an insulating blanket. One that will allow her to recover her own warmth.

After all, a living hostage is better than a frozen example.

And even without the Element in my possession, I can still be generous.

Author's Note:

This chapter wasn't exactly what I expected to do for this installment. I originally meant to do a follow-up to the previous chapter that would focus on Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity reacting to the Windigo's blizzard. When I started working on a Gertrude segment that described her fall at Celestia and Luna's hooves, though, that ended up becoming its own thing.

I'm actually sort of glad about that, because between the holidays and getting as sick as a really sick dog the day after Christmas, my work schedule was thrown completely out of whack, and with it my drive to sit down and write. With things normalizing again, though, I've been able to focus on it better.

So now that it's done, please enjoy a little bit of world-building and character perspective. We'll be returning to the Mane 6 next time around!

Comments

[i_am_the_jam]

I wonder what she expected Derpy to kill her WITH...

[With A Bang]

...I don't think Rarity will be too pleased that this is her predecessor to the Element

Anyway, I enjoyed this bit of world building and I really liked how you wrote it in first person. You managed to get the sense across that Gertrude wasn't exactly right in her accusations, but still not have her realize it and that's a tricky thing to do. Plus, I like the idea that she and other beings of great power used to wield the Elements. It's an interesting history to create for this.

[CrowMagnon]

1951833 Well, Gertrude isn't exactly right in the head. If you were to ask her, I'm sure she could come up with some sort of rationalization, like the Princesses didn't expect Derpy to actually hurt her, they just sent her as a message that they're on to her. As it is, she simply isn't thinking much about it.

1952538 Thanks, I really appreciate the compliments. Though I should point out that in this 'verse, it isn't Rarity who represents Generosity. Still, I can just imagine Canon!Rarity's reaction.

[nightmaster0]

Good chapter. So Gertrude was one of the Elements of Harmony along with Celestia and Luna. What was her Element? Who were the last three holders?

[CrowMagnon]

1953215 Thanks. Back in the day, Gertrude was the Element of Generosity.

As for the other three, I'm hoping to make more stories in this AU featuring them so I don't want to give too much away, but I can tell you that the one who acted as Warden of Spring was a zebra named 'Shangwe ya Maisha', and the Warden of Summer was a boisterous canine known as Fido the Sun Dog.

[With A Bang]

1952995
Right, right! I was thinking of canon!Rarity. And no need to thank me, all the compliments are quite truthful

[Winter Quill]

So the real question is, how true is Gertrude's understanding of what transpired. I suspect the truth lies somewhere between how she sees the mater and how we hope it really is.

That being said, great chapter all around. It's nice to see some good character development on our villain.

[Super_Big_Mac]

my belief is that Gertrude is right in that Celestia and Luna were taking over as the Seasonal Stewards, but I think that it wasn't then killing the others.

As for the reminder at the end of the fight, I think it was a true show of affection and sadness. My basis for this theory is the Winter Warlock (or was it father winter?) in that old Christmas movie.
"One foot in front of the other! soon you'll be walkin' cross the floor~! "

[CrowMagnon]

1978136
You may be right. Or maybe not.

[Super_Big_Mac]

1978275 I doubt that I'm right, which is why it's a theory.

[CrowMagnon]

2006435
...
*ahem*
...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Thank you, good sir.

[CrowMagnon]

2006589 Thank you! Hopefully it'll make more sense after you've gotten a little more into it. That's the danger of a story that starts off somewhere in the middle.

To answer your questions, Celestia and Luna are very much alive and well in their divine roles as stewards of the day and night. And while the Windigoes don't count as Winter gods, the one commanding them most certainly does.

[M1Garand8]

You have the same naming idea for a villain against Celestia and Luna as I do but other than that, they're still totally different. This story looks promising but I have yet to start reading. I will do so when I'm caught up with my homework.

Also, just so you know, your story got me interested again in my own Alternate History/Universe fic with regards to Twilight, the Elements and the Season 1 pilot (using a very familiar premise *coughstartrek2009cough*), which I might write after I finish my currently running story.

[Inferno demon Dash]

Battle of the Gods!!!! Badass, So the Griffion Goddess of Winter fought the Goddesses of the Sun and Moon....and lost? Damn, wonder what Discord would say to this, who are the other Gods though that are metioned? I know not their names by I love the name Sun Dog. Shit, Gods are so greedy and selfish....but they are immortal so they do have that right.

I wonder if Derpy will ever, in a later point in time would wonder if she would enjoy siding with the Griffion Goddess of Winter? That would seriously be a new twist though, having an evil Derpy....I love that idea

As always you created a chapter that only a master or very famous author could, seriously great job, I can't wait to see more of this

[Inferno demon Dash]

2006670 Damn your fast and very true, I like the winter horses, they are badass....and awesome can't wait to see more of this, you should think about doing a two part ending of this story, one a 'happy' ending and one a 'dark', talk about a twist

[CrowMagnon]

2006924 You have a villain named Gertrude too? Huh, that's a coincidence. I'll have to look into your stories. I've just gone through what you have done in "Of Sunshine and Laughter" and have enjoyed it. A Celestia/Pinky body-swap is a very funny idea to start with, and having a djinn as an antagonist was really cool.

[CrowMagnon]

2006997 Heh, so many things to respond to. Again, I'm really, really grateful that you've enjoyed this so far. As for a few of your points:

Octavia having a Russian accent wasn't originally going to happen, because I love the "Epic Wub Time" video and always picture that as her "canon" characterization. After reading some Discord Whooves strips (which I stopped doing because the Derpabuse got way too real and nasty for my tastes) that depicted her as Russian, something just clicked for me. So while I still consider Epic Wub Time the standard for Octy throughout most of the multiverse, here she's a stoically snarky virtuoso from Stalliongrad.

Scootaloo's mom being a bat-pony was also just something that clicked after putting a few pieces together. The name Nocturne Striker came from the Lunaverse. Since that character had been a member of the Night Guard before her untimely death, before the readers even got a chance to meet her, I really wanted to use her as a character here. Combined with having recently read the description of bat-ponies (or "thestrals") as being a rare, naturally-occurring mutation among the pony races in "Nightmare Night & Nyx" by RealityCheck, the idea that Scootaloo's mom is one was too awesome to not use.

As for the other seasonal deities, they'll get stories featuring the Mane 6 meeting them throughout the "season", so info will be forthcoming as they're featured.

When it comes to canon characters getting involved in this verse too, don't worry about that. After Snowblind, I plan to do a relatively short three-parter about how the Mane 6's lives diverged and how they got their cutie marks without the Rainboom. Trixie and Gilda will both feature prominently in flashback there, and will probably be showing up in the present day in other stories somewhere down the line. Discord? Hey, who can say? Maybe he'll show up, maybe he won't. Maybe he'll show up in already-written chapters, and retroactively always have been there.
CHAOS!!!

[M1Garand8]

2011444
Well, not Gertrude but Eclipse, the spirit you mentioned in the comments. I'm still planning out that particular story, particularly with regards to that villain... and another villain (it's a complicated thing...).

I'm very glad you liked my story. i kind of feel that my story isn't very deserving of its comedy tag, what with Cerebus Symdrome taking over but I still try to make it as lighthearted as possible. There's some extra background info on the spritis you can glean if you read Of Chaos and Spirits, which is also part of the same universe.

Also, thanks for the favorite.

... I really should start reading your story since you've already did for mine.

[CrowMagnon]

2011815 2011809 Yeah, I kind of wanted to jump into the story with personalities that have already been established, albeit "off-screen" since I still wasn't sure at the time exactly how their meeting and earning of the Elements of Harmony would play out, and didn't trust myself at the time to follow through completely if I started there. The idea for Snowblind was more solid in my mind, so it came first. Plus, even without Nightmare Moon, it would have basically been a re-telling of that story. Still, I do plan on going back and telling that tale after I'm done with Snowblind and the short story of how the Mane 6 got their altered cutie marks.

[M1Garand8]

Just finished reading through. Your choice for the antagonist is interesting too. Her Paranoia in contrast to Luna's Envy [in the original canon] is also refreshing. I look forward to new chapters.

[RanmaChaos]

Fantastic! And I love the pony ratios in Celestia and Luna. I always figured that they had more or less equal unicorn magic, but Celestia had a higher degree of earth pony magic(thus her size), and Luna had a higher degree of Pegasus magic.

[djthomp]

Hmn, so an older set of Element Bearers, of which Celestia and Luna were just two of six, with this Gertrude gryphon as Generosity. I'm guessing the mentioned Sun Dog, Shangwe, and the mischievous brother (Discord?) as the other three?

[aceotaku]

As a rule, I generally hate characters who are absolutely sure theya re in the right no matter how many people they hurt or lives they take, especially if they try and say that they're just a victim in everythign when it's clear they're not.

What I'm saying is: I look forward to Gertrude's defeat. WITH GUSTO.

[ZealousChristian24]

Beautiful! Powerful! Dangerous! Cold!
Ice has a magic, can't be controlled.
Stronger than one! Stronger than ten!
Stronger than a hundred men!

Born of cold and winter air
And mountain rain combining!
This icy force both foul and fair
Has a frozen heart worth mining!

Cut through the heart, cold and clear!
Strike for love and strike for fear!
There's beauty and there's danger here
Split the ice apart!
Beware the frozen heart...

[Razzy]

Still intriguing.

Poor Gertrude, I knew the princesses wouldn't play fair and would instead double team her.

She's clearly coo coo for coco pops, I just hope she is jellied somehow instead of being taped again.

Also, a griffon god, simply badass.

Cya
Raziel-chan

[defender2222]

So giving...even with pain. How almost abstract of her (wink)