Being awesome has unintended consequences for Rainbow Dash, as a windigo she has brought to existence needs tender loving care.
A combination of Rainbow Dash -styled awesomeness and experimentation has brought into being something quite unexpected: a windigo foal, unassuming and apparently attached to its mama.
How will Rainbow Dash fare with new responsibilities that come with taking care of a fairly unknown creature of nightmares?
Twilight peered at the thing contained in a modified Shining Armor shield bubble on her study desk. The tiny creature of animated wind and cloud raced around inside the bubble in circles the size of a dinner plate, before releasing an elongated whinny that would have been blood-curdlingly terrifying had it not been in a volume and pitch more suited to kittens. The windigo foal looked at Twilight with glowing eyes, as it reared back in the air and tapped the bubble with its front hooves. When Twilight failed to pick it up, it whinnied disappointed and lay down on the desk with hooves on top if its eyes.
"Well..." Twilight said airily, "it would appear to be a very small windigo."
"Okay," Rainbow Dash said, and paused for a whole half second. "So why's it following me around?"
Twilight shrugged. "I don't know. Where did you find it, and what were you doing at the time?"
"I was just fooling around," Rainbow Dash said waving her hooves nonchalantly, "you know, I whipped around a small hurricane to gather up some clouds in a column, then smashed through with an upward Rainboom to see if I could kick up a thunderstorm, or maybe some new awesome effect. And, well, there it was."
"Just like that? It appeared out of nowhere?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, I was cooling down from smashing the cloud into oblivion, and this thing showed up."
"Aha," Twilight hummed in thought. "And what did it do when it showed up?"
"Well, it yelled, like just now, and tried to ...eh, nuzzle me, I think."
Twilight turned her gaze to Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.
"Well I wasn't going to hang around!", Rainbow Dash said defensively. "I dashed away!" Then she looked accusingly at the little windigo, who seemed to perk at her attention. "It followed me all the way back to Ponyville!" She looked back at Twilight, who seemed to be in thought. "So, what are we going to do with it?", she asked impatiently.
In answer, Twilight dispelled the shield from around the creature. Immediately it whinnied and sprinted in the air, making fast and tight figure eights around the two ponies before settling to circle around Rainbow Dash.
"Hey! What gives?!" Rainbow Dash shouted in dismay, and tried to shoo the miniature windigo away with her hooves. The creature dived under her flailing forelegs and pressed itself against her cheek, with its forelegs stretching around her neck. "Aahh! It's ice cold!"
Twilight giggled. ("Not funny!" Rainbow Dash cried.) "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash! But it seems it, she, likes her mommy."
"Wait, what," Rainbow Dash stopped and tried to stare both the windigo and Twilight.
"Well," Twilight said, "this is the first I've ever heard of something like this happening, but I think you've successfully managed to create a new windigo single-hoovedly." Now she had Rainbow Dash's full attention, despite the tiny spirit creature trying to burrow into her mane. Twilight waved her hoof. "Well what did you expect? You go around constantly fooling around with air and weather, doing things nopony else seems to be able to imitate. Something of this sort was bound to happen."
She pointed at the tiny creature, who was now flying around Rainbow's head in leisure, letting out sweet little whinnies every few whiles. "Windigoes are spirits of air and magic, primarily. Hatred and darkness, as well," she added with a shrug, "although I'm not sure whether that's a necessary requirement, or if it has thus far only been a catalyst for the necessary energy to give them birth. She doesn't seem too malevolent," Twilight said.
"Yeah, okay, didn't follow," Rainbow Dash said. "What was that with me being its mommy?"
"Well," Twilight said with another shrug, "you created her. In a way that makes you her mother. Besides, she seems to be rather attached to you. I doubt she'd like it if we tried to take her away from you."
"But...but I'm not ready to be a mother!" Rainbow Dash cried horrified. "I'm not responsible! I can't look after a foal! Especially not a hell-beast!" She grabbed the windigo from air and held it in front of her. It cooed at her. "You take her!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Look," Twilight said, "if you really don't want to, or think you can't do this, I'll think of something. But she seems to like you!" Twilight said while the windigo rubbed her head against Rainbow's hoof. "I'll write to Celestia, and see if she has advice. And you can count on us as your friends to help you, of course."
"What if she becomes a creature of nightmares, bent on the destruction of Ponyville and its inhabitants?" Rainbow Dash asked peering at the cooing little windigo suspiciously.
"We'll find some way to deal with it, if it happens," Twilight assured Rainbow Dash, "but look at her! She's just a baby! I don't think she'll become a problem if we raise her with love and kindness."
"But," Rainbow Dash said weakly, "what am I supposed to do with her? What do windigoes eat, even? Do they sleep?"
"Well," Twilight said tapping her chin, "the windigoes of old were supposed to thrive on hate and jealousy, but I don't know how much alike she is to them. And she seems to be doing just fine as it is right now." She shrugged. "I mean, look at Spike. Dragons are supposed to be huge jerks, but Spike is actually a really nice guy. I'm sure you can raise a nice windigo." She paused for a moment. "Just in case, I'd keep her away from arguing couples."
"But... Oh, all right," Rainbow Dash said and slumped in defeat, the baby windigo still in her hooves. "She is kinda cute, isn't she?"
"She is indeed," Twilight giggled, then put her head to one side. "What are you going to call her?" she queried.
Rainbow Dash studied the creature. "Windy," she decided with a nod.
* * *
Rainbow Dash was backstroking at her leisure through the air, Windy keeping effortlessly pace close above her.
"So, Windy..." Rainbow Dash said uncertainly, "what do I do with you?"
The windigo looked at her curiously and rolled her lips at her in a baby raspberry. "I mean," Rainbow continued, "do I treat you like a pet or a foal, or what?" She paused. "Gosh, I don't even know if your kind can speak!"
Windy whinnied softly. "And, well," Rainbow said, "you don't need feeding, I guess, so you probably won't need changing or bathing... I mean, are you just gonna hang out and follow me around? That's a bit lame."
The windigo looked dejected, her eyes dimming and the weird windy mane drooping. Rainbow regretted her words immediately. "Eh, I didn't mean..." she said quickly, then sighed. "Windy. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said that." She grabbed the windigo in a hug. "Windy. You're mine and I love you," she said sincerely, looking her in the eyes. "I promise."
Immediately, the windigo smiled faintly, and nuzzled Rainbow uncertainly. Rainbow laughed. "You're all right, Windy." She paused and grinned. "I guess it's kind of awesome. Not everypony can say they have a demon of air and darkness as a daughter." She blinked. "A daughter. Huh, I guess that makes me a mother."
Rainbow Dash paled. "Oh no! I'm a single mom!" She let go of Windy and covered her face in her hooves. "I've become my mother!" Windy pushed her hooves with her muzzle and tried to whinny comfortingly. Rainbow looked at her. "Windy, if I start to wear chiffon, stop me. Seriously."
Windy bounced against her chest and blew more baby raspberries. "Oof! Cold hooves, Windy! Cold hooves!" Rainbow Dash cried. "I wish you were a little warmer. It's gonna be awkward shivering whenever you give me a hug."
The baby windigo yawned widely. "Huh, I guess you do get tired," Rainbow Dash mused. "I suppose it's understandable. You're kind of a newborn right now. We better go to my place. I doubt other ponies are quite ready to see you yet."
She grinned again. "But it's going to be awesome!" she said imagining herself coolly and nonchalantly walking around Ponyville, ponies hiding and gasping in terror of Windy. 'Oh, her?' she would say with marked indifference. 'Yeah, that's my girl! Say hi to the nice ponies, Windy! Rainbow Dash chuckled as in her mind's eye ponies covered before a bigger Windy's mighty whinny.
Dear Celestia,
How do you do? I'm writing on behalf of Rainbow Dash on a matter of some curiosity and import. Apparently, during one of her stunts including a Sonic Rainboom, Rainbow Dash managed to create a new windigo out of thin air.
The physiology matches, although in size the windigo is far from the titans described in the tales. She is about the size of a standard household cat. Otherwise, the resemblance is spot on: glowing eyes, body made out of wind and clouds and an aura of supernatural cold.
However, she doesn't seem destructive, unlike all the known windigoes so far. In fact, so far she has exhibited the behavior of a newborn foal, albeit a mobile one. She is particularly attached to Rainbow Dash.
We have named her Windy, and are attempting to raise her as an upstanding citizen. We'll keep you appraised of the situation and would appreciate any input you or Luna might have on the education of hell-beasts.
With love, your faithful student, forever and always,
Twilight Sparkle
Princess Celestia sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I can't believe the things those girls get up to..." After a while she chuckled. Luna's going to be amused.
Normally, Rainbow Dash would be napping herself, but somehow lying on a proper bed in the middle of the day was not doing it for her. That she had stared the sleeping Windy for the better part of an hour now was quite beside the point.
The little windigo had wrapped itself in the cloud blanket, only the end of its muzzle peeking through. This insulated it enough to let Rainbow Dash cuddle up to her without fear of frostbite. While still cool, through the cloud Windy felt more like a breath of warm winter day, pleasant enough for a pegasus to hold.
Rainbow stroked the windigo through the cloud blanket slowly, letting the gentle rise and fall of the creature's breathing move her hoof. She stared mesmerized at the tiny muzzle opening and closing, letting out the smallest raspberries when Windy breathed out. Every now and then Windy would smack her mouth and make small sounds, before settling back to sleep.
Rainbow wondered what she was dreaming about.
Clouds and light and wind and dark, she swirled with the rainbow, in circles and circles, exploded and imploded and burst into colors, a wind singing loudly and coming down gently, from clouds to clouds, jumping and diving, she flew to the sun and fell to the stars, she swam through the night and raced through the day, in pieces and raindrops and snowflakes and hailstones, she hungered and wanted and needed and wasted in utter contentment.
Luna blinked blearily, waking up from a distorted dreamworld. She moaned aloud, head aching slightly. "Too early," she mumbled against the pillow, "don't want to get up." After a while her breathing settled into a waking rhythm and she shook her eyes open. "Damn wind demon dreams," she moaned.
Eventually the magic of watching Windy sleeping got stale, and Rainbow Dash felt the need for a snack. With a final pat, she left for the kitchen.
Immediately, Windy started making noise. It started with small hiccups, that grew into tiny sobs. Then a keening wail started to develop. She was almost about to go into a full-grown crying fit, when Rainbow Dash zipped back to embrace the cloud-covered little demon-filly.
”Hey, hush,” she said with fake calm and real affection, ”mommy's here, squirt. You're fine. Mom's here.” Dash cradled the bundle of air and cloud, until the sobs quieted and Windy appeared to sleep calmly again.
Watching her sleeping daughter anxiously, Rainbow started backing away slowly again. When she got to the doorway, Windy started sobbing again.
”Oh, you've got to be kidding me!” Rainbow groaned under her breath and dashed back to Windy's side.
After a moment's petting Dash had a peacefully sleeping Windy again. She herself was chewing her lip in frustration.
”I can't leave the room for five minutes to make a sandwich?” she asked quietly the room. ”I mean, come on!”
She petted the tiny form of the sleeping filly. Hm, I wonder, she thought idly.
A moment's cloud-carving later, she had a contently sleeping Windy wrapped in a cloud blanket tucked under one wing, while she was able to finally feed herself without too much hassle.
”Works like a charm!” she congratulated herself. She looked proudly at the little bundle of cloud. ”Huh, that's pretty handy, actually,” she mused. ”At least pegasi can touch you now, and you're actually warm enough to hug.”
A further idea presented itself to her.
”I wonder if Rarity could work this stuff...?” she said idly, grabbing a tuft of cloud from the filly and molding it with her hooves. It needs to be more solid, she thought, and unicorns and earth ponies need to be able to touch it.
”This calls for freaky unicorn magic!” she declared to thin air.
In a flash, she was speeding back towards the library with the still sleeping Windy in her hooves.
* * *
Twilight lifted her gaze from the book of comparative demonology she had found in the 'Evil' section of the library. She had wondered briefly why the small town library even had a section for Evil books, but didn't begrudge the usefulness.
”Ah, Rainbow,” she said, ”and Windy. Are you having problems?”
”I had the most awesome idea, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash gushed. ”Look!”
She presented Twilight the sleeping filly, who was wrapped in the cloud-blanket, with only the tip of her muzzle showing. Twilight took a moment to analyze the picture, trying to decipher what her friend was after. Then a grin spread on her muzzle.
”Rainbow Dash, that's brilliant!” she exuded. ”The clouds work as a natural insulation, allowing you to handle her with some comfort!” Twilight tilted her head. ”And she seems comfortable with it, too. Hm, I wonder if I could make the cloud material permanently tangible to unicorns and earth ponies as well?”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. ”Good to see you're still quick on the uptake, Twi!” she said. ”That's just what I was going to ask you. Maybe you could work with Rarity, and see if you could manage to make some real clothes to her?” She gestured to the filly. ”I mean, wrapping her up like that is fine and all, when she's sleeping, but no daughter of mine is going to like being bundled up all the time. She needs to be able to fly!”
”You're right, Rainbow,” Twilight said, tapping her muzzle. ”Can you get Rarity? I can keep an eye on Windy. And we'll probably need your help with the cloud matter as well.”
”Er,” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, ”sorry, I got to take her with me. She starts to cry when I go more than a few paces away from her.”
* * *
”Oh, she's adorable!” Rarity cooed in whisper at the sleeping windigo. Sweetie Belle was staring at her with an entranced smile, muzzle nearly touching Windy's.
Rainbow Dash beamed proudly. ”You haven't seen anything yet, Rare! Wait till she's up and moving.”
They looked at the demon-baby for a while, goofy smiles on their faces. Then Rainbow Dash shook herself free from the sight, and said, ”Anyway, I came here to ask you to come to the library. We were going to make Windy some clothes out of clouds with Twilight.”
Rarity blinked. ”Clothes...out of clouds?” she asked, her eyes glazing over as she gazed into the realm of possibility and imagination.
”Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said oblivious, ”she's going to look for a spell that would make the cloud so that earth ponies and unicorns could touch it too all the time. I was going to figure out the best hardness for the cloud, so that it allows for movement and still lets ponies to touch her without getting frost-bites. We thought you could design the clothes.”
”Oh, you need more than that, darling!” Rarity said with a strange gleam in her eyes. ”You need me to design the actual fabric! Can you imagine?” she squealed in excitement. ”Clothes out of cloud-stuff! 'Rarity's rare wrappings'! No, the 'Carousel Cloud Couture'!”
”'Heavenly Hoof-made Haute-couture from Rarity Carousel, now available only on commission'!” Sweetie Belle chimed suddenly, eyes still transfixed at the sleeping filly.
”Oh Sweetie, darling!” Rarity squealed, ”I'll reserve a spot for the studio. You get right on working on the jingle.”
”Focus now, Rarity?” Rainbow Dash butted in impatiently. ”I'd rather we got this done sooner than later.”
”Oh, of course, darling. I apologize,” Rarity said, back in control. ”Shall we?”
”Can I come too?” Sweetie Bell asked, and pointed to Windy. ”She's adorable!”
”Sure, tag along, both of you,” Rainbow Dash said and smiled as she once again grabbed her sleepy daughter to her chest.
* * *
”So, the actual form of enchantment depends on the specific qualities of the cloud-fabric we want to achieve,” Twilight concluded.
”Right,” Rainbow Dash started, but was interrupted by the whinny of the recently awake Windy. She dashed to the windigo foal's side, and was rewarded by a reverberating giggle. Sweetie Belle took the foal's attention again by dangling pieces of tinsel in her sparkling magic in front of the baby, who cooed at the sight.
”Ooh, so we will be able to patent a whole host of cloud-fabrics for use?” Rarity confirmed. ”Will it be difficult to learn the spell for it?”
”Oh, I'm sure I can refine the form eventually, once we've figured out what it is exactly we want to do,” Twilight said, ”but the process will require a lot of experimenting on different consistencies and, oh what's the normal-pony word...polymeric ligature intensities?”
”Elasticity, dear,” Rarity said mildly.
”Well, yes, that,” Twilight said, ”but also the friction of the surface and the, for lack of the better word, feel of the material.”
”That would be texture, darling,” Rarity said.
”Hey, yeah, this is all fine and stuff, but,” Rainbow Dash started, but Windy's whinny interrupted her again, and she had to bail to the foal's side again.
”So, the texture and elasticity of the final end-result of the cloud tangibility spell, as well as the exact composition of the thermal conductivity and density properties of the clouds,” Twilight listed. ”We'll start with the basic cloud-walking spell in adjunction to pegasus magic working on the cloud densities, while you direct the process with regards to the suitability of the material as a working fabric for clothing...oh, I begin to see, why nopony has done this before now.”
”Well, yes,” Rarity said, ”but think of the possibilities! We could revolutionize the clothing industry with custom-made fabrics of unimaginable properties.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. ”Can we add color, too?”
”Okay, guys,” Rainbow Dash started once again, but as previously, Windy demanded her attention with a loud whinny. ”Oh, this is unbelievable!” Rainbow Dash burst out, as she flew to the foal once more. ”She stays amused without me for a few minutes at a time, and then gets impatient when I'm not around! How can I help you experiment with the stuff, when I can't let her out of my sight for longer than a moment at a time?!” she said exasperated. ”Can't you just make a simple thing at first, and we'll figure out the rest later?”
”This is the simple stuff, I'm afraid,” Twilight said.
”We're treading on unmapped territory, dear,” Rarity said, then shuddered as the phrase reminded her of Blueblood's cartography cutie mark.
”Yeah, fine, but I still can't work with Windy bugging me all the time,” Rainbow Dash said petulantly. Windy whinnied. ”I'm sorry, Windy,” Rainbow Dash said immediately, ”Mom's just a bit stressed out right now.” Then she paled. ”Oh no oh no oh no, I'm turning into her again!" she said in a moment of horror, then turned back to Twilight and Rarity. ”Look, can't you just do your thing with the magic to the cloud blanket right now, so I can leave Windy into the hooves of somepony else for a moment?” she asked tiredly.
”Well, yes,” Twilight said, ”but she won't be able to move with the blanket solid around her.”
”And where are you going to find somepony who can keep her amused for hours at a time, Rainbow dear?” Rarity asked.
* * *
”Aaand – Peek-a-boo!” Pinkie said whipping the cloth away from her face. Windy giggled. ”Where's Pinkie?!” Pinkie asked, hiding again behind the baker's apron she was using as an impromptu baby-tickler device.
Rainbow Dash was starting to feel confident. Windy had been staying content with her in another room for ten solid minutes now, and was showing no signs of getting anxious again. And Pinkie could keep this up forever, she knew.
The only problem were the Cakes, and they were starting to get on her nerves.
”I'm not saying she's evil,” Mrs Cake was saying, ”but she's a windigo! How can you be sure she's safe for our twins to be around?”
Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed dangerously. ”Are you saying my baby's not good enough to play with your kids?” she asked in a low growl.
”Oh, no, not at all,” Mrs Cake tried to deny, ”I'm just worried for our children's safety.”
”You dare to say to my face,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, ”that my daughter is some kind of menace not fit to play with other children?!”
”No, no, not at all,” Mrs Cake tried again.
”That's prejudice!” Rainbow Dash hissed angrily.
”But-”, said Mrs Cake.
”You judge my baby out of hoof, just because of what she is!” Rainbow Dash yelled offended. ”Well, she can't help who she is! But I'm not going to let her be mistreated for that!”
”I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash," Mrs Cake sighed, mortified, ”When you put it like that, I'm ashamed of my words.” She wringed her hooves together, anxiously. ”But you must understand-”
A new round of giggles interrupted her, this time coming from the Cake twins. Both mares whipped their heads around to stare in the back room, where Pinkie had been playing with the windigo foal, Mr Cake having escaped the arguing mares some time ago.
Pound and Pumpkin were passing the windigo to one another like a balloon, gently tapping her floating form to drift through the air, while Windy stared ahead, oddly quiet and content-looking.
Mrs Cake stared at the sight, for a while, then sighed. ”Oh, all right,” she said. ”Windy's welcome to stay, Rainbow Dash. I'm sorry for having doubted her.”
Rainbow Dash smirked, vindicated.
* * *
”-and it would be pointless, or indeed rather counterproductive to feed the windigo with strife, as she would only grow in size to compensate for the intake of hate, thus increasing her hunger for such emotions in the process,-” Princess Celestia was saying aloud as she wrote her answer to Twilight's letter.
”Tia! Sister!” came the sound of Princess Luna from the hallway as she galloped towards her sister's quarters.
”Ah, Luna, you're up early,” Princess Celestia said with a small smile.
”Yes, yes,” Princess Luna said, waving her quiet offhandedly, ”we have serious business to attend to, sister!”
”Oh? Whatever has you worried, dear sister?” Celestia asked.
”My dreams were invaded by a spirit of air and darkness!” Luna declared. ”Do you know what that means?”
Celestia blinked. ”Curious,” she mused.
”Curious? Curious?” Luna repeated incredulously. ”Somewhere in our realm, a pony has been possessed by a windigo, and all you can say is 'curious'?” Princess Luna narrowed her eyes. ”Have you forgotten what that means?”
”No, I have not, sister, I have not forgotten,” princess Celestia said mildly. ”I find it curious, because I believe your dreams were not caused by a pony possessed at all. Here, read this,” she said, levitating the letter Twilight had sent her earlier to Luna. ”It should explain what I mean.”
Luna scanned the letter quickly, then sighed, and levitated it back to her sister. ”Well?” Celestia asked, taking the letter back.
”Yes, I suppose 'tis possible,” Luna admitted. ”Perhaps this windigo born of pegasus magic can dream the dreams of a pony, and there are no ponies driven to cannibalism by spirits of greed and gluttony roaming our lands. It is a possibility. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll retire for a few hours. I find the day too early to be dealing with these sorts of shenanigans. Please tell Twilight Sparkle I'll be in touch with her later, myself.”
Rarity eyed the cloud-construct critically and moved her hoof across its surface, huffing quietly. She pushed against it a few times, nodding as the cloud bounced back to form instantly. Finally she stretched the construct to its limits, before letting it snap back to its original size.
"Well," she said at last to the two ponies impatiently waiting her judgment, "'tis a start, at least." She turned to Twilight, who had a checklist ready to mark off the achievements and further developments. "It has the elasticity of lycra, the softness of the finest down and feels smoother than any silk I know of." She paused dramatically. "Visually, of course, this dull monotone of steam gray is quite unacceptable, and cut-wise, the best I can do with this is a jump suit."
"I'll mark the combination off as 'model 1 plain', then," Twilight said satisfied. "The thermal conductivity is actually even better than a same volume of wool, so half a hoof-width should be plenty thick for Windy. And the enchantment, as it is, should last until the next lunar eclipse in 1702, unless disturbed by excessive magical or physical wear-and-tear or the first song of a seventh daughter fed with the acorns of a Golden Oak." Twilight paused for a bit, checking her genealogy tables. "I'll talk to Golden Harvest about little Harmony's diet, just in case. Windy will have her first jumpies tonight, Rainbow Dash," she finished with a smile.
"Finally!" the mare in question burst out in exasperation. "We've been at this for hours! I don't even know how many cloud-constructs I made for you today!"
"One hundred and thirty-six, counting all the density variables for specimens six, thirteen, and thirty to thirty seven," Twilight said automatically.
"Don't forget you promised to help us test more fabrics, Rainbow dear," Rarity said with an uncompromising smile and gimlet eyes.
"Aw, do I really have to?" Rainbow Dash moaned just in case it for once would be enough.
"Absolutely!" Rarity said with a raised hoof. "Even if you don't care about what the cloud-couture could mean for the fashion industry, think about your poor daughter!"
"What d'you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked with suspicion.
"You do realize she will grow up in time, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight piped up before growing thoughtful for an instant. "For given values of 'up', 'time' and probability of 'will'," she added honestly.
"And she will go to school, socialize with other children and, eventually, want to go for her first date," Rarity continued. "She will both want and need to have clothes other than jump suits, and that means I need to have something I can actually work on. Something I can stitch, fold, embroider and dye. I need pleats, Rainbow Dash!"
"...Dates?" Rainbow Dash asked, her pupils shrunk to pinpricks as she stared into the horrifying unknown in her future, filled with social anxieties, grabby colts and emotional outbursts of a teenage windigo. She panicked slightly. "No, no no no no, Windy can't go on dates! I just found out I'm a mother, I can't deal with being a mother of a teenager!"
"Is it so bad?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, I just dyed my mane black and wrote existential poetry in Germane."
"Really?" Rarity asked Twilight with a raised brow of her own, picturing her friend with a black mane. "Any good?"
Twilight waved her hoof in a so-so gesture. "Anyway, since Windy is most likely the product of your magic, it's quite possible she takes after you personality-wise. So, if it comes to it, just think back to your own teen years." She paused. "Come to think of it, you only barely disqualify for being a teenager yourself, so it's not even that far back to remember. Did you date at the time, Rainbow?"
Rainbow Dash was blushing furiously, feeling anxious and embarrassed enough to cry, but she gritted her teeth together and frowned in an effort not to let anything like that ruin her famous cool. The lanky colt on the other side of the coffee table, wearing his father's old prom suit, was staring at her open-mouthed.
The stupid boy looked so stupidly hot with his normally scruffy mane swept back and with the stupid red roses stupidly in his stupid hooves. Rainbow, on the other hoof, felt uncomfortable in the tight dress she had found in her mom's drawers, her hooves in the high heels she had insisted she wanted to wear for her first date and her mane tied up in imitation of a style she had seen Spitfire, the new awesome Wonderbolt from Cloudsdale, wear in a cover of a magazine.
She could only hope the amount of make-up she had plastered inexpertly on her face would keep her embarrassment hidden.
"If you laugh, I'm going to punch you, Thunderlane," Rainbow Dash growled at the colt, staring at him with what she hoped was a warning glare.
"You... are... beautiful, Rainbow Dash!" Thunderlane burst out, clearly not even aware of himself.
Rainbow Dash felt her blush double, while at the same time the rest of her went numb in a freeze. Hey, maybe this isn't so bad after all, some unaffected part of her mind said to rest of Rainbow Dash.
"Um... thanks, Thunderlane," she managed to say after a while, then blew air out of her lungs and closed her eyes, trying to relax. "I-" she started to say.
Then suddenly, something evaded her mouth. Her eyes sprang open in shock, focusing on the colt suddenly right in front of her. Clumsy hooves were gripping her flank, a sloppy tongue trying to gag her.
The punch she gave to her hopeful date became a legend in Cloudsville Junior High, ruining her dating life for whole two years before the next colt managed to gather enough courage to ask her out.
"Any colt tries to touch my little girl, I'm going to kick their flank so hard!" Rainbow Dash growled menacingly. Then she paled and slammed her head to the desk. "Again?!" she wailed suddenly. "That's the third time today!"
* * *
"Windy?" came the raspy voice of Rainbow Dash accompanied by the jingle of Sugarcube Corner's door opening. "Mommy's here!"
She was answered immediately by the excited, high-pitched whinny of Windy, softened by its resemblance to a baby's coo, reverberating eerily in the dark recesses of pony psyche. The baby windigo floated upside down through the backroom door at wither-height, head rocking rapidly back and forth in Windy's attempts to move, her glowing eyes fixed at Rainbow Dash and her breath leaving almost unnoticeable little tufts of frozen water vapor behind her as she gasped excitedly at the sight of her mommy.
"Who's my little baby?" Rainbow Dash cooed at her, sweeping Windy up in her embrace mid-air. "Who's my cute little demon girl? You are! Yes, you are!"
Windy the windigo cooed happily back, nuzzling Rainbow Dash with furious intensity, and giving her little baby kisses of unholy cold that seemed to momentarily suck the life out of Rainbow's skin. "Mah! Mah!" Windy barked softly as a kitten.
"Yes! Who's your momma? Who's your momma?" Rainbow cooed with a wide smile, rubbing her muzzle to Windy's deathly cold one, while Rarity and Twilight looked on with a mixture of bemusement and adoration.
From the door to the backroom, Pinkie gasped excitedly. "Did you guys hear that?!" she half-shouted. "Windy just said her first word!"
"She's half a day old, Pinkie," Twilight said evenly.
"She could be an early developer!" Pinkie argued back.
"You're a clever girl, Windy!" Rainbow cooed, bouncing giggling Windy up and down in her hooves. "Yes, you are! Did you miss mommy?"
"Oh, she was fine, Rainbow!" Pinkie said happily. "She clearly did start to look for you after a while, and would have become sad if Pound and Pumpkin hadn't done the trick with the flour at her. Then she slept for a while again, and only just woke up an hour ago. We were playing charades!" Pinkie bounced next to the giggling windigo and gave her a mock stare. "And she's good!"
"Look what Auntie Rarity and Auntie Twilight made with your mommy, Windy!" Rarity said levitating the newly cut cloud jumpsuit next to the windigo foal. "It's your new jumpies!"
"Oh, right!" Rainbow Dash said. "I bet you're eager to get out of that cocoon already, huh, Windy?" She struggled with the cloud for a while, before turning to Twilight. "A little help, Twi? What did you do to this cloud?"
"Hm?" Twilight said, distracted by the sight of the baby windigo trying to munch on Rainbow's mane. "Oh! It should be fine, let me just...huh, look at that. It's frozen from the inside."
"Frozen?" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.
"Er, yes," Twilight confirmed. "The reverse cloud-walking spell prevented it from snowing, so it just...froze solid."
"So, how do we get her out of this, then?" Rainbow asked.
"Bath-time for Windy!" declared Pinkie, hooves suddenly full of bath toys.
* * *
It had taken three attempts and some carefully timed application of hot water to get the enthusiastically playing windigo out of the tub before she got stuck in a new ice-cube of her making. After that, Windy's enjoyment at long last being free to fly again made any effort to dry her moot as she zipped around Sugarcube Corner, snowing inside to the cheer of the Cake twins. Finally Rainbow Dash had managed to coax her to stay still long enough for Rarity to manage slipping her into the newly cut and shaped jumpie and the little hat and tiny boots she had made from the left-over clouds.
Being exposed to the cold and magic of the windigo had the unexpected side-effect of turning the dull gray into a swirling frost-white that steamed ever so gently around her.
"Oh my dears!" Rarity squealed. "She looks absolutely adorable! And it's beautiful and exotic and just...ohh!"
Windy was suddenly grabbed in an enthusiastic hug by the unicorn, who insisted on letting out high-pitched squeals and rubbing the windigo foal wrapped in soft cool cloud to her cheek. Windy didn't seem to mind too much, though she struggled faintly in an effort to get to fly again.
"Huh," Twilight said, making a note in her notebook, "I'd say that makes this a success. Would you agree, Rarity?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Rarity sighed before levitating a Windy-sized mirror from the bathroom next to Windy. "How about you, darling? How does adowable widdle spiwit of dawkness find her jumpies?"
Windy's eyes flashed as she spotted her reflection and she flew to it trying to give it a hug. Eventually she resigned to just look at it. When she made a little proud pose, with one foreleg up, all the adults in the vicinity, including the senior Cakes, gave a 'd'aww' of adoration.
"Oh, I wish we could make the fabric like that all the time," Rarity sighed.
"Well," Twilight said, "I could probably eventually imitate her magic and copy it into a focus for magical energies that then could be embedded into the clothes."
"Focus," Rarity said, "like a diamond, perhaps?"
"Exactly!" Twilight said. "Actually, they could also serve as a fastening tool, allowing you to make folds and buttons with them!"
Rarity grabbed Twilight's head with her hooves and looked her deep in the eyes. "Twilight," she said slowly and deliberately, "I'm going to kiss you now and then you will marry me."
* * *
Dear Twilight, oh, how happy it makes me to hear from you!
Generalizations and other assorted knowledge I and my sister have gathered over millennia, may, in this particular case, prove to be less than useful to you. The being created by Rainbow Dash's very essence is by all accounts something we have not seen. Whether all the windigoes we have ever met started like this, or Windy is a new being altogether, I do not know.
Magic has still, after years of study, retained in its core a certain unpredictability, even something you might call unknowability. Dealing with magic is always personal and heuristic.
Surely you have learned much of this lesson by now. Still, in a case such as this, this principality implicit to all magical things is a great comfort. This is because of the unspoken guarantee that in spite of any circumstance, there will always be hope for change, for a better future. The pertinent thing in Windy's case would be her diet. As far as windigoes go, one could say that their desire to eat is what defines them. The ponies of old gave them their name in significance of the actual rapacious hunger they embody and represent.
Kindly take note, that remaining unfed should in no way make a windigo, even an uncommon one, ill and it would be pointless, or indeed rather counterproductive to feed the windigo with strife, as she would only grow in size to compensate for the intake of hate, thus increasing her hunger for such emotions in the process, and grow colder as well. Still, it cannot, and in fact should not be expected, that Windy will forever remain separate from the darker side of pony nature. To attempt such an undertaking is simply unrealistic and another solution must be found.
Analysis of Windy's magical make-up might be a good first step. It should help to understand her nature and needs; whether she truly is a spirit of greed, a demonic expression of ponykind's own dark hunger for possession and power, or merely outwardly similar in appearance.
Mind you, studying a creature that is innately almost all magic proposes its own limitations for the analysis. Any invasive method, such as magical scanning would change her in the process. Thus, kindness demands your observation must be passive. And, whatever your results, it may not be easy to determine the right course of action afterwards.
Having her raised by ponies might very well be the best solution. The sympathetic influence of exemplars of Harmony should resonate in the core of any magical creature. You might be able to reclaim her by your very personalities. I will keep in touch. Luna will see you as well, later.
With love, ever your friend, trustingly, Celestia
* * *
Twilight folded the letter carefully and lay it down in a messy pile of notes mentally marked as 'sources - contemporary'. Then she opened her notebook and scribbled a few words in the section titled 'the demonic nature of windigoes'.
Sins of excess made manifest - interaction between the resonant magical field and pony nature? Culture: a guilt internalized by upbringing causes a tension in the psyche, resonating within the magical field. Re: Ego, Super-ego and the Id, by Sigmund Furlong, The Imaginary by Jacques Lacanter and The Memory of the Herd in Magic, by Colter 'I-am-not-in-love-with-Princess-Luna' Jung.
Hypothesis: Rainbow's extreme pegasus magic somehow gave enough energy to bring a proto-demon in Ponyville's vicinity to full existence.
- lemma: Windy is a magical construct reflecting the internal rejection of a pony instinct by the herd morality; something we want to do, but feel guilty about, thus 'demonizing' it
- lemma: Windy is also, to unknown extent, made out of (Rainbow's signature) pegasus magic. Does this carry with it the remnants of Rainbow's personality? Her cutie mark? Elements of Harmony?
- lemma: Windy is the product of mind-magic in its most primal and instinctual form, as close to a genuine personality as one can get accidentally, subject to psychological influence in all senses
- dilemma: to what extent is Windy vulnerable to such influence; i.e. do we harm her intrinsic being by attempting to 'grow her out' of her demonic nature?
- dilemma: to what extent is Windy vulnerable to ponies' baser instincts; i.e. do we risk losing her to wanton hunger if we do not attempt to curb her assumed appetite to hate and jealousy?
To do:
Measure the stability and consistency of Windy's identity. Problematic if, as it appears, she is in her formative years.
Also, devise test for the hypothesis. Repetition of RainbRemoval of the magi Resonant harmonic measurement. Compare to existing windigoes (?) and to RD, separately.
Devise instrumentation for harmonic resonance in the magical field capable of recognizing the constructs of collective psyche.
Twilight stared at what she had written for a moment, then added another line to the 'To do' -list, apparently a necessary requirement.
Revise and improve the whole field of psychology.
Twilight groaned and planted her face in the notebook. The candle, the light of which she was working by, supplemented by the crescent moon in the night sky, sputtered and flickered as she sighed and rubbed her eyes.
A sudden presence a hair's width away from her made her stiffen. Slowly her eyes crept to her side where the dark blue form of Princess Luna was reading her notes, so close to her they were almost touching.
"It looks promising, Princess Twilight," the princess said without moving or looking away from the notes.
"Um," Twilight answered.
Luna turned her gaze to Twilight. "But you shouldn't stress too much over definite facts and perfect solutions," Luna said softly with a smile. "Both ponies and magic work with feel and response and growth. To analyze, petrify and dismantle them would accomplish you only the mastery over a dead form, dear Twilight."
"Heuristic," Twilight whispered.
"Oh, there's a word for it now? No matter," Luna said and took a step back, raising a hoof to her chin. "It might be possible to find you an actual windigo to study, however."
"Really?" Twilight asked excitedly and perked up. "Where?"
"Oh, they're around," Luna answered with a nonchalant wave of her hoof. "They never went away, as I'm sure you can understand based on what you seem to have learned about them today. They are for ever a part of this world as much as what births them remains part of ponies. Hate, greed and jealousy do not exist in spite of our better natures but as dark echoes of our virtues.
"And they have their independence as well. The older and bigger they are, the more they resemble beings of malevolent motivations of their own and less mere manifestations of our sins. There is not so much a line dividing a 'true windigo' from a 'proto-windigo', as you seem to believe, but a continuum of spirit from an echo of regret to a demon of hate.
"When I first noticed this ...Windy, I was in fact at first under the impression that such an older spirit had possessed a pony. Of old, this was the only time I could enter their dreams."
"You can visit her dreams?" Twilight asked excitedly. The data she could gather about Windy this way would be enormously useful.
"It would seem so, indeed. And that gives credence to your theory of her being a mixture of pony and spirit, and as such, the attempt to find out exactly what she is would be as futile as it is to see exactly who somepony is."
When Twilight merely blinked, Luna sighed. "What I am saying, my dearest Twilight, is that you cannot take a pony apart to see how they work. You can merely interact with them and learn how they are."
"Oh," Twilight said. "So," she stretched the syllable, "we should hang around, let her grow up and try to raise her as a pony."
Luna nodded.
Twilight sighed. "Well, that was my first idea, Celestia's suggestion and now yours, as well. I suppose I should leave it at that. I just hoped there was something more to be done. I mean," she said waving her hooves in the air, "it's fine to try to raise her like a foal, but the thing is, with her a bad upbringing might have apocalyptic consequences! After all, with most ponies you don't have to fear them suddenly turning into demons of jealousy and hatred!"
Luna frowned and looked down.
"Oh!" Twilight said, stuffing her mouth with her hoof for a moment and blushing to the tips of her ears. "Oh, Luna! I'm so sorry! I didn't think!" she said and threw her hooves around the other alicorn in a hug.
"It is no matter, Twilight," Luna said separating them courteously. "It will serve you as a reminder of how little difference there might be after all, appearances aside. And we do have other means of observation in this case. I will keep visiting her dreams, and your idea of the harmonic resonance in the magical field is a valid one, once you learn how to measure and compare it to that of ...natural windigoes'."
Twilight hesitated. "Would it be possible for you to visit Windy's dreams right now, please Luna?" she asked levitating a quill to the notebook. "They could serve as an invaluable insight into her nature."
Luna was silent for a moment, concentrating. "She slumbers beyond dreaming at the moment. I can only sense Rainbow Dash, and I wish to take no part in her dreams at the moment."
Struggling against the chains of ice holding her down, Rainbow Dash avoided the accusing eyes of her mother.
"Rainbow Miriam Dash," her mother said in a tone that made Rainbow flinch, "I am so disappointed in you." The older mare took a few steps closer and looked at the suddenly filly Rainbow down her muzzle. "You should have known better than to fly unprotected."
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash argued back. "It's my life! I can fly however I want, as often as I want!"
"And now you have a foal," her mother said, shaking her head sadly, "with that vacuous no-good lay-about!"
"Don't talk about the sky like that, mother," Rainbow Dash hissed. "I love him. Do you hear! I love the sky!"
"Oh, I can see right through him," her mother said back. "Do you think you're the only mare in his life? Do you know how many mares he carries in his winds every day?"
"I don't care," Rainbow Dash sobbed quietly. "There's never been anyone else but the sky in my life. He's my one true love!"
"Yes," Luna said distantly, "we should definitely leave her to her privacy." Then she shook her head. "Anyway, I'll check around Canterlot if there are any windigoes present.
"In Canterlot?" Twilight asked. "Why would there be any windigoes in Canterlot?"
Luna laughed bitterly. "Oh, one of Celestia's brighter ideas: collect the most obnoxious ponies in Equestria and call them 'nobility'. Having them jostle for her favors keeps most of the troublemakers right in sight. Trust me, Twilight, if there is a center for jealousy and greed in Equestria, it has to be Canterlot."
Rainbow Dash woke to the faint sounds of Windy blowing raspberries on her stomach, stopping every now and then to softly sing tuneless notes, accompanied by the occasional stomp of her cloud-covered little hoofsies on Rainbow's chest. The soft impacts felt like tufts of cotton that had been in the refrigerator for a while. Rainbow Dash smiled at the little windigo, who didn't pay attention to her waking, seeming content enough to amuse herself on her belly.
"Hey there," Rainbow Dash said groggily, caressing with her hoof the tendrils of Windy's strangely wispy mane. It felt like arctic wind.
Windy smiled unsurely at her mommy, before yawning hugely with her little mouth. After a moment of blinking at each other, Windy continued with her stomping and raspberries, somewhat more energetically and loudly now.
"I guess I should get up," Rainbow Dash said half to herself, still playing with Windy's freezing mane. "There's work to do today."
That was right, wasn't it? Yesterday had been Moonsday, which meant today was a weekday. The first Niwian of the month, when Rainbow Dash went over the weather schedule for the following month and assigned the duty roster. It was the most annoying part of her duties as the weather manager, and try as she might to go through it quickly, it always took her most of the day to accommodate everypony's schedule.
This time of year was particularly hectic, as it was about time to start arranging the fall storms. That meant assigning wind patrols to make sure there were no accidental oversights either in the intensity or duration of the winds, as well as coordinating with other regional managers to arrange proper rainfall for the winter.
Soon enough ponies would be complaining again about how the winds kept messing up their manes, or how rain would always ruin their days out or how unexpected hail storms destroyed the late harvest. Some ponies just didn't know how to chill.
That was a big part of why Rainbow Dash had been stunt-flying the previous day. It was a goodbye for the lazy summer, when most days she needed just to clear the sky to make it bright and was able to spend the rest of her time as she wanted. Windy hadn't been part of the plan, but seeing how adorable the little windigo was contentedly playing around on her barrel, she wasn't about to complain.
"Not like you're responsible for being here, right, squirt?" she said, lifting the foal to her face, where Windy proceeded to try grab her eyes with her stubby little cloud-shoes, opening and closing her mouth as if trying to eat. Rainbow Dash giggled at the baby windigo's antics for a while, before some things she had said started to demand her attention.
"Hold on," she said slowly. Work, baby. Baby, work. She blinked at the foal, trying to get her half-sleeping brain to work. Baby. Work.
"Nope," she said after a while. "Haven't got a clue."
* * *
Pinkie smiled at the sight of fresh bagels spread on Sugarcube Corner's breakfast buffet and breathed their scent in deeply, before covering the still steaming bread pastries with a cloth to keep them fresh for the soon to arrive wave of hungry ponies off to work. About to launch into a catchy tune about making ponies happy with a nice breakfast to kick their day off, she hopped around the bakery, humming the overture.
"Hi, Dashie!" she chirped happily, deftly dodging the blue streak suddenly bursting through the Corner's front door by pirouetting on one hoof while balancing a stack of saucers on all the other three.
The plates ended up in a neat arrangement on the buffet table, right next to the pyramid of tea mugs, while Rainbow Dash came to a screeching halt in the middle of the room, followed by enthusiastically whinnying Windy who galloped through the air behind her, only marginally slower than Dash herself.
"Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash shouted, intercepting Windy's power hug by grabbing the foal in her hooves and thrusting her towards Pinkie Pie. "I need you to foalsit Windy today!"
"Oh, I wish I could, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie said, finishing off the breakfast buffet by depositing an enormous bowl of salad in the middle of the table. "But the Cakes are catering for the Mayoral Pre-Fall Civil Servant Summit at the town hall today, and I need to take care of the bakery all by myself, and boy, if it isn't going to be a busy day! We couldn't do this at all, if Pound and Pumpkin weren't in the daycare."
"Daycare, huh?" Rainbow Dash said, raising one hoof to her chin, leaving Windy free to float to Pinkie Pie, who immediately joined her in a raspberry competition.
* * *
"But Ms. Dash!" Penny Loafer, the manager and head nanny of Fluffy Firm Foal-care protested. "I can't have a freaky frigid fiend about around foals!"
"Oh, don't you start that with me, mister!" Rainbow Dash snapped, thrusting a hoof to the stallion's muzzle. "That's just pure prejudice against my daughter! I will have you know that the Cakes trusted Windy with their twins for most of yesterday afternoon! In fact, they seem to be doing just fine right now!"
Penny Loafer glanced behind him, noticing that Pound and Pumpkin had led a small herd of toddlers to the windigo foal, all excitedly touching the gleaming white cloud covering the adorable abomination and laughing with the creature, who seemed overjoyed at meeting new playmates.
"Be that as it may, Ms. Dash," he sighed, "you still can't just drop it...her off like that. There is paperwork to be filled beforehoof, for one thing. While accommodating an extra foal wouldn't normally be a problem, I need to have her information for insurance reasons, you need to give me your express approval for transferring care, and I need all kinds of contact information in case of emergencies.
"Not to mention, that I don't even know how to take care of a windigo foal! What does she eat? What if she gets hurt? What if she sets the children against each other and brings forth an age of winter upon the nursery?
"And there needs to be an agreement among the parents of my other fosterlings. Yes," Penny Loafer said, raising a hoof to quell Rainbow Dash's protest, "I understand, but that's how it is. Every parent has the right to be concerned over their foal, and you cannot deny that a being of ancient evil from half-forgotten memory will cause concern."
"So you're saying you won't take her in?" Rainbow Dash demanded angrily.
"I'm saying I can't, Ms. Dash," Penny Loafer answered solemnly. "There is every chance I would get in legal trouble over this. You need to go through proper channels." He hesitated for a moment. "Why didn't you come to me sooner? Normally these kinds of things get taken care of pretty much automatically during the pregnancy and nursing period."
"Well, I didn't know I was going to have a foal before yesterday!" Rainbow Dash snapped. Then she sighed tiredly, and covered her eyes with a hoof. "What do I do now?", she said in a small whine. "I have a ton of work today, and I can't take Windy with me. There's no way I can get anything done with her around!"
"I sympathize, Ms. Dash," Penny Loafer said, and placed a comforting hoof on Dash's withers. "Perhaps there's a friend...?"
* * *
"Ah'm really sorry RD," Applejack said, bucking the apple tree behind her with a grunt, "but ah don't think ah can look after a foal during the applebucking season. This is pretty much the busiest time of the year, when all the fall varieties ripen up. We gotta get them bucked before the storms come."
"Yeah, I figured," Rainbow Dash said, her head drooping.
Windy was flying in circles around the apple tree, letting out small whinnies every now and then. Applejack peered at her curiously.
"Ah've never seen a foal like that before," she commented casually.
"Windy's a windigo," Rainbow Dash said with a hoof-wave. "I accidentally created, or birthed her or whatever, yesterday, when I was doing stunts. We kinda...bonded."
"Heh," Applejack chuckled. "Ah always did say you need to use protection when flying, RD!"
"Oh, don't you start with that," Rainbow Dash said, glaring at the farm pony. "I already got enough of that from my mom last night."
* * *
CLOSED
Away on a field trip to entrap and study a horror beyond time.
Please mail any urgent or Princess-related messages to the following address:
Please drop off due books in the appropriate slot.
Rainbow Dash groaned. "Of course she isn't in town the only day she gets up early."
* * *
The clear light of the morning sun gleamed on the majestic figures of Twilight and Luna as they climbed through the air towards Canterlot mountain. For the few ponies in the position to see the sight of the two princesses flying side by side, the visage inspired awe for their grace and beauty, respect and thankfulness for their powerful protection and love for their sheer loveliness.
In many of the Canterlot elite, who couldn't avoid the sight with their muzzles in the air, the sight also inspired rather uglier covetousness.
"There," Luna said, nodding towards the mountaintop, "Can you sense them?"
"Yes..." Twilight said, closing her eyes and expanding her astral senses, gently touching the surrounding magical field with tendrils of her own aura. "I can feel it - like a disturbance in the aether, or a dark dissonant chord beneath the harmonies of love."
"No, that's just the Nobles' district in the city," Luna said. "What I meant was that bloody chill coming down from the mountain."
"Oh," Twilight said, flustered, opening her eyes, "er, yes! I thought it was a bit chilly for this early in the autumn."
"They hang about," Luna said in a distant voice, "circling the city, drawn by the greed and petty jealousy at its heart, yet repelled by the love between my sister and her ponies."
"And you," Twilight said softly, caressing Luna's side with a hoof. "Your ponies, too, and the love between us and you."
"Yes, of course," Luna said, blushing gently and clearing her throat. "In truth, I've kept my distance from the vile creatures, not hoping for them to touch the memory of my jealousy and bitterness from so long ago."
"Oh, Luna," Twilight said in a low, sympathetic tone.
"No matter," Luna said firmly "Together, we shall endeavor to capture one of the demonic beasts and study it."
"How do you think we should go about it?" Twilight asked, suddenly switching gears from commiseration to academic fervor. "Veneric the Vile's Cthtonic Calamities Compendium had a detailed description of a summoning and binding ritual, but I really don't think a blood sacrifice to Sog-Yothoth would be wise."
"Indeed," Luna said. "They are so very rare. And cranky."
"Otherwise," Twilight continued, "it was suggested to use the summoned being's true name or magical essence in its calling. Which seems a bit backwards, considering we wish to capture one for study. There were hints of a tome that would have lists of all the names of ancient demons, but Veneric refuses to call the tome by its name. It's always 'Shall-Not-Be-Named' this and 'Of-Which-Pony-Was-Not-Meant-To-Know' that."
"Well," Luna said, rubbing her chin with a hoof, "there is a vault within the castle that holds all kinds of things considered too vile and dangerous to be exposed to the public, including a collection of manuscripts from Ahuizotl's dungeons. Miss Do keeps digging them up. We could see if there's a lead in one of them."
"Ooh!" Twilight exclaimed in anticipation, and clapped her hooves together. "Arcane manuscripts! What a lovely idea, Luna!"
"And of course, you should also sit in on one of Tia's Day Courts," Luna added. "The nobles tend to gather to compete for favors there."
"Not today, though," Twilight said. "I'm rather tired after staying up all night. What do you say we call for some late-night snacks and compare notes on demonology over a mug of tea?"
"Huzzah!" Luna shouted. "A sleep-over!"
* * *
"Aww!" Fluttershy cooed, hovering so close next to Windy that their muzzles were almost touching. "She's adorable!"
"So," Rainbow Dash said, "you won't be having any trouble looking after her for the day?"
"Woochie-coochie-coo!" Fluttershy replied softly, playing a game of catch with the baby windigo with her hooves. "Who's got the most adorable little hoofsies? Who? Windy! Windy has!"
"Shy?" Rainbow Dash asked, waving her foreleg.
"This little piggy went to the rose garden," Fluttershy said, counting the giggling demon-foal's little hooves. "This little piggy went home. This little piggy went for a dip in the lake, and this little piggy ran all the way to the Canterlot mountain to see the Princess!"
Windy turned excitedly to follow after Fluttershy's hoof that raced over her back to touch the top of her head, covered by the tiny little cloud-cap. With a whinny she jumped and chomped her tiny mouth close around the hoof, which started to turn blue almost immediately.
"Oh, ouch," Fluttershy said so quietly it might have been a whisper in the wind. "Now, Windy, Auntie Fluttershy gets cold when you do that and you don't want to give her a frostbite, now do you?"
Rainbow looked at the pair, Fluttershy full of tender kindness, Windy slightly chagrined but calm. "Good enough," she said under her breath. "Okay, Shy, I gotta go for work. I'll pick her up in the evening. Bye, Windy! Mommy has to go to work, but I'll be back soon. Stay with Auntie Shy and be good, okay?"
Windy reached for Rainbow Dash's face, popping her lips softly and letting little whinnies. "Mah! Mah!" she said.
"Aww!" Rainbow Dash groaned smiling, and totally did not get teary-eyed at all. "Mommy's gonna miss you, Windy!"
* * *
"Dash!" Cloudkicker yelled accusingly, when her boss finally arrived. "You're more than an hour late!"
"Can it, C," Rainbow Dash said. "I had to cuddle."
