The Windigos have returned, and only certain pegusi can save everyone.
The Windigos have returned to Equestria. Only the Crystal Empire has gone unaffected. Certain pegasi must make it to the Crystal Empire, and save Equestria. The weight of an entire nation lays squarely on their shoulders.
"The sisters are fighting again...stay away from the Dining Hall." This message was whispered form servant to servant, messenger to cook, cook to guard. Nopony knew who started it, only that they should probably believe him/her. Soon, the entire castle knew. Even if the message hadn't gotten around, everypony would've known. Incoherent screams were heard every once in a while. This sounded very familiar, almost too familiar. It brought up one fear: Nightmare Moon shall rise again. That was the only fear, and everyone skirted around the Dining Hall as if it held the plague. The candles of the hallways, which usually burned ever so brightly, looked darker, more sinister.If anypony had bothered to look inside, just for a peek, they would have seen Luna arguing with someone who was most certainly not Princess Celestia. It was unlike anything anypony had seen before, and not in a good way. It was Supernova Sun, the bad side of Celestia.
It all started when Luna had brought up the topic of the legality of pegusi using their wings during a race. Celestia's face had darkened, and she said nothing. The entire meal, Celestia was getting worse and worse. When the meal had been taken away, and only the two princesses were left in the room, Luna made the mistake of asking if Celestia was okay. With that, Celestia exploded. "Do I look okay to you?" she screamed. Then, after a couple of seconds of breathing hard, the transformation began. The Dining Hall, which had been brightly lit just a second before, was lit by only a single candle, which looked like it was about to splutter out. Princess Luna, who had a wonderful night-vision, saw everything. Her sister began to change color. The once white mare turned blood-red. Her multicolored mane turned first yellow, then it had an orange outside, and it looked like fire. Her large pegasus wings turned into bat-wings. Celestia's cutie-mark was surrounded by darkness. She turned her crown into a helmet, her necklace into armor, and her hoof-cups grew taller and turned orange. Lastly, her pupils turned into slits. There, standing in front of Luna, was Supernova Sun. She laughed, and the candle flickered dangerously. Still laughing, she said to Luna, "At last! Anon all can feel mine wrath!" She declared this in the Old Canterlot Voice, and used Old Tongue. "Doth thou wot how hard it hath been to rule a nation all high-lone?" Here, Luna interrupted.
"Thou hast not been high-lone, dear sister! I hast been hither, helping, always ready to assist!" Her use of the Old Tongue/Old Canterlot Voice was far from rusty. "Thou hast nev'r pay'd attention that is all! Thou shall hark to me, i am hither, ready to be of assistance! Just calm down-" she was intterupted, and quickly.
"Oh, but sister, dear, I am calm. I hast nev'r felt better! Doth thou not understand? I feel wondrous!" Supernova stood tall, just as tall as Nightmare Moon once did. Just the memory of Nightmare Moon brought hate-fear induced hate-to the surface.
"Thou wot nothing! Thou will fall, just as Nightmare Moon did! Thou, however, will not be as easily forgiven! Thou will nev'r be forgiven! Doth thou not understand? Thou will be killed, and I shall be sisterless!" Luna was close to tears-and to transforming. I can't do that! We will just kill each other...or worse.
"Being sister-less is the least that thou deserve. I shall not fall, f'r I am immortal! Nothing can hurt me! I shall rule forever!" The voice of Supernova Sun was cruel, and smug.
Luna would not give up. "I made a gage to protect mine kingdom, yea at the cost of mine life. I will find a way to defeat thou, sister. I shall defeat thou, and I shall rescue thou. Make nay misprision, thither is nay ne'd to mortal arbitrament, f'r thou shall lose. Prithee, stand down, sister."
This just got a laugh, then Supernova shook her head. "Oh, sister. Thou hast made a grave misprision. Well, into the dungeons with thou!" With that, Luna disappeared. Supernova made herself look like Celestia, then called in Flash Sentry. "Please send out a notice to everypony that it is no longer legal to be mixed. Pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns can no longer be mixed. All pegasi must report to Cloudsdale, where they must stay. All earth ponies must report to Ponyville, and stay. The unicorns must stay come here, and they are not to leave. The price of disobeying shall be going to jail, permanently. Understand?" Flash nodded, and trotted off.
As he was walking through the corridors to the Royal Messaging Room, a thought came to him. Why must we separated? he wondered. It's like the legend of the Windigos all over! And, where was Luna? She didn't come out of the room, and she wasn't in there. Very mysterious. Flash shook his head, then went off to finish his duty in the Message Room. After sending a copy to each city, where they were instructed to put one paper on each ponies door, he went down to watch Princess Celestia's room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Princess Luna plopped down into Dungeon One. She felt uncomfortable the way she was laying, but didn't move. Oh, Tia! she thought. What have you done? Luna finally moved into a more comfortable position. She sat there, crying, in the cold, damp, smelly cell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outside, near Ponyville, the winds were gaining speed. Rainbow Dash, Weather Captain, was puzzled. We didn't call for wind, did we? she thought. Then, she shrugged, and took a nap. A Wind Spirit, who had been watching, neighed triumphantly. Windigos all over Equestria heard, and responded. The winds of change were coming-literally.
Cloud Kicker woke up, expecting to see her roommate, Sunshower Raindrops. When she finds only a group of sleeping pegasi that she doesn't know, she remembers the events of the day before. Oh, right! The sign...
All residents on Ponyville woke up on the cold morning of Monday, January fifth, to a loud knocking on their doors. They went outside to see who it was, and they saw a sign that said: Resident of Equestria, an old law has been revived. From now on, all three races shall be separated. Earth ponies, gallop to Ponyville. Pegasi, you will now reside in Cloudsdale. Unicorns, teleport yourselves to Canterlot. Details will be found their. Any offenders of the law shall be put into prison for life. Below, the signature of Celestia was scrawled messily on the bottom.
The outrage was insane. Many rebelled. The Mane Six were arrested right away, under the assumption of treason. Many others, such as Mayor Mare, were taken under house arrest. Most ponies -- although they wanted to do something -- just packed up, and went to their designated location. Cloud Kicker and Sunshower Raindrops joined Derpy for the flight to Cloudsdale. They had flown in silence, all immersed in their own thoughts. Cloudsdale was packed with incoming pegasi. If anypony on the ground were to look up, they would have seen a sea of colors, nearly large enough to block out the sun. There were so many pegasi that they had to wait to land. As Derpy flew, waiting for a chance to land on the fluffy white clouds, she felt a cold breeze. Thinking that it must have been because of all the wings flapping, she nearly dismissed it. Derpy really was about to, but she heard a slight neigh in her ear. She turn to look, to try to find the speaker, but she found nothing. Oh, those two must be connected! I've heard of this before, she thought. what could it be? Before getting a chance to think any more on that topic, a Wonderbolt motioned for her to land. Following his directions, she landed right next to the two mares that she had flown with earlier. Before they got a chance to talk, the crowd swept them away like a wave sweeps away a sand castle. The three pegasi were separated, again, into the mass of bodies. The crowd swept them in front of a stage, and on this stage, sat Soarin' and Lightning Dust.
The two Wonderbolts sat there, without costume, looking slightly confused, but at the same time, looking ready for the crowd. Sunshower Raindrops and Cloud Kicker found that they were next to each other, and they took comfort in that. Derpy, on the other hand, found herself next to a stallion that she recognized to be Thunderlane from the Hurricane that they had to make. They moved closer, both needing the contact of a semi-familiar pony. The crowd stopped moving, the "grains of sand" were no longer being pulled into the ocean, but they were now forced to the bottom, where they would either join the others, or irritate someone and become a pearl. Neither options seemed very good right now, to anypony. Soarin' walked up to the front of the stage. He cleared his throat. "Citi-I mean dear pegasi! I look out at you, and I see some very confused faces. Worry not! Tomorrow, we will explain everything. For now, we will create sleeping arrangements. Please split into three different groups! That's right, down between Blossomforth and Lavender Skies. Then between Prism Glider and Tiger Lily. People in the front, please lead your groups to the arranged sleeping quarters. Thank you!" As Soarin' was speaking, ponies were moving and following his instructions. Sunshower Raindrops went with Blossomforth's group, Cloud Kicker went with Lavender Skies' group, and Derpy went with Tiger Lily's group. They were very, VERY sad to be separated, especially for sleeping arrangements. All of the group went to different hotels that were kind of shabby. Deciding not to stay up and talk, the three girls had gone to bed, each thinking the same thing, What is with this cold wind?
Cloud Kicker remembered the previous day with a feeling of dread. What will happen to us now? she wondered. Now, we are only sand, hoping to be saved by the water, an oyster, a fish, or a plant. Our odds are very low. Without effort, she fly quietly out to the fresh air. Shivering, she looked, and saw that it was snowing. What? she thought. This isn't possible! Everypony has been sleeping; therefore, there is no possible way that it should be snowing! What is going on?
Sitting there, on the cloud, all alone, Cloud Kicker was deep in thought. She knew that there was a reason for this, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't figure it out. "Weird, huh?" A voice sounded from behind her, muffled from the cold. The lavender colored mare spun around, only to find Soarin' standing behind her. "I can tell you, for a fact, that no pegasi called this storm in. Maybe the unicorns are messing things up again, but who knows? It might be something else! I don't know anymore, do you?" His voice, which had been calm and curious in the beginning, was now defeated, and nearly bitter sounding.
Cloud Kicker, who had never been approached like this, spoke in a soft voice. "No, I don't know what's going on...trust me, I wish I did. Just because you don't, doesn't mean that you have to beat yourself up about it, though. I mean, probably only the princess herself knows what's happening. Who knows? This might even be a test, or a mistake. You are not the leader, don't take that burden." Her words were soft and haunting, yet strangely therapeutic. Soarin' peered at her like he had just seen God.
"Are you a therapist?" His words sounded loud and awkward, even to his ears.
Cloud Kicker laughed. "No, nopony ever asks me anything. They say I'm too young to understand, or that they don't want to waste my time with their problems. I've never had practice before, so I'm sorry if it sucked." Her tone was scratchy, and it seemed as though she was angry at the people who treated her like a young, naive filly. Soarin', sensing her bitterness, quickly started talking.
"Actually, your advice is amazing! I feel like one thousand pounds has been lifted off of my chest! Plus, if it were up to me, I would tell everypony that I met to ask you questions, and to go to you for a therapist! You're awesome!" By the look on her face, he could tell that he did something wrong. "Am I over-doing it?" he asked with a sheepish grin. Cloud Kicker nodded, and Soarin' blushed. "I'm sorry! Really, I am! But really, you are awesome, and people should ask you for help more often." The silence could be heard from miles away. Eventually, once he couldn't stand it anymore, Soarin' flew away, leaving Cloud Kicker staring at the ground, dark thoughts going through her mind.
