Arendelle: The Fjord Forest
Exhausted, Twilight Sparkle collapsed in the snow again. She couldn’t keep up this pace any longer. She had to rest. She didn’t think anypony—no, anything—from the castle was following, but she wanted to be as far away from there as possible. She put a hoof to her head. Her horn ached terribly. Her magic had finally stopped pouring from her only because . . . there wasn’t any left. She wasn’t able to perform even the simplest levitation spell now. She was so tired, she felt like she could sleep for days.
Twilight sighed. Without magic, how was she going to get out of this strange place? How was she going to get back home to her friends? She didn’t even know where she was.
A tear formed in the corner of her eye and dripped down her muzzle. She had been so blind. Her friends had tried to warn her. Spike had tried to tell her not to cast this winter spell. She should have listened.
“Unicorn!” a voice called.
Twilight’s ears pricked up. Oh, no. Someone had followed her. She lifted her head weakly and looked to see if there was anywhere to hide. Maybe she could try behind the trees but her tracks. . . in this snow they’d lead right to her. And she had no magic to conceal the hoofprints much less the strength to move.
What did it matter anyway? Let whoever it was find her. When she recovered enough of her magic, she could escape and find her way home.
Maybe.
“U-unicorn? Where are y-you?” The voice grew closer. It was feminine, and Twilight couldn’t detect any malice in it.
She turned toward the sound of movement and waited. One of the strange creatures from the castle appeared over the hill. She was shivering in her lightweight cloak and struggled to walk in the deep snow. The creature stopped abruptly when she saw Twilight. Twilight recognized her immediately. This was the one who had tried to defend her.
“Oh, my gosh, are you okay?” She hiked up her skirt and hurriedly waddled over. “Are you hurt?”
Twilight watched her warily. “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
The creature smoothed down her dress. “Um. Okay. Well, I’m Anna. Er, well, Princess Anna of Arendelle is my official title, but I don’t really expect you to call me that. Anna is just fine.” She smiled brightly. “What’s your name?”
“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. . . of Equestria. Er, your majesty.” Twilight gave Anna a slight bob of her head as a bow. She wasn’t sure of the customs here, but it was always polite to kneel before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twilight hoped desperately that Anna was as nice a princess as the ones she knew and loved.
Anna seemed rather taken aback. “Oh, no. That’s not necessary. Just Anna is fine.” She paused thoughtfully. “Twilight Sparkle, huh? That’s a pretty name. So, Twilight, I was hoping you could tell me where my sister, Elsa, is.”
Twilight tilted her head to the side. “Elsa?”
“You know, queen, blonde hair, pointy crown, and kinda has extreme ice powers I never knew about.”
“I don’t think I saw her. She has ice powers?”
Anna rubbed her arms. “Yeah, uh, so I kind of made her mad in the ball room, and she freaked out. Froze the floor. And then this blizzard thing came out of her hand, and there was this blinding light, and then you were there.” Anna gestured helplessly at Twilight. “And she was gone.”
“The Winter Arcaneum,” Twilight murmured.
“The what-um?”
“It’s this spell I cast. I did it back in Equestria. I must’ve somehow tapped into your sister’s magic. And if I’m here, and she’s not then. . .” Twilight placed a hoof on her aching horn and sighed. “We must have switched places.”
Anna seemed to take this news in stride. “Um. Okay, so, can’t you undo it? Because not only did you switch with my sister, you kind of set off an eternal winter everywhere.”
"Everywhere?"
"Well, just the Arendelle Kingdom and the F-Fjord."
That magic was more powerful than she thought. But surely she could find a way to reverse the effects. Like any unicorn, Twilight knew that casting spells required energy from the caster. The more powerful the magic, the more the unicorn’s energy would be depleted. It was simple enough to rejuvenate. Some rest and food normally would do the trick, except this wasn’t normal at all. It was rare for a unicorn to cast a spell that depleted her magic entirely. Twilight had no idea how long it would take for her to gain her strength back.
But her magic would come back eventually. Twilight rubbed a hoof under her chin. What would it take to fix this? She needed a reversal spell for all the snow and ice she had caused. But a spell that large. . . if she could send the beam up into the sky and treat it like a weatherspell. . . Yes, that might work. But what about getting Elsa and herself back home? There wasn't any other way around it. No other spell could produce the same effect except Winter Arcaneum. But if she couldn't control the overflow of magic the first time, how could she do so this time? What if something worse happened?
Twilight massaged her head, clearing her thoughts. She couldn't think like that now. She needed to focus.
"I need to get somewhere up high. Do you have any hot air balloons or flying machines?" the pony asked.
Anna made a face. "Um, no. Oh! But there's the North Mountain! That's really high up. Do you think that'd w-work?"
"I suppose that will do. Where is it?
"Kind of far from here. I think. . . Maybe. . ."
"You don't know where it is," Twilight said dryly.
"Not exactly. I, um, didn't really get out of the castle much," Anna said shivering.
"Never mind, then. First, let's get somewhere warmer." Twilight pushed herself up gingerly. She swayed and Anna caught her.
"I’m fine,” Twilight said righting herself. She was more concerned about Anna than herself at the moment. Her clothes were clearly not suited for the cold. Twilight wished she could cast a warming spell for them both. She also felt curious about this strange place and Anna. As the pair trudged through the snow, Twilight couldn’t help but try to learn more.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what are you?” Twilight asked.
“A human. Don’t you have those where you’re from? Where did you say you were from?” Anna asked. Clearly she was just as curious as Twilight felt.
“Equestria.”
“Hmm. Never heard of it. Like ever. That must be super far away. Honestly, I didn’t even know that unicorns were real.”
“Really?” Twilight murmured. “They’re common where I’m from.”
Anna then launched into telling what little she knew about unicorns. (Most of the stuff was absolutely ridiculous. Unicorn’s coats were not always pure white, and they didn’t come up to pretty girl humans and let them braid their manes.) Twilight was only half focused on her words, giving an occasional “That’s strange,” or “No, that’s not right” here and there. She was more concerned about Anna never knowing that unicorns existed and how Twilight had never learned of humans in any of her studies. Either Twilight was in an extremely remote land of her world or . . . she was on another world entirely. Twilight stumbled at the thought. Luckily, Anna didn’t seem to notice. She continued her pace.
It made sense that she was in a different world. It was well-known that Starswirl the Bearded had always wanted to explore other worlds. But no pony thought he had ever achieved such a dream. Maybe Winter Arcaneum was one of the spells that gave him the idea for it. Or maybe. . . Twilight bit her lip. Of course. That was it. Instead of creating a spell to create a winter storm from the air around the unicorn, Starswirl created a spell to take a winter storm from somewhere else. Elsa had been using her ice powers when Twilight cast the spell. She had taken the winter storm from Elsa.
Twilight stopped, shaken by what this meant. How could Starswirl have been so careless? Sure, he had always been boastful in his diaries of his exploits. What pony wouldn’t be? But he had always seemed to be careful---even with his most ambitious spellwork of time travel. Before he even dared to create the spell, Starswirl worked tirelessly for years to make sure that his impact on the timestream wouldn’t be harmful to the future, past, or present. For him to create a spell like Winter Arcaneum that had the capability to take weather from other places . . . Didn’t he realize at all that he could be harming others? What if the winter storm was desperately needed so that crops would be successful in the spring? Simply taking weather away that was supposed to happen just to satisfy a pony’s purpose wasn’t right. Did he know that’s what the spell did? Or was he as blind as Twilight had been when she had cast Winter Arcaneum? Clearly she hadn't understood the repercussions of such magic either.
* * *
They had been walking for a long time now in the snow-covered forest. It was beginning to get dark. Hopefully, they would come across a house to stay for the night. Otherwise Anna would have to build a shelter. Which she wasn't quite sure she knew how to do. It sure was cold. She wondered if Elsa was cold right now.
Anna glanced over at the unicorn. She had been really quiet the past hour or so. Anna didn't really know what to say to cheer the poor thing up. Maybe she should just start talking.
"Do you think Elsa will be okay in Equestria?" Anna asked suddenly, interrupting Twilight's gloom.
"I'm sure she would be. My friends would help your sister, I'm sure. Of course, they wouldn't understand what happened, so I'm sure they'd go to Princess Celestia and. . ." Twilight groaned suddenly.
"What? What's wrong?"
"It doesn't matter now. But Princess Celestia was going to give me a test before I cast my spell. She'll be sure to fail me now. I really messed things up," Twilight said bitterly.
Anna wondered what kind of test a unicorn would have to take. She didn't think it would be something like the geography tests that her grumpy tutor had her take when she was twelve. Still, it couldn't be that bad. Anna gave a cheerful smile. "Oh, that's okay. I r-really messed things up with Elsa before your spell happened. We just have to make things right. When you g-get back home, you can explain to your teacher what happened, and I'm sure she'll forgive you."
"You really think it'd be that simple?" Twilight asked.
"Well, why not? Oh, look! I see smoke!" Anna exclaimed.
She was glad to see the unicorn light up with a grateful smile. Now nobody would have to build a shelter. She couldn't wait to be warm again. Anna hiked up her skirts with renewed vigor and raced forward through the snow.
"Wait, Anna! Slow down or--"
It was too late. With a cry of alarm Anna tumbled down the slope. Twilight hurried forward. She watched as Anna splashed into the icy stream at the bottom. "Are you okay?" she called down.
"Cold, cold, cold, cold," Anna managed.
Anna hurried out of the water and went toward the source of the fire. Twilight carefully made her way down the slope after her. It wasn't long before Anna's skirts were completely frozen. The snow covered cabin was a welcome sight for them both. The lights were even on inside. Anna shuffled up to the building with Twilight beside her. Twilight helped her up the step as Anna reached to knock snow off the sign.
"Wandering Oaken's Trading Post! Oooh and Sauna!" Anna read.
Beside her, she sensed Twilight's hesitation. The princess guessed that Twilight didn't want to get shouted at and chased like the last time she was around people. Anna was determined to not let that happen again. Besides, she didn't want Twilight to be out in the cold while she was inside. That wasn't fair at all.
"Well, come on. There's no sense waiting out here," she urged and the pair went inside the store.
A blast of warm air instantly greeted them. The door slammed shut from the wind, smacking their backsides and propelling them forward. They gave each other small grateful grins. Anna could already feel her skirts begin to lose their stiffness. The shop itself was small and cramped with only a few shelves, but it had a variety of food and various oddities to offer.
"Yoo-hoo, big summer blowout!" a voice called.
They turned to see a large bear of a man sitting behind the counter. Despite his size, he appeared very friendly. Anna guessed that he was Oaken. "Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention, yah?" He gestured to each item he named and then held up a bottle of lotion. He looked back and forth between Anna and the pony hopefully.
"Oh, great," Anna said, "For now, how about boots? Winter boots. . . and dresses?"
"That would be in our winter department," Oaken gestured to the far wall where the selection looked skimpy indeed.
"Oh," the princess said. She went over and grabbed the winter clothes. "Um, I was just wondering; has another young woman, the Queen perhaps, I don't know, passed through here?" She set the wares on the counter.
"Only one crazy enough to be out in this storm is you, dear. You and your pretty costumed pet."
Anna exchanged a surprised glance with Twilight. The unicorn gave the teeniest of shrugs. He thought Twilight was just a regular pony dressed up. That would explain why he was so calm about the unicorn following her around. Anna couldn't help but compare his reaction with those at the coronation. She guessed people would believe what they wanted to believe.
Before Anna could respond, the bell for the front door rang. The howl of the wind and the audible slam of the door brought a new stranger in their midst. An intimidating man stood at the entrance wiping ice uselessly from his snow-blown clothes. His face was covered by a rag, and frost had collected on his hair. Anna wondered where in Arendelle he had been.
A small movement caught the corner of her eye. Twilight had apparently been startled by the man as well. She was choosing to hide behind the shelving rather than be within eyesight of that guy. Anna allowed herself to breathe again. That was quick thinking on the unicorn's part. Anna doubted that this "snow man" would be as easily fooled as the shop keeper.
The shop keeper didn't seem fazed in the least. "And this fellow, too. Yoo hoo. Big summer blow out." And once again Oaken held up his precious sun balm.
Then to Anna's utter surprise, the snow man was walking right up to her. Oh, gosh, well, maybe he was interested in the lotion. No, no, he was looking right at her. She awkwardly leaned against the counter, looking away from him.
"Carrots," the snow man said.
"Huh?" Anna asked stupidly.
And then the snow man had the gall to lean even closer. "Behind you."
Understanding dawned on her. "Oh, right," she grinned sheepishly up at him and stepped out of the way. "Excuse me."
The snow man set the carrots on the counter and stomped off to the winter department. Anna looking through the shelves, saw Twilight scramble to readjust her hiding place so she'd stay out of his sight. Luckily he didn't notice the unicorn's quiet hoof steps.
"A real howler in July, yah?" the shopkeeper asked conversationally. "Where ever could it be coming from?"
The snow man grabbed rope and a small ice axe from the meager winter supplies. "The North Mountain."
Anna didn't dare risk a glance at Twilight now. "North Mountain," she whispered wonderingly to herself. But the storm couldn't be coming from there. Twilight's magic had set it off. Maybe it was just worse up there. An idea began to take shape in her mind as the guy brought his items to the shopkeeper. Snow man had to have been to the North Mountain, or at the very least know where it is. He certainly looked well-traveled.
"That'll be forty," Oaken announced.
"Forty? No, ten," Snow man said incredulously.
The shop keeper seemed to be trying to break the news to him gently. "Oh, dear, that's no good. See, these are from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."
"You want to talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living." He nodded his head at the window.
Anna could see an old ice-loaded sled in the snow outside. "Ooh, that's a rough buisness to be in right now. I mean, that is really. . ." She trailed off when she caught his look. “Ahem, that's unfortunate."
"Still forty," the shopkeeper repeated. "But I will throw in a visit to Oaken's sauna. Yoo hoo! Hi, family!"
Snow man and Anna turned to see a windowed door leading to the obvious sauna. Oaken's family waved through the glass. "Yoo hoo!" they cried. Anna couldn't help but wave back.
"Ten's all I got," Snow man pleaded. "Help me out."
Oaken switched the carrots for the winter supplies. "Okay. Ten will get you this and no more."
Anna cut in, "Okay, just tell me one thing: what was happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem . . .magical?"
Snow man pulled down his face cloth in clear annoyance. "Yes. Now, back up while I deal with this crook here."
Slowly, Oaken stood up from his tiny chair. Snow man gulped at the sight. He was impossibly large, his head brushing the ceiling of the store. Strangely, he didn't seem angry at snow man. Just deeply hurt. "What did you call me?"
Without waiting for a response, in one swift motion Oaken stepped out from his counter, grabbed snow man like one would grab a tantrum throwing child, opened the front door (happily letting snow man's head hit the sign on the way out), and threw him far into the snow. The bear even had the nerve to call “bye bye” to snow man as he slammed the door. Anna gaped at him. She was sure Twilight was doing the same. Oaken returned calmly to his tiny chair.
"I'm sorry about this violence," he held up a jar of pickled fish. "I will add a quart of lutefisk so we'll have good feelings. Just the outfit and boots, yah?"
"Uh," Anna looked down at snow man's supplies and then to the window where he must be laying face first in the snow. Gosh, he must feel terrible right now. And that idea rolled over again in her mind. Well, it was worth a shot, right?
* * *
Twilight clearly did not feel the same way as Anna. Once they were outside the shop, she let her voice be heard.
"We need to get out of here," she said in a rush. "The sooner we get away from these weird . . . other humans, the better. Come on, Anna."
She turned when Anna wasn't following her. Anna was standing in the snow, dressed in her new clothes, deep in thought. Twilight was glad that she no longer shivered in the cold. Anna clutched a satchel filled with her other purchases. "I think we should ask that ice guy to take us to the North Mountain," she said slowly.
Ah, so that's why she had bought his supplies. Twilight had just assumed she did it for their journey. "Oh, come on. It can't be that hard to find."
"Arendelle has more than one mountain, and he could probably get us there a lot faster," Anna countered.
"But what if he turns out as crazy as that storekeeper? Plus, how are we going to explain. . . everything to him?" Twilight asked. She fought the urge to begin pacing in the snow. Everything and everyone in Arendelle was so weird to her. Anna was the only human thus far to not be . . .well, scary. That Oaken character had rattled Twilight. Thank goodness he hadn't decided to toss her out of the store. Twilight was well aware of how much an oddity she was in this place.
"Twilight, it will be okay," Anna assured her. "I really think we should just try talking to him."
Twilight sighed. Anna did seem sincere, and she was a princess after all. She had to be capable of making good decisions. Just like Princess Celestia. "Okay," she relented.
It turned out the ice seller hadn't wandered far. There were clear footprints and some other sort of tracks Twilight didn't recognize. They led to a building nearly completely covered in snow. A warm lantern's glow seeped through the cracks in the door. As they approached, they could hear the ice man singing and playing a lute. They paused at the door to listen. The song was strange, but Twilight felt a little better simply by hearing it. He sang about how awful people could be and how his one friend was Sven. She could definitely relate.
Twilight gathered that the other set of tracks must belong to Sven. She wondered why the ice man sang for Sven though. Did Sven not feel like singing?
When it became apparent the song was over, Anna motioned for Twilight to stay put, and then opened the door. Twilight was grateful Anna wasn't making her come in right away. Anna could explain what was going on before Twilight showed herself.
"Nice duet," Anna said warmly.
Twilight watched as the ice man sat up with a jolt. And a big furry creature stood up, startled as well. Twilight squinted at the thing. What in Equestria was that? It had some sort of strange toed hooves. She wondered if the animal possessed the ability to talk.
Ice man relaxed at the sight of Anna. "Oh, it's just you. What do you want?"
"I want you to take me . . . and a friend up the North Mountain."
Twilight's ears pricked up. Anna considered her as a friend?
After ice man looked at Anna for a long moment and then settled back on his bed of hay, he placed his cap over his eyes. "I don't take people places," he said dismissively.
"Let me rephrase that," Anna said.
She tossed the heavy sack onto ice man's stomach. Ouch. Clearly, Anna didn't like to be ignored. She had his full attention now.
"Take us up the North Mountain. Please."
He eyed her and then opened the sack. Both he and the large furry thing marveled at the supplies she bought them. They glanced back up at Anna questioningly.
"Look, I know how to stop this winter."
The ice man sighed and then lay back down, replacing his cap. "We leave at dawn. And you forgot the carrots for Sven."
Anna promptly tossed the carrots at his face. He did not seem pleased with this. It did make him sit up again and pay attention to her, though.
"Oops, sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean," she cleared her throat, abandoning her apology. "We leave tonight. But, um, first, I should probably tell you a few things."
The ice man offered the animal a bite of carrot before taking one himself. Twilight made a face. Well, that was gross. They waited for Anna to speak.
Anna struggled to explain the basics. "So, um, I'm Anna. Like, Princess Anna and my sister is. . .well, magical, apparently. Um, she has ice powers? And she let them loose at the coronation ball, and then she disappeared, and my friend showed up in her place. And my friend is kinda magical, too. She accidentally froze all of Arendelle."
The ice man studied her for several long moments. "Who's this friend?" he asked finally.
"Oh, um. Come on out, Twilight," Anna encouraged.
Cautiously, Twilight stepped into the barn. The ice man gawked at her. "What is that?"
"I'm not a that!" Twilight said indignantly. "I'm a unicorn. From Equestria. It's, um, really far from here."
"A unicorn, huh?" he said slowly. "So, what's your plan?"
Twilight swallowed. She was still working on that. "We need to get to the North Mountain. Hopefully, it's a high enough point that I can recast my spell and switch places with Queen Elsa."
"You think that will work?" he pressed.
Twilight balked. Anna jumped in quickly, "Of course it will. Just help us get there."
"Fine," he said evenly. "I'm Kristoff, and this is Sven." He stood up, shouldering the sack of supplies. "Let's get going."
"Uh, what kind of animal is Sven?" asked Twilight as the unusual pair walked by.
"Oh, he's a reindeer," Anna said. She caught Twilight's curious glance as they went out of the barn. "And, no, they don't talk."
She couldn't help but feel disappointed. "Does any other creature talk besides humans?" Twilight asked.
"Nope," Kristoff grunted, hitching Sven to the sleigh. "Except you."
"Oh," Twilight said dismally. She studied Sven who was staring at her pointedly. Despite his lack of ability to communicate, Sven had a definite intelligence in his eyes. Twilight mused that if Fluttershy were here, she'd be able to understand Sven. Fluttershy. . . thinking of her made her miss all of her friends. . . and home. Would this spell really work? She could feel a trickle of her magic coming back but. . .she shouldn't use it anytime soon. She needed to save her strength for the Winter Arcaneum.
"Come on. Let's go," Kristoff urged.
Twilight looked up to see the humans settling onto the seat of the sled. Twilight scrambled into the back of the wagon, and just like that--they were off.