Storm clouds gathered at the northern horizon and soon filled the entire skyline. They formed a thick and gapless wall of grey and white that seemed to roll towards the Crystal Empire like an avalanche in the sky.
From her lookout on a small hill near the northern boundary of the Empire, Crystal Note watched and shuddered in the freezing wind that reached the city long before the storm and even made it through the barrier of the crystal heart. That storm would be coming fast and it would hit very hard, undoubtedly the worst the city would have to face ever since the return of the Empire.
Luckily, the city was well prepared and the crystal ponies knew how to deal with winter storms. Houses and buildings had been secured, the outskirts of the city had been evacuated just in case. The families of the inner districts welcomed the temporary homeless ponies in their own homes, closer to the crystal heart and the palace and therefore safe even against the wildest storms. The crystal ponies always had been a tightly-knitted community, hospitality and solidarity were as sacred to them as was the crystal heart or their loyalty to their Princess.
Princess Cadance had eagerly followed the example of her subjects and by now the palace was open for all ponies who needed shelter, hot drinks and food stood ready to be handed out inside the crystal halls and the Crystal Guard had been working for days to help secure the city and every citizen. Crystal Note couldn't help but smile on how close everypony got together, especially in times of need. She was proud and happy to be part of the crystal ponies and that she had been accepted into the community by some of them by now.
The breeze picked up again and Crystal Note saw the clouds approaching ever faster, bringing mountains of snow and freezing cold with them. She turned to face the Crystal Palace and readied her horn. With a few moments of concentration, she summoned a beam of turquoise light with her magic and sent it towards the upper spires of the castle in the middle of the city. Although her light never actually reached the palace, her magic was simply too weak for that, she saw a yellow light glow up from the spires answering her own. Crystal Note nodded satisfied as Sunburst, the unicorn scholar and crystaller to Princess Flurry Heart, showed that he'd gotten the message.
The crystal unicorn made her way down the hill and back towards the city. She'd done what she could to warn the other ponies in time, now she'd have to leave it to Prince Consort Shining Armor and his Crystal Guard to get everypony into safety, including herself. She started to gallop as soon as she reached the street again and passed the first empty houses when she ran into a patrol. The crystal ponies of the guard seemed to be arguing about something and their expressions were annoyed at best, if not straight angry. One of them nodded to Crystal Note and let her pass before they spread out to check on the houses one last time.
It surprised her to see the guards in such a mood. Of course the last few days had been stressful, preparing the whole city for a blizzard, but seeing the guards arguing like that seemed so off. She decided to ask Prince Consort Shining Armor about this, maybe there was something else happening she wasn't aware of.
Crystal Note reached the inner districts and fell into an easy trot, catching her breath after the long run. She turned her head to look back at the growing mass of clouds in the sky and couldn't suppress a shiver running down her spine. She knew the city was prepared, the crystal ponies sheltered in the safety of their homes. This wasn't the first winter blizzard they'd face nor would it be the last. Despite all those facts, Crystal Note couldn't help but feel immensely worried and frankly, quite scared. Something was off with this storm, she couldn't place a hoof on it but she could feel it, almost sizzling in the cold air around her. The strange behavior of the guards was just another thing that didn't make sense to her.
She took a turn and slipped through a small alley leading to the market plaza where she was greeted by an excited shout
"Crystal Note!"
She turned her head towards the young voice she knew very well
"Princess Flurry?"
From the palace, a group of colts and fillies ran across the empty plaza towards her. Up front like always was Amber Waves, the yellow coated colt one of oldest foals in the group. Right on his tail was a pure white filly, the only one who wasn't a crystal pony. She wore her usual beaming smile and her horn poked out between pink and blue mane. Her wings were hidden under the red cape that identified her as a Cutie Mark Crusader. Most of the other foals wore the similar capes, made by Rarity and Sweetie Belle and sent from Ponyville. These were gifts from the original Crusaders to the newest generation of fillies and colts in the Crystal Empire.
Crystal Note smiled as the group of foals reached her, she knew all of them by now even though their group has been growing ever since the young princess Flurry Heart had joined Ivory Rose, Amber Waves and his sister Ocean. The three of them had learned about the Cutie Mark Crusaders from Crystal Note and decided to form a squad of their own in their design. With the young princess joining them and after exchanging some letters with Apple Bloom, their group had become somehow official and was now popular for young crystal ponies, blank flanks or not.
Crystal Note smiled and called out as soon as the group was close enough
"Greetings, Cutie Mark Crusaders. Shouldn't you all be inside the palace by now?"
Ocean Waves nodded and gave a mocking glare at her brother and the young princess
"Told you so!"
Some of the others giggled but Amber Waves and Flurry Heart shook their heads
"Cutie Mark Crusaders always help ponies in need! We're ready to help getting rid of the storm!"
Crystal Note's smile faded instantly and she shook her head
"This storm is going to hit the city, nopony can stop that. Even the Crystal Guard will have to take shelter soon. If you really want to help, I'm sure there's lots of ways to do so in the palace."
Flurry Heart's face changed into a strange mix between a pout and a glare and now it was Ivory Rose who grinned at her
"Told you so!"
Half of the group nodded and giggled teasingly but the other foals, including Flurry Heart, only got more annoyed
"We can't just sit inside and do nothing!"
"We're Cutie Mark Crusaders after all."
"What are you going to do, then? We're just foals, they'd never let us even try."
"So we should just give up? No way!"
"You really think yelling at the storm will make it go away? That's just dumb."
"HEY! He's just trying to help, don't call him dumb!"
"You stop yelling first!"
"I'M NOT YELLING!"
Within a few moments, the group of foals had turned into a mess of angry shouts and glares. A few tried to calm their friends down but they just turned on them, which only concluded in more yelling. Even Ocean Waves who never lost her patience was now shouting angry words at her best friend Ivory Rose.
Flurry Heart had been yelling too but when she saw this, she seemed to snap out of her own rage. She tried to get between the fillies who just shot mean words towards her before arguing even more. Helpless, Flurry Heart slumped on ground and tears gleamed in her eyes. Why would her friends act like this, all of a sudden?
At this point, a loud voice rose over the foalish quarrel
"ENOUGH!"
All the foals froze as the single word echoed over the plaza and turned around to stare at Crystal Note. The crystal unicorn never shouted, most of them didn't even know anything but the soft voice she used when she told them stories. But there she was, her voice clear and loud and demanding all of their attention with a surprising hardness
"That's enough, all of you. What has gotten into you? You're all friends, and friends don't fight like this. Friends don't call another mean names just to hurt each other."
Many heads dropped down. Some of them flattened their ears against their heads in shame, nopony dared to look at each other. They stared at the ground or at Crystal Note who held their gazes, her usually kind expression gone and replaced by a cold sternness
"You all know there is a terrible storm coming soon. In times like these, we hold together and help each other. It doesn't matter how much or how little we do, as long as everypony is safe. It doesn't matter which one of you is wrong or right, as long as you stand for each other and those who need your help.
You would be an amazing help to the ponies in the palace if you worked together. Instead you put yourselves in danger and start bickering. I'm very disappointed in you, Cutie Mark Crusaders."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. A few brave foals dared to look up at their friends again, embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. Their gazes met and seeing their friends understand helped them gain courage. Some mumbled apologize were spread, other friends managed to do so silently with just looking into each other eyes again. Ocean Waves and Ivory Rose stared at each other for a whole minute, then flew into a tight hug and a few tears where shed.
Crystal Note watched closely, appeased and proud at the foals at the same time. She almost smiled but then she heard a loud sob close to her.
She looked down and saw Flurry Heart curled up into a white ball of shivers. Amber Waves stood next to her, the colt reaching out to his friend but a bubble of golden magic surrounded the alicorn filly. Amber looked up at Crystal Note with worried eyes.
The mare walked up close and leaned down to the filly, her silvery horn gently touching the golden magic
"Flurry Heart?"
Another sob was heard and then some mumbled words
"This is all my fault."
"Flurry, no..."
"IT'S MY FAULT!"
An angry shout was followed by more sobs and words in between
"I told everypony to go outside... I convinced them... I promised Mommy I would help... only made it worse... everypony argued because of me..."
Ocean Waves and Ivory Rose joined Amber and put their hooves against the golden barrier
"It's not your fault Flurry."
"Maybe it was your idea, but we all came along."
"We didn't think this through, none of us."
"It's our fault just as much."
A few more foals stepped closer with mumbled apologizes and sad looks as they gathered around the magic barrier Flurry Heart had created.
Crystal Note watched silently, but when the others came closer, she let her horn glow and gently poked the golden magic. It was merely a nudge, she could never break a spell cast by the talented alicorn filly, unless Flurry allowed it.
There was a soft chime of magic and then the bubble just vanished. Flurry Heart looked up at her friends around her before it turned into an inevitable group hug.
Crystal Note stood a few steps aside and watched the young ponies with a soft smile. Luckily the fighting stopped as quickly as it had started and she could tell they were all sincerely sorry for how they acted out.
Crystal Note took a deep sigh. She couldn't really feel relieved, there was a shapeless worry gnawing at her thoughts even at this heart-warming display of friendship.
She'd seen the young Crusaders quarrel before, but never this fast and this badly. The intensity of the words said by the fillies and colts had been so harsh and cold, so very unlike of the foals.
Her eyes rose up to the sky that quickly filled with clouds. It the distance, she could already see snow falling down. She turned back towards the group of fillies, but then she heard something. Her ears perked up at attention and her eyes opened wide. She barely noticed Flurry Heart and the other foals suddenly staring at her.
Then there was that sound again. A long howl in the distance, rising high above the roofs of the city and echoing through the empty streets.
The foals shuffled closer together and started mumbling
"What was that?"
"Angry wolves?"
"Doesn't sound like any wolf I've ever heard."
"Maybe..."
"Shh! Everypony, please be quiet for a moment."
Crystal Note's voice got the foals go silent again and staring at the crystal unicorn mare. Flurry Heart closed the distance to her as Crystal Note closed her eyes.
Another angry howl broke through the air, closer than before. This time however, it was answered by another series of howls, although they could be angry neighing as well. Crystal Note's eyes flew open and she started shivering from more than just the increasing cold around her. Flurry Heart did the same, her wings rustling nervously against her flanks as fear took hold of her.
The two horned ponies exchanged a glance
"Did you hear that? Did you feel it too?"
"I did. What was that? And why does it feel so... angry?"
Crystal Note stared at the sky again and shook her head
"Something is not right. Not right at all."
She gasped and so did some of the foals behind her as snowflakes start to surround them, large and thick as they filled the air.
"The storm has broken the barrier of the crystal heart!"
Flurry Heart's eyes opened wide in disbelieve, but before she could do anything Crystal Note caught her attention again with a single word
"Princess!"
Their eyes met and Flurry Heart was grounded by the severity in Crystal Note's gaze
"Princess Flurry, you must take the other Crusaders back to the palace immediately. Tell your father and your mother about this. Tell them it might be..."
The mare swallowed hard as another frightening howl could be heard
"It might be Windigos."
The last word was whispered so only Flurry Heart would hear it.
The young princess' reaction was immediate as her wings clenched against her flanks and her eyes threatened to pop out of her head
"But... I thought..."
She shivered when she remembered how that howl felt inside her and nodded
"This is really, really bad. I'll tell Mom and Dad right away."
Crystal Note nodded
"You need to take charge now, Princess. Make sure everypony is safe, help your mother and your father. They'll need you."
Flurry nodded in response, but her eyes never left the mare
"You're not coming with us, are you?"
Crystal Note shivered and shook her head
"I passed some guards on my way into the city. They might be still in the outer districts. I need to make sure they're alright."
Flurry Heart opened her mouth to protest, but the serious look on Crystal Note's face prevented that
"That's not all is it?"
Before Crystal Note could reply, the alicorn filly hugged her foreleg
"I'll send Mom and Dad to help you. Please be safe."
"You too, Snowflake."
With that, Crystal Note turned around and ran back north as fast as she could, soon vanishing between the houses.
Flurry Heart looked after her for a moment, then turned around to face her friends
"Crusaders, time to go! They need our help at the palace."
The fillies and colts nodded, their quarrel from earlier almost forgotten and ready for the next challenge, they made the way back into the Crystal Palace.