//------------------------------// // Splitting forces // Story: Windigo Storm // by TalkingToMyself //------------------------------// Shining Armor looked up when he heard the commotion from the entrance hall. Leaving his captains behind, he walked through the door and into the hall, only to find his daughter and her crusader friends storming in. They were quickly surrounded by adult ponies who tried to calm them down, but they fillies and colts wouldn't stop and headed towards the stairs. Flurry Heart saw her father and vanished in a flash of light. Shining Armor looked at his side where Flurry reappeared again "Flurry, what is all this..." "Daddy! It's snowing inside the city!" "What? But that's not possible!" He stared down at Flurry but he could see in her eyes that she was serious, as well as scared and deeply worried. He knelt down beside her so their eyes were at one level "What happened, Flurry?" "We need to find Mommy! I have to tell her too, please!" Usually, Shining Armor would insist she'd tell him first. Like any filly, Flurry sometimes liked to overreact on small things. She reminded him of Twilight as a filly very often. But this time, he didn't doubt his daughter for a second. He got up to his hooves and called at the soldiers who now surrounded him "Captain! Get everypony into the palace as fast as you can. Make sure no pony is left in that storm." "Sir!" They saluted and made it towards the doors, the other palace staff looking worried as they ran off. Shining Armor looked at Flurry and nodded. They reached the entrance of the infirmary a few minutes later where they saw Princess Cadance talking with some ponies of the staff. Flurry recognized one of them as the new doctor. "And you're prepared, just in case?" "Yes your Highness. We've stocked up on supplies as you recommended and we've set up additional beds. If anything should happen, we can handle it." Princess Cadance nodded with a thankful smile, but the smile froze on her face when she noticed Shining Armor and Flurry Heart race towards her. One look into Flurry's eyes was enough to shove all other thoughts away "Good job, Doctor. Please excuse me." She didn't wait for the mare to reply and instead met her family halfway. Shining Armor stopped in front of her, but Flurry Heart shuffled a little closer so she'd stand between her forelegs, touching her hooves. Cadance knew this meant that Flurry was either very scared or very nervous. She gently placed her hoof on Flurry's head and when the filly looked up at her with fearful eyes, her heart seemed to freeze for a moment. She looked at Shining Armor and he nodded and took a step closer as well. Cadance activated her magic and in a glow of pink, the three ponies reappeared in their private rooms. Now in a familiar environment and away from other ponies, Flurry Heart clung on her mother's foreleg and shivered. Cadance' free hoof gently wrapped around the filly and she whispered in as calm of a voice as she could muster "Flurry, what's wrong? Did something happen?" The white filly burst out her words along with tears "It's snowing inside the city! Like really, really snowing a lot!" Cadance eyes went wide "But... the crystal heart should..." "That's not the worst! There's something else out there!" Cadance held the scared filly and gently touched her small horn with her own glowing one. A quick but strong pulse of maternal love flowed to Flurry and helped her calm down enough to stop crying. Flurry looked up at her parents and finally words bubbled out of her in a fast pace "I went outside with the other crusaders and we ran into Crystal Note and then everypony started yelling and arguing. Me too at first but then it suddenly felt so wrong and everypony was so angry and then there was that howl and Crystal Note sent us back in and she said..." The filly had to take a breath before she said "She said it was Windigos!" Flurry buried her face against Cadance who just held her while sharing a look with Shining Armor "But Windigos are just an old mare's tale." "Shiny, ten years ago the Crystal Empire was just an old mare's tale. Fifteen years ago, Nightmare Moon was just a legend." Shining Armor didn't seem convinced but Cadance just looked down at her daughter who tried to hide her tears against her pink coat "Just look at her, Shiny. Whatever is out there, it's very real." She gently wrapped her forelegs around Flurry Heart and leaned down her head so they were eye to eye "Snowflake, I know you're scared. But you have to tell me what you saw out there, it's very important." Flurry Heart gazed into her Mommy's eyes as if they were a safety line holding her. She shivered for a moment, then whispered "I didn't see anything. But I heard that howl, it was so scary and angry... and then there were more howls. Like, one was calling out and the others were answering? And when they did, I felt it. It was all over me and under my skin at the same time, but most of it was here." The filly poked her chest as her words didn't seem enough to explain everything she wanted to say. She tried anyways and continued "It felt so cold, not like winter or at night, just cold. And for a moment it felt like... I felt like I would never ever be warm again. Or happy. Just cold. So cold..." Cadance clutched her daughter to her chest and cradled Flurry gently when she started sniffling again. Shining Armor stood next to her, disturbed by Flurry's words, but then he blinked and shook his head "Wait a moment, you said you met Crystal Note, but she didn't come back to the palace with you. Where is she?" Flurry sniffled and turned her head to look at him "She went north to warn the guards. But I think she wants to go after the Windigos all by herself." Cadance and Shining Armor stared at Flurry, then at each other. With a sigh, Shining Armor nodded. That did sound like something the crystal unicorn might do. Cadance instinctively squeezed Flurry a little tighter in her hooves and then nodded "I'm going after her. If there are Windigos outside, my alicorn magic might be the only thing that can stop them." "But you're not going alone! I'm coming with you!" Cadance sighed and shook her head "You can't, Shiny. If the storm is already inside the barrier, we need to evacuate the inner districts as well. The palace is the only safe place left." "The guards can do that." Shining Armor shouted but his anger melted when he looked back at Cadance "Not without their general they can't. Our ponies need you here, Shining Armor." He glared at her for a moment, then threw his hooves into the air in frustration "Fine! But as soon as I know everypony will be safe, I'll be out there at your side." Cadance nodded but then heard Flurry Heart "I'm going too Mommy! I have magic like yours!" Cadance shook her head "Flurry, you're not coming with me. I'm worried to fly in a storm like this myself, it's far too dangerous for you. Besides, our ponies need a princess to look after them." "But Mommy..." Cadance set Flurry back on the floor and lowered her head to look into her eyes "Flurry, listen to me. As soon as they notice the storm and the howling, everypony will be terrified. They need somepony to stay strong for them and to guide them. They won't panic when you're with them. It's a very important task and I can't think of anypony else who could handle it. Except you, Snowflake." Flurry Heart looked back at her mother, then nodded. She stood up and spread her small wings wide "I'll keep them all safe until you're back!" Cadance smiled proudly "I know you will. Be safe, both of you." She shared a last hug with her family, then headed to the closest window of the room. She opened it with her magic threw herself into the icy winds with her wings flapping. Shining Armor watched as she quickly vanished in the thick snowfall, then he closed the window and headed to the door "Let's go." Flurry Heart nodded and followed her father back into the main hall. -*- They reached the hall at the same time as a group of guards. Shining Armor went directly towards the ponies who looked like they'd just run through the entire Empire "Guards, report. What's going on out there?" "Sir, the storm is getting worse. We already have ponies fleeing their homes because of the snow and the cold. What should we do?" "Get me a map of the city, quick!" The guards ran off and his captains approached him again. Shining Armor looked to the door and saw Flurry Heart talking to Rose Quartz, one of Cadance' advisors and practically her right hoof. The mare looked as shocked as he'd expected and went to inform the staff, while Flurry Heart was surrounded by her Crusader friends. A few quick words and nods and the foals ran off in small groups, helping the staff as they cleared the hall for the increasing number of ponies they had to shelter soon. Shining Armor returned his attention to his soldiers when somepony lay out a big map on the floor in front of him and pointed at a set of streets in the western parts of the city "We came from here when we saw ponies trying to get out of their houses. The snow is falling like Tartarus, some ponies had to climb out the windows because their doors were already blocked by it." Shining Armor nodded and kept his eyes on the map "How many patrols are still out there?" "Three more, but we expect them to be back anytime now. The only squad we haven't heard of yet is the one up north." Shining Armor frowned, that was the way Crystal Note was headed and Cadance right after her. "We can't wait for them to return, they're all able to make it back. Right now, we'll start evacuating the city. Gather every pony who's free and form groups. I want each of you to lead a group through the inner districts and get every pony here." "Sir? That's going to take a while and the storm is already raging there." "Then you better not lose any time, Captain. On their own, these ponies don't stand a chance against this storm. The palace is the only place safe at this moment." The captains nodded and one of the guards looked at him with a worried expression "This is not a normal storm, is it? Not anymore." Shining Armor nodded but before he could explain, two new guards stumbled in through the main doors. They shivered all over and panted heavily. Shining Armor noticed that what he first thought of as their natural sparkling were crystals of ice that clung into their dark and dull coats. Whatever they'd run from had them scared to death. He ignored the other ponies and walked up to them. He reached them in time with Rose Quartz and maid who covered the freezing guards with blankets and offered them steaming mugs of tea. The first guard took the mug and drank greedily, but the squad leader noticed the prince and snapped back at attention to salute "At ease, guard. Take a drink, then tell me." The pony complied and emptied the mug in one long draw. When he sat it down, the captains had joined Rose Quartz and Flurry Heart brought Sunburst, the unicorn scholar, over as well. "We were going through the last houses up far north when that crystal unicorn ran into us." "She has a name you know." Flurry Heart called out, she didn't like the tone in which the guard spoke about her friend and teacher. Shining Armor didn't either, but now was not the time for this. The guard blinked annoyed but then decided to ignore the young princess and went on "She babbled something about she had to stop 'them'. I tried to send her back but she just ran past us. Three of my soldiers went after her before I could do anything. Then the rage of the storm hit us, and hit us hard." He shivered and stared at the floor "Suddenly it was so cold I could feel the blood freeze in my veins. I could barely see the others through the snow. But I saw something else instead. There were ghost horses running through the snow" "Ghost horses?" He looked up again and nodded "I swear that's what I saw. The were taller than the Sun Princess and they were made of cold air and snow, or that's what it looked like. They seemed to ride on the cold breeze or the breeze followed them. Anyways, they had no wings but they were running through the air." He shivered again and his coat turned a notch darker "One of them looked at me for a moment. It was like..." He didn't finish his sentence and instead shook his head "I ran. I turned around and just ran away. So did the others. One of those beasts followed us and..." he looked as his companion, "... only the two of us made it here." "You mean you left your squad behind? Where are the other guards?" The squad leader looked down and shook his head "Hiding somewhere from those beasts, I hope. I can't be sure." The captain was about to start a tirade but Shining Armor stopped him "There's no time for this now. Guard, what you saw weren't ghosts. Those were Windigos. Ancient winter spirits of hatred and cold." The crystal ponies looked confused and stared at him, but Sunburst's eyes went wide in fear "Are you sure, Prince Shining Armor? I can't believe that." "Neither could I. But Crystal Note and Flurry Heart felt it and the descriptions we just heard match up." The guard ponies looked at each other, then back at their prince "What do we do now?" "We're doing exactly what I said earlier. We're getting everypony into the palace for safety. Tell them to leave everything behind except what's necessary to survive. Form your groups and get to it, but don't risk your lives!" The guard ponies saluted but Rose Quartz and Sunburst stared at Shining Armor "And what about the Windigos?" "Princess Cadance is already out there doing what she can. I expect nothing less from each of you." The guards nodded and rushed off. -*- Soon the first groups of ponies entered the palace, most of them with blankets and bags of food. They were greeted by the staff ponies and their little helpers, Rose Quartz supervising them and telling everypony where to go. Shining Armor stood over the map and marked the districts his guards had covered before he sent out new rescue teams. After a while, Flurry Heart and Sunburst approached him once more, joined by Rose Quartz once more "Dad, we're going outside to get the crystal heart into the palace, before it gets buried in snow like those houses." Shining Armor blinked and then nodded "I didn't even think about that. We shouldn't leave it out there were the Windigos might find it." Flurry nodded and flapped her wings excited "And I'm sure it still has some power left! Maybe not enough to protect the whole Empire, but hopefully enough to keep the palace and the ponies safe." Shining Armor nodded and levitated his helmet on his head "Good thinking. Let's go." Flurry tilted her head surprised, but then smiled and nodded. The four ponies stepped outside into the cold wind and snow. Shining Armor formed a shield spell around them to block of the snow at least and pushed his way towards the plaza with the crystal heart. Flurry Heart walked next to him and her horn glowed up as well to drive away the coldness. She smiled at Sunburst "Good thing we practiced heat spells last month." The unicorn nodded but his head turned nervously from side to side and his ears were perked up in alarm. Rose Quartz next to him seemed more calm but she had lost most of her natural sparkling as well. Soon they reached their destination and Flurry Heart sighed relieved. As she hoped, the area around the crystal heart was still free from snow and protected by the heart. She ran towards it and only stopped to bow quickly like she'd seen the crystal ponies do so many times, then she walked close enough to pick the crystal heart up with her magic "Got it!" She couldn't help but grin a little as she turned back to the others, but they just stared at her "Flurry, come back here, quick!" She hesitated a second at the fearful voice her father used, but then ran back towards his shield spell. She heard a sound behind her and almost froze up in place when she recognized the howling from before, only now directly behind her. Lucky for her, the crystal heart seemed to pull her forward before fear could take over and she rushed back under the purple barrier before she turned around. The plaza where the crystal heart had been floating just a few moments ago was now frozen solid and a white ghostly figure of horse stood there instead. Flurry Heart screamed as the Windigo looked directly at her with eyes that were just empty holes in its skull. The beast howled again and charged towards them. The purple shield flared up as Shining Armor put more magic into it and the Windigo changed direction before it hit the spell. The creature howled angrily and began to run in circles around the barrier. Flurry Heart gasped when she noticed the ground freezing up around them and the snow surrounding them in a thick cloud. Shining Armor narrowed his horn menacingly and followed the ghostly creature with his eyes. He let the shield spell drop for a second to shot a beam of magic at the Windigo, but the creature managed to dodge it. The ponies used the distraction however to start running towards the palace again. Flurry shivered in fear as the angry howl filled the air again and came closer once more. She kept running but turned her head around to see the beast storming towards her again. She shot a beam of magic towards it like her father head, but it was weak because she also had to carry the crystal heart at the same time. The magic bounced off the Windigo harmlessly, if anything it grew even angrier as it got closer. When the palace came back into sight, Flurry noticed her father wasn't running next to her anymore. She looked back again and saw him facing to the Windigo and preparing another spell "Dad!" "Keep running! I'll hold it off until you get inside." Flurry Heart hesitated but Rose Quartz pushed her forward. Sunburst summoned a far smaller shield around them and they finally made it to the steps leading up to the palace. Flurry Heart passed the crystal heart over to Sunburst who nearly dropped it in surprise and a golden flash of light later she was standing beside her father again, her horn glowing brightly. Shining Armor kept the Windigo busy with quick bursts of magic but so far only managed to keep it from getting too close. Only one of his beams had hit so far but other than throwing the winter spirit a little off course it had no effect whatsoever. Flurry Heart stood ready beside him and shot out a far more impulsive beam of golden magic. She hadn't practiced combat magic yet except from shield spells and she wasn't a trained soldier like her father. However, she was an alicorn and therefore had a lot more raw magic power than most unicorns, even as a filly. Shining Armor noticed Flurry readying her magic and shot another beam of his own to have the Windigo change directions again, right into Flurry's magic blast. The winter spirit howled again, but this time it sounded pained. The creature stood still for the first time and stared at the two ponies with hollow eyes, its body waving behind him like it was made of the winter breeze. The Windigo gave an angry neigh and threw his forhooves into the air to charge again, but then a new howl was heard in the distance. The creature turned its head and with one last angry glare, it stormed away, towards the north. Flurry Heart sighed relieved but when she looked at her father, she noticed his thoughtful expression "We're an easy target, why did it leave? It makes no sense, unless..." His eyes opened wide with panic "... unless it got called back because there's a better target. Cadance!" He shouted out his wife's name and ran after the Windigo as fast as he could. Flurry Heart was about to follow, but only made a single step. She remembered her promise to her Mommy and looked back to see guards already leaving the palace. She turned around and ran back towards them "Mommy, Daddy, please be safe."