Winter Aria

by Arcanum -Phantasy


Snowfall

A sigh slipped past Flurry's lips as she dully looked over the contents of her Zoology textbook. In front of her stood her Tutor and Godparent Sunburst reading from his own copy of the same book magically held up to his muzzle. Though she did try to listen to him and be a good student, it was quickly becoming a losing battle. No matter how hard she tried, her mind kept wandering back to what happened two days ago when she confronted the mysterious "Cave Pony" as she had come to call him. Everything about him raised so many questions that she wasn't sure how to ask. How could he survive in the Northern Wastes all by himself? As weak as her Scanning Spell was, she was fairly certain that nopony aside from the two of them were in the cave. Unless his family lived in the inner cave systems. But that still left another question unanswered: why don't they live in the Empire? And then there was his appearance. Flurry had seen plenty of Crystal Ponies in her young life and while she couldn't consider herself an expert, she could say that she'd never seen a pony's coat sparkle the way his did. It looked like he was covered in polished gems instead of fur.
Was that what happens when you use a hot spring too much? She thought as she turned a page in her book. Nah, if that was the case, all of the Nobles would look like that.
Aside from the colt's strange appearance, one other thing about him demanded her attention; the look of sheer terror she saw in his green eyes. It was more than the anxious look of an antisocial pony, he was genuinely terrified of her. That, combined with the drastic shift in tone he displayed before and after his reveal made Flurry decide to honor his request. For now at least. Even as she sat there in the middle of the castle library letting Sunburst continue his lecture on a subject who's interest was lost long ago, Flurry felt her adventurous spirit start to become restless.
Why was he so scared of me? I wasn't gonna hurt him. And what was the deal with that cave anyway? One day it's full of steam and warmth, the next, a freezer. What the hay is going on up there!?
No sooner had she thought that did something in her textbook catch her attention.The left page was dominated by the image of a massive pony-like creature that was completely snow-white. It's coat gave its blue eyes an added sense of anger as the creature glared out at the reader. The wild winds and snow that whirled around it in the background gave its already intimidating profile more definition. Looking at it sent an involuntary chill down Flurry's spine, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sunburst.
"Are you alright Flurry?" he asked as he approached his student.
Flurry jerked out of her momentary discomfort and smiled at Sunburst.
"Y-Yeah. I'm fine," she chuckled. "But what is this thing?"
As she asked that, she pointed at the strange creature in her book. Sunburst glanced at the creature and let out a sad chuckle.
"That," he sighed. "Is a Windago."
Flurry blinked in confusion.
"What's a Windago?"
For a moment, Sunburst gave the filly an incredulous look that quickly shifted into understanding.
"Oh, that's right. Hearths Warming isn't really celebrated here is it?"
Flurry tilted her head in further confusion.
"Hearths Warming?"
With a soft chuckle, Sunburst smiled at his student and gave her a basic rundown of the holiday in question as well as the Windago's involvement in the holiday's inception. Flurry looked back at the picture of the Windago again, but instead of fearing it, she felt kind of sorry for it.
"So they got kicked out of their home because Equestria's founders couldn't get along?"
Sunburst stared at Flurry in shock. True, he had heard the legend of Equestria's founding several times since long before Flurry was even born, but he never thought of it quite like that. While it was a confirmed fact that the leaders of the three tribes were never on the same page when it came to coexisting prier to the events of Equestria's founding as a kingdom, not a lot of information could be found about the Windagos aside from their apparently antagonistic behavior towards ponies. As a result, it was never really confirmed whether or not they were native to the land or just a threat that followed the three tribes from their ruined lands.
"That's an...excellent question Flurry," replied a gobsmacked Sunburst, his hoof brought to his chin in thought. "While it is true that our history is full of accounts of the naturally hostile nature of Windagos, we don't have any information on anything beyond that such as their origins or if they even have a culture to study."
"But then," she mumbled, still staring at the picture. "Why doesn't anypony go and talk to them?"
"Well, it's not quite that simple," he sighed. "For starters, Windagos don't seem to speak any discernible language that anypony beyond another Windago could understand and given their violent nature most don't seem to be particularly chatty when they encounter ponies. Plus, their nearly impossible to find in this day and age so further study in regards to them are mostly based on theory and debate."
Flurry nodded, eyes still locked onto the image of the Windago as she took in Sunburst's lecture.
He does look a lot like this.
It was at that moment that she noticed something a little odd about the picture.
"Hey, wait," she exclaimed, casting an inquiring glance at her teacher. "How could they use magic and fly if they don't have wings or horns?"
"Ah, I was wondering when you were going to ask that," he smiled before pushing his glasses up is nose. "It's theorized that they channeled their magic much the same way Earth Ponies do. But instead of drawing in magic from the land to strengthen their bodies, the Windagos would use it to preform a form of midlevel Cryomancy that would allow them to simulate flight and defend them against perceived threats. There are even ancient reports of them being able to walk on clouds and bodies of water thanks to this power."
Flurry's eyes widened in shock.
"B-But if they could do all that, how did the founders get rid of them?"
At that, Sunburst gave her a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head as he tried to find the right way to explain.
"That's just it," he groaned. "Nopony knows."
Flurry raised a brow at that.
"What do you mean? What, they just up and decided to leave just like that?!"
"Actually, yes that's exactly what they did."
"WHAT?!"
Sunburst cringed as the filly's outburst echoed through the library. After clearing his throat and pushing his glasses back into place, he resumed his explanation.
"After the Fire of Unity saved the founders from the Windago's magic, they no longer had the violent energy needed to maintain control of the land and without a bountiful source of negativity to feed off of, they were no match for the Founders and their forces. So, they left with the only collateral damage between the two groups being the few ponies foolish enough to attack them as they moved towards the Northern Mountains before disappearing completely."
As she let that sink in, she gave the picture another glance with a heavy heart.
I wonder if he's lonely.
With that thought echoing through her head Flurry continued her lessons, the seeds of a plan taking root.



***



Ruby sat quietly, her sketchbook propped up in front of herself with a pencil gripped gently in the red glow of her magic. The bright mid-morning sun warmed her back as she enjoyed the calm air of the currently empty park. For that moment, there were no worries. No fears. No trials and tribulations. Just her, a sketchpad, and her muse.
"What cha' up too?"
A slight smirk graced Ruby's muzzle as she took note of the welcome company literally hovering over her shoulder.
"Good morning Quartz," she smiled, eyes still locked onto her craft.
The white crystal Pegasus let out a slight chuckle before he let himself drift back onto solid ground behind her.
"Morning."
Still grinning, the colt craned his neck to get a better look at his friend's work. Struck with an odd mix of joy and irritation at her friend's antics, Ruby gave her work one last stroke before she presented it to her eager guest. She watched as his eyes scanned the drawing, measuring the subtle changes in his demeanor as he did so. By the time he gave the pad back to Ruby, his hyperactive energy seemed to level out and his grin was a lot more relaxed.
"You were just chilling before school, huh?" he sighed.
Ruby nodded, her own faint smile gracing her muzzle. However, she was doing backflips just under the surface of that smile. While many at The Empire's Crystal Academy considered her to be an excellent artist, only a handful knew the true power of her work. The truth being that she put her emotions into her work, literally. Though it was less noticeable in some of her more basic scribbles, when she put genuine effort into it, she could make anypony who saw her work feel a specific emotion. Even if it was a passing glance, if she put her happiness into the portrait, the pony in question would be filled with that joy. it was also for that reason most ponies avoided her, for fear of what would happen if she was angered while drawing. It was during that time in her life that she came to curse the crossed red and blue pencil and paintbrush that marked her flanks. That was, until a certain ivory Pegasus with lavender eyes and a spiral of runes for a cutie mark saw her work.
Quartz's smile grew as Ruby took back the almost complete drawing in her magic. The second she had her gear safely tucked away, he through a foreleg around her shoulders and pulled her into a friendly half-hug.
"I'm glad," he laughed. "You've been so tense lately I was afraid something bad was gonna happen."
She could only give an affirmative grunt as she felt her face burn from the contact. It was in times such as this that she was glad she had a red coat.
"So," he said as he let her out of his embrace. "You still up for this weekend?"
Ruby shook off her embarrassment and with her poise once again neutral nodded.
"Awesome!" he cheered. "This is gonna be so cool!"
Ruby nodded, her calm expression hiding her amusement at her friend's enthusiasm.
"By the way," he added. "Have you been doing anything different with your coat lately?"
"No," she asked, brow raised. "Why?"
"It looks...shinier than usual."
Before she could respond, Quartz's eyes drifted towards the sky and gasped.
"Ah crud!" he gulped. "Class is gonna start soon! We'd better get going!"
With that, the energetic Pegasus turned and bolted towards the park's entrence, a scarlet Unicorn not too far behind, a bright smile gracing her blushed muzzle.



***


Sapphire let out a sigh as her almost glazed vision passed over the class from her desk in the back of the room. The pony at the front of the classroom had long slipped out of the teen's center of interest along with his now droning lecture. What did have her attention was the dark-purple Unicorn colt six rows ahead of her and what her sister said the day before. It wasn't as if she couldn't talk to colts or anything. Hay, she did it all the time. But every time she locked eyes with Opal she would get so nervous that talking became a near impossible task. It was something she always had trouble with and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why that was the case. Even when she was doing her stone carving, the second her mind drifted to the colt she would lose all of her focus and in some cases, her temper. Something a certain headless dragon statue could attest to.
What the hay is wrong with me? she thought as she glared a hole into the back of Opal's head. Why can't I talk to him? It's the easiest thing in the world for bucks sake! Just walk up to him and say 'Hi, I'm Sapphire Trail.' or something like that. It's. Not. That. HARD!!!
As she thought that, her grip on the pencil in her mouth started to tighten as her frustration built upon itself.
How can simple communication be so tough? Learning how to fight from Master Maud? That was tough. Talking to one of the hottest colts in class? EASY!!!
It was then that she took note of her thoughts and with a frustrated sigh, dropped her almost splintered writing implement onto her desk.
Maybe I should ask sis or Flurry for some tips or something.
With an irate groan, she shook the thought out of her head and huffed.
No. This is my problem Celestia damn it and I'll fix it myself! As soon as I figure out how I'm gonna do that anyway...
With a defeated sigh, she continued to stare at the back of her crush's head, not sure who she wanted to hit more; him for being so cute, or herself for magically loosing her spine around him. Not helping her was the fact that Opal Heart was friends with her sister's apparent Coltfriend. A fact that gave her scarlet sibling the power to find over a dozen ways to rib her with just a simple question. The only thing that kept Sapphire from hating her sister for that was the apparent denial she had in regards to her own relationship.
With an aggravated groan, she shifted her attention towards the slightly less annoying stallion at the head of the class. Though she found this to be a pointless type of distraction as less than an hour into his lecture the school bell signaled the end of class.
"Well," she muttered under her breath. "So much for that."
After she aggressively shoved her supplies back into her sattle bags, she headed towards the classroom doorway into the polished halls beyond with the rest of the class. As she moved, her thoughts kept cycling through her current situation and the lack of sense she could make out of it. On the way to the door, her shoulder knocked into a nearby student, which pulled her out of her thoughts enough to rile a small amount of her infamous temper.
"Hey! Watch it pal!" she snapped, dual toned glare at the ready.
Her rage died instantly when her red and blue orbs locked onto a pair of hazel ones just a few inches away from her muzzle.
"Oh, my apologies, " Opal said with a slight bow. "It seems I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. Are you okay?"
Sapphire just gawked at him, her mind long since shutdown.
C'mon brain, a small part of her pride yelled, desperate to get the rest of her to wakeup. He's right there! Say something. ANYTHING!!!
"Uh, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
JUST BUCKING SAY SOMETHING DANM IT!!!
"H-Hi," she stammered.
Opal raised a brow at her strained response.
"Greetings. Again, are you okay?"
Stiffly, she nodded in the affirmative with a newfound interest in the floor.
Though Opal didn't buy the filly's performance, he decided against calling her out on it. Instead, he smiled and said, "Good to note. Have a good day Miss?"
"S-Sapphire Trail," she stuttered, gaze still centered on the ground.
"Ah, yes," he sighed in relief. "Sapphire Trail. I'll make sure to remember that name."
With that, he gave her a reassuring smile and made his way out of the classroom. The second his lime-green tail slipped out of sight Sapphire snapped out of her stupor and the events from the last few seconds sank into her mind. As her mind began to process what happened, she wandered almost aimlessly towards a wall at the left of the door and gently pounded her head against it.
Well, she thought bitterly. You talked to him. Congratulations!
"Stupid," she muttered as she finally made her way out of the classroom, a large part of her feeling like a swift leap off of the Crystal Castle's tallest tower was more than in order.



***



Silence reined supreme in the nameless cave, its soul inhabitant taking solace in its familiarity as he went about his daily routine. After his home was invaded by those three ponies, he felt it was wise to strengthen his defenses. Especially in regards to the "winged Unicorn" as he had come to call her. Even a day later, he couldn't believe she was able to dispel his Haze Spell so easily. It was possible that his Shout Spell drove his focus away from Haze just enough to make it possible, but even that would require a significant amount of power. Regardless, it still meant one thing in the end; he had been seen. This left him with only two options: fortify his home against the inevitable hunting party that would be coming for him, or find a new dwelling. And while most would consider the later to be the most logical choice, certain ties to his current nest made him more inclined to choose the former.
With a weary sigh, he charged more magic into his left fore-hoof and slammed it into the ground. A dense cloud of frigid fog exploded from the point of contact, adding to the already thick cloud that filled the cave. The colt let out an annoyed groan as in spite of the condition of his surroundings, his scale covered body was coated in sweat. With narrowed eyes and a frown, he staggered towards the small pond at the center of his home's main chamber. Unlike the rest of the cave, the one foot diameter of the lake wasn't covered with frozen earth and the fog it produced didn't freeze flesh in seconds. Once he reached the edge of the lake, he once again channeled his magic into his left fore-hoof and dipped it into the steaming water. The second he released his magic, the water let out a loud hiss as its already staggering temperature spiked a few more degrees. The colt let out a content sigh as he pulled his hoof out of the boiling water. With a quick shake, all of the accumulated sweat on his body flew off, turning into small flecks of snow on the way to the cave floor.
In spite of his fatigue, the colt smiled as he took in the fruits of his labor. Thanks to him, the interior of his home was now zero degrees fahrenheit with the spring at its heart just over two-hundred degrees. This way, if anything tried to enter his domain, they would be instantly frozen to their core and if by some miracle they managed to get past that, he could ram them into the boiling lake. The idea of cooking a pony alive didn't sit all to well with him, even if they were planing to kill him, but odds were that nopony would be able to get past his new Haze. It was his mother's specialty after all, and she made sure that he could use the spell at her level as an absolute minimum. After layering the spell fifty times, he made sure that nopony could get in without paying the consequences. As it stood, only an extremely high-level Cryomancer could set hoof inside the cave let alone harm him.
It was at that moment that he heard the unmistakable sound of hoofsteps coming from the tunnel that led to the main chamber from the outside world. He quickly and quietly moved toward one of the tunnel openings on the opposite side of the room. As he waited to see how this encounter would develop, he heard something unexpected fill the halls of his dwelling; humming. The possible hunter was humming a happy and structureless tune as they closed in on his location. As they got closer, he found himself getting lost in the rhythm, continuously wondering what note was going to be hit next to either make the song more stable or disjointed as they progressed. His musings were interrupted when the singer stopped at the mouth of the chamber and ended their solo. For a fleeting second, he hoped his visiter would recognize the danger and leave, but to his disappointment, he heard them resume their advance towards their imminent demise. He closed his eyes, already prepared to dispose of the body when a familiar female voice snapped him out of his moment of premature morning.
"Whew, it's freezing in here!"
He watched in abstract horror as the winged Unicorn from before stepped into the room, completely unharmed by the Haze surrounding her. In fact, as he watched her, he saw the spell start to dispel around her. Not as completely as it did before, but enough to keep her safe while allowing him to maintain his concealment. It was while he observed this that he also noticed the sattle bags strapped to her sides were unaffected by his spell as well. To say he was shocked would be the understatement of the century. He put everything he had into the spell surrounding them, yet this strange pony was barely even bothered by it.
How is this even possible? he thought as he watched her levitate a book out of one of her sattle bags to read. As it stands, only those with an enormous amount of magic should be able to do what this pony is doing. Just how strong is she?
No longer able to hold back his curiosity, he called out to the pony.
"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to never come back."
The other pony's ear twitched and with a soft smile she looked up from her book toward his general direction.
"Oh, hey Cave Pony! How are you doing today?"
The "Cave Pony" blinked, momentarily taken aback by the filly's forwardness.
"I-I'm fine I suppose, but that doesn't answer my question."
Flurry's smile turned mischievous.
"Reading, duh. It's nice and quiet here. Perfect place for some reading."
"Cave Pony" raised a brow at that.
"While I agree with that, I thought I told you to leave."
"And I did," she said as she went back to reading her book. "Now I'm back."
He let out an aggravated groan as he tried to find a way out of this.
"I also thought I told you to never come back."
"No, you said my friends and I couldn't use your spring, and we wont. You never said anything about us coming back to do anything else."
"Cave Pony" glared at Flurry
"Then I'll say it now. Get out now."
"Make me," she grinned cheekily.
For a moment, silence passed between the two ponies before the cave's resident let out a defeated sigh.
"Fine, but could you do me a favor?"
"Sure," she smirked. "What is it?"
"Could you hum for me?" his tone colored by his blush. "Not every time your here if you don't want to or anything. I just really like your voice."
Flurry smiled and nodded.
"Deal. By the way, what's your name?"
The colt considered not answering or lying, but it didn't seem fair to deceive her at this point. And besides, he really didn't like the idea of being called "Cave Pony" on a regular basis.
"Alto. My name is Alto."
Flurry smiled as she closed her book to once again look in his general direction.
"Nice to meet you Alto. I'm Flurry Heart.