“You-” I put on a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I must have misheard you, it sounded like-”
“There was no purple flash. There never was, I made it up!” Kalypso hissed, her eyes trailing down to my chest as she grimaced.
But- that couldn't be! She’d seen the coming of winter, right? She’d told me about her visions, I’d seen her struggling with them in her sleep. That could’ve been an unspecified nightmare though… Maybe when we were at the idol of Styrktarmardr, and she warned us of something finding us, just before a rat nearly tore off Honeydew’s limp! It could’ve been a coincidence. But after that, didn’t she confront me about going off in the middle of a storm to find food? She didn’t know that I was a pony, yet I told her to see the future, and she’d looked surprised. That HAD to be genuine! “But why?”
“Because you were helpless, and the elder would have left you to freeze if I did not say anything!” heatedly, the words streamed out of her like they’d been bottled up for a long, long time. “You would never have made it alone outside, I could see that, you were thin, freezing- I had to convince him to let you stay. Claiming you were important was the only way I could think of!”
“Was that the only time you lied about a vision?”
Settling down again, Kalypso seemed younger than ever as she let out a resigned huff. “No.” she admitted. “I do have real visions, but… not as many as the clan thinks I do. It’s because of these eyes, you know?” for a moment, she opened them widely, their red and yellow irises reflecting the firelight. “They marked me for greatness when I was born. Everyone in the clan, they believe in my abilities, that I am better than any frindrì before me. How could I be anything less than that?”
“Why didn’t you tell them?”
“You don’t know what it’s like!” she burst out. “Everyone in the clan believes in me, how could I disappoint them all?” with a shake of her head, she continued in a lowered voice. “It wasn’t even difficult. Claim you’ve mistaken a vision for a dream. Say there was a detail you’d missed or discounted as unimportant. Add one after the fact. And they all believed me so easily… they truly thought I was blessed by the gods. How- how can I go up to them and explain that they’re wrong, that I’m just- just barely even a mare yet?!” Her feelers flashed at those last words, and she covered them with her hooves. “Sorry, Twilight.”
After rubbing my eyes, I blinked until the dark splotches and flickers left my vision. “I still think you should tell them. You cannot live up to an impossible standard like that, and you will drive yourself crazy if you try. Believe me: I know exactly what it’s like.” I whispered, thinking back on my first days as a princess. The stress, the fears, the feeling that I was being crushed by an ever-growing mountain of responsibilities each day.
For a long time, neither of us spoke, as I stared into the fire, while Kalypso watched the night sky. “I do not know from what experiences you are speaking of, and I will not pry.” she finally said, her voice barely audible over the crackling of the fire. “But I will… consider your words.”
“I’ll help-”
“No, you won’t.” Kalypso interjected. I was surprised to hear her snicker. “You’ll be on the other side of your portal tomorrow. It doesn’t take visions to know that.”
“Yeah…” A strange mixture of excitement and dread played out in my head, leaving me uncertain about what to feel. “We should rest for the night.”
“Indeed.” she confirmed, before climbing over me, lying down so that her side presses against mine.
Embracing the breezie custom, I slung my forelegs around her, muttering a quick excuse to Honeydew, even though I knew he’d see nothing wrong with it. As I closed my eyes, the mess of emotions finally settled as a series of uncomfortable stomach cramps.
-----
Neither of us knew what to say as we gathered up our belongings the next day. A goodbye seemed too soon, a discussion over Kalypso’s revelation too recent. And so, with a queasy feeling in the stomach, we wordlessly tackled the last stretch of our journey.
The melting process had continued, even allowing the upper ends of grass blades to show through the snow. Icicles were no longer a danger, they’d all fallen already. Once or twice, I even thought I saw movement in the previously still banks of snow, but couldn't make out anything when I turned my head. More than once, I felt a sudden familiarity with something I saw along the way. But that was certainly just my imagination: Realistically, I wouldn’t be able to recognize anything after winter had taken hold of the landscape.
Wait! Was that a walnut tree? If I’d taken outdoor studies, maybe I could be sure, it was hard enough to tell with the leaves! Still, I felt a rush of excitement as the snow-covered ground rushed past me. This could be the place where I first met Honeydew! We were getting closer!
“Soon you’ll be with your own again.” Kalypso said, noting my agitation with a soft smile. “How does it feel?”
“Thrilling.” I gaped, my eyes darting from tree to tree, each time expecting to see the shimmer of the portal. Home. It was hard to believe it was this close. “First thing I’m gonna do, take a long and hot shower. Then sit down with a good book infront of my fireplace.” I didn’t even care about the confused look Kalypso gave me.
There! With a large hole, more a breach than just a knothole right in the center of the stem, the acorn tree appeared to tower over the rest, standing out like a donkey in a crowd of ponies. I could almost sense the twinkling of the portal from down here...
“I assume this means goodbye.” Kalypso’s comment ripped me from my awe.
“Yeah…” Celestia, I did not like this feeling, this awkward moment like there was so much I should say, even as my brain struggled to piece a sentence together. “I’m gonna miss you.”
“Same.” she smiled. “Maybe now that we know where it is, I could visit your clan someday?”
Flinching, I bit my lip. I’d never told Kalypso what was on the other side. What I was. “That wouldn’t be a good idea.” I answered curtly, consoling myself with the promise that I would explain everything when I returned. If I ever managed to. “It’s dangerous.”
“Oh?” she raised an eyebrow “You always seemed pretty starry-eyed to me. Is it really?”
I nodded. “Please tell Honeydew- tell him-” but at this moment my voice failed and I resorted to wrapping more forehooves around the seer. My friend.
“I’ll tell him, and I’ll see that he doesn’t start any dalliances in your absence. I’ll make him belief that Frinjìon himself has chosen you two to be together.” she promised with a grin, and I couldn't help but chuckle as I spread my wings and rode the air, waving my hoof as I started to ascend in a spiral pattern around the tree.
I could feel myself shiver with anticipation as I rose in altitude, cold wind rushing past my sides, but I was now experienced enough to ride it out, my feelers warning me about every little change in the wind, allowing me to quickly return to my course. Then, on my final loop, I caught my first glimpse of the portal, a gleaming edge surrounding a hole hanging in the air. My passage home. If I squinted real hard, I could make out the handle of my travelling bag lying in the dirt of the other side! My cheer was short lived however, as I watched the corners of the portal slowly constrict, it was beginning to close!
Hurriedly, I grabbed the edge of the knothole as the wind carried me past, letting out a surprised yelp as my hoof felt like I’d just plunged it into ice-water. Pulling myself into the knothole, I suddenly realized how cold it had gotten, as if we’d teleported to the peaks of Yakyakistan. A sharp pain pierced my feelers, signaling the coming of a frigid storm. I’d seen all these signs before. Glancing at the portal, I was almost about to just sprint through it when a cold howl froze me in my tracks. A scream like a dozen icebergs scratching past one another, causing landslides of ice to fall into the ocean. The sound rang in the tiny knothole, inciting the cold to creep into my flesh. But it couldn't follow me into my world, I thought as I stepped toward the closing portal, if I leapt through now, I could make it. Already, I could feel a warm breeze pushing through the passage between worlds, I could escape this winter now!
Kalypso couldn't. More than even the cold, that though froze me in place. She was back there, with this… thing, and I was about to leave her? But the portal was closing, I didn’t have time, besides, what could I even do? If I broke my transformation, I’d starve!
WHY NOW? I screamed internally, why did it have to show up now? Cursing Celestia’s name in ways that would horrify me at any other time, I shot a look through the portal, at the small bit of my dirty saddlebags. Then, I raced back out the knothole, launching myself into the middle of the cold storm.
Pain exploded in my back as the wind tore at my wings, sending my tiny body tumbling through the air, just like when I first stepped into this world. But this time, I was prepared. Reaching deep into my core, I mentally touched a gleaming knot of magic, and began to unravel. Instantly, I felt my body expand, feathers sprout from my wings as my head breached into a few dry twigs, causing me to let out a pained shout as they tore off bits of my mane. With a mighty beat of my wings, I stabilized against the wind. Without wasting time to ponder, I called upon my magic, staring at the knothole I’d just been in, sending magic tendrils through the portal until I felt what I needed. With the sound of a large, bursting bubble, my saddlebags dropped into the snow beneath the acorn.
Another ethereal scream caused me to whip around in the air. Drifting effortlessly in the harshest gusts of the storm, my glare was returned from the elongated, skeletal face of the spirit. Blowing streams of ice from it's nostrils, it seemed to measure me, forcing me to get lost in its eye sockets, each of which seemed to hold another storm within, promising decades of winter and starvation.
With an angry whinny, it broke eye-contact, rearing its hooves as the air crackled from eldritch energy. My eyes widening, I had just enough time to raise a magical shield before a torrent of wild frost magic slammed into it. Gritting my teeth, I could already feel it crackling under the onslaught.
A windigo! But they were equestrian spirits, how could they be here? Another blast of magic forced the questions out of my mind as I poured every ounce of magic into my shield, grimacing as the effort seemed to split my skull in half. Then, the attack ceased, the windigo letting out an enraged cry as it circled around, it's eye sockets never glancing away. Gasping for air, I risked a look to the ground, but could only see a thick cover of snow, no sign of Kalyspo. Was she already buried, was I too late?
The spirit roared, and once again I could feel the build-up of energy as I frantically scanned the ground. There, close to my bag, I saw a tiny flicker of light. Without taking the time to inspect, I seized it and my bags in my magic, before dropping my shield. Instantly, the windigo saw its chance, unleashing its magic in a savage beam that would’ve frozen the blood in my veins.
If I had still been there.