“Astrum...”
A soft light began to shine through the darkness but it wasn’t enough to fully be rid of it. The light wasn’t strong enough to beat the darkness..
“Astrum!”
Astrum gasped, her eyes opening as she immediately felt the cold air bite at her face. The cool air softly blew her light pink mane in the breeze as she shifted a little, her hooves making the fluffy white snow crunch beneath them. She seemed to be in the middle of nowhere in this snowy landscape. Unless..She just didn’t recognize her surroundings. Someone was calling out her name..Wait..
“Krini?..Krini, where are you?!”
Her head moved to the right and the left as her eyes searched the landscape. Nothing but stupid white snow..It was always snow! Forget the snow..How could she misplace her little sister like this? What kind of big sister was she to lose her little sister in such dangerous times? She could get seriously hurt alone like this..What if she froze to death?! No..They both wore warm clothing that could help them both withstand this cold weather. Still..There were worse things than dying from freezing that was a possibility..
“Astrum, there you are!”
She immediately turned to where she heard her name called out as relief washed over her. The soft crunching of snow was approaching as Astrum’s little sister, Krini was prancing through the snow to her. She almost looked like a deer bounding through a field of grass because of the tall snow. There was no such thing as grass though now..Only snow..Lots of snow.
“Krini, where were you? You can’t just run away like that. Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be out here by yourself? You have to stay by my side. At least until you learn basic magic.”
“Oh relax, I’m fine! Besides, I found a really cool cave I wanted to show you. It’s reeeaallyy cool!” Krini said, smiling up at Astrum.
“I thought you were scared of caves?”
“I was but sometimes a filly has to grow up, you know? When I’m older I can’t just say I’m scared of caves. I have to face them! So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Astrum giggled. “Whatever you say. Show me this cave then and we’ll see if what you’re saying is true.”
Krini pranced amongst the snow again as she led the way to the cave. It didn’t seem like the filly hadn’t disappeared as far away as she thought since the cave was only a few minutes away. It was definitely a cave Krini would normally be scared of. It was very dark and you couldn’t see the end of it. Krini however simply trotted up to the entrance and stood in front of it, peering into the seemingly never-ending darkness ahead of her.
“Are you sure you’re not scared of caves? You don’t have to force yourself to do it for me. You can just admit it.” Astrum said, watching the filly.
“Yup! No cave is going to scare me!”
Krini took a deep breath, holding her head up high as she trotted into the dark cave, her entire body disappearing and being consumed into the darkness. Astrum suddenly wondered if she should of followed her..Was it a very deep cave?..She had no idea and clearly, Krini didn’t either.
“ASTRUM, HEELPP!”
Her legs instantly responded to her cries for help as she was already galloping into the cave, preparing for battle. This wasn’t the first time she needed her help and it wouldn’t be the last either. Her horn glowed a yellow aura as it illuminated the way for her. She reached into her bag and pulled out a potion, gulping it down and throwing it to the side once it was done. She felt great power resonating within her from the potion as she proceeded on..Not much further..She couldn’t have got far.
“ASTRUM!”
“I’m coming!”
She suddenly came to a stop as her hooves kicked up dirt. She was almost paralyzed by fear of what she saw in front of her. A giant Ursa Major was looking down at her as it held Krini in its paw, seeming like it was threatening to just crush her alive right there. Meanwhile, Krini stared up at the Ursa Major in pure fear, making no attempts to escape. Astrum had seen this giant thing in some stories she was read to as a little filly. However, she had no idea this thing was real and how wrong it was to put this horrid thing in a filly’s book.
“Release her now!”
Astrum yelled, her horn glowing a little more furiously as she narrowed her eyes at the creature.
“I will have no choice but to blast you if you don’t..”
The Ursa Major only simply blinked before it raised its paw, looking down at the trembling filly with no sympathy. It suddenly opened its mouth, revealing its thousands of sharp teeth to Krini as she was slowly being brought closer and closer...
“Enough!”
A strong blast erupted from Astrum’s horn and hit the beast. It only flinched as the spell seemed to have no effect on it and it only resumed what it was doing.
“W-What?! That’s impossible! That was one of the most powerful spells I was taught!”
“ASTRUM!”
“KRINI, NO!”
***
"Astrum?..Astrum, are you okay?..Wake up!”
Astrum opened her eyes once again as she felt something wet around her eyes and pouring down her cheeks. She placed her hoof to her face, wiping away the liquid confused. She then noticed that Krini was standing just above her, looking at her confused.
“I-It was just a dream?..”
“I guess so? I don’t know. I came in here because I heard you making weird whimper noises and you were crying in your sleep. Are you okay?”
“Wait..I have a question for you..Are you scared of caves?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course, I am. I don’t like being alone in the dark. Besides, who knows what’s inside them.”
Astrum then threw her arms around Krini, pulling her into a tight hug. Krini looked confused at first but she accepted the hug, giving her a hug back.
“Don’t grow up yet please..”
“Alright I won’t but I still don’t get why you’re being so sappy and stuff.”
“Don’t worry about it..Why don’t I make us some breakfast before we go adventuring again?”
“Breakfast? Astrum, you make breakfast every morning! This isn’t some special day.”
“I know, but what if I make something special and different for breakfast this time?”
“Really? What are you going to find in some pony’s abandoned home?”
“You’ll see. Go downstairs and uh..Play with your rock collection or something. I’ll be down soon to see what ingredients I have to work with.”
“Fine, but it better be good! Better than cookies and cakes and pies and..”
The list continued on as Krini trotted down the stairs. Astrum waited until she couldn’t hear her listing off desserts anymore to get up from her bed and pull herself out of her blanket. She stretched and flinched as she felt something crack in her back. That bed was terrible to sleep on..
She sighed as she let her long white wings stretch out a little and then flop down at her sides. She shifted through her clothing, putting on her winter gear. It was a little weird to wear her full suit in the house but it was still cold inside. Wait..Was Krini even wearing her full winter suit? That annoying little filly..She trotted downstairs, looking for Krini until she spotted her in a corner moving a few rocks on the floor with a group of other rocks. She indeed wasn’t wearing her winter gear.
“Krini, what are you doing not wearing your winter gear? Do you realize how cold it is in here?"
“But I’m not even cold!”
“I don’t care. Put it on!”
“I don’t know how to put it on myself!”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Is that really why you didn’t put it on in the first place?”
“No..I..Maybe?”
Astrum sighed. “Just bring me it.”
Krini quickly trotted off as she soon returned a few seconds later with her winter gear. She helped Krini into it, putting one last boot on her back hoof.
“Annnd..There. Now don’t take it off and make sure to ask me for help next time alright? I don’t bite.” Astrum said, heading towards the kitchen.
“Are you sure you don’t bite? You get pretty angry sometimes..”
“Don’t test me, Krini..”
She could hear Krini giggling as she opened the pantry, looking through the limited food that was left behind from the pony who once owned this home. There was just about enough to make her special breakfast today. She just needed one last ingredient that she could probably find..If it wasn’t frozen solid already.
“Krini, change of plans, we’re going to have to take a little trip to find something for our breakfast today. It shouldn’t be too long though.” Astrum called out.
“Awww..Can’t we just eat what’s here?”
“You really want some beans in a can for breakfast because that’s all I’m seeing other than the stuff I need to make our breakfast.”
“On second thought, never mind!”
“Good, I don’t either.”
***
Both Krini and Astrum trotted through the snowy weather once again, seeming to be following a dirt path that was almost not even visible anymore since so much snow was piled over it. Honestly, it seemed like they were going nowhere but Astrum seemed to have a pretty good idea on where she was going.
“Sooo..Where are we going?” Krini asked.
“To an old village, I use to visit sometimes. A lot of the food we ate came from there.”
“Astrum, I don’t think they’re giving out food anymore..”
“Of course not, silly. That’s why I’m going to their gardens instead.”
“Their gardens?..But it’s too cold to grow fruits and vegetables now.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t grab any they were trying to grow before!”
“Astrum, everything’s frozen!
They now approached the village that Astrum remembered to be once packed with ponies and young fillies running around. She could still smell the fresh bread just set out to cool off by the bakery ponies and the bright colorful fruits set up in the stands waiting to be bought..The warm sun on her face..She missed it. Everything now was just ice and snow and there were no longer stands and fresh smelling bread. Just an empty village being slowly buried in snow.
“Darn..They had a big public garden around here somewhere..” Astrum mumbled to herself.
“I think this is just a lost cause, sis.”
“You’ve never been here before. You can’t say that.”
“But I’ve experienced harsh climate and tons and tons of snow. I can say that without needing to be here before.”
“Aha! I think I found it!”
Astrum galloped over to a large patch of snow that seemed to only resemble a garden by the dead shrivelled up flowers poking out of the snow and little signs which seem to point out where the fruits and vegetables would normally be. Krini only tilted her head at the patch of snow.
“Right..So..We’re just going to dig through the snow until we find some sort of life under there?..” Krini asked.
“Yes but no. Alright, I guess I have to give away what I was going to make. Pancakes with strawberries on top. I need to find at least some frozen strawberries. I can most likely thaw them once I have them and they should still be good to eat.”
“Pancakes?..I haven’t had those in forever!” Krini said, grinning.
“I know, that’s why I want to make them.”
“Alrighty, Krini digger three-thousand is ready to go! Initiating dig in, three..Two..One...Go!”
Krini than flung her hooves into the snow, rapidly digging and throwing snow behind her. It was like her hooves turned into nothing but dark blurs as she continued to dig. She then suddenly stopped, trying to catch her breath. She gasped to see she barely made a dent in the snow.
“What?! That’s not fair! I was digging as fast as I could!”
Astrum giggled. “You were barely touching your hooves into the snow. You were just flinging them around all willy-nilly. Here, I have a spell that’ll help get it done faster.”
Astrum’s horn glowed yellow as Krini stepped back. The snow patch all around the garden began to glow yellow before it all got brushed aside and put into a pile beside it. For the first time in months, the two sisters saw dirt..A little bit of green grass..And some frozen fruits and vegetables. It felt like they were seeing these simple things for the first time ever.
“Woooaah...Hey, why haven’t you tried that spell on anything else? Maybe you could get rid of all the snow and cold in Elendria!"
“Krini, I don’t have nearly enough skill and power to do that. That’s nearly impossible. By the time my magic fully faded away, I would have only done two fields of snow. There’s way more land covered by snow. Besides, it would all just be covered again when a snowstorm came. It’s useless.”
“If you work hard enough, I’m sure you could reach that skill level.”
“Whatever, let’s just harvest the strawberries and be on our way. Don’t bother picking up the other vegetables and fruits either, it’s too much to carry and I can find other food..”
Astrum turned her back on Krini as she picked strawberries with her magic. Krini sighed, picking up strawberries and putting them in a small pile beside her. Astrum seemed so hostile towards the idea of putting things back to normal even though Krini knew that was what she wanted so badly. She couldn’t understand it...
***
“Pancakes are ready!”
“Yay!”
Astrum set a tower of pancakes on to a nearby dining table as she sat down, waiting for Krini. She levitated three pancakes on to a plate just as Krini came thumping down the stairs and hurried to seat herself across from Astrum. Astrum scooped up some strawberries onto the pancakes and gave the plate to Krini. It wasn’t long before the young alicorn filly was stuffing pancakes into her mouth as Astrum got herself a plate of pancakes.
“Krini, you’re supposed to wait! It’s polite to wait for everypony to be seated with their food before eating. Dad taught us that one.”
“Well, Dad’s not here.” Krini said, stopping to respond to her before stuffing her mouth full with pancake again.
“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep being polite.” Astrum said, giving Krini quite the angry look as she cut into her pancakes.
There was a silence as the sound of chewing and the howl of the wind outside was the only thing heard. Perhaps also Krini shifting in her chair and the chair leg scratching against the floor. Astrum dropped her fork on to her plate, watching Krini’s chair move repeatedly and make that annoying scratch noise over and over. She waited for a few moments to let it stop first and when it didn’t, she said something.
“Krini, quit moving your chair.”
“Wow, something as little as that even annoys you?” Krini asked, smirking a little as she moved her chair again and stopped.
“When it’s done over and over, yes. Wouldn’t it annoy you?”
“Nah, because I like doing this with the chair.”
“Ugh, I wasn’t talking about specifically the chair...Never mind.”
Astrum levitated her fork and knife to the side of the pate as she suddenly stood up, tucking her chair into the table with her magic. She trotted off toward the door and opened it. A chilly wind came through and made Krini shiver as Astrum disappeared into the cold, shutting the door behind her.
“Astrum?...”