“The snow demanded a terrible price, and though the family fought against it with all their might, in the end, they were forced to pay for their mistakes. The two sisters found themselves lost, alone, and scared. The snow had taken everything from them: their home, their parents, their innocence. All they had left was each other. The eldest took the lead, swearing to look after the younger and keep her safe. And she would keep her promise, no matter the cost.”

Celestia kept her eyes fixed squarely forward, even as the snow lashed at her face. Her hooves were numb, her legs ached, and her head felt heavy and clouded. But she didn’t stop, not for one moment. She had been walking for hours now, and she was not going to let herself stop. She knew that if she did, she might not be able to find the strength to keep going. The only thing giving her what little strength she had left was Luna, who walked quietly at her side.

Neither of them had said a word in hours. They had just walked and walked. On and on, into the white, through the cold. They were hungry, they were cold, they were lost, they were alone, and they both knew it. And Celestia knew that the storm would not show them any mercy. It hadn’t shown their parents any.

The forest began to grow thicker around them, the rocky landscape smoothing out somewhat. The increased number of trees was a welcome change, blocking at least a little bit of the snow that was trying to attack them with every step they took.

Luna looked up at her, revealing the deep, dark bags that were set into her fur under her eyes. She must have been absolutely exhausted. “Can we stop for a second? I’m tired.”

Celestia frowned. She didn’t want to slow down and lose their momentum. They had to keep moving. Staying put for too long was probably suicide. She shook her head. “No. We need to keep moving.”

Luna’s ears drooped even more, if that was possible, and took a hesitant step forward. “But…”

“No buts,” Celestia cut her off, gently nudging her back into motion. “We don’t want to stop unless we have to. We need to get to Flatstone as soon as possible.”

Luna let out what sounded like a cross between a tired sigh and a quiet whimper. “How are we gonna get there? Do you know where it is?”

That question gave Celestia pause, and with a grimace, she realized she had no good answer. They had to get to Flatstone, but she hadn’t really given much thought to how they were going to do it. All she knew was that the village was at the base of the mountain and that it would be somewhere on this side of the river they had crossed. Beyond that, though, she had no idea. She didn’t even know what it looked like.

After a moment, Celestia sighed and focused her eyes forward. “I don’t know. I’ll think of something, though.”

Luna seemed satisfied with that answer and picked up the pace, walking side by side with Celestia as they picked their way further and further into the woods.

The terrain slowly but surely sloped back downward, and the trees began to thin out over time, allowing the snow to attack them again. Those trees that remained rustled in the harsh winds, and their wooden trunks groaned and creaked under the pressure. Mounds of snow fell from the branches as they grew too heavy, kicking up small clouds of white when they impacted the ground. Ferns that had perished in the first wave of the storm could be seen poking up from the snow here and there, shriveled, brown, and dead.

The hours stretched on and on. It would probably be getting dark soon, and as much as she wanted to keep moving and never stop, Celestia knew that it was even more dangerous to move at night than it was to stay put. They needed to find shelter, and they needed to find it soon. She was not going to sleep in the open. Not again. She wouldn’t risk Luna like that.

The minutes continued to tick by, and in time turned to hours. With every monotonous step, Celestia’s body grew increasingly sore and tired. Her eyes began to flick up to the sky every so often, hoping for some sign that it was getting dark out. The sun should have set a while ago, but it was still bright as day. Just like before.

She slowly drew to a halt, her eyes locked onto the clouds overhead, trying to pick out the light of the sun through them. It was hard to tell, with how thick they were, but she thought she could make out where it was. A barely perceptible bright spot, staring back at her like a milky eye.

She just stood there for a second, looking at the sun through the clouds. Her mind began to grow hazy, the storm around her fading away. Something tickled the edges of her thoughts, a warm, tingling heat. It felt enticing, yet distant. It was almost like her mother was calling to her from across a great distance.

She slowly lifted a hoof up toward the sky, as if to tell whatever was calling to her that she was here so that it could come and chase away her pain. To fight off the cold and envelop her in a blanket of love and light. To keep her safe…

The sound of crunching snow drew Celestia’s mind out of it’s haze. She snapped her eyes back down, and they widened as shock and horror flooded her system.

“LUNA!” Celestia shouted, sprinting to her sister’s side. The foal had pulled a little ways ahead of her, and was now laying face down in the snow. Celestia quickly rolled her over, and to her relief, she saw Luna was awake. She looked even worse than before, though.

Still, Celestia had to be sure. After all, Honey had seemed fine at first. “Are you alright?” she asked urgently, helping Luna sit up.

Luna gave a shivering nod. “Mm-mhmm. I tripped,” she mumbled, her eyes drifting down as if she were ashamed. “I’m sorry…”

Celestia breathed a sigh of relief and shook her head. “No, no, it’s okay. But be more careful,” she instructed before standing back to her full height. She helped Luna up and quickly brushed off the snow clinging to her fur and coat with her magic.

Celestia grimaced. “Yeah… me, too. Let’s see if we can find some shelter and get some rest,” she said, looking bitterly up at the sky. “I don’t think it’s going to get dark anytime soon.”

They set off again, with Celestia keeping a hoof on Luna this time to help keep her steady. Her eyes swept the land in front of them for any sign of anything that could serve as a functional shelter. It was about half an hour before they found it.

They eventually came out into a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a wide frozen pond, perhaps fifty feet from one side to the other. The ice was smooth and surprisingly clear, affording a view of the moss-covered rocks at its bottom; the first green Celestia had seen in a while. On the other side of the pond was a tall tree, devoid of its leaves. It wasn’t one of the numerous evergreens that called this mountain home. Its trunk was white, and its canopy must have been quite wide before its leaves died, judging by the spread of its branches.

The most important thing, however, was the cliff that sat just beyond that tree. It reached up around thirty feet, and in its base in front of the tree was a natural alcove worn into the rock. Narrow trenches wound squiggly paths from the walls of the alcove, circling past the tree and leading into the pond. Maybe streams had flowed from that alcove in the past, supplying the pond with water?

“Yeah, it is…” Celestia breathed in response. It was beautiful. But more than that, it was sheltered from the snow. The rocky floor in the alcove was largely clear, meaning that it was the only good spot for sleep they had found. Celestia gave Luna a comforting squeeze and guided her around the pond. “And it’s where we’ll be sleeping.”

Luna looked up to Celestia with a surprisingly happy look on her face. “We’re sleeping in a cave!?” She asked with a slightly cheerful tone.

Celestia raised an eyebrow, before smiling. She had almost forgotten that Luna was a little weirdo who liked dark, damp places. She nodded. “Yeah, we’re sleeping in a cave,” she assured.

Luna clopped her hooves together over her chest and ran ahead, letting out a quiet giggle. Celestia reached after her to tell her to stop, then sighed and shook her head.

“She hasn’t laughed in a while. Not since…” she killed that train of thought with a bitter frown. She heaved a heavy sigh and followed Luna in.

It was a spacious affair, with enough room for five ponies to walk abreast and still have a bit of personal space. Celestia imagined that three grown stallions standing in a stack might just reach the ceiling. The floor sloped up in a series of uneven steps toward the back, leading into the wall. Luna had already claimed one of the steps for herself, curling up on it with a small smile.

“It is,” Celestia agreed, bringing out their blankets with her magic. She sat down next to Luna, draping both of them in as many layers as she could. The stone floor was still cold, and it was uncomfortably hard to boot, but it was better than sleeping in the snow. She looked out at the tree and sighed. “It must have been even prettier before… this…”

Luna trailed off the moment the word ‘mom’ left her lips. Celestia’s good mood soured just like that. Cold grief and bitterness took a hold of her, and she couldn’t stop herself from grimacing. When she spoke, it was in a quiet whisper, almost inaudible and yet impossibly deafening in that quiet spot of shelter.

A heavy silence fell over the two sisters. Celestia felt Luna snuggling closer to her, and she could feel her sister’s body trembling against her. Not from the cold, though, she suspected. A suspicion that was proven true when Luna sniffled.

Memories drifted through her mind. Memories of Honey’s sweet smile, of her kind nature, of her rational mind and playful bouts of mischief. She thought of Sprout, of his endearing paranoia, of his creativity, of his craftiness, of his skill working in the field to grow their food. His dedication to his family.

With every memory that flashed through her mind, Celestia’s heart broke more and more. It still didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel right. Everything about it was wrong. They shouldn’t be dead… But they were.

Luna began to cry, no doubt feeling the same way Celestia was. And it wasn’t long before she joined her little sister in weeping over what they had lost. Their shared sobbing was the last thing Celestia heard before drifting off into a night of cold, restless sleep.

Celestia’s eyes shot wide open as Luna’s voice reached her ears from somewhere far away. She looked up in surprise, her eyes going wide. She was back in that labyrinth of twisted, stretching corridors again, complete with the blue fog hiding the ceiling far overhead, the mix of sun and moonlight shining in through the warped windows, and the terrible chill that seeped into her bones. She could see her breath in the air with every exhale she gave.

And just like last time, there was that humming, low and soft, echoing through the hallways like a ghostly memory.

“Darnit! Hang on!” Celestia shouted, turning and sprinting as hard as her hoove should carry her down the first corridor. She beat her wings as she ran, and before long she was flying through the corridors rather than running through them. The air felt heavy, but she forced herself through it regardless. Her sister needed her, she wasn’t about to lose her too!

Celestia rounded a bend. She gasped as she came face to face with a dense wall of blue fog, and flared her wings to catch the air and slow herself to a stop. She hovered in place for a moment, watching the fog with wide eyes. It churned before her, wisps and tendrils shifting over its surface. A few reached out toward her, only to break apart long before they could reach her.

“Where are you?!” Luna’s voice echoed once more, and Celestia realized with a shudder of fear that her calls were coming from the other side of this fog. “HELP ME! SISTER!”

“Gah, dangit,” Celestia growled, hesitating. She did not like the look of that fog. She would barely be able to see a few inches in front of her if she passed into it. She’d be flying blind. But at the same time, Luna was on the other side, and she needed Celestia’s help.

She drifted back a little. Maybe there was another route? This stupid place, whatever it was, had no shortage of alternate paths she could have taken. Maybe one of them was a shortcut?

Before she could even turn, a new sound reached her ears. A low, mournful howl that defied description, followed by a powerful gust of cold air rushing up the corridor from the way she had come. Something was charging her, and a powerful fight-or-flight response roared into life in response. She didn’t even deign to look before diving into the fog.

The cold was even worse than before. Celestia gasped involuntarily, her hooves curling around to hug herself as she flew through the dense fog. It felt even colder than ice, and it was getting difficult to flap her wings. But she pushed such thoughts out of her mind. She had to find Luna.

“LUNA?!” she cried out, barely avoiding slamming into a wall before taking the next turn. “KEEP TALKING! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“HELP ME!” Luna wailed at the top of her lungs from wherever she was. “It’s cold! I can’t see! TIA!”

“Just hang on!” Celestia shouted, keeping one hoof on the wall as she sped through the fog. That ominous humming was almost deafening now, filling her ears and drowning out her own thoughts. “I’m almost there- oof!”

Celestia gave off a grunt of pain, the air driven from her lungs, as something slammed into her from the side. She spun head over hooves before crashing into the wall. She slumped to the floor with a tired groan, her head pounding. She could hear Luna screaming, she could hear the humming growing so loud it was almost deafening. With a pained groan, she lifted her head.

Two glowing blue eyes glared back at her less than an inch from her face, colder than anything she had seen before.

Celestia awoke with a yelp, as Luna’s voice screaming in terror cut through her mind. She sat bolt upright and looked down at her sister thrashing on the ground, growing entangled in her blankets. Celestia quickly shook her head to dispel her confusion and reached down to shake Luna awake, tearing the blankets away with her magic before Luna could strangle herself with them.

Luna, however, did not wake. Her screams were growing louder and more frantic, her hooves clawing at her chest as if to pry something away from her, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Celestia’s ears were starting to ring, her heart pounding in her chest. She gave Luna another shake, harder this time. Why wasn’t she waking up?! “Luna! LUNA!”

Nothing seemed to work, and Luna’s screams were growing so loud and desperate that her voice was beginning to crack and break. With no other recourse left, Celestia could only try one more thing. A guilty cringe spread over her face. “I’m sorry, Lu…”

That did the trick. Luna gave off a squeak of pain from the strike, rolling off to one side and falling still. Celestia immediately felt an overwhelming flood of guilt, her ears drooping. She swallowed heavily and gently placed a hoof on Luna’s back. “Luna?”

Luna took in a deep, shuddering breath. She rolled over to look into Celestia’s eyes, revealing that hers were now bloodshot and puffy with tears. She sniffled, a hoof drifting up to her cheek. “Y-you…”

“I am so sorry,” Celestia choked out, pulling Luna up and hugging her tight. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to… you just… You were having another nightmare. And you wouldn’t wake up.”

Luna sniffled into Celestia’s chest. “I’m sorry,” she said as she began to sob, the shock of the strike starting to wear off.

“No, don’t be,” Celestia shot her down quietly, screwing her eyes shut as she began to come down from her moment of panic. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re okay…”

It sounded more like Celestia was assuring herself of that, rather than her sister.

The two sat together like that for a few minutes as Luna worked the tears out of her system. Celestia took this time to look around and assess the situation. She had no way of knowing for sure how much time had passed, seeing as the sky was no longer a reliable way of keeping track. If nothing else, it had been long enough for the sun to set, leaving the world outside bathed in darkness.

Eventually, Luna’s sobs went quiet. She pulled back from Celestia with a sniffle, not lifting her head.

Celestia smiled down at her. “You’re okay, now… What were you dreaming about?” she asked quietly.

Luna was quiet for several seconds. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Eventually, she settled for simply shaking her head. “I don’t remember.”

Celestia frowned. Something about that answer sounded wrong to her. Was Luna lying about it?

Before she could question Luna, however, a chill ran down her spine, and her heart suddenly began to beat faster. Something was wrong. Celestia immediately rose to her hooves, grabbing onto their blankets with her magic.

“Shush,” Celestia shot back, looking towards the exit of the cave. But nothing stood out to her as being out of the ordinary. It was just as they had left it...

And then there was movement. Celestia squeaked in fear as something shifted in the darkness beyond the alcove. A silhouette, impossible to discern, followed by another, and another. The feeling of being watched returned to her, a thousand times stronger than before, and that ghostly howl from her nightmares echoed in the small alcove. But this time it wasn’t alone. It was joined by others, distant and numerous.

“Luna, get behind me,” Celestia commanded in a low growl, lighting up her horn and quickly shoving their blankets back into her saddlebags.

Satisfied that her sister would obey her, Celestia focused her attention back outside. She could still see those things moving around out there, and their ghostly calls echoed back and forth across the clearing. Were they communicating? Would they go away if she stood back and left them alone?

A powerful gust of impossibly cold air slammed into Celestia, making her grunt and stagger back. She shivered from the cold, shielding her face with a hoof, and she could hear Luna loosing a frightened wail behind her. With adrenaline now flooding her veins, Celestia lowered her hoof to try and get a better look at their unknown assailant.

There, in the darkness, she saw two glowing blue eyes glaring back at her. Thin wisps of ghostly blue light leaked out of them, and Celestia thought she could see the air around whatever those eyes belonged to sparkling and shimmering as if this creature’s presence on its own was enough to turn the air to frost.

“Tia, I’m scared!” Luna wailed, clinging tightly to Celestia. “Make it go away!”

Celestia grit her teeth, spreading her stance wide. She went to flare her wings, but they were pinned to her side by her coat. She took an anxious step back as the foreboding entity advanced on her. As it approached, more eyes appeared in the darkness behind it.

“Stay back!” she snapped, flaring her horn as brightly as she could in the hope that it would intimidate the creature into backing off. To her dismay, the attempt did nothing to deter it. If anything, it was amused and came at her faster.

Crying out, Celestia took a hold of Luna in her magic and ducked to one side as the creature lunged for them. It passed like a miniature blizzard. The once-clean stone floor beneath them was instantly turned to ice in its wake. Celestia grunted as she and Luna hit the floor, the light on her horn winking out. She didn’t bother turning to look at the thing attacking them. She simply lifted Luna in her magic and broke into a mad sprint out of the cave.

Three more of the monsters were waiting for her. Or at least, she thought it was three. She still couldn’t see their bodies through the raging blizzard and the dark of the night. All she could see were the eyes, but that was enough. Hyperventilating, she turned sharply to the left the moment she was out of the cave and ran as hard and as fast as her legs could carry her. More howls followed her as she ran, and it felt as if the snow itself was biting her hooves, trying to hold her in place with every step she took.

Realizing just how dark it was, she pumped more magic into her horn so she could see. Celestia yelped, barely swerving aside to avoid slamming face-first into a tree she had been sprinting toward. Unfortunately, she lost speed to avoid that collision, and her pursuers made good on the opening.

“CELESTIA!” Luna screamed as another gust of wind slammed into Celestia from her left, throwing her off her hooves. She gave a cry of pain as her back cracked against a tree. Stars and colors exploded across her vision as the air was driven from her lungs, and the light on her horn winked out.

She fell to the ground with a breathless wheeze, her face becoming buried in the snow. Her head was spinning, her lungs and her chest burned, and it was difficult to think through the ringing in her ears. She could just make out Luna’s voice nearby, crying out for her, and she forced herself to rise in response. Her sister needed her!

Celestia went rigid as she came face to face with one of the monsters chasing her. It resembled a pony, in some respects, but in others, it was utterly alien. Its features were lanky, more bestial, and savage than a pony’s. It was partially transparent, emitting a faint blue glow that shimmered in the air as if it were frosting it. Its mane flowed in an unfelt aetherial breeze, as did its lower body, leaving no hind legs to be seen. It was larger than Sprout had been, though not by much. Its eyes were the worst part, though. Those glaring, soulless, frozen eyes.

Celestia swallowed heavily, trembling in terror before the unknown entity. “W-what are you?” she stammered out, her eyes darting this way and that in search of a way out.

The ghost did not answer. Instead, it merely threw its head back and emitted its harrowing howl, sending a chill down Celestia’s spine. Whatever these things were, they had no interest in talking.

With a terrified whimper, Celestia ducked low and sprinted past the creature while its head was up, her eyes darting around frantically in search of Luna. She hadn’t made it two steps before something clamped down on her tail, though. Celestia’s eyes widened and her heart leaped into her throat as she was hauled off of her hooves and lifted high into the air.

She turned to see that the ghost had snapped its mouth around her tail and was now lifting her up in preparation to slam her down into the ground. Celestia’s heart skipped a beat as she looked down. In the dark of the night, she couldn’t see the ground. If it threw her down with even remotely near the force its winds carried, then…

Thinking fast, Celestia lit her horn and focused on her tail. With a cry of pain, she pushed as much power into her horn as she could. With a sound like ripping paper, she came free from the ghost as she severed her own tail, cutting its length effectively in half. She heard the ghost grunting in confusion, but she paid it no mind. The moment her hooves met the ground, she broke into another sprint, listening for Luna’s voice.

It took her a moment to spot her sister in the blizzard. One of the other ghosts was looming over her, pinning her to the ground on her back. She was kicking and struggling against it, once again screaming at the top of her lungs.

Celestia’s blood turned to fire, and fear turned to rage. Without a guttural scream of her own, her horn lit up and tore her jacket off of her body with a vicious shredding sound, allowing her wings to snap free and carry her forward.

“Get away from her!” she screamed, barreling into the ghost atop Luna with all the power her wings could muster. Its body was beyond freezing, and she gasped involuntarily from the contact, but thankfully, her tackle carried enough force to do the trick and the ghost was thrown off of Luna. It crashed into the ground a few feet away before quickly righting itself and lifting into the air with an angered hiss.

“Get up!” Celestia snapped, hauling Luna to her hooves. “Talk later! We need to run!”

She didn’t need to repeat herself. The ghosts howled around them again. With a cringe of effort, Celestia lit her horn and ripped Luna’s coat off of her as well, eliciting a startled squeak from her. She looked to Celestia with a question in her eyes.

“Fly!” Celestia commanded, already jumping into the air. She tugged Luna along behind her in her magic, and she felt her sister flapping to catch up a second later. The freezing wind slashed at their bodies as they rose, every flake like a razor blade against their skin. Being exposed to the cold like this was extremely dangerous, but right now they didn’t have many other options. They were helpless to escape those things while on the ground.

In a matter of seconds, they rose above the treeline. For a brief moment, Celestia smiled. They would be safe up here, she felt. Those things couldn’t fly up here to catch them… right?

A choir of infuriated howls killed that hope where it stood. Celestia looked back, the blood draining from her face as she saw all four of the ghosts rising to give chase.

Luna followed Celestia’s gaze and gave off a shrill scream when she saw that they weren’t safe. “How?!” she wailed, flying up to Celestia’s side fearfully. “They don’t have wings!”

Celestia grit her teeth and focused her eyes forward. “No idea! Just keep going! Don’t look back!”

It felt like forever the two foals spent flying through the snow and the dark, with the echoing howls of the ghosts following close at their hooves. Celestia’s wings slowly began to burn with every flap, and she had no idea where they were. It was impossible to see anything through the darkness aside from the occasional snowflake zipping by through their horns’ light. All they could do was fly and pray.

Another gust of wind suddenly came at the two from directly below. Celestia grunted as it punched into her gut like a thrown stone, jerking her into the air and sending her into a chaotic, spinning freefall. She heard Luna screaming in pain and fear, and briefly caught sight of her sister’s horn glowing not far away.

“LUNA!” Celestia screamed, forcing herself right in the air. She outstretched her hooves and shot after Luna as fast as she could. The howls of the ghosts were drawing closer to her right. They’d be on them in just a few seconds, she had to be quick!

“Gotcha!” she declared when she finally reached Luna, grabbing onto her little sister with her hooves. She flared out her wings to slow them down so they could return to their flight.

And then the trunk of a tree flashed into view from the light of her horn. Celestia’s eyes widened. They must have lost more altitude than she thought when they were following. She shouted in alarm and tried to adjust their course.

It wasn’t enough. They passed through the branches, breaking several from the force of the impact. Both she and Luna cried out in pain, clinging to one another for life as they spun wildly out of control, crashing through the branches of more and more trees. Frosted wood slapped and struck Celestia over and over as they fell, and she was powerless to stop it. She couldn’t even focus on her horn through the pain and confusion. All she could do was keep herself wrapped around Luna as much as possible, sheltering her little sister with her body.

Just before they were to reach the ground, one more tree stood directly in their path. They slammed into the trunk at high speed, and to Celestia’s horror, Luna had taken the brunt of the impact. A sickening crack reached Celestia’s ears, making her stomach churn.

The end of their chaotic descent was marked by them bouncing off of that trunk and crumpling into the snow below. Celestia gasped for breath, dazed. Her vision swam, and she knew she was covered in several cuts and scrapes. But she didn’t care about any of that right now.

“Luna…” she choked out in a breathless rasp, unsteadily rising to her hooves. She looked down to Luna, desperately hoping that she was okay.

Celestia’s stomach convulsed, and she had to fight to keep from retching at the sight of a gigantic bruise swelling up on the side of Luna’s barrel. Her eyes were wide open and unfocused, while her mouth was stretched wide in a silent scream. Celestia could see her chest rising and falling rapidly with a series of shallow, frantic, agonized gasps.

“Luna! Oh, no no no…” Celestia breathed as panic began setting in and taking over everything else. Her hooves hovered uselessly over her little sister’s battered form as she thought desperately of anything she could do for her. But there was nothing. She didn’t have any medical knowledge of any kind!

Luna’s breaths began to come with the beginnings of a voice. She was trying to scream, but she couldn’t. Celestia’s ears perked up at that, and then her blood froze as she heard the howling of the ghosts in the trees above them. She looked down at Luna and quickly reached down to cover her mouth.

“Luna, no, don’t scream!” she whispered as Luna’s cries grew louder and louder. “Don’t scream! They’ll find us!”

Luna screwed her eyes shut, tears rolling down her cheeks as she fought in vain to keep the screams in. But as her voice came back to her, it was clear she couldn’t stop herself. She began to whimper and cry out, each one gaining volume that was barely muffled by Celestia’s pressing hooves.

Celestia’s ears perked up as something snapped overhead. Alarmed, she looked up and brightened the light of her horn for just a moment. Her ears drooped when she saw the steadily growing cloud of snow falling down at them from the branches above.

“Dangit!” she whispered, quickly covering Luna with her body and spreading her wings. The snow fell over them a second later, burying them in the cold, and the world went dark.

Rise and Shine

by Skijarama

XI - Haunted and Hunted