//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6- More than just a title- Part 1 
// Story: The Last Rays Of The Sun 
// by DougtheLoremaster 
//------------------------------//

The rest of the night was uneventful. Twilight met dozens of dignitaries, most of which seemed amused and excited when told she was Luna’s heir. 
“Those are some big horseshoes to fill.”
“I fought alongside your mother during the Tartarus Incursion, you look just like she did; a bit smaller, though. A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Twilight.”
“Princess Luna’s child? I expect we can see you perform some amazing feats then, after all, she did the impossible back in her heyday.”
“I’ll never forget the time she befriended the Wendigos during the Blizzard felt around Equus.”
“A true honor, young heir.”
The week flew by rather rapidly, almost like a whirlwind of fun activities. Twilight spent time with her sister; the two held tea parties or colored together. During the late-night, both Twilight and Starlight found themselves being read to by Starburst as they ate cookies and drank fresh cider and fizzy juice.
The week had been so much fun, but in what felt like no time, Twilight found herself sitting before the golden throne of the Lunar Princess, staring once more into her mother’s unclouded eyes. Smiling down at her daughter, Princess Luna spoke softly to her.
“Mrs. Shimmer has requested your help, so for tonight, you are to assist her as she requires. Your lessons will resume tomorrow night. Off you go now.”

***

Moonglow Shimmer was snout deep in a thick book, with strange symbols electroplated in gold leaf on the cover and spine. Her eyes lit up as her keen hearing picked up the stifled hoofsteps of a small pony. Without raising her head, Moonglow addressed the intruder.
“There you are, young heir.”
“Aw, how did you know it was me?”
Moonglow turned away from her reading to look at the young Unicorn. Twilight, seeing her reading, had attempted to sneak up on her and surprise her. Chuckling, Moonglow’s horn glowed, pulling Twilight over to her and into a warm hug.
“Don’t feel too bad, Twilight; your sister used to try that all the time.”
Moonglow’s eyes sparkled with amusement as Twilight lowered her head in dismay.
“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll manage it one day.”
Looking hopeful, Twilight asked her.
“Did Starlight ever succeed?”
Gently nuzzling Twilight, Moonglow whispered softly.
“Not. Even. Once.”
“Darn.”
Slowly rising, in an oddly fluid motion, Moonglow gave a chuckle.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll relish the challenge like she once did. Now then, as to why I called for you. As you may have noticed, this is not the normal room in which we would meet.”
At once her horn glowed brightly, and the room’s torches ignited with an emerald flame revealing the massive room to be completely empty.
 “No, this is a special room, one I made just for you-”
Instantly rows upon rows of empty cherrywood bookshelves sprung up from nowhere.
“with empty shelves to be filled-”
Suddenly stacks upon stacks of books of all sizes and languages, from everywhere piled up in front of Twilight’s awestruck form.
 “And a story of its own to be penned-”
Gesturing to the wide expanse of empty shelves, the Royal Advisor stated with just a hint of pride.
“Every Princess forges her own tale, and that tale is conveyed by the rows in which her library keeps. What she values most, what she dreams of, all of it is told through how her books are organized. Millenia ago, your mother wrote her tale; what was, what is, and what would be, under my watchful eyes.”
Twilight watched in fascination, as Moonglow then gestured to the books, as they rose off the floor and swirled around her. There was evident joy in Moonglow’s voice as she exclaimed.
“Books of every subject, books of every origin, every language, many you’ve never known. Books from years-long forgotten, books from ages to be. Wisdom killed for, wisdom lost to time. Many legends have been written amidst the pages of these covers. Tonight you, young heir, will write your own legend amidst these shelves.”
Twilight picked up one of the books as they stacked before her.
“But Moonglow, I’m not a princess yet.”
The emerald flames in the wall torches glinted off the fangs of Moonglow, as she grinned at the comment.
“Neither was your mother when our kind first encountered her.”
“Wait, what...Your kind? The Crystal Ponies?”
“Did your mother ever tell you how we met?”
“No.”
Moonglow’s eyes shimmered with an odd light. Her next words seemed lost for a moment, as though an echo of the distant past.
“Would you like me to?”
Twilight froze as she stared into the eternally gentle gaze of the Royal Advisor as her eyes shone suddenly, with a fierce, chilling intensity. Her throat tightened, her mouth had gone dry. What is this?  All around her, a cold feeling filled the air and permeated every one of her bones. She wanted to know, to say yes, but try as she might, she couldn’t utter a single sound. Just like Starlight at the fairgrounds, all she could do was just give a timid nod.
The air grew unbearably cold, as snow began to form, swirling up from the ground. Like a raging, blindingly white whirlwind, the snow whirled around Twilight, taking away her breath as the temperature fell. Looking down, Twilight watched in shock as the ground slowly vanished; quickly being replaced by the roaring blizzard.
Unable to even utter a scream, Twilight frantically glanced at Moonglow, who had started glowing brightly. In complete disbelief, Twilight watched as the coal dust black faded away revealing an almost ethereal form beneath. 
A wispy, ghost-like mare stood before her, though her features were perfectly displayed. The horn of the Unicorn was no longer visible. Her eyes held no color, her body and mane, and tail as well, but her face showed that same gentle, fang-filled smile Twilight had known for ages.
As the majestic creature stood towering over her, Twilight happened to look around. The two were no longer in the library, but standing in a vast expanse of snow, with bone-chilling winds howling across the landscape. All around, ponies lay, encased in ice, ice that would never melt. Looking widely around, Twilight saw the horrified expressions forever frozen on the hapless faces of the unfortunates. As her teeth chattered uncontrollably, she somehow found her voice once more.
“Wh-where are we?”
In response, Moonglow silently pointed behind her, causing Twilight to whirl around and gasp. The massive form of the Two Sisters had been reduced to the balcony window barely jutting from the snowy hill they now stood on. It was then Moonglow began to speak, and as she spoke a scene appeared and played out to her narration of events.
“Not where, but when. It was just a dozen or so years after Discord’s defeat when we, the Wendigos, were summoned to your world by an outbreak of strife and dissonance. With Discord dethroned, a power vacuum had begun. and with Princess Luna, the one who destroyed him with the full weight of the moon, refusing to take the throne, the many species of Equus were vying for the right. 
War broke out amidst the once-proud wavers of the Everfree Banner. Anger, hatred, sadness; our daily bread, beckoned us and so we decided to feast-”
Twilight watched as, amidst the frozen victims, two creatures appeared, shivering and shaking, yet standing against the biting cold, staring up at the sky; hopeless desperation in their eyes.
“And feast, we did.”

***

“Y-you really think this will work?”
The speaker, a dragon of medium build, bundled the ragged cloak about him. His breathing was labored and his flame breath barely a sputter. The cold was unbearable, and he could feel his veins turning to ice as he spoke. At this rate, it wouldn’t be much longer till the ice creeping up his leg, would encase him like the others.
“I haven’t the f-foggiest, Darg.”
The Alicorn mare that stood beside him wore no garment having draped it around her dragon companion. On her hide, the visible sight of frostbite forming on the surface could be seen. Her teeth were chattering, and she struggled to keep her hoofing. Still, she refused to just lie down in the snow, despite how every fiber of her being was demanding it. With the last vestiges of her strength, she took a deep breath and let loose everything she had. The roar of sound thundered across the landscape.
“Listen. To. Me!”
The sheer shockwave generated shattered the ice encasing ponies throughout the barren expanse. Most incredible, however, was how the spectral creatures circling above took notice and stopped in their tracks. 
“Please, I beg of you, tell me. Why must we die? What is it you want from us?”
High above, the creatures stared down at her. Looking at the others, and seemingly being urged on by them, one of the nightmarish creatures majestically descended towards the mare. It was inconceivable, it was impossible, but Luna’s pleas of desperation had reached the ears of the Wendigos.
“Why have you disrupted our feast?”
“Y-your feast?”
Luna was completely nonplussed as the mare before she gestured at the landscape. Her words were sinister, almost maliciously gleeful.
“Hatred. greed. wrath and envy, deceit and deception, look around you, never has such a delicious banquet been so prepared. That is why we are here, to enjoy the meal you so graciously prepared, Alicorn.”
“I prepared?”
Once more gesturing at the snowy landscape, the Windigo spoke, her voice like the roaring blizzard that encompassed the landscape; unrelentingly cold.
“Can you not see it? The delicious pain and suffering, the nightmarish agony? It swirls around you and calls to us. Such an outpouring of emotion to even where surely you ponies can see it. It covers the landscape and devours any in its wake. Never before has such a tempting banquet been placed before us.”
“Swirling arou-”
Luna froze mid-sentence. Wait, what did she just say? The shock of realization washed over her, and her body no longer felt the biting cold.
“You didn’t cause this storm?”
The mare stared incredulously at Luna.
“We did no such thing. This is not our doing. We just followed the scent of food. You ponies created this perfect storm. You brought winter’s wrath upon yourselves. Not us, Alicorn.”
“But-”
Luna stared hopelessly at the wasteland of snow; the once terrifying forest of the Everfree, crushed by the tons of magical snow and ice. All around, the ice climbed and crept over the newly freed ponies, as they set about yelling at each other, freezing them solid once more.
“What caused it?”

***

Moonglow paused in her narrative, causing the scene to freeze momentarily. Twilight looked over at her only to see her eyes soften, if only momentarily as she mused.
“My mother was never one for warmth or understanding. Perhaps it was pity, or perhaps she truly did care, nocreature really knows. Even though I was but a filly, I recall much of that moment, but neither I nor my sister ever truly grasped what overtook our mother. Mayhaps she saw something, others had missed. Whatever the case-”

***

The Windigo mare stared silently at Luna for a moment before sniffing at the air and licking the fallen snow. Her voice, still as harsh on the ears and just as brutal as the Northern Winds.
“This scent and taste are of one origin.”
Luna blinked; stunned by the comment.
“What do you mean?”
Scuffing her hoof, and looking uncomfortable as though the very idea of answering any of her questions made her sick, the mare responded.
“Both the scent in the air, and the materialized emotion all around us, came from the same source. A single argument, get it? Ugh...stupid Alicorn.”
“You don’t like Alicorns?”
“I don’t like you.”
“Me? I don't even know you! What did I do?”
The eyes of the mare narrowed in fury.
“Oh yes, the once 15-year-old Alicorn who led the heroic charge of the For Everfree army, what could such a little filly possibly have done to the Wendigos?”
The wind picked up and swirled violently around the two, separating them from the sight of others. Harsh and cold, the wind tore around the two, and yet was nowhere near as painful as the Wendigo’s tone.
“Well, child, let me tell you. Look up. Those are my children-”
Looking up, Luna saw the forms of two tiny Wendigos, watching the two below them, little tears in the eyes of one. The other, slightly larger than the first, meanwhile gently nuzzled the little one as though comforting it.
“They are the last remaining Wendigos of a tribe of 30, all because of you and your cowardice.”
“Cowardice, how dare-”
The mare caused Luna to close her mouth immediately, by stamping her cloven hooves in rage. Her eyes were as frigid as the Arctic Waters of Equus and pierced Luna's very soul like a steel dagger.
“No. Now is not the time for you to talk, Alicorn. You will listen, or you will perish. Now hold thee tongue and open thy ears. You might learn something, little filly."