A long time ago...
Flurry Heart's eyes shot open, and she heard the distant howls that she had become so accustomed to every night for weeks on end. Quickly sitting up in bed, she looked around and found herself in her bedroom. Getting her bearings, she quickly realized that the premonitions had never placed her in her bedroom, and her blood went cold as she removed the blanket and got out of bed, going over to her window, and opened it, getting a blast of cold air, and peered up to see the three apocalyptic spirits circling overhead.
She peered down at the piece of parchment she had sealed in the surface of her desk as she pulled the window shut and locked it.
They were out of time.
Bolting out of her bedroom door out into the hallway at a full gallop, she turned towards the stairway headed down, praying that Luna and Spike were ready. She turned to the winding staircase headed down to the second floor, and nearly collided with Spike, who had just finished sprinting up them.
"Flurry! Good, you're up. We're ready, and we're out of time," the dragon told her, his tone rushed but determined. He turned to run back down the stairs, with Flurry right behind him, the howls of the Windigos muffled through the walls, but still audible.
The dragon and the alicorn burst through the double doors into the Crystal Heart foyer, and Flurry skidded to a halt on the floor when she saw what had been done.
On the outer circumference of the chamber, the six ancient artifacts had been placed; the Helm of Yksler, the Crown of Grover, Knuckerbocker's Shell, the Cloak of Clover the Clever, the Talisman of Mirage, and the Amulet of Aurora were evenly spaced around a large glowing sphere of magic, in which Princess Luna was floating, appearing to be in a meditative trance. The Crystal Heart floated above the sphere, still slowly rotating and glowing.
"So what's the plan? Got a short version? Because I take it we're in a bit of a hurry," Flurry asked as they approached the sphere.
"Yeah, and you're not going to like it, but it can't matter. Cozy's ritual will sever Equestria from Aetherius, effectively cutting off all magic, but it will take a sacrifice," Spike explained.
"What?"
"Luna has volunteered, but unfortunately, there's more. With just one, the process would take several weeks, just like it did a century and a half ago. We clearly don't have that kind of time. That's why I'm joining her," the dragon declared.
"What do you mean by sacrifice?" Flurry asked incredulously.
"All I have to do is touch the sphere, and it will pull me in. After that it will be up to you and the Heart."
"Spike!"
The dragon turned to her with a look of determination, seeing her tremble.
"Flurry, you're not listening. There's no time, and we have both made up our minds. I'm really, very sorry we waited until now to tell you, but we were afraid of crippling your resolve. You said it yourself; it's either us, or everypony freezes to death. With that much life force in the sphere, the process will be accelerated enough to be almost instantaneous, but I'd count on the Windigos trying to put a stop to it."
Flurry, her legs already faltering, dropped to her knees, beginning to weep in front of her advisor.
"I... I can't... I can't do this," she cried softly, barely audible over the howling winds.
Spike stepped up to her, touching a claw to her chin and raising her gaze up from the floor.
"Yes you can," he told her matter-of-factly. "If there is something after this... If I see Twilight and the others after I cross over to whatever is next... I know I wouldn't be able to look any of them in the eyes if I didn't do absolutely everything I could to protect Equestria's future. And I know Luna feels the same way about possibly seeing her sister again. She's been waiting for centuries to truly redeem herself in her own eyes for what she did as Nightmare Moon."
Flurry sniffled, trying to blink away her tears.
"If what I read about Twilight's first students' first encounter with this ritual is true, once I step in there, there will be no communicating with us. It's all up to you. We'll take the magic, and you figure out whatever the Heart did in your premonition," Spike told her.
As Flurry took a deep breath, Spike leaned forward and pulled her into a hug, and she squeezed him tight.
"Goodbye, Princess Flurry Heart. I know you can do this, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see each other soon. But if you survive this somehow, please try to get south, and find your subjects."
Spike gave her a teary smile, then turned to the sphere of magic in the center. With a short run, a leap, and a single flap of his wings, he melded into the sphere, and came up next to the elderly Luna, where they nodded to each other, and then down to her.
Flurry took another deep breath, and then lit up her horn, grabbing the Crystal Heart with her magic.
The howling outside turned to angry growls. The spirits knew something was trying to stop them. Already, Flurry felt something ethereal begin to tug at her magic, trying to pull it away from her. She slowed her breathing, and closed her eyes, holding the Crystal Heart next to her.
"Long have you watched over and protected this city. With Amore, with Cadance, and with me. Your watch is up now, and it's time for you to spread that protection to all of Equestria. In a few moments, our magic will be gone, but still ponies will try to hurt each other in hate. We need to make sure that when they're ready to cast that hate aside, that there is something waiting for them. Placere. I cannot do this without you."
The Heart's glow intensified, as she felt her cutie marks also begin to glow and tingle. She heard the sphere behind her ebb.
Suddenly, she heard an enraged snarl directly in front of her. Her eyes shot open, pupils a fiery white, and her horn lit up even brighter as a protection spell encompassed herself, the sphere, and the artifacts, and a Windigo came galloping through the billowing curtains of the balcony, reared up, and began thrashing its front hooves against Flurry's shield.
She took a single step towards it.
"How does it feel? As an immortal world-ender, that you are about to be banished to oblivion? We misstep and falter, but everypony down there deserves a second chance. Everycreature deserves second chances. You may get us, but you will go no farther, do you hear me? Do you hear me?!? You will get nothing else!!!" She yelled as the ethereal creature screamed in defiance.
The Heart's glow still increased in intensity as Flurry felt her magic begin to weaken as the glow from the portal began to darken. She gritted her teeth, staring down the brilliant white eyes of the Windigo.
"Do you hear me?!? Do you understand?!? Nothing else!!! Nihil! Aliud!!!"
The Windigo's next strike was the straw that broke Flurry's weakening magic, and just as the shield was there one moment, it was gone the next, as her magic evaporated to nothing. The Windigo charged forward as her shield evaporated, joined almost immediately by the other two from the other two windows, all three of them colliding with her simultaneously, and she felt the icy grip of death begin to take her. But just as she was certain this was it, that they had failed, the three Windigos vanished, as quickly as her shield had. As she collapsed to the ground, her gaze rose up to the Heart, still floating there, as three smaller orbs rose out from its light, and shot out from the windows the Windigos had charged through, sparkling trails in their wake for a few moments. Try as she did to track them as they flew away from the castle, they faded to nothing as they broke through the unending storm outside.
With that, the Crystal Heart's glow died, and the gem, now dull and gray, fell to the floor with a dull thunk. Barely able to raise her head from where she had fallen, Flurry looked around the room. The magical sphere, Luna, Spike, and the artifacts were nowhere to be seen.
There she laid, wondering if her strength would return, if they had succeeded. There she laid with her Crystal Heart, continuing to hear the storm outside, as everything slowly began to go numb...