//------------------------------// // Poking Around // Story: Agate's Vigil // by Wingnut //------------------------------// Agate opened her eyes, looking around. All was quiet and dark. As usual, no animal or pony disturbed her little clearing. Briefly, her thoughts went to Earthsong and the lessons they were going to have today. Immediately though, she remembered that she was told to take a day off to clear her head. "What do do, what to do..." Instead of stepping out of her little totem home like she usually did in the mornings, she stayed inside, letting her thoughts wander, considering her options. "I could go for a stroll outside the village. Not like I'd be in any danger. But I haven't even explored Snowpitt properly yet... Have I?" Raking through her memory, she tried to make a mental map of the village from the places she'd been to. Street, street, the ceremonial grounds with the large firepit, more streets - if they could be called that - the area with the workshops where they built her totem, the street with the longhouse that Glacier Glider stayed in... "I think I've only poked around the... Southern part of the village. I guess Snowpitt is bigger than I thought. I should go see where that "Great Hall" is, see what else I can find." She closed her totem-eyes and stretched, opening her real eyes a moment later. The process was effortless now, no different than stepping out of a door from her home. Giving the clearing one last look to make sure there were no ponies coming to visit her that morning, she set off northwards at a lazy pace. It looked like Gnarled Root was correct. No matter how long she slept, she had no trouble waking up quite early in the morning. Glancing at the moon, she silently made her way along Snowpitt's snowy streets. She was the only one out, the others likely still asleep or doing something inside their homes. She took a twisting route towards the village center, going down streets she hadn't gone through before. While she could always feel the pull of her totem pole for easy navigation, Agate still wanted to get to know the place better. Trotting around, she took in the sights, stopping by some more interesting-looking buildings now and then. She was slightly tempted to use her ghostly abilities and stick her head through the walls to take a peek inside, but that was likely an extremely rude thing to do. She certainly couldn't cause any damage or steal anything, but it would still be a pretty bad invasion of privacy. Turning away from one building that had some really elaborate carvings around the doors, the filly continued on her meandering path towards the ceremonial grounds. Turning here and there, she eventually made her way to the ceremonial grounds. The place where it all began... Not quite accurate, but that was where True Sight first brought her before the rest of the snowponies. Thinking about that night, she compared her memories to the current situation. The changes were minor. The crystals around the huge firepit had been gathered up, and the layer of snow was a bit thinner. Earthsong assured her that they did in fact have a proper summer, when the snow actually melted, with long days and warm evenings, and all the other things summers had. Agate had to admit that she was just a tiny bit skeptical, with how much snow there still was everywhere. Still, a few of the pines and firs were growing fresh buds, so it did look like the seasons were changing. Circling around the central firepit, she scanned the streets that led north. Something niggled at her, something that she felt was missing. It took her a few minutes to puzzle it out, until it clicked. "Street signs! I guess they don't really name their streets... Though since they don't build roads, I guess they don't even have actual streets. Huh. " Shrugging, she picked one at random. This part of the town seemed to hold more residential buildings, far as she could tell. After a few random turns and going through several streets, she saw something in her peripheral vision. Turning her head, she saw what had to be the Great Hall. "Whoa." It appeared that her previous assessment of the snowponies was somewhat wrong. They did know how to build things more than a story high. The building was still far smaller than the Spire, but that was true of pretty much every pony-made structure. The Spire was huge. There were some houses between her and the Hall, so she started walking parallel to it while looking for an opening. Not many details were visible from this angle, but Agate could already tell that it was an important location for the locals. The roof was decorated with wooden figurines, and something hung off the edges on lengths of thin rope. Finding a path towards the building, she saw it in full. It looked around three stories high, by her rough estimation. The shape reminded her a lot of the longhouses she saw before, but bigger, and more elaborate. The beams making up the walls were huge, ancient forest giants felled and brought all the way here. She didn't know the first thing about building with wood instead of crystals, but it still looked like it took a rather impressive amount of skill. Her ear turned as there was a soft clacking sound, accompanied by a low musical whistle. Looking for the source of the noise, she found what the ropes were for. A number of windchimes hung off the edges of the roof, providing a pleasant background noise in the Hall's surroundings. Something else glinted around the roof. Squinting her eyes, she took a step backwards, but whatever it was failed to resolve itself. She noticed lines of similar glints going downwards towards the ground, and approached closer to investigate. On inspection, they turned out to be runes, the magical symbols the snowponies were proficient with. It was harder to see them than the ones on her totem pole, but after a while of scanning the walls, she saw that a large portion of the building was covered in them. "That must have taken months... If not longer. Much longer, probably. Wonder what they're for..." It was obviously magic of some kind. Thinking back to her conversation with Earthsong, she recalled the mare mentioning "protective wards" that helped defend the village. If that's what those were, then clearly they cared very much about protecting the Great Hall. Or perhaps it was more like a castle, a large fortified place to fall back to in case of danger. She filed it under "things to ask someone later." Circling around the structure, she found the doors. They were big, thick double doors, made of similar wooden beams as the building, and likewise covered in runes almost everywhere. The only spots not warded were the paintings of two rearing ponies, their hooves touching where the doors met. The leftward pony looked like a regular snowpony with an eggshell coat and brown mane, but the one on the right caught Agate's eye. The pony's coat was green, with a bright golden mane - very unusual colors for the snowponies. Another thing to ask about later. She stood there for some time, wondering where to go next. The doors were closed, and she didn't want to try barging in, especially with all the wards covering the building. Who knew, maybe you needed a special permission from their chieftain or something to that effect to enter. She'd see the inside tomorrow, anyway. Turning around, Agate scanned the area. There was a patch of empty land around the Hall, with houses continuing in all directions. Nothing terribly interesting presented itself, so after a bit more pondering, she decided to simply keep going north and see just how big Snowpitt actually was. Her journey went by uneventfully, the few groups of ponies she passed on the streets only giving her polite nods and some curious looks as she passed by. It was almost like being back in the Empire, going for a trot to meet her classmates. Until she remembered that she was a spirit, which made her smile a bit as she imagined the way crystal ponies would react if they saw her walking through the streets. There'd be far more than curious looks, and likely some screaming involved, too. A lot of screaming, probably. The snowponies, however, really didn't find anything strange about dead ponies trotting around their village. She took a zig-zagging path, to cover more ground and possibly see more interesting landmarks. The novelty of examining wooden buildings was starting to wear off, though, and there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy along the way, with one small exception. In one intersection, she found what looked like a totem pole, which made her examine it more closely. There was no carving of a pony's face on it though, only more glyphs and runes cut into the surface, with a set of windchimes hanging off a hook. In the corner of her eye, she saw a pony passing by, carrying a basket in her mouth. She stopped, then turned back to approach Agate instead. She turned towards the newcomer with some curiosity. It was the first new pony to approach her in quite a while. Putting down the basket, the pony addressed Agate, glancing at the windchimes. "Is everything alright, el- um, spirit? Is something wrong with the wards?" The filly wasn't that much older than Agate, just barely a teenager. "Oh, uh, no? I mean, I don't think so. I wouldn't know, honestly. This is nothing like the things back home where I'm from. I was just curious, since I didn't see anything like it before. Those are protective wards, right? Are they yours?" The teen looked stumped for a moment, before shaking her head to clear her thoughts. "Yes, that's what my mother told me. I don't know much about them myself. I'm not a shamare, so no, I didn't make them. I'm just a regular snowpony, so you'd be better off asking an elder about them if you want to know more." "That's not... Nevermind. Don't mind me, I'm just exploring the village and the pole caught my eye. I'm sure it's working fine. Don't let me hold you up." "Oh, it's alright," she brushed it off. "My parents always told me that the spirits should be shown respect, since they are old and wise and stay on to pass on important knowledge to others. I was just surprised to hear a spirit actually not knowing something and asking questions. I forgot that you're not from the three tribes. You're that traveler spirit from somewhere far away, right?" "Yes, far across the southern mountains," Agate nodded. "I'd tell you more, but I've been told that pretty much all of Snowpitt wants to hear what it's like where I'm from, so there's going to be a big gathering in the Great Hall tomorrow morning. Come listen, if you want to." The teenaged filly's eyes lit up. "Oh, that sounds great! I haven't heard about that yet, I'll have to tell my parents. We only came back from our fishing trip late yesterday evening. It was my first one! I even caught some fish, and Mom let me clean them all by myself!" She exclaimed proudly, gesturing towards the basket. Bemused, Agate glanced inside. There were indeed several small fish inside, with their heads and scales removed. These ponies and their fish-eating ways continued to confound her. "Congratulations? Being able to feed yourself is a vital skill as a grownup, my dad told me. I suppose you're on your way to being one." "Yes! Thank you, wise spirit!" The teen was clearly so happy at the praise she forgot Agate wasn't terribly wise yet, or that Agate was actually younger than her. "I guess I should get home. I'll make sure to come to the meeting tomorrow." Picking up her basket, she waved to Agate before trotting off. Waving back, she watched as the teen took a turn and went inside a house nearby. Turning her head back towards the streets, she tried to remember which way she came and where to go next. "Eenie, meenie... This one." The next several streets were likewise unremarkable, except she saw a couple more of the carved protective poles. Warding poles? She didn't recall seeing any in the southern half of the village. Probably not a direction the ponies expected monsters or whatever they were supposed to repel to come from. Eventually, she made it all the way to the edge of the village. The sight was... Exotic and bland at the same time, a bit scary and also exciting. It was a rather flat expanse of snow, sparkling brightly in the light of the now fully-risen sun. The Empire was ringed by mountains on every side, and no matter where you looked, your gaze would land on the tall mountain peaks blocking the horizon. During her journey here, she had to make her way through the mountains as well. This plain, however, stretched on into the distance as far as the eye could see, and she could indeed see quite far in the cold, clear air. Vast and seemingly endless, the only landmarks were the few trees and bushes dotting the landscape. It was probably strange to be fascinated by a bunch of flat land, but Agate couldn't help herself. It was just so different to what she was used to. She looked behind herself just to make sure she was still in Snowpitt. Seeing the houses, the Great Hall, and the mountains in the distance drove it in further just how strange the open plain was. In the Empire, no matter how lost you got venturing out of the city, you could always find your way back just by looking at the Spire. It was impossible to miss, really. Looking forward again, it looked like you could get unbelievably lost in the plains, though. The few shrubs and rocks really didn't look distinctive enough that you could navigate your way by them at all. Carefully, almost fearfully, she stuck her right foreleg forward. Agate knew that she couldn't get truly lost either, now that she had her own little light-house. Her totem's pull would guide her back to Snowpitt even with her eyes closed, but it was still a new experience for her. Taking one last glance backwards, she took a step on the pristine snow. She was only planning to go on a short walk until the Sun started going down, but it still felt big and exciting. The horizon stretched on into the distance so far, it was impossible to tell where the land ended and the sky began. Another step, then another, a trot, a canter, then a full gallop. Agate laughed, faintly feeling the wind on her coat as her mane flopped about. Normally, she would never do something as irresponsible and careless as leaving the town limits on a wild gallop into the wilderness, but as the other spirits told her, there was no real danger to her any more. A lot of the previous rules from life became irrelevant. The gallop was certainly working wonders in regards to her task of "clearing her head", as Earthsong told her to do. She didn't even realize just how badly frustrated she was getting after cramming the snowpony tongue for weeks without any breaks whatsoever. She'd never hated school, but there, she at least had the weekends off. It also brought back memories of her journey through the mountains, though the experience itself was completely reversed. Her mad dash through the darkness was unpleasant, her only goal at the time being the desperate need to find the source of the mysterious orange fireflies in the distance, the only visible thing around. Now, she was able to see leagues away, the glittering snow and the blue sky blurring in the distance. It made her feel... Alive again. Not getting winded still messed with her perception of time, however. Fortunately, she was able to see the Sun now, watching it slowly descend from it's apex towards the west. When it was around halfway towards the horizon, Agate stopped, closing her eyes and turning around. She never tried to feel out her totem from this far yet, but distance didn't seem to be an issue at all. Much like the crystal path she saw from the mountain, the totem glowed in the darkness even with her eyes closed, even if it looked like a tiny line from where she was standing. Opening her eyes again, she tried to tell her position without the aid of the totem. Just as she suspected, the open plain didn't offer any clues as to where she ended up. The mountain range in the south was easily visible, and there was a smudge against the horizon that was probably Snowpitt. The fact that she didn't leave any visible tracks in the snow didn't help either. "Those other tribes must be very, very good at telling where they're going to find their way home again when they leave Snowpitt..." Shrugging, she set off back towards the village. The snowponies demonstrated all sorts of interesting and amazing skills, and the ability to find their way around very well wouldn't have been the strangest, or the most impressive one. "Maybe they are able to see their homes from far away, like I see my totem. Or maybe they can tell which way north is without a compass. Or maybe - Hello." There was something directly ahead of her that was breaking up the pristine tundra plains. At first glance, it looked like a large boulder jutting out of the ground, but as she approached, she noticed that it was actually a whole pile of smaller rocks, stacked and arranged very neatly to form a pillar taller than she was. There were no markings or writing of any kind on them, but one side bulged out slightly in one direction, with a flat rock sticking outwards. "Huh. Like a road sign... Neat." Nothing was visible in the direction the rock was pointing to, which likely meant that it was quite some distance away. She turned back towards Snowpitt again, satisfied at having puzzled out the mysteries of tundra navigation by herself. After some more galloping across the snow, Agate noticed that she was getting close to the village, but it definitely wasn't the same spot that she left from. The buildings she was approaching were made of... Ice? "Every time I think I have them figured out, they surprise me with something new without fail... How the heck do you live in a house made of ice without freezing?!" These ponies were crazy. Seriously, did the cold not bother them at all? And these were definitely houses, as she confirmed the fact by examining one inside out. Strangely dome-shaped, but houses nonetheless. She recalled her apprehension of barging into someone's home, but this one had a chunk of the wall missing, so she assumed it was abandoned. It even had a firepit of some kind carved into the floor! That explained how they dealt with the cold, but then, how did the house keep from melting?! On closer inspection, most of the icy buildings seemed to be in poor condition, with partially melted patches and sagging walls. She cocked her ears, listening for any sounds of habitation. All was quiet, without so much as a whisper anywhere around. This part of the village seemed abandoned, for whatever reason. Maybe because the houses started to melt in spring? She took to examining the rest of the structures. They were indeed empty, both of ponies or any kind of personal effects. Unlike the wooden buildings that often had at least some personal touches added to them, all of the ice houses were rather plain. Or the ponies that lived there just cleaned up after themselves very well when they left. Save for a few sooty spots on the frozen floors, there wasn't a trace left of what they did or how they lived inside the strange homes. Shaking her head and adding yet more things to her "weird stuff to ask about later" mental list, Agate made her way towards the wooden buildings she could see in the distance. She was going over the things she was going to talk about tomorrow idly, keeping an eye on the icehouses as she passed them by. Before she reached the divide between the wooden and ice buildings, something odd caught her eye. She couldn't see it before through the buildings, but a large chunk of the field was covered in the black of ash and coal. Instead of the pristine white of the snow, it turned into a slushy black mess as the ash made the snow melt much faster, making a depression that reached the earth. There were a few melting piles of ice in there too, likely some of the ice structures suffering the same fate as well. Tilting her head curiously, she hopped down to take a closer look. Most of the snow was gone, exposing the dirt underneath. She could actually see tiny stalks of dry plants poking through the ashes in a few places. Glad that she couldn't get dirty anymore, she approached one of the half-melted piles of ice. Judging by the size, it used to be one of the icehouses. "So they're melting them on purpose?" It kind of made sense and it didn't at the same time. Shaking her head and trying not to speculate, (because any guesses would likely end up being wrong, anyway) Agate tried to find her way again. Being low to the ground made it hard to see above the tall snow layer, so she trotted to the closest edge and tried to climb up, only to get a bucket of ashes dumped in her face. Naturally, they just went right through her, though she still jumped back in reflex. "Gah!" "Huh? Someone there?" A young voice sounded out. A moment later, a gray colt's head poked over the edge, looking at Agate with confusion through his long black mane. "Sorry, did I get you dirty? No, wait, you're a spirit. Spirits can't get dirty. Um, can I help you? What were you doing down there?" "Just trying to get up. I was exploring and came across this place. The ice houses looked really interesting, so I decided to poke around a bit, then I found this place." "Ice houses? Oh, you mean the igloos. That's what the northerners call them," he explained while putting the bucket upright. "They're all gone back to their territories though, so we don't need them any more. They're fun to play around in before they melt, though." Igloos. Another word to memorize. "So that's why they're all abandoned. Thanks." Agate got closer to the edge again, only to get another bucket of ashes emptied all over her. She didn't jump this time, just looking upwards with a flat look as the black dust settled around her. "Wasn't me!" The colt defended himself with a grin. Another face poked over the edge, a filly this time. She shared the colt's ashen coloration, only with lighter shades. "Sorry, uh... Oh, I heard about you. You're the traveler spirit. What are you doing down there?" Shaking her head, Agate clambered out of the hole before anyone else decided to dump more ashes there. The colt took up explaining the situation. "She said she was playing around in the igloos and got curious about this. Maybe her tribe doesn't use ashes for fertilizer? Or maybe she's just not from a family of growers." "I'm not," Agate replied, having managed to climb over the lip and onto the snow. "A grower, that is. We call ponies like that farmers. And I don't know what they use for fertilizer back home. My family used to make jewelry." At the two's blank looks, she grimaced. "Sorry, that's a word from my tribe. Umm, amulets. Bangles, bracelets and other things. So, this is a field for food? Is it okay for the northern ponies to build their houses all over it?" "Oh yes," the foals both nodded enthusiastically. "It's great, actually! They leave lots of gifts throughout the winter. The plants grow like mad afterwards." Agate blinked. "Gifts?" "Oh, you know," the colt replied. "Fish skeletons, scales, other bits. They bring lots of dried fish from their ocean, throw the uneaten bits into holes in the snow, and we bury them in the ground when the earth thaws out. My dad told me how our ancestors noticed a long time ago that plants really, really liked fish, almost as much as ponies. They also like other stuff, like ashes. Makes them grow huge and tasty." "And poop," the other filly added, making the colt snort. "The northerners leave plenty of that too, which also makes plants happy." Agate wrinkled her nose. "Ew. That must smell." The filly shook her head. "Actually, it doesn't. Almost nothing has a smell when it's frozen. The adults dig some trenches in the ground in autumn, and the northerners build their outhouses over them. We just bury the trenches before they start to stink." "Oh. That's lucky. So, you two are far- er, growers?" Both of the foals stood up straight, puffing out their chests in pride. "Yup!" The colt exclaimed. "It's a rare skill. Most ponies go foraging and just have tiny gardens, but there's a group of families that tends to the fields around Snowpitt. We're not so great at wilderness stuff, but we grow enough food to feed half the village by ourselves." "That's pretty impressive. My people are a lot like that. We grow all the food ourselves. Only time we go out to gather things is for special herbs, I think," Agate mused. "So you're just fertilizing the field even if it's still snowed over? I don't think ponies back home did that." "Not entirely," the filly replied. "It's to help the earth wake up faster. Ashes attract warmth from the sun, and melt the snow. Summers are short, and the sooner the earth warms up, the better. Just one of the many tricks discovered by our ancestors. Also, it's easier to just melt the igloos instead of breaking them to pieces. They'd take too long otherwise." Agate was impressed by all the ways the snowponies found to survive and thrive in the north. They might have been crazy weird ways, but at the same time, they were obviously working. "Thanks for telling me all of this. I can't do much with the knowledge any more, but it's still very interesting to learn new things." The two beamed at Agate. "It's an honor, wise spirit!" Agate smiled weakly, folding her ears. It looked like "wise" was the standard honorific that was given to spirits. She was probably going to be called that a lot, even though she was the one learning from the ponies. "You don't have to call me that. I think I'm barely older than you. Actually, you might be my age," Agate said, pointing at the filly. "My name's Agate, by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself sooner." "I'm Autumn Ash, and this is my brother, Cindertail. And, ah, we knew your name already. My parents were curious to learn more about you, and they talked to other ponies. They'll be a little disappointed to find out you're not a grower, but I'm sure they'll still want to know everything." Glancing behind him, the colt reached for his empty bucket. "Speaking of parents, we should probably go home. We only went out to empty the buckets. If we take any longer, they'll probably think something happened to us." The filly looked like she wanted to stay longer, but after a moment of chewing on her lip she nodded, smiling weakly at Agate. "Yeah, we should run home before they come looking for us. We can meet up some other time, yes?" She asked, picking up the handle of her bucket in her mouth. "Oh, sure. I was really busy learning how to speak your tongue so far, but I think I should have some free time now. Come... I don't know, come visit my totem someday, if you find the time? We'll figure it out." Waving goodbye, the two galloped off. Agate checked the sky. The sun was low, almost gone beyond the horizon. Closing her eyes, she found her totem's glow in the darkness again. It was time to go home. ❅ ❆ ❅ The trip back to her clearing took Agate through unfamiliar paths, but it was uneventful. Much like during her morning trek, the streets were largely empty. Making it back to her clearing, she assumed the now-familiar position of lying on her back, gazing at the stars. She decided to sort out her thoughts a little and actually think about the things she was going to tell the ponies tomorrow, just so she didn't forget any important parts. Sombra's sudden appearance, hiding in the city, skulking through the city, their attempt to get away, her panicked flight... The trek to the mountains, the climb, the terrifying sight of the twisted Empire... In her reminiscing, she completely forgot about her deal with the other spirits residing in Snowpitt. She didn't notice them until Spear Throw appeared in her field of vision. Blinking, she rolled over to get back on all fours. Gnarled Root was with him, standing a little behind the stallion. "That looked like some intense stargazing, young Agate. Are we interrupting something important?" The mare asked. "No, it's fine. I was thinking about what I was going to tell tomorrow, making sure I don't forget anything. My memory's pretty good, though. I think." "Well. It's still a pretty important event for you, I imagine. Being presented to the entire tribe like that would make anyone nervous. If you want to skip our meeting tonight, we could go. We don't mind, I think," she said, glancing at Spear Throw. The stallion nodded silently. Agate stood there for a minute, weighing her options. "It's fine. I saw a bunch of things today that I wanted to ask about. Maybe we can just keep it short tonight." The two adults nodded, sitting down. Agate followed suit, trying to pick something from her mental list. Eventually, she decided to just go with the first one. "I went for a walk today, all over the village. I found the Great Hall. It looked like a lot of ponies had to work on it to build something like that. Is there a story behind it?" This time, Spear Throw was the first to speak, a tiny hint of excitement on his face. "Not much of a story. It can be summed up very quickly, though it did indeed take a lot of time and effort. This was a great work by ponies like me, the protectors and the fighters. My ancestors worked on it as well, and the story is passed down through the generations. It was, let me remember... Some hundred and twenty winters ago, I believe. Now, I'm sure you remember the first stories you were told. About how hard the beginning times were for the snowponies, and how many lost their lives to all sorts of things. Hunger was a great enemy, but as it was defeated over the years, other things became bigger priorities. As rare as it was, some beasts still managed to find their way inside the village boundaries from time to time. The fact that Snowpitt was growing constantly and the boundaries kept changing didn't help much. One cold winter, the village was beset by a massive horde of wolves. There were hundreds of them, and they harassed us for days. They managed to completely encircle the village, and the ponies on the outskirts were trapped in their homes. They later told everyone that the beasts scratched and gnawed on their doors, howling day and night. Some even tried to burrow underneath the walls to get in! The shamares and the guardian spirits tried to scare them away, but with so many of them, the ones that were forced to run would get turned around by the wolves waiting further out. We fought them, of course. The hunters all took up what weapons they had and got to work luring them off in small groups, picking them off one by one. The shamares chased the packs away from from the homes, leading the families trapped inside deeper into the village. The wolves dragged some of us away, but overall, the losses were really small, considering how bad the situation looked at first. For three days we fought, finally managing to break them on the fourth. They fled back to the forests, and though we still had to deal with the wolves when going out to forage for a while afterwards, Snowpitt was secured. We counted our losses, paid our respects to the dead, and went to fix up the damage. Interestingly, it turned out that the greatest danger was not the wolves, but the lack of safe shelter. Everyone took in as many ponies as they could into their homes, but since it was winter, the entirety of the three tribes were here. Ponies already tend to take a few guests in during the Gathering, and there was no space anymore. A large number were forced to sleep outside. Everyone in Snowpitt donated their firewood and blankets, but with the cold winter and the access to the forest blocked, the wood was running out too fast. A day or two more, and hundreds would have frozen to death. The chieftain saw this as a failure on his part, and set out to rectify that. He called the best craftsponies and builders, and ordered them to create a building so vast and strong, that even a pack of floewolves couldn't chew through it, and where hundreds of ponies could take shelter inside. There was no one singular, big hero of this story. All the ponies of Snowpitt got to work immediately, embarrassed as they were for failing to provide safe shelter for the visiting tribes. They did not blame us, of course, and offered their aid. The thickest trees were sought out, with the biggest sleds built to drag them back to the village. The shamares whispered their blessings all throughout the construction. It took over a year of sweat, hard work and hard thinking about just how to best make it work, but in the end, they managed. Finally, we stood before it. The Great Hall, it was named. It was large, warm, and secure, everything we set out to do. Obviously, not everyone could fit inside, but it still had room for hundreds of ponies, if they all huddled down. The next Gathering, all of the leaders from the tribes were invited in, followed by many others. In time, it became known better as a spot to gather and talk rather than just someplace to run to when you're in danger, but everyone still knows it as the safest place in Snowpitt, if anything bad were to happen." Agate sat there silently, committing the story to memory. Thinking about the Hall, something flashed in her mind's eye - the door. Specifically, the interesting design on it. "The Hall, when I saw it - there was an interesting painting on the doors. Two ponies rearing up, and the one on the right had a green coat. Such coats are not uncommon among my people, but I haven't seen any green-coated snowponies yet. Do you know what it means?" "Hmmm. Now that's a tough one." Gnarled Root, who had remained silent during the entire story, spoke up this time. "That is supposed to be a very important pony in our history. Some even call her the first snowpony, the one that taught the others how to survive and live in the cold. Others say she was a powerful spirit of the forests that decided to take pity on our ancestors, her green coat a mark of her true nature. However, she is so ancient, there are no stories about her that anyone is able to remember. Just about the only thing that we know for sure is her name : Flower of the Sun." "I see... Well, I suppose I got my story for the evening. I'll see you tomorrow eve- morning, then?" "Wouldn't miss it," Gnarled Root confirmed, getting up. "My family will certainly come along," Spear Throw added, rising to his hooves. "I might spend the day with them. Don't wait on me." Nodding and waving goodbye, Agate laid down on her back again, letting her mind drift. "Tomorrow's the big day..." Eventually, she got up, moving towards her totem. Best to get some actual rest.