The unicorn tribe marched across the frigid wasteland. Opposite them, the pegasus tribe marched, and flew above the icy field.
Above them, was Clover the Clever who was tied to a wooden post that was planted atop a floating cloud, high up where nopony besides pegasi could reach. Clover was brought before their fellow unicorns by the pegasi, to prove that they meant business.
Finally, the tribes were close enough when they halted in place, and stared each other down with intense animosity.
"Commander Hurricane! I will give you one last chance to surrender, and relinquish Clover the Clever over to our tribe! If you do, we might spare you, and call off our army." Princess Platinum said.
"Spare us?! HA! You think we need to be spared from you!" Commander Hurricane mocked.
"I didn't want it to come to this, but I'll be honest, I am tired of you unicorns abusing your magic, and taking resources from us! You already had your chance, but for failing to heed our needs back at the meeting, this is your final warning before I unleash my angry side!" Private Pansy exclaimed.
"I ask you again, promise to NEVER use your magic again, and we'll surrender your lackey to you!" Commander Hurricane said.
"But how would we unicorns survive without magic?" Platinum asked.
"I don't know. We seem to have survived just fine without it. But if you want pointers, ask the earthponies. They've survived all this time, in spite of there being nothing special about them!" Hurricane said.
As the two tribes shouted, seemingly right on cue, they had noticed that the earthpony tribe just arrived onto the scene.
"Speaking of, here come the earth ponies!" Pansy teased.
"Late to the party as usual!" Platinum exclaimed. "You're just here following in our hoofsteps because you have no original ideas of your own!"
"Nuh-UH! We totally came up with the idea to use brute force on our own!" Chancellor Puddinghead exclaimed.
"Brute force to gain what? What more do you need?! You already ate half of all the food!" Hurricane said.
"That's because we MAKE the food! If you want your own food, make your own!" Puddinghead said.
"We would, if these pegasi would clear up the sky and be rid of these clouds!" Platinum said.
As the tribes argued, the snow storm grew far more fierce. But nopony seemed to pay mind of it besides Clover, who grew increasingly weary.
"For the last time, this storm isn't us! We haven't been able to be rid of these powerful clouds! Why don't you unicorns stop it with your super powers?!" Commander Hurricane mocked.
"We told you, unicorn magic DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY! We can't just think of what to do, and have it happen!" Platinum exclaimed.
"I don't care who clears these clouds, somepony just do it, we're fresh out of food!" Smart Cookie shouted.
The pegasus and unicorn tribe leaders all gasped. The Earthponies didn't even have any food to claim.
"Way to spill the beans. Not that we had any beans anyway..." Chancellor Puddinghead said.
"Are we here to shout? Or are we here to fight?!" Private Pansy exclaimed.
"I believe a fight is still in order, because I don't see any of you surrendering yet!" Hurricane said.
"I'd rather freeze over in this mysterious storm before ever giving in to your horrifying orders!" Platinum said.
A snowball hit Platinum right in the face. It was from Private Pansy!
"I'm tired of words! I want action!!" Private Pansy roared.
"Woah. You go, girl." Hurricane said. "You heard her, every pegasus! Attack!"
The pegasus army flew forward.
"Attack too!" Princess Platinum exclaimed.
The unicorn army charged forward, magic poised and ready.
"Attack three!" Puddinghead exclaimed.
And finally, the earthpony tribe galloped into battle.
They all charged forward, and their tribes collided head to head, and hooves started to by thrown.
Clover the Clever watched the battle from their cloud post, in utter shock. They still couldn't believe things were going this badly.
Princess Platinum wasn't normally a fighter. But with her father ill in the castle, and all with the unicorn's future at risk, she was willing to put herself on the line. She felt that her tribe had been wronged by the other two for far too long, and so she was willing to give it her all to protect her tribe.
Commander Hurricane went head on fighting Princess Platinum's top soldiers.
Pegasus soldiers flew just high enough that they were too high for earthponies to reach. They teased, and blew raspberries to spite them. Some earthponies climbed on top of one another, and formed stacks of ponies, which unfortunately made them very easy to tip over.
A unicorn used her magic on a flying pegasus, and brought them crashing down into the snow.
Clover the Clever watched the battle from their cloud prison in utter horror. Seeing the tribes all fight this vigorously was the opposite of how this day was supposed to go. But then suddenly, they heard the weeping and crying of somepony. They looked and saw a weeping pegasus filly.
"Cozy Glow? What are you doing here? And why are you crying?" Clover asked.
*sniff* "Oh. I just feel so terrible for ruining Hearth's Warming." Cozy said, with a stuffed up face.
"Is that so?" Clover asked, skeptical. "Did you have a hoof in any of this?"
"Sure, I wanted everpony to fight, but after seeing how ugly all this fighting is, I wish I could take it all back." Cozy said, weeping. "If only we there were still a way to light the Hearth's Warming flame."
As the tribes continued to fight, the storm above them grew more powerful. The wind speed ramped up, and the temperatures dropped even lower. And that's when things really started to turn bitter.
The Windigos roared, and flew about above the fight scene. Their eyes glowed, and they targeted the ponies down below. They used their magic on the poor ponies below, and ponies literally started to outright freeze in place. Frozen solid.
Everypony was exhausted. Those who weren't outright frozen hardly had the strength to stand up.
"Cozy Glow, help!" Clover exclaimed.
Cozy tapped her face with her hoof while she thought of what to do next. And then she made up her mind.
"Hmm. Nah." Cozy said.
"What?!" Clover exclaimed.
"I have everypony right where I want them." Cozy said. "This was all part of the plan after all! Let the tribes fight among themselves, and let them crush their own spirts. And from the ashes of their hate, their savior will rise!"
Clover gasped. They were in partial disbelief as to what Cozy was saying.
Ponies continued to either drop in exhaustion, or outright freeze in place. There was hardly any more fighting. Just suffering.
"In fact, with ponies dropping like horseflies, perhaps it's time I took action after all." Cozy said.
Cozy Glow flew down, to see everypony eye to eye.
"Everypony, listen!" she exclaimed.
"Your tribes have made a grave error! Fighting amongst yourselves is what's fueling the Windigos' chill! The only way to save your loved ones, and the rest of you, is to join hoof to heart, and unite against the Windigos'!" Cozy said.
"WHAT!" Clover exclaimed.
Cozy's speech was met with a soft chatter among the crowd of still surviving ponies.
"How do we know we can trust you?" Smart Cookie asked.
"I can answer that. You CAN'T!" Clover exclaimed.
Clover's eyes started to glow... nay, it's about ripe time I stop calling this pony by their false name. They freed themselves from their captivity, and ditched their robe, revealing underneath a pair of purple wings. It is time to refer to them as-
"Twilight Sparkle?!" Cozy exclaimed. "What are YOU doing here!?"
Twilight Sparkle flew down and spoke.
"I could ask the same to you, but since you asked first, I may as well explain." she said. "It's actually quite a simple explanation. Every year for Hearth's Warming, I use a spell to travel back in time, disguise myself as Clover the Clever, and with my special magic, ensure that the Hearth's Warming always comes to fruition. Though this year has been quite different, and I think I know why now."
Twilight's explanation was a lot to take in, but Cozy's immediate reaction was that of rage.
"THAT'S! NOT! POSSIBLE!!!" she exclaimed. "IF YOU'RE FROM A TIME IN THE FUTURE WHERE HEARTH'S WARMING HAPPENED IN YOUR PAST, THEN WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO INTO THE PAST TO MAKE SURE THAT HEARTH'S WARMING HAPPENS?!"
"It's complicated. I don't have time to explain every little detail now." Twilight said. "Now stand aside! Since you're the one who broke everypony's bond, allow me to fix it!" Twilight exclaimed.
Twilight showed off her wings, and her horn started to glow. She was going to attempt to unify the tribes. Cozy panicked and thought of ways to thwart Twilight's takeover, and that's when she came up with a quick but dirty plan.
"Wait!" Cozy exclaimed. "Uh... Everypony, look! It's an alicorn!"
Everypony looked up at Twilight, and saw her alicorn attributes.
All of the tribe members gasped at seeing Twilight's wings.
"What is that?"
"Does she...?"
"If unicorns and pegasi are enemies of earthponies, and each of you are enemies with one another, does that make alicorns a common enemy to all of you!" Cozy shouted.
"What?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Indeed. Pegesus tribe, how does it feel to see a flying unicorn? The one thing that makes you special, and she has it, plus a well of magic!" Cozy said to Commander Hurricane, and his army.
"And earthponies, how does it feel that she gets everything, while you get NOTHING?!"
"Cozy, stop this!" Twilight scolded.
"And Princess Platinum, pray tell, if that is the pony who claims to be Clover the Clever, then where is your Clover the Clever?"
Princess Platinum gasped upon this realization. "Imposter!" she shouted.
"NO! I swear, Clover is fine, see, he-"
Twilight spoke, but she was outspoken by the final part of Cozy's speech.
"Sure, there's just one of her. But who's to say that there aren't more of them on the way right now? You think unicorns are snooty, imagine a tribe of alicorns! Are you going to let a group of alicorns move in, and disrupt each and everyone of you?!"
"NO!" everypony shouted.
"If pegasus ponies control the weather, but the pegasi aren't controlling this storm, then this wacky unicorn pegasus is probably controlling this storm!" Cozy said.
"What?! Wait! No! I'm not-AH!!" Twilight was befuddled by what was going on. But before she could make her case, the tribes made up their minds, much to Cozy's pleasure.
Ponies threw ropes at Twilight, and tangled her up, and brought her crashing down.
They tied her up, and plopped her onto the dirty snow. Cozy walked up slowly ,basking in her victory.
"You can't do this, Cozy!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Why not, Twilight?" Cozy asked.
"Because, the tribes are supposed to find peace together! You're the one who made the tribes fight in the first place!" Twilight exclaimed.
The few ponies that were unfrozen scratched their heads.
"She is?" Chancellor Puddinghead asked.
"We're fighting because we're low on food, and can't agree on how to share it." Private Pansy said.
"No! You've all been manipulated by her lies! This is exactly what she wants! You can't follow her!" Twilight said.
"Lies? So the earthponies aren't hoarding a bunch of food?" Hurricane asked.
"I admit it. We're out of food too." Puddinghead said.
"Then, you all... uh... um..." Twilight bit her lips, and struggled to think of what to say next.
"See, Twilight. I may have planted the seed, but it never would've grown if the ponies themselves didn't have the hate to fuel the fire." Cozy said. "The drive to fight, and the urge for war, it was in them all this time."
"No..." Twilight said, in a worried tone.
"Face it, Twilight. Discourse is inevitable. If friendship was so strong, then why do you have to go back in time to keep it in check? This Hearth's Warming is going to be a little different with me unifying the tribes together in order to vanquish the Windigos." Cozy said.
"No... no! That's not possible! You're a-a-a. Ugh! You just want to lead the tribes in order to control them!" Twilight shouted.
"What makes your way of leading any more right than my way?" Cozy asked. "Why can't I unify and lead a group of ponies, but you can, Twilight?"
"Because, because... AH!!"
Twilight had just about enough of Cozy's antics. Now she was serious. Twilight's eyes and cutie mark glowed. Everypony stepped back when Twilight glowed up. She used her magic to disintegrate the ropes that bound her, and she broke free.
"I refuse to let you do this!" Twilight exclaimed, in a loud impending voice.
"She's escaped!"
"She's going to zap us all!"
The crowd shrieked in horror.
"NO! SHE'S BAD!" Twilight exclaimed. "She's bad, and she's the real reason why you're fighting! I know because I've seen the first Hearth's Warming play out before! Without her, there is friendship! Without her, there is warmth! Without her, Equestria can prosper!"
Twilight’s words irked Cozy Glow. Watching Twilight project herself onto everypony.
"She's no harbinger of friendship! She just wants you all to be her subjects. This is just a means to an end, and nothing more!!!"
Everypony gasped, and was surprised by Twilight's overbearing speech.
"Is this so?" Smart Cookie whispered to the Chancellor.
Cozy Glow could hear the doubtful chatter chilling through the air. (In fact, Twilight's rant seemed to chill the air on its own.) It was too late. Her reign as their Empress was short lived.
*Grr* Every time I'm about to get the upper hoof! Doesn't matter when or where I am! Twilight Sparkle always thwarts me! she screamed in her mind.
"You okay, kid?" Commander Hurricane asked.
"I swear, I'm gonna... I'm gonna..." and that's when Cozy remembered something that cheered her up.
"I'm no match for you." Cozy admitted. "Twilight. Go ahead. Prove to me that friendship really is strong. Show me that it has the ability to vanquish the Windigos." She said this sentence with an alarmingly calm demeanor.
Cozy Glow trotted off in a joyous gate. A very sudden shift in mood, it was very strange. But there wasn't any time to worry about that right now.
"So wait, both of you claim to wanna help?" Private Pansy asked.
"So why were ya fighting? So who do we listen to?" Smart Cookie asked.
"Please everypony, we must join together. It is tradition, or rather, it will be tradition. I know you have your disagreements, but it's that needless bickering that's been fueling this awful storm. Trust me, when we join together, that is what will bring the warmth that can extinguish the Windigos."
Twilight extended her hoof, but she was met with a cold and quiet reception. Her claims were a stretch, and many of the ponies were still skeptical about this powerful stranger. Finally, Private Pansy broke the silence.
"Hey, has anypony else noticed that the wind has stopped?" she said.
"The wind has stopped?" Twilight asked.
But soon after everypony noticed the calm weather, the storm immediately picked back up. The Windigos returned, and more ponies were frozen by their chilly spell. They froze Commander Hurricane, and Chancellor Puddinghead immediately on the spot.
"Private Pansy! Smart Cookie!" Twilight called out.
"Us?" Pansy asked.
Twilight ran to the two of them.
"We have to join hooves!" Twilight said.
"But, we barely know you." Smart Cookie said.
"Excuse me, but who are you, and what have you done with Clover the Clever?" Princess Platinum asked.
"I'll explain everything later. But for now, please, let us join together. Put aside the differences between our tribes, and ignite the Hearth's Warming flame, and defeat the Windigos and drive out this storm!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I don't know what is with you and your weird stories, but it's ripe time you-AHH!" Princess Platinum's hotheadedness was cooled when the Windigos froze her in ice. Twilight knew it was now or never to bring Hearth's Warming.
Smart Cookie and Pansy looked at one another, and then at Twilight. They were unsure of her proposal, but it she promised a powerful flame that could thaw the whole land, it was worth a shot.
From the top of a ridge, Cozy Glow slouched against a stone wall, and watched Twilight attempt to make friends in such a short amount of allotted time. Fortunately she still had the protection gem, so in theory she would be fine, should the rest of them freeze.
"Go ahead and try, Twilight." Cozy said to herself. She pulled out the time traveler's blaster device from her mane, and aimed it at Twilight.
"Little do you know you've walked into a lose lose scenario. Fail to light the flame, and you shall freeze. But should you succeed *giggle* you want the heat? I'll bring the heat."
You wouldn't scorch ol Twilight, would ya? said a little voice in Cozy's head.
"Hmm, nah, I wouldn't. That's too mean." Cozy admitted. She jostled a lever on the blaster, setting it from fire to electricity. "But I would give her a little jolt." she grinned.
Twilight stood close to Smart Cookie and Pansy. She held their hooves, and focused, attempting to light the Flame of Friendship.
Cozy watched, and then she noticed something magical. Twilight's horn began to start the flame. It looked as though it was almost going to work. The flame started small, but Twilight's special alicorn magic fueled the flame.
And then finally, in a burst of light, the flame ignited. The Flame of Friendship was lit.
Twilight fired the flame of friendship up into the sky. The Windigos retaliated by gathering in formation, and firing a beam of ice at Twilight Sparkle's flame.
The ice and the flame collided, and fought for power.
Cozy watched the sight from above, with the protection of her weather gem. She witnessed Twilight try with all her power to light the flame and burn the Windigos. She was determined. Giving up was NOT on her agenda. This surprised even Cozy. So much so, she hesitated herself from taking down Twilight, just because she wanted to see how far she'd get. And the answer was... not much farther.
After giving it her absolute all...
...it wasn't enough.
The Windigos and their ice overtook Twilight's flame, much to her horror and shock, but it was too late to do anything about it. Twilight froze into ice, along with Private Pansy, Smart Cookie, and with that, the last of the ponies were frozen over by the Windigos.
And that was that. Cozy Glow overlooked the field. And absolutely everypony was frozen over. Hearth's Warming was over. It was over before it even started.
"YEAH! Woo! Hearth's Warming warmth has been-" She lit a match in celebration. A gust of wind blew by, and extinguished the match. "-frozen over." she concluded.
"And now to... huh. Now what?"
Cozy Glow should've been excited to have won, but the excitement quickly blew over when she realized that there was nopony left to follow her.
Cozy Glow looked out at all of the frozen ponies. In a way, she succeeded in her plan. She was the last surviving pony in Equestria. Anything and everything was hers for the taking. Yet something didn't feel quite right.
She realized that the idea of ruling over a bunch of ice sculptures would've been no fun at all. But that was all she had left.
The plan was to just have some ponies frozen, but then lead the remainder of them to a warm future, but since everypony had been frozen, there was no warming glow of leadership led by herself like she envisioned. And not to mention, watching ponies freeze in place, reminded her of the eternity she spent frozen in stone.
There seem to be any way to unfreeze anypony. Aside from-
"Okay, I'm bored."
Cozy Glow held up the weapon and used the flamethrower setting to torch the Twilight sculpture, but somehow the whirring flame did absolutely nothing.
"What the?! Damn useless future technology." she growled, and tossed the weapon away.
She shook her head and tried to convince herself that everything was just peachy.
*Pfft* "What do they matter? None of them did you any favors. The pegasi betrayed me, and took my ideas. Twilight never actually helped me. Except she did save you from freezing to death in the cold but... that doesn't make up for leaving in me stone until the end of time!" she ranted. "This should've been a more victorious victory. So what's missing?"
Cozy hung her head, and tried to put a different positive spin on things.
*sigh* "It would've been worth it to see them all bow down to me. But I suppose frozen ice statues will do." Cozy said to herself. "Look at how miserable and helpless they are. Carried away by their hatred for one another. The last thing they ever felt before being frozen over was a hate-filled bickering towards their rival tribes."
But even this was not of total satisfaction, because there was still the matter of Twilight Sparkle.
Cozy Glow looked at Twilight, who had a determined face underneath all that ice. Even though the odds were stacked against her, she never gave up, up until the bitter cold end. The opposite of Cozy's defeat, where her face was frozen in a distressed state for eternity, and this bothered her. Because even though Cozy was the one who survived the Windigos, Twilight appeared as though she was the stronger pony regardless. This fact angered Cozy. It angered her so much, she began to shout at Twilight.
*Errgh* "I hate you, Twilight Sparkle! And ruined so many of my plans! You left me in stone for eternity, but then I thought I had this era all to myself! I was going to lead everypony out of the frost, and put myself in the history books! But somehow YOU still showed up! You took my idea from me, and you didn't even succeed anyway! So now nopony has anypony!"
As Cozy ranted and raved, her hooves started to feel chilly.
"Huh? What the?"
She looked down at her own hooves, and noticed they were frozen. The Windigo spell was starting to claim her as well.
"What? But how? I thought I had-"
She looked at herself, but noticed her protective gem was gone! Somehow she must've dropped it at some point.
Cozy looked up at the Windigos, and realized that she was their focus. She seemed to be the last pony around, and her hate-filled shouting at Twilight Sparkle made her their prime target.
"No. No no no no no!" Cozy cried. "It's not like that. I-I-I-I didn't mean- *Ugh* Okay, Twilight Sparkle! I... don't hate you... that much? For what it's worth, you sure showed me how powerful magic could be! Heh heh heh..."
But it wasn't enough. She was still freezing over.
She tried to resist the Windigos, but ultimately, she realized she was out of options. She closed her eyes, and thought about her new fate. From one frozen state, to another.
She closed her eyes, and let the Windigos freeze her. Unlike before where she cowered in fear, and nearly cried as she was being frozen, this time, she braced for it, and accepted her fate as the ice crept up, and engulfed her...
...
But right before the ice made it to her eyes, it stopped.
"Huh?"
And then the ice slowly started to recede, freeing Cozy from an icy prison.
Cozy looked around, curious, wondering what could've made the ice cease it's control. And the only thing she saw was, somehow not too surprising.
She saw those two fillies again. The pegasus and the unicorn somehow weren't frozen like everypony else. She looked at them, perplexed.
"Did you two save me?" she asked.
The unicorn held up Cozy's protective gem. It seemed that they used it to unfreeze Cozy. She handed it back to her.
"Really?! You two had it! Did you two steal it from me?!" Cozy exclaimed.
The fillies nodded no.
"Oh, so I misplaced it." Cozy said, calmly.
They nodded yes.
"You're giving this back to me? But you'll need it to survive the Windigo spell. Without it, you two will freeze." Cozy said.
Cozy Glow handed them the gem, but the fillies nodded no, and pushed the gem back to her.
"You insist that I hold onto it? Since it belongs to me?" Cozy asked.
The two fillies nodded affirmatively.
"You two don't speak much. Is it because you don't want to? Or because you can't?" Cozy asked.
The two looked at each other, unsure how to convey to Cozy what was on both of their minds.
Cozy was shocked at their generosity. And then she realized that if they weren't frozen in ice yet, it meant there was something very special about the two of them.
"You know, legend says that the Windigos can be vanquished by a powerful flame. One lit by the unification of a true friendship bond between one earth pony, one unicorn, and one pegasus. I'm of course a pegasus, as you can see, but so are you. And your friend is a unicorn which is progress, but there's no earthpony in your little group." Cozy said.
The two fillies looked down, sad.
"Oh..." Cozy said, realizing what their sad expression meant. "Well, we might not be much of an EUP ourselves. We're more of an... UPP?"
The two fillies giggled.
"What? You think what I said was funny? PP? Heh. Even you fillies from the past have a sense of humor? That's nice."
Cozy watched the two fillies giggle. She was surprisingly touched as she watched them laugh. In spite of every member of their tribes being frozen, and the vicious storm above them. The fact that they found reason to just laugh playfully at her unfunny joke truly surprised her in a pleasant way.
"Say, you two aren't so bad. I mean, I barely know you, but still. All I know is that you've been following me around since I got to this place, and my time as Twilight's friendship student taught me that ponies like you probably want to be my friend." Cozy said. "I don't want to see you freeze, so I guess the only way to prevent that from happening is..."
Cozy cleared her throat before her next question.
"Do you two want to be my friends?" she asked.
The two fillies happily nodded, without hesitation.
"Thanks. I don't think it's going to warm anything up, but it's the thought that counts." Cozy said.
Cozy Glow huddled with the two fillies while holding the protective gem, in hopes of protecting the two of them as well.
She would rather freeze with them than be the only living pony in a world of frozen sculptures. As they huddled, they felt each other's warmth, but they also felt the chill of the Windigo spell creeping up on them.
"I'm not sure if it's working. I think I'm out of options anyway. At this point, I'd rather freeze with you two, than be the only one in this world not frozen."
The three huddled closer together, and embraced each other for warmth. They were about to be completely frozen. But this is where the magic kicked in. A light began to emanate from Cozy's forehead, and her eyes started to glow, and then suddenly-
Cozy's mane burst into flames!
"WAH! My mane's on fire!" Cozy exclaimed.
But her two filly friends insisted that this was no ordinary flame. It was a magical colored flame. Cozy recognized what it was, and realized what was happening.
"Wait, this is the Hearth's Warming flame! B-but how? I'm not a unicorn! How is this..."
The two fillies smiled at her. They didn't appear surprised one bit by this anomaly.
The bright flame on Cozy's forehead irritated the Windigos, and made them more vicious, but this was Cozy's chance to make things right.
"Okay, flame. Uh... do your thing and burn out the Windigos?" Cozy said.
The Windigos roared at Cozy Glow, and rallied all together in front of her.
They all combined their forces, and charged a powerful ice spell.
"I don't like the look of this." Cozy said. "But with my friends by my side, I'm sure I'll be fine."
The Windigos fired a powerful ice spell at Cozy Glow and company.
Cozy's eyes turned white, and the flame of friendship ignited into a full burst of flame! Cozy Glow fired the flame from her forehead, and it collided with the Windigo's ice blast. Just as Twilight attempted earlier.
The flame was powerful, but just like before, the Windigos slowly built up an edge, and began to overtake the flame.
"It's not enough! Hug me closer" Cozy exclaimed.
The two fillies embraced Cozy Glow tighter. Their added friendship warmed Cozy's heart, and made her flame more powerful. But even with their added warmth, she was still evenly matched against the Windigos.
"It's still barely enough! I don't know if we're going to do it!" Cozy said.
Come on, Cozy Glow. You're so close. You can't let the Windigos freeze you over. There has to be a way to win. How are you gonna defeat the Windigos, Cozy? she thought in her head.
Cozy looked at the clouds behind the Windigos. She recalled what that time traveling pony had done earlier by focusing sunlight to power his time machine, and that's when she came up with an idea.
"I'm gonna defeat the Windigos by doing what I do best. Cheating!" she exclaimed.
"Unicorn! Know anything about parabolic lenses?" Cozy asked.
The unicorn paused for a moment, but then nodded affirmatively.
"Excellent! When I pierce the cloud layer, I want you to focus the sun's rays on the Windigos." Cozy said. "I know it sounds wild, but I think it could work."
With some affirmative nods, their plan was aloft.
Cozy Glow fended off the Windigos, and at just the right moment, she fired a blast of fire at the clouds, which indeed punched through the cloud layer, and exposed the direct sunlight.
"NOW!"
The unicorn manipulated the air molecules high in the sky. She made it twirl around, and form a lens like shape, in order to focus the sunlight into a concentrated beam.
The intense sunlight pierced a single Windigo, and the great concentration of light caused it to immediately vaporize! The unicorn bent the air in order to aim the ray at the other Windigos, and vaporized each of them one by one.
With half of the Windigos vaporized their magic weakened, and Cozy's flame grew in power as it overtook the remainder of them.
"Okay, one final push!"
Cozy Glow gave one final thrust, and fired the remainder of the flame up and into the sky. It burst in the sky, and fell the remainder of the Windigos. The intense heat also pierced through the clouds, and cleared up the sky. For the first time in a long while, warmth and sunlight shined onto the land.
The snow started to melt, and ponies started to unfreeze. Indeed, as the sun bathed the landscape, ponies were freed from their icy prisons. Everypony looked at one another. They had no more fighting spirit left in them, and thus did not continue their fighting or arguing. Instead, they looked at one another, and questioned why they were even fighting in the first place.
Pegasus soldiers removed their helmets, the unicorns dissipated any magic aura surrounding their horns, and the earthponies had calmed down.
Seeing everpony unfreeze, and join hooves in harmony warmed Cozy Glow on the inside. She had actually done something meaningful and helped everypony.
Twilight Sparkle unfroze as well. Once she was free, she looked around the area for Cozy Glow. She quickly spotted her on the hill with her two filly friends. Seeing Cozy laugh playfully with two other foals put a warm smile on her face.
Twilight Sparkle flew up to where Cozy Glow and her friends were stationed.
"Cozy Glow?"
Cozy heard Twilight call her name, and was initially startled, but then a bit reserved upon seeing her.
"Did you have anything to do with this?" Twilight asked.
The two fillies smiled, and nodded affirmatively. The unicorn reenacted what had happened, and the pegasus imitated the flames shooting from Cozy's forehead.
"You lit the flame of friendship?" she asked.
"I did? Maybe. So what?!" Cozy hollered.
"You just demonstrated what friendship's power is truly about." Twilight said.
"Really?" Cozy asked.
Twilight nodded.
"Huh. Still, I have no idea how I, a pegasus, teamed up with another pegasus and a unicorn to light the flame of friendship." Cozy said.
Twilight too was puzzled by this conundrum. Seemed to defy everything she knew about the magic of friendship. But as for things she didn't know about friendship...
"You know, the whole EUP thing was... I mean I never attempted to disprove it, so I never confirmed that it was strictly required for it to be that way. It seems though the most important thing is that you believed in friendship." Twilight said. "Even if you didn't think you could, the fact you lit the flame of friendship suggests otherwise."
Cozy again looked down at all the happy ponies below.
"How does it feel?" Twilight asked.
"Helping other ponies, instead of lying and controlling them, feels a little better somehow." Cozy admitted. "Feels better than watching a bunch of pony ice sculptures.
"I was hoping you'd say that." Twilight said.
Twilight thanked Cozy for saving all of Equestria, by giving her a nice warm hug. Cozy was surprised, but chose to accept it. Her two friends joined in as well. Twilight was grateful that Cozy had somehow led, and brought the spirit of Hearth's Warming.
At the base of the field, Twilight flew down with Cozy Glow, and helped down her unicorn and pegasus friends.
"So, your friends got names?" Twilight asked.
"I'm sure they must. But they're mute, so I don't know what their names are." Cozy said.
The tribe leaders came forward to thank Cozy Glow.
"You know, kid. Following your battle strategy was about the worst decision I ever made." Commander Hurricane said.
"Finally you admit it." Private Pansy added.
"You're one to talk, with you and your sudden outbursts." Hurricane said under his breath.
"Did you say something, sir?" Twilight asked.
"So... *ahem* that's why I reckon you oughta stick to making friends." Hurricane said.
"We're the ones who brought about this storm by fueling it with all our bickering, and by the time we realized it, it was almost too late." Princess Platinum said.
"But word on the street is that you're the little chubby cheeks who saved each and every one of us." Chancellor Puddinghead said.
"And for that, we're forever grateful." Smart Cookie said.
Cozy blushed, as she was flattered by the tribe leaders.
"Now, what's this Heart Warming holiday you've been talking about all this time?" Princess Platinum asked.
Twilight looked at Cozy. "My friend here would love to tell you all about." she said.
Cozy Glow and Twilight waved goodbye to everypony. Twilight told the tribe members that they were both travelers from a far away land, and that it was time for them to go home.
Cozy's two filly friends were in good hooves under the wings of Private Pansy.
"So you're actually Cozy Glow, as in, from the future. How did you end up here?" Twilight asked.
"Well, as I said before, I was finally freed from stone, but I think it was too late, and everypony was gone. The only reason I made it here was because I stole a time machine from a mysterious time traveling pony, but I didn't know how to use it, and I ended up here instead of the time period I was aiming for."
"Fascinating. You really have been through a lot. In stone for eternity, and nearly froze here in the past." Twilight said.
"I think it was around here where he was frozen." Cozy said. "This is the place, but it seems he's already left."
"Well, luckily you have me, remember?" Twilight pulled out her scroll. On it, was the spell that sent her into the past, and it also had written on it how to send her back to her regular time period.
"Say, Twilight. From your perspective um... how do I phrase this? How long was I... was I even...?" Cozy tried to ask.
"From the year I'm from, you've been in stone for about three years. Are you ready to return to Equestria, and start your life anew?" Twilight asked.
"Well..."
Cozy Glow was still very anxious. But as she was thinking, a familiar face appeared and greeted the two of them.
"There you are, kid." said the time traveling pony.
"You're still here?" Cozy asked.
"Can't leave without my protective gem." he said.
"Oh, right." Cozy said.
Cozy gave him back his gem, but shrugged when he asked for his blaster back.
"So, kid, I've had about enough of this place. Ready to come with me and continue our investigation into the great extinction?" he asked. "Machine's all fixed, and I'm willing to keep you in check."
"Oh, so you'd rather go with him I see." Twilight said. "Wait, what's the great extinction?"
Cozy Glow weighed her options, and reached a conclusion.
Twilight smiled at Cozy, but then suddenly, she felt an impulse of emotions, and hugged her.
"Please take me with you, Twilight. I miss Equestria *sniff* I don't wanna miss it again. I promise, things are going to be different. Just take me back. I haven't seen it in so long." Cozy wept.
"You were really in stone up until the end of time?" Twilight asked.
Cozy nodded.
We really left her in stone forever, huh. But why? I wouldn't do that... would I? Twilight thought to herself.
"I think having the opportunity to start a new life, and actually be allowed to live my life does sound appealing." Cozy said.
"Then I think you've more than done your time." Twilight said, with a warm smile.
Cozy Glow embraced Twilight tighter, and Twilight hugged back.
"So uh, I take it you found somepony to take you in after all?" the traveler asked.
"Mmm hmm!" Cozy said.
"You know, I'm not too far removed from society to have forgotten what compassion is." he said.
"We won't inconvenience you any longer, sir. Cozy's in good care with me." Twilight said. "Good luck on your search."
"And good luck with whatever you got going on at home." he said. "It's been nice knowing ya, kid."
The time traveler went inside his time capsule, and Twilight and Cozy Glow watched it light up, and quickly vanish into the air. And they never did get his name...
"So, are we good, Twilight? I promise to be good." Cozy said.
"You know, normally it'd be hard to take what you say at face value. But after an amazing display of friendship like that, I think I can take your word." Twilight said. "Ready to see what Equestria's been up to for the past three years?"
Cozy nodded, and put on an affirmative face, assuring Twilight that she was ready.
"I hope we don't cause any time paradoxes by having me from the super far future travel back in time." Cozy said.
"We'll dance around that when the time comes." Twilight winked.
Cozy Glow and Twilight both let out a healthy laugh.
Twilight pulled out a scroll, and used it to cast a spell that sent them back to their proper time in Equestria.
In spite of the chaotic events brought upon by Cozy Glow, Hearth's Warming Eve was established just the way it was meant to. Plus, Cozy Glow found friendship in unlikely places. With her friends from the past, and with the pony who used to be her rival, was now her friend looking out for her. And hopefully it would remain that way. For all time.
The End? Not quite yet...