"Up in the north," I said, "they say you once killed windigoes. I need you to teach me how to do that too. So I can... save a friend who's counting on me."
Starlight blinked at me.
"Well, that sure is something to ask somepony you've just met," Applejack remarked.
"Windigoes?" Starlight tilted her head. "Ice monsters as old as time, feed on feelings of distrust between ponies, conjure blizzards and sometimes really like wedding cakes? Those windigoes?"
"They did the cake thing for you, too?" I asked, surprised.
Starlight relaxed. "Sorry. I thought you were... Never mind." She massaged her temple. "Sure, why don't I just teach you the secrets to ridding ponykind of a scourge that has endured for thousands of years? I can totally do that. Just got back from fighting them this morning, so I'm nice and fresh on what to do. How do you want to do this?"
Pinkie Pie snickered.
My brow creased. "Okay, I get that I scared you, and I'm sorry. And I know it's not exactly an everyday request. But I've been through a lot to get here. No need to make fun."
Pinkie guffawed. Even Starlight raised an eyebrow at me that was half-amused.
I felt my cheeks redden. "What?"
"Well, you see, darling..." Rarity started. "You've got a... funny sense of timing."
"Can't say I've ever seen a windigo for myself," Applejack said. "But the weather around the Crystal Empire is real magical, and kind of intelligent. And whether it was windigoes or something else, Starlight's not lying about the lot of us bashing our heads against it during the little incident this morning with the Crystalling."
"It was a group effort, though," Rarity added, tapping her forehooves and clearing her throat. "Everyone here, including all the townsponies, pitched in. Still, there's a certain irony to you making that specific request on today of all days."
I blinked. "That blizzard from this morning?"
"You were close enough to see it?" Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Good thing you weren't any closer. Anyway, irony aside, you know 'teach me to kill windigoes' isn't something you just walk up and ask someone as a serious question, right?"
"But you've done it before," I pressed. "At least, that's what the stories say."
Starlight's horn twinkled, and I felt a brief magical shimmer pass through me. "A Writ of Harmonic Sanction," she said. "You found one, and spent one, just to chase a musty old story."
"Is it really just a story?" My ears fell, daring her to agree. "I heard it from the ponies who knew you best. From-"
"Don't," Starlight interrupted, a strained look on her face. "If you want me to give you the time of day, don't mention anyone I used to know. Please."
I winced. "Sorry."
"Anyway." Starlight turned away from me. "I've got nothing to teach. Yes, I've met windigoes, which is more than most ponies can say. They're something you survive, not something you fight. Not unless you're cornered and have no other options. And even then, things that can hurt them are so rare, you'd need fate itself to drop one right into your hooves to even stand a chance. And if luck could be controlled or taught, I wouldn't be talking to you right now."
She looked at the crowd of partying ponies, once again crowded around the fountain and listening to Spike. "You said you're trying to save a friend. Singular. Are they possessed?"
I hesitated. Was this really happening? "Similar, but not quite. I've... seen others get possessed, though."
"Unfortunate," Starlight said. "I've only seen one windigo possession before, and I still don't understand what happened to resolve it. You might be able to get somewhere by talking to the windigo, but that's a recipe for insanity whether or not you succeed, and it might involve some bargains you don't want to make. But if you've really seen this multiple times already, I'd imagine you know that."
I swallowed and nodded. "It's... more than one. I'm not sure how many. What about killing them? You have done it before, right?"
"Multiples of them?" Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Then you're almost certainly screwed. Windigo strength grows with the presence of nearby windigoes. And when they get strong enough to use their powers directly, they usually skip the talking and go directly to freezing. If they haven't done that yet, you might have a chance, but you'd run the risk of upsetting whatever delicate balance is preventing them from doing so... which is probably why you want to kill them. Right." She sighed. "You're in too deep. This is all for the sake of a single pony, right? Have you considered just... walking away?"
I blanched.
"Probably not, then." Starlight turned to face me and took several steps forward. "Probably feels like an abhorrent idea when you've already got some experience with this and know there's at least a way to keep trying. But ponies die all the time. Friends break apart and stop seeing each other, and you meet new ponies to fill the void until the day you, too, eventually die. That's the natural cycle of the world. You can fight it, but you can't change it. Fighting it only ever ends when you choose to stop. Is this really the rock you want to break yourself against?"
Still, she was avoiding the question of how to kill them. But in the background, I saw Applejack and Rarity looking vaguely stunned and impressed.
"...Sorry." Starlight pulled herself back together with a deep breath, relaxed, and gave her friends a halfhearted smile. "Wasn't expecting to get pulled back to that place today."
"You know," Applejack pointed out, "Most folks, when asked how to kill a pack of windigoes, wouldn't be able to actually give a serious answer with a straight face."
"Not just a straight face, but one of the most serious I've ever seen," Rarity added. "That was... a bit of an experience to observe."
"I know, right? I caught it on camera," Pinkie stage-whispered to Rarity, holding a disposable camera.
Impressive, serious, yes, very impressive. "But you still didn't tell me how to kill them."
Starlight gave me a deadpan look. "I had already had an emotionally harrowing day before you showed up, am trying to enjoy a chance to relax at the end of it, and you aren't getting my hints that that maybe it's better not to spend your time thinking about how to kill ancient monsters, no matter how good your reasons may feel. If you want to press this, go enjoy yourself at the party and get some laughs in. Once it's over, make your case to Twilight, not me. And if she determines this is worth putting effort into and asks me herself, then I will give you the time of day again, hear more details about your situation and help brainstorm a serious strategy for getting to a solution you can live with. Final offer. Take it or leave it."
I sighed. Convince Princess Twilight? Right. Perfect. Good thing I had missed the train on that, and Twilight was now probably all the way in...
With a burst of lavender teleportation, Corsica appeared on the road leading into Freedom Town alongside Princess Twilight, Fluttershy, Braen, and three spell-dazzled polar bears. Twilight immediately doubled over panting.
"You alright, there?" Rainbow Dash asked, arriving in a rainbow-colored streak, having opted to fly to save on teleportations and apparently capable of matching Twilight's speed.
"Whew!" Twilight straightened up, wiping her brow. "If I'm ever looking for coursework ideas, remind me that teleporting polar bears around makes for an excellent endurance test. I'm hoping this is actually Snowport, and not just a hamlet halfway along the road?"
"This is Freedom Town," Braen explained sagely. "Slum on outskirts of Snowport. Many monsters live here. Much more easygoing than dragons of Snowport."
The street wasn't crowded, but a four-legged fish was touching up a display on a building in the distance, and a spherical frog was rolling from the entrance of one alley to another. Fluttershy was visibly entranced.
"I've never seen anything like this biodiversity before," she murmured when looked at.
"So, you think this is our town?" one of the polar bears asked, rubbing the back of his head. "Can't say it's doing anything for me one way or another."
"Me neither," another grunted. "Can't say it doesn't feel like home. But it doesn't feel like it either, you know?"
"This stinks," the third complained.
"I-I mean," Fluttershy started, snapping back into her focus. "I'm sure we can just ask some of the locals if they know you, right?"
"Don't want to dawdle too much," Corsica pointed out. "It would be pretty awkward if we came all this way looking for Celestia and then missed her because we got distracted. But I know a bar around here that would be a great place to ask. If the barkeep doesn't know you, no one would."
With a little help from Braen and no complaints from the group, Corsica led the way back to Fauntleroy's bar. It wasn't quite as packed as she remembered it, but was clearly gearing up for the evening rush, Fauntleroy standing in the back and quickly adding to an impressively large collection of polished glasses.
He looked up, clearly recognizing some of the newcomers. "Hey hey, good to see you again! Guess my humble establishment earned a thumbs-up?"
"Here for some networking," Corsica said, sauntering up to the bar. "Specifically on behalf of these guys." She threw a nod at the polar bears.
"That's what bars do best." Fauntleroy winked. "Aside from serving quality food and only the most vintage drinks. Mind if I ask what you're falling in with the syndicate for?"
When one polar bear opened their mouth to speak, Fauntleroy cut him off with a wave. "I know, I know. It's 'confidential'."
"So you do know us!" Another bear perked up. "I'd ask what a syndicate is, but probably should explain first..."
One by one, the bears described their situation to a progressively less jovial Fauntleroy. When they all finished, he sighed.
"That's messed up. That's not supposed to happen..." He held a paw to his forehead. "That's messed up. I'll... pass this up the chain to some friendly ears I know in the government. But yeah, I know who you are, I can get you back in contact with your old friends, uhh... hoo boy."
"Is there a precedent for this sort of stuff around here?" Rainbow asked, looking around. "Because you sound more surprised that it did happen instead of that it was able to happen at all."
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Fauntleroy turned his attention back to her. "The bar's kind of a regular crisis hotline. Comes with having an open door and all that. Definitely never had an incident with one of they-who-shall-not-be-named going rogue before, though. At least, not this rogue. And not recently. You know what, don't ask me why the church plays with fire, I'm just a barkeep... Can I get you something? Nice colors, by the way."
"Who's they-who-shall-not-be-named?" Twilight asked, stepping up. "And what do you mean about the church playing with fire? Does memory modification have a precedent around here?"
Fauntleroy raised a lazy eyebrow at her. "You're from far away, aren't you? Free advice to help fit in: I know being an alicorn feels flashy, and all, but it's kind of taboo to use as a disguise around here. Rubs the dragons the wrong way. And it's a dead giveaway, too. If you want to go overstated without crossing the line, take some pointers from your pretty friend, there." He nodded at Rainbow Dash.
"Disguise?" Twilight blinked. "I'm not-"
Corsica realized what Twilight didn't know, what Fauntleroy assumed and what Twilight was about to say just in time to come to her rescue. And then she thought about it, and decided that doing nothing would be far more gratifying.
"-wearing a disguise," Twilight finished. "The wings are real, see? I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship?"
Rainbow bit her lip.
"Yeah, sure you are, buddy." Fauntleroy nodded along. "I dig the method acting. Just don't come crying to me when you get caught, okay? Word on the street is there's something big going down and Equestria's attention might get focused here, and they don't have the greatest relationship with changelings."
Twilight's brow scrunched... but before she could speak, Rainbow shouldered her aside. "Anyway, you mind if we cut and run? These burly dudes will be safe in your care?" She pointed to the polar bears. "We've got an, uh, important thing to get out of the way of, involving national spotlights and stuff. Toodles!"
And then she dragged Twilight out of the bar.
Fauntleroy watched them go, and then glanced at Corsica. "She was the real deal, wasn't she?"
Corsica blinked. "If you could tell, why do that?"
Fauntleroy shrugged. "Because Equestrian alicorn princesses don't walk into dingy bars in Abyssinian towns flaunting themselves for all the world to see, and I'm the type that's nice enough to try to teach it gently. I don't know what she's doing out here if she didn't read the rules of the road first, and I'm sure there's a great story behind how you found yourselves in her entourage, but you should go do her - and the relationship between our countries - a big solid and get her into the dragons' fort by any means necessary. I've got this memory thing sorted, now go take care of yourselves."
Corsica slowly nodded. "You're a cool cat. I owe you one."
Fauntleroy winked. "Come back when you're finished so I can count it against your tab."
"Did he just mistake me for a changeling?" Twilight asked, out in the street once everyone had assembled, sans polar bears.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he mistook you for a changeling," Rainbow said, rubbing her head with a wing. "And maybe me, too. Does that mean changelings are common in this town? Have we just walked right into a big hive of them?" She glanced back at the open road. "And should we be getting out?"
"Actually," Fluttershy said, keeping her voice low, "I think he was trying to give you some advice. But maybe we shouldn't linger here."
Corsica glanced around at Freedom Town's buildings, slightly lopsided and with a disrespect for angles, built partially into the ground as the mountain slope began to rise. Its denizens had seemed mostly harmless when she came here with Halcyon... Mostly. But the polar bears had been doing something out by the train tracks, during an internationally sensitive time. And Twilight, as an Equestrian princess, probably would draw a lot more attention than two random mares from the north, especially when she and Halcyon hadn't been openly advertising their origins.
Right. It was... probably better to get out.
Fluttershy was the only member of the group who clearly wanted to stay and sightsee, but she was smart enough to read the room and also knew the mission, and before long everyone was at the gates to Snowport's central walled-off castle town, with only a few odd stares earned along the way.
The gates were guarded by dragons with uniforms. There was a very long line.
"Uhhh..." Rainbow frowned at it. "Think they'd be mad if we just flew over, or tried to teleport past?"
"Looks like city is still in lockdown," Braen remarked.
"I guess it makes sense that there could be security measures in place if Princess Celestia is visiting," Twilight said. "But surely they'll let us through, right? Unless..." She glanced back in the direction of Freedom Town, then turned to Corsica. "You said you just came from here, right? I need as much relevant information about what's going on here as possible. What was that guy talking about with the polar bears' memories, and with a church? And what's with there being changelings here, or the lockdown? I need everything relevant. This place is giving me a strong feeling we can't just walk up and start asking questions."
Corsica sighed, preparing a rapid-fire list of answers to questions an Equestrian alicorn princess really ought to have known herself. "Dragon church has memory magic that's usually a tightly-controlled state secret, changelings seem to be considered Abyssinians - that's the nationality of Freedom Town, back there - and the lockdown is probably still going on because Celestia is here, but it started because someone tried to steal weapons from a vault under the castle. Look..." She squared her shoulders at Twilight and took a breath. "I'm not saying you shouldn't know this stuff, but I jumped through a lot of hoops to figure it out, because everyone around these parts doesn't like sharing."
Twilight took all that in with a bothered expression. "And you're saying it's worrying that I need to ask these questions about a town in my own country."
"Oh, no." Corsica waved a hoof. "I was just looking forward to seeing you use your royal privilege to crash through this brick wall like a house of cards and make it look silly. And the looks on everyone's faces when you do. Don't you think getting all the answers from me is a little boring? You could just walk up to those guards, show them your princess certification, and blow their minds."
"Yes, like I totally blew the mind of that long cat back there," Twilight pointed out, sounding slightly exasperated. "Actually, I don't have a princess certification beyond the horn and the wings, and understandably that doesn't count in a changeling town, which I've never been to before. But even in other towns, royal privilege is a lot less useful than you would think it would be, at least for the kinds of problems I get called on to deal with."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Rainbow said, hovering upside-down. "I'm pretty famous too. We all are. But fame alone doesn't solve stuff that's worth solving. it can sometimes even be a liability, as crazy as it sounds... like if you need to go under cover. Which, I'm getting the feeling would be nice here."
"The point is," Twilight said with a nod, "I appreciate that you're looking to this outing for entertainment - or, at least, I appreciate it to an extent - but this actually is serious and we could use your unreserved help."
Braen looked at Corsica. "Well? Princess pony seems sincere. Not want to steal Corsica's show, but maybe we should do more with our connections to help. After all, we need their help for Ironridge."
Corsica's ears fell. "Yeah, you've got a point. Alright, fine. You three in back, me and Braen up front. If we can convince them to let us send a message to Snowport's leader, he can get us anywhere we need to go."
"Back from the Crystal Empire with Princess Twilight?" One of the guards checked a dossier as another sized the group up and down. "Lockdown means lockdown, I'm afraid, but we can definitely pass a message back up to command for you."
"And we could get you a more secure waiting room in the guardhouse," another added. "If this is legit, it wouldn't do to keep an Equestrian Princess waiting out on this side of the walls."
"Sounds great." Corsica saluted. "I appreciate it. See?" She turned back to Twilight and the others as the gate rose and the dragons beckoned them through. "Easy."
"You being able to do it easily was kind of my point," Twilight pointed out, a winged dragon taking off towards the castle as another beckoned them toward the gatehouse. Her eyes followed the flier. "I wonder why they don't just send messages using dragonfire."
Rainbow shrugged. "Maybe they just like flying? You could have contacted Celestia with dragonfire from Spike, and yet here we are in person."
Twilight blanched. "Spike was having a great time at the party! I didn't want to take that from him. Besides, weren't you curious to see a town this big that isn't on the maps, too? Although it would have been more efficient..."
"You send messages via dragonfire?" the guardhouse guard asked, looking slightly intrigued.
"Well, my assistant does," Twilight explained, glancing at everyone else. "Just write down something on a scroll, breathe a little fire on it, and away it goes to the intended recipient."
The guard shook his head. "Then your assistant must be an earth dragon. Probably a trustworthy one, too, to get a position that close to royalty. You're lucky. Sneaky traitors, most of them are. Always using their magic to lurk in the dark..."
"You have a rivalry with another faction of dragons?" Twilight looked intrigued.
Internally, Corsica groaned. Listening to Twilight learn things had been fun for a while, but it was starting to get old...
The guard started explaining, covering nothing Corsica didn't know and looking a little wowed and impressed that he got to be the one to break this news to someone so important, plus rather happy that we were making his job so easy. Before he could finish, the flier returned.
"Lord Terutomo wishes to receive you in the throne room immediately," they said, bowing. "Also, Her Majesty Princess Celestia will be there. If this is a prank and any of you aren't legit... none of us will hold it against you if you take the opportunity to make a discretionary exit."
"Understandable, but I'm good," Corsica said with a wave.
Twilight nodded. "Can we go see her now?"
The guards nodded. "Right this way."
My normal method of having fun at parties was to drift aimlessly and let the tides of ponies carry me along, and so drift I did, to the point where my ears began to ring with Spike's slightly repetitive stories.
Where was Twilight? And why did I have to miss out...?
"Hey," Leif said as I almost bumped into her, standing next to a snack table with Nanzanaya.
I blinked at her, pulling myself back to the real world. "Hey?"
"I found Starlight," Leif said. "Saw you find her, too. With the way she looked, I figured it would be better not to let her see me. Unlike you, I don't need a lesson in subtlety..." She glanced at Nanzanaya. "Your friend here is a bit of a hoofful. Are you doing anything important, or just killing time?"
"Unless I can randomly find Princess Twilight, killing time," I admitted. "Any chance you've found something more productive to do?"
"Keeping an eye out," Leif said. "Gathering information. Have you learned yet what their vague 'incident' this morning at the Crystalling was caused by?"
"A big storm moved in, didn't it?" I asked. "That may have been magical, in a windigo-ish way? And might have been because there was a power failure on the barrier?" I pointed out at the glowing dome surrounding the city.
Leif nodded. "You know what powers the barrier?"
I shook my head.
"It's an artifact called the Crystal Heart," Leif explained. "I'd rather not get into this too heavily in present company, but..." She nodded at Nanzanaya. "It's a crystal - shaped like a heart - that is heavily suffused with emotions the Crystal Ponies want to share with the rest of the world. They curate and purify it using a process that will probably remind you of something. It's apparently delicate, and this morning's incident was caused by accidental tampering. And it's also apparently powerful enough to perpetually hold back this, as you put it, storm that may have been magical in a windigo-ish way."
My thoughts flashed to Coda, and her perpetual buffet of weak flattery and false love. It wasn't hard to see what Leif was implying. Take the power of the heart, infuse Coda with it, and she might become strong enough to contain the Ironridge windigoes with no ill effects. Or maybe even more than just them.
Or I could do it myself.
"It probably wouldn't be great for the ponies here if anything happened to it, then," I said. "I mean, if just a little blip was enough to cause a blizzard this morning."
"No," Leif remarked. "Probably not. Still, the ponies here are quite knowledgeable about it. Maybe they'd have some insight on the subject that could be useful to you. If you're finding yourself with nothing to do, why not check it out?"
"...Yeah," I said. "Good idea. By the way, now that you've been hanging out with Nanzanaya for a bit, what do you think of her?"
"Airhead," Leif said. "I don't trust her."
"That's a mildly rude way to speak about someone who is right here," Nanzanaya pointed out, her creepy third eye staring at me and reminding me of why I wanted her around.
Leif shrugged. "If you two want to talk, have at it. Or, I can keep watching her, if you really think that's what's best for your cause. But downtime is precious. Even if you're just using it for rest and recuperation, that's a good use. But there's a lot of interesting stuff elsewhere in the city, if you're feeling like exploring. Not to mention the castle..."
I glanced up at it. "How mad do you think the guards would be if I took a peek around? Or are you deliberately trying to tempt me into terrible ideas?"
"Your call," Leif said. "I've heard the 'government' here is too new to have fully moved into the place, let alone used it to sequester sensitive state secrets. It's guarded, but more to ensure nobody becomes lost, or finds something dangerous that nobody remembered has been sitting there for the last thousand years. That building was originally the capitol of an empire, not a single-family home for some young royals and a contingent of guards."
My ears perked at that. "The palace hasn't even been fully explored since they moved in? Are you serious?"
"Depends what you mean by fully," Leif told me. "They've mapped the place out and seen all the major rooms, and everything. Probably plenty of secret passages and hidden doors, though. And potentially uncategorized stuff in storage."
I stared up at the castle.
"Your call on what to do," Leif said. "Personally, I'm enjoying the party, and don't mean to stop until you need me for something else. Just thought I'd tell you what I found out."
I sighed, already feeling the tug of an unexplored castle. That sounded like a really fun way to kill time... and also a really good way to get yet another quest hook I couldn't properly juggle on my plate.
Nanzanaya was looking at me with a gleam in her eyes that was hungry for discovery.
"Not hard to guess what your preferred option is," I told her.
The zebra shrugged. "It does have the potential to be interesting, does it not? Besides, if I happened to learn anything curious, I would then owe you one, and we all know how much you wish for your curiosity to be sated by me."
Or, Faye whispered in my mind, we could think twice before exploring a castle, belonging to someone we want to be friends with, without permission and with someone we know nothing about?
That was a good point. "I think maybe I'll mingle," I decided. "That Crystal Heart stuff sounded pretty interesting. Gotta see if the locals have more to say."
"Oh!" Nanzanaya's ears fell. "Alright. I suppose I shall explore the castle on my own, then."
She vanished into the crowd, towards the elevator entrance that would probably take her back to the waiting room.
I winced.
Leif nodded approvingly. "Gutsy and suspicious. I'd say you've got three options: cut ties and pretend not to know her, go after her, or pick a goddess and pray she doesn't get caught."
"Come on," I sighed, starting off in the direction she had gone. "I still need to know what she knows about some magic I've ran into. Let's go try and rein her in before she gets us in trouble. Give me a hoof, here."
Everyone was led inside the castle, up to a long room with a wide window overlooking the harbor, an ornate stone throne sitting before the window silhouetted by the light. Terutomo was standing next to a contingent of guards, opting not to sit.
"My friends!" he greeted. "I didn't expect you back so early. But it appears you've brought company?"
"Long story, but yes." Corsica pointed at Twilight and her friends, stepping aside. "It's their show, not mine."
Twilight bowed. "You're the ruler of this town?"
"I am! Call me Terutomo." Terutomo motioned for her to rise. "But before we get too into the pleasantries, I believe you came here looking for a friend of yours..."
Corsica turned around.
In the door behind her was something that was probably a pony, except twice as tall as a full-grown stallion and more slender than the fittest mare, with wings the size of bedsheets and angular, violet eyes and a horn that beat out even Corsica's own by a wide margin. Her mane and tail looked almost gaseous, flowing together in an invisible wind the way Elise's used to do in Icereach, and her coat was so white you could start to see pink if you stared at it for too long.
"Princess!" Twilight bowed harder.
"I didn't expect to see you here, Twilight," Princess Celestia said in a warm tone, her body covered in golden regalia that Twilight could stand to take a queue from if she wanted to look regal. "And hello to the rest of you as well." Her eyes briefly passed over Corsica's special talent, and hid a flash of concern. "I have some idea of what you are here for. Rest assured that the business that brought me here is concluded. You have my full and undivided attention."
Twilight gave Corsica a look that asked do you want me to try to make your case for you, or are you capable of speaking for yourself?
Corsica shrugged at Twilight. "Knock yourself out."
"If Corsica does not want to speak, then Braen will," Braen said, stepping forward. "I am Braen. Mechanical child of Valey and Shinespark. Have heard you met my mothers long ago, in place called Kinmari. Discussed possibility of life for Mothers and all their friends in Equestria. Eventually decided Mothers would return to Ironridge instead. Try to rebuild after Steel Revolution and make into good new home. However, ran into many problems. Did not so much lose power as lose faith in the ponies they were trying to lead. It is question that has haunted Mother Shinespark for many long years: how can one create enduring paradise when ponies, as flawed, imperfect beings, would make it no longer paradise by living in it? Mothers achieved dream for a time with power of determination, but then dream collapse and is now collapsing further."
Her mechanical head fell. "Ironridge is in grave danger. Ponies who could save it are tired and jaded, and spark has gone out. Other Mother Valey use stubbornness to preserve status quo in name of old promises, made to ponies who are no longer here to hold her accountable, because cannot be betrayed by someone who no longer here. But status quo is crumbling and maybe broken for good. Need to fight for Ironridge and rebuild, or it will be lost forever. So Mother Shinespark create Braen to travel world with important mission: find ponies whose spark has not gone out, and learn secret of rekindling it. Learn new model for city - for life - that won't break again after achieving it. Permanent enough to be worth fighting for."
The room was silent.
"Since she only mentioned it in a roundabout way," Corsica added, "there's a war brewing that's designed to unseal all the world's windigoes. Think you can lend your neighbors a hoof?"