“Hey Tirek!” Cozy Glow called.
The little filly’s voice carried through the seemingly endless cavern around her. Only the shuffling papers in her hooves accompanied the call, the rest of which were strewn across her cage with little structure or order. While the blackness surrounding the filly seemed infinite, the rock-carved platform she and her cage sat on glowed a soft blue that illuminated the prison well enough.
“Hey Tirek!” she called again.
A faint form stirred in the cage beside hers. Both the cage and its inhabitant were larger than the filly herself, even if the latter was emaciated to the point of being more akin to a stickbug than a centaur. His body was a dim mixture of black and red, and his eyes sunk so deep into his skull that only pinpricks of flashing gold indicated he even had them.
“What?” Tirek grumbled.
“Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Cozy said.
“And a lousy New Years to you too.” Tirek yawned and stretched his arms out as far as his cage allowed.
“Don’t be such a grump! This is the time for holiday cheer!”
“Well, pardon me if being in prison for all eternity dampens my enthusiasm.”
“Wanna go over the Winter Wasteland Plan again? That one always cheers you up.”
“You’ve got eighteen hundred million different plans, you prattling child! I’d be able to memorize more variations of snowflakes than any of your half-baked schemes!”
Cozy huffed. “Well, a friend would’ve bothered to learn at least five of them.”
“I am not your friend!” Tirek roared.
Cozy shot toward the other side of her cage. For the first time since she'd arrived in Tartarus, she showed brief fear.
“And a Lord like myself cannot be bothered to learn even a single one of your so-called plans. Whatever scheme you’ve cooked up in that undeveloped brain of yours is nothing compared to the years of strategy and planning I have-“
A strange hum filled the cavern, and both prisoners turned to the sound’s direction. From an area smaller than a grain of sand, a blue flame expanded outwards. The fire spread and opened into a circle of dark green. Thin beams of light rushed inward and outward of the emerald portal, the cerulean flame dancing around the borders like a torch.
“Fantastic,” Tirek grumbled. “Another lecture from Luna. Will she never give us peace? I’m starting to miss that pink pony and her accursed singing.”
“Don’t worry, Tirek!” Cozy squeaked. “I still have my ‘Corrupt Luna Back into Nightmare Moon, Become Her Acolytes, and Then Betray Her When She Least Expects It’ Plan in motion! I just need a few more meetings with her to implant the psycho-la-mogical triggers that will turn her evil and-“
“It’s psychological, you nitwit!” Tirek screamed. “And that plan is full of more holes than-“
A pony stepped through the portal and landed upon the rocky floor. While tall for a pony, the mare most assuredly wasn’t the Princess of the Night expected. Her dark purple fur contrasted against the blue walls of the prison, and her mane stood upright in a long Mohawk. A golden medallion hung around her neck that shimmered different yellows with each movement of her body. Her visage was hard; not quite a scowl filled her face, but something close. A broken horn sat atop her head and a thin scar traced down her right eye.
Tirek looked at the mare in confusion, but Cozy Glow gaped in amazement.
“It’s Tempest Shadow!” Cozy squealed.
“Who?” Tirek said, eyes squinting.
“Tempest! The Conqueror of Canterlot and the Mistress of Distress!” Cozy was practically dancing in her cage, her hooves smacking the papers into even more pandemonium.
Tempest winced at the announcement, before her face edged back into its proper stoicism. “Don’t call me that,” she said in a low voice.
Tirek sniffed the air, then said: “I’ve never absorbed her magic before. I never forget the taste when I’ve gotten it.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t know her, Tirek!” Cozy said, bouncing around the cage. “She didn’t return to Equestria until after you came back, but when she did, she totally took down the Princesses and took over Equestria like a modern-day Neighpoleon!”
Tirek scoffed. “Well, she seems to have replicated Neighpoleon’s final fate as well.” He motioned toward Tempest. “Come, Tempest Shadow. Join your fellow prisoners in the Hearth’s Warming festivities of annoyance and unending boredom.”
“I’m not a prisoner,” Tempest said, chin thrust upward. “I’m here on behalf of the Princesses.”
“Oh right,” Cozy sighed. “She became Twilight’s cheerleader instead of ruling Equestria, Tirek. Turns out she was just evil because she was sad or something.”
Tirek slammed his hands against his cage bars. “May Luna’s Moon shatter into a million pieces! That infernal Princess is trying to pull the ‘Here’s What Reformation Does To a Mare’ Scheme! Well, you won’t get anywhere with me, Tempest!” Tirek crossed his arms and turned his back to the unicorn.
“Swell, because I really don’t care about you, Tirek.” Tempest’s eyes shifted toward Cozy Glow. “I came for her.”
“Me?” Cozy said.
“Princess Luna asked me to release you on parole for this Hearth’s Warming. We leave now.” The horn atop her head crackled, and Cozy’s cage shuttered. The cage door swung open with a faint whine.
Cozy looked from the open door to Tempest, her face filled with confusion. “Really? I can leave?”
“For today,” Tempest said. “Luna has picked a location for you to have a…normal Hearth’s Warming. I’m going to be your chaperone to make sure you don’t get into trouble.”
“Or make trouble,” Tirek grumbled under his breath.
Cozy stepped out of her cage, her hooves gingerly touching the cold floor. “Where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise,” Tempest said.
Cozy’s eyes narrowed. “The cool kind or the uncool kind?”
“The kind that gets you out of Tartarus for a few hours. If that’s not good enough, you’re welcome to return to your cage.” Tempest’s horn crackled, and a ghost of a smile filled her face. “I’m more than willing to help you.”
For the second time that day, Cozy felt a twinge of fear. She gulped, then said: “Um, I’ll take the surprise. I mean, it’s Hearth’s Warming, so a surprise gift is expected, right?”
“Smart filly,” Tempest said. Her horn’s crackles died down and she motioned toward the still-open portal. Cozy walked toward the blue-flamed circle, still wary of the tall unicorn staring down at her.
Just as Cozy reached Tempest’s side, she grabbed the little filly.
“Hey!” Cozy cried. She felt something go around her neck, then fell to the ground from Tempest’s grasp. Cozy looked down and saw a small silver medallion hanging from her neck. She grabbed at the metal, then shrieked. A flurry of orange sparks shot off the medallion and lit up the chamber.
“A little something Luna gave me, just to make sure you stick around,” Tempest said coolly. She gestured toward her own metallic neckpiece. “The Magnetic Medallions are unbreakable in their bond, even from a thousand miles away. One flick of a hoof and…” She made said motion, and Cozy found herself hurtling toward Tempest. Her scream died by the time Tempest caught her, though the hard look Tempest gave her almost made the scream come back.
“So don’t think about running.” She dropped Cozy to the floor and dusted her front hooves. “Or taking it off. You saw what happens if you try.”
Cozy nodded, more out of reflex than genuine consideration of Tempest’s words.
“What about me?” Tirek said, looking over his shoulder.
“What about you?” Tempest said without a hint of interest.
“If that infernal runt gets a holiday, why shouldn’t I?”
“I’m sure Luna has a few reasons. Besides, I figured you’d like a few hours of peace and quiet.”
“Hey!” Cozy said, pausing just before the portal’s threshold. “What’s that supposed to-?” The sentence died on her lips as Tempest gave her a light kick through the portal. Cozy disappeared into the ocean of green and blue, now rippling like a pond in the rain.
“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Tirek,” Tempest said coldly. She then hopped through the portal herself, which closed a split-second after her form jumped through. Silence once again reigned throughout Tartarus.
Tirek gave a light chuckle. “The unicorn may be Luna’s stooge, but she’s right about one thing.” He settled himself down onto his cage floor and yawned. “A few hours of peace and quiet from that pesky filly is about the best Hearth’s Warming gift I could get.”
“Ahhhhh!” Cozy screamed. The kaleidoscope of colors swirling by heightened her fear. Faster and faster they whirred until they all seemed to blend into one solid, indescribable blur. Then, as fast as it started, the haze fell away and Cozy found herself face-first in some snow.
Tempest came out of the portal a second later, her hooves landing in the snow with a soft pffft. She looked down at the sprawled filly and chuckled.
“Get up, Cozy Glow. You’re missing all the fun.”
Cozy lifted her head, wiping away the snow on her face. She found herself staring at a large fairground bustling with activity. The various rides all spun and bounced with frenzied speed. Little fillies and colts dashed around the rides, laughing and screaming in delight.
Behind the fair sat an entire range of mountains. In fact, the fair and the small town beside it were surrounded by tree-lined peaks. Grey clouds dumped snow everywhere the eye could see and hid the sky from sight. But even the clouds couldn’t contain the mountains, which pierced the snow-dispensers like a knife in butter.
“Where are we?” Cozy said, still brushing snow off herself.
“Treadwater,” Tempest said, staring out at the landscape. “A town in the Macintosh Moutains, far from anywhere important. Only thing of note is the lake it sits on: Lake Lundy. That, and its yearly Hearth’s Warming Festival, which you are going to attend.”
“Wait, you took me out of Tartarus for an amusement park?!”
Tempest shot a bemused smile. “Scared? Don’t worry, nopony will recognize you or I. The folks here are so isolated that not even Discord’s return reached them until two years later. And he was actually reformed by then.”
“I’m not scared!” Cozy hollered. “I’m disappointed! I thought you were taking me back home, or to get a pardon from Princess Luna! Not some stupid Festival anypony could go to!”
Tempest shrugged, her horn crackling again. “I can return you to Tartarus if you’d like…”
“No!” Cozy screamed. She soothed the curls in her mane and gave a nervous chuckle. “I mean, we’re already here. Why not do something?”
“Good call. Now, I don’t feel like taking you to a hospital for frostbite, so put these on.” She whipped out a blue wool cap and slapped it atop Cozy’s head. Before Cozy could even pull the cap above her eyes, Tempest wrapped a thick red and white-striped scarf around her neck.
“Where’d you get those from?!” Cozy gagged, the scarf pulled a tad too tight around her throat.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Tempest said, smiling to herself.
Cozy huffed, loosening the scarf and pulling her hat up. “Fine, whatever,” she grumbled. She began to stomp her way toward the Festival. “Let’s just go on some stupid rides and-“
Cozy’s words cut off as the scarf tightened around her throat again. She looked back, expecting to see the cloth caught on a nearby rock. Instead, she found Tempest grasping the cloth. Leaning down and maintaining her death grip upon the scarf, Tempest stared her dead in the eyes.
“I’m going to tell you this once, Cozy: Don’t give me an attitude. I’m doing this as a favor to Luna, not the goodness of my heart. If you try my patience one too many times, I’m cutting this parole short and dragging you back to Tartarus pronto. Maybe I’ll even take that ‘Brainwash Luna into Evil’ Plot you had laying on your cage floor back to Luna herself.”
Cozy’s eyes opened wide.
Tempest chuckled. “You thought I didn’t notice that, huh? Well, I guarantee you Luna’s going to notice it if you push my buttons. And she’s a lot more creative with punishment than I am.” She let go of Cozy’s scarf and tied a silver scarf around her own neck. “Now, why don’t we go see what fun little things Treadwater has in store for us?”
“S-Sure,” Cozy said, walking behind Tempest with a nervous step.
The duo walked toward the ticket vendor about thirty yards in front of them. A small stallion with a grey beard and a green snowcap looked at them with a smile.
“Howdy, folks!” he said. “You here for the Festival?”
“Yes,” Tempest said.
“Is it just you? Or is that filly who just zipped away with you too?”
Without breaking eye contact with the vendor, Tempest reached up and tapped the Medallion. A golden glow emanated from the metal.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!” a faint scream in the sky began. Closer and closer the holler came until Cozy burst through the clouds of falling snow, her own medallion glowing a soft grey. Faster and faster she seemed to fall to earth, before landing right on Tempest’s back.
“The two of us,” Tempest said, a warm smile on her face.