//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Silent Night 
// Story: Ice and Shadow 
// by ChronicleStone 
//------------------------------//

     Sky sat silently before the crackling fire.  The storm outside had persisted, but Lily’s calming spell seemed to be holding it to a manageable level.  She had gone off to bed an hour or so earlier, leaving Sky alone in the living room to contemplate his thoughts.
Her cat, though, remained behind, and even now she sat a few feet in front of Sky, flicking her tail and staring at him.  Sky snorted in amusement.  “If you’re looking for somepony to curl up beside, then Lily is in her room,” he commented to the feline.  “But I’m more of a bird person, to be honest, so I’d rather you kept your distance.”
She opened her mouth in a meow, which transformed into a wide yawn, which she followed up by licking her lips.  Finally, apparently succumbing to the fact that this pony was irredeemably dull and uninteresting, she turned and headed off to Lily’s room.
Sky turned his gaze to the fire, which was slowly but surely starting to die.  He stood and flapped his wings a few times to fan the flames a bit, then nudged another log into the fireplace.  Sparks and embers flew into the air as the log fell into place, causing Sky to recoil slightly.  He sat back on his haunches and swept a few ashes off his nose with his hooves.  As he stared into the dancing flames, his mind fell back to just a day earlier, when he had been given this task…

“Sky Streak, an incident requiring attention has arisen in an Equestrian colony known as Polarmino.  A prolonged blizzard has crippled the outpost, and we need somepony to investigate to see if the storm has been magically conjured or is the result of something else that may be hostile to ponykind,” Princess Celestia began.
“Polarmino?” Sky echoed.  “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It is a fairly new colony,” Princess Luna interjected, “so it is not well-known yet.  It is on the very northern border of Equestria, so it is subject to bad weather.  But this…this storm is more than severe.  It is unnaturally powerful and long-lasting, so it is our belief that there is more to this storm than merely the weather.”
“What do you need me to do?” Sky asked, his adventurous spirit adding a certain eagerness to his voice.
“We need you to travel to Polarmino and investigate the storm.  Getting into the village will be difficult enough with the weather, especially for you, since you won’t be able to fly in.  The wind is ferocious, from our reports,” Celestia continued.  “Several of the royal mages and chemists have been working to prepare some items for you that you may find useful.  You will find them, along with some pertinent information and directives, in your saddlebags in your quarters.”
“Your contact in the village is a unicorn by the name of Lily Pond.  We have let her know that you are coming, and she has agreed to allow you to stay in her home while your work persists,” Luna added.  “So don’t take too long,” she added with a wink.
“A map to Polarmino has also been added to your belongings for the journey,” Shining Armor said.  “It’s a bit of a journey, but it shouldn’t be too much trouble.  Well, at least, until you encounter the storm.”
“You will have opportunity to look over the information we have provided upon your arrival there,” Celestia said.  “We hope for your success on this mission.”
Sky bowed before the members of the Council.  “I will do my best,” he said earnestly.  As he turned to go, Princess Luna’s voice called out to him.
“Sky Streak, I do not think I need to remind you of this, but I will do so nonetheless.  The creature you faced in Everfree Forest has not been located.  If what you said is true, that it can command the forces of nature in some degree, then this could be its doing.  Please be extremely cautious.”
“Also, let’s not forget that this…thing…is a shapeshifter.  You cannot trust your eyes in this matter,” Princess Cadance added.
“Do you believe that the Chimera is behind this?” Sky asked, his mood darkening as he recalled his battle with the beast.
“We cannot know for certain,” Celestia sighed.  “It may not have anything to do with the Chimera at all, but the danger of that is always real.  Be open-minded and ready for anything, and you can overcome any challenge.  Be safe on your journey.”

Sky shuddered involuntarily.  The Chimera had been a fearsome foe, and he was in no rush to meet up with it again.  But he couldn’t escape the reality that he would have to face it again; possibly again and again and again.
Sky rubbed his eyes.  It was starting to get late, and the sheer white glare of the outdoors that had been present when he arrived had turned to a dim grey.  He walked over to the coat rack and grabbed his saddlebags, gazing out the window.  The storm continued its rampage as the snow swirled and the ice fell.  There was a howling on the air as the wind beat against the walls of the house.
Sky locked his gaze outside the window as his eyes fought against the elements to focus on something.  About twenty feet from the window, Sky caught the glimmer of a pair of eyes staring back at him.  It was a cold, steely gaze; one that held no compassion or empathy.  It was a hungry stare, a look of rather disturbing satisfaction.  And yet, in spite of all that, Sky was not surprised by the sight.  He had rather expected it.
“Yes, I see you,” he said softly, not intending for anyone to hear.  “And I know you’re not alone.  There must be at least a dozen of you to cause a ruckus this size.”  He slowly walked to the window, never turning his gaze from the eyes outside.  “But why did you come here?  What exactly is it that drew you?”
The moment he reached the window, there was a sharp hiss, and the eyes vanished.  Sky drew a quick breath, then sighed as he turned back to the fireplace.  He sat down in his spot, the fire casting his long shadow against the rest of the room.  He reached into his bags and drew out a pair of books: one was his journal, the same one that he had taken on his quest into Everfree.  The other was a decidedly thicker tome with the title “A Complete Guide to Creatures and Monsters of Equestria.”
Sky opened his journal and flipped to the end of his most recent entry: it had been yesterday, when he had left to come to Polarmino.  He skipped a few lines, then started a new entry.  He then turned to his creature guide and began hoofing through it, chanting the letter “w” over and over.  Finally, with an “ah-ha,” he pulled the pages open wide and took a long look at the entry on the page before he began to read aloud to himself.
“Windigo: a spirit of winter that outdates the founding of Equestria by an unknown amount of time.  They take the form of ethereal ponies with long manes and glowing blue eyes.  They are associated with the winter and the cold, leading many to believe that they still maintain homes, and perhaps entire civilizations, in the extreme regions of Equestria.”
He yawned and turned the page.  “Windigoes were known of before the Founders came to Equestria, but they were not wholly investigated until the great famine that drove them to the new land.  They are known to feed upon negative feelings, from something as weak as distrust to a powerful emotion like hatred.  Along with this, they are able to utilize what is presumed to be a special type of magic to decrease the temperature based upon the emotions of those from which the windigo is feeding.  In other words, the greater the anger the host feels, the colder it will become.  It has also been hypothesized that the windigoes can control the weather in a limited way, revolving around the winter elements.  It is because of this that many believe that the windigoes view the pegasi as their natural enemies.”  Sky blinked and read the line again, silently.
He groaned.  “Great, and I might be dealing with an entire civilization of them.  And to them, I could essentially be public enemy number one.”
In the back of his mind, he heard Celestia’s voice: You can overcome any challenge.  Sky snorted and rolled his eyes.  “I bet she set me up for this.”
He picked up his quill and began to write in his journal.  “Reached Polarmino safely.  Made contact with Lily Pond.  Windigo presence confirmed.  One sighted, larger numbers suspected.”  He yawned again as the exhaustion from his journey began to push him to the edge of sleep.
He waved his quill in the air a few times before skipping a line and continuing.  “I have yet to determine the reason for the Windigo presence in Polarmino, as the weather and the time of my arrival have made it unadvisable to begin an investigation at this point.  Lily’s calming magic seems to have an effect on the weather, so I plan to utilize that in the future.  It also indicates that the source of the windigoes’ unrest is somewhere here in Polarmino.  If the stall in the weather holds up, I plan to look into that beginning tomorrow.”
He paused, looking over his entry.  He had covered pretty much everything, as far as he knew.  And yet, he felt compelled to leave one final note at the bottom of the page.
“I miss you, sis.  Hope to see you soon.”
He laid his quill in the crease of his journal as a bookmark.  He looked towards where Lily had gone for the night.  Her room was on the left, while the room that she had prepared for him (quite unnecessarily, in his mind) was on the right.  He appreciated the effort she had given to make him feel welcome, but he had the obligation to look after the safety of everypony foremost in his mind.
With windigoes and who knows what else out there, I’d just feel better sleeping out here where I can see the door.  With that, Sky closed both books and pulled his legs in tight.  He grabbed the blanket next to him and pulled it over his body as his eyes involuntarily began to close.
“See you in the morning,” he said to nopony in particular.