Facing the Truth
"I-I don't believe this..." Moondancer mumbled in shock, as she walked amongst the frozen trees outside and flowers outside the castle. "The windigoes froze everything. How could this have happened....?"
"It vas hatred zat brought ze vindigoes here." Gypsy replied sadly looking around at the icy landscape. "Hatred caused by Zunzet's lies und dezeption."
The four ponies crossed the drawbridge, and entered the ice-covered castle. The ceiling, the floors, everything was covered by a thick sheet of snow and ice. All across the floor, ice covered every piece of furniture, and many of the hallways doors appeared to be frozen over, as well. But it was what they saw frozen around the room, that horrified the mares the most.
"Oh no, Shady!" Truly screamed, galloping over to the depressed earth pony encased in ice. "Shady, whut have they done to y'all?"
"Zhey are all vrozen zolid, trapped in ice created vrom zhere own hatred." Gypsy replied, scanning the mares with her horn. "Zhey are ztill alvie, vut vrozen under de vindigoes zvell!"
"Whizzer... Gusty... Sweet Stuff... oh no!" Zigzag moaned looking around at all the frozen equines. "If we are to free them, their hatred has to go!"
"We need to get our friends out of here." Moondancer exclaimed, gazing at a frozen Applejack in one of the ice columns. "Before it's too late!"
"That would be a nice sentiment... were it to be true!" A unicorn mare sneered, as she approached them though the grand gallery. "But I afraid I can't let you liberate them from the ice. The windigoes and I have an agreement, ya know!"
"You! You foul she devil!" Moondancer snarled. "How dare you do this to our friends!"
"Y'all bettah free them, before we are for to lowah oursailves ta physcial violence!" Truly snorted, stamping her hoof. "Ya'll ah done hurtin' Dream Valley with yo viscious lies!"
"Oh my, just what I'd expected from a Mustangian brute like yourself, miss Truly." Sun laughed, walking around the frozen form of AJ. "And isn't that why you approved of me in the first place? Because of my lie about being from the old home country?"
"Well...ah...ah..." Truly replied uncertainly.
"And you, dear little Miss Moondancer. Wasn't it my 'upstanding stance' on morals, that won you over?" She turned towards the white unicorn mare. "My dedication to safeguarding Dream Castle's children from corruption? You lapped that load of bile up like a hungry calf drinking milk."
"But you lied to me, you lied to all of us!" Moondancer snapped back angrily, at the mae standing on the small staircase above them. "We never would have approved of you, if it hadn't been for your trickery!"
"Well, that's the whole point, isn't it? We all tell each other little lies every day." The other unicorn snarled, her horn glowing. "Little fibs to our friends so we don't hurt thier feelings, the tiny untruths we use to cover our own faults to others; such things comes to us naturally, without even thinking." Small three orbs of light burst off of her horn, and landed on the ground in front of them. "And even the sweet little delusions we tell ourselves, because we can't deal with the way things really are. Face it, lying is a part of a pony's nature, one from which none of us can ever escape!"
The three orbs of light suddenly burst into the forms of three ponies- one looking like a deranged Pinkie Pie holding a knife, one a sultry looking Princess Celestia, and one a Rainbow Dash holding a giant meat grinder. The three resembled more animated cartoon caricatures rather than real ponies, but it was still a creepy and terrifying sight to behold.
"Ohhh, a new friend..." Psycho Pinkie declared, holding her knife up in her hoof as she dove at Zigzag. "Maybe we could make some zebra cookies!"
"Get away from me, you foul beast!" Zigzag yelled, racing away from her blade-wielding pursuer. "I shall not end up as your desert feast!"
"Mmmm, such a luscious unicorn mare." The raunchy alicorn wrapped her wings around the roma pony, licking her lips. "Your princess commands you to give her the royal treament!"
"Aiee! Get avay vrom me, vou dizgustink conztruct!" Gypsy wailed, creating an energy shield to push the lustful mare. "Now I know how ze stallions I flirt vith veel!"
"Hmmm, no foals around here." The warped Rainbow Dash flew towards Truly. "Guess we'll have to grind up this mare, to make the warm spring breeze!"
"No! get away from me!" The southern belle wailed, galloping away from the grinder's blades. "Ah don't want to be gawn with the wind!"
"You see, Moondancer? Deception and lies will always bring fear, ignorance and hatred." Sun Shimmer declared, lowering her head and blasting the other mare with her horn. "And though that hatred, my mother's revenge on Dream Valley will be complete!"
"Oh please, you overgrown bag of wind!" Moondaner deflected the other unicorn's blast, with a burst of her own. "Your lines can never overcome the truth, Sun. Because while lies can be told and believed, the truth simply is, wither a pony likes it or not."
"I have had enough, of your being rude!" Zigzag snorted, turning and throwing a strange vial of chemicals from her lab at the Pinkie Pie duplicate. "But this shall give you a new attitude!"
The vial broke against the Pink nutcase, causing her to begin to melt away. "Eeeeeek! What have you done to meeeeee????....burblrburlburble...."
"Just a little solvent made of the seeds of truth." The zebra replied with a smile. "Guaranteed to melt any type of falsehood away."
As the pink ooze bubbled to nothing, the zebra shook her head sadly. "Friendly and caring was the real Pinkie Pie. Anything said otherwise is only a lie."
"Quit playing hard to get, peasant!" The sultry Celestia roared pounding away at the magic shield. "Give yourself to your princess!"
"I am zo zorry, vut you really aren't my type, darlink." Gypsy replied truthfully, batting her eyelashes at the mare. "Verhaps ve could just be vriends?"
"Arrgraaah!" The alicorn wailed, putting her hooves to her head, as the truth made her explode into a burst of rainbow light.
"Ze real Prinzess Celeztia vos a lind on true vruler." Gypsy snorted, turning her head away in disgust. "Vou vere a bad joke conjured up by her enemies."
"Ya know, ya'll ah one stupid poneh!" Truly snapped, spinning around to face the Dash caricature angrily. "Don't ya'll know thait Rainbow Dash wuz too loyal a pony to hurt othahs like thait?"
The eath mare leapt into the air, kicking the Pegasus down into her own grinder. As the walking falsehood was chopped up, the four ponies turned to face the angry unicorn above them.
"No!" Sun Shimmer wailed, taking a step back. "How did you overcome my spell?!?"
"With the light of truth, the one thing that sheds light on your deceptions." Moondancer replied, as her and Gypsy's horns began to glow. A wave of energy passed though the castle, thawing each and every of the mares out as the two unicorns telepathic message permeated their hearts and minds.
"Our dear sisters, open your hearts and minds... reject the deceptions of the liar, and remember the truth of your feelings for one another..."
"No, this can't be happening!" Sun Shimmer wailed, as the mares all around her thawed out. "There's no way my plan could be failing like this!"
"Now who's lying to themselves?" Moondancer cocking an eyebrow. "You made one fatal mistake, Miss Shimmer. bout the nature of your fellow equines."
"We may all tell little lies, it's true. But honesty is an ideal we all strive for." Zigzag continued, again dropping her rhyming to make a point. "We try every day to embrace truth, it just becomes a little hard for us flawed, mortal ponies sometimes."
As the mares all over the castle broke free of their icy prisons, and cries and shouts of joy came from all sides, followed by hugs and tears. So many ponies were happy to see their friends again, after being in the frozen grasp of hate.
"AJ. your all right!" Moondancer rushed up and hugged the still groggy earth mare.
"Sweet Stuff! Gusty!" Truly ran over to hug them. "Ah'm so glad y'all raight!"
It was then, that all attention turned back to the stunned unicorn in the center of the room, still to stunned to move or talk. They all began forming a circle around the now terrified Sun, slowly closing in on her as she came our of her shock.
"S-so what happens now?" The mare replied nervously, realizing fighting back was a useless gesture at this point. "You going to give me a sampling of your old style 'Dream Valley' justice?"
"No Sun," Moondacer replied simply, shaking her mane. "We're going to forgive you."
"Wha-wha?" The terrified mare asked, her eyes going wide is disbelief.
"Whut happened to y'all wuz terrible, Sun. Yo mama should have raised ya'll bettah." Truly stepped forward, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Ya'll need compassion and understandin', nawt locked away in the Dream Valley dungeon."
"We would rather try to be your friend, rather than bring about your end." Zigzag agreed, stepping forward. "While to some, revenge might be great, we do not need to be frozen with hate."
"Ve vorgive vou of your cruelty, Zun Zimmer." Gypsy agreed, trotting up behind the others. "Even avter all ze pain vou caused us, ve offer vou a place at ze table."
"Put your hate aside Sun Shimmer." Moondancer offered her a hoof. "Let it die with your mother, and find a new beginning."
The mare looked around at all the somber faces around her, seeing the pity and compassion in their eyes, looking back at the four who had defeated her plans, her face suddenly turned to a look of rage.
"NOOOOO!" Sun Fired off an angry blast, stunning the ponies around her long enough to get away from them. "I don't want you pity, I don't want your forgiveness, I DON'T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU!"
"Sun, no... wait!" As the angry mare galloped out over the drawbridge, Moondancer started after her.
But Truly stopped her friend, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
"Let her go, Moony." The earth mare told her sadly. "Sun made her choaice, it's too late fo her naow."
As Sun Shimmer sped away from Dream Valley, the Windigoes whirled about overhead, starving and argry that their deal had been broken. Honing in one the one pony in the area with anger and hatred in her heart, the icy creatures swarmed over her, like moths too a flame.
"No, get away from me!" The unicorn wailed, trying to outrun them. "Get away....accckkkkkkk!"
KKKKKK-KKKKKKK! The poor mare was quickly trapped in a block of ice, frozen solid. Her face was still controlled in the look of rage that had doomed her, and her unrepentant heart now even more frozen than it had been before.
And as the windigoes fled up and away from Dream Valley, fleeing back towards thier home in the frozen north, a cold wind blew after them, shattering both the frozen block of ice, and the mare trapped inside it, into a thousand shimmering pieces.