//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Princess Twilight Sparkle's 505th Birthday 
// by Autumnschild 
//------------------------------//

The Crystal Empire. Jewel of the North. First Bastion of Ponykind. Sombra’s Fall. All those names and more have been given to the peaceful kingdom. But none of those names described the frozen wasteland that Rarity and the other Elements of Harmony found themselves in on that day.
 
A purple shield of magic surrounded Rarity and her two of her closest friends, Applejack and the newest member of the Royal Family, Princess Twilight Sparkle. A ball of hail, as large around as a wagon wheel, smashed into the barrier.
 
“Twilight?” called Rarity over the roar of the gibbering Windigos. “This isn’t working, we need to get our heads together and come up with a new plan.”
 
The Alicorn mare, now in her thirties, stood almost a foot taller than her two friends. Regal though she was, she mumbled a few choice expletives as she riddled another Windigo with holes. Her purple horn still glowing from the magical bursts, she heaved a sigh.
 
“I know this isn’t working, Rarity, it wasn’t my plan in the first place!”
 
The cry of a reborn Windigo pierced the air far above them in the swirling vortex of ice and hatred.
 
Applejack stepped in between the two “Don’t go jumpin’ down Rarity’s throat there, Twi. These Windigos are messin’ with our emotions, remember? The angrier we get, the stronger they are.”
 
“Right. You’re right. I’m sorry, Rarity. Let’s fall back to the palace. Cover your ears girls, I’m going full Luna for this one.”
 
Applejack dove to the ground  and pulled her hat down over her ears. Rarity summoned up a tasteful pair of earmuffs from her saddlebags that matched her snow boots and, careful to keep her mane in place, put them on. She nodded to the Princess, who took in a deep breath.
 
“RAINBOW DASH, WE’RE FALLING BACK TO THE PALACE. GET THE WONDERBOLTS OUT OF THERE.”
 
Applejack hopped up to her hooves and brushed the snow off of her withers. “Dang, Twi. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to yer Canterlot Caterwaulin’.”
 
Twilight shook her head, and tried to lessen the ringing in her own head. “You and me both.”
 
The three ponies watched a dozen blue and yellow streaks peal across the sky from the arcane tempest high above them and flew straight for the center of the Palace District. Far outpacing the others was a familiar rainbow colored trail leading the way.
 
As they watched, Twilight’s barrier took renewed attacks from the Windigos. Her use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, coupled with the sudden disappearance of their airborne enemies, lead to a concentrated Windigo effort to bring down the local Alicorn. Twilight responded by reducing most of the attackers to snowflakes.
 


 

As the three mares entered the magical shield protecting the Palace itself, Rarity couldn’t help but be overcome with dread. The Palace was the very core of the Crystal Empire, and at the center of its streets and thoroughfares beat the very heart of the kingdom. It’s been said that ‘As the Palace goes, so goes the Empire.’ If that was true, then the Crystal Empire was indeed in dire straits.
 
In its prime the Crystal Palace had many spires and each one rivaled  the height of the twin Sun and Moon towers in Canterlot Castle. As it rose into the air, the many spires eventually gave way to a single glittering monolith. It was a feat of crystalline engineering long lost to ponykind in its millennia long absence. That peerless tower, the pride of the crystal ponies, was now scattered about the ground like so much rubble.
 
The three companions stopped at a huge crystal wall and Twilght’s horn lit up. She strained at the effort but  the Crystal before them began to melt away, providing safe passage into the defender’s camp that was once the foundation of the Palace itself. After passing through, Twilight reignited her horn and the liquid crystal bubbled back up the wall to seal their entrance.
 
“Land sakes, Twilight, I knew yer magic was good, and gettin’ better all the time, but makin’ walls outta melted crystal? If I didn’t see it fer myself, I’d say it was impossible.”
 
Twilight wiped the sweat from her brow and smiled at her friend. “Well, it’s a little known fact that all crystalline solids are actually really slow liquids. Melting the crystal would take too much effort, and release all kinds of nasty gases into the air. So I just give it a little nudge timewise to age or de-age the crystal as needed. Actually, if you want to get into the specifics of it, I’ll need a—
 
Applejack put a hoof in Twilight’s mouth. “Maybe another time, Sugarcube. Let’s save the world first, okay?”
 
Twilight nodded sheepishly and followed after her two friends as they hurried down the well-guarded corridor. It was long as two hoofball fields, but it just just wide enough for about 8 ponies walking side-by-side. As a defensive measure the corridor had four heavily fortified checkpoints, each with a dozen or so guards.

As a whole, the Palace, the corridor, and the Equestrian Games Complex were referred to as Sparkle Base Alpha. The name started as a joke, but after the second day it wasn’t so funny. Not when the Windigos breached the barrier for the first time and collapsed the Palace’s spires onto itself. 

Twilight recalled how the Crystal Heart was rushed into the Equestrian Games Complex, where it’s large open lobby was sealed off and converted into the new nerve center of Sparkle Base Alpha.

After it was sealed off, the only entrances into Sparkle Base Alpha that weren’t timshifted crystalline walls were the heavily defended corridor and a single open window. It was left open so pegasi could move in and out of the nerve center; which happened quite a bit with Rainbow’s Wonderbolts here on the scene.

So long as the new and improved barrier stayed up, no Windigos would get in.

Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight passed the final check point and the 3 mares were ushered through the iron doors at the end of the corridor. They entered the nerve center of Sparkle Base Alpha just in time to feel a slight tremor ripple through the complex. Twilight made a quick observation and frowned. When the Windigos’ attack on the barrier became more intense, the beating of the Crystal Heart became more erratic.
 
The Crystal Heart, when powered by love and kindness, sustained the ponies of the Crystal Empire. It made them fertile and brought prosperity to the land. But if the Windigos got their hooves on it, they’d surely turn it into some kind of weapon. Or worse.
 
“Twily!” shouted an obviously exhausted Prince Shining Armor as he rushed to his sister’s side. His horn glowed continuously as he pumped ever more of his magic into the barrier protecting his kingdom. Twilight nuzzled her No-Longer-Bigger-Big-Brother-Best-Friend-Forever.
 
“You two catch up, I’m gonna check on Pinkie and Fancy Pants.” The orange earthpony started down the way towards the hoofball-field-turned-mess-hall before turning to face her uneasy looking friend. “Uh, Rarity, yer welcome to join us if’n—.”
 
“No! Er, no thank you, Applejack, but I’m… not hungry at the moment. You go on ahead.” Rarity pawed absentmindedly at the broken and lifeless jewel in her Element of Harmony necklace.
 
Applejack shrugged, but couldn’t hide the concern on her face. Rarity’d have to come to terms with Pinkie Pie eventually, right? She shook her head to right her train of thought. She had more pressing matters. She continued down towards the mess hall.
 
“Hey NLBBBBFF, what’s our status?” Twilight asked Shining Armor.

As she did, she tapped into her magic reserves and made a connection to him through the ley lines of their world. Shining let out a sigh of relief as he felt his Alicorn sister share in the heavy lifting of supporting their barrier.
 
“Eh, not great,” he said with a humorless chuckle. “We’ve got too many hurt ponies. Some physically, some emotionally, some both. Nothing incurable, thankfully, but that last attempt at getting to the train station left us at half of our combat capacity.”
 
Twilight grimaced, but nodded. “How soon until we can get our numbers back up?”
 
Shining Armor shut his eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle with a hoof. He composed himself and started counting off what info he had on his hooves.

“Fluttershy, bless her heart, is working with our limited medical staff  to treat whatever physical ailments they can. And Pinkie Pie’s whole family is in the Mess Hall throwing the best ‘It’s-Not-Really-The-End-Of-The-World-But-Let’s-Party-Like-It-Is’ party they can to keep spirits up. But as for time frames? I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them.”
 
As if to reiterate his grim assessment, the two siblings heard some poor soul from the squash-courts-turned-infirmary break down into a vigorous coughing fit, followed by an urgent request for his mommy.
 
A moment later and Twilight felt a familiar tingle roll up her spin and top off at the tip of her horn. A scroll popped into existence between them. It was bearing the royal seal of Princess Cadence. Twilight opened it up and gave it a quick look, Rarity, still standing next to her, looked on as well.

They both gasped.
 
“Oh my, she’s… quite flexible, isn’t she?” offered a flustered Rarity.
 
“ARGH! I didn’t need to see that!” eyes screwed shut tight, Twilight slammed the scroll shut and jammed it into her brother’s chest, almost knocking the wind out of him. She ran off towards the infirmary, her cheeks a furious red.
 
Rarity gave Shining Armor a half-lidded glance before trotting off after her friend. “It’s for you.”
 
Thoroughly confused, Shining Armor opened the scroll and shut it, blushing immediately. He shot a quick glance about the room and, as nonchalantly as possible, tucked the scroll away in his royal coat. 
 



 
Fluttershy, heavily pregnant with her 6th foal, caught the queasy look on Twilight’s face as she and Rarity entered the squash courts.
 
“Twilight!” she roared out in a whisper, being sure not to disturb the ailing ponies around her. Softly, she galloped over to her purple friend. “Are you feeling alright? You’re not ill, are you?”
 
“No, Fluttershy, I’m fine. I just saw something that I can’t unsee.”
 
Confused, the canary yellow pegasus cocked her head at her two friends. Rarity cut off further discussion by giving Fluttershy that subtle nod that told her she’d hear all about it during their next Spa Day. The magical torches throughout the complex momentarily dimmed as the barrier outside sustained another attack.
 
“If we live that long,” muttered Rarity.
 
“Ow! Watch it, lady. Not cool,” grumbled a mare two courts down. Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity, recognizing the voice, walked over to the source of the commotion. They discovered a cyan pegasus with rainbow hair standing on a makeshift hospital bed and brandishing an IV drip stand like a spear.
 
“Rainbow Dash? What the hay are you doing?”
 
“Twilight, these ponies are crazy! They want to inject me with stuff!”
 
The dark blue nurse stomped her hoof. “I told you it’s an IV! It’ll help speed up the healing process for your eye.”
 
“Your eye?” asked Fluttershy with growing curiosity.
 
She was on her friend in a heartbeat, holding her head in a vice like grip. When she got a good look at the left side of her head, she gasped. It was worse than she thought.
 
A wicked gash, from the bottom of her ear all the way down the side of her cheek, split the left side of her face. Her eyelid was swollen shut. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if it was repairable or not.
 
“Your eye!” shouted Fluttershy.
 
Rainbow Dash winched. “Geez, you don’t need to scream at me, my ears are fine.”
 
Fluttershy wrestled her irritable friend down to the bed with a helping hoof from Twilight’s magic.
 
“Rainbow, you have to let Nurse Soft Touch give you that IV.”
 
Rainbow Dash started to protest “But I—” only to realize her mistake all too late. Even before she became a mother five times over, Fluttershy was a Master of The Stare. Now that she had so many hooves running about Sweet Apple Acres in her stead, her staring arts had moved beyond the realm of legend and straight into myth.
 
Rainbow Dash laid down on the bed and administered the IV herself.
 
“Wow,” marveled Twilight.
 
Fluttershy smiled demurely as she went about tending to the wound on Rainbow’s face.
 
Trying to take her mind off of her discomfort, Rainbow Dash turned to look at Twilight and Rarity with her good eye.

“So— Ow! So, did we take the train station?”
 
Twilight shook her head. “No, we didn’t. And we won’t get another chance at it any time soon, our remaining forces have been reduced by almost half.”
 
Rainbow Dash sucked in a lung full of air through clenched teeth. “Bummer. Well, on the bright side, we didn’t lose any of my Wonderbolts this time around. Plus, I think I’m the worst off, what with this baby.”
 
She pointed a hoof at her eye and sighed. A thought hit her and she sat up straight, wings flared out. 

“Hay, do we have any cool eye patches around here?”
 
Fluttershy rolled her eyes and kept working to clean the cut on her slightly deranged friend.
 
The sound of a throat being cleared drew the attention of the ponies in the room. Standing at attention outside of the doorway was a green pegasus in a blue and yellow flight suit. “Permission to enter, Captain.”
 
“Granted, Lieutenant,” said Rainbow Dash, Captain of the Wonderbolts. As soon as the mare entered, Rainbow added “At ease.”
 
Lightning Dust’s shoulders visibly slumped, though she kept a stoic demeanor about her. “I brought you some provisions from the mess hall.” She walked up to the side of the bed and pulled a tray off her back with her teeth.
 
The tray, laden with goodies, came to rest on the bed and Rainbow Dash began to eat like she’d never seen food before.
 
A look of genuine concern flashed across Lightning Dust’s features when she got a good look at Rainbow Dash’s face. “How’s the… uh… eye, Ma’am?”
 
Rainbow Dash beamed at her “I’m going to get an eye patch!”
 
Lighting Dust’s stomach dropped out from under her, only to be quickly buoyed by Fluttershy.
 
“Don’t do that to the poor mare.” She turned to look at the frazzled green pegasus “She’ll get to keep her eye. She just needs a few days with the right medical treatment, and she’ll be fine.”
 
Fluttershy up-ended a bottle of hydrogen peroxide into some gauze and slapped it on the bed-bound pegasus’ cheek. “Isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash?” 

Rainbow Dash answered by screaming bloody murder and vowing revenge a thousand times over.
 
As if reacting to her rage, the building once again shook from the Windigos’ ongoing assault on the barrier beyond the Palace walls.
 
Fueled by her pain and her frustration, Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof down on the bed. “What the hay, why is this so hard? We’ve been saving the day for what, ten years now? We used to have this kind of thing wrapped up in a day, two tops. This is the fourth day of this. Ugh.” 

She thumped her head back down onto her pillow and the tips of the wings beneath her fluttered with agitation.
 
Rarity rubbed a hoof along the crack that bisected her ruined Element of Harmony, forlornly eyeing the undamaged Elements in the room with her.
 
“We… can’t worry about that now Rainbow,” admitted Twilight, trying her best not to look at Rarity. “We don’t even know why the Windigos came back in the first place.”
 
“I bet it was Discord,” grumbled Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy didn’t answer, but her brow furrowed in a way to suggest that she didn’t outright disagree with the idea.
 
“What we need now is a new plan for getting to that train station,” said Twilight as she started to take charge once more of the situation. “We’ve got too many sick and wounded to make a stand here and now. We need to get these ponies out of here and try again later.”
 
Rainbow scoffed. “Why can’t you just magic up a couple of Princesses and Spike or something so we can beat them here and now?”
 
Twilight shut her eyes, trying desperately to push away the recent memory of her sister-in-law’s scroll. “These Windigo vortex funnels have popped up all over Equestria, remember? Celestia’s in Canterlot fighting off the threat there. Luna’s in Manehatten doing the same, and Cadence is hopefully very, very far away fighting something that requires a lot of clothing.”
 
The cyan pegasus raised her good eyebrow “And Spike?”
 
Rarity cut in “Little Spikey-Wikey is sleeping, remember? The Windigos made it so cold that the dragons all fell into early hibernation.”
 
“Little Spikey-Wikey?” asked a new voice from the doorway, “Rarity, the boy’s a head taller‘n Princess Celestia now.”
 
The room had quickly become overcrowded. At least in Rarity’s opinion. Surely it had nothing to do with a certain back-stabbing pink pony who stood next to Applejack.
 
A little yellow unicorn colt with freckles clung to his mother’s pink foreleg. He waved a silent hello at the Goddess of Magic  and blushed furiously. 
 
Twilight smiled at the infatuated colt “Hello, Sun Spots.”
 
Pinkie Pie nuzzled her youngest son’s mane and giggled softly. “Alright, my little sunshine, go check with daddy and see if he needs your help keeping smiles on faces, okay?”
 
 Sun Spots hugged his mother’s leg tightly before he scampered out of the room back towards the mess hall. Most of the mares shared a good natured laugh.
 
“Star’s Garters, Pinkie Pie, if you’n Fancy Pants didn’t go and make the sweetest little guy.”
 
“Aw, thanks Applejack! You know he gets that from his daddy? I wasn’t born as sweet as he was, that’s why I eat so much suga—“
 
The party pony was cut off as Rarity shoved her way through the door, knocking back both her friend Applejack, and the other pony.
 
“Hay! Rarity! Come on, don’t be like that!” shouted Rainbow Dash from the bed. Twilight had to restrain her with her magic to stop her from flying out the door and after her.
 
Pinkie Pie smiled sadly to herself and looked at the floor. She didn’t dare make eye contact with any of the other girls. It was hard. It had been hard for years. But it was all about to change. Even if she hadn’t known for a long time, she could just tell.
 
Applejack picked her hat back up off the ground and put it back on. “Still?” she asked nopony in particular before turning to shout down the hall. “We still gotta do this, Rarity? Pretend that everything’s ok when yer element’s all busted’n all ours are fine? It’s been seven years girl, get over it!”
 
“Oh,” whispered Fluttershy “I don’t think that’s fair to say, Appleja—“
 
“Way to go, Applejerk, let’s just ruin any chance of snapping her out of it by yelling at her. Good thinking!” snarled Rainbow Dash.
 
A thud shook the building, but it went unnoticed by the two fiery mares.
 
“An’ just what was I supposed to do, featherbrain? Tell her that I’m okay with her treatin' one of her best friends like a load of horseapples? Cause I ain’t and you know I don’t lie.”
 
“Let’s try to stay calm girls, remember that fighting only helps the Windi—“
 
“Featherbrain? Better a featherbrain than a fair-weather friend!”
 
Applejack stomped a hoof and scuffed it back, ready to charge the bedridden mare. A strange glimmer in her eyes. “What did you call me?”
 
Rainbow Dash had that same look in her good eye, a sort of red haze. She continued to egg on Applejack despite the fact that she was actively being restrained by Fluttershy and Lightning Dust. Twilight tried her best to ignore the scuffle as she poured more and more of her magic into the magical barrier.
 
The orange earthpony didn’t remember leaping over her Alicorn friend, or Rainbow Dash’s kick to her jaw that put her flat on her back. But she did remember the earth-shattering roar of the Windigos.





Outside, the Windigos felt  the tumultuous emotions at work in two very powerful psyches from deep within the hated complex. They worked their collective magic upon those psyches and pushed them further and further. They used that anger to build strife, which greatly increased the strength of their assault.
 
They attacked the barrier over and over again, now throwing themselves bodily against it, ignoring the pain that came from contact. They could feel the fear of the ponies huddled together in the palace. They could feel their hope fade. New Windigos from the birthing vortex aided them in their final push.
 
The battered barrier flickered and waned, and eventually, collapsed. The Windigos had done the impossible. They were through the barrier. They were going to win.
 




Applejack rolled back onto her hooves and worked the kinks out of her jaw. “What in tarnation hit me?”
 
“I…. What just happened?” asked Rainbow Dash as she looked around the room with her good eye.
 
Twilight’s knees buckled and she collapsed in a heap. “The barrier... fell.” She said between breaths.
 


 

Rarity was cradling an unconscious Prince Shining Armor when the other Elements of Harmony came in to the nerve center of Sparkle Base Alpha. Worryingly, Twilight Sparkle hobbled in, supported by both Applejack and Pinki— the Element of Laughter.
 
“I think the barrier’s down,” offered Rarity with no hint of a smile. Twilight nodded, confirming her fears.
 
A pegasus flew in from the windows high above the nerve center. In a panic, she shouted to any and all who would hear her. “The first checkpoint has fallen!”
 
Ponies began to panic and wail. This was it. This was the end of all things.
 
Princess Twilight raised a hoof, silencing the room. “Alright, ponies, listen up! All non-combat forces retreat to the mess-hall. All able-bodied guards on me, now! I’m sealing off the infirmary and mess hall in less than a minute!”
 
All around the Elements of Harmony, disharmony clattered and clanged as ponies of every kind rushed to their new locations. Goodbyes were shared, tears shed, hugs exchanged.
 
“Hey, uh, Twilight?”
 
The Goddess of Magic turned to look at her flight-suited friend. She was wearing a black eye patch in the shape of her cutiemark. “Where did you… nevermind, what is it?”
 
“What do you want me to do with the Wonderbolts?”
 
Twilight smirked. “You’ve never asked me before. They’re your Wonderbolts, remember? You do with them what you think is best.”
 
Rainbow Dash considered this for a moment before nodding to herself. “Lieutenant Dust!” she called out over the din. A heartbeat later and her number one wingpony was standing at attention in front of her.
 
“Ma’am?”
 
“You’re acting Captain of the Wonderbolts. I want you and the team out back getting ponies from the infirmary to the mess hall. If… If the girls and I don’t make it, save as many ponies as you can. Children are your first priority. Understood?”
 
“Ma’am.” Saluted a misty eyed Lightning Dust. “Come back to me in one piece, ma’am.” Rainbow threw her a wink and dismissed her.
 
Twilight wrapped her unconscious brother in a field of magic and shuttled him back through the doorway and passed him off to a pair of unicorn nurses. When no other ponies ran through, she focused her will on the archway between the nerve center and the rest of the complex. She filled it top to bottom with crystal, several feet thick. Either the day would be theirs, or the ponies on the other side would eventually run out of breathable ai— No. They would win the day.
 
As the ringing in her horn subsided, she heard the pegasus scout call out again. “They’ve passed the third checkpoint.”
 
A soulless whinny cried out, and the guards at the windows dove for cover as a lone Windigo pushed into the nerve center. Twilight wrapped it in a magic bubble and ground it into fine white dust with a flicker of effort. The remaining pegasi barricaded the window with thick iron shutters.
 
“Come on, earthponies, let’s get to it!” hollered Applejack.
 
“Pegasi, get your feathered butts over here!” ordered the Captain of the Wonderbolts.
 
“Unicorns, get into the starburst defensive formation!” commanded the Goddess of Magic.
 
Of the fifty or so ponies left, most of them were of the Crystal/earth variety, and flocked to Applejack. She rallied her folk into a nested V formation aimed at the massive iron doors with the erratically beating Crystal Heart nestled in its center. Fresh spears and armaments were distributed. This is how all the earthponies prepared.
 
That is, except for Pinkie Pie. She busied herself filling pie tins with shaving crème. She had a whole mess of them and she made even more with each passing moment. She hummed a merry tune, but her eyes gave away the concern she felt for the safety of her friends, her husband, and her children on the other side of the wall.
 
Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi ordered themselves in a loose cone formation, originating from the Crystal Heart and aimed at the door. Each pegasus was issued a new set of wing blades and a partner, except for Rainbow Dash. Being the odd-pony-out, she would jump in and help whatever two pony team needed help the most. This is how all the pegasi prepared.
 
That is, except for Fluttershy. Being as pregnant as she was she knew she would be a danger to herself and her unborn foal should she get in hoof-to-hoof combat. She hung back with Twilight and felt simply wretched being unable to help.
 
The remaining ten ponies were all unicorns. They moved into the starburst defensive formation with no small amount of trepidation. Known as a last resort of unicorn kind, the starburst formation focused energy from a powerful source (like the node of a ley line or a particularly powerful rune circle) outwards towards an enemy.
 
It worked like a ring of cannons and it hurt like Tartarus. It was considered to be a last resort because it was just as potent against the caster as it is against the targets. Luckily they weren’t hurting for energy sources, what an Alicorn at their center. They muttered their prayers to the presently meditating Goddess of Magic and steeled their resolve. This is how all the unicorns prepared.
 
That is, except for Rarity. Rarity was staring into the sad looking Crystal Heart. Her thoughts a thousand miles away.
 
Twilight stood at the center of the defenses and reached deep into the ley lines. Soaring across the flowing tides of magic that seeped out of the very matter of her world, she searched frantically for Princess Celestia’s  magical signature. She had one nasty trick up her sleeve and if it was going to work she needed to be ready when those doors came down.
 
They were all in position. The heavily barred iron doors boomed with the dark fury of the Windigos. With each thump against the iron, the Crystal Heart stammered and pulsed in futility. Somehow, it knew. It knew its end was near. And everypony knew it was no longer a matter of if they’d get through, but when.
 
Rarity stared into the heart as its beating oscillated fitfully. She watched it sputter and, finally, plunge into darkness. It died a panicked death. In that moment, Rarity learned that all things must fall. That there is always an end. The doors were ripped from their hinges and a chill like she had never felt before pierced her to the core. The end of the world had come.
 
The earthponies never stood a chance. The glacial blast of frozen air that chilled the blood in Rarity’s veins froze the stalwart defenders in their tracks, Applejack among them. A V shaped pony-high wall now surrounded the remaining guard forces.
 
The pegasi fared a bit better, having natural immunities to intense cold. They held back the first wave of airborne Windigos. But they could not hold. A touch here, a kick there, soon frozen pegasi fell clattering to the ground to share the honorable fate of their earthpony compatriots. Rainbow was the last to fall, but fall she did when a Windigo attacked her from her newly blind side.
 
The unicorns, tapping into the very stuff of magic itself, stood their ground despite the gnawing pain in their horns. The Windigos circled the unicorns, spinning round and round as fast as they could. For each one that dropped fresh spirits would charge in from beyond the ruined iron doors. It took less than a minute, but they fell too.
 
Rarity, no longer able to ignore the cries of those around her, tore her eyes away from the dead heart of a dying empire in time to see Fluttershy encased in a clear tomb of ice, her wings and legs wrapped protectively around her distended midsection.
 
A voice cried “Rarity, watch out!” and Rarity was shoved to the ground. She rolled with the impact and chanced a look back. There, frozen in the very spot that she had just been standing, was a tear stricken Pinkie Pie, her hair frozen in long limp strands for all eternity.
 
It was just her and Twilight now. She felt the wind cut as the Windigos galloped faster and faster in their hellish vortex. She felt the frost creep up her hooves and spread to her knees. She felt these things, but they didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
 
“Not like this,” she said to herself. “Not like this.”
 
The ice was up to her neck now, and though the proud braying of the Windigos reverberated in her ears, she heard nothing. She felt nothing. And then she looked again at Pinkie Pie as the ice passed her chin.
 
She thought she could just make out the hint of a smile. Always a smile. Even at the end of it all, that blasted mare would always smile. Always be there for her. Always forgive Rarity’s inability to forgive. Rarity found herself smiling too as the ice passed her lips. She took one last deep breath and closed her eyes.
 
Thank you, Pinkie Pie.
 
Now there was only Twilight Sparkle. Who, in actuality, was one of the first bodies to be encased in ice. But her true self, her ethereal self, still sped along the ley lines of Equestria looking for that light in the darkness. She was becoming more and more aware of the cold, and that was a bad sign. She wasn’t yet sure if she was immortal, and she didn’t want to test it out just…
 
There you are.
 
Having won the day, the Windigos slowed their assault. Instead of bashing their grim trophies into pieces, they turned instead to their work of coaxing unlife into the still heart of the Crystal Empire. They circled it, a legion of horse sized spirits, each a demon in its own right, uttering their grim rites. The heart had already iced over, but a sinister darkness  began to grow from deep within its core.
 
A tremor went unnoticed. Then a rumble. Then a sound, as if from miles away begins to stir from deep within the frozen Alicorn. Few if any of the Windigos called for caution. Few if any heeded the call.
 
Twilight’s eyes began to glow and cracks began to form in her icy shell. A boiling hiss bled out of every crack and the sound became a roar. The Windigos turned as one to secure their prize. But it was too late.
 
Through the ley lines of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle had tapped into the molten core of the Sun through its very avatar. A corona of blistering heat flared into life, bathing the world around them in flame. In the blink of an eye, not a single snowflake, drop of water, nor mote of steam could be found with a fifty foot radius. The walls around them were purified with tongues of fire and the very stone beneath their hooves was baked into a single solid mass.
 
The smell of sunbaked earth was the first thing Rarity remembered after the freeze. Her coat felt warm and freshly dried. Though she was surprised to be alive, she took an accounting of each pony there.
 
There was Applejack, helping Rainbow Dash to her hooves. There was Fluttershy, tending to a wounded pegasi. There was Pinkie Pie, starting all over with her shaving crème pies. It was as if they had all awakened from the same horrible nightmare. She smiled. Then Twilight fell over.
 
“Twilight!” called Fluttershy. She was the first to reach the Element of Magic. Though the others were not far off the mark.
 
“Ow. I’m fine, I think.”
 
“What in tarnation happened back there?”
 
“We… we were all captured in ice by the Windigos,” sputtered Rarity, not daring to make eye contact with Pinkie Pie.
 
Fluttershy wiped the sweat from her brow. “How did we survive? How did it get so warm in here?”
 
Twilight chuckled absentmindedly. “That’s my fault. Sorry.”
 
“Sorry, nothing. That was awesome! The walls are all melted and… oh wow, look at what’s left of the doors!”
 
The six friends looked to where Rainbow was pointing only to find two bubbling pools of liquid iron.
 
“Wow. We’re… not getting our deposit back on the rental, are we?” asked Twilight flatly.
 
The six friends laughed and hugged. Oh, what a relief it was to be in good spirits again.
 
Rarity caught something out of the corner of her eye. Or rather a lot of something. She stopped laughing and pulled herself out of the group hug. Her five friends turned to watch her, and then no pony smiled.
 
As if drawn to the terrible site, the white unicorn moved ever forward until she was upon it. The Crystal Heart, or rather what was left of it, lay scattered about its pedestal in countless pieces.
 
Twilight nervously clapped her forehooves together. “Okay, so the Crystal Heart was destroyed. No big deal, right? He heh heh, maybe we can fix it? I mean, what’s the worst that—“
 
A cacophony of howling filled the air. It was the gut-wrenching sound of Windigos being reborn from that damned vortex. But this time it sounded like there were countless scores of them.
 
“Here we go again. Form up, earthponies!” shouted Applejack, as she moved to the front lines to face death a second time that day. Resolutely they stood at her side, a nested V of crystal and earthponies, ready to give their all to fight the good fight. Again.
 
“Up and at ‘em pegasi, we can’t let those earthponies show us up!” Rainbow Dash nodded the challenge to her orange friend.
 
“That a fact? Well I reckon my earthponies’ll drop twice as many of ‘em than your pegasi do this time ‘round.”
 
Rainbow Dash did a quick loop in the air and grinned at Applejack. “I’ll take that bet. Loser buys the winner a baker's dozen of Joe’s best?”
 
Applejack nodded and the two mares shook on it.
 
“Yo, Twilight!” the brash pegasus called out to her Alicorn friend, “Got any more of that sunny goodness from Celestia? We could really use some kind of warm…” she gestured a sort of whirling motion with her hooves “Fire… Look I don’t know, just make with the magic.”
 
Twilight giggled at her friend’s antics, but saw the wisdom in her request. Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she focused on the seemingly infinite power of the ancient Alicorn that she had tapped into once before and tried to funnel it into the business ends of the weapons around her. It was like trying to drink from a fire hose.
 
Spear tips and wingblades hummed with heat and began to glow a bright red. Sweat appeared on many brows, but nopony was complaining. Twilight was sure the outcome would be different this time around. She marched to the front of the V formation and took her unicorns with her. They would be the rocks that the Windigo wave would break against, and break they would.
 
As the ponies continued to prepare, the ground began to quake. Rarity mused on the fact that nopony was willing to acknowledge the truth of their situation. That the Crystal Empire was falling piece by piece into the icy grip of the Northern Wastes.
 
The girls all knew what would happen if the Crystal Heart was broken. They were warned ahead of time by Princess Celestia. Without the power of the heart, it not be long before the earth opens up beneath their hooves to swallow up what hasn’t already been destroyed by the Windigos.
 
Rarity, lost in her own thoughts, found herself idly kicking at the pieces of the broken heart. It’s all over, isn’t it? The Crystal Kingdom is crumbling apart and the Windigos are screaming towards them once again. What’s the point in trying?
 
“Sad, isn’t it?” asked a surprisingly sincere voice. Rarity turned her head to look at the speaker. It was Pinkie Pie. She sat nearby, filling pie tins with shaving cream. “It was such a generous heart, providing for so many ponies for so many years. And now it’s broken.”
 
Pinkie Pie stopped what she was doing and looked Rarity in the eye. “I’d give anything to fix that broken heart.”
 
Rarity looked at Pinkie Pie, really looked at her, for the first time in years. When did she get those wrinkles and laugh lines around her eyes? She’d known the mare for over a decade now, but when was the last time they talked, just the two of them? Gosh, it had to have been before her… wedding to Fancy Pants.
 
Had she really held a grudge against one of her dearest friends for so long?
 
Pinkie Pie watched as a subtle transformation took place in Rarity’s eyes. Where there was once a placid stillness, there was now recognition. Observation. Interest. Pinkie Pie blinked away happy tears. Today was the day it was all going to turn around.
 
“Hi, Rarity. I missed you.” And the silly pink pony hugged her dear friend. Rarity hugged her back. It was a nice hug. It meant a lot. It said a lot.
 
The moment passed, and Pinkie Pie sat up. She nodded over to the broken Crystal Heart “You do what you need to do.” Then she nodded towards the pile of pies next to her “I’ll do what I need to do, and we’ll get through this. You’ll see.”
 
It was not long before the Windigos were upon them. Fueled by the bitter poison of revenge, they exploded against the ponies' defenses. But the defenses held. Like drops of water thrown into a furnace, the Windigos vaporized one by one against the wall of Twilight and her unicorns.
 
The wall held for several minutes, before enough of the unicorns began to fatigue. Twilight called out to Applejack to prepare her lines. Applejack nodded, and in the blink of an eye the unicorns were teleported behind the nested V of Applejack’s earthpony warriors. Their heated spear heads cut through demon ice-flesh like light piercing the darkness.
 
The Windigos continued their maddened frenzy until a half a score of them were reduced to a fine powder by the undaunted warriors. Soon, Windigos stopped pouring out of the corridor. In their stead, a massive hail storm hit the line of earthpony defenders. Twilight realized that the Wingidos had changed tactics.
 
Twilight signaled to Rainbow Dash and the former weatherpony barked orders to her team of pegasi defenders. If the Windigos were going to sit back and lob weather at them, she was going take advantage of their mistake.
 




From far down the hall beyond first check point of Sparkle Base Alpha, the Windigos summoned another wave of hail and fired it towards the defenders. Surely by now they would be- 

What was that hissing sound?
 
Moments later, a wall of boiling water came cascading out of the nerve center, roaring down the halls until it engulfed the ill prepared Windigos, who bellowed with rage as they boiled away into nothingness.




 
For a short while, the defenders could detect no sound or movement outside of the tremors that ticked down what little time they had remaining before the earth swallowed them all. Wounds were treated, refreshments were served, and preparations for the next wave were made. But what came next, nopony could prepare for.
 
A new sound, a sound that to this day wakes Twilight up with a cold sweat in the middle of the night, filled the air. It was the terrified screams of hundreds of ponies at once, and it came from the other side of the crystal wall that separated the nerve center from the rest of  Sparkle Base Alpha.
 
Twilight expanded her consciousness beyond the crystal wall and gasped.
 
“They opened a new vortex in the Mess Hall!”
 
“Oh, no.”
 
“They can do that?”
 
“My family’s in there!”
 
“Crack open that wall, Twilight, we gotta save ‘em!”
 
The Goddess of Magic bristled with effort as she worked to timeshift the crystal as quickly as she could. Sweat dripped down her face as she pushed past her mental exhaustion. Rainbow Dash slapped away at the wall with her wingblades ineffectually.
 
“Come on, come on, go faster!” she begged.
 
As they worked, a single, muffled scream was heard from the other side of the translucent wall. A tiny yellow blur ran by, chased by several horse-sized white blurs with glowing red eyes.
 
Pinkie Pie’s heart sank like a stone, her hair along with it. “That’s Sun Spots.” A moment later, she shouted back “Momma’s coming, sweetie!”
 
Outside of her own little world, Rarity was only vaguely aware that her friends needed her, but that didn’t seem to matter at the moment. Nor did it matter that the Windigos were upon the defenseless. Not while there was still this broken heart.
 
A part of her was relieved when that wall everypony was making such a fuss about finally came down in a burst of magic, but she wasn’t about to chase after the other defenders. After all, she couldn’t just leave the poor thing alone now, could she?
 
No, not when she felt such a connection to the broken heart. Beautiful and sad, as it was. It reminded her of how her own heart broke when she watched Pinkie Pie and Fancy Pants kiss for the first time all those years ago in Canterlot.

Had she never truly forgiven them? The ground beneath her hooves trembled again, and she could feel the crystal walls of the Equestrian Games Complex began to crack and crumble. Well, if she couldn’t heal her own broken heart, surely she could repair this one, right?
 
After all at it’s just a broken gem. The transformation of rags and scraps into works of art was her specialty. Plus, she always had an affinity for gems. How hard could it be? She gathered the pieces in a blue aura.
 
She focused and drowned out the world around her. She could no longer feel the bitter cold that frosted her cheeks, or the shaking of the earth. All she could feel was the broken Crystal Heart.
 
She put the pieces back into place and held them in her magic. Faint though it was, she could swear that she felt a soft tremor bleed from the heart. Whatever those Windigos did while everypony was frozen did something. Somehow, its heartbeat had returned, faint as a whisper. Beat though it did, the earth still shook.
 
Rarity synchronized her magic with the soft heartbeat, pushing her will into the Crystal Heart with each weak thump. Her magic began to coalesce and bond onto its own inherent power. She was no longer certain that the aura holding it in place was hers, but she couldn’t help but smile at how well it was all going.
 
A crack as thick as her tail suddenly split along the ground, and several load bearing walls crumbled into dust.
 
Realization dawned on Rarity. The heart lacked something at its core. That’s why the earthquakes kept happening. Something that magic couldn’t fix. 

It lacked a purpose. It lacked desire. Not to put too fine a point on it, it lacked love. Rarity looked all about the chaos around her. Surely there was something to love in this forsaken place.
 
Standing brave and tall was Fluttershy, weeks away from becoming a mother for the sixth time. Rarity watched as she managed a small medical team, undaunted in the midst of so much violence. She’d come so far. Though many ponies had fallen in the days and hours leading up to this moment, her eyes were strong. She was determined to save as many as she could. Rarity could feel the kindness of her soul.
 
thu-thump
 
Rarity looked at the Alicorn Princess, as she held the roof in place with her will alone. That didn’t stop Twilight from lashing out with beams of energy and the occasional fiery blast. The white unicorn had always admired her magical prowess.
 
thu-thump
 
She watched as Applejack fought like a cornered manticore. Though she had lost her defenders to the inevitable frost, she fought on with stubborn determination. Applejack’s eyes held a sorrow that Rarity knew all too well. The farm mare was no good at hiding her emotions and they were plain as day across her face. She did not want it to end here, so far away from the soil of Sweet Apple Acres. Not so soon after Granny Smith. Rarity always admired Applejack’s honesty.
 
thu-thump
 
Rainbow Dash was the worst off of the girls, what with the damage to her left eye, but the Captain of the Wonderbolts fought with a grit that would put anypony to shame. Each blow from her hooves reduced a Windigo into a pile of snowflakes. Rarity knew that she would go down fighting. After all, who was more loyal than Rainbow Dash?
 
thu-thump
 
Then there was the pink mare that had vexed her for so long. Her silly old friend. Rarity watched as she ducked and dodged her way through the sea of foul spirits, almost effortlessly, twitching this way and that. She had her youngest son jammed haphazardly in her mane, and he laughed fearlessly along with his mother.
 
Pinkie somehow stopped herself in the middle of the air and turned her head to face Rarity. Then she blew a raspberry at her with crossed eyes. Rarity laughed, despite herself.
 
thu-thump
 
Rarity smiled. There was plenty to love even here at the end of the world. She had five true, true friends. They’d always been there for her. But she wasn’t always there for them. She looked down at her broken Element of Harmony necklace and traced a hoof along the jagged crack that ran all the way through the gem.
 
“No. Never again. I may not have always been there for my friends, but from this moment on…” she stood up on her hindlegs and thrust a hoof up towards the heavens. “From this moment on, I will never again turn my back on a pony in need! I will forgive and forget. I will be the greatest friend anypony could ever ask for!”
 
She fell back down to all fours as the ground beneath her began to give way. She looked around the room in a panic, trying desperately to find that one glorious mare. And there she was hopping along the ground trying to stay ahead of the collapsing earth.
 
“Pinkie Pie!”
 
The mare in question turned to look at Rarity as the white unicorn leapt towards her.
 
“I forgive you!” shouted Rarity.
 
Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After all these years. She smiled a broad smile. 

Suddenly her left foreleg twitched a twitchy twitch and her eyes sprang open. She pulled Sun Spots out of her hair and flung him as hard as she could. “Twilight, catch him!”
 
The glowing Alicorn caught him in an aura of magic and put him down on her back without ever breaking her concentration off of the colossal roof over head.
 
“Rarity, catch me!”
 
The baffled white unicorn turned her head  away from Twilight in time to see the floor beneath Pinkie Pie open. She fell into the abyss.
 
“Pinkie Piiiiie!” Rarity grabbed the Crystal Heart in her magic before jumping after her friend into the darkness.

“What am I doiiiiiiiiiiAAAAAAAH!” 

As the wind raced past her, she could just see the faint outline of a pink party pony hurtling ever down. She’d never catch her at this rate. Pinkie Pie would fall forever, or worse, she’d not fall forever and become a very messy pink splat.
 
Rarity pushed herself downwards with her magic, trying desperately to exceed her own terminal velocity. She wasn’t very good at it. Speed wasn’t her forte. Then she tried reaching out to Pinkie Pie with her magic, maybe she could slow her friend’s fall somehow.
 
She extended her will beyond herself, pushing her blu… golden? Her golden aura ever outwards. But to no avail. The only thing she could feel was the Crystal Heart racing beside he… no, she was clutching it in her forehooves. When did that happen?
 
As she pondered this, she felt a connection to the Crystal Empire and its ponies… no, not its ponies… Her ponies. They needed her, just like they needed the Crystal Heart. Just like she needed to reach Pinkie Pie. The Crystal Heart spoke to her.
 
Rarity Belle, Broken Element of Generosity, do you seek my power?
 
“Yes.”
 
Are you willing to be remade in order to save those that are most precious to you?
 
“Yes!”
 
And what of my ponies? Will you save them too? Would you take my offering and be their Crystal Heart? Forever to guide them? Forever to love them? Do you promise to never lead them astray? To-
 
“Not to come off as impolite or anything, but can we just assume for the sake of the argument that I agree to all your terms? I’d rather like to catch my friend before the ground does.”
 



 
Pinkie Pie was falling, but she wasn’t afraid. She knew that it would all work out in the end. She’d had the best friends a girl could ask for. She had the Stallion of her dreams. She had three beautiful children. She had nothing to fear.
 
She’d been the luckiest gal in the whole wide world. She had so much. Was it too much to ask that she’d get to see the faces of those she loved, one more time? Yeah, it probably was. It was probably super-duper selfish of her. But she wanted it anyway.
 
She also wanted whatever that bright golden light was to be just a smidgemeter less bright.
 
Suddenly her falling wasn’t so… fall-y. It was more glide-y. And then she just hung there in the air. Weird!
 
“Oh hay, you did catch me. Thanks!”
 
“No no, thank you, Pinkie Pie. I’ve been a terrible friend. Can you… Ever forgive me?”
 
“Consider it done! Oh, wow I love your new look, very shiny.”
 
Rarity blushed. “Yes, well… Shall we go see if we can help the girls?”
 
“Oh, don’t wait on my account. After all, I’m just… hanging around!” Pinkie Pie’s peal of laughter from her own amazing joke reverberated along the walls of the chasm as the two ponies floated back up on a pillar of golden light to save the day.
 



 
Princess Twilight Sparkle was having a terrible day. She had a little colt that she was quite fond of crying his eyes out on her back, begging for his momma to ‘bounce out of the hole.’ She was down two Elements due to the last earthquake, and she was having a hard time talking herself out of teleporting the hay out of here with as many ponies as she could grab.
 
A crumbling sound drew her attention, and she turned in time to see the last wall of Sparkle Base Alpha fall into the earth. She looked up and realized that she was all that was supporting the roof with her magic. It floated in place like some kind of... big round disk thingy that hovers in the air.
 
With a grunt she sent it flying off into the wastes. One the plus side, that was one less spell to upkeep. She grinned as she wrapped two newly reborn Windigos in matching auras and rubbed them together furiously until there was nothing left but powder.
 
Sure, it was grim, and perhaps a bit… okay it was very twisted. But it was the most satisfying way she had of dispatching them. Very cathartic.
 
A Windigo roared into existence right in front of her and motioned to trample her, catching the Alicorn Goddess unawares. It reared up, kicking its front hooves and let out a demoralizing whine. Then it stopped in its tracks with a confused look on its face.
 
It looked down at the cyan hoof poking out of its chest, which was quickly followed by the rest of Rainbow Dash. She shook the powdery snow off of her coat like a dog throws off water and looked at her purple friend.
 
“So, what’s the plan, Twilight?”
 
“Plan? What makes you think I have a plan?”

“Don’t you always have a plan?”

“You do realize that having a plan means that there was time for planning, right? All we’re doing is reacting out here.”
 
“Uh huh, so what’s the plan?”
 
Princess Twilight Sparkle huffed a sigh and leveled her eyes on Rainbow Dash. “I have no plan, alright? Unless there – there –there’s some kind of miracle, we’re all gonna di—“
 
A golden pillar of light spilled out of the earth where Pinkie Pie and Rarity both fell in and familiar warmth filled her chest. She looked at the similarly stunned Rainbow Dash and noticed that her Element of Harmony was glowing.
 
“Twilight, my Element! Your Element!”
 
She touched her crown. Sure enough there was that old familiar warmth. She was about to say something to Rainbow Dash, when she heard a sound she knew all too well. It was laughter.
  
Twilight couldn’t help but smiled when she saw Rarity and the glowing Element, whole and restored on her chest. At least it looked like Rarity. Though the crystal armor was throwing her off. Twilight had so many questions, but now wasn’t the time.
 
“Girls!” She shouted to everypony present “Formation!”
 
Applejack hooked her lasso around an errant Windigo and caught a ride over to Twilight and the others. Twilight grabbed it in her magic as it passed overhead and compressed it into a snowball.
 
Oh! Oh that was a fun one, it‘s almost a pity that we won’t have any more to… what am I thinking?
 
Rainbow Dash returned with a startled looking Fluttershy in tow. “Oh, my! Rarity, your Element is back to normal. I love your new look, by the way. Very avant-garde.”
 
“Momma!” squealed Sun Spots as he leapt off Twilight’s back and into Pinkie Pie’s fore limbs.

“Hay, sunshine!”

Finally, with each Element standing together, they shared a smile. The warmth in their chests spread to the rest of their bodies, and they began to glow.
 
“What’s happening, momma? I feel really happy.”

“Hold on tight, sweetie. This is going to be the best thing, ever!”
 
And it was. Oh it was glorious. The Windigos never knew what hit them. A flood of prismatic light burst from the six mares and out over the entire world. Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and the Magic binding them all together, scoured the whole of the Crystal Empire, Equestria, and everywhere inbetween in a wave of joy. Wrongs were righted, trespasses were forgiven, and closure was offered. It had been far too long since the lands of Equestria were bathed in the radiance of harmony.
 
Indeed it would be far longer, centuries even, before it would happen again.
 



 
“…And?”
 
“And what, darling?”
 
“So you used some magical jewelry, and then what happened?” asked Honeycrisp.

Rarity tittered “Silly me, of course you wouldn’t know what the Elements of Harmony do. Why it wiped the Windigos out of existence. Poof! They were never heard from again; etcetera, etcetera.”
 
“So that’s great and all, but why are you called the Frostmare?” Honeycrisp huffed.

“Ah, well yes. That didn’t start until a few years later.  It all began when Applejack came to visit me in the Crystal Empire and asked if I—“
 
“Trouble,” grunted Quick Name.
 
A blast of energy slammed against the protective magical bubble that wrapped around their sky carriage. The three girls screamed and hit the deck. Twilight looked up from her reverie and cursed at herself for not keeping a sharper watch.
 
When the smoke from the blast cleared, Twilight and her companions were dumbstruck by the sight before them.
 
The air around them was filled with hundreds of pegasi, each and everypony there was muttering something or other as they flapped together in unison. Their eyes stared straight ahead, dull and lifelessly. Except for a single notable exception.
 
“Hello, dearest sister,” said Princess Cadence with enough venom in her voice to make Twilight feel ill. The Goddess of Love’s eyes were bloodshot, and her horn throbbed with an aura that wasn’t her own.
 
“Thanks for the letter. We’ve been ever so prepared for your arrival.”