//------------------------------// // The First Seeds of Spring (pt. 2/2) // Story: Snowblind // by CrowMagnon //------------------------------// Snowblind by crowmagnon The First Seeds of Spring, Pt. 2 To the rest of the world, it was over in a matter of seconds. As the Elements of Harmony joined their power together, rainbows swirled out of their necklaces and surrounded Gungnir in a large whirlwind. As they wrapped around the howling Windigo, they drew tighter and tighter, shrinking to the size of a tennis ball before the prismatic beams shot up into the sky. Arcing down and toward the frozen griffon, the power of the Elements struck the ice holding Gertrude, which cracked and crumbled away as it pierced straight to her heart. The brightness of the magic rapidly built in intensity until nopony could look at it, and a brilliant flash engulfed the area. When it passed, the six bearers of the Elements set back down onto the snow-covered streets. Applejack rubbed her eyes as her vision returned, but then glanced upward and gasped. "Everypony, look out!" Above their heads, three Windigoes hovered in the air. Their forms shifted, apparently having difficulty in deciding whether to take the shape of ponies or griffons. Rather than attack, however, the spirits looked downward, then quickly turned tail and fled toward the mountains. Watching them fly away, Zecora said, "The Windigoes are released from Gungnir's control, I see. Without that keeping them here, it is their nature to flee." "But what about her?" Twilight asked, turning toward Gertrude. The white griffon sat in a bare patch of road, the ice and snow having melted away from her but for a small, frozen object held in her talons. She remained every bit as large and imposing in stature as she had before, but the manner in which she held her head low and slumped her wings made it clear that there was no more desire to fight in her. Slowly turning her gaze up to look at the ponies, her pink eyes began brimming over with tears. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I am so... so sorry..." As if on cue, the clouds parted above her, allowing the sun's rays to shine down upon Gertrude as a squad of armored pegasi punched a hole through them. The soldiers were followed by two chariots; one pulled by pegasi, the other by thestrals, each heralding the arrival of a pony to whom everypony else in the area reflexively knelt in respect. Before the first chariot could even set down, Princess Luna leapt out of the back of hers and spread her wings so that she could glide toward the griffon with an enthusiastic cry of "GERTRUDE!" The griffon's pink eyes went wide, and the jaws of everypony (and minotaur) fell open as she was forcefully glomped by the Princess of the Night. As the two of them tumbled into a snowbank, the second Princess waited for her chariot to land before disembarking. When she did, pegasus soldiers attempted to escort her off, but she politely declined them and slowly approached the scene her sister was causing. "Oh, Gertrude, I have not seen you for so very long! That is, I did see you, but either you were frozen, or you were eating a sandwich and then it turned out to be a dream. Oh, no, what if this is a dream? You are not feeling peckish for sandwiches, are you? If you are, I shall ban sandwiches from Equestria until I wake up! I, PRINCESS LUNA, DIARCH OF EQUESTRIA, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM THAT ALL SANDWICHES--" "Luna! Please, do stop shouting into Gertrude's ear. You are awake," Celestia gently chided her younger sister. Looking at the kneeling ponies, and one minotaur who was doing his best to bow despite a broken leg, she said, "Rise, my little ponies. There is no need to bury your faces in the snow." Smiling as she usually did, with unflappable good humor, Celestia watched her subjects stand. They in turn looked up at her, and most were stunned by the sight of her. The months since Waking Night and the final defeat of Eclipse had done wonders for the Sun Princess, who had always appeared elderly and frail for as long as any other living pony could remember. A consequence of the wounds she had suffered while sealing the monster away a thousand years prior. Now, though still somewhat wrinkled and wizened, her frame had filled out a bit and she projected an aura of gentle strength. "Awake? You mean... this is actually happening?" Luna asked. When Celestia nodded, Luna smiled, and the stars in her mane and tail shone brightly even though the sunlight beaming down upon her. "SANDWICHES ARE DELICIOUS!" Through all of this, Gertrude looked back and forth between the Princesses, comparing the sight of them now to the memory of the last time she saw them. Aside from Celestia's advanced age, they looked identical to the altered forms they had taken on in her palace of ice. But while Gungnir's influence in her mind had made her seen them as monsters who had allowed themselves to mutate into hideous forms in exchange for power, she could now see them through her own unfiltered senses. "Luna...? Celestia? You are... you are so beautiful... but..." She trailed off as Luna began nuzzling her soft, downy feathers. "Your wings are fluffy," the Princess of the Night told her. Celestia's smile took on a bittersweet edge. "It is a long, sad story, my friend. As were the events of today, it seems." Turning to look at Twilight, she asked, "Lieutenant Sparkle, it is good to see you again. Was anypony harmed before you and your friends were able to use the Elements?" Twilight stammered a bit, her complexion paling as she was forced to address Princess Celestia. After a few disconnected syllables escaped her mouth, Nocturne flapped over toward the Lieutenant and elbowed her in the barrel. After catching her breath, Twilight saluted and exclaimed, "S-some cuts and scrapes and property damage to Sugarcube Corner, Princess, but no serious injuries reported yet!" "What a relief..." Gertrude whispered under her breath, knowing all too well the harm that she could have done. Ashamed, she looked to the others and said, "But I still caused you so much fear and anguish. I do not know if I can ask for your forgiveness, but if there is anything I can do to repair the damage I have done..." Gertrude hung her head low in contrition, but Celestia approached and placed a gold-shod hoof on her shoulder. "There will be time to decide how you should make restitution, but we should do so back in Canterlot. Your Windigoes hit quite hard there, as well." The Sun Princess rolled her eyes. "All those politicians and socialites... it must have seemed like the closest thing to an open buffet in all Equestria. It took my Captain of the Guard and his soldiers hours to drive them off, even with my sister and I assisting them." Meanwhile, Luna was hugging an awkwardly flustered Nocturne like a plush toy, much to the horror of some and the amusement of others. "Please do not be jealous, my Ranger. We still think that bat wings are cute, too!" Her face flushed with embarrassment, Nocturne stammered, "That's... um... very kind of you to say, Princess..." She looked to her fellow Rangers for assistance, but Twilight's eyes were starting to glaze over for some reason, and she wasn't in a fit state to pry one of the Princesses off of her. As for Pokey, he was too busy failing to hide his snickering at her situation. Baring her fangs at the powder-blue unicorn, she growled, "One hundred push-ups, Private. Right now!" The young stallion's groan as he dropped down into the snow and began doing push-ups said that he regretted it, but the smirk at the corner of his mouth said he still considered it worth the punishment. At the same time, Twilight was taking advantage of the patch of sunlight shining down to survey the damages to the immediate area. Even though very little harm was done to the buildings besides Sugarcube Corner, the snow was much deeper than it had been at the beginning of the day. And given how high the sun was in the sky... "Oh, no..." she whispered to herself. "There's no way to get Winter Wrap-Up done before nightfall... I'm tardy!" With that realization, all of the emotional pressure and fear that she had shoved aside while protecting the town came crashing down on the young Lieutenant's psyche all at once. Thankfully, the snow was deep enough to catch her in its soft embrace as she collapsed. ----- Following the armored unicorn's fainting spell, her friends volunteered to get her inside out of the cold while the pegasi of the Guard met with the local weatherponies. The pegasi then dispersed throughout the town and the surrounding farms; first to ensure that there had been no serious harm caused by the blizzard other than what Gertrude had personally wrought, and secondly to assure the citizens that the crisis had passed. As soon as she was re-united with Spike and Sweetie Belle, Rarity had clutched them both tightly and refused to let go until her little sister's whining about her ribs approached a frequency that caused Nocturne Striker's ears to flatten from a few blocks away. Once Rarity reluctantly released her family, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a hug, each of them grateful for the others's safety. Applejack smiled as she watched the friends reunite, but then took a look at to the coat she had arrived in. Seeing the damage that had been done to it throughout the day, she let out a soft sigh. Not too soft to be heard by her little sister, though, who turned back to look at her. "Applejack? What's th' matter?" Despite their earlier steps toward reconciliation, the little filly still felt a niggling of annoyance that her big sister would be concerned about material comforts when they had all just narrowly stayed alive. "Can't y'all jus' get it fixed?" Applejack gave her sister a bittersweet smile as she put the coat back on. "Oh, darling, that's what I'm afraid of." Confusion flickered across Apple Bloom's face, so Applejack explained, "I never bought this coat. It was a gift from one of my clients, Stitchen Thyme. Such an extraordinary tailor, but he had a dreadful family emergency not long ago, and wasn't able to work for some time. "He needed to take out a loan just to stay afloat, but the interest rates some of the other lenders were offering were absolutely predatory. I stepped in and offered a payment plan which would not harm his business once he got working again, and the dear stallion made this coat as a gesture of gratitude. I know how much time and material it cost him to create this..." She paused for a moment, placing a hoof over a line of torn stitching. "So when I wear this, I'm not just wearing it for myself. I'm showing the world the fruits of his talents and hard work, and hopefully getting him more customers." Apple Bloom's eyes widened as her sister's words rolled around in her mind. "So... when yer coat got scuffed up... ya weren't upset 'cause yer property got damaged... It was 'cause it made it look lahk ya didn't appreciate all the work yer friend, Stitchen, put inta it?" Applejack smiled, getting a little flushed as she looked to the side. "Yes, something like that. I suppose it must sound rather silly and sentimental." Apple Bloom got her sister's attention back when she placed a small hoof against Applejack's leg and looked up into her eyes with earnest sincerity. "Nah... Ah get it. Lahk if Granny gave somepony the best apple pie in Equestria, then they tripped an' dropped it on th' ground. Even if it was an accident, it'd feel lahk all that time an' love she put inta it was wasted." Applejack looked down at Apple Bloom, her smile widening. "Yes, and even though she would certainly make another one just as good to replace it..." "... If'n ya really cared, ya wouldn't wanna make her have ta go ta the extra effort in the first place," Apple Bloom concluded. She was vaguely aware of the door opening behind her, but didn't pay it any mind as she leaned in to nuzzle her big sister. "Ah'm... ah'm sorry again fer bein' such a pain before... Ya ain't lahk how ah thought ya were." "Oh, thank Celestia AN' Luna," a deep, masculine, and very familiar voice exclaimed, heralding Big McIntosh's entrance. Taking just a moment to help get Granny Smith and Winona inside, the big red stallion then hurried over to wrap his forelegs around both his sisters. "Ah didn't know where you two had gone off to 'til that Guardpony flew by tellin' us you'd saved th' day again." Applejack and Apple Bloom both eagerly returned the hug from their big brother, but only until a bit of the snow that had accumulated atop his Stetson fell off his hat and down the back of both of their necks. The ensuing shriek once again caused Nocturne Striker to flatten her ears against her head, then add twenty more push-ups to Pokey's punishment for stopping to ask what was the matter. As the echoes faded, Granny Smith grimaced and rubbed her ear. "Guess Ah gotta go deaf sooner or later. Ah'm jus' glad ta see mah girls safe an' sound," she said with a gummy grin. "An' that ya put that nonsense 'bout the workers b'hind ya." Applejack paled a little while the littlest Apple blinked in confusion. "Workers?" "Ain't that what you two were arguin' about before?" Granny asked. Despite Applejack using her hoof to repeatedly make a cutting gesture across her throat to stop the elderly mare, Granny Smith explained, "Them workers Applejack sent back when Mac was hurt!" Both sisters winced at the reminder of the argument they had previously had, when Apple Bloom had exploded and called her a 'rotten Apple' before running off. "Yeah... Ah... Ah'm sure yer heart was in th' right place there." "Darn tootin' it was," Granny said curtly as Big Mac helped her into a nearby chair. "Bad as that apple blight was, Ah can't imagine how many good farmers would've gone bankrupt if'n they hadn't been put ta work here." "Apple blight, Granny?" Granny Smith looked at her grand-daughter and asked, "Didn't ya hear us talkin' 'bout that last year? Nasty blight practically wiped out a good half-dozen farms in that area. Why did ya think there were so many stallions lookin' fer work?" Apple Bloom felt a flush of shame as she realized that she had heard passing mentions of other farms getting hit badly, but had been too wrapped up in her own angst over her prodigal sister's absence to connect the dots. "Ya weren't jus' lookin' out fer our family... Applejack... ya ain't no farmer! But y'all're a good Apple... an' ah'm glad y'all're mah sister..." A chorus of "Awwwwwww" filled the room, and the Apple siblings quickly realized that everypony else had been listening in on their (admittedly not very private) conversation. Pinkamena's mouth twitched in such a way that she made an expression akin to trying to cure constipation by sitting on a cactus, but as much as she was able, she sounded genuinely pleased as she said, "Congratulations, Applejack, you won your bet. What is Apple Bloom going to say during the press conference?" A look of stricken terror suddenly filled Apple Bloom's face as she remembered the wager made earlier that morning, though it felt like a lifetime ago. "Wait, we ain't actually gonna...? Ah mean, we were both in th' heat o' anger back then an' it was soooooo long ago!" Applejack blinked, having honestly forgotten about it as well, but she couldn't stop a mischievous smirk from crossing her lips. "No, no, my dear friend Pinkamena is quite right. We did have an arrangement." Apple Bloom looked to Big Mac for support, but her brother simply nodded solemnly. "An Apple's word is her bond." When the filly turned to her grandmother, Granny Smith shook her head. "Don't go lookin' at me. You two shook on it." A gentle wave of laughter began spreading through the gathered herd as Apple Bloom groaned in dismay, gathering in strength as the simple comfort of safety and togetherness warmed their hearts. ----- Gertrude clutched the piece of ice she had picked up to her breast as she sat on the clouds above Ponyville. Staring through the clouds, her heat sense and telescopic vision combined to clearly show her the state of the ponies that she had terrorized so recently. Beside her, Celestia sat in her chariot and watched the expressions play across her old friend's face. "I am glad you stopped to show me this, Celestia. They are so strong," Gertrude mused as he saw the ponies gather around the Cakes to comfort the couple over the damage done to their bakery. And there was Derpy with Rarity as the unicorn used her newly-learned magic to release her from the armor that had been placed on her. All while Vinyl Scratch tried to convince her to keep it on the grounds that it was 'rockin'. "I did my best to drive them to fear... anger... paranoia... But here we are, not even an hour passed, and their connections to one another are stronger than ever. Perhaps if the same could have held true for us..." A shadow flickered over Gertrude, but it was only Luna as the Princess of the Night lazily swooped and whirled around in the sky while her charioteers attempted to catch up and get her to sit down. Celestia gave her friend a wan smile. "Pinkamena... that lovely poet down there... she once told me, 'Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: "It might have been."' For us, that is entirely too many opportunities for sadness. We can't change the past, but you have been returned to us now, and the future is still to be written." Gertrude nodded and raised her eyes toward distant Canterlot, the mountainside city still largely shrouded by thick clouds, the weather teams being forced to wait until the snow was cleared away so as to avoid flooding. "I suppose we should be continuing on to Canterlot, then. I still have to answer for my actions." Celestia pursed her lips. "Indeed. There are a great many souls who will not be satisfied until you are brought before them, and they have been kept waiting too long as it is." Turning her head up to her cavorting sister, she called out, "Luna! We should be returning home, now!" "As you wish, sister," Luna called back, leveling off her flight and aiming for Canterlot, much to the consternation of her charioteers. The Sun Princess raised a golden-shod hoof to her mouth and giggled before telling Gertrude, "Well, I suppose you should be taking her chariot, then. The poor stallions will feel left out if they don't transport somepony. Besides, you will want to get a bit of rest before you see who else has been waiting for your return." Gertrude tilted her head in a rather owl-like expression of confusion as she asked, "Who?" ----- "It... it can't be..." Gertrude's beak hung open, practically touching the floor. Upon reaching Canterlot, and after a few words with Celestia's Captain of the Guard ensuring the white-coated unicorn that she was no longer an imminent threat, the Princesses had led her down into a magically sealed vault deep beneath the palace. The air inside the vault was cool, but not so cold as to be unbearable for the mortal guards accompanying them. Before Gertrude's eyes, dozens... hundreds of griffons lay peacefully in repose, their eyes closed and expressions so serene that one would think that they were simply napping, except that each and every one of them was surrounded by a shell of ice shaped very much like an egg. Too stunned by the bizarre display to breathe, Gertrude slowly panned across each of the 'cocoons' that lay before her. Male and female, adult and cub, each one was perfectly preserved and still showed signs of warmth and life to the Warden of Winter's sight. She finally remembered how to inhale when she reached a particular group in the center, which caused her to gasp with a combination of delight and horror. Her knights, each of them laying as peacefully as the others. Out of all of the griffons, only their Knight-Captain stood, tall and proud and holding his spear. Not brandishing it as he had been the last time she had seen him, but as if on ceremony. Placing her talons against the ice, Gertrude whispered, "Gunther... how...?" "He used what you taught him of your magic to free himself and the others shortly after Luna imprisoned you," Celestia explained while Luna attempted to play Peek-a-Boo with some of the frozen cubs. "We asked him to take the throne in your stead and continue your work in keeping the clans unified." Celestia came up alongside Gertrude and put a wing across the griffon's back as she laughed. "He wouldn't hear of it. I still remember exactly what he said... 'Whatever madness overtook my Queen, it will not hold her forever. After all she has given her people, we owe her everything we have and more. Her last memory of us will not be my spear aimed at her throat.' And as you can see..." Celestia paused to look at the countless frozen shells. "He was not the only one to hold that opinion. "Knights, servants, shopkeepers and laborers from the city... Even though none of us knew when you might awaken, or if you would ever regain your sanity, they felt that they owed you their lives. They gave up everything they knew, knowing that they faced an uncertain future... but they did it because you showed them, just as my ancestors did for the pony tribes, that even through the dark days of Winter, when times are bleakest, we still grow stronger by reaching out to uplift our fellow creatures." Gertrude's vision grew blurry. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against the ice preserving the Knight-Captain as her tears dripped down onto its surface. Her grip on the small, frozen object she had carried with her from Ponyville tightened as she clutched it to her breast. After half a minute of silence, Gertrude stepped back and looked at the other frozen griffons as well. So many of them were familiar to her, but what moved her even more were those that she could not name. The amount of faith that they had placed in her made her feel so small and unworthy of it, but she knew that there was only one way to honor their trust. She would have to be worthy. Spreading her wings wide, Gertrude focused her magic into them and flapped them toward the shells to create a current of air. The wind that flowed from her wings was not the biting chill of Winter, however, but the magic that she had cast so many times every year at the end of the season. As the breeze flowed through the room, the enchantments binding the shells of ice together gradually came undone. Cracks formed across their surface as the power of Winter was released. The ice began to crumble away, then melt into drains lining the vault's floor while the ever-present chill faded away. All around the room, the sound of griffons breathing and murmuring drowsily begna to fill the warming air. Consciousness was slow to return after their centuries of suspended animation, which suited Gertrude well as she was not prepared to meet them all just yet. Not until after she greeted the one most important in her heart. When the ice fell away from him, Gunther's eyes cracked open slightly and his body woozily threatened to lose its balance until Gertrude moved in to support him, looking into his eyes as she allowed the Knight-Captain to gradually regain his sense of awareness. Gertrude knew that he was truly aware of her when his eyes widened in surprise. Seeing her natural pink eyes instead of blank, frozen white, however, he relaxed slightly and asked, "Is that really you...? Are you back with us...?" Gertrude struggled to keep from breaking into relieved sobs, and succeeded in fighting back the tears as she nodded to him. "I am... I... Gunther, I am so..." She was stopped mid-apology as Gunther regained his balance and placed his talons over her beak, then bowed deeply. A gesture which was mirrored all around the room as the other griffons recognized Gertrude's presence. "Please, do not apologize. We are simply gladdened to have our Queen returned to us." Gertrude looked around and found herself forced to swallow back a joyed whimper at the sight of so many of her people again, but after a moment's thought she shook her head. "No... no, please rise. I am a Queen no longer. It has been so long, I do not even know the state of our people." Looking over her shoulder, she looked to Celestia for answers. With a wan smile, the elderly Sun Princess explained, "It's true that in your absence, the world has changed in many ways. The clans as you knew them have disbanded, and the current Griffon Empire rose up in their place, founded largely on the model that you established during your rulership. The Empire is a very prosperous and civilized nation as a result, but they're also rather proud of having achieved that prosperity without the constant supervision of an immortal demigod." Gertrude found a bittersweet grin spreading across her face at this news. "As they should be," she replied. "So until we find our place in this world, I am no more royal than any of you... but then this also means that we have nowhere to return to..." Bowing to her former subjects, she said, "I am sorry... and so grateful... All of you followed me here, even though it cost you your livelihoods... your homes..." Gunther stepped in front of her and gently lifted Gertrude's head up to look her in the eye. "No... no, we all made our choice to stand by you. Not just because you were our Queen, but because of what you did for us. For all griffons. And one of the things that you gave us was the lesson that home is not a clanhold, or a fortress, or a plot of land... Home is where those we cherish will always be waiting for us. We may have lost our Queen, but I can still say..." The Knight-Captain's pink eyes stared into Gertrude's own. He then let his spear fall to the ground as he embraced her, his snow-white wings wrapping around her shoulders. "... Welcome home, grandmother." "Welcome home," echoed every griffon in the room. Gertrude clenched her eyes shut and returned her grandson's embrace. ----- "... And because of my upbringing, I saw being a 'mutant' as the worst insult that I could lever against you. It may have been under Gungnir's influence, but I chose those words because I thought that they would be the most hurtful, and I can only ask for your forgiveness. It is obvious that you are a sweet young mare, and I should have never said such things to belittle you." Derpy cocked her head for several seconds before asking, "So... you're saying I'm not a sassy moo-taint?" Gertrude blinked several times. "Um... no?" "Okay!" Derpy smiled brightly and spread her wings. "Thanks for clearing that up, Miss Griffon Princess! You're a lot nicer than the one who was here yesterday, but I've gotta go get the southern birds!" Before Gertrude could correct her, Derpy flapped her wings and took off toward the east. Racing through the snow after the bubbly pegasus, Twilight shouted, "Derpy, wait! You forgot your compass!" Meanwhile, Gertrude continued pulling the snowplow that had been hitched to her once the ponies of Ponyville made their 'no magic' tradition of Winter Wrap-Up known to her. The former Queen was fairly sure that it was a trick of her imagination, but she could have sworn that she heard Celestia laughing all the way from Canterlot the instant that she was made aware of that fact. Beside her, Mayor Mare shook her head at the sight of Twilight Sparkle giving chase. "Thank Celestia that the nobles up in Canterlot insisted on declaring Winter Wrap-Up deferred for a day... I don't want to think of what could happen if our town's top Ranger ended up in a state of deadline-induced catatonia." Turning to Mayor Mare, who was walking alongside her despite not pulling a plow of her own, she said, "Thank you again for permitting me to apologize directly to those I wronged, madame Mayor. And to take part in undoing the damage I did. To be honest, I am surprised to be allowed anywhere near this town." Aside from three florists who had screamed and fled the instant that she landed (even with the Guard escort that Celestia had sent to officially deliver her intent to make amends right there in front of them), and Raindrops's understandably grumpy acceptance of Gertrude's apology, the ponies had been astonighsly cordial. Mayor Mare laughed it off. "Oh, we don't like to hold grudges here in Ponyville. At least not toward anypony... er, or griffon who's sincere about wanting to make it up to the town. Besides, any friend of the Princesses is a friend of mine," she added with a sly nudge to Gertrude's foreleg with her elbow. "Oops, looks like you have a few more coming up." Mayor Mare broke away from Gertrude as she saw Rarity approaching with Spike riding on her back. The baby dragon took one look at Gertrude and clutched tightly to his mother's back, causing Rarity's braid to jolt straight up in pained surprise for a moment. "S-spikey, please be careful with your claws... that's mommy's good boy... Now don't you worry about a thing, mommy will make sure nothing scary happens." Pausing in her pulling for a moment, Gertrude bowed her head to the two of them. "Hello, Miss Rarity. Young Spike. I want you both to know how truly sorry I am for terrorizing you and your friends, yesterday." Rarity reached back to comfortingly pat Spike on the head as she faced Gertrude. "Well... You threatened my family, and everypony I hold dear... but by the same token, I nearly fell under the Windigo's influence, too, so I understand some of what you were thinking and feeling. I will forgive you, but you have Fluttershy to thank for that. If it weren't for her, I could have very easily fallen under the spell of those monsters, too." "I will be sure to do so when I see her," Gertrude replied solemnly. "Actually," Rarity said, "I didn't come to see you for an apology... I was hoping that you could answer a question for me." Gertrude nodded. "Of course, Miss Rarity. If I can, I will." Rarity rolled the question around on her tongue for a moment before asking, "You see... when my friends and I were using the Elements of Harmony, for some reason I felt a strange sense of deja vu. For just a moment, it felt very much like when I hatched my little Spikey-wikey, and then these words came to mind. I remember saying them to Gungnir, just before the Elements destroyed it, but I haven't the faintest idea why." Gertrude sat down, looking quizzically at the rock farmer. Rarity closed her eyes and recited the words, "'I see you, you're so tiny.' Does that mean anything to you?" The griffon's eyes went wide, but she placed a talon over her heart as she nodded in affirmation. "Oh, yes. It means everything to me. You see, those words..." ----- In a small pouch tucked under Gertrude's wing, the object which she had taken with her from Ponyville rested. The object was a spearhead made of ice, but a sort of ice which refused to melt despite the warmth emenating from Gertrude's heart. It was a weapon. One which had been used to terrorize and threaten the inhabitants of Ponyville, yet Gertrude had kept it safe and close to her. Much as Gunther had not wanted his grandmother's final memory of him to be with his spear turned against her, so had Gertrude held onto it in the hopes of finding a better purpose for it. "I see you. You're so tiny," echoed the words which should have destroyed it. Once again, the memory unfurled before it of an egg as it cracked open. The small cub inside fought its way through the tough shell with beak and claw, but after breaking free and taking its first breath of air, it looked up at the enormous griffon towering over it with soft pink eyes which stole the griffon Queen's heart. The spearhead was a weapon. It had no heart of its own. There had been a time, though, when it had no thoughts or memories of its own either. It had borrowed them from Gertrude until it could begin to make its own. The head of Gungnir, the Spear of Winter, was a weapon. It had no heart of its own. But it had Gertrude's. And in the wake of the memory, at its very center, there was a very very very very small beat.