Hearth's Warming Evil

by Tortfeasor

The Price of Failure

Disclaimer: If I owned My Little Pony, do you really think I’d be here? No, so I don’t own My Little Pony.

Twilight Sparkle flipped back and forth between pages of Clover’s journal. It wasn't, it couldn't be, no way no how. Yet, there seemed to be no other explanation, Starswirl the Bearded had recorded the last entry in the journal.

In a way it made sense. The details of Clover’s and Princess Platinum’s assassinations had always been murky. That in turn had given rise to any number of conspiracy theories about who had done it and why. Twilight was actually somewhat surprised, not at all unpleasantly, though, that Lyra hadn't expounded at length her opinions during their lengthy trip to Ponyville.

Sadly, even Starswirl himself didn’t seem to be sure exactly who had been behind what. The only details he’d uncovered that Twilight didn't recall from her history books had been the knowledge that the assassins themselves had merely been hired hit-ponies.

Twilight couldn't help wondering if that was due to a good cover-up by the ponies behind it, or if it was simply Starswirl being old. She couldn't be exactly sure, but if he’d still been alive when his student was assassinated, Starswirl would have been giving Granny Smith a run for her money in the longevity department.

Old or not, if his journal was to be believed Starswirl the Bearded had gone on quite the rampage upon learning that Clover the Clever had been assassinated. Twilight dearly wanted to find a history book and start trying to corroborate Starswirl’s story, but that wasn't the most important thing he’d left. Clover the Clever had gotten through the vast majority of her spell in her notes, but the last little bit hadn't been written. Twilight had in the process of trying to fill in that gap come to the rather obvious conclusion that climbing a mountain wasn't the ideal time to complete the most complex spell ever conceived. Starswirl the Bearded, if he really was to be believed, had filled in the last pieces of the puzzle.

Twilight wasn't the only one with doubts.

“I don’t know,” Applejack shook her head, “all this fancy mathematics is way over my head. I’m just sayin that it’s mighty convenient that some high fallotin unicorn legend comes along and drops the answer to all your problems right in your lap.”

“She’s right,” Rainbow Dash said. “Sombra does this kind of thing all the time. Point some pony he doesn't like in a direction, only for it to be the wrong direction and they wind up dead in one of his traps. It would be the easiest thing in the world for him to have just carried a one where he shouldn't have and bam, we wind up in one of Lyra’s fairy tales while he’s running the place around here.”

“Not that kind of math, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight chuckled, then shook her head. “But no, if Sombra actually had access to Clover’s and Princess Platinum’s journals, he would have just destroyed them. This spell was the result of more than a decade of work by Clover the Clever. Without Clover’s work to show me the way we’d have zero chance to pull this off. Sombra is a lot of things, none of them good, but stupid isn't anywhere on that list. Besides, without Clover’s journal I don’t think I would have ever come up with something as crazy as sealing the Wendigos in the first place.”

“Maybe you should get a second opinion.” Twilight didn’t know where Pinkie Pie had gotten the magnifying glass that she was looking at the journal through. “Bon Bon always got a second opinion about a lot of stuff I said, and it worked out alright.”

“Sorry darlings,” Rarity apologized, “but I’m the only one here besides Twilight with any magical training whatsoever. And just looking at Clover’s notes about the mere concept of this spell had me remembering things from school that I’d thought long since forgotten. The spell itself might as well be in High Zebra for all I can understand.”

“I can understand it.” Twilight pulled the sizable ream of paper on which she’d checked Clover’s work by more or less duplicating it. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I might be the only unicorn alive besides Sombra who can understand this spell. Everything Clover the Clever wrote down has worked, in theory. And what I've read from Starswirl the Bearded’s entry is tracking more or less with what I’d sketched out once I realized that Clover hadn't constructed the whole spell in her journal. Just because he might have been pushing really, really old doesn't mean Starswirl the Bearded was any less smart than he’d always been. Applejack, you’d still trust Granny Smith to figure things out even though she’s pushing really, really old, right?”

“Yeah,” Applejack said after sighing in defeat, “but that ain’t the point here. Twilight, we only get one chance at this, you said so yourself. And it just seems a mite too good to be true that all the answers would be in this here book of yours.”

Twilight sighed. “Clover the Clever triple checked her work, she quadruple checked it. You should see the number of calculations that are scratched out and redone in here. I’m willing to bet that when Starswirl the Bearded added his part he went back over her work, and his own contribution has a number of corrections. And now I’m going over their work with a fine tooth comb and triple checking it all over again. What I’m saying is that a lot of work by a lot of smart ponies has gone into this spell. And if this doesn't work it will either be because it’s impossible, or because I screwed up the casting. It’s not going to fail because there’s a mistake in the theoretical spellwork.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something, but before she could speak, Twilight felt a tingle of magic in her horn and the world vanished.

Twilight stumbled, and was rudely shoved by what felt like a tree branch for her trouble. She turned to find out just who’d done something so rude only to tumble to the ground as her hooves tangled in the manacles and chains she’d somehow acquired.

Falling to the ground brought something hard, that tree branch again, into her temple and a very rude shout.

“Get up you worthless filth! No one’s going to shed a tear if I spill your guts here and now, so if you want to keep breathing, get moving!”

Twilight finally got a look at her tormentor. It was a unicorn that she’d never seen in her life, and he was wearing armor so full of villainous cliches that the fashion faux paux probably would have given Rarity a heart attack. She wasn't too far off in thinking that she’d been hit with a tree branch, it was, instead, a wooden spear shaft that had been beating on her.

Then she saw the sky. Twilight had seen any number of roiling storm clouds in her years living in Platinum City, but nothing like this. They were a reddish-gray that no natural storm had ever brought forth, and a look said that there was no waiting rain or snow in those clouds. These were no natural clouds, yet Twilight couldn't see any pegasi working on them, so what was responsible for this?

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a spearpoint taking up her whole vision. One look at the unicorn made Twilight realize that he wouldn't just kill her, he would enjoy every minute of it. She scrambled back to her hooves, a process not made any easier by being chained, and kept walking towards… somewhere.

As she shuffled ahead, Twilight took the opportunity to once more examine her surroundings. She was in a city, it almost looked like Platinum City, but there was no way that could be the case. All the buildings were made from some sort of black crystal that seemed to dim what little sun made it through the blanket of clouds. And the architecture was all wrong. Platinum City had never been full of buildings that would be termed ‘inviting,’ not in the way Ponyville was, but the buildings in this city were downright oppressive.

None of this was right, Twilight struggled to remember what she’d been doing. Something about a mountain, and other ponies, and… a book. That brought forth a rush of memories, but just as fast as they came they vanished in the gloom of her situation.

Twilight’s first clue that she was nearing her destination was the distant roar of a multitude of ponies cheering. What they might be cheering, she had no clue, but Twilight didn’t think for a moment it would entail anything resembling a reversal of her circumstances.

The sight of a large, razor wire fence brought another surge of memory that struggled in vain to take root, and it brought a sense of outrage that stayed with her as she dragged her hooves along the street. Through the gaps in the wire Twilight could see emaciated hooves sticking through. Whoever the ponies in there were, they were starving and desperate for food.

At last, Twilight stumbled onto a broad avenue that led to a massive coliseum. She could tell in an instant that this was the source of the roaring cheer she’d been hearing. Thinking back to the razor wire fence, Twilight had the sudden sense that she really didn’t want to know what the ponies in that arena were cheering about. A none too gentle poke from the spear, however, made Twilight think that she was going to find out what they were cheering about whether or not she wanted to.

Twilight was led through a small side entrance and through a maze of dark corridors before emerging onto a platform filled with plush cushions. If the crowd had been loud outside the arena, they were almost deafening inside.

Down on the dirt floor, Twilight saw two earth ponies circling each other. They were skinny enough that she wondered how they were standing at all, and by the desperate looks on their faces, Twilight didn’t think she would have much trouble guessing where they’d been plucked from.

Twilight looked towards the cushions to see Blueblood lounging in the center. He was surrounded by a flock of mares that Twilight was quite certain had been paid handsomely to be there, and, more than likely, paid to entertain Blueblood in a more personal manner afterwards. Seeing the white unicorn with that insipid blonde mane brought forth another surge of outrage, and deepened the feeling that something wasn't right here.

“I’m bored,” Blueblood languidly said to a pegasus Twilight only belatedly realized to be Lightning Dust. “Kill them both, I’m sure His Majesty is eager to get on to the main event.”

Lightning Dust barked several orders off the edge of the platform. Twilight couldn't hear what she’d said, but when the pegasi surrounding the arena floor raised their crossbows and loosed into the arena Twilight decided that she had a pretty good guess what Lightning Dust had been shouting.

As the two starved earth ponies dropped in a pool of blood, the crowd let loose a deep cheer that put all their previous efforts to shame. These spectators had come here with a deep bloodlust towards their fellow ponies, and seeing it satisfied was pulling at their darkest heartstrings.

The sound of approaching hooves made Twilight turn as much as her restraints would allow, which wasn't much.

“Hi, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie was somehow managing to bounce along, despite being chained like Twilight. Behind Pinkie Pie, Twilight could see her other friends being forced along as well. “Isn't this just the silliest thing you've ever seen?”

“Silly?” Twilight looked back to the arena floor to see armored ponies forcing yet more starved, abused earth ponies into the open. “What on earth could be silly about this?”

“Um, try everything.” Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes as the unicorns down on the arena floor began to channel magic. “I mean come on, we were just on that mountain, and no way meanie pants Sombra could build something like this in a few weeks. He’s totally just messing with us, like that time in the swamps!”

Twilight struggled to hold on to the flood of memories that brought forth. She could see looks of intense concentration on the other’s faces as well. Clearly Pinkie’s words were striking a chord with them too.

“And seriously,” Pinkie Pie snorted in laughter, “have you seen this place? It’s like everything you ever read in a bad horror story. Not that I ever learned to read much. Lyra and Bon Bon tried, but inventory reports and delivery orders aren't very good teaching materials. Oh, I’m going off topic! Girls, we’re still totally back on that mountain, and we’re probably getting all chilly willy if we aren't climbing. So the faster you realize how silly all this is, the faster we can get going again.”

Terrified screams of pain weren't exactly on Twilight’s list of funny things. Pinkie Pie, however, found them the most hilarious thing in the world, or, at least, in this world. As Twilight looked at the earth ponies writhing in their death agony on the floor, and listened to the terrible baying of the crowd, it occurred to her that Pinkie Pie was right. She had such a large blank in her memories between the last she could remember and being here that there was no way it could be real.

It still felt wrong to giggle in such depressing surroundings, but once she started, Twilight found it to be quite infectious. The final nail in the coffin was her surly escort completely ignoring the six ponies rolling on the floor in laughter so hard it was nearly painful. The world dissolved once more into white as Twilight let loose a deep belly laugh.

Finally, a full week after Sunset Shimmer had tried to destroy the town, Lyra could look out the castle window without seeing smoke rising from the ruins of the town. Sunset Shimmer hadn't succeeded at killing Lyra or Bon Bon, or destroying Ponyville for that matter. But she’d come dangerously close to completing both goals.

Most of the damage had been in the outer part of Ponyville where the majority of earth ponies made their homes. Part of that was because it was the first part of Ponyville that Sunset Shimmer and her minions had reached. And part of it was because Sunset Shimmer and her minions were proud to do their part in the noble quest of exterminating the foul, less than pony earth ponies. At least the ponies they’d captured in the Doctor’s shop had smugly bragged about their activities to that effect.

And they’d proudly boasted of their desire to kill Lyra and Bon Bon for their ‘unnatural and traitorous relationship.’ Lyra wished she could say that last part didn’t bother her. She was plenty used to holding unpopular opinions that got her laughed at, but no one had ever tried to kill her because she believed in hairless apes called humans. She’d always known that precious little good could ever come from anyone finding out about her and Bon Bon, but never in her wildest nightmares had Lyra thought that she and Bon Bon would wind up at the center of a civil war that threatened the extinction of pony-kind.

“Looking to see if Pinkie Pie and the others are back?” Lyra hadn't heard Bon Bon come up behind her. “They only left a week ago. If they’re lucky they’re just nearing the far edge of the Everfree Forest.”

“No,” Lyra shook her head and moved away from the window. “I was just thinking that you can’t see smoke from the ruins anymore. Now I guess they can get started with pulling all the bodies out and finally counting the dead.”

“Four hundred,” they both turned to see Shining Armor poking his head in through the door. “I’m not sure we’ll ever get an exact count. Some ponies were simply vaporized, and others are so smashed up by the wreckage that I don’t think we’ll ever get them out. But our best guess is that Sunset Shimmer and her attackers managed to kill about four hundred ponies. The biggest death toll was from the old library, and most of the rest came in the first few minutes of the attack before the locals started to fight back.”

“Four hundred ponies?” Lyra whispered. “Four hundred ponies dead because of us?”

“Not because of you,” Shining Armor said. “Sunset Shimmer would have made a place like the library a target just because there were so many ponies there, getting you two was just a bonus for her. It’s the same with all the other ponies she killed. She hates earth ponies, and she hates this town for taking them in. Now come on, they’re serving lunch.”

Lyra and Bon Bon followed with their heads held low. They’d both been shaken for the last week with the knowledge of just how passionately Sombra wanted them dead. Finding out how many ponies he was willing to kill in his pursuit of them hardly improved matters.

“Okay, stop.” Shining Armor put out a hoof to stop them at the door to the hall where lunch was being served. “I can’t take you two being all mopey for one more minute, and neither can your friends. You see that filly over there?” He pointed to an orange pegasus with a purple mane. “Her name’s Scootaloo. She was born with a rare magical defect that means she’ll never fly, and both of her parents were killed in the attack while they were trying to get other ponies to safety. I get it that you've had a rough couple of weeks, but Scootaloo has had it a lot tougher. You've got friends who are willing to be there if you’ll let them, and there are a lot of scared earth ponies who need your help.”

Shining Armor let his point speak for itself as he trotted into the lunch hall without saying another word. Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other and sighed. They’d gotten through plenty of rough spots before, though none quite as rough as this.

“I guess we should get going,” Bon Bon said. “If we hide from too many more meals, Vinyl Scratch is going to tie us up and drag us out.”

Lyra knew just how serious Bon Bon was being, they’d quickly discovered that their new friend had an almost Pinkie Pie like obsession with making other ponies happy. To the surprise of neither of them, Vinyl perked up when they walked in and started animatedly waving them over.

“It’s good to see you two up and about again.” Octavia said. The cellist somehow managed to make her simple meal seem as classy as the fanciest Platinum City parties. “If you’d stayed hidden much longer, I think Vinyl was going to form a search party.”

Lyra looked over to see Bon Bon sporting a barely visible smirk.

“Seriously,” Vinyl said around a mouthful of food, “you two looked sadder than the last time I saw someone drop a muffin in front of Derpy.”

“That muffin never did anything to him!” Derpy clearly had neither forgiven nor forgotten the incident. “Who in their right mind throws away a freshly baked blueberry muffin! I don’t think he ever figured out why his mail went to the wrong address for the next six months.”

“I think what Miss Hooves is trying to say,” the Doctor cleared his throat, “is that we’re all aware you’re having some difficulties, and if you need a friendly shoulder to lean on we are all quite willing and able to provide one.”

“Quite,” Octavia primly agreed, “I think I speak for all of us when we say that we’re here for you.”

“You see?” Lyra didn’t need to look at Bon Bon to see the smug look on her face. “I told you moving to Ponyville would be a good idea.”

Twilight wasn't sure she’d escaped the trap for the first few seconds. The world to which she returned was the same saturated white as her escape from the previous one had been. It was only when the sound of the wind and the piercing chill of the cold hit that she realized she was back in the real world, and in the middle of a blizzard.

How long had they been stuck in Sombra’s trap? Even so close to the Wendigo’s cave as they were, a storm like this would easily take a few hours to brew up and move in. Twilight fumbled around in her coat pockets before pulling out the bone eye protection her brother had given them. If they lived through this she was going to owe him a thanks.

Next on Twilight’s list was to make sure she still had all her limbs firmly attached. Moving her legs produced enough sensation to let her know that while cold, she wasn't suffering from frostbite, yet. Moving her legs, however, nearly caused her backpack to come off as it had loosened while she’d been twitching about under the influence of Sombra’s spell.

“Girls! Anyone!” Twilight shouted as she tightened the straps of her backpack. She’d clearly moved while inside the trap, who knew how far they might have gone in their own personal agonies?

The narrow slit cut through the piece of bone, Twilight very carefully didn’t think about where the bone had come from, let her see in the snow without blinking what felt like twenty times a second or so. However, the narrow slit didn’t allow for her to see all that much, so it was a very real possibility that she might wander right past one of her friends.

Twilight started sending out a number of magical flares instead. With luck, they would go by her friends and allow them to follow the trail of flares back to her. It was only a few minutes before she saw something moving at the edge of her vision. Moments later, all five of her friends emerged into her view. Apparently Twilight had been the one to go awry while in her own personal Tartarus.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash struggled to fly towards her in the storm. Twilight noticed that Rainbow Dash was also using Shining Armor’s eye protection. “Thank goodness, we thought you’d rolled off a cliff or something.”

“Sorry.” Twilight smiled under her closed up hood. “I’m not that easy to get rid of. Did everyone else come through okay? We need to find somewhere to hunker down and wait out this storm.”

“More or less.” Rainbow Dash landed awkwardly in the snow. “Applejack lost her coat, though, and Rarity gave her hers. I tried to talk her out of it, but you know how she gets when she’s bound and determined to be generous. Then I tried to give her my coat by explaining that pegasi deal with cold far better than unicorns, but, well… same story. Rarity’s using some sort of magic to not freeze, but I don’t know how long she can keep it up.”

Twilight muttered several curses she’d heard her brother use after Masquerade’s attempt to poison them. “Come on. Let’s get back to them and set up some tents to get out of this freezing wind. Then we can figure out what to do about only having five coats for six ponies.”

Despite being able to see the others the whole way, Twilight and Rainbow Dash still almost got lost several times in the near zero visibility of the storm. Thankfully, someone, Twilight suspected Applejack, had had the good sense to start setting up the tents in a small depression in the snow immediately once they were reunited.

“Twilight, darling, how good to see you.” Rarity chattered through lips starting to turn as blue as the eyes behind her own eye protector. “We were all so worried when we couldn't find you lying near the rest of us.”

Twilight wasted no time casting her own warming charm. Having far more power than Rarity to use, Twilight was able to cast a vastly more potent spell.

“Rarity, what were you thinking?” Twilight practically shoved Rarity into a just completed tent. “Unicorns deal with harsh conditions the worst out of all three tribes! Didn't it ever occur to you that you could keep Applejack warm by keeping warm yourself and casting a much more powerful warming charm. I know you want to be generous and help every needy pony you see, but you have to learn that taking care of yourself will leave you with a lot more to give to other ponies.”

“It all worked out in the end,” Rarity said, still rather distressingly blue. “Tomorrow, or whenever this storm clears, we can take turns casting a warming charm and I’ll be fine. Besides, once we seal up those nasty Wendigos for good, I rather think we’ll hardly need coats at all on the way back to Ponyville.”

Twilight fixed Rarity with her sternest glare. “We’ll take turns casting that warming charm tomorrow, but we’ll be casting it on Rainbow Dash. She’s a pegasus for crying out loud, Rainbow Dash can take the cold weather far better than you could ever hope to. Not to mention that she’s in the guard and she’s trained for this sort of stuff.”

Before Rarity could retort, Pinkie Pie burst into the tent and divested herself of her backpack. “It’s getting pretty nasty out there, and we didn’t feel like setting up a third tent. So if it’s okely dokely with you two, I’m just gonna stay here tonight.”

“Make yourself comfortable,” Twilight said. “Rarity here needs all the warmth she can get, so another pony is just what the doctor ordered. By the way Pinkie Pie, that was amazing getting us out of that spell like you did. We’d probably have frozen to death in this storm if you hadn't been there.”

“Oh it was no big deal.” Pinkie Pie giggled as she shrugged off her coat. “Like I said, it was all so silly in there that I didn’t take it seriously for a second. Besides, even if it was real, I wouldn't want to spend my last minutes crying and being sad. I’d much rather enjoy them and be as happy as I could, especially if I’m with my friends.”

Twilight smiled as she pulled out blankets to wrap Rarity beneath. It had been a long shot that they would become close enough on this trip to actually be able to use Clover’s spell. But maybe, just maybe, they could pull it off.

Twilight woke the next morning to a silence so complete it was almost deafening. She slowly unlatched the tent cover and poked her head out. And immediately shot her head back in with a wince. The storm had blown itself out overnight, and the naked sun on all that snow was unbearably bright.

A second trip outside the tent with eye protection went much better. The clear, cold air gave Twilight an excellent opportunity to figure out exactly where they were, and where they needed to go.

“Hi Twilight.” Twilight almost took flight as Fluttershy snuck up on her. Fluttershy’s proclivity for quiet could sometimes border on an almost terrifying talent for stealth. “Is everyone alright in your tent? I took a few basic first aid courses as a guard, but I’m not very good at it.”

“I’m sure you’d make a great medic.” Twilight, for once, didn’t feel like she had to say anything particularly special to say what needed saying to lift Fluttershy’s naturally sagging spirits. “But we’re all fine. In fact, I think we’re all better than fine.” Twilight pointed to a peak not at all far away from where they’d camped. “I'm not entirely sure, but I think that’s the mountain we need to climb to find the cave where Clover the Clever sealed the Wendigos.”