"It should be just beyond the cliff edge here..."
One thousand years, give or take a decade or so, forward, in the 'prime' timeline.
Pandinus Imperator and his younger brother, Androctonus Bicolor, were doing a little bit of scouting. Young aristos weren't supposed to leave the swarm, but that wasn't about to stop the two hatchlings from going out on a little adventure today. Lessons on how to be a 'proper' aristo could be almost painfully dull, so the two would occasionally sneak out and do a little exploring on their own. Since the swarm was preparing to attack a nearby city tomorrow, they agreed it might be a good idea to see the city for themselves...
It was rare for the two to agree on anything: They'd been arch-rivals since the younger changeling had turned four, and they bickered about practically everything, It was sometimes joked that if Pan said the sky was blue, 'Andy' would have immediately said it was red. The fact that Pan, being the eldest, was the current heir to the highest seat in House Scorpion, made their rivalry all the more bitter: Pan's tendency to glow when given love put nine-year-old's claim to the throne in jeapordy, and if Pan lost that claim for any reason, including death, the title would transfer to his eight-year-old brother...
As they reached the overlook, situated above a cliff a few miles away from the swarm's next target, both Andy and Pan's eyes widened in shock. Before them lay one of the most powerful of the city-states in the southern kingdoms, Nemea. It was the middle of high summer... and the city was covered in ice. As the two stared in amazement, they began to make out signs of movement in the city below...
His expression horrified, Pan said, "I'd heard that there was a civil war going on, but I never imagined that it would draw them here..."
Nothing drew windigos quite like a war, and a civil war would lure the apparitions like flies to honey. It was why so many different races embraced a policy of peace and harmony amongst themselves, and it was why wars between other nations were so rare. Sadly, like many carnivores, the Nemeans, being lions, were prone to vicious infighting amongst their own kind, as well as wars with neighboring city-states. It seemed that this time, their disharmony had drawn the most dangerous creatures in Equestria to their door...
The few residents still unfrozen were desperately trying to fight off the windigos. However, since the spectral beasts were intangible, the Nemeans were having no luck with either tooth and claw. The lions could freeze just as easily as any other creature, in spite of their fur being able to repel weapons of steel. A few lions were fleeing, desperate to escape the destruction of their city, indeed, the absolute ruin of their proud civilization, before it was too late. Since the nearest settlement was miles away, through the harsh, unforgiving desert, or on the other side of a sheer cliff, odds were that few would make it out alive. The fact that a few windigos were in pursuit of the refugees lowered the odds of survival even further.
Looking towards his brother, Pan said, "We need to get out of here, before..."
That was as far as he got before Androctonus pushed his brother off the edge of the cliff. So stunned was Pan by this act of betrayal that he nearly didn't get his wings open in time, and landed roughly on the ground far below... right in front of a pair of windigos that had been searching for other escapees.
Andy chuckled in wicked delight, watching his brother's plight from high above. While a commoner might be able to strike a windigo down easily by burning love, an aristo could do no such thing, and instead had to expend a tremendous amount of love energy (Enough to sustain a changeling for a full year) in order to ward off the spectral foes with magic. Pan had not demonstrated even the smallest trace of magical ability since the day he was born. Even better, Pan would, at most, have enough love to sustain him for just one year, so even if he suddenly developed some small measure of magical ability and defeated one, the other would surely do him in. The leader's seat of House Scorpion was as good as Andy's now...
And that was when Andy heard a ghostly neigh behind him.
His head whipped around, and he was stunned to see that a windigo had somehow gotten behind him while he'd been watching his brother. Taken completely by surprise, the young hatchling hesitated, and the windigo took the initiative. The ghostly fiend made a swipe at the changeling, and Andy lost his balance when he tried to dodge, falling off the cliff edge himself.
When he reached the ground, his landing little more graceful than Pan's had been, he was now startled to find that he was now back to back with the brother he had just betrayed, and they were both surrounded with by three circling windigos. While Andy had some magical ability of his own, he definitely didn't have the energy, or the skill, to dispose of three at once.
"So," Pan began, his voice oddly calm, "what odds would you place on the two of us getting out of here alive?"
Andy, his own tone clearly showing his fright, answered, "I wouldn't. We're utterly doomed."
Surprisingly, Pan chuckled, then said, "That sounds about right. Well then, there's no reason to keep it a secret anymore..."
Andy was startled to see Pan leap at the nearest windigo, his body wreathed in green flames. The nine year old hatchling collided with the nearest windigo, and the spectral fiend shrieked in agony as it was set ablaze by the power of love. As the first windigo shrieked its death wail, Pan leaped after the second one, planting both hind legs in the apparition's face, igniting the second as easily as the first. The third, seeing that its backup was now undone, knew that the tide had turned, and tried to run (or fly) for it.
Andy, not wanting to fight an army of windigos, cast a spell, sending a rope of energy out and lassoing the spectral stallion. Immobilized, Pan caught the final windigo and ended its struggles with a quick strike to the face. In less than a minute, the two brothers were able to take down three windigos.
...Not bad for a couple of kids, right?
-----------------------------
Pan, turning towards Andy, asked, "You alright, bro?"
Andy, deeply ashamed, said, "Yeah. Thanks, bro." After a moment, he added, "I'm... I'm sorry, brother. I..." It was clear to Pan that he simply couldn't find the words to express his contrition: He'd betrayed his own brother, and a moment later, that brother saved his life without hesitation. What could he possibly say?
Meanwhile, the older brother knew exactly what to say. Laughing, Pan stated, "You're forgiven, bro. Let's get out of here. It'd be best not to hang around for another windigo to come by and finish what they started..."
Andy nodded, then, as they began walking, said, "Yeah. Good idea. I'm, ummm, surprised you never told me..."
Pan said, "That I could burn love for strength instead of cast spells? Yeah, I've known for... maybe a year now, I guess? Sorry for not telling you, it's just... when dad finds out, he'll disown me..." And probably force him into the army, if he was lucky. The fact that Pan would glow when he received love had made him ineligible for the role of an infiltrator, but the leader of a noble house really didn't need to do that kind of work. The fact that he had the same love-burning ability as a commoner, on the other hoof, made him ineligible for leadership as well: Too many would whisper about him being a commoner, or maybe even a halfling: The result of an aristo and a commoner mating, one of the biggest taboos in the swarm.
The leaders of the other high houses would demand Pan's head on a stake if they believed that for a second...
Shaking his head, Andy said, "I won't let that happen. I... I owe you, big time. You saved my life back there, even after I tried to kill you. I'll talk to dad. If nothing else, I'll tell him that having you as a bodyguard would be a definite advantage, since I can trust you better than anybuggy else to watch my back." Clearing his throat, he said, "You're my brother. I let my greed and ambition blind me to that. Never again."
Grinning, Pan raised a foreleg and, extending his hoof to his brother, asked, "Shake on it?"
With a grin of his own, Andy raised a hoof and said, "Yeah."
Just as the two touched hooves, a massive blast of ice and snow hit Andy, freezing him in a miniature glacier in a heartbeat. Pan, his hoof now encased in the same ice that had claimed his brother, was unable to pull free. Whatever had just taken his brother now had the older changeling at its mercy...
"I'm sorry," a voice said, its tone surprisingly gentle, "were you two having a moment? So sorry to interrupt..."
Pan turned towards the voice, and saw the ultimate nightmare of any changeling...
It was massive, on a scale that words had difficulty conveying. It was as tall as the cliff that the two changelings had recently fallen off of (A good sixty feet or more, he'd not had a chance to measure it), and just as broad at the shoulders. Its spectral upper body rippled with muscles that would have made a bodybuilder green with envy, while its hindquarters terminated in a ghostly tail. A crown, covered in jagged spikes and carved from ice, sat upon the abomination's head. A creature out of the oldest legends, or perhaps it would be better to call them horror stories...
Winter, The Father Of All Windigos.
The apparition chuckled wickedly and said, "Such a pity. I saw the whole thing. It really looked like the two of you were going to mend fences and build a bright future for one another. Shame that won't happen now." With no more than that, Winter slammed its hoof down upon the ice that encased Androctonus. The blow held enough force to make the ground shake. The horror raised its hoof, then examined the blue stain that the younger hatchling had made. "Not much potential in that one, sad to say, or I might have killed you instead. He barely had any emotion in him at all, and even if I killed you in front of him, he really wouldn't have felt too bad about it. Bit of a sociopath, really. But you..." Winter paused, and brought his head down to Pan's level, "You have a strong heart, filled with emotions both good and ill. That means you have the potential for a hatred that few can begin to comprehend."
Pan, still reeling from his brother's sudden death, swung his ice-crusted hoof as hard as he could, burning enough love to give the strike the power to shatter stone. It connected cleanly with the windigo's chin...
Winter chuckled merrily, not seeming to even feel the strike, and said, "That's the spirit. I enjoy seeing someone with a heart that craves vengeance, especially when I'm the one they want to get revenge on. The best kind of hate comes from those who bear you a personal grudge, after all."
Pan climbed up on the windigo's face and began mercilessly pounding the spirit's muzzle with all the force he could muster. Winter continued on as if he felt none of it. "You can pound me a hundred thousand times, and at your current level of strength, I won't even feel it. But you obviously want to kill me so badly it hurts, and there's not yet enough hate in your heart to make a real meal for me. So, I'm going to give you a chance at making something of yourself."
Winter flicked his head, sending Pan up into the sky. The hatchling fell, and was promptly caught by the windigo, who then proceeded to play 'hot potato', bouncing Pan back and forth between his hooves. While relatively gentle, each bounce was hard enough to knock the wind out of Pan, and his young wings were not up to regaining control while being handled so roughly.
With almost demonic cheerfulness, the windigo continued, "We'll play a game, you and I. Today, I will let you live. You shall go your way, and I shall go mine. Go forth and gather all the strength that you can muster, and when you feel you are strong enough to take me on, simply say, 'Winter, I am ready' three times. No matter where you are, I will come, and we shall do battle. Bring weapons, bring armor, bring armies if you want. Call me in the middle of high summer, atop an active volcano, or even on the surface of the sun: It won't matter one bit to me. I shall crush every ally, and every weapon, you have, on any battlefield you can imagine. Once I have proven to you that it is impossible for you to kill me, even at your full growth and at the top of your game, and once your impotent rage has caused your hatred for me to reach the peak of flavor..." The windigo stopped, and brought Pan up to eye level, then finished, the fiend's voice a malicious whisper, his eyes like twin portals into the depths of Tartarus, "I will feast upon your heart and drink your immortal soul."
Pan, his fury undiminished, bit down on the hoof that held him, trying to inflict even the smallest amount of harm upon his tormenter, but to no avail. Winter, if anything, seemed even more amused than ever before. "Yes, that's the spirit. Oh, but I should warn you: There's a time limit to this game of ours. You have until your twenty-first birthday to call me out. If you haven't done so by then, I shall assume that you have forfeit your chance at taking me down. And when that happens..."
The windigo's eyes narrowed, and Pan abruptly stopped, a sudden pain exploding in his chest...
"...My curse shall freeze you solid, and bring you to me, regardless of where you may have run off to. I shall then claim my prize." Chuckling wickedly, Winter said, "And I'll make sure that my curse will remind you, once a year, so you won't forget that you are living on borrowed time. Consider it my little birthday present to you. You are free to spend that next... hmmmmm... twelve years of your life however you like: You can either dedicate them to taking revenge on me for killing your little brother, or on taking what small pleasures you can, knowing your death is imminent. It's all one to me. Either way, I shall have a feast to remember for years to come."
With every word, the pain in Pan's chest grew and grew. It hurt like nothing he had ever experienced before in his life...
"Curse me for taking your brother from you, or for taking your life from you in twelve year's time. Curse yourself for being too weak to defeat me, or to cowardly to face me. Curse the world for having ever spawned a beast like me, or for allowing you to be born so weak and helpless." Laughing like a madpony, the windigo exclaimed, "Hate everything, with all your heart and soul, so that my feast will be all the sweeter!"
The pain reached a height that the changeling could never have imagined...
--------------------
A thousand years in the past, the 'Alternate' timeline...
Pan sat up, suddenly awake, screaming in agony, the warning of trying to keep from screaming too loudly forgotten. Distantly, he heard Luna moan, saw her clutching her head out of the corner of his eye, but at that moment, the pain from Winter's curse overrode his every thought and instinct. He screamed until he ran out of breath, and it took all of his self-control to keep from screaming again after he inhaled. Teeth grit, one hoof clutching his chest, he held on while the pain began to slowly diminish.
It is so easy to lose track of time, he thought. Happy birthday, Pan, you're now twenty years old. You have one year left before Winter comes to kill you, and it seems that, even a thousand years in the past, in an alternate timeline, you will not escape your tormentor.
Sombra had said that 'Winter is coming'. Pan, horrified, was suddenly struck by the realization that the warlock was not referring to a season...
Luna, her expression gravely concerned, asked, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Catching his breath, Pan said, "It was nothing. Just an old wound acting up."
"What kind of injury could cause you to scream like that? Wait..." Looking around, suddenly confused, the princess asked, "What am I doing in your bed?"
Pan, surprised, asked, "You don't remember last night?"
Luna seemed to wrack her brain, and after a moment, began blushing furiously. After a moment, she asked, her voice tremulous, "Did we...?"
Finishing her sentence, Pan said, "Make the beast with six legs? Yes. Yes we did. Multiple times."
Luna, her expression one of horror, said, "We cannot tell Celestia about this."
Chuckling, Pan said, "Given how, um... vocal you were, I'm pretty sure that she, and the entire population of Equestria, are fully aware of what happened last night."
Her expression one of annoyance, Luna said, "I was not that loud."
"Oh please," Pan said, grinning broadly, "I'm certain that they heard you on the moon."
A small smile beginning to form on her features, Luna swatted Pan with a pillow and reasserted, "I was not that loud!"
With another chuckle, Pan said, "Oh please, you were like..." With a perfect duplication of Luna's voice, the changeling proclaimed, "'This is the traditional Royal Canterlot Orgasm! It is tradition to moan using the royal 'OH!', AND TO USE THIS MUCH VOLUME WHEN EXPERIENCING OUR CLIMAX!'"
Giggling, Luna admitted, "Okay, maybe I was a little bit too loud. But in my defense, I was pretty drunk... and you were doing a pretty good job on your end."
Still grinning, Pan said, "Well, I admit, I didn't mind the noise. It's good to know I was doing things the right way: I've never actually done this before."
"Neither have I," Luna reminded him, "but for a couple of amateurs, I think we did a pretty good job..."
They'd gone at it five consecutive times, each time more energetic, and more passionate, than the last, before Luna had finally admitted that she was tired, not to mention sore (That kind of action uses a set of muscles that most ponies do not exercise very often). Shortly afterwards, both of them went to sleep... until Pan's nightmare had brought him back kicking and screaming into the waking world.
Pan gave a half-smile and said, sincerely, "It's a wonder the bed held up, honestly." He'd have to thank Gold Coin for testing it out. Looking up, he chuckled, and added, "The chandelier is still swinging, though."
Looking up, Luna confirmed that this was so, then giggled and said, "Alright, so odds are, Celestia is probably fully aware of what we were doing last night. What do you wish to do?"
"Right now? Well," Pan thought for a moment, then said, "unless you want to go another couple of rounds, we should probably go back to sleep: I have a few important duties to take care of in the morning, and you have a few things to take care of as well."
Luna seemed to give the matter some serious thought, then said, "I think sleep would be best. I don't think I'm ready to do anything like tonight's activities while I'm sober... At least, not yet," she added, shyly. It appeared that the inhibitions that normally restrained the alicorn were returning in full force. Well, it had been fun while it lasted...
"Agreed." After a few seconds, Pan said, "Ummm, look, tomorrow..."
Luna, a small smile on her face, said, "I'll talk with my sister. I cannot say for certain what her reaction will be, if she is not yet aware. I doubt she will call for your head, and even if she does, I will talk her out of it. Deep in my cups or not, I was the one to initiate last night's 'festivities', after all." Her expression more serious, she continued, "Regardless, I fear you have made your position more precarious than before: After what has transpired, Celestia will insist on answers regarding every mystery that surrounds you. Bad enough that you currently hold the title of ruler of the Crystal Empire, but now that you're... well, now that you're my suitor, that means that your character will be held under even closer scrutiny than before. If you and I were to be wed, you'd have a say equal to my sister and my own in the running of Equestria, and Celestia will not allow a tyrant to hold a voice in our kingdom."
A half-smile on his face, Pan asked, "So, you'd be willing to marry me?"
Luna, her expression and tone equally stern, said, "Tradition demands that the one I give my virginity to be my husband." Her expression softened as she admitted, "The fact that thus far, I have found you to be a fine, upstanding individual... and quite energetic in bed... may also be considerations, so yes, I suppose I have no current objections to marrying you... provided that this is your true character, and not some manner of elaborate ruse." Her eyes narrowed, Luna asked, rather coldly, "I don't think I need to say what will happen if this does turn out to be an elaborate trick, do I?"
Gulping, Pan said, "No, no you don't. I've got it. Either measure up to your standards, or die screaming."
Luna, smiling gently, said, "Oh, don't worry about that: After what you did for me last night, if I have to kill you, I'll do it as painlessly as possible. It's the least I can do..."
Death loomed on the horizon. Either Winter's curse would claim his life in one year, or Celestia and Luna would find him lacking and wipe Pan off the face of Equestria in the next few days, or Pan would mess things up in a spectacular fashion, causing the Crystal Ponies to come for his head at some point in time in-between. Normally, the changeling would have wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and mutter, 'Doomed' over and over again until the end came. However, the prospect of imminent death can do wonders in regards to banishing fear. If you were going to die no matter what, then what was the use of being afraid? Better to enjoy what time you had, just in case it turned out you were wrong. Where there's life, there's hope. Pan said, confidently, "So I just need to prove to you and Celestia that I'm worthy of being both an emperor and your husband, or I get thrown into the sun. That's a pretty tall order, but I've always enjoyed a challenge."
---------------------------
Winter was intrigued like never before: While the source of pre-hate seemed to be dialing things back a bit, something else was taking its place. Just a few moments ago, a source of pure, unrelenting hatred had flared, brighter than a thousand suns... and all of it had been directed towards Winter. Though only a few seconds long, it was more than enough to tell the king of the windigos that someone in the city bore the icy king's mark: A seed planted some time ago was going to bear fruit very soon. The spectral stallion licked its pale lips, thinking of the meal ahead: Either one of those meals would be a feast like nothing he had tasted in ages, but combined, they would be enough for the dreaded specter to be able to cover Equestria in a winter a thousand years long...