//------------------------------// // Spirited Winter // Story: CCC-To Find Her Place // by Fresnor //------------------------------// Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses, Yeah, first of all I’d like to apologize for any problems that I just left in your lap after my last letter. There may have been a better way to handle things but when facing down three reanimated hydras that eat magic as well as grow stronger off of it then overkill is probably the safer option. I just hope that none of the other infected creatures escaped from the fire and that this was just a random phenomenon and not the work of something darker. I know that you’re probably mad at me for dropping the cleanup on you all but river escapes don’t often leave you many ways of backtracking especially when you’re asleep for over a day afterwards. I just hope that the time since then has calmed you down enough that I don’t have to worry about you all sending me some nasty surprises. Of course it’s like there is much worse that you can do that I’m not doing to myself now. It seems that the curse of winter is still with me even after many years of avoiding any problems during the season. As of now I am currently writing to you while under a good amount of snow since I had the bright idea to try and visit Stalliongrad during the winter. I probably wouldn’t even be writing to you now if it wasn’t for my magic as the blizzard going on right now is pretty severe. I had heard that things got pretty bad up here but I have been moving through this storm for almost a week now. I was expecting to be at a town near the city a couple days ago but the weather slowed me down drastically. If you’re wondering why I’m up here in the first place it’s mostly just a bit of a vacation of sorts. While I may seem a bit crazy doing something like this during the worst season to do it in I find that this would be the best season to do so since it means it should be very quiet. A few weeks of quiet would be nice to have so that I can plan out a few things with what I’ve learned from the various diamond dog groups I’ve visited recently. Of course considering the season it would be a good idea to restock up on things that are hard to get while on the move and since this will probably be the last Equestrian city I pass in a while it’ll be easier to get what I need now than to wait. I just hope that the weather calms down soon as I’d rather not have to fight through it for much longer. Your Friend(I hope I still am at least), Flarenza “Maybe I should add a couple more apologies just in case. Sure Luna probably won’t mind too much since she knows what it’s like fighting these things. Twilight though would have had a fit once she saw what happened but I hope enough time has passed for her to think it over.” Hoping for the best I send off the letter and start gathering my things while waiting to see if anything comes back to me through way of Spike. It didn’t take long for the something to come back to me through the spell, as if an ocd unicorn was sitting in wait for it, though I wasn’t ready for how they arrived. “Well I guess it could be worse considering how Spike is forced to deliver them.” I shake my tails a few more times to make sure that every letter had been removed from them. I try not to think of ways that could be worse for delivery especially considering how close a less comfortable area for delivery is. “Well no point in holding off on reading them. It doesn’t look like there are any rude surprises waiting for me at least.” I am soon proven wrong as the first scroll I open up spits out a mess of ash at me. “Of course I could be wrong about that, makes sense that Twilight would be the one to send evidence of what I did out there.” Reading through the letters I find that things are going about as well as I expected back in Canterlot. Twilight is panicking, like usual, Celestia is sounding disappointed with what I did and Luna seems to be evading the issue. Reading between the lines of the Night Princesses letters I don’t find any disappointment at all and I think I notice a bit of approval as well. “Well I guess things could have been worse but I’d better try and avoid causing any more problems for a while. Maybe I should send Twilight something to help her let go of some of that stress she seems to be hanging on to.” I try not to think about how much of that stress is directly caused by my actions or through things I supply to her. It makes me wonder if she has done anything with the research notes on golems that I sent her yet. Of course with how she is with her schedules it’ll probably be a few more years until she gets to them. “Maybe next time I visit I’ll hide all her check lists for a couple months. I bet I could get Spike to go along with it just to get a bit of free time for a while.” Going through the rest of the letters doesn’t reveal much else of importance though I did catch some bits about the finances that I left behind but it’s not something I care about since I have no need of it all while traveling like I am. Putting everything in my packs to peruse at a later point I sit and ponder what to do since the weather looks as if it’s not going to let up any time soon. “I’m getting rather tired of just sitting here under all this snow with nothing to do. I thought that I could have just waited out this storm but even after all this time it still doesn’t look as if it’s going to end soon. It would be nice to know if this kind of weather is natural for the region or if something is really wrong.” Digging my way out to check the progress of the weather I find that little had changed since the last time I checked. I wasn’t sure if it was the boredom, the lack of color, or if it was just me going completely nuts but I decided to risk traveling in this weather to try and reach the town. It wasn’t like the cold bothered me all that much with my white winter coat and magic to keep me warm. It was just annoying having to plow through all the snow as it got rather tiring doing it, with or without magic. Packing up the little bit I had out I exit my little burrow and allow the shield holding it together to fade letting me collapse it so that nobody gets hurt on the off chance they walk over it. Comparing the maps I have as well as using a simple compass spell to check directions it’s not that hard to get the correct direction that I want to go. If it wasn’t for the weather I could easily be in town within an hour or two but it’s hard to estimate under the current circumstances. Walking through the snow was as trying as I expected and with the sound of the wind being my only companion it really made me feel isolated from the world. I was used to the sound of wildlife surrounding me while traveling and even the Everfree at its worst still had some semblance of life going for it. Right now things just felt so lifeless which left my mind open to imagining things as I swear I could hear some sort of equine howling along with the wind. I was starting to get annoyed by the sounds I was imagining so I was relieved to see signs of the town ahead in the form of a signpost. I didn’t bother checking it as it would mean delaying that much longer which would keep me from finding a nice place to stay until the weather passes. My mood really started to improve when I caught sight of the first building but it rapidly faded when I saw the ice coating the place. “Oh great, I come up here to find a place to relax and it looks like I once again am heading into trouble. I really hope that this building is just an oddity that isn’t repeated.” Unfortunately things just weren’t meant to be as I pass building after building that are completely coated in ice making me wonder what happened here. “Why do even the simplest of plans have to go to Tartarus in a hand basket? Even worse is that if I don’t figure out what happened here it’s going to bug me.” Searching through the town reveals more of the same with no clue as to what did all this. It isn’t until I reach the center of town that I see the true horror as I start coming across the bodies of ponies frozen where they stand. Nothing was spared as even foals were caught by whatever was causing this phenomenon. “Well this is definitely not turning out to be the pleasant trip that I had planned. Some reason this all seems familiar but for the life of me I can’t figure out why.” Examining one of the frozen ponies closely I notice that this seems to have happened unexpectedly as there was no fear on their face but for some reason there was a look of anger. Probing with my magic I confirmed that they really were dead and not preserved like some creatures do with their prey. While doing this I detected faint traces of magic, but it wasn’t coming from this area but from somewhere on the other end of town. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was but there was something odd about what I was sensing so I tried to get across the town quickly. Whatever was causing it had to have some knowledge of what happened here I hoped since there was no sign of any other clues. It may have been possible to find something if there was time to do so but the weather coupled with the proximity to a major city made it unwise to do so. When I came upon the source of the magic I was feeling I almost wished that there was time to find out what happened some other way. Flying around what looks to be the only house not coated in ice are three spectral looking equines and I knew immediately what they are. “Windigos are still around in Equestria? From all those stories that I heard about this country’s history I could have sworn they were all driven away. Well at least I know what happened to this town now and if they are still here that must mean there is something still alive in there.” I know I don’t have much time if I want to stop them from doing what they are doing but I couldn’t afford to rush if I wanted to be sure to get out of this safely. Casting out with my magic I am surprised to notice that they register under my undead detection spell though not quite like other varieties I’ve encountered. It’s like they are only halfway undead or something which means that my usual spells may not work quite right. Judging from what effects they are having on the area as well as what I’ve heard about them in stories there is only one thing that comes to mind that potentially has a chance of working. “Well like I’ve always said, fire fixes everything.” With my usual fallback plan in mind I leave the cover I was in and advance on the house and start gathering my magic. With the weather it’s not as easy as it usually would be but it’s still doable with my current magical strength. As I advance I coalesce five balls of flame around me and I revel in the warmth coming off of them as I take aim at the distracted spirits. The windigos were so focused on what they were doing that the first indication that they knew I was there was when the one nearest to me took a ball of fire to its head, torso, and rear. Its shriek of pain caused my ears to try and swallow themselves to try and block out the sound of its death cry as its form starts to collapse into frosty pieces. The other two immediately turn towards me and let out shrieks of their own in rage at the loss of their compatriot. Instead of attacking though they fly off at great speed to somewhere north of the town. “That wasn’t quite what I was expecting them to do and I really doubt that this will be the last I see of them.” Snuffing out the remaining two flames I quickly rush over to the house and, after using a bit more magic to unblock the entrance, make my way inside. While it’s not much warmer inside than out I can tell that someone had been trying to heat the place with magic but it wasn’t enough to stop the monsters, just slow them. The outer parts of the house actually had frost coating the walls which made it easier to find the owner of the place. Unfortunately when I arrive I find a mare just giving her dying breath as her magic sputters out and fails. I bowed my head to her and just when I was about to turn to leave I catch some movement from her. Quickly moving to her I find that the movement wasn’t from her but from two young fillies that she was curled up around protectively. The two fillies, one a pink pegasi with white mane and the other a green unicorn with a pink mane, look like they are barely old enough for solid foods and look to barely be holding on as the cold creeps in on them. “She did everything she could to protect these two, only a mother or someone else that loves them deeply could have lasted this long against those things.” Refusing to let the mares sacrifice be in vain, I lift the two up onto my back and secure them there with my magic and cover them protectively with four of my tails. Once I have them settled I hear a cacophony of screams from outside. “It sounds like the windigos are back, and in larger numbers as well. It’s been a while since I’ve really stretched my magic skills but if I’m going to make it to Stalliongrad with these two safely I’m going to have to. Especially if those things are going to be dogging my step the entire way.” I make my way to the door to the house and begin gathering all of my strength for what is going to be a wild chase through the forests around this place. Once I had tapped into everything I started pushing out spells to boost my speed and strength as well as forming a bubble of intense heat around me while keeping a cushion of cooler air between it and the fillies. Stepping outside I watch as the heat melts the snow which then rapidly freezes into ice as the water reaches the much colder snow below it. This rapid process of melting and refreezing allows me to easily walk on the surface, gripping it with my claws. “All right, time to get a move on before they get within sight. Keeping these spells up will be hard enough without them trying to counteract the heat with whatever it is they do.” Taking in a deep breath I start my run towards the city at my fastest sustainable pace. Having to dodge around rocks and trees slows me down some which is enough for the windigos to easily catch up since they can fly over everything. The creatures finding me is made easier due to the light fog drifting off of my bubble of heat into the much colder air, even with all the snow. They try to dive at me in an attempt to catch me but they immediately retreat in pain when they run into the barrier of heat but their actions serve to drain the heat from it forcing me to expend more energy into maintaining it. After their third attempt failing, they just constantly circle around me while projecting the field of cold that they naturally create. “Oh you aren’t going to have things go your way that easily.” I growls at the circling spirits as I conjure up wisps of flame and send them flying out at the circling creatures. This disrupts them enough that they have trouble keeping up with the chilling effect but isn’t enough to do much damage as any that are injured flee out to recover as another takes its place. I wasn’t sure how many of them were after me but from what I could see there were easily dozens of the creatures. Neither side could get enough of an advantage to cause any real damage so it remained a stalemate between us as I raced through the forest. My reserves weren’t endless though and I could steadily feel my magic being drained as the chase wore on. I was starting to get worried as I started having to tap even deeper into my reserves than normal just to keep going when I started to notice that the weather was starting to taper off and I could see lights in the distance. Realizing that I was coming up on the edge of the weather area more strongly controlled by the pegasi of the region I drew everything out that I could and put on a final burst of speed. With the snow clearing I could see movement on the walls of the city as they noticed my escort. The windigos redoubled their attacks on me when the weather broke as they were in danger of losing their prey now that assistance was in sight. I aimed myself towards the gates of the city which I could see were starting to close off and I hoped that I could make it before they finished closing. Gathering the remains of my magic I focused a blast of flame in front of me to create a path of ice to the gate and the released everything else I had behind and above me in a corona of flames to drive the windigos back as far as I could. This, along with blasts of magic and fire arrows from the walls gave me enough time to pour everything I had left into a final burst of speed as I slid through the gates just before they closed. Hearing the shrieks of rage from the creatures leaves a satisfying feeling in me as I weakly take a few more steps before collapsing at the hooves of one of the guards that were behind the gates. Taking one last deep breath I manage to get out one last message to them. “Town to the east is lost, only survivors are these fillies.” With that my sight fades to black as my tails fall away from the two younglings.