The forest, Twilight decided, was hell. A twisted, tangled mess of the kind of trees made not by gods, but by giants and monsters, piss drunk and in a really bad mood. What didn't have thorns had attitude. Every bush was a mess of clingy branches, every root a trap.
Her cloak caught on something again, and she tugged it free. Twilight swore loudly as the cloth ripped, leaving another tear in the increasingly tattered garment.
Further ahead, Rainbow Dash waited for them to catch up. She was fidgeting, foot stamping, fingers twisting, head repeatedly thrown back in an imploring gesture.
Come on already.
Twilight envied her. Whenever they caught up, she'd dart forward through the underbrush, moving like a weasel. Even with the heavy winter cloak trailing behind her, she didn't so much as graze the thorns or the branches. She'd vanish, and she'd wait far, far ahead. Much too far ahead for Twilight to see her in the darkness, but never so far that Rainbow couldn't see her.
Rainbow Dash seemed comfortable, then, during those moments when she moved like a ghost through the forest. It was only when she stood still that she looked worried, and she cringed and whined every time one of the others got caught on something, or stepped on a dry branch, or cursed the entire godsforsaken forest at the top of their lungs.
She cringed and whined a lot.
Twilight finally caught up with her, resting against the same tree Dash leaned on. Dash opened her mouth, undoubtedly to offer some helpful advice on the topic of stealth, but Twilight shot her a glare that suggested she kindly shut the fuck up. Twilight doubted she could actually see the expression, but Rainbow Dash still shut her mouth and turned to look for the others.
Pinkie stumbled out of the woodworks just behind Twilight. Twilight couldn't see anyone else, but Dash was looking further down the impromptu path, towards the faint sound of trudging feet. The more time they spent in the forest, the more Twilight came to realize how terrifyingly fine-tuned the girl's senses were. She could see farther in the faint moonlight that trickled through the canopy than Twilight could in broad daylight. Even the tiniest sound caused her to jump, and stare, and listen. A few times, Twilight had even seen her stick her nose into the air and sniff it contemplatively before choosing a direction.
Pinkie, too, amazed her. Her magic appearance act at the outset hadn't been a fluke. She carried half a pantry on her back, and she moved very much like it, but her lumbering strides didn't make a peep, and her pack always seemed to swing just out of reach of every low-hanging branch and jagged bush. She was never far behind Twilight, who was never far behind Rainbow Dash – in so far as was humanly possible, anyway.
Pinkie put her pack down next to Twilight and sat down on the ground. The grass, like everything else, was covered with frost, and it crackled and crunched under her weight. She breathed heavily, but slowly. It sounded nothing like Twilight's adrenaline-fueled gasps and wheezes. Apparently, she noticed.
"Gee, Twi, you really need to take a break. Here, sit down," she said, patting the ground next to her. Twilight slid down the tree drunk, using her cloak for a seat.
"Here."
Pinkie handed her a water skin. Desperate to soothe her parched throat, she didn't stop to notice the odd smell until she had already gulped down several mouthfuls of honey wine. She gagged, spilling half a mouthful.
"Mead, Pinkie Pie? Really?"
Pinkie cocked her head to the side, incredulous.
"Well, duh! What did you expect it to be?"
Twilight puzzled over that for a moment, and then she remembered. She was used to clean mountain springs, sparkling streams of cold water that you could just stick your head into and drink from as much as you wanted. She had, however, seen the river that ran through Ponyville. You don't drink something like that straight from the source, not unless you were in a big hurry to depart the realm of men.
Twilight studied the forest. The massive trees, the thorny underbrush, the sharp rocks and the cruel frost. No, this wasn't the realm of men. A chilling realization struck her, then. They had stepped across a boundary few humans had crossed before, into a world that was frightening and cruel. Filled, if the stories were to be believed, with strange beasts and stranger people. They were blazing new trails through a forest no man in memory had ever seen the other end of. She knew where they were going.
Jotunheim.
She lifted the water skin to her lips willingly this time, and she drank. The mead was sweet but strong, as it ought to be. Wildly inappropriate as rations for a lengthy journey, but still right.
For a moment, she contemplated getting blind stinking drunk, but that seemed like a spectacularly bad idea. She reluctantly lowered the skin and gave it back to Pinkie.
"Thanks," she whispered.
Pinkie Pie smiled. For once, it wasn't a clown's grin. She took the skin and offered it to a newly arrived and very flustered Fluttershy, who politely declined. Rarity declined as well but Applejack, bringing up the rear guard, snatched the skin out of her hand as soon as she stepped into reach and drank deeply.
"That there's some good stuff you got, Pinkie Pie," she said in her thick southland accent. "But y'all know what's real good?"
Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her. In the darkness, no-one noticed.
"Let me guess. Apple mead?"
Applejack paused halfway through a sip.
"S'what ah was gonna say, sugar. How'd ya figger?"
Twilight gave her another snarky look, this one clearly visible even in the poor light, as it involved twisting her entire head sideways and sticking her jaw out at an odd angle. Her eyes remained half-closed and she spoke in a tone so utterly serious that she almost seemed to have entered a genuine trance.
"I, the Great Sage Twilight Sparkle, have used my amazing gifts of divination and augury to deduce that you, Applejack, scion of the great House Apple, heiress to the proud homestead of Sweet Apple Acres, who not two days past spent sunrise to noon lecturing me on the many wondrous properties of apples, are, in fact, somewhat fond of apples."
Complete silence descended upon the group for all of two seconds before Pinkie burst out into a violent laughing fit, dotted with her characteristic snorts and giggles. Applejack tried to look offended, but there was was an unmistakable smile hovering at the edge of her expression. Twilight smiled at her. The others giggled. Twilight made a note in passing of Rarity's laughter. It wasn't quite so crystal-clear this time around, which made it all the more genuine.
Rainbow Dash stretched her shoulders, losing some of the tension she'd been building up ever since they broke camp. Twilight saw the serious, fidgety hunter break away a little to give the fun-loving braggart some room to breathe.
"She sure got your number," she said. Applejack responded with a snort, but let the smile creep a little further onto her face.
"T'ain't no secret that ah like apples, but I'll have y'all know that there's some darn good reasons ta-"
"Applejack, no," Twilight whimpered, covering her face in her hands.
Applejack opened and closed her mouth, waving her extended index finger around, desperately searching for a point to make. She failed, and instead opted to seat herself on the ground with a mighty harrumph.
"Fine, but ah'm takin' a break, and ah'm gonna finish Granny Smith's apple bread. Y'all can't have any."
She laid her back out on the ground, and took out the last few pieces of apple bread. It had been going on unedibly stale the night before, and Twilight figured that by now it would have a texture somewhat akin to granite. When Applejack bit into it, it sounded like she was chewing gravel.
"This'sh what y'all get fer not bein' nicer ta me," she mouthed around the stone crumbs, the excess dough turning her accent into a parody of itself.
"Yes, yes, we're all terribly sorry we get to spend another few minutes without hearing of the magnificence of the common apple," quipped Twilight.
She sighed, slumping against the tree at her back.
"How much further, Rainbow?"
Rainbow shifted uncomfortably.
"Not a lot. I mean, sometimes, when the wind is right, I can smell it."
"Smell what?"
"I have no idea. All I know is there are smells that come outta the enchantress's that don't smell like anything else."
Twilight drew air through her nose, hoping to catch a whiff of those unique scents, but all she felt was wood and ice. Rainbow shook her head.
"Naw, the wind is wrong. Can't smell a thing right now, but I'm pretty sure we should starting seeing the markings soon."
"Markings?" Twilight asked. "What markings?"
Rainbow looked at her. She was scared.
"She marks her territory. She puts up these... things. Wooden faces, kinda like the god statues we have at home, but... well, if those are her gods, I don't wanna see what she considers a monster, y'know?"
Twilight thought of a pendant that hung from the wall of her hut. A pewter wolf with eyes of polished stone, sun propped between massive jaws. A symbol of Fenrir Sun-Eater, World's End, Odin's Bane, worn as a charm, as another might wear the hammer of Thor's protection. The Queen herself had hung it around Twilight's neck, still flecked with the blood of the outlaw that had owned it.
Monsters indeed.
"There is much strength in beasts," mused Twilight, "and in a place such as this, gods hold little power. It belongs to monsters and giants. It is only appropriate to seek their aid."
The silence that followed was all too familiar. She could hear the Queen's chiding voice in the back of her head, and the faint sting of the cane across her back along with it.
Speaking truth to the wind, again, Twilight? Dangerous. I thought I'd taught you better.
"You would entreat with horrors and madmen?" Rarity was visibly upset, which didn't become her at all.
No going back now, thought Twilight.
"Of course. What else do you expect we will find in these woods? Are we not seeking the aid of one right now"
Rarity crossed her arms and huffed in a manner so undignified, only a someone of supreme dignity could have pulled it off.
"Girls?" whimpered Fluttershy. "Can we not talk about monsters right now?"
She was huddled against a tree, eyes darting around, trying to keep track of the entire forest at once.
A few meters out, Applejack's voice.
"Much as I'd like ta' oblige ye, it seem like we ain't got much of a choice. Look."
Applejack pointed. They all looked.
Deeper in the forest, there was a silhouette of a face. Almost as tall as a man, with sharp, wicked features and teeth like a shark. The faint moonlight shone through it's open maws, giving them the colour of steel. Feathers and strings hung from it haphazardly.
Twilight rose, and walked towards the effigy.
"Is this one of her markings, Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah. Uh, are you sure you want to go that close to it?"
"Yes."
Twilight touched it. It was carved from wood, but not any wood she knew. Even in the icy night, it smelled of spices and incense like she had never known. It had travelled far, from places stranger still than the Everfree Forest. Places where perhaps there are no gods; only monsters.
"What's it mean, ye think?" said Applejack.
"Well, judging from those teeth, I'd wager it's some variation on 'sod off'," ventured Rarity.
Twilight thought again of the pewter amulet. To the man who had worn it, it had not represented the end of things, as it did to her. It had been a symbol of strength of will, and the struggle for freedom.
"Don't judge it too quickly. It is from very far away, where things are very different. It could be a warning, a challenge, perhaps even a guardian. Whatever it means, I think we'll have to ignore it. At least we're on the right track. Dash, if you'd be so kind."
Rainbow dash drew a long sigh and slipped back into her gear like water into a bowl.
"Try to keep up this time," she said before disappearing into the forest.
Twilight picked her things off the ground, trying to avoid Rarity's stare. They were about to seek the counsel of a witch. She couldn't let herself be burdened with decency or, worse, common sense.
The totems appeared again and again. Each one was different, and yet they were the same. Pointed teeth, predatory eyes, only vaguely in the shape of men. Every step, they became more frequent, until everywhere the party looked, there were grinning, wooden faces. The scent of earthy incense hung on the wind, rich and heavy.
Fluttershy had been clinging onto Rarity for the better part of the last mile.
"I don't like it here," she whimpered.
"I have to say, I'm not exactly thrilled myself," said Rarity.
The darkness in this part of the woods was compact, and it seemed like every sad beam of starlight fell upon carven teeth.
"Hay! Watch where ye put those feet a' yers, missy!" cried Applejack.
"Oh my goodness, I didn't realize..." Fluttershy started.
Pinkie shushed them violently.
"Do you hear that?"
There was a quiet shuffling, a hint of movement in the underbrush. Rainbow Dash peered into the darkness.
"They're moving."
They were. The masks were no longer still, but inching forward. Dozens of them, moving in complete silence.
"What vile sorcery is this?" hissed Rarity.
"It is not vile, my prim little friend,
it is but a means to a necessary end."
The voice came from everywhere. From dozens of throats, from dozens of directions.
"An end, you will find, should you stay on this course,
will be not another's but indubitably yours."
The Ponyville party huddled together, trying to stay as far away as possible from the advancing masks. Except for Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie Pie was laughing.
"Pinkie Pie?" Rarity snarled. "What is wrong with you?"
"Oh, but don't you see how funny this is?" Pinkie giggled. "She's trying to frighten me. Me! The Great Pinkie Pie! With a few handfuls of warriors! The very idea is just so preposterous it makes me want to... PFFFFFTHAHAHAHAHAA!"
The voice rumbled through the forest, the anger of one long uncontested booming from a multitude of voices.
"Do not take me lightly, you of laughing Pink,
cease your prattle, take heed, and think.
You may be mighty, mayhap this is true,
but these men, in life, failed to pay their due.
Do not think that you, with such an airy head,
could defeat an army consisting of the dead."
Pinkie slung herself forward in a strange, twirling motion, and there was a loud crack as a mask snapped in half, followed by the wetter sound made by the thing behind it as the axe blade passed through. Twilight screamed.
"Pinkie! No!"
The night exploded into a shimmering green mist, whirling, whipping, forming itself into ephemeral beasts snapping at the air. The enchantress stood at the storm's eye, cloaked in furs and hides of creatures that had never set food in northern lands. Her face was hidden, but her eyes glowed like ghostfires, and they were narrowed with rage. Her voice quivered, and a foreign accent seeped deep into her speech, making it difficult to make out anything but the anger with which she spoke.
"It was said, sworn by ancient pact,
with words not vague, but most exact.
'By Right of Rule, we do decree,
these thing we swear you shall not see;
nor hide nor hair, nor totem cleft,
this we decree, under pain of death.'"
Twilight, always the optimist, threw herself prostrate at the Enchantress's feet, begging her to spare their lives.
"Please! We did not wish to offend! We came seeking your counsel!"
The enchantress stared.
"You break oaths like rock breaks a wave,
then grovel at my feet, driven by fear of the grave?
Begone, bedraggled Weaver of Fate,
iconoclasts shall feel the full force of my hate."
"Hey!" said Rainbow Dash. "We have no idea what this oath is!"
"Yeah!" agreed Pinkie. "Besides, you started it!"
"You bring about this endless night,
you forsake my every will and right,
you act upon my charms as violator,
and yet you dare to call me instigator?"
"Twilight?" Applejack ventured. "I ain't quite following what she's sayin', but... did she jus' accuse us of bringing about eternal night?"
"You seek to claim that for this travesty,
your kin in seid and gald hold no responsibility?
I know well that power of this scale and magnitude,
rests solely with your Queen and her sycophantic brood."
Twilight crawled to her knees, head still hung in deference.
"The Queen is gone. She's probably dead. It was the Night-Mare who brought this upon us."
The Enchantress' luminescent eyes widened, and she spat a string of foreign curses indecipherable in their exoticism but unmistakable in their viciousness.
"You mean to tell she slipped her bonds,
that the night again to her call responds?"
"Yes," replied Twilight. Thoughts of the beast and what it had done to her mentor had invaded her mind, and she couldn't keep the quiver of tears out of her voice.
The enchantress seemed unsure. Her rage was still potent, but losing direction. She looked down at the Völva, watched the green reflections dance across her cloak.
"You come to seek my aid and ken,
but fail to speak with what, and when.
Speak the truth, no lie nor jest,
What do you seek upon this foolish quest?"
"We want to dethrone the Night-Mare and bring back the day. To do that, we need the Elements of Harmony. We... we hoped you might know something."
The anger fell off the enchantress like snow off a branch on the first day of spring. The green mist settled, and the masks receded, slowly, into the forest, where they once again became motionless. She heaved an impassioned sigh.
"I know well that in youth, the mind goes wild,
but your views, and your sense, are like those of a child.
Knowing naught, you seek to overthrow divinity,
actions which convey cleverness is nowhere in your vicinity."
"Hey!" shouted Rainbow. "Are you suggesting that I can't take on that overblown windbag? Because I'll deflate her good, any day of the week!"
"Yeah!" agreed Pinkie. "We'll overthrow her, all right! Overthrow her so far she'll go under, and then she won't know what's coming to her, because she'll be upside-down!"
The Enchantress shook her head.
"This is the flaw in all of your kind,
you act with your heart instead of your mind.
Overfed on stories of honour and blood,
you are eager to die, for to you, dying is good.
So you get your heads all worked up,
you tell stories, of spirits drain your cup,
then march out, eyes blazing, limbs stiff,
obedient as dogs, you step right of the cliff."
Twilight didn't bother looking behind her before putting up a warning hand.
"Don't even think about it."
Pinkie huffed and put the axe back in her belt.
"My friends here are very proud, but they know as well as I do," Twilight said, pausing to throw said friends a caustic glance. "That we don't stand a chance. That's why we need the elements. Please, you have to help us."
The enchantress remained unimpressed.
"Please," begged Applejack. "Ah've seen frost like this before, and that din't last from moonrise to moonrise. Crops're dead already, and there's only so much stored up. People are gonna start dyin' before long."
The enchantress turned away from them, staring off into the night.
"Her revenge shall not be as petty as simple death,
she seeks to rule as Queen, and her subjects must draw breath.
Her image on your people's hearts she would carve,
if I know her well enough, she will not allow them to starve."
"Now what in the hay is that supposed to mean?"
"Perhaps with more insightful questions you should grapple,
that way to learn much more, vaunted Jack of Clan Apple."
Applejack's face contorted as she tried to worm her mind through the twists and turns the Enchantress forced it through. At long length, a reply slogged out of her mouth.
"Are you... callin' me stupid?"
"It would be far from me to be so crass,
but you seem to try so hard to emulate the ass.
Yet I tire ever of this idle talk,
come, dear Norsemen, let us walk."
The Enchantress strode into the woods. Twilight scrambled to her feet and hurried after her. The others followed far less enthusiastically.
She lead them to a great tree, every branch of it hanging thick with charms and potions. She rapped the trunk three times with her knuckles and mumbled something, and when she grabbed a small protrusion, it gave way and opened a door, as if it had always been there.
"Though I am to your quest adverse,
it is better to in warmth and light converse.
Though a demon has made dark the skyward dome,
I still rule here; I bid you welcome to my home."
Twilight was wild with excitement. Everything in the hut was new. She breathed deep the scents, and studied every ornament. This place had power. Every fetish oozed with strength drawn from distant lands and alien gods.
The Enchantress watched her, a tentative smile reaching her luminescent eyes.
"I see you are intrigued by what I have on show,
which is good, for knowledge is key to the before, the here and now.
But be not careless with all my this and that,
you must remember what happened to the cat."
Twilight froze in her tracks.
"Curiosity killed it?"
The Enchantress laughed.
"Indeed, for you see, my friends are not so fond of your sect,
but you will not be harmed, lest you fail to pay respect.
Ah! But to speak of respect, while myself being so rude,
it is a wonder your opinion of me is not more skewed.
Of your names and callings, I have learned a plethora,
but not yet told of mine; I am called Zecora."
With those words, she pulled back her hood, and the Ponyvillians jaws fell agape, for she looked like nothing they had ever seen before. She seemed human enough, but her skin was as dark as the night and her hair stood straight up from her head in a narrow band of alternating pitch black and snow white, but the rest of her head was bald. She wore many golden rings, much like those the native folk wore on their arms, around her neck and large golden disks hung from her ears. She was very slender, and her features where very sharp and clean, but she had a big smile on her face that caused great big dimples to appear in the side of her cheeks, and although her appearance seemed otherwise almost demonic, she did not look the least bit intimidating.
"That is how my face, too, did contort,
when first I saw those of your sort.
So stout of frame and pale of skin,
hard to see a human being dwelt within."
"Our sort?" said Applejack. "You implyin' there's an entire sort of ye?"
"But of course, Applejack," said Rarity, having regained her royal manner. "Have you never met the people from the south? They're all quite dark of skin, and the further south they live, the darker they are. I suppose or new friend here must come from very far south indeed."
Zecora nodded sagely and began to peel off the many layers of strange hides she wore and stack them all up in a neat pile.
"You speak true, oh high-held head,
I hail far from this stony, icy bed."
She kept peeling away layers until she was wearing nothing but a brightly coloured cloth, secured here and there with knotted ropes, but very loosely fitted overall. It looked too breezy for even a mild summer's day, but it did not bother Zecora, for there was a great fire roaring in the middle of the hut, and the cold somehow failed entirely to penetrate the walls. She gestured towards the floor.
"I have not seats or table for so many more,
I hope you will not mind, and join me on the floor.
Though this heat will soon cause undue stress,
I beg you, shed your furs, undress."
The heat in the hut really was stifling, and the enchantress's advice was sound. Twilight, being still quite curious about Zecora and her customs, decided to follow her host's example, and stripped down to just her tunic, which she didn't bother to fasten at all. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all saw the wisdom of her decision, and joined her. Rarity laid off her heavy cloak, but flat-out refused to get so undressed, calling it "improper." This of course caused Dash and Applejack to pounce, mocking her for her foppishness. Fluttershy, too, remained clothed, but no-one saw much good in teasing her about it.
Zecora prepared a stew in a great cauldron above the fire, adding meats and spices both well known and altogether new to all the others. She was not an excellent cook, and the meal had a strange, tangy after-taste, but it was filling and very well-received after so many nights in the cold.
Twilight and Zecora got to talking, and they went on talking, occasionally joined by the others, for a long time. At first, Twilight tried to talk about the Night Mare and their desire to defeat her, but Zecora would have none of it. So instead, they spoke of Zecora's homeland and her travels, and Twilight shared tales of hers, short and unimpressive as they were. They spoke of this at long length, until all the others were fast asleep in the nook of a room that Zecora had prepared for them. Then they spoke of deeper secrets, of the magic of the far north and the far south, magic of ice and snow and fate and of the deep jungles and of the animals and the sacred herbs. Zecora spoke of the gods of her homeland and of those she had encountered in her travels, of tricky Spider and mighty Lion, Legba of the crossroads and Ogun the metalworker. Twilight listened very intently, and when it was her turn to tell, Zecora listened, too, even though she had heard the stories before.
They spoke long into the night, but the next morning, Zecora still refused to tell them any more of the Night Mare. This day flowed past like the previous, and many others after it did as well. Twilight spent her every moment conversing with Zecora, and never once did she spend the night with the others, opting instead to sleep on simple cot prepared for her by Zecora so that they could speak uninterrupted.
The others grew bored quickly, and started up their games of play-fighting again. They still poked much fun at Rarity, and she went off in a huff more than once, but she came back every time, and every time she did, the insults grew less vicious in tone, until they were chiding her no more harshly than they were each other. One day, when she managed to land a particularly satisfying blow to the top of Rainbow's head, they even cheered for her.
Fluttershy naturally did not partake in these activities, preferring to avert her eyes and tend to Spike instead. It was the first time either of them had seemed particularly content since the Midsummer's Eve; the cold and the fear had done a number on both of them.
Thus time passed, and they grew ever more impatient. Rainbow Dash, in particular, was quite vocal in her discontent.
"Come on, Twilight!" she whispered. "We can't stay here all year! Every day we stay is another day the people of Ponyville starve."
"I know! What I don't know is where to go, Rainbow Dash. But she does. We can't just walk blindly into the night. We'd only be marching to our doom."
"At least we'd be marching somewhere! This boredom is killing me."
Twilight sighed deeply.
"I know that, too, but I think she's coming around. I just need a bit more time."
And that was that, until one early morning when Dash rose, full of anger, unable to take it any more. She stomped off into into main room to demand they continue their travels, but lost herself entirely when she found Twilight.
She was standing naked by one of the huge windows – marvellous things that could not be seen from the outside – and stared off into the night with a grim countenance. Dash soon saw why; huge white flakes danced on the other side, and the moon was already reflecting off the whitening treetops.
It was snowing.
"We're leaving," said Twilight. She couldn't have missed Dash, not with the furious clatter she had made getting out of bed, but she paid her no mind.
From her bed in the shadows, Zecora spoke. She sounded like a woman defeated.
"Further in and farther still,
across glade and grove and hill,
lies a stone-hewn hall of yore
greater than all halls later or before.
This is where the Night Mare dwelt
and the Sun-queen first her darkness felt.
That is where the Elements lie, beneath the ages buried,
though I wish your journey towards death was not so hurried."
"We move towards death because there is nowhere else to go, Zecora."
"Of this I am but too aware,
and I do wish you luck in your terrible affair.
I know well that all life must end, but it is a dark and terrible moon,
under which such young lives must be thrown away so very soon."
"You got that right," said Twilight. Her voice rose as she addressed the one who lurked in the doorway, but she did not turn around. "Rainbow Dash, wake the others. We have to leave right now, before the snow covers the paths.”
Dash made a brief grunt of acknowledgement. As she turned to make her way back to the sleeping quarters, she stole a glance into the darkness where Zecora has spoken from. It seemed that Twilight's cot had been packed away already or – Rainbow Dash thought this more likely – had not been set out at all.
"Do we really have to go?"
They all looked at Fluttershy with astonishment. It wasn't so much that she spoke up for once as it was that she had tried to influence their decision, however passive that attempt was.
"Yes we do, Fluttershy," Twilight said, exasperated. "It's why we came here in the first place. If you don't want to come, I can ask Zecora if you can-"
"No, it's, uh, it's fine. I'll go."
Twilight fought down the impulse to urge her to please stay, but she knew what would happen if she did. Rarity would chew her out, Fluttershy would be even more flustered, everybody would get in a tissy and they'd all be at each other's throats again. It simply wasn't worth it.
Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash was of a far less pragmatic bend.
"Look, Fluttershy, you can't just come along on this journey and then question it every step of the way. If you don't want to come, just say so, but make up your damn mind!"
Fluttershy shrunk away, and Rarity stepped forward to defend her. Before she could start her inevitable tirade, Twilight stepped in.
"Stop! I've had enough of your quarrels. You can't stand around arguing, because we're running out of time!"
Rainbow Dash snorted.
"Didn't seem to stop you from spending some enjoying yourself."
Twilight spoke through clenched teeth, with a voice she must have borrowed from the winds outside, because all who heard it felt a terrible chill in their bones.
"Let's just leave, already."
She pushed open the door, and although the cold yet failed to pass through whatever barrier the enchantress maintained, she longed to be back by the fire sharing stories with Zecora before she even stepped through.