//------------------------------//
// Escaping into Myth  
// Story: Bloodlines 
// by Zeck 
//------------------------------//

“Of course you don’t understand. I barely understand. But I know this much. It works. We work. And it’s not just because she’s smoking hot. Believe me, that’s a huge plus, but there’s more to it than that. I…just have trouble putting it into words.”
—Vinyl Scratch, when asked about Octavia

The two purple eyes looking up at Vinyl disgusted her. Her fur bristled at the sight of them and they only served to fuel the simmering fury that was rumbling inside her chest. She felt sick, sicker than she had ever been in her whole life, as she locked her own eyes with them. 
The rage in the Unicorn threatened the very core of her being as she walked up on the stage. She could barely contain it as she used her magic to pull out the sword that was being offered to her, never once breaking eye contact with the two purple pools. She felt her own eyes twitch and her entire face slowly contorting into a mask of barely controlled madness as she raised the sword high into the air. 
You…You bitch! 
Vinyl brought the sword down as hard as she could, putting all of her anger and hurt into the strike. She screamed, both from anguish and frustration, as the blade found its mark and cleaved it in two. 
For a brief moment, the entire world seemed to stop. Vinyl’s gaze never faltered from Octavia’s. Red eyes stared at purple ones, both sets filled with so many emotions that they threated to explode. 
Slowly, Octavia’s face turned from utter despair to shock and disbelief. And that hurt worse than anything Vinyl had endured in her entire life. Seeing the shocked horror in the cellist’s face when Vinyl had visited her under guard had been torture. Seeing the complete hopelessness in her eyes when Vinyl had walked up to execute her had been enough to make Vinyl want to die. 
But now, as the shackles binding Octavia’s legs together wear broken in two, it was the look of disbelief that caused Vinyl’s heart to crumble. 
She really thought I was gonna do it!
The sheer weight of that thought, and the sense of betrayal it brought, was so great that Vinyl wanted to tackle Octavia to the ground right there. She wanted to drive her hoof into her face as hard as she could, demanding to know how the love of her life could ever possibly think she would do something so terrible. 
The frozen moment vanished and for a second, nothing but the sound of the chains breaking filled the room. Silence followed for a heartbeat, and then the world jumped into motion.
“What are you doing?” Crystal Glade shouted.
“Shut up!” Vinyl rounded on the Unicorn and slammed her shoulder into her. The blow caught Crystal Glade completely by surprise and she stumbled backward. She looked up at Vinyl, her face filled with rage, and opened her mouth to start screaming.
A beam of golden magic slammed into the Unicorn and launched her across the stage. She crashed into the wall and sank to the floor. She was dazed, but Vinyl doubted she was out of the fight. She looked back toward Octavia and the two Unicorns that had brought her up on the stage. 
The two guards were recovering from their shock. One had his mouth hanging open and the other was blinking in disbelief, but as their eyes shot between Crystal Glade’s crumbled form and Vinyl, they regained their composure. Both of their horns started to glow as Vinyl raised her sword to them.
“Hello, gentlecolts,” a mare said as she ran up between them. They both looked at her, and as soon as they did, she stood up on her hind legs and slammed her front hooves into both of their faces. They dropped instantly, but their attacker was already moving before they hit the ground. 
The mare ran up to Octavia, pulled out a flask of something, and without saying anything, she jammed it into Octavia’s mouth and tilted her head back, forcing her to swallow it. 
“Do it now!” the mare shouted as Octavia choked down the liquid.
“Right!” a new voice called.
Vinyl glanced out at the crowd of Unicorns for a half second. They were just now starting to realize that something wasn’t going according to plan. Some had risen to their hooves while others were drawing weapons or readying spells. None of them noticed the pony running down the middle of the two long tables. She pulled a vial of something from her cloak with her magic and then slammed it down on the ground.
The room literally exploded. As the vial hit the floor, it shattered and a cloud of purple smoke flooded the room along with a blinding flash. Vinyl covered her eyes, but the light still dazed her. After a second, she risked opening them again and saw that the entire floor below the stage was shrouded in purple smoke. She saw several glowing Unicorn horns in the murk and sometimes she saw the top of a hood or a head, but there was no way she could make out any real details. 
A moment later, a pony jumped out of the purple smoke and onto the stage. She wore the same cloak that all the other Unicorns wore, but she had her hood up, just like the one that had come on stage to help Octavia.
“How was that?” she asked as she exhaled. 
“Perfect,” the other pony said.
“Yeah!” Vinyl said, amazed at how well the escape was going so far. She sheathed her sword as she spoke. “Nice job, L—” Both of the ponies shot Vinyl a look. “Uh, I mean, nice job.”
Right. They told me not to use their names while we’re here, she thought as she sheathed her sword.
“Time to go,” the pony next to Octavia said. “You two lead the way, I’ll help Octavia. Remember where the exit is?”
“Pssh, of course,” the other hooded pony said with a wave of her hoof. “Vinyl, stay close.”
“I…I can walk,” Octavia stammered as she rose to her hooves. Part of Vinyl wanted to rush to help her, but another part froze her in place. 
Did Octavia even want her help?
“Not for long,” the pony next to her said. “That potion’s going to wear off in about fifteen minutes, and we need to be out of here by then. So let’s move it, everypony!”
The four ponies darted off of the stage. The Unicorn in front of Vinyl fired a spell as they reached the purple smoke, pushing it out of their path and clearing the way toward the exit. They ran through the smoke as fast as they could, ignoring the Unicorns that came stumbling into their path as they dashed out of the meeting room. 
“Left!” the lead pony called as they came to the first fork in the cave. The party turned left and ran down the tunnel. Vinyl risked a look back just before she turned the corner and saw that the purple smoke was starting to clear. 
The group of ponies continued to dart through the tunnels, moving so fast that Vinyl quickly became lost. She had tried during the two days she’d been here to memorize the layout, and she had thought she had done a pretty good job, but she now realized she was wrong. If she got separated from the party, she knew that she would never find her way out. 
“Room on the right!” the pony helping Octavia called up to the front. 
“Got it!” her companion called back. “Meet you at the exit.”
“Be careful.”
The pony leading the group veered to the right as they passed a door. 
“Hey! What are—argh!” a voice yelled as Vinyl and the others ran past the room. 
“Where’s she going?” Vinyl asked. She looked over her shoulder, but suddenly found that the other pony was running next to her. 
“No time,” the pony replied as she took the lead. “I’ll explain everything when we get out of here. Octavia, are you still okay?”
“Yes…” came the reply, and Vinyl found herself wanting to stop and comfort the Earth pony, but she dared not for fear of ruining their escape. 
The trio continued to run for what seemed like a lifetime, but Vinyl noticed that they weren’t turning anymore. There was the occasional slight bend in the path, but as far as she could tell, they were running in a straight line. That had to mean they were coming to the exit. 
Sure enough, a few moments later, the torchlight began to give way to natural light. Vinyl found herself speeding up, closing the distance between her and the pony that was in the lead. Just a little further and they would finally be out of this dark, depressing cave. 
As the entrance came into view, it was all Vinyl could do to restrain herself from running full speed ahead. Despite the crushing reality she had endured ever since that bow had been stolen, she felt a smile spreading across her face as the exit drew closer with each step she took. 
Suddenly, several figures appeared, blocking the exit. They all wore the same tattered cloaks, and as weapons began to float around them, Vinyl knew that they were all Unicorns too. That was bad, because even if the forth member of their escape party was with them, they would still be outnumbered. As it was, there were five Unicorns and only three of them.
And Vinyl was the only Unicorn in the current group. 
Vinyl began to slow as she realized how badly they were outnumbered, but the pony ahead of her didn’t. “Don’t stop!” she shouted as she charged ahead. Vinyl was about to open her mouth in protest, but then Octavia sped by her. She was left watching as the two mares ran headlong at the Unicorns blocking their escape. 
Octavia was probably barely able to stay on her hooves after everything these Unicorns had done, and the other pony probably wasn’t going to be much of a match for five Unicorns. Vinyl had to help any way she could. She was still furious with Octavia, but she wasn’t about to let these monsters hurt her any more. 
Vinyl drew her sword and began to follow her two companions into the fight. She wasn’t a fighter beyond a typical street brawling level, but she wasn’t about to let that stop…
Vinyl’s thoughts of determination drifted off and her pace slowed as she watched the scene unfold before her red eyes. 
The pony in the lead reached into her cloak and whipped out a flask of something. She pulled the lid off with her mouth and then tossed it while she ran. The flask landed in front of the five Unicorns and exploded in a flash of light. Lightning spilled into the air and the Unicorns yelped in surprise. One of them caught a bolt in the chest and flew backward out of the cave. A moment later, the hooded pony tackled a second Unicorn to the ground and the two rolled out of sight. 
The remaining three Unicorns were still trying to recover from bottled lightning when Octavia entered their group. Vinyl had always known that the cellist was graceful, and after sort-of witnessing her take out an entire gang hideout by herself, she knew that Octavia could hold her own as well. But what Vinyl saw was beyond anything she could have expected. 
Octavia jumped into the air, her body aimed at the guard in the middle of the trio. She did a half flip a moment before she reached her target so that her hind legs were out in front. She kicked as hard as she could, both of her hooves slamming into the Unicorn’s face.  He flew backward, a stream of blood flying from his nose as he fell. 
Octavia didn’t stop though. She used the Unicorn’s face as a launching pad of sorts and stayed in the air. She twisted her entire body so that she was now stretched out along the width of the cave and then rolled herself so that her stomach was facing the ground. As she began to descend from her fall, she shoved her forelegs out as well as her hind legs, making her body even longer. 
She came down on the two remaining Unicorns. She caught one between her forelegs, and the other with her hind legs. The scene was rather comical for a heartbeat. Octavia was laid out in the air, supported only by the necks of two stunned Unicorns. They both looked at her, their faces contorted in disbelief, as she hung from their necks like a clothesline.
The moment didn’t last though. Octavia twisted her body with a violent thrash. She used her own body as a weight as she rolled. The two Unicorns, still caught between her legs, tensed and tried to pull out of her hold, but that only played into their downfall. They shifted their weight back as their heads were pulled forward. A second later, momentum took over and they both began to flip. They looked like they were doing somersaults as their backs flipped into the air and then began to fall forward, followed by their tails, and then hind legs, and finally their forelegs. 
But the impact as both of the Unicorns hit the ground made it clear that they weren’t doing gymnastics. 
Vinyl couldn’t help but wince as the last two guards were slammed against the floor. Octavia rolled off of them and sprung up in a single fluid motion. She was panting as she examined her work, but that seemed to be the only strain she had suffered. 
“How in Equestria did you do that?” Vinyl asked as she trotted forward. Both of the Unicorns were sprawled on the ground. One of them was out cold, but the other was coughing and groaning. Vinyl considered hitting him, either with magic or her hoof, but it was clear it would be a wasted effort. 
“Look out!” Octavia said as she shoved Vinyl to the side. A second later, a sword cleaved the air where her head had been. 
“What the?” Vinyl stumbled to the ground and looked out of the cave. The Unicorn that Octavia had kicked in the face was up on his hooves. His face was a mess of blood and spit, but an unbridled rage burned in his eyes. His horn glowed brighter than any horn Vinyl had ever seen and it looked like the magic was burning the fur on his forehead. 
This was bad. 
Vinyl began to rise, but she immediately ducked back to the ground as the sword raced toward her head. It slammed into the wall and Vinyl felt pieces of the cave topple down onto her. She looked up and rolled to the side as the sword came down. She scrambled to get to her hooves and jumped away as the blade shaved off a few strands of her tail. 
“I am your opponent!” Octavia yelled as Vinyl struggled to stay one step ahead of the Unicorn’s attacks. 
The Unicorn let out a savage yell and switched his focus to Octavia. The sword whipped through the air, threatening to cut her body in two. She stepped aside at the last second, making sure that she dodged toward the Unicorn. She began to race toward him then, but he fired a blast of magic straight at her head. She rolled under it and Vinyl felt the cave shake as the blast impacted the wall. She stared at the spot where the beam had hit, her mouth hanging open.
If that blast had hit Octavia…
“Octy!” Vinyl called as she tore her gaze away from the display of terrifying power. She found her sword and picked it up with her magic and then raced to join the cellist in the attack. 
Octavia had made it to the mouth of the cave, but the Unicorn remained out of her reach. He had backed up a few steps and was now using both his sword and his magic in perfect combination. No matter what Octavia tried, she couldn’t get close. In fact, it looked like she was barely able to stay ahead of the attacks.
Let’s see if he can keep up with two of us!
Vinyl closed the distance in a second, racing up behind Octavia and raising her sword as she did. She would leap over the Earth pony, catch the Unicorn by surprise, and then take him out before he had a chance to recover.
Octavia suddenly froze and then doubled over. She collapsed in the snow outside of the cave just as Vinyl was about to make her move. The DJ stopped and stared at the fallen pony. What had happened? As far as she could tell, Octavia hadn’t been struck by anything. 
Vinyl didn’t have time to ponder Octavia’s sudden collapse. The Unicorn, still well out of reach, sneered as he brought the sword down with his magic. Vinyl screamed and brought her own sword up in a blocking fashion. The two blades clashed and Vinyl’s brain felt like a brick had hit it. The force of the impact on her sword was so violent that she had to struggle to keep her magical grip on the weapon. 
“What are you doing?!” the Unicorn spat. He fired a blast of magic and the beam slammed into Vinyl’s knee. The leg gave out, but she managed to stay standing and keep her magic in tact. The Unicorn fired again, hitting another one of Vinyl’s knees, and this time she went down. The icy cold of the snow barely registered in her mind as she struggled to keep her concentration. Her two wounded knees felt like they had shattered, and her head throbbed. 
But she refused to lose her grip. If she did, this Unicorn would cut Octavia to ribbons.
“You’re a traitor!” the Unicorn yelled. “A traitor to your entire race! Why are you trying to save that piece of—”
A lance of golden magic shot from behind Vinyl and slammed into the Unicorn’s chest. He screamed as he stumbled backward, but he remained standing in the snow. He shook his head and snarled, but a second later two hind legs slammed into the side of his face. He dropped like a sack of bits.
“Sweet Celestia, is she hurt?” the pony who had kicked the Unicorn asked as she ran over to Vinyl and Octavia. 
“I…I don’t know, Bon Bon,” Vinyl said, forgetting what the Earth pony had said about using her name. Her knees were screaming at her as she knelt in the snow, but she managed to push the pain aside and speak. “She just collapsed.”
“Octavia?” Bon Bon knelt down and gently lifted the cellist’s head.
“Bon…Bon?” Octavia whispered. “How…?”
“It’s a long story,” the cream colored pony replied. “Another time. Right now, we need to get out of here before these guys wake up. Lyra!”
“On it!” Vinyl looked over her shoulder and saw the mint green Unicorn standing at the mouth of the cave, still clad in the same white tattered robe that all the other Unicorns wore. She lifted two large sacks into the air and flung them toward her three friends, and then turned to face the mouth of the cave. Her horn glowed for an instant and then she fired a long beam of magic across the opening of the cave. Vinyl saw several small explosions and then a wall of snow came crashing down, burying the cave entrance. 
“Told you it was a good idea to plant a few of those charges around the entrance,” Lyra said as she ran up to group. The avalanche hadn’t been that big, but it had been enough to seal the cave. “It will take them at least an hour to dig out of that.” 
“But now I’m almost out of potions and flasks,” Bon Bon grumbled. She knelt down and gently lifted Octavia, and then draped the grey pony across her back like a saddlebag. Octavia tried to struggle, but Bon Bon wouldn’t have it. “Easy there, Octavia. That drink I gave you was just a temporary boost, and you burned through its effects faster than I thought. Now all your injuries are going to be coming back, and we can’t wait for you to heal. We have to move.”
“Vinyl, grab the other bag,” Lyra said as she lifted one of the sacks into the air with her magic. 
“What’s in these?” Vinyl asked as she picked up the other sack. She heard something clink as she did.
“Some food. And gems.”
Vinyl shot Lyra and look of shock. “You risked your life so you could steal treasure from these crazies?”
Lyra looked at Vinyl, a dark shadow falling on her face. “Fun fact, Vinyl. Bits aren’t common currency around the world. We need money, and these ponies had enough to spare.”
Vinyl blinked. “What the hay are you talking about?”
“Vinyl,” Bon Bon said over her shoulder. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
“Well, um…somewhere north of the Crystal Empire.”
“Correct. And how long was that trip?”
“Uh, a few days?”
Bon Bon stopped then and turned around to look Vinyl straight in the eye. Her blue eyes weren’t harsh, but the look of determination in them frightened Vinyl. “And then you and Octavia were captured and dragged even further north. All your supplies. All your money. All your food. Gone. Lyra grabbed some of their food stores, but it won’t be enough. To put it simply, if we want to have any chance at making it back to Equestria in this maelstrom, we need to restock.”
“And that’s why we needed the gems,” Lyra concluded. 
“But…I don’t get it,” Vinyl said. “Where in Equestria are we going to be able to get enough food? Or even rest. Octy doesn’t look so good.” She wasn’t sure she’d be able to make it either because of her knees, but she kept silent about them.
“That is just the thing, Vinyl,” Octavia whispered as she hung on Bon Bon’s back. “We are not in Equestria anymore.” 
Vinyl blinked in surprise as the group started to make their way through the snow storm. If they weren’t in Equestria, where were they? Sure, the Crystal Empire was technically it’s own land, but everypony still considered it part of Equestria. 
As the white Unicorn looked around the bleak, snow-covered landscape, she felt lost, and in more ways than one. All she saw around them was snow. It blanketed the ground they were walking on. Wind whipped it into their faces and the air so much that her cheeks had already gone numb. It fell not in peaceful little flakes, but in hard sheets of white so thick that she feared she would lose sight of her friends if she fell more than a few paces behind. 
And we’re walking into this. What the buck are we doing?
That thought crystalized in Vinyl’s mind so hard and fast that she blinked in shock. What were they doing? Why did everypony else seem to be completely calm, despite the fact that they were, apparently, no longer in their homeland? How did they know that they weren’t lost? And why weren’t they more concerned about the fact that they had just escaped from some pretty psychotic Unicorns? And just what they hay were Lyra and Bon Bon doing all the way out here? 
“Stop,” Vinyl whispered, and Bon Bon and Lyra both stopped in the snow. All three heads turned to look at her, although Octavia had to crane her neck a little to see. 
“Vinyl, we can’t stay out here for very long,” Bon Bon said. “You and Octavia might have coats suited for this, but—”
“What’s going on?” Vinyl said quietly. 
Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other, and then Lyra spoke. “Vinyl, Bon Bon’s right. If we don’t hurry, we’re all going to freeze to death.”
Vinyl’s rage came boiling back in an instant. All the fury she had spewed at Octavia came rushing back to the front of her mind. Even Bon Bon and Lyra were treating her like an idiot now. They were hiding something from her, just like Octavia. Did every last one of her friends honestly think that she was just some dumb music pony? 
“So what?” Vinyl growled. “I’m not moving until you three start making some bucking sense!” Vinyl got a small sense of satisfaction when Lyra recoiled slightly, so she continued. “How did you two find us? What are you even doing out here? It took me and Octavia nearly two full days, and then you two just magically show up right when we need you?”
“Vinyl, now really isn’t—” Bon Bon started.
“Shut up!” Vinyl shouted back. “You’re the same as her!” Vinyl jammed her hoof at Octavia. “What, you girls think I’m too dumb to understand…whatever’s going on? Am I just getting in your way? Fine. I’ll stay here and you three can keep going. Celestia forbid any of you take the time to—”
“There is a city about a mile that way,” Octavia whispered. Her voice was so soft, so broken, that it stopped Vinyl cold. Her anger didn’t dim one bit, but she was able to bring it back under control. “That is where we are likely heading. Is that correct, Bon Bon?”
“Yes.”
Octavia returned her gaze to Vinyl. Her eyes were sunken and the light seemed to have gone out of her pupils. “Do you remember the old Hearth’s Warming Eve story?”
“Yeah,” Vinyl said carefully. “Why?”
“That is our destination, Vinyl,” Octavia said. “We are heading for where ponies originally came from. And when we arrive, I promise I will tell you everything. You…deserve that much.”
Vinyl wanted to shout at her, but the look of exhaustion on the cellist’s face gave her pause. Instead, she simply nodded and the group of ponies resumed their trek through the bitter cold. 
The rest of the walk was made in silence. Vinyl walked in the back, glaring at the three ponies ahead of her the entire time. Bon Bon kept her gaze straight ahead, never looking back. Lyra occasionally tried to sneak a look back, but every time Vinyl caught her eyes, the green Unicorn went stiff and immediately looked away. Octavia simply rested on Bon Bon’s back, sometimes opening one eye and looking at Vinyl, but never saying anything. 
As Vinyl’s legs started to go numb from the cold and her knees burned in agony, she began to worry that she couldn’t take another step, but then the weather changed in an instant. The howling wind and whipping snow suddenly vanished. It was like they had walked through an invisible barrier, much like the one that surrounded the Crystal Empire. For a brief moment, Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief, but then she noticed something.
The air she inhaled was so cold that it choked her. She thought she had gotten used to breathing the cold air around here, but this was on a whole other level. Her eyes went wide from the shock and she felt her throat tighten as her lungs screamed at her. For a few seconds, her mind screamed that she was drowning and forced her to put her hoof to her throat. Her body tensed, making it even harder for her to breathe as she rubbed her throat. 
Panicked, Vinyl looked at the other ponies. They had all stopped as well.
“What…the…?” Lyra mumbled as she began to shake in the bitter cold. 
“S-S-So cold…” Bon Bon stammered. She struggled to stay standing and keep Octavia on her back. 
“Breathe…through something…” Octavia whispered. She put a clump of Bon Bon’s cloak up to her mouth and took several deep breaths through it. “Breathe into it. Make…the air warm.”
Vinyl raised her foreleg to her mouth and did as she was told, fighting the screeching pain the motion caused her front knee. The first two breaths brought tears to her red eyes. It felt like her lungs were freezing, but as she exhaled, the warmth lingered against her fur. She sucked it in a third time, and the heat instantly relaxed her body. 
For several minutes, the group of ponies stood perfectly still, breathing through either their cloaks or their fur, until their bodies finally adjusted to the cold. 
“What in the world was that?” Vinyl asked as she slowly lowered her foreleg from her mouth. It still hurt to breathe, but it wasn’t as bad as before. “It’s like we just jumped into a frozen lake, but there’s not water.” 
“I have no idea,” Lyra said. She was hunched over, apparently still trying to get used to the cold and struggling under the weight of her pack.
“I’d heard the stories about Windigos, but I had no idea…” Bon Bon said. She had adjusted her cloak to make a makeshift scarf around her mouth. Her breath came out in thick clouds of white vapor. 
“No, this is not the work of a Windigo,” Octavia whispered. “At least, not anymore.”
“How do you know?” Vinyl asked. “Oh, wait. You’re Octavia. Of course you know.”
“Vinyl…” Lyra said. 
Vinyl just glared at the other Unicorn, her sneer refusing to fade. 
Octavia looked at Vinyl, but said nothing in response. Instead, she turned to the pony carrying her. “Bon Bon, let me down. I can walk the rest of the way.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Slowly, Bon Bon lowered herself into the snow and Octavia slid off her back. The cellist took a moment to steady herself, and then she stood. Without looking at Vinyl, she continued talking. “Windigos use their magic to make it storm constantly. Freezing winds, heavy snowfall.”
Vinyl suddenly remembered the constant maelstrom that surrounded the Crystal Empire. Were Windigos the cause of that?
“But look around,” Octavia continued. She walked up to the top of a small snow hill and waved her hoof. “The air here is calm. No snow, no wind. It is almost as if we have been placed under a dome.”
“Do you think it’s magic?” Lyra asked as Vinyl looked around. Sure enough, there wasn’t a hint of a raging snowstorm anywhere before them, but if she looked behind herself, just a few steps back, the storm raged just as violently as ever. 
“Doubtful,” Octavia replied as she turned around from the three other ponies. “The story said that even the Unicorns’ magic could not keep the cold out. It may be possible that, after so many centuries, they finally found some way of doing it, but I do not believe that.”
Vinyl rolled her eyes. “And why not, oh mighty know-it-all?”
“Vinyl, I’m getting really tired of your attitude,” Bon Bon growled. 
“Stuff it, Bonnie,” Vinyl replied in a tone just as threatening. “Let’s see how Lyra acts if you keep secrets from her!” 
To Vinyl’s surprise, Bon Bon blinked and recoiled a little, and her gaze immediately shot to Lyra. Lyra, for her part, looked down at the ground for a moment, but then she looked at Bon Bon and smiled. 
What was that about? Vinyl wondered. 
“Because,” Octavia continued, her voice a little hurt. “If they had found a way to keep the Windigos’ magic out, why is it still so cold? In fact, why is it colder outside of the storm than right in the middle of it? If the whole point of the spell was to keep the Windigo magic in check, making it even colder seems to counter that point.”
Vinyl kept her eyes glued on Octavia, but she had to admit that the Earth pony had a point. The air here, while still and clear, was beyond bitter cold. It was almost so bad that she wanted to go back to having the snow and wind whipping in her face again. 
“So what’s causing this?” Lyra asked.
“I do not know, but we may be able to find an answer down there.”
Bon Bon, Lyra, and Vinyl all walked up the small hill and joined Octavia at the top. Below them, a small city fanned out. Vinyl could make out many buildings, but what really caught her eye were all the fires. Torches beyond counting burned everywhere, making it look like the city was on fire. 
Vinyl couldn’t help but lick her lips as she looked at the flames in the city and thought of the warmth they provided. 
“We’d better get moving,” Lyra said with a weak smile as she adjusted her pack and took the lead. “Bon Bon gets cranky when she gets cold.”
“Do not,” Bon Bon said, her eyes narrowing slightly. 
“Right. You just like to snuggle late at night then.”
The look on Bon Bon’s face, even half hidden under her cloak, was frightening as she marched after Lyra in the snow. 
That left Vinyl and Octavia alone in the bitter cold. 
Octavia turned and looked at Vinyl. Her purple eyes were pitiful. Several times, she opened her mouth to speak, but all she did was let out a small breath and then close her lips again. 
“Come on,” Vinyl said once her hooves had gone so numb that they had started to burn. She shifted the pack she was carrying and started down the hill. “You don’t want to collapse out here, because you still have a lot of explaining to do.”
With that, Vinyl marched past Octavia. She only stopped when she felt something gently pulling on her tail.
“Vinyl, I am—”
“Save it,” Vinyl said curtly. “Right now, all I want to do is get warm.” She turned around and looked at the mare that she wanted to love so much, but she couldn’t help narrowing her eyes. “And being around you isn’t doing that.”
Vinyl turned and followed Lyra and Bon Bon before she had a chance to really see the broken look on Octavia’s face. 
As the four ponies approached the city, Vinyl was surprised by how ordinary it was. Granted, it was bigger than Ponyville, but not as large as Manehattan. It had plenty of buildings, streets, and lots of torches in place of lampposts. For a city that was completely cut off from Equestria and its ways, it seemed fairly familiar. 
The only difference that Vinyl could see was that ice covered everything. Massive icicles hung from every rooftop, while other buildings seemed like they were actually made out of ice, whether it was just a single wall or the entire roof. 
Ice even covered the streets, but from what Vinyl could tell, it looked like it was only a thin layer. She decided it was closer to permafrost once she and the others finally reached the edge of the city. It was still slippery, but she wouldn’t have to worry about constantly falling on her flank every other step. 
The first thing the four ponies did was walk up to the nearest torch. Vinyl immediately felt warmth flood her body as she huddled next to the light. For several moments they all stood there, shivering and occasionally blowing on their hooves as their bodies slowly regained a meager amount of comfort. 
Vinyl noticed that several ponies—all of whom were dressed in thick coats wrapped in fur cloaks—constantly shot them odd looks. She made eye contact with one of them and flashed a smile. 
The Earth pony’s eyes went wide and his face contorted into a mask of anger and disgust. He huffed once and then turned and marched down the street. 
That was weird.
“Okay, what’s our next move?” Lyra asked as Vinyl’s thoughts returned to the group.
“We need to find a place to stay the night,” Bon Bon replied. “Get supplies too. Question is, where do we begin?”
“Let’s ask somepony,” Vinyl said as she set her pack down. She saw another pony walking down the street and started after her before the other three had a chance to say anything. She just wanted to get out of the cold as quickly as possible and get off of her hooves.
“Excuse me,” Vinyl said as she walked up behind the mare.
The mare turned her head slightly, but she didn’t slow down or acknowledge Vinyl in any other way.
Vinyl blinked. “Um…excuse me, miss?” Vinyl trotted a bit faster so that she was now walking parallel with the mare.
Still the mare ignored her.
Frustrated, Vinyl growled and jumped in front of the mare. “Hey! I’m talking to—argh!” Vinyl recoiled as the mare slapped her. The blow stung even more than normal because of the cold. “Lady, what is wrong with you?”
“How dare you speak to me!” the mare shouted. The look in her eyes was so fierce that Vinyl couldn’t help but take a small step back. “The nerve of this filth!”
“What’s going on here?” a new voice asked. Vinyl looked to her right and saw two stallions walking toward her and the mare. She figured they were this city’s law enforcement, since they had matching cloaks and some sort of white badge on them. 
“Hey, officers,” Vinyl said as she rubbed her cheek. “I just asked her a question and she hauled off and hit me.”
The two stallions, both Earth ponies, looked at each other and then at the mare. “Is that true, ma’am?” 
The mare nodded.
A second later, one of the stallions hit Vinyl square in the jaw as hard as he could. The Unicorn lost her balance and fell onto the frozen ground. She coughed once, but then the air was forced from her lungs when she felt a kick slam into her stomach. The blow sent her skidding across the ground. She came to a stop and curled up into a ball as she tried to suck up as much frozen air as she could. 
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Bon Bon shouted. Vinyl opened one of her red eyes and saw that she had come to rest just in front of her friends. Bon Bon and Lyra placed themselves between Vinyl’s crumpled body and the two stallions. 
“You got a problem with that?” one of the stallions said. 
“Touch her again, and you’ll be the one with the problem, buddy,” Lyra warned. 
“Did you just threaten me, freak?” The two stallions started walking toward Lyra and Bon Bon, their eyes dangerously narrowed. “You want to spend the next month in the bottom of a pit or something?”
“Touch her, and so help me, I will break bones you don’t even know you have!” Bon Bon shouted. 
That caused the two stallions to stop. They looked at each other for a moment and then back at the two mares opposing them, as if they were trying to decide whether Bon Bon was serious. For a moment, Vinyl worried that they would try to attack anyway, but the look on Bon Bon’s face must had made them reconsider. 
“Fine,” one of them said as he spit on the ground. “But if you don’t want your property damaged, then you might want to take better care of it.”
“It’s bad enough you let them walk around without collars,” the other added as they both turned to walk away. “Get that trash out of the street or we’ll cite you for littering.” 
Vinyl felt a gentle hoof reach down and slowly lift her up. She looked over and her eyes met Octavia’s. 
“Are you okay?” the cellist whispered. 
“Not really,” Vinyl groaned. She was still mad at Octavia, and if she wasn’t in so much pain at the moment, she would have shoved the mare’s help away, but her stomach felt like it had exploded, so she allowed Octavia’s help. “Why is everypony out here straight crazy?”
“Come on,” Bon Bon said as she turned around to look at Vinyl and Octavia. “We’d better get off the street and find a place to stay. I get the feeling this city isn’t going to be very safe for outsiders like us.”
Outsider. Vinyl had been called that when she had first started this stupid quest. Back then, she had felt a little insulted by it, even after Potions had explained it to here. 
Now, that term made her fear for her life. She hadn’t fit in in Hollow Shades, but at least it had been part of Equestria, so she could have left at any time. Out here though, she was trapped, and she got the feeling that the ponies living out here had their own set of rules. And if Vinyl was left dead in the street because she broke one of them, she knew that none of these ponies would spare her a second glance.