Bard blinked, his eyes reflecting a gray and grayer horizon. The winds whistled as a deathly wall of snow surged towards him and his companion.
"Uhm... Remna?" Gulping, the Desperado backtrotted one nervous hoof after another. "What... what exactly is all this?"
Remna clenched her teeth. "Verlax's gift." Nostrils flaring, she narrowed her eyes, glaring into the eastern edge of the battlefield.
Breathless, the remnants of the Central Guard fled eastward. Just as they were clearing the last of the ancient wreckage, they collectively stumbled to a stop. With gawing expressions, they beheld the incoming blizzard—thicker than a veritable mountain of frost.
"Goddess..."
"What in Verlaxion's name?"
"I can no longer see Starkiss..."
"What... what is that which bathes the Fringes?"
A griffon captain hovered above the group, staring deeply into the incoming anomaly with scrutinous hawkeyes.
The clouds billowed and rolled. The air crackled—as if with lightning—and through it came an outburst of high-pitched shrieks and whinnies. One after another, like starlight, pairs of glowing blue eyes materialized behind the mists. Hooves kicked loose from the snow flurries, followed by ethereal figures of misty gray blight, writhing and undulating as they "galloped" west above the windblown snowplains.
Rippling white manes accompanied otherworldly torsos. The translucent bodies pulled themselves forward, front legs thrashing and necks thrusting as they continued their apocalyptic charge. Within seconds, an entire herd of hellish equines began their descent, covering the tundra in frozen sheets of stone-solid ice. Crystalline patterns tore its way west, bearing down on the gawking soldiers of Rohbredden.
"Oh Verlaxion..." The ponies whimpered.
"Windigoes!" The guards began stumbling backwards. "The banshees of yesterday have returned!"
"Why, Goddess?! Why?!"
"Move!" The griffon captain shouted, spinning about-face and motioning with his talon. "Run! Flee for your lives—" Errant ice shards punctured his body. "Grkkkt!" His hawkeyes rolled back as his bloody figure froze from the inside out. He plummeted—and when he struck the ground, the griffon shattered into three dozen crimson pieces.
Panicked shrieks and screams filled the air.
Sputtering for breath, the soldiers turned and galloped the way which they first fled. Several stumbled, openly sobbing in terror as they struggled to outrun the ancient demons of Rohbredden.
While the panic arose, the eyes of the banshees burned brighter—as if feeding off of the terror and discord of the mortals below. They dipped and dove several times in their stampede, shrieking randomly as their hooves tore crystalline patches through the stale earth.
Members of the Central Guard wove left and right, desperate to get away. This task grew even more difficult as they threaded their way once again through the ruins of the ancient battleground. Horrified soldiers galloped past the wreckage of prehistory, fleeing in the same direction as their frozen ancestors.
It wasn't long before the windigoes caught up. Their hooves clipped the skulls and flanks of figures fleeing below. Ponies and griffons lurched in place, their bodies rendered deathly inert while frozen moisture protruded from their limbs, aiming westward in blood-tinged icicles. Beady eyes locked in horror while coats turned corpse-blue. Within seconds, the second wave of windigoes swept past, and the sheer force of their wings shattered the freshly frozen bodies to pulpy chunks.
The banshee shrieks filling the air were soon accompanied by mortal howls of terror and pain. Remna and Bard found themselves overwhelmed by a line of fleeing soldiers before the incoming wave of windigoes.
"Holy Hell in a hoof basket!" Bard tightened his hat and spun around. "Move what yer Momma gave ya!"
"Dammit, Verlax..." Remna sneered. "What is this accomplishing—?!"
"Ya crazy stupid harpy!" Bard hollered from several paces westward. "Move yer tail or you're toast! Iced toast!"
Clenching her jaw, Remna reluctantly spun about and galloped after him. They joined the current of frightened guardians attempting to outrun the frozen stampede. "The Austraeoh," she fumed. "Must... get h-her... to safety..."
The earth shook beneath Rainbow's hooves.
She grimaced, leaning back as her eyes took in the wave of death surging towards them.
"Awwwwwwwwwwww Luna Poop," the pegasus rasped.
"My stars!" Rarity stammered. "What in Celestia's name are those?!"
"They're windigoes," Fluttershy murmured. "They have to be." She looked aside. "Right, Twilight?"
Twilight gulped. "They match everything in Clover the Clever's writing... only more ferocious than I ever imagined."
"They look like ghost horsies!" Pinkie said, floating high and squinting hard. "Any chance we can talk them into stopping their super mega death charge?"
"No, Pinkie," Twilight grunted. "There isn't."
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie waved a hoof casually. "Just wanted to get that out of the way." She immediately dipped down, screaming upside-down into Rainbow's face. "RUN LIKE HECK!"
"Grnnngh!" Rainbow waved a phasing hoof through her marefriend and turned towards the rest of the Herald. "Can we outrun them?!"
"Fully empowerred windigoes?" Kepler gravely shook his head. "Theirr speed is unmatched. Howeverr, they do congrregate togetherr. It might be possible to gauge the dirrection of theirr stampede and ascerrtain a way to dodge them—"
"Not on hoof!" Flynn exclaimed. "Not a chance! But you, Ariel, Wildcard—"
"Count me out," Ariel said, wincing. She clutched her bleeding leg. "I can't outrun a pigeon at this rate. Augh..."
"We gotta get Rainbow out of here!" Logan's nostrils flared. "Wildcard! Kepler! Grab the Austraeoh and high-tail it out of here! There may still be a chance to—"
"No. No!" Rainbow frowned. "We gotta get us all out of here!"
"Let's not forget Bard and Remna!" Rarity squeaked, eyeing the incoming wave in horror.
"We've still got two of us missing!" Rainbow said.
Logan's brow furrowed. "Look, we all came into this gig knowing the risks! It's the Herald's top friggin' priority to get the Austraeoh to the dark side—"
"Fat load of good that will do if I get there alone!," Rainbow's voice cracked. "Either we do this as a team or we don't do this at all!"
The group fidgeted nervously. With each freezing second, the winds grew more and more blistery. Banshee shrieks rang louder, vibrating up everypony's spine. Wildcard hovered in place, his goggles rattling as he switched between staring at Rainbow and glancing east towards where he last saw Bard. The Desperado anxiously wrung his flesh-and-metal talons.
"We are at the Austraeoh's beck and call," Mortuana calmly said. "If she wills for us to make an escape together, then that is what we will do."
"Escape?!" Logan cackled, waving his forelimbs. "Escape to where?!"
Ariel huffed. "How about up your butt, Big Show?"
"A modicum of civility, please," Kepler insisted. "Peace of mind makes forr a clearr mind."
"Whatever we decide to do..." Flynn adjusted his mechanical eye, peering east. "...we must make a plan quick. Or else we'll all be snow cones in seconds."
"Aaaaaaaaaugh!" Ponies and griffons fled for their lives, galloping in and around wreckage. "Goddess, spare us!"
"Verlaxion, please!"
"Save us!" A unicorn whimpered in full-gallop. "Please! Forgive us! Forgive your foals—" He tripped on an ancient weapon, collapsing against a wagon. "Mrmmff... no! No—!" The pale shadow of a windigo wafted over him, freezing his figure in mid scream. Within seconds—Crkkkkk! His flesh and muscles shattered.
"Grnnngh!" Bard winced, galloping through the crimson spray of frost. "Dammit!" Huffing, he spread his wings. "I dun aim to die screamin'!" Fwoooosh!
Remna fumed and fumed, galloping steadily west. A shadow crossed over her—this one dark and accompanied with a drawling shout:
"Stay steady!" Bard hollered.
Remna wheezed, glancing over her shoulder. "What are you doing?!"
"What do ya think?" Bard gripped her body with his limbs. Ponies screamed and collapsed in freezing deaths on either side of them while windigoes dove and bellowed from above. "Savin' yer sorry keister!"
"Bard, stop—!" Remna growled.
"Ya dun have to thank me!" Bard strained and strained to tug her skyward. "Even though I know ya won't!" His teeth clenched as he struggled. "Grnnnngh! Goddess-dayum, girl! What the Hell are ya made of?"
"Don't! I mean it!" Remna hollered, trying to shake him off. "You don't understand! You can't—"
"You wanna get back to yer apprentice or not?! Heaven knows I do—" Just as Bard was speaking, a windigo swept closely overhead. A shriek pierced the battlefield, and a swath of frozen crystals materialized to the Desperado's right, causing an old catapult to explode with frost and shrapnel. "Aaaaaaugh!" Bard's bellowing voice flew along a spray of cold blood.
"Guhhh!" Remna tumbled, thrown off by Bard's grip.
The two went tumbling sideways while columns of frozen ice ripped through the plateau all around. A layer of deathly cold snow blanketed their twitching figures.
"Aaaugh!" Fluttershy yelped, clutching her skull.
"Flutters!" Pinkie held the other mare close.
"Mrmmmff..." Fluttershy looked up, eyes tearing. "So... s-so many deaths..." She wept. "It's horrible... horrible!"
"We're stuck here, aren't we?" Twilight grimaced. "Against that many windigoes, there's no feasible way to escape!"
"I know..." Rarity sniffled. "...and to make it even worse, we're standing above a hollow pocket of earth!"
Rainbow did a double-take. "Wait, what?!"
"Is it enough that Rainbow Dash and her friends must freeze to death?!" Rarity leaned back, draping a hoof over her forehead. "But their ice-cold corpses must fall hundreds of feet into the belly of the earth as well?!"
"The ground beneath us is hollow?!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"..." Rarity blinked, frozen in her damsel-in-distress pose. "Well, yes. Albeit... in random places—"
"Are we standing above such a random spot right now?!"
"Almost. Why, darling—"
Rainbow shouted above the magnifying screams. "Can you lead us to it?!"
"But why?!" Rarity grimaced. "Surely if we all congregate over the thin layer of permafrost, we'll fall through and end up below the ground's surface—" She lurched in place, her eyes blinking. "Oh."
Pinkie Pie reached over and moved Twilight's hoof up so that the unicorn was facehoofing.
"Mortuana!" Rainbow spun about, hollering. "Rarity's sensed a huge hollow pocket of earth beneath us!"
Mortuana calmly blinked. "Where at, precisely?"
Rarity pointed northwest. "That direction! About thirty paces!"
"Over there!" Rainbow indicated. "If we could just find a way to punch a hole through it—"
"Boom!" Logan belched. "Instant windigo bunker!"
"Of courrse!" Kepler nodded. "Much of the Star Fringes have hollow limestone deposits! Ha Hah!"
"Wouldn't... grnngh..." Ariel winced. "...they just f-follow us down there?"
"Not if we seal the entrance behind us!" Flynn said. "It could be our chance!"
"Very well." Mortuana nodded, gesturing with her narrow wings. "Herald. Follow Rainbow Dash! Wildcard... take a hold of Ariel."
Wildcard nodded. Thwoooosh! In a blink, he was at Ariel's side, lifting her.
"Gnnnghhh..." Ariel winced, but nevertheless clung to the griffon with a weak smile. "Easy th-there... handsome..."
"Come on!" Rainbow Dash galloped, pendant rattling. "Rarity will show me the way! I promise!"
"But..." Fluttershy shifted. "What about Bard?!"
"He and Remna are still out there, Rainbow!" Twilight said.
Panting, Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder. She glanced at the Herald, then threw a nervous glance east.
The wall of deathly windigoes bore down on them.
The mare gulped.
"Mrmmmf..."
Bard winced.
"Grnnngh..."
Bard stirred.
His ears ached from the persistent howl of Windigoes above, behind, and ahead of him.
With weak eyes, he squinted past the dense winds of the blizzard surrounding him on all sides. The stallion's teeth chattered. He spotted bodies and corpses frozen and scattered in all directions—some old and others fresh.
For a moment, he was curious as to why he was conscious enough to witness so many details within the eye of the wintry storm. Then he felt his body resting against an overturned wagon. The structure had taken the brunt of the frosted blast, creating a tiny "cone" of undisturbed snow around him. He gazed at multiple three-foot icicles protruding from the wreck... until his eyes fell on one particular shard that jutting sharply west... and impaling his right forelimb.
"Hooooooo boy..." Bard gulped. "...that is gonna suck to high Hell when I can feel it again." He looked around, panting. "If I can feel it again..." He squinted out at the flurrying snowdrifts. "Remna?!" A deep breath, and he desperately hollered: "Remnaaaaaa!" He winced, panting. "Hrmmmf... who the Hell am I kiddin'?" He gulped, clenched his muscles, and attempted to slide free. "Nnnngh... come on..." He gave his muscles another jerk, triggering a sharp stab of pain from where he was pinned to the icicle. "Aaaaaugh! Buck me. Not ready for any of that shiet yet... hrnkkk..."
The meager shelter his battered body was afforded grew narrower and narrower as the storm descended from all sides.
"Brbrbrbbrrbbbb..." Shivering, he fumbled through his bandolier with a free hoof and produced a flask. He brought the canteen to his muzzle, but nothing happened. Squinting, he turned the container upside down and watched as a narrow strip of frozen cider plummeted to the snow like a dead weight. "...now that's just insultin'."
The shrieks echoed. The snow flurries closed in from every angle.
Bard shuddered. He tipped the brim of his hat down and sighed. "I'd go out with a song..." A gulp. "...but t'ain't nothin' worth singin' without my backup..."
Wildcard clenched his beak shut. He held Ariel closely in his grasp, watching from above while Rainbow Dash swept over a flat patch of snow.
Rainbow panted and panted. Her skull shook from the windigo cries—coupled with the terrorized screams of the Central Guard. "Rarityyyy?" She gulped. "You got a fix, yet?"
"Yes! Yes!" Rarity pointed at one particular spot. "There! It's the thinnest!"
"Careful, though!" Pinkie Pie phased up out of the ground, tail twitching. "It's a real doozie once you punch through!"
"Is that it?!" Flynn asked, crowding behind Rainbow.
"It is!" Rainbow nodded. "With just enough pressure, we should be able to make a hole!"
"Then move the buck over!" Logan brushed Rainbow aside with his axe. "'Cuz holes are my specialty!"
"Specialty or phelia?" Flynn barked.
"Takes one to know one!" Logan spat on his hooves, rubbed them together, then hoisted the axe up high with both forelimbs. "Hnnnnnnnnnnnngh—Raaaaaaaugh!" He slammed the thing down with all his might.
WHUDDDDD!
Nothing happened.
"It is petrrified perrmafrost, my larrge frriend!" Kepler said. "It will take a grreat deal morre gusto!"
"I happen to have a diploma in gusto!" Logan spat again and wielded the axe... again. "Come onnnnnnn... smash through!
WHUDDDDDDD!
Yet again, the ground refused to budge.
"It... it should be working!" Rarity squeaked.
"He's simply not strong enough!" Twilight said. "We have to find another way!"
"Big Show, uhm..." Rainbow fidgeted. "Maybe we have Flynn use his magic or Kepler his potions—"
"Shut the buck up!" Logan heaved and panted. He raised the axe again. "I've got this—"
A bony fetlock gently rested on his shoulder.
"Step aside, my little pony," Mortuana remarked.
"But..." Logan panted. "Mountain Matron—"
"It was not a request." Mortuana forced him aside. She stood over the patch of snow, exhaled slowly, and closed her eyes. Her hooves slid left and right, then met in the center. She stood in dead silence.
Ariel watched, shivering in Wildcard's grip.
Flynn, Logan, and Kepler were silent.
Rainbow blinked, biting her lip.
"... ... ..." Mortuana's eyelids tensed. Suddenly, she reared up. The bandages around her horn rippled as she let loose a high-pitched wail. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Th-Thud! Her two hooves landed firmly in key spots.
Within a second—Crkkkkkkkk!—a narrow fissure formed across the earth.
"That did it!" Rarity said, grinning.
"Hah!" Kepler smiled through his tusks. "Well met, Mountain Matrron!"
"Stand back!" Flynn exclaimed, his horn glowing. "Keep away from the mouth of the—"
POWWW! The fissure blasted open, expelling a patch of ancient air. A stale wind billowed skyward, briefly expelling the snow flurries. The Herald flinched, waiting for the expulsion to run its course, which took nearly half-a-minute. Once all was said and done, a narrow strip of open earth loomed before the group. Flynn was the first to peer down, shining his horn.
"Well?!" Logan asked.
"It's a fifty foot drop!" Flynn exclaimed. "I can easily float some of us down to safety! The rest of us can fly!"
"Let's not waist another second!" Rainbow said, pointing up at Wildcard. "Bright eyes!"
Wildcard nodded, then flew down with Ariel.
"Ah!" Ariel winced, clinging to the griffon as the two descended. "It's dark!"
"Hurry, Herald," Mortuana said firmly. "Verlax's wrath is upon us."
"Huh?" Logan turned, his eyes reflecting a solid gray wall of blizzard. "Holy shit nipples!"
"Less poetry and more plunging, fatso!" Flynn bucked the earth pony in the rear. "Now jump!" Whump!
"Gaaaaaaaaaiee!" Logan plummeted into the cavern, wincing as he was enveloped in a telekinetic field. "Flankhole!"
"You're... welcome..." Flynn gnashed his teeth, lowering his companion from above. "Rainbow? Now would be a good time for—"
They were overcome by the sound of screams. By then, the Central Guard had reached them.
"The soldiers," Mortuana said in a dull tone. She craned her neck north in time to catch a line of griffons and ponies fleeing. "They do not understand the severity of their peril."
"In trruth, ma'am..." Kepler adjusted his spectacles as he perched on the side of the hole. "Did they everr?"
"They are as much victims of this as we are," Mortuana said.
"Yeah...?" Flynn panted, finished with lowering Logan. "What can we do about it?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. Gritting her teeth, she galloped to the north edge of the hole and hollered towards the fleeing soldiers: "Hey! Heeeeeey!"
A few glanced over in mid-gallop, eyes wide and full of terror.
"We have a way out!" Rainbow pointed at the fissure. "None of us can outrun those windigoes! Best to hop underground—"
"You brought this upon us, Rainbow Rogue!" a griffon shouted.
"You've angered Verlaxion!" a unicorn managed. "Why should we listen to a word you have to—"
"Hey! Bozos!" Rainbow frowned. "You wanna freeze to death?! That's your choice! But I'm not the bad guy here! You don't have to believe me!" She pointed at the hole once again. "You just have to take a leap of faith! It's your last chance!"
"... ... ..." Over two dozen soldiers stumbled in their tracks. Breathless, they looked at the west horizon, at the windigoes bearing down on them, then at Rainbow Dash.
At last, with nervous breaths, several Rohbreddenites galloped straight towards the Herald.
"Soldiers!" A pegasus shouted. "Maintain your retreat! Do not give into the lies of the Blight!"
"I have a family to return to!" A mare shouted, rushing towards the fissure.
"You can retreat wherever you want!" added a stallion, leaping into the hole. Griffons and pegasi joined in, assisting those who couldn't fly.
"Heads up!" Rainbow shouted into the hollow below. "We've got some extra company!"
"Kepler, the wagon!" Flynn shouted.
"By all means!" Kepler pushed the cart over the edge. As Flynn encased it in telekinesis, the wyvern flew down and guided it. "Morrtuana?"
"Now is the time." She spread her wings and stood on the lip of the hole. "Austraeoh—"
Rainbow shook her head. "I can't hop down until I at least hear word from Bard and—"
"Mountain Matron!" A violet figure burst from the flurrying mists. Remna scuffled to a stop, panting. "Oh... the Austraeoh!" She gulped. "Good. You have her."
"About damn time you showed up!" Flynn exclaimed, straining with his horn. "Brought the whole Windigo stampede with you, huh?"
"Where's Bard?" Rainbow asked.
"We..." Remna gulped. "...g-got separated." He nostrils flared. "I see you fashioned an escape. Quickly. We must get you undergrou—"
Rainbow gripped the bounty hunter by her violet neck. "Where. Is. Bard?"
"Rainbow..." Fluttershy murmured.
Rainbow looked over.
Fluttershy's ears drooped as she shook her head. "It's... it's not good..."
"..." Blinking, Rainbow looked east into the flurrying mess.
Remna took a deep breath. "There was nothing I could do. Austraeoh, you're more important than anything." She cleared her voice and struggled to speak above the howling winds. "We must get you underground before—"
"Buck that." Rainbow elbowed past Remna and galloped straight into the blizzard.
Remna gasped, reaching out for her but stumbling. "Austraeoh!" She lurched in place, emerald eyes wide and quivering. "She... she..." She turned to look over her shoulder. "What does she think she's doing?!"
"That which only she can do," Mortuana said.
"Mortuana..." Remna growled. "We have to stop her."
"No." Mortuana shook her head. "We must have faith in her."
Remna fumed... fumed... then tore east with a snarling breath. "Damn it all..."
"Hey! Hey!" Flynn protested, but was too worn-out to intervene. At last, the unicorn's horn fizzled out and he teetered. "Unnngh..."
Mortuana calmly caught him. She draped the Heraldite over his back and glided down into the hole. "Fear not. The Austraeoh shall return." The alicorn breathed evenly. "This is a test for both her and Remna..."
"I..." Flynn shuddered, eyeing the blurring walls of the cavern with thin eyes. "...I don't understand, Mortuana..."
"You will soon," Mortuana said, descending. "We will all understand soon."
Panting, Rainbow galloped straight into the blinding currents. Snow collected in thick layers across her muzzle, gear, and limbs. Nevertheless, she pierced the howling tempest with fearless determination.
"Okay, Dashie! You see that?!" Pinkie flew ahead of her, pointing at her twitching tail, ears, muzzle, and mane. "You see all of that?! It means everything is happening from everywhere all at once!" She pulled at her facial muscles. "Have you gone completely loco in the coco?!"
"This is supremely daunting!" Rarity exclaimed. "Even for you, darling!"
"I'm not gonna leave Bard out here to die!" Rainbow shouted, inadvertently swallowing clumps of snow.
"I want to rescue him as much as you do, Rainbow!" Twilight exclaimed. "But what exactly do you think we can do at this point?!"
"I'll give you a hint!" Rainbow frowned. "Not think!"
"One of these days, that's going to kill you, Rainbow!" Twilight hollered.
"Cool! Let's hope they fill my coffin with plenty of cider!" Rainbow struck a patch of whipping winds and pushed her aching shoulder against it. "Rnnnngh... Fluttershy?! Do you have a fix on where he's at?"
"I... I sense him! But barely!" Fluttershy pointed southeast. "There! In that direction!"
"There's at least three rows of wreckage in the way!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Cool!" Rainbow panted. "I like a challenge—"
"Augh!" Twilight winced, clutching her strobing horn.
"What's wrong?" Rarity asked.
"The windigoes..." Twilight gnashed her teeth, eyes tearing. "They're all around us!"
"Never mind that!" Pinkie yelped as her tail twitched insanely. "Dashie, roll out!"
Rainbow held her breath and instantly somersaulted—
FWOOOOOOSH! The ghostly limbs of a wintry beast sliced through the earth where she once was. Razor sharp icicle forms at Rainbow's tail. Crkkkkk!
"Goodness, me!" Rarity yelped.
"There's more of them!" Twilight hollered. "From the north and south!"
"Zig zag!" Pinkie hollered, clutching her tail. "Serpentine it, ya crazy pegasus!"
"Httt!" Rainbow jumped left, right, and left again.
With hellish screams, the windigoes emerged from the blizzard, sweeping low and slashing hard. They left swaths of frozen destruction in their wake, slicing the earth and casting spray of powdery snow in every direction. The wind carried the debris aloft, so that it ripped violently over Rainbow's head.
The mare ducked low, galloping madly in spite of her shivers. "Rnnngh... Fluttershy—"
"Almost there, Rainbow!" Fluttershy yelped.
"Just keep moving, Rainbow!" Twilight hollered.
"Whatever you do!" Pinkie panted. "Don't stop—"
More shrieks. Specral limbs dragged through the air as the air exploded above Rainbow with wintry thunder.
"Aaaaugh!" Rainbow lost traction as her body was thrown forward and into the blizzard.
West...
Beneath the plateau's surface...
Wildcard placed Ariel down on the ground. Behind him, Kepler and Logan illuminated the jagged cavern with their Odrsjot bands. The rainbow-colored light revealed the panicked muzzles and eyes of several murmuring members of the Central Guard. Everyone—Rohbreddenite and Heraldite alike—huddled in a tense hush as the wind and blizzard picked up overhead.
Swoooosh! Mortuana landed with Flynn. "Keep an eye on the mouth of the cave," the alicorn leader firmly said.
"Where..." Ariel shivered, gulping. "Where's Rainbow Dash?"
"She will be joining us shortly," Mortuana said.
"I swore I heard Remna's voice for a second there," Logan breathed. "What the Hell is going on?"
"She went after Rainbow," Flynn stammered, shivering.
"Huh?"
Flynn gulped and reiterated: "Rainbow fled east to try and save Bard and Remna went after her."
Logan did a double-take. "What?!?"
"Against that many windigoes..." Kepler shook his head. "...most perilous indeed."
Wildcard grimaced. Shivering, the Desperado looked up at the hole. The sky turned from gray to black. Frowning, he flapped his wings and made to fly up there—
"No, Wildcard."
The griffon froze in place. He spun until his goggles reflected Mortuana's solemn expression.
"I know you care for Bard, but you must remain here. Exiting the cave at this point would surely kill you."
Wildcard frowned.
"You've had your moments to be heroic," the alicorn continued. "Now is not such a moment."
"Mountain Matrron..." Kepler cleared his throat. "In a minute—at best two—those abominable monsterrs will be on top of us." He pointed at his cart. "You must allow me to close the entrrance. With Flynn's help, I can—"
"Not without Rainbow and Bard!" Ariel wheezed. "They're still out there with Remna!"
"Yeah, and for how friggin' long?" Logan muttered.
Ariel bit her lip, shivering.
"Verlax thinks she is testing Rainbow Dash," Mortuana said. She slowly shook her head. "She is only partially right."
"What... what do we do?" Flynn stammered.
Mortuana closed her eyes and took a meditative breath. "We wait."
Wildcard shivered in mid-hover. His beak clattered as he stared forlornly up at the hole.
The last square inch of untouched snow vanished around Bard.
The stallion shivered less and less. His eyelids lowered as his breath left him in a limp cloud of vapors.
"Mrmmmf... not... any b-better... than I deserve..." His ears drooped. A hint of moisture clung to his lashes, then turned to specks of frost as he hung his weary head. "Amber... Melody..." A whimper. "...f-forgive me. I tried my best—"
"Bard!"
"...!" The stallion's eyes fluttered open.
The gray world fogged, then unfogged. A rainbow shape materialized, galloping straight towards him.
"Bard, hold on!"
"Hmmmmf..." Bard's lips curved slightly. "Encore."
Swooosh! Rainbow slid to a stop beside him. Her eyes instantly bugged at the icicle impaling his forelimb. "Holy cow! Dude, your hoof!"
"I know... r-right...?" Bard winced. "Knew that one of these days I'd get the point."
"Dang it, Bard!" Rainbow craned her neck, looking at the blizzard howling past the wreckage. "Now's not the time!"
"I might... mrmmmf... wanna take up the harmonica for a lil' while..." He said, squirming where he was pinned down. "Tell Dubya he can have the guitar."
"I'm not telling Wildcard nothing!" Rainbow said, digging at the ground and scooping the snow out from under Bard so they'd have more room to move him. "Not until you're there with me to chat face-to-beak!"
"I... g-got a secret to tell ya," Bard said, wheezing. "Dubya-Cee? Well... he ain't nearly as chatty as I let on."
"Can you crouch, Bard?"
"Most of the time he's only ever lettin' on about the bounty or whatshiet—"
"Bard, pay attention! Rarity found a cave where we can hide out the windigo stampede! The rest are waiting for us there!" Rainbow frowned. "Now, can you crouch? I wanna try and snap off this shard thingy—"
"Not sure if there's a point to it, darlin'," Bard stammered. "I'm stuck good and proper. And even if ya got me unpinned, I'd only weigh you down on the way back to wherever—"
"Okay, look, just shut up for a bit, okay?" Rainbow panted, fumbling around the stallion. "Rarity? Are his bones in tact?"
The unicorn phased out of the wagon. "The shard's pierced flesh and muscle. His leg should be sturdy enough to be dragged out of here without breaking."
"He's in more pain than he's letting on," Fluttershy said. "We gotta move him gently."
"I'm not sure we can be 'gentle' about it!" Twilight exclaimed. "The storm is getting thicker and—"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhh... guys?" Pinkie gulped, her whole body vibrating like a tuning fork. "Don't look now, but..."
Shrieks pierced Rainbow's and Bard's ears.
Rainbow looked up, eyes wide. "From what direction...?" She hissed aside. "Twilight?! What direction?"
Twilight pointed. "East! A whole pack of them!"
"They're coming in fast!" Pinkie squeaked.
"What... what is it?" Bard stammered.
Rainbow panted, looking every which way. "The windigoes..." She gulped. "They're... they're bearing down..."
"... ... ..." Bard glanced aside, then at her. "Go back to Wildcard."
"Bard..."
"Tell 'em that he's the best mofo I ever done kicked bad guy flank with," Bard grunted. "And... and th-that he gave me more than a griffon should ever have the right to give."
"I gotta do something—"
"He'll know what I mean." Bard exhaled. "He always does."
"Darn it, Bard, I'm not—" Rainbow froze in place. Her ruby eyes reflected a disturbance in the stormfront. Holding her breath, she rushed over and braced herself alongside Bard, wrapping a forelimb tightly around him.
The stallion was gnashing his teeth at this point. "Hell's bells, Rainbow! Will ya head back to the others already?!"
"No go, dude."
"Ya got nothin' to prove and I got nothin' to give anymore! I ain't Herald material!"
"Of course not..." Rainbow reached into her vest and hoisted her pendant loose. "...you're made of better stuff."
"Dammit! I forgive ya!"
"Huh?" Rainbow glanced aside.
"I said..." Bard spat. "I done forgive ya for the Quade! Now git!"
The ruby lightning bolt pulsed with bright light. Rainbow gasped—for she hadn't yet touched it. She blinked, glanced at Twilight, then looked back at Bard. "Forgive me again."
"Huh?"
"I said forgive me harder!"
"What are you—?!"
"Just do it!"
Bard hollered, "I forgive ya for bein' a narrow-minded, dag-blame'd idiot!"
"More!" Rainbow shouted, aiming the pendant up so that its ruby glow met the incoming stormclouds. "Keep going!"
Bard seethed. "And I forgive ya for bein' so plum dishonest to me, Dubya, and yer ghost friends that it dayum-near compromised everythang you ever taught me into believin' in!"
Shrieks lit the air. The snouts of demonic equines billowed through the fog, converging on them.
"Now sing!" Rainbow hollered into the face of wintry death. Her pendant glowed hotter and hotter. "Sing with me!"
"The Hell—?!"
"The fire of friendship lives in our h-hearts—" Rainbow's voice cracked.
FWOOOOOOSH! The windigoes slammed into the two.
Twilight and the others shrieked. Rainbow flinched, nuzzling Bard close.
Right at that moment—Flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash!—a ruby stream of harmonic light issued forth from Rainbow's pendant.
For the first time since stampeding, the Windigoes opened their muzzles in distress. They thrashed and kicked and pummeled at the two ponies—only to be held back by a translucent wall of ruby luminescence. The wintry streams of snow ended in a tight circle around the two equines.
Rainbow Dash lifted her head, continuing to sing—albeit awkwardly—through clenched teeth. "As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart. Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few..."
Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy stopped flinching. They gaped at the scene, exchanged shocked glances, then joined Rainbow in the chorus. Bard also sang along—as well as his panicked lungs could keep up. The stallion's wide eyes darted about, staring incredulously at the windigoes as they were held at bay.
"Laughter and singing will see us through. Will see us through. We are a circle of pony friends." Rainbow struggled for breath, then held Bard tighter as she spouted: "A circle of friends we'll be to the very end."
Louder, the windigoes shrieked and screamed. Despite their monsterous efforts, they could not break through the barrier summoned by Rainbow's pendant. Gradually, one by one, they backed off and formed a swarming circle around the two, whinnying and howling in frustration.
"They... they're..." Bard gulped. "...they're backing off!" He winced from his injury, then glanced aside at Rainbow. "What the Hell did we just do?"
Rainbow exhaled with a shudder. "Something that the 'foals of Verlaxion' never got a chance to do..." Her eyes darted across the wreckage and corpses of the ancient battlefield. "A certain Divine saw to that."
"Rainbow..." Twilight floated closer. "That... that was amazing!" She didn't stay cheery for long. "But I'm afraid the herd of windigoes is just too much. We're trapped here so long as they're surrounding us."
"Then how will we get back to the others?" Rarity asked.
"We're n-not alone," Fluttershy said.
"Huh?" Pinkie blinked. Then her head turned at the sound of galloping hooves.
"There! There you are!" Remna came bounding through the storm. She skidded to a stop before Bard and Rainbow, panting. "Rainbow Dash! What's gotten into you?!"
"Jee..." Bard muttered, eyebrows straight. "I wonder."
"It's too dangerous out here! Even for the Austraeoh!" Remna paled slightly. "I... I can scarcely believe that you are still alive..."
"Pick a tune, girl!" Rainbow sputtered. "Either you care or you don't care!"
"Hey... uhm..." Bard fidgeted. "Hate to break a wonderfully delicious catfight before it's bloomed, but... err..." He pointed at his impaled forelimb.
"Remna, you wanna be useful?" Rainbow shifted about and stood on the other side of Bard. "Lend me a hoof here! We gotta get him loose from this stupid ice!" She struggled on her own. Frowning, she glared up at the bounty hunter. "Remna?! Are you on our side or aren't you?!"
"... ... ..." Remna stared blankly past Rainbow Dash. Two tiny slits of blue light reflected off her eyes.
"... ... ...?" Rainbow blinked.
"Rainb—... ...—ash!" Twilight's voice phased in and out.
Rainbow turned to look.
Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy vanished, reappeared, flickered, and materialized again. They all flung nervous looks at their anchor.
"—t's happe—... ...—gain!" Twilight managed before she and the others disappeared in a flash of lavender. In their place, a small silver figure could be seen, standing beyond the swirling mists and rampaging windigoes. The banshee equines swooped skyward, making room for the suit of armor as it took several lurching steps towards Rainbow. Cold blue shards of ice marked the dead earth upon which its metal hooves tread.
"Sentimentality," an out-of-body voice vibrated through the blizzard. "It will be the end of you, Austraeoh."
Bard gulped. "I dun suppose we can sing that away."
"Verlax, call these freaky things off!" Rainbow hollered, frowning. "You've proven your point!"
"And just what is that point, exactly?" The slitted blue eyes pierced the fog. The golem's helm rattled with each pronounced syllable. "Are you enlightened enough to tell me?"
"You wanted to prove that the Austraeoh's journey was tough! That's it, right?!" Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "Well, it's not like I needed such a lame test to begin with, but I totally get it now! It's no walk in the park! There, I've said it! Now scram! Get lost!" She stomped her hooves. "And let me clear a path to Yaerfaerda already!"
Remna suddenly hollered: "You are only complicating things! If you believe in the Austraeoh's purpose, as I do, then allow her the freedom to get to her destination and be done with it!"
"Tell me, Rainbow Dash," the golem spoke, pacing around the eye of the storm. "How can I believe you've learned anything if all you do is repeat past mistakes?"
"What are you blathering about this time?" Rainbow exclaimed, crouching protectively beside Bard.
The golem pointed a silver hoof at the stallion. "I mean, of course, your frailty for choosing companions. It will only end up in your heartache... or their doom."
Rainbow bit her lip. She and Bard exchanged glances.
"No, Rainbow Dash... the lesson you must learn is an honest one. Can you live with leaving a foul legacy behind?" The voice rang, growing deeper, more sinister. "Or must you constantly try to fill in the void with expendable flesh and blood?" The silver helm slowly shook. "I assure you... on the dark side... you will not be making friends to accomplish your goal. Only enemies."
"You don't know anything," Remna growled into the swirling mists. "For all of your magical mastery and intuition, you've failed to take proper stock of the Austraeoh's courage and tenacity!"
"Failed in my intuition, have I?" The Divine's voice took on a melodic tone. The helm pivoted, its slitted eyes flickering at Remna. "Tell me, sister, what exactly convinced you to abandon your strength for anonymity? Sheer might has always been your strong suit...until now..."
Remna froze in place.
"Huh?" Rainbow blinked.
Bard's brow furrowed. "'Sister?'"
"Did you seriously think that the broken alicorn's spell would mask you from my sight?" The golem hissed, gazing upon the violet mare. "Now, Mortuana's energy has been reduced to a single, fragile vial of petrified blood. Such selfishness is not foreign to you, sister. I'm not the one endangering the Austraeoh's journey. You are. It's always been you..."
"The Hell is she going on about?" Bard stammered.
By now, Rainbow was gawking at the pony in question. "Remna...?"
Remna glared. For a brief second, her emerald eyes flared, intensifying into narrow slits. "You didn't exactly give me much choice, Verlax..." she spoke in a suddenly booming voice.
"Indeed!" the golem scoffed. "And Nevlamas! Did you have any more of a choice when you slew her in cold blood?!"
"She had gone mad," Remna growled. The snow around her hooves steamed, melting outward from her violet flesh. "As have you! I, at least, had come to grips with the Austraeoh's purpose! I came to you specifically for help in steering her to her destiny!"
"By doing what?! Watching from afar as she suffered the perils of warring continents and powerhungery metamorphs?!" The golem shook its head. "No, Axan. The beacons needs our help in being kindled. I have wisely chosen to shape those perils so that they may carry her to her destination. Without our guidance, she will be snuffed out before she has enough energy to recharge this dying plane."
"All she needed," Remna shouted, "Was protection!"
"A foolish notion conceived by a foolish Monarch who couldn't even keep her hoard intact." The golem tilted its head up. "You spent the last few bitter centuries lying on your golden treasures and waiting to die. And I? I've been preparing for the Austraeoh for eons. It's no wonder our beloved Endrax abandoned the light side so long ago. Harmony has made you soft just as chaos made Nevlamas insane. Someone must strike a chord for equilibrium, and where you became an afterthought, I... became a goddess."
"It will not work..." Remna stamped her hooves as she fumed. "Do you hear me, sister?! You are not in charge of the Austraeoh's destiny! None of us are but the Austraeoh!"
"And why should I find merit in your declaration? You are not in charge of anything! You were a Divine once, Axan, but look at you now! A pathetic whelp inside the remnants of a deceased pony... sewn together by a pathetic idealist alicorn who's dead on her hooves. What makes you think she will use that last vial on you? Perhaps you will be doomed to die in that form, watching—powerless—as the Austraeoh grows far beyond your agency. And when all is said and done and the Sundering has been reversed, the only time future generations will ever sing your name is when they remember the beastly misanthrope that almost slew the Austraeoh and doomed all of civilization for eternity."
Remna was shaking at this point. Her eyes flickered again and again and—
"So, yes, 'protect' her all you can, sister." The messenger's voice rolled in thunderous laughter. "Only the Austraeoh can afford to make an honest mistake at this point. But you? You will only be the dead weight, holding her down—"
"Rrrrrrgh—" Remna charged forward and leapt at the golem. "RAAAUGH!"
POWWW! The armor shattered, releasing cold blue mana into the air.
Rainbow and Bard winced. In a blink, Rainbow's marefriends rematerialized around her.
"Rainbow!" Twilight gasped. She spun around. "What's happening? Where... where's the golem—"
"Yeesh..." Pinkie squinted at the violet mare. "What's her deal?"
Remna stood over the disenchanted shrapnel, panting. Spinning around, she galloped back towards the wreckage. "Come on!" With a single swipe of her invulnerable hoof, she shattered the icicle completely, freeing Bard from where he slumped. She threw the groaning stallion over her flank. "We're going back to Mortuana!"
"B-but..." Rainbow Dash stammered, glancing at the flattened shreds of armor. "But—!"
"We move! Now!" Remna flung Rainbow a death glare. "Or I drop him completely!"
Rainbow gulped. "After y-you..."
Remna charged due west.
Stumbling, Rainbow followed. With the harmonic shield dissolved, the windigoes broke formation and surged after them, shrieking through the storm and leaving jagged icicles in their wake.
Inside the cavern...
Wildcard paced and paced in the air. His wingflaps were the only audible thing—save for the howling of wind above the fissure.
Flynn and Kepler looked straight up, nervously clutching a series of chemical cannisters and explosives.
Logan knelt beside Ariel, patching up the mare's leg.
Off in the distance, flanking the huddled survivors of the Central Guard, Mortuana stood in meditative silence.
At last, the alicorn's eyes opened.
"The messenger is vanquished."
The rest of the Herald glanced over.
"Get ready." Mortuana stood up straight. "Austraeoh returns."
"Aaaa-aa-aaaugh..." Bard hissed in pain, flouncing atop Remna's flank. "...my g-guitar for a sl-sled!"
"Silence!" Remna sneered, galloping faster and faster. "No time for anything but moving!"
"They're right behind us, Rainbow!" Twilight yelped. "But... what's going on?! How did—"
"Duck!" Pinkie hollered.
"Get down!" Rainbow shouted. Before she was done exhaling, Windigoes dove at the ponies, blasting the air with deathly frost.
"Whoah dayum!" Bard hollered, nearly slipping off Remna's back.
"We can make it!" Fluttershy gulped. "Won't we?"
"The entrance is up ahead!" Rarity pointed. "Hurry, Rainbow!"
"Mortuana!" Rainbow shouted into the screeching winds. "We're here!"
"Hurry, Rainbow!" Ariel's voice called out. "They gotta shut it!"
"Send Wildcard to fetch Bard—" Rainbow said as windigoes descended on them.
"No time!" Remna spat, grabbing Bard and swinging. "Incoming!"
"Oh hell naw—" Bard gasped as he was thrown violently down the hole. "Dag nabbitttt—!"
"In!" Remna pointed. "Now!"
"Remna..." Rainbow clenched her teeth. "Axan. How did in the heck—?"
"Later!" Whap! Remna savagely bucked Rainbow, then plunged herself. "We're through!"
"Now, Flynn! Kepler!" Mortuana shouted.
"Firre forrth, brrotherr!" Kepler tossed the explosive cannisters high.
As Remna, Bard, and Rainbow fell—Flynn thrust the grenades upwards. They struck the mouth of the cave just as the windigoes flew in from all sides.
POWWWWW!
The mouth collapsed.
The members of the Central Guard flinched.
Ariel clung to Logan.
Wildcard caught Bard and Rainbow landed neatly across Mortuana's backside as she looked up.
All she saw was Remna's plunging figured—followed by a column of collapsing snow and rocks...
...and then the cavern was flung into pitch black darkness.