In the Windigos' cold lair, Snow Pea did her best to stand her ground, but in truth, she was frozen with fear on the inside.
Cold Front, the lead Windigo, said as he and a few others circled her, "Don't give us that façade, princess. We can sense the cold fear running through your veins, as do your powers."
Sleet chuckled, "We're going to use your magic to bring destruction to all of Equestria."
Snow Pea shot back, "And how exactly can that be done? I'm just one pony and Equestria is an entire nation."
Frost said, "Oh, just going around and freezing everything will be too tiresome for us."
Cold Front said, "Precisely. That is why we're going to target a certain day."
Snowy asked, "When do you want to strike and where?"
"Oh, you misunderstand, princess. It's not 'where' we will strike. It's 'when'." He and the others spun in a circle rapidly and produced a screen that showed what happened a long time ago. "You see, centuries ago, a unicorn by the name of Snowfall Frost hated Hearth's Warming, so she invented a potion that could erase the day altogether. In actuality, it would've given us an opportunity to return and lay waste to the land, but we were thwarted when the spirits of Hearth's Warming convinced Snowfall not to cast the spell. Hence, she threw away the potion, but when the potion landed in the snow, it gave us a new idea.
"We froze it up and turned it a powerful gem. Since we are unable to use the gem, we planned to instill our powers into a vessel who could cast the spell for us. Since you are that vessel, you will finish the job for us…by erasing the very first Hearth's Warming." The Windigos all laughed maniacally.
It horrified Snowy that it was what they wanted. She shouted, "Never! I won't erase Hearth's Warming and plunge Equestria in eternal winter!"
Cold Front said coldly, "Well…I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the whole matter." He then sang, "We see a cold wind blowing through…We see days neither fun nor free…We see a future caused by you…"
Feeling resolute, Snow Pea sang, "I see a path not meant to be…The future should be filled with magic…Dreams and wishes brought to life…"
The lead Windigo sang, "But the days ahead are dark and tragic…No time for hope when all is strife…Whatever might have been…All the dreams that ponies share…Because of you, snow princess…Now the future is a cold nightmare…"
Suddenly, Snow Pea felt magic course through her body. She was shocked to find her horn glowing without her conscious effort. She found that the Windigos were now controlling her magic, so she tried to fight it, but to no avail.
She grunted, "No! You can't make me do it! I'll be your queen, but there won't be anything left to rule if everything's covered in snow and ice!"
Cold Front said, "Of course not, because the Windigos will rule for all time!"
Many whinnied and pawed into the air in celebration as a few others brought forth a tiara. This headpiece had two snowflakes flanking a larger snowflake in the middle. In the center of the large snowflake, an octagonal green gem stood out from the white-and-silver tiara. Against Snow Pea's will, the Windigos manipulated her magic to levitate the tiara and place it on her head.
Moments before the tiara was even brought out, the cousins made their way to the Yaket Range. As soon as they arrived there, Cotton started shivering like crazy.
Rock Salt asked, "What's wrong with her? We haven't been out in the cold for more than two seconds and she's already shivering!"
Cotton vibrated, "I-i-i-it's my-y-y-y Cotton se-e-e-e-ense! Somethi-i-i-ing's wro-o-o-o-ong!"
Just then, Screwball twitched uncontrollably. "She's right! Snow Pea could be in trouble! Follow Cotton!"
As the ponies followed Cotton, Rock Salt muttered to himself, "Don't ask questions. Don't ask questions."
Cotton's shaking grew more and more intense until they reached a cave. At the mouth of the cave, Cotton contorted and twisted violently until she returned to normal.
She pointed the cave and said, "This is it, guys!"
Roller Blade said, "Then let's get going!"
While the rescue party rushed into the cave, Cold Front told Snow Pea, "There's no use fighting it, princess. Now, activate the gem."
Even though Snow Pea couldn't control her magic, her horn lit up and caused the green gem to glow. Suddenly, the entire cave began to morph and most of the ice melted away to create an intangible, weightless abyss. The now-floating silver-framed mirrors broke into fragments and were transformed into icy shards that showed past events. Meanwhile, the rescue party was ten feet into the cave when everything suddenly started changing into a blue void with no gravity. All of them screamed at the abrupt transformation as they began to float.
Starling cried, "What's happening to the cave?!"
Gemstone said, "I don't know, but maybe the prophecy's coming true!"
Little Button said, "Well, either way, we need to find my sister!" She tried to paddle forward in the weightlessness, but with little effort.
Screwball said in a deadpanned tone, "Oh, that's bound to help." She continued in her normal voice, "Here, I've got an idea."
She put her hoof in her propeller hat and pulled out a sparkly yellow rope. One by one, she lassoed every pony around her. Once she tied the rope around her waist, she descended into the void.
Dignity asked nervously, "Uh, Screwball? What are you doing?"
Rock Salt said in a panicked tone, "She's dragging us into the void with her!" He said to Screwy, "You're crazy, you know that?!"
She faced him with a smirk and said, "Why do you think I'm Discord's daughter?" To everypony's surprise, Screwball landed on an invisible force. When they landed on the force too, she said, "Behold! The Yellow Brick Road, invisible edition."
Everypony gave expressions of awe.
Screwy then said, "Come on, everypony! Let's go get Snow Pea!" They all ran on the "road" into the void.
Within the newly-created abyss, so many ice mirrors of the past floated around the Windigos and Snow Pea. Cold Front then used his icy breath to summon forth an ice shard. Snowy gasped when she recognized what was playing out on the shard. There was a unicorn flanked by a uniformed Pegasus and an Earth pony in an icy cave. It looked like a ray of magic was shooting from her horn and driving away the Windigos. Snowy knew then that it was the very first Hearth's Warming. She was lucky to see the actual event with her own eyes, but then she remembered the precarious situation she was in.
Cold Front told her, "Now that you've had your little glimpse of the past, I think it's time for Hearth's Warming to be gone forever!" The other Windigos cheered and whinnied with him. "Say goodbye to the holiday, snow princess."
Once again, Snow Pea felt the rush of magic throughout her body. No matter how much she tried to gain control of her powers, her horn lit up again regardless. Just as she was about to aim her magic at the ice shard, a voice shouted out:
"Snow Pea!"
The Windigos and Snow Pea turned their heads towards the group of ponies that had suddenly appeared. Snowy, in particular, was shocked to see her cousins and Rock Salt here.
Cold Front's eyes glowed as he cried, "You!"
Snowy told her cousins, "I thought I told you not to follow me!"
Screwy said, "Well, lucky for you, we rarely listen to anyone but our own hearts."
Snowy smiled at that.
The lead Windigo said menacingly, "That will be your last mistake. Windigos, surround them!" The other ghouls did as he ordered and flew around the rescue party. Cold Front then came up to the newly-generated whirlwind surrounding the ponies – who were in mid-air - and chuckled evilly, "Your hearts are nothing but ice cold, and so that is what you all will be as well. When the first Hearth's Warming is destroyed, you will be nothing but statues of ice in our winter realm."
When a blue aura surrounded the ponies, they groaned and writhed. Snow Pea cried, "No! You can't do this!"
Cold Front turned to her and said, "Their selfishness and agitation with one another fueled our strength enough to restore our powers as they had been before. They brought this upon Equestria and now they must pay the price…by dying with their home."
Before Snow Pea knew it, her magic was getting ready to fire. But surprisingly, she found new strength from when her cousins, sister, and friend came to rescue her. That strength gave her just enough willpower to delay her magic for only a few seconds. She knew that if she just shot her magic into the abyss, the Windigos would force her to aim at the Hearth's Warming shard the next time. She had only one shot at this and she had to make it count. She looked at the other shards and her eyes fell on one that was showing a tornado.
She thought, Perfect! If I could prevent a natural disaster, then maybe Equestria would be a happier place!
Cold Front shouted, "What are you doing?! Fire now!"
Just before her magic was about to shoot from her horn, Snow Pea angled her head away from the Hearth' Warming shard. Her magic then rocketed towards the tornado shard and shattered it into several pieces.
The Windigos whinnied in shock as Cold Front cried, "No! What have you done?!"
Suddenly, a wormhole opened and began sucking the Windigos and ponies into it. In that moment, Snow Pea jumped towards Rock Salt and her family and created a force field with all of them in it.
When the force field got pulled into the wormhole, Whirl Wind shouted, "Hold on, everypony! It's going to be a bumpy ride!"
The force field then swirled among spirals of colors. Snow Pea found the pull of the wormhole too strong and suddenly, she lost control. Everypony was soon tumbling before a white flash blinded them.