'What is going on in there?' the voice came through the cold.
Somepony was at the door. Starlight used all of her strength to stay awake and looked up. The unmistakable sound of key turning has pierced the cold silence. Starlight's fading mind was conflicted. She didn't want the door to open. But at the same time... "Being saved would be pretty good right about now."
The door has opened up with a creek. Two sounds has came from above: a disgruntled shriek of a stallion and an astonished squeal of a mare. Both voices seemed familiar. Starlight's vision wavered. The ice was creeping on her chin. There seemed to be some commotions up there. Sounds of magic and thrashing about. Then it became silent... Until.
'Starlight?!'
It was Twilight Sparkle. Starlight has felt relief. It became warmer. The ice has begun to melt. The vision has returned, blurred at first. The hearing became less muffled. Starlight has begun to feel her limbs again. The muscles became limber and no longer cold. Starlight felt warmth all over her body. Twilight was standing in front of her, attached to her by a warm ray from her horn. Starlight has felt an overwhelming gratitude, mixed with shame. And when she saw a pony standing beside Twilight, fear has also been added to the emotional spectrum. Ash Cauldron stood there, looking at Starlight with cold anger.
'Starlight, are you allright?' asked Twilight, stopping her spell. 'What are you doing here?'
'Scratch that question.' said Cauldron angrily. 'How did you even get here? And how did that THING get there?' he moved in front of Starlight and pinned her to the ground with his ice-cold gaze of pure disdain. 'Did you brought it here? Did you brought a windigo in a school full of children?!'
'No! I-I swear!' Starlight has staggered away. It was still hard to move properly. Starlight's muscles felt weak. 'It was in the chest when I get there!' she has frantically pointed at the chest's remnants in the middle of the room. Starlight has bit her lips. Her face has been projecting a strange mixture of emotions.
'What were you even doing in here?! You have been banned from the school grounds!'
'Professor Cauldron, we really have no time for that! W-we have to restrain that windigo!' said Twilight quickly. 'It can't be let loose!'
Cauldron has shifted his gaze to Twilight and back, appraising the situation.
'You have the point.' he said after a momentary pause. 'I have to report that to the school board. You're an alicorn, so go stop it.' he then pointed at Starlight.
'And you are coming with me.'
'No!' said Starlight firmly. 'It's my fault thin thing's out there, so I'm going to fix it.'
'Do you think I will let you run around the school free, you little-'
'We REALLY don't have time for that, professor!' cried Twilight. 'We can deal with it when it's over!'
Cauldron has swung away.
'Whatever. She is your responsibility. YOU will have to answer for her.'
With that said he teleported away.
'Starlight, quick!' said Twilight, lighting her horn up. 'I can track it. Follow me!' Twilight took off quickly, running down the corridor.
'Twilight, I'm sorry! I let it free!' said Starlight, following Twilight's gallop.
Ponies around the halls were stopping and throwing surprised looks as two mares has stormed through the halls.
'What *huff* were you doing here anyway? How did you *puff* get in the locker room?' asked Twilight, frantically turning her head around.
'It's a long story, but I'll tell everything! You don't have to get in trouble because of me!' Starlight was struggling to keep up. Her feet were still stiff.
'No, I am suppose *huff* to get into the trouble!'
Two mares have made their way out of the building. Twilight has stopped for a moment, catching her breath and scanning surroundings with her horn.
'What *huff* do you mean, Twilight?'
Twilight has turned around and looked Starlight in the eyes.
'Starlight, I brought it here.' she said anxiously.
'You did WHAT?!' asked Starlight, astounded.
'I would've use it to demonstrate the magic of friendship to graduates later this week!'
'How- how did you even get hold of a windigo in a chest?!'
But Twilight ignored her, rushing quickly in direction of the school's wall. Starlight followed her.
'I took every repercussion to contained it. I made *huff* THREE checklists and double- no, quadruple-checked everything!' Twilight cried while they ran. 'How did you even released it? It was asleep! Weak! It didn't receive any negative emotions in *huff* forever!'
Starlight has came to a grim realization. "Wow, Starlight. You've really done screwed this up." she thought.
'Oh, what a fool I am...' continued Twilight in anxious voice. 'What was I thinking...'
Starlight was asking herself the same question.
Soon they have approached a wall. It was an outer palisade, covered with hedge and shrubbery. Twilight has quickly flew over it, Starlight following through with her self-levitation spell. They have entered a small grove, a kind of park or a forest left behind. Through the trees the side of a mountain was visible. Twilight has landed, almost tripping on some root, and proceeded inside, Starlight following in shortly. Every step they made deeper into the forest the air was becoming colder.
'Starlight.' said the alicorn princess. 'Windigos feast on negative emotions. Whatever you do, do not think of anything bad! And I do mean anything. Guild is a negative emotion too.'
'What should I think about then?' asked Starlight, catching her breath.
'Positive emotions can repel it. Think of all the good things! Like friendships you made and ponies you've helped!'
Starlight thought hard, remembering only a hooffull of things, that could be considered positive. Most of them came from the time after she tried to destroy Twilight's past, and even though they felt good, they were also filled with anxiety.
"It must be much easier for you to do, Twilight, remembering ponies you've helped." she thought grimly. "I've never really helped anypony for real, have I?" the image of an equal sigh has appeared in her mind.
***
Pepper strolled through the woods, arriving in her favorite spot. Experienced by her late mishaps she was periodically stopping in front of every obstacle that looked even slightly out of place, checking it for traps. Her mood, extraordinarily good at the day's beginning, was now grim and sad. Unhappy thoughts about professor Cauldron and Lemon Star were gnawing at her sub consciousness. She needed to clear her mind, and she knew the exact place for it.
She soon arrived at a small hill, surrounded by trees and bushes from all sides. It looked like an impenetrable fortress with its walls of shrubbery, and that is why Pepper loved it so much. She knew a secret way in: to crawl under a specific bush to a relatively open place. She climbed her way to the top of the hill under a lone ivy tree. She sat under it and looked forward. The park looked like a rug of green leaves in front of her. The buildings of the school were looming in the distance.
The sun was setting. Pepper didn't want to go home. There was nothing there to do until dad comes back from work, and he wouldn't in a few hours. Pepper has opened her sketchbook, looking at things she drew today. Princess Twilight, class ponies, Lemon Star... Pepper felt ill looking at a picture of Lemon Star with a burnt mane losing balance, so she shut her sketchbook.
Pepper became mad. Not exactly out of nowhere, that emotion has been bottling up the whole day sans Twilight's lesson. She couldn't really understand why she was so mad, Cauldron really didn't do anything really mean or out of ordinary, and Lemon Star was friendly and seem to really want to be friendly with her.
"Why am I such an idiot?" Pepper thought, shivering.
But that shiver was not from any external sources. The air was becoming cold. The grass around has became white, covered by hypnotizing frost patterns. Sudden breeze has felt like an icy blade. Pepper has jumped up, looking cautiously around herself, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. She then looked up and froze in place without help of any ice.
The pale white mist has formed into something akin to a cloud, swirling and moving chaotically around. Soon the formless whirl took a shape of a stump horse-like creature with a pair of eyes, which coldness would give Ash Cauldron a run for its money. Damp, restraining fear has restrained Pepper in place. She wanted to scream, to run, but she couldn't. Her limbs were not moving.
***
'Look! Up there!' said Twilight, pointing to a small hill behind the trees. She took off, almost getting stuck in the treetops. Starlight followed through. Her magic has returned for the most part, but she felt she shouldn't strain herself too much.
The two mares were hovering in front of a white creature, which was looming over a small shaking filly.
'Pepper?!' Starlight shrieked. That was the last pony she expected to see there.
'Come on! Think of good things!' shouted Twilight. She begun to frantically whisper something, her horn glowing brighter with each syllable. Starlight has made an image of Trixie in her head. Then of each Twilight's friend in succession, trying to feel which one gives her most positive feelings.
The image of Sunburst appeared. Starlight has remembered the crystalling and their goodbyes. Warmth has filled her body for a second before fading away after an image of little Starlight, watching how no longer blank-flanked Sunburst gets carried away by cheering ponies. The cold has crept in Starlight's whole being once again.
"No, no, NO! Positive! Think positive!" she silently cried, focusing.
In the meantime Twilight has released a spell she was casting. A shining beam of warmth has hit the white mass, but the windigo has dispersed it's body a moment before it hit, passing a beam though it. It has then re-formed right in front of two hovering mares, casting them a piercing-cold gaze. Suddenly, its mouth has open. It spoke.
'Now, now, you are still using that, little princess?'
It's voice was cold. Neither male nor female, it had a whirling of icy winds hidden in it.
'Begone! You do not belong here! You have nothing to feed upon! The power of friendship will vanquish you!' twilight's voice was firm. She seemed really used to facing monsters, as windigo's terrifying visage did not intimidate her in the slightest.
The windigo made a noise that could be interpreted as a cold cackling.
'Here you are, wielding the power you think you understand.' it said. It's form was constantly shifting, looking as if it was fading in and out of focus.
'Don't you know that by using this power you only make us stronger?'
Twilight looked confused, albeit for a second. Then her expression have changed back to determination and she begun to cast a spell again.
'What, think I'm trying to mess with your perception?' grinned the specter. 'I am ancient. I know much more about magic than you do.'
It's shape has changed subtly as it moved closer to hovering mares.
'It is all in the balance. Why do you think all the evils from a thousand years ago are returning?'
The windigo has lost it's from, dodging Twilight's spell, then reshaped itself.
'Think about it. A thousand years ago the world was filled with what you consider evil. And then, for the last thousand years, it was peaceful. There were no monsters roaming these lands. Well, until you came in. Want to know why?'
The windigo cackled coldly at Twilight's futile attempts to hit it with her beams. Starlight's insides felt frozen while she desperately sought for an overwhelmingly positive memory.
'It is all in the balance, little princess. The elements of Harmony, is that what you call it? Ancient powers. An antipode. A great might of "good". The cosmic order cannot allow its sole existence. A balance has to be reached.'
Twilight has changed her tactics, trying to cast a large area-hitting magical glow, but the windigo has repelled it seemingly effortlessly.
'YOU are the cause of all the darkness your land has been engulfed in past few years, little princess.' The windigo cackled. Twilight has lost her focus, astounded at the accusation.
'You have returned the ancient powers of "good", of warmth, of light. You now embody them. But the light must always casts a shadow. As long as you possess and use those ancient powers, the shadows will always be cast. The darkness will always loom. No matter how many times you'll clear it away. It will always return.'
The specter laughed loudly, it's voice filled with roaring of northern winds. The ice has begun to cover Starlight's body. She struggled to keep herself afloat. The strain of her mind grew. She was desperately searching to find any good memories, and she did. In an area she avoided.
"That's right. I was happy back then, wasn't I?"
The images of a neat, tidy street. The smiling ponies passing by. The feeling of being safe. The memory of nopony being better than her at anything. The equal sign.
The warmth has filled Starlight's body, and with it came guilt. It has attempted to dampen Starlight's memories, but she disallowed, disabling the guilt temporarily for a better cause. It wasn't cold anymore. She looked at Twilight. Priness' face looked conflicted. She wasn't focused. Starlight has turned around to face the windigo, thinking on a spell she should cast. Nothing particular came to her mind. She has prepared a simple fire spell, but something utterly unsusceptible has happened.
Pepper stood firm. Her little horn has erupted with a wave of green and purple. A stream of energy has engulfed the windigo, encasing it inside a whirlpool of purple-green fires. Twilight looked at Pepper's face with utter terror on hers.
Pepper's eyes were glowing green, with haze of purple around them and two fiery-red pupils looking straight at the convulsing windigo above her. The specter has emitted a soul-piercing shriek and vanished without a trace, with green and purple flames still dancing around in the air aimlessly. Some of this flame has fell on the lone Ivy tree, putting it ablaze. The filly below has rolled her eyes and collapsed.