What Bound Them

by Headless

18: The Blizzard

Before her horn had been shattered, Compass Rose had been able to reach out and sense any magic around her if she wanted to. Now that it was broken, she could still sense it, albeit dimly - and without any of the control that she had possessed before. Any magic in the vicinity blared across her senses like someone was screaming in her ear.

Spike's necklace was a constant, low grating sensation, while the localized light spells on their helmets were tiny pinpricks against her mind. Neither of them were pleasant to have nearby - every time she got too close to Spike, she felt as though somepony were breaking her horn all over again, and even the tiny light spells were like a stubborn toothache in the back of her brain - but they could be dealt with, given some effort.

Now, though, as they headed further into the mountains, there was an all-pervading feeling of pressure inside her head. It put her in mind of the feeling she got before a headache became a full-fledged migraine, and made it exceedingly difficult to concentrate.

Unfortunately, concentration was important, given their current situation. The captain had been right; there were wild spells in the mountains, and beyond those, there was a lot of raw magic trapped in the crags. It lay over the world around them so thickly that it was almost visible. In a way, it actually was.

The four of them were making their way up a path carved into the side of one of the mountains. On the right, there was a near-vertical rock face. To the left, there was nothing but dizzying heights and distant rocks as far as they could see. Other mountains loomed up out of the rain, but the storm wasn't what made it so difficult to turn her gaze in that direction. It wasn't even the heights. While Compass wasn't a pegasus, she had never really been all that intimidated by altitude.

No, the reason that the four of them were attempting to keep their gazes glued firmly to the path rather than the yawning chasm to the side was that the magic that filled the valley below sucked at their eyes like a hole in space. The sensation was sickeningly similar to vertigo, and the world seemed to lurch under Compass' feet every time she let her head turn too far to the left. The mountains in the distance were, at one and the same time, both too far and too close, as the raw magic swirling between them played with their perception of space.

She had tried looking up, once. That was worse. Knowing that the inverted mountain range hanging over their heads couldn't possibly be real didn't make it any less disorienting.

Most of the spells that filled the mountain range had long since lost whatever their original forms had been. The original purposes behind their power had dissipated, leaving nothing but the raw, reality-warping energies behind. Without anypony to give it an intent, the cloud of wild magical power simply sat there, making things confusing and interacting with reality in odd ways.

Part of Compass was surprised to find that she was fascinated at the prospect of what somepony could do with all of it, if they were able to reach out and grasp it all. Of course, it would take a titanic amount of control and raw magical talent, far beyond the capabilities of any unicorn, but still, it was a truly interesting idea, in theory.

The rest of her was more preoccupied with the cold.

Most of the spells had long since lost their original forms, but whatever was summoning the ice was very obviously still functioning. The temperature was dropping precipitously, and more than once, Compass had found herself being buffeted by flurries of snow rather than torrential rain. The higher up they went, the colder it got, the less rain there was, and the more ice appeared on the rocky path.

That was odd, and she couldn't quite shake the feeling that she was missing something important. There were a few thoughts bobbling around in her head regarding magical decay rates and composition theory, but they were only vague outlines. She felt as though she were back in the infirmary at Fort McHoofry, staring at the copied pages from Twilight Sparkle's old spellbook: exhausted, but oddly energized at the same time, as if the confusion in her head was bringing with it some sort of clarity.

She couldn't really concentrate on those thoughts to try and make sense of them, though. There were too many other things that demanded her attention. First and foremost was the fact that the ice-slick path was getting so difficult to navigate that she felt as though her hooves would skitter out from under her at any moment. Then there was the fact that Pith kept calling for direction checks every few minutes as he tried to stay on the path despite the building snow.

The temperature was dropping precipitously now, to the point that Compass was beginning to consider calling for another break to put on some boots. Before she could say anything, though, Pith had come to a halt again.

"Compass," he said sharply. "Which way?"

The mountain that they had been making their way long had met with a few others in the chain, and the path branched off in several directions. Compass sighed heavily and took a few steps forward to peer at them.

"We just need to keep going upward," she said. "Generally speaking, I mean. This place should be on the highest mountain in the..." She stopped, blinked, blinked again, squinted, raised a hoof to cover one eye, switched it to the other eye, screwed up her face in concentration, then groaned.

"Oh. Oh, that's painful."

"Tell me about it," Pith answered flatly. "Hurts my eyes just looking at it."

Ahead of them, each of the paths seemed to head off in a different direction. At first glance, each seemed distinct, but the haze of magic lay over them so thickly that Compass found her eyes crossing as she tried to follow each one. One of the paths started out tracing the side of a mountain and, somehow, ended up emerging from a cave mouth without ever entering one. Even without setting foot on either one of them, the unicorn could feel her horn burning from the feedback.

"Y'know," Spike said, drawing up behind her, "this is actually a good sign, I think. Canterlot was where Princesses Celestia and Luna lived. They taught unicorns how to cast spells there. And there was a library full of magical books. If it's been left unattended for so long... Well, we might be headed in the right direction. I think."

Great, thought Compass. More magic. More headaches.

"Give me a minute," she said. "I think I can... figure something... out..." She trailed off, squinting at the twisting paths, trying to will them into coherency.

A sudden gust of wind whipped her cloak around her and buried her hooves in a flurry of snowflakes. She shivered, but focused her mind on the task at hand. They needed a path. She was the pathfinder. Pith would get them through the wilderness in one piece, but in this situation, you needed a certain kind of mind.

It wasn't just her experience with maps that was important here, though that was the meat of it. She had a mind for pathways and passages. The magic made taking each path as a whole impossible. That was okay. Take each one in parts. It actually helped if she closed her eyes after glancing quickly at one segment, assembling each pathway in her head like a puzzle being put together one piece at a time.

But that was only half of it. Space was distorted here. It couldn't possibly remain unaffected in the presence of so much raw magic. Even if she could only dimly sense the coils of power, like smoke in a dark room, she could make out enough to know that the paths didn't always lead to where they should. She had to adjust her mental image accordingly, nudging little lines into place in her head, picking the thing apart one snippet of sensation at a time.

Pith Helmet watched her for a minute, looking nonplussed, then cocked his head and looked at Spike, who shrugged.

"Don't ask me," he said. "It's a unicorn thing, I think. Twilight used to do this a lot." He paused. "Complete with the squinting and muttering and forgetting anything else exists. Just let her work."

He dropped into a sitting position and glanced over his shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of the bundle of cloth that held Tailspin. "You okay back there?"

The answer, when it came, sounded as though it was forced between chattering teeth. "Cold."

Spike sighed. "Yeah," he said. "It's getting pretty cold up here. We should be getting close to Canterlot, though, and I can make a fire when we find it. In the meantime..."

He concentrated for a moment, focusing on the feeling of fire in his gut. After a moment, he felt it swelling, and there was a quiet sigh from Tailspin in answer. He grinned, and Pith offered a nod in thanks.

Thunder rumbled overhead, and another flurry of snowflakes whipped past them. The wind hissed loudly around the jutting stones.

"A blizzard in a thunderstorm," the dragon said, lifting his head up to look at the clouds overhead. "Heh. Only when there's this much magic around, I guess. Rainbow would have been shouting herself hoarse if the weather team back home messed up this bad."

Pith raised his head as well, squinting up through the mingled rain and sleet. "Yeah," he grunted. "It's getting cold fast, too. Rain's going to freeze over, make the path slick. We'll need to-"

He stopped, blinking furiously, trying to clear his vision. Spike caught sight of his expression.

"What is it?"

"Something's up there." Pith raised a hoof and pointed into the swirling mass of grey overhead. "Flying."

"Flying?" Spike's head snapped upward, his expression suddenly wary. "That's crazy. Flying in a thunderstorm is dangerous enough. Even Rainbow Dash would've thought twice about that. And when it's a blizzard, too..."

He stopped. He had seen it as well: a series of shapes darting behind a cloud bank. They could have been mistaken for pegasi, if pegasi were known for being as big as he was and lacking visible wings.

A few buried memories clutched at his hindbrain, and he suddenly felt the chill much more strongly than before. "Oh, no," he groaned. "Tell me I didn't just see those."

"You know what they are?" Pith didn't stop scanning the clouds as he asked.

"Maybe," said Spike slowly. "Long story short, if I'm right, evil ice spirits, and it's about to get even colder. I don't know why they're here, but they're dangerous."

Now Pith did look back down. He turned back to the path that they had taken up the mountain. His helmet lamp glittered on rain-slick precipices and thickening ice.

"Right," he said sharply. "Spike. Canterlot. Shelter?"

The dragon blinked. "If it's still standing, yeah. It was one of the most heavily-fort-"

The stallion's voice cut across his. "Good enough. Compass!" He was barking out the words now, as if he had suddenly become the colonel. "We need a path!"

Compass' eyes snapped open, and she swung around to face the earth pony. "I'm sorry, what-"

"We've got trouble," said Pith flatly. He lifted one hoof and pointed up to the clouds, which were beginning to pile up over the mountains, swirling around them as if a tornado were about to form. The rising winds drove the rain against them so fast that it was almost moving horizontally. "Path. Now."

"I haven't figured out which it is yet," Compass protested, taking a step back. "If I choose wrong, we'll be-"

"Spike!" Pith was still watching the unicorn and still standing there with one hoof pointed skyward. "Are they lethal?"

The dragon pushed himself upright again, already stoking his inner furnace as high as he could without threatening the pegasus on his back. "Very," he said. "Windigos freeze their prey solid. And the only way I know how to fight them is with magic."

"Which we don't have," Pith said, ignoring Compass' involuntary flinch. "So we're running. Find the path, fast."

"Um," said a tiny voice, just barely audible over the whistling winds, "I think they know the game's up."

Spike's head swung upward again. Overhead, the thunderclouds had piled together, forming an amorphous mass of vapor filled with flashes of lightning. It spun on its axis as he watched, faster and faster, as if the clouds were being whipped into a frenzy. He could feel the temperature dropping like a stone, see the ice forming on the stones around them, watch the rain being turned first to sleet and then to hail.

And, neighing loudly, a herd of spectral horses with shining, ghostly eyes was galloping down towards them, charging down the slope of the clouds.

"Time's up!" Pith shouted. Even he was just loud enough to make himself heard over the gale now. "Best guess!"

"Right!" Compass sounded near panic. "Go right! I'll figure out the rest while-"

"Just go!"

Spike felt the rope around his middle go taut as the two ponies dashed towards the right-hand path. It was an effort to drag his gaze away from the windigos bearing down on them, but he managed it, and set off after the other two at a dead run.

Here, he had a bit of advantage. Pith and Compass were moving as quickly as they could, but they lacked his claws. They couldn't grip the stone beneath them. They had to pick their way over the rising ice; one hoof out of place could send them sprawling, or, worse, slipping into the abyss. The ropes around them were meant to protect them from that, but it was the sort of safety measure that he didn't want to have to test.

He felt stone splinter under his hands and feet as he barreled after them. His claws would anchor him to the mountain no matter how much ice the windigos summoned. They kept him anchored against the wind, which was so powerful now that it drowned out almost all other sound, and felt like a wall of icy knives attempting to throw him off-balance. Snow and sleet lashed at his face, obscuring his vision. He tucked his head in, squinted as best he could, and forced himself to speed up.

His wounds were burning again, and the pain grew worse with every motion. The pain and fear reached into his mind, and he could feel the dragon rising up in response. The fire in him wanted to grow stronger. His skeleton wanted to grow and stretch. He wanted to roar his defiance to the windigos and turn to swat them from the sky.

But that response would only hurt him now. Lightning crackled overhead; taking wing would only make things more dangerous, even if he could manage to fly in the hurricane that was building around them. And he still had Tailspin lashed to his back. He couldn't risk losing her. For her sake, he fought to keep his reflexive growth under control.

With a roar of defiance, he gripped the mountain in his claws and heaved himself forward once again.

Pith and Compass were just barely visible ahead of him. Or above him, or possibly behind. Even he could feel the raw magic of the mountains seeping into everything now, twisting the mountain under their feet. Somehow, he was at one and the same time navigating a narrow ledge over a bottomless drop and fighting his way through a rising snowdrift. He tried to block it out. All he knew was that Pith and Compass were his beacon, and he fought his way towards them as best he could.

Then the windigos arrived, and the world was reduced to howling whiteness on all sides.

Cold, worse than anything he had ever felt before, pressed in on him from every direction. It was so powerful that it felt as though his entire body was being squeezed in a vice. He could just make out the sound of Tailspin screaming on his back, and feel her squirming in the ropes that held her there. He couldn't see, couldn't hear, could barely move his limbs.

He was still as strong as ever. The windigos hadn't robbed him of his strength. They had simply buried his legs in solid ice, ice too cold for even the mounting heat of his body to melt. He could see them circling him now, a thunderous stampede of spectral shapes that whinnied and snorted so loudly that they almost drowned out the lightning and the wind.

Spike let out another roar, a sound of pure animal desperation, and felt the ice around his legs shatter as he forced himself to move again. Shards of glittering ice, shining like broken glass, cascaded through the air. A moment later, they were caught up in the gale and hurled back into his face. He roared again, then turned it into a spear of flame that stabbed through the air and engulfed the nearest windigo in a jade-colored inferno. It screamed and fell, disappearing from sight in the distorted space.

He couldn't see or hear the others, but the rope was still around him, still taut. He lunged forward, following its pull. The windigos moved, as one, to intercept him. He felt the ice building up again, snarled, and swung one clawed hand. He couldn't be sure whether or not the windigos were purely material creatures, but he felt contact with something, and suddenly the path was clear of monsters.

He shot forward like a bullet, not running but leaping, grabbing the cliff face in his claws with each bound just long enough to launch himself upward again. For a few sickening moments, he thought he could see the world hanging overhead, as if he were hanging upside-down from a stone arch and fighting his way upward rather than over. He shook the vision from his sight, focused on the rope again, and kept moving.

Pith and Compass were ahead of him, standing at the edge of a cliff. The windigos were there, too, swarming in from all sides. He could see the ice rising around them, creeping closer to the two ponies, threatening to engulf them. He bellowed and redoubled his speed-

-only to see Compass rose fall from the cliff before he could reach her.

For a moment, his mind went blank, not really processing what had just happened. Then he saw the rope around Pith's waist go taut, heard the stallion scream, watched him try desperately to find his balance against the slick stone, and go over as well.

The windigos were forgotten now. Spike had one goal in mind. The rope around his own body snapped to full tightness for a moment, then simply snapped; their last lifeline was gone. He gathered his muscles under him and thundered forward like a locomotive, snapping ice and rock under his claws with every stride.

His wings spread slowly, fighting and straining against the winds and the ice for every inch. He could feel the frost building on them, knew there were ligaments tearing. He ignored it, forced them open wider, then reached the cliff and leapt.

Behind him, the windigos screamed, and he could hear them wheeling about to give chase again. He ignored that as well. Below him, he could see a pair of flailing bodies. His wings were being thrown this way and that by the storm. He clenched them tight, forced them to remain level, pulled them in slightly. He wasn't falling, he was swooping, going for speed.

Catch first, figure out how you're going to brake later. It wasn't an entirely rational thought, but it was all he could manage.

Space was twisting around him again. Even at the dizzying speed that he had gained, he could tell that more and more magic was building up. Spires of rock kept appearing directly in his path without any way for them to have possibly gotten there. He flicked a wing tip, spun, kept going. He couldn't flap to accelerate further. Even in his desperation, he was coherent enough to realize that the forces involved would have ripped his wings in half.

Pith was just ahead of him now, looking as if he couldn't choose whether to be terrified by the fall or astonished by Spike's sudden arrival. The dragon didn't offer any explanation. He just reached out and snaked an arm around the stallion's barrel. Despite himself, he could feel his bones creaking and growing again, and he knew that Tailspin had to be fighting for breath against the pressure of the rope. But he couldn't concentrate on regulating his size and managing his flight at the same time. He drew Pith in and clutched the stallion against the scales of his chest, then set his eyes on Compass Rose.

The unicorn was in a sort of controlled fall, or one as controlled as possible as it could be given the howling winds around them. She had all four legs spread out, obviously attempting to slow herself, but she wasn't looking at Spike. She was looking down, and had that same odd look of concentration on her face that she had worn when trying to figure out which path was the correct one.

Another stone loomed out of the mountainside, and again Spike flicked a wing to roll out of the way. He was gaining on her now. His claws were approaching her hind legs. He managed to get a grip around her left one and began to tug her in towards him.

She twisted her head around to look at him. She was trying to shout something to him over the storm, but it was lost in the thunder. She tried again, and the wind snatched her words away before they reached him.

He pressed her to his chest, ignoring her protests and squirming. His eyes were still forward, towards the rapidly-approaching valley floor below. He had them. Now he had to stop without killing them all with the force of impact.

Compass was shouting louder now. He spared her a glance, and saw that she was pointing desperately ahead of him. He could just make out the words "Do you see?" over the wind, though they were hoarse and cracked from the strain she was putting on her voice.

He looked forward again and squinted. Then he felt space twist around him again.

The valley floor was gone. They weren't falling now, but gliding through the storm, soaring over a plateau that jutted from one side of a mountain below. He could see ruined buildings, covered in ice and snow, beneath them.

Canterlot.

Compass had found the path. They had made it. He strained his vision, trying to make out details, but the city seemed off somehow, with shadows where there shouldn't have been shadows.

Then he felt his wings seize up, and there was a cacophony of screaming neighs from behind him. The windigos had caught up, and now his wings, already stretched to the limit to keep them airborne in the hurricane, were suddenly frozen over. He felt his stomach lurch as gravity came back to claim its own, forcing him into a plummet.

This time, he really was falling. The city streets below were rocketing up towards them. Ahead, the hulking black shape that could only be Canterlot Castle was getting closer by the second. In the sudden panic that filled his mind, the idea that he was finally coming home seemed somehow funny, and he felt a strangled laugh rising in his throat.

He forced it down. They weren't dead yet. He couldn't let the others die like this. They were his friends, and they had come to help him. He would not repay them with failure.

Slowly, with even more effort that it had taken to open them initially, Spike spread his wings.

Ice shivered, fighting to contain his bulk, then splintered with a series of rapid-fire cracking noises. Now he could feel the wind tearing at his wings. It was strong, too strong to fight; at this speed, and in these winds, he simply didn't have the ability to stop himself.

He tried anyway. He roared involuntarily with the effort as he curled his legs under him, trying to force his wings into a vertical position. It was slow, too slow, and the castle was approaching far too fast, but he managed it. Immediately, he felt the air slam into his outstretched wing-flaps. Some of them tore immediately, and lightning bolts of agony shot through him.

But he didn't stop. With all his strength, he drew his wings back, then flapped, once, harder than he had ever done in his life. It was all he could manage.

It wasn't enough. Even as the sound of it pealed through the city, echoing off the buildings a dozen times over, leaving him deafened in a way that even the storm hadn't managed to do, even as he felt his strength tear the air in half, not flying but beating it into submission, even as he felt more of his outstretched wings tear under the incredible pressure, he knew it couldn't possibly be enough. He clutched Pith and Compass to his chest, curled in around them as best he could, and braced himself for impact.

The last thing he felt before losing consciousness was the crushing impact of Castle Canterlot's front gates against his scales.

Comments

[Headless]

3854409 Glad you're enjoying it so much. Tell your friends!

[TheMessenger]

Changelings, then Windigoes, and now castles, what returning villain will we see next? Wheels?

[Headless]

3855394 Damn it. Now I have to come up with another big villain for the final sh- I mean, no, no, wheels are not planned to feature in the story at this point in time.

[Xanderfox]

It's obvious to me where Twilight should be and what Returning Villain we should see next, but I'm pretty sure I shouldn't throw out my guess. I know what I think should happen, but I'm not the author.

[Headless]

3856443 Feel free to toss out your best guesses. I'm not against rampant speculation if you feel inclined to indulge in it. But I won't be confirming or denying anything. You'll just have to keep reading if you want to find out.

[Sparklespy]

Ok, logically, there are several 'mane' candidates for possible villains:
Discord- Highly appropriate, but is reformed... however Fluttershy is dead, so where is his friend to stop him?
King Sombra- Twilight went off to face him, yet we already saw him shattered (supposedly). He must have survived because as he is mentioned in the diary. (Or maybe Twilight beat him, makes miraculous return.
Nightmare Moon: Has been mentioned, but we havent actually met her yet.
Evil Celestia: Since the sun AND the moon are up, maybe Nightmare and Tia are accomplices? But Pith said there was only one Alicorn- Mare in the Moon...
Twilight Sparkle herself: Who knows what may have twisted her, but 800 years, and she didnt wake up Spike... could have been for a reason
Mirror Pool Minions: Rampant Magic, aye? What better than a million Spikes running around obliterating/helping everyone? (I personally would die on the spot upon meeting his Rage Encarnate)

Just speculation, maybe I got one right?
But you wont tell us. You are a good author and wouldnt spoil your work, its too awsome for that. Keep it up, Mr Headless Horsepony

[Firedon]

3858439

Since the sun AND the moon are up, maybe Nightmare and Tia are accomplices?

I wouldn't bet on it. The sund and moon being up last time it happened in the show was because of the plunder vines. And this time those are covering what seems like a good part of Equestria.

[lunashonorguard]

now that's what I call an entrence

[DX-1118 C]

3922472
3858439 if you watched past the credits on sombra episode, you would see that the windigos had his horn.the

[MustacheMerlin]

Part of Compass was surprised to find that she was fascinated at the prospect of what somepony could do with all of it, if they were able to reach out and grasp it all. Of course, it would take a titanic amount of control and raw magical talent, far beyond the capabilities of any unicorn, but still, it was a truly interesting idea, in theory.

I sense foreshadowing. So what's Twilight gonna do with it all? Is it even going to be her?

[Yami Vizzini]

Part of Compass was surprised to find that she was fascinated at the prospect of what somepony could do with all of it, if they were able to reach out and grasp it all. Of course, it would take a titanic amount of control and raw magical talent, far beyond the capabilities of any unicorn, but still, it was a truly interesting idea, in theory.

Dang, she really is the new Twilight, isn't she?