Thaw

by Hap

1: Winter Descends

The world turned white where her shadow fell upon it. Landscape rolled past beneath her, as foreign to her as she was to it. Her hollow eye sockets scanned the unfamiliar terrain, searching for any hint of the place she knew.

There.

One thing, at least, had not changed. The mountain stabbed out of the Earth like unto a unicorn who seeks in excess of her station, and shall soon be cast down to the clay from whence she came.

She twisted her feathers, adjusting her course toward the East. Time had long swallowed any sign of the settlement she remembered, and was well on its way to digesting this new castle. All manner of birds and beasts fled the forest as it was consumed by the wave of frost. All of them fleeing toward a town on the horizon.

Anon, this hamlet shall comprehend hunger.

---

*tap tap tap*

Twilight raised her head. She peered over the edge of her book and frowned. Rainbow Dash was hovering outside of Twilight’s bedroom, pressing her face against the window. “Twilight!” *tap tap tap*

With a sigh, Twilight lifted a bookmark in her magic, carefully placed it between the pages, and set the book down. Her vertebrae popped as she took her time stretching, then trotted over to the window and swung the casements outward, wincing as the bright summer sunlight fell on her face. “Rainbow, why can’t you use the door like a normal pony?”

“Doors are boring,” Rainbow said, crossing her forelegs in front of her chest. “Besides, you really need to see this.”

“See what, Rainbow? Where are you…” Twilight leaned out the window and turned her head upward to follow Rainbow Dash. “Fine.”

Twilight dove through the open window and flapped up to the crystal rooftop where Rainbow was standing next to a telescope and staring off into the distance. As Twilight landed, she followed Rainbow’s gaze toward the horizon. “Whoah. That’s quite a storm. Is that on the weather schedule?”

“Nope. And take a look at this.” Rainbow swung the telescope toward the dark, anvil-shaped mass looming over the Everfree Forest.

Twilight squinted through the eyepiece. “Is that a blizzard? In August?”

“Keep looking.”

The view through the telescope bobbed up and down with each breath Twilight took. Then, she caught a glimpse of something pale maintaining a steady course at the leading edge of the roiling clouds. Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized the gaunt figure bearing down on Ponyville.

“But… But we’re living in harmony. It can’t be Windigos.”

Rainbow shook her head. “Windigo. Un-plural.”

Twilight’s eyes remained unfocused as she replied on autopilot. “Singular.”

“Whatever. When I flew up there to try and stop the storm, I got a pretty good look. There’s only one.”

Twilight sat down and scrunched her eyebrows. “This doesn’t even make sense.”

Rainbow dropped to the ground next to her. “That’s not all. It wasn’t quite like the pictures in all the Hearth’s Warming stories.”

“How so?”

“It was a pony, and” —Rainbow wiggled her feathertips— “it had wings.”

Twilight was silent for a moment as she chewed her lip. She looked up at Rainbow. “Do you know what this means?”

“Yeah. We have to read a bunch of dusty old books.”

“Yes,” Twilight said with a nod. “But I’ve read every history book in my library, and they all tell the same Hearth’s Warming story. We’re going to need older books.”

Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other. Slowly, they both turned to look towards the forest, deep in shadow.

---

Twilight kept her head down, letting the rhythmic crunch of ice crystals underhoof set the tempo for her train of thought. Some time between exhausting every possibility twice and three times, she heard Rainbow Dash announce in a hoarse whisper, “We’re here.”

Applejack looked back at the motionless trees. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the forest so… quiet.”

“It’s definitely not natural,” Twilight said as they gingerly climbed the stone steps outside the imposing double doors. “But then again, we already knew that. The library is just through here.”

The trio filed into the ancient hall, tracing the lines of bookshelves up to the edge of the broken roof, where rough patches of dark clouds could be seen swirling just beyond. Twilight illuminated her horn, sending a lavender gleam through the room that was refracted by the multitude of ice crystals that had grown on every surface.

“Whoah,” Rainbow said, exhaling a cloud that likewise took on a purplish hue. “It’s like a million stars!”

“This…” Applejack whispered with a deep breath, “This must be what Rarity’s closet looks like.”

Rainbow snorted, then the two of them dissolved into snickers.

“Alright, you two,” said Twilight. “Let’s look for any books that might give us a clue about the Windigo.”

While Applejack wandered around the lower shelves, pulling history books out with her teeth and tossing them onto her back, Rainbow and Twilight began perusing the upper reaches. A dozen different tomes levitated around the princess as her eyes scanned for relevant titles. “Rainbow, look for—”

She turned to see which section the pegasus was browsing, only to notice that Rainbow had already selected a single volume and curled up on a tiny cloud floating above a ruined couch. Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to the stone bookshelves. A few minutes later, she landed with her books in tow, stacking them into a comfortable fortress around herself before glancing up at her friends.

Applejack was lying on her back with all four legs straight up, each supporting one corner of an open book. One end of her scarf had been pulled over her muzzle, and the tassels danced about when she mouthed the words as she read. Rainbow was intently turning pages like she was reading a Daring Do novel. Twilight smiled, pulled her scarf tighter, and picked the book she had calculated to have the highest probability of yielding useful information.

“Got it!” Rainbow shouted.

Twilight looked up. “What? Already? You only picked one book!”

“Yeah, but it’s an awesome book. See, it’s got a picture of a griffon on the cover!” Rainbow held it up so the other ponies could see the gold leaf design.

Applejack rolled onto her hooves and shivered. “That’s nice, sugarcube, but what’s it say?”

“Oh, right.” Rainbow turned the book around and flipped back a few pages. “This book is griffon history, but the Windigo’s winter was big enough that the whole world was affected. According to the griffons, the Windigo was an alicorn who had a castle and everything.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. After several seconds of silence, she blinked repeatedly before stammering, “But… That would mean that this alicorn is older than Celestia.”

“Nuh-uh, listen to this. The Windigo was defeated by another alicorn who used the sun to burn away the clouds and snow.” Rainbow slammed the book shut and looked up at Twilight like some sort of professor concluding a successful lecture.

Twilight took a deep breath, then said, “Alright. We have a lot to think about, but first things first. Since Celestia apparently knows this alicorn, we need to get back to Ponyville so Spike can send a letter. Then, we can deal with the Windigo.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly are we plannin’ to do that?”

“Well,” Twilight said, “we used the Elements of Harmony on Nightmare Moon, and that turned her back into Princess Luna.”

“But we ain’t got the Elements no more.”

Twilight nodded, “True, but we still have the power of friendship.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow added, “with, like, rainbow lasers and everything! Pew pew, fwoosh!”

Twilight threw her saddlebag over her back. “Exactly. Now, let’s take this book and get back to Ponyville. We’ve got a hearth to warm!”

---

Applejack slid to a stop next to Twilight, joined a second later by Rainbow Dash hovering on her other side. Fluttershy was frozen solid, her angry snarl visible through the translucent chunk of ice that covered her entire body. Giant icicles reached down from the cottage’s roof, touching the ground all around the perimeter, giving the impression that the house itself was in prison. The door stood ajar, and there were no animals visible, inside or out, despite the variety of footprints everywhere.

Rainbow gritted her teeth. “What kind of a monster would do this to… to Fluttershy?”

Applejack placed a gentle hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, sugarcube. We just need to find Spike. Between his fire, Twilight’s magic, and Princess Celestia, we’ll get everypony safe and warm in no time. Ain’t that right, Twi?”

“I…” Twilight blinked, and pulled her gaze away from the motionless pegasus. “Yes, let’s… Let’s do that.” She took a deep breath. “Rarity was making coats and scarves for everypony. I bet Spike’s with her.”

Rainbow and Applejack nodded, then the trio took off toward the center of town, crunching through a thin layer of snow and taking note of the occasional home or pony completely encased in angular crystals. All three ponies cheered when they saw the Carousel Boutique with just a thin dusting of snow on its roof. They raced around to the front and charged inside.

Empty bolts of cloth were littered about the floor, all the curtains were gone, and a sewing machine lay on its side with a tendril of black smoke rising from its gearbox. Rainbow zipped through each of the rooms while Twilight and Applejack sifted through the mess.

“She’s not here,” Rainbow announced from the stairwell.

Twilight frowned. “Then let’s check Sugarcube Corner. Hopefully they stuck together.”

---

“Well,” Applejack said, “they’re stuck together.”

Rainbow Dash snorted, then held a hoof over her mouth. “Hey, that’s not funny!”

“Element of Honesty.” Applejack tapped on the ice nearest Pinkie’s face. “Besides, I think Pinkie would appreciate that one.”

Twilight couldn’t tell who was trying to protect who, but Spike and Rarity were clinging to each other. Spike’s face was frozen mid-pucker, with puffed-out cheeks. Twilight laid a hoof on the ice and tried to keep her lower lip from trembling. “Spike…”

The clouds overhead exploded with a heart-rending wail, sending a hail of icicles that plunged into the ground like glassy spears. A sudden wind whipped up a spray of gritty snow that felt like sand against exposed noses and ears. Soon, the whirlwind had expanded to encompass the entire square, leaving Twilight standing with Rainbow Dash and Applejack in the eye of the storm, looking up into the sky.

A pale blue figure, lean and sharp, circled above on shimmering wings. The ponies below could see the sunken hollows where its eyes should have been. They could count every rib on the emaciated alicorn’s body.

Rainbow leaned over to Twilight and whispered, “How are we gonna use rainbow lasers of friendship, if half our friends are ponysicles?”

Twilight glanced at the block of colorful ice behind her. “I’m sorry, Rainbow, I don’t think we can.”

“That’s what I thought.” Rainbow crouched low for an instant, then rocketed into the air, kicking up a cloud of snowflakes that lingered above the ground. A multicolored streak flashed toward the Windigo. Rainbow’s contrail abruptly ended as the conical shock wave around her flashed into solid ice.

Twilight watched the ice bullet follow a perfectly parabolic trajectory back to the ground, embedding itself into the dirt.

“Rainbow!” Applejack cried, reaching out an orange hoof toward the impact site.

Twilight and Applejack both winced when the Windigo slammed into the frozen ground behind them. They slowly turned to regard the creature. Her muzzle was long and thin. Angular. More draconic than equine. She looked like the illustrations of Death in history books from the ages of plague and famine.

The Windigo turned her hollow eye sockets on Twilight.

Twilight returned her gaze, trying not to let her face show either the fear or the hundreds of spells she was considering and discarding as the staring contest continued. Magical blasts, teleportation…

The creature spoke with a voice like the hollow hiss of a winter wind through dead trees. “Thou art like unto her. Where doth Celestia hide?”

Twilight stood with her jaw slack, cycling through every spell she’d read about, practiced, or seen used. Transmogrification, want-it need-it, illusions…

The Windigo stood taller and asked, louder, “Dost thou ken mine words, knave?” She waved one crystalline wing outward, sweeping a chill breeze across the ground. “What kingdom is this?”

“W-what?” Twilight blinked rapidly.

“I know not of this ‘What’ kingdom. Which tongue speakest they in ‘What?’”

Twilight had run out of powerful spells, left with nothing but the simplest of all magic: illumination, minor gross telekinesis, a puff of smoke…

“Trixie!”

Ice began creeping up Twilight’s hooves as the Windigo paced closer and lifted her head higher, looking down her long snout at the shivering princess. “Thou speakest ‘Trixie’ in the kingdom of ‘What?’”

“N-no, I’m sorry. I’m just so s-scared!” Twilight cringed away from the gaunt alicorn, then pointed in the direction of Canterlot. “Celestia lives up there!”

The Windigo turned and peered Eastward through the thick clouds, which quickly shrank away from her vision, revealing a clear view of the spire she had seen before. “Upon yon mounta—”

A blast of smoky, crimson magic struck the Windigo and lifted her into the air. She quickly began to shrink, her howls becoming more ponylike as her muzzle became shorter and more rounded. Twilight grunted as red sparks flew from her horn, and beads of sweat froze, then cracked off of her face.

Twilight finally let the red glow extinguish, then slumped over where she stood, still rooted to the ground with ice, though the bitter chill had left the air. Applejack peeked out from under her hooves, then gasped. “Twi, you… you turned her into a foal?”

Still breathing heavily, Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the tiny sleeping alicorn curled up on the ground. She pulled her hooves free of the melting ice, and looked at the town around her. “AJ, round up all the ponies you can find to help rescue all the—” she glanced at Rainbow Dash “—ponysicles. But start with Spike. We need to have a serious conversation with Princess Celestia.”

Applejack nodded and started to turn around, when Twilight lowered her voice and added, “And don’t mention the foal to anypony. I’m not sure what to do about her, and I don’t want half the town beating down my door while I’m trying to decide.”

Twilight scooped up the Windigo and gently laid the little filly across her back, then started trotting toward her castle. As she walked, she turned her head and smiled at the peaceful look on the sleeping pony’s face.

Comments

[Csquared08]

Huh. How curious

[Tillion]

“I know not of this ‘What’ kingdom. Which tongue speakest they in ‘What?’”

and about here i had to explain to my family that no, i wasn't dying, i simply couldn't breathe
it's a very hard thing to explain without words, of course, but i managed

[jszellmer]

“Thou speakest ‘Trixie’ in the kingdom of ‘What?’”

Everypony who dwells in the Kingdom of What speakest the language of Trixie, but not all who speakest the language of Trixie dwell in the kingdom of What.

[PresentPerfect]

Which tongue speakest they in ‘What?

Are you friggin' kidding me :|

[Christening Friendship]

This is interesting.