Luna Wants a Windigo

by Lazauya

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A light gray coach rolled it's way up to the gates of Canterlot castle; the clack of the wheels faded into silence as it slowed to a halt. A pony sauntered over to the door of the carriage and pulled on the handle with his magic, and afterward emerged the beloved Princess of the Crystal Empire, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Behind her came another familiar but nearly forgotten face. He made a short breath when he scooted over the seat towards the door.

"Shiny, is that hole giving you any trouble?" the pink one asked.

"Can you stop calling my stab wound a hole?" the white one responded.

"No. Well, I mean, I can. But I won't."

The stallion sighed dejectedly. "So you said that the princess has been acting stranger lately?"

"Yeah, but just try not to bring it up. I don't think she likes talking about it. I honestly feel bad for Auntie Luna for having to deal with it."

"Ah, I'm sure it's nothing."

---

The couple stood before the alabaster princess atop her golden throne. She somehow managed to smile warmly whilst looking distant and confused.

"Auntie, it's good to see you again!"

"Uh, hello Ma'am."

"I see the single life is treating you well, Cadance."

"The single life?" Shining asked, confused.

"Oh, yes! Cadance has adjusted quite well. How was your date last week?"

Cadance blushed. "I don't know what she's talking about. I swear."

"Ah—I mean, I don't blame you, honey. If I'm honest with myself, I woulda done the same thing," Shining said earnestly.

"How dare you, you wretch! You would be unfaithful to my niece?!" Celestia barked.

"N-no! Of course not! And I wasn't the one who was unfaithful!"

"I wasn't unfaithful!" Cadance protested.

"Yeah, you died, Shine. It's not really cheating under those circumstances," Celestia casually replied.

"No—I-I mean, I didn't date anyone! I swear, Shiny."

"Cadance, I might be old, but I know a date when I see one. Call me old fashioned, but I don't think there is such a thing as 'platonic romance' or whatever you call it now a days."

"Look, I don't care if you dated when I was dead! Why is this conversation continuing?"

Cadance ignored him. "Auntie, I did not date anyone. I have no clue what you're talking about!"

Celestia merely smiled.

Cadance thought for a moment. "If I did go on a date, and you knew about it, what was the stallion's name? Hm?"

"I don't know, you never told me," Celestia continued to smile smugly.

"Ah—ugh..." Cadance shook her head, before continuing with a small chuckle, "Always such a joker, Auntie. In any case, I have an important message for you from the Windigos."

Celestia looked puzzled for a moment. "From the Windigos? What for?"

"Ah... well, you remember when we... tried to capture a windigo?"

"Ah, why me and Luna tried that several times. At least 10 times, if I remember correctly. But don't worry about it now, I have the perfect plan." Celestia gave a wink with her last remark.

"Ah... yes, well, I went to speak to the Windigo King... he was the reason I was able to cure Shiny. I owe him a lot.... But that is beside the point. He wanted me to give you this letter. He wants to talk things out before you... make his species go extinct."

"Oh? How charming. Sure, I'll go ahead and read his letter. Maybe it will have something interesting in it. Like a neat spell!"

"Uhm... okay," Cadance said as she summoned the letter, "Here it is, unopened." She floated the parcel over to the Sun Princess.

Celestia grasped the envelope in her magic, and slowly peeled the magic ice that sealed it. Opening it up, she slid out the parchment and and unfolded it.

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light The couple quickly looked away and shielded their eyes; it was so bright, the prince and princess could see it through hooves. When the flash was over, they blinked trying to regain their vision. Then
they looked back up at Celestia.

"Are you okay?!" Cadance shouted in realization, "I swear I had no clue that that was going to happen! My mages even checked it with magic! I don't know how this is possible! I'm so, so, sorry!" She turned around and shouted to the guards standing outside the door. "Go get a mage! Some bad magic attacked the Princess!"

Cadance heard someone say "Yes your Majesty!" and the rustling of armor.

Meanwhile, Celestia was still recovering from the light. She looked dazed and could see a spot in her vision where the scroll had been, but otherwise was unfazed. "Ah... what was that?" she asked in a too-nonchalant manner.

"Auntie, I'm so sorry! The windigo must have given me some kind of rigged scroll... but why? Why, after he saved Shiny?! What is he thinking?!"

"Cadance," Celestia replied slowly, "I think it may be okay. That was certainly surprising, but I don't feel that any harm—that any harm has come to me, I mean."

"I—"

"Cadance," Shining Armor cut her off, "Lets not jump to conclusions. I'm not sure what that was, but if Princess Celestia says she feels okay, then lets assume, for the moment, that it was in good faith until the mage get's here and we can prove otherwise. After all, like you said, he saved me. He didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, but what if he just did that—"

"No. No assumptions."

"But—"

"Ahp, ahp! What did I say?"

"Assume?"

"Precisely. Assume nothing."

Cadance stared at him with a happy expression. "Alright."

---

"Princess Celestia, I cannot find anything," the gray coated unicorn said, "I looked over everything, but I don't see anything...."

"Are you sure?" Cadance asked in place of the Sun Princess.

"Yes... well, actually, there is one thing. It's a strange... well, I.... I don't really know. What I saw was quite old. Not a curse, just some kind of... tendril of something. But I honestly doubt it's anything. Malicious magic would have surely taken effect by now. I recommend that we wait and see if anything comes of this... 'attack'."

Cadance wore a hesitant expression. "I... see. But then, what we saw from the scroll... there's no lasting effect?"

"No, I don't believe so. At least, from what I can tell."

"I see. Well. Okay." Cadance said uneasily.

---

Moans could be heard throughout the castle of the Princess of Friendship. The purple alicorn writhed on the sofa, awaiting the return of her student.

A moment later, Starlight flashed into the room. Accompanying her was an earth pony in white lab coat, and he spoke in an urgent manner. "Where is the Princess?"

"Over here!" Spike called.

The doctor galloped over to Twilight, who was still writhing on the couch. Starlight followed behind closely, afraid for her mentor.

"Where is the pain stemming from?" the doctor asked.

"M-my stomach! It's my stomach! It feels like... like...."

"On a scale of 1 to 10, what's the pain like?"

"10! 10! Make it stop!"

"I need to check your vitals, Princess. Please try and be still." Twilight complied as best as she could, but still fidgeted and whimpered. He held out a stethoscope with his hoof and placed it on her chest, listening. Her heart rate was high, but it was expected. Next he checked her stomach; but before he even listened, he felt it: no heat came off from her abdomen. He moved his hoof around to confirm his suspicions.

The confirming of his theory only baffled him more. Her stomach was ice cold; well below body temperature. He brought another hoof to her forehead and compared it with his own; her temperature was definitely lower than it should have been, but she was heated unevenly. The coolness of her belly seemed out of place.

"Could she have hypothermia? Were you just in somewhere extremely cold?" the doctor asked. He realized that this would be a ridiculous question to ask most ponies, but he knew the magical prowess of the princess. For all he knew, she could have taken a day trip to the North Pole with a quick teleportation spell.

Starlight shook her head. "No, she was feeling ill for the past week or so, so she hasn't been out of the castle...."

Spike cut in. "It wasn't this bad until today. She was complaining about an ache, but this morning she couldn't even get out of bed by herself."

"I see.... I asked my previous question because she has hypothermia. As in, her temperature is much lower than it should be. However, I think it may be magical in nature." He looked at Starlight. "Can you look over her for a source of magic? I would guess, if there is one, it would be in her abdomen."

"Uh, I, yeah. I can. Give me a moment." Starlight lit up her horn and felt around Twilight's midsection. Her eyes widened in shock.

The doctor noticed. "What? What do you feel?"

"I-I don't know! I've never felt magic like this before. It feels so alien...."

The doctor looked perturbed. "I see... This may be out of my range of expertise. I'm not confident in my ability to help the princess given this information... I know there are plenty of mage doctors in Canterlot. I don't feel comfortable recommending one. I would go see the royal doctor."

"Okay, I will," Starlight stated hastily.

"In the meantime, I'll stay here with the princess to see if I can try treating some symptoms."

"Understood!" shouted Starlight. She lit up her horn and then with a flash, she was gone.

"Mr. Spike, can you control your fire enough to warm Twilight's stomach without hurting her?"

"I... I don't know. My fire isn't that hot, I think it's just magic fire meant for transporting stuff."

"I see... well, in that case...."

---

With another flash, Starlight stood in the throne room. On arrival, she was facing the windows and immediately started looking around to regain her bearings. Her eyes eventually landed on Princess Celestia, who wore an expression of intrigue and surprise. And a bit distant looking, too, Starlight thought.

"May I help you?" the sun princess asked.

"I—Princess Celestia, I need help. Princess Twilight is sick. She needs a doctor. A magical doctor. Some kind of bad magic is in her and I have no clue what it is!" Starlight frantically explained.

"I see...." Celestia said with a furrowed brow. "Guards, fetch the Court Mage. And the Royal Doctor. We need to sort out Twilight."

Starlight found the Princess's choice of words strange, but decided against bringing it up.

---

The four gathered around the purple princess, and the local doctor backed away. "I've done everything I could of, but I'm afraid she's still in bad shape."

The Court Mage and the Royal Doctor nodded to each other and proceeded to measure the princess with their magic. They both furrowed their brows when they reached the princess's abdomen.

"What is it?" Celestia questioned earnestly.

"I don't know," the doctor said, turning to the mage.

"I don't know either," the mage said.

"Let me see. Perhaps I have seen this before," the Princess recommended.

The two stepped aside and let Celestia's magic envelope Twilight.

Celestia looked perturbed. "I have seen this before. This is a powerful curse. I can break the curse, but I must take Twilight somewhere far away—the magical discharge may do some damage."

And then, before anyone could protest, the Princess of Friendship and the Princess of the Sun had disappeared.

---

"Hush now, Twilight, you've been so good. It seem's everything's fallen into place. I can think so clearly now after that windigo's letter.... I don't know what he did, but all that clutter in my mind is finally gone. I can hear her so clearly—ah, but I'm sure you don't care about any of that. This isn't about me. You're hurting, and your Princess is here to help. This will only take a moment, Twilight."

Twilight had lost the ability to think clearly sometime between the town doctor and the Canterlot doctors' arrival; the pain was far too intense, and so she completely dissociated. Twilight looked around in a daze, barely contemplating the princess's words. She could tell she was in some kind of cold biome—a tundra in the summer, perhaps—but what she was doing there was beyond her for the moment.

She looked up at her mentor—her second mother—her Princess—and she saw a pleasant and warm smile on her face. Twilight returned the smile, only happy to see Celestia's face. Then, Celestia's horn began to glow an intense yellow, looking like the sun itself. Twilight didn't understand why there were two suns, but she felt safe under the warmth of her mentor's shine.

And then she convulsed. A hole opened up in Twilight's stomach, and this new sensation nearly jolted her back to reality. She vomited on the ground as her body collapsed in on itself, sending out more dehabilitating waves of pain and nausea. She again was left rolling around on the grass in delusions.

Meanwhile, Celestia's initial glee had completely dissipated at the realization of what had actually happened. She was not angry anymore. If she were to be honest with herself, she had no expectations of success after failing so many times. At this point, she told herself, it was more about the chase than the final goal. She didn't have to let Luna know about another failed attempt. No doubt she would get some holier-than-thou—literally, she thought, because her sister still used "thou" sometimes—about how "she didn't want a windigo" or "hunting windigos is wrong." She would leave the specimen here, and it would just be her little secret. Twilight wouldn't know, she was too busy being in pain. Speaking of Twilight, the princess thought.

"Oh Twilight, I'm so sorry. But it's gone now. The... curse is gone. We can go home."

"Princess...?" Twilight said drowsily as Celestia picked her up in her warm magic.

"Yes...?" Celestia asked in response; but Twilight had already fallen asleep.

Celestia smiled.

---

"The curse is gone. Please, care for my student. I must attend to matters back in Canterlot."

"Yes, Princess," everyone answered in unison.

And with that, she was gone again.