The Rime of the Ancient Pegasus

by RainbowDoubleDash

3. Baby It's Cold Outside

The kiss at least wasn’t drawn out as Snowy stepped back. “I had not expected a mare so grown!” she said to a stunned Trixie. “I knew of course that this must be so, but in my mind’s eye you had still been the little filly I had met ere the end of my immurement!”

Trixie resisted the urge to wipe her lips. “Y-yeah, I’ve grown,” she stuttered – she wasn’t exactly opposed to mares, but they weren’t her preference, either – particularly not mares she had only met once before in her life. She spotted Lyra and Cheerilee both with their hooves to their mouths, chuckling to themselves, while Ditzy only looked confused. “Hey, how come you didn’t kiss them? Or Ditzy?”

Snowy blushed as she glanced at the other three mares. “I…had not known,” she answered. “In my time ‘twas a practice only for those ponies who were close friends. I have learnt not that times since have grown more…intimate.” Her blush grew even redder – she had misinterpreted Trixie’s question, the much younger mare realized, and was now wondering what friends were supposed to do if even strangers would kiss –

“Gyaaah no!” Trixie exclaimed before she could reach any of the conclusions that Snowy was leaping towards right now. “No no no no. Sorry. Ponies don’t normally kiss each other unless they’re close. Like…dating.”

“Oh,” Snowy said, looking relieved herself, though not as much as Trixie.

There was several moments of awkward silence, before Cheerilee finally let out a chuckle. “Okay, I take back any worry I had about her,” the earth pony said as she trotted forward. “My name’s Cheerilee. I’m a teacher at Ponyville’s elementary school.” She turned around, pointing to the other ponies in the room. “That’s Ditzy Doo, and Lyra Heartstrings.”

Snowy smiled knowingly. “Your humility astounds,” she said, “for though I recognized not your countenances, your names are certainly known to my ears, Ser Cheerilee, Ser Ditzy, and Ser Lyra.” She glanced behind her, at Trixie. “And Ser Trixie, of course, though I hope you will permit me a more familiar tone.”

Trixie nodded to that, while Lyra considered the archaic, gender-neutral term for knighted ponies. “Dame these days,” she provided as she came forward, along with Ditzy. “But only when we’re on-duty, really. Or when Bon Bon is feeling…”

She let the idea remain floating in the air, no doubt so that it could make Trixie feel even more embarrassed. She refused to give Lyra the satisfaction, however, instead looking back to Snowy. “So,” she said. “Um…sorry for not meeting you at the train, I only just got your letter…”

Snowy made a face, whickering a little. “Train! Neigh, Trixie. I trust not a thing that moves on its own, yet hides where its brain be kept.” She fluttered her wings. “My ancestors did grant me wings, aye? I made use of them. ‘Twas naught but a descent from Canterlot to this town, with many a cloud for rest-stops; an easy enough flight, and an excuse to exercise, and observe the…changes to the land circumjacent to my home of old.”

Ditzy’s head tilted at that. “It must look so different…”

Snowy nodded sagely. “In truth, Ser Ditzy – or Dame Ditzy, if that be your preference?”

“Just Ditzy is fine, actually. Probably applies to all of us?” The other mares in the room nodded.

Snowy bowed her head again. “Your humility does you credit. As I was saying, friend Ditzy, in truth I prefer the land as it be now, one of fields and pastures and townships instead of the deep, ceaseless greenwood.” Her muzzle scrunched up again. “Save the…trains, and their bellowing calls. I care not for the metal beasts.”

“Yeah, it can be a bit much sometimes, especially in the morning,” Lyra agreed. She looked to Ditzy and Cheerilee. “Well, I think we’ll be going, give you and Trixie a chance to catch up. Maybe we can meet again later tonight?”

“’Twould please me greatly, friend Lyra. But indeed, I should like to ‘catch up’ to Trixie, as the saying goes in this æra.” She looked to Trixie. “With your leave, of course, Trixie, being master of this house.”

“Yes, Trixie, with your leave,” Cheerilee said, grinning broadly as she bowed and gave a slight hoof-flourish while backing away towards the cloak rack, where her winter gear was kept. Ditzy and Lyra joined her, chortling to themselves as they did.

Trixie groaned, waving her friends away. “Tonight as the Punch Bowl,” she said. “In fact, get Carrot Top and Raindrops, too. We can make a get-together of it, and Snowy can meet the others.”

The other three mares nodded as they slipped on their winter cloaks, hats, and scarves, and then headed out into the day. The Sun was already starting to dip towards the horizon, and a chill wind blasted into the house when the door was opened, dropping the temperature further. Trixie let out a shiver at that, glancing to the fireplace and the block of soiled ice that was still there. “Uh, Snowy,” she said, looking to the frosty pegasus, “um, if you don’t mind me asking…how are you with heat these days?”

Snowy fluttered her wings a bit, her face looking a little maudlin. “It be…difficult,” she admitted, “but I can manage. I tilted with the flame in Canterlot and was well enough, though I felt as though I were residing in the far southern climes among the tapirs and dromedaries. I fear a hot summer’s day could…but never mind that. Pray, do not suffer on my account.”

Trixie considered a moment, before nodding, walking over to her fireplace and rolling the block of ice from it, then putting in fresh wood and tinder and lighting it up, though she used less of both then she might have otherwise – hopefully it would strike a happy medium between her tolerances and Snowy’s. She looked back to the other mare. “So…” she said. “Um…like I said, I only just got your letter.”

Snowy nodded, grinning a little. “I suspected the cad was false when he promised a delivery on the same day,” she said.

“Actually it had something to do with…” Trixie began, then shook her head as she walked over to one couch and sat down at it. “Never mind, doesn’t matter. Um…so you’ve been in Canterlot? How long?”

The pegasus mare sat down on another, wings fluttering. “A week. As you know, Princess Luna would visit me in my donjon every year afore the Longest Night. This time, I expressed desire to end my immurement at long last.”

Trixie nodded, glancing over Snowy. “You know you could have ended it sooner,” she said. “I mean…Luna brought me to visit you once. She wouldn’t have done that if she thought you were a threat anymore.”

Snowy nodded. “Aye, Trixie, I am aware. But this year has brought about a certain confluence of events and circumstances.”

“You mentioned those,” Trixie said, grabbing Snowy’s letter and glancing it over. “You wrote something about ‘secrets that aren’t yours to risk telling?”

Snowy Night shifted uncomfortably at that. “A…aye, that was what my pen scribed,” she said. “The secret I alluded to being the one-thousandth birthday of Princess Cadenza this coming year…or, more precisely, the great revelation that the Princesses Luna and Cadenza wish to make on that date. Concerning Princess Cadenza’s lineage.”

“Right!” Trixie exclaimed, smiling a little. Princess Luna was the mother of Princess Cadenza, after a fashion, through a convoluted series of circumstances involving the Elements of Harmony and Luna’s fight with Corona a thousand years ago. It was a close secret, however, known only to a few – Cadenza herself had only learned as much less than a year ago, Trixie even more recently. Their relation was going to be made public on Cadenza’s thousandth birthday in the spring of the coming year, however. Doing so would undoubtedly cause a good deal of political trouble for Equestria and Cavallia for a little bit, as Cadenza would simultaneously become the official heir apparent to Equestria should something happen to Luna, but both alicorns – and Trixie, of course – thought of the headache as being worth it.

Trixie looked back to Snowy, still smiling. “I guess if there’s any reason to leave Tartaros, attending a pony’s thousandth birthday is as good as any. It’s not every day that happens.”

Snowy flinched a little at that, but nodded. “Aye,” she said. “There were…other reasons, as well. But they be not important…right now.” She looked to Trixie, who looked back with concern. Trixie could tell that they were important to Snowy, yet she didn’t want to bring them up right now. Why not? “And as well,” Snowy said quickly, apparently guessing Trixie’s concern, “I emerged from my donjon to congratulate you! You be the Element of Magic now?”

Trixie preened. Well, Snowy certainly knew how to turn her attentions away from a subject, at least. “It’s nothing, really,” she said, voice full of modesty and humility. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

“You were the right pony in the right place at the right time,” Snowy said, fluttering her wings again, creating a bit of frost around her as she eyed the warming fireplace. Trixie made to get up to lower the fire, but Snowy waved a hoof at her to stop her. “And your tone fools me not, Trixie. You be proud of your accomplishment. Rightly so, I shall add.”

The unicorn grinned widely. “Glad somepony thinks so,” she said, settling back down and deciding not to pry into whatever was bothering the pegasus. Snowy would tell her of her concerns when she wanted to. “A statue isn’t too much to ask for, is it?”

Snowy laughed aloud at that. “Neigh, indeed one would think it be the least that could be done in your honor.” She shifted a little again, creating more frost around her, but smiled at Trixie. “If it would please you, I should like to hear all about it, your earning of the Elements. Pray, weave for me the tale of the most grand and potent Trixie!”

If anything, Trixie’s grin grew even larger, as she once again stood up from her chair, horn glowing bright. “Sit back, then, and listen in awe!” she declared. “I shall weave you a tale of deceit, of adventure, of danger, and of friendship!”

---

Winter on a farm, particularly one that didn’t have any kind of livestock, was a typically long affair, fraught with intermittent bouts of boredom as there was nothing to do, and worry as one watched one’s stores and savings slowly trickle away without any real way to replenish them. Currently Carrot Top was more-or-less ‘enjoying’ the first of these, at least. She had spent the day going over her grandmother’s recipe books, while writing down some of her own recipes in a new book. Her special talent may have been in carrot farming, but Carrot Top was no slouch at cooking, if she said so herself – she had a third place prize at a national cooking competition for proof of that.

Still, simply writing while humming to herself was beginning to get really boring. Come to think of it, it had been a few days since she’d last gone into town, hadn’t it? She’d seen her friends on the Longest Night, of course – the six of them had made sure to stick together and have the Elements on-hoof, just in case – but that was no excuse not to go into town again. Or even just hang out the Punch Bowl. She could have a life, couldn’t she?

Thus emboldened, Carrot Top slipped on her winter gear and set out. The path from the road to her house was well-shoveled, of course, but the road to her farm was notably less clear, already six inches deep and still rising, though the snow was light and powdery, easy enough to step through, if chilling. She’d definitely be having hot cocoa at the Punch Bowl, or maybe some wassail. Or more than ‘some’. Berry Punch wasn’t one to turn a paying customer out into the cold and deep snow, especially not one who hailed from Ponyville’s farms and would have a trek of half a mile or more to get back home; the floor in front of the fireplace of her establishment was plenty comfortable and warm, Carrot Top knew from past experience.

She’d made it most of the way to town when she saw several pegasi come down through the cloud layer they’d made, smoothing out its underside and then banking towards the weather patrol station. One of them – Carrot Top realized it was Raindrops – noticed the earth pony, said something to her co-workers, then turned around and headed for her.

“Hi,” Carrot Top said as soon as Raindrops was in earshot, and couldn’t resist adding “thanks for the snow…” Objectively, Carrot Top knew that snow served an important purpose, both in cleaning the air and in replenishing groundwater. That didn’t make it any less cold to a simple earth pony, though.

“Keeps the blood flowing,” Raindrops noted nonchalantly as she landed next to her friend, heedless of the depth of the snow, or its chill. Carrot Top noticed that Raindrops also took a few moments to subconsciously crunch the snow underhoof, a slight tug at the corner of the young mare’s lips – snow was just a different kind of rain, after all. The earth pony hid her chortle at that well even as Raindrops looked to her. “What’s got you out in this?”

Carrot Top shrugged as she resumed walking, Raindrops keeping pace easily enough. “There isn’t exactly much to do on the farm right now,” she said. “I’m liable to end up going stir-crazy if I just stay cooped up inside and snowed in.”

“You might get snowed in at the Punch Bowl,” Raindrops warned, glancing up. “We’re going for a good two feet. Might even make it…” she scowled a little at that for some reason.

Carrot Top paused a moment, mostly to lean against a stiff, freezing breeze that kicked up suddenly, coming in from the southwest – an Everfree gust, probably. Even Raindrops threw up her wings to cover her eyes from the gust. “Two bits says I won’t be the only farmer who prefers being stuck in town than stuck at home,” she noted, wiping snow from her face. “I doubt Berry Punch will mind the business either.”

Raindrops nodded. “I’m heading there too, asked one of the guys to clock out for me. I…need to get my mind off of somepony. Don’t even know her name, she just showed up and…ugh. I don’t want to talk about it now.”

Carrot Top resisted the urge to bite her lip; she’d forgotten her balm at home and didn’t need to deal with cracked lips at the moment. “You’re not planning on…?” she ventured. For all her physical prowess, Raindrops was something of a lightweight when it came to liquor.

Raindrops shook her head. “Going for the environment, not the drink. Just want to take my mind off of things, gonna stick to ginger ale.” She favored Carrot Top with a small smile, a rare sight from the pegasus. “Could use drinking buddy all the same, though.”

“I’m game,” Carrot Top confirmed. They had just walked by the last fence that denoted somepony’s farmland – Green Grape’s, in this case – before Ponyville town proper was reached. The entire town looked like something one might find on a postcard, or inside of a snow globe, as picturesque an image of an Equestrian town just waiting for Hearths’ Warming as any could ask for. The roads here were better plowed, at least, allowing Carrot Top and Raindrops to take a moment to shake off some of the snow that had collected on them before continuing on at an easier, brisker pace to the Punch Bowl, though Carrot Top stifled another gasp as yet another Everfree gale seemed to cut through all her winter clothes, and even Raindrops seemed to shiver a bit.

“That’s not good, is it?” Carrot Top asked as the two picked up the pace.

“At the moment, I’m clocked out, and don’t care,” Raindrops said determinedly. “Probably the Everfree is cooking up freezing rain or something.” She grit her teeth. “Ugh…bet that had something to do with the nimbostrati packing so much ice…” At a confused glance from Carrot Top, Raindrops pointed up to the cloud cover. “Nimbostrati. Best clouds for snow. Only the shipment we got from Cloudsdale had too many ice crystals in it, would have ended up pelting Ponyville with graupel. Soft hail,” she added at another confused look.

Carrot Top shook her head. There was an entire world up in the sky that quite literally went over her head at times. She got the basic gist of what Raindrops was saying, at least. “Did that other pony you mention have anything to do with it?” She asked.

Raindrops shook her head. “No. Technically she helped fix things, but did it in the worst way possible. Didn’t explain herself at all before starting, disappeared before finishing things off.” They had reached the Punch Bowl, and Raindrops opened the door for the two of them. “I swear, if I see her again there’s a fifty-fifty shot of me bucking her in the – ”

“Carrot Top! Raindrops!” A voice, Trixie’s, called as the two ponies got in out of the snow. The Punch Bowl was normally warm from both the press of bodies and the roaring fireplace that Berry Punch kept going in the winter, but for some reason the temperature felt lower than normal – still above freezing, but not exactly the respite from the cold Carrot Top had been expecting.

Glancing over as she took off her hat and scarf, she saw Trixie sitting over at one of the tables already – the one furthest from the fireplace Sitting next to Trixie was a pale blue pegasus with a white mane and tail…who looked like she was sweating, or at least like she had recently taken a dip in a pool and was still drying off.

“And…that’s her,” Raindrops deadpanned.

---

Trixie wasted little time in introducing Snowy Night to Carrot Top and Raindrops. The latter, however, didn’t really care too much beyond the name as she stared hard at the mare across from her, only occasionally sipping at her ginger ale.

“Once again, my most vociferous apologies, Ser Raindrops,” Snowy said, once she recognized Raindrops. Her wings fluttered a few times and hooves tapped the floor, sending a ripple up her body that flash-froze all the water on it, covering her in a thin film of rime – and cooling the temperature around the table notably. She settled down a bit at that, looking more comfortable. “As I spoke earnestly ere we were formally introduced, ‘twas not my intention to cause trouble…I have spent many a year alone but for the visits of the Princess Luna, and need to relearn proper interaction ‘twould seem.”

“It would,” Raindrops noted, hooves digging into the floor beneath her. Literally in the case of one, the wood was a little softer there, and Raindrops could feel it bending against the force she was pressing into it.

It wasn’t that Snowy’s apology wasn’t genuine; it certainly seemed that way to Raindrops, in any event. Being the Element of Honesty didn’t turn her into a living lie detector or anything, but Raindrops thought she was pretty good at reading ponies using just her own natural talents. And just like earlier, something was off about Snowy, something that for some reason Raindrops was certain couldn’t be chalked up simply to three hundred years of isolation.

Something that, she also noticed, her friends weren’t picking up on. Maybe she was just being paranoid, or letting a bad first impression get to her.

“S-so,” Carrot Top said, trying to break the tension, “um…what’s up with the…” she used a hoof to indicate the coat of rime that Snowy had covered herself with.

Snowy looked down at it for several moments, before heaving a sigh and nodding her head towards the fireplace. “I do not contend well with heat, ‘twould seem. I know not if it be a consequence of the windigo, or one of the river Cocytus being my donjon for fifteen-score years. We shall learn as time passes, I imagine.” She glanced to the other ponies there. Trixie and Carrot Top were both still wearing their winter capes, though loosely about their withers rather than wrapped up tightly in them; meanwhile, the other ponies in the Punch Bowl had all scooted closer to the fire. “I apologize, Ser Carrot Top, for the discomfort I cause.”

That apology, on the other hoof, seemed totally genuine and without any kind of hidden meaning to Raindrops. She glanced behind her at the other patrons of the Punch Bowl, then decided on a shrug. “It’s a cold day,” she said. “Ponies would probably want to be close to the fire anyway. And you can stop with the ‘ser’ business.”

A stiff breeze passed through the Punch Bowl then as its door opened, bringing Cheerilee, Lyra, and Bon Bon in, as well as a small bundle of wool and faux fur with four legs that, after she started taking off her winter gear, turned out to contain Dinky Doo. The four of them noted their already-present friends and waved, Lyra and Bon Bon making their way over first while Dinky struggled with her scarf. “Already here?” Bon Bon asked, looking to Carrot Top. “Ditzy just went out to your farm to get you…”

Carrot Top looked away guiltily. “Sorry,” she said, “I didn’t know there was going to be a get-together…”

“It’s not that far a flight,” Raindrops noted, scooting aside and making room at the table.

Cheerilee had gone over to talk to her sister at the bar, while Dinky – free of her scarves and hat, though keeping her cloak – dashed on over to the table. “Hi!” she exclaimed once she had hopped up onto a foal’s stool that Trixie had telekinetically grabbed. She was looking at Snowy. “Are you Snowy Night? Are you really Princess Luna’s apprentice too? That’s so cool! My momma and Miss Trixie said that Princess Luna taught Trixie magic and stuff. Did you learn any magic? Can you show me? I’m Trixie’s magician’s assistant so that kind of makes me Princess Luna’s assistant too, right? Which means that I’m kind of your magician’s assistant so you gotta show me magic! It’s my special talent! Ooh! And if you’re Princess Luna’s apprentice but so is Trixie does that mean that I could be an apprentice too? Oh, my name’s Dinky Doo, by the way!”

Snowy blinked rapidly at Dinky’s hurried, excited verbal assault, which might have continued had Trixie not put a steadying hoof on Dinky’s withers, the foal realizing she needed to calm down. “Sorry,” Dinky said after a moment, though she was still quivering a little. “But I only just got my cutie mark at the start of winter, and my mark is friendship, which is the same thing as magic according to Miss Trixie, so I wanna learn all the magic I can!”

The pegasus chuckled a little as Cheerilee joined their table, bringing with her two kettles, one full of steaming wassail and the other of hot cocoa, as well as a plethora of empty mugs. “Couldn’t decide which we’d want, got both,” Cheerilee informed them as she started pouring out the various drinks. A lavender aura had tried to pull a mug of wassail towards a certain foal, but Cheerilee didn’t miss a beat in stopping it.

“Aw…” Dinky objected. “Can I please try some wassail, Miss Cheerilee? I have my cutie mark now!”

Cheerilee chuckled. “If your mother says it’s okay when she gets here,” she said. Dinky let out a slight sigh at that, apparently knowing what Ditzy’s answer would be, and selected a mug of cocoa instead.

“Pray forgive my intrusion,” Snowy said, as she went for the cocoa herself, though in her grip the mug visibly cooled. Raindrops noted Snowy’s somewhat depressed look at that. “But ‘tis my belief that foals should not partake of strong drink regardless. Indeed, nor should any pony. ‘Tis a lesson of Princess Luna’s that I took to my heart. Strong drink brings naught be regret.”

Raindrops observed Trixie, who had taken a hot cocoa but had also produced a flask of something from her cloak, surreptitiously put the flask away before she could add its contents to her drink. “I wouldn’t exactly call wassail ‘strong’,” Trixie objected morosely.

“Strong enough next to cocoa,” Snowy said. She looked back to Dinky. “To answer your earlier queries, young one, I am indeed the apprentice of the Princess Luna, or rather I was fifteen-score years ago.”

“That is so cool!” Dinky exclaimed again. “But I thought Princess Luna only took on unicorns…was Tootsie Flute’s momma and papa wrong again?”

Snowy considered a moment, then chuckled. “I know not who this ‘Tootsie Flute’ be, young Dinky, though I surmise a friend of yours. And I recall that in my time, ‘twas an accusation of many to Princess Luna that her highness seemed only ever to recruit pegasi as apprentices, as I made the third of seven. But my predecessor – and, I have learned, one of my successors, were earth ponies, and another successor another unicorn, bringing the tribes into balance…until Trixie.” She eyed Trixie pointedly, though playfully.

Trixie grinned herself, looking to Dinky. “I don’t think Princess Luna takes tribe into account,” she said. “I’m not actually sure what Princess Luna’s standards are.”

“Doubt she has much,” Lyra put forth as she sipped at some wassail.

“Hey!” Trixie and Snowy both objected.

Raindrops had been sipping on her ginger ale, and almost spat it out at that, swallowing with only great effort and joining in on the laughter of the rest of the table once she had. “I didn’t mean it like that,” Lyra said, waving a hoof at the two to calm them. “I just mean, Luna’s apprentices have historically been a pretty eclectic bunch. I think Princess Luna just occasionally sees a pony with a lot of potential, doesn’t matter what, and decides to nurture it.”

Trixie beamed at the compliment, while Snowy only glanced down, heaving another sigh. “Potential I squandered,” she noted morosely.

“Not yet,” Lyra countered. Snowy looked to her, and Lyra shrugged. “You’re still here, you’re still young, in body at least. You’ll be that way for a while, right?” She grinned. “You’ve got a long time to do good in the world, to live up to whatever Princess Luna saw in you…and whatever you saw in yourself when you decided to become her apprentice.”

Snowy smiled at that, and nodded, but once again Raindrops was struck by something feeling off about the frigid pegasus. The smile was fake, and so was the agreement. She was about to bring it up, but then the door to the Punch Bowl opened once more, and a snow-covered, wall-eyed pegasus cantered in and shook herself off, eyes locking instantly with Carrot Top as she cantered over to the table. “It is very cold out there,” Ditzy noted, settling down next to Dinky. She wasn’t shivering, but she did grab a hot cocoa and hold it close to herself.

“Sorry,” Carrot Top apologized. “I didn’t know! And – I mean, just in my defense – you could have checked here first.”

Ditzy let out a sigh and nodded at that as she brushed some stray snow from her mane – onto Dinky, who laughed. The older mare then looked to Raindrops. “There’s a gale coming out of the Everfree,” she informed her. “A lot of wind. If I didn’t know any better I’d…” she paused, glancing to Snowy. “I mean, I’d think it was…something.”

“A windigo,” Snowy surmised, waving a hoof. “Pray, do not bite your tongue on my account, friend Ditzy. In any event, I doubt highly a windigo could come within a hundred miles of this town.” She nodded to the table, then to the rest of the Punch Bowl. Ponies may have been keeping away from the cool aura that surrounded Snowy, but they were amongst each other, talking cheerfully enough, laughing and having a good time. “Love and joy be in the air, and you well know that be anathema to the frost spirits.”

“Just the Everfree being the Everfree, then,” Ditzy surmised, looking again to Raindrops.

Raindrops shook her head. “Clocked out, don’t care.”

Author's Note:

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone!

Comments

[PhycoKrusk]

Maybe it's not a windigo, but did anyone ever stop to think that it might be a windigo...

With an Uzi?!

[DracoDarastrix]

Glad to see this story continue and merry Christmas to you too. ^^

[Void Knight]

Ok, we have repeated mentions of bizzarely cold winds coming out of the Everfree. We have Snowy Night emerging from her self-imposed prison, and being unwilling to explain fully why.

I have two guesses for what's going on:
1: Snowy Night set something into motion all those years ago, and now she's got to come back to disarm it.

2: The Windigoes have finally realized that Snowy Night has broken their bargain, so they're coming to take back what they gave.
2a: Taking back their power will kill Snowy Night, either simply or from all her delayed aging coming due. She wants to see her friends and the world one more time before she dies.
2b: Taking back their power won't kill Snowy, but she'll start aging at the normal speed again. Having decades instead of centuries means that she doesn't feel inclined to waste any more time in self-flagellation. She wants to start doing something good with what time she has left.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

A belated Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you as well, RDD. I hope this continues. I want to know what's up!

[Walabio]

I wonder how this will end.