Pepper heart

by Hestrir

Chapter 6: cold

Mom is sitting on the bed, petting little filly's head with her hoof. She feels warm. Pepper plays with her hoof like a cat with a toy. Pepper feels safe. Joyful. Happy.

Mom is smiling. Mom is laughing heartily at little Pepper. Her horn glows with a soft pink glow. A flower circlet appears out of nowhere. pepper is awestruck by the miracle in front of her eyes. The flowers are landing on Pepper's head. She laughs.

'Mom! Teach me how to do it! I wanna make flowers too!' she calls. Mom is beaming.

'I am not making them, silly. I am bringing them from the garden. You can't make a thing out of nothing.' she smiles softly. 'It will upset the balance.'

But Pepper do not listening. She urges mom to teach her the trick. Mom complies.

'Imagine a flower.' she says. Pepper sits uptight and does her best to imagine a flower. A cute one, with red petals and black center. Like those she saw in the huge fields.

'Did you imagined it? Good! Now imagine yourself holding it! Imagine hard! And think of something happy while doing so!'

Pepper does her best to imagine the flower in her hoof. She does as mom told and thinks of the show she went with dad to last week. It had cute animals and neat magic tricks in it. Pepper feels joy by just remembering it, being there with dad.

But nothing happens.

Pepper then shuts her eyes tight and thinks of the flower in her hoof double as hard!

Nothing...

Triple as hard!

Still nothing.

Quadruple as hard!

She opens her eye and looks at her extended hoof. There is no flower. There is nothing. Pepper feels angry at the flower. Annoyed at the flower. She tries again. She imagines the flower hard, but this time a place of her happy thoughts was taken by her anger and annoyance.
It works! Pepper holds a flower in her hoof. She extends it happily towards mom and huffs proudly.

She did it! She can do magic tricks!
But mom is not happy. She looks into Pepper's eyes with an unusual expression. Pepper rarely sees her sad. But today it's definitely sadness on her face. And a bit of fear too. Pepper flinches, thinking that she did something wrong to upset mom.

'Pepper. Did you not think of the happy thoughts?' mom asks sadly.

'I did! At first. But the flower did not came, so I got angry at it, but then it worked!' Pepper says. Mom's expression becomes even more sad.

'Did... did I do something bad?' Pepper asks. Mom hugs her with shaking hooves.

'Never, never do that again!'

Pepper looks in horror at the withered flower in her hoof.

'No... I am sorry...' mumbled Pepper in her sleep, turning in the bed. Starlight looked at the filly with a concerned expression.

The news of Pepper collapsing has arrived at the exact moment when Starlight called Twilight off her break to talk about Pepper's situation just outside of the school gates. A small foal came, apparently familiar with Twilight. He was out of breath. He informed the mares that a filly has collapsed with a fever, then he ran away, presumably to speak with other teachers. It took Twilight one look at Starlight's determined face to submit and extend her wing to help a little mouse to climb on her head. Starlight has hid in her mane and the alicorn princess has rushed to the hospital wing.

They found Pepper on the bed, turning in her sleep. She was hot to the touch. In the hospital wing stood an unfamiliar green-colored professor and the nurse, with dean Quasar Quark arriving along with the colt who called Twilight earlier, his name turning out to be Lemon Star.

'What is wrong with her exactly?' asked Twilight, worryingly inspecting a sleeping filly.

'By all accounts it is a fever. The kind you can get when you're under a dire cold' said the nurse.

'She had a class with me earlier.' said Twilight. 'She wasn't sick then. Well, at least not THAT sick.'

'Ponies do not just collapse with a dire fever on the spot.' said the dean, throwing a look at Twilight's mane and sighing. Starlight whimpered. The dean knew she was there!

'I know that' said the nurse apologetically. 'But this is all I can say about the situation.'

'Will she be ok?' asked Lemon Star worryingly. Twilight gave him a sympathetic look.

'Of course! It's just a fever. Even though its origins are rather baffling.' said the nurse calmly. 'There is no magic for the cold treatment. She just need some rest.'

'Thank goodness!' said the lean green professor, his name being Mandrake.

'Under which circumstances did you find her in this state?' asked the dean. Twilight nodded, almost catapulting a mouse off her mane. Starlight has frantically grasped her horn.

'She was being bullied' said Lemon Star. 'I was walking in the main corridor with Chalcedony and Sparkle Shine when we heard a cry from the side corridor. You know, that scary one with portraits and cobwebs. It seems like Pepper was shouting something like 'No! I won't!'. So we went there and found a group of bullies with Merrylight as their leader surrounding Pepper' reported Lemon Star. Starlight has clasped her tiny mouse hands.

"Merrylight! That freak again!"

'I then called for help and ponies came' continues Lemon Star.

'Yes. I've heard Lemon Heart calling, so I have arrived along with some students.' nodded professor Mandrake.

'Hmmm...' the dean has begun to pace around the room, lost in thoughts.

'Can it be that Merrylight has casted some sort of spell on her?' asked Lemon Star, looking at Twilight. The princess has shook her head, making Starlight to hug her horn tight again.

'There is no such a spell pony can cast that can inflict cold' she said.

'Come to think of it, the cold seems to be completely outside of magic possibilities...' she mumbled thoughtfully.

But Starlight was not buying it.

'It has to be Merrylight!' she whispered in Twilight's ear. 'Ponies don't just drop with fevers out of nowhere!'

But Twilight has ignored her.

'It might have something to do with yesterday's battle with windigo.' she said, looking at the dean. 'She could be under windigo's freezing effect. Maybe its aftermath has manifested as a fever?'

The dean did not answered, looking deep in thought.

'Pepper fought a windigo?!' asked Lemon Star, his eyes lighting up.

'Yes.' threw Twilight absent-mindedly.

'That is so cool!' Lemon Star has glanced at sleeping Pepper with admiration.

Starlight felt a sting of annoyance at Twilight. What she said did made sense in the retrospect, but Starlight just knew that Merrylight has something to do with it.

"It wouldn't hurt to investigate anyway." she thought. Starlight has made up her mind.

The memory of her condition when she has overextended her animal transformation has grasped Starlight's memory, summoning nausea-like sensation, but Starlight has brushed it away.

"I need to be smaller..." she thought, focusing all her magic. Her head has begun to spin. She started to feel nauseous. "I must..."
Transforming in something so severely different from pony physiology seemed outside of even Starlight's skills, but she pressed on. Her limbs became dull and begun to pulse with pain. She begun to shrink. Her bones has changed with a shot of pain. Soon there were no longer any bone in her body. A set of small wings has erupted from her back. The vision became different, but familiar. After all, she already saw the world through a fly's eyes before.

A small black fly has inconspicuously flew out of Twilight's mane and went out of the hospital wing's door. Starlight was desperately grasping for her consciousness. Somehow she managed to regain her focus. Her head was spinning.

"Okay, I have about twenty minutes..." she thought, evaluating her condition. Without losing any second she flew out of the hospital corridor.
"Where to now?" she thought, looking around with her little beady-eyed head. She flew out of the open window and looked down, scanning the ground for familiar shapes. Her vision area has widened. She could clearly see everything on the sides of her head.
She flew around for a good dozen minutes before the fortune has smiled on her. She saw her target. Merrylight was running somewhere on the courtyard, rudely pushing passerby ponies aside. He went towards the northern wall. Starlight has followed him, struggling with a growing nausea and head-splitting headache.

The foal has approached the secret passage wall and climber through it, surprising Starlight. Starlight has followed him through into the forest.

Merrylight has vanished between the trees. Starlight has landed on the ground, not able to keep her form any longer. A mind-numbing pain has shot through her as her bones were growing back. Struggling not to faint, she whimpered on the ground, expanding. Soon she was sitting on the grass, sweating and breathing heavily. She stood up on her shaking legs and tried to cast a simple light spell just to make sure.
"Yep." she thought, seeing nothing but a faint spark flying out of her horn. "Another amazing idea."

Trying to ignore her berating inner voice, she has quietly entered the grove, climbing under a huge root. Then she heard a voice. She has carefully crouched and went to sound's direction, avoiding to make any sounds as much as possible. Soon she has reached a clearing. Merrylight stood there, surrounded by foals.

Starlight has stepped on a twig and begun to panic, but the foals seemed too distracted to pay attention to their surroundings.

'We shall ambush her here' said Merrylight. His face looked a bit distorted. A colt made a step forward.

'Boss, are you sure you're ok? You seem to be overdoing it.' he said, looking worryingly at the foal.

Merrylight has threw him a glance full of ire.

'Shut up!'

'B-but boss... You seem obsessed by that filly! It ain't normal!' said another colt, whimpering under his leader's hateful gaze.

'Am I sure? AM. I. SURE?' Merrylight snapped. 'That little monster is the cause of EVERYTHING!' he jumped forward and slugged the speaker into his head with his hoof, breathing heavily. The colts have flinched backwards.

'From very beginning, VERY beginning she was getting on my nerves! You weren't there!' he sounded like a madman 'I saw her doing her magic! Exact very moment I met her she already disgraced me! I met her in this very forest! She shot darkness at the bush I was hiding in! I couldn't move for a week! Everypony thought that I has caught some kind of sickness, and nopony believed me that I was cursed! But I knew! She is a monster!' he backed into the center of the clearing. His entourage shaking under his gaze. Merrylight's movements became ragged and erratic.

'Is it m-me, or is it getting cold in here?' whispered nearby colt. Starlight was so caught up in what was happening that she did not notice a temperature change. It was getting cold! Colder with each passing second.

"Windigo?!" she thought, shaking wildly.

Strange.

The cold seemed to be coming from Merrylight, but the foal seemed undeterred by it.

The ground started to cover with frost around Merrylight. A panic has ensued amongst the colts. Starlight has desperately grasped at her happy memories. Tidy streets. Smiling ponies. A safe place. Equal sign. She knew that it was wrong to think about it, but she did not care. The memory of distant happiness has filled her being with warmth. The frost on her hooves has melted. The foals were not so lucky though.
Starlight has horrifyingly found herself surrounded by plethora of ice statues that used to be Merrylight's henchmen.
The foal stood alone in the clearing, surrounded by frost and frozen comrades, his face bearing a horrified expression.

'What the...' he said, looking around. Suddenly, a familliar voice came from Merrylight's being.

'You did not need them anyway.'

Starlight has begun to shake uncontrollably. She knew this voice. She couldn't forget such a cold, distant voice in her life.

'I... Don't understand...' said Merrylight, his voice sounding muffled.

'You don't need to. All you need to know is that you can have your revenge.' the cold voice said. 'On Pepper heart. On Starlight Glimmer. On everypony who ever wronged you.'

'Revenge...' Merrylight's eyes has lit up. 'Revenge!' he sounded off, mixing up his intonations and accents.

'Speaking of Starlight Glimmer,' said the voice, making Starlight freeze in fear. 'you can start with her. She is close, resisting the icy despair.'

Starlight took off. She ran how she never ran before, jumping over roots and stumps, making her way outside of the accursed grove.

"I need to tell Twilight" was her only thought. She heard a roaring of wind behind her, but she did not look back.

***

Pepper woke up, sweating. She felt very ill. Her eyes were hot and her throat was sore. She lifted herself up a bit to look around. Some sort of commotion was going on around her. Nopony has noticed her awakening.

"Déjà vu" she thought, taking a closer look at her surroundings.

A whole lot of adult ponies (and Lemon Star) were gathered around in the corner of what Pepper has recognized as a hospital wing. They were discussing something loudly. Pepper has focused her mind to make out the words.

'Posessed by a windigo? A student?' asked professor Mandrake unbelievingly. 'What are you talking about?'

'Starlight! Calm down! Explain what you saw!' said Twilight worryingly.

'I keep telling you!' cried Starlight in a desperate tone. She looked very exhausted and out of breath, not to mention sweating like crazy.

'I saw Merrylight in that grove! The one near that hill we fought a windigo on! He was talking to his goonies about ambushing Pepper there, but something happened to him! All the colts but him were frozen! Then the windigo's voice came out...'

Pepper froze in place. "Merrylight? Windigo? What the hay was all this about?"

'Windigos don't talk!' interrupted professor Mandrake, looking at Starlight with contempt and disbelief.

'They do' said Twilight quickly, shunning him down. 'What happened next?'

'It spoke something of revenge and noticed me! I ran away!' said Starlight desperately. 'It's coming here! I think a windigo has possessed Merrylight somehow!'

Pepper tried her hardest to make sense of the situation. It all felt like a bad dream.

'Windigoes can't posess ponies!' said professor Mandrake sternly. 'Dean, please, tell her she's wrong!'

Pepper looked at the dean. He seemed shockingly calm, looking away as if deep in thoughts.

'...Dean?' pleaded professor Mandrake. 'Oh, come on you all! You really believe that random mare who just barged in spouting nonsense about windigos?' he sounded desperate.

'I am not random!' snapped Starlight.

'Yes. You aren't. You're a hooligan who turned a student, the same student if I'm not mistaken, into an animal for no reason! Doesn't add to your trustworthiness!' said Mandrake in a hysterical tone. Starlight was gritting her teeth angrily. 'What are you even doing here? You've been banned from the school grounds!'

'Quiet' suddenly said the dean. His voice was stern and booming. Mandrake has shut his mouth, astonished.

'We need professor Cosmos.' said the dean, pacing around the room. 'And we need him immediately. Twilight, can you contact him?' Twilight has opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly:

'That won't be necessary.'

Professor Cosmos has warped in, astonishing the crowd. Pepper stared blankly at everypony. Nothing seemed real to her. She felt sick and sleepy, but she kept watching.

Professor Cosmos had a determined look on his face.

'Professor Mandrake. look out of the window, if you may.' he said coldly. Mandrake has threw him a look of disbelief and looked out of the huge window, gasping.

'What? What's there?' asked Twilight.

Pepper has noticed Lemon Star in the room's corner. He stood there, utterly confused. His facial expression persisted on the nurse's face as well. Pepper has lifted herself higher off the bed so she could see a bit of window. She saw nothing in particular. The outsides of the window seemed completely white. But then she saw a horrified reactions of professor Mandrake and princess Twilight, who were staring in the window.

'What is happening out there?' asked Starlight in a shaking voice, taking a look out of the window as well.

'The windigo is erecting a barrier of fast-moving freezing winds. Everything that will attempt to past through it will be immideately frozen.' answered Cosmos calmly.

'It can do that?' asked Twilight.

'H-how do you know it can do that?' asked Starlight with suspicion in her voice.

'If anypony knows a thing or two about windigos - it's him.' said the dean.

'Why is it doing that?' professor Mandrake's voice was shaking.

'To prevent us from escaping. or to prevent reinforcements from outside. Take your pick.' said Cosmos in a bored tone.

'Princess Celestia can deal with that barrier, can she?' asked princess Twilight, throwing constant worried looks out of the window.

'Sure. In a few hours' shrugged professor Cosmos. 'But I'm not sure we have that long.' Twilight has bit her lips.

'Quasar.' said Cosmos calmly. 'Evacuate all the students to the dungeons. Keep panic from spreading. We will deal with the windigo.'
The dean has nodded quickly and went outside, taking professor Mandrake, nurse and Lemon Star with him.

Four ponies remained in the hospital room: Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, professor Cosmos and Pepper. Starlight has looked at Pepper's direction and sighed with relief seeing her awake.

'Pepper! How are you feeling?' asked princess Twilight in a caring tone.

'I am allright. Just a bit sick...' said Pepper uneasily. 'Can you please explain what is going on?' she pleaded.

'The windigo has returned.' said professor Cosmos. He then surprised everypony by proceeding to raid hospital's cupboard nonchalantly. He dug in the cupboard in an awkward silence for a few minutes undeterred, then emerged with a teabag in his mouth.

'Shorry. Tea helps me focush' he said, proceeding to swallow the teabag to everypony's horror. A minute passed.

'Is everypony going to ignore that?' asked Starlight, looking around.

'Returning to your question, Pepper,' said Cosmos as if nothing happened 'The windigo you fought has returned, and it's coming for you.'
This statement has summoned all sorts of reactions for everypony in the room. Twilight has gasped in disbelief, Starlight looked like she thought she misheard and Pepper just froze in incomprehension.

'Yep. You've heard me right' confirmed Cosmos, nodding at Starlight.

'But why her?' asked the princess.

'How the heck do you know that anyway? And what is that thing the dean said about? Why would a school professor know something unusual about windigos?' asked Starlight in an angry tone.

Cosmos has ignored her and turned towards Pepper, his face being emotionless.

'I am sorry, Pepper. But that thing is going after you.'

Pepper's innards froze.

'It has something to do w-with... um...'

'Yes. With your dark magic. Though the issue is a bit deeper. You all may be wondering why did I brought it here in the first place?' he said, looking at Starlight. The mare nodded.

'That would be good to hear.'

'I thought it's for my demonstration!' said Twilight.

"Wait... Professor Cosmos brought it in?" thought Pepper in disbelief.

Cosmos has looked Twilight deep in the eyes and suddenly sighed sadly.

'I am sorry, Twilight. I haven't been honest with you. And you, for that matter,' he nodded to Starlight. 'All of you.'

'What... do you mean..?' asked Twilight.

Cosmos has opened his mouth to answer but a thunderous roar of wind has ripped hospital wing's windows.

'Damnation! It have finished erecting the barrier already?!' shouted Cosmos, trying to outcry the roaring wind. Pepper was pushed in her bed, struggling to breath as Ice-cold wind was pressing her chest. Starlight and Twilight were struggling to not be blown away, clutching the furniture.

'One windigo can't do this! Unless... On, sweet Celestia...' Cosmos has rushed to the window, desperately struggling with the wind. 'There are more of them!' he shouted. 'How could that happen?! I thought I have banished the very last one of those m-monsters!' his voice broke, sounding desperate.

A particularly strong gust of wind has blown him away from the window, slamming him into a cupboard. A whole lot of hospital trays flew up, getting caught up in the wind.

'Professor!' cried Twilight.

'H-how could I be so stupid...' mumbled Cosmos.

Suddenly a huge, menacing figure has appeared behind the window. It was a windigo! Different from the one Pepper has faced. More lean and thin. But the eyes were the same. Cold, piercing. Pepper wanted to scream, but couldn't. Her innards were getting cold. She felt frost on her hooves.

'Starlight! Get Pepper and get out of here!' shouted Twilight. She flew up, surrounded by a radiant lavender glow. Her horn has erupted with a shining beam that struck right into windigo's head, repelling it back.

'What about you?!' shouted Starlight, trying desperately to keep her footing in the roaring gale.

'I'm going in!'

Twilight has rocketed out with an incredible speed, leaving a purple trail behind. The window has flashed brightly, following with a screeching shriek of a wounded Windigo. But Pepper did not hear that. She was cold. Very cold. She wanted to close her eyes.

Starlight Glimmer has rushed towards her, shooting a warming glow out of her horn. The coldness has faded somewhat, allowing Pepper to think clear again.

'Pepper, hold tight! And think of something positive!' ordered Starlight, letting Pepper embrace her. 'Dammit! I can't teleport! It seems we have to do it the hard way! Pepper, a positive memory! Windigos feed on negative emotions!'

Pepper held tight. She was feeling sick. And coldness did not entirely fade. But she followed Starlight's instruction, desperately searching her head for a happy memory. It came rather quick.

A warm summer breeze. An ivy tree atop of the grassy hill. She sits there with mom and dad, and nothing can take the moment away. This memory fills her whole being with warmth.

***

Starlight was galloping downstairs, burdened by a filly on her back. The air was freezing. The walls has begun to cover with frost patterns. Starlight was keeping her breath, focusing on the stairs below her feet. The last thing she wanted to do is slip on the frozen staircase. Pepper was breathing hardly on her back. She felt hot. Her fever didn't go away, and the constant shaking were not doing it any good.

Soon Starlight has reached the end of the staircase, entering a wide hall. There was nopony in sight, no doubt thanks to timely evacuation. But it wasn't quiet at all. The muffled sound of rushing winds was shaking the window frames wildly, and a sound of broken glass was heard from time to time.

When Starlight has reached a hall's centre, a nearby window has exploded with shining shards, just barely Missing Starlight in their shrapnel fly. A windigo has emerged from outside of the window. The menacing icy figure was rather small compared to its brethren, but its visage was intimidating nonetheless. It has slowly turned its head, scanning the room. When the windigo turned its face towards Starlight it has received a blast of fire, smoldering it like nopony's business. The windigo has shrieked and flinched, but recovered quickly and rushed towards the mare, breathing frosty wind from its narrow muzzle.

Tidy, clean streets. So neat. So homely.

A blast of formless energy has met windigo's torso, repelling it back a good dozen feet. Starlight had no hesitation.

Smiling, friendly ponies. Always nice to her. And to each other. No conflict. No hatred. No pain.

Another blast has been fired, filled with warmth and emotion. The windigo has attempted to evade it, but the ray has changed its vector and hit it anyway, sending a shrieking specter to collide with a wall. The creature has splattered into s bunch of white smoke, but started to re-form.

Feeling safe. Feeling safe. Safe...

Starlight kept bombarding the beast with emotion-charged blasts, keeping it from reassuming its form.

Equal sign. Everypony's equal. Everypony is happy...

But are they equal?

Were they happy?

Starlight's determination wavered. She has realized something she did not see that clear before.

"That's right... We were not equal... I was superior. This is why I felt so good back then. To have everypony bow to my will. I am a hypocrite, ain't I?"

Her momentary pause has allowed the mist to reform. White specter has desperately rushed towards Starlight, attempting to envelop her in its bitter coldness.

"All this time I thought I had equals... How could I be so foolish?"

A room, designed to brainwash.

The windigo approached.

Fake smiles, with pain hidden behind them.

The windigo loomed.

The soulless, empty eyes at the moment of personality removal.

Empty husks.

Nothing.

"How could I?"

A restraining cold has enveloped Starlight's being.

"How could they ever forgive me?"

No one is equal. Nothing can't be equal. In her whole life Starlight did not meet anypony equal. Even Sunburst wasn't. Not after his identity. She felt alone. Abandoned.She never felt equal. Never, until...

"That's right. They all forgave me. Even if they shouldn't have to. And it's all thanks to her."

Three-colored mane, a horn and a pair of wings.

The windigo was so close that its ephemeral body was almost touching Starlight.

"She may not be my equal. I will never be equal to her. Not to her qualities. We will never be equal... But is equality really that good a thing?"
'The differences between me and my friends are the very thing that makes our friendship strong.'

"She is better than me. But because of that I always have somepony to look up to. To aspire to be like her. To try to be like her."

A soft glow has enveloped Starlight. It was warm. Warmer than her previous feelings. Softer. Because she knew that this time she was not fooling herself.

The windigo has shrieked in terror, it's voice generating randomly shooting ice shards. The glow has slowly enveloped its core, eating it whole. Gnawing on the negativity. A second has passed before the glow has dissipated. The windigo was no more. At least in that hall.
Starlight pressed on. Pepper was asleep, snoring peacefully on her back, yet managing to clutch her hard. Starlight felt good. She did not felt so peaceful and happy for a long, long time.

The mare with a filly on her back has entered the ground floor of the central school building. The wind was howling. All windows were broken. Everything was covered with snow and ice. A powdered snow was rushing in the hall from the windows, accompanied by freezing gales. But Starlight didn't felt it. At least on the inside. She won't feel cold inside as long as she cherish the memory.

Starlight has paused for a minute, looking intently at the hall. Something was out of place. A few steps away from the building's exit stood a pony, half-encased in ice. Starlight has gasped and rushed forward. It was Ash Cauldron.
'You?!'

Starlight has quickly casted a warming spell, radiating the frozen stallion with warmth. The ice begun to melt.

'What the hay are you doing out here? And why are you frozen?' the mare asked after professor has restored his gift of speech.

'Fighting those m-monsters!' said Cauldron, his whole body shaking. 'And what are YOU doing here?! You have-'

'Been banned from the school grounds, no doubt caused the windigo invasion and surely kidnapping this child for my own sinister urges.' said STarlight, cutting him out. 'Is that what you wanted to say?'

Cauldron just grinded his teeth, looking at Starlight with pure enmity.

'You REALLY should focus on the situation you are in. And how did you even get frozen like that? Don't you know how to deal with windigos, "professor"? Wait...' Cauldron remained silent, his eyes filled with frozen hatred. The frost has begun to creep on his hooves again.
'You don't have a strong positive memory, do you? Have you always been that grump?' A hint of compassion has rose in the corner of Starlight's mind, but was brushed away quickly.

' Like you'd ever understand. Always indulging in your personal happiness, never thinking of the future and the betterment of the country.' the stallion snarled.

'All my life I've been working for the future. For Equestria. You have no idea how it feels to have nopony equal around. Almost everypony in my life are spineless! Pathetic! Either that or they stay above me, on unachievable height! I may never become a royalty or the realm's protector. I may be stuck in this position of alchemy teacher for my whole life! But it doesn't mean I shouldn't try to achieve something more! If I could repel the windigos, I-' he broke off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. 'I....'

'Listen here. Contrary to what you think, I may know how you feel.' said Starlight. Her mind was uneasy. 'But you can't face the windigos without a good memory. How about to live for yourself for once? At least this way you may make a memory you can use against windigos, not counting other benefits.'

'Don't you dare to *cough* lecture me!' snapped Cauldron. 'I have chosen my path.'
'Whatever.' snarled Starlight. 'You can feel important for once and show me a way to the dungeons where everypony has evacuated to. The filly on my back has a severe fever and we're wasting time by standing and snapping at each other!'

Ash Cauldron looked at the building entrance door, then on Starlight, as if appraising the situation. He stood there for a solid minute. Then he made a few trembling steps away, waved Starlight to follow him and made his way to one of the doors. He opened the door and went in, beckoning Starlight. But as the mare made her way towards the door, something utterly unexpected has happened.

A wall of ice has formed from nowhere, blocking the door and part of the wall. A cold wind howled. Starlight has slowly turned around, fearing what she may see. Her fears came through.

Merrylight stood there, looking lost and harmless if not the white mist around him, swirling and roaring constantly. His eyes have lost its colors and became colder than an arctic night.
'Found you.'