My Little Halo: Harmony Evolved

by Arcane Howitzer

12: Mourn the Howling Winds

Ponyville Library

1 December 2551, 1600 MST

Ponyville, Equestria

Despite it being early in the afternoon, the Ponyville Library sat closed and dark. According to the sign on the door, this was due to it being reshelving day, though anypony who had lived in the town for more than a month knew that reshelving day was not until the seventh. The true cause for the early closing could be guessed by anypony who had been in town for more than a week. Unfortunately, the three ponies now approaching the door had not yet been there a full day, and had no idea what they were walking into.

“I think we’ve found a good spot, eh Mac?”

“Yep. I just wish it were a bit closer to town. The pests are gonna be a bit of a problem too.”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen so many burrows in one place before.”

Without really thinking about it, they entered the library, only to find themselves in darkness. But this wasn’t your average, everyday darkness. No, this was Advanced Darkness, the kind where you can feel eyes watching you from every angle.

Suddenly, the trio was blinded by the activation of the library’s lights, and deafened by the cacophony that followed. “Surprise!”

SLAM!

They were gone before the din of the supposed party-starter could fade, leaving a room full of very confused ponies in party hats.

“What- the hell- was that?” Mac said between gasps, now braced against the library door in hopes of keeping whatever-it-was contained.

“I think- I think it was a party.”

“A party?”

“A party!”

“Gyah!” All three rocketed away from the pink mare whose head was sticking through the now-open bottom half of the library door, which apparently swung inward as well as outward.

Despite the fearful reaction, the mare continued to beam at them. “Come on in! I threw this party just for you!”

As she began to ramble on about all of the things the party had, the orange unicorn walked warily up to the door and peeked in through the opened half of the door. Inside, he could see dozens of ponies staring back expectantly, as well as numerous colored balloons and streamers, and even a pony-rendition of the classic Pin the Tail on the Donkey game. The central table, which had housed a wooden unicorn bust as big as a full-grown pony this morning, was now covered in various frosted pastries, including a platter piled high with cupcakes.

Seeing nothing dangerous about the gathering, and deciding that there were worse ways to spend a break, he motioned to his compatriots and together they joined the party.

Canterlot had been declared safe enough that Princess Celestia no longer needed a full squad of ODST to guard her, as long as she didn’t go wandering across the countryside unannounced, and the squad that had been following her around for more than a month was given some down time. They were almost immediately ordered to “visit” Ponyville to find and question a specific pink mare whose sudden appearance on the camera of dropship F-258 warranted investigation.

The second Pelican to land in Ponyville square was met with significantly less fanfare, only a dozen or so ponies showing up to stare at the strangers disembarking. They wore uniforms similar to the first three, but with camouflage patterns in various shades of green. Though they were given several confused look for asking after Pinkie Pie, they were quickly pointed in the direction of the Ponyville Library.

The “Welcome to Equestria, Thank You for Saving the Princess” party was quickly achieving full swing, and though she was not the guest of honor, Pinkie Pie was still the center of attention. Then, right in the middle of the dance floor, she froze. Her eyes derped in a manner similar to the local mailmare, and her right ear began twitching at a steady twice-per-second beat. This continued for exactly fifteen seconds as everypony watched. The ponies-of-honor attempted to step in and see what was wrong, but were stopped with the shake of a head. After all, one does not interrupt the Pinkie Sense.

When the prophetic fit had passed, Pinkie turned to the front door, her face contorted in fear, and she began slowly backing towards the basement door. Before she could reach her destination, however, there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it!” cried Ditzy Doo, the afore-mentioned mailmare, as she rushed to the door. Through the opened door, everypony could see more of the strange space-ponies talking with Ditzy, but they couldn’t make out what was being said. Whatever it was, she responded, “yea, she’s right over there,” waving a hoof a rather nervous-looking Pinkie Pie.

As the five neared, Pinkie began glancing around for some way to escape, but could find none. “Relax,” one of them, a steely earth pony, said. “We just want to ask you a few questions, particularly concerning the stunt you pulled on a dropship yesterday.”

“I… uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stuttered nervously.

“Perhaps a picture will jog your memory,” a blue unicorn replied, magicking a small, flat object from one of the pockets in her uniform.

“Wait! Can we not do this now, when everypony is watching?”

“Alright,” the rather scary-looking other earth pony complied before turning to address everypony-else. “Okay, everyone! Party’s over! You can all go home!”

With a collective “aw,” the gathered party guests filed out the door, leaving Twilight Sparkle standing awkwardly in the now-empty space. “This kind of is my home,” she said in response to the questioning stares she was receiving.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Pinkie responded, now a melancholic shadow of her usual self. “You can stay.”

Now away from prying eyes, the object was placed on the floor in the middle of room, where everypony present could see it. There was a large button on one side that, when pressed, caused an image to appear in midair above it. Twilight immediately recognized it as the “pelican” dropship she had returned to Ponyville in, and she could actually see herself through its open hatch. Were they recording me the entire time?

Before she could become indignant at the invasion of privacy, the image began to move, though far slower than the events had happened at the time. All of a sudden, a misty-white circle formed on the dropship’s floor, faster than the eye could see even at the reduced speed of the image. Twilight watched as Pinkie leaped out of the circle- no, the portal, which then vanished as fast as it had come. The image then skipped ahead and showed her disappearing through another portal, and was gone by the time a head peered into the ship.

Twilight looked to her friend uncomprehendingly. “Pinkie, what was that? Why haven’t you told anypony about this?”

“I can’t,” the pink mare mumbled, almost too soft to hear. “I promised.”

“A promise?” the scary stallion huffed. “That’s i-mfhph?!”

Twilight replaced his lips with a closed zipper before he could finish speaking, a scowl clear on her face. With the ignorant one dealt with, she turned back to her friend, who had seemed not to notice the attempted derision. “Pinkie,” she said comfortingly, “I know how you feel about breaking promises, but this is big! The first documented case of an earth pony using active magic! One promise, even a Pinkie Pie Promise, couldn’t possibly measure up to the implications of it!”

“No!” Pinkie snapped, causing Twilight to recoil back. “It’s not just a Pinkie Pie Promise! It’s the Pinkie Pie Promise! The very first Pinkie Pie Promise, from which all other Pinkie Pie Promises get their authority. Breaking it would be like breaking every Pinkie Pie Promise ever made!”

Twilight understood, and she knew she could curb her insatiable need to know for her friend’s sake. Of the other five, however, four seemed rather annoyed and Pinkie’s apparently childish behavior, and only the pegasus looked impressed. “Wow,” he said, “That’s quite a promise you’ve got there. How long’ve you been keeping it under wraps?”

“Ever since I was a little filly,” she replied with a small smile.

“Well, you know what the problem with keeping a secret like that is? One slip up, and the cat’s out of the bag.”

Pinkie seemed confused by this. “I don’t get it. Why would I be keeping some poor kitty in a sack?”

Sigh “It’s an expression. It means, once information gets out, like, say, a picture of you jumping out of one of your portals,” he gestured at the hologram, “It can’t be taken back, and depending on the secret, people will keep digging and snooping until the truth comes out. So you can tell us now and get it out of the way, or you can try to keep it quiet and let the investigation worm it out little by little. It’s your choice.”

After glancing between everypony for several moments, Pinkie was still no closer to deciding. “Can I have some time to… think about it?” she asked quietly. “Alone?”

“How do we know you won’t just portal out while we aren’t looking?” the steely stallion asked with a frown.

“I promise I won’t leave this room until I know whether or not I’ll tell you my secret. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

The squad watched curiously as she performed the gestures of her Pinkie Pie Promise. “So what was that?” one of them asked.

“That was the Pinkie Pie Promise! I am now bound to my word until the promise is fulfilled or released.”

“So it’s kind of like Omar’s freaky blood-thing?”

“Hey!” the scary, mud-colored stallion shouted. “That is a warrior’s oath, not some schoolyard swear.”

“The point is,” Twilight cut in, “that Pinkie never breaks a Pinkie Pie Promise, or even lets others break them.”

“And you can vouch for her?” the leader asked.

“Personally.”

“Very well. If she sneaks out, it’s on your head. C’mon everyone. Let’s go… grab a bite to eat or something. Does anyone have any local currency?”

The library was now quiet and empty, only the party decorations betraying the joyful activity with which it had bustled mere minutes before. With a sigh, Pinkie gazed at all of the wasted supplies strewn about, having used somewhat more than one party’s worth of decorations and food due to the special occasion. Well, more special than usual, anyway.

Then her eyes went glassy, and she called out with her mind.

Upstairs, something stirred. At the foot of a bed, a bulging covered basket shifted. A purple-scaled arm stretched out from one end, a similar leg shooting out the other. With a final groaning yawn, the blanket was tossed aside revealing the groggy form of Twilight’s dragon assistant, Spike.

He rolled lazily out of the cramped whicker bed and rose to his full height with a crackling stretch. Staring down at it, he was still amazed at how much he had grown in the past month. He was almost as tall as Twilight, much to her astonishment upon her return. Pretty soon I might have to get a bed of my own! he thought with a chuckle.

Noticing that the library was still and quiet, he assumed that he had slept through Pinkie’s party and was left to clean up the remains. However, as he descended the stairs, he heard a faint conversation taking place in the main room. It sounded like Pinkie Pie talking to herself again, but instead of the usual nonsense, it was obvious that there was another side to her dialogue.

“But they have pictures!” she pleaded. “Even if I don’t tell them, it’ll only take Twilight a few days to figure it out herself, and then she’ll tell everypony and the princesses will come take you away and everypony will hate me for keeping you a secret for all these years.”

There was a pause as whatever she was talking to replied, and Spike could feel something cold niggling at the edge of his mind. He creeped down the stairs, entering a layer of frigid air that seemed to chill more than just his scales, and pressed his ear to the door.

“Yes, I know! But if we don’t tell them, they might not let us explain and there’ll be even less of a chance of you getting away.” She sounded more desperate than Spike had ever heard her, even while she had been interrogating him during her brief mental breakdown several months ago.

Hesitantly, he brought his eye to the keyhole and glanced into the room beyond. Tendrils of mist clung to the floor, curling about tables, chairs, and a straight-maned Pinkie Pie sitting on the floor and staring at something. At first he couldn’t tell what she could have been arguing with, but he quickly spotted what appeared to be a pair of eyes in the fog, glowing the same icy blue as Pinkie’s. With that reference point, he could discern the figure that accompanied them.

He barely suppressed a gasp at what he saw. The being resembled a spectral horse nearly as large as Princess Celestia, and it flowed through the mists as though they were one, an impression strengthened by the way it faded to wisps in the rear. Combined with the unnatural cold that had engulfed the first floor of the library, and the nature of the specter became obvious: It was one of the hate-fueled winter spirits known as Windegos.

As he watched, Pinkie rose up indignantly. “No! I’ll never break my promise, even if they banish me and throw me in a dungeon in the place that they banish me to. But there’s no use keeping a secret that everypony already knows, and if we’re the ones that tell them we have the best chance of making them understand that you’re not dangerous.”

Not dangerous? he thought incredulously. How could a Windego not be dangerous?! They only drove the ponies from their homeland almost two thousand years ago and have been stalking the northern border ever since!

But if Pinkie Pie trusts it…

“Because they’re my friends,” Pinkie murmured in obvious response to something the frozen spirit had said. “They’re my friends and they trust me to tell them the truth. And if I don’t tell them about you and make them find out on their own, they might never trust me again… But if we tell them all at the same time, some of them are bound to believe us. Applejack’ll know we’re telling the truth, at the very least.”

There was another pause as the Windego slumped to the floor. “Really?!” Pinkie beamed, lunging at the spirit in an attempted hug as her mane re-inflated to its normal frizziness. “Oh thank yo- whoa!” She fazed through it as though it wasn’t even there and crashed into the confection-laden table with a clattering thud. She resurfaced from the mound of sweets with a small sqee, and the Windego let out a raspy chuckle that sounded more like a cough than a true laugh. “Just wait right here. I promise you won’t be disappointed!” she called as she dived through the floor and disappeared.

Now alone in the room, the icy ghost settled into the mist and seemed to fade from view, only the icy orbs of its eyes indicating its location. With a gulp, Spike put his claw to the door handle. If Pinkie Pie trusts this thing, then it can’t be too dangerous, right?

Ponyville Café

December 1, 2011 4:15 P.M.

Ponyville, Equestria

“You know what I miss most about our situation?” Jason said around a mouthful of Hay Fries. Omar looked up questioningly from his fruit salad, but said nothing. “Steak.”

The one word got a collective groan from everypony present except Twilight, who just looked confused.

“Oh man. Don’t mention steak, please.”

“What I wouldn’t give for a juicy Porterhouse right now...”

“With mashed potatoes on the side…”

“All covered in gravy…”

“I don’t get it,” Twilight toned in, still unable to guess the subject. “What’s steak?”

Luckily, before the awkward silence could take hold one of Pinkie’s portals appeared on the table, enthusiastically ejecting the pink mare into the conversation. “Hi guys! I’m gonna tell you everything, but first I need my all of my best friends present. Go wait in front of the library, and I’ll tell you once everypony is there.”

She vanished as quickly as she had appeared, and the uniformed ponies dispersed almost as swiftly. “Thanks for the meal,” Kyle said in parting, “but we have to go. Don’t want to be late and all that.”

“Wait!” Twilight called to their rapidly-retreating rears. “You forgot to tell me what…steak…is…Never mind, I’ll just ask later.”

“Your bill, madam.”

Glancing up at the waiter who had chosen that moment to appear, Twilight noticed the cost of the six-pony meal scribbled on a piece of paper. A meal she was now going to have to pay by herself. After taking another ten seconds to absorb the exorbitantly high price her “guests” had racked up, she literally burst into flames and shot after the now-gone ponies like a comet, leaving a trail of fire in her wake.

Ponyvlle Library

December 1, 2011 5:00 P.M.

Ponyville, Equestria

Fluttershy was the last pony to arrive, mumbling something about helping some ducks cross the road. Applejack and Rarity were both glancing warily at the five troopers, and Rainbow Dash was still snickering quietly at their slightly-singed coats, having arrived in time to watch the tail end of the rather fiery lecture Twilight had subjected them to concerning proper dining etiquette. Pinkie Pie had, surprisingly, been waiting patiently in front of the door the entire time, preventing entrance whenever anypony attempted.

Now that everypony was there, however, she burst into motion. “Alright, everypony,” She called out to get their attention. “I’ve got a super-duper big secret that I need to tell you all. You’ve all probably wondered how I do all of the crazy things I do, like popping out of no-where and having my Pinkie Sense. Well, I owe all of it to a good friend of mine, one who’s been with me ever since I got my cutie mark, and who, until now, has wanted to stay unknown because he didn’t want anypony to hate him or me. But now we’ve finally decided that he can’t stay a secret anymore.

And now, I’d like you all to meet my great friend, Icy!” She threw open the library door, and out rolled a thick bank of fog, obscuring sight of the room beyond of chilling everypony to their core. As the obscuring mist cleared, they all gasped at the scene before them.

Across the room, Spike shivered in a corner, the looming, ghostly figure of a Windego standing between him and them. The moment the door opened, the spirit turned to face the new arrivals, its icy gaze seeming to freeze them in place with the exception of Twilight, who immediately teleported in between Spike and it. “What are you doing here, Spike?!” she shouted back at him while she faced the Windego, horn lowered and glowing with power.

“T-t-t-taking n-n-notes.” He replied through chattering teeth, holding up a piece of parchment and a quill, especially enchanted to keep ink liquid in any temperature (to take notes on cold weather phenomena, mostly).

“Are you crazy?! There’s a Windego in the house! You know? The kind that tried to turn Equestria into a frozen wasteland?”

Suddenly it felt as if a bucket of ice water was dumped directly into her mind, bringing with it a voice as clear as ice. While the state of my people may be deplorable, rest assured that I at least mean you no harm, Twilight Sparkle.

Everypony except Pinkie seemed stunned by what they were hearing. Windegos were supposedly mindless harbingers of frozen destruction, kept at bay by the Fires of Friendship, yet here was one in the middle of Ponyville, voted the Friendliest Place in Equestria three year running! And it was talking to them!

Twilight was once again the first to recover from her shock, her mind abuzz with questions, one chief among them. “How do you know my name?” she asked hesitantly.

Did Pinkie Pie not tell you that I have been with her for many years? It responded. I have been watching you all for as long as she has known you.

“Wait just a darned minute!” Applejack chimed in, causing the spirit to turn to face her. “If y’all’ve been here so long, how come ya haven’t buried Ponyville in a blizzard yet?”

Its eyes seemed to dim slightly before it replied. As I have said, my people’s condition is a terrible one, but due to… unforeseen circumstances, I have been released from the curse which consumes them, if not the one which sustains them.

“What curse?” Twilight asked nearly instantly. “And why aren’t you affected?”

To tell you that, you must first know the story of my people, and of our fall.

Long ago, long before your princesses had arrived into the world, or even the ponies themselves gathered together in their tribes, my people were not so different from yours now. We were peaceful, living carefree beneath the watchful gaze of our own monarchs, though instead of ruling over the sun and moon, they were princes and princesses of the four seasons: Flora, Princess of the spring and renewal, Sunbeam, Prince of the summer and growth, Autumn, Princess of…uh…autumn… and the harvests, and Galefrost, Prince of the winter and rest. For many millennia, these four governed us with pride and dignity, guiding us to become a great civilization like your Equestria has become.

What followed are events that you will doubtless recognize, for it bears a striking resemblance to your own history. In the spring, we frolicked and sewed our crops. In the summer, we worked our fields and played in the many waterways. In the autumn, we brought in our harvests and feasted. But through the long winter months, we slept and shivered in our homes, heedless of the effort our wise prince put into his domain.

Though as patient as the snow-capped mountains, our neglect slowly wore at him, filling him with envy for his siblings and hatred for us, who spurned his love. Eventually, these bitter feelings consumed him, twisting him into the Frigid Nightmare, a being as cold as ice and as powerful as a winter storm. With dark magics, he overthrew the other rulers a plunged us into a blizzard nearly without end. Upon the lucky, hardy few who survived, he laid a most terrible cure: to never again rest, and to visit his wrath on all who would follow.

His ire sated, our former prince vanished without trace, and we were left to wander in blind rage, freezing any that fell in our path, until we were halted by the ponies and your friendship.

As for myself, I had apparently retained more guile than the others, and managed to sneak through your lands undetected. Perhaps it was a subconscious reaction to glimpse at the future (a fairly common occurrence among spirits) or simply blind fate, but as I was traveling near the home Pinkie Pie and her family, I was struck with a wave of magic from the event you refer to as the “Sonic Rainboom”, freeing my mind from its shackles, if not my spirit, and stripping me of much of my power. It was in this state that Pinkie found me, and with her aid and secrecy, I was able to recover. In thanks for her kindness, and for offering to keep my existence a secret, I offered her my friendship, my powers of movement and foresight, and my aid, should she need it, and I have been watching over her ever since.

For a while, everypony was silent, stunned by the tale this spirit had told them. For the native Equestrians, it was because of the sheer coincidence of another civilization suffering nearly the same downfall that had come close to toppling their own, but the former-humans knew a pattern when it was presented in neon lights like this one was.

But though it would certainly be in the report, it was not why they were there. “So,” Kyle said, breaking the silence, “Pinkie has freaky ghost powers that manifest as instant portals?”

“And my Pinkie Sense!” the pink pony in question chimed in.

“Right… anyway, the main reason I’m asking is that we’d like to know how we can use this on a bigger scale.”

Impossible. The Windego “snorted” into their minds. A pact such as the one I have entered can only be made once, and hardly a dozen of us remained when last I checked. The others have doubtless killed themselves upon the Fires of Friendship by now. I am the last, and my bond is already made.

“Wow,” Twilight breathed before jumping in excitement. “This is uncanny! Positively amazing! The last surviving member of a long-dead civilization, and I get an exclusive interview! This has to be the best day ever!” She continued bouncing around in joy for a full minute before turning to her assistant. “Spike, get ready to take some… Spike?”

Spike had already taken notes on the Windego’s story, and had curled up and gone back to sleep in lieu of listening to it again. Unfortunately, cold-induced lethargy, combined with his natural laziness, caused his slumber to be somewhat deeper than usual, and he simply curled tighter in response to his overseer’s calls.

“Maybe we should do this elsewhere. All of this cold can’t be good for him.”

Royal Throne Room

December 1, 2011, 8:30 P.M. Canterlot Local Time

Canterlot, Equestria

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I have learned of a fascinating occurrence which happened many years age, and which proves that the magic of friendship can break any bond….

Princess Celestia read the letter again, particularly the part detailing the story the Windego had told. This had to be some elaborate prank! The similarities to the tale of Nightmare Moon were simply too blatant! But this was from Twilight Sparkle, a pony who wouldn’t prank about such things even if she were capable of the act at all.

It was truly frightening. Not simply the glimpse at what had almost happened to her dear Equestria, though it sent a chill down her spine to think of how narrowly she had, to use a human phrase, “dodged the bullet.” The Nightmare, for there was no doubt in her mind that that despicable wraith was a fault, had defeated not one, but three rulers of comparable power to her own. That she had stood alone against it and survived long enough to gather the Elements must have been through some great miracle! And to lay such a curse… it seemed that for every new deed she uncovered, her hatred for that most loathsome of specters only deepened.

She would have to meet this Windego herself, if only because such a pitiful being deserved to know the truth behind its suffering.

Author’s Notes: New personal record! Four-and-a-half thousand words of sheer backstory!

So yeah, a Windego. That’s Pinkie’s deal. In every fic I’ve read, the Windegos have been portrayed as villains or footnotes, but I’ve never once seen one redeemed. I’ve seen it happen to Trixie, Glida, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the Diamond Dogs, Discord, Chrysalis, even Nightmare Moon herself! But never the Windegos (and yes, I will always capitalize the name). What is it about the howling horses of winter that no one wants to touch? Is it because they had so small a part in the series itself? Or that they are so greatly based on a horror from our own mythology, to the point of nearly sharing the same name?

Whatever it is, I don’t know, which is why I gave them a chance. Admit it, you feel sorry for them now too, don’t you?

Or maybe you don’t. If that’s the case, then I messed up somewhere. Please tell me how in whatever format the site you’re reading this on allows. This is also an acceptable way to notify me of other, more minor mistakes, or even to point me to one of the “Windego Redemption Fics” that I just declared nonexistent.

Comments

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

Nice twist, though I hope this has implications for the larger plot and not just some side-story you wanted to sneak in.

[Arcane Howitzer]

1310306
It was more of a way to put a limit on The Pink, and give you a glimpse at the kind of nasty the Nightmare does. But mostly the first one.

[Snowfyre]

great story definately got me watching. but what happened to the main character that ODST pegasus that you had in the second chapter and continued for a bit before doing other stuff?

[Arcane Howitzer]

1310922
He's still there, but ODST don't exactly have a whole lot to do outside of war, now do they?

[Deathpony]

*golf claps* good chapter cant wait for the next

[Arcane Howitzer]

1318049
I did? *Goes back and looks* "Croysleep"...
Fixed

[Fourpony]

Awwww, they missed out on the Pinkie Pie party.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Dang, this is a first!