A Sun in Winter

by Sledge115

Prologue

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land.
To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night.
Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the many equine tribes.

But there was a time before, when the days were dark, and the world was unknown even to those living within.

Before these two sisters began their reign, the cold crept from the North of the world, and invaded the hearts of a lost people, once great and whole, now divided and squabbling.
Where there had been childlike innocence in the wake of a mighty power’s fall from grace, now did the rediscovery of knowledge take its toll, for ignorant hearts froze keen minds in their tracks.

Remember this always.

Like any child, you know that fire means warmth and light, just as ice means cold and dark.
Yet know this, too. Ice and fire burn alike.

The fire warmths your hearth, gives you light of day, keeps the night’s hunters at bay.
And within the ice, all is preserved, and beauty carved, and a mirror held aloft to the world.

* * * * *

The days were dark, the winds as cold and as unforgiving as the frozen grounds beneath the ice. Winter had come, and throughout the land, not a single soul dared to venture outside the safety of their hearth, into the desolate, frozen wasteland that lay beyond.

Save for one.

The pale silver doe’s breath grew ragged as the winds blew harder and harder across the frigid tundra. Her hooves were cracked, her gait weakened, and her body starved – but she persisted, for whatever purpose lay ahead was far more important than her concerns.

She could hear them amidst the blizzard, snarling, watching her move. As they had been, ever since she left the fringes of Equestria and into the realm of the Krampus.

Lilja thought fleetingly of the vile being, a dark abomination, as dark as the realm that birthed it, and the master of the windigos. And if such a creature mastered even the windigos, those icy ghouls, who were said to consume both mind and flesh, what else may it rule?

The Krampus’ imprisonment was of scant comfort for her. She heard the cackle and the howling of wolves, far less uncanny than the windigos pursuing her far above, but nonetheless still a terrifying fate to be considered. The wolves and bears, windigos and chimeras, they were starving, hungry, yearning for their master’s freedom.

But the foals tucked seafely within her bags were more important than her own life, Lilja wagered. Two enigmatic foals, without a parent, brought down to a strange, scary world, a symbol of hope to the beleaguered people of Equestria down south. For now, they would be safer in Adlaborn.

The thought of safety and warmth within Sint Erklass’ safe haven would have to wait, however, as the first of her pursuers revealed itself. That of a gigantic, monstrous polar bear. With a swipe of its claws, it shattered the rocky outcrop, narrowly missing her as she nimbly pranced in avoidance.

It wasn’t alone, to her chagrin, as a windigo, flanked by two wolves, struck from above. For a brief moment, their eyes locked, yellow against her own green pair. The malice rolling off the creature made her skin crawl. She felt it in their glares – clawing, grasping at her psyche, but the doe shook it off, leaping and bucking one of the wolves by its jaw.

She heard the creature’s bones crack on impact, and it let out a pitiful whine. Lilja winced to hear the sound of such pain, too dog-like for comfort, escape this predator’s throat. Yet now was no time for compassion, or mercy. They were after her.

Taking advantage of its distress, she stomped down, hard, on the wolf’s lolling tongue, crushing it into the rock underhoof. There came the wet, meaty sound of splatter, and the hapless creature leapt back, howling, a trickle of red flowing from its broken maw.

She gritted her teeth, cursing her own circumstances, for her inability to use her magic lest it drew much more powerful entities unto them. Now, she thought, no longer shall it be able to feed itself, or its pups. And what help could it expect in its weakness, from brethren such as this?

A tear might have welled up in her eye at that image, yet, teeth gritted, she blinked it back. She had children of her own to defend. And in this moment, this was more than the innocent cruelty of nature at work. These were monsters, hunting for her children. The cold and dark had filled them with hunger, a hunger more black and empty than what was right, and twisted them into something hateful.

To her right, she glanced, hearing the other wolf’s snarl, to see the windgo swoop towards her. She was unable to step aside quite in time. The cold wraith with a horse’s head and a tail of mist and vapor passed right through her, the icy touch of its breath trailing across her pounding heart.

Gasping in shock, she doubled down on herself. It could not hurt her, not truly, so long as she refused to let it in. But it could make her fear. Could make her feel, just for a fleeting, horrid moment, the same hunger within her heart that these wretches had fallen prey to, had allowed to consume them. Make her know how much they yearned to take her next.

And maybe even make her want to be taken.

Lilja’s gallop slowed down, weakened by both fatigue and a diminishing will, for the storm raged on without reprieve. As agile as she was, no mortal force, not even her own kind, could withstand the full fury of the winter storms without rest. The snow fell ever thicker and deeper, and even as she felt her ghostly pursuer halt, she heard a devilish little voice inside her mind, inciting her to surrender.

Within the scattered ruins of what had once been a home, abandoned in the tundra, she collapsed, heaving with chattering teeth. The storm was near impassable now, as the howling wind blew against her temporary shelter without mercy or compassion.

Her enchanted bags ruffled, and from within she could hear the soft whimpers and whinnying of the foals under her care – whom she had failed, utterly.

With a wave of her hooves, she cast a small fire – not quite large enough to last, but not small enough to merely light the room. It was warm, and warmth was all she and the foals needed as they awaited the inevitable embrace of death, as the howls of the wind and predators blurred into one.

“Hush now, quiet now, little one,” she cooed, holding one of the foals – the smaller of the two, a filly whose coat and mane were coloured blue, with a faintly star-like shimmer in her mane. “The Allfather will be here soon, and you and your sister will be safe.”

The other foal, the elder of the two, snuggled against her side. Her coat was of the purest white, whiter than the snow beneath them, with a light pink mane. She wasn’t much larger than the other, but Lilja believed, from the tone of their previous caretakers, that she was meant to be the elder sister.

Apart from their wings, and horns, the two foals were much like the Allfather’s granddaughters and yet, at the same time, a pair of curious little children, whose parents remained unknown, and whose purposes are yet to be revealed.

Lilja wondered, if she would find peace amidst their jaws, to be a part of the circle of life as the Allfather himself taught. The windigo’s touch was worsening, she knew, and she felt the urge to embrace them in death.

The children, the pair of foals she protects, however, they were untouched, untainted. They needed to live.

She staggered to her hooves, gently setting the foals to the warmest corner of the hut’s remnants. They were close to Adlaborn, so very close, for the frozen air was touched with her kind’s own magical trail.

Around them, invisible to all eyes but the wisest of the mages, lay an interwoven web of magical energy centred at Zamok Ustyag, the Great Northern Mountain from whence all distances in Equus were measured – and the castle of the Allfather.

Slowly, she unlatched her necklace, a gift from the Allfather for her task. Shaped in a snowflake’s form, greatly resembling his elder granddaughter’s sigil, it was a beacon, a signal to use in times of need and danger.

She chuckled grimly – they were close to their destination, but a false move, an inopportune timing would lead to their deaths.

Nevertheless, it was her only option.

With a graceful, smooth twirl, she cast her necklace off, where it floated in the cold night’s air. The two foals were no longer asleep, for their gaze were fixed on the enchantingly beautiful necklace – before it soared in the air, and activated.

The air became still, and Lilja held the foals close to her, tensely waiting the arrival of either their pursuers or safety.

The growl of wolves, not too far from their shelter brought a sense of dread to her, failure and all – but the sound of tinkling bells was all the more welcome, for help had arrived.

A shimmering curtain of light shone down unto the tundra, and Lilja smiled as she heard the two foals giggle and laugh in awe of the Northern Lights. The storm began to dissipate, as the innate magic of Adlaborn coursed through the frozen tundra, a series of defenses meant to ward off the evil lying in wait.

The magic wielded by her kind much unlike those wielded by the unicorn mages of Equestria, for they sought to control nature – and the Reindeer flowed with it, like water in a gentle stream.

Around them, Lilja heard the distinctive whistling noise of Reindeer magic, her brethren meticulously yet gracefully clearing the area around. Foals by her side, she gazed out the hole – where the distant silhouettes of wolves and bears disappeared into the surrounding wilderness. The windigos were the last ones to remain, and one by one, they too departed into the night sky.

At last, she, and her charge, emerged from their shelter. The snow remained thick, and deep, but the raging clouds no longer cast a looming snowstorm over them, and she was delighted to see Gerda and Kai, the twin holiday stars, twinkling over them.

They were safe.

A healer doe came by her side, while another took the two foals into her care. She waved weakly, a faint goodbye to the two beautiful children she had risked her life for.

Of all those present here, none brought more comfort than the large, magnificent stag that stood before her. With a coat as red as the first light of dawn, beard and mane silver as the first winter ice, and ancient, weathered antlers larger than any other stag, the Starstrider was truly a sight to behold.

And yet, he felt as warm as any of them were.

“Lilja,” Sint Erklass spoke softly, kindly. “Welcome home.”

* * * * *

Deep underneath Zamok Ustyag, an ancient being stirred. They were close, so very close to freeing it at last. But to no avail, for the accursed deer had managed to drive even the windigos away.

The wolves, hounds, and windigos had failed, and so it remained, trapped. The foals, they too had evaded its underlings, when they had been holed up within arm’s length inside that lodge. Them and that foolish doe.

“Evening,” the Allfather spoke, calmly. His tone was even, without bitterness. But without that distinctive warmth either.

The Krampus considered to the great stag before it.

“Starstrider…” The ashen, fouled snow beneath it stirred as two old foes faced each other once again. “You have won… nothing.”

* * * * *

The millennia-old Reindeer took a calming breath.

“If it’s all the same, the foals are safe,” he said firmly. “Lilja has done her duty for them, and she will recover soon enough. Might I ask, how has the winter treated you this year?”

“The frost bites my skin,” the Krampus said softly. “The days are dark and the nights are cold… such a wonderful reminder, that this here is a world lost in the infinite, uncaring void of space... and it is not I alone who am contained within a fragile globe which could shatter at any time…”

It paused.

“So, they have come at last,” the being mused. “Those children who shall grow up to carry the Sun and the Moon of a broken, wounded planet.”

Far, far above Sint lay the cell that held the Krampus, shaped in the form of a translucent globe, yet the eternal snowstorm which raged within made it nigh impossible for him to distinguish the figure of his prisoner. All he could ever make out, and barely, was the blurred, shadowy outline of its horns, and claws pressed against the surface...

And sometimes a golden, piercing eye of cynicism.

Sint coughed. “I assumed it was little use to pretend otherwise, knowing how soon you would find out for yourself,” he told the being, meeting its all-seeing gaze, and at the same time, dreading it, for the Krampus held powers even he did not possess.

Of course, what harm could such sight wreak, so long as it remained imprisoned?

“The foals are safe, Lilja will live to see another day,” Sint said, willing himself to keep his tone steady. “And in Vologda they will remain, where they will be safe until the time comes.”

“The time comes for… what, precisely?” the being replied, its eye narrowing ever so slightly. “For them to unite the tribes led astray? Tell me, were they meant to lead? Were they ever meant to be more than tools, to guide the spheres in the skies of dawn and dusk, when the celestial stones you gave to ponykind could do that job just as well?”

The stag smiled kindly.

“With each thought and every memory formed, the two foals become closer to people than mere tools, Krampus. I shall not subject them to a lifetime of cycling the sun and moon in the sky. If they were meant to be as such, they would have been formed as impassive and unchanging as the stones. They will lead the tribes, with kindness and humility, and of their own volition. Perhaps they will make poor decisions, but perhaps not. My dear granddaughters shall see to it that they are raised, with care and compassion, and not just through hardship and test of mettle.”

He remained calm, even as the Krampus’s claws made such a terrible noise against the enchanted glass. The never-ending storm within recoiled, and tendrils of ice and snow wrapped around the writhing being, dragging it back down unto the bottom of the globe towards iron long since discarded. Yet its silhouette continued to face him, bent over and hunched in malice.

“With centuries of strife, bloodshed, chaos, and upheaval, perhaps a change in the wind is everything we need, after all!”

The ancient being snarled, glaring at the stag.“You know not what you do, you foolish buck.”

He inclined his head, with a merry, yet sad, smile.

“Have a good evening, Krampus.”

“We shall see,” the Krampus replied somberly. “We shall see.”

Comments

[ChudoJogurt]

#ReviewTrade!
This is a review brought to you by the review trade.

So:
Grammar in the fic is good. You'd think it's obvious, but with the fics I've reviewed and read, it's really not. No spelling mistakes is a rare and good thing. However, I must say that the chosen level of language clearly exceeds the abilities of the author. There are plenty more subtle mistakes in the text, that, on occasion make it confusing or even downright unreadable.
e.g.

But the foals tucked seafely within her bags were more important than her own life, the doe wagered.

Wagered - made a bet on it. This does not fit with the text. She was convinced of it, she believed it, but it wasn't quite a gamble. you say "I'd wager" if it's a casual hypothetical, not actual life-or-death.

heaving with chattering teeth.

This reads as if she was heaving with her teeth. Hilarious, but kinda wrong.

he doubled down on herself

You double down on a dare or a bet. When something hits you, you double up. Confusing, I know.
Also not entirely convinced that it actually works for a quadruped.
etc.
The errors are subtle, but numerous, and I'd say that while truly an earnest attempt at good fable-esque English, it, ultimately fails, making text confusing and weird instead of whimsical and legendary.

The references are nice. Sudden Russian reference, Anderson, probably few I've missed. I do that myself and I like that sort of thing.

My biggest beef with the fic, aside from the failures of the language, is the fact that I have not a faintest clue who those people... err, raindeer are. I understand that the first chapter is sort of in medias res, but with the second chapter it would really be helpful to do some character introductions. Who are they? What are their powers? How do they relate to Equestria and canon (that one is sort of there, but so bare bones, I think I came out even more confused when I read this). etc.
There's Anna and Elsa from Frozen, but they're deers, and then there are Russian toponyms (Vologda, Zamok Ustyag (btw, I'd use Kitezh. That one was at least magical in the fables)), rather than Norwegian and Anna also has magic. There's Blueblood (not sure whether it's the same Blueblood as in the show), though Celestia and Luna are barely foals... I've no idea what elements of Frozen or of the show are or are not used, and what else should I expect.
Also weird non-pony names are weird. Especially if you read Lilja with hard "j" as I think most native English speakers would.
I guess the people who read the original works would understand what's going on more, but the description assured me that reading those is not necessary.

So all in all, this, at the moment, is more of a train-wreck of a story than an actual fic, I feel. It needs serious editing to fix up the language, and a long hard think about the structure, exposition and what elements are indeed strictly necessary for the story.