Windigo Storm

by TalkingToMyself

First contact

Cadance flew through the cold air, against the breeze and the snow. It was a struggle, but nothing she couldn’t handle with her alicorn wings. If anything, the cold helped her not get overwhelmed by her worry. Flurry’s words still echoed through her head as she headed north and into the heart of the storm. She tried to remember what little she knew about Windigos, but all she could think of was the Hearths Warming Story.

She’d never been into studies or magic like Twilight, she’d always seen herself as a more active princess, getting in contact with ponies and spending time with them. It’s why she decided being a foalsitter in her younger years and it’s why she cherished her daily strolls through the city so much, even if it’s just a quick walk through the markets.
Now, she wished she’d hit the books more often. Or at least listened to Crystal Note’s stories more attentively. The crystal unicorn loved old legends and myths almost as much as her music and often told them to the foals. That was probably the reason Crystal Note recognized the Windigos before anypony else.

She heard the howling long before she sensed the presence Flurry had described to her. She flew a little lower and found herself over the northern outskirts already, almost out of the boundaries of the Empire even. The howling echoed around her but she felt neither fear nor despair coming over her like the stories told her would happen. It took her some time to realize why.
By now she could make out more than one of the foreign presences, but they moved away from her. She didn’t believe that they were running from her, if the Windigos were bold enough to face the crystal heart, then a single alicorn wouldn’t scare them away. But why where they heading into the other direction then?

Putting more power in her flight, she caught up and found the reason, or rather heard it. Through the snow, she heard voices. A shudder ran down her spine as she recognized them as screams of ponies, screams of anger and fear. Hardening herself, she dived down towards the source of the voices.

-*-

Shining Armor ran through the blizzard straight north. He came across some hills of snow but with a quick shot of magic breached through each of them. By now he had slipped his snow glasses before his eyes to at least be able to see something. If he could go by the intensity of the snowfall around him, he was getting closer to the heart of the storm. He'd given up keeping a shield spell around him while running, but his horn glowed with a heat spell like he'd seen with Flurry Heart earlier.

He ran past frozen streets and houses covered in snow almost to their roofs in certain areas. Not for the first time today he felt relief that the evacuation of the other districts had already been done long before, he shuddered when he imagined how much damage the Windigos might have done to the crystal ponies otherwise. His relief didn't last too long as by now, he heard the angry howling in some distance again.
The Windigo he'd ran after from the palace had been too fast, he quickly lost it out of sight, but now he was getting closer again. What he would do once he caught up on it, he had no idea yet. But then again, during the changeling invasion in Canterlot, he didn't really have a plan either. Same when Sombra had returned shortly after the Crystal Empire. Still, Cadance and him had been able to overcome it all in the end as long as they had each other to rely on.

As long as he'd reach her in time, everything would work out. That was the thought he kept repeating in his head as he crossed another street and headed straight towards the source of the howling. Or rather, sources as by now he could make out multiple Windigo voices through the snowstorm.
He broke through another snowy blockade and found himself in the outer skirts of the city already. He heard a howl, but then something else. The scream of a pony, in fear and in pain. Fearing the worst, he doubled his speed and ran towards it.

-*-

Cadance swooped down and saw the group of ponies. Crystal Note was running in the front and three guard ponies followed her, but they weren't the only ones. Cadance could make out three shapes in the snow behind them. They were easily taller than herself and looked like ghostly horses made out of cold air and ice. Cadance felt a shiver run down her entire body but she flew towards them.
Before she could reach them, the group of ponies was cut off by another Windigo coming from their left and charging towards them. Just before it reached them, the four ponies spread into different direction. The Windigos ran around in a wide circle, confused for a moment as it seemed before all of them decided on one of the guards and ran towards him, leaving a trail of ice behind.

Before they reached the guard though, their heads turned towards the source of an angry call
"Hey ugly! What's wrong, giving up already?"
Cadance couldn't believe her ears as one of the other guards had turned around to yell at the beasts, her voice dripping with hatred and anger. The Windigos howled and neighed and changed their direction again and suddenly Cadance understood. The Windigos were spirits that existed only for bringing hate to ponies. When confronted by the hatred of the guard, they found themselves pulled towards her and followed their instincts.

As Cadance closed the distance to the ponies, she witnessed the Windigos now heading towards Crystal Note who yelled insults at them at the top of her voice. The other ponies turned to follow as Crystal Note lured the Windigos further out of the city to the north. However, they long passed the protective barrier of the Empire by now and Cadance could see the strain on their faces, both from the overpowering presences of a pack of Windigos as well as the unnatural cold that surrounded them.

As soon as she was close enough, Cadance released a strong beam of magic at one of the Windigos. It turned its head but too late and took the full force of the hit. The shape of the beast was thrown into the storm and for a moment, it seemed to fade away in the snow, but then it pulled together again. Its hollow eyes fixated on Cadance and with an angry neigh, it charged towards her instead.
Cadance was ready and shot another beam of magic, a lot weaker though since the beast dodged, as she expected. With her wings flapping fast against the blizzard, she rose up higher into the air. She glanced down to see the four Windigos spiral upwards towards her while down on the ground, the four ponies quickly gathered up again. They pressed against each other in a feeble attempt to fight back the icy cold and stared upwards.

Cadance heard the neigh next to her and swiftly leaned to her right. With a twirl, she evaded the touch of the creature and now had an easy target. Her horn flared brightly and the Windigo howled in pain as another blast of magic hit it. She dodged the next spirit as it charged and fired beam after beam of alicorn magic towards them. She landed several heavy hits at them, but it didn't seem to be enough. Once or twice, one of them faded away for a few seconds, but at another howl of the remaining Windigos, it reformed and charged back at her with doubled rage.
Cadance started to pant after a few minutes. The effort of keeping her body in the air in the cold wind as well as her excessive use of magic drained her body quicker than she'd hoped. She'd soon have to finish this, but it seemed she couldn't defeat the Windigos one by one like she planed. She didn't know if she had the strength left to face them all at once, but it seemed like her only chance.

Summoning all her magic, she turned to face them when she heard a voice called from below
"Princess! LOOK OUT!"
Too late, she noticed a fifth Windigo had appeared and was now storming at her. She tried to dive down but before she could get away, the Windigo touched her. She barely felt any impact, in fact the spirit passed right through her. Cadance didn't notice though since as soon as it made contact with her body, she froze up from the inside, at least that's what it felt to her. Her muscles felt stiff and started shivering beyond her control, her right wing frozen solid and unable to move at all. Every breath she took hurt immensely and pain overwhelmed her. She could barely keep herself upright and the magic she'd gathered surged out of her in a bright but useless flash. She tried to catch herself when she noticed she was falling, but as soon as she flapped her working wing, a breeze caught her in its iron fist. The cold air and the anger of the Windigos crushed her in midair and flung her towards the ground. The last thought was relief as she hit a bench of snow instead of solid ground, then her vision turned black and the howling of the wind faded into silence.

-*-

The cold air had Shining Armor shivering all over, despite his heat spell. He kept going in the direction he last heard the yells from, pushing against a violent breeze. The howls could be heard nonstop by now and soon he saw them.
Windigos, six of them, running in a circle through the air in some distance. He thought he saw a flash on the ground beneath them and kept pushing forward.

He reached a small frozen clearing, hills of snow surrounding a small almost circular space. In the very middle of it, Shining Armor found both the source of the light and the yells he heard earlier.
In a discouragingly small bubble of magic, four ponies cowered against each other. Three of them he recognized as some of his guards. He felt his anger boil inside him as he saw their desolate state, they seemed barely even conscious under the flickering shield spell. The only pony still upright was Crystal Note, the turquoise light around her horn flickering as she scraped together the last of her magic to keep the shield spell up.
The Windigos kept circling closer and closer to the group and Shining Armor rushed towards them, his anger giving him new strength and driving away the cold for a little longer.

When he got closer, he noticed something strange. The shield spell seemed to get more solid, from the ground to the top, although Crystal Note's horn kept flickering and the magical and physical strain was clearly visible on the crystal unicorn's face. It took a moment for Shining Armor to realize that the shield was indeed growing weaker while the cold wind from the Windigos froze the air around it. The ponies were covered by a dome of semitransparent ice now, only the magic keeping them from getting frozen solid.

Crystal Note had her eyes clenched shut in an attempt to remain her focus on the spell. Shining Armor could hear her shouting out words and soon understood she was actually singing something. He frowned, it hurt to just breathe in the cold air and he could only guess how much colder it had to be inside the dome of ice. Still, Crystal Note kept singing at the top of her voice, maybe in a feeble attempt to keep her from passing out like the others. Her song was interrupted by heavy fits of coughing though and the magic around her horn was flickering on and off each time

When there was darkness all around
And no other pony to be found
... *cough*
I sit alone and I cry... *cough*

I need your love...
I'm a *cough*broken rose...
*cough* Please heal from frozen pain …
Your smile… *cough* your eyes…
Safe me just for me…

The last words broke into a coughing fit and Crystal Note collapsed against the other ponies. At the same time, the light around her horn faded away and her shield spell fell apart. The three other ponies shivered all over but Crystal Note wouldn’t stop coughing as the ice crept closer towards them.

With an angry shout, Shining Armor shot a beam of magic at the ice. It resisted for a short moment, then the dome shattered and freed the ponies from their cold trap. It was only a slight improvement but it was all he could do at the moment. The Windigos focused on him at the anger he showed and the magic he used and changed directions towards him. They didn’t charge at him, they knew they didn’t need to. Instead, the six spirits circled around him and he felt the cold grew ever more biting. He called forth a shield of his own, the purple barrier far bigger than Crystal Note’s had been, but he knew eventually he would suffer the same fate. All he could do now was stall time until Cadance arrived.