A Winter's Tale

by Evilhumour

Chapter Three

Pansy let out a sigh and shook his head as he piloted the ship towards a small waystation, tapping his hoof as he waited his turn to dock.

He was stuck doing these supply runs which were barely anything in all honesty, being a crew of one. His mind drifted towards his old crew and wondered how they were doing in their other ships. He thought of old Tusinima, wondering how he was handling the change at being at someone else’s command and winced at the fighting that would come from the Far Eastern pegasus having to adjust to proper military procedures.

Despite being lectured by the old coot, he was still family in a manner of speaking and his father had asked him to watch over him. And not only was the older pegasus long gone but so was the Luster, something that still made Pansy furious.

He was a Free pony, a fourth generation captain, and to have that blowhard Hurricane come along and reduce him to this... it was enough to grind his gizzard, to use a beakcat expression.

Still, he had his honour and he would follow the orders he was given. He wasn’t one of those Pegasolopians who would abuse their system for their own gains or bully others to rise in ranks. Truth be told, despite the cloud city being the ancestral home of all pegasi, he’d never liked it because of it being sullied by those who had no trust, compassion or love for their fellow pegasi.

At that moment, one of the waystation attendants signalled to him, and he moved his ship in to dock. Time to focus on work again as the attendants hoofed the lines over towards him so he could tie his ship off, then waited for the attendants to start the unloading of his ship only for them not to do anything.

“Well?” he called out to them, staring at the Earth Ponies and unicorns with a frown on his face.

“Well what?” one shot back giving him a frown. “We just dock you up; you’ve got to unload your stuff!”

“And make it quick; we’ve got more than yours to dock!” the unicorn snapped with Pansy’s eyes widening and started to fidget on his hooves uncomfortably.

“Isn’t there a team or something that can do this?” he asked, looking over the railing with an uneasy look at the wooden deck and the ground.

“Why, ya got some sort of problem?” the Earth Pony said with a grin on his face.

“Yeah, what’s the issue, Captain?” the other pony snarked, bristling Pany’s coat.

Pansy was about to fire back himself when another a voice spoke up. “He’s clearly a Free Pegasus,” a mare wearing a cloak said, standing on the edge of the dock. Despite sounding like a mare, she looked small enough to pass for a foal so he guessed that she had to be a unicorn. “And from what I’ve read, Free Pegasi don’t ever touch the ground because they view it as sacrilegious.”

“Sounds like an excuse for them to be lazy plotholes,” the Earth Pony snapped at the mare, causing her to flinch and angering Pansy more.

His partner turned back to face Pansy and, sneering, added, “Either you get your stuff off or we’ll have to send you off.” He then glared at the small unicorn too, who had pushed her hood back to reveal a purplish-furred head with a mane that appeared to be a mix of purple, blue, and turquoise, and had a horn sticking out. “You going to help him, shrimp?”

She was backing up before she bumped into a taller mare who was giving the stallion a glare. “Of course she’s not, I am,” she said, walking past the small mare and shoving her snout into the stallion before looking up at Pansy. “Right boss?”

Pansy barely hid back a smirk before he nodded his head. “They’re with me,” he said, moving to the gangplank to let the taller, light gold-coated mare board with the smaller pony scrambling past her onto his dock, and tilted his head towards the hold for the Earth pony, who went to grab the first load of cargo while the small unicorn lit her horn to grab several other boxes. Working in tandem, the two mares were soon finished unloading, and Pansy was able to get a receipt from the attendants.

Once that was done, he nodded to the two mares. “Coming?”

The two exchanged glances, then walked aboard once more. Retracting the gangplank and closing the hatch, Pansy returned to the front of the ship and lifted off, heading on his way.

Once he was certain they were safely out of the way of further traffic and wouldn’t risk a collision, he turned back towards the pair, who’d been standing quietly off to one side. “Thank you, so much, for helping like you did,” he said.

“Like she said, you’re a Free Pegasus,” the Earth Pony said with a roll of her eyes. “Your kind views the air and clouds and your airships as the only means to live and touching the ground would mean shame and banishment from the Free Pegasus community.” Pansy nodded his head at this, though it was not as big an issue due to there being no Free Pegasi around but the point remained. “Though I don’t know how you could tell.” She directed this at the unicorn who gulped before speaking.

“I read a lot,” she said with a bit of hesitation. “Including about the other nations. I… recognized the behavior. And your appearance. Your bangs are done in their style although they are shorter than normal, and your jacket is like theirs.” The mare walked towards him, using her magic to inspect him by lifting his mane before gasping with Pansy angrily stepping towards her.

“Is that a brand on your forehead?” the Earth Pony asked as she walked towards him, causing the unicorn to dance out of the way. “I thought only pirates got them, not Free Pegasi.” Pansy snorted, angrily flapping his wings before pointedly reminding them they were on his ship. “Your ship or not-”

“It’s former pirate,” Pansy snapped gruffly. “I was pardoned.” He was about to add something under his breath, when he was interrupted.

“So you’re a privateer then,” the Earth Pony said snorted. “Big difference.”

“Former privateer,” Pansy reluctantly admitted. “Just a merchant captain now.” He spat angrily on the deck. “The general took my ship and fired my crew… barely left me with any self-respect as it is.”

The other two mares looked startled at this, and finally one of them spoke.

“That does explain the dreary state of this ship,” the unicorn said timidly.

“You’re right,” the Earth pony tipped her head in agreement. “A true Free Pegasus ship would be better than… this!”

While he could not agree with her more, he was still the captain of this ship. “You’re both very free with your opinions when you’ve yet to give me reason why should keep you aboard my ship.”

“Beyond the fact that as a merchant captain, as you put it, you’ll need somepony to actually move things around so you won’t get your hooves dirty, captain,” the Earth pony said acidly.

He glared hard back at her, with the unicorn trying to separate the two of them before he heard some snickering. He looked at the Earth pony, whose face he was nearly in, eyes wide before she gave him a tiny bit of a nod to show she heard it too.

Flicking his eyes upwards to the crow’s nest, he saw the Earth pony doing the same, and the unicorn tilting her head at their sudden shift in behavior.

“Is something-” she started to say, when Pansy raised a hoof and waved it upward, causing the unicorn to lift her eyes, now widening, in that direction as well.

The laughter halted and Pansy could feel the stillness of somepony trying to be quiet. Pansy jerked his head to the base of the mast for the Earth pony, holding out his wing to tell her to wait. She frowned, but took the hint.

He knew that sooner rather than later, curiosity would overtake the stowaway and- he heard the scuffle of hooves above him and then dropped his wing as a flag. Seeing her cue, the Earth pony spun around and bucked the mast hard enough for the entire deck to rock. With a yelp, a white blur fell from the crow’s nest before a cold gust of air blasted across his face and a pile of fur and limbs was before him.

All three of them gasped at what was pulling itself together with a groan. Despite it looking like one of them, it was clearly not a pony - it was far longer and slimmer in body, leg and face. Each of them could feel the magical difference between them and it as well as the predatory fear that existed even though it was barely the height of Pansy’s chin as it stood upright.

Only for the unicorn’s magic to form around its hooves to keep it in place, causing the Earth pony to raise an eyebrow as she stopped midway from knocking it over.

“What are you doing on my ship, windigo,” Pansy demanded, doing his best best to force out any emotion in his mind, knowing that was how these creatures took over unsuspecting ponies.

The windigo’s eyes widened and its mouth opened but incredibly enough, it was actually stuttering like a normal pony would. It was apparently trying to beg for mercy but clearly was unable to form the words with frustration obvious on its face.

“Windigo, stop and breathe,” the Earth pony barked, causing the windigo to gulp and it tried to break eye contact with her but she wasn’t allowing the windigo do to so, repeating her commands again which seemed to cause the desired effect as the creature let out tired sighs of relief before it opened its mouth to speak.

“Thhh-thank you,” it, -he- said still stuttering but not to the point of being incomprehensible anymore. He was looking at the Earth pony while he spoke before looking back at Pansy, wilting under his glare. “I-I-i di-did didn’t mean t-t-to,” his stutter was starting to worsen again with his chest heaving as the creature was breathing hard again.

“Hey hey, look at me,” the unicorn said, dismissing her magic as she reached forwards and placed a hoof on his face. Both Pansy and the Earth pony tensed but the windigo didn’t flee or steal their souls so maybe she knew what she was doing. “Look at me, it’s okay,” she cooed at him with the windigo beginning to calm down again. “I am Clover the cobbler, these are-” She looked at Pansy and the Earth pony, and blushed. “Um, I just realized, I don’t know your names.”

“Pansy,” Pansy replied.

“Tough Cookie,” the Earth mare said.

The windigo looked a little nervous, but finally answered. “I’m Snöflinga.”

Pansy snorted before he slapped a wing over his mouth, with Cookie biting her lip to hold her own laughter back while Clover closed her eyes and winced with mirth in her eyes before she slowly and carefully said, “Your name means snowflake?”

“It’s… tradition,” he said, carefully sounding out the word, his stutter barely noticeable. “My people, and especially my family, almost all have snow in their names, or something related to it.”

Clover smiled. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Snöflinga.”

“Maybe for you,” Pansy said, stepping towards Snöflinga who flinched slightly less this time. “But you still haven’t told me why you’re on my ship in the first place.”

Snöflinga looked down. “I’m a stowaway, all right? I wanted to get away from my fff-family, and your ship was convenient.” He kicked the deck with his white coat brightening up with a blush. “Besides, I love watching these things fly, and I’ve always wanted to ride on one…”

“Your kind can fly,” Cookie said with a raised eyebrow. “You’ve got that spöklik fform, right?”

“Yeah, so?” Snöflinga jerked a hoof in Pansy’s direction. “So can he, but he pilots this thing. I’ve always been… well, I’ve watched your people a long time. I’ve always been awed by these ships you’ve built, the progress you’ve made. The rest of my people don’t care, but I think they’re amazing.” He then blinked and frowned at her. “How, how did you know what we call our flight form?”

For once, the Earth pony looked nervous and began to shuffle in the cold breeze. “It’s kinda personal but it’s because-”

“Wait, is it me or is it getting colder?” Clover asked, tilting her heading as she turned her to face the wind as Pansy flew back to the helm.

“Is it?” Snöflinga tilted his head before letting out a yelp as Pansy moved the ship out of an air squall as the sudden storm began to strike.

“What is going on?” Clover asked nervously as she hunkered lower to the deck. “This weather- is it natural?”

Snöflinga shook his head to the side. “I don’t know,” he said before he started to float in the air, his light blue hind legs vanishing in a swirl of mist. “But it is getting worse.”

“Can you see through it?” Pansy asked he spun the wheel to fight a downward gust of wind, wishing he had a crew to help him here to control this ship. He frowned and looked at Cookie who was near the lines for the mast. “Get those lines, Cookie,” Pansy said pointing to the rigging with the mare running over to grab them, and beginning to pull the correct lines with his ship becoming easier to steer and control. “Clover, use your magic to hold Snöflinga.”

“Wait, what?” Snöflinga looked back at him in disbelief. “What did I do?”

“We need you to guide us through this mess, and Clover can tether you both to the deck so we don’t get separated,” Pansy called back. “Can you do it?”

“I-yeah, I think so.” Snöflinga’s eyes gleamed. “Grab hold, then.”

Clover nodded, her horn glowing. In an instant, her magic had linked the two, and her hooves glowed as they affixed themselves to the deck.

Over the next several minutes, there was little time for small talk as they focused on their work. Still floating above them, Snöflinga shouted to head left, while Pansy called for Cookie to fix the linings as he turned to port before Snöflinga had them go the other way.

Pansy grimaced as the storm increased in its intensity with him and both of the mares struggling to stay on their hooves. “Snöflinga,” Pansy shouted to be heard over the storm, with the windigo only visible due to Clover’s magic tether that was jutting around. “Do you see any sh-”

“Over there!” Snöflinga yelled, pointing off in one direction. “I can sense people over there!”

Pansy narrowed his eyes but couldn’t see exactly where he was pointing due to the windigo blending in with the storm perfectly, which made sense as it would be natural camouflage for him.

“Pull him in!” Pansy yelled at Clover who had already backed up to the staircase of the deck, the unicorn reeling Snöflinga in. Settling on the deck, Snöflinga looked in the direction they were heading.

“Something’s wrong…” the windigo muttered. “I’d almost swear…”

“What?” Pansy asked.

“Let’s just say something’s not right here,” Snöflinga said grimly. “This storm is not natural at all. It’s almost like it’s getting worse the closer we get to the people.”

“Is that even possible?” Pansy asked he steered the ship further into the storm, following Snöflinga’s direction as the unicorn and the windigo shared looks between each other.

“It might be possible,” Clover said as she leaned into Snöflinga, who was starting to look uncomfortable now. “But I don’t knooo COOKIE LOOK OUT!”

Her magic shot forwards at the same time Snöflinga sprang towards the mare, both spotting what Pansy heard.

The next moment, there was a loud crash, and the mast struck the deck where Cookie had been standing.

“Cookie!” both Pansy and Clover shrieked.

There was a groan, and then Cookie got to her hooves, Snöflinga getting up moments after. “Urgh… thanks for the save,” she said. Then she looked at the spot where the mast now lay, and narrowed her eyes. “Either this storm’s worse than I thought, or somepony wasn’t keeping this thing in good shape before they gave it to you,” she said as she pointed to the break. “That crack was not natural.”

Pansy was about to answer her before his pegasi eyes spotted something that made him leap from the deck towards them while shouting “Brace!” as loud as he could.

Moments later, the ship hit the ground with a tremendous CRASH.

For a minute, there was silence, before Snöflinga finally rose up, shaking his head as he did so. “Um, land ho?”

“So it would seem,” Cookie grunted as she got to her hooves for the second time in as many minutes. “I can’t believe it but it seems that this ship is still intact.”

“Yeah,” Pansy said shaking his head before he went to examine his ship. “Everyone okay?”

“Ye-yeah,” Snöflinga stuttered as he helped Clover off of him. “Yuuu-you?” He was shaking as he forced himself to speak.

“Yes, thank you Snöflinga,” the unicorn said with a smile before frowning. “Is it me or is it not as cold anymore?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Cookie said blinking in surprise. While the storm was still blowing, it had dropped in its intensity and had ceased being blinding cold. “This storm really isn’t natural at all.”

“Can your kind do such a thing, Snöflinga?” Clover asked as they stepped closer towards the windigo with him starting to look nervous again.

Snöflinga opened his mouth but nothing came out again with frustration clear on his face as he was reduced to just shaking his head in the negative.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Cookie said as she bumped into his side with a soft smile on her face. “Don’t try to force yourself to speak right now; you will just get yourself more annoyed and create a loop of having a hard time speaking. Believe me-” and here she scowled. “I’ve seen it before. Just give yourself some time.”

Snöflinga looked at her and nodded his head, clearly upset at his difficulties, but at the same time looking relieved.

“Well, the hull is intact at least,” Pansy said as he landed on the deck, trotting up to them. “But I doubt we can fly again in this storm, and while there is a river nearby, I have no idea how watertight the ship is.”

“That’s good, I guess,” Clover said with a shrug before looking at Snöflinga who was shuffling on his hooves but breathing a lot steadier. “So you said there are people up there?” she asked, pointing up the hill with Snöflinga nodding his head. It was a large hill, but not too steep so it wouldn’t be that hard of a walk.

“Ye-yes,” he said, holding his head higher. “A lot of them; all but three nervous. Those three are very confident and arrogant. Shhh-should we go and chhhh-check it out?”

“I think we should, but we need to be careful,” Pansy said, sharing a concerned look with Cookie before looking at Clover. “Do you think you can use your magic to hide us?”

“I might be able to, but I never really tried anything like it,” she said with her horn starting to glow with the three ponies starting to match Snöflinga’s coat. “Are we ready to go?”

“That… that’s impressive,” Pansy said looking at his new white coat with awe, mirroring Cookie’s own face as she stared at her legs.

“You really never tried something like this before?” Cookie asked with the unicorn blushing.

“No, never. I mean, I have read about it in a book but I never tried to actually do it,” Cookie said.

“Th-th-they should call you Clover the Clever, not Clover the Cobbler,” Snöflinga said with a smile on his face. At this, Clover blushed.

“Ex cobbler, actually,” she muttered. “Got fired for reading and not finishing my job. As like all my other jobs.” She seemed to be saddened by this before she perked up and gave Snöflinga a look. “Did you just eat my sadness?”

The windigo, with three sets of eyes on him now, just blushed and nodded his head. “No need for you to be sad, Clover,” Snöflinga said without a tremor in his voice. “I hope you are not mad, are you?”

“No no,” the unicorn said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “I’ve been depressed over it for a long time so it’s nice not to be sad over it for once.”

Snöflinga smiled and gave his tail a short wag, causing Pansy and Cookie to snicker, before Cookie started speaking. “Okay, let’s start walking,” she said, tilting her head. “Snöflinga, as you can sense the people, you’ll go first. Clover, you follow him with Pansy behind you. I will cover you guys; sound good?”

The three of them nodded and started up the hill, staying close together as Snöflinga began to lead them upwards, staying low to the ground as they got closer to the summit with two airships on the far end of the plateau. They had blank sails which hid where they came from but Pansy let out a gasp as a third one was coming in to land.

“That’s my ship,” Pansy hissed, pointing to the new ship which appeared to be very well made.

“Why is it here?” Cookie whispered back.

“I don’t know; last time I saw it, Hurricane had it,” the stallion whispered back. “What is he doing here?”

“Let’s find out,” Clover added, “there’s a hut over there.” She pointed over to a small one-story hut that was an equal distance from all the airships. “Is that where the people you were talking about before are Snöflinga?”

Snöflinga nodded his head as they slowly made their way over to the hut, taking care that they were not seen. Within a few moments they were peering through the window at one of the most impossible sights.

“Is that?” Clover asked in a soft voice with Cookie glaring at the occupants of the room.

“It is,” the other mare spat with venmo but thankfully soft enough not to alert anyone of their presence.

“What are the leaders of our nations doing here?” Pansy asked while glaring angrily into the well furnished room, seeing tables of food upon food against the walls while Platinum and Puddinghead both turned to warmly great Hurricane as he stepped inside.

“Ah, there you are, my boy,” Puddinghead said, holding out a glass of wine to the pegasus as he brushed off the snow from his coat. “Is Glaucus coming? I did go to the trouble of getting those fish he likes and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.”

“Sadly, no, he couldn't come this time,” Hurricane said with a sad sigh before shaking his head as he took the glass of wine and drank it down a single gulp. “Too far away for him to make it on such short notice plus he has to deal with the griffon council calling in an emergency meeting and his wife is due to give birth to their first child soon.” The pegasus gave a snort as he stacked a plate of fish and poured another glass of wine for himself

“Ah foalhood,” Platinum gave an overdramatic shudder before letting out a snort and rolling her eyes. “Such a waste… if you ask me, they should all be born as mature adults so they don’t have to take up their parents’ valuable time and energy.”

“Until that day,” Hurricane said as he turned away from her, though not before Pansy caught him rolling his eyes, “It is our responsibility to see them brought up the proper way, right Puddinghead?”

“Ah yes, it is truly a grand effort that does not always work out,” the stallion placed a hoof on his chest with Cookie practically growling now. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”

That got to them to laugh maliciously before looking out the window as the storm started to pick up once more. “Ah, it seems that our fourth is finally here,” Platinum said with a relieved sigh, using her magic to pour a drink while opening the door to a large white stallion stepping through. “How are you, Snjóstormur?”

Comments

[Asolem2]

There was a groan, and then Cookie got to her hooves, Snöflinga getting up moments after. “Urgh… thanks for the save,” she said. Then she looked at the spot where the mast now lay, and narrowed her eyes. “Either this storm’s worse than I thought, or somepony wasn’t keeping this thing in good shape before they gave it to you,” she said as she pointed to the break. “That crack was not natural.”

Probably the latter then

“Ye-yes,” he said, holding his head higher. “A lot of them; all but three nervous. Those three are very confident and arrogant. Shhh- should we go and chhhh-check it out?”

Ah, those three...great

“Until that day,” Hurricane said as he turned away from her, though not before Pansy caught him rolling his eyes, “It is our responsibility to see them brought up the proper way, right Puddinghead?”

So that's what's going on

That got to them to laugh maliciously before looking out the window as the storm started to pick up once more. “Ah, it seems that our fourth is finally here,” Platinum said with a relieved sigh, using her magic to pour a drink while opening the door to a large white stallion stepping through. “How are you, Snjóstormur?”

Well now, isn't that interesting... also a problem if he can sense Clover, Cookie, Pansy and Snöflinga

[Evilhumour]

9988998

Changelings and Windigos can't sense each other.

[Asolem2]

9989290
That still leaves Clover, Cookie and Pansy