Frosty Fates

by Storm Vector

Chapter 15

Midnight sat in awed silence as Winter finally took a deep breath, her gentle, sweet voice falling silent after a solid ten minutes of talking. He almost wanted her to just keep talking, just to listen to her speak, but he had already been overwhelmed by the information she had given them just to catch them all up. “Well, you’re right,” Crystal muttered, after a few seconds of silence in the cavern. “I really don’t believe that story. I…I’d swear you were making it up if I didn’t know you.”

“I swear to Celestia I’m serious,” Winter looked back at her as Midnight stared at Winter's eyes. He could see the tension around her eyes as she spoke with her friends to believe her. But the light from the small ice crystal Crys had enchanted to glow made the underside of the mare's muzzle glow, separating her white coat from her teeth as a barely-contained smile etched itself on her face. After the time they'd spent worrying, nothing made Midnight happier than to see that expression.

Midnight sat a bit away with Vlyka, who was also watching with relief as Winter spoke. Winter had backed up a bit after their hug, lying down and panting with exertion and overheating. They were familiar with her needing a second to rest in the shade by now, but after everything they’d just seen it seemed like hardly enough for her to rest. Winter gave no indication she needed anything special, so her friends simply sat by and waited for her to recover, giving them a minute to calm themselves down. He couldn't help feeling something twisting in his heart however, something still bugging him despite Winter's safety. Of course he was ecstatic to see her again, relieved, and surprisingly even believed her story about an elemental creature from beyond known time and space. It was hard to deny the utterly alien sensation of that creature's power that washed over them all as Winter had evaporated it. “I don’t think I can say I don’t believe can't say 'I don't believe you' either,” he said a little confusedly, the admittance shocking the three mares with him.

“Wow,” Winter smiled, “I really don’t know what to say about that.”

“I think he hit his head on an icicle when he shot through your barrier,” Vlyka snorted, prompting all of them to laugh for a second. “I’m just glad that you’re alright.” Crystal nuzzled up to her little sister and smiled, clearly happy that she was being open with her feelings. “That was a lot of power.”

“Yeah,” Whispy sighed, still seeming a hair short of breath. “But I can feel it’s my power now. I don’t feel something wrong anymore…I don’t feel that thing inside me. My powers are mine now…and that’s got me worried now,” she muttered, ears turning back.

“What’s wrong?” Midnight asked, as Crystal sat up to step closer to Winter.

“I just…all that power is mine, and even when that thing was controlling me, I did a lot of damage to the market, to the forest. I don’t even want to think how badly I messed up the seasons out here…”

Crystal put a hoof on Winter’s back as a sign of comfort, but the mare still looked downtrodden. At least until Vlyka chimed in. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” she said. “When I was leaving the market, everypony seemed to have cleanup under control. They might be angry you made a mess, but it didn’t do any real harm. And the woods out here are pretty resilient. Only a day or so of snowfall isn’t really going to hurt anything.”

“I don’t know…” Winter muttered, “I feel like all those trees and plants aren’t going to take to being covered in snow out of nowhere. Shouldn’t they be…”

“They’re fine,” Vlyka grumbled, a low rolling sound in her throat signaling she was getting irritated. Midnight raised an eyebrow and stared at the mare, but he eventually smiled and relaxed a little. Vlyka was right: while the sudden climate change would probably have shocked quite a few plants and animals, it was already changing back. Most plants would probably survive that, even if it did seem so sudden.

Thankfully, after staring in shock and a little fear for just a moment at the pony iritably at her, Winter smiled and nodded. “Thanks pup,” she smirked, “for letting me know that animals are so resistant to the cold.” Without warning, the blanket of snow underneath Vlyka surged up, engulfing the burgundy mare in a coat of winter white. She barely had a second to yelp in shock before she was covered, the snow being dumped on her from above like somepony had just knocked it off of a roof or tree branch she was under. Crystal and Stormy stared in shock, glancing at Winter’s cocky smirk as the aura dissipated from her horn. After a second Vlyka burst out of the snowbank, snarling.

“Oh, that’s how you want to play, is it?” she growled, as Winter stuck her tongue out at the younger mare. “Well fine, come at me Snowball!” Vlyka was furious, not taking being embarrassed well, just like Winter had clearly known she would react. As Vlyka hurled a snowball back at Winter, she effortlessly slung the shot around her head and orbited it right into Crystal’s flank.

Hey!” she replied, leaping up on her hooves as Midnight followed. His worry had vanished, however, catching Winter’s wink at him before glancing at the horrorstruck Vlyka.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” she stuttered, backing up a couple steps. Crystal advanced on her sister though, a smile spreading across her muzzle.

“You know that was rude, don't you Vlyka?” she asked, already forming several snowballs and levitating them to threaten Vlyka with. Vlyka looked horrified, having been catapulted into an "aggressive" social situation without realizing it.

“I didn’t mean to, she tricked me!” Vlyka gestured at Winter, who shrugged in mock confusion.

“Don’t go blaming Whispy, she’s gone through enough in the last couple days.” Crystal stalked closer to Vlyka, who had backed herself up against the wall. “She’s had enough stress today, I don’t think you should gi-oof!”

Crystal’s head spun to the left, as a snowball that pounded against her cheek. She turned her head back, smile in her face as she met Midnight's smirk, a second snowball in his raised hoof. “Hey, leave the introvert alone,” he smiled. “Pick on someone who actually meant to hit you.”

“Stormy, down!” Winter yelled, and without thinking about it Midnight dove into the snow beneath him. He felt the blanket getting yanked forward towards Winter and he let it carry him, carting him closer to the snowy mare. But halfway into the pull, Winter gasped and her magic flickered. Midnight's momentum died and he had to leap up towards Winter, wings flapping to launch him closer as his ears turned back in fear. Winter clutched her chest and took deep, labored breaths, as she closed her eyes and let herself calm down. "Whew...okay, too much at once. Gotta rest..."

“Okay, okay..” Midnight murmured, stepping closer to Winter. She smiled at him softly as he approached her, reaching a hoof into his bag. “I, uh, well I found something I think was yours...did you lose it?” he asked carefully, as he pulled a stuffed bear from his bag.

The gasp from Winter as the bear emerged into the light was more than enough to tell him he’d been right. “Oh sweet Celestia...” Winter whispered, extending a hoof weakly for the bear. Midnight quickly hoofed it over to her and she grabbed it, holding it in a tight hug as her face tightened up. Midnight’s ears drooped worriedly as he watched, too afraid to add anything. “I...I didn’t want to see this again...”

“I’m sorry Winter,” he said hastily, trying to approach her but feeling as though his hooves were frozen. “it’s just that I...I knew I’d seen it in your house, I thought you’d abandoned it because I...I should have known...”

Winter smiled and shook her head. “No Midnight, it’s okay. It’s...it’s perfect, thank you.” She tipped her horn down and put her forehead to the bear, smiling as she closed her eyes. “This is what made me control myself as a filly, kept myself from making these giant storms when I got mad. I thought that I’d abandoned that side of me, so I...”

“But it wasn’t you,” Midnight murmured, looking at the mess of snow still surrounding the pair. He failed to realize that Crystal and Vlyka had vanished, a light just outside dimming faintly as the pair walked away. But Midnight was too focused on his thoughts to notice that. “That creature, that elemental was forcing its power through you and making that storm.” Winter nodded with a giant beaming smile on her face, though her ears still were pinned back and tears welled in her eyes. “I think your grandma would have been proud of you.”

Winter sniffled and wiped her eyes dry, tenderly placing the teddy bear in her own saddlebag lying not far away from her. She was moving stiffly, Midnight could see her wince as she tried to move the bag’s latch, and he gently slid close to help her pack the precious cargo away. “Okay...I think it’s about time I got him home,” she smiled, looking up at him as he placed her bag onto his back.

“Are you okay to walk?” Midnight asked. “Crystal's light spell isn't going to hold forever,” he whispered, giving Winter the chance to smile.

“I think I can move still,” she answered him, working to get her hooves under her and stumble upright. “Let’s just go slow though.”

“Fair enough,” he smiled, helping Winter stand up. His hooves lingered as he helped, however, something both of them noticed after a second. Midnight blushed a bit, but surprisingly didn’t try looking away or backing up in embarrassment. “I think we have the time now...”

---

Midnight shifted a little bit to give Winter room as she staggered up, her legs still shaking from exhaustion. She smiled, but couldn’t bear to look right at him, her cheeks a little flushed as she struggled to stay standing.

“Thanks Midnight,” she muttered, as she tried to take a step forward. Her body was still tired, and she stumbled instead of stepping. But just as she gasped in shock at losing her balance, she felt something soft and feathery catch her under her belly. Midnight grunted with exertion, but managed to haul her back on her hooves using his wing to support her weight until she could take most of it back herself.

“Here,” he said, ducking down slightly and allowing Winter to drape her foreleg over his shoulder. While he was only an inch taller than her, Winter had to fight a bit to find a comfortable position to support herself with his body. But once she found it, it was a lot easier for her to use her remaining legs to start walking alongside him, towards the exit.

“Thanks Midnight,” she repeated, too distracted to realize she’d said it already. She tilted her head away from Midnight’s again, feeling herself turning pink. She'd kept her secret for so long, after Crystal had warned her, but now Midnight would completely...

“I guess summoning the powers of creation drains a poor mare of all her energy, huh?” she tried to joke, distract both him and herself from her embarrassing behavior.

“I bet it’s tiring, especially since you’re just learning about how it really works,” he answered. “As long as you don’t start having god delusions I think it’s okay for you to practice it, with a little time.”

“What, god delusions not a very attractive thing in a mare?” she asked as playfully as she could. Unfortunately for her, she caught her word choice and gasped, staring into Midnight’s eye as he looked at her in bewilderment. They both turned away at the same time, Winter almost slipping off Midnight in her embarrassment.

“So Crystal told you?” he muttered, sounding a little annoyed.

“Told me what?”

“I figured she’d caught on to me…but I just didn’t know how she’d take it after what I did tell her. I should have just been honest,” he sighed.

“I…I don’t understand, what are you talking about?”

“Whispy, I…I like you. A lot, a whole, whole lot, you’re beyond special to me. But I’m just not interested in…that isn’t what she said, is it?” he gulped, in response to Winter’s shocked and embarrassed gasp.

“Crystal told me that I wasn’t your type, so I wouldn’t get hurt if I told you I…” she stammered, before taking a deep breath and just saying it. “I love you.”

“Y…you…” he replied, almost trying to pull away from her. She could feel him move against her foreleg, instinctively trying to put a comfort zone around himself, but he wouldn’t let her fall to the ground like that. “Uh, I…wow, that…I didn’t see that coming.”

“Well, I wish I’d had the guts to say it earlier then. Probably would have been great to know before I thought it was worthwhile to just run away and not face this whole…demon thing,” she sighed. “Uh…sorry, I hope you didn’t take that as…”

“No, no, I understand,” he glanced at her, and finally his nervous glance was too much for Winter to handle. She pulled her hoof back off of him and set it down, trying to give him the room he needed.

“I just…Winter,” he finally said, steeling himself for his next sentence. He cast his gaze directly at her, the faded yellow of his eyes shimmering like the pale moonlight she often caught illuminating his silhouette, and now more than all those times before that light made her heart pound in her chest. "I love you too, Winter, I really do." There was a moment of silence in the cavern, Winter only hearing the blood rushing in her ears as she frantically listened for whatever words Midnight was struggling to add. "But I…I just don’t feel that attraction to ponies like somepony else might. I…I don’t feel like I want to start a family, I get weirded out thinking about being so physically close to somepony else, I…I just don’t want you to be hurt by me. Hurt, disappointed in what I’d give you…”

“Midnight,” Winter whispered, cutting him off after a moment. His familiar depression attracted enough attention that she'd snapped out of the emotional spiral he'd just thrown her into. “I don’t care about any of that.”

“You don’t?”

“No, of course not,” she smiled. “You know I get really uncomfortable with ponies touching me. And…well, I never really thought about a family. I don’t know if I want one, I don’t know if I should with this power in me. Even before I knew what it was, I wasn’t sure if it was safe for me to have foals.” Winter’s expression changed a little, looking a bit downcast and defeated, but she didn’t let it linger for long. “And even if I do, that doesn’t mean my feelings for you change at all. I still care about you so much; you’re my more than my best friend, you’re somepony I need to be around. If that’s all we can really be…then that’s enough for me. I’ll work with it.”

“Winter…” he sighed, “Winter, you’re too good for me.” He smiled and put a hoof on her shoulder, only to be met with a kiss on the cheek. Winter's cheeks burned as she turned away in embarrassment, but Midnight surprisingly felt a little more at ease for it. “How about we take this a little slower, when we’re a little bit safer too,” he said, glancing around. “Home sounds like the place to work this out, how about it?”

“Well, I knew that I loved you in part for your brain,” she shot back, managing to meet his gaze again. “You’re right, let’s get out of here. I’ve got a lot I need to get used to myself before I think of bringing anypony into this…escapade."

“I think I can be patient,” he answered, bending down slightly to offer his shoulder for support again. With a little embarrassed hesitation, Winter took it, and the two of them stumbled out the cavern exit, Midnight’s wing draped gently over her as a sign of affection. "I love you," he whispered in her ear, holding her just a little closer. Winter could only smile and nuzzle Midnight's cheek, her heart lighter than she had felt in months. She couldn't believe that two seemingly impossible things had happened to her, and she had somehow come out with the best result possible. She smiled and walked slowly with Midnight out into the future.