Frosty Fates

by Storm Vector

Chapter 7

The snap of another branch beneath her hoof had stopped scaring Winter, though she did look around warily for a moment. She’d been afraid of wild animals jumping her since she’d forced herself into Whitetail Woods, but the thought of not doing so meaning she would put her friends at risk propelled her forwards into the brush. While the area itself wasn’t as unnatural as the Everfree Forest, at least as far as she remembered, she still perceived the area as dangerous to the unprepared. Of course, given she’d tried to pack within 20 minutes, unprepared is exactly how she felt. She worried that she hadn’t packed enough supplies to keep herself healthy on her trip to…where was she even going? She had no end goal in mind, she was basically just wandering in to get lost, hopefully where nopony would ever find her.

“Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have a lot of supplies,” she muttered. “Maybe it’d be better if I just…disappeared into the woods. If I can’t keep myself in check, what good am I?” But Winter shook her head as the thought settled uneasily in her mind. Her stomach was already feeling light, it had been a while since she'd eaten anything substantial, but she didn't exactly feel hungry just yet. She couldn't for sure tell if that was the anger at leaving her home, the sorrow at losing her friends, or the strange swirl of energy that felt like it had replaced her magic.

Winter had felt that something was very different with her icy abilities, like it wasn't the same kind of magic that her fellow unicorns wielded so easily. She'd always struggled with any traditional unicorn tricks save her telekinesis, and even that didn't have a particularly strong lifting potential. But her ice...anything she imagined in snow or ice and it was simply there, her magic guiding some other force into the shape she desired. It was so easy for her, in fact, that she had to put on a show when she did her ice sculpting, make it look like it took any kind of effort at all to make something even twice the size of a pony. The other force had felt unique, and could burn her if she tried to use too much, but it had always felt like a friend, something she could trust. Now she could sense it, something different, trying to fill that same familiar spot with a pressure. It engulfed her and squeezed her, pressing her harder any time she poked out at it with her magic.

Winter sighed and rubbed her shoulder as she glanced up. Much to her chagrin she'd sensed this new force growing around her at the same time as a storm that hovered high over her head. It was only in the last hour that Winter had finally admitted to herself that it was her storm, her fault, considering it had just started dropping a decent snowfall all around her. She'd made snow before, mostly as a prank or payback for an annoying heckler, but the only time she'd made a big storm like this already looked like it was shaping up to be was the village two years ago.

"Dear Celestia, why am I doing this..." Winter sighed, dropping to her knees on the forest floor. "Maybe I should just let starvation loom..."

As though it heard Winter, the energy surrounding her seemed to compress on her. The pressure built against her head, encircling her horn and squeezing her barrel until it felt like she was going to be sick. "I can't take this..." she growled, shaking her head and standing back up. She clutched her head with one hoof as the pressure lightened up just a bit. "Alright, alright...I'll keep going." Winter sighed as she took a look behind her. She must have been a mile or more from Ponyville already, and there was no sign of the town or civilization anywhere: Canterlot wasn't even visible through the trees.

"At least mother and father aren't casting their judgments right now...or at least I can't see it." It was a momentary comfort for Winter as she thought back to her note to her parents, a thinly veiled prayer that her parents forgive her for being born a disgrace and asking them not to look for her. "Not that I even know where I'm going..." she muttered, glancing at the forest ahead of her. She'd only been heading which direction felt like it hurt her the least. But every time she closed her eyes, she felt something there behind her, something whispering in her ear and a set of claws to her back as she walked deeper into the forest.

---

"Otto get out of my office!" Crystal yelled as her pet munchkin cat scurried out of the room in question. Crys went to the door to shut it, but saw Ottoman had knocked over a bag of her yet-to-be-sorted gems across her desktop. She took a moment to grab all the gems and throw them in the bag, opening her dresser drawer to stash them away, only to pause at the opals in her drawer. She levitated the opal for Winter up to her face, so close she could almost see her teary reflection in the polished surface.

"Why didn't I just give these out...would she have stayed if I'd just done it?" Crystal sighed and shook her head as she set the gem down sadly. She knew the reason why, she'd wanted to fill these gems with a special magic to tie her friends together, a little bit of a selfish wish she was sure. Her friends would be happy with just the stones and the silver she was working on getting, but Crystal just had to make them perfect and enchanted too.

"Not now, Crystal," she snapped, shutting the drawer quickly. "Bigger problems to deal with. Winter's alone, she needs us with her now. I promise I'll find her."

Crystal sighed heavily and hurried out of her workroom, barely remembering to lock the door behind her. She'd already thought to speak with her neighbor about feeding Otto, but the cat would wander wherever he pleased and she knew that him in her workroom would cause chaos. She was grateful that her neighbor was one of Vlyka's dog-whisperer clients, so she'd been quite accommodating in taking care of Otto for the next few uncertain days as they pursued Winter.

"Be good for the nice mare, ok?" she called to Otto, as the cat sat on her showroom counter as she hurried past a few display cases for the front door. She barely checked if her "Closed" sign was up as she slammed the door shut behind her and turned towards the Everfree Forest, towards Vlyka's cottage...towards the hunt for Winter.

---

Vlyka checked over her camping equipment one more time to ensure she'd secured everything. Fire starting tools for an emergency, a collapsing tent, compass...she didn't know how much she'd need, but if Vlyka's frequent trips into the Everfree had taught her anything it was to be prepared for the worst at all times. She felt certain she had packed enough finally and closed her bag, laying it by the front door as she trotted hurriedly back to her room and closet. Buried deep in the back of it were a few scarves and a pair of older snow boots she really should have replaced by now.

"Of course, should have known I wouldn't have til winter this time," she muttered as she checked the boots to see if they would at least hold up on this trip. Thankfully they weren't so bad off, but as she started to put the boots on she felt one grip her foreleg tightly, sending a shiver up her back. Vlyka had a lingering sense of betrayal from Winter attacking her, freezing her to the ground like she had, but even with her weak social skills Vlyka could tell it hadn't been a malicious attack. Winter was afraid, fearing what might happen to Vlyka if she stayed close.

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts away, Vlyka put her boots on and grabbed a pen and paper from her desk. She had thankfully run across Sunburst on her dash back from Winter's place, and in desperation asked the mare to watch Remmy for a few days, in the event they were gone that long. It had been a long shot, or so Vlyka had thought, but Sunburst had been delighted to watch Remmy after Vlyka's efforts with her own dog. Still, Vlyka felt the need to leave a short note, as both a kindness and an assurance Remmy was watched like he deserved.

"How long are you going to be gone?" Vlyka's special talent translated the worried and sad whine of her dog into something she could understand.

"I don't know," she sighed, turning to hug Remmy tightly. Remmy was massive for a pet dog, even factoring in her short height: he came up easily to her chin. It was one thing that bugged Vlyka a little bit, a constant reminder of her physical stature, but she couldn't stop loving Remmy just for that matter. "You be good for Sunburst, alright?"

Remmy panted and licked her face, making Vlyka smirk as she took the pen between her fangs to finish her note off. She was just setting it down as obviously as she could when she heard the knock at her front door.

---

Midnight Storm slammed his hoof down again, hitting the cloud floor of his floating home. He couldn't believe that this had happened, that he'd just let Winter skip town. She'd been fine when he last saw her, or had she? Her experiences at the exhibit had shaken her, but she'd recovered hadn't she?

"Crystal would have seen her stress a mile away," he hissed at himself, shaking his head enough that the scarf round his neck threatened to come loose. He tightened it back up and grabbed the saddlebag resting on the couch, just sealed shut after loading up the last of his travel food. He hoped that Winter couldn't escape them so quickly, but he could just tell that it may take days to catch up to her. "If I'd just told Crystal, Winter wouldn't have run, we wouldn't even be going out after her now..."

Midnight sighed and grabbed his bag, hurrying out his front door as he slammed his glasses down over his eyes. The shift from distilled sunlight through his drapes to blinding late afternoon light. Even the sixth time he'd tried to rush out the door in the last 20 minutes, only to remember something else he'd forgotten to pack. He had to stop panicking or Winter would disappear forever. He spread his wings and launched off his cloud lawn, twisting in the air towards the Everfree forest and Vlyka's little cottage.

As Midnight hunted for a favorable air current, his gaze wandered up towards Canterlot. He shook his head and looked away though, trying to suppress his imagination from wondering what things would have been like if Winter had never left Canterlot. But as he looked away towards the northwest, he caught sight of something odd: a cloud formation drifting northward. There shouldn't have been enough wind up here to move a cloud like that without pegasus help, he could feel it, yet there it went gliding across the sky. He stopped and hovered in the sky as he looked further towards the west, eyes hunting for a sign of the unusual weather...and sure enough he found it. A storm brewing over Whitetail Woods, flecks of snow falling from the mysterious clouds.

"Winter," Midnight gasped, almost shooting forward towards the storm. But his stomach held him back, as it dropped back to the ground like it was filled with lead. He wanted to go to her, fly straight to the eye of that storm and hug Winter tightly, never let her out of his sight again. But he knew that he would fail at that: If he showed up on his own, Winter would turn and run, disappear forever. He'd lock up and stay silent, scare her off, shut her down from ever listening to him again...

"I can't." He shook his head sadly. "I can't take that risk." Trying to keep his breathing in check, Midnight turned back to Vlyka's home. "Crystal will know how to help her...she has to."

Midnight flew in silence to Vlyka's cottage, trying to shut out his uselessness in rescuing Winter so he could properly think about things. By the time he reached the clearing that opened to Vlyka's front lawn, the little earth mare was just locking her door and greeting her older sister as she trotted closer. Both of them wore scarves and boots, with stuffed travel bags slung across their backs. He landed next to them and sighed. "She's not heading to the Everfree. There's a storm due west of town...I can see from here, it's not natural."

Crystal and Vlyka looked at him worriedly, Crys speaking first. "She must be making that on accident, if she wanted to run away she wouldn't leave that big a trail."

Vlyka sighed and put a hoof to her head. "It happened at the market. Is she...losing control of her magic?"

Crystal put a hoof on Vlyka's shoulder. "She should be fine, I don't think she'll lose that much control. We just need to find her and help her calm down, she'll be alright. We'll make sure of it.

Midnight turned westward, just catching the rising dark clouds of Winter's storm. His breath shuddered as he watched it for a moment, too distracted to hear anything until Crystal put a supportive hoof on his shoulder. He turned to face her gentle smile before he turned back to the clouds. "Hang on Winter," he whispered. "Just hang on. We're coming."

Author's Note:

First time I'm experimenting with hopping between character's headspaces in a single chapter, please feel free to inform me if it's obnoxious.