21: Visit
[Perspective: Arrell]
Snow.
Seeing the white powder fall from the sky practically hypnotized me, even though I had seen it numerous times as a human. Smooth Grove didn't have enough pegasus ponies to control its own weather yet, so it's a good thing the forest right next to it had Everfree Forest weather that didn't need pony manipulation.
And now that weather was granting the small town with snow, just the day before Hearth's Warming Eve...or is it Hearth's Warming Day? Either way, it was a little early, but Smooth Grove apparently celebrated it a week or so early, so...whatever.
"You coming in or not, Arrell?" I heard Risk call from the doorway of a nearby house. "You're gonna get sick standing out in the cold."
"I'm a Windigo, genius," I called back with a smirk. "Zero degrees Kelvin couldn't get me sick!"
"Suit yourself." He rolled his eyes playfully and closed the door. The house he was currently in was one of the biggest ones in town, but its residents either died or moved away due to the Dusk of Ice and Fire. Shame, too; it was one of the first buildings that was finished being repaired, since it suffered minimal damage. The elder had kindly given it to our group for whenever we were in town.
Not very many ponies were outside, and that made me feel sort of...lonely, I guess. There were a couple of young colts and fillies goofing around, along with their parents watching from the front door, but that was it.
Maybe I should go back inside, I thought to myself. I let my hind legs disappear and flew up, looking at the town from above. It hadn't been fully repaired and no new ponies had arrived yet, but it still looked amazing.
Me and the others originally planned to stay for just a day or two, but after I found out how close Hearth's Warming Eve was, the thought of attempting to celebrate while walking for miles seemed somewhat dull. We elected to stay in town for just a little while longer. Fast forward just under a week, and here we were, getting the first snowfall as the sun began to set.
I closed my eyes as I hovered in the air. Risk had a new horn, False was completely healed, Nimble had passed on the Fine Rock, and Asylum was saved from Bloodbath. Things were looking up for us.
...for them, anyway.
I sighed and thought about my own situation. A human trapped in the body of a Windigo, sent out by the goddess of hatred to...I never found out what she wanted me to do, actually. I just had to "be the king of her side" or whatever. Was I supposed to fight? Hide? Relax? Die? She never told me, and aside from her dream interaction with False so long ago, she hadn't contacted me directly or indirectly to elaborate.
What had happened since I arrived? I was attacked by Rainbow Dash, nearly arrested or killed by Princess Celestia, constantly insulted by False, and caught up in the fight between the Brigade and Smooth Grove. I was still alive, but for how long?
Snapping back to reality, I realized I had been hovering right over the house the others were in. I landed silently on the roof and considered hopping down to go in, when I saw something on the roof that caught my attention.
[Perspective: Risk Reward]
"...then he says, 'Are you my mummy?', and I'm just laughing, going 'Arrell, get that mask off before somepony bucks you'!"
We all shared a laugh at that, even Nimble. I was currently telling the others about some of Arrell's shenanigans in the past few days. While I had never been a fan of talking behind the backs of others, I eventually decided that Arrell would have told the story anyway if prompted, so it didn't really matter.
"Then just yesterday, we-"
CRASH
Startled, we looked in the direction of the unlit fireplace, where the noise had come from. A soot-covered figure emerged from within, smiling at us.
"Hearth's Warming Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain went 'what the hell'!" Arrell proclaimed as he shook himself to clear away the soot. We all sighed; Asylum and I in relief, False and Nimble in annoyance.
"Next time you're gonna do that, wait for the fireplace to be lit," False grumbled.
"I'll ignore that," the Windigo said in response before turning to the rest of us. "So...now what?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Today's been pretty boring. You coming down that chimney was probably the most interesting thing I've seen all day."
"Well, in other news, I got these earlier!" Arrell reached behind himself, pulled out a pair of saddlebags, and sat them on his back. I raised an eyebrow.
"...where were you keeping those?"
He looked at me incredulously. "In my saddlebags, obviously."
"No, where were you keeping the saddlebags?"
"Again, in my saddlebags."
"...you were holding the saddlebags in the saddlebags?"
He smiled. "Yep!"
I decided against continuing the topic. The saddlebags he had were somewhat strange; the left saddlebag was a deep royal blue, while the right saddlebag was a bright yellow. Nothing seemed to be inside them.
"Where did you get those?" Asylum asked curiously.
"They were hanging on a tree branch in the forest. They were empty, nopony was around, and they weren't locked down, so I followed gaming logic and took them!" He slipped them off of his back and onto the ground.
Gaming logic? ...don't ask, Risk. Just don't ask.
Silence fell for a few moments before it was broken by Asylum.
"Well...that killed five minutes. Now what?"
[Perspective: Arrell]
The moon was soon up high in the sky, and all of us were starting to feel tired. We had spent the past hour or so just sitting around and talking. No problems, no fights, no arguments. Hell, even False and I managed to have a civil conversation for about fifteen minutes.
Nimble was sprawled out asleep in front of the fireplace, which was now lit and providing us with some relaxing heat. Even though I was immune to the cold, that didn't mean I was against feeling warm either. Just as long as it didn't get too hot.
"I think we should turn in for the night," Risk suggested with a yawn. Nopony argued.
False and Asylum headed off to their room, and Risk to his. Normally he would have taken Nimble, but since the colt was still asleep in front of the fireplace, we didn't bother waking and moving him. If he woke up during the night, he'd find his way to his actual bed.
I was lucky enough to have a bedroom to myself – though the fact that my large body made it impossible to share beds of these size may have contributed to that. I headed upstairs to my room and walked inside, prepared to sleep as soon as I hit the pillow.
But this is me, so naturally things weren't that easy.
Someone had apparently beaten me to my room. And I say "someone" because it wasn't a pony; it was a human. A ghostly human. The woman who sent me to Equestria. Styx.
"Hello," she greeted me politely with a nod of her head. She was sitting on my bed, looking as though she had been waiting a while for me to arrive.
"...is something wrong?" That was my first question, despite having about a million others. What are you doing here? How did you find me? Does anypony know you're here?
"You defeated Bloodbath and his comrades, but Smooth Grove is still in danger," Styx told me, seemingly ignoring my question. "You must be the king of my side, and a king must protect his soldiers."
I blinked in confusion. "Soldiers? If you're telling me to protect this village, then you don't even need to tell me. I know perfectly well that this place needs to be watched over. But I'm not going to stay here my whole life."
"I never asked you to," the goddess of hatred giggled...wow, that's a sentence I never thought I'd say. "Do not stay here forever, but do not leave forever. This village, unknown as it is, plays a crucial role in the survival of Equestria. There is a reason its location was chosen by the Fine Rock."
"You know about the Fine Rock?"
"Of course I do. That isn't all I know, either. But it is all I can tell you."
I facehoofed. "Why do you have to be so cryptic? I can't just solve everything tossed at me! I need specifics! Being vague just makes it harder for me to do what you want!"
"But you are already doing what I want."
I looked back at her, anger replaced by confusion. "...what do you want?"
"I told you." She stood up and looked down at me. "I want you to be the king of my side."
"...that tells me nothing."
"You will understand it in time." She walked closer to me and put a hand on my forehead. "For now, continue on to Stalliongrad. This visit to Smooth Grove may have been a worthy stop, but you still must reach the city soon. If the timing is right, you will be meeting someone there that I want you to meet."
I tried to ask who, but I couldn't speak. I couldn't even move.
"Rest, Arrell. You will not leave town tomorrow, but the day after. Tomorrow, relax. Enjoy your peace...for it will not last long."
Those were the last words I heard before I blacked out.
[Perspective: Asylum]
My sleep was interrupted by a loud roar. I woke up with a start, looking around for what could have made the noise.
I saw nothing. False was fast asleep in her bed beside mine; the few pieces of furniture we had were in the same spots as before; the snow outside was blowing normally.
Must have been the wind... I thought to myself, lying back down and closing my eyes. They opened again almost instantly. But Arrell would say it wasn't the wind...that it's never the wind...
Carefully, I got up and looked out the window. The snow was blowing much harder than it was earlier. A blizzard...but so suddenly? I heard the roar again, and I ducked as though something was coming at me.
When I regained my courage, I looked out the window again. This time I noticed something I hadn't seen before: a shadow. A shadow in the sky.
I couldn't make it out properly, but whatever it was, it was flying. It roared a third time, and then the snow began blowing even harder. The entire window was covered in white, and I became unable to see literally anything outside.
Then, it let up. The snow began falling slowly and peacefully once more. The shadow was gone. The roaring stopped.
What was that? I asked myself. I...I better tell the others...tomorrow.
I went back to bed, still nervous but no less tired. I dreamed of snow, cold, and scary roaring shadows...
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Good Job. I find this story hilarious and so true in so many points!
1826900 So true? What do you mean?
Sticks and stones may break my bones...
But...
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!! LET THE GALAXY BUUURN!!!!
Peaceful chapter. Still okay.
Note: Scientifically, Kelvins don't have degrees. Linguistically, no one gives a crap.
Is (are?) the saddlebags out of nowhere ever going to be explained?
1827259 It's Arrell being Arrell. So, no.
Just consider it him being deliberately goofy about pulling something out of hammerspace, like all ponies tend to do.
1827265
No, I meant if anyone will figure out why there was a saddlebag hanging on a tree.
1827273 Ohh. No, I just imagine those were "tossed away" by somepony who didn't want them. There's no real story behind them.
1827281
Really? a saddlebag painted with the colors of the sun and moon?
...
...
...
Whatever.
elsewhere
a tiny glow of light reflects off a smirk hidden inside the shadows of the forest. No thing comes from nothing. At least, not if we can help it
1827297 They were blue and yellow because those are my favourite colours.
Trust me, there's nothing special about them.
1827302
So? you decided against ever showing who lost them. Sneaky little me sticks his foot into the storyline.
Doctor Who reference.
Also, I might be mistaken, but isn't Zero degrees Kelvin Absolute Zero, where all molecules stop all movement in space and cease to exist?
Once again I might be wrong, or it's just Arrell's funny nature.
On a side note:
How is the OC tourament doing?
1828105 It's the coldest temperature possible, in layman's terms. So it's both Arrell's funny nature and his lack of full knowledge.
And the OC tournament is going slower than expected, but still good.
Google says that...
Cool story bro. Also...
I honestly can't tell if I should
or 
. Or both.
1850913 Zero degrees kelvin is absolute zero. According to Wikipedia:
Due to the fact that Windigo's are spirits of cold, ice, snow, and hatred, I bet Arrel could be somewhere with the temp being -42 Kelvin. 'Cause screw logic and all this "theoretical" stuff.
1850937 Nah, even a Windigo would just be a few hundred degrees negative celsius.
1850918>>1850937
1850953
1850960>>1850953>>1850937>>1850918My brain has just committed suicide. Which sucks, it's Christmas tomorrow. I suppose I could fill it with f***s for the time being. My head is so full of f*** right now it's not even funny.
1850918
It IS absolute zero. Nothing would be able to survive even with magic because ALL atomic movement would cease. Meaning even a Windigo would stop. Instantly. And never move again...
3074675 Technically, because magic is more of a form of energy than actual atomic movement, something probably could stay moving in absolute zero if they had enough magic.