Chapter 25- Straight Path of Twisted Fates
Hot breath hit against my neck as my eyes fluttered open. For a moment, I blinked against the absolute darkness surrounding me as a hint of panic rose up in my throat. But then, I felt a gentle squeezing around my chest, the warmth of another body at my back, and my tenseness faded as I sank into the embrace. I must have fallen asleep, my mind reasoned. While a little tired still, it didn’t come from exhaustion, nor from stress, just the sort where you’d rather lounge around in your comfy bed for a while longer.
“Sleep well?” Honeydew whispered, causing me to squeak in surprise as I jolted up, bumping his nose with the back of my head. “Ouh!”
“Sorry,” I gasped, rolling around to face him. My feelers emitted a dim glow, allowing us both to see each other. Honeydew was trying his best to smile as he rubbed his muzzle. “I-I didn’t know you were awake.”
“I’ll remember to give you a fair warning next time.” he chuckled. “How do you feel?”
“Much better.” I sighed, then nuzzled his hoof, smiling as he draped it over my side. “I’m no longer aching in thirteen different spots, I feel rested… and I’m kinda hungry.”
“I believe the elder wanted to set some food aside for when you come.”
“Oh dear, is it time already?” letting out a sigh, I smacked my lips, wondering if I could ask for ten more minutes…
“Not yet.” his hoof reassuringly stroke over my back. “We have a bit of time before we should go and clean ourselves up.”
“More time sounds nice…” I purred as I scooted closer, until I felt the warm fuzz of his chest against my cheek, heard the sound of his heart calmly continuing it’s constant rhythm. “You’re so soft.”
“Oh, Twilight,” he chuckled as he brushed a hoof along my back. “You’re soft, too.” After a moment of hesitation, he sighed. “There are no more secrets, right?”
“No more secrets after today.” I promised. “But then you’ll have to tell one of yours. Like how you can possibly tell the time in here!”
With a smirk, he shook his head. “There’s no trick here. It just comes with practise.”
While closing my eyes, I muttered a silent curse in Celestia’s name.
The longhouse was kept cozy by a generous amount of sizzlegrass the elder stuck closeby to, even as he got up to greet me and Honeydew. Meanwhile, I could see Kalypso and Windchime in the back, the older breezie carefully blowing over a steaming hot bowl of soup- wait, was that the first time I’d seen a breezie eat warm food? Or even food that was in any way prepared? I think it was!
“Welcome, I hope you have rested well.” The elder waved his hoof, inviting us to sit by the pit. As we took seat, Kalypso gently carried one bowl after the other over, until we were all situated with one beside us. It seemed simple, no more than squashed berries mixed with some hot water. But just the idea of a warm meal after all this time caused my saliva glands to practically flood my mouth. I thanked Kalypso, perhaps exuberantly so, before taking a quick sip.
It burnt my tongue. And it was still amazing. “T-thank you!” I managed to squeeze out between gasps for breath.
“Too hot?” Kalypso bit her lip. “It might be better if you waited a little, I didn’t know how long to keep it on the fire, so I pulled it off when the water started acting up!”
“You mean boiling?”
“If that’s what you call it when it behaves like water never should, then yes!”
I shook my head, chuckling. “That’s just natural when water gets hot, Kalypso.” then I blinked. “Wait, you used fire?!”
“Outside the village, I built a little firepit like you showed me… wanted to save sizzlegrass. But then I thought, what if we couldn't just warm ourselves from the outside, but from the inside too?”
After blowing over the soup one final time, I took a tentative sip, then shivered as the warm fluid went down my throat, the heat just shy of being painful, yet so refreshing nonetheless. Meeting her expectant look, I offered her a sincere smile.
The elder cleared his throat, catching all of our attention. “Now that we have discussed our meals,” he started with a hint of irritation. “I would like to talk about you, Twilight.”
Under his narrow gaze, I felt my muscles growing tense. I wanted to open my mouth, but instead it was Honeydew who spoke up. “She won’t harm us, elder. I can guarantee it!”
The older breezie waved his hoof dismissively. “That much I don’t doubt, Honeydew. But your elska has hidden much from us. Like her true form…” he tapped the ground with a hoof as he gave me a nervous glance. “I-if you don’t mind me asking, spirit, but your form-changing… Is there a danger it could suddenly stop working?” he bit his lip at those last words.
I quickly shook my head, hoping to alleviate at least that fear. “No, my transformation spell is passively cast by my inner magic, it will only wear off if I wish to. I would stay in this form, even when sleeping or otherwise unconscious.”
“Thank Frinjìon…” the elder breathed out a sigh of relief, while everyone visibly relaxed. Wait, did they think- but I’d spent nearly two weeks in the village, shouldn’t it be obvious if I couldn't hold the spell? I guess that would presume that breezies have any idea how magic works. Which is not a fair assumption to make.
I snapped out of my thoughts as the elder cleared his throat. “Now, to speak of the reason I called you here. You have… seen the Winds of Fjermengard?”
“We have met one.” Kalypso shuddered at the memory. “Twilight was just barely able to hold it off long enough for us to escape.”
“Truly, it takes a spirit to ward off another…” Windchime muttered. I let out a silent groan.
“Then this confirms our worst fears.” the elder said. “We’d always assumed, but now it is clear. Rations will have to continue, sizzlegrass has to be used sparingly. Even with your generous gift of your- your saandwetsch, we cannot know how long we will have to last in this winter.”
“Unless you can help us.” Kalypso muttered, giving me a pointed look. “Shortly after we escaped, you called it a windjergo? Wentygon-”
“Windigo. They appeared in my world before.”
“You’ve seen them before?!” Honeydew exclaimed.
“No, never seen them!” I shook my hooves in protest. “I only know of them from myths, they disappeared over a thousand years ago, I didn’t even know they were real!”
“Why did you never tell us?!” Kalypso demanded.
“I didn’t know the windigos and your Winds of Fjermengard were the same thing. From what I knew, they were only in Equestria!”
“So they came from your world?” the elder frowned.
I took a deep breath. “Possibly… but they could just as well have come from your world into mine. We never had any idea where they came from. One way seems just as likely as the other.”
“So what do you know about them?” Kalypso urged.
With a sigh, I rubbed my forehead with a hoof, causing my feelers to jiggle. “Not a lot, they were shrouded in mystery. But a long time ago, they caused terrible and unnatural winters over our lands. It took all tribes of ponies to unite in order to finally defeat them. After that, they founded the nation of Equestria, where I live now.”
“So you managed to defeat the winds of Fjermengard!” Kalypso exclaimed.
“And it took all of us!” I replied sharply, causing Kalypso to jerk back. “Our clans were large, Kalypso, many times larger than yours, and I’m not just talking about size, I mean in number. We don’t know how many Windigos we fought, but it took all of our strength to finally seal them all away.”
“Seal them…” Windchime muttered, joining the conversation next to the elder. “Like Frinjiòn sealed them in Fjermengard?”
“Not sure, but there is a universal spell to bind a spirit’s energy to something. Unfortunately, it would require me to overpower it. And… I’m sorry, but I fear even one would be too hard to handle for me, there is no way I could defeat several!” I gave each of the breezies a sad glance before averting my eyes to the ground. “I’m sorry, but against those odds-”
“I think you can win.”
My head whirled around to Honeydew. His hoof was raised just above my shoulder, as if to pat me reassuringly, yet his expression was thoughtful. “Kalypso has seen you in her vision, hasn’t she?”
With a glance, I met Kalypso’s anxious look. “Uhm, Honeydew,” she muttered nervously. “Honeydew, it might not mean what you think it-”
“Also,” he interjected. “I don’t think there’s more than one.”
Everyone in the room suddenly raised their heads, staring at him in baffled surprise.
“L-look,” he stammered, taken aback by the sudden attention. “All our stories say that the winds of Fjermengard, or the Wendergoes-”
“Windigos.”
“Those have the power to freeze the entire world.” Honeydew continued, unfaced by my correction. “O-or at least most of it. But what we have here is so…. change-y. I talked to the others, did you know that about the time we arrived at the Highbreeze-clan, it seemed to get better here? It’s because it was moving away. Then a few days later, on our journey back, it seemed to thaw, just before it travelled back.” he swallowed. “I-I mean, our forest is large, but not compared to the world. And for the winds to be unable to keep such a small part of the world frozen just seems so… weak. Unless-”
“Unless it’s only one.” Kalypso breathed, then moved her hoof over her mouth as if she’d said something forbidden.
All eyes in the room turned on me. Suddenly, the room felt decidedly too hot, I even felt sweat running down my brow. “H-hold on!” I stammered. “We have no proof of that, besides,” with that, I turned to Kalypso. “We barely escaped from it last time, remember?!”
“Twilight.” I heard Honeydew’s voice from behind me, soft despite the underlying urgency. “I’m sorry, but this may be the only chance our clan has, unless the spirit just leaves us alone.” biting his lip, he quietly added: “will it?”
My eyes turned to the ground as I took several deep breaths. “The windigos were said to have followed my ancestors to a whole new land. I don’t think they’ll let up on us.” My mouth dried up as I said the words. The frightening moment where I had to put my all into blocking just one of the windigo’s attacks was still clear in my mind. The deathly chill that resonated in the air around it: Sure, I was out of practise and unprepared, but that didn’t stop me from recognizing something with clearly more powerful magic than I had. Maybe if I knew a weakness of theirs, maybe if I had backup it would be a fair chance, but I had neither!
But if I don’t, the thought went through my head, chilling me to the bone. If I don’t, then everyone here will be helpless against it. I met Kalypso’s gaze, then the elder’s, Windchime’s. Honeydew. They were my clan. My friends! “But what can I do?” I whispered so quietly that the others had to scoot closer to make out my words. “I just don’t think I can defeat it in an honest fight, if I had something, anything to help me-” I trailed off, shaking my head. As much as they knew about nature, I doubted they had expertise in magic duels!
And yet, Kalypso’s hoof rose. “What about the pond?”
“The what?”
“When I performed the ritual on Myrmelsday, I saw a deep, frozen pond. I-I think it is important, Maybe it can help us.”
“Or maybe you were just feeling hot next to all that sizzlegrass.” I snorted. If my memory served me right, she’d had that vision after inhaling an unhealthy amount of smoke, probably coupled with a psychedelic drug of some sort. That was not the kind of thing I was keen on betting my life on!
“I dreamt of that vision again after that night, Twilight. Maybe the gods want to show us a road to victory! After all,” and with that, she leaned closer, whispering into my ear so that only I could hear: “A purple shape beside me, guarding me against the incarnation of winter itself. Yesterday, that prophecy came true. This time I promise I really did have a true vision of this frozen pond. Please, Twilight, I know I can’t ask you to trust after lying to you, but please. We need you.”
I froze at her words. Her prophecy did come true- but it wasn’t real! So- what- wait, did she lie about lying? Was it all just a happenstance of unbelievable convenience? For a moment, I felt a powerful urge to check if the sclera of her eye had turned yellow. Then I shook my head. Kalypso was my friend. She’d lied to save my life- if she did lie... With a groan, I massaged my temples. But I trusted her not to put my life at risk with a lie. No, she would only suggest it if she truly believed in it.
I took a deep breath, feeling the monster of anxiety in the back of my mind. Then I breathed out, drawing a leg out from my chest as I imagined the stress seeping out with my exhaled air. At the end, I wasn’t feeling much better, but at least I could think clearly. “If you know the way,” I told Kalypso, “then I will follow you to that pond. But if we do not find anything, we’ll go right back here, I will not fight this spirit unless it is the only option left.”
It seemed like a balloon full of pressure had been popped, as all breezies took a relieved breath. All, save for one. “Are you sure of this?” Windchime asked Kalypso, worry written clear in his face.
“I am sure.” she answered sternly. “The gods sent me this vision. I would be a fool not to follow.”
“Then I suggest you ready yourselves for the morning.” The elder drew himself up. “You should get more rest for your journey-”
“Elder.” Honeydew interrupted. “I will go with them.”
“I’m afraid we need you here.” the old breezie said, furrowing his brows. “With Kalypso being the only one able to find your destination, there is little you can do to help them. You’re one of our few scouts, if you risk yourself senselessly-”
“I’m sorry, but I did not ask for permission.” Honeydew stated clearly, even as his voice shook a little. “I told you what I was going to do. I-I am going with them.” he bit his lip as he turned to me. “If you go to a dangerous place, I want to be with you. Y-you might be powerful, but you dont know our world. I do, better than anyone else in this room!”
His announcement seemed to have left the elder speechless. But then, his astonished expression suddenly turned into a smile, and he began to chuckle into his hoof. Even a sudden coughing fit couldn't stop the amused chortling.
“You are more like your sister than you think, Honeydew. And if I cannot order you to do otherwise, I might just give you my blessing.”
“T-thank you, elder.” Honeydew lowered his head and… blushed? What? Why? Did I miss something in that conversation?
Something tugged on my shoulder, as Kalypso drew me up. “W-we might be able to reuse the fireplace to make dinner. D-do you think we could make other warm foods with it?”
My stomach churned,despite the bowl of soup I’d eaten just a few minutes ago. But in truth, I knew it wasn’t really craving for food. It was craving for flavor. And some roasted apple just sounded heavenly right now. “Let’s do it!” I gasped, beckoning Honeydew to follow as Kalypso and I ran out the door. Maybe there was a battle against a spirit ahead of me and maybe I should rest my body while I could. But having a grill party with your friends? That was rest for the soul.
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A new update oh boy ^.^
Inb4 the pond is actually the mirror pool and there will be an army of Twilights. That would surely confuse Honeydew.
9719691
Can you imagine an army of Alicorn Twilights suddenly realizing that there might be NO BOOKS in this ENTIRE WORLD?!?
The following cataclysm would make the Windigo seem reasonable.
Mirror pond sounds good.
I really do hope you have honeydew and twilight got to equestria.
I have two theories about these breezies
1. Not really a theory. this is another world of breezies, perhaps a penal colony that was seperated or just another group of breezies.
2. Twilight traveled back in time so the breezes we meet in the episode are breezes of the future, it would be interesting for twilight to go to the other breezy realm only to find statues of a breezy god that looked like herself.
Meh I always start with not knowing if I will enjoy the chapter as much as I hope I will, but usually it ends with me liking most of it.
This might as well has been one of my favourite chapters.
Hhhhmmm I would say it had to do with the planning and the solution they came up with (the pond), that interessted me this time.
I like that they kind of treat her as a god/spirit and the whole talk more or less dance around that fact.
Hhhmmm I want to say I like that nothing felt forced in this chapter if that makes sense.
My brain is always a bit to active if I read some stories and that is just suppose to mean I enjoyed, what looked like the elder giving Honeydew his blessing to marry Twilight and I had the feeling but no actual thought that I should think twice about it.
It doesn't always has to mean something, just that I had gotten used to expect certain stuff in the stories on this side despite me maybe already trusting an author.
Anyway, I wasn't sure when he was acting correctly or not if you expect him to be all reverent to her.
That just means the moment when it looked like he just accepted Honeydew to marry Twilight if that was meant in that moment.
I don't quite know how he sees it at the moment I suppose.
Okay I think I said everything now but I'm doing this and that again so I might have forgotten something.
9719735
I hope that they will both visit her world too, maybe the first time without Kalypso, I start to enjoy her againt too but mostly I want it to focus on Honeydew and Twilight if the moment comes.
Anyway, the theory that this would be a different world/dimension or whatever than where Twilight was supposed to go could probably allow for a slightly easier reason for Honeydew to be allowed in Equestria without having to die as easy as the other Breezies would.
I'm not talking about anything big but to make it a little easier to explain why he can be there I suppose.
Oh so that means the other creatures in this generation never seen a windigos until season 9 episode 24 and 25 The Ending of the End I guess that makes sense never see them until the final 2 part episodes
So after they woke up the village has a meeting about what they're going to do when the windigo attacks again they want to know what kind of creature they're up against Twilight told them about their history through the hearths warming eve story but they never seen one especially now well until season 9 to Part ending episodes but kalypso told them about the vision but she also pleaded for Twilight to help them despite she had no knowledge about these creatures they still need her so she agrees to help her and her Village and it looks like honeydew wants to go with them as well despite he has known knowledge about this creatures at all but he is determined to be with Twilight In The End but before they get going they going to have a dinner party which is pretty nice to have and hanging out with friends I think it's pretty nice