The Goddess of Winter

by PoneStudios

Chapter Four: Storm

It was late morning when Empress Winter received the letter. It was late morning and it was time for the morning session of public court. Winter was currently listening to an overly pretentious Baron named Frozen Lake make yet another demand for increased tax benefits for nobles.

“…And that is why I believe the nobles should receive increased tax benefits every year.” Winter sighed and nearly let her impassive mask fade. She had been… trying very hard not to simply send him away… or to lock him in the deepest dungeon cell she could find.

“Mr. Lake. While I do appreciate you finally taking every point of view into account --including, somehow, my own-- I cannot grant your request. Doing so at such a vulnerable state in our economic evolution would set us back the decades we used just to get to this point. I do thank you for preparing such a thorough presentation though.” Winter bit back the urge to growl, replacing the urge with a gracious smile aimed at the Baron.

“Of course, your majesty. I will be seeing you in several weeks for the upcoming Spring Gala.” Frozen Lake smiled.

“And I will look forward to seeing you there, Baron. Until then.” with that, the Baron left, and Winter leaned back on her chair and sighed. “Finally, he’s gone…” Winter rubbed her eyes with both hooves and stretched her wings. Hopefully, the next petitioner would not be so incredibly persistent as the Baron. Putting on her best smile, Empress Winter sat back up. She then held her hoof out to the door, and then watched as a scroll appeared in her hooves.

“A scroll?” Winter levitated the scroll in her magic. “From Celestia… I wonder what she could be asking me for.” Winter opened the scroll and read it. “Hmm… the Crystal Empire trapped in a storm only I can dispell…” Winter put the scroll down. “Well, Celestia. Today’s your lucky day, because I just happen to have some free time.” Winter quickly wrote a reply and sent it to Celestia. “I’ve been meaning to talk to Princess Cadence, anyways… perhaps I can convince her of a few things.” Winter stood up and opened her wings.

“Cloudy, cancel court for today. I have a few things to do in the Crystal Empire.” Cloudy nodded.

“Yes, your majesty. Good luck!” Winter nodded and flew out the window of the throne room, towards the Crystal Empire.

---

In the middle of a meeting with the captains of the Crystal Empire weather team, Cadence sighed. It had been a long several weeks, and it appeared that it was going to be a long several more until they could get this storm under control, if they could get it under control. She was just so tired…

“Your Highness? Your highness!” Cadence blinked a few times and looked up at Stormy Sky.

“Yes, Stormy? What is it?”

“We were just discussing whether you should try and buck the clouds yourself.”

“Oh… I apologize. It’s been a rather long several weeks, hasn’t it?” Cadence sighed and smiled. “But yes, that is something I would be willing to try. We’ve tried everything else, haven’t we?”

“Well, then. We only need your signature on this line, and we can get started.” There was a knock on the door. The door opened to reveal a guard. Cadence looked up at the guard.

“Yes?” the guard looked around nervously.

“Princess, there is something I believe you should see. It, ah… has to do with the storm.” Cadence stood up and nodded.

“Let me see.” Cadence looked towards the weather team captains. “Continue without me. I’ll be back in a moment.” Cadence walked over to the guard.

“Lead the way.” the guard lead Cadence out of the room, down several hallways, and onto the balcony. Cadence almost gasped at what she saw.

“The storm just… stopped? But the weather team told me it would only get worse!” Cadence watched for several minutes. The storm seemed as if frozen in time. It wasn’t even snowing anymore. The clouds just hung there, on the border of the crystal empire, lifelessly.

“Oh, this is such a relief… I was beginning to think we might have to evacuate.” Cadence put a hoof up to her chin. “But… why did it stop? Did somepony do that to it? If so, who?”

“That would be my doing.” Cadence spun around. The Winter Goddess stood before her, wings flared. Winter smiled. “Hello, Princess Cadence.” Winter folded her wings.

“You’re…” Cadence stood, speechless. “You’re Empress Winter, of the Frozen Empire! Why are you here of all places? Shouldn’t you be in your own kingdom, ruling your ponies?”

“You are correct. I am here because your dear aunt Celestia sent me a letter requesting that I clear the storm that’s been ravaging your crops. Because winter storms are in my domain, I decided to come and help.” Cadence narrowed her eyes.

Cadence, for some unfathomable reason, couldn’t help but suspect Winter to be untrustworthy. She had from when she had first heard about Empress Winter. She didn’t quite know why. Perhaps it was because of her powerful magic, or because Cadence couldn’t sense Winter’s emotions, or the fact that the alicorn had simply come out of nowhere, claiming to be a Goddess. But for some reason, she didn’t trust Winter. So when the alicorn had said she wished to help, she wondered why.

“You don’t seem like the type of pony to help out of the goodness of your heart.” Winter sighed.

“I thought you would say that. I do admit, I have an alternate reason to be here. If you have time when we’re done here, I would like to discuss a few things with you.”

“What kind of things?”

“Simple matters of state, I assure you. I would, however, like to wait until this storm is taken care of and we are in a…” Winter’s eyes darted towards the guards for a minute. “Less public place to discuss it.”

“Okay…”

Winter looked at the storm. “This particular storm is too strong for me to dispel on my own. I managed to stop it, but it will not answer solely to me, it seems.”

“And…?”

“And, I would like for you to assist me in getting rid of the foul thing.”

“Of course I will! I would do anything for my ponies.”

“Good. But let’s not talk here. Time is of the essence when dealing with a storm like this.”

“Of course. Should we fly?”

“We shall.” Cadence and Winter took flight towards the storm.

“When we get there, I will need your assistance in keeping it back so I can dispel it.”

“But how? It seems to be magical in nature…” Winter looked at the now lifeless storm.

“On that assumption you are correct. Magic, I have learned, has a habit of getting hopelessly stuck up here, where there are no currents to move it. When that magic gets stuck, it begins to coalesce to form dangerous magical storms, like this one here.”

Winter and Cadence landed in thick, heavy snow. The storm seemed to be frozen in time. Snowflakes were frozen in air, and the clouds weren’t even moving. The wind of the Frozen North howled, threatening to blow the alicorns away and sending snowflakes into their faces. Winter cast a grounding spell to keep the pair safe.

“But most of those are harmless, right? So why is this one so bad?”

“Yes, most northern storms are harmless. This one, however, seems to have picked up the smallest amount of Chaotic Magic.”

“Okay… how do we get rid of it?”

“Simple. We remove the Chaotic Magic. Once it’s gone, I should be able to dispel it with no issue. I will be the one to remove it, of course.”

“Okay. So all I need to do is keep it back so you can remove the magic and dispel the storm, right?”

“Correct. And it looks like you’ll need to do it… now!” the storm began to move again. The snowflakes that were previously suspended in air began to fall again. Cadence nodded and began blasting the storm with her magic, managing to keep the storm back, but only barely. Cadence grunted.

“I… I got it! AGH!”

“Good! Keep going for as long as you can!” Winter opened her wings and flew up into the storm. Inside the cloud, snow blew around in menacing gales, and the wind’s violent howls were deafening. The clouds thundered as brilliantly lit rods of lightning flashed from one cloud to another, intensifying the storm.

Snow and ice brushed past Winter’s cheeks, nearly causing her to startle. The powerful winds threatened to throw her back down to the ground. Winter shook her head.

“Where’s the Eye of the Storm?” She looked around for the telltale sign of chaos magic. It would be more violent than the rest of the storm. Her eyes darted around, looking for the Eye. for minutes, she found nothing. For seconds, she saw white. Then her eyes caught a glimpse of something. A little patch of cloud that seemed to be more violent than the rest. Winter grinned almost wickedly. “There you are.”

---

Cadence watched as the icey winged alicorn known as Empress Winter disappeared into the clouds. Winter’s vigorous wingbeats faded as she entered the storm. Cadence grunted again. It seemed that she was on her own now. Cadence attempted a sigh, but only managed a grunt due to the magic coming from her horn.

The storm furiously tried to push against Cadence’s magic. Cadence refused to relent. She braced herself as the storm began pushing against her magic even harder than it had before. Her eyes squinted shut as she pushed back against the storm. When the storm pushed back even more violently, her magic flickered and she slid back. Cadence heaved a heavy sigh and continued blasting the storm with renewed strength.

For but a moment, the storm seemed to falter. Cadence felt her horn begin to burn.

---

Winter pushed herself forward with her wings, towards the tiny spot of violence she’d seen. The wind pushed her back as she flew. When Winter reached it, she immediately shot a blast of magic at it, weaving it into the center of the storm. She made her magic tie into a knot around and inside the storm’s magic.

Winter then yanked the magic out and towards her. It fought her. It threw her back, and her magic with her. Winter growled. “I’m not letting you get away.” Winter flew back towards the Eye. she quickly wrapped her magic around it and in it. It tried to throw her back, again. Winter stood her ground.

It struggled to escape, but the magic was just too tight. Winter took the storm’s magic into her hooves. Winter began to squeeze her magic, dissolving and crushing the storm’s magic. When the magic had completely dissipated, she sighed. She watched as the storm seemed to calm. She then sent her magic into the storm, and dispelled it.

Winter sighed and watched as the storm dissolved. She nodded, and flew down to Cadence.

---

Cadence nearly fainted when the storm finally dissipated. She could feel from the burning pain in her horn and her freezing fur that her magical reserves were nearly empty. She heaved heavy breaths, her weak legs barely able to support her. Cadence couldn’t help but smile when she was Winter flying down to her.

“You…” Cadence heaved again. Her legs threatened to buckle under her weight. “You did it…” Winter nodded and smiled.
“Yes. and it was thanks to your help that I could.” For a moment, Cadence seemed to lose her balance. She looked at Winter. In that moment, when she looked at Winter, Cadence couldn’t help but be grateful. “…Thank you…” and Cadence was already halfway to the ground, plummeting into the darkness of unconsciousness as the world faded and blurred.

Comments

[Vaguely Demented]

Interesting. So many questions arise now that someone of the main cast has met Winter.

[Painkiller]

One alicorn disappears, another appears