Rise and Shine

by Skijarama

XVII - Sparks

…And, in turn, so too was the life of their only company stolen away, leaving the sisters once more with only themselves amid the swirling, ravenous winter… And, in time, its insatiable gaze turned on them…

---

This nightmare again.

Celestia almost stopped when she realized where she was. The distorted hallways, the ceiling hidden amidst the icy fog above. The howling wind, the deathly chill, the alternating glow of day and night through the stretched windows. And through it all, the familiar, haunting melody hummed by a voice she could not place, audible even over the panicked, muffled shrieks of her little sister.

“This again…?” she asked, looking around. What was this place? Why did she keep coming back here? She looked down for a moment, trying to ponder the answers. But to her frustration, none were forthcoming.

“CELESTIA!”

Luna’s despairing wails cut through Celestia’s thoughts like a blade, and her confusion was swiftly forgotten. She didn’t have time to care about where she was, or why she was here, or even what was happening. All that mattered was that Luna was in danger. With that thought overriding all others, Celestia broke into a frantic sprint down the first corridor she could see.

“Luna! I’m on my way!” she called out between her breaths, her eyes locked dead ahead, her ears desperately trying to discern a direction. But just like every time before, the corridors played tricks with her senses. Luna’s voice echoed from all around her. The only hint she had that she was getting any closer was when Luna’s voice grew louder. But there was no rhyme or reason to the direction. It was like she was moving, the path that led to her changing and warping even as Celestia walked it.

And then there were the howls. Horrible, mournful calls that she had heard before, when phantoms of snow and ice attacked her and her sister in the woods. A chill filled her veins, and she dared not look back.

Soon, she once again came to the wall of fog. This time, she didn’t even hesitate. She took wing and flew into it. The cold bit into her muscles, but she ignored it. Fought on. She could feel frost forming on the tips of her feathers and on her lip, but she ignored it.

“TIA!” Luna cried out again, her voice louder and clearer than ever before. “HE’S HERE! HELP ME!”

“I’m almost there!” Celestia shouted, reaching out with a hoof. “Just hang on! LUNA!”

Movement, to her right.

Celestia twisted in the air, barely dodging as something attempted to tackle her to the ground. The air around her turned so cold that it burned. Whatever had tried to hit her turned to glare at her, its blue eyes narrowing with frustration.

It was one of the ghosts.

Celestia grit her teeth. “Go away!” she shouted at it, kicking out with a hind leg. Her hoof met the beast’s face as it lunged for her. The contact was almost intangible. It warped around her hoof like a blanket left to dry in the wind, and she felt almost no resistance—except for the cold. Sweet, merciful mother earth, the cold. She gasped involuntarily as all feeling left her leg in a heartbeat.

Thankfully, the beast recoiled from the strike. It lowed angrily in pain, its eyes flashing with murder. Celestia whimpered before kicking off of it and flapping her wings to gain distance as quickly as possible.

The ghost was hot on her tail, and it was all she could do to keep ahead of it.

Its breath turned the tip of her tail to ice. Frost began to encase her hind legs, her flanks. She was getting heavy. Its chuffing pants and growls echoed in her ears.

“You don’t belong here,” they seemed to say. “Begone.”

The cold was too much. Celestia’s eyes were getting heavy. Her vision blurred. She was about to fall.

Luna’s voice reached her again, a wordless, terrified scream, and Celestia latched onto it like a lifeline. With one last surge of strength and a guttural scream, she pumped her wings for all they were worth.

The air cleared, and the cold receded. Celestia sucked in a lungful of air that, while still chilly, was far from the life-sapping cold she had just been exposed to. Shocked by the change, she plummeted to the floor, crashing against it. She rolled for several feet before coming to a stop in a heap of shivering limbs.

Gasping for breath, she lifted her head to look back. She was out of the fog. The icy wall rested behind her, tendrils once more reaching for her. She could see the glaring eyes of the ghost within, but it did not give chase.

Panting, Celestia forced herself to stand. Her legs screamed in protest and her posture was uneven at best. She wobbled once or twice before finally finding her footing. She affixed the ghost with a spiteful glare. “H-ha! Take THAT!” she barked at it triumphantly, stamping a hoof for emphasis. A sharp throb of pain went up her leg, and she regretted it immediately.

The ghost did not respond to her taunt. It simply let loose another of its chilling cries before vanishing back into the fog. Celestia waited a few seconds to be sure it was gone. When it did not return, she spun around to resume her search.

It was only then that she realized how horrifyingly quiet it was.

“Oh, no…” she choked out. She perked her ears, listening. But there was nothing. She couldn’t hear Luna, nor the indistinct humming. Even the low howling draft had died. It was utterly silent. Only Celestia’s own anxious breaths and the pounding of her heart in her ears could be heard.

“No, no… LUNA!” she cried, taking a step forward. She stepped out of the light of the sun from one window and into the moonlight of the next… except there was no moonlight. She looked to her left out the window.

The sky beyond was pitch black. The moon was gone, as were the stars.

“Luna…” she whispered in dread. Was she too late?

The silence dragged on a moment longer.

Suddenly, Celestia’s eyes were assaulted by a blinding flash of fiery light. Searing pain invaded her skull, and the all-too-familiar cold was abruptly replaced with the now-alien sensation of warmth. Celestia’s eyes shut on instinct, and when she could finally open them, all she could see was fire. A sphere of burning flames. A sun she hadn’t seen in too long.

It reached out to her. Tendrils and arms of searing, scorching fire. She could see nothing else. The flame was all-consuming. Her fur was ablaze, her mane and tail burned away, her eyes felt like they were boiling. And yet she felt no pain. Just heat. Powerful, distant, enormous, smothered heat.

And in her mind, a voice, familiar yet not.

“Rise and Shine.”

---

Celestia snapped awake with a shrill cry, sitting up in her bed with a gasp. Even in the near-total darkness, she could tell that she was in the hut. The fire was out, and it was dark outside, save for the faint glow of moonlight.

After a moment of silence, Celestia fell back against the bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She ran a hoof over her chest fur. She could still feel the tingle of warmth on her skin from those flames.

“What was that…?” she wondered aloud, her eyes locked on the pitch blackness of the ceiling. She kept having these dreams… But it didn’t feel like a recurring nightmare. It felt too real. Too lucid. And it was never the same. Each time she was there, she made more progress, only for something to forcefully evict her.

She thought on it for a minute, then pushed the thoughts from her mind. In the end, they were only dreams. Thinking too deeply into them would solve nothing. Resolved to get back to sleep to await the long-overdue dawn, she reached out to pull Luna into a hug.

Only to find the smaller pony wasn’t there.

Alarm bells immediately went off in Celestia’s mind. She shot back up again and lit her horn. A thrill of panic ran up her spine as the interior came into illuminated focus, revealing that there was no sign of Luna.

“Luna?!” Celestia cried out, jumping down from the bed. “Luna?! Where are you?!”

Her sister did not answer her.

The hut was small. There was nowhere for Luna to hide in here if that was what she was doing. Which meant…

“LUNA!” Celestia all but shrieked, almost knocking the door off its hinges as she forced her way through. She poured more power into her horn, creating a powerful beacon in the darkness of the night.

Beyond the golden light of her magic, the world was painted in dark grays and blues. A gap in the clouds had pulled open like the curtains on a stage play, revealing the moon high above, a waxing crescent of pale illumination.

Beneath that small gift from the sky, in the snow at Celestia’s hooves, she saw hoofprints in the snow. They were the right size to be Luna’s, and they were fresh, but already filling in from the snowfall. Her panic doubled but was tempered by a surge of relief. Without a word, Celestia broke into a gallop, following the tracks.

“What are you thinking?!” she whispered to herself as she followed the prints deeper into Flatstone. “You’re still hurt, Luna! And what if those ghosts come back?!”

The tracks went around a turn in the road up ahead—although it was difficult to tell where the road began or ended anymore. The snow had deepened significantly since the sisters first arrived in this village, now climbing the walls of the homes. It almost looked like the ground was rising to pull the rest of the world back into its depths. Only those places Celestia frequented had clear paths to and from them anymore.

As she rounded the bend, she finally caught sight of Luna. The smaller foal hadn’t even brought a blanket for warmth. She was sitting in the middle of an open intersection, her mane and coat marked with flecks of snow. Her head was tilted back, staring up at the moon. For a moment, Celestia almost thought the moon was looking back at her, shining a beam of radiance upon her little sister.

The moment passed. Celestia shook her head and broke into a gallop. “SISTER!” she shouted.

Luna jumped in place and turned to face her.

“Luna, you giant idiot!” Celestia chided, sliding to a stop next to Luna. “What in the world are you doing?! It’s freezing out here!”

It was only then that Celestia saw the look on her sister’s face. Her stomach dropped when she saw the vacant, hollow look in Luna’s eyes, and the dark rings under them. She looked empty. Like she was dead already.

Celestia winced back, her ears drooping. “Luna…?”

“He’s calling…” Luna whispered, looking back up at the moon. “He’s calling us…”

Celestia blinked, confused. “What? Who? Who’s calling? What are you talking about?”

Luna reached a hoof up, slowly, mechanically, to point at the moon. Celestia followed her hoof, her confusion mounting.

“He… wants us…” Luna went on, her voice starting to go weak. She began to sag in place, leaning forward

“Luna?! Luna! Stay with me,” Celestia exclaimed, reaching out to catch her sister.

“Wants us… to…” Luna mumbled weakly, her eyes rolling up into the back of her head. She let off a weak whimper and fell utterly limp in Celestia’s hooves.

“LUNA!” Celestia shouted, pulling Luna against her chest. “Are you okay?! Say something! LUNA!”

Never in her life had she felt so scared before. Luna’s body felt impossibly heavy in her grasp, and so, so cold. For a brief moment, Celestia feared the worst. But, thankfully, she felt Luna shivering in her hooves. She was alive.

…But for how long?

“Luna, wake up!” Celestia shouted, leaning back to look into Luna’s face. The smaller filly did not respond. Her eyes were screwed tightly shut, her face twitching with pain and discomfort. Celestia gave her a shake, to no avail. “Luna! LUNA!”

Becoming frantic, Celestia carefully deposited Luna on her back and turned to return to the hut. Whatever was happening, she couldn’t deal with it in this cold. She started back at a brisk pace, her wings unfurling to take her into the air.

Until she saw the eyes.

Celestia froze in place, looking up and to her right. What little color was left in her face drained away. She saw it there, atop a nearby roof, and glaring down at her with murderous desire behind its frozen eyes. The air froze around it, glittering like frost.

“No… not again…” Celestia whimpered, her chest constricting with fear. She wanted to run, but her legs refused to obey. She was rooted to the spot, forced to meet the gaze of the baleful monster.

It stared at her, at Luna, its gaze calculating. Then, with no warning, it threw its head back and howled to the sky. Other howls answered it, and the wind roared. Celestia swallowed heavily as the realization dawned on her.

The hunt was on.

With a desperate gasp, Celestia turned and broke into a terrified gallop down the street. She heard more and more howls echoing in the air around her, far more than there had been last time. The light of the moon was swift to be smothered as new storm clouds rolled in, leaving the world beyond Celestia’s feeble sphere of light black as pitch. The chill in the air grew worse, amplified by the winds as they began to surge and buffet at Celestia with ferocious abandon.

She had no idea where she was going. She had no idea what she was going to do. The ghosts would be on top of her any moment, and she had no viable means of fighting back. She couldn’t run, either. She had nowhere to go, and without the cover of the forest, she had no hope of losing the ghosts. All she could think of was to try and lose them in the twists and turns of the streets and hide until they got bored and left.

But they were right behind her. They were beside her. She could see them in the corners of her eyes. Malevolent shades of blue and white, flickering between buildings, keeping pace with her effortlessly. They were toying with her. Playing with her.

Were she not so scared, she might have been insulted.

She ducked into an alley, desperate to try and lose them, but the tactic was doomed to fail from the start. One of the ghosts was waiting for her just ahead, rounding a corner with a delighted nicker. She dug in her hooves, sliding to a stop with a terrified scream. The ghost howled, advertising her location, and lunged.

Celestia cursed and threw herself at the window of the hut beside her. Pain lanced through her shoulder as she crashed into and through the wooden crossbeams, and her sides and hips burned as frigid stonework scraped her skin. She felt Luna’s limp form coming away from her back as she crashed into the heart of the room.

“Gah! L-Luna!” she gasped, searching for her sister. The smaller foal had crumpled to the floor a few feet away, and Celestia could hear her whimpering in pain. Celestia scrambled to her hooves, wincing in pain as her right hind leg burned from the movement, almost buckling under her weight. Stifling a cry, Celestia reached out with her magic and pulled Luna closer.

Luna was whimpering in her unconscious state, and a small trickle of red was slithering down her head from just above her horn.

Celestia had no time to feel guilty for the new injury she had caused. The beast was already squeezing in through the window after her. It grunted and snorted, its eyes ablaze with rage and frustration. Celestia turned her eyes to it, a fiery rage burning in her breast. “Leave us ALONE!” she roared at it, picking up anything and everything in the space and hurling it at the monster’s face with her magic.

The scattered clutter and bits of furniture only served to inflame the ghost’s anger, as evidenced when it answered her pitiful assault with a frightful roar. The air in the hut chilled around Celestia, and ice visibly began to creep along the walls from the rim of the window.

Celestia snarled at the monster before taking her sister in her magic and running out the door. Her injured leg burned with every step, slowing her down. By the time she was outside, more of the monsters were already closing in. Running was no longer an option. With a grimace, Celestia tucked Luna against her side, unfurled her wings, and took to the air.

The gale-force blizzard that had formed since this chase began immediately caught her wings and hurled her back into the wall of the house. She barely had time to shift Luna so that she wouldn’t take the impact. Pain exploded across her back, and she screamed against the wind in frustration and pain. She could hear the beast in the window pulling free. It would be on her at any moment.

With a surge of adrenaline, she managed to prise herself and her sister away from the wall and fought against the wind to gain altitude.

Her heart froze when she saw at least eight of the creatures rising to chase her from the streets. Some were more distant than others, but all of them were closing in, and fast.

Whimpering, Celestia let the wind guide her. It caught her wings as she turned in the air, accelerating her to speeds far faster than she was used to. The snow and wind slashed at her face like tiny daggers. She couldn’t see where she was going, but she was too terrified to care. She had to keep moving. Keep moving. Don’t let those things catch them.

A shape became visible up ahead, and as Celestia drew near, she recognized it as Mudflat’s old home. She was at the edge of Flatstone.

The beasts howled behind her, and Celestia knew she had run out of options. With a grimace, she angled her wings and dropped for the dead pony’s home. Maybe she could fortify it against these creatures? She’d have to be fast, but he had plenty of furniture.

The impact with the ground sent pain blossoming through Celestia’s bad leg. She collapsed to the ground with a cry, dropping Luna into the almost foot-high snow. A surge of panic overtook her, and she was quick to pick her sister up and gallop for the door. She only spared a brief glance for the small mound where she knew Mudflat’s corpse lay outside.

“I’m sorry,” she thought before darting inside and slamming the door with her magic.

There was a blissful second of silent peace. The light on Celestia’s horn let her see all of the furniture scattered throughout the old home, and all of the windows she would have to fortify if she had any hopes of keeping the ghosts at bay. She swallowed a lump in her throat. She may have overestimated herself…

She felt the door at her back suddenly jerk against her, and she almost toppled forward. Celestia gasped and pressed all of her weight back against the door with a cry of pain. “Just go away!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “What do you want from us?!”

The beast only roared in response. The door cracked and snapped as it slammed into it again. Celestia was hyperventilating at this point, unable to quell her terrified crying anymore. Her vision blurred with tears as the sound of shattering glass reached her ears. The beasts were breaking in, and nothing she could do now would stop them.

She was going to die. Luna was going to die.

“PLEASE!” she begged, screwing her eyes shut. “JUST LEAVE! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! MOM! DAD! HELP ME!”

The only thing that answered her was the call of the ghosts, as if to tell her she would be joining her parents in the grave. All she had to do was give in. Surrender. Submit.

The door behind her caved in with the sound of splintering wood. An impossible force slammed into Celestia’s back, sending her careening to the floor with a cry of pain. She rolled onto her back. The ghost loomed over her, its eyes flaring with hunger.

She scooted back and away from it along the floor, pulling Luna behind her with her magic. She shook her head frantically from side to side. “No, no! Please no!” she screamed. It advanced after her, unfazed by her terrified pleas.

She scooted as far as she could until the back of her head met the bar that sat at the back of the room. The other ghosts had slid in after the first one, surrounding her and cornering her. The air felt like death. In one last desperate attempt to save herself, Celestia grabbed one of the chairs in her magic and hurled it at the ghost in front of her. It struck the beast’s back, splintering uselessly against it. The ghost nickered at her as if in amusement.

Celestia’s heart was about to burst from how hard it was beating. Sweat and tears rolled down her face, her eyes wide and frantic. All thoughts were gone, save for those that might lead to her survival. But even then, she could think of nothing. She was pinned.

The beast above her reared back, its equine mouth peeling open.

Celestia screwed her eyes shut. “NO!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, sending magic flowing into her horn. There was no intent, no focus, no purpose. It was just raw magic, and a wish. A desperate, hopeless desire. The wish to go back to the old days, when her biggest worry was whether or not Luna would beat her at her next stupid little competition. When the sun shone down on her from above in the day, and the stars sang Luna to her sleep in the night. When she was warm, comfortable, and happy, and knew Luna was safe.

When the world was alive and made sense.

Something swelled in her breast at the fond memories, and for a moment, she almost thought she could feel that warmth on the tip of her horn.

She released the spell.

The wave of heat that struck her was so jarring it made her gasp in shock. The beasts roared in pain, and a familiar rush of flames sounded in Celestia’s ears.

She snapped her eyes open, confused. They flew wide when she saw the ghost directly in front of her now laying on the floor of the house several feet away, writhing and screaming as wisps of steam rose from its transparent form. It looked like it was melting, leaving a puddle of water on the floor.

And there, on the floor between them, the splintered remains of the chair slowly being consumed with spreading flames.

Celestia’s eyes widened. That was it! Fire!

Rising back to her hooves, she took the piece of the chair with the most fire, one of its legs, in her magic and hauled it in front of her like a weapon. Sparks and embers drifted past her from the effort, but she didn’t care. The ghosts recoiled from the light, letting out agitated howls.

“Get back!” she roared, her terror turning to rage. “Get back, all of you!”

One of the ghosts tried to charge her. Her throat went raw as she screamed, turning and plunging the flame into its face as it came at her. The impact sent her sliding back, but the ghost dropped to the ground, already beginning to melt. Its agonized shrieks became sloppy and wet as it gurgled on its own body.

Celestia bellowed, turning to the next one and swinging the fire at it haphazardly. “You monsters! You won’t take her from me, too!”

The ghost retreated, hissing at her as she chased it down. It tried to dodge around her, but she was quicker, her fury driving her on. She plunged the flame into its side, and like the others, it too sprawled to the floor in a melting heap.

Celestia spun to face the others. The fire in her veins turned to ice when she saw one of them picking Luna up in its jaws.

“NO!” she screamed, charging the beast. “PUT HER DOWN!”

It turned to her as if to use Luna as a shield, but Celestia was too furious to even hesitate. She tackled both of them, knocking Luna from the ghost's maw. She wrestled with the beast, even as ice began to encase her hooves and her tail. She was certain her throat was starting to bleed from how loud she was screaming, but she didn’t care. This thing had dared to touch her sister, and she would make it pay.

“Stay away from my sister!” she roared, bringing her torch against the side of the ghost. The flames finally went out, but not before the ghost collapsed to the floor beneath her. It struggled against her, thrashing violently, but she had it pinned. With her fire gone, however, she only had one other tool at her disposal to fight it.

She reared her hoof back and drove it into the ghost's face. The sound of crunching ice and splashing water filled her ears. “She’s my sister! Mine! MINE, YOU HEAR ME?!” she screeched, punching the vile beast over and over until it finally melted beneath her.

She turned her eyes to the others. She could see flames spreading across the floor from the fire she had started earlier, and the ghosts were withdrawing from the flames with hisses of discomfort, their eyes locked onto hers. She screamed at them like an animal, her horn once more flaring with light. “SHE’S MINE! I WON’T LET YOU TAKE HER FROM ME!”

The flaming debris of the chair lifted into the air, spinning wildly. Celestia ignored the sharp pain that traveled through her skull from levitating so many things at once. The ghosts backed away even further, looking about ready to run entirely. Celestia stepped after them, and their resolve finally crumbled. The ghosts turned to flee, flying out the windows.

Celestia blinked, almost confused. They were running? Something primal burned in her chest, and before she knew it, she was chasing after them, flaming debris swirling around her. She barged out into the night and hurled her munitions after the retreating ghosts, to no effect. They were already too far away.

“Stay away from us!” she screamed again. “Do you hear me, you bastards!? I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

The ghosts let out one last incensed cry over the wind as they withdrew before all fell quiet. The wind slowly began to die down, and with it, the flames of Celestia’s rage. A sudden feeling of dizziness washed over her. She crumpled to the ground, coughing as she realized how much her throat hurt. Spots of deep crimson splattered against the snow at her hooves. Her lungs felt like lead, and her head felt fuzzy.

Slowly, the clouds overhead began to part, if only slightly, and the light of the moon returned, shining down on Celestia. She looked up at it, her gaze distant.

It was strange. For a moment, it almost felt like the moon was looking back at her… And she couldn’t help but feel like she was being scolded.

Celestia dispelled the feeling with a shake of her head and turned to head back inside. She winced and hissed with every step as a sharp, burning pain raced up her injured hind leg. She glanced back at it and growled in dismay. An enormous, ugly bruise was forming on her flank, and every step brought a fresh wave of pain, each one worse than the last as her remaining adrenaline dwindled into nothing. She did her best to ignore the pain, though, and pushed on.

The flames were dying out now. Luna lay still on the floor, breathing softly, but the discomfort on her face wasn’t as bad as it had been. Celestia smiled with relief and gingerly hauled her little sister onto her back. Part of her felt grateful that Luna hadn’t been awake to see her display just now. Even as Celestia thought back on it, she felt a chill run down her spine as she recalled her own words.

…And then the chill faded when she decided that she meant it. If anyone, or anything, tried to touch her little sister again, she would kill them. She didn’t care who or what it was, pony or monster. Nothing was going to take her little sister away. This was the promise she had made, and she would keep it. No matter what. To hell with everything else.

“...Come on,” she whispered to Luna’s sleeping form as she hauled the filly onto her back with her magic and turned for the door. “Let’s get you home…”

As she went to leave, her eyes passed over one of the puddles that had once been a ghost. She paused, eyeing it carefully. It was faintly shimmering, wisps of steam-like vapors rising from the puddle. She realized with a churn of hatred and a thrill of fear that the vapors were glowing like magic.

She hadn’t killed them after all. Just delayed them.

“So what?…” she thought, her eyes drifting to the last of the fading fires in the corner. “I stopped them once. I’ll do it again.”

Her eyes lingered on the flame for a few seconds longer. Soon enough, the cold claimed that feeble flame, and it winked out, its frail light extinguished with nary more than a small puff of smoke.

Celestia sighed. Even if she had a way of fighting back against the ghosts, did it really make much of a difference? Mudflat’s home wouldn’t feed them forever. As soon as they ran out of food, they were going to be out of options. Her hope was short-lived, just like the now faded fire.

If they couldn’t figure something out soon, then their hunger would kill them no matter how many times she fought off the ghosts.

As Celestia’s eyes followed the last fading trails of smoke, she felt an odd twinge of familiarity… Until it blossomed into a memory from long ago, when she and her father had been gathering firewood.

“So how come we can’t use this wood for firewood right now?” Celestia asked curiously.

Sprout glanced back at their haul. “Ah, well, you see, fresh wood like this tends to have a lot of moisture or something in it. So when ya light it up, it makes a lot of smoke. Great for signal fires or if you wanna choke somepony to death, but not all that good for a household fireplace. We gotta let it dry out first before we can use it for the hearth. We’ll probably be using this wood next winter.”

Celestia’s eyes watched the smoke dissipate before turning to the slowly clearing sky outside. For the first time in what felt like forever, she could even see the stars. Under that pale glow, she could just make out the silhouetted peak of the mountain she had called home for most of her life against the obsidian sky.

“...A Signal fire…” Celestia whispered to herself, an idea slowly starting to form in her mind. She repeated the words to herself a few more times before shuddering as the cold continued to bite into her hide. She adjusted Luna’s form on her back before setting off at a limp into the snow, heading back for their shelter.

Once Luna was safe, she would rest. She was too tired for anything else right now. But after that, she had work to do.

Comments

[Funestis]

I am leaving this fic at chapter 7.
Don't get me wrong, the author is very talented and just looking at the reason why I'm leaving is point to his/her skill as a writer.
This fic is to dark for me. I deeply dislike grimdark even if it has just hint of it like this story.
Life in general nowadays is difficult, bleak and unforgiving so to additionally read about it happening to somebody else, regardless if I know them or not is just to much for me even if it is fiction.
Don't like dark stories, enough of them in real life.

[The Voice in the Water]

And so Celestia discovers her flame. Now hopefully she can forge the connection to the source, before the windegos overwhelm them.

[tavie]

holy shit.. was that a sk*nw**ker?!?

[TheCommunistDog]

11183706
well that is totally ok.

[Skijarama]

11183888
What?

[Level Dasher]

Just fire, huh? Convenient, but not exactly easy given what they have access to. Her last idea is a thought, though...

[Skijarama]

11184138
It bears repeating that it isn't a permanent solution to her problems. She didn't kill the windigos she struck down. Simply forced them to back off for a while. Need the fires of friendship that Clover and them discover to properly melt these bad boys. :)

[tavie]

11184100
ur not supposed to say or think the name bc it can let them hunt u and stuff so i censored it lol. google flesh pedestrian

[justheretoreadstories]

Celestia learns fire.

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