Rise and Shine

by Skijarama

XXI - Innocence Lost

Gathering what they may, the sisters set out from their ancestral home and braved the frosted wilds. Their hope: To reach the great city of the unicorns, far, far to the west. The hope is to find shelter, aid for the injured younger sister, and with some luck, somepony who may at last shed light on the mystery of the blizzard…

---

It was impossible to accurately gauge the passage of time. With the light of the sun proving an unreliable clock, the group decided to simply move either when they had the strength to do so, or when the winds died down enough that they had time to get a move on. As such, their travel came in hitching stops and starts, brief surges of activity marked by a rapid pace to cover as much ground as possible before the all-consuming blizzard forced them to seek cover once again.

The ‘night’ was the worst. When the sun finally went down and darkness bathed the world, it felt as if time itself had come to a stop. The ponies would huddle together, draped in as many blankets as they could manage, and as close to their faltering fires as they could manage. The warmth was enough to keep them alive and keep the feeling in the tips of their hooves. But that was the extent of their comfort. Beyond the light of their fires, the world was empty blackness and roaring wind.

On more than one occasion, Starglow approached the sisters, trying to strike up a conversation. Every time, Celestia brushed him aside. She still wasn’t entirely sure she trusted these ponies, and she was even more unsure of how to even talk to the smiling colt. She couldn’t comprehend why Starglow kept smiling like that. He was just as nervous and afraid of this winter as the rest of them. However, he somehow had it in him to smile, to laugh. Granted, he was mostly fawning over her wings and asking about her magic, but still. His enthusiasm was bewildering, and Celestia didn’t have time for it.

“We’re getting close to unicorn territory,” Starshine said one ‘morning’ as the group was setting out from their last campsite. The darkness had faded a short while ago, and the winds were fair. She scanned the surrounding terrain with narrowed eyes. There were no trees in sight, but there was a long and sweeping mountain range that vaguely reminded Celestia of jagged teeth that ran along the horizon to their right. “I know those mountains. The Mongrel’s Fangs, they’re called. Their end marks a point in the border. Another day or two and we’ll cross into unicorn territory.”

Celestia had nothing to say to that. She was relieved by their progress - though that relief was small and withering, given the fact that the whole world was still frozen, and they had yet to cross paths with any other ponies since leaving Flatstone. Once again, she found herself questioning if there was anypony else alive beyond this group.

“Will there be more ponies there?” Luna asked quietly, echoing Celestia’s grim thoughts in a hopeful question.

Starshine’s ears drooped for a moment, but only a moment, before flicking back upright. She turned back to the smaller foal with a tender smile. “I don’t know, but I hope so. We unicorns may lack the gifts of strength and constitution, but we are far from helpless. I’m sure my kin have found ways to survive.”

Celestia hummed, putting away the last of her things in her saddlebags. “Then let’s get moving. The sooner we find help, the better.”

Nopony had any arguments for that, and so they set off. There was no more conversation for a time, and Celestia once again found herself trailing in the back of the group, allowing Starshine and her son to lead the way.

Once they had been walking for a while, though, Glow slowed down until he was walking beside her. Celestia pulled her coat tighter around herself and gave the colt an exasperated glance. Part of her wanted to cut him off before he said a word and ask that he just leave her alone already, but she bit her tongue.

“So, what kinds of games did you play?” he asked simply.

Celestia frowned at him, baffled by the question. “What?”

“Back in your home, I mean,” he clarified. “You said you lived in the mountains alone with your mom and dad, right? So, what kinds of games did you play up there?”

Celestia stared at him for a moment, then shook her head in exasperation. “Why do you want to know? We have more important things to worry about than playing games,” she remarked.

Glow was undeterred. “I know, I know. But once we get to the city and we’re safe, we’ll have all the time in the world. And besides, I’m curious,” he said.

Celestia looked ahead with a scoff. “I’m not interested in playing,” she spat. “I just want to get my sister somewhere safe and keep her that way. Nothing else matters.”

She felt Luna stirring on her back, but she ignored it. She just focused on the road ahead. Beside her, Starglow’s ears drooped slightly. “But… you can’t be gloomy all the time,” he said carefully.

Celestia snorted. “What I don’t understand is how you’re not.”

“Well, because I know everything’s gonna be okay,” Starglow said with a truly staggering amount of confidence. It was such a shock to Celestia that she drew to a halt. She turned to face Starglow, genuinely dumbstruck. But even in spite of the look she gave him, Glow’s expression did not falter. “We’re going to the unicorn city, the best city in all the world! That’s where all of the smartest ponies are, and all the powerful mages and wizards! And my mom’s a super smart and powerful wizard, too. If anypony can fix all this, it’s them!”

He took a step closer to Celestia and gave her a tender and inviting smile. He lifted a hoof out to her. “And even if they don’t, I still wanna be friends with you.”

Celestia blinked. “Friends…?” she questioned in surprise. She knew the word, of course, but thinking about it, she had never really had friends before. The closest thing to that was her family, but did they really count?

Glow’s grin widened. “Yeah! I mean, I’ve never had a friend before, and you’re just so cool!”

“Cool?” Celestia asked, her muzzle scrunching up as a stray snowflake landed on it. “Are you trying to make a joke?”

Starglow did not seem to comprehend what she was implying. “I mean it! You’ve got wings and a horn, you’re taking care of a sister - totally jealous of that, by the way - and you’re really good with magic!”

His enthusiasm was smothered by something more solemn a second later, and he held out his hoof a little farther. “And besides. You’re the first pony my age I’ve ever met. Before all this started, Mom sometimes said she wished I could have some friends. So, why not you? And besides… I think you could really use one. You’re always so grumpy and sad and stuff, and mom says friends can make that better.”

Celestia stared at Glow for several long seconds. Her eyes lingered on his outstretched hoof, and she felt her heart pull toward him. There was a softness in his eyes, a warmth and kindness that she hadn’t seen in what felt like forever. She wasn’t even sure she remembered where she had seen it before, but she knew she had. She found herself wanting to believe him, believe that he was right and that the adults would put everything right.

She lifted a hoof a few inches off the ground. It wavered, a battle waging behind her eyes. Starglow’s smile widened just a little more at seeing her dam starting to break, and he drifted his hoof forward just a little more as if coaxing a frightened animal to come and see that it was in no danger.

Before Celestia could say anything, however, she heard a gasp from up ahead. All thoughts of a friendship with Starglow were cast aside for the moment as the young mare turned her eyes forward. Starshine had pulled some ways ahead of them during their chat and was now at the top of the next hill. She turned back to them with wide eyes and an eager smile. “Kids, come on!” she hollered. “Don’t fall behind! There’s a town!”

Luna perked up on Celestia’s back. “A town?” she echoed hopefully. “Are there ponies there?!”

Starshine’s smile faltered as the foals scrambled to catch up to her. She turned to look just as Celestia reached her side.

Up ahead, there was a small village, smaller even than Flatstone had been. It sat in the middle of a wide-open expanse that might have once been a gorgeous field. The distinct lack of any water sources nearby would have stifled the growth of such a settlement, however. The architecture was more of the same practical earth pony construction that Celestia had gotten used to.

Celestia frowned. “I don’t think so,” she muttered gravely. “Look. The windows are all dark. No lights.”

Starshine nodded in agreement. “Good catch. If there were ponies still living here, they would have fires going to keep warm. I suspect they’ve probably moved on, like the ponies back in Flatstone did.”

“Or like us,” Starglow added, his expression and his tone turning notably grim.

There was a moment of quiet before another frosty chill swept over the group. Stifling a shutter, Starshine stepped back into motion. “Come on, let’s have a look. If there are ponies still here, maybe they can help. If not, there may be supplies we can scavenge,” she said to the others, pulling her cloak around herself a little tighter.

Starglow bounded after her, but Celestia lingered. Her eyes were locked on the small hamlet, and her expression darkened. There wouldn’t be anypony. She knew that already. Gone into the white, just like Flatstone. She could only hope that the populations had managed to survive out here.

A moment later, she felt Luna stirring on her back again, and her sister spoke in a soft, sad whisper. “Starglow’s right, you know. You used to play all the time…”

Celestia’s eyes fell. Those days felt so very long ago, now. A part of her wondered it they had ever actually happened, or if her recent experiences had forced her to conjure memories of a happy life that were never real. “...That was before the world ended, Lu,” she replied in a quiet whisper. “I don’t have time to play.”

“Tia…” Luna said softly, pulling the elder sister’s attention. She turned her head to see Luna’s face. Her eyes were boring into her, wide and concerned. A second later, Luna reached out to place a hoof on Celestia’s cheek. “You have to take care of yourself, too.”

Celestia looked back to the town, starting after Shine and Glow. “You first, Luna,” she stated emphatically. She could practically sense that Luna wanted to press the subject, but chose not to for the time being.

Celestia caught up with the parent and child swiftly, and when the group arrived at the edge of town, her suspicions were confirmed. A wave of deja vu came over Celestia as they stepped through empty, silent streets, surrounded by dark, abandoned homes.

“Nopony,” she said after a moment. “All gone.”

Starshine slumped in place, shaking her head. “A shame…” she said, defeated. She shook herself and refocused her attention. “Still, we shouldn’t pass this up. Come on, let’s see what we can find while the winds are agreeable.”

Celestia only nodded, having nothing else to add. She followed dutifully along behind Starshine, and bit by bit, they began to poke their heads into the various houses, searching for supplies. Celestia had been expecting everything to have been taken. Curiously, however, there was at least something useful in just about every home they entered. They were able to gather blankets to keep them warm at night, and firewood to last them for a few more days. They even stumbled open the occasional tool, such as a hammer or a shovel. There was no food, however.

Their trek soon took them onto a long and narrow street that sliced cleanly through the heart of the town. Abandoned stalls lined it on either side, the cloth canopies that might have sheltered merchants hawking their goods long since caved in from the weight of the snow. The occasional lump and mound of snow marred the edges of the lane. All of the town’s main roads connected to this avenue. But at the far end of the avenue, Celestia caught sight of a structure she had never seen before.

She pointed to it, tilting her head. “Hey, what’s that?” she asked. Starshine and her son followed her gesture, and as a group, they approached.

It was not a building in the conventional sense. It was a square stone platform, roughly thirty feet from end to end. Pillars rose into the air at each of the four corners, supporting a suspended roof. Unlit braziers sat before each of the pillars, facing toward a large stone bowl that was set into the very center of the platform. Its outer side was etched and engraved with symbols of leaves and vines coiling over hills and mountains. The bowl itself was filled with a pristine sheet of ice.

Most striking of all about the structure were the gravestones that lay behind it. Celestia recognized them for what they were as soon as she saw them. Great blocks of stone had been erected where a pony lay dead, buried under several feet of dirt and half that depth again in the snow.

“A shrine,” Starshine whispered quietly, drawing Celestia’s attention. The mare’s eyes were solemn, but there was something else in them, too. Curiosity, and a sort of subdued, distant respect. She took a tentative step forward, running her hoof gently along the rim of the bowl.

“What’s a shrine?” Celestia asked curiously, wrinkling up her nose at the unfamiliar word.

Starshine turned back to her, surprised. “What? You don’t know?”

It was Luna who answered. “Mom and dad never said anything to us about shrines.”

There was a moment of quiet before Starshine offered a quiet nod. “Some ponies believe in… higher powers, I guess you could call them. Spirits that overlook our world from someplace we cannot see. And those same ponies believe that they can benefit from being favored by those spirits. They gain that favor by offering gifts and praise to them in places like this. If I am not mistaken, this bowl would be a place where offerings would be made to the spirit the earth ponies give praise to. And in exchange, they would ask for favors. A good harvest. Safety from harm. That their dead rest in peace. That sort of thing.”

Celestia hummed quietly, looking past the bowl and onto the graveyard. “Do the spirits have names?” she asked in a soft murmur.

Starshine shrugged softly. “I can’t claim I know all the names the earth ponies give to their guardians. However, the most common, as I understand it, was Mother Earth. The spirit of the land itself, the origin of every living thing, big and small, plant and animal.”

Celestia nodded softly. “Mother Earth…” she whispered. She had heard the name before. Mudflat had uttered it once or twice, but never had she been given reason to consider the reverent way he had said it. She had been too caught up in her distaste for the selfish old bastard to care.

A second later, she reached into her bags with her magic and withdrew one of the many small figurines that Sprout had carved for his foals. She swallowed heavily. It would be an empty, hollow gesture, she knew it. Her father was dead. But if there was any truth to what Starshine had just told her, if there was some spirit of the earth that could grant her parents peace…

She stepped a little closer to the bowl. She looked down at her reflection in the ice, holding out the figurine. She almost jumped in shock at what she saw. The haggard, bruised, and near-emotionless face that stared back at her could not have been her own. Every facet of her features had been marked or ruined. Her mane had grown out long, wild and matted, caked with dirt and mud. Her face was smeared with discolorations leftover from bruises and smears of frozen blood she had never taken a chance to clean away.

All at once, she realized where she had seen the warmth in Glow’s eyes before. She sucked in a quiet gasp before pulling the carving against her chest, hoping to feel some warmth there, some familiar tingle.

There was nothing.

A moment later, she closed her eyes, shook her head, and replaced the figurine in her bag. “Come on,” she choked out, her eyes hidden by her mane as she turned to walk away from the shrine. “We’re wasting time…”

On her back, she felt Luna’s hooves curling around her neck to give her a tight hug. She wished she could feel it.

---

Over the next hour or so, the group continued their search of the homes and abandoned structures of the village. There was precious little else to be had, however, and there was only one other place that they had to search. It would likely prove to be the most time-consuming, and Celestia was more than ready to be rid of this town.

Situated not so very far away from the rest of the village at the top of a shallow hill was a wooden fence that surrounded a broad and largely barren property. At the back of the property sat a modest home, a touch larger than all the others, accompanied by a barn off to the left and a smaller shed off to the right. A gate in the fence out back led out to sweeping fields that Celestia could only imagine had once belonged to a field of crops.

“Three buildings,” Starshine muttered quietly, her brow furrowing in curiosity. She scuffed the snow for a moment, then turned to Celestia. “We’ll make better time if we split up. Glow and I will search the shed. Why don’t you two search the barn, and we can search the main house together?”

Celestia wasn’t sure she liked the idea of splitting the party like that, but given that the storm could come after them again at any moment, she couldn’t find it in her to argue. With a simple shrug, she ensured Luna was secure on her back before setting off for the barn.

The large double doors in the front of the structure were caked in frost and a layer of crusty ice - albeit thinner than what they had seen in the rest of the town so far. Celestia wiped a hoof along the wooden surface for a moment, frowning, then tried to open it with her magic. The ice crackled and let out a series of whistling squeaks in protest, holding the wooden doors shut. Celestia growled in frustration, her horn flaring brightly. “Oh no, don’t you dare slow me down right now,” she seethed as chips of ice and snow broke away to bite against her trembling cheeks. “I. Am not. In the mood!”

With a cacophonous sound of splintering wood and shattering ice, the barn doors finally swung open. Celestia was hit by a gust of stale, dry air, a cloud of billowing dust, and a foul stench. She waved a wing in front of her to chase the dust away, covering her muzzle with a hoof, before taking in the contents of the structure.

She had never been inside a barn before, so she wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to expect. As such, she was understandably taken by surprise when she beheld a large wooden wagon parked in the heart of the barn, the back covered with a canvas tarp, and all in remarkably good condition!

Her eyes flew wide, and for a moment, she felt a spark of excitement. “Woah… Look at this, Luna!” she said, carefully lifting the other filly off her back and setting her down beside her.

Luna’s eyes locked onto the wagon, and her own expression lit up, in spite of her exhaustion. “A wagon!” she said, taking a few steps forward. “It’s huge!”

Celestia nodded eagerly, her wings carrying her up to peer into the wagon through the gap in the front of the canopy. It was far larger than the small and piddly cart that Sprout had used to haul around chunks of fallen trees for firewood. There was enough room back here for everypony to sleep - albeit without the consideration of personal space. And if they didn’t use it for that, there was still plenty of space for them to store extra food and supplies.

Her elation at the discovery was soured somewhat when she saw the curled-up form on the floor in the back of the barn against the wall. Celestia recognized it at once as a pony. Her grin disappeared, and she dropped back down to the floor.

“Luna, stay where you are,” Celestia instructed sharply, not bothering to lower her voice. The other pony would have heard them by now. Celestia looked back to her sister and gave a grim nod. “We’re not alone.”

Luna swallowed heavily and stayed in place. Her horn lit up, the blue glow of her magic flickering irregularly, and pulled her blanket tighter against herself to ward off the cold. Satisfied that she would stay out of harm's way, Celestia turned and carefully crept around the wagon toward the curled-up pony.

As she drew closer, she could make out more details. They appeared to be older than Celestia by a few years. A female earth pony, their fur was colored a vibrant shade of pink, while her wild mane and tail were the color of apples and cherries. A cutie mark of a wheel made of cherries, their stems making up the spokes, adorned the pony’s flanks. Celestia could not see her face from here, hidden as it was by her forelegs.

“Hello?” Celestia called out softly. The pony did not respond. A horrible feeling built up in her gut, and she crept a little closer. “Hello? Who are you? Are you okay?”

Still, no response, and Celestia was beginning to feel an all-too-familiar chill. A lump formed in her throat, and she drew up short a few paces away from the curled-up form. Carefully, she reached out with her magic to shake her.

The body was stiff, and Celestia realized with a horrific churning in her gut that the mare was dead. She expected to feel the urge to throw up, but all she felt was a small wave of nausea. Still, she wanted to turn and leave, to leave the body and tell Starshine and Starglow about the wagon so they could get out of here and get away. But a morbid curiosity came over her, and she couldn’t help but slowly advance closer to the corpse.

“What was your name…?” Celestia asked as she sat on her haunches before the body. “What did you do here? How did you live? How… how did you die?”

The dead body had no answer for her. A chilly wind blew outside like a mocking laugh.

“Still,” she muttered softly, once more reaching out with her magic. “You don’t deserve to rot in the back of an abandoned barn… Let’s give you a proper…”

Celestia’s words trailed off as she gingerly hefted the body into the air with her magic, trying not to disturb its posture too much. But as it rose, and their barrel became visible, Celestia’s eyes were drawn inevitably to the long, clean slice that had opened the pony’s belly.

Celestia screamed, dropping the body back to the ground with a crunching thud.

“Tia?!” Came Luna’s voice from the entrance, and Celestia could hear her sister’s smaller hooves scrambling against the hard-packed floor of the barn. “Tia, what is it?! Are you okay?!”

She swiftly turned and ran back to her sister, partly to stop her from moving and hurting herself, and partly to keep her from seeing the horrific sight. “Luna, get back!” she commanded the moment the smaller foal came into sight. Celestia didn’t wait for Luna to respond, she simply took a hold of her in her magic and swiftly carried her back to the barn’s entrance.

Luna squirmed in place, eyes wide with fright. “W-what is it? What’s going on? Are we in danger?!” she asked, her eyes darting back to where Celestia had found the murdered corpse.

Celestia cringed, glancing back toward the body again. A moment later, she carefully placed Luna back between her withers. “We might be. I found a dead body. Come on,” she said before quickly cantering out of the barn. Up ahead, she could see Starshine marching out of the little shed, carrying a woodcutter’s axe beside her in her magic. Starglow trotted at her side, looking anxiously at the larger home.

“Starshine!” Celestia called out, swiftly crossing the remaining distance between them. She slid to a stop in front of the adult before jerking her head back toward the barn. “Starshine, we’re not safe. I found a body in the barn.”

Were it not for his coat color, Starglow might have gone pale at that. He took a frightened step back while his eyes locked on his mother. Starshine frowned, her eyes darting around for a moment. “Are you sure they didn’t just starve or freeze?”

Celestia shook her head. “That’s what I thought at first. But her belly was open. Snow and hunger don’t do that.”

Starshine’s skeptical expression instantly hardened into one of suspicion as she looked back toward the larger house. She pulled the axe close against her side, and Celestia could see how tight she was holding it in her magic by the way the aura glowed. Next to his mother, Starglow let out a quiet whimper and pressed himself closer to Starshine. “Are we gonna be okay?” he asked quietly.

“I won’t let anything touch you,” Starshine told him without hesitation. She knelt down to give the quivering colt a quick hug, then nodded at the sisters. “Any of you.”

Celestia swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded along slowly. “S-so what do we do? If whatever did that is still around, I don’t wanna stick around,” she put forward, glancing anxiously at the house. It seemed to loom larger and more ominously before her than before, and she felt a thrill of danger creeping up her spine from the base of her tail just looking at it.

Starshine gave the house an appraising look of her own. A moment later, she turned back to the sisters. “Did you find anything else in that barn? Anything of use?” she asked quickly, clearly trying to determine if a search of the house was worth the risk.

Luna piped up. “Um, we found a big wagon,” she said, pointing back. “It’s got a cover, too.”

Starshine looked that way, and even from here, Celestia knew the wagon was visible. The adult mare’s expression was visibly torn. A moment later, she swallowed heavily. “...The food we have isn’t going to last much longer, and who knows when we’ll get another chance to resupply,” she reasoned carefully. “If we have a wagon, that means more space for supplies, especially food for the road. We can’t let this chance to stockpile slip us by. We’ll just have to risk it.”

Celestia wanted to argue, to bring attention to Luna’s injury again, but bit on her tongue. As much as she hated to admit it, Starshine was right. They wouldn’t last much longer on the food they had, and if they died en route, all of this would have been for nothing. She took a slow, deep breath and gave a firm nod. “Alright. But we stick together,” she insisted. “No more splitting up. We watch each other’s backs.”

Starshine gave Celestia a surprised glance. It swiftly morphed into an impressed and appreciative smile. She nodded. “Good idea, Celestia. I’ll go first. The rest of you, stay close,” she instructed.

The group got into formation, and then, with Starshine leading the way, they pushed into the house. The wooden door gave off a low creak, long and loud, as they pushed it open. Celestia was expecting another blast of stale air and the smell of dust as she stepped into the first room. What she got instead was a foul stench that drew her mind back to a clearing of dead deer. The smell almost made Celestia turn tail and run.

“By the Stars,” Starshine gasped, drawing up short. A hoof flew up to cover her mouth, stifling a series of coughs and gags. Starglow mirrored the action, his eyes squinting as they watered.

“Ew! What’s that smell?!” he demanded in disgust.

Celestia felt the chill seeping into her fur. She looked past the two to see the source. Two bodies lay sprawled on the floor, partially decomposed. The wooden floorboards beneath them were blackened with dried smears. To Celestia’s surprise, however, the bodies were not those of earth ponies. The metallic plates covering their bodies and the limp wings sprawled out beside them made it clear.

“Pegasi?” she asked in shock.

“Huh?” Luna said from her back, stirring to try and get a better look. Celestia tried to warn her not to look, but the words came too late, and Luna let out a mortified whimper. Celestia quickly pried her off her back and set her down so that she wouldn’t hurl all over her back if the smaller foal had to retch.

Starshine’s horn flared with more light, illuminating the whole room. It looked to be the equivalent of the living room back in Celestia’s old house in the mountains. A hearth was set into the wall directly across from the door, long having burnt itself out. A collection of old and tattered cushions were spread out in front of it. A door off to the right opened into what appeared to be a bedroom, while a long counter dominated the left wall with a simple stove. A trapdoor was set into the floor beside the counter, and it stood open. Numerous sacks stuffed to the point of bursting were scattered against the walls.

One of the bodies lay against the wall, head lolled to the side. Celestia could just make out the open gash in their throat. Judging by their face and their build, she guessed they were a stallion. The other body was in the middle of the room, flopped haphazardly on its side and curled into a delta position. A mare with shriveled, icy blue fur and a wispy silver mane and tail. A hole ran through her chest and out her back, tall and narrow. Her eyes were wide and gaping, devoid of light and glistening as if encased in ice.

“W-what would the pegasi be doing here?” Celestia questioned, not as disturbed by the bodies as she probably should have been. She stepped carefully around Starshine to get a better look at the dead mare. “And what happened to them?”

Starshine’s lips drew tight into a thin line. She knelt down in front of the mare as well, examining the wound. “The pegasi demanded payments of food and other ground-made essentials from the Earth Ponies in exchange for bringing the weather patterns needed to tend the soil,” she explained, gingerly closing the dead mare’s eyes with her magic. “But with this winter destroying the land…”

She let the sentence hang, the implications settling over the assembled ponies like a frozen blanket. Celestia felt stifled, strangled, and with a huff, turned away from the bodies. “That doesn’t explain how they died,” she pointed out.

“The wounds are clean,” Starshine observed, turning to the stallion against the wall. “These weren’t made by a savage animal tearing into them. And the bodies haven’t been eaten, either. These wounds were made with a blade. Was the body in the barn like this?”

Celestia frowned, nodding, and once again felt a thrill of danger running down her spine. Trying to distract herself, she made for the nearest of the sacks and pulled it open with her magic. Her eyes flew wide at what she saw. It was a practical harvest inside. Apples, carrots, onions, and turnips filled the sack, joined with rough-hewn blocks of ice and what appeared to be more sprinklings of salt to preserve them.

She stomped the floor a few times, turning back to the others. “Guys! Guys, there’s food!” she shouted, hauling the sack over. The others gathered around, peering into the pouch. Starglow’s eyes lit up, and he quickly drew out one of the apples with his magic.

“Woah!” he said, turning it this way and that. “These apples are green!”

“Granny smiths, they’re called,” Starshine told him with a little nod. She turned back to the pegasus bodies, frowning, and then to the various sacks around the room. “I think I know where the food in town went…”

Before anypony could say anything else, a sound cut through the room. Everypony went rigid. Celestia quickly moved to Luna’s side, her ears perked up and listening. Starshine did much the same, nudging Starglow close to her side while she lifted her axe.

A second later, the sound came again, from the open trap door leading down into the basement. Celestia’s chest felt cold when she realized what it was.

Somepony was in the house with them. And they were sobbing.

“They sound scared,” Luna said softly, leaning forward slightly. She looked up at Celestia. “We should help them.”

Celestia shook her head. “No. For all we know, that could be the same pony that killed these pegasi. Too risky.”

Starshine’s expression darkened considerably, and her axe slowly lowered. “And if it’s not?” she questioned. “What if it’s part of the family that lived here? Or another scavenger, like us?”

Starglow nodded eagerly. “Yeah, we can’t just leave them! We gotta at least check!”

Celestia fought the urge to growl in frustration. She was outvoted, though. “...Alright, fine,” she relented. She turned back to Luna and once again carefully lifted the foal onto her back. “Come on. Be careful.”

Starshine once again took the lead, descending the steps into the cellar, with the foals following close behind. The basement stretched out across the entire underbelly of the house and was lined with shelves stacked with more pouches of food. Casting her light around, Starshine illuminated first a set of discarded pegasus armor up against a corner, alongside a pair of sharpened blades, the steel of their edges tarnished with black smears. Deeper in, a collection of three bedrolls lay rolled out in a line. Only one of them was occupied.

A pegasus stallion was in it, curled into a fetal position and clutching at his head. He shook and trembled, sobbing uncontrollably. He looked young, only a few years older than Celestia. Celestia’s ears drooped. The poor boy was barely even an adult. His once lush green coat now hung loosely around his emaciated frame. His blonde mane draped in dirty matted clumps in front of his face. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in weeks, judging by the dark bags under his eyes.

After a moment, Starshine called out. “Hello?”

The pegasus stiffened, gasping. He cracked open an eye, revealing it to be bloodshot and devoid of color, as if it had frozen into ice. Even so, Celestia could see the frosty tears rolling in crystalline clumps down his face. In the back of her mind, something screamed at her to run.

“U-unicorns?” the pegasus babbled between his choking sobs. “N-no. No. C-cant be. Dreaming again. Seeing things. Not real. You’re not real. G-go away!”

Starshine’s ears drooped. Slowly, she lowered her axe and lifted a hoof in a soothing gesture. “We’re real. It’s alright. We’re not here to hurt you,” she said slowly. “We just want some answers. What happened here?”

The pegasus sniffled again and slowly pushed himself up to his haunches. “W-what? You’re… real? B-but… w-why? How? How are… why are… I don’t…”

Starshine smiled softly. “We’re real. We mean you no harm.”

The stallion just stared at them for a few seconds, then looked down. “I.. I h-haven’t seen anypony else since… I-it’s been so long. I don’t…”

“Ssshh, shh,” Starshine gently shushed him, stepping a little closer. “It’s okay. Take your time. Take a deep breath for me.” The stallion complied, taking in a slow, deep breath, then letting it out in a withering sigh. Satisfied, Shine sat down on her haunches before him. “Now, start from the beginning what happened?”

The pegasus sniffled again, wiping a hoof over his face. “W-we, um… w-we were sent by commander Hurricane,” he mumbled, looking down at the floor. “F-food’s running out in the cloud city. S-snow keeps t-t-taking our b-best flyers. H-had to start c-conscripting… I didn’t wanna come…”

He lifted his hooves up, staring down at them. He was shaking more now, but it didn’t look like it was from the cold. “We w-were gonna collect the food. Y-you know, that the Earth Ponies owed us. I th-thought we w-were gonna talk to them. I t-thought we’d negotiate. Threaten, maybe. Make an example or two at worst. B-but… b-but… oh, winds, I can’t…”

“What happened?” Luna pressed gently, sliding down from Celestia’s back. Celestia turned to her, eyes narrowed in a warning and a hoof on the smaller foal’s chest to keep her back. Still, Luna persisted. “Did something go wrong?”

The pegasus shuddered and clutched at the sides of his head. “The S-sargeant… s-she said to… to… s-sge ordered us to… k-kill them all.”

Celestia quickly pulled Luna back, and she heard Starglow gasping behind her. Her mind wandered back to the mounds of snow by the edges of the market street, and the supplies that remained in the houses.

The pegasus continued, his voice rising in volume with hysterics. “She looked so cold… It was the ice. The ice got in her eyes! M-made her wrong! She just… we just… stallions. Mares. The elderly… everypony… we… she m-made us kill everypony! S-she smiled while we did it!”

Starshine narrowed her eyes. “And you obeyed such an order?” she questioned.

“I had no choice!” the pegasus wailed pathetically, curling in on himself. The mare and foals took a few steps back as he slumped back to the ground, continuing his lament in a pitiful moan. “You don’t understand. Nopony understands. I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t disobey. Nopony can disobey. When you get an order, you have to follow. Discipline... Honor…”

“But killing an entire town?!” Celestia shot back at him, her mind returning to the poor mare she had found in the barn. “Could these ponies even defend themselves?! Is THAT your idea of honor?!”

The pegasus flinched under her words. “...You’re right,” he choked out, slowly starting to rock back and forth in place as more tears rolled down his cheeks. “Coward. Wrong. We were wrong. It was wrong. It was evil. She was evil. My friend. He agreed with me. We agreed that she was wrong. She had to be stopped. W-we tried to talk to her. Tell her. Convince her… she… she cried insubordination… her eyes… they were all ice, then.

“...She killed him. And I…” He buried his face in his hooves, and once again he started sobbing. “I had to kill h-her! She was going to kill m-me, and I had to kill her! Oh, winds, I had to kill her! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to! I’m s-so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry! I just w-wanted… I just…”

He trailed off into silence, quivering in place, holding himself and sobbing hysterically into his hooves. Celestia turned to Starshine, sharing a glance with the mare. She looked just as unsettled and disturbed as Celestia felt.

“She called them savages,” the boy continued. “Called them monsters. She was smiling. Evil. She was evil. I did the right thing. But I killed them first. The ponies of this town… I’m evil, too. I’m a killer. I’m a murderer. Winds take me, I’m a murderer…”

“Hey, calm down,” Starshine said gently. “Take a deep breath. It’s over, now.”

A moment passed. Then another. The stallion looked up at them, and Celestia saw again how his eyes had frosted over. She recalled with a spike of adrenaline what he had said about his commander. The ice had gotten into her eyes…

Suddenly, the stallion froze. He sniffed at the air with one long and unnaturally deep inhale. When he let it out, the sound of crackling ice accompanied it. He licked his quivering lips, his jaw hanging partially open. He was trying to speak, to say something, but the words caught in his throat several times before, finally, he forced them out. “Y-you… you smell of it,” he breathed.

Celestia recoiled, taking another step back for the ladder. “W-what?” she asked.

The pegasus stood on trembling legs. He slogged forward, his head dangling loosely, swaying on his neck like a pendulum with every unstable step he took. “You smell of it. You reek of it,” he accused, his miserable voice rising with every word.

Starshine took another step back herself. Slowly, she lowered her axe and held her hoof up again. “Stop. What are you talking about?”

The stallion snarled, swinging his head limply to one side to slam into one of the shelves with an echoing thud. “Why?! Tell me why?! Why did this happen?! Why do you smell of it?! What are you?! What have you done?!”

“I haven’t done anything!” Celestia countered, taking another fearful step back. “I’m just trying to survive, same as you!”

“LIAR!” the pegasus bellowed, slamming his head into the shelf once again.

Starshine growled low in her throat. She focused on the stallion in front of her and lifted her axe. “Please, sir, you’re mistaken,” she insisted. “J-just stay back. I’m warning you! I don’t want to hurt you! Just calm down, please-”

The stallion, however, was not dissuaded. His eyes burned with a frantic craze, and Celestia spotted something leaking out of the corner of his mouth. “Liar. Monster. Killer!” he accused. Then, he screamed, his jaw cracking like ice as it opened unnaturally wide. “YOU DID THIS TO ME!”

And then he was charging them.

Starshine hesitated only for a moment to swing her axe, and a moment was all the pegasus needed. His frail form smashed into the unicorn mare with remarkable force, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. Starglow cried out in fear, backpedaling from the ensuing scuffle. The pegasus was snapping and biting at Shine’s face like a rabid dog, and his frantic snarls and grunts were just as feral.

“Get off of me!” Starshine cried, forcefully shoving the pegasus to one side into one of the shelves. It toppled over with a great cacophony, and the pegasus screamed. His voice had become something foul and unnatural.

Starshine quickly rolled back to her hooves, panting for breath. “Time to go,” she said to the kids in a frantic whisper. She quickly scampered for the steps. Celestia and the others didn’t need to be told twice. Celestia quickly scooped Luna up into her magic and ran for the stairs.

Starglow went first, scrambling up and out with a terrified scream. Celestia was next, hauling Luna along with her. Starshine waited by the base of the steps, her horn aglow with magic and ready to fight the pegasus off if he came at them again. Celestia heard him screaming behind her, his voice crackling with ice.

“Move!” Starshine shouted, shoving Celestia up the steps just in time to keep her from being tackled by the charging pegasus. He shot out of the darkness and smashed into Starshine with remarkable force. Her eyes bulged in their sockets as she was forced into the wall, and before she could follow up, the pegasus smashed his hoof into the side of her face with an echoing snap. She crumpled on the spot, her eyes rolling unevenly in her skull.

Celestia turned to her, eyes wide. “Starshine!” she shouted, quickly setting Luna down by Starglow, who was waiting by the front door. With a shout, Celestia went to charge down to try and help the mare. She made it only a step before the pegasus turned to her, his hoof rising up to strike Celestia’s chin. Her teeth clacked together painfully in her mouth as stars exploded across her vision, and she fell back to the floor.

Celestia was vaguely aware of a gust of air as the pegasus shot past her. Coughing out something that smelled like copper, she rolled over onto her belly.

And then she heard Luna screaming.

Looking up, Celestia saw that the stallion had pinned Luna to the floor, his eyes dripping freezing water and clumps of ice onto her face. He leaned close to the frantically squirming filly, uncomfortably so, until his nose was right up in her face. Celestia tried to stand, but her legs weren’t responding quite right.

“Get off of me!” Luna shrieked, uselessly batting her wings against him. “It hurts! You're hurting me! Please, stop!”

“It’s your fault,” he finally rasped. He pulled back, lifting his hoof up to punch her. “IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”

“STOP!” Celestia roared, finally forcing herself to stand as fire and rage overwhelmed any fear she might have been feeling. She took a step forward, flames flickering into being on the tip of her horn.

On the ground, with a grunt, Luna found just enough leverage to drive one of her back hooves up and between the pegasus’ hind legs. Celestia saw the pegasus’ face contort with agony, saw him falling to one side, and she saw her chance.

With a bellowing roar, she kicked off the floor and tackled the pegasus in the side, bringing him down to the ground. She lifted a hoof to punch him, but he was faster than expected, knocking the blow aside with his own hoof. His wing came smashing into her barrel, driving the air from her lungs and knocking her over onto her back. The pegasus rolled on top of her, pinning her to the floor. She opened her mouth to scream, but his hoof came down hard against her muzzle with a sickening crack.

Then his hooves were on her throat, and Celestia couldn’t breathe. She grasped at his hooves, kicking and squirming frantically, but he had her held in place. She tried to pour magic into her horn, but she couldn’t concentrate through the pain in her face and chest. Her lungs burned, screaming for air, and darkness was beginning to creep in on the edges of her vision.

“Your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault,” the pegasus chanted, squeezing even tighter. He raised a hoof from the squirming filly’s throat, primed and ready to drive it into her face.

“Tia!” Luna’s voice called from the side. Something flew in, enveloped in Luna’s blue magic aura. It was Celestia’s saddlebags, loaded with scavenged supplies. The strap in the middle caught on the pegasus’ fetlock, carrying with it the weight of their supplies. There was a horrible snapping sound as his leg was jerked behind his back, his shoulder swelling and bulging unnaturally. His eyes bulged, and he screamed.

Celestia felt his hoof come away from her throat, and her concentration returned. With a furious scream, she unleashed a gout of flames from her horn and directly into the pegasus’ face. She heard him squealing in agony and saw his good hoof trying to shield himself, but it was no use.

And then she was upon him. Celestia didn’t even realize she had tackled him until she was punching him in the face, over and over, every blow punctuated by a shouted word.

“Stay! Away! From! My! SISTER! She’s MINE! Do you hear me?! MINE!”

Beneath her, the pegasus’ cries of pain rapidly died away, fading into blubbering gurgles, then quiet rasps, and then finally utter silence. But she didn’t care. She just kept hitting him, oblivious to the red flecks appearing on her face, or the smears crawling up her hooves. And all the while, she was still shouting.

“Idiot! Murderer! Monster! I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!”

There was a voice from behind her, its words lost amid the screaming rage in her mind. She felt two hooves gripping her shoulders from behind, and instinct drove her to defend herself.

“Don’t touch me!” Celestia shouted, thrashing against the new threat. She turned against them, lashing out with her hooves and catching them in the face.

Her world froze when she heard Luna cry out in pain.

She watched, horrified, as her little sister flailed back to the ground, her hoof covering her face. She crashed against the wall with a sharp, high-pitched shriek, before crumpling to the floor and falling still.

Silence fell over the house. Celestia stood still, gasping for air as the fire in her skull spluttered and died, replaced with a chill of horror. She felt sick to her stomach. Slowly, she looked at her hoof, dreading what she would find.

“Celestia!” Starglow said in protest when he caught his senses. He quickly moved to Luna’s side, shooting the elder sister a horrified look. “What the heck is wrong with you?!”

Celestia mouthed uselessly like a fish, hunting for words, but none would come. “I… I didn’t… I’m…” she choked.

Luna lowered her trembling hoof, revealing the red trickle leaking out of her nose and the tears welling up in her eyes. Her eyes lingered on Celestia, and a terrified whimper slipped past her lips.

There were no words to describe the regret Celestia felt at that moment. She slowly reached her hoof out for Luna, her ears lowering. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean… I wasn’t trying to… I just…”

Luna’s eyes flicked past Celestia to the dead pegasus, joining his brethren in death on the floor of the abandoned earth pony house. She whimpered, allowing herself to be pulled into Starglow’s protective hooves. “Y-you killed him…” she choked out at length.

“He was going to kill you!” Celestia protested more sharply than she intended. “I had to protect you! No one touches you. Ever.”

Luna, however, was not comforted. She just sniffled again and covered her face, burying it in Starglow’s chest. Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came. She watched as Starglow gingerly stroked the back of her little sister’s head with his hoof, all the while glaring at Celestia with what could only be fear and disappointment.

From the trap door, Starshine ascended, the axe floating once more in her magic. She took in the scene with a distant, hardened frown. She stared at the broken corpse on the ground, and a moment later, she sighed. “Is everypony alright?”

Nopony answered.

A second later, Starglow found his voice. “You said you hated him,” he muttered, staring at Celestia again.

“I did.”

“Did you mean it?” Starshine asked a moment later.

“He tried to hurt my sister,” Celestia said automatically.

Starshine wilted on the spot and slowly shook her head. “Celestia…” she said softly.

If she had anything more to say, however, it was cut off. A powerful gust of freezing air suddenly blasted against the front of the house, sending the wooden beams of the windows shattering inward along with a sudden flurry of enormous snowflakes. Manes and tails flapped and billowed in the sudden gale, and Celestia had to lift a hoof to protect her face.

“What’s happening?!” Starglow shouted to be heard over the roaring of the wind, trying to protect Luna with his body.

He was answered by a sound Celestia had hoped never to hear again. The distant chorus of otherworldly howling filtered into her ears, and her heart began to beat frantically against her chest. She turned to Starshine. The two made eye contact for only a moment. Celestia swallowed.

“It’s them.”

Author's Note:

Uh-oh.

You may read an alternative version of this chapter over here.

Comments

[The Voice in the Water]

Well, that went completely sideways. Poor Tia's trauma is really starting to have an effect on her.

Looks like the windegos can get into ponies too.

[Carbon]

That part was scarry,..
Gj.

[Skijarama]

11505362
Starting to?

[Level Dasher]

i.imgur.com/TzpDcCK.jpg

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

I'm drawing parallels in this story with a couple of others I have read recently.

In one Equestria becomes a brutal theocracy and in the most recent chapter a group gets the Windigo treatment and put dozens of innocents to the sword for crimes both real and/or imagined.

In the other, taking place in a Anime inspired EQG, Twilight refuses to believe in anything she can't see, touch, or measure. Celestia, who is both the principal and Twilight's Aunt by marriage or something along those lines only encourages this hyper-pragmatic view.

We later find that Celestia was a 'big picture' person, always working, always planning, and rarely ever living. Celestia would give her last drop of blood for "the future" but at the cost of not being there for her friends and family. Luna was sick of being second to this "future" and of having herself treated like a pawn in life's chessboard "Oh I want a really good job Luna should be fine with moving".

In your story, Celestia has been forced to grow up way too quickly, but in her drive to protect Luna she's gone into survival mode, and anything that isn't strictly for making sure Luna will see the dawn is unimportant wastes of time. Luna wants her sissy back, not this bitter scowling wraith that wears her sister's face.

[Skijarama]

11508236

In one Equestria becomes a brutal theocracy and in the most recent chapter a group gets the Windigo treatment and put dozens of innocents to the sword for crimes both real and/or imagined.

Yup, I know that one. One of the best stories on this site.

In your story, Celestia has been forced to grow up way too quickly, but in her drive to protect Luna she's gone into survival mode, and anything that isn't strictly for making sure Luna will see the dawn is unimportant wastes of time. Luna wants her sissy back, not this bitter scowling wraith that wears her sister's face.

Well spotted.

[harts fire]

well this chapter moves fast and gets a bit rough for the sisters and friends.

this story is awesome i am really liking it.

[PonyofEntropy]

Just got caught on this on too. Great story.

[justheretoreadstories]

11505362
Makes you wonder what else they can do.

[Rubber2Duck]

Damnit, reached the end of this fic (so far), I am really enjoying it, the story is super interesting and exciting, the characters are really well written, definitely throwing this onto tracking, super excited to see more!