To the Flamespire!

by Vivid Syntax

4: Cleanup

The Mare Stream lay still on the forest floor. Its wings were bent, and the front windshield was cracked. The entire inside seemed to be full of some kind of white, fluffy goop. Behind and above it was a large hole in an otherwise thick canopy, and above that, skeletal horses made of pure lightning raced back into the sky above.

The forest grew silent.

A moment later, there was a small creak, and the door of the Mare Stream burst open, spilling thousands of gallons marshmallow fluff onto the green forest floor. After a beat, two figures, like frosty snowponies, breached the thick mess and sucked in huge gasps of air.

“What was that?” Zipp shouted as she struggled to stand in the chest-high fluff. She wiped the marshmallow from her eyes with limited success. “This stuff is everywhere!”

“Hey, it was the best I could do!” Starlight licked some fluff from her lips. “It was this or try to teleport us at high speeds, and you do not want to know all the ways that something like that can go wrong.”

Zipp growled. “Ugh! Fine, but did you have to be so messy?” She stepped onto the grass and tried to spread her wings, but they were too heavy for her muscles to lift. “I can’t fly like this! I’m going to be preening myself all night just to even start getting back to normal.”

Starlight shook her body, hoping to throw some of the fluff off. It didn’t work. “Well, what about you? You–” She stopped herself and swallowed her words. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Zipp scowled. “What about what now?”

Starlight gave herself another moment. “We can talk later. We need to figure out a way to clean up. I can undo the growth spell on most of the marshmallow fluff, but nothing that’s touching us.”

“C’mon, why not?”

Starlight sighed. “Too risky. Just trust me on this.”

Zipp growled again as she looked over the Mare Stream. “Gr… Fine. Let’s just get this over with and reevaluate where we’re at.”

The two mares dove back into the marshmallow fluff. They scooped as much as they could out of the Mare Stream and onto the forest floor. Hours later, and after chasing off some bunnies and squirrels that appreciated the rare treat, Starlight banished most of what was left back to its original size.

They collapsed on the ground outside the Mare Stream, sweaty and with a thin layer of puffy sugar still clinging to their coats. Zipp panted, “Good enough, for now.”

Starlight groaned next to her. “Yeah… Yeah…” She wiped her forehead, but that just smeared more marshmallow on her. “Ew…”

They caught their breath as the storm continued to rumble above them, and the sky began to go dark. Zipp turned her head. “So… I looked at the controls. The Mare Stream is all jammed up, even after we got the fluff out.”

“Did one of the mechanisms break? I assumed it ran on magic.”

Zipp grit her teeth. “It does! The Mare Stream shouldn’t be able to break like this. It doesn’t make sense!”

“Maybe the magic ran out? What kind of magic does it run on?”

Zipp pursed her lips. An owl hooted in the distance.

“Something with friendship, I assume?”

Zipp pursed her lips harder.

“So it seems like something is in the way of the–”

“I get it, okay! I’m a bad friend.” Lying on her back, she buried her face in her hooves.

Starlight turned her head and frowned. “Nopony’s saying that, Zipp. You’re not a bad friend.”

“Yes! I am! All my friends got captured, and I didn’t. If I was a better friend, I would have saved them!”

Starlight rolled onto her side. “Sounds like a classic case of survivor’s guilt.”

Zipp’s eyes flashed with fire. “They survived, too! Don’t say that!”

Starlight held up a hoof. “Sorry, bad choice of words. What I meant was, it sounds like you’re feeling guilty for something that wasn’t your fault.”

Zipp felt her skin prickle.

Starlight continued. “Nopony could have predicted what Opaline was going to do. It sounds like she surprised you, and if she’s got Windigos, then she’s very well prepared. You couldn’t have known.”

Zipp’s teeth chattered as she stared up into the sky. The clouds broke above her. The first few stars winked into existence, and Zipp blinked away the water in her eyes so they wouldn’t be so blurry.

Starlight felt heavy all of a sudden. The cool air felt colder, and she saw Zipp begin to shake. “Zipp?”

Zipp’s mind reeled. Memories dashed at the edges of her perception. Misty’s warning. The plan. Those black crystals. Every movement, everypony counting on her, and everything going wrong.

Starlight scooted closer. “Zipp, what’s on your–”

“What did you say those were called?” Zipp blurted out without looking at Starlight. Her body was stiff. “Windigos? What are they? How do we beat them?”

Starlight’s frown deepened. “Zipp, I don’t think we–”

“I-I-I need to know! So we can figure out how to get around them! What are they? What are their weaknesses.”

Starlight’s shoulders slumped. She thought back to all the ponies that had sought her counseling over the years. This wasn’t new territory: it wasn’t uncommon for creatures in distress to hide their feelings like this, especially ponies. As she looked over Zipp again, though, she was reminded of a porcelain doll. Whatever Zipp had, she had it deep, and it wouldn’t do to force anything out of her. Starlight swallowed and spoke as gently as she could. “They’re spirits that feed on negative energy. I suppose if the Mare Stream is powered by positive energy, that would be one reason to try and destroy it. Or…”

Zipp finally turned her head towards Starlight. “Or what?”

Starlight nodded. “Or one of us attracted them.”

Zipp’s gaze fell to the dirt. “Have you…” She barely spoke above a whisper. “Have you fought them before?”

“Not personally, no. I only know them from folk tales. Usually, they take the form of winter spirits, since they can feed off of ponies’ cold feelings towards one another.”

Zipp’s head tilted to the side. She rolled onto her stomach. “But we weren’t being cold. If anything, we were getting heated with each other.”

“Right. I imagine they took the form of lightning because of another emotion. If I had to guess…” She looked Zipp up and down again. “Maybe fear?”

With a forced laugh, Zipp tensed. “Haha. Well, yeah! It’s really scary flying in a storm, right?”

Starlight shook her head. “I don’t think that was it. They seemed really strong to be going off of simple fears like that.”

Zipp hung her head.

“Zipp,” Starlight asked softly. “What made you so afraid up there?”

The images cycled through Zipp’s head again, but she shook them off. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know it’s uncomfortable, but talking these things through really does help.”

Zipp’s wings drooped at her sides. She frowned up at Starlight. “I…” Starlight could see Zipp wrestling with herself to pull more out of herself, but she sighed and finally said, “I can’t. Not tonight. Let’s get some rest.” She hoisted herself to her hooves and walked towards the Mare Stream. “Hopefully the shower still works.”

Starlight stood up. “It’s okay if you’re not ready yet, Zipp, but if something’s bothering you, you’ve got a friend here who’s willing to listen.”

Zipp paused without looking back. “Thanks.” She trudged back into the Mare Stream.

With a last glance at the stars, Starlight followed her inside to get cleaned up.

Comments

[Draco Dei]

“Right. I imagine they took the form of lightning because of another emotion. If I had to guess…” She looked Zipp up and down again. “Maybe fear?”

Ah! And here I thought you were just playing fast and loose with the 'magiobiology' or whatever. Nice expanding of the world!