My Little Teelo: Winter's Silence

by Ardwolf

Horseshoe Nail

In which an important detail is overlooked.

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Teagan had to break into a run to keep up with Matt as he jogged toward the returning pegasi. The other members of the party didn’t have a problem keeping up—they either had four legs, wings, or much longer legs than Teagan did.

On seeing the group advancing toward them the returning pegasi angled down to land.

“Found the portal, Sergeant!” A white pegasus with white mane and an elaborate golden cup for a cutie mark reported as he saluted Sergeant Stormwind.

“Very good, Percy. Show us the way.” The Sergeant commanded.

“Yes, Sergeant.” Percy stayed on the ground but the rest of the guards joined those flying cover.

The pegasus led the group another mile to a pile of jumbled ice that rose a hundred feet above the rest of the glacier. The portal itself looked like a cave entrance, except it was round and quite large, over two stories tall by Teagan’s estimate. The portal was twenty feet up with no obvious way to get there.

“Hmm.” Matt said, eyeing the slippery cliff of ice. “Anybody got a rope?”

“Who needs a rope when you have wings?” Rainbow Dash snorted as she flew up to the opening and looked inside.

“Hey, it’s just a cave! Pretty big, but empty. There’s something glimmering at the back though.” She called down.

“The rest of us don’t got wings, Dashie!” Applejack called up in annoyance. “How in tarnation are we supposed to get up there?”

“Jeez! How do you think? I’ll carry you!”

“Think you can carry me, Rainbow Mouth?” The Snøskred’s booming laugh echoed off the cliff in front of them.

“Uh—” Rainbow Dash eyed the half-ton troll in dismay. He laughed again and strode to the base of the cliff. Without even pausing he sank massive claws into the ice and scrambled up it like a spider.

“Ten seconds flat!” The troll laughed at the hovering pegasus, who scowled.

“Hey! Why is everybody stealing my line?” Grumbling she flew down and landed.

Dawn Spire and Twilight teleported to the cave, while Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were lifted by pairs of the Sun Shield. Teagan got to ride Rainbow Dash while Matt got a lift from a pair of the Sun Shield pegasi.

The Alene ascended the cliff just as easily as the Snøskred had.

“Empty, just like Rainbow Dash said.” Rarity said in disappointment. “Where are the portals?”

“Right there.” Dawn Spire said, pointing to the opposite end of the cavern with her horn. “Sixty two of them.”

“Tišina’s been busy.” Matt noted calmly. “Dawn Spire, take a look and see if the actual portals have a flaw you couldn’t find with your miniature one. She was in a hurry making them, maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Yes, Lieutenant. Twilight, why don’t you come with me? Never hurts to have a second opinion.”

The two of them trotted off while Matt turned to the trolls.

“Any chance we’re not really under a thousand feet of ice?” He asked hopefully.

The Alene shook his head. “I can feel the weight of the ice above us. The portal has brought us into the very heart of the glacier.”

“Lieutenant!” Dawn Spire came galloping back with Twilight hard on her heels. “We’ve got to get out of here now. The portals are degrading! They’ll start closing in less than an hour!”

“What? How?” Matt asked even as he turned for the exit.

“I don’t know! Something is destabilizing them. It’s getting worse! Out! Now!” She disappeared with a flash.

“You heard the lady! Abandon ship! Now!” Matt scrambled to the edge of the cave and signaled the circling pegasi. Two swooped and grabbed him. Twilight grabbed Rarity and the two unicorns disappeared. Pinkie and Applejack were also picked up and set on the ice by more Sun Shield guards. The trolls quickly climbed down.

“Hop on, Teagan. Time to blow this icicle!” Rainbow Dash said as Fluttershy flew out. Teagan wasted no time and the two of them flew out of the cave—and suddenly plunged toward the ice below. Rainbow landed hard, stumbling, throwing Teagan over her head accidentally.

“Ow! Rainbow!”

“What the hay? I can’t fly!” Rainbow said, startled, her wings flapping furiously. Around them the few pegasi still in the air plummeted as well. Twilight managed to grab three of them and Dawn Spire the other three. But a few feet above the ice the spells failed and the ponies hit the ice hard.

“Is everybody out?” Matt asked, looking around. “All right, I don’t know what’s going on but let’s put some distance between us and the cave. Quickly, people!” He started running back toward the base camp.

A two mile run was beyond the abilities of both Teagan and the trolls, so after only a quarter mile they had to stop. Matt turned and started watching the cavern through binoculars.

“Why can’t I fly?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flapped her wings so fast they blurred. She didn’t even start to lift off the ground. Her tone was a mixture of annoyance and near panic.

“Maybe whatever is affecting the portals is affecting all magic.” Twilight said. “That would explain why my magic isn’t working.

She demonstrated by trying to light her horn, which flickered for a second then failed.

“Hmm. If the pegasi can’t fly that means no chariots either.” Matt said, musing. “And that means we’re stuck here.”

“What! No! The storm! We’re gonna die!” Rainbow Dash said frantically.

“Calm down, Dashie.” Applejack said reassuringly. “We’ll think o’ sumthin’.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Rainbow asked angrily. “I wasn’t kidding about ten feet of snow and hailstones the size of eggs! It’ll bury us!”

“Then we’ll dig our way out.” The Snøskred said calmly. “Do ponies always panic this easily? I thought the Bearers were supposed to be brave. Imagine being afraid of a little snow!” He shook his head.

“A little snow? A little snow?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed angrily. “We’re talking a ton of snow! Mountains of it!”

“Calm down, Dash.” Matt said soothingly. “Not being able to fly out of here is a problem, but if we work together we can make it.”

“How big is the anti-magic area?” Teagan asked. “Could we hike out then fly off?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “Whatever’s cancelling the magic can’t be that big! I like Teagan’s plan!”

“Might work.” Matt allowed. “How long till the storm hits?”

“Uh, I can’t tell.” Rainbow said, her face falling. “My weather magic’s gone too.”

“It was six hours.” Fluttershy replied. “Unless it speeds up.”

“The pegasus is correct, Lieutenant.” The Alene spoke up. “Before the magic failed the storm was about six hours off. I didn’t sense it getting faster, only more powerful.”

“Ok. Let’s get back to the chariots. The supplies they’re carrying are our lifeline right now. Does anyone here have a magic compass?”

“I do.” Dawn Spire replied, using a hoof to dig the small device out of her saddlebags. Matt took it from her, marveling how her hoof was so dexterous. He made a note to ask her how she did it.

“Look at that.” He said in satisfaction. The needle pointed steadily back to their camp and Tišina’s corpse. “Whatever is affecting the magic doesn’t affect this. Any idea why?”

“It was created with Tišina’s blood. Maybe insect magic is immune to whatever’s affecting the portals and our magic?” Twilight said.

“The compasses use a standard contagion-law binding spell.” Dawn Spire objected. “It shouldn’t work either.”

“Unless Tišina’s blood counteracts the effect.” Twilight said. She brought her horn close to the compass and the very tip started to glow gently.

“That’s it! Somehow Tišina’s blood is immune to the effect.” Twilight said excitedly.

“The important thing is the compass works.” Matt said in satisfaction. He hung it over Rainbow Dash’s neck by the lanyard nearly all small pony devices came with.

“I know you’re a lot faster than the average pony, Dash.” Matt said. “Head out of here and see if you can find the boundary of this magic-dead zone. You have half an hour. If you haven’t found the edge of the zone by that time I want you to come back. Remember, you’re a Bearer. Without you the Elements of Harmony are useless.”

“You can count on me!” Rainbow Dash said, saluting.

“I’ll go too!” Pinkie said excitedly. “I’m super-fast, Matt! I can keep up with her! Always use the buddy system!”

“Good idea.” Matt nodded. “Get going, you two. Remember, half an hour. I want you back here long before the storm hits.”

“We’re on it!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. The two ponies raced away over the ice, headed south.

“We need to find shelter. I’ve lived in mountainous terrain before but my snow experience is limited.” Matt said, looking at the trolls. “Snøskred, Alene, you’re the glacier experts. What do you suggest?”

“A snow cave.” The Snøskred said firmly. “In the lee of this ice jumble. The storm was headed east when the magic failed, so we’ll have to assume the eastern slope of the jumble is the lee. Dalen and I can dig out the jumble. If the pegasus was right about the depth we’ll make sure to carve a tunnel upward so it’s easy to dig out later.”

“I’ve got a shovel, Teagan and I can alternate helping you.” Matt offered.

The Alene smiled and the Snøskred doubled over, laughing.

“We will need no aid, Lieutenant.” The Alene said gently. “Trolls have no equal when it comes to digging. While I appreciate your offer to help you would only slow us down.”

“All right then. What can we do to help?” Matt asked, unruffled.

“Gather snow in whatever containers we have.” The Alene said immediately. “Let us take advantage of nature’s bounty by melting snow before we consume the water we brought with us. Since building fires is out of the question we will have to do with whatever cold supplies we have. The storm will not arrive for a few hours so any preparations that require a large space should be done now.”

“How long do blizzards last?” Teagan asked.

“Normal ones blow over in a few hours, Lady Teagan.” The Alene said even as the Snøskred was headed back to the jumble to find a good place to site the snow cave. “However this one is far from normal. It could last for days, especially if Rainbow Dash’s predictions are accurate. If you’ll excuse me I should help Bevis.” He bowed and followed the other troll.

“Glad they’re on our side.” Matt said. “We’d be in a world of hurt if it was just the two of us digging, Squirt. I don’t think the ponies could help that much.”

“I could if my magic was working.” Twilight grumbled.

Matt grinned.

“If your magic was working we wouldn’t need to dig. Sergeant!”

“Sir!” The grey pegasus said.

“Have a few of the guard go tell the rest of the expedition what’s happening. Tell them to join us at the foot of the ice jumble. Hopefully they’ll be packed up by now.”

“Yes, sir.” The sergeant saluted. Soon a trio of pegasi were headed back to camp.

“Well I’m feelin’ all kinds o’ useless.” Applejack said as they waited for the rest of the group. “Earth ponies ain’t supposed ta be on top o’ no overgrowed ice cube.”

“Join the club, Applejack.” Teagan said ruefully. “I didn’t realize how dependent I’d become on magic here. Magic—club—oh no!”

Hey, Lazy! You still here? She thought to the eyes in her head. They remained closed. Crush! Can you hear me? Answer me!

No response.

“Crush is out of commission.” Teagan said to Matt. “The link’s still there but nobody’s home.”

“Why am I not surprised?” He sighed. “Well, it’s still a lumpy iron club, Squirt. Hit something hard enough and you’re bound to discourage it.”

“That makes me feel so much safer.” She said drily.

It took an hour to bring the chariots over and unload the supplies. By now the trolls had hollowed out a large enough space to hold the members of the expedition and had started a second snow cave to protect the chariots in case the magic came back.

“Has anyone seen Pinkie and Rainbow Dash?” Matt asked. “They should have been back by now.”

“If I know that pony, she’s probably pushing her luck.” Rarity sniffed, although she looked worried. “Rainbow Dash is so reckless.”

“Well, Pinkie Pie is with her.” Matt said. “She can talk sense into Dash, right?”

He looked around seeing a sea of disbelieving looks.

“Matt, this is Pinkie we’re talking about.” Teagan said when none of the other ponies seemed willing to say anything to contradict the expedition commander.

“She’s a ditz.” Teagan said as Matt’s eyebrows rose in inquiry.

“Hate ta say it, but can’t deny it.” Applejack said in the silence that followed. “Dashie is loyal and brave, but that filly don’t know when ta quit. And askin’ Pinkie ta be the voice o’ reason just ain’t no kind o’ sensible.”

“Bloody hell.” Matt swore. “We lose them and we lose the Elements.” He checked his watch. “Five hours. All right. If they aren’t back in half an hour we’ll try a chain search. We’ll string a line of ponies straight along their course so that one pony can always see the one behind. But we search for only two hours. Then we pull back and they’re on their own.”

“What! You can’t do that!” Rarity exclaimed.

“I can and I will.” Matt said grimly, staring at her. “Rainbow Dash disobeyed a direct order. If they aren’t back and we don’t find them I save as many of the expedition as I can, Rarity. This storm sounds like it’s some kind of magical mega-nasty. If anyone is out there when it hits they’re dead. And there’s no guarantee we’d ever find the two of them anyway. This glacier is huge. Which of these nice ponies are you willing to kill for the sake of your friends, Rarity? How many?”

“None!” She declared hotly.

“Glad you agree with me.” Matt said, turning away and leaving her sputtering.

“Rarity, he’s right.” Teagan said, feeling like she wanted to cry. “We’ll try to find them. But if anyone is caught in this storm because Rainbow Dash pulled one of her bone-headed moves they’ll die. If it were you out there, and you deliberately did something that endangered the rest of your friends, what would you tell Matt to do?”

“I—” Rarity hung her head. “I don’t want Rainbow Dash to die, Teelo! She’s hot-headed and sometimes she does stupid things. But we can’t just abandon her! And what about Pinkie?”

“I know.” She hugged the unicorn. “I’ll be in that search line too, Rarity. Don’t give up hope just yet, ok? Maybe Rainbow Dash isn’t as head-strong as we think she is.”

“Let’s hope you’re right.” Rarity said heavily. “How can he think that way, Teelo? Just abandon Rainbow Dash like that?”

“Humans don’t have a lot going for them physically, Rarity. We’re not fast, or strong, and we can’t fight very well compared to the animals around us.” Teagan explained. It was a hard lesson she’d learned from Matt.

“Sometimes, especially when someone does something stupid that endangers everyone else, well, they have to pay the price. It’s not easy, and it’s not nice. But if we sent out search parties for them and those search parties got lost in the storm, then they’d die along with Rainbow and Pinkie. It’s one thing to take risks, Rarity. It’s another to take risks for someone who deliberately broke the rules that keep everyone safe.”

“But don’t give up hope. They might still come back.” Teagan said, hugging the white unicorn again.

ooOoo

Matt was about to order the search when a sentry reported pair of ponies coming in fast, one blue and one pink.

Pinkie was hopping along, grinning and Rainbow Dash was looking grim as they raced into camp. They made straight for the clump of people waiting for them.

“No good.” Rainbow Dash told Matt, sides heaving. “We pushed it an extra fifteen minutes. Had to go around a big crevasse too. The only magic that even thought about working was the compass. We covered about twenty-five miles and didn’t even reach the edge of the glacier. Whatever this is, it’s big.”

“I said half an hour, Rainbow Dash.” Matt said mildly.

“I know. But I kept thinking it couldn’t be that big. So I kept going. I only ran an extra fifteen minutes, Matt.”

“You and I need to have a private talk, Dash.” Matt said quietly. He turned his attention to the pink earth pony. “Anything you’d like to add, Pinkie?”

“Nope.” Pinkie said, grinning. “We ran and we ran and we ran and Rainbow Dash would jump in the air every so often. But she couldn’t fly. Sorry.”

“I don’t suppose your saddle bags still work?” Matt asked.

“Dunno. Let’s see!” Pinkie shrugged them off and buried herself in them up to her hips.

“They’re okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie reported. “Everything’s working just fine!”

“What?” Twilight asked, startled. She concentrated for a moment.

“My magic’s still not working.” She said. Rainbow Dash tried to fly and slumped.

“Mine neither.” She said glumly.

Teagan tried to talk to Crush, with equal lack of success. She shook her head

Matt looked thoughtful.

“Alene, is your magic working?” He asked.

The troll concentrated, then shook his head.

“Alas, it is not, Lieutenant.” The troll said. “Being bereft of my magic is most unsettling.”

“Tell me about it.” The blue pegasus snorted.

“I’m not seeing a pattern here.” Matt said, shaking his head. “We know Tišina’s magic is insectile, so maybe that explains the compass somehow. But Pinkie’s saddlebags are normal pony magic, right? Pinkie, where did you get those?”

“Discord gave them to me.” Pinkie said brightly.

The silence was profound.

“What?” She asked, confused, staring at the shocked faces around her.

“Ok.” Matt said, nodding. “So stuff created by or associated with gods is immune to the magic draining effect around here. Is it just a matter of power? Twilight, Dawn Spire, Alene? You guys are the magical experts. Any ideas? Why did this start only after Tišina died?”

The three looked at each other.

“Troll lore is silent on what happens when a god is killed, Lieutenant. To my knowledge no one has ever managed to kill one before.” The Alene said regretfully. “If I were to speculate I would say it is no coincidence the magical negation started after she died.”

“I’ve never read anything about magical negation.” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Especially on this scale.”

“Wait a minute!” Dawn Spire said excitedly. “Twilight, check your reserves. How full are they?”

Twilight considered for a moment. “They’re empty.” She said, eyes widening. “It reminds me of how I felt after casting Wind Spear’s Succor.”

“Mine too.” Dawn Spire said in satisfaction. “Alene? How about you?”

“My reserves are gone.” He admitted. “Very astute guess, Dawn Spire. My compliments on your insight.”

“Thank you.” She seemed pleased.

“What?” Twilight asked, confused.

“We’ve been thinking about this the wrong way.” Dawn Spire explained. “We’ve been saying this is a magical dead zone. It isn’t! It’s a magical draining zone. Something is sucking up all our magic as quickly as we can replenish it.”

“Then why didn’t it affect the compass or Pinkie’s saddlebags?” Matt asked. “And what’s doing the draining? Where’s all that magic going?”

All three magic-users’ eyes widened at the same time.

“Horse apples.” Dawn Spire said. “We are dead. We are so dead.”

“What?” Matt snapped.

“The source of the magical drain is Tišina, Lieutenant.” The Alene said heavily.

“She’s dead, Alene.” Matt said carefully. “Her brain was vaporized. It’s gone. I saw the remains of her skull myself.”

“Yes, I know.” He said calmly. “But Tišina is very much like her brother, Discord. She regenerates, Lieutenant.”