Filling the Blanks
Snowblind
by crowmagnon
Chapter 6 - Filling the Blanks
"Come," Gertrude said to Derpy before taking wing. Rather than do so right away, the pegasus hesitated as she tried to wrap her mind around what had been demanded of her. Gertrude wanted her to foalnap Apple Bloom and hide her away up in the mountains. How could she expect Derpy to do that to a sweet little filly? Nothing the scary griffon had done or said made any sense to her. When she had awakened that morning, she had planned on going south to bring the birds back, not on getting mixed up with all of this.
As the normally bubbly and cheerful pegasus started to whimper, however, she suddenly found herself freezing! The armor-like layer of ice now covering everything but her wings had some sort of magic in it that kept it from being cold. In fact, aside from being hard, rigid, and preventing her from feeling the air currents (which was all the more necessary as her eyes didn't always line up with the eye-holes in the 'helmet' that had formed around her head, and the reason why Gertrude had relented and left her wings exposed) it was actually rather comfortable.
Without that magic, however, Derpy was so shocked by the cold that she let out a scream that was muffled by the helmet, though on the inside it echoed and resounded deafeningly in Derpy's ears. The freezing cold only lasted for a second before the insulating enchantment returned to the icy armor, but Derpy was still left shaken as her ears rang for several seconds longer, her body trembling with fright as it was made starkly clear that she had no real choice.
Derpy launched herself into the air, riding the currents toward Sweet Apple Acres. As she flew, she reached for the compass that Lt. Sparkle had given her, only to have her hoof tap against the 'breastplate' of her armor, which had covered the compass completely.
"Ohhhh, I could get all spun around and wouldn't know which way to go," Derpy muttered to herself. About a minute later, though, as she crossed over the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, an idea occurred to her. "Of course! I could get all spun around, and the scary griffon can't blame me for not knowing where to go!" With that thought rattling around in her head, she focused on finding Apple Bloom through the storm that the Windigoes had whipped up over the orchard.
To her surprise, Derpy found that once she entered the blizzard, it proved no impediment to her vision. Among the enchantments placed on her armor were lenses in the helmet which would allow the wearer to see as Gertrude did. Not only could Derpy make out the trees as if there were no snowstorm at all, but as she followed the griffon, she could see glimpses of two pony shapes, colors brightly burning against the dull white like burning embers. It was weird, but kind of beautiful, Derpy thought as she circled over them.
While she flew, Gertrude drew close enough to be heard by the pegasus. "Take the filly," the griffon commanded, indicating the smaller glow. "I will take her sister."
Derpy started to ask Gertrude not to hurt anypony, but by the time she could, the griffon had already moved away. With a gulp, Derpy focused on Apple Bloom and angled her flight down toward her. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this, she thought to herself as she strained to keep both eyes on the filly as Apple Bloom pushed herself through the blizzard toward a small house built at the base of one of the trees. Even as her eyes watered and stung from the effort, she kept her eyes on Apple Bloom, intending to scoop her up and carry her away.
Right before she reached the filly, however, everything in front of Derpy suddenly went blank as her eyes succumbed to the strain, both of them 'derping' out of position at the same time. The pegasus let out a yelp, but was going too fast to stop as she kept barreling downward until she felt herself smash into something solid!
Fortunately, even with the ice armor absorbing almost all of the impact, Derpy was rather infamous for being able to smash into things without suffering any serious harm. Though a little dazed as her eyes swirled around behind her helmet's lenses, she finally managed to get one of them aligned properly as she picked herself up, shaking off chunks of debris that had fallen on her.
After a quick glance, she saw that Apple Bloom was alright, just knocked down. Sighing in relief, Derpy started to move toward the filly when she saw Apple Bloom raise her head and get a good look at her.
-----
Apple Bloom groaned as she lay in the snow, taking a moment to process what had happened before she tried to move. She had been about to take refuge in her clubhouse when it had simply... exploded! Her special place was gone, just like that, with no warning or reason.
The thought of her special place being destroyed after everything else that had happened and that had been said earlier that day made the little yellow filly's eyes tear up uncontrollably. The cold didn't matter. The snow didn't matter. It was all falling apart, and enough of that was her own fault that it just made the rest hurt all the more. But before she could start crying, she saw a shape rise up from the rubble.
Her eyes went wide, irises shrinking to pinpricks as her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the creature looming over her. It spread its wings, so at first she thought it was a pegasus, but then she saw the outline of its head. It was shaped like an eagle's head, with a sharp curved beak.
Apple Bloom had never seen a griffon before in her life, but the creature before her was the very image of one. If she had looked down a little lower, she might have seen the pony-like hooves instead of claws or talons, but to her it looked as though her clubhouse and very town had been suddenly attacked by predatory creatures who were supposed to be allies of Equestria. Drawing in a deep breath, Apple Bloom let out a shrill, terrified scream.
"Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom!" She could just barely hear somepony calling her name, but couldn't stop shrieking as the 'griffon' hopped down toward her with a flap of grey wings. It tried to say something to her, but its voice was muffled and sounded like a threatening growl to the panicked earth pony. As she tried to scramble back away, her hoof slipped and she fell to one side.
This allowed her to catch a glimpse of her big sister trying to hurry toward her as a much larger griffon dropped out of the sky and swatted Applejack into a tree with a single swipe of her talons! Apple Bloom gasped in horror, her mouth hanging open. Before she could even think, however, the smaller 'griffon' scooped her up and clutched her tightly as she suddenly found herself getting carried up into the air.
-----
Derpy whimpered as she flapped her wings as fast as she could to get Apple Bloom away. The filly's struggles and screams certainly weren't helping Derpy fight off her own fear, but any attempts to speak only seemed to frighten Apple Bloom more.
Even if she couldn't get Apple Bloom to calm down, though, she could try to carry the filly away from Gertrude. Instead of flying toward the mountains as she had been ordered to, the pegasus took wing toward Ponyville. She could tell Gertrude that she'd gotten lost! Everypony knew about how easily she got lost on routes she hadn't memorized, after all, so maybe the scary griffon would accept that?
Whether Gertrude did or not, though, the only thing that mattered was getting Apple Bloom to safety. Something that wasn't made any easier by the way the filly was squirming and battering her little hooves against the enchanted ice covering Derpy's face. She barely felt that, actually, but the distraction almost caused her to miss spotting another winged shape that suddenly appeared in front of her.
Her fear that Gertrude had appeared to cut her off caused Derpy to suddenly twist around in the air to stop herself, only to find that the one hovering in her way was not Gertrude, but another pegasus! A celebrity, in fact.
"Stop right there," Fluttershy said firmly, crossing her forelegs sternly. At the moment, however, all Derpy cared about was that it was a friendly face, regardless of said face not bearing a very friendly expression.
"Oh, Mrs. Fluttershy, I'm so happy to see you! There's this big scary griffon and she's got Windigoes making it snow, and she can make magic ice," Derpy exclaimed, only for Fluttershy to frown at her.
"You can growl all you want, buster, but I saw what happened, and you aren't getting away with foalnapping my friend's sister!" Fixing a stern gaze on Derpy even through the helmet, she slowly moved closer. As she drew nearer, her eyes softened, her expression shifting from authoritative to disappointed. "Just look at you. Is this the sort of griffon you really want to be? Using the cover of a snowstorm to smash things and kidnap innocent fillies? Just think of everygriff you're letting down by acting this way! Don't you want to be better than that?"
"M-miss Flutters-shy...?" Apple Bloom stammered as she shivered in Derpy's grasp, only to be shushed when the pegasus gently placed a hoof against her mouth.
Derpy gulped. Even though she hadn't done what Fluttershy had accused her of (at least, not for the reasons the other pegasus was probably thinking) she still felt bad about it. A whimper came from under her helmet as she remorsefully lowered her head. This caused Fluttershy to place a hoof on her shoulder while offering a soft, understanding smile.
"See? I knew you weren't a bad griffon. You just need to do something else with your life. Something better! And the first step is to take this filly back to her family and apologize for the damage you caused. 'Be a grown-up and own up!'"
Derpy nodded sheepishly, but then suddenly remembered why she was running away with Apple Bloom in the first place... and the monster that was waiting for her if she turned back. The pegasus immediately began shaking her head furiously and tried to explain, but nothing she tried to say got through the muffling effect of the helmet. As a result, Fluttershy narrowed her eyes dangerously.
"Alright, then we'll try it my husband's way," she replied, cracking her neck. She then took a deep breath and shouted, "YOU MESS WITH A FILLY, I KNOCK YOU SILLY!" The force of her voice alone was so great that it not only sent Derpy reeling back, but small cracks formed in her helmet before the cold froze them sealed again.
Fluttershy didn't waste time waiting for the 'griffon' to recover. With a flap of her wings, she shot through the air like a yellow and pink bullet, hoof-punching Derpy and knocking the grey pegasus around while Apple Bloom started screaming again as Derpy's grip loosened. Instead of falling, however, Fluttershy scooped her out of Derpy's grasp and held her close.
Derpy wasn't hurt, of course, thanks to the armor. She couldn't see until she got the world to stop spinning around her, though, which took several seconds. Once she did, she looked around and saw Fluttershy banking toward Ponyville with Apple Bloom held securely in her hooves. Derpy was grateful for that, at least, until she felt a shifting of the wind through her wings.
Gertrude was flying again. Derpy didn't have to see the griffon to know it. Every flap of the great griffon's wings affected the howling winds as if the storm were an extension of Gertrude's body, and Derpy could feel her getting closer. Fearing what she might do if she caught up to Apple Bloom and Fluttershy, the armored pegasus flapped her wings harder than she ever had before to catch up.
Fortunately for the sake of Derpy catching up, Fluttershy had to fight the wind as she made her way back to town. Derpy's extraordinary sensitivity allowed her to ride the air currents more efficiently.
Unfortunately, she still had no way to communicate.
Flying alongside Fluttershy, she tried to shout through the muffling effect of the helmet and blizzard, only for Apple Bloom to start shouting at her and for Fluttershy to glare before trying to turn away from Derpy in a direction that would lead her back into Gertrude's path.
In a panic and not knowing what to do, Derpy whimpered, "I hope I know what I'm doing..." before she did the only thing she could think of.
Fluttershy saw the 'griffon' coming, but she was a rather average flier to be honest, and the sort of storm she was trying to push through had been sapping her endurance ever since she took off after Apple Bloom. The angle that her adversary was coming at her from meant that she had to fly straight into a headwind if she wanted any chance of avoiding it, and this ended up holding her in place enough that Derpy could tackle her, sending the three mares spinning and tumbling out of the sky toward the buildings below.
-----
"Here you go, dearies. Are you feeling nice and warm, now?"
Sweetie Belle and Spike both nodded and let out squeals of delight as Mrs. Cake set down a plate with three cupcakes for the unicorn sisters and baby dragon. Spike's was clearly different from the rest, being topped off with small quartz crystals that Rarity had brought from the farm for him to snack on. He tried to make a grab for it, but was blocked by Sweetie Belle's hoof.
"Hey, you're supposed to say 'thank you' first," Sweetie Belle said, admonishing her reptilian nephew.
"Oooh, right. Thank you, Missus Cake!" The little dragon smiled adorably at the baker, who chuckled warmly as she patted his head.
"You're very welcome, dear. I hope you all enjoy your treats." Mr. Cake then looked over toward Rarity and saw that the older of the two unicorns was barely paying attention to them.
Once the snow had started coming down and it quickly became clear that it was more than a light dusting shaking loose from the clouds, the unicorn sisters and baby dragon had abandoned their nest-making station and taken refuge in Sugarcube Corner, along with as many twigs and ribbons as they could haul with them. Now, while the children happily devoured their treats, Rarity sat by the window and glared up at the clouds.
Feeling a chill coming from the window, which had started to frost over, the blue baker asked, "You sure you want to sit right there, Miss Rarity? Seems to be a bit draft over here."
Sweetie Belle finished the last bite of her cupcake, then licked a bit of errant frosting off of her nose. "Oooh, I could look at it! Then maybe I'll get my cutie mark in window repair!"
This prompted a shudder from Mrs. Cake, and a sudden crash of falling utensils came from the back of the shop before Carrot Cake stuck his head out. "Great Grandma Celestia, no!" Seeing that the eager little blank-flanked unicorn was still just sitting there and not yet in the process of demolishing his bakery, he cleared his throat and said, "Uh... I mean, it's not a big deal. You still have nests to make, so maybe you should focus on that, and I'll just call Windowpane to handle it after the pegasi get rid of this storm?" Nervous perspiration dotted his brow as he gave Sweetie a hopeful grin.
The little filly hummed and thought about it before deciding, "Yeah, I think I'd rather have a bird cutie mark than a window, so I'll try for that one, first!" This prompted a deep sigh of relief from both bakers before Carrot went back to pick up what he'd dropped.
Cup Cake, meanwhile, joined Rarity in looking out the window, though it was difficult to make out any detail as the glass was frosting over before her eyes. "Oh, what in Equestria is taking the weather team so long dealing with this? Why would they even start a blizzard without warning anypony?"
"Fluttershy!" Everyone turned to face Rarity as she didn't so much say her first word since Cup brought them their treats as she growled it with a venom and anger the baker had never seen from the sweet, hard-working rock farmer. "This is her doing, I just know it," Rarity muttered. "She's up there laughing... laughing at us!"
Everypony blinked in surprised confusion at Rarity's angry accusation while Spike gasped. "Missus Fluttashee's a bad pony?!"
"I thought she was your friend," Sweetie Belle said. "And that time Scootaloo turned me blue, you told me not to say mean things about my friends, especially when they aren't around."
Rarity snapped, "Well I was wrong! About Fluttershy, I mean." The anger in her voice faltered slightly as she muttered, "You're right, though. You... you really shouldn't say such things behind your friends' backs... I really shouldn't..." But as she started to trail off, bits of her mane started to slip loose from her braid, wafting around her head as if in a breeze as she bristled once more. Another draft seemed to blow through the bakery, chilling everypony inside as she seethed, "but that tail-chomping hussy isn't my friend anymore! Not after what she did to Spike! Not after what she's doing now! Just look..."
Fluttershy was up there, she just knew it. Cackling madly as she danced across the clouds, sending this blizzard down on their heads as payback for having gotten yelled at. "Let's see how Rarity likes it when her little Spikey-wikey is sobbing because his forelegs are freezing and she has no boots to give him that fit over claws!"
Rarity shrieked at the window, "You horrible witch! I'll show you! I'll knit Spike the best... er... gl-oves? Yes, gloves! The finest ever seen in Equestria, and then it'll be your darling Iron Will who'll be sobbing in jealousy when he realizes his shrill little shrew of a wife can't make him anything to fit over those boulder-sized mitts of his!"
The incensed unicorn ground her teeth as she heard Spike start crying behind her. Sweetie Belle's shrill, annoying little voice piped up, "But Rarity, that doesn't make any sense! She's just one pegasus, so how could she make a blizzard so big the whole weather team can't stop it?"
"Because they're in on it!" Rarity whirled around suddenly to face the others and saw the color drain from their faces, their mouths hanging open. Except for Spike, of course, who was busy sobbing like a brat. "That hussy must have paid them off with money she and her brute of a husband made peddling their lies! Who knows? Maybe they didn't even need to be paid off. They're all pegasi, so of course they stick together! Every feathered one of them is laughing at our misery and... Spike! If you know what's good for you, you'll stop that c... cry..."
The farmer found herself choking on the venomous words as she felt her heart leaping up into her throat as if to block them from escaping. Staring at the sight of her adopted son sobbing his eyes out for the second time that day, Rarity felt something flow out of her, not noticing as her stray hairs fell limp around her face once more. "Wh... what was I saying...? What am I doing...?" Moving from her seat, she went over to wrap the baby dragon up in a hug. "Oh, Spikey, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was so upset about Fluttershy making you cry, I never wanted to do that to you."
As Spike started to calm down, his sobs turning to quiet hiccups, Mrs. Cake coughed quietly and asked, "Umm... Rarity, how are your eyes feeling?"
Rarity blinked in surprise at the odd question and replied, "My eyes? They feel fine, Mrs. Cake. Why do you ask?" She touched a hoof to her eyes and found that they were a bit wet, but she couldn't say why. Aside from that, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
While the baker tried to find an appropriate way to say it, Sweetie Belle blurted out, "They were all white and creepy!"
Rarity's mouth opened and closed a few times as she looked to Mrs. Cake, who simply nodded in agreement with the younger unicorn. Just as she was about to ask more, however, she saw a shadow approaching the front window and yanked Spike down off of his seat, reflexively using her magic to tip the table up to protect all of them as the storefront suddenly imploded!
A heavy thud impacted against the table with enough force to crack it, but thankfully not enough to break the impromptu shield Rarity had thrown up. The wind blew through, carrying the snow in and chilling the ponies and dragon.
After a few seconds of holding the table, Carrot Cake came back out of the back room and gasped at the sight. Crying out his wife's name, he hurried over and held her close. "Are you alright, sweety?"
"Uh... uh-huh," Sweetie Belle stammered, her whole body shivering with the shock of what just happened. Then she realized Mr. Cake had been talking to his spouse. "Oh, right... s-s-sorry."
"I-it's okay, dear," Cup Cake replied, just as shocked. "I'm alright. We're alright, I think," she added, briefly holding her stomach. "Wh-what happened, Rarity?"
Rarity shook her head a little to clear it, then pushed the table aside enough for her to peer around it. When she did so, she gasped. "Fluttershy!"
Fearing another rant, the others in the bakery nevertheless weren't particularly relieved when Rarity revealed the three who had smashed through their wall. Sure enough, one of them was the yellow pegasus, unconscious and holding tight to a shivering and whimpering Apple Bloom. And there beside them, unmoving, was a figure that Rarity assumed at first glance to be a griffon, but... "Look. hooves! This one's a pony, too," Rarity observed. "Mr. Cake, help me get them away from the window so they can warm up."
"Oh! Of course, right away," the earth pony replied. "Everypony else, you should probably move back, too, and... Sweetie Belle!" Sweetie, staring with wide-eyed horror at the sight of her friend in distress, ignored Carrot and rushed over. Whether it was from the severe cold or the shock of whatever had happened, Apple Bloom was curled up in Fluttershy's forelegs, her eyes wide open but her irises shrunken to tiny dots that frantically swiveled around but didn't seem able to focus on anything.
"Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom, snap out of it," Sweetie Belle pleaded as she pulled her friend out of the unconscious pegasus's grip. While Rarity started dragging Fluttershy away from the gaping hole and Carrot Cake took the faux griffon, Sweetie Belle shook Apple Bloom gently before letting the yellow filly lean against her back and following the adults. "Apple Bloom, what happened out there?"
The little unicorn could feel her friend's heart pounding like a jackhammer. Her breathing was labored and raspy, but as Apple Bloom suddenly let out a loud cough to clear her lungs and take in the warmer air inside the bakery, she started to focus more. "S... Sweetie Belle? Ah dun'... ah dunno what's happenin'..." Apple Bloom whimpered hoarsely, having worn out her vocal chords.
Sweetie Belle set her down next to Fluttershy while Rarity turned back to the broken window and used her magic to place the table up against it, blocking out much of the freezing wind. "I'll see what I can find to nail that up until we can get some real repairs done," Carrot said as he once again made his way to the back rooms. "You girls just hold on until then."
While they waited, a still-terrified Apple Bloom managed to focus on her unicorn friend and whispered, "Sweetie... th' clubhouse... it's... it's gone, an'... an' ah heard m-mah sister..."
Leaning in to listen closely, Sweetie Belle asked, "Your sister? What happened to your sister?"
Suddenly, there was a sound of splintering wood as Rarity let out a startled shriek. Everyone who was still conscious in the room quickly looked toward the window, and saw that what looked like several long, fiendishly sharp icicles had pierced through the cracked table! With frightening ease, the table was ripped apart before their eyes by what they soon realized were the talons of an enormous griffon of pure wintery white.
"I happened," the griffon replied in answer to Sweetie Belle's question, her voice soft but ringing clearly through the room as she stepped inside with an unconscious Applejack gripped in the talons of her other foreleg. She advanced toward Rarity but paid her no more mind than if the unicorn were a bug in her path, causing Rarity to back away. The griffon then set Applejack down and turned back toward the hole from which wind and snow were entering once more.
Though room was scarce within the bakery, the griffon spread her right wing out wide. With a single flap of the massive appendage, a wall of ice filled the hole, sealing it shut. More than that, however, the ponies and dragon could hear the crackling of ice forming as it continued, spreading across the exterior of Sugarcube Corner. Looking toward the windows, they saw the ice formation spread across the panes like a wave until the entirety of the bakery was surrounded in a dome of ice.
Once this was done, the griffon sat down in front of the newly sealed window and regarded those that were trapped with her.
She then noticed something on the ground in front of her and carefully picked it up between her talons. She held a cupcake, the one that Rarity had ignored earlier, in front of her eyes before placing it in the middle of the plate that had fallen from the table, and pushing that plate toward the ponies.
"You really should not waste food," the griffon casually admonished them, as though they were making small talk. "Especially during Winter. Depending upon how the next few hours go, you may have a long, long time to allow that lesson to sink in."
-----
I take my measure of the ponies and baby dragon before me. Out of the lot, three of them happen to not only be of the six-who-are-one, but the three who responded to the influence of the Windigoes with the greatest acrimony toward one another. Were I of a more expressive nature, I would likely be wearing a smile bright enough to melt even my ice. My new 'servant' could scarcely have done better in her task.
I never expected her to follow my commands as spoken, of course. Not once she had procured the filly. One can always depend upon ponies to fall back on their herd instincts when threatened, and so I knew that she would take the filly to a location that she would consider securable. That it contained another bearer of the Elements of Harmony was a pleasant bonus. That a third attempted to intercept her in her course, only to end up battling the mutant in a case of mistaken identity? I honestly could not have planned that if I had tried.
They are tense. They are afraid, as they should be. Currently, however, their fear is focused solely upon me. That could potentially make them difficult if they unite against me, but I watched them. With only half of their number inside this impenetrable dome, the six-who-are-one cannot bring the Elements to bear against me, and those who are here with me can be nudged so that they will be unable to work together.
Before entering this building, I ordered the Windigoes to lessen the severity of the blizzard enough so that the ponies might return to assess the damage the storm has caused. They will see what I have made of this place, and then the remaining three will gather here.
Once they are here, then the 'negotiations' may begin.
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Fragmented sentence, it looks like. Consider revising.
Applejack? Whut?
*dots
2106934
Wow. Just... thanks for catching that. I guess you can tell I was rushing to finish that section last night.
Edit: Fixed now.
2106974 No problem, mate. I love picking at your nits.
I'm really looking forward to the updates on this, your alternate universe is very engaging and well-written so far. I really feel sorry for the Winter Queen, the fallen are always pitiable.
Oh, just don't forget in the midst of all this world-building that
Ann lies 
2110170 Oh dear, I'm sorry you hate my story so much, then! I'll try to do better, honest.
Wait... unless 'Ann' is somebody else entirely who lies, and you're simply informing me of this fact. But if I ask if you're Ann and you say 'no', then that could either mean that Ann is a different person and you're answering honestly, or you are Ann and are lying to me.
Huh, it would have been such a twist to see Derpy join the griffion, shit....normally I despise Rarity with all my heart and love Fluttershy to death but this.....what she said made me laugh so hard I lamost cried, sad really
Shit, poor Spike and that's it Flutter's kick Derpy's ass, always wanted to see the two fight 
And mortal ponies fighting a Goddess? FAIL! But this should be a fight worth seeing, I'm down and now to see if Derpy's heart is leaning towards good or evil
Really well written chapter my friend
2128583 Yeah, no evil muffin mare in this story, sorry. She's just caught up in something she can't get out of. Though if you want a taste of Derpy going all "Dark Queen", go check out the latest chapter of The God Squad.
2128689 Awwwwww
Good point though, and I'll be sure to do such
Yikes, Rarity, you need to chill.
I'm not sorry.
But I am sorry about waiting for a couple weeks to get to more of this story. Go Fluttershy!
3637808
You SHOULD'nt be sorry!
Glad you're enjoying it.
Welp, this is going to get worse before it gets better, especially since the Windigos are starting to have a dangerous level of influence.
Baby Spike is too cute.
What? He is!