Winter Haze
Twilight tossed and turned in her bed. Looks like it’s another sleepless night for me she thought to herself. Since her transfer to Canterlot High after the Friendship Games, which ended in spectacular fashion with a battle between her evil side, Midnight Sparkle, and her new closest friend, Sunset Shimmer, she had struggled to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she was met with the memory of her time as Midnight Sparkle. She had almost destroyed the world in her pursuit of magical knowledge, a fact that plagued her to no end. She was finally about to drift off when she heard a voice.
“Hello there Twilight, missed me?” She shot up in her bed, and looked around frantically, desperately searching for where that voice had come from. It can’t be she thought you’re gone. Her gaze reached her mirror, and that was where she saw it. Staring back at her through the glass was Midnight Sparkle. “You didn’t really think I was gone, did you?” Midnight asked, an unnaturally large grin plastered across her face. The sight of the she-devil had frozen Twilight in place. She stared, unblinking, at the mirror in disbelief. “Poor, poor Twilight. Met with scorn at Crystal prep, now racked with guilt for your sins. Will life ever give you a break?” Midnight spoke in a mocking, cruel manner, never breaking direct eye contact. “You can try convincing yourself that your new ‘friends’ have forgiven you, but deep down you know they never truly will. You hear it every time they claim the last thing they need is ‘another raging she demon’ or ‘power crazed student' Know this: I am and forever will be a part of you, no matter how hard you try to turn over a new leaf. Remember that and sleep well.” And with a malice filled cackle, she retreated into the depths of Twilight’s mind.
The hours dragged on as Twilight lay, unable to rest, until dawn finally arrived to liberate her from this waking nightmare. Except it didn’t, at school she still thought of nothing else, even when Principal Celestia announced that the students had the opportunity to go on a trip to Camp Everfree, provided they could raise the money for it. Sunset noticed something was wrong with Twilight and took her aside from the group at lunch.
“Hey, you doing ok?” Sunset asked her “You’ve barely spoken all day, didn’t touch your food at lunch, and you look really tired. I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t ask.” Twilight looked at Sunset, and saw that she really was concerned for her. How can she care, after what I nearly did? What she had to stop me doing? I would’ve killed her.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Twi mumbled in response. “I just didn’t sleep well.” Sunset pulled a face at that, knowing Twilight wasn’t telling the whole truth, but she decided not to push any further. Twilight will have a reason for not wanting me to know she reasoned, and so she left it at that. Over the next few weeks however, Sunset noticed this distant and withdrawn Twilight more and more. This worried her, because she was convinced that Twilight still hadn’t forgiven herself for what went down at the Friendship Games, and nothing she said to her could help with that. The fundraisers for the trip were a resounding success, and yet still Sunset didn’t see Twilight any happier, even with the prospect of a trip to the camp, the girls being really forgiving and accepting of her and her grades continuing to soar.
The trip arrived, and the events that occurred over the next few days shocked everyone, and put Twilight under a lot of pressure. But friendship triumphed again, and by the end, Sunset noticed a significant improvement in her friend. She seemed happier, more at ease. The reveal she’d been nervous about Midnight Sparkle resurfacing had led to Sunset and the others helping her get over this fear and allowed them to beat Gloriosa Daisy and save the camp. They went back to school, and Sunset rejoiced at her friend’s newfound inner peace.
School broke up for the summer, and the seven of them went on many adventures, and even got a visit from Equestrian Twilight. They had sleepovers, went to the cinema, got to help on the set of a Daring Do movie and Twilight even started dating Timber Spruce. In addition to this, Applejack and Rainbow officially became a couple, Pinkie got a summer job as an event organiser, Fluttershy a position at the local animal shelter, and Rarity went to Manehatten to showcase some of her designs. On top of this, they learnt how to better use their magic geodes, and their powers and friendship only grew.
All was great for the seven of them, until one fateful day.
The first day back at Canterlot high after the break, Applejack was tasked with showing a new student around the school. They met up on the stairs in front of the school.
“Hello.” Applejack greeted the new student cheerily. “You must be Winter Haze.” Winter only grunted in acknowledgement. “I’m Applejack, and I’m going to give you a tour of the school.” Winter was not like Applejack’s friends in the slightest. For one, they seemed completely devoid of any joy or passion for anything that Applejack showed him. Rather, everything the school across was met with apathetic grunts and shrugs.
Throughout the tour, Applejack began to feel more and more tired with every passing minute, as if the energy was being sucked right out of her. She dismissed it as the product of not enough sleep.
“So,” she began as they reached the end of the tour. They stood where they had begun, in the main hall of the school. “What brings you to Canterlot High in the first place?” Applejack looked over, to see Winter staring very intently at the geode around her neck.
“Magic.” He answered plainly. Before Applejack could even register what was said, she took a fist to the face. Winter was stronger than anyone she’d ever met, with the blow shattering her nose. Reeling and with blood streaming down her face, she held her hands up in defence, only to feel the full force of another blow break her ribs. Wheezing, she fell to the floor, and began shuffling away down the corridor. She tried to cry out for help, but found herself unable to force any air out of her lungs. Winter stood above her triumphantly, smirking as Applejack looked around, hoping that someone would see, would help. But they were alone in the corridor, as lessons weren’t due to end for another half hour. Winter picked her up by the neck, choking her, and started to glow.
“And if you haven’t guessed yet.” They sneered. “That magic is going to come from you and your friends. They continued to glow a vibrant green and Applejack immediately felt all the strength she had melt away. She blacked out, and Winter dropped her prone, broken body to the ground. “Now.” He said to himself. “Where to hide the body…”
By lunch, Applejack’s friends were growing nervous.
“Maybe she felt sick and went home?” Pinkie suggested while they chose their food.
“Maybe.” Twilight agreed. “But don’t you think she’d at least send us a message? At the very least to Rainbow.”
“I’ve got nothing Twi. Rarity?”
“No new texts from Applejack. Sorry darling.”
“Maybe she had some pressing family emergency she had to rush off and solve.” Fluttershy reasoned.
“Possible, but it’s still not like her.” Sunset concluded. “We could drop by hers after school maybe. See if she’s in?” The others said various words in agreement. “I’ll drop her a text. I’m sure she’s fine, she’s certainly very capable.”
“She was meant to give a new student a tour this morning.” Pinkie piped in. “I could ask them if they know what happened.”
“Sure Pinkie, that sounds like a great idea.”
Pinkie tracked down Winter, finding him in the forest on the school site, walking with Wallflower Blush. Pinkie waited for their conversation to end, and as Wallflower walked away, she approached.
“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie. My friend Applejack was meant to give you a tour around school today, and we don’t know where she is. Do you know where she’s gone?” As she spoke, she grinned in her characteristic fashion, but in truth she was a tad concerned for her friend.
“I haven’t seen her, sorry. She said goodbye at the end of the tour, and that was that.” Pinkie, always the optimist, fully believed his words, and missed his shifty, nervous body language. That was when she saw his necklace.
“Hey, that looks just like her geode, where did you get that?” Instead of a response, what she got was a mouth of broken teeth. She fell to the floor, hitting her head on a root, and a horrific, sharp pain flashed through her head. Winter approached, raised his foot, and with inhuman strength, stomped Pinkie’s skull to pieces. For her friends, the afternoon went rather normally, except for the fact that they didn’t hear from either Applejack or Pinkie. Sunset and Twilight were both in maths together last lesson, and decided to find Winter Haze after school.
“Something’s wrong with the elements of Harmony.” Twilight declared as they made their way out of the classroom. “I can feel it. We should have heard back from AJ of Pinkie by now. Right now, the only common denominator is this Winter, whoever they are.” As it turns out, they did not have to spend much time tracking down Winter. A boom shook the building, followed by the rumbling of rubble falling. Sunset and Twilight raced towards where the noise had come from, running down the corridors at breakneck pace. They were in no way prepared for the scene of absolute carnage that greeted them.
Dust hung in the air like an impenetrable fog, making seeing very difficult. From what the girls could see, the corridor’s roof had fallen in, and debris lay strewn across the floor. About a dozen students lay across the floor wailing in pain, many of them with severe burns. The lockers that usually lined the walls had been scattered haphazardly, as if someone had picked them up and thrown them, and the contents of many of them were on fire, spewing smoke up into the air. In the centre of the corridor, Sunset and Twilight could make out four forms, fighting. One of them moved with lightning speed, whilst another manifested large crystal structures, which they were sending hurtling towards a third person. The fourth was bent down over one of the injured, presumably trying to help them. Just as quickly as they’d seen them, the smog moved, and they lost sight of them.
“Twilight! Clear this smoke and dust!” Sunset shouted over the now ringing alarms going off throughout the building. Twilight focused, and used her magic to force the cloud into a nearby classroom. They looked back at the carnage before them, and their jaws dropped. An unknown figure – who they assumed was Winter – was holding their own against both Rainbow and Rarity, as they fought desperately, to little effect. Around the figure’s neck hung two geodes, one pink and the other orange. As they stared in disbelief, Winter pulled a small tub of sprinkles from his pocket, and hurled them down the corridor towards Rarity.
Manifesting a diamond of water, she forced it away, back towards Winter. However, it was knocked askew by the impact, bouncing off the wall and landing on the floor. Right next to Fluttershy. With a boom, the sprinkles detonated. The wall directly behind where Fluttershy had been immediately found itself dyed red, and bones shot across the hall in unison with the blood which splattered all over the combatants. Rarity lost her focus on Winter, staring with her jaw agape at where her friend had just been. This would prove to be her final mistake. Winter approached from behind, and with a loud crack snapped her neck, before putting on her geode.
Twilight was enraged. She reached out with her magic, freezing Winter in place. Rainbow zoomed past, peppering him with punches, but even with their combined might, Winter’s magic, augmented by the three geodes he now possessed, proved too strong to hold for long. He broke free, and began marching towards Twilight and Sunset. Then, he froze, before sticking out his arm. This caught Rainbow unawares. She ran straight into it, the force of the impact tearing her into two halves. Seemingly unfazed by both her wails of agony and the sheer force of the impact, Winter simply began to reach for her geode. He never got it. Twilight used her magic once more, to grab both of her friends’ corpses – well, Fluttershy’s and the top half of Rainbow’s – and lift them towards her. Sunset snatched the geodes from their bodies, and she put Fluttershy’s around her own neck, and Rainbow’s on Twilight. They were going to need all the magic they could get to best Winter.
The both of them were seeing red. “Twi. You hold him in place, and I’ll touch him and go into his mind. That’ll even the odds.” Twilight nodded, reaching deep into herself and channelling as much magic as she could to hold Winter back. She could already feel the toll it was taking on her. Sunset raced over to the now incapacitated Winter, and held her hand to his forehead, before freezing entirely in place.
The seconds dragged out to feel like decades as Twilight stood there, fixed in place and focusing intently on keeping her friend safe from Winter. However, she wasn’t alone.
“You know, I’d be a great asset right about now.” A voice said in her head. Oh, great. Twilight thought Now, of all times. “Yes, now of all times dear Twilight,” The voice replied. “I have access to stores of magic you can only dream of. We could join Sunset in his mind. She might need us, look at her.” Twilight looked up, and saw her friend sweating profusely whilst grinding her teeth as she struggled. “How many more are you willing to see die? She’s all you have left now.” Twilight gulped. Midnight was making sense. She forced back thoughts of giving in, refocusing on holding Winter in place.
Her vision blurred as sweat began to run down her face; the effort was exhausting. Her vision refocused suddenly, as she noticed something that should be impossible. Winter’s right hand began to move. Slowly, it reached for Sunset, who was still deep in his mind. Twilight forced evermore energy from stores unknown into trying to hold him in place, but it wasn’t enough. He grabbed her geode, snapping it off her neck. With a blinding flash of light, Sunset crumpled to the floor and began to smoke.
Twilight lost it. The control over her emotions, which had focused and held in check the wilder parts of her magic for use, vanished in a second. She thought herself to now be truly alone in the world among her peers, and lashed out in rage. Every trace of magic that remained in her was funnelled into a viscous attack on Winter. Without hesitation, she switched from holding to pulling. He cried out in anguish as she began to tear him apart, the power of his magic paling in comparison to the purity and sheer force of the rage Twilight felt. One by one his limbs were torn off with a fleshy squelch and a snapping of bone. His dismembered torso fell to the ground, landing with a splash in the puddle of blood that grew beneath him. His pained cries were soon quieted, as with a sickening crack, Twilight snapped his neck, ending his unhappy existence.
“That’s for my friends, bastard.” She muttered, before collapsing to the floor in exhaustion.