War of the Weather

“For generations, we have traveled north to test our merits against the harshest elements. Now, as our mothers and fathers before us did, we face the storm.”

Cyclone Chasers

Before he ever had a chance to comprehend it, his vision was blocked by a shroud of gray darker than his fur. Then it became darker and darker still until nothing was visible beyond the clouds. He turned his head and looked up and back down again but there was no light to be seen, not even a crack of it. His wings strained against the wind as another gale blowed against his side and he twirled wildly in the torrent. For a moment he lost  control and tumbled in mid air.

It was wild and dizzying, and he wasn’t sure how far he was above the ground, but years of practice and a little bit of instinct leveled him off again.  The pegasus strained his ears but couldn’t sense if any of his friends were nearby. Not that it mattered, the rushing air made talking impossible as soon as he was airborne but at least seeing them would have helped. Buckeye’s body relaxed as he mentally prepared himself to not fight the storm any longer. Giving up control oddly enough gave him a feeling of sheer exuberance. Flying blind, and floating.  He breathed deep, a  sensation of  extreme calm, and wild excitement, all in the same instance roiled inside his chest. Buckeye smiled, there was nothing for it than to let the tunnels of air guide him towards a new experience. He let out a whoop of excitement and let the air flow pull him to the center of the storm.

“That had to be the best storm ride ever!” Parasol danced in small circles around her friends as they came in for a landing from the receding gray clouds and beating thunder. Each of them congratulated the other on another day of mastery over the elements. Soon, as the light faded, the small group started leaving the valley. It’d do no good to walk back in the much colder night. As they went along, a larger dark orange stallion named Rusty Oak nudged Buckeye’s shoulder and smiled.

“I saw you take on that twister in the middle, Buckeye. All by yourself too. Didn’t think you had it in you.” Buckeye found it easier to lift his hooves over the deep snow after being warmed by the compliment.

“I guess I did alright,” He said.”It would have been better if-”

 “If you don’t count the fact it took ten minutes to dig his frozen tail out of the drifts after he wiped out!” Parasol interrupted, she had reached Buckeye and Rusty Oak on her  third pass in her jubilant exertion to work off extra energy. Her statement elicited laughter from the group that Buckeye took in stride.

“Yeah? Well at least I feel into the soft stuff and not a solid wall like Whirligig over there.” A deep blue mare with a lighter blue mane scowled and feigned to punch the gray stallion in the side, but he ducked leapt clear with a laugh.

“That’s Whirlpool you clod head!” scowled Whirlpool. “ And you have no right to complain, you went down twice as much as anyone else!”

Buckeye stuck out his tongue as he continued to tease. “This is the first time I’ve ever flown in one of these storms and this is your, what, fourth year? So what exactly is your excuse for still having the sense of direction of  a foal?” This brought on a few gasps and more laughter.

“Wow, are you gonna let the new guy talk to you like that, Whirlpool?” Asked a light maroon mare named Sugarcane.

“No. Clear the way!” Parasol and Rusty stepped clumsily backwards in the deep snow as the blue pegasus plowed past. Buckeye had a headstart but felt he was strong enough to fly. In a few wingbeats he was airborne and soaring the rest of the distance towards the ridge, laughing the whole way, Whirlpool just behind him.

 As the storms settled and left the landscape empty and peaceful, eight pegasi made it to the village nestled on the other side of the ridge. Weary wings tucked against their sides, yet still warm from the elation and thrill that came from  riding in the midst of wild weather, as they called it, chaotic weather patterns natural or otherwise that happened with no intervention of pegasus magic. It would be best to get inside before the temperature dropped any further. It would freeze again tonight, a typical thing high in the Crystal peaks.

They clambered back down into a  narrow straight, a small canyon of sorts.  On either side the wall of rock was high, protecting them from most of the wind but the snow that covered the mountaintop still fell freely into the canyon. The village sat firmly in between the canyon walls. Created from a combination of ice and dark stone, surrounded by another smaller pony made wall  for extra protection, from a distance it looked like a few natural caves had also been converted into shelters. Gray smoke plumed calmly from the chimney of the largest wooden building that sat in the middle of the complex. Fennel,an elderly mare colored an olive green emerged from the central cabin to greet them.

“So I see you finally decided to get back, you managed to get here before moonrise at least.” The old pegasus dragged her forehoof into the snow in exasperation at her returning friends.

An icy grey pegasus with light green hair stepped forward and nuzzled Fennel apologetically.“We’re sorry, Fen. Sometimes the storms dissipate slower than usual, and some of us want to ride it out to the last.”

Fennel huffed. “Well at the very least you could have left me anyone other than Buoy. Clumsy colt couldn’t cut an onion if his life depended on it, I would have much rather had your help!”

“Onions you say? So that means dinner is on,right?” Rusty Oak interrupted the two older mares with a hopeful expression on his face.

“Regardless of my wonderful assistant, soup is on the simmer, don’t worry at all about that.”  said Fennel. She turned and cantered back toward the entrance. “You all can tell me how you fared against the wind and thunder on a full stomach, come on inside!”

The village itself was little more than an outpost re discovered decades ago by pony explorers traveling into the Frozen North. But after extensive repairs, the small huddle of cabins served a fine purpose of housing the dozen or so pegasi who made the effort to travel high into the Crystal Mountains once every two years, to experience a strange yet naturally occurring phenomenon known as the Aurora’s Yawn. A brief period lasting roughly two weeks,  where the cold yet quiet landscape became filled with wildly blowing winds, twisting cyclones, and dark ominous clouds set in a low valley they called Cyclone Coast, a stretch of snow and wilderness that seemed to never end.

Unlike most pegasi who would rather avoid uncontrolled weather whenever possible, these few took to it like surfers to the waves. A challenge of nature that they delighted in experiencing. And for some it reminded them of a time in history  when this kind of weather was a natural enemy of pony kind. A time where they possessed little to no control of the land and were much lower on the food chain.

“It’s getting late, catch you in the flow tomorrow, alright?” Said Sugarcane as she sleepily removed herself from the table and went out to find her cabin. There was only half an hour till  twilight, the horizon’s colors were beginning to fade and it wouldn’t be long before the moon princess performed her duty and raised the moon to the top of the sky. A few others decided it was time to turn in as well and quickly said their goodnights before exiting the cabin. The moon had fully risen into the beautiful snow littered sky when only a few remained..

Rusty Oak, the dirty orange stallion who was all too eager for food when they reached the village, had started retelling several past experiences on the coast.

“I hope one of you brought a camera because this,” Rusty Oak slammed his hoof on the wooden table to gain everypony’s attention. “Is going to be the time it happens. I can feel it!”

“Is that so?” Asked Buckeye, busy working a toothpick around his incisors, trying to pick out bits of lentil and carrot caught in the gaps. “What’s happening?” He asked.

“It gets rough out there really quickly, but I can feel when it’s close. The one roughest, most powerful windstream is going to pass across the plain this year. Probably even tomorrow!  And I’m going to ride it out no matter how far out it goes.”

“You’re going to get spat out and totally bashed if you fly too far, Rusty.” Said Parasol as she took her bowl over to the still warm cauldron in an attempt to scoop out the last bits of vegetables and broth. Rusty rolled his eyes and laughed.

“I’ve already smashed my head up against enough rocks by now to have learned how to take care of myself out there.” Rusty said. “When it comes to chaotic weather there isn’t much left that I haven’t experienced.” He smiled and leaned back. “I’ll be the one holding the record this year”

“Whatever you say, Rusty. I sure your wings don’t fall off in the frost!” It was Whirlpool, she stood up and glared at him as if she took his statement as a personal challenge. Rusty Oak leered at her from the corner of his eye.

“And what’s your problem, Whirligig?” Asked Rusty, already adopting Buckeye’s impromptu nickname much to her annoyance. He couldn’t help but grin, expecting the objection to come.

“The way you packed in all those beans I’m surprised your wings are even strong enough to lift you off the ground.” She teased. “ You know the kind of wind speed we’re dealing with here, right? Crazy, wild, untamed, and it only gets worse with each day."

“ Forget the camera, if I were you I’d make sure Aloes’ got everything he needs to fix the dents that’ll be in your head by the end of this.” Whirlpool tapped her hoof against her chest “ I’m the one who’s gonna break the wind tunnel record this year!”

Buckeye watched his friend’s pre-flight smack talk with interest until he noticed Fennel behind him next to the fire place. She was trying to lift the black pot off of the cooling embers but seemed to be having some trouble removing the chain. But apparently too reserved to ask for help. Or perhaps too stubborn.

“Woah, be careful with that!” Buckeye left the side of his two bickering friends and weaved through the benches to the fireplace. The pot was large and Fennel obviously wasn’t strong enough to lift its chain from the hook.

“Don’t mind them, let me help.” Buckeye said and fit his hoof into the groove handle, giving Fennel a much easier time of unhooking the pot and setting it down gently in the ashes. Buckeye leaned over the pot and whispered to the older mare.  “I guess these two have a bit of a rivalry going on?”

The old green pegasus tittered. “You are new aren’t you?  So you don’t know the half of it.” Fennel glanced over at the two other pegasi. “All of the youngsters have a loose competition going between them but those two are taking it seriously.  They share second and third place on a rotation every other time we come up here.”

“Who has first place?” asked Buckeye.

“That would be old Snowy.”

“Snowy?” Buckeye didn’t recall anyone with that name. Then it dawned on him. “Oh! You mean Snowberry?

“Yeah, she is the one.”

Suddenly a harsh thump sound cracked through Buckeye’s senses. He looked back over at Rusty and Whirlpool, both still fighting.

The big orange stallion huffed. “I’ll be waiting for you inside the super cyclone if your wings are strong enough to get you within a mile of it!” Buckeye, Fennel, and Snowberry refocused on the two sporting pegasi at the tail end of their argument.

“Just try to remember which way is up and which is down.” teased Whirlpool, as she went for the door. Before exiting she glanced back with a smile and said, “Oh, and try not to get yourself frost bitten by any stray windigoes. I’ll see you all in the flow tomorrow.” and left.

“Huh, windigoes,right...” Parasol chewed on a carrot dismissively from the half full bowl of soup still waiting between her forehooves., the last of what there was in the pot. By now it was getting cold and she realized she didn’t want it any more. Yet it would be a shame to waste it.  She examined the wooden ceiling beams while she peacefully chewed.

“You know, I spoke to Silvereed before we left. She was complaining about dreams again.” She said. This gained the attention of the remaining pegasi in the room. She didn’t know what they expected her to say so she shrugged. “She told me not to come up here.”

“Like she does every year?” Complained Rusty.

“At first I thought she was just complaining because of her aching joints. They always seem to put her in a bad mood.  But this time she told me about the Windigoes. The old mare thinks some of them still live up here.”

“Oh that’s something I wouldn’t doubt at all.” It was Snowberry who spoke suddenly from the small side room she and Fennel were sharing. She’d stolen off to it after most of the others had went to sleep. Something had apparently stirred her enough to re emerge with a large brown book clutched to her chest.. She was greeted to a silent room and everyone’s eyes trained on her.

“Impossible, you mean they still exist?” Asked Buckeye, his voice hitched a little with unease. “I-I thought they were all banished!”

“I thought that--well I guess I can believe a few are still around, but would they really come this close to Equestria?” asked Parasol.

Snowberry placed the book down on a table and started flipping through its pages. “Well the claim is popular, that all of the windigoes fled this corner of the country years and years ago. But I have to wonder why they would leave. They were born here, weren’t they? Expecting the Windigoes to abandon the Frozen North is like asking a fish to leave the ocean.”

Buckeye felt his ears tilting back despite himself. “Doesn’t that make coming up here kind of...dangerous?”

“That’s why we stick to the Crystal Mountain range, kido.” answered Rusty Oak. “We’ve all heard the stories about how ponies forced the windigoes back into the wasteland. If those things really are still around what reason do they have to come up this close to the border? There are no ponies for hundreds of miles.”

Parasol grimaced. “Yeah, except for us.”

“Nah, we’re fine, honestly we are.” Said Rusty in a good effort to comfort his two younger companions. “We’re too close to the Crystal Empire for a Windigo to even want to show itself. Besides, they only appear when ponies don’t cooperate, you know how the story goes, right?”

“You sound like a foreigner from across the Appaloosa or something.” Buckeye said to the little lavender pony.”Didn’t you learn about Hearth’s Warming Eve in school?”

“Yes I know the story.” Parasol complained in a tone which seemed to say ‘Lay off, I’m not stupid alright!’  But her brow crinkled lightly with worry. “Still Silvereed, that’s my grandma by the way, she told me that that story is just a fairytale, that it didn’t really happen that way.”

A few of the other pegasi rolled their eyes. Flustered, Parasol continued despite this. “She said that-well, strange weather patterns, odd stuff like this are usually signs that windigoes are nearby. It gets cold, even in places where it shouldn’t be.”

A brown maned yellow pegasus had been lounging near the back throughout the conversation, finally spoke up. “Last I checked we are up in the mountains, so I’m honestly not expecting to see palm trees!”

“Be quiet, Buoy!” Parasol huffed. “I meant the winds. The way they blow, feels ominous as if...” she trailed off for a minute, searching for better words.  “Like the feeling you get when you know someone is watching you but you don’t know where they are. You can’t see them but they can see you, and it’s just waiting.”

“Your grandmother is kind of a mean for filling your head up with horror stories” replied Buoy airly, actually he was fighting to stifle a yawn.  Parasol just shrugged.

“Aw it doesn’t matter though does it?” Asked Buckeye. He trotted over to his lavender friend and patted her comfortingly with her wing. “You know the story, we’re fine as long as we don’t start fighting like Rusty and his mad girlfriend.”

“Hey!” shouted Rusty. “We don’t fight all the time. Do we?” He made a face, mentally he already knew the answer.

Buckeye and Parasol shared a grin. “Windigo bait.” They both said.

“It takes more than a little argument to draw out a windigo.” Snowberry interrupted. “But it’s true, when we stop caring for others it makes the heart go cold.  And that sure enough can bring them out to frost your windows if there is enough of that going on. But we don’t have anything to worry about. They’re witless and won’t come near if there is nothing for them to feed on. If anything our presence pushes them further away from this side of the mountain.”

Buckeye thought it over for a little and decided that what Snowberry said made sense. He and his friends were safe.  And if there were any windigoes around they wouldn’t attack without reason. The moon had creeped up into the sky without him noticing, and so had his tiredness.

“Aw man, didn’t mean to stay up this long.” said Buckeye. He rubbed his bleary eyes as he felt the urge to sleep coming on. Having a good meal was finally taking effect, making him feel very drowsy. He got up from his place at the table and yawned again as he made his way to the cabin’s front door.

“Heh, I won’t be any good out there without sleep. See you guys tomorrow.”

Over the next few days the small group of pegasi left the little mountain village to fly over the peaks of the crystal mountains and and ride the wind streams over the valley, as far out as they dared, since it was basically right on the edge of Equestria’s northern border, pegasus magic had less and less of an effect on wind and cloud. Buckeye preferred to wear thick goggles to help him see  through the snowy altitudes. He never wanted to admit to anyone but ever since that night where he’d heard that ghost story, if one could actually call it that, Buckeye would sometimes feel a slight twinge of uneasiness when he lingered along the jutting walls waiting for the weather to reach the correct conditions for flying. It was a feeling he couldn’t fully explain, even to himself.  Sometimes in the quiet mornings he would listen to the wind howling through the mountain pass and he imagined that was how an angry windigo must sound.

‘But they can’t hurt us. We’re safe here’ , he thought to himself. Even if a windigo were stalking, all it could do is give him a bad chill. He knew it couldn’t hurt him.

“Yo, Buckeye, do you see any monsters down there?”

It was a new day. Buckeye and Whirlpool were practically floating somewhere not far from the  peaks, miles above the rushing white snow  below them. They were waiting for the wind to gain speed and guide them to the center of the storm.

“No, Whirlpool I don’t see any monsters. Hey give me some wing room will ya?  Another gust is coming up!” The mare nodded and pulled away, dropping in altitude. Buckeye’s wing feathers tickled slightly, giving him warning that the air currents were changing and heading his way. It wouldn’t be a good idea for the two pegasi to be so close when it hit. He felt the rush of cold air coil around his body, weaving between his legs and adding lift power to his wings.

He rose high and cleared the peaks that towered over their camp, looking down below into the valley he was greeted to the sight of the wide wintry landscape of the Frozen North. The sea of snow glittered under the reflected light of the  sun and sky and ground seemed to meld together in the horizon, far across the wastes and back down into the badlands, whatever that might look like. But Buckeye knew it was a place no sane pony would be likely to ever find himself.

He looked around and saw many of his friends spread out, waiting for the clouds to gather on their own. It wouldn't take too long but they had found out that the best results came with patience and it was more than a hassle to get the darker clouds to cooperate with them anyway.

Soon enough, on its own time, dark clouds began to collect above the valley, and the sky darkened, obscuring the sun. Buckeye saw Snowberry fly up and land onto one of the agitated dark clouds, she was soon followed by Rusty Oak and several others. The cloud on which they had gathered seemed to work as a central nucleus for the rest of the clouds to attract and wrap around. He flew up and immediately felt the pressure of the atmosphere prickle against his coat and make his spine tingle, then it began.

“There it is, can you see it?” Parasol looked down as the air started to churn and twirl creating a cyclone effect. This was an unnatural occurrence due to the fact that tornados needed both hot and cold in order to form. But the Cyclone Coast, original home of the windigo, wasn’t a place that strictly adhered to any rules of nature.

“It’s coming to meet us, get ready.” said Snowberry, and everyone could feel her anticipation fusing in with their own. One of them took the plunge early and the others lost sight of her in the spinning void, moments later the force came upon them as they were swallowed into the tornado’s middle. Buoy laughed like mad before tripping over his own forehoof and somersaulting down,  then they all jumped just as the clouds they were standing were obliterated in the gale.

“Geronimo!” Buckeye shouted excitedly and took the plunge, losing sight of everything immediately but the swiftly turning mass of wind and snow. He flew into the rotation and spread his wings. The young pegasus couldn’t believe it, after months of waiting he was finally flying in the center of a wild cyclone. His friends back in Cloudsdale would hear of this and tremble.

Lost in the tumult of emotion and adrenaline he almost didn’t see the object plummeting towards him til it was too late. It was as big as him if not slightly bigger. It fell like a stone and clipped his shoulder. Startled and pained, Buckeye spiraled. On instinct, he managed to correct himself in the air just in time to catch a look at what had struck him before it disappeared in the dark lower part of the cyclone.

“What in the world was that?” he said to himself as the grey object, it had to have been a chunk of rock dislodged from the mountain side, vanished in the storm. But then a second later the pegasus realized how impossible that ways. The cyclone sat in the center of the low valley with the walls sitting a little over two miles away on either side.

It was a weird shape too, for a moment as he watched it he could have sworn it looked just like a pegasus. The next moment Buckeye felt something wrap around his middle, stopping him mid flight even in the midst of the pulling wind. He coughed out a half formed cry of surprise as he was pulled away from the inside edge and towards the center of the twister. His goggles fell away from his face and in a matter of seconds he had no idea where he was, left, right, up or down. It was like a wire so cold that it felt hot, was coiling around him till he couldn’t move, not even to flap his wings. The wind was suddenly terrifying and loud, so loud he couldn’t even hear his own cries for help. What had him now, felt like claws as cold as ice.