Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or simply Princess Cadance as she prefered to be called, was forced to suppress yet another yawn. She enjoyed her duties as the Empress of the Crystal Empire, but talking about tax reform would be enough to bore anypony to death, except for perhaps Twilight Sparkle.
Cadance giggled faintly at the thought and several raised eyebrows were leveled at her. She cleared her throat, raised her eyebrow in return, and raised the stakes by flaring her nostrils. The bureaucrats flinched and looked down at their reports while the chief economic adviser droned on endlessly in a nasal monotone.
The door to the room opened slightly as a crystal pony mare stuck her head in. “Excuse me, but Princess Twilight Sparkle requests that she needs to see you right away Princess Cadance,” the mare interrupted, looking apologetic as she did so. “My apologies my good sirs from the tax bureau. I understand how important this is for all of you.”
“Do excuse me,” Princess Cadance said, rising from the table. “It sounds as though I am needed.” She smiled, the epitome of grace and charm, and even the agitated eyebrow raisers gave her forgiving glances.
Princess Cadance moved toward the door, gave the room a final nod, and then stepped through the doorway, relieved to no end that Twilight Sparkle had saved her from tax reform.
The two alicorns gazed at one another. Twilight Sparkle looked agitated and had clearly not been sleeping well. Her mane was mussed and her eyes were red and glassy. She twitched fitfully.
“I found another one,” Twilight Sparkle muttered.
“Another hidden laboratory?” Cadance inquired.
Twilight Sparkle nodded in reply, her bangs bobbing over her face.
“Twilight, you don’t look well,” Cadance stated, looking very worried.
“It is the dark magic Cadance. The constant casting is taking a toll on me. Sombra has so many secret places around here, and dark magic is the only way in,” Twilight explained. “And I found something. I found a locked magically warded cabinet with a strange cold crystal inside of it. I am not sure, but I think I found Sombra’s magical Heart of Winter.”
“Really?” Cadance said, her voice hopeful.
“Right now the crystal seems mostly dormant. But I think I found the source of the magical cold that was here in the Crystal Empire,” said Twilight as she stretched her wings and craned her head to get the crick out of her neck.
“Do you think it could be harnessed and used for good?” Cadance asked of her sister in law, her mouth pressed into a moue of thoughtfulness.
“I don’t know Cadance. The whole laboratory is filled with crystals, spellbooks, and old experiments. Lots of diagrams of magical creatures that Sombra dissected. Dragon bones. Everything down there feels wrong Cadance. Just wrong.” Twilight muttered distractedly.
“Can I see the Heart of Winter?” Cadance asked.
“Sure,” Twilight agreed.
“Where is Shiny?” Cadance asked.
“Still down there. There was a troublesome golem and Shining Armor had to smash it into junk,” Twilight replied.
The two mares began to walk side by side, Cadance looking chipper and Twilight looking exhausted. They headed down into the depths of the crystal spire together, down into the dark and hidden places that lurked far below.
The laboratory was a long curved passage carved into the bedrock. It was full of cabinets, shelves, racks, and bookshelves. Bones of strange creatures remained preserved on dusty tables. Diagrams covered the walls. Magical globes of light still burned brightly, a testament to Sombra’s power.
A pile of changeling chitin disturbed all those who gazed upon it, feared enemies or not. Sombra’s cruelty had known no bounds.
One of the archivists opened a cabinet and a pile of pony bones spilled out, causing her to scream. Shining Armor did his best to comfort her, speaking to the crystal unicorn in soothing tones and trying to calm the spooked mineral based equine.
The Heart of Winter sat inside of its cabinet, sitting in a metal stand that held the crystal in place. It was blue and much to everypony’s surprise, was not heart shaped. The entire cabinet was encrusted with ice on the inside, and several old potions had been stored inside the cabinet, preserving them. There were also old tissue samples, frozen and preserved perfectly within the cabinet.
“I expected the Heart of Winter to be heart shaped for some reason,” Cadance stated. “The book mentioned that it was a blue crystal that radiated cold and this seems to be it. Funny, it doesn’t seem evil. It seems like it was being used as a refrigerator.”
“Make no mistake Cadance, dark magic was used in its construction,” Twilight warned.
“Seems so harmless now. Perhaps it has burned out,” Cadance said, studying the crystal.
“I believe it is dormant and could reactivate itself at any time,” Twilight stated, shooting a worried glance at her brother.
“I know that the books we found stated that this crystal is how Sombra froze the Crystal Empire and the lands around it. I understand that is far more dangerous than it looks. I am merely stating that it seems harmless, that is all,” Cadance explained, squinting at the crystal as she did so.
“Of course, I could be wrong, and this might not be the Heart of Winter,” Twilight admitted.
“Twilight, do you think Sombra would create an artifact with such a powerful application of dark magic and use it as a refrigerator? I believe this has to be the Heart of Winter. I also think it should be destroyed,” Shining Armor asserted.
“I am not sure what to do with it, and I am not fit to make that kind of decision right now. I am exhausted. We can deal with it later,” said Twilight just before she yawned.
“Such a pretty thing,” Cadance murmured, staring at the crystal.
“It is a wretched thing, it should be destroyed,” Shining Armor retorted.
“Shiny, how could you say that of something so beautiful?” Cadance snapped.
“How could anything created from dark magic be beautiful? Have you lost your mind Cadance?” Shining Armor argued.
“How dare you say such a thing!” Cadance shouted.
“Both of you, shut up!” Twilight scolded.
“Don’t you speak to Cadance that way you brat!” Shining Armor said to Twilight.
“YOU WOULDN’T EVEN HAVE CADANCE IF IT WASN’T FOR ME YOU BIG DUMB DORK!” Twilight bellowed.
“Don’t you speak to my husband that way! You little snot nosed foal! You were always intruding on our dates and not giving us any privacy!” Cadance accused.
The crystal cracked and the room fell silent. A chill fell over the room.
“Uh oh,” Twilight gasped.
“What just happened?” Shining Armor asked. “Why was I yelling at you?”
The crystal pony archivists in the room were all frozen in panic, and every eye in the room was now staring at the crystal.
“We should flee,” Twilight announced, stating the obvious.
Before anypony could leave, the crystal exploded and the room was filled with a blizzard. It raged all around them, freezing the crystal ponies in place, encasing Shining Armor in a block of ice, and partially freezing the two alicorns.
Cadance squinted through the cold, trying to see what was causing the magical ice storm. Her horn flared, and she tried to shield herself from the bone chilling cold.
“Windigo!” Twilight shouted over the howling wind.
“But they are extinct!” Cadance returned, shouting back.
Cadance watched in horror as the ice began to creep further up Twilight’s body, encasing the pony that she loved in a magical icy shell. Cadance began to look around the room, trying to find the source of all of this commotion. She didn’t know why she was able to resist the cold, but she was grateful for it, whatever the cause was.
She took a few stiff legged steps, still horrified about the ice slowly devouring Twilight. She had to stop this somehow. Windigos were dangerous and were supposed to be long extinct.
And there, in the blinding swirling snow, she saw a small figure.
“It is a foal!” Cadance shouted.
She leaned into the blizzard and pushed forward, papers and books flying through the air and slamming into her body. Some of the books were very large, and hurt a great deal.
“You! Stop this at once!” Cadance shouted, scolding the frozen blue foal.
It peered up at her defiantly with wide blue eyes, and the cold increased. Cadance struggled to resist the assault, ice now beginning to claim her body.
She thought about all of the love she had for everypony in the room. She loved Shining Armor. He was a good husband. She loved Twilight like a sister. And she loved her subjects.
She reached out a wing and smacked the foal on the snoot. “Bad foal!” she scolded, narrowing her eyes and giving a motherly glare at the tiny blue creature. “Very bad foal!”
The foal looked up at her and its lip quivered. For a moment, the blizzard subsided, the raging storm softening slightly to a squall. The foal began to bawl, crying tears that turned into snowflakes and floated away in the wind.
“Come here,” Cadance said, pulling the foal to her as she sat down on her haunches. She tugged the foal to her and hugged it with her wings. “You’ve been abused. You’re scared. It is wrong to freeze ponies. Now stop that,” Cadance soothed, letting her love radiate. Ice began to creep up her body as she tried to comfort the foal. “Sombra must have done terrible things to you and you have been trapped in that crystal this whole time. I will comfort you but please stop freezing those I love,” Cadance asked gently.
The cold eased. The room was still bitterly cold, but the blizzard ceased. Cadance’s horn glowed brightly and ice could be heard cracking.
“I won’t let anypony hurt you,” Cadance promised, whispering in the foal’s ear. She looked down at the foal. It was dark blue, with an icy blue spiky icicle mane. The foal seemed to calm in the alicorn’s embrace.
“Windigo foal?” Shining Armor stammered through chattering teeth.
“Yes, and don’t even think about hurting it,” Cadance growled.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Shining Armor said. “But what do we do with it?”
“I don’t know,” Cadance said. “We have to keep it safe though.”
“That might be the last windigo,” said Twilight as she shivered violently.
“We have to keep other ponies safe from it, but at the same time it seems wrong to do something to it, like sealing it away again,” Cadance stated. “Look at it, it is just like any other foal. Look at how it clings to me. It is scared and wants to be loved like anything else at this age.”
“I wonder what Princess Celestia will say,” Twilight said, rubbing her wings over her body, trying to get warm.
Cadance began to hum a lullaby, slipping easily into her role as a foal sitter once again. She lifted the foal and cradled it, holding it tight to her, and in no time, the troubled foal had drifted off to sleep.
The room was still bitterly cold from the magical aura that the foal radiated. Cadance looked down at it, wondering if it could be loved, and she felt her heart breaking, wondering if she had the resolve it might take to do the right thing for her subjects and the ponies all around her.
“Shining Armor? Do the needs of the many truly take precedence over the needs of just one?” Cadance asked, a single tear falling from her eye and freezing on her cheek.
“I don’t know Cadance. I have often asked myself that same question,” Shining Armor replied.
“What do we do?” Cadance asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight responded.
“I fear my heart is far too tender to make these decisions,” Cadance breathed, her words emerging as steam in the flesh numbing cold.
“So this is how Sombra harnessed the power of winter,” said Shining Armor as he shivered, his horn glowing as he tried to warm himself magically.
“Over a thousand years, locked in crystal, nopony there to comfort you or to sing you to sleep,” Cadance whispered, rocking the foal.
There were no easy answers to be had.
Author's Note
This has been sitting on my drive for a while, partially done. I decided to finish it and post it as a one shot.
It was originally going to be a much longer, much larger story, and this story was created about the same time as The Chase.
The Chase took precedence.
I hope you enjoy it, it will probably go mostly unnoticed like so many other bits of my work that I absolutely love but can't seem to get enough people to read to justify working on them.
Let me know what you think. Hopefully, a few of you like it and it brightens up your day. I'd feel good if that happened. Thanks for reading.
