Raindrop's Hearth's Warming Eve Miracle

Deep inside the iron pen of the Pyrefrost Beowolf, the small blind pony has found herself lost. The snow’s decent begins to pick up pace and the snowflakes mingle with each other, causing larger ice crystals to fall from the heavens. The bustling wind from the north starts to swirl and bend in the growing storm. The hunger, thirst, cold, exhaustion and pain starts to return to the filly, slowing her speed down drastically. Without any trees inside the prison, the young pony had to find the exit or some other form of shelter or she would surely freeze to death.

After, wandering around aimlessly for a minute or two, she bumps into what feels like a large rock. The surface and texture of the rock felt smooth for the most part, but the mare noticed mossy grooves and designs carved into it barely outside her reach. The mysterious boulder was at a slight slant backwards, making it possible for a pony to climb if coordinated enough. The foal’s pains seem to flee from her mind as she becomes curious of the etched markings of the rock. Hoof by hoof, the small pony collects her new-found strength and climbs on the stone slab, feeling each of the massive symbols against her chest on the way up. A low rumble in the earth nearly causes the lost pony to lose balance, but she regains her hoofing and continues up, thinking that the rock merely shifted its weight in the snow.

Meanwhile, high over the metal walls, Princess Celestia and Cloud are trying to see though the black of the night. They could only see so far down, it was as if the Mare in the Moon didn’t want them to rescue the lost mare. “I’m going down for a better view, stay close,” Celestia orders her partner,” many pegasi have been lost in this weather,”

“Let me lead.” Cloud protests, “don’t worry my queen, I’ll still keep to a safe altitude.”

“Fine…” The small pegasi takes the lead as the two descend even closer to the ground, causing unseen snow built up on treetops to kick up behind them.

“We’re skimming the treetops right now, stay here while I go down.” Cloud dives into the maze of twigs and branches of the Everfree Forest, pulling up before hitting the white ground. Now zipping past the shadowy trees, the guard beams his eyes in every direction, searching for a large metal wall. A loud rumbling whisper lingers into his ears. Paranoia soon builds inside him as he looks around frantically for the source, unaware that he hasn’t been focusing forward for a good while. With a loud metal bang, Celestia hears the noise above tree and follows it, leading her to seeing a pegasus guard, face planted in a large, grey metal wall. Celestia congratulates him,

“You found it, good job.” Cloud mumbles from inside the metal,

“Well, at least my back feels better, I think…” The two hover over the wall and land on the soft ground inside. Upon studying the ground, the princess notices small circular indents upon the flat blanket.

“These hoof prints are tiny, how would such a small pony last in this weather?”

“No idea.”

“Wait, shhh!” Celestia whispers as though see saw some flicker of color in the black abyss in front of her. She picks up Cloud with her telekinesis and the two crouch to the ground, nudging forward inch by inch until they can see through the fog and see the blind pony, climbing the slanted stone.

“What the,” Cloud whispers, “she’s completely naked. How is she not a popsicle at this point?”

“Do you notice anything else, odd about her?”

“Uhh, she’s on top of a massive rock?”

“No cutie mark is to be seen on her…”

“Oh… and?”

“And considering her body size despite her face and build appearance to be older, this must be it!”

“The Pyrefrost Beowolf?”

“No silly, she might be a No-Pony!”

“A what now? This has probably been one of the most vocab-filled holidays in my life…”

“Allow to explain,”

Again…

“No-Ponies are a separate species of ponies, unlike normal Earth Ponies, they are smaller and have no cutie marks at all. And unlike the ponies we know in general, they appear to have no inherit magic. They’re very shy, for hundreds of years, I’ve only seen a couple of them a rare bunch of times.”

“No inherit magic? Why?”

“I don’t know, which is why this is a big deal. If we could befriend this No-Pony, she might be able to give us a better understand of the others and one day, be able to integrate them into our society.”

“When you put it like that, it sounds a bit, invasive…”

“Don’t be such a silly filly, what type of civilization is better than ours, if there is even any other civilization?”

“I guess you have a point…” The earth suddenly rumbles beneath them once more, as if a volcano is about to erupt before them.

“Oh no! He’s waking up!”

“Who?!”

“The Pyrefrost Beowolf, quickly, you’re smaller, retrieve the No-Pony.”

“On it your majesty,” Slowly, Cloud makes his way to the massive rock with the small mare feeling the indented symbols.

“Be very gentle, they’re very shy…” Step by step, the pegasi feels the snow beneath him shifting, unsettling the stallion.

“Uh…” he speaks up, trying to think of something to say to the No-Pony on the rock, “hi.” The small filly jumps with surprise, nearly losing her grip. She turns her head frantically around, trying to achieve some form of sight to know who or what said that. “Don’t panic, we’re friendly.” He sees that the mare has no idea what he’s saying. He looks to Celestia and mumbles in his breath so only she can hear. “I don’t think she understands our language.”

“Just keep her calm and escort her out.”

“Okay.” Cloud turns back up to the wandering mare, now shaking against the boulder. She didn’t know if it was a monster, a friend, or her own hallucination. Now, more than ever did she want to go home. “We are friendly, fun, family, safety, warmth…” As the guard continues to say words to her, the younger sister becomes more and more curious of what is dancing through her ears. Such sounds put together to make these, other ,more fluent sounds. Her tension dies down as she intake’s the mysterious’ figure’s words. “…civilization, not snow, another pony, eh… peace…” Peace, what a nice sounding word, an ear catching pop, followed by a soothing tone. Curiosity soon overtakes the mare as she begins her decent down the rock face. “That’s right, it’s okay, come down.” Gotta think of more words… But what else is nice and would bring a mare down from a high place? I got it! My speech for Celestia, that outta work! “You’re eyes, they glisten like raindrops against the stain glass windows of my sanctuary.”

“Keep at it!”

“I thought of it for you, Celestia,”

“Really, such a nice thing for me?” Upon hearing the princess’ voice rise up, the young mare stops halfway down the rock, just before the ground rumbles once more, this one being more violent than before. Deep huffing and puffing can barely be heard from right below the rock’s setting in the snow. “Hurry up!”

“Don’t worry about my friend, she’s peaceful, like me.” Nervously, Cloud makes his way to the base of the slab of rock, only a couple of meters below his objective. “If you come down to me, I promise we’ll treated you to the finest Equestria has to offer.” The ground shakes once more, Cloud could feel the hard ground below the snow ripping apart. The foal squeals, nearly falling off of her climbing wall once more. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, if you fall, I’ll catch you.” The small No-Pony could sense the rushed tenseness in her unknown acquaintance’s voice, and slowly becoming hesitant. What if he a monster who was the one making the ground shake, trying to force her down? The small mare tries to ask Cloud, but all he hears to a small collection of grunts from the small pony. “Excuse me?” Once more, the earth shakes, more violently than ever. Several piles of snow leap from their resting place and flutter through the black air. The huffing and puffing soon grows to small growling and panting.

Oh no, if I try to grab her, she’ll resist me and run away, not allowing me to get any information. If this goes on for too long, the Pyrefrost Beowolf will soon awake and eat Cloud and her! What to do, what to do… “Come on Cloud, you got this.”

“Please ma’am, danger is coming at any moment; we must get out of here now! Do you understand anything I’m telling you?” An earthquake rattles the entire forest, causing Celestia and Cloud to fall on their sides. The small foal loses her footing on the slippery rock covered in moss and ice and falls. She screams as she plummets who knows how far down, only to a second later, hit the soft front leg of Cloud on his right side. “Ow!” The shrill of pain causes the mare to jerk from her landing onto the snow, for she recognized the fact she had caused him injury. “Oh good, a word you do understand… Now let’s get out of here! Follow me!” Cloud dashes towards Celestia’s side, expecting his escort to follow behind. However, due to the loud winds, the huffing of the creature below the dirt, and the snow muffling the stallion’s running, the small mare wanders aimlessly around, searching for a sound signifying her acquaintance.

“What’s she doing?!” Upon closer inspection, the princess notices the pony has glazed eyes and not squinted in the snow like she nor her companion. “Oh no…”

“Now what?!”

“She’s blind!”

“She’s what?!”  A loud boom echoes from all corners of the iron pen as the brown earth and white snow fly upwards with some black object lifting from below. The risen ground picks up the No-Pony and launches her to an even greater height than the large rock. Celestia and Cloud gawk at the mountain-size pile of earth and white powder pouring from all sides of the eruption. “It’s the size of a dragon! Is that-”

“Yes, the Pyrefrost Beowolf.” Dark blue fames erupt from the black body beneath the disturbed ground, outlining the creature’s body. Large blocks of solid-black petrified wood hovering in midair close to one another, forming the shape of a skeleton. An enormous flaming line of bones swing over the two winged ponies, barely hitting Celestia’s crown if it weren’t for her quick reaction. The large boulder becomes lodged in the jaws of the alien-like skull, with solid red embers for eyes. It proceeds to chomp the rock into pieces with its massive fangs in a single bite. Ice clumps shatters from the beast’s front arms as it stretches its massive skinny fingers. “Stay back!”

“Princess Celestia!” Celestia opens her wings and takes off in front of the living skeleton. Soaring past the rocks and ice boulders falling to the ground tens of meters below, the princess makes her way to the frighten pony. Lifting her up with her telekinesis, she flies away before the clump of ground the pony stood on burst into tiny fragments by the spine’s spikes.

“Where are you going?” A deep voice roars. The humongous monster then opens his jaws, blasting a wave of solid artic wind at the flying alicorn and the small pony. Cloud watches in horror as his love is engulfed in the icy blaze, only to fall from it in a solid chuck of ice. Upon the ice making contact with the earth blow, a large cloud of snow appears in the distance as the guard makes his way towards the trapped princess and mare.

“Celestia, are you there?” The white pony darts her eyes around rapidly before focusing on Cloud, then to something over his shoulder. The stallion slowly looks behind where Celestia is looking, as sees a sight that would give a normal pony a heart attack. A massive blue flaming skull, with piercing red flames, staring right at him. Its breath, pulses onto the guard at intervals, sending chills down his spine. A loud gulp breaks out, louder than the burning of the wood upon the beast’s body.

“Scared?”

“So, you’re the Pyrefrost Beowolf?”

“Yes,” it replies, it’s gaping jaw swinging up and down several meters as it speaks, “and you are?”

“…”

“Don’t be shy, speak up,”

“Cloud Prancer Thunder, sir…”

“What are you doing, this fine evening?”

“It’s morning, sir…”

“Oh, I see, you happen to, lose track of time, after not seeing the sky for a while…”

“It’s understandable,”

“So, what are you doing, Cloud?” Fear trickles down the pegasus’ frozen body, feeling as if death was staring straight at him, judging him.

“Just a, mission, for the princess, no harm, no foul…”

“That princess, do you mean Celestia? The one trapped in the ice?”

“Yes,”

“Do you know how hungry I am?”

“A little…”

“I have not eaten for centuries, I haven’t had anything to eat and my body has been sealed underground, just wasting away, do you know why?”

“Mind jogging my memory?”

“Her… She and I made a deal, if anypony were to wander on my grave, I would eat them. However, she has built a barrier around my home, causing me to suffer and not consume for the longest time imaginable.”

“You seems to be in great shape, sir…”

“Don’t try to kiss up to me. I once had the most elegant body thousands of years ago. I used to feast upon the finest cooked foods in all of the land. Then one day, my other, ponies, forced me to go against the one I loved. I pleaded with them, tried to change their minds of their unjust system of ‘balance’. And do you know what happened? They called me crazy; they tore the flash and bone of me and stuffed my soul in this, wooden puppet. I lost everything that day, and the only enjoyment I used to get was to feast on the only small chunks of meat that would wander near my burial ground.”

“Well, I’m very sorry for that-”

“And NOW,” the wolf skeleton’s voice escalates from a low-pitched, rumbling calm mood to a scratchy, raspy, and shouting tone, “this alicorn is breaking a deal, removing any and all purpose of living from my eternal life.”

“Can’t you, pass on or something like that?”

“Souls don’t work like that, when the body is dead, the soul passes away from this world. But my others put me in this eternal preservation to punish me for my different thinking. Does what your princess has done sound fair now?”

“Well…”

“Does it?”

“Princess Celestia loves all ponies, big or small, that’s why she built this iron wall around you. I’ve heard your story, you, Pyrotan, and Cleofrost. And what you did was out of love, you wanted her to be with you forever, despite what your fellow Centmasters said. Celestia sealed you in out of love for her people, despite your suffering. Can’t we find a compromise Pyrotan? One that doesn’t involve death,” The lumbering beast doesn’t respond, only stares at the tiny pony before him. After what felt like a minute of gaping into each other’s eyes, the wolf’s voice lowers back down to normal,

“No. I do not have to take orders from a wee ant like you. I am a god compared to you, and I deserve what I want. Look at you; you are just a tiny, scared little pony, who wouldn’t last a second against me.”

“Well that maybe, somewhat true, I still stand by Celestia’s side, and there’s nothing you can do that’ll stop me from protecting the one I love!”

“You? Loving her, a royal, how hilarious,” Anger slowly builds within Cloud’s body as the Pyrefrost Beowolf continues to taunt him. “Do you thing she, the ruler of her kingdom, would ever love such a worm?”

“It’s almost as hard to believe as one loving his enemy, isn’t it?”

“Leave Cleofrost out of this, you have no right to speak on behalf of a Centmaster. You have no right to speak on behalf of anypony, do you know why?”

“Why?”

“What powers do you have?”

“Flight-”

“That separates you from the common pegasus of the land?”

“Well…”

“Power, is what gives you a voice, and you, have no voice.”

“What are you yapping on about, how does this relate to your gluttony?”

“Do you know what sound a lump of food sounds like? Nothing, absolute silence. If I were to eat you right now, nothing would change. Sure a couple of ponies would cry, but they’re just as pathetic as you, for who of credibility would ever give sympathy to a bit-a-dozen pony with no power?”

“You know nothing about me nor my friends!” The pegasus was holding back his rage with all of his might. Those eyes, those eyes he thought, they could see into his soul, those giant, crimson fireballs.

“What, you getting fed up already? I want you steaming for when I finally get something to devour after hundreds of years. Earth Pony is good on its own, and unicorn is spicy, and yet, I have never tried pegasus before…”

“You can hurt me all you want, but I will not let you insult nor threaten the Equestrians outside these gates.” Cloud then turns his back to the laughing beast and looks to see Celestia and the No-Pony, looking at him. “You’ll be safe, I guarantee it.”

“Well,”

“Well what?”

“Well, I’m thinking you could be better as an appetizer, now that I think about it, I’ve never tried alicorn before.”

“Well the princess and our friend are off the menu, so if you just be so kind as to let us go, we’d appreciate that.”

“You think I’m going to let you ponies go? You may appear confident to you girlfriend over there, but if you think that acting all brave and heroic will somehow sway me into letting you and her live… Hahaha, no,”

“You’re nothing but wood and bad breathe, what are you going to do?”

“You still are trying to intimidate me, a creature of infinite power? Tell you what, for that big of a lip, I’ll let you go, if you promise not to interrupt my feast.”

“Don’t lay one of your bony fingers onto Princess Celestia.”

“…Okay…” Sneakily, in the shade of the fog and dust, the monster reaches his hand around Cloud and grabs the ice block. “I’ll use five,”

“NO!” In a quick-step, the guard launches into the air, striking his metal boots onto the holding hand. A wave of both heat and cold rush though his body, but shook it off and slams again into the skinny wrist, causing it to release the ice. The creature lurks his hand back from the jolt pulsing through his soul.

“Now, you’ve made me angry…” In a split second, the boulder-sized skull whipped around his shoulder and opens his mouth, spewing an icy blast. Cloud flutters upward in time and doges it, slamming into one of his upper ribs. The Pyrefrost Beowolf launches himself upward, standing on his hind legs still partially buried in the ground. He roars before breathing out a large fireball, almost as large as his skull. It barely clips Cloud. The beast fires another, and another, and another, each in rapid succession to the other. The yellow pegasi darts upward, bobbing and weaving past the red hot balls and kicks him in the chin. The monster launches his head forward for a bite, only for his adversary to dive below and deliver another iron boot into the monster’s throat bone.

“Not so powerful huh aren’t you? What’s wrong, pony got your voice? You’re too slow!” Cloud taunts his rival with such cockiness, that his didn’t notice the Centmaster digging his hands into the ground below.

“This little banter, is about to come,” In a single jerk, four massive blades of ice rise from the ground, two attached to each of the spirit’s hands. Icy fire coats them as the same as their wielder. “To, an, end!” In a single swipe, the Pyrefrost Beowolf slings a pair of blades upwards, creating a solid wall of crystalloid ice to burst from the ground and strike Cloud in the gut. He is again caught off guard by the other pair of claws, striking him right into his side, sending him tumbling off of the wall and falling to the snow below. The beast grabs the wall by its base and rips it from the ground, holding it like some sort of mashing stone. Aiming right at the surprised pegasus, the beast shove down with all his might, cementing Cloud between the jagged roots of the wall and the stirred ground below. An inaudible scream exit’s Celestia’s mouth upon the sight of one of her ponies being crushed, causing the ice prison surrounding her to rattle violently. The wolf then lifts the wall and tosses it offhand, smashing open an iron wall barely below his knees. He reaches down and grabs Cloud, still clinging to life. His armour has been torn from his body, bruises mingling with cuts all over his ruffled fur, and one eye closed, sporting a shade of grey and black. “Just as I thought, powerless…” The small pony tries to open his mouth but no words come out. The Pyrefrost Beowolf begins to poorly imitate Cloud’s voice, making it sound very feminine. “Oh, not so powerful aren’t you?”

“…”

“What’s wrong, pony got your throat?”

“Celestia…”

“You’re too slow! Come on, step it up! I’m a stupid no pony who think he has power, when really, I’m worthless!”

“Celestia… hear me…”

“I’m in love with the princesses, despite the fact that we’ll never be together. Mwahaha!” Scrounging what’s left of his destroyed chest and throat, he shouts to the princess far below,

“I love you, and I’m sorry for failing you, I tried my best, to protect you…”

“Now, what I’ve been waiting for, for over seven hundred years,” The Pyrefrost Beowolf lifts Cloud over him head and opens his jaws, waiting for the savory taste of tenderized meat he’s been seeking for. In one swift motion, he opens his bony fingers, letting the yellow spot descend into the white flames flicking in the black mouth. With his one good eye, Cloud sees Celestia in the distance and his death several meters below. This was his end, so in the split second before his demise, a small smile grows on his face, him knowing that Celestia shall know of his love. A rusty chomp echoes in the sky, the Pyrefrost Beowolf, has eaten. A low purr rumbles from his ribs and the bony smile, implanted onto the monster’s face, grew ever so wider. “That, was delicious, a little chewy, but worth it nonetheless.”

You, you monster! Celestia thinks to herself.

The beast chuckles as he turns to see the two mares encased in ice. “And now, for the main event,” What Princess Celesta had witness and heard through the fractals of ice was unbearable. Seeing a pony that had loved her, vanished into the jaws of death, sorrow, anger, depression, and a small hint of returning love flooded her mind and spirit. The small mare, being able to hear the princess’ whimpering through the ice, also began to tear from the saddening sound. “Oh dear Celestia, I have this nasty habit of playing with my food, but that makes it all the more enjoyable. As it squirms on my silver platter, I can’t help myself but to toy with it. You however, you have leapt off of my plate and tried to stop me. What you only did was stain my fur, and now, I have you now on a golden plate.” The chuck of ice begins to rattle, but the monster does not notice as he’s still processing the essence of Cloud throughout his soul. “I can only imagine how an alicorn would taste, a combination of chewy and spicy maybe? And maybe after that, I can move on to eating other ponies, yes! I shall hold a grand feast for myself, bigger than in my older days, with mountains of food to devour. I deserve this!” Small cracks appear on the cold prison, but the Pyrefrost Beowolf gives no attention to it. “For all of those millions of suns and moons, suffering from others! The Centmasters, the ponies, those lesser beings!” A small twitch could be seen coming from Celestia’s horn as it slowly lights up. “Me and Cleofrost, together forever, shall conquer the world as one, and shall feast upon the destruction and glory of my power!”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” A demanding voice summons from below. The beast looks down to see a bright shite glow blast him in the face. He’s launched back, causing the ground to rattle as he makes impact.

“What the-”

“You think you’ll get away from taunting me like that? From killing Cloud Prancer Thunder? From attempting killing this innocent little blind mare by my side? From threatening to kill my ponies for your own gain? Not in my kingdom.”

“Gah,” the massive wolf lifts himself up back to her two feet and gives a cold grin to his arch-nemesis. ”You’re no match for me, pony.” He immediately dashes back into the iron ring and digs his massive arms into the ground, pulling out a pair of scythes in each hand, each being a big as him. He continues his charge towards Celestia, twirling his new ice weapons with his claws. Upon reaching eye level with the rising alicorn, the beast shanks his two staffs into the ground and gives a burning look of joy at her.

“Ready for your fate, princess?”

“Prepare for your demise…”