Raindrop's Hearth's Warming Eve Miracle

by Neo Machine

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad, Adventure, Tragedy, Dark
Length: 15728

How does one pony, disconnected from Equestrian society and left to die in the snow end up encountering an ancient spirit and become Princess Celestia's adopted daughter? Prequel of Rise of Empress Midnight.

Equestria, the beacon of civilization and the symbol of harmony, a land where all ponies, unicorns, Earth Pony, and pegasi, live amongst each other in balance. The subcontinent that is now known as the land of the ponies has a rich history, and certain branches of it are expected to be lost from sight, with only the smallest of fallen leaves ever to be noticed, for far from the civilized cities of Canterlot, Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and, Appaloosa, lay the barren icy mountain range of the Frozen North. Within the Crystal Mountains, holds a collection of a certain species of ponies, not documented by civilization, was thought to never exist. However, one faithful winter’s night, something happened, that would change two ponies’ different outlook, on life as they know it.
How does one pony, disconnected from Equestrian society and left to die in the snow end up encountering an ancient spirit and become Princess Celestia's adopted daughter?

Prequel to Rise of Empress Midnight

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-04 17:11:58 UTC

Abandonment

Equestria, the beacon of civilization and the symbol of harmony, a land where all ponies, unicorns, Earth Pony, and pegasi, live amongst each other in balance. The subcontinent that is now known as the land of the ponies has a rich history, and certain branches of it are expected to be lost from sight, with only the smallest of fallen leaves ever to be noticed, for far from the civilized cities of Canterlot, Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and, Appaloosa, lay the barren icy mountain range of the Frozen North. Within the Crystal Mountains, holds a collection of a certain species of ponies, not documented by civilization, was thought to never exist. However, one faithful winter’s night, something happened, that would change two ponies’ different outlook, on life as they know it.

Our tale takes place in the midst of night, during a typical night storm common to the Frozen North. As the winds, frost, and hail bashed the faces of the mountains, a lone glow can be seen from an alcove in the solid ice of a mountain. A small pony, dressed in a large black cloak, far too big for its body, wanders out of the light and pokes its head into the weather. Chills tickle the tip of the pony’s nose, causing it to softly sneeze in reaction. The wind flutters through the cape and over the hidden fur; the sounds of flapping cloth pierce the silence of the night. The small pony continues to stand before the pitch black of the storm for what felt like hours, feeling the artic freeze dance on the pony’s fur and skin.

The pony’s meditation was then broken by a low howl echoing from the golden glow behind it. The lone pony turns back and approaches the heat pulsing from the bowels of the cave. Deep within the icy cavern now, the crackling of a distant fireplace pops in its ears as it is approached by another, slightly larger pony in a black cloak. The larger pony takes off the hood of her clothing with her hooves, revealing a young mare’s face, with deep blue fur and a silvery mane. The mare gives a stern look at the smaller pony, tapping her left hoof impatiently on the opaque blue ice floor. The pony immediately recognizes the larger pony as its older sister, presumably crossed because the smaller pony wandered to the entrance of the cave again.

The small pony then remembers what the parents of the cave told their young. They said that the outside world is dangerous, full of monsters, deadly weather, strange ponies unlike anything they have seen ever, and the unknown in general. The cave was their home, and for generation upon generation, their tribe would expand the cave system for the next. Everything they needed was not out there in the unknown world, but their safe haven. Parents would tell their offspring what they have been told by theirs, and the small pony was expected to do the same in the future.

The older sister then proceeds to bite on the small pony’s hood and leads her deeper into the cave, stopping in front of a small wooden fireplace perched in the center of a circular chamber of the cave. Upon releasing the sibling’s hood, the black piece of cloth flies back, revealing another younger mare. She had light turquoise fur and a shining mane of pure white, flowing loosely in front of her white glazed eyes. The warmth of the flames lightly rubs against the younger sister’s face, causing saturated color to flow into her face.  The older sister then begins to speak, yet to the little one’s ears, all the younger sisters hears are random grunts and sounds as she looks back to the open mouth a cave, thinking. Her family has always been annoyed, even sometimes aggressive, at the young, curious spirit inside the younger pony. The youngling never figured out why though. Was it because they feared the unknown as much as the others of the tribe? Was it because they cared so much for the small pony, it causes them to be aggressive towards her at times? Was it even, dare the young pony thought, because of something, malicious, that has always been within her relatives? The thought unsettles her and she attempts to get her head out of the clouds and regained her attention to her sister who was still castigating her for going even close to the cave exit.

Loud clopping interrupts the older sister’s lecture as the two turn to see a stallion on the other side of the fire, holding a small woven pouch in his mouth. The stallion was barely taller than the older sister, with cyan fur and a mane of grey. The sisters recognize him as their brother, the eldest of the three. The older sister goes around the fire and meets her older brother as the younger sister sits in place and listens to her sister telling her brother about the younger mare’s small adventure. The brother cuts her short by dropping the brown bag in between them, causing a lone green apple to roll out onto the reflective floor. The sister pokes the bag with her hoof and finds it to be completely flat. The older sister knew what this meant; their tribe was running low on food. Although it was a common occurrence for the tribe, especially during the winter, this time however, this shortage was significant. Due to the spike of births increase during the previous months and an extremely early winter, the gathering of food grew limited and the demand for more rose exponentially. The two siblings crept down on all fours and quietly whisper to each other while the younger sister daydream while listening to the fire.

The younger mare continues to daydream as she tunes out the voices of her sister and brother, thinking nothing of the food crisis. She has experienced them a couple of times as well, yet never really took mind to the lack of food some days. On those days, all she would think about was a random idea she would come up with. It was a common thing for her tribe to see, ponies thinking of random ideas when they didn’t have anything to do. Ideas of ways to improve their daily lives, stories, philosophies, even abstract thoughts that come from nowhere. For generations, the tribe of ponies saw this thinking as not just some way to pass the time of their boring lives, but rather important to their purpose in this seeming bleak world. Throughout their time, thinking has brought many offerings upon the tribe. Through the use of thought and engineering, technologies have been created that enhanced the tribe’s way of living, from axes that can shatter the crystal ice of the mountain, to small farms able to produced food in the larger chambers of their cave system. This time however, the younger pony did not think about something involving the cave or her fellow ponies, but rather the outside world. What was out there in the unknown? A scary thought to most, but the young mare felt otherwise. She felt like there was something more, friendly, out past the snowstorms, other ponies that could be living outside the mountains.

Once again, her thinking session ended as the brother slowly crept behind the younger sister and pulls off her cloak entirely, from rump to head. Small ripping is heard from the insides of the jacket as the brother aggressively tears it off and flings it into the fire. The room brightly flickers as the cloth disintegrates into ashes and seems into the charred logs of the fireplace. The younger sister thinks nothing of it at first, but as her brother slowly backs away, a suspicious feeling rumbles through her spine. Hooves loudly clopping against the ice is not only heard coming from ahead by her brother, but also behind by somepony else. Nervous, the younger sister opens her mouth, but before she can ask what’s going on, she is pushed by a heavy force against her side. Grinding against the slippery ice, the small pony tries to identify who is pushing her away from the fire, but the rush is too overwhelming for her to think straight. After a minute of struggling, the younger sister goes airborne as the full blast of the artic storm hits her. Her skin immediately grows cold and dry and her fur and mane grow stiff and tangled. She screams as pitch blackness envelopes her entire body, with no sense of gravity and the feeling hopelessness heavily bloating inside of her. All of a sudden, smack, a heap of solid snow smashes the pony’s face, chest, and knees from below as hard snow and hail bash at the back from above. The frail body is launched into the air as the scared pony continues to plummet down the mountain slope. Time grows to a standstill for the frozen foal, feeling as if her life was going to end at any second now. Her screams grow raspy and more distant from the cave, her sanctuary, her home, the one place she only truly knows anything about. With a soft splat, the pony blacks out upon hitting the snowy floor of the open north.

Slowly, after an hour of being buried in the snow, the filly comes to her senses as she digs her way out and back into the blasting winds. Shivering cold, scared, aching from all sides, and absolutely lost, she musters up all of her depleted strength all screams at the top of her frozen lungs, calling out to her sister, her brother, her mother, her father, or at least anypony to hear her pleas of help. This did not last long as her lungs gave out and whatever she screamed seemed to be erased by the howling gushes of wind. The mare takes a moment to regain her breathe, trying to think of what to do next. Panicked and confused from the cold, the filly decides to get out of the storm to a cave or shelter where she can warm up for the night. Slowly, one hoof after the other, she trudges across the deep snow, aimless wandering through the artic night, tripping and running out of stamina for every couple of tens of meters.

Thoughts randomly surge through her head, randomly popping in and out with the winds smashing her stiff face against her frozen bones. However, one thought seems to cling into her head, the feeling of being lost with no way of seeing her way back. She was a blind pony, lost within an uncharted area with no sense of direction. From birth, the young pony has always been blind; using the eyes of others and her other senses to find her way back. The elder ponies never found a problem with this though, valuing her life like every other pony of the tribe. She was able to, for the first and only months of her life; traverse the complex cave system with minimal assistance. The young mare’s father was impressed with his daughter’s memory and maneuvering skills. Her mother and siblings however, saw this as weakness to the tribe, but still treated her like one of the family, albeit with less respect. But now, in the mind-numbing ice and cold of the Frozen North, the bling filly has no idea where she is going, for she has never, not once in her early life, left the cave.

After what felt like days of endless walking, fainting, and taking continual breaks, the mare slips onto what feels like a large slab of ice. Cackling is soon heard from all sides of her as faint movements pulse through the ice slab. The pony panics, planting her body to the hard ice and covering her face with her hooves, awaiting the jaws of death to sink her. A loud snap echoes through the wind as the slab of ice rocks back and forth, sliding the pony from corner to corner. The rocking comes to a stop as the vibrations enter a soothing motion, following the wind. The fearful mare slowly gets up and inches towards the edge of the ice. She gently sticks her hoof over the edge and is shocked by a cold surge of water flowing around her hoof. Immediately the pony yanks the hoof and out the water and warms it against her body. She soon figures that she is on a large ice raft, floating on a river, away from her home.

The sounds of the monstrous winds begin to die down as the soft flowing of the stream chants its hypnotic lullaby to the blind pony. Her mind is soon put at ease from her troubles as this new world displays its sounds and emotion. The calming waves massage the raft, the snow calms from its raging winds to a gentle fall, the swaying of the ice turned into a cradle, and the enchanting voices of angels echo over the river’s edge. Slowly, the young mare’s eyelids grow heavy, soon followed by her head, her next, her body, her knees, and finally her hooves. Before long, she fell asleep on the ice, carrying her deeper into the unknown world.

Deep in her sleep, the younger sister, began to hear distant sounds coming from inside her head. She immediately recognized them as her sister and her brother calling for her. She tries to get up, but finds her body to be completely stiff in this dream world. The emptiness of the black void began to squeeze around her. She panics, despite begin used to seeing nothing, nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear. The mare’s breathe increases rapidly. Trying with all of her non-existent might, she attempts to move as the voices of her family begin to sound distressful and drifting apart. She tries to call out to them, only to find her voice missing and her throat stiff. Tears form around her eyes and crawl down her stone face, her breathing turns into hyperventilation, and the void’s grip grows tighter and tighter. Soon, the dreamer feels as if she’s going to pop at any second. All of a sudden, the calling of her siblings distant in the black of her mind transform into shrills of demonic laughter right behind her head. The pony’s frozen body is then launched forward and down, down, down into the abyss of nothingness in a seemingly eternal fall as the maniacal laughing follows right behind her.

The turquoise pony gasps as she awakens from the nightmare and finds herself in a pile of powdery snow. Sound slowly returns to her ears and the bashing of small waves against a rocky bend along the river bend. Her ice raft most likely hit them too hard and flung her to land in her sleep. The filly got up on all fours, and with a small amount of energy regained from the nap, set out to find shelter. The whistling of the high winds against a set of nearby mountains created an echo through a narrow valley in front of her. She followed the whimsical sounds, familiarizing them with the drafts that would rush through her cavern home.

After countless hours of walking over compact snow and sleet, she is caught off guard by a thin object rubbing against her side. She shrieks and ducks into the snow, regaining the feeling of the painful cold that haunted her. The filly recollects herself and examines the mysterious object floating in the air. A wooden stick, a branch attached to a tree is what gave her a scare. She recognized the texture of the twig from when she carried small sticks to a fireplace while her older siblings would push the heavier logs through the tunnels. Her tribe would grow small trees at the farm inside several rooms of their icy base and she would help by bringing melted ice to the trees and plants and water them. More and more, the foal became more homesick by the second, just wanting to cuddle with her brethren around a warm fireplace in her home.

The ground became harder with each step forward, but still covered in slippery frost as the mare found herself in a forest. The trees on each side of her created a canopy above that would gather the snowfall on top, allowing a clear path during the winter. Her hooves for the first time touched dirt, roots, and other loose articles naturally scattered throughout the mysterious forest. Although bumping into several trees and tripping over fallen logs and rocks, the filly continued on her quest, undeterred now more than ever before.

Absolute silence settled in gently as the pony went deeper and deeper into the sea of trees, to the point where it became too quiet. The young mare became paranoid with white noise now occupying her ears with the feeling of some presence hovering behind her. Her trotting slows down drastically and turns into a tip-hoof. Her lips curl and her skin turns tense, almost turning into a statue of sorts. A ghastly chant echoes from ahead without any warning, blasting a whisper into the frightened pony’s front. She backs up a couple of hooves before returning to her sneaking motion forward. The breathily taunting grows more and more, meter by meter, moment of fear upon moment of fear. Finally, after several minutes of this ghoulish chant, it ceases as quickly as it appeared and the young pony bops her nose against a wall. She sniffs it for a second, realizing its solid iron, commonly used for large tools created by her tribe. She follows along the cold side of the iron wall, hearing what sounds like snoring echoing through the thick wall of metal. After turning a corner along the kilometer long wall, she finds another wall adjacent to it, as if some sort of iron pen. After about another half of a kilometer of traveling, the curious filly discovers a large portcullis gate, weaved of metal bars creating a vertical grate. She believes that a large shelter or a home is past the gates and the wall, and that the owner, who or whatever he was, wouldn’t mind if a single pony spent the night inside his massive house. She inspects the bottom of the door to find the spikes pinning the gate down frozen stiff into the ground. She then attempts to squeeze her tiny body through the small grates. With the help of the sipper frost forming around the metal, the mare is able to squeeze through and makes her way to the center of the mysterious pen, unaware of what awaits for her arrival…

Silent Night

Faraway from the lost pony and the mysterious iron pen, stands the capitol of Equestria, Canterlot. Inside the sky-high city of Canterlot rest Princess Celestia’s palace, where at this moment, the princess is doing some late night work. “And to this, I call upon treaty with Saddle Arabia,” Celestia speaks, hunched on her regal throne, over a letter she’s writing, “With deepest regards, Princess Celestia.” Upon lifting her nearly dried quill off of the levitating scroll, the princess sighs with relief and slouches back in her chair. “What time is-” She lets out a loud yawn before continuing, “What time is it anyways?”

“Three in the morning, Hearth’s Warming Eve” a male voice speaks from behind her throne, catching the princess off guard.

“Oh! Cloud Prancer Thunder, I didn’t notice you.” A pegasus of yellow fur and an orange and red striped mane, dressed with royal armour, walks around the chair to the front of her throne timidly.

“I’m always positioned here, you assigned to me.”

“Oh, I guess I’m just a bit tired.” The pegasus scratches the back of his left hoof with his right nervously, trying to get the next sentence out of his mouth. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, that’s a very nice letter you’ve written.”

“Why thank you, do you think the duke will accept it?”

“Heh,” the stallion puffs up his chest, trying to impress his majesty, “if I were the duke and got that letter, I would not only accept your offer, but also join Saddle Arabia with Equestria as one.” Celestia giggles at Cloud’s statement before delivering another yawn.

“Cloud, you say the sweetest things.”

“I try, for who would deserve better than the princess that I humbly serve?”

“Hm, you have a point. But don’t you get tired of it?”

“I never get tired when you’re around, your majesty.”

“Aw, if only the other guards were as nice as you.” Immediately, the guard blushes with a small grin on his face. “Before I go to bed, what’s my schedule for tomorrow-I mean today?”

“Well,” Cloud takes a moment to recollect what Celestia had said to herself before beginning to write the letter.

“Well, first is sending the peace treaty to Saddle Arabia. Then, you’re to attend a Wonderbolts performance in Filly Delphia. After that, you’re scheduled to make an appearance at the annual Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant. Finally, you’ll need to do something about an AWE meeting, forgot what that was for anyways…”

“That, was, the, Advance Weather Equestrian’s meeting to discuss what do with the early winter.”

“What’s so bad about it? Isn’t it just some mistake by some pegasi or something?”

“You didn’t hear about it?”

“Hear what? I was visiting my third cousin, Barney Goni in Manehattan when the early winter came.”

“Well, it’s a long story,”

“I have the time.”

“Well, some young unicorn filly in Canterlot nearly caused an ice age-”

“What? How?”

“I’m not sure either, but the filly had uncontrollable magic power within her and me and a friend of mine, Boris Sparkle, you’ve heard of him right?”

“Yeah, royal magic studier, I’ve seen him around town.”

“Right, he and I had to stop her by imprisoning her in ice. Boris then left to take the unicorn to the Crystal Mountains and right now, I believe he’s on his way back.”

“So that’s why there’s an early winter, because of this abnormal pony? I see, must have been pretty tiring.”

“Yeah,” Celestia yawns once more as she and Cloud look out a window into the black of the night with snow gently falling.

“It still is a beautiful sight to see right? All the individual snowflakes and the plainness of the sky,”

“Yeah, I know somepony else who would’ve also enjoyed this…”

“Your sister?” A stall tear begins to swell beneath Celestia’s ear. Cloud sees this and hovers to her face to wipe it off with his hoof. The silky white fur of the princess’ luscious fur coat causes the pegasus to tense up, yet feel relaxed, upon touching it. Celestia sniffles up her pain, not wanting to make her friend feel uncomfortable.

“Thank you, Cloud.” A small pause occurs as the princess tries to regain her words, “Luna, it’s nearly been a thousand years since I’ve last seen her.”

“It’s okay Celestia, you had to do what you must to protect the ponies of Equestria.”

“But why, why did it have to end with losing my one and only sister?”

“The greatest things come from the greatest of sacrifices.” The pale yellow stallion sidles next to the princess, trying to comfort her. “Do you think she’ll ever come back?”

“She might, but what then happens if she did come back?”

“I,” the timid guard tries to think of something positive to say, but yet can’t even imagine what would happen at all. “I don’t know.”

“You know something?”

“Yes your majesty?”

“You’re one of the few only friends I have ever had. I feel comforted when I talk to you and knowing you’ll always have my back. Ponies are usually too scared of me or try to make themselves something they’re not. You however, are not like that at all,”

“Thanks, I guess…” Celestia gives a soft giggle once more before yet another yawn, this being louder and longer than the others.

“We should get some sleep; I’m probably too tired, working on that letter, to think straight,”

“Wait, ma’am, before you go… I’ve been needing to ask you, something…”

“What is it Mr. Thunder?”

“As you know, I’ve never been somepony that wanted a special somepony…”

“Right?” Sweat begins if build on the shy pegasus’ face as he hesitates to continue his confession,

“But recently, my brother, Cornelius Thunder, got married and he and his wife just recently had a beautiful bouncing colt. He was so happy when he showed me his son. That got me thinking, I’ve never had somepony to dedicate my life to other than you.”

“Okay,”

“So, here is the question…” Cloud and Celestia turn heads towards each other, with the pegasus looking deep into Celestia’s big purple eyes and Celestia looking deeply into Cloud’s wide green eyes. Ever since he joined the royal guard, Cloud Thunder was attracted to the princess’ beauty for love for all. He wasn’t strong, wise, brave, or even that much of a social friend, but that didn’t stop him from trying to get his ruler’s attention. Now, now is the time Cloud thinks, now is the moment where he can be with the one he loves.

“I-I-I-I-I, l-l-love-”

“Princess Celestia!” Another guard burst into the throne room, panting as if he just did a race, “Some filly has passed the gate and is wandering towards its grave.” Sweat and snow were melting off of the stallion’s bright red fur and wings.

“Hey Rex,”

“Hey Cloud,”

“What?” Princess Celestia exclaims, breaking eye contact with Cloud. “That place is heavily fortified, how’d she get in?”

“The guards there were asleep and I only managed to wake up in time to see her slip through the iced-over gate bars.”

“Why didn’t you stop her?”

“Are you kidding me? It’s a death zone inside the walls, and I couldn’t shout because I could’ve awoken it.”

“Fine, get back there and alert the others, I’ll deal with it as soon as I get there.” The red pegasus nodded before charging out of the doors, leaving the two alone as they were.

“You were saying Cloud?”

“Nothing,” the yellow guard stampers, “it can wait. What is this it you and Rex were talking about?”

“It’s another long story, follow me and I’ll explain on the way.”

“Okay.” The two charge out the throne room and down the stairs to the foyer. Leaping out of the open front doors left open by the red pegasus Rex, Celestia and Cloud open their large wings and take flight into the snowy night. With the pale moon and glistening stars hiding behind the dark clouds above, their only navigation over and out of Canterlot is the glossy tail of the second guard flopping in the distance. As the two begin to slow down their flapping and enter gliding mode, Cloud looks down to see a white blanket covering the plains below before the Everfree Forest.

“His name is the Pyrefrost Beowolf, an enemy I once fought with hundreds of years ago.”

“Never heard of him,”

“Are you familiar with the pre-Equestrian myth of Pyrotan?”

“Kinda, he was the god of fire right?”

“Kind of, you see, for thousands of years before Equestria was founded, there were these massive magical creatures, called Centmasters that roamed the land. The ponies that were alive at the time were believed to see them as gods. One of these Centmasters, a large wolf with the power of fire, by the name of Pyrotan, was picked to be a malevolent spirit by the leaders of a group of Centmasters. He was to spread fire and destruction across the land,”

“Wait, he was chosen to be evil, were these Centmasters all evil?”

“No, the Centmasters believed in dualism, or harmony, between good and evil. They thought that the cycle of destruction and recreation would advance themselves, the ponies, and other creatures into becoming perfect.”

“Sounds fairly unstable, what if the good guys wanted to be evil if the bad guys were winning?”

“Funny you should mention that, because the reverse actually happened. In order to balance Pyrotan’s destruction, the Centmaster of ice, Cleofrost, was chosen to be a peacekeeping spirit. Ancient artifacts depict Cleofrost as a beautiful pony, with two horns, four wings, and a legion of ice ponies, windigos, as her followers. Legend states that when the two first meet to battle, Pyrotan fell instantly in love with her beauty-”

“Wait what? A wolf falling in love with a pony? That’s messed up!”

“Well, in today’s time it seems very weird and inappropriate, but remember, this was hundreds of years before I was even born. Standards were different during those times.”

“Way to kick off this Hearth’s Warming Eve, now I’ll never get that image out of my head…”

“May I continue?”

“Sorry, go on.”

“Pyrotan refused to harm Cleofrost, so everytime they met, Cleofrost would beat him, disrupting the balance and causing long winters to devastate pre-Equestria. The Centmasters were not pleased and threatened Pyrotan to uphold his duties or have his powers stripped from him and left to die. So, in retaliation, Pyrotan devised a plan to reform the Centmasters’ system to benefit himself. When he and Cleofrost encountered each other, he broke one of the biggest laws the Centmasters created and absorbed her soul and power, merging it with his. Pyrotan turned from a merely a large fire wolf to a dragon-sized monster with hand-made weapons and the power of both fire and ice,”

Heh, sounds like that one obscure graphic novel I found in the library, ‘The Legend of the Ghost Pony’, weird stuff happening out-of-the-blue…

“With this new power, he attacked the other Centmasters, but was swiftly defeated by the leaders. His body was destroyed and replaced with a wooden skeleton to house his soul and was buried in the Everfree Forest,”

Now that sounds a lot like the graphic novel…

“Now this part takes place after the initial myth, and is the most important, so listen. Two hundred years later, his body was uncovered by a wandering stallion, the skeleton burst to life and ate the pony, shortly before addressing himself as the Pyrefrost Beowolf to anypony he laid eyes upon.”

“Wait, run that by me again, he ate a pony as a flaming skeleton spirit?”

“In one bite as some suggest,”

“And we’re going to confront the thing that ate a pony in one bite? As a flaming skeleton spirit?”

“Yes.”

“Uh, are you sure that’s the wisest course of action to take?”

“Yes.” A queasy feeling rumbles in the guard’s stomach as a wave of uncertainty and fear wash over him.

“So, how’d you deal with him?”

“After he caused numerous attacks on ponies anywhere near the Everfree Forest, I confronted him and engaged him in battle. He was brutal, using his claws, teeth, and scythes at any given a chance, I received a pretty bad beating from it actually. Eventually however, we came to a peace agreement so that in exchange for him to be confined to his original resting place, anypony that wandered near him would be eaten. Luckily however, after we agreed on the deal, I thought one step ahead and built a large metal pen around his resting place so no pony would ever get in.”

“Until recently when a filly has snuck into the pen,”

“You start to lose track and abandon certain projects after hundreds of years, you know,”

I do not know…

“So now we’re going to rescue the filly before the Pyrefrost Beowolf gets her first.”

“Isn’t that breaking the deal?”

“Not if he finds out that it’s me.”

“So what powers and weapons does this wolf-monster have should I be aware of?”

“He breathes fire and ice and his body is indestructible, engulfed in blue-hot flames. He also has the ability to create tornadoes, crystal spikes, and magic balls of fire, ice, or both. His weapons are two massive ice scythes and ice claws he attached to his hands, all of which being able to project his magic through and covered in flames as well.”

“This guy has a thing for ice and fire doesn’t he?”

“That’s not the point, the point is to avoid him at all costs and only attack as a last resort.”

“And protect you right?”

“Cloud, you are an amazing pony, you’ve been loyal to me ever since you joined the guard, and I’m ever so grateful for it. But the Pyrefrost Beowolf is going to want me the most and will not hesitate to kill you if you stand between him and me. If things go bad, take the filly and run out, don’t worry about me,”

“But what if you… you know… don’t make it?”

“My duty is to the ponies of my kingdom, and I am willing to sacrifice myself to keep them safe from any harm. I have already set up a backup plan if I prematurely die. Just inform the government officials and they will handle the rest.”

“Hey Princess Celestia, before any one of us die, I have to tell you something,”

“What is it?”

“I’ve always felt this way about you ever since I joined the royal guard… Princess Celestia of Equestria, I… love…”

“Celestia! Cloud!” Rex screams in the pitch black distance ahead.

“Rex, are you okay there?” Upon the whitish pegasus completing his question, a red blur whizzes right below him in a flapping panic.

“It’s too scary! I can’t take it!”

“It must be urgent.”

“Quickly Cloud,” Celestia hollers as she prepares herself to change flight pattern, “The Pyrefrost Beowolf must be close somewhere. You can finish your statement once we assess the urgency of the situation.” The alicorn then folds her wings as she dives at an angle down into the white fog below.

A merry Hearth’s Warming Eve to me… Cloud Prancer thinks to himself in a sarcastic tone before following Celestia in the Everfree Forest below.

The Pyrefrost Beowolf

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…”

Divine Intervention

The two rivals back away from each other to gain some running distance. Every step the Pyrefrost Beowolf took, the ground rumbled and the snow flung into the waist high fog. Celestia slows hovers back, not letting her eyes off of his. They stopped at about a kilometer’s distance apart, readying their attack positions. Tension grows high as the winds howl even louder, but at the same time stopped in silence between the enemies. The wolf skeleton attacks first by firing a volley of three large fireballs from his throat. The princess uses her telekinesis to smash the balls into the snowy ground, disintegrating upon impact. The beast seized the moment and charging, slicing his claws against each other in rapid succession before leaping at Celestia. Celestia dives back as the massive monster lands and nearly chomps her in half. The monster flung his fists, swishing the flaming cold blades in front of her. She backed as he drew closer, the slinging of claws coming from all sides, obscuring her peripheral view. She then notices a small opening to his ribs and Celestia takes it, bobbing and weaving between the slashes before smacking her body into the beast’s lower ribs.

The Beowolf howls in pain and retaliates by blasting an ice breathe attack down his front. The princess dodges this by squeezing through his back ribs and shooting the center of the spine with a powerful blast of golden magic. The beast swirls around and lands a hit, only to find a shield casted around her. He quickly roars another blast of ice, coating the sphere solid white and steam emanating from it. A blink of light sparks and Celestia appears from it, having teleported in the last second. She bucks the floating sphere at the undead creature, striking it square in the head. The monster is unfazed by it, as he backhands the orb into the pith black behind. Be tucks his body into a ring and rolls beneath the princess, grabbing his two scythes before resuming his combat stance behind Celestia. The alicorn whips around and is met with a long staff nearly piercing her head. She then dives down into the forest below, thinking she can get away from the onslaught. He moment is cut off just a second later by a large thin slab of ice swooshing above her head, slicing the tops of the surrounding trees. White hot flames begin to spark on the now flat tops of the bare trees, replacing the green leaves with a layer of smoke even darker than the stormy sky. Another red fireball plummets through the low smog and lands right in front of Celestia, blasting her into the sky. The foul beast swirls his pair of staff between his claws, creating two near solid shields of fire. He flings one towards the princesses, hovering along the horizon as it grabs the princess between its blade and the handle. It descends into the snow and digs deep into the ground, pinning Celestia’s neck to the white powder.

The power and speed of the Pyrefrost Beowolf was greater than Princess Celestia, she had to think of a way to beat him. Yet before she could think, another ice blade can hurling at her, with the bony body of the colossal beast attached to it. She teleports just before the second scythes stickers her exposed stomach.  She reappears in his rib cage, burning her back against the bottom wooden ribs. She shrills and hovers towards the middle of the chest, avoiding contact with the blue fire. The dragon-sized breast hears her scream and rattles his body. The princess takes the opportunity and focuses her mind on her magic while avoiding the slices of fire rocking all around. A faint white aura surround’s the beast’s chest before its ribs begin to gravitate away from her. The long stretches of black wood begin to snap and crackle from the pressure. The monster emits an ear-bleeding scream in pain as he claws at his chest, not making the situation better. The white in his nonexistent eyes begin to fade to nothingness as the vessel of the Pyrefrost Beowolf begins to tear apart.

However, just before it looks as if Celestia’s about to win, the monster had another trick up his bones. He slams his head and arms into the ground and begins to dig. In the matter of a second, the enormous mass sinks into the ground with Celestia with it. Boulders of bedrock smash around the wolf’s face if they merely flies as the skinny creature practically swims underground. Celestia however is plowed with several tons of dirt into her front with the boulders smashing her body to a pulp.

Back on the snowy surface, the younger sister hides herself into the snow, forgetting about the pain that once thrived in her. The explosions, the swooshing, the slicing, the grunts, the howls, the burning of the cold flames, it was all too much for her. The earth was rattling constantly, it was as if thousands of ponies were repeatedly stomping their hooves at the same time with all of their might. She had no idea what was going on. Is her friend still there?  Is his friend there? Is that booming creature also still around? Where was she? Where’s her home? Who could she trust? All these questions overran her mind, she truly felt that any second now, she would die. Tears began to form around her eyes, shortly followed by a faint whimper. Time was at a complete standstill, as she was all alone now, with only the voices in her head, the howling winds, and the rumbling of the earth to accompany her. The small filly wondered what she did to deserve this. Several minutes of chaotic silence surround her as she quietly cried, and just wanted to go home.

Suddenly, a loud explosion shatters the air a far distance behind the No-Pony. The Pyrefrost Beowolf still had Celestia in his rib cage, but the magical glow had disappeared from the beast’s pony chest. The collection of fiery bones soared through the air before falling into the smoke caused by the raging fire and onto the snow. Another loud boom pulsed through the right side of the young mare’s weeping body with a pile of snow falling onto her. The fire from the Pyrefrost Beowolf’s attacks has caused a blazing red wild fire throughout the forest surrounding the destroyed iron pen. Within the prison, the wolf got back up onto his two feet, with Celestia nowhere to be seen within his broken ribs now. The monstrous creature examined his brutalized claws; they were chipped, dirty, cracked, with one of them having its spiked half missing. He shrugged off the image before looking around in the night smoke for his adversary; his search was of no avail.

A small lump of warm snow ruffles as the white alicorn raises her head into the low smoke. She was now bruised even worse than Cloud before his demise, and even weaker. Through her blurred vision, all that she could make out was the turquoise mare with silver mane and tail, all tangled and messy, surrounded in a white and black blur. Only able to stand on her knees, the princesses crawled closer to the only thing she could trust. Upon making contact with her, the blind pony could feel the burnt fur and bashed skin of Celestia, but didn’t jolt. She didn’t know if this was the beast, her friend, or the other, but she didn’t care. Princess Celestia could then hear the muffled cries of the foal and gently sidles to her side. She then lifts her wing and wraps it over the small mare’s back, comforting her. For a quick moment, it felt as if it was only those two, beaten and tired, alone amongst the stirring chaos around. “Don’t cry,” the sweet, yet dry voice of Celestia quietly croaks, “I’m right here with you.” The small mare began to feel more secure, finally hearing those flowing words her original friend told her. The new friend, sounded a bit like her mother, yet kinder, and felt much larger also. The filly tried to reply, but the cold had finally withered her voice away, so only a small warm breeze escaped her mouth. The princess still felt the shivering uncertainty of the pony by her side. Using what was left of her voice, Celestia sung a lullaby;

“Hush, little filly, don't say a word.

Momma’s gonna buy you a Phoenix bird

And if that Phoenix bird won't sing,

Momma’s gonna buy you a crystal ring

And if that crystal ring turns brass,

Momma’s gonna buy you a looking glass

And if that looking glass gets broke,

You'll still be the sweetest little filly in town.”

Upon completing her quick song, the small filly’s shivering began to cease, the thumping of the Pyrefrost Beowolf’s stride began to grow more distant, and the howling snow began to calm down once more. The warmth of the fire surrounding them did not disturb the two, as conclusions arose in their heads. The small filly, now comforted and relaxed, discovered that the open world is not all bad. Although a lot has happened that has ruined her night, the young pony felt nice, feeling wondrous experiences and meeting interesting friends that stuck by her side. Celestia, also calm and at ease, discovered that there’s something, beautiful about the unknown. Maybe some things should not be forced to be changed to what you’re familiar with, for within them, their own beauty and innocence may give you warmth even in the face of chaos and destruction. This moment of peace and quiet felt like it lasted forever, which neither of them minded.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha,” the whispering cackle of the beast echoes from all around the two, “Isn’t this adorable…” The small mare felt her partner’s fur tense up upon hearing the beast’s growl. She figured it out, she figured out how to drive the beast away, but how was she going to be able to communicate her plan to the second unknown friend? “What? You think you could just escape me like that Celestia?” The blind pony softly nested against the alicorn’s mangled, but soft fur, fighting against the building tension. Celestia tried to ignore it, but the horrific memories of it kill Cloud drew an angry scowl on her face. “You want to fight me; I can see it on your pretty little face… I killed your boyfriend, and I’m going to eat you, your little shrimp, and everypony else as well. You demand to face me off once more…” The princess felt the small pony brushing against her side, as signaling her not to fight. The comforting hugs of the filly caused Celestia’s skin to return to normal as her angry scowl reverted to a soft smile.

The Pyrefrost Beowolf wants me to fight, don’t fall for it Celestia.

“What are you waiting for? Fight me…”

No.

“You can’t stay there forever, all the pitiful emotions inside of you are too much for your weak body to contain. Release them, and let’s finish this.”

He wants a fight, he wants revenge, he wants satisfaction. He will not get any.

“Celestia…” The flaming head of the best seeps down from the smoke and stares at her intensely, getting more antsy by the second. “Fight me.”

“…”

“Fight me…”

“…”

“You can’t ignore me forever,” his voice picked up once more, “fight me!”

“…no…”

“I’ve waited for an eternity, I want my premeditation to be worth it and enjoy what I hunted down, I demand you to fight me!”

“So sad, even with the prize on a ‘gold platter’, he doesn’t take it, all for just some rush.”

“I’ve had enough of this taunting!” Far to his right, the icy glow of his scythes flicked in the smog, persuading him to pick them up. He then reached out and leaned his body towards the staffs. Celestia took the opportunity and delivers a powerful magic stomp into the monster’s pelvic bone. He shock of the attack rushed the wolf to ditch his weapons and look down to see the princess making a speedy run directly up the front of his spine. The back of his mouth glowed white as he arched his neck and head back, preparing for an attack. He whips his head down, but just before the white flames could eject from his jaw, Celestia leaps from the top of his rib bones and fires a golden beam of light from her horn, right into the mouth of the beast. It blasts from the back of the skull, shattering it into hundreds of wooden fragments raining onto the snow. The Pyrefrost Beowolf emits and blood-curdling scream of pain. Celestia flies away, followed by the beast in hot pursuit. “DIE!!!” Flames, painted with the colors of fury, come barreling out of the front and back of the wolf’s puppet skull, dropping onto the snow right behind Celestia. The two rivals soon loop back around to the bladed poles, Celestia zips over them, but the Centmaster yanks the two from the ground, not losing any speed in the process. His screams of pain continue to echo as the beast loosely swings his scythes aimlessly, creating small tornados of swirling fire and ice in the swing’s wake. More and more, the flying alicorn is slowed more and more by the growing gravitation of the steam of whirlwinds, pulling her closer to the raging inferno.

The blind mare, now back to being alone as the battle began once more, felt the winds of the tornadoes growing in the distance. The screams of the humongous creature did frighten her, but also felt an emotion she never felt before. A feeling of, being bigger, like she played a part that lead to a great success, she helped her friend gain a winning advantage of the booming monster. With confidence and self-esteem roaring across her frail body and spirit, the young filly rose to her hooves and imagined herself with her friend, fighting the monster.

“Yes!” The beast hollered as he scampered closer and closer to Celestia, “I refuse to die, without taking you with me! You took everything away from me, and now, I’m going to return the favor!”

“You may, take away my life,” Celestia pants, “but that is insignificant compared to what I truly value. The safety of my ponies,”

“SHUT UP!”

“They will see me as a great hero and ruler even after death. But you? You will forever be known as a no pony, a monster, never to earn any respect,”

“It can’t, end, like t-t-t-t-this!” Slowly, the Pyrefrost Beowolf’s eyes began to darken from its ghastly white glow, to a light red, to a crimson red, to the warm orange of a regular fire. The colors of the eyes grew weaker and weaker, from orange, to dark orange, to brown, before becoming black, and barely visible. Now, only several meters from each other, the dying beast makes one last attempt of a swing, dropping one of his scythes and firmly gripping the other one in his hand. Raising the weapon high above his head, the black of his eyes fade to nothingness, followed by his skull. The weapon drops forward with a loud shink. A loud scream ensues; echoing through the entire forest as a small white body slowly plummets into the smoke, deep within the flaming part of the Everfree Forest. “I, did, it…”

With those words said from the beast, his black, bony bottom jaw, drops from his face, smashing into his ribs. Snapping and twisting rattle the crumbling body as the ribs fall off of the spine along with the jaw, with the blue flames dying with them. Wooden piece by wooden piece, the black bones of the spirit crumble and break off of their hover, falling into the smog below its knees. The Pyrefrost Beowolf’s death became silent, as the rest of the bottom spine, his legs, his arms, and his glided down to the rest of the remains, leaving a small dark blue cloud of fire in its wake.

Everything became more blurry than before as Princess Celestia regained consciousness. A soft, cold, metallic chill was felt running down the side of her next and chest. The fumes of the blazing forest fire began to enter Celestia’s throat, causing her to only feel pain from the chest backward. She looked around, trying to make out objects in the bright and dark spiral before her eyes. Pain began to pulse in her forehead, causing her to groan and fall on her knees into the white void below her. A loud piercing screech echoed through her ears and head, adding even more torture to the mix. Celestia could not think straight at all and soon found herself head deep in the snow. Her vision was growing darker by the second, slowly losing consciousness, as if a massive weight was being pressed on her entire body. In her last moments of sight before going black, she could see a small turquoise blob of color, running aimlessly in all directions.

I have to save her.

Calling upon imaginary strength and energy, the princess got up and wobbled towards the figure, grunting. Upon making contact with the color, Celestia opened her wings, picked up the pony and placed her on her broken back, and took off through the grey above. All became black, as the last of Celestia’s instincts and senses directed her subconscious body to Canterlot. From that moment on that night, all of the princess’ senses have died and no memory of it occurred. A fuzzy dream stuck her in her unconscious state, a dream of the small pony she rescued, snuggling right next to her, next to an open fire in a black void of nothingness. Everything in the dream felt real to her, from the warmth of the flames, to the void of gravity, and the fluffy mane and fur of the blind foal.

“Celestia…” A voice beckons from the void after what felt as if all of time had passed within the dream. “Wake… up…” Around her, the void faded out the fire, the pony, and soon enough, herself. All was completely black and empty for a solid minute before opening her eyes to see a red figure looking down at her…

“Rex?”

New Home

“Oh Celestia, your alive!” The princess groans and focused on the red pegasus speaking to her. All around him was pitch black in her eyes, as well as that screech still piercing her ears.

“Rex,” she mutters, “is that you?”

“Yeah!” A white figure then appeared from the corner of Celestia’s sight, a unicorn, moving next to the guard.

“Keep talking to her,” the pale mare demands, “Redheart needs her conscious for the final part of the operation.”

“Got it, Sweet Cheeks.” As the princess’ vision began to come back to her, she saw that she was in her room, lying on the purple carpet next to fireplace. She nearly jumped at the sight of the orange flames, but then remembered defeating it. A group of roughly ten nurses, all surrounding her carrying medicines, bandages, and small metal tools around the resting alicorn. “I found you passed out just outside the castle door, if it wasn’t for that small pony you brought, you would’ve froze to death, or bled out, or-”

“Wait,” the princess croaks in surprise, “bled out?”

“Yeah, when the small pony knocked on the front doors and I looked to see who it was, I saw that you had a nasty cut along your neck to your cheek. So I called all of the local doctors together and we took you in and provided immediate medical attention. There was a whole assortment of other things wrong with you, frostbite, bruises, a broken wing, several more broken bones, hypothermia, random cuts all around you, third-degree burns, magic burnout, and a small laundry list of other fancy things I can barely pronounce,”

“What about the small pony?”

“The turquoise one with the white mane? We left her in care of a doctor in the throne room, seemed a bit shy though.”

“Can I see her?”

“Well, no, the nurses her have demanded you stay put here for about…” Rex looks behind at a small clipboard on the floor with a large wall of text on it. “Eh, six to nine months,”

“Sixty nine months?!”

“No, six to nine months, your hearing maybe a bit down on that.” The bright red pegasus carefully walks over the lying medical tools around Celestia and speaks into her ear. “I’m sorry I ditched my responsibilities. It was dark, scary, and I just couldn’t take it,”

“It’s okay Rex, the pressure you were under would’ve caused a heart attack in anypony else.”

“So, how’d it go with the, thing…”

“It was… eventful, to say the least,”

“What happened to Cloud?”

“…”

“Oh,” Celestia winced and closed her eyes, her eyelids began to water upon remembering the horrific vision of the small yellow pegasus being devoured. Upon seeing this sad display, Rex’s deep blue eyes began to grow and his voice became nervous. “Please don’t cry princess, I’m sure he’s in a better place, right?”

“It’s more than that Rex, he, loved me.”

“He did?”

“He gave his own life, trying to protect me and the small mare from that monster.”

“I-I’m so sorry for your loss, I don’t know what to say…”

“You don’t have to say anything, he did what he felt was right, and we should respect him for that.”

“Yeah,” The air grew silent as the two winged ponies took a moment of silence, as well as the other nurses, in memory of Cloud Prancer Thunder. A minute of dead silence later, a small knocking echoed from the door behind the princess.

“Come in,” A light brown Earth Pony with a green tie opened the door and slowly walked past Rex and in front of Celestia.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, your majesty, during your time of recovery, but the small pony that was with you wants to be with you, I think… She doesn’t really talk.”

“Bring her in.”

“Yes madam,” the doctor exits the room, only to come back shortly later with the small blind pony grabbing hold of his dark brown tail. “Here she is, go on.” Slowly, the small pony, with a small heat bag attached to her forehead, walked towards Celestia.

“Thank you sir,” The doctor gave a soft smile upon seeing the filly sidle next to Celestia as he left the room, closing the door behind him. The No-Pony felt a large groove against her friend’s side, it was dry, hard, and felt metallic for some reason. Warmth was beaming from the princess’ body and radiating the tiny foal as she continued towards the head. The fluorescent, sparkly mane of Celestia ticked the blind filly’s nose, causing her to release a soft sneeze.

“Hey little girl,” Rex said as he looked down to her, “thanks for your help.”

“She did more than that, she actually helped me defeat the Pyrefrost Beowolf.”

“Wait, you defeated the Pyrefrost Beowolf, not just sent him back into the ground? How?”

“Through passion, love, and the magic of friendship.”

“Well, happy Hearth’s Warming Eve!” The guard cheers, trying to gravitate away from the sad moment that had ruptured a while ago, “I have great news to tell you today. The AWE have stopped several abnormal storms in the Everfree Forest, the early winter is mellowing out for now before it’s expected true arrival, and we have rescued a lost pony. By the way, what is her name?”

“I don’t know, I never actually asked her.” The princess then turns her head towards the small mare snuggled against her. “If you can understand me, what is your name, my little pony?” The silence came back once more, as the nurses had already finished their work and have packed their things.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” The red guard lead the nurses out of the warm room soon followed by himself, leaving the two mares be all alone with each other once more. It was almost exactly like the last moment they were together. Only instead of the cold, snowy floor, fuzzy, purple carpet laid beneath their bellies. Instead of the frigid wind blasting in their faces and mangling their fur, the warm radiance of the fireplace ran through their cleaned fur and long manes. And instead of a mountainous fear seeking over them, they were inside a secure sanctuary, far from any harm.

“What’s your name?” The princess calmly asked once more. The small pony took a moment to build up her voice. She figured that her friend was looking for a response from her. So, she took a deep breathe, recited the sounds she had heard in her head, and replicated the one sound she liked the most from her adventure,

“R-R-R-R-Raind-d-drop-p,”

“Raindrop?”

“R-Raind-drop,”

“Raindrop… I like it, I shall call you, my little pony, Raindrop.”

“Raindrop,”

“Good job sweetie. How do you feel about living with me in the castle, I will teach you all that I know, and keep you safe until you’re old enough, by then, hopefully we’ll find your family.”

“Raindrop,” The princess giggled to herself, but cringed at the end as her senses came full circle, with pain and agony all over her. Yet she did not care, for she now had a daughter all on her own, to raise in her own image and one day, grow up to her understand the unknown that is still to be explored in the world. Two shortly drifted to sleep together on the warm rug, feeling as if there was not a care in the world. There was no fear, no sorrow, no harm, no bitterness, no anger, no distrust, no cold, no burning, nothing that would make what felt like heaven any less.

Over the years, Princess Celestia did as she promised. Behind her throne, she created a large room to keep her little Raindrop warm and safe. She taught her how to speak fluently, and even managed to have her speak five different languages without any failure. She taught her about the history of Equestria, and the ponies who lived as citizens. Celestia also taught magic, chemistry, language arts, biology, and a collection of other miscellaneous items to her adopted daughter. Raindrop loved to learn, and every day, her motherly figure would walk into her room and teach her something new and fascinating. Over the course of the years, many events unfolded, struggles occurred in the kingdom, fights occasionally broke between the two of them, and even hearts were broken. Yet, that didn’t split the two apart, they would make up, move on, and life would resume to the paradise they wanted with each other. Rex eventually became promoted to head of security of Manehattan, and moved away. A memorial was built for Cloud, above the repaired grounds of the Pyrefrost Beowolf’s past grave. Celestia and Raindrop held the two stallions close to their hearts and never forgot about them, as close friends.

One night, years later, inside Raindrop’s room in the middle of a thunderstorm in the night, the two were standing at a window, staring at the drops of rain dancing down the large panes of clear crystal. The low fumbling of the silky red curtains by their sides tickled the peace and quiet of the warmly lit room.

“Princess Celestia,” the smaller pony asks, “Where did I come from?”

“I don’t know,” she replies, having already pondered that same puzzle several times, “we found you in the Everfree Forest before the Pyrefrost Beowolf showed up.”

“I remember that, but I was so cold and sick after that night, I lost all memory of before.”

“You were very young. Do you at least remember anything from before?”

“The wind, blowing across my fur, that’s all.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, but that, isn’t going to help much.”

“I know,” A scary thought then jumped into Celestia’s mind, causing her to break her stare from the dark and glance at Raindrop.

“Raindrop, I-”

“I know what you are feeling, you’ve taught me how. Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to leave you, I just… I just want to know.”

But what if where you came from was better than here…

“What could be better than being raised by the greatest pony there is in the world?”

“You know something,” Celestia’s voice became choky and saddened as she spoke, “I used to think like that when I was roughly your age. I thought that my kingdom was the single sanctuary of civilization and perfection in all the land. For years, I tried to tame whatever stood beyond the land and change it to be more, acceptable, to my society. I thought whatever was in the unknown was nothing that would ever be as great as the world I created. Then something happened,”

“What happened?”

“The closest thing to me, ended up being my enemy,”

“Princess Luna…”

“She, the one I looked after and made into my own image after our parents passed on, turned into the unknown. My sister became something that I did not foresee, but I knew that this was the result of my mentality and guidance. After banishing my sister to the moon, I was destroyed, I had created my own downfall. For hundreds of years since, I still stuck with my mentality however, for it was the only thing I was comfortable, yet every night, I was reminded of the unknown monster I created and might create again, within my false perfection. However, one faithful night, not too many years ago, that somepony changed that.”

“Who was it?”

“You. When Cloud and I found you, I had already been seeking your kind, but I was trying to bend it in my own image at the time. However, when we were alone, about to die from the Pyrefrost Beowolf, I saw something in you. You were different; you were not a monster, nor an uncivilized pony. You were somepony special, one that came from other loving ponies and actually helped me. My mentality changed, maybe there were other civilizations that could not be similar to mine, but also enhance mine, it’s just that ponies are so scared of what we aren’t familiar with and try to bend it to our own image to feel comfortable. You’re blind, and yet, you helped me but holding my attack on the Pyrefrost Beowolf until the right moment. Where you came from, I do not know, but I want to find it, and learn from it.”

“So we should expand our horizons instead of containing them.”

“Right.”

“Princess Celestia,”

“Yes?”

“What was he like?”

“Who?”

“Cloud,”

“Well, he was a pegasus, a close bodyguard of mine who talked to you on the Pyrefrost Beowolf’s tombstone.”

“What did he look like?”

“…Well, he was, yellow per say,”

“What did you see in him?”

“…” The princess took a moment to think, gaping back out the window and thinking back to her times with him. “Although he was small, not brave, not strong, a little dumb, and not the most social pony, he had a great heart. I saw that he was an honest, loyal, kind, friendly, generous, and magical friend to be with. He was one of my only true friends, and for the longest time, I never knew that he had, affections, towards me. I was so blinded by my own conquests and duties that I never saw that he loved me. It was only until his demise, in the face of chaos and the unknown… that I learned of his love.” A small steam of tears begins to trickle down Celestia’s eyes and checks. “Some may see me as perfect, but I was just a blind as you are.”

“I was blind too, I used to think outside of my home, was nothing but monsters and dangers in the unknown. Yet I always felt hope whenever I felt the wind. You were that ray of hope I guess, and I would never trade this for anything else.”

“Raindrop,”

“Yes?” Celestia then slides her sitting body next to the turquoise mare and gently wraps her wing around her.

“There may be a time that we may be separated, a time where we might be worlds apart by some monster or even one of our own. A time where I might disappear, with my wings having been plucked from my back and my horn torn from my head, or even being crippling by whatever separates us. But I promise you that I would go to the ends of the world and back just for you Raindrop.”

“But what if you don’t come back, what if you… pass on?”

“I would fight Cerberus with my soul for all of eternity, just to reach you. You have provided the light that I have needed to see, you are worth it.”

“When will I be able to join the other ponies out there?”

“As I said, ponies are very scared of the unknown, and I don’t want to risk you being hurt. Also, there’s been a number of monsters and strange events that have being going around, I just can’t take the risk now. But someday, when the chaos dies down and the ponies become more accepting, you might be able to provide light to the other ponies blind in fear of the unknown.”

“Celestia,”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, my little pony.” The No-Pony and the alicorn princess tightly hugged each other, their eyes both watery. Their fluffed fur and well fed bodies kept each other warm, as the hour nearly struck midnight, onto the land of Equestria.