-“The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through (will see us through)
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end”
“That’s a rap!” shouted the conductor “Everyone make sure you are here for next week’s performance” At this all the ponies in the Canterlot choir groaned and packed away their bags.
“Emerald! Emerald!” A voice said in companionship to galloping hooves “You were amazing!”
“Ahh” Said a green crystal pony “Amethyst why did you do that?” a blue crystal pony had flung herself into her friends’ arms. Her grasp was so tight that she could hardly breathe. Now many ponies were staring at the two mares hugging in the middle of the room.
“You may want to get of now Amethyst, everybody staring at us” Emerald said worriedly.
“Why? You have such a great voice! You are my friend and I need to support you when you make great achievements”
“I sang in a choir, what so big about that?” She said slowly slipping free from her friends’ tight grasp. When she finally managed to get away she was panting for any source of oxygen.
Why is Amethyst such a strong hugger?
She swooped up her bag and swung it onto her back, making sure it was tightly secured before she travelled home. Emerald flung open the door to only be greeted by a harsh wind.
“Close the door you idiot, its freezing!” Said a purple pony. Equestria, the home of friendship, where people call random strangers idiots, she thought to herself. Of course she promptly ignored her and continued to walk out the door.
“That mare is right, it is really cold, and it is giving a bad case of the shivers” Her friend was right, it was soo cold today! ‘Almost too cold…’ She thought to herself, just like…
“Hey Amethyst”
“Yeah?” Her friend said, quite concerned by her best buddies expression.
“Do you see that?” She said, her voice wobbling slightly. The ponies both looked up, their pupils grew small, their hearts started pumping and their breaths stopped. Up in the sky were great white creatures with piercing blue eyes staring into their soul. They
blew huge gusts of wind all across the Crystal Empire making many arguing ponies shiver in fear.
“It is your fault the windigos are back you idiot!”
“What are you talking about? Are you BLIND? This is so obviously you!”
“Guys shouldn’t we run from them instead?”
“SHUT UP!” Many mares and colts were standing out in the cold bickering, and fighting while there crystal bodies became the windigos prey. In the corner of her eye, Emerald saw a tiny piece of ice crawl up the side of the ponies hooves.
“Everyone look at your feet!” Emerald shouted desperately.
“Who are you? I am not going to listen to a mare I have never seen before” A broad stallion said, stupidly ignoring what the lime pony was saying.
“Listen to what my friend is saying!” Amethyst cried out.
“THAT’S IT!” The brown colt said infuriated, covered in hatred. He was about to give them a piece of his mind until he found that he was glued to the ground. “What is this, you there help me!” He said pleading to the best friends. All around the crystal pony were others being covered in a thick layer of shining ice.
“Oh no!” Every pony shouted in perfect unison. The ice had now reached their necks and was ready to move on to their heads. The last things that were shouted from the ponies were a croaky, desperate…
“Help…”
The silence that came after was almost deafening. The windigos would not pay any attention to the lives they crumbled out of their frosty hearts.
“But how... I-it is my entire fault” Emerald cried out. “Why did I let this happen?” Her forelegs finally gave in and she collapsed to the ground. Her regretful tears started covering the floor as she shuffled the floor.
“Hey, do not cry! This was in no WAY your fault, but we need to tell princess Cadence about this” Her friend exclaimed as she stood up in front of her. “Now be a mare and help me!”
“Ok” She sniffled; she wanted to stay strong for her friend. She had to be. As they ran through the crystal kingdom their blood became colder and there hooves became numb. All of the beautiful buildings were now only the colour of diamonds because of the ice.
After galloping what felt like a couple hours they reach the crystal palace.
“Name” Said a masculine voice coming from a Guard.
“I am sorry, but we are in a serious situation right now! Do you SEE those Windigos? We need to inform the princess right away” Amethyst Shouted.
“How dare you shout at a royal guard? Anyway, her highness is already busy at getting rid of the problem” he huffed.
“But a few ponies were just sealed up in a layer of ice” … The stallion was obviously thinking, his eyes rolled upwards in a concentrated fashion.
“You can go in but do NOT take long and do NOT disturb the princess” He said before dismissing them. Quietly they crept through the castle corridors. As they did so, they remembered the terrible slavery of Sombra. Of the terrible time he enslaved them to do whatever he pleased. They shuddered at the memory!
“I can’t do it”
“Princess calm down, you are wasting your energy”
“She is right sweetheart; you need to not waste it again” Many voices came from the
“Princess, princess we have some terrible news” The two mares rushed into the room calling for the pink alicorn.
“Not more, I am to ‘argh’ busy” She replied, far to flustered to endure anymore of the Crystal Empires many problems.
“Can’t you see she is busy I am sure this news is NOT as important as the Windigos attacking” Said Shining Armor. He had married Cadence a few months ago but the Crystal Ponies were still unsure about having another king.
“Actually this is about the beasts your highness” Cadence ceased her magic and everyone turned around to look at Amethyst and Emerald.
“Go on” Said (most probably) one of the princess maids. The green pony was about to say it before an image of the freezing stallion flashed before her eyes. His pleading face and his body enveloped in the ice. She could hear his screaming voice echo in her ears. It was all too much her for to take. She was surrounded by guilt of not being able to help him.
Then, Silence…
“Is she ok, is she breathing?”
“From what I can tell she is alive but unconscious”
“Oh Emerald, wake up! Wake up!”
What are all these voices, where am I? Oh yeah…
Emerald had just woken up to be greeted by another of Amethyst violent hugs. All she could hear was: Is she alright? And: She is awake! After a couple of ponies frantically panicking it started to get old.
“Guys, guys calm down! I am alright I was just… flustered that’s all, from… meeting the princess! That is it” Everyone raised their eyebrow, not at all convinced by Emeralds excuse. “Fine, I was scared, it is my entire fault that it happened”
“What is your fault?” Said princess Cadence, confused.
“Well…” Amethyst said “Emerald told all of these ponies that they were freezing up but they were idiots and did not listen so they froze and Emerald could not help them so Emerald thinks this it is all of her fault even though it was not and I have told her million but she did not *Gasp* listen” Everybody blinked, processing the ponies words.
“Is that all you fainted for?” asked Shining Armor.
“Yeah” Said Emerald quite embarrassed. “Anyway princess we most go stop Windigos before they strike again”
“Ok you girls are coming with me, Guards!” The princess shouted. In a heartbeat ten of princess cadences most loyal warriors appeared. “We are on a mission to stop the Windigos! You must try your very hardest and never give up and always do what I say no matter what, Ok”
“OK” replied the guards.
“Any questions?” A green stallion with a bushy brown mane put his hand up. “Yes?”
“How exactly are we going to stop them?” Cadence froze, thought, and looked dumbstruck.
“I, um… Ehrm” she fumbled with her words, not sure what to say in reply. In the end she settled on “We shall find the cave where it all happened, and see what to do from there”
“Yes your highness” Then they set of their journey…
“Umm… which way does the map go?”
“This way Amethyst, gosh sometimes you can be such a doo-doo brain”
“Girls please do not start fighting; do you want to turn to ice?”
“No…” Both of the crystal ponies said.
“That’s what I thought, now we should go this way and then turn the corner that sounds about right!” Cadence had been going on about directions for hours but it had not seemed to lead to anyway that seemed remotely like where they wanted to go. You would expect having an Alicorn princess on the team would help but alas it did not.
“I am hungry, princess do you think you could whip us up some food with that horn of yours?” No response. “Hello? Princess?” Still no response. “Hey I am starving over… here” She stopped dead in her tracks. Finally noticing why her Emerald and Cadence had frozen. “Are those?”
“Yep” said the two other ponies “*gulp* Timber Wolves”
I guess they do not just appear in the Everfree then.
“Princess can you fight them of?” asked the green mare.
“I guess, you girls stay behind me, wait a minute… where are the guards” She turned around to find they were not there. What cowards, so much for her most loyal guards. Cadence closed her eyes and started to concentrate. Sparks started flying from her horn as her magical ora stared to appear. Suddenly the tree like dogs pounced on her, causing her to jump back. “Do you know who I am?” She shouted as she zapped them all with a beautiful stream of magic. But the wolves were not finished. They climbed on to Amethyst back and started pulling out her main and biting her.
“OOOW!” she cried as tears started streaming down her face. The princess was now angrier than ever as she surrounded them with her spell. Then she lifted them into the air and shook them rapidly. Timbers wolves do get pretty nocuous quickly. Putting them down Cadence sneered and then said to them:
“Scram you mangy mutts!” before they ran away growling. “There we go, now shall we continue?” She asked mush more calmly than expected. Emerald and Amethyst just stood there in utter shock.
That was amazing!
After they stopped fangirling in their minds they carried on with the journey. Some more hours passed and the ponies could barely see a hoof in front of them.
“It is time for a break would you say girls?” Said princess Cadence yawning. Of course they agreed for they were feeling tired as well. So they all set up camp in a snug cave in a mountain. “Should we sing some carols before we go to sleep? It is Hearths Warming Eve time anyway” Amethysts face lit up.
“Emeralds a really good singer” She squealed.
“No I am not!” The green mare said blushing.
“Oh go on, I am sure have a great voice I would love to hear you” Said Cadence.
“Fine” She huffed.
-“The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through (will see us through)
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end”
“Wow” Said princess Cadence, very impressed “Are you in the Crystal choir because if you are not…”
“She is!” the blue crystal mare interrupted.
“Oh ok” said the princess, very irritated that she had been cut off mid-sentence.
“Yeah and she is the best singer there!” the blue mare was so excited to finally brag about her BBF.
“That is not true, there is always, Diamante” She said with a dark tone in her voice. Diamante was Emeralds arch nemesis, well actually everyone nemesis. She was beautiful. Smart and had the best voice in Equestria. “Darn her” then she flipped over her covers and grumbled in an annoyed fashion.
“Well good night I guess” Said the alicorn as she rested ready for the next day.
“Ok it is a dead end”
“Well duh, is that not obvious?”
“You girls are seriously grumpy in the morning, cheer up or I will shake you like the Timber Wolves” At this Emerald and Amethyst hung their heads and did as they were told. After wondering, they had found themselves caught up in a snowy blizzard.
“I hate the cold it is so coldy”
“You do realise that’s not a real word right?”
“GIRLS!”
“Sorry” They said as they fought against the blizzard. Cadence, luckily, had done a spell which made them immune to frostbite. Suddenly they had found themselves in the middle of a cliff and if the Alicorn had not been so concentrated on the road ahead, they would have plummeted to their demise.
“So how far are we?” Amethyst asked.
“We are miles away, we are going to be at least a few days” After hearing that, everybody sighed as they carried on walking with their numb and blistered hooves. Harsh winds started to whip their faces as their eyes stung.
“Can we please, take, a break?” The blue pony panted, obviously out of breath.
“We must keep going, without me ruling over my little ponies so much chaos must be happening, I just hope Shining Armour is doing a good job”
Meanwhile in the Crystal Empire, things were looking a bit out of hand…
“You there you go and umm… maybe read a magazine or something I do not know” Shining armour had been given the duty by his wife to look over the crystal empire. But all he could think about was his poor wife out there in the cold and as he was more events of the Windigos were occurring. Frozen bodies, colder breezes, it was a hell all in itself!
“Where is the princess when you need her” He heard to a guard whisper to his friend. Shining just gave them the stink eye and ignored them. Then he just gave a simple.
“I cannot take it anymore!” He needed some time to calm down so he went out to get some corndogs. What, it was the Hearths Warming corndog special? With special Hearths Warming toppings! He was made for protecting the ponies so why was this so hard? Why was it so different from being LEADER OF THE ROYAL GUARD! He shrugged it off and went outside when…
“Highness Look out it is… Oh no” At that very moment a windigo had accidently froze Shining as he became a majestic crystal statue.
“I am so bored; could we stop off to get some corndogs or something?”
“That was shinies favourite”
“Umm… princess, you ok you seem a bit down in the dumps?” Emerald was very concerned, the princess was pouting, Amethyst was grouchy, and she was filled with depressing thoughts. The road trip was a disaster they were getting nowhere.
“I give up, I have had enough of the road trip and Emerald you have drove me insane” Amethyst blurted out. “I am hungry, tired, cold I cannot take it anymore”
“Umm… you may want to look down” Suggested princess Cadence biting her lip. I tiny piece of ice had formed around her hoof. Cadence grabbed the green mares face to turn it round so she saw what the Alicorn could see.
“Not again” She whispered “Not Emerald”
“This has been the most horrible days of my life, I just run back home and it is your entire fault Emerald you have been going on at me non…” Her mouth was frozen over, she made no movement. Her eyes did not blink and she did not breathe. She was frozen over in thick layer of ice, which meant…
“The Windigos are here we must leave”
“What about Amethyst? We cannot leave her behind” Emerald cried, tears streaming from her eyes. Emerald was her best friend, she could not let it happen. She flung her arms around her and wept into her friends frozen body. “No… no”
What happens next, what will happen to our trusty characters. Find out next time…
