Cold as Ice

Chapters

Hopeful Wishes
Of Ice and Snow
The Death of Innocence
It Calls for a Party
The Good Life
Winter Wrap Around
Ice Queen
Opening Gambit
Into the Maw
Winter's Bite
What Comes Around
Breaking Point
Clipped Wings
Epilogue: When the Ice Melts
Glass Eyes
The Power of Emotion

Hopeful Wishes

Chapter 2: Hopeful Wishes

Snowfall continued to stare at her daughter in disbelief. There had to be an explanation, blind ponies didn't just get their vision back, especially not if they were born blind. She must have just heard her parents talking about the gift some time, and wanted to play a prank on them.

"Sweetie, what do you mean they look like bracelets?" Riptide asked his daughter, just as confused as his wife.

"They're shaped like bracelets!" the little blue unicorn replied enthusiastically, unable to recognize the look of concern on her father's face.

"But, how can you tell?" Snowfall was starting to get worried, and it must have shown.

Cryssy frowned a little, "Are you okay Mama?"

That didn't help her parent's worries. They should be excited, their daughter could apparently see, but they hadn't done anything that could explain why.

"Mama, Daddy, why do I have to go to the doctor?" Cryssy asked from her mother's back as they walked through the town.

Snowfall had to think for a moment, not sure how to respond to her daughter without worrying her. "Um, we just...want to make sure you're not going to get a cold, like you did last year."

The filly frowned again, "Am I sick again? I don't like bein' sick" she asked her parents.

"No sweetie," her father replied, "this is to stop you from getting sick" he lied. It was the first lie he ever told to her, and he wished he didn't have to.

Both him and Snowfall had agreed to take Cryssy to the hospital within minutes of her admitting to 'seeing' her gift. They had never heard of anything like this before, and they were a worried, and actually a bit curious, as to if their daughter actually could see. They tried to hide their concern for her by disguising the trip as a checkup.

"But I don't feel like I'm gettin' sick" she argued.

Her parents had run out of things to say, and so the rest of the walk to the doctor was silent, with a few quips from Cryssy about her new bracelets. Snowfall had placed them on the little filly's legs while her husband got their scarves from the kitchen. It had actually made it HARDER to leave then, because her daughter refused to stand still in her excitement about the gifts. Luckily the pegasus managed to calm her down enough to get the scarf on and put the filly on her back.

The family turned into a pale grey building in the town square, which was covered in snow as always. The doctor was waiting for them in the lobby, a smile appearing on his face at the sight of the trio.

"Good evening Riptide and Snowfall" the doctor greeted them, then looked to the filly, "Hello again little Ice Crystal. I heard it was your birthday today" he greeted her with a big smile.

Cryssy's face lit up again, "Yeah! I'm 5!" she squeaked to him.

"That's great," the doctor turned back to Riptide, "did she get sick again this year too?"

Cryssy had visited this doctor more times than her parents could count in the past 5 years. At first it would be due to her falling or bumping into something too hard, but most of her visits were for illnesses. Most notable was her yearly visit for the flu. She seemed to catch it right around her birthday each year, but luckily this year she had yet to catch the bug.

"No, not yet," Snowfall responded for her husband, "it's..."

The doctor looked to the pegasus with a raised eyebrow, "What's the problem?"

"Well, we got Cryssy these new bracelets for her birthday," Snowfall started to explain what happened as the filly on her back threw up her hooves to show off the little silver bands, "and, after she opened them..." She paused, for some reason nervous about saying what had happened. "After she opened them, she told us that she could see them."

The doctor's eyes widened, "She...she said that?" he looked to each the concerned parents, "How do you know she isn't joking?"

"We never told her what the gift was" Riptide explained, "and after that, she asked us why we looked worried."

The doctor's mouth dropped open, "I'm...I don't know how to..." he was at a loss of words. Even as a doctor, he had never heard of a blind pony regaining sight. He shook the shock from his face and composed himself, "Take her into my office, I'll see what I can find out."

"Okay Cryssy," the doctor shuffled into his chair across the room from the little unicorn sitting on the exam table, "I'm going to show you a few things, and I want you to tell me what you see."

"Okay!" she squeaked happily.

The doctor lifted a ball in his hoof. "What do you see?"

"A ball!" the filly squeaked again, a big smile on her face.

The doctor put the ball down and picked up a doll from behind him, "And what is this?"

"A doll!"

He put the doll down and thought for a moment. Obviously this was no longer a joke, she could see, but how? As he looked at her, he noticed a small spark shoot off of Cryssy's horn. His eyes widened, and he pulled the ball back out. "What do you see now Cryssy?"

"Another ball!"

This time he kept the ball up, and asked a second question, "Can you tell me what color it is?"

"What's a color?"

"It's...well it's..."

The filly's face twisted in confusion as the doctor stumbled over his words.

He put the ball back on the ground and tapped one hoof on his chin as he thought about what the filly had just said. It made sense that she didn't know about different colors, he doubted her parents would teach her about something that she would, or at least should, never have seen. He had to think of a different way to ask the question.

A thought popped into his head, and he pointed a hoof at his lab coat, "This color is called 'white'," he pointed away from his coat and toward the wall, "and that color is called blue."

"They don't look different" she stated after a moment of looking between the doctor and the wall.

Great, he was making progress. He continued to watch Ice Crystal as she looked back and forth trying to figure out why he told her the wall and his coat were supposed to look different. This seemed to be some kind of miracle, until he noticed that her horn continued to spark every few moments.

"Okay Cryssy, I just have one more question," he pulled out a pencil and wrote on a piece of paper from his desk. "Can you tell me what is on this paper?"

He held up the paper with a big picture of a butterfly drawn in the middle.

Cryssy cocked her head to one side, her silver eyes staring at the paper, "That's just a square, not paper!" she smiled and giggled.

The doctor smiled and put the paper back on his desk, "Thank you Cryssy. Do you want to go talk with the nice nurse while I talk to your parents?"

"And then, Mama put on my scarf and we came to the doctor!" the little unicorn finished the exciting story of her day.

"That sounds like a great day!" the nurse smiled to the excited little filly.

In the office behind them, the doctor finished writing a few notes in his chart before looking up to Cryssy's parents. "I...I'm not sure how to explain this." He paused and leaned toward the unicorn and pegasus sitting before him. "Your daughter...she IS still blind."

"But," Snowfall was the first to speak, "how did she..."

After waiting a moment, and seeing that the pegasus didn't know what to say, the doctor continued, "She is blind in the conventional sense. I don't think she sees with her eyes."

"But...how then?"

"I did a few tests, just showing her a few different objects. She always knew what I was holding. I didn't know what else to do" the doctor paused for a moment, "Then I saw a spark on her horn."

Riptide nodded, "I saw the same thing right before she opened her gift earlier today."

"It gave me an idea," the doctor held up the ball from earlier for the parents, "I asked her what this was, and again she knew it was a ball; but this time I asked her what color it was as well. She of course didn't know what a color is, after all, she's never seen them before."

Snowfall looked at the ball in confusion, then back to the doctor. He could tell what she was about to ask, and continued, "I tried to explain it to her by telling her that my lab coat and the wall are different colors. She told me they looked the same," he put down the ball and picked up the picture of a butterfly, "so I drew this, and asked her what she saw. At first, she didn't say anything, as if she was studying it. When she finally answered, she told me I was just holding a square" he put the paper back on his desk. "I have a theory, but I have no way to confirm it."

"What is it doctor?" the parents asked in unison, both with looks of confusion and wonder.

"I think...I think she somehow uses magic to see."

Riptide's jaw dropped, unable to comprehend what he just heard. Not only had her daughter used magic for the first time, but she may have used it to SEE.

"I don't know for sure how it works, or if that's even what it is, but it makes some sense. I can only guess that it may work similarly to how a bat sees at night. I think her horn shoots off small waves of magic, which bounce back to her and allow her to paint a mental picture of what is around her. It only appears to show three dimensional objects. She cannot see anything written on paper, and it doesn't show different colors, everything looks the same to her.

"Either way, if this is what is happening, it shows a huge amount of magical potential. I'm not sure if she even realizes what she's doing, or how accurate it is; what I do know, is that this is incredibly rare. I'll ask a few colleagues what they think, but I doubt anypony will know any more than I do."

"So, what do we do from here?" Riptide asked, after a moment of shock from what he was just told.

The doctor smiled, "Go on like you did before. This is big news, but your daughter shouldn't change at all. I think she'll still be the same little ball of laughter she's always been, the only difference is that she'll be able to do so much more."

"Do you think we should tell her now, or wait until dinner?"

"I'd say tell her now, she'll never finish her food if we get her too excited while she eats."

"You mean like the time we told her about her first day of preschool?"

"Exactly."

"Okay then. Cryssy! Can you come here please sweety?" Snowfall yelled for her daughter.

The young unicorn's parents had big news for their daughter. After only waiting 3 days for a reply, they could finally tell her the big news, and knowing their daughter she resulting excitement would leave smiles on everypony's face for hours at the least.

Cryssy trotted into the living room, her horn shooting off a small blue spark every few moments; the assumed secret to her 'vision'. "Hi Mama, hi Daddy." She sat in front of them with a smile.

"Sweetie," Riptide started, sitting down in front of his filly, "your mother and I have good news for you."

Snowfall simply nodded her agreement. Her and Riptide had decided that the filly's father should tell her the good news; after all, this was a big day for any unicorn, and Snowfall thought her husband should tell her, being a unicorn himself.

Riptide's voice filled with pride, "Today we got a letter from Canterlot. There is a big school there, started by Princess Celestia."

The filly's smile widened, "What did the Princess write to us for?"

Riptide chuckled a little, "Well it wasn't a letter from the Princess herself, but it was from a very important pony at the school" his horn glowed blue and a letter floated beside him. "It says that they heard about how you use magic to see-"

"Batty Vision!" she corrected with her nickname for the spell.

Her father couldn't help but chuckle again, "That's right, they heard about Batty Vision, and they want you to go and take a test at the school."

One of Cryssy's ears flopped down, her face twisting with confusion, "Why do they want me to take a test?"

"Because if you pass, you'll be admitted to Princess Celestia's school, where they will teach you all about magic" he told her with a smile.

As they predicted, their daughter's face lit up, and the little blue unicorn started bouncing up and down. "Really? A school all about magic!"

Snowfall bent down and hugged her daughter along with her husband. "Congratulations Cryssy!" they told her in unison.

"Aww, can we please read one more Daddy?" Cryssy whined as her father tucked her into bed.

"Not tonight sweetie. You need your sleep, you have a big day tomorrow" Riptide told his daughter.

"Aw, okay" the filly's horn stopped flashing as she closed her eyes. "I love you daddy."

Riptide bent over and placed a light kiss on his daughter's forehead, "I love you too Cryssy."

He turned off the light and stepped out of the room, slowly closing the door so there was barely a click. After almost two months, his little girl's big day was almost here; the day of her entry exam at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. They would have to leave pretty early in the morning, before the sun even peeked over the mountains in the east if they were going to make it on time; but no matter how early they had to leave, it couldn't change how happy Riptide was for his daughter.

He lay in his own bed beside his wife, and planted a kiss on the back of her mane. "What did you study tonight?" she asked him softly.

"We finished the book on levitation magic" he told her as he closed his eyes.

His wife giggled, "Did she ask you to read another book again?"

"Yeah, she did."

Ever since they had found out she would be given a chance to go to the school, Cryssy's parents had taken turns reading books about magic to her every night before bed. They wished they could help her more, but with work getting busier for both of them to plan an upcoming blizzard, they only had time at night. Their daughter always listened attentively, and asked a lot of questions about some of the spells they read about.

Usually Riptide had an answer, being a unicorn himself, but Snowfall had to ask her husband about most of the questions her daughter asked. Not being a unicorn meant she had no experience with magic, but she still wanted to help her daughter any way she could. She even took some of the books to work most days, so that she could read ahead and hopefully be able to answer more of the questions from their curious daughter.

"She'll do great tomorrow," Snowfall assured her husband, "she had a fantastic teacher."

"No, she had two fantastic teachers."

The next morning, Snowfall was the first to wake. She rolled over and kissed the unicorn laying beside her, "Time to get up dear."

Riptide opened his eyes slowly, "Five more minutes Mama" he joked with his wife.

Snowfall giggled, "I'll go wake up Cryssy, do you want to get our saddlebags downstairs?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you down there" he smiled to her.

The pegasus rolled out of bed, stretching her wings and straightening out her feathers as she walked to the end of the hallway. She slowly pushed the door open, and tiphooved over to the small bed in the middle of the room. She softly nudged the sleeping unicorn with her nose, "Time to get up sweetie."

Cryssy rolled over as her horn sparked, "Five more minutes Mama."

Snowfall had to stifle a laugh as she pulled the blanket off of her daughter, "But don't you want one of those muffins I brought home yesterday?"

The filly practically shot out of bed and galloped down the stairs to get a muffin. Her mother smiled and grabbed her daughter's forgotten scarf from the closet before following the blue blur downstairs.

Downstairs, Riptide walked into the kitchen to find his daughter pulling herself onto the table, with one hoof stretched desperately toward a box of muffins; just barely out of reach.

He lifted her up magically and sat on the other side of the table, "You woke up fast" he told her with a smile.

Cryssy walked to the middle of the table and picked up the box of muffins in her muzzle, smiling as she carried it over to her father. She sat on the table in front of him, with the box hanging in her mouth by a string.

"Aren't you going to eat one of those?" Riptide asked her with a smile.

The filly shook her head and put the box down in front of her, "You get one first Daddy."

The lid lifted off of the box and 3 muffins floated out, all shrouded in a blue aura, "How about we all get one at the same time?" Riptide asked his daughter with a smile.

"Okay!" Cryssy squeaked as she grabbed one of the muffins in her hooves.

The second muffin floated in front of Riptide, while the third floated across the room to Snowfall, who had just entered; a teal scarf already around her neck, and another hanging from her muzzle. She placed the scarf on the table and bit into the muffin floating before her, "Thank you dear."

Five minutes later, after everypony had eaten their muffin, and Cryssy had eaten a second, the family stepped out into the cold morning. A yellow chariot pulled up in front of their house, being pulled by the two pegasus cabbies. Riptide apologized to them for having to show up so early, but the pegasi shook it off and assured him it was alright.

"We're gonna fly?" Cryssy asked her parents as they sat in the chariot behind the pegasi.

"That's right" Snowfall told her daughter.

"Just like Mama!" the filly yelled excitedly, eliciting a laugh from her parents, and the two pegasi pulling them.

Of Ice and Snow

Chapter 4: Of Ice and Snow

Ice Crystal snapped awake from her nightmare and the memory of her first 'accident' almost fifteen years earlier. Her coat was matted with a cold sweat which sent shivers through her body as she lay alone on her bed of stone. Flashes of her surroundings filled her mind, the only indication that it had all been a dream. The stalactites above her caused the unicorn to flinch momentarily as remnants of her nightmare caused them to appear as teeth in her mind. She calmed herself down, and continued to search the area around her, which was coated in a light layer of snow again.

She listened for the lightest sound; rocks crumbling,claws scraping, and especially the unfurling of feathered wings. The cave lay silent, just as she had hoped. They would never come looking for her in here, but if the snow had somehow blown out the front...

The mare shook the thought from her head, and rolled back onto her side. She focused her magical vision on the bracelets laying on a cloth beside her, their metal worn and marred with scratches which becoming more and more clear with each flashed sight. Tears formed in the mare's eyes, and she slowly drifted back into sleep as the flashing images changed back to older times once again.

"How was your day at work dear?" Snowfall asked her husband through the whistling wind, shielding her face from the snow with one wing, while the other was wrapped around the unicorn beside her.

"Not bad, everything went off without a hitch. And you did an amazing job positioning the clouds" Riptide had to yell to even hear himself, the wind blew even stronger than the planning team had predicted.

The couple were finally walking home from work, anxious to see their little filly again, and their pace was pretty quick, almost at a jog, to escape the storm. Ice had formed in both of their manes and tails, and Snowfall had lost feeling in her wings.

The pair finally reached the front door of their house, and Riptide's magical blue aura surrounded the handle.

*CRACK*

"What was that?" Snowfall jumped a bit at the sudden noise as Riptide pulled the door open as quick as his magic allowed.

The air inside the house was so cold, even colder than it had been outside. Little flakes of shining snow filled the air, and it was eerily quiet. But where was Cryssy? She always ran to the door when it opened, eager to see whoever had come in.

Riptide shivered and pulled away from his wife, "You find Cryssy, I'll go see what's up with the fire."

Snowfall nodded and started up the stairs to check her daughter's room. As she made her way upstairs, the air actually grew warmer. It didn't make any sense, but the pegasus figured Cryssy could have gone upstairs to get warmer. "Cry-"

"What the hay!" she was cut off by her husband yelling from downstairs, and ran back down the steps to see what had happened.

The den was easily the coldest room in the house at the time. It felt like Riptide had just walked into a freezer, and the shining snow particles almost formed a fog in the room. The first thing he noticed was a gaping hole in the wall where snow was blowing into the room with the wind, but they had just weatherproofed the walls a few months ago. Still, that explained the fire being out, but where was-

"Oh my Celestia, Cryssy!"

In the far corner was a twisting pillar of ice, stretching from the floor to the ceiling, and at the bottom was his daughter, her face trapped in a look of pure fear. Above her was a frozen wolf, its jaws opened wide just above the little filly's face. The unicorn couldn't believe he hadn't seen it sooner.

Snowfall galloped into the room behind her husband, but unlike her husband, she immediately noticed the twisted ice. A high pitched scream filled the room, and suddenly the pegasus was pounding on the ice with her hooves, tears flowing down her face at the sight of her trapped daughter.

The ice cracked slightly, and a light hissing sound filled the air. At the top of the pillar, the ice started to evaporate right into thin air. Soon the ice was gone without a trace, and the wolf fell to the ground beside Cryssy, its breathing labored as the body convulsed.

Riptide's magic quickly shrouded the wolf, and the beast was thrown through the hole which the stallion assumed was how it had entered. Snowfall scooped up her daughter in her hooves, still crying as she squeezed the filly close.

Snowfall almost broke the front door to the hospital as she ran into the building, her daugher laying over her back shivering uncontrollably. A nurse behind the front desk galloped over to her side, "What happened?"

The pegasus couldn't answer, she just shook her head as the tears frozen into her coat by the storm shined on her face.

The nurse pulled Cryssy from her mother's back, and raced her into the back of the hospital. The doctor poked his head from his office, and seeing the nurse running, followed her to the operating room.

"What happened here?" he asked his nurse, who simply responded as Snowfall had.

The doctor looked over his shoulder as he ran, catching a glimpse of the distraught pegasus breaking down in the lobby before he passed through the door to the urgent care ward.

"Before I tell you what I found," the doctor sat behind his desk, sweat coating his brow, "I want to know what did this to Cryssy."

Snowfall and Riptide were resting in the doctor's office, both of their coats soaked by snow from the storm. They still couldn't believe what they'd seen. Wolves almost NEVER wandered into town, and if they did they wouldn't break into a pony's home. Either the beast was starving, or they were growing more bold. And the ice inside their home, that twisted pillar which had saved their daughter. Neither of them could think of any explanation.

"We...we don't know what happened" Riptide was the first to bring himself to answer. "We both just got back from working on the storm, and...and there was this wolf."

"A wolf did this?" The doctor asked suspiciously, "I've never seen anypony enter hypothermia from a wolf attack before Riptide. That only explains the scratches."

"It just didn't make any sense, when we found them..." Riptide continued, still trying to make sense of it all, "when we found them they were stuck in ice, frozen solid."

"What do you mean 'frozen solid'?"

"I mean they were trapped in ice!" Riptide lost his temper, the emotion of what had happened finally catching up to him. "I don't know where it came from, or what caused it, all I know is it saved my daughter!"

Snowfall placed a hoof on her husband's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, "It's okay dear, you don't need to yell."

The doctor gave Riptide a moment to calm down, waiting for the unicorn to relax before speaking again, "It did save your daughter, but I'm afraid she's very weak right now. We managed to warm her body back up, but something about the encounter drained her. She was barely breathing when you brought her in, and she will need rest for a few days to recover."

"Is she awake?" Snowfall asked quickly after the doctor finished his explanation.

"For now, yes. You may see her, but please keep it brief, as I said, she needs her rest.

The hospital's recovery room was nearly silent. It had 4 beds, all but one of which were empty. The only bed with a guest was covered by a green blanket. The little filly's pearly eyes shined beneath the white light above her, a small glint flashing across them with each spark from her horn.

The filly's parents quietly sat beside the bed, their faces stuck in a frown at the sight of their daughter. She'd been to this hospital many times in her short life, but this was different. Her face had a bandage here and there covering up the small scratches from earlier, and they could tell she had been crying.

"Mama, Daddy, I don't feel good" she said weakly.

"It'll be okay Cryssy," Riptide tried to comfort his daughter, "the doctor said you'll be just fine."

A small smile curled into the corner of her mouth, only to fade away, "is the mean wolf gone Mama?"

The pegasus nuzzled her daughter, "Yes sweetie. The mean wolf is gone."

It didn't take long for the little filly to return to her joyous old self. The next morning when the doctor went to check on her, Cryssy had wiggled out of her blanket and was talking happily with the nurse, "But my FAVORITE food is cake, especially chocolate!"

"Really? That's my favorite too" the nurse replied warmly, "and what about your favorite drink?"

"I really like apple juice! Mama can't buy it very often, but when she does it's always my favorite day of the week!"

"That's great" the nurse smiled before turning to the doctor, "She seems to be doing much better doctor."

"I can see that" the doctor smiled to the filly, "Did you sleep well Cryssy?"

"No. I had a really bad dream," she frowned, "but nurse Softheart made me feel better!"

"That's good."

The bell over the front door jingled loudly behind them, and nurse Softheart left to see who had entered.

The doctor did a quick checkup on Cryssy, checking her breathing and temperature to make sure the two main issues from the night before had cleared up. The filly had recovered much quicker than he had thought she would, and he was worried perhaps she was just hiding her symptoms. But after his checkup, everything seemed normal. The filly didn't seem bothered by her cuts, and the entire checkup she was lively and eager to chat. There was only one difference he could notice in her, and it both scared and excited him.

The nurse came back to the doctor's side with Cryssy's parents behind her.

"Mama! Daddy!" the filly shouted in excitement, and tried to climb down from the table before she was stopped by nurse Softheart.

"Cryssy, you look so much better" Snowfall praised her daughter and gave her a big hug along with Riptide.

"She's definitely doing much better" the doctor confirmed, "and I think I have a way to make her even happier."

The family looked to the doctor with matching confusion on their faces.

"Take a look at her flank."

Both of the filly's parents looked down at their daughter's flank, and their faces lit up. "Oh my goodness! Cryssy you got your cutiemark!" Snowfall exclaimed and squeezed her daughter.

Cryssy's face opened into a huge smile, and she wiggled with excitement in her mother's arms, "I got my cutiemark!"

Riptide brimmed with pride, "Look at that. 3 icicles. Looks like she'll be helping her folks with the weather one day."

None of the three even wondered how she had earned the cutiemark, the fact that it was there was enough to lift their spirits high enough for Celestia herself to see.

Over the years, nopony in the family asked, or figured out, how the filly had earned her particular cutiemark. They all assumed it was like Riptide had thought, that she was destined to work with weather as her father did. But when Cryssy discovered the true reason behind the retrieval of her cutiemark, it was the worst day of her life up to that point, and the lively and happy unicorn everypony had come to know ceased to exist.

It was Cryssy's last day of school, she just had to make it through this last class, and she'd be free. Okay, not FREE but free from school. Soon she would have to find a job, hopefully with Dad planning out weather for the city. It was actually really exciting, she always thought her father had one of the best jobs in Equestria. She would've loved to work with Mom as well, but it would be a bit hard for her without the wings. But Mom and Dad worked at the same place, so she would still kinda get to work with her.

Her second choice would definitely be to work as one of the Snow Clearers. Each morning after it snowed, the team was in charge of clearing all of the snow off of the crops outside of town. Without them, the crops could be over watered, or worse, crushed by the weight of the snow. Most of the team was unicorns, since they could clear the snow fastest and with the least number of workers, so Cryssy hoped she would be a shoo-in.

Her teacher was giving the class one final lesson on work ethic, as if the other ponies in her class hadn't heard all about this for the past 18 years of their lives.

Cryssy focused on the flashing image of the clock above her teacher; only 5 more minutes and she'd finally be out of here!

When the teacher's back was turned a hoof flashed onto her desk one moment and vanished the next, leaving behind what looked like a crumpled ball. The unicorn made sure the teacher still had her back turned and quickly tossed the ball into the pony beside her, Cherry Blossom. The obnoxious earth pony always poked fun at Cryssy's partial blindness, usually by slipping her pieces of paper. At first Cryssy would pretend to read off of it, as if she had suddenly gained that ability, but once the giggling around her cued her into the fact that they papers were almost always blank, she started to ignore the bait.

"Miss Crystal" her teacher had apparently seen her throw the paper, "why are you passing notes in my class?"

"Sorry Miss Penstroke."

Her teacher trotted over to Cherry Blossom and collected the crumpled ball, opening it magically as she returned to the front of the room. Cryssy groaned quietly, hoping to Celestia that the paper was blank.

Apparently it wasn't. Miss Penstroke stared at the paper for a while, leaving Cryssy to wonder what was on the page.

The teacher finally placed the paper on her desk and looked back to the blind unicorn, "Miss Crystal, if you really want to know if Red Lightning is interested in you, wait until after my class. You really couldn't wait 5 minutes?"

Cryssy's head dropped onto her desk, hiding the blush that had crept onto her face. She didn't even bother arguing that she couldn't write because she couldn't even SEE what she was writing. It hadn't worked that last time, or the time before that, or ever. She could only guess that Miss Penstroke assumed somepony else had written the note at Cryssy's request.

*DING*

'Saved by the bell!' Cryssy thought to herself as she packed up her saddlebag and trotted out of the class. The front door to the school flew open as everypony galloped out into the street, finally free of school! Cryssy always left after everypony else. It was hard enough for her to move around the halls when they were crowded, forget about a hyped up stampede of ponies racing out as fast as they could. Besides, her friends usually waited up for her outside.

Lemon Bar was waiting right were she usually was, so that Cryssy wouldn't have to search through everypony in the street just to recognize her. "Isn't this exciting Cryssy? We're finally done with school, forever!" her friend excitedly whinnied.

"Hay ya girl!" the two bumped hooves and began the trot home.

Before they even rounded the first corner, Lemon Bar nudged her friend in the ribs, "Hey Cryssy, Red's coming."

"What!" Cryssy almost screamed, looking around almost too quick for the flashing images to keep up.

Okay, so the note in class hadn't been a COMPLETE lie to get her in trouble. She had a bit of a crush on the pegasus named Red Lightning. Fine, she had a HUGE crush on him, and now he was headed her way.

"Oh no, ohno ohno ohno" she started stammering to herself, trying to pretend she hadn't noticed him coming.

"Calm down girl, it's not like he knows right?"

"N-no...wait" Cryssy's eyes bolted open. Red had been sitting right behind her in class! Which means he had heard the teacher read that note. Even if the note hadn't even been written by her, what if he was coming to tell her he wasn't interested?

"Hey Ice, wait up!" the young stallion's voice called from behind her. No backing out now, she wasn't deaf after all.

She swallowed hard and turned around. The first flash from her horn confirmed it, the pegasus was right behind her. "Oh, hey Red" she tried to act cool.

"Pretty lame class huh?"

"Oh, yeah" yup, she was nervous, and she wasn't hiding it well at all.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened at the end there. I saw Cherry Blossom put that note on your desk."

"Oh, you did?" Cryssy felt like a vise had been loosened off her gut.

"Yeah, she's a total foal."

"Totally."

Lemon Drop had backed out of the scene, winking to Cryssy at just the right speed so she only saw it in one flashed image. That pony had gotten WAY too good at timing her expressions around her blind friend.

"So, I was wondering" Red Lightning continued, and the vise tightened back up around Cryssy's gut, "if you aren't busy later..."

Cryssy's heart practically jumped out of her throat.

"Would you like to, go get some dinner or something?" the pegasus started scratching the back of his mane.

Cryssy didn't know what to do; she had never been asked out before, and she never EVER thought it would be Red to ask her. She had hoped, but she never actually thought of what she'd do if he did ask her.

After a moment of thought, she smiled and quietly replied, "Yeah, I'd love to."

Cryssy instantly had an internal freak out. Was saying "I'd love to" too much? What if that freaked him out, and what if-

"Awesome" the pegasus smiled to her. "So does 8 work for me to pick you up?"

And Cryssy's fears flew off, "That sounds good to me Red."

"Great" he waved and continued to smile, "I'll see you later then."

After she was sure the pegasus had gotten out of earshot Cryssy started bounding around in the snow, "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes."

The dinner was fantastic. Red Lightning had taken Cryssy to her favorite restaurant; obviously a certain citrus-named pony had dropped a hint on it, but Cryssy didn't mind her friend's 'assistance'. Their conversation had started out a bit...non-existent, but after a while they picked it up. They talked about what they were hoping to do now that they had finished school, and what they were going to do for a job.

Red was hoping to work at the weather factory in Cloudsdale. He had always been interested in how they made the clouds there, and how they got them shipped all around Equestria. He had never gotten the chance to live or visit there, being born and raised right there in Snowhoof.

Cryssy told him about how she hoped to work with her father on the weather planning team, or maybe get a job clearing snow from the crop fields.

After dinner, Red led Cryssy to a 'special place' on the lake shore. She was a bit nervous at first, but it ended up not being what she originally thought. Red described what was around them for her; it was a little outcropping of tall trees, with an opening above which was filled by a full moon, the light of which reflected beautifully off of the rippling tide of the lake.

Cryssy felt a large wing wrap over her back as she was pulled gently into Red's side. She smiled shyly and followed along. "Thank you for tonight Red. It was really nice."

"It was my pleasure Ice."

The pair sat in the alcove for what felt like hours, just enjoying the night and each other's company. It was almost perfect.

Above them, the pair heard a loud swoosh. Followed by another, and another. They looked up to see what the noise was, but there was nopony and nothing there. They shook it off and suddenly realized what time it was. "Hey Ice, let me walk you home, it's late."

Cryssy smiled and nodded, more than happy to let the pegasus walk her home.

The cave surrounded Cryssy yet again, her ears perked, and her coat chilled. Something wasn't right in the cave, though she couldn't put her hoof on it.

Rather than risk finding out, Cryssy quickly packed her saddlebags, the last item to go in the bags were the two bracelets that lay beside her. She wrapped her shoal around herself, and galloped back out of the cave. Her mind focused and increased the rate of her mental imaging, a skill she had practiced for nearly a year with inspiration from her failure at Celestia's school.

Behind her rocks crumbled to the ground, and the whisper of unfurling wings urged her to push herself even harder. Her chest was burning, the cold air roughly passing into her lungs as her breathing grew heavier and faster. Behind her, the unfurling of wings sounded again and again. Her silent stalkers had found her again, but this time they had gotten closer than ever. A cold tingle began to fill her belly as she ran, slowly spreading through her body with each passing second.

She could hear the air flowing around their wings as they closed in, and soon she could feel them within feet of her. She screamed as loud as she could, urging herself to go faster. The mouth of the cave was just ahead, she just had to reach the forest. It was building; her fear, and the magic.

She felt one of their claws tear through her shawl. She just had to hold it back a second longer, she was almost there!

She broke out into the forest as a second tear sounded behind her.

She couldn't hold it back any longer.

The sparking of her horn halted, but only for a moment as the cold in her body rushed to her head. A brilliant flash shot from the tip of her horn, and everything whited out.

The Death of Innocence

Chapter 5: The Death of Innocence

"Just keep moving" she told herself.

The shawl was pulled tightly around her body, shielding herself from the flying ice all around her. The flakes stung against her calves as the wind blew them through the forest with the force of a hurricane. She hadn't heard any of the stalkers following her, which meant she must have lost them, again. She could move faster in here, where the trees were tangled together, making movement impossible for anything much larger than her. They would have to resume the search whenever the storm subsided; flying in this storm would be suicide.

Cryssy stumbled upon a small path, a break through the trees leading to only a place Celestia herself could possibly know. She fought with herself to decide if she should follow the path. Surely those following her would anticipate her going this way, but if she got lost in these woods, or slipped and injured herself...

She decided to follow the path, hoping it might lead to a town or that she would run into somepony. It had been weeks since her last sighting of civilization, and she was almost out of food. If she could somehow trade for some, or manage to scrounge up a few bits to buy something, anything, to eat, it might just give her time to reach Canterlot. The one place she believed they could help her, and maybe even protect her from the stalkers.

As she trotted down the overgrown path, Cryssy's mind began to wander back to how all of this had started. She wondered if there had been anything she could have done to prevent any of this, so that she could still be back home with Mama and Daddy...

It had all started that night, the night she came back late after a date with Red Lightning. It had been a wonderful night; the dinner, the moonlit lake, and now a personal escort back home? This had been even better than she thought it would be.

Unfortunately, it was a short walk back to Cryssy's house from the lakeside. Red had kept his wing over Cryssy's shoulder the entire walk, the warmth of his body pressed against her felt amazing on such a cold night. She wished it didn't have to end, but she would see him again soon, she hoped.

"Looks like we're here" the pegasus broke the silence in front of the darkened house. "Thanks again Ice, this was fun."

"It was. Thank you for a good time." Cryssy shyly replied as the wing lifted from her back, the chill of the night nipping at the newly exposed coat.

"Would you...want to do this again sometime?" he finally asked.

Cryssy had an internal celebration, but managed to keep her cool on the outside, only showing her excitement with a shy smile, "Yes, definitely."

Red smiled and unfurled his wings. Just before he took off, Cryssy snuck a peck on his cheek before turning back to her own house; trying to hide the blush which had found its way back onto her face again.

The door to her home squealed open as the chilled hinges fought against the movement, "Mom, Dad, I'm home!"

Something seemed wrong in the house. It was too quiet, she had been expecting her father to come running as soon as the door opened to make sure she was alright. Other than that, it looked as if the house had gotten messier than when she had left, as if somepony had turned the room upside down to find something.

A soft thud broke the silence, something hitting the ground above her, from where her parent's room was. She assumed it must have been her father crawling out of bed.

*CLANG*

Cryssy jumped at the sudden sound that rung from the kitchen, and found herself filled with an urge to run out of the house. But that would be foalish, she would just check the kitchen, see that the noise was nothing, and go up to bed.

The unicorn pushed back the urge to run and slowly made her way into the kitchen, her horn sparking at an increased rate as her heartbeat quickened. From the doorway, she could see that the kitchen mirrored the rest of the house; broken dishes were thrown around the room, food from the opened refrigerator strewn across the table.

She could hear a soft rustling behind the table, and suddenly a flash of a pan appeared in her mind.

*CLANG*

That urge to run out of the house returned, but she couldn't abandon her home, especially when she still didn't know where her parents were.

"Is somepony back there?" she half-shouted across the room.

The rustling stopped, replaced by a soft clicking as someone, or something, rose from behind the table. It looked like some kind of giant bird, except something seemed strange about it; something Cryssy couldn't recognize in her fear.

The bird let out a high pitched screech that filled the house, and suddenly the home was filled with noise. Above her, Cryssy could hear something running toward the center of the home; toward the stairs. The bird in the kitchen spread its wings, and closed on her with one forceful flap. It was much taller than her, it's head almost touching the ceiling as it stood over the terrified unicorn.

A loud thud sounded behind her, and the unicorn turned to see another of the giant birds glaring down at her. "I thought you said there were only two here" the new arrival spoke, it's voice raspy and angry.

But birds didn't talk, did they? Then again, Cryssy had never heard of birds twice the size of a pony before.

"I thought there were, I've never seen this one before" the bird in front of her spoke again, its voice was softer, but still shrill and frightening.

"Hm, bad day for her then."

A set of talons wrapped around Cryssy's neck, and she was thrown into the front room. Her back slammed into the wall, knocking the wind from her lungs. Images flashed into her mind faster and faster. Who were these birds? And why were they here?

"Where...what did you do with my Mom and Dad?" she managed to ask after her breathing returned. Something was building inside her body, she could feel it. A deep tingling grew within her gut, slowly weaving throughout her body. It was something new to her, yet somehow she thought that it had happened before.

"Oh, were those other two walkers your parents?" the larger of the two birds asked, its voice soaked in an uncaring tone, "you just missed them. They were so sweet, and a bit salty."

Cryssy's breathing froze, and her heart crumbled. They hadn't...they wouldn't.

"But a young girl like you," the cruel one spoke again, its voice scratching through Cryssy's head as it took a step toward the frightened unicorn, "I think you'll be so much sweeter."

The tingling grew, and consumed her body. Her horn ceased its flashing, surrounding her in darkness. She heard herself screaming, and suddenly the air around her was the coldest she's ever felt in her life. She could hear the birds screeching, but not like before. They were screams of surprise, of fear, and of pain.

Even though she couldn't see, Cryssy pulled herself up, though it was like she was lifting an extra pony as well. She felt so weak, as if she had just run a race. She ignored the thought and pushed herself to move. She had to get out, she had to escape from the birds. No, they weren't birds, they were demons, they had to be. No mortal creature could be so cruel, so heartless, as to...to even suggest that they had done that to a pony.

She stumbled across the room to where she remembered the door was located, hoping she could still get around in darkness as she did years before. After knocking a few walls, she finally found the wooden door, kicking it open to escape the home.

She stumbled into the street, and the cold followed. The tingling feeling had intensified to a near-burning, and was all focused into her head. The pain brought her to her haunches in the street, where she let out another scream of anguish that pierced the night air of Snowhoof.

Cryssy shook herself back into the present as tears welled up in her eyes. She hated herself for remembering that night. She hated remembering the pain, the loss, and especially what would come after. She just wanted to forget it all, and start new somewhere else, somewhere they would never find her.

That was why she had to go to Canterlot. It was the capital of Equestria, which means it has to be the safest place for her, right? They wouldn't dare chase her there...would they?

The path through the forest grew more and more narrow the further she walked, and she found herself focusing on the flashing ground, careful not to trip or stumble over the countless twigs and rocks which covered the ground and risk making a noise. The wind still blew heavily around her, but was starting to subside. Her legs felt as weak as they always did when she had an 'outburst' like that, but she couldn't stop now. Once the storm stopped, they would be searching again, and she wouldn't have the strength to run if she had to drive them back again.

After what felt like only minutes the wind halted, and the snow around the unicorn gently settled onto the ground. She had to move quick, and find cover somewhere. They would be in the air again soon, if they weren't already, and they could move much faster than her in the open sky.

The frozen grass crunched beneath Cryssy's feet as she continued forward, her mind frantically thinking of somewhere to...wait. Grass?

Cryssy's head snapped up, and the images flashed her new surroundings into her mind. She had left the forest, in fact it was so far behind her that her magic couldn't even touch the tree trunks. Everything around her was open; she was standing in some kind of field, a rolling plain of small hills from what she could see. The last place she wanted to be right now. She desperately scanned the area, looking for somewhere with cover before they found her, anywhere she could hide from their searching eyes above.

Then she found it; a small cave dug into the side of one of the hills, just the right size for a pony to fit in, and hidden from above. Cryssy trotted to the entrance and scanned inside, searching the mental images for anything dangerous. The inside of the cave looked perfectly safe to her, there were no bears or other carnivores slumbering inside, thankfully.

She quietly moved to the back of the cave, which was only about 20 feet deep, and lay down on the ground. She pulled the torn shawl from her back and placed it down beneath her head, providing some relief from the dirt under her. The exhausted unicorn curled herself into a ball, and the pace of the images flashing through her mind slowed until she finally drifted into sl-

"HEY THERE!"

It Calls for a Party

Chapter 6: It Calls for a Party

Cryssy shot to her hooves at the sudden noise, nearly knocking her head on the roof of the cave. She quickly spun her head around as her horn began sparking, convinced that she was caught, that they had finally found her.

"What're you doing in here?" the voice spoke again, but it wasn't one of her stalkers, it was...a pony?

The images flashed to her mind proved it, in front of her was a smiling pony, though her mane looked like it had seen better days.

"I was, um," Cryssy searched desperately for an excuse to be in the cave, "I was napping."

"No you weren't silly! I watched you come in here!" the pony exclaimed brightly, her smile somehow growing larger.

"Oh...I was..." she tried to think of another excuse, but couldn't think of anything in her current exhaustion.

"Ooooo, are you playing hide and seek?" the pony started to bounce up and down, and Cryssy thought her head might hit the roof of the cave.

"Um, yes?" it wasn't Cryssy's best excuse ever, but if this pony believed it, why not?

"Well you shouldn't hide here, it's WAAAAAAY too obvious! Follow me! I'll show you the best spot EVER!" the pony squealed excitedly as she bounced toward the exit.

This was just unreal, she had to be dreaming. The pony suddenly appeared above the unicorn, her eyes wider than dinner plates, "I said, follow me! What are you, blind?"

Cryssy lowered her head and kicked at some dirt, "Actually."

"Oh no. I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I promise!" the pony fell from the ceiling, and did some wierd dance involving flapping her arms and hitting herself in the eye.

"It's okay," Cryssy quietly answered, her head still looking to the ground, "I was just-"

"Wait, I've never heard of a blind pony in Ponyville, and I know EVERYPONY here" the overly-energetic pony cut the unicorn off, "And that means..."

Cryssy lifted her head back up at the word 'Ponyville'. That must be a town, and if this pony was from there, it must be close!

She pulled back a bit as the pony leaned in close to her, a smile slowly curling beneath her wide eyes. "That means that you're new here!" the pony pulled back and sprinted out of the cave yelling something about getting something 'ready'.

"Wait! Come back!" Cryssy tried to gallop out after the pony, but she lost her as soon as she left the cave. "But...where's Ponyville?"

She quickly turned back and threw the shawl around herself, and wiggled into her saddlebags. She was tired and exhausted, but if there was a town nearby, it was much safer than this cave, and she could find food there!

She trotted back out into the field and scanned the area for any sign of a town, or anypony else nearby that she could ask about it. But either the town was still too far for her magic to reach, or she had imagined everything that just happened with the strange pony.

"No Dashie, I'm serious, there really is a new pony outside of town!" she heard that same excited yelling over to her left, on the other side of a hill. The blue unicorn galloped to the top of the hill, desperately hoping to see where the pony had gone.

She could hear a different pony this time, even though she still didn't see either of them, "Fine Pinkie, I'll go make sure the imaginary blind pony makes it to town."

Imaginary? Cryssy's head sunk, maybe she had just spent so much time away from others that her mind had created this entire situation.

"Great! See you later Dashie!"

She turned back to the cave, maybe a nap would bring her back to reality. She heard flapping wings shoot over her head. They had found her! She started to run toward what she hoped was the forest, she had to get away.

"Hey you! Stop!" they were yelling at her now, if only she hadn't left the cave, this would never have happened. Cryssy suddenly found herself face first into the frozen grass. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't, there was no escaping this time. She just buried her face in her hooves and waited to be taken away to...

Wait, something was strange about this. She didn't feel talons digging into her back, but instead she felt...hooves?

"Where are you running off to so fast?" whoever had tackled her asked semi-rudely as they stepped off her back.

Cryssy pulled her face from her hooves and turned her head to face her assailant, and to her surprise there was another pony, a pegasus, staring down at her with a confused look on her face. She was a bit embarrassed at her reaction; it was just a pegasus, not one of them.

"Well?" the pegasus continued to question her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought...I thought you were someone else" Cryssy apologized as she stood up.

"Who did you think I was?"

Cryssy just looked away, hoping the pegasus would drop the question. She didn't need anypony knowing about her stalkers.

After a few moments of silence, the pegasus sighed, "Never mind. Hey, my friend told me to find a blind pony around here, have you seen one?"

Cryssy slowly looked back up to the pegasus, and pulled the shawl from over her head, revealing her silvered eyes.

"Oh, sorry" the pegasus started scratching the back of her mane, "So, hey. Since you're new here, do you want me to show you around town?"

Cryssy squeezed out a tiny smile, maybe she hadn't been crazy! "So, there really is a town near here?"

"Uh, yeah. It's right over there, how could you not-" the pegasus cut herself off.

"Don't be worried," Cryssy tried to assure the pegasus that she didn't mind, "I'm used to it."

"Oh, well...um, do you want to hold my tail or something? I don't know how you would get around."

"Actually, I can just follow you. Lead the way"

"You...you can?" the pegasus sounded very confused.

"I can explain while we walk."

"So let me get this straight" the pegasus finally spoke after Cryssy had explained her 'sight', "you use magic to see...like a bat?"

"Yes, exactly"

"That...is...AWESOOOOME!" the pegasus yelled, causing Cryssy to flinch at the sudden outburst.

"Thank you."

"So what's your name?" the pegasus finally asked.

"Ice Crystal"

"I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Ponyville" the pegasus introduced herself.

"Really? That must be great."

"Yeah, I'm pretty great."

Cryssy finally started to notice buildings appearing around them. Most appeared to be made of wood or stone from what she could tell, and with simple construction. Most were only 1 and maybe 2 floors tall, so she could still see the tops of them. She scanned the area around them slowly, taking in every detail her mind would show her.

"What are you looking at?" Rainbow asked her after a few moments.

"Everything" Cryssy replied as she continued to search around, "it all looks so homely."

"It's not bad, but not nearly as great as Cloudsdale."

Cryssy turned back to Rainbow, "I wish I could go there sometime. Mama used to tell me stories about it."

"Your mom is a pegasus?" Rainbow asked her.

"She was, yes."

Rainbow was pretty sure she knew what Ice Crystal had just implied. She frowned a little, but quickly shook it off to take back up her aura of toughness. "Well, here's our first stop. Carousel Boutique."

"A boutique?" the blue unicorn couldn't figure out why they would stop at a boutique first, but then again she hadn't seen herself in a mirror for a while, she couldn't even imagine what her mane must look like.

"Yeah. Don't ask why, I'm just doing what I was told" Rainbow replied with a dry look on her face. Obviously this was not her favorite place in Ponyville.

A small bell rang above the door as the two stepped into the boutique. "Coming!" a feminine voice echoed from somewhere in the back of the building.

A few seconds later a unicorn with a swirling mane trotted around the corner. There was a small pair of glasses perched on her nose and some kind of band hanging from her neck. "Oh Rainbow, what brings you he-" the unicorn stopped in her tracks, sending the glasses clattering to the ground beneath her. "Oh dear, who is this?"

"Hey Rarity, this is Ice Crystal. Pinkie found her in a cave outside town" the way Rainbow described the situation didn't exactly shine a bright light onto Cryssy, but she didn't have time to argue her side before the other unicorn, presumably Rarity, was pulling her into the middle of the room.

"Dear, you're a mess! We simply must clean your mane and tail" Rarity said with a suave tone as she dug through drawers beside Cryssy.

"You don't have to do-"

"Oh but I do. I'll be banished before I let a mare wander around with her mane in such a mess." she stated, actually more demanded, as she started to pull leaves and twigs from Cryssy's mane, often painfully.

After a few minutes of pulling out debris, the unicorn moved on to combing out the tangles in her mane and tail. "So tell me, how did you get you mane into such a mess?"

"I...I haven't had time to mess with it" Cryssy lied. In truth she never really cared how her mane looked, but with the number of twigs Rarity had pulled out, she was glad it was finally being cared for.

"Oh, that must have been just dreadful."

'You have no idea' Cryssy thought to herself as the comb was pulled from her mane.

"Okay, now we just need to wash out this mud and find you the perfect style."

"Wait, style?"

Almost an hour later, after countless changes, Rarity finally stopped working with Cryssy's mane. "There we go dear, you look simply beautiful! Take a look."

"Thank you! Finally!" Rainbow shouted from where she was laying in the center of the room.

The unicorn pushed some kind of board across the room in front of Ice Crystal, smiling brightly at the work she had done. "What do you think?"

Cryssy figured out that the board must have been a mirror, why else would the unicorn push it in front of her? She frowned and drooped her head.

"Oh, do you not like it? Perhaps something a little sho-"

Cryssy cut the other unicorn off, "No, it's not that. I just can't see mirrors."

"You...can't?"

"Oh, sorry Rarity, I forgot to tell you," Rainbow said as she rolled to her hooves, "she's blind."

Rarity looked back to Cryssy for confirmation. The mare nodded shyly.

"I'll take your word that it looks good" Cryssy assured the fashonista. "How many bits do I owe you?" she asked as she reached for her saddlebag.

"Not a thing darling, consider it a favor" Rarity replied with a smile.

Cryssy couldn't stop a smile from creeping onto her lips. Nopony had ever done anything like this for her, and she felt very lucky to have stumbled into this town suddenly. "Thank you Rarity."

"You're quite welcome."

Rainbow flew to Cryssy's side, "Sorry to break this up but we'd better continue the tour of town."

For some reason Rarity suddenly dashed into the back of the store with a gasp, as if Rainbow's words had somehow lit the place on fire.

"Why'd she do that?" Cryssy asked the pegasus next to her.

"She, uh, left something in the oven?" Rainbow replied uncertainly.

The blue unicorn shrugged and followed Rainbow out into the street, "Where to next?"

"Well, you look pretty hungry, so what do you say we go get a snack?"

Rainbow's assumption was correct, and her words reminded Cryssy that she hadn't eaten in quite a while. She didn't even know how many days it had been, winter had always made it hard for her to tell when it was night and day, especially when she first woke up.

"Sure, that sounds good."

Rainbow smiled in what could almost be called victory, and flew down the street, only stopping to make sure the blue unicorn was still behind her.

"Where are we going to eat?" Cryssy asked as she jogged to keep up with the pegasus.

"Sugarcube Corner! They have the greatest treats in Ponyville!" she replied excitedly, doing a small loop to fall back beside the blind pony.

Cryssy jumped a little when the pegasus was suddenly beside her, and internally cursed herself for being so jumpy. She wasn't in the woods anymore, she was in the middle of a busy town, and she could only guess it was the middle of the day since ponies were actually awake.

The pair stopped in front of what looked like a giant gingerbread house, which definitely fit the name Sugarcube Corner. Although for apparently having such good food it seemed strangely deserted.

Rainbow led Cryssy up to the door and held it open for her, which she acknowledged with a quiet "Thank you."

As soon as she got through the door, the building erupted with noise as a giant cluster of ponies shouted "SURPRISE" at the top of their lungs. Cryssy jumped back out of the door, at least she would have if Rainbow wasn't right behind her. Instead she knocked the pegasus to the ground.

"Woah, where're you going?" Rainbow asked her as she picked herself up.

Cryssy studied the room, realizing that she had stumbled into...a party?

That crazy pony from earlier popped up in front of her, a giant smile once again plastered onto her face. "Hi again! Sorry I ran off earlier, but I had to set up this party, because you're new in town, and that means you don't know anyone here, so I threw you a party so you could meet everypony, but I had to get Dashie to distract you while I set it up, but now you're here, and we're all so happy to meet you!"

How the pony managed to say all of that in one breath was a mystery to Cryssy, but she couldn't say she was surprised after what she'd seen from the pony earlier.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! You've already met Rainbow Dash and Rarity," the unicorn from earlier stepped out from the crowd, though Cryssy wasn't sure how she'd gotten here without running into her again, "and this is Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Derpy Hooves, Bon Bon..."

Cryssy was frozen as Pinkie named pretty much everypony in the room, once again all in one breath somehow. She noticed that everypony was smiling, it was such a happy town. She felt another smile creep into the corner of her mouth at the sight.

"...And this is Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle!" the bouncing earth pony had finally named everypony in the room, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

"It's nice to meet you all, I'm Ice Crystal" Cryssy said once Pinkie had finished gasping for air, eliciting a loud response from everypony in the room, although not all of them said the same thing.

After the initial greeting everypony scattered to enjoy the party and converse with their friends. A few stepped up to talk to Cryssy, asking her where she was from and why she came to Ponyville. Almost nopony had heard of Snowhoof before, and she spent a lot of the party talking about her home town, avoiding certain personal aspects of course. Her fabricated story for why she came to Ponyville was a bit harder to think up, but eventually she just told them she was looking for a change of scenery.

Rainbow was right, the food here really was amazing. The cake tasted great, but her favorite food had been the chocolate cupcakes. They were almost as good as Mama used to make them, though they weren't far behind.

Cryssy wished she hadn't thought of that. She put the cupcake she was eating into a trashcan, hoping nopony saw her waste the food. She crept into the back of the room, where nopony else was gathered, and tried to hide the tears that had crept into her eyes. She hated that she was so down at a party, but she hadn't exactly been the happiest pony in the past few years.

Suddenly she felt a hoof on her shoulder, "Are you okay?" a soft voice asked her.

Cryssy turned to face whoever had found her. The image flashed into her mind was of another unicorn, but not Rarity. She remembered her name from when Pinkie had introduced everypony at the beginning of the party, Twilight Sparkle.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine. Thank you" she lied.

"You don't look fine" Twilight said as she sat beside the sobbing unicorn.

"It's nothing, really" Cryssy continued to lie, not wishing to bring down other ponies when they all looked so happy.

"It's hard to get used to being away from home" Twilight tried to calm her down, not realizing how well the unicorn beside her understood that statement.

"This isn't your home?" Cryssy asked in an attempt to change the subject away from herself.

"Not originally, I moved here a couple years ago from Canterlot."

Cryssy's ears perked up at that as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "You're from Canterlot?"

Twilight nodded and smiled, "Yes. Have you ever been there?"

"One time, a really long time ago" Cryssy replied, "I loved it there."

"What were you there for?"

"I went to take a test. I was trying to get into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

Twilight's eyes lit up, "I remember that test!" her voice was suddenly full of excitement.

"You took it too?" the tears stopped flowing as Cryssy's spirit shot higher than it had in a long time. "How did you do?"

A sheepish smile spread across Twilight's face as she answered "Actually I almost failed it."

"You passed! That's amazing, nothing even happened when I tried" Cryssy's voice was surprisingly full of excitement as well, something even she didn't expect when talking about the failure all those years ago.

"The same thing happened with me at first too" the unicorn replied with a giggle, "I actually got kind of lucky."

"Lucky?"

"No way! I remember that hole!" Cryssy laughed for the first time in years.

Twilight had told her the story about how she passed her entry exam for Celestia's School. The two were still in the back of the room, and quite a few ponies had started to leave the party already, but it was still lively.

"Really? I thought they had patched that up a few days later!"

"I must have tested around the same time as you then Twilight."

"So do you know how long-"

Twilight was cut off by three fillies running over to the two of them, "See! Ah told you she has silver eyes!" one of them yelled, a little earth pony.

"That's so cool!" a little pegasus beside her added, "How do I get eyes like that?"

"My sister say's shes blind, whatever that means." a little unicorn filly, who actually looked a lot like Rarity, told the other two fillies.

Twilight turned to Cryssy, "You're blind?"

"Naturally, yes" she replied.

"What does blind mean?" the pegasus filly asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It means she can't see Scootaloo" Twilight answered for the filly.

"Really? That doesn't sound very fun."

"It's not so bad," Cryssy interjected, "besides, I use magic to see a little."

Twilight looked back to the blue unicorn with wide eyes, "How do you do that?"

"It's like a bat. My horn shoots out a wave of magic that bounces off of things around me and when it comes back, it puts a picture in my mind."

"That's so cool!" Scootaloo repeated herself from earlier.

"How did you learn to do that?" Twilight asked.

"I didn't, it just happened one day."

"What else can you do?" the unicorn filly asked excitedly and sat down, as if expecting a long list of magical stories.

"Um, maybe I'll tell you about that later."

"Aww" all three of the fillies moaned in disappointment before running off to find somepony else to talk to.

"Sorry about that Ice Crystal" Twilight turned back to Cryssy after the fillies had left.

"It's okay, I was just like that as a filly. Always excited about learning new things."

"Weren't we all" Twilight said with a giggle which was mirrored by Cryssy.

"Hey, sorry, but it's getting a little late and I should find a place to stay before it gets too late" the blue unicorn apologized, suddenly realizing that she didn't have anywhere to sleep.

She had thought about just leaving tonight, after getting some food, but with her sleep being disturbed constantly the night before, she wouldn't be able to make it far. Besides, it would take a while for them to find her here. She didn't stop in towns often, and she hoped they would see that as a pattern, and bypass Ponyville.

There was another reason she hoped to stay as well, one which she thought of as a bit selfish. She was actually really enjoying Ponyville. Everypony was really nice here, and they had made her feel welcome within only hours of arriving, something she hadn't experienced since she left home.

"You don't have anywhere to stay yet?" Twilight asked with a concerned tone.

"No, I just got here a few hours ago, and I was only here and at that Carousel Boutique. I didn't even think about it until now."

Twilight looked around the room for a moment, then back to Cryssy, "Stay here, I think I know a place."

"Are you sure this is okay, I don't want to be a burden."

"It ain't no burden at all sugarcube, we got a big house, and you can stay as long as ya' need to get settled in 'round here" Applejack assured Cryssy as she pulled fresh sheets over a spare bed.

It hadn't taken long for Twilight to secure a place for the blue unicorn to sleep. Applejack was more than happy to give Cryssy a warm bed for as long as she needed, calling it 'Apple Hospitality'.

"Thank you so much for this," Cryssy said for about the tenth time, "I can't remember the last time I slept in an actual bed."

"Ah'm glad I could help. Now you just get some sleep, looks like you haven't had none in days," the pony told her with a smile, "and if ya' need anything, Ah'll be right upstairs."

She left her new guest to herself, trotting up the stairs to her own bedroom. Cryssy hadn't realized how late she had actually gotten to Ponyville. The party had lasted a few hours, ending right around sunset. Her and Applejack had been some of the last ponies to leave; only Rainbow, Pinkie, Twilight and a few others were still there when they left.

It was nice to be around ponies again, it had felt like years for Cryssy, though she had passed by one or two during the past few weeks, but they usually ignored her; probably assuming she was an outcast of some kind. Cryssy had especially had a good time talking with Twilight. They had talked about magic a few times that night, and when Cryssy mentioned how much she enjoyed it when her parents would read her books about magical history Twilight almost flew through the roof in her excitement. She offered to let Cryssy come to the library and look at some of her books, which of course she would once she found out what she was going to do.

She really wanted to stay here for a while, especially after meeting so many nice ponies at that party tonight. Nopony had been rude to her, and they almost accepted her like family. But she knew she couldn't stay long, at the most a few days, then she would have to move on. She had to reach Canterlot, it was the only way she knew that she could guarantee her own safety.

It was the only way to stop what would happen if they caught her.

The Good Life

Chapter 7: The Good Life

Just give up. Even if you escape now, we will catch you eventually.

No! I'll never let it happen!

Oh come on, it won't be so bad, you're used to the cold right?

Get away!

Cryssy woke in a cold sweat yet again, her breathing heavy. The once beautiful room was coated in snow, and the sheets were practically frozen themselves. A layer of frost had formed in her mane, and her hooves were numb.

She just couldn't shake these nightmares, even after yesterday, the best day she'd had since she left home, the thoughts of what she'd seen, what she'd heard, still filled her dreams. And how would she explain this to Applejack? She had offered Cryssy a room to stay in, and now it was devastated. Maybe staying here wouldn't be such a good idea after all.

She focused on the table beside her bed, and of course the clock had been knocked down in the night. She reached down and felt around the snow coated floor, hoping desperately that the clock would still work. Her hoof knocked against a small metal block, which she lifted to her face. Luckily it was an older clock, with very well pronounced hooves to tell the time.

"4 o'clock" Cryssy whispered to herself. She didn't have the slightest idea what time she had fallen asleep, but she didn't really care either. Even if she had only slept for 2 hours, she didn't want to go back to sleep now, and risk the room being destroyed further.

The unicorn rolled out of bed and went to the task of trying to get rid of the snow. She lifted small hoof-fulls of snow one at a time and threw them out the window, glad that the ground outside had was still covered in snow by the current winter. Maybe that would be her excuse; she'd opened the window for some fresh air and forgotten to close it. She just hoped Applejack would buy it, and not be angry with her.

After removing most of the snow before it melted, Cryssy had to find a way to dry the floor and walls before the water damaged them. She tried using the sheets from the bed at first, but those were saturated as well, and didn't make any difference. She quietly stepped into the hallway, looking across the walls for a door that could be a closet, and hopefully find some towels. She only saw one door, so she tip-hooved over to the handle, and carefully pulled the door open with her mouth.

Sure enough, it there was a shelf full of what looked like towels a few inches from the ground. The unicorn grabbed a few in her muzzle and quickly went back to her room.

The hardest part of doing laundry, at least for Cryssy, was trying to figure out how to hang the wet cloth on the line. She could only hold one clothespin in her mouth at a time, and try to pick the laundry up to the line so she could pin it up. It was an impressive balancing act that she had taken quite a while to figure out back home, which always left her wishing she could use her magic to pick at least one of the items up.

She had hung her sheets and was starting on the towels when a voice behind her almost caused her to fall off of the stool. "Good mornin'."

Cryssy caught her balance and turned to see who had almost caused her to tumble. "Oh, good morning Applejack."

"Ah'm not used to anypony wakin' up before me" the earth pony said as she trotted over and pulled out a towel from the laundry basket.

"I'm a bit of an early bird" Cryssy said as she grabbed the towel from Applejack.

The pair took about 5 minutes to put the rest of the laundry on the line before either of them spoke again, "Ya' know sheets last more'n one night sugarcube?"

"I know, but they got a little wet. I accidentally left your window open," Cryssy lied with a drooped head, "I'm so sorry."

"Well it looks like ya' cleaned up after yerself, and that's what matters. More'n what most guests would'a done."

Cryssy lifted her head and nodded, "It was the least I could do after you took me in so willingly."

"Don't mention it. That's all part a' Apple Hospitality" the earth pony replied with a smile and a slug on Cryssy's shoulder.

The unicorn winced and rubbed her shoulder softly, "Thank you."

"Would ya' like to join us fer breakfast? Ah'm sure the rest o' the family would like ta' meet ya'."

"Yeah, that sounds nice" Cryssy replied with a little smile.

It was still so surprising to her how nice everypony here seemed to be. She had been greeted with a party, given a free manecut, and she was practically ordered to stay with Applejack. And nopony had judged her for being blind. If only she could stay.

The breakfast was wonderful! Applejack had introduced Cryssy to the rest of her family, at least the ones that lived here. She recognized the filly Applebloom from the night before, she had been one of the fillies that had complimented her eyes. Big Macintosh was her older brother, though he didn't seem to talk much. And last was Granny Smith, who took particular interest in Cryssy's blindness for some reason, asking a lot of questions about how to cope and what it was like.

Applebloom was a very talkative little filly as well, and she spent a lot of time talking about something called the 'Cutiemark Crusaders', "And then, Scootaloo thought we should try bein' lumberjacks, but Ah don't even know what a lumberjack is."

"I don' want ya'll out there gettin' hurt again t'day. Ya' remember last time right?" Applejack sternly told her little sister.

"It was just one bruised rib! Ah barely even felt it" the filly tried to argue, but did a poor job.

"Ya' know sugarcube, ya'll don't gotta do nothin' dangerous to get a cutiemark."

"But that's the best way to get a good one!" Applebloom continued her argument.

"Don't matter. Why don't ya'll try somethin' like designin' or singin'?"

"We did try that! Remember the talent show?" the filly whined to her sister, "Ah promise we'll be careful!"

Applejack continued to glare at her sister for a moment before giving in with a sigh, "Fine."

A smile erupted onto the filly's face, "Alright! I'll be back later sis!" she jumped down from her chair and galloped out the door, presumably to meet her two friends.

Applejack shook her head, "Sometimes I worry 'bout her Big Macintosh."

The big red stallion simply nodded and answered with "Eeyup."

"Sorry 'bout that Ice Crystal."

"It's alright Applejack. She's a cute filly."

Cryssy knocked gently on the heavy wooden door, and was quickly answered from inside "Coming!"

The door opened, revealing...nopony? Cryssy focused on the images being flashed into her mind, trying to see who, if anypony, had answered the door.

"Hey, I'm down here!" the same voice shouted.

Cryssy looked down, and finally saw that the door had been opened by a dragon! The unicorn jumped back a bit, worried that she had gone to the wrong building. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I was looking for Twilight Sparkle."

The dragon's face twisted with confusion, most likely due to Cryssy's reaction, "Twilight's upstairs. Oh, are you that new pony she met last night?"

Oh thank goodness this was the right place. The unicorn stepped back to the door, a bit of a blush filling the center of her face, "Yes, that's me. Sorry I jumped."

"That's okay" the dragon replied as he stepped to the side and yelled into the giant tree, "Hey Twilight! Somepony is here to see you!"

Cryssy heard hooves walking through the tree and over to the door, where Twilight appeared a few moments later. "Oh hey there Ice Crystal! Come on in."

There were books everywhere in the tree, literally. They were on the ground, spread across a few tables, and a few were even on the shelves that lined the walls. The door clicked shut behind the blue unicorn as she examined the room, and the dragon started to walk back upstairs.

"There's a dragon in Ponyville?" Cryssy asked Twilight after she was sure the reptile had gotten out of earshot.

"Spike? Yeah, he came here with me from Canterlot" Twilight replied as she tried to clean up the library a little, lifting books magically onto shelves from the floor.

Cryssy nodded and continued to look around at the library, admiring the number of books that could fit into the tree. "You've read all of these?"

Twilight answered as she continued to pick up books, "No, not all of them yet. But I've gotten through most of them."

"What are they all about?"

"Everything. Magic, history, music, food, and all of the different places around Equestria."

"What's this one about?" Cryssy asked about the book that was opened on a pedestal in the center of the room.

"That one is actually pretty interesting, it's about a distant city called Cirrotropolis. Apparently the pegasi there were exiled from Equestria a few hundred years ago by Princess Celestia" Twilight finished cleaning up the books from the floor while she explained, then stepped beside Cryssy. "I haven't gotten to where it explains why they were exiled, but it must be something bad."

For some reason the name of that city sounded familiar to Cryssy, though she couldn't figure out why. She didn't remember hearing about it before. It had probably been in one of her bedtime stories when she was a filly. She shook off the thought and turned to Twilight, "So what do you want to do?"

"Hm, why don't you decide? My hobbies aren't exactly normal for most other ponies" the unicorn replied with a sheepish smile.

"Actually," Cryssy took another look around the room, then back to Twilight, "I wouldn't mind doing some reading if you're okay with that?"

The pony audibly gasped, and followed up with a big smile, "You mean...you like reading?" she asked excitedly, as if nopony had ever said that to her before.

"Well, I've never actually read before, but I always liked it when Mama and Daddy read to me" once again Cryssy wished she hadn't brought up her parents, but unlike the night before she pushed back her sadness and stayed in the present.

"Can you not read with that magic vision?" Twilight asked cautiously, trying not to offend the blind pony beside her.

"No, I can't see the words. Which is why I, um..." Cryssy paused for a moment while she tried to figure out how to ask, "would you mind reading out loud for me?"

Twilight smiled and nodded, "Of course I can. I usually do that by myself anyways" the unicorn giggled a little.

"Wait, you and your friends are the Elements of Harmony?" Cryssy asked once Twilight had finished reading the story about the Mare in the Moon, and told her how she and her friends had stopped Nightmare Moon.

The unicorn nodded and smiled to the blind pony, "Yes."

Maybe she would be safer here. The Elements of Harmony sounded really strong from the story she had just been told, maybe they could protect her from the ones trying to capture her.

Twilight suddenly tensed up and started mumbling to herself before addressing Cryssy again, "Ice Crystal, I'm so sorry, but I really have to go."

Cryssy was a bit confused, but Twilight must have some reason to leave so quickly if she had reacted like that, "It's okay Twilight. And you can just call me Ice. It's shorter."

"Okay Ice. Thank you so much for coming today, I can't remember meeting anypony that actually wanted to read with me before."

"It's no problem Twilight, I enjoyed it."

The pair walked back over to the doorway, which Twilight held open for her blind friend, "And I'm sorry again, but I have a lot of planning to do for tomorrow and I totally spaced it."

"It's fine Twilight, I understand," Cryssy replied again, "but what's tomorrow?"

The unicorn smiled and jumped a little before answering, "It's Winter Wrap Up!"

The door to the throne room flew open with a heavy crash as it slammed into the stone pillars just on the other side, an action normally leading to punishments of the highest degree, but would likely be forgiven for the intruder.

At the head of the room, a hulking form sat upon his golden throne. While he was currently bathed in shadows at his order, a practice he normally partook in to show his unwillingness for visitors, his gleaming eyes were still visible through the shroud. As the doors swung closed once again, his pupils squeezed into pinpoints at the intrusion, but quickly returned to their usual size at the sight of the one which had come before him.

"Have you found the one I requested?" his voice echoed through the room, just loud enough to fill every corner.

"I'm afraid we've encountered a problem in securing her" the visitor spoke with a strangely confident tone for a bearer of bad news, especially with the reputation of the one before her.

"What kind of problem?" his words were punctuated by the sound of talons grinding across metal as his claw clenched into a fist.

"After her latest escape, one of my scouts reported that she is in yet another town."

"I fail to see the issue, you've entered towns in pursuit before" his voice showed his impatience and anger as he struggled to keep calm.

The messenger took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts before speaking again, "It seems she is in Ponyville, and is currently staying within the home of one of the Elements of Harmony."

Within seconds his massive body had descended from the throne and stood glaring down at the bearer of bad news. His beak stopped mere inches from her face, giving her an up close look at the jagged edges which only served to show how he had gained his throne so easily. "I don't care if she is housed by the Princesses themselves, bring her to me. Take my personal guard if you have to, just get. it. DONE!"

Her face showed no reaction, no fear, at her king's demands. After spending her entire life under his talon, she had learned that any weakness will only lead to greater suffering at his claws. It was a lesson learned the hard way, though she could not doubt the results his methods garnered.

"Yes sir, she will not escape this time" after issuing this promise, she rendered a short bow before turning to leave the room. The door swung open as she approached, nearly silent in their movement as to prevent causing the king any further frustration. Once the door had closed behind her, she promptly tore the head from a nearby statue in order to vent a portion of her ever-growing anger. "You, guard!"

A nearby guard, clad in obsidian adorned armor, quickly rendered a salute in response, never making direct eye contact with the one who addressed her.

"Gather all of the guards who are not currently on duty, and tell them to meet me in the courtyard, NOW!"

Without bothering to render another salute, the guard quickly took flight, leaving his incredibly frustrated commander alone with her thoughts.

This was her last chance, and she knew it. If she didn't get Ice Crystal this time, her head would be on a pike within minutes of her return, regardless of her past with the king.

Winter Wrap Around

Chapter 8: Winter Wrap Around

"Winter Wrap Up?" Cryssy had never even heard of this day before, and she was curious as to what Twilight was talking about.

"Winter Wrap Up. You know, everypony pitches in and cleans up winter?" Twilight thought she was reminding Cryssy of the event, not aware that Cryssy came from a place that only knew winter.

"Why would you clean up winter?"

"So that spring can come."

"Okay," Cryssy still didn't get it, and Twilight wasn't helping so far, "what do you do for Winter Wrap Up?"

"We have to melt the snow, wake up the animals, plant new crops, and melt ice from the lakes. Those are just the big jobs though" Twilight explained the basics of the event, a look of bewilderment on her face. "Don't they have it where you come from?"

Cryssy shook her head, "No, it's always winter in Snowhoof. We didn't have a reason to do any of those things."

"But, how did you grow food?" Twilight asked the mare, obviously not familiar with the northern city.

"We just planted like I assume you do, and made sure the crops didn't get crushed by too much snow" Cryssy explained, "you mean you don't plant in the snow here?"

"No, we just store food to last through the winter."

Cryssy nodded in understanding, even though she didn't completely understand why they didn't just grow food all year. "So does everypony help?"

Twilight nodded with a smile, "Uh-huh, everypony has a job and we work together to get everything done."

Cryssy thought for a moment, then asked one last question before leaving Twilight to her work, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

The next morning came slowly for Cryssy. She didn't sleep that night in an attempt to avoid having to clear snow out of Applejack's house again, and she hoped it wouldn't hurt her that day. She was actually excited to help out with this Winter Wrap Up, even though she still didn't understand exactly what it was, and she couldn't wait to see what her job would be. Twilight had promised her that she'd find a job that wouldn't be to difficult for a blind pony, which Cryssy appreciated greatly.

The pony trotted alongside Applejack to the center of town, where Twilight would inform everypony of the order of jobs to be done. The entire town had gathered in the square, and everypony looked very excited to get started. A few ponies were literally jumping up and down in excitement, while the fillies in the front talked happily among each other.

"Is everypony always this excited?" Cryssy asked the cowpony as they came to the back of the crowd.

"Yup, it's a big deal o' pride 'round here. And after last year everypony is even more excited ta' get started." Applejack replied. She was wearing a vest today, and a small armband. She explained that the vests showed which team you were on. Blue for the weather team, who were mostly pegasus ponies, would clear out the clouds and get the birds from down south. Green for the earth team, which was responsible for clearing snow from the fields and planting the seeds for the next year's harvest. And brown for the animal team, who made nests for the birds and woke up the critters around town.

Unfortunately Cryssy couldn't tell the difference, and explained to Applejack that because of her vision she saw everything in one color. The earth pony had asked if she knew what her job would be, but Twilight hadn't told her yet.

"Okay everypony! Let's get started!" Twilight called from a podium at the front of the crowd.

Everypony turned their attention to the unicorn, smiles still plastered across their faces.

After Twilight explained everypony's jobs for the day, which took a good half an hour to get through everything, the crowd dispersed around town to start work. Cryssy trotted up to Twilight once the crowd had cleared out, met by a smile from the unicorn.

"Good morning Ice, how are you?"

"I'm good, thank you Twilight" Cryssy replied with a thin smile, "what can I do to help?"

"Well, I have a few ideas, just pick which one you'd like the most" the unicorn replied with a smile.

"Okay, what's the first one?"

Twilight looked down at her list, then back up to Cryssy, "Helping wake up the critters in the park?"

"That sounds fun" Cryssy replied, but added one last question, "there's no wolves there right?"

Twilight giggled a little, "Of course not. Just little animals like bunnies and squirrels."

"Oh, okay, I'll give it a try."

"Great! Go find Fluttershy and she'll get you started" Twilight smiled to her friend before trotting off to make sure everything was starting out okay.

As the unicorn made her way to meet with Fluttershy, she noticed that everypony in town seemed to be singing about something. Whatever the song was, everypony seemed to know the words, and they all sang with smiles on their faces.

"Winter wrap up, winter wrap uuup! Let's finish our holiday cheer!"

Despite never hearing the song before, Cryssy found it to be rather catchy, and actually tried to join in each time the chorus came up. After listening for a while she noticed that it seemed to be describing all of the jobs which had to be done during the day. Applejack had been right, this must be a very proud day for them if they were excited enough to sing a song about it.

By the time Cryssy trotted into the park, which was actually the same place she'd first hidden when she got to Ponyville, the song had ended, but the tune continued to cycle through her head as she walked. A few ponies were walking out into the field with little bells and baskets full of food clenched in their mouths, while others were already to work ringing the bells into a few of the dens. She recognized a pegasus off by herself with a flowing mane from the party where Pinkie had introduced everypony.

"Hey Fluttershy" Cryssy said quietly as she came up beside the pegasus.

"Oh, hello Ice Crystal, are you here to help with the critters?" Fluttershy responded sweetly.

"Yeah, Twilight sent me over to see if I could help."

"Thank you. Here, take this bell," the pony grabbed a small metal bell from beneath her wing and passed it to Cryssy, who took it in her mouth, "and lightly ring it inside the dens to wake up the animals, but please be kind about it, no need to rush."

Cryssy nodded and smiled, or at least tried to with the bell in her mouth. She trotted across the snow and stopped in front of the first den she found. The unicorn rang the bell gently in front of the den, just loud enough so it would echo into the back of the burrow, and placed it down beside her.

A few moments later a small family of gophers crawled out of the burrow, rubbing their eyes before slowly opening them to the sun's light. Cryssy couldn't help but smile at how cute the baby gophers were as they crawled out behind their parents. "Good morning, did you sleep well?" she naturally said what Mama said to her every morning when she woke, and thankfully the thought didn't get her down.

She woke family after family of critters with the same greeting, always making sure to be kind to the animals she woke. All of the animals had been adorable, especially the babies when they were present, but Cryssy's favorite had been the weasels.

She rang the bell just in front of the den, again making sure that it wasn't too loud, just enough to wake the sleeping animals inside. When they finally emerged, it was a family of 3 weasels; a mother, a father, and their child. Cryssy wished the family a good morning, and was about to walk away when she noticed that the baby had walked straight into a small rock, as if it didn't even see it there.

Before Cryssy could check on the baby, the mother walked over to check on the child. After a moment of nuzzling, the baby grabbed hold of it's mother's tail, following behind clumsily as the mother walked her child back to their den. A small tear came to Cryssy's eye at the sight, and she found her mind wandering back to her own foalhood.

"Cryssy, where are you going?" Snowfall asked her daughter playfully.

The little filly dragged herself across the cold grass, moving away from her mother.

"Come here Cryssy!" her father said from the other end of the yard. He had cleared the snow off of this spot so that they could play with their little filly outside for the first time.

The foal changed direction and started pulling herself toward Daddy's voice.

"There you go, good job!" Riptide cheered for his daughter, sticking his face close to the ground in front of her.

The filly's nose bumped into her father's, and she grabbed hold of his muzzle. The parents chuckled at their daughter as he turned her around on the grass.

"Okay Cryssy, come back to Mama!" Snowfall started calling again.

The filly again started pulling herself forward, but this time kicking with her back legs as well.

"Good job sweetie!"

The filly started kicking faster and faster, until her back legs were under her body. The filly stopped and pushed herself up with her front legs.

She heard a gasp from her mother as she pushed, and her father getting to his own hooves.

After a few minutes of trying, the filly finally pushed herself all of the way up on her hooves. She swayed from side to side and spread her legs out a little to try balancing herself.

After another moment of silence she heard Mama speak again, "Come on Cryssy! Walk to Mama!"

The filly took a single fumbling step forward with her right foreleg, then her left rear leg, and so on. It was slow moving, but she was still up.

She could hear Daddy walk up beside her. The filly almost fell once or twice, but her father caught her as she leaned to the side, and stood her back up with his magic. "You're doing great Cryssy, keep going" he whispered to her.

The filly kept going, growing more confident with each clumsy step forward.

Within an hour, she was having almost no problems walking the 10 feet between her parents, though she was still a little clumsy.

"Okay sweetie, come here so we can go get dinner" Mama finally said, her voice full of happiness.

The filly turned and trotted off the other direction. She had just learned how to walk, there was no way she wanted to stop now!

She stumbled around in darkness, and quickly decided it would be a good idea not to wander around when she couldn't see where she was going.

She turned back to where she though Mama was, and took a few steps before she felt something hard hit her face.

Snowfall was by her side in no time, nuzzling into her neck, "Are you okay sweetie? You need to be careful."

The filly rubbed her nose and nodded, a single small tear forming in her eye.

"Here, grab Mama's tail."

The filly turned and felt the hair hanging in her face. She grabbed a big mouthful and stood back up.

"Okay, walk with me Cryssy."

Mama slowly walked forward, and her daughter followed close behind, her eyes closed to substitute for a smile.

After the mother weasel put her baby back in the den, she walked back out to join the father. The pair bounced over to the side of the den, where Fluttershy had set down a basket of nuts and berries for the family.

"They're adorable aren't they?" the pegasus asked Cryssy while the parents pulled out food for their child.

Cryssy nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes, a small smile formed across her lips, "Yeah, it's a cute family."

The end of the day came a little too quickly for Cryssy, she had really had enjoyed it. The animals were all so cute, and she had gotten to know Fluttershy a little too. Even though she would miss the snow, it felt really good to be a part of something that helped everypony in town. Even though she had started to slow down in the afternoon, her lack of sleep finally catching up with her.

After all of the work had been finished, everypony gathered outside of town and looked at the beauty of the town. Cryssy wished she could see it from this far away, but with how happy everypony looked, it must have been amazing.

Twilight stepped beside her, "This is my favorite sunrise of the whole year. It's so beautiful."

Cryssy looked to her friend, "Everypony says that, I wish I could just see one" a frown spread across her face.

Suddenly there was a bright flash, and the world around her filled with color. She could see, she could actually SEE! And Twilight had been right, the sight before her was by far the most beautiful thing she could imagine. The sky glowed a dim orange as the sun peeked over the horizon. Ponyville was still mostly hidden in the shadow of the mountains to the east, only the tops of the tallest buildings touching the sun's rays. Birds were suspended over the town, not even flapping their wings.

Then as quickly as they came, the colors vanished. She was once again surrounded by colorless flashes of the world. She looked over to Twilight, the largest smile she'd had in years spread across her face. The unicorn beside her gave a long, exaggerated wink and a small smile.

"Thank you Twilight, thank you so much."

Only moments after falling asleep, Cryssy found herself surrounded by ruined buildings and overgrown vines. She was scared, but nothing around her gave her reason for her fear. The air was silent, and nothing in her views of her surroundings seemed to be the things that she normally feared most.

Above her, a loud ripple of air reminded her of why she should be afraid. They had found her again, but this time she was certain she couldn't escape. Their feathers gave them away as countless numbers of them stepped from behind the shattered buildings which surrounded her on every side. No, there was no escape this time, there were too many, and they had her trapped with nowhere to go.

The ripple of air repeated over her, and she dropped from the sky in front of her, landing with a gust of wind as her wings folded back to her sides. Her eyes bored into Cryssy's own as she stepped closer, a smug smile spread across her beak. "You know, this little game of cat and mouse is starting to get on my nerves Ice."

Her voice stung Cryssy's ears, as it always had whenever they had spoken before. The very sound of it began the process as her body began to cool, and the tingle in her gut rose. Even if she didn't escape, she wasn't going without a fight.

"Don't call me that, you haven't earned the right" the unicorn hissed back, the first time she had ever spoken in anger to anyone, even her.

"Would you rather I call you Ice Queen? I can do that too" the feathered demon snipped at her with a chuckle.

The tingling in Cryssy's gut continued to grow with each word, slowly making it's way through her body.

The one before her lifted her talon to the air, wiggling each claw about a bit before looking back the the unicorn, "Already upset? I'm impressed, you usually take a little longer to actually chill the air."

"You know what happens next if you don't leave me alone" the blind pony hoped the reminder would at least buy her a few more moments to think of a plan, hopefully one that didn't involve the ice and snow.

The demon's tone changed drastically, "Look, just trust me on this one kid. I don't want to hurt you, but if I have to I will" the dire tone in her voice almost convinced Cryssy that she was telling the truth. "Even if you do escape, I can't stop chasing you. He won't allow that, so just come with me and let this be done."

Small patches of ice began to grow on the outside of Cryssy's horn as the tingling cold reached her head. She was on the brink, all it would take is a little push, and then only Celestia knew what would happen. Even after the number of times she had done this, it was impossible for her to know exactly what would occur. All she knew was that fear seemed to freeze everything, while anger normally resulted in a storm of some sort, but even those were just generalizations.

The feathered beast let out a long sigh, "Have it your way then."

Suddenly the demon was flying toward her with talons bared. As she flew, time seemed to slow as the images barely showed any difference in her distance. All around her the others twisted and faded into dust along with the ruined buildings, leaving her alone with the demon before her.

She turned her attention to the attacker, who seemed to freeze for a moment in time. When the next image refreshed in her mind, the demon had morphed into the first experience of true fear in Cryssy's life. The wolf's fangs loomed only inches from her face as its eyes stared into her own, just as they had all those years ago.

Cryssy was jerked from her dream by a loud banging on the door, "Ice! Get up, quick!" Applejack yelled from the hallway.

The blind unicorn rolled out of bed as her horn flashed the day's first image to her head, saving her from the torture her mind had put her through. Once again the room was filled with snow, at least a few inches this time. She pulled her shawl over her back and was about to head over to the door when the corner of one image caught her attention. She trotted over to the window, and waited for the image to flash into her mind.

When it did, Cryssy knew why Applejack had been in such a hurry to wake her up; the ground outside was completely coated in snow. The unicorn quickly ran into the hall, and saw that it wasn't just her room this time.

"Oh no, please no" she mumbled to herself. The entire house had been dusted with snow while frozen flakes stuck on the walls. She ran outside to see how far her power had stretched this time, and saw that it was much worse than she had thought.

The trees immediately beside the house were frozen solid, along with the outer wall of the house itself. Cryssy looked desperately for Applejack, she had to explain herself, and she had to leave. If they heard about this, they would know it was her! They would come to Ponyville, and she couldn't risk them hurting anypony here.

Applejack was nowhere in sight, only her big brother was nearby.

His jaw was dropped in awe, his eyes wide at the sight before him.

Cryssy galloped to the other side of the house and desperately started bucking at the frozen wall, hoping it was from her directly, and not just the wind and cold. But the ice just cracked rather than evaporating like it would if she had made it herself. She ran back to the other side of the house to Big Macintosh, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Big Macintosh, I'm so, so sorry" she turned and ran back into the room the family had rented to her, and quickly began packing her things into the saddlebags.

As she turned to leave again, she found that Big Macintosh had finally moved, blocking her way out. "What d'ya mean yer sorry?" he asked gruffly.

Cryssy shook her head quickly, "I didn't want this to happen here."

"This can't be yer fault" Big Macintosh shook his head, "jus' a late storm, some joke from a pegasus."

Cryssy lowered her head, unsure of what to say to the stallion.

"An' why're ya' all packed up like yer leavin'?"

"I can't explain. I just have to go" Cryssy said quietly, her head still bowed.

"Well, we all hate ta' see ya' go, but if it's what you need ta' do" he moved out of the doorway, giving a simple nod to the obviously frightened mare.

Outside, Cryssy froze in her tracks. Applejack and her friends had all gathered in front of the house, all gaping in surprise at what they saw.

Applejack turned and smiled, "Ah'm awful sorry Ah woke ya' like that sugarcube, but Ah could really use yer-" the cowpony stopped and frowned, "Where're ya' off to Ice?"

"I-" Cryssy stumbled on her words, "I just need to go."

"You sound like a pony with something to hide" a raspy voice came from behind her.

She turned to see Granny Smith shuffling out of the house, her face drawn tight into a suspicious look.

"I-" Cryssy couldn't deny the old pony, she did have something to hide, but it was her problem, not theirs. She couldn't burden them by explaining, she just had to get away before they got hurt.

"What's the matter Ice?" Twilight asked.

The 6 friends had formed a circle around the blind pony, and were staring at her expectantly.

Cryssy bowed her head and sighed. There was no getting out if it anymore, she would have to tell them.

She spoke quietly, as if they would appear if she spoke too loudly, "I'm the reason your farm is covered in snow Applejack."

The ponies around her all gasped, "But...how?" Applejack asked.

"It's my magic. It makes ice and snow in my sleep, I can't control it" Cryssy admitted with shame, turning away from Applejack, not wishing to see the anger on her face.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Rarity stepped forward.

"Because it would put you all in danger, they would kill you to find out where I am."

The stylish unicorn stepped back, her face drawn in fear. The others all did the same, except Twilight. "Who would want to find you Ice?"

Cryssy looked up to her friend. She had never told anypony about this before, and getting it to come out was much harder than she ever thought it would be. The words caught in her throat, refusing to leave her mouth.

"Well, spit it out!" Rainbow yelled from above the blind pony.

"The griffins."

Ice Queen

Chapter 9: Ice Queen

"Griffins?" Rainbow Dash asked Cryssy suspiciously.

"Yes, griffins" the blind unicorn's head was still bowed nearly to the ground, and her voice was filled with shame at deceiving the other ponies.

She lifted her head and allowed her magic to show their faces each with varying degrees of concern and confusion.

"Why would griffins be chasin' ya'?" Applejack finally asked what they all must have been thinking.

"Because they want my magic" Cryssy admitted, her voice shaking a bit.

Twilight was the next to speak, "No offense Ice, but I haven't seen you use much magic since you've been here. Why would they want you for that?"

Cryssy took deep breath and exhaled heavily. She would have to tell them everything, from the beginning. "It started two years ago, a week before I left home..."

Her scream tore through the previously silent night of Snowhoof, barely making a sound over the whistle of the wind that was now whipping around her like a tornado. Her body twitched as it was stung over and over by something, it felt like hundreds of bees were attacking her at once.

Behind her, one of the giant birds screeched in pain again. She stumbled blindly across the street, hoping that she wouldn't run into something while she was shrouded in the blackness. The tingling that filled her body still seemed to be swirling up into her head, she just wished she could see what was happening.

She was suddenly tackled from behind as a set of sharp talons dug into her back, shooting a wave of pain through her body. She rolled a few times before coming to a stop with something heavy on her chest.

"You're going to pay for that little filly" the cruel voice lashed from the darkness.

A deep pain tore into her side as the talons dug through her skin, and Cryssy could feel the warmth of her blood flowing onto her pale blue coat. She let out another scream, and the tingling pushed into her head even harder, throwing the weight of the demon from her chest.

The unicorn broke through the pain to roll back onto her hooves, and forced herself to run. She didn't even know which way she was facing anymore, but it didn't matter, she just needed to get away. She galloped as fast as she could, praying that she wouldn't hit a house or run into the lake. Unfortunately, fate was not on her side.

The cruel one rammed her again, and the two tumbled into the freezing water of the lake, sending a shock through Cryssy's body. Her breathing halted, and for a moment, the tingling stopped. She couldn't feel anything around her as time seemed to slow. She knew the cruel one had come in with her, and she knew he was close.

Her head finally broke the surface of the water, and her lungs sucked in a deep breath of air. However, the relief was short lived as she felt a claw wrap around her ankle and jerk her back into the water. The tingling returned, but this time, it was different. It felt like the blood froze in her veins, and the blackness around her flashed a solid white.

She felt the cold surrounding her as the water stopped flowing over her coat. Her ears were filled by a loud cracking sound coming from all around her. Her leg was suddenly pulled from the talons, and she felt herself being lifted, until a light breeze once again flew over her coat. The freezing sensation left her blood and the tingling subsided after a brief moment, replaced by the feeling of weakness through her entire body.

After a moment her mind was again filled with a flashed image, then another. She couldn't see anything in the flashes except her own front hooves. But something seemed wrong, the bottom of the images was fuzzy, unclear. She reached in front of herself, and poked at the edge of the fuzzy spot. The blur proved to be a slick, solid surface, with a chill only ice held.

She lifted herself to her hooves, her left flank still burning with pain from the attack. She looked down to see that everything beneath her had the same fuzzy look to it, and in the center was the cruel one from before. But after each image, he never moved, like he was...frozen.

It had happened again, after all of these years of thinking it was just a dream. Her magic had unleashed its own power yet again, encasing her attacker in solid ice, and from the looks of it the entire lake as well. But what had changed this time? Why had she been lifted out of the frozen lake instead of being left in the ice block?

The unicorn carefully limped to the edge of the frozen lake, moving slowly to avoid slipping and injuring herself further.

It took the mare around half an hour to reach the hospital, where her oozing wounds attracted the attention of the nurse before she even entered the building. The frantic nurse Softheart raced to her side to assist the limping unicorn into the hospital, screaming for the doctor as soon as the door opened.

The doctor Cryssy knew so well still worked in the hospital despite his old age, and his familiar face was a welcome sight after everything that had happened.

"Cryssy! What in Equestria happened to you?" the doctor frantically asked her as he started pulling bandages from the shelves beside her bed, "Where are your parents?"

Cryssy's eyes filled with tears at the mention of her parents, telling the doctor all he needed to know. He yelled to the nurse over his shoulder, "Get to the police! Tell them to go to Cryssy's house, NOW!"

She felt the doctor's hooves pressing into her back as he tried to stop the bleeding. She winced with the pain, but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling on the inside at that moment.

The blind pony continued to cry as the doctor raced to stop the bleeding in her flank and back, "You're going to be alright Cryssy. You're going to be alright" the doctor tried to assure her as he worked.

But he didn't know, he could never understand everything she had just been through, everything she had felt tonight. It didn't feel like she was going to be alright, not in the slightest.

The next morning hit Cryssy like a ton of bricks. Her head was swimming as she came out of sleep, and her body felt like she had been hit by a train.

The doctor was at her side as her horn began feeding images back to her brain, his face drawn taut from working late into the night to save the unicorn before him. "Cryssy, how do you feel?"

She noticed that her mouth felt like cotton right away as she spoke, "I've felt better."

"Do you need any water, or food?"

Cryssy nodded, "Water would be nice."

The doctor trotted into the front of the hospital, and returned a moment later with the nurse and a pitcher of water and cups. He filled one cup and placed it on the table beside her. The nurse placed a straw in the water and bent it so the blind unicorn could reach it without too much effort.

After allowing the unicorn to slowly drink the entire cup of water, the doctor finally spoke, "Cryssy, I'm so sorry."

Cryssy focused on the doctor, her eyes beginning to tear up again, "Are...are my parents okay?" she knew what his answer would be, but she was hoping against hope that the cruel one had been lying, and that her parents were alive and well.

The doctor looked down and shook his head slowly, "I'm so sorry, they...they were gone before the police arrived."

Tears dripped onto the pillow beneath her face, dimpling it with moisture. She closed her eyes, wishing she could just wake up and have this all be a terrible dream, but the images continued to flash into her mind. She felt a hoof gently rub her shoulder, and saw that it belonged to the doctor.

"Why...why did they do it?" Cryssy asked through the tears.

"We don't know Cryssy, the police haven't told us anything."

The doctor remained by her side for the next few hours, comforting her in any way he could and making sure her wounds didn't get infected. Around lunch time, a pony in a police uniform trotted into the back room and spoke momentarily with the doctor before taking a seat beside Cryssy's bed.

"Are you Ice Crystal?" the police pony's voice was sympathetic, almost sad.

Cryssy nodded in response.

"I'm Officer Goldhoof, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Again, Cryssy simply nodded.

"Okay, first can you tell me what happened in your house last night?"

Cryssy hesitated for a moment before answering with a shaking voice, "I went on a date with a colt from school. When I got home it was late," she paused for a moment, thinking of how to describe the scene that had burned into her mind, "It was really quiet, and my parents weren't anywhere I could see on the first floor. I heard a loud noise in the kitchen, so I went to check it out. But, someone was there."

"Can you tell me who it was?"

"It was...some kind of giant bird, at least mostly. It looked a little strange, I didn't see it at the time, but later I saw that they had an extra set of legs, like a cat" Cryssy tried to explain the strange birds she had been tormented by, their blazing stares burned into her memory.

"They were griffins" the officer corrected her, "sorry, please continue."

Cryssy nodded, "They cornered me...and started arguing about what to do with me...and they told me...they said..." Cryssy couldn't bring herself to repeat what the cruel one had said, the words stuck in her throat.

"You don't have to say it," the officer told her sympathetically, "one of them told us that already."

"Thank you" the unicorn whispered, unsure if she could have ever repeated those horrible words. "And then...I don't know what happened. My vision stopped working, and everything was so cold. I found the door and went outside, but one of them followed me, and attacked me again" she paused for a moment to wipe tears from her eyes, "and we fell in the lake."

"What happened in the lake Ice Crystal?" the officer's voice had suddenly taken on a more curious tone, as if up to this point the police had already figured everything out, leaving the lake as the only mystery.

"I don't know" Cryssy said softly, "he pulled me under the water, and then the cold got worse. I still couldn't see, all I know is that I felt the water stop moving, and when my vision finally came back, I was sitting on top of the lake, and it was frozen."

Cryssy noticed that a few heads had poked into the doorway to the room, including the nurse and a few other police ponies. She ignored their presence and focused on Officer Goldhoof.

"And that's all you can remember?" the officer asked her after a moment of silence.

"Yes ma'am" Cryssy almost sounded ashamed of not knowing more.

The officer stood back up and gently placed her hoof on Cryssy's shoulder, "I'm so, so sorry."

"The next day, the Snowhoof police gave the griffins over to their own government. They had been on the run from their king, and needed food and money. So they broke into my house" Cryssy continued the story with wet eyes.

"Wow, I know Gilda was a jerk, but these griffins..." Rainbow commented after a moment of silence.

Cryssy's legs stiffened and her head shot up to Rainbow, "What did you just say?"

"Whoa, calm down, I wasn't trying to insult you" the pegasus defended herself.

"No, the name, how do you know that name?" Cryssy's knees started wobbling, and her voice seemed fearful.

"Who, Gilda? We used to be friends, how do YOU know her?"

"Gilda...is the one in charge of catching me."

A deep gasp erupted from one side of the circle, and everypony looked over to see Pinkie Pie looking side to side with a air-puffed cheeks. She exhaled quickly and shrugged, "What? I thought we were supposed to gasp there."

"Why would she want to find you?" Twilight stepped forward and asked, ignoring the sporadic pony's actions.

"Because her father told her to."

"Okay, why does HE want to find you" Rainbow cut back in, her voice sounding impatient.

"Because he...he thinks he can use me" Cryssy shrunk back from the pegasus.

"What could he possibly use you for dear?"

Cryssy looked to each of the ponies before answering in a near whisper, "To rule Equestria."

"WHAT!" every pony around the blind unicorn yelled in unison.

"Ice! Why didn't you tell anypony this before?" Twilight yelled at the blind pony.

"Because nopony would believe a vagabond telling them the king of the griffins wanted to conquer Equestria" Cryssy defended herself as she shrunk down to the ground.

"Why didn't you tell US? We would have believed you Ice" Twilight continued to scold her.

"I-I..." Cryssy couldn't think of what to say.

"Hold on just a minute. You're tellin' me that Gilda is the king a' the griffin's DAUGHTER?" Applejack interjected.

Cryssy nodded, unable to speak any more.

Twilight glared at the blind unicorn for a moment longer before looking back to her friends, "We need to tell the Princess about this. Everypony get to the library and we'll get Spike to send it right away."

Her friends nodded in agreement and galloped away, leaving Cryssy trembling and alone with Big Macintosh and Granny Smith at the farm. After only a few moments, her eyes brimmed with tears which freely fell to the snow beneath her. Everything had been going so well, and now she had ruined it, and lost the only ponies which she had connected with since leaving home.

Opening Gambit

Chapter 10: Opening Gambit

The wind whipped through Cryssy's mane. Her legs hanging limply beneath her, swinging effortlessly with each ebb and flow of the air as the demon above her flapped its feathered wings. She could feel the talons digging into her ribs where they were holding her.

They were all right, she should have told them, she should have told somepony what she knew. Even if they didn't believe her, eventually the rumor would have reached Canterlot right? Somepony would have at least considered it might be true and done something to stop this, but now it was too late. The griffins never told her where they were going, only that she needed to rest for her 'big performance'.

The cold metal of the collar rubbed roughly against her neck, occasionally ripping hairs from her skin and sending a wave of pain through her body. If only she could see, this wouldn't be as bad, at least then she might be able to tell which one was carrying her, and how many were around her. She could hear their feathers rattling in the wind all around her, leaving their exact numbers a mystery.

And to top it all off, the freezing and tingling in her blood was becoming unbearable. She flashed in and out of consciousness as the feeling rushed between her head and the rest of her body, fighting desperately to get out. But each time it surged, a burning pain shot from the collar around her neck, throwing it back into her body, and intensifying it.

She wanted the collar to fall off, to release her from this feeling, but she knew what would happen when it was removed. It was what they wanted, and even if it took out every one of their warriors, it would still get the result he wanted. She hoped they would do it somewhere safe, somewhere not too many ponies would get caught in the flow of magic, but that's all it was; hope. She knew it wouldn't be anywhere barren, they wanted to get as many ponies as they could and drive their point home; that they were serious.

They knew it would work, they had already tested it once, and it had gotten the exact effect they hoped for. Cryssy wondered if the Princess had recovered, and how they must be treating her now that she was helplessly imprisoned. And she wondered what had happened to Twilight and her friends. As they left the griffins had whooped and hollered about 'capturing them', and hoping they were 'given what they deserve'.

The freezing feeling surged again, and once again it was forced back into her body with a burning bite from the collar. Cryssy winced in pain and pushed a single tear from her eye.

"Please, let them be okay."

Two days earlier, everything had been so much better, even if it didn't seem like it at the time. The blue unicorn curled herself into a ball on the snow coated road leading to Sweet Apple Acres, watching as image after image showed the 6 ponies galloping away, off to correct the mistakes she had made.

She heard the snow squeal beside her as a large pony knelt down at her side. "Don't beat yerself up about it," Big Macintosh consoled her, "we all make mistakes, ain't nothin' ta' get worried over."

"It doesn't matter now," Cryssy said as she stood back up, "I still have to leave."

"Not until you get one last good meal" Granny Smith spoke from behind her, "come on in, breakfast is ready."

The hospitality surprised the unicorn at first. Even after she had filled much of their home with snow and ice, and kept a possible invasion of Equestria secret, these ponies still offered her a meal before sending her off. Whether it was out of pity or 'Apple Hospitality', she wasn't sure, but she was not one to turn down such a selfless offer. She nodded once and turned back to the house. She couldn't bring herself to deny the charity of an old pony offering a warm meal, even after all of the lies.

The meal was eaten in silence; there was nothing to be said. It truly was a good last meal, at least until all of this was over; it would end right?

And something did end; the peaceful meal. They came almost silently, only a soft rustling of feathers proceeding the crashing of doors and windows as they filled the home and shut off any hope of escape. Big Macintosh was the first to jump into action, blocking the doorway into the kitchen and bucking a griffin in the head before it could enter.

The window behind Cryssy exploded into a shower of glass and wood, followed closely by a flurry of feathers and claws. The unicorn suddenly found herself face down in the snow. She didn't know how she had gotten outside, only that it had happened.

"Gotcha!" the familiar voice whispered into her ear.

Gilda, she had found her, but there seemed to be more griffins with her than usual. They must have given up on staying secret, he must be getting impatient with the progress his daughter had made. Cryssy felt the tingling cold spreading through her body, building before its inevitable escape.

She wondered why nopony had noticed she was gone, and why Big Macintosh hadn't jumped to her rescue, she wished he would. A rough pressure was pressed into the back of her neck and wrapped around her throat before she could react, and suddenly her vision vanished.

"Now don't you try to use that precious magic of yours Cryssy" Gilda hissed into her ear again, "I would hate for you to exhaust yourself fighting this collar."

What did she mean fighting the collar? Is that what had taken away her vision?

The griffin princess let out a piercing screech, and Cryssy felt herself being lifted from the snow. A flurry of wings followed her, flowing into the air and, Cryssy guessed, out of Ponyville.

The shackles rubbed coarsely across Cryssy's ankles as she tried to make herself more comfortable on the cold stone floor. The attempt was futile, there was no comfort in this dungeon. She felt the guards staring at her, probably enjoying the sight of her discomfort and pain and laughing to themselves.

But the worst part was this collar. She had figured out that it must somehow be countering her magic, forcing it to stay within her body rather than escaping. She could feel it sting her neck slightly every second, whenever her mind attempted to flash an image to her. After a while, she didn't even notice that anymore, it was overshadowed by the burning caused each time the cold tingling in her blood attempted to escape into the world.

She heard the cell door slide open, the metal grinding against the ground like nails on a chalkboard. "And how is my favorite little pony doing?" a new voice echoed through the dungeon.

Cryssy didn't answer, she just curled herself into what she hoped was a corner, no longer concerned with the metal shackles.

"Oh, come here little one, I don't bite...hard."

Cryssy shook her head so fast it hurt and left her a bit dazed.

"What's the matter? Can't you see who you're talking to?" a light chuckle from the guards followed the voice.

"Go away" Cryssy replied quietly.

"Go away? But I'm your biggest fan! Isn't that obvious?" the voice actually sounded sincere.

"No you aren't."

"Really? I sent an entire wing of my soldiers to find you, and bring you to me. Surely no one else on this planet would do that for you."

After Cryssy didn't reply, not even shaking her head, the voice continued. "Perhaps I should introduce myself, break the ice. I'm Typhoon, King of the Griffon Nation."

Cryssy winced in pain as the cold tingling surged back into her head, and was met with burning from the collar.

"And you are Ice Crystal! Blind wanderer from the north, and from what I've heard, quite the powerful little unicorn" Typhoon continued, clearly enjoying this entire situation. "There, now that we're acquainted, we can talk."

"I don't want to talk to you" Cryssy mumbled just loud enough for the king to hear her.

"You don't? Would you rather talk to Gilda? I'm sure you two will have plenty to talk about after all you've been through together. I can't even begin to tell you how exciting her stories are, my favorite is the one from the night she met you..."

It had been a week since that terrible night that Cryssy's world had been torn down. Her wounds had healed, but the gashes in her mind were only growing deeper with each passing day.

She still slept in her old home once the crime scene had been abandoned by the police, but during the days, and most nights, she spent her time wandering the streets. The house was filled with so many terrible memories of what had happened. Even with the physical evidence gone, she often found that the images of that night would appear in her mind, as if they were burned into her subconscious.

She had seen Red Lightning in the town a few times, but she avoided him like a plague. She felt terrible for doing that to him, but she didn't want to make him deal with her current condition, even if he was willing; but she was sure he wouldn't be.

But tonight she didn't even see him, he dropped down from the sky beside her, "Ice?"

Cryssy turned slowly to see the pegasus frowning beside her, and offering only a nod in response.

"Ice, I'm...I'm so sorry about what happened."

"It's not your fault" she whispered and turned away from him.

"It wasn't yours either."

"I don't believe that" she whispered again, and tried to walk away.

She heard the pegasus trotting beside her, intent on making sure she was alright.

"Go away Red, I'll be fine."

"Just talk to me Ice, I hate seeing you like this."

"There's nothing to talk about."

She heard the pegasus sigh, and unfurl his wings, "I hope you change your mind soon" and he took off above her.

Cryssy shook her head and continued her walk until she reached the lake shore. Her mind flashed images of the glacier that had formed on this lake that night, as well as the griffin that had been helplessly trapped within it. She turned away from the lapping waves as a tingling began to form in her chest, the memory of that night bringing back everything that came with it.

"Hello pony" a raspy voice sounded above her.

She looked up to see one of those demons, a griffin, sitting on a branch above her. The tingling intensified, not to the point that it would escape, but enough to worry Cryssy.

"Don't you even think of freezing me like you did the to that other loser, I'm not here to kill you."

"Sorry I don't believe you" Cryssy replied, her fear slowly beginning to grow towards anger.

"I have no reason to kill you" the griffin replied as she examined her talons. "Besides, father needs you alive."

"Why would he need that?" the griffin's uncaring attitude was only serving to intensify Cryssy's already bad mood, and the tingling seemed to notice it. The feeling changed from the cold it had been a week before to being hot enough that it burned her chest a little. It spread much more quickly as well, intensifying as it pulsed through her body.

"Because he needs you, he didn't tell me why so don't ask" the griffin glided around her and landed feet from the pony, "now just make this easy and come with me."

"Get out" Cryssy snapped at the griffin, a burst of cold wind flowing from her body accenting the statement.

The griffin broke down in laughter, "You're joking right?"

A flurry of activity filled the air as more griffins jetted out of trees and bushes nearby, surrounding the blind unicorn.

Her anger only grew as the burning in her chest increased, and stung through her veins, "Who the hell are you?"

"That's what you choose to ask? Not 'where are you taking me?' or 'how many of you are there?'" the griffin asked after her laughter cut off.

"Who are you?" Cryssy's scream echoed across the town, hopefully catching somepony's attention.

"Fine, if you really want to know" the griffin sighed, "I'm Gilda, nice to meet you. Now let's go."

"No."

Gilda sighed again, and motioned with a talon. All around her more griffins began to emerge from the trees at the lake side. Without hesitation they all leaped toward Cryssy with their talons extended in front of them. They never even touched her mane.

Her anger finally exploded as the burning in her chest surged into her head, and her horn. Her vision whited out, just as it had a week earlier. Her head shook as air was sucked toward her and small bursts shot from the tip of her horn. She heard something whistling away from her with each burst, followed by a screech of pain from one griffin or another. After only a few seconds she fell to the ground as the surge of energy subsided, her legs wobbling and weak.

"What the buck just happened?" she heard Gilda yell, her voice shaking with pain.

A new image flashed into Cryssy's head after a few moments, showing the griffins, 5 of them, laying on the ground around her. Gilda was gripping something blurry in her wing, then in the next image she was holding it in front of her.

Cryssy didn't wait to see what would happen next. She forced herself to herself to move, and galloped as fast as she could away from the lake, back to her home. She couldn't stay here. Even if she had stopped them now, Gilda had said they needed her for something. They wouldn't stop now, they would find her and catch her if she stayed in Snowhoof.

She had to leave home.

"Did you know she still has scar from that night?" Typhoon asked with a twinge of laughter in his voice.

Cryssy refused to respond. After everything that griffin had done to her, she was glad to hear she had made a permanent mark on Gilda, but telling her father that might not be in her best interests.

"And she actually believed you meant to do that! She didn't figure it out until later; that you cannot control that magic of yours. It just happens, doesn't it? When you get angry, when you're scared?"

Cryssy felt a spark of shame in her body, one that had always been there but rarely affected her. But having it pointed out by a complete stranger, that was not something she liked him to know.

"And that's just so much better for me. Now I don't have to force you to do anything, I'll just make sure you get nice and worked up," Typhoon ran his talons through her mane, "and you won't be able to stop it."

Cryssy didn't know when the Princess had come, or why, but she hoped it would be to release her. Surely she knew that the blind unicorn was here, right? She heard her talking with Typhoon as the two walked somewhere outside the room, their voices echoing into the cell where she was being held.

"I apologize for wasting your time Typhoon."

"It's no problem Celestia, you were simply taking stock in your student's opinion."

"Yes, it appears she was wrong. But I do have one question still."

"What might that be Princess?"

"I was told a unicorn was taken from Ponyville, is there any truth to this?"

"Actually, yes. You see she was accused of robbery here in my nation, so I naturally sent my guard to find her and bring her to justice."

"I understand. Could I see her? I want to make sure she isn't being mistreated."

"Of course Princess, I'll have her brought out."

A few minutes later the door to Cryssy's cell squealed open, and she felt the shackles fall from her ankles. A pair of large talons wrapped around her neck and lead her to the door, "Your presence has been requested by the king. Behave yourself, we wouldn't want the Princess getting worried would we?" the guard warned her with a dark laugh.

She was lead around a few corners, and eventually she was forced to stumble up a stairwell. She felt a small point of pressure on the back of her neck, pressing down on the collar. The sea of cold within her body once again surged to her head, only to be beaten down by the burn of the collar.

A few feet from the top of the stairwell she was stopped, "Here she is Celestia, practically untouched" she heard Typhoon speaking.

"Are you okay my little pony?" Celestia's voice filled with disappointment. She didn't actually believe this monster did she?

Cryssy simply nodded, not wishing to feel the wrath of the griffin which still held her neck, or Typhoon himself.

Suddenly, the collar fell from her neck with a soft click, and the room flooded with freezing cold as Cryssy's vision flashed to the familiar white sheet she knew too well.

She couldn't move a muscle, and the talons of the guard had dug into her neck in fear with the flash-freeze he had suffered. After what felt like hours, the biting ice evaporated from around her, and she could hear everyone in the room flop onto the ground. Talons clicked across the floor, likely belonging to guards which had been in wait outside.

The collar was latched back around Cryssy's neck by someone she still couldn't see, and she was lifted to her hooves. Across the room she heard a similar latching sound, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"Great feathers above, that is some powerful stuff" she heard Typhoon shout from feet away, followed by a terrible laugh. "The stories about you weren't exaggerated after all."

The unicorn felt herself get jerked from behind, throwing her onto her back as she was dragged back to the stairwell.

The last thing he heard was Typhoon's voice echoing throughout the room, "Now Celestia, would somepony like to see the dungeon?"

Cryssy's heart sank at the thought of what she had just done as she was thrown into unconsciousness.

Into the Maw

Chapter 11: Into the Maw

“Twilight, must we move so quickly?”

“Maybe if we took a break?”

“Jeez, stop whining you two! We’ve barely been walking for five hours!”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like-”

The bickering of her friends fell on deaf ears as the lavender unicorn pushed forward at the front of the group, ignoring the soreness in her own legs as she continued to the top of the latest hill on their trip. While she was slightly disappointed with herself for neglecting the wishes of Rarity and Fluttershy, the current situation helped her to rationalize ignoring them. They had no way of knowing how much time they had before the griffins tried to use Ice Crystal for their attack, and she was entirely focused on making sure it never happened.

“Twi, maybe we should rest, just fer a few minutes. Get some water and maybe try ta’ come up with a plan fer when we finally get there.”

With a quiet sigh Twilight agreed. They had been in such a rush that she had forgotten to even think of what to do when they finally reached the griffin capitol of Thunderbluff. That and she was feeling a bit parched herself. She stopped and set her saddlebags down at her side before sitting in the grass beside them.

Behind her, each of the Elements of Harmony did the same, with Rarity being the last to sit once she had gently unfolded a sheet from her bag rather than sit in the grass. While Applejack and Rainbow both pulled out a bladder of water for a drink, the others pulled out a piece of fruit, or in Pinkie Pie’s case a cupcake, to get a quick snack.

“So,” Applejack broke the brief silence as she placed the water back into her saddlebags, “what’re we gonna do when we reach Thunderbluff?”

Twilight took a moment and thought to herself, “Well, first we definitely need a distraction. There’s no way we’ll be able to get inside with the guards there, unless this King doesn’t expect anyone to come for Ice.”

“He’d have to be a complete feather brain then” Rainbow commented as she stretched her wings. “Let me deal with the guards.”

“No Rainbow, we might need your help once we get inside” the lavender unicorn argued. “I think Pinkie might actually be the best distraction.”

“Oh come on! What’s she going to do? Get them all to sing as we sneak by?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if she did” Rarity added from the back of the group.

“Oh, oh! Do you want me to do that? I can finally sing my distraction song!”

“You have a distraction song?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Duh! I have a song for EVERYTHING!” the party pony shouted as she pulled a piece of parchment from her bag listing out all of her songs.

“Girls, focus!” Twilight shouted to end Pinkie’s usual antics, “Pinkie Pie, I don’t care how you do it, but find some way to distract them.”

“Yes sir! Ma’am! Sir!”

“The rest of us will make our way into the main castle as Pinkie distracts the guards and search for Ice. I’m willing to bet she’s being kept in the dungeon, so we’ll need to find that as quickly as we can, and get out of there.”

“What about the Princess? Won’t she already be there?” Rarity asked as she folded her sheet back up and levitated it back into her bags.

“I don’t think Typhoon would just give Ice over, if he even acknowledges having her. We’ll just have to wait and see” as she spoke Twilight stood up and levitated her own bags onto her back, turning back to the path they were following toward Thunderbluff. As they continued forward, she mumbled to herself lightly under her breath, “I hope it’ll be that easy.”

A small drop of blood plopped down into the puddle laying beneath the pony’s scarred face, sending a small echo through the cell which she had been returned to. The guard before her groaned in near-pleasure as he stopped for a brief moment, though she wasn’t sure if it was due to the pain he inflicted or the sight of her beaten body.

She was unsure exactly how long she had been unconscious, but she wished it had been longer. Within only minutes of her waking the guard had attacked, slicing into her face with his claws. At first he had made the blows quick, but once he slowed down, the cuts grew more and more painful as his talons tore through her skin with the sting of heated metal.

It hadn’t taken her long to recognize the guard as one of the few which had been present at most of the attacks within the past years. That was the point that she grew even more fearful, hearing his voice again after so many years. That same demon, the first one which had begun the misery which plagued her life, the one who killed her parents. She was certain that this griffin had asked to guard her, and she wasn’t surprised that Typhoon had granted the request. With each blow the burning in her chest grew, and the collar was once again beginning to grow unbearable as it crushed each surge of magic within her body.

The griffin turned back to her after a moment of rest, slowly pressing a talon into the skin just beside one of her eyes.

Suddenly, the door to the cell swung open with a squeal and the talon pulled back. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“As I was ordered Highness, the prisoner is to be prodded in order to ga-”

“You know as well as I do that angering her will only lead to throwing those confounded shards at us again Praetus.”

The source of this intrusion was a big surprise to the blind unicorn as she listened to the two bicker among themselves. She had hoped for relief, but she never expected it would be Gilda to stop her torture, especially not after all of the trouble she’d given the griffin.

“How do you recommend I proceed then?” Praetus finally asked angrily, even if he had tried to hide it from the daughter of his king.

“Use your imagination; tell her some story about what we’re going to do once we use her to take over Equestria or something. Whatever you think will make her sad.”

Cryssy’s slightly lifted hopes sank like a rock at the request Gilda had made. Rather than physically scar the unicorn, she deemed it necessary to further destroy her already scarred mind. She wished this would end, that the guard had just killed her in his anger, but it seemed that she was in for a future of torment and fear.

“Very well Highness.”

With his compliance, the door slid shut with a groan, and was punctuated by a loud click as the lock was latched. After a moment a warm flow of air passed close to Cryssy’s ear as the griffin knelt down close beside her, “Would you like to hear a story?”

Just down the hall a new neighbor had moved into the dungeon with the blind pony of Snowhoof. Her brilliant pink mane fell lifelessly across her face, only being diverted by the pointed horn sticking from her forehead. Luckily for her, this new guest had been placed under strict protection; she was not to be cut, bruised, or even touched by anyone but the king himself. Though these words were normally ‘forgotten’ by the guards of the dungeon, in this case it was understood that disobeying the order would lead only to a quick death.

Her eyes slowly peeled open, at first only showing her a blurred image of her surroundings, but after a few moments her eyes adjusted to the darkness of her cell. The only light was the flickering orange glow of a torch just inside the door, casting eerie shadows along the walls. Just beneath the torch was the guard, a large griffin which she almost mistook for a statue with how still he stood.

At her movements the guard ruffled his feathers and nodded to someone just out of view, likely a second guard meant to inform Typhoon of her waking. True it was a quick assumption, but it was the same method her own guards would use if a high-profile prisoner was ever detained. Celestia could only assume that her guard was not the first to think of the idea.

As she waited for someone to address her, the Princess quickly reached to her neck, finding a cold metal which was all too familiar to her. The brace around her neck sizzled with arcane power as she ran her hoof over the inscriptions carved into the metal. The same device she once created along with her sister over a thousand years before, just after the defeat of Discord and their ascension to power in Equestria. But they had long since been sealed away, replaced by newer enchantments on the cells which were made to house unicorns in her own kingdom should one be brought to justice. This was cruel magic, which was supposed to have been locked away centuries ago, hidden from any who may use them for evil.

The solar princess hesitated for a moment before even using her own magic in an attempt to escape. Though she had been the crafter of the device, it had been Luna that cast the enchantment, a dark spell which only she had known. While it was known between both of the alicorns that Celestia was the stronger with magic, no matter how much Luna denied it publicly, her sister had never told what spell she had used to empower the metal of the collars. Without that knowledge, the princess had little faith in her ability to break the enchantment.

After a brief moment, she attempted to wrap her magic around the collar, hoping to negate the powerful feedback. Unfortunately, it failed, and a blast of magic was shot into her neck, tearing her concentration down and countering the spell.

“Now Celestia, you of all ponies should know that casting a spell while in this beautiful necklace is not a good plan.”

The princess whipped her head to one side, seeing that Typhoon had stepped into her cell, a large smile behind his beak at the sight of her pain. The griffin king stepped slowly around to her front, keeping his wings erect as he spoke to her as a show of dominance and power.

“Don’t be worried my dear Princess, the overthrow of Equestria will not injure any of your precious ponies” a small chuckle gave away his lie, “unless your foal of a sister should try to resist.”

“Why are you doing this Typhoon? We’ve always had peace with your kingdom in the past.”

“That’s what you call it? Peace? Then why are my subjects seen as intruders whenever they enter your lands? My own daughter was driven from Equestria after only a few days of trying to meet an old friend” as he spoke the griffin wrapped his talons around Celestia’s collar and pulled her face close to his own.

“She was rude to them, you cannot blame the ponies there for disliking her” she responded confidently, without hesitation.

Typhoon’s eyes burned with anger at the alicorn’s slander of his child, “How dare you insult my family!”

His talons dug into the flesh of her neck, drawing blood with little effort as his grip tightened. A wince of pain flashed across Celestia’s face for a brief moment eliciting a change in mood from the king.

“Look at you,” his grip released, dropping the princess to the ground beneath her, “not so powerful without that precious magic are you?”

Typhoon turned to the door of her cell, only stopping to shoot one last quip over his shoulder before leaving the solar princess to the cold stone, “Try not to disturb my other guest, she needs her rest.”

As the door squealed closed Celestia took a few deep breathes and rubbed the punctures in her neck left by the tyrant of Thunderbluff. The guard across the room remained completely still, hardly even looking at her once the king was gone.

She had to get out of here and stop whatever it was that Typhoon was planning, and the first step was to undo the spell which powered the collar around her neck.

“Ready Pinkie?”

“Ready” the pink pony replied in a loud whisper, showing that she would rather have yelled if stealth was not part of the plan.

“Okay, go ahead.”

The five mares lay low as their eccentric friend bounced from their hiding spot, happily bounding toward the gate into the griffin capitol.

“Twilight, are you certain this will work?” Rarity asked from beside the lavender unicorn as they watched Pinkie approach the city.

“It’s Pinkie Pie, of course it will work” Rainbow answered for her, waving her hoof toward the city.

They had arrived a bit later than Twilight had wanted, and she hoped that the griffins hadn’t taken Ice Crystal somewhere else by now. If they had, the plan would be pointless, especially since this was the only lead they had. And if it didn’t work, this would be the worst possible action to take on the griffin nation, especially if Typhoon really was planning on attacking Equestria at some point.

“There’s the signal!” Applejack broke Twilight from her thoughts as Pinkie waved from the top of the city wall, apparently having reached the top while the others weren’t paying attention.

The five Elements crept toward the city, remaining as low as possible as they hid in the grass of the field. As they neared the city, an outburst of noise showed that Pinkie had been sighted, hopefully without being captured already. The ponies lined up just outside the gate, hiding along the wall as they waited for Pinkie to somehow raise the metal grating.

“What’s taking her so-” Rainbow began to ask as a loud noise cut her off.

So spread your wings to the sky,

And shake your flank from side to side!

Because even city guards,

Need a break from working hard!

“Pleeease tell me this is a joke.”

Because it’s a distraaaaaaction!

Each of the five mares waiting outside the gate smacked a hoof to their heads at the latest line in Pinkies song, both from the fact that she was actually serious about having a song for the situation, and because it actually used the word ‘distraction’. Twilight was seconds from moving to plan B, but was stopped as a few guards began to join in.

No need for action on this day.

I say distraaaaaaaction!

No need for work it’s time for play.

To everypony’s surprise, the gate suddenly flew open as the song continued, leaving each of them dumbstruck.

“How does she do that?” Rainbow whispered after a brief moment of silence, answered only by slowly shaken heads.

They quickly shook themselves back to reality and tiphooved through the gate, hugging the wall as they snuck toward the castle doors.

The sight of Pinkie dancing around in a circle of armor-clad griffins gave the entire situation an unreal feeling, which was only intensified when the ponies noticed a few guards dancing and singing alongside her.

Come on now, follow along.

This must fun just can’t be wrong!

If you’re short, or you’re tall.

Ignore the ponies inside the walls!

At those words every guard froze for a moment before spinning around, their gazes falling onto the five sneaking ponies behind them.

“Oops.”

Despite Pinkie’s own mistake, the plan was doomed to fail regardless of what she had done. As the guards began approaching each of the mares the castle doors swung open, revealing 3 large griffins clad in obsidian armor.

“What do we have here?” the center griffin spoke, a hint of joy in his voice. “Oh, hello again Rainbow Dash; it’s been years.”

A low growl escaped the cyan pegasus’ throat as she glared at the griffin who had addressed her, “Hello sir.”

“As polite as always” Typhoon offered joking flattery to the mare. “I was so hurt when I heard you were no longer friends with my daughter. You two were so close in flight school, I hated to see such good friends torn apart.”

Rainbow gave no words in response, only continuing her growl as her wings slowly spread to the sky. Before she could lunge toward him a set of talons forced the wings back to her side, and pushed her to the ground. Each of the other mares were put through the same treatment at the claws of Typhoon’s guard. Only Rarity offered any resistance as the guard attempted to force her to the ground, complaining about getting her coat dirty.

“Take them to the dungeon, keep them separate.”

“Sir, what of the unicorns?”

“Give them collars of course. Did you just wake up, or are you really dumb enough to ask me that?”

“N-no sir, I apologize sir.”

“Good, you have guard on the pink one. Now, go.”

Each of the guards rendered a salute before dragging the ponies through the castle doors.

Before losing sight of the sky, Twilight noticed a wing of soldiers taking flight above them, a perfect formation headed north toward Equestria. She wondered what they were planning as the warriors whooped and hollered above, acting like they had already achieved victory. Her questions were answered once she noticed a certain blue body hanging beneath one of the feathered warriors.

Winter's Bite

Chapter 12: Winter’s Bite

Cryssy flashed back into the world as the cold of the night bit through her coat. Her chest had grown numb to the stabbing pain at each point that the talons dug into her skin, thankfully relieving her of at least one of the discomforts that came with this trip.

Her blood still ran cold, and the tingling feeling filled every inch of her body. It felt like it was pushing out on every part of her, desperately trying to escape its fleshy prison, but no longer able to surge into her head as it had done for the trip up to this point. She had never felt it this strongly before, the feeling always managed to escape long before it reached this point, and she had no idea what would happen when the collar finally came off.

The night lay silent around her aside from the flapping of wings; one of those rare places in time which either foreshadowed peace, or served as an omen for unfortunate events to occur. Cryssy knew that this particular night was filled with the spirit of the latter. This thought fueled the frozen tingling in her body, stretching her like a mature cocoon. What was inside her was nothing beautiful, and she knew tonight it would only bring pain.

“It’s time” the all too familiar voice of Gilda finally broke the silence, “Fawks, take your warriors and do what you do best. You have 10 minutes and then I’m going in, whether you’re done or not.”

“Of course majesty” a gruff voice, apparently Fawks, replied without hesitation.

A quick flutter of feathers surrounded Cryssy, wherever she was, and then was gone. She didn’t know where they were, or what the other griffins were doing; she didn’t want to know. Yells erupted from below them, along with screams of pain and the rattling of metal.

Cryssy tried desperately to block the sounds from below; sounds of death, sounds of pain, the sounds of battle. She shook her head back and forth as fast as she could, hoping that this was still just a long dream, and that she’d awaken back in Ponyville or Snowhoof.

“Knock it off Squirt!” the griffin growled above her and pressed her talons deeper into Cryssy’s chest, revealing that the numbness of before had only been a false promise of relief.

The blind unicorn groaned and complied, dropping her head back to where it had been before. Suddenly Cryssy found herself falling, or diving along with Gilda. The griffin’s feathers pressed tightly against Cryssy’s back as they plummeted and the wind whipped into her dried eyes. The pair shot through a plush mass, which the blind unicorn could only guess was a cloud, after which the dive steepened.

They were headed straight downward, moving so quick that Cryssy thought they would have hit the ground by this point. The only sound she heard was the wind blaring through her ears, and the sharp whistle of air passing through the griffin’s beak.

Gilda finally pulled up after only a few seconds after breaking through the clouds, leveling herself out while only losing minimal speed. The fear of the decent increased the pressure within Cryssy’s body yet again, leaving the pony afraid to move or she may tear open. She felt the griffin slow down to about half of her previous speed. The screams and shouts from earlier returned to her ears, though much louder. Wherever they were, it was in utter chaos, the pony only wished she could tell who was winning the battle.

“Majesty!” Cryssy heard that griffin from earlier, Fawks, yelling over the screams, “The perimeter is secure, you’re clear to the castle!”

The castle? There was only one place in Equestria that Cryssy knew had a castle, but the griffins wouldn’t dare go straight here, would they? It was suicide, surely they couldn’t outnumber the guards there, and even if they did, these were supposed to be the strongest ponies in Equestria; they would be able to win right?

Gilda finally came to a stop, dropping Cryssy onto a patch of raised stone beneath her. The griffin came down quickly beside her and lifted the pony by the back of her neck, “Time to get on stage Squirt.”

Blood slowly dripped onto the cold stone floor, sending a sharp echo throughout the cell with each falling drop. The small puddle seemed much larger to the pony above it, but she guessed that must be due to some psychological reasoning involving fear of one’s own blood.

The lavender unicorn slowly lifted her head away from the puddle, desperately wishing she could wipe the blood from her slashed face. The guard in front of her licked the fresh blood from his talons, staring at her beaten face the entire time.

“Mm, salty.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened at the comment, he wouldn’t actually eat her would he? It’s just a sick joke right? She hoped it was, that he was just messing with her, but after Ice’s story from back at the farm…

That was where this all went wrong, wasn’t it? If they hadn’t run off without her, if they had brought her with them to the library, then they could have stopped her from being ponynapped.

They could have taken her anywhere by now, and use her for their plan, whatever it was. But she still didn’t know how, after all, Ice had told them herself that she can’t control her magic, so how would they use her power for what they need?

And where was Celestia? She had told them she was going to Skybluff herself to talk with the king? Surely she would have run into her on their way to the city, if not inside the castle itself. She placed her hope in the Princess coming to save them after realizing they weren’t anywhere in Ponyville, and hopefully Spike would tell her where they went.

“Alright little pony,” the griffin’s voice ripped the unicorn from her thoughts, “time for round two.”

Cryssy struggled to even walk straight beside the griffin which was escorting her to Celestia-knows-where. The pressure within her body had tightened around her joints, at least making her feel like she couldn’t walk. She walked blindly down what she assumed were the halls of Canterlot Castle and the sounds of the battle raging outside had long since faded into the distance. The only sounds she could hear were her own hooves and Gilda’s talons tapping across the tiled floors.

“Stop!” a thundering voice echoed throughout the castle, sending Cryssy straight to her haunches in fear, and pulsing another wave of pressure throughout her body.

Gilda yanked the frightened pony to her hooves and spun her around, “You must be Princess Luna?”

“That is correct griffin,” the lunar princess continued to bellow through the hall, “now explain this assault!”

Cryssy was jerked in front of Gilda, and her talons wrapped around the back of the collar, “It’s simple; either surrender Equestria, or I pull of this collar and my little friend here sends this entire castle, and probably part of the city, into a new ice age.”

“Surely you’re joking, no unicorn holds that kind of power!” the princess’ voice no longer thundered across the hall, but had toned down to a more normal level, “Leave now fowl, or face my wrath.”

Clearly Princess Luna was much less diplomatic than her sister, which served as a small surprise to the blind unicorn as she waited for one of the two within the hallway to make the first move. She would expect that the younger alicorn would act much as her sister, searching for a peaceful way to end this, but it would seem that she lacked the patience after Canterlot was so savagely attacked.

Cryssy felt the air swirl with magic around her, pulling her coat onto end as it reached for the source of this power. She felt her own body begin to tingle once again, no longer pulsing to her horn, but rather it seemed to be moving outward in every direction. This was still met by a blast of heat from the collar, but it didn’t back down. Her magic continued to press for the outside world, leaving her neck constantly burning with greater intensity each second.

Gilda suddenly burst out in laughter, “Fine, have it your way Princess.”

Cryssy felt the griffin’s talons press into the back of the collar, popping the lock on the metal ring. Her mind instantly filled with a white light, and every inch of her body stung as the pent up magic exploded from every pore. With her last thought the unicorn hoped that nopony, or even griffin, would be hurt by what she was about to cause.

Spike paced impatiently in front of the library, his claws clamped behind his back. He tried to look at the dirt beneath him, but he couldn’t help but look up to the path out of town every few seconds, just in case Twi and the others came over the hill while he was looking away.

It had been almost two days since the six ponies had left, and he hadn’t heard a thing from any of them, and the Princess still hadn’t returned either. The baby dragon was sure they’d be fine, after all they’d defeated both Nightmare Moon and Discord before, how hard could it be to beat one little griffin?

Wait, it was the king of the griffins, which means he probably had an army. So they had to defeat an entire ARMY of griffins; maybe he should be worried? He already was, no need to lie to himself, he had been nervous the moment Twi and the others had left the library; a bad feeling had grown in his gut ever since overhearing the story about what Ice Crystal had been through.

Even after the situation with Nightmare Moon, who had easily been the greatest threat to peace in Equestria. The mare that threatened to shroud the world in complete darkness, and likely had no issues with striking down any who may oppose her, at least the Elements of Harmony could stop her. But there was no way to know if the Elements would have any effect on a normal griffin, or any being not of a magical nature.

He looked back to the path, but again he found no sign of Twi or anypony else walking into town tonight. Maybe he should just get to bed? It was way passed his usual bedtime, and he should be tired. No, he would never get to sleep, not when he was this worried about Twi and the others.

Suddenly a blast of freezing air blew the dragon off his feet, and the night was filled by a cracking sound louder than anything Spike had ever heard in his life. The wave of air and sound shook buildings, blew the leaves from trees, and must have woken everypony in Ponyville.

The wave bore memories of the story the Elements had told of how they obtained their cutiemarks, the story of when Rainbow had first performed the sonic rainboom. The wave resulting from her had nearly blown Pinkie off her feet, could this be something similar?

Spike stood back up, and looked back to where the blast of air had come from, but was unable to see anything in the darkness of the night. The air remained cold even behind the blast, and small ice shards floated through the sky. The baby dragon shivered and ran back toward the library to escape the cold, but was stopped mid sprint by what he saw in the distance, barely visible in the light of the moon; Canterlot was frozen in a spire of ice.

Twilight was fading in and out, barely able to keep herself conscious after everything the guard had done. Her face had been left alone after the original attack, leaving crusty rows of blood caked into her coat. Unfortunately her chest and legs had been the next targets, leaving her body to burn at even the lightest movement.

Luckily, or at least it could be considered lucky, Typhoon had apparently ordered that they be kept alive, and had brought in a doctor to patch her wounds and make sure she would survive. The doctor worked slowly, apparently fully aware that the longer he took, the more time Twilight would have before being tortured again. She was surprised at the strange amount of concern from a griffin, but she couldn’t expect every griffin to hold the same apparent hatred of ponies as the guards or their king.

Even with her own relief, she wished he would hurry up. The screams of her friends echoed through the dungeon as their own torture continued, and she was beginning to regret ever having brought them to this place.

Twilight jumped in surprise at a sudden wave of cold air flashing through the room, accompanied by a soft snapping noise. The doctor stopped his work and looked into the air, staring at the shining crystals that had formed out of nowhere. He looked back to the lavender unicorn after a moment, fluffing the feathers on his back to keep himself from being effected by the sudden chill in the air.

As much as the lavender unicorn hated to think about it, she knew where the blast had come from, or more accurately who it had come from. Typhoon’s plan had worked, and now nothing she or her friends did could change it.

What Comes Around

Chapter 13: What Comes Around

The night wind rippled across the feathered wings of the griffin king, providing him with a pleasant flutter for his trip. The ground beneath him was hidden far below the cover of the clouds, which gleamed with the pale light of the moon.

Everything was going just as he had planned; he had finally gotten the blind unicorn, the infamous Elements of Harmony were in his custody, and he had even gotten the Princess herself as icing on the cake. There was nothing to stop him now.

A cold burst of air shot over his body, threatening to knock him out of the air as he flew. After a moment of recovery, he looked around to see the air filled with shining specks of ice. A smirk grew in the corner of his beak, and a slight chuckle crept out of his lungs. That must have been it, he had actually felt it!

The rest of the flight was spent in silent jubilation for his assumed victory as he congratulated himself on his fantastic plan. Once he thought he was close, the griffin dove through the clouds, pulling up just below the fluffy canopy. Before him was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen; a jagged block of ice jutting from the mountainside, right were Canterlot once was.

A small wing of warriors appeared from the clouds around him, fully clad in their shining black armor. “It worked Highness, awaiting further orders” the leader of the group spoke with him as they flew.

“Excellent work” Typhoon commended his warrior. “Now, push down the boulders so I can get to the castle.”

The warrior rendered a quick salute before waving the rest of his team to follow. The group peeled over to the city and rose to the mountainside above the highest spiral of ice. A cluster of large boulders rested precariously on the edge of the ridgeline, just far enough from the edge to ensure they would not fall without a proper push. Preparing the stones had been a long, delicate process, once which was vital to their king’s plan, and which had almost been discovered on multiple occasions.

The guards took their places behind the boulders and awaited the signal from the flight-leader. Once he was sure they were all in place, the leader let out an ear-piercing screech.

The boulders rocked slowly off the ledge before tumbling down to the ice below, landing on the slicked surface with a loud thud. At first, Typhoon didn’t notice anything, and thought perhaps his plan had failed. But sure enough, the ice began to recede as wisps of moisture returned to the air. The boulders sank deep into the evaporating ice, coming to rest on top of one spire or another before they could reach the ground.

After almost a minute, the ice disappeared into the castle, placing pegasi and griffins which had once been suspended in the air onto the stone roads of Canterlot. Most of the bodies lay still in the streets, though one or two stirred for a moment before succumbing to hypothermia. Whether they had fallen unconscious or dead, Typhoon wouldn’t be losing any sleep tonight.

The griffin dove to the main stairway leading into the castle, landing with hardly a stop before walking into the marbled foyer. The air inside the castle still felt like an ice box, and small trails of evaporating ice could still be seen in a few corners. He strode into the main hall, following the trail to the throne room as he knew his daughter had done.

In the center of the hall he found three bodies lying motionless on the floor. Only Gilda stirred at the sound of his steps, looking up to her father proudly. The king stopped momentarily beside the fallen Princess of the Moon. Her mane had reverted to a solid blue mass, no longer flowing with the magic from her weakened body.

After a moment of taking in the sight, he turned to the blind unicorn beside his daughter. The pony was lying silently on the floor, her mane disheveled and coated in thin layer of frost that gleamed in the pale light from the window. He lifted the collar from beside her and strode back to Luna, locking the metal ring around her neck with a satisfying click.

He had no worries about Ice Crystal having access to her magic, after all, it wasn’t like she could control the power filling her body. The king walked away from the scene, striding toward the throne room at the end of the hall. Behind him, his daughter beckoned for help, but was met with no reply. Typhoon was focused, he finally had what he always wanted in sight, and no one was going to keep him from it.

Gilda frowned as a tear came to her eye. She done everything her father had asked, and completed her mission, yet he ignored her condition. It had all been for him, and he showed no thanks.

The door to the throne room flew open as the darkness filled her mind, throwing her into unconsciousness with the rest of Canterlot.

The days following his forced takeover of Equestria had been quite busy for the former griffin King, now the self-crowned Emperor of Equestria. His first task had been to ensure that any of the old Royal Guard were quickly imprisoned or banished from Equestria under threat of death, eliminating the greatest threat to his new throne.

And yet, that wasn’t his favored task, that had yet to come, and would start with the town which he believed would be the most difficult of any to control. While the entirety of Canterlot had been introduced to Typhoon and his forces in the most brutal fashion possible, he could not continue to exploit the same method with every city in Equestria. No, he would simply show them their new ruler with a grand entry, and use Ice Crystal as a threat to any who would attempt to stand against him.

As the town grew closer, the king turned his head to look at the pony sitting beside him, her limp blue mane flowing in the wind behind her. “Now Luna, try not to look so sad.”

The alicorn continued to stare straight ahead, having refused to speak to Typhoon or even look at him since she awoke early in the morning. Unlike her sister, she had never even attempted to use her magic to escape, having recognized the feel of the collar around her neck within seconds of waking, knowing that even she could not undo the hex she created. The griffin was slightly disappointed that he never got to watch her squirm, but her silent submission was more than enough to keep him happy for the moment.

As the chariot set down in the center of town, flanked by dozens of heavily armored guards, Typhoon took off and landed upon the stage just outside the town hall. Within minutes ponies began to gather around, having left their homes to see the small army of griffins which occupied the center of their town.

Before he began to speak, Luna was led to the stage beside him, the symbol of his victory. “Ponies of Ponyville!” he began proudly, having recited this speech within his head for hours that morning. “My name is Typhoon, at one time, the King of the Griffin Nation.

“I come before you today out of respect for your kingdom, believing that you deserve to see the face of your new ruler, your new Emperor.”

At this a small ruckus spread through the gathered ponies, who showed no hesitation voicing their discontent.

“Though I may not appear as regal as your former Princesses, and I do not share their power to raise the sun and moon,” as if to demonstrate his point, the griffin motioned above, to the moon still hanging in the sky even as the clocks in town showed the time late in the afternoon, “I am no less a powerful ruler, who will do everything in my power to ensure your lives go on as before.”

“Then give us the sun!” a random pony from the crowd shouted out, and was quickly echoed by many others as the guards attempted to spot whoever had spoken out.

“I regret to inform you I cannot do that. But I have no doubt that you will be able to perform this act yourselves. Long ago, simple unicorns like many of you, were the ones to raise the sun. You never required a Princess to do this for you then, and now you may once again be the ones to give that gift to your fellow ponies.”

Though the crowd calmed slightly at this comment, many continued to protest. Before the guards could grab those that continued to push the argument, Typhoon waved them down, and glared into the crowd with narrowed eyes. “I am a just and fair ruler little ponies, but mark my words, if you should continue resisting like this, I will ensure your quaint town becomes nothing but a glacier.”

At the threat, the crowd fell silent, even if many did stare at him in confusion, as if trying to see if he was lying or being truthful. Rather than confirm his threat, Typhoon dragged Luna back to the chariot, quickly taking off as he left the ponies below to contemplate whether he could hold true on his final promise.

A sharp pain shot through her ribs, jerking her back into the real world again. She spun her head from side to side until she was sure the vision from before had been an illusion; she was surrounded by darkness again. The familiar burn of the collar shot from her neck, revealing a slight tingling within her stomach.

“Finally awake huh?” a deep voice said above her, “Must have been a good dream with all that jerking and mumbling you did.”

Another burst of pain shot through her body as a set of talons punched the top of her head. She held in a squeal of pain as the tingling in her belly increased and surged to her horn again before being pushed back by the burn of the collar.

“Stay awake pony, the Emperor will be here to see you soon.”

A grinding noise pierced the air, accompanied by the squealing of old hinges as the door to the cell opened. A quiet whisper was shared between two griffins across the room before the new arrival addressed Cryssy, “It’s about time you woke up, three days seemed like a bit much for such a young, lively pony.”

Three days? It didn’t feel like she’d been out that long, it only felt like a few minutes, or maybe a few hours at most…

“I can’t believe you would sleep like that with how busy I was. Letting every pony in Canterlot and Ponyville meet their new ruler was the easy part. I only wish you could’ve seen it, everypony was awestruck that a mere griffin such as myself had overthrown the great and powerful Princesses which they knew and loved.

“Luckily for you, they have no idea that you were even involved little one. As far as they know, I just found a magical artifact of some kind. True, it’s a bit cliché, but the truth is so much more sinister, and honestly I doubt they would allow me any peace if they knew about you.”

Even if it was from a lie, a brief moment of relief passed over Cryssy as she lay in the dungeon. Despite her hopes that ponies would forgive her for all that she had done, especially after the latest addition to her list, deep down she knew that nopony would be very happy with what she’d done, and what she could do in the future. Even though she couldn’t control it, they would never believe her, and she would be exiled as the one who destroyed Equestria.

“But,” Typhoon continued after a moment of silence, “I cannot trust the ponies in that town to stay content for long. So, unfortunately for you my dear, I’m going to have to get that wonderful magic in your body all worked up again.”

Cryssy shrunk back from the griffin, trying to shield her body from the beating she anticipated from an encouraged guard. As much as she hated causing pain to others with her magic, feeling the pain of claws was much worse to her.

“Aw, don’t do that little one, I would never hurt you physically. That’s not nearly as effective in roweling you up, I need to mess with your emotions for you to be at your strongest” Typhoon told her with fake sympathy. “Which is why I’m going to tell you a story about everything your last performance caused in Canterlot.”

Breaking Point

Chapter 14: Breaking Point

The story he told Cryssy was one of pain, of suffering, and of death throughout Canterlot. Her magic had caused the level of destruction that she had never even heard of in storybooks, surpassing even her own imagination. Every time it had happened in the past, she never even thought of what the effects were on those which were caught within the ice she created, the endless pain she caused them.

Her magic did not only affect the air on the outside, but also the inside of the bodies of those around her, her victims. The air in their lungs froze just as the air surrounding them, scarring the tissue and tearing them apart. Upon awaking, they had entered a new level of misery, if they awoke at all. His story told of ponies coughing blood in the streets, and collapsing before the eyes of their loved ones, never to stand again.

She had caused all of this without knowing it, without caring what the effects were. The tears flowing from the unicorn’s eyes could never pull the sadness from her body, unable to show the regret and horror she felt. And these griffins did nothing to comfort her, leaving her alone as she lay broken on the stone of the dungeon, laughing as she began to wish that she had never been born.

The collar burned worse than it had ever done the last time they forced her to wear it, and she thought it may just burn right through her neck and leave a scar on her skin.

Pictures of the carnage outside filled her mind constantly, scenes of dying and dead ponies plaguing her thoughts, only increasing her own pain as the collar continued to fight back the magic building within her body.

And once again the thought of what would happen when the other ponies found out bubbled to the front of her mind. When they discovered she had done this, imprisonment would be the last punishment on their minds. They would demand that she be exiled, or worse, banished like Luna had been so long ago. And she couldn’t blame them for it.

It was another moment of relief, a moment when the doctor took his time in ensuring that Rainbow Dash would not succumb to her wounds, or any infection that may follow them. Despite asking him each day to tend to her friends first, and make sure they were alright before her, the pegasus was once again the first to be cared for.

The blatant disregard for her wishes, coupled with the continuing screams from her friends, infuriated the pegasus to no end. Were she not afraid of what may happen if she struck out at the doctor she would’ve bucked his beak into his head right there, but the thought that he may forgo tending to the others kept her temper in check.

As hard as she tried to keep up a tough act during her own beatings, inside she quietly wished that they would just end it all and kill her already. The worst pain of her life had been nothing compared to the last few days, and she was frightened to think of how much longer this could continue.

Suddenly the door slammed shut, and Rainbow realized that her break had ended, leaving her alone with the guard once again. The large griffin cracked his knuckles and slowly stepped towards her, his eyes scanning over her body with indecision as to where he should strike next.

Just as his talons were raised in preparation to strike, the door once again flew open, stopping his strike just in time. The guard turned to the intruder, quickly falling into a bow rather than attacking the pegasus further.

“Majesty, I didn’t expect to see you here again.”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed at the intruder, her body bubbling with rage as she realized who was standing before her.

“Guard, you’re shift is complete. I will take over from here.”

“Of course Majesty” the guard’s voice poorly hid a hint of enjoyment at his relief’s request, doubtlessly assuming that the pain he had caused would be nothing compared to that which she would cause.

He quickly rose to his feet and stepped from the cell, closing the gate behind him as he made his way down the hallway to the barracks.

Once she was sure the guard was out of the dungeon, Gilda quickly went to work unlatching the chains which held Rainbow to the cell’s wall. At first the action confused the pegasus, but did nothing to remove the anger from her mind. Once the chains were completely detached, the pegasus drove a hoof into the griffin’s beak, knocking her back into the far wall.

“Well, I deserved that” the griffin offered as she wiped a small spot of blood from the side of her beak.

“You’re darn right you did! What the hay is wrong with you?”

The griffin slowly pulled herself back to her feet, taking a brief moment to wipe the dirt from her feathers before speaking, “Listen RD, I know what I’ve done is bad, but-”

“But what? You feel bad?” the pony’s voice dripped with sarcasm as she cut the griffin off, half-tempted to slug her again.

“Not far off” the reply surprised Rainbow a bit, giving her pause as she tried to think of how to respond. “Honestly, I never expected Father would go this far. He told me that he was going to do this without death or pointless violence, but…”

“So how does releasing me stop that?”

“Not just you Dash, I’m here for everyone. This has to end, before Father takes it further.”

Cryssy couldn’t sleep, no matter how tired or exhausted she felt after the events of the past few days. The outburst of magic had drained every ounce of energy from her body, leaving her weak and crippled even after being knocked out for three days. She hoped that Typhoon wouldn’t need her soon, she wasn’t sure she perform another act like that and survive.

Her body had grown used to the surges over the years of her life, leaving her immune to the nastiest of the effects; hypothermia, difficulty breathing, and for the most part she was able to stay on her hooves after each attack. But this had been different. After building the magic for days, it had been even worse than the first ‘accident’ when she was just a filly. Even now she felt weak just laying down, unsure if she would be able to stand if asked.

But even that couldn’t allow her to sleep, not with the thoughts of what she’d done flying through her head, and the fear of what would happen when she was discovered. She had tried to think positively about it, and considered that maybe ponies would see that it wasn’t her fault, that she had been unwilling. But those thoughts were shot down one by one as the negative memories returned.

No, this had not been her fault, but she was the one that couldn’t control her power. The thoughts of how the others could use that against her overpowered the positive hopes she had. What if she was used again? What if she did learn to control it, and became an evil pony that chose to use this power for her own gains?

There was no way to see the future, and no way for Cryssy to defend herself when these questions arose. She had no way to promise that she wouldn’t be used again, and even if she wanted to, she had no way of knowing if the future would lead her to do evil.

And yet, the more she thought, the more something changed within her.

This hadn’t been her fault, and she knew it. She had been forced to do this, used as no more than a weapon by someone that WAS evil. Typhoon had done this, not her, and HE was the one that was to blame for it.

As her thoughts changed, so did the magic within the unicorn’s body. The freezing in her gut was quickly melted as a spark of heat lit within her chest, fueling her thoughts further as the flame spread through her veins.

She never asked for any of this, she just wanted to live happily in Snowhoof with Mama and Daddy, and Red Lightning. And then…then…the griffins came and ruined all of it for her. They chased her for years, tormenting her, and forcing her to avoid friends wherever she went. And she remained afraid, helpless.

And to top all of it off, they had stolen her from the nicest town of ponies she’d ever known. For a few days, they had given her the life she had dreamed of for years, and the feathered demons came and crushed it all again. They…they…they RUINED EVERYTHING!

The cold in her body no longer existed, having long been extinguished by the intense hate building within her body. The fire filling her veins rivaled the collar around her neck in heat, leaving its burn as insignificant as a warm teacup against her skin.

No, she would not be used like that ever again. Little Cryssy was finally going to fight back, and when she did, all of these demons would pay.

Every.

Last.

One.

The fire flickered lightly in the hut, providing just enough warmth to keep the ponies from freezing in the early morning air. Though the sun had finally risen after Celestia’s release, the days of night had left all of Equestria much colder than it was used to in the spring.

Each of the gathered ponies watched patiently as Zecora rubbed an herbal mix over a large gash in Fluttershy’s neck, quickly sealing the wound and killing any infection which may have begun to take hold over the area. The mix burned in the exposed flesh, but the pain quickly subsided once the mixture finished its work on the shy pony.

Each of the others had already completed their own treatments, though they still remained sore from the days of torture they had endured. Even the herbalist zebra could not counter every bit of pain they felt, but she had done everything in her power to heal the ponies.

Getting Celestia to bring them all here rather than leaving for Canterlot herself had taken little work from Twilight and the others, their injuries crushing any opposition she may have put up under other circumstances. But now came the hardest part.

The Princess was once again back in control of her magical powers, which should have made overthrowing Typhoon and his army foalsplay for such a powerful pony. However, the more she thought on this, the more she doubted that charging in alone would be the right way to approach the situation. They knew that Ice Crystal was likely still in Canterlot with Typhoon, and they had no doubt that at the first sign of the Princess he would release her magic once again.

Even for an alicorn, being frozen in ice was not something that could be fought without proper warning. And with the speed that the magic took hold, such a warning was impossible to sight. While she had no doubt that she could put up a protective shield around herself and a few others, the effect this spell would have could never be guessed.

Nopony understood how the blind unicorn’s magic truly worked. If it was simply a wave of power that froze all before it, then a shield would work perfectly, but if it simply flash froze the air, even those under a shield could be stuck within the glacier.

This would require careful timing, and complete surprise to stop Typhoon before he could unchain Ice’s magic, something not easily accomplished when his exact whereabouts were a mystery.

These same thoughts had plagued the mind of Twilight Sparkle as well, and attempting to think of a plan was a challenge for even her overactive mind. If they teleported into the castle itself and were sighted, a guard could sound an alarm, and they could be stuck in ice before they knew what happened. On the other hoof, an all-out assault on the city would leave Typhoon with plenty of time to unchain Ice.

“What is on your mind my student?”

The lavender unicorn turned to her mentor, shaking her head from side to side slowly, “I just don’t see how we can do it Princess. No matter what I think of, there is always the chance that we won’t have enough time.”

“There is always an element of risk Twilight, but sometimes you just have to take it, and stay confident that everything will work out.”

The Princess’ words provided little comfort to the unicorn as she continued to sort through her mind for any new ideas. The risk here was just too high to chance. If they failed and were captured again, they may never get another chance to stop Typhoon. They had one shot.

A sudden thought popped into the unicorn’s mind, something that she had forgotten about after so long.

“Taking risks…THAT’S IT!”

“What’s it? Oh, oh, are we playing tag?” Pinkie shouted in response to Twilight’s outburst, suddenly bouncing around the hut excitedly.

“No, but I think I know how we can stop Typhoon even if he uses Ice’s powers.”

Clipped Wings

Chapter 15: Clipped Wings

“Are ya’ sure this’ll work sugarcube?”

“I’m certain.”

The group of ponies crouched low outside of the once great city of Canterlot, watching closely as the new occupants patrolled the walls and scanned the mountain path with their yellowed eyes. Their feathers were perked in anticipation, apparently word of the recent escape in Skybluff had reached the Emperor.

Twilight Sparkle looked over her shoulder to the gathered ponies behind her, each with a determined look on their faces; even Pinkie, who usually kept a playful look in even the most serious situation.

“Everypony is ready my student, Rainbow Dash has gone to alert the other pegasi, send the signal whenever you’re ready.”

This plan was risky, no doubt about that, but as she had been told by the Princess, she was confident that it would work. Not surprisingly it was simple to gather enough ponies to rebel against the new tyrant of Equestria; in fact most of Ponyville was here, even those ponies who normally abhorred violence.

Twilight still felt a twinge of pain from her scarred chest, unfortunately Zecora’s potions were not a total cure all, but it made her and the others functional enough to participate in the attack.

She nodded to the Princess and focused her energy into her horn, which quickly began to pulse with a purple energy. One of the guards on the wall stopped and turned to the purple glow, straining his eyes to see what was causing it.

He let out a loud shriek of alarm, but not before a pulsing purple light shot into the sky above Canterlot.

“There’s the signal!” Cloud Kicker yelled out to the other pegasi assembled on the clouds above the city.

Rainbow Dash took off and hovered above the clouds for a moment, “Okay everypony! Let’s do this!”

With that a swarm of pegasi shot through the clouds and down into the city below, setting themselves on crash courses with the griffin guards. Rainbow watched as a crowd of unicorns and earth ponies charged from the mountainside on the outskirts of the city, magically throwing stones and tree limbs at the guards on the walls.

Rainbow swung her rear hooves into a guard in a nearby tower, launching him from the ledge and to the ground below. Loud shrieks sounded across the city as guards began to notice the pegasi diving from above, and took to the air themselves.

Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia waited patiently for several minutes behind the others, remaining in the trees just outside of town. So far the plan was working, and any moment now the second part would be played by Typhoon.

The idea had come to her after thinking back on the incident with Nightmare Moon, when she had first found the stones that she believed were the Elements of Harmony. She had been thrown back, separated from the stones by the vindictive mare, and she did the only thing she could think of.

She charged, drawing Nightmare Moon to do the same, racing into a head-on collision which Twilight would’ve undoubtedly lost. But at the last moment, she had teleported past the mare, and once again reached the stones.

She hoped the same idea would work here; draw the enemy to attack, and get behind them. They would attack the city, and force Typhoon to unleash Ice Crystal’s magic on the attackers while she and the Princess stayed where they would hopefully be clear of the ice. When the ice finally came, the two would combine their magic to destroy the magical glacier, releasing the other ponies and leaving Typhoon without his greatest weapon. At this time Princess Celestia would teleport into the castle and take Typhoon out of the fight, leaving the griffins with no reason to continue their fight.

After five minutes the blast never came, nor after fifteen or even half an hour. The fight continued to rage on inside the city, while Typhoon had yet to stop it as they expected.

Something wasn’t right.

As the day slowly passed since Cryssy’s mind had faded into anger, her thoughts continued to spiral further into the flames of hatred for the griffins. Every memory she had over the past two years had warped from one of fear or sadness into a fabricated reality which portrayed the griffins as the cause for everything bad that happened to her.

The memories of days gone by without a single bite of food were changed to her food being stolen in the night by the feathered demons. The times she had spent in caves were changed from survival to stories of imprisonment which she was forced to escape.

The collar around her neck had long since stopped burning away at the magic which filled her body, now only appearing as an accessory around her neck. She was on the brink, and only a small push would be needed to throw her over the edge.

Cryssy’s head turned to the sound of the cell door grinding open, followed by the quiet clicking of talons across the stone floors. It didn’t take long for a second set of talons to announce their arrival in her cell, scratching at the floor with each step.

“Get up pony, the Emperor requires your ‘talents’” the griffin spoke with a light chuckle. “It seems your little friends from Ponyville don’t approve of their new ruler, so you are going to teach them a lesson.”

That was it, the last straw. As the griffin wrapped his talons around her neck and began to lift her, the air around him suddenly began glittering as the moisture was pulled toward her horn, condensing into a fine mist of ice.

In his surprise the griffin drove an elbow into the top of Cryssy’s head, unfortunately only increasing her anger, and making him the first target of her power. The mist of ice pulled to her horn, and was quickly fired through the head of the griffin in the form of an icicle. As the body fell lifelessly to the floor, a flash of vision filled Cryssy’s mind, but something was different about it.

Rather than the usual calm tone of her images, this new flash had taken on a much more angering tone, as if her mind was doing everything in its power to keep her enraged. Though she couldn’t name which ‘color’ it would be called, something about it reminded her of blood.

The spear of ice which had been used to kill the griffin faded back to mist, and floated back toward the blind unicorn. She turned her attention to the other guard in the room, who remained still in the furthest corner of her cell. Cryssy slowly stepped toward him more mist beginning to gather all around her as moisture was sucked from the air itself.

His face was drawn in pure terror as he stared into the eyes of the unicorn, the last sight he ever saw before his body was frozen from the inside out.

“Help!” a scream came from around a corner, one among many that had filled the chaos of the morning. Screams of pain and those of victory filling the air as skirmishes raged on in the streets.

Rarity galloped around the corner to see a crème coated earth pony fighting off a smaller griffin on top of her, desperately bucking at it as the beak snapped inches from her face. The white unicorn magically lifted a nearby chair and swung it into the feathered beast, throwing it off of Bon Bon.

“Thank you so much Rarity!” the earth pony jumped to her hooves and exchanged a quick hug with her savior before turning to make sure her attacker was going to stay down.

Rarity galloped further into the city, racing toward the castle as they had planned. It was all a big distraction, luckily without Pinkie’s song; make Typhoon think they were trying to take the castle by storm, and allow the Princess to counter Ice’s magic before taking on the griffin herself.

A feathered body dropped from the air and crashed into a marble fountain, eliciting a gasp from the fashonista as water splashed over her.

“Sorry about that Rarity!” the familiar tomboyish voice called down from above as a rainbow zipped overhead.

She looked up and sighed; and here she thought she could go the entire day without messing up her mane.

The large wooden gate splintered and shattered across the grass of the courtyard as a griffin flew through it, knocking it into unconsciousness with the impact.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie sprinted into the castle courtyard, the pre-designated meeting point should they make it before they were frozen. They were the first to arrive, and surprisingly no guards were present in the courtyard itself, as if they had given up defending the doors.

Behind them a yelp preceded another griffin flying overhead before crashing into the castle wall. They turned to see the cyan pegasus galloping up to them, a smug smile spread over her face while Rarity trotted close behind her, blue magic pulling knots from her disheveled mane.

“Anypony else notice we ain’t been frozen yet?” Applejack asked as the pair approached.

“Yeah, what gives?”

Within minutes a bright flash appeared behind the Elements. The ponies turned to see Twilight and Celestia standing before them, looks of worry on their faces.

“Twilight, what are you doing here, shouldn’t you be waiting for-”

The windows above them suddenly exploded into a shower of glass as over a dozen griffins shot into the air and began circling above them. The seven ponies backed into a circle and prepared to fend off the attackers, but they never dove in. Instead they flew higher to the sky, disappearing into the clouds quicker than anypony below thought was possible.

Only one darted towards them, the largest of the group, and the only one wearing an obsidian crown upon his head. Typhoon barely pulled up before hitting the ground, collapsing to his chest with a gasp at the hooves of Princess Celestia. “Help…me.”

Before any of the ponies could respond to him, the doors behind them flew open, followed by a single griffin flying through the air and into the stone wall behind the Princess, impaled by a spear of ice. At the impact the icicle faded into mist, and quickly retreated back into the castle itself.

The gathered ponies spun to the doorway, their horns glowing and wings erect, prepared to challenge whatever stepped out. But what they saw froze them where they stood, filling them with surprise, and a twinge of fear.

Ice Crystal stepped through the doorway and into the sunlight, her body surrounded by a swirling cloud of shining vapor. The unicorn’s eyes had abandoned their usual silvery shine, now flashing a hellish red which was mimicked by her horn as the vapor danced before her.

Even the normally eccentric Pinkie Pie remained silent at the sight of the once timid pony. Of all the things they expected to see this day, this new incarnation of Ice had crossed none of their minds.

But the largest surprise, and the piece that even Celestia was struck by, was that the magic countering collar around the unicorn’s neck still remained latched, and was pulsing with a deep purple aura as it continued trying to keep her magic in check.

None of the ponies had even noticed that Typhoon had moved behind them, and was cowering in fear at the sight of the pony which stared into the courtyard. It suddenly made sense to the gathered Elements; the griffins pulling back from the attack, their fleeing to the sky, and Typhoon’s plea for help. The unicorn which had once stumbled into their town helpless and alone had finally reached her breaking point, and the magic which her body held was now turning on those that had taken advantage of her.

“Move” her voice was emotionless, showing no notion of a request.

“Ice, what are you doing?” Twilight shouted to the blind unicorn.

“Retribution” again her voice was monotone, as if she was not in control of her words or actions.

Celestia stepped forward, keeping herself between Ice and the others, her horn beginning to glow with a golden aura. “Ice Crystal, I know you’re angry, but this is not the way to-”

The Solar Princess was cut off as the mist surrounding Ice’s body flew out, solidifying around all of the pony’s hooves, rooting them into the ground. Each of the ponies gasped with surprise at the sudden action. They had all grown to understand Ice could not control her magic, and yet everything she was doing had seemed intentional, the actions only one in control of their power could perform.

As the gathered ponies watched, the unicorn strolled across the courtyard and stepped between them. As she passed by Twilight, the lavender unicorn could feel the power radiating from every hair on her body, and she knew what was happening to the once skittish unicorn.

She had experienced something similar only one time before, back when she had tried to understand Pinkie Pie’s “Pinkie Sense”. Her rage had taken over her body, and her magic rose to levels that threatened to overtake her body. Ice was going through the same phenomenon right now, though for a unicorn which could never control her magic, the power likely had little trouble taking over her actions. She was performing only the will of the part of her mind which was consumed by rage, actions which would lead her down a path nopony should ever consider.

“Ice, please, don’t do this” the unicorn pleaded with the enraged pony beside her. Even a monster like Typhoon did not deserve what was about to happen to him.

Ice Crystal offered no response, and stopped over the once proud griffin. Her eyes locked onto his, and the remaining mist surrounding her body twisted and hardened into the shape of a spike. Slowly the icicle began to move towards Typhoon as he stared into its point, frozen with fear.

“ICE CRYSTAL!”

The voice was accompanied by a golden glow surrounding the spike, halting it in the air. The blind unicorn turned her head toward the source of the shout, Princess Celestia. The alicorn was trotting closer to the unicorn, her hooves freed from the magical ice which had stood no chance against her own power.

With a light nod the icicle was crushed into dust, which quickly faded back into vapors. The unicorn’s red eyes stared lifelessly into Celestia’s own as she approached, though what thoughts lay behind them was a mystery.

The Princess lowered her horn slowly until it tapped the tip of Ice’s own, flashing with a brilliant light which blinded the Elements of Harmony.

Memories, sweet memories filled her mind. Memories of her times with her parents; her fifth birthday when she first gained sight, the nightly bedtime stories with Mama and Daddy, the day they told her about her entry exam into Celestia’s School. Memories of her time in Ponyville; the welcome party filled with smiles from everypony in town, the day with Twilight at the library, Winter Wrap Up, and above all else, the brief gift of vision the lavender unicorn had given her.

All memories of pure happiness for Cryssy, moments in time she treasured above all others. But with these thoughts, why was she so angry? The griffins, they had done terrible things to her, inexcusable things. But through it all, they could never destroy the joy that her life had given over the years. For every bad memory she had ten good ones, if not more.

As the memories flooded her mind, the rage which filled her entire being began to fade, crushed back into the back of her mind by her underlying joy. Her coat halted its constant burning, and her vision returned to its usual calm tone as the mist surrounding her faded into the air.

The speed of her vision slowed, returning to a rate just quick enough to show her what was around her without the strange sight of motion. Her knees wobbled weakly as the magic left her body, allowing the exhaustion of her incident to flood her muscles. After a few flashes, she noticed that Celestia had lifted her head away from her own, a small smile on her muzzle toward the unicorn.

The other six ponies were soon gathered around her, soft smiles on each of their faces. She wasn’t sure why they were smiling at her, but the expression quickly grew to her own face as a weak smile spread across her lips.

The pony heard a light click as the metal of the collar fell from her neck, dropping to the stones beneath her with a loud ring. She wasn’t sure how she managed to see with the collar on, even without the rage fueling her magic, but she would just ask that at a later time. She was more than happy to be rid of the burning ring for the first time in nearly a week.

Celestia quickly diverted her attention from the calmed unicorn, turning to the griffin who had finally stopped his cowering.

She stepped over him, staring down at him with angry eyes, “Typhoon, King of the griffins,” he looked up to her, a small shiver returning to his spine, “you’ve caused the misery of countless ponies, you’ve tortured innocents, you’ve lead an invasion on the nation of Equestria, you’ve tormented an innocent mare for two years of her life, and used her to bring a civilization to its knees.”

The griffin let out a slight chuckle, clearly entertained by his ‘achievements’.

“I have always regretted banishing my sister, feeling that no being deserved that punishment which I bestowed upon her. But you, you have pushed further than any sane creature would imagine.” The king’s look changed into a face of fear, and pleading, “For that, you can never be forgiven, not by me or any other pony.”

The king let out a deep screech as his body began to unwind and flow into the air, a yellow aura pulling him apart strand by strand. The scream echoed through the air long after his body had unwound into nothingness, and was sent to a place only Celestia knew.

Epilogue: When the Ice Melts

The layer of snow coating the ground crunched beneath the wheels of the chariot as it touched down, pasting a smile onto Cryssy’s face as her ears filled with one of her favorite sounds from her childhood.

At this time of year every other town in Equestria had already wrapped up winter, even though Cryssy didn’t understand it when she helped out in Ponyville, and the familiar sound of crunching snow was more welcome than she ever thought it would be; she was finally home.

The decision had not been easy for her, and even now she continued to wonder if she had made the right choice. As much as she had wanted to go back home during her two year ordeal, as the chance finally arose doubts had bubbled into her mind. The town was filled with memories of her past, and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle seeing her home again, not after what had happened there.

She leapt from the seat of the chariot, and her heart skipped a beat as the cold powder fluttered around her hooves, sending waves of nostalgia through her body. She turned to the guards which pulled the chariot, thanking them for the ride on such short notice. They assured her it was no problem, as they had never even seen Snowhoof before; it was a new adventure for them to come all of the way up here.

The Princess’ chariot took off again, disappearing from Cryssy’s view within only a few moments. She couldn’t believe she had been given a ride on the royal chariot, a favor from Celestia herself after all that the blind unicorn had been through. The trip home had been much more pleasant than it would have been if Cryssy had walked, and was only a few hours rather than the weeks it would take otherwise.

She turned away from where the chariot had landed, and was greeted by the beautiful sight of a heavy wooden sign hanging from a pair of trees; Welcome to Snowhoof: The Land of Ice and Snow.

As she passed under the sign a wave of relief passed over the pony, along with a feeling that only home can give a pony; the feeling of truly belonging.

For the days following Typhoon’s banishment, the unicorn had been awaiting the punishment she feared would fall upon her head after everything she’d done. She was sure that after the pain she’d caused that ponies across Equestria, or at least in Canterlot, would be chanting for her head. But the punishment never came.

She started to grow worried that her punishment was being argued by the Princesses after a while, thinking it must be worse than she thought. The hours spent resting in a local hotel brought her no comfort, even though her fees were waved by Celestia herself, and she chose to see them as a ‘last hoorah’ before being sentenced to a life of prison.

Only a few days ago, the two Princesses had come to visit her, and she immediately feared the worst. Yet their words quickly calmed her. The reason she had been left alone was to allow her some rest after her ordeal, not so that they could decide a punishment. In fact, no punishment was to befall her at all. The royal sisters understood everything that had happened, and were perplexed at why Cryssy had ever thought she would be punished for it. Their visit was only to see what she wished to do next, and upon hearing her wish to return home, they quickly offered to help in any way they could.

Just a few hours before her departure, even Gilda had come to visit; with an escort from the Royal Guard of course. At the sight of the griffin a small burning lit in her chest, but it was held back by the knowledge that without her the others may have never escaped. The griffin’s apology had been heartfelt, and the unicorn could hear in her voice that she was honest in all of her words, but she could never bring herself to forgive the griffin. Still, wishing to give her at least some peace of mind, the unicorn had voiced forgiveness, hoping that Gilda would accept it without questioning whether it was true.

The unicorn shook the thought from her head and returned to the present, no longer wishing to linger on any thoughts of what had happened in Canterlot. As she trotted down the path through the trees, Cryssy tried to think of what the town once looked like, and wondered if it had changed in the past two years. She doubted it would be as large and glamorous as cities like Manehatten, and honestly she was fine with that; the town’s small homey feel was always one of her favorite things about Snowhoof, and she was certain that the townsponies would feel the same and fight to keep it that way.

When the town finally came into sight, Cryssy’s eyes glittered with happiness. It looked almost exactly the same as she had left it, with only a few new buildings in view. Snow covered the roofs of the houses and shops as far as her magic could show, and ponies walked to-and-fro between the buildings conducting business or just out on the town for a day of relaxation and shopping.

The unicorn first strolled through the main street, taking in the sights of the town she loved so much. The shops which had been around since she was only a filly were still standing, likely owned and run by the same families as they had been while she grew up. She recognized a few faces as she walked; ponies she had known from school or met through her parents or just from her nights out with friends.

Nopony seemed to pay her any mind, which she understood; she had been gone a long time, and she doubted anypony would recognize her just passing by on the street.

At the end of the street she took a left turn down a small gravel pathway, one which was still cleared of snow each day, one that only lead to one place. Cryssy was slightly afraid of going there, but she needed to, it was something she wished she could have done every day while she was gone.

At the end of the path was a large field which was cleared of snow daily, like the path leading to it. The clearing was well kept, with a neatly groomed cover of grass, interrupted only by the stones which stuck up from the earth in a neatly organized grid.

Cryssy worked her way between the stones, searching for two in particular. Each of the stones was carved into a unique design; a lightning bolt here, a pair of clouds there, but all of them symbolized the same thing.

Cryssy finally found the two she was looking for, placed beside one another near the edge of the clearing. One was carved to resemble a single cloud, while the other was in the shape of a star above two waves.

The blind unicorn fell to her haunches in front of the two stones as her eyes welled up with tears. She focused on the image of the two stones in front of her, her mind travelling back to the time she had spent with the two ponies before that night so long ago.

“Mama…Daddy…” she stuttered as the tears dripped from her cheeks, landing silently on the grass beneath her. “Please f-forgive me.”

The pony collapsed to her chest, laying her head on the grass in front of the headstones as tears streamed from her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

She didn’t know how long she lay before the graves, silently begging for forgiveness as her mind raced through her childhood; all of the joy her parents had showed her, everything they had done for their blind daughter. All of the laughter they had filled her young life with, and all of the love they showed her. They did it all for their little Cryssy, without asking for or wanting anything in return but for her to have a good life.

She had taken it all for granted, as children often do. It had just been the way things were, and she never thought twice about it. Not until that horrible night; the night that her parents were taken away from her. She wished more than anything that she could just see them one last time, to thank them for everything they had done for her; for raising her to be a good pony.

As she mourned a soft gust blew across her body, and a faint sound broke the silence in the air, “I-Ice?”

Cryssy turned her head to the voice, waiting a moment for her magic to flash the image to her mind before turning back to the graves. Beside her stood a pegasus, one that she thought she would never see again.

He trotted to her side and lay down beside her, silently looking to the headstones in front of her. Cryssy found herself leaning into him after a few minutes, her head rested on his shoulder as tears continued to flow from her eyes.

Red Lightning gently placed his wing over her back, silently comforting her as she grieved for her lost parents.

After a few moments a soft whimper breaks the silence, “I’m so sorry Red” Cryssy’s voice shook as she spoke. “I shouldn’t have turned you away…you just wanted to help.”

She felt a hoof wipe her cheek, gently pulling the tears from her coat, “You have nothing to be sorry for Ice.”

She turned to him and stared into his eyes, he gave her the same look he had two years ago; the look of a pony who truly cared for her.

“Losing your parents couldn’t be easy, I understand why you turned me away” as he spoke he turned back to the graves, staring in silence for a moment before speaking again. “What happened to you Ice?”

Cryssy lowered her head at the question, trying to think of anything she could say to hide her true reason for leaving. She couldn’t tell him about the griffins, and everything that had really happened in the past two years. So she told him what she imagined anypony would do after what happened to her, “I just couldn’t be around these memories…everything around me…I just couldn’t stop thinking about what happened to my parents.”

“Did it work?”

The question caught her off guard, she had hoped her explanation would push away any other questions; she couldn’t lie to him again, “No, not entirely.”

Another moment of silence passes between the two, Cryssy’s tears finally stopping as the initial shock of seeing the graves for the first time wore off.

“Are you hungry?”

The blind unicorn turned to the pegasus beside her, a small smile spread across her muzzle at Red’s offer. She thought back to how she felt the first time he had asked her out; the excitement and the happiness from that day after school all returning in the present moment as she looked at him.

“Enjoy your meal” the waitress told the pair happily as she placed the last plate in front of Cryssy.

The two smiled to the young mare which had served their food, and thanked her for the meal. Once she left the two turned back to one another, resuming the conversation they had started just before their food was brought out.

“Well, I stopped in quite a few towns actually” Cryssy began telling Red about where she had gone after she left Snowhoof, focusing on only describing towns, and leaving out any of the more unpleasant details. “I think I enjoyed Trottingham the most. Everypony was really nice, and it was such a clean city. It wasn’t as nice as home, but it felt like a good town.”

“I’ve heard of that city before,” Red replied once he finished chewing a bite of his sandwich, “but I’ve heard the ponies there have a strange accent.”

Cryssy giggled a little at the memory, “Yeah, it’s a little different from what you’re used to hearing.”

“Did you ever get to see Canterlot?”

Cryssy took a bite of her salad and chewed it slowly, trying to think of how she could describe the regal city without it sounding corny. Once she finished chewing and gathering her thoughts, she swallowed the leaves and replied, “Yes, that was the last place I went before coming back here” she looked across the street, staring at the food carts and vendors as she continued. “It was…nice. The buildings were beautiful, and very big. I could hardly see the tops of most of them.”

She heard Red chuckle a bit, “It sounds a lot like how the books describe it.”

She turned back to him and nodded happily, “Definitely, but they don’t do it justice. You need to see it yourself sometime, it’s wonderful.”

“I may just do that, fly on over one day to see it” Red told her with a smile.

The rest of the meal was spent chatting about how things have been in Snowhoof since she left. Cryssy found out that Red got a job working with the town weather team. The weather in Snowhoof may only come in two forms; snowing or sunny with a chance of snow, but it is a lot of work to get all of the clouds moved. The more common of the weather patterns is snowing, and it requires a lot of clouds to keep that pace up, so even in storms the teams spend most of the day rotating the clouds so fresher ones are near the bottom while others are sent up top to be replenished with snow.

That was Red’s favorite part; refilling the clouds with snow. It was tough, and required a lot of flying to keep the snowflakes flowing from the factory floating overhead; but it kept him busy, and made the days fly by, literally. Cryssy was lucky enough to catch him on his day off, the only one of the week.

Once the two finished eating, Red quickly offered to pay for the meal, arguing that Ice shouldn’t have to pay when it was his idea in the first place. Cryssy agreed, but said she owes him another dinner, bringing the total up to two.

“I still owe you from the night I promised you a second date” she told him with a wink.

As the two trotted away from the diner, Cryssy turned to the pegasus with a shy look on her face. “Red, would you mind…coming with me to see my old house?”

The pegasus smiled and nodded, “It would be my pleasure Ice.”

“Before we get there,” Red spoke for the first time since the two had left the diner, “you should know that it is not what you remember.”

The two ponies walked slowly down the streets of Snowhoof, the familiar path that Cryssy had taken home from mid-town throughout her childhood. It all looked almost identical to what she remembered, only a few renovations to the homes lining the roads gave away that she had even been gone.

She turned to the pegasus as they walked, “What do you mean? Did the new owner change the house?” she almost sounded angry.

“No, nothing like that” Red assured her. “You’ll have to see it to understand.”

As the two grew closer to Cryssy’s old home, she slowed her pace, as if she was afraid to see her old home again. And she was afraid; afraid that all of those thoughts, all of the sadness, which had plagued her for almost two years, would come back in an instant.

Those feelings which had not affected her when she saw her parent’s graves earlier that day, and she knew why; she had no sad memories of her parents themselves. They had only given her joy in her life, never a moment of her youth was spent in sadness as long as mama was there to lift her back up and daddy was there to keep her strong. But the house was different. That was where it had all happened, where it had begun. But she had to see it again, to push through the misery and sadness it had forced on her life.

She never could have expected what she saw when they finally reached the curb in front of her childhood home. The house had completely disappeared, and had been replaced by what appeared to be a giant snowflake.

“After you disappeared,” Red spoke from behind her, “the town spent a week searching for you. Work in the town stopped, everypony that could helped with the search. We combed the forest, and looked within a day’s walk of town down every road. My father led the airborne search; we looked for you everywhere Ice, but there was no sign of you.

After that, we all tried to go back to our lives, but we never realized how much your family had affected all of us each day. Whenever we walked past your home, a wave of sadness seemed to pass over us. Your family was loved by everypony here Ice, and we couldn’t take the sadness.

“Six months ago, the town unanimously agreed to remove your family’s old home, and replace it with this” he motioned with a hoof toward the snowflake. “It’s carved from glimmer marble, a stone that is only found in the forest surrounding Snowhoof.”

Cryssy slowly walked toward the carving, and noticed a pathway which passed through a garden. She stopped at the edge of the path, and looked to each side. Hundreds of flowers were planted on either side of the pathway, one side arranged to form a cloud, while the other looked like a star above waves; her parent’s cutiemarks.

A tear dripped from her cheek and fell onto one of the petals beneath her as she looked at the garden. She wished she could see more than ever, even if just for a moment, to see the care which had been put into the site.

“There is a third arrangement behind the statue, it’s your cutiemark” Red said quietly as he stepped beside her.

Cryssy looked back to the path before slowly trotting closer to the statue. At the base of the giant snowflake was a single pedestal, with a slightly raised portion in the center. She stopped above the block of stone, and stared down at the raised section; she knew what it was, and her inability to read was more painful now than ever.

“The nurse at the hospital wrote it” Red’s wing gently folded over her side as he began to read.

In Loving Memory
Snowfall, loving mother, cherished wife, and friend to all
Riptide, caring father, proud husband, and the greatest weather planner in the land
Ice Crystal, the child of Snowfall, able to bring joy to even the saddest pony

Though they were taken from us so tragically, they continue to give us all inspiration to stay happy through even the toughest of times.

Tears matted the coat on Cryssy’s cheeks as he finished reading the plaque, flowing freely as she was overcome not with sadness, but with joy. She had no idea how much everypony in Snowhoof had cared about her and her family, and that thought filled her with more happiness than she had felt since before her parents had died.

At that moment she knew she had made the right choice. That no matter how many bad times she went through, or how terrible some memories may be, the good memories were the ones that mattered.

And now she was free to create a lifetime of good memories in Snowhoof.

-The End-

Well, the final editing and re-writing of Cold as Ice is complete. I greatly apologize for how long it took for this to happen, and I regret having not finished this story in the correct manner the first time through.
To the readers which originally made this story a success, and gave me the motivation to continue it, I offer my deepest thanks, and again I apologize for taking so long to end it the proper way.
To those who have read the original ending, you will notice that Ice Crystal has taken a bit of a change in this new ending. The reasoning for this is that I felt she had remained static during the first version of the story, with very little development through time. My hope is that this new ending gives her more depth, and makes her character stronger overall.

I hope all of you enjoyed reading this story, and will continue to read any fictions I write in the future.

On that note, the sequel will likely still happen, but it will be placed on a new timeline, taking place deeper in the future rather than directly after this story. I will not promise it will be written, but if it is I hope you all enjoy it as well.

Again, thank you all for reading.

-CamoBadger

Glass Eyes

Chapter 1: Glass Eyes

Snowfall stepped back into her home, the cold stone clicking loudly beneath her hooves with each step. The cold air bit through her coat, eliciting a small shiver as she trotted further into the room toward the couch. Close behind her was her loving husband Riptide. The blue pony stepped around his wife, making his way to the other end of the room and to the fireplace. His horn lit with a pale blue light, which a few small logs of wood mimicked as they were lifted into the stone walls. Once they were placed a bolt of energy shot from his horn, lighting the wood before him.

For the first time in a week, their home was filled with heat, and the flickering yellow light of the fire. Snowfall settled herself onto the couch, wiggling her torso to move the small bundle from her back to her belly. The bundle shifted a bit as it was bathed in the heat of the fire, and a pair of glassy eyes popped out of the top. Snowfall unfurled her wing and gently covered the little filly, her beautiful newborn daughter.

She looked to her husband, a smile from ear to ear across her muzzle. He moved to the couch and lay beside his wife and daughter, nuzzling into the pegasus' neck and staring down at the eyes poking from beneath her wing. "Have you thought of a name?" He asked his wife lovingly, unable to take his eyes away from their little foal.

"Yes. I thought of it on the way home" she told him as she lay her head over his, "Her eyes are so beautiful, like looking into ice."

Riptide nodded in agreement, "They certainly are."

"So, I decided to name her Ice Crystal."

The unicorn smiled at the name and rubbed his nose against the filly's, "Ice Crystal...it's perfect."

"Mama!" a little yell came from the other room, not of fear, just of curiosity. "Mama, where are you?"

Snowfall smiled and yelled back from the kitchen, "I'll be right there dear, I'm making cookies!" She could hear a series of light thuds in the other room; her daughter's little hooves hitting the ground after each jump of joy. The sound always made the mare giggle, especially when paired with the sight of her daughter bouncing up and down with her big toothy grin.

"Yay! Cookies" the squeaking voice replied joyously between thuds.

Snowfall closed up the oven and trotted into the other room, greeted with the sight of her daughter still bouncing like a jumping bean. When she heard her mother enter the room, the little filly stopped jumping and opened her eyes; those beautiful silvered eyes.

When the doctor had told her, the pegasus had been devastated. Her daughter, her little Ice Crystal, had been born blind. She had spent a lot of the next day crying, not even Riptide's best efforts had been able to comfort her. She was so worried that her little girl would get hurt, or that she wouldn't be able to do all of the fun things that other fillies could. Everything she had done as a foal; the games with friends, drawing pictures with colorful crayons, even bouncing a ball around, her daughter wouldn't be able to do any of that.

But after a few days, she noticed that the filly was almost always smiling, as if she didn't know anything was wrong. At first she thought Ice was just putting on a brave face for Mama, but that wasn't it at all, she was actually happy even without being able to see.

And ever since then Ice Crystal was a bundle of joy. She hardly ever cried, and she found happiness in the smallest things. Every time she heard her father yell "I'm home!" after a long day of work, she would light up. And once she learned to walk she would stumble her way over to him. Sure she bumped a table or a chair once or twice, but once she figured out where everything was, she had no problem at all.

"What are you playing in here?" Snowfall asked as she brought herself back to the present.

"I'm playing Guessy!" Ice Crystal replied enthusiastically.

"Guessy! And what have you found so far?" The pegasus asked her daughter.

The game of Guessy was a game created by Riptide for his daughter. Every morning before he went to work, the stallion would place a few 'mysteries' in the playroom. The game was for Ice Crystal to find the items, and then guess what they were based off of how they felt, what noises they made, or sometimes what they smelled like. He started out using easy things, but as his daughter got older and started to guess those too easily, he started getting new 'mysteries' to challenge her.

"Well," the filly took a deep breath, "the first one was a book, but Daddy thought he could trick me by putting balloons on it."

"Oh did he?" Snowfall asked her daughter in a fake angry tone, "And why would he use balloons?"

Ice Crystal thought for a second before smiling really big, "Because today is my birthday!"

Snowfall smiled and sat on her haunches beside the filly, "That's right! How old are you today?"

The little unicorn started bouncing up and down again, her hooves clicking against the stone floor with each jump, "I'm 5 Mama! You know that!"

The mare smiled and wrapped her wing around her daughter, "That's right!"

Ice Crystal's ears swiveled to the front of the house as the front door clicked shut. "I'm home!" a male voice called.

Snowfall released her daughter from her wing, "Go say 'hi' to Daddy."

"Daddy!" the filly shouted as she ran to the front of the house, almost running into Riptide's leg.

"Hi there birthday girl!" He bent down and caught her in a hug as she ran. "How was your day Cryssy?"

"It was good!" the filly replied as she hugged her daddy back. "I played Guessy, and Mama's making cookies!"

The unicorn placed his daughter back on the floor, and levitated a small package behind her. "Mm, what kind of cookies?" he asked her.

Cryssy sniffed the air for a moment, then smiled back to her daddy, "Smells like chocolate!" she yelled excitedly.

"Ooo, your favorite, right?"

"Of course" Snowfall chimed in. "Welcome home dear." The pegasus welcomed her husband with a quick kiss.

"But before we eat those delicious cookies," Riptide placed the package on the floor behind his daughter, "it's time to open your present." He smiled to her.

Cryssy's smile could have lit up half of Equestria as she reached out in front of herself to find the box, or bag, or whatever else daddy had put the gift in this year. Snowfall pushed the box around to the filly's hooves, smiling as she tried to pull the ribbon off with her teeth.

She turned and whispered to her husband, "Did you find them?"

He smiled and nuzzled with the pegasus, "Yeah. The store only had 2, I hope she doesn't mind."

"How long will it take her to outgrow them?"

"Not long I think, but the shop owner offered to expand them as she got older."

"How nice of him."

The filly finally tore the last piece of wrapping paper off of the box, and started working on the box itself. She was so excited she started to shake, and a little spark shot off the tip of her horn. Her mother didn't notice, but her father did, and his eyes lit up with pride.

The box finally popped open, and Snowfall bent down beside her daughter, "What did you get?"

The filly quickly turned her head and smiled to her mother, "I got bracelets!"

Snowfall stood up and stared at her daughter for a moment, knowing Riptide was doing the same beside her. The two looked at each other in shock before looking back to their daughter. "How...how do you know that sweety?" Riptide asked her, "You haven't even touched them yet."

Cryssy smiled to her father, her eyes shining with joy, "Because they look like bracelets!"

The Power of Emotion

Chapter 3: The Power of Emotion

Celestia's golden sun rose from the east as the chariot touched down in Canterlot. The streets were still vacant, and not a pony was in sight as the family stepped into the regal city. Ice Crystal lay curled between her mother's wings, her nostrils whistling lightly with each sleepy breath.

The ride had been something new and exciting for the little filly, both due to her never having flown, and it being her first time out of Snowhoof. She spent most of the trip leaning over the side of the chariot, the wind blowing through her blue mane as the little bow at the end flopped up and down on her neck. Behind her, Riptide rested one hoof on the end of her tail, just in case his daughter got excited and tried to climb further over the rail.

Just before sunrise the early morning finally caught up with her, and she climbed onto her mother's back to get a little sleep. The pegasus lifted her wings around her daughter, shielding her from the wind and the sunlight when it finally rose.

Riptide paid the cabbies and thanked them again for showing up so early. "It's no problem sir, it was a wonderful morning to fly" and with that the chariot rolled down the street and lifted off.

The unicorn joined his wife and the pair began the walk to the school. "How's she doing?"

"Sounds like she's still fast asleep" Snowfall replied with a yawn.

"You sound like you could use a little nap yourself" Riptide told her and nuzzled her as they rounded a corner.

The pegasus smiled and placed a wing over her husbands back, "I'll be alright for a while, I'll get some sleep on the way home."

The sudden motion woke their daughter from her nap, and her head snapped up quickly. "Are we there yet?"

Riptide chuckled a little and looked over his shoulder to the filly, "Yes Cryssy, we're here."

The unicorn smiled and leaped off of Snowfall's back as her horn sparked to life, filling her mind with images of everything around her. The city was amazing! Her magic couldn't even show her the tops of most of the buildings, and the road felt weird. It didn't feel like dirt, or even snow; it felt like the floor inside their house. She also noticed that the air felt warm, like there was a fireplace everywhere. She wondered if they were inside at first, and she almost went to explore this new place before she remembered what her parents had told her the day before. 'Canterlot is a big city sweetie, don't go wandering off without us or you might get lost'.

She turned back and galloped to her parent's side, "I love Canterlot!"

"Thank you for your effort Miss Trixie, I'm so sorry you didn't pass" A green unicorn was trying to comfort a little blue filly.

"Don't cry dear, it's a hard test" The filly's mother tried to calm down her bawling daughter.

"B-but I f-f-faaaaailed!" she continued crying as her mother escorted her out of the hall, "I..I'll be b-back! You'll all s-see how g-great and powerful I am!"

Cryssy turned to her own mother "Mama, why was she crying?"

"I don't know dear" Snowfall told her daughter, not wanting to worry the filly before the test.

The green unicorn looked up from a clipboard that was floating in front of her and smiled to the trio that was approaching. "Good morning, you must be the family from Snowhoof."

"That's us" Riptide replied happily. He had gotten more and more excited the closer they came to the school, and now that they were finally inside he could barely contain his excitement for Cryssy. He had never been given a chance to audition at the school himself as a colt, no matter how badly he wanted to, and just being here made him feel like a foal again.

"And this must be Ice Crystal" she bent down to the smiling filly, "welcome to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

Cryssy's smile expanded, "I go to school here now?"

The three adults giggled at the filly's excitement. "Not yet Miss Crystal," the green unicorn told her, "we just need you to take a little test first."

Cryssy cocked her head to the side, "I'm not 'Miss', my name is Cryssy."

"Of course dear," the unicorn smiled again, "now I need to ask your parents a few questions. Can you wait over on that chair for me?"

Cryssy continued to look at the unicorn, "which one? There are 3" she asked with a confused look on her face.

Riptide interjected to avoid confusing the unicorn with the clipboard, "sorry, she's blind. Go sit on the one in the middle sweetie."

The filly nodded and trotted over to the chair, pulling herself up as the adults continued to talk together. "How did she know how many chairs there are if she's blind?" the green unicorn asked the parents.

"She uses magic to see things," Snowfall answered, "but she can't see motion, so when you pointed she didn't see it, she just saw the 3 chairs."

"But," the unicorn was still confused, "how could she tell if she didn't look away from me?"

"The magic is like sonar, it doesn't only show what her eyes are looking at," Riptide continued the explanation, "it show's everything in front of her, so she has a wider field of vision."

"Oh, okay," the unicorn smiled in semi-understanding, "well I think I see why she was offered a chance to test."

Riptide looked to his daughter in pride, then back to the green unicorn, "so what were those questions you needed to ask us?"

"Just a few simple things, first, how old is she?"

"She's 5."

"Okay," the unicorn scribbled on her clipboard, "and how long ago did she start using magic?"

"Umm, about 3 months. Does that sound right dear?" Riptide asked his wife for confirmation.

"Ya, sounds right to me."

"Okay, 3 months" the unicorn scribbled more notes.

Cryssy ignored whatever the adults were talking about, she could hear it, but it all sounded boring, so she just tried to see what was around the room. There were the 3 chairs, and one table beside one of them. The walls looked kinda funny, there were big squares sticking out in some places, but they looked like stairs on the sides. There was one door close to her, with a big fancy looking thing stuck on it. It looked a little like how Mama described the sun, but the filly couldn't really tell.

"Okay Ice Crystal, are you ready dear?" The green unicorn was standing in front of her, a smile on her face.

"Okay!" the unicorn squeaked and climbed down from the chair. She saw that her parents were smiling across the room, waving to her.

"Good luck Cryssy!" they both cheered to her.

The green unicorn led Cryssy over to the door with the fancy thing on it, and opened it. There was a big room on the other side, with a hole in the ceiling for some reason. On the right she noticed there were 3 ponies sitting in some chairs, each with a clipboard floating in front of them.

The middle pony stood up, "Thank you for coming Miss..." the pony flipped a page on her clipboard, "Ice Crystal."

Cryssy was confused, why did everypony keep calling her Miss? Before she could correct them, the pony continued talking, "This will be the test to decide if you will study magic here at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. You will only have one chance, so try your best" the pony finished and sat back down.

On the other side of the room, another door, with that same fancy thing on it, opened and another pony pushed in a cart, with some kind of ball on top of it.

"What's that?" Cryssy asked the unicorn beside her.

"Your test is to hatch this dragon egg. Start whenever you are ready." The middle pony spoke again.

The filly looked back to the weird ball, which was apparently an egg, a really big egg. She didn't know what a dragon was, but it had to be something big if it came out of that huge egg. She walked over to the cart and tried to pull the egg off of the top.

"It has to be hatched with magic dear" the unicorn told her before she could get it down.

Cryssy heard some writing on the other side of the room as she climbed back down to the floor. She pointed her horn at the egg, and started trying to picture the egg hatching in her mind, just like Daddy taught her to do. But she couldn't picture it, all she could see in her mind was the room as batty vision continued to flash the pictures into her head. She tried to ignore the pictures, but she couldn't, so she tried to stop batty vision.

The little unicorn's horn began flashing wildly, sending out more and more waves of magic, giving her more and more pictures of what was around her. She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath, doing everything she could to try and push the magic out. But nothing happened to the egg. A strange feeling began to tingle in her chest, like she was being poked all over. Was this what magic felt like? If so, she wasn't sure she liked it, but maybe if she kept trying...

After 5 minutes of pushing, the tingling in her chest shot into her head, and everything went black. The pictures stopped appearing, and Cryssy's head was throbbing with a terrible headache. She sat down and massaged her head with her hooves, trying to make the pain go away.

She felt a hoof on her back, and the green unicorn's voice next to her, "Are you okay dear?"

Cryssy just shook her head, wishing she could see what happened.

"Come on dear, let's go see your parents."

The filly stopped massaging her head and stood up, she spun around, still surrounded in blackness. Batty vision must have broken, she couldn't see anymore. She frowned and started walking in a direction that she hoped was the door.

"Cryssy, are you okay?" She heard Mama's voice behind her. Tears started to form in her eyes; after being able to see for the past few months, she was scared that batty vision had broken. "What's the matter sweetie?"

"Batty vision," the tears started to fall to the floor beneath her, "I can't s-see."

She felt herself being lifted up, and the familiar feel of Daddy's magic wrapped all around her. She was put down onto Snowfall's back, where she curled into a ball.

"Is she going to be alright?" the green unicorn asked her parents, "should I get the nurse?"

"No, I think she just over-worked herself" Riptide replied as they walked back into the hallway.

Through her crying Cryssy asked one question before they left, "D-did I pass the t-test?"

The green unicorn shook her head, "no, I'm so sorry dear."

The filly started to cry even more, not only had she failed, but she'd broken batty vision. She was going to be blind again, probably forever! She could feel a wing stroking her side, but it didn't comfort her much. She wanted to see again, even though she failed the test, and she wouldn't mind the headache as much either if she could just see.

Suddenly, the tingling returned in her chest and an image flashed into her mind, the familiar picture of her mother's mane. Then another, and another. Cryssy's crying quieted, and she slowly smiled. Batty vision was back!

After the scare in Canterlot, Riptide and Snowfall were much more careful about their daughter using her magic. They still wanted her to study, but they thought she might have just been lucky that her vision had returned the second time. The last thing they wanted was to see their little filly so sad again.

Cryssy was still a little sad about not passing the test, she really wanted to learn more about magic. But the good part was that now she could stay here with her parents, it would've been really lonely in Canterlot without them. And besides, daddy said he would keep reading magic books to her every night, and mama was going to teach her how to make cookies!

But for now, her parents were both at work. They said they both had to help out with the blizzard today, and that they would be home as soon as possible. Cryssy could hear the wind and snow blowing really fast outside, and the house shook a bit from time to time with the wind. But she was used to that, it wasn't her first blizzard, Snowhoof had one every year.

So the unicorn tried to practice her magic while she waited for Mama and Daddy to get home. She didn't want to get that bad headache again, so she tried to do easy things like move her toys. She heard a little cracking noise a couple of times, but whenever she would look around to find what it was, she never saw anything. She would tell herself "it's just the storm" and go back to practicing.

A stream of cold air blew across the unicorn's back, prickling the hairs of her coat. She spun her head around to the front of the house, thinking maybe Mama or Daddy had come in quietly. But the door was still closed tight, and nopony was in the front room.

She started to look around the room slowly, searching for where the wind was coming from. On the far side of the room, she noticed a little crack in the wall was letting in snow, and the cold wind too. It was in the furthest corner from the fireplace, leaving it just cold enough for the snow to rest unmelted. Cryssy trotted over to the small mound of snow, and sat in front of it.

"Snow is light," she told herself as she focused on the little fluffy pile, "it should be easy to move for magic practice."

She started trying to picture the snow moving, just like she had done in Canterlot, but this time she didn't try too hard. Batty vision was making it hard again, but she didn't want to try turning it off, it might not come back again, and that would be really bad; she didn't want to be blind for a third time.

After trying to move the snow with magic for a while and failing, the little filly got bored and just started playing with it. She made little designs in it with her hooves and tried to make a little snowpony, but it was really hard with only short flashes of vision. She wondered if she could use her magic if she put her horn IN the snow; then the magic wouldn't have to go so far to reach it.

She stuck her horn into the little pile, but pulled it out really quick, "owwwww, brainfreeze!" she squealed as she tried to warm her horn up with her hooves.

The cracking noise came back behind her, but it was a lot louder this time. Cryssy spun around real quick, and at first she didn't see anything weird, but then a picture flashed in her mind of another pile of snow on the other side of the room. Each picture after that had the pile getting bigger, and the cracking noise got louder and changed into more of a crumbling sound. Suddenly, a fuzzy head was poking into the wall, but it didn't look like a pony.

The room suddenly got really cold as the fire was blown out by wind flowing through the big hole, and snow was fluttering all around the house. The fuzzy head came in further, and soon Cryssy saw what looked like a pony, but it was smaller, and it didn't have a mane. The fuzzy thing looked over to her, and before the filly knew what happened, she got hit by something, and fell onto her back.

Batty vision flashed her a picture of the big fuzzy thing, it was on top of her, and it had...really BIG sharp teeth. Suddenly, Cryssy was very scared. She knew what the fuzzy thing was now, her mother had told her stories about the Winter Wolves that lived in the woods near Snowhoof. They were really mean, and they...

Cryssy screamed as loud as she could, she didn't want to be taken into the woods and disappear forever!

The wolf flinched for a moment at the scream, but quickly resumed his attack, licking his lips as he prepared to get a first taste of his latest meal.

*CRACK*