Winds of Wintercrest

Chapters

Into the White
Those Lost in the White
The Hunt in the White
Waking Up in the White
Furies in the White
Parting with the White

Into the White

Her scarf whipped in the wind as the snowstorm raged on. She could see only a few feet in front of her. Beyond that was a blanket of stinging white and the blurry forms of trees long dead from the cold; and that was when she looked ahead. Snow carried by the wind smacked her in the face, so she resigned herself to squinting at the ground in front of her. She had tucked her mane into her parka to keep it from blowing in her eyes. Not that it did much good.

“Sweetie Belle!” cried Rarity. “Sweetie Belle, where are you? Apple Bloom? Scootaloo?”

Every time she called, the cold bit at the inside of her mouth. Every breath was like ice, and her lungs were frozen. The winter jacket she wore kept a good deal of the cold out but left her face completely exposed.

The snow crunched under her boots as she sank up to her fetlocks in it. The winds tangled up in the trees and whistled between the branches. Rarity’s voice could only travel so far. She needed to find Sweetie Belle and her friends soon.

She prayed they’d be alright.

“Rarity! Hey, Rarity!”

Through the shrieking wind, Rarity could barely hear the voice behind her. Rainbow Dash was trudging along behind her; the wind was too much for her to fly in. She clamped her wings tightly to her torso to keep them warm. Her snow jacket and wool beanie that she had borrowed from the lodge covered everything but her wings. In her rush, she hadn’t grabbed a scarf, so she kept her chin tucked in the jacket’s collar to protect her neck from the unforgiving weather.

“Can you even see where you’re going? How are we certain those fillies went this far up the mountain?”

Rarity stopped and shouted over her shoulder. “We saw their hoofprints come up this way. There were no prints coming back. They could be lost, hurt, or worse!”

“They’re not stupid fillies! They would know better than to go through weather like this. Maybe Cheerilee and Applejack found them already. Let’s go back.”

The wind whistled in her ears, and a large, bellowing growl echoed through the white. A loud, beastly sound, as if the mountain was warning her. Rarity looked at the direction she thought the sound came from, but she couldn’t see anything.

“Rarity, look!” Rainbow pointed at the snow behind them. “Our tracks are disappearing. If we don’t go back now, we’ll get lost too.”

“But--”

“But nothing. What if Sweetie Belle were to lose you?”

She couldn’t breathe. The thought of losing Sweetie Belle bore heavily on her mind, but she never considered how hard Sweetie would take it if she were to be lost in this snow. Her imagination raced and flooded her mind with Sweetie’s ragged face when told of the terrible news; her cries and weeping filled Rarity’s head as she pictured the impact this would have had on her life. It was too much to bear. She could never do that to Sweetie.

But she had to push on! They could be lost and scared. How could she be sure if Sweetie was safe? The tracks left by the three would have vanished by now. If Rarity were to return to the cabin and venture out again, all traces of Sweetie would be gone.

Though Rainbow had a point: Sweetie was a bright filly. She’d know better than this. At the first sign of trouble, she’d head back. If anything, she was probably the most sensible out of her little club and would have convinced the others to turn back.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath to calm herself and let it out before turning back to Rainbow. “Alright, let’s go back.”

The two turned around to retrace the few tracks that were still visible, but then the ground underneath Rarity gave. She screamed as she tumbled down a slope until she hit something hard.

“Rarity? Rarity!?”

She shook away the dizziness, but the pain in her back and head remained. The grey-white sky above them was almost indistinguishable from the white shelf of snow and ice before her. Everything was a shade of white or grey until Rainbow poked her head over the cliff. She must have been twenty or so feet above her, but in this weather Rarity was robbed of any sense of distance.

“Hang on, Rares, I’m gonna find a way down. Just stay there.”

“Wait, Rain--”

She was gone.

As tempting as it would be, Rarity refused to lie down and rest. She would be buried alive in minutes. It took some rolling, but she was able to find solid ground to grip onto and push herself up. Cautiously, Rarity put more weight onto her hooves once she was sure the ground below her wouldn’t crumble away. Back on her feet, she looked around, but everything was still a blinding white, except for the tree that broke her fall and the faint shadows of the dead trees surrounding her.

Without Rainbow at her side, panic built up in her stomach. She had no idea where she was, or from which direction she had come. Even if Rainbow was able to find her, how would they know which way to go? She breathed faster with each doubt that surfaced.

No, don’t panic. Everything will work out fine. You’ll get out of this, Rarity. You’ve gotten out of worse things before.

Being a business owner had taught Rarity there was always something proactive that could be done in any situation, even in times like this. She scoured the area around her for any unique landmarks that she could remember and could give her a sense of location.

Nothing but dead trees and white as far as she could see. There had to be something, so she looked around again. As she watched, she noticed a very peculiarly shaped tree. Even through the dense snow, Rarity could make out the mangled trunk bent at unnatural angles; she swore her mind must have been playing tricks on her, because it looked as though it was swaying like a snake. The hypnotic bends and curves spread upward out of the tree. She had to be hallucinating. She blinked the white out of her eyes and wiped her face with a boot to get the snow off her eyelashes, but that had the opposite of the desired effect.

When she opened her eyes again, a pair of ghostly eyes were staring into hers. She recoiled with a yelp and slipped in the snow. A phantom had appeared in front of her. The faint outline of the being was slightly taller than she, and the more she focused on it, the clearer the phantom’s form became.

It was a unicorn with crystal blue eyes.

Rarity screamed and pushed off the ground. She fell onto her back and fought to get up, but she only managed to slip around and kick up more snow.

“Miss. You need my help.”

Rarity stopped her screaming and looked up at the ghost before her, but her breathing remained rapid. The unicorn of the mountain, just like the one the lodge owner had told of in the fable of the mountain and its never-ending storm.. He was real!

“What - I beg your pardon?”

The see-through unicorn lowered his head, and his eyes, the most visible part of the clear pony, locked onto hers. “You are lost. You won’t survive your trek back down the mountain. You need my help, or it will get you.”

Very faintly, Rainbow’s voice could be heard over the wind. “Rarity, hang on. I’m coming!”

Rarity didn’t take her eyes off of the unicorn. The unicorn’s face was as cold as the snow. No smile warmed his face, and his eyes were distant and piercing and gouged Rarity like sharpened icicles. He looked down at her from his snout.

She couldn’t look away from the ghostly unicorn. “Rainbow, over here!” She put her front hooves underneath and pushed herself up out of the snow. “Who… Pardon me, but who are you?”

“My name is Astral. Astral Body,” said the unicorn in a deep, soft voice. “You need my help.”

“Um, nice to meet you, Astral. I’m Rarity. And--” Rarity took a moment to realize there was a possibility that she was either talking to a ghost or she had hit her head harder than she thought. “--my friend and I are lost. Could you help us?”

The being nodded. “Yes, but you can’t go down now. You’ll need shelter.”

“Rarity? Rarity! There you are!” Rainbow came bounding around the tree that had stopped Rarity in her roll down the hill. “Rarity, I heard you scream. Are you al--” She stopped as she saw the unicorn. She jumped back and shrieked, “Rarity, look out! There’s something next to you!”

Rainbow lunged at Astral, but the thick layer of snow slowed her down long enough for Rarity to jump in front of her. “Wait, Rainbow, he’s here to help us!”

“What do you mean!?”

The unicorn stepped around Rarity. “You’ll both need my help. Come, I know where we can--”

There was that roar again, the same one that Rarity heard before, but this time it overpowered the wind. It was louder, clearer, and closer.

The unicorn looked in the direction of the sound. His eyes opened a bit wider and his lips tightened. “Come,” he said, his voice more tense. “We must get to shelter, now.” He turned around and walked at a brisk pace, leaving behind quickly fading hoofprints.

Rainbow leaned against Rarity and whispered into her ear, just loud enough to be heard over the wind, “I don’t know if we can trust that thing.”

“I understand, but what other choice do we have?”

The two followed the ghost with the hoofprints deeper into the white.

Those Lost in the White

The earth-brown walls of the cellar glowed with a warm light, and the crackling of the fire was a welcome change to the whistle of the winds outside. The bare cellar reeked of rotten, moldy wood, and the smoke from the fire dispersed through some of the narrow, paneless windows at the top of the walls, under which were piles of snow. Rainbow or Rarity had to occasionally push a hoof through the windows to clear them and let out the smoke. Asphyxiation didn’t sound any better than freezing to death.

Much to their dismay, there wasn’t any dry wood in the shelter Astral had led them to--the cellar of one of several dilapidated houses of a ghost village. Of the whole village, only a few houses were left standing that weren’t completely covered in snow. Several chimneys and rooftops littered the landscape where trees didn’t grow around the village near the peak of the mountain. In order to get wood to build the fire, Rainbow tore apart a nearby roof while Rarity collected sticks and branches. They also salvaged old farming equipment. The two broke the handles off of rusty shovels, pickaxes, and hoes and added them to the pile. Rarity used a heating spell to dry some wood and start a small fire, then put all the other wet wood nearby, in the hopes that the heat would dry the other kindling.

The cellar provided plenty of protection from the biting wind, but the cold still seeped in through the windows and the frozen dirt floor. Rarity hated being there in the musty ruins, but this dismal hole in the ground was a huge improvement from the wasteland outside. Oh, what she would give to be back at the lodge, under a blanket with a hot cup of cocoa, and nose deep in a romance novel.

Their savior, Astral, sat in the corner close to a window, as far away from the fire as he could. Against the snow, he was almost invisible, but now out of the wind and the blinding white, his form was visible. From head to tail, he was a white-blue icy hue and mostly transparent. The fire reflected off a solid, smooth ice that was his body. Even his short mane and tail were a frozen chunk of ice. Rarity tried to study his cutie mark to learn something about him, but it was barely visible, only a slightly darker shade of blue than his ‘coat’--it seemed to be a constellation of stars. The one thing she tried hard not to stare at was his horn--broken off near the base. Not a clean cut, but a jagged crack. Rarity shuddered as she imagined how painful it must have been to have a horn broken off like that. Rainbow didn’t have a qualm about staring, however.

He had helped collect some wood, but other than that, he didn’t say much. He just sat there in his corner far from the fire. Silent. Still. He didn’t seem to focus on anything except for the occasional gaze in Rarity and Rainbow’s direction. His silence was louder than the whistling outside. Rarity tried to smile at Astral, but he didn’t reciprocate the gesture.

Could it have been that Astral was shy? He didn’t look nervous, just deep in thought. Could it be that she and Rainbow were the first ponies he’d met in a long time? Back at the lodge where Cheerilee’s class were staying while the Friendship Express was undergoing repairs, the lodge owner had told the schoolfoals the legends of the lost town of Wintercrest, the Ice Pony, and the Banshee. If the story had had any truth to it, Astral must have been alone for years!

And if that lodge owner hadn’t been so unfortunately charismatic, she wouldn’t have been out here looking for her lost sister.

Next to her, Rainbow stretched her wings and gave the fire a few flaps. The small confines of their shelter didn’t sit well with the restless pegasus, and neither did the silence.

“So, what’s your deal? What are you? A ghost? You look more like a crystal pony.”

Rarity jabbed Rainbow in the ribs. “Rainbow! Manners. Astral just saved our lives.” She turned to Astral. “I’m terribly sorry about my friend. We are truly grateful that you’ve helped us.”

Astral fixed his eyes on Rarity. “I don’t know what a crystal pony is, but I’m not one.”

Well, since we got him speaking. “Well, crystal ponies are natives of the Crystal Empire just north of here. We were on our way back from a field trip with our sisters when the train had to stop midway for repairs. We stayed the night at the town down at the--”

Astral pulled his head back and furrowed his brow. “Train?”

Rarity and Rainbow looked at each other. Rainbow peered at Astral from the corner of her eye and raised an eyebrow. “Hang on. You seriously don’t know what trains are?”

Rarity raised a hoof to jab Rainbow again, but Astral spoke before she could scold her rude friend.

“No. What is a train?”

“Well,” Rarity spoke up before Rainbow could possibly blurt out something rude again, “a train is like a carriage that travels on tracks very fast. Trains help ponies travel quickly to faraway places.”

Had that been a good enough answer? Rarity couldn’t tell; Astral’s face remained solid, distant, and cold. If he didn’t know what trains were, he must have been isolated for decades. Rarity felt a twinge of sadness pull on her heart as her mind flooded with questions she’d ask if she were a little more crass: How alone must Astral be? Why had he stayed up here for so long? Could he come down from the mountain? Was there a way Rarity could help him?

Before she could try to delicately pry information from Astral, Rainbow jumped up and flew in place. “Enough about trains. We have to get back and find Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom.”

“Are the fillies you mentioned yellow, white, and orange?”

Rarity gasped. “Yes, that’s them!”

“What!?” Rainbow flew at Astral. “You’ve seen them!? Where? Let’s go get them!”

Astral looked at the window beside him, as if he were ignoring him.

“Hey, I’m talking to you. We have to find them!”

“Astral, please. We have to find them.”

Astral’s ears twitched. “Hush.”

Rainbow fumed. “Don’t you hush me! I’m not--mmmphhh!”

Astral threw snow in Rainbow’s face and proceeded to smother the fire under more snow before barricading the narrow windows with planks of wood and more snow. The basement was flooded with darkness except for the few rays of light that pierced through the wooden floor above them.

“What are you doing? We need that fire to--”

Then she saw his face. He furrowed his brow and scowled while he looked at Rainbow with wide, angry eyes. “I said ‘hush’. Stop flapping your wings.”

Rainbow glared back then landed. The wind whistled outside as snow slid in through the small windows. Any heat left in the cellar vanished and the cold quickly reclaimed the room. It was only seconds before Rarity was shivering again. At least her clothes were dry now.

Seconds slogged by, turning into minutes, which seemed like hours. All three ponies swiveled their ears, but Rarity hoped they wouldn’t hear anything.

Then a roar broke through the wind. The same one Rarity had heard twice before. It was close. “What is tha--”

“Hush!”

The whistling of the wind continued. What could have been out there that made that noise? The sound of crunching snow above them grew louder. Even louder than that was the growling. The snorting. The breathing. Something was outside, and it sounded big.

Upstairs, Rarity heard the sound of rotten wood cracking. The floor above them creaked and groaned in protest as something large and heavy walked across. The old planks of wood bent but held. The breathing was louder, more rapid. Whatever was above snorted, sniffed, and growled. The wood moaned as the thing walked back to the doorless entrance of the dilapidated house above them. All three remained quiet as it made its way back outside and disappeared into the white.

Even after it was gone, nopony dared to speak. Rarity scooted close to Rainbow as quietly as she could and held her. Rainbow responded by wrapping her with a wing. But neither could stop shaking, either from the cold or fear.

Moments slogged on, and after what felt like an hour, Rainbow finally broke the silence with a whisper. “What was that?”

“That,” said Astral as he turned to the mares and pointed to his horn, “did this to me.” He got up and walked to the stairs. “Come, I have something to show you.”

Another building, another cellar. Unlike the last one, this one was pitch black except for the few rays of light coming through small holes in the ceiling. The open cellar door allowed them to see the steps on the way down, but not much else. Snow blew in through the opening and threatened to seal the entrance shut with snow.

“Close the door,” said Astral.

Rarity shut the door from the bottom of the stairs with her magic, and the whole room was engulfed in darkness; only the few beams of light from the floor above remained.

“Stay there.” Astral walked away from Rarity and Rainbow. She could hardly see where he was going, but she heard his icy hooves against the frozen earth. There was some creaking and shuffling of wood, then a flash of white. The blinding light from outside pierced the darkness and illuminated the room. The light from the unblocked window shone through Astral’s body and refracted onto the wall behind him, creating a stunning rainbow that flooded the room. Rarity was in awe, but she gasped as she saw what was at the other end of the room.

A mare encased in a column of ice.

The light shone through her frozen prison and refracted onto the wall behind her, enveloping her in a heavenly glow that emphasized her beauty. The halo of colors shone gloriously on her snow-white fur, and her deep-blue mane and tail were frozen in the air. It looked as though she was sleeping while falling, but not going anywhere. An angel not of this world.

Was it odd that Rarity thought she and her looked a lot alike? She wasn’t a narcissist, heavens no, but she couldn’t help but see a lot of herself in this beautiful mare.

“Woah…” said Rainbow. She jumped back as a thought nipped her mind. She lowered her head and snarled. “What is this? Did you do this to her?!”

Astral scoffed at Rainbow and gazed at the mare in the ice. “This is my wife.”

At his confession, Rainbow flinched. She turned her head away. “Oh, um… Sorry.”

Rarity took slow steps up to the mare and stopped a few feet away. “Oh my, I’m terribly sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Astral didn’t seem to hear them as he walked up to the tower of ice and rubbed his hoof on it.

Rarity chewed on her lips. Pity and sorrow welled up inside her as she processed the scene before her: A cursed stallion, alone on a mountain, stranded with his wife, frozen in a block of ice. His horn--his only possible means of rescuing her--was gone, stolen by an enormous beast that Astral had no hope of overcoming.

After a few moments of silence, he turned back to the two. “Rarity, Rainbow. This is Winter Lily, my wife. And that creature you heard before is the reason she’s like this.”

Rarity gasped and covered her mouth. Knowing her name just made her feel worse. “What could have possibly happened to you two?”

Astral took a deep breath. “Long ago, this village, Wintercrest, was a small mountain town. Ponies traveling through would stop for lodging and supplies. I was born here, and so was Winter Lily.

“We grew up together. We were happy, and before I left for magical training at a young age, we made our vows to each other. We wanted to start a family upon my return.

“I wrote letters to her whenever I could. I kept copies in a journal. After several months, she stopped writing back. I returned two years later to find she had married the local chemist. She heard rumors that I had met another mare. When I showed her the copies of the letters I sent, she wept.

“The letters I sent were intercepted by a stallion who wanted Lily for his own--the chemist. He had always looked at her as something to be owned. He coveted her as a jealous neighbor would want a wealthy neighbor’s jewelry or money.

“That accursed fiend was stealing my letters and had spread lies about me. He broke Lily’s heart and took advantage of it in her weakened state. I called him out.

“The chemist said it was a misunderstanding and wanted to show me proof. He brought me down here to this cellar and attacked me. He threw potions at me. I retaliated with magic. Lily heard the fighting and tried to stop us, but the vials and magic collided and exploded.

“The magical explosion turned me to ice, the chemist into that beast, and injured Lily. I tried to use my magic to heal her, but I froze her instead. Before I could reverse the spell, the chemist, in an animalistic rage, attacked me, broke off my horn, and ran up to the mountain’s peak. That’s when the storm came, and everypony left town.

“Ponies stopped using this route. It became too dangerous, and eventually the roads were lost under the snow. Any pony foolish enough to trek over this mountain is either taken by the cold... or him.”

Astral sighed and looked back at his wife once more. “We’ve been cursed for ages.”

Rarity looked on as Astral leaned up on the ice trapping his wife. She felt tears form in her eyes and warm her cheeks as she saw him put his forehead against the ice, nuzzling it as a loving husband and stallion. Her mind raced for things to say: condolences, ideas, anything. If this pony was truly trapped up here without his magic, there was only so much he could do. She looked down at the floor, pawed at the frozen earth, and scrunched her face.

She wanted to cry. To weep. For Astral. For Winter Lily. But that would do no good. They were trapped here. And if Astral’s reaction to the fire from earlier was any indication, even if he could save his wife, he’d be trapped up here forever. His wife couldn’t survive the cold, and he couldn’t without it.

She so desperately wanted to help him, but she still needed to find Sweetie Belle.

Her eyes burned, so she raised her crook and wiped at the tears in her eyes.

“Well then, what are you moping around for!?”

Rarity flinched at the sudden outburst by Rainbow.

Rainbow flapped up into the air and threw her hooves out at Astral. “If you love her, get your horn back and save her!”

“Rainbow!”

Rainbow turned to Rarity, she scrunched up her nose and bared her teeth.

“That hardhead tricked these two, and now look at them! They’re both suffering because of this. They’re stuck here forever.” She flew closer to Astral. “Come on, Astral. You can’t save her by hiding!”

Astral rubbed the ice once more and looked at Rainbow in the eyes before walking over to Rarity. “You would help me?”

Rainbow soared around the air and stopped just over Rarity’s shoulder. “Oh yeah, we’re going to get you and Lily out of here.” She stopped flapping about, landed with a thump on her hooves, and looked down at the ground. “Oh… shoot. We can’t. We have to find our sisters. They’re still out there.”

At the mention of the three fillies, Astral turned his back on the two. He sat quietly for a moment before speaking. “I’m sorry to say this, but... those three fillies I mentioned earlier--you’re sisters, right?--I’m afraid I witnessed the beast go after them. They most likely didn’t escape.”

Rarity gasped, and Rainbow jumped. “What!? Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” shouted Rainbow. “Where did he take them? Let me at ‘im! I’ll pulverize him!”

“Astral, darling.” Rarity felt her knees weaken. “We must go find our sisters. I’m sorry, but--”

“Settle down. I know where the fillies are.”

Rainbow and Rarity froze.

“If the beast captured them, they would be in its cave. Where my horn is,” said Astral. “Its den is north of here. Your sisters are safe as long as the beast doesn’t get hungry.“I know the area around the cave well, and as luck would have it, we can use the terrain to our advantage. I have already devised a way to be rid of the creature once and for all. I’ve just been unable to carry it out--” He walked up to the open window and pushed up a piece of wood, plunging the cellar back into darkness “--until now.

“Come. I’ll show you the way,” he said as he opened the cellar door. Before he took the first step out into the storm, he turned to Rarity and pointed at her horn. “And hide your horn under your hat. If it knows you’re a unicorn, you’ll be its first target. It’ll break your horn off before you can even see it. The ones before who’ve gotten lost up here have all met a similar fate.”

With that said, he turned around and walked back out into the white.

The Hunt in the White

Everywhere they looked, the landscape was blanketed with white. The crooked trees on the cragged slopes up to the cave all looked the same. Bare. Cold. Dead. The flurry of snow continued, and gusts blew up clouds of white that blinded Rarity. Snow flew into Rarity’s eyes whenever she tried to see ahead of her, and into her mouth whenever she tried to speak.

Ahead of her trudged Rainbow. The bright colors of her tail made a great flag for Rarity to focus on in the unforgiving white. Rainbow herself, however, didn’t have such a luxury as she stayed nose-to-tail with the clear ice pony ahead of her. Any further than a few yards in this storm, and the two of them could lose him, and then themselves. Forever.

How was it that Astral knew where he was going? There weren’t any noticeable landmarks that Rarity could find. Could it be that being made of ice made him immune to the blindness that the snow and wind brought about? From what she could tell, he never lowered his head and walked unhindered through the storm. If he got his horn back, what then? Would he be able to reattach it? Would he turn back to a normal pony? How would he know? Was he beyond saving?

And Sweetie Belle and her friends. Were they really captured by that beast? Rarity felt her chest tighten with each thought of her sister, to the point that it pained her just as much physically as a knife to the heart. If the beast did capture her, then there was still a chance she’d be okay. Astral said he had a plan, after all. But what was his plan?

What if this was all a gambit by a crazy pony? Just like all the romance books she’d read, and even from personal experience with a certain prince who shan’t be named, Rarity was aware that love could make ponies do crazy things. She had hardly considered the implications of following Astral into the den of the beast. She would feel horrible leaving a pony like him stuck in this white purgatory. If only she had thought earlier going down back to the lodge and then bringing back help in larger numbers before they went on this trek, things could have gone better. Even if she did go back down, would she be able to find Astral again? Would every pony believe her when she said that she had found the ice pony and the banshee mentioned in the local legends? Either way, it was too late now.

She wanted desperately to help Astral reunite with his lost love; but above all, she wanted her sister safe. The sooner they got to the cave, freed the fillies, and gave Astral and Lily the happy ending they deserved, the better.

“The cave is around this bend,” said Astral.

The three pushed through the storm and up the slopes until they came to a ledge that wrapped around the side of the mountain. As she turned the corner, Rarity stopped in her tracks. The rocky, uneven ledge went ever higher towards the peak, but that wasn't what scared her; it was the precipice that the ledge was on top of.

Despite the poor visibility, she could tell that it was a long, sharp drop if she should slip. The grey sky showed the contour of the mountain ahead of her, and she could make out the graveyard of trees below. If she were to fall, there wasn’t a chance that Rainbow would be able to catch her in time with this strong wind. And what if there was an avalanche? Oh, why did she have to think of such things now?

But she was already this far, and Astral had promised that he wouldn’t put either mare in harm’s way. All she had to do was follow Astral’s instructions, and he’d lead her back down to the lodge. She had come too far now to give up. Astral needed her to be vigilant. So did Sweetie Belle and Winter Lily.

Please be safe, Sweetie Belle. I’ll be there soon.

She pushed on.

After a grueling uphill struggle, they made it to the cave. The home of the banshee. The former chemist. Rarity shivered at the sight of it. Long, crooked icicles jutted from the top of the opening, like fangs. A wind blew in and out of the cave with a low growl. It was as if the mountain were alive, a predator sitting poised ready to snatch its poor, helpless prey into its maw and bring about the cold embrace of death.

Two blue eyes flashed into her vision, and she jumped. While she had been distracted with the cave, Astral had walked right up into Rarity’s face. He spoke low as if whispering, but kept his voice loud enough to endure the wind.

“Rarity. You and Rainbow will climb up on top of the opening. I will call the beast out. When I give the signal, use your magic to loosen the rocks under that boulder--” he pointed to a boulder perched on top of the cavernous mouth “--and Rainbow, wedge yourself between the mountain and the largest boulder. Push as hard as you can. Both of you should be able to cause the boulder to fall and crush the beast. Be ready.”

“What!? Why not just go in there and thrash him!? He can’t take on all three of us,” huffed Rainbow as she stomped her hooves. She looked ready to charge into the cave herself. “I’m not letting anything happen to Scootaloo!”

Astral shook his head. “No. You don’t know what this creature is. It will tear off your wings before you even can get a buck in.”

“But Scootaloo needs me!”

“And so do the others, so do as I say and they’ll be safe.”

Rainbow chewed on her lips, took a deep breath and nodded.

Rarity bit her lips. “Are you sure this will work? What if we fail?”

Astral looked at the cave, then back to the mares. “If this fails, then I fail. I will distract the beast. Go back around the bend, then once you reach the end of the ledge, turn right and head straight. Use your tracks as a guide. You’ll go down the mountain very quickly, but you will be far from any civilization.”

A chill unlike the others before ran down Rarity’s spine. Was it really that simple? Could they have gotten back down so easily? But Astral said he needed his horn and that with it he’d be able to save Lily, and that they had to kill this beast to save the fillies. There was no other way, right?

“Now, you two, get into position. Flash your horn when ready.” Astral turned and walked toward the mouth of the cave.

Rarity’s mind continued to race as she slowly climbed up the side of the mountain wall toward the boulder. One hoof in front of the other on each snowy edge, she inched her way up with Rainbow right behind her. Her hoof slipped on a ledge; she hit her stomach on the hard rock below and would have slid off into oblivion if Rainbow weren’t there to stop her. She thanked her guardian pegasus and focused more on her current situation.

Up above the cave, Rarity checked her footing. The snow-covered rocks underneath her boots were smooth and slanted. She adjusted herself and stuck her boots into little crevices to secure her footing. Once settled, she focused on the boulder beside her. Slightly bigger than she was, it was held up by a few rocks wedged underneath it. It wouldn’t seal up the cave below, but it was heavy enough to crush the life out of a large, growling beast.

Oh, goodness. Was Rarity going to kill something? She hadn't thought about it like that before. She’d do anything to ensure Sweetie Belle’s safety, but was she willing to go this far? To take the life of another? And this wasn’t just a creature, but a former pony. Was this the right thing to do? This wasn’t an evil pony like Sombra. The chemist hadn't enslaved a race of ponies and used them to make war. This wasn’t the Changeling Queen who kidnapped Princess Cadance to turn Canterlot and all of Equestria into a buffet for her army of emotional succubi. This was a stallion whose greatest crimes were being jealous, lying, and assault. Sure, he had attacked Astral, but had he intended to kill him? For all she knew, he could have been a decent fellow if not for his jealousy. Her romance novels were full of love triangles that included jealous, manipulative stallions, and they always got their comeuppance, but it never involved them getting murdered.

Rarity looked back up at the boulder she’d unleash in a few moments. Rainbow had already wedged herself between it and the mountain, with her front hooves on the boulder and her hind legs sprung up tight against the wall. Her wings were wide open, ready to push herself up into the air when her support was gone. The feathers in her wings ruffled in the air. “All set, Rarity,” she said. “Signal Astral!”

She wanted to stop. Turn around. Go back. But she wanted her sister safe. She wanted to save Astral and Lily. Wasn’t there a better solution than this?

She swallowed and lit her horn.

Astral started screaming into the cave. Profanities echoed within, and Astral’s hatred for the creature inside bounced off the walls, deeper into the mountain’s esophagus until they sank into the bottom of its belly.

“Come on out, you coward! You cur. You lying, serpent-tongued, unequine abomination! Your ugly, rotten exterior reflects your true inner essence. Come out here and face me like a stallion. I shall end you, Cure!”

The winds died down, and the snow lightened up to a flurry, as if the storm itself was invested in what would unfold. Rarity could feel her heart beating in her ears. She forgot all about the cold, Sweetie Belle, and the world as she watched Astral shout into the mountain.

Rarity didn’t want to watch, but she knew that she had to remain vigilant for the signal.

Rarity’s breaths became shallow. Please don’t be home. Oh, PLEASE don’t be home.

Silence rang through the white and grey and chilled Rarity to the bone.

A roar boomed from the mouth of the mountain like rolling thunder. Rarity’s insides trembled and twisted. Rainbow jerked and gave the boulder a preliminary push. A few pebbles shifted and rolled down the cliff.

The clacking and scraping of claws on stone ripped the silence and tore into Rarity’s heart. Snarling, grunting, and guttural hacks resounded from the darkness below. With each moment, the sounds became louder, and Rarity felt her knees grow weary.

Astral didn’t move, as though he was unaffected by the world. The icy barrier that was his body severed him from everything around him.

The scratches and grunting grew louder.

Rarity closed her eyes and grabbed as many of the small rocks as she could with her magic. Even the darkness of her own mind couldn’t comfort her from the disturbing sounds below. She couldn’t take it. She opened her eyes and was flash-banged by the white.

Back down at the end of the ledge, Astral had poised himself, ready to jump at any moment. His shoulders raised with every slow breath he took.

“Now!” he screamed.

Rarity tugged at the rocks, and Rainbow pushed. Several of the smaller rocks slid out with ease, but one rock remained. She pulled, but it remained stuck. Rainbow grunted as she pushed; her tight skin bulged under the stress she was putting on her muscles.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity saw something white and green swipe at Astral. He rolled to one side, and another limb swung from the maw of the mountain. A claw caught Astral in the shoulder, and Rarity heard the sound of cracking ice.

Astral limped away. His front left shoulder had a huge gash. The beast lunged at its prey from the darkness.

Two long, spidery legs bent in two places reached out to ensnare; its long, green mouth was opened wide, with yellow, distorted fangs ready to tear Astral to shreds. The creature flew through the snow as if it were the wind itself.

Astral clumsily charged under the beast and smashed it in its short hind legs. It fell on its stomach, and Astral dragged himself out from under the thrashing creature and out of its reach.

Rarity turned to Rainbow. “Rainbow, it’s too late!” she shouted.

With a loud grunt, Rainbow pushed even harder. “Is it still down there?”

It was. The gangly creature with the grotesque limbs struggled to get up on the narrow ledge, and its inner thigh was bleeding. Astral’s jagged horn had cut it; his forehead too was painted red. The creature lashed out with one long arm at Astral but missed. After that, it tried to push itself up on the knuckles of its long, spindly fingers, but Astral threw himself into one of its elbows. He looked up at the mares as he hastily limped away. “Do it!”

No longer thinking, Rarity jumped from her spot alongside Rainbow and pushed with her hooves against the rock and pulled the stone beneath it with her magic.

The stone shifted, and the sound of cracking filled the air. The boulder broke free of its icy perch and fell towards the beast. The beast rolled over on its side, pushed off the mountain wall and sailed over the edge. The boulder landed where the beast had just been and tumbled over the side. Shortly afterward, there was a loud thump and the sound of cracking trees.

Rainbow had grabbed Rarity at the last second and flew over to the ledge where she had just been. They both looked on, panting and sweating as if they had just come out of a sauna.

Did they get it? Was the creature gone?

Peering into the white below her, she saw the spindly fingers of one of the creature’s hands grasping the edge. Its long, black, pin-shaped nails dug into the rock. Another clenched hand reached up and grabbed an uneven surface before the creature brought its flat, earless head into view.

Its sunken, yellow eyes gazed up from its long, crooked nose. It stopped for a moment and looked at Astral and snarled. Then it looked up at the two mares. The creature growled at Rainbow, but when it brought its gaze onto Rarity, it stopped moving. The creature studied Rarity, from head to hoof, eating her with its tiny, miserable, sunken eyes. Rarity shuddered.

“Winter Lily!” shouted Astral as he charged toward the beast.

The creature grunted, redoubled its efforts and scrambled to get back onto solid ground, this time keeping its eyes on Rarity; Astral stomped on one of its hands, but the creature smacked him away, and he tumbled back towards the mouth of the cave.

The creature pulled itself up and had one back leg on the ledge when Rainbow slammed herself into its chest. Knocked off balance, the creature snatched the wall in front of it, and the nails scratched into the frozen rock and left long trails in the stone until it caught hold. Rainbow turned around for another blow, but she was snatched out of the air with the creature’s free hand and slammed into the wall. She shrieked in pain and collapsed on her side.

“Rainbow!”

Rarity jumped down and blasted a magical light into the creature’s eyes. With its free hand, it covered its wrinkly, hairless face. With the beast distracted, she hurled stones at it; the barrage pushed it back more. For the coup de grace, she picked up a large rock and smashed the creature's fingers that latched onto the mountain.

The beast howled and fell back. Blood trickled from its fingers and blotted the snow under it, but before it disappeared into the white below, it grabbed Rarity’s fetlock. Rarity fell onto her stomach and slid across the ledge. She grabbed an uneven part of the ledge, but her hold wouldn’t last for long.

“Rainbow!” she cried. “Help!”

Rainbow groaned and shifted about on the ground, but she didn’t get up. She stayed down with her back to Rarity.

The creature reached up with its other hand, still clenched in a fist, and rested its wrist on the edge to pull itself up, but Astral kicked the fist away. Without the support, the creature flailed about and tightened its grip on Rarity, and the sudden jerk yanked her from the edge.

Hanging on to dear life with a single hoof, Rarity screamed. Her cries echoed in the sky as the creature below snorted and growled. The weight of the creature stretched her limbs, and a sharp pain ripped through her body. She closed her eyes and cried out again for Rainbow.

Tears ran down her cheeks. Was this how it was going to end? Was she to die here, now? Her friends, how they would mourn her. Her family, how they would cry for her. Her sister… Sweetie Belle. How would she go on without her?

No, she thought, I’m not going to die. Not today. I’m going to get out of this. Sweetie Belle, I’ll be there for you.

She opened her eyes, and there was Astral, looking into hers. She was saved.

Astral limped up and grabbed Rarity’s hoof. He looked over her shoulder at the beast flailing about to get a grip on the icy stone wall. He looked back at Rarity in the eyes.

And he shoved her.

Rarity fell with the beast. The ledge soared high above her as she dropped from the heavens. The grey sky was the last thing she saw before she hit the ground and her vision went white.

Waking Up in the White

Rarity opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. The white blinded her and stung her eyes like a thousand hornets. She shut them and groaned while wiping her face with a boot, smearing her face with frozen snow. The rough boot on her face felt sticky. Oh, if it was mud, she was going to freak out.

Slowly, she opened one of her eyes. At first, everything was fuzzy. She could see her boot, but nothing more than its basic shape and color. It took a few moments, but everything became clear--on her boot was a dark red substance.

Blood.

She gasped and felt her chest tighten. She hyperventilated as she stared at the blood. She was bleeding! Why? What had happened to her?

Then it all came back to her. The boulder, the creature, Rainbow Dash, Astral, and the fall.

Astral! He pushed me! How could he? Did he? He wouldn’t have, would he? And what about Rainbow? Was she okay? Oh, goodness, and Sweetie Belle. Rarity struggled to put her hooves under herself and pushed up, but her legs trembled under the strain, and she collapsed. She mentally checked herself over. She was sore all over, but nothing unbearable. Could it be that she was injured and didn’t know it? Numbed by shock? There was the blood on her boots. She tried to roll over to look at her body, but a heavy weight on her torso held her down, and the lumpy ground she was on made it difficult as it swelled and contracted below her.

She raised her head and looked at the ground beneath her. It was white just like the snow, but the color was a bit off. The white beneath her had a very light green hue to it. She felt hairs tickling her chin, blowing in the wind like blades of grass, and further up, only a couple of feet from her nose, was the face of the creature.

Rarity suppressed a scream in her throat, but she couldn’t stop shivering. While remaining as still as she could, she looked around. The creature had one long, gangly limb wrapped around her and had pulled her close to its chest. The other was stretched out, its hand clenched in a fist.

Rarity looked up toward the mountain. From the sloped, snowy opening where she lay, the cliff they had fallen from was well out of sight, hidden behind the flurry of snow. The wall was far away; as the disturbed snow showed that after they hit the ground, the two of them had rolled down the slope. She had survived the fall, but now she was trapped with the creature in an opening with few trees and even fewer places to hide.

The creature grunted beneath her, and Rarity snapped her attention towards the beast. It groaned, shifted about in the snow, and clenched Rarity tighter against its chest. She bit her lip and held her breath. Even the calm wind and light flurry seemed to freeze in fright.

She had to get back to Rainbow. Back to Sweetie Belle. Back to the lodge to get help for Winter Lily. She had to move. If it was injured, she could get away, but if it wasn’t, she’d be no better off waiting for the beast to wake up with her in its grasp.

Cautiously, she lifted its arm with her magic and slid it off her back, stopping every time the creature groaned. The long, double-elbowed arm was much heavier than it looked. Once it was off her, she looked at the ground to her side; the hand was still in the way, and she carefully nudged it aside. Once her path was open, she leaned to the side while keeping her eyes on the beast’s face and rolled over. When she hit the soft, cold snow, she remained still and waited to see if the creature woke. It groaned and snorted, but nothing more.

Like a worm, she shifted on the ground and tried to free as much wiggle room between her and the beast before getting up on her hooves. She didn’t want to risk slipping and falling against the beast. All it had to do was reach out, and it would have her. As gingerly as she could, she got up on her hooves. The snow crunched loudly under her boots. After each step, she paused and glanced in the creature's direction. Much to her dismay, her footsteps were soaked in the creature’s blood. Should the creature awake, it would be only a matter of time before it tracked her down in this white wasteland.

One after another, she took a step away from the creature, the rapid beating of her heart drumming in her ears as she inched toward freedom. Each step made it harder for her to resist taking off in a full gallop; the temptation continued to gnaw at her.

She was almost there, only a few steps away from freedom. She stopped and curled her tail between her legs as the creature rolled and groaned. Its arm that was laid out on the snow shifted towards Rarity, and she lifted her front hoof as the closed hand came closer. As the hand approached, she tightened her muscles, and her insides clenched. Only inches away from her, it stopped. Luck had managed to save her once again. Rarity sighed and shuddered before continuing her slow march to freedom, but something caught her eye.

The fingers of the beast loosened and revealed something in its grasp--a long, cylindrical piece of ice--Astral’s horn!

She could get it and bring it back to Astral. Once he got it back, they’d be able to find the fillies, save Winter Lily, and lead everypony back down the mountain. He might even be able to return to normal. If not, Twilight might be able to save him from this curse. Then Astral and Winter Lily would be together again--lovers reunited after years of torment.

But should she get the horn? She could ignore it and walk to freedom. Astral pushed her off a cliff! Or did he? He was completely made of ice. It could be likely that he had tried to pull, but couldn’t get a grip. Without magic, it was very likely he couldn’t grasp anything with icy hooves. Maybe Rarity remembered what happened wrong because of how fast everything happened, or because she had probably hit her head and just dreamed it.

Yes, that was what happened. Astral was a kind-hearted stallion who’d do anything to save the mare he loved. A loyal pony like that would never betray his friends. He had even given his promise that no harm would come to her or Rainbow.

Oh no, Rainbow! I hope she’s alright. I must hurry.

She took a deep breath and set her hoof down before reaching out with her magic. She pulled the horn from the thickest end and slowly slid it from the creature’s loose grip. She breathed heavily through her nose as the horn passed each finger. With the horn free, she looked back at the creature; it hadn’t moved since she last looked at it. She put the horn in her chest pocket.

With only one step to go, Rarity raised a front hoof again to freedom.

“Lily… Lily…”

She froze.

“Lily… Please, don’t go…”

Rarity gulped and looked behind herself.

The creature was mumbling. It spoke. Was it dreaming?

“Lily… I don’t want to lose you again…”

Rarity shivered. She wanted to go, to leave, to be free from all of this. But she couldn’t stand to hear such mournful pleas. She turned away from the creature and took a step forward. The snow crunched under her hoof.

That was when she felt the fingers brush against her thigh. She froze.

“Lily… Please.”

The fingers ran through her tail, and she cringed as she felt its grip tighten. She pulled, and her tail slipped out of the weak grasp. She took another step before she heard the creature sob.

Come on, Rarity. Don’t look back. Just go. Run. Get out of here. Sweetie Belle needs you. Rainbow Dash needs you. Lily needs you. Just go.

She bit her tongue and raised her hoof again, ready to take off at the slightest provocation. But she couldn’t put it ahead of her. The weight on her conscience pulled her hoof back down, and she looked back at the creature. It was looking at her from a corner of its sunken, yellow eyes.

Come on, Rarity. He foalnapped Sweetie Belle. He’s the reason Astral and Lily are in torment! He’s… he’s a bad pony.

“Lily,” it whispered. It made no effort to get up. Rarity turned around enough to see the whole creature. She wish she hadn’t. Blood was matted around its thighs where Astral had gored it with his jagged horn stump, and many other cuts leaked blood along its arms from the fall. The weakened beast winced as it heaved long, heavy breaths.

It’s his fault he’s like this. If he hadn’t try to steal love he hadn’t earned, he wouldn’t be like this. The jealous bad-guy always gets his just rewards. He brought this on himself!

Then she looked into his eyes. Those weren’t the eyes of a monster, but a pony hurt and in despair.

...right?

The creature coughed as it locked eyes with Rarity before looking up at her horn, no longer covered by her hat. Weakly, he whispered, “You’re not Winter Lily?”

Rarity shook her head and turned to face Miracle Cure.

He remained silent. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked away from Rarity, his gaze turned up to the gray sky.

Now’s your chance! Leave! He can’t chase you. You’re safe! All you have to do is find Astral and Rainbow and you’ll be out of here in no time. Go!

She turned away and sprinted, but her conscience anchored her only a few steps away.

Don’t look back! You shouldn’t. You mustn’t!

Then she heard Cure weep.

But, I can’t just leave him like this. He was--no--IS a pony. I… I don’t think I could live with myself if I left him there, even if he is--no--WAS a bad pony.

“You look just like her,” whispered Cure.

Rarity licked her dry lips as she turned around and focused on the blood-speckled snow between them. She couldn’t look at him. “I’m sorry, but I’m not her.”

He shuddered as he took another deep breath. “Is, is she still…?”

“Frozen? Yes.”

The creature blinked a few times, and tears trickled down his hairless cheeks. Neither spoke for what seemed like a short eternity. Rarity began to lose herself in thought as she studied the blood speckles in the snow. She didn’t want to think.

She didn’t want to feel.

“Miss, are you hurt?”

Rarity jumped at the sudden question. “Uh… no, I don’t think I am.”

“Oh, good.” He rolled his head towards Rarity. “So, why are you still here? You are not Lily. Go.”

He doesn’t act like a monster? Why?

“I’m looking for my sister. She and her two friends got lost and… and--”

Cure coughed. “Three fillies? Is one of them orange and another yellow?”

A sudden rush of warmth and release flowed through Rarity as shivered with hope. “Yes! That’s them! Where are they?”

“I saw them--” Cure took a deep, pained breath “--with a purple mare. Further down the mountain.”

Rarity almost fainted in relief but fought to stay up, shaky knees and all. She closed her eyes and sighed. Oh, Cheerilee. You wonderful mare. I’m so making you a dress when we get back. No, a dozen! She wanted to run, go tell Rainbow, and get the Tartarus off this cursed mountain. She put a hoof to her chest and smiled. Then she opened her eyes and saw the bloody mess that was Cure in front of her.

And her heart sank.

“Um, but what about you? I-uh, um…”

Cure took another pained breath. “Don’t you worry about me. I’m a beast. An abomination. Leave me.”

Rarity looked at Cure in his eyes. “You’re not an abomination.”

“Miss, you don’t know what happened. I’m--”

“Rarity,” she said. “Call me Rarity.”

More tears welled up in Cure’s eyes, washing away any doubt in Rarity’s mind that what lay before her was a pony. A pony just like her.

“I am Miracle,” he said. “Miracle Cure. And I am a cursed pony. You don’t need to be mixed up in this. Leave me be and go home to your loved ones.”

Here it was: the offer to go, to be free. She was safe, and nothing but the snow would stand in her way, but she couldn’t. “I, I can’t. I’m lost. Astral told me he would help my friend and I get back and save Lily if--”

Cure snorted. “Astral? You listened to that emotionless shell of a pony?”

Rarity took a step back as Cure shuffled on the ground. “That no-good pony is how I came to be this way. He cursed me. He stole everything from me. Even my wife, and he keeps her as a trophy.”

Rarity felt stones drop in her gut. “But he told me--”

“What!? What did he tell you?”

She didn’t think she should have, but she recalled the story Astral had told her, including what he had said about Cure chasing the fillies. All while choosing her words very carefully as to not anger Cure.

“That’s what he told you? Lies. All lies.”

He turned up on one side, but flinched at the pain and resigned to laying on his back. “Astral was a recluse, a freak. He always admired Lily from afar. Sure, she was friends with him, but it was because Lily was a kind and generous soul. Astral was obsessed with her. He’d skulk about and fume with jealousy whenever he saw me with her.

“He left for magic school and came back years later. By then, Lily and I were engaged, but shortly after, she fell terribly ill. None of my potions could help her. I had a book on cures for rare diseases. However, I was missing several ingredients.

“I couldn’t wait for ponies to pass through with the ingredients I needed. I set out to collect them, and I swore to Lily that I would return safely. I wrote letters to her from every town I visited. It took weeks, but I collected all the ingredients I needed for the cure.

“When I got back, the town was shocked. Everypony thought I had died. Only the first few letters made it home. After that, they had heard nothing of me. Lily was heartbroken. She mourned for me for over a month. The whole time Astral was consoling her, and ultimately convinced her to move on, to marry him.

“The snake. Lily had ‘miraculously’ recovered shortly after I left. It had to have been more than a coincidence.

“One day, I saw a bonfire pit behind Astral’s house. It hadn’t been there when I left. I dug at the dirt, and I found pieces of burnt paper with writing on them. My letters.

“I knew what he had done. I invited him down into my cellar. I was going to blackmail him to get Lily back. But the fool, he attacked me. Lily was nearby and heard our fighting. She came in right when Astral’s magic hit a shelf of my potions. There was a magical reaction, and all three of us were caught in it.

“I blacked out, and when I awoke, I saw Astral freezing Lily into a block of ice. In a blind rage, I attacked him, and his horn broke off. I took it from him so he wouldn’t do any more harm.

“I ran to get help, but that was when my body began to change. Ponies fled or attacked me. My hideous form scared them. I was driven up the mountain, and that’s when the snow came.

“Ever since, I’ve been wishing for a way to save Lily.”

Cure took another long, painful sigh.

“I know where she lies, but I can do nothing. I dare not tear up the boards that hide her from me, for she would be buried in the snow. Lost forever.”

Rarity sat down and watched Cure roll his head away from her and quietly weep. She wanted to comfort him. To go up to him and rub his shoulder. Tell him she could help if she got back down to the lodge. But she kept her distance as Cure uttered curses under his breath, and all the while the snow became thicker and the winds stronger as before.

But there was something wrong. His and Astral’s tales matched in some places, but wildly differed in others. Both claimed to be betrayed by the other. How could she know whom to trust? Cure had saved her because he thought she was Lily. Would he have done the same had he not been mistaken?

And then there was Astral. Rarity didn’t want to think about him. She looked back in her pocket where his horn was tucked away.

A voice echoed in the distance. It was far away, but quickly grew louder and closer. “Rarity!”

Rainbow Dash--she’s okay!

“Rarity! Where are you?”

She turned around, lit up her horn, and waved her hooves in the air. “Rainbow! Over here!” She couldn’t see her through the snow and the wind, but she must have been close. As fast as she was moving, she must have been flying--or at least she was well enough to glide down from the cliff. How well she was able to in the wind and the snow, she wasn’t certain, but if she was flying, that meant she wasn’t too badly hurt.

“Rainbow! Rainbow!”

Rarity turned toward Cure. She wanted to tell him that she could help. If he could lead the two down the mountain, they would bring aid to help him. Even help Lily.

But she saw his fading shadow hobble off into the white, the snow behind him soaked with blood.

“Cure!” she called. “Wait! Stop! We can help you. Cure. Cure!”

But he didn’t stop. She couldn’t tell if he didn’t hear her over the strengthening wind or didn’t want to listen. She wanted to chase after him. Oh, how she couldn’t bear to see his form limp off into that cold, empty blizzard. But if she went after him, Rainbow might not be able to find her in this growing storm.

“Rarity!” Rainbow’s call, though closer, was muffled by the howling winds. Not only that, but the snow was quickly erasing Cure’s path, filling his tracks and bleaching out the blood. If she chased after him now, she might not be able to find him.

“Rarity, there you are!” Rainbow trudged through the snow and out of the curtain of snow. She went to hug Rarity, but pulled back, immediately looking her over. “Are you alright? Can you walk? You didn’t break anything did you?” Then she saw the blood. “Gah! You’re bleeding! It’s okay, Rarity! I’m here. I’ll get you--”

“Settle down, darling! I’m alright, really.” Rarity grabbed Rainbow with her front hooves and pulled her into a tight hug. She then pushed her away when she realized that she was covering her friend in sticky blood. Not that it seemed she noticed. “...and just so you know, this isn’t my blood.”

“Astral told me the thing dragged you off the cliff.”

Rainbow turned around and nodded. “I’m alright, Rainbow, but I’ve got something to tell you.”

“I came down as fast as I could. Come on, we need to go back and look for the fillies and--Oh!” Rainbow pointed at the piece of ice jutting from Rarity’s front coat pocket. “What is that? Is that…? Astral’s horn?”

Rarity had almost forgot it was there. Rainbow tried to pluck it from Rarity’s pocket to inspect it, but it slipped in her grasp. She looked back up at Rarity and pointed up to the mountain wall. “Come on, let’s give Astral his horn, find the girls, and get out of here. He’s waiting at the cave. All we have to do is follow this wall, and we’ll find him.”

Rarity sighed. She was happy that Rainbow was okay, but she felt a lead weight in her belly. Since her other means of getting off the mountain and finding aid had left, she had been dragged deeper into this dilemma and was beginning to wonder if she was doing the right thing. She pushed aside those nagging doubts and walked with Rainbow up the slope towards the mountain wall.

“Oh, what was it you had to say?”

“Rainbow, the girls aren’t here. Nor are they up in the cave. Cheerilee found them.”

Rainbow jumped in place. “What!? How did you find that out? Did you see them? Where are they!?”

“He told me.” Rarity pointed behind her at the blood trail.

“Who?”

“Cure did.”

Rainbow gaped in shock and disbelief. “Wha-whu-huh? The monster that tried to kill you told you the girls are safe, and you believed him!?”

“I know it sounds weird, but please listen. Cure said he saw them with Cheerilee.”

“Rares, I know you’ve been through a lot, but that thing just tried to kill us. For all we know, it may have taken Cheerilee when she found the fillies, and she may need saving as well. Now come on. We need to find Astral and get a move on.”

Rarity opened her mouth to argue, but she didn’t have it in her. Was Rainbow right? She stared at her feet as she walked alongside Rainbow.

Rainbow leaned against Rarity as the winds picked up. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re okay. You sure none of that blood is yours?”

Rarity nodded, but kept her eyes on their hooves. “Yes, I’m sure,” she said with a tired sigh. “Let’s be on our way and get off this horrible mountain.”

The two friends went their way, back into the unforgiving white.

Furies in the White

As Rarity and Rainbow Dash made their way along the mountain wall, the storm picked up until it was as bad as before, if not worse. The sparse dead trees downhill of them slowly vanished in the growing fog of snow. They were once again reduced to staring at the ground in front of them instead of the direction they were going. It seemed as though time itself were frozen as the two made their way to the cliff that started up towards Cure’s cave. The whole way, Rarity kept going over what happened in her mind - Astral’s story, Cure’s story, Winter Lily, the fall, the storm.

If only this were a dream, then she could wake up and find herself back on the Friendship Express. She had just dozed off after helping Cheerilee escort the students on a tour around the Crystal Empire. They had never stopped for repairs, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had never heard the tale of Wintercrest and gone out into the snow to find the banshee or the ice pony that haunted the woods.

But this biting cold felt too real to be a dream.

They trudged along through the snow uphill while hugging the mountain wall beside them. Rainbow said that Astral had told her that Rarity and the beast fell. He had pointed her in the direction that they had fallen and told them how to climb back up the mountain and meet up with him after she had found Rarity; in the meanwhile, he had gone into the cave to search for his horn and the fillies. Rainbow said that Astral had claimed he’d have better luck finding her with his horn, but that didn’t make Rarity feel any better.

They came to the bend and found the start of the path up to the cave. Once more they went up the narrow ledge that led to Cure’s cave.

When the pair made it to the cave entrance, the wind blew through it and produced a howling noise that prickled Rarity’s spine like needles. They walked from the white into the gaping darkness. A scuffling of icy hooves on rocks echoed throughout the chambers. Rarity and Rainbow followed the desperate mumblings of the frantic ice pony deeper into the cave. What little light made it into the cavern reflected off Astral and made him somewhat visible. His shoulder was no longer fractured and was completely healed. Even when the two came close to them, he didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, to care as he continued turning over every stone he came across.

“Hey, Astral! Rarity’s okay!” said Rainbow Dash.

Astral continued to turn over rocks. “Great.” He leaned up against a wall and peeked into a crack. “Help me find my horn. It’s here somewhere.”

“We have it right here! Rarity found it.”

Rarity held her breath as Astral snapped his head around and stared at her with wide, baggy eyes.

“You have it? Give it to me!”

Rarity presented the horn to Astral, who snatched it from her magical grasp. He ran to the mouth of the cave and stuck the base of the horn into the snow before placing the horn on his snow-covered head. Once the horn fell into place, the snow in the crack froze. With a shake of his head, the loose snow fell off and revealed that his horn was healed, and there was no sign of any previous damage.

He squinted his eyes in concentration, and his horn glowed a deep blue. He grinned. “Yes.”

Rarity inched up behind Astral. She sucked on her lips in anticipation. Certainly Astral was entitled to feeling satisfied at being whole again, as well as being able to save his wife. But why wasn’t Rarity as happy as she thought she would be? Every second that passed made her anxiety worse. The uncomfortable chill she got from being with Astral didn’t help, either. “Uh, Astral, darling, I’m very happy for you that you’ve gotten your horn back; shall we find the fillies, head back down the mountain, and get to Winter Lily?”

Astral turned his head slightly. “Huh? Oh, yes.”

Snow stung her face like pins. Trees only a few yards away were nothing more than fuzzy grey shapes against the white. She and Rainbow walked alongside Astral; none of them ever said a word. Astral lit his horn every so often, but Rarity wasn’t sure what he was doing, because it seemed he was walking based off of memory rather than any magically-aided navigation.

After searching the whole cave, there was no sign of pony life. No bones, no fur, no feathers, no other broken horns, no nothing. Rarity was relieved to find a lack of evidence supporting any nagging thoughts that Sweetie Belle had been taken by Cure, but that was only a small portion of her worries. She didn’t want to think any more about what was happening. So many stories, so many lies. She just wanted out.

In an hour or so, Rarity would be back down to the lodge in front of a cozy fire underneath a blanket with hot cocoa, her sweet little Sweetie Belle by her side. No more complicated love triangles. No more ice ponies or banshees. No more nagging uncertainty. She took a long, icy breath and endured the cold one step at a time.

There was a loud cracking noise, and Astral stopped in place. Rainbow nearly bumped into his backside, and Rarity into Rainbow as Astral surveyed the area around them before continuing on his way.

After what seemed to be several moons, the three made it back to Wintercrest. They trudged through the snow and into the cellar of the dilapidated house Lily was imprisoned under. Soon she would be free and reunited with her lover. The thoughts of how happy she would be to be free of that purgatory warmed Rarity on the inside, fueling her to pick up the pace.

Astral too walked with urgency, much differently than his usual cautious skulking. He didn’t even bark at Rarity or Rainbow to shut the cellar door behind them before letting in the light and standing in front of Lily.

He glowed his horn and stared at her frozen face; his breathing was rapid and shallow. Rarity closed the door and sat there silently. She wished she could be happy for him. For Lily. But she couldn’t. Not after what she had heard. Not after she’d had time to think over her situation. Even if Lily was freed, Astral was still an ice pony, and Cure was still a monstrous beast. They couldn’t leave with her, nor could she stay up here. And there was also the love triangle. If anything, she was probably better off frozen. The ice protected her from the hardships outside of her prison. Rarity pawed the frozen dirt below her as she waited, for what she wasn’t sure.

The wind outside whistled. The floor beams above them groaned.

“Lily,” whispered Astral. His horn began to glow.

Rainbow flapped up next to Astral. “Alright, Astral! Let’s free her, find the girls, and get off this mountain!”

Astral’s horn stopped glowing and he turned to Rainbow. “No.”

Rainbow flinched. “What? We had a deal! We all need to get off this mountain.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Rarity flinched as Astral turned and stared at her. “Darling, I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but we should--”

She felt her heart race as Astral walked up to her. “Rarity, tell me. Is the monster dead?”

Rarity looked away then back to Astral. “Astral, I don’t think that matters.”

“Oh, it matters.” Astral snorted and leaned in closer. “Is. Cure. Dead?”

“Hey now!” Rainbow jumped in and pushed Astral back. “What’s got your tail in a knot?”

“If he’s out there, tell me.”

The doubts that bubbled in the back of Rarity’s mind began to boil, frothing over and burning her with the desire to flee. There was something troubling Astral, and she didn’t want to upset him any further. After being left isolated for many moons on his own, she didn’t want to test him in case he forgot restraint.

She straightened her back and put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, signalling her to move aside. “Astral--” she lifted her boot up and showed the boot stained with sticky blood-- “Cure is not dead, but he is severely wounded.”

Astral twitched his nose and breathed in large, rapid breaths. “No,” he whispered. “No. He was supposed to die. Why didn’t you kill him when you had the chance!?”

Rarity stood her ground and at the same time tried to work out what to say next and which way to dodge if things went from bad to worse. Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow seemed to be planning her next move as well. “The plan was to get your horn back. We never agreed to kill anypony. Cure is too wounded to stop us. Let’s reunite you with Lily and get to safety.”

“No! I’ve lost her already. I’m not going to lose her again.”

“Hey!” Rainbow flared her wings and jabbed a hoof at Astral. “We’re trying to help. We’re not taking her away from you!”

A blue beam shot from Astral’s horn and hit Rainbow in the hoof, and ice engulfed half of her leg. Rainbow pulled back and flapped her wings with all her might, but the leg stayed firmly in place.

“She’s not going anywhere,” said Astral with a snarl. “She’s not going anywhere until Cure is dead. I won’t risk losing her again. He won’t take her away from me. You will not take her from me. Kill Cure, or take her place. Forever.”

Rarity stepped back and lit her horn. “Astral, please listen to what you’re saying. Why do we need to kill Cure? Let’s get away now!”

“I know what I said. Cure is relentless. He’ll be here any moment. He comes back. He always comes back.” Astral heaved as he stomped the ground. “We’ve fought many times. I’ve cut him, dropped rocks on him, pushed him off cliffs; but he heals. He comes back.” Astral reached up and tapped his horn. “But now… now I have my horn back. Thanks to you two. You’ve done well, but not well enough. Miracle Cure must die.”

“Astral, listen to me - there’s no need for this!”

“No! There isn’t any other way. I won’t give Lily up! Not for you, not for Cure--” He aimed his horn at Rarity. “not for anypony!”

A loud crack shattered the air, and a long white leg reached through the floor and swatted Astral aside. He rolled on the ground and hit the wall with a thud. As Astral rushed to get onto his feet, Cure above ripped the floor apart beam by rotting beam, and snow poured in through the gaping hole.

Astral shot an ice beam at Cure, but Cure shielded his face with an arm. Ice built up on the fur and swallowed up the appendage. With his free hand, Cure grabbed a plank of wood and swung it against Astral; it broke against his side and knocked him off his hooves. Cure reached in with his long arms, grabbed Astral by a back leg, and dragged him out of the cellar. “You monster! You shan’t have her!” screamed Astral as he kicked at the spindly fingers wrapped around his leg. The cursing continued as Astral was dragged out of Rarity’s sight, and a monstrous roar boomed above them.

“No!” shouted Rarity. “Stop fighting! This won’t help anything!”

She turned to run out the cellar door but remembered about Rainbow. She turned and kicked at the ice anchoring Rainbow to the floor. After a few hard kicks from both ponies, it still remained intact. In desperation, Rainbow began to dig at the dirt around the ice, but she made no progress.

Rarity looked about the cellar. She strained her eyes searching the room for something, anything, to help, but she found nothing useful. Then she remembered the tools in the first cellar they had taken shelter in. “Rainbow! I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” She gave her leg another tug. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

Rarity rushed out of the cellar, but before she could look about for the other houses, she was blinded by a flash of white. She covered her eyes as they adjusted to the sudden change in brightness. When she could make out shapes, she rushed through the snow to the house in which they had first taken shelter.

The fighting raged on behind her. The sounds of growls, howls, and violent magic pierced the winds of the storms. She managed to reach the house, but she struggled to remember which side the cellar entrance was. She ran around the corner and hit a hoof against a plank of wood hidden under the snow, hit her head on something hard, and rolled down a slight incline.

More so disoriented than hurt, Rarity struggled to regain her sense of location and what was around her, but when she looked up, she saw something that froze her. High up, the dark grey sky swirled like a hurricane, and along the perimeter of the eye of the storm several blue, ethereal beings soared, shrieking violently--a war cry provoking the hate below. The storm raged around the eye as the fury within pushed away the winds and the snow.

Rarity shook her head; she had to stay focused. No matter what was thrown her way, she had to save them. They weren’t beyond saving! She rushed up the hill and circled the house until she found the cellar entrance. In the cellar, Rarity found the discarded tool-heads where they had left them. She grabbed a pickaxe head and rushed back to Rainbow.

The distance between the houses seemed to have grown as Rarity hurried through the now-knee-deep snow. She dared to look above and saw the windigos again, circling the dark skies as they were before, feasting on the hate below.

It shouldn’t have turned out this way. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. All Rarity had wanted was to help two lovers find their happily ever after. Reunite a couple separated by forces beyond her control. To guide, to aid, to save. Love was supposed to be a thing of beauty. Just like in her stories. How could something so pure create so much negativity? She shook away those distracting thoughts. There were lives were at risk.

Back at Rainbow’s side, Rarity held up the pickaxe head to one side. Rainbow leaned as far away as she could from her and stood still. With a mighty swing, the pickaxe hit the ice, but nothing happened. She tried again, and this time the ice cracked. Rarity swung again and again, and each time, the crack grew larger and small chunks broke loose. With a final swing, the ice cracked and loosened enough for a kick from Rainbow to shatter it and free her hoof.

“Come on, we have to stop them!” shouted Rarity.

“Stop them? How are we supposed to do that?”

Rarity closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Ooooh. I don’t know, but we must try.”

“But one of them’s a monster! We can’t talk sense to a monster.”

“Cure is not a monster! He’s a pony just like us.”

“Do you hear yourself? You’re making excuses for a monster that almost killed you.”

“Rainbow, he didn’t take the fillies like Astral said. He may have done bad things, but-- but-- ooooh. We need to stop this before this situation becomes any worse.”

“I think it’s too late for that.”

The two raced out of the cellar. The fighting still raged on, but the sounds of the shouting and growling was muffled by the howling winds to the point that they couldn’t tell where they had gone. The blinding white made it hard for them to find the tracks and kicked-up snow left by their struggles. But there was one thing the snow couldn’t cover up--the windigos. Rarity looked up towards the sky for the giant cyclone of hate-fueled spirits.

She saw the windigos a distance away and pointed ahead. “Over there!” Rainbow looked and saw the windigos. She opened her mouth, but no words came. She shook her head, recovered her wits, and charged ahead with Rarity on her tail. The two rushed through the snow and into the woods. Trees had fallen in the snow, their rotten trunks snapped in half by powerful blows. Others were covered in ice, whole branches snapped off under the weight of the ice crystals that had formed on them. Others were painted red with blood. This trail of destruction led Rainbow and Rarity to the two furies battling in the white, between where the forest ended and the grey sky began, at the lip of a cliff where no trees grew. An isolated arena of the damned surrounded by a wall of horrific winds and stinging snow.

Astral blasted Cure with ice shards that tore at his flesh, while Cure bashed him with his fists and slashed him with his claws. The blood on Cure’s thighs was dried and dark red, but his arms and chest were damp with fresh, bright-red blood. Astral was covered with scratches from head to hoof.

“Stop!” shouted Rarity. “Stop this! You don’t need to fight!”

“Hey!” Rainbow flapped up into the chillingly calm air and flew at the two. “Stop it!”

Astral turned and pointed his horn at Rainbow. “Stay out of this!” He fired several shards at Rainbow, who managed to veer to the side and avoid the projectiles.

Cure took advantage of the opening: he grabbed Astral by the front leg, swung him like a mace, and slammed him into a tree, which exploded into splinters. Astral fell to the ground, the bottom half of his leg broken off at the knee. Cure lifted up the war trophy over his head and roared before he threw it over the edge of the mountain and charged at the three-legged unicorn.

Without getting up, Astral turned his head and shot a huge ice ball at Cure’s legs, and he buckled as the boulder smashed his knee cap. Astral shot another huge chunk of ice at Cure, but he rolled aside, and the ice boulder rolled along the ground and off the cliff. Cure dragged himself toward Astral, reached out, sank his long claws into Astral’s thigh, and dragged him closer while Astral squirmed about to free himself.

Rarity ran up to the two as fast as she could. “Please, stop this! Think of Lily! Think of--”

“This heartless pony ruined her life. He ruined mine. He brought this curse upon our village!” shouted Cure. “He must be destroyed. There’s no other way!”

“Please! Let’s talk about this.”

Cure swatted Rarity away and turned back to the pony in his grasp.

“Hey!” shouted Rainbow. “We’re trying to help!”

Cure pushed off the ground with his good leg and snapped his jaws at Rainbow. He missed, but with a swipe of his free hand, he hit Rainbow on the wing and tore off some feathers. She screamed in pain and fell onto the ground.

Rarity got up and saw Cure reach for Astral. She shocked his hand with a weak spell, enough to make him flinch and get his attention before jumping in between them. “Please, listen to me! You don’t need to do this. There is no reason you need to kill each other. We can all get out of this and leave the mountain.”

Cure snorted. “And how do you propose we do that? Let Astral take my wife and go, leaving me, a monstrous deformity, to spend the rest of my days rooted to this barren mountain?”

“No! That’s not what I’m suggesting.”

Cure leaned over Rarity and pushed his green, elongated snout against hers. Rarity could feel his hot breath rush through her fur. “Then what are you suggesting?”

“Please. Let’s put this feud aside. We can go down the mountain and talk this out.”

Cure laughed. His breath washed through Rarity’s mane and burned her nostrils. “Talk? Talk? I’m afraid the time for talking is long gone. I tried to talk, but he won’t listen.”

“You have a funny way of ‘talking,’ Cure,” said Astral as he climbed up on three legs. “Luring ponies into basements and then ambushing them?”

Cure slammed the ground next to Rarity. “You attacked me!”

Against her better instincts, Rarity put a hoof on Cure’s large fist. “Boys, boys, please! Let’s settle down. There’s no need to--”

A blur of white whizzed past her face, cutting off a bit of her mane and embedding itself into Cure’s shoulder. He howled in pain and grabbed his shoulder. He ripped the ice shard out and dropped it.

Rarity found herself shaking. She had been only inches away from death. Was Astral willing to risk killing her to get what he wanted? Before she could even process anything else, she saw Cure raise his left hand over his right shoulder and bring it quickly down at her. She saw the hand coming at her. It hit her on the side, right in the ribs, and laid her flat in the snow.

With no more distractions, Cure pounced on Astral and took him in both hands, lifted him up, and slammed him on the ground. He picked up the pony again, but Astral turned his head and blasted Cure in the face with a barrage of ice shards. Cure shrieked in pain and dropped Astral on the ground while covering his face with a hand. Blood trickled down from his eyes.

Astral pushed up from the ground and fired an icicle into Cure’s other leg. It pierced the skin and remained lodged in the flesh. Cure roared in pain and lashed out with both hands in front of him. Both of his eyes were shut and leaking blood.

Astral laughed. “It’s over, Cure. You won’t have her. She is mine!”

Cure lashed out at the voice, and a claw scraped Astral’s snout. He threw his whole body at Astral and fell on top of him. Astral kicked and cursed as Cure struggled to get a solid grip on him. He turned his head and blasted a chunk of ice at Cure’s injured leg, and Cure howled and buckled before rolling over with Cure in hand. He rolled downhill towards the edge of the cliff.

The windigos above shrilled in delight as the winds around the storm blew harder and faster. Trees were ripped up from their roots or snapped in half. The cracks and rumbles of destruction filled the air with the cries and blows of the battle below.

“Let go, you vile thing. Let go!”

Once more, Cure tried to get up, but the pain was too much, and he fell to his knees. Pinned to the ground, Astral wiggled in Cure’s claws. With his free hand, Cure felt about until he found Astral’s head and slammed it against the ground. He kept Astral’s head down and his horn pointing away. Both of them were covered in blood, as was the ground beneath them. Cure swayed as he held the struggling Astral beneath him. The blood dripped from his arms, chest, and face. He leaned back, picked up Astral by the head and torso, and slammed him on the hard ground. Bits of Astral’s body broke off, and cracks spread through his body. Cure lifted Astral up and smashed him against the stone ground.

Again.

And again.

Each slam came with a pause, and each pause became longer as Cure’s strength faded. Astral’s struggling weakened as well until he stopped kicking and hung limp in Cure’s grip.

All the while, Rarity cried out to them from where she lay as she watched with tears in her eyes. Back up on her hooves, she got close and pleaded for them to stop, but neither listened. She wept for them, called out their names, and Lily’s, until her throat was sore and her voice was raspy.

Cure tried to lift up Astral one more time over his head with shaking limbs, but his grip loosened. The ice pony fell on top of him, rolled off his shoulder, and over the side of the mountain.

Cure himself swayed and collapsed before slipping toward the abyss, but Rarity grabbed a hand with her magic and pulled. She was only able to slow Cure’s descent, not stop it. As she pulled, she saw the extensive damage the fight had done to his body. There were so many deep cuts, open wounds, and pieces of ice jammed into his body. His fur was completely caked in blood. His eyes were damaged beyond repair. He would never see his love again, even if he survived. Rarity cried as she pulled. She didn’t want to let go.

But Cure didn’t move.

As Cure’s torso slipped over the edge, the sudden shift of weight was too much for Rarity. She let go, and below Cure’s body disappeared into the white.

Parting with the White

The winds died, and the snow stopped. Up above, the swirling vortex dissipated, and the windigos churning the storm vanished above the grey sky.

The mountain was as quiet as death.

Rarity stared at the edge of the mountain before her. Two souls filled with hate and jealousy had torn at each other’s throats before her until the mountain ultimately consumed them. Their warped minds, corrupted by their mutual hatred and years of isolation, had driven them to clash with no regards for the consequences.

Their bodies reflected themselves. Cold, manipulative, ferocious, animalistic. They cursed each other to wear their ugly natures on the outside. Try as she might, she couldn’t get through to them; her pleas weren’t enough to save them, and she herself felt it was her fault. If only she had tried harder, this lead weight she felt on her chest wouldn’t be there, and there might still have been a happy ending.

As she cried and her tears fell to the snow at her hooves, she wondered how much of this could have been avoided. How much of the two tales was true? Was one of them in the right, or were they both delusional? Had it been just themselves that their actions ruined, perhaps it wouldn’t have been this heart wrenching, but there was another whose life was forever altered.

Winter Lily.

“Hey, Rarity. You okay? You’re not hurt, are ya?”

Rarity shook away her thoughts and wiped away her tears. She sniffled. “I’m alright. It’s just…” She croaked with her tired throat and pointed at the cliff.

Rainbow pulled her ears back. “Ooh. What a way to go.”

The two sat together for a moment and stared at the grey horizon together.

“How’s your wing?”

Rainbow flapped her wing. “It’s alright.” She winced and licked a bloody cut. “I’ve had worse. It’ll get better in no time.”

Neither of them spoke as they continued to look at the scene before them. Rainbow looked around while Rarity just stared off into space.

“Hey, Rarity. The sky is clearing up.”

Rarity snapped out of her trance and looked up. Indeed it was. Holes opened in the grey above them, revealing a beautiful blue sky. Sunlight leaked through the cracks and poured on the mountain. The rays grew larger as the clouds continued to dissipate. The sounds of dripping water built up until it sounded like rain. Behind her, Rarity saw that the snow collected on the branches was melting.

Some scuffling beside her turned her attention back to Rainbow, who was removing her jacket. “It’s actually getting pretty warm, isn’t it?” She threw the jacket over her back and watched the snow melt. “Wow, everything is melting pretty quickly.”

Rarity gasped.

Winter Lily!

The ice encasing Winter Lily glistened with water. Exposed to the sun through the large hole in the floor above, the snow and ice around her had already melted and soaked the frozen dirt floor, which turned to a filthy slush that was hard to stand in.

Rarity slipped in the slush as she rushed over to Lily, but she took no notice of the mud on her as she struggled to her hooves and to Lily’s side.

Indeed, the ice was melting, but very slowly.

Thoughts raced through her mind about the tragedy she had just witnessed. Astral and Cure were gone, a lost cause from the very beginning; but could she save Lily?

Lily could have been gone already. Never before had Rarity heard of a pony being frozen in ice and surviving, if frozen at all. She could have died from the cold, asphyxiation, or if for some magical reason she had survived, the melting ice could seep into her nose and drown her.

Rarity felt her heart clench as the possibility of losing another pony hit her. She grabbed the pickaxe head from earlier and wailed on the ice. Chunks broke off and melted into the slush. Rainbow took her cue and kicked the ice with her rear hooves.

When there wasn’t very much ice left, Rainbow backed up to the farthest wall, flew toward the base of the ice, and turned around at the last second to deliver a powerful kick. The ice shattered underneath Lily, and she with the remaining ice above her fell into a pile. Rarity and Rainbow frantically pulled all of the ice off of her.

The mare was soaked to the bone. Her fur was wet, and her mane and tail lay flat in the sludge beneath her.

She didn’t move.

Rarity wouldn’t accept this. She held her breath and put her ear against the side of Lily’s barrel.

She was ice cold.

And she wasn’t breathing.

Rarity pushed her head deeper into the wet fur and into Lily’s ribs. There had to be a heartbeat.

She was freezing, but she could make it. It wasn’t too late! Rarity threw off her clothes and hugged the mare to her chest. She squeezed Lily again and again in hopes that she’d squeeze life back into her.

Just then, Rainbow shoved her aside.

“What are you doing!?”

Rainbow put her ear down and listened. She flipped Lily over on her right side, put both front hooves on Lily’s ribs, and pushed. Harder and harder, the mare beneath her sank into the sludge. Rainbow lowered her head, put her mouth on Lily’s, and blew into her mouth before repeating the motions again.

Rarity watched as Rainbow continued to perform on Lily. She wanted to go up, to hug Lily, to help in some way, but the way Rainbow focused on the mare in front of her, the way she wrinkled her nose in a determined scowl, the way she didn’t even stop to wipe the sweat from her brow, she must have been in a state of complete concentration. She didn’t want to get in the way; so she just watched and felt her chest tighten with each push against Lily’s.

For what seemed to be hours, Rainbow continued to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. After several attempts, she’d stop and put an ear to the mare’s ribs, only to get back up and continue. It pained Rarity to watch, and after a while, she couldn’t even bear to look in their direction, she turned her head as Rainbow lowered her head for what was probably the tenth time.

“Rarity, she’s alive!”

Rarity snapped her head back at Rainbow and brought a hoof up to her mouth. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, you did it!”

Rainbow went back to tending to the mare. “Hey, we’re not done yet. Get a fire started. She’s going to need it.”

Lily was laid carefully on Rarity and Rainbow’s jackets in a makeshift bed. The fire a short distance away crackled and dried her fur.

It took a while, but Rarity was able to find enough dry wood to start a fire, and with the new hole in the floor above them, there was plenty of circulation.

After more resuscitation, Lily coughed, spat up some water and she breathed once again, though she was weak and only opened her eyes for a moment before falling asleep.

She had beautiful emerald eyes that radiated against her dull blue-white fur and deep blue, curly mane. It was like a flower in a snow-covered field. A lily in winter.

With all that had happened, Rarity didn’t want to stay away from her. She didn’t want Lily to slip away, the one good thing that had come out of this venture full of pain and misery. She kept close to her to keep an eye on her breathing and wiped her clean with her scarf while tending to the fire.

Rainbow, no longer tending to Lily, turned her attentions to her wing. Much of the blood had clotted and stained her feathers and fur.

Rarity stopped watching Lily and looked up at Rainbow. “Rainbow, I’m so amazed at what you did. I didn’t know you were so good with first aid.”

Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Yeah, well, it’s all part of being a weather pony and a wonderbolt in training. You gotta know how to deal with weather emergencies and accidents. When you’re flying all over the place, it’s quite likely something will happen when you’re far from help.”

Lily coughed a bit in her sleep, but otherwise remained silent. Rarity wiped the spit off Lily’s chin with her scarf. “The poor dear, she’s been through so much.” She looked back up at the blue sky above them. “I do believe I saw a cart by one of these houses. If it works, we can get Lily out of this hole and some professional help.”

“Woah, woah, woah. We shouldn’t move her. She should remain as still as possible. One of us should go get help.”

“One of us?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yes. One of us gets help, and the other watches Lily.”

“Are you sure that’s alright?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Hey, the storm stopped, and most of the snow is gone. I can find my way down just fine.”

“But your wing--”

“It’s just a scratch! If I needed to, I could fly away. The worst that would happen is the wound would reopen.”

Rarity sighed. “Alright. You go. I’ll stay here with Lily.”

Rainbow nodded and turned to the stairs. “Take good care of her. I’ll be back in a flash.” She ran out of the cellar.

When Rarity could no longer hear Rainbow’s muddy steps, she turned back to the mare sleeping soundly beside her. She took in a deep breath and softly ran a hoof across Lily’s cheek. “You’ll be alright, darling. I’m here for you.”

The ground was slick and muddy, so Rarity set up a few planks of wood and laid flat on her stomach. She wasn’t going to roll around in the mud like a pig, and after all she’d been through, she considered it a luxury. With her body aligned just so she could keep her eyes on Lily, Rarity relaxed. However, she fought to keep herself from resting her eyes; as tempting as it was to doze off, she wanted to stay alert in case anything happened.

The sunlight flooded the basement and soaked into Rarity’s fur, warming her body and putting her at ease. The pitter-patter of melting snow dripping from the trees droned on in her ears. Nature itself was easing Rarity, as if it was telling her that she deserved to rest. But Rarity politely declined.

She kept looking about the room and inspecting every inch to keep her mind active, but there was only so much the barren dirt basement had to observe. She found a rusty bucket, so she took that and placed it under a tree to collect water. That was the only time she allowed Lily out of her sight. Other than the occasional look up for the blue sky to see if Rainbow returned, Rarity kept her eyes on Winter Lily.

Then she heard a cough.

Rarity jumped up on all four hooves at the noise. Lily coughed again and stirred on her makeshift bed. Each movement was accompanied by groans and grunts, either of pain or grogginess. Then she opened her eyes.

Lily fluttered her eyes, blinking out the decades of ice-induced sleep. She lifted a hoof to wipe her face, but she cringed and let out a hiss of pain before letting it drop back down to her side.

At the very tip of her wooden platform, Rarity reached over and caressed Lily, ever-so-gently cleaning her eyes of gunk. “It’s okay,” she cooed. “Everything’s okay.”

“Who-what?” the mare croaked, her voice like sandpaper. “Where am I?”

“You’re in Wintercrest, deary,” said Rarity softly.

Lily half-opened her eyes once more and looked around as much as she could without moving her head. She tried once to lift her head, but she couldn’t get it off the ground. She strained and she struggled, but she could only wiggle slightly. Then she began to cry.

Tears washed over Rarity’s stinging eyes, for she too was tortured watching Lily suffer. She ran her hoof over Lily’s cheek softly, as though she was made of fine china that would break under the slightest pressure. She repeated the same assurances over and over as she tried to calm her down.

“I hurt,” she whimpered. “I hurt all over. I can’t move.” She opened her eyes wide, and her irritated eyes darted about. “Where’s my husband? Where is he? Where is everyone?”

Rarity froze. She felt her insides clench and squirm about like a can of worms. All of her thoughts escaped her, leaving her mind empty and devoid of answers. Fear clogged her throat as she tried to say something. Anything.

All she could do was make a guttural noise as Lily wept.

Rarity felt her muscles twitch as she finally regained composure. She leaned down and put her cheek against Lily’s. “There, there. I’m here to help you,” Rarity said as planned out what she would say next as she waited for Lily’s crying to subside. Once Lily emptied her tears and opened up to Rarity, she put her plan into action. “Your husband isn’t with us at the moment. You must be thirsty; can I get you some water?”

“Please,” she sniffed.

“Okay, I’m going to get you some water. I’ll only be gone for a moment.” After slowly lifting herself back on her hooves, Rarity walked out and fetched the bucket. The branch above was almost devoid of snow, and the bucket was about half full. A few twigs had fallen in, so Rarity plucked them out with her magic, brought it back with her, and set it at beside her plank-bed.

With her magic, Rarity took a small amount of water and held the floating, formless mass in front of Lily’s muzzle. She sipped the water until it was all gone. Rarity then took her dirty scarf and dried her face and wiped away any snot before giving Lily another drink. She repeated this process a few more times.

“Feeling better?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

Lily mumbled her consent.

“Could you please tell me your name? My name is Rarity.”

Lily took a few deep breaths and looked up at Rarity. “Winter Lily. My name is Winter Lily.”

Rarity smiled. Now it was time for her to learn the truth. “Winter Lily, could you please tell me the name of your husband?”

After a few shaky breaths, Lily answered, “Terracotta.”

Rarity felt her jaw slack. She tightened her jaw to hide the dumbfounded look she hoped Lily didn’t notice. “I’m sorry, did you say your husband’s name is Terracotta?”

“Yes, he’s the town potter.” Lily turned her pleading eyes up to Rarity. “Is he here?”

Rarity bit the inside of her lips. “I’m sorry dear, but he’s not here with us.”

“Oh.” Lily seemed to deflate as though the last bit of hope she’d held onto had left her.

Things were not going as Rarity expected. She needed to do something. “Lily, what is the last thing you remember?”

As if her memories were written on her nose, Lily looked down her face as she searched her mind. “Well, I remember I was going to the chemist to pick up some medicine. It was shortly after he returned from his yearly trip to get supplies. I had been sick with a fever when he left. My husband took care of me and used up all the medicine he could find.

“My husband was so distraught that after I recovered, he said, ‘When the chemist gets back, let’s stock up on medicine so we will be prepared should need ever arise again.’

“So after Miracle Cure, the chemist, returned, I went to his house. I heard a noise in the basement. There was yelling. I heard Cure’s voice. I opened the door to the basement and I saw him fighting with another pony. I rushed down and tried to stop them, but there was a white flash, and… and… I don’t know.”

Lily’s voice was starting to get raspy during her explanation. Rarity gave another bubble of water to Lily and she sipped it. After she finished and Rarity wiped her chin, Rarity asked another question. “Do you know who he was fighting with?”

“He was fighting Astral Body. He was a bit of a hermit. He helped around in the village from time to time, but mostly he stayed in his house and read books. He was a bit odd, but I considered him a friend.”

“Odd? How so?”

“Well, he got nervous whenever he was around me, and sometimes he left notes and letters that I sometimes responded to. But after I got married, he didn’t stop. Terracotta didn’t like that and told me not to respond to his letters anymore. So I did. He said I was ‘leading him on.’

“He wasn’t the only one who sent me letters. The stallions who could write wrote me love letters and poems, but after I got married to my husband, most of them stopped. There was Astral and one more secret admirer who didn’t stop. My husband got so upset, he tore them up and burned them.”

The curse of beauty--Rarity knew it well. While beauty was something all mares wanted to have, having too much of it could bring more drama than a mare could put up with. Every stallion within a hundred miles would want to have you. Especially the ones who only measured the value of a mare by her looks. It wasn’t uncommon that a stallion would approach her and the first thing out of his mouth would have something to do with her “stunning beauty” or anything of the like.

Things were beginning to make sense, but Rarity wanted to know more. “Did they ever propose to you?”

“Oh yes, I’ve been proposed to many times, but I always said no. Many of them took it pretty hard. I always felt so bad for them afterward. Especially Astral. After I rejected him, he stayed in his house for days. This was right before he left for a bigger town to study more magic. I thought he had locked himself in his house for weeks before somepony told me he left.” Lily’s voice grew softer and weaker. She let her head tilt back down and rested the side of her face on her bed. “I’m sorry, but I’m so tired.”

“Oh, please. Rest, darling. I’ll be here for you if you need anything.”

Lily closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, breathing softly into the clothes she lay on.

Just as she said, Rainbow was back with help in a short amount of time. The small town below had an emergency response crew ready because of the ever-raging storm that ravaged the mountain. Rarity had to resist the urge to keep Lily all to herself, but the paramedics knew better than her about what to do, and so she let them take her away on a pegasus lift. The non-pegasi crew walked Rarity and Rainbow back to the lodge near the train station.

She was welcomed with great celebration, and among the ponies waiting for her were Sweetie Belle and her friends. Cheerilee and Applejack had found them shortly after they had split up, but by the time they could have a unicorn send up a flare, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were too far away to see it through the storm.

She gave her sister a big hug and cried. Her sister was safe. She also heard that Lily would make a full recovery, but it would take time.

With all the hugging and the happy reunions, Rarity almost missed the comment Applejack made about how awful she looked. Indeed, a quick glance in the mirror showed that she was a mess. Her makeup was smeared all over her face, she was missing her false eyelashes, dried mud was caked in her fur and on her hooves, and her mane was a disheveled mop. But she didn’t care. She was safe, and so were her friends and family.

She’d have plenty of time to wash up later.

On the train ride back home, Rarity stared out and watched as Mount Wintercrest slowly passed her window. On their way toward the mountain, it had been surrounded by a white fog so thick she couldn’t see the top half. On their departure, it was completely different. Snow still could be seen at the peak, but the menacing clouds were gone. No longer did the mountain seal itself away in a hate-fueled storm, but instead stood tall in the clear sky with a serene calmness.

As she watched the mountain sink into the horizon, she finally cooled down enough to reflect on what had happened. If what Winter Lily had said was the truth, then it was possible that Astral Body and Miracle Cure, during their hundreds of moons in their frozen Tartarus on Equus, had fooled themselves by believing in a romanticized past. In their eternal solitude, they had let delusion rewrite their memories and drive themselves down a path of mutual destruction. They were beyond saving even before Rarity showed up.

Through the window, she could barely make out the shapes of what remained of the town of Wintercrest near the peak. No longer buried under snow or bombarded with winds, it had been reintroduced to the outside world. Would ponies go back and rebuild it, or would it remain untouched as a relic of an age past?

Sweetie Belle had asked about the events on the mountain, but Rarity could never tell her the truth. She herself didn’t want to believe what had happened. She told Sweetie that she and Rainbow had gotten lost while looking for them, and along the way come across another mare in trouble as well just before the storm ended.

On the seat next to her was her romance book she had been reading before all this happened. She wanted to pick it up. Forget all that had happened and lose herself in a romanticized story with no grey, just good and bad, black and white. Instead, she watched the white-peaked mountain recede into the distance - sinking into the green meadows and giving way to blue skies. She sighed, closed her eyes, and welcomed her parting with the white.

Author's Note

This story was inspired by the song "Mondchor."

This story was written as an exercise to see how much of a long narrative I could compress into a as few words as I could. But as time went on, it just kept getting longer.

Did you know the color white can mean death, birth, innocence, or truth in certain cultures? :pinkiegasp: I tried to use the color white in the story as a symbol and give it a deeper meaning whenever Rarity entered or left it. Like her purity was ruined, exposed to truth, possible death, etc.

My prereader suggest to change the ending to something other than the word "white" as it felt predictable, but I felt that ending with similar phrases but with different meanings could be just as powerful. What do you think?

Also, did you know the horse's heart is aligned to the center of the chest cavity but a little more to the left side?