“I wish... I hope... I dream... I pray. By the princesses' rule, light my way”
Seasons change with the turn of the third month in a cycle. Each cycle has its change; the warmth of spring, the heat of summer, the change of fall and the cool of winter. Many years ago, almost a thousand and one hundred years ago, there was no calm, no joy nor prayer.
Winter was a time of harsh winds and despair, despised by all whose understanding was as little as a raindrop, but on the hundredth year of the princess’ reign, one filly who saw the good of winter and felt its sadness presented a gift, one that would tame the indomitable weather and change the season for all.
She made more of this gift, she called them stars. Slowly winter was accepted, even loved by the ponies of Equestria, but she only made so many, and passed many years later at an incredibly old age. But she never truly died, she lived on in the season she helped to calm. We call her—
“The Spirit of Winter!” interrupted Meadow before the end.
Clear Water chuckled and smiled at the young fawn. “Yes my child, the Spirit of Winter.”
“I think I like this story much more than the others,” Meadow said, snuggling into the doe’s side as the moon rose above the trees of the forest thicket.
“Is that so?” she chuckled lightly. “I enjoy this story too. It’s centuries old now, and the tale has remained unchanged, much like the snow itself.” Clear Water looked up at the bare branches of a nearby tree; a lone leaf clung to the arm of the branch until a gust of cool wind plucked it and cast it to the ground.
“But I think that’s enough stories for tonight, it’s time to rest.”
“But I don’t want to sleep,” protested Meadow. “I’m wide awake!” He grinned and stared up at Clear Water with his innocent yet curious eyes.
“Excited for your first winter, are you?”
“Mhm! I wonder what it’ll be like, will it be as harsh as in the story? Or gentle like the gift?”
Clear Water let out another soft chuckle, followed by a tired yawn. “You’re quite inquisitive, dear. It won’t be long until the snow comes now, perhaps we will see her as she wanders the woods, spreading her gift where others do not. But then, perhaps we won’t. It’s all a matter of luck, for she is never still, always stepping lightly over the leaves, the rivers and streams, a wonderful being, kind, gentle and soothing. Just like you, my son...”
Clear Water looked to her side to see Meadow asleep, warm against her coat and safe in her comfort. She nuzzled the fawn gently, rubbing her muzzle atop his forehead before resting her eyes and laying her head on the ground beside him. The moon's light shone onto them through the leafless branches of surrounding trees,
The breeze of winter blew through Equestria’s Undiscovered West, its forests felt the bite of the coming change and many animals had begun the preparations for hibernation. The other deer, while restful during the night, had started to grow concerned for their young. As tame as winter might be, it continued to present a challenge to those whose hunger grows.
In his dreams, Meadow ran through fields of flowers and tall grass; the pony world was so far away, but also close enough to touch. He dreamt of a yellow Pegasus. She approached slowly, wading through the field and speaking to him in a hushed voice that soothed his skittish nature and gave him reason not to run.
“Who are you?” he asked, and the pony replied, “My name’s, Fluttershy. What’s your name?”
“I’m, Meadow,” he said in response, taking some steps to back up a little.
“You don’t need to be frightened... I mean... I understand if you are, you haven’t made contact with our kind before. But I’ve met others like you back home.”
Confused, Meadow tilted his head and looks around Clear Water, only he is alone, only he and the pegasus from a place that might as well have been far away stood in the field. That was when it started to snow. He looked skyward to see the flakes slowly come down and blanket the snow in random patches.
When he looked back he could no longer see the pegasus, as if she was never there. A twinkle graced his ears which perked up and twisted in the direction they came from. He heard the soft steps of hooves, a breath of cold at his back. He went to turn, only to be awoken by dawn's first light.
~~~
“I’m telling you, Keel, it felt real, like it wasn't a dream at all.”
“Are you sure you didn’t eat blossoms before sleeping? Ponies have never entered these woods, not even the pegasi. Everything is... um... na-natural,” said the Timberwolf pup as she laid on a rock and watched as the young deer pranced about in circles.
“No, I didn’t have any blossoms. Mother told me the story of the Spirit of Winter and when I fell asleep I had that dream... at the end everything turned white and got cold.”
“I don’t know much about winter neither... but my parents do.”
“But Keel, you’re made of sticks.” Meadow tilted his head in confusion.
Keel sighed as the leaves that made up her coat withered, “I still have parents...” She put her head down flat on the rock lazily.
Silence filled the air. Meadow stared at Keel and shivered in the wind. He puffed up his cheeks and walked up to Keel on her stone bed. With a playful smile, he nudged her side which sparked some of her puppy energy. She panted and lifted her head, her tail wagging slightly while her ears stood alert.
Meadow quickly darted for the forest path, turning only to encourage Keel to follow, “Come on, let's go see if anything is happening in the valley!” And without another word, he skitted off.
“Wait! I’m not as fast as you!” Keel followed behind as quickly as her legs could carry her, a trail of leaves followed in her wake.
Meadow skidded to a stop at the top of the path and looked back at Keel, who hurried herself on her stubby legs up the hill. She was close to Meadow but tripped on a rock and hit the ground hard enough to come apart. Meadow cringed and shut one eye with a leg lifted. He hissed and watched as Keel quickly pulled herself back together.
“I’m okay!” she reassured Meadow.
“Doesn’t that hurt?”
“Only if I break a leg, but even that can be fixed, easily.”
“Gee, being a Timberwolf must be really helpful.”
Keel giggled, “Sometimes, I think my mommy’s wood rot is a bit of a setback for my kind...”
Meadow started to prance along the way, Keel following close beside him. “And woodpeckers.”
“And termites,” Keel added with a shudder.
“I guess being a Timberwolf is harder than it looks,” laughed Meadow.
The pair ran off the path and treked through the trees, stepping over rocks and logs, passing by the streams and kicking up the dried out leaves blanketing the ground before arriving at the edge of the treeline. They looked down from the ledge they stood on, down into the valley below where other wild deer grazed: does and their young.
Keel looked at Meadow and watched him puff up his chest, stand tall and still just like a dominant male overlooking his herd. The sight reduced the creature to laughter and Meadow to distraction.
“W-what? What did I do?”
Keel rolled around in her laughing fit. Eventually she found a moment to stop with difficulty and look up at Meadow. “It’s not what you did, it’s what you are doing!”
“What’s wrong with what I’m doing? Meadow’s ears fell flat against his head.
“You look silly, standing on tall cliffs and looking over everything like that.” Keel came apart willingly and pieced herself back together standing on all fours again. “I’m not trying to be mean, Meadow.”
“I know that. I wasn’t sad or anything.” Meadow stuck his nose into the air as if he was denying it.
“I found it quite adorable.” Clear Water’s voice trailed into the ears of Meadow and Keel, to their surprise.
Meadow turned around as Clear Water approached and nuzzled her in greeting. “I was pretending to be like the wise one, mother.”
“I saw, you looked so tough standing up there like a prince.”
Keel scoffed and came out from behind Meadow, “He was alright, but I don’t think he was princely.”
“Good morning to you, Keel. I see you’ve started to shed. You look very much like your mother.”
“Thank you, Ms. Clear Water.” Keel bowed, showing off her lady-like behaviour.
Clear Water bowed back, amused by the exchange which would otherwise look strange to other forest creatures unaccustomed to friendships like this. Meadow watched the both of them for a moment then stepped forward.
“Keel and I came to see what was going on in the valley,” he started.
“Not much by the looks of it,” finished Keel.
Clear snickered and shook her head. “The day has been quiet at best, no danger at all.”
“That’s because my kind has been really good!” Keel exclaimed, jumping excitedly.
“Woof,” Meadow teased.
“We don’t woof! Arf!”
Meadow scrunched up his muzzle, while Clear Water covered her mouth with a slight giggle.
“Yeah, sure you don’t.” Meadow poked his tongue out at Keel, who growled and barked once, more in a weak attempt to roar.
A cool wind swept past the three as a cloud passed overhead, bringing with it the first flakes of winter. The clouds moved alone, without the assistance of the pegasus in Equestria’s east and like-wise without them came the snow. The last leaf on Keel’s body broke off and flittered away in the wind, now she was bare and looked exactly as a Timberwolf should, only smaller, shorter and without the foul breath. Meadow shivered and cuddled up to Clear Water; a lone flake twinkled down and came to rest on his nose. He took a deep breath and sneezed, wiggling his nose after and shaking his head.
“My leaf…” Keel whimpered.
“It’s okay, Keel. You could always grow more.”
Keel sighed. “I suppose…”
“The spirit has started her walk,” Clear Water smiled brightly and looked to the children. “I’ll come by later to take you home, Meadow. Have fun.”
“I will mother!” Meadow replied in exclamation.
Clear Water took another look at the falling snow, smiled briefly with closed eyes and left. Meadow watched after her, his ears folded back with a heavy sigh. Keel sniffed the little green piece of vegetation cast from her wooden body and shuddered with a cool wind.
“Brr… I don’t like that feeling.”
“Me neither.” Meadow dug at the ground.
“What should we do now? There’s not much to do now since most of our friends are sleeping…” Keel whimpered slightly.
“We’ll find something to do. Maybe we could watch the Mammoths?”
Keel seemed to like that idea, she gave a slight nod then the two were off on another trek through the woods, further away from the meadow and nearer the Frosty Hills to the south. Miles away the gigantic wooly creatures could be heard, trumpeting from afar and hurting Keel’s ears with their volume. She shook her head and contemplated removing her ears to cease their sound, but it was futile. Her nature would only just return her parts to her and continue the assault on her sensitive ears.
Meanwhile, young Meadow’s ears were listening curiously to the sounds of the grazing Mammoths, though he dare not cross the river which ran through the undiscovered west, and into the dark southern woods his mother told him never to venture. The temptation and childish curiosity drew him toward the stream of fast flowing neon blue water. He put one cloven hoof into the water and slipped with the current, then he quickly pulled back as a large, fish-like reptile burst from the water in an attempt to snatch him away.
Meadow darted back in fright and moved a fair bit away from the bank. Keel had seen this and with her species twisted sense of humor, laughed until her rib planks were coming apart with the rest of her. Meadow didn’t really see what was so funny and tilted his head as Keel slowly pieced herself back together.
“T-that’s not funny!” Meadow bleated at Keel, who snickered.
“I’m sorry, Meadow. Are you okay?” the sincerity in Keel’s voice wasn’t false, genuine concern was carried with her words like an odor of perfume on a breeze.
“I’m not hurt. I’m a little shaken now…” Meadow craned forward to look into the water again. Whatever creature had tried to take him had swam away as small floating pieces of ice floated on the surface. Meadow moved back and shook his now freezing hoof dry.
“Do you think the spirit lives out that way?”
Keel groaned. “The spirit is a silly story passed down by the old owls and fly ponies.”
“You just don’t believe, Keel. You timberwolves are always— um… non-believers!”
“That’s mean, I believe in stuff!” rebuked Keel. “Ponies just make stuff up to put their pups to bed.”
Meadow’s head craned back in confusion. “Pups? They have fawns, silly! They look a lot like I do.”
“But they have pups! My mommy said that they have pups!”
“Well I guess we’ll find out someday!” Meadow stomped in place, making a rhythmic beat with Keels tapping.
The two ended up ceasing their squabbling with annoyed sighs and a few moments of silence, broken only by the stomping and trumpeting of mammoths, and the chirps of birds. The winds of the frosty hills came down their slopes and washed the two young animals with its ice. Shivers and chattering teeth were the results of this sudden surprise of suppressing snow carried aloft this southerly wind of waking winter. The sun's light slowly died away to bring out the dawning moon. It was then that Meadow and Keel apologized and started heading back to their families.
~~~
“And now my walk begins. To blanket the land in my stars, and cool the rivers to a pause. Dream your dreams, everybody. And while you do, I will tend to this changing land for you, where other ponies do not tread.”
The days passed by slowly, and so did the icy chill of winter sink its frozen fangs into the world. During this time, Meadow came to experience what exactly winter was like. Beautiful and gentle, cool but not unforgiving; but once it reached the heart of the first month, when food had slowly started to whither away into the white oblivion, did Meadow discover the contradicting cruelty of the season that seemed so magical.
Meadow’s brain had done a flip flop. He now yearned to feel the warmth of the sun once more, any thought of the spirit had been swept away on the onset of the struggle for food, scarce, and more often than not; inedible. About now the only thing the deer could eat were black root-like plants, the taste was horrible, at least to young Meadow.
Keel, in the meantime, felt lonely. Meadow was moving around, too frequently in search of food to play with her. Her fully mended mother would try often to substitute the pup’s playful hunger, but to no avail. It disheartened the elder and started to imprint the impression of innocent infidelity. The act of associating with another creature outside her race was like cheating on her own, innocently, she thought nothing of the thoughts of her peers and elders; her predatory nature was repressed by the relationship she shared with the fawn.
The period of separation from his friends and the anxiety of dread mixed bitterly with Meadow, he snuggled up to Clear Water on one of the colder nights and had to be lulled to sleep, shivering and whimpering during a harsh blizzard.
“Spirit… please if you hear me: let not my son suffer this harsh chill, I pray this storm you make lasts no longer than it needs to. I feel so cold… and so fearful for my dear one. Please… Help us through this trying time, help me keep him safe.” Clear Water lowered her head around Meadow. Not even her coat could keep warmth to herself and her fawn.
Her prayer did not go unanswered. A lone snowflake of an odd shape twinkled down slowly and came to rest on Clear’s forehead. It illuminated a brief bright brilliant white, followed by the cease of the blizzard, replaced by the soft fall of gentle snow. Dawn came, a gloomy white dawn which brought the scent of danger. It awoke the sleeping Clear Water, and with her ears erect and alert, rapidly turning her head around to spot the danger, she stood up and nudged Meadow with her hoof.
“M-Mother?” Meadow yawned.
“Meadow, we need to go.” Clear Water kept her eyes on the tree’s ahead, occasionally glancing to her left and right as yellow eyes and dog-like growls started to bear down on them.
“Run, Meadow. Run now!” As the growls grew hungrier and with more ferocity, the time to wake fully was stripped from Meadow, with a hard nudge from his mother which sent him on his side did he realize the urgency he had to run and quickly got to his hooves and skitted away from what would reveal themselves to be Wargs.
The giant wolf-like monsters came crashing out of the trees in full force, using their superior speed to give chase to their fearful pray. The scent of that fear sent the beasts into a frenzy, a group of two broke away from either side while three remained in the middle. Clear Water, through deep and struggling breaths, urged Meadow to keep running, never to look back no matter what he heard. She had feared her time was up, she noticed the four wargs flanking them, Her eyes widened when she saw they were going for Meadow, her heart stopped and she pushed herself ahead, fighting her fatigue, ignoring the pain in her chest, and in her mind she was praying they would give up and leave.
“Someone help us!!” Meadow cried out at the top of his lungs.
In an instant of a bright flash of white light, everything froze, from the running of the deer to the savage sprinting of the Wargs. Slowly time resumed and the snow came to life. Though it might not have been the snow, the wind alone seemed to be the living entity in this act of defense. It picked up and threw the wargs who stayed their course with no fear of the flash. With loud, angry yelps they fell to the ground. Some ran, but a large black warg with battle scars and what looked to be an arrow many years old in its back stayed and let out a deafening roar which mixed into its howel and brought terror to the hearts of its prey.
The warg’s battle cry sounded no more, and the beast began its charge, but not for long. There was another flash of light, it was almost blinding. While Clear Water’s eyes were shut, Meadow ignored her urges to shut his own, and saw through squinting the apparition of a large pony with wings.
“BACK OFF!!!” the pony shouted in a voice which echoed loudly. The resulting shout sent the warg flying back and into retreat.
Soon the light faded along with the apparition. The snow on the ground had cleared, revealing fresh grass, illuminated now by an opening in the clouds. This struck Clear Water as odd. Never in her time had she seen this before, she couldn’t recall ever hearing a tale of the sky cover opening, nor fresh grass growing where none should on icy ground.
“Look, mother! Food, the Spirit left us food!” Meadow cried out gleefully and rushed over to indulge in the green richness.
Clear Water was more confused than anything else. She managed to still her thudding heart and regain her calm composure to some manner of extent. She now had to deal with the worry of a counter attack from the wargs, but the mundane was not nearly as close to her mind as the questions of why. The Spirit had helped those before, but never so much as once per creature, or so she heard. Regardless, she was thankful, and joined Meadow in enjoying what they were given, as odd as it was.
~~~
“You haven’t eaten, Keel. What’s the matter? You’re not missing that fawn, are you?” The gravelly, guttural voice of Keels mother, Madeira, came from behind as she laid beside her.
Keel didn’t want to talk about it. She had been ridiculed by the other pups, and scowled at by most of the elders for being interested in friendship with a deer. She chewed on her own leg, chipping the wood and breaking it to the point it couldn’t be used. To accommodate the loss, her body collected another twig which replaced the original piece.
“I miss my friends, mama… Because of this stupid snow, Meadow’s gone…”
“You’ll see him again. He’s a deer, they wander around during winter because the cold kills their food, and ours at that. Easy pickings if they haven't already been claimed.”
“The other’s pick on me because of my friendship, mother… whatever happened to respect between twig brothers and sisters…” Keel whimpered and buried her face between her paws.
Madeira nuzzled Keel and stayed by her side for a while longer, looking out over the snowfield that had once been the valley all animals came to to graze, hunt, and play. Alas, the valley was used as little more than a warg’s hunting ground, a place where animals go to die. Keel was curious about the wargs; she hadn’t seen them before, and when questioned, her mother had no answer. She only gave a look that implied she hadn’t a clue. A thought soon invaded Keel’s mind, and one that wasn't so far fetched as others would have believed.
She had caught brief glimpses from the distance she was at the top of the cliff, but the Wargs looked to be as large as cattle, if not slightly larger than a Chimera with its tail pointed straight up. Large enough to bring down mammoths, which trumpeted loud enough to be heard for miles throughout the winter where silence graces the valleys, streams and forests. The wargs came from the south, and Keel, now alone on her rock, wanted to know why.
Her eyes darted around at the white nothingness, a winter’s wind blew past her, and her eyes caught onto something strange. Her ears perked up at the sound of twinkling: loud, harmonic and soothing. Two snowflakes whizzed past Keel’s ears in twinkling splendor, the surprised pup heard it and turned around to see something standing by a path, cleared strangely. Dots of snow floated in the shape of something tall and regal, and with the wind it turned and moved down this path, as if calling Keel away from her oblivious pack.
Knowing she wouldn’t be missed if she was gone for a few moments, she quickly ran after the anomalous snow down a long straight path, weaving through trees until she came to a snowy clearing which looked desolate and alone. She looked around, glancing here and there to see where this strange wind had gone, only to find nothing and turn around to find the trees had moved and blocked the way back. Keel didn’t understand and looked around to find a way out, only there was none. She was trapped in a bowl of trees, all of which became obscured by a torrent of snow in a cyclone-like spiral.
There was a bright light which almost brought Keel to blindness, and from this light stepped a tall mare. She came to a stop on the edge of a flat, elevated rock, then she lifted her icy blue hoof and tapped it on the ground. The resulting sound echoed and startled the timberwolf, who came to be caught in the princess-like mare’s sight.
“W-who—” Keel started, only to be interrupted.
“I think you already know, Keel Razorleaf.” The mare spoke in a mature, peaceful, calm and melodic voice. There was a motherly tone, full of care and grace.
“B-but you’re not real… You can’t be…”
“I am only as real as you perceive me to be. If you did not believe, then I would not be standing before you now with a warning. Your friend is in danger, Keel. The wargs are hunting Meadow, and his mother; they are in graver danger than they have ever been.”
Keel felt a rush of total fear, her magical heartbeat started to throb wildly. Her best friend was in danger and there was nothing she could do but tell her family of whom disliked her for her relationship with what should be her prey. The only one she could turn to was her mother, whom shared a similar relationship with Clear Water. Keel’s ears folded down on her head and she looked up into the spirit’s hazy, gray glossy eyes, searching for some hint as to what to do.
“D-do I tell my mother? What do I do... I want to help, but how can I? I’m only a pup!” she whimpered and started to cry.
The spirit approached Keel after a second tap of her hoof. She was careful in her small and cautious walk. She got down to Keel’s height, and looked at her with blind eyes, a gentle smile warmer than the love of a mother soothed her emotions and brought Keel to relaxing calm. She had started to grow tired by it and slowly drifted off to sleep, but not without a few words of advice from the spirit of winter. Keel awoke on her rock where she laid only moments before following the wind. She wasn’t sure if she had been dreaming, or if it was all real. But deep in her wooden bones and mana-made heart, she knew for certain that Meadow and Clear Water were in danger. The assembling wargs in the valley below made certain that it was true.
~~~
“My name’s Fluttershy, you don’t have to be afraid of me,” the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy said to Clear Water in the middle of a field, the same field Meadow stood in when he saw the same pony.
“You’re a fly-pony. Why are you here? Your kind has never set hoof in this side of the land.” Clear Water awaited an answer from Fluttershy, one that wouldn’t come as a spiralling torrent of snow formed a circular wall around the doe.
Clear Water looked around in surprise with confusion and and a question visible upon her face. The snowless ground quickly turned cold and white, and the presence of another brought to a sudden turn around. Approaching her from a white light in the shape of an aurora, the spirit greeted Clear Water with a low bow, Flattering as it was, it didn’t help to calm the distress that had built up inside of her until the visitor spoke, and again the spirit’s soothing voice and warmth calmed another, but not to sleep.
“Forgive my intrusion, Clear Water, but I come with reason to disturb your dreams, it is urgent.” The spirit was apologetic in her tone, and worryful.
“You’re— …W-well... why have you come?”
“You are being hunted, I fear my intervention has angered the wargs… and now they are after you. And they will not stop until you and your child have been devoured.”
Clear Water gasped and lifted a leg to her chest. The threat soon dawned on her. The urgency itself was overwhelming, but the spirit made sure to keep Clear Water active and awake, even when she felt she would pass out. They conversed over the matter for a while longer. The spirit was thorough in her explanations, leaving no detail out even when she distracted herself with fluffing her wings and fidgeting slightly and subtly, as if alert and worried someone would find her. After a while, the conversation turned from safety, to Meadow, and his fondness for her story. The spirit was flattered by Meadow’s admiration and cracked a smile at the thought of possibly revealing herself to the dreaming fawn, but not yet, not now.
“You have allies, Clear Water. And when the enemy comes, they will defend you. And I will answer Meadow’s wish, one last time.”
The walls of ice and snow broke away as the spirit took her leave, and Clear Water awoke to the sounds of howls and wolf-like roars uncharacteristic of the Timberwolves’ roar. Clear Water’s ears were straight up and alert, twitching and swiveling around in paranoid fear. Twigs snapped, wind blew cold, and Meadow groaned in his wake and looked up at Clear Water in confusion.
“Mother… what’s—”
“Hush now, my child. We’re moving on. We’re going to the northern glade, where your cousin, Elise and my sister Tria are staying with the north herd.” Clear Water hurried Meadow to his hooves, much to his growing confusion.
“But why? That’ll take us so much farther away from Keel, Hops and Free Flow.”
“It’s for our own good. We’re not safe here, little one. We must go.”
In what could only be described as an instantaneous heart stopping moment, a warg roared its way through a thin gap of trees, breaking them in half with his size and giving him the chance to grab Clear Water in his teeth and hurt her. Meadow went pale, his eyes widened and his jaw hung agape in absolute terror. He was about to watch his mother die. Clear Water struggled to get free, even crying out for help and screaming for Meadow to run, even as she was thrown to the ground, kicking at the warg in defiance on what was to be her inevitable end. Meadow lost his chance to run moments ago as more and more wargs came pouring down and surrounding Clear Water who looked at her son vanishing behind the form of the black warg.
Clear Water shed tears and lost all hope, but in that same moment the Timberwolves howled, halting the wargs and jumping out of the forests and attacking the giants, despite being easily broken apart. The wargs scattered away quickly, giving Clear Water a chance to get up and hobble her way to safety. Upon reaching the trees she turned to see if Meadow had made it, only to see tracks disappearing toward the northern hunting trail, followed closely behind by the large dog paws of the alpha warg. The barks of Madeira broke Clear Water’s focus, she looked at her fawnhood friend with appreciation, but couldn’t waste anymore precious time.
“Madeira..!”
“I told you a long time ago, I’ve got your back.” the Timberwolf growled.
“My son, Madeira… it’s going after my fawn!” frantic and almost hysterical, Clear Water could not stand still and almost skidded after the warg.
“We won’t let that happen!” cried out Keel, riding atop the back of a Timberwolf stick titan.
One dominant howl from Madeira alerted a small group of timberwolves to accompany Clear Water to find Meadow.
The snow came to life once more and a large pile of it started to separate and follow the tracks as quickly as it could, with haste. Meadow, meanwhile, pulled himself up along the path as hard as he could, as fast as his three functioning legs would allow. One of his back hind legs had been broken, and the warg was hot on his tail.
He whimpered and slipped occasionally on the ice rocks. A waterfall boomed beside him, deafening him to the sound of the panting and growling of the hungry warg. Meadow could still feel its hot breath not far behind him, and occasionally felt a nip as he just narrowly escaped getting chomped over and over again.
He quickly glanced behind and screamed at the sight of the one eyed, arrow-backed beast, drooling and bearing its blackened teeth. Meadow was close to freezing up but he spied in his peripherals a large rock to topple down on his pursuer. He risked a moment to pause in his climb to push down the boulder, only to narrowly miss the quick thinking magical creature.
Meadow continued his struggling climb until he reached the top. It was here he would either live, or die, and death was almost on top of him. He hunched down and curled up against a cold rocky wall, shivering in fear and freezing, the wargs teeth inches from his flesh when suddenly it was cast aside by a large pony.
“I told you to BACK OFF!!!” the spirit’s voice was loud enough to alert the Timberwolves and Clear Water to where Meadow was, and with her heart thumping fast in her chest, Clear Water ran off to the waterfall before Madeira could utter a sound.
Meadow moved to the safety of a shrub, and watched as a large adult pegasus battled with what was surely a superior opponent. The pegasus looked as though she was untouchable, she would avoided every strike which would otherwise be impossible for a normal animal to dodge, and she retaliated with a flurry of ice and snow, burning and hurting the warg, even a small dip in the flowing stream was enough for frost to bite the wargs paw and turn it purple.
Meadow noticed this and cried out to the pegasus to force it into the water, which was exactly what the spirit meant to do. But it was easier said than done. The creature was formidable, almost unstoppable and frustrating. At some point during the fight, the warg backed off and the spirit found herself unable to see him anymore, even as she faced him plainly. The warg smirked and charged at the spirit, only to jump and fall right through her and into the path of Clear Water’s impeccably timed charge.
“Stay away from my son!!!” And with those words, she sent the lumbering monster into the water. Clear rushed over to Meadow, Keel following close behind while the warg thrashed around, its body cooling faster than the water froze as the spirit dipped its hoof into stream, freezing the warg stiff and sending it rolling over the falls, only to vanish into the mist below.
The moments that followed were sweet and rejoiceful. Meadow’s leg was put into a splint with thanks to Keel’s hind leg twigs and her vines to tie it on. It was crude, but it did its job. Clear Water spent a majority of the time holding Meadow, as embarrassed as he was to Keel’s amusement. But what made the moment truly special was the spirit.
Clear Water let go of Meadow, and watched with Madeira and Keel the interactions between the two. The spirit’s mane flowed, colored like ice with blues and whites, her eyes gray and glossy with blindness, and on her flank she bore a green stem tipped with the image of a snowflake. She smiled warmly at the fawn who would’ve been shaking with trauma had her healing touch not blessed him.
“It was your wish, Meadow. You asked for my help, and I have granted it.”
“I knew it! I knew you would help!” Meadow fought down the urge to jump, his massive grin was just the cutest thing, a shame the spirit could not enjoy it as much as she would’ve liked. Meadow’s grin dropped when he started to take notice of her eyes.
“What’s wrong with your eyes?”
The spirit chuckled which startled Meadow who backed up a bit. “That’s a question I’ve been asked and have answered many times. I haven’t been asked that in a thousand years. When I was still alive, I was born blind. It caused me such bother that I grew depressed. But on the day of the one hundredth winter after Discord, my eyes helped me to find my talent. I didn’t need them to see, nor to be a pony. I was different and I was unique. I used to see with sound. But now I see with the snow, just by standing in it, I can see you, but if there is no snow, I resort to sound, then I can see you for a moment.”
“That’s cool,” Meadow replied with his grin widening.
“Like ice,” the spirit replied back.
The wind started to pick up, and with it the Wargs returned to the south and the Mammoths came into the valley where their trumpets surprised the children who looked on in awe.
“Meadow,” the spirit beckoned.
Meadow turned to the spirit whose body began to break apart with the wind into snow.
“Your dreams of a pony will come true as winter passes. But do not be afraid, they are friends.” And with those words, the spirit vanished with the window becoming snow, and was never seen again.
~~~
Two months later, and Meadow was playing once again with his friends and cousin, The female fawn, Elise, and the Al-mi’raj, Hops. Keel merely watched on, covered up once more in her leafy coat, happy to be lazy in it while Meadow called her a party pooper, much to her distaste. But the whole situation of happiness wasn’t to go undisturbed. Birds started flying overhead, returning from the south, accompanied by a larger yellow form. Fluttershy. And from the ground came two earth ponies.
Hops quickly hopped away to find his mother while Elise hid behind Meadow, whose mother soon came to their side. The two earth ponies, one in a frock with a grey coat and depressing look on her face, and the other with a laid back, calm expression, giving off positive vibes came to a stop while Fluttershy came to land gently in the clearing.
“Fluttershy.” Clear Water smiled with her words, and found amusement in the sight of Fluttershy’s surprise.
“Y-you know my name?” Fluttershy’s response was expected, and a reply came immediately afterwards in the form of a nod.
“We have been dreaming of you since winter's dawn. And have been awaiting your arrival at spring’s first light. We have a friend to thank for that.”
“Righteous,” the green earth pony commented on the scenery, the green leaves growing on the trees and the dark green grass which in the light of the sun and blue sky was mesmerizing. “I’m picking up a lot of scared vibes from the young ones, don’t be frightened, we don’t mean to bum you out.”
The grey pony looked over to Keel who stood up and poked her head out of her hood, as others stayed in the shadows of the trees.
“There are Timberwolves over there. Boulder could smell them.”
“They’re our friends…” Meadow said, limping out from behind Clear Water and into full view of Fluttershy.
“Oh dear, your leg. It’s hurt.” Fluttershy quickly flew over and checked it, she could see easily that it had healed incorrectly and needed to be fixed immediately. “I could help mend this, it’ll be no trouble. It looks like it’d been tended to before.”
“I made a splint out of my legs for it,” Keel said, surprising Fluttershy who could understand her, which was odd considering her inability to communicate with the Everfree Timberwolves.
“W-well, that was very smart of you. And friendly.”
“My name is Clear Water, the fawn you are tending too is my son, Meadow.” Clear Water nuzzled Meadow as Keel and Elise introduced themselves.
“You all have already heard my name, Fluttershy. Over there are my friends, Tree Hugger, and Maud Pie. We’re here on an expedition funded by Princess Celestia and Daring Do to learn more about the ecosystem here. We wanted to see what animal life was like without the intrusion of ponies. We’ll only be watching from afar.”
Just about every timberwolf growled at the idea, to which Fluttershy shrank back and made clear to all that she and her friends didn't mean harm, this would be the final decisive fate for the Undiscovered West. Pony kind had finally set hoof in unchartered lands. And with them came the risks of land grabbing, other ponies were sure to follow. But in the months following, nopony came, and once again winter was around the corner.
The west would remain free of ponykind for a while longer, Princess Celestia, whom saw the lives the animals lived were a little like their own, ensured that the land would be spared, and Meadow, and his friends and family lived in peace until the end of their days.
