Phoenix from the Ashes

Chapters

1 Scooter Tricks
2 Renewal
3 Sandwich Bags
4 Glacier
5 Spinout
6 Dark Pacts

1 Scooter Tricks

Rainbow Dash was not called upon as a reserve for the Wonderbolts’ Air Sprinting show in the Crystal Empire. And neither were any of the actual Wonderbolts reserves. Spitfire kicked up quite a fuss when Miss Harshwhinny insisted that they have Lightning Dust on hoof in case a Wonderbolt had to sit out the competition.

“Lightning Dust isn’t eligible to join any of our groups!” Spitfire protested.

“Yes, yes. But if you’ll recall, Lightning Dust took the Air Sprinting gold for Loch Azure in the Equestria Games,” Miss Harshwhinny said. “The crystal ponies would love to see her go against the highest profile flyers.”

“If you want high profile, we could just call our most talented reserve,” said Spitfire.

“If you are referring to Miss Rainbow Dash, I cannot allow it,” said Harshwhinny. “We don’t want a repeat of all that arguing and gambling the Millennium Rally wrought, do we? As compelling as Miss Dash’s speech was after the rainbow flood, I doubt every single pony in the country took her message to heart. Therefore, I insist you allow your former academy cadet to be your extra.”

“Is this a deal breaker?” asked Spitfire crossly.

“If it must be,” frowned Miss Harshwhinny, “then yes. Have no fear. It’s not as though she has a chance of rejoining you if she gets to compete and wins.”

Rainbow Dash was no less excited about this event even though she was barred from taking part. Scootaloo was more indignant on the subject than her.

“With the way she treated you and all the other cadets at the academy, I don’t get why the Wonderbolts didn’t drop out of this event,” she said as she and Rainbow unpacked their luggage in their hotel room.

“It may have been too late for her, but she has learned not to treat others like roadblocks,” said Rainbow Dash. “You didn’t see her try and shove me and Spitfire outta the way in the Millennium Rally, did you?”

“Uh…”

“Oh, right. You didn’t see the whole thing. You were busy freaking out and then saving everypony’s lives.”

Scootaloo blushed a bit. “So… you think Lightning Dust was a good choice for a reserve?”

“I don’t remember seeing her pummel Updraft in the Equestria Games either, so why would she knock over a Wonderbolt now?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I admit I’d like to have won the reserves lottery, but if the crystal ponies liked seeing Lightning Dust, they can have her. Actually, they liked seeing you too. When you and your friends showed them your flag carrying routine.”

“Yeah, but I can’t be a backup for the Wonderbolts,” remarked Scootaloo.

“Not yet,” grinned Rainbow. “You’re still practising those moves I taught you, right?”

“Every day.”

“Then it won’t be long before you get to amaze everypony with your own signature performance… whatever that ends up being.”

Scootaloo had taken to mimicking aerial acrobatics demonstrated to her by Rainbow Dash, accept she did so on the ground and on her scooter. For the most part, Rainbow was restricted to two dimensions so that Scootaloo could copy her. Every so often though, there were bumps or bins or upturned carts for Scootaloo to launch herself from. This gave her an opportunity to practise looping. Her success rate with this was about fifty-fifty, and she was sure she’d get the hang of it sooner or later. Rainbow Dash would always monitor her and let her know if any ponies were straying into her path. And if Scootaloo was going so fast that she couldn’t hear anyone calling her, Rainbow never failed to swoop in and grab her well before a collision could happen. Normally, Scootaloo was good at avoiding trouble when driving her scooter. She and Rainbow were both convinced that if she kept up the practise on her scooter, she’d soon gain enough wing power to fly. As for signature moves, Scootaloo hadn’t made up her own, and had no idea what she would incorporate into it if she made one up. All she knew was she wanted it to be a three-dimensional thing, and so she probably wouldn’t be making one up any time soon.

“It was nice of you to stop by,” Amber Aldis said to Starlight Glimmer when she saw her coming.

“I’m not stopping by,” said Starlight.

“Well you’re not staying here,” said Amber firmly. “Come on. We both know how happy you were when Double Diamond sent you that invite.”

“Yeah, I was,” Starlight frowned. “But I made a promise to you, and…”

“I don’t see any chemistry gear with you,” Amber tilted her head pretending to look around Starlight for potion bottles and cauldrons. “And we didn’t find anything the last time we were both here, so what’d make this time any different?”

They both looked at the Crystal Heart spinning beneath the castle.

“Are we gonna spend another day just looking at that thing and waiting for it to show us the answer?” Amber grinned.

“Well… no, I guess that’d be stupid,” sighed Starlight.

“Look, I know you’re not a Wonderbolts fan,” Amber went on. “And I know you want to visit Double Diamond and Party Favour and everyone else in your old village. We both could do with a break from trying to find a cure for my disease.”

“You’re sure you don’t want someone to watch the show with you?” asked Starlight.

“I could always join up with Rainbow over there.”

Amber pointed Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo out to Starlight.

“She didn’t come here with all of her friends, did she? No, see? She just brought Scootaloo along.”

“You’re right,” smiled Starlight. “Alright. I will meet up with my old… uh… my new friends. See you in three days.”

“Bye,” said Amber. “Have fun.”

Despite the hundreds of ticket-holders there were in town, there weren’t many ponies in the streets of the Crystal Empire. A lot of them were trying to catch a glimpse of the Wonderbolts practising, be it from outside the stadium, or from their house or hotel windows. This freed up a lot of space for Scootaloo to do some practising of her own. Rainbow Dash had never run out of stunts she wanted to demonstrate to Scootaloo, and today was no exception. Scootaloo performed splendidly every time she mimicked a move by Rainbow Dash. The only time she faltered was when a crystal pony strayed across her path and Rainbow had to intervene. No damage was done and the crystal pony in question wasn’t upset. After about two hours of watch and repeat, Rainbow Dash was exhausted, but Scootaloo was still full of energy.

“That’s what I like to see,” panted Rainbow Dash as she touched down. “A no-quit attitude.”

“So what’s next?” asked Scootaloo enthusiastically.

Rainbow wiped away some sweat. “Uh, why not try some of those moves again?”

“Oh, come on. I’ve done every move you showed me like twenty times,” said Scootaloo. “I wanna try another new one.”

Rainbow Dash was having trouble keeping her eyes open, but she was still able to spot Lightning Dust hovering nearby, overlooking the crystal stadium.

“Maybe she could show you a few,” suggested Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Lightning!” Scootaloo called. “Why aren’t you at the stadium?! Shouldn’t you be practising with the Wonderbolts?!”

Lightning Dust hovered closer to the road. “Spitfire says reserves are only allowed at scheduled practises, and the one they’re doing right now’s just a warm-up. But I’ll bet they’ll make some excuse to keep me outta the stadium tomorrow. I mean, if Harshwhinny wants me as a back-up, who are they to shove me aside?”

Scootaloo didn’t know how to answer, but Lightning Dust changed the subject so quickly, she didn’t have to.

“I saw you racing around the road there. Rainbow Dash got you working out?”

“Yeah, but she’s wiped out,” Scootaloo nodded.

“Wow. You wore Rainbow Dash out,” grinned Lightning Dust.

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo. “Anyway, she said I could learn a thing or two from you. If you don’t mind.”

Lightning Dust’s face went blank for a second.

“Did she say that?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah. She says you’re not that bad… anymore,” Scootaloo shrugged.

“Well… I guess hanging out with you, her, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack and her sister did get me to appreciate others more,” she said.

Lightning Dust, spirits lifted, agreed to show Scootaloo a few aerial acrobatics, but the ones she demonstrated were much too complex to mimic on a scooter.

“Huh. I guess you can’t do loops on that thing,” Lightning Dust said when Scootaloo brought this up. “But you could still do tilts.”

“On my scooter?” asked Scootaloo. “If I lean too much, I’ll fall off.”

“If you’re going fast enough, you won’t tip over,” replied Lightning Dust. “Go on. Try it. Do circles around me.”

Scootaloo mounted her scooter, leaned over, and fell over instantly.

“You don’t start by leaning on it,” chuckled Lightning Dust. “You gotta get speed up first.”

Scootaloo’s second try went infinitely better. She found herself circling Lightning Dust at a 45 degree angle.

“Not bad,” said Lightning Dust while Scootaloo was still zooming around her. “Now how about you try circling the castle pillars over there?”

“Sure,” replied Scootaloo.

She sped away towards the Crystal Castle, going fast enough to straighten up and avoid toppling off her scooter. She reached a pillar and drove around it, keeping great balance at such a high speed. When she got to the next pillar however, she began to wobble a bit. She was getting dizzy, but didn’t realise it soon enough to reduce her speed.

Rainbow Dash had been lying on a bench half asleep since sending Scootaloo off to take a few tips from Lightning Dust. The piercing yell that came from the castle woke her right up. She bolted to the source of the noise, where the Crystal Heart stood spinning in the center of the empire. She arrived to a startling sight. First she saw Scootaloo’s scooter lying on its side in a sidewalk gutter, then she spotted Scootaloo sprawled with scrapes on both her forelegs, and finally she caught sight of Amber Aldis lying on the pavement near the Crystal Heart clutching her shoulder and wincing.

“What happened?” asked Rainbow Dash, running over to help Scootaloo up.

“I… I didn’t…” Scootaloo could hardly see straight. “It was like she just… darted in front of me.”

“Where’s Lightning Dust?” Rainbow asked. “Why didn’t she catch you?”

Scootaloo gave her head a shake and looked around. “There she is.”

Rainbow Dash turned and saw Lightning Dust making sluggish progress towards the scene of the collision. Some other ponies, crystal and otherwise, were approaching as well to see what had happened.

“Where were you?!” demanded Rainbow Dash.

“Uh… back there,” replied Lightning Dust.

“Why weren’t you watching Scootaloo?! You’re supposed to keep an eye out for other ponies!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“Oh. I didn’t think of that,” Lightning faltered.

Rainbow groaned and leapt over to Amber Aldis, who had picked herself up, but was still grasping her left shoulder.

“Are you alright, Amber?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Does this look alright?!” snapped Amber, removing her hoof from her shoulder.

Rainbow, Scootaloo, Lightning Dust, and some of the other ponies present gasped. There on Amber’s shoulder was a steaming bright red burn in the shape of a heart.

Author's Note

Inspired by Cars 2, Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, Tale of One Shadow, and Fall of the Crystal Empire.

2 Renewal

“Scootaloo bumped into me and I stumbled into the Crystal Heart,” Amber grunted, pointing to the rotating relic.

“I’m so sorry, Amber,” groaned Scootaloo. “I didn’t see you.”

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault,” said Rainbow Dash crossly. “It was…”

She was about to say Lightning Dust was responsible, but then she remembered who had recommended Lightning in the first place.

“It was… an accident,” she finished.

Amber tried walking, but quickly recoiled once she put some weight on her left foreleg. Some doctors walked up with a stretcher.

“We’ll take you to the hospital, miss,” one said.

Amber clambered into the stretcher looking forlorn. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Lightning Dust accompanied her and the doctors all the way to the infirmary.

“How are we going to treat this burn?” asked a nurse. “Why did the Crystal Heart cause this injury?”

“This is Amber Aldis,” a doctor told her. “She’s infected with Venomodo poison. She can’t use magic or have magic used on her without taking severe damage.”

“By the looks of it,” said the other doctor, “she got a good deal. From what I’ve heard, using magic on a Venomodo’s victim has far greater consequences than just burns.”

“I suppose we’ll just supply her with cold packs and see how it plays out,” decided the first doctor.

Rainbow Dash felt guilty for forgetting how reckless Lightning Dust is, but she didn’t want to say anything because she still liked Lightning Dust and was happy with how she’d improved since she knew her at the academy. Minutes after the medical staff administered cold packs, a visitor arrived who didn’t share Rainbow’s point of view at all.

“Spitfire? I never knew you and Amber were friends,” remarked Scootaloo.

“I’m on pretty good terms with all of Cloudsdale’s weather team,” replied Spitfire. “Even some of the temps.”

“Nice of you to drop by,” smiled Amber, sitting up in her hospital bed with her shoulder in bandages.

“Sorry I didn’t get here sooner,” Spitfire frowned. “I only just heard from Blaze that Lightning Dust caused you…”

“I didn’t do anything!” objected Lightning Dust.

“You can get in trouble for things you didn’t do, you know,” frowned Spitfire. “Like if you don’t show regard for others’ safety.”

“How about if you don’t manage to find an ice iris?” Lightning scowled.

Spitfire spluttered. “How did you find out about that?!”

Rainbow Dash gulped. “Uh, I mighta told her about that.”

Spitfire gave her a dirty look.

“Sorry, captain,” said Rainbow Dash.

“You don’t get to call me captain. You’re not a Wonderbolt,” snapped Spitfire.

And she stormed out of the room.

“Thanks for visiting!” Amber called with a sarcastic tone.

The three remaining visitors all seemed to feel guilty about the accident to some degree. Scootaloo got some treatment as well, but all she really needed was some cleaning alcohol and a wipe with a cloth. Both she and Rainbow Dash were mortified that they could have caused a fatality. Lightning Dust wasn’t doing a good job showing her regret.

“Well, I’ll try to keep a good lookout from now on,” she said half-heartedly as she shuffled towards the door.

“Good to know,” said Amber.

After watching Lightning leave, Rainbow Dash was more inclined to think ill of her.

“Well I’m not leaving,” she said. “I’m gonna stay here with you until you’re better.”

“Aw, I appreciate that,” smiled Amber. “Hopefully this burn’ll go away. Oh, uh, don’t mention this to Starlight in the meantime. I had a hard time convincing her to go and have fun with Double Diamond and his friends earlier. She’d feel pretty lousy if she found out about this while she’s back in her old village.”

“But won’t she want to know that you can’t touch the Crystal Heart?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“We can wait until the Air Sprinting show’s over, can’t we?” asked Amber.

Rainbow considered. “Yeah, I guess.”

Scootaloo spent the night in the infirmary along with Amber despite her injuries healing a lot better, and with Rainbow Dash staying with the two of them, the hotel room she’d rented stayed empty all night. In the morning, the doctors allowed Scootaloo to leave right away.

“How about we go get some breakfast, Rainbow?” she asked.

“Uh, I’ll wait and see if Amber can go too,” replied Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo nodded to indicate she’d stick around, but her stomach grumbled in protest.

“Go ahead, Scootaloo,” said Amber.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “And stay outta trouble.”

“OK,” said Scootaloo.

After she departed, the doctors examined Amber’s shoulder. The burn wasn’t red and steaming anymore. Amber was asked to try putting weight on it. She twitched a little bit when she did, but she claimed that it wasn’t nearly as painful as it was yesterday.

“Well, I suppose you can go as well,” decided a doctor. “We’ll give you some cold packs to take with you. And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but steer clear of the Crystal Heart.”

“I will,” said Amber.

Rainbow Dash thought Amber was in more pain than she let on, because she was hovering away from the hospital with her legs dangling down, her right foreleg clutching a bag of cold packs.

“I guess we should go have breakfast now,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Uh…”

“Aren’t you hungry?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Well, it’s just… I don’t think these cold packs are all that good,” Amber said, “They need replacing like five minutes later.”

“If they’re not that great, then why is your shoulder so much better?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I meant it’s comparably better,” sighed Amber. “I’ll be fine, Rainbow. I just need something better to hold against my shoulder. I was thinking… snow.”

“Hm. Not a bad idea,” said Rainbow. “OK. Let’s go.”

“Uh… OK.”

If Rainbow wasn’t so keen to make amends for indirectly causing the accident, she might have asked why Amber seemed so hesitant at her own idea. She was too distracted by Scootaloo, who it turned out hadn’t gone to get breakfast at all. She’d been waiting outside the hospital since she’d left the room.

“Can I come?” Scootaloo asked, seeing that Rainbow and Amber were turning towards the outskirts of the city.

Rainbow now noticed that Amber was looking a bit squeamish. She attributed this to the memory of the accident.

“No, no,” she said. “You just go and get some food like I told you to.”

Scootaloo backed away and watched as Rainbow Dash and Amber Aldis flew away towards the snow that surrounded the Crystal Empire.

“She thinks I’ll injure Amber again,” she groaned when they were out of sight.

She sat on the sidewalk outside the hospital feeling downhearted. When she next looked up, she was a little startled to see Spitfire standing quite close to her. Some distance behind her were the rest of the Wonderbolts flying towards the stadium.

“You’ll never be Rainbow Dash, you know,” she said.

Scootaloo felt hurt.

“But then… neither will I,” Spitfire said quickly.

She gave Scootaloo what was probably meant to be an encouraging smile. Then she turned and took off to re-join her teammates, leaving Scootaloo to feel a little puzzled.

“Wow, look at you,” remarked Rainbow Dash, observing how quickly Amber was flying.

“I went to junior flight camp too, you know,” smirked Amber. “It’s too bad we never met up there. How about we race?”

“Sure.” Rainbow could never turn down a race.

They counted down and sped away past the train station and out into the wind and snow. The wind was causing Rainbow Dash to pull to the right a little bit, but when she looked back to see how far ahead of Amber she was, it looked like the wind was blowing her away.

“Where are you going?!” Rainbow called.

Amber didn’t reply, and Rainbow lost sight of her in the mist. She took off after her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s she doing?” she asked. “Is she up to something? Is she trying to shake me off? Did I come off as desperate? Maybe I am trying too hard to make things up to her.”

Soon, Rainbow Dash spotted Amber. She was digging in the snow.

“Yeah, I guess she does want some space,” sighed Rainbow Dash. “Well, I can take a hint. And at least Scootaloo knows I’m…”

Something caught Rainbow’s eye. Amber appeared to be pulling something out of the snow.

“What’s that red thing?” wondered Rainbow Dash.

She squinted and saw that Amber had something orange clenched between her teeth.

“She is up to something.”

Rainbow Dash flew straight to Amber Aldis, who saw her coming. Before Rainbow Dash could demand an explanation, Amber leapt forward, grabbed Rainbow by the back of the head, and shoved her into the hole she’d just dug in the snow. Rainbow Dash’s upper body was stuck, and she couldn’t see or hear anything. She couldn’t get free for several seconds, but then she felt hooves grab her tail and pull, and out she came. It was Scootaloo who had helped her out.

“Rainbow, what’s Amber doing?!” cried Scootaloo.

They both looked at Amber just as her horn began to glow. One bang and one burst of smoke later, Amber Aldis disappeared.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had virtually no time to be shocked or traumatised, because once the wind blew the smoke away, Amber Aldis was standing, whole and unscathed, a few feet away from where she’d cast her spell. There were tiny purple fragments around her, and she was standing next to a thin red object that looked like a phoenix. She was examining herself and looking thrilled. When Rainbow Dash saw that the heart shaped burn on her shoulder was gone, her jaw dropped. Amber’s horn lit again. This time, nothing happened. No bang, no smoke, just a beaming Amber Aldis. Next second, a streak of yellow light slid away from her along the snowy ground and passed Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. The two bewildered pegasi watched, speechless, as the streak of light slid smoothly along and finally stopped at Scootaloo’s scooter, which was lying on its side a short distance away and already collecting snow.

“I’m back, baby!” exclaimed Amber Aldis.

Then she remembered that Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were witnessing this and faltered a bit.

“OK. I want an explanation,” demanded Rainbow Dash.

“Well… where do I begin?” Amber Aldis fidgeted. “I mean… it’s a long story.”

“Just tell us what you did!” ordered Rainbow Dash.

“OK. I’ve been trying to get a feather from Scootaloo for months,” said Amber. “Ever since the Millennium Rally.”

“Why?” asked Scootaloo.

“So I can finish with this” answered Amber, indicating the thin red object behind her. “This is a Reverse Cremator, an invention of Starswirl the Bearded. It’s been buried here in the arctic for centuries. He… well… he told me where it was.”

“Like… you read it in a book he wrote?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Amber grinned.

“Oh, come on! There’s no way the stallion himself told you where to find that little phoenix model!” scoffed Rainbow Dash.

“His, uh, ghost did,” said Amber.

“Sure,” smirked Rainbow Dash.

They looked at each other for over a minute, both waiting for the other to change expression.

Scootaloo broke the silence. “What does this have to do with one of my feathers?”

“Well, the Reverse Cremator needs four things in order to work,” said Amber, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s still sceptical face. “One from each type of pony. See those things sticking out of the head?”

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo spotted a blue hair, a brown hoof clipping, and an orange feather.

“There was a pink feather in it as well earlier,” said Amber. “But now… here I am.”

“Wait!” cried Scootaloo. “Are you saying that that phoenix thing can… bring ponies back to life?”

“That’s it. It can bring back an alicorn, a unicorn, an earth pony, and a pegasus,” explained Amber, “once it has something from all four species in its comb. And for months now, I’ve had three of those things. Remember when you saw me in the spa, Scootaloo?”

“During that field trip?”

“Uh, huh. While I was there,” said Amber, “I managed to get my hooves on a feather from Princess Cadance, and tail hair from Prince Shining Armour, and a hoof clipping from Miss Harshwhinny. And I also managed to drop a hint to Miss Harshwhinny about the out-dated Wonderbolts recruitment regulation.”

Scootaloo scratched her head.

“Yeah. I planted the book she found there. I’m the reason there was a race between Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, and Lightning Dust.

“Why did you want to start the Millennium Rally?” asked Scootaloo.

“Well, Starswirl said he wanted…”

Rainbow Dash interrupted. “OK, drop the Starswirl thing. You can’t seriously expect us to believe you talked to the ghost of Starswirl the Bearded.”

“Well, I guess I can’t expect you to,” sighed Amber.

“Keep going,” urged Scootaloo. “What did he say? How did you find him?”

“He found me,” said Amber. “I was wandering around here the morning me and Starlight came to study the Crystal Heart… huh, I learned more about it yesterday then both of us did over a few…”

“Get back to Starswirl,” said Rainbow Dash.

Plainly, she wanted to hear this story despite her disbelief in Amber.

“Starswirl’s ghost said he wanted to revive two ponies,” Amber told them. “One was himself. Can you guess who the other is? Here’s a hint. A famous pegasus.”

“Uh… Snowdrop?” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Amber looked slightly disappointed. “That was too quick.”

“Wow! Did he know Snowdrop?” asked Scootaloo.

“In their winter years, yeah,” answered Amber. “Anyway, his ghost asked if there were any earth ponies or alicorns I’d like resurrected, as he didn’t have any particular preference. And I told him I wanted to be reborn.”

Author's Note

I guess at this point, I can say what inspired "Wonderbolts Millennium Rally". It was the same sources that inspired this story.

3 Sandwich Bags

“I couldn’t take it anymore. Not being able to use magic,” Amber used her horn to levitate the scooter, plainly enjoying every second of the experience. “Starswirl was happy to agree when I told him my situation. He said I could be the first to be revived once I’d gotten all four items. So I put Cadance’s feather in first, then Shining’s hair, then Harshwhinny’s clipping. And now that I got Scootaloo’s feather yesterday, I got the Reverse Cremator to…”

“Yesterday? You did dart in front of me!” burst out Scootaloo.

“Well, I tried so many other things, I was running out of ideas,” said Amber.

“What else did you try?”

“First I spat on that Wolf River Tree…”

“That was you?! Not Sweetie Belle?!” Scootaloo roared. “That thing almost squashed me!”

“I only wanted it to grab you and take a feather from you,” insisted Amber. “But Twilight got to it before it could. Next, when Pinkie Pie said you and your schoolmates were missing, I joined in looking for… well, I was looking for you specifically. My plan was to scoop you up and take you straight to Pinkie acting all excited. I hoped if I moved fast enough, you wouldn’t notice if I plucked one of your feathers.”

“Well, I didn’t notice yesterday, so…” Scootaloo mumbled.

“But that went nowhere. Pinkie Pie found Diamond Tiara and got all the information she needed,” sighed Amber. “Then I tried a different route. I snuck into Rarity’s shop and tore into a coat stuffed with pegasus feathers, thinking maybe she might’ve gotten a few from you. All I ended up doing was getting her cat worked up. Then when I heard Loch Azure’s Prose Night stuff was in a whirlpool in the lake, I flew over and tried that challenge thing Tundra set up. I thought I might find a feather you could’ve left behind that time you went down there to retrieve that book for Prof Lactic.”

“Hey…” Scootaloo’s smirk indicated she’d figured something out. “You were the one who wrote that instruction about stealing a pegasus feather in that phony ritual guide for Apple Bloom, right?”

“I was so disappointed when she showed me the basin a week later. I thought for sure she would have taken one from you,” Amber groaned. “I started to run outta ideas. One day, after that new Daring Do book came out, I snuck into the school yard and scoped you out. Just about every winged pony I’ve ever known uses their own feathers as bookmarks, but you had a proper one in your copy. And the last thing I tried was a stakeout in that thunderstorm Ponyville had. I began to get frustrated when none of your feathers blew off in the wind.”

Rainbow cut in here. “You’ve been trying all this time to get a feather from Scootaloo? Then why did you set up that book for Harshwhinny to find and get her to set up the rally?”

“Well, Starswirl said he wanted good candidates for each type of pony,” said Amber. “Three perfectly good ones weren’t too far away. And I told him that as far as I knew, the finest pegasi in Equestria are, well, you…”

Rainbow grinned.

“And Spitfire and Lightning Dust,” Amber went on. “Starswirl wanted to be sure he was getting quality, so he asked me if I could somehow get a competition going between you three. And whoever won, I’d take a feather from. I… I thought he’d be disappointed when I told him the race had no conclusion. But he said it was OK. He knew exactly which pegasus we should get a feather from.”

“You told him I saved their lives?” asked Scootaloo.

“Oh, you should’ve heard him,” smiled Amber. “He said he should’ve thought of this from the start. He should have a pegasus who was around the same age as Snowdrop was when she invented the snowflake. And he said there was no need to set up any kind of race for this one. There was no question that we needed a feather from the hero of the Rainbow Falls flood.”

Scootaloo went a bit pink. “Did Starswirl really say that about me?”

Amber Aldis nodded.

“So what about the earth pony?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Who’s the earth pony being brought back to life?”

“Oh, well we couldn’t think of one, but we couldn’t activate the Reverse Cremator’s magic without something from all four pony types,” said Amber Aldis. “So we settled for one of the founders of Equestria, who he also knew back in his day.”

“Is it Smart Cookie, or Puddinghead?” asked Scootaloo.

“That’s Chancellor Puddinghead,” Amber corrected. “And it’s not her. We decided on Smart Cookie.”

“How does the Reverse Cremator know which ponies to bring back?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It can only be manipulated by a pony who’s no longer solid,” answered Amber. “IE, a ghost.”

“Is Starswirl’s ghost… here? In the Arctic North? Right now?” asked Scootaloo.

“It was,” said Amber. “But in the last month, I haven’t been able to contact him. He said he might drift away when winter was over.”

“It’s practically winter right now,” remarked Rainbow Dash.

“But it doesn’t matter,” smiled Amber. “Now that I’ve finally gotten what he needed and activated the Reverse Cremator, he’ll be here in the flesh tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. He said it only lays one egg a day once it’s activated. See those purple things?” Amber pointed to the few purple fragments that were still lying in the snow around her. “They’re egg shells. I just came from an egg the Reverse Cremator laid. And since I stuck Shining’s tail hair in its head next, Starswirl will be reborn tomorrow.”

“Now Starswirl wants this kept quiet,” Amber told Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. “He’s pretty sure, and I agree with him, that if word got out that he, Snowdrop, and Smart Cookie were coming back, a lot of ponies would lose their minds with excitement.”

“I know one pony who’d go nuts if she found out Starswirl was coming back,” grinned Rainbow Dash.

“So I know I’ve been a bit high-hooved about this,” faltered Amber, “but I’d like you both to keep this a secret for the next few days. We haven’t quite figured out how we’re going to reveal everything to Equestria yet.”

“I won’t say anything,” Scootaloo promised.

Rainbow Dash hesitated. “Do you think you can avoid using magic in the meantime? That’d be a dead giveaway.”

Amber looked disappointed. “Well… I did get into the habit of not using it ever since I first got the infection, so it shouldn’t be too hard. So?”

“Yeah. I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

And with that, Amber Aldis placed the Reverse Cremator back into its hole and filled it with snow.

“I gotta wonder how you managed to drive that thing through this snow,” she said to Scootaloo as she magiced the scooter towards the young mare. “Your wing power’s going up, that’s for sure.”

“Remember, Amber. No magic,” said Rainbow sternly.

Amber Aldis sighed and led the two pegasi back towards the Crystal Empire.

“I hope Starlight doesn’t take this the wrong way once it’s all out in the open,” she said as they made their way. “I don’t want her to think I didn’t believe in her. She’s been so kind and helpful.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’ll bet she’s just as big a Starswirl the Bearded fan as Twilight is.”

When they re-entered the Crystal Empire, the first thing they heard was the raised voices of Lightning Dust, and someone Rainbow recognised as a fellow Wonderbolts reserve, Slip Stream.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell ya. I got this message from Spitfire herself that I won the reserves draw and they wanted be as a backup for this event.”

“They totally went over Miss Harshwhinny’s head! I’m gonna go complain to her!”

Lightning Dust rounded the corner ahead of Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Amber. She didn’t say anything to them as she flew past, but then she stopped and turned back to face them.

“Amber,” she said with a raised eyebrow, “where’s your burn?”

They all looked at Amber’s left shoulder. It was bare. She, Rainbow, and Scootaloo had completely forgotten about that.

“Oh. Well, I found those cold pack the hospital gave me rather inadequate,” she stammered. “So Rainbow Dash suggested I try using snow. And it turns out that Arctic snow is really good on burns.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Lightning Dust grinned.

Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Did the Wonderbolts call an actual reserve here?”

“Yeah!” Lightning Dust was angry again. “They don’t even have a good reason. I didn’t mess up once during practise. They know I can win this thing and they don’t wanna let me. Well let’s see how they deal with Harshwhinny!”

And she sped off again.

Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Amber Aldis approached Slip Stream, and found that he was accompanied by Spitfire.

“I guess Lightning Dust’s been telling you we’ve replaced her. Well, we haven’t,” grouched Spitfire. “Slip Stream here is just our other backup. She’s wasting her time complaining to Miss Harshwhinny. We already told her what we wanted to do.”

“And you didn’t tell Lightning Dust that?” asked Scootaloo.

“Hey, the less I have to deal with her, the better,” frowned Spitfire. “Come on, Slip.”

And she turned tail and flew towards the stadium, Slip Stream following her.

“Wow. If my cutie mark glowed right now,” said Rainbow Dash, “I wouldn’t need to fly all the way to Twilight’s castle to know where the friendship problem is.”

“You call this a friendship problem?” asked Amber.

“Yeah. Spitfire and Lightning Dust are at each other’s throats,” said Rainbow. “They… well, we got along with each other so well after Scootaloo saved us from that flood.”

“Maybe all your emotions were just running high after that experience,” suggested Amber.

“But Spitfire said me, her, and this spunk-bubble right here all had the right stuff to be a Wonderbolt,” Rainbow Dash said. “So why is she so mad about having Lightning Dust take part in this Air Sprinting thing? You know, I think Lightning was right about her. She doesn’t want to be outdone by somepony she expelled from her academy.”

Scootaloo thought Rainbow might like to know what Spitfire said to her earlier.

The rest of the day was an odd one for Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Amber Aldis. They were both worried about the Wonderbolts and their reserves, and excited about the resurrection of Starswirl the Bearded that would take place the next morning. Amber didn’t completely avoid using magic, but she always made sure there were no witnesses whenever she did, and she didn’t do anything that would attract attention. When the sun rose the next morning, Amber met up with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo at one of the cafés.

“Well, we’ve got a good excuse to go out into the Arctic today,” she said quietly. “The hospital staff found out my shoulder burn was gone and I told them about the Arctic snow curing it, and they asked me to go collect some for them.”

She showed them a hoofful of sandwich bags.

“So while we’re running that little errand for them,” she went on, “we can dig up the birdy and say hello to Swirly.”

“We’re not gonna call him Swirly, are we?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’m trying to be discrete,” hissed Amber.

“Is that why you’re levitating those plastic bags?” asked Scootaloo.

Luckily, no one else in the café noticed.

“Rainbow,” Scootaloo said as she, Rainbow Dash, and Amber Aldis were leaving the Crystal Empire with their sandwich bags, “you know what Spitfire said to me yesterday?”

“What?”

“She said neither of us will ever be you.”

Rainbow stopped walking.

“I knew she was impressed by all those records I’ve been flattening, but… does she think I’m better than her?” Rainbow wondered.

“She was the one who gave you that chest key after learning something from you, wasn’t she?” asked Amber.

“And she’s not the only one,” Scootaloo went on. “Lightning Dust said she thinks her life’s richer for knowing you and your friends.”

“So that’s their problem,” said Rainbow Dash. “They feel inadequate compared to me.”

Amber chuckled.

“Hey! I don’t mean speed,” snapped Rainbow. “I mean… other things. They think I’m more… uh… like… down to earth, maybe? Uh, I don’t know how to put it.”

“How do you remember where the Reverse Cremator is buried?” Scootaloo asked Amber after the crystal city vanished in the mist.

“As soon as you can’t see the Crystal Empire, the station, any mountains, or Clopley Hill at all,” said Amber, “you’ll know it’ll be close by.”

She began to dig into the snow. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were astonished at how quickly she came across the Reverse Cremator.

“It took months before I could locate it in one go,” smiled Amber. “Actually, I don’t need to judge by landmarks, or lack of landmarks anymore. Now that I’ve got my magic back.”

She proceeded to bury the phoenix again and spin around with her eyes closed.

“Amber, come on,” Rainbow Dash sighed, digging the Reverse Cremator back up. “Quit fooling around.”

“Aw,” groaned Amber as she tried to stand still. “I made myself all dizzy for nothing.”

After Amber recovered, she looked around with a concerned expression.

“I hope Starswirl’s ghost is here,” she said. “I know I should’ve waited until I could talk to him before I put Scootaloo’s feather in that thing’s head, but I was so eager to get my magic back.”

“Does his ghost need to be here for this?” asked Scootaloo.

“Yeah. He said it has to be right alongside it,” Amber nodded. “I forgot all about that. He said he can bring Snowdrop’s ghost here when we were ready, but if he doesn’t know the Reverse Cremator’s active…”

She gazed into the mist.

“Starswirl?!”

Rainbow and Scootaloo looked around too. Nothing changed.

“Uh, oh,” frowned Amber. “The mist always thickened whenever we communicated with each other.”

“You can use your magic to find him,” Rainbow Dash piped up.

“Oh! Right!” beamed Amber.

“But if your light goes too far away, you better cancel your spell,” warned Rainbow.

“Got it,” nodded Amber.

“Wait!” Scootaloo shouted just as Amber’s horn lit up.

The noise was so much worse than the explosion from yesterday. And instead of a burst of smoke that blew away in the arctic wind, there was a flash of light that offended the eyes. Amber Aldis, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo staggered around in the snow, their vision blurred and their ears ringing.

“What happened?!” called Scootaloo even though Rainbow and Amber were within foreleg’s reach.

“Whenever I cast my path spell to find something that doesn’t exist, that happens!” shouted Amber. “That means there’s no ghost! I’ve been tricked!”

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow called. “I heard you yell before that bang! Did you see something!”

“I saw a black cloud in the mist!” Scootaloo nodded.

“A black cloud?! What could that be?!” asked Amber loudly.

They looked around, all three of them only managing to see a white haze.

“Smokescreen?!” suggested Rainbow Dash. “He can turn himself into smoke!”

“But he’s still alive, isn’t he?!” asked Amber.

“Oh! Right!” Rainbow tried shaking her head to improve her sight and hearing, to no avail.

“Sombra?!” Scootaloo bellowed. “He can turn to shadow, right?!”

“Oh, no! The light from my backfired spell might have destroyed him as a shadow!”

Amber began stumbling forward, one of her forelegs outstretched towards the tall red blur. “Quick! We gotta take all this stuff outta the Reverse Cremator’s head before it lays an…!”

The thin red blur glowed, and a small purple blur dropped from it.

“Quick! Smash it!” cried Scootaloo.

Both Amber and Rainbow leapt forward towards the purple blot, but ended up colliding with each other.

Author's Note

It wasn't easy coming up with eight stories that would leak into this finale. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy either.

4 Glacier

There was a cracking noise, and the purple blur fell away to be replaced by a black blur, which grew and grew.

“Away with you!” a deep voice growled.

The ground shook, and then wobbled. Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Amber swayed, their vision still murky.

“It’s Sombra!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

They crawled their way towards each other, appearently all having the same idea to stay together, and stay calm and still until their senses were restored. They didn’t know how much time they had before the pony who hatched from the Reverse Cremator’s second egg cursed them with his dark magic. Before her vision came back, Amber felt something collide with her nose.

“What is this?!” she cried.

Rainbow Dash’s vision was comparably better by now.

“It’s a hoof clipping,” she said in a voice that wasn’t a yell.

“If I wanted to bring an earth pony back, did you think I’d be satisfied with something from that stuffy layabout?” Sombra croaked. “No. The Reverse Cremator will only lay one more egg.”

“Won’t it…” Scootaloo remembered who she was speaking to and stopped talking.

“Not work? No,” sneered Sombra. “It only needs something from all four pony types to activate. Tomorrow, it will still revive Snowdrop.”

Now that their vision and hearing was back to normal, Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Amber could see that a line had formed around them in a wide circle. Snow was falling into it from the dark clouds above.

“Are we trapped in this circle?” asked Scootaloo quietly. “Is there some kind of invisible force field there?”

Sombra wasn’t facing them. He was standing silent and still in front of the Reverse Cremator.

“If there’s a force field there,” said Rainbow Dash, “we wouldn’t be getting wind in our faces, would we?”

Amber remembered the sandwich bags she brought. She let them all go, and they blew away, scattering in all directions and zooming away over the circular crack and off into the mist.

“Maybe not,” she said softly.

“Should we try jumping over it?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo could swear Sombra smirked as soon as that suggestion was made, and was alarmed when Rainbow didn’t wait for an answer and made a run for the crack.

Smack!

Neither Scootaloo nor Amber Aldis saw what had swatted Rainbow Dash back into the circle. All they knew was the ground beneath them made a gigantic booming noise as though it was going to blast apart.

“Scootaloo,” said Amber as Rainbow Dash picked herself up and felt her head, “do you remember that book you found in Twilight’s library that day she turned it into a ball pit?”

“Yeah. It was about frostaceans.”

“Did you read it at all?” asked Amber.

Scootaloo shook her head.

“Alright. I’ll fill you both in. They’re underground crab-like monsters. They have light-speed reflexes, and their claws’ maximum reach is miles long. The only things they won’t attack when they see are inanimate objects, and other frostaceans. And watch this.”

Amber cast her path spell. A streak of light slid along the snow and made its way towards the crack in the snowy ground. There was a boom beneath the ground, and the light stopped dead and fizzled out.

“They’re as magic-resistant as the Smooze,” sighed Amber. “We have no way of getting over that gap.”

Rainbow Dash looked up at the dark sky.

“So you’re saying they could reach me all the way up to the clouds if I tried flying over the crack up there?”

Amber nodded glumly. Rainbow Dash shot upwards.

“Oh, you can try!” called Amber. “But… hey, what…?”

Rainbow Dash disappeared into the dark clouds. Amber and Scootaloo realised that she was trying to attempt an escape above the clouds. They looked at Sombra. He was sneering and shaking his head.

“That’s a bad sign,” shuddered Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dash thought her vision must be going wrong again. What she found above the snow clouds was herds and herds of windigoes. They were galloping on thin air and soaring aimlessly around. They appeared to be indifferent to her sudden presence; in fact, they didn’t seem to even know she was there. She touched down onto the cloud cover and took a few steps forward. But with every step she took, the angrier she seemed to get.

Step.

“I go to that lame-o butterfly migration with her and she stomps on my stomach when I try bringing her to that sweet dragon migration.”

Step.

“Every time I get to the front of the line, they’re out of cider. Every. Single. Time! And everyone complains whenever I bring it up.”

Step.

“I lost a whole heap of time with those useless study methods. She just wanted me to feel like an idiot just because she’s an egghead.”

Step.

“Everyone acts so disgusted whenever I burp. They know they want to get rid of their gas just as much as I do. Pretentious…”

Rainbow Dash stopped walking. She was incensed.

“I hate Wind Rider! I hate that store clerk! I hate Discord! I hate reading!”

She shook with rage, throffing at the mouth, and toppled over.

The snow was falling more heavily from the clouds now, and the wind had picked up. Scootaloo and Amber Aldis gasped when they saw Rainbow falling through the clouds and down towards the snowy ground. Amber took off straight upwards to catch her, but not before she drifted high over the crack where the frostaceans could see her. Rainbow Dash was knocked backwards, and because she was too far away from the ground to lose momentum, she sailed over the other side of the circle and got swatted again. Amber caught her before she could go within the frostaceans’ line of sight again, and carried her back down to the ground within their prison.

“Are you OK?” she asked.

Rainbow’s eyes weren’t focused, and she was slurring in reply. A few minutes after Amber and Scootaloo had laid her down, she came back around and told them what she saw and how she felt above the arctic clouds.

“But I thought windigoes were attracted to hostility,” said Scootaloo. “Not that they cause it.”

“They do. If you display anger and distrust in your own territory, they’ll come to you. It’s the other way around if you go into their territory,” Amber explained grimly. “They can fill you with hatred and bitterness if you intrude on their domain.”

Sombra chuckled darkly. “It’s been so long since I imprisoned ponies by frostaceans and windigoes. I’ve forgotten how entertaining it is.”

Amber buried her face in her hooves. There was no need for her to tell Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo how stupid she felt getting tricked by Sombra.

“I should’ve known you made up all that stuff he said about me,” Scootaloo frowned.

“I didn’t,” protested Amber, removing her hooves from her face. “Those were his very words.”

Scootaloo couldn’t believe it.

“Sombra!” she shouted.

Sombra turned his head and eyed Scootaloo, but gave no reply.

“Why did you want my feather for Snowdrop’s resurrection?!” demanded Scootaloo.

There was a pause.

“I’d say you are the closest thing to a modern-day Snowdrop,” Sombra said at last. “Sharp, resourceful, and a promising future ahead.”

Scootaloo had no idea how to feel. She’d been paid the most flattering and encouraging compliment she ever received, and it was from one of the evilest ponies who ever lived.

“Definitely somepony I need to keep contained while I wait to make my return to my empire,” Sombra finished icily.

He turned away from his prisoners.

“She may not like what I have planned,” he muttered loud enough for the three pegasi to hear, “but I’m sure she’ll come to agree with me when I tell her what I’ve discovered.”

The prisoners were sure they were misreading his expression; the side of his face appeared somewhat solemn to them.

“Well, somepony will notice we’re missing and come looking for us,” Rainbow Dash drawled, still a little woozy.

Sombra chuckled again. “Now that you’ve disturbed the windigoes, there will be a good excuse for your absence.”

The snow had been falling more heavily in the arctic north since the windigoes had worked their magic on Rainbow Dash, and the wind had picked up. The harsh natural weather rarely affected the Crystal Empire, but Clopley Hill, the city south of the empire, often had unseasonable snow squalls from the north. The weather team sometimes called for volunteers to assist them in cleaning up. And now the town was getting dumped on, and there simply weren’t enough volunteers to make a dent in the mess. Messengers were dispatched to all the nearby towns to ask for pegasi to come to Clopley Hill and help deal with the snow. After word got around at the Crystal Empire about this, it seemed unlikely that anyone would question where Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Amber Aldis disappeared to now. They’d be inclined to assume that they offered their services for the clean-up effort. The prisoners themselves realised this must be the case that afternoon. Their situation appeared well and truly hopeless. They were stuck on that small glacier with Sombra standing guard over them and the Reverse Cremator, they were hungry, thirsty, and freezing their flanks off. They weren’t looking forward to finding out what Sombra would do once the lifelike phoenix model laid its third and final egg the next morning. They didn’t think Snowdrop would want any part of whatever plot Sombra was hatching, but they were also sure he would have a great deal of influence on the matter.

Author's Note

Cadance and Shining Armour are above average, so they were perfectly good candidates for their species I feel.

5 Spinout

The Wonderbolts are the fastest and best precision flyers in the world, but spinouts can still happen. Lightning Dust never forgot Spitfire telling her and her fellow newcomers to the academy this. She couldn’t deny that she got some pleasure watching it happen to the pony who booted her out of the camp and railroaded her ambitions. It was quite an entertaining view from the sidelines. Spitfire was going so fast, that when she got dizzy and went off course, she flew as far away as the Crystal Castle. Soarin and Fleetfoot tore after her when they saw her go out of control. They didn’t see when the impact happened, but they had plenty of time to catch her when they saw her falling from the tallest tower. She was holding her head and moaning.

“I think she bumped her head,” Soarin said to Fleetfoot. “We better get her to the hospital.”

Training was called off completely for the rest of the day as the Wonderbolts met up at the hospital to be with Spitfire when she was admitted to the infirmary.

“She needs rest,” the doctor said. “She’s muttering in her sleep. I caught a few words. She keeps talking of ice iri and her mother.”

“Ah,” Soarin nodded. “She’s dreaming about the time she thought her mom got pegasitus and she went all the way to the Crystal Mountains to try and find the cure.”

The dream was a lot worse than the memory. Spitfire kept getting blown away by the arctic wind. Unlike her real endeavour, she did spot ice iri every so often. But every time she did, she either got blown away and lost track of it, it would blow out of her hooves and out of sight, or a snowfall would bury it and she would be unable to dig it back up. Sometimes she managed to get her hooves on one, but they always shattered as soon as she grabbed them. At last, she got hold of an ice iris that didn’t break or slip away. But the wind was keeping her from leaving the mountains quickly. Night was falling by the time Spitfire made it to Canterlot with her miraculous find. Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and Wind River met up with her at the castle.

“Your mom was counting on you!”

“She thought you could help her!”

“You’re her daughter and you failed her!”

They left Spitfire on the balcony; left her to collapse and chide herself for her failure. A cruel wind arose and blew the ice iris out of Spitfire’s grasp. She made a leap for it; it seemed like the only achievement she could cling to now. Her wings wouldn’t work. She lost the ability to fly. She plummeted helplessly into one of Canterlot Court’s gardens. The dream began to dissolve into stars. Attractive hexagonal shapes that glittered and twinkled like snow.

It was snow.

“What are you doing?”

When Spitfire opened her eyes for the first time since her spinout, she saw a clear plastic bag full of snow dangling above her face. She turned her head on her pillow to see who was holding it, and a lukewarm cold pack slid off her forehead. It was Lightning Dust who was holding the back above Spitfire’s face, and she was staring at the ceiling as though she was trying to figure something out.

“Hey!”

Lightning jumped, dropping the bag of snow on the bed.

“Oh. You’re awake,” she said quickly. “I was just bringing you a bag of arctic snow for your forehead.”

“You looked like you couldn’t remember where my head was,” Spitfire frowned.

“Oh, I… I just…”

“What?”

“Well, you were mumbling in your sleep,” said Lightning Dust. “You said you did your best to get an ice iris to you mom as fast as you could.”

Spitfire covered herself in her bed sheets.

“Hey, wait a minute,” snapped Lightning Dust. “You made me think of something.”

“What was it?” Spitfire re-emerged from her covers. “Another insult?”

“Hey, I got to watch you spin out today. I’m set,” Lightning Dust smirked.

“Speaking of you spinning out,” she went on in a more serious tone, “what do you remember about that?”

“What do you mean? What made me, the captain of the Wonderbolts, lose control?” Spitfire groaned.

“No. I mean do you remember hitting anything after you flew outta the stadium?” asked Lightning Dust.

“Uh… not really,” said Spitfire. “I did hit the balcony on that castle tower… Oh! I did hit my head. On that door to the staircase. I think I hit it so hard, it opened. So, I guess I…”

“That door,” Lightning interrupted. “Rainbow Dash told me Princess Twilight and Spike had to go through it when they were trying to find the Crystal Heart. And it was cursed with Sombra’s dark magic. It made them think their biggest fears were happening.”

“Their biggest fears?” Spitfire sat up.

“Uh, huh. Twilight thought she’d failed a test Princess Celestia gave her and couldn’t continue learning about friendship magic, and Spike thought Twilight was sending him away,” said Lightning Dust. “And what is it you thought was happening when you bashed that door open?”

“I… I thought I couldn’t cure my mom’s pegasitus,” groaned Spitfire.

“Yeah. I don’t think you had a fevered dream,” said Lighting Dust quietly. “I think you were cursed by Sombra’s door.”

Spitfire scoffed. “Didn’t you hear about where Princess Twilight was when she, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie Lulamoon were when they defeated that dragon invasion? They hid in that spiral staircase, and then they sprang into action on that balcony I fell from.”

“That means Sombra wasn’t around then,” said Lightning Dust quickly. “He probably is now.”

Spitfire chuckled and shook her head.

“Now look. There’s one way to find out,” Lightning Dust pulled the bed sheets away from Spitfire.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I need somepony to watch me while I go through that door,” said Lightning Dust. “If I see what I’m afraid of the most, somepony’s got to snap me out of it.”

Spitfire folded her forelegs.

“Can I rely on you to do that?” asked Lightning Dust.

“Uh… yeah. Yeah, you can rely on me,” Spitfire jumped out of bed.

It was night. Lightning Dust opened the window and beckoned Spitfire to join her as she flew out of it.

“You’re not dizzy, are you?” she asked quietly.

“I’m fine,” replied Spitfire.

She was flying perfectly well, so they made their way to the tallest castle tower.

“What do you think you’ll see if that door curses you?” asks Spitfire.

“Well, to be frank,” frowned Lightning Dust, “I’ll probably think I’ve lost any slim chance I ever had at being admitted into the Wonderbolts.”

“Lightning, you’re living your nightmare,” Spitfire sneered.

“We’ll see,” Lightning Dust groaned.

They reached the balcony.

“See that?” Lightning pointed to the door Spitfire hit, which was still open. “Nopony’s noticed where you hit your head. And if I see what I think I’m gonna see, nopony should know. These crystal ponies are a panicky buncha…”

She turned to the open door and stopped talking. Spitfire gasped as Lightning Dust’s eyes changed to red and green.

“You… you’re not real… I know you’re not real… you’re just… you what…? Did you really…?”

“She was right,” groaned Spitfire. “The door’s cursing ponies. Sombra is around.”

Lightning Dust was still wailing when Spitfire gave her a slap to the face and pulled her away from the door. She closed her eyes and shut the door as Lightning Dust gathered her awareness.

“It happened,” she breathed.

“You were right,” Spitfire nodded. “It made you think something horrible was happening. What did you see? What did you hear?”

“Oh,” Lightning Dust looked away from Spitfire. “Pretty much what I thought I would. Never become a Wonderbolt. That kinda thing.”

Spitfire couldn’t help but grin. “You were blubbering a lot. I heard you say Coco. That’s your friend from Manehattan who designed that outfit we had to wear for the Millennium Rally, isn’t she?”

Lightning Dust screwed up her face. “Sombra’s not just a shadow anymore. He’s here somewhere. We gotta warn the prince and princess.”

She started to fly away, but Spitfire held her back.

“We don’t want to get them all worried,” she said. “Princess Cadance is pregnant. Her baby’s due soon.”

“Oh, I forgot,” said Lightning Dust. “And if Shining Armour casts his force field spell around the Crystal Empire, the crystal ponies will panic or sure.”

“Will they?” asked Spitfire. “I thought they knew Sombra couldn’t come into the empire once they had the Crystal Heart. That was why all their fear went away once Spike and Cadance brought it to them.”

“Don’t you think Sombra’s got a plan to get back into the empire?” asked Lightning Dust. “Hey! I’ll bet you he’s gonna strike during the Air Sprinting. When everypony’s distracted.”

Lightning Dust and Spitfire looked at the east horizon. It was turning a dark shade of orange. Lightning Dust saw that Spitfire was holding her head.

“I’m gonna go get Twilight,” she said.

“But you’re supposed to be our reserve flyer,” said Spitfire. “Are you saying you’ll let Slip Stream take over?”

Lightning Dust nodded. “I’ll have to. If I can get to Ponyville and tell Twilight what’s going on, she and her friends will be able to stop Sombra before he can act.”

Spitfire said she’d return to the hospital before anypony noticed she was gone, and Lightning Dust went to see if Miss Harshwhinny was awake. She had a good excuse for leaving in mind.

“What time do you call this, Miss Dust?” Miss Harshwhinny yawned after Lightning Dust knocked on her accommodation door several times.

“Time for me to go,” she said. “I’m gonna go to Clopley Hill and help them clean the snow out.”

“Are you now?”

“Everyone keeps telling me it’s the worst snowstorm they’ve ever had,” said Lightning Dust.

“Oh, it is,” nodded Harshwhinny. “So much so, they’ve closed the rail lines.”

“Huh. Looks like I’m flying,” shrugged Lightning Dust.

“Good luck with that,” sniffed Harshwhinny. “There’s a thirty knot gale out in the arctic. I don’t suppose anypony has had the good manners to inform you that no pegasi here in the Crystal Empire have been able to go to Clopley Hill due to the storm?”

Lightning Dust didn’t know what to say to this. She was sure it would sound suspicious if she tried to find a way to get to Clopley Hill when there was an opportunity to compete against the Wonderbolts right there in the crystal city.

“Hey! If nopony’s left,” she raised an eyebrow, “where did Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Amber Aldis disappear to?”

“Have you not seen them lately?” asked Miss Harshwhinny.

“Not since two days ago,” replied Lightning Dust. “Last I heard, they went to fill a buncha sandwich bags with arctic snow.”

“Hm. Perhaps the storm started while they were out there and they headed off to Clopley Hill before it got worse,” suggested Harshwhinny. “Well, I dare say you relish the challenge of making it there. If you dearly want to help their weather team clean up their town, then I suppose Slip Stream can go in your place.”

Lightning Dust found she couldn’t put on much speed as she made her way through the corridor away from Miss Harshwhinny’s quarters. An unpleasant thought had occurred to her during that conversation, and it was making her worried about where exactly Sombra was and what he was doing while he waited for the time to attack.

“Psst.”

Lightning Dust stopped and looked at the suit of armour that seemed to have tried to attract her attention. She quickly spotted somepony hiding behind it.

“What are you doing there?” she demanded.

“I told the nurse that I didn’t want to be disturbed while I got my rest, and that I had plenty of bags of snow to keep my head cool,” said Spitfire, stepping out from behind the suit of armour. “I couldn’t let you go out on your own.”

Lightning Dust frowned. “You think I won’t make it by myself?”

“No… I just couldn’t lie around and let you risk your own life,” Spitfire said.

“Oh. Well what about your head?” asked Lightning Dust.

“I’m fine now,” insisted Spitfire. “I had plenty of rest, that’s for sure.”

“Rest? You were having a nightmare fuelled by dark magic.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Spitfire firmly.

“That’s fine. I might need an extra set of hooves,” said Lightning Dust. “I just figured something out after telling Harshwhinny I was going to Clopley Hill. Nopony actually went there from this city. The weather’s too harsh for going by train or hoof.”

“How did the message get here then?” asked Spitfire.

Sunlight trickled into the corridor.

“We gotta go,” said Lightning Dust quickly. “We don’t want anypony to see us leaving.”

So Lightning Dust and Spitfire made their way to a window and checked that no one was looking. It was still too early for the majority of the town to be awake, so they could fly up to the clouds unnoticed.

“Why are we going up there?” asked Spitfire quietly as they made their ascent.

“We’re gonna go above the arctic clouds and run across them,” answered Lightning Dust. “That way we can avoid the storm. And Sombra if he’s out there. And if he is, he’ll probably be distracted.”

“Distracted?”

“Yeah. I just told you no pony’s been able to leave the Crystal Empire. But no one’s seen Rainbow Dash since yesterday morning. Or Scootaloo. Or Amber.”

“They might’ve been taken prisoner by Sombra!” exclaimed Spitfire; luckily they were too high up for anyone to hear her by now.

“Right. He could be holding them hostage so Princess Twilight won’t put up a fight, or… torturing them for information.”

“Let’s hurry, Lightning,” said Spitfire.

“Come on. No one’s ever had to tell me to hurry,” Lightning Dust grinned.

There were enough clouds above the Crystal Empire for it to be considered partly cloudy, but Spitfire knew the weather team was due to clear the sky that morning in preparation for the Air Sprinting. So she and Lightning Dust took it in turns to hop from cloud to cloud towards the arctic clouds, going one at a time so as to reduce their chances of being spotted. The grey void of the natural snow clouds grew closer and closer.

“Let’s run across those clouds when we get to them,” said Spitfire when they were three crystal clouds away from their next checkpoint. “That way we’ll conserve our wing power and won’t be worn out when we fly to Ponyville.”

“Gotcha,” nodded Lightning Dust.

It was easier to make these last few jumps from cloud to cloud, as they were now too far away from the city to be spotted by anyone in the Crystal Empire. At last, their hooves were planted on grey cloud. They began running south right away.

“Hey! What’s that?!” exclaimed Lightning Dust, picking up speed to see the strange silvery shapes far ahead.

“What are you doing, Lightning?! It’s not a race!” shouted Spitfire.

“I’m just checking something out! Don’t order me around!” griped Lightning Dust.

The two pegasi realised they were getting angry over nothing. They slowed down and looked ahead.

“Windigoes!” cried Spitfire.

They would have found the sight attractive if they weren’t feeling so mad about nothing in particular. The silvery creatures stood out in the dark clouds they pranced on and the blue sky above. None of them seemed to have any destination in mind. Whether or not they noticed two pegasi observing them in their own territory was unknown, but their powers were taking effect.

“Sombra planned ahead! The evil rat bag!” growled Lightning Dust, stomping on the grey fluff beneath her.

“How could you not have thought of that?!” groaned Spitfire. “Or you did and just wanted to watch me make a fool of myself! Miss Let’s Risk Everypony’s Lives?!”

Before Lightning Dust could retort, Spitfire turned tail and ran back towards the Crystal Empire.

“Oh you big wimp!” Lightning Dust tore after her. “You call yourself the captain of…?!”

The anger they both felt faded as they ran away from the windigoes, who didn’t acknowledge their presence or departure at all.

Lightning Dust saw that Spitfire was sitting and looking down at the Crystal Empire when she caught up to her at the edge of the arctic clouds.

“You wanna go back to bed, don’t you?” groaned Lightning Dust.

“I can’t deal with dangerous creatures,” Spitfire shook her head. “Never could. It’s not even in the job description. Wonderbolts used to be called on to try and drive away attacking animals, but that was centuries ago. I said that to Blaze, High Winds, and Surprise, but they were so determined.”

“Are you talking about the time Spike went nuts? And giant?” asked Lightning Dust.

Spitfire nodded. “We were in the area and those three insisted on trying to stop him. We’re a performance group. Not pest ponies. What were we supposed to do?”

“They didn’t do much in the end,” said Lightning Dust. “They were outmatched.”

“Yeah… but at least they tried to help,” sighed Spitfire. “And there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop them.”

“Did you give them a telling off after that whole mess was over?” asked Lightning Dust.

“Why would I do that?”

“Uh… going against your orders.”

“I can’t call it mutiny if they were reacting to a crisis,” said Spitfire. “They suffered enough anyway. It was such an embarrassment for them. If anything, I should have gone with them.”

“What good would that do?”

Spitfire faltered, glancing back to where she and Lightning Dust had lost their tempers in the presence of a herd of windigoes.

Indistinct chatter could be heard from the Crystal Empire. Ponies were definitely awake by now.

“If you want to go back to the infirmary,” Lightning Dust said to Spitfire, “you’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I’m not going back,” Spitfire stood up. “I’m not completely useless at everything accept putting on a show in the air. There’s more I can do!”

Lightning Dust looked back to see if some windigoes were advancing on them. They weren’t.

“I’m done sticking to one thing!” Spitfire said vehemently. “I don’t care if I can’t take them on. I’m still giving it a try.”

“Good to hear,” said Lightning Dust. “I was set to do this on my own, but I was a lot happier when you said you’d come with me. And I’m glad it’s gonna stay that way.”

They both stood to face enemy territory again.

“We’re gonna have to flyacross,” said Spitfire as they leaned forward to restart their journey. “We wanna get to the end of these clouds as fast as possible.”

“Right,” said Lightning Dust, unfurling her wings.

“And Lightning,” Spitfire continued, “anything we say to each other while we’re under the windigoes spell… we’ll completely forget about when we get to Clopley Hill.”

“For sure,” nodded Lightning Dust.

Author's Note

Sometimes, you just can't fill a plot hole.

6 Dark Pacts

Very little had changed in the arctic since yesterday morning. The high winds were still whipping the snow around. The Reverse Cremator was still standing. Sombra had barely even swayed as he stood in front of it waiting for the time for it to lay its last egg. The circular crack in the ground nearby hadn’t been disturbed; nor had the hair-trigger creatures that dwelled beneath it. As for the ponies trapped within the circle, they didn’t know how much longer they could last. After Rainbow Dash’s failed attempt to find an escape route via the snow clouds, she, Scootaloo, and Amber Aldis had been huddled together since then. They were freezing, starving, and anxious. And now that the sun had come up, they knew it wouldn’t be long before Sombra would move on with his scheme. There had been virtually no talking in this area for nearly twenty-four hours. When they weren’t fearing for their own and the Crystal Empire’s safety, all three of the trapped ponies were trying to figure out what Sombra meant when he said he’d discovered something that might sway Snowdrop to go along with his evil plans. It seemed very likely that they knew each other over a millennium ago; were they friends back then? Had Snowdrop known Sombra before he became a tyrant?

Rainbow Dash broke the long-lasting silence. “I’m-m g-gonna t-try th-the s-sky ag-gain.”

Scootaloo and Amber gave her discouraged looks, but said nothing. Sombra gave no indication that he heard.

“I c-can’t s-stand wait-ting around-d for that w-wacko to s-spring into action,” Rainbow stood up, shaking from head to hoof. “I h-have to g-get help.”

“It’s-s n-no use, D-Dash,” shivered Amber. “It-t’s m-morning. Th-the th-third egg’s-s c-com-ming an-ny m-minute.”

“I kn-know it’s r-risky,” said Rainbow Dash, gazing upwards, “b-but I am-m n-not g-giving in.”

“Ah, memories,” murmured Sombra.

This was far from a good sign, but Rainbow Dash was not discouraged. She spread her wings and took to the air. It was disheartening for Scootaloo and Amber to see that her speed was sluggish. Even knowing what was waiting for her above the clouds, it wasn’t likely that she could put on enough speed to make it through the herd.

“I j-just h-hope I h-have th-the st-trength t-to c-catch her th-this t-time,” Amber said as she stood up shakily.

“I h-hope sh-she d-doesn’t g-get t-to f-far outs-side the c-circle bef-fore she f-falls,” said Scootaloo fretfully. “Th-then n-no one will c-catch her.”

I really don’t know what Spitfire and Lightning Dust see in me, Rainbow Dash thought as she drew nearer to the dark clouds above. This is so stupid… what I’m doing… I can’t do this… I know I can’t do this… why am I doing this?

Her wings would not stop pumping. She punctured her way through the clouds and was once again in plain view of the windigoes.

“You didn’t even check up with your mom to see if she actually was sick!”

“You put the lives of every foal in Cloudsdale in jeopardy!”

“You left Spike to fall while you went back for the money you let go of like an idiot!”

“You don’t even care that Soarin’s an insomniac!”

“You didn’t bother to help Ponyville with their tornado!”

“You still haven’t explained to me how a messenger got to the Crystal Empire!”

Rainbow Dash could not believe what she was seeing. Running towards her past the indifferent silver horses were a pair of savage-looking pegasi.

“Those morons,” she groaned, starting to feel he windigoes’ effects. “What do they think they’re doing?”

She quickly realised she was doing the same thing, and that got her madder.

“You couldn’t make a sonic rainboom after five tries!” bellowed Spitfire.

“You’ve never even come close in all your life!” roared Lightning Dust.

Then, at the same time, as their pace was getting slower and their faces more manic, they both yelled something that made Rainbow’s angry feelings drain slightly.

“You’re no Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow watched as Spitfire and Lightning Dust began to lose their hoofing. They now noticed that Rainbow Dash was right in front of them. She never gave them a chance to speak.

“You wanna taste of what it’s like to be me?!” she screamed at them. “Here!”

She turned, grabbed one of Spitfire’s foreleg’s with her right hoof, one of Lightning Dust’s with her left, and pulled them with her as she dived down through the clouds.

The last two times the Reverse Cremator had laid an egg, no one had seen it properly. When Amber had been restored, it had been obscured by smoke. When Sombra was renewed, all the witnesses had blurred vision. Now that it was going to lay its third egg, there was nothing to stop Scootaloo, Amber, and Sombra from watching as it glowed red and yellow.

“Here sh-she c-comes,” groaned Amber.

Sombra beamed as a violet egg fell out of the lifelike phoenix model and rolled over in the snow.

“It’s R-Rainbow!” exclaimed Scootaloo, pointing up. “B-but who’s th-that w-with her?!”

Now no one knew where to look. The egg was cracking, and Rainbow Dash was zooming downwards, dragging two ponies with her. Sombra was looking cross for the first time since he’d returned, disturbed by the sudden appearance of two more ponies.

“She’s n-not f-falling,” said Amber. “Is sh-she… t-trying t-to…?”

The air around Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, and Lightning Dust began to feel tight. Rainbow’s face took the most resistance, but she and her companions never stopped gaining momentum. She kept on pumping her wings, and refused to let go of Spitfire’s and Lightning Dust’s hooves.

“A rainboom!” Sombra spluttered furiously.

His horn lit up, but he was distracted when the purple egg fell apart. A bright turquoise filly emerged from it. Her eyes were wide open, and she looked straight up, where everypony else was looking.

The noise was tumultuous, and the scene was magnificent. It was unlike any rainboom Rainbow Dash had produced before. It seemed to ripple like water, and tiny sparks ignited all over it. And perhaps it was because there was a wall of dark grey clouds behind it, and that they were in such a white and dull area, but Scootaloo, Amber Aldis, Sombra, and Snowdrop had never seen something so vibrant and hypnotizing. Snowdrop’s mouth was hanging open. The three who had created this feast for the eyes descended rapidly towards Scootaloo and Amber Aldis. Rainbow Dash scooped up Scootaloo using only her head, but unfortunately, due to weight and numbness, she only managed to knock Amber Aldis over. The battered and weary alicorn was left behind as Rainbow steered her convoy over the circular crack. A claw came up to swat at them. It hit them. But the claw and the four ponies had been going at the same speed. Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Lightning Dust, and Scootaloo all took a hit, but their incredible speed allowed them to pass over the crack as they tumbled forward and hit the ground hard. The group fell apart and rolled in the snow, dizzy, unstable, and in a fair amount of pain.

Rainbow Dash had landed in front of Sombra, who grabbed her by the throat seething.

“Your escape attempts are finished!” he snarled, his horn lighting up.

Spitfire was laying in front of Snowdrop, her face half-buried in snow. She could see attractive hexagonal crystals with one eye, and the iconic inventor with the other.

“You make these?” she asked groggily.

Snowdrop looked down at the powder Spitfire had scooped up in her hoof, and shook her head.

“Didn’t you invent these?” slurred Spitfire.

Sombra’s eyes popped. His horn went dim.

“No…” he breathed as he let go of Rainbow Dash.

“Are you the one who created star-shaped snowflakes, or not?” Spitfire asked before passing out in front of the bewildered Snowdrop.

Sombra’s body was no longer solid. It seemed to blow away bit by bit in the gale as though it was made of sand. He was once again reduced to powerless shadow, and disappeared within a minute.

Scootaloo stood up; she was the only one in the rainboom party who was able to. Spitfire was unconscious, Rainbow Dash was barely breathing, and Lightning Dust’s body was contorted a little.

“Amber!” called Scootaloo. “You’re s-still s-stuck.”

Amber looked around glumly. “Well, at l-least y-you t-two g-got out. Hey… here’s-s y-your s-scooter.”

She approached the gap as closely as she could without revealing herself to the frostaceans, and tossed the scooter over it. Scootaloo smiled to show her thanks, and turned to Snowdrop, who was still in disbelief over what she was experiencing.

“Hello, S-Snowd-drop,” she shivered. “M-my name’s-s S-Scootaloo. You’re p-probably r-really c-confused…”

Snowdrop spoke at last. “What happened to Sombra?”

“Oh…” Scootaloo gulped. “I… I’ll exp-plain later. R-right now, w-we n-need your h-help. We’ve b-been t-trapped out here f-for a whole n-night. We’re f-freezing… and we’re s-starv-ving.”

Snowdrop looked over her shoulder, then back at Scootaloo.

“You want me to…?”

“I kn-know you’ve p-probably n-never d-done it b-before,” shivered Scootaloo, “b-but we n-need you t-to run t-to the C-Crystal Empire and g-get help.”

Snowdrop nodded, turned around, and began to fly away towards the crystal city. But after being disturbed by three ponies, the windigoes were increasing the amount of snow and wind that came down, and Snowdrop was buffeted to the point where she couldn’t get any distance hovering in the air. She touched down and began trotting towards civilization, going as quickly as she could in the strong winds.

“She can fly?!” Scootaloo felt like she’d strayed into windigo territory herself.

When Rainbow Dash next woke, she felt quite warm. She looked around. She was in a tent, which was swaying; no doubt there was a lot of wind outside.

“Rainbow’s awake,” said Shining Armour.

Some crystal ponies walked towards her.

“Are you feeling well enough to eat?” one asked.

Rainbow considered, and nodded. The medical ponies set up a tray with sandwiches and cocoa. Rainbow Dash sat up on her cot and looked to see who else was in the tent. Three other cots were next to hers, each occupied by a pegasus. Scootaloo was awake and beaming wearily, and Lightning Dust and Spitfire were asleep.

“Where’s Amber?” asked Rainbow.

“She’s still trapped on that glacier,” sighed Shining Armour. “We couldn’t get her over the gap. My shield spell was useless against those frostaceans. We tried getting a ramp over, but they swatted at it the instant somepony tried to cross it. But don’t worry. We threw her a hamper of food and plenty of kindling. And a tent for her own. She’ll be alright.”

Rainbow Dash smiled and sipped some cocoa. “What about the Reverse Cremator?”

“I threw it into the pit,” said Shining. “No one can get to it now.”

Rainbow Dash spotted Snowdrop, who walked up to join Shining Armour and the medical staff.

“Imagine how we all felt when Snowdrop, thee Snowdrop, came running into the Crystal Empire shouting that there was trouble out in the arctic snow,” chuckled Shining Armour.

The storm died down after a few days, and the patients and their caregivers lived quite comfortably in the large tent during that time. Amber never complained about being stuck in that circle. Everyone who threw provisions to her made sure to throw them upwind so they didn’t fly back and hit them in the face. It wasn’t long before Spitfire and Lightning Dust awoke. Slowly but surely, the whole story began to unfold. Shining Armour was ecstatic when Spitfire told them what she said before Sombra lost his power and his body.

“Celestia and Luna will be so pleased to hear this,” he said. “They’ve been trying to figure out what dark pacts Sombra made to give him such power for centuries. It all fits. He tied his life and his power to a secret he didn’t want the world to know. And he tried to take over the Crystal Empire to turn it into a complete nightmare so he could keep ponies away from the area, so no one would discover his secret.”

“What was that secret?” asked Spitfire.

“What? Don’t you know?” Shining Armour spluttered.

“I have no idea what I did to Sombra,” shrugged Spitfire.

“You discovered that…”

Shining faltered and glanced at Snowdrop, who frowned and stepped forward.

“That I didn’t really invent the snowflake,” she said.

“Oh,” said Spitfire. “That’s right. The windigoes create the same kind you introduced to Equestria.”

Rainbow Dash remembered something Pinkie Pie said once when Prince Rutherford visited Ponyville. “Snow is snow, no matter where it comes from.” Now it seemed she’d been wrong.

“For years and years, nopony knew this,” said Shining Armour. “Sombra figured it out and didn’t want anyone to know because he thought it would give Snowdrop’s legacy a black eye.”

“Has it?” asked Snowdrop.

Everypony answered “No” at the same time.

“If somepony had discovered the snow the windigoes create and showed everypony else,” said Spitfire, “everyone would have considered them evil. You showed Equestria a beautiful side of winter weather. You may not have been as original as everyone thought you were, and you may be able to see now, but that doesn’t make you any less of an idol.”

Snowdrop smiled. “Well, I’m glad you realised this, Spitfire. If you hadn’t, I hate to think what evil things Sombra would have done.”

“I wouldn’t have realised this if it weren’t for Lightning Dust,” said Spitfire. “She’s the one who dangled that bag of arctic snow in front of my face while I was in the infirmary.”

“What were you doing that for?” asked Scootaloo.

“Oh. That was when I found out why Spitfire was having that fevered dream about her mom and the ice iris,” Lightning Dust didn’t sit up as she spoke. “I knew she’d opened that door Sombra cursed, and that he must’ve been around if it was making ponies think they were living their worst nightmares.”

“You’re both real heroes,” said Rainbow Dash happily.

Both Spitfire and Lightning Dust looked doubtful.

“I’m serious,” Rainbow Dash climbed out of her cot. “If you two hadn’t shown up, I would have been those windigoes’ dinner. You two made me realise something. You shouldn’t sell yourself short. Everypony has things that can make others jealous, and it can be a bit hard to appreciate our own when we spend so much time worrying about what others can do. We all have a hero and a role model in us.”

She went back to bed. She still felt nauseated from the misadventure. But her little speech had done wonders to raise the morale in that tent.

When the storm died down and the snowfall and wind returned to normal, ponies came to visit the tent. Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Friendship council, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the Wonderbolts, Stormy Flare, Updraft, Coco Pommel, Starlight Glimmer, and the Royal Sisters took up so much space, that they all had to take turns being with the patients in the tent while everyone else stood outside. Princess Luna was perhaps the happiest pony in the arctic then. Having Snowdrop back was almost too much for her. Scootaloo discovered that Snowdrop was the reason Luna had taken an interest in Equestria’s youth, which was why she’d appeared before her and her fellow Crusaders in their dreams when they were having problems. Starlight never went into the tent. She stood at the edge of the circle most of the time. She and Twilight had both tried their luck at using magic to free her from the enclosure, but to no avail. Twilight tried teleporting into the circle right away, with the intention of taking Amber back with her on her return trip. This was the first time anyone caught a clear view of a frostacean’s claw. It seemed to make Twilight appear out of nowhere, holding her by her mane, and tossing her back away from the circle.

“I’m sorry I’ve caused so much trouble,” Amber said after Twilight and Starlight had given up trying to use magic to free her.

“It’s alright. You couldn’t help it. We know how badly you wanted to be able to use magic again,” said Twilight.

“I’m especially sorry I’ve betrayed your trust,” Amber said to Starlight. “You worked so hard trying to find a cure for me, and I just couldn’t wait for you.”

Starlight sighed. “I can’t blame you for falling for Sombra’s trick. I think I might’ve been exited too if I thought I was channelling the ghost of Starswirl the Bearded.

Judging by the look on Twilight’s face, Starlight and Amber were sure she would too. As no one could get Amber across the gap, they supplied her with provisions to build her own cabin with. Arrangements were made for food and drink deliveries to be made regularly to, what was soon known as, Amber’s Glacier. On the morning after Amber had finished building her shelter and slept overnight in it for the first time, she exited her cabin to find a small stage was being set up just outside the circle by Starlight.

“What are you doing?” asked Amber.

“I didn’t want you to miss this, so I asked if we could do it out here,” replied Starlight.

Amber was excited to learn that a knighting ceremony would be taking place out there where she could watch. Hundreds of ponies showed up to watch the event, including Twilight’s Knights of Harmony.

“Spitfire… Lightning Dust… thanks to you two, we beat Sombra. He was stopped again from trying to rule the Crystal Empire and enslave the crystal ponies,” Rainbow Dash beamed as she stood on the stage in front of the Wonderbolts’ captain and the Air Sprinting gold medalist. “So, as a member of the Friendship Council, I’ll be taking advantage of my right to dish out knighthoods.”

She unfurled her wings to reveal a shiny gold pendant held in each.

“You’ve both earned the title Knight of Harmony,” she said, “for committing yourselves to stopping a disaster, letting go of your worries that you’ll fall short of somepony you admire, and knowing full well that you were leaving something you really wanted behind.”

She flung one pendant over Spitfire’s head so it settled around her neck, and did the same to Lightning Dust with the other pendant. The sound of the crowd’s applause drowned out the wind and carried across the snow. Spitfire and Lightning Dust turned to face the crowd.

“I’m happy I could do my part,” said Spitfire. “And I’ll do my best to keep it up.”

She beckoned Snowdrop to come and join her on stage.

“I’ll be taking Snowdrop into my home,” she finished, “and helping her adjust to modern Equestrian life.”

The crowd applauded her.

“I’ve got a little project too,” Light Dust announced. “I am going to figure out a way to get Amber Aldis off that glacier and out of the frostaceans’ and windigoes’ reach.”

She received some applause as well.

“Also, while I’m up here,” Spitfire said, “can someone explain to me how Clopley Hill’s weather team got that call for volunteers to the Crystal Empire when the weather was so bad?”

Author's Note

And that's another batch of ten done.