The Heir of Winter

Heir of Winter

Chapter 7

Advent of Dreams

I like sleeping just as much as the next person, well, maybe a little more. Dreams were my scapegoat from a reality I truly didn’t prefer to see. It didn’t help that my father had grown prone to watching politics every single day as if it became his one obsession to hold him together after having his heart surgery done twice over. It changed him, and as far as I was concerned it wasn’t entirely for the better.

Me and my father never truly saw eye to eye. As much as any other dysfunctioning family there was always the instigator behind why somebody was the way they were. He was the reason for a lot of my personal hardship, yet, seeing it now in an older mind, I can’t really blame him for everything wrong in my life. He grew up on a farm and I grew up in a house filled with video games and television, it’s easy enough to see the barrier between the two. One grew up knowing the value of hard work while the other grew up knowing the value of enjoying oneself while they could. Because somehow, someway, life would always know exactly when to inconvenience your enjoyment and replace it with personal torment.

Regardless, my thoughts of my own checkered past could wait. For as far as I was considering my current state, I was asleep. Or, at least, I figured I was. The landscape before me clearly wasn’t my current bedroom, that’s for sure. Rather, it seemed to be a nigh endless field of blizzard and snow. What's more is that the place I found myself in seemed vaguely familiar in a rather, literally, headache inducing way.

The air felt far colder than anything I could ever remember feeling before, as if the very air itself was angry for my being here. Wind, cold and biting snow was all I could see any direction I turned. What’s worse is this sense of wrongness to the whole scenario, like I wasn’t meant to be here or see what I was currently witnessing. I plain up didn’t want to be here, yet my sleeping self refused to wake up for once in its damned life. For all the times I wished for a dream to keep itself going for just a while longer, just to know what happens next, this for sure was not one of those times.

“Where… is this place?” I asked myself aloud, barely able to hear my voice over the blowing wind. I felt like I should know where this place was, yet for all the thoughts of the were no decent answer arose in my mind.

I considered just sitting myself down in the snow for a moment, but that thought didn’t hold much weight as I felt myself starting to walk automatically in a seemingly known direction. “Great… and now my body is on autopilot.” I mentaly noted.

As far as I figured, my body knew where to go despite my mind having no idea of where any of this place was. Or maybe some part of me simply knew I ‘had’ to get moving to some destination. Either way, I did feel like I was more in control of my body once I got going. I didn’t like the prospects of being stuck in some kind of cold, frosty nightmare; much less a familiar one. Yet, the more I walked, the more I considered the cold as strange.

I hadn’t felt a lick of actual cold since I found myself here. It was as if my body was simply immune to the aspect of low temperature, or at least highly resistant. So why was I feeling so frigid now that I was in this blizzard land? It confused me to no end, yet the more I pondered my own body chemistry or lack thereof. I found I had stopped moving, and, for lack of better explanation, found that the cold of the blizzard around me was actually quite the opposite.

I found myself standing in front of what seemed to be a burning door, set ablaze by unknown means that made my headache so much that I left like I was about to have blood spurting out my nose the more I looked at it simply from the pain alone. What’s worse is the irked feeling that I ‘Knew’ where this door went to and that I shouldn’t be standing in front of it by any means. Much more so. I felt like if I even so much as opened that door my whole world would end forthright, and without a single care for what it did to me.

Yet still, I felt my body moving on its own again despite my wishes to be away from the burning door and whatever it meant to my mind. I right walked up to the door despite the pain and the burning I felt, put its hoof right on the handle without a care in the world and turned hard with all its might.

I felt my mouth open on its own, speaking words not mine yet just the same as if it were myself speaking the words, “There are things you need to remember.” I said as I felt the blaze of the door overtake me as it opened, a dire ringing sound went through my very being in a cataclysmic reverberation of sound and pain.

Then. Everything went blank.

I awoke suddenly with a massive pain filling my head, as if I had been hit by a truck several times. I felt downright horrible and found myself covered in a hot sweat. “What in the ever loving fuck was that shit…” I slowly asked myself, getting out of bed to look at a clock and to find the nearest bathroom.

5:37 AM, from what the clock in the main room said, was exactly the time I got myself into said bathroom. Not even a moment later I was vomiting into the toilet like my very life depended on it. My body felt like absolute shit afterwards, uncontrolled shivering included.

I had no clue what I had just witnessed happen in that dream, let alone why I said there were ‘Things you need to remember’. Sure, I’ll admit that the more I think about my time here and how things have been going for me, everything seemed to be far too easy. In fact, I did wonder just how I managed to get myself walking around so quickly, let alone how I managed to figure out magic in a dream and use it in reality just afterwards.

Things simply didn’t add up. Any normal person would, and should, have a hard time figuring out either of those things. Walking isn’t as simple as putting one leg in front of the other, even more so for a multi limbed animal. Even more so was my ease of using magic despite not being a native to Equestria. It shouldn’t be easy for me. It just shouldn’t. And I’m starting to question just what the hell is actually going on here.

“First I fall asleep in my own backyard, then I wake up as a young pony in someplace that looked ‘Exactly’ like where I just had been. Then, thinking I would just head back home the same way I came, I end up somewhere entirely different then expected, have a mental breakdown, get taken in by a concerned adult, then get given an ultimatum of life altering decision making.” I remark to myself, thinking my current past over in an attempt to put things in place. More so hoping that by going over things that this damnable headache I was currently dealing with would fade.

It did help for the most part. The headache did subside enough to not be a throbbing pain that made me want to overdose on aspirin; yes, it was that bad. But… Still, I was quite confused about my ease of situation. I honestly could say I didn’t know a single thing on how magic actually worked here in Equestria, dream knowledge included. And that confused me further. Why exactly did I seem to have canonical knowledge about some of Equestrias details while other more important things were left out?

“What exactly am I supposed to remember….?” I sighed, slowly getting myself off the floor to turn the water for the tub on, not wanting to feel all the nightmare sweat on me any longer then I had to. “I remember my name for one, it's….” I felt myself trail off target for a moment while I tried to recall my own name. “Wispy Spirits?” I said after a longer pause than I would have liked.

“No… that.. Can’t be right can it?” I start slowly, trying to remember further back before I got here to Equestria. “My name was….” I find myself pausing again, for even longer than the last time. “That’s… that can’t be right. I’m sure I had a name before getting here… didn’t I?” I stammer out. Yet, the more I try to recall my own past name the more I find blank spaces in my memory. As if it had simply faded away like all dreams eventually do in part.

I promptly sat myself into the tub without a second thought. Somehow, someway, I had forgotten my own human name. That was certainly a bad sign. I’ve never found myself to be a forgetful person by any means. So forgetting my own name of all things was a dangerous sign of something far larger at play. Finally, one thought over the rest of my jumbled reasons of why I would forget something so meaningful clicked like a flashbang on steroids.

“I’ve been here before… haven’t I.” I slowly mouth out while I had entirely forgotten to turn the faucet off, the water overflowing the tub and spilling into the floor's overflow drain. Yet even as I mouthed the words, the headache I had found myself with had entirely dissipated. “Yet, If I have been here before… when was I?” I asked myself, only now turning the faucet off. I hadn’t been here for long as far as I was physically aware, yet considering the feeling I was having about being here in the past I wasn’t sure about that anymore.

So now I had to ask myself. If I had been here before, was all the ease I was having with walking and magic part of some old muscle memory? That did sound like the most plausible answer, and it would explain the magic part fully; you don’t forget a fundamental part of yourself. Still, I had to ask myself yet another question, “If I’ve been here before, then where did I come from? And who knows me as… Well, me?” Surely, that was one of the more important questions to ask.

If I had been here before then surely this body had to have come from someplace. A family, or at least a parent, somewhere out in this world had to be looking for me… Right? I had to wonder how I had ever been to Equestria before, though the question of why I couldn’t remember my human name was certainly concerning. It wasn't like I was going to get an answer to that any time soon.

At least the bath helped calm my nerves. Taking a hot shower before bed is something I nearly always did in the past, helping me relax and drown out the sound of my constant tinnitus ear ringing. Though now that I thought about it, my tinnitus seemed to be gone as well.

“It's freaky to be honest, after hearing your ears ring twentyfourseven for more than twenty years, the aspect of nearing nothing is frankly…. Terrifying to think about.” I said aloud, honestly wanting to break the silence. Though the silence returned the second I shut my mouth, or stopped moving long enough for the water in the tub to settle. I was honestly starting to feel a bit unnerved in a bad way.

“Just relax, Wispy,” I tried to tell myself, “It’s just pure… unadulterated silence… nothing to worry about…”.

Yeah, no, it didn’t help in the slightest bit. Much less so when I heard the door to the bathroom slowly creak open. And even less so when I found myself unable to move out of the water after I got startled because of the damn door noise seeming to be so much louder then I would normally hear. So my brain sent the only thing that seemed to compute to my mouth to even think to say about my startled self, “Eep!” A simple, yet rather loud and adorable noise.

Despite my startled self being none too happy about their current situation of being stuck for no apparent reason, I did hear a groggy and confused sounding Locket asking a surprising question, “Do you always take baths inside a block of ice at eight in the morning?”

I felt my mouth open for a moment and mouth the words, “Block… of… ice?” I slowly looked down into the tub. Somehow, someway, my entire body up to just below my neck was encased in a block of ice. Now, feeling just plain mentaly drained, I gave the most pathetic sounding, “Noooo….” my small filly self could manage. Admittedly not hard considering all the thoughts running through my head. And even less difficult when your current situation looked rather stupid to end up in.

Locket just looked at my situation for a few moments before she gave a long sigh, likely from still being tired from getting out of bed and said, “I’ll go get some help. Just try to stay warm alright?” She then turned around and left the bathroom with the door open.

I heard the main door open and close before I took a moment to contemplate what she just said, “Try to stay warm.” I repeated aloud. Yet, the more I thought about it, the statement to stay warm somehow felt weird to say. Even further still, I didn’t feel cold in the slightest. I know I should be freezing my ass off here, yet despite my frosty confinement I wasn’t cold, let alone even feeling chilly.

“More dumb things to add to my dumb bodys list of crap to deal with I guess.” I mumbled, trying to think of any good reason why I seemed to be entirely immune to the cold yet felt entirely frosted flakes in the dream I had just prier to my episode with the toilet bowl. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a single one aside from simply having unique body chemistry. Fine by me I guess, I never liked the cold aside from being cool in summer back home.

Thankfully, it didn’t take all that long for Locket to bring a pair of unicorn maid staff back to get me out of the ice. Five minutes at best. Though getting me out of the ice block part took a mighty bit longer. From what the staff told me, it seemed the emotional episode I was having at the time caused a minor magic episode to occur. In layman's terms, my own magic was the cause of my predicament.

“Magic is tied rather closely to emotions in a lot of cases. I heard a unicorn over in Ponyville tried to bottle her anger up, quite literally, in a bottle. Didn’t go well for the town.” One of the maids, who had introduced herself and her sister as Maple Twig and Honey Bread.

“But then again, Ponyville has always been a bit of a troubled spot,” Honey added as she slowly chipped away at the magically formed ice, “Didn’t they have a hoard of Boreal Timberwolves in town last week?”

Maple nodded then remarked, “Sure did, didn’t they.” She looked to Locket and added, “You're lucky you weren’t in Ponyville when that went down. Rare sub breeds like Boreals are only supposed to live up north near the Crystal Empire from what I heard the guards talking about.”

“If they’re only supposed to live up north, then what were they doing down here?” both me and locket asked at the same time, honestly wondering what could bring a rare breed of animal so far from their home.

“Well, from what Fluttershy said, it seemed like they were looking for something,” Honey said after a moment's thought, “I was down in Ponyville for some time off that week to help with some holiday bake sales. From what I was told she seemed to think they came down from the north, saw that what they were looking for wasn’t there and got taken home by Twilight Sparkle soon after.” Honey shook her head, not liking the thought of being there in person, “Freaky thing really, they’re a LOT larger than the normal Timberwolves in the Everfree Forest. What’s more is the fact that despite them being there for as long as they were, not one pony was harmed, no building damages or anything.”

“Okay, no way that’s not connected to me somehow,” I thought to myself, now finally out of the ice block and able to stretch my limbs. Now thinking ahead for the moment, I thought to ask a seemingly simple question, “Do you happen to know where they were looking around the most?”

Honey raised an eyebrow at the question but answered nonetheless, “Right around the WhiteTail Woods, out behind Cheerilee's school. They sniffed around there for a good few hours from what I recall.”

I felt my ears fold against my head the instant she brought it up, “Ooooh fuck my life they’re looking for me.” I quickly thought, then covered it up with a quick notion. “Right, so, they just left out of nowhere after they were through.”

Maple seemed to pick up on my worry and asked in a concerned tone, “You weren’t there too were you?”

I couldn’t help but slowly nod my head, though I surely wasn’t about to tell the whole truth behind my worry, I told a white lie, “I was brought here by Miss Cheerilee last morning. It’s just good to know nopony was hurt…”

Maple scooted over to me and gave me a warm hug, only to realize just how cold my body was and levitated over a blanket to put over me. “Don’t you worry about her dearie, she’s a lot tougher then she lets on.”

It wasn’t too long after that they had to excuse themselves and get back to their castle duties. Though I for one surely wasn’t feeling much better for it, and Locket could tell. I didn’t want to tell her about all the thoughts running through my head, much less about why I thought the Boreals were looking for me.

The timing was simply too convenient to look over. Not even a week ago a rare species of animal came down from the far north to look for something and I showed up in the forest they looked over in the same week. Too convenient indeed, and it sadly seemed to add up to the weirdness of my body and its abilities. Immunity to cold, and ice magic were too likely a candidate for somebody used to living in a cold environment. I had to have come from somewhere around the Crystal Empire, or at least in that general area.

“Are you going to be alright?” Locket asked with worry after a while of staring at me sitting on the living room sofa.

“I don’t know…” Was all I could manage to get out of my mouth. There were simply too many things adding up to say otherwise.

Locket suddenly sat next to me, “Want to talk about it?” She asked while clapping her front hooves together slowly sheepishly, “At least that's what my sister asks when I feel down…”

“Do I want to talk about it?” I thought to myself in my solemn mood. I honestly did. But could I really trust this filly with that much mental baggage? I mentaly sighed, It wasn’t like I had many others to talk to about my situation. “I suppose some of the truth would be fine… just not all of it.” I think, then I start to explain my deeper thoughts to Locket, “Well… To put it simply, I think those Boreals were looking for me.”

“Looking for you? Why would they be doing that?” Locket asked, frankly just confused as I was about the finer details of the question.

“I’m not entirely sure Locket,” I start slowly, “See, before I was brought here I found myself passed out in the WhiteTail Woods about two days ago. And just as every bit confused as one would expect when finding themselves someplace they think they recognized but actually didn’t.”

Locket rubbed her chin in thought for a moment before questioning, “Okay, sure. That is a little weird. But, again, why would you think they’re looking for you?”

“Well fuck me, she’s not going to let me off with only part of the truth is she?” I mentally berated myself then answered with, “I don’t know for sure. When I woke up I honestly didn’t know how I was where I was, let alone why. I don’t have any real memories of having a family here or simply don’t remember having one currently. I have unique ice magic and am actually quite ‘Immune’ to being cold. Too many things add up to me having lived up north in whatever past I had that I simply can’t remember having.” Quite the mouth full, but I didn’t care at this point. I just wanted the baggage off.

Locket was taken back by my sudden outburst of information and seemed like she wanted to say something several times, considering she opened her mouth like she was going to then never actually did. It was a fair while before she simply asked yet another question, “What do you mean by not remembering your family?”

“I mean I don’t remember having a family here.” I say flatly. “I don’t remember a lot of things. And the reason why I was up so early in the morning and locked in a block of ice was a part of it. Bad dream freaked me out so bad it woke me up in the middle of the night. Far too familiar of one to not be something from my past… or, at least a small part of it.”

Locket didn’t seem to have much more to say after that final remark aside from saying, “Remembering sad pasts isn’t fun.” Considering her current facial expression, it seemed she likely knew all too well what had actually happened to her parents. Poor kid, I hoped she would have been older when she figured it out.

I scooted over and gave her a hug that she returned. I may not be one to believe in fate, but this certainly seemed like something brought the two of us together for a reason. Whatever that reason is I sure hope it’s for the better and not for the worse. It seemed like we had both lived with far more than enough hardship already.

Meanwhile, further away from the woes of Wispy and Locket, one Princess Luna of the Night was sitting at a breakfast table with her sister Celestia making talk over the recent events.

“I am glad you have finally taken on some students of your own Luna, though I admit I am a tad surprised that you took on more than one.” Celesta said before neatly eating a rather tall stack of pancakes.

“Verily. I admit that it was a rather spur of the moment thing to take on the two. But it seemed fitting for the both to be together, they did bond rather well before the test started.” Luna answered, though honestly a bit on the tired side from her nightly duties of dream walking. “Of course, they also solved the puzzle box you helped design for me some time ago. A fitting use for an old birthday gift if I say to myself.” She adds with a knowing and mischievous smirk.

Celestia snickered at the mention of the puzzle box, “‘That’ box? If I recall, that was a part of our prank war we had two weeks ago wasn’t it?” She said, before mulling over the better details of what the box actually did. “Get the wrong answer and get a harmless prank of the elements. That box, yes?”

Luna nods to her sister, “Quite, that box seemed a practical test of one's ability to think both inside and outside the box. In both a literal and metaphorical sense,” She says, bringing out the very box in question and putting it onto the table, “It was quite amusing to see the fillies and colts test their knowledge over something so seemingly simple.”

“Hmhm~. I would certainly expect so,” Celestia chortles while recalling her own fun with the same puzzle box, “I’ll certainly have to meet your two students one of these days, at least for a friendly visit to get to know the two that caught your eyes.” She says, now having finished her own food a lot faster then she seemed to have expected.

“But of course!” Luna exclaims happily, “I wouldn’t have it any other way! You are in part my own mentor after all. Being the elder sister.”

But, unfortunately for the two princesses, their talk would be suddenly interrupted by a letter forming out of thin air and plopping nearly into Celestias' used plate of pancake syrup. Celestia gives a long sigh at the sight before realizing who it was likely from as she picks it up with her magical grasp.

“A letter from Twilight this early? Certainly not unheard of, but it is a bit unusual for her to send one at this hour.” Celestia would remark as she slowly unrolled the scroll to see just what her own student would write to her about at such an early time in the morning.

Dear [Princess] [Still getting used to not calling you princess all the time] Celestia

I regret to inform you that the pack of Boreal Timberwolves we took back to their home far north of the Crystal Summit have been sighted traveling back south in a general line towards ponyville. We don’t know why they’re so intent on coming back here so far away from their natural habitat, but from what Fluttershy thinks is that something bad has happened to their climate that is causing them to migrate further and further away from where they’re supposed to live. The last time she saw them she said they were, of all things, frostbitten, despite them being extremely resilient to the cold.

Furthermore, the Cadence and Shining armor sent me a letter to inform you that the temperature of the northern region has dropped considerably lower than it ever has before. They think something terrible has happened further north from the empire and are on their way here to drop off Flurry Heart in case of danger.

As for myself. I’m currently conducting research into the last Equestrian Ice Age to see if there’s any correlation to the sudden temperature drop and to anything that has happened in the past.

I hope to hear back from you as soon as possible. I share the fear that something bad has happened up north and I would like to hear both you and Luna's input on the matter.

P.S: I read the book.

Celestia had read the letter aloud as she usually did, though most certainly did not like the context of what the letter entailed as she looked over to her own sister with worry, “Luna, It seems I must leave Canterlot to you for the time being. If what Twilight wrote is true and there is trouble brewing in the north then it is likely something truly terrible has happened. I will go myself to meet with Aurora, Bori and Allis, I pray they will bring light to the situation.” She says, standing herself off her pillow.

Luna however didn’t like the idea of her sister going off alone and stood up as well, “I will go with you, the north is not a kind place outside the Empire.”

Celestia on the other hand shot her sister down the second she voiced her plan, “No Luna! I can not in good heart leave Canterlot unattended, and much less so with the upcoming school year.” She would say quickly before adding in a softer tone, “Besides, you have two students to care for. It would be unwise to leave them alone and wonder where you would be leaving off in such a hurry. They are your responsibility now after all.”

Luna still didn’t like the idea of her sister leaving on her own, but she understood why this had to happen. “Very well. Just, at the very least, bring some warm clothing with you this time around. We both know you’re not a fan of the cold.” Luna would say after some time. She did genuinely care for her sister. She simply wished her sister didn’t have the bad habit of either leaving things to Twilight or getting herself in trouble if she took care of things herself.

“Of course, my dear sister.” Celesta would say with a warm smile on her face. “I’ll try not to be long, though I may find myself staying in the north for longer than presently figured. I truly pray nothing foul has happened to the Northern Kingdom…” Then, without as much as another word, Celestia would walk out of the room on her way to pick up some warmer clothing like her sister had asked.

Luna, on the other hand, still had her own breakfast to eat.