The Hill on Hearth's Warming

by Amethyst_Dawn

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Other, King Sombra, Slice of Life
Length: 2366

A dark presence approaches Equestria on Hearth's Warming Eve

Two powers meet in the mountains to the north, two ponies isolated in a cruel blizzard, two opposing forces ready to clash.

On this holiday, a lesson will be learned. But perhaps reform is too much to hope.

Published 2019-01-15 19:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-01-15 19:50:01 UTC

Aver

It was painful for me, being shattered like that.

It was a stabbing anguish unlike any other to be torn asunder so mercilessly, as if I were mere glass instead of flesh. My very soul had been sent soaring in those shards, cast into the wilderness by that blinding spell of hope. But as before, I managed to piece myself whole. Not even hope can kill fear. But with no fear for me to feed on, I was left fragile for those first many months. I was a broken vase, held together by a foal's saliva. My stomach burned, my bones shivered, and my flesh froze as I lay there to recover my strength. I was together, but I was still restrained as if by bond of chains to an unconscious body.

Then, something amazing happened. Fear and despair poured out from the south as if a dam had burst, and an ocean of it flooded the snow around my corpse. The sun froze in the sky, as if guiding all those delicious released emotions my way. They swarmed me, and I could feel my aura consume them. At last, I was fed. And with those terrible thoughts flowing into my soul, it was a feast! All of Equestria was in peril, and Celestia was overthrown. I could taste it in the pain.

And then I woke up.

But that was not the time to act, not at all. That was the time to wait, and concoct a new device to ensure Equestria's demise. Celestia wasn't dead, she never would be. Even if her body was slain, I was sure she's step out of it and fry those who were foolish and irresponsible enough to kill her. My suppositions were confirmed once the sun had begun to move naturally again after a slow month. Though our goals were no doubt similar, I laughed at the thought of whatever fate befell the poor idiot who managed to delay the Princesses' duties so. No doubt he was dispatched of as swiftly as any genuine threat to the country. Perhaps he was beheaded? Or had the 'merciful' Celestia decided to dissuade that old-fashioned execution? Perhaps he was hugged to death by those repulsive ponies, or he was even shattered like I was. That would've been a delicious coincidence.

Whatever the fate of that fool, it was no matter to me. My mind was better used in planning my next move. The first option was crystal clear, I needed to dispose of that deductive pawn of Celestia's. I've forgotten her name, but her fear was so unique and specific that I could sense her from across the lands. She was in a castle, surrounded by other ponies. No doubt the same grunts that accompanied her into my rightful domain, and thankfully so, there was nothing remarkable about them to me. They would be easy to get around undetected, my only concern was the mare marked with stars.

It was then that I had finally decided my preparatory course. I would need to travel through these forsaken tundras, and cross over the mountains to the west. The Everfree should be able to conceal me from there, unless it had undergrown. In which case, a secondary strategy would have to be developed. No skin off my muzzle. It was a simple plan, as those often worked best for improvising. But even the most wisely simplistic plan could not have allowed for me to predict the unforeseen, and what I encountered that night was something I would only predict in hindsight. For how foolish was I to believe I was one of a kind?

I had only just reached the first mountain after a month of wandering in the snow, and had ascended upon a peak of snow-covered stone resting comfortably above the clouds that surrounded it, as if it was a frozen beach in a sea of writhing cotton. In the distance I could gather my direction as determined by the range of summits ahead, but my focus was directed to a figure only seven lengths before me. They sat on a cliff, back turned to me. A dark cloak covered almost everything from their face to their hooves in an almost unnatural shadow, a concealment that I was too amused to peer through. I started to step forward when they spoke to me.

"I knew you'd be here," they asserted in an unmistakable cadence. I stopped myself, and smiled in anticipation, for this was a mare. The gender of my opponents meant little to me, but any stallions I had faced were generally quick into action, brashly disrespecting my power and boring me. At least my first playmate of this conquest would be open to a more emotional approach to manipulation.

"Tamquam vitrum, disice," she spoke again, the tone behind her words betraying a strange sort of sadness. "A disastrously harmful spell, I remember casting it on myself once when I first studied it. But, it wasn't lethal, as was soon seared into my memory. I recognized its effects when I heard of your defeat."

"So, you know who I am?" I chuckled, stepping closer. This mare was certainly interesting me now. "Therefore you, reasonably, must know how foolish it is to challenge me alone?"

The mare turned towards me, the only part of her visible beneath her cloak being her muzzle. She stood there on the slippery precipice of ice and stone as confidently as a clumsy foal on a thick carpet. I could tell that her eyes were met with mine, giving me just enough of a window to peer into her deepest fear. Clearly she was an ally to the clever one, so there must be an equally unique fear?

That was my reasoning, but I was surprised to find that she wore her deepest fears on her sleeve. Unlike most ponies, this mare wasn't hiding her insecurities in some secluded corner of her heart. No no, they flowed through her mind as if they were passengers in her bloodstream, and seemed to be at the forefront of her motivation. It was a simple fear, but one wielded in a manner I hadn't seen in Ponies before. She wore them almost proudly. It seemed as if she wanted me, and only me, to see them.

"I see your fear drives you," I pondered aloud, hoping the assumption would stir something. Much to my delight, she remained determined. None of her emotions wavered, and her mouth remained set in a neutral distaste. I took two cautious steps towards her, and my giddiness crept into my lips, forcing me to smile with credence in my observations.

"I see the fear of others drives you," she offered in return, unmoved. It was obvious to me that she was familiar with my strategies, and would not falter with prodding. This battle could come to blows, but she seemed to understand the importance of humoring your opponents with parley. That fact pleased me.

"But I can't help but wonder by which interpretation of that statement you feed," she continued, her tone remaining stern. "Is it that you are driven by those who are afraid of you, or is it from your fear of those more powerful than you will ever be?"

I was almost insulted by her implications, but now was not the time to lose my head. I decided to give her a few more minutes to--

"What is most important to you?"

Her voice interrupted my thoughts, allowing me a moment to chuckle. Equestrians, always so hellbent on delving into the emotional angles of one's decisions. It was almost endearing how they insisted that the root of my taste for anguish was some horrible scar, or for anything but the ends of my own amusement. Still, I figured it an intriguing question for her to be so forthcoming with, but her speech intercepted my own.

"History books can contemplate and theorize," she listed, "ponies can insist upon inward good for the hope of redemption, and even dear Twilight could only hope to guess your motivations. But you never opened up, even when given every chance to do so. You never even bothered to negotiate. Which I can only assume means that there is nothing to open up about."

I smiled as she began to circle me, her hooves leaving barely an indentation on the snow as her cloak dragged behind her graceful movements. I couldn't even hear the sound of her weight crushing the snow one step at a time, it was almost as if she was naught but a spectre, gliding across the cold. My attention remained focused on her, until she had made a full circle around me and stopped in place, once again at the lip of the cliff. She extended a sleeved hoof in gesture towards the mist-covered grounds below, beckoning me to look. I followed her guidance, and was disturbed at the sight.

Where there was once the sight of a distant mountain range to the south, now I could see miles of snow-covered forest, shielded from the blizzards in the north by the pillars of stone beneath my hooves. I turned back to look north, catching a distant glimpse of the peak we had been standing upon just seconds ago, still but a lone island on a sea of tempestuous clouds.

"I can tell you what's most important to them," the mare of shadows asserted in her berating tone, commanding my attention towards a gaudy crystalline castle to the east of the wood, shaped to fit the Cutie Mark of the mare who thwarted me not long ago. "They reside in each other, they depend upon each other for comfort and fellowship. The only thing that truly matters to these people are the bonds that unfortunate souls like us can never truly understand, unless driven to participate against our better judgement."

She drifted in front of me, her lips curved into a bittersweet smile. It would be false of me to state that she didn't have my full curiosity at this point, especially with her apparent magical prowess.

"Their endless reserves of mercy are cause for puzzlement from us, the fact that they offer it so freely is almost unnerving," she continued to stare towards the palace. "But I suppose it's not in their nature to hold grudges against their own kind, in a way. Perhaps it is a desperate desire to see the good in all ponies after countless generations of any outsiders being nothing but childish, warmongering, manipulative or antagonistic. A subconscious bias that refuses to enact due punishment on their own species unless given no other option, while outside offenders are sentenced to eternal prison or worse. Family is what's most important to them, whether they realize it or not."

She turned back to me, her lips reset into an expressionless line. "And you come to torment them once again, on the day they set aside to celebrate the culmination of all that they hold dear." I felt her eyes across my face, as if the inner workings of her mind were curiously contemplating my very existence, furiously searching for my reasoning.

"I'll ask again, and respect the teachings that I've held dear," she offered, allowing her cloak to fall away to the ground in the still mountain air. "What is most important to you?"

At last, there was the face of the mare. Not one I recognized, but one I swore at that moment to never forget. She was to be a challenge, and my bloodlust commanded that she'd said all she needed to. For the sake of politeness, and the desire for this encounter to be as fun as possible, I made my preparations for attack obvious: crimson blades began to form around me as I answered her question.

"What's most important to me," I stated, "is that you give me a challenge."

Several discs of magical symbols swirled to life around her, summoning a weapon I'd never seen from a sorceress of her magnificent power before. The light from her horn flared like the crisp winter stars, and her blades readied themselves. The sight made my spine shiver with adrenaline, and I licked my teeth in anticipation. Her eyes were calm, and accepting.

"So be it," she muttered, and I charged forward in a mass of black flame.

Twilight smiled to herself as she peered over the balcony at the celebrations of those she loved. Ponies danced, drank and sang in the grand hall, even some Griffins and Yaks had joined for the festivities. Ocellus was seated at a quiet table with Rarity and Lyra, the three of them involved in some peaceful conversation. Yona and Rockhoof were enjoying several pony-sized pinatas, and Smolder, Sandbar, Discord, Spike, Trixie and Fluttershy were firmly discussing their favourites of Hearth's Warming theatre. A passionate, but so far familiar and playful debate. Twilight felt content to watch them from her distance.

"Not in the mood to go alone, but don't feel like bein' around them all at once either, eh?"

Twilight looked over to see Applejack and Starlight approaching her, similar smiles on their faces. Starlight seemed to be shivering slightly, like she'd just come in from the cold. Twilight nodded silently, and beckoned her friends to follow her to the library, where Spike had left some mugs of cocoa and pizza for her.

All was joy, all were family.

And that was what she felt was worth protecting.

Author's Note

Hey guys!
So, technically this was supposed to be a Christmas special. But as you can see, it's a little late for that. Though I'm one of those people who likes Christmas stuff year-round, so I don't feel too bad about this being late.

This was mainly written for the sake of itself, and on a whim more than anything. If you have any criticisms, critiques, comments, compliments or casual contemplations, please feel free to place them in the comments down below. Leave a like if you enjoyed, dislike if you didn't, and let me know what you think!

Until Next Time, God Bless You!
~Amethyst Dawn