Amaura Borealis

Chapters

Chapter 1: First Steps
Chapter 2: The Long Night Begins
Chapter 3: Curtains of Fire
Chapter 4: Aftereffects

Chapter 1: First Steps

It was freezing outside. The snow was coming down so thick and fast it was nearly a white-out. The weatherman had said this would likely continue through the weekend.

And I, Joseph Phillips, was out there loving every moment of it.

Four days into the greatest snowstorm of the year, and I wasn’t tired of it in the least. Work and life went on, but I had never lost that sense of wonder when it came to snow. Something so beautiful, so soft, yet merciless at the same time.

I lifted another shovelful to clear the driveway. I still had work in the morning, snow or no. Some people just can’t take a hint when Mother Nature decides we need a reminder that she’s still in charge. Oh well, I’d enjoy it while I could. I had been out for hours already, before I even decided to clear the driveway again. With my layers on I couldn’t feel the cold, except for my face which could hardly feel at all at the moment. I paused to catch my breath, taking a look around me.

The streetlights were already on, and the snow swirled in the light. Fierce and gentle at the same time.

It was starting to build back up on the drive, too. With a sigh at a job soon to be undone, I put my shovel in the snow mound and went to grab a bag of salt. I’d have to clear it again in the morning to leave, but it...probably wouldn’t be too bad. That taken care of for now, I took a look at the other houses. I had to wake up early, but it wasn’t too late. I could probably shovel another driveway before I went in. Be a good neighbor.

Looking around, only one house really stood out. Everyone mostly took care of the snow for the day, but Leo and his friends hadn’t touched their drive at all. They even had the wall the plows left behind.

If any of them want to leave tomorrow, they’ll have a hell of a time if any of that freezes over.

I grabbed my shovel from the snowbank and, rock salt in my other hand, started over.

Alright, top down, or center out? Center, I guess. Don’t want to have the pile be too tall and still have to be walking back and forth. And I’ve got to clear their mailbox too, don’t want it getting knocked down again.

That was actually how I’d met them all. During a snowfall last year, I was out building a snow fort (so what if I’m twenty seven, I can still play outside) and a plow “accidentally” took their mailbox out. I was over and trying to get it upright before they even came out of the house. I’m not sure if they’re renting, or if they’ve got parents, but the whole lot of them looked like teenagers, and I sure as hell couldn't afford a house at that age. Leo’s the one I really remember because he was wearing that Eevee hat of his, but there was a horde of them to fix the mailbox. I've talked to a few of them in that “passing neighbor” way, but it was mostly at times like this, when there was snow and I was outside. We’ve had a few pretty epic snowball fights. Lulu might have taken it too far with that water balloon though, she’s downright vicious when she wants to be.

I sung to myself as I shoveled. Songs about digging, songs about snow, whatever came to mind, really. It helped pass the time and kept the work from becoming work. I had managed to clear a few feet of snowbank down to the road when I saw a flashing light behind me. Thinking it was a plow, I turned to look towards it, but slipped on the ice.

I must’ve hit my head pretty hard, because my vision flashed white as soon as it hit the ground.

“Listen, I didn’t know I’d pull some other people along when I set this up, alright?” Discord told an irritated Arceus. “Besides, it’s not like this one would’ve done well in your world, so he might as well be in mine!”

I was some kind of dinosaur. That’s what the image in the ice was telling me. The fact that I couldn’t stand upright and could turn my head almost all the way around and see what the back part of me looked like were hints from before I found the mirrored ice.

Why was the ice so reflective, anyway? Probably the thin film of water on it, but I’m no scientist. And with that mystery solved to my satisfaction, I was left without a distraction and staring at what was, apparently, me.

Probably not a “real” dinosaur, though. The two gems embedded in my sides and the mood-ring eye sails were my clues there. In the time since I’d found the mirror I had cycled through deep blue flecked with white, green and ended up settling on black. My guess is despair at my situation, fear at discovering myself and just flat out stress. Was I some kind of Pokémon, then? Anything after Hoenn and before Alola was a mystery to me, but I remembered a fossil set that turned to dinosaurs that you could still get. Am...something. I couldn’t reach my head with my hands/forelegs without bending nearly in half, so I just squeezed my eyes shut to try to remember.

Am...what? Ampharos? No that’s the electric sheep. Aaaand I just understood that reference. My Dino brain truly knows no limits Focus, me! Am..Amaura, that was it! An ice type, judging by the blast freezers on my side, and the fact that I wasn’t cold in spite of my fur-free hide and the snow and ice surrounding me.

“I mean, ice is nice, and makes sense where I am, but how?”

It was a new mystery, or go back to panicking, and I swear the sounds I made then weren’t right coming from me. I don’t know if it was bleating or whinnying or an echoing shriek, but when I first stood and tried walking I fell and started freaking out so badly I swear I had my first panic attack. Inhuman, those sounds. Well...inhuman was what I was now.

I decided how was beyond me at the moment, I had what figured out, so I moved on to where.

So I’m somewhere in a Pokémon region I don’t know, in a body I’m unfamiliar with and unknown, presumably-ice abilities.

Wasn’t my kind basically extinct and revived from a fossil? I should be in a lab, right? Or with a trainer? But I hadn’t seen any humans in the hour or so I’ve been a dino. I even tried to “feel” a pull like I imagined a Pokeball might give. Nothing. So I’m a wild living relic, I guess.

Besides people, I hadn’t seen much of anything really. Boulders and gentle hills, with hardy grasses poking through the snow. Were those far-off mountains? I suppose I’m in some kind of lowland, regardless.

What am I supposed to do now? I’m alone in the middle of nowhere. Don’t know how to get home, or even where to begin looking.

“I’ll just follow the sun, I guess. Try to extend my day and get as far as I can. Seize that American Spirit that’s as dead as my kind and ‘Go West’. Manifest my Destiny or something.” I know I’m talking to myself, but that’s nothing new. I was doing that while I was shoveling, and it helped fill the silence with something other than the wind and my own crunching footsteps. My stomach rumbled.

“I should look for food, too.”

I hate my body.

Not in some self-hate body-image kind of way, I’m actually kind of cute like this. I just don’t understand what I’m doing here, in this tundra. Because that’s what it is. The ground is too frozen for trees to develop roots, and I know this because I checked. Rock-solid permafrost a few inches down.

Sauropods were made for eating off trees, like giraffes. Every time I bend down to take a bite of grass or some shiny berries I found - some kind of berry/citrus flavor, sweet and bright, with a sharp aftertaste - my new center of gravity makes me overbalance and I land on my face, stubby legs or no. Also, my legs are stubby, and I am not a fast walker as a result. I bet my speed stat is abysmal. I’ve taken to eating whatever I can reach whenever I lay down to rest. I also have no perspective on height, so I have no idea how tall I am.

I did learn a move from this though! Body Slam, maybe. Or Tackle, or something. Something that explains why I sometimes leave a small crater when I hit the ground despite my (presumably) small size. I also leave a ring of frost, which seems to come from my gems, but only when I leave a crater. Maybe that’s my ability? I make normal moves into ice attacks? I don’t seem to know any actual ice moves, unless the cold air my gems give off counts as Icy Wind.

The sun was apparently not to the west, but to the south. Or north. I’m somewhere semi-polar, for sure. I’ve been walking and resting for “days” that last for a few hours at most, walking through the nights until I can’t continue. Considering how the ground is more grass than ice I’d say summer is just past. Mid-Autumn at the latest. That or the sun in this world is a fickle bitch.

Princess Celestia felt vaguely insulted, but didn’t know why. She presumed it had something to do with Blueblood.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the snow and ice and part of me can’t wait for true winter, but that part is not my stomach. I’ve never had to fend for myself outdoors, and my current “grazer” methods won’t work when everything’s covered in snow and ice.

A problem to think about as I continue to walk sunward.

Something moves near me, and I turn to look.

Oh, hey, a rabbit, I think.

“Oh, hey, a rabbit.” I say. It’s a snowshoe hare, with its winter coat coming in. We look at each other for a while before I manage to come up with, “You… are not a Buneary.”

Its nose twitched before it hopped on its way. I followed after it, thinking it might be heading towards better food, but I now have a new problem. Normal animals don’t exist in the Pokémon world, so...

Where the hell am I?

“This time it will work, Runic, I’m certain of it!” The deep-yellow stallion excitedly told Runic Gears. Runic, of the Canterlot University of Summoners, merely heaved another in a long string of sighs.

“Sunburst, I don’t know why you keep insisting on this. You keep trying out this long-defunct summons -this your fifth, I believe? - instead of just choosing one that you know works to bond with. You’ve unearthed and re-translated them dozens of times to be certain and they never work. There’s a reason we stopped using them!”

“Yes, but what is that reason? Why don’t they work?” Carefully placing another ingredient in his saddlebag after referring to both a list and a worn scroll, Sunburst continued his preparations. “I theorize it’s something to do with factors that weren’t documented. Potential influences from time of day, environment or accidental ingredients. Maybe the quantity or purity weren’t enough to pull the summon through? You can’t just ‘run out’ of an extra-planar construct.”

Standing off to the side, Runic glanced at the door to the room before looking back to the single-minded academic. “I don’t know why, maybe one of the other professors does. But Steel Circle has had enough, Sunburst. She’s said that if you don’t bond with a summon, your studies here will be over until you do. There’s things taught here that are beyond the academic, and you can’t learn them until you choose. If you don’t have something picked by the semester’s end she’s threatening to remove you herself.”

“I know, Runic, but these old ones are just so fascinating!” Sunburst went on, “Like this one here,” he indicated the summon circle he had copied. “It hasn’t been successfully cast in over a thousand years, and the last recorded attempt was over a century ago.”

“Shouldn’t that tell you tha-“

“BUT! We’ve refined summoning over the years. Methods are available that weren’t around when the scrolls were first written. Rare materials made more common with travel and trade! Take this glass prism,” he said, lifting one off the table with his magic, “they didn’t exist a thousand years ago. With that prism and a candle for light…”

Suiting actions to words, he lit a candle and the prism cast a rainbow onto the table. “I can create what the spell calls ‘the nighttime rainbow’. Who knows what phenomena had to occur a thousand years ago to create such a thing! But it’s possible now, today! Well, not today.” He looked towards the darkening window. “It wouldn’t make sense to have a night rainbow during the day. But that goes to prove my point about the time of day affecting the summon! Besides, I’m waiting on my material request to go through. Might be another few days before I can try this.

Shaking his head, Runic settled in to let Sunburst finish his preparations. For his sake, I hope this one works.

Author's Note

So, my very first story! Exciting stuff.

You might be wondering why I did not do as others have, and describe Joe’s appearance in more detail before they were sent to Equestria. My question back is, how much does it matter? Unless particular traits or colors carry over, that’s not what they look like anymore. An Amaura doesn’t have a beard, or hair, people don’t have tails or blast freezers on their sides. It doesn’t carry over, so there’s little sense in talking about it unless it somehow is relevant. Or, in the case of Equestrian Eeveelution, helps tell the characters apart.

This story was almost about a Minior and Maud wandering Equestria together because (fun fact) when EE posted its first chapter, it was mere days after the 2015 Geminid meteor showers. I decided against it because it’s difficult to make a faceless shell be expressive any way but dialog, and I was running into trouble with what to write them actually doing. But I’ve got ideas for this, so let’s see how they go.

Leave comments, corrections, etc.!

Chapter 2: The Long Night Begins

I finally reached the mountains to the south. I took one look at them, then at my not-made-for-climbing feet, and decided to continue on west. Who knows, there might be a pass. Failing that, the mountains will have to end eventually, and in the meantime I can find shelter in a cave or something.

The sun is gone now. Sure, it’ll be back, but winter has truly set in. The winds blow, the snow falls, the moon rises, but its setting does not herald the sun. I’ve also learnt that my solitary claw in each foreleg is meant for gripping and digging through the ice, which has been helpful in finding different grasses to eat, so I’m not starving yet.

It’s not as dark as I’d thought it would be, though. My eyes have had plenty of time to adapt to the night and between the moonlight, stars, and both reflecting off the ice, it’s surprisingly well lit here.

The other half of the old saying holds true, however. The night here is full of terrors.

This world has magic, I now know. Not like how some Pokémon abilities can seem magical, or otherworldly, or bend reality. Honest, true magic. The very land is alive here, and I mean that in the most literal, nightmarish sense.

The long night seems to have awoken all manner of beasts from the land itself. A ridge or a cave is as likely to be the back or mouth of some massive creature as not. Truly colossal beasts of ice and stone lumber across the plains in the dark, their silhouettes blocking the stars. I’ve seen entire glaciers cross the snow at dizzying speeds, only to sink into the ice-locked ground, merely the fins of whatever lay beneath, eerily silent and leaving the snow largely unruffled in their wake.

But while these things are terrible to behold, as long as I don’t go near them they aren’t dangerous to me. I guess I’m beneath the notice of those titans. Far more dangerous to me are the things closer to my size.

I've had to stay out in the open, avoiding possible shelter on the basis that it could in fact be some giant monster. I could easily walk into somewhere and never walk out. The set of healing cuts along my back and stomach given by a closing mouth with teeth made of stalagmites and stalactites is proof enough of that. This strategy, however, has its own drawbacks. My eye sails, which have firmly been the green-with-black-fringe that shows my fear and stress, might as well have been a glowing beacon for predators on the ice.

This leading to my current predicament.

“Come on then!” I yell at the wolves. “You want some of this? Well, come and get it!”

This is of course bluster, not bravado; I am terrified. The pack of five pure white wolves either emerged or formed from the snow and caught me completely by surprise. I am outnumbered, outsized, and outclassed in every way I can think of. I have never in my weeks of wandering been more aware of my new status as a lone prey animal as I am in this moment.

Okay Joey, you can’t outrun them because they’re wolves and you’ve got short legs. All you have to do is fend off a pack of hunters that have you surrounded with your largely-untested abilities...yea that’s not gonna work. Need a better mindset. I’m not surrounded I’m...I’m in a target rich environment, just pick one and keep going from there. Go!

“YAAAAH!!” I cry out as I charge at the smallest wolf I see. I don’t even reach him before I’m tackled down from the side by another wolf, knocking the breath out of me. Before it is able to do more, I knock it off with my Take Down, flipping our positions. Struggling to my feet, I manage to gasp a breath back in and immediately begin coughing. “Stupid recoil,” I manage. “Stupid speed stat.” Hearing the sound of another charging behind me I get out, “Stupid pack hunters” before I’m taken down again mid-turn.

Its teeth clamp down on my neck - why not? It’s only the largest vital part on my body - and I brace for what I’m sure is the end. I feel the teeth pierce my hide, and a moment later my eyes widen when they stop.

What?

With my wider field of vision, I can see that the wolf looks as surprised as I am, and a layer of rime vanishes off of its teeth. Ice Fang! Ice does half damage against other ice types! I don’t know if they’re Pokémon, it they sure can fight like them. As I roll my body so I can push the wolf off with my feet, I feel a moment of relief that this might not be the end, until I remember that all of my moves are ice type as well.

My Refrigerate ability turns all my normal-type moves into ice-type, meaning my Take Down probably hurt me nearly as much as it hurt the wolf. So it’s to be a slow grinding death instead of a quick one. Wonderful. Might as well go down swinging.

I give a wordless bellow to the wolves, who howl in return, and the battle is rejoined. High above, a flicker of light comes into being; buried deep in the darkness, something stirs.

Keen Vesper’s tufted ears twitched and she looked up from the cards in her hoof. “The frost wolves found something, Parsnip.”

Parsnip, a cream Earth pony with a yellow mane, didn’t even look up from his hoof of cards. He shifted to resettle his armor, which briefly showed his namesake for a cutie mark. “What of it Keen?” He asked the thestral across the table from him. “You want to go out there and fight off a pack of wolves to save whatever hapless thing they’ve found to eat? Or maybe you just want to take Snowdrift out for a flight and catch a show? Goodness knows you two are the only ones able to last that long out there.”

Keen grimaced, briefly showing her fangs. “Don’t be morbid. It’s just that they sound closer than usual, and I thought I should say something.”

The stallion blinked and looked across the table at Keen, then sighed and rolled his eyes. “Keen, if you’re worried about the wolves, the wards will keep them out. If for some reason the wards fail, the wall will keep them out, and if they manage to somehow get over the wall, then Bright Spark and I are charged with the defense of the outpost and getting you and Snowdrift to escape to warn Canterlot that the outpost defenses have been breached and need to be rebuilt and reinforced, and possibly restaffed. You know this, I know this, and we all rest easy despite what those orders would mean because nothing outside the wards have ever shown an interest in anything inside, because that’s part of what they’re for. So we’re not going to borrow trouble worrying about the wolves, okay?”

Keen gave Parsnip a flat glare. “It’s not that, Parsnip. I’m not an idiot.”

“Thank the princesses for that. Than what is it?”

“It’s that the wolves have never found something this close to the base. With what we’ve been posted out here for, I’m just wondering if what they’ve found is what we’re looking for. I mean “you’ll know it when you see it” could be anything, but we have to actually see it.” Keen explained.

Figuring that they weren’t going to get back to their card game, Parsnip started stacking the cards to put back in the box. “So you do want to take Drift out to see the wolves. You’ll stay safe?”

“Yes, mom.” Keen grinned. Parsnip did not. “I’ll just pull her away from Spark and we’ll take a quick flyby to see what’s got the wolves riled up. Won’t even have to leave the wards to see them, from what I could hear.”

Standing from the table, Keen Vesper shook out her leathery wings, then turned and went to find where Snowdrift went. Parsnip watched her leave, having an idea on where she was heading. Sure enough, seconds later he heard Keen pounding on a door.

“Snowdrift, stop boosting Sparky’s “morale” and get out here! We’re going flying to see what the frost wolves found!” Parsnip didn’t bother trying to hold back a snort of laughter.

At the end of the first week of their rotation, Snowdrift had declared herself Morale Officer of the outpost and decided to have one-on-ones with the other guards stationed there (a grand total of four including Snowdrift herself) to discuss ways of keeping a positive attitude in what was basically a dead-end posting. She had spoken with Keen Vesper and Parsnip himself before dinner and was going to speak with Bright Spark afterwards. Snowdrift didn’t leave his room until the next day. Over their pancakes the next morning Keen, the least conservative guard in the group by far, had asked if Snowdrift planned on keeping everyone else’s morale up the same way she had Bright Spark’s.

Parsnip had never seen two ponies switch colors before. With sputtering denials Snowdrift had turned a bright red and Bright Spark went pale. Keen had watched their faces, and fell backwards out of her chair from laughing so hard, with her wings holding her sides as she gasped for breath. Parsnip had managed to keep a straight face, and merely said “Keen, get off the floor. You’ve got patrols in an hour and need to eat.”

That had been at the height of summer. Now, with autumn well on and winter coming, he couldn’t help but wonder sometimes about how Captain Armor had arranged this squad. Pulled from the various branches of the guard, they had never met before they left from Canterlot together. Considering the Captain was seeing Princess Cadenza, Snowdrift and Bright Spark getting together was surprising but not unexpected. He worried about meddling in his personal life though, and wondered if the Alicorn of Love had similar designs on himself and Keen. With Bright and Drift cozying up, he had been spending more and more time with her.

He wondered if Keen noticed that same fact, and what she thought. A thestral being paired with an Earth pony she had barely met before they shipped out, seemingly chosen by the Princess via Captain Armor. He wasn’t even sure what he thought about it. Or how he felt about it. Or her.

He knew Keen would laugh about it and make some flirtatious jokes, purposefully send mixed signals and ultimately reveal nothing, so he kept that to himself.

Parsnip was shaken from his musing as Keen led a flushed Snowdrift back across the doorway, headed to the front entrance. Whether Drift was flushed from embarrassment or something else was up for debate.

Bright Spark wandered in a few minutes later and fell into a chair, letting out a groan as he rubbed his face with his hooves.

“Let me guess,” Parsnip began after Bright failed to say anything, “she started knocking before the good part.”

“I don’t know how she does it, but Keen has managed it every time since she found out Snowdrift and I...uh…” Here Bright Spark fumbled.

“Closed ranks?”

“Sure, let's go with that.”

“She isn’t named Keen for nothing, Bright Spark. All her senses are sharp, and thestrals have excellent hearing to begin with. So if you and Snowdrift really want some time to yourselves, Keen probably shouldn’t be in the outpost at all.”

If anything, this made Bright Spark’s mood drop further. “So she’s been doing it on purpose to get her jollies at our expense. How wonderful.”

“At least it means she approves,” Parsnip consoled him, “if she didn’t she’d be pulling Snowdrift away from you entirely instead of just poking fun at you.”

“Blessings upon us all for her graciousness.” He finally lifted his face from his hooves. “Deal out those cards, I’ll make something for us all to eat, and the mares can have their portion when they get back.”

As Bright Spark trotted away, Parsnip heard him mutter “I wonder if there’s any alcohol in the supply cabinet.”

Knowing it wasn’t meant for him to hear, Parsnip called out anyway, “It’s meant to be used medicinally!”

“Achoo.”

The thestral and the Pegasus trotted down the hall, but when Snowdrift made to turn towards the private quarters, Keen Vesper instead pulled her away towards the gear room by the main entrance.

“Just towel off, Drift! You can shower when we get back, you’d freeze your wings if they were wet anyway!

Keen was still needling Snowdrift as they walked. She didn’t think she had gotten that heated, but she just wanted a few minutes to gather herself without being nearly dragged by the hoof to see what had the wolves riled up.

“I wasn’t going to shower, Keen! I just wanted to grab my… ugh! Let GO of my hoof!” Just before Snowdrift could yank her hoof out of Keen’s grip, Keen let go and Snowdrift nearly tipped herself back.

“Your scarf and hat are right here, Drift, and anything else we don't need because the wolves might leave by then!” Keen said, excited at the idea of them maybe finally seeing something out here.

“You went in my ROOM?!” Snowdrift cried.

“You sounds like my sister. No, not lately, you just left them right here, which was probably a mistake since the snow still hasn’t melted off from our last flight,” Keen replied, snatching the hat off it’s peg and putting it down on Drift’s head. “Why? What are you hiding…?” Keen’s eyes narrowed at her, but Snowdrift just shook her head at her antics before grabbing her scarf and stepping into her snow-boots.

The “mud room” as Parsnip had dubbed it, was poorly named in Snowdrift’s opinion. Sure, the bare wooden walls served the purpose of holding their outdoor wear, gear, and several spears in an umbrella stand (the weapon rack in the arms room having been assembled in there and now too big to fit through the door), but she doubted there would ever be enough mud in there compared to the amount of snow that got tracked and blown in from outside. Other than the guard gear, the only thing separating it from a normal antechamber was the heavy oak doors that had a wooden beam barring them, both to keep out the wind and for defense.

“Alright, anything else we need for our little trip to see the wolves?” Snowdrift said, shaking her head as she watched Keen try to put on a coat without getting her fluff caught in the zipper. “Crossbows, armor, that sort of thing? Do you want to drive them off of whatever they got?”

Smiling down at herself for managing to successfully zip her coat up, Keen chipperly responded, “Nah, maybe just some binoculars so we don’t have to get too close for a good look.” At the sound of another howl that even Snowdrift could hear without Keen’s sharper senses, Keen said “Alright, maybe crossbows. We won’t engage with them up close, or leave the wards, but if they’re right outside the line we might want to encourage them to leave.

After grabbing the mentioned items, they both walked over to the door. Giving a nod to each other that they were ready, Snowdrift lifted the bar and pulled the door open. The cold from outside immediately began to cut through their gear, a reminder to keep their outing short.

The main entrance, situated on the south side of the outpost, was out of the usually northern winds and was placed to give anyone leaving a clear indication of which way Canterlot was: straight ahead. It was reasoned that anything local that might bother with the base wouldn’t be coming from the Equestria side of things, but instead from the wilderness. Thankfully that hadn’t been tested yet.

As Keen and Drift lifted off and began to turn north, Snowdrift first looked over the outpost and its grounds. A squat one story building, the outpost’s southern entrance overlooked the train tracks and the loading platform on the opposite side. The simple construction hid its sturdiness, as it was built to weather the wild storms of the north, and hopefully a monster attack or two. Beyond that was the five-foot stone wall that closed in the base on all four sides, with a small gap to the north and a wider one for the train to the south. The wards in the distance, glowing faintly to those inside them, were designed to keep the weather manageable to some extent and hid the outpost from or outright deterred every monster they knew lived here, which was surprisingly few for a “wild” area.

The building itself was made to hold a dozen ponies and was as well maintained as the current four could keep it. There was little in the way of actual duties beyond “keeping watch” over the largely-empty snowscape, so they kept it clean as another way to stave off boredom.

The lack of duties also led to a lack of discipline, or at least a rise in familiarity among the group. They still followed “lights out” and kept a duty roster, but Parsnip was the only one who wore armor regularly on the basis that he was the “last line of defense and might not have time to arm up” and bi-weekly game nights were also a thing. But why not bend the rules a little this far out? Reporting someone for something just made for bad feelings and no official word would come for weeks between supply drops, so they sorted things out themselves. Snowdrift, as “morale officer”, felt this was the better option and made them a better unit overall by working through personnel problems rather than letting them fester. It also meant she wouldn’t be written up for fraternizing with Bright Spark.

As the two winged over the top of the building, Keen was buffeted by the north wind that Drift was able to just cut through. Snowdrift glanced to Keen. “Don’t think I missed your comment about not going in my room lately, we’re having a talk about personal boundaries when we get back. Now what... in Celestia’s name is THAT?!”

The two came to a halt at the sight before them. The swirling pillar of green and blue stretching from sky towards the ground funnily enough did look like a single lock of Princess Celestia’s hair, gently twisting in a wind different from the one Drift and Keen felt. The wide-eyed look the two shared said enough: beyond the Princess herself neither had seen anything like it.

“Is that where…?” Snowdrift couldn’t even finish the thought.

“Oh yeah.” Keen confirmed. “Let’s go get a closer look.”

Where? Searching. Couldn’t find it. Where was it? Like a sound barely heard, or a faint familiar smell, it teased the edge of the senses. But where was it coming from? It was gradually getting stronger. Where? Merely had to wait. Had to look. Wherewherewhere…

Apparently, when I’m in a fight-or-die scenario and my adrenaline is pumping, once I start yelling it’s hard for me to stop. Yelps of fear, bellows of anger, cries of panic. Yells of “bitter outrage” at being so much slower than my enemies makes the wind from my freezer-gems flare and actually does slow down my enemies, so I yell and yell and yell.

My desire to keep hitting, never letting up, never losing strength, has also created a fog around me that stretches about the size of our battlefield. I don’t know if it’s helping, or what it’s actually doing, but it’s there.

If I live I’ll have to figure out how to do these intentionally on command. More ice attacks aren’t exactly helping, though, and the fight isn’t going too well. I’ve managed to take down one wolf of five and slow the others enough that I can land a hit against some of them before they can get me, but this fight is exhausting. I keep yelling, though. It seems to help.

Coughing as I stand from my latest attack, I wince as I taste blood in my mouth and spit it out on the ground. My body burns from the impacts, and my exhaustion is making it hard to focus enough to really channel “indignation” into an attack. The myriad of cuts, bites and scratches along my body aren’t doing me any favors either. ”No more of those… I can’t. And here we go.”

The sound of claws on ice gave me just enough warning to jump out of the way of the next wolf to attack. “That all you got?” I weakly taunted, only for it to spin upon landing and leaping for me again. This time I wasn’t so lucky, and we went down together in a roll.

Suddenly, my world went green. Fire and pain erupted along my entire body, then bright white light and searing heat, the wolf falling off of me with a yelp, and finally another lingering burn as I thudded down onto the snow.

Lifting my head from the briefly steaming snow, I saw a single twisting pillar of aurora. I had always longed to see one, and this was more solid-seeming than I would have imagined it to be. And much lower, coming down to brush gently along the ground. This was a bucket list item for me, a dream come true, and seeing that the disturbed snow from my fight went right through it, I was pissed off to no end.

“Are you KIDDING ME?!” I rose, the pain of the burn already faded from my body, but still fresh in my mind. The fear was nearly gone, the stress unable to stand in the face of overwhelming anger and outrage. I saw red, both literally and figuratively as my eye sails shifted crimson. The aurora also began to change, seeming to ripple with the force of my emotions.

“Is everything here trying to kill me? Can’t I just get a GOD!” My tail rose. “DAMNED.” It slammed against the ground, causing a stone to fly up. “BREAK?!” I hit the rock with my tail, where it crashed against one of the wolves, which vanished in a puff of snow and a whimper of pain.

I paused. My anger vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by relief and joy at finding salvation from a rock move. Angry crimson cooled to a jubilant purple.

Some red lingered though. I may have laughed in sadistic glee.

The rest of the fight was almost pathetically easy compared to what came before. I took a few more hits but I was feeling surprisingly good all things considered. A few rocks to the face and the wolves were nearly gone. I was one short though, I could only account for four all told and I knew there were five. My eye was drawn to the still-swirling tendril of aurora as I remembered the wolf that had fallen through it with me. Did it burn away where I had merely felt the flame? They were solid enough, but in the end still seemed to be just magically animated snow and ice. I walked close to the spot I had fallen through before and was just reaching out when I heard the soft crunch of snow.

Behind me! I spun, hoping to see where the wolf was lunging from so I could dive to the side, when I froze in confusion. It wasn’t the last wolf, it was some kind of bat-horse thing. It was just...standing at the edge of the Mist peering in like it could barely see through it when I could see clear as day. Finally another Pokémon? No, it wore deep purple barding and carried a crossbow. The only similar one I could think of was Bisharp, and those were bipedal and had swords. Some sort of military, or police force for the land, but in the middle of nowhere? It looked familiar, not like I had seen this particular creature before, but it’s like.

“Hello?” I called out as the mist began to dissipate, taking a step back in caution when its ears tilted in my direction and its cat-like eyes snapped to me.

There! Yessss. Had it now. The feeling flared up like a beacon as things passed through. Hurry. What made it though? Hurry, didn’t matter. Reclaim what was lost, must go faster.

As Keen and Snowdrift approached the aurora, they saw that the ground was covered in a mist neither could see through. It went right up to the edge of the wards, forming a clear line where “inside” ended and “outside” began. The pair could hear heavy impacts and the pained cries of the wolves but had no idea what the pack was actually fighting. Their only clue was some weird, echoing cry.

“See anything, Keen?” Snowdrift asked. “I can’t even make out shapes through that mist and we’re right above it.”

“I can’t either. I think I’m going to have to get closer before I’ll be able to see what’s happening.” With that she began to spiral down to the ground, before being yanked back by Snowdrift.

“Are you crazy?! You want to go out of the wards into the middle of a fight you can’t even see just to find out what the wolves found? Let them have it and we’ll check out what’s left!”

“It’s not going to be that bad, Drift.”

“Yea? What makes you say that?”

“Listen. The fight’s over. Whatever’s in there beat the wolves back.”

Breaking her attention away from Keen Vesper to the swirling mist below, Snowdrift realized she was right. The wolves always howled over a kill; now the area was silent but for the wind. The mist still sat below them, menacingly hiding whatever lay within.

“That’s not better,” Drift insisted, looking back up, “if anything it’s worse! Whatever is in there can beat a pack of frost wolves and there’s just one of you!”

“And it’s probably weakened and tired from fighting off the wolves. We’re armed and armored, and I just want to step one hoof into that to see what’s inside. If whatever’s in there gets the drop on me, which it won’t, you just need to put a crossbow bolt into it so it lets me go. It’ll have to leave its cover to grab me so you’ll even have a clear shot. Then I fly up and back into the wards, and it limps off or dies, and the mystery is solved. Good plan? Good plan.” With that Keen began to spiral back down, landing softly on the snow with a light crunch.

“No Keen, bad plan!” She hissed down at her but she hefted her crossbow anyway, pointing it at the leading edge of the mist where anything would have to reach through to grab her fellow guard. “This is what I get for saying we don’t need to stick to the chain of command.” She muttered as she kept her aim trained just ahead of where Keen was standing. “Insubordination, and it’s my own doing. Oooh I’d be pissed if I wasn’t so worried. Please oh please be safe Keen this was supposed to just be a simple scouting I don’t want to have to tell the others I let you get hurt.”

As Snowdrift kept up her quiet litany up above, Keen Vesper had landed just inside the wards and was peering out into the mist. Not even a shadow of what’s inside. Geez, what is this stuff? I never have this problem.

Steeling herself and throwing caution to the winds, Keen took her first step. Out of the wards, into the mist, her hoof landed with a gentle crunch. Her vision immediately began to clear, the instant change from impenetrable to murky telling her that it was at least partially magical in nature. She squinted and began to pick out shapes as her vision adjusted when she heard it.

“Amaura?”

The sound itself was muffled and distorted for her, though its location was not, and she immediately honed in on the source, shocked at what she saw. Standing taller than any pony she had ever seen save the princesses themselves was a black silhouette. Roughly pony-shaped, the clearest detail she could make out were its eyes: glowing red and green, with a deep purple wisping away towards the back of its head. As she watched, whatever it was took a step back towards the green fire behind it. As soon as it stepped through, the shadow, the fire and the mist all vanished.

The wind suddenly picked up and Keen, more unsettled than she would like to admit, stepped back into the wards right as Snowdrift touched down behind her.

“So,” Snowdrift began, “what did you see before whatever happened… happened? Where did whatever it was go?

“I’m… not sure, Drift. But we need to send a message to the Captain on the next supply train.” She answered, still facing out.

Snowdrift heard the capitalization in her voice and didn’t bother with clarifying. “Why? Keen, what did it do?”

“It was hard to hear, even inside the mist, but I think it said Amore. Questioning. And if something out here is looking for Princess Cadenza…” Keen trailed off.

“Then the Captain needs to know, right. The next train’s not due for a few days but we can write a full report of what we saw and what happened. Let’s go back and tell the others.” With that Snowdrift took off, Keen looking for a moment longer at what was now an empty field of snow.

No! Less than blind! Worse than useless! It was right there and now it was gone! Almost had it, how was it gone?! The wind howled in response to the fury felt inside, whipping flurries into a frenzy. It was so caught up in its rage that it didn’t even notice the sudden appearance and disappearance of a pony nearby.

Saw it though. Felt and seen. Seen and heard. It did not just appear, it was called. The one who called it would return. Take it. Control it. It would sound the glorious return. It would be mine again. They will all be mine. The Herald will be mine!

Author's Note

Long time no see! This chapter has a big time skip from the first, taking place around the time of Racing Dynamos, when Autumn is truly over.

This chapter brought to you in part by the Horde Encounters from X and Y, where the player faced five enemies at once.

So this chapter took a while to write. It ended up growing a lot as I went on, but I didn’t want to end it before Joe was seen by ponies and had his first fight. I also wanted to establish said ponies.Future chapters might be shorter, or not. Hopefully with the holidays over they won’t take as long, but my house is still a mess and I’m trying to reorganize things.

For simplicity’s sake: Keen Vesper is a thestral, Parsnip is an Earth Pony, Snowdrift is a pegasus and Bright Spark is a unicorn. They’ll play their part, but I wanted a distinct guard presence in the story without it being overly military. I also didn’t want a group of faceless guards. In my mind, this outpost has a specific purpose but really only needs minimal ponies to run it. Why one of each of the “known” tribes? We’ll learn about that later, though I’m sure some can guess.

The outpost itself is based on the train station in the show that we briefly see in S3, not the crystallized one we see during the Equestria games, though they’re probably the same building with a crystal remodel. The frost wolves are localized Timberwolves mixed with the Wolfos from the Zelda games, which could jump out with almost no warning.

Questions? Thoughts? Corrections? Cries of outrage? Leave them in the comments below. Next time: what the F just happened at the end? Also, Sunburst performs a ritual.

Chapter 3: Curtains of Fire

As I felt the fire wash over me I realized that in my caution I had accidentally stepped through the aurora again. I braced myself for the heat and closed my eyes against the blinding bright white but the second wave of fire never came. As I stood in what felt like an oven with the light on, my closed eyes and body began to adjust. The heat wasn’t as suffocating, the light was not so glaring. Don’t get me wrong it was still really hot, but less “inferno” and more “height of summer on the equator in the desert” hot. Tolerable, but barely. I’d have to get out of this heat once I figured out what was going on. I figured nothing else was going to happen, so I cracked my eyes open and took a look.

Greys and whites, nothing new there. That’s been the world since the snow came. Why was the sun up though? Where was I now? Opening my eyes more and looking up I couldn’t find the sun, but it was still so bright. Was it even this bright the day I woke up here? And hot! I could feel the cold air my gems were putting out but it never seemed to change how much heat I was feeling. Taking a step forward didn’t make the crunch of snow, but more of a crinkle. Looking down curiously I saw grass, grey and white grass, under my feet.

Okay, that’s weird. At least I’m still blue. I hesitated a moment at being glad I was still a cartoon dinosaur. Shrugging it off for now and leaning down I took a sniff before biting some of the grass. Smells right, tastes a little stale but not dried like how I’d imagine hay tastes.

Looking back up as I chewed I saw a bush nearby that definitely wasn’t there while I was fighting the wolves. It looked like the berries I had seen during my early weeks here, except also grey. Snagging one I decided to keep looking. It tasted like the grass did: the flavor was right but like it had sat out for a long time without spoiling. Old, but not quite stale. Dusty. I glanced around as I chewed.

Man, where the hell am I? The lay of the land looks the same but the snow is all gone. And why is everything here monochrome? I mean on the other side there were hints of color even with all the snow and ice. Is this some weird parallel world or...Oh.

“Oh” turned out to be a giant crystal spire that dominated the skyline, the landscape, and my view of a previously hidden city in the distance. Attention grabbing at the worst of times, it was unmistakable to anyone who had the slightest inkling of what it was.

“But then...how...why does…” My brain kept skipping, unable to pick one thought from the myriad of options the view of the Crystal Empire raised in my mind. As if on autopilot, I took my first slow step towards the city. Finally, like the slowest bubble to ever rise to the top, one thought came forward from the rest.

“That explains the bat-pony. It was a thestral.”

“What the fuuuuck…” I said quietly, walking down one of the main roads of the empire. It was still hot, but at this point I figured it was both because I had gotten used to the cold to the point that a shift to temperate was like jumping in a sauna, and my body was also still doing whatever it did to stay warm in the snow. Too sudden a shift with no time to adjust. I still felt hot and thirsty, but that was being pushed aside by what was around me.

Crystal Ponies. Quite a number of them actually, and all as monochromatic and frozen as the world around them. Some of them were actually in the air, having jumped or been thrown before time just sort of...stopped for them.

There were defenders for the city, which made a certain bit of sense. Sombra was outside the city when he was sealed and it was banished, so this must be the ponies who fought with Celestia and Luna in rebelling against him. Their armor had the cobbled-together and worn down look of an unofficial military who had to use what was available to them, even if they had to dig it out of a box in the attic. I gently pushed one of them to see what would happen. Nothing. He was as immovable as a statue. Turning back towards the spire I continued on, leaving them to hold whatever line they’d been holding.

The city was huge. Bigger than the show made it seem. There was also the feeling it gave me. A sense of familiarity but also of wrongness. I knew the city from the show, sure, but this went beyond that. It was like coming home and finding someone had shifted everything a few inches in different directions: nothing had really changed but at the same time it was all different and nothing felt right. And that feeling only got stronger the closer I got to the palace.

I found a fountain as I walked. Clean, but tasted old like everything else I’d had here. I also took the time to measure myself against a few ponies that were gathered there. My body was roughly the same proportion as the adults, but my longer neck put me a full head above them.

Taking a closer look at them, I saw that they were all filthy. A mare had lash marks on her back, and a filly next to her still had a broken chain wrapped around her hoof. She had haunted eyes, and though she was watching the water in the fountain she seemed to be looking right at me. Two among many, and they were all just trying to clean themselves or get a simple drink of water as the first step in their new freedom.

Looking back down at her, I spoke softly, suddenly intensely aware of all the eyes around me, of how I was trespassing into their world. “I’m sorry… I don’t think I can help you…I’m just me, and,” I looked up and away, stepping back, “I’m sorry.” I kept moving after that. I was pretty sure they weren’t aware as they were, but I hoped for my sake that they weren’t. I felt ashamed that I could do nothing for them, my sails shifting orange, even though I knew everything would work out for them.

At the plaza in the center of the city, I saw the weirdest thing by far: other Pokémon. A single elderly pony stood behind a bastiodon as weathered as he was, its shield-like face grimacing in pain, it’s legs bent like it was still exerting force against some enemy that was no longer there. Arrayed behind them were ponies aged from children to teens, none in their majority, and each with a small Pokémon of their own. Some ice types, some rock types, a few bugs and normal. Nothing above a low tier evolution, all with faces showing their determination to reach the palace. Fighting, but against what? A quick glance behind me showed nothing but the underside of the palace where the Crystal Heart would be once it was reclaimed from the top of the spire. Remembering the defenders that had been airborne like they were thrown and looking again at the bastiodon I realized that whatever these ponies had fought against did not wind up banished with them. “Good, one less problem when you come back.”

I stood for a while just looking at the group in front of me. Pony Pokémon trainers, and all the right age to be beginning their journey. The old one must be the “Professor Oak” of the group. Or whatever the equivalent of a gym leader would be. Or something. Maybe just some old dude with an old Pokémon, fighting against evil. Doing the hard thing because it was the right thing. And instead they were stuck here.

Ponies on the edge defending against the outside, ponies in the middle broken free from their chains, ponies at the center still fighting against something on the inside. “Sombra was outside with Celestia and Luna… didn’t he do this by himself? What were you fighting? And what is that feeling?”

I’d been able to mostly ignore it since the fountain, but it had started the moment I entered the city proper and had been growing the closer I went to the castle. If I closed my eyes I could hear my instincts screaming into my head.

Home. Emptiness. Belonging. Trespasser. Goodness. Danger. Rightness. Wrongness.

The dichotomy was making me sick, and through it all, above it all, I felt Purpose. I opened my eyes to realize that I had moved to the center of the plaza. At the spike of crystal where the Crystal Heart should be but wasn’t.

I felt that purpose seize me, a great welling up from within and knew that whatever was about to happen, for good or ill it would be because of me. Turning my head up to where I knew the Crystal Heart was hidden I braced myself. I opened my mouth, prepared to cry out...

And the sky cracked.

“Another few days my hoof, it’s been moons,” Sunburst grumbled over the wrapped case he levitated in front of him. The moon shone high through the windows, showing the lateness of the hour that Sunburst had requested.

“At least you have them now, Sunburst.” Runic consoled his friend. “They must’ve been backlogged at the archives for your request to fall so far behind.”

“That’s just it, Runic, they weren’t! Every time I went down to check on my order the mare down there seemed bored out of her mind until she noticed I was there. She was once building a house of cards for Celestia’s sake!” Sunburst waved his hooves in frustration at the bureaucracy. “And there were always ‘new submission requirements’ and' ‘triplicates’ and ‘lost forms’. I ended up having to fill out the paperwork in the room in front of her before she said it met their standards.”

The two stallions were trotting to the summon chamber for Sunburst’s latest (Runic didn’t want to say last) attempt at a bonding. Steel Circle herself was going to oversee the ritual and give her final verdict once the deed was done. Runic privately didn’t expect much from this one, but he was supportive for his friend’s sake. A successful casting of a long-defunct summon would do wonders for restoring Sunburst’s reputation at the school. More importantly, it would allow him to stay at the school at all.

Pausing at an intersection in the hall, Sunburst heaved a sigh. “If I were a more suspicious stallion I’d think Steel Circle has been trying to sabotage my efforts. You know what she’s been saying about my work, and if this one doesn’t work out for me, then…”

Placing a hoof on Sunburst’s withers, Runic tried to cheer him up. “...then it’s a good thing this one is going to work. You’ve gone over this one more than any of the others, triple checked every detail. Nothing will go wrong. You’re going to do wonderfully, Sunburst.”

When Sunburst perked up Runic considered that a success, and none too soon. They had arrived at the set of doors leading to the testing room. Wanting to raise Sunburst’s spirits as best he could, Runic gave him one more nudge with his shoulder and an encouraging smile before heading into the room to finish preparing it. “I’ll be back when we’re ready.” He called over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

Sunburst sat down to wait, knowing it would be a few minutes. It was a time meant for self-reflection, he knew; to give potential summoners the time to either steel themselves or back out. This wasn’t his first time attempting a bonding, after all. It was his second. The first was a failed attempt at summoning an Omnite that got him ridiculed by students and staff alike and set him on his current path. He was a perfectly capable summoner, he knew, but before that first attempt and especially after he had felt the need to prove himself. After what had happened at Celestia’s School he knew he would have to make his mark somewhere in the field of magic before he would be able to show his face at home. To show everypony that their expectations for him weren’t unfounded. To prove to his mother that he had what it took. To show himself that, if not a powerful wizard, he could still be a great summoner; a great something. To make it up to her that-

“Alright Sunburst, we’re ready for you.” Runic poked his head out of the door, unintentionally snapping Sunburst from the spiral his thoughts were taking.

“Y-yes.” He said, suddenly remembering where he was. “Yes. Alright, I’m ready.” He stood up, shaking himself off, and followed Runic into the summoning chamber.

The room was just as it had been when Sunburst attempted his first bonding. The summoning circle, a metal ring set into the floor, dominated the space. Then several feet of clear space for the summoner to set up without entering the ring itself, then a few seats and finally a set of stairs leading to the observing room set behind safety glass. Runic was already heading towards the stairs while Sunburst stood in the doorway. Steel Circle, while present as proctor, was not up in the observation room as he had expected. Instead, she was sitting in one of the seats.

“Ah, Sunburst,” she began. Sunburst noted that her eyes lingered longest on the archive box he held in his magic. “Still interested in continuing this folly, I see. No last-minute change of heart to something...reasonable?”

Wondering what she meant to say instead, he still quickly replied “No ma’am. I believe I have it this time.”

“Very well then. Considering your... unique circumstances,” she said while rolling one hoof, “it has been decided that you will dictate your process, your decisions in the reagents, and why. Leave nothing out. If you successfully perform such a summon as this, we will want to know how you managed it where a millennia of attempts have failed.”

Taking a moment to think of where he actually started this process, Sunburst cleared his throat, pulled a stack of papers, parchment, and a lone stone tablet from his saddlebags and began.

“I began my search through the records, looking for summons that had gone at least a decade without being either performed or attempted. When I found this,” here he levitated a single sheet off the top of the stack. “It was a failed attempt from just over a century ago. Reading over it, I found an addendum that it was a translation of an older document sent from the Griffon lands. Finding that one had a similar note, and so on until I got to this.” Separating the stack into smaller sections to illustrate the number of attempts over the years, Steel Circle estimated it to be over a hundred failures, followed by a stone tablet that she presumed to be the original.

“The tablet is in old ponish, as indicated by the gentle curves and white circle in the center of each individual character. When I found this, I first made my own copy, translated it to modern Equish as best as I was able, and then cast Gobbledegook’s Grammatical Gamut upon my copy of the original, and each separate iteration. I also had an old acquaintance from Celestia’s School who has studied history take a look as well.”

Steel Circle had been paying close attention, and here she interrupted. “Why on each separate attempt?”

“To see where each one may have been influenced by changes in language over time, or preference by the caster, or accidents made during the process. I can demonstrate if you want. Would you like me to run the Gamut, Professor?”

“That won’t be necessary, thank you.”

Floating the smallest of the papers towards him he started up again. “The most recent is to summon a winged ground elemental with…” he squinted at the page “lightning bolts that blow water out its side.” He shook his head in bemusement. “It’s entirely possible that the reason this was never successfully performed in over a thousand years was because every being that tried adapted the previous attempt rather than go off the source material. Each translation is worse than the last, like a verbally dictated chain letter a millenium in the making.”

“Moving on to the actual spell, several conditions are described beyond the spell itself, namely the time of day as the “long night,” which would be any time between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes and the presence of the ‘nighttime rainbow’.”

“Which is impossible.” Steel Circle cut in.

“Then, yes. It must have been an extraordinary phenomenon to cause such a thing, but we can replicate it in a component that serves two purposes. Namely, white glow thistles as the weakening agent reflecting light through prisms to cast rainbows across the circle.” Suiting actions to words, Sunburst pulled out and positioned the items in question from his saddlebag. “Prisms were only invented about five hundred years ago, so I can’t begin to imagine how the original condition was met.”

Setting the stack of papers down on a table at the side of the room, he levitated everything previously in his saddlebags into the air, except for the box from the archive which he set on the floor immediately in front of him. “Some reagents listed have multiple meanings, both then and now, so I had to get in touch with some experts in the particular fields who would know what items best met all possible meanings so nothing would be missed.”

“We didn’t have those experts here at the summoner school?” Steel Circle pressed, raising an eyebrow. “I find that a little difficult to believe. Who would know reagents better than an entire staff of experienced summoners?”

“Two beings in particular. I wanted an outsider perspective that would be unbiased by usual methods. The stones were provided by the Nickerlite Rocktology Institute’s valedictorian who is currently doing an Equestria-wide practicum. ‘Ancient Living Stone’ meant two things to her: unworked stones from the “living rock” of Equis from a particular depth, and fossilized remains. The school here offered a collection of rocks to me, but she informed me that “ancient” to a geologist is different than what we would think, as the time scale for stone is different than ours. She was informative, but very to the point.” Setting both kinds of stone into piles around the circle, he levitated a single half-sheet with four bullet points over to the professor.

“She didn’t know about the ice portion, but referred me to her sister, who ‘knows everyone in Equestria’. Pinkie Pie got me in touch with a Yak she knows close to the northern edge of Equestria.”

Steel Circle tilted her head, puzzled. “Pinkie has a sister?”

“Several, apparently… wait, how do you know Pinkie?”

“Her I Have My Cutie Mark, Lookit! tour,” she answered, remembering a t-shirt with Pinkie’s cutie mark that she had in a drawer somewhere. “How do you know her?”

“Sire’s Hallow semi-annual Hide-And-Seek-athon, which she founded.”

Runic’s voice sounded over the speaker from behind the glass, “She threw me a surprise ‘Congratulations on making it into the Circle’ party when I bonded with my first summon. I didn’t even know her at the time!”

They all stared at one another for a long moment before Steel Circle shook her head and asked, “And the Yak?”

“Pinkie was a judge at the first figure-skating competition held at the winter resort the yak co-owns.”

“No I mean about the ice.”

“Oh. OH! Right, the Yak. Oona, that’s her name, Oona, was able to send me glacial runoff and untouched snow that was caught in the pot she sent it in. The “essences of cold” as the reagent is named. They were shipped in a giant block of ice, which was a little confusing, but it worked out in the end. She also suggested the glow thistles, as they originated in the Yaket range and provide the light for the prisms, as well as a weakening agent.” Pulling several thermoses out of his rapidly lightening saddlebag, Sunburst poured them into bowls and arranged them at complimentary points to the stones. There remained one point with no material at the North end of the circle, directly in front of Sunburst himself.

“The last components I obtained from the archives here at the school.” He began to carefully open the box he had carried in. “They are the hardest to obtain under normal circumstances, and their placement is, I believe, the largest key to a successful summon of this particular kind. It’s also the most confusing part of the directions, with the most possible meanings.”

Carefully reaching in with his hooves, he picked up a stone larger than any of the others, showing it to Steel Circle before placing it in front of him. “The ‘Stone Sail’ had to be the same approximate age as the rest of the stones, but be the fossilized sail or fin of a terrestrial creature.”

Reaching back into the box he pulled out a glowing blue stone with jagged edges. It looked like a crystal that was constantly giving off mist and was the size of his hoof. As it cleared the box, the room noticeably began to get colder. “Eternal Ice, the final component, taken from the depths of a glacier. If you believe the old legends about it then this is the heart of a windigo. Cleansed of its hate by the Fire of Friendship until only the ice remained, glaciers are said to have grown around them.” He cleared his throat. “Or, as we now know, it’s magic that coalesces into a solid state when ice sits over crossing ley lines. Either way, it is undeniably the “Coldest Core”.

“Both are placed together,” he said as the temperature continued to drop. “The trouble I ran into is that they must be placed “heartward”, or possibly “hearthward” or “homeward”, as all are adaptations of the same word and could equally apply. I selected “heartward” as it is the first derivation and thus the most likely meaning. But the heart of what? The summoner? The glacier? The creature the fossil came from? Or something else entirely? It clearly means that the placement can vary depending on where the caster is. To have as few unknowns as possible I have put myself to the North of the circle, where the record shows both the Eternal Ice and Fossil were obtained from.”

“Finally, both stone and ice are weak to steel, making a combination doubly so.” he said, indicating Runic Gears’ Giaru, Gemini. The interlocked twin gears of the summon gave a spin and Runic smiled down from behind the window, glad that, in one final way, he was able to show his support for a friend. Runic had the feeling that Steel Circle wouldn’t have bothered with a defender at all, and providing one for Sunburst showed that he believed the summon would work.

Glancing at the floating giaru, Steel Circle turned back to Sunburst. “If that is all, Sunburst, then you may begin when you are ready.”

“Nothing left but the incantation, but...um...ma’am? Shouldn’t you be…?” Sunburst trailed off, gently indicating the safety of the observation room with one hoof.

“You may proceed, I am quite fine where I am, thank you Sunburst.” She said with finality.

Not liking the implication of that statement, Sunburst nevertheless conceded. “Oh. R-right. Well, here I go then.” Turning back to the circle, Sunburst took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then began to chant.

Gcgqkt, cgtjkxkx ul znk lxufkt lokrjy.
Gcgqkt, magxjogt ul znk vaxkyz Nkgxz.
Gcgqkt lxus znk yzutk, ek gtioktz hkgyz ul oik.

He lruckx gtj znuxt O hotj ay ot vaxvuyk.
Ateokrjotm gy znk urjkyz kgxzn,
Yzkgjlgyz gy znk mrgiokx’y gjbgtik,
O zok uax corry gy utk.

Znxuamn znk loxky ul gaxuxg,
Ot kinuky ul lxufkt mgrk,
Gixuyy ktjrkyy vrgoty ul ytuc,
Nkkj se igrr.

Iusk zu sk, Yvoxoz ul znk Zatjxg!

All three ponies covered their eyes against the bright flash of light caused by a successful summon and, internally, Sunburst was already celebrating. Which was of course the moment things went wrong.

There was no clap of displaced air, but the temperature of the room plummeted. A great wind picked up in the room, swirling around the circle and scattering all of Sunburst’s careful notes, and in the circle…

Sunburst was still trying to blink away the afterimage, but he saw something in there. Larger than he was, he was able to see that it wasn’t quite solid. Tongues of blue and green flame swirled around the ring in the floor as shadows passed over the shape. The thing inside shrieked in pain and fear, and the flames rose higher, flared brighter. Its scream went on, and on, until Sunburst thought it would rip him in two if he had to hear it any longer. Runic’s giaru began to fly towards the circle to stop the summon before it could freeze them all but hadn’t crossed half the distance when there was another blinding flash of light, then silence.

Once his vision cleared again, Sunburst looked around the room. His breath was fogging in the air and there was frost on everything, including himself. His notes were spread across the room, some of them were still settling on the ground while others had been frozen to the walls. And his summon was...it was...

“No. No!” Sunburst didn’t want to believe what he was seeing: the circle was empty. “It can’t just be gone! How is it gone?!” He looked at Gemini as it easily spun itself free of the ice that had begun to form on it. It was still too far to have done anything. Panic in his voice, Sunburst turned to Steel Circle and asked, “Professor, what happened?”

Standing with the distinct crackle of thin ice breaking, Steel rose to her hooves. Glancing around the room with a calm eye, she said, “Allow me to first answer that question with one of my own: what do you think happened? Was that what you expected upon completing the summoning ritual?”

Sunburst shook his head, calming down when he saw how calm she was. “No ma’am. It was supposed to be relatively docile, defensive at worst. From what I could see and the sound it was making… whatever went wrong started before it materialized. If I could take some creative license with it, I would say that the magic it formed from was trapped.

“I thought something similar. It isn’t, but if it were possible to seal particular summons away, that is perhaps what it would look like. Regardless, congratulations are in order, Sunburst. Bonding aside, you are the first pony to have a summon not end in either immediate success or obvious failure. A noteworthy achievement to be sure. To nearly succeed where others had only failed is not to be disregarded either.”

Unsure if he was being complimented or not, Sunburst felt his ears going flat. “I’d rather not be known as the pony who almost made history,” he said quietly.

In the otherwise silent room, Steel Circle heard clearly anyway. “What will you do now, then? Are you finally ready to put this aside as has been suggested to you? To bond with something we know to be possible? You needn’t start low. Your efforts here show your skill at summoning, and your theoretical work has always been exemplary, if fanciful in regards to the defunct ones.”

Was that a compliment? From Steel Circle? Towards him? But no, he knew her well enough that the other horseshoe would drop. That was one of her preferred methods of instruction: build you up and she’d pull the rug out from under you to see if you stood or crumbled. He knew he could walk away from this, say he had given it his best attempt, but at the same time… What went wrong? He wondered. What happened when it was pulled through? It sounded so in pain but it wouldn’t have existed a moment before. And what do I want?

Knowing his answer would make or break his time here, Sunburst swallowed, cleared his throat and stated, “I would like to try this again, Professor. Being better prepared and knowing what to expect we could maybe do something about it. On the other hoof success or failure would be telling in their own way.”

Her small smile told Sunburst that he had answered well. “Then by all means, go over your notes and we will try again tomorrow night, and be better prepared.”

With a loud crash, Runic finally forced open the door to the observation room, which had frozen shut. Panting, he managed to get out, “He can’t… try again… tomorrow.”

Her expression returning to neutral, Steel asked “Whyever not, Instructor Gears? And why did you not simply have your Casey teleport you out?”

“Didn’t think...to grab Porter for this…” Taking a deep breath to settle himself, he continued. “Sunburst used the last of the Eternal Ice. It’s normally only used as the weakening reagent and not a primary ingredient. Only a few slivers are usually needed but he wanted to be sure he had enough.”

“And why have we not been getting more?”

“Besides that that block would have lasted another few decades under its normal use,” both ponies saw Sunburst wince, “Equestria hasn’t been in contact with the yaks in any sort of official capacity in a little over a century and they gave us the last block.”

“Well then, the path ahead seems clear to me. Sunburst,” she said, turning back to him, “in light of your determination to continue your chosen way, and your recent blunder in using the last of a critical supply to the Circle, you will be the one to go retrieve more.”

And there it is. “M-me, Professor?”

“Yes, Sunburst, you. Instructor Gears shall accompany you.” She added.

“What?!”

Ignoring Runic’s outburst she continued, “He has been acting unofficially as a mentor to you, I am merely making it official. I shall clear things with Headmaster Brain Pan in the morning and you two will depart for the north at your earliest convenience. Fully outfitted and supplied, of course.” She stood and walked towards the door. “You've surprised me, Sunburst, something that few enough of my students manage to do. Those that do usually go on to become some of our best summoners. So Sunburst? Don't disappoint me.” And with that she closed the door behind her, leaving the two stallions alone in the room gaping at each other.

Author's Note

This chapter brought to you by, among other things, the game of Telephone.
A few minor references sprinkled throughout. If anyone figures one out they’ll get a cookie!
Here’s a hint for one: like the last chapter, it’s another Zelda franchise reference.

Now I have a question for you: do you want shorter chapters that come out more frequently or longer ones that come out slower? I could have cut this one into separate parts for Joey and for Sunburst but did not want to because it’s not what I wanted for this particular chapter. If I had done that part of it would have been released in January and part of it today. What would you like? It may change how this gets released and how I break up chapters, but won’t change the overall story.

Questions? Thoughts? Corrections? Cries of outrage? Leave them in the comments below.

Chapter 4: Aftereffects

“...and then it walked into the fire and disappeared. The mist, the fire, all of it. Gone. Then we came back to base.” Keen finished telling the stallions, Bright Spark taking wobbly notes after dipping into the “medicinal” alcohol.

“Alright,” Parsnip stood and began to pace the common area, “Bright, include that we’re keeping an eye out for it and will do our best to keep tabs on it if we do find it again. We’ll send it down on the next supply train and hopefully have little to report by the time word gets back from Canterlot.”

Bending to his task, Bright Spark had just finished sealing the scroll when the ground started to rumble, shaking the entire base.

“What is that?!” Snowdrift cried, taking to the air.

“Everypony outside, now!” Parsnip ordered. “If the building collapses we don’t want to be in it, and we need eyes on what’s happening, Go, go, go!” He charged sure footed through the door to the mud room and outside, Keen and Drift airborne and carrying Bright Spark between them. As they cleared the door the shaking lessened, but all four continued to search the landscape ahead of them.”

“Snowdrift, check the North.” Parsnip barked out.

“On it!” She let go of Bright Spark and flew up to clear the building, halting once she was able to see beyond. “...Guys? You need to see this.”

“What is it?” Bright called up, running around to the front of the building.

“It’s...its…”

“That’s the same fire-stuff that we saw by the thing that fought the wolves!” Keen pointed. “But that’s a lot more of it.” Rather than the single swirling tendril they had seen before, this was several dozen times larger. Swirling blue, red and green originated from a single point to the north, but was spreading in every direction and didn’t seem to be fading as it went.

Silence fell.

When the wind started to pick up again they all shivered except for Snowdrift. “So...orders?”

Parsnip shook his head. “If you and Keen want to investigate I won’t stop you, but we’re just here to watch. That point is far outside the wards, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you think it’s going to be dangerous. We also need to include this in our report. That’s too big of a coincidence to not be related to what you saw earlier.” He turned to march back into the base.

The two mares stood in the snow, watching the glow slowly spread until it seemed to hit some sort of limit. “What should we do, Drift?” Keen asked.

“Let’s…. leave it for now, Keen. Moonset is coming and we won’t be able to see the ground clearly. We can check it tomorrow after we’ve rested. And Parsnip was right. We’ve already said we’re waiting on orders and keeping tabs. Well,” she pointed a hoof at the spectacle, “there it is.”

There. Oh yes, there it lay. Lost it at first, found now. The Herald. Have it. Possess it. Consume it.

Leave it.

What?! No! Mine! First! Minemineminemine-

You break your toys too easily. This one is useful, you can have it when I’m done.

No! Have this! Mine! Eat…

The world around me was breaking. Great black cracks were filling the sky like pitch-black lightning. For a brief moment I saw stars and swirling purple clouds, then things began pouring through them instead.

They noticed me. I know they did, because they began to wrap the bottom of the spire and I had the sudden impression of black with white eyes. There was an overwhelming presence behind those eyes, greater than the sum of their parts and bearing down on me. As those arms began cutting off the light from outside I also noticed that there was a new glow coming from beneath me: a circle with strange symbols and lines calling me.

Awaken.

Then everything broke, and I was falling. I was being pulled apart and held together. I was a snow globe and someone decided to play baseball with me.

Awaken!

I felt myself shattering and being put together over and over again. I thought the pain would kill me, and I screamed. I could see three worlds at once. The snowy field I fought the wolves in, the empire frozen in time, and a strange room with ponies looking at me. I needed to be here; I needed to be there. I was sitting on the line in between and it was tearing me apart. The moment seemed to stretch on infinitely, the world changing colors. Red, black, green, pink. I was starting to lose myself in the pain.

Herald! You must awaken!

Joey is fast asleep.

Joey woke up!

See? That would have killed him.

Mine. Eat, not kill.

Go wander the wastes. You clearly don’t know your own limits. He would have been too weak after. As good as dead.

Mine.

Go! I said you could have him in the end and I meant it. Right now he’s useless in your grubby hands. Unless you want me to go to…

No! Go. Promise.

Yes, yes. I promise.

“Uuughhh…” My eyes opened a fraction before drifting back closed. The howling wind must have woken me up. “What...happened?” My everything hurt. The last thing I remembered was the Empire and then… nothing. Except that dream. Or was it? Wait.

“The Empire!” I was suddenly wide awake, scrambling to stand and look around. That frantic motion lasted all of five seconds before the pain I was in re-registered and I fell back down. As the pain began to die down I noticed other things, like how I wasn’t uncomfortably hot any more, or the snow around me. Deciding to just pick my head up this time, which still hurt, I was able to see that I was back in the tundra, it was night again as well.

“No more Crystal Empire. Okay. That means I need to find shelter from the things out here. And food. Time to get up. Hnnng!” Easier said than done. I felt terrible. “What I wouldn’t give for a Potion.” I muttered. A dull thup made me look up to the most unnerving thing I’d seen today. A single large berry, sitting on top of the snow. “Ooookay.” I looked around. Nowhere it could have come from, nothing that could have dropped it. I made my way over to it and picked it up in my mouth without eating it. A cursory dig at the snow revealed no bushes or other berries.

Not knowing what else to do, I bit down and ate the berry, feeling better as I did. “Why do I feel like I just made a mistake?” Shaking myself out and stretching, I did feel better. “Shelter. I’ve got to find shelter before moonset, and I’ll deal with what happened then.”

I started looking for a decent hiding place that wasn’t a cave. Even the leeward side of a big rock would do. As I left, I noticed that I didn’t feel the compulsion I did in the Empire.

Setting his saddlebags on a table, Runic looked at the list Sunburst had written up for him. Nothing too out of the ordinary: cold weather wear, goggles, boots, bits for food on the way north and for food supplies for the trek to the yaks. The lack of climbing gear and snowshoes got a raised eyebrow, as did the absence of Fire-summon materials. Maybe Sunburst was taking care of that?

They were leaving just after sunrise the following morning. The “next available train north” happened to be eight hours after Sunburst’s summon and Sunburst was taking no chances on Steel Circle’s orders. As unfortunate as the timing was, it would actually work in their favor. The morning train was slated to continue on to some remote outpost that would save them days of hiking they would have had to do if they took the evening train instead. Runic supposed be had Sunburst’s encyclopedic knowledge to thank for knowing the train schedule off-hoof.

“Alright. Catch a few hours rest and then it’s north we go.” He left the bags by the door and walked to his bedroom, collapsing into bed as the late night caught up with him.

All was still on the plains of snow. The wind had died to nothing, the frost wolves were not on the hunt, the moon had set.

A piercing shriek split the air before a lone figure, yelling in pain and fear, ran from the shadow of a boulder. A giant clawed hand reached out in pursuit before pulling back. If one were to listen carefully, they would have heard quiet laughter in the shadows.

Author's Note

Just a short one this time. This chapter brought to you by the unintentional acceptance of mysterious bargains.

Next time: Sunburst is finally going north.

Questions? Thoughts? Corrections? Cries of outrage? Leave them in the comments below.

Edit: Nitro Indigo has pointed something out to me several times. Namely, that if you haven’t read the parent story Equestrian Eeveelution or the other canon story in the Eeveeverse Fire and Steel then you might not understand some things that are going on. What’s with summons? Are Pokémon native to Equis? And things like that. To that I say, I’m going to try to answer that as I go.

This is my first attempt at writing a story, and until this problem was pointed out to me it honestly hadn’t occurred to me that people would read a side story but not want to read/ have read the parent story. So I’m going to try to fix these issues in-story, to make mine better able to stand on its own. But I want to try to make it happen naturally, not just dump it all in one chapter that will be all info but zero story. I also don’t want to re-do what I’ve already done, I’m only going to be moving forward. So you’ll have to bear with me as I write.

By all means keep asking! If it’s something I have in my lore but don’t plan on writing out I’ll probably explain it. For the rest you’ll have to wait and see.