"I'm cold."

"We barely even got out!" pointed out Scootaloo, looking at Sweetie Belle wrapped up under a heavy layer of wool clothing, the head topped by a beanie visibly sewn by Rarity, leaving her horn free.

Apple Bloom was only wearing a plain scarf, while Scootaloo was wearing wing-mufflers.

"But still, I'm cold," muttered the unicorn.

"Walk faster, it'll warm you up."

"But the snow is too high!"

Scootaloo arched an eyebrow, looking down at Sweetie Belle's legs. They were in what must have been three or four centimeters of snow, at best.

"You're becoming like your sister."

"Where's Apple Bloom?" asked the unicorn ignoring her, looking around.

Ponyville was truly quiet at night, and the snowflakes falling in great quantities made the atmosphere all the more silent. Some houses were still lit, but the moon kept on being the greatest source of light, bathing all the town in a dark yet pale light.

"What are y'all waiting for!?" suddenly yelled a distant voice.

Already a few houses away, Apple Bloom had stopped to look towards her friends. Both of them cringed while hurrying after her.

"Stop shouting!" Scootaloo whispered once close enough. "Do you want to alert all of Ponyville!?"

"Y'all should be the one going faster, before the snow covers everythin'," Apple Bloom replied, before walking towards the town's exit.

"I really think it's not a good idea," maintained Sweetie Belle, yet she followed.

"Do you know where the thing you saw fell, at least?" Scootaloo asked.

"Not more than half a kilometer into the forest, I'd say."

The unicorn cast a worried eye behind them. The hoof prints in front of the library were already fading, and the snow looked like it was only getting heavier. Worse then, huge black clouds were slowly approaching the moon.

Quickly, in the soft sound of fresh snow cracking under their hooves, the three fillies came to Ponyville's exit. From here, they could see the edge of the forest very well and, after a bit of silent march, they reached it, pausing for a second this time.

"Do you remember the direction?" Scootaloo interrogated again, as up until now she had enjoyed the touch of the snow, but her courage was starting to flinch.

"A littl' bit on the left of the moon," simply answered the farming filly, while trying to face the celestial body, to play the scene back in her head.

"We should leave some traces behind, in case we get lost..." said the unicorn.

"Oh, yes," the pegasus hurried to chip in. "Otherwise, that'll be too dangerous. Too bad we didn't take anything for that. Guess we have to go back."

As soon as she said it, Scootaloo turned around and was ready to step away, when Apple Bloom pointed out:

"You can leave magical spots on the trees, Sweetie Belle, can't you?"

The filly in question winced, but nodded, just because she didn't like to lie.

"I'll put an arrow regularly, to show where we're coming from. I hope it won't take too long, I won't be able to do that indefinitely."

Scootaloo kept in her concern, even if her saliva was hard to swallow, and she turned back again to join her friends.

In the silence of the night, the three fillies slowly sank in between the trees.

Under the cover of the leaves, the snow wasn't yet covering the forest's floor, and the place was plunged in a darkness way more intense than Ponyville. The pale glimmer of the moon was having a hard time filtering through the branches, and the fillies had to slow down so as to not get their legs caught up against some frozen roots.

After a few minutes of walking, and some stops to place a mark on poor trees that were just minding their own business, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo began to doubt their friend. Or at least, more than before. And the cold was settling beneath their coats.

"Maybe you just hallucinated," Sweetie Belle suggested.

"No, it ain't far, I promise!" said Apple Bloom without an ounce of uncertainty.

"If it so happens, what you saw stayed stuck in a tree," Scootaloo added.

The pegasus saw two green eyes look daggers at her, to which she answered with a shrug.

Apple Bloom, to Sweetie Belle's dismay, looked up at the leaves, pondering her friend's words.

"That's possible, but we won't be able to see it tonight then. Ah think it's better to finish looking around all the ground before goin' home."

"Come on, Apple Bloom, we're all cold," insisted Sweetie Belle.

"And we're tired..." Scootaloo complained.

"Wait!" suddenly said Apple Bloom, her ears lifting up. "Did you hear that?"

The two other fillies stopped talking, attentive as well, even if Sweetie Belle's beanie was covering her ears.

"I don't hear anything," Scootaloo ended up saying after a short silence.

"There was a noise!" said Apple Bloom, overexcited, rushing into the forest, galloping.

"Wait!"

The unicorn and the pegasus followed, worried.

"Perhaps you heard a wild creature!" said Sweetie Belle to try and reason with her.

Scootaloo, seeing that Apple Bloom was ignoring her, was about to add something but she didn't get the time for it. The three fillies arrived in a very small clearing plunged in darkness.

But despite the lack of light, it was evident that two shadowy shapes were in the middle of that hole in between the trees. Two silhouettes laying on the ground, close, with indiscernible outlines.

"What is that?" Scootaloo whispered, intimidated.

"Shh!" issued Sweetie Belle, fearing they might awake a bear couple.

Apple Bloom was way more adventurous and slowly walked towards the obscurity. At the same time, the sky cleared in front of the moon, and the light was brought down to what lay in front of them.

The first thing to be revealed was a great wooden object, resembling a barrow without wheels, that the fillies had once seen in pictures but never in real: A sleigh. As long as three ponies, varnished with red, one of the two runners was broken and lying in pieces further away.

The second shape, and the fillies couldn't believe their eyes, belonged to a tall figure. Taller than a normal pony, maybe even taller than princess Celestia in fact. His muzzle was also longer and the tip was of a different color. A brown coat, no mane to speak of, instead a long piece of fur running along his neck, and hard black hooves.His tail was short and fluffy, his stature way thinner, but something seemed off. His face was displaying a frozen expression of pain and his front legs were in an unnatural position. Branches were also covering his head.

"It's him!" exclaimed Apple Bloom, rushing to the creature.

The two friends joined her next to the stranger who seemed unconscious. For now, the two fillies didn't believe it was the Christmas Reindeer, but there was more important.

"Is he okay?" inquired Sweetie Belle.

"He's breathin'," said the farmer, already busy examining him. "But Ah think he broke a leg or two."

"How did he end up here?" Scootaloo asked.

"With the magic lightin', Ah'm telling y'all!" Apple Bloom re-explained.

"We'll see later," the unicorn intervened. "For now, we have to bring him back to Ponyville. It's too cold, and we have to heal his legs!"

"And his sleigh?" said the pegasus.

"We're gonna use it to transport him."

"I don't know..." thought Sweetie Belle. "It seems broken."

"Well then find somethin' to repair it while we pull him on the sleigh!"

Scootaloo moved in closer to help Apple Bloom, each one positioning themselves on each side of the reindeer and beginning to lift him.

"Maybe we should remove the branches on his head?" suggested Scootaloo.

"Those are his horns, didn't ya listen to the story?" Apple Bloom replied, pulling him with difficulty.

"What, he's the Christmas Reindeer?"

"Of course!" the farmer said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He doesn't look like a pony, and he has a sleigh, what else do ya want?"

In the meantime, Sweetie Belle had found some branches and vines and was busy repairing the broken runner.

"Ooooh, my legs..."

The three fillies immediately froze, turning their eyes to the creature that had just spoken.

The unknown stranger slowly opened his great blue eyes, momentarily lost. As he was gaining back some sort of consciousness, something came back to his mind and he jumped. Caught by surprise, his two supports moved away and his body fell again in the snow that was starting to thicken.

"What happened!?" the creature panicked, snorting in the snow, trying to get back up without success. "Where am I!? No, more importantly, how long have I been there!?"

"Easy now," Apple Bloom tried to reassured. "You had a bad fall, we were bringin' ya to Ponyville to heal you."

"You broke two legs," Scotaloo followed, "and, according to Apple Bloom, you appeared in a magical lighting about twenty minutes ago."

"T-Twenty minutes?" the reindeer stuttered, in part because of the pain. "Ponyville? I'm in Equestria?"

"Right in the middle," Sweetie Belle confirmed, while finishing the repairs on the sleigh.

"Try to calm dawn," continued Apple Bloom. "You're the Christmas Reindeer, right?"

"Huh?" said the tall horned creature, finally managing to stand up, kind of, despite his legs shaking from the pain. "Oh, yes, in a way."

Barely had he finished his sentence that he fell again, in a suffering whine, preventing Apple Bloom from turning to her friend and shout "Ah told y'all!".

"Hold on," Sweetie Belle said, bringing in a few more branches and vines, setting the whole thing around his front legs to serve as splints. "There."

"T-Thanks...?" he said, a bit surprised, hesitant on trying to stand up again or not. It took him a second, but he finally decided to try.

It wasn't without pain, but at least he could somewhat stand, and the fillies were able to admire all of the height and slimness of his silhouette. He wasn't as tall as Celestia, but clearly above Big Macintosh.

However, he didn't have to stay up for a long time. Apple Bloom was already bringing the sleigh closer.

"Take a sit," she said, unable to contain her excitement. "We're going to bring ya to Ponyville. Twilight won't be able to get over it!"

"Ponyville? Oh no no, I don't have time to stop, I need to go south, way more south than that! And quickly!"

"Why?" asked the farmer, suddenly saddened. "Nopony in Equestria has seen you for ages, why do you have to go?"

The reindeer took his sleigh's tack and checked the straps, answering in a really hurried way:

"Because the windigos are coming. All the north, Equestria included, will be entirely frozen."

"The windigos!?" the three fillies exclaimed in a choir.

"But I thought Equestria's harmony was preventing them from freezing everything?" Sweetie Belle intervened.

"Positive and harmonious feelings sickens them, it's true," answered the reindeer while fastening his last straps, looking up at the sky to orient himself with the stars, before staring at the fillies. "But it's not an impenetrable wall, and they are very angry this year, more than usual. And it'll only get worse."

"But why?" asked the little unicorn once again.

"Because it's a long and tragic story and I don't have time to tell it to you!" he said in a hurry. "With that being said, you better pack up as well! Warn your rulers, and good luck for the rest."

"You're leaving us!?" Scootaloo panicked, alarmed by his words.

"The sooner I go, the further south I'll be!"

The reindeer stomped the ground with a hoof to test the solidity of the snow and almost immediately came to regret his move, letting a grumble of pain escape his mouth. However, it didn't stop him and he bent his legs as if he was going to jump.

But just before he could do so, the light around Sweetie Belle's horn – which up until now hadn't ceased to slowly weaken – sparkled one last time before completely turning off. A lighting of magic untied the vines on the reindeer's splints, and he once again collapsed on the ground.

Both fillies stared at the unicorn, Apple Bloom's eyes filled with reproaches.

"What are ya doin'!?"

But the unicorn was completely infuriated, gazing at the reindeer who was getting back on his flank, massaging his legs, looking at the filly with confusion.

"We help a so-called Christmas Reindeer, who's supposed to bring happiness and gifts to ponies, and all we get in recognition is a prediction of the apocalypse, without any explanations!? And he intends on leaving us like this!? If that's the famous Christmas Reindeer, now I understand why the windigos came right after him in the story!"

"Christmas Reindeer?" suddenly realised the reindeer. "The story? You know the story of my people?"

"Your people?" repeated the three fillies in unison, staring at him.

The reindeer first looked at his splints, then his sleigh, noticing it had been repaired. His expression went from incomprehension to guilt.

"Oh..."

He turned to the fillies with a sorry face.

"You help me, and here's how I thank you... I owe you apologies, young fillies. And explanations."

"We're listening," said Sweetie Belle, still gazing at him with suspicions in her eyes, expecting to see him try to escape once more.

"What do you know about my people?"

"Not much," Scootaloo said, looking at her friends. "We just know that, long ago, the Christmas-Reindeer would visit the ponies once a year to bring them gifts, and that it all stopped one year before the windigos came."

The reindeer sighed.

"Both are linked."

"Well, that was obvious," Sweetie Belle pointed out. "Without gifts, ponies argued and the windigos were able to come."

"I meant to say that the windigos are the reason why gifts stopped being given to ponies," corrected her interlocutor.

"How so? Y'all got attacked as well?" asked Apple Bloom.

"No," the reindeer winced. "I mean that my people, the reindeer people from the great north, the ice fields and the frozen lakes, and the creatures of cold, the windigos, are one and the same."

A cloud passed in front of the moon, preventing the injured from seeing the stunned faces the fillies displayed, but he still guessed their reaction.

"You see," he followed with an uncertain voice. "Reindeer are powerful creatures of magic. But our magic rests on one thing: our generosity. In our land, giving to your neighbor is an everyday deed as commonplace as meals. We like to receive presents, but we love to give them even more."

"It sounds as if we were talking about your sister," Scootaloo pointed out, looking at Sweetie Belle.

"Shh!" hushed Apple Bloom, impatient to hear more about that.

"For centuries, we gave to our friends as we did to nature, and to the other inhabitants of our lands. And we received in return. Nature thanked us by growing grass despite the cold, and would gift us with tall pine trees to build our houses. And the other creatures would help us as well. In the middle of our village, there was a huge pine, more beautiful than any other, and each year we would decorate it on a precise day. The day celebrating the birth of that tree we called Christmas. It was a symbol of our village, and a gift from our ancestors."

Scootaloo wanted to add something, but Apple Bloom's hoof went right on her muzzle, preventing her from talking, letting the reindeer pursue his story. He was displaying a dreamy face.

"It is during that period that one of us proposed to send presents even further away. Rumors had come to us about a new kind of small creatures, weak to the cold, living further south. So, every winter, on our day of celebration, we would deliver gifts to those beings, those ponies, to help them overcome the cold. Their gratitude was enough for us."

"That's us!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

The reindeer's face got clouded, however.

"But one day," he said. "The day before Christmas, the pine disappeared. We like to give, but we don't like being stolen from. If someone had asked for the pine, maybe we would have accepted. But it was a present from our ancestors, and no one steals a present. My people got enraged and began to refuse giving anything to anyone, as long as the pine was not given back."

"But that's the very essence of your magic, you said it," Sweetie Belle couldn't help but say.

"Yes, and it's where the problem lies. If a reindeer is generous, his magic will be powerful and beneficial. But if a reindeer is selfish, withdrawn and angry, his magic will then become maleficent."

"Maleficent?"

The reindeer closed his eyes, with a bitter look.

"It'll start by attacking his heart, making him even more selfish, solitary. It'll then attack his mind and will make him enter a vicious cycle of hatred and anger, making him aggressive and possessive. Then, it'll be his body's turn, which will take the form of the desolated and hostile lands of the north, that have nothing to offer. In the end, if he spends one year without giving, a reindeer will become a windigo."

Words were lacking to describe the astonishment of the three fillies facing the stranger, but the light of the moon came down on the scene and helped the reindeer grasp the impact of his words on his young audience.

"One year after the pine was stolen, my people became windigos and went south to assuage a blind vengeance on every creature crossing their path. And the rest, I think you know it."

The reindeer got back up despite his broken legs, shaking a bit.

"I wasted enough time now, they'll be here in a few hours. I'm sorry, little ones, but you should quickly go back to your homes and warn everyone."

"What?" Apple Bloom lamented. "You're still going to leave?"

"You repaired my sleigh, I told you what you wanted to know, we're even now. If you have any other questions, I can answer them, but hurry."

The reindeer leaned and got busy putting his splints back in place, while the fillies were looking at each other, lost.

"But, you're not going to try and reason with them?" asked Scootaloo.

The reindeer sighed as he pulled on a vine to try and make it hold in place.

"I tried, believe me. But they can't be reasoned woth."

"Why now?" Sweetie Belle followed. "It's been more than a thousand years, why would they come against us again? And why couldn't we stop them this time?"

"Precisely because it's been more than a thousand years," the reindeer explained. "Sixteen centuries to be exact, and sixteen is an important number for my people, it's about as striking for us as a millennium is for you."

As he said the number, he pointed at the branches on his head. Sweetie Belle counted, they had sixteen ends.

"It increases their anger and, believe me, it has grown quite a lot since the time of your tale. Nothing will stop them this time, except the heat of the desert."

"So you're running away?"

The tall character froze when hearing the young pegasus' tone, full of reproaches. His horns glowed red for a brief moment as he slowly straightened his head, staring at Scootaloo in the eyes.

"Do you have the slightest idea how it is to see all the people you know turn against you? Become bitter, bad, withdrawn, consumed by vengeance? To get imprisoned for more than a thousand years by the same people you ate with?"

His voice was cold. Way more than the night. It was almost a blizzard. The three fillies had to huddled up, finding him suddenly terrifying.

"Yes, I'm running away. Because there's nothing else to do. The cold will devour countries and all those who won't have run away. An evil reindeer lives for centuries, the weather won't be back to normal in Equestria before your death. Me, I don't want to be imprisoned again."

The reindeer calmed almost immediately, returning to his normal expression, sighing:

"Go away. You, your friends and families. While you still have some."

He buckled his splints and turned back towards his sleigh.

"You'll be alone," Apple Bloom tried.

"It's still better than being frozen by the windigos."

"But they were your friends!"

"They were!" he vociferated without turning back this time. "And that's the problem!"

The reindeer harnessed his sleigh and seemed like he was looking to leave, running his gaze on the clearing, evaluating if it would make for a good takeoff runway.

"And if you become a windigo yourself...?" Sweetie Belle asked with a worried tone. "How long has it been since you last gave...?"

"Centuries..." the creature admitted. "But if you don't count the time I've spent in the ice... It'll be one year tomorrow..."

"Didn't you say that the transformation occurs after one year?" Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom suddenly understood where those sudden jumps in mood from the reindeer were coming from. Not only from his complicated situation, but also from what was already beginning to happen in him. As he had said, the spirit becomes maleficent, hateful. Was it just a reflection from the moon, or was his coat showing white spots?

"Yes, I said it. But what can I do? I'm alone, everyone runs away from the windigos, for the few that believe in their existence..."

The three fillies exchanged worried looks, while the reindeer was slightly rubbing the ground to make sure he wouldn't slip when taking off.

Apple Bloom whispered to her friends:

"We can't leave him like this!"

"If we don't do anything, Equestria will be covered in ice!" Sweetie Belle added.

"We've got to intervene!" Scootaloo declared.

"But how?" Apple Bloom asked.

"We would have to be able to go to the windigos' place to calm them."

"Do you really want to try and talk with a windigo, Scoot?" said the little unicorn, raising an eyebrow.

"That doesn't sound very doable."

"I have a plan," the pegasus assured. "But we have to convince him to bring us there."

Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin.

"Hmmm... I may have an idea. But-"

"Good luck to you, young fillies," suddenly announced the reindeer, about to go away.

"Wait!" Apple Bloom desperately said.

"No, that's enough, time is running out!"

Sweetie Belle threw herself on his hooves to catch him, looking up at him with a pleading stare. He shook his leg to try and get rid of her, despite the splint.

"Listen to what we have to say!" the unicorn shouted.

"I don't have the time!" the reindeer said, getting angry, amplifying his gestures, shaking the filly left and right. She suddenly screamed:

"But how will ponies be able to pay back for everything you gave to if you don't listen!?"

The reindeer stopped his hoof, frowning, his head twitching a bit.

"What do you mean...?" he said slowly, suspicious but also intrigued.

The unicorn stared at him, pulling out her best tearful eyes.

"Reindeer taught ponies how to give... Equestria exists thanks to you, but we were never able to give you something in return... To show how grateful we are. If we run away now, we won't ever forgive ourselves."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other with a whisper:

"We won't...?"

"Let us help you! At least this time!" Sweetie Belle pleaded, her eyes dead fixed in his.

The uncertainty going through the reindeer's eyes showed her she had hit right. A being of generosity like him was sensitive to notions of debts others owed him. He could not swipe them away with a simple "it's not a big deal". Not with the way she had put it. She was used to it, with her big sister.

"And what do you want to do...?" the reindeer risked himself to ask.

"Go to your place," said Scootaloo, coming close to help her friend. "Deal with your friends' problem."

"How?"

"We have a plan," the pegasus assured, helping her friend to get back up, getting rid of the snow she had on her clothes. "Bring us there, we'll manage for the rest."

"This is madness..." the reindeer breathed. "You'll end up frozen the moment you lay a hoof in my village."

"Oh, it's enough now!" Apple Bloom grumbled, stomping her hoof. "No more talkin', you take us to your village!"

"We lost enough time already!" Sweetie Belle added in a hurried tone.

"Let's save the reindeer!" Scootaloo shouted, sticking out her chest.

The injured creature looked at them with a displeased, but resigned face. Finally, he let out a sigh, before nodding towards his sleigh.

"Get in. But if you end up frozen, I won't go and explain that to your families."

"No risk of that!" said the pegasus with confidence, climbing on the seats with her friends. "We already fought off way worse!"

"Like...?" Sweetie Belle asked, arching an eyebrow.

"An Ursa Major!"

"Do you mean the costume Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had made to make us run away from our shed?" Apple Bloom whispered so that the reindeer wouldn't hear them. "I'm pretty sure it's less dangerous than a whole village of windigos..."

Scootaloo's face lost all assurance. She had forgotten about that small detail.

Author's Note

I love writing with the CMCs, I feel like it's really easy to go light-hearted comedy-dialogue with them.