Many minutes went by. As each filly was busy doing her own task, the time was going by dangerously fast. The clouds had slowly shifted, letting the light from the moon fall down on the small working hooves.

Rudolph observed them. A strange feeling was getting a grasp on him, as he was looking at his town finding back a sense of shape. After spending a year seeing it deteriorate, it was weird to witness the opposite process.

Apple Bloom had cleared out the front of five of the houses, as well as their roofs. She was really efficient for that kind of manual labor requiring endurance.

Sweetie Belle was putting up her fifth tinsel. The lights weren't as bright as back in the days, nor as many, but she had found a good compromise by deciding to put less of them, to space them out more.

And finally, Scootaloo was getting to the last part of her pine. The work was still a bit crude, but the shape was enough to bring back many memories to the reindeer.

"At least it's practical that the air is cold," the small pegasus tried to reassure herself despite her shivers. "The snow stays in place."

"Your coat isn't made for that kind of cold, isn't it...?" finally noticed the tall ungulate.

"That? Pff," she said, waiving a casual hoof, before quickly pulling it back towards her. "It's absolutely nothing!"

Rudolph stood up, going by her side, looking at the snow-made pine. It was way less tall than the old one, but it didn't matter much to him. Laying a hoof on the pegasus' shoulder, without removing his eyes from the work, he ended up saying:

"Thank you..."

The filly looked up towards him, a little surprised by his answer. He was moved, that much could be seen in his gaze.

She was about to reply, but something cut her. A far away sound. A frozen neigh.

The clouds invaded the sky once more. Darkness fell again and a strong wind blew in the whole entire valley. Scootaloo had to cover her eyes with her legs to prevent them from definitively freezing.

The reindeer clenched his teeth. If the cry wasn't clear, he recognized the noise accompanying it. A long rumble, the sound of a spirit splitting the air.

"Keep on doing what you're doing, little one!" Rudolph ordered, stepping in front of her as a protection. "Finish that tree, finish giving back this village its old appearance!"

"But what ab-"

"I'll hold him back! He's alone for now, and Comet doesn't scare me!"

The reindeer's antlers brightened in red and green, as he stomped his hoof on the ground. The cry echoed again, closer, and the four saw an ashen light, growing intense. Way bigger than a regular windigo. Like an aura.

Rudolph put his branches forward. Bending his legs, he suddenly pushed on them to jump, but the pain reminded him of his earlier injury. He staggered a bit, under the worried gaze of Scootaloo, stumbling, before getting a hold of himself at the last second, managing to give a strong enough impulse to take off.

Throwing himself into the air, he headed straight for that glow. The latter was approaching quickly. Dangerously. Soon, he was able to make out the equine shape hidden behind that aura of frost. Under that form, windigos weren't physically distinguishable, at least for ponies. But Rudolph recognized his old friend.

The reindeer's antlers created a reddish halo, engulfing him, protecting him. His magic was weakened, but he believed he could still do it. He didn't really have much choice.

The three filly stared at the sky while the cold was getting more and more present. Scootaloo remembered Rudolph's words and went to see her friends to tell them to keep on working. Barely was she halfway through reaching the unicorn that a loud sound of fracture was heard.

The pegasus turned her head to the two shapes in the sky. Facing each other, opposing, releasing small yellow sparkles and a noise similar to ice cracking.

Rudolph threw his antlers forward, hitting the silhouette in front of him harshly. It was projected backwards, landing in the forest and disappearing from the fillies' sight. The reindeer ran after it.

Scootaloo got a grip of herself and went towards Sweetie Belle, hurrying:

"Quick! We need to finish everything before the others are here!"

"I'd like to!" the unicorn replied, looking at her. "But there's a problem."

She showed her friend twenty or so spheres to which pieces were missing, explaining:

"I can repair the ones where the magic has run out, but not if they're broken."

The pegasus looked at that, thinking of a solution. If they were back home, a simple request to Rarity would have been enough to get the necessary supplies. But they were far away from Carousel Boutique, further north than anypony had ever been, and Rarity was probably sleeping at such an hour.

"Maybe they have spare ones?" Scootaloo finally suggested. "I wonder how they made them."

"Hmm, good idea. I'll look in the houses."

As the unicorn was going back to a shed to inspect it, the pegasus launched herself to see her other friend. She was looking at the forest, with worries.

At the same moment, a humming sound shook the trees. A strong blizzard suddenly blew on the whole valley, bringing in snow and wind to the fillies.

"Rudolph!" Apple Bloom shouted, concerned about what this could mean.

A violent gust of wind swept the fillies away. Apple Bloom latched onto the shovel she was using to clear out, planting it in the ground to not fly away.

Scootaloo wasn't so lucky. The wind lifted her from the snow, carrying her into the air in an ascending current, as she yelled from surprise and terror.

"Scootaloo!" the little farmer shouted, reaching a desperately too short hoof towards her.

"Apple Bloom!"

The pegasus gained height against her will, blown away by the mini-tornado, while she was agitating her little legs and wings in vain, trying to steer herself.

Then, all ceased. The whistling in her ears stopped, the snow thrown into her face wasn't anymore. Calm came back as quickly as it had gone away. Scootaloo shook her head, before she felt her heart running away from her chest.

She was suspended in the air. Tens of meters away from the ground, the clouds right above her head, silence and night for only companions.

Then came the fall.

In a harrowing cry, the pegasus fell towards the ground. Or rather, towards the forest under her, the wind had carried her far from the village. After a few unending seconds, which she would have liked to never stop, the first shock came.

A branch. Then another. Thankfully, the snow on them prevented the branches from scratching her. Instead, she got the sensation of making a sequence of bad falls onto many piles of cushions.

Her uncountable scooter stunts had taught her how to properly soften the impacts as well. It is then in a muffled sound of snow getting compacted that she finally came into contact with the ground, disappearing under a layer of powder snow.

Apple Bloom had lost track of her. Impossible to see in what direction the wind had carried her. She was terrified. Was she alright? Where was she?

Another dull sound came from the forest. The earth filly desperately turned her head towards the noise, expecting the worst.

Light emerged in between the trees. The silhouette of Rudolph rose in the air, looking tired. His splints weren't there, making him limp in the air to come back to the village. His antlers were still shining, but with much less brightness to them and a bluish glow.

After a few seconds hovering in silence, he collapsed in the middle of the valley, near the snow made tree.

The little farmer hurried to his side, worried. How could this night go so wrong?!

The reindeer was still moving, weakly. He heard Apple Bloom coming more than he saw her, while breathing hoarsely:

"He didn't want to listen to me..."

"You fought with him!?" said the filly, arriving by his side, panicked, examining him.

"I didn't have any choice... He was going to hurt you..."

"But he's your friend and-"

"I wouldn't be a real friend if I'd let him do something he would regret... Don't worry, he is fine... You have to finish everything you've started, more than anything... Otherwise..."

He didn't get the time to finish his sentence. A new neigh cut him, and was soon repeated many times. Rudolph winced.

"Too late... They are here."

Apple Bloom slowly turned around, fearing what she was about to see.

Four ethereal shapes were hovering in the air, in the distance. They were descending towards them, slowly, staring at them with white eyes.

"Go hide yourself," the reindeer breathed. "Quick!"

"But I-"

"If they see you, they're going to be furious! Go seek your friends!"

The filly gazed at him, torn on the inside. Should she abandon him here if he was asking her to...? He discerned her concern and said:

"I can deal with them. Go away! Hurry!"

Apple Bloom stared at him in the eyes for a brief instant, before running away, fear in her heart. Where could she go? She would lose herself in the forest. And what if the windigos were to see her before she could reach it? No, she didn't have time to get there.

In the end, she chose the closest house as a refuge. At least from there she could observe the scene in silence.

After hiding herself behind the barely opened door, she turned her attention to the center of the village. The four ghostly equine figures were already in front of Rudolph.

He got himself back on his legs, painfully, facing them with straightness and the few strengths he had remaining.

The windigos stayed floating above the ground, staring at him coldly, literally.

"So here is the coward," suddenly said the first silhouette.

Apple Bloom jumped. The creature was far away and yet the wind carried each of its syllables towards her ears like a thunderclap. The tone was scornful, dry, hiding in itself a hatred both directed at Rudolph himself, but also another one more passive, more profound. That sound gave the impression that no benevolent words could ever come out of that thing.

"They can talk...?" the filly said to herself in a low voice, surprised.

"You are the cowards, Blitzen," Rudolph replied, looking hard at him. "For letting your hearts grow black."

"Ooh, look at him, little red!" viciously criticized another silhouette. "Do you really want to give us a lecture after your little cycle spent in the ice?! Or maybe you came here to ask us to put you back in it?!"

The voice was whistling horribly to the filly's ears. As if each word pronounced was a stalactite poking at her eardrums. She had to cover them. If the fact they could talk was a surprise, Apple Bloom was already regretting this discovery.

However, the remark seemed to hit a sensitive spot in Rudolph. It's true that he seemed smaller than the others, now that he was facing them. He clenched his teeth, refraining a scathing reply, as he would rather focus on his diplomacy.

"I didn't come here for this, Prancer. I was just hoping I could convince you all, one last t-"

"Shut up!" dryly cut the one named Prancer. "You're irritating when you talk!"

A strong draft almost slammed the door on Apple Bloom's muzzle. But she managed to catch it in time, still listening.

"There's no need to get carried away," a third voice tempered, with a slow and sadistic tone. "Rudolph has always been like this, he won't change today. He's a lost cause."

As for the previous ones, this creature also had its particularity in its way of talking. And the earth filly thought it was probably the worst she had heard up until now. The words pierced her being with the intent of removing all the heat from it.

"At least you gave us back our sleigh," the strange voice continued. "That kind of thing shouldn't be in the hooves of someone like you."

"Enough!" Rudolph thundered, stomping his hoof on the snow, his antlers letting out a pulse of red magic that surrounded him.

Three windigos moved back, slightly surprised by his reaction. But the first, Blitzen, let out a long strident cry and a lighting bolt came crashing down on the reindeer, blinding the filly.

When she opened her eyes again, Rudolph was still standing, facing the others with a determined look on his face. Even the spectral face of the windigos couldn't hide their surprise.

"How can you still do that kind of magic?" Blitzen asked, upset.

"Because I never stopped trying to give! To try and give to you! Even if you always refused! Here is why you're the cowards, you who lash onto others by selfishness! And why I am still here tonight, with my true appearance!"

It was a lie, even if Apple Bloom was unaware of it. The only thing that allowed him to hold on was this glimmer of hope the three fillies had put in him. That will to help, to give, which he hadn't seen in so long.

"Red-snoot has become confident in the ice," Prancer noted with a horrible sarcasm.

"But he's lying," followed the windigo that hadn't spoken up until now. "Isn't he, Cupid?"

"His heart is dark," Cupid answered. "He doesn't have much time left. Maybe we should wait until his true nature comes out."

There was a mocking tone in their voices. And yet, Apple Bloom had thought they would swoop down on Rudolph without leaving him any chances. But maybe they still had a bit of respect for someone of their kind, in them? Or maybe did they just wish to see him fall as well?

The reindeer opened his mouth to answer, but he was once more interrupted, this time by the sound of a door suddenly opening.

"I found some!" Sweetie Belle proudly declared, holding high a bunch of tangled up tinsels.

Apple Bloom's heart gave up on her. The little unicorn, on her end, displayed a face of utter incomprehension for just a few brief instants, before she froze on the spot, fear seizing her being.

The four windigos were staring at her. The relative quietness their appearances had developed during the conversation had gone away. Ashen volutes were flying in all directions, like some kinds of immense spectral ribbons shaken by the wind.

In a vain hope to escape this situation, Sweetie Belle slowly moved back towards the inside of the cabin and began to close the door.

The creatures suddenly jumped forward, seemingly forgetting Rudolph's presence. Blitzen shouted:

"Thief!"

Even if the word itself was drowned into the rumbling of his anger. Putting yourself in front of a windigo with stuff belonging to him was probably the worst thing someone could ever do.

The unicorn tried to find refuge in the house, panicked, smashing the door. But barely was she inside that it was violently opened, almost teared from its hinges. A strong wind knocked over most of the possessions in the house, carrying the filly into a corner of the room with her tinsels.

Sweetie Belle painfully opened her eyes despite the coldness blowing in the room. The windigos weren't there yet, maybe she could still hide?

A red lightning bolt illuminated the entrance for a few instants, then the quiet settled back in.

Outside, Rudolph had just stepped in the way of the four creatures, despite his wounded legs.

"You won't do anything to them!" he growled.

It was a lost cause. His peers weren't really conscious anymore, only their rage mattered. The hatred towards this creature treading on their village. Who wasn't frozen. Who dared to exist while they had nothing.

They tried to go around Rudolph, setting off a blizzard even stronger than the one that had existed up until now. Blowing with so much force that even the cabins began to shake, almost shattering the snow-made pine and threatening to carry the tinsels away.

One of the reindeer's broken legs was pushed by the wind, awakening a great pain in him. Which only made his own anger grow even bigger.

Sweetie Belle curled up behind a conglomeration of chairs and tables which had been blown by the winds, her heart beating like crazy. She was glad to have brought warm clothes, because she could feel her coat freezing even under her sweater.

Terrified. That was the word. Never had she been so scared, not even when she had explained to Rarity that her ice cream consumption was probably the cause of her dress-size issue.

What was going to happen to her? End up frozen here, far from her closed ones? And Equestria?

There was a thunderclap, or at least, something resembling it, and the blizzard ceased again. Or rather, it wasn't blowing in the house anymore. However, the air itself seemed to get even colder, the unicorn catching a glimpse at small snowflakes forming in the air coming out of her mouth.

With caution, she came out of her hiding spot, casting an eye outside.

A tall shape was now levitating in the air, in front of the houses, facing the four windigos. They were mired in ice.

The thing floating in front of the door was staring at them. It looked like a windigo, but more real, more tangible. The unicorn couldn't see through it like the others, and the color wasn't the same, a kind of vague pink, slowly growing pale. Sweetie Belle jumped when the thing talked with Rudolph's voice. A deformed voice, but his nonetheless.

"You're right," he growled in between his teeth. "My heart is as dark as yours... But, as opposed to you, I know the culprits. Those who stole me of who I was."

The creatures looked at him, mute for a second. Then their anger took over again, and they struggled to escape from the magical grip. Yet, it only got tighter, as Rudolph's antlers grew longer, losing their consistency to become mere shreds floating in the air.

"You know who stole the tree!?" Blitzen rumbled. "You hid them from us!"

"Tell us who it is!" Cupid railed against him in a violent neigh.

The magic closed around their muzzle, which didn't prevent them from talking, since they were speaking without it. But Rudolph still thundered:

"I don't know who stole it! But you! You deprived me of the only thing which had meaning for us! Because of your inability to move on! Your obsession for an old tree that was only a symbol!"

The reindeer rose in the air even higher, as he was losing more and more the shape Sweetie Belle had known him, slowly sliding into his own darkness.

"If you so desire for me to become like this, my only hatred will be targeted at you, and solely you!"

"No!" the little unicorn yelled, rushing to him. "Rudolph! Don't become like them!"

She jumped to throw herself at one of his hind legs, desperately trying to bring him back on the ground. The other windigos didn't know who to put their attention on, but the presence of the filly only angered them more.

The reindeer froze in the air, seemingly coming back to his senses for an instant. Then, his antlers blinded the surroundings. When Sweetie Belle opened her eyes, the windigos had been immobilized. The halo of their mane was still slowly swinging, but their shapes were engulfed in a reddish aura.

"You're going to give those fillies the time they are asking for. To you, who are threatening their world, they want to offer a gift. You should drown in your own shame for thinking they want to steal your belongings."

Rudolph's voice didn't have much left in common with the one Sweetie Belle had known. If the reindeer had seemed a little antipathetic at first, now he was straight out terrifying. For now, he remained on their side, but would he stay that way for long?

"Ah think we should hurry," someone suddenly whispered in the unicorn's ear.

She jumped on the side, turning to see Apple Bloom right next to her.

"Don't ever do that again!" Sweetie Belle said, holding her own heart.

"Shhh," her friend issued, her voice low. "Now is not the time to argue. Especially in front of them."

The earth filly uselessly nodded towards the trapped silhouettes. Their eyes could still move and were now locked on them.

"We have to hurry and finish everything," Apple Bloom followed.

The unicorn looked all around them, before wondering:

"Where's Scootaloo?"

"The wind carried her away, she fell in the forest ah think."

"W-!?"

Apple Bloom put her hoof on her mouth, preventing her from talking.

"Come."

Sweetie Belle threw a worried eye at the windigos. While it was true she'd rather get away from those things, she was still very much worried for her friend.

The two of them walked away from them, leaving Rudolph in front of his peers. Once sufficiently far away, Apple Bloom explained:

"Ah don't know where she fell. And if we go out looking for her now, we might not be able to finish before it's too late."

The unicorn looked at her friend, shocked and about to get angry.

"You're telling me that Scootaloo may be currently freezing just a few meters away, with who knows what kind of injuries, and you want to stay there!?"

"If we wait too much, it'll be too late to save Equestria!" the earth filly energetically protested.

"Scootaloo could be agonizing alone and in the cold! Look at you, you have frost on your legs! Imagine what kind of state she might be in!"

"And by the time we find her, we may all be frozen by the windigos!"

The unicorn couldn't believe it.

"Are you scared...? You're scared of not succeeding, so you're not even going to try and save Scootaloo?"

"That's not what Ah said!" Apple Bloom stomped her hoof on the snow. "But we don't even know where she is! And-"

A shrilling cry came to the fillies' ears. If they hadn't been completely freezing already, they would have probably shivered hearing it.

"Alright, let's calm down," the earth filly tempered. "I think this whole thing is slipping out of our hooves."

"It's them," Sweetie Belle said, nodding towards the windigos. "That's what they want. For us to argue."

"Yeah, we should avoid doing that if we want to get back to Ponyville some day."

The unicorn sadly sighed just thinking about it. She felt like she had left her home so long ago, when it had been probably less than two hours, at best. But there was more important:

"I still say that we have to find Scootaloo. We have to show them we're united."

"If you say so."

Apple Bloom looked around them, checking in on their progress. A lot of lights were still missing, the cleared roofs were already getting in part cover with snow again and the top of the tree was still to be done. She sighed.

"Ah think repairing the lights and finishing the tree is the most important thing if we want to get out of this... I'll go look for Scootaloo."

"All alone?" said the unicorn, surprised by this sudden one-eighty.

"The tinsels are really important, you have to do them good. And I still have somethin' to light my way."

As she said that, she pulled out the luminescent sphere offered by her friend earlier on. Sweetie Belle still looked worried.

"You're also the one less protected against the cold..."

"You'll stay next to these things," Apple Bloom said, pointing at the windigos. "You'll get colder than me."

The earth filly tried to send a smile her friend's way. The unicorn returned it slightly, uncertain.

"If you need help, call me."

"Ah'll be sure to do that! Come on now, we have to hurry, I don't think all the windigos will be as patient!"

Sweetie Belle nodded, going back to her tinsels. Apple Bloom turned to the forest. Dark, cold, and surrounding the whole village. Despite her words, she had no idea as to where she should start. So, she decided on simply going with her instinct.

The forest wasn't very dense, made of multiple species of pines spread around, all covered in a thick layer of snow. This vision gave the filly a hope that her friend might not have made a too brutal fall.

The slop was steep, but not uniform. The terrain was bumpy and Apple Bloom quickly understood she had to navigate a valley by zigzagging in-between mountains. She decided to stick to the lowest trail, her friend was much more likely to have tumbled all the way down rather than staying on the slope. But at the same time, she stayed on the lookout for any traces of a recent collapse.

However, it wasn't an easy task, given her poor vision. The forest wasn't too dense, but the clouds in the night sky were. Her lonely little magical sphere only allowed her to guide herself, but also to warm her hooves at least a bit.

How cold it was.

Author's Note

Yes, the windigos talk. Fight me.