Opaline was once again utterly convinced of a powerful magic being involved in this journey of hers, as every breath she took at a full gallop did nothing to hinder or wear her down as she chased her mark. The thick forest eventually gave way to rolling prairie, and her shadow drew longer and longer to the left as the sun continued to slowly dip below the western horizon.

The warmth of the ethereal peytral drove her onward in the wake of her mark, but more than anything, it was the possibility, the hope of redemption, after being wrong for so very long, that had kept her going.

When she came to the crest of the next hill, she saw storm clouds fill the darkening sky on the horizon to the south. She continued down the hill, and almost didn’t see it at first, but when she realized that it wasn’t a trick of the eyes due to the setting sun, she skidded to a halt, barely a few feet in front of a sheet of ice that was covering the entirety of the next hill…

...And slowly spreading outward towards her.

Opaline leaned down to get a closer look. It was as if it was a spreading flood, but frozen. Her gaze rose to see her cutie mark continue to climb the hill, and so she took a deep breath, and stepped onto the ice, only to stop after two steps.

The air had become instantly, bitterly cold, and she could immediately see her breath on the next exhale.

What was this? What was happening?

She saw the glow of the peytral intensify, the warmth spreading to her hooves, and protecting her from this clearly unnatural chill as she made her way up the hill towards her mark, the peytral magically providing her hooves with traction on the ice as she continued to climb. When she came to the top, she couldn’t help but gasp, coming to a stop again.

This ice and frost had come from over multiple hills. If it had been moving at the same speed, this had been happening for days.

Was this the threat that the echoes sensed? What could she possibly do? She still didn’t have her magic, or her mark. But as it had always been, any other path was a lost cause, and she galloped into the cold after her mark, hoping that it, or the echoes, would let her know how she could help, whenever they got to where they were going…

Sunny Starscout carefully went from page to page of ancient manuscripts that her father Argyle had collected, looking for anything, any iota of information that could possibly help them in this ever increasingly desperate situation, as she sat at the dining table on the ground floor of the Crystal Brighthouse.

Every howl from the ethereal creatures circling outside in the freezing sky above chilled her to her bones.

Her friends were here, and they were warm and safe, and the Unity Crystals on the top floor had stopped the supernatural frost from penetrating the interior of the structure, for now, but Sunny knew, and dreaded, that eventually the food and fuel would run out; not just for her and her friends, but for everypony in Maretime Bay, who to her knowledge had been likewise sheltering in place for just about three days now. Right now, her only hope was that anypony from Zephyr Heights or Bridlewood would notice the spreading frost, or the dropped cell phone reception from the region, and find out a way to investigate, and maybe help.

“Any luck, Sunny? Do we have Allura to thank for this?” Hitch asked as he approached the table, with Sparky and Twitch, Allura’s pet rabbit, on his back. The dragon’s magical fire had been keeping the fireplace going for far longer than traditional wood-burning could have, and since that was the warmest place, they had stripped their beds of the blankets and pillows and had made the living room their defacto sleeping area. As for the rabbit, he had come scrambling into the Brighthouse last of all after the blizzard hit, sans his snow leopard companion, and had since just been grateful to be out of the cold.

Sunny looked up and shook her head at Maretime Bay’s sheriff, who wanted nothing more than to head outside to check on everypony else, but was unable to because the spreading frost and ice had frozen the windows and doors of the Brighthouse. When the gargantuan swirling storm had rapidly generated over Canterlove Studios, and the frosty white ethereal flying equine spirits came out of it, he could do little more than order everypony inside as ice and frost had started to inexplicably spread over the entire town, and for all he knew, beyond.

Even Zipp wasn’t able to out-fly the freezing wind that had preceded the spreading ice, and was grounded and forced indoors with the rest of them before she could go for help.

“From what little dad was able to collect… If these creatures are what I think they are, there may be no stopping them,” Sunny told him.

“What do you think they are?” Hitch asked.

“Windigos. Spirits that feed off of fighting and hatred,” Sunny explained. “They were one of the oldest folktales in Equestria’s history. The tribes came together in unity to fend them, and the fatally frigid weather they brought, off.”

“But, I don’t get it. Equestria has been reunited, so why are they here now? And even when the tribes weren’t united, where were they then? Did Princess Twilight stop them somehow?” Hitch asked.

“That… Is what I can’t find out, but yeah, I have to assume that her protection spell kept Equestria safe from them as well.”

“Something’s coming!” They heard Misty call out from the second floor, as she came galloping down the ramp into the foyer then into the kitchen, sliding to a halt.

“What? Who?” Sunny asked.

“I couldn’t tell. There was too much frost against the windows upstairs, but it’s glowing and orange, like… A fire or torch or something. It’s coming from the hills to the north, and it’s getting bigger!”

That got Sunny up from her seat at the table, and galloped upstairs to have a look. Had the frost spread so far that somepony was actually managing to fend off the cold and investigate the source?

The storm had frozen the entire exterior of the structure, so none of the windows or front door could be opened. The earth mare went to the elevator on the second floor, and pressed the button to activate it. The platform rose up to the third and topmost floor, where the Unity Crystals continued to float in midair in the middle of the top room, generating a magic shield that protected the top floor from the freezing cold. Sunny approached the shield, and looked as far down onto the road as she could.

Indeed, some sort of glowing orange light was coming up the hill, and up here, with the sea at the bottom of the cliffs frozen and silent, she was able to hear galloping hooves over the howling wind, coming from a silhouetted equine figure from just behind the orange light. That was all she needed to see, before she turned, got back on the elevator, and rode it down to the second floor.

“There’s somepony out there! We need to get the front door open!” She shouted the moment she was off of the lift, running down to the first floor.

“Didn’t we already try that?” Zipp asked, getting up from the couch in front of the fireplace.

Sunny stepped up to the front doors, put her front hooves on the handles, and began to pull.

“Come on, all together!”

Her friends could tell that the urgency in her voice was real, and joined her at the front door. Izzy and Misty grabbed the door handles with their magic, and Zipp and Pipp stood by to flap as hard as they could, while Hitch took the right door, and Sunny took the left.

“Ready? One, two, three!” Sunny called out, and together, they all pulled as hard as they could.

There were creaks and groans of protest from the door as the hinges struggled to move, and on the third pull, both doors finally gave way and burst open on their hinges, and all six ponies tumbled to the floor.

Sunny was the first to look up at the open doors, and sure enough, the backdrop of Maretime Bay that usually greeted her was now warped and distorted through a sheet of solid ice, now glowing orange from the floating orb on the other side.

The orange glow intensified, and where unicorn magic and dragon fire had been powerless against it, the six ponies, dragon, and rabbit watched as the sheet of ice ebbed, and slowly but surely melted into a puddle on the front porch.

Everyone’s eyes were on the mysterious glowing orb for but a moment, and while Sunny thought she may have recognized the black winged symbol enclosed within, her gaze quickly fell to the equine form behind it. The towering equine stepped into the glowing light of the orb, and everypony’s eyes widened at the dark orchid alicorn they recognized all too well.

“Opaline!”

Author's Note

Alright, after wrestling creatively with how exactly I want to go into the final part of this story, I'm just saying 'screw it', and diving on in. I didn't want to keep followers needlessly dangling for scenes that I have played over and over in my head with no improvement.

So as always, thanks for reading! Perhaps your feedback and insights can help improve what I've got coming.