Sky, once again donned in his white coat and boots, looked out at the freshly fallen snow. It was several feet thick, rising like a frozen flood up to the step before Lily’s front door. The ferocity of the storm had erased virtually every sign that Sky had fought through that mess to get inside. The snow was piled thick and heavy, and Sky knew that it would be an effort for any normal pony to get anywhere in that mess.

But pegasi were a different story. They grew up in the sky, walking on the clouds. They could take steps lighter than the smallest bird.

And if I can walk on the clouds, then snow will be a piece of cake.

He sprang lightly from the top of the steps leading from the door to the top of the snowdrift and found that he barely made an impression. Smiling, he looked back inside the doorway, where Lily was looking out apprehensively. “Well, that’s one of us,” he said. “Now, we gotta get you up here.”

“You make one joke about my weight, and you’ll be sleeping outside tonight,” Lily called out to him. She was wearing her own beige coat and boots, though her coat seemed to be made with a bit more fashion sense in mind than Sky’s own coat. “Just how were you planning on getting me out there?” she asked, looking out to where he stood.

“Here, drink this,” he replied, tossing her a vial of a milky blue liquid. “That should suffice.”

“What is it?”

“Something that the Canterlot mages gave to me before I set out. It’s a concoction that makes you weigh a lot less for a time. You should be able to walk on top of the snow once you’ve had some.”

“I told you not to make any jokes about my weight,” she reminded him.

“I didn’t. But how did you expect me to explain the potion without mentioning the weight aspect?”

“I’m just teasing,” she said, pulling the cork off the top and taking a sip. “Ugh, they couldn’t make it at least taste a little better, could they?”

“I’ll mention it to them when I see them again.”

“I suggest you do.” With that, she stuffed the vial into her pocket and leapt up onto the snowdrift, sinking into the snow only slightly as she landed. “How long will this last?”

“I dunno,” Sky said, shrugging. “But the effect wears off gradually, so if you notice that you’re starting to sink, then you’ll know that it’s running out.”

“Got it,” she said, looking up and down the rows of houses along the snow-covered road through the middle of the town. The snow was still falling, but the wind seemed to have settled considerably. The clouds appeared to be breaking up just a bit, and for a moment, the sun broke through a gap, causing the snow and ice to glimmer brilliantly. Sky and Lily quickly shielded their eyes as the town glistened like a diamond. “So, what’s the plan, exactly?” Lily asked, squinting and trying to hide behind her hoof.

“Well,” Sky began, wincing in the light, “we need to make sure that everypony is alright. And I need to determine what might have caused the storm to come in the first place, so I’ll need to talk to everypony to do that.”

The sun crawled back behind a cloud, offering relief from the luminous assault on their eyes. “So we’re going to visit every home in Polarmino?” Lily asked, blinking as she tried to force her eyes to readjust.

“You are,” Sky corrected. “You’re going to tell them to go to town hall, which is where I’m going.”

“Town hall?” Lily asked. “We really don’t have one, to be honest.”

Sky grimaced. Of course not, flank brain. This is a colony, not a well-established metropolis. “Well, is there a building everypony could fit into that could be used as a meeting hall?”

Lily pointed across the stretch of snow to a building on the opposite side of the street. “That’s the audience hall. It was the first building in Polarmino. We used it for the dedication of the colony.”

“That’ll work. Now, you go get eve—”

Sky’s train of thought was abruptly cut off as Lily’s scream echoed off every nearby surface. She had been looking up in the sky when her eyes grew wide in alarm. She darted to Sky’s left before he had time to even ask what was going on. Suddenly, he felt a spray of snow rise from his right. Turning, he saw a pair of glowing blue eyes, cold as steel, followed by a misty, almost ethereal, body. The temperature seemed to drop dramatically in a split second. The creature snorted as it approached, casting a sinister gaze towards the pair of ponies.

“W-w-what is it?” Lily stammered, hiding behind Sky.

Sky’s wings burst open in a flash from flaps in his coat as he turned to face the intruder, shielding Lily from view. He lowered his head, stamped, and flapped his wings a few times, causing the loose snow beneath his hooves to swirl around him. The creature stopped for a moment, sizing up the white-garmented pony before it.

“It’s a windigo,” Sky replied, his voice low.

“A windigo?!” Lily replied in a hushed voice. “I thought they were just an old mare’s tale!”

“Well, why don’t you ask this one if he’s real or just a mirage?”

The windigo snorted again. Its eyes were fixed on Sky, but it made no sign of attacking. Finally, Sky spoke up again. “I’m not here to pick a fight. I’m only here to find out what the deal is with the blizzard.” He paused, but the windigo didn’t move at all. “But perhaps you can tell me. Why did the windigoes start a storm here in Polarmino?”

There was a curious sound, like the wind hissing through the trees, but broken, not continuous. Sky arched his eyebrow for a moment before he realized what it was: the windigo was laughing.

“Oh, how little you understand, little pegasus! Do you know nothing of the windigoes?” came its voice, colder than even the snow.

“I know about the windigoes. They feed on negative feelings, like anger and hatred, turning them into winter conditions, like cold temperatures and blizzards,” Sky answered. Even as he spoke, Sky felt an unexpected rush of hostility as the windigo tried to pry at his emotions.

“Then why do you ask me for answers? Go to your own ponies for that. We only came because of the storm amongst themselves.”

“I’ll do that,” Sky said, relaxing a little. He made a mental note of the windigo’s words about the ‘storm amongst themselves.’ “But what do you want? You didn’t approach us just so we could ask you questions.”

The windigo’s shining blue eyes became narrow slits as it spoke. “I bring a warning to you, pegasus. Begone from this land! The lord of the windigoes does not look kindly upon those that contest the domination of the sky and weather.”

Sky looked confused for a moment as a thought occurred to him. “Wait…am I the only pegasus here?” he asked.

The windigo ignored him. “I have delivered my message. If you have any wisdom at all, then you will leave as quickly as you can. King Icevein is not known for his patience.” And in a gust of wind and a shower of snowflakes, the windigo was gone.

Lily peeked out from where she had been cowering behind Sky’s leg. “Is it gone?” she asked, voice quivering.

“Yeah, it’s gone,” Sky replied, straightening up and pulling his wings back inside his coat flaps. The temperature had returned to normal, but Sky had the feeling that the storm was starting to worsen again. “Lily…am I the only pegasus here?”

She came up beside him. He turned to face her, but her eyes did not meet his. A quick gust of wind caused her mane to wave gently for a moment. “Yes,” she said at last. “None of the pegasi wanted to come here with us. They were content in their homes, and I think that they were all…unwilling...to come and try and face the untamed weather of the northern edge of Equestria.”

“Like they were scared?”

“I’m not trying to judge them, Sky, but yes, I think they were scared.” She shook off a few snowflakes that had settled on the end of her nose.

He pondered that for a moment. “Perhaps they knew more than most of the ponies that came here did. I wonder…” His voice trailed off.

“Sky?”

“We need to hurry,” he said, convinced that the storm was indeed getting strong again. “Get everypony to the audience hall as quick as you can. I’ll meet you there.” He pulled another vial of the milky potion from his saddlebag. “If you give each pony just a little of this, that should be enough for them to get to the audience hall. But there has to be enough for everypony, so use it sparingly. You know all the ponies in Polarmino, so you should be able to figure out how much each one can receive, right?”

“Right. I’ll meet you there as quick as I can.” She turned and galloped off, snowflakes flying into the air in her wake. Sky, on the other hand, spread his wings and made a quick aerial dash to the top of the audience hall, perching on its roof for a moment as the wind picked up and the sleet began to fall again. There was no sign of any windigoes nearby, but he knew that they weren’t far. And now he knew that they were watching him.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it only made him more nervous. He didn’t know how much time he had before “King Icevein” would decide to take action against him, but he knew it wasn’t much. Whatever he was going to do, he would have to do it now.

That’s the problem, he thought. I don’t even know what the source of the storm is yet, so how can I start doing anything? He let his head fall for a moment. But the entire colony is depending on me to save them. I can’t let them down.

He took off into the air again and headed for the front door. It was covered by an overhang, but the snow had been blown so fiercely that it had piled up in front of the doors nonetheless. Thankfully, Sky found that the door was not only unlocked, but that it also opened inward. As he stepped inside, he found that the hall was largely unfurnished, but it would serve nicely for his needs. He immediately gathered up some logs and piled them in the fireplace. He then pulled a small red marble out of his saddlebag and tossed it on top of the logs, where it broke apart. Almost instantaneously, a fire was roaring beneath the mantle, and the room began to warm up. Fire spell orbs. Those royal mages think of everything.

He looked around the room and saw little else he could do. It was surprisingly spacious (It’s bigger on the inside, he thought), and every sound seemed amplified. It made for a good, if not quite ideal, meeting space.

He sat down in front of the fire and, realizing that his hood was still up, pulled it back down and shook his mane. Behind him, he heard a door open. Turning, he saw a trio of ponies (Parents and their foal, I’d wager) enter. They looked slightly cold, but unharmed. As he approached, he took note of the fear in their faces. But when they saw him, their expressions changed to a look of hope and expectation.

“Oh, you must be Sky Streak!” said one pony in a distinct northern accent, the one Sky assumed must be the father. “We’re so glad that somepony came to help! We’re counting on you, son!”

Sky found himself uncertain of what to say. He looked at the three of them, but as his eyes wandered to the foal, he saw that she was almost too scared to speak. Her lip quivered, her knees shook, and her eyes were filled with tears. She couldn’t have been more than a year old, and Sky’s heart ached when he saw her. He kneeled down in front of her and looked her in the eye.

“Hey,” he said softly, “I’m Sky Streak. Does the storm scare you? Do you want it to go away?”

The foal simply nodded as she sniffed her nose. Sky forced a smile. “Then I’ll gather up all the clouds and take them far away!” he said, trying to brighten up the filly before him.

“Will you take the monsters away, too?”

Sky couldn’t hide his surprise. “Monsters?” he asked, trying to disguise the fact that he knew what she was talking about.

“Yeah…the scary ghost ponies. They make all sorts of scary noises.”

“Well, I’ll just tell them to go home and leave the good ponies here alone.” He looked up and winked at her parents, who looked confused, but smiled sympathetically nonetheless.

“And the big black cloud? Will you tell that to go home, too?”

Sky’s mouth went dry in an instant. “The big black cloud?” he echoed, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“Yes. It’s scarier than the ghost ponies. Will you tell it to leave us alone?”

Sky blinked vacantly. His heart raced. Was it true? Had his worst fears been realized? Had he really followed it here?

Sweet Celestia, what have I gotten myself into?