We walked slowly back to the tavern, Tingles leaning her head against me a good part of the way, she was completely worn out. Thankfully, Grimble had unbarred the door in anticipation of our return and the coals still burned merrily in the hearth. We shared a look and snuggled together by the fire, it was simply too much effort to climb the stairs and the rugs were deep and warm, the flickering yellow flames so inviting. Yawning, Tingles closed her eyes and curled into me and before long, we were both sound asleep.

My dreams ebbed and flowed with the happy sounds of my mares and my daughter, my own herd. In the distance, two wendigo’s flew, twisting and rolling effortlessly, silently through the air, before coming together in an embrace. Snow began to fall around them, whispers carried on the cold north wind echoed across a frozen land…

Heather woke us. Two steaming mugs of tea and a bowl of porridge each consisted a breakfast that smelt like a tiny slice of heaven. The fire had burned to ash during the night and the minotaur busied herself with cleaning out the ashes to relay it for another day.

Stretching all four legs out and yawning, Tingles reached up to rub her eyes. Just watching her warmed my heart more than the heat from the hearth and I gave her a light kiss on the forehead, “Morning love, sleep well?”

“Mmmhmm”

Not a great starter first thing in the morning then, she even had me yawning. The breakfast was as good as it smelled however, and there was even a little pot of honey and a jar of almond flakes to add to taste. Now this, was a breakfast! Tingles ate in silence, looking physically drained, her mane tangled and feathers ruffled,

“Fairlight….”

“Mmm?” I asked around a spoonful of porridge.

“Did…did last night, you know…I wasn’t dreaming was I? Meadow…”

I shook my head, “No, you weren’t dreaming love. We were all there, the three of us, although it does seem like a dream. Even now, being here with you here in this tavern...I don’t want to leave…”

She looked up and smiled, “I know. For some reason, I feel happy here…like I belong. Does that sound strange?”

I closed my eyes, savouring the moment, “No…no, it doesn’t sound strange at all…”

Tingles stretched and looked to the stairs rubbing her bedraggled mane, “Fairlight…do we have to go to the mountains?”

I scratched my chin, feeling the need to wash and clean up, “I think so love, theres answers there. I need to get control of this thing inside me, I cant just ignore it and hope everything will work out okay.”

“I know that, its just…last night, our time together...I don’t want it to end.”

I felt a sudden wave of apprehension ripple through me, “Tingles, is something bothering you about this trip? I want you to come with me, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to”

“No…no I won’t let you go on your own, we’ve already talked about that. Look…It’s…I don’t know, forget I said anything”, she scratched at her mane, “Goddesses I’m itching like mad, I need a bath.”

Laughing, I finished off the last of my tea, “Okay love, I’m right with you on that one!”

The hot spring was just outside the rear of the tavern, up a rise providing an amazing view across the valley and rolling hills. Steam rose from the hot water, a sulphurous tinge to it that made my nose itch. Tingles took a large breath and sneezed, making me chuckle to myself, it was so cute.

I was always warned not to spend too long in hot water, or cold even for that matter. Mum used to say “you’ll get soft hoove’s”, and you know, she was probably right. The first few times I’d bathed on my own as a youngster though, I’d tried to keep them all out of the bathwater at the same time and nearly managed to drown myself. The memory of soapy water in my nose and mouth still haunted me all these years later.

The water here though was amazing and best of all, there was nopony else here except us. I sank into the heavenly warmth, feeling it seeping through my muscles, warming my aching joints. Last night had been so full on, in so many ways, I wasn’t so sure flying to the mountains today was such a good idea after all. If only we could stay here, the two of us, it just felt so right somehow.

Tingles moaned gratefully as she sank into the water up to her neck, closing her eyes in sheer bliss. Slowly pushing her way towards me, she sighed, “This is sheer heaven…are you sure we haven’t died and moved on?”

I didn’t like the reference but I knew her meaning.

“No love, but this is wonderful isn’t it? You know,”, I said pulling her close to me, “I’ve been thinking…I’ve got some money in my old house, despite the damage, and auntie has control of my estate…this place, this village…”

Tingles smiled at me, “It feels right doesn’t it? Like…home. We belong here, you and I, do you think Grimble would sell?”

“I don’t know, maybe, but if not, we could always build a house here. Theres enough land for a small holding and the locals are friendly…”

“…except the timber wolves…” She added.

I nodded in agreement, “Except the timber wolves, true, but this place…the air, the smell of it. I feel I want to be here. Am I being overly sentimental, losing my marbles or what?”

Tingles chuckled quietly, “No, only if I have too. What about the agency?”

“I say to hell with them, but I have to find Shadow, she’s trapped in the Wither world and I need Luna’s help, to help her. I know you’ve never met her, but…”

“I think I have though, in the dream I told you about. She’s important to you, and Meadow. Now, she’s important to me too…our own herd, our family.”

I gave her a nuzzle, “Our family”.

The trip to the mountains could wait until the next day. We spent the rest of this one preparing gear and preparing ourselves. This we accomplished with a pleasant stroll through the village and up to the hills where we had a view of the cloud shrouded mountains. It was astoundingly beautiful. To think that a thousand years ago, that majestic place was a scene of such carnage and destruction…I wouldn’t have believed it possible.

That night, I sat on the edge of the bed brushing Tingles’s long green mane. She seemed to like me doing this and I found it exceptionally therapeutic, the steady regular rhythm that had her humming some song I’d never heard before.

“That’s a lovely tune, does it have a name?” I asked, the brush gliding effortlessly through the shining bottle green hair.

“Maybe…I don’t remember, Mum sang it to me when I was a foal. Guess I just never forgot it.”

“Do you keep in touch with them ?”

“Not so much these days, we were never very close. Mum and Dad always saw me as a bit of hanger on I suppose, couldn’t wait to get rid of me…”

“Tingles…”

She shrugged, “No, its okay, I’m over it now…it was a long time ago. They loved me though, in their own way.”

“You’re a very special mare, they would be proud of your work in the agency if they knew what you did there”

“Maybe, I don’t know, after…when…ahhh! Damn it, this place is making my head go funny!”

“Is there something bothering you love?” I asked concernedly, “You know so much about me, but I know so little about you. I won’t pry, but if theres anything you want to talk to me about, anything at all, I’m here for you.”

She smiled and leaned her head on my shoulder, “Yeah…”

Tingles gave a deep sigh, “Fairlight, I…I was in love once before, with somepony back in our home town. I was a lot younger then and didn’t really understand my own emotions, but…I still knew how I felt about her.”

“Her?”

“Yeah, I know it sounds like I’m a….you know…but it’s a part of my life, a chapter that’s over, yet it still haunts me. Her face…”

I worked at a knot in her mane, “Who was she?”

“Her name was Candle, a local shopkeeper’s daughter. We’d gone to school together, grown up together and over time, became close. One day, I knew…just knew, she was my special somepony and I thought I was hers…I really did.”

She rubbed a foreleg over her face, “When I was still a filly, she introduced me to her brother, Velvet. He was a lot older than us and had a strange way of looking at me. He frightened me and at the time, I didn’t know why.”

I held put down the brush and held her hoof, sitting quietly as she talked. She’d never opened up to me like this before and I felt honoured she would share her past with me.

“Mum and Dad had gone to work and I was old enough to be left at home. Candle had rung to say she was coming round to see me that morning and when the door bell rang, I…I thought it was her and opened it without checking.”

I found myself frozen, holding my breath, hanging off her every word.

“Velvet had been drinking, he pushed his way into the house and locked the door behind him. He said we ‘wouldn’t want to be disturbed’, or something like that…”

She shook, tears starting to drip down her cheeks. I reached up and swiped them away gently, “It’s alright love”, I whispered, “you don’t have to go on if you don’t want to”.

Tingles shook her head, “No. Fairlight, I want to tell you. If you hate me for it later…I’ll understand, but I don’t want secrets between us, you understand that right?”

“I do. Please…” gesturing to her to continue, Tingles picked up where she’d left off,

“Velvet pushed me onto the couch and sat next to me, he stank of booze, so strong it stung my eyes. I kept praying Candle would appear, but she didn’t. There was only me…and Velvet. He tried to get me to drink, but it was vile and made me cough.”

Tingles took a deep breath, “He…he tried to touch me, but I pulled away. It only made him angry and…and he hit me, pushing me down on the floor. He…” she sniffed in a tear, “he said I was his sisters ‘gift’ to him, that he would ‘make me a mare’ and then he…oh, Fairlight...he…”

Tingles was crying, the tears soaking into my coat while I held her, stroking her mane. I knew what the bastard had done, scum like that had no place in this world, the pain and suffering they caused…

Tingles took a shuddering breath, “It hurt, it really hurt but he didn’t care Fairlight, he just didn’t care! Again and again and again, it felt like an eternity of pain and…goddesses, I can still see his face…”

The tangerine mare took a moment to wipe her eyes, “My father came home early and found me curled up crying on the floor, he knew what had happened. He’d seen Velvet leaving our house, still drunk, the fucking bastard. My parents called the watch, Velvet was arrested and jailed for a while, I don’t remember how long for. But it wasn’t nearly long enough for what he did to me.”

“What about Candle?”

Tingles turned to face me, her eyes shimmering with the tears still welling up in them, “She…she blamed me,”

“Oh, no, Tingles…”

She held up a hoof, “She said it was my fault her brother had been taken away, that her precious brother, her perfect brother, wouldn’t have done what he did to me unless I’d ‘encouraged him’. Candle called me…she called me a ‘whore’ and spat in my face before walking away. Their family moved away after that, I never saw them again.”

Tingles pushed away from me and sat down on her haunches, “Am I a whore Fairlight? A fillyfooler? A dirty, filthy, nothing…sometimes…sometimes I think I am…I’m not a good pony, you don’t know…”

I slid off the bed and took her hoof, she snatched it away momentarily before relaxing enough to let me hold it.

Her voice shook, “You hate me now…don’t you.”

I gazed into her eyes with a gentle smile, “No. No, of course not. I love you as much now as I ever did. You brought the sunshine into my life when I was lost. For that, for being who you are Tingles, I have no words to express how happy I am to be with you. I could never hate you, and I don’t ever want you to think I do, okay?”

Tingles nodded and gave me a peck on the lips, “Time for bed now, Captain. We have an early start.”

She trotted round the bed and climbed under the covers giving a contented sigh. I snuggled in next to and gave her light kiss on the cheek, “Goodnight my tangerine marefriend”, I murmured.

“Goodnight, mister Salt”

I heard the best sound I’d heard all evening, the sound of a mares laughter.

The whole village came to see us off, Heather crying into a polka dot hanky was one of the most bizarre things I’d seen for quite some time. She was…hmmm…a ‘very nice minotaur’, yes! That was it. I was still a bit intimidated by them truth be told and I kicked myself for my own prejudices. They were not all like the Earl of the purple sands tribe. That bastard had deserved his end and I had been all too happy to provide it.

I had to stop thinking of things like this too, my dreams last night had been horribly vivid. Meadow, Tingles, Gates, Melon Patch, and this other bastard, what was his name…Velvet? In the dream I shared the horror, the pain, the helplessness of the mares. I wanted to help them, stop what was happening, to strike down the animals that were hurting them. My anger, my hate and lust for vengeance, was only now fading away.

I’d awoken to find whisps of mist in the room and a layer of ice on the bed covers and window. Thankfully the early morning sunlight quickly disposed of the evidence and I’d given a deep sigh of relief. As odd as it sounds, I felt like a foal who’d wet the bed and was trying to hide the wet patch. Bloody hell, I was lucky I hadnt hurt Tingles. That said, in the Wither world my magic hadnt hurt Shadow, so maybe it only affected my enemies. Maybe…but it still worried me just how little control I had over it when I was asleep.

The morning sky was slightly overcast but warm, with luck the sun would burn off the worst of the clouds. Here, unlike much of Equestria, the weather had a wild and untamed quality and no weatherponies would dare tackle the sky over the Everfree forest.

Tingles took the chariot up and over Smiling Borders, spiralling as she gained height. When the village was out of sight, we searched for somewhere to land the sky carriage and allow me to ‘change’ without being seen. My pilots Pegasus eyesight was a goddess send and before long, she spotted a convenient clearing with a rock overhang, perfect for leaving the carriage.

Unharnessing herself from the carriage, I helped settle our flight suits and packs onto our backs and flanks. I strapped my sword in to prevent the blade slipping out of the scabbard, checked my flasks, my PDW and fitted my TED. It was like being back at work, but there was one more thing left to do…

I reached inside. Power and strength flowed through me, making my muscles twitch and pulse. Tingles watched my transformation, her eyes wide…the sight seemed to frighten her…

“Tingles? Are you alright?” I asked in concern.

She shook her head, “Sorry, I just can’t seem to get used to…the way you look…like that”

I pushed my wings through the slits in my customised Pegasus flight suit, “I wish it didn’t have that affect on ponies, but It’s a part of me love. I’m still me.”

Tingles looked away, blushing slightly, “I know…I’m sorry.”

“Oh, stop apologising Mrs Salt and lets shift flank, I want to get there and back while we have light.”

That seemed to change the direction the conversation was going in and with a few beats of my wings, I was airborne, Tingles effortlessly gliding up beside me. Goddesses I wish it was as easy as she made it look, the sly smirk she gave me said it all too, the cheeky beggar.

The river down below followed a slightly different course than the map suggested, but it was very close to the memories I had from Maroc. The forest whipped past in a green blur, and we were making good progress by the looks of things. I was feeling positive that we would find our destination soon, even if it was just a load of old rocks. I shook my mane, there had to be something there, there had to be!

I was tempted to check my old pocket watch and see how long we’d been flying for. I didn’t think it had been that long but I was conscious of the risk of being fatigued when we hit the doubtless cold winds and cloud near the mountains themselves which Grimble had warned us about. Deciding to leave my watch safely in my zipped pocket, I hit my TED,

“Tingles, you okay over there?”

“All in order here Cap’, you doing alright yourself?”

“Not as well as the seasoned flight veteran apparently!”

“You want to take five?”

“Affirmative on that, theres a clearing up ahead, want to follow me in?”

“Roger that.”

We spiralled down to the side of the river side and the wide clearing along its bank. The river had swollen here at some time and undermined the trees in places, creating a rough patch suitable for a quick stop. I shook my wings and folded them down by my side, reaching into my pack to take out a flask of the silver fluid gifted by the agency. This could pose a problem in the future if we left the facility to start a life of our own, however the berries growing nearby should provide all I needed. In any case, I didn’t plan to be using the wendigo’s power when we were intending to settle down.

Tingles passed me a sandwich and took a mouthful of tea from her own flask, “Do you think we have far to go now? There’s still time to change your mind you know.”

I shook my head, “No, we’ve come this far, I don’t think it’s much further. Can you smell the air here? Its icy, that’s from the mountains up ahead and the water in the river looks different too.”

Tingles looked about her and nodded, “Well, when you’re ready Captain?”

She’d taken to calling me ‘Captain’ again, slipping back into work mode without even noticing it. Ever the professional; I was glad Tingles was with me. Good company, somepony you can trust having your back, I felt increasingly positive and even excited.

“Come on then slowpoke,” I shouted leaping into the air, “I’ll bet I get there before you. A box of chocolates says I do!”

She laughed, speeding upwards after me, “So long as they’re not those bloody awful salt things…you can keep them, I’d rather eat soap!”

We rose above the river and closed our distance with the mountains that drew nearer with every beat of our wings. Before long, we found ourselves flying lower and lower to keep orientation with the river, I was have real trouble seeing too as the cloud was thickening all the time. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the memories Maroc had shared with me, the land here was different, the cloud far more dense, but there was a sense of anticipation here. Whether it was from the spirit or myself was hard to tell, but I felt a pull toward a point midway between two particular mountain peaks.

The sides of the mountains were grey and barren, utterly devoid of life. Snow lay heavily upon the peaks, in places reaching even further down and through the cloud layer. Closing in on our destination, I spotted not too far ahead, a large stone outcropping. The rock was strangely weathered and tugged at my memories like a fish on a hook. I knew then, that this…this was the place. The pass to the fortress lay not far ahead. My heart racing, I tapped my TED,

“Tingles! We’re near! The pass is just ahead of us.”

She didn’t reply, just nodded and followed me down to skip along the top layer of cloud as we approached our goal.

The approach to the pass was quickly shrouded in dense cloud, it swirled and clung to our fur as if alive. Keeping a sense of direction was becoming near to impossible, with no way to orient ourselves I relied upon nothing more than Maroc’s memories. Of course, there was every chance that the terrain had changed in the millennia since he had last entered the pass, and I was well aware that at any moment I may plough muzzle first into the side of the mountain never to be seen again.

A strong wind sprung up and buffeted us from all sides, stinging my nostrils and eyes. I cursed myself for not bringing a set of flight goggles like Tingles, but she was clearly struggling herself. We slowed our forward speed and kept tight formation, I couldn’t afford to lose her in this white-out. Surely we couldn’t be far off our destination now? At the back of my mind, a small voice asked if this were folly, if there really was nothing here in this goddess forsaken place, a fools errand that could cost us our lives. The princess was no fool and would surely have placed wards here to prevent any adventurous souls finding it, but then, who in right mind would even look for a ruin halfway up a mountain beyond the everfree forest?

Memories of dangerous winds and air currents screamed a warning in my head and I shouted to Tingles over the TED to close in on me and try to find a place to land. All I could see was white, it was near impossible to see anything of the terrain and I remembered watch pegasi telling cautionary tales of flying in ‘zero visibility’. I thought they’d been exaggerating, not being a flier myself, but now, great goddesses I understood all too well. Tingles can’t have been more than a couple of yards from me but was all but invisible in the cloud. This situation was bloody ridiculous and, I realised, insanely dangerous. If we didn’t find a landing spot soon, I’d call the job off and get the hell out of there. It wasn’t worth our lives for something that could be nothing more than…

My wing caught something solid causing me to lurch away to one side, I’d clipped the mountainside. Beating my wings to hold my position, I looked at what I’d hit, Tingles flying in for a closer look. She lifted her goggles, peering at what I’d thought at first to be a rock outcropping,

“Celestia…Look at the size of that thing”

Dragon bones, lots of them. In fact, a whole skeleton, melded into the frozen rock of the mountain. A flash of memory, an image through my mind of a battle between a wendigo and a war dragon…Maroc, this was the creature he had fought on that last terrible day. From here I knew the way as if it were my own. The spirit inside me stirred, scenting, rumbling in satisfaction. It knew this place and I could feel it watching through my eyes. There was no anger emanating from it, as I had grown so accustomed to feeling, only curiosity and…longing.

We descended to the floor of the pass, down through the cloud, keeping the rocky mountainside in sight to help us keep our orientation. Sure enough, a few minutes later we passed out through the bottom of the thick cloud and my hooves finally, mercifully touched the solid floor of the mountain pass.

Wind and snow moaned through the space between the ancient stone giants, carrying reminders of the cries and screams of the butchered ponies, the warriors who were cut down as they fled the Celestian’s. Blood flowed along the ground, both pony red and wendigo blue, mingling with the white of the snow, pooling around a fallen child of the tribe before trickling away to join its fellows. And there were so many more to join, foals, fillies, colts, the elderly, the sick and wounded…all falling beneath the merciless blades, arrows and magic of their damned Celestian killers, one day vengeance would be…

“Fairlight! For the goddesses sake, snap out of it! Fairlight!”

The voice seemed far away as she shook me, Arathea was here? What was I doing here? I had to get away, get Vela to safety, to the caverns and…

BANG!

Tingles’ hoof cracked me across the jaw and I shook myself back to the present to be confronted with a wide pair of frightened green eyes.

“Fairlight!”

“Tingles? What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know! I was talking to you and then you seemed to drift off into some sort of trance and then…and then there were voices, screams and crying, ponies shouting for help…for mercy…goddesses Fairlight, this place is cursed, its evil! We have to get out of here!”

I reached out a foreleg to comfort her, “Listen love, it’s just the wind. There are memories here, ones that want to be remembered, but memories are insubstantial and can’t hurt you.”

She shook her head, “I’m not so sure. Bloody hell Fairlight, i’ve never been so frightened in my life, don’t do that to me again!”

“Okay!” I replied, “Look, we’re here now. Let’s have a look around and then go back to the tavern, agreed?”

She seemed to calm down, collecting herself, “I don’t like this place, theres a really bad feeling here, something ancient but something else. Something with its eyes on me…watching me…I can feel it.”

I looked around but saw nothing but the rocks and snow. Carefully, I drew my PDW and checked its charge, freeing the sword in its scabbard for good measure. If something was out here, it would be full of holes before it got anywhere near Tingles. I released more of the wendigo’s power, sending out my senses to try and detect any presence, but here in the empty pass, there were none.

“Come on…the fortress is this way”

She fell in behind me, her muzzle close to my flank for comfort more than to avoid getting lost. Around us the grey rocks were interspersed with bleached white sticks, the only sign of growing things I’d seen since we got here. Stopping to look at one I picked it up and examined it. Tingles squeaked and took a step back as I dropped it, this was no stick. The pass was littered with the white bones of dead ponies, some unicorns, some pegasi. The killing here had been on a monumental scale. In places, the more complete skeletons were piled several deep, despite the ravages of time. Rusted remains of armour and weapons lay where they had fallen, some of them recognisable, others nothing more than orange and brown rusted lumps of corrosion.

A twinge in my horn made me wince. As I did, I glanced down and saw the outline of a large skeleton. Not of a pony and not, as it first appeared, an alicorn. The short horn, the sharp teeth and long wing bones, were surprisingly well preserved in the thick ice. My memories flared once more but I was ready for them this time. Here was my ancestor, last of the lords of the tribe of the four winds, master of the fortress of the four winds, husband to Arathea and father of to his people. Here he lay, slain by Celestia herself and left to rot on a forgotten mountainside.

Tingles walked over and peered at the skeleton, “He looks like…”

“A wendigo”, I finished for her, “This is the one whose memories I shared.”

“My goddesses…” she breathed, “so this was the last lord of the four winds?”

“I believe so, hang on…”

I moved some of the snow and ice away, using my magic to melt it away from the frozen skeleton.

“Look!” Tingles cried, pointing with her hoof to something glittering in the bubbling, melted ice. Carefully, I used my telekinesis to close around the object and levitated it up. There was a little resisitance as it was freed, then, with a light cracking noise, it floated up to hover before us in my magics aura.

“Its beautiful”, she breathed reaching out to touch it, but pulled her hoof back at the last moment, looking to me, “Fairlight…you should be the one to hold this…Maroc was your family”.

I nodded and examined the necklace. The workmanship was exquisite, the links as strong today as they had been when Maroc had worn it last. For whatever reason, I floated it up and over my head, settling it around my neck. What it symbolised, whether it was nothing more than a gift, who could say. The fine silver chain had a gold and red inlaid heart design, more for a female than a stallion. I stared at the tiny heart and felt an ache inside me for a time long ago and a lost love, Marocs beloved Arathea.

Maroc deserved more that this, the once great lord of the wendigo’s reduced to a pile of bleached bones on a forsaken mountain pass. This was wrong, on so many levels. The Celestian’s shouldn’t have left him like this. A single tear rolled down my cheek, the emotion of the moment pulling at my heart. One day, I vowed I would return here to bury him properly, along with all the others, even if it took me years, it was the right thing to do.

Tingles kept silent, looking wary and fidgeting with her hooves. “Come on love,” I said trying to sound positive, “lets go…theres not much more we can do for him here.”

She nodded and turned to follow me, never more than a few inches away. I understood how she felt, this place was bitterly cold, the wind freezing our exposed fur. Thank Luna we’d brought the thermal flight suits from the agency. They’d cleverly incorporated a cover for a users wings and, with the goggles, covered us right down to our hoof covers. My eyes however were exposed as I’d stubbornly refused the goggles due to their interference with my vision. Thankfully, the wendigo’s didn’t seem to be affected by temperature to that degree, but not so Tingles. The mare was shivering and I could see her breath clearly.

I called to her over my shoulder, “I don’t plan on stopping here too long, the sooner we reach the ruins, the sooner we can get back to that hot spring.”

Tingles remained silent, this was not like her at all and I was beginning to worry. Damn it, I wish she’d wanted to stay at the tavern, but there was no way she’d let me go on my own. If I was in her shoes, I’d probably do the same.

We walked along the rocky, frozen floor of the pass until I saw something shining in the middle of the rough path. My horn itched horribly; there was something wrong here, dangerously wrong. Tingles walked past me to have a closer look.

“What is that?”

“Tingles, keep away from it. I think its…”

The itching sensation suddenly peaked, “GET BACK!”

A deep rumbling and booming sound surrounded us. I looked down to see the smaller rocks and pebbles dancing with the now intense vibration.

“TINGLES!” I screamed throwing myself across her and taking us down to the hard surface, just in time to avoid a boulder the size of a house from crushing us both. Rocks of all sizes bounced and crashed down the mountain side and filled the air with lethally sharp fragments. This was no ordinary landslide, something had been set in motion and we were assuredly its target.

From up the mountain, a thunderous roaring noise like the hooves of a thousand warriors descending upon us, grew to deafening proportions. Tingles tried to push me off her, shouting over the din “We can fly! Fairlight!”

“No! Stay down…” I concentrated and threw up a shield around us as the avalanche ploughed down through the broiling mess of rock and flying debris. Tingles’ scream was drowned out in the suffocating sound of countless tonnes of snow burying us in its deadly embrace.

Silence.

In the total blackness, my horn flared, its blue glow creating a tiny magical flame that flickered balefully in the semi-circular dome of ice I’d created to protect us. Tingles had her forelegs over her face and slowly peeked out,

“We’re…alive?”

“Just…”

“Thank Celestia!”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to thank the princess, Tingles. I think this was one of those little ‘gifts’ left behind by her gracious majesty to deter any would be adventurers.”

“She wouldn’t do that!” She snapped, “That would be…no, that would be too cruel. Leaving indiscriminate traps like that?”

“You heard what aunt Pewter said”

“Oh come on Fairlight, she’s a lovely old mare, but a bit dotty.”

“Maybe, but the evidence is just above our heads. Anyway, we have no idea when this was set, it could well date back to the war and have been left to kill anypony from their enemy forces.”

“I can’t believe she’d do that…no, Fairlight, I know what happened to your ancestors but please, not the princess…”

“Never saw you as much of a royalist love”

“I…Oh, for goodness sake! What are we going to do ?”

Good question, what the hell were we going to do? The snow was right above us and full of rocks. The weight would crush us like a sledgehammer on an eggshell if the shield gave way. But, more importantly, we didn’t have much air and I didn’t know if I could pull off the oxygen trick I had done during my ‘swimming’ escapade or even if it would have any effect on Tingles.

She was starting to shake with the cold. I extinguished the flame and used my magic to envelop the mare and warm the air around her,

“Tingles, its okay, we’ll get out of here”

“I…Fairlight, I’m sorry…”

As I picked her up in my hooves to share our warmth, I felt a dampness beneath her. Looking at my hoof, even in the ethereal blue glow of magic, the thick red blood was all too real.

“Oh hell, no…”

Gently turning her over, I saw the ravaged side and flank, slashed open by the falling debris. Feathers from her wing dripped the thick crimson fluid like rain. She was freezing cold and going into shock. There was only one hope for her.

“Tingles, love, I’m going to give you some of my life essence, okay?”

She was rapidly slipping into unconsciousness and to save her I had to move quickly. Taking my tangerine mare gently in my hooves, I pulled her up to me and reached for the power inside myself. It was oddly reluctant but I managed to tease it forth, dripping the silvery essence into her open mouth. Tingles gasped and moaned as she swallowed the magical restorative. Watching bones reset, the skin and muscle reconnecting, was still awe inspiring. Slowly, Tingles came back to consciousness, looking at me with her large green eyes,

“You…saved me, again. Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome” I smiled.

Despite her brush with death, Tingles looked far from relieved. Her eyes, normally so full of life, showed a weight was pressing down on her soul, like the weight above the shield. When all of this was over, I’d have to find out what was upsetting her, we’d already promised not to have any secrets from each other, but this was really concerning me now. Tingles didn’t seem like the mare I’d come to know and love, the change in her was all so sudden too, it was probably this terrible place. Damn it, we never should have come here…

I gave myself a shake, there was time to worry about the small stuff later, now, it was time to get out of here. I reached into my pack and took out the flask of life essence to give myself a recharge before we…that was odd. There wasn’t as much as I’d thought, hadn’t there been more earlier? To hell with it, there was still enough and I had an idea besides.

I roughly knew our bearing in relation to the pass and allowed the full power of the wendigo to fill me, the need to escape and reach the fortress powering my magic to new heights. The spirit wanted to go there, it needed to go there, and nothing would stop it now.

I remembered the pillar of ice, the blue fire, the constructed weapon. Combining all of that should be straight forward right? Maybe not, but fuck it, I was going to give it my all anyway.

Tingles gingerly rose to her hooves and checked herself over, that same sad cast to her face made my heart cry out to her. The way she hung her head, her ears drooping, I had to get her home and fast.

“Tingles, stand back love. I’m going to get us out of here, so don’t worry okay?”

“Fairlight…I, I need to tell you something…”

“Not now love, please, we’re running low on air and we can talk after we get out.”

“Mmhmm”

I gathered my magic, focussing on the wall, “Take my tail.”

I wanted to hold her, comfort her and listen to her, but the air was growing stale and I was already finding it harder to breath. We didn’t have long and if I didn’t get us out now, we’d be just another set of bones in these goddess forsaken mountains.

My magic gathered and shone a brilliant blue, reflecting off the ice wall of our bubble. Concentrating it into a beam of intense heat, ice and manipulation, I burned a hole in the side of the bubble, praying it didn’t collapse in on us as I did so. The heat was intense and steam poured into our temporary haven.

Tingles gripped my tail in her mouth, as Shadow had, now what seemed like a lifetime ago. My magical beam melted the snow, simultaneously creating a tunnel of crystal around us, taking from the rocks and snow, melding and reforming a way through, a way out of this tomb. I pushed on, the effort was intense but we were moving, inches at first and then feet…yards. I was doing it!

Tingles stumbled but regained her hoofing, the heat and lack of oxygen dragging at us. If I didn’t get us out now, we’d had it. Throwing everything I had into my efforts, I felt a sudden give, a shudder and a sickening leap of fear thinking the mountainside was coming down us, until, a tiny dribble of white light fell into my tunnel. A rattling and whooshing noise followed as the steam build up in the tunnel found an escape route and we were virtually propelled through the opening like a cork from a bottle.

Half dragging Tingles, still weak from her ordeal, I collapsed outside on the snow. I was weak, the effort had been beyond anything I’d ever had to endure and I was almost shaking with the after effects of the strain. I opened the flask and tasted the last drops of fluid. Hell fire, why hadnt I checked it earlier? But…I thought I had. And I was sure I’d brought berries with me too, ones I’d picked from the glade? This was going to be a problem, but now, we had more pressing concerns and needed to get clear of the pass.

Tired and stumbling, we made our way clear of the snow and rock fall, finally reaching the rocky floor of the pass. Behind us, the way back was now all but completely blocked, the final blow from the victorious Celestians had nearly claimed its last two victims. Fuck Celestia…

Tingles followed in silence while I navigated the pass until it gradually changed into what must have once been a road, or path of some kind. It was badly weather worn and covered in loose pebbles that made treacherous travel, but it was a sign of life that gave me a sense of excitement…I was nearly home! Wasn’t I? Whose thoughts were these I was having, mine, Maroc’s or the spirits?

Lifting my head, the last of the wisps of low cloud began to clear and a glorious panorama of blue sky and almost blinding sunshine unfolded below us. And there, not far along the winding mountain track, was our prize, the fortress of the four winds, the last home of the tribe of wendigo’s.