One simply did not become a druid, one ascended. It was a painful, terrifying, sometimes fatal process of transformation that forever changed both the mind and body. For Tarnish, he had fully ascended when Flamingo’s blade pierced both the Crown of Corruption and Maledico’s orb. The resulting chaos vortex had transmogrified him into something else.

It had changed Maud too.

Now, after enduring these changes, Tarnish sometimes had peculiar spells and he became a tree. He couldn’t control his druidic magic, not much, it just sort of happened. Sometimes he could make it manifest, and other times, he was powerless to stop it from happening. Becoming a druid meant making a bargain with Terra Firma and then allowing your body to be used as a conduit. When would something exciting happen? Nopony quite knew.

Druids were just bad days waiting to happen.

Others were drawn to the grove though. His grove. They had come seeking a new way, new insight, they all had their reasons. Some were profoundly changed. Others died, unable to survive the ascension. Princess Celestia wasn’t too happy about the deaths, but there was nothing she could do. Nature giveth, and nature taketh away.

Wiggling about, he tried to make himself comfortable without making his companions uncomfortable. They were naked and piled together under a mountain of blankets. Body heat was best shared with direct contact and it was quite cozy in the pile. However, it was also somewhat unpleasant; the 4K bars produced an awful, eye burning stench when filtered through the biological happenings of a pegasus pony. It was warm though, so very warm, and about every three minutes or so, a searing blast of air as hot as a venting furnace would flow around his legs.

Tomorrow would be the same as today. Going from one place to another and moving supplies around. The day after that would probably be the same, and at some point, they would begin to pick the bones of Ol’ Gertie clean. Tarnish wanted to try his hoof at stone shaping to see if he could make their living space a little larger and a little more comfortable. Vinyl had mechanoid parts to study.

At least they would stay busy. For Tarnish, that was no small comfort, as he was certain that he would go out of his gourd if he was bored. Another blast of warm air passed over his legs, ruffling his fuzzy hide. Poor Rainbow and Daring had to be exhausted after pulling the sledge back and forth all day.

Tarnish was exhausted too, but could not sleep. He was still hungry, even after eating a total of five 4K bars, and his stomach still gurgled as it begged for more food. The transference of his consciousness into a tree took a lot out of him and he wasn’t sure when his body would recover from this overexertion. He was tired though, so tired, but his mind just wouldn’t shut up.

These mares, they didn’t need him to be reckless and brash. They didn’t need him to be a show off, his flippancy wasn’t needed, and his snide sarcasm was wasted on automatons. All of his squirrelly behaviour was going to have to be held in check. If he did something stupid, if he got himself killed, he would no longer be here for them. There would be no going home.

These mares needed a stallion, not some colt with a need to prove himself.

The cave stank of mushroom soup and worse. Some of the ground in here had thawed out from the heat, releasing ancient stinks sealed away long ago, like forgotten evils left for Twilight Sparkle to rediscover. It was warm though, above zero at least, and Tarnish had plans to make it warmer. They needed a better door, a better plug. The flap moved around with the wind and too much of their precious heat leaked out.

Tarnish was hungry, and what he planned to do would only make it worse. There wasn’t much else to do while waiting for the sun to rise up over the jagged peaks of the mountains that had become the proverbial bars to their prison. Daring Do and Rainbow Dash were rubbing each other down in preparation for another long day of hauling. Vinyl was studying the strange mechanoid arm.

And now, Tarnish too, would do his part. Sitting on his haunches, he closed his eyes and began breathing. He thought about paying Princess Celestia a little visit in the astral realm, but he wasn’t ready to face her yet, just as he wasn’t ready to use his magic mirror to contact anypony. There had already been a brief discussion about communications and the consensus was to do it later when there was something they could report.

In and out. Slow. Steady. Tarnish’s breath was visible and great puffs of steam shot from his nose. Even after his overexertion yesterday, the magic was still there, just a spark of it, and Tarnish felt it welling up inside of him. Not his unicorn magic, no… something else. Reaching out with his will, he touched the roots all around him, and urged them to grow. To expand. These trees were full of life, of magic, and when Tarnish touched them, some of the ache inside of his body eased.

The roots all around their shelter began to move, guided by Tarnish’s desires, and they thickened as they twined together, forming a tighter, denser mesh. Something like sap oozed from the roots, it glistened in the faint light and acted like a glue to bind the roots together. In particular, the area around the hole they used to enter changed shape, not quite round, not quite oval, but the shape suggested something almost vaginal. Far less wind whistled into their shelter with each passing second, until the wall of roots and dirt that made up the front wall of their cave became a solid, wind-proof mass.

While he still had some magic flowing, he redirected it into the chunk of wood he had brought into the cave with him, some deck planks. It wasn’t dead wood, just sleeping. It still had a touch of spirit to it, but it needed some help waking up. Reaching out, he touched a bare hoof to it, and the wood began to writhe.

Unknown to Tarnish, Daring Do, Rainbow Dash, and Vinyl Scratch were all watching him.

The deck planking was like clay beneath Tarnish’s hoof. Its movement was slow, but it was obvious to any observer that it was changing shape. After a few minutes, it was just about the same size and shape as the opening that Tarnish had shaped in the roots. Lifting the makeshift door in his telekinesis, Tarnish stuffed the plug into place, and when he did, the wind no longer whistled into their home.

Feeling good about his accomplishment, Tarnish prepared himself some tea.

It was not going to be a sunny day. Overhead, the sky was a dull shade of grey, overcast, and Tarnish knew that it would snow at some point. Temperatures were well below zero without the sun shining down. Boreal forests were horrible, terrible, awful places, and Tarnished Teapot hated nature with a burning passion that rivaled Princess Celestia’s sun.

The wind was also far too strong and cut like a razor.

“We’re not going to get anything done today,” Daring Do said as she peered upwards. “Here we are, pegasus ponies, and we’re powerless to do anything about inclement weather. I don’t know how I’m feeling, but I don’t like it.”

“It sucks.” Rainbow Dash tilted her head back to look up. “I could bust those clouds and send them packing in twenty seconds flat. I hate being like this. I hate it!” Even though she was bundled up, she shivered and shook as the wind howled. “This wind doesn’t feel natural either and it’s making me crazy!”

“You feel it too?” Daring Do asked. “Good… I thought perhaps I was going crazy.”

“No pegasus pony likes a feral storm,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice muffled from beneath her heavy scarf. “The wind here is rotten… sour… it’s gone bad.”

“I’m not as in touch with the wind as you are,” Daring Do confessed

“It feels like the winds that sometimes blow out of the Everfree Forest. It’s the only thing I have to compare it to. Those winds are ornery and mean. They hate pegasus ponies and pegasus ponies hate them.”

“You speak as though the wind is a living, conscious thing.” Daring Do dropped her head, turned about in the snow, and looked at Rainbow Dash.

“It is,” Rainbow replied. “Sometimes, the wind takes on nasty forms. Dust devils, malevolent clouds… windigos… I’ve seen some stuff.” Whatever it was that Rainbow saw, she did not elaborate on it, but stood there, staring upwards. “What we need is an alicorn princess or a prince that can help us fight the bad weather. It’s getting pretty bad, but hey, at least there are no windigos!”

“We should go inside and get comfortable,” Tarnish suggested. “Maybe we need a day of doing nothing. Actually, wait, strike that. We’re going to spend today making each other feel better. Yeah… yeah, that’s a good idea. As the morale officer, I say we spend the day making each other feel better. And then tomorrow, when the sun is out, we’ll make up for lost time.”

Wasting no time, Vinyl headed for the door, in a hurry to get inside.

Author's Notes:

Poor Twilight. Stuck with all those thousand year old evils.