The snow continued to fall heavily.

It was so thick in the air I could barely see two Pony lengths in front of me.

The snow on the ground was already above my hocks.

I had never seen a blizzard this bad before.

Only the dim light of campfires, glowing vaguely in the perpetual blanket of white, provided any sort of direction for me to follow.

Occasionally, I caught sight of a familiarly shaped shadow in the dying glow.

Tia had come farther for me than I thought…

Oh Earth, Stars, and Sun… It was a really stupid idea to leave the camp in this weather. Forget trying to reason with Tia to talk to Clover, Cookie, and Pansy again for a moment. Traveling in weather like this out in the wild was a suicide waiting to happen. I only knew I was still in the camp by the occasional Pony that loomed from the darkness and the light of the campfires.

“Tia!” I called out, but I don’t think anypony heard me over the wind.

Wow it was getting loud…

“Tia!” I called again.

The only response I got was from a green Earth Pony who appeared from the gloom, casting a scowl in my direction as she went on her way.

Calling out wasn’t working.

What else could I-?

Wait! There she was!

I saw the familiar silhouette of my sister pass by a light.

“Tia!” I called, more out of habit than actual effectiveness. She didn’t seem to hear me, but she did stop, talking to somepony I couldn’t see.

I picked up my pace and trotted forward through the snow.

Tia’s familiar pink mane faded into clarity as I approached, along with the form of one of the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies.

“-’s not going to happen Celestia.” the Pony informed my sister. “Leaving now is a dumb idea. The snow is just too thick. I can barely see your sister next to you!” he gestured towards me.

Tia glanced in my direction and jumped slightly.

“Oh Sun and Stars Luna…” she gasped, clutching at her chest with a hoof. “Next time Brickwork has a forge, I’m commissioning a bell for you to wear.”

“I take no responsibility. I was calling out for you.” I informed.

“Oh. I’m sorry Lu, I didn’t hear you.” Tia apologized.

“Sounds like another reason we can’t leave.” I stated sharply.

I may have loved and trusted Tia, but she was not immune to making mistakes.

I just hoped her head was out of her flank enough to still listen to me.

Tia’s ears flicked.

“Tia…” I said softly. “I was barely able to follow you. I wanted to leave too, before Clover showed me her book. But walking out in the woods in this weather? Or marching an army in this? I wouldn’t.”

Tia’s eyes flicked back and forth as she kept her thoughts to herself.

“You made your point.” she finally sighed. “We’ll stay until the storm breaks or one of the Tribes attacks.”

“Thank you Tia.” I bowed my head slightly. The stallion she had been talking to nodded and disappeared into the flurry of snow, to spread the Mayor’s orders.

“Lu.” Tia murmured when he was gone, gripping me by my shoulder with a hoof. “I’m shocked to see you trust strangers so readily.”

“Say what you will about the Ponies I met.” I interjected. “But you can’t deny that something strange is going on.”

“No.” she agreed, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Something strange is going on. But neither of us can truly say what that is.”

“They offered a solution, something other than running away.”

“No, they merely gave a name to a potential problem.” Tia tsked.

“A step towards a solution.” I amended. “The first step in solving a problem is figuring out what the problem is.”

“Then how would you solve this ‘Windego’ problem?” she asked pointedly, but not unkindly.

“I don’t know yet.” I admitted. “You interrupted us before we could start thinking about it.”

“Then until you think of a way to deal with them, or somehow prove to me that they exist, I don’t want to hear about them.”

“Yes Tia.” I said as I felt my ears pin themselves back.

“Good. Now I want you to help keep a weather eye out. The more eyes keeping watch the better. We should be ready to leave at any moment, but you’re right, this weather is awful.” Tia looked up into the blizzard, which was steadily growing worse by the minute.

Fate chose that moment to be delightfully ironic.

A neigh as cold as a Northern gale, echoed over the surrounding landscape like the rattling of chains made from frozen steel.

It was a sound so cold and filled with malice that one simply could not escape from a sudden chill running up their spine.

It was a sound so damnably wretched that it could’ve only come from some sort of primordial revenant.

I dimly became aware of Ponies beginning to panic. All saying something along the lines of “What the buck was that?”

I realized I was painfully clenching my teeth.

“Tia?” I asked, unclenching my jaw.

“Just… Just go and make sure the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies don’t stampede.” Tia sighed. If it was out of frustration or resignation I’ll never know, but I found myself replying all the same.

“R-Right.” I nodded.

We mutually turned away, I didn’t know what Tia had planned, but I could handle the task she had given me.

Keep Ùllahdmaiden from stampeding away into the night?

I could do that.

Right?

I trotted towards the nearest glow in the heavy snowfall.

A few shadows that looked vaguely familiar were busy bustling around the source of the orange light.

“Hey!” I called out as I got close enough to be heard over the wind. “You Ponies alright?!”

“Scared and shitless but otherwise alright!” A stallion, whose name I thought was Stonethrow, answered.

“Great!” I chirped. “Well, not great you’re scared…” I amended, “If you can, try to move closer to the other Ùllahdmaiden Ponies. Concentrate the fire and heat in as small an area as you can.”

“Yes ma’am!” he saluted.

The Ponies around the fire started to discuss with each other on how to move their already lit fire towards the majority of Ùllahdmaiden’s Ponies.

I turned away from the warm fire towards another glow in the falling snow, thoughts churning in my head.

Ma’am? Since when was I a ‘Ma’am’?

Ma’am was something I referred Mares as if I wanted to be respectful.

W-was he trying to be respectful?

Besides Tia, I-I couldn’t remember a time when somepony was 'respectful' to me…

I was used to ‘little goblin’ or ‘loony Luna’ of course.

But ‘ma’am’?

I felt another strange emotion rising in my chest.

I stopped in my tracks, shrouded by shadow and the falling snow, putting a hoof to my heart.

It wasn’t as consuming as… As the situation with Clover… But it was still far more than I was used to.

“Today’s certainly being quite a day…” I murmured to myself, exasperated by the emotional tolls I had undergone in less than an hour.

I pushed the emotion aside and took a deep breath to calm myself.

I could do this.

I went from fire to fire, speaking with whatever Ponies I could and telling them to get closer to the other groups. A few argued or asked why, but my reasoning never changed.

It was already bitterly cold and getting colder.

So cold in fact that when I passed by the wagon I had taken to staying in, I took the opportunity to grab the manticore fur cloak to stave off whatever cold I could.

I tried to stay to the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies, but occasionally I accidentally wandered into the fire light that were surrounded by strange Unicorns and Earth Ponies, even Pegasi once or twice.

I don’t know why I did it, but I invited them to Ùllahdmaiden’s mass campfire anyway. More Ponies in a single place meant more heat. So not only was I helping Ùllahdmaiden, but I was helping these stragglers who might not have a village to gather with.

Not many of the strange Earth Ponies or the Pegasi seemed to listen, the Unicorns did often get up to join though.

However I saw a fair few of them later walking away from the mass of Ùllahdmaiden Ponies in disgust.

But as the night went on, it grew colder and colder by the minute.

My idea of concentrating the heat of the campfires worked. Ùllahdmaiden gathered together from a loose collection of wagons into an area the size of a village’s central market. Individual campfires slowly gathered together, forming a single, large and bright spot in the ever increasing gloom of the falling snow.

As I worked, I briefly passed by the outskirts of where the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies had decided to gather. They had built a great bonfire in the middle, with many smaller fires surrounding it. Ponies gathered between them all, and I was pleased to see quite a few strange Ponies amongst the Ùllahdmaiden Ponies; Both those that I had invited and those that I had not.

I saw Tia occasionally, typically surrounded by Ponies. She seemed to be giving out orders, about what I didn’t know.

Our eyes met a few times and she nodded approvingly.

I worked at my task for several hours

But the relative calm of the admittingly worsening blizzard was broken with a shout.

“Hark! Ponies! We require aid!”

My ears perked when I heard the shout. I had been leading a group of Unicorns towards the gathering, all of the closest fires had congregated, necessitating the need to wander farther and farther. Even in the gathering snow, now up to my shoulders, I had worn down paths in the snow drifts that I used like merchants on their trade routes.

I peered over the mounds of snow, looking for the Pony that had shouted. I didn’t see any obvious culprit, but the many Ponies who I had gathered seemed to gravitate towards the edge of the light, looking over blocks of snow that they had made, both to clear the area of snow and as a sort of makeshift windbreak.

The light was bright enough that I could see them pointing at something.

“Almost there!” I called back to the Unicorns behind me.

The rags they wore reminded me of my early Winters spent in Queensford.

They didn’t say anything, their teeth were chattering too much.

I lead them through a switchback hole in the wall, built so the bitter wind was blocked, but let Ponies inside without having to destroy the structure. I then ushered then towards the nearest bonfire, which they eagerly trotted towards. Several Ponies greeted them with open arms, helping them warm up with physical touch.

I saw the familiar pink and white of Tia trotting towards the crowd of Ponies peering over their windbreak, confusion written on her features.

I waved away a few Ponies who were trying to give me the same cold treatment the recent arrivals got.

“No thank you.” I said to them as I started towards Tia. While I was indeed cold, there could hardly be a Pony who wasn’t, I had been continuously stomping through the snow for what felt like hours.

What I was worried about was sweating.

If you start to sweat in the cold, the sweat will freeze and sap more warmth than you would otherwise lose.

So I stayed towards the outskirts of the warmth, enough to keep the cold at bay, but not enough to drown in the heat.

I heard Tia conversing with somepony on the other side of the windbreak as I approached.

“-On’t understand!” a mare exclaimed from the other side. “You don’t know what’s out here!”

“The only thing I need to understand is that a crowd of heavily armed Ponies wants to come into this encampment!” Tia responded. “A crowd, might I add, that I have no reason to trust won’t kick out at least two thirds of the Ponies already in here!”

I poked my head over the windbreak.

A disorganized crowd of battered and wounded Unicorn soldiers stood, freezing in the snow. Not a few of their number were leaning heavily on their fellows, and I saw more than one Pony who was being carried.

These Ponies wouldn’t be conquering anything.

I felt myself pull my cloak tighter as a particularly cold wind bit through to my bones.

“Tia…” I murmured as I approached my sister from behind, pushing my way past a few Ponies. Tia turned around at my voice.

“Lu.” she acknowledged with a nod.

“Tia look at them.” I nodded towards the Ponies outside. “They won’t be fighting anypony.”

“Lu you know what the soldiers of the Crown have done.” she replied.

“I do.” I agreed. “Which is why I say let them in.”

Tia looked at me as if I had just spoken the maddest words ever uttered by Ponykind.

“If our positions were reversed, they wouldn’t let us in. Unquestionably.” I put a hoof on her shoulder. “So don’t be like them. Be better than the Crown.”

Her grimace fell into merely a slight frown as my words reached her ears.

“I…” she stammered. “I… You’re right Lu…” she sighed, her ears and face falling. “You’re right…”

Tia turned back towards the Unicorns.

“We’ll let you in on one condition!” she called out.

“Anything! Please name it!” the mare replied.

“You give up your weapons!”

“You can bucking have them!” the mare shouted. “I’m quitting the Legion the next time I see Captain Star Gazer!”

Several voices nearby started to murmur to each other.

I glanced over to see the murmuring Ponies were all Unicorns.

I couldn’t say I blamed them.

Being a Legionnaire for the Crown was a contracted commission. You served the crown for ten years, got paid the remainder of the commission, and then ethier renewed your contract or went on your way.

Quitting before your contract was over never happened.

In fact I was pretty sure it was considered treason against the crown to quit the Legion early.

I cast a sideways glance towards Tia, but she had turned to the opposite side and spoke with one of the Ponies over there.

“Tear down part of the wall, let them in, but rebuild it like the other entries.” she said to a Pony who I realized was Brickwork. The stallion nodded and jumped down from the windbreak, talking to several more Ponies.

Tia turned back towards the Unicorns.

“Stay put for a moment! We’ll make you an entrance!” she called out.

“Thank you Miss!” the Unicorn exclaimed below.

Several of the Ponies who Master Brickwork had spoken to could be seen, off to the side, breaking apart a section of the wall, forming a hole that could be walked through. They then stood aside to let the Unicorns pass, who eagerly trudged through the opening.

They willingly hoofed over whatever weapons they had to several Ponies who were waiting.

Tia walked over to the Unicorn who had spoken, as she seemed to be the leader, as she sat down wearily next to a fire.

I trotted after Tia, both because I was curious about the Crown Unicorns, and that I had the feeling Tia would be needing me.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I heard Tia ask the Unicorn.

“Yeah… Sure, but I just want to thank you again.” The Unicorn responded as I came up from behind Tia. She glanced in my direction as she detected movement out of the corner of her eye, but realized it was only me, and returned her attention to the Crown Legionnaire.

“Don’t mention it.” Tia replied, sitting down next to the Unicorn. “But please… We need to know what happened.”

“Uh… Right…” the mare stammered. “I don’t suppose you have any hard liquor do you?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Tia shook her head.

“Shame.” The mare looked down slightly. “It would be easier to tell you if you did.”

“I can’t give you what we don’t have.”

“I know… It’s just…” she sighed loudly, taking off her helmet. “Ok, I’ll do my best.” A crowd of Ponies gathered around us as the mare began her tale. “The evening started as it normally did, soldiers bucking around off duty or glaring across the river at the other two camps. At the time I was getting my dinner from the mess. But then the alarm bells started ringing. Somepony shouted that we were under attack, but when we all rushed to our posts there was nothing out there. The Private on duty swore up and down that there was a… Thing, that charged at him on top of the wall, and that he had fired at it. But that he had missed and accidentally had hit the Pegasi’s encampment.” The Mare licked her lips and looked around. “Are you sure there isn’t any liquor?”

"Please... The story." Tia reminded.

“Right... Right... The Captain was chewing the Private out when the first wing of Pegasi dived-"

She was interrupted by the same chilling, howling, neigh from before.

The mare sat mute in shocked horror for a moment, before she dove to the ground and put her forearms around her head.

"Oh Sun, Stars, Earth, Sky, whatever! They're after me!" she exclaimed.

"Stars above! What is that thing?!" A pony screamed.

The campsite of Ponies collectively flinched as something flew close by overhead, leaving a bone chilling gale in its wake. All of the bonfires flickered wildly as the thing circled above the camp, coming to a hover above the central fire.

It was something out of a nightmare, a nightmare that only vaguely knew what a Pony looked like. Its features were distended and desiccated to the point that the still clearly living entity looked like a corpse. A corpse that had been mummified in the Northern permafrost and only recently freed. Its spectral form aglow with the ephemeral twilight of a blizzard during nightfall.

The drawing of the Windego could've only hoped to capture the horrid equine caricature of the real thing.

And here... We... Go.

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