Spirit of Winter 4: The End of the Begining

Day 3 in Equestria

>You are asleep, tomorrow’s winter wrap up, you have to get up early... not cool.
> For now all you can do Is dream.
>Before your eyes lay an endless plain of snow and ice and you not walking, rather you are gliding over the virgin snow as to not sully its purity.
>It feels like you have been crossing the plain for days if not weeks, when you are hit by a cold bitter gale.
> All you can do is pull your collar close and continue with no end in sight.
>The wind gives no sign of faltering, and then you hear it.
> It gives the sound of a wailing man; it is like nothing you have ever heard before in your entire life and it sends shivers down your spine.
> You can no longer continue, the wind chills you to the bone causing you to fall to your knees.
> Slowly you make out words among the ghostly lament.
>”you killed me, you pierced me, you damned me, you killed me”
>You can almost feel your soul being ripped from your chest as you quietly whimper a reply
>”no... no... no... I don’t know you... no... leave me alone… leave me alone!... LEAVE ME ALONE!!”
> At your knees you feel the snow sucking you under
> You try to scream, yet to your horror you cannot.  This does not stop you from trying, all while you do this your face contorts into an expression of horror never know to any living being.
>The abyss now all around you slowly encloses around your body, tighter and tighter it takes hold of you.
> You try to scream once again but you can not.
>The agony you feel seems endless, everything is black and empty.
>But somewhere in the void you see a tiny speck of a light, a trick of the brain?
>No, you see light far off and with it a faint voice.
>Immediately you push yourself toward it, faster and faster you claw your way toward it.
> The closer you get you hear a familiar voice
>”Anon... Anon... Anon”


>Slowly you feel your pain ease and you recognize the voice calling you… it is a pony named Twilight Sparkle.
>Faster and fast you go as the light grows brighter until it completely engulfs you
>Like a bullet from a gun you shoot upright gasping for air.
>You are awake and in Twilights house
> You feel a chill go down your spine as a bead of sweat rolls off your nose.  You’ve never been in a cold sweat before but now here you are
>”A-Anon? Are you alright?”
>You look over wide-eyed eyed at Twilight
Y-ye-yes Twilight I think I’m fine
>To which she immediately embraces you
>”Oh Anon you had me so worried!  You looked simply horrible!  That nightmare must have been awful to have you like that!”
It’s alright… I was just a dream… a bad dream… I’m fine now… I just need to wash up
>Twilight lets you out of the embrace and looks worriedly at you and them hugs you one again
>”Alright... But I don’t think you’re in any shape to help out today”
>You immediately recover after hearing this
What do you mean?!  I have been worse than this.  You should have seen me when wolves had chased me back to my camp and circled my yurt every night until winter had passed.
>Twilight gasps
I’m just going to wash up and I’ll be ready
>”Okay...”


>”Alright here is the vest you’ll have to wear so that everypony knows what your job is”
>She then hands you a brown vest with what looks like the silhouette of a squirrel on the side
>”Considering what you have told me about your experience with animals and how good you say you are with them, the Mayor thought it would be best if you’re given the job of waking up all the animals.”
Experience... right...
>The memory of you skinning and gutting a moose is the first thing you think of when Twilight tells you this.

>Before you leave you decide to bring your trusty bayonet along with you in case of... well anything
>Once again you find yourself remembering the golden advice your grandfather would always give you: “Boy you forget bring bayonet... You never know when you need bayonet... do not argue, bring with you, you be ready for anything.”
>The sun has not come up yet but Twilight has told you that winter wrap up begins as soon as the sun rises.  This a very suspect phrase... she acts like the sun just pops up into the sky.
>You follow Twilight to the town square where pretty much all ponies in town have gathered, all eagerly chatting amongst themselves.
>The ponies scoot away from you as you walk into the crowd
>You overhear a few ponies saying things like "Monster" and "Hairless" among other things that mention how weird you look
>Looking around you see a few ponies glancing at you but not making eye contact, except... wait... It’s that mint pony... and she’s staring at you
>Once again you give your kind smile and wave that seems to be becoming second nature
>You open your eyes from the smile to see the mint pony is smiling like you have never seen anything smile.  To which you respond by waving the mint pony over to you
>What the fuck man; you think, now she’s going to play twenty thousand questions with you
>The mint pony is now standing next to you
>“Um... hi... I’m Lyra.”
I’m Anon
>”uh... look, I’m sorry I acted so crazy a few days ago…”
>You decide it’s best to feign not remembering about how she jumped up and down like some  asshole bigfoot hunter who just found bigfoot
Don’t worry about it; I know I’m rough looking; I don’t blame you for running
>Her ears perk up at this, she seems a little relieved that you don’t remember her crypto zoologist freak out
>“Oh! Yeah you do look a little shaggy, and this face fur makes you look like a grizzly bear”
>She says all this while running her hoof along your beard
>Apparently ponies have no concept of personal space


>You chat with Lyra for a little while longer until you hear over what you think is an intercom a tan pony with white mane and glasses asking for everyone’s attention
>”Attention everypony! Today is the last day of winter which means today we make preparations for spring!  I trust all of you know what to do and for anyone who is new and have any questions, all you have to do is ask our overseers!  Now let winter wrap up begin!”
>Not one second after the mayor is finished speaking the sun rises behind her like something is… wait… oh yeah they have a goddess to raise the sun here… right...
>”Well hey ther Anon!”
>You turn your head to see who is shouting at you
Oh hey Applejack... what job you stuck with?
>”Well this year I’m an overseer, most of tha time my job is to playnt seed, but you know with overseer drawin bein random an all!  I see yer on hibernation detail”
Yea about that... I’m supposed to meet somepony named, Fluttershy?
>“Course ah do!   That Mare happens to be one of mah best friends, cmon I’ll take ya too er”
>Apple Jack then leads you to the edge of town where you see a couple dozen ponies already at work

>Some are pulling plows with other following them and planting seeds as they go
> you walk with Apple Jack until you come to the edge of the forest you walked out of when you first came to Ponyville
>From what you can tell the ponies stuck with hibernation detail are looking for dens and using bells to wake all the woodland creatures up
>”All right Anon, this here’s Fluttershy, she knows all the works about wakin up them animals and she’ll tell ya all you need ta know”
>“um hi...”
Hello there my name is Anonymous, you’re Fluttershy I gather
>“yes...”
“Well do you think you can fill me in on what I’m supposed to do?
>”well... You… um...”

>This shit needs to stop
“Boy I hope I won’t have to wrangle any reindeer today!  Dirty work you know”
>This does the trick; Fluttershy immediately perks up after hearing this
> When in reality all you ever did was ruthlessly hunt and kill caribou for their meat and hide
>“You wrangled redindeer!? Where!?”
Well back in my world I used to work with indigenous people and we used reindeer to help us make our way through the frozen land of Alaska
>”Oh please tell me more!”
Well fluttershy I’d love to tell you more, but how bout I do that while we’re working
>Eager to hear your fictitious story Fluttershy quickly instructs you about what exactly you are supposed to do in order to wake these animals up and feed them so they don’t starve
>Now you need to make your story as convincing as possible

>It has been a few hours since you stated working and the hibernation group has made fast progess
>Fluttershy is in awe as you tell her about how you saved a baby reindeer from the frozen torrent of the Yukon river
Hey Fluttershy are we about through?  I’ve checked every hole in the area and all the animals seem to be awake
>”we’re almost done, I just have to wake up my pet rabbit, Angel”
Well alright then
>Fluttershy stickers her head into a tiny rabbit hole and rings a small brass bell, as protocol dictates
>”Oh Angel? Angel, it’s time to get up.”
>Fluttershy gives a sharp squeak and then backs out of the hole, followed by a very pissed off looking rabbit
>Fluttershy then puts a basket of carrots in front of the rabbit
>”Now come on mr. grumpy pants, I know you’re really hungry, you need to eat up”
>The rabbit simply slaps away the basket and proceeds to run into the nearby forest
Uh, should we do something?
>”Oh Angel bunny’s just being cranky, do you think you could help me go get him?”
Sure no problem

>you’ve only been looking for Fluttershys pet rabbit for about ten minutes and she already showing some signs of panicking
Hey Fluttershy how about we split up, we’ll be able to over more ground
>”Oh… okay”
>You begin to trudge through the snow yelling for a douchebag rabbit like an asshole
>You have not been doing this for not even two minutes until you hear a terrifyingly familiar sound
> It… sounds like… the voice in the wind… from you dream
>You feel you spin tingle and your knees begin to shake
>Your pupils shrink and you begin to sweat
>To your horror you feel your feet slowly begin to propel you toward the noise
>You try to scream but you cannot, your throat is dry and you feel something coiling around your throat

>Slowly and painfully you walk toward the voice of the man in the wind
>Inch by inch you make your way into a small clearing, where you see a very old looking pony hunched over facing away from you
> Suddenly you feel your legs belong to you one more and your voice is yours once again
>Now you are no longer scared, instead you feel worry
>Cautiously you make your way over to the ancient looking pony
>You are unsure of what to say but you say the first thing that comes to your mind
H-hey… are y-you alright?
>He does not reply, you try again this time reaching out to touch his shoulder
Wha-what are you doing out he-!
>Once again your voice is taken away from you and a thief has taken your legs
>Suddenly the old stallion turns toward you
>”Kill me!” he screams
>”Please kill me now!!”
>You being to feel your arm inch toward your waist where you have your bayonet tucked away
>Painfully and slowly you take your bayonet out of your belt and raise it up level with the stallion
> Your voice is yours now
N-no… I ca-c-can’t!
>”Just do it!! Now!! Kill me!!"
>for a brief second you feel as if you can control your arms, but you are not quick enough to react
>You feel the stallions hooves take your hands and plunge your bayonet into his heart
>You feel dizzy as you watch the stallions eyes roll back into his head
>you expect to see blood seeping from his chest
>No... instead you see... snow… he’s turning into… snow
>In the blink of an eye the old stallions entire body turns to snow and melts away, becoming one with the virgin snow bellow
>He is gone... except... His heart… his still beating heart skewered on your bayonet…
>You stare at it for what feels like an eternity, until it turns into a cloud of red dust
>Your senses are returned to you but you can do nothing but scream as you watch the cloud of dust coil around your arm as it travels up your body
> You continue to scream as the red dust seeps into your nostrils mouth and ears
>Now you only know how to scream
>Slowly you feel your body go numb and your vision begins to blur
>You stagger around the clearing before you fall onto your back
>Once again you are met with the void of unconsciousness