- Now there's an idea. An expedition to the crystal forest could work well as a two-part episode for My Little Snowpony.
- >The trees surrounding Pine Ponder's village have grown ill and none of her attempts at remedying them have worked.
- >Heartbroken, she turns to the one pony who might yet be able to help: Cirrus Wisp.
- >There is a place, though it's far from inhabited snowpony lands and the way there frought with danger, where help may be found.
- >A place seldom spoken of for how it tempts the hearts of curious snowponies.
- >The sacred crystal forest - the source of the majestic trees that grace the snowpony lands.
- >Shamans do send for shards of crystal bark and even the clear sap that glints like purest water but that is only done by those experienced in such treks.
- >Pine cares little, since the trees the village rely on need help and cannot wait any longer.
- >Cirrus tells her of a pony to seek among the northern tribes: Shard Shaper, an ancient shaman skilled in the ways of shaping the essence of ice itself.
- >Of course, Pine can't go alone. Her brother is a natural choice given his knowledge of herbalism and healing. But who else?
- >Crackling Fire has experience in navigating both blizzards and the dangers they bring. She'd gladly accompany them, though the younger Tundra Trekkers would have to remain. That far north is no place for fillies, as courageous as they may be.
- >Snow Glide can pull even the most heavily-laden sleigh through the harshest snowdrifts.
- >Ultimately, the fewer they bring, the fewer that'll be put at risk and the less supplies they'll need to bring.
- >The preparations proceed without issue, save for one: Evergreen absolutely will not allow her caretaker to leave her behind in the village.
- >No. She already lost her parents, there's no way she's going to risk losing her m—Pine. Not if she can go with them and do something to stop it.
- >Ultimately, after much discussion, there's nothing else for it. Evergreen's too strong-willed to stay behind and Pine can't take the risk the filly might sneak after them.
- >Hopefully, once they get far enough north, they can leave her in the care of the tribe of Shard Shaper.
- >The Tundra Trekkers offer Evergreen all the advice they can, with Frostbite even offering her cloak.
- >Niveous just asks her friend to please, please don't go. Crackling Fire won't let anything happen to Pine.
- >But it's not a matter of trust, it's a question of guilt.
- >The two exchange a long hug with Niveous giving the filly her scarf, telling her that now she has to come back.
- >So they set off, leaving behind them withering trees and hopeful snowponies.
- >The journey to the north passes without incident, the small group arriving at one of the most northerly villages in the inhabited lands.
- >It's there they meet the shaman, Shard Shaper, that truly is deserving of being called 'ancient'.
- >Too frail to even walk, she rests by the fire of the village's communal hut with a blanket around her.
- >With eyes that've long since glazed over, she smiles at the newcomers upon hearing their quest.
- >Yes, it is a dangerous place but its beauty is unmatched by even the great singing caves of Snowpitt.
- >But if they're to go, mere torches won't be enough to stave off what prowls between those trees.
- >A filly comes to the shaman, carrying two buckets of water on her back.
- >That is when the small group witness it: why the shaman holds the name she does.
- >With the buckets placed in front of her, she leans forward and begins whispering to them.
- >The water burbles and sloshes against the edges of the wood until Shaper brings a hoof to it and, as if she were coaxing a snake, it slides up and over her hoof, hanging in the air past it.
- >Transfixed, the small group from the south stare dumbfounded; Crackling Fire had seen the ice sculptures of the northern tribes and the way they hadn't melted, even sitting by a fire but never had she seen how they were formed.
- >Every now and then, as the shaman pulls more and more water from the buckets, they hear a few words - telling the water to rest, to draw away from the fire and the warmth of her body, and the world. Reminding it of the cool light of the stars and how they glint - oh, does it not wish to shine as they do?
- >All the while, the water draws up and up, lengthening into a frozen rod that—to the amazement of the small group—doesn't so much as drip as close to the fire as it is.
- >Without ceremony, the ritual is done, and the shaman holds the ice in hooves that shortly pass it to a surprised Crackling Fire.
- >Shaper remarks to her of its lightness but also its strength, unmatched even by the steel of the mountain tribes.
- >But it is still a simple rod and so one of the village's ice-smiths must fashion it into a tool worthy of one who would face the land they go towards.
- >It is not a simple or easy task and so she invites them to enjoy the hospitality of her village, until tomorrow when Crackling Fire shall receive what she needs.
- >Between the anticipation of that and her own habit, Fire opts to join one of the watchmares of the village.
- >Snow Glide checks over the provisions and the straps and frame of the sleigh, while Pine Ponder takes a moment to talk to Evergreen.
- >Ultimately, however, the filly's resolve hasn't diminished: she was younger still when the floewolves took her parents from that caravan. No, she won't let them take another from her.
- >And if Pine is going to continue teaching her the ways of the forest, knowing the secrets of the crystal forest is something that can only stand her in good stead.
- >Pine's sleep comes in fits and starts that night. The thought of staring down a floewolf is all the keener here but it matters far less than the thought of one bearing its glittering fangs at Evergreen.
- >It isn't the first time the tears come, or that she kisses the brow of the sleeping filly who presses in closer to her. Nor that she must leave and think.
- >But finds Shard Shaper seated at the edge of the village Pine goes to.
- >It has been so long since she went to the north, to see the crystal forest and delicately take one of the roots.
- >So long since she's seen the sky's great fire shining through the trunks and sparkling needles, or the light of the moon reflected and refracted in colours ne'er seen anywhere else in the land.
- >So very long since she was a filly.
- >Yes, Pine, she was but a filly when she visited that place and saw cold blue eyes dancing among the crystal spires. And she went far less willingly than Evergreen wishes to.
- >But for a young shaman being trained in their ways, for one of the northern tribes, one must be willing always to face the reality of life there.
- >A reality Evergreen had to face far earlier and harsher than most.
- >Shaper shakes her head but smiles - the filly takes after her namesake so much, though. There is such a strength in her, like one of those mighty trees, but she must be allowed to face the harshness of winter to see that she too may weather it and become all the stronger.
- >The next day, an older ice-smith of the village presents the gift to Crackling Fire; an ice spear, worthy of the greatest heroes recounted in the olonkhos. With it, no beast may prevail against her firm hoof and keen eye.
- >She ties it by her side, over her cloak that it may be readied at a moment's notice.
- >Having spoken with another in the village, Pine Needle passes to Snow Glide a pouch of herbs that when brewed in a tea, work wonders to stave off the cold.
- >They'll need it for the next leg of their journey, taking them beyond any settlement where sanctuary may be found.
- >Across the northern sea but not towards another place where far stranger and more ancient things dwell. To the east, towards mountains over which a strange light shines.
- >A land of snow and ice and stone, offering no purchase or mercy for trees to grow. Where even the air itself seems to lie still and fearful.
- >Fire's careful to be sparing with the wood they've brought and the snowponies more often find themselves spreading their cloaks and huddling together in the dark.
- >So close to the mountains, the lights that shine towards the sky can't be seen and the task turns towards follow along the edge and hoping to find a pass.
- >A place where the wind begins to pick up. That carries with it a voice that reaches through fur and coat and flesh, down to shivering bones, that says: leave this place. Turn back. You are not welcome, you are not wanted.
- >Having come so far, though, and warmed by the tea for which wood can be spared to brew, the tired snowponies continue. Now, they follow the wind and are sure that it's carried along from the place they must go.
- >Wind that rises with every step, that carries with it first snow and then stinging shards of ice.
- >Wind that turns from sapping blizzard to howling gale.
- >You are weak! You were not wanted! You have been sent here to perish!
- >Go back and tell them of their folly!
- >Go back and turn their seeds of wickedness upon them!
- >Go back and carry with you the cold!
- >Every word beats against them more harshly than the wind, pulls at their hooves more than the snow, and clings to their hearts more than any fear or doubt.
- >With a final step, Crackling Fire comes to a halt. She can't risk their lives, not even for this. What use is a spear against what can't be seen?
- >Just as she turns about to the others, though, another voice cuts through the wind.
- >Soft, gentle, warm with the love of life.
- >A figure, Fire's sure, stands upon a rock jutting out through the snow but through the blizzard she can see little else of it. Save a long mane that waves on far softer winds.
- >Even so, even against the wind, the voice carries clearly to her.
- >The howl turns to a roar, hooves thundering all about them as it whips back the hood of her cloak and tugs at her mane.
- >Still, the song that comes from that figure in the snow calls out to her.
- >Reminding her of the village at their backs, of every tribe that awaits their return.
- >A voice that sings forth a song the words of which Fire can't understand but which courses through her chest and unseats the claws that grip at it.
- >It gives her the strength she needs to reach to her side, take the spear in her hoof, and cast it forth.
- >With a piercing scream, the winds suddenly die down, the snow abates, and the voice disappears to a whisper and then is gone.
- >Only the ice spear remains, buried in the snow at an odd angle.
- >Panting, Fire steps forth from the group and retrieves the spear, replacing it in the strap at her side.
- >Looking around, there's no sign of the figure that stood on the rock. Only the echo of her voice.
- >Before them, now, lies the pass they'd searched for. From it, light spills and though their hearts and hooves lie tired and heavy, they push onwards.
- >Under hoof, what almost feel like gnarled roots poke through the snow.
- >The feeling turns to realisation the further they go.
- >When the cloud clears off and the moon shines through, the light catches on the crystal roots.
- >Roots that become more common the further through the pass the group threads.
- >With it, the wind picks up again but this time feeling far more natural. It carries with it a humming, like icicles vibrating.
- >As they round down the last of the pass, the sight spreads out before them - the great crystal forest. The spires impossibly sway in the wind as ordinary trees do and the cones that hang from their branches send multi-coloured shafts of light spindling down.
- >Pine Ponder raises her head and her eyes draw wide; the forest of home was a place of peace and comfort but here she could feel the thrum of life that passed among the trees.
- >Though on the last of their strength, the snow pony expedition make their way down to the edge of the wood and make their camp.