If trust if a fragile thing, then life can shatter by the gentlest breeze. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had entered the school paper to become journalists, Instead they are forced to slander their friends and family. And now they they are shunned and exiled. Forced to wander the Everfree they start to question their worth, and they start to doubt if their lives ever had any meaning to begin with.
Elsewhere a meteorological anomaly freezes everything in it's path. And attracted to the hatred and grief caused by the Crusaders' gossip, a force unseen for a thousand years begins to resurface.
But this is not a gentle breeze. It is a storm of emotions, a storm of death and a storm of ice, and it is inevitable. For this is their path. A path of ice and snow, hatred and wrath, sin and punishment. The Path of Absolution.
If you proceed any further then you shall witness darkness and ice overtake Equestria as it plunges on the verge of a second ice age and the brink of despair. I hope you are aware that this story won't be bright or cheerful.
Thanks to Sereg, Pond/Posey, Mixolydian Grey, and plainoasis for proofreading and to Swirling Line for the cover art. And special thanks to the good folks on the TvTropes Pony Fanfiction and MLP Live Reactions threads.
This is not a rewrite of "The Path Of Absolution - Forgiveness"