Frost Bite

    (Thank Spike120812 for helping pure edit.)

Grand glowing halls, with floors and walls that shined in the bright sun, which spewed its marvelous rays of light into the room, making it look as if the entire thing was a beautiful gem, never before touched. (With the amount of cleaning that was done, it was just about true). There were portraits of just about anything, form fields, to ancient pony generals, of the alicorn age. It was a splendorous thing. Room to room, they all had the same style, but each its own unique design.

    Frost Bite looked in each, but didn’t see Cadence. He then had to think. The spell only had a small amount of time before it would wear off, and he didn’t want his alicorny-ness to be discovered.

    Oh, sorry, I should have told you, but earlier he hid his jacket in a janitors closet, and activated his invisibility spell.

    Now continuing on, the young alicorn peeked in and out of rooms. The kitchen to the throne room, there was no sign of Cadence. He did see Shining Armor, and wished to contact him, but that would mean that he had to disable his invisibility spell, in front of the war committee of the Crystal Kingdom. So instead he slipped him a note, but made sure he didn’t read it until the meeting was over. He only had a few minutes, and had to go get his jacket. It bore the royal symbol of Equestria, so he was allowed around the castle, even though it wasn’t known that he existed. (You just don’t ask questions about the royal symbol).

    He needed a more permanent spell which could conceal him, and make him just like an average pony, and not some alicorn. He hit up the spell section of the library, where he did find one. It would disguise him as a pegasus. That he had no problem with, for he loved flying, and feeling the nice breeze tickle his feathers. Twas an experience he wouldn’t forget for anytime soon, or far, the first time flying outside, other than an old courtyard.

    Well, back on track. He found the spell, and went and tried it out in the bathroom, it worked, with flying colors. He looked like himself, just with no horn, and regular eyes. They were dull though. The disable spell was simple, and he had both spells imbedded in his memory for good.

    He walked back out, and you know what, the very thing which he had been searching for for like two or so hours, was right there in front of him. Cadence was surrounded by a whole crowd of nobles, and upper class ponies, of the crystal empire. He wanted to run up to her, and give her a big hug, but then he remembered his mission, and even though it was the final objective, it wasn’t the purpose of the mission. He had to wait, until she was less crowded with ponies.

But, Shining Armor was with her, and whispering something in her ear. No doubt it was about him. But he chose not to reveal his presence just yer. He wanted to see what they would do. In his note, he made it perfectly clear that any suspicion of any of them spilling his whereabouts, would end in a severe punishment.

Word for word, ‘ I will put you in ice so thick, the full power of the sun couldn’t get you out.’

So, anywho, he watched. Cadence’s eyes widened, and her pupils dilated. It wasn’t a shock to him. He expected the reaction which was happening. Well, nopony can predict accurately what will happen, but, this was in the range of what he was expecting. He pretended to stuff his face in a book. He listened carefully. He could hear their whispers, if he concentrated hard enough.

‘What should we do?’ That was Cadence.

‘ Tell Celestia, what else?’

‘What about the threat?’ she asked.

‘ Don’t believe him, he can't do that.’

‘ He is more capable for that than I am, and far more capable than you.’

“Cadence is closest to the answer,” Frost Bite didn’t open his mouth, but instead, put it into their minds, as to not give up where he was.

Shining Armor looked about, and then rested his eyes on the young pegasus with his face stuffed into a book. “We have to get alone, there are pegasi colts in here. We can’t let this get out of control.”

“ What makes you think that it’s controllable? For all you know, I’ve told everypony who I am, and showed them myself. I haven’t, but you must understand that you don’t have as much control of the situation as you’d like to think.” He put in. “ After all, I had to get passed Celestia to get to where I’m at now.”

Cadence’s jaw dropped at the realization of that. How else would he have gotten out, unless he could rival Celestia’s spell?

She shuddered with fear, secroitely. She turned to Shining, and gave him a look, of we need to get this outta our system, which means tell Celestia. Frost Bite had tuned out for that exchanged glance, as something had gained his attention. Some guards, escorting a certain pony, with the royal Equestrian symbol.

“Speak of the devil,” Cadence said, shocked at the timing of this arrival. And by the looks of her face, she was here about Frost Bite, as well. “Auntie, he’s here, he’s...”

“I know. I followed him. Keep it down, officialy, were just catching up,” Celestia said, in a tone, which Cadence had never heard her use.

Frost Bite looked at the alicorns before him. She couldn’t have followed him. The guard couldn’t have told, for he was taken care of, before his mission was found out. The only way she knew, is if somepony had told, but nopony but him knew. It was too early to tell. Not enough time, unless, shining sent word straight away, and it was spike...

Frost Bite knew how to tell if he was here. He searched the castle, up and down. The biggest library, to the smallest bookshelf. He couldn’t find her. Princess Twilight was very much into books, as he recalled. He then remembered her story’s, only a few nights before, about Flash Sentry. He now knew where she would be.

He galloped down the hall, finding his way around the parts of the castle which were un-explored. Luckily, Flash was nearing the main hallway, with you know who right next to him.

Flash was currently being informed about him no doubt. There were soldiers around him, looking for Frost Bite. Frost Bite couldn’t stand it.

Celestia herself was looking for him, the Equestrian armed forces were looking for, and now the Crystal empire was looking. There were too many pony’s here. He had to leave.

But first, he needed to see Shining. He turned around, went off in a gallop.

There was only one thought in his head, and it was, ‘Shining Armor.’

Small crowds of snooty rich pony’s parted, at the sight of him, as they figured he was either mad, for running indoors, or in urgent need of help, or something along those lines.

He turned left, and right, upside down, and rightside up. The grand, shiny rock of a castle, had outsmarted him, to protect it’s master. The interior was a maze to those who didn’t know their way out, or around. He couldn’t keep going like this. He needed to just go, before Celestia saw him. She would most likely be able to tell, for the cloaking spell he was using, was rather juvenile.

He rounded a corner, to see grand sparkly doors, with an exit to the castle, as grand as the exterior. Fresh air never seemed so nice, well, of course it had, but for the time, it had never been so nice.

The white puff balls in the sky, floated about in the breeze, aware, but uncaring of what was unfolding before their eyes. It wasn’t anything that they seemed to care about. All they did, was wait until the pegasi needed them, and then dump rain, or snow, or ice, or even an every now and then thunderbolt.

Frost Bite had an inner longing to go outside, and fly around, and just leave. But what kind of a pony would let such an injustice get out, and not at least try to bring reconciliation in their own selves with the other pony. No pony, not even Celestia herself.

    He looked away from his inner longing, and turned toward the closet door next to him. He peeked in, and there was his jacket. But, the door wasn’t open earlier, in fact, there wasn’t a door next to there before. It must have been shut, besides, Celestia did come in from somewhere. He grabbed his jacket, and slipped his wings through the holes, which were cut for him.

    Frost Bite disabled the spell, cloaking him as a pegasus. His eyes didn’t have the frost on the for a second, as if allowing him to see freedom, potentially for the last time. He looked away, and the frost closed back in over the heavenly reflections.

    He wanted them to all see him. Because if Celestia was here, then it meant he was most likely not going to get away. So, if he was going down, he might as well go down with screams, and shouts.

    He walked back along the path he had come through to get back to his jacket. He walked, slowly, and as calm as he could. He didn’t want to alarm anypony, anymore than another alicorn, besides the three known ones walking around would alarm somepony.

    He rounded a corner, and bumped into a figure. He fell to the ground, and heard an ‘uhp’ come from the other pony.

    He looked up, and then his heart sank into his gut, and fear gripped his soul, and shook it ravishly. Celestia was there before him.

    Shocked herself to see him, not hiding or even disguised, Celestia didn’t make a move. She knew him to be much smarter, and less disgraceful.  She looked up and around, at the scenery. Somepony’s which were around her, gasped at the sight of another alicorn. She gave a warm, but obviously fake, at least for Frost Bite, smile. Behind her eyes, was rage in the flesh, and it was clawing it’s way out as best it could. But for as many years as she had been alive, she had learned to stop it, but that just stopped it, not relieved it.

    He fringed up, and cowered away from her. The fear that was wrangling him by the neck was now stabbing him. But what kind of a colt shows fear. He relaxed his body position, and stood up on his hooves, which felt like they were going to wobble off to celestia knows where. He didn’t speak, just looked back into the eyes of the alicorn, and saw a hint of fire behind her eyes.

    Celestia looked back at the nobles, as Frost Bite un-shriveled, and began his trot around the party. Everypony gave stairs, of shock and awe. She too, couldn’t help but be shocked, but only for different reasons.

    By the time that everypony got over the sight, and began to discuss the anomaly, Frost Bite was long gone, and had rounded several corners. Celestia was now in for it. Luck had given him a by, and Shining armor was only the next room away, every time a room came up with no Shiny.

    After about a few, no, an hour, Frost Bite found Shining, talking with Flash Sentry. They were speaking in hushed tones, like they were hiding something.

    “No need to whisper, I just walked passed the paparazzi, and now, or at least soon, word of another alicorn will be out,” Frost Bite said.

    Shining was shocked, he recognized the voice behind him, and was almost afraid when he turned around and saw that it was him. “Frostie, how’s it going?” he asked.

    “Good, until you had spike tell Celestia I was here.”

    Flash began to back out of the room, as he didn’t like how this was going. Though it hadn’t recently happened, nopony would like to be on the wrong end of an angry alicorn horn.

    “Oh, well, I had to, if you want to be here, I mean,” Shining began to shudder, as he recalled what the note said would happen.

    “Well, I guess you're shaking because of the note. Disregard it, for I can’t hurt you. I am too young. But I want you to know, I can no longer trust you, and now that I can’t go back, you’ll have a lifetime to think of what you did,” Frost Bite mumbled the last part.

    Shining needed to keep him there. If he could hold off until the royal guard had gotten there, He’d be safe. Plus, he figured Celestia would still be trying to can him back up.

    “Wait, let me make it up to you!” he exclaimed. “ Can I do anything at all?”

    “I don’t know, can you?” Frost Bite got amused at the stupid, and pointless plea. Shining’s horn glowed, and he mumbled some words which Frost Bite didn’t catch.

    “What did you say?” Frost Bite asked.

    “Oh, nothing, please, come with me,” Shining said, in a rather disarming voice.

    Frost Bite was aware that it might be a trap, and was cautious, but he followed.

    Shining rounded some corners, and spoke, some about him maybe, if he’d allow himself, in the castle, with him and Cadence. He showed him a large bedroom, with curtains that were grand and dark. Like everything here, they sparkled. There was a nice bouquet of flowers sitting on a crystal coffee table. There was a nice bed, and great wool blankets, which looked as if they were just shouting, ‘JUMP IN.’

    Somepony came up to Shining, and whispered something into his ear, and the young alicorn couldn’t make it out. But it wasn’t okay. It now couldn’t be good. He listened in as best as he could, and only caught two words. ‘Be ready...’.

    Shining shook his head, and turned to Frost Bite, and then said, “ Something big has just come up, I must go,” he looked over at the pony. “ He will stay here, and wait for me to get back.

    Something was off, Shining wasn’t lying, this he could tell, but something was off, about the whole thing. Shining went off at trott’s pace. There much time before the sound of shinee's hoof step echo’s stopped, and him and the other pony in armor was there. It looked like the royal Crystal Empire armor, from design.

    (side track, but each armor had a different look, of this Frost Bite knew. It was also made of a different metal, and had certain, shall we say, attitude to it.)

    Frost Bite flapped his wings a little to get the wind into them, as he stood there, silent, awkwardly silent. The other guard scratched his nose, but beside that there wasn’t much more than shifting movement.

    After about five minutes or so, three guards came up. They stopped and saluted at the other. He turned to them. One of them winked, and Frost Bite saw this, but didn’t fully recognize what it was. He was paying attention to something else. Silent hoofbeats, like somepony’s trying to sneak around.

    The guard’s all turned, with a clank of their armor, against the tip of their spears.

    “We're here to escort you to Shining Armor, and Cadence,” One of them said.

    Frost Bite took a few steps back. He realized something. Their armor had the exact same decor, or design as the Crystal Empire armor. But something didn't match. The sound of the clank. It was the sound of Iron, the tip of the spear, but the armor, it wasn’t iron, like the Crystal Empire standard issued armor.

    “Sir, please come with us, we're taking you to Shinin...”

    “Shut up, you're lying. Nopony addresses a child as ‘SIR’. Another thing is He,” Frost Bite pointed at the guard, of which the awkward silence was shared with.

    “Yes,” the awkward moment guard addressed, “ It is rather peculiar.  I didn’t, there were certain hoof motions, and understood signals. Plus, this is a rather new division of service, so forgive their, undisciplined actions.”

    They began to approach him, at a marching speed.

    “Maybe, but there’s still one thing, that’s not iron armor, it’s brass, Equestrian!” He exclaimed, with boldness in his voice.

    They all looked at each other. Then back at Frost Bite.

(If you're squeamish, skip to the three stars:( )

    One guard took a step, and the others jumped for him.  Frost Bite raised his wings, to well above his head, and his horn flashed a bright light. It all happened quick.

    The wise guard who only took a step, opened his eyes, cowered in a corner, due to the blinding flash. The other three lay there, on the ground, frozen into blocks of ice. One of their spears was splintered, and there was a slight blood trail leading out the door.

***

Frost Bite was hurt, with the end of a spear sticking in, just beneath his left wing. He was moving as quick as he could, but the blood trail didn’t spread out. Infact, it thickened.

    He felt weak, but he pushed on. He had to get out of there. He threw the hood of his jacket, now stained with blood on the left side, over his head, as to hide his horn, as best as he could. But it didn’t take a genius to tell it was him, for somepony would have dropped from blood loss from the amount of blood he had lost.

    He couldn’t keep going. He pulled off to a side room, where he interrupted a small auction. He didn’t care of the eyes now staring at him. Somepony vomited when he saw the blood dripping from under his wing. The pain wasn’t like he imagined it, getting stabbed. It just felt funny. He grabbed the splintered wood, hanging on to the iron tip, and took in a deep breath. Luckily, it went in, between his rib cage, and didn’t break any bones.

    He closed his eyes, and jerked his head, away from his body. The pain was strong, strong enough to knock somepony, not fighting for their existence, and freedom, out. His head started spinning, and he felt dizzy. But he couldn’t stop, for the sound of a plethora of hoove’s echoed down the hall, and armor clanked. He turned back, to see the auctioneers, all shocked. One threw some vase at him, which missed horribly, and shouted, “Get outta here!”

    That started up a riot, of rich pony’s. It would have humored anypony else, but it was drawing too much attention to him.

    He turned out of the room, and noticed the blood splatter on the wall. ‘Is that me?’ he thought, as he galloped down the hallway, looking for the door, where he had seen his jacket. The sound of armor and hooves clanking echoed down the hall, as Frost dashed as fast as he could. He didn’t want to fall, least he not be able to get up.

    The grand doors, still open, now revealed darkened clouds, like before a severe storm. Frost Bite closed his eyes, and his horn glowed. A light blue beam shot up into the air, and into the clouds.

    He galloped, until he was just to the grand doors. But there was a golden aura around them, and they slammed shut, revealing Celestia. At first, her face was that of a grim nightmare. But when she saw the blood, she lightened up. “What happened?” she asked, in a worried, motherly tone.

    Frost Bite didn’t bother to answer, and he instead opened up his wings, and attempted to fly. He went up, but came back down, with a loud thud that echoed, down the hallways. It was dramatic enough, that Celestia came over, and knelt down beside him. “Hang on.”

    She lost focus of the door, and focused on Frost Bite, for a moment.

    Frostbite's horn glowed bright, and temporarily blinded Celestia. He came up to his hooves, and opened the door. From there, nopony else in the castle saw him. He dashed down, as a heavy storm began to hit. Wind howled, and snow drenched the castle. It wasn’t supposed to be snow, but the pegasi didn’t stop for some reason. Frost Bite was invisible in it, and nopony could see him. He took one last look back at the castle, before it disappeared behind the gusts of wind and snow.

    His blood trail became buried, as the storm ravaged on. This was a blizzard, which froze the blood from his wound, which in the end may have saved his life..

    He got to the station just before the train left, and got onto it. The blizzard would prevent all travel. He would have until the clouds ran out. He stopped holding back the magic, which seemed to be trying to ease out of him. Had his car of been not empty, every pony would have gotten covered in frost. As if it all exploded out of him.

    The Frost was so much so, that it leaked out of the windows, and concealed the ground which was passed by the train. The train ran on, and Frost Bite had six hours till he got to where it was headed. Horseshoe Bay.