Heart of Ice

Heart of Ice

Chapter five: A New Realm

Sub Zero had spent the last hour conversing with his new acquaintances, learning as much as he could about the new land he was in. He had learnt of the four different pony races: unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies and the ruling race of alicorns. He had also learnt of Celestia and Luna being the current rulers of the kingdom of Equestria.

"What is our current location then?" Sub Zero asked Twilight as they walked out of the hospital doors and into the street.

"This is Ponyville, the bestest town in all of Equestria!" Pinkie proudly proclaimed, with a unnaturally large grin. Sub Zero raised his eyebrow at her.

'I had best keep an eye on that one.' He thought. He looked around the street before him. Aside from the strange looks he was getting from passers by, the town looked rustic and peaceful. The houses and shops all had thatched roofs and were all quaintly decorated with flowers and vibrant paint schemes.

"Where did you say we were headed to?" He asked.

"Back to the library to wait for the princesses," Twilight started to explain, "I sent them a letter when we took you to the hospital and I'll need to send them a new one to tell them you are awake."

"Very well. Lead the way." He said, motioning his arm forward.

The walk through town was uneasy one. The townsfolk had almost comical reactions to the imposing figure of Sub Zero. Many just stared wide eyed at him, many just turned and ran, screaming all the way. One particularly strange reaction was one from a mint green unicorn who simply looked at him, made an excited squeak and ran, shouting something about 'hands'. Sub Zero ignored the gazes of the ponies and pressed on. The group did not speak much and any conversation was only between the ponies, each of them speaking in hushed tones. Eventually, they all stopped in front of what seemed like a giant oak tree. Upon second glance, Sub Zero realised that this tree had been made into a home as it had a door, windows and even some balconies.

"Here we are," Twilight said to him "Golden Oaks Library."

Twilight opened the door with her magic and Sub Zero stepped inside, having to duck under the frame of the door. Once he was inside, the first thing he noticed was the rows upon rows of books lining each wall of the library. There was a set of stairs on the far left leading to the library's upper level. He noticed that the floor, ceiling and bookshelves were all carved from the wood of the original tree. A large wooden bust of a regal looking horse rested on a table in the middle of the room. There was a large scorch mark in the left of the room, Sub Zero looked at this and turned to Twilight.

"That's where you landed when you teleported here." She explained to him, knowing what he was about to ask her.

"I am sorry about the damages to your home, Twilight Sparkle." Sub Zero apologised, feeling somewhat responsible for the damages.

"It's fine, Spike will be able to clean it up, I should go wake him up and..." She said searching for the right word.

"Warn him?" Sub Zero said, simply.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about this, it's just that you will probably scare the life out of him." Twilight said apologetically.

"I understand, go and wake your friend." He said to her, this put her more at ease.

"While I do that, feel free to sit down over there." She said, motioning to stools and table, in the right corner of the room.

Sub Zero nodded and made his way over to the nearest stool, as Twilight headed up stairs. He eyed it cautiously, as it was far too small for him and he was wondering if it would just break upon him sitting on it. He decided to take a gamble and sat down. The stool groaned in protest, but it held firm, just barely. The ponies all sat around him on the table all giving him looks of caution and curiosity. They clearly all had dozens of questions they wanted to ask the assassin.

"You all look as if you have questions to ask. Ask them." He said to them.

This seemed to do the trick, as the white unicorn, Rarity spoke up.

"You told us your name, but not what you are, care to enlighten us?" She asked.

"I am human, and I hail from Earth-Realm. I was raised in the Lin Kuei temple, I lived there for as long as I can recall." He told them.

"What's a Lin Kuei?" Pinkie questioned.

Sub Zero pondered answering this for a second. These ponies did not trust him enough already and he needed their help to return to Earth-Realm. How would they react to him telling them he was an assassin? He decided honesty would be the best decision for this situation, as any lies would further decrease their trust in him.

"The Lin Kuei are an eight hundred year old clan of the finest assassins in Earth-Realm. I was counted amongst them before I left."

He predicted their reactions spot on. The looks he was getting from Rainbow Dash and Applejack only became sterner and Fluttershy began trembling slightly.

"Why did you leave?" Rainbow further interrogated, distrust clear in her voice.

This brought a slight sadness to his heart, as he thought about his leaving of the Lin Kuei. The people he called family had turned on him as soon as he departed for Outworld to find Shang Tsung. He thought of Sektor and Cyrax, who had been forced against him by the Grandmasters sickening plan. He thought of Smoke, his closest friend, who had been captured by the Lin Kuei. He was now surely a cyborg or dead. He finally thought of Bi-Han, who's murderer was still left unpunished.

He let out a sigh and finally spoke to them.

"I did not approve of the path the clan was treading." He said, trying his best to keep sadness out of his voice. He did not have to tell them everything.

This answer however, did not satisfy some of the ponies.

"And what in the hay is that supposed t' mean?" Applejack blurted out, wanting to pry as much information from what she considered was Equestria's latest threat.

Sub Zero gave her the coldest look his icy blue eyes could muster. Applejack immediately shrunk in his gaze.

"Applejack! It is not polite to pry into people's personal lives like that." Rarity scolded Applejack, her manners never failing her, even in the face of someone like Sub Zero.

"A-Ah'm mighty sorry Mr. Sub Zero." Appejack apologised, feeling slightly ashamed of her outburst.

"It is fine," Sub Zero said, still feeling slightly bothered about it. "You do not know what you are speaking of."

Pinkie was the next to question him.

"Why are you called Sub Zero?" She asked him, curiously "That seems like a weird same for somepony. No offense."

Sub Zero inwardly scoffed. His name was strange? He glanced at Pinkie and looked at her carefully.

'Damned thing isn't scared in the slightest.' He thought. He eyed a jug of water with several cups around it.

"I could demonstrate, if you so wish." He spoke to the group as a whole.

They all shared a look before nodding to him. He reached to the jug of water and placed it in front of him. He simply dipped his finger into the water and the moment his finger breached the surface of the water, the entire jug and it's contents froze solid. The ponies stared in awe at his power over ice.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Rainbow asked, a slight bit of admiration in her voice.

"I was born with this power, the Lin Kuei taught me how to use it." He said while pushing the jug in front of everypony to examine.

Steps could be heard coming down stairs, signalling Twilight's return with Spike. Sub Zero rose as Twilight entered the room first, with a large, infantile looking, purple and green bipedal lizard in toe.

"So where's this new guy Twi-" The lizard cut himself off as soon as Sub Zero came into his view. Sub Zero bowed slightly to the lizard. The lizard only blurted out something in complete gibberish before passing out. The ponies all jumped up to make sure he was okay, but Sub Zero stood back for a second and looked at Twilight.

"I suppose you were right."