Act I: Upheaval
What will eventually be called the Kingdom of Equestria, during the end of the Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth Pony conflict…
It was winter. It was always winter. The Pegasi race hadn’t opened the clouds in centuries. The snow that covered the ground had been there for as long as anypony could remember. Many hoped this would change now that a peace summit had been called among the leaders of the three races. And it would, once all of pony kind removed one last threat to the possible peace. Unicorn magic rained down from the frozen hillside, blasting at the retreating targets. Said targets were all out running in the opposite direction from the horned equines. But where one would assume to hear the clop and thunder of various hooves, in their stead were the near silent, barely audible pitter patter of paws thudding against the white landscape.
Hundreds of wolves retreated, running as fast as their legs would carry their bodies away from the continuous magical spouts and occasional Pegasus bombing.
Two wolves in particular, lagged slightly behind the rest of their race. A chocolate brown wolf with several crimson bandages covering her front left leg and shoulder was being pushed/carried by a slightly larger, dark grey wolf. Both were clad in steel armor, with red sashes wrapped around their neck and flowed down their backs.
“Pegasi and Unicorn working together?” The brown one panted. “Our alliance with the Earth Ponies won’t last against air superiority and magic.”
The dark grey one growled lowly. “Who do you think tipped the Pegasi and Unicorns off about the locations of all our camps?”
The chocolate wolf stopped, to look into her comrades eyes. “The Earth ponies betrayed us?”
The grey wolf nudged the other to keep moving. “And now our entire race is on the retreat. They’ve been chasing our fall back line for miles. It’s pretty clear what they want. We’re being banished. They’re exiling us from this land. It may be a frozen piece of dragon dung, but it’s still our home.” He looked behind him as he as he started to increase his pace, staring at the land behind him. His eyes locked onto Central Peak, a huge frozen talon jutting from the ground, its waterfall long frozen.
“Why? What did we do?”
“WE didn’t do anything.” The grey growled angrily. “They probably just decided they wanted allies that eat the same food. And after all we did for them, ungrateful equines. We must get through the Everfree wood, to give us some cover from the bombings. Then from there, the Commandents must decide where we-”
Suddenly a blue burst of light impacted the ground in front of the two canines. The ground shook and a small chasm opened in the ground. The grey wolf rammed the chocolate one to the side at the cost of himself slipping down into the hole.
“NOOO!” The she-wolf cried as she ran to the side of the pit.
“Femina! I’m alright. Go on, I’ll catch up.” The male wolf called up.
“But-”
“Go! You can’t lag behind the rest of the Great Pack. Those who fall behind will stay behind. Femina, I’ll be fine!”
Femina looked hesitant, looking to the retreating forces and back to her comrade.
“That is an order soldier! Go!”
Femina nodded slowly, her eyes closing. “May the Moon who gives us strength give just a bit more to you.” She turned and ran.
The grey male smiled as his comrade left, and then quickly grimaced. “Okay, now how am I gonna get outta here?”
He lost track of time as he continued to attempt to get out of the magic made ditch. He tried running right up the side, rebounding off the opposite wall, nothing worked.
“Okay, I may be in a bit of trouble here.”
“I think I might have to agree with you on that one, mongrel.”
Looking up, the canine saw the rim of the chasm was lined with a myriad of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. The leader, a deep purple unicorn stallion smirked haughtily down at him.
“No heroes amongst you flea-bitten mutts are there?” He jabbed at the trapped wolf.
“No more than there is amongst you prick heads, Unicorn.” The grey replied with distaste.
“Oh we got a smartflank over here boys.” The unicorn countered, grinning. “You know, in your current situation, it might be a bit more prudent to say…beg. Beg like the dog you are.”
“Over my dead body Equine.”
The unicorn smirked. “You know what always bothered me most about you dogs? The fact that no matter how cold it’d get, while my unicorns were freezin’ their flanks off, you Legion mongrels kept coming right at us. That fur of yours kept you all nice and toasty didn’t it. So you know what I’m gonna do boys?” He asked his men, who all chuckled menacingly.
“I Think I’m gonna have this dog know what it means to be cold. Let’s put that fur of his to the test.” Cobalt light formed around his horn and he unleashed on the trapped canine.
The grey wolf was bombarded with magical energy, and for the first time in his life, felt the claws of cold grip his body. The unicorn leader didn’t stop till the hole was filled with the magical ice. Smirking the unicorn powered down his magic. “Freeze in there for eternity Canine.” He muttered, spitting on his handiwork.
“Sir?” A younger unicorn of his troop said questioningly. “Are we not killing the cursed carnivore?”
“Kill him? Whatever for cadet? He surly isn’t getting out any time soon.”
“But, if one of his comrades were to dig him out…”
“Nonsense. We are driving these predatory plague creatures out of these lands and the lands beyond these lands, and the lands beyond those. And even if we missed one or two, it would take a very powerful unicorn to undo the ice I created. It won’t melt in the heat of the sun, that is if the pegasi hold their end of the bargain, and open up those damn clouds.”
“What if a unicorn finds him and frees him?”
“Even if such a traitor with enough magical power to undo my ice existed, son do you have any idea how far out into the Styx we are? There isn’t any kind of pony civilization for miles. This is backwater country nopony would ever live out here.”
“Then ponies started comin’ to our farm from far and wide just to get a taste of my zap-apple jam. Some even decided to stay. And before we knew it, we had ourselves a nice little town with all sorts of ponies.”
Thousands of years later, in the town of Ponyville.
Ooooooh it is such a nice day! Twilight thought as she stepped outside. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, all in all it was a gorgeous day.
Twilight had managed to pull herself away from her studies because of the weather. Days as good as today were a rarity. Speaking of which, Twilight noticed Ponyville’s resident fashionista staring annoyed at the ground. Curious, and slightly hoping nothing was wrong, Twilight ventured over to her close friend.
“Hey Rarity. Something the matter?” She asked cheerfully.
“Oh hello Twilight. No nothing serious, just… curious.” Rarity said distractedly.
“Curious how?” The purple unicorn questioned.
“Well… you know my jewel detection spell correct? Well I was on my way to the spa when it went off, very faintly I might add, right around here. It took me at least twenty minutes to just narrow it down to here. There is definitely something down in the ground right here.”
“You’re sure?”
“Quite certain. The detection is faint, almost non-existent, but it’s definitely there.”
“Well, let’s see if there’s something down there. SPIKE!” Twilight yelled.
A small purple/green blur sped out of the tree library over to the two lady ponies. “What’s up Twilight, and…R-Rarity.” The little purple dragon exclaimed.
“Oh my dear little Spikey-Wikey. I seem to have found…something right here under the ground with my jewel detection spell. Would you be a dear and dig it up for me please?” Rarity asked, her eyes doubling in size as she gave Spike the best pouty face she could give.
Spike’s heart swelled at the chance to prove himself to his beloved. “Your wish is my command milady.” The baby dragon leaped onto the indicated area and delved into the earth, a spray of dirt erupting from the ever growing hole.
“What in the hay is goin’ on here?” A familiar southern drawl asked.
“Hello Applejack, hello Fluttershy.” Twilight greeted. “Rarity thinks she may have found something underground.”
“Right here? In the middle a’ Ponyville?” The orange earth pony asked.
“Strange isn’t it? Spike’s digging it up as we speak.”
“OH! Can I help? I wanna help!” A mass of pink shouted over as she sprinted over to the others.
“Thanks Pinkie Pie. But I think Spike can handle it.” Twilight answered with an amused smirk.
“A-are you sure? I mean, not that I think you’re wrong or anything, but the last thing we want is Spike to get tired.” Fluttershy’s meek little voice worried.
“Hey, what’s all the hub-bub?” Rainbow Dash flew down to the group, eyebrow cocked in interest.
“Rarity thinks she found a super-secret gemstone hidden away under Ponyville!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“A super-secret gem huh?” The cyan flier asked, her interest piqued.
“Not quite Rainbow Dash.” Rarity interrupted. “To be frank, I’m not sure what I’ve found. I just know something is down there.”
“Uh, hey girls? I think Rarity’s spell might be broken.” Spike called up from the hole.
“What makes you think that Spike?” Twilight asked looking into the hole.
Inside at the bottom, condensed, foggy air pooled around Spike’s feet. “You’re never gonna believe this Twilight. It’s ice.”
“Ice?” The mane six said simultaneously.
“But that’s impossible. It’s summer. How in the…unless…” Twilight fell into thought. “Spike, I want you to jam your tail as hard as you can into the ice.”
THUD
“What next?” Spike called up.
“Try to pull it out now.”
The girls listened to Spike grunt and growl, but there was no sound of the tail being pulled free. “I can’t. It’s stuck all of a sudden.”
“Just as I thought. Its magic ice!” Twilight said.
“Magic ice?” Rainbow dash asked.
“Ice formed by elemental magic. That would explain why it hasn’t melted away.”
“Uh, so how am I gonna get outta here?” Spike called up, worry in his tone.
“Hold on Spike,” Twilight said, concentrating on her magic.
The purple unicorn's horn glowed brightly, her face twisted in concentration. Suddenly, the ground slowly ripped apart as Twilight pulled Spike up and with him the giant ice ball.
Releasing her magic, Twilight released an exhausted breath. It's not every day you have to pull a giant ice globe dug in like a tick from underground, your only leverage being a baby dragon whose tail was stuck in said ice globe.
"I'm still stuck Twilight! And I can't burn things with my fire yet! Oh man, I'm gonna be stuck here forever!" Spike wailed.
"Calm down Spike. I'm going to undo the ice spell, and it'll start to melt." Twilight said, "I would never put you in any danger I couldn't undo." Her horn started glowing again, and a warm red bolt shot from her horn and into the globe. Slowly, the globe started shrinking. Spike was quickly freed, seeing how his tail was only a few inches in.
"So it wasn't a super secret gem, it was a super secret snowcone?" Pinkie questioned.
"Yea. What the heck is a giant block of magical ice doing under Ponyville!?" Rainbow shouted.
"How old do y'all think it is? Ah' mean, it must be pretty old if no one knew it was here all this tahm'." Applejack theorized.
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "I don't know but-"
Her sentence was interrupted when Fluttershy gasped quite loudly (highly unusual) and sprinted toward what was left of the ice block.
"Fluttershy, darling. What has you-"
Rarity's sentencenever finished for all six ponies jaws dropped as the ice broke away to reveal some kinda furred creature that was twice their size, in armor with a red sash. Fluttershy was panicking over the ceature, examining it.
"What. The heck. Is that thing?" Rainbow dash asked, mouth still agape, eyebrows still in the stratosphere.
"It looks kinda like...a really big...Winowna" AJ said slowly.
"It's not a Winowna, its a guy." Pinkie said.
"No sugar, Ah' mean he looks like a big...dog. In armor. In a ice cube that was hidden under our town."
"Oh my goodness." Fluttershy hyperventilated, "Is he okay? Is he...is he..."
"No, he isn't dead Fluttershy. The magic of the ice must have preserved him somehow."
"And look!" Rarity pointed. Two gem adorned the creatures shoulder plates. "Those must have been what triggered my gem finding spell."
Spike walked over to the creature's muzzle. "So...what exactly is it?" he asked poking its nose with his claw.
"Spike!" Twilight groaned. "It's a living creature. Don't just poke him."
"Aw c'mon Twilight. It's not like he's awa-"
The creatures body jolted and twitched statling all the girls and scaring the bejeezus out of Spike. The ears moved first, twitching and swiveling, then the nose, finally the creatures eyes slowly began to peel back, as an ancient slumber came to an end.