Author's Note

Text that is italic represents an action of some sort or a sound effect. I will try to make it out as best as possible. Text that is in italic with quotations around them is thought and NOT speech.

So this is the first time I've done a fic. Any help would be appreciated. I aim to bring an incredible story to you all. I do ask that you do not see this as the typical, brightly coloured, pleasant story as you would normally. I want you all to imagine this as a more realistic sort of... theme. It will help add a bit to it I believe.

Awakening

Awakening

Clang- clang- clang- clang

“Come on put your back into it!” A voice shouted, echoing through the icy cavern. The sound of picks hitting ice ringing through the area forced many of the ponies to wear ear muffs to suppress the loud noise that was sensitive to their ears. It was a mix of earth, pegasi and unicorns working together in the long forgotten cave in the far northern reaches of Equestria. An area past the Crystal Empire.

“Fy ekfactly are fe ‘ere again?” A dark grey Earth pony by the name of Ice Cracker called out. In his mouth was a pick, that he quickly spit out. With a groan he fell to his haunches, sighing in relief as he worked his jaw before turning his head to the left to reach into his saddle bag. Tugging, he pulled out a flask and opened it up, taking a long, thirsty drink of the cool water within, made even more so by the sub zero temperatures inside the cave.

Another pony trotted up to him, his body adorned with a thick, wool coat to fight back the cold, a pair of glasses sat on his muzzle as he looked around. “This is a long forgotten cave of times before Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon. Who know’s what it may hold, my young stallion!” He jumped slightly and let out a soft laugh. “No mention of this place on any maps or documents, no hints of discovery. Just think.” The pegasus speaking was named Snow Cap. It was relatively easy to assume why. His white fur was topped with a soft blue mane and tail. His cutie mark was covered by the coat, unable to be seen at the moment.

“I studied various geographical locations most of my life. I’ve never once seen this place in all those years. I know here has to be so-”

He was cut off by a shout. “I FOUND SOMETHING!”

Without hesitation he scrambled over, his hooves sliding across the icy ground slightly as he came up to the fellow pegasus beside him. “What is it lad!” He looked up at the wall of ice.

A vague shape could be seen, an odd shape at that. “What in Celestia’s name.” He muttered as he moved forward. His hoof made a soft click noise as he placed it upon the ice. Leaning close he squinted a bit, trying to make out the shape. “This could be something prehistoric. Something extinct even!” He jumped into the air in glee. “Did I… er.. we… just discover a long lost creature of this planet?” He licked his dry lips, steam coming from his nostrils as he snorted.

Thu-

"So Cold…."

-thump, Thu-

"Why is everything so cold?"

The stallion backed up a bit as the ice seemed to vibrate slightly. “What was that?” The pegasus beside him asked. Snow Cap chewed on his tongue in thought before shaking his head. “Possibly just a mild tremor, nothing I feel should be troubling.” He put on a smile and hummed to himself. Oh he could see it now. Awards, fame, fortune! His family would be so proud of him for this!

Thu-thump

The ice shivered again before cracking. The sound caused the ponies to jump and move away quickly. The cave began to tremble, splits appearing along the ceiling. “No no!” Snow Cap yelled. “Tartarus! Everypony run!”

The shout was not a moment too soon as a chunk of ice fell from the ceiling, crashing on the ground with an ear splitting crack. The ponies within began to run for their lives as more and more of the cave system began to crumble. The crack before the creature began to split more and more, spreading ever further outward, away from it.

The spreading cracks, soon ceased their motions. But the falling ice continued, opening a few hidden tunnels and gaps as the area shifted and changed. For the most part, the company of exploring ponies had made it out relatively unscathed. Though a few, were not so lucky. Blood pooled around a massive chunk of ice and spread out from where one had been crushed by the falling frozen water. Ice Cracker had been trapped inside the cave. His attempts to dodge and weave the falling chunks had put him far behind the rest.

The original entrance had been caved in, leaving Snow Cap and the remaining exploratory team panting as the stood outside the entrance. After taking a few minutes to catch his breath Snow Cap stomped his hoof into the snow covered ground, kicking up a flurry that was quickly whisked away by the harsh, bitter wind. “BLAST!” He fell to his haunches with sigh, his head hanging.

Ice Cracker pounded on the wall, shouting for help. He only stopped when he heard the shattering of the wall behind him. By now the area was thick with a fog of sorts. The dust from the shattered ice was to blame for this. Looking back he panted heavily, eyes flicking back and forth across the area as he heard something moving.

“H-Hello?” He asked, his voice trembling.

The panting continued, only he realized after a moment, that it wasn’t his now. A shape moved about in the ice fog, unbalanced, but tall. The figure dropped to a lower position before throwing it’s head back.

GGGYYAAAHHHHHHHHH!!

The ear splitting noise caused Ice Cracker to slam his to his skull, his body pressed tight to the ice wall behind him. The scream of pain echoed throughout the cavern and managed to reach Snow Cap.

“W-what was that?” He shifted from hoof to hoof. He was nervous, and he’d admit it freely, a bit scared. Glancing around he saw the rest of his fellow ponies staring at the mountain themselves. That’s when he noticed Ice Cracker wasn’t there.

“We need to get back in there, Ice Cracker must still be inside!”

“But sir,” a Earth pony said beside him. Snow Cap knew the stallion, but couldn’t remember his name at the moment. “Are you sure it’s safe to go back in there? Whatever made that scream sounded… awfully mad.”

Snow shook his head slightly and moved forward. “Come on we have to find him. No Stallion or Mare left behind!” He began to move smaller ice chunks out of the way as others began to move forward with picks and magic to move the bigger debris or split it into smaller chunks.

Ice Cracker was shivering as he heard the beast continue to move about. It was getting closer, appearing to almost crawl across the ground.

shhhh-thunk shhhhh-thunk shhhh-thunk

He closed his eyes as it got closer to him, trying to become one with the wall behind him. He was terrified, a small puddle of rapidly cooling urine appearing beneath him as he felt hot breath against his face. Whatever it was, it was almost struggling to breath. That’s when he felt something against his face, something he couldn’t describe. It ran from just above his eyebrow, over the eyelid and down across his jaw line. The pressure was light, but it was there. And then it was gone.

Once more that hot breath blasted his face. He wanted to open his eyes, wanted to face his death like a stallion, but he was so scared.

“Oh please Celestia! Let me live through this! I promise, I will be a better husband, a better lover, I will be a better EVERYTHING if you let me live!” He thought to himself, trembling as he did.

Shhh-thunk… shhhhh-thunk

Shhhh-thunk

shhh-thunk…

Then, just as quickly as it had come towards him, it faded off into the distance. Still shivering he opened his eyes and looked around. The ice fog had settled by then, and the area was empty save for the fallen chunks. Panting he pushed off the wall and stood on shakey hooves, his whole body trembling.

“Oh thank you Celestia! Thank you!” He laughed, a bit manically at this. He was alive! He was ALIVE!

The ice cracked behind him and he turned as he heard voices. His laughter didn’t die down though as the area was opened up once more. And upon seeing Snow Cap he latched onto his foreleg, holding tight while shivering and cackling.

All Snow Cap could get out of the Stallion was laughter and something about a monster. A pair of ponies dragged the traumatized Ice Cracker out of the area while he walked over to the hole in the ice wall where the creature had once been.

“What are you?” He whispered to himself.

Within Canterlot castle, Celestia approved, or denied paperwork before her. The normal day court had already been taken care of. The multitude of ponies asking for more land, more funding, etcetera, had already come and gone.

She sipped at some coffee at her side, her horn channeling her inner energy to lift it. Some of the more ignorant of creatures called it magic. They weren’t entirely wrong of course. It could be called that if they wish. But the fact of the matter was, is that it was properly known as Qi. While this energy flowed throughout the world, it could not physically be harnessed outside of one’s own body. This in turn limited any unicorn, or even Alicorn, to the amount of magic they could summon up within their own body.

Alicorns of course had a massive reserve of said energy within their own body and could focus it into many things. Focusing on a simple levitation spell as it was called used so very little it was no more than a tickle to even the weakest of Unicorns. But one such as raising the sun, or lowering the moon such as she and her sister Luna did, would out right drain the life force from a unicorn.

Ultimately it didn’t matter if they believed it to be magic or Qi. What mattered is that any pony or creature capable of using it needed to be properly trained and know their limits. Though with training, they could easily increase the amount that built up inside their bodies.

Setting her cup off to the side she went back to her papers, frowning ever so slightly. A request for more funds for an orphanage. It was one that had asked for more funds a little over a month ago. She had approved it then but, now she was getting concerned. Rather than Deny or Approve it, she set it off to the side in a pile that would require some investigation to make sure it was legitimate among other funding requests that appeared suspicious.

As she focused her energy to pick up the coffee again it vibrated slightly, causing her to jerk her head back before leaning forward and watching. The tremor only grew in intensity before her head began to pound forcing her ears to pin back to her head while she ground her teeth together to fight the pain.

It reached a peak, almost causing her to cry out before it started to die off. Although her head still felt as if somepony was taking a chisel to her skull, at least she could think now.

“What in Tartarus was that?” She said, looking out of one of the near by, large windows. Her ethereal mane and tail wavered slightly as she tilted her head to the side. A moment later she felt the displacement of air and a soft *pop* was heard off to her left. Turning her head she looked over.

“Sister did you feel that?” Luna asked, panting slightly.

Celestia was quiet for a moment before glancing back at her. “Yes… I did Luna.” Then she bit her lip slightly for she asked a question that both sisters hoped was true, but they were also afraid of. “Do you think…?”

Luna shook her head, giving her no answer as she had none at the moment. They both walked to the balcony and sat down, staring out across the open landscape of their kingdom. All either of them could do at this point, was hope.

End Chapter 1