(Revised) Legend of the Burning Snow

by Phoenix Frost

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Adventure
Length: 38143

Equestria has face many ancient foes in the past, but now rises 2 new, feuding villians from the begining of the Earth.

One day in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are alerted to a gigantic blaze spreading over the outskirts of the city. Cadence attempts to hold up a shield before the fire from killing her subjects, but when she does, the smoke manifests into an alicorn even larger than Celestia herself. They send a distress letter to Canterlot and Celestia calls upon the Mane 6 to help vanquish this new foe. But how can they defeat a foe strong enough to burn the world to a crisp?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-01-20 02:55:25 UTC

Risen from the Flames

The sun shined brightly upon the Crystal Empire one fateful day.  The temperature was perfect as well.  No clouds were in the sky and the summer breeze drifted nicely through the city streets.  Ponies went about their businesses and lived their lives without a care in the world.

Shining Armor was outside at the track training the runners for the upcoming Equestria Games.  They've shown quite some progress since last year, victory was in the bag this time around.  This year the events were being held in Manehatten, where there hopefully wouldn't be a giant ice cloud of death looming over the stadium.

Princess Cadence wasn't as occupied with her schedule.  These were smooth days in the Crystal Empire.  Equestria's defeat of a magic-stealing centaur that gained the power of multiple goddesses kinda strayed invaders away from the country.  Since then, Cadence was either being pampered or visiting Twilight in her spare time.  Today was just like any other, quiet and relaxing.  She spent her day at her personal spa area for the day until Shining Armor came in from training the track team sometime in the early afternoon, sporting his baseball cap and whistle.

"You're done early today," Cadence noted, soaking in the crystal mud bath.

"Yeah," he replied, taking off his cap and hanging it on a purple hook to his right.  "We're looking good this year.  We're gonna wipe the floor with Manehatten this year, as far as running goes.  I'm a tad worried about the archery team, but I think I can get them into shape in time for the games."

"Sounds like you got your work cut out for you," Cadence continued, climbing out of the mud bath.

"Don't worry, I'm taking time off for you, Dear."

Cadence gestured to the spa patrons to take a break, and they backed off respectfully.  "You wanna do anything today while it's still daylight?" she asked Shining.

"I think I wanna have some alone time with my wife for a change," he replied walking up to Cadence and wrapping his hoof around her neck.  "C'mon, we can talk upstairs."  Shining Armor led them up the stairs and across the bridge to the massive crystal tower in the center of the city. Along the way they talked of small things, mostly how each others day played out.  Shining Armor kept boasting about how much the track teams had improved whenever that subject was mentioned, so Cadence tried her best to steer clear of bringing it up as best she could.

Within minutes, the couple had finally reached the throne room.  They casually walked down the magenta carpet that gave way to the massive crystal throne at the back of the room.  "So what else has happened lately, dear?" Shining Armor asked, finally moving away from the topic of sports that Cadence had no interest in.  "It's been too long since we've had time like this."

"It has hasn't it?" She replied, taking a seat on her throne.  "You'd think we would have more time on our hooves without something trying to conquer Equestria.  But, as for what's on my mind. Hmm," she thought.  Of course the lack of disasters kept Cadence's life rather ordinary, well at least by princess standards.  She told Twilight once that while life in the Crystal Empire was interesting, she did enjoy a little excitement every so often.  "Not much to talk about.  You know just what happens to me every day: relaxing."

"You're not saying you want something to try to kill us are you?"

"What?  No.  Maybe.  No."

Shining Armor rested his hoof on his wife's shoulder.  "So my wife's tired of the same old thing, huh?" he translated.  "Well the night's still young.  We could go get some crystal ice cream, or maybe play some crystal mini golf."

"You know I think we take our city's theme a little too seriously," Cadence pointed out.

Shining chuckled, "Heh, yeah.  But you didn't answer my question."

"Um, su--" Cadence was interrupted by the sound of the entrance door flying open.  The couple turned in shock to see an orange guard in golden armor rush to the regal duo.

"I am terribly sorry, to disturb you, your highness," Flash Sentry apologized.  "But the empire is under attack!"

"Under attack?" Cadence asked.  She and Shining Armor exchanged worried looks.  "By what, exactly?"

"I'm not sure," Flash replied hesitantly.  "But there's a lot of fire just outside the city."

"Fire?" Shining Armor's heart skipped a beat.  "Hurry, to the balcony!"  The trio bolted out the door and made their way through the crystal spire.  In no time at all, they reached the balcony, and what they saw would instill nightmares in them for years to come.  Out behind the train station a massive, twenty foot high wall of fire charred the grassy fields just outside the empire.  Below Cadence, her husband, and Flash, the crystal ponies fled from the flames in one big mob, the screams deafening.

"CADENCE, RAISE A SHIELD!" Shining Armor exclaimed over the terrified crowd of ponies below them.  There was no hesitation.  Cadence's horn glowed bright blue and a magic beam ascended into the air above the empire and formed a blue shield around the city.  The flames reached the barrier and stopped.  The crystal ponies paused and watched the fire nervously.  Shining's eyes narrowed, watching for whatever invaders would follow the wall of flames.

Suddenly the fire burned brighter, larger.  The whole empire averted their eyes from the flash of bright orange light.  Seconds later, the blinding light subsided, the fire burned as it did before.  But then, the unexpected happened.  The smoke started to shift.  Not in the way that it usually does, this smoke seemed, intelligent.  A large haze shaped itself into a pitch black ball above the fire.  Slowly the sphere shrank, revealing, first a pair of orange wings with flame-tipped feathers.  Next, an orange horn penetrated the smoke, coming down to a red-orange mane.  As the smoke retreated further, the face of the pony was revealed, eyes closed.  The haze had now completely dissipated.  The alicorn mare hovering above the flames donned a dress of fire.  It coursed along her underbelly and back up around her hind legs.  The crest the fire formed on her chest branched out at her neck and over her forward shoulders.

"LOWER YOUR SHIELD, COWARDS!" the mare's booming voice echoing through the city.  She backed up a few feet and her horn glowed red.  At the tip, a ball of fire was forming, and growing to the size of the alicorn's head.  Drawing, her head back, she let out a grunt and propelled the fiery ball at the shield.  The very ground shook beneath them.  The barrier nearly broke, it's bright blue coloring nearly fading to nothing.

"It's not enough!" Shining armor yelled.  He approached Cadence, who was struggling to keep the shield alive.  He touched his horn with hers and charged it, strengthening the shield.  The blue barrier stabilized once more, stronger than before.  He looked towards Flash Sentry who was petrified at the sight of the flaming alicorn.  "Flash," he grunted.  "Get a distress letter to Princess Celestia.  We need all the help we can get."

Flash saluted him and ran back inside.  Cadence and Shining Armor stayed on the balcony, putting all their strength into holding up the shield.  "Looks like we found something that wants to kill us, dear," Shining said.

"Quiet, you."

"Thanks, Rarity, but I didn't really need this," Twilight said.  She and the white unicorn were out in Rarity's preferred gem hunting spot, keeping an eye out for diamond dogs while they traveled.  They each wore their personal saddlebags as they strolled through the valley.

"Nonsense, Twilight!" Rarity replied.  "You represent the element of magic!  You have the right to the knowledge of all magic.  You deserve this."  The unicorn held her horn lower too the ground and her horn began to glow light blue.

"Yes, but, gem hunting?" Twilight replied.  "I'm not sure that is a magic skill that's very, necessary."  She watched as Rarity followed her horn a few feet and stopped to dig up an emerald in the ground.

"It's better to be prepared, darling.  Even for the unexpected.  I'm sure a day will come when you find a need for this."

"I doubt the Diamond Dogs are gonna kidnap you again and I need to start another rescue mission."

"Only time will tell if that is the case, Twilight," Rarity said.  "So you remember how to do it?"

"Simple as following my horn, not really a challenge."  She charged her horn and revealed to herself the hundreds of gems buried in the Earth.  The variety of beauties hidden beneath the two unicorns' hooves was breathtaking.  Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, all here waiting to be dug up and brought to their full glory.

"You know, I recall a time when you were excited to practice magic."

"In most cases, yes, I would be," she replied, scanning  the ground for the closest gem to the surface.  "But with my new princess role, I've found it more important to look into more advanced spells.  I'm not a standard unicorn anymore.  I have massive responsibilities to tend to, like defending all of Equestria.  I'm not trying to sound mean and put you below me, but little things like this just seem minuscule."

"I understand what you mean.  My own business has been booming as of late.  With the Equestria games coming soon in Manehatten, countless ponies stop by daily looking for some kind of formal attire for the event.  I rarely have time to sit down and relax anymore."

"That's a shame," she said sympathetically, still looking for a gem that wouldn't require days to dig up.

"Hardly," Rarity argued.  "Personal time may be something we all want, but I prefer to be working than to be sleeping all day."

"I suppose that makes sense."  Twilight stopped in her tracks.  She finally stumbled upon that jewel for which she had been searching.  Only a few inches into the dirt.  She dug at the ground with her hooves until she struck a bright blue stone peeking out at her.  The gemstone's surface gleamed brightly in the sunlight, even Rarity who stood a fair distance away was drawn to it, and she looked at it in amazement.  The alicorn levitated it up to her face, shaking it a few times to get the rest of the dirt off it.  The sapphire stone shined brilliantly in Rarity's eyes.

"My, my," the unicorn said in awe.  "Twilight do you realize what that is?"

"Um, a gemstone?"

"Not just any gemstone.  That's a baby blue sapphire!  By Celestia, Twilight, do you even know how rare those are?"

Twilight looked blankly into Rarity's gem-adoring eyes.  "I'm gonna say pretty rare."

"Oh you don't know the half of it!  I have only about twenty in stock, and it took years to find that many.  I'm saving them for something extra grand, of course, but nonetheless, you should be quite proud of yourself.  You're a natural, Twilight."

Twilight gave a faint blush at the compliment.  "Thanks."  She straightened out and held the gem out to her friend.  "But I'm guessing you want this don't you?"

"Oh heavens, no!" she gasped.  She pushed Twilight's extended hoof back to her.  "You found this on your own, darling.  This is your reward."

"You sure?  You don't want it for a dress or something?"

"Twilight, dear, I brought you out here to help you practice magic, not use you as a slave."

"Wow thanks, Rarity.  That's very nice of-" she paused and looked behind the unicorn.  "Is that Spike?"  Rarity turned and, sure enough, a certain purple and green dragon was running their way with a scroll in his claw.

"Twilight!" Spike called.  "An urgent letter, ugh, from Princess Celestia."  The poor thing was panting like a dog.  "You, Canterlot, emergency.  Guh.  Take it."  He collapsed on the ground and the letter rolled to Twilight's feet.

The purple alicorn levitated the scroll, disregarding her dragon friend, and unfurling it.  She read it silently to herself and her eyes widened with every line.  "Oh no.  This doesn't sound good."

"What's it say, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"No time, I'll tell you on the way to Canterlot.  Come on, we have to find the others."  Twilight began to run back to Ponyville, picking up Spike and sitting him on her back as she bolted away, Rarity right behind her.  Twilight's first stop was her new crystal castle, and she dropped Spike off at the door.  "Spike, I want you to stay here and watch over the castle," She told him.  "I don't know when we'll be back, but it sounds too dangerous.  It's best you stay safe."

"But, Twilight," Spike argued.  "I could help you.  Remember King Sombra?  I helped you there.  Please let me come with you!"  He pleaded on his knees.

Twilight hugged the worried dragon.  "I know, and I'm glad you made it out safely, but I don't want to take any chances."

"Twilight, You're gonna have to take chances in life.  Nothing's gonna get done any other way."

She sighed.  "I've made up my mind Spike.  Stay here."  She ran off to find her friends, leaving her dear dragon companion behind.  Spike reached out his arm as she disappeared in the distance.  She was gone.

The girls gathered on the train.  Twilight was sure to inform the conductor of the emergency to get things moving a little faster.  They sat down in the two-pony seats before the train departed.  Twilight hadn't been so generous as to explain what in the hoof was going on yet, so Rainbow Dash decided to speak up.  "So, what exactly are we going to Canterlot for?" she blurted out.  "It's not like you told us anything yet."

Twilight turned to face her, "The letter didn't explain in detail what was happening.  Just that the Crystal Empire was under attack by some fiery alicorn."

The entire car's eyes widened.  "Say what now?" asked a random blue colt a few seats ahead of them.

"Oh, nothing," Twilight replied, her face turning red.  The same pony opened his mouth again, but Twilight preemptively cut him off.  "Nothing!" she said quickly.  The rest of the train went back to minding their own business.  "Anyway," Twilight continued more quietly to her friends.  "I'm not sure what's in store for us when we get to Canterlot.  Just try to roll with Princess Celestia's advice, ok?"

"Not a problem, Twilight," Applejack assured.  "We'll wrassle up that alicorn together, and ain't nopony gonna tell us otherwise."  The other four nodded in agreement.

Twilight sighed, "Thank you."  They didn't speak for the rest of the train ride.  They got off at Canterlot Station and ran to the castle.  Princess Celestia was waiting for them in her throne room, with Princess Luna at her side.  The six friends busted through the door, understandably in a rush.

"Ah, you're here," Celestia greeted them.  "Good to see you could make it so soon."

"Yes, Princess," said Twilight.  "Now about this alicorn situation?"

"I see, you're straight to the point, too.  Good, we need that kind of energy in times like this.  It seems that we are threatened by an ancient evil."

"Yeah, like that's never happened before," Dash said, elbowing Pinkie in the shoulder.

Celestia continued, "However, my knowledge of this foe is much more limited than any other as of late.  For you see, I have not dealt with this menace myself."  The six friends gasped.  "Yes, this new enemy comes from a time before Luna and I were even born.  Her name, is Magmare."

"Magmare?" Twilight asked.

"She is also known as the Mistress of Flames.  Countless millennia ago, Magmare lived alongside her brother Frostborn, the Master of Ice.  They dueled for control of this planet created for them by the one we only refer to as the Father.  for hundreds of years, the two fought, evenly matched.  The ice covered the Earth just as much as the fire burned it.  Until one fateful battle.

"Frostborn's advantage over Magmare was his wits, as opposed to his sister who relied on sheer force and rage to overwhelm her brother.  One day the siblings clashed where the fire met the ice, and ice met fire.  The fire pushed against the ice while ice stood against it all around the world.  This would be the battle that decided who would rule over the Earth for all of eternity.  After hours of shots firing back and forth, Frostborn landed a surprise attack on his sister's head, rendering her unconscious.  He took the opportunity to imprison Magmare inside the Earth's core.  Once she was gone, all of her fire disappeared, and Frostborn froze over the planet in a thick sheet of ice.  After his sister's defeat, he became one with the ice and snow and lived peacefully from then on.

"It remained that way for hundreds of thousands of years, until one day.  Unknown to the Master of Ice, Magmare had been growing stronger in her exile for all those years.  Eventually, she had gained enough power to split the ice in two at the center of the Earth.  And with the ice separated, so was Frostborn's power.  Unable to combat his sister from outside the core, he sent the two halves of his soul to the poles of the Earth.  He used what magic he could muster to construct a pair of linked portals from stone so that when the Mistress of Flames broke free from her prison, he could be brought back to confront her."

"So basically what you're saying is," Rainbow Dash interrupted,  "That we need to go to each of these portals to bring back some crazy powerful ice alicorn to confront his sister, hope he wins, and have him send Magmare back to the Earth's core?"

"Indeed," Luna replied.

"Yeah, I'm cool with that," Dash said.

"Sound's fun," Pinkie admitted.

"My apples aren't going anywhere," Applejack chimed in.

"It's settled then," Twilight confirmed.  "Princess, we'll get those portals active in-"

"That's not all Twilight," Celestia interrupted.  "The portals are too far away for you to make two stops.  We'll need to split you up."

"What?" Twilight looked back at her friends.  "But we're stronger together, wouldn't going as a group be safer?"

Celestia approached the troubled alicorn.  "Each of you carry the magic of friendship inside you, but only Twilight and Rarity have the capability to channel that power to activate the portals.  I'm sorry but it is the only way."  A flash of light appeared above Celestia, and a scroll fell before her hooves.  "Oh, what's this?" she asked.  She levitated the scroll to her face and unfurled it.  Her eyes scrolled a few times across the paper, and she smiled.  "Good news, it seems that Magmare has left the Crystal Empire."

"Really?" Twilight asked.

"Yes.  It says here that she just headed south.  Unfortunately, the fire from her attack is still burning outside the city, and the empire will likely spend the rest of the day putting it out.  So, there will be no help from them today."

"Oh," Twilight said, clearly annoyed.

"But there are more pressing matters at hand," Luna cut in.  "We need to split you up and send you to the portals.  My sister and I already have the group setup thought out."

"Twilight, you will take Rainbow Dash and Applejack to the south pole," Celestia continued.  "Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy will head north."

Luna spoke up again, "We had originally intended for Rarity's team to go south.  However now that Magmare is heading that way, we want our strongest group to head there."

"Understood, Princesses," Twilight said, unsure of why this was the best course of action.

Celestia nodded, "Then go my little ponies.  There are two chariots waiting outside the main entrance.  Just, make sure you tell them who's going where.  They still think Twilight and her team is going north."

"Not a problem, Princess," Applejack assured.  "We'll have those portals open lickity-split.  C'mon, Y'all!"  She took off for the door, followed by all her friends with the exception of Twilight, who stood there lost in thought.

Celestia approached her troubled apprentice.  "Are you ok, Twilight?" she asked.  She lifted the purple alicorn's chin to meet her face, "What's the matter?"

Twilight backed up and sighed.  "Are you sure this will work, Princess?" she asked.

Celestia smiled down at her, "I have full confidence in you, Twilight.  You will pull through."

"But what about them?" she yelled, pointing towards the door.  "How do we know that the others will come out fine?"

"They will be fine," Celestia put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, and knelt down to meet her eye-to-eye.  "Listen, Twilight.  You and your friends have been through much hardship together, but they must learn to live independently.  Sometimes, Twilight, life isn't about doing what feels right.  It's not about doing what feels nice, it's about doing what is necessary.  You can't go through life without sacrifice, and sometimes you will have to take a risk.  This is one of those those times, Twilight.  Just promise me that you will take my advice with you on your journey."

Twilight sniffled, "Yes, Princess.  I understand."

"Twilight?" called a familiar voice from the door.  Rainbow Dash was peering her head through the doorway.  "You coming or what?"

Celestia rose to her hooves, and Twilight looked up at her again.  The white alicorn smiled again, and gestured for her to go.  She listened, but she left slowly.  "Good, luck Twilight," Celestia called to her.  The doors shut behind Dash and her friend.

"Something got a down, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

"It's nothing," Twilight answered.  She continued to the chariots waiting outside, leaving her friend behind.  She thought about what Celestia had said to her, and she still wasn't too certain whether or not to trust it.  She never had to make this big of a decision before, leaving her friends to face the elements all on their lonesome.  At least when they were left alone with Tirek, they would survive easily.  But, being subject to the icy mountains and, maybe something else, all alone?  She couldn't bear the thought.  She was sure of one thing though.

Luck wasn't something she wanted to count on.

Reborn From the Frost

"So, we're taking you south now?" asked the confused chariot puller.  He and his partner were white with blue manes and wore the armor of a royal guard.

"Yes, sir," Applejack answered.  "Princess' orders."

The first pegasus rolled his eyes at what he thought was the princesses being indecisive.  "Alright then," he said.  Applejack walked to her friends at the other chariot.

"You think she's telling the truth?" his partner asked.

"That's the Element of Honesty, if I'm not mistaken.  And, frankly, I don't wanna deal with the princesses' if she's not lying."  His partner nodded in agreement.

The doors to the castle opened with Twilight and Rainbow Dash stepping out.  "There ya are, Twi!" Applejack said excitedly.  "You ready to get goin'?"

Twilight looked around at her smiling friends, almost like they were guilt tripping her to get this mission underway.  Celestia's voice played back in her head, They will be fine.  She then sighed, "Ready as I'll ever be."  She gave an insecure smile.

"Great!" Dash blurted out.  "Let's go, Magmare doesn't seem like the patient type."  She took Applejack to their chariot.  The southern team stayed with their troubled friend.

"Good luck, girls," Twilight smiled.

"We'll see you again tonight, Twilight," Rarity said comfortingly.  "Worry, not.  The portal will be open by the time you reach yours."

"Yes, but, you have the easy part.  You just have to fly to the north pole and switch on a portal.  My future might have a super powerful fire deity trying to kill us off.  I don't like being split up like this, we're stronger together."

Pinkie gave her worried friend a hug, giving the alicorn a bit of a startle.  The earth pony backed away and stared Twilight in the eyes.  "We'll be here for you, don't worry."

"Now go, Twilight," Rarity said.  "Magmare isn't going to stop herself, you know."

Twilight smiled and gave her friends a group hug.  She shed a tear behind their backs, and when they pulled apart she walked back to her chariot.  "You ready Twilight?" Applejack asked with a smile.

She nodded.

"Then hop in, slowpoke!" Rainbow Dash yelled.  "We got a world to save!  Twilight climbed into the back of the chariot and the guards took off.  Only a few seconds passed before Twilight couldn't fight the urge to look back anymore.  She glanced just in time to see her three friends climb into the back of them and disappear into the clouds.  She looked away and slumped over the side of the chariot, drawing the attention of A.J. and Rainbow in the front of the cart.  Dash went to talk to Twilight, but Applejack stopped her with her hoof.

"No, let her be," she advised, eyes still fixed on the depressed alicorn.  "She's gotta move past this on her own." She looked Rainbow Dash in the eye.  "Believe me, I would know."  Dash looked at Twilight again, and backed up.

Hours passed, and Twilight still hadn't said a word.  Applejack and Rainbow Dash continued to talk casually about their daily lives in an attempt to get their minds off the whole impending doom scenario going on.  For the most part, it worked.  A.J. thought about her family back home and Rainbow kept her mind set on flying practice and, of course, her new title as a Wonderbolt.  They had nearly forgotten about their friend who sat quietly a mere few feet away for all this time.  She finally let out a sigh, giving her friends the indication that she hadn't made much progress in moving on.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared the same sympathetic expression.  "I think it's time we talked to her," A.J. suggested.  She leaned over the side of the chariot next to Twilight.  "You hangin' in there, Sugarcube?" she asked with a smile, hoping it would rub off.  The alicorn turned away.

Dash walked to where Twilight would see her.  "C'mon, Twilight, you can't let this keep eating ya," she said.

"She's right.  You're not yourself," Applejack leaned closer.  "Look, there's nothing to worry about.  Everything's gonna be fine, you'll see."

'That's just it!" Twilight blurted out.  She raised her hooves in the air, "Everything's not fine!  In case you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have the cleanest track record when it comes to dealing with large threats like these!"  She lowered her voice a bit and lowered her hooves.  "Plus, the only reason we overcame those challenges was because we stuck together.  It's our unity that makes us strong."

"Twilight, I'm sure Princess Celestia knows what she's doing by splitting us up," Rainbow said.  "Believe me, I worry for the others too, but sometimes we won't always have each other to rely on."

"Yeah, we ain't got time to keep moping around, Twilight.  You need to take matters into your own hooves."

"But-"

"But nothin'!" Applejack yelled.  "If you let this doubt control ya, you'll get us and everyone we love barbequed!  So snap out of it, Twi.  We got a job to do."  She stared the alicorn angrily in the eyes.

Twilight gave a loud sigh.  "You're right, I'm losing it," she said.  "Just gotta stay focused."

"Good," the annoyed Applejack commented.  They sat there quietly for a few more seconds.  The trio continued looking over the side of the chariot and out to the dark grey clouds that blocked their view of the ground.  A blizzard raged around them, so these three were completely blind.  The pegasi pulling the chariot descended so the clouds weren't in anypony's way, but the snow still served as a blinding hazard for the passengers.  The cold air didn't bother them much, having scaled a mountain and sprinted through the blizzard surrounding the Crystal Empire

Rainbow Dash had enough of the awkward silence.  "Well, while we're busy moving away from that conversation, I wanna discuss our team name," she suggested.  "Can we change it to 'Alpha Squad' or something?  Cause 'Team 1' doesn't cut it for me."  The others chuckled at her request.  "What?  What's so funny?"

They never answered.  Applejack got an idea in her head, "Hey, how 'bout y'all fly on ahead and make sure the way is clear?  I doubt those guards can see much better than we can back here."

"I'd appreciate the lighter load," one of the guards said quietly, his partner snickering when he said it.

"I learned in the Wonderbolt Academy to never go flying in a storm without a partner," Dash answered.  "And while I have Twilight here with me, we don't wanna leave you here by yourself."

"Don't!" Twilight hesitated, "bring that up again.  Please."  Dash nodded to her.

They heard a guard call to them through the storm.  "We're coming up on the South Pole, ladies!"

"Yes, finally!" Dash said in excitement.  "'Bout time we ca-."  She looked back over the side of the chariot, and her eyes widened.  "Wait, what's that?"  Twilight and Applejack looked over as well.  They could make out a faint red light in the blizzard, and they looked a little closer.

They didn't have to look for long.  The light grew brighter, until the trio could make out a large, bright orange ball of flames heading straight for the chariot.  "Incoming!" Applejack alerted them.  Before they could duck the fireball impacted on the side of the chariot, launching the ponies flying out in a massive explosion.  They were flung into a free fall about a hundred feet above the icy ground.  They all screamed and flailed as they fell down.  Finally, it clicked to Twilight and Rainbow that they had wings, duh.  Sadly, by the time they remembered, Applejack was too close to the ground for them to catch her.

The earth pony fell helplessly into a large, puffy pile of snow, leaving her head embedded deep inside.  Twilight and Rainbow Dash slowly descended and hovered over the ground behind her.  "Um, A.J.?" Dash asked, trying to hold back her laughter.  "You, pfft, you ok?"

Applejack pressed her hooves against the snow and pulled her head out.  She stood there for a minute, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.  "Thanks for yer help," she said bluntly, and walked away.

Rainbow chuckled, "You're welcome."  Twilight darted her in the eyes, and Dash just shrugged with beet-red cheeks.

"Hey, y'all ought'a come see this!" A.J. called.  Her friends followed her voice right to her.  Applejack was looking down at the two guards lying motionless in the snow.  "What do we do?"

Twilight leaned down to a guard's mouth, and felt a warm puff of air come out.  "Phew!" she wiped her forehead.  "They're fine, but we should keep moving.  Which way was the South Pole again?"  The fall had completely disoriented them, leaving them stranded in the snowy wasteland.  They looked around hopelessly, trying to find something through the thick snowfall.  No luck.

Twilight heard a hissing in her ears, and she stood straight up.  She looked around more frantically.  "You girls hear that?"  They listened closely, trying to hear something unusual.  Dash just gave a shrug, and Applejack didn't respond.  Twilight heard it again, and she turned to her right.  "This way!" she bolted in that direction.  Dash and A.J. followed close behind.

They kept running forward, hoping Twilight was right.  She just followed the sound of the hissing until she found something.  "Just a little further," she said hopefully.  Suddenly the hissing in her ears stopped.  "Huh?"  The sudden emphasis on the blizzard's roar startled her, but Twilight kept running.  She she caught a glimpse of a structure revealing itself out of the blinding snow for half a second before she rammed into it head-first.

After some head rubbing, Twilight looked up to see a large circular structure in the snow, around three times her size.  The rock wasn't frozen, in fact it looked green and mossy.  There were swirled lines carved into the large blocks traveling up to the top.  "We found it!" she said excitedly.

"Oh, it appears you have," said a powerful voice behind the three friends.  They gasped and looked behind them to see none other than Magmare herself, and by Celestia she was gigantic!  She was at least twice the size of Celestia at that.  The ground where she stood was covered in a ring of fire that melted the ice from under her.  "To be honest, I never would have guessed Celestia's little rescue team would have made it this far."

"Um, I think we agreed on Alpha Squad," Dash commented.

"Such a shame, since soon all will be left are ash and rubble," she grinned.  She backed up into the sky and extended her wings out wide, her orange horn glowed red, and her eyes white.  A ball of fire began to grow at the tip until it matched the size of her own head.  Magmare drew her head back as the three ponies below her cowered behind their hooves.

That's when the beam of yellow magic shot at her side and launched the fireball into the sky.  Magmare looked up at the misfire in shock and then turned angrily towards the origin of the attack, growling.  She watched as a white alicorn half her size descended to the ground, staring the Mistress of Flames in the eyes.  "Princess Celestia!" Twilight called out in excitement.

  "Hmph," Magmare grunted.  "I should have expected to see you here.  I knew not even my own kin would want to see this world burn."

Alpha squad looked at the Princess with wide eyes.  "Her what now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia ignored them and continued to focus on the fiery alicorn.  "There's a reason this world is the way it is, Magmare," she said.  "This world has balance.  It is a world where both hot and cold are a factor.  This is a world where life can reside and prosper in peace, and I will not stand by while you destroy it!"

"And what chance do you think you stand?" Magmare questioned.  "That fireball was a mere taste of my power.  I am fire!  I burn everything in my wake!" she paused, and took a breath.  Her horn glowed red again and she shot a cone of fire at the ground below her, melting the ice, vaporizing the water, and leaving a circle of fire twice her size in diameter.  "And I will destroy my own blood if I must."

Celestia turned to the three friends, "Girls, activate the portal.  I can't hold her off forever, I need you now."  She gave them a loving glance before she turned back to face Magmare.  The Mistress of Flames growled and lit her horn once more.  The fire below her released two plumes of smoke on each of her sides which shaped themselves into a pair of alicorns.  Celestia was unmoved, while the three friends sat there with jaws dropped to the ground.  The hazy alicorns burst into balls of smoke, releasing a bright orange light that blinded all four ponies beholding them.  After shielding their eyes from the flash, they looked back in horror.

Two full size copies of Magmare stood just below her hooves, maniacally laughing in unison.  Celestia looked upon the trio off alicorns in shock, paralyzed from their eerie laughter.  "Girls, we gotta get moving," Twilight encouraged.  Her friends gave simultaneous nods in agreement, and they turned to the portal behind them.   They stood in a semicircle, Twilight in the center, Rainbow Dash on her right, and Applejack on her left.  They held hooves, and they started to hover in the air, backs straight up and front hooves curled up.

Behind them, the Magmares were dealing with Celestia.  Their horns glowed and pointed towards the white alicorn in a triangular formation.  A red beam shot from each, but not towards the princess.  Instead, they shot at one another, feeding into one each other a short distance before the trio.  Slowly, an fireball grew where the beams crossed.  Celestia's mouth gaped open and her pupils small.  The fireball reached the size of all three Magmares combined, and the beams of red magic cut away from it.  They laughed once more, and the two clones manifested into flame and flew into the massive ball of fire.  It flashed as the fire merged with it, giving it a bright yellow color.  The remaining Magmare's eyes glowed white, and the fireball propelled itself directly at Celestia's feet.  The princess was launched far off into the distance, completely out of sight behind the ice hills.

"What?" Magmare asked herself.  "That's it?  A blast like that should have incinerated her entirely!  Blasted snow makes me weak."  She saw a bright flash from out of the corner of her eye, and her heart sank.  "Oh no."  She looked back and saw the three ponies hovering with white eyes and Twilight's horn glowing in a mix of purple, orange, and light blue.  "You, little whelps!" Magmare charged her horn, prepared to attack, until there was a flash of bright light that broke her concentration.  Twilight's horn shot a white ray of magic into the center of the portal, filling it with a pale light.  The swirled carvings on the edges glowed in bright blue, and emitted a large pulse of magic toward the surrounding area.  The blast launched Magmare and the trio back into the snow.

"Mission: successful," Rainbow Dash said confidently.

The friends rose to their hooves and brushed the snow off their bodies, but were startled by some rustling in the snow by Magmare.  The massive alicorn struggled to get to her hooves, even the fire on her body and wings burned more softly.  She shivered with the slight viability of fear in her eyes.  She wiped the expression off her face quickly, replacing it with a burning rage.  Seriously, the flames on her body lit up in a bright orange glow as she struggled to a stand.  The ground below her instantly burst into flame and Magmare's fire was reinvigorated in seconds.  She stood straight up with her back to the three ponies behind her.  "You think, you've won haven't you?" she said calmly.  "Think that you've brought to an end to my inevitable reign over this world?" she turned her head to them.  "Then answer me one question," she faced the three ponies with her whole body.  "Where's my brother?"

They looked back at the portal.  The carvings still glowed blue, but Frostborn was nowhere to be found.  "But, how?" Twilight asked in horror.  "The others should have activated the portal by now."

"Hahaha," Magmare laughed.  "Really? You thought it would be that simple for them!?"

"Rainbow Dash stared the fiery alicorn in the eyes with much rage, "What did you do?"

"One does not simply take over the world without covering all their weaknesses," she replied, and she would be crying from laughter, but the tears kinda evaporated from the heat.  "Let's just say I found an assistant to guard that northern portal for me.  Well, girls, it's been fun.  Oh wait, that's a lie!  It's been dreadful!  And because you have squandered my time with you're pointless shenanigans, I am going to enjoy destroying you where you stand!"  Her horn glowed a bright red and the three ponies in front of her cowered in fear.

"Come on, girls," Twilight said to herself.  "We need you."

Team 2's journey started off blissfully.  They soared over the mountains of the icy north, worry free of their task at hand.  The weather could have been nicer, though, as a blizzard similar to the one to the south bombarded the northern mountains.  The team reached their destination roughly a half hour after they departed from Canterlot.  Throughout the ride they sat calmly with full confidence in their friends on the opposite side of the world.  Rarity looked through her scarves in her pink saddlebag which she packs for any trip, because, fashion.  Fluttershy looked over the side of the chariot at the frozen mountains below to look out for any rare creatures to note on her travels, maybe a yeti?  Pinkie hummed some fast paced songs after being asked by her fellow passengers to stop over-crowding the chariot with balloons.

"We're coming up on a good landing zone, ladies!" one of the chariot pullers alerted the friends in back.

"Thank you, dear," Rarity replied.  "Be ready, girls.  Just because we have some time doesn't mean we shouldn't be hasty," she wrapped her pink-striped scarf around her neck and tucked her saddlebag shut.  The chariot descended gracefully through the snowfall into a valley through the mountains.  The passage grew thinner and thinner as it went on, making it a tight squeeze for the chariot any further down.  They settled down in an open section of the valley and the passengers exited the chariot onto the blanket of snow that covered massive boulder peaking from the ground.

"Follow this valley and you should reach the North Pole in just a few minutes," the guard informed them.  "We have to head off, just take the portal when the others open it and meet up with them on the other side.  They'll escort you safely back to Canterlot."

"Thank you so much for your help," Rarity waved.

"Don't mention it," he responded.  "I'm not waiting around to get burned, either." they took off in the direction from which they came, back into the blizzard.  Rarity and the others turned and started strolling down the valley, with the exception of Pinkie Pie who decides to bounce wherever she goes.

"Anyone else think it was a bit rude to leave us here in a blizzard when we can be back in minutes?" Fluttershy asked the group.

"Yes, but he made a fair point with our reunion with Twilight and the others on the other side of the portal," Rarity said.

"That's not exactly a short wait," Pinkie argued.  "We'll be out in the freezing cold for hours and hours, exposed to whatever dangerous creatures are living around here-"

"Please stop, Darling, you're going to give Fluttershy a fright," Rarity interrupted.  "Oh, look," she pointed ahead in excitement.  "I think I see the portal right over there, in that, crevice, I believe.  I'm a tad rusty on my geography."

"Twilight was right, this is easy!" Pinkie said cheerfully.  "By the time she reaches her teams' portal, we'll have ours o-" she fell mid-jump as terror filled her body from the sound of a faint howl in the mountains around them, like a war horn being blown into.  "Um, you girls hear that?" she asked the others who were looking around for wolves in the hills.

Rarity wasn't too phased.  She kept a more curious expression on her face than a fearful one.  "Probably nothing.  We should just keep moving."  Pinkie got too her hooves and shook the snow off before following Rarity, and Fluttershy stayed behind to shudder at the terror the howling had instilled in her.  "You coming, Fluttershy, dear?" Rarity asked a few meters away.  She didn't respond, just continued to look fearfully into the mountains.  "Let's go, Fluttershy.  We haven't got all night."

They heard the howling again, slightly louder than the first.

The poor yellow mare choked on her fear.  Her teeth chattered and she shivered, but not from the cold.  Her eyes darted rapidly back and forth in desperation to find where it had came from, and at this point even Rarity was feeling worried.  A third howl came roaring through the mountains in deafening volume, and also releasing a massive black mist to come flooding from in between the mountainsides.  "Fluttershy," Rarity said quietly with eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"Mmm, hmm?" she managed with a gulp.

"Run."  There was no hesitation.  Fluttershy practically teleported towards the portal leaving a cloud of dust where she once stood.  Rarity was soon to follow.  All three of the ponies sprinted to the portal in the pit below the fault lines, closely followed by the dark haze that closed in from all sides.  Eventually they reached the stone base of the portal.  It was identical to the southern one, the same mossy color, the same carvings in the same shaped blocks to form the same circular hole.  The friends sat in fear at the edge of the portal, watching the approaching shadow close in.  The mist swallowed the rocky spires up to their peaks, surrounding the crevice in a full circle.

The trio cowered before the unknown force.  This wasn't Magmare's doing, there was no fire nor melting ice to be seen.  The air was still cold, in fact, and growing colder, like the chill running down their spines.  The shadowy mist began to laugh softly with a voice that sounded like it had a dry throat.  "Far too easy," it said darkly.  The haze revealed a pair of eerie green eyes that radiated purple magic behind them, followed by a smile that bared a pair of vampric fangs on both rows of teeth.  A curved horn extruded from the dark grey face of the monster within that turned red towards the tip.  The red irises pierced through the petrified ponies that shuddered at the base of the portal.  "Even by your standards."

"Wait, King Sombra?" Pinkie questioned.  "But, you exploded when we put the crystal heart back!  You were all like, 'Aaaaaaagh, it hurts,' then you were like, BOOM!"

The head of shadow extended itself to the pink mare, "Indeed, and it's quite relieving to hear one refer to me as a king." it circles the three ponies.  "Thank you for that reassurance.  As for my, 'explosion,' I thought that you ponies would know better than to assume the living embodiment of fear to be dead." Sombra's head descended to the ground and the facial features all disappeared, leaving a single ball of shadow.  The haze broke away, giving way to the king in his true form.  His red cape waved in the arctic breeze and his green eyes turned white.  "As long as even the slightest shred of fear resides in the hearts in just one pony in Equestria, rest assured I will be here."  He turned to Fluttershy, "And I have this one to thank for such a generous contribution."

The yellow mare hid behind her hooves and shook on the ground.  "That's enough!" Rarity demanded in an attempt to protect her friend.  "We've defeated you once, and we can defeat you again if I have any say in it!"  King Sombra's horn emanated it's dark magic and a circle of large black crystals jutted out from the ground, encasing the white unicorn with barely any room to breath.  He gave a smug smile, Turning to Pinkie Pie and trapping her in another cage of her own.  The two trapped ponies pounded against their crystal prisons as they screamed for help.

"Not very entertaining to be so close to your one goal just to have it taken right from your grasp, isn't it?" he growled.  "Consider this my revenge, and you have your precious princesses to thank for granting me this 'curse.'" his eyes glowed green entirely, no pupils or iris visible.  His horn was surrounded in black magic as the imprisoned ponies paused inside their cages as the whites of their eyes turned to green and irises a dark red.  They sat down and stared off into space with depressed expressions drawn on their faces.  They spoke not a word, just sat in silence as they lived through their worst fears.  Sombra turned once more to Fluttershy, who continued to cower behind her own two hooves.  "Such a shame, I was hoping that I would have three ponies to make cower before me.  Sadly, you live your entire life in terror, there's no need to bring you to your knees.  I spit towards the weak and spineless that dare consider themselves worthy of a life of wealth and prosperity, and you are just about the most pitiful pony my eyes have ever had the burden of being exposed to."

Fluttershy stopped shaking, and brought her face up from behind her hooves.  "Oh really?" she asked with a tone of hatred in her voice.  Sombra grinned behind her back.  "Weak and spineless, huh?  Not worthy of wealth and prosperity?"  Her tone grew darker, the rage building.  She stood slowly.  "I've grown since we've met, King Sombra.  I've learned a few things.  I've toughened up as I've gone on with my life.  I wasn't always like this, you know, but if there's anything I have learned over time," she turned her head over her shoulder, her eyes slanted in anger and a sinister smile.  "It's not to let ponies keep walking all over me!" She pulled a full 180 and charged the dark grey unicorn, who didn't bother moving.  He kept the smile on his face and his horn charged up.  As the little yellow pegasus darted towards him, a ring of black crystals surrounded her, stopping Fluttershy in her tracks.  She kept fighting, squeezing her hooves through the spaces between the crystals in attempts to reach the smug King of Shadows.

"Much better," he said over Fluttershy's grunting.  "It's not as often I can feed off the hatred of my slaves," he leaned his head closer in just to pull it out before the mare's swatting smacked him across the jaw.  "Well, while we wait for the flames to start burning over the horizon, let's say we pass the time."  A crystal spire about the size of the unicorn himself sprouted from the ground to Sombra's left side, sitting next to it was a set of three matching rings small enough to fit in his hoof.  Sombra picked up the set of rings and walked back a few meters and turned back to the pillar.  He held one of the rings in his mouth and tossed it towards the crystal spike and landed the ring around the top.  He took the second ring and took another shot, but it bounced right off the side and landed in the snow.  He growled at the failure, then took his final ring and scored again.

A few hours passed by, and the storm had stopped.  Sombra continued to play his little game, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were still stuck in their cages under his nightmare trance, and a now calmed down Fluttershy lay in boredom on the cold ground in her prison.  "So, this is what you do in your spare time?" she asked.

"Indeed," King Sombra replied, focused on his pastime.

"You just sit here, in the middle of nowhere, playing crystal ring toss?"  Her tone was full of disappointment.

"That would be correct."

"And there isn't anything else you could possibly be doing right now?"

"Pardon me, but I'd like to see you find something to bide your time with in exile.  In case you haven't noticed, I am limited to merely this snow and my powers.  Entertaining?  NO, but it burns a few hours a day."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes and decided to move on, "So how did you end up helping Magmare again?"

"An excellent question, little one, and an even more amusing tale," he looked away from his ring toss game and glanced to the sky to help recall the memory.  "It all started this morning..."

The sky was clear in the arctic north that morning.  Sombra sat in the icy hills with a set of three dark crystal rings and a crystal pike several feet before him.  He took a ring and tossed it, and it bounced off the side.  He mumbled under his breath and went to pick up another ring, but before he did, the smell of smoke caught his attention.  The king stood up straight and looked around, until he traced the scent to the south.  He ran to a cliff edge a short distance to his left to see his past home standing against a massive wall of flames.  The light-blue shield was the only thing keeping the fire from closing in on the Crystal Empire itself and destroying his former kingdom.

Sombra was enraged, he stared disapprovingly at the mayhem that faced his great city.  The fire in his eyes burned just as fiercely as the blaze below him.  The unicorn looked closer at the fire, and he noticed the smoke actin in a strange manner.  The haze rose from the fire and gathered above the flames in one large, black sphere.  The smoke orb slowly lessened in size, revealing a gigantic orange alicorn with a dress made of fire and blazing feathers on her wings.  Her lips moved as if she were yelling something, but Sombra was out of earshot.  The alicorn backed up and formed a massive ball of fire above her horn and propelling it towards the shielded city.  The barrier began to fade, the light-blue coloring became less saturated and transparent.  The king's heart sank, and almost instantly became infuriated again, taking a stomp forward and growling at the flaming alicorn.  The noise echoed all around the mountainous terrain surrounding the city.

The alicorn looked up into the cliffs behind the empire and caught a glimpse of the dark grey unicorn in the red cape looming over the city.  The shield protecting the city flashed white and faded back to it's original blue glow.  The flaming alicorn smiled, and dissipated back into shadow, and returned to her fire wall.  The king watched a thin trail of blaze retreat to the south, as if fleeing the attack she had clearly won.  At the same time, a similar trail rushed up the mountain side beside Sombra, and the startled unicorn took a step back and charged his horn.  The fire molded itself into the alicorn he saw before, and she loomed over him, at least tripling his size.  He shot a beam of magic towards the massive figure before him, who's body turned black and the attack passed through a thick body of smoke, literally.

The smoke reverted back to her true form and she stood tall before Sombra.  "Watch it, whelp," she said shortly, leaning in on her opposer.  "Listen, I came here for a reason.  I've been watching you for a while now, observing your studies and advancement in the dark of dark magic."

"And what would you know about that?" the king demanded.  "My practices are my own.  My own talent.  No pony I have come across has been able to unlock the power that I wield."

"It's easier than you know, Sombra," she continued.  She backed away and her horn radiated the same black magic that the unicorn was famous for.  She shot a beam towards the ground and sculpted a full scale sculpture of herself out of the dark crystal without effort.  "Hatred runs deep in all of us, fear just the same.  Allow me to introduce myself.  I am Magmare, the Mistress of Flames.  I would bow, but the only pony I have ever bowed down to, and ever WILL bow down to was my father, the Father."

"Charming," Sombra muttered.  "Now tell me how you have been watching me.  How do you know who I am?"

"I'm going to assume you know the tale."

"That I do.  Get on with it."

"Watch your tongue.  I wouldn't want to have to find a replacement henchman.  One that isn't a pile of ashes in the snow," she took a few steps in the opposite direction.  "As you know, this world was stolen from me from my not-so-dear brother, Frostborn.  You also know how he banished me in the Earth's core, where I waited patiently as I managed thaw the world out from the inside.  Over the countless millennia that have passed since my imprisonment, and I have gained knowledge over those painful years.  Such knowledge, was of you, King Sombra."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am no king anymore," Sombra said, trying to hide the shame he held inside.

"Well, then don't I have the deal for you?" Magmare said excitedly.

"Where is this going?"

"Frostborn's soul was divided into two separate entities when the ice was split.  He constructed a pair of portals, one on each side of the world so he could be brought back one day."  Magmare glanced to the Crystal Empire below them, "This attack is bound to draw some attention to my presence, and Princess Celestia will likely send somepony to the portals to activate them.  I want you to defend the north."

"Why don't you just defend both at the same time?" Sombra asked.  "You've demonstrated you're ability to be in two places at once," he pointed to the tail of fire leaving the scene of the attack.

"I can only spread so far if I want to retain my full power.  My time locked away has left me weaker than usual, and while I can still put up a fight, I won't last long against my brother.  We can't allow him to return."

"Save the 'we' part for when you tell me where I will benefit from this."

"I do not need total control of this world to become unstoppable.  In fact, all I need is my brother out of the picture.  So, for your service, I will be willing to grant you some of my land."  The blaze at the Crystal Empire circled the entire city in a matter of seconds.  "I'll keep it safe for you, but if anypony opens that portal, you and your precious empire will be burned to a crisp."

Sombra pondered the offer.  "Trust isn't something that ponies get out of me so easily.  Why should I make this exception?"

Magmare's horn glowed red and a circle of flame burned around the king who questioned her.  "It's not an option.  I'll be back tonight, and if I found out the portal was turned on, you know what's coming."  The alicorn's body was consumed by a puff of smoke, and when the cloud faded she was gone.  The ring of fire around Sombra's feet dissipated, leaving the king alone in the icy mountains once more.

"And that's how Equestria's inevitable downfall was established," Sombra finished.  Fluttershy sat still in her cage, the urgency surging back to her.  Out of the blue, something caught the yellow mare's eye.  She glanced up into the air and looked back down at the unicorn.

"Oh, sounds like a good plan," she remarked.  Sombra gave her a smug smile.  "It would be a shame if something came in to stop this brilliant plan that you brought to life and have clearly executed so perfectly."  The figure in the sky closed in.  Some dark creature was flying towards them with haste.

Sombra's smile faded, "That's exactly what's about to happen isn't it?" once that sentence ended, a ray of blue magic met the back of the king's head, and growled in pain.

Fluttershy smirked.  "What makes you say that?" she shrugged.

"Now what could that be?" Sombra asked himself, turning his head to the source of the blast.  His eyes widened as a dark blue alicorn mare descended gracefully to the ground.  She stood about three meters away on even ground with the king.  He smirked, "Oh, this was a rather, pleasant surprise.  I've been waiting to get a fight out of a fellow master of darkness without her perfect sister joining in."

"You and I both know that I could overwhelm you without the help of Celestia, Sombra," Luna replied.  "And I believe you confuse dark magic for magic of darkness."

"And what would the difference be, exactly?" he asked smartly.

"I'm not one for explanation.  It never sank in to me when I was banished, and it never seems to sink into anypony I speak too."  He soared a couple feet into the air, "I prefer using a demonstration."  Princess Luna charged her horn, and shot another beam of magic toward the king.  Sombra didn't move, just simply converted his body into a shadowy mist as the attack passed through it.  The haze closed in on Luna and if manifested back into Sombra when he was inches away from her face.  His horn radiated in the dark magic, and he fired a blast at point blank towards the princess.  The resulting explosion launched her back onto the snow-covered ground by the imprisoned ponies.  Sombra took advantage of Luna's incapacitation, and trapped her in her own cage of crystals.

"Marvelous, is it not?" Sombra questioned.  "The power of true dark magic?" his horn glowed again and one by one, small, sharp shards of crystal began to jut out of the inside walls of the princess' prison.  "Don't you just love it when you're right, princess?  The magic of darkness can't possibly compare with mine," he taunted.  Luna tried to keep calm, any second now those shards of crystal closing in would begin to stab at her.  She had to think.  She took a glance to the other imprisoned ponies in their cages, and Fluttershy pleading for help.  She looked back and forth at the ground, desperately searching her mind for the solution.  She eventually found it.

Though she hated the idea, Luna knew it was her only option.  "You want to see the full extent of my power, Sombra?" she asked, falling under the effects of intimidation.  "I suppose you have not yet caught wind of the events that took place short after your banishment one thousand years ago.  Needless to say I tapped into my true self that day.  The darkness that resided deep within my veins."  Luna stomped with all the force she could muster, and the walls around her shattered into pieces from the shock wave.  She stood hunched over, her pupils growing to immense size.  A black mist spiraled around her body, and she ascended gracefully into the air.  The black haze formed an orb around her body and turned an intense orange.  The orange light exploded into two sets of blue that eerily resembles a starry night sky coming from the mare's mane and flank.  Luna's coat had become black, and her wings had changed shape.  They were more curved than her old ones, and the tips came to a sharp point.  She had also gained a set of blue armor, now having a her own helmet, boots, and a breastplate that depicted a crescent moon in the center.

"It does feel nice to be in my full power once more," she boasted, her voice noticeably deeper than before.  "Almost tempting to relive my past faults, too.  Sadly, Sombra, I've learned from my mistakes.  You should have done the same."  She charged her horn for an attack, launching a magic bolt at the king's feet to his surprise.  The blast launched him straight into the air, leaving him momentarily vulnerable.  Nightmare Moon would have taken the chance to attack him again, but she had a better idea.  While Sombra was helpless, the moon princess took a turn and shattered the three dark crystal cages one by one with blast from her horn.  When the cages were destroyed, Rarity and Pinkie shook their heads and broke free of the trance.  "Girls," Nightmare pleaded.  "Go, activate the portal.  We haven't much time, Twilight and the others await your success."

The girls gathered together and shook heads.  They stood in a semicircle around the portal with Rarity in the middle, Pinkie on her left, and Fluttershy on her right.  They held hooves, and began to hover straight up in the air.

Nightmare and Sombra continued to duel.  The king rose to his hooves after the hard landing on an icy rock.  He stared deeply into the eyes of Nightmare Moon.  They stood still for a couple seconds, until Sombra fired a quick blast to her chest, leaving a scorch mark on Nightmare's breastplate.  She was pushed back by the force of the blast, but forced herself to stand up straight again.  Her eyes glowed white and her horn blue, and  several bolts of lightning came down to strike Sombra, who didn't get the chance to react.  He collapsed to the ground, his face getting coated in the snow.  He lay there in pain, growling at Nightmare, then transforming his body to shadow.  The haze darted towards the alicorn at top speed.  Nightmare Moon wrapped her own mane and tail around her body, turning her whole body to a cloud of purple smoke, and charged towards Sombra's shadow with the same speed.  Both masses passed clean through each other, and with a few meters separating them, both ponies manifested back into their true forms.  They stood with their backsides facing one another, each standing still and silent.

Nopony moved, just stood in one place for a short time.  About a half minute passed before Sombra was instantly taken over by a surge of unbearable pain all across his body.  His knees shook, and after two seconds of unstable legs, the king finally broke down, falling flat on the snow-covered ground.  He breathed slowly, a cold mist coming from his mouth only about once every ten seconds, and it was clear that even breathing that frequently hurt him.  Nightmare wasn't in her best condition, either.  She stood opposite of the fallen king with her eyes shut tight and her sharp fangs clamped down on each other as she tried to hide the massive pain she also felt.  Eventually, her entire body glowed white, and it shrunk down.  Her giant curved wings and body armor were gone.  Her coat was a dark blue instead on black, and her mane and tail gained a purple border around the starry night texture.  She was back to being Luna.

Luna managed to find a breath as the pain alleviated, but it was still somewhat there.  She glanced over to the three friends at the portal while gasping for air.  Thankfully, it seemed that they had succeeded.  Rarity's horn glowed in a mix of white, pink, and yellow.  It shot a beam of magic into the center of the portal, filling the hole in the middle with a randomly distributed assortment of all the colors.  The swirled carvings on the rim of the structure filled themselves with an icy-blue magic, and the area around the portal exploded with a white light.  None of the ponies were affected, not even Sombra.  The flash of light faded, leaving nothing unusual in it's wake.

Except for what the blast did to the weather.  Suddenly, the skies were clear.  There was no snowfall, no clouds in the sky, just sunlight pouring in and reflecting off the ice and snow in a rather beautiful way.  And just when things couldn't get weirder, something began to rise out of the ground behind the three who activated the portal.  A massive icy-blue colored orb, roughly the size of Celestia, sprung out of nowhere, and slowly mad it's way for the portal.  The three friends desperately crawled out of the orb's way, tripping over themselves in the process.  The glowing sphere came in contact with the multicolored magic-filled center of the portal, and caused sparks of electricity to fly everywhere as it passed through.  Another flash of white light came from the portal when the orb was completely through.  All the ponies there just stood there in shock, except for Sombra who still lacked the strength to get up.

"Well that's something you don't see every day," Pinkie Pie commented.

"And because you have squandered my time with your pointless shenanigans," Magmare exclaimed as the three friends cowered before her.  "I am going to enjoy destroying you where you stand!"  Her horn glowed bright red, and the trio shook in fear.

"C'mon, girls," Twilight said to herself.  "We need you."

At that instant, the portal behind them sparked wildly.  All four ponies on the scene looked up, totally startled by the sudden electrical crackling.  Twilight and her friends backed up as a large blue orb revealed itself from the portal.  Magmare's heart fell into her stomach, and her horn stopped glowing.  She felt a strong presence from behind her, and saw an icy-blue glow out of the corner of both eyes.  She jumped forward and looked back to see an orb identical to the one passing through the portal rising from the ground behind her.  The orb behind Magmare ascended out of the ground completely, and rested a few inches above the snow.  The first orb finished passing through the portal, and slowly moved towards it's sister orb until they merged together.  The four ponies shielded their eyes from the bright while light that filled the area upon the convergence.

The light faded, and where the two balls of light last were, stood an icy-blue colt equal in size to Magmare.  He was equipped in boots, a helmet, and chest plate all chiseled out of blocks of ice.  His helmet covered the entirety of his head, save for hie eyes and nostrils, and the bottom was completely open so he could still move his mouth and talk freely.  His mane and tail looked very thin, consisting of curved white lines that resembled a snowy breeze.  He stood tall and turned to his sister in the flaming dress.  "Sister," Frostborn said.

"Brother," Magmare said, her voice dripping with hate.

"I'm back."

The Battle of Cold Ash

Frostborn smiled at his sister with much sincerity.  "Ah, so another time arises where the masters of ice and fire must duel once more over control of the world they were given," he said calmly.  "It would not take an oracle to foresee this moment.  After all, it is natures way to decide our fate as we are born into them."

"Fate does not decide anything for us, brother," Magmare argued.  "We were put on this world for a reason, to choose our own destinies."

"Foolish thinking, sister.  The winds of change shall carry us through our journey of life.  They always have," he said turning his head to the right.  His eyes slowly directed themselves back to Magmare with a closed smile.  "Unless you believe there to be another reason I was able to lock you away all those millennia ago."

Her face froze up, her eyes wide and eyebrows at her hairline.  Her flames burned more and more brightly, to the point where every blaze on her body was a wild blue ember.  Her expression turned to anger and her horn glowed red.  "You, little cur!" she exclaimed.  She began to speak with a growl, "I'll be happy to burn you where you-"  She stopped, remembering what happened during their last battle.  Frostborn had toyed with her emotions, making her lose focus and create faults in her attacks.  She knew this couldn't happen again, despite her violent nature.  She had to keep herself in check.  Her flames returned to their original red-orange color, and she shook her head to help calm herself down.  "No, not again," she mumbled.

Frostborn faced her again, and took a few steps in her direction.  "So she has learned from her mistakes.  I'm sure Father would be proud, abandoning the relentless power he bestowed upon you in exchange for a little self control."

"Silence!" Magmare screamed, her flames glowing brighter.  "I've learned from your tricks, Frostborn.  And Father will be smiling down on me by the time this day is over."  She took to the skies and charged her horn.  "Unless your precious fate decides otherwise."  A ball of fire grew at the tip, growing to the size of her head.  Her eyes glowed white and the ball of fire turned blue.  Her body straightened out, her horn pointed towards the Master of Ice.  The fireball shot towards Frostborn as Magmare's body recoiled back.  The alicorn colt quickly rose a thick wall of ice in front of his body as the attack impacted.  A cloud of smoke filled the air around him, and Magmare flew back down to the earth smugly.  She may have been weaker in the cold climate, but she concentrated a great amount of energy into that one attack.  The impact could have vaporized any wall Frostborn rose and whatever was behind it.

The smoke cleared, and the wall was completely gone, but so was Frostborn.  Twilight and her friends gasped in fear, assuming their one hope for survival to be destroyed.  "MehehehehahahaHAHAHA!" Magmare laughed maniacally.  "Looks like you've been out here too long, brother," she yelled out.  "The ice must have rotted your brain.  You're all out of ideas."  The air behind her shifted, countless snowflakes gathering into one solid mass.  Slowly, the snow ascended, revealing four icy-blue legs in armor of carved ice.  The body of the alicorn formed with closed wings, leading up his neck to his armored head with eyes shut.  The snowflakes continued up his long horn until it reached the tip, at which point Frostborn's eyes and wings sprung open.

The noise of the wings alerted Magmare to the presence behind her.  She looked back without the slightest shock, she saw it coming.  Her horn glowed red along with her brother's.  Both alicorns stared into each others' eyes readying their magical attacks on their targets.  Suddenly the portal's multicolored interior began to distort as a trio of ponies walked on through.  Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie strolled into the south pole.  "Ooh, did it work?" Pinkie asked, then directing her attention the the dueling siblings outside the portal.  Both of the alicorns fired, and the impact of the attacks caused a white explosion that threw them apart, along with all the bystanders around the portal.  The six ponies got launched over a few snowy hills and into the soft white blanket.

Magmare came their way, catching herself on the ground with her hooves and dragging along the cold ground.  Her eyes clenched in pain as the snow melted on her legs, making her body grow cold.  She gritted her teeth and flew back up into the air when she came to a stop.  Frostborn joined her up there, giving his enraged sister smugly in the eyes.  She fired another beam of magical fire at her brother, who darted down and out of the way.  On his way down, a large chunk of ice erupted out of the ground, hitting Magmare dead-square in the stomach.  The mare spit as the ice made contact, and then balled up in pain.  It took her a few seconds to recover, which Frostborn gave her the time to by casually walking to her as she lay helpless on the icy ground.  When the pain began to subside, she opened one of her closed eyes to look at her brother closing in.

Her fire burned brightly again, the ice melting around her and the water turning to vapor is it did.  Her whole body, including the coat, turned to white, and she rose into the air, stretching her hooves.  Frostborn took a step back, but before he could make a full retreat, Magmare and the air all around her exploded in red-orange fire, with the Master of Ice getting caught in the blast.   The smoke and fire cleared, leaving Magmare in a new brighter orange coat looming over an incapacitated and scorched Frostborn.  "Was this fate, brother?" she asked.  "Or was there another reason I can crush you?"  Her horn lit up, forming another fireball at the tip.  Frostborn's eyes closed tightly at the bright light he sensed over him, while at the same time, trying to disregard the pain and gather all the strength he could muster.

Magmare drew her head back, still smiling wickedly at her brother in pain.  Frostborn kept trying to look past the agony of the burn, and managed to get some magic to his horn.  The light-blue magic from the horn coursed down his whole body, which began to sink into the snow.  His sister launched the attack down to him just as his body was shrouded in the blanket of snow.  However, the attack left a crater, meaning that if Frostborn was only that deep when it hit, then there would at least be a body or some ashes.  Nope, he was gone, entirely.

Magmare looked around frantically.  He'd pulled this trick before, and he would definitely try it again.  She looked everywhere, left, right, over the shoulder, straight ahead, her brother was nowhere.  She turned completely around and backed up slowly, her eyes darting left and right with each step.  Suddenly, she felt herself loose her footing.  The snow behind her began sliding into a circular pit, as if it were quicksand.  Magmare panicked, desperately trying to run from the snow trap, but her two back hooves kept slipping on the moving snow that crept closer to her front pair.  She gave out a quick scream, her eyes bulging out of her head from the horror.  Eventually, the two back hooves brought her whole body down with them, causing Magmare to slide further down into the pit, which she could have sworn had sides that were growing steeper.  More short yelps followed, until she reached the center of the quick-snow and her legs were being buried in the freezing trap.  She continues to scream as the snow engulfed her, her two front hooves flailing in the air trying to dig herself out.  Her head was about to be consumed by the snow when her horn began to glow.  She went under, hooves, head, wings, everything.  It was silent and the snow trap began to close.

The rim of the quick-snow trap started to shrink, leaving a more and more narrow pit in the ground as time passed, Magmare was nearly stuck inside.  That's when the snow in the trap began to glow orange.  An orange light emerged from what part of the pit was still open, followed by the surface bursting open with an orange alicorn flying out with flames burning white all over her body.  She took to the skies, looking down to the ground for her brother, fire burning deep in her eyes.  After the frantic darting of her eyes all over the ground, they turned to white, and she charged her horn.  "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" she bellowed, firing a beam of fire all around the area around her.  The ray burned many lines into the snow, even wiping just in front of the six friends who were pulling themselves out of the snow.

They screamed as they jumped back from the crossfire, breathing heavily all the while, save for Rainbow Dash and Applejack.  Those two looked back up at the action, eagerly awaiting more shots to fire.  "That was AWESOME!!!" Rainbow cheered.

"Are you crazy!?" Twilight yelled waving her hoof like a maniac at her friends.

"You kiddin?" Applejack asked.  "This is somethin' to see!"  She turned back to Magmare, who was still looking for Frostborn.  From the ground below her, the snow piled up on it's own, making a snow pony alicorn out of itself.  The snow pony burst open, revealing Frostborn who had hidden inside.  All the colt's wounds were gone.  His scorch marks and any sense of pain he felt just vanished with the snow.  He met his sister in the skies, still baring that casual smile of his as appose to Magmare, who's very flames burned in brighter colors.

"Putting up a fight as usual," Frostborn noted.  "Father raised you well, sister.  It's especially important for the weak ones to have a strong willpower."

The Mistress' fire burned more ferociously.  "I WILL BURN YOU!" she exclaimed.  Her fire started emitting an exponentially increased amount of smoke, and it coursed to either side of her.  The haze began to circle Frostborn, putting him in the center of a massive ring of smoke.  Magmare's dress fed into the smoke, which caught fire that traveled along the ring until both branches met at the end.  With one more charge of her horn, Magmare caused multiple explosions in the flame stream, anywhere around twenty to thirty detonations total.  The fire and smoke faded away from the blasts, leaving behind a copy of Magmare where each explosion occurred.  "HAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHA!" the clones laughed in unison.

Frostborn raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "Something new for a change, hmm?"

The Magmares continued to speak simultaneously, "We will overwhelm you!"  All their horns charged at once, releasing a barrage of fiery beams towards Frostborn.  He tried to react by encasing himself in ice, but by the time the attacks had reached him, the barricade wasn't put up.  Each ray had made direct contact on the Master of Ice, surrounding him in an explosion that filled the entire ring of Magmares, who stared into the fire in delight.  The fire subsided, and from the bottom of the smoke ball came Frostborn crashing down to the ground.  The landing launched the snow in all directions, while the alicorn lay motionless and half buried in it.  His eyes were shut lightly and his wings were lying limp in on the ground.  He made not a sound.

The six friends gasped, worrying for their one hope of survival.  The army of Magmares in the sky turned to smoke and dissipated into the sky, save for the one real alicorn.  She flew down to her brother's body, standing triumphantly.  "Muahahaha-hahaha," she laughed maniacally.  "If it were only this easy last time!"  She leaned in closer, her white fire melting a layer of snow below her.  "You never answered my question, brother.  Was it fate?"  She lifted her head back up.  "Enjoy the next hundred millennia in the Earth's core, Frostborn," she taunted.  Her horn glowed red, and Frostborn started to sink into the ground.

"I can't watch!" Fluttershy said, turning away.  Applejack took her hat off and held it over her heart.  Rainbow Dash saluted the Master of Ice, Pinkie's face was stained with terror, and Rarity gnawed at her nails?  Hooves?  Whatever they are in this case.  Twilight tried to show hope, giving a nervous smile to try and instill confidence in herself.  Frostborn still hadn't budged.  Magmare continued to sink his body into the snow, inch by inch.  The snow crept up to his top eye, until it swallowed the lid in a pure white sheet.  Frostborn was gone.

"It's over," Applejack said, trying to hold back the tears.  Fluttershy held onto Pinkie and cried on her shoulder.  Everypony began to see that hope was lost.

Magmare turned her wicked head to face the six horrified friends.  "Brilliant plan, little fillies," she said sarcastically.  "Oh if only she were awake to see my triumph now."  She looked towards Princess Celestia, who was still unconscious in the snow a few meters behind the ponies.  "Not that I can complain.  I finally overcame Frostborn this day, and I haven't a doubt it was quite the event."

Something was wrong with this picture.  Magmare's horn hadn't stopped glowing.  No magic attacks were being shot, no random fire around them, it just glowed.  Was it possible she was still...

Twilight saw something twinkle out of the corner of her eye, and she looked down at the ground below Magmare's head.  She saw something rising from the snow, something small.  From the looks of it, there was a shard of ice rapidly ascending from the ground.  The ice shot directly up, just barely missing the Mistress of Flames' eyes, but it didn't miss.  No, the shard kept rising, up to Magmare's forehead, and sliced the alicorn's horn clean off.  "GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Magmare screamed in pain.  Her horn fell to the earth, and combusted into flames.  The fire quickly subsided and the horn was completely gone.

That's when the snow began to shake in front of the pain stricken alicorn.  She backed up, and looked at the rustling in the snow, her pupils had never been smaller.  The ground erupted in a grand display of white powder, giving way to a massive alicorn in armor made of ice.  Frostborn soared high in the sky, wings stretched out wide.  Magmare looked up in disbelief, then quickly to anger.  The stump where her horn once extruded from, started burning, building a new horn in it's place.  Once the horn was back, her expression turned from anger to pure rage.  Her eyes glowed white, and her flames burned wildly blue.  She gritted her teeth as her mane and tail waved frantically in the air.

Frostborn rose a bit higher, and angled himself so that his hind legs were aligned with his back while still pointing down to Earth.  Her two front hooves outstretched to either of his sides, just below the waist.  His wings were stretched as far as they could and his eyes glowed white like his sister's.  His horn glowed a light-blue and one could see the clouds above his head start to circle like a hurricane.  "Two can play at that game!" Magmare screamed.  She flew up to meet her brother in the air, and took on a pose that mirrored his.  Her horn glowed a brilliant red, and the clouds above her head disbanded completely, giving way to a starry night sky.

Frostborn's clouds began to shimmer, and from those sparkling lights came a barrage of three foot icicles.  They came flying down in hundreds, maybe even thousands.  On Magmare's side, the edge of the hole in the sky had some orange light coming from it.  Soon, one could see a large black rock engulfed in raging flames hurdling down into the atmosphere.  There wasn't just one.  As it passed by, it was clear it had five or six meteors following close behind it.  Both sides were packing a heavy attack towards one another, and there was sure to be some crossfire.

"Um, I think we should get moving," Rainbow Dash suggested.  The five friends all nodded in agreement and took off in the opposite direction.  Twilight made sure to pick up Princess Celestia's comatose body, levitating it in the air a few feet behind her.  The friends had about five seconds before those attacks landed.  They kept sprinting until they heard the earth-shattering KA-BOOM erupting from behind them, along with a dangerously close feeling of heat on their backsides.  Twilight looked back at the chaos, the meteors and ice spikes were still raining down, and she could still make out the two siblings sustained in the air.

That didn't last long.  Soon after that first meteor hit, another landed below where Frostborn flew, and the blast was able to reach him.  The explosion sent him tumbling through the air and onto the ground.  Magmare laughed at her brother's pain, but what she hadn't realized that the explosion had shattered a large number of icicles and sent the pieces flying.  The root of one came hurtling towards her face, smacking her square in the cheek, and knocking her down to the ground.  The air attacks came to a halt as the siblings fell down.

Both of them rose to their hooves, looking back at each other in a familiar position.  They were back where they had started.  Magmare started walking towards Frostborn, stomping with each step.  The Master of Ice tried surrounding her with a cage of ice, but as soon it was up, the sheer force of the stomping had it shatter around the Mistress.  He tried shooting a bolt of ice magic to her, but Magmare just fired an attack of her own that collided with his, causing a small explosion in the air immediately above the ground.  She was still walking.

Frostborn took a step back, a worried expression on his face.  He was running out of options, and he rattled his brain for an answer.  Finally, he found the solution.  He closed his eyes, and his eyes closed, and his body turned to it's winter breeze form.  The snowflakes started circling around Magmare, getting faster and faster.  The Mistress of Fire shifted from side to side, trying to get a good view of her brother.  She charged her horn in preparation for attack, but suddenly she couldn't find her full strength.  She was feeling colder, and she looked down to see her flames fading to white.  "What?" she demanded.  Frostborn's breeze kept circling, picking up more and more speed.  Magmare felt weak, her flames were turning back to orange as she started bending her knees.  Her coat lost its bright orange tint, and she collapsed to the ground.  Frostborn didn't stop circling.  "Stop," his sister pleaded weakly.  "Brother."

The snow started to pile up all around her, and covering her in a dome of the cold substance.  The snow flashed in red from the inside as it slowly flattened.  Magmare was sinking deeper into the earth, and the top of the dome was close behind.  It continued flashing in red, growing more and more faint as it shrunk.  Eventually the snow had become level with the ground, and the flashing stopped.

The breeze stopped spinning, and shaped itself back into Frostborn, powerful as ever.  An eerie silence filled the air, not even the noticeable winds on everypony's faces were howling.  They all just stood in quiet waiting for someone to speak up.

Twilight finally did.  "Well?" she asked the Master of Ice.

"It is done," he answered.

Princess Celestia's eyes opened, and she started blinking.  Applejack gave her a hoof up, and Celestia held her hoof to her forehead.  "What happened?" she asked.

"It's over," Twilight informed her.  "Magmare's gone."

"Oh, thank goodness," she sighed.  Celestia took notice to the massive alicorn that towered over them all.  "Oh, and he is fine, too."

"Indeed, Celestia," Frostborn said.  "The frost stands triumphant over the flames once again."  He turned back to the ground where Magmare had sunk down.  "She was weak, begging for mercy when fate's decision had become clear."

"Thank you so much for your help," Twilight thanked him.

"Regardless of your needs, I would have confronted my sister under any circumstance.  But now that is all behind us, and it is time once again for a new era."  He turned his head back to the ponies before him.

"Why start new?" Applejack asked.  "We kinda like what we got already."

"The frost can only spread if there is no heat to hinder it's advancement.  Because of your deeds today, the heat has been removes from the equation.  My era has dawned."

Rainbow Dash gave herself a facehoof.  "You gotta be kidding me."

"He's not," Princess Celestia said.  "I was hoping Magmare would have taken him down with her.  While farfetched, it was our only chance against Magmare."

"You know you could have TOLD US THAT before you sent us out here to revive this guy," Dash boomed.  "We could have come up with something."

Frostborn smiled.  "Weather or not your intent was to bring me to power, you did bring be back before my sister could reach full ascendancy, and for that I suppose I am in your debt.  In return, I will allow you to prepare for the oncoming apocalypse at your doorstep.  I don't believe that those who fight for their survival deserve a helpless death.  Now go, gather your forces.  I will arrive at Canterlot tomorrow evening."  On that note, Frostborn took to the skies, and flew into the clouds and out of sight.  The six friends turned to Princess Celestia, who looked all around them uncomfortably.

"One thing," Applejack said.  "That's all ya had to say."

New Plans

"With all do respect, princess," Rainbow Dash said, pointing at Celestia in ridicule.  "Ya dun goofed."

Celestia accepted her mistake.  "Yes, I should have given you more information before sending you on your way.  Please excuse the sense of urgency I had for rushing," she said sincerely.

"Excuse you?" Dash asked with a subtle irritation in her voice.  "Excuse you!?  Because of you, we now have an ice god about to freeze all of Equestria over, after he just proved to be stronger that the fire goddess, and you want us to just excuse you!?" she exclaimed as Celestia backed away, regretting her decision even more.  "Sure, let's just forget about the death sentence you've given us!  You know, what, princess?  The Tartarus with you!  You can go back to Canterlot without us.  Go tend to your 'loyal' subjects who you can lie to some more."  She turned around and sat in the snow with her hooves crossed.  "Good riddance!"

Celestia swallowed.  She'd really messed up this time.  Her actions caused the Element of Loyalty herself to scream in outrage to her face.  She was being shunned by one of the ponies whom she trusted most.  Now she had lost all faith in the princess.  The very thought of such an event ate at Celestia from the inside, now it was a reality.  "No," she said at last.  "I'm not leaving my most faithful subjects here to freeze to death."  She knelt down beside Rainbow Dash and brushed her face against hers.  "Come, it's a long way back to Canterlot."

"Then you shouldn't let me be dead weight, then," Dash snapped.

Twilight chimed in, "Rainbow, I think you should come along with us.  Everypony makes mistakes."

"No!" she yelled, looking up and hovering in the air.  Her face was full of rage, her eyes piercing into the lavender alicorn who was trying to keep calm.  "If there's anything I had to learn in the Wonderbolt Academy, it's that we have to come out clean, no matter how hard it is to admit or what you sacrifice for it."  She pointed to Celestia, but her eyes didn't leave Twilight.  "If this is the pony you want as your role model, maybe she should learn a thing or two.  Applejack, help me out on this."

The farmer pony kept silent, staring disapprovingly at the blue pegasus asking for her help.  Dash looked worried, and sad at the same time.  Her anger quickly returned to her face.  "Fine then!" she said.  "Rarity, are you with me?"  The unicorn gave the same response.  Rainbow's expression turned sorrowful again, but this time it didn't leave her face.  "Pinkie," she asked.  The party pony shook her head and walked in the opposite direction, her friends one at a time following her.  The last one facing her was Fluttershy, who held her head down low in silence.

"Fluttershy," Dash pleaded, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.  The yellow mare closed her eyes tightly and turned her head to her right.  She waited a moment before joining her friends leaving the pegasus behind.  Dash cried silently, watching through her her blurred vision as Celestia and her friends pulled the golden chariot out of the snow.  She dropped to the ground and cupped her hooves around her eyes.

Celestia flipped the chariot back over so it stood right-side-up again.  She unlatched the harnesses on the two unconscious pegasi on the ground.  Twilight took one of the harnesses and put it on, securing it with her magic.  Celestia took the other harness and brought it over her back, then stopped as she saw something moving in the corner of her eye.  She turned and saw a familiar blue pegasus slowly walking over to the chariot to join them.  The princess smiled at Rainbow's reconsideration.  Her friends were happy to see her turn around, too, but Celestia understood that it was anger she just needed to let pass.  She had forgiven Dash for a more personal reason.

"Welcome back, Rainbow," Applejack greeted her.

Dash gave a weak smile.  "Thanks."  The friends loaded the knocked out guards into the back of the chariot.  Their limp bodies flopping all over Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they moved them into the far end of the cart.  Dash hooked herself to the empty harness next to Twilight.  They smiled and exchanged nods to each other.  Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all huddled together in the back of the chariot, leaning up against the guards to keep them from falling out.  Celestia would follow on her own wing strength.  Twilight and Rainbow started running, pulling the cart behind it.  The hills of snow made it difficult to get it moving, but with time, they managed to pull up into the sky and maintain their altitude.

There wasn't much to talk about on the way back to Canterlot, as all six friends' minds were set on getting back home.  Of course, there was the awkward moment of the two chariot pullers waking up, screaming and flailing all the while as they tried to comprehend why they were shoved up against a group of mares (which they didn't mind too much) in a chariot hundreds of feet in the air.  Laughs where shared among the ponies while the guards couldn't get over their confusion to join them.  They reached Canterlot late an night, the moon high in the sky.  The six friends and Celestia gathered inside the castle to escape the cold night air while the guards stood outside, stretching and trying to crack their backs from the hours of bad posture.

Celestia took the six friends back to the throne room for further discussion.  The entire group was glad to be back inside, and away from the cold air.  While the cold didn't phase them much, anypony could get frostbite from being out there for hours.  They reached the doors to their destination, and with a yellow magical glow, the slowly opened.  Luna was waiting for them inside.  She must have headed back while Magmare and Frostborn were fighting.  "Sister," Celestia greeted her softly.  She smiled and trotted over to give the moon princess a hug.  After s couple seconds, they pulled away from each other.

"Frostborn won, didn't he?" Luna asked.

Celestia was surprised at the accurate guess.  "How did you know?" she asked.

"Visions, dream powers, and such," Luna answered.  "I was able to tap into the dreams of the two guards in the chariot with you.  Even as unconscious as they were, I constantly felt an icy breeze around me."  She directed her attention to the farmer pony.  "The one has taken quite the liking to you, Applejack."

Applejack stiffened.  She was blushing and her eyes were wide open.  "Uh," she managed.  "Alrighty then?"

"I suggest you take in his admiration," Rarity whispered in her ear.  "Whichever one it was, he had quite the bulk in those legs," she chuckled, eyes retreating up into her head as she recalled their masculine bodies.  A.J. turned her head and gave the unicorn a disappointed gaze.  "What?" Rarity asked in complaint of the farmer pony's judgement.

"That is also how I sensed the danger of King Sombra in the north," Luna continued.  "These two," she gestured to Rarity and Pinkie Pie," were taken over by fear in his presence.  With nightmares so sinister, I knew there was a dark presence in the mountains with these two."  Luna's expression told them that their dreams even sent chills down her own spine.  "Something I assume you ladies wish to keep to yourself."

Both ponies froze, staring off deeply into space.  They gave quick shakes of their head "no" and didn't speak.  Twilight turned to her left to see Princess Celestia.  "How did you know to come for us?" she asked.

Celestia hesitated.  "Magmare was a massive threat to you," she finally answered.  "I knew you would need some assistance if you had encountered her."  She spoke quickly, trying, and failing, to hide a sense of anxiety inside her.  The six ponies staring at her like they had expected more didn't help.

"Uh, is there something you're not telling us, Princess?" Rainbow Dash finally asked.

"Most certainly not," she replied as if the question were ridiculous.  "What brought you to that conclusion?"

Silence filled the room.  The six hadn't given up that Celestia was hiding something.  Twilight finally spoke, "Princess Celestia?"  Celestia looked down to her ex-pupil with caution.  "What did Magmare mean when she called you her kin?"  Her voice was light.  Twilight was sure this is what she had been keeping to herself.

Celestia's discomfort grew, and it was reflected in her eyes.  All six friends looked up in a mix of worry and curiosity to their prestigious idol.  Celestia felt tense, but she couldn't hide the truth any longer.  She took a deep breath, and her head lowered to the floor.  "Should I say, sister?" she asked.  Luna gave her a sympathetic look, then nodded slowly to the sun princess.  Celestia shut her eyes lightly, then returned her head to it's correct position.  "I suppose it is time."  She turned her body to the six friends eagerly awaiting a response.

"Magmare is my mother."  All around the room, wide-eyed glances were exchanged in shock.  Celestia had expected that reaction, but It did not stop her from feeling uneasy with it.  "But I was not born from her.  I was created, forged.  Brought to life as an adult to serve Magmare for her own purposes.  Tiresome of the eons spent fighting Frostborn, she decided to create a permanent body of power to aid her in her fight.  She gave me the strength of the sun, and asked me to bring it to her wherever she may need the extra power.  I was nothing but a tool to help the tyrant."  Tears formed at the edges of Celestia's eyes.  "It was all my life was worth."

"Soon, Frostborn had taken notice to the plan Magmare had brought forth," Luna added.  "Fearful of this new ally, he knew he had to create one of his own.  That is when I was created."  The friends faced Luna, not only intrigued, but astonished.  "Frostborn bestowed upon me the power of the moon, and demanded the cold night to be brought to him on any battlefield he came to.  Of course, I was not me.  My true form was the spirit of Nightmare Moon.  It was my nature to bring night to the land by any and all means.  I was made to be a monster."  The sisters shared the same tears, snuggling up to one another in sympathy.

"So," Applejack asked, trying to move things along.  "How'd ya meet?"

Celestia sniffled, "Oh, right."  She cleared her throat.  "Naturally, as beings meant for battle, we met in a fight."

The sun shined brightly on the battle between the two alicorns many millennia ago.  The earth was split right down the middle from top to bottom.  To the West, the land was scorched, and a raging blaze engulfed all in it's wake.  To the East, the world was frozen solid, holding it's own against the violent flames pushing with such force against it.  The chilling air collided with the heated winds blowing from the fires of the West.  Above these two feuding forces were two feuding alicorns.  On the western side of the divide was a bright orange mare, who's massive feathers were tipped with small embers, and a dress made of pure fire with a crest that branched out over her two front shoulders, and coursed along her underbelly.  Her mane and tail were a live blaze that violently waved in the air with great speed.  Her red eyes could pierce through any soul that dared drew her attention to it.

On the eastern side was an icy-blue colt, with a mane and tail that resembled the cold breeze flowing in the sky.  He donned a full set of armor carved from chunks of ice, including boots on all four hooves, a chest plate that traveled down his body, shrouding his torso in the ridged armor.  His helmet covered nearly his whole face, save for his blue eyes and lower jaw that still shined through the ice.  Both alicorns soared just above their claimed land, their powerful wings outstretched over the grand sight to behold.

The sunlight glowed brilliantly from the West, coating the icy East in a magnificent orange light.  The rays slipped through the feathers on Magmare's wings and into the blinded eyes of the Master of Ice.  The distraction had him shielding his eyes with his hoof, lowering it every few seconds to get another view of his foe.  Every time he looked, all he could see was the yellow-orange sunlight coursing around the Mistress of Flames, leaving only a large black silhouette to be seen.  The blinding light pushed Frostborn back, and as he did, his frozen ground slowly retreated further to the East, the raging fire filling the space that it had left behind.

Magmare laughed maniacally.  "The power!  The force!  The beauty of my strength!"  Frostborn grunted, trying to fight through the light of the sun that hindered his strength.  "Father is smiling down on me, brother!  Can a weak maggot like you say the same!?"  Frostborn continued to push, but it was no good.  The sun brought Magmare strength as well as the distraction she needed to get him off his game.  At this rate, the world would be consumed in flame in just a few hours.  He needed a way out of this situation.

Suddenly the sky started growing dark around Frostborn.  A dark blue color began inching it's way over the icy ground and eventually over the illuminating flames.  Frostborn uncovered his eyes, and he was able to hold that position.  The sun's rays couldn't reach his face.  A barrier of shadow shielded Frostborn from the blinding light.  Magmare looked behind her brother in disbelief.  The moon was slowly rising behind him, and the higher it rose, the darker the sky grew.  "What?" she demanded.  "How is this possible?"

The moon ascended high above Frostborn, followed by black shadowy figure flying close behind it.  The anonymous character hovered before the moon, and outstretched it's curved wings in the glimmering moonlight.  The light reflected off a set of light blue armor on the alicorn's head, chest, and hooves.  The breastplate bared a pale blue crescent moon in the center, much like her cutie mark, and her eyes glowed in a magnificent shade of the same color.  The dark, starry night sky that made up the mare's mane and tale blended nicely over the large white source of moonlight in the sky above.  Her teeth were razor sharp, glaring in the night sky as her wicked cackle echoes through the air and off the icy ground below her.

Magmare's shock had passed, and she growled at her brother's copycat plan.  "Celestia!" she roared.  "Take care of this one!"  Behind the Mistress of Flames, a white alicorn mare ascended into view and reached equal altitude with her new adversary.  She wore a golden breastplate that wrapped around the back of her neck and over her chest, complete with an embedded amethyst and spiral carvings.  Her mane consisted of a variety of bright colors, including pink, baby-blue, and lime green.  Her cutie mark depicted a symbol resembling the sun, surrounded by large orange embers.  She wore a set of golden armored boots with a unique pattern on the front of her hooves.  Her irises were a brilliant shade of purple, the pleasant color negated by the seemingly angered eyes of the mare.

Celestia's horn glowed yellow, elevating the sun behind her to her own height, letting the light shine through her like a personal spotlight.  Frostborn glanced to his pupil.  "I trust you know what to do," he said.  Nightmare confirmed with an anticipated grin towards the white alicorn.  She made no hesitation before taking a shot at Celestia.  Her face showed a dash of insanity, as she was eager to fire the blast.  The sun alicorn made a quick maneuver downward, spiraling towards the ground and pulling herself back u just before she nosedived into the flames below.  She propelled herself at her rival at full speed, charging her horn in the process.

With her hooves extended out as far as they could go, Celestia rammed herself into Nightmare Moon while at the same time, releasing a magic explosion from her horn at point blank, smiling maliciously all the while.  While the blast hurt the caster some, and pushed her back a fair distance, her foe was launched far back into the glaciers north of the battle.  Nightmare Moon struggled to her hooves, and looked back to Celestia, who brushed off her attack and came charging back.

But in that glance, something caught her eye.  She watched as Magmare and Frostborn dueled in the distance.  The fray left much destruction in it's wake.  The icy ground chipped apart and the fire raged in a massive display of unrest.  The beams of magic flying around the area fueled the chaos as the siblings stayed mobile, evading each blast with their best efforts.  Nightmare Moon had completely forgotten her own battle, and Celestia rammed herself into the stunned alicorn of the night.  Nightmare collapsed on the ground a short distance away from the impact, while Magmare's creation stood firm where her rival once stood, a sadistic smile imprinted on her face.

Celestia's horn glowed yellow, and Nightmare Moon's horrified face reflected itself in the sun alicorn's bloodthirsty eyes.  The crippled alicorn held up her hoof in plea, hoping Celestia would find mercy on her soul.  The sinister expression she bared didn't give her a very good feeling about whether or not Celestia would accept.  Nightmare Moon lowered her hoof and lightly closed her eyes.  Celestia still didn't relent.

She fired.  A ray of her solar magic made it's way towards the incapacitated mare.

But not before Nightmare's own horn radiated in her own blur lunar magic.  Her mane and tail quickly shifted around, covering her body in the starry texture.  Once her whole body was engulfed, the beam struck it.  The purple smoke slit in two, and the halves coursed their way around Celestia, merging together on the other side.  The night sky mane revealed Nightmare Moon from the inside, standing tall and strong.  Her foe turned around, charging for another attack with her nostrils flaring.  The blast of magic shot at the moon alicorn's head, but she was able do duck before it made contact that could be lethal.

Nightmare took her hoof and held up Celestia's head with it, forcing her to look up to the sky and unable to use any magic against her.  "Enough of this!" Nightmare ordered.  "Look at the madness we have been born into!"  The sun alicorn looked up to the battle between the two siblings.  The fight looked to be in Magmare's favor.  Frostborn took a fiery blast of magic to the chest as Celestia glanced over, and he staggered back, trying hard to recover.

Celestia smiled gleefully.  "What?" she asked.  "Objecting to the sheer power the flames have over the frost?"  Nightmare Moon turned around to see her father injured from the attack, and going back for an attack of his own.  The alicorn of the day pulled herself out of Nightmare's grasp, gaining back her attention.  She held her head down so her horn was aligned with her rival, and shifted her weight to her back legs.  She pushed forward with all the force she could muster towards Nightmare Moon, who took a quick evasive maneuver to Celestia's right side as she passed her by.  Her body turned to mist again and she caught up with her foe as she brought herself to a stop.

She manifested back into her alicorn form and grabbed Celestia's face once more, pointing back towards the battle between their parents.  "No," she insisted.  "Just watch."  Celestia tried to fight, but she felt her heart sink to the pits of her stomach as she saw Magmare take a clean beam of ice magic to the face.  Her scream of pain echoed in her petrified daughter's head.  The Mistress of Flames fell down into the blazing abyss below her, nowhere to be seen.

"MOTHER!" Celestia called out in terror.  Her sadistic expression was gone.  All that remained on her face was a pair of worried eyes and a mouth clenched tightly.

Nightmare Moon came to the troubled alicorn's side, and spoke some words of advice to her.  "This will be our future if we allow them to control us."  Celestia pulled herself away from the battle, staring deeply into the eyes of Nightmare, concern in her own.  "We will spend millennia fighting each other in the same barbaric manner if we follow in their footsteps," she continued.  Celestia looked horrifyingly at the ground beneath her, and Nightmare wrapped her hoof around her.  "This is our chance to start anew.  Don't succumb to the primitive outrage that our parents share."  She stared softly into Celestia's eyes, pleading for her to stand by her in the matter.

The sun alicorn's eyes darted from side to side, still not looking back to the battle.  Finally, her thoughts came to a close.  Celestia straightened out and stood tall on the icy ground of her enemy.  Her eyes were shut, and her chin dipped down to the ground.  She lifted her head proudly, and opened her eyes with a peaceful smile.  She looked back into Nightmare Moon's eyes gratefully.  "Let's go," she said.  Nightmare nodded back, and the two offspring of the legendary duo turned their backs to the battle, and flew side-by-side to the north, out of their parents' sight.

"Eventually we stumbled upon a tall mountain that was also split down the middle by the fighting of Magmare and Frostborn," Princess Celestia informed the six friends sitting curiously in the Canterlot throne room.  She looked back at Luna and continued to wrap up her story.  "We sheltered ourselves in it's cave system for what felt like an eternity."  She looked back to Twilight and her friends.  "For the longest time we hid away in the caverns from the fire and snow that shrouded the land for an even longer time.  As the days passed, Nightmare Moon and I let go of our violent nature in exchange for peace in our own land, no matter how small.  Luna even abandoned the body that Frostborn gave her, and took on the one she has now.  We lived in each others loving embrace, and we named each other our sister.

"When the day came that Magmare thawed the ice from the Earth's core, we stepped out of the darkness into a grand new world.  One with lush, green grass and trees.  The air wasn't hot nor cold.  It was a balanced medium that me and my sister thrived in.  We took the minerals from the caves that we resided in and used them to build a magnificent city on the mountain side.  A city we named Canterlot."

The six friends sat quietly, gathering in all the information that was kept from them for so long.  It was all so much to take in, and at such a fast pace.  Celestia and Luna's pasts were a lot deeper than anypony could have ever imagined, but Twilight still had one question to ask.  "Princess Celestia," she began.  "What about when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon again a thousand years ago?  I thought she gave up her old form."

The question his Celestia like a ton of bricks.  Her head drooped to the floor, and she cried uncontrollably.  The ends of her mouth quivered as she tried to hold back her sadness unsuccessfully.  After a few seconds of miserable memories, she darted to her sister who was there to comfort her.  The friends tried to reach out to the troubled princess breaking down into tears.  Celestia took a few seconds to help calm herself, and turned back to Twilight to answer her.  "That was undoubtedly the hardest time in my long life," she sniffled.  "Those thousand years dragged on longer than the time we spent in the caves below this mountain.  In the cold nights we spent separated from one another, I would sing to her, hoping that my message would reach her in her exile all those miles away.  I prayed for those thousand winters to pass by quickly.  I loved her.  I missed her.  She was my sister, the one pony I ever found to be inseparable, and I continued to overshadow and neglect her.  It was only a short time before her jealousy took her over and she reclaimed her old form."

Celestia continued to cry over Luna's shoulder.  Twilight and her friends sat in silence and let the princess cry the memories out.  They didn't want to remind her of the current events occurring outside Canterlot and closing in.  Times were hard enough for her right now, being put through a situation that required combating her own mother, an ice age about to wipe out all life on the planet, and her past actions coming back in emotional force.  They needed her to calm down on her own so she could focus on a solution to the problem.

Suddenly the doors burst open, the noise echoing through the room.  A white unicorn colt with a dark blue mane with a streak of light blue in the center.  His cutie mark was of a dark blue shield with a pink six-pointed star in the middle, much like the one on Twilight's flank.  "Princess Luna!" Shining Armor announced.  "I got your messa-" he noticed Celestia crying over the moon princess' shoulder.  "Oh, my bad, you're busy with something."  Luna gave him a distasteful glance, and her sister stood tall again and wiped the tears from her eyes.  She turned to meet the captain of the royal guard more formally.

"Shining Armor, I told you to wait up!" yelled another familiar voice coming from the hallway just outside the doors.  The whole room turned to see Princess Cadence jogging into view, gasping lightly for air.  "You know I can't run as fast as you, Dear."  She looked away from her husband and saw Princess Celestia with a beet red face and a couple tears forming at the backs of her eyes.  Her tone lightened, "Oh, I'm sorry.  Were interrupting something?  We can leave right now if you want."

Celestia held up her hoof to quiet the concerned mare.  "No," she sniffled.  "We shouldn't waste time, we hardly have any at the moment."  She turned to Luna at her side.  "You sent out a message?"

Luna nodded, "Again, I assumed that Frostborn had won the battle, so I issued an evacuation of all the Equestrian cities to Canterlot."

"We're lucky the fire went out," Shining Armor added.  "I guess when Magmare was defeated, all her fire went with her."

"And the citizens of the Crystal Empire?" Luna asked.

"Taking trains here as we speak.  All seats full, no families separated.  I hope traffic doesn't pile up at the train station here.  Train traffic isn't pretty."

Celestia sighed, "Good, so everypony should come out safe.  Good plan sister."  Luna straightened out triumphantly.  "But there is still the matter of stopping Frostborn.  I have a plan, but it is risky."

Rainbow Dash jumped up in excitement.  "Well what is it?  I'm up for it!"

"Perhaps you should sit down," Celestia urged.  "This isn't going to be any type of mission even a Wonderbolt would be prepared for."

"Then I'll be the first!  Just tell me what it is!"

"Maybe you should settle down and save your excitement for when she gives it to you," Rarity snapped.

"That's what I'm waiting on!"

"Well then," Celestia began.  Dash leaned as much weight forward as she could without falling flat on her face.  "You will be going deep into the Equestrian Changeling Hive, home of Queen Chrysalis and her army of changelings."

Rainbow's eyes widened and her ears wilted on either side of her head.  "Oh."  She paused.  "That's, uh, not what I was expecting."

"What's the matter?" Rarity asked.  "Not exciting enough for you?"

"Oh quiet, Rarity."

Applejack chimed in, "Ya had that one comin'."

"Enough of this!" Luna interrupted in her royal Canterlot voice.  "We are on the brink of an apocalyptic ice age, and you wish to waste our time with bickering.  However I, for one, with to fight for the world my sister and I created from our vision, and not let it rot in the frozen earth along with us."

The bickering ponies straightened out instantly.  "Uh, yes, princess!" Dash uttered quickly.

"Yeah, go on," Applejack added.

Luna gave a snug smile, and turned to Celestia.  "Please go on, sister," she encouraged.

"Thank you, Luna," Celestia said.  She directed her attention back to the six friends and the spouses who were now patiently awaiting her explanation.  "I was hoping to persuade Queen Chrysalis to join our fight against Frostborn.  The changelings are a force to be reckoned with.  Not even the royal guard could stop them once they were in the city.  If anything can convince them to join us, the return of the Master of Ice can."

"And if it doesn't?" Shining Armor interrupted.

"I don't think we have another option," said Twilight.  "If the changelings don't agree to help us, we're all doomed anyway.  If they don't believe us, or take us hostage, Frostborn wins."  She turned to Celestia.  "Princess Celestia, we won't let you down."

Celestia interrupted her without hesitation, "I'm sorry, but you're not going with them."  Nine puzzled faces looked strangely at the white alicorn.  Up to now, Luna was on board with the plan, as crazy as it sounded, but that was risky enough.  Shrinking the team's numbers didn't sound like the brightest decision.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.  "What!?" she demanded.

"Twilight has a special task to com-"

"Twilight has been uneasy all day," Dash cut her off and lifted herself off the ground, "worrying about her three other friends who were going to face unknown danger up north, and you think it's a good idea to separate us from her AGAIN!?"  She closed in on Celestia's face, giving her barely any room to breathe.

"Don't do this again, Rainbow," Applejack advised.

"No!  I am fed up with what the princess is doing to us!  If she wants to split us up right down the middle to make things move a little faster, by all means!  But pulling us all away from the one pony who she saw suffering without the other half!?  What kind of mentor are you!?"

"I only want what's best for-"

"No, forget it.  We've already trusted your gut once, and look where it got us.  There is an ICE GOD taking over the world right now!  Give us one reason why we should listen."

"Because she's right!" yelled a voice from behind Rainbow.  The whole room turned to it, zoning in on Twilight, who sat alone on the floor.  Dash dropped back to the ground and looked at her with a face somewhere between stunned and confused.

"You're," Rainbow Dash began.  "You're fine with this?"

Twilight nodded.  "Princess Celestia is a smart leader, she won't let us down.  Besides," she stood up and walked over to Rainbow Dash, putting her hoof on her shoulder.  "I've survived the first time she split us up.  I can survive this one."

Dash found this hard to wrap her head around.  "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."  Twilight gave Rainbow a short hug to help calm her down.  She pulled away and gave her a reassuring glance into Dash's eyes.  "Better?"

Rainbow scratched the back of her head, "Yeah, I'm good."

Twilight smiled, and turned to Princess Celestia.  "What was my task, princess?"

Celestia shifted back on her weight to her back legs in preemptive retreat for what she was about to say would bring out in the ponies.  "I think it's best if the others leave before we tell you."  She was relieved to see nopony wanted to give her another verbal beat down.

Dash looked to her immediate right, trying to fish out Twilight's take on the matter.  The purple alicorn patted her on the back.  "You should go," she encouraged.  "You have your own job to get to."  Dash didn't let go of her nervous feelings, and didn't do too well at hiding them, either.  She and the others made their way for the exit, each with a little slack in their posture.

"Good luck, Twilight," Applejack wished her, trying to hide the group's insecurity, including her own.  The doors closed behind them, and Twilight was suddenly washed over by a slight feeling of regret as they slammed shut, and her head sank down a tad when the sound subsided.

"What about us?" Cadence asked Celestia.

"You two should get some rest," she advised.  "You'll need your rest by the time Frostborn reaches Canterlot."

Shining Armor took a bow.  "As you command, princess."  He glanced over to Cadence.  "Come on, Dear."  They took their leave, closing the large doors behind them.

Twilight looked back to Celestia and Luna.  "So what's the plan?" she asked.

"Well, as you know, Frostborn possesses power beyond any that Equestria has ever encountered," Celestia began.  "With the power to encase the entire world in ice on a simple whim, nopony we know has the strength to match him.  However, there is one we know of that might help us.  One who has the potential to neutralize this power.  There's just one problem.  We've sent him to Tartarus."

Twilight's heart skipped a beat.  "You don't mean."

With a nod, Celestia confirmed, "Indeed.  Tirek is our last chance against Frostborn."

"Bu-.  Wha-.  Then why did you send my friends away to get the changelings on our side?"

"No offense to them, but they aren't as, accepting, of my contributions to the solution.  I think Rainbow Dash made a perfect demonstration of that.  It would be much easier to convince one pony to get the job done rather than six."

Twilight couldn't believe her ears.  Princess Celestia, her role model, told her straight to her face, that her friends were getting in the way of her plan.  She just told her, that the friends that improved her life and enjoyment of it, weren't allowed to help her because they were an interference.  Was Rainbow Dash right?  Had Twilight made the wrong choice in trusting Princess Celestia this time?  She didn't know what to believe anymore.

"Are you ok, Twilight?" Celestia asked.  "You don't seem all there."

She snapped out of it.  "Yeah, I'm fine," she said sincerely.

Celestia smiled.  "Now, clearly, we can't release Tirek from his imprisonment.  We can't risk another catastrophe taking place, especially while the majority of the country is in a state of deep freeze.  But there is the possibility that he will teach you to steal magic."

The youngest alicorn stared at her in dismay.  "You want me to learn to steal magic?"

"My sister has a point," Luna added.  "While Tirek can use an ability unseen to be used by any other being, it is still magic.  Therefore it can be learned to master."

"Are you sure?"

"Undoubtedly.  I'm certain you've seen ice spells used before.  Frostborn is not the only one capable of using it, but he is prominent in the art."

"The only issue that comes to mind is the persuasion," Celestia noted.  "Tirek is quite tyrannical.  He believes his secrets and powers to be his own.  Tapping into them will not be easy."

"If I could make a suggestion, sister," Luna chimed in.  "I believe that a certain draconequus would be the most convincing option."

"Discord?" Twilight asked in uncertainty.  "I think we all know that he's not the most loyal character we've ever met."

"Luna raises a good point.  Discord has felt the pain of betrayal from Tirek when he was rising to power.  He knows just as well as we do to not trust him.  If anyone can convince Tirek to teach you to steal magic, it's Discord."

Twilight put this together in her head.  As if enough things hadn't happened today to rattle her brain.  She was skeptical, of course, but as bleak as times were, she would take what she could get.  "Understood, but where are we going to find Discord at this hour?"

"I have an idea," Luna sighed.  Her horn glowed in dark blue magic and she closed her eyes.  A bright flash of white light spawned on the floor between the three ponies.  When it faded away, Discord was lying there before them.  He was covered in a pink, frilled blanket that left his feet exposed, or rather hoof and claw, in this case.  He wore a matching dream mask with white flowers over where the eyes were.  He lay on the floor snoring peacefully, then taking notice to the suddenly hard ground and started shifting about.  After a few rolls from side-to-side, Discord sat up and lifted the dream mask from his face, his expression immediately turning to annoyance.

"Gah, every time," Discord grunted.  He snapped his talons and the blanket and mask disappeared in a white flash.  He stood up and began stretching out in all different positions, cracking whatever he could.  "You couldn't have summoned me in a nice, comfy bed Celestia?  Talk about inconsiderate."

"This was my doing, Discord." Luna corrected.

He stopped stretching.  "Well then, my apologies, Celestia.  You, Luna, are the rude one.  I'd expect a host have her home prepared if she were to invite someone over like this."

"In case you haven't noticed, Discord, we're in a bit of a crisis," Twilight enlightened.

"Oh don't act like that should come as a surprise.  A new crisis pops up in Equestria just about as often as a celebration happens in Ponyville."

"I don't believe the world freezing over is considered to be just another epidemic," Celestia said.

"Well it should be.  I certainly didn't notice."

"Wait, you didn't notice the ice spreading?" Twilight asked.

"Not at all!  In fact when I went to sleep about ten minutes ago, It was quite warm."

Twilight continued questioning, "It's the middle of the night and you were just now going to sleep?"

"He must find that Fluttershy doll of his to be quite soft," Luna joked.

Discord turned in disgust to the moon princess.  "Some of us, Princess Luna, do not want our secrets exposed to the world, if you don't mind."

Luna leaned over to Celestia, "I had no idea the doll even existed."  At which, she gave a snicker.

"Well if an ice age is imminent, I suspect you want me to lend a hand in the matter," Discord said, bringing the subject back into light.

Celestia hesitated.  "You will be joining Twilight on a special mission we have assigned for her.  On said mission, you will be offered a chance to get revenge on a certain centaur you are well acquainted with."

Discord's eyes sprung open.  "Say no more!  Let us be off, Twilight, we have a mission to complete!"  He belly flopped onto her back, and planked himself on it, pointed excitedly towards the door.  "Lead the way!"

"She hasn't told me where to go yet," the annoyed alicorn stated.  The draconequus' body turned limp, and he face-planted onto the floor.  He teleported off her back and back to a stand on the floor next to her in a flash of light.

"Well why spoil the surprise, then," he mumbled.

"The entrance to Tartarus lies in the valleys of the badlands to the south," Celestia continued.  "As of now, it is a dry, barren strip of land.  But very soon I expect it to be frozen solid, so you too must move quickly."

"Will do, Celestia, darling," Discord said impatiently.  He grabbed Twilight's tail and pointed towards the exit.  "Onward!  To the badlands!"

"But what will I do when we reach the entrance?" Twilight asked Celestia, disregarding the eager draconequus behind her.  Discord stopped pulling on her tail, but never let go of it.  He stood behind Twilight with his arms crossed and tapping his lizard claw, looking up to the sky in impatience.  "Do I just walk i- OH WILL YOU STOP THAT!?" She snapped at Discord, who immediately stopped tapping his foot.  "Ugh, thank you."  She turned back to the princesses.  "So what will I do the-" she was interrupted again by the draconequus' obnoxious whistling.  She started growling to herself in rage.

"Maybe you should go wait outside," Celestia advised him.

Discord stopped whistling.  "Fine, then.  It seems I wasn't as trustworthy as I thought."  He let go of Twilight and started walking for the door.  "Can't even trust me to be in the same room with you for a few measly minutes."  He opened the left door and slammed it behind him.

"Why wouldn't he just teleport out?" Twilight asked.

"It's best to not question him," Luna decided.

"All that matters is that he's gone," Princess Celestia said with a sigh.  "Back to business, when you find the entrance to Tartarus, there will be a stone with a carving of Cerberus on it.  All you have to do when you see it is sit and relax."

"That's it?"

She nodded.  "Just sit, breath, and let your magic flow.  The door will open then."

"I understand." The young alicorn started turning toward the exit.  "Wish me luck!" she called back.

"You travel with Discord," Luna reminded her.  "You will need all the luck you can get."  Twilight snickered, and closed the doors behind her.  Discord wasn't in the hall beyond it, he must have gone ahead to the chariot.  Twilight took the time spent walking down the moonlit halls to think about who to side with.  Princess Celestia is a wise pony, but she called Twilight's friends a burden.  And even in previous times when Celestia suggested to go on without them, being together always worked out in the end.  How credible was her wisdom?  Star-Swirl the bearded didn't need friends to become a great wizard, but because Twilight did, she was able to complete his work.

Tonight she was left with one question that never felt so heavy on her shoulders.

Your friends?  Or your idol?

Into the Belly of the Beast

The thought haunted Rainbow Dash.  She knew it was princess' orders, but to abandon her friend to go on some unknown quest to face more unknown danger?  That wasn't what she had expected to see come out of this little adventure.  She was growing sick of Celestia's arbitrary rules.  The five friends found themselves a chariot outside the main gates.  They gathered in the back of the golden car, none showing any concern for Twilight, save for the prismatic-maned pegasus, at least not identifiably from their expressions.  For Dash, she couldn't hold back her feelings enough to keep the despise for Celestia off her face.  The rest of her friends gave their best efforts not to aggravate her and let Rainbow have some space.

The chariot pullers ran forward and gradually lifted themselves and the cart up into the sky.  The blue pegasus slumped over the right side with her face buried in her crossed hooves, watching Canterlot leave their sight through the clouds.  She exhaled heavily out her nose and turned back to her friends, leaning her back up against the railing with her hooves resting across it.  "So we're just gonna let this happen?"  Her friends weren't eager to respond.  They just acted like they didn't hear anything.  Dash looked at them distastefully.  "I guess that's a  'no' then."  She stood back on all fours again.  "That's great, girls.  Just great."  Applejack subtly turned an eye to the irritated pegasus, and brought her attention back to the mountainous terrain around them just as quickly.

"You do realize she might not come back right?  We don't even know where she's going, and we're just supposed to trust Princess Celestia to steer her right?  After she just proved her plans to ultimately fail just hours ago?"

"Yeah, we are supposed to believe that!" A.J. snapped.  She turned around to meet Rainbow's eyes.  "What do ya think, we're not worried too?"  She leaned over the unmoved pegasus.

"You got a real funny way of showing it!" Dash said, now leaning over the apple farmer.

Applejack loomed over her again in frustration.  "Well maybe I gotta point somethin' out to ya.  You know that pony we just brought back that wants to freeze us to death?  Well soon enough, he'll be makin' his way to Ponyville.  You know who lives in Ponyville?"  She paused and waited for Rainbow Dash to give an answer.  She never got one.  "My family.  Ya know, those three other ponies I work hard to make a living with.  The ponies who I bust my rump for because I love them.  If we don't stop Frostborn, then what's gonna happen to them?"

Dash's face was full of guilt.  She retreated so far back that her hind legs were scrunched up against the floor of the chariot and her tail and up against the side.  Applejack backed off and let her get a good look of the ponies standing behind her.  "I ain't the only worried one, here.  What about Rarity?  She's got a little sister that's worried sick, hanging onto the few friends she's got, taking a train to Canterlot and praying that everypony comes out safe."  She grabbed Rainbow's chest and hoisted her back up to her hooves and shoved her face back into hers.  "You need ta get yer head outta the gutter, and focus on what we gotta do right now.  Otherwise, he'll get to Canterlot, and there won't be nothin' there to stop him."  She pulled away from Rainbow and turned back around towards the front of the chariot, Dash sitting quietly in the corner.

The rest of the ride was silent.  Applejack wrapped up any conversation that would spark in all six ponies with that one speech.  Sure enough Rainbow Dash wasn't about to make her any angrier.  They reached their destination in good time.  They landed on a flat cliff on a small mountain range, just outside a peculiar cave.  The walls were lined with some mysterious lime green substance.  It was some slimy collection of unknown material in large bumpy formations covering nearly every surface inside the cave entrance.  It was impossible to tell just how much was in there, as the darkness covered anything less than two meters from the outside.

The five friends exited the chariot and took a good look at the cave.  The hole wasn't very big.  It maybe could fit two or three ponies at a time, but no more.  "What do y'all think is in there?"  Applejack asked, trembling.

"Only one way to find out, I guess." Rainbow replied.  Pinkie Pie started trotting towards it, and the other four directed their attention to her.  The pink pony leaned in on one of the green bulbs of slime and stuck her tongue out curiously.

"Pinkie, no!" shouted a quartet of voices behind her.  She immediately paused and sucked her tongue back in.

"What?" Pinkie complained.  "Only one way to know what it tastes like."  She continued into the darkness on her own.  Applejack covered her eyes with her hat, Fluttershy shook her head, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and Rarity just followed her with a disappointed expression on her face.  The other three followed them closely.  The cave was pitch black.  No one could even make out each others' positions without them talking.  They tried their best to walk single-file, but they would swerve away from the line every so often and get back into formation.

"Can't believe we haven't bumped into anything yet," Dash whispered.

"Changelings musta really spent a lot a time hollowin' the place out," A.J. added.

"I don't trust this," said Rarity.  "There's no possible way there isn't a swarm of changelings waiting for us somewhere."

"Princess Celestia gave us orders, we can't refuse them," replied the apple farmer.   "If we don't get their help, Frostborn wins."

"Girls, it'll be fine," Pinkie assured them.  "We'll be done here before you can say 'fuzzle-squidly-doo-da-day."  She hopped dead into a hard surface before her.  She rubbed her head in pain, and felt Rarity bump into her a few seconds later, followed by a chain of three from her friends running into each other.

"Why'd you stop?" Rainbow asked the party pony impatiently, still squished between Applejack and Fluttershy.

"It's not my fault!  This rock here was in my way."  She turned to the boulder she just ran into.  "I'm sorry Mr. Rock.  I didn't see you there.  Say what name do you like more, Rocky or Tom?"

"PINKIE!" Rarity yelled, her voice echoing off the cave walls.

"What?  Rock needs a name."  She paused at the sudden sound of mysterious buzzing circling around them.  The five friends panicked at the sound of a thousand tiny wins flapping rapidly from all directions.  Except Pinkie Pie, she wasn't too phased.  "Ooh, ooh!  I knew we'd find the changelings!"  The screaming suddenly came to a halt, and Pinkie could feel the four pairs of eyes staring at her through the darkness.  "See girls, I told you this would be quick."  One by one, the five watched hundreds of teal eyes pierce through the inky blackness of the cave.  Their green underbellies glowed faintly in the dark like dim lanterns.  The buzzing grew louder, and the eyes larger.  The changelings were moving in on the five friends with increasing speed.  A half second went by with a hiss from all sides, and suddenly the world went black again.

They hadn't known how long they had been out, but the five friends knew their situation was bad.  They awoke dazed with dulled senses.  Their vision was blurry and a couple of their appendages were numb.  It took each of them a second to realize the sticky, green, transparent substance holding them all together, much like the stuff on the cave entrance.  Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity were lined up nicely, but Pinkie was less fortunate and was glued on her back above the other ponies' heads.

"Wha-?  Where are we?" Dash yawned.  She and her friends were suddenly startled by a hissing choir of laughter from the ceiling above them.

"You know plenty well where you are, foolish filly," said a feminine, toxic voice in front of the trapped ponies.  A vast collection of the green substance started glowing around the room, including the ooze holding the friends down.  The dim lighting was enough was to make out a chiseled ramp a few feet before them.  The raspy laughter continued, and they looked up to see at least a hundred changelings clinging to the roof of the cave.  They snarled at their petrified captives joyfully, just as the poisonous voice voice continued to taunt the friends.  "And it was quite the poor choice to come here."

The five directed their attention to the source of the voice, which came from atop the ramp.  They looked higher, and took notice to what looked like it was intended to be a throne, but was little more than a pile of rocks shaped into a chair and held together by the green changeling goo.  Oh, and it was empty.

"Boo," said the voice right behind the captured ponies.  They jumped in terror, ans the voice laughed behind them.  The five turned their heads back to see the changeling queen towering over them.  She stopped laughing when they turned.  "Miss me?"

"Hardly," Rarity replied distastefully.

"Aw, so the feeling isn't mutual, then.  I felt it was too long a wait to see my subjects toy with you after you made an attempt on my life."

"The Elements of Harmony never killed anyone," Rainbow Dash argued.

Chrysalis spoke calmly, "No, but they have banished to form of a jealous moon princess and turned a draconequus to stone.  What would become of a being that is naturally 'evil-natured' is beyond me."  She took a closer look at the band of captives.  "However I do recall the Elements of Harmony requiring a representative of each element this time around, and it would appear that you five are short a pony.  Where's that Twilight Sparkle?  I was anticipating to see her with you."

"She ain't here," Applejack answered.

"She's on a super secret mission doing super secrety things for princess Celestia," Pinkie added.  "In a secret way."

"Ugh," Chrysalis grunted.  "The one I despise the most is out running errands for the princess.  I have the worst of luck."

"Oh, then you'll be happy to hear that she's no longer Princess  Celestia's protege," Rarity teased.  "She's an official princess herself, now."  The queen gritted her teeth and growled.

"Yeah, and she's got a big, shiny castle now," Fluttershy said.  "Made of crystals and has a special round table for all of her dearest friends."

"That little wretch!" Chrysalis bellowed.  "Here I am, taking care of hundreds of my subjects in a cave, while Twilight Sparkle is out reading books and being granted godlike powers by that witch, Celestia!"  She looked to the dark corner of the room behind her throne and her horn started to glow.  She grunted and flung her head back towards her prisoners, and a rock came flying out of the darkness over their heads.  Pinkie quickly tucked her hooves and head into her torso as the rock passed over her head.  She heard the stone crash on the cave wall behind her and extended her limbs back out.  "Oh things I could do to that princess' first line of defense.  I could cripple her ability to counter my army, and send her down here to the caves where we've been stuck for this long time.  Oh that sounds wonderful."  Her voice dripped with hate and resentment.

Rarity leaned in on Applejack to her right.  "Something tells me she hates Princess Celestia,"

she whispered.

"With good reason," Chrysalis snarled.  "Sentencing my entire race to these dark, wet caverns beneath the surface while she sits merrily on her throne alongside her sister.  It's sickening."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have invaded Canterlot," Rainbow Dash reminded her.

"That wasn't when it happened, runt.  I mean in the beginning.  The world was empty when she and Luna ruled over it, so they tested their hooves at creating life.  Their imaginations soared with potential for what creatures they could conjure, millions of possibilities.  Oh but how could they just narrow down their ideas to just one?  They just had to get all their ideas out into the world as soon as their impatient minds could.  Oh I'll make them pay for that.  I want watch them grovel for that!"

"Hey, Chrysalis," Dash interrupted.  "We're not mind readers.  If you got something you wanna share with us, then we need more than that."

She turned intriguingly towards the prismatic-maned pegasus.  "You want to hear a story?  Is that what I'm getting from this?"

"Um, I don't think we're going anywhere," Dash said, trying to pull her hoof free from the green ooze unsuccessfully.  "So, I think we got time."

The queen smiled and lifted herself up on her torn wings, hovering up to her throne and taking a seat.  "Well I'm not one to pass up an opportunity.  I'll warn you, though, I'm a bit rusty, so as for how vivid my explanation is, just know I'm doing my best."  She lifted her right hoof to her chin and looked deeply into space above her.  "Now where to start?  Oh, I know!"

"It's beautiful, sister," Princess Luna applauded Celestia.

Celestia smiled sweetly down to her new-found sibling.  "I'm glad I listened to you.  It amazes me that we were able to build a city this magnificent."  The two looked over their project from the tallest tower balcony of Canterlot castle.  The sunset reflected brilliantly off the refined stone streets and golden rooftops on the spires, giving the city a serene, orange coloring.  The warm summer's breeze blew across the sisters' faces, relaxing their bodies and clearing their minds for a minute.  All their hard work had paid off in the end.

"It feels empty, don't you think?"  Luna questioned, not taking her attention off the gorgeous scenery.

Celestia smiled down on her sister with a chuckle.  "And how are we going to fill this space?"

The moon princess stared back at her elder sister with confidence.  "We're ready, sister.  It's time to start a new world."  Celestia stared back out to the golden-tinted Canterlot, Luna following her gaze seconds after.

"If you say so."  The princesses took their leave back inside the castle.  Walking through the halls, Celestia understood what she meant by empty.  She envisioned ponies just like them roaming freely around the streets, but even her own quarters would be open to some company.  The warm summer breezes that met their faces just seconds before had turned to a slightly chilling draft.  It was a big castle, of course, but the amount of space that was locked up inside it was unsettling.  Despite Luna being right there by her side, Celestia still felt that feeling of emptiness creeping up to her.  It was quite intriguing to her.  She was born into a world where everything around her moved so fiercely and with such energy, now her whole world was cold and static.  She had expected this from the caves, but the surface was like nothing she's ever seen.

"It is eerie, sister," Luna broke the silence.  "I find no controversy there."

They continued walking, but Celestia glanced down to the dark-blue alicorn.  "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"I have the ability to explore one's dreams.  Daydreams are close enough, I suppose."  The two continued through the purple corridors of the castle, making their way to the under-works.  This was where they had started their project.  The castle had a clear connection to the caves which they had resided in for those many millennia.  The stone walls were polished, giving them a blue shine that reflected off a few dozen gemstones buried halfway into the rock.  Celestia charged her large horn, giving off a yellow light to reveal the caverns beyond what little sunlight remained outside could illuminate.  The jewels in the walls glistened in the magic glow, carrying the light all the way down to the end of the tunnel, which lead into another dark section of the caves.

They casually made their way into the bowls of the mountain.  Once they reached the end of the tunnel, the light spread to a new array of gems decorating the caverns, reflecting beautifully around a circular chamber.  The cave formation was all natural, carved by the Father himself like a path to the gorgeous world below the surface.  The only unnatural thing about the cave was the round stone table placed in the center of it.  It wasn't the most proficient of tables, being only a single boulder cut down into a cylinder and placed in a nice location on the ground.  The sisters split up, each going to another side of the table.

Celestia's magic that illuminated the caverns separated from her horn, and gradually it made it's way to the space above the table, where it hovered in midair like a little magic lantern.  The shifting light bounced around the room, and as the orb of light moved into place, it reflected across the gems lining the walls, and each jewel focused it towards the table before the two sisters like a hundred spotlights for their work area.  Celestia and Luna gazed in awe at the spectacle of light around them.  "It feels as if it were only yesterday we were still trapped here," Celestia stated.  "And the same chill exists here, too."

"We don't have to stay for long," Luna said.  "This is our age, now.  One for prosperity and harmony to reflect across all the land.  It starts here, sister."

"Are you sure we can perform the spell?  We've never been taught to create life like our predecessors."

Luna hushed Celestia with her hoof.  "Do not doubt, but believe."  Her horn glowed dark blue, and she shut her eyes.  A beam of magic shot from the tip into the glowing ball of light above.  Celestia mimicked her sister, and her yellow magic fed into her light orb.  The light started glowing more and more brightly, sending of a pulse of blue magic, then yellow, then blue again.  The pattern continued for a few seconds, the frequency increasing with every pulse.  The sisters remained calm, still feeding their magic into the orb.

The pulsing kept speeding up, faster, and faster, until the bursts of magic caught up to each other, and the light created a small magical explosion.  The blast quickly faded, and the ball was a pure white color.  Ever so suddenly, the light cast a magical beam down onto the magical table, a spiral of the yellow and blue magic, forcing itself into the rock.  Celestia an Luna's eyes clenched tightly.  They put all their energy into the spell, and it was reflected into the beam which was growing in size with every passing second.  The gems on the walls started shaking, and the light reflecting off them and shining in all sections of the room.  Small clumps of dirt and debris crumbled away at the ceiling, but the sisters tried to keep focused.  The entire cave was shaking, but they were almost done.

Suddenly the spiraling beam coming from the light cut off, and the orb slid a bolt of magic down the beams of both sisters.  The shock from the bolts cut off their magic, leaving them with a small headache.  The both of them kept their eyes closed and rubbed their heads as the pain subsided.  Celestia was the first to open her eyes and look at the table.  "Luna," she asked.

"Ugh, wha-" she struggled, still rubbing her head.  She stopped and opened her eyes, and her gasp echoed through the caverns.  "What is that?"  The two sisters gazed upon the strange creature sleeping on the table.  It was a pony, at least it looked like one, but it looked incomplete.  It's hooves were covered in holes, and it's wings were like an insect's and tattered beyond comprehensible use.  It had a long mane and tale for an infant, but it was a sickly green that stuck out over it's black coat and crooked horn extruding from it's head.  It lay there curled up in a little ball, snoring peacefully in a soft, delicate pitch.  It's eyes fluttered open, but only stayed halfway open.

"Shh, it's waking up," Celestia told Luna.  The baby's eyes were the same green as her mane, and at the sight of her new mothers pried them wide open, and she smiled.  Her teeth had already come in, well at least a pair of fangs did on either jaw.  The baby sat up and held out her two front hooves toward Celestia like she wanted her to pick her up.

"It's quite smaller than I had envisioned," Luna stated, just watching the baby almost fall over reaching for her mother.

Celestia lifted it with her magic and held it up on her right shoulder, supporting it with her right hoof.  The baby was giggling the whole time, and it lightly tapped it's hooves on Celestia's back.  The white alicorn smiled at how playful it was.  "It's quite cute, you must admit."

Luna watched the baby continue to play on her mother's back, and she snickered.  "Yes, I suppose it is admirable."

"What should we name her?"  Celestia smiled over her shoulder.

Luna held her hoof to her chin.  "I never thought about that."  She thought to herself for a minute.  "Well, she is the transition to a new age, I suppose.  So, let us name her Chrysalis."

"Yes," Celestia agreed.  She nuzzled up to her daughter.  "My little Chrysalis."

"Unfortunately their affection did not last forever," Queen Chrysalis continued her tale.  "Perhaps a decade at most."

Chrysalis had been growing up nicely.  She had reached the size of a school-filly.  Her mane drooped down so far that it dragged on the floor not far behind her tail.  All her teeth had come in, so those vicious fangs in her mouth weren't the only things in there.  The holes in her legs didn't go away, in fact as her legs grew longer, the holes became bigger.  Celestia and Luna watched her run around the what-will-be throne room, once they had gotten enough citizens to fill up Canterlot.  Celestia enjoyed watching Chrysalis play.  Just seeing the filly brought a smile to her face.  Every-so-often. Celestia would tour her around the caves.  The way the gems in the walls shimmered in the light that she had always brought with them had always fascinated the young filly, but Celestia found more entertainment in the twinkle of Chrysalis' eyes.  She was happy every time her daughter would smile in amazement at the glorious world around her.

Luna did not share these feelings.  This was not what she had imagined would fill up the city that she and her sister had built.  This thing's legs appeared as if the slightest pressure would cause them to break.  Luna didn't want a bunch of weak, sickly colored ponies running around in her city.  She wanted colorful, strong ponies that worked with backs as strong as steel.  Not this, abomination.  Now the carefree filly was running around with one mother who loved her unconditionally, and another who despised it's very existence.

"Celestia, can I speak with you for a moment?" Luna asked.

Celestia merrily turned to her sister.  "Yes, Luna?"  Chrysalis stopped playing and skipped over to her mothers.

"What are you talking about?" the filly asked.  She was so hyper that she couldn't refrain from flapping her wings to the point of them buzzing.

"Um, perhaps you should wait outside, Dear," Luna advised, rubbing Chrysalis' head.  "Go play in the halls."

The filly's head sank.  "Oh, ok," she sighed.  Her wings stopped vibrating, and she slowly walked out the open door.

Celestia turned back to her sister.  "Why did you send her away?  You've saddened her."

"Celestia, I'm not sure I want Chrysalis around anymore," Luna whispered.  Outside the doorway, Chrysalis was still in earshot of the two alicorns.  She stood up straight and quietly inched her way back over to behind the doors.

"What?" Celestia asked.  "Why, she's a lovely girl."  Chrysalis leaned in closer to get a better understanding of the conversation.

"She could be better, Celestia."

"How could she be better?  She smiles at the simplest of things and runs around freely wherever she goes.  She's very sweet that way.  What's not to like?"

"Sister, last week she turned into an identical copy of you.  Even her mane was flowing the same way.  She's a freak, and you know it."  Chrysalis' heart sank.  Tears started forming at the back of her clenched eyes.  She ran off down the hall, her mothers unknowing.  She left them as the the shadow of Celestia started looming over Luna's.  Chrysalis ran back to her own room and lied down to cry in her porous hooves on her stone-framed bed with a green blanket.  She stayed there for hours until Celestia walked in on her.

"Sweetie, can we talk?" Celestia asked gently.  Chrysalis grunted and pulled the blanket over her face.  Celestia reached a hoof out to support her daughter, but the filly just complained and shifted around until she lifted her hoof away.  The alicorn knelt down beside the filly's bed.  "Did you hear?" she asked sadly.  Chrysalis turned away.  "Chrysie, I'm sorry."  A tear rolled down Celestia's cheek.

"Why does Luna hate me?" Chrysalis mumbled.

Celestia retracted.  "What?  Chrysie, Luna doesn't hate you."

"Don't lie to me!" Chrysalis snapped.  "Luna says I'm a freak!  I heard her myself!"

"Sweetheart, I'm here-"

"And I didn't hear you doing anything about it!"

"Chrysalis, that's enough.  I love you very much and you know that."

The changeling stared her mother dead square in the eyes, not even taking the time to blink.  "Then prove it."  Celestia didn't hesitate to nuzzle up to her child.  She rubbed her head against Chrysalis' cheek gently.  The filly took a few seconds to accept it, but she eventually snuggled back.  Celestia pulled back and looked back into her daughter's eyes.

"Does that prove it?"  Chrysalis nodded and shared a smile with Celestia, but the alicorn's expression quickly turned sorrowful.  "You won't be thinking that for much longer."

The young one looked up in confusion.  "Mommy, what's wrong?" she asked nervously.  Celestia didn't answer.  She only sobbed and shed countless tears that rolled down her cheek.  "Mommy?"

"Sweetie, you have to go," Celestia blurted out.  She immediately jumped to hug her distraught child.

"What?" Chrysie asked.

"Chrysie, I love you," she stammered through the crying.  "But you have to go."

Chrysalis started to cry herself.  She held her mother tight, but Celestia decided to pull away.  She was greeted by the sobbing, runny-nosed filly reaching out to her that only made her heart ache more.  "Mommy, no.  Please!"

"My mind's made up, Chrysie.  It's for the best."

The changeling wiped her eyes of tears and snot.  Her sorrowful eyes turned hateful, but the tears kept on rolling.  "Fine, I'll go!"  Charged for the door, Celestia reaching a hoof out for her daughter, but she had to hold herself back.  Despite the pain she felt, there was something still urging her to go through with it.  Chrysie stopped in the doorway and turned her head back into the room.  "I'm glad to see where your love lies, Celestia."  She ran out of the room and down the halls, still hearing her mother's sobs behind her.  She didn't let it get to her.  She just kept running.

"I found my way here after that," the queen continued.  "These caves would be my home from then on, and I was not the only one."  She pointed to the ceiling of hissing changelings above.  "One by one, another failure would be sent to my caves.  Those incompetent princesses took years to finally perfect their life spell.  And what do they do then?  The ponies they got right are practically pampered.  They're given all this land, this wealth, and their own individual lives to live out, while my entire race of rejects is banished and forgotten.  Why, they were even given the power to control the sun and moon!  Can you believe that?!  Celestia and Luna just look out over these remakes and let them take over the day and night, making their special talents meaningless!  Oh the sacrificial, generous princesses!  They're frauds!  I can't begin to describe my excitement when I shot down that wretch Celestia when we invaded."

The five friends sat in silence.  Most were too dumbfounded by the news that they couldn't find time to choose their side, much less find their words.  Most of them did.  "Give us one good reason why we should trust you," Rainbow Dash demanded.

"Why would I lie about this?" Chrysalis sobbed.  "My life was thrown away that day.  Me and my people are stuck here!  Forever!  We endured the pain of being forgotten, only to undergo the torture of being scorned by all those living outside our domain.  Now the one who sent us here is sitting high and mighty on a throne of her own.  You couldn't begin to comprehend the pain that comes with such betrayal.  When you, yourself, are cast away like trash and replaced like you never even existed, then you have my permission to speak up."  Dash piped down.  She now sat with the others in deep thought.  It was impossible to believe now, who they could trust.  Even the grand pony who lights up the world with her glorious sun had a history that sentenced an entire race to lives of misery and poverty.  And they witnesses the effects of it firsthand.

"Maybe Princess Celestia didn't come out on top," said a high-pitched voice, breaking the silence.  Chrysalis along with the other four friends directed their attention to the source of the disturbance.  "She's not as much better than you as you think," Pinkie said.

"Pfft," the queen mocked.  "And how is that?"

"You were the one who took over Canterlot with the help of the changelings, silly.  You got this great big, scary army that can make themselves look like anypony they want."  She tried to spread out her arms towards the roof covered in the insect-like creatures that covered the ceiling.  "I just saw one at Lyra Heartstring's birthday party last week.  You up there, Chuck?!" she called.  The changelings above all turned their heads to one embarrassed soul in the center of the mob.

"She makes good punch," Chuck said with a shrug.

"I suppose you're right," Chrysalis mumbled.  She stood from her throne and started making her way down the ramp before her.  "Celestia is strong, but the exile has made me stronger.  Perhaps there was a silver lining after all."  She stopped in front of the trapped quintet with her head held low.  She murmured, "However, we are still doomed to rot in these caverns, forever shunned by the outside world."

The friends exchanged glances with slick smiled on their faces.  "I think I know how we can fix that," Rainbow told the queen, who held up her head in a blend of hope and curiosity.

"You see before you kidnapped us and trapped us in this mess of green slime," Rarity began.  Before she could continue, Applejack gave her a nudge with her elbow.  "Oh, fine," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Before you generously invited us into the most private sections of your humble home, we came seeking help with a slight problem we've stirred up."

"Have ya ever heard of some fella named Frostborn?" A.J. asked.  The changelings hanging from the ceiling began to hiss violently as soon as the farmer pony finished saying the name.

"What?!" Chrysalis asked in rage.  She turned away from the captives and held her head in worry, her eyes darting back and forth.  "No.  It can't be.  He can't be back, can he?"  Her eyes stopped moving, Chrysalis' vision was set straight forward and her irises shrunk down once the realization had sunk in.  She faced the ponies again.  "Why would you release him?" she growled.  "The Master of Ice froze the world over once, and her will do so again."

"Princess Celestia told us too," Pinkie Pie answered with a smile.  Her friends looked up at her disappointingly as Chrysalis turned around and casually walked back up the ramp.

"I'm sorry to say that I will not be of any assistance, in that case."

"If you help, you'll get the changelings the respect you want for them so much," Rainbow Dash reminded her.  Chrysalis stopped in her tracks,  but said nothing.  "And I don't think the caves will save you for as long as you think.  You don't have any sun magic to keep you warm."

Chrysalis took a deep a breath and lowered her head as she exhaled.  "You're lucky I'm desperate."  She raised her head again.  "Very well, allow me to rally my troops and we will make our way to Canterlot immediately.  She faced the quintet in their slimy trap and charged her horn in her bright green magic.  She shot a beam in between Rainbow Dash and Applejack at the ooze holding them together, and it disintegrated on impact.  The four on the bottom fell back, failing to retain their balance, and Pinkie stayed airborne long enough to land on their faces when they all collapsed.  The queen payed them no mind, and looked to the ceiling full of her subjects.  She held her hoof up to her face and found a hole in it on a corner.  She put the two prongs of flesh in her mouth and blew hard.  The whistle echoed off the cave walls in deafening volume.  The now freed ponies held their ears in pain until the ringing subsided.  The changelings above detached from the ceiling and hovered in the air around their queen who stood tall atop the ramp leading to her throne.  "Shall we?" she asked.

"Lead the way," Dash answered.  The five friends rose to their hooves and followed Chrysalis around a few corners to the cave entrance.  Sadly, when they arrived, the view wasn't the same as when they had first arrived.  Now the small corridor gave way to a massive snowstorm raging just outside.  The rocky exit was filled to the knees with piles of snow, making the ability to leave impossible without a lot of digging.  The clouds above were grey and covered the sky a short distance away, but the mountain on which Canterlot was built had clear skies above.  The storm was closing in on it slowly, but eventually the blizzard would reach the city, along with a certain someone eager to coat it in ice.

"I thought I felt a draft," Pinkie said as her friends held their heads in worry.

"The caves," Chrysalis said.  Everypony looked up at her like she was crazy.  "The caves here connect to the ones beneath Canterlot.  If we follow them, we can reach the city safely."

"Are you sure they'll take us where we want to go?" Dash questioned insecurely.

"Of course I do.  It's how I came here."  She lead them to a dark tunnel to the right of the snow-covered exit.  It was a tight squeeze, as fitting an army single-file down a narrow passageway was a lot harder than it sounded, but they made it work.  They had too.  If they didn't get back before the storm hit Canterlot...

They wouldn't be the only ones paying for it.

A New Teacher

"And then he told me that I was no longer any use to him!" Discord told the clearly annoyed pair of guards as he leaned up against the chariot to his right.

"How 'bout that?" said one of the guards sarcastically.

"So I got all my magic stolen, and I never forgave Tirek."

"Fascinating," The guard kept mocking.  His partner held his head in his hoof hoping the agony would end soon.

"I mean sure, Twilight and her friends did ultimately stop him in the end, but what about me?!"  The draconequus held his talon up to his extruded chest at the blasphemous fact.

"What about you?"

"I never got the revenge I deserved.  That lousy centaur betrayed me!  After I gave him my full trust!"

"What an injustice."

"I mean sure, I did stab all of Equestria in the back first, but I was tricked.  Tirek lead me astray from my teachings as a good friend.  It's his fault I turned in the first place."

The guard with his hoof in his face started shaking his head back and forth slowly.  "I swear to Celestia," he said, "if I have to listen to this guy talk for another two minutes, I'm gonna go tell Frostborn to speed up the process."  He reached for his harness and tried to unlatch himself, but his partner put his hoof in the way.  "Move your hoof!"

"It'll be fine, just have patience," his partner assured him.

"No, I've had just about enough of this!"  The guards started horsing around and smacking each other.

Discord stopped talking and looked down at the conflict.  "Oh, pardon me, friends."  The guards stopped bickering and looked back at the draconequus.  "But I was only trying to share the tale of my betrayal with you, but you decide that some petty dispute is more important that an invigorating history lesson."

"GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" screamed the impatient guard with his hooves over either ear.  "THAT'S IT!"  He made another attempt at his harness, only to be stopped by his partner again.  He struggled in rage trying to throw him off, but was interrupted by the sound of the two massive golden doors opening.  Twilight stood in the doorway before the two arguing guards and disgusted Discord.

"Thank heavens, she's here," sighed the patient guard.  His partner calmed down and stood normally, cursing Discord under his breath.  "Are you ready to go, princess?"

Twilight nodded with a small smile and met her mischievous friend in the chariot.  It was hard to hide those insecurities.  What was she supposed to think?  Her role model had just sent her friends away because they were an interference.  She disregarded all the times they've come out victorious in the end and just cast them away because she couldn't be bothered with them.  What happened to all those lessons about friendship, and leaning on your friends when the time called for it.  This felt like one of those times and yet, Celestia shot the idea down.

"Are you alright, Twilight?" Discord asked.  She had been leaning over the side with her head resting on her crossed hooves, staring off into space.  The sudden mention of her name made her jump and look around in panic.  She eventually remembered that she was in the chariot with the Master of Chaos.  "You've been quiet for about ten minutes now."

She looked to the front of the chariot at the two pullers.  The one on the left was patting the others back, who's face was red with anger and biting down fiercely on a harness strap.  "Yes, I'm fine," Twilight assured him.  "Just thinking about stuff."

"Care to share with us?" the draconequus asked.

"I'd rather not.  I don't think you would understand."

"I think we could all use something to take our minds off things," the calm guard said, patting his partner's back.

"Besides, you would dare leave us in the dark like this?" Discord accused her.  "Very few tortures stand up to the pain of being teased with knowledge, you know."  Twilight slouched over the railing again, not giving them the response they wanted.  She just gazed down over the rocky desert landscape below them.  Tumbleweeds rolled on by with the wind carrying them and the sand through the dunes and along the boulders.  "Fine, we don't have to know.  I suppose I'm not the most suited to be trusted with a secret, anyway."  He leaned his back up against the opposite side of the chariot in disappointment, letting his head and arms droop down from the side as his legs went limp.

"Discord?" Twilight asked, still gazing at the Earth below.  The draconequus lifted his head up, excitedly awaiting her response.  "Do you thing Princess Celestia could be, well, a tyrant?"  She looked back at her friend in the hopes that he had a serious answer for him, but Discord was unsure of whether she was serious or not, and the confusion was drawn all over his face with wide eyes and a single raised eyebrow.  The alicorn got the message and looked down over the desert again.  "It's just that since the beginning of this whole journey, she's been asking me to do things that kept the power away from me and my friends.  She just told me that they were nothing more than an interference at this point.  We're stronger together and yet."  She didn't finish her sentence.

Discord, still trying to wrap his head around these sudden changes to Twilight's feelings, hesitantly stood up and took the few steps to the alicorn's side.  He patted her on the back with his lion's paw and knelt down.  "Look, Twilight.  I know I'm not the most dependable of friends, as I'm still fairly new to having friends at all, but I think I can say that Celestia is far from being a tyrant."  He chuckled, as he still found the idea preposterous.  "Irritating, yes, but not a tyrant."

Twilight sighed, "It really feels like it at this point."

"Twilight, a tyrant isn't somepony who separates one's friends simply because they felt like it.  A true tyrant would do it because those friends are a threat.  Why would Celestia think of you as a threat?"  She didn't respond.  "And it's not like that goodie-two-shoes has enslaved those around around her.  Well, not unless you're Tirek and you call friendship to be just a new form of imprisonment.  But I see no chains nor shackles.  You have freedom, Twilight, whether you realize that or not."

"It's not like I had much freedom in taking any of my friends with me," she mumbled.

"Oh, am I not your friend?  Does our friendship suddenly mean nothing now?"

"You know what I meant," she snapped.

"Twilight, I think there's something you're not seeing here.  If Celestia truly were a tyrant, you would know.  A tyrant shapes the world around them to remind everypony of who's in charge."  The draconequus snapped his talon and the ground beneath them flashed white.  When the light faded, the sand below them had suddenly turned to a blue checkerboard design.  "They constantly put up these reminders that anyone below them, is at their mercy."  He snapped his talons again, and one of the clouds in front of the chariot suddenly turned pink.  The two chariot pullers' eyes sprung wide open, as each darted to another side of the cotton candy cloud as it passed between them.  Once the sugary obscurity made it's way through, the guards came back towards the center and rammed into each other.  The impatient guard's nostrils flared at the draconequus, but his partner made the attempt to calm him down with a pat of the back.

"You see, Celestia is a just ruler.  She gives those below her freedom and protection at no cost whatsoever.  She only wants what's best for her subjects.  And although it took quite some time, I learned to come to good graces with her as well."

"I guess you're right," Twilight accepted, bringing a small smile to Discord's face.  "But it doesn't change the fact that I'm left without the ponies I can put all my trust into."

"You only realize what you have once it's gone, Twilight.  Another thing I learned the hard way."  He summoned a small homemade plushie of Fluttershy with button eyes behind the alicorn's back and nuzzled up to it with a smile.  He sent it away before anyone could see it. "You just have to power through it."

Twilight lifted her head up from her crossed hooves cracking half a smile.  She stood on all fours again and turned around to give her friend a hug around his waist.  "I'm glad to have someone I can count on with me," she said.

"We're coming up on the drop zone, princess," the calm guard alerted her.  His partner mumbled something along the lines of "finally" under his breath.

Twilight detached from the draconequus and thanked them the guards for the ride.  She put her hoof to the side of her mouth.  "I imagine it was a little nerve-wracking with your passengers."  They nodded and descended towards a narrow canyon below.  The floor was littered with rock spires and boulders making finding a place to land a nightmare for the chariot pullers.  Luckily, they had stumbled upon a wide section with only a few small rock piles covering the ground.  Still a bit of a tight squeeze, but at least they could actually fit in there.

"Sorry we couldn't land anywhere closer, princess," the guard apologized.  "Just follow the path heading east and eventually you should come across it."

"Thanks anyway," Twilight said as Discord stepped off the chariot behind her.  "You should head back now.  Princess Celestia might need you for something."

"You don't want us to wait for you to get back?"

"It's fine, we'll find our way back on our own."

"Alright, then.  We'll meet you back at Canterlot by nightfall."

Twilight stepped off the chariot waved as the guards took off.  "See you then!" she called.  Within seconds the chariot was but a spec in the sky.  Twilight turned to Discord who had already summoned a large shady hat for himself.  "We should get moving," She said.  "We don't have all day."

"Ugh, this heat is going to be the end of me," the draconequus complained.  But nonetheless, he shadowed the alicorn closely.  The duo trekked through the barren canyon for quite some time.  It must have been hours they've spent searching.  The canyon floor was crawling with lizards, scorpions, and snakes, so they would have to be on alert for those along the way.  Twilight kept scanning the rocky walls for that carving of Cerberus, but between the sun's glare and heat, it was hard to focus.

"Ugh, how long is this gonna take?"  She clenched her stomach from a sudden jolt of pain.  She just remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since she first gotten on that train.  "And my hunger's not making it any easier."

"Really?" Discord asked.  He'd added a matching t-shirt to his tropical sun hat along with a pair of sunglasses and a water canteen hanging from his neck.  "I feel fine."  She summoned a daffodil sandwich in his talon and took a big bite out of it.  Twilight glared angrily at him, but he payed her no mind.  "And of course it's taking a while.  Who ever said that finding an underground prison would be easy?"

Twilight stopped in her tracks, leaving Discord to keep going and trip over her.  The fool dropped his sandwich in the sand just inches before his face.  Discord sniffled and a tear dropped down to the ground.  "Underground?" Twilight thought to herself.  Her face lit up.  "Discord, you're a genius!"

"And how is that?" he asked, still lying in the sand.  He stood up and brushed off his shirt and sunglasses.  "Tartarus is underground and filled with gemstones.  Rarity and I were brushing up on a spell that reveals gems buried in the ground.  If I can follow my horn to the largest stockpile of jewels that I can find, we'll have found the entrance to Tartarus."  She charged her horn and bolted through the canyon, her companion having difficulty keeping up.  "Oh, I'm getting a big number just around the corner!"

"Twilight, could we slow down?" Discord pleaded, panting and sweating buckets as he jogged behind his alicorn accomplice.

"We don't have much time as it is!" Twilight urged.  She turned her head to face the draconequus but kept sprinting.  "If we don't get there now, we not might not get back to Canterlot before Frostborn arrives."  She turned around again just in time to see the massive rock in the wall inches away from her nose.  She ran right into it.

Discord stopped to asses the situation, and broke out in hysterical laughter.  "Bwahahahaaaaa!  Oh, that's priceless!"

Twilight pulled away from the boulder.  "Thanks for your concern."

"Oh, Oh, I have to see that again!" Discord snickered.  He pointed his talon towards Twilight and she pressed her face against the rock again.  He kept pointing and she pulled back again and stopped in the middle of a sprint.  Discord flicked his finger forward and Twilight ran right into the rock again.  "Hahahahaaaahaha," Discord bellowed.  "Oh, my stomach!"

She pushed herself off the wall again.  "Discord!"

"Oh one more time!"  He pointed his talon at her again and drew it back until she was in the middle of the sprint again.  He flicked the talon forward again and she face-planted into the boulder again.  Discord held his stomach in laughter and rolled over on his back, squirming uncontrollably.

"DISCORD!" Twilight yelled.

Discord wiped a tear from his eye and held up his talon once more.  Twilight charged her horn again and curled up the talon before he could watch again.  "Oh, fine.  It was rather humorous, if I do say so myself."

Twilight turned back to at the rock she just ran into and looked up.  Sure enough, this rock had a marking on it.  She recognized the carving of Cerberus from her last visit.  It was actually pretty detailed, all the way down to the collar spikes.  "We're here."

"That's it?  That's the whole distance we could have walked!"

"It doesn't matter.  We're here now and we can get on with this little quest of ours."

"Answer me one question, Twilight.  How in Celestia's name do we open a rock?"

"Just let me concentrate," Twilight insisted.  She sat down on the ground and closed her eyes.  Discord raised an eyebrow as the alicorn's horn glowed purple.  A very thin beam of magic shot out towards the carving and made contact on Cerberus's collar attached to it's middle head.  The magic flowed through the carvings like water through a canal.  When the carving was completely full of magic, the beam attaching it to Twilight's horn disappeared, and the carving glowed in bright white.

The canyon floor shook, causing dirt and pebbles to collapse from inside the cracks surrounding the engraved boulder.  Discord took a step back while Twilight stood up and waited patiently.  The carved rock shifted backwards no more than an inch into the wall.  It stopped for a moment and began sinking down into the earth below.  The stone opened up to a cave opening, the walls completely filled with gemstones of all kinds.  Diamonds, emeralds, amethysts, topaz, and many others all jam-packed into any open space lining the cave walls.  Twilight walked inside, Discord following close behind.  The second the draconequus passed over the submerged rock, the caves shook again.  The duo turned to watch the boulder rise out of the ground again and shift forward slightly.

"This is quite the unnerving place," Discord commented.

"It gets worse," Twilight assured him.  "Trust me."  They continued through the sparkling tunnel, taking the left-hoof turn a few meters from the entrance, and walked down a short ramp.  As they went on, it was apparent the decreasing number of gems embedded in the stone.  Each step they took would take a little less reflection from the cracks in the entry-boulder from Twilight and Discord's eyes.  Holes began to pop up in the bedazzled walls as the end of the tunnel came nearer, and by the time they reached the opening into Tartarus itself, the walls were barren once again.

Twilight lead her companion through the small exit to the tunnel.  Discord had to duck on his way out, but quickly looked up to gave upon the sight of Tartarus in person.  It was amazingly gloomy when compared to any other place in Equestria.  The stone was a grey-blue color, and the far back of the massive cave lead to a black abyss full of rock spire prisons, very few not holding somepony captive inside.  The mere sight of the spires themselves was enough to make one lose a bit of hope.  They were flat, round platforms elevated by long staircases and surrounded by four large pillars of stone stretching to the ceiling.  Before all these prison cells were strips of land that all lead to the entrance that Discord and Twilight had just come from.  But between the exit and the spires were the large, rusty, iron gates of Tartarus, and Cerberus himself.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head.  "Oh, I never though of how we were getting past Cerberus."  She took the hoof she was rubbing her head with and smacked herself in the forehead.  "Ugh, how could I be so stupid?" she scolded herself.  Discord took no hesitation to casually walk up to the beast.  The alicorn looked up at him like he was crazy.  "Uh, Discord.  What are you doing?"  The draconequus payed her no mind and continued towards the three headed dog.  Cerberus sniffed at the air with it's middle head, and suddenly all three turned to growl Discord's way.  Not a flinch from him.

Cerberus began barking furiously at the Master of Chaos, spraying slobber all over his unchanging, confident face.  Discord let the dog have his little fit for a few seconds before raising his eagle's claw.  With a snap of the talons, the space between him and Cerberus flashed white, giving way to a massive white bone hovering in the air.  Cerberus was instantly interested at the remains of some giant creature and it's six eyes locked on to it, following the bone as it hit the ground.  Once it did, the beast dropped down to it's stomach and the three heads started gnawing on the bone.  Within seconds the heads began fighting with each other over it and Cerberus broke out into a fight with himself.

Twilight walked up behind the cocky draconequus and stared in awe at the chaos so easily brought out by him.  "How did you know that would work?" she asked.

"Oh please, Twilight," Discord replied with a flick of his wrist.  "I can make clouds out of cotton candy and make them rain chocolate milk all over Equestria and you don't think I can give a dog a bone?" The alicorn rolled her eyes.  "Now let's get going!" Discord says excitedly.  "We have a certain centaur to interrogate!"  He race walked towards the rock spire immediately through the gates, Twilight only keeping up with him as there was still a reason to rush, and it was closing in on Canterlot fast.

They made it to the top few stairs on Tirek's personal cell.  They looked to the steel cage in the center of the platform holding the sickly, power drained centaur.  He faced the opposite direction, out into the black nothingness of the back ends of Tartarus.  "I haven't had any visitors yet," Tirek mumbled in that dark, sly tone of his.  "Not since my brother came to see me a thousand long years ago.  But I fear that who has come, bearing the sweet, unfamiliar sound of footsteps is not an ally to me, today."  The centaur took his time turning around in his little cage that offered very little head-room.  He held his head down while his hooves slowly shifted it to the entrance.  He looked up, and his yellow gaze pierced through the bars at his visitors.  He wasn't quite shocked, just disappointed.  "And it seems I have quite the talent for guessing."

"We'll be out of your hair very soon if you just do what we say," Twilight said.  She took a step forward, but bounced back against a barrier of green light that appeared when she made contact, and faded away.  Discord caught her before she could tumble down the stairs and likely fall off the side.

"I don't see what you could want from me," Tirek said depressingly.  "I have no freedom outside of this cage."  He grabbed the bars and shook them.  "I can't even get close to the edge of this prison."

"You're going to teach me something," Twilight informed Tirek.  "There's something you know how to do that nopony else in Equestria knows."

"You come seeking how to steal magic?  What use could have for that?  Last I checked, having your friends by your side created enough power to stop me at my fullest.  Why not just use them for whatever issue plagues your precious world?"

"Princess Celestia decided that this would be a better option.  I've had my doubts, too, but in times like these, I don't know who else to trust."

"Hmm?" Tirek asked.  "So, there's a threat to Equestria so intimidating that even Celestia is resorting to her enemies for aid?  Oh it would be a shame if said enemies refuse to comply.  Your whole civilization would surely crumble."  The centaur tapped his fingertips together sinisterly.

Discord stepped up.  "Well, it's a good thing, 'said enemy,' has no say in the matter, then."  He snapped his talon and a gigantic version of it appeared before Tirek's cage.  It flicked it's claw and sent the cage flying towards the abyss beyond the spire, if the barrier hadn't ricocheted it off the sides, that is.  The giant talon disappeared with a flash and Tirek hit his head on the cage as is bounced on and off the walls of the cell.  Eventually, the centaur ran out of momentum and his cage came crashing to the ground, luckily right-side-up.  Tirek struggled to a stand, rubbing the back of his horned head.  "Is that enough to change 'said enemy's' mind, Tirek?"

"My magic is the key to limitless, power, Discord," he groaned.  "To teach it to the one who locked me in this cage," he turned to Twilight and growled, "would be unthinkable."  Discord didn't take too kindly to that response.  He levitated the cage into the air, above the magical barriers, and snapped his talons again.   A giant wooden baseball bat appeared at Tirek's altitude and it wound itself back.  In full force, the bat swung and his the cage went flying into the blackness beyond the spire.  The centaur screamed in fear as he was being launched into an unknown chasm where no one could hear him.  He shut his eyes in terror when there was another flash of light just in front of him.  Discord had summoned a baseball mitt in proportion to the bat, and it caught Tirek in the cage.  The glove fell back with the catch and came back to throw the centaur back to his prison.  Another mitt appeared above the tower to catch him and drop him back behind the barriers.

"I could do this all day, Tirek," Discord taunted.  "That's something that I had and you didn't.  Creativity.  Now I won't hesitate to use it to bring you to my mercy."

Twilight spoke up, "Discord.  That's a little dark for a reformed draconequus, isn't it?"

"Ugh," he grunted.  "Fine, but I'm more than willing to toy with this clown if he does not comply with our terms."

Tirek stood up and cracked his back.  "Fine, fine, I'll teach you.  Just as long as this torture ends."

"I'm glad you see it our way, Tirek."  Discord had an evil smile on his face.  He snapped his claw and the centaur's cage was gone in a flash.  He stumbled trying to adjust to the few inches of ground suddenly disappearing from under his hooves.  Twilight tried to walk onto the platform to meet her tutor, but bumped into the magical green barrier again.  "Oh, allow me," Discord offered.  With another snap, there was a flash of light in front of Cerberus back at the gate.  His massive bone teleported to the entrance to Tartarus, and the dog's three heads' attention automatically shifted to it.  It ran up and picked up the bone with all heads as Discord nudged Twilight through the barrier.  Cerberus came trotting back and sat back down at the gates with it's bone.

Once the beast made it back to it's post the silence was suddenly broken by a loud scream.  "Aw, C'mon!"  Twilight, Tirek and Discord all turned their attention to the spire neighboring Tirek's to the right.  There was a bright green pegasus with a brown, slicked-back mane who got himself caught inside the barrier as it had reformed, his front legs stuck on the stairs and his hind legs on the flat ground inside.  He wore a pair of black glasses over his light brown eyes, and he had a cutie mark of a big black boot on his flank.

"Who's that?" Twilight asked.

"Footsy Prickmane, or something like that," Tirek answered.  "Apparently he was thrown down here because he kidnapped Celestia's last protege and held her for ransom."

"I WAS FRAMED!" the pegasus exclaimed.

"Well, in any case, we have a test subject for you, Princess Twilight."

"But he's a pegasus," Twilight argued.  He doesn't have magic."

Tirek held the back of Twilight's neck with his thin, wrinkly fingers.  "Strength and flight can be taken just as easily as magic, Twilight.  Just walk to the edge of the spire and do as I say."  Twilight did as instructed.  She sat down on the edge of the platform and waited for Tirek to give the word.  "Are you ready?" he finally asked.

Twilight was beginning to second guess this idea.  "Element of Magic," she muttered, trying to regain confidence in herself.  She turned her head halfway towards the centaur and nodded.

"Good, now face your prey."  She didn't like that phrasing, but she forced herself to do so.  "Now inhale slowly, but keep focus.  Feel his energy merging with yours.  Sense his power and claim it as your own."  Twilight's eyes clenched tightly sh she breathed in.  Her horn began surging with magic, and the pegasus was soon surrounded in a transparent veil of magic the same color.  A strand of magic formed from the veil and fed it's way into the alicorn's mouth.  He couldn't move, he was paralyzed, but Twilight kept going.  As every second past, she felt his power draining and her own magic strengthening.  Eventually Twilight felt nothing left to feed off of, and the magic beam connecting them cut off, along with the magic around her horn and around the pegasus.

Twilight's victim suddenly felt limp, and his legs quavered until they could no longer support him.  His upper body drooped down over the stairs and his eyes were barely open and grey.  Twilight sat on Tirek's spire with her head down, a tear rolling down her cheek.  How could she let herself do that?  She knew that it would leave that pegasus helpless, but she couldn't even forget about it.  She was constantly reminded through every second of the process that all his strength would soon become hers.  What was Twilight becoming?

"Very good, my student," Tirek applauded, patting her on the back.  "Done like a professional."

Twilight stood up and pushed Tirek's hand out of the way.  "I'm not your student!  I'm a princess of my own now I don't need magic lessons anymore."  She started to make her way for the exit.

"There is always more knowledge out there, Princess Twilight," Tirek reminded her.  "You learned something just now, didn't you?"  Twilight stopped in her tracks.  "You can never have enough, Twilight.  You just have to keep searching until you can find more."

"That's enough out of you," Discord snapped, both figuratively and literally.  He reset Cerberus's bone to drop the barriers again and let Twilight out.  The bright green pegasus' limp body came tumbling down the stairs once Cerberus moved.  All the way down, he rolled over himself until he reached flat ground, still unable to stand up.  Twilight forced herself to look away as Discord guided them down their staircase.  Cerberus walked back and resealed the barriers while Discord and Twilight made their way back up the ramp to the surface world.  "Oh, and one more thing before I go," Discord called back to Tirek.  With one final snap, a white light flashed around the centaur and faded to reveal his cage back to limit his movement to turning again.

"Gaaaaaah!" Tirek growled across the gates.  Discord just smiled and followed Twilight through the gem-lined tunnel back to the exit.  They reached the boulder that blocked their path and it inched toward them and sank into the ground.  The duo was suddenly struck by a cool breeze as a shiver ran down their spines.  What was causing that?  The canyon was the same as before: dry and barren.

"That's peculiar," Discord commented as Twilight walked out into the open.  Suddenly the cold grew more intense, and it wasn't stopping.  The alicorn looked to the sky and over the canyon wall behind her.

"Uh, Discord," she said.  "Maybe you should take a look at this."  Discord walked out to meet his friend and followed her vision.  Yeah, there was something to see alright.  Only about 50 yards away from the entrance to Tartarus was a thick blizzard closing in on them fast.  Discord gazed up at the dark clouds in horror while Twilight tried to think of a way out of this mess.  It was mere seconds before she finally though of something.  "Discord, grab on!" she commanded, unfolding her wings and getting ready to take off.

The draconequus shook his head until he could think straight again.  He directed his attention to Twilight and looked at her like she was crazy.  "You're gonna fly us all the way to Canterlot?"

"Don't question it!  Just grab on!"  Discord took hold of the alicorn's hind leg with his talon and Twilight started putting all her effort into lifting them off the ground.  It took a few flaps, but apparently that pegasus gave her just the flight power they needed to get moving.  She booked it back up north to Canterlot with all her might, Discord's snake-like body waving behind her.  They were on their way home.

The draconequus looked back as the storm covered the canyon floor in a blanket of snow.  Something else he noticed was that the entrance to Tartarus never shut.  It started to rise back up into position, but too much ice was forming in the cracks for the rock to move anywhere.  It was stuck open.  He didn't say anything to Twilight.  It didn't seem important enough to interrupt her.  As long as that storm was close, getting to Canterlot would be a total race against time.

And time was something that they didn't have.

Absolute Zero

It was still warm.  That was a good sign.  The hundreds upon hundreds of refugees brought to Canterlot for shelter could bathe in the sunlight and writhe in the heat of a beautiful summer afternoon.  But that was a dim, distant light in a long, shadowy hallway.  Hope was as scarce as a cup of fresh apple cider during a vampire fruit bat infestation.  The courtyard behind Canterlot Castle was filled to the brim with ponies from all over Equestria.  Some ponies found their way to the top of the walls alongside members of the royal guard to escape the crowd, but elbow room was not a luxury so easily claimed.  The only ones who had any space to themselves were the princesses, Celestia and Luna.  They took position at the edge of the courtyard, gazing out over the western mountains in the distance, overshadowed by a thick layer of dark clouds bringing in the raging storm.  Cadence and Shining Armor were trying their best to rest inside the castle, but the thought of an apocalypse coming over them as they slept sent too many shivers down their spine.

Celestia and Luna glanced at each other and nodded.  As they turned back to the mountains, their horns glowed simultaneously.  Celestia lifted the sun up over the south, shining over the badlands, and Luna raised the moon over the frozen wastes around the Crystal Empire, cloaking the north end of the world in a starry night.  The day and night was merging through the center of Canterlot, Celestia glistening in her valiant sun and Luna blending into the darkness of the night she was born to bring about.

"They're not coming back, are they?" Luna asked her sister, still looking to the storm clouds closing in on the city.

"They will come, sister," Celestia assured.  "Give them time."

Luna turned her head.  "And if they don't?"

Celestia met her eyes with a smile.  "Then we will stand together."  She grabbed onto Luna with her front hoof and reeled her head into the sunlight.  "We've done it thousands of years ago, and we can do it now."  Luna closed her eyes and felt her sister's embrace warming her body in the cold night.  Celestia released her sister and they both stood tall over the horizon.

"I could have never imagined this to be our end," Luna sighed.

"It would have to end in some way.  But we'll pull through.  We always have."  Suddenly the mountain shook beneath them.  Not enough to cause anyone to lose their balance, it wasn't a tremor.  Something big was coming from below them.  The shaking grew, and in seconds one could also sense the sound of a swarm of insects coming from the east.  It kept drawing closer until both the noise and source was blacking out the sky.  From the eastern end of the mountain an army of black creatures surged out of a large cave opening at full speed.

The crowd erupted into panic, squirming and knocking one another over in the close-quarters.  The legion of changelings soared above the city, blotting out the sun to the south.  The spur of shape-shifters turned towards the courtyard of screaming ponies, the guards readying their spears.  Celestia and Luna looked back at the potential hostiles in relief.  "Do you think they got on the changelings' good side?" Celestia asked her sister.  It was then that they saw a light blue speck in the crowd of changelings, followed by a yellow, orange, and white group of equally-sized companions.  Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy carried their own weight while Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie were each carried by a pair of the insect-like creatures.

"I believe that is a yes," Luna answered.

Rainbow Dash dove down to meet the princesses at top speed, landing on the ground before them strong and proud.  Fluttershy gracefully descended to her level shortly after alongside her friends as they got dropped off.  "It's good to be back," Rainbow said.

"And it's good to have you back," Celestia greeted the five.

"Is Twilight back yet?" Applejack asked.

"Not as of yet," Luna informed them.  "She is running much later than we anticipated."

"Well she better hurry up," Dash said smartly.  "We don't have much time left."  She poked her head between the two princesses and pointed to the storm clouds gradually making their way for Canterlot.  They could see the blue sparks of lightning followed by the faint sound of thunder in seconds.

"Have faith, Rainbow Dash," Celestia advised.  "Don't worry, your task was more difficult than what we asked of Twilight."

"Oh yeah," Pinkie recalled, rubbing her chin.  "What was that super secret task Twilight had to do?"

"We'd rather not say," Luna quickly stated.  "We can't have any loose lips alerting Frostborn of our plans."

"Aw," Pinkie moaned.  "I won't tell.  Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."  She pretended to zip her mouth shut and smiled for the princesses.

"I'm sorry, we cannot chance this," Luna told them firmly.  "Our chances of a victory are slim as it is at the moment, and we mustn't risk anymore of our advantages."  Pinkie frowned while her friends nodded in understanding.

"Good," Celestia said.  "It's best we just have patience.  And I'd imagine that convincing Queen Chrysalis to aid in our efforts was not an easy task."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" said a toxic voice from above.  Chrysalis descended from the black cloud of changelings and landed in front of Celestia and Luna.  Dash and her friends stepped back for her to land, not that she would have changed her path if they hadn't.  "And I'll have you know that you were the biggest reason I hesitated."  Her gaze pierced through the light of Celestia's eyes, and she forced her way in between the two sisters to look out over the western cliff side.

"Uh, we should go," Rainbow suggested.  "Should we go and calm down the crowd?"

"They'll calm down on their own if they haven't already," Celestia responded.  "They might have taken notice to how the changelings are taking no hostile actions by now.  Your families are worried, though.  You should go to them."

"C'mon, let's go," Dash jumped up.  She ran back to the crowd with her friends trailing right behind her.

Celestia and Luna turned to face the west on either side of Chrysalis, who stood where the day and night collided.  The right side of her body was in the dark like Luna's, and her left was illuminated by the sun with Celestia.  The trio watched the blizzard as it inched it's way towards the castle.  "I want you to know that this will be the last time you will ever see us working side by side," Chrysalis growled.  Celestia turned her head slightly towards her daughter and sighed.  She reached her hoof over the changeling's back and brought her head to the base of Chrysalis' neck.  The queen flinched and tried to pull away from her mother, but Celestia wouldn't let go.

"I never wanted to let you go," Celestia told her.

Chrysalis continued resisting in the hopes that Celestia's grip would finally give.  "Why should I believe that?  You told me to leave yourself.  Didn't even bother to show me a place where I could live a life of my own."

"I had to make choices, Chryssie."  Tears were forming at the backs of her eyes and she began to sob.  "And I've made some terrible ones in the past.  Sending you away just may have been the hardest I've ever had to make."  Celestia's hug was no longer serving the purpose of comforting Chrysalis, but instead was more of a way to comfort herself.  "I was wrong, Chryssie.  I'm sorry."  She hushed up to stop herself from crying hysterically and minimized it to stammering breathing.

Chrysalis paused with her hoof lifted from when she was trying to repel Celestia.  Now she held it there with eyes staring off into space.  She hadn't thought that choice was so painful to her, let alone even remain painful to this very day.  All those millennia of disgust towards her mother, she truly felt compassion for her.  Chrysalis slowly moved her hoof over her weeping mother and wrapped it around her shoulder, still gazing into her own thoughts to at least try to understand what really happened that day.

"It wasn't her choice," Luna said, looking out over the edge of the city.  "I was the pony who sinned.  Many times I have.  I looked upon each one of you changelings like vermin, full of imperfections." Chrysalis readjusted back to reality and her eyes narrowed.  "When your people attacked Canterlot I couldn't bring myself to step in.  None of us are perfect.  Our flaws, be it a disgusting physical form or a deep, ruthless bitterness inside."  She directed her attention to the moon to the north, and imagined a unicorn's head design formed from craters.  "We all have them."  Chrysalis and Luna sat in silence for a moment, Celestia still trying to calm herself.  The chattering crowd was but a muffled sound in the distance, and there was an eerie stillness.

"I don't ask forgiveness," Luna said, breaking the silence.  "I can't ask forgiveness.  But I can say that is an honor to fight beside you in the end."  Chrysalis turned to meet Luna's eyes and nodded.  Celestia lifted her head up with one least sniffle, and the changeling retracted her arm from her mother's back.  Celestia wiped the tears from their eyes and looked back to the stormy horizon making it's way to Canterlot.

Meanwhile, Twilight's friends scoured the crowd to locate their families and friends.  The Apple family wasn't difficult to pinpoint.  They were able to form their own mob on the outside of the crowd.  Applebloom was mounted atop Big Mac's shoulders, trying to find Applejack in the crowd.  With a few turns of the head, the little filly caught sight of her sister's brown hat resting on an orange head with a yellow mane fashioned in a ponytail.  She tugged on her brother's orange mane to get his attention, and when Big Mac looked at his little sister, she pointed to Applejack walking alongside her friends.  They waved to them from the crowd, Applebloom jumping up and down as she did so.

AJ saw the waving in the corner of her eyes and glanced over to see her two ecstatic siblings.  "Come on, y'all," she called to her friends.  "This way!"  Applejack lead them through the mix of Apple family members who were sighing and getting excited to see her safe and sound.  While pushing through the crowd, AJ bumped into a tall red stallion, the impact making her a little dizzy.  One by one, each of her friends made their way around the staggered pony and lined up in front of Big Mac and Applebloom, the younger still jumping up and down from excitement.  The filly dove down and tackled her sister while she was recovering and knocked her down to the ground.  The sisters rolled around on the ground, laughing all the while.

"Applejack, you look fine as a Canterlot pony all dressed up in fancy garments," said an old pony's voice from behind the red stallion before the five friends.  Applejack and her sister stopped playing for a moment and AJ peeked her head to the side to see Granny Smith poking her head out from behind Big Macintosh's back legs.  "Yer friends don't look too out-a-shape, neither."

AJ nudged Applebloom off her chest and rose to her hooves.  "Thanks, Granny.  I'd bet you'd know that firsthoof now, wouldn't ya?"

"Darn right I do," Granny Smith said.  "Now come on ever here, Pumpkin, and give yer old Granny a hug."  Applejack did as instructed.  She squeezed her granny with all her might until she turned blue, and Granny Smith hugged right back.  Applejack saw the crowd shifting and looking down behind Granny Smith.  A pair of fillies made their way through the maze of legs to Applejack and their friends.  One was a white unicorn with a half purple, half pink mane, the other an orange pegasus with a purple mane.

"Applebloom!" they called to their little earth pony friend.  The CMC raced together for a group hug.

"Good to see ta girls," Applebloom said with joy.

"Well we weren't gonna just leave you at a time like this," Scootaloo said smartly.  "We are a trio"

"Work as a team," Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"Sticking together no matter how bleak things seem!" they harmonized.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting somepony?"  There was a voice coming from the crowd Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle just came from.  Whoever it was was young and had a Manehatten accent.  Out of the crowd came a brown earth pony with a red mane, green eyes, and a proud stance.  "Didn't think I'd be skippin' out on a Cutie Mark Crusaders reunion, did ya?" Babs called out.  The other CMC reeled her in on the group hug and held each other tightly.  Rarity tried to join in on her sister, but the hug suddenly felt awkward for all five of them, and they separated.

"Sweetie Belle, have you seen Mom and Dad?" Rarity asked in concern.

"No, I thought you did."

"Allow me," Rainbow Dash offered.  She soared up into the sky and looked out over the crowd for Rarity's parents.  She zoned in on a unicorn-earth pony couple of a white earth pony stallion with a brown mane and mustache and a pink unicorn with a purple mane.  "Hey!" She called to them.  "Rarity's parents!"  The couple turned to Rainbow's direction and looked up at the blue pegasus.  "Down here!" she pointed down below her to Sweetie Belle waving to them on Rarity's back.  Her parents moved through the crowd to their children with haste.  They pushed through and met their kids with warm, welcoming hugs.

Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to catch up with Scootaloo while Rarity and Sweetie Belle were being reunited with their parents.  She slid her way to the filly's side and wrapped her arm around her neck.  "How ya been Scoots?"

"Great!" Scootaloo cheered.  "I just learned to do a back flip on my scooter last week."

"Wow, that's impressive.  So I guess while I'm ruling the skies with my spectacular flying skills, you'll be tearing up the dirt on your scooter."

"Oh, stop messing with me," Scoots said with a giggle.

"Boulder says she's over here," said a monotone voice from the crowd behind Pinkie Pie.  Pinkie stiffened right up with a smile and charged through a few ponies to a grey earth pony mare with a very unsaturated purple mane.

"Maud!" Pinkie yelled, expanding her arms on either side of her.  She brought her arms in and hugged her sister with all her might, and Maud cracked a small smile.  Pinkie looked behind Maud and took notice to the rest of the Pies awaiting their greeting.  She took her left arm and pulled the whole family into the hug with her.  Giggles were exchanged while they chatted about how happy they were to see each other.

Fluttershy looked around at all her friends happily being reacquainted with their friends and family.  Then she realized that she didn't have anypony to meet up with.  She had her animals, but there was no way that they were in the crowd.  One would notice a bear or maybe an assortment of colorful birds in the mix.  What if they never made it out of Ponyville?  What f Frostborn had frozen over them already?  What if..

"Angel, no!"  Fluttershy heard the voice from towards the front of the crowd by the edge of the city, and recognized it instantly.  She hovered up and looked towards the source of the voice and saw Spike next to the moonlit wall with all of his friends' pets running rampant around him.  Angel, Owlowiscious, Tank, all there.  Fluttershy dove in on the annoyed dragon and took Angel off his hands.  Wasn't much of a help, though, as Tank kept flying around Spike's head, Winona ran circles around his feet, Gummy was latched onto his tail, and Opal, well actually Opal just sat there, but it was still a pain.

Rainbow Dash and the others found their way to Spike and Fluttershy in little time.  "Hey, Spike," Dash snickered.  "Need a little help there?"

"Wouldn't mind a hoof at the moment," the dragon mumbled.  Dash understood him well enough.  She grabbed tank and brought him back to the others.  She caught Winona and placed her beside Applejack, Gummy by Pinkie, Opal by Rarity, and so on.

"Where are all the other animals?" Fluttershy asked in worry.  She looked back and forth in panic.

"Don't worry," Spike insisted.  "Got em all cooped up inside the castle.  You can count on me to take everything into account."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" she praised.

"So is Twilight back yet?" Spike asked them all.

"I'm afraid not," Rarity said, her face turning glum along with all her friends'.  "Princess Celestia said that she should have been back already.  All we can do is wait and see if she makes it back."

Suddenly Pinkie felt a strange sensation in her tail.  She turned and saw it shaking like there was no tomorrow.  "Everypony get down!" she alerted the others.  They all ducked as they heard the sound of someone screaming and getting louder.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH," yelled a draconequus flying towards the courtyard.  The friends scattered around the courtyard as Discord came hurtling in.  He crashed into the ground on one of the hard cobblestone pathways while everypony slowly gathered around him.

"Discord?" Applejack asked.  "Where'd you come from?"  The draconequus pried his face from the ground with his eyes spinning circles in his head.  He pointed to the direction he came, and the six friends all turned to see a purple alicorn making her way down to the courtyard.

"Twilight!" they all shouted with glee.  They rushed to her as she descended to the ground into a massive group hug.

"Sorry about Discord," Twilight apologized.  "I slowed down a little too fast and I guess I just launched him."

Discord took his lion's paw and smacked himself in the side of the head to relieve himself of his disorientation.  He shook his head a few times just to make sure it was gone.  "Perhaps next time a little more consideration to physics would be a higher priority."

Twilight snickered, "Next time."

"So what was Discord doing with you?" Dash asked.  "He wasn't in the throne room when we left."

"And what was that secret mission they had to send you on?" Rarity questioned.  "Princess Luna wouldn't let us know."

"Well, you see..."  Twilight was interrupted by the sudden crack of thunder, and the noise startled her.  The air had turned considerably more cold and the gusts of wind grew stronger.  In a state of panic, Twilight's heart raced as she looked back over the western cliff side towards the fleet of storm clouds under Frostborn's command come too close for comfort.  The excitement of returning to her friends and seeing them in one piece was enough to suspend the thought of the big mission from her mind.  She couldn't let herself get destracted too much by her friends.  She needed to focus.

The storm slowed to a halt a short distance from Canterlot's perimeter.  "Weapons at the ready!" shouted one of the guard captains atop the walls.  The other guards huddled down in defensive positions with their spears pointed towards the dark skies.  The ponies in the crowd shuddered from both fear and from the cold weather in what would normally be a hot summer's day.  Twilight and her friends, on the other hand, stood strong alongside the princesses and Queen Chrysalis, waiting for the Master of Ice to make his move.  The city sat in near silence, only for it to be broken by the faint sound of wind gusts carrying the countless snowflakes through the air.

The snow began shifting around as it fell from the clouds hovering just above the castle's defensive walls, collecting together form into the being everypony there knew would appear.  The alicorn shape quickly came into a clear identifiable formation, but Twilight and her friends still stood tall.  The layers of snowflakes multiplied as each second past, making the figure more and more of a solid white with particles spinning around it.  Once there was not a gab between the flakes to be seen, the snow burst out in all directions, leaving behind the ice-armored, breezy-maned Master of Ice himself, bearing eyes that did little to hide the confident smirk behind his frozen mask.

"Citizens of Equestria," Frostborn began.  "I am sorry to say that the end times have come so soon.  For your heroines have released a power to stop my sister, Magmare, not anticipating the consequences for their actions.  And the cost for using an all powerful deity for their first line of defense would be more than just their own lives, or their entire civilization, but the lives of all those around them inside their greatest of sanctuaries.  However, I did find spite in those ponies who have unleashed this very fate upon you, and because of that spirit I have decided to spare their lives so that they could return home and prepare for the coming storm.  Such a kindness is nothing more than me upholding my honor as one of the most powerful beings that Earth has ever been the home of."

"Tyrants do not have any honor to uphold, Frostborn," Luna exclaimed.

"Nightmare, watch your tongue."

"I go by Luna now, fiend."

"No daughter of mine shall accuse her father of tyrannical actions when his only intent is to obey the laws of nature!"

"You are not my father to tell me so!"  Luna had chosen her words carefully, and she meant every one.

"Very well," Frostborn replied.  "You have betrayed me once, Luna."  He said her name with disgust in his voice.  "That was enough to seal your fate that you face now.  A second offense cannot worsen your punishment.  It still pains me that I will have to bury my own daughter alongside the kin of the enemy."

"My mother was stronger than you ever were, Frostborn," Celestia stepped in.

"Do not defend her.  If you were loyal, you would have stayed by her side and fought alongside her for all of eternity.  Unlike my traitor of a daughter."

"I was loyal.  It was Luna who truly brought me into the light.  My mother could create a child that would stay by her side no matter what obstacles stood in their way.  You failed to do so, and it is all because of that superior intellect you hold so dear."

"Silence, whelp!" Frostborn exploded.  "Do not tell me my strengths in this world!"

"Enough of this!" Chrysalis screamed.  "You came here to freeze us over, and here you are stalling like a child refusing to complete a chore!  If you're just as fearless as you claim to be..."  She whistled through one of the holes in her hooves and her army of changelings swarmed over her head.  "Then prove it!"

"I will enjoy burying you!" Frostborn bellowed.  His eyes glowed white and horn light blue.

"Guards!" Celestia alerted.  "Defensive positions!  Frostborn does not reach the city!"  The guards took off from the walls, about 50-60 in total.  The clouds above Frostborn started spiraling as they did before during his duel with Magmare.  "All units, attack!"

"Go my subjects!" Chrysalis ordered.  "Let him have it!"  The guards and changelings attacked in full force, but they didn't make it very far.  From the swirling clouds above came a rain if icy spikes falling down towards the city, and the two forces were right in their path.  One by one, the changelings and royal guards were struck down by the storm, sent into free fall either towards the near courtyard or the snow-blanketed ground hundreds of yards below.  "Don't let up!"  The queen was forcing all her persistence into her subjects' will, but the effort was in vain.  She couldn't keep them from being knocked down so easily.  Celestia's guards suffered the same fate.

Piles of unconscious ponies littered the edge of the courtyard while others rested on the cold ground at the bottom of the mountain.  Frostborn continued to unleash his rain of ice spikes just off the edge of the courtyard before the two princesses and changeling queen.  Celestia turned back to Twilight with a strange sense of worry on her face.   She was hoping she wouldn't have to play this next card.  "Twilight, we need you," she pleaded, stretching out her hoof.

"My pleasure," Twilight said.  She flew over to the wall of ice at level with Frostborn, and closed her eyes.  She breathed deeply, her horn glowing in a strong purple.  She could sense a strong aura coming from the Master of Ice as she inhaled.  This was it.  She just had to pull off her new trick and she would win the battle for all of Equestria.  She felt the connection between them form when a one of the icy spikes shifted out of alignment with the others and struck her on the head.  Twilight lost focus and fell to the cobblestone floor beside Princess Celestia.  She stood up and grunted before taking a second attempt to steal his magic from the ground, but another chunk of ice hit her directly again, causing her to collapse once more.

"Such simple tactics won't help you," Frostborn taunted.  "I may be inferior in strength to Magmare, but I still have enough power to crush you and the intelligence to predict your every move."  Twilight looked down towards the cliff edge and noticed a thin layer of ice freezing over the courtyard.  Slowly but surely, it was going to cover the whole city with all the citizens inside it.  The citizens, each having strength of their own, just going to fall along with the most powerful beings in Equestria.

"Maybe not," Twilight thought to herself.  She rose once more and flew to Frostborn's altitude once more, but this time had her back turned to the wall of ice spikes falling from the clouds.  She looked over the stockpiled ponies in the crowd, the weakened changelings, the princesses, and her friends.  With a cringe, Twilight had made her decision, a difficult one at that.  She closed her eyes again, her horn glowing once more.

"Uh, Twilight," she heard Rainbow Dash call in worrisome curiosity.  "What are you doing?"  Twilight opened her maw wide.  She tried her best to sense the magical power of all the ponies before her.  The pegasi, earth ponies, unicorns. all of them.  Even the princesses and her dearest of friends were a target at this point.  She inhaled, and the entire courtyard was a mass of ponies surrounded in a purple magical glow.  Hundreds on top of hundreds of purple magical beams extruded from the ponies who suddenly felt weaker.  "Twilight?" Rainbow asked again.  Twilight felt a tear roll down her cheek as she felt her friend's terror flowing through her, but she kept going.

The beams of magic cut off, and the ponies below all dropped simultaneously, eyes unsaturated and legs unable to pull themselves back up.  Twilight felt the surge of power inside her.  The excessive amount of magic intake  all at once gave her a burning feeling all over her body, and with a wail of pain she was able to relieve it in an instant.  A magical surge of energy forced it's way out of Twilight's body in a powerful white explosion all around her, blowing the storm of ice spikes apart and sending Frostborn further from the castle.   The ponies below were out of range, thankfully, and the bright glow of magic subsided with Twilight still there without a scratch.  She held her eyes loosely closed for a moment then opened them slowly, bearing a confident smile and eyes beaming with determination.  Despite the large blast of magic that just escaped her body, she could still feel the same power that she had when she had just finished draining everypony's magic.  She was ready.

My readers, I am so sorry to interrupt in a time of such sheer crisis, but there is something that must be said.  I want to thank you for joining me on this adventure, and I hope it was a fun experience.  I put my heart and soul into producing this little story so that you could enjoy reading it just as much as I did writing it.  There's just one problem: it's not done yet.  Why am I thanking you now if you haven't finished reading?  Well with a story like this I'm glad that I kept you interested long enough to keep you going until the very end, and for that, I think you deserve a reward.  We have an Ice God to stop, my readers, and seeing how we're all out of bubblegum, I think it's only right to provide you with the best music I can find to fit the occasion.  Let's get back into this and show Frostborn that Equestria is not his personal playground!

Youtube Video

Youtube Video

Lyrics or instrumental.  Take your pick.

Twilight turned around to face the Master of Ice, who still suffered from shock after the blast.  "Ready when you are," Twilight said confidently.

"Bold move taking in your companions' power to make a stand," Frostborn admitted.  "But we shall see who truly is the more powerful being."  Frostborn's eyes turned white again as his horn charged with them.  He took no hesitation to aim directly at the mare's chest and unleash a blast that lit up the night sky in the north.  Twilight used her new found flight strength to dart her way below the courtyard, dodging the beam that left a hole in the cobblestone flooring and launching weakened ponies back to the crowd.  Twilight conjured up a magical bolt of her own and shot it right in Frostborn's underbelly while he was still firing his ice beam.

The attack staggered the colt and launched him further into the air.  He took a few seconds to regain his flight stability, but by the time he did, Twilight had stacked a full on beam attack on his head.  The ice mask shattered with the blast, and the Master of Ice concealed his exposed face out of pain, and when he lowered his hooves, he glared at Twilight in rage. His face was scorched from her magic beam, at least that's what she thought it was from.  For all she knew it could have been from a previous battle with Magmare.

Frostborn's horn glowed again, and at his sides appeared a massive ice sword and matching shield.  He held out the shield in front of his body, blocking the entire thing from the front, and charged Twilight with the sword ready to swing.  Twilight quickly shrouded herself in a magical shield bubble glowing in every color imaginable.  Frostborn swung the sword down on the shield, only for it to shatter on impact.  Twilight lowered the shield and charged her horn for another attack, but the Master of Ice kept going and bashed her with the shield, knocking her into the side of the mountain.

Frostborn turned his eyes white once more, and the clouds above him spiraled just like before.  The storm of ice spikes came back for a second strike, but Twilight used all the magic she could to grab a telekinetic hold on the spears.  All at once, the spikes gained a purple aura and stopped in their tracks.  They turned around under her command and launched themselves in a barrage towards Frostborn.  At the last second, he put a protective sphere of ice around himself as the ice spikes struck.  A cloud of smoke and icy debris surrounded the area of impact, and lingered long enough for Frostborn to charge his horn and unleash a devastating beam at Twilight.  The purple alicorn soared up as the attack triggered an explosion just below the courtyard, sending fragments of stone in all directions.

Twilight charged her horn for one last attack.  She outstretched her wings and her eyes turned white.  Her horn radiated in an especially bright aura as she hovered above the Canterlot courtyard with all her friends watching from below.  Twilight lunged her body forward, unleashing a cone of magic stretching too far for Frostborn to dodge.  He tried to hold up another ice shield, but as soon as the magical blast made contact, it shattered into tiny fragments barely large enough to see with the naked eye.  Twilight's cone of magic engulfed Frostborn, unrelentingly singing his icy blue fur.

Twilight felt herself growing tired, and she stopped the attack to take a break for some heavy breathing.  Down on the frozen ground at the base of the mountain lay Frostborn, unmoving.  His fur was tattered with black spots from the magical blasts, and once could see him gritting his teeth from pain.  He had to try one more thing, and he got his horn to glow.

Frostborn forced himself to sink into the blanket of snow below, not even casing the piles to shift.  He was fusing with the snow willingly.  Twilight hovered in a little closer to get a better look, but the snow erupted before she could make any considerable distance.  Frostborn soared out of the snow, his fur pristine and unmarked once more.  He darted at full speed towards the startled Twilight, horn charging more valiantly than ever.  A bright blue magic, brighter than his own fur formed a shell around the Master of Ice's body like a mortar shell.  She hadn't much time to react, but Twilight tried as best she could to channel all her energy into a focused beam at him.  The colorful attack hit Frostborn dead on, but his own magic redirected the beam all around him, and he punched through the attack like it was nothing, and rammed himself right into Twilight, knocking her back into the courtyard right next to her six, limp and powerless friends.

"You thought you could outmatch a force of nature!" Frostborn bellowed.  "Now you lay weak and helpless while my victory is just over the horizon!"  Twilight tried to get back up, but she couldn't find enough strength to overcome the numbness of her legs long enough to even stand.  She looked back at her friends who were stuck in the same helpless position as she.

"I'm sorry," Twilight apologized.  "I wasn't strong enough."

"None of us were strong enough," Applejack admitted.  "If we were, we could have taken out Frostborn already."

"I would have liked to stand by you the whole way, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said sadly.  "I bet the journey wasn't easy for you."

"It wasn't," she answered.  "None of it was easy.  Now we're at the mercy of somepony who's going to leave us as frozen statues for all of eternity."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Pinkie said, trying to cheer her up.  "You tried your very best, and that's all that matters."

Twilight smiled.  "Thanks for your support, Pinkie.  It means a lot."

"So this is how it all ends?" Rarity asked darkly.  "Frozen in time forever?"

"I guess so," Twilight said.

"Well at least we're together," Fluttershy said, looking on the bright side.  "We can end this just the way we started."

They all smiled, and used all the strength they could find to hold hooves with one another.  "Together," they all chanted.  Suddenly, they felt a surge of strength in each of them.  Magical power coursing through their bodies.  They each started to glow in a color matching their coats that lifted them slowly into the sky.  The six friends let go, but the glow still stayed, lifting them higher and higher into the air.  Frostborn looked at them in shock, unable to comprehend how they still had so much power left in them.

Twilight's wings began to glow in a light, sparkling purple.  The magical energy coated her wings on all fronts, and the shape started to expand to a great size.  Twilight had grown a wingspan larger than the entire length of the courtyard she and her friends hovered above.  Frostborn's heart sank.  "How?  No force of nature is capable of this variant of power!"

"No, Frostborn," Twilight said with strength in her chest.  "This kind of power doesn't come naturally.  This is a power that even we have been yet to fully wield for ourselves.  This journey was difficult beyond measure, and I constantly found myself wanting to lean of my friends to get the job done.  But what I didn't realize was that time to handle situations on my own was exactly what I needed.  You see Frostborn, friends are a force to be reckoned with, but it is also important that we learn to stand on out own four hooves.  That way when we do finally come together, we create something stronger than ever before!"  Twilight's wings folded over each other, encasing the alicorn in a ball of purple glittering light, and it sent out a circular shock wave that passed through Frostborn right down the middle.

The Master of Ice's body suddenly turned into a bright, magical blue.  His fur, armor, eyes, and all were now an embodiment of his magical energy.  The magical Frostborn split apart from head to hoof, and the two halves formed themselves into a pair of glowing blue orbs half the size of Frostborn himself.  The two orbs shot in opposite directions, one to the North and one to the South.  Both magical spheres returned to the portals at either pole to submerge into the Earth once again.

The opposite end of the shock wave passed over the pile of limp citizens littered in the courtyard.  The saturation returned to their eyes and they found the strength to stand up again.  Canterlot broke out in a massive celebratory uproar for Twilight and her friends.  The six mares descended gracefully to the ground while the crowd came over to grab hold of them and toss them up and down.  Twilight told them to let them down when she noticed the attention and fear of heights was freaking Fluttershy out, and so the crowd dispersed, leaving the heroines to themselves.  Princess Celestia walked over to Twilight with Luna at her side.

"I see you learned what I was trying to prepare you for by separating you from your friends," Celestia congratulated.

"I did," Twilight said proudly.  "The right decision isn't always the one you're most comfortable with.  Sometimes we just have to go through with it."

"I'm glad you saw why I decided to take such an action."

"Yeah, well it was still a long-shot," Rainbow argued.

"It worked, did it not?" Luna asked rhetorically.

"And I trust we will be seeing you as an ally in the future," Celestia said, turning to Queen Chrysalis who remained at the edge of the courtyard.

"You've made a friend this day, Celestia," Chrysalis responded.  "A close one."

"Hey Twilight," Dash began.  "You still got our magic inside you?  Or are you back to normal now?"

"I think that blast we did at the end there drained all the excess magic from me.  Next time delivering a final blow won't be so easy."

"Well, we aren't done yet," Rarity chimed in.  "Frostborn's left quite a bit of ice laying around and we can't live on that."

"Girls, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Twilight asked.  The six friends exchanged glances then took a deep breath, Twilight making sure not to focus on her friends' magic and cause another problem.

Winter wrap up, Winter wrap up!

Let's renew our homeland

Winter wrap up, Winter wrap up!

Cause things didn't go as planned

The ponies of Equestria got to work.  They scoured the city for wheelbarrows, shovels, and anything else they could use to move the snow off Canterlot property.  Pegasi got to cloud busting and unicorns gathered up large piles of snow to put in anything they found suitable for transportation.  The animals were let out of the castle an allowed to roam around once the city was back to it's lush green and warm self.  It was going to be a while before they could all go back to their hometowns again.  They had a lot of work to do with Canterlot alone and it was too dangerous to move around with all the snow and ice between settlements.  Looks like they were gonna be stuck there a while, but nonetheless, this battle was a victory.

And they were gonna spent the whole time cleaning up in celebration.

"Would you look at that, girls?" said a familiar voice.  "We're finally back in the saddle and we're getting spoon fed a limitless supply of magic right from the start.

"Never thought a return would be this easy," said another voice with a darker tone than the first.

"I can't wait!  I'm so excited to sing again!"  This voice particularly upbeat and louder than the other two.

"Quiet, Sonata," said the first voice.  "Let's make our entrance a little more surprising."

Ahhhhhahhhah, Ahhhhhahhhhh.