The Blizzard Chronicles

PROLOGUE

Twilight read through the new letter.

Dear Twilight,

Very impressive that you found this. Celestia allowed me to write you one more time before I left. In this letter I put three additional spells I believe you could find useful.

The Blizzard family name comes from more than just a cool word. Our family shares an ability no other does in all the world. It is completely unique to us. This ability is to control the elements. Each Blizzard is given power over ice and one other element. This secondary element varies from Blizzard to Blizzard and closely reflects their personality. Mine would be plasma.

Even though nopony else shares this ability given the Blizzards, it can be mimicked. These three spells are rare winter weather phenomena that, with practice, can be harnessed by unicorn magic to mimic the Blizzard battle magic.

The first of these three phenomenon is best known as thundersnow. In a nutshell, thundersnow is essentially a thunderstorm that snows instead of rains. It sounds very simple to create, and indeed it is. During the early stages of practice I would recommend finding an existing thunderstorm and simply lowering the temperature so it would snow instead of rain. By the time you’ve mastered it, you should be able to create your own.

This phenomenon is best used not as an attack, but as a move to manipulate the battlefield to your advantage. A couple of advantages a thundersnow storm could give you in battle is, first, limited visibility. A thundersnow storm does not produce nearly enough snow to battle with itself, but it is enough to limit visibility a ton - which, with training, can mean a huge advantage in battle. Another thing this storm will do is create severe windchill which can even lead to frostbite. This spell is a recommended tactic most when facing an opponent that relies heavily on eyesight and is used to higher temperatures - a phoenix, for example.

This next one is a bit trickier - and mostly because there is a little more science behind it. It is called lake effect snow. How these guys work is affected by two main factors - fetch and lapse rate. Lapse rate is created when large bodies of water warmer than the air above - hence the name “lake effect snow” - builds up moisture in the air, which condenses into clouds and creates conveyor belts of this snow. The lapse rate is measured by the temperature difference between the body of water and the air. Fetch is determined by wind speed and direction, which in turn determines the size of this cloud of “lake effect snow”.

If you get a high lapse rate paired with a good fetch, you could dump as much as 8 feet of snow in the middle of a battle. On occasion, lake effect snow is known to even create thundersnow as a side effect, so you can expect that. This spell is best against a flying opponent - a dragon, perhaps.

By far the toughest one to tackle - and by equally far the most awe-inspiring - is called cryoseism, or better known as frost quakes. Just saying its name can take your breath away. This curious phenomenon is caused by rapid fluctuations in temperature from freezing to above and back. The key to harnessing this spell is to first saturate the ground with moisture, and then take the temperature on a rapid drop to subzero. After that, simply fluctuate the temperature. With practice, you should see that the water in the ground will freeze - and then expand and contract with the temperature. Eventually, tension will build until, when the ice contracts, it will burst apart with a flash of light and a fantastic boom. Cryoseism is best used as a direct attack and is most effective against a ground-based opponent like a minotaur.

Good luck!

--Blizzard Blast

Wait, Twilight thought. There’s a part after the signature.

It repeated that strange riddle he’d told her what seemed like so long ago.

Feeling the cold, and . . . feeling cold . . . are two very different things.

What could he mean by that? Twilight thought hard. I guess feeling the cold would be like feeling something trying to make you cold, like a snowstorm or a cold wind or something. Where he says “feeling cold” he must mean when that thing actually makes you feel cold. But what could separate the two?

Stumped for now, she chuckled and shook her head.

Blizzard Blast was definitely one tough nut to crack.

SIX

It had been a month since she received that letter. Twilight had already mastered thundersnow and was nearly complete in her training with lake effect snow. The only one she was getting any trouble with was the last one - cryoseism. Blizzard Blast wasn’t kidding when he said it was the most difficult; in fact she was having some doubts to whether she could do it. The funny thing was, all three spells used the same technique to change the temperature for some purpose or another. She had already mastered that technique and still she couldn’t pull off a successful frost quake.

Perhaps, she decided, I just need to give it more time.

The next day found Twilight practicing cryoseism once more by the lakeside. Over the last few weeks, winter had rolled into Ponyville and the lake had already frozen over by a thin layer of ice. A light and fluffy layer of snow coated the ground, and the temperature outside was pleasantly cool.

Tapping her hoof to the surface to break the ice, Twilight drew some water out using levitation and splashed it on the ground. After waiting a few minutes for the water to soak in, she formed an imaginary bubble around the spot. She tried to isolate it from everything else going on around it. Then the temperature inside the bubble plunged toward subzero. In seconds the ground froze into solid ice.

Twilight worried. I always make it this far, she thought. And then I mess up. Doubtful, she raised the temperature inside the bubble to above freezing. Just as it was supposed to, the ice inside began to expand. Seeing this, Twilight again set the temperature on a downward spiral, plunging again toward zero.

Nothing happened.

Twilight repeated the process a few more times.

Still nothing happened.

She scowled. Why wouldn’t this work?! As she lost control of her temper the ice patch exploded with a sudden violence.

“You’re not cold?” asked a voice behind her.

She whirled. It was Spike. He was carrying a coat for her.

Her expression softened. “Hi, Spike.” She hesitated. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks though.”

“You’re sure?”

She nodded.

“Okay.” Spike glanced past her to the smoldering scorch mark. “I’m not sure I like you doing this to yourself, Twilight. You sure you don’t want to take a break?”

Twilight gazed at the black streak in the snow that she created only moments before. “Maybe you’re right Spike. I’m losing it over this. I’d probably better.”

They both began the long and silent walk back to Ponyville.

Spike attempted to make some conversation. “Your friends are all bored - Pinkie Pie especially. She’s mad there’s not enough snow to have a good snowball fight.”

Twilight laughed, thinking of lake effect snow. “I don’t think that’ll stay a problem for long.” Her moment of humor was short. Her eyes glazed over and she sighed sadly.

“Something else wrong?”

“This weather reminds me of Blizzard Blast.” A deep sigh followed, its frosty fog billowing into the air. “I miss him.”

“Everybody misses him, Twilight.”

No response.

Spike gave a confused look. “You know what? I think you’re starting to like that guy. Like-like him.”

“What?” She looked down at her dragon. “Spike - what? Don’t be ridiculous! He’s . . . just my mentor, is all.”

Twilight turned away just soon enough to blush.

Precisely at that moment Twilight saw something in the sky. “What is THAT?!”

“What’s what?” Spike followed her line of sight.

The object appeared to be some kind of comet. It gave off a sharp light that glinted almost like the sun. The light was outlined by deep purple that started at the front, then flowed around the sides of the light then broke off the back and left a short trail behind it. It bulleted across the sky with a tremendous speed.

“You don’t think that’s some kind of a meteorite, do you?” Spike asked.

Twilight levitated Spike and popped him on her back. “Whatever it is, it’s headed for Ponyville. We’ve got to beat it there!” She launched herself into a full-on sprint.

They had a head-start on the thing - it had more distance to cover than they did - but it was gaining fast. Every second of running seemed like an hour. They both worried about what would happen if it beat them to Ponyville.

It was a photo finish. Twilight had just sprinted into town and skidded to a halt just in front of the Castle of Friendship when down the street the meteor rocketed in a downward arc and smashed into the ground.

A small area immediately surrounding the point of collision became blanketed by a strange purple fog. The cloud stayed for a moment before disappearing, being sucked into the horn of a stranger unicorn who rested in the center of a crater.

It was a unicorn. This pony had an earthy black coloring that stood out against the midday background. His mane and tail had a deep, powerful purple sheen to them, almost like the deep sea. The stranger’s eyes shone brilliant violet. He carried a small pack on his side. His cutie mark was very curious. It seemed to be some sort of ancient design, a thing somepony would find carved into temple ruins. It was almost like the head of a trident, but something was off. The edges were more circular.

Twilight turned to whisper in Spike’s ear. “I need you to find my friends. Now, I think I can take this guy, but if I do end up fighting him, things could get ugly. Fast. You and them will have to evacuate Ponyville. Got it?”

Spike nodded and jumped off of her back. He left in search of the Mane 6 and vanished from sight.

Returning her attention to the stranger unicorn farther down the street, she politely asked him, “Can I . . . help you?”

He replied, approaching her with an air of calm and fake friendliness. “Yes. I heard someone by the name of Blizzard Blast is somewhere around here.”

“He was here,” Twilight corrected, more than a little uneasy. Whoever this stranger was, she was sure he didn’t mean good news for Blizzard Blast - or anyone. “He was exiled one or two months ago. Why?”

“Oh,” the stranger began casually. “I just have a whole Equestria to take over and my brother turns out to be the only one who can stop me. Seems logical I’d - ”

Twilight didn’t let him finish. A beam of telekinetic energy shot into the sky from her horn and began to form a cloud. The cloud quickly grew until it was enormous. Its color dropped from white to a threatening grayish purple and swooped toward him.

Before the stranger knew it the entire town was inside of a giant storm of thundersnow.

Squinting his eyes against the harsh winds, he searched for the mare who dared try to stop him. All he could see was a dense fog that gathered around him. Thunder crackled in the background.

He growled. “How dare you toy with me, princess...” The s trailed, but the stallion was silent. His horn was hissing. A spherical force field was expelled from his horn that grew rapidly. It forced the mist away and exposed Twilight to his field of vision.

Spreading a pair of previously concealed wings he shot a violaceous beam of energy into the air. Exploding as would a firework, the particles rained all the way down to the ground and as they came to rest on his form they created shock waves of purple. As the waves intersected and overlapped, a suit of armor was formed. Soon the stallion was girt in a glorious suit of amethyst armor, embroidered with intricate swirling designs. The armor glowed and he declared, “I am Blizzard Rage, son of Blizzard Flame and rightful king of Equestria! All who oppose me shall FALL!”

Blizzard Rage shot a violescent ball of crackling energy straight at Twilight. She teleported out of the way just in time. With a pop she vanished from view just as the meteor barrelled through the spot where she had been only a split second before. Immediately it shrunk and dissolved into the air as if it had never been.

Only a second later Twilight reappeared in exactly the same place. A reddish-violet aurora surrounded her horn as the ground trembled. Gradually, from every water source in Ponyville, streams of luminous blue light grew and ascended to the sky. All the cerulean tendrils of energy gathered into one point exactly over Twilight’s head. From this single point grew yet another storm cloud, much larger and mightier than her last, growing to enormous proportions.

“You’ll have to try harder than that!” Twilight returned, sending the monstrous cloud right at Blizzard Rage. Raining an overwhelming amount of snow on him, it seemed almost as bad as the last time a pegasus shoveled her driveway.

But he was too quick. Almost as if he could see into the future, he generated a telekinetic ceiling above his head just in time to catch all the snow. Once it had stopped falling, the telekinetic sheet curled up into a ball, packing all of Twilight’s snow into a snowball the size of a building. With what seemed like no effort to him at all, Blizzard Rage hurled the gigantic snowball right at Twilight.

This time it was a direct hit. She yelped as it mowed her right into the ground. Glued to the snowball now, she rolled with it until it crashed into the Castle of Friendship right behind her. As it shattered into snowfall she fell helplessly to the ground. She tried to stand. Down but not out, Twilight had sustained some damage. She was badly bruised and cut in some places, and her left hoof hurt to lean on. Her breathing was heavy as she struggled to stand. Unwilling to be defeated she approached her opponent. She walked with a bad limp.

Blizzard Rage broke into laughter. “When are you going to realize it’s game over, princess?” He began to advance on her as well.

They closed in on each other. As distance neared, Twilight halted. “You may have defeated me . . .” She was cut off. Blizzard Rage was still advancing. She began to back up. Fear crawled into her voice. “Blizzard Blast undoubtedly saw what happened. He knows Ponyville’s in trouble. He’s gonna march right in and - ” Blizzard Rage was still gaining ground on her. Quickly she found her back to a wall. The shadow of the Castle of Friendship loomed high over her. Her hope began to fade. “He’s gonna - he’s gonna - ”

She was trapped.

Blizzard Rage uttered one word. One word that stopped Twilight’s heart.

“Perfect.”

You know you like her.

Could you just leave me alone for five minutes?!

Blizzard Blast could swear he was going nuts.

It had been a long time since he was exiled. And sure, the Outlands look scary, but survival there was not much of a problem. At least not for a Blizzard. Blizzards like himself were almost native to the barren mountain regions of The North. The Outlands were no different.

With all this spare time, Blizzard Blast had found nothing to do. The boredom was nearly deathlike. It hadn’t been long before he started to hear voices in his head.

What did you say her name was? Twilight?

OKAY, YOU JUST NEED TO STOP TALKING!

I thought you said you liked her.

I didn’t SAY that!!! You read my mind!!! And anyway THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!

It kind of is -

JUST SHUT UP!!!

Their banter was interrupted by an explosion. At least, the sound of one. Its earsplitting, thunderous boom swept almost like a wind all across the wasteland. It undoubtedly could’ve echoed for miles more.

Blizzard Blast turned. He was at the face of a cliff, and the vista it brought him was breathtaking.

He could see the entirety of Equestria from up there. The one mountain in the place, the one supporting Canterlot, rose above the scene like a needle and gave a cool contrast to the view. Far below it various other landmarks scattered almost haphazardly - Ponyville, the Everfree Forest - the view stretched almost as far as to even the Crystal Empire.

Blizzard Blast could care less about the view. He wanted to see where the explosion came from. Exile or no exile, he thought, it’s my duty as a Blizzard. Besides, it’s an excuse to have some fun. He chuckled to himself. Been needing that.

I wouldn’t recommend it. You know what Celestia said if you were to return.

She only said -

He was cut off again. Another explosion flashed into view right before his eyes. A purple dot appeared in the sky, and expanding rapidly sent another shock wave through the air. To Blizzard Blast’s horror, his suspicions were only confirmed.

The dot had appeared exactly over Ponyville.

Twilight.

And without a second thought he jumped.

SEVEN

Things didn’t look good for Twilight. She had tried thundersnow and lake effect snow; neither spell had any effect on this stallion. It didn’t even work to threaten him with reinforcements. Didn’t look like Blizzard Blast was coming anyway. There was only one thing left that she could do.

Cryoseism.

She had to try.

Twilight gulped. She knew very well it could fail. And if it did, she could be done for. Ponyville. Equestria. An entire kingdom lost - because one silly little unicorn couldn’t get a spell right! What an ending that would be!

Then the tiniest germ of a thought entered her mind. Blizzard Blast believes you can do it. From that one, tiny sentence Twilight began to draw intense amounts of strength. The tiny spark quickly grew into a flame, burning bright and strong. Blizzard Blast believes in you. Your friends believe in you. Spike believes in you. Celestia believes in you.

And then she decided to try.

Twilight shut her eyes tight, forming an imaginary bubble around the ground directly below Blizzard Rage. Isolating it from the rest of the world, she put all other things out of focus, everything except for that spot of ground. As she focused further, her breathing steadied - in and out, in and out. With it the temperature of the spot began to synchronise - in and out, in and out, up and down, up and down.

She waited a moment. Nothing happened.

The temptation came over her with a fantastic ferocity to give up. To just walk away, say she tried, and just give up. Twilight responded with matching strength. Holding her ground with all her might, she squinted her eyes only tighter, bit her tongue hard and grit her teeth together. Pain flowed violently through where she’d bitten her tongue and tears began to stream from her eyes, but she didn’t care.

All she cared about was keeping the spell going.

The temperature continued to fluctuate. It seemed almost near the breaking point.

Blizzard Rage interrupted. He’d noticed this curious mare was up to something . . . but what? “What are you doing?”

Tension was building. Twilight gulped.

“Hoping this works.” With this she stomped one hoof into the ground directly in front of him.

With a dramatic burst of light comparable to the very sun and an explosive sound the likes of which dwarfed even the Sonic Rainboom - with a terrible tremor which shook the very earth - a terrific crack in the ground burst forth and exploded with a miraculous energy that sent Blizzard Rage soaring backwards.

Seeing an opportunity, Twilight launched herself into the air. She didn’t want to be fighting on hoof with a bad leg. “I’m no Blizzard . . . ” she began. Followed by an electric crackle a standard steel sword materialized in the air, just above her horn. She took hold of it using levitation. “ . . . but I can still fight!”

“Oh, I see . . . ” Blizzard Rage growled. Catapulting into the wintry air in a likewise manner, he then summoned his own weapon - a fearsome scythe, the blade formed by a dragon wing design flowing with elegant curves from the central staff. It was made of a strange material - a purple, clear matter that gave off a cold air.

And it was familiar.

Twilight gasped. “YOU were the one! YOU kidnapped Princess Luna that night!”

Blizzard Rage chuckled. “Oh look, Little Miss Purple knows SO MUCH.” He slashed his scythe at her. “Let’s see if you got skill to match.”

Without a word Twilight returned the stroke with her sword.

Just before the two weapons clashed a bright blue spark appeared in the air. Forcing them apart the spark grew until it was a sizeable azure light in the sky, eye level to the two contenders. A silhouette became visible, embedded in the center . . .

A ball of ice shot upwards from it. After traveling a distance into the sky it exploded into a mosaic, almost like a firework. Its design looked like three ice spikes that intersected at a triangle. Twilight got excited. I know that design! It’s the cutie mark of . . .

A shock wave flew from the object that sent both Blizzard Rage and Twilight hurling to the ground below. Following them, the thing dropped from the sky and smashed into the ground as well. Upon impact, the light exploded into a ball of steam that hissed loudly. Above its noise rose a voice. Its gentle cascade filled Twilight with hope.

“We meet again, brother.” it said.

The steam cleared. It was Blizzard Blast.

Rage sneered. “What a pleasure you could drop in, Blast! I was waiting for you, you know.”

Twilight exclaimed with hope. “You came back!”

For a split second, Blast turned his head just enough to gaze over his shoulder. “‘Course I did!” He returned his attention to Rage.

“Yeah. I know. I know what you’re doing! You’re traveling around the entire world, eliminating one Blizzard at a time. With each one eliminated, one less obstacle for you. And you thought you’d start with me.”

“Oh no,” he droned with fake worry. “So you knew I’d get rid of you first? Then why’d you come?!”

Blast took his time answering that question. “Why did I come?” he began slowly. “Because I knew what you were doing. Because if you finish me, you’d just go on and get rid of more Blizzards. I came because if I didn’t, you would bring harm to my family. And that is NOT something I will stand for! I came to defend my family!”

Blast hesitated. “I came because MY FAMILY IS MY POWER!!!”

There, beginning to surround him was a blinding emerald-green light. It started at his core and expanded to cover him entirely. Both Twilight and Rage had to look away.

Then, slowly the light faded.

Floating there, hovering just inches above the ground, was Blizzard Blast. He wore a blank expression, and his eyes were glazed over with an ominous green glow. With fantastic brightness its mint color shone. Then he assumed a look of combat. His eyebrows, digging down into the sides, carved a sharp edge into his luminescent features.

In this expression, Twilight saw a rage like none other. She could see one thing clearly: Blast wanted to kill him.

. . . And yet, somewhere beneath the tangles of anger hidden in his expression Twilight found something . . . else. Almost as if . . . she could see the faces of everyone Blast knew and loved. She could see the deepness of his desire to protect them. She found something inside that she never believed anger could fuel. At first she denied it, but the truth swept over her of what it was.

Love.

With fresh vigor the warrior sprang into combat.

Twilight could hardly tell what was happening.

In less than an instant Blizzard Blast’s signature double swords rose into the air beside him. In a blur now, he leapt toward his brother. Rage tried to counter, but Blast was no longer one singular unicorn. He was a blur of energy, the very embodiment of speed.

With one sword he tossed Rage’s weapon to the side like it was a toy. Using the other he catapulted Rage into the air.

Before his brother could react Blast teleported eye level to him. Suddenly a circle of ice formed in the air just beneath Blast, but he didn’t come to stand on it. Both of his swords flashed into orbits around himself; two deadly buzzsaws cored by the unicorn that was once Blast. With them he slashed at his brother over and over again. If it weren’t for Rage’s indestructible armor he would have been toast.

Blast created an explosion with his horn that sent Rage again crashing downward. Before following he combined his two swords together into one blade. As they spun around him they created an arc of plasma that rocketed from its source toward Rage. Upon its impact Blast smashed into the ground just down the street.

Deciding to wait for his brother to retrieve his weapon, Blast again blazed toward him and shot him into the sky. As he teleported after him Blast spun his swords this time in a rotating circle in front of himself. From the center expanded a ball of plasma encased in luminous blue ice. It was an energy bomb.

Blast had him. All he had to do was detonate. Rage would have been no more. There would be no more threat to Equestria. It was all he had to do.

But he couldn’t.

Blast took one look at the stallion he was about to kill. He didn’t see a villain. He didn’t see a killer.

He saw his brother.

His family.

Upon this realization the glow faded from his eyes. He shuddered as if waking from a dream. “Brother? Where am I? What’s going on?”

Rage didn’t answer.

He had an opportunity to take.

Fear turning into confidence, a pair of purple jets streamed from his horn, one to either side. They doubled back and slammed into each other right at Blast. Where they made contact it froze into that weird purple ice, until Blast was frozen completely.

In one fell swoop Rage took his scythe and stabbed it into the energy bomb. It exploded right at Blast and shattered his frozen statue to smithereens. Its pieces fell to the ground.

A singular tear tear found its way down Twilight’s cheek. “No . . .”

An instant later she saw more purple ice. It covered her field of vision entirely, and the scene she saw had tinted violet. In a flash Rage had teleported to her. This time he was carrying three large objects with levitation. One of them looked very familiar.

Princess Luna!

He had Cadence and Celestia too!

Twilight tried to launch herself toward Rage. She wanted to just take him and kill him. Cadence! Celestia! Luna! NOBODY messed with them while she could help it!

Except she found that she couldn’t.

With hope fading fast she attempted to move. She willed her hoof to straighten, her wings to stretch, anything. They simply weren’t responding.

Her horrors were confirmed.

She had been frozen.

Rage thought to himself. “Now, where to put these in my new castle . . .”

This was officially the worst day ever.

Rage had taken the Castle of Friendship for his own. He had indeed found a place for his frozen statues: right in the entry hall. All four alicorn princesses were under his custody - which meant it was only a matter of time until all of Equestria bowed to him.

Twilight wished she had the strength to deny all of this. She didn’t even have the strength to stay warm. The ice that imprisoned her seemed to be sapping away at her warmth, as if it were keeping her alive just enough to live the rest of her life in cold and misery and darkness. She wanted to just curl up in a ball; the ice wouldn’t let her. It held her frozen in the same exposed position, pressing its freezing surface to her open cuts and stinging like acid.

Then she remembered something. It was the riddle that Blast had told her so long ago. Feeling the cold, and feeling cold, are two very different things.

What did it mean? What could separate “feeling the cold” and “feeling cold”? She thought. Perhaps what he said in his fight with Rage could help her . . .

MY FAMILY IS MY POWER.

Maybe . . . no. That would be impossible. That couldn’t do it. That couldn’t possibly be the answer . . . could it?

Snapping her out of her thoughts was a voice. It was outside of the castle.

“Hey!”

Instantly Rage came rushing down the entry hall. “This better not be who I think it is . . .” he mumbled. He threw open the castle doors.

Just outside stood a mare Twilight had never seen before. She had a cerulean complexion that was just a little bit darker than Blast. Her violaceous mane swayed in the breeze, which had just calmed down from all of the day’s fighting. The late afternoon sun shone on her purple eyes. Her cutie mark, also purple, was a design in the shape of a heart - made of two parts, the bottom half which arced upwards like claws, and the top half which shaped nearly like a triangle.

Rage growled with frustration. “Beam? Didn’t I leave you frozen in Manehattan?”

A confident smile grew on the mare’s face. “Takes more than a little dark ice to get rid of me, bro!”

Fuming, Rage went outside to fight and slammed the doors behind him. Almost immediately following a stranger teleported in.

This stallion was very strange. His skin was the purest white. His mane was red and cut at jagged edges and he had a pointedly short tail. A red crystal was his cutie mark.

But that wasn’t what made this unicorn strange.

He was a cyborg!

His left front leg was entirely robotic and his hooves were encased with machinic boots. The horn on his forehead as well as his right eye were entirely missing, replaced with mechanical replicas. All of his robotic parts were connected by wires to a small disk on his side, maybe the same size as one’s hoof. A silver tendril extended backward from the disk, which curled around his tail and ended in a steel spike.

The stallion turned to Twilight. The spike began to peel itself from his tail, working itself around and around until it was entirely free, attached to him only by the disk on his side. Like a tentacle it stretched toward her until the tip touched the edge of the ice.

Without a word he began to concentrate. Shutting his eyes - at least his normal eye; his robotic eye ceased to glow and shrunk as would the shutter on a camera - his expression slowly tightened. Twilight could begin to feel heat coming from the spike, could see it beginning to melt the ice . . .

In a flash of purple light she had thawed completely.

“Wha - ” she began.

Still silent the stallion raised a metallic hoof to his lips in a gesture to remain quiet. He quickly proceeded and thawed the other three princesses. As soon as all four of them had recovered, he relayed curt instructions to them in a low voice.

“Flee to your own castles. This situation is now under control. It is at the utmost priority you remain unseen.”

The four princesses were gathered in the top floor, preparing to leave.

Celestia was packing a bag. “Here Twilight, you can come with us to the - ” she began, until she realized her former student wasn’t listening. She was at the balcony, just inside, staring outside at the battle below.

Celestia approached her student. “What’s wrong?”

Without turning Twilight answered in a tiny voice, almost to herself, “Blizzard Blast.” It was then she turned to her teacher, in tears. “That stallion killed Blizzard Blast.”

A look of surprise flashed across Celestia’s face. “He was here?”

Twilight turned back away. “It’s my fault.”

“It wasn’t either.”

No response.

“Blizzard Blast was . . . indeed a noble warrior.” Celestia put her wing on her student’s shoulder. “But being a Blizzard is a dangerous job.”

Again no response came. Twilight had left the physical world long before, traversing into her own mind.

One thing was for sure: Blizzard Beam loved to fight!

From the air appeared an enlarged version of her cutie mark made out of ice. Quickly it transformed and turned into an electric guitar. Its design was elegant and fluid, and its color shone stormy blue cored by rivers of purple liquid.

Also materializing was a guitar pick, a tiny ice triangle. As she used it to strike the guitar, from its end shot a ray of crackling purple lighting into the sky. Where the bolt struck a black cloud formed. Much like Twilight’s, it grew in size until it blanketed the entire battlefield.

An electrified rhythm began to pulse, like it would the prelude to a song. With each synthesized beat purple bolts of lightning zapped downward from above or a spike of ice would shoot up from the ground.

A hum began to fill the air. It slowly grew in pitch, while a lustrous blue ring formed around Beam that rotated and spun like it was on a gyroscope. The pitch of the hum continued to intensify, to grow in pitch, until it hit a high point and plummeted back down.

With it two explosions happened at exactly the same time. One was a physical explosion, a spherical wave of wind that blew Rage backwards, and the other an explosion of sound, an electronic pulse that sounded loudly and fueled a piece of instrumental action music, played by Beam on her guitar as she fought. With each strike of her guitar purple sparks flew to attack Rage, and with each attack attempt he made intercepted by the ice ring which circled her.

At this moment in the battle the cyborg stallion entered the fight. Rage was taken aback with surprise.

“How many times,” he said, “do I have to kill the SAME STUPID BLIZZARD?!”

“Too many!” yelled Beam as she reared up on her hind legs and shot lightning bolts at him with her hooves.

Rage stomped into the ground. A wall of purple ice appeared in front of him, which intercepted both bolts. Stomping again, this time with both hooves, Rage sent the wall straight forward at Beam. It smashed right through her shield ring and collided with her head-on. The wall traveled right past her, expanding in thickness as it went, and the next thing she knew, she was frozen.

Before the cyborg stallion could react, he too was frozen. Rage had won.

Just as Rage’s face grew into a triumphant grin a voice spoke up behind him.

“You’ll have to try harder than that!”

Rage turned around.

The owner of the voice stood his ground just in front of the Castle of Friendship. Saying nothing more, he popped his neck both ways. Three plasma balls flew into the air. They immediately froze into plasma-induced ice shards. As the three projectiles fell down to earth, the figure flung them at Rage.

It was Blast.

EIGHT

It just wasn’t Rage’s day.

“HOW MANY TIMES?!”

Blast made no reply.

His three projectiles had hit their mark. The center smashed Rage in the face; the other two broke Beam and the cyborg free of their frozen statues.

“AAAAAAAGGHH!!!” In a temper now, Rage drew his dragon scythe from the air and threw it at him.

While the scythe was halfway through the air toward Blast, he generated his double swords. He jerked his head up and to the side. Following the path of his horn, a trail of green liquid was created, right in the scythe’s path. The tendril of plasma sliced the weapon in half, and it harmlessly fell to the ground.

Without a break in stroke, without a seam in movement, Rage summoned another scythe from the air and ran to face his brother. As he ran, his signature purple ice armor began to melt into being.

Blast waited. And waited.

And struck.

In one fluid motion, Blast slammed one sword upwards into the hook of Rage’s weapon until it caught. With great strength he swung the sword over his head, bringing Rage with it. Blast then directed his blade downward, and his brother crashed face-first into the ground. Both their weapons fell to the ice-covered ground and spun away.

Rage recovered and soon the two brothers had engaged each other in a fist fight. Off to the side, their weapons had come to life as if on their own and began to fight as well. The two fights began to mirror each other’s movements.

Blast punched. His swords thrusted.

Rage countered. His scythe parried.

Four pairs of eyes were on the scene as the two brothers fought back and forth.

Simultaneously Rage hit and his scythe attacked. Both Blast and his weapons were launched backward into the snow. Rage stood where his brother had landed. Blast’s face was buried in the snow.

Rage’s horn began to glow. “This time it’s for real . . . ”

“No,” Twilight gasped. “Not again . . . ”

But Rage’s horn wasn’t the only thing glowing. A greenish tint began to light up the snow around Blast. As Blast stood back up for another round, it was clear that the glow was once again coming from his eyes.

“Oh no,” Rage said, this time with sincerity.

Blurring right to his brother while drawing his double swords, Blast slashed at Rage’s chest with one terrific stroke of his blade. Rage was sent flying backwards. In a flash Blast teleported behind him and slashed again, knocking him the other way. Blast kept teleporting between a bunch of different points and knocking Rage around like a cat playing with its food.

After a moment of that, Blast this time popped into place directly under Rage, and generating an explosion around himself, sent his brother careening high into the air.

It was happening again. The teleport, the energy bomb, Blast saw it all happening again. This time, he was ready. He still saw his brother. He still saw his family.

But this time, he also saw something else in Rage.

He saw a villain. He saw a killer.

It was true, Rage was his family. He loved him just as much as Beam, or his father, or anyone else in his family. But Rage had chosen to follow the path of evil. This, Blast learned, has made them enemies. It was the simple truth. Because they will always be family, but in the heat of the battle of good and evil, they will also always be enemies.

Rage had made his decision.

Now I will make mine.

Blast detonated the energy bomb.

Rage was sent flying. Soaring backward in a downward arc, he slammed into the ground at breakneck speed. Still traveling in a line, he tore up the street like a crashing meteorite until he lost momentum and finally came to a stop. Smoke began to curl up into the air from the crash.

The glow faded from Blast’s eyes. “Oh no.” Quickly he teleported to the scene of his brother’s landing. “You alright?” He hadn’t meant to hurt Rage that badly.

Rage had indeed sustained some gruesome injuries. He had some nasty scrapes and his face was a little bit torn up.

Rage looked at Blast. What he did next no one expected.

He smiled.

It was a sad, exhausted smile, one that almost glowed. His eyelids drooped a little. Something in his facial features was different. He had lost something, though what it was Blast couldn’t place.

“That was magnificent, brother. Here, you earned this.” He turned to the small pack on his side, which Blast had forgotten about. From it, he used his magic to draw out a tiny metal object. As if it was magnetized it flew from his grasp and latched onto Blast’s hoof.

Blast stared at it. It was a tiny golden bracelet. It was blank, its whole model plain and smooth, and at its center was a little gold circle. There was a shadow cast over the center of the gold circle; it was concave, like there was once a jewel inside.

Nothing apparent was special about it. Until it did something very strange.

A tiny wave was expelled from the center of the trinket. As it grew outwards, the empty golden circle was replaced by a curious design: Blast’s cutie mark. Where there was once a shadow in the middle, there was now a green gem. Once the wave hit the outer edges of the central object, it dissolved into the air.

Once the process completed, Blast could feel unspeakable power beginning to flow through him. His eyes started to glow again, the same minty green. A burst of wind was generated around himself, seemingly by magic.

Then the sensation was over. Blast’s eyes had immediately returned to normal, the wind dissipated. Blast looked to Rage for an explanation.

He got none. Rage simply watched the whole thing, his eyelids drooping heavier. “I . . . look forward . . . to our next battle, Blast. It will be,” he huffed, like he was making a joke, “an honor.” With this, his eyelids closed completely and he disappeared in a cloud of blackness.

Blast will never get an explanation of what just happened.

He just stood there, stunned. He was almost zoned out. The first thing he remembered after that was the feeling of a hoof on his shoulder.

He turned. It was Twilight. Her eyes were misty and it was apparent she had been crying over something. “That was AMAZING!” With what seemed like a mood swing, she punched him. “Don’t EVER die again!”

Blast rubbed his arm with one hoof. “Calm down! I never died.”

“What?” Twilight didn’t get an answer to her question; Cadence had also elected to come congratulate Blast.

Cadence addressed him. “That was, indeed, AMAZING.”

Blast chuckled. “Princess Cadence. I don’t believe we’ve formally met.”

“Well I’ve heard a great deal about you from Twilight.” She flashed a friendly smile. “Some pretty neat things she says about you.”

He blushed a little bit.

Luna had come too.

At the sight of Luna, Blast wrenched his face into an awkward smile - Blast and Luna hadn’t crossed paths since the night he tried to kill her. “Oh. My gosh. This is awkward.”

Luna laughed. “Only if you make it, Blast.”

Suddenly a shadow loomed over him. It was Celestia.

“Oh, sleet.”

Celestia had a lot to say. “I saw what you did . . .”

“I can explain . . .” It hadn’t occurred to Blast until just then that he was still in exile.

She wore a serious expression. “. . . and I must say . . .”

“I had to . . .”

Celestia’s look softened and she bowed her head slightly. “You were magnificent.”

“What?”

“Equestria was in trouble. You came - even though you knew very well you could have gotten punished for it. You cared about us more than yourself. And in doing so you saved us.”

Blast was silent.

“Consider your exile no more.”

“Yeah,” said Twilight, “she does that.”

It was late afternoon that day. Twilight was leading Blast, Beam, and the cyborg stallion through the Everfree Forest.

“Remind me again why we’re going, and . . . where we’re going?” asked Beam.

“Castle of the Two Sisters,” Twilight replied matter-of-factly. “We’re needing to set some things straight about what just happened, and I think we’re going to need some help. From books.”

“You mean like why Blast’s eyes were glowing?”

Blast spoke up. “And what the heck this amulet is?”

“And why Rage was evil all of a sudden?” Beam asked.

“Precisely,” answered Twilight. She gave Beam and the cyborg a curious glance. “And on the way, I think some . . . introductions . . . are in order?”

“Oh. Right. Well,” Beam began, “I guess first of all, my name’s Blizzard Beam, most just call me Beam. I’m Blast’s older sister. My backstory . . . doesn’t have a whole lot of pizzazz to it. I’m just like any other Blizzard - I grew up in the North, trained until I found my secondary element (electricity) and set out to go kill some bad dudes.

“It was maybe a year or two into my travels I heard about the tragedy with Dad. I’m sure you already know about it from Blast.”

Twilight cut in, skillfully avoiding the subject. “You . . . could say that.”

Beam nodded. “The news didn’t really hurt me as much; I’ve never known him that well. I only ever even saw him when he came home every now and then while I was growing up. I just kind of took the news as . . . I don’t know, like one of my old friends moved away, one I never really talked to, you know?”

“So I just went on. And then I discovered something that fascinated me. Something that I saw shrouded in mystery and wonder. Something whose power had captured my heart. Music.

“I quickly developed a talent playing the electric guitar, among other instruments. By this time, I was also really enjoying my Blizzard career fighting, despite my lack of a good fighting style. Pretty soon I came to the conclusion: I fight good, I do music good, let’s combine the two!”

“That’s cool!” Twilight commented.

“It is,” Beam agreed. “So that’s me. The music girl. That about sums it up.”

“Sweet!” It was clear that Twilight liked this mare. “So what about . . . robot pony, here?”

“Blade?” asked Blast, a little teasing in his voice. “He’s not exactly a stallion of many words!”

“He talked to me.”

Blast’s jaw dropped. “He talked to you?!” He regained his composure. “I blame you being a princess for that.”

Beam explained. “He’s Blizzard Blade. Our cousin. More the strong and silent type. Kinda tries to hide himself. He doesn’t talk a whole lot.” Taking a look from Twilight at the cyborg, she added, “Especially not about his backstory.”

Twilight could tell what she meant. She meant ‘backstory’ meaning how he became a cyborg. “Well, OK. It looks like we’re here anyway.” Gradually the forest around them began to clear, giving way to a sheer cliff. Attached only by a rope bridge was a small stone island in a sea of fog. On this island rested a pile of ancient ruins.

“Yep. Castle of the Two Sisters.”

Just a few moments later, the group was in the library.

Twilight browsed the books a little bit. “Dang it, I know I saw it somewhere here,” she muttered to herself. “Ah - here it is!” She brought the book down with her magic and read the title. “A Blizzard Encyclopedia: The Defenders of the North.” She opened to the table of contents. “Any ideas why Blast’s eyes were glowing?”

There was a moment of silence.

“I think I might have an idea,” Beam chimed. “One day while I was still in the North, I overheard my parents talking about something called the Blizzard State. Do you think that could be it?”

Twilight peered at the table of contents for a second. “You know,” she said, finding a page on the Blizzard State and flipping to it. “That might just get us somewhere.” She began to read aloud. “The Blizzard State is an extremely rare phenomenon, caused by a deep love to someone or something. It is a special state of mind that endows the user with unthinkable power. It takes the user’s strength in combat - speed, knowledge, skill, strength, size, or power - and multiplies that strength a hundredfold!

“There is a reason why The Blizzard State is so rare. It is known as a ‘dead’ state, that is to mean, it cannot be activated by natural means.”

Blast interrupted. “That doesn’t make sense. I just barely used it twice!”

“There’s more,” Twilight pointed out. “Emphasis on ‘natural means’. There is one way remaining that The Blizzard State can be activated: through a set of amulets widely known as the Elements of Unity.”

Beam gazed curiously at the bracelet with her brother’s cutie mark on it. “You think that might be one of those?”

“Almost certainly,” replied Twilight, already at work finding the page to explain. “Here it is!” Twilight cleared her throat. The others listened intently. “Not much is known about the Elements of Unity. What is known is that they are a set of amulets that date back just as far as the Elements of Harmony. In fact, legend has it that they originated with the creation of Equestria itself. It says that all of these Elements were given by the Tree of Harmony to princesses Celestia and Luna to fight away evil and bring forth the good of the world. The Elements of Harmony were given to Celestia and those of Unity, the more powerful of the two collections, to Luna. The Elements of Unity include: the Elements of Courage, Justice, Honor, Creativity, and Wisdom.”

“Wait a second!” Beam cut in. “Aren’t there six Elements of Harmony? Why’s there only five Elements of Unity?”

“I don’t know,” replied Twilight. “It only lists five.” She continued to read. “During the imprisonment of Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Unity lost their owner and therefore, their purpose. They have chosen new wielders, and no other ponies in the world are able to access their power. Legend persists that that night, they vanished into thin air, hiding themselves from the world, just waiting to be uncovered by just the right hooves.” Twilight looked up. “According to the book, yours is the Element of Honor.”

“Wow,” Blast said, staring at his Element. “That’s a lot to take in.”

Twilight paused. “Wait. There’s a cross-reference here. See the Theory of Alternate Timelines. What?”

Beam spoke up. “Could be worth a look. We do still need some answers to Rage turning evil.”

“I guess . . .”

NINE

“The Theory of Alternate Timelines.”

Twilight had found the page.

“According to this theory, two alternate futures exist for Equestria and all who reside in it. One future is good, and the other is evil. As time progresses, one of these futures will be erased, replaced by the path followed by the other.

“It is said that there is one single event to determine which future will be erased and which will be followed. This single event is an unnamed battle, a battle that has not happened yet and is not yet determined as when and where. At some point in time, the villains overruling the evil future will reach back into the past to ensure their future is followed and the good future is erased from existence. There is one force in the universe that stands in their way.” Twilight read the last four words with chills riding down her spine. “The Elements of Unity.”

A gasp came from Beam. “The evil Rage must be from the bad future!”

The exact same realization hit Twilight at exactly the same time. “AND he had the Element of Honor! If the villains from the future get the Elements . . .”

Blade finished her sentence with a dark tone. “There will be no battle. They will have already won.”

Beam spoke up. “We’ve GOT to find the Elements before they do!”

Twilight was beginning to panic. “They were that close to getting the Element of Honor! Who knows how many more they’ve already gotten?”

“We’ve got to try,” Blast said.

He was right. All four of them knew it. We’ve got to try.

Twilight shook her head. “Well if we are going to go through with this, we’re going to need some help. And I know exactly the mare for the job.”

The group was silent.

“A.K. Yearling.”

Beam came forward. “Translation?”

“Daring Do.”

It was the worst timing ever.

The sun had set, replaced by the moon just as the group was preparing to leave. All four of them knew that the Everfree Forest grew deadly come nightfall, so they decided to spend the night at the ruins and take the journey for Daring Do’s place in the morning.

Blast and Twilight wandered together through the halls of the castle. They had a lot to catch up on.

“Nice place,” Blast wondered absent-mindedly. The moonlight streaked through the windows lining one side of the corridor, creating a dreamlike silvery glow.

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed, in a tiny and distracted voice. With a much more focused tone she added, “So how’d you not die? I saw that with my own eyes.”

“You didn’t read my first lessons letter, did you?”

“No . . .”

“Well if you did, you would know the answer to that question.”

Twilight felt a sting of regret.

“I guess I’ll tell you myself.” Blast gathered himself a little. “One spell in there is called telekinetic fields. Just like relative location, it’s basically an extension of your levitation skills. It’s exactly like when you levitate things, except you generate an empty field. Just an empty field of air.”

“Yeah . . .” Twilight was trying to follow his train of thought.

“Once created, this field will act just like a solid object.”

Eagerly Twilight awaited his conclusion.

“So, if you put a disguise over this solid object . . .” it was clear Blast wanted Twilight to finish the sentence.

She did. “A telekinetic pseudo-replicational field, of course!”

Blast nodded. “So how were the other lessons?”

The question caught Twilight off guard. “What?”

“The lessons. You did get them . . . didn’t you?”

“Oh!” Twilight just then realized what he was talking about. “You mean the ones about thundersnow and stuff?”

Blast grinned. “I knew you’d get it. Did you like it?”

“Yeah, it was cool!” Twilight huffed. “Took me forever to pull off the cryoseism, though.”

“You did cryoseism?!”

“Yes . . .” she replied. Where’s he going with this?

“Impossible!”

“That’s a little harsh. I know magically speaking I’m not a genius, but -”

“Not you, Twilight. The spell.”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”

Excitement was finding its way into Blast’s voice. His grin only grew. “The spell. Cryoseism is only a natural phenomenon. Never in recorded history has anypony ever successfully created it!”

“What do you mean?”

“I gave you an impossible spell! And you did it!”

“That’s . . . ” Twilight was at a loss for words.

Blast was clearly waiting for this. “I knew you could do it.” The conversation fell silent.

Twilight was beginning to blush. “I missed you, Blast.”

“You wanna know something?”

Silence.

Blast blushed a little. “I missed you too.”

Twilight turned away so he wouldn’t see how red she was turning.

The moment was interrupted by a flash of blue light exactly in front of them. For an instant, the hallway was flooded with the blue light, an instant later a pop could be heard, and an instant after that the light was gone. In front of them was Beam.

“Tiens!” She waved cheerfully. For no evident reason she was hanging on the ceiling. “What’re you guys up to?”

Blast was caught very off guard. “Nope - nothing. We weren’t doing nothing.”

Twilight agreed. “Yep. Nnnnnnada.”

“Me neither,” she replied disappointedly. “I wanted to see if there’s really a Pony of Shadows, but it’s a freaking no-show! I think it’s either it’s not for real or it’s just not looking for trouble tonight.” She jumped down from her perch. “I really hope it’s the latter.”

Twilight shrugged. Blast made a face like Derpy.

“You guys are no fun!” Beam turned around. “I’m outta here. See ya guys!” With another flash and a pop, she disappeared, leaving Twilight and Blast alone once again.

There was a long silence.

Meanwhile, Blade had given those three the slip. He was alone, in a room at the opposite end of the castle. A deep breath streamed into him, then returned outward, billowing in smoky wisps into the cold night air.

There was a reason he never told his backstory.

It was just any normal day.

The sun was shining. The sky was blue. It was a pleasant negative twenty degrees outside. All of my friends were playing. It was the most beautiful day.

Until it happened.

The sky turned sickly, deathly orange. I could see a swirling blue . . . thing . . . appearing in the sky - just over the center of the camp. Out of it stepped . . . something. Something of only nightmarish description. All those tentacles . . . those devilish horns . . .

We were defenseless. There was no one to guard us. We were only children.

But someone had to save us.

“Everyone get inside!” I said to all of my friends. They listened and we all gathered inside the nursery. We waited in the corner, shivering with fear, for it to be over.

Sounds of a great battle ensued. Outside could be heard crystal grinding against crystal, laser fire, evil laughter. The noises continued for five minutes that crawled by like hours. And then silence. We shivered. We waited. We waited for some sign that it was over.

There was a terrific crash. We all jumped in surprise. Crash again. Cracks began to appear over the walls and ceiling of our shelter. Then, the building suddenly split in two, and its airborne half drew itself away. It was in the clutch of something. Something that will haunt my nightmares for years to come.

It was what I saw crawl out of the portal. At its center swirled an energetic, concentrated ball of darkness. Two beady green eyes were inside it, glowering in maniacal joy. From the top of the spherical horror two bright red horns sprouted. One was missing its tip - replaced by a jagged line and sparks. Myriads of tentacles flew from the central ball; horrendous black things with rivers of red electricity at their centers.

It had no mouth, but I could tell the thing was grinning in triumph. It spoke in a dark, oily whisper. “No one to save you now.” The thing laughed. “No one to save you now!”

No. It wasn’t true. There had to be someone to stand up to this thing!

There was one of us.

One of us came forward. His head was bowed, his eyes closed.

“You?!” It only laughed harder. “You’re not scared of me?!”

The filly replied in a calm voice. “I am afraid of you.” He opened his eyes and lifted his gaze to stare the thing straight in the eye. “But if you’re going to kill my family, you’re going to have to kill me first.”

His friends tried to stop him. “No! Don’t do it, you’ll be killed!”

Another of his dear family, his cousin, did also. “Run!”

But I was done running.

It was I who stood there, waiting to die.

“While I stand,” I began, “You’re not going to hurt my family!”

It was hard to describe what happened next. The first thing I noticed was a reddish tint being pulled over my eyes, as if I were wearing sunglasses or something. Then everything around me began to shrink. The building, my friends, the monster, all began to grow smaller. The monster shrunk until it was not much bigger than myself.

And then something very strange happened. I began to fight the beast. Except . . . my mind wasn’t in the battle. I wasn’t thinking of when to jump or when to block or when to do this or that. I was just watching myself, almost like one would watch television, the thing being driven backwards and backwards away from my friends and family. Whatever I was doing, it was working!

Until the monster lashed out a tentacle and grabbed me around the neck.

The sensation was leaving me. The red tint left and my vision returned to normal. Everything began to grow back into its normal size. The dark monster now towered over me, and it was holding me high off the ground.

A strange feeling began to grow. Almost like . . . something spreading. Something was trying to spread throughout my entire being! I looked down. From the place the tentacle was touching me, a strange black was spreading over me. It had taken my front left leg completely.

I tried to move it. I willed my hoof to move.

It didn’t respond.

It was getting worse. My vision was starting to blur on one side. The darkness had taken my right eye! I could feel it spreading over my horn, and getting worse by the second.

“Oh,” the monster said, grinning without a face at my suffering. “You’re brave, I’ll say that. Brave. For that,” he said with a maniacal laugh, “I’ll give you the honor of dying first.”

Those words had hardly escaped him before the tentacle tightened around my neck. I yelped in surprise before it cut off all air flow. I couldn’t breathe. Just one breath was all it took. It wouldn’t come. I tried with all my might to break free, tear the tentacle away from me, but the monster was infinities too strong.

This was it. I was going to die.

Then I saw something crash into the thing - at the back of its head. With annoyance it turned its attention away from me. I could see where the projectile came from. Four ponies had gathered at the ground to confront the beast. Although all Blizzards, they each had much differing features. Two of them were my parents, another I recognized to be my cousins’ mother. They came to save me.

As it released its grip on me the monstrosity jumped into the air. “I’ll be back . . .” it growled as it disappeared in a cloud of blackness.

I fell to the earth, losing consciousness as I plummeted. Blackness flooded into my vision. I was barely conscious enough to feel the impact when I hit the ground.

Even with my much darkened vision, I could see my parents running to my side. With expressions worried sick they scanned my injuries. My dear cousin came too, to assess the damage. He turned to my parents with a look more serious than one would think a child could muster.

The last thing I remembered were the words he spoke.

“He’s going to die.”

I spent the next while largely unconscious. I’d occasionally wake up for maybe a few minutes at a time, and then I would drift back into my coma. The first of these scenes was kind of freaky.

I remember waking to a gliding sensation. My eyes drifted open. Well, my eye. I winced. Where my right eye once was, I only felt a sharp pain. I remember . . . lights. Lights that passed overhead like a train coming through a tunnel. It was then I realized where I was. I was on a stretcher, riding down the halls of a hospital.

It was so weird. I couldn’t feel my leg. The one that . . . got infected. Infected with that darkness that the monster inflicted on me. I couldn’t feel any of my hooves either.

I looked down.

Even now, I wish it was a dream. My leg was entirely missing. My other limbs were cut short at the hoof. I tried to speak, tried to ask the nurse what was wrong, but I couldn’t. I could only wave my head around aimlessly.

I saw my mother, running alongside the stretcher. She was beautiful. Her glossy black mane flowed in the breeze coming off from moving so fast. She wore twin black spikes that crossed into an X in the back of her hair. She laid a green hoof on the stretcher as her red eyes stared at me.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said.

I wanted to tell her I would’ve anyway, I would have protected those I loved whether I had to or not, but I couldn’t speak.

“You scared us half to death!” It was only then I realized what she meant when she said ‘you didn’t have to do that’.

Worry and pain in her eyes, she turned to the nurse. “You’re sure this is going to work?”

“Trust me,” replied the nurse, getting a little emotional himself. “Your son’s going to be fine.”

I blacked out again.

The next while (I was unconscious - I had no idea how much time had really passed) went by in a blur. Once again I woke up on a stretcher, a different nurse this time pushing me down a hall, repeating the phrase “It’s gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay,” over and over. Another time when I woke up was on a hospital bed. Looking around, I saw a bunch of mechanical things over to the side that looked suspiciously like robotic parts. I had only just figured out what they were for when again I slipped out of consciousness.

The next time I woke up, I was back to stay.

It was on the same hospital bed. I still didn’t feel my missing leg, or my hooves, but I saw something very different when I looked down at myself.

Where my missing leg once was, there was now an entirely robotic limb. It appeared basically a mechanical skeleton, with two spherical joints and at the end, a shell made into a hoof shape. In place of my other hooves there were now steel boots embroidered with cybernetic engravings.

Wait a second! I thought. I squinted my left eye shut. There was no longer a blind scar where my right eye once was. It was amazing - I could see just as if I had never lost my eye!

I tried to use my magic to pick myself up. It worked!

“Welcome back,” I heard a friendly voice say.

I turned around. It was the nurse.

She lifted the mask off her face and beamed. “Shall we get the good news to your parents?”

It was hard to control my excitement. I nodded and jumped off the table.

The look on her face quickly grew worried. “Careful - ” she tried to warn me.

It was too late. I hit the ground and felt a sharp pain on my robot leg. I cringed.

The nurse read my mind. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

I managed what of a smile I could before trying to walk out of the office. I took two steps before I put my robot leg forward again. As I put my weight on it it just crumpled and I fell to the ground a little bit.

The nurse came to my side and put her wing under my hoof. As she lifted her wing up I came again to stand. “Need a wing?” she asked with a friendly smile.

“Yes, thank you,” I politely replied as we both exited.

At the waiting room I found my parents. They both paced the room with increasing worry. As she chewed her imaginary nails, my mom saw the nurse and I enter the room. She ran to me with tears in her eyes and gave me the tightest hug I’ve ever felt. I thought she’d never let go.

“We were worried sick!” She gave me the most panicked look I’d ever seen. “It doesn’t matter anymore. You’re back, Blade. And you’re home.”

TEN

“C’est un beau jour, team!” Beam exclaimed. “Shall we get underway?”

“If we can only find Blade,” Blast reminded her. “I swear the guy’s a ghost. He can walk through walls and everything.”

“What language is that?” asked Twilight, addressing Beam.

“French.” Beam shrugged. “I can speak it a little. I read and write it a lot better, though.”

“Cool!” Twilight turned her attention to finding Blade. “Now where is . . .”

“I’m right here,” said a voice.

She turned. Blade was indeed right with the team! “Where were you?”

“Meditating,” he simply replied. “I take it we’re leaving?”

She looked around. Looked like everyone was here. “Yeah.”

The team was once again taking a stroll through the Everfree Forest.

“Quiet,” Blast commented. “The Everfree is never quiet.”

He was right. An unsettling silence was in the air that day. Just as the Blizzards had come to the realization of the true situation, it seemed the forest did also. Like the entirety of Equestria, holding its breath and waiting. Waiting to see what it will become.

“I have to agree,” Twilight replied, “it is a little worrying.”

Nopony else dared break the silence. For hours the team walked on without saying a word. The forest around them uttered not a sound. At long last the team arrived at the home of Daring Do.

Twilight came forward “OK. I should probably do the talking. She might . . . not react well to strangers.”

They nodded. Twilight politely knocked on the door.

A light coming from an eyepiece in the door went dark for a second before Daring Do answered the door. “Twilight! What a surprise!” She paused. “Who are your . . . new friends, here?”

“They’re Blizzards, but that’s besides the point.” Twilight scanned the surroundings. “I don’t think it’s safe to speak here.”

“Of course, of course, come inside.” The team entered her tiny house.

Twilight jumped straight to the point. “We need some help. We’re looking for the Elements of Unity.”

“The Elements of Unity?!” exclaimed Daring Do. “The lost sister talismans of the Elements of Harmony?”

“The very same.”

Daring Do began to get very excited. “The Elements of Unity were my inspiration! They inspired me to become the adventurer I am now!” She sighed with happy memories. “I remember the first time I ever heard their story . . . I said to myself, You’re going to find those someday. You really are.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Twilight didn’t mean to be rude, but it wasn’t exactly story time. “Can you help us?”

“Are you kidding?!” That was a very obvious yes. “Let’s see, we’re going to have to keep a communication. How are we going to do that?”

“Can’t we just use mail?”

“Hmm . . .” Daring Do thought about it for a minute. “Nope. Too risky. Somepony could pick up on our line. Somepony could intercept our messages.”

Twilight thought too. It wasn’t long before she lit up with the clear “lightbulb” moment. “Not coded messages.”

Daring Do picked up on the idea. “Ah, yeah, that might just be crazy enough to work!”

The two picked up a stray pile of papers and began to write. “Now, what should this code be . . .” Twilight wondered.

The Blizzards watched the pair in awkward silence. They weren’t doing a whole lot to contribute to the situation. At any rate, it didn’t take long for whatever they were doing to be done.

“That good?” Twilight asked, just to double-check.

“Yeah, that should do it.” Daring Do locked away a scrap of paper in her writing desk. “I’ll let you know as soon as I get any leads.”

After a curt “Okay, thanks!” Twilight proceeded to shoo the Blizzards out of Daring Do’s house. They were a little bit hesitant (they didn’t catch a whole lot of the conversation) but they decided to trust the princess. She must know what she was doing.

As soon as the team left Blast asked the question everyone was thinking.

“What happened?”

Twilight drew a piece of paper from the air. “Daring Do’s going to be some extra eyes and ears for us. If she notices anything she thinks could lead to an Element, she’ll send us a coded letter. And this is our key.”

“That makes sense,” said Beam.

Blast spoke up. “Now all we need is a base of operations.”

“Got that covered,” Twilight answered. “I have a study back at the Castle of Friendship we can use. It’s not much, but I think we can work with it.”

The forest started to clear. Pretty soon, the team was on the road headed in to Ponyville.

Beam voiced everyone’s thoughts. “Soooooooo . . . now what?”

“Hmm,” Twilight thought. “Well we can’t do much to actually go after the Elements right now . . . I guess we’ll just have to rest up for tomorrow. When we do find an Element, we’ll need to be at our top performance.”

Beam brightened up. “So, Sugar Cube Corner?”

Twilight shrugged. “Sure.”

Just as the group entered Ponyville, they proceeded for Sugar Cube Corner - with the exception of Twilight. She put a hoof on Blast’s shoulder. “Could we . . . talk . . . for a sec?”

“I don’t see why not.” Blast signaled Beam and Blade with a casual wave. “We’ll catch up with you in a minute!”

“Okay!”

Twilight waited for them to leave before she turned to Blast. “Your riddle . . .” she began.

“Yeah?”

“Well,” she said, excitement entering her voice. “. . . I figured it out.”

“Is that so?” Blast’s expression became shady.

“Yes. The answer is -”

Twilight didn’t get to finish her sentence. There was a metallic ring in the air, and before she knew what happened, she was staring at a sword. A sword a quarter of an inch from her throat. It was one of Blast’s signature blades.

She had no idea what was going on, but she didn’t dare say a word.

Perfectly silent, Blast lowered his blade and flew backwards, putting a lot of distance between himself and Twilight. Just as he landed arcs of shining blue ice swept from his horn straight toward her.

Still having no idea what he was doing, she nevertheless reacted fast. She generated a telekinetic wall just in time to catch all of the ice waves. As they made contact, the projectiles began to freeze it, creating a material wall of ice. With a grin, she sent the wall flying back at Blast.

In response he teleported out of the way just as the ice wall plowed over the spot he had just been standing. He teleported back an instant later. Shooting a beam of light into the air, a cloud started to form above Blast’s head. Growing huge, the white monstrosity flew for Twilight.

An electric popping noise sounded from her horn. As she began to flap her wings, the wind generated flew toward her horn and imploded. The cloud grew closer. She continued to flap her wings to create wind, which got sucked into her horn and disappeared.

Just as the cloud came right over her head, a mighty explosion of wind was expelled from her horn. It flew out as a spherical force, then hung suspended in the air for a split second before imploding right back into her horn. The second time the explosion traveled upward in a focused, powerful tornado. The twister grabbed hold of Blast’s storm cloud and hurled it right back at him.

“Yes,” Blast said. “Turn your opponent’s moves against them. Make them fight your fight!” Dodging a lightning bolt flying from it, Blast shot a bright green jet of plasma at it and it was instantly vaporized.

Twilight spread her wings once again and jumped thirty feet, coming to a standstill gliding in the air.

Seeing this, Blast had to comment. “Exploiting a superior range of movement over a flightless opponent. Clever!” Materializing dozens of copies of his swords, he began to fire them, spinning end over end like boomerangs, right at her.

Twilight teleported out of the way so many times she looked almost like a star in the sky. Once she miscalculated. A blade soaring through the air sliced off a few of her outermost feathers. Thrown off balance now, she plummeted toward the earth.

Blast would be waiting for her.

She will have to be waiting for him.

In midfall she teleported once again. Simultaneously pulling her own sword from the air, she reappeared right in front of Blast. She brought the blade to face straight at Blast’s throat: a clear demand of surrender.

Blast’s swords disappeared. In fact, all signs of resistance seemed to evaporate into the air, replaced by a beaming smile growing on his face. “Thanks for the match, Twilight. It was an honor.”

“What?” Twilight was stunned. Blast was just messing with her?

“The answer to my riddle,” he continued. “Tell me tomorrow.”

Twilight could only repeat herself. “What?”

“Tomorrow. Town hall. Eight o’ clock.”

“What?”

She never got an answer. Blast teleported away, leaving her alone and utterly stunned.