(1) The Awakening of Argolus the Swift
Broken Horn
Memories of a Shattered Heart
The Awakening of Argolus the Swift
Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic and Ponyville librarian, sighed as she looked down from the high cliff on a mountain near the Everfree. It was the same mountain that her timid friend, Fluttershy, had run off a very large, and very loud dragon that had been snoring and polluting the air with smoke. The small village was just getting up to start their morning routines as Celestia's sun peaked over the horizon.
Twilight turned away from the fantastic view and looked to her friends. Well, one of her friends. Rarity was working on a dress for a client and Applejack was bucking apples and doing her morning chores. Fluttershy was busy feeding her animals and Rainbow Dash was the reason for this hike. Only Pinkie Pie had agreed to come with her to find Rainbow Dash.
Apparently, Rainbow Dash had been practicing her signature Sonic Rainboom near the Everfree and something had caused her to fly straight into the mountain. If it wasn't for Pinkie's Pinkie Sense, Twilight would not have known till mid afternoon.
"Have you found her yet Pinkie?" Twilight asked the pink party pony.
"Noperooni! My pinkie Sense says that she is higher up, see?" He body twitched and quivered and her fore hoof vibrated violently as she pointed towards the mountain's peak.
'Great... Just what I need. More climbing. Rainbow Dash is going to get an earful when I find her.' Twilight thought as they continued the climb. 'I keep telling her to be careful practicing around the Everfree, but does she listen?' Twilight grumbled. She would have her revenge.
Pinkie, on the other hoof, seemed to enjoying the early morning hike up the mountain. Although, it was probably more to do with spending time with friends rather than the hike itself. There was nothing better to her than spending time with her friends. Twilight smiled at Pinkie's playful antics as she attempted to sniff a flower and then pretended a bee had stung her on the muzzle. She may seem like an airhead most of the time, but Pinkie was far more intelligent and wise than her friends gave her credit for. She just couldn't concentrate long enough to think about anything other than fun.
After another long hour of the slow climb, they reached the cliff nearest the peak to find a waiting Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow!" Twilight cried. She rushed over to hug her friend. Despite her being slightly miffed at her, she was just relieved that she was okay. "We were so worried!"
Rainbow Dash cringed as Twilight gripped her in a tight hug. Before she could complain however, Pinkie decided to join in and make it a group hug.
"Awww, you're okay Dashie! Now I can throw you a Get-well-soon and a Succesful-search party!" Pinkie released them and started bounding about, talking to the air about what she was going to use for this massive party.
"Ow ow ow... Geez Twilight, you can let go now..." Rainbow said, her voice as raspy as always.
"Oh, I'm sorry Rainbow. I was just worried that something had happened to you." Twilight replied, releasing the wounded Dash. She then noticed Dash cringing when she tried to move her wing. "Are you okay Dash?"
"I'm fine.." She cringed again. "I'm Rainbow Dash! A little sprain isn't going to keep me down! ow...."
"Rainbow... I hate to tell you this, but I think your wing is broken." Twilight mused, prodding Rainbow's left wing gingerly. Rainbow yelped as he touched her.
"No! It can't be broken! The Wonderbolts Tryouts are next week! I have to go! This may be my last chance!" Rainbow Dash wailed. The Wonderbolts were her heroes. They were Princess Celestia's aerial stunt squadron. They were the best Pegasi from all over Equestria and despite having saved the lives of the main squad and performing a Sonic Rainboom at the Young Fliers Competition, They had yet to even acknowledge her other than the mare who saved their lives. She was going to show them all the cool tricks she had come up with like the Buccaneer Blaze or her special Sonic Rainboom.
"You can try out next year Rainbow Dash." Twilight said sternly. "In fact, I'll have the Princess hold open a spot for you, but only if you don't attempt to go to this one."
"Fine..." Rainbow Dash sagged. A whole year of waiting before her chance to wo the Wonderbolts again. A year seemed like a long time to the impatient Dash.
"Hey girls!" Pinkie called out from a nearby cave. "Take a look at this!" Her voice had a slight chatter to it like she was extremely cold, yet it was mild outside.
"Stay here Rainbow, I don't want you to aggravate that wing till I have it in a splint." Twilight ordered. "I'll be right back after I get Pinkie."
Twilight turned before she could see the frown form on Dash's face. Rainbow's curiosity was starting to eat at her already.
As Twilight Approached the cavern, an arctic blast blew past her from the mouth of the cave. It went straight to her bones. Lucky for her, she had a warming spell handy and cast it on both her and Pinkie. How Pinkie could stand this was beyond her. The inside of the cave was almost aglow with all the ice that covered the walls and ceiling. The light from the rising sun gave it all an orange glow that was strikingly beautiful.
"Thanks Twilight!" Pinkie chirped. "Lookie at this!" Pinkie pointed a hoof at a large ice formation near the back of the cave. It was easily large enough to hold two ponies. Much to her horror, it did.
Twilight had thought that the formation looked odd for a normal ice shard, for it was very lumpy near the base. She wiped some of the frozen dust away from it and almost screamed.
Inside the frozen formation were two ponies. One was an Earth Pony mare with an light orange coat and various greens in her mane. Her cutie mark was that of a medical cross and an apple. She was a beautiful sight to behold. Laying across her, wearing a strange, deep green cloak was a sea foam green Unicorn stallion with a curly olive and sea blue mane and tail. his cutie mark was a deep green quiver that looked like it was made from a singular gem with three emerald fletched arrows in it.
She gasped when she finally noticed the worst part of this scene. The stallion's horn was mostly missing, like it had been smashed with a blunt object. To remove a Unicorn's horn is the worst thing to happen to a Unicorn. Without their horn, they are unable to use magic and they are left with nothing. A Unicorn without a horn was akin to a Pegasi without wings. She couldn't imagine herself without her magic.
Twilight was somewhat entranced by the pair, almost as if something about them called out to her. She gingerly probed them with her magic to see if they were cryogenically preserved or they were dead. She started with the mare and found just what she had feared. The mare was dead, and had been for several hours before she was frozen. Twilight shed a tear for the anonymous mare. The strange thing about her though, was the small smile upon her face that told Twilight that she had died in peace.
With little hope, she moved on to the stallion. At first all signs pointed to death, but something sparked in her magic. This stallion had just attempted to deflect her magic. Rightly, she gasped.
"Pinkie...." She said slowly, her eyes wide.
"Yes Twilight?"
"I think this Unicorn is still alive..."
"Well, I could have told you that!" Pinkie said with a grin. Twilight gave her a stare before noticing that Pinkie was twitching.
'Of course. Her Pinkie Sense." She thought to herself. I there was any unexplainable phenomenon in Equestria, it would be Pinkie Sense. It literally made no sense to anyone but Pinkie.
"What should we do with them?" Twilight asked, mostly to herself.
"We should tell Princess Celestia! I'm sure she could defrost them in a jiffy!"
Twilight gave this a little thought. "Yes, I think that is a good Idea Pinkie. Let's get Rainbow to Nurse Redheart first though, before we write a letter to the Princess."
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie agreed.
---==Ponyville - Mid afternoon==---
Twilight was just about ready to fall asleep right there in her study. She did have an interesting morning after all. Let alone her late night studying. But she couldn't sleep just yet. She had a letter to write to her teacher.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I wanted to let you know that we found Rainbow Dash alive and well atop the mountain in the Everfree. She is recuperating in the hospital from a broken wing. Despite how much she hates hospitals, she was quite compliant after I lent her the latest Daring Doo novel for her to read while she is in there.
But that isn't the main reason why I am writing to you. While we were atop the mountain's peak, we found a strange cave that was frozen solid, despite it being summer. Inside though, we found an interesting ice formation that held two Ponies. One was a Earth Pony mare and the other, a Unicorn stallion. Despite being frozen solid, the Unicorn was still alive, as he had deflected my probing magics. The mare, sadly, was deceased. I was writing in hopes that you may find time to release them from their frozen prison.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.
With that final pen stroke, she lay the pen back in the well and reread the letter to herself. Pleased with the outcome, she rolled it up and stamped it sealed with her seal, that was her cutie mark, in wax and called for her assistant.
"Spike! SPIIIIKE!" She called. Spike poked his purple, scaly head into Twilight's study.
"You called?" He quired. Spike was a dragon, a baby dragon to be precise. He had been with Twilight ever since she had hatched him with magic at her entrance exam to get into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. He was different than most dragons. Instead of normal fire, he was able to teleport burnable objects across long distances. Twilight mostly used him as a direct delivery to the Princess.
"I need you to deliver this to the Princess please." She asked. She always asked him nicely. He may have been a baby dragon, but he had the mentality of a young stallion. That was most prevalent in his obsession with her fashionista friend, Rarity.
"Sure. Anything else?" He asked. Breathing onto the scroll and watching the smoke leave the library window.
"No thank you Spike, I'm fine. If the Princess sends a reply, I want you to find me immediately." She tasked the young dragon.
"Okay then, I'll just get back to my chores then." He said, disappearing back into the main library.
Over the course of the day, Twilight tried to continue her studies, but he thoughts kept going back to the frozen stallion in the ice. Just who was he? He must have been close to the mare given that he seemed to be protecting her from the elements. His mane style old, so old that maybe only Celestia or Luna could appreciate it. Although, the small curls in his mane looked cute...
NO! She couldn't be thinking like that. Who knows what kind of Pony he was before. She shook the thoughts from her head before returning to her studies. Once again her thoughts turned to the frozen stallion. Something about his expression looked so sad. She pitied him and his horrible fate. To lose your horn is something every Unicorn dreads. Not even the worst criminals have their horn removed. It was barbaric and went against everything the Ponies stood for.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud belch from upstairs. Celestia's response had finally arrived.
"Twilight!" Spike called. "The Princess sent a reply!"
"Bring it here Spike." Twilight said, grabbing the letter as Spike came down the stairs. She unrolled it and read it aloud.
To my faithful student,
I wish to send my well wishes to your friend and I hope that she heals swiftly. Spitfire told me that she is looking forward to Rainbow Dash's performance at the Tryouts next week. If she cannot make it due to her injury, I shall hold a space for her next year.
Now, as to your question, I would like to take a look at these frozen ponies. If the stallion is still truly alive, then he may be disoriented by his sudden revival. I believe you had a similar experience while in the Everfree forest where you were turned to stone. I shall arrive at your library on the morrow after I raise the sun. And do keep it a secret. I do not wish to have a large crowd for something so unofficial.
Your loving teacher,
Princess Celestia.
Twilight nodded in agreement after she finished reading the reply. It was logical that the Princes would want to come in the morning instead of right away. For one, the Princes was probably only mildly interested. Secondly, the Princess had to raise the sun in the morning, which was-
'Oh no!' Twilight though sudenly. 'There is only a few more hours till sunrise!' She had let herself get absorbed in her studying that she forgot the time. She needed to get some sleep if she wanted to be awake for the Princess.
---==The Next Morning, After Celestia's Arrival==---
Twilight Sparkle was dying from embarassment. Princess Celestia had woken her up only minuites before the sunrise. Twilight had opened her eyes to se the Solar Regent smiling at her from her seat next to the bed. Twilight, suffice to say, was frightened silly. She had screamed and toppled out of her bed and got tangled up in her bed covers before the Princess had helped her up with her warm magic.
After Twilight had profusely apologised for her lack of decorum, the Princess had admitted that she could not help herself. After thousands of years in a stufy castle would make anypony have the need to 'spice things up'. Twilight had woken up Spike with her screaming, and he decided that it was too late to get anymore slept before he would get up anyways and went about making breakfast as Celestia raised the sun.
No matter how many times Twilight saw her teacher raise the sun, she was always amased at her artistry. Despite one might think, just raising the sun is not all that is needed for a beautiful sunrise. The Princess used her magic as a enourmous brush and painted the sky with rich, warm colors. There were deep, royal purples, and a smattering of lovely pinks. And not to forget the rich orange that filled one with a strange feeling of warmth when they gazed into it. It all faded as swiftly as she painted it as the sun climbed higher into the sky.
"Now then my favorite pupil, shall we take a look at this mysterious stallion you found?" Celestia said, watching Twilight gathe herself after she witnesed her teacher's magical sunrise.
"O-oh, yes Princess. Are we taking the chariot?" Twilight asked. She was not looking forward to making the long trek up the mountain again.
"Of course Twilight." The Princess replied with a smile as she ushered her student onto her royal chariot. The four Royal Guard, who pulled the chariot with their wings, nickered and took off to the mountain. They had already been briefed as to their destination before they arrived in Ponyville by none other than the Princess.
It wasn't 5 minuites before they arrived at the cave. It was a difficult landing, the large chariot needing room to come to a full stop, but the Pegasi simply glided to a halt onto the smal bluff and used their back hooves to gingerly act as bumpers. Twilight was the first one off as she was eager to get another look at the strange stallion in his frozen prison. The Princess only ordered her Guards to wait outside and followed her gleeful student into the arctic cave.
"This is surely odd..." Celestia commented, her eyes taking in the sights of the glittering ice. Even she thought it was beautiful how it sparkled and shimmered like the stars in her sister's night sky.
"That isn't the strangest thing though Princess!" Her pupil exclaimed. Twilight almost dragged the Solar Regent over the the main attraction in the cave. She took in the sight of the massive shard of solid ice. She could almost instantly feel the miniscule life force of the green stallion.
A small tear came to her eye. She could tell exactly what had happened here. Given the fact they were trapped in ice, they were most likely from the time before the founding of Equestria and even before the three Pony Tribes had come together in peace and friendship to defeat the Windigoes. In fact, Celestia could sense one nearby. It must have been the one to keep them frozen for so long.
Celestia also concluded that the stallion had tried his best to keep the mare warm with what little body heat he had. The mare must have been sickly or injured to not have survived, Earth Ponies are known for their resilience to just about everything. The scene was almost too tragic to bear. As an Earth Pony and a Unicorn from the time of war meant that the Tribes usually kept to their own species when choosing a mate, and that meant that they must have been on the run.
"Twilight." Celestia said sternly. "I need you to please wait outside. It is going to get very hot and I don't want to burn you."
"I understand Princess." Twilight nodded solemnly. She had wanted to witness Celestia's solar magic in action.
Once Twilight had exited the cavern, Celestia sighed deply. She never liked doing this, but it was necessary to melt a Windego's frosty breath. Closing her eyes, Celestia felt her physical form melting away as she reverted her body to it's base energies. All that was left of her was a large orb of pure heat that slowly began melting the ice in the cave.
The first things to melt were the walls and the ceiling as the were the thinest. After the wall had melted somewhat, Celestia had discovered that the wall closest to the ice she was trying to melt was, in fact, not a wall at all, but rather it was a door of ice that blocked off the rest of the cave from view. She already knew what was inside as it steadily shrank.
A whistling whinny escaped the cave as a singular Windego tried to get past Celestia and back into the skies to feed off of the negative emotions of the Ponies. Despite it's best efforts, it never made it near Celestia for she released a quick burst of intense heat into the cave. The Windego sounded like it was gurgling on a liquid as it swiftly melted away.
"I am sorry..." She said solemnly amongst the creature's dissappearing death cries. "But I could not let you harm my little ponies."
Celestia willed her free floating energy back into the familiar shape of the Solar Princess. It was not long after that light died away and Twilight returned to find that the cave was now a muddy mess; water flowing past her in a small creek off of the bluff.
"Oh wow..." Twilight gaped, awed by her teacher's mighty feat. She was quite sure that only the Princess could have performed such a task in such little time.
Both the Princess and Twilight looked to the stalion as he let out an uncomfortable groan the hearaled his return to conciousness. His eyes fluttered slowly, revealing deep emerald eyes that were stil somewhat dull at the moment. He seemed like he was going to say something, but his voice failed him. More groans escaped his now warming muzzle.
"Shhh..." Twilight cooed. "It is okay now. You are going t be fine." The stallion grumbled and a single word escaped his lips.
"Rosy... Apple.." Twilight concluded swiftly that this mustbe the name of the Earth Pony mare that me lay across. Twilight didn't think anything about it, but she filed away Rosy Apple's name away in her mind.
"We should take him to the library to rest." Celestia suggested. "I do not think he is in any immediate harm and just neds to rest. As for the mare..."
"Don't worry Princess, I will take care of it." Twilight nodded. She knew that the body had to be buried and she knew the best place for a grave.
Using her magic, Princes Celestia and Twilight Sparkle cradled the limp forms in their magic, loading them into the chariot and taking off to return to Ponyville. The day had only just started after all. Who knows what the future holds...
From the desk of Chewed Pencil,
Hello there readers! I doubt any of you will recognize this fic, but this is a total rewrite of my very first fic here on this site. I had taken it down because I had lost all inspiration to write for it. Although, instead of starting at the original beginning in the past and follow Emerald Quiver's last few months before his eventual 'demise', but I personally think it would work better if I started afterwards to cut down on the chapter number. Although, this means that his past will be told through flash back sequences as he remembers about his past. I am going to compltely delete MLE and I am sorry to all those following it, but after reading through it again, I noticed how silly it was and I just didn't want to write it anymore. I won't delete it for a few days yet, and if anyone wants to do a ghostwriter thing for it, they can PM me and I'll send them everything. I doubt anyone would want to though.
In other news, BHaTL will be updating soon, so keep an eye out for that. That seems to be it for me. I hope you all have a great Labor Day or whatever everyone else does. If there isn't a holiday, then I hope you have a nice day instead.
The Enigmatic Author,
-Chewed Pencil
May your mind stay sharp, and your soul shine ever brighter.
