The Curse of Undeath

Chapter 5: When tales of old become legends, evil stirs

Celestia lies in her bed, suffering the same nightmare again for the second night in a row and wakes up screaming. Guards rush into the room and ask what is wrong and she just waves them off saying, "Oh it is nothing, just a nightmare that I really wish would go away. Please return to your posts everypony, there is nothing dangerous here." She then sighs and pulls out an old picture frame that was hidden away in a desk drawer that has an aged photograph of her mother and father in it, with the father figure scratched out. She puts it away and pulls out a book containing a prophecy claiming that Nightmare Moon will return and make the night last forever, but she has an idea that may work out to save her sister. She then makes a mental note to get this back to the library for her pupil to 'discover' so her idea can go into motion.

Three days later...

Twilight is in her tower studying every book she can get her hooves on while her assistant Spike, sorts the books she has read already into another pile and sighs saying, "Gee Twilight, what are you looking for?"

She frustratingly looks through her books to find the one she wants and says, "I'm trying to find a book called Predictions and Prophecies Spike, please keep an eye out for it." She then reaches for a really old looking book, not familiar with it at all. She dusts the book off and reads the title, which reads 'Ancient Tales and Legends of Old'. Curiosity gets the better of her as she spots a passage that catches her eye, she then starts to read the first few pages to herself, 'Long ago before Equestria existed, somewhere in the frozen north, a stranger's life was saved by ponies. Stranger was not a pony at all, but turned out to be something called a human and came from a foreign land. The stranger owed a favor to the ponies for saving his life. He agreed to help them out, then went about taking care of personal business. The stranger betrayed them all with lies and treachery, may his name be lost forever and suffer an eternity in Tartarus.' Twilight checks for more about this tale but finds nothing, sighing in defeat and sets the book aside. She wants to find out more about this tale, but isn't sure who might know something about it. Until suddenly, she thinks of her mentor Princess Celestia.

Spike finds the book she is looking for and holds it up saying, "Here it is Twilight, I found it underneath a romance novel."

She is overjoyed at hearing that and tears it from his grasp and says, "Oh I have been looking for that, I can't believe I forgot that I put it there."

He grumbles at being denied gratitude at finding it and thumbs through a book about myths and legends and checks out one particular passage that reads, 'There is a mighty castle of old that defies logic in the north. You best pray that you never journey there, for things go bump in the night that are worse than nightmares. One is to be feared above others, for he rules them all. Steer clear of the Frozen King if you value your life. Should he rise again, this world shall fall under his rule.' He closes the book and scratches his head saying, "Hey Twilight, have you ever heard of the myth of the Frozen King?"

Twilight pulls her head out of the book she is reading at hearing a strange myth and says, "What myth?" She listens closely as Spike reads it aloud to her and then says, "Oh Spike, don't be so silly. That is just an old mare's tale, there is no such thing as a Frozen King in the north." Just then something clicks in her brain and connects the dots and she says, "Spike, take a letter. Dear Princess Celestia, it has come to my attention that there are signs of a prophecy telling the return of Nightmare Moon. I fear that this may be an actual prophecy, could you look into this further? Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Send it immediately Spike, thank you."

Princess Celestia chuckles as a scroll pops into existence in front of her, she grabs it with her magic and opens it. After reading the letter, she puts it aside and replies by writing, 'My faithful student, Twilight. I do understand your worry over something like this and trust you completely, but I think it would be a good idea for you to head to Ponyville and check on the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. You really need to go there and stop reading those dusty old tomes for awhile. Make some friends when you are there, don't worry yourself over that tall tale of the Frozen King. It is all ponyapples anyways, I did visit the Frozen North as a younger filly. Don't you remember me telling you some of the journeys I had there?' She then sends the letter to her, feeling a bit cross at missing a surviving original copy of that book.

Some time later, at the Castle of Two Sisters...

Celestia chuckles and steps back from her sister and says to her, "Princess Luna, it has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us, we were meant to rule together little sister."

Everypony there is surprised at hearing that and say in unison, "Sister?"

She continues to speak to her sister saying, "Will you accept my friendship?" She then stands back up and waits for her sister's response.

A small Luna thinks on it for a little bit, then gets up and runs up to her sister. She throws her arms around her sister and hugs her tightly and responds to her sister saying, "I'm so sorry, I missed you so much big sister." She sheds a few tears at finally being reunited with her sister.

Celestia's eyes tear up and she smiles saying, "I've missed you too." She then hugs her back just as tightly, feeling happy to have her little sister back.

Luna whispers to her saying, "I miss Papa." A few more tears make their way down her face as she remembers the good days they had together inside Icecrown when their father was not dealing with the cruel Dr. Putricide or causing trouble for other creatures of the world.

Celestia hugs her sister tightly and shushes her saying, "I am sorry sister, it has been a thousand years since I banished you. I must ask you not to mention anything about our past that will make ponies find out about what happened during those times, sadly including our father and mother. We have each other, that is all that we need right now."

Luna then smiles and softly says to her, "Okay sister, I won't. I promise that I wont tell anyone about the Frozen King."

Twilight perks her ears up at hearing Luna mention Frozen King, deciding not to question either of them about it without proof. She smiles and says to the girls, "Looks like everything is almost done here. Let's start heading back to Ponyville to welcome back Princess Luna to Equestria."

As the other girls start to head back and talk amongst themselves, Twilight walks towards the two Alicorn Princesses before her and say, "After Pinkie Pie's Party, can I ask you two a question in secret?"

She suspects what Twilight really wants to ask about is their father, but doesn't say anything and responds saying, "Of course you can Twilight, as long as my sister is up for it. So Luna, what do you think about it? Do you feel up for answering a question from a curious pony?"

The small alicorn smiles and says, "I don't see why it would bother me at all, since I have been gone for so long. There are bound to be curious ponies that would like to know things, I don't have any problem satisfying their curiosity."

Celestia is shocked to hear her sister say that and then looks to her student and says, "There you have it Twilight, just find us after the welcome back party and we will answer your question."

Some hours later, as the party ends...

Twilight searches for Princesses Celestia and Luna, finding them off to a side of an empty room and says, "Here you two are, I was wondering if you are enjoying the party Princess Luna?"

Luna smiles back at Twilight and says, "I am indeed liking the party, it will take some time for me to get used to how much things have changed."

Celestia waits till her sister finishes speaking to cast her secrecy shield so nopony hears what Twilight wants to know. She then says, "So my faithful student, what is it that you wish to ask us?"

She blushes from embarrassment and says to Celestia, "I do apologize to both of you for catching something you said Princess Luna, I overheard you say Frozen King. Can you please tell me what you know about him? I found a reference to them in an old looking tome called Ancient tales and Legends of Old when I was researching a prophecy I heard of and came across it. I heard another one mention the Frozen King, but nothing more than that." She then looks at the both of them with curiousity all over her face, hoping they would tell her something.

Celestia sighs and says to Luna, "What do you think we should do Luna? Satisfy her curiosity, or everything?"

Luna sighs in return and thinks on it a moment then says, "I think satisfying her curiosity would be enough for right now, she is not ready for everything just yet."

She looks to her sister with a soft smile and says, "Very well sister, let's begin then." She then turns and looks at Twilight and takes a breath and starts by saying, "Here is what we will tell you for now young curious student. Long ago when we were fillies, even younger than you at the time, we heard of a legend of a mighty king in the frozen north. Greatly wounded in battle he was, and fled across the vast unknown seas to the north. He was saved by a group of ponies that happened to come across his tracks, only requesting a favor in return of saving his life. His sword was broken in the fight and needed it repaired, they told him where he could get it fixed. Several days passed by and he found love with Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire, he betrayed the ponies he owed the favor to and unleashed unspeakable horrors upon them. He ruled his subjects with an iron fist, allowing nothing to get in his way of conquest of the lands before him. Several years passed by then and we thought he was content with the land he now ruled, but we were wrong. During those years we learned that he fought and drove the Umbrum from their homes using a truly vile creation called, The Plague. After we became adults and Discord rose to power, we learned that he fought against the King of the Frozen North and lost. King Sombra was another one of his victims because The Plague killed nearly every Umbrum in existence. He tried to conquer Equestria after King Sombra was banished, it took so many soldiers to drive him back behind the borders and to his own citadel. He called the citadel Icecrown, he wields dangerous powers that no pony should ever have Twilight. He used the black art of necromancy, that is the art of enslaving the dead to serve you. In the end, we managed to wield the elements to deal him a serious blow that forced him to retreat to his throne. We followed him up there and bore witness to very gruesome things along the way up there, but the worst thing we saw was the Dragon Queen Sindragosa raised from her grave to serve him as a flying mount to carry him to far away places. I warn you now Twilight, steer clear of the borders of the Frozen North. If he awakens once more, this world shall be in danger from the horrors of Icecrown Citadel."

Twilight tilts her head to the side, sadness shows on her face but wonder shines in her eyes as she asks, "Did you ever learn what his name was Princess Celestia or Princess Luna?"

Princess Luna watches Celestia turn her head away from Twilight, signalling that she will say no more on the monster they called father and says, "I heard rumors that his name was Arthas Menethil, but I am not sure because rumors distort things." She continues the rest of the 'story' and says, "When we fought Sindragosa and caused her to crash through the ice lifeless, we then used the elements against Arthas to encase him in ice for eternity."

The eager bookworm hangs her head as she thinks of all that he has done and says, "Do you think that maybe he can change his ways?"

Princess Celestia sighs and says, "Unfortunately, that is one thing we have failed to do back then. Perhaps if he should ever have a change of heart, and gain some real friends...a miracle may happen."

Twilight then smiles and says, "Miracles happen everyday Princess Celestia, but I will respect your warning and steer clear of the Frozen North. I will see what else I can learn about Arthas and Icecrown, maybe there is another way to deal with him?"

She smiles and says, "If there is another way, I am sure that you will discover it. Do make sure to keep this knowledge of Arthas and Icecrown to yourself, do not let the others learn of it until they are ready or need to know."

One Year Later in Ponyville...

Discord enjoys all the chaos he is wreaking in Ponyville, dubbing it the chaos capital of the world and sits atop Twilight's shoulder while she walks back to her home in a grayish form of herself and whispers into her ear, "You love secrets don't you? Well I have a few that I would love to tell you, but I will only tell you one. I will be generous and tell you one of your pick."

Grayish Twilight walks forth in a foul mood and says to him, "I don't care what you tell me, you decide what to tell me. They are your secrets, why do you want to tell me anything?"

He claps happily and says, "OOH YAY I WAS SO HOPING YOU WOULD SAY THAT. Listen up because I will only say this once, I used to be a bunch of different creatures. Then this Dr. Putricide got a hold of us and started experimenting with artificial life, after several failures there were two successes. My sister Cosmos was one, but she literally vanished because I sent her to become one with the stars. Oh and I never lie about my secrets, so enjoy the secret, ta ta!" He then claps twice and vanishes from her shoulder and returns to his throne.

After Discord was returned to stone...

Twilight thinks back to when she was grayish and remembers what Discord told her and her jaw falls open, finally learning something new, if a bit trivial about the mystery of Arthas and Icecrown Citadel. She says farewell to her friends and hurries back to write to Princess Celestia about this new development she learned from Discord.

Some weeks pass by as Twilight finds herself in the Dragon Lands, watching in hopes that Spike will be alright. After she and her friends assist Spike through a few of the tests to prove that he is a real dragon, she spots a light blue female dragon with down curved horns that is standing atop of a stone watching the others have fun. She waits till their task is done making sure that Spike will be ok, she asks her friends to begin heading towards her. As they get close to her, Twilight looks around and sees that no other dragons are around and asks, "I'm sorry to bother you, but have you ever heard of a Dragon Queen called Sindragosa?"

The dragon looks at the obvious disguise and gasps at hearing that name and clamps a claw over the mouth to shut it and whispers into the eye holes, "Don't you dare mention that name around dragons, EVER! Are you trying to cause a panic, or are you just stupid?"

She blushes in embarrassment and whispers back, "My apologies, but I only read about faint mentions of the name and that it was a dragon. I couldn't find any other way to learn of them, so I came here with my friends mainly out of concern for Spike.

They soften their expression a bit and responds saying, "Of course there wouldn't be many mentions telling the story, Dragon Lord Torch forbade the telling of the stories or even the mention of that name. My name is Ember, and Dragon Lord Torch is my father. Who are you and why are you here imposter?"

Twilight ignores the pulling on her tail and answers her, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am a pony from Ponyville. It is a pleasure to meet you Princess Ember, we are just here to look out for our dear friend Spike. We have no other ulterior motives, I just couldn't resist the chance to ask a dragon if they would happen to know the name."

Ember chuckles at hearing their reason for coming and says, "Thank you for being honest ponies, unfortunately I do not know much about her except that she was fierce in battle and ruled her own kind called Frostbrood Dragons. One more thing is that there were rumors that claimed she and her master came from another world. That is all I know about that, I am sorry I don't know more."

Applejack angrily whispers up to Twilight and says, "What in tarnation was ya askin her bout that? You've been lookin fer somethin ever since ya spoke ta Princesses Celestia and Luna at the welcome back party, so spill the beans missy!"

Rarity chimes in even and says, "I can't believe you blew our cover to ask a silly question like that! What were you thinking Twilight, tell us!"

Twilight sighs in defeat and then starts to explain it from the beginning when she first learned of the mystery saying, "Well girls, I shall tell you everything once we are back in Ponyville. Meet me in the Golden Oak Library at night, after Spike goes to sleep. I don't want him to hear this story and have nightmares from hearing about it, he is too young to know yet."

After they return from the Dragon Lands, the girls all meet up at the library to hear the story from Twilight. As they listen to her tell the story, their jaws hang open from shock as Rainbow recovers saying, "Oh pahlease, that story can't possibly be true. The dead do not come back at all, they just stay that way and in the ground where they are buried."

Applejack shivers in fear at hearing that and says to Rainbow, "Ah don't know Rainbow, it sounds like Twilight speaks the truth about this somehow. Ah definitely would feel better if we could all make sure that this is not true or at least make sure that this Arthas is still asleep, what do y'all think about that?"

Fluttershy rocks back and forth, clutching her knees to her chest mumbling incoherent words. Finally gaining enough courage to stop rocking, she quietly whispers, "I think that would be a really nice idea, though it sounds terrifying if it is true. It would be a great comfort knowing that they still slumber."

One by one they eventually agree that they should investigate the existence of this Icecrown Citadel, deciding that it would be best to leave tomorrow to tell everypony that they are going to search for a hidden library outside of the ruins of the Castle of Two Sisters.

One Week Later...

Twilight stands outside a very high wall, with a massive gate that would be nearly impossible for her to open by herself. Sighing, she looks to Rarity and asks, "Rarity, girls, do you all think you can help me get these doors open just enough for us to go through them?"

Together they all work together and manage to crack the gates open enough for them to pass through, and walk through them leaving the view of the valley and the distant Luna Bay behind them.

Rainbow talks to Applejack saying, "I think I sprained a wing pushing those super heavy gates open, who in their right mind would build something that massive and heavy?"

Applejack chuckles and says, "I hear ya, ah think ah pulled a muscle too with that darn thing. Hey Twilight, do you think there are any more like that?"

She thinks on where the Citadel might be located and answers Applejack saying, "I think there may be just one or two more Applejack, but that should be all if this is a typical stronghold structure. After this point, it is anypony's guess as to where Icecrown might actually be located."

At Icecrown Citadel...

Arthas opens his eyes to see that he is encased in ice, still sitting atop his throne. He smiles as he realizes that his daughter's made a mistake in encasing him in ice, showing how weak they really were. Deciding against of breaking free of his prison now, he closes his eyes and returns to his slumber to gather his full strength before his grand awakening.

Back at the Gate leading to the Frozen North

A banshee that was stationed to watch the gate and ordered to alert him if anything gets through it hovers at the top of the wall in an alcove watching the group of six ponies make their way beyond the valley and into the Frozen Lands. She then commands two hidden abominations that were ordered to slumber there to open the gates should the need arise to open them.

Twilight thinks she hears an eerie shriek come from behind and turns her head around to take a look and sees nothing behind them and continues on until she hears a sound of heavy doors closing and says to the others, "Um girls, don't freak out but I think the gate behind us just closed. We will have to find a way to open it when we return from completing our recon. Follow me girls, we are a few days away from where the rumors say this place is."

Rarity shudders and looks at a very scared Fluttershy and says to her, "Don't worry Fluttershy, nothing bad will ever happen to us. We are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, there is nothing that we need to fear."

Fluttershy calms down a bit and smiles saying, "I know that Rarity, but this place feels very...sick to me. I don't know how else to explain the way it feels to me, like something all around us just feels..."

Twilight finishes the rest for her and says, "Wrong, right Fluttershy?" She continues to lead them further away from the valley towards a lone peak far in the distance, barely visible to the naked eye.

She squeaks in surprise and relaxes saying, "Y-Yes Twilight, that is what I am feeling right now. The sooner we get out of here I think we will all be happier for it.

Arthas continues resting until a banshee interrupts his slumber by making a telepathic report to him through the helm, informing him that there are six intruders on his land and asking what should they do about them. Intrigued and annoyed at the same time, he sends out a command to the warriors milling around the castle saying, "To all forces within the vicinity of the Citadel, I order you all to slumber and do nothing to inform them that you are awake. Play possum until I give the order to reveal yourselves. They think that I am still aslumber?! I will allow them to think that until I am ready to announce my return to the world!"

A few days later, the sun begins to set as the girls all make camp for the night. Twilight drifts off to sleep, but suffers a nightmare of books that she has read that gain consciousness and begin attacking her and try to 'read' her. To her surprise, Princess Luna comes by and ends the nightmare saying, "Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. It has been some time since your last nightmare, is everything going ok for your girls' trip?"

She looks to Princess Luna and sighs saying, "Everything is fine, but it is going a bit slowly. It is taking longer than we expected it to take to find what we are searching for."

Luna cocks her head in curiosity, then watches Twilight closely and asks, "What are you hoping to find, may I ask?"

Twilight sighs once again and looks at her seriously and says, "Can you promise to keep this a secret from your sister, Princess Luna? She would likely send me back to magic kindergarten if she knew what we were actually searching for..."

She narrows her eyes suspiciously at Twilight and then responds, "I promise that I won't tell her, now what are you girls really searching for at our old castle?"

The nervous unicorn wrings her hands and closes her eyes and looks right at Luna and says, "I am sorry but we are heading to the Frozen Lands to find out for certain if the Frozen King still slumbers. If he is awake already, I will politely ask him a few questions on why he does things the way he does. Perhaps I can become friends with him and get him to be nicer to everypony."

Luna's eyes shrink to pinpricks at hearing where they are really heading and instantly switches to her royal voice and says, "GO NO FURTHER, AND RETURN AT ONCE LITTLE PONY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT HORRORS AWAIT YOU INSIDE THAT CITADEL! IF YOU DO NOT RETURN IMMEDIATELY, I SHALL COME AND DRAG YOU ALL BACK MYSELF!"

Twilight braces herself against her royal voice and is determined to find out the answers to her questions that have plagued her for a year and a half and stands up saying, "I must apologize Princess Luna, for there are just too many questions that have been left unanswered for too long. I need to get answers to these questions so I can move forward with my life, this mystery of Arthas the Frozen King of the North is going to drive me to madness if I don't get answers soon. I am so sorry Princess Luna, but I have to go against your command right now. I hope that you can forgive me for doing this one day..." She then sighs and wakes up and sees that it is nearly dawn and decides to prepare breakfast for the girls.

Luna returns from looking over the Dream Realm and sees that her sister is beside her with a concerned look on her face and says, "What is wrong dear Cece?"

Celestia frowns and looks at her sister in worry and says, "You used your royal voice when you were in the Dream Realm, but nopony understood what you said. Is everything alright dear Lulu?"

She sighs and says, "Everything is alright for the moment, I am just dealing with a stubborn pony that does not want to listen to me. I need to patrol the borders and allow myself to calm down a bit, I shall be back in a few weeks. Unfortunately, I won't be back in time for the upcoming wedding because I sense something off with the borders to the North."

A shocked and worried look crosses Celestia's face as she says, "Do you think I should send guards with you for protection if anything goes wrong and he does return?"

Luna shakes her head and says, "No dear sister, I think that it is safe to say that father will continue to slumber unless fate or some higher power cause him to wake up for some unknown reason. I shall see you again in a few weeks, I will try to make it back for the reception at least."

One More Week Later...

Twilight stands before a massive field of vertical stones and two massive pillars with different emblems on banners flapping in the breeze of each one, suddenly feeling the need to pay her respects and bowing towards the massive graveyard.

Rainbow chuckles and says, "What on Equestria are you doing Twilight, why are you bowing before rocks?"

Before Twilight can respond to her, Fluttershy stands before her and glares into her eyes and says, "Don't you realize that this is a graveyard, Rainbow Dash? She is paying her respects to the soldiers who fought and lost their lives here long ago, we should all pay our respects to the fallen soldiers here that have faced such horrid creatures."

She gulps and looks around and hangs her head and says, "I apologize for being ignorant Twilight, I never have seen a graveyard quite like this one. The graves seem to be a bit shallow, don't they Applejack?"

Applejack sighs upon seeing how the graves number into the thousands and tears up a little and says, "Umm...yeah they kinda do, ah wonder why they did that?"

The other girls line up beside Twilight and bow in respect to the fallen soldiers that are buried here, then straighten up and continue to follow Twilight towards the massive towering citadel.

A few minutes pass as the girls worked together to get the front doors open enough to get through and closed them behind them, now Twilight enters a large open area with pathways leading everywhere with a light coming from straight ahead.

She looks at the light with curiosity and says, "I have never seen anything like this girls, let's check it out. Maybe it will tell us more about this place, or maybe show us if the ruler of this place is still imprisoned." She approaches the light and walks around it, examining it closely for any hints of what it does. Without another word to the others, she touches the device and suddenly finds herself standing at a very high place in the citadel. Figuring out that it is just a teleporter, she taps it with a hoof to try to make it work again. As that attempt fails to work, she tries applying magic to it. With that failing, she gets annoyed and steps off of it and taps it again. Finally finding herself back in the room before, she smiles and says, "I found something amazing girls! You see, this thing here teleports you to another location. To get it to work, you have to touch it. To get back, you have to step off of it and touch it again. The view is spectacular from there, come on girls."