Shining Armor sighed, as he exited the Library. He had spent the past day or two writing, organizing and evaluating the stories that he got from the Element Bearers and, after that, pretty much all of Ponyville.

Apparently, Spike’s statement was no exaggeration in the slightest. Most of the statements were very much in favour of Frosty, with only very few of them mentioning some minor things that – from what Shining had gathered from most statements – had come through him joining a group called the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. While by no means a threat on their own, they tended to get themselves and everypony close to them into trouble through their foolish actions.

It was also noted on multiple occasions that all members of this group are foals.

It took a moment for Shining to realize this, but when he finally put all the reports he received from the local guard station into this context, then the lack of any record regarding such a group suddenly made a lot more sense.

Beyond Frosty being what seemed like a town hero, Shining also noticed that Celestia had a similar or rather the exact opposite situation in this town. Most of the statements about her were rather negative with only a few citizens showing some kind of understanding for her actions.

Turns out Ponies get rather pissed when one does something that could’ve killed them all.

“So… what are you gonna do now?” Spike asked him, parchment and quill still in claw, just in case his brother had more to be written down.

“Actually… I don’t really know. I guess I came here with hopes that Frozen Blood’s story might be a lie after all… I guess it is very much true.” Shining mumbled more to himself than to Spike.

“Well, then why don’t you try doing something about it? I mean you are the Captain of the Guard! Somepony is bound to listen to you, right? You could ask Cadence for help!” Spike offered.

“I’d rather not drag Cady into this yet. Currently, I only know that Frozen Blood—“

“Frosty.” Spike cut in.

“… Alright, Frosty – Currently I only know that Frosty didn’t lie about the things here in Ponyville. What I don’t know is what exactly happened between him and the Princess. Surely there has to be some kind of a feud between the two that would explain what she did.” Shining Armor mused. Despite having found Frosty`s story to be true, he still refused to fully believe it. After all, he still was the Captain of the Royal Guard and therefore absolutely loyal to the princess.

“So then what will you do instead? You can’t just wait around until something happens!” Spike demanded.

“I will go to Canterlot. The princesses are waiting for my report on the dragon incident anyways and once I’m there, I can look into the closer connections the princesses held. As far as I know, princess Celestia has recently opened public access to a book written by Starswirl the Bearded about the princess’s early lives. Maybe I can find some answers in there.” Shining thought aloud.

“Or you could, you know, just ask Cadence?” Spike offered with his arms crossed. It seemed the Drake didn’t like how Shining just shot him down earlier when he mentioned her.

“Cadence is currently… eh… a difficult topic. She’s currently abroad anyways, so I don’t really want to bother her.” Shining Armor said sheepishly, obviously hiding something.

“And why would she be a ‘difficult topic’?” Spike pushed.

“Ehhh, well, it could be that we had some kind of a… falling out.” He mumbled, sitting on his haunches and insecurely bumping his forehooves together.

“A falling out? Really? What were you arguing about?” Spike asked curiously.

“We uuh, I…” Shining stammered, before looking around to check if anypony was there with them that could listen in. When he saw that they were alone, he whispered into his brother’s ear.

“I finally proposed to her.”

Spike was so shocked from the news, he almost fell over and when he caught himself, he immediately cheered: “Dude, that’s fantastic!”

Shining, however, hushed him, seemingly trying to keep it secret.

“Not so loud!” He whisper-shouted. “I don’t want it to become public just yet. We don’t even know, when or where the ceremony will be!”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. But if you finally proposed, then what did you argue about?” Spike asked.

“Well, umm, you see… I kinda just wanted a small ceremony. Like, close friends, family, the princesses and that’s it. Cady, however, wants all the pomp, a grand ceremony, the grand hall of the royal palace, half of equestria present, you know, all the stuff.” Shining said nervously. “And so we kinda had an argument over that, until Cady decided to go on a trip to cool off…”

“Oof.” Spike commented. “That sounds… bad, I guess? But she’ll cool off soon enough – I hope.”

“Yeah, I hope that too… ehehe…” Shining Armor laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. It was quite clear that he felt uncomfortable not only with the wedding plans, but also about the whole Frosty-affair.

“So, uhh, anyways, I’ll be off to Canterlot now. Who knows, maybe I can find something interesting. Even if I can’t, I can still try to make sure that nothing else happens…” Shining Armor said, mumbling the last part to himself. He then got up and trotted to the door.

“Tell Twily I was here, will ya? And while you’re at it, could you please try to convince her to stay home for now, when she comes back?” Shining asked.

“You know her, Shining. Once somethings in her head, she wont stop that easily. I guess I can try, but I can’t promise anything.” Spike said, shaking his head.

“I think that’s all I can ask for. Alright, see ya!”

Spike waved good bye to his brother, as he gathered his ponies outside and led them back to Canterlot. Shining spent the whole trip to Canterlot trying to come up with a plan on what to do next, but no matter how much he thought, Starswirl’s book was the best option he could come up with.

He decided to drop those thoughts and focus on what lay before him. After all, as his old sarge told him, ‘Planning ahead is good, but plan too far and you will quickly find your plans working against you.’

Shining missed him sometimes. But only sometimes.

In the Badlands, a mighty spire dominated the otherwise flat and barren landscape. It was made of a dark and organic-looking substance with many holes in it that opened and closed at seemingly random intervals. Around the structure and moving through the holes, one could see hundreds of small forms milling about.

The inside looked much like the outside – an organic substance that formed walls for gangways and rooms and that had holes in it that would open and close at seemingly random intervals except that inside, there was one hole that didn’t close. It was a giant hole that held ornate double doors that looked like they weighed as much as the entirety of Canterlot. Behind those doors was a large Throne Room, where the Queen of this hive was currently shouting orders at the smaller drones.

“My Queen!” Suddenly a Guard hailed, stopping the endless tirade of sometimes contradicting orders.

“What?! Can’t you see that I’m busy?!” Chrysalis shouted in response.

“Y-Yes, my queen. It’s just that… th-there`s someling that wants to meet you.” The Guard stammered. It was well-known to everyling that those who brought bad news only rarely made it back to their old post.

“What?! Which ‘ling is it that has left their post?!” Chrysalis snarled.

“N-None, m-my Queen. It’s a-a pony foal that’s pulling a cart.” The guard answered.

“What? Then why did you say ‘someling’ and not ‘somepony’?” Chrysalis asked angrily.

“B-Because only Infiltrators learn pony-language, m-my Queen!” The guard answered fearfully.

“Don’t make up such petty excuses! You’re very lucky that I’m in a good mood today. Now get me this foal. Maybe we can put it in a pod or something.” Chrysalis mused and the Guard quickly saluted.

“Yes, my queen!”

However, before the guard could get back to the door, they suddenly swung open and another Changeling loudly announced: ”Make way for Lord Frozen Blood!”

After the shout, a white colt, who pulled a wooden wagon with a small metal sphere on top and who was escorted by a battalion of changelings entered the throne room.

“What in the name of--?! Guards, stop him immediately! GUARDS!!” Chrysalis shouted, however the guards didn’t listen. They were only looking forward with a gaze that seemed literally dead.

“YOU!” Chrysalis shouted, pointing at Frosty. “What have you done to my guards?!”

Frosty dropped the cart and made a few steps forward, smirking at Chrysalis.

“Me? Oh, nothing special, I just, you know, killed them and turned them into marionettes?” He said.

“WHAT?! YOU DARE TAKE MY DRONES FROM ME?! I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS!!” Chrysalis shouted furiously.

“Oh, quite the shouter, are we? Anyways, I never was one for unnecessarily long stalls. This is farewell, Chrysalis.” Frosty said, preparing and shooting a beam of magic onto the metal sphere… only that the beam never came.

“AHAHA! You foolish colt really though that pony magic would work in MY hive?! HA! You should’ve stayed with your worthless pony parents little colt. Now, prepare to die!” Chrysalis shouted, charging a spell of her own.

‘Ah damn, yeah, I forgot about that.’ Frosty thought, as the beam came and hit him into the chest. He skidded a few meters along the floor and a few of the changelings collapsed to revive him.

When he rose again, Chrysalis seemed more than a little confused… and enraged.

Without any words spoken, she shot another beam at Frosty while screaming in rage. Frosty managed to evade this time, jumping away just before the shot hit the ground and left a black scorch mark.

‘Hmmm, well, if I can’t use my own magic, maybe I can use…’ Frosty thought, before evading another beam and jumping up onto his cart, directly in front of the sphere.

“HOLD STILL, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF--!” Chrysalis shouted, just as she shot another beam.

Frosty evaded again, making the beam hit the sphere dead on and triggering the intended chain reaction.

Outside, on the only raise in the terrain, besides the hive itself, stood three fillies and two Changelings that were talking to one another.

Pharynx was telling the fillies how he became an elite infiltrator and how he and the commander came to the Everfree and to Ponyville, when his story was cut short by a blinding flash.

Their vision went white for a moment and when their vision returned, they could feel a tug on their souls, as Frosty took the energy needed to restore his body from them.

They looked over to the hive and saw that it no longer existed. Instead, in its place was a large mushroom cloud rising into the sky and a smaller, ring-shaped dust cloud was expanding and rapidly closing in on their position, carried by the shockwave that came from the explosion.

An ear-shattering thunder arrived a few seconds before the shockwave, momentarily deafening all five of them.

They managed to dive into cover, before the shockwave arrived, covering everything around them in a thick layer of dust. With it also came storm-like winds that were now raging around the fillies, but luckily died down quickly enough.

Finally, when the storm had died down did Frosty teleport to them. Only that his body seemed to be severely burned. He was missing his legs and part of his body, however the wounds were singed shut so that he couldn’t bleed out.

“K-Kill me.” Frosty pleaded and Sweetie Belle immediately complied by smashing his head under her hoof.

Again, they all felt the tug, as Frosty’s body started to reform. His legs, head and body grew back and the spilled blood evaporated and turned into energy that was given back to Frosty.

Frosty himself quickly stood up again when he was able to and deadpanned at Sweetie.

“Well, good to know that you’ll just smash my head in whenever I’ll ask you to.”

“Of course! We’ll do what you say whenever you say it!” She answered happily. “Even the more… naughty requests.” She purred, swishing her tail back and forth and giving Frosty a seductive look.

“So what’re we gonna do now, Frosty?” Scootaloo asked.

“Now? Now we’re going to prepare for the last step on my list.” He said, walking over to the changelings.

Sweetie Belle pouted at being ignored, while Frosty worked his magic on the commander. To be exact, he gave him a bit more energy, bringing him to the same level as Pharynx.

“Ah, my sincerest thanks, my lord.” The Commander said, giving Frosty a deep bow.

“No need to thank me, euuh… actually what is your name? I just realized that I’ve never really asked you that.” Frosty noticed.

“My name is Carracas, my lord.” He introduced himself. “It’s an honour for me to finally be able to talk with you.

“Umm, Frosty? Why did you give him more energy? Wasn’t it enough that he was a normal zombie already?” Scootaloo asked him.

“Scoots, don’t be so mean to the others, just because you have more power than they have.” Frosty chastised jokingly.

“Yeah yeah, sorry, Carracas. I didn’t mean it that way.” Scootaloo apologized.

“I, uhh, accept your apology, my Queen.” Carracas said, with strong confusion. He was obviously not used to accepting apologies from a queen. Most likely he was only used to giving them.

“Alright, with that out of the way, I think we should get moving now. With such a big explosion, it likely won’t take long for somepony to come here.”

“But where’re we gonna go?” Applebloom asked. “Can’t ya jus’ tell us what yer planning so we can help ya better?” She asked further, growing more and more annoyed over Frosty’s secrecy.

“Yeah yeah, sorry, I’ll fill you all in soon. First we’ll need to get outta here though… and this time we’re going right into the Lion`s den: Onwards, to Canterlot!” Frosty announced and the others repeated after him.

“To Canterlot!”

And after that, Frosty quickly teleported them away.

Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes…

After she had lost the track somewhere in the south-west, she was already close to giving up, when she met a farmpony on the road, who claimed that his cart was stolen by four foals and two insect-like ponies. Any other pony would’ve called him crazy and dismissed his claims, however to Twilight, he had just given her valuable information.

She told him that she would find his wagon and the farmpony told her that they fled due north-west. He then pointed to a cart trail that had the same six sets of hoofprints around it that she had been following up until now.

Sadly, that trail ran cold again as well, when she entered the Badlands. The many sandstorms that plagued the area had long since erased all tracks that she could’ve followed and so, she once again was forced to just blindly march on.

Then, it happened. Another flash of light like that one in the dragon lands, only much, MUCH brighter illuminated the area. Shortly thereafter, an ear-rupturing thunder blasted through the air and the shockwave that followed almost ripped her off her hooves. She was lucky she was standing behind a few large rocks at the time, or she would’ve been sent flying through the air.

When the shockwave had passed, Twilight immediately ran towards the source. She knew that this explosion could only mean that Frosty was close and it was only a matter of time until he would move on and she would lose him again.

However, when she arrived, Frosty was seemingly long gone. She went to the highest point she could find – a small raise in the land, still too small to be called a hill. She looked over the surrounding lands and what she saw shocked her deeply.

A gigantic crater sat only a few kilometres away from her little raise. She didn’t dare get close to it, but from what she could see, this crater was easily multiple kilometres wide. She didn’t have to look inside to imagine what the ground must’ve looked like and she didn’t even dare to imagine, what exactly was here, before the explosion.

She didn’t know what to do anymore. Whatever he had done, Frosty was becoming more and more of a threat. Twilight knew that by this point, it was likely that he had already far surpassed her and that she might not be able to stop him. However, what she could do was warn. She could warn the princesses about what he had done and help them prepare for and maybe even counter whatever spell he might’ve used for this. All she had to do was write to the princesses.

Twilight charged her horn as quickly as she could, though days of chasing Frosty had left her body very exhausted. With the last bit of magic she could muster, she cast a teleport spell and teleported away…

Back to Ponyville.

This paragraph solely exists to make this chapter exactly 100 paragraphs long, please ignore. ;)

Author's Note

A wise man once said: "Don't try to kill your enemy. Convince him to kill himself."
What does that mean, I hear you ask? Well, I guess you'll have to find out.