MLP: OPERATION ICEBOUND

Chapters

INTERLUDE-1 Salvaged Tech
CH-1 Prologue
CH-2 The Frost Hounds
CH-3 Moonshine
CH-4 Dreamers
CH-5 Nomads
CH-6 Awakenings

INTERLUDE-1 Salvaged Tech

"When will they be ready, how long is left until the construction is complete?" the hooded pony said with heavy laboured breathing, it was almost artificial." The fleet of walkers should be ready in 5 months master Talyn," replied the smaller pony
the hooded red pony slammed their hooves onto the table that he was leaning against, the table splintered against the earth ponies aggressive slam. "Five months! make the engineers hurry the construction, we do not have enough time to waste 5 months!" bellowed Talyn
"what about the shipment, has it arrived?" asked Talyn his facial expression not changing slightly. "The navigator of the salvage operation claims that they are roughly 24 hours away from our location, the scouts have also spotted a duo, One was a dark grey pegasus stallion and lilac unicorn mare watching them from afar so we will need to be wary of other ponies who are not with us," replied the smaller pony.
"Ah that's going well, Order the scouts to be on alert we cannot risk this valuable salvaged technology," replied Talyn, "Yes master Talyn" replied the smaller pony, "and before you go, how many walkers are complete?" Talyn asked,
"Out of the 50 under construction only 9 are complete, not including the one out in the frozen wastes" replied the smaller pony as he was leaving the room.
Talyn sighed with discontent as he reached towards the microphone on his desk, turned it on and proceeded to say
"Initiate protocol Lunar-7"

CH-1 Prologue

MLP:OPERATION ICEBOUND CH-1 PROLOGUE
7th December (4th Equestrian Era)
5:23 PM
Onyx Vesper was staggering helplessly through the thick ravenous blizzard, knowing well that his destination was not far from his current location, he was at the verge of starving but no matter how hungry he got Onyx Vesper continued on as his torn cloak get heavier with each passing minute.
He just needed to reach the safe confines of the Crystal Empire, the storm was getting more ruthless now, with each passing second the strain from walking took its toll on his body, but he was determined to reach the city, "Must. Go. On" he shuddered.
he was shivering now yet the Empire was in sight. he thought back to the days of old before the eternal, "how long has it been? how long has this cursed blizzard been raging on for? 5 months or even 8?" he whimpered as the snow relentlessly attempted to cascade down upon him.

2 HOURS LATER
In the Crystal Empire,
Onyx Vesper was ambling through the frozen streets of the Crystal Empire heading towards his place of residence, he opened the door and headed inside closing the door behind him heading straight towards the unlit fireplace and took his time to set it alight.
After lighting a fire in the fireplace he headed towards his old weathered couch, he relaxed in the serene feeling that the room gave him before remembering about the horrors of the frozen wasteland just waiting to claim its next victim outside. as he was thinking that he realised that he forgot to take off his cloak and iconic fedora, he groaned as the snow has melted and the water sunk into his cloak, he took off the cloak together with his fedora and left them to dry as he went to freshen up.
"Ah so much better" he happily exclaimed after he finished, he looked at the magically powered clock made from pure crystal and realised its only 7pm, he still had some day time left so he decided to grab the sabre which he named The Storm Crusader and had it custom made that it could be wielded by a Pegasus just like him and start polishing it, after a few hours of polishing the blade he decided to go to sleep.

THE NEXT DAY
Onyx Vesper awoke to a frigid room he sighed with disappointment as he realised that the fire died out during the night and the cold was given time to enter the residence.
"Least these are dry" he said, it bought him joy that he had dry clothes, he put on the fedora and cloak while heading towards the kitchen and made himself the most dystopian meal anyone would ever imagine: bread and stale crackers along side cold water, it was not healthy but it kept him alive in the barren snowy wasteland formerly known as the Crystal Empire. He grabbed the sabre and sheathed so it would be easy to carry and started heading towards the door, opening the door he left the cottage and shut the door behind him.

CH-2 The Frost Hounds

MLP:OPERATION ICEBOUND CH-2 THE FROST HOUNDS
8th December (4th Equestrian Era)
Onyx Vesper was walking down the still frozen streets of the city and ponies were doing their usual thing despite the current ongoing snow storm, there were ones who where trading and others who were just doing their own thing, as he walked towards the gates of the city he had to wait for the gates to open in order to leave the safety of the city, "Now we wait" he whispered it only took 5 minutes for the large gates to open, after they did Onyx vesper headed out into the frozen wasteland before him. the snowstorm was still raging on as he proceeded to move out into the Frozen Plains.
By this point the snowstorm has died down a little making it alot easier and safer to navigate the plains,"And it seems as if my day is getting better!" he saidd with glee in his voice.
Not wasting anymore time he continued to traverse the plains.

6 HOURS LATER
Onyx Vesper was heading in the general direction of the remnants of Our Town, he was wondering the Crystal Plains for hours now so he must have been close, if he didn't manage to somehow get lost, after a painful 30 minutes of walking he saw a small settlement with 6 intact houses and another 5 which were collapsed or destroyed.
"By the looks of it and the giant wooden makeshift wall around the settlement, this must be Our Town!" he said with slight joy at the sight of the small village, he happily increased the speed at which he was trotting and then suddenly, he realised that the storm has grown significantly more agressive, that made his mood drop and he decided that it would be wise to gallop towards the town.
Just as he made it past the primitive gate somepony blew a warhorn and shouted, "FROST HOUNDS SIGHTED!" Everypony who was there prepared for the inevitable frost hound attack, Onyx Vesper prepared himself by getting his sabre The Storm Crusader at the ready, a moment of suspence hung in the air only broken by the slamming of the wooden gate, and then it broke.

5 MINUTES AFTER THE FROST HOUND STRIKE
"WE MUST NOT FALL, WE MUST HOLD THE LINE!" shouted a unicorn mare with a moderate purple mane with a turqoise streak going through it and a star cutie mark.
Onyx Vesper realised that a few of the frost hounds were charging towards him, with a couple of swipes and strike with deadly efficiency from his sabre the frost hounds that attacked him were lying on the floor. Lifeless. The mare also was slaughtering hordes of hounds using a staff like weapon,"BEHIND YOU!" the mare shouted as Onyx Vesper turned around and thrust his sabre forward impaling a frosthound that tried to jump him, the fighting continued on for a painful 30 minutes. The residents of Our Town were not left unscathed, out of the estimated 23 ponies, 5 of them were killed during the attack and a further 7 were left injured.

CH-3 Moonshine

MLP:OPERATION ICEBOUND CH-3 MOONSHINE
8th December (4th Equestrian Era)
8:45 PM
"We never actually met" Said the unicorn mare, "My names Starlight Glimmer, its not common to find friendly ponies anymore nowadays" said Starlight, "Likewise, names Onyx Vesper" replied Onyx vesper casually, "Want to go celebrate the victory down at the bar?" proposed Starlight, "sure thing" replied Onyx Vesper.
As they headed towards one of the houses with had a tankard sign hanging they opened the door and entered, they found an empty booth and sat down." So what are you ordering?" asked Starlight, "You know what i'll take the strongest moonshine they got" Onyx Vesper replied smugly, "Sure thing thing" she ordered the drinks and a few moments later they arrived, "So, I saw you out there, pretty impressive stuff" said Starlight. Onyx Vesper took a swig of the moonshine and realised how potent it truly was, "Yeah, it takes practice" he sputtered as the moonshine burned down his throat, "Onyx I know that you're new to Our Town, if you don't mind telling me what are you doing here? We do not get much visitors these days" Starlight asked him curiously, "I'm a Mercenary and I came into this town on my way to the Northern Equestrian snow dunes, and also call me Vesper or Ves" replied Vesper, "funny you mention that I was actually planning on going there, mind if i tag along?" asked Starlight, "sure thing I don't see a problem with that" replied Vesper.

1 HOUR LATER
"So... I got this what ya call it? Ummm ya know what its a weapon that's the important thing, and I got it as a prize from what's her name Me armour Cadence? Can't remember what for though." slurred Vesper incoherently, Starlight looks like she was about to pass out any minute "Is it of Saddle Arabia..." and then she passed out, "damn it Starlight, Hey... You behind the bar! We need a place to stay!" shouted Vesper as he suddenly sobered up a little, Vesper tossed over 15 bits a and in return the stallion tossed over a key and pointed towards a door, Vesper picked up Starlight and headed towards the door that the stallion pointed towards, he practically dragged himself along with a unconscious starlight on his back into the room and dropped her onto the bed, as it was quite late and he also at the verge of passing out, so he decided to just plopped himself next to Starlight and he was out cold in about 5 minutes.

8 HOURS LATER
Vesper suddenly awoke as he felt warm something fuzzy touching him, he slowly turned his head to find Starlight still asleep but now she was snuggled up to him. He glanced over to the clock on the wall and saw it was only 5:45 in the morning, he decided to just go back to sleep as he was too comfortable with Starlight next to him, he sighed and closed his eyes and fell back asleep not long after.

CH-4 Dreamers

MLP:OPERATION ICEBOUND CH-4 DREAMERS
9th December (4th Equestrian Era
6:00 AM
Vesper awoke under an ancient willow tree, he got up and noticed that he was in a valley which was surrounded by scenic mountains which had large pine trees growing on them, he looked around to see that the only place the snow was covering was the mountain peaks, he took in the serene sight in front of him, "It reminds me... Of before" he lamented silently, he closed his eyes and when he opened them once again he saw a more familiar sight, he still saw the same mountains as he did before, however this time it were frozen and a blizzard raging on, no signs of life in sight, it looked dead.
Vesper could also feel a sudden drop in temperature, any water that was flowing freely was now frozen, turned from water to ice, "well, no point of standing around" said Vesper to himself, so he decided to head off in a random direction of the vallis, he travelled for what felt like days and the valley looked the same, he was tired, hungry, dehydrated but he carried on wandering the frozen mountain for a few more days.
Vesper felt as if he was about to pass out from exhaustion but he tried to move on anyway, his hooves were begging him to rest but he carried on walking, Vesper's vision started to become cloudy and soon after he dropped on the floor unconscious.

11:00 AM
Vesper awoke suddenly as he could clearly remember what he had been dreaming about, he found it rather strange as it was the first time he had a dream like that in a while, he turned his head towards where Starlight was laying, but she wasn't laying anymore she was sitting up on the bed. "Morning, sleep well?" asked Starlight, "yeah I guess" replied Vesper, he was still dazed as he has just woken up, "how long have you been awake?" asked Vesper, "I woke up probably like 10 minutes ago" said Starlight, "when do you want to head out?" asked Vesper curiously, "I don't mind, whenever" replied Starlight, I will think about the best time to leave" said Vesper.
"You know what? I'm hungry, I'm going to go order some food, want anything starlight?" asked Vesper, "Get me whatever I'm not a picky eater" Replied starlight
Vesper left the room and headed towards the bar he hoped that he did not forget the way to the bar.

11:10 AM
But it turns out that he did forget and spent 10 minutes trying to find the bar, after he did find it he just ordered the same thing twice and paid upfront and went towards an empty booth. he didn't have to wait long as there was not many ponies out and about at this time, but there were some out doing their own thing, he got disturbed out of his thought by Starlight saying his name, he did not even realise that their food got delivered, or that starlight came up to him.
Starlight sat down in the seat next to him and used her magic to promptly dug into her food, after roughly 20 minutes of eating get both got up and headed for the door.

CH-5 Nomads

MLP:OPERATION ICEBOUND CH-5 NOMADS
9th December (4th Equestrian era)
11:30 AM
Vesper and Starlight were walking towards the ruined gates of Our Town which were currently undergoing repairs after the last attack, they left the small town and headed onwards towards the great equestrian snow dunes, they travelled in silence for an awkward 30 minutes until Starlight said something. "where are you from again?" asked Starlight curiously, "I'm from the Crystal Empire, why do you ask?" replied Vesper, "I'm just curious" replied Starlight.
They continued on walking in a dead silence, as they were walking they noticed a relatively large group of ponies, they were using strange quadruped thing to pass the through the blizzard, the thing looked rather primitive yet its size and how it was moving left both of them feel wrong at the thing in front of them, they decided that it would be wise to avoid the group as they did not know if the ponies or the thing were friend or foe.
As the group of ponies passed on, Vesper and Starlight remained undetected as they were not looking forward to find out if the group was friendly or not, after the group passed they decided that it was time to move out, however as there was a raging blizzard currently going on they ended up getting turned around and did not notice that they were heading towards the Crystal City

12:00 PM
Vesper and starlight seemed confused as they saw the Crystal City coming into view, they were certain that the were going the right way but it seemed that they were mistaken.
they entered the city as they have decided to resupply roughly 30 minutes later they heard the Crystal City's bone chilling siren, then a pre-recorded message by Cadence was broadcasted, "If you are hearing this broadcast this means that the crystal city is going to be attacked by Wendigos, Prepare yourselves my little Ponies" then the broadcast was cut off, Vesper felt a significant drop in temperature, a ravenous swarm of wendigos burst into the city in mass numbers the amount of death happening around Vesper and Starlight was unreal roughly 6 ponies near the entrance to the city were devoured by the wendigos, leaving nothing but empty frozen husks.
vesper tried to fight the wendigos but he was overcome, the wendigos clawed at chest he managed to kill 2 of the ferocious beasts before a blast of concentrated magic Incinerated the group on top of him then he passed out due to his wounds

12:00 PM
Starlight saw that Vesper was struggling against 6 wendigos as they were ruthlessly clawing at him, he managed to take down two of them before he collapsed, she acted quickly by channelling large amounts of magic and she fired a powerful fire spell and promptly incinerated the wendigos in the area, then she rushed towards vesper, he was gravely wounded but alive she cast spell which would heal the bleeding and rushed him towards the city's hospital, the next moments felt like centuries she felt as if time itself has been slowed, she hated that feeling, she was also exhausted from that magic blast she conjured. Once she reached the hospital they took vesper to hopefully treat his wounds, she then realised the true horror of the attack, the numbers of the dead were significantly higher than the numbers of wounded. she decided that she would just sleep in the waiting room in the hospital as she did not have anywhere to stay.
she decided that she would just wander around the city.
She did not know how long it has been but he was alive and that was good, when she looked outside she noticed that the sun has gone down and she decided that she would go to sleep.

CH-6 Awakenings

MLP:OPERATION ICEBOUND
12th December (4th Equestrian Era)
5:00 AM

Vesper slowly awakened feeling immense pain in his chest, He felt as if his vital organs were turned to ice and then melted into steaming pile of sludge, then put back together into regular organs by a 6 year old filly, as if they were a regular jig-saw puzzle. But the good thing was that he was still alive, even though he was still alive, he felt as if he was almost dead, he stared at the bland white wall and the wall stared back, he didn't know how long he was staring at the wall, but a nurse snapped him out of his little staring competition with the wall. "Umm hello, is everything ok?" the kind nurse asked,
Vesper looked dead in her eyes and said, "yes," the nurse felt uneasy as Vesper stared dead into her eyes and thought about ordering a medical exam for brain damage, "do you need anything?" the nurse asked cautiously, "Food" Vesper replied his facial expression not changing at all.

The nurse left the room and started considering that medical exam, while vesper found it rather funny as he did not expect the nurse to act like she did, "she must of thought that my brain isn't working correctly" he thought he decided that he will turn on the big chunky thing of a radio which was sitting on the bedside table next to him, he tuned to a random radio station and he just enjoyed the song that was playing as it was an absolute beat.

Discord, I'm howlin' at the moon
And sleepin' in the middle of a summer afternoon
Discord, whatever did we do
To make you take our world away?
Discord, are we your prey alone
Or are we just a stepping stone for taking back the throne?
Discord, we won't take it anymore
So take your tyranny away

He turned down the radio as he heard hoofsteps approaching his room and was rather surprised when Starlight Entered the room. "Hello there Starlight, How have you been?" Vesper asked completely normally, "Hello Vesper, I have been fine, what about you?" she said calmly, "Well first of all, I briefly became a chew toy for like 4 wendigos, then I probably had my organs played with, as if they were a jigsaw puzzle, and a nurse probably thinks that I have severe brain damage, but the last one was quite funny." replied vesper, "it sure does seem like you had lots of fun" Starlight said supressing a slight giggle, " "hey what's so funny!" Vesper replied sarcastically, before Starlight could say anything the nurse came back into the room and realised that Vesper was capable of having a normal conversation, "Are you fucking kidding me, I just spent 10 minutes ordering this medical exam because I thought that you had serious brain damage and were incapable of basic sentences!" the nurse said unprofessionally, "well first of all I literally just woke up before you started asking me questions, Anyway when can I be discharged?" asked Vesper.

To be Continued