Chapter 2 - Settling in Final-Part
By : The Eternal Star

A few hours had passed since we had taken up to the skies and Mom and Dad's little banter had ended, the flight had been mostly a straight one with only occasional turning or change of altitude. My family was quiet for a few minutes before a spark of conversation began when my mother asked my brother Ethern if he had discovered his elemental alignment, or is still working on it.

My brother answered that he hasn't yet discovered his elemental alignment, but is leaning toward fire or lightning as now he started to take notice that casting fire or lightning spells wasn't as hard as other types of elements.

After my mother heard this, she made a joke that my brother would be just like my father; a fire alicorn who would someday manage to somehow win the heart of an Ice or Water Alicorn despite the clashing personalities of both sides.

Upon hearing mother's joke about him being a fire alicorn, my brother Ethern turned to my father and asked how had he discovered his elemental alignment. A question of which my father was more than happy to oblige as he started to spin the story of how he had discovered his alignment to be fire.

Apparently, when he was just fifteen cycles old and was still training and learning in the combat academy, his class was signed up for endurance and survival training in the cold wilderness of the Aquarice Empire where the lands are always frozen in snow and ice.

With average temperatures in there being somewhere around minus thirty to minus forty-five degrees, if you stay away from any populated areas. This below-zero temperature is twice what an average Alicorn can endure without proper winter clothing, which is somewhere around minus fifteen to minus twenty degrees.

Even if you wear appropriate winter clothing, it would still be deadly to stay outside without any coverage due to the frequent snowstorms and blizzards happening. To make it even worse, the temperatures would get two or three times even lower at night, making any attempt to move in the freezing temperatures deadly.

Father explained that the objective of this almost ridiculous and dangerous training in the cold weather and frozen lands of Aquarice is to train young protectors in endurance and survival skills because as a real protectors. You must be accustomed to staying in an uncomfortable at the very best and downright dangerous at worst weathers and locations for a long time.

Not only that, but it is also to test and increase young protector's endurance in marching across harsh terrains and weathers as some quests and tasks would require them to do multiple long marches with only short delays in between.

The frozen wilderness of Aquarice was chosen because it was the 'easiest' harsh terrain to survive on at the time as his class hadn't had any experience in surviving and marching in any harsh terrains or weather.

The test was, of course, initiated with the careful and sharp watch of their teachers so that in case an Alicorn is too exhausted, injured, or otherwise something went wrong with the test. The teachers would be able to easily intervene and solve the problems the young protectors can't solve, or rescue them if the situations call for it.

After explaining the circumstances that made him able to discover his elemental alignment fire, Dad then truly began explaining how he discovered it. Apparently, during the second week of the test, Dad and a few of his classmates were split from the main group after a blizzard that lasted for hours.

From then on they began to truly feel the experience of surviving alone in the cold and harsh frozen wilderness of Aquarice. For days they survived alone in the cold wilderness, they rationed their remaining food and warm water as their stocks had apparently been caught in the blizzard and were lost.

There weren't any Ice or Water Alicorns among them at the time so they had to carve out small thin bricks of ice with their knives and swords one by one from frozen lakes and rivers, they did it slowly and carefully to ensure that the frozen lakes below them don't crack when they carved the ice out of it.

Then they placed together the small thin ice with snow and waited a night to create a bigger ice brick. After five nights of repeating this process, they managed to build an igloo big enough to fit him and his friends.

But by then four out of seven of them had gone unconscious with the first and second ones already having the tip of their hooves, wings, and ears, alongside some other thin body parts that went dark blue and were cold when touched, apparently due to the extreme cold it was receiving caused frostbites.

Upon witnessing the obvious effect of frostbites on their unconscious friends. My father, and his two remaining conscious friends gave all of their winter clothes to their unconscious friend in an attempt to warm them up and prevent the frostbites from doing even more damage.

But it was in vain as two hours after that they checked their unconscious friend's condition again and saw that their attempt did nothing to stop the frostbites as the blue and cold area now reached the lower part of their hooves.

Seeing that their attempt did nothing to stop the frostbites from worsening, my father gathered and wore all of his winter clothes alongside multiple huge iron buckets in his magic, before volunteering to go outside and get them some water so they then could heat it and use it to drown their friend's frozen body parts so it will slowly warm it back up.

Dad then said that when he got outside and tried to get them some water from a nearby frozen lake, a snowstorm happened that made him walk slowly every time he tried to move his hooves forward. It would be weighted by the snow and then after it was released it would quickly fall on the ground again, just mere centimeters from where his hooves were before.

This made his walk to the lake take longer than anticipated, and he soon found his hooves collapsing on their own as they could no longer hold his body weight and resist the biting cold. During this moment, my father said that he felt angry at his situation but was more angry at himself for not being able to do more.

At the time he was so angry at his own body for not following his will and his greatest allies, that his magic couldn't help or save him. He was so angry at himself, angry that he wasn't an Ice or Water Alicorn that had an unbelievable natural cold-resistant body, angry that he wasn't a Fire or Blaze Alicorn so that he could just melt all the ice and snow covering him.

And most of all he was angry that he couldn't do anything to save his freezing friends back at the igloo that hoped he would come back with the water they needed.

Dad then explained that anger is an emotion that is greatly tied and reflected to fire and blaze elements, his magic at the time converted and used his anger as a power source for fire magic as at the time, his magical reserve had been depleted to dangerous level.

He was surprised to find out that he no longer felt cold and all the snow and ice around him began to melt, he managed to stand up and look at his own body which was burning in flames. Yet he neither felt the pains that are expected to come, nor the fire actually burning his body.

However, he managed to overcome his surprise and wonder as he realized that he still had friends who were counting their lives on him. He then focused on the task and quickly got to the lakes which was now easier due to all the snow around him melting as he walked, he managed to get to the lake and fill all of the buckets with water.

After which, he walked back to the igloo where he stopped a few meters away from it to prevent the igloo from melting due to him being literally on fire, he called out to his friends who then walked outside and shocked to see father's burning form.

Nevertheless, they don't question it and instead just went straight on taking all of the filled bucket and went inside the igloo back. A few minutes later though, his two friends brought with them all four of their unconscious friends outside and instead brought them closer to Father's burning form.

They then placed the water bucket around Father for half an hour, basically using him as a literal living campfire. After the water bucket had been warmed up, they then put their friend's frozen body parts in the water while still keeping their form around Father.

Lucky for them though, a few hours after that three Ice Alicorn rangers alongside four Water Alicorn healers spotted them due to father's burning form making a small spark of light seen across the otherwise dark night from the skies.

The seven Ice and Water Alicorns then quickly glided down with the healers quickly began taking care of their unconscious friends while the rangers called for backup with their blue magical crystal radios, the backup arrived half an hour later and they were carried back to civilization.

After Dad finished his telling of how he got to know his elemental alignment, my brother's and my eyes widened in horrification at what Father was forced to endure, and in respect that despite the unbelievable odds stacked against him, he managed to overcome it and saved not only himself but also all of his friends lives.

' Wow Dad, I know that you are one hell of a mighty and strong stallion. But if that is what average young protectors are forced to go through during their training to become a full-fledged protector, especially if combined with the unexpected circumstances you are forced to endure.

They really have earned my respect and aren't like what I thought before, as I'm sure that if I were to be in that position. I would have died by the second or third day, and maybe four days if I was lucky.'

I thought in my mind as now I know that the trainings to become a protector were harsh to their last, it practically pushed young Alicorns to their limits. Truly, the protectors in this world were absolute warriors because if surviving in a frozen wilderness with constant below temperatures is the 'easiest' training, then I couldn't imagine how their final test gonna be.

After our eyes had shrinked, my brother asked Dad what he meant when he said that at the time, he hated that he wasn't an Ice or Water Alicorn to which Dad said to talk to Mom about it. This is how we exactly got to the current topic of conversation, my brother turned to Mom and asked her about it to which she replied

"Well, Ethern. You see Water and Ice Alicorns have a natural very high cold-resistant body, if an average Alicorns that aren't water or ice have cold resistance without proper winter clothes to be around minus fifteen to minus twenty degrees.

Water Alicorns have an average cold resistance of about minus two hundred to minus three hundred degrees and their advanced form, Ice Alicorns has twice as low or about minus four hundred to minus six hundred degrees.

This phenomenal extremely high cold-resistant has a weakness though, that being we can't stand under heat of more than twenty-five degrees for too long. At that temperature, we would be already sweating and prolonged exposure in areas with increased temperature such as deserts or savannahs,

And/or without often hydration or cooling would result in our body heating up too high and if within the next twenty-four hours we don't get any cooler or hydrating drinks? We would die due to extreme body temperature and extreme dehydration"

' So basically being an Ice or Water Alicorns means you would thrive in cold weather and terrains but go somewhere slightly hot, and you would start to dehydrate and die within the next twenty-four hours without any cooler or waters. Got it, so if my elemental alignments are water or ice then make sure to always pack with myself gallons of water.'

I thought in my mind as I can understand why Water and Ice Alicorns are always at the forefront of advancements and prefer knowledge over strength- because they mostly can't go anywhere even slightly hot without carrying a lot of water with them.

However, this does make me wonder how Mother stays hydrated despite the fact that she hasn't drunk anything in the last few hours. Before I remembered that Mother would quite often during the flight, go right through several dark clouds filled with water which would always end up with Mom and me drenched wet.

I guess now I know how Mother cools her body, and how to do a quick shower if I am on a tight schedule. My brother then turned his head to face Father again and this time asked with feelings of curiosity and slight fear "Dad, do I one day have to do that kind of survival and endurance training to become a full-fledged protector?"

My father, seeing the slight fear in his voice smiled understandably at him and said in a reassuring tone "Well, it has been a few cycles and years since I have graduated from the combat academy so there might be some changes in the curriculum and training.

But if I were to believe what my comrades said about their colts and fillies now doing the survival and endurance test, and their participation in ensuring that their foals are fine during the tests? Yeah my colt, it is a necessity test you need to complete to become a full-fledged protector.

But don't worry about it Ethern, you still have nine cycles and a few years away before you are expected to take the test. Even when the time has come for it, we will be there to ensure your safety Ethern and I will not let anything endanger your safety more than what was required for the test- even if it will cost my life if needed to"

You know, normally I would have brushed off this bit of conversation as Father being the protective and caring father he is. Were it not for one thing that I noticed about this conversation.

'Dad, did you just say that cycles and years are two different references to time and that one cycle doesn't equal one year?'. I questioned this in my mind as I blinked several times to process that years and cycles are two different references to time.

"Yeah Ethern, your mother here is an Ice Alicorn and you need not fear your own parent relentlessly searching for you in the cold winter as Mommy here is practically immune to it," Mom said in a reassuring upon noticing that Ethern still had a worried but not fearful look on his face judging by the way he glances at mom and dad with his eyelids went straight alongside his lips half-upward.

Upon hearing father and mother's reassuring voices, my brother took a few deep breaths as he closed both of his eyes in an attempt to calm the worried and fearful feelings inside him for the next few seconds. Until he opened his eyes and smiled as he said in a happy tone "Thanks Dad, Mom. I'm glad to know that both of you are gonna be there to ensure my safety when I'm taking this kind of test."

Mom and Dad let out a smile at Ethern's words before the former looked forward and said "My filly, Critic. Look, it's our house over there". Which I moved my gaze forward to see that my family home apparently looked similar to most of the crystal buildings I had seen before.

Only this time has much more variable in terms of colors and has more taste of greenery as I see quite a few fields filled with bushes that sprout glowing purple-oriented flowers alongside some trees inside the large fences of the house.

Beside the house is a two-floor tall building that eerily looked similar to the libraries in the magical academy I had seen a few hours ago, only this time it was made of dark crystals with several white crystal lanterns on each of the sides.

This building had a black crystal double door with slight white coloration on the edges, on its left side is a balcony which had a huge telescope I assumed used to observe space objects. The rooftop of this building is also a book, but instead of the opened book I had seen back in the libraries inside the magical academy, it was a closed dark book with a singular crescent moon in the middle of it.

Two windows can be seen on each side of the buildings with each window having potted cyan-white ice bush plants. This building must be the personal lab my mother had spoken to a few hours ago when we were still in the hospital.

Now here comes the house itself, the house has purple crystal pathways that lead up to the door of the house coming from the front gate of the fences. I assumed that the two-floor tall purple-crossed-white house to be somewhere around twenty to twenty-five meters in length and about ten to fifteen meters in width, while the range between the house and the tall fences is about fifty to sixty meters.

Considering that mom's personal lab looked two-thirds to our house in terms of length and width, I suppose it's somewhere around thirteen to eighteen meters in length and maybe seven to eleven meters in width. Now the specifics of the house, the house has a double door similar to the buildings beside it but the color was instead, a dark blue with violet coloration around the edges.

And just like the buildings beside it, it also has several windows with each having potted white cyan-white ice bushes. Although, instead of just one balcony. It has in total four balconies with each one seemingly to be part of a room on the second floor, so each of our room have a balcony. Quite interesting and I do wonder why they do so.

But anyway, after giving me a few minutes to see and inspect the house. I then noticed out of the corner of my eyes, that my family were angling their wings again and this time it was facing downward-forward, before giving a plap that resulted in us quite rapidly starting to descend from the skies.

My family then spread out their wings to their fullest as they glided into the crystal pathway leading into the house. After they had landed, my mother tried to look up at me and asked "My filly Critic, what do you think of our house?"

I looked once again at the overall surroundings now that we had landed and I could get a closer look, I took notice that our house has several symbols carved onto the walls of it. Nothing perceiveable if you are far away but definitely can be seen up close and if you have keen eyes.

As I looked at the symbols on the walls of our house, my family must have noticed my wandering and interested gaze as Ethern said "I think she liked our house mom, I now noticed that it's hard to see her emotion since her face rarely showed anything other than neutral expression.

But judging by her eyes that moved often after she set her sight on one thing for a few seconds or more, she must be at the very least interested in what she is seeing."

After hearing that, I moved and lowered my gaze slowly from the symbols on the house to my brother's face while keeping my facial expression neutral. I then stared directly at his bright blue eyes and I thought accusingly 'What next brother? While you are correct that I was indeed at the very least interested in the house in front of us, are you gonna keep trying to understand me by the way my eyes moved?'

Upon seeing my face slowly moving and lowering toward him while still keeping my ever-neutral expression and then staring directly at his eyes with piercing gaze, he must have been slightly spooked as he said with nervousness and a slight tremble filled his voice.

"Y-yeah mom, I-I think she's indeed at the very least interested at what she is seeing, and damn it, little sis. You must have personality traits like mom or similar to it, you even had her silent, neutral, cold, and piercing gaze when mom is all quiet and silent."

' Is that so brother? Good to know that she has her silent and quiet side which means I won't have to deal with a very affectionate mother every time and day' I thought in my mind as I slowly moved my gaze upward and onto the house again, but never leaving my eyes from his until I had my face fully turned.

My father must have seen my brother's reaction to my neutral piercing gaze as he chuckled and said.

"Well, well, well Ethern my colt. It seems from today on, we will have a little version of Mother living in our house. You better get used to their silent and quiet side, that's exactly how I started to win your mother heart's after all.

And I'm sure you want to have a good relationship with your little sis before you come of age and become a full-fledged protector". My father then turned his gaze to Mother and his expression turned into one of concern, curious at what father was concerned about.

I too looked downward to see that Mother start letting out huffed breaths and her body was sweating, I then looked up at the skies and noticed that the sun was right in the middle of the skies. I know that Ice and Water Alicorn have low heat resistance, but already sweating not even fifteen minutes after we are drenched wet? That's extreme.

My mother then lightened up her horn as we were encased in a field of blue magic before a bright blue flash blinded me for a split second before it disappeared and now I was still on top of my mother's head. But instead of standing in front of the house, we are inside a room filled with types of furniture and walls made of purple-oriented crystals.

The room has a few cabinets and a single window with transparent crystal glass that allows us to see the outside world, on each corner of the ceilings and in the middle were a few single white crystals encased inside a transparent that makes it have the appearance similar to a lantern.

The room must have been quite spacious for right now I see a crystal white master bed with red and blue blankets, alongside a violet crystal desk on each of its sides. Further left of it, I see a smaller violet bed with violet fences surrounding it with a small single violet crystals on top of it,... this must have been my foal cage didn't it?

Anyway, my mother then quickly got to one of the cabinets and opened it to reveal a few dozen neatly packed blue crystal bottles. She grabbed two of the bottles with her magic before pulling out both bottle's covers and drank one of the bottles till it was empty before drinking another one in quick succession.

After she had drunk both of the bottles, Mom let out a pleasant and happy sigh before placing the two bottles- which now I see to start refilling themselves -back inside the cabinets and closing them.

My mother then stayed in one place as she closed her eyes and cooled her body down for a few seconds before a rumbling was heard coming from my belly. Mother opened her eyes and looked at me as she said after a chuckle."Well, I guess it's lunchtime for you my filly Critic. You must be hungry again, let momma Aeterna feed you".

She then walked to the bed before bringing me down from her head with her wings as she began laying on the bed with her back, after that she moved again so this time she lay on her right side before bringing me down with her wings to where her teats are and I quickly latched onto one of it.

Once again, pride is damned as I was feeling hungry and because whether I liked it or not, I must drink mother's milk until I was old enough to eat solid and normal foods. Anyway, I began sucking on the teats until it started to let out the sweet sour kinds of milk I liked as it flowed straight into my mouth and my hungry belly.

While I was sucking on Mom's teats, she let out a humming tune and tried to suppress moans that were escaping her lips. After a few minutes, I felt the milk had run dry and my belly was full, I let go of the snatch as my mother then brought me up to her face with her wings.

She showed a happy and serene smile as she said "There you go now my Critic, all nice and full again just like before- she then looked at my foal cage -well I guess now I will put you in your bed my filly. I also have something else to do like ensuring that your over-protective and caring father didn't panic when you and me vanished in a bright blue light"

Mom then got out of bed and walked over toward my bed with her still carrying me in her wings, she then gently lowered me down and placed me on my back on top of the bed. She let go of her wings and looked at my form for a few seconds before she said in a hopeful voice.

"I hope that one day you will be an even better researcher and mother than me my filly, Critic. For those that truly set on the path of knowledge and wisdom, there is always room for improvement and just like what my teacher once said to me; This day and on will be the day when you will look up to me as I taught you the secrets of the world, Aeterna.

But remember that one day you would find that instead of looking up at me for knowledge, I would be the one looking up at you as you had surpassed your teacher's accomplishments in their life, which means I had done my job as it was intended."

And with that being said, my mother left me alone in my bed as she walked out of the room. Well, I guess this is it then, I will be stuck mostly inside this room and house for the next few years- cycles? -until I had grown up enough to see and walk the world on my own.

Author's Note

Okay now that I have managed to set up the foundation and give you all readers an idea of what to expect on this story's world.

I can finally start progressing the story further, so expext that the next few chapters will have time skip.

As a final note, I'm wondering to those who disliked my story. Could you tell me what you disliked about it? Because I need all the reviews and criticism I can get.