Investigation in the North
It is another night in Ponyville and Twilight is doing some reading before heading to bed. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door. She thinks, “Who could it be at this hour?” and starts to head towards the door. As she opens the door, one of the royal guards waits outside.
“I’m here to escort you to a secret location. Princess Celestia has an assignment for you.”
Twilight, looking confused by this order, asked, “Really? She hasn't said anything to me about this?”
“Well, that is because the Princess is in the chariot waiting for you.”
Twilight looks behind the guard and sees Celestia waiting in the chariot. “Okay then....Let's go.”
As Twilight climbs into the chariot, She looks up at Celestia and she has a look like something is bothering her. As the chariot takes off, Celestia looks over at Twilight, faking a smile.
“Hello my faithful student. How goes this night?”
“It’s…going good. Just doing some late-night reading.”
“That’s good.”
“I’m sure you didn’t drag me away from my reading to ask me how my night is. What seems to be the matter?”
Celestia’s smile fades away.
“True. There has been an issue that has come to my attention. I believe I’ve found something to be a little weird.”
“What is it Princess?”
“How do I say this without it being confusing...an earth pony somehow knows how to use magic.”
“An earth pony that knows magic? How it that possible?” Twilight replied, sounding both shocked and confused.
“I have no idea, but the pony is known as Ice Phoenix and is amazingly powerful. This newfound power has corrupted him, I’m afraid, and has already murdered a few ponies already. I am sending you in to see if you could convince him to stop.”
“Are you sure sending in just me is a good idea? What if he doesn't trust me?”
“Well...maybe you should come with your friends.”
“No. If he is as dangerous as you say then I don't want to risk my friends getting hurt. I can handle it princess.”
“Ok then. We are heading to the tundra plains where he lives.”
As both Twilight and Celestia arrive at their destination, Twilight got off the chariot and sees a big abandoned town.
Twilight sees a sign covered in snow so she uses her magic to remove it to see what it said.
Welcome to Snowfall Valley
“So this is where Ice Phoenix lives?”
“I’m afraid so. This use to be such a beautiful place to visit.”
I can imagine….. I can take it from here princess. I will report back when I am done.”
“Ok student take care and good luck……you will need it.”
The chariot takes off and disappears towards the horizon.
Twilight suddenly felt something dash past her and a cold chill ran down her spine. She looks around to see what that was. She sees nothing and assumes it was just the wind. She starts to walk towards the small town, keeping an eye out for anything.
“He....He....Hello? I..I'm looking for Ice Phoenix.”
“Run….Run away.”
She turns towards where the voice came from. She looks down an alley and sees a shadow come out. It was a pony wearing a hood and cloak.
“If you value your life, run now and never come back.”
“What are you talking about? I’m just here to see…”
“I know why you are here. You are not the first to look for Ice Phoenix. Others have come before. None have left. Please, if you value your life, leave now.”
A distance screech was heard, getting louder as it was getting closer. Hearing this put Twilight in fear.
“Run,” the pony said as he disappeared back into the alley.
As the screeching was getting louder, Twilight tried to understand what the mysterious pony just told her. “Others…before me?” Something inside her was telling her that she made a mistake coming. Just as the thought of running came into her mind, she felt something ice cold grab her and pick her up. She struggles but can’t break free. She sees that it is a giant bird that is carrying her. After a couple of seconds, she was thrown into an abandoned building and the doors slammed shut. She tries to realize what just happened and tries to use her magic to get out of the building but she received a sharp pain.
“It is being blocked by something.....or somepony.” she thought as she was looking around. Then, a dark, evil laugh filled up the room.
She yells out, “Who’s there?”
“You already know who I am.” The voice talking back sounded like it was all around her. “After all, you were sent here to get rid of me. I wonder, has your precious princess Celestia finally sent a worthy challenger or another weakling like the others?”
“Others?” she replied back, sounding shocked.
“Yes, although…..none of them were a unicorn as famous as you. All I’ve dealt with so far have been some of the royal guards and the Pegasus that you call the Wonderbolts. Don’t know what was so wonderful about them. They barely lasted five minutes. And those guards were a joke. Haha…..hahaha”
“Where are you?”
“Oh, that’s right. We weren’t properly introduced to each other. I am,” the room lights up from candles just lit, showing the mysterious pony standing at the end of the room, “Ice Phoenix”
His skin was as black as the night from the corruption and had icy blue eyes. He had a maniacal, twisted smile on his face. His main and tail was a mixture of black and dark blue. There was a cold, light-blue aura that surrounded him.
“You’ve already meet my pet, Permafrost”
She sees the bird that brought her here. It looked just like the princess’s phoenix but was much larger and had a cold mist surrounding it.
“And you are Twilight Sparkle, the most faithful student to Princess Celestia. Wielder of the Element of Magic. Prevented both Nightmare Moon and Discord from taking over.”
“How do you know so much about me?” Twilight asked sounding scared.
“You think the actions of what you and your band of friends did was only known in Ponyville and Canterlot? All of Equestria knows all about it. In fact, I should be honored that they decided to send you to come after me. It’s not everyday a celebrity come to visit. You probably have a lot of questions for me. So what is it you would like to know about?”
“I just have one question. How are you able to use magic? I mean, you’re an earth pony. It just doesn’t make sence.”
He laughed at the question.
“Ahh, the question on everypony’s mind. How I can control magic. To be honest, I can’t remember must after I’ve gone insane. Ahh insanity. Such a wonderful state of mind. Ha..hahaha. Luckily, I have Permafrost here to make sure I don’t fall in too deep.”
“Wha….what?
“I know, a shock, isn’t it? Hahaha.”
His laughter fills up the room.
“Lo…look. I’m was sent here to help you, not fight you.”
“help. Help? HELP?!” His smile disappeared and the atmosphere in the room felt heavier. His eyes started to glow and it was getting colder. “YOU ARE JUST LIKE THE OTHERS! OFFER ME HELP AND THEN HURT ME FOR THE FUN OF IT. TORMENT ME FOR BEING…..DIFFRENT. NO. NO MORE!
Permafrost gave out a loud screech, calming down Ice Phoenix.
“Th…thank you, friend. So, you would like to know about my ability to control magic huh? Fair enough. Let me tell you about my past.”
"Let me ask you a question; Have you ever experienced hardship before?"
He began to walk towards Twilight.
"Of course not. You were born into wealth. Fame and glory were at your every hoofstep. The wielder of the Element of Magic, Protégé to Princess Celestia herself, caring friends, a loving...family. Life handed everything to you on a silver platter. I guess fortune does favor the wealthy."
He stops a couple of paces in front of Twilight.
"I never had that. Any of that. I was abandoned. Left to fend for myself. My "parents" didn't even have the kindness to leave a letter explaining why and everypony else would either avoid me or make fun of me. Constant insults of 'His parents must have thought he was useless' or 'His parents must have not wanted him' was the only interaction I had with the other fillies as they walked with their parents."
Anger fills his face. "Twenty years of being alone can really get to a pony." Cracking a smile, "That was, until I found this."
Phoenix pointed at the necklace on his neck. It looked like jewelry meant for royalty, yet somewhat familiar to Twilight. The center jewel was in the shape of a creature with sharp teeth smiling. Twilight new she seen this necklace before, or at least, that creature.
"Where...Where did you get that?"
Phoenix laughed. "It all started with an explosion."
"An explosion?", Twilight asked. Her mind racing for an answer on the identity of that necklace.
"Yes, an explosion. It happened over yonder in the local forest. The ground trembled and the entire sky lit up with ribbons of colors. It was the most amazing sight until this red ball of light began to descend to the ground. As this object made contact with the ground, I could smell the grass burning. As I arrived at the location to where it fell down , I found this lovely jewelry lying on the ground; Nearby grass singed and turned to ash and the snow melted and became steam. Now at first, I was a little scared about touching it, as it was giving off tremendous heat, But soon built up the courage to grab it. It was ice cold to the touch, as if it had been stored in the ice for over a millennium. The only thing weirder than that was the voice that I started to hear. Right here, in the back of my head."
"A...A voice?" Twilight was starting to feel scared. Each piece of information being gathered was coming up to an almost impossible answer.Could it be? No. Impossible,...right?
"It started talking to me, or rather, he did. He told me many things, including what your princess did to him. Taking what was rightfully his, and trapping him, only to comeback and almost get killed. Now that doesn't sound like a loving princess to me. Oh no no no no. Not at all. In fact, remember the voice I mentioned?"
Twilight nods her head slowly. Her eyes begin to widen at this. No. It couldn't be. I saw it happened with my own eyes
"Oh good. Because throughout this conversation, he's been back there, yelling at me, to KILL YOU."
The jewel on the necklace glowed.
KILL HER. DESTROY HER. MAKE HER FEEL ALL THE PAIN THAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH BY THE HOOFS OF HER FRIENDS!!!
"But, I can show mercy, unlike Celestia. So I will give you two choices. 1. Run. Run and never come back. And don't get in my way. Choice number 2. I will make you experience the most excruciation pains, the likes of which the pits of Tartarus seem pitiful and hellfire as useless as snow. I have you watch as I end your entire family and they lay at your hoof. I will rip apart and destroy everything and everypony that you have ever held dear. And then, just then, I might just show mercy and end your pitiful existence."
Twilight was shaken by this; tears forming. "You...You're nothing more than a monster."
The halls shook with laughter, though more heavier and filled with a sinister presence.
"Me, a monster. I think not. When being pushed down your entire life but then finding a way to push back does not justify me a monster. No. A monster is when you have the power to help the ones who are truly in need but instead, use it to gain fame and fortune with no regards to the negativity their actions might do or cause in the wake." His eyes began to shine a bright red and began to emit a purple-ish hue. A dark shadow stood behind Phoenix and Twilight recognized who it was. "They only think of themselves. They take that which is not theirs to claim and when you try to retrieve what you spent your entire life working on and to be so close and have it swiped away from you in the name of so called justice. Those are the true monsters. You've made your choice Twilight. NOW YOU WILL DIE!!
The jewel lit up with a dark red glow and a beam shot out towards Twilight. In a bright. purple flash, she disappeared. All that remained was destruction on the floor and wall.
Twilight appeared outside of town and next to Celestia. The guards were at the ready.
"My dear student, Are you okay?" The princess asked, walking over to try and comfort the shaken unicorn. "We were about to go in and get you out of there."
"We need to leave."
"What was that Twilight?"
We need to leave. Now!
Celestia was startled at this demand but nodded at her guards to ready the chariots. As Celestia and Twilight got on and took off back to Ponyville, Celestia turned to ask, "What happened back there that has you shaken up?" Twilight looked up, after having enough time to calm down, and answered, "King Sombra is back."
Author's Note
Almost a year since touching this or doing any writing for a while, but i'm back (for how long is still debatable :/ ) School and Work have taken over most of my life to where that's all I did.
But, I digress.
I decided to try a different route with this story and would like your opinion on it. Which way do you like better: Spending years learning on how to gain and perform magic or Getting possessed by a fallen King who's own vengeful nature fuels Phoenix's desire for revenge on he has been through?
Let me know in the comment section along with anything else that you would like to address. I know grammar might be one since i've been gone for a while so have fun.
