A Symphony of Frost and Flame

The Crystal Empire

I awoke half covered in snow, For the first time in years, I felt cold. With great effort I managed to get to my feet. I couldn't see 15 feet in any direction due to the howling snow blocking any sort of long distance sight. I was thinking clearly for the first time in years. I had lost my previous possessions and all I had in this blizzard was a simple leather tunic.

I was not going to last long out in the blizzard so I started trudging through knee deep snow in one particular direction. I walked for what seemed like hours in the frigid cold, I was losing willpower fast. I did not understand how I was so weak.

"Is this my punishment?"

The irony of it all was absurd, The previous King of Northrend and master of all things dead freezing in a blizzard. I fell to my knees and cradled my arms around my body in a vain effort to prevent myself from freezing. I looked up and I thought I could make out a particular figure in the distance.

"Over here!" I yelled out.

Can't believe I had to call for help... I thought

The figure seemed to notice and it got closer to me. It seemed... Equine?

I lost the energy to hold myself up and fell forward face hitting the snow.

Shining Armour was out looking for the one pony who had managed to bypass his shield spell.

"When I find King Sombra I am going to make him pay for what he's done."

Cadence was busy trying to maintain her shield spell so that King Sombra couldn't get into the Empire.

I heard a voice shout in the blizzard. "Over here!"

"Who else could be out in this blizzard?"

I approached the source of the voice cautiously and was surprised to say the least. A creature I had never seen before laid face down in the snow. it looked about half frozen to death. It didn't look dangerous so I got closer and asked.

"Are you awake?" I received no response so I levitated it and noticed that it's face was flat, it had a grey mane and it seemed to be a bipedal creature. Cautiously I touched the creature's neck where I assumed I would find a pulse. I did not.

"It can't possibly have died so quickly... Whatever this is, I have to get it back to the Crystal Empire."

I focused my magic and teleported back to the Palace.

I appeared outside the palace and trotted through the gate.

"Cadence I found something."

**********************************************************

I awoke in a rather large bed and looked around.

"It's been awhile since I have ever needed sleep..."

I slowly got out of bed and walked around curiously.

"Where in Azeroth am I?"

I stood confused for several moments until I heard the door open and gave a dumbfounded expression at who stood in front of me.

"Oh you're awake."

The unicorn's coat was pure white and its mane had different accents of blue in it. Due to my unchanging expression he spoke again.

"You can understand me right?..."

I raised an eyebrow, "Where am I and how are you speaking to me right now."

The unicorn returned my expression, "You are in The Crystal Empire, and all ponies can speak."

"Ponies?...."

"Where is this Crystal Empire you're talking about?"

"Hmm, I can understand why some wouldn't know about it. It was lost for one thousand years before it reappeared. its on the northern border of Equestria."

I gave him a frustrated expression, "Where in Azeroth is "Equestria"?"

He gave me that same confused expression when a pink "pony" with wings and a horn walked through the door.

"Hello, are you okay?"

I gave one look at the winged unicorn and decided this was not the best time to be confused. I ran a hand over my face,

"I am Arthas, what are your names?"

"I am Shining Armour" The stallion responded, "And I am Princess Cadence" said the mare.

I couldn't help but notice they both looked like they hadn't slept easy in days.

"Is there any problems you may be dealing with at the moment? Unfortunately, I do not know anything about the land I am currently in."

Shining and Cadence glanced at each other and they both nodded slightly.

"There is a problem that has been troubling us for days now, There is this pony named King Sombra who is trying to break through my wife's shield and enslave the ponies of the Crystal Empire."

I nodded thoughtfully, "Unfortunately, I am not new to violence, I know my way in and out of a fight. But without my... Gear... I won't be as effective as I could be."

"Well take any help we can get."

I nodded,

"How come you two are the only... ponies I have met so far?"

"Thats part of the problem, The ponies in the Crystal Empire can't remember who they are due to King Sombras dark magic."

My brow furrowed in thought, "Surely you two can't be the only ones who wish to stop him"

"We aren't, my sister and her friends The Elements of Harmony are on their way now."

"I have heard of stranger forces."

"Elements of Harmony?"

"Long story short, they have saved Equestria three times now."

I nodded again.

"This is all very strange to me."

Cadence smiled encouragingly and asked, "We've told you a bit about us. Would you mind tell us a bit about yourself?"

I flinched, "Unfortunately I would prefer not to speak of my past at this current moment."

"Ah, We understand."

"When will the Elements be arriving?"

"They should be here soon, I should get ready to meet them at the station."

"I'll come with you." I said.

"No, It's to dangerous out there."

I scoffed internally.

"I assure you I can handle myself out there."

The glare he received was enough to convince him of the truth.

"If you say so, Though I have to warn you, my sister Twilight can be quite the inquisitive one."

I nodded and turned to Cadence, "You're not coming with us?"

"No, I need to maintain the shield around the Crystal Empire."

"Very well, let us be off"

"If you don't mind me asking, What are you?" Cadence asked.

"I..I am a Human."

I remembered when Tirion Fordring had stabbed my heart and destroyed it in the Ebon Hold.

"Undead for that matter."

I left with Shining Armour and we walked through the streets where several spectral ponies were walking around with seemingly no purpose or happiness whatsoever.

"You weren't lying when you said King Sombra was suppressing these ponies."

Shining Armour nodded, "We really need to stop him before Cadence's shield fails."

We walked at a brisk pace until we reached the shield at the edge of the city.

"Get ready, its going to get cold."

Shining Armour placed his mask back over his face and his horn glowed for a moment.

"I'll protect you from the brunt of the storm."

"With..Magic?."

"Yes."

It was not uncommon for mages to shield themselves with magic so I didn't press the issue. We stepped outside of the barrier and a sudden deafening howling could me heard. Shining Armour yelled over the wind.

"We should find the train station a mile or two out of the city!"

We trudged through kneed deep snow for about an hour before we could hear voices.

"Ha! and you laughed at me for packing so many scarves."

Shining Armour sped up and yelled out a name.

"Twilight!"

"Shining Armour?"

"Twiley you made it!"

They both rushed together and hugged, I watched neutrally until I heard a small "Eeep!" I looked towards the other Elements and noticed a cowering yellow.. pegasus?

"W-whats that?!?"

That caught the attention of the Elements and they looked at me fearfully for a moment. The one with a rainbow mane rushed forward and stood in front of me and Twilight. What caught my attention however was the purple scaled creature carrying what must be 10 times its own weight on its shoulders.

"You stay away from us you got it?! or I am gona buck your flank into next week!"

I raised my eyebrows in a skeptical way. Shining Armour quickly responded to her.

"Rainbow, thats Arthas. He says he is a human and that he will help us with King Sombra."

The "elements" grew confused.

"Human? King sombra? What are you talking about Shining?"

"I just met him outside in this blizzard, I helped him and later he said he would help us find King Sombra, As for Sombra himself... Well lets just say the Crystal Empire isn't the only thing that has returned."

The Mane six exchanged nervous looks and I spoke up.

"Normally I would ask for your names but we having pressing matters to attend to at the moment."

"What do you care?! Who are you anyway!"

"Rainbow thats enough," Twilight said

Twilight looked at me curiously, I remembered the warning Shining Armour gave me. The pony with the cyan coat gave me a suspicious look and we started heading back towards the Crystal Empire. We marched through the snow when the storm died down for a moment and the shield around The Crystal Empire was visible

"Princess Celestia sent me to find a way to protect The Crystal Empire, if there is already a shield around it shouldn't already be protected?" Twilight shouted.

A loud menacing horn could be heard in the distance and a certain yellow pegasus yelped.

"What was that?!?"

Shining Armour glanced around nervously. "We need to get back to the Crystal Empire NOW!"

They took off galloping and I rushed after them. The snow slowed them down enough that I could keep up with them when a large pillar of black smoke rushed into the air behind us.

"We're almost there!"

We kept running until I saw Shining Armour turn to face Sombra.

I stopped for a moment and watched him fire two beams of magic into the smoke, It dodged them and engulfed Shining Armour.

I grunted and dove in after him, Immediately I could feel as if I was standing in the noxious plague at the Wrathgate. I ground my teeth together and looked around, desperately trying to find him. I noticed a form standing in the smoke when I heard a voice.

"I've never seen anything like you before."

A black pony with smoke for hooves approached me in the dense fog.

"What are you?" Sombra said as I felt him go digging through my memories, Memories I was forced to remember, Fighting the Scourge at Andorhal. The Culling of Stratholme. The Death of Mal'Ganis. The Murder of my Father. The Death of Uther the Lightbringer The Slaughtering of the Elves. The Horrors of Azjol-Nerub. All the way to the Defeat of Ilidan at the slope of the Frozen Throne Itself.

I grew angry and clenched my fists together. He dug into my most sensitive memory I had.

When my eyes opened for the first time wearing the Helm of Domination I roared and felt him retreat away from me. I grabbed Shining Armour and dashed towards the shield as fast as I could. When I reached it I heard the Mane Six arguing about coming to save us.

"We can't just leave em out there!"

Before any more could be said I stepped through the shield and collapsed. I heard Twilight yell,

"Shining Armour! your horn!"

I tried getting up but groaned. I was sapped mentally and physically from the black smoke. Suddenly I felt one of them trying to help me to my feet. I took a deep breath and slowly stood up. I noticed it was the pink one that helped me. Shining Armour was in a similar state. He groaned and his horn glowed for a moment before sizzling out, He shook his head and sighed.

The shields around the Empire flickered. "Were running out of time, Girls we need you to figure out how to stop Sombra. Go to Cadence I need to talk to Arthas."

They nodded and galloped off into the city.

"Look, Thanks for saving me out there."

"It was no problem."

"I am going to go see if Cadence is alright, You should follow me."

We headed towards the Palace and occasionally we would see one of the elements running around asking questions. When we reached the Palace Cadence was struggling to maintain the shield spell, She collapsed the moment we walked in.

"Cadence!"

Shining Armour rushed towards her and cradled her head. We heard the same menacing horn from the blizzard when Cadence's shield failed. King Sombra's magic started to engulf the Crystal Empire from all sides.

"Cadence your shield!"

Cadence shook her head and recasted the spell as quickly as she could. The approaching black smoke was repelled when the shield was replaced. Cadence groaned in effort and nuzzled Shining Armour.

"I can't keep this up for much longer Shining..." Cadence said weakly.

"I know, I'll be here for you."

Shining Armour kissed the top of Cadence's head and we all waited for the Elements of Harmony to find a way to stop King Sombra. The shield was beginning to flicker occasionally due to Cadence's exhaustion, We could see the ponies in the streets having some sort of faire.

Despite the impending danger, The crystal ponies looked to be enjoying themselves oblivious to the monster outside of the shield. The flickering became more frequent and Cadence was beginning to lose the strength to maintain the shield. The Crystal ponies began to notice the flickering shield and gathered at the palace worriedly.

Suddenly that infernal horn sounded and Cadence clutched her head in what I assumed was pain.

"I-I can't hold it!" Cadence yelled, She collapsed again shortly after.

The shield flickered and dissipated and the black smoke approached once again. The crystal ponies began to panic as King Sombra showed himself to them.

"Hello My Slaves!"

Shortly afterwards I could see the dragon from earlier falling from the top of the palace after what looked like a crystal sculpture, Perhaps an orb? no it looked like a heart, A crystal heart.

Sombra noticed this and his eyes widened.

"Thats mine!"

He dove into the ground leaving a trail of black crystals until he shot back out of the ground on a massive black crystal. At the rate he was going he was going to reach the heart before the dragon.

Cadence was unconscious and unable to stop King Sombra from getting the heart. Eventually he reached it and we all could hear him laugh triumphantly.

"The Crystal Heart is MINE! You all will pay for resisting me!"

The black smoke shrouded the Crystal Empire in complete darkness, I could see Shining Armour clutching Cadence tightly. I stood up and gripped the side rails, This was almost familiar to me.

I leaped off of the balcony and landed on concrete 50 feet below. I ground my teeth together as I walked off the pain in my legs. Ponies watched fearfully as I stomped towards King Sombra. He noticed me and his eyes widened.

"You!"

He rushed forward and slammed into me, I held him back and he stared into my eyes.

"I've never met one quite like you."

His horn glowed and I was sent flying back, I felt a spike of pain throughout my entire body. It felt like I had been struck by lightning as I convulsed on the ground for a few moments, King Sombra laughed.

"Nothing can stand up to my powers!"

The pain ended and I groaned, I stood up again and noticed the expression on Sombra was now fearful.

"Thats not possible! I should have stopped your heart!"

I closed my eyes tightly, My fists clenched together and when I opened my eyes they gave off an ethereal blue.

King Sombra stood back.

"Comilito equinus

King Sombra was too shocked to move, I walked forward slowly. When I reached him he glared at me and charged his horn. I picked him up and slammed him up by his neck into the street before he could get anything out. I reached out to my old powers and attempted to call upon them, I received an answer.

Dark tendrils wrapped around Sombras neck and strangulated his magic as well.

"H-how i-is this p-possible!?... Wh- What are y-you!?" He choked out.

"Your end."

I tightened the grip around his neck and he started flailing around in my steel grip. He tried to charge his horn but it sizzled out on him. King Sombra grew desperate and started striking me with his hooves. I tightened my grip even more, on the verge of crushing his neck all he could do was try to pry off the tendrils to lessen the crushing pressure.

I heard voices behind me,

"S-stop! You're crushing him!"

"Stop..Please.. I'll do anything."

I paid no heed to the voice behind me, I was lost in a daze and I tightened the tendrils again.

*Crack!*

The sickening noise seemed to echo many times in the silence of the crowd. King Sombra's struggling ceased and I slowly withdrew my powers.

"Y-you k-k-killed him..."

The ponies around me stared in fear as if I had become the monster, The mane six, Shining Armour, Princess Cadence and the dragon gave me horrified and disgusted looks. They turned fearful once they saw my eyes.

"He would have surrendered. You didn't need to kill him, at least not like that." Shining Armour said.

"Thank you for your help, However I'm afraid I must ask you to leave now." Cadence said sternly.

I crossed my arms. "I apologize I come from a less fortunate world then you all, Now I guess I take my leave."

I turned away from them and walked away from the Crystal Empire.

"Was that necessary Cadence?" Shining Armour asked.

"Its not that he killed him alone, Its that he killed him almost completely devoid of mercy, I fear what he is capable of."

Cadence turned to her friends and they all nodded in agreement.

"I just hope that we don't see him ever again."

***********************************************************

I walked away from the Crystal Empire fuming,

"This was all just a waste of time."

I felt a spike of pain lance into my head and I collapsed on the spot. I heard a very familiar and terrible voice.

"Hello Again Arthas."

"Ner'zhul..."