The vicious luminescence from the golem’s remains dimmed until it had mellowed completely, and the magic-dampening mist dissipated from around them. Working together, Spike and the Battle Foals managed to break Air Slash and Turf War from their icy cages.
“Oooh…” Turf War groaned. “So dat’s what a popsicle feel like…” In spite of his dizziness, he managed to stand up.
Air Slash, however, wasn’t in much better shape. The trauma he felt from being slammed by the golem still resounded throughout his body like a tremor. “Rrnngh… Cursed… f-fiend!…” he whimpered.
“Air Slash!!” Greensprout shouted. She ran right over to him and wasted no time medicating him with her magic.
After a minute or so, he gained the strength to stand back up. He brushed ice off of his coat as he took a deep breath. “Thank you, my dear.”
“Oh, you!” Greensprout threw her arms around Air Slash and warmly embraced him. “Please stop being so reckless! Did you forget about Great Horn Summit already?”
Air Slash sighed. “There’s often little time to reason in the heat of battle.”
Knight’s Soul had marched over to them. “It’s better to act with little reason than none at all! I feared I had lost you!” he scolded.
Air Slash hung his head low. “I’m sorry, father.”
Knight’s Soul took a deep breath. “No apologies needed, my boy; but I know you’re wiser than that.”
Air Slash then noticed Frostbite heavily breathing with his fist to his chest. “Frostbite! What ails you?”
The icy drake panting heavily, but managed to toothy grin. “If only you coulda seen me, dude.” His breathing became calmer, and he regained his composure. “Can we just keep going already? Whatever’s up there needs a bigger punch in the gut than I gave Sorbet just now, and soon.”
“You read my mind, dude. Back to work, guys!” Fire Fight said, and they resumed their construction of the ice bridge.”
As they did, Quantum Tech gazed curiously at Frostbite, noticing that the surge of magic he’d experienced was still fizzling out inside his body. “Hmm… First the super-charged ice breath on Heimr Island, and now a surge of healing- both of which were effects of ingesting a magically charged crystal… Could it be that dragons receive magical capabilities when it is somehow consumed? It would explain their diet of gems…” she pondered. “I wonder if such a property resulted in his ice breath in place of breathing fire…”
“Hey, brainiac!” Bullseye shouted, snapping the brainy filly out of her thought train.
“Oh! Yes?” Much to her shock, the ice bridge had already been completed.
“You comin’?” Turf War asked.
“Our enemy awaits us… Did we remember the crackers!?” Crazylocks said.
“Coming! Coming.” Quantum said as she jogged her mech over to them, keeping an eye on the swirling cloud above them.
Slowly but surely, everyone safely walked across the makeshift bridge to the other side of the chasm, not daring to look down into the misty abyss below. As they made their way there, the Battle Foals who were present at the first encounter with the golem told of it to the princesses.
“I shouldn’t be surprised that such a being existed beneath our city. When magic is high enough concentration, it, on very rare occasions animate otherwise inanimate material, especially when said material is receptive to magic.” Luna explained.
“Crystals and gems are the best known conductors, so that thing being born was more or less inevitable.” Twilight said. “Still pretty jarring.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what Quantum thought. Didn’t doubt her for a second.” Fire Fight said.
Quantum blushed. “Oh, do go on.”
“Might hafta make a point o’ makin’ sure no more o’ them varmints come wakin’ up n’ stirrin’ up trouble.” Kickback said.
Luna giggled. “Well, I think I know certain group of foals who’d might be interested in being a specializd task force for such a purpose.” She winked at them.
“Elch! If you’re talking about the Biscuit Buccaneers, forget about them! I heard they couldn’t survive one Timberwolf attack!” Crazylocks blurted, causing some of the Battle Foals to awkwardly stare at each other, namely Zebota.
When they were all on safe footing, they gazed up at the treacherous ascent before them. A once grand, majestic mountain that stood as a pillar of Equestria’s unity was now a frozen shadow of its former glory, overtaken by glaciers and ice sheets.
“Well, the only way is up.” Valkyrie said as she made an ascent
“Wait!” Spiral Galaxy said. She pulled the griffonlet knight back down with gravity magic. “Look closer, guys!”
Upon closer observation, the mountainside was being guarded by motionless ice sentinels that took the form of the windigo they contended back in the forest near Trifectown. Amongst them were royal guards were obviously under the ice zombification effect.
“Well, this’ll be an uphill battle in more ways than one…” Tidal Wave said.
“Yeah. I hate to say it, but I don’t think we have the energy to take ‘em on after Snowflake back there.” Valkyrie said.
“Maybe we don’t have to.” Kickback said.
“What makes you say that, Kickback?” Twilight asked.
Kickback looked towards his fellow Battle Foals. “Y’all remember how we got up this mountain last time?”
“Oh yeah! We climbed it from the inside!” Fire Fight said.
“You dug under our capital’s mountain and still ascended it?” Greensprout asked.
“There is a network of caverns underneath it that one could theoretically use to infiltrate the mountain from underground.” Twilight said.
“Way to spoil our little magician’s secret, Kickback.” Shadow Shroud said. Kickback’s smile melted a little as he lowered his hat. Shroud giggled. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Still… that hole the Spiral blasted out of the wall when we made our exit must still be open.”
“Probably!” Spiral said. “But there’s so much snow that I don’t recognize this part of the mountain. It could be anywh- oh, there it is…”
Sure enough, the breach in the mountain that Spiral had created was still open. However, it had been frozen over with a thick layer of ice.
“Well, I think we know what I need to do here.” Fire Fight said. With his magic accessible to him again, Fire Fight ignited his horn and sprayed a torrent of fire unto the ice wall. Within seconds, it was cracked and melted severely from the intense heat, and the fiery scrapper finished off with a blazing punch, shattering the barrier like glass. “Alright, in we go!” he ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Shroud said playfully as she pranced beside him.
As they entered, a sharp breeze blew over them, as if they were being warned to turn back lest they face a bitter, frigid end. They persisted undaunted.
“This certainly brings back memories…” Air Slash said with a hint of pride.
“Yeah, but I don’t want no more memories, know what I’m sayin’?” Turf War said. “I just want this to end already, so let’s get rollin’!”
Tidal Wave gazed up at the towering labyrinth above him. Patches of ice and icicles jutting out threateningly lined the walls of the entire formation. He gulped. “This’ll be a climb, huh?”
“It’ll be easier this time since we’ve got more flyers.” Shroud said.
“Yeah, but last time, we didn’t have Shrapnel or Quantum’s mech.” Spiral said.
“That will be of no inconvenience, my foals.” Luna said. She and Twilight winked at each other, and the two royal cast their magic over the entire group.
“Spiral Galaxy, would you help us?” Twilight asked.
“I’d be happy to!” Spiral said. With a twinkle in her eye, she happily cast her own magic alongside the royals.
Together, the two princesses took flight with their friends in tow, a burden that Spiral’s help greatly lessened.
“As resourceful as I would expect from Your Highnesses.” Knight’s Soul said.
“Oh, stow your praise, master of the Bladerunners.” Luna said blushing.
“We still need to remain alert. Our foe has demonstrated great proficiency in hiding in plain sight.” Zebota said.
“You got a point. Anyone that can fly, hover outside the magic field and stand guard.” Fire Fight said.
Air Slash, Crazylocks, Valkyrie, and Frostbite took flight and kept a close in close formation around them. They slowly ascended the vertical cavern, careful not to set off any traps whilst on a steadfast vigil against any resistance.
As they did, the atmosphere within the cavernous freezer became gradually more tense. The large, sharp icicles jutting from the walls seemed to point closer and closer towards them, and the ominous breeze slithering throughout the network of tunnels sounded more and more and if it was being crying out in agony.
“Zebota… do you sense anything?” Fire Fight asked.
The young mystic closed his eyes and reached his mind into his brooch. His consciousness extended outward to his surroundings, allowing him to hear the pulse of the Earth itself. Only now, it felt as if that pulse was being hijacked by worldly rage, the very same rage that Twilight warned of when she read the brainwave charts. He could feel his own heart becoming cold with this rage, and it took all the psychic endurance he had to resist it.
“Can you feel it?”
“Huh!?” A sudden sharp voice nearly startled Zebota enough to break his concentration. “Speak your name, demon!” he said in his mind.
“I wasn’t talking to you, zebra.” The voice said. “LUNA!”
“Wha-!?” The lunar sovereign was suddenly pulled into the astral argument. “Wh-Who are you!? At least state your name!”
“DO YOU NOT FEEL IT!? WHAT SHE’S DONE!? DO YOU BETRAY ME!? BETRAY YOURSELF!?” The voice was becoming more and more distorted as it boomed throughout Luna’s mind.
Luna suddenly saw chains manifest from the tips of the icicles. They hooked onto her soul, and she could feel it being ripped away as she continued to ascend with the group. “ARGH!!”
The magic field supporting the group suddenly weakened as Luna let out a sharp cry. Her concentration compromised, her magic faded away, weakening the field. It was enough for Shrapnel to fall out it.
Zebota was shocked awake. “SHRAPNEL!!!” he cried as his beast howled falling to certain doom.
Without a word, Spiral Galaxy intensified her gravity magic, and she blasted a tractor beam downward to catch the wooden titan mere inches before he’d have hit the ground. With Twilight’s help, she brought him back up.
“Ungh…” Luna rubbed her forehead, having been given a headache from the psychic attack. “Oh my!” she said as she quickly cast her magic again.
“It seems I cannot trust any royal with my friend’s care…” Zebota grumbled.
“I’m deeply sorry, Zebota. But you must’ve heard her too, yes?” Luna said.
Zebota nodded. “I did. We are close.”
“Then let’s keep moving!” Valkyrie said.
As they continued their ascent, the caves, while unsettling, were oddly quiet. Nothing had come to attack them. No ice bats, windigos, nothing. The only threat they really faced was the treacherous terrain of the caves itself.
“Ok, we’re NOT hiding from it. It just tried to scare us a minute ago, but now it suddenly feels like giving us the silent treatment?” Frostbite said.
“Would you rather we were ambushed?” Air Slash asked as he kept his swords drawn and ready to fight. “Though I do agree that all is too quiet.”
“It’s waiting for us…” Shroud said.
“Then let’s be ready.” Fire Fight said. He and his ninja lover nodded at each other.
“I just hope we’re not being let into a trap…” Greensprout said.
“Even if it is, surely it is one we can fight out of if we believe in our strength.” Knight’s Soul said.
“Shoo! That’s what’s kept us hustlin’ so far!” Turf War said.
And hustled they did, towards the light at the top of the tunnel, a piercing light that demanded the entry of its anxious guests…