Within the camp, the two scientists were talking, “So, Frozen Hearth, enjoying the weather?”
Frozen Hearth replies with a scowl, “Ha ha. Very funny. Just because my name has to do with the cold doesn’t mean I like it. I’m only here because I was asked. What about you Pay Dirt? I mean, I don’t think we will actually find anything up here, so why come along if the prospects weren’t good.” Frozen fiddles with her cup of water, and after speaking, she looks into the fire, which is sputtering out in the oncoming whiteout.
Pay Dirt says, “You know, thought I would expand my horizons and all that. I usually get lucky anyway when it comes to finding things. Aside from this small talk, where is the third pony? He went off for some reason, but I can’t remember why. It has been a while, and he might have gotten lost in the blizzard.” Pay Dirt ruffles his wings, preparing to move, “Shall we look? I think I saw him move that way” Pay Dirt motions off into the blizzard, where upon looking at it, a slight shimmer appears.
Frozen comments, “It appears our mutual friend found something. Excellent, with this, we finally have reason to leave this dump.” She gets up, and begins to collect her pack, leaving the cup in the growing pile of snow.
Pay Dirt yells, “Finding something without me? I ought to give him a piece of my mind! Nopony blazes the trail but me!”
Frozen looks back at Pay, “Just hope our friend is alright, besides, he probably only has just begun. There is no way that he could have caused any trouble without you messing everything up.”
The two move into the blizzard, which is increasing in intensity. The shimmering grows in strength, almost like an oasis within a desert. The two move closer, almost intoxicated by it, the shimmering possibility of fame and warmth in the growing harshness of the Frozen North.
Once inside the oasis, the two look around, and only see what could be described as a frozen lake with the plaque in the center. Pay Dirt says, “I’ll do a fly-by just to see if there is anything around, doesn’t look like there is much here. Maybe our friend is by the plaque or something.”
Frozen moves towards the plaque, almost tripping at times due to the slippery surface. She ponders as she moves along the unknown material, ‘good thing I have worked on ice before, but I don’t think this is ice. It almost feels like crystal’. She reaches the plaque and looks up, seeing Pay Dirt flying around the oasis, checking the borders of it. Looking back at the small plaque she begins reading, Now, what have you gotten yourself into…
Frozen adopts a fearful manner, and looks down. Inside the ‘lake’ was a deep purple. She begins to back away from the plaque, when she feels a tremor. She looks again, and the face of the third pony is hitting the surface of the lake, and punches through where the plaque was. She promptly screams at the thing before her.
Pay Dirt quickly turns his attention towards Frozen, moving to intercept the monster attacking her. He stops when he sees the sea of faces below him, moving from the edge of the oasis towards Frozen. The faces, which were heavily deformed, screamed various things. Some were animal faces, which made their respective noises, if heavily distorted. However, what horrified Pay Dirt was the way to moved. The faces would be annihilated, a small scream as it would be pulled under, and he could see the faces of ponies. They screamed in anger, in fear all of them stuck in the purple monstrosity before him. He could only watch in awe as Frozen screamed for help as the was half covered in the face of the third scientist. She screamed to Pay Dirt for help, and all he did was watch as her cries were drowned out by more faces, piling on top of her, trying to climb upwards towards him.
Realizing the danger, Pay Dirt soared upwards, towards the roof in hopes of escaping the thing before him. The purple wave eventually reached it’s peak, and on top, as if it was teasing him was the face of Frozen which said, “Why?” The face fell back to the ground and exploded into more of the slime.
Pay Dirt watched for a moment, and decided to leave, to find anything that could help. He knew that they were gone, but he had to try something. Alright, what is nearby? I know! The Crystal Empire. I have to warn them about this! I can’t fail Celestia now. Pay Dirt takes off into the blizzard, heading towards what he thought was the Crystal Empire.
The faces move out of the oasis, and begin singing. Their song was unheard by all, but nonetheless they sang it. All around it, the snow turned purple and joined with it. It would only grow larger and larger until it completed it’s purpose to destroy all but its masters.
This was the hardest thing Pay Dirt had done in his lifetime. He had never imagined he would actually be running from a site, and from some monster no less. In his fear, he almost found excitement. Moving through the snow, he tried to focus on finding the Crystal Empire, and hopefully safety.
Yet again in the blizzard, which was coming close to a complete whiteout, Pay Dirt saw a shimmering. This one was however of a city, and he could see it. With a final burst, he pushed through the shimmering, to the shock of many on the street, and crashed into the ground.
A lowly guard was milling about the crowd, acting as a source of deterrent to any who would dare strike against the Empire. The scene was calm, ponies milling about, going about their daily business. All was well and good ever since the destruction of the Demon King. This came to an abrupt end when, through the shield, a pony came flying into the street. Another drunk? Who else would fly into the Frozen North and crash into a street. Let’s go hear his sob story before throwing him in
The guard moved closer to the Pegasus, and noticed he didn’t recognize the pegasus, He doesn’t look like he is from around here… I think my day just got interesting. The guard speaks up, “Well? What’s this about? Got a bit too drunk last night? You were lucky to survive out there.”
Pay Dirt looks up at the guard and says, “It is coming.”
The guards looks confused for a moment and asks in a sarcastic manner, “What’s coming? Your mummy to pick you up?"
Pay Dirt scowls and replies, “No you fool… From a crystal oasis a monster has risen. It holds the faces of those it consumes. It killed them! It took their faces and taunted me with them! Twisted their voices, mangled their features. It was as if Nightmare Moon herself conceived the worst nightmare possible and made it real!” Pay Dirt stands up and begins yelling to the amassed crowd, “It killed them all! Consumed them in a purple wave! I have to find out what it is and save them!”
An older mare steps out from the crowd and asks Pay Dirt, “Is what you say true?”
Pay Dirt nods, “Do you know what it was?”
The old mare frowns, “I am afraid I do.” She turns towards the crowd and announces, “The great cataclysm has returned to the world. The Smooze has arisen once again. We must go now to the tower in the city center, for it is the only thing that will protect us in these dark times. We can only hope that the one cure is still alive and our cousin’s in Equestria know of them.”
At this point, the crowd bursts into panic, fleeing in all directions. Within moments, the streets were cleared. The guard thinks, I’m going to have to report this, won’t I? I don’t get what all the fuss is about though, maybe if I ask the chief.
The guard moves towards the city center, and behind him, chaos ensues again as ponies flood towards the tower, the panic snowballing out of control, infecting the entire city, all moving towards the castle. And here I thought today might be interesting.