//------------------------------// // Snowy Field // Story: Amicitia // by Impurity //------------------------------// “Mercy can only be given when one party is in a position of power over the other. Though mercy is a privilege, not a right.” The princess walked slowly from her room towards the dining room, wanting to have something to stop the rumbling of her stomach. The sleep she had was nothing short of terrible, another restless night full of nightmares even after the help she received from her sister. The recent events involving the elements, more specifically her student, left her somewhat distraught from the moment she received the letter from Spike. A little breakfast should do me right. She thought to herself. She arrived at the dining table and ate a simple meal she asked the chef to make for her. A daffodil sandwich with a side of ranch. After clearing her plate she walked out, now her choices had expanded, at least for an hour when the day court would start. However, as she was walking by the strategy room she had heard voices from the other side. Strange. “The gryphons intend to invade Equestria starting with the Crystal Empire. News must have reached about my sister’s condition and Grey must have thought this as a weak moment. Shining Armor can you gather troops and lead them at the border? I’m sorry to ask of you during your visit but this isn’t something we can take lightly.” Princess Luna said to the few royal guards who stood in the room. “I understand princess. I know how cruel and vicious they can be.” Shining replied, accepting the orders given to him. Little did they know the other princess was right behind the door, opening the door slowly with the words ready. “I will go alone.” Celestia said, surprising those in the room. “Tell all the guards at Barren Edge to stand down and let the gryphons pass.” “Sister!?” Luna shouted, not expecting her sister to come through the door. “I apologize for not briefing you about this but this is something we can’t take lightly.” “Princess Celestia we can- “Shining Armor, this is an order not a suggestion. I want to show them what exactly they have to fear.” Her voice held wrath, wrath that she had never let out for a long time. She turned to her sister and shook her head. “And Luna, not another word.” “Okay,” Slight fear entered his voice, he had never seen her so angry. Even Luna seemed fearful of her sister at the moment. Celestia waited on the frozen wasteland for her enemies to arrive. From what her sister had told her, the gryphons were going in this direction, towards the empire. How dare they think to try and invade? She waited and waited until she sensed an unfamiliar presence coming from behind. When she turned around she saw one single blip in the air slowly getting larger and larger until she could see that it wasn’t an enemy, but a pony. At first she thought it may have been a guard who was giving her a report of some sort, but the pegasus was wearing no armor. Strangely enough he or she wasn’t wearing anything. The character was unidentifiable so she prepared herself. The speedy pegasus came closer and closer until it was a mere 500 ft away. The character slowed down for a quick second and proceeded to suddenly bolted straight into the snow. It was an awkward sight in the eyes of the princess. Celestia went closer and inspected where she presumed the pony had landed. When she arrived she found nothing but the parted snow. Instantly she turned around and the same character was playing around in the snow? But how did he get behind me? “Who are you, and what is your business here?” She called, wanting to know who the mysterious pony was. “I’m Ice.” He spoke, resting in the snow on his back. “I’m here to clean up.” “Ice? What clean up?” By now she was confused beyond belief. It was not a common sight to the princess and she considered that the pony is question was more than likely insane. “Maybe this may clear things up.” He came out of the snow and showed his face. Still she had no idea who the stallion was. "I do not know who you are. You should leave before you are injured." "I wouldn't worry too much about me." "Enough of your games, I don't think you know who's coming and what they are capable of." "Gryphons, and they're all weak. I could handle them all myself, but as I said, I'm just clean up." "Overconfidence will be your downfall." She warned. "So will underestimation." He laughed, correcting his stature at the same time. "This should quell your fears slightly." The stallion took out his necklace and turned it slightly to show her all angles to make sure she knew it was authentic. "The Glacestesta. How did you find it?" Princess Celestia gave the mysterious visitor a caution "A certain mountain in the badlands. I would love to go into detail but we have company." The blue stallion notified her of the horde of gryphons flying through the air, all clad in battle armors and weapons. She wanted to push further on the subject, but the situation at hand needed much more attention. Celestia diverted her attention completely to those converging on her position, temporarily forgetting about the stallion near her. She patiently scouted the enemy trying to find their leader and there he was leading the entire army of what she assumed to be at least 200 gryphons, Grey Scale the III. He was one of the more ambitious kings whom were usually those with bright ideas about every creature is inferior to them. "Would you like me to watch or partake? Either way your flames don't hurt me." "I would rather you leave but that doesn't seem to be a possibility. Do not interfere." "Wasn't going to in the first place. I have my own orders." He smirked laying down back in the snow, watching the gryphons slowly converging on their location. It had taken them less than a minute to arrive and when they did, Grey stood in front of them all. He was easily distinguished by his wings as no other family had the dark grey streak that ran through both wings. "Grey Scale III would you like to explain your presence here in Equestria? I do not remember inviting you or your army into my land." The princess knew full well what they were doing but formalities kept her from taking actions. "Hah! Do not make me laugh. I do not need your permission; we can go anywhere I please." He spoke with a voice of pure ill that would make Blueblood look honourable. "Is that a fact? Your father and I had specific laws that you don't seem to be abiding to. Leave now." "I'm no fool like my father. Taking this land would take a day, no, half a day. You are all nice, compassionate, loving, lenient, and most of all weak. We on the other hand are strong, tough, resistant and unbreakable." He had flexed his arm, showing off his better than average muscles. "You have but three minutes to either surrender or turn away. Comply or face the consequences." She gave him a glare filled with anger, one rarely she ever placed upon her face, even when dealing with insufferable characters. "How about I give you a counter offer? You can surrender now and I'll make sure not to hurt as many of your precious ponies as I can." He wore a devious smile, mischievous thoughts entering his pea sized brain. "Some I can't help it though, like a certain Twilight Sparkle." The stallion behind the princess mentally face palmed. "Looks like clean up is going to be easy." He muttered to himself, a frown finally replacing his idiotic smile. The gryphon had made a terrible mistake of mentioning the hospitalized mare. The princess didn't speak after that, the rage inside of her welling up. "Did I hit a nerve dear princess?" Grey mocked, many of his subordinates behind him laughing, ignorant to how short their life was now because of their leader’s words. "I should go and pay her a visit, see how she's doing. Maybe pull a few wires while I'm at it." "Hey!" The blue stallion called out to the princess. "You don't have to hold back! It’s why I’m here! Use your crystal if you want.” To most of the crowd it meant one of two things. That he was bluffing, which many of them were either hoping for or knew he was doing or that his words were true. Only a very few gryphons actually feared it and believed him though. "Do not listen to that fools bluff. We have waited long enough; you have three seconds to surrender!" He yelled, ready to hear the sweet words. However the princess did not move, standing motionlessly. "ONE!" "TWO!" The warriors prepared their weapons, all ready to charge. By now the princess was ready. The three minutes she gave them were up, along with any mercy she had left and instantly she burst into a fiery flame, the igniting of the fire instantly melted the snow around her. Grey jerked back, quickly shielding his eyes, his instincts telling him if he came any closer pain would come right after. When the initial burst of energy subsided Grey slowly opened his eyes to see the one he had just offended greatly, enraged. Her multi coloured mane and tail no longer vibrant with the various blues and pinks but now tones between light orange and dark red, as if a demonic flame was glowing a deceiving flame that led creatures to their demise. Her expression was even deadlier than the heat that emanated from her body. A face of pure and absolute darkness. “Have fun.” Ice laughed, knowing their fates. He swiftly swung his wing around his body, enveloping himself in a makeshift shield that would protect him. “You are all warriors. DO NOT STAND DOWN!” Grey yelled, raising his sword in the air, inciting a chorus of roars from most of the army. The princess was silent, the crackling of the fire creating the only noise that came from her. All at once the gryphons tried to attack her. Many took flight trying to get some sort of advantage over her. But there she stood still, waiting for the perfect moment. Flare. She thought to herself. Her horn flared red, anger taking over her actions. Fire erupted from her and flashed brilliantly across the battlefield blinding most, if not all her foes. In mere moments her enemies were engulfed by the large dome of fire, feeling the flames burn through their very souls. The fight was over before it even began. Princess Celestia stood unwavered in the snow, taking deep breaths, contemplating whether or not what she had done was right. She had given them three warnings that they did not heed to and their fate was well deserved. Most lay unconscious littered with various burns of different severities and missing feathers. Very few had sadly been too close to her and as a result died for their ignorance. What the princess had done was a controversial topic. She had immobilized an entire army for trying to attack the nation under her protection, but others might say that she took it too far. There was however, one more matter to attend to. A weak and coughing gryphon still conscious was trying to escape from the battlefield and try to abandon his fellow comrades. The gryphon was none other than the leader of the army, Grey Scale. “Going somewhere?” The stallion questioned him, freezing his lower half almost instantly, making sure he wouldn’t try anything. A few seconds after the fight was over he had got rid of his shield and looked at the field, he noticed the gryphon trying to leave and decided to put a stop to it. The princess noticed them both and flew over. “Coward! Release me from this imprisonment.” Grey yelled at the blue maned pegasus, uttering useless threats. “Unclaw me this instant or I will deal you a terrible punishment!” “Hooves are all I have,” Ice joked, keeping his nature as laughable as possible. “and I don’t make the decision, she does.” He moved to the side and let the gryphon’s eyes meet with the princess’s. “You attempted to take over my land and its people. You also threatened to kill some of my subjects, but named one in particular, my personal protégé no less. Tell me what you deserve.” She spoke, her voice holding little to no emotion at this point. “If you punish me, it will be seen as a sign of attacking the entire gryphon kingdom. You will have a war on your claws if you do.” Grey said, a voice filled with lies that were easily seen through. “A coward and a liar. Ice, if that truly is your name, envelop the rest of his body with ice but leave a small opening for oxygen. Let that be a warning to you, or anyone else willing to try and fight my nation.” She looked back at the stallion. He had nodded his head and within seconds the ice grew to what she wanted. Completely covered with a very small hole near his beak. She noticed how precise he was at using the relic. “How efficient are you at using the Glacetesta? You seem proficient.” “Very. Here’s proof.” The stallion vibrated his wings quickly and created a small concentrated ball of ice. He threw her it at her and she quickly lit her horn, enveloping the ice in an aura, bringing it closer to her. It was crystal clear, perfect ice with absolutely no taints. If she hadn’t seen it made in front of her, she would have guessed it was a rare ice diamond. “A gift for our wonderful princess. You can go back and rest now. I have some unfinished business here.” “Thank you Ice. Before I leave may I ask your real name?” She asked, seeing through his ruse. The stallion in question looked very familiar though she had never heard of the name ice. Another reason was that the name seemed rather coincidental for a pony named ice finding the magical relic of ice. “Soarin.” He threw her a goofy grin, for no reason in particular. “Soarin of the Wonderbolts.” After telling the princess his name she gave her thanks and flew back to Canterlot, wanting to go back to bed. Using high magnitude spells such as the one she had just used wasn’t something that could be taken lightly. It used about the same amount of magic as ten thousand long range teleportation spells, but being an Alicorn had its perks of a much larger magic capacity meaning she wouldn’t be stuck in a coma for a few years. Soarin as he said he would do, was there cleaning up the bodies, completely freezing them to stop blood loss. Now how am I going to do this. I expected them all to be dead, but most of them are still alive. This could prove troublesome. He looked straight up into the air and saw the draconequus hovering above him. Bingo! "I had a feeling you would come here." Soarin looked up, Discord looking down on him. "Beautiful isn't it." "Quite, even when she dealt with me she never got this angry.” "Really?” He asked, surprised by his words. Being only around a few decades old meant that the only thing he knew about the past was in books, unlike his elder who dealt with it firsthand. “I would have thought that the princess would take more offence to you corrupting her land than having a threat placed upon it." "With me it was just fun and she knew that. It wasn't so much as to what they would do as it was an anger release; you probably saw clear evidence of that correct?" Discord shoveled up a pile of snow and twirled his finger, causing the snow to start recreating itself into a snowman. "Yeah, Twilight Sparkle's incapacitation hit her hard and Scale would have probably gotten away with less had he not said anything." “Let’s get down to business shall we?” Discord threw on a top hat and his suit onto the snowman, creating a more sophisticated look. “Perfect.” "After you teleport all the living gryphons back to where they belong." Soarin had a sly smile plastered onto his face, getting out of his job by making the god of chaos do it wasn't something you could gloat about very often. Discord shook his head and did as he wanted, most of the gryphons gone with the exception of the couple of those who had died. “How powerful does it need to be again?” Soarin asked the draconequus, slowly creating the ball of ice, not unlike the one he gave to the princess. “Enough to freeze a pony, nothing more.” Discord replied nonchalant. “I think it’s better if you just infuse it with one of your feathers. Less chance of it going off and potentially killing her.” “It would be better for her, wouldn’t it? One more week right?” The blue stallion plucked one of his feathers and forcibly pushed the two items together. Within seconds the ball of ice had covered the entire feather before receding inside of it. Once it was done he threw it over, giving it a small push with his wing. “That’s how long she has left. Then you know what happens next...” Discord sent a wind at the feather and brought it back to himself, his usual smile gone from existence. “The castle. Really wish we could have done this a different way.” Soarin let out a breath of cool air, slightly depressed. The next month would be a terribly one for all of Equestria. Only a select few knowing of the events that will happen shortly. “It all depends on Celestia next move."