Prologue
The night was strangely light. The grey clouds glowed, signaling the dawn. The clouds were moving swiftly, although there was no wind.
" Form your ranks! Hold together!"
A bulky Pegasus was slowly circling a rather large cloud. For being so big, it was moving incredibly fast. Small tufts of cumulus flew off of it, slowly dissipating into the summer air.
" We're almost through!" The pegasus's voice was gritty, the voice of one who has seen much war. He was wearing a helmet, that had a great many scars. His a grey suit of flight armor was dull, meant to blend in with the clouds.
He looked down, at the trees that were quickly going by.The vast forest beneath him was blurred, his brain barely recognized that this WAS a forest.
But still he looked. Searching. Searching for the sign.
He pulled out a whistle, and blew it, but no sound came out. The large cloud slowed, until he could see the land more clearly.
There.
Icicles. Icicles were everywhere, bathing the clearing in a eerie blue color. They just seemed to glow, as if some power was insisting that this clearing, was the sign for something unnatural.
The bulky pony smiled grimly. He blew his whistle again, and the cloud was gone. In its place were several other pegasi, donned with the same armor and helmets, though none were as scarred as their leaders.
He slowly descended to the ground. The other pegasi followed suit.
When he reached the ground, he made a wide motion with his front legs. all the other pegasi dove into the foliage of the trees. He did not want them to be visible to the creature, for they were his escape.
The leader remained. He waited. He didn't dare move. He could feel it, watching him. He didn't want to look, but he couldn't control himself. He saw something, or, he thought, just beyond the treeline. Just out of sight.
Suddenly,the slight summer breeze turned frigid. The leader knew what was coming. He watched as a thick mist started to flow through the trees. It circled him, until it had made a fulll rotation. Then it whispered.
Just as I'd hoped...
The sound was soft, yet full of malice. The large pony's mind instantly thought of sharp, wicked glass.
Or ice.
He looked at the ground. Ice was indeed slowly forming across the grass.
Go figure, the leader thought.
He heard a terrifying noise that sounded like somepony being strangled. The shrill sound echoed, and would have frightened animals, if there were any left.
He turned around slowly to see a vaguely horse-like figure standing amidst the mist. Its form was incorporeal, bending and twisting with the fog. Its eyes glowed with blue fire, its mane twisted and dissipated. There were no back legs that he could see.
The creature stood, as if waiting for something.
Its eyes suddenly flared, and shards of ice flew up into the trees. He heard screams that were terrifyingly short. As he started to turn to look, he heard a different sound. The sound of hoof-beats. The creature reared and screamed. The usually soft voice was puncturing.
" DEPART! THE SIGN WILL COME WHEN I HAVE NEED OF YOU." And as mysteriously as it came, it vanished, taking the mist with it. The leader watched the ice recede.
He slowly turned, and walked over to the trees, the massive shafts of ice remained. He looked up, to see each of his pegasi impaled, blue with cold. He flew up to search for survivors. Every single pegasus was frozen. The leader reached out to fell the pulse of his second in command. As his hoof contacted the the body, his soldier shattered, along with the rest of his men. He turned as the sound off hoof-beats grew louder.
He flew up into the clouds and watched as the search party arrived. He could hear the voiced quite clearly
.
"What happened here?" A rather large grey earth pony stallion stood in front of the largest shafts. He walked around it.
"Strange. Ah' have neva seen an icicle this big befoa. Much less growin' up." He scratched his head with a hoof.
" Look at the size of it!" a blue unicorn mare exclaimed.
"Ive never seen anything like it!" said a yellow pegasus.
" Well we've gotta' get them outta' here or they'll kill the trees!" the grey earth pony said. The rest nodded assent.
" We'll move them to-.... Do y'all' hear that?" The ponies stopped moving.
"Sounds like whispering to me." the unicorn mare said.
They turned to see a slight fog coming from the trees. The small group of five grew close together.
"Great.... Now we got fog ta deal with! Hurry everypony, We gotta get that ice outta here pronto!"
"You know what I think.." the pegasus started. There was a loud crashing sound, as a path of ice shot out from the trees, impaling the pegasus in mid-flight.
The mare screamed. The earth pony whirled just in time to see his friend's body shatter on the earth.
Everypony froze, minds still trying to grasp what just happened. The mist, however,continued to roll in.
The silence was shattered by another deafening crash. The red unicorn stallion peered through the mist, but to no avail. He heard hoof steps, fading quickly into the distance.
He began to hyperventilate.
OmygoshOmygoshOmygosh!
His panicked thoughts were pierced by a scream.
"Help me!"
"Snowflake? Snowflake!" His brain matched the sound to the blue mare in his head. He ran into the mist, blindly trying to find the source of the shriek.
He stumbled and fell, landing hard on his shoulder.
The shrill sound echoed, continuing until its owner could hold it no more. He lifted his head, and saw several piles of broken ice. This was lost on him however, as he saw his mare.
Drenched with sweat, lungs heaving, she sat, still staring at where the shafts had broken on her shield. Her horn was sputtering, until its spark went out.
Another defining crash sounded, followed by a hiss.
Suddenly, a the ice at her feet reformed, broken peices melting and reconnecting into a deadly projectile. It lifted, and pointed directly at her.
"Snowflake!" he screamed, scrambling to get up.
She hadn't seen it, through her matted mane.
He ran, flinging himself between her and it, as it flew toward her.
She screamed as it stabbed him, freezing him instantly.
Even though a body was thrown to stop the shaft, it didn't stop. It kept coming. The mare did what instinct told her. Her horn flared, placing a protective shield in front of her, bracing for the impact. The projectile hit it and shattered.
Her horns glow sputtered and went out, as her body fell onto the ground.
* * * *
The grey earth pony stallion was tearing across the clearing with his strong workhorse legs, but even at top speed the ice was faster. It writhed and coiled as if alive,chasing him like some unearthly snake.
He could hear it coming closer. His desperation fueled mind searched for a way out, but to no avail.
His stamina was running low. He may be an earth pony, but even they cant run forever. he put all of his will into searching for a way of survival.
How do you deal with ice? Break it, melt it, avoid it, break it..
His mind stopped, focusing on one thing other than running.
Maybe.....
He waited as long as he dared, while still running, He turned around and bucked the tall ice shaft with all his might. It cracked, then buckled, showering him with small ice pieces.
As soon as they had shattered, they had re-formed. They came from all directions, hissing in the air.
He braced for impact, but instead of the shards stabbing him, they enveloped him instead, encasing him completely.
He couldn't move. Couldn't yell for help, couldn't breathe. He began to writhe, and strain, trying to get some air.
The coffin around him, weakened by the warmth of his body, suddenly split, the crack ending at the top of the block, allowing oxygen to reach him.. He greedily sucked in some of the life granting vapour.
He could move his head, but nothing else. He looked around him.
I don't know where I am.... I have to get out of here!
He suddenly froze, not daring to look to what he could see in his peripheral vision.
He could see a form through the mist. He could see a body, a head, and front legs.
Gathering his courage, he turned to look, and screamed.
Those eyes!
He could feel the hate pouring out from within those terrifying spheres, and screamed again, as it moved closer.
It whispered.
You..... will die... It reared as it said this, but no mouth was visible.
You will feel our hate.... You will become.. one of us....
The eyes flared again, and the earth pony screamed. He felt a agonizing pain deep within him, he could feel it tearing, something out of him, he continued to scream as the pain intesified, then was cut short, still echoing in the summer forest.
*** *** *** ***
The blue mare laid alone in the clearing.
She couldn't feel, couldn't think. All she could do was breathe. And she did, for hours. But, fate had other plans.
The dark blanket of un-consciousness was lifted from her, she was met with a terrible pain.
Her whole body ached, but her soul was cut.
She cried. Cried for her friends, cried for herself, for the future. She was blaming herself for Vibrant's death. The red stallion had always been nice to her. She cried and cried until she could not.
We came to see if anypony needed help.. now everyone is dead.....
This thought only darkened her thoughts, save for one, which thrust itself to the top of her mind, insisting that it was the best thing to do.
Survive.
Survive, and warn others about this nightmare. Warn the Princesses, warn the neighboring town of Ponyville, warn all of Equestria.
She stood up, still shaking, for her body was depleted. She looked around. The entire search party had been either frozen, or impaled and frozen.
If her special talent hadn't involved ice magic, she would've been killed.
.
She stopped. She looked down at a pile of growing ice at her feet. Her tears were freezing solid as they fell from her face.
She forced her body to run.
She ran until she dropped, out of the mist. The mist was content, to leave her. Let her spread the word, of what was coming.
.