//------------------------------// // Prologue (HEAVILY EDITED) // Story: Fire and Ice book one // by D.P.Master //------------------------------// Things to watch out for in this chapter: Slight Cussing Legend tells of a time when the land was consumed by Fire and Ice. It also tells of two ponies who experienced an epic adventure and sacrificed themselves to the Fire and Ice in order to heal the scarred land and make the Sun and Moon. This legend is said to be the first true story in pony history. But as time continued, it was lost in the sea of time, forgotten by the mortals. As the old legend came and past, new ones took its place. Ones of ponies saving villages and cites, powerful magic, harmony, and abilities to outwit anything. However, this legend is said to have started it all… …the Legend of Fire and Ice. D.P.Master presents… …An epic trilogy… Fire and Ice Part one Creation Prologue Flaming Sun and Frozen Moon The tunnel was dark, damp, and very narrow. If it weren’t for the unicorns’ light, it would have been pitch black. The sound of dripping water repeated itself over and over. To some, it was just annoying. Others, completely maddening. The rest didn’t pay any attention to it at all. Seven ponies, each one cloaked in a red hooded cape, made their way down the seemingly endless tunnel in a straight line. The group consisted of two unicorns, one in front, the other in the back, two pegasi, and three earth ponies, one of which carried a saddlebag. The earth ponies were in the center, the pegasi between them and the unicorns. Above them, the roar of a raging fire sounded. But none of them flinched or paid much attention to the noise. To them, the noise was an everyday thing. It was constant, and only changed with the seasons. They were heading down this dark path to meet the Seven Sages of the Ice tribe. The area they had agreed to meet in was known as the Hall of Light, a sacred shrine dedicated to the gods of both the Ice and Fire Tribes in hopes that the Eternal Fire and the Evermore Glacier above would never come down from the land they continuously scarred. After a few hours of walking, a light shined at the end of the tunnel. The light became brighter as the ponies got closer, and continued to grow until they entered a well-lit room. The room was huge, about ten hundred feet wide and was so tall that no one could ever hope to see the top without flying or climbing up. Dangling down from the unseen roof was a giant, clear white crystal, that glowed with the intensity of the Sun Jewel , thus lighting every inch of the room. Underneath the crystal was a small lake that reflected the light making it appear green on its surface, yet a light blue if you were to look inside the water. A field of flowers surrounded the lake, popping with a variety of colors such as pink, yellow, and purple, the rest of the area was covered in grass. In the center of the lake was a small shrine made of worn marble. The shrine itself was decorated with flames made of ruby and snowflakes made of sapphire. Gold stepping stones led to the little building. Trees were dotted here and there in the field of grass, a few baring fruits of all kinds. Spiraling around the walls were stone stairs that were worn with age. On the bank of the lake stood seven ponies, each one cloaked in a light blue hooded cape. The ponies that just entered made their way towards the others, the unicorns turning off their lights. When they were close enough, the lead unicorn took off his hood and said, “Well, well, well… Its been a while since we last had a little get together, hasn’t it?” The unicorn had a crimson coat. His voice had a rough and serious tone. His eyes were a orange that looked like fire itself. The fur on his muzzle was black. There was a small scar on his right cheek most likely from a previous battle. His mane was short and stubby and was a darker red than his coat. One of the blue ones turned around upon hearing his voice, “Yes it has. How long? Twenty years?” the blue one who spoke removed her hood to reveal a light pink female unicorn. She had blue eyes and a long, flowing dark green mane. A small smirk was on her lips as she faced the red male, “And I see you haven’t changed a bit Crimson Ember.” “Same with you Rose Petals.” Crimson growled. Rose Petals giggled, “You need to lighten up.” Crimson snorted and replied, “When you get serious, I’ll lighten up.” Rose smirked playfully, “Fair enough.” “Now why did you call us here?” Crimson asked, “We have much to do, and little time to do it.” The smirk remained on her face, “What, can’t we just have a friendly chat?” Crimson’s frown deepened and he turned around, “Well then, if you have nothing to important to talk about, me and the other Fire Sages will just leave.” “Fine! Have it your way Mr. Serious.” Rose gave in. She sighed and mumbled something under her breath, but quickly answered as she began to pace in front of him, “Lately, the entire Frozen Region of the Undergrounds has been undergoing change. We, as Sages, can feel that the air around us is becoming colder, despite the already cool atmosphere. We have also been receive several reports that some citizens are hearing… cracking noises.” She stopped, her back towards the Fire Sages. “After consulting with our Oracles about it, we have come to a conclusion.” She turned around, “Something is coming. Something big. We don’t know what yet, but we do know it has something to do with the Evermore Glacier.” She came closer to Crimson, “I know you are skeptical about this, and you have a good reason to be, too, since most Ice Tribe members fall for hoaxes easier. But let me ask you something; have you’ve been noticing change in the Fire Region?” Crimson thought for a moment, allowing all this to sink in. She was right when she said that they probably did not believe them. Ice Tribe members are known for believing in stuff like prophecies, rumors, gossip, and false facts more often. But then he than turned his thoughts to the Eternal Fire that blazed above ground. Now that he thought about it, it has been getting… noisier. Maybe only he can hear it because he’s a sage. Not to mention the air has been getting a little warmer. He nodded his head, “The Eternal Fire is noisier than usual and the air is warmer, though citizens have yet to report it.” Rose Petals looked down, her hoof rubbing her chin, “Then something really is coming…” she whispered, and turned around, lost in thought. After a few moments, she turned back around, “We need to do something. Together. Both Fire and Ice tribes.” She looked up, “The Eternal Fire and Evermore Glacier… something is happening to them. We need to prepare ourselves, in case they end up coming down here.” She looked back at Crimson, “The question is how.” The fourteen ponies sat down in a circle and started to think. The group was in silence for about an hour, plotting of ways to stop the coming forces. Crimson than said, “I think I have an idea.” The others looked at him awaiting his plan, “Nopony in existence can stop the oncoming forces. I suggest we make somepony who can.” Crimson stood up, “If we can combine all of the magic of unicorns together into one form and add a piece of the Eternal Fire or the Evermore Glacier, he or she might be able to rid us of them forever.” Murmurs of agreement and suspicion spread through the group. After a quick chat with a fellow Ice Tribe Sage, Rose Petal said, “That’s a great idea, but it won’t work.” The murmurs stopped and all eyes landed on Rose, “If we add just the Eternal Fire or just the Evermore Glacier than it will only counter one or the other, not both… unless we add a piece of both.” Rose looked at Crimson and said, “Let the Ice sages vote on this plan.” The ponies clad in blue broke away from those clad in red and whispers started to be passed among the group. After a few minutes of discussing, Rose Petals broke free from the group and gave the Fire tribe leaders their answer, “We agree to this plan. But how do we know you won’t turn on us? This could very well be a trap we are walking into.” Crimson sighed, Should have seen this coming… he thought. “We can offer an alliance form. However, seeing as this is a little… unexpected, we are going to have to wait until after the ponies are made to officially have one prepared.” He nodded to the Earth Pony with the saddlebag. Said pony quickly took out a sheet of paper with a quill and some ink and offered them to Crimson. Crimson gripped the objects with his magic and should the Ice Sages what the paper said. Crimson continued to talk, “As you can see, this is a truce form. Nopony is allowed to attack the other side. Not until this is removed or if the other side attacks first.” He pointed the quill towards the bottom, “All you have to do is sign, and it will become official” Rose nodded her head, “Fair enough.” The Ice Tribe members quickly signed. Crimson rolled it up and offered it to the Ice Sages. Rose took the now rolled up paper with her magic and gave it to an Ice Tribe member with a saddlebag. Rose Petals looked at Crimson Ember with a smirk of victory as he ordered, “We should return home and gather all of the unicorns available. While we do this, we send one Pegasus to our observatories to retrieve the piece of the Forces. Bring them in a magic enhanced bottle, ‘cause we don’t know what will happen if we don’t. We will meet back here in a weeks’ time, so be prepared. We’ll see you guys then.” With that Crimson Ember turned around and left. ******** One week later… “UNICORNS, ASSEMBLE!!” Crimson shouted, his voice magnified so that way it could be heard all throughout the castle and its city. Thousands of unicorns lined the streets and littered the castle gardens. Earth ponies and Pegasi were ordered to stay in their houses as this event was carried out. Crimson waited for the unicorns to settle down before he continued speaking, “YOU ALL ARE ABOUT TO GO INTO THE HALL OF LIGHT! PLEASE NOTE THAT AFTER LEAVING YOU WILL FEEL DRAINED OF MAGIC FOR THE TASK YOU ALL WILL ACCOMPLISH IS A VERY BIG ONE THAT COULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY!” most of the unicorns he could see nodded or looked at him with a sense of duty, “FOLLOW ME TO THE HALL OF LIGHT!!” he began to lead the immense group down to the narrow tunnel. This is going to be a while, Crimson thought as he lead the group to the tunnel entrance. Suddenly, a shadow passed overhead and landed in front of him. It was a royal Pegasus guard, and in his mouth was a bottled flame, which glowed a dark red. He kneeled before the Crimson, “My lord, the object you requested.” Crimson took the bottle in his magic and said, “Thank you soldier. Your work is done. Please ensure no pony cuts in line while entering the tunnel.” The soldier nodded and walked with Crimson to the entrance. ******** Rose Petals sighed as she looked at her people. Well, at least the unicorn part. They were currently in the Hall of Light, which at the center, was a magic circle, were they would be channeling the magic. She found it amazing that only about a tenth of the room was covered by her people. It just showed you how big the room was! Or how small our city is… Rose Petals thought. Her mind wandered to a new topic, I wonder when the Fire Tribe unicorns and Sages will be here… She didn’t have to wait long as a Pegasus landed next to her and kneeled, “My lady, the Fire Tribe members are started to come in.” She smiled softly at the guard, “Thank you sir.” She walked towards the Fire Tribe entrance to see Crimson at the front. She trotted over to him, “Why, hello Crimsy! It is good to see you made it on time!” Crimson scowled, “First of all, don’t call me that! And secondly, of course I did. But please, tell me, did you get a piece of the Evermore Glacier?” Rose Petals ignored what he said about his nickname smirked, “But of course, Crimsy!” Crimson glared at her and walked towards the magic circle. Meanwhile, Rose’s face turned into a pout. She glaring at him as he walked away, “Why can’t he be more laid back?” Nonetheless, she followed him towards the center, were the magic circle was. In the center of the magic circle was a small vile that held what seemed to be a piece of Ice, but the ice was expanding in the bottle, as if to take up as much space as possible. Carefully, Crimson Ember made his way towards the center of the and placed the bottle with the flame in the center. Immediately, the two reacted to the other’s presence, and tried to come close to mix with each other. However, the bottles held strong and prevented them from mixing. Crimson and Rose started to organize their unicorn citizens around the magic circle. The citizen of each tribe shot looks at the other while the sages did so. After what seemed like ages of organizing, the unicorns from the tribes were in their proper place. The four Sages got into their own places as the main power sources for the spell. “All ready to began say ‘I’” Shouted Rose Petals as she stared at the piece of the Eternal Fire and Evermore Glacier with great interest. Thousands said ‘I’ at once, letting The Unicorn Sages know that they were ready. The four began the spell at once, forcing their magic into the circle that they stood on. The other unicorns began to do the same, channeling it into the circle and towards the Sages. The circle glowed, and as more magic was placed into it, the brighter it got. The two bottles containing the Forces began to glow with the circle at the presence of the extraordinarily strong magic. Eventually, the bottles shattered, but the two forces remained unharmed and began to take on more sphere like forms. The Eternal Fire and Evermore Glacier began to glow red and light blue respectfully as they were condensed into ball-like shapes. The surrounding unicorns were quickly losing their magical strength as the spell continued. Meanwhile the Sages felt incredible. The strength of hundreds flowed through their veins as they channeled it into the magic circle below. The power would have gotten to them if they didn’t remember what was at stake. After what felt like an eternity, the circle’s glow slowly died and the surrounding unicorns, besides the Sages, fainted from Magic Exhaustion. The Sages looked at where there once was two bottles with a piece of ice or a piece of fire. Now, there floated a flaming red orb and a frozen blue one. The two orbs gave off a soft glow and were slightly transparent, a ghostly aura surrounding them. Rose looked at them with complete shock before shouting, “What the hell!? Hundreds of unicorns wasted their magic for those things?!?” Crimson, equally as shocked, just better at hiding it, gazed at the orbs with interest, as he explained, “I believe so. But I think these must be the souls of the ponies. We just couldn’t make the body, or apparently, bodies.” Rose shot a glance at him, “So these are the souls?” Crimson nodded, “Most likely.” Suddenly, the orbs began to move. They floated only about five feet off the ground, and moved with the speed of a running dragon. Rose shouted stop to the orbs and tried to grip it with the magic she still had, but to no avail. Soon, the orbs were dashing and zooming everywhere and seemed to tease the unicorns if they got close enough to one. Soon, all of the Unicorn Sages were darting this way and that, being careful of the unconscious bodies, but still attempted to catch the wild souls. After a few minutes of jumping while running, Rose eventually jumped up and got a hold of the Flaming Soul, keeping a tight grip on the feisty soul. Rose smirked and stuck her tongue out at the soul. “Ha! How do you like them apples, hum?” Rose teased the soul. Suddenly the soul flashed a bright white light and Rose Petals was thrown back. She slammed into a nearby tree and could’ve sworn she felt her horn disappear off her head. Her right eye felt all tingly and soon after she could feel a dizzy spell coming on before fainting. The other Sages quickly ran to her side, in fear of the worst. The Flaming Soul flashed a couple of signals to the Frozen Soul and the two of them darted down the Fire Tribe’s path. Crimson Ember watched the two go with narrowed eyes, muttering a string of curses as he did so. When the two were gone, he turned his attention towards the now fainted Rose Petals. He looked at her and his eyes widened in surprise. Not long after she fainted, she started to come to. Her right eye felt tingly again and when she opened it she saw all of the other unicorns staring at her. She rubbed her head and blinked a couple of times before she looked at the others strangely. That’s when she felt it. Her horn. It was missing. Rose Petal’s eyes widened in horror and she whispered slightly, just barely audible, “What the hell did that thing do?” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, the two souls traveled at an extremely fast rate, using their instinct to lead them to a couple of bodies that could sustain them. The two orbs traveled the surrounding city, flying over the same buildings over and over. They were about to move to a different area when the two of them were suddenly pulled in the direction of a hospital. The pull stopped when the two orbs were in an emergency room. In the center of the room was a white unicorn mare who was crying out as doctors ran here and there shouting things such as, “Something’s wrong!” and “At this rate, they’ll be stillborns!” The orbs came closer to see to foals. One was a gray Pegasus with a red mane. Her eyes were closed and she didn’t seem to be breather, yet life was still in her. The other foal, most likely her sister, was pure white unicorn with a blue mane. She seemed to be in the same state as her sister. The orbs looked at them with glee, knowing that they had found the perfect candidates for there new bodies. Quickly, the Flaming orb went into the unicorn while the Frozen orb slipped into the Pegasus. There was a blinding flash of light and when the light cleared, the foals were now wailing, fresh air stinging their lungs. The doctors approached carefully and gasped at what they saw. The Pegasus was no longer grey with a red mane. She was now a light shade of blue, almost white. He mane and tail were a darker shade than her coat, but was still very light. When her wings unfurled the feathers shined softly like newly falling snow or wet ice. On her forehead was a yellow, eight pointed star that took up about a third of her forehead. Her sister, the unicorn, now had a red coat, her mane and tail an orange with red at the tips and if shined just right in the light, it looked as if it were on fire. It stuck out in all directions at if it were untamable. Her hooves were speckled black, as if she had walked on a lot of coal dust. The doctors looked at the foals in shock. The silence and shock was not broken until a nurse came in a said firmly, “Are the foals ready yet?” This snapped the doctors out of their shocked state and they instantly went back to work. They carefully cleaned the wailing foals and wrapped them each in a separate blanket before allowing there still sobbing mother to see them. When she saw that they were quite alive, she inwardly rejoiced and cuddled the two of them until the nurse came and took them away. Just after the nurse and doctors had disappeared though the door, the second door flew open and a grey Pegasus with a dark blue mane appeared. His hooves seemed to be painted gold and his wings changed from a grey to the same blue as his mane as you traveled down towards the tips. His light blue eyes were wide and frantic. “Are they ok?” He said hurriedly. The white unicorn smiled and nodded, “They almost didn’t make it, but they’ll be fine.” She explained. Upon hearing the last part, the grey Pegasus relaxed and approached the unicorn, “That’s good to hear. I wouldn’t be happy if my Shooting Star and daughters had died.” The unicorn, or Shooting Star, simply smiled at the Pegasus before it turned to a frown and her eyes darkened. She looked at him with a rather serious expression, “Storming Typhoon, you know as well as I do that we’re going to have to figure out the best plan of action for their future.” She looked at the door the nurse and doctors had disappeared with their children, “After all, if anyone finds out that they are a mix of both Fire and Ice Tribe blood, there will be a riot. I don’t think any school would accept them!” The Pegasus, or Storming Typhoon, gained a worried and amused expression, “Sweetie, I know we have to think about their future, but how about we get them home first?” Shooting Star blushed slightly, “Oh yeah. Maybe we should do that first.” Storming chuckled and kissed her cheek, “You’re cute when you blush.” Shooting blushed slightly harder. The door swung open and a doctor came out. The new parents looked at the doctor and waited for him to tell them whatever he wanted to say. “Mr. Typhoon, Mrs. Star, I am please to inform you that you have given birth to two beautiful baby fillies.” The couple smiled with pride and listened intently to the doctor as he continued, "But before I go on to tell you about the next couple of days, would you mind coming up with a name for the foals?" He held out two sheets of paper, a pen, and a clipboard to Shooting. Shooting Star blinked as she took the objects. She thought for a moment and looked at the photos that they had taken in the room only minutes ago. She looked at Storming, "What do you think we should name them? I was thinking something with 'Flaming' and 'Frozen'." Storming rubbed his chin, thinking. Suddenly, he said, "How about Flaming Sun and Frozen Moon? You know, after the jewels?" Shooting smiled, "Yeah, I like that. It fits their appearance perfectly." She quickly wrote down the names before handing the objects back to the doctor. The doctor nodded and said, "Now about the next couple of days..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shooting star carefully used her magic to lift the two baby carriers off the counter. She said one last goodbye to the receptionist before she walked out the door of the hospital. Outside, she found Storming waiting for her by a carriage taxi. Storming helped her on the taxi before getting on himself and together they talked about what their future could be like. The birthdays, the parties, how they will split the time, but the thing they talked about the most was what their children would be in the future. The talked the whole ride home, never pausing except to give the taxi driver directions. When the couple entered the house, Shooting Star immediately put the foals to bed before walking back downstairs. She saw Storming lying on the couch and so she joined him. The two fell into a dreamless sleep like that, both finding comfort in the other’s touch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep beneath the ground, a chanting could be heard, echoing off the walls. The chanting stopped and there was the sound of a slimy substance before an evil whisper filled the air of the underground caverns. Fire… Ice… Must… Have… …Power… A/N: Don't kill me! I was really unhappy about this chapter and I lost motivation for a while. A long while. Anyways, I'll try (emphasis on TRY) to get chapter one out soon. So, yeah. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story! Feedback is asked for! Please live a like (Or a dislike) and a comment! -D.P.Master