Magic Paint Brushes 3: This Ice Life...

by Ugly-Duckling123

Chapter 11

Sarah never really did like swimming all that much.

Her excuse she gave out was that she couldn't swim. But really it was because the pond where they lost Emma back when they were kids is the place where she did the most swimming and where Emma loved to play.
So now wherever it is she swims it brings back the memories of the frozen pond and she just can't do it.

The good thing, she told herself was this wasn't swimming... This was dunking totally different. As in swimming is fun and dunking... Well it's not so fun.

"(Gasping) Scarab this is a waste of time," Sarah said faking shivers - she had silently wished she could not feel the cold of the water to which the bracelet granted. But that didn't stop her from with each drop loosing more and more air. "Jack can't give Winter his power back. HE CAN'T!"

Scarab wasn't listening before he dropped the stool again.

---

In the throne room everyone - aside from Winter of course - was watching with fear in their eyes.

"Jack what are we going to do?" Suzy asked snapping him away from the screen to look at her. "Sarah can't take much more of this..."

"You don't think I don't know that Suz?" Jack asked anger in his voice because he was scared for Sarah. "You don't think I don't know what not giving the tyrant his powers back will mean? But what giving them to him does? We've been over this I can't give them back!"

"Well you'll have to find some way to give them back boy," Winter said enjoying this "Or dear sweet Sarah might never come back out of that room."
***
While Winter was paying more attention to Jack and Suzy than her and the others, Twilight was using her magic to slowly melt the cuffs holding her up, every once in a while looking to Winter to see if he was noticing.

Eventually, she was free and began to free the others only after they promised not to do anything until they were all down.
***
Seeing what Twilight was doing Jack and Suzy made it their duty to keep Winter distracted.

"So if you hate this world so much to just freeze it over..." Suzy asked going back to the earlier conversations "Why did you and Discord choose come here in the first place?"

"Choose?" Winter asked the word strong and a hint of confusion as if he didn't know what the word was. "You think we chose to come here Changeling? Ha! We were banished here by the High Lord Grogar!"

"Who?" everyone asked looking confused and towards Discord asking if this was true, but he was just avoiding everyone's eyes. But Winter kept watch on Jack and Suzy and continued explaining.

"We were banished here, because our dimension kicked us out after a prank Discord set up and roped me into," he said red tipped very sharp icicles coming off the walls. "Because of that freak you call master, Jackson," he said looking to the boy "I was kicked out of my home. Pushed away from my family, my friends, my loved ones."
***
"Someone loved him?" Rainbow asked in a hushed voice getting 'Shush...' from everyone else as they watched stunned by this new information they were getting.

"Her name was Seraphina," Discord answered but that was all he said.
***
"But even as a colt... left with nothing..." Winter said building tension "I vowed to rise above everypony. And give them what I could not have myself."

"Then why freeze everyone each year?" Suzy asked sensing this speech was full of lies.

"Well I need someway of erasing all the mistakes the ponies made through out the year." Winter said a small smirk on his face.

"Or maybe you need someway to erase the ponies themselves," Jack said grinding his teeth his eyes turning slightly blue with anger "Those ponies who try and stand up to you and your cold and anyone else who doesn't follow you."

"Clever boy..." Winter said nodding proudly.

"The world want's peace and friendship," Suzy said trying to stay calm and her mood neutral toward this scum-bag "And you don't need powers to do that. Just let us show you..." she said looking to Jack before returning to Winter.

"NO! Let me! Show you!" Winter cried as he came to the end of his patience with his prisoners.

Then at once the three of them, Jack, Suzy, and Winter were cloaked in a purple aura and were gone, replaced by a spluttering Sarah.

"SARAH!" everyone cried and rushed over to see if she was alright Eric giving her his cloak to keep warm.

"You alright Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"I'll... I'll live," she said taking deep breaths looking around for her cousin knowing that she wouldn't of been aloud back unless Jack did something. "Where's Jack?" she asked then spotting someone else was missing "Where's Suzy?"

"With Winter trying to prove to him what friendship is." Rainbow said in mid air. "Which reminds me... Discord." she said getting everyone to look towards the 'Trying to get away' Draconequus. "I think you owe us an explanation on what REALLY happened when you came here."

"What's to explain Cloud-Butt?" Eric said helping Sarah up "Winter already said it. You can shun Discord for lying to us later, right now, we need to find them before something bad happens."

"Like an army of Windego's coming into the room to destroy us?" Pinkie suggested in a calm voice.

"Yeah exactly," Eric said nodding to Pinkie "Good suggestion Pinks."

"Um... It wasn't a suggestion Eric..." Sarah said looking over her shoulder following Pinkie's eye line and seeing them.

"Ok no one do anything" Eric said slowly.

"Oh come on we can take them," Rainbow said about to charge only to be held back by Applejack.

"Whoa there nelly," she said Rainbow tail between her teeth and spitting it out "I have a better plan than getting all fired up and charging these beasts up."

"And that is..." Rainbow asked resetting her tail.

"Twilight setting off a Friendship Heart," AJ replied.

"Why do you think I can do it?" Twilight asked backing up a bit.

"Well other than you're the Princess of Friendship..." Eric said telling Sarah to cover her ears when he gave the signal. "It's in you're blood. You're how-ever-many-great's-it-is grandmother was Clover the Clever. Why else do you think Winter kept referring to your ancestors and the founders like that?"

Giving it a minute to set in Eric quickly nodded to Sarah who clamped her hands to her ears only just muting the high pitched scream Rarity was giving off.

Once it was over she fainted with exhaustion a big if not slightly creepy smile on her face.

The good news about it was the Windegos got scared by the loud noise and fled. The slightly bad news... Almost everyone who did not plug their ears was slightly deaf now.

"Well that went well," Eric said smirking drawing his sword and shifting it to a bow and arrow. "Didn't go as planned, but at least their gone right? Come on." With that, everyone - Rarity being carried by Applejack since she was the strongest went off to look for their friends.

Author's Note:

Note: the manacles holding everyone cut off their powers, Twilight is the only one still able to use hers because she's the element of magic and a Alicorn Princess meaning her's is the strongest.