The Crystal Vanguard

by Skarner

Chapter 22: Just Ice

"Nothing burns like the cold.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

The crystal ponies all fled in fear, hoping to not get picked off by Sombra, but he did not want any of them for now. He wanted the crystal heart. Headfirst, he dove towards the crystal heart while he left a trail of dark crystal in his path. Defenseless, the empire took a heavy blow with each void barrage it took. Each hit took out a chunk of the castle. Some demolished a whole house. They only hoped that the crystal heart would protect them for just a bit more.

Ponies that were around the crystal heart stood against Sombra. They were willing to give their life away to defend the heart, and the ponies did not mind. Sombra thought it was hilarious. As he got closer to the heart, he felt its power straining him. It definitely made him weaker, but it wasn't enough to stop him. As the ponies and guards braced for impact, so did the heart. Sombra flung large shards of dark crystal at them, likely impaling them if they didn't move out of the way. Yet, they stood still.

Then suddenly appearing from above, Galio crashed down in front of the ponies, taking the hits and saving the civilians. They all bounced off his body like pebbles off a boulder. Then Skarner and Luio descended down to join alongside him. Together, they readied themselves to battle against Sombra.

Interested in testing his full potential, Sombra sneered and taunted them to make their move by pawing the ground twice. Behind him was his void army. They didn't quite reach the city yet, but they can be seen at the horizon.

Galio charged in, creating a strong gust with his wings. With enough amount of time to react, Sombra dispersed into thin shadows, making Galio punch right through. When Sombra reformed behind him, the stone gargoyle swerved around and uppercutted him into the air.

Just then, Shining Armour, who stood beside the crystal heart with Cadence, blasted a powerful beam, hitting Sombra in mid-air. It pierced right through Sombra, allowing the beam to travel beyond his body. He fell to the ground hard and cracked the crystal road where he landed. Skarner pounced on top of him, digging his stinger into his neck, pinning him to the floor. Sombra felt the agonizing pain, but he knew he would not let himself die here. Once again, he phased into his shadow form, then reformed into his pony self, but he also brought up a large pointed pillar of dark crystal. He thrusted it straight into the crystal heart.

Caught by surprise, no pony was there to protect the heart, except Cadence. She frantically dug her mind for her choices: jump in front of the crystal heart to take the hit, or do something really stupid.

Luio shot a well-aimed beam at the pillar, but it bounced right off and hit Skarner.

Cadence decided.

Just before she was able to do something, a crystal pony soldier leaped in front of the pillar. It pierced right through his armour and body, creating a hole large than his heart. However, it did not slow the pillar down one bit.

The princess did what she knew best. She ignited her horn creating a bright light. She lowered her horn to touch the crystal heart. As time seemed to slow down, she raced against the dark crystal to touch the heart. As she got closer, the heart glowed brighter. As the dark crystal got closer, fragments started to peel off, but it did not slow down.

When Cadence finally realized her own heart stopped beating, her horn touched the heart, but so did the dark crystal.

The crystal heart then gave off a massive pulse, expelling most of the dark magic nearby, thanks to the direct input of Cadence's love magic. If only they knew it would create a positive event. It pushed away Sombra, but it wasn't fatal. It created another shield, but this time it only covered a quarter of the city, including the castle itself. Galio stood at the edge of the shield, staring at Sombra who was on the other side. The dark king laughed.

"Can't stay in there forever." he said as he ignored the crystal ponies, running past him into the safety of the shield. He kept his gaze on Galio. The gargoyle sat down and folded his wings. He dug his fists into the ground, never taking his eyes off of Sombra. The dark king then took a glance behind him, seeing the fast approaching void army. "I'll be back." he phased into his shadow form, and disappeared. Skarner stood behind Galio, seeking to back him up when the shield fell again.

"Cadence!" Shining yelled as he sprinted towards his wife.

"Shining Armour!" she replied. They ran towards each other embraced into a strong hug. "The heart..." she muttered, "It's..."

She didn't want to finish her sentence. Instead, she pointed to the heart. Luio rushed up to inspect the heart closely.

The heart had a small spot of black in the centre, growing ever so slowly.

---

"Any moment now." whispered Fiddle.

"Your assumption is false and understated." said Kassadin.

"BE QUIET!!" Veigar shoved them both.

"Shh!" shushed Strongheart.

"What's happening?" asked Annie. They took cover behind the mass of rubble, watching the horizon.

"Not as exciting as I thought this would be." commented Nidalee.

"Hm... what's taking the void guys so long?" Fiddle scratched his chin.

"They are coming." said Kassadin, "Slowly, but surely." They stayed there for for an hour at that point. behind them were the leftover guards and Luna. Kayle loomed from above. They learned to trust her... for now. They had cannons and arrows at the ready, but it turns out that the suspense might kill them before the void do. Then the same guard who let them through the city, stood beside them. He cleared his throat.

"Seems that you were lying." he said with a frown.

Kassadin wondered, is it really true that they were going towards Canterlot?

Without a word, he stood up and walked towards the castle.

"Hey! Where are you going?" called the guard.

"I am going to check on our captive."

---

Their blades clashed, then parried each other off.

"Wait... those are wind techniques." said Yasuo, "It would seem likely that you were the one."

Riven struck back, which was blocked by Yasuo again.

"The one for what?!" she turned to buck him, but was countered when he dodged to the side. She fell flat on her belly with Yasuo's blade held near her neck. She dared not move another inch, as she was defeated once again.

"You were the one who killed the sword-eldar in Ionia." he deadpanned.

"I was the one who could've stopped the slaughter. I know nothing about your eldars!" she twisted herself around, kicking Yasuo's hooves off the ground while she slashed down on his body. Luckily, he had his blade to block the attack.

"Then where were you the whole time?!" he slid his blade up Riven's sword, and twisted it at the hilt. She then lost grip of her sword and Yasuo disarmed her. He held his blade at her neck, signalling yet another defeat. She frowned and secretly muttered curse words at him. He wouldn't care if he heard them anyways.

"I was busy being a weak coward. I should've died with my shame." she panted.

He sighed. "Enough. You're improving a lot more, but you are reckless." he drew his blade back into his sheath, and gave her back her sword. He went to grab a cup from the edge of the room, and drank his distilled rum from it.

"That's your 12th this day." she said as she sat down to meditate trying to forget what she said moments ago.

"Who says I can't handle my drinks?" he gulped down the remainder of the content inside the cup. He exhaled loudly, and wiped his mouth.

"So what about your search?" she asked, "Who are you looking for?"

He sighed as he poured himself another cup. He took another glug as he sat in front of Riven, "Who indeed. My master has been assassinated, and I seek to avenge him... but... it has lead to regretful consequences."

"So the assassin used a specific technique to kill him?"

"Precisely. That's the only clue they have so far. Ionia's superiors think I did it. They think I was the assassin. All they knew was that he was killed by a wind technique, mastered by both you and I. We will practice again tomorrow at dusk." he stood up and stepped outside. He had told Yi and Wukong that Riven has already left, shooing them to their own usual training spot. He sighed as he sat down on the front porch. He pulled out his flute, and sat for a while. He had his flute laid before him, with the moonlight shimmering in the sky. When he felt it was the right time, he started playing a melody.

Soon, Riven joined him.

She sat down beside him and stared into the moon. She let the harmonic sounds of his flute occupy the air. It has been a long time since she has heard music. So long, she could not remember any other songs. She laid her sword in front of her as she shifted to a more comfortable position. She wanted to hear the rest of the song.

Seemingly never ending, Yasuo ended it off.

"It was beautiful." she commented, "What song was it?"

"It was the song of the wind. I learned it through meditation at my temple."

"Can you play it again?" she asked softly.

Yasuo raised an eyebrow then faced Riven, "The wind comes and goes."

"Is that your way of saying you're too lazy?" she chuckled.

"It's my way of saying I need a breath" he smiled.

"It's alright than, but I want to ask you a question."

"Go ahead."

"Why did you offer to train me?"

He took a deep breath, "The same reason you stayed."

She thought about it for a moment, then laid her head on her hooves.

"You want me to kill Yi?" she said all of a sudden.

"Not quite. We are on quite friendly terms." he replied.

"What if we do not have the same reasons?"

"I am certain that they are the same."

Riven sighed. A moment later, Yasuo brought his flute back up, and began to play the same piece. He applied a slight edge to it, as if there was a second meaning.

She noticed it too. The first round he played through was calming and passive to her. She felt the made her feel as if she drifted across the land. It softly held her as she felt like she fell down like a cherry-blossom petal. However, this song made her feel like there was something that the wind was leading her to. It was concealing a secret she could not uncover.

Yasuo kept playing even when he noticed that she fell fast asleep. The weather is warm and calm, so outside slumber was suitable. He thought back to her question: what if we do not have the same reasons? He started to have doubts about his own reason. He thought it selfish.

---

"Well Twi? What do we do now?" asked Applejack. They sat at the former entrance of the Canterlot gates, ducked behind cover.

"I-I'm not sure, but we should wait here for now." she replied.

"I disagree, we shouldn't just sit here and wait until they come again. We must act!" interjected Rarity.

"She's right!" said Rainbow Dash, "We ain't gonna lay here all day! We need to find a way to save Equestria!"

"THEN WHAT RAINBOW DASH?!" snapped Twilight, "We're heros but sometimes, we have to let other be heros too. We're here to help anyway we can, but we still need... uh... things."

"We needed help from dragons, since they are resistant to magic, and are probably resistant to the Void as well." said Rarity.

"We also needed help from other kingdoms, but oh that failed." said Fluttershy.

"Hm... Can anypony guess what else we needed?" Twlight prodded her brain, hoping to find something.

"Nope." the rest of them said in unison.

Twilight hummed. It seemed that her new alicorn powers are ever so weak. She had a nation to protect, but not even the alicorn sisters could hold. She was supposed to be powerful. Why was she so powerless?

She could do something.

"You know what girls?" she said, "We're going. Follow me." she frowned as she marched forward. Her friends all glanced at eachother, doubting that this will end well.

---

The dawning sun rose from the horizon. They had left the camp quite early, but everyone was just as eager to take down Burdac as much as they want to head home. Except for one at least. They managed to tail his tracks, but he was still far ahead... or was he?

"He is nearby." muttered Vayne. Trusting her judgement, Jarvan signalled for everyone to duck down and take cover. They waited and listened for any sudden movement. They had to listen to the sound of their own heartbeat at the suspense. They relied on the small shrubs on the edge of the jungle to cover them, but they had a feeling he already knew where they were.

Suddenly, a torrent of scorching flame pooled beneath them.

"EVERYBODY OUT!!" screamed Jarvan. Everyone but Shyvana sprinted out and yelled in pain. Their legs were burnt to the flesh. Luckily they wore clothing and armour which absorbed most of the damage. None were fatal, but some were crippled permanently. Once everyone recovered and patted out the flames to prevent the rest of the jungle from burning, they were missing someone.

Jarvan cursed outloud, putting a smile on Vayne's face. "That bitch." she muttered to herself.

Shyvana was hot on Burdac's tail as she gave chase to him in the air. Burdac cackled as he dodged a fireball from Shyvana, only angering her further. She flapped harder, panted harder. She had to take him down now. She didn't want him to escape once again.

She got close enough to barely bite his tail. Even though it did not seem like such a bad idea, he noticed how close she was. Burdac steered up, and wheeled down on top of Shyvana. He brought her down to the ground, smashing her headfirst into the solid hard dirt. Almost instantly, the impact crippled her limbs. She screamed in agony. Eagar to finish the feud once and for all, he laid her down and bent down to position his jaw to snap her neck, but he stopped. He heard the other ponies approaching, and thought of a devious plan.

One that will entertain him afterall.

He picked up her body which was surprisingly light for her size. He then launched himself into the air before Jarvan's soldiers had a chance to take him down.

"Not again you wretched scum!" yelled Vayne as she sprinted after him.

"Hold on Shyvana! We're coming!" yelled Jarvan as he relented into a sprint. They kept Burdac in their vision, but it seemed that they will not be able to catch him if Burdac made it out of the hills. Beyond the hills was a deep cliff, one that dropped to a rushing river.

As they neared one of the hills, Vayne was already on top of it. Using the height boost from the hill, Vayne pulled out her large ballista from her back, and aimed. She shot a silver bolt that soared across the sky.

Even with the distance between them, she heard the distinct crunch when her bolt made impact with Burdac's limb at the wing.

She continued sprinting towards Burdac's crash area once Jarvan caught up with her.

...

Burdac moaned and limped as he held a claw to his right wing. He spat curses as he was forced to drop Shyvana where he was. He couldn't fight with the injury, so he decided to save this moment for another day. He frowned as he took one last glance at Shyvana.

"Next time. I won't take the pleasure of delaying your death." he said.

"Neither will I." she coughed out blood as she replied.

As Burdac turned away, silver bolts were pelted into his legs, making him kneel. Then, Jarvan's standard slammed right on his toe. Burdac yelped in pain, but he growled fiercely as he stood back up, prepared to retaliate. Jarvan then bursted from the depths of the woods, and extended his lance to hook up with his standard. As he thrusted himself forward to retract his lance, he was met with a solid fist from Burdac,knocking him back, also knocking away the standard. Before the rest of his men arrived, Burdac breathed flames in a cone in front of him, scorching the trees that were caught in its radius. They fearlessly dashed through the flames as they engaged Burdac.

From behind, Shyvana swept Burdac off his legs with her tail. With her remaining strength, she pounced onto him, clawing his hide. Unfortunately, due to the difference in their masses, Burdac threw her off easily, and used his tail to sweep away the incoming soldiers. Swiftly, Vayne leaped over his tail and continued to lodge bolts of silver into his belly. Then Jarvan jumped back into the fray. He dug his lance into Burdac's kneecap and twisted it. (ouch!)

Crippled, Burdac was unable to shake off Jarvan's soldiers.

"Grapple him down! Now!" ordered Jarvan as his soldiers obliged. They pulled out their small grapple nets and shot them over Burdac. The grapples arced over the dragon, then released a net as they soared over. The grapples then hooked itself into the ground, and tightened to keep pressure down on Burdac.

Jarvan withdrew himself from his lance, leaving it there as he approached Burdac.

"Not only have you committed crimes that stand beyond execution as a punishment, but you will become my most prized trophy. I applaud you for your fight." he said. Shyvana recovered herself and stood beside Jarvan. Only then could they tell the contrast in size with Jarvan and Shyvana's dragon-form.

Then Vayne stepped in and gritted her teeth, "You are an abomination and a sin to be born. Creatures like you make me sick."

"So is that all I am to you bounty hunters? Then what am I to your accomplice?" said Burdac, as he gave no more resistance to the nets.

"You are merely my enemy." spat Shyvana, "You have caused my family nothing but agony."

"I can say the same for you too princess." Burdac then pushed himself up, but he wasn't able to break the nets, as he expected. Before Jarvan, Shyvana, or Vayne could react, he breathed up flames beneath him, scorching the tall grass beneath him. Quicker than they could imagine, the flames turned into a bonfire, engulfing Burdac's whole body.

Since he was immune, he was not affected by the heat one bit. However, the nets burned off like thin cotton. He pulled out the lance in his knee and flexed his wings. Once the fire cleared, he took off into the sky. Shyvana gave chase.

Since Burdac was injured from the past, his flying was not adequate. Shyvana was slowly gaining distance between them. However, she did not realize that she sped past the cliff, and to the other side of the plateau, cutting them off from her backup. Eventually Shyvana was able to bite down on Burdac's tail and tip him off balance, causing his flying to rock around. She then fly higher than him, and dug her legs into the limbs of his wings, and brought him down.

Recklessly, they both crashed down.

They both groaned as they tried to recover from their landing. Eventually they were both able to stand and face eachother, but Shyvana panted really hard in exhaustion. They could hear the yells from the other side of the cliff.

"Don't engage him on your own Shyvana!" she heard Jarvan holler.

"We're coming! Hold on!" shouted Vayne.

"Are you going top listen to your friends?" sneered Burdac.

Shyvana whipped her tail back and crouched into a battle stance, "Of course not. This ends here!" She pounced teeth-first towards Burdac. With lack of enthusiasm, he punched her head into the ground.

"I am still strong if you couldn't tell. So choose wisely: will you fall back to fight another day? Or die trying?"

She groaned and lifted herself up. "One of us going to die trying. I will guarantee that."

"Than make your move Shyvana. Blood is rubbing against time."

"Hyaah!" cried Shyvana enraged with great fury. She breathed flames beneath Burdac, at least making him cringe. This bought her enough time to strike. She dived in and grabbed Burdac's arm and kicked his elbow into the opposite angle. He screamed in pain as he tried to shove Shyvana off, but she bite into Burdac's neck. She then pinned him down to the ground, snarling as she drooled all over his bloody hide.

"No! You will not finish me off so easily!" he screamed, desperately trying to ease his way out of her hold.

"Than you shouldn't have ruined my life so easily!" she retorted.

She snapped his neck in a quick twitch. Without another sound, he fell limp.

As she backed off to take in the scene of the fire scorching against her foe, she was not satisfied. Her fury was not satisfied.

She roared as she once again dove in and began clawing and biting his flesh. She scraped blood and bone each strike. She didn't care that he was dead. She wanted to be satisfied. Perhaps their fight was not long enough?

She grunted as she lifted his body up and leaned it on a charred tree. His body ended up knocking it over. Frustrated, she roared again. Shyvana began biting off pieces of his hide, to reveal the flesh and guts inside. She felt disgusted and felt like she would recoil and throw up her insides, but she wasn't satisfied. She bite down into his flesh, and ate a chunk. As she swallowed, she felt a new hunger.

"Shyvana!" yelled Jarvan. As he and the rest of everyone arrived, they were shocked by the scene. "Shyvana, are you alright?" he asked, "And is that Burdac?" he pointed to the limp and bloody body. Vayne had to admit, she was a little impressed.

Instead of answering, she morphed back into her pony form and crumbled to her knees. She was relieved of every feeling, but sadness. Why did she feel sad at that moment? She pouched her head between her hooves, crying into her legs. She felt ice tickle her heart. All anypony could do was stand there and watch her weep. Jarvan approached her and kneeled down beside her. Offering no resistance, she surrendered into the comfort of his embrace. Jarvan whispered to his colts to clean up the site to set up camp. He let her cry herself to sleep.

---

The cold and stormy clouds sheathed all of Freljord from the sun. Snow hailed from the clouds from above.

Lissandra stood at the balcony of her new castle. Freljord was hers, and so was the weakened Ashe. She breathed surely, but slowly. Lissandra had to appease herself from doing any more damage to her by overlooking her new troll army, mixed with The Frostguards. Compared to her trolls, The Frostguards towered 5x taller. She had only around 50, since they are so hard to call upon. Trundle appeared beside her.

"Your highness." he bowed.

"What is it?" she said.

"I have good news from The Crystal Empire."

"Are you being sarcastic with me?"

"No your highness. Our scout has indicated to me that Sombra has succeeded in breaking through their defences. They are huddled in fear as we speak."

She smiled. "Guess the lunatic could do it afterall. If you see Sombra, tell him to remain there. Our reinforcements will rendezvous with him to snatch it away from the Void's grasps, as well as Canterlot and Ionia. All shall fall to the cold. We will restore the former glory that Freljord once had." she moved into the room where she kept Ashe.

"Yes your highness." Trundle bowed again and dismissed himself.

Meanwhile, in the dungeon where Ashe was.

When Lissandra entered the room, she was gone! She frantically dashed around to other rooms, hoping to catch her before she escaped.

Then suddenly,

"Looking for her Lissandra?" Sombra stepped out of the shadows.

"You! What did you do with her?" she conjured an ice blade and pointed it at Sombra's neck.

"Do not worry my queen. Congratulations by the way. She is right behind me." Ashe stepped out of the shadows but changed. Her pupils disappeared, while her eyes were only pitch black. Her bow was now made of dark ice. Her clothes were littered with dark ice, similar to Lissandra's armour but more messy. Her cutiemark was no longer there. "Love what you did with her; what better than to make her one of our own rather than to execute her." he marvelled on.

However, Lissandra was not pleased. She stomped her hoof on the ground, "This is not what I wished for! Why did you do this Sombra!" He raised his hoofs up and shrugged his shoulders.

"I just got here." he sneered, "She is icey-cold to the touch," He prodded her side, "Clearly not my domain of magic. This was the work of somepony else."

"No! I will not allow this to happen!" she reached for Ashe, but Lissandra felt nothing, as if she was touching a wall with no feel. She then channelled her magic to expel the dark ice within her, but it did not work. Angry, Lissandra screamed.

"Aw cheer up my queen." he pouted, "After all... it's just ice."

Author's Note:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! :D I made this chapter to precisely theme christmas xD

After watching "Frozen" by disney, i really liked it. Although I have to admit, there are some parts where if the movie wasnt made by disney, it wouldve made it more gorey and epic... but what can I expect?

Thought that was relevant.

Anyways, you guys have been really quiet lately...

come on now... I don't stab... hard

<3 Yasuo!! <3 (it used to be Yasao before they changed it in PBE :/ or maybe because I was being a little dyslexic)

Lastly, did you notice the play on words of the title? Just Ice --> Justice

(shoutout to Zack R.H ;D )