Frozen:The day the sun died.

by Brosparkles

Swarm of scales.

“Starswirl? Like, the Starswirl?” Sol asked.

“That’s right.” he said.

“I saw you on a statue.” Sol said.

“That’s all you know me from?” Starswirl said.

“Yep.” Sol said.

“He’s a very powerful magic user. What are you doing down here, old man?” Spike asked.

“Like I said, I’m investigating.” he said.

Another magic flash came from Starswirl’s horn, and his usual robes appeared on him.

“Huh, it really did have those bells.” Spike said.

Small bubbles enveloped the bells, so no sound would escape.

“We need to be quiet up ahead.” Starswirl said.

A thin rod of magic appeared in front of Starswirl. It spun rapidly, forming a disk. The disk shot backwards covering the group in a cylinder, large enough for even Spike, which then formed itself around them. Spike felt a strange familiarity with this spell, as though he knew it from somewhere.

“This reflective cylinder should cloak us. It’s basically a one way mirror. It distorts the image a bit though, so it can’t be relied on at close range.” Starswirl said.

“You know, Twilight really looked up to you for magic. I can see why.” Spike said.

“More than you know.” Starswirl muttered.

“Huh?” Spike said.

“Oh, nothing.” Starswirl said.

More books lined the walls ahead, but were no longer scattered and were lined up neatly on shelves. This room looked and felt like a proper library, but nothing was legible on the books. Starswirl took his slow steps ahead, leading the group to the exit. He used his magic to open the door, and headed out. Amazedly, Sol looked around in awe. Large buildings, homes, businesses, and even well made roads were ahead. But they were all alien in design, nothing like Canterlot. A gigantic statue of a stallion in long, flowing robes adorned the center of the city, with strange tentacle-like appendages coming out of its back legs, lifting it into the air.. But, for all the splendor and glamour of the city, there wasn’t a soul to be found living in it. A loud scratching noise came from nearby, and Starswirl ducked into an alley. The others followed, and waited in silence for it to pass.

“You think you can hide from the night?” a voice said.

Once more the mouth appeared, in the darkness of the alley.

“Ah, old man, you’re here too? You’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long, draining my minions. I’ll make sure you die painfully.”

“Draining?” Aqua asked.

“Yes, the ones closer to the surface I’m sure you ran into.” Starswirl said.

“So that’s why they didn’t put up a fight.” Spike said.

The scratching noise closed in, and several of his scaled minions entered the alley.

“Your illusions are futile, old man. Die.” the mouth said.

The beast leapt into the air, swiping a few feet away from Sol, and hitting a wall. Try as it
might, it couldn’t find him.

“Spike, fire!” Starswirl said.

Spike released a plume of flame, scalding their scales. Starswirl threw his lantern into the air again, this time the flame turned a greenish color. It surrounded the group, incinerating all of the beasts. More began to pour into the alleyway, in a seemingly endless horde. Starswirl bolted, as fast as his old legs would carry him. The others ran after him, except for Spike. Spike took in a deep breath, and shot fire once more. The beasts fell over, and Spike ran off, panting heavily from the exertion of fire-breathing. More beast began to pour in from all around. They began to leap wildly, only having a vague idea of where the ponies were. The mouth tried its best to direct them, being able to see through the spell. Starswirl headed for a large, important looking building, with impressively large doors. The group headed in, when one of the beasts leapt from the roof, pouncing on Aqua. In one quick movement, the beast slashed open his suit, and his chest. The beast continued to tear at him, as he writhed around, trying to shake it off of him.. Sol charged in and bucked it, to some effect. It didn’t appear visibly hurt, but it backed off enough for Sol to grab Aqua, and drag him inside. Spike slammed the doors shut, and Starswirl magically sealed them. Steam was billowing out of his suit, and it was losing heat fast. His blood behaved similarly, emblazoning his chest and legs in bright crimson. A crashing noise came from the door, the beasts were slamming their bodies into it, thirsting for more blood. Aqua was barely conscious, not awake enough to show much of a reaction.What little of his face could be seen through the fogged helmet seemed somewhat afraid, but mostly disconnected from what was going on. He opened his mouth, but the wiring of the radio system was torn, and no sound could be heard. Starswirl ripped a chunk of his cloak off, and used it to bandage Aqua’s wounds. His horn shone, as a near-transparent blue bubble formed around Aqua, sealing what heat was left in the suit inside it. The bubble wrapped itself around him, and turned completely transparent. The beasts continued to smash into the door, unaware of the magical seal.

“Spike, I need some more flame.” Starswirl said.

Spike once more took a deep breath, and managed out some more embers, coughing violently. Starswirl summoned two staves of metal. He caught the embers in one, which sparked a flame at the tip, and heated the other over it.

“Please forgive me for this.” Starswirl said, now holding the dragonfire heated staff. He removed the bandages, which were soaked and useless at this point anyway. Starswirl pressed the staff onto his wounds, cauterizing them with the heat of dragonfire. Aqua shot awake, in immense pain, as his wounds were forced shut. Immediately after he passed out, but the bleeding had stopped.

“That suit isn’t going to do him any good anymore. You might as well remove it.” Starswirl said.

Amethyst removed his helmet, making his breathing a bit easier.

“Aqua! Please, say something!” Sol yelled.

“Relax, he’s fine. He’ll wake up sometime soon.” Starswirl said a little too calmly.

“Thank you so very much. If there’s anything I can do for you, please, let me know.” Sol said.

“There is one thing. I need you to live.” Starswirl said somewhat cryptically.

Luna looked at his staff some more. It seemed strangely familiar, she remembered the make of the staff. She had only seen them in ponyville magic shops, they weren’t as elegant as the ones in Canterlot.

“I never remembered Starswirl being quite so kind. He was always bitter and cold to others when I knew him.” Luna thought.

With the doors locked, nothing could get in, and the beasts scattered.