//------------------------------// // Cold Blooded // Story: Tales of the Battle Foals // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// The monstrous form soared towards them ready to strike, but Spiral Galaxy managed to knock it back with a gravity wave, throwing it off balance and knocking it back, but it quickly got back upon its feet as though nothing happened. “Alright, let’s get this over- huh!?” Fire Fight, expecting another ice specter, was shocked to see that there attacker wasn’t anything of the sort. In actuality… “DRAGON!!” Quantum Tech exclaimed. The dragon was about as tall as Dragon Lord Ember and had her sharp body type minus the tusks on the cheeks, but it had white scales surrounding a grey underbelly, claws, horns and spines. Its eyes were a bright red, and they were glaring the foals down. “Grrr! GET OUT OF MY CAVE!!” The foals could discern from the dragon’s voice that it was male, and he was probably about their age, maybe a tad older. He leapt into the air and inhaled. Fire Fight stepped out with his horn ready to block the dragon’s fire breath. “W-Wait! We’re not here to fight-” He couldn’t complete his sentence before the dragon exhaled. Fire Fight focused his magic on the dragon’s breath, as he exhaled a blue flame. However, it didn’t seem to budge when Fire Fight tried to stop it, and it hit him with a sapphire burst. The foals were expecting a blast that would knock him back and a cry of pain from their fiery leader, knowing that he could survive a blast of heat, but neither of those happened. Plus, there was a complete absence of heat, but rather it had suddenly gotten freezing cold. Instead, they uncovered their eyes to see Fire Fight frozen solid in a block of ice! “FIRE FIGHT!!” Shadow Shroud exclaimed. Everypony was both shocked that he was suddenly in the state that he was, and that a dragon just breathed ice. “How in Celestia’s name!?” Quantum Tech exclaimed. “Hol’ up! I know that dragon ain’t spit ice just now!” Turf War said. “Aww! What’s the matter, little pony!? Don’t like the cold!?” the dragon taunted. He puffed frigid air out of his nostrils. “Looks like ol’ Frostbite needs to teach you dweebs what happens when you set foot on a dragons turf!” He suddenly vomited a blast of the ice energy that hit the threshold between the tunnel they’d just come from and the chamber. It burst and created a huge wall of ice that completely froze their exit shut. Air Slash and Valkyrie poised their swords viciously at their draconic adversary. “It is YOU in need of a lesson, foul lizard!” Air Slash shouted. “Yeah! You wanna fight? All you had to do was ask!!” Valkyrie roared. They both soared towards the dragon calling himself ‘Frostbite’, ready to strike him down, but the icy reptile just smirked at their feeble attempt. He exhaled a blast of cold air onto both of his claws, and in them formed big bastard swords made of ice. Both warriors were surprised to see him pull this off, but they were confident that they would be able to easily smash through them- their confidence was misplaced. When they tried to double team Frostbite, his ice swords easily blocked and parried them without so much as cracking. “What!?” Air Slash muttered in shock. Acting quickly, Frostbite then raised his tail and effectively tripled its length by breathing ice onto it, creating a glacial blade extension of it. He spun around and managed to strike his attackers. Valkyrie managed to block the blow, but she was knocked back a good distance. Air Slash wasn’t so lucky; he took the full force of the tail swipe and was knocked to the ground with a violent thud. “Air Slash!!” Greensprout quickly rushed to his aid. Meanwhile, Shadow Shroud was desperately hacking away at the ice block encasing Fire Fight with her kamas. She had the help of Turf War who was using his axe to chop through the ice; he didn’t want to risk any seismic waves hurting his friend. The ice was harder than either thought possible at near room temperature, and they were making very slow progress. “Come on. Come on!” “He better still be breathin’!” Turf War said. In his frozen state, Fire Fight’s horn suddenly started glowing, and the ice around started to emanate heat. Shadow Shroud and Turf War backed away from him, and seconds later, the ice block began cracking slowly. “Fire Fight?” Shroud muttered. While that was happening, Valkyrie found herself locked in a duel with Frostbite. She never would have expected a dragon to be as dexterous with a sword as he was, and he was at even odds with her. At one point, she went in for a thrust, but Frostbite caught her sword in his mouth just before the blade could start going down his throat. “Oh, crap!” Frostbite deviously smirked with the sword in his mouth and threw her to his left, throwing her off balance and leaving her open for a cross slash from his ice swords, knocking her to ground. Before she could get up, a barrage of icicles suddenly came down raining on her, nearly impaling her. “Hehehe! What’s the matter? Cold Turkey!?” he taunted. Shards of ice drooled from his jaws. Valkyrie rose back into the air and went after him again. “Guys! A little help here!!” “Oh! Y-Yes, of course!” Quantum Tech and company were still baffled to have encountered an ice-breathing dragon. “Fire at will!” She locked onto to Frostbite and readied her shot, careful that she wouldn’t accidently hit Valkyrie. Kickback and Bullseye took aim as well, but Kickback fire two shots right away, each one hitting either of Frostbite’s ice swords. The impact of the bullet and the electricity that surged in them caused the thin blades to crack significantly enough so that Valkyrie could shatter them after a few parries. “What the!?” Frostbite stammered. Valkyrie swung her sword down just in time for Frostbite to catch it in his claws, and the griffonlet knight smirked back. “What’s the matter? COLD CLAWS!?” she taunted. Quantum Tech seized the opportunity to fire her railguns at Frostbite, and Spiral Galaxy used her gravikinesis to hold him in place, allowing for both direct hits. “OOF!” Having a resilient hide, Frostbite took the electromagnetic shots better than most other creatures would, but they still knocked him back, nearly forcing him to fall, but he managed to correct himself. “Why you little!!” He vomited an ice-fire ball at Spiral Galaxy, but Tidal Wave tackled her out of the way just before it could connect. They both managed to dodge it right before it blasted on the ground and created a spiky bush of icicles. Frostbite was about to follow up when Bullseye fired an arrow that hit his joint connecting his wing and shoulder, but the reptilian renegade just pulled out completely unfazed. “Tee hee! That tickled!” he taunted. He threw the arrow behind him. “OH, YOU THINK THAT’S FUNNY, B****!? WELL, I THINK YOU’LL HAVE A BLAST WITH THIS ONE!!!” Bullseye nocked back an explosive arrow and fired it. It struck Frostbite’s thick underbelly and detonated without incident. Bullseye wickedly smiled as the smoke plumed from her dirty work. “Hehehe… So much for a flying gecko.” But as the smoke cleared, she realized that Frostbite had all but vanished. “The f***?” Unbeknownst to her, Frostbite had used the smoke to conceal himself and sneak up behind her. “Gotcha!” “Wha!?” Bullseye was too late to turn around and react as Frostbite took a swipe at her with his claws, slashing her back. “AIIIEEE!!” Frostbite added insult to injury by smacking her with his tail, sending her tumbling a good ways. Crazylocks charged at Frostbite. “IT’S THE ATTACK OF THE LIVID POPSICLES!!!” Zebota threw his boomerang at the dragon and clutched his brooch. “Pin him down, Shrapnel!” The wooden titan heeded his master’s command without protest and lunged at Frostbite along with Crazylocks, but Frostbite used his wings to soar out of the way quickly. As he did, he exhaled an immense blast of cold air that further served to thrust him upward as well as freeze the ground below him, creating a sheet of ice that Crazylocks and Shrapnel slipped on. Their momentum sent them careening across the iced ground, but Zebota uttered a quick incantation that caused his boomerang, which was hovering above the ice to electrify and send lightning bolts that shattered the ice, allowing them to regain their balance. Frostbite snarled. “Tch. Nice trick. Can’t say the same about your pet though.” He taunted. Shrapnel viciously growled and Crazylocks spread her wings, ready to fly up to him, but he took off like a rocket. Bullseye got up, ignoring the seething sharp pain in her back and glaring sadistically up at Frostbite. “Oh, you’re dead now- GLUH!” She suddenly felt an agonizing chill run through her body, and when she looked at her back, she was terrified to see that her body had begun freezing over from her wound! “GREENSPROUT!!!!” She tried to take aim at the icy dragon as he flew around, but her chilling body prevented her from even focusing. She could faintly hear the motherly monk call out to her as she then could feel the Gaia Root’s healing energy being poured into her, and she felt the freezing slowly start to mitigate. Quantum Tech, Kickback and Spiral Galaxy tried to hit Frostbite, but he was moving too quickly. On top of that, a healed Air Slash and Valkyrie tried to stay out of the way while also trying to fight their opponent. At one point, Shrapnel tried to lunge at him again, but the draconic hoodlum uppercutted him and caught him by the paw. With his dragon strength, Frostbite hurled the wooden titan into a wall, and her vomited another ice-fire ball that struck Shrapnel in the abdomen and froze most of his body over and snared him onto the wall, his paws and head sticking out, leaving him to struggle. “SHRAPNEL!!” Zebota called out. He rushed to his monster’s aid. As all of that was happening, Fire Fight’s ice block began heating more intensely to complement the shining of his horn. Shadow Shroud and Turf War continued to work frantically until suddenly, the iceberg exploded, revealing its collapsed former captive. “MY BOY!!” Turf War exclaimed. When the examined him, his entire body was freezing cold, and he looked pale and was barely breathing. “Greensprout! Get over here NOW!!” Shadow Shroud ordered. She then looked up at Frostbite with enough fury to scorch a field of hay in seconds as she drew her kamas. “I’m going to enjoy this!” she hissed. Greensprout got to Fire Fight posthaste and went to work immediately. “Go on, Turf War! I should be able to help him.” Turf War nodded. “Handle that, homegirl.” He drew his hammer-axe and followed Shadow Shroud. “Stay strong, brother!” Greensprout pushed her Gaia Root to its limits as Fire Fight began to warm back up, and his body got its glow back. His breathing became heavier, but it regulated very quickly as he managed to stagger to his hooves. “Ugh….my head….” Fire Fight croaked. “Are you okay, Fire Fight?” Greensprout asked. Fire Fight took a big, deep breath as his powerful presence returned along with his strength. “Yeah. Just had my near-death experience quota filled for the day, that’s all.” “Oh dear…” Greensprout muttered in minor annoyance. Meanwhile, the struggle against Frostbite continued to rage. He had formed more ice swords and was fighting back against Valkyrie and Air Slash while dodging incoming projectiles. Bullseye decided to stay her arrows and go full on Blood Cupid, joining her avian comrades as she tried to strike him with her bow. Needless to say, she wasn’t very happy about nearly freezing. “HOLD STILL SO I CAN SKIN YOU ALIVE, YOU F***!!!” She managed to clock him in the jaw, but Frostbite froze his tail over again and smacked her out of the sky. “HAHAHAHAHA! You guys suck!!” Frostbite shouted. Suddenly, a puff of smoke burst on his back as he was flying. “Whoa! ….huh?” When the smoke cleared, Shadow Shroud was there standing on his back. “What the!?” He thought quickly to thrust his frozen tail toward her, but he did so in such a way that when she jumped out of the way, he struck his own back by accident. “ACK!!” Shadow Shroud fell back towards him and used her momentum to smack him in the head with her nunchucks. “GRARGH!” His pain forced caused him to fall out of the sky, but Shadow Shroud managed to steer him towards where Fire Fight’s ice block was, and he landed in the puddle of water the fiery colt had left behind when he burst out. “OOF! Ooooh…” Just before he could get up, The water around him sudden rose up and wrapped around his wrists and ankles like chains. “WH-WHAT THE HELL!?” “You better stop if you know what’s good for you!” Tidal Wave said. His shining brooch coupled with his lance pointed towards Frostbite said everything. “Tch! Make me!” Frostbite scoffed. He breathed on his watery chains and froze them, allowing him to easily shatter his way free. He rose back into the air with a blizzard drooling from his jaws. “Please stop! We didn’t come here to fight you!” Spiral pled. “Too bad! I’m having fun!” Frostbite retorted. He exhaled a storm of ice-fire from his mouth towards the foals, but a blast of radiant fire collided with it and canceled it out. “HUH!?” “I think you’ve had enough fun.” Standing between him and the other foals was a determined Fire Fight, whom everypony was relieved to see. Frostbite bore his fangs. “Rrrrr! Don’t tell me what to do, stupid pony!” he growled. “Now Ah didn’t want to do this, partner, but ya left me no choice!” Kickback picked up another one of the laser-armed robot limbs and put his gun at its shoulder. “YEEE-HAAAW!” He fired an electrified bullet into it, causing the laser to fire a bolt of plasma. His shot went a little high and hit a stalactite above their foe, knocking it loose. Frostbite managed to crack the rock with both his ice swords at the cost of shattering them, but he caught a piece of it that was about the size of three bowling balls and threw it. “Catch!!” “A’ight!!” Turf War stepped up to the plate and smack the boulder with his hammer, sending it back to Frostbite with seismic force. “HOME RUN!!” The boulder flew too fast for Frostbite to react, and it crashed into his abdomen. “OOF!!” Suddenly, a flurry of Shadow Shroud copies assaulted him while he was dazed. He could take the slashing, but it was happening in such great magnitude that he couldn’t decide how to react. “H-H-Huh!? Whoa-oa-oa!!” When the shadow assault concluded, he finally saw Fire Fight flying towards him in a fire-charged kick that hit him square in the jaw, slamming him into the ground. “Ooooh….” He was dazed to the point that had trouble getting up. Zebota managed to break Shrapnel free just in time for everypony else to calmly approach Frostbite. “Are you done?” Fire Fight asked. Frostbite glared up at his unwelcomed guests, knowing that they were more a nuisance than he thought, so he decided to give in, however reluctantly. He gritted his teeth. “Yeah. Happy?” he hissed. Fire Fight nodded. “We are. Now let’s just calmly talk this over.”