The Museum was mostly silent now, the place closed, darkened. Only a few tired guards ran their shifts, but otherwise, there was very little to see or hear. All except one figure who sat unnoticed on a bench within the history section, the unseeing eyes of Roman and Civil War soldiers alike looking down at him. He had a large cloak draped over his frame as he looked out from it's darkened folds, red-within-black eyes focused intently ahead. A guard walked by, flashlight shining on him, before the being made eye contact, narrowing his sinister eyes at him for a moment, before the guard walked away without a word. A phone rang, as the being turned his head to look down at it for a moment, before nodding slightly to himself and answering.
"Yeah?" He hissed, barely audible even in the deathly quiet exhibit.
"I have need of you now." The Boss said. "Our problem is approaching, we must protect our investment. Keep them from prying into our organization. Leave no witnesses."
"I understannnnd." He hissed, drawing out the last note, as vapor escaped from his jaws. "Any other requests?"
"None. Finish the job and finish it quick." The Boss ordered, before hanging up.
He stood up, heels clicking against the cold granite floor as he slowly stepped forward, the blanket still draped over his emaciated body. He looked around for a moment, before hissing to himself.
"Sympathy for the Devil!" He hissed, just barely audible, as the ground beneath him began to frost over, and spread out. "Nothing will escape my grasp today!"
Six of the Stand users looked outside the museum, the sun just barely beginning to peak out from behind the hills, it's light shining behind them as Sunset looked over the place. There wasn't any sign something was wrong, but, there also wasn't any sign that there was anyone inside or had been for a while. Rainbow Dash zoomed around the corner, stopping beside them, as the six turned to her.
"I didn't see anyone inside." Rainbow reported, gesturing with a thumb over the shoulder. "I stopped and looked, but the lights are on, and no one's home."
"Impossible, it's all open now." Rarity remarked, looking around the whole place.
"That, and the windows are frosted up." Rainbow reported.
"Why and how?" Sunset wondered aloud, scratching her chin, before shaking her head. "We have no time to be scared. Let's get in there and deal with this Stand user once and for, and get what we need."
"I think this might be a bad idea, let me try and scout it out with Beautiful Day." Fluttershy offered, eyeing the place nervously.
"That would smart." Sunset said with a nod, as she gestured with her thumb.
"If nothing comes up, I can go through the front doors, and activate Deep Purple." Twilight spoke up, stepping forward slightly. "Send her into the video cameras and see what's going on."
"Yeah, that's perfect." Sunset said with a smile. "Let's approach this as carefully as we can."
Twilight approached the steps, and stopped a few yards from the door, before summoning Deep Purple. The Stand appeared with a flash of purple stars, and landed on the steps, carefully approaching, for once without a word to it's master or anyone else, merely stepping towards the door, and reaching towards the handles before recoiling slightly. Twilight's eyes widened slightly, as she turned to the rest.
"It's ice cold!" She reported, as Fluttershy stepped forward.
The pink-haired girl tilted her head to one side, and summoned some of her stands, one of them flying over to the handle, and grabbing it. After a moment, nothing happened, as Twilight motioned Deep Purple forward. It stepped carefully around the buzzing forms of Fluttershy's stands, before grasping the handle, and slowly cracking it open. A slow, winding groan sounded, echoing as Deep Purple stepped aside to let Fluttershy's Stands fly in. The yellow, pixie like figures lingered around the door way for a moment, taking in the strange sight inside.
The museum, at least what they could see, was covered in a thin layer of frost. While it was no winter wonder land, just the sight of the white rime was off putting, as Fluttershy "Switched" perspectives between each of her Stands, as she ordered them silently to fly onwards, the half-dozen Stands following orders without a word, flying about, watching the area carefully, patrolling most of the areas, exhibits and food courts close to the doorway. After a moment, she recalled them back to her, nothing of note to report.
The rest of the group approached, all of them looking at her expectantly, as she shifted nervously. Sunset frowned slightly, as she recognized what most of the others saw quiet clearly. Something inside was deeply troubling to Fluttershy.
"What is it, Flutters?" Rainbow asked.
"I...I don't know how to say this." Fluttershy said quietly, before shaking her head and taking a deep breath. "The entire inside is covered in frost. Like, winter, ice, snow frost."
"It must be a Stand ability of some sort." Sunset muttered.
"And, this is what's bothering me the most." Fluttershy said, looking at them, slightly terrified. "There's no life forms in there. My stand can detect the energy of living things, but I can't find anything in there."
"Twilight, send in Deep Purple now." Sunset said. "Motion for me if you have to go in past the door. No one's going in there alone."
Twilight nodded, as Deep Purple pushed open the door wider, so that both could squeeze in. Twilight looked around for a moment, studying the open area around here, looking for any sort of camera, before seeing one in the high corner, to the right of the door. She turned and motioned for Sunset, and the two made their way in, stepping through the doorway, as Sunset activated her stand. The two looked around for a moment, before Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. Despite all the frost, it wasn't that cold inside. Cool, and what could be called chilly, but not cold.
Putting aside that strangeness, she activated Deep Purple, as Sunset brought out Ice Phoenix, and the former made it's way around, climbing upon the first few exhibits and pillars, before scampering towards the camera, and jumping towards it, reaching out like a desperate child. As it's fingers brushed against the camera, it's body immediately jumped into the camera and folded up, the camera gaining Deep Purple's coloration and pigment, as Twilight shivered at the sensation.
The two waited, as Deep purple gathered her information and taped into the rest of the security network from her post in the camera, spreading out to the other cameras and the central mainframe, bouncing and buzzing all around the museum, until she came back to the original camera she entered, slowly bending and cracking out from the muzzle of the camera, before flopping out and falling to the ground, bending until she landed on her feet, and quickly bounded to her master on all fours.
After scampering up to her, it rose up slowly, standing upright, as it looked to first Twilight, then Sunset, then back to it's master, an expecting look upon it's face.
"Well?" Twilight demanded. "I couldn't see what you saw there. Share it with the rest of us."
"Alright, alright!" Deep Purple said, holding up it's arms defensively, before clearing it's throat and straightening itself. "The cameras didn't show much, so I had to go to the central mainframe, and it had some weird stuff."
"Start with from the beginning, when the weirdness started, and work from there." Sunset offered.
"Well, two hours before we arrived here, a figure draped in a big blanket or something received a call. After concluding it, he, I assume it was a he at least, stood up, and said something. Frost spread out from his position, and soon overtook the entire museum."
"What was he doing here before the place opened?" Sunset asked.
"Unknown. One moment he wasn't there, the next, pop, there he was." Deep Purple said. "About 26 minutes after, every security officer inside disappeared. Once they got out of sight of one camera, they did not appear in the next."
"Oh, that's...comforting." Sunset muttered, rolling her eyes. "What about the weird dude you saw activate the stand."
"Gone. the cameras lost track of him." Deep Purple explained.
"So, we gotta find him, right?" Twilight groaned, as her Stand floated to her side.
"Yeah, that's about it." Sunset said. "Obviously, we're getting close. Though why only one Stand user would be sent to stop us is strange. We've survived a whole lot of things worse then a little snow."
"Let's get the rest of the girls in here, and make sure we don't end up in dire straits." Twilight said, as Deep Purple vanished in a flash of purple light.
"Yes, let's." Sunset, as she moved towards the door.
Twilight taped her foot, as she waited, before she heard a scrapping sound. She froze instantly, as she felt her blood run cold. The sound seemed to stop for a moment, before continuing on, not getting any louder or softer, just continuing on. She summoned Deep Purple, who kneeled in front of her, fingertips touching the ground softly, as the Stand looked around for any sign of the source of the noise.
"Should we...?" Deep Purple began, before falling silent from a look from it's master.
The scrapping noise continued, until a soft groaning sound began to echo through the building and halls. Deep Purple rose up, fists clenched, before the doors creaked open once more, the rest of the group entering, sans Rainbow Dash and Applejack. The groaning sound stopped, and Twilight looked around in terror and confusion.
"You alright Twi?" Sunset asked.
"I heard something." Twilight said, eyes darting about nervously, as she tried to stretch her ears to hear whatever those noises had been and where they had gone. "Something..."
Sunset held her shoulder as she trailed off. "Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. Don't worry."
The two turned to the rest of the group, as Sunset explained the situation. "We decided Rainbow would remain outside, to keep others out, and to come in as an emergency back-up. Since I don't like leaving members alone, Applejack volunteered to stay."
"We'll split into two groups, and scour the place for this new Stand user." Sunset explained further. "You, Pinkie and Fluttershy will take the east side, while me and Rarity go to the west."
"What I wouldn't give to have Vinyl here..." Twilight muttered, as she looked around the place once more.
"Yeah, no argument here." Sunset said.
"Let's just get this over with, darling." Rarity said, looking around the museum. "This whole thing is not just drab, but downright creepy."
"C'mon, a little ice never hurt..." Sunset began, before Pinkie suddenly shot straight up, Fun activating and firing blasts overhead.
Everyone looked up to see fragments of icicles falling from the ceiling, most of it blasted and melted away by the attacks from Fun, as the pieces either harmlessly flicked off Sunset's jacket and shoulders, or tapped across the ground. Sunset looked about the room, up at the ceiling once more, before looking back at the group, face a deep red with embarrassment.
"That was a little on the nose." Fluttershy muttered, scratching the back of her neck.
"Not. A. Word." She said, as she gestured over her shoulder.
"I don't think that was an accident." Rarity said. "You explained this user can control ice, correct?"
"Yes." Sunset said icily.
"Then there's nothing saying he can't rig certain parts of fall off to attack others from a distance." Rarity explained. "We must be extra cautious."
Sunset took a deep breath, as she mulled over Rarity's words, before nodding slightly. "Yeah, this is definitely more hazardous then I thought. Let's take this slow and steady, and have your cell phones ready."
The groups split off and went to their different parts of the museum, as a figure slowly floated down from the ceiling above them, an icicle slowly receding downwards, until it touched the ground, the figure slowly crawling off on all fours, nails digging into thin layers of ice, as the figure slowly stood up, looking around for a moment, as it decided which group to attack first.
He said nothing, his red and black eyes narrowing, as he made his way to the east wing of the museum.
Rarity and Sunset silently searched through the exhibits and rooms for any sign of, well, anything. Despite most of the displays and statues being untouched, except for layers of frost over some of them, there was no sign any human except for them had been through here. The two looked around, before a noise caught their attention. A trickling noise, like that of running water.
They made a turn down one of the halls, and stopped in front of one of the public restrooms. Sunset stopped in front of the slightly ajar door, as she activated her Stand, Ice Phoenix coming into existence beside her, as she altered her vision to see through the door. Her heat vision picked up nothing of note, except the drastically lower temperature, naturally, and the strange formation of ice over the three sinks. She motioned for Rarity, who activated Blue Ruby, as the two cautiously entered.
Sunset returned her vision to normal, as the two looked over the sinks. Some had left the water running in all three, and said water had frozen, creating a half-frozen pool in each sink, and ice flows reaching all across the floor. Rarity looked to one side, noticing the same had happened to the urinals.
"Impressive artistic vision, but what the heck did he hope to accomplish?" Rarity inquired aloud, as her stand scratched it's chin beside her.
"Who knows, let's just be on guard. This place especially gives me the creeps." Sunset said, eyes darting to and fro.
Sunset went over to one end of the room, Ice Phoenix's fists ready, as Rarity and Blue Ruby lingered in place, the Stand preparing a gem bullet, in case of anything going wrong. She heard a strange scrapping noise behind her, quickly turning, only to see a few particles of ice fall to the ground. She raised an eyebrow. There was no way they could've been caused by any wind. The place was closed off.
'And there isn't any sign of objects from the ceiling like with Sunset.' She thought, carefully eyeing the particles, as Sunset
looked over at her, then at the ice pieces.
"Is something wrong?" Sunset asked.
"I'm not..." Rarity began to say, before a loud croak echoed across the room from the sink closest to Rarity.
She looked over slowly, dread spreading across her face as all the hairs on her body stood on end. A long, boney, light blue arm snapped out from the sink's ice flow, latching onto her Stand's arm. Her Stand struggled against it, as her eyes widened in shock as she came to a startling realization.
It wasn't a Stand.
A figure rose from the ice flow, a heavily emaciated figure, his cheeks shallow, hair long, black and matted. His red within black eyes glowed slightly, as he regarded her coldly, face unmoving as he slowly rose out of the sink, a blanket draped across his shoulders, and long, tattered brown pants, with tiny spikes all over them. His upper body was gaunt and skeletal, lacking any muscle or fat, ribs showing underneath his frosty blue skin.
"Rarity, the fashion designer. I must admit, I admire your work." He hissed, voice sounding like the winds of an ice storm. "I had the lowest expectations of you, I will admit. Like Fluttershy, I thought you didn't have the stomach to be a Stand user."
He brought his other hand up, grabbing Blue Ruby by the chin, and pulling it close. "An interesting Stand, Blue Ruby. I see it's a long range type."
"SUZASUZASUZASUZASUZASUZASUZASUZASUZA!" Ice Phoenix roared at the top of it's ethereal lungs, eyes blazing with fury, as it pelted him with multiple punches across the face and chest. "SUZAAAAKUUUU!"
The last strike him right in the face, a loud crack resounding from the hit as he narrowed his eyes at Rarity, before they flicked over to look at Sunset, a soft and wet snap sounding as he looked over at her.
"Is that it?" He asked simply, a smile slowly spreading over his face.
Rarity held out a hand, a crystal-pattern shield spreading out and hitting him, and sending back into the sink. He groaned as she struggled to push against it, snarling as drool dripped from his mouth. She applied more force, smashing past the sink, and crushing his body against the mirror above it, and the ice and wreckage of the sink. Rarity stopped as her shield hit the wall, dispelling it away, and widened her eyes in shock as she saw nothing. The mirror, wall and sink were smashed to pieces form her shield, but the attacker was no where to be seen, just fine particles of ice hitting the ground.
"Where...Where did he run to?" Rarity said, as Blue Ruby prepared a gem storm.
"How did he get out of that?" Sunset asked herself aloud, eyes wide with confusion and horror. "Did his Stand...?"
"Very interesting." He hissed from above them, as they both looked up to see him spread across the ceiling, arms bent behind him, as he leered at them like a ravenous dog. "I'm just testing the waters with your abilities, so far."
He dropped down in their midst, slowly rising to his full height, as a wicked smile spread across his craggy, broken lips. Ice Phoenix leapt forward, attempting to strike him, before he snapped his wrist upwards, a wall of ice immediately rising between the two, Ice Phoenix's fist harmlessly cracking the wall. Rarity gave a yell, as Blue Phoenix fired off several gem bullets into his back. He staggered for a moment, coughing hard, before straightening himself.
"It is said once that 'Boreas forged the Vikings'." He said, his head still bent towards the ground. "The north wind is one of those challenges people face, that will either expunge them or make them grow. Vikings yesterday, Stand users today."
He looked up, his cold, black eyes glaring out from his long matted hair as he hissed to himself. "All of these are mere tests of endurance. Consider me, your Boreas. If you are strong, you will win. If not, the winds will claim you, and I will win."
He vanished into a thousand particles of ice, as Rarity's gem bullets hit the ground, clattering and tinking against it, as the ice sprinkled across the ground where he once stood, before blowing away. Sunset stepped aside the ice shield, and planted her boot into the particles, crushing it several times, as Rarity looked around for any sign of his next attack.
"We can't afford to let this...thing, win." Sunset proclaimed. "We have to get to the others. together, we'll have a better chance of winning against him."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the museum, Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy where doing their own exploring of the museum, searching for any sign of the Stand user, or anyone that might be involved or have clues about their Arrow. The group looked around at the various exhibits, Twilight making an obvious effort to restrain herself whenever she encountered a historical exhibit that fascinated her, which, for her, meant just about every one of them.
Pinkie, meanwhile, was bored out of her skull, looking around for anything that could seem out of the ordinary or stand out. Museums were the worst place for her. Way too stuffy and quiet for her liking. Especially now that the place looked like it had been built in the middle of Antarctica, and be scrubbed clean of most living human influence. She turned to a slight trickling sound, raising an eyebrow, as a vibrating sensation hit her ears. She widened her eyes, as she turned to see a drinking fountain to Twilight's left within arm's reach, a fountain that had, out of nowhere, turned on.
Twilight seemed aware of it, activating her Stand, and sending it to attack, but Pinkie held out her hand.
"Twilight, stay away from that!" She shouted in warning.
"Hmm? Why...?" Twilight began to say, before a long, gnarled hand snapped out of the spout in the fountain, and grabbed Deep Purple by the wrist.
"This is why." A figure announced rising out of the fountain, as the water spilled over and froze instantly, frost and rime forming over the floor and even onto their shoes and boots.
"What the...A stand?!" Twilight said, as Deep Purple struggled to break from the being's hold. She tried to back away, only to find that the ice now covered most of her shoes, leaving her rooted to the ground.
"I wanted to test your abilities, all of you, but I think, I'll start by removing a few of you, clear up the sidelines." The man hissed, red and black eyes glowing, as ice began to slowly build along her and her stand's left arm. "Shatter."
Pinkie reached quickly into her shirt and pulled out a cookie, as Fun appeared beside her, grabbing it and quickly draining it of energy, turning it grey. It leveled it's arm canon in the newcomer's direction, and fired, smoke and fire filling the room as three blasts hit, explosions blooming around them. The attacker released Twilight for a second, confused, before refocusing.
"Ha! You missed. Pathetic." He muttered, as he reached towards Twilight, ready to punch her. "A punch, followed by frostbite to half your face should slow you down."
Twilight backed away, right as his fist was about to hit her, causing him to lose his balance and stagger forward, almost falling to the ground. His eyes widened as he saw the ice around and on her feet had melted away.
'Of course, Pinkie Pie must've melted the ice with her attack,' He thought as he glanced up at her Deep Purple, seeing it lifting it's booted foot up. 'That's why she missed!'
"UBAASHAAAA!!" Deep Purple shouted as it repeatedly slammed it's foot into his face and shoulders, before smashing a final kick into his throat with a loud crack.
The attacker stood, frozen like his own ice, eyes not moving or even blinking, as he stared out head. The three watched him carefully, as Deep Purple removed it's foot from his throat.
"That should take care of that, no human could survive that..." Deep Purple began to announce, before he jolted upwards.
The man leaned backwards, arms outstretched, as mist and fog escaped out his jaws. "WRRRRRREEEYYYYAAAHHH!"
He snapped forward again, swinging a right hook at her face again, before Deep Purple deflected the blow, and slammed an elbow into the side of his mouth, sending him toppling to the ground, crating the floor and ice below him, before shattering into thousands of ice particles. Twilight and the rest of the group looked on in shock, not sure if he was dead or not.
Pinkie Pie frantically waved her arm Canon about, trying to find the target, before she spoke. "Who, and what, is this guy?"
"I don't know, but something is off about him." Fluttershy said, looking around. "He leaves a sensation, a feeling in the air around him, something not completely alive!"
"How is that possible?" Twilight asked, Deep Purple looking around for any sign of the foe. "How can he be dead, but still moving and breathing?"
"Like I said, not completely alive." Fluttershy said, before pointing behind Twilight. "He's above you."
Twilight and Deep Purple turned on her heels, Deep Purple bringing up it's right fist, ready to smash anything aside, before crashing through three large icicles that had been thrown at Twilight to skewer her. The shard and pieces of ice fell harmlessly around her, as the being hung from the top of the ceiling, glaring at them like a rapid animal, before dropping down. He turned and twisted in midair, before landing and rolling forward, and getting to his feet as he glared at them.
"You are more challenging then I thought. I think you all might offer me the greatest challenge," He said, before pointing at Fluttershy. "Especially you, Fluttershy. Your power of life somehow tunes you into my movements."
He flicked his hand in the air, as if dismissing them before snorting. "No matter, I will complete my mission. Remember, a wise man once said 'Boreas fathered the Vikings'. If that is the case, then consider me your Boreas. if you are strong, you will win. If not, I will become stronger and evolve further."
"You're not getting away so easy!" Twilight declared, throwing Deep Purple at him, the Stand's fists raised to attack.
"Foolish! Useless!" He declared, before his body began to shatter into ice pieces. "Sympathy for the Devil!"
He vanished into thousands of particles, as they blew away again, leaving the group stunned and confused. Twilight and Pinkie looked around, uncertain if he could attack again, Fluttershy, however, was glaring off to the eastern wing of the museum, determined as ever.
'My Beautiful Day can heal using the energies of life!' She thought to herself. 'It also allows me to detect those same energies in others and in Stands. He may run, but I know where he will come from if he comes near us again!'
She stood up, gesturing towards the others. "If you two will listen, I think I can beat him, if we get to the others."
"You seem aware of him more then us." Twilight said. "If anyone can win this, it's you."
Sunset and Rarity ran along the frozen ground, slowing down to a job as they neared one of the exhibits, this one about the civil war, and, thankfully, no drinking fountains or sources of water near by.
'He can freeze anything, water sources make it easier.' Sunset thought quickly. 'And travel through that, I think.'
"Sunset, is this thing like anything from home?" Rarity asked, stopping near a bench to catch her breath.
"What do you mean?" Sunset asked.
"He seems...so otherworldly, and not completely...mortal?" She said, uncertain of what she wanted to say.
Sunset nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean, but this is something I've never seen. He's similar to the Windigos from Equestria. Ancient beasts, three of them, that feed on feelings of apathy, hatred, and mistrust. It was said they almost destroyed Equestria, fathered the Sirens and Finfolk, and served some of the worst tyrants to threaten Celestia and Luna."
"Is he one of them?" Rairty asked. "Could the others be here?"
"Uncertain." Sunset said, scratching her chin. "He seems strange, but nothing on par with the Windigos."
"We need to get to the others, before he gets to us then." Rarity said, a fire in her eyes as she stood at attention. "We can ask what he is when we've knocked some civility into him!"
Sunset smiled as she stood up, but as she began to move, she felt a jolt from her legs. She grimaced in shock, before looking down, to see her legs frozen up to the knee. She looked up, to see the Attacker sitting upon the rafters above them, glaring down at them like a ravenous animal, only his blood red eyes visible from the shadows.
"Finfolk? Windigos? Siren?" He said, scratching his chin, still largely unmoving. "Hardly matters to me."
He created three massive icicles, the width of a football, and length of a grown man's arm, smiling to himself as they levitated in front of his chest, before he gestured with both hands, the three spear points heading straight towards Sunset.
"This is the end! Say hello to your Windigos in hell!" He declared. "I, Frozen Mist, have won!"