//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: FrostBound // by Azrael the alicorn //------------------------------// “Ugh, I can’t believe that I got transferred here! What have I done to deserve this?” complained the guard, trying to get any bit of warm from the fire and the heavy cloths. The top of the tower offered a great view of the place, but it didn’t do much to protect it from cold other than the small bonfire they had a disposition. “If what I’ve heard from the captain of the ship that brought you here, I think you should ask yourself what you DIDN’T do” replied the other guard, annoyed. “What did the princesses excepted me to do? Face Tirek all by myself?”. “You had your duty to protect them, not your own flank, you lame excuse of a guard!”. “Ah, then what are you and the other lots doing here?” asked the Pegasus. “We’re here by our own choice. To respect our father, grandfather and even grand grandfather work. To keep the eye on him”. “Nice work it is. Stuck here out in the nowhere, freezing our behinds to watch over a cold corpse” commented sarcastically the Pegasus point their surroundings. The place looked like an island from the deep east sea, with heavy snow falling from the cloudy grey skies and ice spikes making its way on the mountain. Funny to think that once this place was known to be one of the biggest volcano on the whole Equestria, named after a mythological creature called Ifrit. Yet something had happened to turn the once fiery mountain into a frozen dead volcano, literally. On this desolate island were placed some small guard post all near a cave that allows to enter the very core of the volcano. “He may look dead on the outside, but have you tried to watch his eyes?” asked the unicorn. The he noticed the grim expression of the Pegasus, “Ah, of course not. Then let me tell you that inside those eyes you can see some kind of light. Cold but yet very alive. I don’t know what exactly happened to him, but I can tell you that he’s still alive and kicking. Our presence here is to make sure that, if he ever wakes up, to warn Celestia”. The flying pony grumbled some vague answers. There was no point trying to debate with that stupid unicorn. He knew exactly that this work was just a waste of time. Heck, he was sure that even Princess Celestia herself knew that there were little chance for that... thing to wake up. Or else why there were so few dozens of guards around? Once he heard that this place was as much filled with guards as Canterlot during the Changelings assault. In the end this new assignment was chosen to be more than a punishment for his rational thinking than anything else. And now he was stuck inside this small fortress situated nearby the beach that had seen better days. But the Pegasus was wrong. He was just as much mistaken as much the Unicorn was correct. Inside the frozen volcano stood the motionless an adolescent dragon, encased in the icy wall. He didn’t looked that much different from any other drakes, with cold blue scales, fangs, claws and wings. And yet there were two big differences: unlike other young drakes he didn’t had fangs going out of his mouth, nor was he too chubby or thin. Instead he looked elegant, although such beauty was just as sharp as his claws. Second thing that made him different from all sort of dragon, big or small, adult or whelp, was the power which irradiated from his silent figure. A power beyond any imagination... a power that didn’t belong to this world. And that soon, very soon, it would be unleashed upon this world. Because, while on the outside the frozen dragon looked into a deep sleep, his inner spirit was still active. Inside his mind, spirit or soul, the dragon laid on the top of an ice pillar, surrounded by a blizzard so violent that didn’t allowed to see beyond his snout. The drake was staring at the storm with a gloomy look when he heard something come from behind his back. A voice. Raspy and yet guttural, ethereal and, above anything else, cold. Windigos. Ghost-looking horses, which main food was the hatred that they absorbed through the ponies. And, for so many centuries, from him. “FrostBound” they called, at the unison like a single entity. “And to think I was hoping to have got rid you” he replied, more to use irony to hide his true spiteful emotion. The Windigos laughed at the dragon, although he doubted that they caught the sarcasm in his words. “You can’t get rid of us, FrostBound. What you did last time caught us unprepared, but all you did was to push us into your deepest corner of your very being”. “Not deep enough” grumbled the dragon. “It will never be deep enough, FrostBound. We are part of you. We are linked to your mind and very soul”. “Stop call me like that! That’s not my real name” he hissed. “Ah no? Would you prefer to be called with the same name that was given you by the one responsible for your own predicament?” now it was the Windigos turn to use irony against him. “There’s only one person responsible for my situation; the same one who plagued me with this curse”. “Maybe. But he didn’t played with your emotions like the other one which we mentioned. And for how much you can loath him, we can feel that such hatred is surpassed by the one you feel for her”. The Windigos were circling above him, slowly, like ominous vultures would do to a some prey near to death. The dragon lowered his head, trying to ignore them and, at the same time, hiding his true feelings. “Oh, we can feel it the same way we do for that immense power of yours. Such beautiful hate! The one which can only be created by betrayal!”. “Does really change that much whom I decided to direct my hate into?”. “More than you can imagine, FrostBound. In the past you were always smart enough to avoid giving into your hate towards us or him, avoiding so that we could get stronger. But now, after what she did to you, such hatred is beyond your control. And we can feed on it as much as we like, getting more and more powerful. And one day, FrostBound, be that tomorrow, a year or a century, we will become strong enough to take control over your very essence. And when that day will come your soul will vanish like the fog in the morning”. “Why are you telling me all of this? Other than make me hate you even more, I mean?” he asked, no fear in his voice. “Because we want you to realize how pointless your stubbornness is. We could just wait, be patient, and in the end we will get what we want. But what about you then? What about your dreams of revenge?”. “So caring of you, worrying about me” huffed the dragon. “We mean it, FrostBound. After all, isn’t that what friends do with each others?”. “You do realize how fake that sounds, said by you?” asked the dragon, rising an eyebrow. “Maybe. Point is, FrostBound, that we want to help you avoid such nasty fate” one of Windigos stood in front of him, trying his best to put on a friendly smile, “And if you just accept us, we will help put at use that immense power that you keep inside of you. And then you will finally get your vengeance on her”. “I won’t let it happen!” he roared, standing up. “Why? Oh, let us guess: because you are not a monster, isn’t it? Too bad that she didn’t thought the same, didn’t she?” mocked the Windigos. The young drake made to reply, but his mouth closed before any words could get out. “This your self-imprisonment is pathetic. You think that your act is noble but instead you look like a fool, defending a world that doesn’t deserve anything more than your rage”. “No” he whispered, the words of the hateful spirits sinking into his mind like a poison. “Think, FrostBound, think about her betrayal. Do you think she ponders that much about you anymore? She most probably has forgotten your very existence. No, her attention now is all towards her subjects and to teach the art of lies to that new princess, Twilight Sparkle. Her people love her and, by any chance, our past would be revealed you can bet that they would still claim that she did right to deny your freedom. Is that the people you want to protect!?” hissed the Windigos. The young drake remained silent, trying in vain to find a good reply to the words of those evil beings. “I’m no monster” he whispered. “No” admitted surprisingly the Windigos, “She and her people are the ones who see a monster. But we know that you can be much more. And if you let us do what we started last time, we can grant you that, once we will be finished, you’ll become a GOD!” claimed the ice spirits, “You have two choices, FrostBound: accept your fate by accepting our presence and our present for you, so that you may finally make her and everyone else pay. Or you can stay here, lying at yourself for as long as your conscience will be, letting her rule the world with that falsity that is the power of Harmony, while your rot away. The choice is yours”. With that said finally the Windigos stop talking, leaving the young dragon to think. For how much he doubted on their words he couldn’t deny that they had brought some valid point to their (and his) cause. She had abounded him, of this he was certain of it. His attempt to avoid the Windigos take control over him didn’t do anything except prove her that he had to stay imprisoned for the rest of his existence. They were also right about his hatred for her. “Celestia” he whispered. The eldest of the royal sisters and ruler of Equestria. He HATED her. The more he thought of their past together the more his loathing grew. But was he willing to follow the path of revenge, knowing what the consequences could be? But, again, the Windigos had mentioned that it was only a matter of time before his essence would vanish, consumed by the very same hatred that he couldn’t control. And while he doubted the sincerity of the friendship of those ice beings, he felt that they weren’t lying either. Is there any hope left in me he wondered, must I sacrifice what left of compassion to have my revenge? Or should I stand here for all eternity, keeping her secrets untold? No, there is only one thing that I can do. *** “Did you heard that?” asked the elder guard. “It was just the wind” huffed the pegasus. “That’s no wind! Look!” screamed another guard. Something was going on inside the dead volcano. An almost blindly light sparked from the passage, a sign that the prisoner had woken up. “What’s going on?” asked the pegasus, looking ready to soil himself. “He has awakened” whispered the guard. “What!?”. It had to be an awful joke! That thing had slept for years and NOW he was going to wake up!? “We must warn princess Celestia, now!” he said, more boldly. Before the coward pegasus could reply the light stopped all of sudden. Few seconds passed and the watcher dared to hope that it was all just a false alarm. But their hopes were crashed as the towering mountain started to shake and cracking, as if something huge was about to break free. Flat Sentry watched pieces of the mountain falling over, making tremble the whole place and raising a lot of dust which started to make it hard to see what was coming out from it. But he was not interested into staying here to find out. Taking advantage of the distraction of the guards he got up from his chair and, without any second doubt, flew away. He heard the elder guard call him out, yelling harsh words at him and in normal circumstances he would have used his magic to stop him or sending the others pegasus to bring him back to his rightful punishment. But now the captain of the fort had more important concerns than one rouge pony. Flat Sentry counted on it. He didn’t had to look back to see that old fool preparing the rest of his soldiers for some kind of last stand against whatever was about to break through. Idiots he thought, if they were as smart as me they would follow my example . The pony sure believed to be smarter than others, but in his panic he forgot few things like a) the distance between his ex-job and the main land and b) that, while outmatched, at least they had walls to protect them. He was completely vulnerable to what happened next. A roar so loud that seemed to shake even the cloudy skies made the pony stop in mid-air, taken aback from the sudden piercing sound. Despite his best instincts telling him to keep flying he actually turned his head back in the island. Such growl could only come from the chest of a massive creature and, oh boy, if that wasn’t the biggest dragon he had ever seen. Sure, he hadn’t seen that much, but he doubted that he would be considered small. The drake was surrounded by smoke that kept his true appearance hidden, but his silhouette was more than enough to show his monstrous size. The soldiers back at the fort tried to attack it using spears, magic rays or even just stones. Their efforts were pointless if not downright suicidal, failing miserably into hurting the giant dragon. His attack, on the other hand, proved to be much more effective. Unlike other dragons, he didn’t spit fire from his mouth, but an icy looking ray, that turned the fortress and everypony in it into ice. Flat Sentry watched that scene with wide open eyes, seeing this huge dragon tower over the now frozen fortress. The monster did to... just for then lifting his gaze, staring in his direction. Two reptilian eyes of the most creepy shade of blue stared at him, filled with hatred. The pegasus throat made his scream of terror sound very faint. Turning his back to the dragon, Flat Sentry started to fly as fast as he could in an attempt to escape certain death. Sadly for him, the monster didn’t need it to move to take him down. The dragon flapped his wings, as if to checking out if they were work properly, unleashing a brutal wave of gelid wind, that crossed the distance between the two, turning the surface of the already cold water into ice. Flat Sentry had barely the time to let out a more loud shriek of fear when he felt something burning biting his flank before turning into ice. His frozen body fell on the equally frozen sea without crashing into pieces. If that was a good thing (not dying) or a bad thing (forever trapped unconsciously in ice) was anyone else guess . Dealt with that little pest, FrostBound opened his large wings and took for the sky. In few instants he reached the stratosphere, getting a good view of the world beneath him. Once he fixes his sense of direction he took off, going for his next target. If his captors had succeeded into warning Celestia or not it wouldn’t helped the rulers of Equestria. Nor her lackeys. His sharp mind was already at work, planning how make Celestia pay in the most painful of ways. Unknown to him someone was watching him fly away from the wreckage of his prison. “Well” muttered Discord, deadpan, “This is bad”.