//------------------------------//
// Into the cold mist 
// Story: FrostBound 
// by Azrael the alicorn 
//------------------------------//

As they got into the main ship of the Dragon Watch, the Monarch, the weather got worst. The sky got covered by grey and black clouds and snow was falling fast and unmercifully, lead by a violent wind that sounded similar to the howl of either wolfs or some kind of haunted ghost. Luckily, the Monarch and the other airships didn’t looked too much troubled by the blizzard. 
“Is not the first time the Dragon Watch has to drive with bad weather” told them Steel Wing, “We went through storms with hail and thunders, flew over volcanoes in eruption and even near a tornado, and it always remained unscathed. Is not that easy to shatter something built with the best steel and titanium and mithril”.

The journey to get into the zone where the abduction happened went by pretty fast. Once they got there, the blizzard became even more violent. “What a whiteout” whispered Rainbow Dash, scared by the thought of what would have happened if caught in such a brutal conditions. If the strong wind wouldn’t made her juggle around like a ball, the freezing temperatures would have frozen her wings.

Steel Wing was worried about this lack of sight. “We can’t fly around without a clear sight. Get me lieutenant Hasty Hooves”.

“Right away sir” said the pony at the radio station.

“Hasty Hooves, can you hear me?”.

It took a few seconds for the lieutenant to reply. “Aye, captain, do you need help to make sure the road ahead is clear?” Hasty asked, jokingly.

“When we’re dealing with someone capable of scaring our ruler, you can bet on it. Try to amp the signal of your radio, just to make sure that, in case that you and your soldiers get lost in the storm” replied Steel Wing with a grin.

“As if” muttered the lieutenant, “Come on, boys, it’s time to show off again!”. They saw a much smaller ship going out of the arrow formation and flew much more inside of the blizzard with high speed.

While they were waiting, Twilight turned around and noticed the expression of Applejack. The orange earth pony looked troubled. “Don’t worry, Applejack, everything will be fine. I’m sure your family will hold on until we have done with this mission”.

“Is not about that. Well, not only about that” replied Applejack, hesitantly.

“Then what?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Come on, Applejack, spill the beans!”.

Applejack took a deep breath, “Ok, but please, do not jump at me for what I’m about to say” she glanced around, making sure no pony was listening to them, “I don’t think Celestia told us all the truth about what’s going on. In fact, I feel like she outright lied to us”.

It took all their resolution to avoid jumping at her. Especially Twilight. “My dear, what makes you think such outrageous thing?” asked Rarity, trying to control her overly dramatic tone.

Pinkie Pie nodded, “Oh, Applejack, that’s so silly! Is not like Princess Celestia has an habit to keep secrets to us” she started saying, before realizing something, “Except that time she told you to not warn us when you had the power of all three alicorns in you. Or that time she sent you that Stars whirl spell that mixed our Cutie Marks so that Twilight could get her wings” her smile started to fade, “And then all the other times in which she kept precious information about the Crystal Empire and Sombra, or Discord or Nightmare Moon” concluded, now sharing the same thoughtful look of Applejack.

The rest of the Mane 6 remained silent, their minds only now acknowledging  such fact. 

“Why haven’t we noticed that before?” wanted to know Fluttershy, shocked that she missed such fact.

“Well, we never really had that much to think about it” noticed Rarity, “When all that stuff happened, we had a lot to think about”.

“But why? Why would she hide any information to us?” asked Rainbow Dash, a bit frustrated, “What, aren’t we fully trustworthy for her?”.

Applejack turned to Twilight Sparkle, “What do you think, Twilight? You know her better than we do, what kind of secret is she keeping for herself?”.

Twilight wished she could answer that question, but the truth was that she hadn’t. Her mind was a battlefield; faith and trust that she felt towards Celestia clashed against cold logic and reason. Indeed, Celestia was not as an example of honesty, but in the end she had her reason to do so. But, again, such secrets also put her and her friends in danger more than once. Yes, but in the end they also managed to get out fine. Yes, they did... at the last second and more by luck than anything else.
Those thoughts were giving her an headache, so she decided to put them aside for now. She was about to tell her friends to keep those questions for later, but the radio sounded again.

“We got movements, captain!”  said Hasty Hooves. He sounded a bit less calm and relaxed than before.

“FrostBound?” asked Steel Wing.

“I don’t think so. From what we’ve been told, he’s supposed to be huge. Whatever we have seen out there, is about the size of a train cart. I *BBZT* Wait... what the HECK!”. There was a sudden scraping noise, followed right away from the sounds of windows crashing. And then ponies were screaming in terror and helpless anger.

“Hasty Hooves, what’s going on!?”.

“IS not just one! Is not just *BBZT* hold them back! Damn it, they are so *BBZT* .” more screeching noises come from the radio, more than one of them sounded like hissing or roaring. The scout airship was fighting... and it was losing.

“Hold on, Hasty Hooves, reinforcement are on their way!” shouted Steel Wing, trying to get heard by his lieutenant.

“*BBZT* what are this things!? *BBZT* CAPTAIN, KEEP YOUR GUARDS UP, THERE IS MORE THAN ONE! *BBZT*”  the guttural snarl that was in the background turned more clear, “Oh no... AAAAAAHHH--*BBZZT*” and with that the signal was lost.

The crew and the Mane 6 remained silent in shock and fear from what they had just heard. The scout ship was gone, and whatever had done that was out there, ready for them.

Steel Wing knew that the only way to avoid suffering the same fate of the scout airship, they had to be prepared. He turned the radio to the rest of the air fleet. “Ok men, you’ve heard what Hasty told us just as you heard what happened to them. Let’s focus our efforts to try and survive, so that we can have our chance to avenge them!”.

“Yes sir!” replied his crew, with the addition of the Mane 6.

“If we’re going to face more than one moving target, then is better to calibrate our weapons to shoot powerful yet short ranged blast. We will keep the harpoons for the main target. Each gunner will protect each other ship”. Every single commander of the others airships replied affirmatively. Satisfied, Steel Wing turned to the Mane 6, “You better brace yourself, girls, things are about to get moved”.

So they ventured in the new territory, ready for a fight. The tension was palpable as the cold outside and just as sharp. And then they attacked. They came out of the mist like bats out of hell, snarling and growling and hissing. This flying creatures looked like dragons, with the sole exception that, instead having four legs, they had only two. But what lacked in paws was reinforced in their large wings and very long tail. Another big difference was that they were made of ice. And, yet, every single movements looked like they were made of flesh and bones (or scales, being them dragons). Oh, and they were also insanely fast. The flock of those dragon-like monsters flew against the airships in rage. 

“Open fire!” ordered Steel Wing. An obvious order, but he liked to follow the military etiquette. 

And so with great sense of timing, all the airships started to fire the ice creatures with the cannons. The ion cannons, weapons which worked thanks to the very volatile gems that grew on the tallest mountains and that were capable to be charged with the energy of the wildest thunder. Until the cannon wouldn’t get overcharged, they could shoot without worrying for ammunitions. The gunners proved to be great shooters, hitting those flying monsters hawkeyed accuracy. The bolts were too much for those ice creature to handle, making them shattering on impact. Dozens got destroyed... and then hundreds appeared out of the mist, increasing their numbers. Then they started to shoot back. Instead of a stream of flames, their breath looked more like vapour that, at the contact with the airships, left clear marks of frost. When those creatures managed to get close enough, they started to tear through all the steel and mithril with their claws and tail.
The battle went one for a few minutes before both captain Steel Wing and the Mane 6 understood what was going on.

“We can’t go on like this, or we’re never going to reach Cadence!” shouted Twilight Sparkle, to make herself hear over the roars and explosions.

Steel Wing nodded, “Yes, this FrostBound is quite smart, using his forces to slow us down and weaken them. We will have to change game” he turned to the radio, “Time to move on, boys! Assume formation “protective state”. You know the rest of the drill!”.

The rest of the Dragon Watch once again proved their ability, manoeuvring the airships in almost perfect coordination. Almost, given that the assaulting forces weren’t conceding a break. That way it was easier to protect each other from the flock of ice monsters. 
With that move, the Dragon Watch proceeded at top speed, trying their best to avoid most of the damage. Fluttershy covered her eyes, trembling like a leaf, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were crossing their hooves, trying to shove the jinx away, Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth to fight back the tension, Applejack kept watching outside with a wide eye, fearing that one of those monsters would come crashing through the windows. Twilight instead focused on the front of the window. “Come on, come on” she muttered, praying in Celestia and Luna for the success of this mission.
Suddenly, the white mist disappeared, making possible to actually see the outside. But while it was nice to be capable to watch their own surroundings, the view was haunting. The sky was of a very dark shade of grey and once in a while, there was a sudden burst of lighting, a rare sight for such cold weather. But, of course, given who and what they were facing, this conditions weren’t the slightest bit normal. Just to give another confirmation, they could actually see that the blizzard surrounded the area for miles to come, as if to hide something. 

“They aren’t following us anymore” noticed Rarity.

“Better. We don’t have the time to deal with those freaks” commented Rainbow Dash, sighing in relief. Something that everyone else did.

“But we may have to face those things again, once we get Cadence back” said Applejack, clearly worried about the idea of facing those things again.

“Yes” nodded Twilight Sparkle, “But that’s something we will deal with later. Now let’s focus on Cadence rescuing”.

Captain Steel Wing was speaking at the radio, hearing the summary of the damage taken from the recent battle. He gave order to resume the usual arrow formation, then he turned to the Mane 6.

“Other than Hasty Hooves and his crew, we haven’t lost anyone else. Few injured, but nothing too serious. When you want, we’re ready to proceed”.

“Let’s go. Cadence can’t be that much far”.

“Indeed she isn’t” commented one soldier who was watching outside with a binocular, “She’s right there, on the top of that mountain”.

The ground was covered with snow and ice mountains of such strong shade of blue that it made them look almost black. On the top of a long formation of mountains, there was the train cart. Covered in frost and claw marks, it looked like it had went through some wild ride.

“Can you see any sign of activity inside?” asked Twilight, hoping that they were still in time.

“Is a bit hard to see. I can kind of see some figure on the inside, but the ice and the condensation doesn’t give a clear visual. We should get closer”.

“We’re going to get closer, one way or another. Let’s go, before those winged fiends change their minds” concluded Steel Wing.

And so the Dragon Watch proceeded to get closer to the mountain. They were half way there when suddenly something huge completely covered the cart. Claws. Huge, frosty claws. Then, slowly, something emerged from behind the rocky formation. A figure surrounded by a blizzard that made almost impossible to see its exact features. Except for two dark cobalt eyes with slither pupil of a dragon. Those two orbits turned into a death glare, that seemed focus mainly on the Monarch. Or, more probably, to the Mane 6.

“He knows” whispered Pinkie Pie, her mane turned flat by fear.

The creature rose at his full height and that mist vanished, allowing everyone to see exactly what they were up against.

Over 300 meters tall, dark blue scales, with wings which width was miles long, a tail that was as long as it was sharp, claws capable to slash anything, two curved and sharp horns. And his head... it reminded vaguely of a skull, for how lean it looked, the zone near his mouth looked sculpted in sharp looking jaws.

“FrostBound” whispered Twilight, completely taken aback from that sight.

The ice dragon opened his gigantic mouth  and  released a roar so loud to make both earth and sky shake in fear.