The One True King

by JDPrime22

Chapter 9 – Frozen

During the trip into deeper tundra and below freezing temperatures, Twilight Sparkle kept the life in the vehicle alive by catching up with her family.

The behemoth of a snow terrain vehicle they all rode in bumped and rattled and roared across the vast, icy wasteland. The occupants did everything in their power to remain stable and warm. All they had as a substitute for real warmth were the lanterns shaking haphazardly from the ceilings of the cars. It gave little light to the interior, and very little warmth.

Everypony cared for each other in other ways the lanterns could not. Unicorns used their horns to give much-needed light to the area. They sat close to preserve and share their body heat, tightening their limbs around themselves while their exterior clothing only grew colder and colder. Everypony’s breaths could be seen, puffs of frozen carbon dioxide filling the atmosphere and fogging up the frost-covered windows.

Perhaps Twilight was to blame for a majority of that fog, she and Cadance gabbing on and catching up with one another.

But mostly Twilight. “And the delegates just kept going on, and on, and on, and on, and… well, you get the picture. Never realized how boring ambassador meetings and politics can be unless you’re actually the focus of attention. But it was the first step, and that’s always the most important one. If it means a potential peace between the Abyssinians and the Diamond Dogs, then I’ll take whatever I can get! Heh…”

Cadance giggled politely at that. Shining on her right remind silent, eyes narrowed as he scanned the storms outside. The Princess of Love replied, “Trust me, Twilight, it’ll eventually get easier. Before you know it, you’ll be brokering peace between the remaining outlying nations. One step closer to bringing the magic of friendship to all of Equus.”

“It’s all I’m hoping for,” Twilight said, already breathless at the possibility. Shaking her head, Twilight stamped her hooves on her seat, lifting her eyes and her smile back to her sister-in-law. “So! Enough about me, let’s catch up with you! How’s the Crystal Empire? Any strange anomalies like the one we’re headed towards? What about my niece? How’s little Flurry doing?”

The young Alicorn finally took in a much-needed breath when Cadance raised her hoof.

“Easy, Twilight,” Cadance calmingly said with another laugh. Watching Twilight gasp and regulate her breathing, Cadance leaned back into her seat she shared with the Princess of Friendship and thought over the multitude of questions.

She smirked slightly, scoffing and saying, “The Crystal Empire is fine. We’ve been caring for it about as well as you’ve been caring for Canterlot, so no need to feel overwhelmed. It’s a hard job, and one that takes more out of you than you realize. And believe it or not, this is the first anomaly we’ve heard of since…”

Her expression took a dark turn, her voice trailing off into that shadow of a memory she did not want to relive again. Twilight could see that sudden shift and felt all the happiness in her heart simply… freeze to its core. It seemed they shared the same memory, just the mere image in their minds making the small flame in the lantern above them flicker. Not enough to kill it, but to stumble it. To shake it.

And the two mares were certainly shaken, just at the potential of a dark storm growing over the Frozen North. A dark shadow…

Princess Cadance blinked. She breathed again, exhaling vapors of near-ice. Shining turned her way. “Well, since you and your friends saved our empire once again,” Cadance finally said, leaning back on Twilight for that life and support. Her smile returned, as did Twilight’s. Shining turned away. “And Flurry Heart is doing wonderfully. Our new Crystaller is caring for her back at the empire while we’re away.”

Twilight laid her hoof over her heart, shutting her eyes with a thankful smile gripping her lips. “Oh, that’s a relief! I was beginning to wonder—”

“Okay, stop! Stop!”

Shining Armor’s sudden uproar caused an uproar in and of itself. Ponies were shaken from their stupors and awakened from their quick naps, the night slowly darkening worse and worse for every minute they traveled. Pinkie Pie leaped out of her chair and scared the daylights out of Rarity beside her. Rainbow jolted awake and earned a small squeak of surprise from Fluttershy, the butter Pegasus having pulled her eyes away from the storm outside her window. Applejack and Spike each leaned out from their shared seating, Celestia and Luna’s heads turning in accordance to the front of the car. Bon Bon opened her eyes, the breath from her nostrils already fogging her vision, the hairs in her nose frozen.

She, like the rest, turned to the disturbance. She, like her fellow agents of T.I.T.A.N., readied themselves for anything.

While the crowd in the car brought their attention forward to understand what the commotion was about, Shining Armor was already leaning out the window, lighting up his horn to signal to the driver who apparently hadn’t heard his voice.

Shining turned back to the car’s occupants, his face covered in snow as he told them, “This is far enough. We walk the rest of the way.”

“In that blizzard?” Rarity asked aloud, using her magic to pry Pinkie off the ceiling of the car, her hooves attached to it like that of a feline. Settling Pinkie beside her, Rarity turned back to Shining and huffed. “I say, we might as well just stay in here, then. We’d freeze to death slower.”

“Let me clarify,” Shining began, lighting up his horn and keeping it glowing. “We made it. And freezing is the least of your worries from here on out.”

With that confirmation given, the T.I.T.A.N. agents simultaneously arose from their seats, gathered their necessary supplies and equipment, and exited the car. They were the last ones on and the first ones off, making way for the Council of Friendship, the Alicorn sisters, and the rulers of the Crystal Empire to step hoof onto the blanketed earth.

Each car was emptied of its occupants, the strike team of more than two dozen T.I.T.A.N. agents, soldiers, and scientists led by Special Agent Sweetie Drops securing the area. They created a perimeter around the royalty and the rulers, the storm tearing at their coats and scarves, manes and tails. Bon Bon planted herself firmly in the snow, foreleg rising to shield her face from the oncoming blast of wind and sleet. Bon Bon noted the sleet, noted the dampening atmosphere. She sighed, but no one could hear her. They had definitely made it to the outpost.

Once the Council, the sisters, and Shining and Cadance stepped off of the lead car and into the storm, they each took a moment to quickly adjust to the sudden drop in temperature. Pinkie shivered and wrapped her coat-covered forelegs around her body. Rainbow pulled her goggles down over her eyes, and Twilight did the same with her scarf over her mouth. Applejack kept a free hoof down tight over her hat, ensuring it wouldn’t blow off to be forever lost in the blizzard. Rarity whined but nopony heard her, the unicorn wrapping another layer of scarves over her face. Spike held onto Fluttershy’s hind leg, the Pegasus leaning back from the onslaught of wind and nuzzling Spike to shield him. To comfort him. Celestia and Luna both stood alongside Shining and Cadance, eyeing the same direction.

They scouted their surroundings. The pathway of crystal staffs had ended, leaving nothing but a wall of darkness beyond the flurry of snowflakes falling in front of the headlights. Shining growled at that, fighting through the wind and snow and pulling his goggles down over his eyes.

He shouted, “Stick together! Do not branch out! Follow my horn!”

Everypony did. They formed a caravan of ponies with Spike fighting along like everypony else. Pushing, tearing, clawing, stamping one hoof after the other closer and closer to their destination. The light from Shining Armor’s horn was bright and alive, flickering from the constant wave of snow pushing against their line, but leading and visible nonetheless. After several more seconds of fighting a constant, uphill battle against nature itself, the war had ended, and the winds died with it.

“Storm should be relatively calm here…” Shining exclaimed, lifting his goggles and lowering his scarf. He took in a breath and exhaled loud. He was able to walk without struggle, without a fight. Soon, everypony was able to as well.

And with their eyes set dead ahead, Shining Armor introduced them all properly. “Fillies and gentlecolts… welcome to T.I.T.A.N. Outpost Frostbite.”

Though it wasn’t particularly surprising to the slew of T.I.T.A.N. agents with them, nor to Celestia, Luna, Cadance, or Bon Bon, it was still quite a shock for the Council to witness a fully-functioning facility in the middle of the arctic wastes. Various buildings and facilities were scattered throughout the icy tundra, with countless vehicles moving about and crystal staffs lighting several different paths for them to follow. What appeared to be icy peaks sat on the edge of the facility, directly beyond any construction and seemingly lost in the darkness. Several hundred yards to their right were the crashing waves of the ocean upon the frozen shore. Dark rocks and icebergs were scattered across the sea’s surface. Bon Bon was the only pony to stare to the ocean for an elongated amount of time, her stare growing harder and harder by the second.

Her ear flinched and Bon Bon jolted to attention directly ahead of her. It was that familiar sound. Only to the Council of Friendship’s shock did they all witness a unicorn in a full-body hazmat suit approach them. He stepped free from the hold of the fog, the raining sleet and snow. He held a radiation counter is his magical aura, washing it across the icy floor while the familiar tick, tick, tick of the counter went off. Bon Bon gulped to that, lifting her eyes back to the hazmat suit.

“Your Highness,” the suited unicorn addressed, pausing in front of the large group.

Shining stepped forward and asked, “Any updates, Agent Stellar?”

T.I.T.A.N. Agent Cosmic Stellar strapped the radiation counter on his side bags, turning back to Shining and those who stood behind him. “Radiation levels remain constant. Storm has been getting heavier with signs of a potential whiteout here in the next hour or so.”

“Any signs of…” Shining said, looking back at Celestia. She nodded. “… tremors?”

The unicorn nodded, his expressionless face shield pelted with flakes of rushing snow. “Sir, we’ve had about a dozen more than yesterday. At first they were subtle… but now they’re growing stronger. Louder. Reaching a wider radius with each pulse.”

That was exactly what Shining Armor was afraid of. By the looks of dread from Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Bon Bon, they all knew what it meant. They all knew what the signs were pointing to. What Fluttershy had told them about. What Mothra had warned them of.

Behind him, Shining could have sworn he heard the tiny whimper of fear leave Fluttershy. It was hard to make it out over the storm. Regardless, he didn’t judge her.

Shining needed to be certain. “It’s the subject, then?” he asked carefully, his voice trembling lightly. Not by the cold. Twilight slowly stared at her brother.

For several seconds, Agent Stellar didn’t answer. He simply stared at them with that blank shield, face unknown within the suit. All they could hear were his heavy breaths, somehow rising above the howling winds outside the facility. Finally, he sighed and removed his radiation equipment off his bags and gripped them in his magic, turning around back into the fog.

“I think it’d be best if you all saw it for yourself,” he told Shining. Told them all, “Get suited up and meet me at the elevator.”

With that, he disappeared into the fog and snow, washing his radiation detector all over the ground before him. There was a shuffle of movements within the crowd, a shuffle that appeared as if it was moving dangerously forward. Shining shot out his hoof in front of the others.

He looked back and told them, “Careful now. He wasn’t kidding about suiting up. Passed these buildings, the area we’re about to enter is completely uninhabitable. Not because of the cold… but because its irradiated.”

“Irradiated?” Twilight asked. The Council all turned towards him for an answer.

Shining nodded. “Just a few yards ahead, there’s a pocket of radiation so deadly it could kill a pony in less than a minute. Strange thing is… this is the only area in all the Frozen North where any signs of radiation are present. From Special Agent Sweetie Drops’ reports… it almost seems like something is trying to keep us out of here.”

The Council looked at Bon Bon upon that reveal. She did not meet their surprised glances. She dropped her gaze to the snow, Celestia and Luna casting her a pair of concerning stares. She waited until they were all focused back on Shining Armor before she lifted her eyes again.

“We’re all gonna need to wear some hazmat suits, and some shielding magic to top us all off. They should be enough to protect us from the radiation. If you’ll all follow me into the outpost…”

By Shining Armor’s word, the crowd followed and entered into the nearest facility to their right. Once inside, everypony was scanned up and down for any signs of radiation poisoning. Thankfully, nopony attained anything. With that out of the way, the T.I.T.A.N. agents were given their specialized hazmat suits first and foremost, already made and ready on the spot. For the Alicorn princess, for Spike, it took a while longer for the designers to magically prepare some unique attire.

After a few minutes of tinkering, they were successful and granted Princess Twilight and Spike their own hazmat suits and gas masks. Staring at the mask in his claws quizzically, Spike turned to see Rainbow Dash tighten the mask over her face ease, Pinkie doing the same and popping up behind Fluttershy, surprising her with a frightful “Boo!” The pink party pony laughed it off. Fluttershy tried to. Applejack was struggling to decide how best to wear her hat with a mask. She managed, tightening the hat over both the mask and her head. It surprisingly fit. Rarity observed herself again and again, whining pitifully at the atrocious yellow color given to her. She didn’t even get started on her mane when a T.I.T.A.N. agent passed by, inspecting everypony’s attire and equipment before they shipped out. He frowned and tightened the mask over Rarity’s face before she could even protest.

Seeing the encouraging smile from Cadance, Spike sighed and put the mask on. The short snout from the mask hung downwards, the inky black eyes staring off onto nothing. He observed his gloves, his suit, and was cleared by the passing T.I.T.A.N. agent. They all were. Princess Cadance gave them all the necessary protection via magical spell, a washing wave shielding all of their bodies as an extra layer to keep them safe. With that, they were free to go.

They all exited the facility and stood once more out in the cold and snow, pushed into the fog and darkness.

They followed Shining Armor and stood just outside the radiation line.

What lied beyond was certain death without the proper attire. But they were cleared, checked twice each to ensure where they entered would not be where they died. To know that, to know that the difference between life and death was just a few short steps away. Twilight gasped lightly, stared to the radiation symbols plastered on the signs to her left and right. The poles were frozen solid into the ice and slanted by the ages. By the chilling, screaming winds of the past.

Another fog rested ahead, another color other than white and black that the Frozen North was infested with. The soft, alluring glow of a bluish hue shimmered in the atmosphere. Like an aurora borealis, but not quite as strong or amplified. Just a wisp. A whisper. A vapor of light that flowed and fell in the fog of pure, deathly radiation.

Just one breath, Twilight imagined. Just one, unprotected touch…

She turned to her older brother, noticed he was without a mask just like her. He shared her gaze, declaring, “Once we’re below ground, we can take off the masks, but for now…”

He pulled his gas mask over his face, securing it in place. His horn, also protected, shimmered to light their path into the fog of death. And with that, his heavy breaths were all that she could tell of his presence before he made his way directly into death’s hold. The caravan followed him.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Cadance assured her, patting her shoulder as she passed by. “Just remember to breathe.”

Twilight gulped, staring into the dark, bug-like eyes of the gas mask. She shakily inhaled, sighed in her exhale, but pursed her lips with rising determination and said, “Might be a little harder now.”

She slipped it on and said not a word more. She saved every breath she could once she stepped her hoof past the line and into the unknown.

Spike gripped onto her for comfort and guidance, his shaking breaths mimicking hers as they traversed the fog with everypony else. As they moved, they could see figures stumbling within the haze. Hazmat suits with radiation detectors moving about and scanning every inch of the environment. The counters were going wild, that haunting tick, tick, tick echoing throughout the area. Bon Bon could see them even through the limited vision of the gas mask. The T.I.T.A.N. agents and scientists studied the soil and captured as much information on the radiation waves as possible.

They could never understand it. Not like she could. For she had seen its creation where they had only heard it through stories.

Agent Stellar was waiting for them on the elevator as he told them before. Near the peaks of ice within the glacier. To the continued shock of the Council of Friendship, they gazed upon the gargantuan elevator literally embedded within the mountain. It appeared like a dark cave, a cavern of pure brilliance in engineering and nature’s frozen design. Once everypony was stationed upon it and settled in, Shining Armor nodded to Cosmic Stellar. He pressed his hoof onto the control panel on the front of the elevator.

With a sudden lurch, the elevator cried out before making a slow and subtle descent into the well of darkness. It descended sideways, slinking into the bowels of the icy earth with the whirs and cries of the mechanical chains keeping it from sliding dangerously out of control. The Council shared similar expressions of wonderment and awe beneath their gas masks, though none could tell how they reacted. Light bulbs were embedded within the icy ceiling, giving their descent a much more visible exposure. The craftsmanship of the tunnel astounded Twilight Sparkle. It must have taken years, a budget worthy of Canterlot’s riches in order for a crew to have worked and constructed in such harsh and unrelenting conditions. But that was the price they paid for discovery. That was the risk they took…

For it to completely pay off.

The tunnel had ended and they entered into an underground cavern beyond imaginable scale.

Shining Armor was the first to remove his mask and take in a deep breath. He was not the last. Not by a long shot. It was spread from pony to pony, each one of them removing their individual gas masks and placing them onto the hazmat suit’s strap. As they did so, a new light was shone upon them. Twilight removed her mask and gasped for air, breathing in the chilling vapors of the world beneath the world.

And beneath Outpost Frostbite, she paid witness to a massive mining facility. They all did.

Structures and beams towered from the floor to the ceiling’s seemingly endless peak. Catwalks were scattered from one beam to the next, smaller elevators used to reach and drill and study the various positions laid out on the icy wall. Tunnels and pathways were laid out throughout the facility below them, various minecarts holding chunks of ice and rock rich with the contents T.I.T.A.N. so yearned to analyze. Below, where their destination was nearing by the second, a station was ready with several T.I.T.A.N. scientists awaiting their arrival.

But beyond them… something terrible had happened. Something Twilight had noticed right away. From her own eyes… and from the grimness etched on Shining Armor and Cadance’s expressions. They all saw it just as she had. Just as Celestia and Luna had. Just as Bon Bon and all Twilight’s friends had. As all of T.I.T.A.N. had.

The cavern was infected. There was a growing number of familiar, dark crystals scattered about. They spread like a viral disease, engrained throughout the ice from top to bottom and near every corner of the facility. But that wasn’t all. Not by a long shot. Besides the dreadful, all-too-familiar crystals, the mining in the area unveiled something hidden beneath the ice, within the shattered mountains.

Light from the radiation above shimmered through the ice, illuminating to them a tremendous shadow. A terrifying figure that slithered in a frozen state. Captured in time to be persevered for their viewing pleasure. For their viewing horror. It scaled a height that was almost inconceivable, growing only taller and more ferocious as the elevator continuously descended. Twilight and the Council of Friendship stood in awe as their jaws only fell further, as their eyes only continued to open.

Everypony witnessed it and shared their dread, their uncertainty, and their fear with one another. T.I.T.A.N. knew the stories. They knew the legend. They knew of the beast captured within the hold of the world, gazing to the mighty jaws trapped in that perpetual frozen roar, screaming as its freedom was stripped away by the frost and cold. They shuddered at the teeth of the monster, at the limbs and wings and tails.

And heads.

Bon Bon witnessed it all for herself, for her own mind’s understanding. For her own belief onto the spectacle that everypony else—presumably Twilight and the Council—were seeing for the first time. She knew it was no spectacle, but a terror. A death song of three storms, fallen from above to a tomb of ice and earth that had trapped it for eons. A hydra. A demon of the stars.

The Devil himself.

Monster Zero.

Titanus Ghidorah.