After all the ruckus of the last few days, Ember got to enjoy herself in the middle of a dream. What was in it, she didn’t remember. It didn’t make sense to her, even in the midst of it. That was the last thing she was concerned about. Her mind was conscious enough to know she was dreaming, and it was a sign she was getting the rest she deserved for a long time. Ahhhh, sleep…
Still, her ear twitched around in the air. Maybe she had to go to the bathroom? She would have to wake up in the middle of the night from it, just like most ponies. Nah, it can wait. Then she heard more noises. That wasn’t right. She wasn’t making them, and they weren’t that far away. Without waking up, her horn subconsciously grabbed one of the pillows with her magic and tossed it at the front door. That had to shut the chaos up.
But it didn’t. It kept going. She swore she heard something like a scream, and her eyes shot open. “Geeeeaaaahhhhhh….stop it…” She buried her face into the pillows, but the screams only intensified. It was like they were upset that she tried to rest on a night like this.
“Fiiiiiiine. We’ll do it your way.” She sprung out of bed and rubbed her eyelids with her hooves. One quick stop to the restroom later, and she went out the front door. Then it hit her that it was deep into the evening. Given the position of Luna’s moon--she guessed it was Twilight’s moon now--it had to be just after midnight. At least she got SOME rest before life kicked her in the hindlegs.
Still, she noticed a slight chill in the air when she ventured out into the beach. This wasn’t because it was late at night. The chill almost felt like the kind Equestria had right before Hearth’s Warming Eve. With the little story about a fish monster fresh in her mind, she kept it in the back of her head when she went to investigate the source of the screams.
It wouldn’t take long at all to find it. A bunch of scared ponies were running away from that little spot of the beach nopony wanted to go to. Not only that, but it dawned on Ember that all of the ponies were around her age. If she had to guess, somepony dared another pony to try to step hoof into the area, only to run away when they found out what was waiting for them.
“What the hay is going on?” she yelled at them. “It’s almost one in the bucking morning, and some of us are trying to sleep! Well, I am. I don’t know what you guys are doing.”
“There’s a monster down by the abandoned pier!” one stallion explained on his way out of town. “It’s shooting ice everywhere. I shouldn’t have taken that dare, I was such an idiot, even for my age!”
And now Ember was asking a lot of things about the kind of ponies in her generation. She twisted her head to see that little spot she heard so much about, and there were a few ponies scattered around the beach, mostly running out of the area. Anyone else that was looking to have a midnight swim was doing the same thing as Ember, looking in that direction and questioning what was going on.
“I’m gonna need a lot of coffee, aren’t I…” Ember used her horn again to summon a cup of coffee over to her spot, and she drank the whole thing down. Just another cup for good measure. She was sick of this. “There we go.” She slammed the cup down to the ground and went to face the threat head on.
At the very least, the cold chill in the atmosphere kept her awake just as much as the caffeine coursing through her legs. More ponies were running away from the stretch of land, and she heard one of them scream in her direction. “You don’t wanna go down there. I saw the monster’s eye. It was freaking me out!”
“Yeah, well, I got the magic to shut it up if it’s gonna be a problem.” Ember kept on walking like this was normal, and she was more annoyed than anxious. Maybe a little anxious, but still. In due time, there wouldn’t be a single pony along the beachfront other than her. This would be between her and the creature that dared to interrupt her overdue beauty sleep.
She looked dead ahead of the beach, and she didn’t see anything wrong. That part of the island wasn’t as developed as the rest of the place, so there was just a thick, tropical forest near the beach. One thing she noticed, however, was that...well...she got the surprise of her life near the ocean.
Up ahead of her, there was a massive ice structure along the sands. It was well over three stories tall, and it had no set structure. It was like a minor iceberg just showed up near Equus Town one evening. The chill in the air grew intense near the ice fortress, and she felt her coat’s fur stand up after just a few seconds near it.
Part of her was thinking it would melt, given it was still warm for a summer’s evening. Instead, it remained intact, and there wasn’t even one sign it was melting. Her mind immediately thought that some kind of magic was at play here. It was the only answer that made sense.
The moment she learned nopony was pulling her leg about it, that there was an actual building of ice by her hooves, she scanned the place around with her eyes. If the fish lady was around, this had to be the place she’d call home. Instead, Ember found nobody there at all. There wasn’t a single soul to be found for miles in all directions, let alone inside the fortress.
And that’s when something changed inside of Ember’s mind. “You mean...I come all the way out here, get the vacation of a lifetime, and I hear a thing about this evil monster...and it’s just a big block of magical ice? I had to wake up in the middle of the night because some unicorn decided to pull a prank on everypony? Are. You. Kidding. Me?”
That was enough for her. Her horn flared up with a blue light from the base to the tip, and she summoned all the magic she could muster. A bright blue fireball launched right at the nearest block of ice, and that was the thing that caused the ice to start melting.
Not that it melted much, if at all. It was more like the ice fortress suddenly had a door for visitors. “Oh no you don’t!” She stormed through the open door and looked all around the ice. “You’re not staying here. I’ll melt the whole damn place down if it means ponies stop freaking me out, and I can’t get a good night’s sleep if I tried!”
There was nothing but ice around her for a good few feet, and the mere sight irritated her. She launched fireball after fireball at the structure, letting her anger take on a physical form. Her spells were intense and fierce, but it didn’t melt the ice away as fast as she expected. Steam nearly came out of her nostrils when she realized that, and she kept melting it away. “Just go away!”
Little did she know that the owner of the fortress would catch wind of her deeds. It took a few careful steps in her direction, having just finished off part of an ice sculpture. Most would assume it would be pissed off that all of its hard work was being undone by a(n almost literally) fiery pony. After all, she was making that open door just that much more open.
Instead, it watched her with a slight sense of curiosity. Every time she burned another inch of ice down, the creature merely kept observing. It even crossed its arms and thought about whenever or not it should say something. It chose not to, at least, not at first. It scratched the back of its neck and shrugged.
“Go away! All of you!” Ember launched the mother of all fireballs at the front gate and it exploded against the structure. It only withered away the ice by an inch or two. “Are you freaking kidding me! Why does it have to be so stubborn! Whose idea of a prank is this?”
“I didn’t think of it as a prank,” a deep, masculine voice responded behind her.
“Whaaaa!” Ember fell down on her side from the voice, and she sprung up just as quickly. She turned around and faced her foe straight on. “Where are you? You’re not going to keep doing this! I won’t let you! Can’t you just give us all some…” Her head tilted up a few degrees. “...rest…”
A male dragon, standing at least six feet tall, looked down upon her. Most of his body was coated in dark navy blue scales, and the skin on his wings was a faded light blue. The spines around his face were the same color, and the ones on his back took on a dark red hue. From his height alone, it was easy to feel the strength radiating from his limbs, and the fact that he carried a little muscle with him added to the presence he irradiated to anyone that found him.
Despite that, he wasn’t showing any emotion in his face. One breath from his nostrils later, and Ember felt a tiny blast of cold air come out from his lungs. There was even the slightest hint of frost on her fur. It wasn’t much, but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out who created the ice fortress around here.
Ember was a little tense from seeing such a tall and strong dragon like this, especially one with ice powers to boot. In spite of that, the way he seemed completely calm and not at all pissed off didn’t make her as anxious as she thought she would be. Instead, she slowly opened her mouth and made the words come out.
“Woah. So you’re the dragon that’s been terrorizing Equus Town. What for? Come on, we all just want some time off by the beach, and we won’t mess with ya. What’s the big deal, are you trying to freak everypony out?”
The dragon scratched the back of his neck again, and he went over to one little spot Ember did her magic on. “I wasn’t trying to do that. They haven’t met a dragon with ice powers before if that scared them.” He breathed gently along the weak spot on the wall, and the ice formed in sheets around the holes like she did nothing to them at all. No matter how deep his voice was, there was almost a soothing afterglow to it.
“Yeah, well, most of them do the fire breath thing. Not the ice thing. Seriously, I don’t get what’s going on anymore.” Ember shook her head, wondering deep down if this was the monster she was thinking of, not the scary fish lady.
“I hate the summer heat,” he explained carefully, going over to fill the other holes Ember created. “It’s bad in Equestria, but it’s worse in the Dragon Lands. There’s so many active volcanoes to start with, so you have to deal with the hot lava. Then it gets too hot in the air. I needed a break. I didn’t think I would scare everyone along the way.” Finishing his work, he walked over to another part of the fortress. There, a little icy bench laid out in front of him, and he laid down on his back. He leaned back and sighed contently while the ice cooled off his scales. “It beats going to a tundra. There are people here.”
Once she saw the situation for what it was, Ember pulled on both eyelids with her hooves. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s all this was, a misunderstanding? I woke up in the middle of the night because everypony was telling these tall tales, and then this is what’s going on. A dragon that just wanted to cool off his way?”
“You can sleep on the other bench if you like. Name’s Frigid.” No matter how irritated the pony was, Frigid didn’t show a trace of emotion in his face. “And you’re really good with magic. Is that why there’s a flame on your flank?”
Ember stared at her flank for a second, and it was showing off a cutie mark of a blue flame. That made the second time a dragon stared at her backside on the trip. “Well, yeah. I’m good at fire magic. You saw me burn the whole door down. That’s getting away from the point. There’s something we gotta do about the ponies thinking you’re some kind of monster.”
“Is it because I’m a dragon, or because they’re worried I’m a monster because I have ice breath?” He blew a little bit into the air above him, and a small bushel of snowflakes drifted down gently onto his chest and belly.
“Well…” she sighed. “There’s a story about monsters around these parts, but I don’t think it looks like you. And you have to admit, this isn’t normal for this time of the year.”
“Nothing’s normal anymore. Dragons and ponies are living together, legends from centuries ago come back and haven’t aged a day, and there’s a new Dragon Lord and Princess of Equestria.” The snow flurries kept coming down, and it looked as if winter arrived above his head. “I like the changes.”
“...yeah, I can see that. It’s kinda cool--no, I did NOT make a pun just now--that I’m hanging out with a dragon. We used to be scared of them as fillies and colts. And now I’m talking to one like it’s normal.” She blinked her eyes. “Wow. I’m talking to a dragon. Name’s Ember Spark.”
“Good name.” He rested well, not minding the surreal encounter he was having, but he thought about something else. “Do you think the other ponies will like me if I explain everything to them, and they see I’m not the monster they’re talking about? You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. And they’ll like you if you just come out and explain what you’re doing. Who knows, maybe they’ll like it if you ice up their drinks or something. It is bucking hot out here, anyway.”
“Then I’ll do that when they wake up.” He tilted his head over at Ember. “Do you want to hang out or something? It’s nice to talk to a pony for once.”
“Uhhhh…” Part of her felt like it would be interesting, but her mind reminded her that it was after midnight. “I gotta head to bed. It was a long week and everything. Maybe tomorrow. I’ll see you when I’m up and everything. I’ll meet you back here?”
“I could meet you in town. It would probably scare less ponies if I’m out in the open, and they know the whole story. I don’t want them to think I’m a monster that needs to be feared.”
“Alright, I hear ya. See you tomorrow, Frigid. That’s a good name, too…”
“Good night, Ember Spark.” Frigid tilted his head back up to the clouds, and he closed his eyes to get some rest. As it turned out, Ember wasn’t the only one that needed some rest and relaxation by the beach.
Still, she was curious about the dragon she just met. He was strange, the way he didn’t show a single trace of emotion with his tone or facials, but the words and actions did the talking in their place. She was about to second guess going to bed like that on him, but then he started to snore. It was so loud against her ears, it was like someone was ripping thousands of pieces of paper right by her face. “Alright, alright, I got it. I’m leaving now.”
She headed out of the ice fortress and headed back to the villa. As much as she was still weirded out by the whole show, she had to admit that the chill going through her spine from the wind was a nice touch. It was just what she needed as relief from the heat.
Still, she had to ask herself something. He didn’t look anything like the fish lady she saw in the ocean. Sure, everypony was spooked out by Frigid’s little ice show, but there were still questions she had left to answer. Maybe I just saw her because I was tired. I haven’t seen her since I took that nap. Yeah, that’s probably it. Still, I need to keep an eye out. Equestria can be dangerous when it wants to be…
And sure enough, someone was watching her from the rocks alongside the bottom of a cliff. She watched Ember walk away, careful to keep herself hidden among the rocks. “Ponies. They always have a superiority complex, don’t they? So do dragons...and hippogriffs...and other species...they always think they know the answers, but they don’t. Not when things get tough.”
Once Ember was away, the fish lady turned her eyes over towards the ice fortress. “That’s why I like people like you. The ones that are lonely and alone. The ones that are familiar with their flaws. You’ll know what I’m talking about in time. Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I can’t say the same for others…”
Deep down, the feeling that something was up remained in Ember’s head. She would check along the water, but there was no sign of the fish lady. “Okay, if anyone is out there and being a creep, I’m just gonna buck you in the face. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The ocean would remain vacant in her sight of vision. The threats that laid within the sea wouldn’t show themselves to her just yet.