//------------------------------// // Cold Recovery // Story: Death March to Equestria // by Toxicfox //------------------------------// The office was eerily quiet despite being fully occupied, nothing but the clicking and clacking of keys and mice with the added crack of energy drink cans. The crew was hard at work attempting to meet the deadline for their demo. Jason was testing the newest UI build against the Ice golem boss to which he was currently being smoked by. “Ugh! This is bullshit, why aren’t my attacks working?” he groans slouching in his chair as his barrage of attacks only chip at the enemies health, prompting his deskmate to look over, her attention is brought to the lower part of his screen to see he’s still using the previous patches attacks. “Why don’t you change your attack set?” Caroline commented as she sipped her coffee.”  “Change my what?” Jason asked raising a brow “We implemented a whole mess of new attacks and even a feature that lets players arrange and save different combo sets.” “Really? When did that happen?” Jason’s eyes widened in confusion at the new revelation. “Sigh, do you even read the patch notes?” she shook her head pushing his chair to the side. She opened the character menu, scrolling over to the unfamiliar sword icon at the edge. When clicked, it opened a new page dominated by a wheel of windows displaying numerous attack titles with a simple graphic of a humanoid performing the attack.  “See?” she pointed to the screen “Well shit, that's handy.” Jason scratched his chin in amazement as he watched his teammate adjust his skills “With these new skills and addons even your mid-maxing ass can beat the new bosses.” she chuckled as she pushed him back to the screen. “ Har Har” Jason looked through the skills she added and noticed that there was an odd chain graphic connecting attacks in groups of 4 with the chains converging on the last attack on the list a high damage attack called Guillotine Cleave “What’s with the chain effects?” “Cool right?” she responded eagerly obviously knowing he’d ask “It’s called a skill chain, it's a new feature that allows players to combo their power attacks.” “Isn’t that a little OP?” Jason narrowed his brow already imagining the complaints. “You’d think so, but the cost of stamina from each attack is taken all at once, so if the chain is broken before the final attack you’ll lose a lot of stamina for little damage.” “What if you stop it yourself?” “You’ll lose less stamina but there's a cooldown before you can use another power attack.” she explained,” no item or buff will stop it either, good balance for any would-be exploiters right?.” “Heh you always think of everything don’t you?” Jason shook his head  “Damn right!” she gloated proudly with a wide grin. “Now ice that frosty bastard!” she chuckled. Blackjack jolted awake, his body shook as he rose, snow falling from his shoulders as he searched his surroundings, the once-great crystal city was now a frozen landscape, winds cut through the empty snow-filled streets. The ominous creaks of doors and windows echoed in the streets, shock was the best way to describe his expression as he gazed at the frozen wasteland. “There he is!” Twilight's voice echoed as the purple light of her horn pierced the fog as she and Rainbow Dash descended from the sky. “Thank Celestia, we found you.” “W-what h-happened?” the human asked as he slowly sat up shivering as a blanket was placed over his shoulders. “ We’ll fill you in at the palace, let's get outta the cold.” Rainbow Dash responds, helping him out of the foot deep snow.  At the palace, things were rough despite its thick walls. Luna was doing her best to shield the interior from the blistering cold but despite her best efforts the castle was only about twenty degrees warmer than outside, the now dethawed mane 6 were helping the rescued pony guards recover from the attack, most of which were coddled around makeshift fire pits composed of burning debris from the battle, with no time to waste rarity used her skills to modify the palace drapes into blankets to keep them warm while applejack served up hot apple porridge to keep their strength up. Starlight and Sunburst were in the archives looking for spells to undo the Frost Blight that kept even the well-insulated palace in a state of near-freezing temperatures. The door opened with the gale of frost as the three entered before it was quickly closed by the bundled guards who sat nearby. “Fuck it's cold” Blackjack blurted out as he approached the nearest fire, he squatted before the flames removing his gloves. “ how long has it been?” “Two hours, after we unfroze everyone we began looking for survivors from the battle” twilight responded, sitting by him in the fire. “We’ve managed to retrieve almost every pony frozen outside the palace.” “Is everyone alright?” Blackjack asked concerned “As alright as we can be,” Applejack commented, passing him a bowl of porridge, without a single thought Blackjack wolfed it down, not caring about the scorching sting on his tongue. “We managed to keep everypony from freezing to death, but we can’t keep it up forever.” “What about using gates to get everyone out of here?” Blackjack asked “We tried, but the Frost Blight is dimming our magic and we can’t afford to use too much or we’ll collapse.” “Where’s Clover and Trixie?” “DADDY!” Clover yelled, darting right into her father with tears in her eyes as she knocked him over. “I was so worried about you.” The little dragon nuzzled her face against his, her face was cold to the touch but he could feel a slight warmth. “Master!” Trixie joined in on the group dog pile tightly holding Blackjack's waist. “Don’t scare us like that!” she tearfully scolded him Blackjack couldn’t help but chuckle as he held them close. “I’m sorry girls, I didn’t mean to make you worry about me.” The ponies couldn’t help but smile at the heartwarming reunion, but the moment ended when Clover began to shake, despite being bundled up in her winter clothes the little dragon was still freezing. Blackjack took a moment to think, his focus moved to the Status ailment to his left. Frost Blight: LVL 3 Non Ice magic spells are 50% less effect 2% Consistent frost damage. 20% slowed movement. “Hmm, we need a way to resist the cold but how.” his eyes widened as he glanced at the door. “If the game's mechanics work here then it might work.” Blackjack stood up closing his jacket and bundling the blanket around himself like a cloak before moving back to the door “Master, where are you going?” Trixie questioned as they followed him. “I have an idea that might help us fight this cold, you two stay by the fire,” he responded raising his hand to the central flame Used Skill: Fireball In an instant, a small orange ball of flames shot out and struck the fire. Slightly increasing its size and warmth, the ponies were surprised but appreciative of the increased warmth. Blackjack however grimaced at the size and lack of strength his attack had before exiting into the freezing cold, the frost blight effect immediately jumped another level prompting him to shake.  Frost Blight: LVL 4 Non Ice magic spells are 50% less effect 5% Consistent frost damage. 35% slowed movement. “Brrrrr, let's do this fast.” He quickly looked around the snowy wastes, walking towards the decimated defense from the battle, his steps echoing in the quiet air, but as he got closer he’d found what he was looking for. “There you are.” Raising his hands he focused his energy, a dark purple aura flickered into sight before setting into a steady glow, projecting onto the large lumps of snow before him, Used Skill: Telekinesis  Slowly the objects began to lift slightly off the ground, “Damn these are heavy, but at least I can move them all.” he began to move back towards the palace door dragging his prize behind him. Inside the ponies sat around the fire, “ I wonder what he’s doing out there.” Trixie questions holding Clover close as they share her cloak for warmth. “We just got him out of the snow too, what can be out there that can stop this?” Twilight wondered poking at the fire. “Hopefully It works. I can't stand this dreadful cold.” Rarity added, taking a shaky sip of her hot tea. Suddenly a knock erupts from the door, drawing everyone's attention.” Looks like we’ll find out” Applejack commented before the door burst open, though it flew several yeti and wolves from the battle, every pony jumped in shock before realizing that the beasts were in fact corpses. The ponies' shock never left their faces as more bodies were moved into the foyer before Blackjack himself entered, shutting the windy door behind him. “Whew finally, Clover go get my knife from the bag.” with a nod the little dragon flew up the stairs “Blackjack! What are you doing with those!?” a confused twilight yells as clover returns with the requested blade. “What’s it look like?” he answered, stabbing the blade into the gut of the yeti corpse, carving and peeling its skin causing most of the ponies to wretch. Used Skill: Skinning “You stop that right now!” Fluttershy angrily yelled storming over to the man, her stare in full force causing clover to timidly look away. “How could you do that to another creature?” Blackjack stopped, taken aback by her outburst but sighed realizing how it must look to the ponies. “ We’re going to freeze to death if we don’t find a way to resist the Frost Blight, the Yeti and wolves are highly resistant to the cold.” “That doesn’t make it right, no creature should have this happen to them.” The once shy pegasi stomped her hoof still defiantly. “Fluttershy I am sorry that you have to see this, but this cold is a curse that will only get worse unless we find a way to resist it.” Blackjack calmly explained trying to have the animal lover see his logic. “ You may not like it but we have to do this otherwise we’ll all freeze to death.” Fluttershy was ready to retort but was stopped upon seeing Clover shake, realizing that the cold must be affecting her and spike more than everyone else. All she could do was look down sadly. “ I...I understand.” “Trust me, if there was another option I would've done it already.” he spoke softly placing a hand on her shoulder “If it makes you feel better, why don’t I do this somewhere else that way you don’t have to see it.” Blackjack suggested attempting to ease the ponies' feelings. “I-it would thank you,” she responded with her head dropped With a nod, blackjack used his magic to move the bodies into the adjacent room, before entering he looked back at the ponies.  “ Rarity, I need your help with this.” The request shocked everypony as they looked to the just as the dumbstruck fashionista. “I-I um don’t think I’d be any help with this.” She shakenly responded “You’re the only one who can do this, I can’t craft anything without my tools so it needs to be you, please.” the man all but begged Rarity was still extremely nervous, never once had she ever considered making clothes from the pelts of another creature, but like Fluttershy, she could see no other option. With an audible gulp, she entered the room with Clover closing the door behind her. Up in the Royal Quarters, the princesses of the Sun and Love lay in extremely padded beds, both coated in frost and trembling from the blight of the yeti’s curse. Shining Armor held his wife's hoof as their daughter laid next to her mother armed with her snuggly blanket and whammy by her side. Luna lay beside her sister hoping to keep her warm, while her horn glowed with energy to maintain the shield “Your Majesties, Princess Twilight is here.” the door guard announced opening the doors “Twily,” Shining smiled as he hugged his sister, “ Is everything alright?”  “Things are looking up, we found Blackjack” she smiled with an exhausted look in her eyes. “Really? That's a relief.” Shining smiled.  “He seems to have a way to fight the blight” Twilight winced a bit recalling what their human friend was doing downstairs. “I hope it works, I don't think we’ll be able to last too long if this keeps up” he sighed looking back at the bedridden princess’. “They’re still hurt from the battle, and the blight isn’t helping them recover.” He sighed. “I’m sure it will, I trust in the abilities of my friends,” Twilight smiled with optimism. Downstairs the ponies stared at the closed door of the next room with terrified and concerned eyes, as they listened to the very loud argument of Blackjack and Rarity “Ugh! Sweet Celestia! the stench is just horrible” Rarity Wretched. “Deal with it for just a bit longer, we almost got it off” Blackjack yelled back “How can I deal with this!? You're peeling it’s Bucking skin off!” The Unicorn yelled with another retch in her tone “What do I do with the guts dad?” Clover asked followed by the audible sound of Rarity vomiting. “Throw them over there, and help me pull out the skull.” The ponies winced and gagged, doing their best to ignore the thoughts of the gruesome images the fashionista was seeing, Flutter shy was the sickest of the group trying her best not to throw up from what she was hearing, sporadically moving in place as she covered her ears in a futile hope to block out the noise. Trixie, sick of her spasming, decided to take action and with a poof of her magic stuffed the timid pegasis’ ears with multicolored cloth causing Fluttershy to hug the magician with appreciative tears in her eyes. In the palace’s archives, Starlight and Sunburst were searching through various books of magic. Many guards were aiding in the search, with the blights curse they had to limit their use of magic and gather the books by hoof. “There’s gotta be something here” Sunburst spoke as his eyes glided through the pages. “You’d think a kingdom in the frozen North would have a whole section for cold prevention.” Starlight commented, tossing a book to the side. “They probably have it in the library but,” “But there's no way we’ll make it without freezing to death.” she finished with a sigh. “Let’s keep looking. ” An hour later, Twilight and Shining had returned to the Foye to the sight of the ponies looking worse for wear, they all wore mixed expressions of sickness and trauma.  “What’s wrong with every pony?” her question was met with every hoof pointed to the adjacent door. She looked confused for a moment just before the door slowly creaked open. Rarity sauntered out first with a scarred yet proud look in her eyes. The ponies were more surprised by the outfit she was wearing. The outfit was reminiscent of the Russian fur coats complete with ushanka and boots, before speaking she took a big swig of a flask given to her by Blackjack “ Presenting, The latest fashion of Blight survival!”  With a wave of her hoof the door burst open with a bright orange glow enveloping the room, there stood Blackjack and Clover highlighted by the glow of Blackjack's restored flame mantle, the entire room stared in shock and relief as the mantles' power had warmed the room by an additional 20 degrees. Blackjack wore a fur-collared leather trench coat with wolf skulls mounted on his shoulders, Fur lined steel toe boots, under his arm was a modified guard helmet with a yeti skull atop it.  Clover’s was an upgrade to her bubble coat, but extended further down her legs and lined at the top and bottom with fur with the addition of heavily furred uggs and an Ushanka decorated with wolf teeth. “Blackjack, what the…” Twilight was interrupted by Rarity floating a fur cloak over her friend  Twilight could feel it the moment the fabric engulfed her, The chills and heavyweight of the curse faded from her body, her magical flow felt less tightened. All she could do was sigh in relief as she used her magic to help boost Luna's spell, warming the castle further. “Woah, how’d you do that?” Shining asked, watching his sister’s display. “The cloak weakened the blight's effect,” she exclaimed as she felt the fabric, many ponies watched in disbelief but couldn’t deny the proof before them. “ We didn’t have enough for a full line so everypony will have to share for now” Rarity announced, floating a small stack of pelts before them. The ponies quickly grabbed the cloaks, sharing in couples and even triples depending on the size their expressions could only be defined as relieved, for the first time in hours were they able to stop shaking. “This is amazing, how did you know it would work?” Shining questioned donning a solo cloak. “Creatures that live in the cold are often resistant to it, so wearing their pelts should have the same effects.” Blackjack explained reading the updated stats.  Cloak of the Yeti “ The skin pelts of the beasts of the Tundra” 50% Frost Resist Acquired Skills:  Skinning 2 Weaving 2 Acquired Title: Model Frost Blight Lvl 1 Non Ice magic spells are 10% less effective 5% slowed movement  “We didn’t have enough material for anything better, we can at least go outside without the curse weighing us down too much.” Blackjack explained “That’s fine because now we can rescue the frozen ponies at the gate and get more pelts as we go,” Shining responded as he turned to the ponies. “After that, we can lead a counter-attack and retrieve the Crystal Heart!” The ponies cheered and began to mobilize, Twilight and Fluttershy brought two of the pelts to the bedridden princesses, Pinkie pie was in the kitchen baking up a storm for the impending thawed ponies. Blackjack and the rest had assembled a small squad of pelt-wearing ponies to venture outside. “Alright, every creature listens up, even if we can resist the cold that doesn’t mean we shouldn't risk overexposure. First, we’ll sweep the immediate area for buried comrades and enemy corpses.” Shining addressed the troops.  “ Group one led by Spike will focus on retrieval, sweeping the area for our comrades.” Spike nodded, donning his ceremonial armor with a small pelt wrapped around him. “Group two led by Blackjack will focus on gathering the pelts and other materials for crafting.” Blackjack donned his helmet and moved towards the door “And finally I’ll lead Group three to find the enemy's trail. We find them, we can prepare a counterattack.” As the ponies mobilized, the green eyes of the tyrant gleaned from the shadows. “Yes, arm yourselves my ponies,” he grinned. “ Everything is going according to plan” he silently chuckled as he faded back into the shadows. Back in the royal chambers, The Princesses had regained consciousness and were warming themselves with some hot tea as Twilight updated them on the current situation. “ And now they’ve gone out into the blizzard to rescue the frozen ponies and track the Yeti’s back to their lair.” Twilight finished before taking a sip of her tea. “So he tore the flesh and bones off our enemies to create armor?” Celestia questioned, cautiously examining the pelt draped across her shoulders. “While I find the act appalling, we can’t question the results” Luna spoke up as she donned her own cloak. “ This is warmer than wool and oddly comfortable.” “I love it,” Cadence responded admiring herself in the mirror, “ soft, warm, and symbolic” “Symbolic?” Twilight raised a confused brow “Of what happens when you mess with the crystal empire.”Cadence grinned as the others shared a concerned look, her disturbing comment was only amplified at the sound of Flurry’s joyful giggles. “And ponies think I'm frightening” Luna commented casually sipping her tea. “So what’s the next step?” “After we get more ponies and pelts, Shining plans to launch a counter-attack to retrieve the crystal heart,” Twilight responded. “With the curse numbed and the enemy numbers reduced we should be able to take back the heart.” Outside the city, Shining and his scouts searched through the dense white blanket of the tundra, the unicorns scanned across the empty area. “Found anything yet, sergeant?” Shining asked, gazing out to the distance. “ Only dead Yeti sir.” the pony saluted “ Ugh, fine, let's drag them back and regroup.” Shining sighed as he turned and walked back towards the destroyed gate, before suddenly feeling a freezing chill on his hoof. “What the?” he lifted his hoof instantly removing the freezing sensation, revealing a sheet of ice.  Shining activated his horn, the spell glowed over the sheet and revealed its full shape, a large clawed footprint. His eyes went wide as he extended the spells range adding a luminescent spell to reveal them as they were found. “Found you!” Shining grinned seeing the single set of footprints, the tracks lead from the empire and into the distant western mountains. “Now we can strike back.” In the palace, Twilight has organized the recovery efforts. All frozen ponies were placed within the foyer and routinely thawed with magic, all those un-frozen were given a simple pelt cloak and sent to the dining hall for warm food and drinks to recover their stamina and maintain their body heat. Those who were wounded were sent to another room to be treated by the medics, The yetis however were moved to the palace's forge to be broken down into materials.  Blackjack and Clover were hard at work extracting the materials from the yeti and wolves, Rarity had elected to join the blacksmiths in the forge preferring to not relive the horror from earlier. The restored temperature allowed the forges to burn at just over half their max heat, The clash of hammers echoed through the room.  “We’re going to need a new design of armor to combat this cold, the usual guard armor won’t cut it.” one of the smiths suggested looking over a schematic for typical guard armor. “The pelts should help but we’ll run out of them before we can outfit the whole force.” “And the metal plates will get colder the longer the soldier is out there, I doubt the pelts will help with that.” another pointed out causing them to all look distraught.  “ Excuse me,” Rarity said, approaching the table. “ We could line the inside of the armor with leather.” “Leather? What’s that?” The smith asked, never hearing the odd word. “It’s…a material made from a creature's skin.” Rarity answered, visually uncomfortable from her own suggestion. “It can keep the cold metal from affecting the wearer.” The smith's eyes were wide with shock at the new information, but they knew in desperate times beggars can’t be choosers. “It works similar to fabric so I and the other seamstress ponies should be able to help with this.” with a nod they went to work. After regaining their strength the Princess’ used their magic to produce another barrier around the palace, with the temperature back to a stable climate the Blight had been purged from the palace interior. Twilight had rejoined the group and organized teams to produce and move the resources more efficiently. “How’s everything going Twilight?” Cadence asked joining her sister-in-law on the balcony overseeing the foyer. “We’ve gathered enough materials for the blight gear and rescued everypony frozen from the attack, after some food and rest everypony should be ready to fight '' The lavender alicorn responded keeping her eyes locked to her clipboard. Suddenly the front doors whisked open with Shining armor entering with his squadron, seeing his family back to full strength he trotted up to the balcony kissing his wife before addressing the rest “We found their trail, it leads into the western mountains,” Shining reported. “Once we’re ready we’ll send scouts ahead before marching out.” “Well done Shining armor, I’m happy we’re recovering from this tragedy.” Celestia sighed with relief. “We’re fortunate Blackjack found a way to fight the curse, barbaric as it is,” Luna added “Let’s hope we don’t have to resort to these methods again.” Twilight nervously chuckled. “Speaking of, where is Blackjack?” Shining asked “After finishing the pelts he was supposed to help oversee the new armor production,” Twilight said, inspecting her schedule. Back at the forge, all the blacksmiths were prevented from work as they were forced to witness the biggest challenge that all crafters suffer on group projects; creative differences. “I’m telling you, engravings would benefit the aesthetic of the armor.” rarity yelled stamping her hoof “And, I’m telling you that it gives no tactical advantage whatsoever, Spikes are good-looking and functional,” Blackjack argued. “Spikes would make them look like an army of barbarians!” Rarity retorted “Barbarians are cool!” The argument continued to move back and forth until a smith spoke up. “Um, shouldn’t we prioritize protection and cold resistance?” His sudden comment stopped the heated exchange, causing both creatives to awkwardly look back at each other. “Ahem, Indeed,” Rarity elegantly flipped her hair and switched to a blank schematic page. “So Blackjack, what do you think would help keep ponies safe in the cold battle.” “Right, well instead of heavy plate mail we could make brigandines.” “Brigandines?” Rarity tilted her head in confusion. “They're light armor made from heavy cloth and leather. If we pad it right it should be warm enough to resist the blight,” he responded sketching a turnaround concept of the armor. “Interesting, we could also line them with studs to provide a little glamor and protection.” rarity added her idea to the schematic. “Great, but we’ll still need more protection, what if we rearrange the plates to entirely cover the top of the pony and sides of the pony.” “Magnifique, we could use leather to pad the legs so we’ll only need light plates for the grieves.” As the two continued their creative symmetry the smiths slowly disbanded and went to work crafting the new armor, only checking back in to peek at any updates made, the most recent being a replacement for the traditional roman design of the guard helmet to a more compact closed helm design with variations to compensate a unicorn's horn. Up in the War room, the Royals were going over the map of the empire, Shining used his magic to mark the yeti’s path back to the mountains. “Looks like they're held up here, it’s the only region with enough space and caverns to house them.”  “Agreed, we should send pegasi at moonrise, they’ll be able to hide amongst the clouds and report on any defenses the yeti might have.  Luna commented on moving pegasus figures into place. “When Blackjack's done with armor production, I’d like him to help in the assault” Celestia comments to all but twilight's surprise. “Why would we need him to help with the assault auntie?” Cadence asked. “ His use of dark magic makes him dangerous,” Celestia responded by creating a humanoid figure from a crystal and placing it on the board. “We can fight fire with fire.” The rest nodded in agreement. “Oh great, you're all here,” Trixie spoke up from the side Everypony jumped in surprise at the unicorns' sudden appearance. She was sporting her winter gear upgraded with a fur lining within her cloak and yeti fangs mounted along the base of her hat, beneath her cloak was one of the rarity’s trademark coats and boots. “Trixie! Where’d you come from?” Twilight asked, visually confused. “The door” Trixie pointed to the entrance with extremely confused guards looking back and forth at her and the door. “W-well what are you doing here?” “Master Blackjack asked me to bring you to the throne room, he and Rarity have something to show you.” she turned and trotted to the door, her hoof steps were noticeably quiet compared to the others as they all exited, with the guards closing it behind them. “Ok seriously, how the Buck did she get in here!” the guard shakingly asked his partner “I don’t know, I didn't hear the door open.” Trixie escorted the royals down the crystalline halls of the palace.“Where is everypony?” Luna asked, noticing the distinct lack of guards. “Starlight and Sunburst went to the library to find a backup way to remove the curse, Everyone who’s not recovering is waiting for you in the throne room.” Trixie responded with a smile.” “Everyone?” Twilight asked but before receiving her answer they arrived at the grand doors of the throne room. Upon reaching the door, Trixie knocked three times before stepping to the side.  The doors slowly creaked open and the princesses were greeted with an amazing sight. Before them, stood a company of guards lined up on opposite sides of the room all clad in their new armor colored to mark their faction. The solar guards work their traditional gold with orange brigandines, the lunar guards wear dark gray with lavender brigandines, but the most drastic change was the Crystal guards, their once luminous light crystalline armor had been replaced by a dark amethyst color with a distinct black brigandine. “Woah.” Shining couldn’t help but utter as they walked toward the throne. As they approached he witnessed the four crystal captains all equipped in a special amethyst armor lined with gold trim and cloaks, as well as the mane six, Blackjack, and the Dragons standing at the sides of the throne. “Nice right?” Flare commented. “Yeah, I’m jealous,” Shining responded looking admiring his subordinates' new uniform. “Don’t be, your’s is way cooler” Blackjack spoke up, igniting his magic and poofing in a mannequin bearing a new black and amethyst armor accented in gold trim atop a crimson brigandine with yellow lining and golden studs and covered by an amethyst fur-collared cap with the crystal sigil weaved into it.  Shinings eyes went wide with amazement, the armor was something straight out of his embarrassing teenage dreams.  “Well don’t just stare, try it on.” Blackjack chuckled as the nearby guards approached to apply the armor to their prince, once applied they moved aside to show all the prince’s new armor. “Impressive” Luna commented. “Amazing” Twilight followed.  “Hot” Cadance added with half-lidded eyes at her newly geared husband, causing him to give a blushed grin. “Definitely our best work.” Rarity nodded hoof bumping Blackjack.  Celestia smiled at the sight, it was a breath of fresh air to see them safe after the devastating loss. “I’m overjoyed to see everyone here, safe and healthy,” she spoke up, gaining the attention of all. “ I know we’ve all had to endure a great hardship over these last few hours, but we’ve managed to pull through and rise again.” “Now that we’ve bested this curse we can strike back and retrieve the crystal heart.” Luna joined in standing aside her sister. “We’ve tracked the horde to the eastern mountains, we’ll march out at moonrise. So rest up and prepare for our counterattack.” Shining added. “We’ll show these beasts what happens when you mess with the crystal empire!” Cadence yelled stood next to her husband as she raised her hoof, her tenacious sentence was met with the thunderous cheers of everyone in the room. After the announcement, the soldiers exited the room with renewed confidence, many conversing about their new armor leaving only the royals, mane six, and wildcards.  “Great speech,” Blackjack nodded, impressed with the royal's charisma. “Even riled me up for a fight.” “I hope so because we’ll need you out there too.” Shining looked at the human with a calm yet nervous look. “Seriously?” Blackjack responded nervously surprised “Your skill with dark magic would be of great help, and you're the only one who can resist the ice damage of the Yeti Lord,” Celestia spoke next, approaching the human. “You two seemed to handle it well enough,” Blackjack responded. “Yes, but we aren’t very good hoof to hoof fighters,” Cadence responded, her ears flopping down in shame. “ We were able to do that much because it was three on one. “We wouldn’t ask if we didn’t need you Blackjack,” Twilight spoke up, approaching the nervous human. “ I’m sorry to ask this of you, but please help us get the crystal heart back.” looking up at the human, her eyes were full of a sympathetic but scared look. “ What should I do? They really seem to need me but I..” Blackjack's thought was interrupted by the Clover's small hand taking his. “Dad it’s ok to be scared, we all are.” she looked up at him with a small warm smile. “But I still want to fight.” Blackjack couldn’t help but chuckle at the girl's sweet yet impulsive comment. He knelt down and rested his head against hers. “I know you do, but I'm not gonna let you fight alone, what kind of parent would I be?” He stood up taking a deep breath before putting on his most confident-looking face. “Alright, I’m in.” “I am too!” Trixie blurted out trotting next to her master. “I’m gonna show every pony the brand new great and powerful Trrrixie!” she boasted about flipping her cape prompting everyone to laugh, normally Trixie would be insulted, but after the hard day they’ve had she was just happy to see everyone smile. “Alright everyone, I say we get some rest. We’ll need to for tonight.” Shining stretched before he was seized by the luminous magic of his wife.  “Not so fast Brave Knight, your Princess has much to discuss before we turn in,” she spoke with half-lidded eyes dragging him out the room with a Trott, prompting twilight to smile while rolling her eyes. “I’ll go check on Starlight and Sunburst burst, maybe they found something we could use.” “I’ll go with you, that way I can show off my new outfit to starlight” Trixie exclaimed following the lavender Alicorn out the door. “Alright then, We’ll all meet in the war room in a few hours,” Celestia announced everyone's agreement before the room was cleared. Upon the Doors closing, the room darkened as the shadows moved from across the room and amassed onto the throne, Sombra manifested himself seated upon the Crystal throne with a devious grin. “Hehehe. Let the games begin.” The unicorn chuckled, leaning back into his soon-to-be throne.