//------------------------------// // Ch 11: Battle for the Crystal Empire pt. 2 // Story: My Little Dragon Ball: Icebound // by Tundricwolf //------------------------------// Grabbing hold of Arctic’s tail, the Pegasus grinned then smiled, soon erupting into laughter. “Hahaha! Bested once again! And to think this tail of yours was your biggest weakness and you just had it out in the open!” Arctic dropped down to a knee and began breathing heavily. “Now let’s get you back in the dungeon and end this miserable little fight.” The Pegasus nodded for the others to come up to help get Arctic back down to the dungeon. But as they did, they began to hear something. It sounded like laughter. “What is that?” Asked the Pegasus. “I think it’s him.” Said a unicorn, pointing his hoof to Arctic. Upon closer inspection, they could see that he was indeed laughing. “And what in the Tartarus is so funny?” Asked the Pegasus. “Gotcha.” Said Arctic giving a small smile. Before any of them could question what he meant by that, Arctic lifted his tail with the Pegasus still clinging to it, and slammed it down on the unicorn keeping him restrained. The others, taken aback by the attack, were all swiftly knocked out by Arctic. With a smile he ran off to begin fighting again, also thinking up a way to pay back the little filly who helped him. ==========********============ “You want me to grab onto your tail?” Asked a little filly. “Yes please. You’ll really be helping me out with this.” Arctic said. “Um, okay.” Said the filly as she grabbed hold of Arctic’s tail making him collapse limply to the floor. “Aaah! Are you okay?!” Yelled the filly. “I..I’m okay. Just keep h..holding on.” Arctic replied in a weak voice. “Okay.” Said the filly. The filly was named Morning Dew. She was a tiny earth pony with a light green coat and an orangish brown mane. She held no cutie mark though. When they first met, the little filly was quite scared of Arctic as well as Glacier. But over time she grew to like them and eventually they became friends. When not training, Arctic and Glacier would just play with the little filly as well as the other little fillies and colts. Though Morning Dew likes Glacier, she seems to have a huge fascination with Arctic, especially since he is a creature she nor the other ponies had ever seen before. She would play with him, ask him multiple questions, and surprisingly, she would even ask to train with Arctic. He did help her learn how to fly and how to use basic ki attacks, but other than that, she would help him train up his tail. Arctic knew his tail was a weakness now and he knew the squadron he and his siblings faced would tell others about it, so he needed to get rid of this weakness. So, everyday, Morning Dew would latch onto Arctic’s tail till eventually he had slowly but surely managed to overcome his weakness. He even strengthened it, now easily able to lift Princess Cadence with no issue. Arctic really needed to find a way to repay that little filly. ===========*******============ Princess Cadence and Tundra were working well together. But they were also being to reach a limit. They were fighting so many ponies. They were tired, hungry, and quite beaten. Tundra had a few cuts and small gashes. Even Princess Cadence had quite a few cuts and scratches. “They just keep coming.” Cadence growled. “This is such a pain.” Tundra said as she bucked a pony and fired a magical energy blast at another. “And to make matters worse, I’m running low on magic.” Cadence said. It was true. Cadence had been starving, and weakened for her long stint trapped in the dungeon. She had yet to regain her full power. “Maybe we could try containing some of them?” Tundra said as she sat next to Cadence. “What do you mean?” Cadence said wheezing and swaying a bit. “You could set up a barrier around them and when they’re contained, I can blast them.” Tundra said. “I suppose it could work. Let’s give it a shot.” Cadence said with a wry smile. Quickly, Tundra set to work. She focused her magic and gave rise to a small liter of Ice Clones and began fighting again. What the Ponies of Sombra failed to notice, was that Tundra was slowly guiding them. Getting them closer and closer to each other. Once a massive group of them were close together, Princess Cadence used what magic she had left to raise a barrier around the ponies, trapping them all. After Tundra’s clones shattered, she summoned and charged a good amount of magic before firing her “Ice Cannon” attack. The attack struck the barrier and hit the contained ponies, taking them out of the fight. Princess Cadence, to had been taken out of the fight. The barrier had taken what magic she had left in her and she had collapsed from exhaustion. “Princess!” Cried Tundra, running up to the fallen Alicorn. “I’m f.. I’m fine.” Cadence said weakly. “Let me help yo-“ Tundra got no further as she saw the doe, Fluttershy quickly run up with other ponies in tow. “We can help her.” Fluttershy said. “Are you sure?” Tundra asked wearily. “Oh, yes. You need to keep fighting. We can help the Princess.” Fluttershy said with a small smile. Tundra was anxious. She didn’t want to leave the Princess but she knew she was in safe hooves with Fluttershy. Not wanting her or the others to get hurt, she nodded and let them take Princess Cadence before running back in to fight. ============******============ Glacier and Winter were in the same boat as Tundra and Cadence. Tired, hungry, and injured. They were working well, but it was clear that they would falter at any moment. Glacier was spewing blue flames all over and Winter was using her ki to enhance her speed rapidly striking any opponent she could. However, this proved to be her downfall. Winter was charging straight towards another Pegasus, ready to take them out, only to have her ki splutter and die out before falling towards the ground. “Winter!” Called Glacier as he sped towards her. In his blind hurry to get to Winter, he didn’t notice the Pegasus charging magic in her wings and unleashing a massive ball of magical energy towards Glacier. By the time he saw, it was too late. In a great explosion, Glacier had begun falling out of the smoke. He and Winter both crashed to the ground in a heap. Crystal ponies nearby saw this and rushed towards the two, only to be stopped by more of Sombra’s ponies. In the midst of the chaos, they failed to see a shadow lurk towards Winter. It was Morning Dew. She along with others had been watching everything taking place, hidden from view. Morning Dew, when nopony had been paying attention, slipped out to go help Winter and Glacier when she saw them hit the ground. Reaching Winter, Morning Dew had grabbed hold of her and begun to try pulling Winter away. Opening an eye, Winter saw this and smiled solemnly. “Morning Dew y..you gotta l…leave.” Winter croaked out. “I won’t leave you here.” Morning Dew said as she struggled and strained to making Winter budge. Chuckling slowly, admiring the little filly’s determination, Winter offered up some guidance. “U…use your ki. channel it to your l..legs t..to help you.” Morning Dew stopped and tilted her head some. Then things came back to her. So, she shut her eyes and slowly began to channel her ki. Using it to enhance her strength, she began to pulled Winter away. After a bit of struggling, Morning Dew managed get Winter to safety before rushing off to help Glacier. Glacier could hear the clip clop of tiny hooves on the ground. Cracking open an eye he looked up to see Morning Dew rushing over to him. He reached his claw out to her only to have his heart stop at what he sees next. As Morning Dew ran towards Glacier, out of the smoke, emerged a Pegasus mare. Morning Dew didn’t have time to react. The mare whipped around and kicked out her hoof bucking the little filly in the side sending her skidding across the ground. “Stay out of this, you little brat.” Spat the mare with a low growl and slight smirk. Glacier stared at the little filly in shock and horror. He could see her on the ground, twitching and clutching her side, before letting out a blood curdling scream. Glacier felt his anger rise to new heights as he too let out an all mighty scream. Many ponies looked his way only to see a massive pillar of flames erupt from him like a volcano. His wings were spread out, blue flames escaped his mouth, even the tip of his tail was shrouded in blue flames. Without a second thought, Glacier charged and began rapidly attacking the Pegasus mare. Punches, kicks, scratches and even swipes of his tail were thrown at the Pegasus, beating her into the dirt. Glacier set his sights to the other ponies of Sombra and he began attacking them. ===========*******============ Arctic was fighting with multiple ponies when he heard the two screams. His blood ran cold and ditching the ponies he was fighting, he charged towards the source of the screams. He skidded to a halt when he saw a pillar of flames erupt into the sky. After observing for a bit he rushed forwards again. When he saw what was waiting for him, he stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him, he saw Morning Dew clutching her side, tears streaming down her muzzle. He saw Fluttershy rush up to her to help her but he was more focused on Morning dew. Then he saw something that made his fury boil over and his blood run even colder. Morning Dew was bleeding all over her side where she had skidded across the ground. Arctic watched Fluttershy quickly run away with Morning Dew on her back, Fluttershy occasionally raising a ki barrier to protect them. As Arctic stood there, he had begun to be surrounded. He could see them speaking, but he couldn’t hear. Then out of nowhere, Arctic let out a primal roar. A mix of his voice and the roar of the Oozaru sounded out. A dull blue pillar of ki rose into the air. Arctics iris’s and pupils had vanished, leaving only the whites of his eyes. He bulked up some and the ground beneath him cracked. Looking at the ponies surrounding him, he saw their fearful expressions. He didn’t care. They would pay. “How… how DARE YOU!” Arctic roared out. The deep Oozaru voice still behind his own as he rushed forward and began his attack. ===========*******============ Out on the battlefield, the two roars had been heard. Sombra, turned his head looking back only to see one pillar rise into the air, followed shortly by another in the Crystal Empire. “What on Equus is going ?” He questioned. “I can’t leave them alone for a moment.” Sombra groaned in anger. Taking on his shadow form, he slithered away rushing towards the Crystal Empire to see what was wrong and deal with it himself. ==========*********=========== Hoping off of a train, five mares emerged. They looked haggard and rough, but were standing strong. That is until they heard the two roars and pillars erupt into the sky. “Woah! What was that?” Said one mare. “I don’t know darling, but it didn’t sound good.” Said another. “Ah reckon, some ponies er fightin’ in the empire. Sounds like they’re puttin up on heck of a fight.” Replied another voice. “I hope they are having too much fun without me!” Called one pony in a bit of a singsong voice as she bounced up a down. “Hopefully whoever’s fighting can hold on till we get there.” Said another voice. “Yeah. Then we can find Fluttershy and we can buck sombra and his goons right into next week!” A mare said as she hit her hooves together ready for a fight. “I do hope she’s alright. Hopefully these dreadful ponies haven’t been too hard on the poor dear.” Said one mare. Worry clear in her voice. “Let’s go find out friend and bring this to an end said another voice. “Right!” The others said in unison before they all took off. The mares were Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle. The 5 after losing Fluttershy, had been working their way with Princess Celestia and the Solar guard in multiple fights as they slowly made their way to the Crystal empire, trying to remain unseen and safe. Especially since they had the Elements of Harmony with them. After so long, they had finally made it and were ready to save their friend and end this horrible war. As they neared the Empire, they could see there was indeed fighting going on. While they’d like to avoid it, they knew they would have to fight as well. However, they weren’t expecting to see a pony fly towards them and land on the ground. “Aaah!” Shrieked Rarity, “Goodness gracious, what happened to them?!” Rainbow was about to reply until she saw something barrel its way towards them. It was Arctic. Still in a blind anger, he saw and sensed the 5 mares approach and rushed towards them with his arm and hand outstretched, ready to attack them.