The train pulled into the Crystal Train station with a hush of air, blowing the loose snow off to the side as it stopped. A blizzard was raging at the time, just like the first time the elements stepped into this part of Equestria. The only difference was that it was quite loud with its winds, which didn't seem like a good sign. The doors slid open, and out stepped the two mares, clad in boots and scarves (taking cues from their last visit). From the haze of the thickly blowing snow approached a carriage fit for four, pulled along by a few of the newly formed Crystal Guard. Out from the carriage stepped Shining Armor and his beau Princess Candace.
If it weren't for the biting cold, Twilight would have jumped right on Cadance with a massive hug. Or at least preform her little chant that she shared with her former foal sitter. The Crystal Princess was very sure of that, just by looking into the conflicting eyes of said unicorn. She made a mental note to satisfy her sister-in-law's affectionate formalities later, lest she explode with anticipation. For now, though, they had more pressing matters. Due to the blizzard drowning out most sound with its potent white noise, and not being one to be very loud, she didn't have much of a choice aside from silent gestures. She motioned for Twilight and Fluttershy to follow her and Shining into the carriage and out of the cold and noise. Once inside, the Crystal Guard proceeded to transport them back to the empire.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Princess Cadance declared to the two of them with a warm smile.
"It's no problem," Twilight responded in kind, "But, can you tell us what exactly was going on? It just seemed a little bit absurd in the letter, and I kinda want to know what we're getting into."
Cadance sighed, "Everything I mentioned in that letter is absolutely true. This morning, I felt a magical anomaly emanating from the northern tundra. A POWERFUL one at that. When I used the telescope to try to see what was causing it, I saw-"
"The giant frog?" Fluttershy interrupted, rather uncharacteristically. She had a worried look upon her eyes when Cadance glanced her way, but it wasn't the kind of timid worry she normally had.
"Yes," Cadance answered, "I don't know for sure, but the logical conclusion is that the magic that I felt might be related to the creature. If we can find it, maybe study it a little, we'll have a chance to find out what's going on. What that anomaly was exactly, what the creature is and what it's doing here."
"The poor dear must be so-o cold and lonely."
Shining Armor was taken slightly aback from the timid pegasus' rather outward concern, for the unknown beast of all things. Did she realize how big and/or dangerous it might be? Did she not understand what kind of threat it might pose to everyone here? Did she even understand the situation they were all under? Then again, out of his sister's five best friends, Fluttershy was the second least understood of them, next to Pinkie. This was all despite the normal demeanor that was forever etched into her namesake.
Silence hung in the air for a moment as the carriage continued its journey, but was broken by Twilight. "So," she began, "how's it been ruling the Crystal Empire so far?"
"Stressful," Shining Armor piped up to her question, rubbing his temples.
"Really? I thought things would have gotten significantly easier after the incident that, well, made you rulers in the first place."
"Well, they kinda did, but many of the citizens still have some anxiety towards a possible return of Sombra."
Twilight froze at the name, holding her breath anxiously. Her brother and sister in law both noticed.
"Yeah, kinda like that," his lover mused, "Anyway, we've sent the best members of the Crystal Guards to take weekly sweeps of the tundra. To look for any black crystals or other signs of his prescience, but so far nothing has turned up. I'm pretty sure what happened that day pretty much... well, to put it lightly, it drove him off like shadows in a suddenly lit room."
"Yeah, except shadows don't normally explode," Shining Armor said dryly to Cadance. The former Captain of the Royal Guard turned back to his sister and continued to elaborate. "Aside from that, we also had to deal with setting up a more current ruling system with a newly appointed Crystal Guard, negotiate trading agreements with other nations, and dealt with the wishes that locals may have. Thankfully, many of the citizens here are actually quite content otherwise."
"Yes, thank goodness for small miracles. With what's happening now out north, we wouldn't have even had time to come out and take you into the city if we were swamped with lines of ponies wanting this or that. I do not envy Auntie Celestia..." It was rather odd for Twilight to hear her foal sitter refer to Princess Celestia as 'Aunt', but it did make sense to a degree. "Looks like were here."
With that, they passed through the barrier that kept the city safe from the raging storm outside. The Crystal Guard then taxied the carriage to the tower at the center of the city, the home of the royals and stronghold of the empire. Once it stopped before the entrances, the two royals and two elements stepped off their transportation to head inside the palace.
Shining's stomach betrayed him while climbing up the stairs with a decisive growl. "I don't know about you three, but I'm rather hungry. Anyone else want something to snack on?"
Two voices assertively took up the offer, while the third voice expressed meek and quiet indecision. The third voice he could just barely pick up on, only due to his years of training. He smiled and shook his head while he departed for the kitchen to order something for the four of them.
One minute she's steadfast, the next she's a shrinking violet, Shining thought, I don't think I'll EVER understand you, Fluttershy.
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Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Shining Armor, and a party of twelve Crystal Guard composed of equal unicorn, pegasi, and earth ponies were on their way. The blizzard was much stronger here than at the city's limits, but they didn't really pay too much attention to that. They had a job to do, and their mission was clear. Find the creature, study it, and defend themselves if it became hostile. There was only a complication. The creature was gone. In its place was a cave carved deep into the mountain side, which only meant one logical thing. The giant frog was strong enough to dig holes in stone and stone like ice. It was in hiding now, and the fact that it most likely backed itself up deep inside of the ranges posed a dangerous situation for the ponies. It created a no-escape choke point, giving it the advantage if it ever decided to attack them.
Shining Armor was now stressed out. This thing put itself in the best possible situation to gobble up anypony with its massive mouth if one dared to walk into that cave, provided it was in fact carnivorous. The only way to fix that death-trap of a situation would be to lure the creature out. He wasn't willing to send anyone in to do so, though, nor did he have any clue how to coax it out. Fluttershy might be able to sweet talk it out, which brought him back to his previous issue he had.
Twilight began to step forward, but her brother put a barrier to block her progress. Being bounced back slightly from the force, Twilight understandably demanded to know 'What the hay?' from her brother.
He raised his voice to overpower the white noise of the blizzard, and said, "Twilight, I can't let you go in there like that. If that thing is in there, then wandering haphazardly inside will be a bad idea. You'd have nowhere to run but backwards if it got dangerous."
The young element of magic was about to protest when she heard something coming from inside the cave. It sounded like-
"Singing?" Shining Armor uttered as he stepped forward, and squinted his eyes. He could make out a glowing blue form in the darkness of the cave, and it looked like it was dancing as well. It wasn't long before everypony else was able to see it too, as it continued to get closer and clearer to witness. The form was a voluptuous, bipedal figure that glowed a brilliant ice blue, and its 'skin' was a remarkable match of crystal ponies. Sparkling and clear like a glass of water hit by light. Despite its rather strange design, it was a beautiful sight, rivaling the more beautiful looking ponies back at the Crystal Empire. Not his wife, of course, but just about.
The crystal guards got into a defensive position, but Shining couldn't help but keep staring. There was something rather alluring about the thing that was dancing just a few hundred paces away from him. Something that he wanted to follow. That was, until he noticed that his sister and her friend were already beating him to the punch. He snapped out of it, and called after them.
However, his words were useless in the blizzard after they got too far into it, with a thicker snowfall following to obstruct his vision completely. But the two mares didn't stray from the guards due to the beauty of the sight. Twilight advanced out of curiosity and fascination, while Fluttershy followed out of concern.
"Excuse me?" Twilight called out to the crystalline being that continued to dance and sing gibberish she couldn't understand. "Excuse me?!" she called out again, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Fluttershy. We're trying to look for some big frog... thing. You haven't seen it have you?" The form gave no reply but its singing and dancing. "Hey! Can you hear me?" With that, it suddenly focused on Twilight. The mare took a step back, anticipating something bad, but it simply motioned for them to follow. Almost in a seductive manner too, which was rather strange.
The two mares followed the glowing biped out of the blizzard and into the cave, deeper and deeper into darkness. Fluttershy was somewhat trailing behind, becoming more and more skittish the less light she saw.
"Uhm, Twilight?" she muttered worriedly, "I think we should, maybe, turn around. I mean, you're brother said it, uhm, might be kind of-" The cave shook slightly, cutting her off with an "Eep!" escaping her lips.
"Fluttershy, it's alright. The structural integrity of this cave is rather impressive, so we should-" was all she got to say to the shy pony before she saw a pair of big, red eyes behind the crystal bipedal form. Then, the sound of a deep, angry growl echoed through the cave and rang into their ears.
"RU-U-UN!" She yelled, as jagged teeth began to show, and the air in the cave suddenly started to get sucked in further towards the shadowed out danger. Whatever was going on, both Twilight and Fluttershy attempted to flee, only to be slowly dragged in deeper. It was as if someone turned on a giant version of one of those new vacuums, and they were the dust bunnies! Their escape was futile, and the two mares now wept as they tried to escape the doom they faced. Twilight muttered about how she should have listened to her brother.
Then suddenly, with a snort proceeding, they were quickly blown out of the cave with a powerful push of air. The two mares flew out of the cave, back into the blizzard, and hit the snowy ground tumbling. They landed just at the hooves of a very concerned looking captain, who didn't hesitate to hug the two of them, glad that they were both safe. Twilight, dizzy from the short experience, couldn't protest. Fluttershy either, but it was more out of being petrified with fear with the whole event that just happened.
The happy reunion ended when the sound of quick and heavy steps came from the cave. The guards returned to their defensive lines, ready for what was coming. Shining followed suite, placing the two mares protectively behind him. The sound of those heavy steps got closer and closer, until the first thing they saw was that crystalline biped again. For a brief second, they all breathed a sigh of relief, despite the impossible nature of it. But following it was a giant, snow white creature that resembled a frog, with ice shards embedded in its back. They realized the biped before it, after taking an good, awestruck look at it, was attached to the creature. A part of its antenna, to be more precise. Its mighty size towered over the ponies that suddenly felt very much out matched by the behemoth. Its red eyes glared down at the relatively small forms of the equines.
Then, it scoffed. This was a very strange thing to witness. A giant frog, scoffing at them. What came next, however, baffled them and defied their perception of sentience and reality.
"How cute," the frog-like monster said, "those fools left their little horses behind as a distraction. Too bad I HATE equine meat." It then turned slightly to the right, calling into the white noise of the blizzard, which it was able to easily overpower with its voice. "COME OUT, YOU LITTLE COWARDS, AND GET IN MY BELLY!" For a few moments, there was relative silence, almost as if it were waiting for a reply.
"Uhm, excuse me?" muttered the meek little voice. The giant frog turned back to the group of ponies, most of which took a step back from the sudden movements. It gazed down to the origin of the voice. "Uhm, what are you looking for... I mean, if you don't mind telling me..."
It scoffed again, this time more irritably. "What a clever little parlor trick," the beast said, "and what well trained pets, being able to get them to walk into my cave and lure me-"
"PETS?" Twilight interrupted in frustration, "We're ponies, not pets!"
Ignoring the little purple creature's interruption, Bael continued to speak, "-out into the open." It then began shouting, "Pathetic humans! Cease your cowardice, relinquish your hiding spots, and accept your fate as food!"
"Hyoo-mans?" Shining Armor questioned out loud.
"What's a hyoo-man?" a member of the crystal guard asked, causing others to mutter similar questions.
"I've never heard of a hyoo-man, before..." Twilight uttered, now gaining a puzzled, yet inquisitive, look upon her face, almost wanting to press for more information on the topic.
The beast looked back down at the lavender unicorn and her companions. He then took the time to give the air a strong sniff, trying to catch any scent that would entice his appetite, but the smell of man was nowhere to be found. From then, it didn't take too long for the great toad to process the info of what was going on and it soon all clicked together. This was the sentient race of this world. There were no tasty humans.
"GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!" It roared, which caused the party of fifteen ponies to flinch and shift from the sudden loud outburst, before it slammed its front feet against the ground in a fit, kicking up snow and other debris. When the ringing in their ears cleared, they could hear incoherent muttering and grumbling coming from the great behemoth.
Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the only one brave enough to walk up to it. "Uhm, Mr. Frog? Are you ok? I mean, you seem a little upset..."
It glared at the little yellow pegasus, whom didn't even flinch this time. The creature growled lowly, "I'm stuck in a land of talking horses and there are no humans to eat." It stood up to its full extension, continuing its rant, "I'd kill the lot of you, crush you flat, but I'd get absolutely no satisfaction out of it. I EAT what I kill, and I HATE the meat of your species. I'd rather starve to death than munch on you. And now, I'm talking to the food equivalent of garbage! NO, I'M NOT OK! I AM VERY MUCH UPSET! AND I'M STARVING!!!!"
The last words rang in the air for a few moments as it breathed heavily to cool down a bit. Fluttershy, whom didn't even take off running from the rather freaky outburst of the monster, spoke once again, "Well... there are probably fish not too far out at sea, that is, if you want to fish..."
It stood there, contemplating the situation a bit, before it turned to the east, flexed its legs, and took a giant leap towards the nearest body of water. The earth shook as it landed, just before it bounded again, getting further and further away from the group, and closer to a meal. Every three seconds they could hear the fainter and fainter thump of its colossal weight hitting the ground. Until, finally, silence seeped in once again. To be blunt, Twilight was simply amazed at her best friend.
"Fluttershy, that was incredible!," she started, while trotting up to the normally meek pegasus, "How were you able to handle all of that? I would have lost my cool the moment THAT thing started yelling. Why didn't you?"
"He was just a little hungry," Fluttershy said simply and softly, "I mean, anyone can get a grumpy if they don't get fed. Angel is the same way." Something dawned on her, "Ohmygosh, I forgot to ask," she pleaded directly to Twilight, "What about all of my little animal friends? I'm not there to take care of them so-"
"It's ok, Flutterhy. I asked Applejack to look after the cottage and your friends while you were here. I'm sure they'll be just fine."
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Meanwhile, back at the edge of Ponyville, right beside the Everfree forest, Applejack was already hard at work.
"CON SARNET! Ah was preparin' a salad for you. You din't have ta eat an entire bundle of carrots!" This was followed by the sound of a piece of a random vegetable being thrown at the speaker. "WHA' THE HAY?! Wha' did ah tell you about throwin' carrot ends at me?". The sound of more flying debris hitting things continued to play out. "Alright, that TEARS it! Commere, ya not-so-Angel-like rabbit!"
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After getting slightly sidetracked about the well being of Fluttershy's animal friends, Twilight realized something herself. "Wait a minute! We let it get away! We might not ever see it again! This is really, REALLY bad!" She began to stress out over the situation they were under. However, that didn't last long as when, yet again, her shy best friend was the one to step up to the plate.
"It's ok, Twilight. He'll be back."
"How do you know he'll be back?" she fumed.
The shy pony simply pointed to the cave that they just recently experienced being in. "He has a home here now."
Feeling defeated, Twilight quietly submitted to the meek ponies short thesis. And with that, the group of ponies decided it would be best to head back to the Crystal Empire, to rest up after such a long day. At least there was a few lessons learned they walked away with proudly, aside from their lives: Twilight is too curious for her own good, the beast didn't like to eat ponies, and Shining Armor vowed to never doubt Fluttershy ever again.