The Adventures of the Elementals

by AutoKnight01

Getting Colder

I only own the Alamantians and the plot of this story. Everything else belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Enjoy!

*Blizzard Day 2; 8:30 AM; Mount Blackmane*

Rough was understatement. In the mind of the pony hiking up the mountain, it felt like the snow coming down was actually trying to push him off the mountain like it knew what he was trying to do. For Cryo, that just put the idea in his head that there WAs something up there that wasn't supposed to be found. It only made him press on harder.

He took shelter in the night in a small igloo he made underneath a rock formation that extended out giving him a roof away from the snow. Inside the tiny igloo, he made a bed for himself and was able to relax and eat. His strength replenished, he woke up early before the sun came up and resumed his trek. The snow was getting worse as he got higher up the mountain just as he had predicted. And that meant it was probably getting worse down in Ponyville too. Which also meant the ice mover had to move faster if he was to have any chance of saving his friends and family.

After he packed up his things, he shattered the igloo he created and formed two ice hooks on his front legs to climb up the rocky mountainside that was too steep to let any snow attach to it and stay there. Then it was more slopes of snow that he could easily walk through.

As he walked, his mind was racing with the thoughts and worries of all his friends and family. Mostly he was thinking about Pinkie Pie. He saw the look on his face when he left. She wanted so badly to come with him. But he knew he couldn't let her do that for her own protection. Even Pinkie has her limits and prolonged exposure to extreme cold is one of them. And thinking about the cold made his mind wander all the way back home to the Frost Tribe. The image of a little filly around the age of four entered his head. Then he saw himself playing with that filly in the snow covered ground of his home village. The memories made him smile and a tear froze to his face. He then wiped it off and continued on letting the images of that girl fill his head.

Getting through the upcoming fog was going to be the tough part. He saw what those clouds did to Rainbow Dash and Pyro when they tried to fly through them. Cryo only hoped he wouldn't get the same treatment, because if he did, then this hike was pretty much in vain. He was very determined though to make sure that wouldn't be the case. Even if those clouds tried shocking him he would get past it. He had to. For them.

It was all on him and he knew it.

*Ponyville; Town Hall; 10:45 AM*

The force field was holding strong and it seemed like a miracle to its casters that it was. Luckily there was just enough blankets for everypony to be the least bit comfortable through the night. Pyro elected himself to stay up to keep an eye on the snowponies. It was obvious to few of them why he did that but nopony else argued and drifted off to sleep.

When morning came around, the food rationing began. Some ponies argued but that was to be expected. Some claimed they needed more and other ponies claimed that was crap and demanded they get their fair share. Lucky for the mayor, there was one pony there who had enough muscle to keep everyone at bay. A pony by the name of Terra.

"Listen up people! We don't have a lot of food to go around so what we DO have is going to be divided up equally! If you have any complaints, or you think you should get more than others, please consult me and I will do my part and tell you to shut the hell up take what you get! Thank you and enjoy your tiny breakfast!"

Speeches from her seemed to do the trick when getting everypony to shut their mouths and behave like civilized adults was needed. Even though there were some children around like the crusaders. Unfortunately for them, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were stranded in there too. Diamond's father was escorting them around town when the snowponies attacked. Thanks to Rainbow Dash and Gem, they were able to make it to town hall, much to the displeasure of Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.

The dividing up of the food was the hard part. Luckily there was a genius there to do the math. Gem's brain was able to crunch the numbers and therefore determine how much food each pony gets at a time in the most conservative way. By her calculations, the food stored in the building would be enough to last them all a few days. Four days at maximum.

Lucky for the Cakes, the mayor had thought ahead in case of this very dilemma. Being the caring pony she is, when she stored all the emergency food and supplies in the building, she took care to also add baby necessities in the off chance that babies were included in the group. Turns out it was a good plan.

Breakfast was eaten without a hitch but Twilight had taken notice of one of the ponies there not looking so well. That pony was Cadence. She knew right from when she felt her forehead last night that the alicorn was warm. Her denial just made Twilight forget about it and focus on other matters. But this morning however it was kind of hard to miss. Her face had all the signs. There were bags under her eyes, and the eyes themselves along with her cheeks and nose, were all bright red. And she was beginning to constantly cough and sneeze.

"Cadence, you don't look so good." Twilight said to her as she walked over.

"What do you mean, Twilight?" She replied in complete denial.

It was hard to sell though with her stuffy nose kind of impeding her normal speaking voice.

"I feel perfectly fi..ihh...heh...HATCHOO!"

At the exact same time that sneeze was released, Applejack saw the force field outside start to fuzz like it was starting to lose its strength. That's exactly what it was doing. One of its casters was growing weaker and therefore so was the field.

Cadence slumped to the ground and buried her face into her hooves.

"Oh, I can't believe I'm sick." She complained. "The last time I was anything CLOSE to it was back when I was still foalsitting Twilight."

The red stallion of fire walked over and rested a hoof on her shoulder.

"Even princesses get a cold every once in a while." Pyro reasoned.

"Easy for you to say." The alicorn sniffled. "You couldn't get this cold from me even if you tried."

"True but that just means I'm the only logical choice to tend to you. No offense, but one pony here is sick enough. And...." A look of fear came into his eyes as he glanced over to his pink pegasus sister and then back at Cadence. "If Typhoon starts sneezing, there is a good chance we might be safer outside."

Cadence took her turn to glance at the wind mover with a shared expression of dread. Mostly she had her eyes fixed on Typhoon's nose as if it were a deadly weapon. She then looked to Fluttershy who approached alongside Pyro when he did.

"Fluttershy, do your best to make sure Typhoon stays as far away from me as possible. She is the last pony here I want to get sick." She gave those instructions to Fluttershy in a manner as if everypony's lives depended on it.

Curious and confused, Fluttershy responded to the princess with a questioning look.

"Why is that so important?" she asked genuinely not understanding.

After sharing glances with one another, Pyro, Twilight, and Cadence all looked at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, have you ever seen a wind mover sneeze?" Cadence asked.

"Well....no honestly." The pegasus was telling the truth. "Whenever she told me she had to she just ran outside to do it. I just thought she was just too embarrassed to do it in front of me. Why? Is there something else?"

Clearly this was about to be a helpful hint for the poor bearer of kindness. Pyro decided to be the one to tell.

"Fluttershy, Typhoon is a wind mover. Probably the most powerful one I have ever seen. And when somepony sneezes, air is expelled out of them at a speed of nearly 100 miles an hour in a short burst. Now, consider Typhoon. She has the power to control wind. And when a wind mover sneezes, they temporarily lose control and when that happens to Typhoon.....she well.....becomes an actual typhoon."

The information was successfully transferred. Fluttershy's wide and fearful eyes confirmed it. Slowly, her head turned over to view her partner talking with some ponies who were desperate to get an understanding for what was going on. Now she knew why she always ran out of the house when she said she had to sneeze. And that also explained the slight breezes she felt a few seconds after she ran out the door. She couldn't believe it took her this long to realize it. Now it just seemed so obvious.

"Um....you g-got it. I'll uh...make sure Typhoon and you...don't get close." With that, Fluttershy walked away as Twilight found a box of tissues and held a clean one up to Cadence's nose.

While Cadence blew her nose, Twilight and Pyro just watched Fluttershy walk away slowly and trembling a bit.

"Okay. Maybe telling her wasn't the brightest of ideas." Pyro admitted.

Before Twilight could add something in, Applejack came between her and her partner.

"Twilight, did ya see what happened? The shield got all fuzzy. Ah think it's startin' to get weaker."

The cowgirl made sure she kept her voice down so she wouldn't alert anypony else near her.

"It IS getting weaker." Twilight acknowledged. "Because Princess Cadence is sick. Her share of the force field's energy is weakening along with her."

Applejack looked down and noticed Cadence's sickly look finally. Now she understood.

"Well then maybe she shouldn't be using magic right now. Ah mean, won't your magic and Gem's be enough to keep those snow freaks out?" she asked Twilight.

"That isn't necessary, Applejack." Cadence insisted. "It's just some sniffles and sneezes. I can keep up my part of the shield."

"Are you sure about that?" Pyro was hesitant to believe her. "I'm only concerned about you, Cadence. I don't want your condition getting worse because of this."

"I think it's obvious that my alicorn magic has its perks to it. Just trust me, alright? I'll be fine."

A large round of heavy coughs are what followed after Cadence said that. With every heave of her lungs, the force field outside flickered a bit. When she stopped, so did the shield.

That little burst made Pyro eye her with a ton of skepticism. But unexpectedly, he sighed and replied with this.

"Alright fine. But I'm keeping a close eye on you." He stated firmly. "The second I think you are unable to keep the shield up you're dropping it and I'm taking over."

Cadence sighed. To her it was better than nothing.

"Very well." She muttered.

Pyro nodded and went in search of something to keep the princess warm while everypony else just kept on doing what they were doing, which was just stand around inside town hall and try to keep themselves occupied while trying not to worry about the vicious army of living snowponies outside the force field.

Some found it easy to do that. Like the cutie mark crusaders. Those three fillies had all of their faith put in Cryo and it showed because they were making up new plans for how to get their cutie marks after the storm passes.

Other ponies however did not have such luck in getting a break. For example, the brown stallion that Typhoon saved earlier. He didn't really seem to be all that social because he just sat by himself with nopony even talking to him. When he took off his snow clothes, it was revealed that his cutie mark was very interesting. It was a pictograph of a bowl that seemed to be filled up with little pink hearts.

Seeing it made Typhoon wonder. So she did what any other curious pony would do. She walked up to him and spoke.

"Hello zere. I don't know eef you recall but-"

"You're the pony who saved me yesterday." The stallion cut her off before she could finish but he didn't turn to look at her. "I remember. I recognize your accent."

Typhoon giggled when she heard that.

"Some sharp ears you have." She noted.

She then took notice that the stallion turned around hanging his head down even more. Clearly joking around even in the lightest of sense wasn't a good idea right now.

"Hey hey, eet's going to be alright. My name ees Typhoon. And what ees your name?"

The brown unicorn turned back to look into her eyes a bit eased up.

"It's....it's Bran. Everyone calls me Bran."

"Okay, Bran. I want you to just remain calm and trust me when I say zis. Everything ees going to be fine."

"Yeah? How do you know?"

"Because I know my brother, Cryo. And I know zat when he sees something zat needs to be done, zere ees no stopping heem."

With a heavy sigh, Bran turned to look Typhoon in the eye.

"Can you promise me we'll get out of this?"

Confidently, she smiled and nodded.

"Absolutely. Cryo will get us free."

That did seem to ease Bran's mind a bit. He smiled a tad at the mare and she looked out to the snow which was still piling up.

"Cryo, hurry up! We can't last een here forever!"

*Canterlot Castle; Royal Dining Room; 2:00 PM*

Tension was high inside and outside the castle. As soon as news of the storm hit Canterlot, a lot of the ponies began to pile outside the castle demanding an explanation from the princesses. They didn't let up even though they were told many times by their advisors that they did not have a clue as to what the cause of the snowstorm was.

Princess Celestia and Luna were working overtime to try and think of something to say to the citizens of Canterlot to put their mind at ease. It was easier said than done though. They had to make sure their address to the people got through without there being any other suspicions. They knew chances were high that some of the people would start blaming the Alamantians for this. Ever since the battle of Canterlot, their presence was known. So the idea Pyro had of blending in when everyone first met was pretty much out the window now. They were known in the Ponyville and Canterlot areas and it was spreading fast. Already complaints and letters of fear were being sent to the princess. Letters containing things like, "The Alamantians are a threat" or "They will kill us all". The Princesses had to be extremely careful here.

Over in the dining room of the castle sat Agua, Rarity, and Spike all trying their best to enjoy a complimentary lunch courtesy of their royal highnesses. The food, though very much enjoyable and delicious, did little to ease their minds. All of them were too worried about their friends back home. Agua was the only one refusing to show it though being the stallion he is. Rarity was only thinking of one pony in particular though. Sweetie Belle. She only prayed that she stayed inside and not even think about trying to get a cutie mark in snow playing or whatever she may do. Spike was mostly worried about Twilight and how he wished he could be there with her. After a while, they were joined by the co-rulers of Equestria both of them sporting solemn faces.

"Any luck?" Rarity asked them.

Both of them shook their heads. Back in their chambers, they were doing more than trying to come up with a speech.

"We haven't been able to get any word from Ponyville. Everypony residing there is trapped inside its borders." Celestia informed them.

"Perhaps...." Luna looked in Agua's direction. "....perhaps there is a way for your sister to communicate with us."

It was obvious which sister she was referring to.

"Typhoon's telepathy may be strong but it's still developing. Even with all her strength she wouldn't be able to expand her mind all the way here. Especially with a signal cutter as strong as that."

Their hearts were all beginning to sink. Every chance they took seemed to get shot down by this accursed storm. And if that wasn't enough to get them weary, then this sure was. It seemed like ever since the storm was first noticed from Canterlot, the clouds above the town were getting bigger and therefore closer to the city. That was not a good sign.

Shining Armor entered the room with a couple of guards by his side as he gave his report to the princesses.

"More ponies are beginning to gather at the front gate, your highnesses." He began. "With the way they're going it shouldn't be long before they start to riot."

Both of them groaned.

"This is ridiculous." Luna muttered. "All this panic over a snowstorm. Can we not just tell them it's a weather team misdirection and leave it at that?"

"Luna, you know as well as I do that we can't do that." Celestia said sharply. "Lying to the public to quell their panic is a form of politics I refuse to lower myself to."

"I do understand, my sister. But our options are dwindling already. No matter how we try to explain it to them, one of them is bound to still believe that the ice mover, Cryo, is at fault. And you know as well as I do that where there is one spark, a fire is soon to ignite."

"There has to be SOMETHING you can say that won't make Cryo look so vicious." Rarity sounded like she was pleading with them. "I know him. He's the most kindhearted stallion I've ever met. If those snobs outside even try to say one word of slander against his name, I'll pummel them all into paste."

Agua, as well as Spike, Shining Armor, the princesses, and even Rarity herself was shocked to hear those words come out of her mouth. The only one who was shocked and smiling at the same time, was Agua.

"Hey, we're agreeing on stuff." He said with a smile. "If you go in to kick some snob-flank, count me in."

"My pleasure." The fashionista held out her hoof and Agua bumped it.

Rude threats to the people aside, Luna and Celestia found it rather pleasing to see Rarity and Agua in a rare moment of then actually enjoying being close to each other. Shining Armor was different story entirely.

"I still say we should just throw him out and give them what they want."

And again, he was saying it out loud, in front of the princess, and the Alamantian he was intentionally trying to insult. He wasn't done either.

"They think an Alamantian did this, why not just give them one and get it over with?"

"You would do best to hold thy tongue, Shining Armor." Luna coldly replied. "This Alamantian you see before you is my student AND my friend. I will not allow anypony, not even himself, to surrender to those ponies."

"Shining Armor, I am appalled." Rarity took her turn. "You have seen for yourself what these ponies have done. You have no reason whatsoever to hold anything against them. Why do you despise them?"

"Because I know exactly what they are capable of." Shining Armor snapped back. "Whether or not you decide to believe it, these ponies are dangerous. It's not safe for you to be anywhere near them."

"Yet your wife seems perfectly content with us."

Out of all the ponies who could have chosen to pick a fight with this guy, Agua was the worst one of them all to attempt it. Yet when he stood up out of his seat and began to approach him, nopony tried to stop him.

Because as much as they knew Agua was going to be rough in his words, they also knew he was going to hold nothing back unlike the others.

"I don't get you, captain. Twilight holds you in such high regard yet upon introduction you treat us with nothing but hatred and disgust. Usually, I'd just brush it off. I've grown used to hearing the name of Alamante disgraced by rich snobs and other punks. But with you, I just can't let it go."

"Oh yeah? And why is that?" Shining Armor kept his narrow eyes on Agua as the water move began to pace around while talking.

"Because I know there's a motive. Trust me, I know anger and hate good enough to know that there is always a flaming motive fueling it. Knowledge like that comes when you've gone through some of the stuff I have."

Celestia and Luna sat down on their rears as they let Agua go on.

"But what is your motive? You have never been prejudice by what your sister said. Cadence is in full agreement. So your motive can't be just simple dislike for Alamante. No, that would be too easy. Uneasy because of our abilities? Nah.....that's too easy as well."

"You're wasting your time." The unicorn stallion snapped. "Play psychoanalyst all you want. I have been protecting this castle and the princesses long before you came into the picture. I don't need six ponies with superpowers coming in and trying to prove that they're better than me!"

"What? I never once claimed to be better than...."

It clicked. Just like that, the pieces all came together. With that one line from Shining Armor, Agua had looked at him with a brand new opinion of the captain. Much sooner than expected as well.

"Sweet Poseidon's beard." He began. "You don't hate us because we're Alamantian. You hate us....because you're jealous."

Jealous was not the word that he was expected to use at all. Princess Luna thought it was going to be more along the lines of an insult as did Rarity and Spike. But no. He went with jealous.

"What? He's jealous of you? Come on, that makes no sense." Spike said.

Agua shook his head at the dragon.

"It all makes perfect sense, Spike." He then turned back to the stallion he was talking to. "I know what happened at your wedding, Shining Armor. Fell under the queen changeling's mind spell and was therefore rendered useless until Cadence snapped you out of it. But here's the thing. Even though you managed to save Canterlot and everypony residing in it........you were still ashamed of yourself. True you were the hero but you were also the puppet who let his guard down. The main pawn in the queen's grand scheme. And to this day it still burns you up that you allowed that to happen."

Shining Armor snarled.

"That is NOT true! Everypony screws up every once in a while! I've come to terms with that!"

"Have you really?" Agua responded.

Immediately, Shining Armor shut up.

"You are a pony with a heavy responsibility, Shining Armor. You lead the most elite team of soldiers this country has to offer. The safety that country AND it's rulers also rests on your shoulders. That is a great burden to bear. I'm willing to bet just knowing that you failed on a magnitude so large like that still eats at your brain even to this day."

Wanting to test his theory out, Agua turned back to the two princesses.

"Princess Luna and Celestia, after the wedding was there any increase in activity coming from the esteemed captain here?"

The two present alicorns needed not to think about it.

"Yes. Very much so. If anything his weariness and protectiveness of the castle doubled if not tripled by the first week he returned from his honeymoon." Celestia answered.

"More guards were stationed in more places and extra security surrounded us on the clock." Luna also noticed it.

Nodding, Agua turned around now focused on the couple of guard ponies Shining Armor brought with him.

"And you two guards, upon your captain's return to duty, was your training ever made harder?"

The two guards didn't answer him. They didn't even blink an eye in his direction.

"Guards," Luna addressed them. "I am ordering you to answer his question."

After they heard that, the two guards moved their heads to look at Agua. The one on the right answered first.

"Yes. Our training time doubled as well as our combat practice." Then the guard on the left spoke.

"Drills extended, exercises made tougher, it was rough."

Everypony was looking at Agua completely in shock that he was actually on to something and making sense.

"And now with this new threat coming in, you don't want to stand out of the way and let us deal with it because you think you have something to prove and you can't let anypony detour you. So you've been working hard on trying to make everyone believe we're dangerous.....and therefore sent off."

Thinking of something to say to defend himself was the farthest idea from Shining Armor's mind. All that could flow through his head at the time was seething rage as the two alicorn's, Rarity, Spike, and even his own two guards alongside him looked at him with concern and a bit of confusion.

"Captain.....is that true?" One of the soldiers asked.

No verbal response was given. Instead, Shining Armor leaned down growling at Agua and his horn began to light up. Though all the others in the room started to back away from him, Agua held his ground.

"Just know this, Shining Armor. If you come at me with the intent to fight, I won't stand here like a statue and let you pummel me. No. I WILL fight back and I will not restrain myself in any way."

The stare-down went on for at least thirty more seconds, both stallions looking eager to strike one another with everything they had in them. Shining Armor wanted so badly to show this ass of an Alamantian some real manners. And Agua, though under orders from Pyro not to, wanted to beat Shining Armor's supposedly racist flank into the ground.

Oddly enough, Shining Armor was the one who backed down first. He let loose a sigh, deactivated his horn, and then turned to walk away from him without a word. The two other guards followed him and then there were five.

"I think you nailed him." Spike said to Agua with a nod.

"It would seem his reason for disliking you was somewhat valid after all." Luna commented.

"But also selfish." Celestia added. "Being cruel to somepony just so he could take the glory is hardly a reason to act the way he did."

"With all due respect, your highness, the changeling queen bested you too." Rarity was a bit scared to say that at first. "I do remember there being some ponies saying that were not strong enough to be our ruler if you could be defeated so easily. If there was anything you could do to restore their faith in you, would you not take that chance?"

As much as the princess of the sun wanted to disagree, she found herself surprisingly unable to. Because Rarity was completely right. After Queen Chrysalis managed to beat her in a duel, a lot of ponies declared she wasn't fit to carry out her duties as princess. It was a big blow to have lost the support of so many ponies. And they had reason to.

But however, Celestia did not crave revenge or anything like that. It was not very much later after the protests began when those who still sided with her began to sway the others to keep to the

"I would be lying if I said there isn't a part of me that doesn't want to return the favor." Celestia admitted. "But either way, what's done is done. I do think Agua's words somehow got through to him though."

"Let's hope so."

Agua muttered those words as he looked out the window and saw Ponyville down in the distance covered in storm clouds. He was joined by everyone else in the room with him. The small town was under a heavy siege of ice and snow and they were trapped outside it.

"Cryo may not have been the one to start this but I have a strong feeling he'll be the pony to find the solution." Celestia voiced her opinion.

"Most likely." Agua nodded.

"Do you think he'll be able to?" Spike asked.

"Never tell him I said this," The water mover began ",but Cryo is a very strong pony. Perhaps even stronger than me. If anypony can find a way out of this, its him."

Luna looked at Agua confused.

"Why would you not want us to tell him you said that?" She wanted a straight answer.

"Oh that's just Agua. Never willing to let the world know he has a heart." Rarity giggled.

Luna knew differently that Agua did indeed have a heart. But it was as of a little over three years ago, shattered into pieces. She kept her word to her student and never told a soul about his reveal. Though it secretly pained her to know that someone like Agua was broken so badly. Underneath all the gruff, he was a good pony. He didn't deserve to be hurt like that.

Wanting to get their minds off of the concern of their friends, all of them decided to engage in other activity.

"Come, Agua. We have more training to do." Luna gestured to the door.

The blue stallion nodded and walked with Luna out the door heading for the chamber of the gods.

"Spike, we do have some more materials to fetch in the city." Rarity said to her little friend.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go outside with all those protesters around?" the baby dragon was nervous.

"I will handle that problem, Spike." Celestia assured him. "You two go on and try to enjoy yourselves the best you can."

The two of them left with a simple nod and Celestia went back to work on her own trying to think of the right thing to say to the protestor group growing outside the front gate. It wasn't going to be easy though. It was hard enough with her sister beside her and their minds working together. She decided to consol with another.

She went to her chambers, closed the windows and blocked the lights with the curtains, lit some candles, and sat on her haunches in the center of her room breathing steadily with her eyes closed and front hooves brought together at her chest.

"Celestia, why do you call on me?"

"Great worry and concern fills my little ponies heads, old friend. I am here to ask for your guidance."

"I am aware of what you speak of. I see Ponyville from where I am right now. Houses are up to their center in snow."

"The people are starting to think one of the reincarnations, Cryo, is responsible for this catastrophe. I need to find some way to convince them otherwise."

"Hmmm.......perhaps it is best to simply let them be for now."

"Don't address them? But they are demanding an explanation. If I don't say something they may become violent."

"With all due respect, Princess, the citizens of Canterlot don't seem like the violent type. They look afraid to even get a single stain on their coat let alone shed blood."

Celestia couldn't help but giggle at that a little.

"A good point indeed, but I still feel that something must be said."

"Something will be said. Just not with words. When Cryo finishes his journey, the answer Canterlot seeks will be seen."

"So I was correct. Cryo IS working to stop this storm."

"Yes. His trek began early yesterday. But I feel I must inform you that somepony took after him quite recklessly."

"Who did?"

"It would seem one of your element bearers. Laughter I believe is the one she holds."

Celestia paused and opened her eyes gasping a tad. Quickly she closed her eyes to resume the conversation.

"Are you absolutely sure that it was Pinkie Pie?"

"Indeed. Her bond to Cryo is strong. Maybe too strong for her own good."

"There is nothing you can do to help them?"

"I cannot interfere yet, Celestia. You know that. For his sake."

"I assume Cryo is not the one you are talking about right now. So tell me this, do you really care about him as much as he claims to care about you?"

There was a slight pause before the answer came from the stallion being spoken to.

"Pyro is like the son I never had. Every time I saw him in distress these past years, I wanted nothing more than to help him."

"Then why not simply reveal yourself to him and put his mind at ease?"

"Because in order for the mind to be at peak, sometimes a drive is needed. He needs that drive more than he needs me."

"I hope for your sake, and his, you are right. I shall leave you for now."

"Heed my advice, Celestia. And good luck."

With that, Celestia opened her eyes and a guard entered her chambers.

"Your highness, the people outside await your address." He said.

The advice she was given was sound. She shook her head slightly and looked to the guard.

"The ponies outside will not be hearing from me." The guard looked at her with surprise. "Not until the problem in Ponyville has been settled or the true cause has been revealed."

"But...but your highness, they are threatening to get violent."

"I can assure you that is simply a weak bluff. If they make the threat one more time, call them out on it."

Still very unsure, the guard nonetheless complied with his orders and left the princess alone in her quarters. Using her magic, she whisked out the flames on the candles and opened up the curtains allowing her sunlight to shine in again. A sigh escaped her lungs as she walked to the window and looked down upon the group gathering at the front gate. Then her gaze redirected to the sky.

"Good luck to you as well, Hitashi."