Canterlot Containment Facility, Located underneath the Palace, Cell 181
The metahuman groaned, his entire body felt like it had been ripped apart and sown back together. His head hurt a lot, and he had no idea where he was. Hold up there Avalanche, take a look around first, then we’ll see about anything else. He thought. Avalanche had been his alternate name for a while now, ever since he had gotten it from using his powers over ice (which also included super strength and flight for some reason, but that’s what he got for merging with the Plane of Ice.). He opened his bright blue eyes.
It was dark, and a musty smell was present in the air. Looking to the left he saw a small door, with a small bar covered-hole towards the top. Are those…Jail bars? He wondered, slowly sitting up. He saw the four walls, all with chains hanging down. He also noticed that the chains were too small to have been shackled to him, as the door was for his size. Fantastic. I’m in jail, He thought, wait what if that Blood guy captured me and is getting ready to sacrifice me to that demon lord? Well he’s going to be in for a disappointment, because I have no intention of staying here. Avalanche stood up, misjudged the height of the ceiling and banged his head against it. He swore quietly before moving towards the cell door. He tapped it experimentally, but received no sense of danger. He sighed as he noticed that his gauntlet covered hand was back to its normal blue and grey hue. He sighed, his camouflage had probably worn off while he had been out, as it usually did after being unconscious after a certain period of time, as it used a battery that took forever to recharge. He shook his head clearing his thoughts a bit, he needed to get out of this small cell. Then he closed his eyes. After a couple minutes of listening, he swung his fist at the door.
BAM!
The door gave way to the reinforced armor combined with his enhanced strength easily, the hinges breaking off and the door slamming against a wall opposite the cell. He was in a hallway, one that he could barely stand up in. Before he could do anything else, he heard rapid footsteps getting closer to his location, coming from the hallway several yards ahead of him to the left. Quickly, Avalanche crouched down and prepared to take down whatever it was that was coming. .When the creature rounded the corner, Avalanche almost burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it.
The creature was an equine. Perhaps horse or pony would be best to describe it. However, it had an abnormally red hued fur with a blue mane covered by bright golden armor that seemed to give off its own light. It was much shorter than himself in height, and the curious part was the brand of a fiery shield on its flank. It stopped in its tracks and looked at him, obviously surprised. Then it brought a small rod out with its teeth and pressed something with its hooves. The rod immediately expanded into a small spear( small for himself, but big enough for the horse/pony). It leveled the new spear at him, yelling something in a strange language at him. Briefly, Avalanche considered his options. He could either attempt to communicate, go back into the cell, or force his way out. For the two former options, there was probably a language barrier and going back into a doorless cell with frost covering the door was probably not what the horse had in mind. That left one option. Spreading his arms a bit in a non-threatening fashion, he gave the horse a small smile. What he was actually doing was using his powers. The temperature started dropping in the room causing the horse to shudder. It turned and looked around, attempting to find the source of it. That’s when Avalanche struck. He flew across the distance quickly and brought his fist down on the horse’s head, the unarmored part. He winced as a loud SNAP! Was heard as he broke the horse’s jaw with the blow while also knocking it out. Avalanche waited a couple minutes, once again listening for anything else heading his way. Upon finding none, he dragged the unconscious armored horse to his cell, placing it inside. Then he grabbed the dented door and placed it back into its frame. Unfortunately due to the dents and ripped off hinges, he had to force it in. Then he traced the outline of the door, ice forming around it and freezing it in place. With a little luck hopefully no one will notice that for a while. He thought, turning and heading in the direction the horse had come.
After a few minutes of sneaking around, Avalanche finally found a staircase that wound upwards, a thin light shining down from the top. Once again he used his power, flying upwards and stopping at the door. Before he pulled the small crude handle, he briefly wondered if there would be more equine’s outside. He shook his head, pulling the door open and stepping out into the light. Then he gasped.
He was standing in the middle of a ruined castle, debris and smashed objects everywhere. Judging from the giant shattered doors a hundred meters in front of him, most of the front and lower sections had been destroyed. Avalanche looked up. Apparently some of the upper floors had been destroyed too. But how? Avalanche clutched his head as pain laced through it, like he should remember something. After a minute he shook it off. He could worry about it later, but the important thing was to find out where the hell he was. He flew upward, landing on what appeared to be the ruins of a tower, which provided plenty of hiding spots for himself and a view of the door he had just come from. A good thing too, since a bright flash of light appeared near the entrance, causing him to turn his head away from in. When Avalanche turned back, he saw three strange equines standing below, about ten meters diagonal to him, all appearing to be getting ready to go in.
The first one was bright white, with a rainbow main that billowed as if wind was coursing through it, wore a crown, and had a small sun tattooed on its flank. The second was smaller than the first by a small bit, but was dark blue with a light blue mane, and a tattoo of a moon on her flank. The third was purple, and was the smallest out of all of them, with a odd star on hers. Oh, and they all had horns and wings, making them look like cross breeds between pegasi and unicorns.
The tall white one immediately said something in a strange language and gestured at the entrance with a hoof. Avalanche looked at to what she was pointing at then realized something: He had left the door open.
“Damn.” He quietly swore to himself, inching back behind a destroyed piece of while, crouching. He briefly thought up of a hasty plan in case he was discovered. The reason it was hasty was that he was still trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing, all of it unfamiliar. His plan was that if they were friendly, then he would at least try communicating, if not, he would freeze them. Simple enough. Cautiously, he positioned his head a little out, enabling him to keep watching as the white and blue one go in, leaving the purple one to reluctantly stay behind. Other things caught his eyes, and they were equine shadows slowly moving towards the purple hybrid. When one of them poked its head out, he saw that these were completely different from the ones that he had encountered before. They were a dark black, with bright blue eyes that stood out from the….exoskeleton? Their hooves were holed filled, giving Avalanche a weird reminder of cheese. He watched as they all stalked towards the unsuspecting hybrid. They were baring their fangs and licking their chops, like they were going to feast on it. The hybrid turned around, for reasons unknown and noticed them. Its eyes went wide, well wider in this case, and it shouted something, but there was no mistaken the tone of voice in it. It was the sound of one truly frightened, and with something else that he couldn’t place his finger. Avalanche turned towards the sky, then back down the purple hybrid.
“I’m going to regret this.” He muttered. Then he jumped over the edge, aiming for the center of the exoskeleton covered equines…
Twilight
Twilight was not happy. Not only had she been wanting to actually see the creature up close, but had wanted to ask it a few questions if it was intelligent. Unfortunately, that was most likely not going to happen as the door to the containment facility had been left open, with frost covering the handle which was bent out of proportion as well.
“Twilight stay here. Luna and I will check this out.” Celestia told her firmly after seeing it, her tone making it clear that there would be no negotiating. Twilight sighed and nodded, keeping herself from following them anyway. She contemplated teleporting, but reluctantly decided against it, as Celestia and/or Luna would feel her magic in the facility. She huffed and examined the frost on the door. While it was night in Equestria, frost or anything similar gathering in Canterlot was almost unheard of. Generally Celestia only allowed special days for it to be snowing in the capitol. There was also something else about it… Something powerful. Tentatively, Twilight tapped her horn against the door, casting an analyzing spell as well. However, the second the tip of her horn tapped the frost, it immediately burned with a cold agony, causing her to jump back a bit. The pain went away almost immediately, leaving Twilight to wonder what that was all about.
After few moments of staring at the door, Twilight eventually decided that it probably would be best for her to leave. Perhaps she could just wait at the remainder of the gates to the castle, that way she wouldn’t be tempted so easily to enter through the door. She turned around, ready to move, and gasped.
Standing a couple yards away from her, were a group of changelings, each one looking murderously at her and licking their lips. Their blue eyes were narrowed as they took slow, but quick steps to form a circle around her. She backed up a bit, her mind starting to overload as she tried to process what was happening. As if on instinct, she attempted to teleport away, but winced as the cold agony laced through her horn as she tried. My magic isn’t working?! How?! She thought, tempted to spread her wings and fly. Unfortunately, she was still learning how to maneuver in a combat situation, and the changelings in the front were now close enough to lunge and keep her from flying. Twilight briefly considered ramming her horn into or bucking the nearest changelings, but that was also dismissed as unicorns lacked the physical strength to actually do much to the tough chitin of the changelings.
“SOMEPONY HELP ME!” She shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. Had Twilight been a lot calmer and focused, she would have felt the temperature begin to drop quickly, ice forming around the group. Then it arrived.
Something slammed into the ground in the middle of the changeling group, causing dust and small pieces of debris to fly everywhere. Twilight rubbed her eyes to clear the dust out. When her sight was completely restored, her jaw dropped in shock.
A tall bipedal creature had engaged the surprised changelings. It swiftly moved about, striking them with quick jabs from the oddly shaped appendages on the end of its arms. The blows were denting and in some cases, piercing the chitin easily, like a manticore tearing into flesh. Ice formed where the blows landed, causing the changelings to scream in pain. Finally, one of the bolder changelings attempted to throw itself at the newcomer, green fire blazing around it as it flew at the biped. However, its target ducked and caught one the hind legs in its appendages, the fire not bothering it at all. During this, Twilight was slowly backing towards the containment facility, debating on whether or not to run to Celestia and Luna for help. Her curiosity won her over though and she stayed, noticing the winds picking up around the strange biped that had arrived.
The fighting began to lull as the wind whipped around the creature with a vengeance, knocking back any changeling that tried to attack it. Then Twilight watched in fascination at the long ice shards that were also forming in the mini tornado, slicing into the changelings as the tornado expanded. Twilight planted her hooves firmly on the ground in an attempt to keep herself from being blown away from the winds that raced around. Eventually the changelings got the hint and left after the sharpened ice whirling around left various lacerations. Slowly, the winds died down and the ice shards disappeared, leaving Twilight alone with the biped. It stared at her with small bright blue eyes, not moving. Twilight was too busy examining it to notice, as she could finally see it now that it had stopped moving and wasn’t obscured by flying ice and winds.
It easily towered over her, standing at around six feet tall, with its arms almost as thick as her neck. She noticed that the armor it was wearing was made up of some form of metal combined with light blue elements. A cape adorned its back, light blue in color and tattered at the end. Its mane was a deep blonde, but had flecks of white in it as well. The skin was pale, at least the pieces visible anyway. A flat mouth was evident on its face, only noticeable by its small line. Its oddly shaped feet were covered by metal boots that had sharp ridges towards the tops, which matched the blades on its arms well.
Twilight was too busy noting every detail on it, when she heard something. After snapping out of it, she looked up at the biped’s face. Its mouth moved, and a strange sound was heard from it. Twilight almost squealed with glee as it continued to attempt to communicate with her through its strange language. It WAS intelligent! Before she could say or do anything however, a white hot beam of energy zipped from over her shoulder and slammed into the creature, causing it to stagger a few steps back. Twilight turned around and found a very cross Celestia standing behind her with an amused looking Luna. She turned her head back to the biped, and immediately noticed that its eyes were glowing dangerously as the temperature dropped, getting closer to subzero as ice began to fly around it, circling the biped viciously.
Oh buck me, she thought as Celestia charged it, kicking out her front hooves and striking the biped. This time, it staggered back a bit more, then stared at Celestia in contempt.
“YOU WILL NOT HARM MY PRECIOUS STUDENT!” Celestia roared in the full Canterlot voice, which could be heard throughout the entire city quite well. Twilight pulled her hooves over her ears, covering them as they screamed in agony at it. Then she watched as the biped responded, violently. Like a snake striking, its whirlwind defense formed around it again, razor sharp ice shards flying around at high speeds. Twilight attempted to gaze through the tornado that was forming to pick out the biped, but could only make out its arms, chest, and head. It held its odd appendage out, and a line of what could be described as liquid ice snaked out and wrapped around Celestia, pulling her into the whirlwind, the shards tearing into her skin.
“Sister!” Luna cried rushing forward. Twilight had recovered enough to immediately stand in her path. “What are you doing Twilight? We must help her against that vile beast!”
“That vile beast just saved me!” Twilight shouted above the roar of the whirlwinds and the sounds of Celestia’s spells going off.
“YOU SPEAK NONSENSE! WE MUST HELP MY SISTER!” Luna shouted back, her voice rising in volume.
“LOOK AROUND LUNA! CAN’T YOU SEE THE CHANGELING BLOOD ON THE GROUND!” Twilight screamed, her voice matching Luna’s volume.
However, before either pony could do anything, the whirlwind exploded in a ball of bright but different colored light, sending both Celestia and the biped flying in opposite directions. Celestia looked fine, except for the long slashes that were freezing over. The biped had several hoof prints and horn holes in its armor to match its burn marks. Part of its face was scarred completely red from Celestia’s sun beams that had been fired at it during their fight. Celestia took a step forward, ready to start again, and that's when Twilight realized the biped was smiling.
Avalanche
Avalanche was smiling, as he knew something the pretentious hybrid attacking didn't.
He was holding back.
Several Miles Outside of the Crystal Kingdom
A huge crater lay in the frozen wasteland, deep as a dragon's height, and also occupied. However, the occupant was not living, at least not to most eyes. In the center of the huge crater, was a giant sword, easily over seven feet. Its hilt was adorned with sapphires, and it formed what appeared to be some bizarre creature's maw. The blade took up most of the sword, its color matching the landscape perfectly. It sat there, not doing anything as a blizzard began to rage around its location, strong enough to throw anyone or anything that approached it away. There the sword sat waiting, listening for its owner's call.