//------------------------------// // King of the Ice // Story: A Heart So Cold // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Freeze shattered the doors to the crystal palace with his sound waves, terrifying Fluttershy as he stormed inside with a menacing look on his face. She had no idea what to say to stop him, and that was even if he would stop, but she knew that a fight with Sombra was the last thing Mr. Freeze wanted. So despite knowing that it probably wouldn't work, she tried to stop him. "Freeze, please listen to me," she said meekly as she flew in front of him, trying to get his attention but he stormed right past her. "We need to get Twilight and the others of Sombra is back. I don't want you to face him alone." "I have faced worse," Freeze said to her before he reached the throne room, the doors still blasted off their hinges from when Shining had entered and allowed Freeze to look right up to the throne, where a dark pony sat upon it with a curious smile on his face when he saw the creature approach him. "Okay, you're a new one," Sombra said as he tilted his head to look at the ice man, turning into a cloud of darkness as he approached Freeze. "I've seen manticores, gorgons and even a pony-dragon hybrid, but nothing like you. I am king Sombra, ruler of the Crystal Empire. So who are you?" "I am Victor Fries," the ice man said as he raised both his arms at the shadowy pony with narrowed eyes behind his goggles. "And last time I checked, Cadence and Shining Armor were rulers of this empire. Not that it matters to me, but I hate to get caught up in political disputes." Sombra looked at Freeze with a bit of confusion before he saw the tiny Pegasus cowering behind Freeze's leg and a smile crossed his face as he drifted over to her. "Well, here's somepony that I haven't seen in a while," he said to her with a menacing smile. "Are you here alone or are those bothersome Elements lurking around here somewhere? I hope that Cadence is here as well, I really want to dispose of her and her meddling husband as well. But first I think I’ll start with-" Before Sombra could finish his sentence he was grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air by Freeze. "That pony is my hostage. I suggest that you keep your hooves off," Freeze said to him in a tone that was almost as cold as the hands that gripped Sombra's throat, the dark king smiling as he escaped Freeze's grasp by turning into smoke again. "So you're the pony...snowman that froze the palace," Sombra said as he looked around at all of the ice. "I wondered if Cadence was simply in a mood, but it seems that somepony de-throned her before I got the chance to. So does that mean that I'm going to have to battle you for the throne?" Freeze looked at the pony careful as he weighed his chances, curious and a little nervous about Sombra's power. The magic he used (Freeze now assumed that all unicorns could use magic) would be no problem, but the smoke ability made him worry and dissuaded him from pursuing conflict. "I have no desire to rule over these ponies nor do I have any wish to sit on that throne," Freeze said to the dark pony, who looked at him in surprise as Freeze lowered his arms. "As long as you do not disturb me as the princesses and their fools have, I will have no issue with you being here. Now if you excuse me, I have to go to my lab." Sombra looked at Freeze for a straight minute before he began to laugh out loud, completely caught off guard by Freeze and his personality. "Very well ice man, I see no need to make this harder on me," Sombra said with a smile, Fluttershy running over to Freeze as he headed back to the lab. "Victor, what are you doing? You can't just let him take over the throne like this!" Fluttershy said in her loudest voice, which surprised Freeze a bit, but only for a moment. "He's a tyrant, who enslaved the ponies he ruled over all those year ago! If he gets back on the throne, there's no telling how many will suffer!" "And why should I care?" Freeze said in a cold tone. "It does not concern me or my work as to who rules over these ponies, but Sombra had said that he will leave me alone to finish. Even if he does go back on his word, that is still better than being bothered ever day by you and your princess. He will also draw their attention away from me and onto him. Why should I care what he does in his rule if I can finish my work? If you want him gone, go do it yourself." Sombra began to laugh at the crushed look on Fluttershy's face. Freeze turning to leave for his lab. But to the surprise of both Sombra and Freeze, Fluttershy looked up at the dark king with defiance on her face. "What's this? You actually think you can stop me by yourself?!" Sombra asked with another loud laugh, as it looked like Fluttershy was using all of her courage to remain standing. Sombra then fired a bolt of dark magic into the air that encompassed the entire palace, where he looked out of his magic to see the princesses and the other Elements heading his way. "And it seems that your friends will not be here to help you. So let me ask, oh yellow one, what are you going to do?!" "I'll...I'll...I'll stare at you!" she said as she went to give him the stare, but she was enveloped by his magic and levitated over to him where he laughed in her face. "Oh no, not the stare! However will I defeat you?" he asked her with a smirk on his face as she struggled as best she could. "Do you not get it you, you dumb foal! I am now back in control! And without that annoying crystal heart to stop me and the other Elements trapped outside, I've already won. For if I kill one of the Elements," he said in a sinister voice as he created a blade out of darkness and placed it at her throat. "Then there will be no force on Equis that can stop me." "Cadence can stop you," Fluttershy said. "She did it once and she'll do it again." Sombra growled as he slammed Fluttershy into the ground before lifting her back into the air, placing the blade on her neck and drawing a few drops of blood. "Do you know what I'm going to do to that princess?" Sombra asked her in a low voice, Fluttershy looking at him with pure fear in her eyes. "I'm going to tear off her horn and impale her with it to the point where she can barely move. Then I'm going to take control of Shining Armor and get him to finish the job for me. And only after he's killed his wife and the others will I finally kill him myself. That's what you get for messing with me." Unbeknownst to the two, Freeze had not left the room yet. He had stood in place with a hand on the door, listening to Sombra with no emotion. "But Cadence is pregnant," Fluttershy said. "Surely even you are that evil." "No," Sombra said with a wicked smile. "I'm worse." He brought back the blade to impale Fluttershy, but a blast of ice struck him in the side and sent him sprawling to the floor. Fluttershy fell as well, but she was caught by the metal arms of Victor, who put her on the ground before he began his slow march to Sombra. "What's this? I thought that you didn't care what I did? What's changed?" "I don't explain my actions to the likes of you," Victor said before firing both freeze rays at Sombra, who turned into his smoke form to avoid the attack, circling around behind Victor so he could fire a bolt of black magic into his back. But to Sombra's horror he found that the suit completely absorbed his magic, Victor turning towards him with malice in his eyes. "How did you do that? No spell can absorb my magic like that," Sombra said in shock as Victor sent another blast of ice at the dark pony, who once again slipped into the smoke. "You can thank that crystal heart that you are so afraid of," Victor said as he fired ice into the ceiling, causing icicles to rain down upon Sombra who had to swerve to avoid being hit. Then he pressed a button on his suit, but frowned when nothing happened. "It not only powers me, but allows me to be immune to your "magic". There is nothing you or any other magic user can do to hurt me." "Then we are at an impasse!" Sombra yelled to Victor from the darkness as the ice passed right through his shadowy form. "I cannot hurt you with my magic and you cannot hurt me with your ice. But there is somepony in this room I can hurt!" Sombra sent bolts of darkness flying from the shadows towards Fluttershy, who barely had time to blink before a massive suit placed itself between her and the spells. The magic did nothing to Victor, but the action had an impact on Fluttershy, who looked up at Freeze with confusion. "If you don't care about ponies the why did you protect her, you hypocrite!" Sombra yelled. "I told you, she is my hostage and under my protection," Victor said in a cold voice as he looked up at the smoke floating near the ceiling, pressing a button on his suit once again. "And you are incorrect in the assumption you made earlier. You were correct in saying that you had no way to harm me, but I still have one trick left." He aimed his arms at the smoke as he said this, but instead of ice this time they fired a wave of sound that caused Sombra to scream as they hit his ears. The dark king returned to his normal state and fell to the ground, clutching his ears in pain as the sound deafened him. "I am more than a walking ice machine," Victor said in a cold voice as he walked over to Sombra and hoisted him up by his neck. "I am a genius. And by underestimating me...you have dug your own, cold grave." He let ice begin to form on his hand as he said this, slowly freezing the pony’s neck. "Enjoy the grave." Sombra snarled before a flash of light went off from his horn, blinding Fluttershy and Freeze. When the both could see again, Sombra was gone, but so was the shield around the palace. Freeze looked down at his empty hand for a moment before he turned and headed back to his lab, stopping only when he saw how Fluttershy was looking at him. "Why?" she asked him. "Why did you stop him? Why did you save me?" "As I told Sombra," Freeze said coldly before turning his head and going through the door to the laboratory. "I don't explain myself to the like of you." He slammed the door shut behind him as he said this, leaving a room filled with ice and one very confused Pegasus.