Shackled Heart of Ice

by Flare Rain

The General

“......I’m sorry it has come to this.... Though it’s the only way to keep you and the kingdom safe for now. I shall return.....soon.”

“Ah!” the navy blue unicorn shot up, panicking after the dream. He then noticed there was somepony sleeping next to him “AH!” He panicked, falling off the bed onto the floor, cringing in pain from his side. “Oh? Oh!” The pony that was sleeping next to him got up in concern, coming to the blue unicorn’s aid. “I’m so sorry. I stayed here to make sure your wounds didn’t open, then I guess I must have dosed off...” She helped the blue unicorn up, checking his bandages.

“Oh, thank you.” He looked at his battered up side, and a rather peculiar cut on his leg. He casted a minor healing spell, so he can at least walk better. “I hope I wasn’t much of a burden... Did perhaps a red pegasus bring me in?” she nodded shyly, pointing to the door. “He slept on the couch downstairs...” she tried not to look him in the eyes, trying to find an excuse for something else to do. “Oh! I should probably check on Angel!” she zoomed out of the room, leaving a flustered unicorn.

“Ok...?” He slowly went out of the room, walking down the stairs of the cabin. He spotted a red pegasus on the sofa.

...Does he remember?... No. He’s experiencing amnesia. That’s probably best for him...

“Steel” The unicorn said, getting answered by a rude snore. “ROMAN!” The unicorn shouted angrily, knocking the pony off of the sofa. “Wha wa what?” Roman got up groggily, taking a few confused steps. “Lieutenant Roman Steel” He flexed the ‘F’ in the title, while Roman stood up correctly this time. “How are you doing?”

“Nauseous...a little light-headed...” He shook his head, finally putting his mind to work. “Who are you?”

The unicorn started a little glad that he doesn’t remember...certain events.

“My name is Fritz Sapphire, also known as the General of the Crystal Empire. You are my second-in-command. You lost your memory from crash landing... the rest is confidential until you remember.” The blue unicorn stated, then turning towards the door. “I- We have to do some errands in the town. Then we will see about that memory problem.”
He left abruptly, leaving a confused Pegasus. “Oh...” Roman looked to see Fluttershy peeking through the kitchen, seeing where Fritz left. “I was hoping he would stay...”

Roman thought off what happened, flustered on what the unicorn had told about himself. “Wow... I’m a Lieutenant!” He half-shouted, startling Fluttershy. “Oops...sorry.”

Fluttershy walked over “You never mentioned losing your memory... never mind.” She smiled, then motioning to the door. “If you would like I can show you around town... If that’s okay with you...” Roman grinned, walking up to her. “That would be fantastic!” The walked out, oblivious of the unicorn still watching them from a distance
Should I tell him? No, he’ll slow me down. I need to get back to the Crystal Empire, before it comes back...

Twilight Sparkle was bored stiff, lonely and uncheerful. After she was crowned a princess, the evil monsters or the great treks all stopped. Even her friends slowly started to drift away, leaving her with a library of books and a baby dragon.
“Hey Twi, cheer up!” The dragon said, going over to Twilight, who was now reading up on Starswirl the Bearded. “Maybe something interesting will come up in town?” Twilight scoffed, putting down her book and started looking for The Ancient Curses.

“Spike, haven’t you noticed you’ve stated the same thing for two whole months?” Spike grimaced, and then decided to help Twilight out. “Okay, can you find the most terrible curse?” Her eyes widened in delight, then began searching.
“Ok... curses... No, not that one.... Bambino? No, though that was terrible for them... Ah! Is it Werewolves?” Spike shook his head, while Twilight kept looking.

“Vicious hexes... Bat bogies... Flaming Skulls...” Twilight mumbled, finishing through her 12th edition of Potions Are Really Fun!
“You know Twi, who says it’s a physical curse?” Twilight looked up from Beware the Moonlight. Twilight narrowed her eyes, glaring at him. “You had me looking for two hours for nothing!?!”

Spike chuckled, trying to sound apologetic “Sorry Twi, I never told you it was a changing curse!” Spike somewhat waddled to a bookshelf, took a book and gave it to Twilight. “Here it is!”
Twilight took the book rather forcefully, and began reading the first page.

The Sorrowful Curse-

“Seriously? The Sorrowful Curse? Couldn’t they think of a better name?” Twilight muttered, earning a sigh from Spike. “Just keep reading!”

There is a curse that is inflicted by ones emotions. There has only been one case of this phenomenon, which the patient escaped a mental hospital. The only effect we know of the curse is that the victim has no emotions: pity, happiness, or love. There were also theories thrown around that the pony contains certain magical properties. Some said he is stronger than Celestia. He did, however, escape to a far off land around 1000 years ago. He was presumed dead of old age, and never was seen again. His name was-

“No! The page is ripped!” Twilight shouted, looking through the next useless pages for an answer. “Who would rip this!?!” Twilight groaned, shuffling through paragraphs for information.
“Well, it was like that when I found it. Actually, the only reason I found it is because someone dropped it on my head...” Spike told her, remembering Derpy flying in causing the bookshelf to fall the past day.

“Oh... so the sorrowful curse... it was 1000 years ago, right?” Twilight asked, getting a slight nod. “So there’s probably a record for him, right?” Spike smiled, then sort of frowned, then pulled out a paper. “Well, I already did some research...”
Another hour of searching...
Special Pony Learning Program was reported to be burnt to the ground. Ponies have said the colt who did it was a patient, who first forced everypony out; patients included, and then lit the hospital on fire. Some say it may have been the one with the sorrowful curse, yet he casted a memory charm on the ponies, causing them to forget who lit the building on fire in the first place. They only remember seeing a colt run away towards the north.

“Well this is just total-!
“Excuse me...”

Twilight turned to see a dark blue unicorn, with a light blue mane and tail that had faint stripes of purple. His eyes glowed a deep tortoise, looking around the library with a stern look. “I’m wondering if there is anything on transportation spells.” Twilight pointed in a direction, still fixed on the stallion. “Over there... Mr.?”
“Sapphire. Just Sapphire. I’m passing through town, though I am in a hurry...” He seemed to remember something, almost running to the spell books.

“...uh...Twi...Twilight!...TWILIGHT!!!”
“Huh what?” She snapped back in focus, seeing Spike had yelled at her. “What?” The dragon motioned her forward, so he could whisper. She kneeled down to listen.

“I don’t know how to say it, but you’ve been staring at that unicorn for a good five minutes...”
“... I hope I’m not disturbing anything...” She looked up to meet a pair of emerald eyes. The unicorn levitated some books (Teleporting advanced, Twilight noticed) and that his horn didn't glow. She frowned, confused.
“Why doesn’t your horn glow?” She asked, getting a little worried look from the unicorn. “Uh... it’s a condition. I’ll return the books later. Bye!” he dashed out, leaving a baffled and surprised Twilight and Spike.
“That was peculiar...” Twilight muttered, then looking out the window. “Maybe a little research may help...”

“So what do you do?” Roman asked Fluttershy, as they walked to town. She was going to introduce him to her friends, so maybe they can help him out. “Well, I take care of the animals that need care, and I also help when they have to hibernate or wake up for the Winter-Wrap up.” She shyly stated, was they walked into town.
“Well... this is Ponyville... The boutique where Rarity lives is over there...” she pointed down a street. “And the apple woods are on the other side of town. Oh! Also, in the middle of town is the library, maybe we could find something... there?” she was now whispering, and then Roman gave her a smile. “It’s fine. I just want to know if I can get my memory back.”
“What the” they looked up to see a light blue Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane and tail flying above them. “Hey Fluttershy! Fly up here for a sec!” Fluttershy flew up (rather cautiously) up to the light blue Pegasus, who then pointed off somewhere north.

“Hey! What are you two looking at?” Roman asked curiously. The light blue one looked down confused. “Why don’t you fly up here?” Roman mentally face-hoofed, spreading his wings a bit carefully and flapping. Apparently, flying wasn’t as hard as he expected. With a few tries, he managed to get to the two mares.

“That’s what I’m talking about” she pointed to the north.
A huge storm lurked in the distance, spewing ice and hail. A deep coat of snow began to cover the Everfree forest, the sky darkening as the huge form of clouds began to advance towards Ponyville.

“This wasn’t even scheduled! Heck if I’m right, we are never supposed to make something this size!” she looked at Roman. “Hey, you up to help me move this snowstorm?” Roman gulped, nodding a little. “Ok, let’s go!” she then stopped awkwardly, then turning back. “Sorry, I’m Rainbow Dash, pleasure to meet you. Now let’s go!” She flew off, with Roman flying after her.
Something tells me this doesn’t happen every day... he thought, going towards the blizzard.

My Dearest Celestia,

Have you noticed the rather large snowstorm heading towards Ponyville? It must be a lovely view from there, on the side of the mountain. I know you’ll go “Oh no! Pity me! I’ll use the Elements of Harmony and save Equestria blah blah blah” Well I can care less. It’s been so bloody long since I’ve been out! Perhaps I’ll even pay Canterlot a visit...

Though right now I have to get rid of the Mane Six. It’s ludicrous really; I mean what kind of idiot makes a mechanism that only works if you have all six ponies in perfect sync? It’s like making six different keys in order to open one chest, yet only the ponies that it belongs to can use it!
Anyway, the blizzard is there to stop you from going to Ponyville. I’m sure the railroads in the mountain are already snowed in, so have a wonderful day in Canterlot!
Oh, you may have asked yourself why I would reveal my plan; it’s so you can review on how easily I managed to take over Equestria. Thought you might want to put one of the thousands of books you keep there. Au revoir for now... Your Dearest Ancient Nemesis,                                                                                                        

Ruler of future Equestria. It would be no fun if I gave you my name now would it?