The Battle for Frostcrown: Part 2
Starlight was falling. The downward momentum was too strong for him to lift off from the fragment of concrete he clung to. The spikes which would impale all of them were getting closer and closer…he closed his eyes.
He had them shut, but nothing happened. He felt himself rising. He opened his eyes and saw that the falling debris and ponies around him were coated in pink light, and were slowly floating upward. He looked up and saw Princess Cadance, her eyes blazing with light and her horn emanating a strong pink magic.
Starlight sighed in relief as Cadance deposited them on the other side of the bridge. Starlight picked himself up, and she joined his side. “Let’s get going, Starlight. The gates are up ahead.”
He stood up and blinked. The gates were about a hundred feet ahead, the massive steel sliding doors engraved with the strange words of a long forgotten language. The doors looked impenetrable, how would the gryphons break through them?
“Move aside!” an impatient voice said. Starlight leapt out of the way as the squad of gryphon engineers flew towards the gate. “Cover us!” the head engineer cried. “When we bust this gate open, prepare for hell!”
Starlight ran ahead and the ranks of soldiers followed closely behind. He stopped halfway through as the engineers frantically waved at them. “Back off!”
They kept their distance. The gryphons had pulled out these small drills, and the air was filled with screeching as they bore tiny holes into the massive doors. The gryphons then stuck these black rods into the holes. Each rod had a string at the end, and they were tying all the strings together.
Starlight took a step forward, and the steel plate he stepped on, seemed to sink at the pressure of his foot. The pressure plate was depressed, and everyone looked around terrified as the ground began to rumble. “Aw, hell.” Starlight cursed.
There was a muffled roar, but it sounded like it had come from beneath the ground. There were massive chambers networks beneath the citadel….
The roaring became louder, as the creature tunneled towards the surface. “Fire in the hole!” the engineers yelled. There was a tremendous blast, and Starlight saw the doors had been torn open. Starlight’s triumph quickly went to horror as he saw the pairs of glowing blue eyes staring at him through the darkness of the citadel’s interior.
The ground before him ruptured, as a giant ice wyrm rose up from the ground. It looked like a serpent, but it had plating of ice on its head and had teeth and claws suited more for tunneling than combat. The wyrm turned around and stared at them, and it opened its mouth. “Everybody take evasive action!” Starlight yelled.
The wyrm blasted them with clouds of freezing gas, and the vapors fiercely stung Starlight’s pelt as they touched his skin. Behind the wyrm, he saw what appeared to be hundreds of Frostbites slowly walking out of the darkness of the citadel. The engineers had fled skyward, and were now throwing their dynamite at the Frostbites. Explosions shook the ground, and Starlight danced away from another gas cloud, trying to get to the wyrm.
He saw that the Frostbites were now piling on each other, forming giant columns to reach the engineers. Encumbered by their equipment, they couldn’t get away. The engineers were knocked out of the sky by the Frostbites and were dragged into the citadel, screaming. Starlight cursed as more of the freezing vapors touched him.
The pain was blinding. He sheathed his blades and slashed at the wyrm, but his blades could not penetrate its armor. His slash went awry and he tumbled to the ground. Arrows and beams of magic pelted the wyrm, but its armor was too thick. What the hell were they going to do now?!
Somewhere above, a dragon roared. Vaelan crashed into the wyrm, his bloody muzzle ripping into the wyrm’s neck as he grappled with it. “Get inside!” he yelled, tearing into the wyrm. “I’ll handle this guy!”
Starlight nodded and howled. “Follow me! This way!”
King Lightheart joined his side as they charged. “Starlight, will Vaelan be alright?”
Starlight nodded. “He’s a dragon, you don’t give him enough credit.”
They rushed into the dark entrance. Starlight couldn’t see a thing. Princess Cadance’s horn began to glow, along with all the other unicorns. Light flooded the interior of the citadel. Starlight gasped. They were in a vast, stark, gray steel chamber with stairs, bridges, and gateways all the way to the pinnacle of the citadel. Soft blue light was now radiating from the crystal roof, and the unicorns ceased their light.
As soon as the light faded, the Frostbites that were hiding in the darkness screeched and attacked. The chamber was filled with the sounds of battle as the soldiers clashed with the elementals. Frostbites and small Revenants were pouring down the stairs and out of passageways to meet them. “Seal off those approaches!” Starlight yelled.
A brigade of unicorn artillery started blasting the stairs, and streaks of red light filled the air. Starlight nodded. Now that the approaches were being bombarded, no more…The roof above shattered as a pair of fighting dragons came crashing through. There were screams and Starlight leapt out of the way as debris fell all around them.
Debris continued to fall as the dragons knocked each other into the bridges, and shot beams of fire and ice at one another. As the debris fell, it piled up to form new pathways down to where the main battle was going on. The elementals took full advantage and started rushing down the makeshift pathways.
Starlight’s blade met the cleaver of a Revenant’s as they battled. He ducked down as the Revenant tried to decapitate him with a slash, and Starlight thrust upwards with his blades while the elemental was vulnerable. The Revenant exploded and he was thrown back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Callista and Maelstrom fighting a pack of Frostbites together. Back to back, they were fending them off.
A hoof grabbed him and pulled him aside. Cadance looked into his eyes. “We have to start moving upwards!”
He nodded and took flight. King Lightheart joined them, Maelstrom and Callista joined them as well as they flew upward. As was the plan. Princess Cadance nodded. “Alright, we have to engage Snowhoof on the pinnacle while the rest fight below. Our dragons will prevent reinforcements from arriving as long as they can.”
Starlight nodded. Down below he could see the battle ensuing. Bright streaks and sparks of unicorn magic, the clang of steel meeting steel, Revenant explosions, the citadel rung with the sounds of battle. Starlight barreled out of the way as more debris fell from the roof. He had to look upward now. There was the crash of the debris hitting the ground and there was a chorus of screams from down below. “Keep going!” Cadance yelled.
Starlight continued flying upward, the entrance to the citadel pinnacle getting closer and closer. The sound of a metal wires whizzing towards them startled Starlight. He looked up ahead and saw a grid of razor sharp metal wires descending towards them, sliding down using metal pipes.
The two dragons were still fighting overhead, and the fire dragon pushed the ice dragon into the path of the grid. The metal wires cut right through the dragon, literally dicing him. There was a shower of gore, and the fire dragon roared in triumph. But now the grid was headed right for them.
Starlight’s first instinct was to get out of the way, but Lightheart held him steady. “We have to destroy the grid or it’ll kill everyone down below!”
Everyone nodded. “Blast the railings the grid is using to slide down!” Lightheart yelled.
Princess Cadance unleashed a beam at the steel railing, melting it completely. Starlight rushed to another one, slashing it in half with his blades. Maelstrom and Callista kicked theirs with such strength that the metal shattered. “Hell yeah!” Maelstrom shouted in triumph.
They drew back, but the moment the descending grid met the broken rails, it shattered. The grid broke into a mess of falling razor sharp steel. Princess Cadance created a shield for everyone, but Starlight was out of range. There was blinding pain and he found himself falling out of the sky. There was nothing but a bloody stump where his right wing was supposed to be and he was spiraling downwards.
Lightheart caught him and pulled him upward, but they looked up and saw another razor grid descending towards them. “Get into the side passages!” Cadance yelled. “We have to find another way up!”
“But the soldiers down below!” Callista yelled. “The grid will kill them!”
The fire dragon roared from above. “I’ll take care of it! You guys get to the top!”
Starlight nodded and Lightheart threw him into the door which once had a bridge connected to it. Everyone tumbled into the passageway, gasping for breath. Starlight picked himself up, dizzy. He saw a staircase up ahead, a faint blue light illuminating the steps. “I guess that’s our way up,” he said.
Starlight checked to see if everyone was here, but he noticed that Brightmane was missing. “Where’s Brightmane? I haven’t seen him at all.”
Princess Cadance nodded. “He’s fighting with Vaelan. Don’t worry about it.”
Starlight nodded and they made their way to the stairs. After a dozen flights of stairs later, they arrived at what appeared to be the pinnacle. The stairs had led them up into a large room, with windows all around them. It appeared to be some kind of observatory.
Ahead of them was another steel gate. It was adorned with diamonds, sapphires, and lined with silver. Snowhoof’s figure was etched into the door, and there were words written above him. “Winter brings death, so new life can emerge in the Spring.” There were more words that had recently been etched into the metal door. “As nature intended to be, for the sake of harmony.” Scratched more erratically on the edge it said. “A necessary evil,” it was written in red, and Starlight realized it was blood.
They all approached the door warily. “This is it,” Callista said. “Snowhoof is behind that door.”
Maelstrom agreed. “Yeah, we kick his ass and make him tell us where Luna is.”
“And I will finally avenge my husband’s death,” Cadance said with an edge in her voice that made Starlight uneasy. She looked at him then, noticing his missing wing. “Come here.”
The stump was bleeding again, and she put her horn against it. Starlight clenched his teeth. He screamed as a skeletal wing sprouted from the stump. The bones were then laced with muscles and tendons, covered with slivers of fat, and wrapped in skin and feathers. Princess Cadance gasped, exhausted.
Starlight moved his new wing around, the new bone still sore. “Thanks” he whispered. Princess Cadance nodded and stood up, catching her breath.
Starlight looked at the massive doors. It appeared to be sealed. Princess Cadance approached it. “This door can only be opened with alicorn magic,” she looked around at all of them. “Are you all ready for the final confrontation?”
Starlight’s new wing was stinging him, other than that, he was ready. Princess Cadance’s horn began to glow, filling the observatory with a pink light. Starlight steeled himself. The hour of justice had come.