//------------------------------// // I hope we hear a story from Cheerilee! // Story: The Frozen gate of Tartarus // by Optimistic Pessimist //------------------------------// The bell rung above the school yard, and all the little children and fillies filed in from the schoolyard. They took their seats and looked around, talking and laughing like the little kids they were. A rose colored mare walked in and took her place behind a desk in front of the classroom. "Good afternoon class!" All the little children turned their heads. "Good afternoon, Ms. Cheerilee!" Cheerilee smiled. "Thank you. Now, you all know what time it is right?" The children looked back and forth at each other, and one by one they shook their heads. "No? It's Friday! Just after recess!" A skinny pegasus colt raised his hoof. "Story Time!" Cheerilee smiled. "That's right Featherweight! It's story time!" The class cheered as Cheerilee took out a book. "Today I am going to read a legend! Can anyone tell me what a legend is?" A young filly pegasus waved her hoof eagerly. "Yes Scootaloo?" The filly sat forward excitedly. "A legend is a story about a mythical power that do awesome things!" An earth pony looked over smugly. "What're you, a dictionary?" The pegasus looked over indignantly. "Be quiet Applebloom!" Cheerilee shook her head. "Alright class! I chose a story that has been translated from pre-Equestrian history! It's very entertaining! At least, it is too me. So sit back, and enjoy!" The class sat back in their seat as Cheerilee cleared her throat. ~~~~ Cyroxim was the third son of a sick mother and a dying father. He was kicked out when he was just three. His mother couldn't support a third child, and his father saw no use in what little magic he did. His siblings could do nothing as they watched him get thrown far from the place he called home. It was the time of eternal winter, and he was cold. His ate the snow off rocks, and drank the ice from lakes. He traveled far and high, reaching for a welcome meal and a roof over his head, but his efforts bore no fruit. He met the pegasi and the earth ponies, and they shared nothing with him, what little they had was only enough for them, and no pony else. Slowly, his warm heart became as cold as the snow around him. He could not dwell in that place anymore. Had he lingered any longer, his heart would freeze his soul. So he left. He traveled anywhere, just not the place behind him. The more he walked, the more he thought, and the more he thought his heart grew ever colder. Hatred boiled in his frozen heart. Ponies who claim to have saw him are plagued with the hellish blizzards of the Windigoes that flocked to him like birds to bread. Many say he was the first of pony kind to ever see green grass and blue skies, but he could never reach them. The cold of his heart froze the ground beneath his hooves, and the Windigoes above him plagued the place with ice and hail. And so sadly he wandered on. But one day, he stopped by a cave, and noticed. Only there was there no snow. Only there could he stand on the ground, and not on any layer of snow. For a fraction of a second, his heart flickered with hope. The three headed dog Cerberus came up and confronted him, preventing him from reaching whatever place of warmth was behind it. In rage, the unicorn called upon a deep magic from within and in a blast of blizzard ice and solid hail, blew the beast away. Left without a guard, evils untold came out from the depths of the cave. Demons and imps, burning with hate and anger came out. One by one they stopped by him, and one by one they began to laugh. Jeers and taunts unlike any ever screamed. He didn't like that. He fought back the demons, and threw them back into the caves from whence they came. When Cerberus awoke, he ran away in fear. It is unclear of what. Whether it was the ice that grew over the heart of the unicorn, or the great inferno titan that came up from the cave. Cronus, he called himself, and his goal was to conquer the land for the burning demons from within the dark recesses of Tartarus. The cold of his heart couldn't bear the sight of a land ruled by demons. So for thirteen days and thirteen nights, the lone unicorn fought Cronus. Like fire set on ice, so Chronus was set on him. The titan was bested, and he, all but dead. The demons watched in horror as their great ruler was bested, and as one they fled, bringing the inferno of Tartarus with them. He laid there, as the ground around him was soon layered in snow, and his own body, frozen from the cold within his heart. It is said that when Cerberus flees from his post as guard of Tartarus, the world will be warm enough again to melt the ice that imprisons the Frozen Gate of Tartarus. ~~~~ Cheerilee looked up from the story book. She looked around the classroom to find the awestruck eyes of the children. Scootaloo raised her hoof. "Ms. Cheerilee?" The teacher nodded her head. "Was that a true story?" The teacher only smiled. "It's only a legend, Scootaloo. It probably isn't real."