//------------------------------// // Battle in the Blizzard // Story: An Ancient Threat // by Professor Tacitus //------------------------------// Searing-cold wind buffeted against the cloaks of the travelers. They shielded their eyes from the oppressive wind and shivered despite their best efforts to stay warm. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as hard as she could, but she was moving just as slow as the rest of her friends as they waded through the snow. Pinkie was the only one who seemed to not mind, as she bounced through the snow, sinking all the way to her chest before springing back up into the air. “How does she keep so upbeat in such miserable weather?” Tacitus wondered as he continued to shiver, the cloak Cadence had given him only helping so much. His nose was beginning to go numb. He hated that feeling. Using his magic, he brought his scarf up so that it covered his muzzle and tightened it. “Thanks mom,” he thought as feeling began to return to his muzzle. His hat slightly helped to keep him warm as well, the area it covered being cozy compared to the rest of his body. A sudden feeling of warmth and a bright green light caused Tacitus to look behind him. Small streams of fire escaped Spike’s mouth with every breath he took. He stood in the center of the group so that everyone could feel the warmth of his fire. “Good thinking Spike,” said Twilight. “Yeah,” Pinkie added. “Now we’re all nice and cozy.” “If only you could melt all this awful snow,” added Rarity. “Or if this dreadful storm could subside. This wind is bad for my mane, and the cold snow is ruining my hooficure. Not to mention my new cloak is getting dragged through this filth.” Tacitus leaned close to Applejack. “Does she always whine like this?” he whispered. Apparently he didn’t whisper quietly enough. “Excuse me,” Rarity said indignantly, “but I am not whining, I am complaining. There is a difference. This is whining,” she took a deep breath, and began to speak in her whining voice. “Are we there yet? My hooves hurt. This saddlebag is heavy. Why is this taking so long?!” The girls and Spike began to laugh and Tacitus smiled as he rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry Rarity,” he said before looking back at Applejack. “Does she always complain like this?” Applejack giggled. “Yup.” This caused another round of laughter, even from Rarity. Tacitus laughed with them before he heard a strange voice. “Find it,” the voice said. “Huh?” Tacitus looked around but saw nothing. “You have to find it.” It sounded as if the wind itself were carrying the voice. “Find what?” Tacitus asked to no one. “Tacitus,” Twilight asked, “are you alright?” “Don’t you hear it?” Tacitus asked them. “Hear what?” responded Fluttershy. Tacitus listened for a moment for the voice to speak again, but all he heard was the howling of the wind. “Nothing…I guess. It must have just been the wind. Come on, we’re nearly there.” Tacitus continued to lead them forward through the blizzard, a large mountain shadowing them, until the old stone ruins built into the mountain range were just visible in the distance. That wasn’t all they saw. Standing on a low hill were five ponies cloaked in black. Their faces were hidden under the hoods of their cloaks and they stood perfectly still in the freezing cold, watching Tacitus and his friends approach. They all stopped when they saw the hooded figures, unsure of how to respond, until Twilight stepped forward. “Excuse me,” she called. “We’re here on a mission on behalf of Princess Celestia of Equestria. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends. Who are you and what are you doing here?” The one that stood in the center of the unknown group spoke. “We come bearing the word of our master. That word is: begone.” The strangers lit up their horns, revealing themselves to be unicorns. A loud rumbling echoed through storm, the world seemed to shake beneath their hooves. They looked and saw with horror a sheet of snow and rock rushing down the mountain and directly towards them at incredible speed. Tacitus turned to where the strangers had stood, but found that they had disappeared. He turned back to the avalanche that threatened to crush them. The avalanche was mere inches from them when he turned his gaze away from the spot where the strangers appeared. There was no way they could outrun it, no way for them to all escape. Tacitus stood frozen as the snow fell upon them. He closed his eyes and waited for the end. But the end didn’t come. He heard the snow crash into him, but he didn’t feel anything. He was still breathing and he didn’t feel as though he were covered in anything. Through the darkness of his closed eyes, he could see a faint pink light. He opened his eyes and saw a barrier of the same pink color separating him from the snow and stone. He looked around and saw his friends were in the barrier with him and Twilight’s horn was glowing brightly. “Quick thinkin’ there Twi!” Applejack said. “I reckon you just saved our lives.” “How positively rude!” Rarity exclaimed. “What kind of ruffians treat strangers like that?” Twilight spoke up. “I’m guessing the same kind that are behind whatever’s going on at Nova Domus. Come on, we need to go after them.” Her horn glowed more intensely, causing the dome she erected to glow brighter as well. Just as the light became blinding, her magic exploded outwards, melting the snow that surrounded them and setting them free. Once they were in the open air, they began to run towards the ruins. As he ran with them, Tacitus was internally kicking himself. “What the hay was I doing back there?! I could have put up that barrier, I could have saved us, but instead I just…froze up. If it weren’t for Twilight…we’d all be dead.” Tacitus continued to grow more and more frustrated with himself. “Why am I even here? They clearly could have been guided here by the guards, so what good am I?” He looked over to his friends. Celestia had agreed that he should go with them, and they had wanted him to go. Twilight had even refused the military guide in favor of him. So why did he feel so useless? So helpless? It wasn’t long before they were in the ruins themselves, surrounded on all sides by the crumbling fortress. But there was no sign of their assailants. Once again, Twilight took charge. “Everypony start looking around for clues, but don’t wander too far.” They followed her instructions and began searching, looking for anything that might lead to the whereabouts of their attackers or anything else of importance. The first time Tacitus had been here, when he’d first discovered Nova Domus, he’d been ecstatic. The ruins were peaceful and teeming with lost knowledge. Now, the ruins felt different. They felt threatening and…tainted somehow. As he sifted through the familiar, yet now unfamiliar, structure, his hoof knocked against something that felt as though it were made of metal. He looked down and saw something poking out of the snow. He used his magic to push aside the snow to reveal the object. He wished he hadn’t. Laying there was the still-helmeted head of a Crystal Empire guard. Its eyes stared in blank shock, and clotted blood covered the area where the neck was severed from the body. Tacitus looked at it in horror for a moment before retching violently in the snow. Steam rose up as the warm puke connected with the cold snow. The others seemed to hear him. "Tacitus what’s wrong? Did you find something?” It was Twilight who called. She and the others soon came to where he stood, staring into the distance. “You alright there partner? Yer lookin’ mighty pale.” “And what in Equestria made you-“ Rarity saw the head. “OH SWEET CELESTIA!” The others now looked and saw the grisly sight. Pinkie looked like she was about to join Tacitus is losing their lunch, Fluttershy had her eyes sealed tight and pretended not to see, and the others simply had the shocked stare that Tacitus now had. A collective shiver ran up their spines. A strange, unnatural wind blew through the ruins. Snow was blown away to reveal more bodies of more guards. Some had gaping holes in their chests, or deep lacerations across their barrels; all were dismembered in one form or another. As they looked in horror at the mangled bodies strewn across the ground, the source of that unnatural wind revealed itself. Appearing to emerge from the stones themselves, the cloaked ponies that they had encountered before, along with five more so that they totaled ten in number, revealed themselves. Their horns were glowing from spell they cast. “Take a good look. You’ll be joining them.” One of the unicorns charged his horn and sent a blast towards the group. It missed but succeeded in splitting them up. Their assailants fell upon them. After jumping clear of the blast, Tacitus began to search around for his friends, trying to make sure they were safe. He heard a familiar scream and turned to see Spike getting chased by a unicorn that was shooting magical blasts at him. Spike turned and breathed a jet of flame at his attacker, only for the unicorn to block it with a conjured shield. While the unicorn was distracted, Tacitus shot a beam at his side and knocked him away. “Are you alright?” he asked as he ran up to Spike. “Yeah, I’m goo-“ Another unicorn suddenly teleported next to Tacitus, a sword held in his magic and ready to take his head off. Spike quickly shot a gout of flame at the unicorn, this time striking true and leaving him charred and unconscious. “I think that makes us even,” Spike said with a satisfied smile. Tacitus wasn’t listening. He was frantically scanning the area for the rest of his friends. A series of grunts drew his attention upward, where he saw Rainbow Dash being chased by two pegasi. “Spike, find somewhere to hide and stay down.” “But I-“ But Tacitus was already rushing away towards the remains of a destroyed tower. In the air Rainbow continued to bob and weave, avoiding the arrows the pegasi shot at her. After gaining enough distance, she made an abrupt U-turn in the air and sped straight towards one of the pegasi. She slammed into him at break-neck speed and sent him hurtling towards the ground. She was about to repeat the process on the other pegasus, but with a flash of dark blue light, Tacitus appeared above the cloaked pegasus and shot him with a blast of magic before dive bombing him into the ground. Rainbow gasped at the sight and flew down to the crash site. Tacitus was slowly rising, his face scrunched in pain. “Whoa dude, are you alright? That was one heck of a drop.” “I’m fine.” Tacitus winced as he put weight on his right hind leg, but he ignored it and took off once more. As he moved through ruins, he seemed oblivious to the magical blasts and arrows that flew past his head, only narrowly dodging and blocking them. All that mattered to him was that he find where his friends were. His eyes were frantic as they scanned the battlefield for them, finally resting on the sight of Pinkie and Applejack facing down a unicorn and an earth pony. Applejack rushed at the earth pony and quickly spun around, bucking him hard in the chest. She continued to punch and kick at the hooded pony and had him on the defensive. Applejack was about throw another punch, but Tacitus teleported between her and the pony and blasted him point-blank. “You…alright…Applejack?” The strain of rushing all over the place was getting to him. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead despite the cold.The pain in his leg was getting worse, but he still ignored it. “Yeah, Ah’m fine. And Ah’m pretty sure Ah had the situation under control. But thank ya anyway, Ah guess.” The unicorn turned his attention to Tacitus and Applejack, his horn charging a powerful spell. Tacitus positioned himself between Applejack and their attacker, ready to put up a shield. However, the unicorn was soon blasted into a rock by a stream of confetti, balloons, and other party supplies. Tacitus looked over and saw Pinkie standing behind a large blue cannon with pink wheels that had flower designs on them. Smoke was rising from the barrel. “Pinkie, what the heck is that thing?” Tacitus asked. “I never go anywhere without my party cannon silly! Now, WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!” A crazed look overtook Pinkie’s face as she began to fire randomly in all directions, hitting a few more of their attackers. With that done, Tacitus resumed his search for the others. He saw Twilight locked in a duel with another unicorn, and was about to help, when he heard another scream. He looked for the source and saw Fluttershy buck an earth pony in the face before running away, the earth pony and a pegasus hot on her heels. “I’m coming Fluttershy!” Tacitus shouted as he ran towards her. He didn’t make it far before he was struck in the side by a magical blast. He heard someone shout his name, but he didn’t know who. He ignored it and kept running towards Fluttershy. Another blast hit him and he stumbled, but he continued to limp forward. A third blast hit him, and this time he couldn't remain standing. He collapsed on the ground and saw Fluttershy trapped, the earth pony and the pegasus closing in. He sent a blast from his horn and managed to knock out the earth pony. He continued to crawl forward. He couldn't feel his right hind leg, and he could see blood in the snow. A pair of unfamiliar hooves landed in front of him, and he could see the glow of an unfamiliar aura above his head. He looked up and saw a hooded unicorn charging up the spell that would end him. Tacitus tried to draw on his magic, but he was exhausted, spent. Fear overtook him as he waited for the blow. A streak of rainbow suddenly slammed into unicorn looming over him. Tacitus heard a smash like something hitting stone hard, followed by the sound of hooves meeting flesh. “Don’t. You. Touch. My. Friend!” Tacitus could hear Rainbow speak as each blow landed on his would-be killer. He turned his attention back toward Fluttershy, who was still facing down the pegasus. Tacitus tried to resume his crawl towards her, but found he didn’t have the strength to move. He was too weak to even call out to her. He could only watch as she slowly backed into a wall. Out of nowhere, Rarity emerged and struck the pegasus with a martial arts kick, leaving him out cold in the snow. “Normally, as a lady, I protest violence. But nopony, and I mean nopony, lays a hoof on Fluttershy!” Tacitus looked at the scene with relief. She was safe. He only hoped the others were too. His vision began to blur, but he could see his friends rushing over to him. They were all there. They were all safe. “Thank Celestia,” he thought. “They’re all okay.” Tacitus could see their lips moving. Were they talking to him? He didn’t know. All he could hear were muffled noises. He could feel something wet and warm forming a pool beneath him. His vision continued to cloud, and everything started to go dark. The dark edges of his eyes were closing in. He heard one voice call to him before the darkness engulfed his vision. “Find it.”