Twilight woke up in the middle of the night shivering. She looked around the dark expanse. She yawned and slowly rose to her hooves. She ducked again after hitting her head on a low ceiling. She was confused. The unicorn remembered falling asleep under a tree, not in a house.
Her horn lit up with purple magic, and she looked around. She was standing in a small room, made entirely out of ice. There was a small opening in the top, bent to presumably keep the snow and anything else from falling in. She looked down to see the remains of a small campfire. The trunk of the tree was visible through on one side of the room, and the exit directly opposite. Twilight stepped outside.
It was still as cold as ever. The snow was blowing hard at Twilights face, and she had to conjure a small magical barrier to keep the frost bite off. A loud thud startled her, and she walked slowly to the source of the noise.
Twilight Sparkle walked out to a small clearing in the forest. There was nothing but snow and ice, all around the place. Twilight scanned the clearing to find a large icicle stuck into the ground. Twilight looked to the left to find Cyroxim. He was slightly out of breath, but it was hard to tell. His breath didn't steam in the cold like Twilights'.
She stepped out. Cyroxim turned his head. "Morning." Twilight nodded in response. She just woke up, and the cold didn't help. Twilight watched as the unicorn slammed his front hoof into the icicle.
The icicle shattered into a million shards, leaving behind a large weapon. Twilight recognized it as an executioners' blade. She could tell because of it's flat tip. But the one he wielded was easily thrice as broad, and Twilight guessed about three times as heavy.
The unicorn held his sword down. His horn lit up a frosty blue, and the ice shards flew into the earth. Twilight could imagine an easy twenty deaths. Cyroxim swung his blade up from resting position, cleaving the area in front. Another enemy split in half. Expertly manipulating the momentum from his first swing, he propelled himself a few inches in the air, spinning like a tornado. Ten opponents decapitated.
He swung his sword in midair, taking advantage of the blades' weight to gain a few more inches. He slammed his blade into the ground, tip first. With the blade at such a width, it made a great guillotine.
He landed on the ground next to his blade, and with his hoof, shattered the hilt of the blade into icicle shards. They flew out with devastating speed, completely leveling the distant treeline. Twilight could tell his technique was to deal as much damage as possible, to as many enemies as possible. She could see why he could handle the armies of Tartarus alone.
Twilight watched as he slammed the remains of the blade into the ground. A large glacier suddenly broke through the ground, spewing dirt and grass everywhere. Cyroxim twisted his hoof, and three dozen lethal frozen pikes instantly branched off the large ice formation. Whatever enemy launched by the glacier would be skewered like a marshmallow on a stick.
He wasn't done yet. Twilight watched as he rushed towards the glacier and lifted it up by one of the sharp protrusions. Twilight gasped as he lifted it out of the ground with little effort. "The tip of the iceberg..." Twilight was amazed to find it was actually three times as large as what she originally thought. He swung it like a large hammer. The sheer force of the impact would have killed anything. Anything close enough to the hammer would be ripped to shreds.
He lifted himself into the air with another swing of the giant improvised hammer. After flying ten feet into the air, he launched the icicle towards the earth. Twilight was literally shaken down to the ground from the impact it made.
Cyroxim landed on the ground like a snowflake. Twilight stared in awe at what she just witnessed. His skill was unparalleled, even if his magic wasn't involved most of the time. She walked out to the plain.
"Wow! That was brilliant! How did you learn to do that?" Cyroxim walked past Twilight and placed his hoof gently on the large icicle that jutted from the ground. A soft crackling could be heard, and it blew away like snowflakes. "I've had my fair share of encounters with dragons and hydras on my travels. Wasn't too hard."
Twilight stared in amazement. Dragons and Hydras? He didn't look like one who had any ability to engage the monsters in combat, let alone one on one.
Then again, he never looked like anything he seemed. He was always so distant. The entire time they were traveling, she didn't hear a single word except for responses to her questions. He was always looking to the sky or to the horizon. Occasionally Twilight would find him staring at her thoughtfully, only to have him turn back quickly. Whenever he answered a question, he was often vague, enough to be misunderstood. And he was misunderstood often. He often had to clarify when Twilight asked about something.
"Why are you up so late?" Cyroxim stood up straight. "I could ask the same thing." Twilight looked back to where the igloo was. "Well it was getting kind of cold, and I woke up in an igloo..." Cyroxim looked over. "I noticed that you were shivering. I decided to build a small igloo over you to keep the cold off. Apparently you're not used to it." Twilight smiled. At least he wasn't apathetic.
"You haven't slept a wink, have you?" Cyroxim didn't respond. He looked into the sky, staring at the Windigoes flying close by. "I haven't slept except for that time in the ice. I was afraid I'd freeze over." He tapped the ice chunk on the left side of his chest. "I think this froze over my heart."
Twilight smiled. "If it helps, you could sleep next to me." The colt looked over in surprise. "What? Please, I could never-" Twilight smiled. "I'm a little more used to the cold now. I think I'll be fine with you." Cyroxim shook his head. "No, it's too dangerous. I could freeze us both." Twilight giggled. "Aw, don't worry about it, Cyro." Her hoof flew to her mouth. She just called him Cyro.
Cyroxim just shook his head. "Never heard that nickname before. Don't worry about it." He sighed as he walked towards the igloo. "If you insist, Twilight..."
Twilight Sparkle stared for a while, and began to smile. Maybe that cold heart of his wasn't so cold after all.