//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Fire and Ice 
// by X3n0heart 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3: The Darkest Hour


Fenix frantically flapped his wings looking for a place to hide and perhaps get some rest and tend to some of his wounds. Landing as quietly as he could near one of the buildings he tried the door and found it locked. Another door, another lock. Fenix tried a few more doors and received the same result. All locked. Granted it was late and everypony must be asleep now but that didn't stop him. He needed to get out of this cold weather and give his body a chance to regain some of it's strength back. 
He noticed another building across the street which he could try but it was a bit risky. Hiding in the shadows of the building he was standing next to he took a few breaths and leaned against it as his vision blurred a little. Shaking his head he steadied himself and looked both ways as he listened closely. Fenix nodded to himself and pushed off the ground flying as quickly as he could to this lone round building. Landing with a grunt he checked the door and found that it was unlocked and swiftly stepped inside quietly as he could.
A tiny gasp was heard behind him as soon as he shut the door and locked it. Turning around quickly at the sound Fenix was staring at a wide eyed filly levitating a small glass a water next to her. "It's you!" she squeaked as her magic failed and the glass dropped to the ground spilling water everywhere. "Oops, she's going to kill me.." she said softly before turning back to the orange pegasus. Fenix spun around and tried to get the door unlocked as quickly as he had locked it but was having trouble fumbling with the lock and door for his vision was becoming more and more dark.
The little filly galloped over to him and placed a hoof on his arm. "Wait, I'm not going to hurt you." She had a soft kind voice as Fenix stopped fumbling with the door and looked down at her before swaying slightly and falling over staining the floor blood red which a few drops landed on the filly's face. "Ughhh now she's REALLY going to kill me." she said again.
Fenix awoke with a groan and slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was laying near a fireplace with a lit fire going. Something felt strange on his head as he reached a hoof up and felt some loose bandages that were wrapped around his head. He also felt some around his body as well as he tried to get up but his legs just didn't have the strength to hold him and he fell back down wincing with pain.
"Please try not to move." said that sweet sounding voice as the filly came into view with some more bandages and more clean towels. Fenix now noticed the slight glow around the objects and his eyes drifted to her horn which made him want to get up and get out of there yet his legs refused to move anymore until he got some rest. "Do not be afraid. I'm trying to help you." she said as she sat down the supplies next to him and started to clean off his face with one of the fresh towels.
"My name is Sweetie Bell. What's yours?" she asked him as she dipped the bloody towel into the water and started wiping the rest of his face clean.
"Fenix Fire." he replied to the filly. Why was this little unicorn helping him? She is definitely not like those older ones that he saw in the town earlier today. She finished with his head and reapplied some fresh bandages before she started removing the ones around his body. Fenix winced once more as she unwrapped them and tossed them into the garbage. 
"I'm sorry, did that hurt?" she asked quietly.
"Not as bad as I thought." he smiled to her putting on a brave face. His back was full of lacerations both big and small. The smaller ones have stopped bleeding but a few of the larger cuts were still flowing. 
"Oh dear. Umm.." Sweetie Bell looked around and added, "I'll be right back. Gotta get something to stop the bleeding before I make a bigger mess and my sister really really kills me." She galloped out of the room leaving Fenix alone with the crackling of the fire place as he laid his head on his arms and relaxed as his eyes started to slowly close. A moment later they snapped back open as he heard hoof steps coming down the stairs as a shadow could be seen in the next room.
"Sweetie Bell," said that sophisticated voice he recognized from earlier, "what are you do..." Rarity stopped in the middle of the door unable to finish her sentence at the sight of the orange pegasus sitting on her floor dripping blood all over it. 
"Rarity!" squeaked Sweetie Bell as she came back into view with some more towels and strips of cloth. Looking down at her sister, Rarity's eyes shifted back to Fenix and then back down at the little pony. "Move you're in the way." she said as she pushed past her and placed the towels on Fenix's back trying to soak up the flowing blood before it covered the floor even more. Rarity just blinked a few times and then trotted into the room having regained her composure. 
"Sweetie Bell can I speak to you for a moment?" she asked politely. 
"Try not to move, okay?" Sweetie Bell told Fenix as he nodded slightly to her. As the two unicorns moved to the far side of the room, Fenix twitched his ears in their direction as he could still hear them.
"What is HE doing here, Sweetie Bell?" Rarity demanded.
"Well when I went down stairs to get some water I saw him standing by the door."
"Don't tell me you forgot to lock it again..." she sighed.
"Sorry..." Rarity looked past her sister over at Fenix as he turned his attention to the fire and replaced his head back on his arms remaining as still as possible.
"Well what's done is done I guess." she said as her eyes focused back on Sweetie Bell. "Let's get him cleaned up." Rarity added as Sweetie Bell smiled and they both stepped over towards Fenix. His eyes watched them carefully as the unicorns approached him and Sweetie Bell sat down next to him as Rarity took over with the cleaning and bandaging. She completely undid and replaced everything that Sweetie Bell had did and made sure everything was tight and secured and wouldn't come undone from just the slightest movements.
After about a good 20 minutes Rarity stepped back and smiled to herself. "There we go. He should be stable enough now to get some rest."
"Rarity," Sweetie Bell said as she looked over at her sister, "he has a name."
"Well isn't that nice of him. He hasn't been inclined to share it with anyone." she replied with a huff.
"He was with me." she beamed back with a smile.
"Congratulations." Rarity rolled her eyes.
"Maybe if you told him yours he will do the same?" Sweetie Bell offered as she looked over at Fenix. Rarity looked a bit nervous now and dug her hoof into the blood stained floor and sighed. Stepping closer to the orange pegasus she cleared her throat and formally introduced herself.
"My name is Rarity. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Fenix Fire." he said in that strange accent of his which made Rarity blink a few times.
"I like the way he talks." giggled Sweetie Bell covering her mouth with a hoof.
"Sweetie Bell! Don't say things like that." Rarity quickly scolded her sister.
"What? I do." she replied back. 
"I'm sorry about that." Rarity told Fenix turning to him and started cleaning the area up. 
"It is alright." he replied as he noticed Sweetie Bell move closer to him. He looked over at her and smiled as her eyes strayed to his wings.
"Well that's about all I can do for now. Guess we'll just have to clean up the rest in the morning. Well Mr. Fire," she started as she walked back over and sat down opposite of him.
"Fenix."
"I'm sorry?"
"Please call me Fenix."
"Oh yes, but of course. Well Mr. Fenix," Rarity started again.
"Just Fenix." he interrupted once again.
"As you wish." Rarity agreed feeling a bit annoyed with all the interruptions. "Well, Fenix, you can stay here for the night but you must leave in the morning." Looking over him once again she tilted her head and asked, "By the way how did you get out of the cage?"
"I jumped." he stated.
"You...jumped?" she repeated.
"Yes. I jumped until I was free."
"Hmmm." Rarity thought for a moment. "That would explain these cuts all over your head and back. That is quite impressive." She smiled at him before putting another piece of wood on the fire. "But I have to admit," she added before turning her attention back to Fenix, "you are a strange looking pegasus. No offense intended." 
"None taken. Ever since I was," Fenix searched for the right word before continuing, "brought here, I have been told that quite a number of times. Do I really look that different?" he asked her.
"Well," Rarity tried to say delinquently, "yes and no. You look like every other pegasus but the size and shape of your wings are very different." she explained as best as she could. Fenix sat up slowly and stretched out his left wing which covered Sweetie Bell as he turned it from side to side and slowly flapped it a few times.
"I like them." Sweetie Bell said as she touched a hoof to his feathers. "They even feel a bit softer than Fluttershy's too." she commented as he lowered his wing to let her play with it.
"They don't seem so different to me." he said looking back over to Rarity.
"Well yes, but tell me about yourself. I know you are not from Ponyville or anywhere near by, where are you from?"
"Far to the south. Past the San Palomino Desert lies a small village with only about 100 ponies living there." Fenix answered.
"So why are you all the way up here in Ponyville?" 
"It wasn't by choice." he said turning his head to look into the fire. "I was brought here somehow..."
"Twilight..." Rarity said more to herself than to him.
"Yes. That purple unicorn must have done it. She was the one that captured me and locked me in that cage." he said as he turned back towards Rarity glaring.
"She did mention a while back that she was working on a new spell to find and bring back the pegasi to help wrap up winter." Rarity thought aloud.
"What do you mean bring back the pegasi?" Fenix questioned.
"You don't know?" she asked. Fenix just shook his head not really knowing to what she was referring to. A slight movement to his left caused him to look down and he saw Sweetie Bell fast asleep curled up against the soft feathers of his wing. "Let me put her to bed and the I'll explain."
"She isn't bothering me." he said as she smiled down at the little filly. "Please continue."
"Very well then. About three years ago there was a power struggle between the Wonderbolts. Half of them didn't want to help clear the skies anymore and said the magic of the unicorns was more than sufficient the other half said it was their duty as pegasi to help out where they are needed. Well that cause a big uproar in Cloudsdale which in turn lead to a violent civil war in which over half of the pegasi were killed. The remaining flew off in all directions leaving the unicorns and earth ponies to deal with the weather themselves. The first winter after that was really rough here in Ponyville. We only had a few pegasi to help clean up the snow for Twilight refused to use her magic to help for it wasn't the earth pony tradition.
"We barely made it through that one but the following one was even worse. We couldn't clear the skies fast enough before another storm hit us covering everything up with even deeper snow. The other 3 pegasi that lived here left soon after the storm passed which left us with only two: Fluttershy and Rainbow..." Rarity seemed to stop there and pause for a moment wiping her eyes with a hoof before continuing. "Rainbow Dash. Just the two of them couldn't handle it all and Fluttershy being a weak flier made things that much more complicated. That's when Rainbow came up with the idea of using a sonic rain boom to clear away all the sky and melt all the snow all at once but she was voted out and we tried wrapping up winter the traditional way."
Getting up on her hooves she stepped towards the door and called back, "I'm going to make us some tea." Leaving Fenix once again in the quietness of the room, the only sounds coming from the warm fire place and the soft snoring of the filly wrapped up in his wing. Looking down at Sweetie Bell he thought that not all unicorns are bad or evil. Just the one called Twilight Sparkle. It wasn't long before Rarity returned levitating a try with two cups and a small tea pot. She placed it between them on the floor and poured each of them a cup of tea. Taking a sip from her cup she closed her eyes and gave a slight sound of enjoyment.
"Thank you." Fenix said as he took a drink from his own cup before putting it back down and asked, "What do you think she wants with me? Or even with the other two pegasi still locked in their cages?"
"To be honest I believe she is trying to get enough of them to end this year long winter we've been stuck in. Without the pegasi to move the clouds they have just been building up over Ponyville."
"So why doesn't Twilight just use her magic then to make it all go away?" Fenix asked.
"Two reasons. First because it's not the Ponyville way to use magic to wrap up winter. Second is that she doesn't know any weather magic. All the unicorns that knew that type of magic left when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna left taking Canterlot with them."
"What's a canterlot?"
Right as Fenix asked that Rarity was taking a sip from her cup and started to chock on her tea as she spat some of it out. After cleaning off her mussel she gave him a funny look. "Tell me you're not serious. You are joking right?" she asked. Fenix just shook his head and remained silent as he waited for her answer. 
Placing a hoof to her face she explained once again. "Canterlot was the royal city of Equestria where the two sisters lived. Once the civil war broke out both Princess' put up a protective barrier around Canterlot and when things got really bad they just took the city and vanished. One minute it was sitting on the side of the mountain and the next there was this super bright glow and when the light faded the castle was gone. Most of the unicorns lived in Canterlot and all the ones that knew weather magic they took with them. So that is why I believe Twilight is trying to round up more pegasi so she can end all this." 
"I see." Fenix said as he looked at his cup that has barely been touched. "There's a slight problem though...I don't know how to do any of that." he confessed. Rarity sat there opened mouthed for a moment before catching herself and bringing her composure back.
"You mean to tell me that you don't know how to move clouds even though you are a pegasus?" she asked in shock. Fenix continued to look down and just slightly nod for an answer. "Well then. Perhaps you were brought here for a greater purpose." Rarity added. 
Looking up at her Fenix had a few questions of his own. "This, magic, of her's...can she use it again?"
Thinking about her answer she replied, "Only once every few weeks I believe. Twilight told me about it and how after the first time she tried using it it completely drained her of all her magical powers." Fenix nodded and asked another.
"How many times has she used it?"
"I'm really not to sure," she shook her head. "Only a hoof full of times I think. There was once or twice where it didn't work now that I think about it and she wanted some advice from me but I couldn't help her out. It was to advanced for me."
"Okay. One last question," he said changing the subject, "I need to free the other two pegasi but it would go a lot faster if I had some magical help. Will you help me unlock their cages?" Rarity just blinked at him and sat back at his strait forwardness. "Rainbow Dash was right. There is a really big storm coming which will make things a lot worse for everypony. I don't want them to die like that...in those cages." he looked away in disgust. 
"I..." she started before looking at the sleeping form of Sweetie Bell as she moved slightly moaning something about the Crusaders and their next mission to find their cutie marks. "I don't know if I can. Twilight is very powerful when it comes to magic." she told him. "Let's get some rest and talk about this again in the morning." she added as she stood up and levitated the tray and began to walk out with it. Stopping at the door she turned her head and smiled sweetly at Fenix making him turn away and blushing slightly.
"I'll leave Sweetie Bell down here with you. She looks so peaceful and I wouldn't want to wake her. Good night Fenix."
"G'night Rarity." he said as he turned his face towards the fire and laid his head back down. He felt Sweetie Bell move closer to him and he adjusted his wing to cover her more as he closed his eyes and let his aching body relax and slowly drift off to sleep. 
It seemed like it was only minutes when he awoke to the sound of knocking on Rarity's door. Fenix lifted his head and turned his ears towards the sound and wondered if he was still dreaming. There was another knock on the door and his eyes focused and the sleepiness faded away as he now knew that someone was actually at the door. Sweetie Bell stirred from under his wing and sat up as Fenix lifted it to give her some more room.
Yawning she said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "I'll get it." Stretching, Sweetie Bell got about half way to the door when there was another knock and a voice could be heard loud enough but still a bit muffled.
"Rarity are you up? It's Twilight Sparkle. We were supposed to get breakfast this morning." The sound of another knock could be heard this time seeming a bit impatient. Sweetie Bell stopped and looked back at Fenix and then to the stairs as Rarity walked clumsily down them.
"Yes yes I'm up now." she said to herself as she reached the bottom stair. Sweetie Bell dashed over to her and shook her sister.
"Rarity! It's Twilight!" she squeaked once again. "What are we going to do?"
"Twilight you say?" she blinked the sleep out of her eyes a few times before it hit her. "Oh shit, Twilight is here! Is it morning already?" Rarity looked frantically about as her eyes spotted Fenix trying to stand on his own leaning against the wall. "Distract her Sweetie Bell while I find a place to hide Fenix." she told her sister as she galloped over to the pegasus. "Come with me." she told him as she helped him walk into a side room.
When they were out of view Sweetie Bell took a deep breath and then opened the door with a smile greeting the purple unicorn. "Good morning Twilight."
"Oh good morning Sweetie Bell. I'm sorry if I woke you up but is your sister awake? We had an important breakfast meeting to go to." 
"Umm she's getting ready and will be down in a few minutes." she told her.
"Oh that's good. Mind if I wait inside? It's a bit chilly out here this morning." Twilight said as she tried to push open the door so she could enter. Sweetie Bell quickly stopped it which halted Twilight and she looked confused at the little filly.
"It's not safe in here. She was up all night and it's a big mess in here right now." Sweetie Bell was trying her best to convince Twilight to stay outside.  
"Oh that's alright." She smiled at the filly before pushing the door open with her magic knocking Sweetie Bell out of the way and trotted inside. Twilight only got a few feet inside before she came to a sudden stop, eyes wide as she looked around the main room and the blood on the floor. Her eyes followed the trail of blood which looked like something was dragged into a side room before disappearing around the doorway. 
"Oh my gosh." she said quietly. "What happened in here? Is everypony alright?" she turned and looked at Sweetie Bell waiting for an answer. At that time Rarity walked into the room and broke Twilight's concentration on her little sister.
"Twilight, shall we be off? I'm starving and would like to get something to eat." she tried to distract her from what she was seeing. 
"In a moment Rarity." she said as her eyes continued to take in her surroundings. Twilight also saw that both Sweetie Bell and Rarity both had dried blood in the manes, tails and on their bodies. "Rarity what happened in here?" she asked more seriously this time.
"Oh it's nothing dear. I was trying out some new designs and Sweetie Bell was helping me out." she laughed it off as if it was nothing. She could tell that Twilight was only half buying her idea. Trying to change the subject again she added as she stepped closer to the front door, "Shall we be off? Otherwise we'll be late and the food will get cold." Rarity held a hoof out towards the door waiting for Twilight to go first. Just as Twilight turned and started for the door Spike came running in huffing and puffing from being out of breath.
"Twilight. Gone. Pegasus. Two." he sputtered as he tried to catch his breath.
"Whoa slow down Spike. Take a moment and catch your breath then try again." she told him as she stepped over to him. After a few moments and his breathing returned to normal he explained.
"When I went to check on the pegasi this morning, like you always make me do, there were only two of them in their cages still." He told her. "The orange one with the funny accent and strange wings was missing. Not only that but the top of the cage was broken and there was blood all over the ground." 
"WHAT?!?" Twilight growled taking a step back. "How is that possible? Nothing can break through those bars." she yelled at him. Spike just took a step back and remained silent. Twilight started pacing back and forth thinking to herself and muttering about how her magic held the bars together and other magical spells that she cast upon the cages.
"Twilight dear," Rarity started, "perhaps we can talk about this over breakfast?" she insisted.
"Rarity this isn't the time to be thinking about food." she said angrily back still half muttering to herself. "One of the pegasi have escaped and we need to find him now!" Twilight stopped in mid hoof and looked at the ground then it hit her like a lightning bolt. Turning slowly to face Rarity she eyes went cold as ice as she spoke between clenched teeth.
"Where. Is. He." Twilight took a step towards Rarity.
Laughing slightly to lighten the mood she shrugged, "I don't know what you are talking about dear."
Another step forward. "Rarity you WILL tell me where he is." she growled lowering her head a bit.
"Twilight please stop this." she said as she moved towards Sweetie Bell putting her behind her.
"Stop? You're telling me what to do now?" she lifted her head and looked down her mussel at Rarity.
"No I'm just trying to keep things calm here."
"Oh I AM calm." Taking another step towards Rarity she continued, "I know he was here. Look at all this." she waved a hoof at all the blood stains on the floor and the tracks that lead into the other room. "I swear to Luna that if you don't tell me where he is there will be more than just a few smears of blood on the floor to clean up." Twilight threatened.
"Twilight what's gotten in to you?" Rarity tried to reason with her friend. "Why are you acting like this?" she seemed a bit frightened of her now as she took a step backwards with Sweetie Bell hiding in her tail.
"What's gotten into me?" she repeated. "The question should be what's gotten into everypony else. It seems like everypony is content with it being winter all year long!" she huffed at her friend. "But I have a plan to save everypony and get the seasons back on track." Twilight laughed and then looked at Rarity again before her eyes shifted to the hiding form of Sweetie Bell. "Last chance. Tell me where he is, now!"
"I don't know..." she said as she watched Twilight closely.
"Okay then." Twilight's horn started to glow and a scream came from behind Rarity as Sweetie Bell was floating, wrapped in her magic as she held the little filly up above in between both of them.
"Put her down, Twilight!" Rarity called.
"Tell me where he is."
"I already told you, I don't know." Rarity's eyes stayed on Sweetie Bell.
"Rarity help me!" the filly cried to her big sister.
"Yes you do now tell me!" Twilight said getting more angry with each passing moment. "Tell me now or I won't be responsible for what will happen next." she warned.
Rarity looked at Twilight now with a scared concerned look in her eyes. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh I don't know..." Twilight shrugged and added, "perhaps something like this." At that moment a loud crack could be heard followed by a high pitched scream as Rarity's eyes shot up to her sister. One of Sweetie Bell's back legs was bent unnaturally backwards as the little filly cried and screamed from the pain.
"Oh my no..." Rarity cried. "No more Twilight. Please put her down. She's my only sister!" she begged the purple unicorn.
"Then tell me where that pegasus is hiding!" she angrily replied.
"I don't know!" Rarity repeated.
"Going with that again?" Another loud crack could be heard as Sweetie Bell's other back leg hung lifeless from her body.
"Rarity make it stop!" she cried, tears streaming down her young face. 
"Umm Twilight I think..." Spike started to interject but Twilight turned on him quickly. 
"Who said you could start thinking?" At that moment Rarity saw her chance and charged Twilight, head down aiming her horn directly at her heart. Unfortunately Twilight was slightly faster and Sweetie Bell slammed into her sister knocking them across the room. "That was a nice try but it looks like I'll be having breakfast alone this morning." Twilight stepped towards the two sisters and stopped standing above them. 
"Twilight...why...?" Rarity asked barely able to speak. 
"I don't have to explain anything to you." as her horn started to glow once again as Sweetie Bell started to move away from her big sister. Rarity held onto her for as long as she could before she was pulled away floating only feet above her. "I'll give you one more chance." she leaned close and whispered to her.
Between sobs Rarity finally gave her what she wanted. "Yes he was here. He said he was going to hurt Sweetie Bell if we didn't help him bandage his wounds and let him hide out for a few hours." She looked up at her little sister their eyes locking onto each other. "He left about 25 minutes ago and made us promise not to tell any pony. That's all I know!" she said holding out a hoof to Twilight.
"See that wasn't so hard, now was it?" she laughed as she turned around and started for the door where Spike was waiting silently. She stopped at the door and looked back towards Rarity. "Thank you, dear." and with that there was one more bone crunching snap and Twilight's horn stopped glowing as the limp form of Sweetie Bell hit the floor with a thud. Rarity's eyes went wide at the sight of her dead sister and fell into complete shock not able to even breath.
Twilight turned her head back around and stepped through the door closing it behind her and Spike. After a few minutes Fenix staggered his way out of his hiding place and over to Rarity placing a hoof on her shoulder and sat down next to her. The moment he touched her she collapsed into him and started weeping uncontrollably. There was nothing he could say or do save for just be there for her as his eyes watched the lifeless little filly that was sleeping next to him not only an hour ago. 
Rarity shifted and sat up next to Fenix and wiped her eyes. Turning to him she spoke softly, "I'll do it. I will help you free the other pegasi before any other pony gets hurt." Fenix put a hoof on her shoulders and just nodded to her.