//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: A Pale Light // by Nobrains //------------------------------// Chapter Three The main city of Canterlot was no better than the castle was. Streets had been completely iced over, forcing Titus to take his time, or they could both fall harshly on the unforgiving ground. Stores and houses looked nothing like they had the day previous, the entrances were no longer distinguishable from any other part of the building, and on occasion they came across a couple of unfortunate ponies that had been caught out in the night at the wrong time. As they approached the gates leaving Canterlot, their hearts dropped into their stomachs. The entire entry had been frozen over, allowing no one to enter or leave. Why would the Icebringers cut themselves off from the rest of the land? Unless they had some way of bypassing this barrier. Titus looked around the walls of Canterlot, thinking of a way they could depart the doomed capital. Obviously height was their only chance, and the nearby guard tower presented such an opportunity to get ramparts overlooking the city. They crossed between several alleyways, finding a stray cat that had not yet suffered the same fate as the residents of Canterlot had received. They simply passed on by it, disheartened by the fact that they could do nothing for the stray cat. The sun was beginning to come up, and that was a spark of hope for Titus and Lyra. That meant that Celestia was still okay, and they felt a renewed vigor as Titus rounded the last alley, revealing the street containing the guard tower at the end. He wanted to sprint towards it, desperate to finally get away from all if this damn cold air. But nearly forgot where he was and slowed down just in time to find his footing on the streets once more. He was going to be so glad when this was all over. The door to the guard tower, to their surprise, had not been frosted over. But they could not say the same thing to the inside, or the guards residing in the barracks within. Some seemed to have remained sleeping, a haunting scene for them both to see some taken under the frost in their sleep. Some had simply been relaxing near a table, frozen in mid-sentence. All in all, they did not seem to be paying attention to the Icebringers that had come down on them. Titus found it strange that no one took notice to them or tried to resist, since the Icebringers seem to talk a lot before doing anything harsh. There was a ladder that did not seem too damaged from the encounter leading up to ramparts. Titus put Lyra down and had her go first, checking behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. He'd already been ambushed too many times in his life, and he was growing sick of it. That day in Warsong Gulch would forever live in infamy with him. To his relief, no ambush ever came and he followed Lyra up the ladder. The wind was blowing hard on the exposed ramparts, causing Titus' cape to blow around his body several times. He repeatedly forced it down as he joined Lyra who was looking out into the sky. “Look.” She said, gesturing towards the sun. “It’s stuck. The sun stopped moving.” Sure enough, the sun was stuck midway over the horizon. That was definitely not a good sign for them, it meant that something had happened to Celestia. Now they were really lost, they did not have anywhere to go, or an answer to all of these events conspiring. He looked down over the rampart and saw that the moat had frozen over along with the long trail up snowed up. They were going to have to walk down the mountain instead of taking the train this time. They still needed to at least try. The walls surrounding the main city weren't as tall as the ones surrounding the castle and Titus thought he could get them down there without being forced to pray to the Light once more. “Ready to start going?” Titus asked her. She didn't stop looking at the sun on the horizon. “What’s the point? Both the princesses are frozen and we're in some weird ice age world...” Titus went over to her and patted her on the head. “If there's one thing that I've been taught, is that we always need to at least try. Then we can say that we put as much effort into it as we could, even if we failed.” “Gee, we could fail?” She looked up to Titus, smiling sadly. “I didn't think that could happen.” “At least it's positive sarcasm..” Titus mumbled. He gestured towards his back. “Shall we?” “We shall.” with that, Lyra hopped onto his back for the umpteenth time, and Titus quickly slipped over the safety of the rampart, and onto the loose footing of the Canterlot first and foremost defense. With the use of his one good arm, he managed to get down safely and with no pressure. It was nice not being chased by the Icebringers for once. He landed on his feet and they were in front of the frozen barrier that blocked off Canterlot from within. How anything could have done this was hard to comprehend. He remembered back to the news he had heard about the Lich King, finding it the only thing he could relate to this beings, and that was not a good thought. If they were anywhere near the strength of the Lich King, then Titus might just have a problem solving this one. Lyra wasn't willing to let go this time and Titus was forced to continue down the mountain for both of them. The small path that was rarely tread did a number on his legs. No wonder most of the citizens of Equestria took the train instead of trekking up to Canterlot, it was way too much work, even on the way down. The path became extremely difficult to distinguish from the terrain leading down the mountain as the severity of the frost and snow only increased. Eventually, he was simply heading down the side of the steep mountain, desperate not to miss a step or risk the end for them both. He looked at the sun that was still stuck halfway in the horizon. Was it going to stay like this until they found a way to fix this? The entire area was blanketed in a orange haze from the phenomenon, and it was pretty, but gave a feeling that it wasn't natural. The rest of the walk to Ponyville was surprisingly uneventful. Apparently the Icebringers had not expected anyone to escape their grasp within Canterlot. It was a relief to them both, for they didn't have to pick up the pace as what looked like a horrible pale shadow of what was once Ponyville came into sight after walking for what seemed like an eternity. For the most part, it looked to be intact. On closer inspection it was just another area that had suffered from the presence of the Icebringers. Nothing had been spared their horrible touch, and the sight only brought down there spirits further. Streets they once knew were barely recognizable under the pale frosty haze. There was no sign of victims out on the streets, for it had been night only hours previous and the ponies had all been in the comfort of their homes. They could only guess what happened to them, however. Titus was looking for any landmark within the town that would give him a hint of where they were at. Several places where houses had once been were just mounds of snow, giving away any sense of direction within the icy settlement. All the wandering payed off when they finally found the center of town thanks to the water fountain.' From there, they found it rather to find their way back to home. When they arrived, it seemed rather untouched compared to the other buildings. Titus assumed it was because it was smaller and less foreboding than the other buildings of Ponyville. Lyra hopped off of Titus' back and tried to open up the door with her horn, but to no avail. It took a few bashes into the wood from the Paladin's shoulder to finally give them access to their small home. Inside nothing had moved, but that didn't mean a thing with the frost that crept into and across all things. Titus looked for his hammer among his few possessions strewn across their dwelling. He cringed as he saw his spare clothes that the nice pony that ran the boutique had made for him frozen solid. He hoped that his hammer had fared a better fate than his clothing. He searched far and wide, but found nothing. Where it had gone? Without it he felt useless and weak, and he wasn't sure any of the ponies he had seen around town had any sort of blacksmith experience. In fact, he didn't believe they made too many weapons in this world. Now he got really worried, knowing there was no way of replacing his weapon if he had lost it. “Lyra...? Do you know where my hammer is?” Titus asked while he searched with his hands under her bed. Lyra was going through the cupboard for supplies, but poked her head out at the question. “Yes... No... I mean yes... but I know you aren't going to like this...” Titus looked back at her. “What exactly happened this time?” She ducked her head back into the cupboard. “I.. I...” “Go on...” Titus urged. “I threw it on the roof...” Titus stood up. “What?” She perked her eyes up over the cupboard slowly. “I was.. practicing with it..” Titus frowned. “Why would you need to do that?” “What if you got hurt or something?” She came into sight. “I mean think about the time back past the Everfree forest! I saved you! What if you needed me again and I didn't know what to do with the hammer?” Titus stared at her in disbelief. “You didn't at least tell me?” “I wanted to surprise you...” “By losing my hammer on the roof?” “No...” He put his palm to his face and sighed. “We don't have time to discuss this anyways. Can you show me exactly where the hammer actually landed?” She dragged herself out of the house. “I guess I can...” They circled around to the back of the house, where there was nothing but several blocks of fire wood and a frozen over wooden stump. Evidence of Lyra's past actions were huge indents into the backside of the house's wall. Titus would need to really get her something to use the hammer on if she was going to make this an actual habit. “Well, lets see where it ended up.” The Paladin said, hopping onto the tree stump to get a better view of the miniature house's roof. Sure enough it was up there, stuck to the roof under a thin layer of ice. Ice and frost. Titus was really getting tired of the cold. When this was all over, he would need to go searching for a decent, tropical island or something in this world. Lyra was watching him intently from below, obviously still embarrassed. She was hoping that she would never have to tell Titus and she could simply deny the whole thing. But now that these annoying Icebringers were here causing all kinds of trouble across Equestria, she was forced to reveal her secret to him, or he would've been distraught over his supposedly lost hammer. She needed something like a weapon, she thought. That way she could help Titus with the fighting and they could fight back to back, taking on a swarm of evil. It wasn't like them against the world was anything new. While she mused about a romantic last stand, Titus was struggling across the roof, inching ever closer towards his object of prize. How he was going to get it free of the icy grasp upon it, he wasn't sure. That couldn't deter him, it was the key to any kind of salvation against any Icebringer if they had no sort of fire to use. His hand carefully crossed over the frozen handle, and he pulled as hard as he could. It wouldn't budge, and eventually he was standing over the weapon, trying fiercely to free the weapon from its prison. He was tired of it, and eventually was forced to activate a seal to strengthen his resolve. The light channeling in and around his body looked like a Beacon, from which he garnered his title. The sudden surge of strength was well more than what he needed and the hammer came loose, shattering the ice around it as Titus pulled it towards him. The force of the pull caused Titus to fall back and then he was falling off the roof. With an “oof!” he hit the snowy ground, his front end completely obscured from vision. He pulled his head up slowly, spitting out the snow that he had caught his mouth from the impact of the fall. He looked to see Lyra not even paying attention, her head down in deep thought. He was more relieved that he had regained his weapon, than he was angry at Lyra for not assisting him in anyway. The positives always had to outweigh the negatives, it was what he had been told back in the Cathedral of Light and it was part of who he was. He pushed himself up, and pulled his hammer from the snow. It was still blotched with several pockets of ice, but for the most part it was in better condition that he had hoped. Now he could at least defend himself if it got into a close up encounter. Now they needed to get to finding a way to find Celestia, or some kind of solution to the Icebringer's unnatural touch. He walked over to Lyra, who was now sitting. Her hoof under her chin. “Ready to get going?” Titus asked. She mumbled something to herself and then looked up at him. “Do you know how to make one of those?” She pointed to the hammer in his hands. “Not anything with this craftsmanship, but I suppose I could make a lesser version of it if I had the right materials.” Titus shrugged, rotating the hammer in his hands. “Why?” She frowned. “Nothing. I suppose we should get going, huh?” Titus shrugged, she was always so vague when it came to questions about his stuff. It must have been the whole armor incident that had caused this sudden change of mood towards his possessions. Still, if she could just ask him straight out, that would've made it easier for both of them. Titus felt something was wrong. He turned, and saw one of the nearby snowy bushes rustling. It had to be an Icebringer. He readied his hammer, appreciating its return once more. Instead of an Icebringer, however, a squirrel emerged from the bush, and quickly darted across the snowy terrain, nearly sinking into the inch deep snow. They watched until it scurried out of sight, and then sighed in relief. Titus was about to turn towards Lyra when an all too familiar voice came from around the corner of the house. “I can't believe we have friends out here....” its faceless head poked around the corner of their house. “I thought we had really given the gift to all...” Titus took the moment to charge the Icebringer, swinging his hammer with extreme force. It made contact, but the blotches of ice soon began to grow and soon his hammer was once again encased in ice. With the increased weight he was forced to stoop his hammer lower and drop back. The Icebringer seemed to at least react to the attack, however and it fell back behind the corner. Titus looked at his weapon is disappointment. It was useless, he had no way to fight these things. Fire was the only option, but where they going to get a fire out here? The library that Twilight lived in, of course. She wouldn't mind if they used her literature as fuel for their protection, and perhaps maybe she learned of their nature and was already doing such a thing? He thought hard about it, and then dismissed the idea that she would let anything happen to a single book, the obsession with them was too strong. Still they needed to get there and use the resource to their advantage. The Icebringer reemerged from the corner, accompanied by two others and Titus knew that it was time to move. He yelled for Lyra to go and she did. They circled the house, and were sprinting down the street, hoping that since they had found their house, they could use it as a marker to guide them to the library. Lyra slipped and slid a good five feet before picking herself up and following Titus. The Icebringers had a sickening sliding sound as they followed the two, like they were just being dragged upon the ground themselves. Sliding around a corner they found what they were looking for, the huge tree indicating the library. It was a mad dash as the two stumbled across the icy streets behind their weightless pursuers. The closed in on the iced over tree and looked behind them to see how fast the Icebringers were coming. They had surprisingly backed off, and were simply watching them as they quickly slipped into the building. Titus had been in the library several times before, either to please Twilight's academic pursuits on the human race, or to learn more on his new world's history. Either way, each endeavor was undeniably boring, with Twilight's constant questioning driving him to wit's end or the sheer number of words from the tomes Twilight had provided him causing him more likely to doze off than actually gaining any sense of understanding. He wasn't a scholar or a talker, and that's what made each trip to Twilight's library duller than the last one. What made this one trip rather intriguing was the fact that there were three frozen figures sitting right in the middle of the library, all adjacent to each other. Titus and Lyra weren't surprised to find the young dragon assistant of Twilight, or in fact, her standing in defiance to the past Icebringer attack. It was the rather large Alicorn that stood there, with her head drooped down in defeat after apparently seeing the state of the two. There stood a frozen Celestia, obviously distraught from the sight of seeing her faithful student and what seemed to be accepting of her fate. Why she would be so unresistant ,they couldn't tell, it was a sad sight to see. Tears that had fallen from her face had frozen in mid-drop to the floor. “She accepted the gift... so why won't you...?” They turned around and saw an Icebringer silently standing within the doorway. It didn't move but simply offered a hand. “We only wish to preserve you in this state always... You would never be forgotten..” Titus looked around desperately, he needed some source of fire, and fast. But there was none, he was forced to improvise once more and charged the Icebringer. This time he knew his hammer wasn't going to make it, but it needed to be done. He smashed the pale being's chest, forcing it out onto the frozen streets and quickly closed the door, discarding his now completely frozen hammer upon the ground. He quickly dragged over the nearby desk, quills and parchment dropping off with every inch of ground passed, and brought it in front of the door to barricade themselves in. He was so hopeless right now. Stuck in a library, with 3 frozen beings and Lyra. What were they to do now that Celestia was frozen? His strength and faith in the Light were useless against these beings, and he had no real actual knowledge of the land. He should have read what Twilight had given him, but he chose to doze off and ignore it. It wasn't looking good for anyone. He walked over to the wall where the desk had sat, leaning against the wall with his arms simply dropped to his sides. He heard the Icebringers circling the house, speaking of the benefits their 'gift' had to offer. It was a haunting feeling, and with each minute he laid there, the room temperature continued to drop. There was no hope, his life would end today. To think he had escaped it once, to only be saved for a worse fate. He stared at the ground until he felt a certain mane brush up against his face. He looked and saw Lyra smiling sadly at him. She was going to die too, that's what really got Titus into a melancholy mood. It wasn't so much as him, but her. He knew he could accept death, it was something he had told himself every day back in Azeroth, there was so much of it back in his old world that he had been desensitized from the overall fear, it didn't mean he was happy about it, however. But then there was this world, where it was always too good to be true. Everyone seemed to live a happy life and no one was ever taken before their time, it was a perfect world on those aspects. But now that a terror had swept across the land, he could only imagine what it had been like to be frozen so suddenly when you had just been continuing another day through your simple but pleasant life. Lyra frowned, and she jumped onto his lap. She rested her head on his chest. “What's going to happen to us, Titus?” That killed him inside. He couldn't say it, he just couldn't. “Nothing.. nothing at all. Why don't you get some rest, huh?” He scratched her idly behind the ears, trying to keep the calm mood about them. She hummed softly, enjoying the touch. There just wasn't a way to tell someone in this world what a premature death was like. Titus certainly did not want to ruin Lyra's mood either, and he was hoping that perhaps the chill could take them painlessly in their sleep. It was all he could ask for, for both of them. Hours seemed to pass, and he could feel the air getting colder. Their body heat was the only thing keeping them alive now. Lyra had dozed off on him already, and he was beginning to feel the weight upon his eyes now. It wouldn't be long before he fell asleep too. He wasn't worried, he would fall under the veil of slumber and not be subjected to horror of being frozen. He looked down at Lyra, happy that she was already asleep. He began to nod off for a few seconds at a time, still scratching behind his companion's ears. He was drifting down the line between consciousness and silent slumber. He wasn't sure if anything was happening anymore, and where he was at. It was like having his head being dunked under water every few seconds, too confused about what was happening on either end of his mind. Eventually it went black for what seemed like an eternity. Then a foggy gray haze was surrounding his vision, it wasn't anything he experienced before. He assumed he must have died, or was on the verge of it. Then he saw Lyra staring at him, her face covered in tears. He didn't understand why she was sad, he didn't understand anything that was going on around him. She lipped words to him, but he couldn't hear, the Icebringers’ voices bored into his skull. He struggled to make out what she was saying, he was only picking up bits and pieces. “Don't go....” she was choking on tears. “Don't go.. I... need you...” It was getting more and more difficult for Titus to hear anything. “You're my special... my.. special...” Before he could make out anything else the gray haze turned to black and he fell back into his dreamless slumber, but before he lost all cognitive sense, he felt something press up against his lips. He wasn't able to think about it, he simply kept drifting farther and farther away from reality. His last thought was a prayer, a prayer hoping Lyra would lose consciousness once more before the hypothermia took her along with him.