The Temnokt Empire

by ladyanaconda

Ledyanoye Serdtse

Legends about the long-gone Cryos were very frequent, but unlike most legends from around the world, these had actually a solid basis. Those white dragons had never been thought of as a myth of a little hatchling's story, because all the Temnokt remembered when one of them had lived among them. No one knew where he came from or how he got there, they only knew that somehow his egg ended up in the hatchery, and one female decided to take the hatchling into her care. Many things happened, but no outsider knew about this fact. Even the Royal Family themselves knew about the last living Cryos, but no one knew where to find him, only that he was still alive.

That was exactly what he wanted.

In the Altair Mountains, known as Altayskre Gory, there was a structure no one knew about, only its creator and architect. It was made of pure, flawless ice, and was centered around the hexagonal shape of a snowflake, the symbol of the Cryos people. Although the castle's master had no visitors other than the beasts that served him, there was a flawless crystal ice staircase that led up to intricate double doors which in turn led into the palace. Though it only housed one person, the palace could be compared to the Crystal Empire's own castle in size.

Among all those rooms, there was one which could be called the 'heart'. Like most rooms, there was a large snowflake on the floor, but this room had a grand chandelier made of ice and crystals hanging from the ceiling, along with double doors leading to a round balcony. It would seem bare with lacking furniture, but the way the walls reflected the light made up for it. In the Balcony, a large dragon with pearly white scales was sitting, his lavender eyes staring into the distance with coldness, and one might even have said nostalgia. He was covered in a purplish white armor made out of ice, which hid his dark aqua green hair from view. Two swirly light blue horns stuck out of his skull in an elegant, curved way, along with two shorter pairs that were an actual part of his body just down. His large wings were folded on his back, resting, not keeping him warm, the cold wasn't a problem for him. A Temnokt would have died of hypothermia for prolonged exposure to his ice.

But he was not a normal Temnokt.

He was the Ice Emperor. The last of the Cryos people.

He cared not for the Temnokt in Krussia. Not anymore. Sure, he had been born and raised with them, but they never showed any concern for him, so he had no reason to care about them at all. They thought him a monster and a freak just because of his power over ice and snow? It wasn't like he asked for those powers to begin with, it was a natural ability that came with his species. He couldn't remember when it came for the first time, if he had it as a hatchling or if it came later on, but he did remember all the attempts to repress it without his knowledge, the gloves he always had to wear, being forbidden from going out on especially snowy days.

Sure, he couldn't complain of everything. He did have a loving mother who accepted him for who he was, and there were a few hatchlings who did like him... Among them...

The Cryos shook his head. He didn't want to think about her again, it always brought his regrets to the surface.

A flapping of wings caught his attention, and he held out his talon as a snowy owl landed on it, hooting and ruffling its feathers. The good thing about discovering his heritage was that he got to practice his own natural magic. He didn't have much written information regarding Cryos magic, but he learned through actual experimenting and experience, which is how he found out he could see through the eyes of an animal. Sure, it took him a while to master the spell, but it was worth it. At least he could see how things were in Kruscow-not that he cared, but living alone had its disadvantages, the main one being that he didn't have much to do.

From what he could hear and see from his faithful bird companion's ears and eyes, King Bittercold had finally accepted a proposal from Equestria to send a delegation to discuss political matters. It was a rather large group this time, and among them he saw two creatures he had never seen before, and one of his-the Temnokt's kind, he quickly corrected himself before he could think 'his kind'. They were not his kind, not anymore. They had annihilated his actual kin for prejudice and fear of their winter magic.

The Cryos turned away from his balcony and stepped inside, closing the ice doors behind him. He made his way down the cold and icy but majestic ice palace, ignoring his reflection on the walls and floor. There was not a single speck of a fire in that place, instead it was illuminated by glowing crystals made out of his own magic, he had a natural animosity for fire and high temperatures, for it melted his ice. He walked up the ice staircases that led into his bedchambers.

Contrary to what one would think, the Cryo's bedchambers weren't just a bare room as empty as its owner's heart. It was wide nd spacious, every single furniture and wall was made of ice, but there were bookshelves filled with books which spoke of the Distant Sands of Saddle Arabia, the Forbidden City in Neighpan, the famous clocktower in Eagleland, among other cultural treasures from distant lands. There were paintings of said landmarks hanging from the walls, which gave the room a sort of familiar air despite the coldness. The cryos went over to his bed, his horns glowing a gentle blue as he lifted his helmet from his head, letting his wild locks of dark peacock blue hair fall to his face. His owl flew over to an icy perch he had created for it, hooting as its large golden eyes set on him with a worried expression.

"It's okay, Belyogot." the Cryos told him, though his voice said otherwise. He had wanted to see her at least once, but a single glimpse was enough to bring back feelings long buried underneath his frozen heart. If only things had been different, maybe they would have hada chance at romance, but now...

He didn't know what she thought of him anymore.

---

After dinner, Rarity returned to the attic, which was half-filled with sketched and folded fabrics and other materials, bought earlier during the visit to Fashion Row. Krussian fashion wasn't much different from what she was used to, but the garments and dresses were all serious and elegant, with varying colors even though Krussians seemed to prefer cold colors with a few warmth, along with some hand-made, homely sewing. She had much work to do to make appropiate outfits for such an occasion! They had to look at their best if they wanted to pass as presentable in the elite of Krussian aristocracy.

A knock in the door momentarily distracted her from her sketches. "Yes?"

Vasilisa peeked her head inside, making sure there was no one around, before stepping in. "Excuse me, miss Rarity... But I need to ask for a favor..."

"Certainly, dear. What is it you need?"

"See, Fukkutery said you're a sea-fashion designer." Vasilisa corrected herself quickly. "I wanted to ask you if you could mend my dress for the ball, it's got a ripping." she placed a simple, homemade red dress with satins.

Rarity gasped at the sight. "Oh, my! That's your dress for the ball?"

"Well, it's not much like other dresses, but I don't want to bother my parents by asking them for another dress, this one is fine..."

"Oh, no, no! I cannot allow you to present yourself in such an important party with such a... worn out attire! You need something special that lets everytemnokt know you are special!"

"What do you mean?"

"A lady's wardrobe speaks much about her persona! Go to such an elitist party with that dress and they won't think higher of you than a maid! And you say your family is one of the High Bloods, right?"

"Yeah."

"In that case, you must look at your best! You need a glamorous new outfit and I'll make it for you."

Vasilisa blinked in confusion. "You want to make me a dress?"

"Why, it's a good chance to create a foreign outfit! It's not problem at all, it'll be my pleasure!"

"But... I don't have any money..." Vasilisa confessed shyly.

"Oh, no! I'd never charge a gift on a friend, especially if you mean that much to Fukkuteru! You can consider it a present on my behalf for your family allowing us to stay here."

Vasilisa couldn't believe it. "Are y-you serious?"

"Why, darling, I'd never make a joke on you on something this important. I will make sure you are the most beautiful drady at that ball, if you'd let me take your measurements, I won't take long..." Rarity levitated her tape measure and started to measure the young drady, dropping the tape occasionally to take notes of the size. Thankfully, due to her young age she was the size of a normal pony, maybe only slightly taller, so it wouldn't be a problem at all.

Hmm... Maybe some aqua, its minty hue blended well with an equally creamy color, or maybe coral, in an unexpected pairing to add interest to her frosty look, or.... powder pink seemed a good option to make a dreamy palette, but then again... Vasilisa was not as refined as her sister Lightfire, but she had her own wild charm if one could get to meet her properly... an Emerald to create both a bold and sophisticated balance between her attire and her natural secondary colors. Perfect!

"Oh, I promise you, it'll be absolutely radiant!" Rarity levitated a small bunch of beautiful emerald fabric closer while starting to sketch her ideas on paper. "And I must say, those fabrics are simply beautiful. They are tender but very resistant, and yet they almost feel as if they were hand-made personally."

"Well, sort of, Mom mentioned you had a rather unpleasant surprise when you went shopping for fabrics..."

Rarity shivered at the reminder. "Who lets such a giant spider roam around freely?! It could have eaten me, or any potential costumer!" It had taken her about ten minutes to calm down, and curiously the spider kept giving small flashcards to Velvet, it seemed as a sort of communication system.

"Don't worry, they are actually harmless. They're called Paukach, they're a breed of spider used by seamstresses to help them wave fabrics. They're pretty expensive, though, and only the richest fashion designers can afford to buy or keep one. The fabric they produced is called Paukshelkani, it's quite demanded in most foreign industries."

"It's funny, it's the first time I ever heard of it."

"It's because it cannot be exported. It can only be sold to Krussian industries, it's considered a national patrimony by the Krussian Commerce Guild, all who open a fashion business must sign a contract to never sell the fabric or a Paukach to a foreign industry before they are given access to it. They only sold it in this occasion because mom said she was the one who was using it..."

"My, you certainly have strange customs..."

But she wouldn't let that get to her.

---

Having been so long since he was last back home, Fukkuteru did what he loved the most and reread some of his old textbooks from The Dark Arts School, DAS for short. While the ponies from Equestria would find such an institution dangerous and front upon it, to the Krussians it was as much prestigious as Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was to the ponies of Canterlot. It was required that all hatchlings attended to learn to control their dark magic, often it started out with simple spells, but students might continue their studies to learn more advanced spells instead of sticking with just daily life spells.

Since the original Temnokt had been divided in four Clans, there were four categories Magic which could be learned in the school: Darkness, Water, Fire and Forest. Eventually the interbreeding among each other erased direct distinction of the clans, al becoming one, but there were traces of their genes in their descendants. A simple Affinity Test Charm was needed to determine if an individual was more apt for Water spells, or for Darkness, and the individual in question could focus his studies on that type of magic. Fukkuteru himself had turned out to be Darkness, just like most of his family, minus Lightfire who was a Water-caster from their father's side of the family.

Fukkuteru placed his copy of Basic Darkness Spells aside to read a more advanced one, Shadowkinesis Theory, from scratch all over again, maybe to refreshen his knowledge of magic from years of being unused.

And naturally, Twilight Sparkle couldn't ignore the idea of learning as much as she could.

"Twilight, honey, remember how you don't like being disturbed while reading?" Discord told her, changing his face into that of his wife with a grumpy expression for a moment before changing it back. "Well, maybe our dear old Fukkuteru feels the same. How about we let him enjoy it?"

"Just a minute..." Twilight said for the fifth time, still taking notes. "So, you mean everytemnokt has to attend that school?"

"Yes unless they want to make a hole on the wall while trying to light a candle." Fukkuteru chuckled. "The spells grow more advanced and complicated as we get older, and by the time we graduate we know how to cast most spells. However, some may continue their studies on certain branches of Dark Magic, like combative, healing, illusion, etcetera. Though we are peaceful, every single Temnokt in Krussia can defend themselves should something happen."

"You mentioned magical affinity to certain elements."

"That comes from way back. Initially we were divided in four clans, but after generations of interbreeding we merged into one, though the affinity for a certain elemental type of magic remained."

"Too much history, how about you tell us something more interesting?" Discord said, snapping his fingers to appear a glass of chocolate milk and taking a sip. "You know, what you guys do while slacking off or those things. And maybe you could tell us why everyone here is so afraid of King Sombrero."

Fukkuteru flinched at the mention of King Sombra. Twilight noticed, and gave Discord a mild glare. "Discord, that's enough! He doesn't have to speak about that if he can't!"

"It's okay, it just caught me a bit off guard... that's all." Fukkuteru sighed, and his horns started to glow. A large aura bubble formed around them. "I can't afford to my family hearing I'm talking about it, or I might get in trouble. But you have the right to know."

"Oh, finally!" Another snap, and Discord was eating some popcorn while sitting on a chair reminiscent of the couches of the cinema.

Fukkuteru rolled his eyes, but nevertheless he spoke. "It all started a few centuries after our species' banishment from Equestria, a thousand years ago, approximately. By then Kruscow was still a small city, and we were low on resources due to skirmishes in the borders with the Bengal Tigers. The rulers at that time were Tzar Fangimir and his wife Mawnastasia. Princess Celestia had ascended to the throne a few years ago, and she wanted to offer her hoof in friendship. She sent a delegate from what you call the Crystal Empire, a unicorn stallion known as Sombra."

Discord took a loud slurp from his soda, listening intently. Twilight was hearing the story with wide eyes, taking some notes every now and then.

"Sombra was received warmly. He was generous and friendly, and he looked like he was a decent pony, but overall he had a great passion for learning. He got his hooves on every book he could find about Temnokt magic, and eventually he ask Tzar Fangimir to teach him."

"Wait a minute, you mean he learned Temnokt magic?" Twilight asked.

Fukkuteru nodded. "Tzar Fangimir taught him generously of our dark arts. However, the water-aligned Temnokt refused to teach him anything. Some say their element gives them the ability to see through a person's true nature as if they were a pond of clear water. They must have seen something off, and didn't want to give the ambitious unicorn more power. Their fears proved to be true when Sombra started to change. He became obsessed with learning more and more, and soon he was isolating himself, practicing the dark magic he learned."

"Let me guess, you guys are so used to dark magic you didn't think it would have so much negative effects on other creatures who were not so accustomed to it." Discord said matter-of-fact, to which he received a grim nod.

"Eventually, he challenged Tzar Fangimir openly. Krussian Law states that to rise to the throne the challenger must defeat the current ruler in a honorable duel. But Sombra played dirty, and our Tzar paid it dearly..." Fukkuteru closed his eyes shut. "He was murdered."

The quill Twilight had been levitating fell to the ground as she stared at the Temnokt, shocked and horrified. Discord had conjured a double bass playing by itself to mirror the suspense, but even the instrument stopped when he gulped in dismay.

"Afterwards, Sombra was banished from the Empire. Some of the High Bloods accused Princess Celestia of sending him with the purpose of murdering our ruler, but the wise Princess Luna pointed out that we had taught the young unicorn to use dark magic, not her. We put more power into his hooves, not her. We had good intentions, but we didn't think of the consequences of exposing a unicorn to Dark Magic would be. Still, most of our race was so horrified about the event that any possibilities of peace were dropped until recently. All we knew about Sombra was that he came for this 'Crystal Empire', so our people cut off al contact with Equestria for 'being partly responsible' for the tragedy." Fukkutery had ben wanting to ask something else ever since he learned of the Crystal Empire from Twilight Sparkle. "Hey, what happened to the Crystal Empire when... he returned to Equestria?"

"He enslaved the crystal ponies." Twilight explained, looking down. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna banished him, but he cast a curse that caused it to disappear along with him. It appeared a thousand years later, and we managed to defeat Sombra with the Crystal Heart."

"Yeah, I've heard about it..." He had been at the crystal empire a few times, usually accompanying Stormfly to visit Cadence. It wasn't like he had imagined, it was the most beautiful Equestrian city he had ever seen, in his opinion, at least. All the ponies were kind and friendly, everything was made of crystal, he even wind up participating in one of the jousts, which reminded him of Krussia's good old jousting.

"It kinda explains why you guys are so bitter." Discord shrugged. "They gave my wife the bad looks and started to whisper, not to mention I've been called a freak by teenagers! Or a least I think they were teenagers!"

"Discord, how would you react if Princess Celestia was suddenly murdered by a foreigner who supposedly came talking about peace?" Twilight retorted, frowning.

"I'd throw a party." Discord said, even appearing a party hat, balloons and a slice of cake, but winced when his wife shot him a glare. "I-I mean...!" He snapped his fingers again, and this time he was dressed in funerary clothing, blowing his nose with a napkin. "That's awful!"

"How do you get to just... summon things out of thin air?" Fukkuteru asked him in surprise. He had never understood how 'chaotic' magic worked out, especially the part when he just messed with the laws of physics among other things, especially the time he made his wings separate from his body! It took Fukkuteru a whole day to catch them again.

Discord dropped his gloomy mood, snapping his fingers and changing back to normal. "Practice, pal. Sure, when you spend a thousand years encased in stone you get a little rusty, but you eventually get the hang of it."

Twilight took a look at one of the nearby books, and noticed its cover was dark, and the Krussian writing on the cover was silver. It looked worn, but she could tell it was an important book. "Oh, what about that book? What is it about?"

Suddenly, Fukkuteru grew nervous as he levitated the book away from Twilight. "Err... nothing! It's just an old tome I found, it's one of Grandpa's old books... Hehe, who knows what it's about-" Before he could react, the book had disappeared from his telekinetic hold in a flash of white, and reappeared in Discord's lion paw. Discord took a look at the words in the cover and read it.

"Dark Arcane Rituals?"

Fukkuteru reacted almost immediately. "Y-You know Krussian?! How did you know...?!"

"As a matter of fact, I don't." Discord grinned, balancing the book by the tip on his eagle claw, causally leaning against the sofa. "I just wanted to see your reaction to figure if this was one of books you wouldn't want to show a unicorn after the fiasco with King Sombrero."

Fukkuteru noticed Twilight giving him a confused look, and finally he sighed in defeat. "Okay, I admit it. It's a book on dark rituals, but it was forbidden to show them to... unicorns after what happened with him. We learn from mistakes, you know."

"I don't have to read it." Twilight pointed out. "Just tell me what exactly is in that book without giving in too much crucial details about how to cast whatever spells it contains."

Discord made a camera appear out of nowhere, grinning. "Just don't mind I'm here! I'm like a fly on the wall!" Almost literally, he turned into a fly with a tiny camera on his head.

Sighing again, Fukkuteru levitated the book closer, making sure to keep it away from Twilight and closed shut. "IT was the first written book in the Burnlight Era, when we Temnokt were just getting used to using Dark Magic. We experimented different methods to strengthen our magic, or to communicate with the Darkness-"

"Wait, what do you mean... communicate with the darkness?"

"You probably don't know this, but our Dark Magic is... unique. To some extent, it has life of its own to some extent, it gives us most of the control, but it intervene when certain circumstances are met. For example, if someone should try and fire a spell at us without us noticing, the magic would summon a protective barrier of some sort, be it physical or magical, to protect us."

"You mean its quatisentient?" Twilight inquired.

"Thats how you call it? Well, anyway, initially, the Dark magic spoke to us, guiding us and telling us how to use its gifts wisely, but then the time came when we stopped hearing its voice. We could tell he hadn't abandoned us, however, for we were still black-colored, and we used magic just fine as long as we could rob it from Unicorns. Eventually, a special spell to contact the Darkness itself was created."

Twilight's quill didn't stop writing down notes on her notepad. "Oh, learning so much!"

She sounded so excited Fukkuteru didn't want to stop and disappoint her. "With years of study into the Obscurancy, we eventually learned that the reason we could hear its voice was because at that time it was at its strongest. The first few weeks we used it, it wanted to make sure we wouldn't stop using it, so it kept talking to us. As years and generations went by, the Dark Magic rooted even deeper into us, and when it was certain we wouldn't abandon it, it let us be, let us use it for whatever we wished, be it for good or bad. After the Alicorns created the Astral Line for us to absorb magical energy from it instead of robbing it from unicorns, all types of magic became available. But soon we discovered our magic wouldn't allow us to use Light Magic, it would react aggressively to us trying to change 'allegiance' as it called it."

"That was when the Inner Darkness was created. It was a sort of ritual that allowed us to communicate with our inner Darkness, the very manifestation of our Dark Magic. It consisted of two Temnokt offering themselves for it; one would act as the temporary host for the Darkness to come forth and speak, and the other would act as an intermediary between the Darkness and our race, or whoever wished to talk to it. According to the Ancient Customs, the Host had to be completely willing to allow Darkness to come forth, and have no kind of negative emotions against the Intermediary or anyone around, for it reacts according to the Host's emotions and character. When it spoke with us the Temnokt, the Darkness was.. well, not 'gentle' gentle, but it had no hostility in it whatsoever. It spoke as a parent of some sort, wishing to guide us through life and through the Dark Arts. But it reacted savagely when anyone who bore Light Magic acted as the Intermediary or was in the room at the time of the Ritual."

"Can we talk about something that is actually interesting?" Discord said with crossed arms. "All that explanation would have killed Pinkie Pie of boredom, and that is something-" A wailing, or rather three different wailings, coming from the upper floors interrupted him.

Twilight smirked. "Speaking of interesting, I remember it's our turn to tend to the triplets."

Author's Note:

Altayskre Gory: the largest mountain range about 200km north of Kruscow.
Paukach: A special breed of giant spider used exclusively for weaving fabrics in Krussia, usually owned by the owners of important fashion houses. They are docile and especially trained to weave with certain given commands.
Paukshelkani: The famous Krussian fabric which can only be weaved by Paukaches. It's cold-resistant, durable and very hard to tear, but it is also very comfortable and hand-made. It's very demanded in the market, but the Krussian Commerce Guild forbids trading the fabric to foreign industries.
Krussian Commerce Guild: a national organization that keeps track of all industries of any kind within the country. To open a business in any part of Krussia you must register and ask for a petition, present what kind of business you'll be opening, and if its approved you're granted written permission to buy all the materials needed in that business (e.g. If you open a bakery in Krussia, you obtain permission to buy baking and confectionary materials and ingredients.)
Dark Arts School (DAS):

Yeah, I got inspired on Elsa's palace for Cryo's home, I simply love the visuals and effects of that place! I kinda inspired on Elsa to make Cryos too, though there are a few differences between them.
I think i mentioned before, but the reason i changed the Temnokt ruler who was in charge at the time of King Sombra is because it happened about a thousand years ago, and Temnokt don't live that long.