Secret of Five

by Yugimotou

Let he who is without sin cast the first Icicle

Sea climbed onto his unorthodox partner, and the two slithered through the streets heading back towards the library.
Gold was soaring around the whole town, raining down torrents of fire over the Timberwolves. It was surprising that he wasn't starting a raging series of housefires. It wasn't long before Sea was back at the library, which enveloped in a feathery shield.

The negative equivalent of his creature was pounding away at the shield, whilst its master smiled a perverse smile, seemingly unaware of Sea's presence. Sea was unsure of what to do. If he could fire something at the False Prophet now...

As if reacting to his thoughts, the creature he rode turned and opened its mouth, facing Greed with incredible accuracy.

"Alright then..." Sea mumbled.

"Sick 'em." He shouted.

A huge beam of icy energy erupted from the creature, hurtling towards Greed with amazing speed. Greed turned, smiling his perverse smile. And then, he was gone. His creature, along with him, disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Sea looked around frantically. Had they won? Were they gone?

As Sea looked around frantically, something cold fell on his nose. He looked up, shocked to see a dark mass of clouds that had amassed over Ponyville. And seemingly, ONLY over Ponyville.

"That was a spineless and cowardly move, Prophet." Greed's voice echoed out.

"And your town will be the one to pay the price. This snow will bring no wonder, no fun. It will bring only death. If you want to save the town - For a little longer, you'll have to come and face me properly" Greed's voice laughed, fading away into the distance.

"Man, seriously? That guy takes a flair for the dramatic way too far." Gold quipped, coming in to land on a rooftop next to Sea.

"And you're one to talk, Mr.Marriagebuster." Shining teased, settling on the rooftop next to Gold.

"That's not the only thing that's gonna be busted around here if you aren't careful." Gold smirked, an eyebrow raised.

Shining rolled his eyes. "Oh please, as if you're going to be the one doing the bust-"

"WE GET THE PICTURE!" Sea yelled, his world spinning around his head.

Sea cringed, to which Shining returned to business.

"Dismiss, and blend into the crowds. Sea, you need to say your goodbyes to everyone here. As if it wasn't made clear enough, this snow pretty much means you have to come along with us." Shining ordered, his spirit dropping him onto the street below and disappearing.

"Roger that, boss." Gold replied, his spirit fading and his wings carrying him down into a backstreet.

"Wait, how do I..?" Sea began to ask, but was cut off when the spirit gave way underneath him. After a crash and a yelp, Sea found himself sitting in the middle of a street, his peaceful life in shambles.

~

Twilight knew something was wrong when Sea silently entered the library, his ears drooped and his eyes to the floor. She rushed over to him, panicked by the events unfolding around town.

"Sea! Oh my gosh, are you alright? What's going on? Why is it snowing in the middle of summer? Is someone playing a trick on us?"

Sea opened his mouth to speak, and Twilight fell silent.

"Your brother and Gold want my help in finding out whats going on. I need to meet with them now, and I might not be back for a while." Sea mumbled.

"If ever." He finished in his mind.

"I'll go with you!" Twilight exclaimed, already beginning to pack necessities.

Sea hesitated. "Are you sure? Look at what's happened here. This could be beyond any of us."

Twilight grinned. "I saw what was going on. And from the looks of it, all three of you are pretty clueless as to what's going on. I can tell when my brother is just putting up a front, and if he doesn't know then there's no chance that Gold knows. You'll need someone with booksmarts to help you make sense of things along the way!"

As items from throughout the library flew into Twilight's saddlebag, something hit Sea on the back of the head, before fastening itself onto his waist. Thankfully, it was only another saddlebag.

"You could give me a little warning when you're going to do that, you know." Sea blushed.

"You already know what it's going to be though, so why waste time?" Twilight chimed.

As both saddlebags filled to the breaking point, the couple felt the strain of the weight more and more.

It was only the beginning of the strain they would both have to endure in the coming days.

~

Gold and Shining sat together on a rock, overlooking the town from a familiar vantage point. The place had taken on a deathly white shade, and no ponies walked the bitter icy streets.

"False Prophets huh?" Shining murmured.
"Looks like they're playing hard ball." Gold mused.

The two sat in worry. They'd gained each other in the wake of the prophets' ordeal, but at this rate it was going to cost everyone else dearly.

"Ahoy there." A voice behind them called.

Gold and Shining turned, surprised to see Twilight standing next to Sea.

"Uhh, why is my little sister here with you?" Shining asked.

"Gee, about that I wonder." Gold teased, before being promptly pushed off of the rock and down the slope behind it. Ignoring Gold's cries of surprise and irritation, Shining eyed his sister.

"You know that this is going to be too dan-" he began.

"Save it. You know full well that you're gonna need some sit-in smarts for this one. I mean come on, the last time you guys were left to do things on your own you crashed a flying pirate ship into the suntower." Twilight explained, her bright purple eyes bearing the will and resolve of tempered steel. Shining stopped to try and think of a rebuttal, but was suddenly assaulted by water from behind. Gold stood there, shaking himself violently to get the water out of his mane.

Shining grinned. "Oh, so you went all the way down into the river?"

Gold snarled. "You knew this was going to happen, so don't even try to play it off."

Gold climbed back up onto the rock, his fur sopping wet. Twilight giggled, procuring a towel from her saddlebag and throwing it to Gold, who received it with gratitude.

"Thanks. If only your brother could learn such good manners." Gold muttered irritably, drying his mane and torso with the towel. Shining yanked the towel away from Gold with his magic, throwing it around him and putting an arm around it for good measure.

"Yeah, NOW you decide to be a gentlecolt." Gold griped, a shiver reverberating through his body.

Confused by the unexpected display of affection, but not deterred, Twilight stepped towards the huddling two.

"Alright then. We need to get moving. You guys have a destination? You can tell me all about whats going on here on the way."