The cold hand of Icecrown

by Space Wizard Novablast

Chapter three: we head north

"He was a necromancer."

Shining turned to face one of his guards, his second in command Lietnaunt Farwing. The pegasus was looking at the floor while mumbling to himself about something he called a 'necromancer'.

"Has the age finally gone to your head Farwing?"

Farwing glared angrily at the guard who was walking behind him, he didn't know his name and he didn't care what his name was. No one insulted a senior commander and got away with it.

"Private, I think the chefs might be in need of an errand boy, why don't you go and help them." Farwing said with the slightest hint of a smile.

The guard scowled and nodded before walking off in the direction of the royal kitchen. Whenever a soldier or guard was sent down there it was always some the most tedious of tasks they were set up with, cleaning dishes, cutting onions, or perhaps just picking out the trash. Most guards preferred watch duty, or even cleaning the barracks, above being down there.

"What did you say Farwing?" Shining asked, the mumbling hadn't escaped him, and when Farwing spoke, you listened.

"The bloke who teleported those guys away, he was a necromancer." He looked back at the floor and slowed his pace a bit, "my mother would tell me stories about the sorcerers who dabbled in the arts of dark magic, and eventually started raising the dead to become more powerful."

Shining nodded, while dark magic was not unheard of in Equestria, it normally wasn't practiced by anyone. Firstly because it was outlawed, and secondly because ponies feared it. A load of books had been written of the ancient magus' whom first discovered the terrible spells, and how later they formed groups and cults to worship whatever god they had created in their madness. But they were nothing more than that, legends, stories created to scare unicorns into ignoring the dark arts.

"That's what he did," Farwing continued, "he used the corpses of the dead to create that....... Thing."

Shining nodded solemnly, "I won't deny that what he did aligns with the ancient myths," Farwing continued to look at the ground and occasionally kicked some small pebbles around, "but no one has seen a necromancer, ever, they are just stories Farwing, and I think they are going to remain such."

The Lietnaunt didn't even react, he just kept walking, and occasionally kicked some pebbles. They continued walking until they finally reached the throne room. They walked right in, seeing as the door hadn't been closed since the Darkriders bombastic entrance. Both princesses were looming over a table, which by the looks of it had a map on it. Luna had a brick of a book placed in front of her, which she frantically flipped through.

"My Lieges." Shining made them aware of both his and Farwings presence. The rulers turned around and both soldiers bowed respectfully, before being given the sign to stand up.

"Captain, if you'd please." Celestia said and waved him closer, both Captain and Lietnaunt quickly stepped up the table, it turned out to be map of the entirety of Equus. To the west was Aarde Hui, home to the zebras and bison. To the east was Equestria itself, with all the cities clearly displayed. To the south was Draconia, the land where fire spewed from the ground itself and where dragon hatched their eggs.

And to the north was The Plains Of Shadow, or in common terms, Northrend.

The land of evil was infamous, it is rumored that the infamous wendigos themselves were born in the frozen wastes. There was no documentation of a living being ever returning from Northrend, therefore nothing was known of it.

"We know now where the intruders are headed." Celestia proudly announced, tapping at spot that marked Northrend. "If the wizard Kel'Thuzad's chanting is anything to go by then he is headed for The Plains Of Shadow."

Shining nodded, the armor of the Darkriders certainly looked alien enough to come from an unexplored area, and if they came from Northrend it would explain their dark magic.

"To get there they will need ships, and the only place to get those would be at the Solar Harbor, north-west of here."

"I understand, we will take our leave immediately!" Both Farwing and Shining saluted before heading out the room.

"Wait," Celestia, said, Shining turned around with his expression being a battle between confusion and annoyance. "Yes my liege?"

"You will have someone, special, accompanying you on this trip." She winked at him, causing a smile to spread on his lips, at least he was heading for uncharted territory with a friend.

"Thank you princess." He bowed again before he and Farwing walked out the door, and headed for the barracks.

---

"Captain, are you sure this friend, of yours is coming?"

The small roadside camp that the group of guards had set up was nothing more than a fireplace which no one had lighted. But when you had carried baggage that weighed more than you did for the entire first half of the day, you do need some rest. But furthermore, Shining armor was waiting for a special somepony, and she hadn't arrived yet.

"I'm confident, she can get off track when she's in a hurry." He said, smiling fondly. The memories of his childhood flushed through his mind, it would be wonderful to see her again.

There was a sudden rumbling nearby, and the sound of trees cracking or falling over was echoing through the clearing. A purple unicorn came running out from the forest, she quickly turned back towards the trees as a pack of timberwolves came leaping out, snarling and howling at their prey.

Farwing hurried to his bag, grabbing his sword in his mouth and ran towards her, "follow me, we must protect her." The guards picked up their respective weapons, mostly spears or javelins, and hurried to obey the order. But they were quickly stopped by Shining.

"Stand your ground gentlecolts, she can take care of herself."

Certainly enough, the unicorn shot a single beam out of her horn which hit the ground, and what looked to be a large purple, water-like pony rose up. It fired streams of what Indeed looked like purple water at the timberwolves, gradually peeling away the branches and leaves of the magical wooden wolves. The unicorn herself shot a blue cloud out of her horn, the cloud soon found itself right above the wolves who were dancing around doing their best not to get hit. The cloud started firing what looked to be spears of ice down at the wolves, impaling them and pinning them to the ground. One wolf managed to avoid the affair, but the sight of his two defeated companions made him retreat to the woods.

The group of guards, lead by Shining, moved closer to the by now quite exhausted mare. "Gentlecolts, allow me to introduce you to Twilight sparkle, alicorn princess of magic, and the most talented sorcerer in all of Equestria."

"Thank you Shining," her horn lit up and the water pony receded back into the earth, "it's been a while." She smiled and went over for a hug. Shining could feel all of his muscles relax, his sister, that was what he'd needed. He let go and they both took a step back.

"Too long."

She nodded before turning to Farwing, he bowed his head down to pay respect to a princess. Twilight winced, making Shining stifle a laugh as best he could. "You're still not used to the whole princess role I see."

Twilight couldn't help but laugh as the rest of the guards bowed, some of them did it quickly in a more noble way, but it seemed to be for fun moreso than anything.

Shining rubbed his eyes free of tears, "good times."

Twilight tried her best to put on her straight face, but she didn't succeed entirely as a small smile remained. "What is the first thing we should do?"

Shining's straight face was more of success, as he actually managed to look like an actual soldier. "Were here to investigate whether or not the Darkriders passed through here."

Twilights face turned grim at the mention of the spell wielding knights, she scuffled with her hooves and she looked directly at the ground. "Then let's not waste any more time."

The group moved out and soon the small town of Sunnervale came into view. It wasn't that big, it didn't even have a farm, which explained the cart with a load of apple-crates placed in the middle of the town.

"This place is cozy." Twilight said dryly. The citizens were waving happily at the guards who ignored them as best they could.

"Be alert," shining said, eyeing the ponies with suspicion, "we never know if they are allied with the Darkriders."

"Captain, you're being paranoid." Farwing said while waving at a pegasus mare, "these aren't Darkriders, they aren't wearing armor."

The group eventually arrived at the supposed bridge, but the entrance was blocked by a large group of stallion who was murmuring to each other.

"Clear the street everyone, guards moving through," one of the stallions shouted. The group dispersed and revealed the bridge. Or rather what remained of it, the edges of the destroyed bridge was charred and black. And it was too far to jump.

"What has happened here?" Farwing asked one of the stallions who had moved off to the side, he was incredibly large and was built like a tank.

"Some Black Knights accompanied by some weird magic bloke came through here, they burned down the bridge once they crossed." He said, his voice was laced with venom.

"Do you know of a way we can get over?" Twilight asked him, he smiled at her sincerely, "there is one way missy, down the road there's a shallow in the river. But I wouldn't recommend going there, rumors of brigands and weird creatures are coming from there."

"I think we can handle it." Twilight said with enthusiasm before she turned to her brother, "what could go wrong?"

Comments

[ryanmahaffe]

3846987 YAY

[Ueuz000]

Something horrible is about to happen all because of those last four words.