Legend of the Burning Snow

by Phoenix Frost

Risen from the Flames

The sun shined brightly upon the Crystal Empire one fateful day. The temperature was perfect as well. No clouds were in the sky and the summer breeze drifted nicely through the city streets. Ponies went about their businesses and lived their lives without a care in the world.

Shining Armor was outside at the track training the runners for the upcoming Equestria Games. They've shown quite some progress since last year, victory was in the bag this time around. This year the events were being held in Manehatten, where there hopefully wouldn't be a giant ice cloud of death looming over the stadium.

Princess Cadence wasn't as occupied with her schedule. These were smooth days in the Crystal Empire. Equestria's defeat of a magic-stealing centaur that gained the power of multiple goddesses kinda strayed invaders away from the country. Since then, Cadence was either being pampered or visiting Twilight in her spare time. Today was just like any other, quiet and relaxing. She spent her day at her personal spa area for the day until Shining Armor came in from training the track team sometime in the early afternoon, sporting his baseball cap and whistle.

"You're done early today," Cadence noted, soaking in the crystal mud bath.

"Yeah," he replied, taking off his cap and hanging it on a purple hook to his right. "We're looking good this year. We're gonna wipe the floor with Manehatten this year, as far as running goes. I'm a tad worried about the archery team, but I think I can get them into shape in time for the games."

"Sounds like you got your work cut out for you," Cadence continued, climbing out of the mud bath.

"Don't worry, I'm taking time off for you, Dear."

Cadence gestured to the spa patrons to take a break, and they backed off respectfully. "You wanna do anything today while it's still daylight?" she asked Shining.

"I think I wanna have some alone time with my wife for a change," he replied walking up to Cadence and wrapping his hoof around her neck. "C'mon, we can talk upstairs." Shining Armor led them up the stairs and across the bridge to the massive crystal tower in the center of the city. Along the way they talked of small things, mostly how each others day played out. Shining Armor kept boasting about how much the track teams had improved whenever that subject was mentioned, so Cadence tried her best to steer clear of bringing it up as best she could.

Within minutes, the couple had finally reached the throne room. They casually walked down the magenta carpet that gave way to the massive crystal throne at the back of the room. "So what else has happened lately, dear?" Shining Armor asked, finally moving away from the topic of sports that Cadence had no interest in. "It's been too long since we've had time like this."

"It has hasn't it?" She replied, taking a seat on her throne. "You'd think we would have more time on our hooves without something trying to conquer Equestria. But, as for what's on my mind. Hmm," she thought. Of course the lack of disasters kept Cadence's life rather ordinary, well at least by princess standards. She told Twilight once that while life in the Crystal Empire was interesting, she did enjoy a little excitement every so often. "Not much to talk about. You know just what happens to me every day: relaxing."

"You're not saying you want something to try to kill us are you?"

"What? No. Maybe. No."

Shining Armor rested his hoof on his wife's shoulder. "So my wife's tired of the same old thing, huh?" he translated. "Well the night's still young. We could go get some crystal ice cream, or maybe play some crystal mini golf."

"You know I think we take our city's theme a little too seriously," Cadence pointed out.

Shining chuckled, "Heh, yeah. But you didn't answer my question."

"Um, su--" Cadence was interrupted by the sound of the entrance door flying open. The couple turned in shock to see an orange guard in golden armor rush to the regal duo.

"I am terribly sorry, to disturb you, your highness," Flash Sentry apologized. "But the empire is under attack!"

"Under attack?" Cadence asked. She and Shining Armor exchanged worried looks. "By what, exactly?"

"I'm not sure," Flash replied hesitantly. "But there's a lot of fire just outside the city."

"Fire?" Shining Armor's heart skipped a beat. "Hurry, to the balcony!" The trio bolted out the door and made their way through the crystal spire. In no time at all, they reached the balcony, and what they saw would instill nightmares in them for years to come. Out behind the train station a massive, twenty foot high wall of fire charred the grassy fields just outside the empire. Below Cadence, her husband, and Flash, the crystal ponies fled from the flames in one big mob, the screams deafening.

"CADENCE, RAISE A SHIELD!" Shining Armor exclaimed over the terrified crowd of ponies below them. There was no hesitation. Cadence's horn glowed bright blue and a magic beam ascended into the air above the empire and formed a blue shield around the city. The flames reached the barrier and stopped. The crystal ponies paused and watched the fire nervously. Shining's eyes narrowed, watching for whatever invaders would follow the wall of flames.

Suddenly the fire burned brighter, larger. The whole empire averted their eyes from the flash of bright orange light. Seconds later, the blinding light subsided, the fire burned as it did before. But then, the unexpected happened. The smoke started to shift. Not in the way that it usually does, this smoke seemed, intelligent. A large haze shaped itself into a pitch black ball above the fire. Slowly the sphere shrank, revealing, first a pair of orange wings with flame-tipped feathers. Next, an orange horn penetrated the smoke, coming down to a red-orange mane. As the smoke retreated further, the face of the pony was revealed, eyes closed. The haze had now completely dissipated. The alicorn mare hovering above the flames donned a dress of fire. It coursed along her underbelly and back up around her hind legs. The crest the fire formed on her chest branched out at her neck and over her forward shoulders.

"LOWER YOUR SHIELD, COWARDS!" the mare's booming voice echoing through the city. She backed up a few feet and her horn glowed red. At the tip, a ball of fire was forming, and growing to the size of the alicorn's head. Drawing, her head back, she let out a grunt and propelled the fiery ball at the shield. The very ground shook beneath them. The barrier nearly broke, it's bright blue coloring nearly fading to nothing.

"It's not enough!" Shining armor yelled. He approached Cadence, who was struggling to keep the shield alive. He touched his horn with hers and charged it, strengthening the shield. The blue barrier stabilized once more, stronger than before. He looked towards Flash Sentry who was petrified at the sight of the flaming alicorn. "Flash," he grunted. "Get a distress letter to Princess Celestia. We need all the help we can get."

Flash saluted him and ran back inside. Cadence and Shining Armor stayed on the balcony, putting all their strength into holding up the shield. "Looks like we found something that wants to kill us, dear," Shining said.

"Quiet, you."

---

"Thanks, Rarity, but I didn't really need this," Twilight said. She and the white unicorn were out in Rarity's preferred gem hunting spot, keeping an eye out for diamond dogs while they traveled. They each wore their personal saddlebags as they strolled through the valley.

"Nonsense, Twilight!" Rarity replied. "You represent the element of magic! You have the right to the knowledge of all magic. You deserve this." The unicorn held her horn lower too the ground and her horn began to glow light blue.

"Yes, but, gem hunting?" Twilight replied. "I'm not sure that is a magic skill that's very, necessary." She watched as Rarity followed her horn a few feet and stopped to dig up an emerald in the ground.

"It's better to be prepared, darling. Even for the unexpected. I'm sure a day will come when you find a need for this."

"I doubt the Diamond Dogs are gonna kidnap you again and I need to start another rescue mission."

"Only time will tell if that is the case, Twilight," Rarity said. "So you remember how to do it?"

"Simple as following my horn, not really a challenge." She charged her horn and revealed to herself the hundreds of gems buried in the Earth. The variety of beauties hidden beneath the two unicorns' hooves was breathtaking. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, all here waiting to be dug up and brought to their full glory.

"You know, I recall a time when you were excited to practice magic."

"In most cases, yes, I would be," she replied, scanning the ground for the closest gem to the surface. "But with my new princess role, I've found it more important to look into more advanced spells. I'm not a standard unicorn anymore. I have massive responsibilities to tend to, like defending all of Equestria. I'm not trying to sound mean and put you below me, but little things like this just seem minuscule."

"I understand what you mean. My own business has been booming as of late. With the Equestria games coming soon in Manehatten, countless ponies stop by daily looking for some kind of formal attire for the event. I rarely have time to sit down and relax anymore."

"That's a shame," she said sympathetically, still looking for a gem that wouldn't require days to dig up.

"Hardly," Rarity argued. "Personal time may be something we all want, but I prefer to be working than to be sleeping all day."

"I suppose that makes sense." Twilight stopped in her tracks. She finally stumbled upon that jewel for which she had been searching. Only a few inches into the dirt. She dug at the ground with her hooves until she struck a bright blue stone peeking out at her. The gemstone's surface gleamed brightly in the sunlight, even Rarity who stood a fair distance away was drawn to it, and she looked at it in amazement. The alicorn levitated it up to her face, shaking it a few times to get the rest of the dirt off it. The sapphire stone shined brilliantly in Rarity's eyes.

"My, my," the unicorn said in awe. "Twilight do you realize what that is?"

"Um, a gemstone?"

"Not just any gemstone. That's a baby blue sapphire! By Celestia, Twilight, do you even know how rare those are?"

Twilight looked blankly into Rarity's gem-adoring eyes. "I'm gonna say pretty rare."

"Oh you don't know the half of it! I have only about twenty in stock, and it took years to find that many. I'm saving them for something extra grand, of course, but nonetheless, you should be quite proud of yourself. You're a natural, Twilight."

Twilight gave a faint blush at the compliment. "Thanks." She straightened out and held the gem out to her friend. "But I'm guessing you want this don't you?"

"Oh heavens, no!" she gasped. She pushed Twilight's extended hoof back to her. "You found this on your own, darling. This is your reward."

"You sure? You don't want it for a dress or something?"

"Twilight, dear, I brought you out here to help you practice magic, not use you as a slave."

"Wow thanks, Rarity. That's very nice of-" she paused and looked behind the unicorn. "Is that Spike?" Rarity turned and, sure enough, a certain purple and green dragon was running their way with a scroll in his claw.

"Twilight!" Spike called. "An urgent letter, ugh, from Princess Celestia." The poor thing was panting like a dog. "You, Canterlot, emergency. Guh. Take it." He collapsed on the ground and the letter rolled to Twilight's feet.

The purple alicorn levitated the scroll, disregarding her dragon friend, and unfurling it. She read it silently to herself and her eyes widened with every line. "Oh no. This doesn't sound good."

"What's it say, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"No time, I'll tell you on the way to Canterlot. Come on, we have to find the others." Twilight began to run back to Ponyville, picking up Spike and sitting him on her back as she bolted away, Rarity right behind her. Twilight's first stop was her new crystal castle, and she dropped Spike off at the door. "Spike, I want you to stay here and watch over the castle," She told him. "I don't know when we'll be back, but it sounds too dangerous. It's best you stay safe."

"But, Twilight," Spike argued. "I could help you. Remember King Sombra? I helped you there. Please let me come with you!" He pleaded on his knees.

Twilight hugged the worried dragon. "I know, and I'm glad you made it out safely, but I don't want to take any chances."

"Twilight, You're gonna have to take chances in life. Nothing's gonna get done any other way."

She sighed. "I've made up my mind Spike. Stay here." She ran off to find her friends, leaving her dear dragon companion behind. Spike reached out his arm as she disappeared in the distance. She was gone.

---

The girls gathered on the train. Twilight was sure to inform the conductor of the emergency to get things moving a little faster. They sat down in the two-pony seats before the train departed. Twilight hadn't been so generous as to explain what in the hoof was going on yet, so Rainbow Dash decided to speak up. "So, what exactly are we going to Canterlot for?" she blurted out. "It's not like you told us anything yet."

Twilight turned to face her, "The letter didn't explain in detail what was happening. Just that the Crystal Empire was under attack by some fiery alicorn."

The entire car's eyes widened. "Say what now?" asked a random blue colt a few seats ahead of them.

"Oh, nothing," Twilight replied, her face turning red. The same pony opened his mouth again, but Twilight preemptively cut him off. "Nothing!" she said quickly. The rest of the train went back to minding their own business. "Anyway," Twilight continued more quietly to her friends. "I'm not sure what's in store for us when we get to Canterlot. Just try to roll with Princess Celestia's advice, ok?"

"Not a problem, Twilight," Applejack assured. "We'll wrassle up that alicorn together, and ain't nopony gonna tell us otherwise." The other four nodded in agreement.

Twilight sighed, "Thank you." They didn't speak for the rest of the train ride. They got off at Canterlot Station and ran to the castle. Princess Celestia was waiting for them in her throne room, with Princess Luna at her side. The six friends busted through the door, understandably in a rush.

"Ah, you're here," Celestia greeted them. "Good to see you could make it so soon."

"Yes, Princess," said Twilight. "Now about this alicorn situation?"

"I see, you're straight to the point, too. Good, we need that kind of energy in times like this. It seems that we are threatened by an ancient evil."

"Yeah, like that's never happened before," Dash said, elbowing Pinkie in the shoulder.

Celestia continued, "However, my knowledge of this foe is much more limited than any other as of late. For you see, I have not dealt with this menace myself." The six friends gasped. "Yes, this new enemy comes from a time before Luna and I were even born. Her name, is Magmare."

"Magmare?" Twilight asked.

"She is also known as the Mistress of Flames. Countless millennia ago, Magmare lived alongside her brother Frostborn, the Master of Ice. They dueled for control of this planet created for them by the one we only refer to as the Father. for hundreds of years, the two fought, evenly matched. The ice covered the Earth just as much as the fire burned it. Until one fateful battle.

"Frostborn's advantage over Magmare was his wits, as opposed to his sister who relied on sheer force and rage to overwhelm her brother. One day the siblings clashed where the fire met the ice, and ice met fire. The fire pushed against the ice while ice stood against it all around the world. This would be the battle that decided who would rule over the Earth for all of eternity. After hours of shots firing back and forth, Frostborn landed a surprise attack on his sister's head, rendering her unconscious. He took the opportunity to imprison Magmare inside the Earth's core. Once she was gone, all of her fire disappeared, and Frostborn froze over the planet in a thick sheet of ice. After his sister's defeat, he became one with the ice and snow and lived peacefully from then on.

"It remained that way for hundreds of thousands of years, until one day. Unknown to the Master of Ice, Magmare had been growing stronger in her exile for all those years. Eventually, she had gained enough power to split the ice in two at the center of the Earth. And with the ice separated, so was Frostborn's power. Unable to combat his sister from outside the core, he sent the two halves of his soul to the poles of the Earth. He used what magic he could muster to construct a pair of linked portals from stone so that when the Mistress of Flames broke free from her prison, he could be brought back to confront her."

"So basically what you're saying is," Rainbow Dash interrupted, "That we need to go to each of these portals to bring back some crazy powerful ice alicorn to confront his sister, hope he wins, and have him send Magmare back to the Earth's core?"

"Indeed," Luna replied.

"Yeah, I'm cool with that," Dash said.

"Sound's fun," Pinkie admitted.

"My apples aren't going anywhere," Applejack chimed in.

"It's settled then," Twilight confirmed. "Princess, we'll get those portals active in-"

"That's not all Twilight," Celestia interrupted. "The portals are too far away for you to make two stops. We'll need to split you up."

"What?" Twilight looked back at her friends. "But we're stronger together, wouldn't going as a group be safer?"

Celestia approached the troubled alicorn. "Each of you carry the magic of friendship inside you, but only Twilight and Rarity have the capability to channel that power to activate the portals. I'm sorry but it is the only way." A flash of light appeared above Celestia, and a scroll fell before her hooves. "Oh, what's this?" she asked. She levitated the scroll to her face and unfurled it. Her eyes scrolled a few times across the paper, and she smiled. "Good news, it seems that Magmare has left the Crystal Empire."

"Really?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. It says here that she just headed south. Unfortunately, the fire from her attack is still burning outside the city, and the empire will likely spend the rest of the day putting it out. So, there will be no help from them today."

"Oh," Twilight said, clearly annoyed.

"But there are more pressing matters at hand," Luna cut in. "We need to split you up and send you to the portals. My sister and I already have the group setup thought out."

"Twilight, you will take Rainbow Dash and Applejack to the south pole," Celestia continued. "Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy will head north."

Luna spoke up again, "We had originally intended for Rarity's team to go south. However now that Magmare is heading that way, we want our strongest group to head there."

"Understood, Princesses," Twilight said, unsure of why this was the best course of action.

Celestia nodded, "Then go my little ponies. There are two chariots waiting outside the main entrance. Just, make sure you tell them who's going where. They still think Twilight and her team is going north."

"Not a problem, Princess," Applejack assured. "We'll have those portals open lickity-split. C'mon, Y'all!" She took off for the door, followed by all her friends with the exception of Twilight, who stood there lost in thought.

Celestia approached her troubled apprentice. "Are you ok, Twilight?" she asked. She lifted the purple alicorn's chin to meet her face, "What's the matter?"

Twilight backed up and sighed. "Are you sure this will work, Princess?" she asked.

Celestia smiled down at her, "I have full confidence in you, Twilight. You will pull through."

"But what about them?" she yelled, pointing towards the door. "How do we know that the others will come out fine?"

"They will be fine," Celestia put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, and knelt down to meet her eye-to-eye. "Listen, Twilight. You and your friends have been through much hardship together, but they must learn to live independently. Sometimes, Twilight, life isn't about doing what feels right. It's not about doing what feels nice, it's about doing what is necessary. You can't go through life without sacrifice, and sometimes you will have to take a risk. This is one of those those times, Twilight. Just promise me that you will take my advice with you on your journey."

Twilight sniffled, "Yes, Princess. I understand."

"Twilight?" called a familiar voice from the door. Rainbow Dash was peering her head through the doorway. "You coming or what?"

Celestia rose to her hooves, and Twilight looked up at her again. The white alicorn smiled again, and gestured for her to go. She listened, but she left slowly. "Good, luck Twilight," Celestia called to her. The doors shut behind Dash and her friend.

"Something got a down, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

"It's nothing," Twilight answered. She continued to the chariots waiting outside, leaving her friend behind. She thought about what Celestia had said to her, and she still wasn't too certain whether or not to trust it. She never had to make this big of a decision before, leaving her friends to face the elements all on their lonesome. At least when they were left alone with Tirek, they would survive easily. But, being subject to the icy mountains and, maybe something else, all alone? She couldn't bear the thought. She was sure of one thing though.

Luck wasn't something she wanted to count on.