The Frost Chronicles: Book 3: Tide's of Destiny

by steelwingx

Chapter 1: Awakening

Author's Note:

Well my friends...here we are! The climatic final book in Frost's journey. I truly do hope you have all enjoyed the trilogy so far, because our heroes journey will all be over by the end of this story...or will it.

Anyway, based on the way i have spaced out these chapters, I believe that Book 3, will probably be shorter than the last book, but i'm not sure how much, but i think it's only fair to warn you. Hope you all enjoy the beginning of the end!!!!

CHAPTER 1
Awakening

Destiny.

For the majority of my life, I always believed I had a firm grasp on reality, as well as the knowledge of where my life would take me. But that was all ripped away from on that one horrifying day, the day I lost my home…and my mother.

I always thought I knew what direction my life would take, where I would be when I was older. Like many ponies in Ashen, most of those who were born there, stayed their entire lives, starting families of their own. It would be a lie if I said that I would have been perfectly happy with a life in Ashen, but I knew it would have been a safe life.

But then…everything I knew was torn away from me, and I was forced into a war, that I really had no intention of joining. But, I was fortunate to have my friends by my side in my darkest hour, friends who I knew I could trust my life with, and they could trust theirs with me. At first, it was unbelievable how much my life had changed in the past few months, but I had come to accept it, as my new life, something I wouldn't run from.

A great and wise pony I once knew, gave me a bit of advice that I would never forget:

“No matter how bad things may get, something good can always come out of it”

I knew I would never forget his words to me, and that I knew he was honest in his words. But, that never changed the fact…he was gone, and never coming back.
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I felt an almost unbearable pain shoot through my body, as my eyes slowly began to open, despite my blurry vision. Everything around me seemed dark as my eyes began to focus more, but then I came to realize that it wasn’t my mind playing with me anymore, as I saw that I was in a mostly dark room. But…unlike many of the rooms I have woken up in, this one appeared different from others, mainly due to the crystal walls, ceiling, and floor.

I groaned as I tried to push myself up, but the pain prevented me from doing so, and I fell back down. With my eyes now adjusting to the dark, I began to look around my new surroundings, and saw that I was in some sort of child’s room. The remains of posters that had once hung from the walls, littered the floor in small scraps, but from what I could see, they were posters of the famous Wonderbolts, who still existed today, but they never had the glory they once did under the leadership of Rainbow Dash and Spitfire.

I looked around and saw that I was lying on a makeshift mattress in the room, but I could see that no other pony was around. I turned to see the room lite by a few lanterns, one that had been placed by my bed, while other hung by the door and on the walls. A small window was on the wall by my bed, and I could see the moon’s glorious light shine down into my room.

Before I could make any further observations, the door on the other side of the room slowly creaked open, and I quickly turned to see a familiar purple Alicorn walk in. when she saw that I was awake, she sighed in relief and smiled, calmly walking over to the bed. “You’re awake! That’s great, Luna trick really did work” she said with a gentle smile as she sat by the bed. I did my best to smile and push myself up again, my body feeling slightly stronger as I pushed myself up, she quickly helped me up and levitated another pillow behind me to help sit up. I smiled at the way she acted so motherly, it reminded me of the way my mother would help me or my sister when we weren't feeling well.

“Thirsty…” was the only word I could manage at the time, as I finally realized that my throat was as dry as the desert. She nodded and levitated a glass of water, insisting that she help me to drink it, gently levitating the glass to my lips, she tipped it back and I sighed with the greatest relief as the cool feeling cascaded down my throat. After a moment, she tipped it away and placed it on the table, where I saw that my medallion was sitting, and its emblem shinning in the moonlight.

Finally feeling my ability to speak return, I turned to Twilight and spoke up. “Twilight…what happened?” I asked her as I settled into a comfortable position and sighed heavily. Twilight looked away sadly for a moment and then looked back at me, “we barely managed to escape the monastery. Red Spear’s forces pursued us for a while, but they eventually backed off and we managed to escape” she said as she shifted to a more comfortable position.

I sighed and looked down at my covers, I gulped as I reached down and pulled them away, my eyes widened to see that my chest area was covered by a large bandage. “I don’t know how Red Spear learned such a powerful spell. He used what’s known as a Magic Poison spell, it works on all three races, but its effects are more lethal to unicorns. It drains a unicorn’s ability to produce magic, and then spreads the poison through the body, paralyzing the victim until it reaches the heart. Only a truly gifted unicorn or Alicorn can conjure the spell that can counter it” she said with a saddened look.

I sighed and placed the covers back over to me, but I quickly turned to Twilight as she continued speaking. “After you blacked out, Luna did her best to stall the poison until we got somewhere safer. After we did, Luna conjured up the spell and removed the poison, but it had already taken a toll on you, and left you extremely weak, almost to the point where you died, but luckily, you managed to pull through” she said with a warming smile as she placed a hoof on my shoulder.

“What about the others? Are they okay? River?” I asked as I slowly started to feel my panic grow. But Twilight silenced me with a hoof on the mouth, she smiled calmly at me.

“Relax Frost, their perfectly fine. Most of us made it out with some minor injuries, mainly some scars and bruises, but their fine. River’s been worried sick about you, she was actually here not long before I got here, but she wouldn't leave your side until we finally managed to get her to go and get some sleep” she said with a calm smile.

I sighed with relief and leaned back into my pillow, I smiled to myself as I thought of River being my overbearing marefriend. I looked back at Twilight and frowned slightly, “how long have I been out?” I asked her quick and simple, she looked away for a moment. a look of concern ashed over as she tried to find the right words to say.

“Well…the poison took a heavy toll on your body, you've been out for a few days now, almost a week. The medic’s say that you should be able to get up and moving once you woke up. Come on, the others will want to know your awake” she said as she stepped over to the bed and wrapped her hooves around me as she helped me out.

I cringed as I set all my hooves on the floor and tried to stand up, but my hooves felt weak and shaky, but I was quickly supported by Twilight wrapping her wings around me as I steadied myself. It took a few moments, but I was soon standing as I normally did, and I began to walk, and thanks to Twilight, I was soon able to walk normally, despite the occasional tweak in my hooves. As we left the room, I looked around the rest of the house we were in, which seemed like any other normal family home.

“Where are we?” I asked as my eyes drifted from place to place. I heard her chuckle lightly, “oh I think you’ll be quite surprised” she said as we made our way down the stairs and to the front door.
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When Twilight said I was surprised to find where we were, she wasn't kidding!

As we exited the crystal home, my jaw nearly dropped to the floor, and my eyes widened to their full extent, as I gazed around what had once been a glorious city of crystal and magic. But the charm the place once held was long gone.

The ruins of the Crystal Empire.

The once great city of love and peace, seemed to be lost to despair and darkness. A faint layer of smog roamed through the air, desecrating the once beautiful land, but the layer was not entirely thick enough to phase out the moon’s bright light, which shined brightly down on all of us. As we walked, I saw other members of the Night ranger’s walking around, many of which had an expression of doom on their faces, but who could blame them.

Twilight had told me that we had arrived here nearly a week ago, and that we had set up our camp among the center of the city, using the few remaining intact buildings as shelter for the wounded. “What happened to this place? I heard stories that this place was a great city” I said as I turned to Twilight, who sighed sadly, as a look of overbearing sadness came over her.

she looked around herself, and i could see all the happy memories she once had here with her friends, flash through her eyes. “Red Spear happened. After my friends and I failed to stop him, he rallied his forces and marched on the Empire, sparing little of this once great land” she said with a somber tone as we continued walking.

I continued to look around, the old illustrations of the city, displayed a land of shining glory, but what I saw seemed nothing more than a hollow world of despair. “Twilight…I hate to ask this, but…what happened to Prince and Princess?” I asked as we walked, but my question halted her in her steps. She looked away sadly, and then glared at me, but she sighed and walked next to me.

“I suppose it’s only fair you know. My brother and sister-in-law refused to flee their land. They swore to stay and fight, and that they did, but the King’s forces were too overwhelming. Then it came down to a duel between them and the king, but they stood little chance to his growing power. If there’s one thing that Red Spear did that could be considered honorable, after he struck them both down, he gave them a proper royal burial, allowing them to at least have a shred of dignity left, the same with Celestia. But…don’t let that fool you, Red Spear is a cruel, merciless bastard!” she said as she walked forward again, anger seething on her words.

If I didn't know better, I would have wondered why she was so enveloped by her hatred of the king, but I knew why. If there are only a hooful of ponies in the world who had a rightful hatred of Red Spear, it would be the three Alicorn Princess’s. I sighed and walked after, making our way to the old castle.

As I caught up with her, my eyes looked up towards the top of the tower, which I had seen in old texts and pictures, but was no longer there. The once proud castle that stood in the center of the city, was nearly destroyed, I had heard the stories of Twilight and Spike’s triumphant retrieval of the Crystal Heart, and how it aided in the defeat of the tyrannical King Sombra, but that too was one of the many relics missing.

“What about the Crystal Heart? It was the source of the Empire’s power, did Red Spear…destroy it?” I asked her, she sighed and looked towards the center under the castle, where the Heart once floated proudly, filling the hearts of the citizens with love and light.

she followed my gaze to the spot were it once floated proudly. “Despite Red Spear’s power, no force known to us was ever powerful enough to counter the Heart. He stole it from the Empire, and locked it away in his vaults, and there it stands today” she said as we made our way over to one of the doors that lead into the castle, but I quickly stopped and looked on in confusion. Twilight noticed my halting and turned back towards me.

“Wait…why are we going into the castle?” I asked her, she chuckled and smiled at me.

“Luna specifically asked to see you when you woke up, and she’s waiting for us in the throne room” she said as she opened the door and calmly walked in, I looked around and then hurried in after her.
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As we made our way through the castle, I noticed that the torches on the walls had been lite, but the majority of the castle lied in ruins. Furniture had been turned over and burned, probably from the countless raids that the city had suffered a few decades earlier. Twilight remained quiet for most of the tour, but we quickly found ourselves standing outside the throne room. Twilight smiled at me and pushed the doors open with her magic and we both calmly walked.

Of all the rooms in the castle, the throne room appeared to be the most intact. While some of the windows had been blown in from the assault, the throne itself remained mostly intact. But mainly, my surprise mostly came from the large amount of ponies walking around the room. My gaze drifted to the center of the room, where I saw all my friends gathered around a large make-shift table, with a map of the city on it.

As we walked up, Twilight cleared her throat, catching every pony’s attention. I could see my friends eyes light up in joy as I walked up next to Twilight, River’s especially. “Frost!” River cried out happily as she ran around the table and nearly pushed me to the ground, as her hooves wrapped around my neck. The force of the impact staggered me back slightly, which caused me to wince slightly, but River quickly silenced that with a loving kiss, something I greatly returned. “I’m so happy you’re okay!” she said as I felt faint tears dripping on to my shoulders.

She quickly pushed away from me and punched me in the shoulder, which caused to cry out, “that’s for having me worried sick! If you ever get poisoned again, I’ll kill you!” she said in a slightly humorous tone, which caused the others to chuckle as well. I chuckled nervously and rubbed my shoulder, just as Dust and Vapor walked up.

“well, looks like sleeping beauty finally decided to rejoin the living” Dust said with his usual cocky smile and a small chuckle of his own, something we were all used to by this point. i simply smiled at him, while I received a generous hug from Vapor.

Just like clockwork, they all walked over to me in sequence, this time it was Luna’s turn to speak. “It’s good to see you up and walking again, Frost. How are you feeling?” she asked in a kindly tone. I smiled and adjusted my shoulder slightly.

“well…I've been better, but I suppose I should thank you. Twilight told me that your spell removed the poison” I said in a happy tone as River nuzzled under my chin. In a way, i felt partially guilty for putting River through so much, but i knew she would forgive me soon enough.

We all got another surprise, as Luna frowned slightly, “well, the poison was never fully removed. The spell that Red Spear used is very tricky to counter, even if the pony were to survive, there is always a trace amount of the poison in the victim’s body. I suggest you hold off on any magic use for a few days, your magic ability will return soon, but you must be careful to not exert yourself” she said in a calm tone.

I sighed sadly and placed a hoof on my chest, and looked at River, who simply frowned at me slightly. I looked around sadly and sighed, “What…what about Iron Star?” I asked. I didn't need them to answer, as I could both look and feel the wave of despair that washed over us, as well as the painful expression on Luna’s face.

“The medics…tried everything they could, but he was dead before we could do anything…I’m sorry Frost. We've done our best to preserve his body until you woke up, we only saw it fitting that you should be there for the funeral” she said with a saddened tone. Out of all of us, Luna seemed to be the most torn up about Iron Star’s death, considering he had served as her loyal captain and friend, for many years.

After a few brief moments of silence, I spoke up again. thinking of the right way to phrase the question i had been needing to ask, “What about the medallions?” I asked her, which caused her to slightly perk up.

she sighed and looked down for a moment, but she took a quick breath and looked towards me “Well…Spike and I managed to recover your medallion and mine, but Red Spear still has Cadence’s and my sister’s” she said in a slightly more pleasant tone. I sighed with relief when I remembered that I saw my medallion by my bed side table.

Another few moments of silence came again until Luna cleared her throat. “Anyway…it’s good to see you back on your hooves Frost, but I still think you should go back and rest. We’ll talk more later” she said as most of my friends began to make their way out of the room, while Twilight, Luna, and some of the higher ranking officers, returned to the table. River nudged me in the side, which caused me to turn to her, where I saw a kindly smile on her face.

“Come on, I’ll help you back to your bed. We have some things to talk about” she said as she helped me make my way out of the room. Truthfully, I wasn't in any real need of her help, but I greatly enjoyed being able to lean on her for support, both mentally and physically.

I smiled as we calmly made our way out of the old castle.