Redemption of a Nightmare

by Prismfire Productions

The Icey Rose...

Applejack awoke from her blackout feeling numbness and cold. Bones ached, her wings twitched, and her whole body felt as if she had sat too long in an ice bath after a long day clearing out the largest apple field by herself. The last thing she remembered, she had just had a heart to heart with Rainbow and was heading off to do a survey for Luna-Moon, and then the next moment she had blacked out from sheer cold.

"What tha hay?" Applejack muttered, rolling so her barrel was under her as she tried to gain her bearings. The first thing she noticed was ice was everywhere, and even the very bars that were in front of her seemed to be made out of the frozen liquid. "Well, if ah can buck a tree, ah can buck mah way out of this."

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," Rainbow's voice made Applejack pause, her friend apparently having been up before her and was sitting in a cell that was just big enough to sit up and lay down in. "Don't have the room for you to get a full strength buck, not to mention, I already tried testing the tensile strength, the ice seems to be pattern layered and compressed from pressure."

"Tha' buck?" Applejack normally didn't like to use such rotten language, normally only hissing it under her breath when alone and stubbing a hoof on a rock that was covered while plowing, or hitting a tree in the wrong spot. However, she took exception considering the situation she found herself in, and using her Earth Pony magic by running the frog of her hoof down one of the bars. "Fiddlesticks, yer right Rainbow, this ice is compacted like one them there glaciers in tha' North Luna Sea. Even if I had tha' room, ah'm not sure that ah could break it. Wha'ever got us, they got us right good."

"Of course I do, ice is my specially you two," A voice neither of them recognized announced the presence of another, clearly a mare, in the room but as hard as they tried they couldn't place where it came from. The room was large and free of obstacles, and with the full moon shining in they could perfectly see in all directions. It baffled them, that is until snowflakes started to gather in front of them, twirling like miniature ballarinas to an unheard orchestra before condensing into a solid form.

What stood before them was a mare that defied all logical explanation, and aside from her very light baby-blue coat, everything else seemed off. The lack of a horn showed she was clearly a pegasus, but was roughly the size of Big Mac with enough lean muscle to really ruin anypony's day that dared to mistake her petite form for being weak. Ice ran up her legs before stopping at the bottom of her scapula, coating her hooves and forming a natural defense mechanism that were filled with miniature cracks like a spider web but coursed and pulsed with raw arcane magic. Her cold-white mane and tail, trimmed with an icey, electric blue and cut at a diagonal edge, looked intimidating since it covered half her face and her left eye, making the right one's glare even fiercer.

Her wings were larger than any pegasus either of the Element Bearers had ever seen that wasn't attached to a princess, with the tips having a silver clip on the end feather and sticking a solid eight inches above her back. Her cutie mark, a rose with icicles instead of thorns, adorned her flanks, while a collar with runic symbols and a large spider web centerpiece was placed around her neck.

"Who do yah think-"

"Silence," The mare said, the temperature of the room seeming to dip only around Applejack's muzzle as an ice gag formed. It was small enough to unimpede her nostrils, which were flaring in anger, but kept the earth-colored batpony from talking. "I will be the one asking the questions here, after all, you were trespassing on my domain. First question, what happened to all the snow and ice that encompasses my kingdom?

"Aren't you a few feathers short of a down pillow," Rainbow snorted, but the look the mysterious mare gave her was akin to Fluttershy's pet bear Harry eying a raw piece of meat and made her change her tune. "I mean, I know Princess Luna-Moon said that these were uncharted woods, but-"

"Wait, Princess Luna?" The mare said, a look of pure confusion crossing her features as she inclined her head. "I think you are the one that is a few feathers short, she has been dead for millennia! I must admit, Umbra is getting pretty sloppy crafting you constructs to invoke ghosts of the past whose souls are being tortured in a distant corner of Tartarus. Then again, considering the fact I woke up in a wooded landscape like my ancestors passed down by tales of oral tradition, perhaps your crafter finally got her dark, poisonous magic into my veins when I encountered her before passing out.

"However, it doesn't matter! I am the last of the Windriders, the Crafter of the Storm, and as long as I am in this poison-induced fever dream she can't use me! That doesn't mean that I am not going to do anything to you two, oh no, those cheap figments of ancient armor will shatter under the force of my ice blows, and your essences along with it."

"Wait wait wait!" Rainbow pleaded, causing the mare to raise an eyebrow at the groveling for mercy. "We don't know who this Umbra pony is, but they sound like bad news that the Princesses should be warned about. Let us go, and return with us to Canterlot so we can all handle this like adults instead of madmares!"

"You think I am dumb enough to fall for that trick again?" The mare snorted, making Applejack and Rainbow cast a wary glance at each other. "I was still learning when that bait-and-switch operation Umbra pulled off happened, but you know what happened? I learned! Even if this is a dream, I have busted up enough of you sleezeballs to know that even if I destroy you in a dream, the spell matrix that brought you to life unravels. This is your last chance, tell me what Umbra is planning or I will send you back to the void from wence you came!"

"I already told you, we don't know who that is you crazy mare!" Rainbow said, her fight or flight response failing her knowing she was trapped in between an insane mare and ice bars that offered no chance of escape. However, an equally crazy and genius plan burst through the mental dam that made her grin. "You know what? Go ahead, kill us, but you would be solely responsible for the fall of Harmony by killing the Bearers of Loyalty and Honesty!"

"Bearers of Loyalty and Honesty you say?" The mare paused, knowing only Umbra and Eris personally saw those legendary artifacts that were lost enos ago, and herself only knowing about them at all thanks to the Chaos Noodle. "Tell you what, that is enough to humor me. I will let you out those cages, but you will have to escort me to see them myself. Is that a deal?"

"Works for me, what about you AJ?" Rainbow had to avoid the heat seeking glare her friend was giving her, but at last the silenced mare nodded in defeat. "See? We'll comply, now you got to hold up your end of the bargain."

"It isn't that simple I'm afraid," The mare grinned, making Rainbow groan in frustration. "You will escort me, but in addition you will be collared by a chain to an ice golem to ensure there is no trickery. Nothing personal, just watching out for myself."

"If that is the only way that you don't kill us, so be it," Rainbow hated herself for having to answer for Applejack, and made a mental note to make up for it later, but she also knew it would buy her time to formulate a plan to convince their captor everything she was experiencing was real. A loud thudding down the hall caught her attention, thudding that kept coming closer and closer until the double doors opened and revealed the source. "Oh boy…"

Standing before them were two identical creatures that Rainbow had only seen in occasional glances at Spike's Adventures of the Power Ponies! comics. Standing on their hind legs like a minotaur, they towered above the two batponies like goliaths to the point even Rainbow's head was at the level with their midsection. Their legs were thick as tree trunks, and their arms had enough solid muscle to make AJ's brother look like a foal as their sturdy backs supported the weight and provided enough range of motion to seriously injure anypony they deemed a threat.

As for Applejack, she wished she never got out of bed.

"These here golems I made myself," The mare said, opening both cages as the golems put an ice collar around the two soldiers' necks and attached them to a leach that was connected to their sides. "They follow my every command, so don't think about running because I would have them snap your necks. Got it?"

"We already agreed to behave, jesh!" Rainbow said, letting out an annoyed huff that she could see from the temperature of the air. "Although, I am curious as to how all this ice isn't melting, it is way above freezing outside so this shouldn't be possible."

"As I said, ice is my special skill," The mare smirked, heading for the hallway with the group in tow. "Once we get outside, use your knowledge of the stars to guide us back, but I got to say that they look nothing like how they did last night…"

"You are not well," Rainbow instantly had her leash yanked, just hard enough to send a message that she needed to watch herself. "Night Mother has painted the stars the same way every night since her return, when we get to Canterlot, you need to have her and Celestia check you over to make sure you aren't under a spell yourself. You went through all this trouble with me and AJ for your reassurance, now it is time to return the favor."

"I suppose," The mare mused, finally exiting the castle as it started to melt the further away they got from it. The woods, however, had the opposite effect as frost gathered on the trees and leaves and the ground turned icey. "Tell you what, I come face-to-face with the Ancient Ones that you claim to know and I will apologize. Until then, I am not letting you out of my sight and am treating this as another attempt by Umbra to wipe my lineage away."

"Tell me more about this Umbra pony, what are they like?" Rainbow's question was met with a bemused look from the mystery mare, but a harsh tail swat from Applejack made her rearrange her priorities. "Also, maybe free my friend's muzzle from that ice binding, please?"

A single facehoof echoed through the forest as dawn approached...

Author's Note:

Short update this time due to working 12 hour shifts, working on the next chapter however...

Comments

[Anon E Moose]

Well this is a sticky situation. Good thing she recognized the importance of the Elements.
(( 12 hour shifts, holy carp that sucks ))

[Prismfire Productions]

10830367
66 hours last week

[PonyDragon]

Huh, that looks interesting!
An ice-controlling pegasus does actually sound quite realistic for a villain.
If they manage to convince her they are telling the truth she will hopefully cool down.

I look forwards to the next chapter.

10830385

66 hours last week

Wow. That's a lot. Like, a lot!
Want to tell what you are working at? (If not it's perfectly fine.)

[Prismfire Productions]

10833782
Ironically... A AC unit plant...