The Frozen Land

by jsk244

Epilogue

Another day in Ponyville began, and Spearmint was already in the sky above the town. Circling lazily in the early morning updrafts as she surveyed the ground below and looked for a place to land. It had been a month now since her adventure into Antrotica, and things were still unsettled from the aftermath of events down south. Equestria was abuzz with all the news about Cloudthage and the hidden valley, of Spearmint’s growth and the strange encounter atop the planet. She along with the other members of her team had been called before the Princesses multiple times to understand what exactly occured, as well as Doctor Absolut and his team about their experiences and research results. So far little had been learned outside of what they themselves had gathered on the way to the palace, but the biggest mystery hanging over all of their heads was the existence of yet another alicorn. The self-named ‘Seraph’ had drawn deep concern from Celestia and Luna, with the former especially troubled though she had never explained why. So for now they were all told to return to their lives and forget about it, but Spearmint most certainly could not.

After finally shrinking back down to a moderate height, the pegasus had actually flown back to the nearest port and met up with her friends. Still several dozen feet tall, she had made for quite the spectacle upon landing, but had ignored it at the time in favor of hugging her teammates and checking in that everyone was fine. She still had yet to lose those extra feet, and the extreme new curves she’d gained even after a month. The resemblance to Queen Elysium was almost perfect save for her more monotone mane and tail, and it had begun to draw countless eyes to her despite the extreme height difference many stallions had now to her. It was a bit embarrassing really, so lately Spearmint had taken to flying alone in the early morning and late at night to try and relax. The spirit still resting inside of her seemed to like those moments, vaguely coming to the surface to experience it, but always it would settle back down and vanish after she landed.

Speaking of the spirit, she had been told by Princess Luna to not be alarmed by its presence. The spirit had been inspected by her one night in Spearmint’s dreams and deemed peaceful, but also the cause for countless new abilities that the pegasus had to juggle. Such as the extreme awareness to all the weather of Equestria and the ability to conjure storms of any kind at a moments notice. Even without the crown these powers were available to her, and speaking of it that too was being studied in Canterlot by the best unicorn scholars. She felt like an entirely different pony at times, but as the sun began to rise and heat up the day, she felt that familiar weariness that came with hot summer days and smiled faintly. She still loved the cold more despite the chilly reception she’d had in Antrotica.

After another half-hour Spearmint came to land down in one of the open squares and folded her wings. The eleven foot mare looked around, waving to the early morning ponies out and about, and then started walking to her home. Only to be interrupted by a friendly call.

“Spearmint, there you are!” Rushing down the street, the still newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle hurried to catch up to the mare. Despite having gained some height of her own after ascending, the six and a half foot mare was still much smaller than the pegasus, which made Minty feel a bit awkward. Not to mention her curves, which Twilight had not gained much of if anything. The former unicorn however had never shown any awkwardness over these ideas, so the pegasus tried to keep her own mind clear of them. “I thought I saw you flying around. I could really use a follow-up on our questions from last time.”

“Hello Princess.” Bowing slightly, Spearmint sighed and nodded. “No offense but...I’m pretty sure I’ve told you everything I know by now. Just like I did with the other Princesses.”

“Well yes, but I just wanted to confirm and see if anything might have come back to you?” Lighting up her horn, Twilight called over a small notebook and quill from her library and opened it up. “I’m unofficially assigned to helping you recall and learn anything new that might come up from the spirit inside of you. This will be my first report on it to Princess Celestia, and…”

“And you want it to be perfect.” Chuckling, Spearmint nodded and turned. “Alright, let’s find someplace to sit down then.”

They moved over to a cafe that had just opened, taking a table outside so Spearmint could sit on the ground. Setting the book on the table, Twilight stirred some sugar into her tea before beginning. “So let’s start at the beginning. Antrotica was ruled by Cloudthage and the pegasus tribe, correct? Their ruler - Queen Elysium - was not just a ruler, but some kind of champion?”

“That’s correct.” Spearmint nodded. “They had a...kind of religion. Everypony there revered a Goddess, who helped all ponies in the land become a pegasus and controlled the weather. Queen Elysium was...a champion...an avatar? It’s unclear, but the spirit inside of me seems to think of her as both. Whatever the case, she was the one who used the crown, and because of her size and beauty, everypony loved her as if she was the Goddess.”

“Hmm, almost like how early ponies revered Princess Celestia and Luna.” Twilight flipped a few pages and jotted something down. “The crown itself, the Storm Crown, was it the source of her madness? According to your story the Queen went mad over several hundred years before the Dominium attacked.”

“It...didn’t help I think.” Spearmint took a moment before replying, thinking hard. “Queen Elysium was...she had extended her life by sealing the spirit inside of her necklace. I get the feeling that it was a mutual decision, to help the Queen rule and protect her ponies as they escaped the Dominium and settle into the new land. But they didn’t know what it was going to do to a mortal pony. Her mind got older while her body didn’t, and as time passed both she and the spirit began to lose their sanity. She became eccentric, mostly a harmless condition since the two minds kept a loose control over her actions. But when the Dominium attacked...they fractured. The Queen fell into sorrow over all her ponies dying, while the spirit was enraged by the Dominium again imposing their rule on ponies.”

“And as the years passed, they merged their feelings together until they could barely function.” Twilight said softly, eyes downcast. “Which led to their final plan...I see.” They took another moment for Twilight to jot that down and recover from the sad topic. “Who is the spirit?”

“I still believe it might...possibly be the Goddess.”

“You still think that somehow…?”

Spearmint nodded. “What else could it be? That alicorn...Seraph, she acted like she knew me. The only thing different about me then was having the spirit inside of me. If...if Seraph was to turn out to be a Goddess herself…?” She shrugs. “It just fits, right?”

“Even if I believed it’s the spirit of a goddess, how or why would she be inside of you now? Why bind herself to Queen Elysium?” Twilight asked sceptically.

Spearmint just shrugs. Idly fiddling with her empty cup, she looks at her sizeable breasts and tries to imagine the spirit resting in her heart looking back. “Who knows? I can feel a few thoughts...feelings...memories from time to time. But she’s still recovering, still pulling herself back together.”

“Okay, then last question. The Dominium - with Antrotica and Cloudthage, we finally have concrete proof that they existed and were a dangerous threat several thousand years ago. New discoveries and realizations are being made all across the archaeology and historical communities save for the biggest one of all. How did they fall? Is there anything you might have remembered now that connects to that?”

Spearmint remained quiet for a long moment, thinking on how to answer it. While she didn’t ‘know’ the answer, the spirit’s strong hatred for the Dominium had let some things bleed in odd ways into her own mind. “Just ideas and theories that the spirit believed in. She didn’t focus on anything after the Queen went mad, but she still remembers feeling...or I guess seeing...some kind of odd desperation in the Dominium’s actions. That the numbers didn’t add up to what they remembered from the past - they invaded Antrotica and pushed hard to breach the mountains into Cloudthage. Some of the weapons used were so powerful that they must have been some of their best. It was like they were desperate to conquer the pegasi, but nopony knew why.”

“That’s strange - given that the Dominium was the greatest power of their era, it stands to reason they could send a sizeable force no matter what. They were also remarked as being very controlling over other ponies, so could it have been a personal affront to them that Cloudthage had escaped their notice for so long?”

“If it was, it definitely caused them to do some stupid things. During the entire war Queen Elysium never stopped the stormfront she had long used on the coastline to ward off intruders. Dominium fleets had to fight through it every time they brought reinforcements or supplies, and even if one ship sunk they just sent in three more next time. There...I can’t begin to count how many were sunk. I just know it would horrify most commanders in this day and age over how much was lost.”

“If the Dominium sent that many…” Twilight trailed off and noted a few things. “Okay, well this does help me out Spearmint. Thank you so much. There’s nothing else to note, so I should be able to take it from here.” Looking up, she smiled and closed her notebook. “Now - how about yourself? Are you faring well?”

Chuckling, Spearmint nodded and stretched her wings some. “To be honest...I’ve never felt better. The Storm is still lingering inside of me, so I always feel energized and ready to just fly off. It’s like I’m a completely new pony.”

“How are Stark Winter and Whisper, or the other ponies from the research team? I know Doctor Absolut is back to his work at least.”

Shuffling a bit, the giant pegasus stretched a wing up into the air to relieve a cramp building and then folded it back into place. “They’re all well. Stark Winter is heading some of the security around Antrotica at all the new bases. I might have told the Frostwolves to back off but...well, they’re wild animals. Whisper is trying to build a network of communication crystals down south, she seems to be enjoying herself. She says they might try to expand her work to the rest of Equestria after a test run in Antrotica, and everypony I hear talking about it seems excited. She actually gave me a crystal I can charge with my new magic to talk to her from afar - it’s a little draining even for me, but I love it. I’ll definitely get some more if they sell.

“As for the rest of the team...well you know about Doctor Absolut. Slick Slush and Quartz are back to work too, so I haven’t heard from them much. I think Slick is a bit scared of me to be honest.” Spearmint sighed at that. “Apparently my...hoof, got scary close to burying her. I’m trying to apologize, but it’s not easy to put into words. Lupin’s talked with me a few times, but he’s busy with the Doctor so we’re just acquaintances. Rising Shine I’ve worked with a few times actually, given her job and my new skills. She seems to like how much I can help her with her own job, and I honestly don’t mind.”

There was a small moment of silence, and then Twilight asked, “What about Keen Sense?”

“He’s...kind of vanished.” The pegasus admitted. “We were talking for about a week - he actually stayed at my home too. But then he said he had...I’m not sure...an idea? A hint? He was so excited - I couldn’t stop him and the next thing I know, he’s gone.”

“A hint? To what?”

“To - oh!” Spearmint gasped, her memory suddenly jolting her with a lost piece of knowledge. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I forgot! Twilight, there is something else actually I forgot to tell you. I’m so sorry, there was just so much going on…”

“What? What is it?” Leaning forward, Twilight took a hold of one of Spearmint’s hands. “Spearmint, what did you forget?”

“The...the alicorn...Seraph…” She began. “She was very unclear, but she said your name specifically. Said that she’ll be waiting.”

“What?! Waiting where, what are you talking about?”

“In...in...in Patria Primo. In the city held by the depths.”

“Patria Primo. That means...the first homeland?” Twilight Sparkle looked confused, but like a lightning strike she stiffened and gasped. “T-The FIRST?! B-But that’s...no, that’s impossible!” Getting up, she started to fly, froze, and before she could fall from lack of flapping, teleported away. The flash accompanied by an unexpected ‘bang!’ from the speed and force of her magic. Blinking owlishly, Spearmint was left there with the notes still on the table across from her, and an oddly deep sense of joy from within her soul. Calmly calling the waiter over to pay for the bill, she looked down at the papers and neatly gathered them up to take to Twilight Sparkle later, or maybe her assistant Spike. Clearly she had unknowingly set off a new, perhaps even stranger adventure with that message from a Goddess.

“...I guess things are just going to get even more interesting from now on.” She chuckled.

Author's Note:

And that was The Frozen Land fillies and gentlecolts. This is ultimately what took up a huge chunk of my writing time over the last year or so, and I'm glad to have gotten it done and up finally. Like I mentioned in the comments of an earlier chapter, this originally was meant to be a purely fetish story. Big mare and lots of growth, that sorta thing. But then it became this and frankly, I enjoyed making it more than it was. I've always enjoyed my friends OC, Spearmint, and decided to give her a bit of an epic tale to wrap up the first half of his adventures with her. Sorta like a movie if you will.

Will there be a sequel? Yes - Eventually. That one will follow in the steps of another OC of his from the same universe - Eclipse Star. What happens in there however will have to wait, now that this is done I'm going back to The Black Digi-Knight and finally resuming its tale. Please feel free to like, comment etc on this!

Comments

[Mr cold ghost]

I liked the world building. That was intriguing. The fetish stuff not so much.

[jsk244]

9119998
Why thank you! I hope the mild fetish content wasn’t too distracting for you to enjoy the rest of it.