FrostBound

by Azrael the alicorn

Frozen tears

“Discord is down” shouted Spike, so that Ember could hear him between the loud flapping of the dragons army.

“I’ve seen that, but there isn’t much we can do, other than attack” the dragoness replied, before turning to her army. “Get ready!” she cried, “At my signal, unleash hell on the target!”.

Their target remained still, staring at them with scorn, as if even the sight of them annoyed him greatly. He’s not afraid of us noticed Spike, Then again, if he managed to take Discord down, maybe he has a good reason to be so bold .

“Ready… NOW!”. At the order of the dragon lord, all the dragons, Spike and the dragon lord herself, shouted fire at unison. Their multicolored flames fused together into an immense stream of fire so hot that could have burned down pretty much anything in its path. But not FrostBound. The flames hit him with no result, before being turned off by his cold aura. “No way” muttered Ember, expressing what her and the rest of the dragons were thinking.

“Pathetic” said FrostBound, before taking a quick breath.

Ember wasn’t the only one knowing what was about to happen. “DUCK!” she screamed, moving out of the way. Most of the dragons managed to follow her example, either by using decent flying skills, their brutes strength forcing others apart. A big portion of the dragon army successfully dodged, but the other half didn’t make it in time to avoid the assault of FrostBound. The icy flame of the frost dragon looked much more like a beam of energy than the fire stream used by Ember armies. It hit hard, and it hit fast. The one in the main center got disintegrated, but even those that were outside of it got hit by the extremely low temperatures, getting frozen instantly and falling to the ground, shattering into many piece.
With one attack FrostBound had nearly wiped out the whole dragon army. At that, Ember was almost traumatized. Seeing her kin die in such outstandingly way, swatted aside and killed like they were less than vermin, made her feel guilty. Those lives were under my responsibility and I’ve threw their lives away like nothing thought the dragoness, feeling dirty at holding the dragon lord staff.

The ex-dragon lord and father of Ember, Torch, seemed to be more angry than anything else at the sight of his brethren suffer. “You arrogant whelp!” he shouted, charging the much bigger dragon, pointing at his face, spitting fire, clawing and head butting his eyes.

“Funny thing said by one of your size” commented FrostBound, flicking Torch away as if he was nothing but a pesky bug and making fly over the horizon.

“Father!” cried Ember.

“Ember” called Spike, “We can’t face FrostBound by ourselves. We need Discord!”.

“But I can’t leave my people in the time of need!” replied Ember, as tears started to drop from her face. “It’s my fault if some many have died. I shouldn’t have followed my approach on this serious matter”.

“I doubt that any plan would have worked differently anyway, Ember. But we are still in time to prevent a the complete destruction of the rest of our forces”.

At times, I wonder if Spike is older than I am thought the young dragon lord, impressed. “Okay, I will take you to him. I need to do something, or else I won’t be able to consider myself worthy of this title”.

And with that she took the purple drake to the downed spirit of chaos.

***
Wow, what a surprise, FrostBound is wiping the floor with them thought acidly Discord, as he tried to stand up. Ah, what is the point of all of this? Why do I even bother to get back to a fight I know I’m going to lose? Maybe I should just lay here and wait for FrostBound to come back to finish me. That would be far less embarrassing for me. Or maybe I should do as I said I would if I didn’t had friends to care for, and just leave this world behind . But he couldn’t do any of it. He just couldn’t let that big frosty jerk have the last laugh. Not after what he had took from him.

“Discord”. The Draconequus lifted his head, finding out that Spike was standing a few feet away from him, “Are you okay?”.

“What kind of stupid question is that!?” replied Discord, getting up, only for nearly fall over. Easy there, one step at the time he warned himself sitting down. “Nothing is okay! I just got my flank handed to me by that popsicle dispenser over there. Our big bad army has been decimated in seconds flat and Fluttershy…”. Discord stop himself, considering how Spike would have reacted at the news of the death of the elements of Harmony. If for me is so painful for having lost just one of them, how is he going to react at hearing the death of all his friends? “He killed them, Spike. Fluttershy and all of her friends. They have arrived before us and hit him with the Elements, failing at stop him” As he said that, his voice nearly broke. Here comes the tears .

“No their not”.

“What?” asked Discord, confused.

“They are not dead” replied Spike, surprisingly calm.

“But how… how do you even know it?”.

“They have told us” said the young drake, pointing in the skies. Some of the airships of the Dragon Watch were flying towards the battlefield to engage FrostBound. “When Ember and I went back to bring the rest of the dragons, we have met the commander of the Sirocco airship. He told us about the defeat of the Elements”.

“And what about them knowing if their dead or not?” questioned Discord, not bothering to look at the scene. He knew well enough how that cavalry would have ended.

“They… could feel it. I don’t how to explain it to you, but they felt that Twilight and the others are still alive, and are inside the giant dragon. And the more I think about, the more I think that they were right”.

So what? They have heard voices now? I may be the spirit of chaos, but even I found that hard to believe thought the Draconequus. And yet, despite the absurdity of it all, he wanted to believe that feeling. “Ok, so they are inside that monster there. So, what are we going to do about it?”.

“I… don’t know” admitted Spike. “But we sure could use your help against FrostBound”.

At that, the Sirocco and the other airships got obliterated by another burst of frost flames by the ice dragon, much to the horror of Spike and the resignation of the Draconequus. “My help isn’t going to change a thing, kid. If neither my power or the one of the Elements of Harmony could stop him, nothing will. Unless you know of some secret and unknown by many MacGuffin that is going to turn the tide to the last second”.

“Well… no. But we both know that the Twilight and the others have already managed to get out of awful situation. Why this one should be different?”.

Discord nearly laughed at that. “Well, considering how awful things are now, they should be close to win the day” commented the spirit of chaos, before he caught up something. “Looks like the dragon lord is in danger”.

In fact, FrostBound had captured Ember and now he was holding her in his fingers, ignoring the attempts of the others dragons to release her. “We have to do something!” shouted Spike, alarmed.

“Calm down, kid, we will save your girlfriend” said Discord.

“She’s not my…WHOA!” exclaimed Spike, finding himself suddenly on a slingshot.

“Catch” added the spirit of chaos, passing him one of the harpoons of the Dragon Watch that had been shrink enough to allow the young dragon to use it.

“You want to send me alone against him!?” blurted out Spike, terrorized.

“Oh stop being a sissy. I’m going to catch on soon enough, I just need a little bit of time to strategy a bit”. And before Spike could ask him anything else, he sent the purple dragon flying towards the much, much, MUCH bigger one. “Now go and save your girlfriend!”.

***

Dragons were famous for their though scales, which protected them from harsh weather, be that extreme heat or cold. But this weather was putting such durability to their limit. How long we will be able to fly? Let alone breathing fire? We need to take him out, before any of that happens to us . But to do that, the young dragon lord had to figure out how the situation was. Once dropped Spike near Discord, Ember flew as high as her wings allowed. Up there, she could see clearly the chaos underneath. Or at least, the chaos of their army. Her forces were scattered all around; some trying to get to safe distance from the giant dragon, others attacking relentlessly in hope to actually damage him. Neither of the two strategies was working properly. FrostBound on the other hand didn’t seemed to have a problem picking small groups down with swift attacks, something unlikely for one of his size. I need to save them… but how? Ember wondered. At last, she soon realized that the only approach that wouldn’t have be fatal for her was the pony approach. If Discord managed to keep him busy by chatting, maybe I can do the same . And so she flew right in front of FrostBound, making the giant dragon stop his attack by staring at her with apathy. “Halt!” Ember shouted, trying to sound firm. “I am Ember, the dragon lord. I have been chosen to be the master of all dragons. Of which includes you too. So I demand you to stop what you’re doing and yield!”. Okay, maybe is not EXACTLY the pony approach, but is going to suffice for now . FrostBound was about to say something when he turned his head around, glaring at the arrival of the Sirocco and the other airships of the Dragon Watch. They had barely enough time to shoot some ineffectual thunder blast and harpoon before FrostBound replied with his far more powerful ice breath, destroying them immediately.

“I know who you are” replied the ice dragon, turning his attention back to her. “That ludicrous staff of yours is hard to miss”.

“This staff proves that I am the Dragon lord!”.

“It also makes you an easy target in the heart of the battle, allowing to anyone to recognize your status and knowing that, if you get taken down, the rest of your army will either give up, run away or turned against itself”.

Ember was about to reply, but then realized that what FrostBound had just told her was true. The fact that she didn’t realized this sooner made her feel rather silly. I’m such a dork she thought, failing to hide her frustration.

“Didn’t thought this through, haven’t you? Typical. You dragons have never been famous for your intelligence. More focused on gathering treasures to eat than anything else or trying to play hero, when the best thing you could do is hide from me”.

“Where could we hide from that?” she said, pointing at the cold sun. “You’re putting the whole world in danger, the least we can do is try to save it”.

“You can’t save it. Not with brute force and certainly not with worthless titles granted; even less when such title is granted by taking an hold on something that even the weakest of creature could take. I may look like a dragon, but my essence is more than even your simple mind could grasp”.

“What’s so hard to grasp? You’re just a dragon of ice that freeze stuff up!”.

“You know nothing, dragon lord. What you’ve seen me do is just a small taste of what I can do. But I doubt your feeble mind could understand it”. Suddenly, Ember found herself grabbed by two clawed fingers of FrostBound. “So I won’t bother to even try. Prepare to die, whelp lord”.

No, it can’t end this way she thought, trying to escape the ice dragon grasp, but with no success. “You won’t win” Ember hissed, defiant till the bitter (and cold) end.

“Spare me the bold remark, Ember, I’ve already heard enough of it. Rather, pray that the one you’re buying time for will come in time”.

“What?”. Then the sound of someone screaming in panic ringed in her head. A sound that was getting louder, closer. She recognize it. “Spike” she whispered. A second later, the young purple dragon landed head first on the hand holding her. Spike got up, shaking off the groggy feeling, realizing on what he was standing off. He then quickly raised the harpoon on his hand and dropped violently on the limb with all the strength in his arms. A valiant effort, but sadly the only result was to shatter the point of the weapon into pieces.

“What was I expecting?” asked himself Spike.

“So is this one your savior? You must be really desperate, having to count on a wingless dragon” commented FrostBound.

“Stand back, you big bully!” shouted Spike, holding the broken weapon like a club. “You don’t scare me”

“Spike, get away!” cried Ember, afraid for the life of the little but brave purple and green dragon.

“I won’t, not even if I could. I will save my friends!” he declared.

“Another one ready to give his life in an attempt to save a dying world and its inhabitants” grumbled FrostBound, nearing his massive head closer to the younger drake. “Do you want to give your life to protect the one you care for? Be my guest. You will soon find out how pointless…”. The demoralizing speech of the ice dragon came to an halt, while on his eyes appeared an hint of surprise. He moved his head even closer to Spike, he took a sniff to the much smaller dragon, the air coming from the two fissures that were his nose reminded him of a blizzard. The eyes of FrostBound widened in shock, “No, that can’t be” he whispered, before seemingly falling into a trance-like state. Doing that, he accidentally released Ember from his grip.

“Eh, what just happened?” wondered Spike, rather confused.

“I don’t know. But I do know we need to get as far away as possible, before he snaps out of that” said Ember, taking the purple drake with her. “We need to regroup our forces. Have you got Discord back on his feet?”.

“Yes” told her Spike. “I think he’s planning something”.

“Well that’s good to hear. Do you what exactly?”. As she said that, they noticed a shining light coming from their right. A warm light, that fought back the low temperatures. The source of that pleasing sensation was a gigantic fiery ball , that Discord held in his hand as if it was a balloon. “Did he just created a little sun?”

“Yup” was all that Spike could say.

As they made to reach the Draconequus, all the other dragons followed them, escaping from the bitter cold. “Glad that you made it” said Discord at their arrival.

“You’ve sent Spike alone against that beast!” accused him Ember, glaring daggers the spirit of chaos.

“Aw, the dragon lord cares for her little boyfriend”.

“He’s… not my boyfriend” she said, looking away while blushing, missing how Spike did the same.

“As you prefer. And about me sending Spike to face mister popsicle, I knew that mister popsicle there wouldn’t kill him right away because I know that he likes to chit chat. I guess that spending all those years without having a chance to talk has made him very colloquial with everyone that wants to talk with him” explained Discord. “What I didn’t knew was that you would somehow incapacitate him. How did you do that?” he asked the young dragon.

“I have no idea” told him Spike. “He sniffed me and then he stopped moving. And no, before you ask, I washed myself just yesterday”.

“Good to know. Well, let’s hope that he stays still until something or someone will defeat him”.

“Maybe we don’t have to wait that much” said Ember, pointing out to the horizon.

The Dragon Watch (or what remained of it), with the Monarch in front of the smaller airships of the fleet.

“Ah great, more meat shield for us” scoffed Discord, before suddenly noticing something. On the bridge were standing to figures. “What on Equestria are those two doing here!?”.

***

“We got the beast on the sights, princess Cadence”.

“I’ve beg you to not call him beast, captain Steel Wing”.

“Princess?”.

“I know that it must sound absurd or even insulting after what he did to your mates, captain, but FrostBound… Cryo, is not a beast. He’s just a lone soul, devoured by hatred” told him the pink alicorn. “And if we want to put an end to his rampage, we must help him to exorcise the real monsters in his soul” she stated.

Confused, the pegasus looked at the white stallion, as if asking him the meaning behind the princess words. “Is a long story we will tell you later” replied Shining Armor, “Just let Cadence do her job, is our best chance”.

“Well I doubt that we can do anything against him, especially now that he gotten even bigger” noticed Steel Wing, expressing the resignation that he and his fleet were feeling right now. “You’ll better go now. I doubt he will let you get on the outside bridge”.

“Thanks, captain” said Shining Armor, following Cadence through the corridors. Once at a certain distance, he added, “I feel bad for him. Is already bad enough to losing your comrades, but not having a chance to help defeating the one responsible”.

“I know. I felt something similar when Chrysalis trapped me in the Canterlot caves. If only Cryo didn’t abducted us, I could have avoided to involve them or the dragons. Violence will not end this problem”.

“I’m surprised that Celestia or Luna didn’t thought the same. Especially Celestia. She should have knew about the powers of Cryo”.

“Her fear towards him and the guilt for what she did to him has tampered into her intellect. And Luna probably wanted to protect her to all cost”.

“Comprehensible. I bet she still feels in debt for what Nightmare Moon did”.

“Probable”. Cadence suddenly stopped and gave her spouse a worried look. “Shining, you aren’t forced to do this”.

“I beg the differ. We are married, remember? Husband and wife, together in both the good and the bad times. And this is certainly a bad time, don’t you think?” he asked jokingly, trying to cheer her up. “And you know that we work better together than by ourselves. Remember how we defeated Chrysalis and protected the Crystal Empire?”.

I couldn’t have married a better pony was all that the pink alicorn could think, smiling dearly at the white stallion. The two shared a deep hug and then a kiss, “You’re just the best, Shining” she said.

“No, we are” replied the white stallion. And with that the royal couple hurried to the outside bridge

***

FrostBound broke out of his controlling state, wobbly stepping back. “What was that?” he asked out loud.

“We were wondering the same thing” replied the Windigos, “What’s going on, FrostBound? Why did you stopped? Look! They gotten away!” complained then, pointing out how the two young dragons were flying away from his point of sight.

“They are not a threat” replied the ice dragon. “Not immediate and not even in the far future. I will get them again. Soon. And this time I will crush them!” promised.

But such promise didn’t seem to calm the frost spirits. “They may not be a threat, but they still did something to you. Particularly the little one. Don’t think that we missed that. What did you smelled from him?”

“He… had a familiar smell” confessed FrostBound.

“What do you mean with familiar?”.

“I wish I knew”.

“Probably is just the smell that all the dragons have” suggested the Windigos. “Anyway, is nothing worth getting so nervous about it. Get yourself together and destroy those pests!”.

“Right” he said, ignoring how despotic the frost spirits were becoming. I’m the commanding here. Not you he would have said if he didn’t knew that now it wasn’t the best time for bickering. As he moved back to his place, he noticed the arrival of Dragon Watch. You got to be kidding me. How many airship must I destroy before they will learn how feeble they are? FrostBound thought, aggravated by having to destroy more of those over glorified aircrafts. But then he noticed the presence of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. An unexpected event, but not an unwelcomed one. He was getting bored at beating up those puny whelps.

“What are those two doing there!?” hissed the Windigos.

“Let’s go ask them”. And with that, FrostBound returned in control of his physical form.

***

“Why are Shining and Cadence here?” wondered Spike.

“He has awakened!” exclaimed a green dragon, pointing at FrostBound. Indeed, the ice dragon seemed to have snapped back to his sense. And now was focusing all his attention on the Monarch and the two ponies on the top of it.

“We must do something!” exclaimed Spike.

“And we will” promised Discord. “But only once that you will all got warmed up. I don’t know if you noticed, but you all look nearly frozen”.

The Draconequus was right. Most of the dragons were only now starting to get rid of all the ice that was forming on their wings. “If go now, we won’t last long” pointed out Ember. “Let’s wait and hope that your friends will last enough”.

Spike didn’t liked the idea to leave Shining and Cadence alone in the time of need, but he couldn’t deny the points of Ember and Discord. Se he took a sit on his personal armchair that the spirit of chaos had summoned for him and the whole dragon army, hoping the royal couple had a plan.

***

They had just reached the outside bridge when FrostBound noticed their presence, and as they walked to the edge of the bridge he had already covered the distance with a few steps. “If it isn’t the rulers of the Crystal Empire. Looks like in the end Celestia plan to having another army to place against me has almost come in to fruition. Even though” he said, eyeing around, “I don’t see your forces with you. Neither I feel the presence of Crystal Heart”.

“It’s just the two of us. Our soldiers and the Crystal Heart have remained home, so that they could defend the ponies that live there, in case of our failure” declared Cadence, calm.

“Touching. Pointless, but touching. Celestia always told so many good things about you and your husband” scoffed FrostBound.

“Just like she told me a lot about you, Cryo. I’m one of the few ponies that Celestia told me about your story”.

Hearing that name coming from the pink alicorn, made the eyes of the ice dragon widened with surprise. “So… you know what I am”.

“Not what, who. You’re the victim of a cruel fate, forced to be a vessel for cold hearted creatures that want to turn this world into a frozen wasteland. And I also know about what Celestia did to you”.

“Did she told you of how she betrayed me, by chance? Of all her lies?”.

“She didn’t lied to you, Cryo. Or at least, not when it came to her affection towards you”.

“You don’t have any--“.

“Of how much pain you must endured? I haven’t experienced the hurting you felt, but I could see in it in my aunt eyes and in her voice, when she revealed to me of your past. Her regret for not keeping her word, the pain of leaving you behind”.

“You’re not telling me anything new, Cadence. I know that she felt bad, but that’s the LEAST she could do after what she did to me. And still, no matter how much affection she had for me, her fears were much greater than her love. Today I had another proof, when she started to gather an army to battle and subdue me, rather than confront me peacefully”.

“She was scared, Cryo. Scared of what you would do, or what the others would say if they knew what she did to you. Fear and guilt made her act recklessly, trying to do what was best for the kingdom and the world. If you wouldn’t have abducted me, I would--“.

“--I don’t care for ifs or buts!” blurted out FrostBound. “Nor I care for empty words. All I want is to bring forward what has been my destiny: end the world in ice! And you will not stop me with your speech about love and compassion”.

“I have more than simple speeches, Cryo” declared Cadence with a defiant glare. “If you know me, you must know that I’m an expert on the magic of love, which allowed me to rise as an alicorn”.

“And you think that you can defeat me with the power of love?” asked the ice dragon, amused.

“In a way, yes. But most of all, I want to remind you something”. Without adding anything else, the pink alicorn charged out a powerful beam, shooting it right at FrostBound forehead. As the ray touched the temple of the ice dragon, this one seemed to fell in some kind of trance.

Shining Armor watched the scene, always beside his wife, ready to shield her in case something went wrong. Is my duty to protect her, even with my life. This time I won’t fail you he promised to her.

***

After no selling every single attack, FrostBound remained quite shocked when he found himself into this white void, comparable to the one he had spent nearly three years. How did this happened? I should be immune to the magic of this world thought the ice dragon. Or maybe he said? He couldn’t be sure.

This is not just magic, Cryo. This is the power of love replied to him Cadence, with a wide gentle smile. I’ve used the link between you and the Windigos to circumnavigate around your immunity, so to reach your mind .

Remarkable trick had to admit FrostBound. Indeed, the ice dragon was actually impressed by the magical skills of the pink alicorn. He could almost respect her for that, if it wasn’t for her condescending tone. But for how long do you think you can keep this up?

Long enough to purify your mind by those ill thoughts. Look around, Cryo. Is just you, me and your memories claimed Cadence, as her horn lighten up. At her command, the ice dragon found himself surrounded by what looked like animated pictures of his past. Most specifically, it’s time with Celestia. Look at them and tell me if what you see doesn’t warm your heart .

FrostBound stared at his memories, contemplating the days in which Celestia would have come visiting him. Not all of them were about teaching him to control his powers, but also playing chess, reading, talking about philosophy, eating (even though he didn’t needed to) or getting information about what had happened in Equestria. And above all those memories, there was the very first day that Celestia had visited him. After a while of staring at those collection of remembrances, FrostBound moved closer to them, touching them with one of his arms, in a way that seemed to look like affection and melancholy. At that Cadence believed herself to have it accomplished her goals: purify his heart and mind from hate. But her hopes slowly started to get crushed just as FrostBound expression turned fierce. Warm my heart he repeated, voice filled with scorn, You little, insolent, ignorant FOAL . With a loud roar, his memories got blown away by a sudden burst of aura. Do you really think that I’ve forgotten about my time spent with her? It’s one of the main reason why I’m doing all of this!

But…but you’re not uttered Cadence, both scared and shocked at the ice dragon reaction.

I’m what? What was all of this show supposed to do to me? Reform me? Making me realize that hate is bad and love is good? Celestia told me that you know all about how love works, but what you tried now proves that you know only a part of it. So allow me to tell you something. Love and hatred may be different, but they’re still entangled with each other. Love may be strong, but hatred can be just as strong as an emotion, especially if such love is betrayed. When that happens, hate will feed on love, getting stronger. Just like mine! FrostBound explained bitterly, as his body convulsed, as if the ice dragon was trying to keep himself under control. Your attempt to subdue me had only one effect: to feed my hatred for Celestia and the whole world, just like throwing oil into the fire! You made me more powerful that you can even image! I could almost thank you, if I didn’t loathed everything about you!

No whispered Cadence, as terror and shame froze her into place.

Now get out of my mind! FrostBound shouted, as his body started to shine a cold and sinister light, breaking apart the white void with dark azure cracks.

***

When Cadence opened her eyes, she found herself in the arms of her husband. Shining was looking at her with fear. “Cadence, are you alright?”. The pink alicorn felt so weak, she could only nod. She also noticed that they weren’t alone anymore. Spike, Discord and an azure dragoness that had to be Ember, the dragon lord. The spirit of chaos was holding a small sun like a kid would hold a balloon. And all around the airship she could see a flock of dragons fly all around.

“What did you do?” demanded Discord.

Being Cadence too weak for talking, Shining took word for her, “She wanted to use her power over love to weaken Cryo, making him realize that was wrong”.

“So she wanted to stop him with pink hearts? And who the heck is Cryo?”.

“She used her magic to enter in his mind and use his memories with Celestia” elucidated the white stallion, annoyed by the mocking tone of the Draconequus. “And for the second question, FrostBound is Cryo!”.

Spike, the azure dragoness and Discord exchanged some confused glares. “Celestia knows FrostBound…Cryo… that thing?” asked Spike.

“Is a long story, but now we don’t have time for this. Rather, does any of you know where Celestia and the Bearers of Harmony ended up to?”.

“I… we don’t know. But now we have a far bigger problem to deal with” said the dragon lord, pointing at the giant ice dragon. FrostBound had lowered his head, eyes closed, while his wings were opened at their best, his claws were digging holes in the ground. All in all, was a menacing sight, but the true alarming bit was the aura that was accumulating all around him.

“Is this part of your great plan, princess?” asked bitterly Discord.

Shining was about to reply to the snarky spirit of chaos, when Cadence finally managed to get up (albeit difficultly) and took up word. “No. It is not” she replied with broken voice. “I hoped that I could reason with Cryo, to help him overcome his pain. I thought that, given my experience with the magic of love, I was the only one capable of doing that, bar Twilight and her friends. But I was just over my head, and in the I’ve just rubbed more salt on his deep wounds”.

“Then… what should we do now?” wondered Spike.

All the eyes pointing at her, Cadence had only one chilling answer: “Run”.

Suddenly, FrostBound started to growl and at the same time his aura started to make a deep sound while becoming more visible and blinding. “We need to get out of here!” shouted the azure dragoness, “Discord, use your magic, teleport us away, quickly!”

But it was too late. With a earsplitting roar, the aura exploded, blinding everyone, be them dragons, ponies or spirit of chaos.

***

FrostBound snapped out of his control once again, nearly falling to the ground. The Windigos weren’t happy about it. “No!” whined the frost spirits, “Why did you interrupted our feast? All that precious hatred…”.

“It was too much too handle” replied the ice dragon, catching his breath. Indeed, after Cadence pathetic attempt to purify him with his memories, his mind had fallen into a storm of not just hatred, but also agony. A pain born from the awareness of what he was. He was a monster, forever fated to never feel any warmth or happiness, that the only emotion that could come close to feel like joy was retribution. Just because you know something, it doesn’t make it any less awful. Or painful . “If I tried to absorb it all, it would be a problem”.

The Windigos didn’t seem to understand his answer, “A problem? How?”.

“I could have destroyed everything. A quick, sudden, flashy, end to all the living things on this planet. And if that happens, you can say farewell to your plans to trap and torture the ponies for getting their emotions. Did I made a point here!?” snarled FrostBound, while getting up.

“Right” had to agree the Windigos, almost scared by the ice dragon reaction. “Well, at least we got rid of those pests”.

“I wouldn’t be so sure” FrostBound said, pointing at his eyes.

“What the” exclaimed the frost spirits, enraged, “How are they alive!?”

***

All that Spike could see was blackness. Yet, he could hear voices, coming from somepony that he couldn’t see.

“Too close” huffed someone, “Too darn close”.

“His power is truly incredible. But then again, I shouldn’t be surprised, given how he’s the first one” said a second voice.

“You’re still sure that you can keep that up?”.

“Yes, as long as I don’t get distracted. Speaking of which, we’ll better move, before they wake up”.

“Right”.

“Wait” uttered Spike.

“Spike?”.

As the young purple drake opened his eyes, he found Ember right in front of him. There was no trace of those two mysterious persons that were talking. He looked around searching for them, but could only see Shining Armor and Princess Cadence helping each other getting up and Discord taking some pills, as if to calm his headache. They were still on Monarch, but the airship had landed on the snow and ice covered ground, just like the rest of the fleet. The dragons were doing the same. “Ember? What is going on?”.

“I have no idea. One second it seemed like we were about to get obliterated by that… aura explosion caused by FrostBound and the next second we’re here, miles away from where we were”.

“Well I can tell you one thing for certain” said Steel Wing, joining the group on the bridge. “Whoever took us away to safety, it also made sure we can’t move anymore. The engine of not just the Monarch, but the rest of the Dragon Watch, are frozen. If FrostBound… Cryo, is going to attack us again…”.

“I don’t think we have to worry about him, for the time being” stated Discord.

A magic barrier of a strong shade of azure was surrounding the giant dragon, keeping him from moving. But while contained, FrostBound was still an intimidating figure. He had growth hundreds of meters tall, and him standing on his hind legs made his size even more imposing. The ice dragon didn’t seem to realize that he was being contained. He was still hollowing at the sky, a sound that made everyone shiver. It was a sound of both rage, but also despair. It was like he was cursing any entity above for his fate. The group soon noticed something even more jarring. Under his eyes, there were something that looked like a trail of tears that had been frozen over. “He’s…crying” said Ember.

“Poor child” whispered Cadence, her too looking close to tears.

Ember didn’t seem to share the feeling. “How can that barrier hold him?” she wondered.

“Mhm” muttered Discord. The spirit of chaos extended his lion paw in a comedic fashion, making it scrape the magical blockade, for then bringing it back to him, for then taste it. “Just as I was thinking. This is the very same element of FrostBound. Incredibly cold and yet so vibrant of life”.

“But… what does this mean?” asked Shining Armor, confused.

“Don’t you get it? We aren’t the only one dealing with FrostBound, here. There’s a third group involved into this story. A group that apparently prefers to stay behind the curtain, avoiding the attention”.

“I’ve heard some voices, before Ember called me. Two voices” said Spike, “Could it be that one of them share the same element with Cryo?”.

“Probably. But we will not know until later. For now, let’s focus on what we can get an answer from”. As the Draconequus said those words, he fixed his stare on Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. “Like what exactly links Celestia to that thing over there. I don’t like not knowing stuff. And I hate being lied to”.

“I guess that it is long due” sighed Cadence. “First of, I want you to let me tell you the story without interruption”. As the Spike and the others nodded, she began telling the actual story of Cryo.

***

“What kind of sorcery is this!?” the Windigos almost screamed, looking both at the group of survivors and the barrier that was surrounding them. “How could any barrier stop our attacks!?”.

“Because that barrier is not made by any kind of magic of this world” told them FrostBound, more intrigued that angered by the sudden event. “Who casted that spell share our own element, somehow”.

“What!? But how--“

“--This isn’t the time for questions. If we want answers, we need to break that barrier down”.

“That, but also taking down those vermin” added the frost spirits. “Don’t waste any more time talking with them. Destroy them, so that we can focus on more concerning matters”.

“Right”. FrostBound was about to go back in his control mode, when suddenly he felt the presence behind him. Someone was trying to sneak up on him. He allowed them to get over the nearly frozen Celestia, before suddenly turning around, making aspirant attackers jump in fear. The identity of his assailants wasn’t a surprise to him, but the way they had managed to get out of the prison actually managed to astonish him.

“Well, so much for the sneaky attack” huffed Pinkie Pie.

But before he could say something, the Windigos took word. “YOU! How did you get out of your cells!?” shouted the frost spirits, with voices tainted by venomous hatred and anger.

“We would tell you, but we doubt that creatures such as you could ever understand it” said Rarity, with snobbish tone, increasing the rage of the Windigos.

“And now you have come here to stop me?” asked FrostBound, more bored than angered.

“We’re here to save you, Cryo” replied Twilight Sparkle, with a tender smile.

At that, the ice dragon became silent, as if unsure as how to reply.

The Windigos didn’t had the same problem. “And how do you think you can “save” him? Your pathetic power of Friendship has already failed against us!”.

“On the outside you may be invulnerable, but not inside. On the inside, you’re exposed to our element and vulnerable!”.

“Vulnerable? Maybe” admitted FrostBound, while raising his right claw “But not defenseless”. Suddenly, the Mane 6 fell to the ground, clutching their chest while gasping for air. “There are enough ways for me to kill you without even having to lay a finger on you; enough to write a book about it. This is one is me freezing the air in your lungs. Painful isn’t it? And yet is not the most painful way to die, I assure you”.

“Please” managed to utter Fluttershy, “Don’t do this, Cryo. You don’t have to be… a monster”.

“It’s too late. Too late for you, for me, for Equestria and for everyone else in this world”.

“Enough talk, FrostBound!” hissed the Windigos, “Kill them. Or knock them out, so that they join the rest of their pathetic friends into a cold death”.

“Afraid to face us into a battle that you can actually lose, chickens?” coughed out Rainbow Dash.

“They probably fear to lose against us ponies again” added Applejack, with a smirk.

“We’re not!” claimed .

“Yes you do. And you really stink at lying”.

At that, FrostBound snorted something similar to a laugh. “Useless to try and lie to the Element of Honesty, just like is useless to lie to me. Are you really that afraid of losing a battle with them? After that we have already proved to be more powerful than their power of Harmony?”.

The Windigos remained silent, pondering on the words of the ice dragon. “You’re right. Why should we fear a fight that we’re going to win? It’s them that should fear this battle, not us!” they nodded while smiling self-importantly, “Let them get up, so that they can taste for one final time their failure!”.

“As you wish. Get up and fight, Elements of Harmony” said FrostBound, allowing the Mane 6 to breathe. “Is time for you to understand once and for all that your creed is wrong and that your world is doomed”.

“No” countered Twilight Sparkle while her, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash started to channel the power of Harmony, “Is time for us to do what Celestia should have done long ago: releasing you from your curse”.

“May those words be your epitaph, Elements of Harmony”.