FrostBound

by Azrael the alicorn

Cold Breeze

When Princess Celestia opened her windows earlier that morning, she expected to be graced by the soft winds of Spring as the pegasus on Cloudsdale worked to make the weather warmer, allowing animals to awaken from slumber and make trees and flowers be back into blooming at their fullest. And yet, when the window got opened, she got hit in the face with sudden chilling breeze. “Weird” she said to herself, confused, “I wonder if something happened up there. Maybe I should send a message to the climate squad and—“ *Knock knock*. The alicorn princess turned her attention to her doors, “Come in” she said, kindly. Accompanied by her personal guards, entered a female pony that had a duster as a cutie mark and with white and grey mane and fur. Her name was Dusty Coat and she had took the place as headmaster of the cleaning in the royal sisters castle since the last one went in pension. Celestia noticed that the pony looked a bit alarmed, “Something’s wrong, Dusty Coat?”.

“Well, nothing per se, my princess” she said, “Is just that something weird happen while I was taking off the dust in some of the least used rooms when I noticed, right in the corner of one of them, some kind of device similar to a candle was glowing of unnatural light and so I... Princess Celestia, are you alright?”. The pony noticed that when she mentioned the device the alicorn turned even paler than usual while her eyes widened in fear and disbelief.

“Of what colour was the light?” she asked.

“Red. Why?”.

Princess Luna was going into her eldest sister rooms to refer to her of the weird weather when she meet Dusty Coat. The female unicorn looked perplexed, “Oh Princess Luna” she said, bowing in respect.

“Is everything alright, miss Dusty Coat?”.

“Well, Princess Celestia just gave me and my cleaning team the permits to call this and the next three days off” the unicorn said.

“Really?” Luna was a bit puzzled herself, “Shouldn’t that be a good news for you?”.

“I’m not somepony that likes to leave a job incomplete, my lady” said Dusty Coat. Then she turned her head back, watching the direction from which she was coming, “But I think that there’s more than your sister good nature behind this choice. I just told her about this device that was letting out a red light and then she looked like somepony had just stabbed her in the heart. She told me she was fine, but she didn’t exactly sounded convincing, if I can be honest”.

“I will make sure to help her in case of need. That said, even if there was trouble coming up ahead, you just have to remember that Equestria has always managed to come out victorious” said Princess Luna, giving her most cheering smile.

“Of course not, my lady” replied Dusty Coat before giving another bow.

Once the unicorn left the blue alicorn rushed to her sister room. And there she was, sitting on the bed, looking at the open window. “Celestia”. The white alicorn turned around, allowing Luna to see the fear in her eyes.

“He has awakened” Celestia said, almost on the verge of a breakdown.

“Yes, but maybe is not too late to pull an halt to his attempt to escape” Luna replied. She wasn’t that much sure of her own words, but sincerity wouldn’t have helped her sister calm down. Suddenly there was a flash of light and Discord appeared near the window.

“I’m afraid that’s already too late for that” he said, preferring using the brutal truth.

“You knew about him” said Celestia, surprised.

“Of course I did. How could I miss the existence of a creature that wields a power like that” he watched out of the window with a worried expression, “I was smart enough to avoid to release him in my earlier days when my only source of fulfilment was to bend Equestria at my will, because I didn’t feel it to share my playground with him, AND because I’m not so foolish to trust in someone who has Windigos bound to him. Same thing I didn’t mention of his existence to Tirek because I couldn’t tell what would have happened if he tried to absorb his magic too. Although I’m sure the final result would have been bad in either cases”.

“Very wise of you” admitted Luna.

“Indeed. But do you want to hear the definition of something not wise, for not to say completely bonkers?” Discord turned around, glaring at Celestia, “Keeping his existence a secret to the whole world, even to your apprentice and her friends. That’s something you did quite often, isn’t it?”.

Celestia backed off as if Discord words were deadly spikes. Luna came to her aid, “Now is not the right time to move accuses, Discord. We must warn the Bearers of Harmony and prepare ourselves for what is to come”.

“You’re right, Luna” finally said Celestia, seemingly freed from her shock and back to. “I will go sending a letter to both Twilight and Cadence” she turned to her sister, “Luna, send a message to Iron Brace to prepare our fleet” and then she turned to the Draconequus, “I will need your help too, Discord” she glanced at the window, “FrostBound is out there, we need to rally our allies as fast as we can before he decides to strike”.

An hour later

Twilight had made call Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy to the castle as fast as she could once Spike brought her the letter. “How much do you bet that this reunion is about this sudden change of weather?” asked Applejack.

“You like to not take any chances” replied Rarity, “It’s clear that something is off with this sudden return of coldness” she glanced at Rainbow Dash, “Even though I believed that this was one of your pranks, Rainbow Dash”.

The cyan pegasus looked offended, “Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’ve learned to not get over the top with my pranks. Also, don’t forget that until this coldness won’t leave, Tank is not going to wake up”.

“And Tank is not the only animal which is going to have trouble, with this sudden drop of temperatures. If we will not solve this problem soon enough, they are going to starve” added Fluttershy, worried.
The girls noticed that Pinkie Pie had remained silent all this time. Now that they noticed, she looked tired.

“Are you alright, my dear?” asked Twilight, concerned by her silence, so out of character of her.

“I’m fine” the pink earth pony replied, trying to calm her friends, “Is just that tonight I had problem sleeping”.

Everypony with the exception Pinkie exchanged some confused stares, “And why’s that, darling?” asked Rarity.

“Because” she sounded uncertain, as if she feared to tell them the truth, “Because tonight my Pinkie Sense went crazy in ways that I’ve never felt. It was so sudden and powerful that I fell from the bed and I almost awaken ms and miss Cakes and the twins! Then I spent the rest of the night wondering what kind of trouble is coming to our way”.
The rest of the Mane 6 stood silent, the words of their friend sinking in their minds.

“Well, whatever reason that may be, I think a good hot sweet can always help”. Spike arrived from the kitchen carrying a big tray that had seven cups of warm chocolate and many cookies.

“Thanks Spike” said Twilight, smiling at the young drake.

“You’re the best, darling” complimented Rarity, sweetly.
Spike could only smile clumsily at the compliments, but before he could say anything there was a sudden and yet familiar flash of light. Discord had arrived, and with him there were Princess Luna and Celestia.

“Forgive us from the sudden entrance, Twilight, but we need to act quick”.

“Sure thing, princess, but what—“.

“Wait” Celestia turned to Discord, “Now you can go get her”. And with that Discord snapped his fingers, disappearing. “I know you want answers, my little ponies, but before I explain what is going on we have to wait for Discord return. And for the arrival of Cadence and Shining Armour”.

“But who—“ but once again Twilight got interrupted by Discord appearance. But he wasn’t alone.

“Ember!?” shouted in surprise Spike.

“Spike!? What’s going on!?” asked the young dragoness, almost panicking by the shock of the teleportation. She glared at the Draconequus, “And who the heck are you?! Let me go!”.

“Quite the temperament, no wonder you got the title of Dragon Lord” mused Discord, letting her go “The name’s Discord, master of Chaos”.

“I’m sorry for how you got brought here, Ember” said Princess Celestia, trying to calm the temper of the young female dragon, “I am Princess Celestia. This one here is my sister, Princess Luna. You already know Spike, Twilight and Rarity, but allow me to present you the rest of our friends, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash”.

“Nice to meet you. Now, salutations done, could anyone tell me why I’ve been brought here so harshly?”.

“Because there is a threat looming on the horizon. Something doesn’t threaten just Equestria, but the whole planet itself. Once that the gathering will be complete”.
The Mane 6, Spike and Ember exchanged some worried glares. They had already seen Celestia worried before, but never to this level. She looked on edge and even her very voice sounded nervous. And, above anything else, scared

Celestia made to reply when Pinkie almost leaped from her throne, “Twitchy tail!” screamed in fear.

And then the castle itself shook, hit by something big. And then, from the ceiling of the room, a large chunk of ice crashed down, falling right on the map and making it crack greatly. But the surprises were not finished yet because, once the dust cleared off, everypony noticed a figure trapped inside the ice: Shining Armor.

Before Twilight could scream in terror at the sight of her frozen brother, the ice vanished in a azure flash of light, releasing him. Shining Armor would have fallen flat on the table if his sister didn’t acted fast, grabbing him with her magic. “He... has... her” was all that he could say, before losing consciousness.

An half hour later the group of dragons, draconequus, ponies and alicorns were taking care of Shining Armor. Outside of the castle the weather was slowly changing from a sunny day to cloudy one, while the temperatures started to feel more like deep autumn than spring, with an haunting wind blowing to the trees. Discord watched the scene while pulling gently his beard, thoughtfully. Spike had just returned from the kitchen making hot chocolate for everyone and now was talking with Ember, telling her more about his life with the Mane 6. Princess Luna was working on a scroll before sending it away with a spell, settings things further to avoid wasting precious time. Celestia stood close to Shining Armor, using her warm magic to make him feel better, while the Mane 6 stood there, praying that Twilight’s brother would soon wake up.