Friendship is Survival

by rlogic1994

Ch 4: The Visitor

Survival is Magic Ch 4: The Visitor
By Mmadhu94
(Visit the tumblr for Frigid: ask-frigiddrift.tumblr.com!)

Chapter 4: Training and the Visitor
“Wha…you have got to be bucking me! You guys were what all this commotion is about? Oh my Celestia! Do you know how much trouble you could have been in if another pony found you!? What were you thinking, Scootaloo? I know that you are better than that! Call out your friends so we can talk to all of you!” scolded Rainbow Dash.

Twilight, who had appeared out of nowhere herded the Unicorns over with the earth ponies and then Rainbow Dash brought the pegasi into the group as well. Twilight did what she does best and started lecturing them, but as usual most of the ponies, including Frigid, weren’t really paying attention. Rainbow told them that it was a test, but they weren’t supposed to cause such a racket. After a long sigh, Rainbow Dash proceeded to explain to them that they were supposed to get their armor fitted today and get some training in before they were to go to sleep.

Rainbow led the pegasi off to a tent with a pair of wings with a shield in the middle painted on it in the same messy fashion as everything else. As they entered, a black armor garbed pony with a black mane emerged from a corner of the cramped tent full of different types of armor. There were set made of leather, wood, metal, and some materials that Frigid couldn’t recognize. The gray pony started speaking to the three of them without even looking at them once, starting to place sets of armor on a table in the center of the tent.

“Alrighty then. You with the yellow coat, come here and try this set on. I’ll do fine tuning once I get the right type for each of you. And you, orange, you can try this one in the middle. And finally you with the white coat can try the last one,” he muttered unpleasanty.

Aurora’s set consisted of a whitish silver metal breastplate, with a matching flank plate with some decorative leaves carved into it. The breastplate had a sun identical to Celestia’s cutie mark etched into its surface with small letters spelling out confiamos en Celestia underneath it. Her greaves were the same shiny metal with a few leaves carved into the sides. Her helm was open on the top, but covered mostly the sides and back of her head, making it look more like a crown than a helm. It was quite a sight to behold, making Aurora look like some kind of legend with the way light reflected off her metal plates. But although it was pretty, the sides were cut short, which left some of her flank and ribs vulnerable to attack.
Scootaloo’s set was different, but still made of a similar silverfish metal, but it was more gray than white. On the front of the breastplate was a dragon, with its body extending to the flank plate, which was attached to the breastplate by a hinge and protected the magenta maned mare more effectively on her flank and sides. Along with the dragon, was small lettering that ran beneath it, but the letters were indiscernible to the naked eye and would most likely take some closer inspection to decipher. Her greaves were darker than her breastplate and flank plate and had 2 long lines carved down the sides that met at the end in a sharp point. Her helm was similar to that of the royal guard except that the back and top of the helm were spiky, as if her uncombed hair had turned to metal. Her armor also made her look quite regal, the pose she was striking with her chin up supporting the image.

Frigid’s set also looked similar, but there was one problem she had that the others had not; it did not fit her. The flank plate did not meet up with the breastplate at the hinge and the breastplate pulled on her neck and legs, as if it were too tight. The black pegasus looked at her with annoyance, muttering to himself again as he receded into the depths of the armor sea. He returned after several minutes with a set of dull bluish armor with no ornate carvings or decoration, but a simple sword with 2 wings coming from it hastily carved in the breastplate. Her greaves were the same color with no other decoration. The white pegasus felt a little jealous of the other two when she looked at herself in armor compared to the others, but soon changed her opinion when the black pony as well as Rainbow Dash stared at her with surprise, exchanging glances. Both the 2 older ponies simply issued a “huh” and went on as if nothing was amiss. As she was about to leave with Aurora and Scootaloo, she heard Rainbow Dash and the armored pony talking about her armor.

“It’s weird that the armor would fit her. I mean I could tell she had a bit of a different body structure, but I mean that armor…” started Rainbow Dash

“…was his…yes,” finished the armored pony.

At first something about the armored pony’s comment bothered her, as if it reminded her of some memory, but she soon disregarded the thought as she started taking notice of her armor. The first thing she noticed was that although it looked heavy, it was as light as the weather vests back in Cloudsdale. Her friends were taking notice too, jumping up and hovering to check how their wings would hold the extra weight. They all realized that they weren’t wearing any normal armor; it was very durable, by the feel and look of it, and also light. As if to answer their questions, Rainbow Dash started explaining the armor’s consistency.

“What you’re wearing is Draco Ferrus also known as the Dragon’s Iron. It is extremely difficult to make, but the result is pretty sweet. You get a metal that can take a punch but that weighs less than a cloud,” she informed them. “According to Twilight, they discovered it when working with some of Discord’s magic that they were able to extract. Something about the chaotic nature allowing stuff that normal magic can’t do easily.”

So they must be getting a little special treatment because they were on some Special Forces team. Rainbow Dash told them to wait for a moment as she entered her own tent for a few moments. When she emerged from the flap of the tent, she was clad in her own armor, a beautiful dark blue flank and breast plate with the same color greaves, each engraved with lightning bolts, one on the center of the breastplate, another on both sides of the flankplate and one to each of the greaves. Frigid blushed a little as she saw Rainbow, her fangirl stalker personality kicking in at seeing her favorite pegasus all suited up. She snapped back to reality and followed Rainbow Dash to the edge of the clouds where there were several security checkpoints. At the edge, the Earth ponies and Unicorns were also congregated, now also suited in armor, each group having somewhat similar armor to play to their strengths.

They all passed through the mandatory screenings and such for security protocols and then descended to the lower clouds. They turned left and went across a cloud that ran right up next to the wall. They walked along the wall for a while until a metal walkway was visible emerging from the cloud, its grating an ashen gray color. They moved quickly across it, towards a crevice in the wall that was at least 40 ft tall. They strode through the dimly lit cool interior of the crevice, the same crystal lanterns shimmering high above them, showering them in the same eerie green color light that caught the mist at their feet and created a smooth green expanse that stretched into the dark corners of the crevice. Soon the slate gray surroundings started reverting to the brighter stone as a light was visible ahead, the blinding light combined with the mist obscuring what was past the exit.

Just as the group left the crevice and entered the chamber, they were bewildered by the suddenly brighter light of the surroundings, although the mist had built up at the exit and what was ahead was still hidden to them. Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack, who had joined the other 2 warmares on the walkway to the crevice, signaled for them to start climbing up a steep and precariously placed set of rickety wooden stares jutting out of the side of the wall. As they ascended up the wobbly platforms of moldy wood, the mist started clearing at a higher altitude, revealing their surroundings gradually. When they reached the top, they arrived at a flat ledge carved into the cave wall and were able to see fully what was inside this new chamber. For the 2nd time in only a few hours Frigid gasped with wonder.

Before her lay another enormous cave. But its size wasn’t as surprising as its contents; the floor was coated in a vast domain of rolling green plains, several areas splattered with multicolored specks that were ponies training far below. But even the sight of the green grass couldn’t deter the group’s vision from what lay perched in ruin and decay on a hill closer to the far wall: a city. It was obviously ancient, evidenced by its stone cathedrals and cracked spires, minarets lining the now mostly broken wall. From the stone carved platform they could make out what was left of a colossal gate, with 2 monumental stone ponies standing guard, their majestic heads gone and turned to dust and fragments at their own feet. The gate was barely discernable by the fact that only the 2 side pillars were still intact, cracked jade vines wrapping around the sandy colored columns. The wooden doors that had once stood a testament to the greatness of the world it represented was shattered and the ornate carvings and sculptures either missing or turned to shards of wood and marble. Beyond the walls lay a wasteland of structures, a vast field of crumbling infrastructure. Not much could be seen past the front gates and the silhouettes of the decaying buildings; the magical mist had descended upon the city, shrouding it in shadows and throwing a mystic tone to the image of the ruins.

“This is an old mountain pony city that was abandoned hundreds of years ago. It was home to a tough race of ponies called the Caesari, who warred constantly with the surrounding tribes when they were alive. It is a mystery how the city fell into disrepair, but history tells us that one day the inhabitants just vanished, never to be seen again. It would be nice to study the structures and learn something from them, but the Princess said that it would be more useful to stage training missions. But I really wish I could learn something from it,” said the violet mare, her voice tinged with regret at what she probably thought was somewhat of a waste of interesting history. But she would never oppose the princess, her mentor and friend.
“Yeah we just call it the Pit, ‘cuz it sounds cooler than “the city of the Caesari”. I mean that sounds like some lame…thing. Anyway, we’ll get you training your flanks off soon enough. Trust me, soon we’re gonna see who’re the mares and stallions and who are the little fillies and colts,” remarked Rainbow Dash, emphasizing the last couple of sentences with a certain vigor, showing that she was definitely looking forward to it.

Rainbow Dash was right about training their flanks off. Frigid, Scootaloo, and Aurora were put through flying missions of all kinds: rescue, reconnaissance, and assault. At one point they had to fly through the cramped hallways of a building designated as a “hospital”, which could barely fit their wings in without scraping them on the grimy moldy walls and rusty metal grating in the ceiling. Dodging poles and gurneys took speed and agility, each of the 3 pegasi coming out with several cuts and bruises. They mainly went at blinding speeds and followed Rainbow Dash, who was throwing in as many twists and turns and loops into their course as possible. Soon they were flying through a “residential area” where they trained on flying quietly, without alarming the sentries, who were training dummies in the shape of a griffin. After this vigorous course of nonstop flying, they left the city and went to one of the training areas where they would practice using the armor mounted guns.

Although Frigid had seen guns before, as had Scootaloo and Aurora, none of them had ever shot one or mounted on their body before. When the training guard strapped Frigid in and told her to fire at the targets down the field, Frigid turned and gulped. The target was not only far away but the mist was veiling the targets in a haze, making it even more difficult to see them. She glanced at Aurora who was also dismayed at the difficulty of the shot. Frigid took a deep breath and then bit down on the trigger, a bright flash and a bang bellowing from her barrels, sending 2 small projectiles down the range towards the targets. Frigid didn’t even know if they had hit or not; she was cowering from the noise, never having heard anything that loud except fireworks, and even those at a distance. She stood up and strained her eyes to see the target.

Her bullets had landed it, although on the edges. She felt better, having hit the target on her very first time shooting a gun. They took some more rounds, and Frigid, as well as the other new shooters, started warming up to the sound of the bang and the smell of the gunpowder. Soon all 3 pegasi were hitting the target every time, and Frigid even got one near the center once, filling her with glee as Rainbow Dash gave her an approving nod. They stayed on the range for another hour before doing some more flying exercises. About half way through one of the flying exercises, where the group would fly through cramped spaces at awkward angles and try to keep control, Rainbow’s ear started glowing purple with magic. Frigid was alarmed because she didn’t know what was going on, but was even more alarmed when Rainbow went pale. She turned to the, slowing down to let them catch up.

“Follow me. Looks like we have an unannounced visitor,” she said with an unusually stony tone.

The 3 ponies veered off course as Rainbow Dash led them away from the city and to a large ledge that had a small tent on top of it. The mist had built up a little on the ledge as well and a thin layer of white moved at their feet.

“Is he really coming?” asked Rainbow Dash, the anxiety in her voice evident even through her efforts to mask it.

“Yes, he is coming. He is coming right here in a few minutes,” replied Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting with Applejack on the ground outside the tent.

Applejack was biting her lip nervously, Twilight was twiddling her hoofs with anxiety, and Rainbow was pacing with concern. The group of unicorns and earth ponies stood next to the trio of worried ponies, as confused as the pegasi as to what could make these 3 legendary ponies nervous. The pegasi started talking to the other 2 groups, trying to establish an answer to this question, but they had as much an idea as the 3 pegasi. So they waited in silence, until Twilight cleared her throat and caught everyone’s attention. She was looking up to the skies, towards something in the mass of mist that had floated up towards the ceiling. Frigid looked where she was and at first couldn’t see anything, but then she slowly started seeing a silhouette moving towards them quickly, parting the mist somewhat and sending ripples out in it.

Just as the silhouette was about to fly directly above the ledge, it disappeared. But not for long, as the silhouette transformed into the concrete figure of a pegasus diving from the mist towards the ledge at a high speed. Because of his blurring speed, no one could make out much of a feature in him. He landed hard with an uncharacteristic clunk, Dispersing the mist on the ground into the air, once again silhouetting the pegasus’s form. As the pegasus, who could be discerned as a stallion, came forward, the 3 warmares bowed to him. Frigid was a little confused at first, but then as the figure emerged from the fog, he revealed his identity. He was the almost mythical General Icy Wind.

As he walked, Frigid started processing his different features, all of which were intimidating. His face had a gruff look to it, a jagged scar running by his left eye. His eyes looked frightening and his irises a cold blue color. Moving her eyes toward his body, Frigid realized why people called him the Giant; he stood several feet above the average height of 4 ft for a pegasus. Scars riddled his torso and sides, signifying the amount of battles he has fought in. His coat was a chilling white and his mane an arctic blue. But his most intimidating feature wasn;t his scars or height or his massive wingspan, but what lay at the end of his legs. Instead of hoofs, there were heavy metal prosthetics that made an ominous clanking noise with every step he took. The story of how he received them is well Known to most pony-folk of every race.

Icy Wind enrolled a few years before the 1st Griffin war and soon climbed up the promotion ladder with his connections in the army. When the war came around, he was stationed on the front with his own team of elite troops. He was an amazing fighter as well as a great leader. He saved the front several times with his innovative tactics, like melting the snow to make a slippery ice field that the Griffin chariots would slip on. Then came the day he was assigned a special mission; a mission that would change his life.

The mission was simple; all Icy and the team had to do was sneak behind enemy lines and attack the Griffin front from behind with some special explosives that could only be triggered by Icy’s hoof. But when they went out into enemy lands, with their stealth gear and weapons, they sneaked right into a trap. They were ambushed by an entire legion of forces, taken captive and sent to Captain Raven’s POW camps. For hours every day, him and his team were tortured for information. One of the pegasi on the team dropped the explosives into an icy river so that the griffins couldn’t get it, but the griffins still tortured them. Then after about a few weeks, the griffin captain realized that they would have to be more drastic.

They killed a team member for every hour that the others didn’t speak their secrets. Soon only Icy was left and the captain, being the egotistic fool he was, threw the deceivingly weakened pegasus into a lower security cell as a trophy of war. But over those few weeks, an anger unlike any wrath ever seen by a griffin had bubbled and fermented into a hateful brew within him. He waited and waited and got his chance when the guard got drunk and fell asleep with his head resting on the bars of his cell. With his enormous strength he bucked the bar behing the griffins head, sending him flying and almost instantly killing him. Now with his anger unleashed he bucked himself out of his prison and went on a blood thirsty rampage of escape, tearing down every griffin in his path. Even his horrible wounds could not stop this train of hate and frustration. Some of the griffins just ran away, but some stayed to face him. He escaped the camp, covered with wounds and full of pain and sadness at the loss of his team.

The griffins didn’t pursue him, thinking he would die in the harsh cold. But they were wrong, a week later, a second stealth mission found him alive in the street of one of the abandoned ghost towns that were abundant in the no man’s land. When they found him he lacked the energy to keep going on, but he still possessed the will. His body was covered in frost and covered in scabs and red smudges of blood. But what scared the team most was the horrific wound inflicted upon his legs; his hooves had been torn off, the frozen bloody stumps a testament to the cruelty of the griffins.

When he returned and was nursed back to health, he got the best doctor he could find and instructed him in finding a special metal that Icy had found on one of his missions that now lay in his tent. Then Icy told the doctor to make prosthetics out of them, his will to keep fighting as alive as ever. The doctor advised against it, but the pegasus was adamant on his decision. The Doctor reluctantly manufactured a set of prosthetics for Icy’s hoofs. After the operation, Icy, at that time a major, was told that rehab would take 2 months. He refused to believe it and finished his rehab in 2 weeks of grueling training. But the result was a repaired pony.

He returned to the front with a new bloodthirsty need for revenge. And driven by this revenge, the pony forces stabbed into the griffin front, sinking their teeth in deep. They kept pushing the griffins back until the ponies had taken many miles of the griffin lands. But Icy was not happy with just that and he took a force of about 200 and sneaked successfully into the capital. He and his team ravaged the city, wreaking massive amounts of damage to every building in sight. At this point the griffins withdrew their forces in a grudgingly bitter surrender and Icy was initiated into the highest echelons of the pony forces as a general. He even received the Medal of Honor for his efforts in the war.

Now he was a general, and a damn good one at that. He was never afraid of doing what he had to when the time came. He made his way over the awed group of unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi, who were now lined up in 2 rows out of instinct in being visited by such a prominent member of the army. He stopped a few feet short of them, his monumental figure towering over them, casting a shadow over the group. When he spoke, a rough tenor boomed from his mouth. He didn’t speak loudly, but his voice had a quality that carried it to your ears like an explosion going off close by.

“So this is the spec op recruits, huh? Well I can’t say I’m impressed, but then again I rarely am,” he boomed, walking from the left side of the row to the right, stopping at Frigid and turning towards her, “Well well well, what do we have here? I didn’t think that they would even let you in with your timid attitude about everything that was described in your file. So you finally mustered the guts to come out of your damn shell? HA! Well we’ll see how good you really are. Right?”

“Yes, sir…” said Frigid, shaking a little from nervousness.

“Yes, what?” inquired the general, with a hint of contempt in his voice.

Frigid straightened up and tilted her head up, looking the general right in the eyes. Time stopped, as every pony held their breath waiting for something to happen, as Frigid’s soft blue eyes met the general’s cold ones. Then, mustering as much of a confident and brave tone as possible, she spoke, breaking the silence with a shocking announcement.

“Yes…father,” she uttered, her voice coming out confidently and sounding somewhat angry and frustrated.

Comments

[rlogic1994]

125622
THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK!!^^
I will probably redo some of it later. And yeah these are written in one sitting, so i kinda dump truck on some parts. As for the time line I should probably make it a little clearer that it is a few years after the events of the show. I meant to make the time between each war longer except one of my friend who writes fics suggested 6 yrs (go figure)
And yeah i'm quite a descriptive writer and always have been. But I'm gonna go over them again soon and trim the fat.
I will definitely take your suggestions and use them. Once again thanks, I always love to get criticism like this!

[rlogic1994]

135095
ya i really do need spell check...
Thanks though! I'm gonna go over it again soon and revise. As i will for all the chapters every few ch that come out.

[Blaiset]

wow wasn't expecting that
good work so far cant wait to see what happens

[rlogic1994]

135176
reaction to ending of ch 4? ya i wanted it to be hinted at and alluded to without the reader really knowing the connection until the end so when it hits its like "OMG THAT'S WHO THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT" Atleast that's what i was aiming for! Thanks again!

136711
More, please?

[rlogic1994]

145135
Its a-comin, but I am done editing the 1st 4 and will re-upload this week and start on ch 5 this week. Would've done it earlier, but i've been reeeeaaaalllyy busy lately lol. Glad you liked it though!

[rlogic1994]

ALRIGHTY! So i finished editing ch prologue-4 and started on CH 5!

[the best pony]

da da daaaaaaa love the ending