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Chapter 13,236 words
Chapter 21,924 words
Chapter 31,395 words
Chapter 45,086 words

Chapter 4

Frost Bite!
A fanfic by Englishwitch
Chapter 4

Sunlight shone into Sweetie Belle’s eyes, driving her out of her sleep. A few seconds after consciousness she began to notice details like the chill in the air and the fact that, whatever she was sleeping on, it didn’t feel like her bed.

Slowly, the memories began to return to her tired mind; the snow-human attack, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash coming to the rescue and then Pinkie Pie inviting them inside for hot chocolate and cookies. One mug had turned to two, then to three and then -it seemed- the party had turned into an unplanned sleepover.

Several futons had been laid out and shared amongst the ponies. Apple Bloom was snuggled up against Applejack, Scootaloo was in between her mothers, Lyra and Bonbon, Rainbow Dash was nearby, snoring like a buffalo and Pinkie Pie was asleep in her bed with the two baby Cake twins. Spike was curled up by the fireplace and Sweetie was alone in her corner of the futon. She was about to rejoin the group in dream land when she heard her name.

Wiping the sleep from her eyes she slid out of bed and padded as quietly as she could, moving toward the voices. As they became clearer she recognised them as Twilight and Rarity’s. They were coming from downstairs, in the shop area. Sweetie stood near the top of the stairs, watching and listening, out of sight. Twilight and Rarity were sitting at one of the stores small tables, sharing a pot of tea while they talked about her.

Rarity filled Twilight’s teacup, “I don’t want to sell Sweetie Belle short darling, Celestia knows she tries, but she has never really shown much aptitude for magic. Setting things of fire certainly, but not magic.”

Twilight nodded as she levitated the cup to her mouth to take a quick sip. “It may not be her special talent,” they both shared a knowing look, which confused Sweetie Belle, “but it certainly seems to be a skill she does posses. Just like my special talent is magic but I have special skills in organisation and information, and your special talent is making beautiful fashions but you have that special skill in finding gems where nopony else can. We’re more than our mark and Sweetie Belle must have some kind of underlying skill present. She must be given the opportunity to explore and develop it. Casting a Come To Life spell is difficult, even I have trouble with it. Even though her spell went wrong it indicates she might just need a little practise and proper teaching.”

Rarity looked doubtful, “you haven’t seen her trying to levitate things. They all set on fire.”

“It may just be a sign of how she is under-trained,” Twilight explained, “when I was her age my magic was so raw I turned my parents into potted plants.”

Rarity smiled, suppressing a laugh. “Well, I see your point, I suppose.” she finished her tea, “but are you sure? You’re so busy with your own studies and your duties to the princess and running the library, do you think you’ll have the time take Sweetie Belle on as your pupil?”

Sweetie gasped, putting her hoof over her mouth to mask the sound. Twilight Sparkle, pupil to Princess Celestia, wanted to teach her magic.

Twilight nodded, “I think I can make the time. I spent most of last night working out a schedule that would work for both of us. She might find it a little heavy on study for her taste, but I’ll be applying the same methods Princess Celestia used on me. If she has the talent I think she does she’ll make some amazing progress.” She then turned to look at the stairs where Sweetie was hiding, “that is, if you agree Sweetie Belle?”

Sweetie jumped in surprise, her hoof slipped and she toppled down the stairs, rolling in a white and purple ball. She crashed hard at the bottom with a thud that made the whole room shake. “Ow,” she groaned, rubbing her head with her hoof, “how’d you know I was there?”

Twilight and Rarity laughed lightly, “Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said as delicately as she could, “let’s just say your special talent doesn’t involve the light steps of a dancer.”

Sweetie rose to her hooves and brushed herself down. The pain was forgotten as she remembered what Twilight had said just before she fell, “You mean it Twilight? You wanna be teach me about magic?”

Twilight nodded, “I do Sweetie Belle, if you want me to be your teacher.”

“YES!” Sweetie leapt forward, wrapping her forelegs around Twilight in a tight hug.

“Teacher-Pupil PARTY!!!”

The sudden scream from the top of the stairs made all three ponies turn around. Pinkie was bouncing down the stairs, using her tail as a pogo stick. The Cake Twins were in her forelegs, laughing with each jump.

The assembled ponies couldn’t help but smile, “Pinkie,” Twilight explained, “it’s too early for a party, we haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

If anything Pinkie seemed to become more excited, “ooohh but breakfast parties are the best and I haven’t done one in so long. Just wait right there and I’ll take care of everything.” she raced off to the kitchen with such speed she left behind a cloud of dust which was a perfect silhouette of herself. Half a second later they heard the manic sounds of laughing babies and the clatter of plates and pans coming from the kitchen.

BOOM

The whole room shook for a second.

“Pinkie Pie,” Rarity glanced toward the kitchen doors, “whatever are you doing darling?”

BOOM

The room shook again. Cups trembled in their saucers and plates rattled on the table. Pinkie stuck her head out of the kitchen doors, looking confused.
“That’s not me, I thought it was you.”

BOOM

The vibration was a little more violent this time. It sounds like thunder was rolling closer to Ponyville.

“What’s goin’ on down here?” Applejack came down the stairs, stifling a yawn. Her hair was messy and she was missing her trademark hat.

BOOM

“I don’t think it’s anything we’re doing,” Twilight pointed out. “It sounds-”

BOOM

“like it’s coming from outside.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo trotted down the stairs, “is Pinkie lettin’ off her party cannon?” the farm filly asked her big sister.

BOOM

Pinkie came back into the store from the kitchen. The baby Cakes were hanging onto her back and looked slightly afraid of the mysterious trembling. “It’s not me, that’s not the sound of my party cannon.”

BOOM

This time the vibration was so violent that the teacups jumped off the table. Raity grabbed them in her magic before they hit the floor.

“GUYS!” Rainbow Dash came shooting down the stairs at full speed. Out of all the ponies present she looked wide awake. “Outside, QUICK!” she raced off out of the door, leaving a rainbow contrail behind her.

BOOM

Lyra and Bonbon raced down the stairs. Bonbon made a beeline for Scootaloo while Lyra raced outside after Rainbow Dash.
“Scoots, some here.” she didn’t wait for her filly to reply, she scooped her up and placed her on her back, something she hadn’t done since Scootaloo had been a foal.

Scootaloo blushed furiously and jumped off again, “Mom! What are you doing?”

BOOM

The shaking that accompanied the boom was so violent that all the ponies staggered, the fillies were almost knocked off their hooves.

“Scootaloo, now!” Bonbon grabbed her daughter again and placed her on her back. This time Scootaloo didn’t protest, not that she was given time, the second she was on her mothers back Bonbon broke into a gallop, the pegasus filly barely had time to grab onto her mothers mane to stop herself falling off.

“Come on.” Twilight raced after her and the others followed.

All of Ponyville was waking up to the noise. Ponies were looking out of windows, or standing in the street, trying to figure out the source of the commotion.

“Over here!” Rainbow Dash called out to the girls. Not that she needed to point out the problem. It was big enough for all to see.

It looked like the Sninja but at the same time it didn’t. It was huge, standing over twenty feet tall. It towered over the houses and cottages of Ponyville. It was no longer made of snow, the sub-zero temperatures of the night had turned a body of snow into solid ice. It had replaced its boom-handle bo-staff with a teen foot long tower of wood that looked like it had been wrought from a tree of the Everfree forest. To top it all, it was now wearing armour, made of the sticks and branches of a Timberwolf. The monster’s body had been reshaped into a huge chest plate, which spanned its huge torso, and wicked looking spiked gloves, complete with giving claws on the end of its fingers, making its pony sized fists all the more dangerous.

It threw its head back and roared so loud windows rattled in their frames.
“Kyō wa ponī no mura, shinu!”

“That thing’s huge,” Applejack gasped, “what do we do?”

The Sninja pulled its bo-staff free from behind its back. It glared at the group of ponies assembled around Sugarcube corner. Its icy grin became sinister, its teeth were made of huge and sharp icicles. It took another step forward, the ground shook with the BOOM.

The sight of the giant sninja approaching them with a murderous look on its face had them all frozen in fright. Twilight managed to get her head together enough to speak, “If a Come To Life spell makes that thing move, we have to remove the spell,” BOOM “I don’t know if I have enough magic to remove a spell from something that big,” she stuttered nervously, “Lyra, Rarity, even you Sweetie Belle, I’ll need help from all of you.” she looked at the group, “Pinkie, Fluttershy, you help get ponies to safety, Applejack, Rainbow, we’ll need time to gather all the magic for the spell, you think you can keep that thing busy for five minutes?”

Rainbow Dash threw a quick salute, “no problem.” She shot off toward the giant sninja.

Applejack adjusted her hat, “We’ll get you them five minutes sugarcube,” she turned to her little sister, “Apple Bloom, y’all get outta here, go with Bonbon and Scootaloo.”

The little filly looked up at her sister, “But Applejack-”

“No missy,” she interupted, “I don’t wanna see y’all get hurt, you run and stay safe okay?”

Bonbon scooped up Apple Bloom and placed the filly on her back next to Scootaloo. “I’ll look after her.”

Applejack smiled gratefully, “Thank ya’ kindly.” she ran off after Rainbow Dash and toward the sninja.

Bonbon ran the opposite direction, further away from the ice giant and toward safety, carrying the protesting fillies with her.

“Come on,” Twilight nudged her head to the safety of a side street, “every second counts and this is a difficult spell.”

Rarity looked nervously at Sweetie Belle, “Twilight darling, I’m opposed to putting my little sister in danger, can’t Sweetie run away with her friends.”

“Rarity, I wanna help,” Sweetie Belle protested, “this is my fault and I wanna fix it.”

Rarity grimaced, “when we aren’t in danger of being crushed my a runaway snow-sculpture we’ll have a long conversation about your punctuation.”

Twilight shook her head, “We’ll need all the magic we can get Rarity, but since Sweetie cast the spell in the first place we’ll need some of her magic in the mix for the counter-spell to work.

Rarity looked doubtful, "Twilight," behind her the sninja roared again, her mind was changed, "okay, just stay close to me Sweetie Belle."

Rainbow Dash flew around the sninjas head, the beast roared in frustration. It swung the massive bo-staff, Rainbow banked sharply feeling the air as the tree sized object missed her by barely a foot.

down at the monsters feet, Applejack ran around unnoticed. one end of a length of rope was in her teeth, the other was being swung around by her tail. this would be the biggest thing she'd ever lassoed but she felt she was up for the challenge.

One powerful swing of the tail launched the rope, it soared through the air and found it mark, snagging on a branch sticking out of the lowest part of the sninjas chest plate.

Rainbow flew close, spinning around and bucking him hard between the eyes. the monster howled and swung his huge icy hand, trying to swat Dash like a fly. Rainbow dove down sharply, the huge fist missed her and the sninja smacked himself in the face.
"Ha!" Rainbow laughed at the monster. It glared at her, its green eyes burning like fire. Rainbow gulped, she'd made it really mad.

Applejack raced as quickly as she could, running in wide circles, around and around the sninja, trailing rope behind her, wrapping it around the monsters legs while Rainbow was keeping it distracted in place.
"One more pass," she grunted as she raced again. She was getting dizzy and with every second there was a greater chance the giant would see her. She pumped her legs harder, ignoring the burn in her lungs from the cold air.

The turn completed Applejack let go of the rope in her teeth, then released it from her body with an expert flick of her tail. AJ yelled, “Rainbow, now!”

In the air Rainbow Dash soared upwards, out of the long reach of the Sninja. She stuck out her tongue, “see ya!” with a laugh she flew away toward the centre of Ponyville.

The Sninja roared and moved after her, the rope tightened around its bound legs. It overbalanced and fell, a slow but inevitable topple like a falling tree. There was even enough time for the shock and realisation to register in its face as it saw the ground getting closer. It threw out its arms to break the fall but too late, it crashed into a house, the wooden frame splintered and collapsed under its vast weight. It became obscured by a thick cloud of dust which rose from the wreckage.

The gang of unicorns stood in a circle, their horns aglow. The blue light of Rarity’s magic and the golden glow of Lyra’s magic flowed in streams to Twilight’s building cone of magenta light, their raw magical energy flowing into and becoming one with her concentrated spell. It glowed intensely, building up a second cone atop the first. The magenta cone swirled with spirals of blue and gold, adding to Twilight’s power.

Sweetie Belle screwed up her eyes and tried to concentrate but she could summon nothing but a few weak sparks of energy. She gritted her teeth and focussed so hard beads of sweat ran down her forehead. “I can’t do it Twilight.”

Trying not to break her concentration, Twilight opened one eye and looked at Sweetie Belle’s furious efforts. How had she managed to cast a Come To Life spell in the first place? She had to have some kind of skill magic, she just didn’t know how to control it. She had to learn and learn quick. Under normal circumstances Sweetie might have been able to sit this out but this was far from normal. Sweetie Belle’s magic had given it life, that magic fuelled the beast and as the sninja had become larger and more powerful so had the spell giving it life. Magic that grown that powerful could only be undone by the same kind of magic that had cast it. They needed some of Sweetie’s magic in the spell or it wouldn’t work. It might hurt, even damage or weaken the monster but it wouldn’t defeat it.

She thought back to the earliest days as Celestia’s student, trying to learn spells that had seemed impossible. She remembered what Celestia had said to her at that time, “Sweetie, you can do this. You’ve already demonstrated you have the skill,” as though it was emphasising her point the snow monster’s loud roar echoed around them.

Sweetie shook her head furiously, tears of frustration were rising in her eyes. “It was an accident, I don’t know how I did it, it just happened. Doing something by accident and doing it on purpose are two different things,”

Twilight’s magic rose again, a third cone of magenta light glowed from her horn. She could feel the strain running through her body, this was an effort she hadn’t put herself through since she’d had to stop a rampaging Ursa Minor. Small bolts of magical energy, in blue, magenta and gold, were arcing off her horn, grounding themselves in the ground. Twilight knew she wouldn’t be able to hold onto the power for more than a few minutes, it would have to be released or it could destroy her. It could also destroy most of Ponyville, when raw magic was built up like this without being channelled out into a spell it had the potential to explode.

But all this magic would be useless, just a stunning light show like so much fireworks without Sweetie Belle’s magical energy to reverse the spell cast on the giant ice ninja. She started it and she would be needed to finish it.
“There isn’t any different Sweetie Belle!” Twilight’s voice was strained with the effort of holding onto the increasingly wild magical energy, “it’s only different in your mind,” she didn’t notice a tickle of blood run out of her nose. A large bolt of magic grounded itself, leaving a perfect circle in the snow, the steaming ground had been baked hard. “Sweetie, if i’m going to teach you then this is your first lesson, the power is in you. The magic you need is there, in you, in me in everypony. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us all. If you could see the world the way I do you’d understand, we’re luminous beings made of starlight, not this crude matter or these simple bodies. Concentrate, open your mind, feel with your heart. Feel the magic of the world around you; between you, me, the trees, the rocks, everywhere! You can do it Swetie Belle, I believe in you.”

Twilight had repeated, almost word for word, the same speech Celestia had told to her when Twilight herself had been a struggling, scared, filly trying to learn and control her magic. After the magical surge of her entrance exam she had been so scared of messing up that badly again she had been almost unable to do simple levitation. Celestia had shown her patience and understanding and Twilight was trying to show the same to Sweetie Bell right now. Although- admittedly- the circumstances hadn’t been quite so dire for Twilight.

Sweetie looked scared, but felt a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. Rarity was looked down at her with confident pride. “I believe in you too Sweetie Belle, we all do.”

Sweetie’s lip twitched in the beginnings of a smile, “okay, I’ll try.” she closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. ‘open your mind, feel with your heart.’ she tried to clear her thoughts. She felt a warmth deep in her core.

Somewhere in the distance came the thunderous crashing of the sninja tripping over and crashing into a house. For Sweetie Belle the noise was drowned out, far away. It was something happening far away that didn’t concern her.

Sparks flew out of the tip of her horn. The felt the energy rush through her, sparks of warms that rushed up through her hooves from the ground. The earth, that was where the magic came from. In that second she understood. She didn’t make the magic, she just channelled it. It was all around her, just waiting to be called upon. She felt it, rushing up from the earth itself into her, into all ponies and all things. It was electricity and she was a light-bulb. She took the raw power and turned into what she wanted. In the case of a light-bulb that was heat and light. In the case of Sweetie Belle it was the spell needed to destroy that thing she had created.

A stream of green light flowed out of Sweetie Belle’s horn. She felt it and the others saw it. None of them dared to saw anything in case it broke her concentration. The magic rose up into the air and swirled around them like smoke before it finally made its way into the building magical bomb of Twilight’s collected energy. The second Sweetie’s magic touched Twilight’s own there was a surge of power. Twilight grunted from the strain, trying to brace herself as a fourth cone of light burst out of her horn. She felt her whole body vibrating, like lightning was in her veins. The four cones of magenta light were blindingly bright, contained with each layer were swirling clouds of the borrowed magic. Sweetie’s green magic surrounded the newest layer around her horn, in the next cone was Lyra’s gold and then came Rarity’s blue, the fourth layer was pure magenta of Twilight’s magic.
“We’re ready.” Twilight’s voice was deep and echoed. Her eyes sparked with the power. “You two stay here, Sweetie, with me, keep feeding me that spell until the end.”

As Twilight and Sweetie Belle stepped out of their hiding place the sninja was realising itself. It reached to the ground and scooped up a huge handful of snow in its massive fist. The snow was crushed in its grip, squashed down to a solid block of ice in the shape of an enormous snowflake. It was no soft and delicate thing for building snowballs out of, it was the size of a pony, a six pointed star shape and all its edges looked razor-sharp. A snow-flake-ninja-star!

Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched as the sninja ran the star down the ropes around its legs. The rope shredded, offering no resistance.
Rainbow gulped deeply, “I think we made it mad.”

Applejack gave her a deadpan expression. “Ya think?”

The snina flipped itself up and onto its feet. Its landing made the whole town shake. It growled through its teeth and rose its massive arm, taking aim with the ninja star. “Shinu!”

Applejack and Rainbow ran as the star was thrown. The huge spinning blade raced at them like a wheel of death.

A magenta lightning bolt shot over the ponies heads, hitting the ninja-star, shattering it like glass. It fell apart into droplets of water that fell harmlessly to the ground. Applejack and Rainbow skidded to a halt, their eyes wide and jaws agape at the sight before them.

Twilight’s whole body seemed to glow with the power flowing through her, the cones of magical power coming from her horn were so bright they made the sun seem dim. The two ponies couldn’t look directly at her. Sweetie Belle was by her side, her horn aglow and still feeding her green magical energy into Twilight’s magenta.
“Ready Sweetie Belle?” Twilight’s voice practically crackled with electricity.

Sweetie nodded her head, “ready.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided it would be better to stay out of this. AJ nudged rainbow in the side and pointed to a nearby side street. Rainbow consented with a nod and the two of them ran for cover.

The sninja roared furiously. Grabbing its bo-staff from the ground it charged toward the two tiny ponies. Each footfall made the ground quake, its furious roar was deafening. Sweetie Belle trembled but dug her hooves into the ground, if Twilight didn’t move then she wouldn’t.

Twilight gritted her teeth, her body was dripping sweat. She couldn’t hold onto the spell any longer but she had to wait until the last second, they couldn’t afford to miss.

The giant was on them in just a couple of steps. It towered over them, one flick of its foot would squash the two like bugs. It rose its tree sized bo-staff-

“Now!” Twilight screamed and released the spell. With the brightness of lightning and a noise like thunder the light fired out of her, almost knocking Twilight off her hooves. The raw magic hit the sninja square in the chest. Its wooden chest plate shattered into kindling, the beam charged on into the heart of its torso of solid ice. The icy giant roared in agony, falling back, crashing to the ground. Twilight continued pouring the vast power of the spell into it, filling its whole form until the sninja glowed from head to foot with the magenta light.

The last of the spell released Twilight staggered back, almost fell. Sweetie Belle reached up and supported her until she found her hooves.

The sninja roared and writhed in agony. Deep cracks raced across its body. The magenta light filled every inch of its form except for two tiny spots of green over its eyes.

Twilight and Sweetie Belle rushed for cover between two buildings just in time, there a bright flash of purple light and one final roar as the sninja exploded. The shock wave shattered windows and blew thatch off the rooftops of the surrounding cottages. A purple mushroom cloud, with hints of green, gold and blue, rose into the air. Real clouds in the sky were blown away, revealing the clear blue sky. As the magic cloud started to dissipate Twilight and Sweetie emerged from their hiding place, at the same time Applejack and Rainbow emerged from their own.

Where the sninja had been was a mountain of snow, already beginning to melt in the sun. Its body had been reduced to that from which it had been made. The tree sized bo-staff had been reduced to ash by the explosion, as had the wooden remains of the timberwolf which had provided the body armour.

“Sweetie Belle!”

Rarity rushed down the street, scooping her sister up in her hooves and into a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She squeezed the little filly so tight Sweetie Belle’s face started to turn red. “don’t you ever put yourself in such danger again, do you hear me. I was so frightened.”

Twilight had to sit down, her head was swimming and the rest of her body was aching all over. She would not be doing that again any time soon. Rainbow and Applejack approached, they both looked worse for wear but they had twin grins on their faces.

“That was awesome!” Rainbow declared with pride in her voice and admiration on her face.

Applejack nodded in agreement, “it was amazin, ah thought takin’ out the ursa minor showed you had ability, but this tops that an’ no mistake.”

Twilight managed a tired smile, “thanks girls, but I couldn’t have done it without your help,” she looked over her shoulder to Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Lyra, “without all your help, especially you, Sweetie Belle. Without your magic we couldn’t have done this,” she indicated the mound of snow.

Sweetie Belle blushed and shuffled around on her hooves nervously. “I didn’t really do anything.”

Twilight shook her head gently, “you did exactly what you needed to do. You learned to tap into your magical potential and control it enough to give me the power we needed to undo the Come To Life spell. There’s aren’t many fillies who could gain that kind of mastery so quickly.”

Sweetie looked doubtful and looked to Rarity, “really? I did good?”

Rarity smiled proudly down at her, “you were marvellous darling.”

“Sweetie Belle!!”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were racing up the street, closely followed by Bonbon, Pike and Fluttershy. The two crusaders ran up to their friend, tacking her to the ground and wrapping their legs around her in a three way hug.
“We saw the explosion,” Scootaloo grinned broadly, “it looked awesome, did you do that?”

Sweetie Belle continued to blush, “well...I helped a little.”

Scootaloo’s and Apple Bloom’s eyes widened, “Cool!” they said as one.

Bonbon trotted up to Lyra and the two mares nuzzled each other, “I’m so glad you’re safe,” Bonbon whispered to her wife.
“Same with you,” Lyra gave her a sneaky peck on the cheek, “you should have seen it, it was scary but so amazing at the same time,” she glanced at the mane six, “I think I understand why you all keep getting into such strange adventures.”

Twilight grinned sheepishly, “we don’t do that deliberately.”

Pinkie bounced past the group, straight for the pile of snow. Jumping up into the air she donned a scarf and hat she seemed to pull from nowhere before landing on her back. She waved her hooves and legs from side to side to make a snow angel.

Fluttershy grinned nervously, “is it over?” she asked timidly, “everpony wants to know if they can come home yet.”

Twilight nodded her head, “it’s over, you can bring them all back.”

Fluttershy nodded her head, “okay.” she flew off back the way she’d come.

Scootaloo had turned her attention away from Sweetie Belle and was now focussed on Rainbow Dash’s retelling of the events.
“You should have seen it Scoots,” she waved her arms around energetically, “he came from the left, I spun through the air and dived down to the right. He tried to claw me but I was too quick for him-”

“Anypony want a snowcone?” Pinkie popped up in the middle of the group with a tray of brightly coloured snowballs each in a cardboard cone.

Everypony stared incredulously at her for several seconds. Then Sweetie Belle smirked, Apple Bloom started to giggle, then Scootaloo and, finally, the whole group joined in with the raucous laughter.

Author's Note:

The end.

A giant snowflake as a ninja star? yep, if you look at a picture of a snowflake you can see all the points. with points and sharp edges a giant snowflake could make a formidable ninja star.