> Hooves of ice
>  by Fictional Fanatic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1) The return of a pony long gone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 1
The return of a pony long gone.








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Canterlot Castle. Year: 1001





3rd person POV





Luna was In a bad mood.

But it wasn't strange considering she didn't enjoy her lessons. Yes, lessons. Even as a Princess that had lived for many years, many more years than anypony else would experience, she still had to take lessons, history lessons. You see, Princess Luna had a lot to learn about what happened during her 1000 years of absence, she had been banished to the moon during her period as Nightmare Moon. Something she wished could all be undone.

Nightmare Moon might still have had access to the dreamscape during her banishment, but the memories during that time were not Luna's to remember. For she and Nightmare Moon were not the same. Therefore the lessons. These lessons usually left the princess depressed as it constantly reminded her of her time as Nightmare Moon.

But today Luna was in a much worse mood than usual. She had found out that during the banishment a whole race of ponies had vanished! Thankfully it was not the Batponies that made up her Night Guard, no, these were a much older race of ponies that had mysteriously disappeared a short time after the banishment of Nightmare Moon. The Frost Ponies. And she had a feeling that Nightmare Moon might be too blame.

Despite the many History books one might have read, there was rarely anything being mentioned about frost ponies. One reason might be that after 1000 years ponies forgot about them, just like they had forgotten about Luna and Nightmare Moon. But on the other hoof, this didn't make much sense. After all, it was the frost ponies that had guided and helped unify the tribes when the Windigoes appeared. Yet, it was almost like nopony remembered them. This was the biggest reason for Luna's bad mood.

Luna had barely been able to believe this, it was outrageous. The ponies responsible for the unification of the three tribes were not remembered at all! How could her sister, Princess Celestia, have allowed this to happen?

This, she had to find out, and she would. Very soon. But as she was the mistress of the night, she was also awake during the night while her sister was awake during the day. Resulting in them rarely meeting during their regular schedules. Only sometimes would they be able to talk during breakfast. And seeing as the night was still young and she did not wish to wake their sister right now as she would need all the sleep she could get before her royal duties. Luna would have to wait until breakfast and try to get a hold of her sister.

While storming through the hallway leading to the throne room where she would shortly hold night-court she did not notice the unusually big snowflake following her on the outside of the castle. Had she done so she might have know what was to come.





Celestia had just about woken up and was heading for the Dining room. After an early breakfast, she would have to raise the sun and then prepare for a day full of paperwork, inspections, and the royal day-court.

But when Celestia finally arrived she was surprised to see her sister waiting for her at the breakfast table. Now as Alicorns they did not require as much sleep as the rest of the ponies. Yet, both of them had the habit of following the same sleep cycles as the ponies/bat ponies, mostly out of comfort. So to find Luna staying up this late (or early) was highly unusual. (No matter what ponies think it is not required for both princesses to be present during the raising and lowering of the sun and moon.)

"So, Luna. How may I help you? You seem to have something on your mind." Celestia had noted her sister's bad mood and the fact that she looked troubled.

"Indeed dear sister, for we have only recently heard of what happened to the ponies of frost. Yet, they are not remembered properly in any kind of form. In all the books we read on our own, only very few ever even mention them. Would you care to enlighten us, dear sister, if you are aware of this and if so, be kind enough to explain to us as to how and why this has come to be?" Luna explained with what could only be a tone of disappointment and a little blame. Something Celestia could understand as she too blamed herself for this.

"I was indeed aware of this Luna. Guards! You may leave us. I wish to speak with my sister alone." Celestia ordered and soon followed up with a spell as the guards left the room, to keep anypony from eavesdropping on them.

"Sister, tell us. Why is there such a need for secrecy?"

"I am afraid that what you're about to hear is not for sensitive ears. You see, this has to do with a certain kind of sabotage."

At this point Luna could only gasp, sabotage? A concept she thought she would not hear again so soon. This was indeed troubling.

"And as such, I can not let our subjects hear of this. I do not wish to spread panic after all. You see dear Luna, the reason the books do not tell the stories of the frost ponies is simple. They were erased from history, somepony has actively been preventing the knowledge of frost ponies from spreading. All and every book mentioning them that was written after their disappearance either vanished or was found edited to not include the frost ponies. And I am afraid I do not know who may be the culprit as I have many times tried to apprehend them but been unsuccessful. And I don't think our little ponies can handle the fact that their rulers are unable to stop somepony that can change history just like that. To be honest I am even surprised that you have been able to find anything at all regarding the frost ponies."

Luna was sad to hear about this, she was also feeling a bit remorseful for suspecting her sister for not even trying to keep the tale of frost ponies alive.

With Celestia's leave to tend to her duties as well as to lift the sun from its rest, Luna had been left at the table with a lot to think about.





Once back at her sleeping quarters, or rather her room, Luna had concluded. She would try to apprehend the changer of history herself. And she had already formed a plan; She would write all she could remember about the frost ponies and then apprehend the culprit once they made an appearance. She would place every and all spells she could remember that would help her stop any intruder that would try and slip past her and take her document (no harmful spells would be used of course), if they wanted the knowledge of frost ponies gone then they would be in for a surprise!

But first and foremost Luna would have to write the document itself.





Luna was done, she had completed her document as it now contained all she could remember about the frost ponies, what they had accomplished and their appearance. Weaving her detection and protection spells to both protect the documents and alert her of any magic or is getting close to the documents was not straining in the least. She was an Alicorn with a nearly unfathomable amounts of magic at her disposal, making simple spells like this "Easy as pie". She always loved to say that.

And now, ready as she was, all she had to do was wait.





Luna woke up. It was soon time for her to bring up the moon once again. Still sleepy and not fully aware of her surroundings she got up getting ready for tonight's duties. However, during her preparations, her sight wandered and happened to land on her writing desk. Suddenly she remembered the document! She had somehow fallen asleep while guarding it! Quickly she made her way over to her writing desk where the document had been left as bait. However, as she neared the desk her hooves were suddenly glued to the carpet, her wings bound almost painfully hard to her barrel and her horn was caught in a ward to prevent her from using magic. In her haste, she had walked into her trap and triggered every single one of her alarm spells. Embarrassed as she was she had at least considered the possibility of herself getting caught and was able to dispel her spells without magic with the safety words she had imprinted into the spell. "The Hippo is hungry yet it eats not." She said and felt herself being released. Thankful for the fact that she had not needed assistance. It would have been far too embarrassing to explain that she had sprung her trap. Nopony needed to know this.

Those sentence "The Hippo is hungry yet it eats not." did not mean anything, it was just what had come to mind at the time when she came the part of the spell that required her to imprint a password into the spell-matrix.

Now finally free from her trap she walked over to the desk and looked over the document she had left. She could only stare. Every single one of the words she had written was gone, as if she had never written them at all. Yet, this was the very same parchment she had used, only now it simply had two words written in the middle of the parchment with her hornwriting.


Night Court.


Luna fully understood what this was. It was a challenge, not only had the culprit been able to bypass every single spell she had laid down, they had also edited her document and erased all knowledge imprinted on the parchment. But these words did what they were supposed to, Luna was frightened. The culprit was gonna show up in Night-court. Daring her to be there once they arrived.

"I will have to double the amount of guards in night-court." She told herself with a hint of fright in her voice.

Still looking at the words imprinted on the parchment Luna failed to see her surroundings and therefore did not see the small snowflake come into existence and land on the corner of the parchment just outside her field of view. Luna almost jumped as a third word appeared on the parchment.


Alone.


Luna was frightened, she had been unable to sense any kind of magic being performed in the room, yet the parchment had changed. This led to one conclusion, she dared not disobey.





Luna sat on the throne, she was in the middle of night-court, or rather she would be if there was anypony willing to attend it. It had been like this ever since she had returned. Celestia got swarmed during her day-court while during the night nopony would attend except a few small exceptions. However they didn't count, they were usually only trying to go behind Celestia's back, foalishly thinking Luna would aid them. But today Luna was expecting somepony and had asked the guards that usually resided in the throne room with the princess to leave the room as she had to meet this pony alone.

After a long time, Luna had started to consider if she should just close night-court for the night when one of the guards entered the throne room.

"Princess, there's a pony that wishes to have an audience with you."

"Thank you, you may show the pony in now."

The guard nodded and exited the throne room only for another pony to enter. Said pony was clothed in a black cloak that covered most of its features while a hood covered the pony's head. Luna was now worrying more than ever, had this been a wise decision?

But Luna was brought back to reality as the pony stopped in the middle of the throne room and bowed before taking down the hood and smile towards the princess. Luna was left breathless, she knew this pony. And then she smiled, she could do nothing else but smile cause she would soon have all her answers from her old friend.

Now, with three smiles in the throne room everything was set right.
> 2) Guess who I am! Oh right, you can't see or hear me...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 2
Guess who I am! Oh right, you can't see or hear me...








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Canterlot Castle. Year: 1001





3rd person POV





Jack was smiling while looking upon the frost pony and the princess of the night. It was heartwarming to see old friends see each other after such a long time. Luna and Frozen Solid had known each other before the banishment of Nightmare Moon and the disappearance of the frost ponies.

They were both currently discussing the disappearance of the frost ponies, something Jack knew all about. It was his doing after all. Nopony might be able to see or hear him, but this didn't mean he couldn't interact with the world at all. He had after all created the frost ponies, even if they could neither remember him or believe in him. Believing in his existence was after all the only way to see and hear him. But with his powers, he had still interacted with the world around him. He was able to call the winds to fly him to his destination, he could conjure anything from frost, snow and ice, even going as far as to creating living beings with access to a small portion of his powers. But his most loved ability of all was the way he could spread cheer. The same ability he had bestowed upon his frost ponies.

He could clearly remember the day he first created the frost ponies.





World: Equus. Land: ???? Location: ???? Plains. Year: ????





Jack felt lonely, very lonely. He was in no mood to visit the ponies he had walked among a few weeks ago, for they had all started fighting among each other and also against the ponies from other tribes. This, in turn, had attracted attention from certain creatures, Windigoes. At first, Jack had tried to protect the ponies and fought the Windigoes, but as the ponies continued their pointless fighting the Windigoes grew stronger and started affecting even Jack himself. As soon as Jack had caught himself thinking about putting the ponies in their place he had left to think clearly and find a different solution to get rid of the Windigoes. But he had nothing, nothing came to mind and he began to grow frustrated. And lonely.

Now, Jack was used to being lonely, seeing as none of the ponies could see or hear him, but being in their company had always been enough, the illusion of partaking in somepony's life was enough. But here, there were no ponies nearby, no snow, no harsh conditions for ponies to overcome. And all that snow, ice and cold would make ponies hate the winter and forget the beauty of what it could bring with it.

This suddenly sparked something in Jack, an idea. An idea so simple, so incredibly unlikely that it just might work. And if it did, then all his problems would be solved, including the ponies problem of having trouble trusting each other. He began to work immediately.





After slaving around for a whole of three weeks, Jack was nearly done. He had collected enough information and resources to try and put his plan into motion. Only one step left. One step, that if it did not succeed would mean it had all been in vain. Jack was eager to start, and so he did.

Once more looking over the few objects he had tracked down in the land of ponies, he smiled. The only few objects he had trouble getting had been the vial full of windigo breath, a big scoop of "Summer Snow" That was a form of snow that instead of being cold radiated heat. And the small, one-celled organisms he had named "Base". The Bases were only hard to get because of their delicate nature and how a lot of things could kill them when out of their usual environment, something he was gonna tinker with. But the hardest was after all the most necessary step, to purify the breath from the windigoes bad influence. The main reason Jack had chosen to use such a thing for the creation of something else entirely was the fact that his ice-cold breath dissipated way to fast for him to change its nature to suit his current needs.

But after enough tampering he had finally purified the breath and adapted the Bases to his liking, he did not have to change any other of the other objects. The snow he would use was already how he wanted it, full of mysterious magic that let the snow give off warmth instead of cold. A nice little touch to his project if he could say so himself.

Jack would have smiled at such a thought as his old world never had this kind of magic, but instead, he frowned when he remembered that if he failed, even this world would soon be void of the beauty that came from the Summer Snow. Whenever the windigoes came close to the warm snow it instantly lost it's amazing ability and turned to regular snow. Something he would prevent from happening to his little project.

After hours of working and making sure the different objects would not have any unintended effects, he was finally ready to bring forth the final touches. Looking down at the figure before him, made mostly out of snow. Before him stood a crude shape of a pony. Instead of hooves, it has the clearest of fine cut ice, almost looking like glass. The skin of the pony was made of the warm snow that was now housing the many Bases that thrived in the warmth of the snow. The eyes, made of big pearls found deep in the sea inside a giant clam, carved out and having small irises made of a thin layer of sapphire making the eyes looking almost alive in their current state. The snow at the snout, tip off the ears and at the hooves is, however, a bit different as it is slightly shifting into a deep blue color just like one can color shaved ice. The mane and tail had been the trickiest to get done right.

Having to find any suitable material for replacing the hair was an impossible task, in the end, Jack had to settle on cultivating a new breed of Bases able to produce real hair that would grow as any other pony's mane and tail. After managing such a feat there was only one last step, animating the pony.

Jack stepped back and looked at his creation. He knew how he was gonna do this, he had planned this and he had also done this before, many times. Maybe not for this purpose, but still... About to breathe life into his creation Jack stepped back and readied himself. Just as he was about to awaken his creation her realized something, this pony would require a name. Names were very important after all.

After giving it some thought he had settled on a name and also the addition of giving his thoughts more effect by vocalizing the pony's name and purpose as he would give it life. Deciding it's now or never Jack inhaled deeply and started to slowly release his breath as it turned into a frozen fog, holding up the purified windigo breath he let it spill out and blend with his own as it descended upon the yet lifeless pony. Meanwhile, Jack had taken the initiative to make sure the pony became what he wanted. "Your name shall be "Blinding Cover" and you will be the first frost pony. The ponies that bring cheer and the ones to help anypony else in need." Jack made sure that he used the Ponies' word anypony instead of the humans' anyone as it was a pony he was creating after all.

As if on cue the fog created from Jack's and the windigoes' breath fell upon the pony. As soon as the fog touched the pony frost was created from the contact. As the frost spread all across the pony in a fascinating pattern, Jack noticed how much it looked like fur, as if it was actual fur covering the pony he named Blinding Cover. Jack had tried to make Cover as identical to the ponies as possible, but had given up when it came to the fur as he had no idea how he would go about finding a suitable substitute like he had with the mane and tail. But seeing the frost covering the pony had completed the pony look and made it hard to distinguish between the frost pony and a regular Earthpony.

Jack was watching the amazing display of ice and frost standing before him, that is until it suddenly stopped as if to signify that it was complete. Looking upon the pony in anticipation Jack held his breath. (Even if he didn't require any air.) At first nothing seemed to happen, the frost pony was standing completely still. That is, until it's whole body suddenly shook and the pony took a deep breath and opened its eyes for the first time.

Jack was was so happy he had succeeded that he suddenly lost control of himself. He jumped up and started screaming in delight: "It worked, it worked! HA, HA, HA !" Jack blurted out spinning around in delight.

However, Jack realized that he must have completely frightened the poor frost pony and quickly turned around back towards Blinding Cover to apologize but instead noticed something was off. The frost pony wasn't looking at him at all, it was calmly inspecting its surroundings. This could only mean one thing for poor Jack. His creation, the frost pony, was completely oblivious of his presence, meaning it did not know of his existence and therefore didn't believe in him and could not see or hear him.

Jack stumbled and fell on his knees, he had failed. He had been unsuccessful in creating his frost pony as he had hoped to finally have a partner, somepony to talk too. But fate was cruel and would not let him have it. And Jack did the only thing that came to him with the sudden realization of how alone he was. Tears, Jack started to cry. He started to curse the world he had found himself in, something he had not done for a long time as he had found peace in this new world. Or so he thought, now it had come back and painfully reminded him of this.

But suddenly something even more depressing came to mind, he had just created a new life form. However, it was like him, the only one of it's kind. It would become like him, Alone.

Jack could not have that. Jack himself could live through the loneliness, but Blinding Cover was a pony, an animal that lived with others of its kind. Also, Jack would forever feel guilty if he just created a life-form and then immediately doomed it to be forever alone. He could not, HE WOULD NOT!

Jack stood up and once again looked up to his creation, and started to focus his powers. With pure determination fueling his magic he unleashed it all around him with only one purpose, to create more life!

Jack would normally never attempt this, but as it stood now he was not in the best of emotional states. And therefore the wind roared. At the time Jack did not fully understand how far his powers could stretch and how he was doing it. All he saw was that the winds suddenly came from all sides at once and surrounded him and his frost pony. The winds brought with them snow and other items that were all used in creating the first frost pony. And as if the world itself wanted to see more of the frost ponies and their beauty the winds started to assemble new bodies of snow.

Jack could only stand in disbelief and watch as the world did his bidding for him. He had yet to realize that his own will and magic had integrated with the natural magic in the atmosphere of the planet and created a spell for just this purpose.

Jack smiled, he smiled as the winds parted and before him stood hundreds of frost ponies of both gender and many different ages. This was now the time of the frost ponies.

And all this, the creation of the frost ponies would never be witnessed again by anyone or anypony. Only then and there would it have been seen. By Jack frost and Blinding cover.





World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Canterlot Castle. Year: 1001





Jack smiled at the memory as he walk straight through the outer wall of the castle, he did not have to stay as he knew no harm would come to the frost pony. He had things to do, ponies to send out and a certain old statue to go and pay a visit to. "Watch out, Jack Frost is back in business." He spoke to himself before letting the wind carry him towards the royal gardens. This will be fun.
> 3) Another one. What about you? (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 3
Another one. What about you? (part 1)








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Canterlot Castle, The Royal Gardens. Year: 1001





3rd person POV (Following Jack)





Jack was flying down to the gardens in Canterlot Castle. It had been quite some time since he had time to get down and talk to Discord, the ‘God’ of chaos. Jack was unsure if Discord could hear him as he never had before his imprisonment. Yet; Jack had almost felt compelled to talk to Discord whenever he had been close by. And no matter if the Lord of Chaos could hear him or not, it was always fun to taunt him with word.

But on his way to the statue, Jack suddenly felt some kind of tugging. It was a weird feeling as it was not tugging in any specific direction but still ‘away’ from his current position. After a while, the tugging got stronger. Unsure of what he was feeling; Jack did what he thought would be the right thing. He tugged back.

At that very moment, the tugging stopped and Jack remembered where he had felt that feeling before, the void. And as to confirm his suspicion he suddenly heard a scream.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!! Are you kidding me!?!” A falling bipedal screamed as he fell from the sky. Looking up, Jack saw that it was (in fact) falling and not flying. He knew what flying looked like and that was not it.

“Well, guess I better help,” Jack stated to himself as he stretched his arms in a wide arc to create a very tall and very long ice slide to let the bipedal slide down from vertical to horizontal propulsion without breaking any of its bones. Upon first landing on the slide though, the impact registered a crack due to the weight of the biped’s clothes and the two swords that he was carrying. Yet, it held and let him slide down safely to the ground and onto the grass. Unfortunately Jack had not paid attention to where the slide ended and the biped (that was now close enough for Jack to confirm it being human) slammed right into the base of Discord's statue. By the look of things this was no ordinary human, based on his appearance at least:



'Oops.' Jack thought to himself as the human was getting up.

“Oww… my head.” The human moaned as he tried to get back up on both of his feet. He looked in the direction of Jack, making Jack think that this human could see him. But the lack of reaction stated that he could not. The only thing the young man could see was the slide which mysteriously appeared right beneath him. The boy then turned around, seeing what exactly he had collided with.

“Hey, would you look at that. It’s the voice that’s inside my head.” the human said, chuckling to himself. Now somewhat worried, Jack decided to get rid of the slide and turned it into what could be described as ‘ice dust’. Making it fall as if it had always been made of nothing but dust and only now had gravity pull it apart, only for the dust to vanish in the grass below.

‘Did he just say voice in his head? Has Discord managed to escape?’ Jack thought to himself. Starting to collect as much of his magic he could muster into a spell.

Jack could not let Discord escape while he was still meant to be imprisoned, but seeing as the human showed no signs of being controlled; Jack reconsider his earlier thoughts of freezing the human solid by surrounding him in an absolute zero atmosphere. Instead, he lowered the temperature to a noticeably lower level and walked up to the human, inspecting him to make sure he was not under control.

Moments later, due to the change in temperature, a draconequus emerged from the boy and began to act like he was cold. “Brr… Who turned down the Thermostat? Isn't it supposed to be summer around now?”

“Possibly,” The boy answered Discord’s question. “Then again, we’re probably in another Equestria like what happened to Nicko, so maybe the circumstances are different.”

That would explain you falling from the sky. Jack thought to himself. Other dimensions were not a foreign concept to him.

“Could be. Still, it’s a lot warmer inside your head then out here Anson.” The spirit now turned and notice the statue of himself. “Oh boy… That… could be problematic.”

“Indeed it could, a Discord from another Equestria? Hope he’s friendly.” Jack commented out loud to himself, believing the Lord of Chaos could not hear him. However, the Draconequi’s ears twitched a little as he started to looked around. Looking at the boy Jack now knew as Anson he asked him a question.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Anson asked him, looking slightly confused.

“I thought I heard somepony talking just now.”

“Wait, you can hear me?” Jack asked baffled. How could this be?

Discord turned around, looking at where Jack stood, making Jack feel quite nervous. He was not able to take care of Discord on his own without the princesses.

“There it is again.” Discord said, making Jack relax as he realized that Discord could hear him but not see him.

Discord proceeded to pick up some of the ice dust and stated. “Okay, either somepony is playing around with my head or I think a pile of snow is talking to me.”

“Wrong on both there, Discord,” Jack told him. “Hmm, you can hear me but not see me… I might be able to fix that!” Jack exclaimed deciding that if this Discord could be trusted by Anson, then he could trust him as well. Now he only had to try and make himself visible.

Jack concentrated his being as if trying to solidify himself, thinking about ice that was freezing over and how it became visible in contrast to the rest of the water around it.

“Did it work?” Jack asked as soon as he was confident in having "appeared".

“My… it did. I’m quite impressed. Would you mind doing that to my friend as well so he doesn't think I'm going crazy?” Discord said.

At this Jack could only think one thing. Define crazy.

“Eh heh he,” Jack chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry; I can only be seen or heard by those that believe in my existence. So, if you want him to see me, you gotta convince him yourself.” Or at least that was the easiest way to explain it.

“Convince him, you say?”

“Discord, who are you talking to?” Anson asked him as he looked at the Draconequus in confusion.

“Oh, sorry about that Anson, I was just talking to…… what’s your name?” Discord asked Jack.

“Jack. Jack Frost.”

“I was talking to this guy named Jack Frost. He’s the one that made that frozen slide that you landed on.”

“Oh? Then why can’t I see him?” Anson questioned him.

“He says that he can only be seen or heard by those that believe in his existence.”

Anson just raised an eyebrow at the statement. Just as much as it confused him, it also made him wonder if what Discord said was true or not. He didn't read much fairy tales back home, but he still personally believed in the existence of fictional beings such as Santa Claus even though they were mostly considered as “Imaginary”. Closing his eyes for a minute, he took a deep breath. Only thinking one thing.

I believe in the legend of Jack Frost.

When he reopened his eyes, the teen was stunned to see the snowy-haired boy with the brown trousers and blue hoodie standing right by Discord. “Holy crap, it worked!” Anson shouted in surprise.

“Wow, you are something else. Being able to believe in someone like me just like that.” Jack Frost said. While looking at Anson, suddenly realizing something else. “Hey, dude. This might sound weird, but may I try and touch you?”

“Umm… Okay, I guess? Just the shoulder please?” He replied. Anson was confused by Jack’s request, but he decided to just keep calm and carry on for the time being.

Jack Frost perked up at this and with one small step left behind all the distance between them without any visible effort at all and laid one hand on Anson's shoulder, making him flinch. No wonder as he could most definitely feel the cold touch of Jack's hand, seeing as Jack's body was at zero degrees Celsius.

At the touch, Jack felt relieved. He had not touched another being for quite a while, and a human no less, feeling someone's body heat after such a long time was an indescribable feeling. Warm campfires had nothing on this kind of warmth. Anson was visibly confused as he saw Jack starting to shed a few tears.

“I-It has been so long… so long since I was able to touch someone… Thank you.” Jack explained away his tears.

“Y-you’re welcome… I guess?” Anson and Discord were still mighty confused by what was going on. Making both of them wear a face of confusion.

However, seeing the puzzled faces of the two guests, Jack realized how strange of a situation this was. “Oh, I should probably explain that. You see, when no one can see or hear me, it goes the same for the other senses. Meaning I’m unable to touch them as well. I haven’t felt human- no, any contact at all for quite a while. It gets depressing after a while.”

“I see. Just out of curiosity Jack, how long has it been since you last… well… felt human?” Anson asked Jack.

“You mean as in touching another human or feeling like one myself?” Jack replied, wondering where this was going.

“Does both count?” Anson asked.

“Well, no. They are two different questions entirely? Okay, now you got me confused.” Jack said, not sure what he was being asked.

“I mean as in both being able to touch someone and feel human,” Anson said.

Isn't that still two different questions, just put together into one? Eh, whatever. Jack thought as he made sure not to show his confusion and decided just to answer the questions.

“Ah, that does make more sense. Well, I always feel human… But I haven’t touched any other human since coming to Equestria. Let’s see… I think it was about fifteen thousand, nine hundred and ninety-seven years ago? Wow, I’m getting old!” Jack said as he realized that he had lived longer than any of his old friends back on Earth. And he never did meet Santa Clause, Sandman, Easter bunny or the Tooth Fairy before awakening in Equestria.

Anson though, just stared. “Holy sh*t! Ahem. Please excuse my poor choice in grammar. I was just really surprised by what you just said.”

“Oh, yeah right, I almost forgot humans only have an average of 205 years' lifespan. I must be old by your standards.” Jack said, not concerned about language as there were no kids around to hear.

“That’s way more than old. That’s like Immortal if you ask me.” Discord said.

Said the supposed to be Immortal Lord of Chaos. Jack thought to himself without wording his thoughts.

“Yeah, kinda comes with the job” Jack replied instead, shrugging his shoulders.

“Job? What kind of job?” Anson asked. He was now curious by what Jack meant by that sentence.

Really? I mean sure. Not every Immortal being happens to have a job, but the ones that don't just sleep eternity away. I'm alive so, guess what? I have a job! Jack thought almost wording his thoughts. But refrained from doing so as he realized his way of thinking had probably change dramatically from living for over sixteen thousand years. And judging from this boy's reaction to the amount of time Jack spent in Equestria, he was quite young.

“Well, yeah. I didn't get these powers just to kill time, did I? They come both with responsibilities and the burden of eternal life… or at least until something outright kills me.” Jack mumbled the last part.

“Well, we’re here now.” Discord said cheerfully, trying to mess around a little with Jack’s hair. “And I believe what Anson found was the reason why.”

“Really? You guys know how to travel the void to different dimensions? That’s kinda cool!” Jack said, ignoring Discord messing with his hair. He kinda enjoyed the contact after spending most of his life as an untouchable spirit.

Huh, didn't know my hair could sound like snowflakes.

“Yeah. This though was our first time. It happened once to my brother already, but the guy he met turned out to be an Elder Dragon who had very strong magic.” Anson told Jack as he held forward a snowflake that Jack recognized from somewhere.


“This may take a bit to explain, but let’s start with just a simple question. Are you familiar with something called the Multiverse?”

“Of course. It was just a theory at first until it was proven by a scientist called Mengar Blugten in the year 2067. It was quite a big subject in school.”

“Well, for us, there are multiple forms of Equestria that are at different locations in time and space. Now, for another question… Would you have happened to end up here after purchasing something from a weird merchant?”

Now that was something Jack wasn't expecting to hear in such a conversation, the merchant.

“Weird merchant?” Jack asked having the memory of his encounter with the merchant making its way into his mind.





World: Earth. Location: South Pole. Year: 2078.





3rd person POV (Following Jack)





Almost... there... Jack thought to himself, his thoughts slow in the cold weather. Yet so worth it if he could get what he came for. Disregarding his already frozen hands, his cracked blackened legs and the fact that he could not feel most of his body in the cold weather, Jack only had sights on his slowly approaching target. The staff of Jack Frost.

The staff had been near impossible to find when Jack first decided he would be the next in line to become Jack Frost. He already had the name and was just as kind as Jack frost himself. It was unfortunate that the original Jack Frost had gone and disappeared, leaving the staff for the next one in line.

Finally, Jack would be able to continue the work of his idol and friend, yes. He was able to call Jack Frost a friend.

Finally, standing before the staff Jack hesitated. If the staff saw him as unworthy he would surely die. After all, the cold had no doubt already reduced his legs to unmovable lumps of frozen meat, black and dead. And the same could almost be said about Jack's hands, he could barely move them.

Jack took off his thick gloves meant to protect his hands and saw that the tips of his finger were already beginning to turn black. It hurt, it hurt just as much as his legs hurt when he had felt them dying. But Jack knew that if he claimed the staff and it accepted him, then he would not only be saved. But he would also become the one he was meant to be. After all, he already had the looks. Something that the real Jack Frost had usually joked about.

With a smile on his face from remembering his friend, Jack reached out and grabbed the staff.

All he could feel was cold, dark, deadly cold.

S-So this i-is how it ends h-huh? He thought to himself as he felt his consciousness fading and the pain in his body become worse. I g-guess it w-was worth a try... Jack thought before closing his eyes, collapsing in the snow.





Jack woke up, his eyes snapping open as he heard the snowstorm around him rage on. It was a calming sound to him. Jack blinked a few times before realizing a few things. First of all, he was not dead. Secondly, he was not cold at all. And third, he was wearing the same clothes that Jack Frost always did.

"Wa-what? I thought I died." He stated to himself, realizing he was suddenly standing and holding the staff.

'I guess I got chosen after all.' He thought, before something else caught his attention, he was not alone anymore.

"Well, would you look at that, someone made it before me." A voice said from somewhere to the left of Jack.

"Who's there?" Jack replied to the mystic voice, deciding to go with his usual approach. Rather trust and regret, than doubt and regret. Words to live by.

"You can just call me the Merchant." The voice answered back. "And it seems you have taken something that I came here to obtain. Would you care to trade it maybe?" The Merchant asked coming close enough for Jack to see him while pointing at the staff, he truly looked like a merchant.

"I'm sorry, but this staff has chosen me and it's my duty to wield it now, also, it is the reason I came here."

"I see, that is unfortunate, guess I'll have to grab it myself!" The merchant said as he lunged at Jack and grabbed the staff. Refusing to let go of the staff Jack used his other arm to punch the man in the face, forcing him to let go of the staff. Feeling his new powers respond, Jack decided to try them out.

"I won't give you the staff, and if you won't listen then I have no choice," Jack said as he pointed his staff at the merchant and imagined him freezing in a solid block of ice. Feeling the power inside him surge, he released it and saw how a lightning of frost hit the merchant and encased him in a solid block of ice, much like the one Jack had imagined.

"Wow, that went better than I thought it would," Jack said as he now had a smile on his face.

"But I should probably unfreeze him befo-" was all Jack managed to say before blackness overtook his vision and he blacked out. Only feeling the strange flow of magic coursing through his staff.





World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Canterlot Castle, The Royal Gardens. Year: 1001





3rd person POV (Following Jack)





“Not really, I didn't purchase anything from the asshole. He tried to take my staff. So naturally, I fought back; punched him in the face and froze him solid… And then I kinda blacked out and found myself here in Equestria.” Jack quickly summarized his experience.

“Well, even though you and I ended up in our version of Equestria under different circumstances, we are both referred to as Displaced or short for dimensionally misplaced.” was all Anson said.

“Interesting, I take it this merchant guy is behind this then?” Jack said as he thought that it was the only thing that made sense.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Anson told Jack. “But what I do know from my brother is this: Displaced have something called a token that represents themselves and can use the tokens of other Displaced to summon them and have them fight alongside you in battle. However, it works two ways and unfortunately for me, the second way was what happened to Discord and I. Instead of us summoning something to where we were, we got pulled in to where you were.”

“Hence, falling out of the sky.” Discord added on for comical effect.

Oops. was all Jack thought as realization hit him.

“Oh, I’m sorry for that. I think I might be the one at fault here. You see, I felt the tugging that I guess was meant to summon me. But I was not sure of what it was so I did what anyone who wants to stay does, I pulled back. And suddenly, you were falling out of the sky.” Jack said blushing while awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

“Well…… this is awkward.” Discord mumbled as it got a little silent. “I guess it explains why it backfired though.”

“Yeah, I think so,” Anson said. “Say, since we are here, why don’t we do something and have fun with Jack? I mean, this is the first time in a long while that’s he’s ever had people be with him before.”

“Really? You’d do that for me?” Jack smiled. Anson nodded his head, showing his approval and his answer to Jack’s question.

“Oh, this will be great!! But we should go someplace else first. There’s a high risk that either Princess Celestia & Princess Luna will notice Discord's presence and I don’t think that would be a good thing.”

“Princess Luna? Who’s that?” Anson asked. He knew Prince Artemis back from his world. Could this “Princess Luna” be somehow different? Discord himself had no objections as he hid himself inside Anson.

“Okay, now. I’ll give you guys a ride, just keep your arms and legs out to the sides and you should be fine.” Jack said as he pushed off the ground and weightlessly floated away while doing a brief motion with his right hand, suddenly making a strong wind burst forth taking Anson with it. Anson himself, followed Jack’s instructions and the same results happened. Both of them were now airborne like a flying pegasus. Just without the wings, kinda like Discord did when he drifted through the sky like a Chinese dragon.

Unknown to the now departing friends, another one had listened in on their conversation.
> 4) Another one. What about you? (part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 4
Another one. What about you? (part 2)








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Canterlot Castle, The Royal Gardens. Year: 1001





3rd person POV (Following Discord)





"Boooorrrriiiinnnng!" Discord mentally screamed. He had been stuck in this stony shell for almost one thousand, five hundred years. All because his lifestyle didn't fit those stupid ponies. And now, all he could do was stand completely still and look at anything that entered his vision. He could also hear sound and his sense of touch worked as well; he hated it during the times it rained in Canterlot. Perhaps one of the very few things he found that he had in common with the ponies of Equestria.

However, the one thing that Discord could do during his imprisonment that brought him any kind of joy was to plan what he would do once he finally escaped. He didn't know why he had retained conscious during his time as a lawn ornament. Perhaps it was intentional or it was an effect of his chaos magic. But no matter what caused it, it was as much a torment as it was a blessing. Had he not been able to plan his way through Equestria after escaping, he would have had the same mindset as he had back then. And that wouldn't have been beneficial to him in the least.

And as always; our favorite Lord of Chaos himself came up with more amazing and mind breaking ideas for his 'master plan'. Had it not been for the fact that the guards were unaware of Discord's presence, and the fact that he could hear them, he would not have known about the new 'Bearers of Harmony', Nightmare Moon's banishment, return and her purification. Something that had given Discord ideas of his own. "Corrupting the bearers, now that sounds promising." Discord once again told himself. There was, after all, no one else to listen to him.

However, Discord was brought out of his scheming as he heard something unusual; a scream. Screams themselves were not that unusual. The thing was that being stuck in a garden that was meant to be seen as calming didn't bring out screams from ponies. So being placed in said gardens had resulted in a lack of screams. Back to the screaming.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!! Are you kidding me!?!” Could be heard to the left of Discord, at least from his point of view. The voice also seemed to be coming from a higher elevation, signifying that somepony was probably falling from the sky. But what got Discord's attention was the sudden use of unidentifiable magic he could feel.

Shortly after Discord felt something slamming into the pedestal his statue was standing on, followed by a voice from whoever it was. 

“Oww… my head.” The voice continued, something that amused Discord. He was all for seeing others cause themselves misery. Or, in this case, hearing them.

“Hey, would you look at that. It’s the voice that’s inside my head,” the voice said, resulting in Discord's immediate confusion and curiosity. "I didn't leave any parts of my mind lying around. Did I?" Discord questioned himself while focusing on continuing to listen to the voice.

At this statement, Discord could once again feel the unidentifiable magic flare up and skyrocket, yet it suddenly calmed down and only a small amount of it slipped into the spell itself. Resulting in the sudden decrease of warmth around the immediate area. Discord was starting to get very annoyed at the fact that both the voice and source of magic were outside of his field of vision.

Just as Discord was about to make a joke about the sudden change in temperature somepony beat him to it, somepony whose voice he could recognize. “Brr… Who turned down the Thermostat? Isn't it supposed to be summer around now?” came the voice of Lord of Chaos, Discord himself.

"Okay, this doesn't make sense. And that is my job!" Discord exclaimed. Something was going on, and he would get to the bottom of this. So to gather information, he could start by listening in on this conversation.

“Possibly,” The voice answered the second Discord’s question. “Then again, we’re probably in another Equestria like what happened to Nicko, so maybe the circumstances are different.”

“Could be. Still, it’s a lot warmer inside your head then out here Anson.” Second Discord replied before adding- “Oh boy… That… could be problematic.”

"Ah, so that's it. I should have figured such a thing out myself." Discord chuckled to himself.

“Did you hear that?” Discord heard the other him ask the first voice, apparently called Anson.

“Hear what?” Anson asked him, sounding slightly confused.

"Huh? Is he able to hear me? That should be impossible while the Elements still power my prison. Is he more powerful than the elements in his Equestria?" Discord asked himself, before perking up at another thought. "With this Discord here I might get out faster than ever, be it from him creating Chaos or letting me out! Hey! You gonna let me out?"

“I thought I heard somepony talking just now.” The second Discord explained.

After a moment of silence, he was heard again. “There it is again.” The second Discord stated and then paused. “Okay, either somepony is playing around with my head or I think a pile of snow is talking to me.”

"Playing a prank on the Lord of Discord and pranks? Somepony is in for a very unpleasant day if he finds them out." Discord stated, comparing the situation and how he would react. "But I have to give them cred, unless me is going insane. I'll have to watch out for that."

“My… it did. I’m quite impressed. Would you mind doing that to my friend as well so he doesn't think I’m going crazy?” It would seem the pranksters had reviled themselves. "And somehow not been blasted by some nasty Chaos magic, why wasn't this other Discord... well, Discording stuff?" Discord asked himself while continuing to listen.

“Convince him, you say?” The second Discord asked, seemingly conversing with somepony that Discord was unable to hear.

“Discord, who are you talking to?” Anson spoke up, picking up on the fact that his Discord seemed to be in conversation all of a sudden.

“Oh, sorry about that Anson, I was just talking to…… what’s your name?” The second Dis- (Know what? The second one will now be known as Dissy.) -sy asked the unidentified prankster.

“I was talking to this guy named Jack Frost. He’s the one that made that frozen slide that you landed on.” Dissy told Anson.

“Oh? Then why can’t I see him?” Anson asked him.

“He says that he can only be seen or heard by those that believe in his existence,” Dissy stated, making Discord raise an imagined eyebrow. "That's useful, being invisible and unknown, yet still able to use one's powers to affect the world, I think I'm envious." Discord thought to himself.

The next thing Discord heard was, “Holy crap, it worked!” as exclaimed by Anson.

"It did? Maybe I should try, I believe in Jack Frost. There's plenty of proof for his existence after all." Discord thought to himself and went back to listening.

"-sound weird, but may I try and touch you?” Discord suddenly heard a new voice speak, presumably Jack Frost.

"Head out of the gutter." he thought to himself.

“Umm… Okay, I guess? Just the shoulder please?” Anson replied.

After a short while of silence, about the time it took Discord to start suspecting the trio had left somehow,  Jack once again spoke up.

“I-It has been so long… so long since I was able to touch someone… Thank you.”

“Y-you’re welcome… I guess?” replied Anson, sounding unsure of what to say.

After a while, Jack seemed to recognize the need to explain himself. “Oh, I should probably explain that. You see, when no one can see or hear me, it goes the same for the other senses. Meaning I’m unable to touch them as well. I haven’t felt human- no, any contact at all for quite a while. It gets depressing after a while.”

“I see. Just out of curiosity Jack, how long has it been since you last… well… felt human?”

“You mean as in touching another human or feeling like one myself?”

“Does both count?” Anson asked.

“Well, no. They are two different questions entirely? Okay, now you got me confused.”

“Ah, that does make more sense. Well, I always feel human… But I haven’t touched any other human ever since coming to Equestria. Let’s see… I think it was about fifteen thousand, nine hundred and ninety-seven years ago? Wow, I’m getting old!”

An awkward silence followed and Discord found himself as baffled as the rest of the bunch, save for Jack. Who seemed oblivious to what he had just said.

However, Anson soon interrupted the silence. “Holy sh*t! Ahem. Please excuse my poor choice in grammar. I was just really surprised by what you just said.”

"Wow, goes to show you can't judge somepony by their voice." Discord thought to himself.

“Oh, yeah right, I almost forgot humans only have an average of 205 years' lifespan. I must be old by your standards.”

Discord didn't know what these humans were but it made him conclude. Either both Jack and Anson were humans or just Anson. Otherwise, he could not see any reason to bring the age of an unheard creature up.

“That’s way more than old. That’s like Immortal if you ask me.” Dissy said.

“Yeah, kinda comes with the job” Jack replied.

As curious as Discord was he could not ask the question, thankfully he didn't have to as the human, Anson, asked it for him.

“Job? What kind of job?” Anson asked. Sounding rather curious.

“Well, yeah. I didn't get these powers just to kill time, did I? They come both with responsibilities and the burden of eternal life…” Jack mumbled the last part making it impossible for Discord to hear what he had said at the end. Discord could not avoid suspicion as Jack had not said what his 'job' was.

“Well, we’re here now,” Dissy said cheerfully, apparently doing something that caused the sound of snowflakes twinkling. Which made no sense at all, since snowflakes didn't have any specific sound. Yet, Discord knew exactly what it was. "Weird." He stated to himself.

“And I believe what Anson found was the reason why.” Dissy continued.

“Really? You guys know how to travel the void to different dimensions? That’s kinda cool!” exclaimed Jack.

“Yeah. This though was our first time. It happened once to my brother already, but the guy he met turned out to be an Elder Dragon who had very strong magic.” Anson said, pausing for a while before continuing. “This may take a bit to explain, but let’s start with just a simple question. Are you familiar with something called the Multiverse?”

“Of course. It was just a theory at first until it was proven by a scientist called Mengar Blugten in the year 2067. It was quite a big subject in school.” Jack said. While Discord did not know about any scientist by the name 'Mengar Blugten' or why Jack spoke about the year 2067, he did understand where this conversation was going. Other possible universes. This could be a great addition to his knowledge.

Anson continued. “Well, for us, there are multiple forms of Equestria that are at different locations in time and space. Now, for another question… Would you have happened to end up here after purchasing something from a weird merchant?”

“Weird merchant?” Jack asked back with a slightly hostile voice. “Not really, I didn't purchase anything from the asshole. He tried to take my staff. So naturally, I fought back, punched him in the face and froze him solid… And then I kinda blacked out and found myself here in Equestria.”

“Well, even though you and I ended up in our version of Equestria under different circumstances, we are both referred to as Displaced or short for dimensionally misplaced.”

“Interesting, I take it this merchant guy is behind this then?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Anson told Jack. “But what I do know from my brother is this. Displaced have something called a token that represents themselves and can use the tokens of other Displaced to summon them and have them fight alongside you in battle. However, it works two ways and unfortunately for me, the second way was what happened to Discord and I. Instead of us summoning something to where we were, we got pulled in to where you were.”

“Hence, falling out of the sky,” Dissy added on for what Discord recognized as comical effect.

“Oh, I’m sorry for that. I think I might be the one at fault here. You see, I felt the tugging that I guess was meant to summon me. But I was not sure of what it was so I did what anyone who wants to stay does, I pulled back. And suddenly, you were falling out of the sky.” Jack said with a tone of embarrassment in his voice.

“Well…… this is awkward,” Dissy mumbled as it got a little silent. “I guess it explains why it backfired though.”

“Yeah, I think so,” Anson said. “Say, since we are here, why don’t we do something and have fun with Jack? I mean, this is the first time in a long while that’s he’s ever had people be with him before.”

“Really? You’d do that for me?” Jack asked with a voice full of hope.

“Oh, this will be great!! But we should go someplace else first. There’s a high risk that both Princess Celestia or Princess Luna notice Discords presence and I don’t think that would be a good thing.”

“Princess Luna? Who’s that?” Anson asked.

But Anson's question went by unanswered.

“Okay, now. I’ll give you guys a ride, just keep your arms and legs out to the sides and you should be fine.” Jack said before a powerful gust of wind was heard and after the wind died down there was only silence.

"Ah, alone again, guess I'll have nothing better to do... one, two, three, go! When you're rife with devastation-"
> 5) Another one. What about you? (part 3)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 5
Another one. What about you? (part 3)








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Skies between Canterlot and Ponyville. Year: 1001





3rd person POV (Following Jack Frost)





Looking back at Anson, Jack felt the urge to start up a conversation as he had not had a proper one for quite a while. “So, Anson. How come your Discord is all nice and understanding while the one here was trying to take over the world and spread chaos like he was some kind of god?”

“Well... at one point, the element of kindness, Fluttershy, thought that Princess Celestia should give him a second chance and tried to reform him. In the end, it worked out well and Discord; along with Eris, helps out Celestia and the Elements of Harmony. He and Celestia even have a young three-year-old son named Chaotic.”

Jack looked as if he stumbled in mid-air. “Wait, Discord has a son, WITH CELESTIA?! Never saw that one coming… And who is Eris?”

“Eris is a Draconequus that’s Discord’s daughter,” Anson told Jack. “From what I can recall, she was a figment of Discord’s imagination like somepony named Screwball. However, this occurred at a point where he was very lonely and wished to have someone that he could care for.”

“Okay, I have to ask. Did that happen before his imprisonment or after?”

“Before, my dear Jackie.” Discord teased. “She was the only one who kept me company while I was in stone. It can get quite lonely and boring when you’re inside there for over a thousand years.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Jack said, looking down a bit saddened by his loneliness. “But that is the reason why I visit Discord's statue from time to time. I kinda felt bad for him standing there all alone. He might have been quite a jerk but even he doesn't deserve such torture… I might just have answered my question why our world doesn't have an Eris.” Jack said, looking a bit proud of himself.

“Who knows? Maybe your version of  me doesn't have that kind of heart like I do.” Discord said as he did something that reminded Anson of a scene from The Grinch, in which it showed the inside of his chest with his heart two sizes too big. The Infinity Sword couldn't help but chuckle at the amusement of the Draconequi’s joke. While Jack seemed to be lost to the joke.

“Maybe, But I’m not in doubt that if you could become as you are now Discord, then maybe mine could too? He was not what I would consider evil after all. He would never go as far as to hurt somepony as far as I can remember.” Jack said shrugging.

“Hehe… It’s a possibility.” Anson chuckled as Discord returned into the boy’s body as they continued to glide through the air.

Soon they had reached the outskirts of Ponyville. However, they did not stop there as they continued towards the forest next to the town. More specifically, the Everfree. Anson landed shortly after Jack as he looked into the forest. “Oh boy… This place again.”

“Again?”

“Well, when I first arrived in my Equestria, I ended up in Appleloosa and then walked from there, through the Everfree forest to Ponyville. I fell asleep at a makeshift platform that was being used for a duel, so when I woke up the next morning, I had a girl with a fiery attitude and anger management problem thinking that I was her opponent.”

“Ah, I see. Well… I think I might be able to grant you the ability to become intangible like me for a short amount of time, so the animals of the Everfree won’t harm you.” Jack said as he conjured up some snow in his hands and began crafting them into a flawless snowball which he then blew a cold breath upon and then smiled a wicked smile towards Anson. “Lookout.” He said as he threw the snowball at Anson before he could do anything about the situation. Getting hit however only resulted in a flash of sky blue light.

“That should do it,” Jack said and started marching inwards towards Everfree.

“Thanks. That was helpful.” Anson complimented as they began to walk.

“No problem, with that enchantment you should be able to turn invisible by clearing your mind, and you should be automatically intangible by anything and everything that you do not purposely touch. However, it does take its energy from you so after it has been drained the enchantment will dispel.”

“That’s alright. At least I have a new trick I can use to scare the crap out of Nicko.” The swordsman said mischievously.

“Yeah, what I wouldn't give to see his face at that moment. Wait, I got an idea. You said tokens work both ways right? Well, there's nothing of interest going on here right now, maybe we can go to your world? Then we won’t have to avoid the princesses over here.”

“As much fun as that sounds, I don’t think I can,” Anson said. “My brother never gave me his token. The only one I have is mine and yours and I don’t think I can summon us to my world if I’m currently here in yours.” The Infinity Sword pulled out the dark El Shard from his pocket and the snowflake so he could show the boy both of them.

“Mind if I take a look at mine?” Jack said pointing at the snowflake.

“Go ahead.” Anson handed him the small snowflake as it glowed in his hands.

“Thanks,” Jack said as he took the snowflake and inspected it. He was deep in thought until he finally remembered when he had created this snowflake. “Oh my god! This is the snowflake I lost when I was tampering with the void. It should still have some recording stored on it.” Jack exclaimed as he crushed the snowflake into dust that flew up a bit into the air and formed a small cloud projecting a picture of pure black.

“Hm, it only seems to have caught the endlessness of the void. What if I fast forward?” Jack said as the picture flickered. And then suddenly went out. “Well, that was a waste,” Jack said as the cloud reformed into the shape of a snowflake. Anson then picked it up. It was still cool to the touch and still glowed in his hands.

“Hey, why did you have these snowflakes in the void anyway?” Anson asked out of curiosity.

“It was purely by accident. I was training with my magic when I suddenly froze a part of the world itself and when I tried moving it, it kinda tore a hole into the void. I sent in a snowflake to investigate and then went on my merry way to come back later to see what my snowflake found, but it never returned and I finally gave up and closed the hole...”

“You froze a part of the world?” Discord asked. “Which part?”

“Not entirely sure, I don’t mess around with the world's fundamentals that often, I don’t want the world collapsing on me, you know?” Jack answered.

“Good point.” Discord replied. “You’re quite talented with your powers, Jack. What other things can you make?”

“Well, I found out that if I push it far enough I can reach absolute zero. Meaning I freeze anything caught in my magic. It was creepy the first time around. Imagine a bird stopping 3 feet from your face and not falling to the ground like it is supposed to because the air around it is as solid as the ground down below.”

“Wow… I was thinking about creating Ice Figurines, but that is a whole other degree.”

“I guess, but it is taxing, you know that humans never did find out how to reach absolute zero, even back home it was just a concept. It’s easier to introduce the whole solar system to an ice age and still have more magic left than keeping absolute zero up for more than three minutes.”

“Interesting. Have you tried to create anything… you know… living?” Discord asked as the three of them approached a clearing in the forest. He was curious to see what else was Jack capable of.

“Aha! I knew I had forgotten something.” Jack exclaimed as he stopped and suddenly held up a crooked staff that seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Give me just a minute.” He said as he raised his arms with the staff in hand and released a powerful surge of magic that was felt by both Anson and Discord. Making a powerful surge of winds to start moving in the sky. “That should do it.” He said and looked back at his friends.

“What did you do?” Asked Anson as he saw nothing new or out of the ordinary.

“Simple, I ordered the winds to return a long-gone race of ponies to Equestria. My little Frost Ponies have been gone for so long.” Jack said as he smiled towards the Draconequus.

“F-frost ponies?” Anson stuttered a little at what Jack said.

“Yes. It took a lot of time and magic to create them, but once they were made they required no further assistance. Well, that is until the incident with Nightmare Moon...”

“Nightmare Moon?” Discord asked. “What does she have to do with it? Isn't she just the spirit of nightmares?”

“What? No. Nightmare Moon was known as Mare in the moon. Banished into the moon for a thousand years. And after a thousand years on the longest day of the year, the stars aided her in her escape and she came back to rule over Equestria. However, she was stopped by a unicorn mare called Twilight and her friends. As wielders of the Elements of Harmony, they defeated Nightmare Moon and purified her of her dark magic, reverting her into Luna, Princess Celestia’s sister.” Jack explained.

“Well, at least the part of Twilight and her friends remains the same. There are just some differences with some of the other details. Like right now, Twilight is an Alicorn.” Discord remarked.

“Huh, never thought there would be another ascending so soon, well, good for her. As for how Nightmare Moon came into the picture of me having to whisk away my Frost Ponies and not let them return for a thousand years, it is because the corruption of Luna heavily affected my ponies making them vulnerable towards corruption. And I simply could not allow that. I mean, look at what happened to Sombra.”

Anson just nodded his head and went along with it. He soon heard a new sound as he tilted his head to the left. The sound was of hooves trotting along the roads of the Everfree.

“Are those your Frost Ponies?” He asked Jack.

Jack looked towards the sound of hooves and furrowed his brows, “No. Or at least I don’t think so. I don’t control my Frost Ponies, they are their own. Besides I didn't summon any here in the Everfree, this is not the best place for a pony. It might be that Zebra I have seen around here.”

“Yeah. But that’s one pony.” The Infinity Sword said.  “I’m hearing multiple sets of hooves. Like four to five of them.”

“You are right, we should probably hide,” Jack said as he became invisible to both Anson and Discord one again. “Don’t worry, I’m just making sure so that nopony sees me by mistake, there might be ponies able to see me. Never hurts to be careful.” He said as to not making Discord and Anson think he simply left.

A few moments after saying that, Anson activated the new enchantment that Jack had given him as he hid behind a nearby tree. The two of them waited to see who was coming over until they heard a few voices. A few… young voices.
> 6) Another one. What about you? (part 4)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 6
Another one. What about you? (part 4)








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Everfree forest. Year: 1001





“Come on, Applebloom. Admit it… We’re lost!” One of the voices said.

“We aren’t lost, girls! We’re just taking a shortcut!!” A second voice responded to the first.

“Yeah, a shortcut that has had us be trotting around in circles.”

As the three voices approached the clearing, Jack and Anson could see who was talking. They were three young fillies that Anson saw as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The only difference is that the Cutie Mark Crusaders he knew were a bit older than these ponies, not to mention that he never saw them as ponies before.

“What the hell-?” Anson said to himself, thinking that nopony could hear him. However, all three ponies looked in the direction of where they heard the voice just now.

“Girls, did you hear that?”

“Yeah I did, Sweetie Belle. Do you think that was a ghost?”

“I don’t know, Scootaloo… Hey, if it was, do you think we could get a cutie mark for Ghostbusting?”

Meanwhile, Jack was face-palming at himself, forgetting to warn Anson about the enchantment not silencing the voice, only making him invisible or intangible. Jack didn't want to accidentally force his new friend into the same position he had been himself. Walking over to where he could feel his enchantment taking place, and the position of where the voice had come from, he started to whisper to Anson and Discord while revealing himself to the two.

“Dude, the enchantment only works on light, not sound. So… I think it is best if you helped them get out of here. Seeing as they are lost. Discord, Are you able to make Anson look like a pony? I don’t want the crusaders to think he is a monster and try to get a cutie mark in monster fighting or anything equally stupid.” Jack said, confident the Cutie Mark Crusaders could not hear him as he already knew they could not see him from previous experience. He had never seen so much tree sap on one pony.

“I believe I can give it a shot.” Discord said as he did a quick snap with his eagle talon. Soon, Anson turned into a light red Earth Pony stallion with a Cutie mark of the Sigil that would normally appear when he would cast certain abilities and attacks when he was in combat.



Anson himself looked a little irritated, seemingly having a conversation with Discord in his head. Jack could probably listen to it if he so wished, but he decided to give them their privacy, he was thinking about how to convince the CMC to leave the forest before something else finds them.

Anson sighed, seemingly having lost the internal argument with Discord and then looked back towards Jack. “Now what do we do?”

“Well, what about giving three small fillies a little scare from the Everfree?” Jack grinned while looking at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who still where unable to see Anson hiding behind the tree, his invisibility having dropped from transforming.

“You got any ideas?” Pony Anson asked.

“Plenty.” Jack said as he started walking towards the unknowing fillies, who were arguing about how one would go about capturing a ghost so they can be “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Ghostbusters”.

Walking up right next to the fillies, Jack filled his lungs with plenty of air before exhaling it in a steady yet soundless stream straight upwards, resulting in a fog as the ice induced air collided with the warmer atmosphere creating small water droplets in the air. The sudden fog making the fillies grow wary and huddle together, expecting something to jump at them.

“Eh, girls. I think this might have been a bad idea…”

“How so?” Scootaloo asked, trying her best to be brave.

“Well, isn’t it usually much warmer outside during this time of year? It’s getting colder just as we speak.”

A few moments later, Anson decided to walk into the clearing. The young girls could only see his shadow as they stared at him with scared expressions while Jack could barely hold his laughter. It might have been a bit mean of him to have suggested such a prank, but it would be fun for all involved afterward. Especially the girls once they realized how much they let their fantasies get to them. Although this was Equestria, and they were in the Everfree. Maybe their paranoia is justified after all... Jack thought realizing that his long life of 'immortality' had dulled his senses for danger.

Speaking of the girls, they began to shiver in place once they saw the two swords that the figure had holstered on its back. Their fears began to elevate when they saw this pony's eyes glow red. Anson didn't even get the chance to say anything by the time the three fillies began to scream and gallop out of the forest with their tales in between their hindquarters. When they were far enough, Anson said something for comical effect.

“Wait! I just wanted to be friends!!” At this, Jack burst out laughing and walked over to Anson.

“We should probably make sure your ‘friends’ make it back to Ponyville safely. We don’t want any blade-wielding maniac trying to get them, do we?” Jack joked as he had seen how intimidating the light red pony had looked from his position behind the CMC, he wanted to assure them as fast as possible as to not give them nightmares, he didn't want to give Luna any more work than she already had.

“Hehe… Good point.” Pony Anson snickered as he began the unfamiliar process of learning how to trot on four legs towards Ponyville. Which happened to be the exact direction the fillies had galloped off to. To their clubhouse. From a distance, Anson could see them inside the makeshift treehouse, shaking a little as they scared themselves to death.

“You think we took it a little overboard?” He asked Jack as he floated right beside him.

“No, I think it’s gonna be alright if you introduce yourself, and show them you’re no bad pony. Then they will only be able to look back at this memory and laugh at themselves in the future. Don’t you think?” Jack said, quite sure that they would. He had after all been studying and observed ponies for nearly sixteen thousand years.

“Alright, if you say so.” The Stallion sighed as he trotted up to the clubhouse. He was still trying to think through what to say inside his head. But by the time he reached the tree, he was a little more confident than a few minutes ago.

“Excuse me, would you happen to be the three fillies that were in the Everfree just now? I didn't mean to frighten you.” Pony Anson tried to initiate a conversation.

Scootaloo, hearing the voice, peaked a little outside the clubhouse and saw the earth pony. Despite earlier, this… stallion, looked a bit cool because of his armor and gear. “W-who are you?” She asked.

“I’m Anson Nocte. Who are you girls?”

“Hold on, how do you know that there were three of us?”

“I heard three voices in the forest earlier.” Pony Anson told the young pegasus. “I was going to say hi, but then you three began to run away from me like I was a ghost.”

“Oh my gosh! You were the ghost pony!?” Another voice squeaked as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stuck their heads out the window. “Ah’m sorry if we ran away from you. We were just scared!”

Soon, all three fillies began to climb down and circle Pony Anson. The ones who originally feared his shadow were now in awe of his presence. He looked as strong as a royal guard, but didn't wear any specific armor or gear that would show that he was with them. This now got the three fillies curious. “Are you some kind of Guard, Mr. Anson?”

The Earth pony shook his head. “Nah, just a traveler.”

“What kind of traveler?” They asked, even more curious now.

“One who searches… for legends.” Anson smirked, looking back at Jack. “Are you three interested in a story?”

Jack smiled, understanding what Anson was trying to do. The Infinity Sword took a deep breath as he heard the girls plead a little for the “story” that he was going to tell them about. “This is a story of a friend of mine who is responsible for many things. Some would consider him as a guardian for what he does and what he is capable of. He is the one to bring forth the first snow, the one to start snowball fights and he is the one for making frost as beautiful as it is.” Anson said, making Jack just a little suspicious about what Anson meant, the stuff he said was fairly spot-on, yet he hadn't heard such things from Jack himself. But he decided he rather trust and regret, than doubt and regret.

“What is your friend's name?” The girls asked in unison.

“Jack,” Anson told the girls. “Jack Frost. Now, girls. Can you do one thing for me? I’m sure you’ll like what happens afterward.”

“Oh really? What’s that?” Sweetie Belle asked as she tilted her head.

“I want you to close your eyes…… and believe…… in Jack Frost.”

The girls were skeptical at first, but followed his directions anyways. The Snowboy took this as his cue while the girls were keeping their eyes closed. Jack used his magic to form a thin layer of misty clouds above the trio; making it snow lightly just as the girls opened their eyes. Soon, all three fillies were surprised by the surprise snowfall above their heads, only to see Jack smiling at them when they looked up; him hovering above them.

“Oh my!! Y-you’re real!!?!”

“Indeed he is,” Pony Anson nodded as Jack descended to the level of the three small fillies. “He’s been around for a very long time. But hasn't had any friends at all. Which brings me to a question for you.”

“Yes?” Scootaloo asked.

“Could you three be Jack’s friends?”

“It would mean the world to me if I could have three such wonderful fillies as my friends,” Jack told them with a genuine smile, showing his snow-white teeth.

All three of them eagerly nodded their heads as they jumped towards Jack, hugging him as soon as they landed on the boy. The Fillies were smiling; just as happy as Jack was. Jack now had more friends. The young boy with a special gift no longer had to be alone.

“Hey, Jack. Mind if I ask you something?” Scootaloo asked while looking at her new friend.

“You just did, Scootaloo.” The Snowmancer teased the little pegasus.

“No, I mean like a serious question.”

“Sure, I don’t see why not. I mean, I haven't talked to anypony for quite a while until Anson came along.” Jack responded, still smiling at the fact that he was now able to speak to ponies.

“What are you? I mean, you don’t look like any kind of creature I have ever seen or heard of.”

“An excellent question. I am, or was. Depends on how you think about it, a creature known as a human. That is until I decided I wanted to be so much more. I had decided to become someone meant to protect and cheer up children. And so, I became the spirit of frost. One meant to protect and amuse the young. A Guardian If you like. I became who I am, Jack Frost.”

The Girls marveled at the details Jack told them. They were liking their new friend even more! Anson himself smiled as he saw of the four of them cheerfully enjoy each other's company. Jack noticed that while he was further entertaining the CMC by showing them a few more of his magical powers, like animating two-dimensional frost paintings into three-dimensional projections, Pony Anson was once again in a mental conversation.

Jack left them to it. They were probably debating about something important that he did not need to hear, he was busy with his new friends after all and they wouldn't be talking behind his back. Anson was too good of a person to do that.

As Jack was still talking and somewhat teasing the CMC by telling them he had seen their previous adventures, Anson began to walk over to Jack to get his attention by waving a front hoof. “Sorry to interrupt, but I must get going. I have some people that I care for waiting for me back home.” Anson said as Jack noticed that Discord had not adapted Anson's speech to Equestrian but had let it stay as it was. Only minor differences, but ones that usually ended in questions, especially as Anson was meant to play the role of a pony. Fortunately the CMC didn't seem to notice.

“Ah, yes. Of course, but before you leave, I think I got something I have to do. Could you wait just a moment?” Jack asked Anson.

“Sure.”

“Great, It should not take long. Could you just give me my token for a short while?”

Anson nodded, handing the snowflake to Jack with his hoof. Taking the snowflake, Jack stared at it for a while before starting to speak to himself.

“Right, let’s see what this little bugger can do.” He said as the snowflake started to shine brightly, making everypony in the room shy away from the light. Once the light died down the snowflake was gone, instead Jack was holding something new, vaguely reminding one of a very beautiful snowflake.



“Ah, brilliant. Now for the next step.” Jack said as he cleared his throat. “To those of you to find this token, to those of you who need a friend, a Guardian or just someone to talk too. I let you know, that I am here. Either come to me or call me. I will not refuse. I am the one of legends, one long forgotten and alone. I am ageless and young. I am the one they call Jack Frost. Call me if you need me, for I am one to abide.” Jack ended his speech as a hole opened right in front of him. Jack, getting the memo, tossed his new token into the hole and saw it divide into many copies, finding themselves worthy Displaced. But before the hole could close Jack reached out and caught one to give back to Anson.

“Well said,” Anson told him. He reached into his side pockets to pull out the Dark El Shard that he had and gave it to Jack. “For you. If you need me by your side. I believe you know how it works?”

“I think I do,” Jack replied, taking the Dark El Shard, while handing Anson his own, now renewed token.

“Alrighty then. Thanks for everything Jack.” The Earth pony thanked him before he began to trot back into the forest. He did so for him to be out of sight when Discord turned him back to normal and for when he sent them both back. Despite his time with Jack feeling a bit short, Anson enjoyed being with his new frosty friend. With a snap, the two of them disappeared in a bright flash of light.





Jack was quite saddened by the departure of Anson Nocte. Their meeting might have been short, but Jack had felt a connection to Anson, like reuniting with an old friend. "See ya." He said, looking in the direction Anson had gone. Before turning around back towards the CMC.

"Okay, who likes snowball fights?"
> 7) Did you ever stop to consider "if?" (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 7
Did you ever stop to consider "if?" (Part 1)








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Sweet Apple Acres, CMC Clubhouse. Year: 1001





1st person POV (Jack Frost)





As the CMC decided to retreat home for the evening, I decided I would retreat as well. After all, I had duties to perform.

After promising I would come back and play with them again soon, I flew towards the Everfree. As much of a spirit as I was, I still retained many of my mortal habits and characteristics. So having a home was something I would have, naturally. I had made a home for myself in the ruins of what had once been the castle of the royal sisters.

Celestia and Luna. They were so cute as fillies. The day of their birth was something. All those ponies debating what such a thing could mean. I even had to stop a few assassinations; I mean what is wrong with a pony that's just a bit different?

Always, ponies and their paranoia against anything different. The only reason why that poor faceless pony never shows himself. At least he's able to do his tailoring in the Everfree undisturbed, bless him. I should visit him again someday. He had some interesting suits on display, even if they were made for ponies.

Speaking about Ponies. I had been around them for so long that they had become the usual for me. But recently meeting another human had made me feel even lonelier than I had before. Sure, I had befriended the CMC. But I was still longing for human interaction. Something Anson was lucky enough to still have, by the sound of things. He had his brother with him after all.

But I had been unlucky in the matter. I was the lone spirit of the only human entity in all of Equus. Or at least in this reality. As I ponder on my loneliness I come back to my memories of creating the Frost Ponies. I smiled; my creations. Never had I expected them to become such a great addition to Equestria. I had meant for them to be the ones to bring together the three tribes and help them against the windigoes. Yet, after the windigoes disappearance they stayed with the tribes in the new land of Equestria. They became involved with the regular ponies and influenced both culture and development in society. I still don't know if I'm to blame for some of their inventions, seeing as I did create their minds with mine as a base.

But I stopped worrying about the natural development of the pony's society as I realized that my Frost Ponies were a part of it and therefore were also a part of the natural development of things. Had it not been for the Frost Ponies I doubt there would have anything resembling the current computers. Sure, they weren't anything like the computers back on earth, but at least they didn't take up as much space as an entire room or use vacuum tubes like the earliest versions. I'm sure that given a few years and they would be in the equivalent of the 21st era. I had been really surprised to see arcade games four years back. I also had a lot of fun playing them while no pony was around. Still have the high score on Parasprite Hunt.

Returning to reality I pondered on what to do. There were still a few hours until the sunset. I would have to find something to do until then.

I decide to pay some attention to my warding flakes. They are one of my better inventions, by reflecting and manipulating light with my magic I'm able to create a network of information and communication between my automated snowflakes. They're almost like minions, just not alive. More like smart computer programs, meant to alert me and each other, in case they noticed something that could be seen as troublesome. I wouldn't like to call them spies, but I have to admit that they are. I watch the inhabitants of Equus to make sure that situations take the best course of action; revealing planned crimes to stop them before they even happen, saving ponies from accidents, and seeing to the fact that negotiations between countries play out with the best outcome. I even managed to avoid a few wars that could have played out between the ponies and the griffons back when the three tribes and Frost Ponies first founded Equestria. To think an argument about a feather almost started a war.

Using my flakes I looked over various events. It was almost like watching the news, only that it was always on the channel I wanted it to be and I could always control the 'camera' if I so desired. During my scanning of the network, I only stumbled over a few worrying cases; a few noble ponies in Canterlot badmouthing Princess Luna, a Minotaur clan being attacked by a few hydras. Nothing that required too much of my involvement. Of course, I did help out with the hydra, even if my help wasn't all that much required.

After seeing that the world was relatively calm I looked up to the sky, there was still plenty of time until the moon would rise. Seeing as it was summer. The fact that the ponies used an almost identical calendar to the one used on Earth was no coincidence. I had spent quite some time on Equus and had once decided to mess around and introduce ponies to the idea of long days during summer, while having longer nights during winter. Together with introducing a modified calendar with 12 months and 31 days in each month and 372 days a year. It was an easy system that was put in use sometime after the unification of the three tribes. I was quite proud of accomplishing such a feat. The system had then stuck after the change had shown to be far more effective and advantageous to not only the Ponies but also the lands themselves.

Of course, this also meant my age wasn't as accurate, I did originally come from Earth where a year contained less than 372 days, meaning my fifteen thousand nine hundred ninety-seven years on Equus were quite some time longer. I had most likely been here for more than sixteen thousand and ten years in Earth years. But in the end, both I and the Ponies followed the current system in place, which meant I had only been here for fifteen thousand nine hundred ninety-seven years.

As the moon wouldn't be up for a while, I decided I would go back to my hobby. Now, my hobby was neither the most exciting nor the easiest of occupations. Also, I had never gotten permission from the mare in the moon. I had always been too worried about her forbidding me from continuing my project. And after all this time I was quite close to completing it, so I could not afford to lose this chance.

With the mare in the moon still on her way, I flew towards cold north, the place where the Crystal Empire had once been. An Empire I had failed to save from Sombra's clutches. I could have saved it, but for some reason I had been stopped by the Mare in the moon. She had other plans or had hoped my involvement wasn't necessary. Unfortunately that was not the case and Sombra cursed the whole Empire, it disappeared together with him. Now the north was nothing but a barren wasteland full of only snow and ice... Or at least that's what the ponies thought.

In the cold north lay a tower created out of the purest ice. It was The Pillar, or at least that's what I called it. No pony had found it yet, and as all ponies do when they find something, they name it. Therefore, knowing that once the tower had been found by ponies that they would name it I didn't bother. As much as the Pillar was just that, a simple pillar made of pure ice. It also held two other purposes. The first one was to be the place where the moon crystal was held. An ancient artifact that allowed the mare in the moon to communicate thought pictures once the moonlight hit the crystal. The other was that the ground beneath this very tower contained my hobby.

I reached the tower fairly quickly thanks to the aid of the wind. I didn't possess the ability of flight, only the ability to ride the winds. The winds themselves weren't under my command either, they were just very willing to help me out, so I treated them like a friend. I descended to the bottom of the pillar and let myself sink into the ground until I found myself in an air pocket. It was an empty cave with nothing but a smooth ice floor, a pedestal containing a bipedal creature; frozen and fully encased in ice. It was a human body, my body. Or rather; my Avatar.

I looked at the nearly completed organic form I longed to take for myself. I had carefully cultivated and developed the DNA of my Avatar and made it respond to my magical energy so that I could integrate with it completely once I wanted to. But right now I still had a lot to work on before it would be ready. For starters, I still hadn't completed the circuitry of the nerves in the brain and I wanted to get it just right. Who knows what would happen if I didn't? So, without further ado, I got to continue with wiring the inner workings of the brain and other inner organs.





Later that evening I left my workplace and flew up to the top of the tower. The timing couldn't have been any better; the moon was rising, and together with it the Mare in Moon was rising slowly, but the slow ascension made the sight so much more beautiful. I had looked forward to the end of the day for quite some time now, as only when the moon was up could I speak with the Mare in the Moon.

But as I felt the moonlight upon me I felt something I never would have thought I would have felt coming from the mare in the moon, fright. The mare in the moon was afraid.

"Mare in the Moon, may I ask what frightens you so?" I asked.

"Young Frost, the reason I am afraid of is that I have felt an old enemy of Equestria about to break free from his prison."

I felt my blood get colder. Who could this enemy to Equestria be? I had a few guesses, and neither of them were good news for the ponies of Equestria.

"W-who is this villain?" I found myself asking, even if I dreaded the answer that in this situation seemed most likely.

"Unfortunately it seems that Discord has been binding his time. I only recently felt his power, he almost has enough to escape on his own now. It is only a matter of days until he escapes." The Mare in the Moon answered my question.

"I see, I'll help the ponies fight him, I should be able to-" I managed to say before the mare interrupted me.

"I'm afraid not Guardian. This is a time for you to stand down. I will neither allow you to merely observe. Discord knows about you, and he will not hesitate to include you in his plans. Therefore I want you to hide during his release, until he has been dealt with."

"But,-" I tried to protest, only to once again be cut off.

"No, the ponies are strong. They will be able to handle Discord themselves. Besides, you have a little side project I'm more than sure you'd like to continue as soon as possible, am I wrong?" The mare asked him, a hint of amusement in her 'voice'.

"How did you...?" I asked, quite sure I had been careful enough to conceal my project. But I was just as surprised to hear that the mare didn't disapprove of my actions, as well as trying to conceal it from her.

"Dear Jack, do not forget our powers, we might only be able to see what the moon's light touches, but we can also feel ones intentions. Also, I believe that it would be good for you to feel a bit more... alive. As you'd say."

I was speechless. I had worried over nothing for such a long time, and now I found out it had been for nothing. Had it not been for the grave atmosphere of what was bound to happen within the next few days, I would have celebrated right there and then. But instead, I gathered myself and spoke once again.

"I thank you. I will do as you say mare in the moon, I'll stay hidden after Discord's breakout. But may I at least warn the Princesses of the possibility of his escape?" I asked. Hoping she'd agree.

"That would not be required, dear Guardian, for we believe the Princesses are already aware."

Well, that's good. I thought to myself. Maybe this would blow over rather quickly then? Just blasting him with the elements as soon as he's free? That would most likely work. I wouldn't have to stay hidden for long.

Let's hope this goes as well as mare in the moon says it will. I thought to myself before retreating to my retreat under the pillar. I also withdrew my scouting flakes, to make sure Discord didn't get a hold of them and tracked me down. I also realized that my occasional talks to Discord's statue might have been a bad idea...

I hope things don't take a turn for the worse...
> 8) Did you ever stop to consider "if?" (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 8
Did you ever stop to consider "if?" (Part 2)







Now. Before this chapter begins for real, I have something to say as the author.
Pointed out to me by the good fellow "kotor511" This chapter has a sudden twist some readers would rather not experience so suddenly. Some may experience this one scene as "dark" or "gory". Something that can come as rather unexpected as the story so far has been rather calm and cheery. Because of this I am warning that people who are extremely uncomfortable should try and skip that part.

I will add a small warning before said part in the form of two red stars.

Like this:

*          *


And will mark the end of said scene with two green stars.

Like this:

*          *


Thank you.







World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Frozen North, Jack's hideout. Year: 1001





3rd person POV





Jack was worried. He had felt the chaos magic as soon as Discord had freed himself. Unable to spy on what was going on in Equestria, Jack had to sit and wait it out. He felt guilty being unable to help the ponies. However, Jack's thoughts wandered back to his talk with the Mare in the Moon and decided that he would listen to her and ignore Discord, for now at least.

Even during such a time Jack found enough peace to calm down and eventually return to working on his Avatar. He was truly trying to make it as realistic as possible, going as far as to re-engineering his old DNA that gave him his appearance.

Working on the Avatar was both time and energy consuming. Jack eventually found himself so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice a large concentration off chaos magic coming his way. Therefore, he was quite surprised to hear a loud and clear *POP* behind him in the otherwise dead silent chamber.

As he turned around he felt the magic, and as he saw what had made the noise he froze. Behind him stood the one and only "Discord."

"Hello Jack."





Discord was having the time of his life. The element bearers were discorded, he really liked that term, discorded and the Princesses were unable to leave the castle, courtesy of Discord himself. But nowhere Discord looked could he find the one called Jack Frost. He had been able to follow the residual magic of his other self, but he only ended up somewhere near a town called Ponyville where the trail suddenly ended. He assumed they had left this world. Something he should look into.

But this Jack Frost character was someone he couldn't ignore. He would have to find him. Discord looked around at all the chaos he was causing, yet the one called Jack Frost was nowhere to be found. The element bearers hadn't known of him and neither had the Princesses. He must be hiding. Discord concluded, and found himself flattered that he was seen as a threat by a being that had been alive for almost sixteen thousand years.

But to hide from Discord would have required planning ahead, something that required knowledge about the fact that Discord would have freed himself. Yet this Jack Frost, the one to have claimed having responsibilities. Why not warn the Princesses? Discord really couldn't understand that.

But back to the problem at hand: to find that little runt.





Discord looked around in wonder. Just a second ago he had no way to find Jack Frost, now it was suddenly crystal clear to him as to where Jack was. The Frozen North. "Chaos magic, you are soooo random." Discord told himself with a smile, flying off towards his newly set destination.





"Hello Jack." Discord said with a grin on his face.

"What do you want Discord?" Jack asked, putting up a brave front. In reality he was afraid. He had no trouble dealing with Discord's antics when  he couldn't see or hear him. But now, now Jack was in for quite some trouble. Without the elements to defeat Discord he could do nothing.

"Oh nothing, just looking for someone to even the odds." Discord said, holding an umbrella the wrong way, sitting upon a thunder cloud that was discharging it's lightning upwards, avoiding the umbrella.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked suspicious of the supposed 'god' of chaos.

"Well, two against one isn't really fair. The element bearers are out of action and there's only me and the Princesses left. I need a companion. What do you say?" Discord reached out his lion paw towards Jack, offering him to join his forces.

"You really think I would join forces with you? Whatever possessed you to think I would help you? You have done nothing that would allow me to see you in a positive light and now you ask me to betray all of Equus? What ever happened to you Discord, what made you so hell bent on trying to make the lives of ponies so miserable?" Jack almost screamed at him.

"You wound me Jack. I just want what's would be best for the ponies. You see, harmony cannot exist without Chaos. Besides, the two Princesses have ruled far too long. Any longer and the ponies will suffer from it. Now join me Jack, help me drag the Princesses down back from their pedestals and I'll promise I'll hold back my powers." Discord said, crossing the digits of his talons behind his back while a halo floated above his head.

"I won't believe your lies. I have seen what you did before the Princesses sealed you; I know how you treat the ponies. The answer is NO. Now leave, I'm busy." Jack said, turning his back towards Discord.

"Fine! What do I care." Discord said, turning around himself as if to leave. "But I can't leave without leaving a present, now can I?" He said. Before Jack could ask him what he meant Discords tail sprung up before him from the floor and restricted his movement. Before Jack could cast any spells and free himself he felt the tip of the tail touch him on the forehead. Jack's mindscape exploded with activity, it was twisted, torn and beaten in all possible ways. Discord smirked; he had done what he came here for. Now all he had to do was leave and the discorded Jack would meet his demise at his own hands. Discord had this in the bag. That is until he tried to leave.

"Huh?" Discord said dumbfounded as he snapped his claws, only to find himself standing in the exact same place.

"So, where do you think you're going, Discord?" A voice said from behind him. However it was not the voice from the one called Jack Frost.

Discord turned around to see where the voice was coming from but only saw the unconscious body of Jack Frost. Nothing seemed out of place, until Discord saw that Jack's clothes had taken on a black color, something that shouldn't be an effect of the discording. While thinking about this he was still trying to leave and find the source of the voice. He was after all the incarnation of chaos, so a little multitasking was nothing for him. Discord floated over to the body of Jack Frost, wondering if it was possible that Jack had somehow produced the mysterious voice.

Suddenly Jack grabbed Discord's left leg. Discord immediately tried to get away, only for a chunk of ice to form and encase his whole leg. Looking back at Jack, Discord saw that Jack had lifted his head from the floor and was looking at him with a wicked smile. His eyes were red, his skin was grey and his clothes were black. The discorded form of Jack was now before Discord, and right then, when he should be celebrating having beaten an opponent far older than himself. Discord could only wonder if what he'd done had been wise.

"So, you're not running away after all." The darker voice of Jack Frost said. "I was hoping for a warm up, so please, don't die to fast," He continued with another smile that made Discord want to hide under his bed. Discord didn't even have the time to blink before he found himself suddenly embedded in the wall of the room. And it hurt, a lot. That immediately set the Draconequus into panic mode. He didn't feel pain unless he wanted too, and this, this was unbearable. The chuckling coming from right next to him didn't help.

"Poor Discord. Completely lost without his powers." Jack said in his darker voice.

"W-what did you do?" Discord asked, hopefully able to find a way to get his powers back before this got any more dangerous.

"Not much, just made sure you wouldn't be able to use it properly. And now, I'm able to do what I want with you. You realize that while I might be grateful for the fact that you loosened my mind, I can't hold back. You must also understand that I'm still a Guardian, and  you are still a threat." Jack said before he created a blade of ice in his hand.

Quickly bolting to the side, Discord narrowly dodged the blade as it got thrown his way. Unfortunately he fell over as he avoided the blade.

"Aww, you don't want to play pin the tail on the pony? Then I guess we could play catch!" Jack said, this time starting to run towards the Discord as he was getting up.

"Wait, Jack. Let's be reasonable, I you-" Discord started to try and calm Jack before he interrupted him.

"Jack Frost? Lame. From now on, call me Black Frost!" He exclaimed, completely ignoring Discord's try to settle it differently.


*          *


Discord immediately bolted from Black Frost as he was distracted with choosing his new name. He didn't get far as he suddenly felt a cold and terrible pain cut through his right leg. Screaming in pain he looked down to see a terrible sight. His right leg had been cut off with another sword of ice, and the blood was pouring out at an alarming rate. Without the leg as a support and no chaos magic to levitate himself Discord fell over and continued screaming from the terrible pain.


*          *


"How the mighty have fallen." He heard coming from on top of him. As he looked up he expected to see Black Frost standing there with a weapon ready to turn him into kebab. But as he looked up he saw that Frost was unarmed. At first he was a bit confused; didn't Frost just try and kill him, why was he delaying it now?

"You know Discord, I decided I might not kill you after all. I can have all kinds of fun with you after all." For a short moment Discord's hope about getting Frost as an ally returned, only to be crushed by what he said next. "It just won't be fun for you." Frost said as he pinched the tip of Discords left horn. Once again Discord screamed out in pain as his horn began to disintegrate into small particles.

"There we go. It's no fun when they don't scream." Frost said, with his still devious smile. Discord could not believe this, how could a creature become so cruel, so heartless, so evil from becoming the opposite of them self? It took Discord a while to figure out as his horn was being disintegrated, but he eventually came to a conclusion, and it scared him. This being before him, the one he had created, had before been as equally nice and peaceful as the one now before him was cruel and sadistic. But the one thing that really made Discords bones shiver was that being discorded could not make an individual do something they weren't capable of doing; Jack had been able to be like this if only he wished to.

Discord had at this point stopped screaming, but he still was in the most horrible of pains. All where his horn should have been he still felt it, and all of it hurt as much as if he still had his nerves, but on fire.

Meanwhile Frost was beginning to grow bored of his toy. He was about to throw out the trash before he reminded himself, trash can always be recycled and used for other purposes.

"You know Discord. I'm bored of you, I don't need you but I'm not a monster. So let's see you stay here for fifty or so years without powers, can't imagine it being to fun but oh well. I'll give you some hope." Frost said as he summoned a sphere of pure chaos magic. "Here, I'll be leaving this here, not that you'll be able to do anything with it." Frost said as he conjured up a flake to record and report what was happening to Discord.

"Bye!" Frost said in a far to cheery manner as he left through the ceiling. Leaving Discord to his own demise.

Looking at the orb of chaos Discord saw one hope in how he could stop Black Frost. He wouldn't like it, but he could. He would reunite the elements and ask them for help. Discord felt disgusted with himself for even considering such thoughts, yet he knew it was the only way if they wanted to beat Black Frost. And to motivate himself he thought of all that happen here and how much he himself wanted revenge. But one thing stuck out, this was his fault.

"Oh god, what have I done?!" Discord asked himself as he began to slowly crawl towards the orb of chaos. His own, and quite possibly Equestria's only salvation from the Guardian turned mad.
> 9) Did you ever stop to consider "if?" (Part 3)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 9
Did you ever stop to consider "if?" (Part 3)








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Frozen North, base of the Pillar. Year: 1001





Black Frost's POV





"That. Felt. Amazing." I thought to myself as I came out over the ground. I had just beat the pulp out of Discord and left him on the brink of death, leaving him a slim chance of survival. The chaos left behind would barely be enough to heal him. It was the feeling of freedom. For far too long had I restricted myself to be careful and use my powers for the good of others. Yet as I had helped I had also been restricted from getting involved in major events such as the fight with King Sombra. Well, no more. I'm not gonna follow the Mare in the Moon anymore. If I'm doing anything, I'm doing it my way! I thought to myself as I ascended alongside the Pillar. Only as I reached the top did I realize that it had been replaced by a giant lollipop.

"Discord had his fun out here, didn't he?" I said to myself. I was somewhat glad that the tower was no longer operational, as I had planned to destroy it myself. Now that it was no longer necessary I could save my powers for what mattered. Taking over this place. I began by flying in the direction with the most chaos energy. It would seem like I would end up in Ponyville. "What a coincidence." I thought I had plans on visiting the crusaders anyways, they could try out for their ice cube cutie marks. He hoped that would be it, they wouldn't be able to try anything else after that.

But I was getting ahead of myself, I still had to find and eliminate the Element bearers as they were the ones most likely to foil my plans. Now that I wasn't restrained by my morals I could do anything, like taking over Equestria and making sure to then wage war on every other country so that I could unite them and have one perfect world. It sounded like the perfect plan. I could even extend it to other Equestrias in other realities. "How nice of me, I am the best Guardian," I thought while I had decided it would be best to start winter early. Everyone loves the first snow after all.





3rd person POV





Ponyville was slowly being covered in snow, as was the rest of Equestria. It seemed that random changes had stopped occurring, as if Discord had suddenly disappeared. The Element bearers were back to normal thanks to Twilight reminding them of who they were, and the Elements of Harmony. But no matter where they looked they couldn't find Discord anywhere. It was worrying, how could they stop him and restore everything to normal if he wasn't there? The cold weather didn't help.

After being unable to find neither hide nor hair of Discord, they were finally able to contact Princess Celestia who informed them that she could no longer sense the troublemaker. They all turned to damage control and started doing all they could to deal with the chaos affecting the town of Ponyville. Flying buildings were brought down, the roads were turned back to dirt ones by covering the soap with new dirt and Sun and Moon were once again under control of the Princesses. The only thing they couldn't do anything about was the remnants of chaos energy in the air and the cold weather affecting all of Equestria.

Even without clouds, the snow continued to fall, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. While nopony knew for certain what had caused the snow, many speculated that it was Discord's doing. But those who examined the snow noticed it had no connection to the chaos magic of the Draconequus. Some concluded that the windigoes were back, but that theory was quickly shot down as no snowstorms were appearing, only a calm, steady flow of soft snow.

The whole scenery of Equestria gave off a peaceful yet uneasy feeling, it was like the calm before the storm. The sudden change of seasons hit many parts of Equestria hard. Farmer ponies could potentially lose the crops that survived Discord, ponies caught outside far away from home had no clothing to keep them warm and the animals of the land were all confused and startled with the sudden development.

Only three little fillies seemed to know how this could have happened.

"So girls, why do you think Jack did this?" Scootaloo asked the other two crusaders.

"I don't know. Maybe somepony made him angry? O-or what if he was evil?!" Sweetie Belle suggested with a bit of fright in her voice.

"No, I don't think so; he's far too nice to be evil. Besides, he's our friend. We could always ask him, I'm sure he didn't mean to create so much trouble..." Applebloom defended the CMC's newest friend.

"I guess you're right. I'm just a bit upset over the thing with Discord..." Sweetie Belle explained herself.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird how all this stuff suddenly started happening after we met that pony and he told us about Jack. Just wish Jack was here. He'd know what to do about Discord. Heck, he might even be fighting him right now!" Scootaloo said enthusiastically, thinking of how cool such a fight would be.

"If that's the case, who do you think is winning?" Applebloom asked. Curious to what the others thought.

"Well..." Scootaloo said, tapping her chin as she was thinking about Appleblooms question. "I don't know." She said as she stopped thinking. "If Discord was winning there would still be a lot of chaos around. And if Jack was winning I don't think we'd have all this snow here during the wrong season."

"Perhaps they're at an impasse?" Sweetie Belle suggested.

At this, all of them stopped. "Girls... you think what I'm thinking?" Applebloom asked the other two and looked at them, who in turn looked at each other. Then both of them with a smirk on their face looked back at her and nodded. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, EQUESTRIAN HEROES! YAY!" they screamed.

"So, where do you think we should go to try and find them?" Scootaloo was first to ask. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom shrugged. Scootaloo sighed, "Never mind, they could be anywhere. Besides, nopony else has found Discord yet." Scootaloo said sulking and kicked a small rock.

"Wait! I think I know how to find them and find out what happened!" Sweetie Belle said. "You do?" asked the other crusaders in unison. Sweetie Belle nodded. "Remember what Jack told us if we ever needed help and couldn't get a hold of him?" She asked them.

"He said we should speak to the Mare in the Moon? But how do we do that?" Scootaloo asked.

"We do the thing he showed us, duh." Sweetie Belle replied.

"Oh, right. Forgot he showed us how to do it." Scootaloo answered a bit embarrassed.

"Well then. What are we waiting for? Let's go and save Equestria!" Applebloom exclaimed, getting cheers from the other crusaders as they started their race towards their clubhouse.





Once at the clubhouse the CMC began on the ritual that Jack had taught them. The ritual called "Moon's Words". It would allow one without connection to the Mare in the Moon to understand her, unfortunately not in words, but pictures.

The whole process of setting up the ice pedestal and moon crystal he had given them didn't take long, they only had to wait for the moon to rise so that they could speak with her. Or that was their plan.

"This is going to take forever!" Scootaloo whined. "The moon isn't going to rise for another two hours!"

"I know what you mean, but what other choice do we have?" Applebloom asked Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle pondered for a moment. "We could play a game to pass the time." She suggested to the others.

The other crusaders shrugged and then sat down to decide what game they would play, in the end they settled for the game "I spy". Something that was far more entertaining when the world around you is a blend of chaos and its usual scenery.





The crusaders were holding their breaths. The moon had just risen and the moment they had waited for was now there. They were going to speak to the Mare in the Moon.

"So... what now?" Sweetie Belle asked as she stood in front of the crystal together with the other crusaders. "Do we just touch it and ask our question?" She asked while looking at her two friends.

As both of them shrugged Sweetie Belle decided that it was now or never. She went up and touched the crystal. "What happened to our friend Jack Frost, and where is he now?" She asked, thinking about the cheerful legend they had met thanks to the pony called Anson.

The crystal responded by shining weakly and suddenly started creating a light mist the same color as the crystal itself. The mist formed itself into two shapes, one of Discord and another one of Jack, Discord's being a darker shade of blue. It showed them exactly what happened; the fact that Jack had been corrupted had been illustrated with the help of the darker mist making Discord, filling Jack. Discord's regret had then been shown by his mist becoming a lighter blue after Jack left Discord to suffer and possibly die. There was no sound, so the crusaders were unable to hear what had been said between the two, yet they understood what had happened, Jack had been corrupted by Discord. Yet he had turned on Discord and left him powerless somehow. The roles had now been switched.

The crusaders could not believe their eyes. Their friend was now the evil one and the one that was meant to be stopped was now the only hope to help Equestria. They all thought the same, they would have to show Twilight and the others, this they had to see.





Twilight was confused at what she had found out. Contrary to the speculations of the snow being a result of chaos magic, it showed signs of absorbing and neutralizing it, even if only in small quantities. She was planning to pull an all-nighter again so that she could make sure the snow wasn't harmful and what other effects it had. Based on how long it took her to find out what she now knew about the mysterious snow, it would take a while.

However, as soon as she moved on to the test where she would try it's liquidated properties the door to the library burst open. Twilight could hear a few books dropping from their shelves and cringed a little. She regretted not having locked the front door before going down into the basement. The one entering didn't know anything about privacy and what time of day one was supposed to come over for a visit.

With her concentration broken and the now developing ruckus upstairs Twilight decided to go and see what the commotion was about, Spike couldn't as he was already sleeping upstairs, he was only a baby dragon after all.

As she came up the stairs she could barely comprehend what she was seeing. In the room stood the crusaders and a big light blue crystal mounted on a small pedestal made of pure translucent ice. Out of the crystal, there was a constant flow of light blue mist. The mist itself formed what she recognized as Discord and another bipedal being, slightly reminding her of a Minotaur, one of the biggest differences being that it didn't have a tail. Twilight would have wondered how bipedal locomotion was possible without a tail. However, right now she was busy with other things.

Twilight stood there gaping. What she saw gave birth to an incredible amount of questions, questions she just had to get answered. She stood in the opening leading to the basement for a full minute before she came back to her senses when the mist receded into the crystal.

Before Twilight could recover enough to start questioning the crusaders she was spotted by Sweetie Belle, immediately followed the onslaught of storytelling from the crusaders to explain what they knew and what they found out from the crystal.

The whole situation would have been something that would have made Twilight turn into her most analytic mode. However, the brief explanation from the crusaders and a small demonstration showing what happened between Jack and Discord was enough to make Twilight understand how dire this situation was. She quickly formulated the one question she couldn't understand why the crusaders hadn't asked the crystal.

"What can we do to stop Jack? I don't think the Elements will work if we can't hit him!" Twilight exclaimed, while touching the crystal. As she removed her hoof the mist came pouring out from the crystal once again and formed what looked like a kitchen knife. As Twilight looked upon the knife, wondering what good a knife would do, she noticed it becoming solid and gained colors. She did a double-take and reached out for the knife, mostly so that the crusaders wouldn't get any ideas, and also to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

As her hoof touched the metal of the blade she heard a feminine voice, one that reminded her a lot of Pinkie. And she heard the message embedded within the token they had found.

"To those that have found my weapon; I ask of you to help me in my quest. Call me, let me come to your world and find my sister, let me warn her and my previous tormentor of what my world brought me. Let me help them and prevent disaster. To those of you who let me do such, I offer you my help. Be it a threat from an unimaginable evil, or a simple need to talk, I would love to help. Call me, Blood Cleaver, and I will appear."

The name made Twilight shiver, she didn't know why. But as it stood she weighted her options; if she called this so-called Blood Cleaver she didn't know what would happen. But if she left things as they were things would go south rather quickly. She decided to take this chance.

"Blood Cleaver, I ask for your help. I do not know about your sister, but promise we will do whatever we can to help if you help us with our problems." Twilight said, holding the knife with her hoof, feeling rather silly for talking to a knife. Yet she saw it as their only hope as the Elements would most likely be useless. The princesses were unreachable as Spike was asleep and needed his sleep from such a stressful day. The desperation had led her to ask help from an unknown being.

A sudden *POP* announced the appearance of the mysterious being that Twilight had summoned. Unfortunately it appeared in midair and fell to the floor with a loud thud. The force of the landing was enough to knock a few more books from the shelves. The being in question was much like the bipedal one Twilight had seen from the crystal, only this one had a somewhat different body and clothes. It had a long, pink and black mane. The clothes were almost nothing but black. Before Twilight could observe the creature any more it stood up on its legs and then looked at her with its light blue eyes and spoke:

"Sup, you're the ones who summoned me?" It asked, before looking around the library, and frowned a little. "There's quite a mess in here. I hope this isn't the trouble you called me for." Blood Cleaver stated with less enthusiasm as before having looked around the library.

Meanwhile Twilight was trying to comprehend how this being had managed to magically appear in her home and workplace, without using magic! Unfortunately, she could not, and she blacked out.
> 10) Frost leaves, Blood follows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 10
Frost leaves, Blood follows








World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Everfree Forest, Abandoned castle. Year: 1001





Blood Cleaver's POV





I hated being stuck in Equestria after doing everything I had come over to do. Don't get me wrong, freedom is great. But when you're a human in a world full of equines it's a different story. I so missed the showers, the food and most of all, the toilets meant for humans. Out of all the realities I had jumped I had stumbled over only a surprisingly small amount of Equestrias where the inhabitants were humans instead of ponies, regular or anthropomorphic. It gets to you after a while.

I was currently stuck in an Equestria before the escape of Discord. I had not spoiled anything to the locals and this world's Displaced was encased in stone, just like Discord. I had already prevented the same disaster that befell my world from repeating in this one. I had also left a message for the Displaced in case they didn't already know what they were. So I currently had nothing to do and nowhere to go, seeing as there had been a certain spell attached to this world sun and moon that prevented intentional void tears the way I made them. "Thanks, Celestia." I thought sarcastically.

But I was of course not without hope. If any other Displaced or other creature found my token and used it to summon me I have my ticket out of here. Sadly I had already been here for eight days and could quite possibly be here for a while longer. I was about to see if maybe Discord against all the odds was about to break out earlier than expected, but that's when my old flip phone started playing a tune that sounded like bells. I had gotten mail.

As I opened my flip phone and looked at the screen I saw that it was a summon, one I hadn't felt myself. Probably from Celestia's spell, but it no longer mattered. I now had my ticket out of here, so I said my goodbyes to the different plants in the room and then jumped into the portal my token opened up for me. "Hope it's a human version of Equestria." I thought before the void completely enveloped me and sent me on my merry way.





World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Ponyville, Twilight's Library. Year: 1001





Face; meet floor. Floor; meet face. That seems to be the usual exchange whenever I get summoned to a new Equestria. This time was no exception as I came into existence in mid-air and quickly fell to the floor before I could get my energized flight going.

Funny thing, being summoned is not something that happens to me very often. Most Displaced I've met I met by going to their universe myself. I believe that before this summoning, the only ones to call me by my token would be Lance and a few others.

I quickly glanced around the place and settled my gaze on the closest power level. Probably the one who summoned me. What surprised me however was that the power level didn't belong to a Displaced, the only Displaced in this universe was quite some distance away. But the power level was familiar none the less. I was looking at Twilight.

About my story with Twilight: I hate her.  I do. But I'm not stupid and realize that Twilight is different in every universe and they couldn't possibly know what happened to me. So for the sake of not getting off to a bad start with my apparent summoner, I decided not to insult her on sight.

"Sup, you're the ones who summoned me?" I asked. I might be sure of the fact that she summoned me, but I have been wrong before and I wanted to keep explanations to a minimum if possible this time. If she was the one to summon me, I wouldn't have to explain the summoning part of tokens.

As Twilight was looking at me with her mouth having transformed into a flycatcher (not literally) I decided to look around at my surroundings. I quickly recognized them. I was in the Golden oak's library. Books littered the floor and it was quite a mess, something that wasn't really like Twilight. The CMC were here and some kind of crystal upon a pedestal of ice that seemed like it wasn't about to melt anytime soon. Speaking about Twilight; she didn't have wings and that meant this universe was about 6 years behind mine.

Getting bored of Twilight not explaining why I had been summoned and instead gawking at me, I decided to say something to get her to move on with why I was here. "There's quite a mess in here. I hope this isn't the trouble you called me for." I spoke. Letting it be heard in my voice that I was not amused.

Twilight's eyes seemed to return to the land of the living for a moment before they rolled back in her head and she fell over. I was surprised about her falling unconscious. This was the first time I got a knock out on Twilight without trying... Yay? I suppose? Deciding this wasn't favorable to anyone at this point except me having a memory for life, I turned to the CMC.

"I think she broke. You don't happen to know why she summoned me. Do you?" I asked the three little adorable filly versions of the CMC. I had to hold back myself from squealing like a little girl as I found them extremely cute.

They looked at each other and then all started explaining what had happened recently before my arrival, even using the magical crystal to show me in pictures. It took them a while.





World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Somewhere between the frozen north and Canterlot. Year: 1001





3rd POV. Following Black Frost.




Black Frost was flying through the air on his way towards Canterlot and then later on to Ponyville. He had a few things he wanted to tell the two Princesses and then teach his little frost ponies what happens when they don't acknowledge their creator.

But all plans of his were stopped right in their tracks as a book was suddenly materialized in front of him. Before gravity could do its part and drag the mystic object down, Black caught it. As soon as he did he heard a voice in his head.

“I am the Tactician Robin, wielder of the Levin blade and master of the Arcane!  I am the greatest strategist the world has ever known, able to lead those to victory despite all odds!  Should you require my knowledge, write within this book your plight and I shall know of it!  Should your cause be worthy, you will have my help!”

Black smiled as he thought of what he knew about token. Tokens were an item that allowed one to summon another Displaced to aid one. However, tokens could also work in reverse, allowing the one possessing the token to travel to other Equestrias. Now that was an idea. "Before establishing control in this world, maybe I should get some practice in another? Well, I guess I'll be visiting this Robin then," Black thought to himself as he summoned an icicle to use as a tool for writing. In nice curvy letters made out of a thin layer of frost, he wrote: "What an invitation, don't mind if I do come over. Don't worry, I'll be there in a few minutes... Prepare," signing it off with ‘Black Frost’, written in big letters.

"Now, how do I send it?" Black asked himself. He wasn't sure if the message would automatically appear in the other book, or if he had to confirm the fact that he wanted to send the message. "I mean, what would you do if you messed up and wanted to edit the message?" he thought.

"Eh, what the hell. Let's see if this works," he spoke to himself, a bad habit he had picked up from being alone all the time. Sending a bit of his frost magic into the book he felt the connection between this token and the receiving one waver for a moment.

"Oh, guess I wasn't supposed to do that, whatever. Let's give him some time before I go over there..."

"..."

"Eh, that's enough time for him to prepare," he said as he opened a portal and quickly jumped in, following the connection between the two tokens to make sure he appeared in the right universe. "Let's see if I get a welcoming committee."





World: Equus. Land: Equestria. Location: Ponyville, Twilight's Library. Year: 1001





Blood Cleaver's POV





"Alright, so let me get this straight. This world's Displaced is called Jack Frost. He was all nice and fun to be around when you met him and he made it snow and told you about his ice powers and The Mare in the Moon. He also can't be seen by those who don't believe that he exists." I asked, looking at the CMC for confirmation that I was getting everything right so far. I had also explained about the Displaced, explaining why Jack Frost and I were so alien to Equestria. They all nodded in agreement and I continued with my summary.

"But, today. A magical being called Discord escaped from his stone prison and started bringing chaos to Equestria?" I knew everything about this part. But I kept my mouth shut about that as I had learned how much of a Bad Idea it was to reveal that you practically knew the future in front of the CMC; they wouldn't stop with their questions about their cutie marks!

"And Discord then sought up Jack somehow and challenged him, corrupted him and got his plot handed to him? And after that Jack left and is now making it snow, even though it's not supposed to snow?" I finished my recap.

"Yes, that's what happened. We're not sure where he is now. And Discord is missing as well." Scootaloo explained.

"And the crystal won't tell you what happened to Discord?" I asked. The CMC shook their heads collectively.

"Well then. I guess you wanted help to track down and stop Jack Frost before he does anything he'll regret and make sure to get rid of the corruption?" I asked to confirm the details of my new mission.

"Mmmhmm." The CMC nodded in unison.

"So you'll be able to help Jack?" Sweetie Belle asked me.

"Yes, I'm currently searching for his power level so that I can track him down and try to reverse the corruption," I explained as I continued looking for a power level that was similar to all other void crossers. Something a little bit hard as the one I was looking for had spread their magical influence all over Equestria, making it hard to find him in the mess. It was like trying to find a white building in a snowstorm, while being snow blind. You wouldn't find it unless you ran into it headfirst.

I took another glance at Twilight. I had used some magic to review her thought process before passing out. She had realized that my sudden appearance wasn't a kind of magic. Something she saw as an impossibility, like the time she followed me around trying to figure out my Pinkie sense. I was a little confused at first. How had she known I didn't use any magic? She hadn't seen me appear, and yet she somehow knew.

Diving a bit deeper into her mind gave me an actual answer. This Equestria had a fundamental difference in the mechanics of their magic. The magic itself was barely anything different, what was different was the method for using the magic. And this difference left certain trails or signatures after a spell had been used. While this was a disadvantage, the method was slightly more conservative in the use of magic and put less of a strain on the user. Yet the actual spell did use up just about as much magic, the excess magic being what created said trail.

It was an interesting thought; with this, I would most likely be able to improve some of my spells. And if I were to provide my findings to other Equestrias I- I stopped my train of thought right there. No way was I going to give Twilight access to such information in every world I visited. It would surely be something that would help the development in magical knowledge, but that would, in turn, change the already set timeline. Something I didn't want to disturb if possible. It was already messed up enough thanks to the local Displaced.

Returning my attention to the CMC I was about to ask them a few more questions but didn't get the chance to as I suddenly found the power level of a nearby Displaced. He was a lot more powerful than I had expected.

"Well, I believe I found him. I'll be-" was all I managed to get out before I felt the power level leave this reality. Seeing as this was the exact one I had been looking for as it matched the "snowstorm" I knew that there was now a corrupted Displaced on the loose.

"Damn, he left. Sorry girls. I'll have to leave immediately. Please tell Twilight that I understand my assignment from you three and will return as soon as I caught him." With that I saluted before got up from Twilight's couch and left through the front door, getting a few looks from nearby ponies that happened to be close by. I ignored them and took off for where I had sensed Jack Frost disappear.

As I did I examined what was left from the void rift he made. All void particles already having been sucked back. Thankfully the disturbance itself was still there and I could track down to where he decided to go. The trace I observed was going straight for something. Meaning Jack Frost most likely had a set course, probably with the help of a token. I groaned to myself. With a token, he could get there almost instantly, and for me who didn't have the token, it would take some time to traverse the void.

I followed the disturbance as far as I could while searching for his power level. And once I found it I latched on. Now, no matter how far he ran I would be able to find him. Grinning to myself I entered the universe Frost was now in. Hoping I wasn't too late.
> An Author, a Guardian and a Blood Mage walk into 'BAR'...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 0 [Q&A]
An Author, a Guardian and a Blood Mage walk into 'BAR'...








3rd person's POV





Somewhere, in the deep reaches of The Void, there exists a place of rest. A little building, suspended in the endless abyss. This building is easily identifiable by it's constantly flowing, wooden exterior and little sign hanging outside that simply advertises the building as "BAR".

It is in this 'BAR' that we can find a lone Pegasus stallion with a gray coat and black mane and tail, sitting by one of the old wooden tables with a small drink in his hooves. While muttering to himself, the Pegasus was admiring the flow of the wood around him. It was hypnotizing to see the lines in the wood move as if being part of an endless river.

But from time to time, the stallion would look up from the mesmerizing work of art and glance towards the entrance, as if he was expecting someone else. Looking away from the door, the stallion instead looked at the candle in the middle of the table, the closest source of light and tried to judge how long he had been sitting there, waiting.

As the stallion emptied his drink and considered to order another one, the door to the establishment swung opened to reveal two cloaked humanoid shapes in the doorway.

Frowning, the stallion got up from his seat and began walking towards the entrance to meet the two bipeds halfway.

"Where the hell have you two been? I was expecting you both half an hour ago, YESTERDAY!" The stallion shouted at them.

"I know, I know. We got pulled over." A female voice replied as she removed the hood of her cloak to reveal the face of Blood Cleaver.

"And? So did I. And I came here 20 minutes earlier because of that!" The stallion replied.

"We were pulled over by 'Sim'." Blood Cleaver defended.

"Ah, I guess I can understand then. He didn't fine you or anything?"

"No, it was a simple misunderstanding. But the paperwork I had to fill in took a lot of time, and you know that 'Sim' doesn't give it back afterward."

"Yes, yes. I am fully aware. Now, why don't we sit down."

Blood Cleaver nodded and looked at the still hooded figure next to her.

"Jack, you can take the hood off now." She told him.

Quickly pulling down the hood, Jack revealed his own, young-looking face.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit overwhelmed meeting him." Jack explained, nodding towards the stallion who had already taken his place behind the table.

Blood Cleaver rolled her eyes and sat down at the table as well, the table adjusted itself to be comfortable for both her and the stallion sitting not too far away from her.

As Jack sat down as well, a waiter came forth and asked if any of them would like to order anything. All of them shook their heads and the waiter went back to his regular duties.

"So... how does this work now again?" Jack began.

"Simple," the stallion replied as he took out a folder from under his right-wing and placed it on the table. "Within, I have every single one of the questions we have received and we will spend our time here at 'BAR' answering and talking about these questions." The stallion explained.

"And once it's all over, we go back to everything as if nothing happened, I get my memories erased, you continue doing what you do and Blood Cleaver remembers everything but keeps it a secret? What is even the point of me being here?"

"So that you and Black can answer the questions." The stallion replied, only to frown at something.

"Ugh, wait a second. It seems that my name got lost somewhere. It's Perfect Control! There. Now, let's continue." Perfect Control said, now smiling over the fact that he would no longer be referred to as 'stallion'.

"Alright, so what's the first question?" Blood Cleaver asked PC.

Instead of replying, PC simply opened up the folder and revealed the documents containing the questions, and began reading the first one out loud.

"Alright, the first question, asked by BerginatorGaming is: 

What inspires all of you within your lives?

"

"Any of you wish to begin?" Asked PC.

"Well, I guess I could." Blood Cleaver volunteered.

"I guess the simplest way to put it would be to say that my biggest inspiration in life would be my sister. She is everything I'm not, and more. Without her I wouldn't be sitting here today and... Well, I might have been here anyway, but only you would know for certain PC." Blood Cleaver said, looking over at PC.

"I'm not answering that, it's in the past and not one of the questions, I guess this means it's my turn now?"

"Alright. My biggest inspiration... That's a tough one. But I would have to say that it's my creativity. I love to fantasize about many things, make stories and read others as well. What inspires me are the possibilities." PC explained himself.

"Really?" Blood Cleaver asked.

"Huh, guess you learn something new every day."

PC glared at her before shifting his focus to Jack.

"And you Jack?"

"Well, it's a hard question. But I think the answer would be simple. My inspiration is the children. I want to see them laugh, smile, grow up safe and for them to enjoy their life. As a Guardian, it is not only my duty but also what I want to do."

PC nodded his head.

"Alright, I think it's time for the next question." He said as he took out another paper from the file and read the question.

"Oh, it's a question directed towards you Jack: 

Are you expecting any old friends to be visiting you sometime soon?

 A question by FrostTheWolf"

"Friends? That depends. If you mean friends from back on earth, or friends I made in Equestria. I guess I'll have to answer both. Beginning with the ones from Earth, I'll have to inform you that I didn't have many friends from Earth. Most of the ones I considered friends were my classmates, and that would be it. I was rather busy during my free time. I did have friends when I was just a small kid, but we eventually moved away from each other, went to different schools, or in their case, got new, more entertaining friends.

... wait, wherein the timeline are we? I don't want to spoil anything."

"We've reached just before the point of you entering Robin's universe and left of where Blood Cleaver left yours to pursue you."

"Ah, gotcha. Equestrian friends...

I can't say I've had too many at that point. One or two ponies who could see me, there's also Anson the Displaced. But not much else. I don't know about Anson, but none of the ponies would be returning. There is however one individual the does reappear before me, but that has yet to happen in the story. So I'm not allowed to speak about that."

"Indeed. Now, let's get to the next question.

A question by RealityDowngrade and AvidSeason for Black: 

While I do not wish to misalign you, from what I've been able to observe of you and your counter-part it would seem reasonable to assume that you have little more in mind than creating a frozen land in vague attempt at revenge as well as a way to force belief upon those around you evidence of your existence. So, if I might be so bold, might I ask of you your end goal?





Jack, I get that you're trying to turn all of Equestria into a frozen wasteland. I also assume that you would turn to the rest of Eques to also freeze, but what then? What are you going to do after everyone's frozen dead and gone? (I assume that you still have some of Jack's memories Black, so you must understand what that would be.)



Jack, if you would be so kind."

"Yeah, I know. Just a sec."

Jack Frost rose from his seat and began to take deep breaths. Slowly his color scheme began to change as he took on the appearance of Black Frost.

Black Frost suddenly opened his eyes, took in his surroundings and shouted.

"I'm back bitches!"

"Yes, but you better behave, we can shut you up anytime we want." Blood Cleaver said.

Black froze upon hearing her and slowly turned to face her. His already pale skin paled even further.

"B-blood Cleaver?"

"The one and only." She simply replied.

"You'll behave, right?"

Black simply nodded before sitting down.

"Alright Black, the reason you're here is so that you can answer a question addressed to you. The question is: 

While I do not wish to misalign you, from what I've been able to observe of you and your counter-part it would seem reasonable to assume that you have little more in mind than creating a frozen land in vague attempt at revenge as well as a way to force belief upon those around you evidence of your existence. So, if I might be so bold, might I ask of you your end goal?

 Then there is a fairly similar question that goes like this: 

Jack, I get that you're trying to turn all of Equestria into a frozen wasteland. I also assume that you would turn to the rest of Eques to also freeze, but what then? What are you going to do after everyone's frozen dead and gone? (I assume that you still have some of Jack's memories Black, so you must understand what that would be.)

"

"Too long, didn't listen."

Blood Cleaver smacked him upon the head.

"OW! Fine, dammit. My end goal is simple, to have fun. Jack is too focused on everyone else, he wants them to have a nice and fun life. Meanwhile, he doesn't care for himself. It's just work, work and more WORK! I, on the other hand, don't give a shit about anyone else, besides myself. I want to have fun, no matter the cost. I'll take any enjoyment I can get, be it blowing someone's heads out or play pokemon. So, I don't know if you could say I have an end goal. I don't think too far ahead, I live in the moment. Had I frozen Equestria an killed of my source of fun, then so be it. I'd just jump over to another one and begin again."

"Thank you. Hopefully that was a satisfactory answer, and if you find this boring, there's an arcade over there." PC said as he pointed towards an arcade machine in the corner.

"SWEET! Just call if you need anything." Black said as he got up and raced over to the machine, conjuring up a few coins from ice to pay with.

Shaking his head, PC picked up and read the next question.

Only to slam his head into the table.

"Why?" he complained.

"What?" Asked Blood Cleaver.

"They're asking questions of a lot of different character, and they're all different. We'll be here answering them for ages! And some of them don't even make sense!"

"Well, we could give straight, short answers to some and then ignore the others." Blood Cleaver suggested.

"No, I said I would answer all questions asked. Oh well, better get this over with."

"The questions asked by Solarkness are:


To Blood Cleaver: What is your relationship with Solveik 5.0?
Now a serious question, the first one was written out of fun :P
I know she avoids his universe except on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
To Blood Cleaver: Do you know what (your) Jack Frost's favorite lunch, favorite sports and favorite type of floor is, and if yes, what are those?
To Jack Frost: Do you hate it when others (*cough* Blood Cleaver *cough*) know much more or is she good enough at hiding it you never noticed? Or do you just not care?
To Scootaloo: Would you like it if someone would call you cockroach because there have been some... 'apocalypse-simulations' (*cough* fanfictions *cough*) where you have survived most of the time, or would you react the same way you would as when someone would call you Rainbow Dash?
To Apple Bloom: How many different apple-themed names do you know, and how many of those are the names of your family members (only those still alive)?
To Sweetie Belle: I like your mane. Do you often chew on Luna's mane when she visits your dreams?
To Twilight Sparkle: What are your thoughts about the Mayor? Please respond by making a table/chart where you compare her to other ponies and point out similarities. Only similarities.
To Rarity: What is the use of socks?
To Rainbow Dash: What do you know about the Rainbow Factory? You are allowed to tell us classified information.
To Pinkie Pie: Why don't you ask some questions too?
To Applejack: What are your thoughts about ancient ice-spirits attacking other universes after leaving yours to conquer your own? Completely theoretically, of course.
To Fluttershy: Do you think it would be fun not to encase Angel in ice?
To Celestia: How many laws you could use to make it easier to rule the country did you oversee before you re-read all of them to answer this question honestly? ...you did re-read all laws, right? Else your answer doesn't count because you are lazy.
To Luna: I like your mane. How often does Sweetie Belle chew on your mane when you visit her dreams? And can I have my Tantabus-pet?
To Randombackgroundpony Nr. 132: Do you like Lyra?

"

"Wow, that was a lot for one person to ask."

PC simply nodded before re-reading the first question.

"Alright, quick answering. 

Blood Cleaver: What is your relationship with Solveik 5.0?

"

"That's a spoiler, but I'm answering anyway. NONE!"

"Alright, next one. 

Blood Cleaver: Do you know what (your) Jack Frost's favorite lunch, favorite sports and favorite type of floor is, and if yes, what are those?



"I've never actually seen him eat anything, yet. I don't think he's into any sports, but if I were to guess I'd say skating. And a floor is a floor right?"

"Next one. 

Jack Frost: Do you hate it when others (*cough* Blood Cleaver *cough*) know much more or is she good enough at hiding it you never noticed? Or do you just not care?

.

He's still Black right now, and I can answer this for him. About Blood Cleaver's behavior, it doesn't bother him. He's dealt with this kind of thing before, he is over 10K years old after all. On to the next one.



Scootaloo: Would you like it if someone would call you cockroach because there have been some... 'apocalypse-simulations' (*cough* fanfictions *cough*) where you have survived most of the time, or would you react the same way you would as when someone would call you Rainbow Dash?



... What? I haven't read anything about the cockroach thing... I think the answer is no. Cockroach tends to be a negative term, and since she wouldn't get what you're referring to she wouldn't like to be called that... Next.



Apple Bloom: How many different apple-themed names do you know, and how many of those are the names of your family members (only those still alive)?



Too many to count.

Next.



Sweetie Belle: I like your mane. Do you often chew on Luna's mane when she visits your dreams?



These questions don't have anything to do with my story! I mean, I did ask for more questions, but this is ridiculous!

Whatever, Luna doesn't visit Sweetie's dreams much, nightmares aren't as common as they are on Earth, hence the fact that Luna can keep up with all nightmares on the entire planet, and the fact that not the entire population of Equestria was traumatized during her absence. And no, chewing on Luna's mane would be incredibly rude. And Rarity would not like that, she has taught Sweetie far better than that.

...Next..."

The next question, however, doesn't come as PC simply sits and stares at the paper in his file.

"Fuck this, rapid answers, the readers can look up the questions, I'm not reading any more of them. Skip to after this: -~0O0~- symbol for the next question. The answers are:

Twilight Sparkle: Twilight would write a thesis where she interviews all of Ponyville to compare all the ponies. Anything from talents to how much they contributed to society. Some ponies would get upset by what she wrote about them and chases her around town, she would eventually scrap the project and your question would never be answered.

Rarity: Socks are used to keep the hooves warm when winter comes around and the floor becomes colder. Nowadays, however, most homes have floor heating, so socks are rarely used and are so last century.

Rainbow Dash: The workings of making a rainbow is public knowledge to all Pegasi, Rainbow, however, can only explain it as trapping color in the water droplets with weather magic, then applying a charge that makes sure the droplets don't mix. She's not a weather pony, so she doesn't know all the technicalities. She's far too busy with her job. Also, why would anyone need a factory for making rainbows?

Pinkie Pie: Because she doesn't know of this Q&A.

Applejack: The what now?

Fluttershy: Yes, she rather not see him encased in ice. What a horrible thought. But how can anyone relate to that as fun? She'd only be thankful such a thing didn't happen.

Celestia: This one... The laws of Equestria were a real headache at the time when they were first made, but they are fairly organized and fairly modern for having been written during the unification of the three tribes. This has to do with Jack's subtle involvement.

Luna: No, you can not get a Tantabus-pet since you are in a different reality.

Unknown: I don't know who the question is addressed to..."


-~0O0~-


PC quickly went through all the answers and fell exhausted.

"Cleaver, can you hand me a senzu-bean?"

"Here." Blood Cleaver said as she handed him one.

Quickly swallowing the small bean, he regained his energy and continued with the next question.

"A question by ThE_CrAzY_PoNy_NeXt_DoOr: 

will a new chapter be released soon?



Besides this chapter, I have already several written, I only have to get the thumbs up from my pre-readers. And unfortunately it is taking its time, but we're making progress."

"And I do believe you, just like many others wouldn't want to read an unedited chapter."

"I'm sure they wouldn't. I've had to re-write a lot, sometimes when my pre-readers point out something that I've completely missed. An unedited chapter is something I wouldn't want to expose you all too. Next question.

A question by Danger A Dragon, and it's for Black Frost. Hey, Black, there's a question for you!" PC shouted. Black dropping his attempts to forcefully insert the coins he made as the machine kept shooting them back out. As he came over, PC read the question out loud for him.

"

Black Frost: How were you able to seal Discord's powers? I mean, in the movie Jack was never able to do things like that. The others were losing their power due to not being believed in. Also, beware of the wrath of Robin. You might be a "Spirit" and Guardian but he could probably still kill you.

"

Black scratched the back of his head as he thought about the question.

"I don't know all the correct terms and such, but Discord's power comes from within, but. He replenishes it from the regular magical atmosphere from regular chaos. I cut him off from replenishing his magic by coating the surrounding area in my own, I then drained him of his magic by creating a magical vacuum, forcing his magic out of him. The magic I left with him, was rather hard to condense into a solid form. Seeing as it was chaos magic, I had to force it into shape by using my own.  Now, I know I shouldn't have left him with as much as I did, but the past is in the past, I guess. And I don't know what movie you're talking about, but I learned to adapt my magic to others during my stay in Equestria. You do learn a lot for ten thousand years. Simply staying the same would be foolish. And Robin? He is creative, I'll admit. But when it comes to power reserves or magic reserves, then I'm far more powerful. His ability to drain my reserves, however, could be troublesome after a long time. But if I-"

"Thanks Black, but the rest is not to be spoken about until the next chapter."

"Fine."

"Next question, by Archon The Manic: 

When did Blood Cleaver and Black Frost first meet?

.

Unfortunately, I won't answer this, for the answer lies in the next chapter."

"Heh, that's something to remember." Blood Cleaver said with a smile.

"Please, don't remind me." Black said as he hung his head.

"The next question is addressed to all of us, asked by BerginatorGaming: 

(for everyone) what are your favorite universes to explore in?

"

"Explore? I'm not really into exploring universes. I make friends, help those in need and then skip on to the next one... Well, I guess Jack's world is an exception. So I guess that's your answer."

"I don't explore other universes, but I read a lot, does that count? In that case, one of my favorite books would be Eragon. Fanfiction wise... I don't know. It depends on my mood. Your turn Black."

"I honestly don't give a shit where I am, as long as there's something fun to do."

"... Could you let us hear what Jack has to say?"

"Ughh... Fine." Black said as he suddenly changed color and turned back into Jack.

"Universe wise, I'd rather stay in mine. I'm not much of an explorer, but I have explored part of my universe, so I'd say I prefer my universe."

"Alright, the next question is for both you and Black. But I think you can answer it for both of you since it concerns your powers. The question was sent in by SilentMech: 

To the two Frosts:  Are you only able to do so much before needing rest, or can you just freeze whatever until the final freeze or final heat of the universe?

"

"Ah, no. Neither I or Black can leave a spell without sustaining it, the ice left, however, would function like regular ice, unless it was created as a magical ice or something. So, no. We can't freeze something and leave it until the end of time, but if the object was inside of a vacuum, then it would take a long time for it to melt naturally. So any object out in space would be easier to freeze and preserve."

"Thank you, Jack. Now, the next question is also one for you. Asked by Kris664: 

So... You have been turned into Blackfrost, how is it feeling/felt being turned into him? And Black you are the evil Jack frost how are you with that?

"

"I'll be honest. When I was first turned into Black Frost, I didn't realize what happened. The way my mind changed was... subtle, yet Black knew exactly what had happened. Black is still, in a way me. That is the reason why he can't manifest as his being and we have to keep switching control like we do here. Black, isn't necessarily evil. He just doesn't care for anyone but himself and only thinks of entertainment. His methods of entertainment are cruel and he could go out of his way to kill with little concern as to who he hurts in the process. But when you get down to it, all he wants to do is to have fun, instead of making sure the children have fun. And I do have to confess, I have been neglecting my well being, so he does have a point. Don't judge him too hard... he is kind of me after all."

"Alright, thank you for that Jack. There is another question for me now. By Fireeaters: 

Do holiday spirits ever have to use the bathroom? Would that go against the need to believe because evidence is being left behind?



"No, Jack can, if he wishes to, both eat and drink. But he isn't an actual solid manifested being. The food and water he consumes is converted into the same plane of existence as him, resulting in it turning to a form of energy that is instead absorbed by him. Therefore, no droppings to leave behind. And if you also wish to bring up the idea of objects that Jack picks up, they get enveloped by his aura, working like a 'notice me not' spell. Meaning that one who doesn't believe, or see him, can not see him pick objects up, since they won't notice it happening, even if they were looking at the object at the time."

"Really? I had been wondering about that myself." Blood Cleaver stated.

"Yes, I think you weren't the only one, and I felt that this question felt similar enough to bring up the point."

Blood Cleaver nodded and looked at the file.

"So, is there anything left? I barely got to answer anything."

"Nope, that was the last one. Sorry, hopefully there'll be more for you next time."

"I guess that means this Q&A is over?"

PC simply nodded as he began putting all the written questions back into his folder.

"Now, it would be best for you to get back to Equestria. Cleaver, can I trust you to take care of Jack's memories?"

"Of course you can. Who do you think I am?"

"Good. I'll be seeing you later then. Good day." PC said as he donned a fedora upon his head and walked out the door.

Blood Cleaver and Jack Frost soon followed, leaving 'BAR' as empty as it had been before either one of them arrived. One by one the candles went out before the place was cast into darkness. The flowing wood now remaining stationary. A lone figure now stood in the 'BAR'.

Suddenly the 'BAR' was enveloped by a rift and disappeared into it. The figure, now floating in the nothingness of the void laid down to rest, awaiting the next time the 'BAR' would be needed.
> 11) Making an enemy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 11
Making an enemy








Location: Equestria. Somewhere in the Everfree forest, in front of Robin's house.





3rd person POV (Black Frost)





A loud noise, one much like the tearing of fabric and shattering glass was heard from just in front of a small house in the middle of the Everfree. The air itself was crackling with energy and large openings began to appear as if the air was a solid surface. Lightning bolts made of pure frost shot out from the abnormal sight. As the energies in the area came to a peak it suddenly completely shattered and revealed Black Frost standing there after having torn through the veil between realities. As he stood there he noticed he was being observed by what appeared to be another Displaced.

“Well, that certainly felt different,” Black said. After having looked around his surroundings, his eyes wandered back to the Displaced he would guess was Robin and smiled.

“And you would be Robin, correct?” he asked.

Robin examined the apparent teenager with guarded curiosity.

After a while Robin returned Black's smile with another, letting his hands brush against his side. He kept his fingers slightly curled, just within reach of his sword.

“I would be. I must say, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?” Robin asked.

“Oh, mostly coincidence. I just happened to find your token and thought it might be fun to terrorize someone else’s Equestria before I go and do that in my world, practice makes perfect as they say.” Black replied with a carefree voice.

Robin pursed his lips together and carefully thought about what to say.

“I see… well, I’m sorry to inform you that I rather enjoy terrorizing my Equestria on my own. Perhaps you may have luck elsewhere?” he finally asked.

“And waste an opportunity like this? Don’t know, it took quite a lot of energy to traverse the void like I did. What do you say about a duel? Winner takes all? Equestria and the rest of this stupid universe?” Black suggested instead. He could take his time. After all, the point of the trip was for him to enjoy himself.

“Well, I would rather discuss this like adults instead of resorting to violence. You said that it took a lot of energy to get here, correct? I’d be willing to… refill your ‘tank’ for you so it wouldn't have been a waste of time.” Robin said after a short while.

“That is a rather generous offer I must say. But I’m not interested in just sitting down and talking. I’m more of an active type of guy, let my actions speak for me, so to say. And it might have been a lot of energy for my trip here, but it’s nothing I can’t refill by killing an Alicorn or two. You do have Alicorns here don’t you?” Black asked with another wicked smile shot towards Robin.

“I do, but they are quite busy during the day. Besides, you came all this way just to meet me. It would be rather rude to simply run off, don’t you think?” Robin said.

“Well, to be frank. I don’t care. I know, if you’re up for that duel. I’ll promise not to use my flying and I’ll even prepare the place we’re going to fight. Which one sounds good to you? Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Ponyville, Manehattan, Griffonia, a random deserted spot, or the Moon?” Black asked with a sick amount of enthusiasm for the highly populated areas, ready for any kind of fight without a care. He was twitching to do some battle since his last one, Discord's didn't count.

“It seems that you’re not giving me much of a choice in the matter. Very well, I accept your duel. I would also prefer to fight in a location far from civilization. Furthermore, I require a few minutes to gather my tools. Is that alright with you?” Robin asked.

“Sure, I’ll be setting it up somewhere between the edge of the Everfree and the badlands, you won’t be able to miss it. I’ll be waiting.” Black replied before flying off. Silently pouting about the fact that he wouldn't get to blow up any populated areas. He then grinned and thought about what he would do after having won the duel instead. His grin only widening at the thoughts of what he would do to Robin during their duel, so many great ideas coming to mind.

Robin watched him fly off before he quickly made his way inside the small house.





POV Black Frost





I was having quite a lot of fun with creating my little arena. It was a simple idea of having a big Pillar made of ice and a flat surface at the top to act as the arena itself. The Pillar itself was roughly 200 meters high and about 35 meters wide. Plenty of space to fight. And I had also added occasional ledges around the tower, in case one of us fell off. Wouldn't be any fun if the Robin guy died because of gravity.

As I had completed the rough shape of the pillar I started playing around with the ice itself, changing its properties and looks, just for fun and aesthetics. Just having a pillar made of regular ice wouldn't do. I eventually settled for a light blue shiny ice that was clear enough to let one see through to the other side, barely, ice wasn't as clear as glass after all. The only part that wasn't see through was the top, it was covered with a thin layer of frost that created friction instead of making it even slippier. I didn't want to have such an unfair advantage when I had already given up my flying.

Until Robin appeared I'd be continuing with making the pillar look more alive. Who wouldn't want to have an epic battle in style?





3rd person POV (Black Frost)





After hours of sculpting and improving of the ice, Black saw that Robin finally arrived at the base of the pillar. Up close Robin saw that the ice was rather beautiful, the semi-clear ice was almost see-through, something that couldn't be achieved naturally. Robin looked upward, gauging the height of the construct. It was roughly a tenth of a mile high. Ledges surrounded the tower at multiple intervals, to stop one from falling too far in case they toppled off the edge.

Judging by Robin's expression he couldn't figure out a way to get up, meaning he either didn't have any way to fly or was considering to save his powers. Something Black found humorous as to him any being worthy of being called 'powerful' would at least be able to fly whenever they so wished. The fact that Robin didn't show Black the difference in their power. However, even the powerless could under the right conditions triumph over a giant. So it would at least be right of Black to help Robin up so that they could have their battle.

Deciding he had waited long enough, Black flew down to Robin from behind.

“Ah, you’re here now. Want help getting up? Just stand still and let me take care of it.” Black said, not waiting for an answer as he let the winds take hold of Robin and bring both him and Black to the top of the pillar at very fast speed, dying down as it gently put them both down at the top.

As they landed, Black picked up on Robin's behavior and saw that he was right. Robin was showing signs of being nervous and therefore proved to Black that he indeed was more powerful than Robin. Smiling internally he began thinking once again of the many ways he could have fun with the human, even if he didn't use the full extent of his powers, there were plenty of ways to use them.

Robin placed a tome he was holding back, replacing it with another. Presumably one meant to help him in some way and maybe give him some kind of advantage. Interested in the change of tome, Black considered that it might be some kind of relic more powerful than him but quickly discarded the idea. After all, very few, if any relics could stand up against a being older than 10 thousand years of age. Instead Black decided to once again have some fun and give Robin the illusion of an advantage.

“So, I’m feeling generous today. I’ll give you the first shot.” Black said as he took up a space on the opposite side of the pillar, the staff he was holding dissolving into snowflakes that disappeared in the wind.

Robin grunted in acknowledgment as he read a few words in his tome. Black felt a sudden connection between Robin and the tome establish itself. As soon as it was complete Robin began casting a spell, apparently drawing most of the power from the tome.

Balls of fire began to appear around Black, slowly circling his form. Black felt Robin pour more magic into the spell as the balls of fire slowly grew and begun spinning faster. After Robin stopped feeding the spell. With a flourish of his hand, he released the stored magic.

A massive pillar of fire erupted from the ground at Black’s feet, completely encasing him in the inferno. The fire easily reached a height of about 30 feet and lasted several seconds before petering out.

But as the fire settled down, Black looked not much worse off than he had before. His hair was only slightly singed, some smoke coming off it. Steam rising from his clothes and the ice around him.

“That hurt quite a bit you know…” Black said as he took a step forward. “But you know what this means, right? Now it’s my turn!” Black said with an evil smile as a sphere of blue magic appeared in his hand. He quickly threw the ball of magic at Robin.

Acting quickly, Robin dodged the sphere of magic. As it made contact with the area Robin had just occupied a smooth layer of ice coated the floor. Robin didn't have much time to examine it as Black continued to fire off more spheres of ice. Soon Robin's side of the pillar was coated with a fine sheen layer of ice.

Robin cursed as he lost his footing and fell on to his back.

The next sphere Robin had to doge by rolling out of the way. Meanwhile, Black was hardly even trying to hit Robin directly, instead he was aiming at Robin's feet.

Angered by how little Black seemed to take this seriously, Robin switched tomes again. Then he once again read something in it, establishing a connection. Somehow managing to dodge Black’s attacks in the meantime. Black however only raised an eyebrow at this, what would work better than fire? Somewhat curious what the mage had up his sleeves, he didn't bother to stop him as he seemed to use a considerable amount of the tomes magic, about a quarter of it. And yet this spell was being summoned at a much faster rate. Black braced himself for what was coming, just in case.

As Robin released the spell, a bright light appeared, seemingly originating from nowhere. The light encompassed Black, slowly growing in intensity with every passing second. The temperature began to quickly climb as well, reaching unhealthy levels within seconds.

Robin, knowing what was coming rushed to the edge of the pillar, as far away from Black as possible. Drawing his sword he let the lightning travel through his blade before slamming it into the ice. Twisting the blade to bury it deeper within the ice and held on tightly.

The spell went off causing an explosion, Black at the center of it. Chips of ice flew outward, propelled by the force of the explosion. Robin closed his eyes and held the pommel of his sword tightly, not thinking about what would happen should he let go.

A scream filled with pain and surprise could be heard in time with the explosion. Yet, after the smoke settled Black seems to come out unharmed. Only his smile seems to be missing. “IT. IS. ON!” Black said as he fired a lightning bolt that seems to made purely out of frost directly at Robin. It’s speed surpassing one of his previous attacks.

Reacting quickly, Robin dodged the bolt of ice sent on a collision course with his face. As he avoided the bolt he brought up another tome and began reading another spell. As he was done he tucked the tome under one of his arms while Black continued his onslaught, his face set in a scowl. Meanwhile, Robin was just managing to dodge his attacks. Suddenly Robin called out to Black.

“Black, I’m warning you, you won’t be able to survive this next attack! Let’s both give in and go our separate ways!” Robin said, sounding as if he meant what he said. Something Black found ridiculous.

“Why would I? I still got a few icicles with your name on them.” Black said as he sent a few more of “ice lightning” towards Robin.

Robin sighed as he began draining the tome of magic, but this time-draining it completely dry, releasing a shout as he released the spell.

At first it seemed nothing had happened, but soon felt small disturbance could be felt above the arena. Glancing upward both beheld an ancient symbol, one lost to the sands of time. The sigil seemed to be lying upon the sky, resting on an invisible surface.  Runic symbols began to dance across the sky, moving too fast for any of them to read.

And then a blinding flash of light.

Robin closes his eyes as the unnatural light intensified while Black instead brought up an arm to block the intense light. Once the glare had dimmed they both saw what the spell had done.

Where the symbols had been was now a massive black hole, a hole to another universe without light.  The Pillar they both stood on soon began to shake violently, causing Robin to stumble as he tried to regain his balance while Black seemed less affected by the movements. Then the shaking got worse and even Black had to struggle to keep his balance.

It was then they began to notice small objects being raised from the ground, small chunks of broken ice drifting towards the hole on their own. The small pieces soon became large chunks, and soon even parts of the pillar itself began to break apart.

Searching wildly for something to hold onto, Robin found his sword, still embedded within the ice. Rushing over to the sword he managed to take hold of the pommel just as he began to float in the air from the force of the hole. Having managed to save himself from being swallowed by the hole, for now, he glanced over towards Black, wondering how he was faring.

Black was ignoring the black hole, still trying to hit Robin with his attacks. That is until he noticed he was being dragged in as well, even if not at the same speed as Robin would have had he not grabbed his sword.

“What? I’m not supposed to be affected by gravity!” Black complained as he was beginning to move closer and closer to the hole in the sky. Genuinely surprised by the fact that that a technique like that had any effect on a spirit like himself.

“Whatever, I’ll just do this then.” He said as he froze his legs to the pillar beneath.

“Now what?” He said with a smug grin. Only to hear the newly created ice give out and him being flung into the portal that promptly closed behind him, it all happening too fast for him to even react. Leaving Robin to dodging the now falling chunks of ice that had originally been part of the tower they had been standing on.





Black Frost's POV





The first thing I thought was: This reminds me of riding in a car. And it had been that kind of sensation I had when I had been pulled into the hole, or I guess it was more of a portal. Because right now, I'm in some kind of void. There is nothing here. No light, no mass, no gravity (While I'm not affected by gravity, I can still feel it's presence.) And that brought me back to my initial question. "How did that portal suck me in to begin with?"

In theory, it should have been impossible. As far as I could tell, the pull was purely gravitational. Gravity, by law, should not affect objects without mass, such as me. Yet it did. The only force resembling gravity for me was the magical and spiritual "pull" to manifest. To bind itself or enter the 'normal' plane. This pull was something my body reacted to naturally, but it was also something I did have control over.

Magic and spiritual energy always sticks to objects and such, like souls stick with bodies and magic is much more densely packed in actual objects than in air. I, however, could ignore or divert the pull to my liking, something that for one, allowed me to fly with the help of the wind and be nearly weightless without it.

Eventually, I did conclude. It would have had to have been pressure that dragged me in. Think about it. A place devoid of anything, even magical pressure, would in the events of an opening forming begin to try and even out the pressure. And that would be done by pulling in more magic into said place to fill it to a level where the pressure either evens out between the two, or the portal closes. Not sure which one happened in this case.

With this conclusion, I was finally satisfied to get angry. That little rat Robin had just banished me. I was fuming, but I let myself calm down with a few well-chosen swear words that should not be uttered next to children. Once finally calm enough to see the funny side of this whole mess I began to laugh. To be completely honest, trying to trap me in a void like this was a pretty good movie. Over here, I could not do much at all to hurt Robin. But there were also things that Robin must have had forgotten.

I had, after all, found my way to his universe by myself and then forced my way in. How stupid would he have to be not to realize I could do such a thing again easily. After all, I still had his token to lead me back.

Fishing out Robin's token once again I carefully examined the connection to his original token. And sure enough, it wasn't broken or anything, the way back was still open, all I had to do was follow it to the exit and force it open. But this brought up a new issue. As soon as I opened up the portal back, it would result in the same as when Robin had opened it. It would simply suck stuff in and most likely hit me on its way through the hole. So, I had to somehow prevent the hole from sucking anything in, while still being on the inside.

Thinking about it like I would if it was a problem with pressure helped a lot. Most gadgets and machinery I knew of using pressure had valves to regulate pressure and such, so perhaps I should make one myself?

In the end, I settled for a simple idea closer to the idea of an airlock. I would use my magic to make sure I created the necessary 'pressure' around the exit before leaving. By doing so, I should prevent the result of the last opening.

And as you might imagine, I didn't have resources or time to test my theory out, so I'd have to field test it with myself and see if it worked right of the bat.

"Well, no time like the present... I guess? Eh, what the hell." I thought before putting my plan into action and followed the connection from the token. It was now time to show Robin why not to piss me off like that.





3rd person POV (Black Frost)





Another portal opened up above Robin. As he looked up he could see Black looking down at him, grinning from the other side of the portal.

"I'm not that easy to get rid off." He simply stated as he came through, the portal closing behind him. Looking down at me I saw that his eyes were full of evil intent. Staying in the air he began charging another attack of ice magic.

Robin gritted his teeth in anger. His ace in the hole had failed and he was now trapped beneath a chunk of ice which had fallen on top of him after the portal had devoured Black.  However, even with the odds against him he smirked and reached into his robe, taking out yet another tome.

Robin held out his hand and sent forth a black miasma that was the spell described in the tome. Circling Black it began to steadily drain his life. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by Black, yet he shrugged it off. The spell was only stealing a small part of his wast reservoir and it was nothing compared to what he could later drain from this world. Instead of focusing on completing his deadly spell to stop Robin and his spell in one fell swoop.

As the collection of ice magic in Black’s hand reached a certain point it started pulsating and Black’s smile grew. He was done charging his attack. Pointing the orb of collected energy down towards Robin he looked him in the eyes.

“Sleep tight, baby boy,” Black said as he was about to throw the massive collection of ice magic at Robin.

Robin continued to sap energy from Black, working the spell as hard as he could. The energy flowed into his body and re-knitting the bone in his leg. However, it was far too slow to help him escape Black's spell.

Yet Robin smirked and looked up at Black. Calling out to him, “Hey Black!”

He returned Robin's grin and watched him expectantly.

Robin gave out a winded laugh and raised his free hand, giving Black the finger. “Go fuck yourself!”

“Great last words,” Black replied as if he didn’t care. “But the words of a dead man mean nothing to me!” He shouted as he launched the orb at Robin, finally showing his anger having lost his evil grin.

But as Robin was sure he had already spoken his last words, something else happened. The attack stopped. And as it did the sound of a football whistle could be heard ringing through the air.

“Yellow card! Time out, five minutes recovery time for Robin.” A woman’s voice could be heard.

At this, both Robin and Black turned to see who this new “referee” was. In mid-air a woman with long hair colored both black and pink, reaching down to her knees. And in a complete referee costume was holding a yellow card in one hand and a football whistle in the other. And that wasn’t the only new addition. Not too far away there were two “bars” marked HP, one had "Jack Frost (Discorded version: Black Frost)" written on it, the other had "Robin (Prince of Plegia)". Slightly lower between the two HP bars letters were spelling out another word in big bold letters: PAUSED.

Both of the combatants simply blinked at this before Black regained his composure and spoke his mind. 

“W-what? What are you talking about?” Black asked, unable to comprehend what was going on. The woman sighed and pulled out a book, opening it up and putting on a pair of obviously fake glasses with fake eyes on springs and began speaking as if reading from the book.

“You said you wouldn’t be flying. Judging by the fact that you’re currently in the air, two meters over the ground determines that you have broken your promise. And therefore Robin over here gets a five minutes recovery bonus while your position is unchanged.” The woman simply stated.

Black looks at her for a while, silently wondering how the woman knew of what he had told Robin before their fight, before confronting her.

“Wait a minute, I’m not flying. I’m hovering, there’s a difference!” Black argued, getting really upset for some reason and completely forgetting that he did not need to defend himself when the woman had neither proof or that honor meant nothing to him in his current state.

“Indeed there is a difference.” The woman replied as she began flipping pages in the book, only to suddenly stop. "Here we are, flying and hovering. Determine the difference." She read in the book and began reading loud and clear for both Robin and Black to hear: "Both flying and hovering are actions of being suspended in the air or above ground for a prolonged amount of time. However, hovering refers to a less taxing version of flying that lifts the user no farther than their actual height, while flying allows close to unlimited ascension.” She read before closing the book and looking at Black with a smug grin.

“And by the looks of it, you’re currently over two meters above the closest area to consider ground, seeing as you’re not two meters high, you’re by definition of the 'universal rule book' flying and have broken the rules. Therefore the yellow card. Now sit still, I’ve got to speak to Robin for a while.” She said, leaving Black confused and with his mouth open.

“So, how are you holding up?” She asked Robin as she flew down and landed beside him.

“Does the leg still hurt?” She asked, looking towards the limb, still stuck under the block of ice.

Robin eyed her critically before taking a moment to glance back at his broken leg. The energy he had drained from Black had healed it somewhat, but he wouldn’t be doing any leisurely walks around the forest anytime soon. But he did, however, notice that it no longer hurt. He could feel the weight of the ice block, but not the pain.

Robin returned his attention to the woman and chuckled. “No, but I’m not exactly in the best of situations right now.”

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t get here any sooner. Fortunately I didn’t get here any later. These battles don’t auto-assign any referees themselves so someone has to do it or the rules won’t be followed properly.” She looked down at me and frowned.

“This is your recovery time, but you’re not recovering fast enough… Here.” She said as she held senzu bean in front of Robin.

Robin took it in his hand and inspected it closely. But looked back up at her and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s a bean meant to re-energize anyone who eats it. But it also happens to heal wounds. It can go as far as regrow whole muscles in less than a second. But I haven’t tried it myself to that extent yet, and I don’t plan to… They’re called Senzu beans if you’re wondering.” The woman explained.

Throughout her explanation Robin eyed the bean incredulously, his eyes widening as he heard the name of the bean and examined the starch in a new light. He knew exactly what a senzu bean was.

Meanwhile, Black had just stopped thrashing around and given up as he realized that he really couldn't move or use any of his powers at the moment. His face set was contorted between rage and confusion.

After another moment of inspecting the bean and then casting a look at Black, Robin sighed and placed the bean in his mouth and began to chew. The effect of the senzu bean could be seen almost instantly. The signs of fatigue Robin was showing all but disappeared and his leg had suddenly healed.

Withdrawing another tome, Robin summoned some form of green blades that and began cutting at the ice trapping his leg. Chunks of ice fell apart as the green blades bit into the ice. He was soon able to push the rest off of himself, allowing him to rise to his feet. Robin nodded at the woman in thanks before returning his attention to Black. Robin now appeared more confident, the woman quickly realized that it perhaps would be because of her presence.

“It is quite unfortunate I won’t be able to fight with you side by side, the rules don’t allow that… But they do allow tag ins. Just say my name followed by a gesture or phrase to signify that you’re tagging me in and I’ll be able to switch places with you.” The woman said, accidentally leaving out the most important part. Something Robin immediately noticed.

“Then, may I ask what to call you?” Robin asked her, as she had yet to introduce herself.

“Oh, silly me. My name is Blood Cleaver. It is nice to meet you, Robin.” Blood Cleaver said before walking over to some bleachers that most certainly were not there earlier on, and sat down.

“Don’t forget, you have to tag me in after the fight resumes!” She shouted back before turning to Black.

“And you, don’t forget, no flying! Or you’ll be awarding Robin here with freebies and that wouldn’t work too well for the story!” Blood managed to say before a loud buzzer could be heard and the word PAUSED disappeared from between the two HP bars, signifying the start of the fight. And if such a clear hint somehow would have managed to be misunderstood. Then the giant word FIGHT! Appearing between where Robin and Black stood, would be enough.

Robin's HP bar instantly began to fill up to full, catching up to Robin's recovery thanks to the senzu bean he had gotten from Blood Cleaver. As ridiculous as it all was, Robin knew that he was hardly in any shape to fight Black, let alone defeat him. Nothing short of full-powered spells seemed to do any damage to him. Not only that, using all of the magic from a tome was risky as it took a few more seconds to cast. To top it all off, none of the tomes he had were fully charged. One was entirely drained, another was more than half empty due to the trip here and a third was a quarter empty from its last use.

Robin looked back at Cleaver and waved her over.

“Tag in! I need to sit this fight out for a bit!” If she could keep Black busy, it would give Robin enough time to recharge one of his tomes, the one that seemed to do the most damage to him out of all the tomes. A full-powered version of it might be enough to end him.

Maybe…

Blood Cleaver clapped her hands together and Robin suddenly found himself having switched places with her. Now he was the one sitting on the bleachers.

A loud, confounded “What?” could be heard from Black as he saw the bar displaying Robin's name disappear, only to be replaced by a new one showing off a blue health bar instead of a green one. Reading: "Blood Cleaver (Previously known as Diane Pie)".

“Let’s do this!” Blood Cleaver said as she created a sphere of energy in her right hand and held it up, as if showing it off to Black.

“Whatever, I’ll take both of you down.” Black counters as he released a direct attack of frost bolts upon Cleaver who simply blasted them away by turning the ball of energy into a beam. Completely obliterating the frost bolts.

“Well, that’s not fair. Robin got the first shot and I don’t? Don’t you know how to treat a lady?” Blood Cleaver asked with an amused tone as she shoots another beam at him, this one somewhat bigger.

“What?” Was all Black managed to say before the beam hit him and he was thrown backward from the sheer power of it. But before he could recover Blood Cleaver was right in front of him and her punches began flying like bullets. Impossible to see as they only appeared as blurs to the naked eye.

Meanwhile, Robin noticed something else. The bars were suddenly displaying something new, Levels.

"Blood Cleaver (Previously known as Diane Pie.) Lvl:??? (To high level to display. Level up to see this level.)"

"Jack Frost (Discorded version: Black Frost) Lvl:126"

Robin raised an eyebrow and then shook his head and took out one of the tomes, placing it in his lap. Still keeping one eye on the fight, Robin began to pour his magic into the book, hoping Cleaver could hold against Black long enough for him to rejoin the fight as soon as he had charged the tome back up to full.

Blood Cleaver retreated from punching black as he covered himself in ice magic, effectively freezing Cleaver’s hands. As she retreated she melted the ice by creating a sphere of energy in each hand, turning the ice directly into water vapor. However, Black’s victory of getting free from Cleaver's assault was short-lived, as he almost immediately was assaulted by a barrage of multiple-beam attacks instead. The beams coming from multiple directions as the beams curved around and then homed in on him.

After a few moments the beams were replaced with small spheres being launched his way and Cleaver starts alternating between the two kinds of attacks, not doing any visible damage to Black the blasts seemed ineffective, they were however enough to keep Black on the defensive.

Unable to stand his ground, Black was slowly losing ground and being backed into a corner. Realizing this he looked around for anything that could be of help and noticed something from behind Blood Cleaver. A smirk found it’s way onto his face. Robin realized that Black had some kind of plan and followed his gaze but saw only one thing in the sky that could be what he was looking at, the sun.

Suddenly Black did the most unexpected action of all. He raised both his hands and spoke the most impossible words: “I give.” He stated with a neutral look.

Robin narrowed his eyes in suspicion. No one would go from a full-blown smirk with a plan to simply giving up. He was planning something. Of course, he also let his guard down, giving Blood Cleaver the perfect chance to-

“Huh?” Blood Cleaver stopped in surprise, giving Black an opening as he was no longer assaulted by beams and blasts.

“Gotcha!” Black exclaimed as a big sphere of ice magic appeared between his raised arms and became a beam fired off into the sky, directly towards the sun at incredible speed. The attack, however, fizzled out of existence as it hit an invisible barrier that seemed to have been placed around the arena. Yet, the attack had achieved its intended purpose, it had made Blood Cleaver look away from Black.

As soon as Cleaver’s sights had left him, Black had summoned his staff. At the same time as Blood Cleaver realized her mistake and spun back around towards her opponent, Black launched another attack. He was already crackling with ice magic that suddenly seemed to condense and disappear.

A loud sound, not far from shattering glass could be heard as the apparent barrier around the arena and the HP bars shattered into a million pieces and dispersed into nothing. However, nothing else seemed to happen.

Robin winced as the noise startled him, causing his concentration to falter slightly resulting in too much magic being pushed into the tome. Fortunately, the tome was almost full at that point, so Robin didn’t expend too much of his energy filling the tome. With the tome now full, Robin returned his full focus to the fight. Ready to jump in at a moments notice.

Blood Cleaver was standing still. The air around her had begun to ripple a little and a very subtle aura, much like fire, began to form around her. Small fragments of ice began floating upwards, the ones touching her aura instantly evaporating. Even the water vapor seems to disintegrate as it came to close to her.

Robin guessed that Blood Cleaver was charging up big time. And if she could feel power levels like in the series, then the only reason for such a power-up would be that Black himself also has increased his powers. That did not sound like a good thing.

Just as Robin was about to jump up from his seat on the bleachers, everything went dark. Only the slight illumination from Blacks frost magic and Blood Cleaver’s aura could be seen. That is until the stage lights that came out of nowhere suddenly lit up from the top of the bleachers, bathing the whole arena in light.

At this Black began laughing.

“Have fun with your sun, or rather your lack of one!” He said before his collection of ice magic grew bigger.

Thinking quickly, Blood Cleaver quickly came the conclusion that the Sun was not gone or had somehow been destroyed, just that it was inactive in some way.

“Robin, your turn. I’ll get the sun back!” Blood Clever shouted looking at Robin for confirmation as her aura once again flared and she began charging her powers up once again.

Robin held one of his tomes close, summoning the magic from within the book. This time however, he was planning on unleashing everything it held. Gritting his teeth, he released the spell towards Black.

The spell appeared above the arena, a miniature sun that began to fall towards the ice. The fire crackled with power, the light emanating from it possibly powerful enough to be seen from Canterlot. But, one thing that was barely visible in the shadow produced by the light that was melting the ice and burned everything with an unhealthy amount of heat, was the smug grin on Black’s face.

“So long, suckers!” He said as he swung his staff and the air where it swung froze with frost. He then hit the frost created with the staff, cracking it and pieces of frost falling off. But instead of showing the regular air that was placed behind it, it revealed a black void. He had just made another portal. As enough pieces had fallen off Black jumped into the hole and looked back.

“Have fun with your little inferno, and remember: Never wound what you can’t kill.” He said before the portal closed. Leaving both Robin and Blood Cleaver in the devastating light that was melting the ice they stood on, reduced the pillar of ice into nothing but hot, skin burning steam.

“Hey, Robin. I hope you’re able to stop that thing. I’d rather get tanned the old fashioned way!” Blood Cleaver complained standing next to him.

“I can’t, once a spell is cast it needs to go off! I also can’t redirect it since I used all of my magic on one attack!” He yelled, the sound of falling ice almost drowning his voice out, “We have less than thirty seconds before we’re caught in the explosion!”

“Grab on, we’re getting out of here!” Blood Cleaver shouted as she stretched out an arm for Robin to grab on to. As soon as he did, he found himself at the edge of the tower. Cleaver looked back for a moment before jumping off the edge, dragging Robin with her into a free fall.

As they neared the ground Blood Cleaver activated her energized flight and slowed their fall down to a soft landing. As they landed, however, they were assaulted by a barrage of ice that had followed them down the side of the tower. Dodging out of the way they got farther away from the tower as the attack hit.

Ice, boiling water and burning steam flew everywhere as what remained of the tower was obliterated. Forcing them to once again dodge the oncoming barrage of H2O trying to claim their lives.

“Well, I certainly didn’t see this coming.” Blood Cleaver said as they stood on the ground, looking at where the ice pillar once stood, the ground all around being scorched and covered in quickly melting ice and water. The sky filled with steam, and clouds as a result of all the water vapor cooling off in the atmosphere, barely visible in the sunless sky.

Robin took in a shaky breath as he steadied his nerves. He then glared at Blood Cleaver. “‘Didn’t see this coming’? You and your icy friend are both insane!”

Blood Cleaver sighed. “Please, don’t call me insane. Brings up bad memories. And he’s not my friend. I’m just helping his world’s Twilight to bring him back so he won’t destroy other Equestrias. He was discorded by Discord and went batshit insane. I have to bring him back so that Discord can undo it, that is if Discord has recovered enough and is no longer on the edge of the afterlife. So yeah, I kinda have to follow him. But don’t worry, I still got some time to help out here, the multiverse tends to work in my favor when it concerns time, I’ll catch up to him.” She said, waving her hand slightly as to wave away Robin's concerns.

Robin looked at her incredulously as she explained the situation. When she finished he frowned at her. “So let me understand this; You know he’s currently unpredictable and he’s powerful enough to travel the void, yet you didn’t fight at your full power?!” He asked her.

“Well… You see. I kinda thought it would be a good idea not to show off all my power at once. Have a little something up my sleeve. Besides, I’m uncertain how much damage it would be if I sent a Galic gun and hit the landscape instead. Some of my attacks are rather powerful and require delicacy when being handled. So I went with an easier approach.” Cleaver explained as she looked to the sky as if searching for the sun that was no longer anywhere to be seen.

“Okay, get ready for this one.” She suddenly said, before putting her hands together and started gathering energy in between them as she took a steadier stance with her legs.

“Kame- hame-HA!” She exclaimed as the blue ball of energy quickly expanded and shot off as a beam towards the non-visible sun. The beam continuing to become longer and longer as it reached out into space.

“Well, this will take a while.” She stated as the beam reached the outer atmosphere.

Unfortunately it was quickly becoming colder and colder. Not so fast as to reach a dangerous level, but enough to become uncomfortable.

Robin's right eye twitched as he watched the spectacle. As he felt it getting colder, Robin grumbled to himself and pulled out a tome. Quickly reading it over he tucked it under his arm and summoned a small pillar of fire nearby. Immoderately warming up the surrounding area, as well as providing additional light.

“Thanks. As many different attacks I know and how good I am at manipulating my Ki, I can’t do it delicately enough to do simple stuff as making some heat. It’s like as I open the floodgates it all comes pouring out and I have to use highly effective destructive beams that don’t produce heat. Stupid in one way, effective in another.” Blood Cleaver thanked Robin as she still kept up the Kamehameha wave she was firing.

Robin grunted as he stared into the fire. It wasn’t cold, and it wasn’t getting much colder any faster. Not surprising since the sun only just went out. Robin took the time to consider her words.

“Tell me, how did you learn to control your life energy?” he eventually asked her.

“Ah, I had a teacher named Pan. She helped me get my powers under control. I trained under her for two years and learned quite a lot from her. Most stuff she taught me comes from some anime called Dragonball. We didn’t have that in my universe…” Blood Explained while still keeping up her wave.

“I should be close by now. Hopefully I get this first try.” Cleaver said as her beam thinned out and seemed to begin dying off.

“Well if you don’t get this on your first try then you may as well give up. This planet will freeze to death otherwise.” Robin replied.

“Nope. I got it. Should be blue skies from here on.” She said with a smile before it went back towards a neutral one. “But you might experience a few extra solar flares,” Cleaver said as her beam cut off completely.

Robin sighed and waved off her worries, “It’s fine, not concerned about that. What I’m concerned about is a certain grinning psychopath that’s currently on a rampage through the multiverse.”

“You shouldn’t be. He’s severely weakened right now and I have a tracker on him. He shouldn’t be a problem once I catch him again.” She said looking at the sky. “We should probably warn the rest of the population before the sunlight suddenly returns. People could get blinded if they looked up at that moment.” Cleaver suggested.

Robin deadpanned at her. “And how exactly do we warn an entire civilization within several minutes? Furthermore, It’s not just Equestria that will be affected. On top of all that, if I tried to warn everyone Celestia would most likely place the blame on me for this entire fiasco!” Robin said.

“Hmm, let’s see here.” Blood Cleaver scratched her head while trying to come up with a solution.

“Maybe if we use a HUGE projector to project upon the atmosphere with a countdown, people, I mean ponies and other creatures everywhere will be able to see it and then no one will be blinded.” She suggested, looking at Robin with a slight smile.

Robin groaned and resisted the urge to facepalm. Robin responded to her in exasperation, “Sure, fine, that sounds like a great plan! Now, please tell me how you plan on achieving such a feat?!”

Blood Cleaver smiled towards him with a genuine, innocent smile, apparently not getting Robin's sarcasm about how great of an idea he thought it was. “Good, I’ll have to order the stuff first.” She said as she pulled out a flip phone and dialed a number on it. She then spoke about many different components and numbers that went over Robin's head and then ended it by giving what she referred to as “Void Coordinates”. “Thank you. No, the pleasure’s mine.” She said as she hung up. “The stuff should be here in five seconds.” She said as she turned around towards a portal that had already begun opening up.

Out of the portal came what looked like giant metal beams, giant concrete blocks, cranes, excavators and a lot more stuff necessary for constructions. As Robin was about to ask her what was going on, he noticed she was now wearing a construction force uniform and was shouting orders with a megaphone. Some form of building being built right there and then.

As it was completed after only about 4 minutes later. Before them stood what looked like a modern Earth observatory. Right in the middle of nowhere. Blood Clever standing there with a proud smile as she signed something and gave it to one of the workers. Somehow Robin couldn’t for the life of him remember what they looked like.

“And now, to see if it works. Want to do the honors?” Blood Cleaver asked Robin, handing him a small remote with only one button, labeled 'Start'.

Robin stared at the remote impassively as his mind caught up with what he had just witnessed. He wasn’t sure whether to be curious or annoyed with how she was handling the situation. With a final sigh, he decided to go along with her and press the button.

As he did the construct came to life. Many different noises could be heard from the inside of the building and soon the part that looked like a telescope sticking out from the room lit up and illuminated the sky with a rainbow of colors, painting up in big, easy to read letters. “Sunshine back in: 1:41. Please avoid looking at the sky.” counting down the seconds. Underneath, the same message was written in several different languages.

Robin barely gave the garish lettering a second glance before he focused his attention back to Blood Cleaver. “We need to have a little talk,” he said in a commanding tone.

“Huh? sure. But can it wait until the sun is back? I gotta get this stuff back before five, or I’ll get fined.” Blood Cleaver explained before taking out two pairs of sunglasses and handed one pair to Robin. “Make sure to put these on, this will be one hell of a flash.” She said as she put on her pair.

Robin continued to glare at her as he took the sunglasses, fitting them upon the bridge of his nose. He crossed his arms behind his back as I waited for the Sun’s rays to reach the planet.

In a sudden flash of light, the skies were suddenly blue and the sun was just… there again. No dramatic sound no messages declaring mission complete or anything of the sort. “Well, that was rather anticlimactic.” Blood Cleaver said as she took off her glasses and let her eyes once again adjust to the sunlight. She then went off to the side and began disassembling the “observatory”. She soon came back holding all the parts, quite a few times smaller than their original parts.

Robin grunted and removed the sunglasses. “Now are you ready to talk?”

“Sure. What is it about?” Blood Cleaver asked, sounding a bit more serious as she put down the miniature parts of the observatory.

“For starters, perhaps you can tell me how you plan on apprehending Black? Considering your less than stellar battle performance I’m assuming you don’t have one.”

“May I ask you something? Have you ever had any experience with reprogramming anyone's mind?” Blood instead asked.

Robin looked at her in confusion as she changed the topic. Regardless, he nodded his head in confirmation.

“Good, then you know that if you don’t wish to turn someone’s brain into whipped cream, you first got to scan their mind and familiarize yourself so that you don’t make anything worse than it already is. The problem with this is that when a new personality is created as it has been in this case it adds to the time it takes to completely scan the mind of the individual correctly. Now add on about sixteen thousand years of memories and experiences to the mix… Done? Yeah, that’s what I’m dealing with. Not only is he trying to ward me off, I had to do this while fighting him. I’ve been doing this for a while and unless I stall for time by not going full-on out from the start, then things will take a turn for the worse before I’m done with his mind. After that I will also have to break the spells hold of him. I don’t know how much you know about your Discord’s magic, but it sometimes tends to be different in between worlds.”

Robin ground his teeth together in frustration as she lectured him about the mind. Purple mist could be seen at the edge of his eyes as his rage steadily grew. The area around them began shaking violently as Robin began to leak some of his power.

Through the anger, Robin noticed that Blood Cleaver’s face showed concern. He soon realized that he was starting to lose control of his temper once more and forced himself to calm down. The ground stopped shaking and the specks of purple slowly vanished.  He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his entire body shaking. “So… you haven’t answered my question. Do you have a plan?”

“Woah, I’m going to assume you had your reasons not to use that power I just felt against Black. And I just told you. I’m going to tire Blackout while I chase him through the multiverse, and scan his mind. I will use my knowledge to break the spell in his mind and then bring him back to his universe where he most likely will turn into an emotional wreck after learning what kind of monster he became because of Discord. That is about it for my plan.” Blood Cleaver explained.

Robin shook his head. “It needs more than just that. You seem to have quite an arsenal at your disposal. Use it to your advantage against your opponent. Do you have any way of constraining his movements or actions?” Robin questioned.

“Several, as a last resort I’ll use the evil containment wave, but it’s always such a hassle and is far from fail-safe.” Blood Cleaver said.

“If you have a means of claiming victory then you're a fool for not using it. The longer you wait the more time you give him to cause some real destruction. Since you seem to be so in tune with Dragon Ball, let me tell you in a way you might understand; Don’t pull a Vegeta. This time you were able to negate his actions, but what about next time?” Robin asked Blood Cleaver.

Blood Cleaver seemed to deflate a little at that. “You are completely right. I did a mistake and assumed he was already at his maximum. I didn’t consider the possibility that he would be able to break the arena spell I placed. And that cost me 675 bits too.” Blood Cleaver admitted.

Robin’s gaze softened slightly as he noticed he had gotten through to her. “And now you know how strong he is. And even then, assuming he can become even stronger, possibly more so than you. Always assume the worst in a fight so you can plan for it.”

“Ah, the good old: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. I really shouldn’t forget sayings like that.” Cleaver said as she perked up again. “Thanks. I needed that. Also, sorry for going all Pinkie Pie in here, haven’t vented in a while and it built up, so I kinda lost control with the whole thing. Hopefully I won’t get chewed out by any of the sysadmins for borrowing one of their construction teams. They can get pretty scary.” She said as she shuddered.

Robin chuckled as he looked up at the blue sky, careful not to look directly into the Sun. “Well, should they come calling I can certainly vouch for you. Despite your unorthodox methods, you still saved this planet. And for that, I thank you.”

Blood Cleaver suddenly seemed to have thought of something as she turned towards me with a big smile. “Hey, you’re a bit farther back in my timeline. Want any spoilers you could use to get on the Princesses' good side?” She asked me.

Robin snorted. “I already know what’s going to happen in the future. And I hardly care about what the princesses think of me.”

“Oh, how do you know about the future? And how far do you know? If you don’t mind me asking?” Blood Cleaver asked.

Robin looked at her in confusion. “The My Little Pony TV show?  It seems to be the way most learn of it.”

“Wait, there’s a show about the ponies of Equestria? Huh, didn’t know that.” She said shrugging her shoulder and seemingly thinking about something.

“Yes, there is, but we’re going off-topic. You need to hunt down Black before he causes any more damage. I would also feel a lot safer knowing he’s taken care of and not a threat to me any longer.”

“Ah, right. I better sync myself into the same time stream he’s in. But one more thing first. In the show, how far does it go? There is a certain event I want to prevent in as many universes as possible and I want to know if it’s a part of the show. Just tell  me the last event you know of from the show.”

Robin scratched the back of his head as he thought for a while. “Well… the last thing I remember is the battle with Tirek. I believe that is how the fourth season ended. After that, who knows?”
“I see. Hm… how does the first season start? I’m just curious. But the show won’t help me. The event I’m trying to prevent is later on. But thanks anyway.

“Nightmare moon returns after her millennia-long banishment. That very night she is defeated by the Elements of Harmony and restored to her original self, Luna.”

“Oh, so the day I first met Twilight. That makes sense. Hm.. four seasons, transferred into about a year… Wow, the show didn’t cover much. But I guess it’s time for me to leave. You take care.” Blood Cleaver said as she got up and prepared to leave, before turning around. “I almost forgot, here’s my token for if you ever need any more help.” She said as she threw Robin a small black blade with a red edge and crimson runes on either side of the blade. “You might also want to have this.” She said as she handed him a small folder. “It contains all Discord needs to know for Displaced proofing your universe without tokens.”

Robin took both the token and the folder, feeling less than excited about the latter. “So I’ll require Discord’s power if I want to keep individuals like Black from invading this world? Great…”

“Well, you could try and replicate the effect yourself, but I’m not sure how that would go…”

Robin waved her off and placed the folder and token within his robe. “It’s fine, I’d rather just not deal with him is all.”

“Okay, I’ll be off following Black now. He seems to have jumped quite far from here and has yet to enter any universes. But it’s only a question of time I suppose. Thank you for making me see my mistake. And good luck with… whatever you’re doing. I also left a present back at your house. Bye!” She said as she jumped into a portal that came out of nowhere, then used a zipper to close it from the inside. The zipper disappearing after the portal closed.

Robin blinked in surprise as he stared at the space Cleaver previously occupied. Shaking his head in amusement he began to make his way towards the Everfree forest, turning his back on the battle-torn land.

It’ll take me a while to get home, but… He thought before glancing at the insignia on the back of his hand.

… It’ll also give me time to think about some things.
> 12) Detour (part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 12
Detour (part 1)








Location: The Void.





Blood Cleaver's POV





I felt my left eye twitch as I questioned how much magic Black actually had. While chasing him through the void should have been easy, he had proved me wrong by freezing pieces of the void itself! Making if far harder to follow him as well as letting him leave traps that he could be certain would get in my way. Such a feat was probably unheard of until now, and for good reason. The void was violently trying to tear it's way through the magic keeping it at bay, making the whole ordeal even more dangerous for me. And to add insult to injury he had now laid the worst trap yet.

Before me was a collection of pure ice magic. One large enough to freeze me completely, even with me protecting myself with my own ki. There was no way I was getting through that one. Had it been like my own ki I could simply have blasted it away, but this was raw magic, something I didn't posses in the same way Black did and therefore had to try and avoid myself.

But what baffled me the most was the fact that I had yet to catch up to Black, even with him taking his time to plant traps like this, I had actually avoided most of them and should by now have caught up to him.

Sighing over my own misfortune I began finding myself a way around the large collection of ice magic, I eventually found a way between another universe and the collection of ice magic. It was a relatively small opening but I could probably squeeze through.

However, as I was squeezing through I accidentally grazed the nearby universe. And as soon as I did I heard a plea, “Help…” came the squeak of a female voice “Please…”, I immediately froze as I recognized the voice. It was the voice of Pinkie Pie!

Unable to ignore a call for help, especially one from my dear sister, no matter the universe, I dove right in. While I might already be on a hunt for Black, and had yet to catch up to him, I decided I small detour wouldn't be a bad thing if the void was on my side and I happened to save another one of my 'sisters'. Besides, time is a somewhat loose concept when traveling through the void.





3rd person's POV





Fourth wall was getting tired, thankfully she and Applebloom seemed safe for the moment, so Fourth Wall slowed down.

As she slowed however, she suddenly felt something ram into her, and Applebloom went flying off of her back. One of the monsters had snuck up on them. Fourth Wall tried getting up as fast she could, but another one came out of nowhere and pinned her down. It’s red eyes bore into hers, but Fourth looked away. She looked at Apple Bloom, and saw the one that rammed into was her holding the small filly.

It slammed its hoof into her right eye, and pulled. Apple Bloom screamed in pain. It continued to pull, until a ripping sound filled the air and Apple Bloom’s screaming turned into shrieking, and with one final tug, the eye was out, and blood poured out of the socket.

A tear formed on Fourth Wall’s face, “Help…” She squeaked, “Please…”

The monster on top of her prepared to bite her, but before it could it was suddenly hit by something from the side and it was sent flying.

“Get your filthy hooves off of her!” Shouted Blood Cleaver, one that to anyone who didn't know her could mistake for Pinkie Pie's. She quickly moved on the monster attacking Applebloom, kicking it upwards with enough force to shatter steel. Meanwhile Fourth Wall's hope was returning, thinking her friend Pinkie Pie had come to their rescue.

As she got up and saw her rescuer however, she saw that that wasn’t really the case. As Fourth wall inspected to her the unusual sight that was Blood Cleaver, Blood Cleaver crouched down by Applebloom.

“Oh, dear… What did they do?” She asked. “Applebloom, can you hear me?” She asked, not getting any response from the unconscious filly. She seemed to have passed out due to the pain.

Even though she was scared, Fourth Wall cleared her throat quietly to get the attention of their apparent savior.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you fixed right up… I’ll just make sure you’ll sleep through it. Now this won’t hurt… for me.” Said said, not having heard Fourth Wall trying to get her attention. As she put her hand on Applebloom's head, a light shone from her fingers for a short amount of time before going out. Next she made a few gestures and a glowing 'rune circle' appeared above Applebloom. The bleeding stopped as the rune faded away. Next Blood Cleaver whispered something to herself and all the spilled blood in the area seemed to play back its recent actions in slow motion. The blood slowly crept back towards the still filly and started filling the eye socket, making Applebloom squirm in her sleep.

As the blood filled the eye socket it began moving faster and change color slightly, seemingly doing something to Applebloom as she seemed to be getting very uncomfortable. Before Fourth Wall could ask Blood Cleaver what she was doing she saw it, from the swirling mass of blood that filled the eye socket a new eye began to emerge. Her words caught in her throat, Fourth Wall kept silent.

As soon as the eye began to emerge, Blood Cleaver frowned, she knew that now came the most horrid part, to connect the nerves.

As the eye began to fill most of the socket Blood Cleaver began to quickly attach the nerves prompting Applebloom to suddenly scream. The scream was louder than anything Fourth Wall had ever heard and forced her to put her hooves over her ears. Blood Cleaver however had heard worse and was able to simply shrug it off. As the screaming ended, Fourth Wall looked back towards Applebloom. The filly now seemed to be having a peaceful rest, no traces of blood left as it had all been used as part of the spell recreating Applebloom's eye.

“Well, now that that’s over, I think introductions are in order.” Blood Cleaver spoke, acknowledging Fourth Wall's presence.

“Hello. My name is Blood Cleaver. May I know yours?” She asked with a careful smile.

“I- I’m Fourth Wall… Thank you for saving us.” Fourth said and took a deep breath. She shuddered from the cold air, and checked her backpack for something and pulled a small blanket out. She draped it over Applebloom who was still asleep, and sighed.

“No problem. I’m always one for helping. May I ask what that was about? That was not a pleasant welcome committee.” Blood cleaver said, pulling out a cloak of her own and handed it to Fourth Wall for her to use in the cold weather.

“Thank you…” She took it, and pulled it over herself. “Those were the residence of Sunny Town. A horrible town of murderers that kill anyone who enters, or has a cutie mark.” Fourth rubbed her wrists absentmindedly, and coughed.

“That’s horrible! How can the Princesses allow such a town to even exist?!” Blood Cleaver shouted in disbelief. Already wondering in what other ways this world differed from other Equestrias.

Fourth Wall tilted her head, then it hit her, “They most likely don't know. I didn’t know until today. We are in the Everfree Forest, so she probably never even heard of it. But I was just born a couple day’s ago, so I don’t know...”

“I see. But when you say born, don’t you mean transported? You’re a Displaced after all. Or don’t you remember?” Blood Cleaver asked, worry apparent on her face. If Fourth Wall was only recently Displaced, then it was no wonder she probably knew so little. Some Displaced didn't even last the first day. Blood Cleaver was now thankful she had accidentally picked up on Fourth's plea for help.

Fourth tilted her head, “Displaced? I thought I was a clone. I did wonder why I had the knife when I came out… Is Displaced your race? I think I recognize your looks, but I don’t think I am one…” Fourth said. That would explain it. Unable to remember her life before being Displaced. And Blood Cleaver knew that she was a Displaced, purely from feeling her presence as it had the slight taint of void to it that all Displaced had. Thankfully memory loss such as this one could more often than not be easily fixed.

“No, my race is Human. It appears your memories really are cluttered, do you mind if I take a look? I might be able to restore them for you. And then I’ll explain the Displaced. Sounds good?” Blood Cleaver asked, as she looked at Fourth Wall with a smile.

“I don’t know what you’ll find, but alright.” Fourth stepped closer. As she did, Blood Cleaver closed her eyes and put her hand on top of Fourth’s head. Memories suddenly started flooding through her mind at break neck speed, to fast to really experience any of them, but still enough to see pictures of different objects and colors. As soon as the surge began it stopped. Blood Cleaver taking her hand away from Fourth’s head.

“Okay. I took a quick look, I’ll be able to give you some of your memories back, but not all of them. It seems they are bound with your mind in some way, I don’t want to risk them damaging anything so I’ll leave them be, but I’ll help you get all the safe ones back. What do you say?” Blood Cleaver asked Fourth Wall.

“If I had a life before this, I want to see as much as I can. Yes.” Fourth rubbed her wrist, Blood Cleaver noticing the scars.

“Dear Celestia, what happened to you? Did those monsters do this to you?” She asked with worry in her voice. Forgetting about her own offer as her hatred for those creatures grew. If those things had actually hurt Fourth, and the damage had already healed, then that could mean she had been poisoned, or worse. Seeing how those things looked like living piles of dead flesh, there could very well be a disease somewhere in there.

“N- no… I did them… I… have problems… It's nothing, I’m over them anyway…” Fourth hid her hooves in shame. She didn’t want Cleaver to know about her nightmares for fear of getting scolded like Nurse Redheart did.

“Oh, I see. I’m not going to ask then, it is your own business, just… it concerns me, and probably your friends as well. But enough about that. Come over here and I’ll get to reawakening a few of your memories.” Blood Cleaver said and gestured for Fourth Wall to get a little bit closer. It hurt to see that Fourth had done such a thing to herself, and after just becoming Displaced as well. But if she didn't want to tell, then Cleaver wouldn't push it. It wasn't her world after all, and as another Displaced had once put it "Not your world, not your business!".

Fourth did as she was told, and got as close a she could. With no regard for awkwardness, she was right against the human’s legs. She looked up, awaiting what was next.

“Don’t worry, I won’t see any of your memories. And it won’t hurt.” she said as she put her hand against Fourth Wall’s forehead and unleashed the memory block in her mind. Releasing a dam of memories.

“I- I- I- I- … Displaced?” Fourth Wall asked, wanting to learn more. Apparently having regained at least some part of her memories. Meanwhile, true to her words, Blood Cleaver stayed out of Fourth's mind. She respected her privacy after all.

“Ah, so you remembered something. Alright, let me try and explain the Displaced. The Displaced, also known as “dimensionally misplaced” are beings like you” she pointed At Fourth, “and me.” she pointed to herself “who have been placed in a world not their own, usually by having bought some form of trinket or item from a shady figure. My circumstances are somewhat different from the norm, but most Displaced were transported the same way. Most times the newly Displaced individual will gain powers or memories afflicted with the object they bought. It’s different for all Displaced, but some lose their own memories, like you. Others become a blend between themselves and the new individual and some are nearly unaffected. But all the Displaced have one thing in common, no matter how they became a Displaced. They all find themselves in Equestria. Not the same one of course, they are all spread out in the multiverse in their own versions. Does that explain the Displaced good enough?” Blood Cleaver asked as she ended her explanation.

Fourth Wall nodded, “Wow! So there are others out there! I have two questions. One, how is yours different? And two, how did you get here?” Fourth Wall questioned.

“Two very excellent questions. For starters, I didn’t become a Displaced by buying anything, I was already living in Equestria. However, I was out one day in the Everfree and got caught in a fight between two Displaced, one fighting to protect our universe, the other one only wanted to destroy the planet and everyone on it. I got so mad that I got involved in the fight. Thanks to my magic I eventually defeated the Displaced, but I won by using some very powerful magic that killed him, and his powers were absorbed by me. And that’s how I achieved my Displaced status. The other Displaced became my teacher and close friend, she explained the Displaced to me and a few years later, here I am.”

“But how I got here is also an excellent question. Normally travel between worlds isn’t easy, or in some cases even impossible. But that is something that doesn't apply to the Displaced. As the Displaced are tainted with void particles from being Displaced, they have their essence already exposed. By creating something called a token, or a totem, whatever you prefer to call them, the Displaced can traverse the void and enter other worlds. The tokens appear in other universes by themselves, usually guided by the creators wishes. Whenever you come across a token, that means you’ll be able to call upon them. However, sometimes tokens don’t work properly and malfunktion, and instead of summoning a Displaced to your own world, you get dragged into theirs. Some even do it by choice.”

“I myself however have chosen to travel directly through the void and happened to come across your universe as I heard your plea for help. I just simply couldn’t ignore and decided to help out. Did you get all that?” Blood Cleaver asked having ranted through her explanation, seemingly in one single breath. Now of course having to take a deep one to make up for the lack of oxygen.

Fourth Wall didn’t reply for a second, then she nodded rapidly. She looked up at Blood Cleaver, “Thank you so much. Two more. Is your real name Blood Cleaver? And could I make a totem?”

“Alright. My name is officially Blood Cleaver, it’s not my original name, but I had to change it because of circumstances. And yes, every Displaced can make their own totem. All they have to do is choose an object and pour some of their own energy into it, recite a short message for other Displaced to hear once they find the totem and then send it off into the void. The more afflicted the object is to yourself, the easier the creation of the token becomes.” Blood Cleaver explained.

Fourth Wall remembered something she wanted to get rid of, and it seemed unique. She took her backpack off and searched through it, and found it. She pulled out a cyan piece of flesh with Rainbow Dash’s Cutie Mark on it.

“It isn’t the real thing! I swear! I bought it and got sent here with it!” Fourth Wall defended, afraid to be judged by Blood Cleaver.

Taking a good look at the piece of flesh in Fourth's hooves, Blood Cleaver reached out with her senses and soon found the signature that matched Rainbow Dash's. She was still alive. Something Fourth Wall most likely wouldn't have been if Rainbow had lived through such a thing. Besides, the objected also had the same kind of void signature as a bringer. Not an official term in any way, but it was what Blood Cleaver had decided to call the objects that were bought and used to bring Displaced to their Equestria. So obviously it wasn't real, well, at least it wasn't real before.

“I believe you, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to have it as a totem. There are some less than friendly Displaced out there, and I think you would be instantly judged by such a totem. Maybe if we transform it into something else.” Blood Cleaver suggested after explaining why using a piece of flesh, skin and someone’s cutie mark would be a bad idea.

“How about a bouncy ball? I like that. You?” Fourth Wall suggested.

“Yeah, that sounds better. Give it here, I’ll see what I can do.” Blood Cleaver said. Receiving the unpleasant trinket she shuddered, no matter how much she dealt with blood, the feeling of holding raw flesh was always an unpleasant one, but she quickly composed herself again. Looking at the piece of flesh, it soon began to move, seemingly on it’s own accord and regained some of it’s color that it had lost from not being a part of something living anymore. The edges of the piece soon came together and formed a perfect sphere. Transforming into rubber the cyan ball became less lifelike, but still wearing Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. As soon as Blood Cleaver was done she handed it back to Fourth Wall.

Of course, Blood Cleaver could not completely turn it from organic to inorganic, she had simply ordered the cells to work in such a way that they would act as actual rubber, structure wise, and if it against all odds got damaged, it would be able to regenerate itself by absorbing any form of nearby energy or magic. But in all other aspects, it was a simple rubber ball.

“Here, I made sure it wasn’t made of organic material anymore. Don’t want to scare any sensitive Displaced with it after all.” She said. It was a half truth, It might not be considered organic anymore, but neither was it inorganic, more like something in between. At least it wasn't alive.

Fourth Smiled. Her face scrunched up, “So now what? I’ve got what the totem will be, but how is it going to relay anything? Or summon me?” Fourth asked confused.

“That part actually works out completely by itself. It’s like reality wants you to create one. Just put some personal energy into it and speak a phrase. Said phrase should be absorbed into the totem for others to hear. It will also automatically bind to you and work as intended… most of the time. So don’t worry too much about it.” Blood Cleaver explained. She knew it wasn't really much of an explanation to say "Just put some personal energy into it" but it was really the only way to explain it since it was different for each and every Displaced. And most could do it like that anyway.

Fourth Wall nodded. She closed her eyes and scrunched her face even more. After a bit, it glowed purple, and Fourth Wall spoke.

“Hello… My name is Fourth Wall. If you need help, I’ll come and LAY A SMACK DOWN- Sorry, I don’t know where that came from. I will help you, anyway I can… As… as long as you aren’t mean…”

The ball stopped glowing, and Fourth Wall looked to Blood Cleaver, “How was that?”

“It was an honest message, and it relays the meaning well enough. So it’s fine. Don’t worry, I’ve heard some truly terrible ones in my days and your’s is all right. Now then, want me to help you send it off, or you want to try it yourself?” Blood Cleaver asked. Remembering a token from somebody called Wade. Perhaps she should visit him and help him change his message? That would be something.

“I’d like to try. But I don’t know how to.” Fourth said.

“Just imagine stretching yourself out, past this world and think of what kind of Displaced you would like the totem to reach. And then let the totem go into the void, just simply let it go.” Blood Cleaver tried to explain how to properly apply your will to your token. While many Displaced simply let their own token fall into the void and find someone willy nilly. This method usually found individuals according to the creators will.

Fourth Wall closed her eyes and focused on what Blood Cleaver said, and let go… Only to get hit in the face by the rubber totem. It did so three times before it jumped out of the sight, disappearing into the void.

Fourth held her snout, “I should have asked for a non-bouncing ball…”
> 13) Detour (part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 13
Detour (part 2)








3rd person's POV





Blood Cleaver giggled a little at Fourth Wall’s miss fortune. “Well, now that we got that situated, maybe we should get little Applebloom here back to Ponyville?” Blood Cleaver suggested, pointing at the sleeping filly as a small portal to the void opened up and dropped a small cyan-colored bouncy ball with a cutie mark on it, right into Blood Cleavers hand. “Wow, seems I qualify for being your friend. Here, take my token as well.” Blood Cleaver said as she put the ball away and gave Fourth Wall her token, a black knife with a red edge and handle, each side of the blade having a crimson rune.

“If you ever need my help, just hold this and call my name, and I’ll be over right away.”

Fourth Wall took the blade, thanking Blood Cleaver for it, “I needed something to defend myself while Dashie has my blade. Thank you again for saving me and Applebloom… Friend…” Fourth seemed to have difficulty saying that word.

Fourth picked up the yellow filly, “I’ll take care of her. I don’t think the monsters will get us.”

“Alright, want me to help you find your way towards Ponyville? I can fly up and take a look. Besides, you’ll have to explain to her family why her eye is now a gray color instead of her usual one. Maybe I should come with you to help out with that?” Blood Cleaver offered to help.
Fourth Wall froze, she didn’t even think of that. “Yeah. I don’t even know where they live. And I’d love the company.”

“Good, friends need to stay together anyway, don’t they?” Blood Cleaver asked as she smiled towards Fourth Wall. “I’ll be back in a minute. “ She said as she suddenly floated upwards and flew up to look out for Ponyville.





Blood Cleaver's POV





We were a relatively small distance from the nearest town, but away from the direction of the town I could see a small cluster of buildings, presumably the place Fourth had tried to escape from. Looking closer, I saw some movement close to the location of Fourth and Applebloom.

It appeared to be a pony, one trying to get away from more of the monsters that had attacked Fourth and Applebloom. Remembering what Fourth Wall said about them attacking ponies I decided I should help out. I was not going to let any more ponies get hurt.

Letting go of my flight I jumped down between the rotting monsters and the escaping pony.

“Hey you, bone bags. Why don’t you chew on this?” I shouted to get their attention on me and quickly charged a ki-blast and shot them all with one blast. It proved highly effective as it sent them blasting off through the air, spreading their body parts all over the surrounding area.

Turning around I took a look at the hurt pony, quickly noticing it was a mare. “Are you alright miss?” I asked her.

The mare nodded, “Th- Thank you…” Her figure was hunched over like Fluttershy's, but seemed more ashamed then shy. “Do you know if a pink mare and a f- filly got out of the town?” Before answering I took notice of her injuries. A large bite mark on her neck, her left hind leg looked broken, several deep cuts and bruises over her body, and a large amount of blood dripping down her head. She swayed, looked about ready to pass out.

“Yes. They are both safe. Let me help you, I can heal you with my magic.” I told her, as I used a simple spell to determine the mare’s condition and make sure whatever those monsters were wasn’t infectious. Cleansing viruses was not a pleasant thing. But what I found was a bit worrying. She wasn't technically speaking 'alive'. In every sense, her soul was shrouded in what I could only describe as a 'curse'. She was not 'alive' in any kind of natural way, it was more like her soul was forced to stay in her body, not allowing her to die. I realized she was probably one of those things, just not looking like them. However, because she seemed concerned for Fourth's and Applebloom's health, and the fact that she was attacked by those things, I rationalized that if she wasn't on their side, she was most probably on ours. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' I believe it was.

The mare got closer, but collapsed. She wasn’t out, but she wouldn’t be able to do anything. At that moment I lost all doubt and decided to heal this mare and return to Fourth, I had left her and Applebloom alone for long enough. Quickly healing the mare so that she wouldn’t die. I flew back to where I left Fourth Wall and Applebloom. But not before giving the mare instructions to follow me, seeing as my magic had healed her enough for her to safely move around.

As I landed by Fourth Wall I recalled where I’d seen Ponyville in the distance. “We’re not too far away from Ponyville. I also saw a mare, she seemed to know you.” I explained to Fourth Wall.

“Mitta!? Is she okay!?” Fourth asked quietly, keeping her voice down not to wake Applebloom.

“Yes, she’s alright, she was a little banged up but I healed her somewhat with my magic. So she should be alright.” I replied, a bit quieter as I too didn't wish to wake Applebloom who would need all the rest she could get.

“Okay… Then let us get out of this godforsaken forest…” Fourth Wall said before she began moving towards the direction I had indicated leading to Ponyville.

Somewhere along the way, Fourth had begun humming winter wrap up. She hummed louder and louder until she was whispering, “Winter wrap up, winter wrap up! Let’s finish our holiday cheer!” Looking at her I took in her appearance in more detail than before. She was close to an identical copy of Pinkie Pie as a pony. But there were some obvious differences. Like her flat mane and its slight alteration in color, and the difference in how she held herself while moving around. As she noticed me looking at her she stopped and blushed, “Sorry. Dashie taught me that song… Fun tune!”

“Yeah, I remember singing that one… Want to hear another good one? Let’s see… What would be a good one…” I said out loud as I made it look like I was thinking of a song when I was changing out a few of the lyrics for a song I always had prepared, even if I hadn't sung it in a long while. As soon as I was done I smiled and began singing the new song.

Fourth Wall started singing along too. It wasn't a heartsong, she simply seemed to know the lyrics.

"Thank god." I thought to myself. I tried staying away from the parts of the multiverse where anyone could force a heartsong, mostly because I feared a Displaced would get the terrible idea of seeing what would happen if someone sang 'the song that never ends'.

Fourth did the background voices, and did some funny things like pull an eye patch out of a tree (one Pinkie had once had an urge to put there…), and when Mitta reached them, Fourth Wall tried getting her to sing too… To which she kindly denied.

“Gosh I love music!” Yelled Fourth Wall as the song ended. Her smile was as big as Pinkie’s, with her mane and color matching.

“I’m glad you like it. Music is a big part of Equestria after all. No matter where you go, you will most definitely end up singing together with other ponies along the way. It is something to calm the nerves and bring everyone together.” I told her. I wasn't sure how it was in this part of the multiverse, but it wasn't always that you could break away from a heartsong, not that many would like to do that anyway because of how great it felt. I then once again took notice of the mare that Fourth called Mitta. “Sorry, I don’t think we properly introduced ourselves. I am Blood Cleaver, may I ask your name Miss…” I asked her.

“Mitta. Nice to meet you too.” Mitta gave a small smile. To which I smiled back.

“So, you’re coming with us to Ponyville Mitta? Or are you going someplace else, like Canterlot or Manehattan?” I asked her, both because I was curious about the mare's intentions and to start up a conversation.

“I think I’ll stay with Fourth Wall and Applebloom. I don’t think Sunny Town is done with us yet.”

"Sunny Town." I thought to myself, committing the name to memory. I would make sure to keep an eye out for this town in other worlds as well from now on.

Fourth Wall groaned, “I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy!”

“They won't attack tonight or tomorrow. They need to pull themselves together, then they’ll retaliate. But we’ll think of a plan.” Mitta explained.

“Ah, so those blasts give you about two days worth of peace… How long would it take them to recover if I simply blew up the entire little town of theirs?” I asked Mitta, charging a small ki-ball in my hand, offering to bring devastation to such a despicable town.

“It would do little than singe the town. The whole place is cursed.” Mitta said, “I wish it was as simple as that.” Mitta said as I groaned inside. Most 'curses' were not curses. This however really felt like one. And since Mitta was cursed as well, then this was one heck of a mess.

“Don’t worry Blood. We’ll be okay! I’ve got a weapon, and we have time to get those… Elements of Harmony!” Fourth Wall tried to assure me. Somehow I doubted the Elements would do much good against that curse.

“Oh, you know the elements. Was it a part of the memories you got back? I’m glad you’re remembering stuff. And using the elements does sound like a good idea. Just be careful, curses aren’t something to take too lightly.” I said as we began to get close to the outskirts of the Everfree forest, Ponyville visible not too far off.

“Sort of, Pinkie told me her, Dashie, and four others have magical MacGuffins that ward off evil, but I do think I remember them before then. My memories are kind of foggy, so I’ll need to sort through them to understand all of it.” Fourth said, stepped out of the Forest. Mitta, having no idea what we were talking about, carefully took Applebloom off of Fourth's back and trotted to the side, leaving us alone in our conversation.

“Yeah, it’ll take some time. But your memories will eventually align properly. As long as no one tries to forcefully rearrange them that is. But if someone does, you’d know instantly.” I told her as we all continued towards a dirt road not too far off.

The three of us soon arrived at the farm, “I’ll be over there. Be careful.” Mitta said, giving Applebloom back to Fourth again.

Fourth Wall nodded, and knocked. There was a rustle, and a, “I’ll be there ‘n a minute!” Coming from what Fourth guessed was Applejack.

Fourth then looked at me, then the door, then she looked at me again with wide eyes. “Human! No. Can’t let- no!” Fourth freaked. “Hide!”

A bit surprised at first, I soon realized that it might be best not to just waltz around as a human between ponies. But instead of hiding, I did something a little different. With a quick flash of magic, I had changed my body into one of a pony. I now looked much like Fourth Wall, but instead of a pink mane, my was completely black and flat by default (something I found annoying as I wanted to keep my pink mane, even as my natural hair color had changed to black since I became a Displaced), and I still wore my cutie mark instead of the one Pinkie Pie and Fourth Wall shared.

Fourth Wall sighed in relief, and just then, a messy maned Applejack stood in the doorway, “Pinkie! What in tarnation are ya doing ‘ere!? Applebloom’s missing, an-” She was cut off when she saw said filly on Fourth's mares back, sleeping peacefully. “Where was she!?”

“In the Everfree Forest! I checked there and found this mare-” Fourth gestured towards me, “-who helped me. Something was wrong with AB’s eye, and Cleaver-” Once again, she gestured towards me, “- Fixed it! It’ll look funny for a bit, but it’ll be fine!” Fourth Wall explained before she gulped air.

I nodded at Fourth's explanation, it might be best to keep the fact that undead ponies were the ones to hurt Applebloom. “It was in extremely bad shape, it is fine now, but it’ll be sensitive for some time and her iris will be gray until it’s color matures and returns. I’m not sure how long it will take, but it will at most take a year for it to return to normal. I also removed her memories of whatever did it to her. The pain is too much for a filly her age to bear. You will have to come up with something to explain her eye, or if you wish, tell her the truth.” I explained to Applejack calmly.

At first, Applejack was stunned. But suddenly I found myself in a hug. I was now happy that I decided on a complete transformation instead of an illusion. Fourth Wall seemed a bit confused about the sudden affection from Applejack though. 

Applejack ended the hug, “Thank ya so much. I don’t know what I’d do if Applebloom was hurt that badly and…” AJ didn’t finish.

Fourth Wall patted her back, and said, “She’ll be fine! Here, take this eyepatch!” Fourth Wall pulled the eyepatch she grabbed during the song and handed it over to AJ. I could see the temptation to ask, but Applejack decided against it. She wished us a good night and took Applebloom inside.

“I’ll check on her tomorrow. Will she remember things before the… eye thing?” Fourth asked me as we got farther away from the farm.

“Yes, she’ll remember most of the things. But she won’t be able to remember the pain or exactly what happened. She might remember being attacked, but it will most likely be blurry for her.” I explained.

“So, do you have any place to stay? I will have to leave soon and I would like to leave you incapable hooves before I depart.” I said, after all. I didn't know much about them.

Fourth shrugged, “I’ll figure something out. Mitta and I can find a temporary place… Maybe a box…”

Mitta sighed, “No money, nopony knows we exist, and a bunch of psychotic zombies want to kill us… Swell…”

“I know! Isn’t it exciting!?” Fourth squealed, only to realize what she had just said: “Where did THAT come from?”

I felt a few chuckles escape me at that. “That would be your inner Pinkie. You’re not completely who you used to be, you have some of the traits associated with Pinkie Pie blending with your own. Also, here,” I said as I took out a small bag of bits for them to get by with. I had seen that regular bits were the currency here so there shouldn't be any complications with a few bits from my collection.

“This should be enough bits for a while. So food and house room shouldn’t be a problem, that is if they have hotels in this Ponyville…” I told them. There were chances there wouldn't be any hotels or inns. Not all Equestrias were the same, and sometimes things like that simply went missing.

Fourth Wall smiled, “Maybe that was the person I was. I’d hate to be someone I’m not, though I guess that’s too late. And thank you SO much! We’ll see if they do!” Fourth said as Mitta took the bag of bits with her mouth.

Fourth pulled out something from her backpack. It looked like a Pistol, “Here, I don’t need this. No fingers! Heh… I think my old self bought a BUNCH of things from Comic-Con before I went somewhere else and I got sent here!” Fourth tried tossing it to me, but only managed to hit Mitta in the head who gave her an unamused look.

The pistol looked like it would fit in a Steampunk convention. Meaning it looked like it was old, but practical and full of gears and small pipes. A little rust and dust could be seen as well.

I picked up the gun as I inspected it. “Well… While I don’t find any use in a gun, I do tend to find myself in the most ridiculous of situations. I guess it could still come in handy.” I told Fourth as I accepted the gift.

“I guess this is goodbye for now then. See ya. I would stay longer, but I have a corrupted Displaced to catch. May the Elements work out for you!” I said as I began to move away from them, intending to disappear over the hill where I would slip back into the void.





3rd person's POV





“Well… I hope she’ll be okay…” Mitta said. She turned to Fourth Wall, seeing her flat maned and teary-eyed.

“I didn’t get to say goodbye…”

Mitta sighed, “Are you always going to have mood swings?”

“YES! The memories are giving me a headache! I can’t think straight and I feel needy and sappy!” Fourth Wall began crying as Mitta threw Wall over her back and looked for a hotel. A couple of ponies that stayed up that late saw the sobbing mare, but didn’t give it much thought other than, “Just Pinkie being Pinkie…” Nopony noticing the small note hanging off her backpack.

I’m not any good with goodbyes, so let’s settle for a “see you later”. - Blood Cleaver.
> 1X) Late arrival (No longer canon)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 14
Late Arrival








Location: Equestra.





3rd person POV




A sudden ripple could be seen, heard and felt in the air as it violently exploded inwards and got consumed by a black nothingness. Yet out of this nothingness stepped out someone very familiar, yet very unknown. Black Frost was on the scene.

As soon as Black had entered the new world that had drawn him in, he looked around and summoned his staff. He was not going to repeat his past mistakes and underestimate his enemies. This time he would have his full power at his disposal and he would not play any silly games with the Displaced. He would crush them!

Unfortunately there was one thing that always rang true for him. He was worthless at finding other Displaced. Deciding that stirring up some trouble would be enough to lure a Displaced out he called the wind and flew around, trying to spot any familiar ground. He would be looking for a long time.





Black Frost's POV





It took me a lot of time. This Equestria, or wherever it was, differed greatly from what I was used to. But eventually, I did find a town full off ponies, the perfect target to lure out a Displaced, be they good or bad. I contemplated if I should go for lethal magic or just scare them enough for the ponies to make a ruckus.

In the end, I decided to shoot blindly and see if I hit any. The small explosions of ice magic froze anything they hit, unfortunately I seemed to have missed all my shots. I had hoped for at least one pony pop sickle. The attacks, however, did have the intended effect and the ponies began screaming as they were nearly hit by my magic. It quickly evolved into full-blown panic and I even saw a pony faint, simply from seeing a few flowers having been completely frozen in a layer of ice.

Deciding to up my game a little I formed a magic blast bigger than any of the previous ones, this one, however, was not intended to freeze any ponies but to release strong gusts of air and blow them all away from the surrounding area. I was expecting the local Displaced to appear at any moment.

A loud *boom* sounded from when my most recent blast struck the ground and scattered the ponies in every direction, further increasing their screaming. If this didn't get the local Displaced's attention, then my laughter most likely would.

After a little while, I heard the sound of someone walking upon the ground. Sounding different to the clip-clop of pony hooves. I wasn't sure of what I expected, but another me wasn't it.

I smiled to myself as I created a big ice block and threw it towards him. In case he was like me, I infused it with my presence so that it wouldn't simply pass through him.

However, before the ice block could hit him, he was picked up by the wind and was flung on top of a house some distance away.

"That’s completely not cool!" My doppelganger shouted towards me.

“Heh, says my impersonator. You know, I was surprised to see another Displaced like me. So, how long you been living away from Earth?” I asked as I shot a beam of frost towards him. After all, if anyone, I was the real one. I had been trained by Jack Frost himself before I took up his staff!

He jumped back to avoid my attack, simply re-aiming towards his new position as quickly as I could before he could think to jump out of the way again. Unfortunately, he had other ideas as he thrust his hands at the floor, and made a wall of ice to defend himself from my frost beam.

While he was searching his bag behind the wall of ice, I simply walked around it as I had come down and was no longer floating above the ground. He was pathetic in comparison to me. 

"I should just kill him and be over with it." I thought as a spear of black sand came thrusting from behind me. I had, of course, felt the subtle change in the air and simply sidestepped it.

“What do you think you’re doing?”, a new voice asked from behind me.

Turning around to face the new arrival I simply had to smirk as I saw who it was. Pitch Black, or at least he looked like him. “Oh, wonderful. A combo, or did this dofus perhaps summon you?” I asked, pointing towards the twerp behind me with my thumb.

Said dofus had just managed to find what he was looking for and took out some sort of device, One I would guess was a token, and opened his mouth to call for help. Unfortunately for him, I am fast to react.

“No, you don’t.” I simply stated as I moved my staff just a little bit, hitting the token with some of my frost magic, freezing his entire hand and the token he was holding.

Jack stared at this slackjawed, before regaining his mind: “Seriously, what’s your problem?”, he asked staring at me, “You come in here, wreck my town, wreck- Oh, hey Pitch! Long-time no see! Even though I guess you wouldn’t remember the last time…” He said as I rolled my eyes.

Youngsters, can't even keep focus long enough to hold a conversation, or even finish their sentences. I'll be doing this world a HUGE favor by eliminating him.

Meanwhile, Pitch just continued to throw black sand spears at me, still unable to hit me, since I was dodging them with ease, but he was improving with each spear thrown.

“A better question is, where did he come from? A dark version of someone doesn’t simply start existing for no reason.” Pitch asked. Seemingly these guys didn't even know of the Displaced, perhaps they were Displaced together? Well, it didn't matter. I would finish them either way.

“Of course not. I came from another universe. The fact I happened to meet another one looking like me is pure coincidence… or actually, that was a lie. I felt like this world was calling me, so I came over for a look. The last world I visited didn’t take kindly to challenging their Displaced for the right to destroy everything. So this time I decided to just do what I please from the beginning at full power. Also, to answer your question to why I’m not like you, I used to be nice, caring and all that. But that doesn’t get you anywhere and won’t let you protect anyone. So, when my world's Discord decided it was a good idea to corrupt me, I kicked his ass. Now I’m traveling the void as practice before I return to my world and bring it down to its knees so I won’t have any more trouble with it. But seeing as I’m striving for perfection, I want to have a little practice first! Also, I no longer go by the name Jack Frost, It’s Black Frost now!” I explained myself as I continued dodging the black sand spears.

Jack tied looking uninterested and let out a yawn.

“Who cares? It’s not like you’re gonna get away when I do THIS!”, Jack said and used his other hand to grab another token out of his bag, which was something I recognized as an old video game relic, a Pokéball. Once again, I simply sent out some of my magic and froze his hand and Token. Remembering something I had heard a long time ago, I decided to share some of my wisdom.

“You realize the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results?”

At that, Pitch transformed his arm into a blade, having finally managed to get close to me, only for me to grant him his obvious request of an elbow to his stomach, causing him to back away again.

“That wasn’t insanity”, he said then, “The time the slowpoke needed to grab the token was shorter, and it was a different token. Different…” Pitch said only for me to hit him in the face with my staff.

“You realize I was referring to something? Also, just because the token was different and the fact that he was slightly different, doesn’t change the fact that it wasn’t different enough. Same action, same result.” I explained as I lowered the tip of my staff, frost spreading along the ground as it was touched by the tip of my staff, setting up my advantage.

“That is a lame trick. I can do that too. Wait, where did my staff go?”, Jack asked, looking around while struggling with his frozen hands.

“You mean this?” I asked as he held up his staff in my other hand. Having swiped it from the ground when he put it down to go through his bag. “Let’s see… If I remember correctly…” I said as I smiled and turned towards Jack.

“Oops,” I said as I drained the staff of its power and broke it in my hand.

“Isn’t that supposed to by my part?”, Pitch asked.

“And another thing… what Jack can do, I could do much earlier.” Pitch bragged, begging me to remind him who of us was in charge of the situation.

“Nope, my turn again,” I said as I sprung my trap, the frost covering the ground turned blue and spikes of ice shot out towards Pitch, hitting him straight on.

Pitch was thrown off the roof, and impaled on the next. “This reminds me of a video I once saw…”, he muttered, “‘You have proven that you are the best, for you have made a giant hole in my chest’. Pretty funny how true that rings.” He then dissolved into shadows, and came out of the shadow directly under the rooftop.

“I see something you don’t…”, he tried to mock me.

“Really?” I asked, “Give me a moment.” I said, as I powered up and fired my most powerful spell in no time, freezing absolutely EVERYTHING around me to absolute zero, making sure nothing managed to creep up on me, magical or otherwise.

“Yes, I do.”, Pitch said while shadow-shifting onto streets far enough away, “And it’s another token!”, he exclaimed while jumping into the air, catching a snowflake. “Huh, looks like something you would use as token. Unimaginative enough you are after all.”

“Whatever. You know what?” I asked, letting go of the magic keeping the absolute zero spell going, “I think I’m going to enjoy doing THIS!” I shouted, and quickly turned around towards Jack, who was trying to sneak up on me from behind.

“Gotcha!” I exclaimed as I pointed my staff at him and shouted, “Hell Frost!” as a wave of orange glowing snow gushed forward, completely covering my opponent.

The ear grating screamed and hissing as his skin melted was music to my ears.





Location: The Void.





Blood Cleaver's POV





I had messed up pretty bad. I had thought my tracking spell would have been enough to track Black, but it had apparently begun to fade away and would soon disappear. The Void being... itself, didn't make it any easier to follow the trail of the tracker spell. My little detour hadn't affected my hunt for the corrupted Guardian any, if anything, it had helped me.

As I exited Fourth Walls's universe, it sent me out at a different location to my entry, meaning I didn't have to deal with the big collection of ice magic left behind by Black.

My sense for feeling Power Levels wasn't responding correctly to my surroundings, seemingly the void itself disturbed my senses to a certain degree, meaning I had to stop and focus at a universe I passed, to make sure I didn't miss Black Frost.

Before I could do anything, however, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I quickly picked it up to see that it was a summon. Unable to afford another distraction, I forwarded the call to voicemail where the summoner would be able to leave a message or call me once again if it was an emergency so that I could judge for myself what I should do. I hoped the summoner would go for the former or try to summon someone else. But with my luck, it was inevitable that my phone began vibrating again and I had to answer the call.

“Hello?” I asked the would-be summoner. “Is this urgent? I’m in quite a bind over here myself, so please be quick about it.” I informed them, making sure my irritation could be heard over the phone.

“Bad’n ghostey’s kill’n good ghostey ‘n’ want’n to’n destroy’n evrything there is’n coming through force’nto the universe and try’n to kill’n Good sandguy too’n…” I heard over the phone before I realized who it was that was calling me. Having met Sor’Gat once before, I was able to quickly understand what he was saying. And it sounded somewhat familiar.

“Sor’Gat? is that you? Never mind, the one you mentioned, does he happen to look like a human-like me, gray hair, pale gray skin, red eyes and clothed in a black hoodie and light brown pants?” I asked him.

“Sound’n ‘bout right. Just’n got’n first strike hit at him. “ Sor’Gat replied, making me curse myself. While I had helped someone else, and had saved more than one life. Black had managed to kill someone else. By the sound of things, it was a Displaced, and considering Black's current state, I would hazard a guess that it was one who would have saved many more lives in his lifetime.

Frowning to myself, I quickly locked on to the signal my phone was picking up to my token. Arriving at the right universe, I quickly re-directed my entry towards the power level of Black Frost and prepared for entry.





Location: Equestra.





3rd person POV





Black was just about to plant ice mines underground to catch Pitch off-guard as he heard a portal open up right over his head. A loud yell coming through. “Found you, you bastard!” Blood Cleaver screamed as she dropkicked him in the face.

Meanwhile the last of Jack’s agonizing screams stopped as what was still left of his body fell over, continuing to melt from the unnaturally hot, orange snow.

Pitch shadow stepped over to Jack’s dead body, the upper half having melted almost entirely, and said: “Surprisingly, it took him this long to melt… what am I saying? He just died, and I wonder about how long it took him to die… there is something wrong with me.”

“Definitely.” Blood Cleaver spoke as Black was getting up. As soon as he saw who he was facing he-

“Oh shit! Not you again!” He said and quickly bolted it out of there, trying to fly away.

However, his escape failed as the wind decided not to lend it's aid to him. Keeping yet another Frost from flying.

“What the?” He exclaimed as he nearly fell flat on his face.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Blood Cleaver provided in response. Taking on a stance that would to some be a very familiar one.

“Kame-hame-ha!” She shouted as a blue sphere of energy quickly materialized between her hands and was then turned into a beam, directed towards Black who because of his earlier stumble was unable to dodge.

As the blast hit him, he went flying without any more additional help. His body felt as it had been hammered with tank bullets.

As his body once again hit the ground, he groaned and tried to get up before Blood Cleaver made her next move. Unfortunately, his rise from the ground was interrupted by a black leather boot, connected to a very angry looking Blood Cleaver.

“Going somewhere?” She asked with a sadistic smile.

“Um... “ Was Black’s response as he tried to stall for time as he gathered as much energy he could muster into his staff. Unfortunately for Black, Blood Cleaver sensed the rise in power level and stomped her other foot onto his wrist, forcing him to let go of the staff.

“No way I’m letting you do that again.” She said, lifting her foot and kicking him in the head as hard as she could, sending him deep into the ground while creating a crater, as if a meteor had landed.

“Wow, I heard legends of you and your methods, but seeing them myself, I have to say, I am impressed.”, someone else said as they came, calmly walking down the street towards the fight, “Gotta say, that Dragon Ball Z technique is quite common nowadays. Wanna take a selfie with me?” The new arrival held up his phone, not having held anything beforehand.

“Who is that? / What’cha you?”, Pitch and Sor’Gat asked.

The new arrival smirked and responded: “Oh, no one. Forget me, I am unimportant. You probably wanted to know my name… call me 5.0. And I wouldn’t forget Black Frost over me, Blood.”, he said pointing at Black.

Blood gave him an ‘are you serious’-look as she once again looked at Black Frost who was lying at the bottom of the crater, holding his head as a strim of blood zippered out from underneath his hand.

She fired another Kame-hame-ha at him. To ensure he wouldn't escape.

*click*

“Hey, look!”, 5.0 exclaimed, showing his phone screen to Pitch and Sor’gat, “I got it on screen! I always wanted a picture of a Kamehameha!”

Pitch calmly, but notably angered told him: “You know this isn’t the time to do senseless things like that, there is still Black Frost. That woman may be holding him back for now, but we don’t know for how long.”

“Seriously? This is EXACTLY the time for things like these! ‘That woman’, or Blood Cleaver as is her name…”, 5.0 tried to say.

“WOULD THE TWO OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?!”, screamed Blood Cleaver at them as her temper was getting worse. “I’m trying to scan his mind, something that isn’t getting any easier with the two of you! And as we-” She ranted as she suddenly noticed a certain object missing from its previous location.

“Horseapples.” She simply said as she looked back to where Frost had been, only to see the tip of his staff disappearing through a closing portal.

“Oh yeah, forgot to mention that. This is the moment he escaped. I rewound this fifty times to get the photo, and the video of you losing your temper. Thanks for your help!”, 5.0 told her, escaping through his portal.

The sound of a steaming kettle could be heard as Blood Cleaver stepped right up to where 5.0 had just been and began glaring daggers at the one spot. “Oh no, you don't!” She said as she reached out with one hand and dragged him back out…

Only to feel her hand grabbing her shoulder.

She heard laughter from behind her, and 5.0’s voice: “Sorry, couldn’t keep myself contained. Now this rewind can stay! So, what did you want?”

5.0 jumped back as she turned towards him with a glare, accidentally dropping his phone: “Oh- oh…”

Smirking to herself, Blood Cleaver did something that would help her relieve stress for the rest of her life. She punched the asshole in the face, not holding back an ounce of power.

As 5.0 flew through the house, he seemed to not be scratched an inch: “It will be sooo expensive to remake that fake-phone! Do you even know how hard it was to get that one?”

“Nope, don’t care!” Blood Cleaver said in a much more happy tone. “Now I gotta go.” She said as she turned around and grabbed a zipper in thin air and unzipped the fabric keeping her from entering the void.

“So, anything before I leave?”

“Yes, can we still do that Selfie?”, 5.0 asked, only to receive a hit on the head from Pitch, who shadow stepped over to him. “What he meant to say was, that it would be nice to have something to remember you by, didn’t you, 5.0?”

Sor’Gat hopped over to Blood Cleaver, and told her: “We should be’n meet’n soon without’n craz’n stuff. Like ruin ‘n’ bad ghostey.”

“Yeah, unfortunately my Author decided to cram a shit ton of crossovers for the- Oops, I mean, I don’t think I’ll be able to be around that much for a while. But as soon as I can I’ll come over. Also, you might want my token as well.” She said, turning towards Pitch, giving him one of her tokens. Ignoring the hopeful look on 5.0’s face.

“Thanks. I will make sure to use it only when I feel like.”, he told her, thinking about it for a few seconds, before saying: “Eh, you can have mine too. So, just procuring a bit of Nightmare sand, mixing in my essence… making a sexual harassment joke… done. Here, you can have it.”
The token in question was looking similar to the Nightmares the original used to invoke, well, nightmares.

Seeing how she was ignoring him, 5.0 pouted and said: “Whatever. It’s not like you were able to call upon me without creating a paradox anyways. And I know, it’s sometimes almost as if your life was a story, and your readers the only good guys, while the author wants you to suffer.”

“I signed the contract myself, he has some stuff planned that would make it all worth it and- Oh, sorry again. I have my reasons to keep going… Damn, I will have to re-arrange my memories again. And if you want to have something, here.” Blood Cleaver said as she threw him a small pink glowing sphere. “Pure energy in condensed form. Just make sure not to damage the shell or it blows.”

Now once again turning towards the portal. “Bye you guys, I’ll visit sometime later.

The last thing she heard before the portal closed behind her, was: “This’ll look great in my shrine! I mean, this will be a good reminder of her.” It sounded like 5.0.

She shuddered at that and noted the interesting bits of conversation between authors. Thankfully she would be able to return to enjoy some time with Sor’Gat while 5.0 wasn’t there at a later date.

Happy with such an outcome she left to once again find where Black had gone to. Hopefully managing to snap him out of his discorded state.
> 14) Recovering Spring (part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 15
Recovering Spring (part 1)








Location: The Void





Black Frost's POV





“That was far too close!” I thought to myself as I barely escaped from Blood Cleaver. I knew she would soon be on my tail once again, so my best shot was to get as far away from this universe as possible. The problem was that currently distance, direction and time was beyond my control in The Void, making any attempts—besides obvious traps—to create an advantage useless.

If I was to stand up against Cleaver, I would have to refill my magic reserves. I was still far from empty, but I was getting closer than I ever could have imagined; the stunt I pulled in Robin’s universe has taken a lot more out of me than I thought.

Swiftly, I swept my gaze around and took in all surrounding universes. A few of them had powerful Displaced I could most likely drain of magic, but there was one that somehow felt familiar… This one was filled with multiple Displaced. I would normally have avoided entering a universe with multiple Displaced, but they were all weaker than Blood Cleaver, and I could probably pick them off one by one should it come to it. There was also the fact that this universe already had a set ‘invitation’. After all, I could feel one of my tokens already in there.

I smiled to myself. This would be perfect for me to take care of Blood Cleaver; the time dilation would allow me to spend enough time in there to recover fully before Cleaver caught up to me. Plus, she would still be exhausted after having chased me. I would be the-

Any further thoughts of mine were shattered as I was thrown against the edge of the universe I intended to invade. A quick look back confirmed my fears: Blood Cleaver had already caught up to me and had landed the first hit, and she looked furious.

“Welp, might at least not waste the opportunity to regain some energy.” I thought to myself as I activate a passage, connecting it to my token.

Unfortunately Blood Cleaver seemed to have guessed my plan.

“As if I’d let you!” She screamed grabbing onto me.

I was already in a relatively bad situation, but it only got worse from there. 


Because of the sudden addition in mass, the passage shifted and our point of entry changed, further decreasing my chances of draining another Displaced of their magic.

As Blood Cleaver and I fell through, my only thoughts were on how much I would enjoy getting back at Blood Cleaver after this was all done and over with.

Once Blood Cleaver and I had both fallen through the temporary passage I had set up, I couldn't resist smiling. This time, it seemed I had been in luck. All around us the snow was falling and the cold provided me with quite an advantage against Blood Cleaver. One I would use to the best of my capabilities.

Seeing as how Blood Cleaver had already grabbed me, I used my magic to siphon heat from her, trying to slow her down and make her movements more sluggish.

Blood Cleaver quickly caught on and managed to push me away before I had time to begin freezing her for real. As she separated from me, I called in the help of the wind, to make sure I had every advantage imaginable. The increase in wind made the snow conceal my movements from Blood Cleavers eyesight, making me smile. I had effectively made her blind. While the show itself was blocking my vision, I could still see Blood Cleaver using my ability to see things clearly through the aid of my magic when used on either snow or ice, giving me one of the biggest advantages.

Halting my movement by letting the wind catch me, I turned in the direction towards Blood Cleaver and sent an icicle towards her, just to see how well she would handle it. However, as the icicle was about to impact her, she suddenly appeared above me, ready to deliver an ax kick. It had been too fast for me to see, but the change in the wind and movement of the falling snow gave away the fact that she hadn't teleported, but instead moved faster than the eye could see.

Making the mistake of freezing up for a moment, I ended up taking her attack in full force without being able to block it in time.

A loud BOOM accompanied me as I hit the ground, creating a crater which would soon be filled by the falling snow.

At this point, I had realized that my advantage had been turned against me; my snow screen hid me from view, yet Blood Cleaver still had some way of detecting me. This meant I was simply wasting magic on upholding the storm and using it as an additional eye. I quickly dispelled my self-induced storm and instead used a small amount of magic to clear the surrounding area of any snowfall, giving me a clear view.

As the snow stopped falling, I saw that Blood Cleaver was trying to hit me once again by falling on top of me, most likely with the intent of delivering a devastating punch or kick.

Rolling out of her way, I barely avoided the explosion of light blue light that filled the spot I had previously occupied, the explosion was quickly followed by another loud BOOM.

Getting up on my feet, I immediately sent up pillars and spikes of ice from the ground, with the original intent of hitting Blood Cleaver. She managed to dodge by weaving in between them while sending her plasma-based attacks towards me. Blood Cleaver being a wild card—and already has proven to me that her plasmablasts could harm me somehow—I tried dodging or countering them by using my magic to intercept them. For those I couldn't dodge or intercept, I instead avoided by taking cover behind the pillars I had created earlier on. While they could take a hit for me, they could not take more than one, meaning I had to move constantly as well as attack her myself.

The thin, yet razor-sharp ice spears I threw at her whenever I managed to spot her were more than what met the eye. For one, they weren't as fragile as regular ice, and could withstand Blood Cleaver's plasma blasts without instantly melting. With them, I managed to even the fight out somewhat, making her dodge my attacks about as much as I had to avoid hers.

"You know there's no way you can win Jack, just give up!" Blood Cleaver shouted over the sound of her vaporizing her surroundings while I quickly recreated them.

"It's Black now, and don't you be so sure. I'm slowly turning this in my favor, and there's nothing you can do about it!" I shouted back. While I wasn't entirely sure about my statement, I knew that I was faring decently against her for the moment. If I was lucky enough, I'd be able to escape into another reality after having drained a Displaced or two from this world.

My response didn't seem to do me any favors as she began shooting more of her beams at me. Dodging and blocking her beams with ice was not ideal. Her beams seemed to instantly vaporize the ice, only giving me an additional fraction of a second to react. Fortunately, it was plenty enough for me to move, but I was hard-pressed to retaliate. Most of the ice I created and sent her way I didn't have time to aim properly as I had to make sure she wouldn't be able to instantly melt them, resulting in her easily dodging them instead.

Suddenly, Blood Cleaver decided to jump into the air. The sudden change in tactic caught me off guard, but I quickly recovered and sent an aimed volley of icicles at her, seeing as she had given up attacking me to perform her move. While I saw her move as foolish, I didn't complain as it gave me the perfect opening. Or that's at least what I thought until she moved to the side in mid-air and watched my attack easily move past her.

I realized that she hadn't simply jumped up into the air, but was now actually flying. Given her now apparent advantage of a bird's eye view, I was once again at a disadvantage.

Two can play at that game. I thought to myself as I jumped into the air. While I abandoned my cover, I now had the same advantage as her, rendering it null. It was either-or, but I was quite confident in my ability to ride the winds and manipulate them to my whims having had several millennia of practice. Since I could move even faster in the air, I still had the upper hand, exchanging the tactic of blocking her blasts for dodging them instead.

As soon as I reached the same height as her, she released another collection of beams at me. In return, I did the same with a bunch of my icicles. We were both dodging each other's attacks while keeping the other one from advancing by releasing our own upon them. I found myself enjoying this, but the enjoyment was overshadowed by the frustration I felt about this stalemate we found ourselves in.

Deciding to change things up somewhat—and hopefully gain an advantage—I gave up my attempts at aiming and instead began creating more icicles, as well as scattering them in every direction. My logic was if I didn't attack in any predictable pattern, she wouldn't be able to predict any of my attacks and by increasing the amount of them, I further increased the possibility of hitting her.

At first, it didn't seem to work, but then I noticed her briefly looking away at something. Not being one to waste such a chance, I immediately made as big of an ice chunk as I could and threw it towards her. While her being distracted allowed me time to create the chunk of ice that could pass for a mountain top, it wasn't enough to catch her completely unaware.

The mountain of ice simply blew up with a loud BOOM!!!. Ice chunks suddenly filling the skies around us. I still had a clear view of Blood Cleaver though, and I noticed the attention being elsewhere. Following her gaze, I noticed we had a group of observers. And the many chunks of ice were about to hit them all.

Before I could even blink, Blood Cleaver disappeared and reappeared in between the group and the hail of decently sized chunks of ice. While I could simply pass through any that fell my way, none of them seemed to have such an ability. Blood Cleaver seemingly having noticed this, had decided to shield them by destroying any that came near them. Deciding not to make things to easy for her, I began redirecting additional chunks towards her until she had destroyed them all.

As soon as the group seemed to be out of harm's way, Blood Cleaver once again appeared in front of me.

"That was dirty and you know it. This is our fight!" She complained. Before I could inform her that I hadn't intended to attack them since I hadn't even known of their existence and that it was only a bonus for me, she took a weird stance and shouted.

"Multi-form!"

I was almost about to begin laughing at the ridiculous move, but stopped myself as she split into two. Oh, shit. I thought to myself before noticing that one of them descended towards the group.

While I didn't let it show, I was relieved. I was NOT ready to take on two of her. Though, why didn't she do this earlier? I asked myself. Perhaps the split means she also splits her power? I hypothesized. Perhaps her deciding to split her powers to protect them would work in my favor. If I ignored the group and focused on this Blood Cleaver, I would be fighting a weaker Blood Cleaver, while focusing all my powers on her.

I smiled to myself as I once again began to send icicles towards her.





3rd person POV





As Blood Cleaver split into two, one of them descended towards what she had identified as two Displaced and a Draconequus, although she couldn't see the Draconequus, only sense him.

As she landed she looked upon them.

“You guys alright?” She asked as the sounds of fighting resumed above them, a few more chunks of ice falling around them.

“Y-yeah-.” The younger girl began before she was interrupted by the man.

“Yeah, just who the hell are you?” He demanded.

Deciding introductions were in order, Blood Cleaver bowed a little before speaking.

“My name is Blood Cleaver, and that,” she pointed towards the fight. “is me battling against Jack Frost, or as he’s currently calling himself, Black Frost.” Cleaver introduced both herself and Frost.

“Whoa, Lady. Black Frost? What’s up with the change? That’s different from the last time I saw him.” The man replied while the girl herself was observing the two fighters battling it out against one another.

“Well, from what the Cutie Mark Crusaders told me, he was discorded.” Blood Cleaver responded. Although, she knew with certainty that it was just that that had happened to Jack, she had after all been trying to undo what Discord had done to him by trying to affect his mind, something that wasn't easy while both doing battle if one wished to do so safely.

The man and the girl looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what Blood Cleaver was talking about. That was when the Draconequus Blood Cleaver had sensed came out of the man and decided to step up to the plate in regards to explaining.

“It’s an ability where a Draconequus steals some pony's harmony and has them act the opposite of what they normally would be. Something tells me Jack’s Discord did this to him.” He explained.

While not exactly accurate according to Blood Cleaver, she guessed it was only one of many differences between universes. And since the explanation did explain what had happened, but through a different method, she supposed it was a valid explanation.

“That would be correct. Heh, I wasn’t there when it happened, but Discord back in Jack’s Equestria already learned his lesson. Because after Jack returned as Black, Discord wasn’t seen leaving the site. Although I doubt he’s dead. It ain’t easy getting rid of you lot.” Blood Cleaver said as she chuckled a little, pointing at Discord.

“I know I’m in no position to ask this of you, but could I ask for your assistance? I might not look like it, but I’m currently not capable of containing Black. Would you mind helping a lady out?” Blood Cleaver asked. 

“Anything to get my friend back,” The man retorted. “Just leave my daughter out of this-.” He began saying before he was interrupted by the girl instead.

“No, dad.” She interjected. “I’m fighting with you. If Blood Cleaver needs help, then that means trying to fight him alone will end up getting yourself hurt or worse,” Around that moment, six blades began to materialize. “Now, how do we do this?” She asked.

“Ah, that. Well, for a start, we have to avoid all the Ki blasts, icicles and anything else flying from those two.” Blood Cleaver said as she gestured behind herself where the fight had once again distanced itself away from them.

“Otherwise, it’s mostly the containing part I need help with. Word of advice though, if you have to hit him, hit hard. He takes close to no damage from punches that break rocks. And sharp weapons don’t cut him, so don’t fight him head-on if he tries to attack you. And watch out for his magic, I believe he is low on reserves, but he could still freeze you solid I believe. He did it to another Equestria’s SUN with no visible effort before and didn’t even use half of his reserves.” Blood Cleaver warned them.

“Not a problem. Just need to change my code real quick.” The girl responded as she had a screen appear and typed a few keys.

“Huh, you’re some kind of class changing Displaced?” Blood Cleaver asked, curious about the girl's transformation.

“You could say that,” she responded as she changed her form. Her appearance, along with the appearance of the two probes changed along with it, surprising her father.



“Neat. However, while you help… well, me. I’ll be staying here. The Multi-Form technique lets me split my power and body into multiple selves, but I only have about a millionth share of my total power, if I go out there I’ll be minced meat. But I’ll signal myself that you’re going to help me.” Blood Cleaver explained truthfully as she barely had enough power to make herself fly.

“Got it,” The girl replied, seeing her father draw his swords. “You sure you’re gonna handle this, dad? Blood Cleaver said-.” She began, only to be interrupted by him.

“I know what she said about weapons not cutting him, but he doesn’t know that my weapons aren’t ordinary,” He smirked. “You know, when I said I wanted the chance to have some Father-Daughter time to ourselves, this was not what I had in mind.” He joked.

“Hah! Good Luck! Make sure not to get in the way of myself. I’d hate to disintegrate you with plasma.” Blood Cleaver said before flying upwards and shooting a small orb into the air, the orb exploding with a loud Clap working as a signal. The other Cleaver quickly allowed herself a moment to do the same to let them know she heard the signal.

Nodding to herself Cleaver landed once again and smiled. “She’s ready now, now go out there and show him how you can catch a spirit!"

Both of them nodded, charging into the fray. The man went head-on into the fight, while the girl stayed behind. A force field appeared around her. She also used some kind of beam, that upon impacting the inside of the field, split into three beams and continued towards Black Frost. She was aiming for the lower half of the body, since their focus was to contain him and prevent him from running away.

The sudden assault surprised Black, but he quickly recovered and gritted his teeth in frustration over now having to face an additional opponent. Trying to gain an advantage he quickly shot forward towards the girl and tried to blast her with ice magic from a close range, at the same time moving in a way so that Blood Cleaver could potentially hit her if she tried to shoot him. Knowing she wouldn't risk it, he used it to his advantage.

In response to this however, Blood Cleaver decided to give herself and her allies another advantage and began casting a barrage of Ki blasts over the sky, creating a wall of them that was pressing down from above, forcing all of them down to the ground before they stopped in mid-air a few meters over the ground.

The girl slid out of the way of Black's first attack and waited to see what was the outcome of Ms. Cleaver’s attack.

Having forced Black down to the ground, allowing the man to help out as well. Blood Cleaver began using more precise attacks as to not hit either of her new allies by mistake. Her current beams had now taken on a green tint and the small Ki blasts had become white instead of blue.

Black himself was about to retaliate against Blood Cleaver, but soon found himself being attacked from behind as he narrowly dodged the first of the man’s two swords. The second one the man held in reverse and caught him off guard by using it to try and pull him down to the ground and restrain him. It worked, but what took Black by surprise was who was attacking him. For he had seen him before.

“Anson?” Black asked in surprise before gathering his wits and created a wall of ice between them to give himself an opening. Using that opening to his fullest he created a lot of big ice spikes all over the clearing to use as cover and began weaving between them to lose his opponents and strike them from behind.

However, this was the moment that Anson's daughter created a slow-moving Electron Ball that dealt a lot of damage, but also pulled their opponents towards her. Much like a black hole created by energy. In this case, her energy was being used not just to hurt Black, but pull him towards the group as he fell forward onto the ground with a THUD!

Quickly getting up and narrowly avoiding a beam that would have hit him in the head, Black shouted a few curse words and released all the wind surrounding them from his control, allowing the falling snow to enter the clearing and further obstructing everyone's vision.

Everyone except the girl. While she couldn’t see a thing, her probes could. They were her helpers, weapons and in this case, eyes. She could see what they saw. And right now, she was seeing Black head towards her father.

“LEAVE MY DAD ALONE!!” With this, she conjured and released another beam, she tried to hit Black in the upper chest area where his arm was stretching out towards Anson.

Not having enough time to dodge, Black instead conjured up small blocks of ice to take the hit for him. But before he could retreat he found his lover jaw getting hit by a powerful kick delivered by Blood Cleaver. While Blood Cleaver couldn’t see much herself, she had a pretty good idea where everyone was because of her ability to sense their power levels, and therefore, she was still able to fight.

The kick sent Black through the air. The strike was both surprising and quite painful, making Black accidentally let go of his staff. As Blood Cleaver felt the opening in Black’s defenses in both his mindscape and in the fight, she quickly took advantage of it by showering him in a barrage of kicks and punches, keeping him pinned against one of the ice spikes he previously created. Large cracks beginning to spread through it.

The girl herself checked on her father before looking back at Blood Cleaver. She was surprised that she could move so fast, but had a feeling that something was wrong. Very wrong. Like she had been set up.

Before Faith could voice her suspicion, Blood Cleaver winced in pain and quickly distanced herself from Black, holding her left arm. The whole arm had been frostbitten, the frozen skin having turned black, just like dead tissue.

“Dammit, forgot about that.” Blood Cleaver swore as she quickly fished out a knife from somewhere and cut her left arm clean off, splattering a surprisingly small amount of blood into the snow.

“Well, seems I finally got you. You sure you’d not rather leave and stay out of this?” Black asked with a confident smirk. Blood Cleaver, however, didn’t falter.

“As if, what you’re doing is wrong, and I was told to help you return to normal, so that’s what I’m going to do. Now, let’s see about that trapping. NOW!” Blood Cleaver shouted. To the Frost mage’s surprise, he was soon attacked by a series of rapid slashes from Anson and then, thrown against the same wall Blood Cleaver had struck him against, this time by Anson. Conjuring four small blades, he used two of them to pin down the sleeves of Black's clothes and the other two to pin down the pant legs.

“That… was for almost hurting my daughter.” He said.

As soon as Anson was done, Blood Cleaver appeared before Black and gripped his throat with her now only hand and held him up before bashing heads with him. The unpleasant sound of two craniums bashing together sounded loud enough to wake an Ursa Minor, peacefully sleeping in the middle of the Everfree forest. And Black visibly winced at the contact. Blood Cleaver, however, seemed completely unphased by it as she made the last mental push needed to get through the whole ordeal.
> 15) Recovering Spring (part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 16
Recovering Spring (part 2)








Black Frost's POV





I was about to once again try and freeze Blood Cleaver after she had so foolishly gotten close to me a second time, but found that I couldn’t, or rather that I no longer wanted to. Memories began flashing through my head in quick succession, filling my mind with different parts of my life from the last fifteen thousand years of my life.

I felt tears beginning to form in the corners of my eyes as I felt regret over what I had done, what I was doing and what I was about to do. I had already made Blood Cleaver lose an arm, and before that, killed someone!

“I-I-” I began, trying to apologize. Panic beginning to fill me as I did. I didn't know who I was apologizing, perhaps to everyone, but before I could say anything else I felt a strong but brief pain to my forehead, and the world fell into darkness.





I was surprised to feel myself waking up. A slight headache made itself known to me before I decided to open my eyes and see where I was. Opening my eyes, I noticed that I was inside some for of building that I didn’t recognize. Still a feeling bit groggy from my first sleep in one thousand seven hundred years I didn’t immediately recall the events that had led to me being knocked out in the first place.

The main reason I avoided sleeping was because I didn’t actually require any sleep, it was something leftover from my time as a human, the other was that once I did wake up, it took me a fair amount of time to gather myself, mainly due to the vast collection of experiences cluttering my mind from the past fifteen thousand years of my life.

The only one in the room that noticed me waking up was a young girl with white hair draping down the back of her head. She had what looked like two floating metal heads by her side and seemed to be the only one who noticed that I had woken up.

“H-hey, take it easy.” She insisted, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“W-Where am I? And I’m sorry, but who are you?” I asked cautiously as my mind was still rebooting and there was a slight chance that he already knew her. Though as far as my memories had recovered so far, I hadn't seen another human since I had ended up on Equus.

“You're in our world. And my name is Faith, Faith Nocte.” She introduced herself.

I nodded as I began looking around, having informed me of this being a different world, I tried reaching out with my magic, noticing both that I had apparently expended my reserves quite thoroughly and that there was no connection to my network of spyflakes (patent pending), confirming that I indeed seemed to be on another world.

“I’m Jack, Jack Frost, in case you didn’t know that already. But because you can see me I’m guessing you already knew that. I’m sorry if I’m supposed to remember you or something, but my mind gets real fuzzy after just waking up. It should be over in ten to fifteen minutes.” I apologized. I could remember some parts, like my age, very important figures and events, but the rest was gone like the wind until my mind had time to recap.

“This is the first time we met.” Faith pointed out.

“I only know about you and believe in you because my father told me about you many times when I was younger.” She explained.

“I see. I’m sorry. Right now I’m still going through the memories of before Equestria was founded. You know, it’s very weird, right now I know of Equestria and it being my current land of residence, but I have no idea how it’s like. Memories get confusing like that sometimes.” I explained before chuckling at the humor of my situation.

“I see what you mean. I have a hard time trying to remember someone’s name.” Faith replied. “But I still remember a few. Like Uncle Nicko, Grandpa Luke, My dad Anson-.”

“Wait, Anson? The name is ringing a bell…” I interrupt her as the name sends off several attempts to remember something I have yet to recall. Sighing, I decide to instead sate my immediate curiosity of another matter. “Guess I’ll have to wait a little while longer… Who is that then?” I asked, pointing towards a black-haired woman, who was currently sleeping nearby.

“Oh that’s Ms. Blood Cleaver. Don’t worry, it just one of her forms and she’s asleep right now. The real one is with my dad and uncle.” Faith tried to explain. Leaving out what she meant by 'forms' and 'real one'. I had to guess she meant there were more than one of her and that the one sleeping nearby wasn't the original. Her name however set off similarly to Anson's name.

“This is quite surreal. I have no memories of other Humans yet, but I do remember names. Although Blood Cleaver’s seems to be a recent addition.” I pointed out, now even more eager to regain my memories.

“Hmm… It’ll probably come to you in time. I just hope that everything goes well tonight for heart warmers eve.” Faith replied. My memories this time being able to provide relevant information.

“Ah, yes. I just remembered a few seconds ago. It’s quite the holiday.” I commented while smiling. After all, who wouldn't like what was essentially Christmas. “I take it you’re looking forward to it?” I asked.

She nodded her head, smiling. “Yes, I am. For the past couple of days, I’ve been working on a surprise gift with my father. It’s going to be a MAJOR surprise for Uncle Nicko because of all the hard work we put into it.” She explained.

“That sounds like a great idea, it’s good to see youngsters these days tha-” I began, but before I could continue, my mind began supplying me with memories of King Sombra and the Crystal Empire. Discord's rule wasn't pleasant either, and Luna's corruption was one of the worst. It was enough to make me frown as I remembered that I had been prevented from intervening by the Mare in the Moon. But I quickly returned to my otherwise cheery self for the sake of not ruining the moment.

“Sorry, I just had a bunch of bad memories of the Crystal Empire, Discord’s era and Nightmare Moon come in all at once. As glad as I am to regain my memories, those aren’t good ones. And, I think I’m about to regain the last ones right about-” I began as the last thousand years quickly filled my head. Only to make me pause as I suddenly remembered what had happened. I froze in place as I remembered what I did to Discord, what I had done in other worlds and how I had killed another Displaced. Remembering the thoughts I had, the way I had been thinking and how much it was me that had been behind the words I said, the actions I performed... it was almost too much. And still, rather than get rid of me as she could, Blood Cleaver instead choose to save me. I slowly turned my head and looked towards Blood Cleaver, before covering my face in shame, staying like that.

“Jack?” Faith said, her voice carrying a tone of worry. I shuddered as she touched me on my shoulder. I knew touching me wasn't pleasant, after all, I was ice cold.

“I-I…” I managed to get out before deciding to remove my hands, tears beginning to run down my face as I looked straight on. Unable to say anything, making me hate myself even more for it.

Faith, despite how undoubtedly cold I was to the touch, wrapped her arms around me trying to hug me without overdoing it.

“It’s okay… Everything is going to be okay…” She said, trying to calm me.

“I-It’s not… Faith… I killed someone. I killed someone before I came here, before Blood Cleaver could stop me.” I tried to explain to her, almost unable to stand myself.

“You didn’t kill them. You weren’t yourself,” She responded. “You were the opposite of the person that I’m seeing right now in front of me.” She said. While I could see her point, I didn't fully agree with her. It was still my body that had been used, and somewhere deep inside, I knew that I had the potential to be like Black Frost.

“B-but, I still should’ve been stronger. I’m over ten thousand years old, I should have been strong enough to resist it, but instead, I didn’t even notice or realize what had happened. All I knew was that Discord had changed my way of thinking a little bit, not that I wasn’t myself… I’m afraid, because it wasn’t just something made by Discord that was acting, but me. All of the ideas, they came from me. Parts of me that I have locked away and ignored, trying to shape myself into the one I define myself as. The parts you saw, they’re just as much me as the ones you see now. And it scares me.” I explained as well as I could pulling my legs in close to myself before hugging them for at least some form of comfort, forcing Faith to let go of me as I angled my gaze downwards.

“I haven’t been through anything like that, but you just need to stay brave in times that seemed impossible. I was afraid of myself for many reasons when I was younger. But my dad taught me how to have courage and to overcome your fears no matter how scary they might be. But the most important thing I learned is that to overcome something, you need support. And for that, I’m here to help you.” Faith placed her hands on my shoulders, this time not bothered by the cold at all. Before I could respond once again however, I heard the door open up slightly, someone having opened it, intending to enter the room.

“Faith, it’s time for-. Oh…” I heard the voice of my friend, “Jack?” He asked.

Looking up, I saw Anson. “Anson?” I asked, hardly able to believe how much he had changed since our last encounter. Suddenly, it clicked that the father Faith had mentioned that knew me must have been Anson, since her name was Faith Nocte, the same as Anson Nocte. And I had tried killing both of them.

I looked away from Anson, not willing to meet his gaze, feeling ashamed of what I had almost done to him and his daughter.

“Hey, buddy? What’s wrong?” He asked. “It seems like you and Faith were getting along just fine now.” He stated, not helping. Just thinking about how close I had been to hurt him. I had already killed one other Displaced... I shook my head, there was no way I could forgive myself for something like that.

“I tried to hurt you… I tried to KILL you! How can I ever forgive myself for something like that?” I questioned him.

“Because I forgive you.” He responded, as if it was just that simple, taking out something I immediately recognized. The Snowflake that was my token.



“You were the first Displaced I met and you're my friend, I care for you. I know that it wasn’t you who did this, but still have the memories. And I forgive you either way.” Anson said. Making me feel a little bit better, but he didn't know. He didn't know that I had already performed a sin I couldn't take back.

“I-I don’t know.  Anson, you weren’t the first. Before I came here I managed to kill another Displaced before Blood Cleaver chased me off. Even if you do forgive me, I can’t forgive myself. I went against my calling, my very nature. I’m supposed to care for and protect everyone, and yet…” I trailed off, still not able to look at Anson, being certain he wouldn't be as welcoming anymore. Who would want to be associated with me now anyway?

Instead, I heard Anson sigh. “Jack, look at me. Do I look upset? No. I’m not upset or mad at you. I’m relieved that you are okay. Some things you can address later, but for tonight, it’s supposed to be a night of joy. Forget about the things that Black did. Just focus on being you, Jack. The cheerful happy self that you are.” With the last sentence, I felt him pat my shoulder while Faith surprised me by hugging me from behind.
> 16) Recovering Spring (part 3)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hooves of ice
Chapter 17
Recovering Spring. (part 3)








Jack Frost's POV





I let Faith continue to hug me while I thought about what Anson had said. He forgave me. I didn't understand how, but he did, and his daughter wasn't judging me. It also hit me that Blood Cleaver certainly could have been far more aggressive in dealing with me, but had held back her powers somewhat in an attempt to bring me back to my senses. The question remained, could I forgive myself? I knew the other Jack certainly wouldn't, even if he could.

But Anson had a point, they were about to celebrate, and I would be lowering the mood. It wasn't something I wished to do, so I'd have to listen to Anon and try to not think about it all for now, if only so that I wouldn't be bringing others down with me by pestering them with my problems.

Releasing my legs, I freed myself from Faith’s hug and stood up, looking at Anson.

“I guess I could do that, for a little while at least,” I told him with an attempt to smile, only to feel myself being unable to give a completely honest one.

Anson smiled back while looking at me. “Now that’s the Jack I know. Come on, I think a light snowfall in Twilight’s castle is what she needs for this time of year.” He said and opened the door to get going. Anson held the door open for both of us as we walked into the crystalline hallway of the castle we were apparently in.

I began following them out of the room, only to remember that Blood Cleaver was still sleeping. But when I looked back towards where she was sleeping, I found her missing. Confused, and a bit concerned, I assumed she had woken up and left without me noticing. The question of how she managed to do so unanswered, I turned back to follow the Nocte family again.

Walking through the hallway, we were soon approached by a younger teen who looked much like Anson had when we first met. I assumed it was his brother. He walked up to Anson, greeting him.

“Hey there, man. How’s it going?” He asked while seeing me, before looking back at Anson. “I’m guessing you brought a guest to the party?” He asked. Deciding it was a good time to introduce myself, I did just that.

“Hi, My name is Jack Frost. And you would be Nicko Nocte, correct?” I asked, holding out my arm for a handshake.

“Why yes it is,” Nicko confirmed, gripping and shaking my hand.

“Anson told me about you some time ago and I got to say, I’m glad to meet you in person.” He said. I had to hold back from flinching, he would not have said that if he had seen me earlier. I assumed he didn't know of my rampage

Instead, I somewhat awkwardly rubbed the back of my head while replying.

“I’m glad to meet the brother of a friend of mine as well. Now, what do you say we get a move on? As much as it’s somewhat recognized to be fashionably late, I don’t think Twilight would appreciate it.” I said, putting on a smile assuming it would be better to get there as fast as possible.

“You do bring up a good point. Because from what I know, It’ll be more than just the Royal Siblings that’ll be dining with us.” Anson replied.

“There’s Amy’s family, Cadence, Gleaming Shield, Blueblood… I hate that guy, and a few special guests coming in later.” He listed off. I recognized most of the names, but Gleaming Shield was one I didn't recognize.

“Special guests?” Nicko asked.

“Dad, that’s a secret.” Faith told Anson.

“Oh right… Whoops.” He replied.

“Well, we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting, would we?” I asked. Hoping there wouldn't be any more distractions so that I could return home to my own Equestria.

We eventually reached the dining hall, finding Blood Cleaver already there together with everyone else. As my presence was made known to the others, and they were all able to see me, we were all able to converse among each other and enjoy the food that was being served. I only took a little, tasting anything I hadn't eaten before since I didn't require food. Somewhere along the line, Amy had tried to raid the kitchen. Confusing me a little about why she wasn't content with the currently served food. The answer was that she wanted to eat something with meat in it.

Later during the afternoon, when everyone began exchanging gifts besides me and Blood Cleaver. We all got ourselves a surprise when it was Anson’s turn to give something to his brother. Before he could say anything, the doors to the castle were kicked in, barely missing Blood Cleaver’s face as they flew by. Looking back towards the entrance, we saw two individuals standing in the doorway. As they walked in one of them began speaking.

“Sorry about the door, but that’s my way of saying Happy Holidays.” The voice said. While confused as to who they were, they didn't seem malicious, so I simply assumed they knew Anson.

“Grandma! Grandpa!” Faith shouted happily, answering the question of who they were.

“Holy Sh-!” Was Nicko’s only response, making me wonder.

“Well, that's certainly a way to introduce a surprise, wouldn’t you say Jack?” Blood Cleaver asked me with a small smile.

“I-I guess?” I responded, looking back at what was left of the door, wondering how it hadn't fazed Blood Cleaver, before remembering that she could move much faster than the door had.

The Duo that, I later found out, were known as Luke and Ciela walked in, but the emotional waterworks began to overflow once the two of them saw Nicko. They had not seen their son in over twenty years and he looked like he had not aged at all.

“My god, it’s great to finally see you again,” Luke replied. “Not that we’re going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Wait, what?” Asked Nicko, confusion evident in his voice.

“Yeah…” Anson sighed. “I might have gone behind your back on this one brother, but I asked Twilight to help with something that blows your original request out of the water.” He said, then turned towards Faith before walking over to her to stand by her side.

“I asked Twilight if there was a way to bring everyone in our family here, because I’ve been seeing a lot of things that I normally wouldn’t see from either you or Faith. A lot of personal change and I believe that it’s for the best. Hell, the reason why Amy was distracting you all day was so that we could move everyone in and finish building the house we were working on.” Anson explained himself. Blood Cleaver was smiling next to me, looking as if she had been expecting it all along.

“Wait… let me get this straight…” Nicko replied, “Equestria… is now our home?” Anson’s only reply was a nod and a smile as he hugged his brother.

“This… is the best,  most insane surprise plan that you have ever come up with,” Nicko told his brother.

“You should’ve seen what happened when I was in Jack’s world. If he didn’t conjure a slide for me to land on, I would’ve plummeted to the ground.” Anson said, as if it had been a plan of his.

“Well, I couldn’t just let you fall and hurt yourself like that, now could I?” I responded with a smile.

“Nope, not at all.” A familiar voice interjected, Discord appearing next to Anson. Discord then sighed.

“If it weren’t for my assistance and also having to distract your friend with the mechanical arm, then we wouldn’t have had enough time to pull this off.” He explained. The thought of Discord helping anyone but himself making my head spin. This world's Discord was way different from mine... or was, since the one in my world was most likely dead by this point. That, or crippled for life, while barely keeping himself alive.

“Wait, Leo is here too?” Nicko asked, clearly surprised.

“Yeah, but he’s taking the night off.” The Spirit of Chaos replied. “Caliburn is making sure he doesn’t have too many drinks at the tavern.”

“Pfft. Good luck with that.” Ciela snickered. “He beat my husband in a drinking contest during our anniversary one time.” She informed everyone.

“...... Moving on,” Anson said as he looked back at Nicko. “Brother, do you happen to have any gifts for anypony this evening?” He asked.

“Actually…” He replied. I noticed he was holding a small, quite familiar-looking box in his hands. “I do. Where’s Eris?” He asked, making me think back to when I first met Anson and Discord. If I recalled correctly, Eris was Discord's daughter. Well, this was interesting if not terrifying, imagine if things like Discord would become common. I thought to myself, shivering at the thought.

“Right here.” A female voice said from behind me, starling me. Eris chuckled a little as she slid out from behind me, booping me on the nose before levitated over to Nicko.

“You alright there? I know Eris is playful at times, but I honestly did not expect that.” Nicko said while I was frantically trying to make sure I hadn't been discorded once more. As I didn't find myself any different from before, I relaxed and responded calmly.

“Well, neither did I,” I said, actually more surprised at meeting a female Draconequus this soon, having only heard of them not too long ago.

Nicko seemed hesitant about something, but he managed to calm himself down before speaking to Eris.

“Eris, you and I make a great team… and I just… well, I don’t think I can put it in the right context. But I wanted to get something for you that expressed how I felt.” He said, showing her the box he held and opened it, revealing a beautiful sapphire diamond ring. Gauging her reaction, I could only describe Eris being shocked, seeing as she had gone completely silent and had frozen in place.

“Eris? Will you-?” Nicko began before he was interrupted.

“Yes.” The Draconequus replied, hugging him and tackling him to the ground. “There’s no way in Tartarus that I am saying no to that!” She exclaimed happily.

Everyone in the room was either shocked or surprised before they cheered and congratulated the new fiances. “Well… That escalated quickly.” Anson said, having turned towards me.

Before I could give a response, Blood Cleaver did instead. “Nah, I saw it coming.” She spoke up from right next to us. “But, it sure is nice to see love like that.” She added with a look that reminded me of the wishful one a girl would use when thinking about getting married, only this one was different somehow.

Before Anson could say anything else though, we were joined by a smiling Pinkie Pie. “Hey, Sonny!”

“Hi Pinkie, what brings you here?”

“Well,” She said, looking upward. “It is the season.” Anson soon looked up, I did so as well, following his gaze. Blood Cleaver had gotten atop a ladder and was now holding a Mistletoe above Pinkie Pie and Anson. Anson just smiled and nodded his head, thanking her.

“Yes it is, Pinkie.” He replied verbally before the two of them kissed one another. Their kiss shortly interrupted by an innocent-sounding question.

“Hey dad, Is Pinkie going to be my new Mom?” Faith asked.

Pinkie’s only reply to that question was a giggle as she messed around a little with Faith’s hair. “If that’s okay with Sonny, then it’s okay with me.”





3rd person POV





Pinkie Pie, Anson, and Blood Cleaver were all walking down the hallway to the front entrance of Twilight’s castle. They were planning to go outside for a while and get some fresh air since it had become too crowded inside, making the temperature rise at a steady pace as the party went on.

While walking they spoke about whatever came to their minds.

“So, have a date set up yet?” Blood Cleaver asked.

“Well, the Gala is on New Year’s eve,” Pinkie replied. “So maybe then? After Hearth’s Warming though, that’s for sure. I wanted to be able to spend my favorite holiday with one of my best friends.” The Earth Pony bounced happily as she scratched the top of Anson’s head, messing with his hair.

“I’m all for it. Still though, I’m surprised about Nicko and Eris. I honestly never expected him to propose to her.” Anson said, recalling everything that happened a few minutes earlier. “I’m happy for them.”

Blood Cleaver nodded. “I can only hope to have something like that myself in the future. A little hard when I’m not welcome in my native universe, save for a few individuals that still see me as a friend.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here Blood.” Anson smiled, kneeling in a little to whisper “Both you and Jack.”

“Yepperoni! I’ll even make sure to throw you a Welcome Back to our World party when you come back! … Say… You kind of remind me of my sisters back at my family's rock farm.” The Earth Pony replied, looking at Blood from all angles. “Do you happen to be secretly related to me somehow? Because if you were, I’ll be super happy to find a long lost sister!! We can bake cakes, throw parties-.”

Blood Cleaver laughed at Pinkie’s enthusiasm but shook her head. “Pinkie, while I would love that, I’m from another universe and not even the same race as you are. But You’re not entirely wrong. While not technically correct, you could say I am indeed your sister in my home universe.” Blood Cleaver explained.

Pinkie gasped, which soon lead to her hugging Blood Cleaver so tight that she would probably slip out of her arms. “Oh my gosh!! This is the best Hearth’s Warming EVER!!!”

“Pinkie…” Anson raised an eyebrow, looking at her. “Can you give her some space?”

“Whoops! Sorry Sis…” Pinkie complied, letting go of her grip on Blood Cleaver.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind. I’m used to worse.” Blood Cleaver chuckled. “As glad as you seem about having an additional sister Pinkie, I’ll have to warn that the circumstances around my creation are not a very pleasant experience for all involved. I try and prevent it from happening in any universe where I'll likely be created.” Blood Cleaver warned with a serious expression.

“Don’t worry,” Anson smirked, while Pinkie was just bouncing around joyfully in the cold snowy streets. “I’ll be making sure to keep an eye on her and if anything’s up, I’ll summon you… Which reminds me… I never gave you my token, did I?” He asked.

“Ah, no. I should give you mine as well, shouldn’t I?” Blood Cleaver said as she took out her token and presented it to Anson. Blood Cleaver’s token was a black kitchen knife with a red sheen around the edges and a crimson red handle, each side of the blade decorated with a single equally crimson rune. Just like the one she had given Robin.

Anson soon got his token out. A dark purple Gem that was known as a Dark El Shard. “Just use the crystal and I’ll come.” He told her as the two of them exchanged tokens. “Have a safe journey, Blood Cleaver.”

“Aww, you’re leaving?” Pinkie pouted to herself. “Well, that’s a shame. I had so many things to ask you, but I guess that can wait.” Pinkie pouted.

“Pinkie, I’m not leaving just yet. The party is still going, isn’t it? I’ll be leaving afterward since I have my work in the Multiverse cut out for me, but I’ll make sure to visit sometime.” Blood Cleaver explained smiling.

“Yay!!” She squealed, hugging her one more time. “Happy Hearths Warming!! Come on, Sonny!! Let’s get inside and go sit by the fireplace.” Anson smiled, agreeing with Pinkie and waving goodbye to Blood as they walked inside the Nocte family’s new home.

“You too Pinkie, you. But you had questions for me you said? We still have some time. I can try answering some for you if you wish.” Blood Cleaver offered.

“Well… Why would you want to prevent your birth in other worlds?” She asked. “Are they like big meanies or something? Oh, and why can’t you return to your universe? You’re not banished or something now are you?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, no. I’m not banished, there’s nothing physically keeping me from returning, but I’m kind of a wanted woman in my version of Equestria. And the reason I wish to prevent my creation… It’s a bit complicated, but it has to do with a few circumstances that if not changed or controlled could end very badly for all involved. The only reason I avoided the worst outcome was that I met my world’s original Displaced. But many of the worlds where I come into being… they’re not as lucky… And since there’s not much point to letting more versions of me pop up and live miserable lives that they can’t escape like I did, I try to prevent it all from happening.” Blood Cleaver explained to Pinkie Pie.

“Oh… so if you don’t help them, they’ll be sad all the time?” She asked.

“Well… perhaps not all the time. The reason I’m wanted, the reason I wouldn’t have had a good life unless I changed somehow is because of my creation. The reason I say it’s complicated when I call you sister is because I’m not technically your sister. Even in my universe, I’m more… part of what once happened to be Pinkie Pie. And her other half who has adapted to her role and taken on the name, that’s who I call sister. So… You see why I don’t like myself being created? For me and my sister to be created, the original Pinkie Pie has to cease to exist. And even though we’re both created as a result, we’re both incomplete. Only after several years do we become whole enough to count as separate entities instead of two half-souls who are two parts of a whole.

And because of this, because I’m unhappy about this turn of events, the still undeveloped form of me does something that gets her wanted. She tries to kill the one responsible for doing it to her and her sister.

By now, I have found a way to reverse the effect, unfortunately the spell I know will only work for a short time after the split, after that, they’re too different to be turned back into one.” Blood Cleaver explained with a saddened expression.

“Oh… What about me? Do I run the risk of having it happen to me too?” Pinkie asked, a little worried as she snuggled close to Anson. “I don’t want to disappear from Sonny.”

“Don’t worry Pinkie. Your Equestria is far too different for it to happen, and I’ve already made sure to remove any of the factors I could that would lead to it happening. But if you want to be extremely sure, I know some things you could do to prevent it all entirely if it was to creep up after all.” Blood Cleaver reassured Pinkie.

“Okay, Thank you, Sis! Goodnight!” She told her, holding Blood and Anson together in a group hug before the two of them walked back inside. But Blood wasn’t alone as Faith soon walked up to her, with Jack by her side. “Do you two have to go?" She asked. "We were having such a great time earlier.”

“Unfortunately we can’t stay Faith. I need to get Jack back to his universe, and I have to continue doing my duty. We can come and visit from time to time, but ultimately we do have to leave.” Blood Cleaver explained. “But yes, I believe I speak for both of us when I say we had a grand time here.” She said.

“Indeed,” Jack confirmed.

“I’m going to miss you two.” Faith told them, getting closer and hugging Jack unexpectedly, slightly blushing. “You know, I would be lying if I didn’t say that Jack looks… cute.” Faith said.

“He certainly does have the looks, but don’t be fooled. He is… how old are you again?” Blood Cleaver asked.

Jack blushed at the comments on his appearance and took some time to respond. “Well, in my Equestria I’d be a little under sixteen thousand years old, however, the cycle of a year is slightly longer on my Equestria than it was on earth, so I’m not really sure to be completely honest, never thought it would matter to keep counting my age in Earth years,” Jack explained.

“Right, so he is a bit old for you Faith. Unless your appearance isn’t the only thing not to age.” Blood Cleaver asked with a mischievous smile.
“My body is the only thing not affected by time, and in my loneliness, certain of my emotions have unfortunately dulled. I’m not sure I’ve felt attraction to a female during any of my sixteen thousand years on Equus. So the topic about any such relationships is unfortunately not currently up for discussion and I would appreciate if you’d drop it Blood Cleaver.” Jack told Blood Cleaver and gave her a stern look.

“Still, I think you should have this,” Faith said, going up to Jack’s shoulder and kissing him on the cheek. “I care for you and see you as a family guardian, so I don’t want you to be left out or feel lonely.” Faith told him.

“Oh, he won’t be lonely. From what I gathered he will have a hard time getting rid of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Blood Cleaver commented.

“Eh he he…” Jack nervously chuckled as he recalled what little he had learned about the three trouble makers during his stay here.

“Still, I’ll miss you Frosty. Goodbye and Happy Hearth’s Warming!” The Code Queen told him before walking inside and joining her father.

“Well, I guess our time here is running out. What do you say we leave them a few presents before leaving?” Blood Cleaver suggested.

Jack nodded and began thinking of what to leave behind while Blood Cleaver began preparing her gifts. After they were done, Blood Cleaver decided to make sure Pinkie Pie would find them and make sure everyone got their presents. As they finished, Blood Cleaver took Jack’s hand and practically dragged him back to his universe.