A Heart's Darkness and a Soul's Light
Darkness was everywhere. It brought forth a primordial feeling of dread that reaches down into one’s spine and throttles it. Within the sea of nothingness was a light blue-coated unicorn stallion with a white and mint green-striped mane and tail filled with volume. On his flank was a mark of three wisps of frigid wind.
Before his icy blue eyes, he witnessed streams of stones and minerals conglomerating towards a molten sphere, binding it with a brilliant flash. The darkness that swallowed the area disappeared with an ocean of stars and the sphere bathed within the light of a giant sun. Water erupted from the craggy landscape of the rock, filling next to the entire surface. With what remained of the land, greenery blossomed onto it, bringing sparks of life in its wake.
The world shined with an ethereal brilliance. From beneath the surface, a hazy heat erupted deep from underneath a massive plains area. All of the plants in the area blazed with unquenchable flares. The fires spread across the entire globe, gripping it in ghastly talons. The world’s lush plants and vibrant aura darkened to ash.
With the world dead, the world’s oceans dried up and the surface cracked, revealing red strains. Steam hissed from the vents. Afterwards, the entire planet exploded and an amalgamation of fire with blood red eyes, sinister claws and sharp teeth roared loudly. The stallion gazed upon the abomination, breathing with quick and successive breaths. He screamed.
The stallion shot up from his sleep with a monsoon of sweat raining down from his face. He found that his front hooves had a death grip on his thick, penguin-spotted blanket. He took deep breaths, trying to relax the over-excited nerves constricting his body.
His breathing stabilized and his grip loosened. He looked out of the window, seeing a yellow crescent moon behind two dark blue clouds amidst the night sky. The light from the moon cascaded down through the window to him. He shook his head, jumping out of the bed and sprinted towards the door. He grabbed a velvety scarf and a warm cap, both of which were colored in his coat colors.
Opening the door, the night greeted him with strong gusts and bitter temperatures. Snow danced along the wind with the grace of a nymph. The stallion staggered across the field of heavy snow. He came upon a large and imposing castle made out of sharpened icicles, stranded within the center of a deep chasm. He walked over a bridge frosted over by the eons of times and the temperatures of the area.
A large alicorn mare sat upon a spiky throne made entirely out of ice. Her large, frosty eyes contrasted the warm smile on her face. Her coat was the color of a glacier, and her mane and tail emanated permafrost. Yet, it still moved with the limber nature of cooked spaghetti. On her flank was a giant snowflake with eight points and an octagonal ice cube within its center.
Gates larger than a mountain opened with a torrent of reverb filling the area. Behind it was the stallion garbed in a scarf and cap. The mare smiled, running over to the stallion, picking him up by his torso and embracing him.
“It’s so good to see you again, Frigid Chill! I thought something bad may have happened to you!”
Frigid Chill clenched his teeth, being the orange caught between the juicers that are the alicorn’s grip.
“I came by earlier in the afternoon, Princess Absolute.” He strained out.
Princess Absolute dropped him, looking towards the ceiling and humming with her right front hoof under her chin.
“So you did. Then, that means you have a reason to see me in the middle of the night?!” She shouted. “Will you share me another one of your poems detailing the beauty of Flanmare again?” With an ever-expanding smile, she clopped her front hooves together.
Frigid Chill scratched the back of his head, looking upon her with a nervous glint in his eyes.
“I wish I could give you such joy, Princess. Unfortunately, my subconscious has been troubling me as of late. I wish to discuss some details with you.”
“Well, if you have thoughts that are troubling you, then I am all ears.” Princess Absolute stated, hovering above the ground with her legs crossed and her wings picking herself up.
Frigid Chill walked over towards one of the skyscrapers for windows, observing a small village beyond the scope of the icy glass. Puffs of smoke came up from the snow-billowed huts and igloos below.
“I woke up in the middle of the night to some horrible nightmares. It always has the same theme; I always witness the creation of our planet, Mythosia. From there, a great evil comes forth from the Great Plains towards the north of Equestria, engulfing the entire world with its flares and fervor. Then, the planet explodes from the pressure and a creature most foul emerges, ready to wreak havoc onto the world.”
“Wow that does sound bad. I might need a sun umbrella if I would even want to begin warding off that heat.” Princess Absolute responded with an absent-minded tone. Frigid Chill turned around, his mouth and eyes stunned open.
“Are you even taking this seriously, Princess?! These nightmares are horrifying! They are scary. Worst of all, they are repetitive. Princess Luna of the mainland always warns that recurring nightmares are a sign of an omen.”
Princess Absolute stifled a giggle. She took a deep breath and nudged Frigid Chill closer to her using her left wing.
“Do you not think you are overreacting, Frigid Chill? Everypony has recurring nightmares. Princess Luna gives relief from all nightmares in due time. You can go back to sleep, or talk more about your poetry with me over tea underneath the moonlight.”
“As good as either of those options sound, I cannot accept them. If Mythosia’s safety is not guaranteed, then how can I be at rest? Are the princesses able to prevent such a revelation from happening?” Frigid Chill whimpered underneath his breath. “Is this really… fate?”
Princess Absolute’s cheery smile inverted upon itself upon the sight of tear drops falling from Frigid Chill’s eyes.
“No… please do not cry, Frigid Chill. I do not mean to make fun of you. You know I get sad when one of my subjects is miserable.”
“Then please, send a high priority message to mainland Equestria detailing my dream. I implore you to do so.”
Princess Absolute smiled, exhaling a breath of relief.
“Is that all you wanted me to do? You could have just asked. We will have this issue resolved in no time.”
Hearing these words, Frigid Chill’s ears perked up. With sonic speed, he rushed up to Princess Absolute and hugged her.
“You are forever in my debt, Princess.”
Princess Absolute smiled, stroking Frigid Chill’s mane with gentle force.
Frigid Chill lied on his back upon a bed of snow on the rooftop of his home, gazing at the moon in the sky. A large notepad and an ink pen were suspended in the air by a light green aura along with his horn. With a full sigh, he smiled.
“What sort of poetry shall I write for the Princess tonight? Maybe a haiku? A sonnet? Perhaps I should try my hoof at drawing?” His irises rolled up to the top for a moment. He then shook his head. “I was never any good at drawing. She deserves better from me. Maybe, just maybe I should at least try to draw. It may even steal her breath away.”
The pen shot a splat of ink onto the ground. It then levitated towards the makeshift canvas.
The hazy glow of the morning sun rose above the horizon. Chimneys from the village below flared up and began producing pillows of smoke. The sound of clopping and voices can be heard. Frigid Chill walked into the Throne Room of the castle, seeing a sheepish Princess Absolute with a toothy grin the size of a continent.
“Welcome and good morning to my castle, Frigid Chill? How is my favorite poet doing today?”
“Ummm, good?”
A bead of sweat dropped from Princess Absolute’s chin. She laughed in a nervous tone.
“Ummm, about that high priority letter you told me to write to you…”
Frigid Chill went silent. He looked upon Princess Absolute with a stone-faced expression.
“You did send the message, right?” He stuttered out.
“I did, but…” A scroll appeared beside Princess Absolute’s head with a red stamp plastered upon it. “The princesses rejected it. I really hoped they did not do so, but what can I do if that happens?”
Frigid Chill’s heart stopped in that moment. The icy hues of the walls and floors and the lush purples and reds of the curtains and carpets darkened into a dull gray through his eyes. His face fell into a flat frown and his eyes frosted over with darkness.
“So, it is over. Mythosia is finished.”
Princess Absolute took a step back, and a nervous frown made its way to her face.
“You do not look fine right now, Frigid Chill. Should, should you go back home to rest?”
“No. Mythosia is not finished yet. This is just a temporary setback, but I will find a way to save it.” Frigid Chill voiced out, deaf to the words of Princess Absolute. “I just need to meditate more closely on my dreams and find a common pattern.”
“Uhhh, Mythosia to Frigid Chill; is anyone home?” Princess Absolute asked, tapping his head with soft knocks.
“The beast within my dream relies on heat to be able to do anything. Filling the world with an inescapable cold may be the key to saving it. But, in order to do that, I have to forcefully subjugate Equestria under my will…”
She blinked twice, letting his words soak into her mind. She stared at him with a blank stare.
“Please tell me you are joking, Frigid Chill. This is just one of your jokes, right? It is not a very funny joke.”
“Ah, Princess! I did not see you here! Say, since you have complete control over the power of ice, would you mind helping me take over the land?” Frigid Chill asked in a very casual voice. “I know this is all of a sudden, but there really is not any other way that I can do this without you.”
“Absolutely not! What would make you think that I would help anypony take over the land?” Princess Absolute shouted, a deep fire burning away her cool demeanor.
“Do you not love what you see, Princess? Do you not love the penguins and rabbits that live on this wonderful world? Are you willing to sacrifice them, our homes and countless lives just so that you could stick to what is right?!” Frigid Chill shouted. In that moment, his rage died down into a frown. His eyes flashed towards Princess Absolute in sorrow. “I beg of you, Princess, lend me your power.”
Princess Absolute stepped back with a sudden shock. Confusion filled the crevices of her mind, twisting and perverting the image of Frigid Chill. The air was stiff with silence. She looked around with her eyes glancing onto the ground. Her legs shook with an uncomfortable shiver. She looked into Frigid Chill’s eyes, inhaled and spoke.
“Of… of course I love the rabbits. I love the penguins, and I especially love my ponies. I do not wish to see this world fall over to the beast in your dreams. Very well, I shall be of service to you.” She said, walking towards the door with funerary steps. She turned her head back, her face revealing a frown and a sad flash in her eyes. “But… only because you are my only friend.”
Frigid Chill raised his right eye.
“Where are you going?”
“Follow me.” Princess Absolute responded in a voice devoid of cheerfulness.
The duo stepped down a set of stairs, walking towards the path of infinity. The darkness in the area thickened the deeper they went down, swallowing the light from the surface. Upon hitting the bottom of the stairs, Frigid Chill eyed several purple flames lined up in a circular pattern.
“Why did you bring me into this area, Princess?”
Princess Absolute stared into Frigid Chill’s eyes with a melancholic gaze.
“This is one of the few altars in the known world where magic that is taboo is to be practiced. For some reason, these altars are catalysts for this dark sort of magic. This is how we will take over Equestria.”
“I do not understand, but I will gladly follow if it will allow us to save the world.”
Princess Absolute walked past the ghastly flames and into the center of the circle. She cocked her head towards Frigid Chill’s direction, inviting him into the circle of darkness.
“What spell are we going to use to fulfill our scheme?” Stepping into the circle, Frigid Chill asked.
“If you do not already know, the throne is heavily guarded with highly-trained guards and the magic of the cosmic alicorn princesses. Even with my own might, I would be unable to take them down. But, if a child of Equinity were to willingly fuse with me, then we would be able to achieve a power level that not even the most powerful of alicorns would be able to stand up against.” Princess Absolute explained.
“With power such as that, there has to be multiple drawbacks to using a spell like that.”
“Many. The fusion itself is very unstable, so any type of attack that has enough impact could break it. Because you are the weaker of the two of us, you gain complete control of the body. However, your life will shortly be placed under a fate worse than death once the fusion breaks. Are you still willing to go through with this despite knowing the consequences?”
A wicked grin appeared on Frigid Chill’s face. A deep chuckle emanated from his throat, adding to the grim atmosphere of the area.
“So, I get to be in control of the body, but I will be horrendously punished if the fusion is broken. I have already accepted my fate the moment I went through with this decision, Princess.”
“It seems that I truly did lose you, Frigid Chill. I really hoped it would not have ended this way, but… I guess that ensuring a future for Mythosia is more important than ensuring Equestria’s peace, is it?”
She closed her eyes and an ice blue aura encompassed her entire horn. The serene flames blazed into life. They ravaged the bases of the torches holding them, shooting high into the ceiling. The streams of flames fell down into the circle, swallowing both Frigid Chill and Princess Absolute. The duo stood there, withstanding the ferocious bites of the evil flames.
Their bodies disappeared within the crossing streams. A black explosion reverberated throughout the chamber. Within the dead flames of the circle was a purple and blue abomination trying to be an alicorn. Ice and icicles made up his coat and muscles. His mane and tail is a hazy mist, blowing out air with the force of an industrial fan. His face was a skeleton, and only dark blue lights filled the sockets of his eye holes.
“Yes, I can feel it! The power surging through me! If this is the power of the forbidden arts sealed away from ponykind, then I wonder how much more there is in terms of power.” A distorted and dark voice of Frigid Chill shouted out. “No matter, it is time to take over Equestria.”
A set of avian bones unfolded from his shoulders. They were held together through physical manifestations of frosty air and icy fires.
“Look at my wings! They are beautiful! These shall get me into the Royal Castle within a fort’s night!”
With these words, he flew upwards, phasing through the ceiling.
The night above the forests and grasses on the mainland was dim. The moon glowed with a red color and several of the trees were void of leaves. Not a star can be seen in the black sky.
A haunting laughter filled the air, and a silhouette of the abomination flew across the moon and dived down into the woods. The forests and land froze in the wake of his steps and flight. Before his sight was a town built in stone and straw. With his wings raised, a blizzard stormed from his flares, frosting the area over in ice and dropping the temperatures below zero. In no less than a few seconds, the inhabitants of the buildings rapped their hooves on the front doors in desperation.
Not even a minute has passed as loud screams echoed throughout the night sky. A horde of pegasi in golden armor and multiple colors flew into the area. Their mouths dropped at the sight of a frozen wasteland and an icy alicorn standing upon it.
“S-state your name!” One of the pegasi shouted.
“I am the essence of ice. I am the powers of absolute zero, bringing forth a chill that will swallow Equestria whole. I am here to take Equestria as my own.” Frigid Chill echoed out through his skeletal mouth.
“We will not let that happen under the glory of the Two Sisters!” Another guard retorted.
“Such blazing fires in your demeanors. Yet, such flames with always be quenched through the hardships of winter. Your ambitions shall perish along with your mortal forms.”
With these words, clumps of ice snared the wings and legs of all the guards. Their eyes opened up in shock. The nerves in the afflicted areas went cold and the ice crept throughout their bodies. They moved their bodies around in rapid succession, but their shocked nerves slowed them down. Their bodies succumbed into the ice, and despair flashed within the glints of their frozen eyes.
Frigid Chill flew off, leaving a cavern floor of stalagmites behind.
Two alicorn princesses, a white-coated alicorn with an aurora mane and a sapphire-coated alicorn with a starry mane, both looked down upon the stone gates of their throne chamber. A blast of cold wind shot through the crevices of the door. The door shattered open, revealing Frigid Chill among the particles of dust. Frigid Chill walked over the remains of the door and looked into the white alicorn’s pink eyes.
“Princess Celestia.” He then gazed into the sapphire alicorn’s light blue eyes. “Princess Luna. You do know why I am here, yes?”
“You wish to usurp the throne from us, do you not? You will not do any such thing, no matter how righteous you believe your goals are.” Princess Celestia asked with a stern tone.
“You may have swayed our sister’s heart with your tainted words, but you shall not have our throne under any circumstance.” Princess Luna stated with bravado in her tone.
“Are you telling me that you two resign yourselves to the decision of fate? Will you two truly let this planet fall to the eldritch forces contained within?” Frigid Chill asked.
“We know of these forces you speak of. Our sister had written to us on that subject. We did not expect it to happen so quickly.” Princess Celestia admitted.
“Then, will you help me eliminate the threat?”
Princess Celestia stared into Frigid Chill’s eye sockets with a stoic stare.
“We have already subjected ourselves to the fate of our world. There is no use in fighting back what has already been decided. Therefore, your actions are pointless and shall lead to further self-ruination.”
“So, you have already deigned yourself to following a dead law.” Frigid Chill stated, frowning and looking into Princess Luna’s eyes. “Surely, you must feel differently, Luna. Do you not care for the citizens of your kingdom?”
“I do, but there is not much we can do to assist them. Our placement onto this planet was an unfortunate consequence of the cosmic sealing placed upon that abomination. It is sad that we were created to die a horrible fate. Regardless, we still have to abide by it.” Princess Luna responded with a hint of melancholy dripping from her voice.
“An unfortunate consequence… would you say that the creation of life on this world exists from the transcription of fate?”
“What are you getting at!?” With an imposing stare down Frigid Chill, Princess Celestia stated.
“What I am saying is that if our existence happened outside the threshold of fate, then would that mean that we are creatures who are capable of rejecting the fate we have given us?”
Upon hearing this, Princess Luna gasped and moved her head back.
“I… I had never thought of it like that. We can… change our fates?”
“Lulu! Do not listen to him! His words will only end in pain!” Princess Celestia shouted back.
“’Tia, may we listen to what he has to say? He may be on to something.”
“But Lulu!”
Princess Luna’s horn flashed in a sapphire color. A beam of condensed light fired from the tip. Princess Celestia was struck and sent flying back.
“You have my attention, he who took advantage of our sister’s yearning for a friend.” Princess Luna stated with a sly smile.
“My demands are simple to meet; cede to me the throne of Equestria and allow the land to fall underneath the shadow of my power. I shall give back the throne once the monstrous being is defeated. Do you agree to these terms, Princess Luna?”
Princess Celestia looked on to her sister nodding with a smile. She witnessed Frigid Chill and Princess Luna shaking their front hooves. Her heart broke in half at the sight.
“Why, Lulu? Why did you agree to that?” She whispered out.
A chilly shadow emerged from Frigid Chill’s body, spreading throughout the land. Everything within its wake iced over. The flora withered away and the fauna rushed into their burrows. Snow piled upon all the trunks of trees and upon the steepest of hills. Frigid Chill walked over towards the gilded throne belonging to Princess Celestia and sat upon it.
“Soon, everything will be covered in ice, including you.” He stated, pointing straight into the air.
The sun broke above the sky, illuminating the crisp ice clenching onto the grasses in the north plains. He let the freezing winds pass through his ethereal mane, feeling the numbing pain it brings. A small frown appeared on his face.
“I had once wanted to view this place once in my life to see its virgin beauty. But, that beauty has been tarnished by my own hoof and now every other pony and I shall never see how it originally is. Some sacrifices have to be taken, I suppose.”
The very land beneath his hooves trembled. A large chasm split open that stretched farther than the eye can see. Pressurized heat blasted from the crack, filling the area with steam. A mass of red emerged from it. The rushing blizzard in the area assaulted it. The mass hissed out in pain and its mountain of swelling lowered to a mole hill.
Frigid Chill unleashed an icy cold beam towards is direction. A deafening roar echoed out of the mass, reducing the size of the beam shooting it. Frigid Chill locked his hooves into the ground, focusing his entire magical prowess within his beam.
The mass glowed with a molten orange color and a plume of magma shot out of the struck area, cancelling the beam and hitting Frigid Chill on his face. Frigid Chill screamed in pain and the magma dripped down onto his chest, dissolving the ice and revealing his rib cage. With his teeth clenched, he shot a beam into the sky.
Clouds congregated around the area the beam ended upon. A giant shower of snow and water stormed down upon the mass. Its roars drowning out of the barrage of ice, a giant hand shot out from the crater and destroyed the mass of clouds. Then, a pillar of fire erupted from underneath Frigid Chill, swallowing him whole and exploding.
Frigid Chill laid down upon the ground, glowing in a black aura. He dissolved within it, splitting into Princess Absolute and his mortal form. His eyelids twitched.
“H-how? I had… all the power in the world! How could I not defeat it?!” He stated in disbelief to himself.
“It is because you abandoned all the love in your heart for that power.”
Frigid Chill and Princess Absolute looked towards the direction of the voice, seeing Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walking towards the duo.
“Celly? Lulu?”
“Abandoning the love in my heart? That is preposterous!”
Princess Luna shook her head and stared at Frigid Chill.
“When I saw you in Princess Absolute’s fused form, I saw a great evil within the shadows of your eyes. It displayed the taint in your heart. All you cared for was power, and you sought every single source of it. That abomination within overpowers such petty vices. This was why you were overpowered.” Princess Luna explained in a chastising voice.
“I had no choice. I had to listen to the whispers from the shadows in my heart if I wanted to save Equestria.” Frigid Chill reasoned.
“That did not give you the right to manipulate our sister’s feelings for you! She cared for you! She was always concerned about your well-being! She cared about what you thought! You used her just to create an abomination that takes lives… Yours goals and actions are no better than the abomination before us.” Princess Celestia sharply chided back.
“Wh…what?
The shadows within Frigid Chill’s eyes dispersed away, allowing him to see everything clearly. He saw the ice he created eating away at all of the grasses in the area. His eye glanced over a squirrel, whose lifeless body lied underneath a mound of snow. Finally, he glanced back towards Princess Absolute, whose body was rifled with major scorch marks.
“What… what have I done? Was this truly the price of the power I had to pay for?”
Princess Luna gazed back towards the abomination within the crater, howling in pain.
“It seems that you have done a considerable amount of damage to the beast within that crater. It was much more than what I expected. The three of us shall take it on from here.”
“You mean…”
“Yes, Absolute, you shall join with us in the triangle spell that will knock this beast back to the depth of Mythosia.” Princess Celestia answered.
Princess Absolute smiled, staggering while standing up. She winced.
“It hurts, Celly. This burn is awful.”
“Bear through the pain, Absolute. You are too strong to fall underneath such physical worries.”
With Princess Celestia’s words of encouragement, Princess Absolute stood onto all fours. Though the world around her eyes spun, she looked up into the sky and smiled. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, re-centering the world around her.
“I’m ready, Celly and Lulu.” She said in a cheerful voice.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna flew up into the sky, aiming their horns down towards the beast below. Three beams, a yellow beam, a sapphire blue beam and an ice blue beam, fired from each alicorn’s horn. Each beam struck the beast, causing it to lower back into the crater. Each of the princesses grunted and redoubled the effort in their stances.
“It is working, but we need one final push to bring it back into the depths!” Princess Celestia announced.
Frigid Chill stood up from the ground. His horn lit up. From the tip of his horn, three balls of ice were generated. With a loud shout, he shot each one into the crater. The beast roared out in wretched pain, retreating back into the crack. The crack shut with a thunderous sound. Every pony fell down onto the ground, gasping for air.
“We… we actually did it. We actually defied fate!” Princess Celestia declared with an exhausted smile.
“I knew that we could defy the fates given to us.” Princess Luna stated.
“It is thanks to Frigid Chill that we were able to win. Thank you.” Princess Absolute thanked with closed eyes and a wide smile.
Upon Frigid Chill’s smile, a loud rumble echoed throughout the entire world. A flood of snow avalanched in from all directions closed in towards the group. Princess Absolute glanced back towards Frigid Chill, gasping.
“Get out of here, Frigid Chill! Run!” She screamed.
“Why would I do that?”
“Since the fusion between us broke, all of the ice you have created will retreat back within you. Please, flee with us! I do not want to see you imprisoned here!”
“I am sorry, my princess, but I refuse. I allowed evil to overcome me. Though we defeated the threat that plagued us, I did use you to torment the world. I have to pay with my own life.” Frigid Chill stated, smiling and placing his right front hoof on Princess Absolute’s cheek. “I already made up with myself. If this is how I am ended, then I am proud to say that I have lived a wonderful life. I shared many experiences in the land, and I even got to meet a wonderful mare.”
A stray tear slipped from Princess Absolute’s right eye, which was rubbed away by Frigid Chill.
“But… are you sure? We could live a happy life together. We could be more than just friends.”
“That would be the greatest thing to happen, but I cannot be allowed to roam the world any further. This will be my prison and grave. You do accept, right?” He stated with a smile.
“Of course I do.” With a frown, Princess Absolute admitted. “But, my life will never be the same without you.”
The avalanche roared with more force and is within a hair’s inch away from the group. Princess Absolute’s wings unfolded along with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s wings. The three alicorns flew into the air. Frigid Chill closed his eyes and smiled. With the avalanche closing in on him, a stream of tears left his eyes. The snow crashed upon him, melding into him and freezing him in place.
What was left of the Great Plains became a frozen wasteland. Bitter winds blew and snow fell from the darkest of clouds above. Princess Absolute dived down onto the snow, running over to the spot where Frigid Chill stood.
“He has to be here, please!” She shouted, burying out the snow where he stood. Her effort, however, was greeted with a frozen head of Frigid Chill, looking into nowhere. She shut her eyes, holding back a stream of tears. “It cannot be…”
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna descended onto the land and walked over to Princess Absolute, covering her with their wings.
“As insensitive he was, he gave his life so that he can allow you to live your life, Absolute.” Princess Celestia reasoned.
“You were more important to him than he was to himself. You should feel honored that you have a pony who is willing to sacrifice his life for you.” Princess Luna stated.
“Then why do I feel so empty now?”
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna folded back their wings, looking at each other with raised eyes.
“Why was I even born an alicorn anyways? Why is it that every single significant relationship I develop with another pony end with so much pain I have to carry in my soul?!” Princess Absolute asked.
“Such is the fate of being born one, Absolute. We cannot decide what we are born as, but we can make the best with what we are given. Possibly, we can even change our fates. That much Frigid Chill taught us.” Princess Celestia explained.
Princess Absolute walked several feet away from the group and looked onto Princess Celestia and Princess Luna with a stoic frown.
“If I can change the fate given to me, then I shall forfeit my life as an alicorn.”
At the drop of these words, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s eyes and ears shot up tall.
“Please, sister, rethink your option! Is suicide truly the best option for you?!” Princess Luna pleaded.
“I am sorry, Lulu, but I felt that I was never meant to become an alicorn in the first place. I always wanted to be an average, normal pony that would be able to love nature and love every other pony for who they are. I always want to be smiling, to share my sunshine with the rest of the world. Instead, I was given the coldest possible position as a pony. I do not want to live like this anymore, and that is why I am going to die right now.”
“But… but Absolute.” Princess Celestia stated, reaching her hoof out towards Princess Absolute.
“Celly, when I die, I want you to evacuate the entire continent of Flanmare into the Great Plains here. That land mass will melt away with eventually melt away without my power stabilizing it. My death will keep this area frozen, but they will be safe here. I shall posthumously protect them. As for you, Lulu; you should beware the voices of darkness that whisper into your heart.” Princess Absolute warned.
“Darkness? Nay, I am the princess of the night. I shall not fear any sort of darkness.” Princess Luna responded.
“I warn you because you attacked your sister without hesitation. I already see the seeds of darkness planted into your heart. Please promise me that you will not let them sprout into wicked vines that will choke your loving heart, Lulu.” Princess Absolute stated, frowning towards her.
“I promise, Absolute. I promise.” Princess Luna agreed.
“Good. Then, I can finally leave this area without any regrets.” Princess Absolute then glanced over to the dug-out head of Frigid Chill. “I hope that the two of us can be together in another life, Frigid Chill.”
Saying these words, she shut her eyes. Her body began freezing over until it was covered in ice. From the tip of her horn, cracks spread throughout her entire body. She shattered, her ice spread across the area. Princess Luna ran up to Princess Celestia, embracing her neck with her front legs and not wanting to let go. Princess Celestia shut her eyes, rocking both her and her sister’s bodies in a gentle rhythm.
“And that is how the Frozen North came to be, Cadence.” Princess Luna explained to a pink alicorn three fourths her size. The two alicorns stood by the icy representation of Frigid Chill, whose chiseled details eroded over time.
“I didn’t think the creation of the Frozen North would have been that tragic, Aunt Luna.”
“I had not expected to lose my sister and a pony she was close to through that as well. But, their deaths brought us an important lesson on being able to challenge fate and the importance of loving those in our life. I tell you this because the ponies you love could be gone before you know it. Would you pick up the pieces of your shattered heart and continue, or would you wallow in grief?”
Princess Cadence looked onto the ground, rubbing it with her right front leg.
“As much as I would hate to do it, I would have to move on from any grief I have. I shouldn’t wallow in that sort of misery, and I have my life to live.” She said. “Thank you for teaching me this important lesson as a ruler, Auntie.”
“I am glad that my words carry meaning to you, Cadence.” Princess Luna responded.
“So, this is Frigid Chill’s actual frozen self?” She asked.
“Yes. I still remember digging out the entire thing with my bare hooves. I could have used magic to lift him out, but he was much too covered in snow to be brought out that way.”
“I know this may sound a bit weird, but may I kiss his cheek?” Princess Cadence asked.
“It is an unusual request, but do whatever your heart desires.” Princess Luna responded.
Princess Cadence faced the statue with a smile.
“You may have let evil into your heart, but you did it out of the love of everyone in the world. I have read your haikus, your sonnets and your other poetry. They all felt like they were dedicated to somepony regal despite not being addressed to them. As the ruler of the Crystal Empire, it is only fair that I can gift you with a substitute.”
With these words, she moved her face over to Frigid Chill’s frozen cheek and kissed it. She turned around, seeing Princess Luna look into the starry sky.
“Coming, Auntie?”
“In a moment, Cadence. I just need to reflect upon something now that I am here.” Princess Luna responded.
“Alright. I will be over here if you need me.” Princess Cadence stated, walking away and leaving Princess Luna by herself.
Princess Luna stared into the stars.
“Though your words reverberated throughout my life, I was unable to uphold my promise to you. Indeed, the darkness in my heart swallowed my own kindness. I grew jealous of my ponies’ admiration to ‘Tia and… and… I became Nightmare Moon and threatened to bring an eternal night. I was sealed away for a thousand years on my moon. It was only through the Elements of Harmony that I was able to come back. But, I am deeply sorry for breaking my promise to you. I hope you can forgive me.”
With these words, Princess Luna walked towards the direction Princess Cadence walked towards. The eyes of the statue on Frigid Chill shut themselves, and a lone teardrop rolled down his right eye.
“Princess… Absolute…”
With this echo, his body shattered.