Chapter Fourteen – Twilight Sparkle

She expected to be burned by hellish fire. Instead, Twilight felt an ice cold wind smack her in the face. Fluttershy yelped in surprise, along with practically every other pony. So this is the other kind of magic he can do. She thought, realizing what was going on. Frostburn hadn't moved from where he stood, but so much else had changed about him.

His eyes were glowing again, not the fiery red of last time, but an even icier blue than his coat. A layer of mist surrounded him, and frost covered the ground around him. The gray-blue cloak he wore was flapping violently on his back, tossed back and forth by winds. Twilight noticed that the temperature got exceedingly colder as well, stepping back she felt herself warm up a little. But only slightly

Frostburn was also shaking, though not from the freezing temperatures. It was not doubt the internal struggle he was facing to control himself. This time his eyes flicked back and forth from the steely cold of blue to the bronze they should be. Eventually they settled on the blue glow as the struggle ended.

His hoof tapped the ground, and suddenly the frost that coated the ground transformed into pure ice, much like the lakes of Ponyville in winter. Twilight slipped and fell on the new slippery surface soon enough. Following her were Applejack, whose wheelchair was sliding around on the near frictionless ground, Rarity, and the majority of Celestia's guards. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stayed aloft, avoiding the ice covered ground.

Only Celestia was unfazed by the new ice rink the ponies found themselves on. The white alicorn cleared her throat. "Frostburn, you have caused enough damage here. Do not make me force you back into custody." The unblinking, blue eyes never wavered as they stared back at Celestia. "Very well then." She said, resigned to fight.

"Princess, please wait!" Twilight pleaded. The Princess of the Sun paid her student no heed. She charged up her horn and fired a large beam of energy right at Frostburn. He made no move to dodge it. He merely stood there in cold stillness.

Then, as the beam was halfway towards him, he raised his hoof in the air, and a massive wall of ice sprang from the frozen ground to shield him. The magical burst slammed into the chilled shield and got no further. As Celestia's spell ended, the pegasus lowered his hoof again, and the ice shrunk back into the ground.

Twilight gaped in awe. She knew his command of fire spells was amazing, but Frostburn seemed to have an equal, if not greater, command of ice. Even for a unicorn this would be near impossible, yet he didn't seem to be trying. The cold mist surrounding Frostburn produced three sharp spears of ice. He hurled them all at extreme speed with a nod of his head.

They shattered upon impacting Celestia's force field, which she only just managed to conjure in time. The Princess then used her command of the sun to call forth a heat wave. The ice began melting around them. In response, Frostburn made the temperature drop even lower to counteract the heat and refreeze the ground.

Celestia's eyes narrowed as she planned her next move. Rainbow Dash acted faster. She swooped down and landed right in front of Frostburn. Her shivering increased dramatically as she stood face to face with the stallion.

"Snap out of it!" She screamed at the ice pony. He summoned an icy wind that through Dash back into the air and away from him. Celestia used this extra time to cast a powerful lightning bolt spell. It cracked through the air so fast, it managed to hit Frostburn.

He took a half-step back. A half-step. It seemed as if he did that to deliberately insult the Princess's power. He then raised a hoof diagonally.

The ice mirrored his movement, and frozen shards jutted out of the ground next to Celestia. She managed a weak block with her wing, but the force still sent her reeling over on her side. The pegasus took the opportunity to freeze her legs to the ground. The white alicorn struggled but could not break free.

"We hafta stop 'im" Applejack said, still attempting to stabilize her wheel chair.

"B-but h-how?" Fluttershy said, shivering through the words. Twilight ran through all of her combat spells in an instant but came up with nothing effective enough. Rainbow Dash recovered off to her side. The cyan pegasus gave a determined look, as if she had some kind of plan. Twilight had no idea what that might be.

Frostburn prepared another ice spell to cast on the princess. Snow and ice began to swirl together in front of him. The frozen mix circled around in mid-air as it prepared to launch itself at Celestia. Her lower half was freezing at a fast rate. The Princess of the Sun cast several spells attempting to break the ice. They did not work. Instead, Frostburn's menacing ice spell reached full power, and he threw it at Celestia.

As the frozen attack sailed through the air, Rainbow Dash leaped in front of it, acting as a shield for the Princess. The ice-snow pelted Rainbow Dash and she screamed. The attack stopped abruptly.

Twilight looked to see that the glowing eyes of Frostburn had dimmed back to his regular coloring. The iciness did not die. He ran to Rainbow Dash, mortified with what he had just done.

The cyan pegasus had not fared very well. Her left wing and side legs were completely frozen in ice. She attempted to stand without much success. Frostburn helped her up.

"I lost control again, didn't I?" He said. When Rainbow did not reply, he turned to the Twilight and the others. "Didn't I?" He screamed at them. They all hastily nodded. Frostburn's face fell. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Come on Frost, it was one little accident." Dash said, trying to console him.

"That's a lie. It'll never be just one little accident." He cried solemnly. "I'm a monster! I'll never be able to have friends if all I do is hurt them."

"Darling you mustn't blame yourself for this." Rarity said. "And you are not a monster." Frostburn shook his head, unconvinced.

"We can figure something out," Twilight said, hopeful. "A cure, a way to control it, or…"

"NO!" He yelled, eyes flicking back to a bluish glow before returning to bronze. She retreated a little. Realizing he lost his temper, Frostburn lowered his head. "I'm so sorry." He whispered one last time.

With that, he used his wings to fly up and away. Deterring shouts rang up from the ponies, especially Rainbow and Rarity, but none worked. He was soon a speck in the sky travelling north, and the only pegasus that could catch him would be Dash, but she was temporarily disabled.

Guards flocked to the Princess to help her up and out of the ice, still coating the ground after Frostburn's hasty departure. Twilight walked over to a grim looking Rainbow Dash. "I lost him." The cyan pegasus said with a sniffle.

"We all did." Twilight reminded her, casting a spell to thaw her frozen limbs. "But we'll find him again Dash, don't worry."

"Of course." Rarity said. "I...eh…We haven't lost him forever."

"We'll get 'im back Rainbow." Applejack said, wheeling up.

"Frostburn just needs some time to cool off." Fluttershy said. Her unintentional pun lightened the mood a little bit, eliciting nervous laughs all around. Twilight's spell ended, freeing all of Rainbow's limbs. She moved them around a little, making sure they were okay.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to stop his unicorn magic from flooding out of his wings." Twilight said in an effort to cheer up her friends. The four looked at her, with not much hope, but hope nonetheless. She for one was eager to learn more about this mysterious magic that Frostburn displayed. The lavender unicorn had meant to ask questions earlier at the hospital, but there had not been time for it.

"Excuse me Twilight." The Princess said, freed from her icy fetters. "Did you say that the pegasus has unicorn magic?" She walked up to the group slowly, face in a nervous expression.

Realizing that Celestia now knew the truth, or at least partial truth, Twilight could only nod. "It's a long story." She said, ready to go into detail of the events of the past few days.

Celestia sighed with the weight of a heavy burden. "Yes, and I have a longer one. We must go to the Canterlot library if you all are to fully understand it though." The five ponies looked at their princess, and subsequently each other, in confusion. At that moment, Pinkie Pie trotted up finished with her work on the angry mob.

"Hey girls!" She said cheerily. "What did I miss?" Next Chapter: Stereotypical Rhythmic Prophecy Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 15 Minutes