[Perspective: Arrell]

You know how in movies, cartoons, and other stuff, splitting up always turns out to be a bad idea because everyone either gets lost, picked off one by one, or both?

Turns out if you actually split up into good teams, that doesn't happen. Seriously, who would ever think it's a good idea to make Shaggy and Scooby go off one way and the brave people go the other way? ...but I digress.

Baking Soda, the earth pony stallion with the baseball bat, turned out to be just as eager to take down the Rancid Windigoes as I was. Apparently, they kidnapped him several weeks ago from Manehatten, but that wasn't all they did.

"My father tried to stop them, and they killed him on the spot," he told me. "No warning or anything. Just glared at him, and the next thing I know, he's turned to ice."

"Did you watch it happen?" I asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"Just making sure we didn't end up with a Darth Vader scenario." He looked at me questioningly. "Don't ask."

Turns out he wasn't the only one who was looking for revenge more than freedom; in fact, everypony had some ulterior motive for coming with me. Greengrass, the unicorn mare with the rope, lost her brother in a similar situation to Soda's during her kidnapping. High Note, one of the sword-wielding stallions, had his entire house destroyed when the Rancid Windigoes were looking for him.

"I was out with my girlfriend, and when I got home, my home was flattened and three Windigoes were waiting for me," he explained. "I tried to run, but those guys are fast. Plus, unicorns aren't really known for their speed."

Speaking of unicorns, the unicorn mare with the bow, Flicker, was taken along with her mother. Her mother died from abuse while imprisoned, just days before I arrived. And then there was the other swordsman stallion, Burning Rubber; an earth pony whose wife was in labour at the time of his kidnapping.

None of them were happy with the Rancid Windigoes, and neither was I. I made Soda my second-in-command and had him take High Note and Flicker, sending them off to check the various rooms around the palace. Greengrass, Rubber, and I went straight down the halls, looking for Lord Frostfiend.

"Chief?" Rubber trotted up to me. "...what do we do when we find him?"

"We yell at him, get pissed off, and fight him," I replied casually.

Rubber swallowed nervously. "But...won't he kill us?"

"You'll be safe. Trust me." Can't say the same about myself, but better to leave that unspoken...

We walked for a little bit, Rubber and Greengrass occasionally peeking into rooms on the side out of curiosity. Surprisingly, we never came across any guards; either we were exceptionally lucky, or Frostfiend knew about us – or me, at least – and had them all assembled by his throne room.

And knowing my luck, it'd be the latter.

It was the latter.

We could tell where Frostfiend was based on the fact that there were about a hundred Windigoes, in both red and green armor, standing in front of a giant door. As soon as we trotted into view, they all raised their weapons – swords, spears, knives, the works – and pointed them right at us. Greengrass and Rubber flinched, but I stepped forward confidently.

"There you all are," I sighed. "Seriously, we've been looking all over the palace for one of you stupid guards. Can't even guard your own base properly? Sheesh."

"Come with us," one guard ordered, stepping forward. "You will be taken prisoner for your actions."

I rolled my eyes, briefly forgetting that nopony could tell I did such a thing due to my lack of pupils. "If it's all the same to you, I was hoping to request an audience with Lord Frostfiend."

"Request denied."

"What? Not even gonna ask your lord himself? Taking it all into your own hooves? Who are you, anyway?"

The guard raised his head proudly. "I am Chill, leader of the Rancid Guard. I make the decisions, and everypony obeys them."

"Everypony except Lord Frostfiend," I pointed out.

"Just be quiet and come with me."

"Uh...no. I came here to have a peaceful conversation with Lord Frostfiend, and I don't see how you get to decide who does and who doesn't talk to him." I took a closer look at him. He was wearing green armor, but it had golden markings on either side, signifying his higher ranking.

Chill glared at me. I glared back. After a few seconds, he sighed. "Squadron Delta, take Formation B around them. Make sure they don't try anything. I will go talk with Lord Frostfiend."

He headed off, two guards in red armor holding open the giant doors for him and closing them once he went through. About ten guards, all wearing green armor, trotted up and stood in a circle around us, facing inwards.

"We will be confiscating your weapons," one guard declared, stepping up to me.

"Guys, I could literally kill every one of you in this room right now, with or without my weapon. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. Taking our weapons is just redundancy." I shook my head at him.

He actually looked a little nervous and stepped back again. "Fine, keep them. But if you try anything funny, you will be taken prisoner."

"No, if I try anything funny, the Rancid Windigoes will no longer exist."

He shut up.

When Chill came back out, he stomped a hoof, and all guards instantly faced him.

"Alright, back to your regular positions, all of you. If you find any more intruders or freed prisoners, take them to Lord Frostfiend immediately." They all nodded and ran off, leaving two guards by the door and Chill staring us down. "Come with me. Lord Frostfiend has approved your request and will speak with you now."

I led Greengrass and Rubber through the door, Chill trotting beside me and watching carefully. I knew I could probably cut his head off by just moving my head a bit, but considering I was trying to get on Frostfiend's good side – to an extent – that likely would end up being counterproductive.

Within the room, I saw the first thing that actually scared me since the Dusk of Ice and Fire: Lord Frostfiend. A Lord Windigo, blood covering his face and claws, and the bodies of several deceased ponies surrounding him. Whether he killed him or they died from abuse in imprisonment, I couldn't tell, and couldn't care less about. The point was they were dead, and he was practically bathing in their blood.

"Hello there, Lord Arrell," he greeted me. I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not a Lord Windigo," I pointed out.

"Not yet, you're not. You still have the title." He examined his claws idly. "I hear you came to speak with me?"

His voice was one of the creepiest things I'd ever heard. Windigoes normally just had regular pony voices – if a bit echo-y – but his sounded like ten ponies talking at once, with voices of various pitches. And every voice was full of malice.

"I wanted to talk you out of your invasion of Equestria," I said calmly. "There's no reason for you to attack."

"Oh, but there's every reason!" he declared, his speech patterns reminding me of Discord. "We feed on hatred, as I'm sure you know. Equestria...well, it's not exactly a good place for that. We're starving here."

"Normal food works too," I retorted. "I haven't fed on hatred once, and I'm still alive."

He shrugged. "Hatred is like a delicacy to us. Besides, we don't often have access to regular food. Windigoes aren't usually welcome on land...you excluded, of course."

"Of course."

"If we were to invade Equestria, and then the rest of Equis, we could corrupt every pony and creature to turn them into living hatred generators!" Frostfiend exclaimed, spreading his arms. "We'd never have to hunt for food again! We just walk outside and fill up!"

I glared. "Except I'm not letting that happen, Frostfiend. I could kill you right now. Just give up and stop causing trouble, and I'll let you go."

He shook his head. "No deal, Lord Arrell. Oh, by the way? Killing me isn't as easy as you'd think." He snapped his claws. "Not when you're a puddle of water."

Suddenly, a cage dropped from the ceiling, slamming down and trapping the three of us inside. The next thing I knew, the icy carpet beneath us started sliding open...revealing a pit of fire below.

That son of a changeling! I thought angrily. The bars of the cage were too close together for me to squeeze out, and looking up, I saw that the top of the cage was slowly coming down. If I tried to fly, it'd just push me down into the flames anyway.

Turning to Greengrass and Rubber, I saw that they were even more scared than I was. I looked at the horn on Greengrass's head, and grit my teeth.

"Greengrass!" I barked. She turned to me, shaking.

"Y-yes, Chief?"

"Can you teleport?"

"Um...yes, b-but I'm not strong enough to take all of us..."

I looked at Rubber out of the corner of my eye. "Can you take one of us?"

"M-maybe..."

"Then you two, get out of here. Go to the entrance and tell Asylum what's going on. When my friends arrive, bring them here." Doubt they'll be fast enough, though...

Rubber just stared at me, wide-eyed. "But what about you, Chief?"

I looked down at the fire. "Oh...I'm just warming up."

They looked at each other for a moment, then Greengrass lit her horn. A flash of light later, and the two of them were outside the cage, a few feet away. Frostfiend, who hadn't been paying attention until now, glared.

"What are you doing?!" he bellowed as they ran off. "Guards! Stop them! Stop them!"

It was a good thing I got the guards to let us keep our weapons, because as soon as Greengrass and Rubber were stopped, they went into action. Rubber stabbed one guard in the chest, while Greengrass took a page from Applejack's book and had the other tied up in half a second. I smiled slightly. Never thought a unicorn could work that fast.

"Well, I still have you," Frostfiend gloated, smugly grinning at me. "Lord Arrell, enjoy your death." He sat back to watch.

I sighed and sat down, sliding the saddlebags off my back and dropping my axe to the floor. I knew there wasn't a way for me to escape. Frostfiend laughed, seeing me give up, and I closed my eyes to keep them from watering.

I just hoped the others could stop the Rancid Windigoes when I couldn't...

[Perspective: False Front]

That little idiot! ...gah, I can't hate him when he's saving Equestria, but still...that IDIOT!

As soon as we arrived at the palace, we found Asylum, who filled us in. Now the four of us were running down the halls, looking for Arrell. Every time a guard spotted us, we just knocked them out and kept going, not stopping for more than a few seconds.

Suddenly, two ponies came running towards us, and we skidded to a stop to avoid a crash.

"Asylum!" the mare shouted, noticing the yellow pegasus. She then looked at the rest of us. "Are you Arrell's friends?"

"Right now, 'friend' is a pretty operative term, but yes," Risk growled. His horn, now fixed with the Fine Rock, glowed slightly.

"Come quick!" the stallion shouted. The two of them turned and ran off, and we followed. A few seconds of running later, our ears were pierced by a scream.

Arrell's scream.

Which soon stopped.