Snowflakes sparkled within the golden, lying light; dancing unmolested through the heatless glare. A foal could be forgiven for thinking that the brilliant orb looming above was the Sun in all her glory; but the light was anemic, unable to ward away the bone-grinding cold.

The blizzard-hardened Elk, long praised by the northern races for their stalwart courage and tenacity, had blanched and balked at the request to guide her expedition. Their elders cited ancient prophecies from decaying scrolls, ranting and raving about the end of time. To them, the Expanse was an abominable graveyard best left alone, a blight that would one day spread to consume the world.

One look at the fabled snowfields and she had found it hard to disagree.

For as far as her light could reach, and farther still into the surrounding abyss; the land was barren. Nothing stood in the way of the howling polar winds and the skies remained eternally dark, having long forgotten the embrace of the true Sun. Even the stars were nearly invisible in the frigid heavens; muted by a cold, palpable hate that shunned their distant light.

Celestia the Radiant, Diarch of Equestria and the Immortal Avatar of the Sun, buried her head within her billowing mane; taking long, deep breaths to warm her frost-blackened muzzle. She shivered as she stamped her hooves upon the ice-entombed land, desperately trying to get the blood flowing back into her numb limbs.

‘Even the demons of Tartarus aren’t as cruel as this.’ She groaned to herself, arching her stiff back to adjust her heavy armor. The ancient, intricately engraved silvery metal just wasn’t designed with the blistering cold in mind; and though she wouldn’t have trusted any other set of armor for this trek, she truly wished that Starswirl had had the foresight to add a warming charm or two in addition to the composite shield arrays.

Her ears flicked at the distinctive clatter of armor striking ice. Sub-captain Millfoil was a burly green earth pony, one of the strongest in her personal guard and a braggart when he wanted to be; it should have been a shock to see him staggering back to his hooves, a trail of dark blood frozen to his nose from the fall… but over the last few weeks such things had become a regular sight.

“Captain,” she began as she trotted over, her brow furrowed with worry, “Perhaps you should…” she was going to suggest he return to the gateway, he was due for rotation anyways; but the stubborn stallion puffed out his chest, and quickened his step before she could make it an order.

“Just tripped over a pebble is all, your Highness.” He smiled back at her, chuckling to hide a strained cough.

Her ears drooped and she bit her lower lip in worry. Her ponies were all like that, willing to push themselves to the limit; and if she even hinted, proud to go beyond. She made a mental note to talk to her commanders about the potential cost of pride.

Five whole battalions, each with a thousand guards apiece stretched over ten miles of search-line; and slowly but surely more of her ponies were falling to the waste, one after another, after another. The baleful glare of white medical beacons had become far too commonplace, not even warranting a glance anymore.

She thanked Luna’s stars that none had been truly lost, but she knew it was only a matter of time. If the cause had not been so dire she would have never subjected her ponies to this.

With a tired flick of her horn the false-Sun winked out of existence, plunging the trudging guards back into the abysmal darkness. All along the line, lights of every color bathed the snowfield in their glow as her unicorns lit their horns. It was beautiful in its way, but after three weeks of watching the pain on her ponies faces, she doubted they would ever look at Hearth’s Warming lights the same way.

She sighed, the throbbing under her horn started to dwindle after releasing the pseudo-Sun, “Half an hour, then I’ll relight the Guide.” It was a strain to keep that much raw magic so high in the sky, but the pain was worth every second if it gave her ponies even a shred of hope.

Millfoil winced as he subconsciously scratched at his nose before giving her a quick bow, “Of course, Princess.”

Celestia closed her eyes and kept her aching legs moving, trailing her vanguard by the sound of their hooves. Her mind wandered to warm memories: reading the fiction of Hearth’s Warming to little Twilight as they curled up by a fire; bickering with Luna over who could stay under their mother’s wings the longest; the look on her niece’s face at their true wedding. She couldn’t help but smile as she quietly relived those moments, her memories crystal clear thanks to Discord’s “gift”.

“Oh… Oh, no.”

Her eyes snapped open at the dread in one of her pony’s voices, her breath hitched in her throat. Far off into the darkness, nearly below the horizon, a mote of light pierced the eternal night before rocketing high into the sky. At the top of its arc the light exploded into a giant, red flare that for a just a second rivaled her false-Sun in brilliance.

Celestia’s eyes widened and a deep dread settled in her gut. It wasn’t a medical beacon…

Frozen tendons screeched for her to yield as she opened her wings to take flight; but their pleas were ignored as she swiftly launched into the air, moving as fast as she dared without dipping into her reservoir of magic.

A trio of red flares arced into the sky, and more were popping up each second as the unicorn guards winked their units to the scene. For miles around, the snows of the Expanse flickered in the ominous red glow as if they had somehow caught fire. Snowflakes swirled like embers racing around a blaze.

Her five Astral Guards slid seamlessly into formation around her as they raced toward the epicenter; constantly shifting their gaze to watch every angle of the sky. These steel armored pegasi weren’t the golden honor guards that dogged her every step back home. These were the ponies that she entrusted with her life, the best Magebreakers Equestria had to offer. Even more importantly on a trek like this, they were her friends.

With an energy conserving glide they descended toward the flare. She watched with intense pride as her officers on the ground quickly cajoled the rank and file into proper battle lines, circling the site. It was always better to be prepared, especially when dealing with him.

Her blood slowly curdled in her veins as the center of the formation came into view. A few of her high-ranking officers were arrayed around a pony-shaped silhouette sprawled out on its side in the snow. She was tempted to save time and alter her course to land within the circle, but not a single guard had approached closer to the silhouette than a stone’s throw. They formed a rough circle around it, and even from this distance she could make out the glowing outlines of interlocking shields that her unicorns had cast.

Her teeth threatened to chatter as the wind’s icy talons clawed at the gaps in her armor. She wanted nothing more than to curl up and forget everything that had happened and anything that might, but she forced herself to stop shivering as she backwinged toward the edge of the circle.

Celestia landed with grace, standing tall and proud for her ponies. She activated the hundreds of enchantments in her armor, and strode confidently into the circle; her stomach churning with dread. “What happened here? Who lit the beacon?” her calm voice cut through the building tension.

“I-I did, your Highness.” A tall, guard-white unicorn with trails of ice running down his cheeks, bowed low. She recognized him as Private Surehoof, a normally happy-go-lucky unicorn with a talent for silversmithing. “I sent for help after she… after L-Lemie…” he stuttered, his mouth flapping as he tried to find the words.

Celestia bowed her head and gently wrapped a wing over the distraught unicorn, giving him a few seconds to regain his senses, “I w-would have helped her, I WANTED to save her. But… but… see for yourself.” He pointed a shaking hoof at the dark silhouette without looking at the body himself. He gulped and voice lowered to a whisper “Lemi screamed the entire time… Whatever you do, don’t… don’t get too close.”

She nodded her head and squeezed him gently against her side, quietly bidding a medic to lead him back to the gateway.

Celestia the Radiant strode forward, careful to keep herself from shivering while her ponies watched. She remembered Private Lemongrass, just like she remembered every pony she had ever met. The fragile, canary-yellow pegasus had joined the Guard to help fund her future, like so many others. The mare’s special talent was cooking exotic, far-east cuisine, not acting as a scout in the field. She was just an Auxiliary, trained for the guard but kept in reserve to be deployed for emergencies only.

Her ears drooped as she approached the body. Losing a guard was always difficult, but the death of one whose special talent was in some other field always felt hollow. If only one of her Regulars had been in the private’s place, maybe nopony would have died.

Celestia inched closer to the unicorn shields to get a better look, wary of getting too close. Lemongrass’ flesh had been perfectly crystallized; preserving every detail of the willowy pegasus, everything but her color. The crystals varied in hue from light brown to the blackest of black, seeming to siphon off what little light there was. The petrified scream on the mare’s face was enough to make Celestia cringe.

Squinting, she noticed something that made her skin crawl. A small, jagged shard of black crystal jutted up from the ice just beneath the mare. She leaned in closer to the shield to get a better look, but she stumbled back with a startled yelp when one of the mare’s legs exploded, scattering small shards of the dark crystal against the shields.

“PRINCESS!” one of the unicorns yelled as he galloped toward her.

“I’m alright, stay where you are!” she held a hoof out to stop Lieutenant Clearsight from getting any closer. With as much grace as she could muster, she brushed the ice off her armor and stood. A gentle tap to her shoulder was all she needed to know that her Astral Guards were at her back, and not for the first time she was relieved to have their support.

Golden light swirled around her horn as the dome of a shield encapsulated the remains of the pegasus. There was no way she was going to have anypony risk this trap again. Turning to address her ponies, her voice boomed over the icy waste, “My little ponies, it’s time to return to the Gateway. You’ve all done a superb job in one of the toughest environments we know, but now it’s time to end this insufferable march. It’s time to go Home.”

Stomping and hollers of delight could be heard from the guards farthest from the circle, but those close by quickly backpedaled from the scene, anxious to leave before something worse happened. Her officers quickly rounded up their forces, packing them as close together so that their unicorns could easily wink them back to the gateway. Celestia listened as the last groups teleported out, never taking her eyes off of Lemongrass.

“That means you too,” her voice was soft and weary as she addressed the steel-clad guards beside her.

Peacelilly, the group’s leader for the month hummed in thought before smiling “Nope, not gonna happen Celi, we’re not leaving you alone up here… orders or no.”

“Stupid…” Celestia barked a laugh and shook her head, catching Lilly’s smirk out of the corner of her eye. “Thank you.”

One hoof after the other, Celestia advanced upon the remains of her guard as she strengthened the shield. She lit her horn and simply tried to telekinetically pick Lemongrass up within the shield. Not even a unicorn foal would have trouble with this; but the crystallized body didn’t move, not even hair.

A tear froze to her cheek as she watched her magic dissipate, siphoned away by the abominable crystals. Luna’s suspicions had been right all along… the Mad King had returned.

Author's Note

After years of psychiatric treatment and a gender change of my own, I am back to writing. This story made me question myself more than a few times; and though answering those questions hurt worse than anything else I have been through, I am now much better off than ever before.

The original version of Fate’s Substitute needs to be rewritten, but I will keep the original as you see it for the time being. Thank you all for being so patient with me as I deal with my own issues.

-Crystallite