It was far from the first time that Twilight's hooves echoed through the long hallways of Canterlot Palace, and it would unlikely be the final time either. This place was almost like a second home to her now, since her alicorn form was granted to her, and her rank of importance became more and more known. These halls that hosted the galas, housed the two high princesses of Equestria, and provided the ponies that lived below the stunning icon of this building hope, and protection.
Today however, there was a tone of urgency in her steps, muffled slightly now by the runner up the center of the hall and leading into the throne room. Celestia and Luna were not upon their thrones this day, but were instead stood to one side, gazing up at one of the many beautiful stained glass windows that surround their hall, an ode to everything they'd done and overseen. Equestria's story, solidified in coloured glass shards for all to look upon.
"Princess Celestia, I came as quickly as I could!" Twilight puffs a little, somewhat out of breath from her sprint up from the station, but comes to a slow halt near to the two older mares as they cast their gazes down upon her smaller frame.
"Thank you Twilight, I must apologize for the short notice, but I have something for you to do and it's rather important." Celestia turns fully to face her now, leaving Luna to remain slowly gazing up at the glowing window above; an image of herself and Celestia. The sun and the moon of Equestria.
"Important? What's this all about? Is Equestria in trouble again? Discord?" Twilight frowns, and it deepens when the white mare shakes her graceful head.
"Not Discord Twilight, but a storm is arriving."
"A...storm? Surely the weather ponies could control it-"
"Not this time, this is not a storm that any pony should be able to control...Twilight this is a storm that threatens everything we built in Equestria, the very lives of our subjects." Celestia slowly moves onward, passing Twilight with a slight brush of her wing, to gaze toward the doors."Please, follow me. I'll explain everything to you."
Twilight pauses, but nods, and follows after Celestia in a medium trot to keep up. Luna follows up behind them, a little slower though she was merely thinking over this entire thing. Though it would seem so simple, she was not sure that this storm was quite what any of them could expect, only she had no proof of that thought, and so mulled it over in her own silence.
To her surprise, Twilight had been taken to the huge library within the castle walls. The room piled high with cases of books, shelves and stacks of so many books... She'd read most of them, of course, but there was few other places Twilight felt more at home within than a library.
"I know you have read many books on the history of Equestria, Twilight. You know a lot about our home place here, and even our story. But there is one that nopony will remember, and it came long before my dear sister met her fate upon the moon, even."
"Before Luna was sent away? But...there is so little history on Equestria prior to that, I don't think I even remember finding a book that old..." Twilight thinks over that, but she is very sure she hadn't read a book on Equestrian History that dated farther than that time at all.
"Well...There is such a book that can, but we must keep it far from other's eyes. The history it details is not for the soft of heart, Twilight. It was a very different time we lived in." Celestia moves to one of the few bare walls within this homely library, where a large curving drawing pokes out and covers the wall with a softly coloured pattern. It looks almost like a pattern you would draw to represent a breeze, and yet she touches her horn to the center of their swirl, and a small light appears.
A lone shelf seems to merge out of the wall itself, and a large book emerges with it, balanced alone upon it.
"This, is such a book." She adds, picking it up with a warm glow of her magic, and paces towards one of the study tables to place the large object down.
"It's...huge- and...well, it's a beautiful book..." Twilight comments quietly, coming closer to inspect the cover.
The book itself was a dark brown cover, aged with it's long time being hidden away, but the details of the illustration are still pretty clear. The edges are covered with a fine metal filligree in gold, similar to the golden ink patterns that cover most of the front itself. It's certainly lovely to look at.
"This book, Twilight, tells a story not even you would know. I haven't had to tell it to anyone, nor Luna. Not even Cadance, will know of this tale. Those who have heard rumor brush it off as legend, a myth. But I assure you it is very real.. You see Twilight, when I was a very young princess to this land, I took on my first student." Celestia almost breaks a smile at that sentiment, and she pulls the cover of the book open to a grand first page.
"His name was Tundra. And, like you, he was extremely talented. He was calm, but knowledgeable... And we held him in as much respect as we have held you. And when the time came, as with you, he was crowned an alicorn."
"An...alicorn- before me, and even before Cadance?" Twilight looks up, mouth parted in both worry and wonder, only turning to catch a glimpse of Luna nodding from her other side.
"Indeed... He was a very trusted pony among us. He even found love, in a wonderful mare... She was the star of her time. A model, beautiful but sweet... And he loved her dearly. Much like Cadance and Shining Armor now; they'd do anything for eachother. But, he could not protect her always... And it lead to their downfall. She passed away suddenly, Twilight. An accident took her from him...And he was filled with despair. We all were."
The pages keep turning, filled with soft and faded illustrations of ponies as the story moves along.
"Despair does terrible things to a pony... And when confronted, after he had mourned all he could- we needed him to return to his role, and he refused... He ran from us. From everything. Our young prince had run and left us all, run to the farthest corner of the north he could... We all thought him dead but, with what's going on I fear that may not be the case."
"You think the threat to Equestria is from him? After all this time? But...how?"
"He was a talented magic user, Twilight... We do not know if it is, truly Tundra, but...he was the Prince of Storms. Bringing us beautiful skies and summer days were all in his power... the shapes in the clouds were once his canvas. Now, the pegasi do it themselves, make a game of it. I believe a storm could be his manifestation, and we need you to stop him."
"Wait- me? You want me to stop him? But- I've never even heard of this pony before-"
"We understand that Twilight," Luna cuts in, pacing around the table slightly with narrowed eyes in concern,"But after all these years he may still not accept our passing through wherever he hides. And should something go wrong, we must remain here to protect Canterlot."
"I...I see..." Twilight lowers her head gently, but bobs it in a soft nod, beginning to look upwards again."Then I shall carry it out... I shall venture to the north and stop this. And, of course... I'll be taking my friends with me."
"We never doubted you would. Have Rarity prepare you thick coats, I assure you that the weather beyond the crystal empire grows severely more worse the further you pass it. Oh and Twilight..."
"Yes?"
"We trust in you." Celestia breaks the softest of smiles, which Twilight easily returns prior to her turning to exit the library at long last, and returning to the entrance hall of the Palace.
To an audience of her friends, all of whom had eagerly awaited her return.
"So? What news?" Rarity smiles, eyes glimmering in hope of something fancy- perhaps a ball? or a Gala?
"We're going on a trip girls, to the far north plains."
"You mean the Crystal empire, right?" Dash grins, floating along in the air with her hooves behind her head, the epitome of relaxed.
"No, the Northern Ice Plains...Beyond the empire."
"BEYOND THE EMPIRE?!" A combined scream of the group, which Twilight flinches away from, frowning and narrowing her gaze at the group.
"Yes, the far north."
"But- but it's so COLD up there!"
"I know- so, we're going to need coats...Rarity, that's your job. And we need them soon, it's gonna be a long trip to wherever we're going, girls." Twilight sighs, but the group seemingly understand her concern and stresses, and head off to Rarity's Canterlot Boutique, to allow the seamstress mare to prepare the aforementioned coats.
It would give the others time to plan things and work out specifically where they were going... And of course, for Twilight to explain exactly what they were doing.
It might just have been the fastest Rarity had ever worked to have these coats done.
Though, it would have been much faster if she hadn't added her usual stylish flair to everything. Then again, it is Rarity, that's just her trademark. The mares packed their saddlebags however, and were soon settled on the train, racing off to the frozen north.
Their final stop would be the Crystal Empire, and from there, they would be travelling on hoof. And knowing this, the train car is oddly quiet. Rainbowdash is napping across her seat leaving Applejack to snooze against the window, Rarity is making the last scarf for the group, Fluttershy is watching the last glimpses of nature fade from distant sight, and Pinkie is actually really quiet considering.
Twilight has blocked most of her strange surroundings out. She'd borrowed a book from Celestia on Equestrian history, and as she thought, there wasn't a single mention of a place beyond the Crystal Empire. Not a single mention of this mysterious extra alicorn that came so many long years before herself. She knew nothing about him, only the minimal information the Princesses had given her to work with... and honestly that was hardly even a useful amount.
"Twilight, look outside!" Is the call from Pinkie, shaking the purple mare out of her studious trance and pressing her other hoof to the glass window.
The glow of the protected Crystal Empire is in sight now, yet the weather surrounding it is more ferocious than any of them had ever seen. Even the train car begins to shake and groan the closer they got, battered by high speed winds and windows fogging up quickly with frost and snow.
"Oh my, that can't be good..." Rarity bites her lip, setting her knitting aside. Applejack has the courtesy to wake Dash up- of course, by rolling her off her bench first.
"HEY." Is the annoyed snort from the pegasus, but she quickly catches onto what everyone is busy staring at, and Twilight's frown only deepens.
"If what Celestia told me is true, then that is only the beginning of this storm... We have to stop this before it gets any worse. If it does... it won't just be the Crystal Empire that'll suffer." The group nod their heads in a lowly silence, only looking up as the train pulls to a stop at a very snowed-over station.
"Well, this is our stop... suit up girls. It's gonna get cold."
Cold didn't even half describe the weather surrounding them.
Any uncovered bit of coat was almost solid with the frost, and the wind would stop at nothing to find any tiny gap in the ponies protective clothing to knaw at them.
It was painful to say the least, and for some more prone to just flying overhead, such as Rainbowdash, the arduous wind conditions were forcing her to remain knee-deep in thick snow.
She's wasn't fond of that fact, to say the least.
The Empire has long since faded from their sights behind them, not even it's warming glow following them this far into the north, and the skies had become a dark grey and blue hue, spotted with the falling snow. There was very little to see, more because opening one's eyes is difficult in such cruel conditions, than much else.
"Twilight- are we anywhere close?"
"I don't see anything..."
"Me neither."
Twilight just puffs half-frozen breath into her scarf- wound up around her slim neck to cover her muzzle somewhat, just to make breathing less of a task, and shakes any settled snow from her mane with a thorough shake of the head.
"Sorry girls, I can't see a thing."
The group groan quietly, behind their covered muzzles, and have little to do than just keep walking.
"Oof!" is the hiss of Pinkie, as she falls face-first into a deep snow pile, having caught her hoof on a solid lump during her walk.
"Pinkie?" Rarity questions, pacing over with the group pausing to help their friend out.
"I'm fine!" She calls, sitting up from her pony-shaped pit in the snow, and seems to laugh it off as usual.
But Twilight is paying more attention to what she had tripped over.
it looks like a short section of wall that had been taken out by a storm or some kind of force.
"We have to be close... we must be standing where a village used to be."
She turns and cracks her eyes fractionally wider, ignoring the sting of snowflakes hitting the surface of her eyes, and can make out a shadow that looks alarmingly like a structure, similar to a town.
"I think that's it... come on."
Every hoofprint left behind was easily filled and shifted by the shifting winds and pouring snow, but the group made progress anyway, and landed themselves into what appeared to be a town of some kind. Everything was tinted grey, bordering a dull silver, and otherwise blue and frosted. Windows were snowed over, and the place appeared derelict.
The cramped-up terraces of buildings did help protect the group from the winds though, only exposing them to an occasional gust whenever there was a gap between sets of houses, and now they were able to open their eyes and truly see what sat before them.
It seemed this once would have been a very beautiful city or town, not unlike the Crystal Empire in the way it had a central area, marked by a large fountain-like shape up ahead. But the thick snow piles made everything appear desolate, and there was little to no sign of any pony even living here.
"Shucks, there really was a civilization up here..." Applejack gawks at her surroundings, surprised to think any creature could survive a cold quite this bitter.
"It looks so silent... You sure anypony still lives here? I couldn't imagine being in a place this cold." Rarity shakes her hoof in mild disgust of the idea, and turns to look beyond the frost of a nearby window with interest.
"Well we were sent here to find this alicorn... and if I had to think of where we might find any alicorn i'd say up there..." Twilight adds, looking up upon a great shadow above the town itself; stood in the nearby distance was a great building. Something akin to a palace now they could witness the sheer size of it. It seemed cast in shadow, blocking out what little sunlight could filter through such a thick storm.
"Uhm...I'll just- stay here...if you don't mind..." Fluttershy adds quietly, shaking her head and beginning to back away, only being stopped by knocking into Rainbowdash.
"Not happening Fluttershy, we're all going in. Who knows what'll happen if you stay out here." The blue mare tucks her wing over the other to trap her into walking with them, despite her hesitation and apparent anxiety about this large overbearing shadow...
Approaching the palace cast the group into a steadily darkening shadow the closer they became; and climbing the large staircase leading to the entrance doors took more effort than you'd think- what once must have been stone was now thick with ice, and it made the climb difficult and slippery to say the least. But past the struggle, and the rush to help everypony up the large steps, they took a moment to brace themselves. Stood upon the flat before the great entrance doors, old and frosted from misuse, the group looked down upon their traveled distance...
The town was much larger than they had realized, large rows were everywhere, and even though the snow made everything blend into one single blob of colour, it was once probably quite beautiful. If there was ever a time this place wasn't frozen over.
"From up here, it's almost beautiful. It's nothing like Ponyville, or even Canterlot... It's...frozen in time- I guess. No pun intended." Twilight smiles a little at her own joke, though the others roll their eyes at her bad attempt at some humor. They needed it though, none really knew what to expect beyond these doors. A pony crazed as Nightmare Moon, Sombra? Maybe even Discord, nobody would really know until they passed the entrance itself.
"Alright... brace yourselves..."
The doors took some serious effort to open, having been frozen shut over time, but it opened suddenly- and the heaving group of ponies were sent flying into a heap inside, blown by the added wind.
They arrived into what would have been a foyer, or entrance hall. It's huge; but darkened. A chandelier chimes with the breeze blowing through from the open door, and some glimpses of light come from drawn curtains to the sides of the hall itself. Despite how dark and empty it appears, there's not a speck of dust inside. Clearly someone looks after this place, or it'd surely be in ruin.
Twilight casts a small illumination spell, just lighting the tip of her horn enough to shed some light on the subject at hand and lead the group of mares inside, shutting the doors behind them to keep the snow and wind from blowing through any further.
"Does anypony else get the feeling you're being watched?" Rarity whispers, her head lowered and ears folded back as they pace around, splitting up to have a snoop at the occasional mark on the wall- squares left behind where paintings must have been removed.
"These side doors are barred, I can't get them open." is the short and unhappy comment of Rainbowdash, having attempted to ram a few smaller doors in that line the sides of the large room.
Twilight is more interested in the large door at the far end of the room; framed by large curtains at either side, and nestled beyond two mirrored staircases that curve up towards a second floor, spreading into other corridors.
Her interest came merely from the small glimpse of light from beneath it, just barely noticeable to a keen eye. This place had secrets, obviously.
She approached alone, the others more interested in adventuring around this entrance area instead, and left her to press open the large door with a single hoof. It came open with surprising ease, though it only opened a crack from her gentle nudge; but enough to let her glimpse inside.
The room beyond it was vast. The windows were covered by drawn drapes again, blocking out the outside world, and at the far end of the hall was a set of more drapes, lining a space with a throne and smaller side seats. It's a throne hall of course, with the long runner of carpet from the door to the steps of the throne itself. And upon it rested the figure she was sent to find. Though the faded light of a barely-lit chandelier hung in the center of the room didn't let her make out this figure much more than a bare shadow, perched upon the large seat.
She was met with three simple words, even hidden by the door, that echoed up towards her.
"Leave this place."