The Frozen North, a place of cold temperatures and storms so fierce that no pegasus could hope to stop let alone control them. It is no wonder that aside from the small part that surrounds the crystal empire inside the barrier made by the Crystal Heart that it is mostly unexplored.
It is in this land of ice that two ponies find themselves fighting against the wind using magic to redirect it around them. Each gust of wind buffeting the barrier with the combined force of six hurricanes. The two ponies were making their way steady forward. The one in front turned it’s head back toward the other. “Are you sure we are heading in the right direction Twilight?” They asked in a feminine voice.
Twilight looked up from the map and compass that floated in front of her held aloft by her magic. “According to this map that Starswirl sent me, yes, but honestly I don't know for sure. Because of the storm, I can't see anything past the barrier so I haven't seen any of the landmarks that Starswirl mentioned.” The purple alicorn said in uncertainty.
“Good going Starlight. You could have gone with Trixie to help her with her show in Manehattan but no you had to come up here to found out what had the great Starswirl in need of help.” Starlight snarked at herself for her poor choice.
The two continued to slowly move forward switching who was creating the barrier whenever one of them got tired. After about two hours starlight was just about to suggest that they were going the wrong way when she suddenly felt less pressure on her barrier. A few minutes later she and Twilight exited the blizzard to find themselves in a warm grassy field. Stunned the two looked back and sure enough the blizzard was still raging not five yards away.
“This is like the weather in the crystal empire. I wonder what is creating this effect here.” Twilight said as she looked around. Besides the storm behind her, the only thing else in sight was a blue colored mountain roughly half the size of the one that canterlot was built on.
She looked at the map again and after a couple of seconds turned her attention on starlight. “Well, that is our destination according to the map.” Starlight just sighed and started walking toward the mountain, Twilight following right behind her. After a half an hour they found themselves in front of a cave at the base of the mountain.
“So why do you think Starswirl called us out here to some random cave in the frozen north?” Starlight asked her purple alicorn companion.
“I’m not sure Starlight, the only thing the letter said was that it was a place that he had been looking for since just after the unification of the three tribes and that he thinks that we can help him.” The alicorn answered as she examined the mountain with her magic. After she finished she let out a gasp. “This is magic infused ice! If the whole mountain is made up of this like it seems to be can you guess the power needed to make it?” She asked her formal student as she pulled out a pick from her bag. She then broke a piece of the ice off and put it into her bag.
“A lot I would have to say.” Starlight answered. “We should probably head into the cave now. Don't want to keep Starswirl waiting.”
Twilight nodded her head in agreement and walked into the cave with Starlight. Starlight used her magic to light up her horn and bring light to the cave. What they saw caused both of them to gasp. The cave was large, so large you could fit the whole of Ponyville in it. There were houses in various stages of decay all around the cave. The two looked around as they made their way to the center of the ruins of the apparent town.
“What do you think happened here Twilight?” Starlight asked as she looked around at the buildings.
“I don't know but these houses don’t look like to be of unicorn build. In fact, they don't match any buildings from any of the pony tribes of the pre-unification era.” Twilight mused as she examined one of the houses up close.
“That is because this village didn't belong to one of the three tribes but was in fact inhabited by a fourth tribe.” An elderly voice said from behind them causing Starlight to jump. Both mares turned around to see a blue colored unicorn with a long grey beard wearing a hat and cloak with bells sewed into them right behind them.
“You scared me Starswirl!” Starlight said as she tried to steady her racing heartbeat. “I still don't know how you manage to be so silent with all those bells on.”
“What do you mean by a fourth tribe? Do you mean another subset like the crystal ponies or bat ponies?” Twilight asked as she used her magic to pull out a quill and scroll and got ready to take notes.
“Well, I guess you could say that. These ponies were evolved to live in lower temperatures. In fact, they adapted so well to cold weather that certain ponies amongst them gained the ability to control the wind and ice. Individuals with this ability were trained as priestesses as the ability only appeared in females.” Starswirl lectured as he led the two mares to the town center; Twilight’s quill moving in a furious manner. “As to what happened to the village, it was attacked by a race of wolf-like people called the Vukasin. The Worg wanted the power to control blizzards for themselves so they attacked hoping to capture the priestesses. This is the result of that.” Starswirl said with a hint of something that Starlight couldn't quite place in his voice.
“Um, I don't mean to be rude but how do you know all this?” Starlight asked Starswirl. Starswirl just sighed as they reached the center of the cave and came upon the sight of hundreds of giant white furred wolves all frozen in place with fangs bared. In the center of all the wolves stood an extremely detailed ice sculpture of a unicorn mare facing off against a wolf twice the size of any of the others with a silver five-pointed crown on its head. The mare’s head was held high and she had a defiant look carved onto her face.
“I know this because my father Bright Star told me the story. Now to why I called you here. You see the pony made of ice here? Well, she was a priestess and she used her ability to freeze all these Vukasin in ice at the cost of turning her own body into ice. Now I have performed scans on the body and her lifeforce is still intact. Which means she is still alive just trapped as ice. What I need you two's help with is freeing her without freeing all of the Vukasin.” Starswirl explained as he looked on at the ice mare.
At that Twilight stopped writing and looked at Starswirl and noticed that he had a sorrowful look about him. “We will help as best we can, but please tell me who the mare was and why the sight of her makes you sad?” She asked the old wizard.
Starswirl sat there for five minutes just looking at the mare of ice before he answered. “Her name was Snowfall and she was my mother.”
