Forgotten: The Frozen North

Chapters

Blueprints
All Terrain
Premonitions
Gearing Up
Ascent
Departure
Dreamwalker, Part I
Dreamwalker, Part II
Following Your Heart
Best-laid Plans, Part I
Approach
Her Last Act
Arrival
The Last Night
The City of Love
Sacrifice
The Heart
The Crystal Princess
Flurry Heart's Plea
It Came From The Other Side
Flurry (Alternate Ending)
Best-laid Plans, Part II

Blueprints

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Sunny Starscout asked Mystic Cinnamon, owner and fellow curator of Maretime Bay's Museum of Equestrian History, as they stood outside the entrance of the building.

"Honestly, were you expecting me to say no?" Mystic asked as he turned to lock the front doors.

"Well, no, but I honestly wasn't expecting you to give me that kind of funding for the expedition, either," Sunny told him.

"Why not? Miss Starscout, not only is the reunification of our nation happening because of you, but that wing of the museum looks spectacular, because of you. The museum has been having record turnouts for two months now. You have the heart and the drive to safely and responsibly uncover Equestria's ancient history. I cannot think of anyone better. And this funding isn't just coming from me, but from museums from Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood as well, so don't think you're going to bankrupt me by asking CanterLogic to design something bigger than those gem display cases. Besides, I don't think you'll be going anywhere quite so suddenly. You still need a safe way to not only get there, but get back as well, so you don't want to be late for your appointment at CanterLogic. Have a pleasant evening, Miss Starscout, and I'll see you in the morning."

Sunny gave the elder pony a smile and nod, and turned to trot down towards the CanterLogic factory. The second shift would be ending within the hour, so she wanted to get there before owner Phyllis Cloverleaf went home for the evening.

Even now, nearly three months after magic had returned to Equestria and reunification had begun, Sunny still felt swelling pride when she walked the streets of her hometown and saw unicorns and pegasi visiting locations all over town. She had even heard talks of CanterLogic expanding and offering to help build neighborhoods further inland to help accommodate any population increases.

Making it clear that she was welcome absolutely any time, Phyllis had provided Sunny with an access badge, to avoid the hassle of filling out a form for a visitor pass. So she came to the main gate, dug said pass out of her saddlebags, and put it up to the scanner. The indicator light blinked green, and the turnstile let her proceed up the main concourse. Once inside the factory proper, she began making her way towards Phyllis' office, and didn't get fifty feet down the corridor before running into Toots, the stout director of CanterLogic's Research and Development.

"Evening Sunny. Phyllis mentioned having a quick appointment with you before she headed out. On your way there now?"

"Yup," Sunny answered, nodding. "Actually, do you have a few minutes as well? This actually involves R&D."

"In that case, let's not waste any time," Toots said, turning and walking alongside her as they made their way to CanterLogic's main production floor.

"How have things been the past couple months?" Sunny asked as they made their way to production.

"Couldn't be more exciting. We've got more unicorns and pegasi working here now, and we've even got ongoing talks about contracts for starting trade with Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood. Our construction wing is even talking about getting some of the ancient roadways repaired and maintained," Toots told her.

"What about ancient railways? According to one of my dad's maps, they were spread out across the entire continent," Sunny asked.

"That, I wouldn't be as hopeful on finding." Toots answered, remembering his trip to the museum, seeing the images of tracks and passenger trains. "Those railroad tracks were made out of wood and iron. They would certainly have to be maintained and replaced every few years. Left abandoned, the wood would certainly rot away after a few decades, and I can only assume that if any of the iron remains, it has almost certainly been overgrown by the surrounding ground."

Toots let Sunny ascend the steel steps to Phyllis' office first, and was right behind her as they turned 90 degrees to the left halfway up at the corner, up to the door, where she knocked.

"Come in, please!" Immediately came the reply from CanterLogic's owner. Sunny turned the door handle, and opened the door to to the second floor office, revealing Phyllis Cloverleaf, owner of CanterLogic, and at a smaller desk adjacent to hers, her son Sprout.

"Good afternoon, Sunny," Phyllis greeted.

"Afternoon, Phyllis, Sprout," Sunny replied, acknowledging the younger stallion, who had taken a part time job here at CanterLogic for some extra bits when he wasn't re-training as Hitch's deputy.

"What can we do for you today? Whenever Sunny Starscout visits, I know R&D is about to get exciting," Phyllis said, getting an immediate nod of agreement from Toots.

Sunny sat in one of the visitor's chairs on the other side of Phyllis' desk, with Toots taking the one next to her, and she dug into her saddlebag, coming out with a laminated piece of parchment, which she laid down on the desk.

"The museums have secured funding to make the trek to the northern arctic region to search for any remains of the Crystal Empire," Sunny announced, tapping a hoof on the top of the ancient map. Both Phyllis and Toots leaned forward to get a closer look at the document. "Because of the distance and climate, I'm hoping CanterLogic can provide a means of transportation to get there and back safely."

"That's... Quite the distance. I don't know if anypony has been up there in ages," Phyllis replied, looking at the map.

"Yep, that's the exciting part. I'm also hoping the climate will have helped the preservation of artifacts. Queen Haven has a long-range topography team attempting to get as far north as they can to update this map. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think a good foundation would be... Sprout's vehicle," Sunny told her.

Sprout, who had been sipping at a glass of water, went into a coughing fit as the last swallow went down the wrong tube upon hearing that.

"I mean, not exactly like that, but the base concept is the same; a cockpit that is protected from the elements, wheels that can handle rough terrain, fuel efficient, cargo space for consumables, and in case of emergencies, a way to signal for help," Sunny described the basic needs for the project.

"Hm. I can see where you're coming from. Sugar cube, did you put the blueprints for your... Whatever it was called, in the archives?" Phyllis asked.

"Uh... The, uh... Sprouticus Maximus? That, that really didn't have any blueprints," Sprout answered nervously, clearly a little perturbed at the memory.

Phyllis' expression became dumbfounded as she turned to Toots.

"Seriously?" She asked her R&D director.

"It was actually kinda freaky how well it all came together," Toots admitted. "We got that thing bolted together and working in two and a half days just on his descriptions."

"Well, clearly, I have some engineers who need raises. Sunny, no worries. We'll get to work on what you need the right way. I can't get you a specific time table just yet, but I'll do so as soon as possible."

Sunny Starscout gave the factory owner a smile.

"No rush, Phyllis. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited, but I don't think the arctic region is going anywhere."

A Long Time Ago...

The light magenta alicorn shot up in her bed, bolting awake in a sweat.

With a few gasps, Princess Flurry Heart caught her breath, and threw off the multiple wool blankets that had been warding off the cold. Swinging her hooves over and getting up out of bed, she walked over to the silk curtains billowing in the frigid breeze. The windows had been blown open by a gust of icy air, again.

She glanced out of the fourth story window, not able to even make out the Crystal Mountains through the blowing snow and darkness.

Taking another deep breath, she closed the windows, and walked over to her closet, throwing on a simple fleece robe. After taking a few gulps of water from her bedside glass, she went to the door and left her personal quarters out into the halls of the Crystal Castle.

To hell with looking regal at two in the morning.

She barely acknowledged the patrolling guards she passed on her way downstairs. Going down another flight of stairs, passed through the double doors to the castle foyer on the ground floor, which was ironically dozens of meters above the actual ground.

The giant curtains to the balcony flapped wildly against the blizzard outside. Slowly, she stepped up to the foyer's centerpiece; the two inverting diamond pedestals, between which the Empire's most sacred treasure floated, glowing faintly in the dim ambience of the foyer.

She looked back at her left flank, lifting her robe to reveal her cutie mark, a perfect rendition of the Heart, surrounded by whirling wisps of wind.

She turned back to the Crystal Heart, looked at her reflection in the facets of the gem, watching her lips tremble in uncertainty.

"Please help me. Show me how I can stop this. Tell me what to do. Please."

Author's Note

Aaand we're off!

I was going to wait until my commissioned cover art by the incredible Litle Tigress was complete, but on the other hand, I would have driven myself nuts letting this opening chapter sit here when comments and feedback have always been my greatest motivators.

So to all of you coming along for the ride, thank you very much for reading! Please let me know what you think!

All Terrain

Present Day
Six weeks later...

Sunny sat in her small office behind the Guardians of Harmony wing in Maretime Bay's museum, anxiously awaiting a text from CanterLogic to come see what they had done in regards to her vehicle request. Toots had told her they expected to be done at some point today.

In addition to re-publishing the Journal of Friendship with all profits going to the museum, Sunny had also decided to make a coffee table book of sorts, containing the entire collection of memory images contained in the gems they collected from the throne room of Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle. It didn't sell quite as well as the Journal did, but she had kept a copy on hoof when she wanted to study the images more closely, and didn't want further wear on the display cases, that a CanterLogic tech came by and inspected roughly every three weeks.

When it came to knowledge of the Crystal Empire, there wasn't much at all to go off of in these materials. According to the Journal, in the Guardians' time, the Empire had suddenly reappeared without warning after vanishing for a millennium, also without warning. The Crystal Heart, some kind of magical artifact, shielded the city and the surrounding tundra from being overwhelmed by the surrounding climate. After securing the Heart, the Guardians returned some months later to help prepare the city to be considered for hosting an event called the Equestria Games. One of the only other entries about it was written by Princess Twilight's dragon friend, Spike, who described the Games as a large sporting event where athletes from all over the continent and beyond came to compete.

So the ultimate question was, when magic vanished at some point in the past, did the city disappear along with it? She was hoping not, otherwise this trip was going to be nothing more than two weeks of sightseeing.

Her phone started vibrating on the desk next to the book, and she got excited as she looked over, and honestly felt a very short pang of disappointment when she looked at the alert, and it wasn't who she was hoping for.

Zipp
Knock knock. You in there?

She pushed her chair away from the desk and walked out of her small office into the wing she managed, put to the central wing, then Admissions, where she saw Zipp waving to her on the other side of the locked glass door. She unlocked the door and held it open for her friend.

"Hey there, come on in. I was just studying in the back after we closed for the day," Sunny told the pegasus. "I hope I didn't make you come early. I might have gotten a bit too excited that they'd be finished today.

"No big deal if you did. We can always go see a movie if they aren't done by tonight. Judgement Neigh looks awesome, by the way," Zipp told her as they walked back through the museum to her office. The film in question was doing so well, bringing in so many bits, that it was still in theaters.

"Heh, Cinnamon's really got you cramped back here, doesn't he?" Zipp commented on seeing the size of the workspace.

"Eh, it doesn't really bother me. I have the room to work on what I need to back here, and 95% of my time is spent out on the floor anyways," Sunny replied as she slid the map and memory book into her saddlebag. She was about to follow up with her phone when it started to ring, and saw that it was Phyllis Cloverleaf.

"I think we're about to find out what our plans for the evening are," Sunny said, picking her phone up. "Hello there, Phyllis......Yeah......Great, we'll be there in ten minutes. Thanks, bye."

Sunny ended the call.

"Sounds like Judgement Neigh is going to wait," Zipp said.

"Yep, they're ready. Let's go."

They left the small office, exited the museum, and Sunny locked the door behind her, and they made their way to the main street that led right up to CanterLogic. Sunny got out her access pass and they went in one of the side entrances. It was closest to the elevator that they had to go down to reach the basement, which housed the R&D prototype production floor.

"Never been down here before," Zipp commented as they rode the cylindrical lift down.

"Same, this is a first for me too," Sunny added. They weren't able to make much out through the frosted glass door, but when the elevator stopped and the door rotated open, the mouths of both ponies dropped, and their eyes widened.

"Whoa," Zipp said, her expression widening into a smile well before Sunny's.

Toots and Sprout were already standing and waiting in front of the project in question, no doubt seeing the elevator come down from the ground floor, and the red earth pony stallion cleared his throat as Sunny and Zipp stepped off of the elevator.

"May we introduce, the Scouticus Maximus!" Sprout exclaimed, motioning his right hoof to the gargantuan, eight-wheeled heavy duty tractor.

Sunny had to truly resist putting her face down into her hooves when she saw the vanity plate that had been bolted to the front bumper.

SNNY 4 EVR

"Sprout's naming conventions need work, I will admit, but I can assure you that this is an improvement from the ground up," Toots said as Sunny and Zipp stepped closer. Even the tires were nearly a full head taller than they were. Toots easily climbed the treads of the front tire to open the front door.

"There's a door on each side, as well as a hatch for roof access," Toots began to explain. He climbed up into the cab, closed the door, and opened the window. "The cab can seat eight comfortably and sleep six. The engine is in the back of the cab, safely exhausted out of the back, and cab heating is independent of the engine. Both engines are hydrogen-powered. We've estimated the approximate distance between here and the Crystal Mountains, and there's enough fuel on board to make that trip three times. All beacons, headlights, and taillights are recharged via solar panels, and can stay on for 24 hours fully charged," Toots explained as Sprout led Sunny and Zipp around front of the vehicle.

"There are cargo compartments built into the floor of the cab, holding sleeping bags, pillows, and room for cold-weather gear, once you and whoever you want to bring along are fitted." Sprout explained as they came around to the right side, where Toots rolled down that window as well.

"Eight 62-inch tires with all-wheel drive and lockable differential should be able to get this thing over any kind of fathomable terrain, and it's got two battery-powered winches to get out of tough spots. You can submerge it up to the windows in water, and the snorkel in back keeps everything running. Can't promise you won't get soaked though. You've got four spare tires in the bed, and room for enough consumables, which, properly rationed, should sustain up to five ponies for a month."

"Things to watch for?" Sunny asked Toots as they came around to the back, walking up the driver side again.

"We got this thing as cold-rated as we absolutely could, but if it gets under -20 C°, I would recommend keeping the engine running at all times. I cannot promise it would start under colder conditions, not to mention being out in that kind of weather without every inch of your body covered up. Also, the size of these tires. I highly suggest you bring a unicorn along that's good with levitation, otherwise, changing one of these would take four ponies and the better part of a day. You could move it short distances with a tire missing or flat on each side."

Sunny nodded as Toots hopped out of the cab, down onto the tire and down to the floor.

"I've cleared my schedule tonight and tomorrow if you want to get familiar with how this moves and operates, Sunny," Sprout said as he climbed up into the cab.

"He's been itching to take this thing out for a spin for two weeks," Toots whispered to Sunny, who smirked as she climbed the tire up to the drive side door.

"It's operated with independent sticks for throttle and steering," Sprout explained as he sat in the driver's seat. "AWD engagement is here, differential lock is here..."

Sunny kept up as best she could, but it would clearly take time to become familiar with. She glanced around at the rest of the cab. There was a passenger seat, and padded benches on both sides behind the windows. Indeed, the floor was lined with hidden cargo compartments, and room to sleep semi-comfortably on the benches and the floor.

"You look good in that lab coat, Sprout. It suits you," Sunny complimented as she sat down in the passenger seat.

"So, when should we start? Tonight? Tomorrow? That ramp back there will take us out the back of the factory into the hills. You should probably get really comfortable with this before you travel that far," Sprout told her.

"That's true. I was also just thinking how it would probably be a good idea if we had someone intimately familiar with how this vehicle works out there with us," Sunny said, smirking at him and raising an eyebrow. "Should I, oh I don't know, talk to your mom and tell her that you're tagging along with us?"

Author's Note

I'm just going to come out and say it.

This chapter was brought to you by SnowRunner.

Premonitions

A Long Time Ago...

Spike made his way down the hallway of the Crystal Castle's second floor, towards the dining room. He got nods of acknowledgement from passing EUP guards.

"Good morning, Spike the Brave and Glorious," one greeted as he passed through the doors to the dining room. It was mostly staff and the skeleton third shift, either eating before their duties started or after, before turning in. He smirked that even after all this time, that title still made it's way around up here.

He stepped up to the kitchen window where castle chef was overlooking his small kitchen staff prepare more food for the buffet line.

"Morning, Turnip," Spike greeted.

"Morning, Spike," the crystal pony replied. "The usual?"

The dragon nodded, licking his lips.

"Say, where's the Princess? She's usually down here by now," Spike commented as Turnip returned to the window with a bowl of varied crystals for Flurry's royal advisor.

"She took a small plate and went to her private dining room. It looked like she had another rough night," the chef commented, sliding the bowl over to the dragon.

"I'll be checking on her then. Thanks, Turnip!"

Spike took the bowl in his claws, popping a couple crystals in his mouth as he exited the dining hall, going up two flights of stairs to the fourth floor, the royal wing. He stepped up to the second door on the left, and knocked three times.

"Come on in," came the tired reply, as she likely knew who it was.

Spike opened the door, and saw Princess Flurry Heart sitting at her dining table, looking positively sleep deprived as she magically poked at a light helping of hay and hash browns with a fork.

"Are we Flurry Worrying again?" Spike asked as he came up to the table, sitting down across from her.

"Spike, what was Rule #4?" She asked, leering at him, half-annoyed by the lack of sleep.

"No making you a verb..." Spike muttered, beginning to munch on two more crystals. "So, rough night? The nightmares are back?"

Flurry Heart set the fork down on her plate.

"They never stopped. For two weeks now. Neither has this weather," Flurry said, motioning to the window where the wind continued to howl.

She let out an exasperated sigh.

"It's always exactly the same. Every single night for two weeks. That's not a nightmare, Spike. That's premonition."

Flurry picked up her fork and took another small bite of hash browns.

"I don't want to try to make sense of it alone, but as far as I know, there are no dreamwalkers nearby, and there haven't been for years."

Spike continued to listen, as he had learned long ago that listening was just as effective as talking to a great advisor.

"Mom was right. Watching over this place is painfully predictable. But when I wanted more excitement around here, I wasn't talking about end-of-the-world scenarios," Flurry told him.

"To be fair, that's frequently what it was when things got exciting back in Twilight's day," Spike countered.

"I'm sure things were a bit more manageable when there were four or five alicorns instead of just one."

"You'd be surprised," Spike offered. "I lost track of how many times we would have to talk Twilight down before we could start formulating a plan of action. Talk. Breathe. Plan."

"Talking isn't going to help, Spike!" Flurry snapped, then took a breath, adamant on not letting the lack of sleep get to her. "What I mean is, things are worse than I've ever seen. We are losing Equestria, Spike. Bit by bit, every day. The Everfree Forest down in the central valley is slowly expanding, and Ponyville can't stop it. Cloudsdale has been gone for six months, thousands of pegasi refugees are causing overcrowding in Canterlot, and the last reports I received say that open revolt in the city is inevitable."

Flurry paused to take a drink of water.

"It's easy to separate ourselves from it all when we're all the way up here. But if this weather gets much worse, staying here won't be an option, and I don't want to send my populace down into... All that. It makes me wonder if Tirek, Cozy, and Chrysalis really were successful in the long term... If we've all forgotten the lessons Twilight and her friends taught us long ago."

Spike sat and continued into his bowl of crystals while his Princess and friend continued her heart-pouring.

"A year ago, I figured reaching my bicentennial would be nothing more than a painfully long wait, but now I'm wondering if we'll make it another three years."

"I say this every year, but for 197, you don't look a day over 40," he said with a gentle smile.

Flurry managed a small smile back.

"Whatever this premonition is trying to tell me, the Crystal Heart is involved, and if I don't figure it out, I fear that this city is doomed to a grave of ice and snow." Flurry said, turning her attention to the blowing snow outside the window.

Now it was Spike's turn to take a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you... I was sworn to secrecy. But if you really, truly believe that this is that serious, that our world hangs in the balance of whatever you're experiencing at night... Then I think they'll understand," Spike said, his tone quite serious all of a sudden.

"What do you know, Spike?" Flurry asked.

"I know where you can find a dreamwalker. She's closer than you think."

Author's Note

I think this is a good place to stop until I get my commissioned art cover. I would prefer not to do the majority of the story without it. So the next update may be a few days out.

Thanks for reading!

-Miles

Gearing Up

Two Days Later

"The best cold simulation they can possibly do in this entire factory, is walking into the kitchen's walk-in freezer?" Zipp asked as they walked towards the cafeteria.

"Well, we don't really deal with crazy sub-zero temperatures around here, so it's the best they could do on short notice," Sunny told her, as she and her five friends entered the cafeteria, heading back towards the kitchen.

After she had taken a look at the 'Scouticus Maximus' all terrain vehicle CanterLogic had designed for their journey, she sent a text out to their group chat, asking who wanted to tag along with her and Sprout for what would likely be around a week to ten days.

The other four had immediately volunteered. Queen Haven had had some reservations about the distance, as it was considerably farther than a half-day's hike down the mountain, but after Zipp assured her of all the precautions they were taking, as well as the best cold weather gear Zephyr Heights' top outfitters were providing, she relented.

Said outfitters were already here, waiting by the doorway to the kitchen, along with several clothing racks containing wool articles of clothing, all varying degrees of tan and brown.

"Greetings, Princesses. We're here to get you and your friends outfitted for extreme cold," one of the two stallions announced.

Sunny counted quickly, and it looked like there would be ten pieces per pony; four hoof boots, back half, front half, a neck gaiter, scarf, goggles, and a cap.

"What about holes for the wings?" Pipp asked as she looked over the barrel and chest piece.

"Out of the question," her older sister replied. "Where we're headed, there's some kind of weird blizzard in front of the mountains. We couldn't get anywhere close in the air, it was much too cold. We made camp for a day, and it didn't seem to move an inch. It would certainly explain why there haven't been any explorers up there."

Piece by piece, the outfitters helped each pony into appropriately-sized snow suits, and when she was fully clad, Sunny was quite eager to step into the freezer.

"We can provide two complete suits for each member of your party, because we highly recommend letting each piece dry completely between excursions. Dampness hinders the insulation considerably," the other outfitter told them.

When they were all dressed, they filed one by one into the kitchen's large walk-in freezer, which the staff had temporarily set to -20, just for an hour to avoid freezer burn on any of the food.

Sunny was amazed; when she stepped into what must have been frigid air, she didn't notice much more than a very mild chill.

"Not bad," she heard Hitch say underneath the gaiter and goggles. In fact, aside from Pipp's height, the only way to tell each other apart were voices, manes, and Izzy's horn.

"How's your horn, Izzy?" Sunny asked.

"Just fine. Magic spells keep it perfectly warm," her friend replied.

"So when do we move out?" Sprout asked, clearly one of the most excited.

"We're still getting some food stores put on the vehicle, shouldn't take more than a couple days," Sunny explained. "Once we're under way, I think Sprout should take each of you through some of the basics of how to drive it, just in case you need to, before we get to trickier terrain, where he'll be doing most of the driving."

Sprout's gaiter moved just enough to where she could tell he was smiling excitedly.

"If we can sleep through the engine noise and the fact that our sleeping spots will be moving, I think it'll be best of we keep it moving as close to all the time as we can."

"Sounds like we're sticking around until we're ready to head out," Zipp said. "Anypony up for laser tag? I saw that arena on the way into town this morning."

"Ooh ooh," Sprout said, removing his headgear as they began to file out of the freezer. "You're on."

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, but now, Little Tigress' amazing cover now adorns the front of this story!

Thank you so much!

Ascent

A Long Time Ago...

Knowing that additional layers of robes or coats would merely slow her down, Princess Flurry Heart merely opted for alteration spells that made the frigid air in her immediate area tolerable.

The paths north out of the Crystal Empire towards the Crystal Mountains was the same arctic tundra as any other direction, that quickly gave way to taiga as the landscape approached the northern range. About three miles out of the city, the paths split. The one to the left ascended far slower as it went east to Yakyakistan. The road had not been maintained in quite some time. The other one went right for about a quarter mile before beginning the steep ascent up Mount Everhoof. The road was barely visible, having not been maintained in years.

Right now, two questions were predominantly on the princess' mind; why would Spike be sworn to secrecy concerning the whereabouts of a dreamwalker, and why would they be all the way up here? No one ever came up here, at least not in the last century or so, when she deemed the cave near the top of Mount Everhoof wasn't necessary to guard anymore due to Grogar's Bewitching Bell no longer being up there.

But if whomever this dreamwalker was didn't want to be disturbed, maybe that was the point.

As the forest began to thin and the landscape changed to alpine tundra, Flurry took the opportunity to turn and look back at the city she had spent a century and a half watching over, and more worriedly, the storm slowly twisting overhead.

She really hoped this dreamwalker could help her. Seeing the premonitions for themselves was undoubtedly better than her trying to interpret what she saw repeatedly every night for the past two weeks.

As the trees began to thin out, more of the rising cliffs became visible. The snowfall began to decrease, but the wind picked up as she slowly got higher. When the path became visible again due to lack of snowfall up here, Flurry noticed wagon ruts present in the ground; recent ones.

She didn't understand; there hadn't been a Crystal Guard posted up here for decades. What was a wagon coming up here for? It absolutely wasn't an easy pull. She followed the tracks further up the mountain as it slowly curved to the left around the bend as the trees continued to thin out. Sure enough, there was the old EUP hut, which had been there long before the Crystal Empire had reappeared. To her complete and utter surprise, it looked in good condition, like it had been continually maintained. She traced the tracks as they turned to curve right in front of the front door, then completed the turn back down the way it came. At first she thought that a pony was coming up here to keep the cabin standing, making repairs as necessary, but then she saw smoke rising from the chimney on the right side of the roof.

Somepony was here. Right now. Taking a deep breath, she made sure her crown was on straight before continuing up the path to the cabin. Indeed, there was an axe embedded in the stump out front, with neatly stacked logs in a pile under the front window. Stepping up to the front door, she took a deep breath, and knocked on the front door.

There was nothing after that for a moment, but she couldn't hear much above the ambient howling of the wind. Twenty seconds later, she heard the door's deadbolt unlatch, and the old wooden door was pulled open with a creak.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't a pony equal to her height wearing a dark brown hooded cloak. They had a dark blue coat, and a horn longer than you would typically see on fully mature unicorns.

"Princess Flurry Heart. You don't know how long I have waited to see you here on this doorstep," greeted the feminine voice that Flurry had not heard in decades.

Flurry Heart's eyes widened as she realized who was standing in front of her.

"Princess Luna...?"

Author's Note

And we have the final player to our flashbacks.

Thanks for reading so far, there is more to come!

-Miles

Departure

Hitch gave an exasperated sigh as his 'squad' approached the Scouticus Maximus with him.

"Now come on, guys. I'm afraid you can't go along. The climate we're going to isn't that great for seagulls and crabs. But I'm counting on you to keep an eye on my subs while I'm gone, alright? Seriously, if they try anything remotely fishy, please, run them out of town."

The two seagulls and crab shared looks of disappointment, but gave salutes, and began slowly moving down the street towards the police station.

Sprout had pulled the vehicle out of the rear basement access of CanterLogic, so they could avoid taking it through all the crowded city streets. The planned route would keep them largely on the west coast, taking them around the Smoky Mountains, and then roughly on a northeast trajectory, going largely off of Zipp's aerial recon that her team had done in the weeks beforehoof.

Pipp was doing a walk around the vehicle while livestreaming, and Sprout was making the final checks before getting ready to go. Sunny was in the passenger seat, going over a checklist of all the food they had packed. Zipp was stretching her wings, keeping them limbered up, as she would be spending much of the trip airborne until they reached colder weather. Izzy was assisting on loading up the last crates of food. When that was done, Izzy took a magical hold of the tailgate and pushed it up, and it latched into place.

"Alright, food's all loaded!" Izzy announced.

The spare tires took up about a third of the space in the bed, the crates of food another third, and the rest was empty crates, ready to hold any artifacts that they found. They had arranged the crates so they could be sat on semi-comfortably, as sitting in the bed until they hit the arctic would be the best way to get fresh air.

"Alright everypony, I'll be back when we're en route to the Crystal Empire!" Pipp announced, giving a smile and wave, before cutting the stream on her phone.

"Alright, one last thing..." Came the voice of Toots, walking out of one of CanterLogic's rear entrances carrying a trio of what looked to be devices of some kind on telescoping poles.

"What are those?" Hitch asked.

"These are long-range emergency transponders. You should only need one, but, you know, redundancy. Just stick it in the ground, extend it, and hit the button on top. We'll have someone here monitoring this frequency at all times," Toots told them, and got them securely placed in the back of the bed with Izzy's help, as Phyllis also came out.

"Sprout, come down and give me a hug before you all get under way," she told him, trotting up to the driver side as Hitch got on board.

"Mommy..." Sprout whined, as his cheeks tinted red, as he had been trying to show a little more maturity the last few months. He climbed down out of the cab, stepped up to his mom, and she pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm very proud of you, sugar cube. You put in a lot of work these last couple months, and this is the farthest you'll have traveled without me. Just remember, drive safe. You've got five other ponies counting on you to get them there safely, alright?" Phyllis asked.

"I will, I promise," Sprout told her, returning the hug.

With that, Phyllis released him, and Sprout climbed back into the cab. Izzy hopped into the back along with Zipp, and once Pipp climbed inside, that made all six on board, and Sprout started up the engine.

"Alright, see everyone in a couple weeks!" Sprout announced.

The six ponies gave the nearby factory staff a wave goodbye as Sprout pulled on the air horn twice, before gently pushing the throttle forward, and the Scouticus Maximus started climbing the first hill.

Phyllis felt her throat tighten as the vehicle and six ponies on board crested the first hill and slowly left her sight.

"Everything alright, Phyllis?" Toots asked, coming up to her side.

The factory director swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I'm fine. This will be the farthest away he's been from me in his entire life. And for the longest amount of time. I hope he'll be safe."

"He will, I'm sure of it," Toots reassured his boss. "He's gotten a better head lately, and he's got the other five to help him out.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm probably worrying too much," Phyllis resigned.

"It's part of being a parent. Now, if you'll excuse me, ma'am, me and Sweets have a police station to run. That litter isn't about to patrol for itself."

Author's Note

Mothers gonna mother.

I've been hoping to be able to keep this pattern of present-past-present-past chapter order, but I'll be honest, I have not really made the time to outline all the chapters and events to make sure I'm going to be able to do that, so... Yeah, here's hoping.

Dreamwalker, Part I

A Long Time Ago...

Princess Flurry Heart stared almost dumbfounded at the elderly Princess of the Night and Dreams standing in the doorway of the old EUP cabin, who gave her a soft smile.

"Heh, it has been quite a long time since I have been called that, child," Luna said.

Flurry smiled back.

"I'm sure it's been an equally long time since anyone has called me 'child'," she replied.

Luna stepped aside, inviting the younger alicorn inside.

"Come in, come in, out of the cold, your highness. I'm sure there's quite a bit that we can learn from each other."

Flurry stepped into the cabin, and Luna closed the door behind her.

It was largely as she remembered it from the last time this cabin was staffed by a Crystal Guard. Luna had done very little in renovations, except for keeping up maintenance, ensuring it stayed livable and the interior was suitably shielded from the outside elements.

"I'm afraid I can only offer you tea, milk, or water. I only asked for the most basic necessities from your guard. I apologize for the subterfuge, but I didn't want word to spread that I was up here before the time was right," Luna told her as she sat down next to the crackling fireplace.

"I'm fine, thank you, but I don't understand. You've been up here all this time?" Flurry asked, stepping up to the fireplace and it's inviting warmth.

"That entirely depends on what you mean by "all this time," Luna began, sipping at her tea. "For the past... Forty years or so, and I will explain why, but first let's talk about why you have come all the way up here. I can only assume it has to do with that worsening weather that is not moving from above the Empire."

Flurry nodded, sitting down across from Luna.

"I've been having recurring nightmares for weeks now, to the point where I'm convinced it's a premonition. I've gotten so worried that Spike told me you were up here when I told him I needed a dreamwalker to help me consider what it is, and what I can possibly do about it," Flurry explained. Luna nodded in understanding.

"Yes, Spike was one of the very few I told when I came up here. He made arrangements for monthly supply runs up here, only the bare necessities, so as to not place any unneeded strain on your city's populace."

"Everypony I talked to believed you vanished after... After Celestia..."

Princess Luna nodded, and Flurry didn't need to complete her sentence.

"Seeing my sister pass was one of the hardest days of my life, and it led to the loneliest days. I quickly grew incredibly restless, and decided to leave Silver Shoals. I spent the next few decades traveling, to every corner of Equestria and beyond; the dragon lands, Griffonstone, Maretania, Antleria, Abyssinia, Farasi... I went everywhere, pondering what was in store for me... And how long I had left."

Flurry didn't say anything, choosing to listen intently, assuming that Luna had more to say.

"I never truly accepted that my responsibility to Equestria ended along with my sister's when Princess Twilight took over. Not when I spent a millennium rightfully imprisoned for my crimes. I always felt that resuming my duties of tending to the moon and dreamwalking were not enough for repentance. So towards the end of my travels, I also began to have premonitions, and that is what drove me up here."

"You too?" Flurry asked. Luna nodded.

"And I am hoping that we can help each other with them. So, tell me, how have things been down in the valley? Down in the city?" Luna asked.

Flurry ruffled her wings momentarily.

"For the most part, unbearably dull. Mom was right. I've spent years upon years wishing for something exciting, and now... With everything that's been happening... I want to go back to dull. Be careful what you wish for and all, I guess. Can I assume you've heard what happened to Cloudsdale?" Flurry asked.

Luna nodded solemnly.

"Ponies have let small differences and arguments get to them, and have let them become greater divisions. They have slowly forgotten everything that Princess Twilight and her friends have taught them. Even the other kingdoms across Equus are beginning to distance themselves from us and each other once again. My greatest fear is that Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow did ultimately succeed in the long term," Luna reflected.

"Canterlot has become unbearably overpopulated when Cloudsdale collapsed on it six months ago. The last report I received is that conflict is inevitable. How can we possibly stop something like that?" Flurry asked.

"We should look to what has brought us together, Princess; our premonitions. How spent are you from the climb? It has been some time since I have performed spells like this, but the more in need of rest you are, the easier this will be," Luna told her.

Flurry looked at the oak and bronze clock on the wall above the fireplace; it was late afternoon, and alteration spell keeping the cold at bay or not, she felt she could nod off if she got comfortable enough.

"I think I could take a nap, yes," she told the Princess of the Night.

Luna motioned to the couch against the front wall as she got to her hooves. The Crystal Princess made her way over to it, stretching out on it, getting as comfortable as she could. Luna made her way over to a modest twin bed in the back corner. She slowly laid down, bringing her head to rest on the single pillow, and closed her eyes as she began to concentrate.

The only sounds were the cracking of the fireplace, and the howling wind outside as both ponies attempted to slow their breathing, and relax as much as possible.

"Somnum," she whispered, her horn beginning to glow. As Flurry began to feel more and more drowsy, falling into a deep slumber, a single mote of light left the very tip of Luna's horn, slowly floating across the cabin over to where the Crystal Princess slept on the couch, and softly landed on her forehead, connecting the two alicorns in the world of dreams...

Author's Note

Is getting the bare minimum amount of sleep for work tomorrow worth getting you people daily or bi-daily updates?

Yes. Yes it is.

Thanks for reading, more to come!

-Miles

Dreamwalker, Part II

Princess Flurry Heart slowly regained consciousness... Or rather, she thought she had. She found herself standing in the middle of a snowstorm. Looking around, she found herself standing in front of the cabin that she had just entered moments ago, seeing Luna by the door.

"We are still dreaming, yes?" Flurry asked as the Princess of the Night came up to her.

"Indeed. This is my premonition," Luna explained, as they gazed down at the Crystal Empire, barely visible through the blowing snow. What they couldn't quite make out were three ghostly, swirling trails of light that were circling the cityscape overhead, and they were the source of howling that echoed off the cliffs overhead.

"What are those? I've heard them in my dream as well," Flurry asked.

"Windigos. Heralds of the end of an era. They are strengthened by hate, fear, and distrust. The first equines to set hoof on this continent were running from these spirits, and still they followed until the three races learned to cooperate or face certain death," Luna answered.

"You tried to stop them?"

"Many times. Each time I was overtaken by the cold or buried in the storm. I pondered for months how to overcome a seemingly hopeless situation. Eventually, I became so resigned that I turned around to the cabin, and went inside, and merely waited, and that was the key."

The pair of alicorns turned to the cabin, and walked into the front door. When the door latched closed, Flurry went to the front window and looked out at the landscape, and saw the stars overhead begin to move across the sky.

"The passage of time," Luna explained. "I could not discern how long, but I now knew that I should come up here and wait, and now I know for what. For you."

There was a knock at the door, and their surroundings faded to black.

"So you can likely understand why I've been anticipating this meeting," Luna told her.

"Yes, I can certainly see why. But what about mine?" Flurry asked.

Luna's horn glowed, and the blackness brightened and shifted again, and they found themselves standing in the foyer of the Crystal Castle, where the Heart floated in the center, slowly rotating on its central axis.

The howling continued outside, and it was Luna's turn to watch carefully. Frigid gusts of wind burst through the windows, sending the long thick curtains billowing in towards the Crystal Heart's pedestal. Both alicorns shivered as the chamber began to ice over.

The howling turned to shrieking, and the trio of ghostly spirits galloped through the windows, directly at Flurry Heart.

Luna tensed up, but Flurry remained calm, simply standing her ground as the Crystal Heart began to spin rapidly. The Princess of the Night was certain that they would have overtaken Flurry, had the Heart not reacted and shot out a trio of white beams at the Windigos, stopping them in their tracks before they reached Flurry. They gave out screams of defiance as the beams persisted. Then, three glowing spheres slowly came out of the Heart.

Luna was able to quickly discern their forms; a brilliant white, rounded diamond, a more angular, pointed sapphire, and a curiously shaped turquoise that looked like... Spread wings?

She didn't have time to look closer, because they, and the Crystal Heart, exploded in a flash of blinding white light, and both alicorns were returned to the infinite sea of black. Flurry calmly turned to the Princess of the Night.

"So, what do you make of that, Princess?" The Crystal Princess asked.

Luna's horn glowed, and the next thing Flurry knew, she was coming back to consciousness on the cabin's couch. She sat up, seeing Luna wake up on the bed in the corner.

Flurry's eyes widened when she saw the sun rising in the east. They had been asleep all evening and overnight. Without a word, she stepped outside to the front of the cabin, with Luna following her.

The Crystal Princess' expression was considerably more worried as she gazed back down at the blizzard blowing through and around the Crystal Empire below.

Luna came up to her side.

"All the tales I have heard suggest that unless all of Equestria comes together, that the Windigos and the fatal frost they bring are unstoppable. But this suggests otherwise. You and I certainly have much to discuss on the way down the mountain."

Author's Note

Special thanks to the late MelodicPony, whose music inspired much of this story.

Following Your Heart

Sunny stuck her head out the window as the high noon breeze passed through the cabin as all the windows were down on this gorgeous day. Sprout was attentive at the wheel, Zipp was flying overhead, and would descend to let them know if there was a hazard up ahead or if there was an easier route to take. Pipp, and Izzy were in the bed also enjoying the breeze. Hitch had laid out his sleeping bag, put on an eye mask, and ear muffs to attempt to get some sleep, as he had volunteered to take over for Sprout when he got too tired. If they kept this thing moving most of the time, they'd reach the arctic in just over two days.

The hills were rolling greens and yellows as the made their way north. They took dirt and stone roads where they saw them, but for the most part they were carving their own path through the wilderness. They were closer to the coast than they were to Zephyr Heights, but right now neither was visible. From her dad's best-condition map of Ancient Equestria, Maretime Bay was situated below a large peninsula that had been known as the Undiscovered West, and it separated the North and South Luna Oceans.

"So is it everything you wanted it to be, Sprout?" Sunny asked after pulling her head back in and leaning back in her seat.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Sprout answered, glancing over at her before returning his attention to the road. "If Hitch can actually sleep back there, then we nailed the suspension."

"Not to mention keeping the engine noise down to a reasonable level," Sunny commented.

"Well that's thanks to the soundproofing, and that was mainly Toots' domain. I don't know how anypony can have a normal conversation out there sitting in the bed," Sprout replied.

Indeed, the insulation was good enough that if anypony was talking out there, they couldn't hear them, and the engine noise probably would have drowned them out as it is.

"What do you think you're going to do when we get back? If this project was a resounding success, you think the R&D team will want to take you on for more projects?" Sunny asked him.

"Honestly, I'm kind of hoping they do, yeah," Sprout answered.

"What do you mean?" Sunny asked.

Sprout glanced back at the rear of the cab again, making sure Hitch was still asleep, before looking over at Sunny.

"Look, this stays between you and me for now, alright? I haven't figured out how to tell him. I'm really thinking about resigning as deputy," Sprout told her, returning his attention to what was in front of the vehicle.

"How come? I thought things were turning around," Sunny told him.

"I think he wants me to think they are, but come on, Sunny. Nopony who did what I did should be in a law enforcement position."

"But you're becoming a different pony, Sprout," Sunny answered.

"There shouldn't be any second chances with that kind of authority, Sunny," Sprout countered. "Besides, with how much fun I had designing the Sprouticus and this one, maybe that's my calling."

"As long as that's the real reason, Sprout. Your mom made anti-unicorn and pegasus devices at CanterLogic for years. She still runs the factory. I'm just saying, changing careers is a significant life choice. Make sure it's the right one and not something you're deciding on a whim," Sunny told him.

"I know. I have been thinking carefully about it. But maybe I should stop thinking about it for now and enjoy the trip, you know? I still haven't figured out how to break the ice with the rest of your friends. Laser tag with Zipp was fun, but I haven't really gotten to know the rest of them yet."

"I'm sure you'll figure out how eventually. If this thing gets us safely to and from the Crystal Empire, we're all gonna owe you, that's for sure. When do you think we'll need to gas—"

Sunny's question was interrupted by a shriek that was heard over the engine, back from the bed. Sprout quickly pulled back on the throttle and applied the brakes, probably a little harder than necessary, because Hitch did one complete roll in his sleeping bag.

"Huh? Whoa!" He said, awake almost instantly.

The Scouticus Maximus lurched to a stop, and Sunny unbuckled her seat belt.

"Brakes work," Sprout commented as he cut the engine.

Sunny got up and went to the back of the cab, climbing up the welded ladder rungs and pushed the top hatch open.

"Sis, are you serious?" She heard Zipp ask in an incredulous tone.

"Is everything alright?" Sunny asked, concern filling her voice.

"Hope that's directed at anypony except Pipp, because according to her the world is ending," Zipp said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh like this isn't an emergency," Pipp countered as she was frantically holding her phone skyward in every single direction.

"What is going on up here?" Hitch asked, eye mask pushed up onto his forehead.

"This!" Pipp exclaimed shoving her phone towards his eyes, screen facing him.

"No. Signal. No signal!"

"Pipp, you need to chill," Zipp told her younger sister. "I already told mom that it was almost certain that we would drop out of the service zones once we got far enough north. That's what the emergency transponders are for."

"Mom? You think I'm worried about mom? What about my fans? They're going to think something happened to me!!!"

"Well, you'll just have to film all this content and release it in pieces when you get back! And if your fans get really worried, I'm sure mom can do a video explaining where you went!" Zipp argued.

Pipp shrieked again.

Sunny's attention was pulled back inside by Sprout, having heard the entire tirade and unable to hold in any longer, burst out into laughter as he unbuckled himself from the driver's seat.

"I think now would be a good time to refuel while you all give Pipp some oxygen..." the stallion commented, guffawing as he opened the left door and climbed out.

Best-laid Plans, Part I

A long time ago...

"The weather aside, I can see that this place hasn't changed all that much," Luna commented as they approached the Crystal Castle.

"Well, you haven't seen the inside. The decorators are always asking me for something to change; a room, a hall, a floor..." Flurry replied, rolling her eyes at the memories of keeping her interior decorators happy and occupied. She had almost always agreed to their requests, so long as they left her quarters alone.

They entered the castle, which was a double set of doors built into the supporting archways, with stairs that immediately took them up to what was considered the 'ground' floor. They passed through the doors, and laid their eyes on the Crystal Heart, floating and slowly rotating between its two pedestals. Before she left, Flurry had ordered the large window curtains weighed down to the best of their ability, to keep some of the wind out of the room.

The Crystal Princess slowly approached the Heart, seeing her reflection in the facets as it slowly turned in midair.

"So I suppose the ball is in my court again. I wish I knew what the next step was," she admitted.

"I assumed that as the Princess of the Crystal Empire, you would be the expert on your kingdom's most sacred and central artifact," Luna argued.

"Expert might be a stretch, Princess Luna. Yes, I probably know more than anyone else in the kingdom, but I think it's likely we're going to need to study generations worth of research material on the history of the Crystal Heart."

"No doubt. As of right now, we know four things," Luna began, stepping up to her. "One, the Heart is aetherial in nature. Two, it is perpetually powered by the light and love of the citizens of the Empire. Three, it can be shattered by the cries of an alicorn foal," the former Princess of the Night said with a smirk, and Flurry's cheeks tinted red in embarrassment at the memory. "And four, it can be put back together again. But if your premonition is accurate, it can't simply come apart, it has to take on a different form, three of them, to be precise."

"So what do you say to dinner and a study session in the library?" Flurry asked.

"I'd like that very much, Princess. I have always felt that my cooking has left something to be desired," Luna quipped.

Giving Luna a soft smile, they made their way up another flight of stairs, where the dining room and castle kitchen were located.

"I am having another thought, Flurry," Luna told her as they climbed the staircase.

"I'm all ears," the Crystal Princess replied.

"How quickly can you have the city evacuated?" Luna asked, right to the point. Flurry gave her a look of concern, but also came to quickly understand the gravity of the situation. If they started messing with the Heart, successful or not, the Crystal Empire and her citizens would almost certainly be put at risk.

"With the Friendship Express, Crystal Express, and using all available wagons and carriages? Six to eight hours. Do... Do you think it will come to that?"

"It would probably be the best precautionary path to take, Your Highness. If we succeed in manipulating and changing the Crystal Heart, in whatever manner we set out to, the magical energy contained within may not be able to protect the region from the surrounding weather any longer."

Due to the worsening weather, hot, creamy soups were becoming more popular in the castle. They spotted Spike as soon as they entered the dining room, and joined him in line.

"Good to see you again so soon, Princess Luna," Spike greeted, and Flurry immediately assumed that he was the one that had arranged and delivered Luna's periodical supplies.

"You as well, Spike," Luna replied.

The three of them each got a bowl of steaming Fancy Onion Soup, and went to an isolated table, instead of making the trip up to Flurry's private dining room.

"So, have you two figured anything out? About your premonitions?" Spike asked as he started into his soup.

"We've just begun to. We're visiting the castle library as soon as we're done here. I don't want to raise anypony's stress, but I think we should act as if we have a matter of days, instead of weeks or months. I'm not sure how long we have before the weather becomes a survival issue, but we need answers, and very soon."

"Spike, while Flurry and I are in the library, I want you to go over city-wide evacuation plans with the Crystal Guard. Discreetly. We don't want a panic," Luna told him.

"You got it. I don't think it'll come to that, and I'm sure it's already on the mind of most ponies here, because this blizzard hasn't let up for two weeks," Spike replied.

The two alicorns said nothing more as they ate silently, contemplating their next moves.

"Your majesties, everything will be fine. I'm sure you two will figure it out."

Approach

The ride aboard the Scouticus Maximus was smooth, but there was just something about a moving bed that kept Sunny restless and unable to get to sleep. So carefully sidestepping her sleeping friends, she made her way to the passenger seat, and sat down, buckling in as Hitch continued their steady drive north. She looked out to the endless expanse of snow-covered landscape. Six hours ago it was bare arctic tundra, so they were getting closer.

"Can't sleep?" Hitch asked.

"Nope, how's the drive?" the mare replied.

"Uneventful, but I've got to hand it to Sprout and CanterLogic; this thing handles like a dream," Hitch said.

Sunny decided to respect Sprout's wishes and not utter a word about the red stallion's career change considerations for now. She glanced back at the rest of the group either sleeping or merely laying down with eye masks on, and noticed an absence.

"Zipp flying overhead?" She asked.

"Yep. She wanted to keep us on the right track, seeing as how so much of the landscape looks the same now. I'm trusting this thing for now," Hitch said, tapping the tip of his hoof on the compass built into the vehicle's console, which was showing a digital bearing of 10 degrees, which was almost directly northbound, if just a tad to the right. But as they got closer, that wasn't going to be much use without knowing precisely where they were headed. An aerial view would help where precise directional headings wouldn't.

"I'd ask if you really think there's something all the way up here, but you do kind of have the pictures to prove it," Hitch added.

"This place was sort of unexpected even back in their day. It vanished without warning for a thousand years, and then reappeared with just as little warning, and the Guardians had to figure out how to protect it."

"So... Any theories on what happened to it?" Hitch asked.

"Nope. I can only assume... Whatever happened to the rest of Equestria too," Sunny answered.

"You don't think... I mean, maybe there's a way that they've been up here this whole time? Isolated from whatever happened?"

"According to what was in that journal, the magic of the Crystal Empire protected the city from the harsh weather of the region. So I can only assume this is going to get worse. Zipp did say there was some kind of storm in front of the mountain range, and I'm making a semi-educated guess that the city is in there. So, conventional knowledge says that there would be nothing alive left up there. But, we've been surprised before, so who knows?"

"Well, if not, the cold might have kept artifacts intact. I'm just hoping that it's not completely buried. Like, we have the tools to do some digging and ice-chipping, but not unearth an entire city," Hitch told her.

"Yeah, I really hope this trip isn't a total bust," Sunny replied.

They heard a dull thump on the back of the truck, and moments later, Zipp opened the hatch as quietly as she could, and floated down to the floor, coming up in between Hitch and Sunny.

"We may want to stop until daylight, Sheriff," Zipp cautioned.

"What's up?" The stallion asked, as he slowly brought the vehicle to a stop.

"We're coming up on the Crystal Mountains, and the storm in front of them."

Hitch checked the external thermostat, as well as the fuel gauge.

"Well, it's cold enough where we'll probably want to keep this thing running. I'll fill her up, then we can all get a few hours of sleep on stationary beds," Hitch quipped as he threw on his coat and hat, and opened the door to head to the rear to grab one of the fuel canisters.

Seeing how it was a quarter past two in the morning, Sunny figured this was the best time to get some sleep before the first half of their trip came to an end. As Zipp settled into her sleeping bag next to her sister, Sunny likewise unbuckled her seatbelt, and walked to the back of the cab, where her sleeping arrangements had been laid out on the right set of seats. Carefully stepping over Izzy and Sprout, she climbed up onto the seats and slid into her sleeping bag as she heard the muffled sounds of Hitch opening the gas cap.

Now that her bed wasn't swaying with the terrain, she found it easy to be lulled to sleep by the idling engine and blowing wind...

Author's Note

Apologies for how short this one is, but I am frantically trying to keep the present day and flashback offerings even, in an effort to make sure they collide at the perfect moment.

Not sure how successful that is going to be yet.

Thanks for reading so far, and I'm looking forward to giving you more.

Her Last Act

A Long Time Ago...

Flurry Heart, Luna, and Spike stood in front of the Crystal Heart, watching it slowly rotate, as they listened to the muffled commotion outside.

"This citizens are assembled, Princess. There is no going back after this," Luna told her.

"I wouldn't be ordering an evacuation if I thought there was," Flurry replied.

"Not just this city, Flurry. Equestria as a whole. The relics needed for the ritual have just arrived on the train. Once this is done, Equus will be forever changed. No magic, at least for now. Pegasi will no longer be able to control the weather. One of the fortunate side effects will be the axial tilt; it will finally be restored and will not need to be maintained by magic; day and night will cycle on their own. Lastly, this city will likely be lost to the Frozen North, if we alter the Crystal Heart's magic."

"If they don't need to focus on the sun, moon, or weather, maybe they can bring renewed effort on helping each other," Flurry said, turning from the heart and going towards the large curtains, currently weighted down to resist the constant wind. Taking a deep breath, she passed through them out onto the balcony, looking out over the city streets and the crystal ponies down below as her mane began to blow in the icy breeze.

"My citizens..." Flurry began, her voice commanding and overtaking the howling wind that had been hammering the city for days. "Dark times have befallen us. I know not what lies ahead, but I do know that it is no longer safe to inhabit the Empire due to this unending storm. Therefore, I am ordering an immediate and mandatory evacuation of the city. The train and every available carriage will be made available to all of you. I ask that you take only what you need to survive. I do not expect for you to be able to return. Know that this is my last act as your Princess. I know word has begun to spread about the increasing unrest down south. I cannot advise you on what to do when you reach safer climates. Whatever you do, I implore you to spread the light and love of the Crystal Empire wherever you may go. I will remain behind with trusted allies in an effort to put a stop to what is to come. It has been an honor, my crystal ponies. Go forth, and godspeed."

Murmurs of uncertainty continued as she heard her Crystal Guard began to bark orders, and advising citizens to return home to gather what food and necessities they could carry. They had drilled evacuations before, and before this time tomorrow, the city would be empty. Flurry stood on the balcony a moment and watched as the evacuation effort got underway, before returning inside to the Crystal Heart chamber.

"Spike, I'm going to go floor by floor of this place, making sure it's empty and no one is getting left behind. I want you on the train out," she instructed.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but I'm not going anywhere. My place is with you. If this storm worsens, as you keep warning us it will, I'm not going to rob you and Luna of a heat source."

"Conduct your search, Flurry. Spike and I will go to the train and unload the relics needed for the ritual." Luna told her.

Unwilling to argue with her assistant, Flurry Heart ascended to the third floor, leaving Spike and Luna alone in the Crystal Heart chamber.

"You didn't tell her," Spike remarked to the elderly alicorn.

"We needn't shatter her resolve before everything is ready, Spike. There will be a time to tell her what will be necessary to see this through. But not yet, Spike. Not yet."

Arrival

Sunny rolled over in her sleeping bag, and finished waking up with a yawn and a stretch. She took a look around, and saw that she was the last one to wake up. Izzy and Sprout were splitting a hot chocolate.

"Morning, Sunny," Izzy greeted as the earth mare pulled herself out of her sleeping bag. "Everyone else is outside. It's quite the sight."

Izzy got to her hooves and walked up to the front window.

"Oh my stars..." Sunny said, her eyes widening as she made her way back to her equipment compartment to the driver's side door, opening it and climbing down into the snow, and simply stood next to the truck, staring dumbfounded at the gargantuan, twisting wall of wind and snow several miles ahead. It rose up to the clouds, and blocked a portion of the Crystal Mountains.

"I've never seen anything like this, and with any luck, that's right where we're headed, to see what's inside, Pipsqueaks." She heard Pipp narrate as she held her phone, recording the storm.

"This is just about as close as I got with my aerial recon team," Zipp said as she walked up to Sunny's side.

"We have no idea what it's like inside?" Sunny asked.

Zipp shook her head.

"So, what's the plan?" Sunny asked, turning back to Hitch, who was currently refueling the truck.

"Well," Hitch began as he righted the fuel canister, twisting the cap back on as he dragged it back to the rear of the truck. "I see two plans, and neither is completely one hundred percent solid. Option one; one of us, in fully clad winter gear, camping supplies, and rations, waits outside the storm with an emergency beacon, in case something happens to the rest of us or the truck. Problem is, if something does happen, the pony waiting outside is largely left to the mercy of the elements until help can arrive, and there's no promises that they'd bring anything that can make it through the storm."

"Alright, that one is pretty iffy, what's the other option?" Zipp asked.

"Option two is, we're all in the truck, and we crank the heat to full, and hope nothing happens when we go pass through the storm. We go in perfectly straight, so if we need to, we can hit reverse and get out. If we can't get out, there's no guarantee that those transponders will transmit through the storm all the way back to Zephyr Heights."

"I'm a lot more comfortable with all of us in the same vehicle," Sunny stated. Zipp immediately agreed, as did Pipp.

"I thought so too. If the worst happens, and we don't get a signal out, we'll be together, we can share body heat, and that truck has enough ready-to-eat rations to last us weeks; more than long enough for someone at Zephyr Heights or Maretime Bay to figure out we should have been back by now."

Hitch was absolutely right in that regard. Neither Queen Haven nor Phyllis was going to let more than a week pass by without word from them.

"Alright, I think we have our decision. Let's all get back inside and get ready to head in there," Hitch told them.

One by one, they all got back into the Scouticus Maximus, where Izzy had warmed up four more cups of hot chocolate, which the pair of pegasi and earth ponies happily took to warm up while Hitch made some last minute adjustments, cranking the window defrosters to full and engaging the vehicle's all-wheel-drive and differential.

"Alright, everypony. Are we ready?" Hitch asked. He got nods from each and every one.

"Sprout, you're up," he replied.

"Me?" The red stallion asked.

"She's your vehicle. You know what to press and hit in emergencies quicker than we do," Hitch reasoned, motioning him to the driver's seat.

Giving a smile of determination, Sprout got into the driver's seat, Sunny buckled into the passenger seat, and Pipp risked standing in between then to give her phone camera a good view out of the windshield.

"Alright, here we go," Sprout announced, turning the wipers on and putting the truck into gear. It started forward, and Sunny's gaze went from the immense cyclone of white in front of them to the thermostat on the dashboard, which was currently reading -9°C.

A couple minutes later, the Crystal Mountains were obscured entirely due to their proximity to the storm. Ever so gently, Sprout opened the throttle more.

-15°C.

"You're speeding up?" Hitch asked. Sprout nodded.

"If the blowing snow accumulates too quickly on the windshield, it's going to turn to slush, and will quickly overwhelm the wipers. Better to try and get through it quickly and hope this wall isn't too thick."

Sunny glanced down at the industrial ice scraper mounted to the passenger side door, hoping they could make it through the blowing snow without having to get out and use that.

-20°C.

Thirty seconds later, visibility was reduced to zero, and Sprout kept his speed steady, keeping his eyes peeled for any hazards on the field of snow.

"What about headlights?" Zipp asked as the ambient lighting in the cab was reduced due to the lack of sunlight.

"That would make things twice as bad," Sprout commented.

"If you say so," Zipp replied.

"He's right. The lights would just shine off of the snow and fog," Hitch added.

Luckily, the visibility was the only problem; the ride remained smooth for the next minute.

"Whoa!" Sprout exclaimed slowing down, veering to the right to avoid a very large crystal formation protruding from the snow.

"Well, there goes our straight path," Hitch remarked.

Sprout slowed his speed to steer around two more blue and magenta crystals that jutted out of the fields of white. Getting out of here was not going to be easy if they had to swerve around obstacles, and would likely be very hard to do in reverse. Thankfully, after another thirty seconds, visibility started to clear up, and the thermostat began to slowly tick up.

They had lost the sun, but as the started to come to the crest of the hill they had been climbing, Sunny started to make out the other end of the storm, as well as the south face of the central Crystal Mountain range several miles away.

"Alright slow down and stop at the top, Sprout," Hitch told him. The stallion did so, and they surveyed the scene before them.

It had the appearance of a snowy valley, a jarring change from the flat arctic tundra they had been driving over all of yesterday, and it no doubt was caused by the storm, putting the half-buried city into a giant, wide bowl of snow.

There, in the middle, was the tallest structure, half covered in snow and ice, and smaller crystal structures dotting the snowscape all around it, ranging from one to three stories tall.

Seeing that the thermostat had risen again to -15°C, Sunny dug out her book containing the images of the memory gems, and opened it to the page she had bookmarked, confirming what waited for them down the snow drifts.

"We're here. The Crystal Empire."

The Last Night

A Long Time Ago...

Concentrating carefully, Flurry gently returned the pane of glass to the top of her desk, sealing the piece of parchment inside, which would hopefully protect it from the elements for the foreseeable, and perhaps unforeseeable, future.

With the Crystal Empire's population now down to three, the weight on the Crystal Princess' shoulders was getting heavier. She looked out her bedroom window, at the darkened streets as the sun dipped below the horizon. The winds outside were only getting stronger and colder. No fireplaces or lamps lit the windows of the buildings below, and snow was even beginning to accumulate at the base of the crystal structures. The last train out full of Crystal Empire citizens left two hours ago, and save for Spike, Princess Luna, and herself, the city was completely empty. Even her Crystal Guards had departed, much to her Captain's reluctance.

Commanding her subjects to permanently abandon their homes, along with everything they had built here, had absolutely been the hardest thing she had ever done in her entire reign. She mentally kicked herself for longing for excitement for all those years. Every hoof step she made through the castle echoed off of the walls, and every room she checked during her inspection was an exclamation to the fact that she had just ordered hundreds of ponies to abandon their lives and homes to head for an uncertain future down south. She kept telling herself that having them remain here would have been certain death, and that she had chosen the best case scenario for them. But it still weighed heavy on her heart.

Spike and Luna had been making preparations with the relics that had come up on the train, and for her part, Flurry had been reading up on Sunburst's research on the Crystal Heart, hoping that the knowledge would prove integral to whatever Luna's ritual was. The Princess of the night had warned her against the route she had chosen, so now she was beginning to worry about what would happen if things went smoothly, and worse, if things didn't go smoothly.

For the last six hours, she had checked every single room in the castle, making sure it was empty. After checking on the last two other inhabitants of the Empire, Luna suggested to Flurry that she go get some rest, and that things would be ready soon.

So here she sat, alone with her thoughts, wondering if this would be her last night in the Crystal Empire, in Equestria. Would this work? If it did work, would they have time to get down south? Would there be anything remaining of the Crystal Heart if it managed to generate these crystals that she had seen in her dreams?

The more she thought about it, the more uncertain she became. If they failed, at the very least, she gave the Empire's citizens a head start, even if it was prolonging the inevitable. At the end of all of her thoughts and fears, this had to work, or else everything was lost.

Taking one last look at the parchment under the glass, she returned the quill to the inkwell she had set on a side table, and got up from her seat, and walked over to her bed. Slowly removing her crown and setting it gently on her night stand, she climbed into bed, and curled up underneath the wool comforter. She took another breath, and the emotions churning inside her spilled over as tears ran down her cheeks as she softly whimpered, sinking her head into her pillow.

"I wish you were here, mom..."

The City of Love

The journey down the gradual slope of snow and ice was slow and gradual, as Sprout had engaged the all-wheel-drive as well as the differential, for maximum possible traction. The memory gems that Sunny had collected showed a bright, flat arctic tundra surrounding the city, but this storm, however long it had unnaturally lasted, had created a considerable barrier of wind and snow and over time it had created a literal snow bowl that would likely keep the city hidden even if it wasn't for the surrounding blizzard.

All six of the Scouticus' occupants had buckled in, and Sunny was doing her best to hold two phones recording at once; hers as well as Pipp's, who didn't have that great a view from her side seat in the back.

What Sprout found surprising was that the farther down into the city they got, the calmer the wind got as they distanced themselves by the immense vortex of snow that surrounded the city. Slowly, the terrain leveled out, and Sprout brought the vehicle to a halt about 50 yards from the tallest structure, which he assumed to be a castle.

"It's safe to shut the engine down, it's warm enough," Sprout said, after double-checking to see that the external temperature had not moved from -15° C. He engaged the parking brake, and cut the engine, and the rumbling in the back of the vehicle faded to nothing, and the near complete silence that took its place was rather unexpected. Unbuckling their harnesses and putting their headgear back on, Sprout and Sunny opened both doors and stepped out onto the steps.

The dead quiet was downright unsettling. The blizzard vortex slowly swirled around them on all sides in the distance, but it was like the howling wind had been dulled, if not muted entirely. Sunny climbed down onto the snowy surface, finding it densely packed and manageable to walk on. She checked her watch, and it wasn't even noon yet. She figured that as long as they were in here, they'd be solely using timekeepers to have any indication of the time of day besides being able to see the storm around them, and it being pitch black; that would likely be the only indicator of day and night.

"Alright, this might be the only time I can really mean it when I say, 'It's quiet, too quiet,'" Zipp remarked, looking around at the surroundings. They heard every snow-crunching step anypony took as they slowly spread out around the Scouticus Maximus.

"Radio check," everypony heard Hitch's voice over the speaker built into their wool hats.

With some of them overlapping each other accidentally, everypony gave their reply, confirming that they would be in constant contact with each other as long as they stayed within 500 yards of the vehicle.

"So, groups of two?" Hitch asked as he looked at the half-buried structures, trying to figure out which ones would be easiest to get into.

"That sounds best. Keep me posted on what kind of things you find. We're not going to be able to take back everything in one trip," Sunny said.

"Packs on, everypony," Hitch reminded as Izzy magically grabbed the saddlebags that contained flashlights, flares, rations, and preservation materials. They each strapped them on as everypony came over to the passenger side of the vehicle.

"Alright, Sprout and I will take that structure over there," Hitch said, pointing to the closest, half-buried building to the west of the vehicle.

"Zipp and I will find a safe way into that big one over there," Pipp said, pointing to the much larger structure sticking out of the snow and ice to the east.

"Izzy and I will take the castle," Sunny said, pointing straight ahead.

"You make it sound like we're storming a battlefield," Izzy said with a giggle. Due to the masks, she didn't see Sunny smirk at her as they walked side by side to the castle as the other two pairs broke off to the left and right.

"Alright, radios; channel 1 is everyone, Sprout and me on channel 2, Pipp and Zipp on 3, Izzy, Sunny, channel 4. Be careful everypony," Hitch told them, each of them tapping the wool hats where their ears were, a mare's voice denoting which channel they were switching to.

Hitch and Sprout approached what appeared to be a three-story residence. According to Sunny's ancient pictures, it was apparent that the center zone of the city had a buildup of about 12 to 20 feet of snow.

"What do you think? Should we try to dig out the door, or do you think it's safer to try one of the windows?" Hitch asked as they approached the building.

Hitch turned and saw Sprout standing still several paces back, body slowly glowing and fading along with the rotating running lights of the Scouticus.

"Sprout?" Hitch asked, coming back over to his deputy, who took a hoof and lifted his goggles onto his forehead, exposing his eyes, which the Maretime Bay sheriff could immediately tell were full of uncertainty.

"Hitch, listen... I was more than happy to bring all of you here. But... Spelunking into these places... I don't know. Ponies lived here. What if... What if remains are still inside? I don't want to see something like that."

Sprout's concern came through crystal clear through Hitch's headset, and he realized his deputy did have a good point.

"It's not safe to go in alone, Sprout, but I respect your hesitation. My guess would be that they had time to evacuate. If it makes you feel better, I'll go in and take the first look, and make sure nothing like that is in there, alright?"

Sprout took a deep breath, then nodded.

"Alright," Hitch said, reaching a hoof over and returned Sprout's goggles to over his eyes. "Let's stay warm."

The very top of an archway could be seen on the nearly four-story tall building as the two pegasus sisters approached the front of the structure, about fifty feet away from the Scouticus. Pipp's pace was slow as she captured footage on her phone.

"We're outside the vehicle, and onto the streets proper. My sister and I are getting ready to find a way into this large structure here." Pipp narrated, having paired her phone to the radio frequency.

The livestreamer had insisted on adding a pocket for her phone, and the designers had acquiesced her request, adding a wool pocket to the barrel with a hole in the front just big enough to allow the camera to keep recording. Pipp slid her phone into the pocket, and came up to Zipp.

"This would be a whole lot easier if we could fly. These windows are still intact, so that's not an option. Want to check around the back?" Zipp's voice came through her headset. Pipp nodded, and they made their way around the building on the right side, in between it and another smaller pink-diamond-colored structure. Sure enough, in the back, there was a balcony of some sort, with tables and a set of double doors.

Zipp dug into her saddlebags and got an intricately coiled rope out, and once she unfurled it, it was revealed to be a rope ladder. It took a couple throws, but she got the wide hooks around the top rail of the balcony, and gave it a couple test tugs, before trying her full weight, finding the railing to be sound.

"After you, your majesty," Zipp said. Pipp took hold of the sagging rungs of the rope ladder, and began to climb, her sister right behind her. They climbed over the railing onto the balcony, finding it made out of the same crystal stone material. Walking over to the doors, they tried the handles and unsurprisingly found them to be frozen. As Zipp took a few steps back to give it a shove, Pipp put a hoof on her barrel to stop her.

"We brought tools this time, sis," Pipp said, reaching into her bags, and came out with a small hoof-held canister with a nozzle and lever on the top. She clicked a button, and gently pressed the lever, and an intense, short blue flame burst out of the barrel.

A blowtorch.

She nearly touched the flame to the handle, then moved it over to the nearly invisible separation between the two doors, and went back and forth between the deadbolt and the handle, gently pushing the handle every minute or so. After about 90 seconds, the lock had thawed enough, and the handle gave way, turning and clicking. The hinges were still frozen, giving a shrill creaking as Pipp pulled the door open after shutting off the torch. Together, the two sisters stepped inside, and they gave gasps almost simultaneously.

"Oh my..." Zipp remarked. She and her sister stood on the third floor of a massive three-story library. Pipp tapped her headset and went over to Sunny's and Izzy's channel.

"Sunny? You were right, this is going to take substantially more than one trip. This structure is a library. Thousands of books. We'll take a closer look to see what kind of condition they're in."

Sunny smiled when she heard Pipp's voice come over her headset, signalling their first find.

"That's great news, Pipp. Keep me posted. We're at the castle," Sunny replied as she and Izzy stared up at the immense towering structure. She dug out her phone and looked at the pictures of the Crystal Castle that she had stored.

"Alright, the door should be over there," Sunny said, pointing over to the back right corner of the underside, where the supporting wall formed the starting point for the back and left giant archways. She and her unicorn friend walked underneath the towering arches, and looked at their entry point.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to dig," Sunny said, retrieving the collapsible shovel from her pack, and assembling it.

"Ready?" Sunny asked.

Izzy's horn glowed, and not one, not two, but three shovels came up out of her pack, glowing in her magical aura.

"I've been practicing."

Sacrifice

A long time ago...

Flurry Heart's eyes shot open, and she heard the distant howls that she had become so accustomed to every night for weeks on end. Quickly sitting up in bed, she looked around and found herself in her bedroom. Getting her bearings, she quickly realized that the premonitions had never placed her in her bedroom, and her blood went cold as she removed the blanket and got out of bed, going over to her window, and opened it, getting a blast of cold air, and peered up to see the three apocalyptic spirits circling overhead.

She peered down at the piece of parchment she had sealed in the surface of her desk as she pulled the window shut and locked it.

They were out of time.

Bolting out of her bedroom door out into the hallway at a full gallop, she turned towards the stairway headed down, praying that Luna and Spike were ready. She turned to the winding staircase headed down to the second floor, and nearly collided with Spike, who had just finished sprinting up them.

"Flurry! Good, you're up. We're ready, and we're out of time," the dragon told her, his tone rushed but determined. He turned to run back down the stairs, with Flurry right behind him, the howls of the Windigos muffled through the walls, but still audible.

The dragon and the alicorn burst through the double doors into the Crystal Heart foyer, and Flurry skidded to a halt on the floor when she saw what had been done.

On the outer circumference of the chamber, the six ancient artifacts had been placed; the Helm of Yksler, the Crown of Grover, Knuckerbocker's Shell, the Cloak of Clover the Clever, the Talisman of Mirage, and the Amulet of Aurora were evenly spaced around a large glowing sphere of magic, in which Princess Luna was floating, appearing to be in a meditative trance. The Crystal Heart floated above the sphere, still slowly rotating and glowing.

"So what's the plan? Got a short version? Because I take it we're in a bit of a hurry," Flurry asked as they approached the sphere.

"Yeah, and you're not going to like it, but it can't matter. Cozy's ritual will sever Equestria from Aetherius, effectively cutting off all magic, but it will take a sacrifice," Spike explained.

"What?"

"Luna has volunteered, but unfortunately, there's more. With just one, the process would take several weeks, just like it did a century and a half ago. We clearly don't have that kind of time. That's why I'm joining her," the dragon declared.

"What do you mean by sacrifice?" Flurry asked incredulously.

"All I have to do is touch the sphere, and it will pull me in. After that it will be up to you and the Heart."

"Spike!"

The dragon turned to her with a look of determination, seeing her tremble.

"Flurry, you're not listening. There's no time, and we have both made up our minds. I'm really, very sorry we waited until now to tell you, but we were afraid of crippling your resolve. You said it yourself; it's either us, or everypony freezes to death. With that much life force in the sphere, the process will be accelerated enough to be almost instantaneous, but I'd count on the Windigos trying to put a stop to it."

Flurry, her legs already faltering, dropped to her knees, beginning to weep in front of her advisor.

"I... I can't... I can't do this," she cried softly, barely audible over the howling winds.

Spike stepped up to her, touching a claw to her chin and raising her gaze up from the floor.

"Yes you can," he told her matter-of-factly. "If there is something after this... If I see Twilight and the others after I cross over to whatever is next... I know I wouldn't be able to look any of them in the eyes if I didn't do absolutely everything I could to protect Equestria's future. And I know Luna feels the same way about possibly seeing her sister again. She's been waiting for centuries to truly redeem herself in her own eyes for what she did as Nightmare Moon."

Flurry sniffled, trying to blink away her tears.

"If what I read about Twilight's first students' first encounter with this ritual is true, once I step in there, there will be no communicating with us. It's all up to you. We'll take the magic, and you figure out whatever the Heart did in your premonition," Spike told her.

As Flurry took a deep breath, Spike leaned forward and pulled her into a hug, and she squeezed him tight.

"Goodbye, Princess Flurry Heart. I know you can do this, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see each other soon. But if you survive this somehow, please try to get south, and find your subjects."

Spike gave her a teary smile, then turned to the sphere of magic in the center. With a short run, a leap, and a single flap of his wings, he melded into the sphere, and came up next to the elderly Luna, where they nodded to each other, and then down to her.

Flurry took another deep breath, and then lit up her horn, grabbing the Crystal Heart with her magic.

The howling outside turned to angry growls. The spirits knew something was trying to stop them. Already, Flurry felt something ethereal begin to tug at her magic, trying to pull it away from her. She slowed her breathing, and closed her eyes, holding the Crystal Heart next to her.

"Long have you watched over and protected this city. With Amore, with Cadance, and with me. Your watch is up now, and it's time for you to spread that protection to all of Equestria. In a few moments, our magic will be gone, but still ponies will try to hurt each other in hate. We need to make sure that when they're ready to cast that hate aside, that there is something waiting for them. Placere. I cannot do this without you."

The Heart's glow intensified, as she felt her cutie marks also begin to glow and tingle. She heard the sphere behind her ebb.

Suddenly, she heard an enraged snarl directly in front of her. Her eyes shot open, pupils a fiery white, and her horn lit up even brighter as a protection spell encompassed herself, the sphere, and the artifacts, and a Windigo came galloping through the billowing curtains of the balcony, reared up, and began thrashing its front hooves against Flurry's shield.

She took a single step towards it.

"How does it feel? As an immortal world-ender, that you are about to be banished to oblivion? We misstep and falter, but everypony down there deserves a second chance. Everycreature deserves second chances. You may get us, but you will go no farther, do you hear me? Do you hear me?!? You will get nothing else!!!" She yelled as the ethereal creature screamed in defiance.

The Heart's glow still increased in intensity as Flurry felt her magic begin to weaken as the glow from the portal began to darken. She gritted her teeth, staring down the brilliant white eyes of the Windigo.

"Do you hear me?!? Do you understand?!? Nothing else!!! Nihil! Aliud!!!"

The Windigo's next strike was the straw that broke Flurry's weakening magic, and just as the shield was there one moment, it was gone the next, as her magic evaporated to nothing. The Windigo charged forward as her shield evaporated, joined almost immediately by the other two from the other two windows, all three of them colliding with her simultaneously, and she felt the icy grip of death begin to take her. But just as she was certain this was it, that they had failed, the three Windigos vanished, as quickly as her shield had. As she collapsed to the ground, her gaze rose up to the Heart, still floating there, as three smaller orbs rose out from its light, and shot out from the windows the Windigos had charged through, sparkling trails in their wake for a few moments. Try as she did to track them as they flew away from the castle, they faded to nothing as they broke through the unending storm outside.

With that, the Crystal Heart's glow died, and the gem, now dull and gray, fell to the floor with a dull thunk. Barely able to raise her head from where she had fallen, Flurry looked around the room. The magical sphere, Luna, Spike, and the artifacts were nowhere to be seen.

There she laid, wondering if her strength would return, if they had succeeded. There she laid with her Crystal Heart, continuing to hear the storm outside, as everything slowly began to go numb...

The Heart

Sprout stood on the snowbank, waiting on Hitch to give the all clear from up in the second floor window, where he had gone in. It was still incredibly unsettling how quiet it was here, when you could see the blizzard vortex on all sides of the valley.

"Psst, hey Sprout," he heard behind him. He glanced up, and saw Hitch in the second floor window.

"It's clear, come on up," the sheriff told him. Sprout took a breath, then stepped up to the rope that Hitch had used to scale the ten feet up to the window. It had taken a bit of pushing, but it did open; with a sickening creak, but not breaking anything. He took hold of the rope, placed his back hooves on the wall, and climbed up. Hitch helped pull him in.

He landed on his hooves, and found the two of them in a bedroom.

"A house?" Sprout asked.

"I'm pretty sure one of the city guards lived here," Hitch replied, waving him forward as they stepped out into the hallway.

Sprout was surprised how furnished the bedroom had looked. The bed still had pillows and sheets, albeit frozen. Candlestick on the night stand. Books on the shelves. As they stepped out into the hallway, he saw pictures on the wall. Before heading downstairs, they stepped into the adjacent room, and sure enough, there were a pair of mannequins. One was bare, and the other had a set of steel gray armor on it. On the wall, was a rack, containing a couple spears.

"Could you imagine enforcing our littering ordinances with one of these?" Hitch asked, taking one of the weapons off the wall, and jokingly pointed it at Sprout. "Pick up that litter!" He commanded, before planting the spear on the ground, and giving his deputy a smirk.

That look of worry and concern had not left the red stallion's face.

"Sprout?" Hitch asked.

The deputy slowly looked around the room, seeing plaques, commendations, and more pictures, group photos of the platoon the occupant was a part of.

"I... I can't even imagine... Having to just... Leave everything behind and just... Abandon your home. Forever," he said, looking back to Hitch.

The sheriff gently leaned the spear against the wall, and stepped up to his deputy. He could tell something was eating at him.

"Sprout, is something wrong?" Hitched asked gently.

Hitch made an educated guess that Sprout had maybe gotten in over his head, that this sense of adventure he had started this trip on had now been replaced with a bit of homesickness, for somepony who had spent their entire life in Maretime Bay. He couldn't recall a time he or Phyllis had ever gone more than a few miles outside city limits. It wasn't too farfetched that he could be a little freaked by an iced over ghost town.

"Hitch, I have something to tell you," Sprout said, shuffling uneasy on his hooves.

"I'm all ears," Hitch immediately answered, giving Sprout his complete attention. Sprout took a deep breath, and his gaze fell to the floor in front of Hitch's hooves.

"I've... I've been thinking a lot these past few weeks. Putting together that vehicle out there was... Was so much fun. So productive. When I compared it to the last few years as a deputy... I... I didn't like what I found out. Serving as your deputy always... Always made me feel so inadequate. Nothing I ever did was good enough, and it felt like you always had to lower your expectations. Working in CanterLogic R&D made me feel so... Alive, Hitch. What I did when you were off chasing Sunny... That doesn't warrant a second chance. Half of Maretime Bay is never going to trust me again, with anything. I... I've been considering stepping down as deputy, and going to CanterLogic full time. It gets me out of public view, and lets me do something I've really started to enjoy. So... There, I said it. I've been struggling with figuring out how to tell you, because you've been putting a lot of effort into giving me this second chance," Sprout finished spilling his heart out, finally looking at Hitch in the eyes as he finished his last sentence, before his gaze immediately fell to the floor again. To avoid having to look back up at him, he turned his focus to the armor on the mannequin.

He heard Hitch take several steps towards him, perhaps expecting him to leave the room in offense, after all the concessions he had made. But the next thing he felt was his hooves wrapping around his barrel as he was pulled into a hug, which finally pulled his attention away from the armor and back to Hitch, or rather, what he could see of Hitch at the moment. Bringing a single leg up, Sprout returned the hug for a moment, before Maretime Bay's sheriff pulled away, and pulled his goggles off, looking Sprout directly in the eyes.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Sprout. I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything," Hitch began. "After magic came back, I think more of Maretime Bay's citizens were in forgiving moods than you think, but if you're not happy at the Sheriff's department, you should absolutely go after something you do enjoy doing. I want you as a friend, first and foremost, okay, pal?"

Hitch saw the corners of Sprout's mask curve up in a soft smile.

"Thanks, Hitch."

Hitch smiled at him in return.

"So," the sheriff began, turning to grab the spear. "Think we can get this suit of armor out that window and down to the Scouticus?"

Pipp had taken off her snow goggles, putting them up on her head, and slowly browsed the first aisle of shelves filled to the brim with ancient books. No doubt Sunny and Sprout would arrange another trip, or two, to get every single one of these back down south, she thought it would be a good idea to find the ones that seemed the most important, and get them ready to box up. So for now, she was on the lookout for anything that looked like it was historical or record keeping.

When she came back to one of the ground floor's central reading tables, it seemed that Zipp had already found a book that she found captivating.

"What have you got there?" Pipp asked.

"A recipe for Crystal Empire Nectar," her sister answered, half-closing the book to show Pipp the cover.

Food and Flavors of the Crystal Empire

"A cookbook? Seriously? You don't think history books would be more important to collect?" Pipp asked as she set her stack down on the table.

Zipp looked mildly annoyed.

"What, you don't think there are some chefs down south who wouldn't be totally awestruck by this? Recipes of what they ate and drank back in ancient times? It's not just about official historical records, Pipp. It's books like these that give you a more complete picture, fills in the smaller holes, gives you an idea of everyday life back then."

Pipp took this as an acceptable answer. Even if they kept search to just historical records, it was quite obvious that they weren't going to get through everything before the Scouticus' fuel levels would necessitate a return home. It had taken five ponies several days to explore the ruins of a single castle. Expand that to an entire city, and it would take weeks, if they had a full time team here at all times. With just them, and just the Scouticus, completely searching this city would likely take over a year. These first looks were fun and exciting, but Sunny would likely be better off employing a team of archaeologists, like their mom had done for uncovering the structure next to the castle ruins.

"Fine, I'll broaden my search," Pipp said, turning to trot back into the aisle. "So, what's in Crystal Empire Nectar?"

Izzy's magic was doing absolute wonders to their timetable, as the snow around the northwestern pillar was quickly being shoveled aside, steadily revealing a door built into it.

"It has to be a staircase of some kind," Sunny reasoned. "It's not big enough to be anything else than a way up."

Izzy's shovels were just a few pegs down from 'snowblower', as soon as one had come up with a pile of snow, one of the other two immediately took it's place, and with Sunny's aid, they were digging out this pillar four times as fast as one or two ponies would be able to.

The pair of friends were also aware that it wasn't going to be as simple as just digging down to the door; they also had to plow away enough snow to ensure it wouldn't cave back in and prevent the door from opening. They weren't 100% certain there was access to that balcony yet, and thus had to be absolutely sure they could get out the way they came in.

As they dug, they saw Hitch and Sprout come out of their chosen building with... Pony armor?, and bring it to the back of the Scouticus. Pipp had come over the radio and said that figuring out which books to take and which to leave behind for now would likely take the entire duration of their stay here. So for now, Sunny left them to their chosen tasks, and focused on getting into another castle.

After about 45 minutes of magic-assisted digging, they had carved out a sufficiently sized hole. She rested her shovel against the pillar, and began to pull at the door handle. The earth mare strained as she heard the creaking of the ice keeping the entryway sealed. With Izzy coming over to help, there was a sharp cracking sound, followed by something similar to glass shattering, and the door came free, sending the two mares sliding back on the ice cold ground, coming to a stop against the pile of snow they had dug through.

Sunny peered at the open doorway, and was proven correct; it was a set of stairs not even four feet into the pillar, that curved and sharply rose up through the pillar to the floor dozens of feet above.

Sunny dug through her saddlebag and put on the LED lights on her snow cap, tapping them on, with Izzy casting her familiar illumination spell, resulting in an orb of glowing light at the tip of her horn.

"Come on, let's see what's inside."

The unicorn followed her friend, the flashlight and magic illuminating their way. They very slowly made their way up the staircase, unsure of their footing on the steep crystal steps. The spiraling climb was about forty of fifty feet, before they came to another door, and Sunny was really hoping this one wouldn't be as hard to open, as they didn't have the room to pull without risking a very painful tumble down the stairs they had just climbed.

Luckily, it appeared this one wasn't as frozen. Ice veins still popped out of the crevices in the door jamb, but it would likely be easier to open. She took hold of the handle, and pushed, forcefully but carefully. It didn't give, so she did it again, with a little more weight behind her push. She heard the ice start to crack, so threw her whole body weight behind her third push, and the door finally broke free and rotated on the hinges, sending Sunny sliding into the next room.

It was cavernous; this must have been the main room that lead to the balcony up above. There was a single pillar in the center of the room, but... But not quite. Either the center broke off and was removed, or it was like that by design, like a stalagmite and stalactite in a cavern that had not quite met yet.

There were two more sets of double doors in the far corners, as well as a wide staircase that led to another part of the northern section of this floor. The curtains that led to the balcony stood perfectly still, frozen solid by untold centuries of icy wind.

Sunny got to her hooves as she slowly surveyed the room. This place easily dwarfed Princess Twilight's castle in the forest. She looked in at the center of the room, and saw at the base of the pillar, was a dull gray... Rock?

She stepped up to it, and saw that it was in the shape of a heart.

"The... The Crystal Heart...?" She asked, remembering how brilliant it had looked in the few places it had appeared in the memory gems. She slowly bent down to touch it with her right hoof.

"Why does it look like tha—"

Her hoof touched the flat, gray facet of the Heart, and there was an explosion of light, that made her step back and shield her eyes. She heard Izzy's concerned voice behind her.

"Sunny!"

Author's Note

Happy New Year, everypony.

Once again, thanks for reading, and I will happily take your screams of frustration for this annoying cliffhanger.

I'm just the worst. :twilightsheepish:

The Crystal Princess

Sunny lowered her hoof once she saw the light die down in her peripheral vision. She was still standing in the large chamber, and the Crystal Heart was now glowing dimly. The ambience was quite different, though; the room had a foggy, almost ghostly appearance now, and there, laying next to the Crystal Heart was...

...A pony?

"Hello? Are you alright...?" She asked.

Izzy stood several paces behind Sunny just inside the doorway, unsure of what to do as she slowly took several steps into the room towards her. Her friend had touched the stone on the ground, and it exploded out in a flash of light. The instant afterward, a glowing horn and wings materialized on Sunny's body, and yet she stood still, her eyes glowing a fiery white.

"Uh, Sunny? You okay?" The unicorn asked her friend, who simply stood there, looking down at the heart. Then, the earth mare looked to her left, looking at... Nothing.

"Hello? Are you alright...?" Sunny asked.

"I'm fine, Sunny. Hello? Sunny? Can you hear me?"

Flurry Heart barely felt anything. Every labored breath she took chilled her barrel. How long had she been here? Hours? Days? It was nearly impossible to tell when the wind was constant and the sun wasn't visible from any of the chamber's windows.

She hadn't found the strength to stand, and laying here hadn't helped her recover any energy. She just felt exhausted, but not quite able to fall asleep. The tears that had fallen from her eyes had not even made it to the floor before freezing to her cheeks. Her eyesight also wasn't clear, she couldn't make out the walls of the chamber anymore, they were blurry and hazy.

Was this what dying felt like? Would Luna, Spike, and all the others be waiting for her when she finally crossed over?

"Hello? Are you alright?" She heard a voice ask.

She opened her eyes, and saw the Crystal Heart glowing once again. In the aura of light that shined out from it, she saw...

"An... alicorn...?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper. The form had a pair of bright orange wings and a horn. Then, there, just above her head, she saw them... The crystals from her dreams.

"An... alicorn?" The prone pony form asked. The voice was definitely a mare's but due to the aura in the room, Sunny couldn't discern any detailed features, but the voice definitely sounded weak.

"The... The crystals, did they work? Is Equestria safe?" She heard her ask. The form hardly moved, barely raising her head to look at her.

"Yes," Sunny replied, slowly nodding. "Yes, they worked. Equestria has united again."

Flurry felt relief wash over her, as the frigid air continued to rush over her body. She managed the weakest of smiles, as she slowly laid her head back down on the icy floor, and she finally felt ready to rest... Sleep...

Sunny heard the apparition give a soft sigh of relief.

"Thank you... Thank you, my little pony. I don't know who you are, but you have brought me more peace than you can imagine..."

The haze in the room began to lift, and with it, the pony laying on the floor faded away. When she took her next breath, the room had returned to the icy look she had seen when they had first entered.

"Hey, you okay?" She heard a voice ask, and she turned to see Izzy standing next to her.

Sunny turned back to where she saw the pony laying, and saw nothing but ice and crystalized floor. Had she simply faded away? If not, surely there would be... Some kind of remains. But there was nothing, except the Heart. She walked back over and touched the grey heart-shaped stone again, but nothing happened this time, and she picked it up into her hoof.

"The crystals..." Sunny said to Izzy. "The crystals, I think they came from here."

Author's Note

I have been considering another angle for about a week now.

If you folks really, really, really want it, I can write up an alternate ending where Flurry survives, but it will only be an alternate ending, and not the direction in which this story ultimately goes.

Thanks for reading, and more to come!

Flurry Heart's Plea

For Sunny, it was all beginning to come together.

The Crystal Heart protected the Crystal Empire through the love its citizens shared with one another. The ruler must have turned the Crystal Heart into the race crystals that she and her friends had tracked down. But without the magic of the Heart, the harsh weather of the region overtook the city, most likely leading to its evacuation. After what she had seen, she didn't want to assume anything, but she wanted to explore more of the castle, to try and glean anymore info on who that might have been. She had obviously seen the crystals, so what had the Heart done? Kept her in limbo for however long? Or did it take an avatar of Sunny back in time to converse with this mare to let her know their efforts had, eventually, succeeded?

Izzy told her she would explore the third floor while Sunny made her way up to the fourth, and it immediately started feeling like Princess Twilight's castle again. Empty, frozen hallways, and icy rooms that were a bit better preserved than things in the forest, due to the surrounding climate. The raging storm surrounding the valley also probably kept less adventurous explorers away.

But to be fair, most others were likely less equipped than they were too; being essentially sponsored by Maretime Bay's biggest employer made getting this far north a bit more manageable.

Coming to the next door on her right, she found it open, and peered inside. It was another bedroom, but this one appeared more ornate than the others they had come across so far, which seemed to be single bedrooms or guard bunk rooms. A large bed, two bedside tables, a dresser with a mirror, and a large desk underneath a frosted-over window that overlooked the city. There looked to be a walk-in closet attached to a dressing room as well over on the far right side of the room.

Sunny's attention was drawn over to the desk on the left side, under the window, where a crown rested. It looked like a silver flower, petals rising straight up, with sapphires set around the entire circumference. Gently nudging the crown was all she needed to confirm that the crown was frozen to the desk. She lifted the flap of her left saddle bag, and pulled out a hoof-held blowtorch. She ignited it, and slowly ran the flame across where the crown met the desk. When the frost and ice was sufficiently melted, it came free, and Sunny took out a large piece of cloth, carefully wrapped it up, and placed it in her right saddle bag along with the Crystal Heart. She then noticed that there was something underneath the glass panel that made up the top of the desk.

Writing?

Continuing her work with the blowtorch, she slowly defrosted the center of the desk's top panel, revealing a rectangular piece of parchment. She pulled out her phone, made sure her LED headband wasn't going to create a bad reflection on the glass, and took a picture of the letter, then read silently...

To whomever finds this letter,

I won't presume to know who you are or what you're doing up here; perhaps a citizen of this fair city that is hopefully returning home, or a descendant. I hope it hasn't been too long. While I have not personally witnessed any of the unrest down south, the very mention of it breaks my heart.

I do wonder what the accounts will be like. To see what the collapse of Cloudsdale must have been like firsthand when it came down on top of Canterlot, or Ponyville as it was slowly overtaken by the Everfree Forest. Every report I have received in the months following have only described the situation as worsening.

While I yearned to join my evacuating citizens, I believe that it is my destiny to use the Crystal Heart to banish the Windigos to oblivion before they can end life everywhere. Ponies shouldn't cooperate together under threat of a frozen fate; they should do so because they love and care for each other.

If you find this, and the lives of Equestrians are still dire, I implore you; learn to love each other again, please. Princess Luna, Spike, and the crystal ponies sacrificed their home so that all of you would get that chance.

Sincerely,
Princess Flurry Heart of the Crystal Empire

Was that one of the Princesses that she had seen in the Crystal Heart's chamber? Luna or Flurry? What about the rest of the crystal ponies? Had they integrated into the splintering groups of Equestrians, and had their traits fade over the following generations?

"Hey Izzy?" Sunny asked through her headset. "When you're done on the third floor, I need some help up here. I've got a pretty fragile letter here underneath a glass panel, and I need some levitation magic."

"Sure thing, Sunny. Be up in a few minutes."

Sunny gave a soft, somber smile as she gazed down at the letter.

"We did it, Princess. It took longer than we all would have liked, but we did it."

Author's Note

Unless something drastically changes, only one more chapter to go, and I cannot wait to see what you all think of the ending.

As always, thanks for reading.

It Came From The Other Side

Sunny took a slow, relaxed breath, sitting back against one of the many crates that had been loaded up into the back of the Scouticus Maximus. With everything they had brought back from their three days in the Crystal Empire, there wasn't much room to stretch out in the bed. Pipp and Zipp were in the back with her, with Sprout driving them on one of the final stretches back towards Maretime Bay, and Hitch and Izzy keeping him company. They were currently passing just west of the forest which contained Princess Twilight's castle, below Zephyr Heights.

It was breezy, but was otherwise quite welcome mild weather, after the time spent up north. Sunny could almost fall asleep if it wasn't for the engine noise.

"Come on, come on..." Pipp said, constantly staring down at her phone.

"You're impossible, sis," Zipp commented with a chuckle, as she also leaned against another crate containing stacks upon stacks of books. It was clear they were going to have to make another trip, or two, back north for just books; they had barely made a dent in the library, and that wasn't even counting the castle library they had also come across. Without a doubt, ancient reading material was going to account for more than 90% of what they were going to eventually take out of the remains of the Crystal Empire.

That was fine by Sunny. She would have to assemble a team to catalogue and republish the contents of an entire library. That was absolutely no small feat. They even got a fair condition set of Crystal Empire guard armor for the museum. She hadn't made up her mind if she would personally make return trips to the Empire, but even if she didn't, and stayed exclusively at the museum, there was enough work on this trip to keep her busy for weeks. More trips would turn that into months.

"Finally!" Pipp exclaimed triumphantly, seeing a single bar pop up on her signal strength. A moment later, it nearly fell out of her hoof as it began to vibrate and ping with over a week worth of alerts, no doubt comment and subscription alerts from her countless fans.

To her surprise, Sunny heard her phone begin to vibrate and ping in her saddlebag, just as frequently as Pipp's.

Who could be messaging her that much? The ponies she kept in touch with the most were here in the Scouticus with her. She dug into her bags and pulled out her phone, swiping through the lock screen and looked at the dozen texts that had just come in over the last...

...Six hours?

Sunny began to open them. They were from...

"Thunder and Queen Haven?" Sunny asked, also noticing that she got a voicemail. She opened the message and put it on speaker.

"Miss Starscout! Something came out of the castle!" Came the voice of Thunder, one of the Zephyr Heights royal guards who had been assigned to keep watch over the remains of the castle. He sounded borderline panicked, and struggling to speak calmly, sounding like he was at a full gallop. "A unicorn. We asked why she was trespassing in the castle, and she took off. She's headed up towards Zephyr Heights! She's transporting all over the place, we're having trouble keeping track of her, please tell me you're getting this!"

"How would somepony get into the castle?" Pipp asked, knowing that there were plenty of guards down there to keep an eye on every angle of the structure.

"There's not much left in there," Sunny commented, looking at the time the voicemail was sent, about six hours ago. "What would they be doing in there?"

Sunny's and Pipp's eyes widened in shock at the same time.

"Unless..."

Their eyes met.

"The mirror!" They both exclaimed.

Sunny shot to her feet and scrambled over to the hatch on the roof of the cabin, yanking it open.

"Sprout!!!" She shouted down, startling all three ponies in there, and Sprout hit the brakes. "Turn around! Turn around! Head towards Zephyr Heights!" She said frantically.

"Are you crazy? I can't squeeze this thing through forest that thick!" Spout objected.

"The river. This thing can traverse the river, right? Take it up to the mountain ascent, and we can take the new road from there." Hitch immediately countered.

Sprout yanked the steering lever all the way to the left, and turned around, heading back towards the river and they were underneath the forest canopy within minutes.

Unfortunately, Pipp had waited that long to try and call her mom and let her know they were on her way.

"Horsefeathers!" Pipp said, hanging up her phone when she realized the forest was stopping any calls from getting up to the mountain.

Sunny's mind was moving a million miles a minute, wondering who could have possibly come through the mirror. The constant splashing and sloshing of water around the vehicle's eight tires wasn't helping her thought process much.

Fifteen minutes later, they had come to the bottom waterfall, and turned off onto the road.

"So, what now? The road up to Zephyr Heights was built for carriages, not something like this. And if we come to an impasse, I promise you, we cannot turn this thing around up there." Sprout cautioned.

"Wait here," Zipp said. "You aren't afraid of heights, are ya, Sunny?"

Sunny shook her head as Pipp immediately realized what her sister was suggesting. They put Sunny's phone back into her saddlebags for her, then put each of her front hooves around their shoulders as they pulled the earth mare into the air, ignoring the road entirely, and instead directly ascended up the mountain face, towards the edge of Zephyr Heights. It was a slow, ten minute flight, but they managed it without incident, and came up to the closest street, and set her down safely.

They set off for the castle at a full gallop, getting on the elevator and riding it to the top. The door opened, and they resumed their gallop, only to screech to a halt when a pair of alerted guards brought their spears to bear.

"Whoa, whoa!" Zipp said, just as the guards recognized who the ponies were.

"Apologies, Your Highnesses," the sergeant immediately said. "The platoon has been on edge ever since that unicorn came rushing through."

A pair of guards accompanied them at a healthy trot as they continued up the main walk to the castle.

"To say we weren't really prepared for something like that would be an understatement. The second we got a fix on her, she'd blink out to somewhere dozens of feet away."

"Did she hurt anyone?" Zipp asked.

"No, Your Highness. Made it all the way to the throne room before her horn finally ran out of juice. Queen Haven took her to the dungeon, and to my knowledge, she's been trying to get a hold of you ever since."

"We just got back into signal range, we've been up north," Zipp told the guard as she dug out her phone, speed-dialing her mom. "Mom? Yeah, Pipp and I are here at the castle with Sunny. Coming in the front. Meet us on route to the holding cells?"

The call was short, because Queen Haven offered a short reply, and Zipp hung up as they came into the castle proper. Two minutes later, Queen Haven met them around the third corner, and the two guards bowed, and Haven nearly ignored them.

"Thank goodness. Sunny, I really hope you have some answers, for me, and for her," Haven told her, as they turned and headed for the basement in the dungeon.

"Believe me, I hope so too." Sunny replied.

"She seemed panicked, maybe even scared. We've been trying to assure her that we were frantically trying to get in touch with the one pony who could possibly tell her what she wanted, and in turn, she said she wouldn't talk to anypony except a 'Princess Twilight' or 'Princess Celestia'."

One flight of stairs later, they came back down to what was probably the most luxurious dungeon Sunny had ever seen or been in.

They came to the closed bars, and there she was; an amber unicorn sitting in front of the window overlooking the skyline. Her mane and tail were a vivid crimson with bright yellow stripes.

"Excuse me, miss?" Queen Haven announced their presence. "This is the mare I've been saying could help you." The Queen motioned to Sunny, as the earth mare took a step towards the bars, as Zipp and Pipp looked on.

As she turned away from the window towards them, Sunny saw her horn, almost a pearl white, and her moderate cyan eyes were full of uncertainty and worry.

"I was quite clear; I wanted to talk to Princess Twilight or Princess Celestia," she said after taking a breath, walking towards the bars towards her visitors. Her expression softened considerably when she saw the six-pointed star on Sunny's wooden pendant around her neck. "But I'll make an exception for that."

Sunny glanced down at her pendant when the unicorn pointed at it. "So where are Princesses Twilight and Celestia? Why is Canterlot full of pegasi? Why does the city look so different?" The unicorn asked. Her tone could be construed as accusatory.

Sunny took a deep breath, and looked the unicorn directly in the eyes.

"Alright... There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just be as direct as I can. To the few of us who know those names... They're ancient history. They're long gone, and I'm afraid I can't tell you how much time has passed, because I honestly don't know."

The unicorn's eyes widened as she drew in a shaky breath.

"They said you came out of the castle," Sunny continued. "Did... Did you come out of the mirror we found in there? The portal?" Sunny asked, and the look of surprise stayed glued onto the unicorn's face.

"How could you possibly know about that?" The unicorn asked, bewildered.

Sunny dug into her saddlebags, and pulled out her book containing the images from the memory gems. She flipped almost halfway through the book before coming to what she was looking for, then turned it towards the unicorn, showing her a picture of Twilight's castle in pristine condition.

"My name is Sunny Starscout. My father and I have devoted our lives to learning as much as we can about Ancient Equestria, and about Princess Twilight and her friends."

The unicorn's breaths started to become shorter as she took a single step back before collapsing into a sitting position. Sunny saw her eyes tear up, and she motioned for Zipp to hit the door release. Zipp got a nod of permission from her mom, and tapped the release, and the bars slid into their retracted states. Sunny slowly and calmly stepped into the cell as the unicorn began to softly weep.

"Sunny. That's my name. Sunny Starscout. What's yours?" She asked her as calmly as she could. She had a feeling that deep inside, this unicorn's entire world had just collapsed.

The unicorn took a deep breath, made no move to get up, but wiped her eyes, looking into Sunny's emerald green eyes.

"Sunset. Sunset Shimmer."

Sunny smiled softly at her, and offered her a hoof.

"Sunset Shimmer, I have a feeling there is so much we can learn from each other."

Author's Note

Aaaaand... Scene!

Heh. Hehehe, and you thought we were done when I said 'last chapter'! Clearly, we are not done. Stay tuned for part three! (And for the alternate ending!)

Thank you very, very much for reading.

Sincerely,
Miles

Flurry (Alternate Ending)

Izzy simply stood and stared, uncertain and unsure of what to do as her best friend stood in the center of the chamber, with the glowing wings and horn she had gotten right before Reunification Day.

"Sunny? Can you hear me?" She asked, taking a single step forward.

The earth pony didn't respond at all, almost as if she was in another place entirely. After another few moments, she took a few steps to the left the glowing stone on the floor, and reached out a hoof. There was another flash of light, and the unicorn shielded her eyes. A moment later, there stood Sunny, sans glowing wings and horn, and on the ground in front of her was a light magenta pony.

She had a horn and wings, her mane and tail were cerise, violet, with streaks of arctic blue. She looked like she was barely breathing, and looked half frozen.

Sunny gave a gasp and immediately started removing her layers of winter clothing as she knelt down next to the mare.

"Izzy, go get all the survival blankets we've got," Sunny told her friend as she covered the mare as best she could with her jacket.

"Wh-wh-who... Who are—"

"Shh, don't talk. Save your strength, we're getting you out of here," Sunny told her, digging into her saddlebags and coming out with her insulated bottle of hot chocolate, opening the nozzle.

"Here, take a sip," Sunny said, cradling the mare's neck and head, tipping the nozzle towards her lips. She was coherent enough to listen, accept the warm drink, and swallow.

Removing the single blanket from her saddlebags, she unfurled it and covered the mare as best she could, tapping her headset to the other channels.

"Everypony? Stop what we're doing immediately. We have a survivor, and she needs medical help as soon as we can get it to her. Hitch, I know you can make due, but she needs a hospital. Meet me in the castle to help Izzy and me get her down to the vehicle. Sprout, get the Scouticus turned around and ready to head out. We need to get to Zephyr Heights ASAP."

"I don't want to know what you mean by 'survivor' if we're the first ones up here in centuries, but I'm on my way," Hitch replied.

"Pipp and I are headed back to the vehicle," Zipp replied afterward.

Izzy arrived back with a stack of blankets, and Sunny had her lay out the first one right next to the mare. The unicorn then gently picked her up with her magic, and laid her down on the warm blanket, putting a layer between her and the ice cold floor.

As Sunny kept giving her sips of her hot chocolate, Hitch came up through the doors, and immediately came down to check on their unexpected new arrival.

"She just 'poofed' out of thin air," Izzy explained.

"We have to get her someplace warm, is it safe to move her?" Sunny asked Hitch, the closest thing their expedition had to a medic.

"Safer than leaving her here," Hitch answered, putting three more blankets on top of the clothes Sunny had already covered her with. "Izzy, you think you can keep her levitated on the way down?"

"I'll try," Izzy said, nodding. Sunny capped her bottle, put it back in the saddle bag, along with the Crystal Heart, then helped guide Izzy down the stairs as she concentrated on levitating the freezing mare. They came out into the snow, and immediately made for the headlights. Zipp opened the passenger side door and helped gently lift her into the cab.

"Keep the heater on low, Sprout. We don't want to warm her up too fast and send her into shock," Hitch said as they got her situated on one of their sleeping bags.

Once they had the mysterious mare situated, they did a quick headcount, ensuring everypony was accounted for.

"Alright, Sprout. Back the way we came, as fast as you can safely go," Hitch told him.

Nodding, Sprout pulled the steering lever to the left, and did a wide 180, following their tracks back up and down from the valley where the frozen city lay...

The next 48 hours were the longest Sunny could remember. She could barely tear her eyes away from the mare underneath the blankets.

'Did they work... The crystals, did they work?'

Sunny had answered yes to this question as she reached out for her in her Crystal-Heart-powered vision.

Whoever this pony was, she had a pretty good guess that she had created the crystals that had helped reunite Equestria.

The mare didn't speak, and slept for most of the journey south, which really made Sunny nervous, afraid that she would glance to something else, and she would stop breathing, and silently slip away.

They had to take the long way around to a more accessible entrance to Zephyr Heights, where an ambulance was ready and waiting to take her the rest of the way.

So here she sat, in the waiting room, with nothing to do but worry and wonder.

"Miss Starscout?" an inquisitive voice pulled her from her thoughts, and she looked up to see an orderly pegasus in medical scrubs.

"Yes?"

"The mare you've brought in? We've stabilized her. We've got her on an IV drip, and she'll remain under observation for a few days until we're confident she can function on her own. She'd like to see you, if you'd follow me." the orderly replied.

Leaving her winter excursion gear on the seat next to her, Sunny took her saddlebags and followed the orderly down the hall, to the third room on the left. There, in the bed and covered with a blanket considerably thicker than normal, lay the mare with wings and a horn, and she glanced tiredly toward the pair.

"Your rescuer, Miss Flurry Heart," the orderly announced, before excusing himself.

Sunny walked up to her bedside, and gave her a gentle, hopeful smile.

"Flurry Heart? Daughter of Prince Shining Armor, and Princess Cadance Cadenza?" She asked.

Flurry softly nodded with a tired smile.

"So you know who I am, but I don't believe I've had the pleasure," Flurry replied.

"Sunny, Sunny Starscout, your highness," Sunny said, giving a half bow.

"None of that nonsense, Sunny. Not when you saved my life, and from what little I heard on the journey back, it sounds like I don't have much of a kingdom left."

"I won't bombard you with questions in your current condition... Flurry. I just want to say that I've spent my entire life studying your era, and Princess Twilight," Sunny told her.

"'Era'... So I'm assuming it's been some time. I won't pretend to know what kind of trance the Crystal Heart put me in, or if it merely helped you pull me through to your time. I don't suppose you could tell me how long it has been?"

"Not precisely, I'm afraid. I believe it's been centuries, at the very least," Sunny answered.

"I figured it's been awhile, I've never seen anything like that contraption you brought me here in. So, the crystals worked? Do you know when that happened?" Flurry asked.

Sunny nodded.

"A few months ago. My friends and I tracked them down, and used them to reunify Equestria."

"After months of strife and mistrust. Perhaps I should be grateful that Equestria got the chance at all. But if Equestria reunited because of you, I don't know how to thank you," Flurry told her.

"I don't deserve all the credit. My friends helped me along the way, and my dad set me on this path in the first place," Sunny answered.

"Well, I look forward to meeting your friends, and your dad."

Sunny's face flashed a somber expression.

"My... My dad hasn't been with us in quite some time."

"Oh, I see. My condolences, Sunny. But I'm sure he would have been proud of what you and your friends have managed to do for Equestria. I know I am, and I know that once I'm up and about, that there is much we can tell each other."

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this alternate take, if you were hoping for things to turn out different.

Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for the next story SoonTM.

Best-laid Plans, Part II

Luna perused one of the many bookshelves in the Crystal Castle's royal library, recalling distant memories of when she, her sister, Twilight, and Cadance attempted to find an answer for piecing the Crystal Heart back together after an infant Flurry had shattered it. It felt like so long ago, even for somepony her age.

The sound of the large entry doors opening pulled her attention away from the current shelf of books, and she leaned out into the main reading area, where Princess Flurry Heart was coming down the stairs to the nearest table.

"I think I found something. I always thought it was a memento of his years here, and I never bothered to read it, and it took some digging to find..." Flurry said as Luna came down to the table she took a seat at. The Crystal Princess pulled a book out of her saddlebags and gently set it on the table.

MUSINGS ON THE CRYSTAL HEART
By Crystaller Sunburst

"Sunburst wrote a book?" Luna asked.

"When I got older, and he had to do less and less for me on a daily basis, he had a lot of free time before Starlight offered him the position of Vice Headstallion of Twilight's friendship school. I guess this is what he did. Maybe he had a feeling I'd need this some day," Flurry said, as she slowly opened the front cover, coming to the very personalized preface on the first page:

My dearest Flurry Heart,

It has been a privilege, an adventure, and an honor seeing you grow these last few years. Knowing that my expertise of the arcane helped shape and guide you towards your future is a pride I will carry with me for the rest of my days.

I don't know if you will ever need the information contained within these pages, Flurry, but in case you do, I have endeavored to create a compilation of absolutely every bit of information I have ever found on the history and function of the Crystal Heart, which you have been destined to watch over.

If you ever find yourself in need of the knowledge I have gathered here, I pray it makes all the difference.

Best of luck, and all my love,
Sunburst

Flurry smiled gently at her mentor's message, and she turned the page again, to the contents he had listed out, and again to the first chapter.

The Crystal Heart is one of the most ancient and powerful magical artifacts in all of Equestria. It has deeper ties to the magical realm of Aetherius than even Grogar's Bewitching Bell, Aurora's Amulet, or the Helm of Yksler. Powered and sustained by the love of the Crystal Empire's citizens, the Heart's power of alteration is so great that is has made a considerable swath of the arctic north perfectly livable and protected from the normally fatally harsh weather of the region.

One has to wonder if it is always dependent on the love of the surrounding populace, though. Clearly, the Heart can be altered, and the surrounding area can still be protected, due to King Sombra's unfortunate reign. He had hidden the Crystal Heart away, and yet it still managed to keep the surrounding area livable.

The Crystal Heart itself is carved from pure aetherium. Shaping and handling that this element is best left to the most studied of mages, unless you care little for your corporeal form, and the stability of your immediate surroundings.

Another demonstration of the Heart's alteration properties is how it seems to 'crystalize' surrounding beings during expenditure of magical energy. Not in the petrifying sense, mind you, but the glimmering, sparkling, transparent sense. It is really quite fascinating.

Because of these transformative powers, it is my theory that the Heart has perhaps a stronger connection with Aetherius than perhaps any other artifact. If the time ever came that it wouldn't need to protect the Crystal Empire from the Frozen North's lethal weather, I would also theorize that it could no doubt be used for other purposes.

"Other purposes?" Luna said, reading Sunburst's opening passage after Flurry slid the book across to her.

"If very specific magic can put it back together after being shattered like it was, maybe magic can help... Turn it into something else. Into those three other gems," Flurry told Luna.

"That still doesn't solve the question of the Windigos. We should probably attempt to find material on that as well," Luna suggested.

"Good idea. I'll start on that, you continue reading through this to see how we could possibly use the Heart against them,"

Flurry got up from the table just as Spike was coming in with some drinks and snacks, figuring that the two Princesses would be in here for quite awhile.

"Spike, good. Get that stuff set on a separate table, and then help me find books with any entries on Windigos," Flurry told the dragon.

After an hour, they had a few books stacked on the center table, all of them from ancient explorers and modern-day archaeologists and historians.

The origins of the WIndigos was widely believed to be the Hearth's Warming fable of Snowfall Frost. But as was clearly revealed nearly a century ago when Canterlot was briefly invaded, the mythical bringers of the fatal freeze are very much real. With how the harmonious magic of Twilight, her friends, and her students banished them without a trace, I believe they originate from somewhere beyond the physical plane. Aetherius, perhaps, the source of all magic?

Flurry read the passage over again, and Luna noticed her begin to lose herself in thought.

"Flurry? Do you have something?" Luna asked.

"I'm... I'm not sure... But I did just think of something," the Crystal Princess replied.

"Do tell," the Princess of the Night responded.

"We're already fairly certain that we're not going to be able to put a stop to the unrest down south, and Equestrian magic is already beginning to fade, as evidenced by what happened to Cloudsdale."

"Yes, and?" Luna asked.

"What if... We preempted the rest of it? If we... Cut off Equus from Aetherius, the Windigos would vanish."

Spike and Luna looked at her with dumbfounded expressions.

"It would work, wouldn't it? No magic, no Windigos, right?" Flurry asked, sliding the open book towards Luna, who ignored it and continued staring at the Crystal Princess.

"Flurry... What you are suggesting, is precisely what Cozy Glow attempted when you were just a foal. It's preposterous," Luna answered.

"Is it? It would mean that when the unrest happens, that they won't be able to use magic against each other, and without Windigos, then there would always be the opportunity to heal those bonds. At least they would get the chance, instead of freezing or starving to death," Flurry argued.

"Child..." Luna began, only for Flurry to hold up a hoof.

"I am not a child anymore, Luna. I know what I am suggesting."

"Do you? Then allow me to be just as pragmatic. If the unrest down south is as inevitable as you claim, then do you honestly believe it would stop without magic? It would not, Flurry. If they don't use magic, they'll use hooves, and whatever they can get those hooves on. Do you understand?" Luna asked.

"Yes. I do. Rioting. Fighting. Civil war, maybe. It's frightening, and it breaks my heart knowing that that is where things are likely heading," Flurry said firmly. She pointed a hoof towards the nearest window. "But this storm is not stopping. So either we evacuate with the rest of our citizens, and try our best to avoid the bloodshed until we starve or freeze, or we try and follow our premonitions, and do what we can up here, to give them the hope and possibility of a future when the fires of hatred burn themselves out and the smoke clears."

Luna and Spike saw the undying determination in Flurry's eyes.

"So what is it going to be?"