Spike and her girls were given an entire train car to themselves at the very end of the train, with Solar being the only guard permitted to enter it or the car adjacent to it, Spike and the girls took up residents in a medium-sized compartment clearly made for passengers to spend the night in. Spike quickly tucked Ash into the bed and cuddled up next to her. The other girls begrudgingly kept off the bed to let their injured comrade heal in the loving embrace of their beloved.

"Wished I'd gotten stabbed," Summer muttered as Solar left the room to patrol the halls, making sure none of her dim-witted ex-coworkers got away with any attempts to sneak a peak. Seeing how standing around and staring was making them antsy the other girls soon separated and spread out among the two train cars, with Red and Blue both joining Solar in patrolling the Train cars, taking the opportunity to gossip about some of the other girls as they walked. Smoke chose to sit on the bed and baby her sister until the leaf could be removed.

Summer and Autumn sat by a window in front-most of the two train cards, Autumn looked out the window with wonder in her eyes, excited for her first trip into the confines of Equestria.

"I hear the Crystal Empire is super cold," Autumn said happily "And get this, they have snow," Autumn released a squeaking noise of joy.

"I'm sure they'll have some snow somewhere," Summer agreed as she opened one of her books, having asked Spike for it before she cuddled up with Ash.

"Have you ever seen snow?" Autumn asked curiously.

"You know I haven't," Summer replied curtly "We live in a flush tropical climate, the coldest sensation I've ever felt is a cold bath in an air-conditioned room, I can't imagine this 'snow' is any worse than that,"

"Prepare to be surprised," Solar cut in as she walked past "Actually, maybe don't go near it, the snow is just outside the Empire, and it's one of the coldest areas in all of Equestria, many foolish and overconfident ponies have lost their lives to its bone-numbing cold, and the winds might even be strong enough to blow out your Nirik forms,"

"Well, we need not worry," Summer replied calmly as she read her book "There is no force of this earth that our dearest darling couldn't protect us from," Solar nodded before slowly shaking her head.

"I hate to be that guy," She said with a sigh "But since most of Spike's powers are plant and fire based, the area outside the Crystal Empire could theoretically cancel out her powers," Red and Blue, who up to that point had been spying in on the train car ahead of them to see if any of the guards we're thinking of making a move, lost all interest in the train car ahead of them and rushed to Solar's side.

"What do you mean cancel out her powers!?" Blue demanded with a slight spark in her mane at the thought.

"Well, she controls plants, and most of the area outside of the empire is coated in thick layers of ice, so she wouldn't be able to reach the soil to make it fertile or even force them to grow through it, so her only defense would be her Nirik form, but again I'm not sure if any of you could keep your fires glowing in the harsh winds of the north," Summer frowned as Red and Blue began berating Solar for suggesting Spike could be harmed by the wind.

"Come to think of it," Summer muttered, getting Autumn's attention back from Red and Blue's quarreling "There are no written records on exactly how The Goddess of Fertility was drained of her magic, all anyone really knows for sure is that she left in Celestia's care and that she was drained of her powers in the area now known as the Everfree Forest, obviously even if she wasn't a part of it Celestia allowed it to happen under her watch and kept the egg so I'm fairly certain it was at least done on her order, could it be possible the area where Everfree is use to be frozen over?"

"Well, it was a long time ago," Solar noted "Not a lot of maps still exist, if they did,"

"Historical notes say Equestria was a barren wasteland," Red chimed in "Although I've never heard what kind of wasteland, I always just assumed it was a massive dessert," The gathered girls all tried to put their heads together, attempting to recollect any time they had heard from a reputable source what Equestria had been like in the old days,"

"I got it," Solar suddenly declared, confusing the other girls present.

"Got what?" Autumn questioned, "If Spike was unaware of the Goddess of fertility before she was rejuvenated how could any other creature know of her story?"

"There isn't a story like that," Solar agreed "But there is one story that was said to take place long before Celestia's rule, the Equestrian founders' story, but you say that Spike left to Celestia so she could bring life to Equestria and make it habitable for her people, both stories can't have happened, so it's possible that the Equestrian Founders story might have the missing information as to what happened to Spike,"

"It's possible," Summer mused.

"Do you know the story?" Red questioned.

"I know the popular retelling of the story," Solar admitted "But I've never actually read the original tale, no one has in over a hundred years, only three copies of the original story are known to still exist, one is said to have been lost in the castle of the two sisters, one is said to be locked away in Celestia's personal Library, and the third one is said to be hidden among the thousands of books in Crystal Empire's royal Library,"

"This could be big," Blue nodded slowly "Equestria was founded at the cost of our dear Spike losing thousands of years of her life and all of her memories before becoming Spike, if we could find a copy of that book and send it to Moonstone, she could use it in her research on what exactly happened to Spike, even if it is mostly lies and propaganda it might hold some key bit of information that could point us in the right direction,"

"Alright," Summer got to her hooves "Game plan time, When Ash had been properly healed we'll go and present this new information to Spike, have a little fun if we have time, and then we'll ask Princess Cadance to take us to the Royal Library,"

"Sounds like a plan," the others all agreed, there was a long moment of silence as the girls awkwardly stood around each other.

"I'm just gonna go back on patrol," Solar decided "Make sure no one tried to sneak a peak or anything," Red and Blue continued trailing her and with Summer going back to her book Autumn continued to look out the train window in awe at every new sight that passed by her gaze.

Spike lay on her side, slowly stoking Ash's head as she snuggled into Spike's breasts, Ash had quickly slipped into restful slumber while Smoke made sure the leaf was staying attached.

"So," Smoke noted in a soft tone "The Crystal Empire is to side with us should it come down to war?"

"Seems that way," Spike confirmed "Slightly annoyed that I wasn't asked to agree to that little bit but I'll ask Cadance if she agreed to it or suggested it, if she agreed then I'll be asking for a detailed reason as to why she felt it necessary just make sure she's not using blind hatred towards Equestria as her motivation, and I'll be making it clear to Rainshine that there will be no sex in the event of a war, as I'll be to busy trying to end the war peacefully, and if it was Cadances suggestion then I'll just ask for an explanation,"

"It sounds like you're more forgiving of Cadance than Rainshine," Smoke noted "That would break our poor leader's heart to know,"

"It's not like I could threaten Cadance with no sex," Spike replied "I could threaten to turn Shining into a Mare, but knowing Cadance, she'd probably be into it,"

"She is the Princess of Love," Smoke noted "Would not surprise me,"

"Either way, it's fine, a quick chat will help me out whose idea it was," Spike turned her attention back to Ash and continued petting her injured partner, whispering sweet nothing in her ear to bless her with sweet dreams.

Cadance sat with her arms crossed, next to her was Shining Armor, who was very calmly staring out the window and sweating in a pitiful attempt to avoid his wife's angry gaze. Across from them, Nightlight was reading a book in silence as his wife glared at him, calmly ignoring her rage he flipped to the next page and got the book smacked out of his hands.

"Must we?" He asked with a sigh.

"How could you be ok with this?" Velvet demanded. "Our son has become a sex-addicted monster,"

"Technically she's a sex-addicted Goddess," Nightlight shot back "From what I saw she's only a monster if somepony stabs one of her harem girls,"

"No son of mine is going to be tricked into some crazy sex cult," Velvet shot back angrily.

"Velvet," Cadance cut in clapping to both gain the attention of the room and to help her relieve her frustration a tad bit "I have agreed to protect Spike at all costs, if you so much as pinch his check too hard you could start a war between Kirin and Ponies,"

"And when said war comes you better believe my son is fighting on the right side," Velvet snapped back "No son of mine is going to betray his country,"

"Technically," Nightlight cut in "as a reborn Goddess, Spike was originally born in Kirin Cove, and just broke free of her eggy prison, albeit with no memories of life beforehand,"

"I don't care," Velvet shot back "I raised him and I'm not about to let some horny hussies take him away from us just because he's easy to manipulate," she turned to Shining for support who immediately raised his hands in surrender.

"I'm already so far in the dog house I might never see my own bed again," Shining said instantly "I've picked a side and it's the side that won't piss off my super-powered Alicorn wife,"

"Little late for that," Cadance noted as she got to her hooves "Twilight Velvet, I'm sorry but as Princess of the Crystal Empire, and being legally bound to see to it Spike is treated fair and safely you are forbidden from being within 20 yards of him until such a time that you can be trusted to not cause any pain, however minor, to Spike,"

"You can't do that," Velvet shot back "I have Rights,"

"You do," Cadance agreed "But The Crystal Empire is an alley to Equestria not a part of it, and as the Empire's Princess I have made my decree and you will be bound to it or be forced to leave if you refuse to agree to my terms," Velvets answer was made very clear by her facial expression and Cadance made he way towards the back of the train. "Shining you brought them here, please make the arrangements to send them home,"

"Yes Dear," Shining said.

"Yes Ma'am," Cadance corrected before leaving the room.

"Oh I'm sleepin' on the couch forever more," Shining groaned as he got up and lit his horn "Alright, A few jumps and I should get you home in an hour's time,"

"Where's Twilight," Velvet demanded "I wanna talk with my Daughter about this,"

"I'm sorry Mom but this is the Empire express train, and to ensure the Empire she was dedicated to them Cadance and Celestia made a treaty declaring that Cadance had authority over any Princess of Equestria while they are upon her land, and the train legally counts since it's made of Empire crystals, I'm taking you home now, and I'm doing it before Cadance demotes me," Velvet continued to be defiant up until Shining teleported them all away.

Author's Note

hey I'm trash levels of Broke, would you kindly buy me a Ko-fi

Begging for money aside, I do hope you've been enjoying this story, September 12 will be the last chapter posting before the story goes on Hiatus, I'm sure some people will be upset, but honestly, I haven't made a new chapter for this story in a while, but there so much story I figured I should post it, see if anyone might have some fun ideas for later in the story. I hope you've been having fun with the story and continue to do so.