The colorful train from Ponyville was going through the snow. It's whistle could be heard from the distance and it's faint light on the front illuminated the rail, which the train was rolling on. The snowdrops were falling down peacefully, giving that nice winter mood to the passengers on the train.

The mane six was looking outside the windows, chatting about Twilight's 'test' and enjoyed the ride. Their cabin was separated from the others, which was illuminated with the lanterns above them. (Which was impossible, since only one lantern can light up every corner of the room, no matter what was in the light's way...)

Twilight sat alone from time to time, wondering about this dangerous situation. The girls tried to cheer her up, saying that everything will be fine and they will help her. But she was concerned about her brother and Cadance. She thought Equestria was safe again, since the changelings got defeated by the Power of Love.

''The Power of Love... Traveler, you fool. You have no idea how powerful can be the love.'' She thought, sighing. She remembered, when she told this to Traveler. He just snorted and didn't believe her...

And as she was thinking about that, a familiar horseman appeared in the distance...

''Traveler!'' She yelled.

''Where?!'' Rainbow Dash knocked her away from the window and soon, all the girls were watching him.

He was riding along the train, a few hundred meters away. Rarity watched in awe, as his new clothes made him look 'fabulous', as she told him.
She polished his talismans and runes and gave him a new attire...
He wore a thick, blue robe and on his back, a crimson cape covered his upper body. She gave him a new scarf too. Longer and thicker, so he can use it as a mask too. And he actually did that, since the girls couldn't see anything from his mouth and nose...
His backpack changed too. Instead of a brown backpack, he was wearing a black one. He also asked her, if she can make the pockets inside more organized. The outcome, is a satisfied customer, along with a comfortable and big backpack. The cape covered the backpack from the snow and it looked less heavy.
He gave her some leather and she made him gloves under the gauntlets, so his fingers were covered too and he can easily grasp anything.
From the same leather, she made him a better belt and new pouches around his waist. The belt was black and the pouches remained brown, but more durable.
Instead brown, he was wearing black trousers. It's new pockets came handy for him, since he also carried smaller things around. And in his backpack were the bigger stuff.
Since the robe wasn't covering fully his front, she made him a dark red sweater. The robe's front side was connected from his chest and got separated from his waist, so his legs can move freely. This gave the robe's front side a 'V' shape and an upside down 'V' shape...
Thanks to this 'V' shape, he could also pull out his claws, from under the robe. The two weapon could be only seen from the front. So from behind him and next to him, the two claws weren't visible.
The trousers ends were behind the brown boots. The boots reached his knee and there was also a strap on the sides, for two knifes.
His shoulder plates were new too. The right shoulder plate was slightly curved upwards, while the left one remained straight for his bow.
And his hood. The top of it had a narrowed shape. Rarity wanted to make it look like an eagle's beak and since he had an eagle, she made the hood narrow on the end. That also meant, that his face was fully covered from both sides, from above and from behind...

When he was leaving, he gave her lot of bits and only when he stepped out from her boutique, told her how he got leather and where it came from. That day, Rarity woke up on the floor and she was pretty angry about him.

''Even if he made me work with LEATHER, he looks fascinating in these clothes.'' She said out loud.

''Yo' were lying there all day sugarcube.'' Told her Applejack, forcing back a chuckle.

''Why yes of course. I have never worked with such material. How did I supposed to know where he get those?'' She shivered and felt bad for praising the material, when she was working with it.

They kept watching him riding. As Rainbow looked at Sprint, the big horse winked at her, before Traveler pulled to the right, riding away from the girls sign.

''Why ar' ya blushin' Rainbow?'' Asked Applejack.

Rainbow shook her head quickly. ''What, I wasn't blushing. What are you talking about AJ?''

Applejack just kept looking at her, with a knowing grin. ''Ah believe you sugarcube.''

''Dashie has a crush on Sprint!'' Cried out Pinkie Pie, making Rainbow jump in surprise.
The girls are all 'Daaaw' -ed...

''Wh-what?! I don't have a crush on him!'' Rainbow protested, crossing her hooves.

''It's alright Rainbow. Ah think he is a pretty strong fellah. Yo' should tell him 'bout yo' feelings. Ah'm sure he will like you.'' Patted Rainbow's shoulder AJ.

''Applejack darling! You too?'' Gasped Rarity. ''My, my. I did not imagine you two to like him. But you're right darling. He really is a good looking fellow.'' She giggled.

''What 'bout yo' Twiligh'?'' Asked Applejack.

''I have to agree with you girls too.'' She smiled sheepishly.

''Great!'' Rainbow cried out, failing her hooves in the air. ''Who else wants to admit her feelings?''

''Fluttershy darling!'' Rarity looked at the yellow pegasus.

''Oh... my.'' She blushed too.

And the girls started arguing about the sexy horse, who stole the five mares heart. Even if none of them fell in love with him, they still thought he was the sexiest stallion in the world.

While Rainbow was trying to convince her friends about 'not liking him' , Rarity asked Fluttershy about him, since she groomed and took care of him last time. Twilight tried to come up with a logical explanation, about why do they found Sprint so attractive. And Applejack praised the horse's muscles and mused about inviting him to buck some apples and something else...

And Pinkie Pie...
She was sitting in an armchair. A gentleman hat on her head (Or in this case a gentlemare hat.) and on one of her eyes a rich glass, with a golden necklace. She was smoking from a lady cigarette. (Really thin and doesn't have that much tobacco in it. Oh and it burns away faster...)
And she was pleased by the scene in front of her. The small chaos she made by one sentence and everything just made her do a 'trollface' like grin.

''Trolling everyday... Hey author, this stuff is pretty good actually. Now I know why you like it.''

I knew you will like it Pinkie.

''Now keep writing this. You made your readers wait for too long. They want the badflank Traveler NOW.''

Oh, uhm... right. Now, let's see what Traveler is doing, even if we have a good guess about it...

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''Map! Go forth!''

Traveler's gauntlet glowed and the purple eagle immediately flew ahead of him. The snow was falling quicker and heavier by every minute. But this was nothing like the Frozen Tundras, where the horseman, Sprint and Map nearly died from frostbite.

Holding the straps on his ride with one hand, Traveler held his own map in the other hand. Map revealed for him a plain way ahead. Then suddenly nothing...

''Ho!'' Shouted Traveler and Sprint tried to stop. The horse's legs started slipping as he tried to stop and regain his balance. Traveler nearly fell down from his horse. Thanks to Map, both fell onto the snow as the eagle slammed into Sprint, stopping our heroes from falling down the cliff. They stopped sliding just before the end of the cliff...

Traveler climbed down from Sprint, allowing him to stand up. Map landed on Traveler's right shoulder, finding the new shoulder plate more comfortable than the last one. The horseman walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

''Too high... and I can't even see the bottom of it.'' He said, as he looked at the depth below him. The snow was too thick to see the ground down there.
Then he looked a bit higher and saw something big. It was glowing and surrounded a big area. He could make out a tall tower inside the glow and he knew he was far away from it.

He looked at his map. 'The Crystal Empire' it showed. Though it wasn't that clear. Only a dot on the map. He had to go there, to get a better view and to make it appear more detailed on the map. He just had to find a way down...

To his right, a frozen waterfall. ''Perfect'' He thought and both Sprint and Map disappeared, along with his own map. He attached his claws and started running towards the waterfall. And he jumped...

In the air, he stretched out his body, flying even more further. His claws forward, like a tiger would jump after it's prey. And he reached the ice wall...
The claws dug into the ice and he immediately started sliding down. He looked down to see large ice parts, sticking out of the wall. He pulled to the side, pulling out the claws and re-stabbing them into the wall. He dodged the large ice pieces. Every time he saw one, he simply jumped to one side and continued descending somewhere else on the wall.

He hoped the way down will be short, because as he was sliding down, he curved cracks into the ice. He feared, maybe the whole thing will fall apart. And below him was nothing else, just an endless and painful death...
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*CRACK*

Traveler looked up. Nothing...

*CR-CRACK*

He looked up again and stopped sliding down. He re-stabbed his claws a bit further from each other, so he was in a more comfortable position. He narrowed his eyes to see through the snow. He was about to continue sliding down, when he heard another *crack*. He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, Map's purple energy could be seen in his eyes.

Now seeing through the snow and making out more detail from the ice wall, he saw his trail of crack, opening up even more. He didn't like the look of it...

*CRAAAAAK*

Suddenly, the whole upper side of the waterfall started to fall apart...

''Oh-'' He couldn't finish his sentence. A big chunk of ice nearly got him, but he quickly pressed himself against the ice and it barely missed him.

He watched as the big chunk fell into the thick snow and after a few seconds, he heard it breaking apart. ''I must be close...'' He thought and immediately started sliding down again.

More ice started to fall after him. All of them nearly hitting him. He always jumped to one side, dodging the deadly ice boulders. But soon, much more ice started to fall down. Small and big at the same time and his eagle eyes showed him no escape, only to release...

He let go of the wall and caught a big ice, falling on top of him. He climbed to it's top and scanned the other falling ice chunks. He saw one spot, where he can start his escaping maneuver...

He jumped up to one and immediately continued jumping to another one. Zig-zagging up his way, he soon reached the top of the first amount of ice chunks. Seeing that the next amount was too far, he stayed on the one he was standing on.
He looked down and saw the bottom of the frozen waterfall...

A smaller lake, where the waterfall ends. The water's surface was frozen and under a half meter thick layer was liquid water. As the ice he was standing on, crashed into the bottom, it started to sink under the water.

He quickly jumped down from the ice chunk and the other falling ones crashed into the water behind him. The ice started to open and he immediately started running away. Behind him, the big blast from the crash sent a wave through the liquid water. The ice below him started to blast upwards and he quickened his speed.

He was close to the shore, when the blast caught up with him and it sent him flying forward. He landed on his chest and rolled to his back. Panting, he looked over the collapsed waterfall.

The water was flowing down again and he could see a pink pony. He couldn't make out much of this pony, but he know something was off about her. He assumed it was a she, since it had pink coat.

Traveler stood up and don't thinking about the pony on top of the waterfall, he started walking towards the big glow.

''GAK!''

Traveler turned around and looked up at the waterfall. The pony wasn't there anymore. ''What the...?'' He thought and summoned Sprint.

''Let's get out of here!'' He said and hopped on top of his horse. Sprint neighed, reared up and started running towards the glow...

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''Twily!''

''Shiny!'' The two siblings hugged each other. ''We have to go. There are things out there which we don't want to run into.''

''Wh-what things?'' Asked Fluttershy fearfully, somehow whispering through the storm. ''Are there... followers around here? *MEEP*''

''No, but whatever are there, they're close. I don't really know if there is more of it. Maybe it's alone, but we don't want to find it out. Come on!''

And they started walking into the storm. Shining leading the group, while Spike carried Rarity's clothes and bags. He was also wearing something...

''I just knew you will look fantastic in these, Spike. I'm sure you will find a special somepony in this...'' Rarity's eyes sparkled, as she looked at Spike's 'Traveler Attire'. On the train, she gave him a full set of 'Traveler's' cloths, because she decided to start a new kind of fashion for him and other ponies. Of course, she made it in a smaller size and she didn't use leather. Also, she changed the colors too on Spike's cloth...

The boots were dark green and the trousers were lighter green. The robe was purple and the shoulder plates were made from his own spikes. The right shoulder plate was made from his green spikes, since those were more flexible. And the left one was made from both, green and purple...

''Yes... I'm sure I will get her heart...'' Spike mumbled for himself and he grinned. On the train, he was a bit angry about Traveler and Sprint. He thought those two will be more popular than him. But thankfully, Rarity made him those clothes and he was immediately on the lead. ''Thanks man...'' He though and continued carrying the clothes and bags.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were argued about Sprint. Rainbow was trying to hide her feelings and Applejack continued praising him, making Rainbow angry inside. And since they got off the train, they just kept arguing about their new crush...

Fluttershy was silent and Twilight was talking with her brother.

''I hope Traveler will find us...'' Mused aloud Shining Armor.

''Traveler? What do you mean?'' Asked Twilight, surprised to hear such a thing from her brother.

''The Princess said, if he finds us, then he can help us out. He's out there somewhere and maybe he can act as a bait.'' Shining Armor explained. He got the message from the Princess and both him and Cadance hoped for his arrival.

''As a bait? For what-''

Suddenly, some strange noise could be heard from the storm. A mysterious and creepy noise...

Fluttershy's eyes widened. ''*gasp* I-it's one of those things isn't it? The Followers are coming?!''

''Quickly, we have to get to the Crystal Empire!'' Shouted Shining Armor and everypony started running to the glowing rind.
Behind them, a shadow started to chase them. The girls and the two boys were running away from the shadow, which had two purple glowing eyes.

''Almost there! Keep running!'' Urged Shining Armor and let the girls and baby dragon ahead.

The shadow and Shining Armor looked at each other. The unicorn was the first to shoot, but the shadow easily dodged the spell. Then this shadow, stroke at Shining Armor and he braced himself, as the shadow got him.

Shining Armor felt his magic weakening. The shadow chuckled darkly and he was about to finish it's prey off, when a loud *crack* from the distance disturbed it's mealtime.
Shining Armor used this opportunity to break free and quickly jumped through the magic shield.

And the shadow became angry and decided to punish it's disturber, so it went to the loud noise's direction...
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Somewhere... in the middle of the storm... a visually bucked up, pink pony was watching this...

''GAK!''
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Traveler was riding towards the giant, glowing thing. Which he soon found out, that it was actually a magic shield...

As he got closer and closer, the shield became bigger and bigger. He expected it to be bigger, but he never thought it would be THAT big. Also, he could make out even more detail about the inside of the shield...

Behind the shining and sparkling shield, was a beautiful city. The tower in the middle, looked breathtaking. Crystals everywhere around it and the whole thing illuminated the cloudy area. That made Traveler feel a bit better, since he was already suffering from frostbite. That event at the waterfall left his clothes wet and he shivered, as the cold wing hit him from everywhere. ''This storm is not natural... something is out here...''

Aside from that, he felt pretty good. The beautiful view gave him the strenght to keep going. As he got closer, he started to feel even more better, like the shield has a bonus to it. He felt happy, calmed and for some reason... loved...

And all of these feelings lasted for a short time. Because suddenly... a big and mysterious shadow...
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Somewhere in the butt-freezing storm...

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''GAK!''
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Author's Note

Fun facts:
1.
Just writing this gave me some new ideas for future chapters.
2.
Since it's snowing outside, the mood will be perfect to write and read this.
3.
Sprint gets all the ladies... and Spike too.
4.
You will see an epic battle next time.
5.
GAK reminds me of Pinkie Pie, with a horseface...
6.
Pinkie ALWAYS breaks the fourth wall and now she understands why I smoke...
7.
Just to count to seven, since it's my fav. number. :3