Blizzard stood silently in front of the tomb, thinking about all the moments she lived with Skyline. Cronos and Infinity were inside the castle, and Primrose had taken Snowdrop to her crib, so her mother could be alone for a while.
The princess of Winter was thinking about the first time they met, seven years ago. That day, she was in Canterlot, looking for new soldiers to defend her castle. She was bored, and the tests for the applicants were at the evening, so she decided to go for a walk. Disguised as a pegasus not to be recognized, she walked the streets of Canterlot until she found a Training Center, where she entered moved by curiosity. And that was when she saw him: a young pegasus stallion with a light blue coat and a white and blue mane. He was practicing some fighting exercises, and he wasn't bad at all.
"Nice moves" she said.
He turned and looked at her. When he saw the pretty pegasus, a shy smile came to his face.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you. I was doing a bit of exercise. I need to train in order to get the job."
"The job?"
"Yes, I'm trying to be hired as one of the new Princess Blizzard's Royal Guards."
"I see" Blizzard said with a smile "and you think you're good enough?"
"What do you mean?" he asked looking confused.
"Well, you have some good moves, as I could see, but I think I could beat you in a battle"
"Really?" He asked ironically "I've been training since I was a foal, and you don't look exactly like a warrior. Do you really think you are better than me?"
"I think we'll have to find the answer to that question" she said with a smirk.
"Is that a challenge, young lady?" he asked evily.
"I think so!" She suddenly kicked his chest and flew up quickly.
He recoiled in surprise, that mare was strong! But then he smiled, "as you wish, madame!" he said and flew after her. he tried to punch her, but she dodged and kicked him again, but that time he managed to grab her hoof and throw her to the ground. She hit the ground harshly, but she quickly stood up and flew towards him again.
After a while, both of them landed panting heavily.
"I think this is a draw".
"Agree" Blizzard said with a smile, then she added "Oh my, look at the time! Sorry, I must go now or I'll arrive late!"
"Fine, but I want a remach some day! And my name is Skyline, by the way!"
"Nice to meet you, Skyline! See you!" she said before running away.
"Hey, I didn't get your name!" Skyline shouted
"I didn't tell you!" Blizzard shouted back.
With a smile at her face, Blizzard flied towards Canterlot castle, where Cronos and Infinity were waiting for her.
"Finally! Where were you?" Cronos asked.
"And where is your horn?" Infinity added.
"I went for a walk, and about the horn, well, it's just a disguise not to be recognized as a princess".-she explained.
"Good idea, but put it off now, the applicants are arriving, and they must recognize you as a princess"- Infinity said with a smile.
Finally, after Blizzard removed her disguise, the three alicorns entered the Throne Room, where they found about fourty young stallions waiting for them.
"Here they are-Cronos said- there were like a hundred more, but we made some tests and these stallions got the best results, so we called just them to make it easier".
Blizzard only nodded in response.
"Take this- Infinity gave her a bunch of papers- I collected some information about the applicants. You should read it before making a decision. Meanwhile, I will give them a little speech."
Infinity cleared her throat and turned to the stallions.
"Welcome everypony, and thank you for coming. As you already know, today some of the best warriors in Equestria are reunited in this room. It wasn't an easy task being chosen to be here, but finally here you are. However, only ten of you will get the prize: a job as royal guards in the Winter Palace, under the orders of Her Highness Blizzard, princess of Winter."
Hearing that, Blizzard took a step forward, revealing her self to the soldiers. One of them gasped in surprise, she smiled but didn't look at him.
"Thank you, young soldiers, and welcome. After reading some information about all of you, I have to say that I am very impressed with your skills, but I only can choose ten of you for my army. The chosen will come with me to the Winter Palace at dawn. And for the not chosen: you mustn't be dissapointed: all of you are very skilled warriors and you will have a lot of opportunities in your life. But now, I'm going to announce the winners.
The new Winter Soldiers are: Jet Black, Eagle Eye, Sharp Edge, Tornado, Golden Shield, Shamrock, Poison Ivy, Storm Cloud, Sharpshooter and Skyline.
I will be waiting for the ten of you tomorrow at dawn in this room. The Winter Palace is very far away, so we will go trough the magic Portal located in this palace, you must arrive in time, beacuse this portal only can be activated by an alicorn, so you can't reach the Palace without me or the rulers. Thank you everypony, and see you tomorrow."
The stallions headed towards the door, an Blizzard suddenly said:
"Soldier Skyline, wait a moment, please, I have something to tell you"
The young pegasus turned and looked at her, a bit nervous. She smiled: He obviously had recognized her.
"You look surprised" she said with a smirk.
"I can't say I'm not" he smiled "but why did you choose me?"
"Well, you have good fighting skills, I saw it by myself." she said "but the main reason is simple: I still owe you a rematch, remember?"
They laughed together, and Cronos and Infinity smiled looking at them, suspecting what was going on.
After that many things happened: They had a lot of rematches, always ending in a draw, making Skyline the only Royal Guard not beaten by Blizzard, and thats why she finally made him her personal bodyguard. She gave a job to Skyline's sister too, and that's how she earned the best of friends: Primrose. Finally, the training hours turned into dates, and that ended with Skyline asking for her hoof in marriage after two years of courtship. They had been married for five years, the happiest five years of her life.
And now he was gone. Their daughter was never going to meet her father. Blizzard would never see his smile or hear his voice again. She had nothing.
Only memories.
"You can do nothing!? What do you mean with that!?" asked a furious Blizzard.
"Blizzard, please, try to understand" Infinity said "They are too necesary for Equestria, we cannot punish them so easily".
"Too necesary? Equestria needs murderers?!"
"Calm down princess Blizzard," said Cronos "They claim that they didn't pretend to kill him."
"Of course! They wanted to kill ME!"
"Come on Blizzard, you know them, they didn't want to kill anypony, they just lost their temper.It's true that they attacked you, but you are an alicorn, and they knew you were strong enough to survive."
"But I was pregnant! My baby wouldn't have survive! And now I have a dead husband and a blind filly because of them!" Blizzard shouted, her eyes filled with rage.
"Blizzard, I understand your pain" Infinity place her hoof on Blizzard's shoulder "but we really can do nothing. They are royalty, we have no authority over then nor you".
Blizzard hit Infinity's hoof with hers "Don't dare to tell me that you understand. I thought we were friends, but now I see I was wrong. You and your husband are nothing but cowards!"
"Blizzard please..."
"I'm not listening to you anymore! I can trust nopony here, so I want you and Cronos out of my castle right now! Cross the portal and disappear!"
With that, Blizzard used her magic to connect the portal in her Throne Room with the one in Canterlot. Both Cronos and Infinity gave her a sad look, but headed to the portal without discussion. Cronos crossed first, but Infinity turned to Blizzard one more time before following him.
"When you calm yourself, I hope to see you in the Temple for the change of Season. You have three days, don't forget".
Blizzard glared at her, but didn't answer, so Infinity sighed and crossed the portal.
Blizzar kept staring at the portal for a while, her heart filled with rage and pain. She felt betrayed: she lost everything in one night, and her so-called friends were doing nothing to help her. And they still wanted her to fulfill her royal duties. Very well, but first she had more important duties: mother duties. She had to keep her daughter safe at any cost, Snowdrop was all she had now, and she would do anything for her.
Anything.
Blizzard opened the portal again, but this time she didn't connect it with Canterlot. The she called one of the guards.
"Jet Black, I want you to reunite all the ponies in the castle in this room: guards, servants, anypony. Did you understand?"
"As you wish, your Highness!"
After that, she went to her room to get Snowdrop. The little filly was crying in her crib, so her mother took her gently.
"Hush now, my little star. Mommy is here. I'm protecting you. I will always be."
Carrying her baby, she went to the Throne Room, where all her servants and soldiers were waiting for her.
"My dear subjects-she started- You have been working for me for so many years, and you always proved me your love and loyalty. I will always be grateful to all of you about that. But the last weeks have been very hard to me, as you know, and I have made a decission that will change this forest forever. But that means that, sadly, our time together is over."
She heard some gasps after that, and saw that Primrose was looking at her, shocked. But she continued.
"As you can see, the portal of the mirror is opened, but it's not conected to Canterlot this time. I used a powerful spell on it. You just have to think of a place and the portal will take you to it. Now is time for you to go and start a new life. Thank you everypony, for everything. And good luck."
The ponies kept still and silent for a while, but then they slowly headed to the portal, still with confusing looks in their eyes. Finally all of them were gone. All of them but Primrose. The yellow and pink pony was looking to the princess, waiting for an explanation, but Blizzard wasn't paying attention to her: her gaze was focused on her filly, and she had a look of pure sadness in her eyes. Primrose sighed and turned to the portal. But when she was about to reach it, she finally heard Blizzard voice.
"Prim, wait"- her voice gave Prim chills. It was a mixture of sadness, desperation and anger. She looked at Blizzard again, but instead of giving her an explanation, Blizzard did something unexpected.
"Take Snowdrop with you" she said, giving her the baby.
"What? But Blizzard...!" Primrose started, but Blizzard interrupted her.
"This place is not safe anymore, and I must protect her at any cost. She will be better with you."
Prim was about to protest again, but the desperation on her friend's voice made her change her mind.
"I...I have a small house in Cloudsdale. Is a good place to live".
"Perfect. I will try to go and find you when I'm done here". Blizzard said. She was lying. She knew this was probably the last time she saw her daughter.
"I will take care or her until that. I promise."Prim said with tears in her eyes.
"I don't doubt that". Blizzard replied, with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She hugged her daughter and her friend one more time before pushing them to the portal. Prim crossed, crying softly, but she looked back one more time before the portal closed, so she managed to look into Blizzard eyes one last time.
And what she saw plagued her nightmares for a very long time.