Time Twister wasn’t bothered by the sudden absence of Shining Armor the next morning. It had been a ploy after all, he needed Shining to be true to himself, even if it meant working against Time. He still saw him as a friend, and the fact the mercenaries had faked their deaths likewise wasn’t shocking. He knew from reports they had done that at least once before.
Right now, he knew the princess and Shining Armor were preparing to make their way here, this was important after all, though none of them knew what was about to happen, it was best not to risk anything.
Princess Maakera would come, she would deal with the threat, and he, well, he would find the source of Scootaloo’s gem, and bring its power to Equestria. The technology that could be possible outweighed the risks in his mind.
So he marched two platoons of soldiers towards the branch he watched the elven pony lead the mercenaries into, pausing at the entrance.
“Someone go through, tell us what’s beyond.” he ordered.
Gingerly, a single stallion walked to the portal, and had the presence of mind to only put their head through. He quickly pulled back, his face and helmet covered in a very thin layer of snow.
“Thick snow sir, looks like someone fell through it before us, it's easily six to ten feet deep.”
Time Twister sighed.
“Alright, unicorns, cloudwalking spell, pegasi take flight, we’re equipped for anything, the gems in the armor should kick in shortly and keep us warm, move out.” he shouted so all could here him.
With the cloudwalking spell cast, he made a show of being the first to go through the portal.
And indeed saw the tops of homes covered in snow so deep and thick, that anyone who may still be alive in them, well, they were long deceased.
As the platoons joined him, he looked around.
“Shovelling it aside won’t help, it would be like trying to stop a leaky sailboat with a cup. Throw it back through the portal, get a base camp set here as deep as the ground, and make any fires you can to prevent fresh settling once down. Ten stallions with me, we follow the hoofprints.”
He turned to the hoofprints that wandered out into the snow towards a city that stood upon a cliff.
The city, which Scootaloo had told them was called Oriel, was apparently a marvel of the world. Not only did the buildings look to be made of precious gems, reminicant of the Crystal Empire in Equestria, but apparently when the world was more lively, Oriel itself could take to the air. She never elaborated however why this was required for the city, in fact, aside from a few details, Scootaloo didn’t feel much like talking.
And just two minutes into the city, neither was anyone else. Around them, both in the houses and the street, were elven ponies. Not deceased bodies, but they were encased in gems, as though to spare themselves a slow, cold death, they had become one with the buildings and took the quicker choice.
“Scootaloo,” Applebloom spoke eventually, as they begun to split up to find the path to the center of the city, “why are they all in crystals?”
Scootaloo sighed.
“It was decided, a month out from my last memory here, that we would rather be suspended in time, just before the end of the world as we knew it, than to die. But something went wrong. At that point, the crying goddess had been asleep for some time, we felt safe to prepare for the end. But she awoke, crying ever louder how the eye of mother nature had seen her. This destroyed any work underway to make crystals to encase everyone, and not all had yet had one, myself included.”
Applebloom regretted asking now. Had Scootaloo not somehow ended up in Equestria, she would be among the many elven ponies who had not survived, presumably those who didn’t get a crystal were under the snow.
On and on Scootaloo led Applebloom and Rumble, as the mercenaries could be heard in the distance, making notes of the crystal locations. The last they had spoken to him, High Wind had decided this world was unsalvegable, and the logical choice, over an instant reward, was to honor his promise to his daughter. He was going to take the crystals back to Equestria and find a way to free the occupants, so they could be warm.
Scootaloo however led her friends to a house, the door was the first Applebloom and Rumble had seen open, any they had tried simply remained closed. As they followed her in, Scootaloo set about lighting candles.
“This was my home, right until the end.” she took a deep breath.
“Scootaloo, I’m sorry.” Rumble said softly. Scootaloo held a hoof up.
“I know you never believed, until you saw me for what I really am. But I need to find my parents.” she said, starting the search of the house.
With nothing else to do, Applebloom and Rumble joined the search.
Time Twister smiled smuggly as the last mercenaries were rounded up, bound and gagged like the red. High Wind glared at him.
“Well now, you thought you could have these?” he placed a hoof on a crystal.
“Such an interesting punishment they had here, criminals bound inside a crystal to power the city, clearly. Ingenious! We could make the most of that I feel, a revolution in technology like we have never seen. Take them and the crystal back to base!” he snapped to some soldiers.
High Wind fought as best he could, the magic inhibitor placed on him didn’t help, but he quickly knocked the mouth gag free.
“You’re not understanding, and only seeing what you want to see! They’re not sources of power or criminals! They were ponies who did a desperate thing to avoid a slow and painful death!”
High Wind was gagged a bit tighter this time, along with having a solid right hoof to the jaw for his trouble.
“A likely story,” Time Twister sneered, “trying to make us feel bad so you can take it and be sent on your way and what a good stallion he turned out to be.”
He put his face close to High Wind’s.
“Pull the other leg, I got three others. I’ll personally see to your execution, and I’ll take such delight in giving you the most painful death I can dream up.”
Time Twister turned away, and looked around the nearby streets he could see, now alone in this otherworldly city. He spotted lights in one house and his heart skipped a beat.
“There you three are.”
The search had ended badly, Applebloom was the first to locate Scootaloo’s parent’s bedroom. Inside was a letter, written in her native language, and Scootaloo had quickly dropped it, rushing to the garden a moment later. When Applebloom and Rumble joined her, they saw her sitting, looking at two graves where no snow formed, despite falling upon them.
“They died,” Scootaloo whispered, “we were one of many families to never get crystals to be spared a grim fate, and they did only one thing. They used their bracelets to throw me into another world, where they hoped I’d wake with no memories and just live on. And on what little power they had left, they enchanted themselves so when they finally did die, their bodies would be burried.”
She was crying now, and Applebloom knew there were no words that could help. The biggest mystery had been solved, and at a terrible cost. But likewise, Scootaloo couldn’t be left outside, or she would freeze to death herself. With much effort, Applebloom and Rumble took her back indoors.
It was another ten minute before Scootaloo stood up and wandered to a shelf, where she took a music box down, and wound it up. Lifting the lid, a tune begun to play, and Scootaloo herself begun to sing, in a very sad tone of voice, the song.
“Ar i adenydd-o cuil min gwil;
so nin hen, nifred u-i cysgodion a du;
gwil-na i dawn, na i galad
Ennas cin bydd gweld, i dyfodol i aros am
Cymryd ha a cherish ha, guin-an i wawr
I ber-o yfory, nin hen.”
Applebloom and Rumble decided at this point it was best to just wait for her. Slowly they left the house and begun to search for any scraps of food and drink in the city that were, well, still edible. They figured when she was more up for it, the three could at least eat before heading back to Equestria and deciding what they would do next.
It was just seconds after they left that Time Twister approached the house. He walked in and found Scootaloo alone, her back to him. Quietly he picked up a book, and hit her on the back of the head, knocking her out.
“I didn’t need the other two, just you. I can feel a powerful magic at the center of the city, and you will help me,” he lifted her up, leaving the house, “and then for all I care, you three foals can freeze to death here.”