Once everyone had finished unpacking their stuff, and had put on some better clothes, Twilight gathered everyone in the central building, and explained how they were going to hunt for the pale brown man. Specifically about her new tracker. Sunset Shimmer was a little worried about it having never been used in a snow storm. Of course, Twilight was still confident that it would work, and showed them their own traceable signals.
"So yes, it'll work," Twilight said. "Anyway, I only made two of these, so we'll need to split into groups of two. Any questi-yes, Rarity?"
"How are you able to afford all of this?" Rarity asked, pointing at the two heat trackers. Twilight smiled.
"I'm on the school's top grades list, at the very top," she said. "I've already gotten scholarship requests, and I've been given a bit of a free reign on inventing stuff by the government. They pay for pretty much everything. Any other questions?"
"How are we going to know where to go to get back?" Flash asked.
"I've set down a tracker that these things will guide you to when you press the home button," Twilight said. "It also has a clock on it. Any other questions?" No one else had a question. "Okay then, let's get going." Submersive Exploration grabbed the other thermal tracker with her gloved hand, and walked out of the building. She was joined by her mom and Sunset Shimmer. Rarity and Flash joined Twilight.
"When do we come back here?" Broiling Striker asked, having to shout over the wind.
"Let's make it two hours," Twilight shouted back. "Maybe sooner, but no later than that. We'll go that way." Twilight pointed towards the north behind her. "You three should go that way." Twilight pointed towards the north behind Submersive Exploration. Everywhere was north, except if you pointed in towards the center. That was south. Submersive Exploration nodded.
"Well then, I guess we'll see you later!" she shouted at Twilight. They turned around and started walking in the directions the had been given.
Nothing much happened. Submersive Exploration and her group slowly trekked along, bored, climbing over the occasional small snow ridge. They would glance at the thermal tracker every so often, but the only thermal signatures where from them, and from Twilight's group, but they were far away from them. As they continued walking, Rarity pointed out a large, mountain-sized snow ridge.
"Oh, let's go around that," she said. Submersive Exploration and Broiling Striker made agreeing noises. They started walking around the sides of the mountain, when the thermal tracker made a ping. Submersive Exploration looked at the screen in surprise. There was a new thermal signal on the screen. And it was on the mountain.
"Oh, we'll need to go on the mountain, Rarity," Submersive Exploration said. They turned to face the mountain and started trekking up the side. It wasn't very steep, but the snow, and the thick clothing made it a little difficult. But it did get more difficult as they got higher. But they finally got to a ridge where they could walk easily. It was a flatter area, and it gave Submersive Exploration the opportunity to look again at the screen. Submersive Exploration looked around at the snow blocking their view.
"It should be beyond that corner," she said. As they started walking, Submersive Exploration tried to make her foot steps quieter. If it was the pale brown man, and she was guessing it was, then it would be terrible if he heard them and started running. But he didn't run. Nor was it the pale man. As they rounded the corner, they saw something that shocked them. At first, Rarity thought it was a person on a horse. But it wasn't. The person and the horse were the same thing. It was a centaur. It's snow covered tail flicked and they heard a snort. It sounded feminine. But then it turned around, and they realized that it was female.
"About time," she said. "I've been waiting for you."
They had gone back to the central building, waiting for the others to come back. But they were talking with the centaur, who's name was Ethereal Whisper. She was like a ninja in the snow, able to disappear even thought you were looking directly at her, which pleased Rarity, because Ethereal Whisper wasn't wearing a bra. Apparently she didn't need one. Her upper body's layer of skin had adapted to make her not feel too cold, and centaurs apparently didn't have bra's anyway. Or clothing in general. So of course Broiling Striker and Submersive Exploration liked her right away. Ethereal Whisper's fur coat was white, as was her human chest. As they waited, they talked. Ethereal Whisper had been waiting for them, even though no one had known she was there, or even existed. Ethereal Whisper had known about the thermal trackers, though she wouldn't reveal how she knew of them. She did say, however, that there was an entire village of centaurs, and that strange things had been happening recently. After a few more minutes of talking, the door opened, letting Twilight's group, and snow and cold air, into the main house. But they froze, much like anything and everything in Antarctica, as they saw Ethereal Whisper. Flash's eyes were frozen on Ethereal Whisper's chest for a few seconds before Sunset Shimmer playfully and lightly slapped him, mostly just pushing his face away from Ethereal Whisper. Twilight started taking her goggles and headgear off, her excitement clear on her face.
"You're a centaur!" Twilight said. "You're also naked, but that's not important. Actually, that is important. You're not wearing anything! Do you not feel the cold?" Ethereal Whisper looked at Twilight with a curious expression.
"No, I do not feel the cold," Ethereal Whisper said. "My skin is thick enough to take care of that."
"Oh, your species existence is revolutionary!" Twilight squeed. "There are so many questions I have!"
"Already?" Flash asked. "You just met her." Twilight glared at him.
"And? When I met Submersive Exploration, I had a ton of questions," Twilight said.
"I told you about her and to come meet her," Flash deadpanned. "You had the time to think about it."
"Whatever. Anyway, would you mind if I ask you some questions?" Twilight asked Ethereal Whisper excitedly.
"Ask away. I like this level of curiousness," Ethereal Whisper said. Twilight blushed lightly and nodded.
"Okay, then," she said. "Ask away."