Quickly scampering away, Agate found an empty alleyway where she shapeshifted, flying away unnoticed. As far as she knew, no one had seen her at all besides Sugarberry, and she was entirely happy to keep it that way. She still remembered just how skeptical ponies - including herself - were about ghosts in the Empire.
The way she saw it, it could go two ways. One, she would face a bunch of demands from ponies to "prove that she was real", and if she did, they would all lose their heads and swarm her, poking and prodding at her. The second one was everyone losing their heads with fear, and they'd try to banish her somehow, which she highly doubted they would succeed in, given that they didn't exactly have any experience with shamaric magic. Either option would be a waste of time, and a big interruption in her attempts to talk to her family. So, she fled.
Circling above the Empire, she giggled, flying in loops around the ribbons of magic emanating from the Heart. Night had fallen by the time they finally defeated Sombra, and the sky was illuminated by the aurora coming from the Spire. It wasn't remotely comparable to the grandeur of the wild aurora of the north, but it was a much more heartwarming sight.
Agate felt tired, but she really, really did not want to leave the Empire. She knew that it was there and that Sombra was gone, but at the same time, she still felt afraid that it would vanish yet again if she just closed her eyes and let it out of her sight. Still, she had to land and rest somewhere eventually.
From what she saw, the only fliers in the Empire were the foreign pegasus with a rainbow mane and the pink alicorn, and they both retired for the night. Slowly circling downwards, Agate landed on the very top of the Spire, feeling like she was a filly that was being naughty and was about to get told off for climbing the royal castle. No one came for her, though, and with no other pegasi around, there was next to no chance of getting noticed. Feeling the faint hum of the Heart down below her, Agate closed her eyes, drifting off with a smile.
❅ ❆ ❅
The next morning, Agate woke with a start, the memories of the previous day coming back in a rush. Tapping the crystal below her to make sure that it really was the Spire and not her totem, she smiled, hugging the Spire's roof. Once she was done hugging the building - which took quite a lot of time, actually - she wondered what to do next.
She didn't want to go to her family without the snowponies backing her up, and it would still take over a week for them to actually get to the Empire. With a sigh, she lay down, resting her head on her forelegs and watching the ponies below go about their days. At some point, the pink alicorn went out to the balcony to give a speech to the people, Agate observing curiously from above, frowning when some of the words the alicorn said were almost incomprehensible.
"...And while I have been raised in Equestria, I promise that I will rule the Empire fairly and will never put your needs below those of Equestria..."
"Hm," Agate thought. So she was an Equestrian. Made sense. The Empire never had alicorns of their own.
"...The world changed quite a lot. I know it must be very strange to hear that a thousand years had passed in the blink of an eye, but we will do our best to help the Empire catch up to..."
Thinking about the number, Agate considered just how much things changed in the north in a thousand years. When she arrived, the snowponies were a tough, resilient alliance of three small tribes. Quite well suited to the harsh life in the north, but still small, only recently having truly adapted to their new lives as snowponies rather than earth pony refugees. "Recently" being in historical terms, of course - they had been living in the north for centuries already, if not millennia.
Through the time that she spent with them, they became less nomadic, built dozens - no, hundreds - of settlements across the plains, forests and islands of their territories, figured out all sorts of ways to employ magic and the local resources to make their lives easier, and spread far and wide compared to their original territories, regardless of the harsh conditions of the north. How much bigger and stronger did Equestria become during that time? Strong enough to build some kind of incredibly fast metal carriages, apparently.
"...But all of that is a worry for tomorrow. You all just woke up from a thousand-year nightmare. Please, celebrate and be merry, for we all just overcame a terrible evil. Yes, every single one of us. The power of the Heart comes from you all, and I am still shocked by the incredible strength each and every crystal pony carries in their heart. Love truly conquers all," The alicorn finished.
That was the end of the speech, though it actually took Agate a good hour or so of sorting through it to fully understand it, and with the time, she naturally lost some bits, such as what the alicorn's name actually was. Trying to figure out what the problem was, she smacked herself in the head when she called a unicorn a "narwhal-horn" in her mind. She spent such a long time speaking snowponish, she almost forgot how to talk in modern ponish!
"Well, that shouldn't be too hard to fix," She muttered, changing into a bird and stealthily gliding down onto the roof of a smaller building to listen in on some conversations, and hopefully remember which words meant what.
Agate spent a large amount of time lying down on top of the Spire, and the rest of the day was spent listening to various ponies talk about things. She didn't particularly care what they talked about, only listening to the words and seeing if she understood them, so she didn't really get much information out of her eavesdropping. The general feeling seemed to be more or less one of joy of defeating Sombra, tinged with some concern for the future due to the whole "frozen for a thousand years" thing. Beyond that, she didn't really know.
When darkness fell again, Agate's sense of duty overcame her homesickness. Taking off northwards, she flew through the mountains, scanning the snowy mountainsides with her spirit sight. As always, it wasn't hard to notice the only living beings around, and she soon landed in their camp. There were no sentries, and they were all fast asleep already, so Agate did the same, curling up on the snow nearby.
❅ ❆ ❅
"Traveler spirit!"
Agate was woken up by an excited shout, rolling over on the snow and collecting her sleepy thoughts. Stretching out her limbs, she stood up, opening her eyes and looking around. Freezing Point was smiling widely at her, while the others were looking in her direction with cautiously optimistic expressions.
"Good morning, Freezing Point," Agate greeted the excitable shamare.
"You won, didn't you?!" She immediately shouted without preamble.
"Well, I mean..." Agate trailed off for a moment. "Kind of? It was a victory, though my contribution to it is questionable. Why are you so sure, though?"
"The strange aurora from the south, of course! That was a sign of good triumphing over evil if I ever saw one," She nodded confidently.
"Well, you're not wrong in that regard," Agate confirmed with a smile. "It looks like you all won't get to fight ancient unspeakable evils after all."
"Darn," Shatterhoof chuckled.
"I'm... Okay with that," Goat Hop said, Spring Hoof nodding along.
"Well, I can't say how much I could have done against a creature like that "Sombra" with my spear, so I suppose it's for the best," Trailblazer shrugged. "I would have given it my all, but there is a difference between being brave and blindly walking into a beast's jaws. The important thing is not how much personal glory we might have got, but that Agate's people are free now."
"They are free, right?" Ice Elation asked. "Are any more of Sombra's minions or traces of his magic still lingering in your home?"
"No, they're all gone. The Empire is free. And Trailblazer is right. I went all out and wanted to beat Sombra myself, but the most important thing is the still living ponies of the Empire, not my thirst for revenge," Agate nodded. "Either way, it is done. We can now go to the Empire without worrying about what we find there. In fact, I should probably go back there and listen more. We have different languages, and I almost forgot my mother tongue by now."
"Wait, don't go! You have to tell us about the battle! Even if you didn't do much, it must have been a fight for the ages!" Freezing Point protested.
"You have a bad habit of stopping me from going to the Empire, youngling," Agate huffed, doing her "old wise spirit" impression to the sheepish shamare. "Fine, I'll tell you. I suppose there's still a lot of time until you reach the valley anyway."
Agate got to retelling what happened to the eagerly listening adventurers. They were as fascinated as her with the strange metal carriage that Agate saw, though she wasn't able to offer any insights on it. It was as unfamiliar to her as it was to them. When she got to the part where she drew power from her totem, Agate slowed down, thinking about what happened.
"Maybe I should go south and reassure them that everything's alright. They're probably worried," She mused.
"I'm sure they're fine, there's no way they missed the aurora," Freezing Point insisted.
"I'm not so certain, they weren't aware of the Empire back when I arrived, even though-"
"Oh, come on, you stopped at the best part! What happened next?"
"Fine," Agate rolled her eyes. "I took off, burning with power and a singular purpose: smash Sombra in the face, no matter how little that might accomplish. I didn't lose control, but still, I was quite angry..."
Agate spent the day with the adventurers, taking off for the Empire again in the morning. It was strange to start thinking in two languages again, but the alternating talks and eavesdropping helped to reestablish the differences of most words in her mind. On the third day, she did go south again, landing in her thrashed clearing.
"Oof. I made a mess," She grimaced.
Crystal shards were everywhere, and it looked like no one came by to clean up. It wasn't unusual - crystals were still valuable, and whenever Agate asked someone to come dig some up, it meant she was pretty much offering almost free money to ponies, and no one dared to come and steal from the ancient spirit. The shattered mess littering the clearing was probably best swept away and buried somewhere, though.
"Let's see, then..."
There was nothing she could do about the broken shards, but her totem could have used a little patching up. The damage was superficial, but there were a bunch of surface cracks from which magic was slowly leaking out, diminishing the strength of the enchantments laid upon the wooden core.
Agate hummed a much gentler song this time, slowly sinking her hooves inside and slowly mending the cracks. After fixing a few spots near the bottom, she craned her head upwards, thinking for a moment before shrugging and fully sinking inside the totem. From there, she began fixing everything at once, feeling out the disturbances in the flow of magic. The process took much longer, but worked across the entire body of the crystal spire, the totem completely repairing itself.
Once she was done, she stepped out to take a look at her work, noticing a few muttering ponies standing at the edge of her clearing. They saw her as well, pointing with their forelegs and raising their voices. Trotting over, Agate nodded to them.
"Greetings, neighbors. How are things?"
"We are well, traveler spirit," A mare nodded. "But I think it's far more important to ask how you are doing. Your home looks a bit..."
"Wrecked," A stallion said, the mare glaring at him. He shrugged. "What? It's true. Besides, it's just a place. I'd be asking how she is doing, since, you know, she apparently went to fight that big evil... Whatever it was that was attacking her people."
"What's the worst he could do? Kill me?" Agate smiled.
"I am glad you are in such..." The mare trailed off.
"High spirits?" The spirit suggested, making the stallion snort in amusement.
"Looks like she's fine."
"That I am. Now tell me, is Inner Fire around?" Agate inquired.
"No, the chieftain left southwards with a large contingent of ponies two days ago," The stallion shook his head.
"Oh. Alright then. Guess he's on his way anyway, like he said," Agate shrugged. "Suppose I should just... Focus on finally meeting my family again. Good day to you all. Oh, and if you could, kindly spread the word - if anyone wants any of these crystal shards, for anything whatsoever, they are free to take them, as many as they want."
"Very well, traveler spirit. We can do that."
"Thank you."
Nodding gratefully to the locals, Agate turned back to her totem once more, though it wasn't to work this time. She spent the entire day repairing it, and she just wanted to get some sleep. The next morning, she woke up to a manically grinning Arctic Ink sitting by the totem, having swept away a bunch of shards and making herself a little path to her.
"You're a persistent little bloodsucker, aren't you?" Agate chuckled.
"The best lorekeepers are!" The filly nodded energetically.
"Alright, fine..."
❅ ❆ ❅
Once Agate came back to the group of travelers, Freezing Point suddenly asked her to teach her some words in modern ponish, having realized that she wouldn't actually be able to talk to anyone in the Empire. With Agate busy flying back and forth and re-learning her own language and teaching some of it to the adventurers, the days went by quickly. Before she knew it, they were standing on the final crest of the foothills, the slope only going downwards from that point on. Down into Dream Valley.
"Ancestors. That is massive. It must have required great strength to build," Shatterhoof marveled at the Spire.
"That shield looks amazing. I never saw anything like it," Freezing Point breathed.
"Such a huge and open valley. All of ours in the west are narrow and tight," Goat Hop and Spring Hoof mused.
Ice Elation and Trailblazer didn't say anything, simply observing the alien (to them) sight before them with fascinated expressions. Smiling gently, Agate let them drink it in for a short while longer before trotting ahead and calling out to them.
"Come on, you haven't seen anything yet. Just wait until you see everything up close. And as Goat Hop said, the valley is huge. I don't think we're even going to cross it until tomorrow."
"Where will we go first, Agate? Will they bring us to your chieftain?" Trailblazer finally spoke.
"I... Am not sure, actually, but I would like it if you tried to avoid that at first. I'm sure I'm going to get involved in the politics sooner or later, but first, I have a goal that's more important to me than any king or chieftain. My family," Agate nodded firmly.
❅ ❆ ❅
Obsidian Spear felt like sighing. Instead of giving in to the temptation, he took in a slow, long breath, letting it out just as slowly. There had been enough sighing for quite some time, he thought. Then again, he was fully aware that there was going to be no small amount of sighing in the future. It was only to be expected, given what happened.
He slowly swept his gaze across the sitting room, taking in the states of his family. His brother was sitting in a large armchair with a mug of cider. His wife was on the sofa, with a mostly empty glass of wine. His parents were on the sofa as well, his father tapping idly on a throw pillow while his mother was idly crocheting something small. Too small for anyone in their family that was still alive to use. Shaking his head, he got up from his armchair, going to refill his own mug of cider.
"You know, for a "late celebration of Sombra's destruction", the mood here seems rather... Dour," He said, deciding that enough was enough. If no one was going to address the elephant in the room, he was going to wrestle said pachyderm into the very middle of the damn room and have a headbutting match with it, if that's what it took for the rest of them to finally confront it.
Everyone in the room grimaced in one way or another. They knew. They all knew. And he knew that they knew. And they knew that he knew that they knew. Yet, they still held on to... Not hope. It was definitely not hope by this point, the rotten, disgusting thing that it was. Desperation. Denial. Futile anger.
"Well, you know, Obsidian... We had enough vigorous celebrating in the Faire. Nothing wrong with a calm, quiet remembrance," Radiant Cut said, still attempting to cover up the real reason for the gathering.
"Remembrance of who?" Obsidian said quietly, cutting through the lies that had built up over the days with a single stroke.
"W-what do you mean, who? It's for what, Sombra's destruction, not who," Garnet Necklace tried.
She was pained, he knew. Any mother that lost her daughter would be. But he didn't show any more mercy to her than he did to his own brother. "Agate," He said simply. "For Agate. This is not a party. This is not a celebration. This is a remembrance, as Radiant let it slip. This is Agate's wake," He finished firmly, looking them all in the eye and making them flinch.
"They haven't exactly found her body," His mother muttered, immediately grimacing at her own ridiculous statement.
"Yes, because a thousand years of time wouldn't have been kind to it. Just like it hasn't been kind to all the others that were trapped outside the Empire when it vanished. Not even dust remains of them now," Obsidian Spear pointed out anyway.
"Oh, Coal..." His mother sniffled, putting down her crocheting and hugging her husband.
"I know, Hook, I know," He sighed, patting her on the back. "The Empire is saved, but not without cost. The monster still managed to sink his fangs into the people and bleed us before he was destroyed."
"At- at least the others lived!" Garnet Necklace sobbed, furiously lobbing the now empty glass of wine against a wall, where it shattered into hundreds of pieces. "They reached Equestria! They might have died of old age, but they lived out their lives! Celestia herself preserved their letters to their kin! And Agate is just... Just..."
"Gone," Radiant Cut finished for her with a trembling voice, sighing and trotting to the kitchen to get a dustpan and broom.
"And their other halves wish they were dead," Obsidian added. "Some stallions sacrificed themselves, you know. They threw themselves at Sombra's puppets so that their wives and foals could escape. And escape they did - forever. Now, they are left bereft, knowing that it was actually their own actions that are the cause of their grief. That if they hadn't acted, they would have all been captured, but they would also be alive, right here, right now. They caught one of them, you know."
"What do you mean, caught?" Radiant Cut frowned in confusion as he swept up the glass.
"He went into the castle, with the supposed reason of gaining an audience with the new Empress. Instead, he tried to jump from the balcony into the plaza below," Obsidian Spear narrated dispassionately as their eyes went wide. "They stopped him just in time. Some say that he actually jumped, but the Empress dove after him and saved him with her magic. The Emperor posted extra guards at every window and balcony since then."
"That- that doesn't make it better!" Garnet Necklace protested. "I know that other ponies have been hurt too, but that doesn't make our pain smaller!"
"No, it does not. But it does put it in perspective. The Empress apparently pledged that she would do all she could to help heal the stallion's broken heart. He himself later said that he regretted it, and that he would be too ashamed to even follow the Pale Mare into the summer fields to face his wife, knowing how disappointed she would be in him, when she herself decided to live her life fully when she found out the Empire was gone. What are you going to do, Garnet? Will they have to drag you away from the balcony as well?"
"What- NO! I would never!"
"Do you want Sombra's poison to tear our family to pieces? Give in to despair, like he wanted us all to do? Do you want to disappoint Agate?" He pressed on.
"No! That monster will not dictate my life! I WILL NOT BE A SLAVE AGAIN!" She shrieked, getting up from the couch and getting in his face.
"Then I suggest you stop lying to yourself," He said calmly.
"But Sweet Vine... She said that her daughter told her that she saw Agate..." She muttered hoarsely, slowly walking backwards towards the couch.
"Yeah. Saw Agate's ghost, during Sombra's rampage, with dark fear magic flying everywhere. Even if that was real - tell me, Garnet, how do ponies become ghosts?"
"She... She's really gone, isn't she."
"She is. And we will never, ever forget her. But sitting here for the rest of your life and expecting Agate, or her ghost, to suddenly trot through the door isn't going to help you, either. That's just not going to happen," He finally gave in, sighing himself.
"So what do we do, oh stoic warrior brother of mine?" Radiant Cut asked with a wry, pained grin.
"You already said it. What we were already doing. We hold a wake for Agate. We remember the best things about her. And we... Put her to rest, if even symbolically. Perhaps we-" He was saying, when a sudden knock on the door interrupted them. "I'll get it. Did you invite anyone else?"
"Not really, not unless Garnet's parents showed up," Radiant Cut shrugged.
"I highly doubt it. They're busy jockeying for positions in the new government given how everything got flipped upside down," Garnet Necklace snorted in disgust.
"Feh. Damned nobles. Can't let a good tragedy go to waste," Coal Hoof rolled his eyes, his wife smiling faintly.
Trotting to the door, Obsidian Spear opened it, blinking at the strange sight in front of him. A fluffy mare with impressively thick winter clothing and some oddly long bangs was standing in front of the door, a group of five ponies behind her. His experienced Guard eyes were immediately drawn to the strange weapon that she carried.
Though the spear looked like it was made of ice, he could see by her posture that she was not someone he should underestimate. She similarly sized him up, the two martially-inclined ponies tensing up for a moment before she faintly inclined her head, taking a tiny step back and showing him that she was not a threat. He acknowledged it with a small nod, the entire interaction taking no more than a few moments. For a bystander with no experience, it might have gone completely unnoticed, the mare's shift in posture looking like she was just being shy.
"Hey, uncle Obsidian! Don't worry about Ice Elation, she's a friend. Are mother and father home?" Agate's ghost asked, suddenly appearing from beside the mare.
"What?! I... What trickery is this? I haven't seen Equestrians this fluffy before, but I know you're not from here anyway. Where are you hiding your horns, though?" Obsidian Spear growled at the ponies, the visitors only looking confused.
"We... No Ekestria," A different mare said slowly in a strange accent, her ponish quite lacking. "Me snowmare of north tribe."
"Uncle, cut it out. I'm not an illusion," Agate spoke firmly, booping him on the muzzle. He flinched back, her ethereal touch sending shivers across his entire body.
"But you died. No one even found your body," He said helplessly, looking at her translucent form.
"Yup. I did. But I didn't go to wherever ponies go when they die. And then, I met some friends. And they took me in. Helped preserve my spirit. Preserve me. And I... Waited," She explained with an awkward smile.
"Who's at the door, Obsidian? You've been there for a while," Radiant Cut called out, Agate's ears perking up and her eyes sparkling at the voice, her gaze becoming unfocused.
"Father..." The spirit whispered with incredible emotion, making Obsidian Spear question a lot of things that he thought he knew about the world.
"I... I am not fully sure yet, but I think I might be eating some of the words that I said recently," He managed to say.
"What in the world are you talking about, colt? How can you be not sure who's at the door?" Coal Hoof's exasperated voice rang out.
"Uh, well-"
"Are they guests or not?"
"I'd think they are, dad. They say that... They're friends of Agate's," He said, omitting the part where Agate herself called them her friends.
"Well then you better damned well invite them in, why would you even think of barring the door to- Oh. Huh," The old stallion stopped berating his son when he saw the ponies that cantered into the sitting room after Obsidian Spear waved them in, squinting at them. "They don't look like the little fillies that Agate was friends with."
"Because I'm not a little filly anymore, grandpa Coal," Agate said with a smile, coming in from behind the fluffy ponies.
"WHAT THE SOMBRA-CURSED DEVILRY!" Coal Hoof swore, everyone's eyes wide.
"SHUSH!" Agate yelled, impressively loud. "Before anything else happens - Ice Elation! My healsbeagm please!"
"Was that old ponish?" Obsidian Spear blinked while the mare nodded, retrieving a necklace from her saddlebags and gently holding it out in front of the stunned family.
It didn't mean anything to Obsidian Spear or his parents, but Radiant Cut and Garnet Necklace stared at it in confused recognition, glancing at each other. Slowly, they stood up and stalked towards it, as if they were approaching a dangerous animal that could lash out at them at any moment. The mare made no threatening motions, though, and once they were in range, she gently hoofed the necklace to Radiant Cut, who took it in his own foreleg, Garnet Necklace bending down to examine it closer.
"I recognize the chain. This is your work, dear," Radiant Cut said quietly.
"And the gemstone is one of yours. I remember working the gold around it. It looks a bit weathered, but still easily recognizable. This... This is..." Garnet Necklace couldn't quite complete the sentence.
"This is the necklace we gave to Agate before we left. But... How..." He trailed off, looking at the sadly smiling form of his daughter.
"There's no easy way to say this, dad," Agate began. "So I'll have to be blunt. I died. I ran off into the snow, and I lost my way. I managed to escape the guards and tried to make it to Equestria, but went in the wrong direction. When I tried coming back to the city, Sombra's fear magic blocked my way. And... With nowhere left to go, stuck in the freezing mountains... Nature took its course."
Silence overtook the house after that statement. One that lasted a long, long time. Being a disciplined bunch, the visitors remained quiet, allowing Agate to talk to her kin. And the family didn't quite know what to say. The information that was suddenly dropped on their heads contradicted a lot of what they thought they knew about the world. They wanted to deny it, but it was pretty hard to argue against the evidence that was standing in their room and telling them what happened. Their eyes kept darting between Agate and the necklace, as if one impossibility could cancel out the other.
"You... Look different. Older. Grown up," Radiant Cut finally managed to force out.
"Yeah. I didn't disappear with the Empire. So I waited," Agate nodded.
"For a thousand years?!" Garnet Necklace shouted with horror.
"Yes. It's been fun, though. I had plenty of friends," Agate smiled, gesturing towards the strange ponies.
"Did the Equestrians...?" Crochet Hook asked, squinting at them. "Did they grow fluffier over a thousand years?"
"The Equestrians said they didn't know about Agate, though," Coal Hoof pointed out.
"And they didn't," Agate confirmed. "These are not Equestrians. These are snowponies."
"What in the world are snowponies?" Obsidian Spear asked.
"Now that," Agate chuckled, "Is a long story. Over a thousand years long, you could say. Well, A little shorter, I suppose. They're much like Equestrians - descendants of ponies that fled from Dream Valley back in the day. Only, they fled in a different direction."
"You said they "preserved your spirit?" Obsidian Spear inquired again.
"They're necromancers?" Garnet Necklace flinched back.
"No? Though they do have to deal with a lot of spirits up north. The whole place is chock full of them," Agate shrugged.
"Are you really real? This is truly not some trick?" Radiant Cut huffed, squinting at Agate while glancing at the snowponies.
"I can tell you about the last days before we parted ways," Agate shrugged. "Only we were there, so no one else would know about it, right? I mean, if the necklace still isn't enough proof..."
"Tell me. Please," The stallion nodded, finally turning around and going back to his armchair, putting the necklace on the nearby coffee table. After a few moments, Garnet Necklace went back to the couch as well, looking sadly at Agate.
"Alright. So the day we got separated, we took shelter in your jewelry shop. While dad was digging around in the storage, I was eating something while hiding under a display case..."
❅ ❆ ❅
Agate's recollection wasn't exactly perfect. Which was entirely understandable, given that to her, it happened a thousand years ago - if she could be believed. The more she talked, though, the more the family believed her. Once she recounted the day, she just kept going, telling them how she escaped the mind-controlled soldiers and made it out of the valley. How she climbed the mountains, and how she realized that she went the completely wrong way. How she tried to come back, only for Sombra's magic to bar her way.
"I still wonder what the purpose of that fear magic was. That must have taken a lot of energy. Why bother scaring... Well, no one, really. I'm pretty sure I was the only pony around for leagues," Agate mused.
"Equestrians," Obsidian Spear supplied. "Some ponies overheard him talking to himself and bragging about how he was going to win against Equestria. Like many tyrants, the idiot couldn't get enough of the sound of his own voice."
"So what was his plan? Equestria's far away, from what little I know."
"Well, he - correctly - surmised that since we were allies, Equestria would come to our aid. However, he expected them to mobilize their army, and slowly march on the Empire. With the fear magic, once they finally reached the Empire's gates, their will would have been broken so badly and thoroughly that he would be able to either easily defeat them even with a small detachment, or just enslave them as well. What he did not expect was the princesses foregoing any guards, and just showing up in person to blast him mere days later. Entirely expectedly, a vile coward did not consider the possibility of his foes being brave and arriving without ballista fodder to shield behind."
"Ha. Serves the scumbag right. Guess they did do something good after all," Agate smiled.
"Hm? You don't like the Equestrian princesses?" He asked with a small, intrigued smile.
"Eh. I hardly know anything about them. I didn't exactly learn anything new about Equestria while I was in the north. But I was expecting them to banish Sombra a little harder, I guess. Him coming back at the same time as the Empire was an unpleasant surprise," Agate shrugged.
"For us all, yes," Coal Hoof grumbled.
"And they really could have shoved him somewhere further away. Maybe he'd have gotten lost," Agate added with a huff.
"What do you mean?" Radiant Cut tilted his head.
"Oh, I found the place where he was imprisoned. At least, I'm almost completely sure that that was the place. It wasn't even far. Just a mass of ice in the mountains to the east of here," Agate explained.
"You... It's so hard to reconcile the grown-up, confident, experienced mare that's standing in front of me with the little filly in my head," Garnet Necklace shook her head.
"Your little filly grew up... Spiritually," Agate smiled wanly. "A thousand years will do that to you. I'm now... Way older than you, mom. Than all of you put together," She chuckled, her mirth more genuine this time.
"Wow, way to make me feel young, filly," Coal Hoof snorted with a grin.
"Any time, grandpa. Now, I'm sure you're going to want to know about how I became a ghost and found the snowponies, but before we get into me telling you a thousand years of history, I insist that you find my friends a place to sit," She gestured towards the still-standing snowponies.
"Heavens, where are my manners?" Garnet Necklace sighed. "Let's get some more chairs from the kitchen. And take off your coats, dears, you must be burning in those. Cold cider?"
"Cealdnes?" A mare asked curiously.
"That is old ponish. Kind of," Obsidian Spear noted.
"Oh, right. Yeah, they don't talk modern ponish. I had to spend a week reminding myself how to talk," Agate noted. "Guess I'll translate."
"How did they even get into the city? How did you even get into the city? Were the northern gates abandoned, or did you scare off the guards with your ghost powers, or something?" He asked with a small grin.
"Heh! Not quite..."
❅ ❆ ❅
"And here we are," Agate said, pointing to the shimmering edge of the Empire's shield some dozen paces ahead of them.
"We'll be able to go through, right?" Shatterhoof asked with some concern.
"As long as you hold no ill will towards my people, then yes," Agate confirmed. "Of course, there might still be guards. There was almost nothing in the northern part of the valley, but I'm fairly certain they still used to post guards there. They could have left it unguarded after the whole thing with Sombra. Or maybe they doubled the guards. We'll just have to see."
"Such magic..." Freezing Point smiled, trotting closer and swirling her hoof in the shield.
"Come on, you can play with magical stuff later," Agate chuckled, urging the shamare on.
"Fiiiine..." She whined, following the others.
Once they were all through the shield, the still-living ponies all froze in shock at the sudden temperature change. It was like it was summer under the bubble - which it was. Giving them a few minutes to acclimatize, Agate nodded, scanning the gates in the distance.
"Yup, that's how we dealt with the cold while not having coats as fluffy as yours. Anyway, it looks like there are guards... And I'm the only one that can actually talk with them... And I didn't want to attract attention yet. Darn."
"Can we somehow harmlessly trick them?" Freezing Point asked.
"I don't want you befuddling them with magic even if it's harmless, Freezing Point. After Sombra, I imagine that any kind of magic like that would make them very jumpy. I... Alright, I think I have an idea. Ice Elation, you're usually quiet. Can I pretend to be your voice?"
"If... That helps us get past, sure," The mare shrugged.
"Good. You just stay quiet, while I do this," Agate nodded with a grin, changing into a small bird and hiding inside Ice Elation's hood. "Put your hood down and wrap your scarf around your mouth so they don't see that you're not actually talking, please."
Ice Elation wordlessly complied, nodding when she was done. The others chuckled at the clever trickery, trotting ahead and turning their expressions neutral as they approached the guards. For their part, the two guards seemed to have been taken completely by surprise by their arrival, one of them staring at them slack-jawed in a completely undisciplined manner.
"State- state your business?" The slack-jawed one finally said while demonstratively extending his spear sideways, though his tone wasn't very commanding.
"Greetings, sir. We are travelers from the far north, here to see the Empire," Agate spoke from inside Ice Elation's hood, the mare turning to the guard and pretending to talk.
"But... The far north is utterly desolate..." The guard trailed off.
"It's been a thousand years, colt," His partner, an older stallion reminded him. "We don't know how much the world has changed. Maybe some ponies settled even the northern reaches."
"By the Heart, that thousand years business is still so damned hard to wrap my head around," The first guard groaned, facehoofing.
"Discipline."
"Sorry, sir!" He immediately snapped back into shape.
"Now, uh... I'm not sure what to say myself," The older stallion mused. "If you have territory somewhere north of us, and our borders touch... Well, territorial disputes are well above my paygrade. I'm just here to... Keep order, though this spot doesn't exactly get much traffic. Are you a diplomatic party of some kind? Should we escort you to the Spire?"
"...Not in an official manner," Agate said after a moment's consideration. "This stallion here is the son of the current, ah... Lord of his people, but we're all here just to see the Empire. Its return took us by surprise, honestly, and we just wanted to see that we weren't dreaming."
"As did we all," The second guard smiled. "Your lord's son is a bit quiet, though. As are the rest of your friends. Any reason for that?"
"Ah, they don't actually speak ponish, sir. Here," Agate told him, switching to snowponish. "Everyone, introduce yourselves, except for Ice Elation. Yes, in your tongue."
"Shatterhoof, slayer of floewolves of the deepest north!" The proud stallion thumped his chest with a grin.
"Freezing Point, shamare of the northern tribe," The mare said plainly.
"Goat Hop and Spring Hoof of the western mountains," The couple said, standing closer to each other.
"Trailblazer, son of Inner Fire, the chieftain of the southern tribe," The southerner went last, standing up straighter.
"...Well, this is way above my paygrade. Was that old ponish? No, never mind. Well, you're armed, but... That's not against the law. And since you entered through the shield just fine, I'm guessing you have no intent to use those weapons while inside, yes?"
"Of course, sir. There's dangerous beasts in the wilderness, as I'm sure you know. Yetis and the like. The weapons are only for them," Agate confirmed.
"Very well, then. Welcome to the Crystal Empire," He nodded, ceremonially stepping aside, his partner doing the same.
"Thank you, sir!" Agate said with a smile, almost saying "It's good to be back", restraining herself at the last moment.