"So what do you think causes it?" Shining Armor asked Sunburst after they returned to their lodgings and had some food.
"A... Leyline that runs through here, perhaps?" He guessed after a minute of thinking.
"Those are supposed to be actual lines, though, right? The snowponies say that it's the same everywhere, all across their territories," Cadance pointed out.
"So there's some kind of... Unimaginably powerful fount of magic in the far north, which slowly flows southwards across all their territories?" Sunburst theorized.
"...Wow. That sounds like something we probably shouldn't talk about too loudly. Sounds like some grade-A supervillain bait," Shining Armor mused, rubbing his forehead.
"The snowponies say that it gets too cold and dangerous even for them, but... Yeah. Maybe it'd be best not to spread that information too wide," Cadance agreed.
"I suppose. It's only a theory, anyway," Sunburst agreed. "What's next on the list of things to do?"
"We'll probably talk trade and stuff with the chieftains a bit more, so you can go explore for a while, if you want. But we'll still meet tomorrow with Clay Charm to talk magic again, so please be there," Cadance dismissed him.
"Thank you, Princess. I'll go write all this stuff down... And maybe try a spell or two," Sunburst nodded gratefully.
❅ ❆ ❅
Fortunately for Cadance and Shining Armor, Agate kept telling them useful tips about snowpony traditions, including things about payment and gifts. While almost every pony would flat out refuse payment for providing shelter for travelers as it'd be a stain on their honor, they'd be entirely happy to take "completely unrelated" gifts from the visitors, especially if they'd be wrapped up in well-wishes and a touch of misdirection, such as gifting something to a young foal to wish them a wealthy life. It wasn't required, of course, as some travelers were poor, but those that could afford it often did it.
Cadance and Shining Armor found it a bit silly, but fun, and, lacking anything fancy, started gifting the gold coins they brought with them to show to the snowponies, the locals quite enthused by the highly intricate and unusual gold nuggets. Passing the information (and some coins) to the guards that were staying with different ponies, they had a meeting the next day to find out whether any issues cropped up.
"So. None of the chieftains said anything to me, nor did we have any snowponies coming to complain, so I'm assuming that everything is going well?" Shining Armor asked the collected guards and scholars.
"Yes, sir," The guards confirmed one by one, the scholars nodding along.
"All right, good. Now, a different question - did anything interesting happen?"
One of the pegasi slowly raised a foreleg. "I... Had a sparring match with one of the snowponies?"
"Did you win?" Shining Armor grinned.
"I gave him as good as I got, but I'm afraid he took me down. Still, that was because it was a pure wrestling match, and I wasn't allowed to use my wings. These folks have some mass to them," The pegasus chuckled.
"Yeah, they're bulky alright. They probably need it for the cold. Are you aiming for a rematch?"
"Well, he did challenge me to a fight with training spears after that, and I did beat him, sir," The pegasus puffed up proudly.
"I hope there haven't been any sore losers or miscommunications on either side?"
"Oh no, sir. It's really not hard to understand a challenge - when a stallion approaches you and starts flexing and thumping his chest and pointing towards himself and you and an open field, there's really not much ways to misinterpret that - but I wanted to be absolutely sure of the rules, so I tracked down the, ah, spirit to translate for me before I agreed to anything," The stallion shook his head.
"Very good. Better safe than sorry," Shining Armor nodded. "Now, if I know ponies, that sparring match had spectators, and those spectators talked about it, and other ponies got ideas. If someone else challenges one of you - continue acting with dignity and respect befitting of the Guard, but do not feel obliged to agree. You're not here for their entertainment, so don't do anything you're not comfortable with. Other than that - continue as you were. We're not sure when we're going to return to the Empire yet, but right now, the estimate is two or three days. Any questions?"
"No, sir/No, sire!" The crystal and pegasus guards chorused.
"Alright, good. Now, we're going to speak with the snowpony mystics again, and they asked to see some magic from every tribe, so I'd like for you two and a couple pegasi to tag along," Shining Armor explained, nodding to the crystal guards.
More than a couple pegasi volunteered, a flock of over a dozen coming along, as well as the scholars, all gathering in the ritual grounds in the middle of the village, where any magic demonstrations should be safe to perform. Clay Charm wasn't alone this time either, calling up on more or less every mystic present in Snowpitt. Shining Armor recognized Freezing Point as well, the northerner apparently still hanging around for now, instead of returning north. Clearing her throat, the elder looked the group up and down with a stern gaze.
"Now, narwhal-horn, you had concerns about our magic. I'd say it's only fair to see the kind of magics that your people have. After all, we never, ever heard of anything like that "dark magic" that Sombra beast was capable of, and he was a, how do you call it... A unicorn like you, was he not?"
"Oh, uh..." Shining Armor grimaced, suddenly put on the spot.
"Hmph. So much concern for us being these "necromancers", when you have nothing to say when your own kind chains the minds of an entire tribe with magics even fouler?" She scoffed at his reaction.
"That's... I honestly don't know much about him. He was some kind of ancient villain from a thousand years before my time," He shrugged awkwardly.
"And his magic?"
"Dark magic is... A bit of a mystery for us," Cadance answered. "But that's mostly because whoever ends up using it gets into trouble very swiftly. It's definitely not something regular ponies know or learn how to do."
"Swiftly? And yet he's from a thousand years ago?" Clay Charm pointed out.
"He was banished at the same time the Empire disappeared."
"Well, they clearly didn't banish him hard enough if he came back. Should have stabbed him when they had the chance," A younger shamare rolled her eyes, the others nodding in agreement.
"Stabbed... That's a bit brutish, isn't it?" Cadance asked, her ears folding a little.
"What? Didn't he get exploded or burnt to ash anyway?" Clay Charm asked with confusion.
"Well, yes, but..."
"But what? Sounds like it would have saved a lot of trouble down the road," The elder shrugged. "What was the point of his banishment? In fact, he wasn't even banished at all, was he?"
"What do you mean?"
"We had some trouble right around the time the Crystal Empire returned. Our southeastern forests were dying, due to something devouring all life and magic from the area. Something that was apparently trapped in a glacier in the mountains, from what Agate told me. And I had a quick talk with her recently, though it was short not to interrupt her time with her family. And from what the ancient one told me, it's not that hard to guess that it must have been Sombra's cage. She all but confirmed it when she said that Sombra's magic had the same stink as the one in the glacier. So, he was not banished. He was caged, locked up for a thousand years," The elder surmised, the other shamares grimacing in disgust.
"I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble understanding your position here," Cadance shook her head. "You're disgusted by what Sombra did, but him getting punished by getting locked up is also bad? And just straight-up killing him is the morally better choice?"
"Well of course it is!" Clay Charm threw her hooves up in exasperation. "He ended up dead anyway! What was the point of his "banishment"? To laugh at him while he's in his cage? To revel in his suffering? How is delaying the inevitable and torturing him for fun not the more evil choice rather than sending him to be judged by his ancestors, as well as saving the crystal tribe from his attacks a second time?"
"Uh, well... Ponies can be reformed sometimes, you know. I'm sure Celestia would have been very sad if she had killed her sister, and now they're back together..." Cadance said slowly, biting her lip.
"Who, what?" Clay Charm blinked in confusion.
"Oh, right, you don't know anything about that," Cadance laughed weakly. "Um, it's a bit of a long story, but..."
Clay Charm and the other shamares sat and listened, wide-eyed, as Cadance and Shining Armor gave them a brief (relatively, of course, given her age) history of princesses Celestia and Luna. They were clearly skeptical about such impossible-sounding ponies, though they didn't voice it, and Cadance assured them that they would almost definitely get to see them with their own eyes soon enough.
Given how public the knowledge was, they didn't try to lie or embellish anything, and they told them of the other recent events as well, such as Discord's return and subsequent re-imprisonment in stone. The shamares didn't terribly approve of that either, though they remained quiet, listening and scanning their faces for any signs that they were being lied to.
"Your tribe sounds very strange. Crystal ponies were curious, but you Equestrians... Chaos spirits? Truly a strange land you must live in," Clay Charm eventually said, the royal couple trying not to snigger at the snowponies calling them strange.
"Yes, well, the strangeness has only been happening for the past few years. It's been largely peaceful for centuries before that," Shining Armor shrugged.
"Your chieftainness - Celestia, yes? - has been imprisoning beings for those centuries, though," Another shamare said.
"But it works! Luna has been redeemed-" Cadance began to say.
"Was it planned?" Clay Charm interrupted.
"Huh?"
"From what you said, she escaped, and she immediately returned to her evil plotting, just like Sombra did. The banishment did not remotely make her change her mind, did it?"
"Well, um... No... Twilight and her friends had to break her out of it using the Elements..."
"Nor did it work for that... "Discord" being. He's stone now - and he'll probably break free yet again in the future, and cause chaos once more?"
"I... Don't really know, it's possible...?"
"Stab him," Freezing Point shook her head.
"Why are you ponies so stabby all of a sudden?!" Cadance asked loudly, her eye twitching as she lost her patience. "You've been so nice and lovely so far!"
"And we can afford to only because we know that the evildoers are to be removed and given for the windigoes to deal with, before they bring a freezing death to us all," Clay Charm nodded sagely, making Cadance quiet down with a shocked expression.
"Are the windigoes really that... Common? They're barely a scary tale by now in Equestria," Shining Armor asked.
"Go to the northerner's deepest territories, and you'll see herds of them," Clay Charm nodded casually.
"I'll... Take your word for it."
"This still feels wrong," Cadance shook her head.
"What, not caging beings? Not giving them mercy and just sending them off to the spirit world? That sounds wrong to us as well. From what I understood from your story, it's not like Sombra, or Luna, or Discord were ever planned to be released, were they? No, they broke out with their own power. How is that not the ultimate evil? Instead of striking down your foe, you keep them alive and torture them with imprisonment literally for all eternity? Turning ponies away from their dark paths is a noble and just goal, yes, and we do try to teach everyone we can the errors of their ways before we resort to extreme measures. But some ponies cannot be redeemed, just like some beasts and spirits cannot be scared off or reasoned with. And when such a situation arises, you should not toy with them. Just be honorable and grant them the peace of death," Clay Charm shook her head.
While Cadance was struggling to say something, Shining Armor shook his head. "I can see your logic, but even if Celestia could bring herself to kill her own sister, Nightmare Moon and Discord could only be defeated with the Elements of Harmony, and I'm not sure if they even can kill people. Those artifacts kind of... Almost have a mind of their own. Twilight tells me that they just... Use them, and things happen without their input."
"I see. That is understandable. Beings or spirits that powerful can hardly be controlled, only entreated," The shamares all nodded. "But that was not the case with Sombra, was it? They defeated him with their own magic?"
"...Yes."
"Should have stabbed him."
"ARGH!" Cadance shouted.
❅ ❆ ❅
After that long and hard conversation, both groups took a break to eat some food, though it was also a badly needed time for them to cool down after the charged arguments. The guards and the scholars ended up just sitting quietly and listening through the whole thing, Fluent Tongue giving it his all to translate everything correctly. Dispersing temporarily, they agreed to meet up after an hour for the actual magic demonstrations.
"Ugh," Cadance grunted, angrily biting into her fish.
"Are you disappointed that our hosts turned out not to be as pure-hearted and innocent as they appeared to be?" Shining Armor asked, munching on his food as well.
"No, I hate that her logic makes sense. I didn't get schooled like that since... Actual school. And at the same time, it's just so... Brutish," She shuddered.
"Well... You're right, in that she's not wrong. Sombra did get blown up, after we returned the Heart to its rightful place. We participated in the celebration which was about him getting blown up. The entire Empire celebrated," Shining Armor said slowly.
"I thought we were celebrating their freedom," Cadance sighed.
"Which was achieved by blowing Sombra up, yes," Shining Armor nodded.
"You're really taking her side in this, huh," Cadance looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.
"I'm not, but... I'm aware that my military mindset can lead to some entrenched thinking. And since I'm conscious of it, I'm trying to be more flexible, especially recently. Surely you noticed - the pegasi were mostly on our side during the discussion, but the crystal guards were actually quite approving of stabbing Sombra?"
"Well, they did get hurt by him personally," Cadance shrugged. "It's not the best reaction, but it's understandable."
"I don't think it's just that. I think ponies in the Empire in general lean more towards the snowpony point of view. They too had to live with limited resources under their shield, and I doubt that they had much patience for ponies that actively brought harm to their society, especially given that criminals didn't exactly have many places to hide around there. And... As rulers, what exactly are we supposed to do? Stomp down any dissent and pave everything over with our Equestrian ideals - like some crystal ponies are afraid we're going to? Or adapt to the culture of the place we swore to take care of?" Shining Armor asked, his voice deadly serious.
"Ughhhhh... I dearly hope no more villains come around so I don't have to choose," Cadance groaned, rubbing her forehead.
"No one's talking about executing criminals in the street, dear. But... These are their own peoples with their own history, who lived, survived and came up with their behavioral doctrines by adapting to the unique circumstances they found themselves in. I think we might need to open our minds up a little, and I'm saying this as a rigid, rules-based soldier," Shining Armor sighed.
"...We haven't really been treating them as equals, have we? Just thought of them as poor, adorably fluffy earth ponies that were stuck in the freezing wasteland. Questioning their culture and interrogating them about necromancy and all that, and then we got shocked when they turned around and demanded the same of us. And we didn't even do all that well in their eyes," Cadance mused.
"Well, they're certainly not freezing, they showed us that much the very first time we met them," Shining Armor snorted. "But yes, the snowponies are most certainly not simply Equestrians under a different name, and, just like the crystal ponies, they very much are their own, independent people. Their philosophies are radically different. Do any of your princess lessons cover how to deal with that? Diplomacy?"
"Hm... Yes... Dictating to sovereign nations on how to live their lives is kind of a big mistake in diplomacy, yes," Cadance nodded slowly. "They may still live in tribes, but from what we saw while looking at their maps... Each tribe is a small nation unto itself."
"Yup. While "tribes" might evoke thoughts of primitive governance, they're clearly quite well organized, and constantly keep in contact with each other, despite the great distances. And each tribe is individually more numerous than the Empire several times over, at least," Shining Armor confirmed.
"Should we... Apologize, or something?"
"I don't think so? We haven't said anything to them they haven't said to us... It was a vigorous discussion, not an insult match, I'd say," Shining Armor slowly shrugged.
"We'll see how they act first, then. Let's get the others and talk to them again," Cadance nodded.
❅ ❆ ❅
For their part, while their opinion of Equestria might have gone down, the shamares were just as mature and wise enough not to try and force their ways of living on different tribes that live in different places. They greeted the returning group with neutral and curious expressions, examining their horns and wings with great intensity.
"We'd ask you to do something, but we don't know what you're even capable of. Perhaps you could demonstrate yourselves?" Clay Charm began.
"Well, my talent lies in shields. Observe," Shining Armor nodded, charging up his horn and surrounding himself in a bubble.
"Oooooooooooooh," The shamares chorused, leaning closer.
"Is this something all narwh- unicorns can do?" The elder asked, studying the shield with faintly glowing eyes.
"Oh, no. The only thing that I'd say literally every unicorn can do is telekinesis," Cadance explained, levitating a small rock in her aura. "Other spells need to be taught, and most of them only bother learning a few."
"And some learn a lot, but don't actually have the strength to cast them," Sunburst shrugged, making a few fireflies dance in the air.
"Oooh," The shamares oooh'ed again.
"You can lift things without even stretching out a foreleg? Ancestors, that'd be so useful when I'm feeling lazy," One shamare remarked.
"Stereotypically, unicorns are weaker physically than the other tribes. Whether it's due to the ease that magic grants them or other reasons is a matter of debate," Cadance chuckled.
"And what can the winged ones do? And the crystal ponies?"
One by one, the guards showed off their various skills, the pegasi teaming up to show some weather magic to the shamares, while one of the crystal guards turned out to be a hobbyist crystal craftspony. After asking for some crystals, he demonstrated the way the crystal ponies made buildings and streets from the stuff, channeling magic through his hooves and kneading it like clay, fusing multiple crystal shards into the shape of a pony.
"It's very crude, of course. Some ponies can make incredibly delicate looking items, like folding a flower out of a chunk of crystal, with petals almost as thin as the real things," He explained, holding up the small figurine. "This is just something I picked up to pass the time while in the barracks. I don't do this for a living."
"Oh no, it's very pretty," A shamare protested, taking the figurine and appreciating it for a minute before passing it on to the others to look at.
"The clouds here are very... Ornery," Thunder Strike huffed, the lieutenant and a bunch of others wrestling a cloud down to the ground level.
"Ooooh, you actually stole a cloud from the air spirits?" Several shamares giggled.
"...That an actual thing around here? Are they going to be mad? Ah, to Tartarus with it. Pegasi are not afraid of the skies or the winds," Thunder Strike replied, his crew puffing up in pride, making the shamares giggle again at the bird-like behavior.
"I always wanted to touch- awwww," A shamare drooped and folded her ears in dissappointment as her hoof passed through the cloud.
"Sorry, pegasi only. Then again, I saw you folks trot on snow like we do on clouds. I half-expected you to be able to stand on clouds too," Thunder Strike mused.
"There's a... Spell for cloudwalking..." Cadance suggested uncertainly.
"What?" The shamares perked up.
"Unicorns can... Cast spells on others. With all kinds of effects. Not just dark magic, you know. Would you like to... Touch a cloud?"
That set off a wave of whispers, the shamares huddling together, the one that wanted to touch a cloud stepping forward a few moments later. "Will it hurt? What is the price of such magic?"
"No price and no pain. Just some effort on my part," Cadance shook her head. "I'll be honest, though, I haven't really practiced that spell since I learned it, so it might not work, but that's the worst that could happen. No other effects."
"I remember it quite well. I can probably write out the spellform if you fumble it so you can refresh your memory, Your Highness," Sunburst offered.
"Very well. Do it," The shamare nodded eagerly.
One spell later, she was nervously standing on a cloud, gently kneading it with her forelegs while the pegasi kept it stable and low to the ground. The other shamares, meanwhile, stared at her hooves with their spirit sight, nodding and muttering amongst themselves.
"Interesting weave. Wrapped so tightly around her hooves... I wonder if I could do magic like that," One of them mused.
"We might, but how would we get up to the clouds without help?" Another pointed out.
"That is a good question. But they told us that they don't even have spirits in their lands. What is even the purpose of this magic, if not to get up higher and talk to the air spirits better?" Clay Charm inquired.
"Mostly, it's to allow ponies to visit pegasus cloud cities," Cadance shrugged.
"Cloud cities?"
"...Yeah, they actually build cities in the clouds. Pretty good defensive position, to say the least," Cadance nodded. "Lieutenant, could you and your stallions shape this cloud into something?"
"Well, we're not exactly builders or architects, but we are good at beating things into shape," The stallion nodded, the others beginning to pound on the cloud as the shamare jumped off.
The most they managed to do was beat it into a rough-looking square box with no lid, though that was plenty enough to impress the shamares and a few passers-by that were attracted by the strange sight. They continued the magic demonstrations for a few more hours, with Cadance and Shining Armor getting the most attention, given that they were the biggest magical powerhouses in the group, though it also could have been because shield spells were very much something the snowponies would have liked to be able to do themselves.
"Hmmmm," One mare hummed, thoughtfully licking Shining Armor's shield as the stallion looked slightly uncomfortable. "Foreign magic. Very strange. But very intriguing. Not quite like a ward. Opposite, in some ways."
"Opposite? How do your wards work, then?" Shining Armor asked, curious to see what kind of defensive magic they used.
"Befuddlement. Stealth. By making a beast's or spirit's gaze just slide right past a warded place," Clay Charm explained, etching some magical symbols into the ground, Sunburst eagerly writing them down. "Yours is flashy. Would attract lots of attention, especially in the dark of the long night. But when you're cornered, a show of strength is exactly what you need. Dulling their fangs against such a shield would make many creatures reconsider."
"I wonder if we could make a charm for it," Freezing Point mused.
"I'm not sure if experimenting with another tribe's magic like that is a good... No, you know what? You clearly know a lot about magic. Go for it. Perhaps team up with some crystal ponies," Cadance suggested.
"Ooh, we could make it like their Crystal Heart!" Freezing Point clopped her front hooves together in excitement. "Except much, much smaller, of course. And no need to create warmth, either, so should be even simpler. Hmm..."
"You actually saw it when you went up there with the traveler spirit, didn't you? Their tribe's greatest artifact?" Clay Charm asked.
"I did, yes, and it was indescribably powerful, but at the same time, so very, very strange and foreign. The crystal chieftain is right, we'd need help..." She trailed off thoughtfully.
"Hey, don't look at us," The crystal guards raised their hooves defensively once her gaze fell on them. "We're no mystics or scholars."
"It's quite a trip from my usual haunts, but I might have to visit the Empire again. Multiple times," Freezing Point frowned, longingly looking north. "Suppose it'd be a different kind of adventure."
"You're welcome to come back at any time. I'm certain our citizens would be all too happy to work on inventing interesting and new products that would benefit everyone," Cadance nodded with a smile.
The magic demonstrations more or less ended after that, the talks slowly turning more theoretical as the different tribes tried to describe the ways they enchanted items and channeled their magics, affecting the world through their various limbs, from unicorn horns to snowpony hooves.
They parted ways soon after as it was getting late, with one final demonstration - this time, from the shamares. The mystics called on their spirits to return the "stolen" cloud to the sky, the foreigners watching with wide eyes as a wind suddenly rose up, seemingly from nothing more than some brief chanting and whistling by a single shamare, whisking the box-shaped cloud away.
❅ ❆ ❅
"That magic was most definitely real, but did either one of you actually see any spirits?" Cadance asked, drawing her coat closer as the colder evening wind blew about.
"Not me, though I think I felt something in my horn as the gust of wind blew past us. It's hard to say with everything being so charged with magic here, but that's probably the point. The magic-rich environment must be what gives rise to these spirits. After all, from what we learned so far, they seem to be entirely magical," Sunburst theorized.
"Magic given thought. It makes sense, given that many researchers think magic is a crucial component, or maybe even the cause of sapience. So if you just pour lots of magic into one place..." Shining Armor mused.
"But the body is what drives everything," Sunburst protested. "Feeding, drinking, er... Breeding, and so on. If you pour all the magic in the world into a rock, it'd still be a rock. It wouldn't gain sapience, because it doesn't need to. There's no use or advantage, unlike in flesh and blood creatures which are competing against others, and sapience gives us a massive advantage over nature."
"Maybe it'd be a rock... Until someone talked to it, and gave it something to think about. Like a shamare," Cadance noted, turning the stallion's expressions thoughtful.
"That well might be the way it works. I don't think we're going to truly understand it any time soon, though. Something tells me that this is going to be a topic for research and discussion for centuries to come in Equestria, especially in regards to pony spirits, " Sunburst shrugged.
"If the researchers will be determined enough to brave the cold," Shining Armor nodded. "Well, they might be fine if they buy some clothes from the locals. You seem to like your snowpony coat a lot, dear."
"Honey, you have no idea how warm this thing is. I'm pretty sure it's even a little magical," Cadance smiled, becoming thoughtful after a moment. "But I wonder where do they get their wool from? No one mentioned sheep so far, and I haven't seen any..."
"Maybe one of the other tribes grows them?" Sunburst guessed.
"That's not exactly hard to find out. Let's ask someone when we get back to our lodgings," Shining Armor said.
The chieftain's family were entirely happy to help them out with the question, his wife nodding with a smile. "Oh, the fur cloaks? Yes, pony fur is quite warm, isn't it? You said you got it from a northerner? Makes sense, they do have the thickest and hardiest coats."
As the mare trotted away, Cadance ever-so-slowly turned towards their interpreter. "Fluent Tongue... Did you translate that correctly?"
"I... I am quite certain that I did, yes. The words are not exactly... The most complex or ones that have double meanings," The stallion nodded.
"So... I'm wearing a winter cloak made out of a pony's fur," Cadance said, scrunching up her muzzle. "I mean, it makes perfect sense now that I think about it - they have so much fur, and wasting resources must be mad, and if they don't have sheep - but still. I don't know how to feel right now."
"Disgusted?" Shining Armor suggested.
"More like "the most comfortable I ever felt"," Cadance scoffed. "It is so. Soft. And warm."
"Well... Good for you. Enjoy your fashion statement. I think I'll stick with normal clothes," Shining Armor nodded.
"Don't knock it 'til you tried it."
"I'll pass."
"...Put this on! It feels amazing!" Cadance shouted with a smile, taking the cloak off and levitating it towards her husband as Sunburst frowned, pulling his own robes closer to himself before quietly leaving the room, Fluent Tongue glancing at him thoughtfully before following him.
"No way, that's weird! It's almost like hugging an unfamiliar pony!" He protested, backing off.
"That... Sounds very sweet, actually. Try it! I'm not letting you say how weird it is unless you actually put it on!" Cadance advanced with a grin.
"Back off, you crazy mare!"