Chapter 13: Epilogue:
A small stone fort sat in the middle of the icy north, battered by icy winds and snow. Several guards stood out in the elements, swathed in capes and scarves and boots along with their usual armor. These were not royal soldiers in Canterlot who wore golden armor that wasn't good for anything except to glint in the sunlight, these were hardened veterans who lived and died in their battle-ready iron suits. No one knew or remembered why they were stationed here, so far away from the rest of Equestria, but Princess Celestia insisted on keeping a military presence in this frozen wasteland. And who were they to question it?
Inside the fort, young soldiers sat huddled around fire places and under blankets, trying to keep warm before being sent back into the cold for their watches. Some played games of cards with friends to keep from succumbing to complete, mind numbing boredom. One such group was sitting near the fire, four young stallions sat in a circle, their cards held close as they watched the others suspiciously. A golden maned earth pony stallion with a warm brown coat grinned as he laid out his hand- three aces and a pair of queens. A full house. His three companions groaned and tossed their cards into the center pile.
“That's three wins in a row you've pulled, Harvest Moon! You sure your cutie mark's one for farming and not for playing cards?” A pegasus mare with a cerulean blue coat and lavender mane asked sitting back after throwing her cards away.
“Pretty sure, Opal Streak,” he smiled charmingly, “Last time I checked, anyway. Anypony up for another game?”
Several ponies shook their heads and stood up, among them a blue haired unicorn stallion with a white coat, “Not me,” he groaned, “I already have to cover two of your evening patrols and one shift on cooking duty. I can't afford to take on any more, or I won't sleep for a season!”
“Ah, Shining, but you've been doing better! Hey, you almost beat me in that last hand!” The brown pony laughed as his friend shook his head again, bundled up and stepped out into the cold, winter wind.
Shining Armor was a second year cadet on his first deployment to the north. All young soldiers took at least one stint on northern patrol as a rule. Shining didn't much care for the frozen north lands, but he kept his mouth shut and bundled extra tight against the cold. He walked along the upper parapet of the fort, ducking into the small gaps in the stone, hoping for a little cover from the wind as he patrolled.
He passed one of his superior officers who gave him a look of concern, “Weren't you up here just before noon?” he asked, his honey yellow coat poking through his gray and black wraps.
“Y-yes, sir,” Shining admitted, his teeth chattering slightly in the cold. “But I'm back out again now. Ah-I'll be alright,” he answered the unspoken question and smiled, “maybe this will teach me not to try and gamble away my patrol shifts.”
The officer just laughed, “or it'll teach you to get better at playing cards. As you were, private.”
The white unicorn saluted before continuing down the wall. There wasn't much to see out during a storm like this. Wind, snow, and clouds whipped around and obscured the sky making mid afternoon look like midnight. Some days it was actually quite beautiful, if you could see past the bleak white and gray landscape. Shining was just about to turn the corner onto the eastern wall when he saw a flash of light. Turning, he thought it might have been lightning, but when no crash of thunder followed, he grew concerned. Maybe he'd imagined the flash of light... but how could one imagine a pink light in the middle of a gray and white snowstorm? He deliberated for a moment before hurrying back to the main lodge where his commanding officer would be. If anything seems weird, you talked to your superior. That's what they were there for, to answer questions and to make the decisions a cadet was too green to make.
Shining Armor shook off a layer of snow as he pulled his scarf down around his neck, “I need to speak with Commander Steel Feather. I think I saw something come from the direction of the crater.”
The pink unicorn who sat behind the secretary desk just waved the young stallion by, “He's in his office. Make sure to knock before you enter.”
The white unicorn nodded and moved down the hall to the commander's office. He knocked carefully and waited to go in until he heard a quiet, “Come in.”
Seated behind the desk was a pale gray pegasus wearing a blue and gray uniform. She was shuffling papers on her desk, but set them aside when Shining entered, “What can I for for you Private Armor?”
“Well... I was up on patrol just now and I saw what appeared to be a flash of light coming from the direction of the crater.” Shining stood at attention as he spoke.
“We are in the middle of a storm, Private, are you sure it wasn't lightning.”
“No, Ma'am. Respectfully speaking, it wasn't lightning. There was no thunder afterwords and the flash of light was pink... at least as far as I could see.”
The gray pegasus watched Shining for a moment, her eyes narrow. “Then I advise you to take a small unit of ponies and check it out. You have a half hour.”
“Yes Ma'am.” Shining saluted and left the office, careful to shut the door behind him as he left.
Out in the storm, Shining listened irritatedly as Harvest Moon muttered angrily to himself, “why'd'ya have to drag me into this? I was warm and cozy until you came running in and told me and Opal and Juniper to get our gear on and follow you. What are we looking for anyway and why couldn't it wait 'til morning?”
“For the last time, Harvest, Commander Steel Feather said I should take a group out and check out this flash of light I saw.”
“And you're sure you saw something, Shining?” This time it was Opal who spoke up, “You're sure it wasn't just a trick of the light?”
The white unicorn sighed, “No, I'm not sure it wasn't a trick of the light, but what if it is something?”
“It better be something,” Harvest muttered, “or I'm never forgiving you for dragging me out of my warm barracks. Not ever.”
“I think I could live with that,” Shining Armor muttered into his scarf as he trudged along to the edge of the crater. “Look, we're here. Let's look around...” he trailed off. They had just walked through nearly a mile of snowstorm, but as soon as they stepped into the crater the wind stopped howling and the snow began falling gently around them. Looking back, he checked to make sure he hadn't imagined the storm, but sure enough the winds were howling just as fiercely as they had been. That made him shudder, magic was a weird thing and this crater seemed to be crawling with it. No wonder no pony wanted to get too close. “Let's just look around real fast and head back. This place gives me the creeps.”
“No joke,” Juniper, a mint green pegasus mare agreed, her faded orange mane standing straight up. “Let's split up so we can cover more ground.”
Shining nodded agreement and the four ponies split up, Harvest following the left side, Juniper the right, Opal headed across the open ground and Shining reluctantly followed. Silently he wished that he had never seen that weird flash of light, but he was also glad his friends were there with him, even if they were just as unnerved by the strange crater.
As he headed toward the center of the crater, he couldn't help but notice that it was perfectly spherical, as if someone had taken a giant ice cream scoop and carved out the earth. A shiver passed down his spine that wasn't from the cold- something was at the bottom of the crater. He was about to shout for his friends, who were now very far apart from him, he almost couldn't see them against the blanket of snow, but something stopped him. Instead he walked forward until he had a closer look at what was in the crater.
At first all it looked to be was a pink bubble, but as he moved closer the form became more apparent- it was a young unicorn mare curled up in the snow. She wore no protective clothing which shocked the unicorn even though normally seeing a pony without clothing was completely normal. The other strange thing, though he didn't immediately notice, was that the snow around the strange mare was pressed down smooth, melted into the shape of a heart with two swirling lines off each side.
Shining stopped just outside the heart and asked, “Are... are you alright?”
The mare looked up and blinked, wings rustling against her back, “where... where am I? Who are you?”
The white unicorn's eyes went wide, “You... you're an alicorn!”
The mare smiled slightly, “well, of course. I'm Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of... of...” she looked confused a moment, “well... I can't really remember where I'm from...”
Shining Armor took a deep breath. “I think I should take you back to Canterlot, Princess. Perhaps Princess Celestia will have answers... to both our questions.”
THE END