//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Permafrost 
// Story: The Northern Winds 
// by LCpl Azure Blaze 
//------------------------------//

	The next morning, Twilight woke up to hear somepony knocking on the door. Slowly Twilight sat up in her bed and answered the knock saying, "What is it?"
"Sorry to disturb you, your highness," replied the pony at the door, "Princess Celestia sent for me to wake you so that you may join her and the rest of your group in the dining hall for breakfast before you head to the Crystal Empire."
"Thank you for informing me," replied Twilight, "You may leave now."
"Yes your highness," said the voice.
Twilight looked over at the side of her bed to find Spike oversleeping again but she didn't bother to wake him up this time. Instead she got up, went over to her desk, grabbed a piece of paper and a quill with her unicorn magic and began writing him a note saying,
	"Dear Spike,
I figured I would let you sleep in today since you will be staying behind and assisting the princesses with their royal duties in my absence. I wanted to let you know it is a very important job involving a lot of responsibilities so I expect you to find a way wake up earlier in the mornings. Since nopony has ever set hoof in the Frozen North before there is no way for me to be able to tell you how long I will be gone so you might be stuck with this job for a while. I also wanted you to know that I have complete faith that you can do this. After all of these years of you being my assistant I know you have what it takes. I have to go now or else I will be late to breakfast. Remember, you're the dragon of the castle now, take care of the princesses.
Love,
Twilight Sparkle"
After she finished writing the letter she trotted over, set it on Spikes pillow, right next to his head, and made sure it would not fall off. She then trotted over to the door and used her magic to slowly open it so as to not make any noise to disturb her dragon's slumber. As she stepped through the doorway she turned around to take one last look at her dragon sleeping in his little bed next to her's. She smiled to herself as she slowly closed the door behind her.
She began to slowly walk down the hall towards the dinning hall. As she was climbing a set of stairs in the main hall she heard a voice call out to her saying, "Princess Twilight."
She stopped and turned her head to see who called out to her. "Princess Celestia," said Twilight "Is something the matter?"
"No," replied Princess Celestia. "All is well today. I just wanted to catch you before breakfast this morning so that we may talk in private before we journey to the Crystal Empire."
"Oh, ok," replied Twilight, "What did you want to talk about princess?"
"How was your night," asked Celestia.
Twilight was confused with the question. She had thought that Princess Celestia had something more important to talk about rather than how last night went. "Excuse me Princess?" Twilight answered in a confused tone.
"I know its a weird question for me to ask you but, in all seriousness, I need to know," said Celestia as the two alicorns continued walking towards the dining hall, "Just answer the question, how did you sleep last night?"
"I slept just fine your highness," answered Twilight, not thinking much on the question.
"No troubles at all?" questioned Princess Celestia relentlessly.
"Well, I guess I had some trouble staying asleep," replied Twilight. "I heard voices as I was sleeping. They kept waking me up but I didn't think much about them. My guess was that it was nothing more than a reoccurring nightmare."
Celestia's eyes widened when she heard of this new information. "And what did these 'voices' say? Were you able to understand them?" Celestia continued to question.
"Strangely enough I could understand every single word crystal clear," replied Twilight, "They kept saying 'come closer' and 'set me free.'"
"So you have heard them too," replied Celestia.
"You mean you heard the voices too?" asked Twilight, "Then it must not have been a nightmare after all."
"Yes, my young Twilight, I have heard them before," answered Celestia. "But you were right about them being a nightmare."
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"These 'dreams' that we have both experienced are coming from the new flow of magic that has surfaced," explained Celestia, "Who or whatever is causing this new flow of magic is also transmitting these voices that we have heard through the dreams we have encountered. Since the message is carried by magic only unicorns and alicorns strong enough in the magic arts are able to receive these 'dream messages.' Strangely, over the past week the signal has only been affecting me but, for some reason, the signal last night affected both Luna and yourself as well. Also, Luna and I noticed that the new flow of magic seemed to be stronger last night than the previous nights. I believe this is why you and Luna were able to receive the signal as well. I am happy to hear that you are strong enough with your magic to be able to receive these dreams, this means that you are highly capable of learning the new magic tracking spell I wish teach you in the Crystal Empire. Once you learn that spell you will be able to sense the flow of magic just like both Luna and I."
By this time they had arrived and stopped outside the doors to the dining hall where Princess Celestia continued, "I will talk to you more about this subject at the Crystal Empire but for now let us enjoy breakfast with your friends in the dining hall."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea your highness," giggled Twilight, as they opened the doors and entered the room. When they had entered the room they saw an extremely long table filled with breakfast foods of various kinds stretching across the entire room starting at a gigantic window at the back of the room looking out on the Equestrian landscape and ending at their hooves. The side walls were highly decorated with colorful tapestries depicting the reign of the two sisters. All of Twilight's friends were seated at the sides of the table waiting patiently for Twilight and Celestia to take their seats before they began eating. Princess Celestia went to the far end of the table and took a seat at the head of the table with Rainbow Dash seated on her right and an open seat on her left while Twilight followed her and sat down in the open seat next to her across from Rainbow Dash and next to Rarity. Rarity sat next to Applejack and across from Fluttershy and Applejack sat across from Pinkie Pie at the foot of the table. After everyone was seated at the table Princess Celestia rose up from her seat and began to give a speech.
"On behalf of my sister, Luna, and I, we would like to thank all of you for your services to Equestria and your fellow ponies. It takes a great amount of courage to willingly walk into the unknown, under the current circumstances. As a thank you for willingly accepting this task I offer this breakfast fit for a champion of Canterlot. May you use it wisely to prepare for the journey ahead. Now, without further adieu, let us feast!" After the princess had finished her speech she sat back down in her chair and motioned for the food to be brought in. Immediately a group of ponies dressed up to look like professional butlers came in carrying dishes full of oatmeal, apples, oranges, and various other breakfast foods for ponies, like themselves, and set them on the table for the ponies to enjoy.. After all of the other ponies got their share of the food, Pinkie proceeded to take advantage of the free food and started consuming what seemed like the entire table and everypony just sat there with their jaws dropped to the floor in amazement as to how much she was eating. After a while they went back to their own meals slightly disturbed.
After they were finished eating they made their way to the train station. When they arrived they saw a train made entirely out of crystal which sparkled in the sunlight as it rested there, heavily guarded by the royal guard, and waiting for its only passengers to board it.
“That’s our train I presume,” said Twilight to the rest of her friends.
“Indeed Twilight,” said Princess Celestia, “This is the royal train that travels back and forth between the Crystal Empire and Canterlot. We have only used it to transport very important people or items and today its precious cargo is us.”
As Twilight and her friends began to board one of the train cars, Princess Celestia called out, “Princess Twilight, I require you to ride with me in a more secluded car. I have much to teach you and the art of sensing the flow of magic is one that I wish to keep secret to as many ponies as possible. I do hope you understand.”
Twilight looked back at her friends before turning back to Princess Celestia and saying, “Of course. I understand completely.” Twilight then walked over to Princess Celestia’s side and looked back at her friends to see them all smiling at her as they all entered the train. It wasn't long before she lost sight of them. The train door slid shut behind her followed by a loud train whistle. Not long after the train began to move and they were on their way to the Crystal Empire.
The train car that Princess Celestia had taken Twilight into was empty and didn't have any seats or tables like the other cars did. The floor had a royal red carpet and the car was lit by a small crystal chandelier which had eight crystals that gave off a magical light. All of the windows had shades on them which were all closed for privacy and there was no pony else in the room.
"Princess Celestia, how are those crystals glowing like that?" questioned Twilight pointing a hoof at the illuminated crystals on the chandelier.
"They are an extremely rare type of crystal which have recently been discovered in mines around the Crystal Empire," answered Princess Celestia. "So far we do not know their origin or what gives them their light. The stones themselves are called Heaven's Lights due to their illuminating properties. But enough talk on crystals, now is the time for you to learn the new skill of detecting and tracking magic and magical flows.
“For inexperienced users, this spell may leave you exhausted or even incapacitated for a while depending on how strong they are. The more you use the spell the more you learn to handle the physical toll it takes on your body. Are you ready for what is to come?”
“I am ready your highness,” answered Twilight.
“Alright.” Said Princess Celestia, “First I will start by demonstrating how the spell is performed myself for you to see. Stand back.”
Princess Celestia stood up strait and closed her eyes. Her horn started to glow and her hair began to flow faster like it was effected by a wind of some sorts. A ball of energy began to form at the tip of her horn. Her horn began to glow brighter and brighter with magic until the ball of energy was about as big as she was. At that moment the ball of energy separated from her horn and Princess Celestia fell lifeless onto the floor underneath it.
“Princess!” Twilight yelled as she ran to her mentor’s side, “Are you okay!?”
Princess Celestia lay there on her side with her eyes open and glowing with a strange white light. Twilight looked up and saw that the ball of energy seemed to have taken the shape and form of Princess Celestia.
“Princess? Is that you?” asked Twilight.
The image just stood there as if it was watching her. After a while the image bent down and touched its horn to Princess Celestia’s. The image glowed slightly brighter before being sucked back into Princess Celestia’s horn. After the image had completely gone back into the horn, Princess Celestia’s eyes returned to normal and closed shut and then opened back up to stare Twilight in the face.
“Princess!” Exclaimed Twilight, “Are you okay?”
Princess Celestia rose to her feet once more and said, “I am fine Twilight. What I just did was transport my spirit to the plane of magic.”
“What!? But how?” asked Twilight.
“It is a very simple but also extremely dangerous task,” replied Princess Celestia. “First you focus your magic and bind it to your soul. At the same time you must dispel your magic through your horn into the world around you. What happens is since your soul is temporarily attached to your magic, as it is dispelled, so is your soul and both your soul and your magic are transported to the plane of magic where you can then see all of the magic in this world. Even the magic you cannot see. This spell has a couple of other uses as well. For instance, powerful unicorns in the past have been known to use this spell to escape death and live in the plane of magic as a wisp.”
“Does that mean Starswirl the Bearded might still be alive as a wisp?” asked Twilight.
Princess Celestia closed her eyes and hung her head slightly. “Some of the unicorns decide to pass on to the next life rather than stay in this one.”
Twilight paused for a minute and realized what Princess Celestia meant when she said that, “Oh, I’m sorry,” replied Twilight.
“Life goes on,” replied Princess Celestia, “and now is not the time to talk about Starswirl’s death.” She then opened her eyes and raised her head once more. She then continued saying, “The last use of this spell is to gain power. While in the plane of magic, due to the fact that the user of the spell is so close to the magic that he uses in this world his spell power is dramatically increased, however, the dangerous part of this is that the user’s soul is completely exposed making them extremely fragile. If their soul is damaged they will not recover from it. Not even I know what happens to a pony’s soul once it is completely destroyed. This is why I wish to keep this spell a secret to as many ponies as possible.”
“Why are you teaching it to me then?” asked Twilight.
“For a number of reasons,” replied Princess Celestia. “First of all, I am teaching you this technique so that you may use it to track the new flow of magic, which is the main reason. Second, is that you have come so far in your studies as well as become a princess so I feel as though you have the right to know the spell. And third, is that I have complete faith that you will be safe with this spell and will only use it when it is absolutely necessary to.”
“So, what does this plane look like?” questioned Twilight.
“It is time for you to find out,” replied Princess Celestia. “It is your turn to perform the spell.”
“Really?” questioned Twilight. “Are you sure I am ready for this type of magic?”
“I am absolutely positive you are,” replied Princess Celestia. “Remember, I am right here to help and guide you through this. I will not let anything bad happen. I’ll go over it one more time for you. To enter the plane of magic bind your magic to your soul and dispel it through your horn. To return, find your body and touch your horn to its horn.”
“Okay,” said Twilight taking a deep breath. “I've got this.” She then spread her legs slightly to brace herself, closed her eyes and began to cast the spell. At the tip of her horn a purple ball of energy began to form just like when Princess Celestia had cast the spell. As the ball of energy grew bigger and bigger she began to feel more and more lightheaded.
“At this time you should start feeling like you are going to faint,” said Princess Celestia. “Just focus and keep going, you are almost there.”
When Twilight heard Princess Celestia say this she pulled herself together and gave one final push, ignoring the weakness she felt. The feeling she had in her head began to be unbearable until finally, all at once, the feeling suddenly left her and she just stood there with her eyes closed. She heard a voice that sounded like Princess Celestia’s saying, “You did it Twilight. You are in the plane of magic.” Once she had heard this she opened her eyes and looked around. The world she was now in was a deep shade of blue. She could still see everything in the real world only it was all outlined in white. She saw Princess Celestia standing in front of her, glowing bright yellow as the sun with magical power. She turned around and saw her body lying on the ground lifeless and not glowing at all. She also looked up and saw through the train car wall to see a light blue glowing ball which resembled Rarity sitting down in one of the train’s seats in the car ahead of her. She then looked at her hooves and saw that they were glowing purple as well as the rest of her body. Then something on the outside of the train’s window caught her eye. She walked over to the window so that she could get a better view of it. She peered through the curtains and looked up into the sky. She saw two streams of magic that looked like and aurora waving in the sky. One of them was pink, purple and yellow. She followed the stream through the sky and found that it lead to the Crystal Empire, which was now visible in the distance. The second one was blue, light blue and an eerie green which lead off north of the Crystal Empire.
“Okay, Twilight,” she heard Princess Celestia say. “Time to get back into your rightful body.” Twilight turned back and faced her body lying motionless on the floor of the train car. She closed her eyes, bent over and touched her horn to the horn on her original body. When she opened her eyes again she saw everything as it was when she had entered the plane of magic. She began to experience the same lightheaded feelings as when she was casting the spell.
Princess Celestia walked over to Twilight and helped her get back onto her hooves. "Slowly, Twilight," she said. "You did good. Were you able to see the flow of magic?"
"I think so," responded Twilight. "It looked like a blue and green aurora."
"That was it," stated Princess Celestia. "You have done very well and you should rest for the rest of the train ride. As I have said, for first timers to this spell it can be very exhausting and your going to need to regain your energy for the Crystal Empire. Come, let us go sit with your friends." Princess Celestia then took Twilight by the hoof and guided her through the crossover of the train cars and into the the car which had the rest of her friends. Immediately Twilight was crowded and bombarded with questions from her friends due to their curiosity of what went on in the other car.
"Did you do it Twilight? Did you learn the spell? Well? Did ya? Did ya Did ya?" rambled Pinkie Pie.
"We saw so many flashes of light, darling. How did it go?" questioned Rarity.
"Are you alright, sugarcube? You don't look so good. What happened?" asked Applejack.
Princess Celestia began to talk on Twilight's behalf. "Twilight did amazing, but the spell she has just learned takes a lot of energy out of a pony and she needs her rest now. It would do her a great favor to let her sleep the rest of the way to the Crystal Empire." All of Twilight's friends nodded in understanding and parted to allow Princess Celestia to guide Twilight to an empty seat. Once Princess Celestia had helped her onto her seat, she leaned up against the window of the car and watched as the scenery went by. It wasn't long before Twilight had fallen into a deep sleep.
It didn't seem like long before she was once again awoke by the sounds of a train whistle and the lurch of the train stopping in the train station. Slowly Twilight opened her eyes to be greeted by Princess Celestia. "We have arrived," she said. "Time to wake up, everypony is waiting on you."
"Everypony?" asked Twilight.
"Yes. Your friends are waiting out in the train station along with a couple of other special ponies who came out to see you."
Twilight looked out her window into the train station and saw her friends all there surrounding a pink alicorn mare with yellow, pink, and purple hair and a green crystal heart for a cutie mark accompanied by a white unicorn stallion with blue hair and a blue shield with a pink star in the center for a cutie mark. Immediately she got off her seat and ran off the train shouting, "Cadence! Shining Armor!" Both the ponies turned to her and embraced her when she got to them.
"Twiley!" said Shining armor.
"We've missed you so much Twilight." said Princess Cadence as the hug subsided. Then Princess Cadence looked strait into Twilight's eyes and smiled. Twilight smiled back and nodded her head. She knew exactly what Princess Cadence was implying and both ponies began to dance and sing:

	"Sunshine Sunshine
Ladybugs Awake.
Clap Your Hooves and
Do A Little Shake."

Both ponies began to laugh as they remembered fillyhood memories. "We heard you were coming on a special mission for Princess Celestia and decided to make our way out to welcome you to the Crystal Empire." said Princess Cadence.
"Now it is our job to take you to where you must go next," said Shining Armor. "If you would all follow us to the castle then."
Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor then led them through the crystal city, which was just as beautiful and clean as ever, and into the main castle. Once inside they led them all down a spiral staircase into a room full of computers and ponies in lab coats.
"Wow," said Pinkie Pie. "This looks super duper uper high techy."
"That's because it is," said a turquoise colored crystal earth pony with white hair and ice crystals for a cutie mark.
"Everypony, this is Dr. First Frost," said Princess Cadence. "He is the head of our Frozen North Studies Program here at the Crystal Empire and he has some equipment you might need to survive out there in the bitter cold."
"First off you can just call me Dr. Frost for short," said Dr. Frost. "Second you can call the Frozen North Studies Program the FNSP for short, not that it matters, and third of all the equipment I am giving you is absolutely necessary for survival in the Frozen North. So if you all would follow me."
Dr. Frost then lead them into another room that was for the most part barren except for a button sitting on a podium near the back wall. Dr. Frost walked up to the button and pushed it. Immediately the back wall parted in two revealing six mannequins dressed with suits of some sort each sitting in its own glass tube in order to preserve it. They were all black in color with hoods which were lined with fur and tinted snow goggles hanging around their necks. On each of the suit's flanks were pictures of cutie marks, each corresponding to one of the six ponies's cutie marks. "Fillies and gentlecolts, I give you the FNS 2000 cold weather survival suit," said Dr. Frost. "FNS of course meaning Frozen North Survival."
"It could use a little more, er, customization," said Rarity.
"The suit was designed to save your flanks from freezing off and not for fashion thank you very much," said Dr. Frost. "Anyways, the FNS 2000 is equipped with snow goggles, a snow guard to protect one's face from the cold, saddle bags capable of fitting all of the necessities to survive out there for up to two weeks, and a special coms panel embedded in the front left sleeve of the suit which acts as a watch, a body temperature gauge, and a means of communication. I must warn you, however, where you all are going you will not get a signal strong enough to communicate with us back here. You may have to just rely on its short range communication ability.
"Now, some useful information you may want to know for your journey. The FNS 2000 is lined with several layers of phoenix down. That alone can withstand temperatures of minus one hundred degrees. It's magical properties, however, allow it to be worn just about anywhere, even in warmer climates, and still allow your bodies to maintain a perfect state of homeostasis."
"Homeo what now?" asked Applejack.
Dr. Frost sighed and said, "Basically you won't fry to death in hot areas and you won't freeze to death in colder areas."
"Oh, okay I got it doc," said Applejack.
"As I was saying," continued Dr. Frost. "The Frozen North has been recorded to have an average of sixty below zero on a cold day. This means if something happens to your suit or if you were to take it off for more than fifteen minutes your body temperature will drop so much that you will be in a really bad position. Another thing is that although the suits have a special space in the hood to allow unicorns to keep their horns protected, the suits do not allow clearance for pegasi to use their wings."
"WHAT?!" yelled Rainbow Dash. "You mean I have to..."
"Walk. Yes, I know. How tragic," said Dr. Frost cutting off Rainbow Dash. "You wouldn't survive thirty seconds of flying in that kind of weather anyways."
"Dr. First Frost, are you quite done lecturing us about the ponies's mission?" questioned Princess Celestia, not enthused with Dr. Frost's sarcasm.
"Yes, of course your majesty. I am sorry," replied Dr. Frost, "I have no more information to share until tomorrow morning, when we begin the expedition."
"Wonderful," said Princess Cadence, "Now, if I could please show you all to your rooms where you will be staying the night in. You all have a very tough journey ahead of you and you will all need your rest for tomorrow." Princess Cadence then took all of the ponies back up the stairs and showed them all to their rooms bidding them all a good night and closing the door behind her.
Once Twilight was in her room, however, she decided that practicing the new spell that she had learned would benefit her greatly. So before she went to bed she took up her stance and began casting the spell. The same feeling that she had encountered on the train began to come back but this time it did not bother her as much because she was used to it and ready to overcome it. Not before long she had successfully phased into the plane of magic. As she opened her eyes she saw what had seemed to be a blue lower half of a pony's body phase out through her door. Twilight, overcome with curiosity at the sight, ran over to the door and phased her own head through the door to see if she could see what she had seen but all that she could see on the other side of the door was the hallway in which her room branched off of. Twilight brought her head back in through the door. "It was probably just a cluster of magic in the shape of a pony." she said to herself as she made her way back to her body lying on the floor. She touched her horn to her body's horn and before long she was back in her own body feeling extremely exhausted. She then crawled into her bed and drifted off to sleep.