//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: The Ghost of Ice and Snow 
// by Cyanjames2819 
//------------------------------//

  Princess Cadence stared at the wall of rock of the northern mountain range in curiosity. She never knew why these mountains were restricted from the ponies of Equestria as well as her own citizens, not that they paid interest with the mountains. No, her ponies outright call this place ‘Somebras’ Playground’, even, though, it’s officially named ‘The Mountains of the Midnight Sun’ by both Equestria and Prosperity, the other country on the other side of the world. She would like to one day meet their Empress, she digress.

She studied the history books and documents of her Crystal Empires’ Crystal Clear Library, but what she found was anything but ‘Crystal Clear’. She wanted to ask her aunties, Princess Celestia and Luna, but Celestia was out in Saddle Arabia for important business, and Luna was too busy keeping the country running. So she started asking her thousand-year-old-citizens about the mountains, but only found foals’ tales. Stories of strange creatures guarding and roaming the mountains, like the Titans; a giant race of ponies hiding within the rock of the mountains. The Mammoths; basically elephants but larger, shaggy with brown fur and tusks as thick as a tree trunk, Ice Dragons, large, vicious wolves, the insect like Fifty Legged Polar Bear and so on, but the one that caught her attention were the stories of Ice or Snow Ponies.

The stories say they were simply earth type ponies whom roam the land beyond the mountains but say they were as white as clean snow, quiet and stealthy as ghosts and have strange powers that could control the ice itself. The stories say they were docile, kind even to new foreigners to visit their lands, but they also were very good at getting themselves hidden, no matter the season. The stories also claim the snow ponies living simple lives with no central capitals or cities, but moving from one place to another within small clans. Then the stories shifts into something a little more… dark. It was the tale of how the Ice Arrow became to be. Unicorns and Pegasi from the south start to invade the northern, trying to claim the mountains; Unicorns for their precious gems and the mountains for the Pegasi because the towering giants touched the skies. Wars broke out between the three tribes to claim their land, but in the end the Snow ponies won because they invented new ways to pull the invading tribes back, the Ice Arrow being the most effective. One day, years after the conflict, when a Crystal pony got lost in the mountains, she was found and made friends with one of the Snow Ponies. She was taught how to make her own Ice Bow and Arrows so she could protect herself while going back home. When she did find her way back, she shared her knowledge, and so the ice arrow became to be, but of course, there were no documents of how the Ice Arrow and Bow were created so her ponies casually believe the story by heart.

She was pretty sure they were just stories. No pony could survive in such harsh conditions; there wasn’t much edible food to find or scavenge, the strange day and night cycle would most likely cause the most sane of ponies to go insane, and of course the freezing cold temperatures during the colder months. She was sure the mountain range was the colder cousin of the Everfree Forest near Ponyville, not just because it was so hostile, but because the mountains themselves seems to say, ‘Keep Out’ with its jagged rocks and that it was basically a wall.

But strange enough, there were train tracks leading in and beyond the icy peaks.

“See? Nothing out here but rocks, rocks, and more rocks, hun.” her husband spoke up from her side, “Oh, I nearly forgot about the pebbles as well. Don’t forget about the pebbles.”

“I told you before and I’ll tell you again, Shiny.” she spoke up, strolled on over to the rusting track and stood in front of blockade resting right on the threshold of the opening into the mountains, “You didn’t have to come.” she replied, and inspected the bold-red letters, flaking with age on the face of the block.

RESTRICTED. KEEP OUT.

“What’s with the sudden interest on the mountains?” he asked and tightened his scarf that wrapped around his neck with his magic, even though there were no snow in sight, but the slight wind was still cool.

“It’s just…” Cadence looked up at the foreboding mountains with interest, “Weird… I studied up on this mountain range and its history but pretty much came up empty hoofed. No definitive answer as to why this place is restricted and why there’s a railway leading in, just stories of the old.” she said.

“Well… maybe-” before they could finish, they both heard a loud screech, causing them to jump in surprise and look up at rocky slope from the tracks’ left side. What they spotted was a lone Snowy Owl perched on a bolder a good ways up, just staring at them with its big, observant eyes. Both royals sighed in relief, but the feeling of being watched by something else was not gone from the Princess. No matter where she looked, the only thing that had eyes were her, her husband and the owl.

She looked back at the flat tundra filled with spongy moss, grass, and flowers, and could barely see her Empire in the horizon. Her Crystal Train resting on the tracks, but was at least twenty yards from the barricade because the conductor refused to get any closer, believing the mountains could curse any pony whom gets any closer. He didn’t even try to take a peek to see if her and her husband were okay.

With a gust of wind coming from the narrow valley, her husband spoke up.

“Come on, Cadence, we better get going before it gets late or the conductor decides to leave without us.” he nudged his head towards the train, she could see the slight hint of tiredness his expression, so she complied. It might have been still light outside, but the she knew better. The day and night cycle all the way up here was confusing; twenty-four hour day in the summer and twenty-four hours of night in the winter.

As the couple quietly started going back to the locomotive, a pair of Icy Blue eyes stared at them from the fake bolder the owl was resting on. The ponies were scared of the mountains for some reason, but a few, curious tress passers tend to linger a little too close. Good thing they’re not ‘quiet’ when they arrive. He heard that train miles away before it came into view.

He had a feeling he was going to see the pink Princess a little more in the near future. Might as well write this incident in his journal when he gets home and tell the others what happened today. The Elders would want to hear this.