The wind howled like an injured Timber wolf, tossing the snow and at its mercy around relentlessly in its wake. It was impossible to see anything in the never-ending storm; blinding any pony that dared to face it’s might. Truly, the Artic North was a force of nature none could tame, not even ones of the greatest powers.
“How long will these force fields last?” Asked Twilight, enveloped in a protective bubble channeled by her magic. Before her stood Starburst, nose deep in a book and Shining armor, which keep his eyes peeled for any trouble around them. Each had their own bubble matching the color of their magic.
“It should last at least an hour if we stay within 10 meters of each other, we’ll have to recast them after that.” Explained Starburst, flipping through his book.
“What happens if we get further than 310meters of each other?” Asked Shining, looking at the orange stallion.
“Then the magical link we have will break thus popping the one who passes the mark.” He closes his book, putting it back in his cloak pocket.
“So in other words, stay at an earshot. Gotcha.” Twilight said, looking at both stallions, “Ready?”
Both nod, galloping off in different directions. Twilight did the same, looking around with squinted eyes.
“Spike!”
The ground rumbled, shaking under him as he stared up at the curtain as the adults fell silent. Within Spike’s little body, his heart pounded away like drum. All the Dragons held their heads up high, sitting in a very proper manner as they all stared at the pedestal. Everything was silent, just the ground rumbling with every heavy step from behind that curtain.
“Twilight! Shining!” In the distance, Twilight heard Starburst’s voice over the whistling wind, spotting his blinking horn in the distance. She trots over to him, seeing Shining and him looking down at something.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, looking down at what they stared at. In the snow, poking out, was a flower encased in crystal.
“A Crusted Daisy… these flowers only grow in the castle’s garden. They died off a couple hundred years ago everywhere else.” Explained Starburst as he picked up the flower, dusting off the snow on it.
“The castle gardens? But…. Why is it out here the-” In that instant, Twilight remembered something, something that wrote shock across her face.
“The cloaked figure! It was in the Gardens!” Shining tilted his head, thinking about Twilight said.
“Yeah, you’re right. They got away from Cadence and you in there right? Then they’ve been through here.” Added Shining, looking at both of them, “Quick, fan out and look for any other clues.”
Twilight and Starburst did just that, running off in different directions. The snow was thicker here, sucking down Twilight’s bubble as she tried to gallop through it. The thought of being so close, it drove her further on.
“Spike! Spike!”
However, in her frantic search for him she failed to see the snow covered cliffs just ahead of her. The moment her hoof stepped over the edge she felt herself roll off the edge with a loud cry. She attempted to fly and regain her balance but on the fall she hit her head on a chuck of black crystal and was knocked out. The bubble took most of the force but it popped as a result. She kept plummeting down, vanishing into the raging snow.
Suddenly, the curtains few open and behind them was not a beautiful, elegant green dragon that Spike expected but rather a large, bulky red dragon that was terrifying in appearance. They wore no crown, only a thick, golden necklace and gantlets, both decorated in lovely, rare gemstones. The expression upon Spike’s face turned from excitement to terror and shock as his eyes gazed upon this massive beast before him.
“T-that doesn’t look like…”Splinter glared at him, giving him a look of confusion and anger.
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing but it isn’t fun anymore. You’re disrespecting Emperor Sard.” He said, yelling but whispering at the same time to keep from being audible.
“B-but I thought Empress Jade was the one in charge.” Spike did the same, genuine confusion upon his face as Emperor Sard stood at the very edge of the pedestal with his head held high up in the air.
“Empress Jade isn’t out leader anymore! She hasn’t been in a long time”
Twilight groaned, her eyes opening as she regained consciousness. Around her, she felt warmth hugging her body delicately.
“It feels… nice.” It took her mind a moment to realize what she was doing but the moment she recalled she instantly snapped back into reality. Her wings flapped wildly as she yelled out.
“Spike!” Now fully aware she realized she was in a large hot spring at the base of the cliff she fell from. In fact, while she could still see the snow falling above her, none of it seemed to even come close to the ground that was bare, brown and black stone. Looking around she notices black crystals unnaturally sticking out all over the area, pulsing venously around the area. She swam over to the edge of the pool, pulling herself out and shaking off the water. It wasn’t at all cold down here; in fact it had weather similar to an average Ponyville spring day.
“Where… am I?” Asked Twilight, looking around as she walked cautiously. She walked up a slight slope, gasping at what she saw when she reached the top.
Stone houses, old and ruined with black crystals having destroyed most and leaving large holes in others all over. Everything was destroyed, torn to shreds and left abandoned. To Twilight, it was devastating as no place like this could ever be found in Equestria. This area had a powerful feeling of dread and sadness; gripping it in a suffocating way.
“Oh my gosh… what is all this?”
Walking down the roads Twilight could see within these buildings paintings, vases and other things dotted the inside of them with one even having plates and empty glasses set out as if whoever lived there was getting ready to eat, left untouched. Distracted by everything she saw Twilight was startled as she stepped on a small, stuffed dragon doll laid out in the road. It was missing an eye and any color it once had was gone.
She carefully picks it up with her magic, to look at it only to have one of the arms fall off and rock hard stuffing pour out. Gently, she held it, looking at the flat doll for a second before placing it on a windowsill. Inside the house Twilight saw a black crystal popped through a table with pieces of glass and plate shards all over the ground. The looked so familiar to her and it clearly made her feel unsettled.
So she dismissed it, trotting off down the streets. Finally, she finds what appears to be a sign and something was carved on it but it was hard to make out.
“Dr_g_n Q__r_y.” It read. Twilight, allowing her curiosity to take her, uses a spell she knew to restore the sign to its original state. The moment she noticed what the sign said she gasped as what was written upon it proved what the old pony from the castle said.
“The Dragon Quarry.”
Instantly, she was off, going to go find Shining Armor and Sunburst. As she flew off she saw a large, almost completely destroyed stone building with black crystals bursting from the back. She made note of it, casting the bubble spell on her own before flying off to find her wayward partners.