Somewhere back on Earth, at a place called Archangel in Northern Russia, a large cloud of purple fog swept in over a group of shacks that housed 5,000 men. Like with the Marines, this cloud was not filtered out through gas masks. Soon, all 5,000 men had simply vanished. Elsewhere in the same region, a similar cloud fell over the another group of 1,000 cold men who soon found themselves in a world of darkness. After the cloud dissipated, not a trace of either group could be found.
Crystal Empire
Deep within the hallways and chambers of the Crystal Palace, one room housed the duo that had been charged with leading the thousand year lost civilization of the Crystal Empire into the modern era. Their Royal Highnesses Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Cadence as she liked to be addressed, and her husband Prince Captain Shining Armor were sound asleep in each others embrace. The royal couple had gone to sleep happy, happy to be together in love and happy in the knowledge that their citizens were safe that night. But above all, they were filled with joy from the news they had received the previous day. They were going to be parents.
They had learned yesterday from a visit to the Royal Physician that Cadence was carrying their child. Cadence had not been able to stop smiling and Shining Armor had poured out many rivers of "liquid pride" from his eyes. They almost couldn't believe that they were at last going to be parents. It was something that they had dreamed of ever since the day they were married. Now it was going to become a reality.
As they slept together in their warm bed, a single crystal guard came rushing down the hallway that led to their bedroom. Once he arrived at the doors, he knocked on the door with his hoof as loud as he could. Normally a guard would not dare to do such a thing, but the news that he brought with him was not something the guard commander believed could wait until light.
When the knocking finally broke the couple out of their sleep, they both groaned from having been awoken at such an hour. Shining Armor leaned over to his wife and smiled.
"Don't get up." He whispered, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. "I'll got see what it is."
Cadence returned the kiss with a smile and laid her head back down onto the pillow. After she had done so, Shining Armor climbed out and made his way to the door. Whatever the reason was, the guard had better have a good reason for waking us he thought. When he reached the door, he opened it with his magic to reveal Corporal Quartzite standing before him.
"What is it Corporal?" He asked.
The guard saluted his Prince. "Sorry to wake you sir." He said quickly. "But Captain Valiant thought it best not to wait. There have been reports of a large flash of white light coming from the north sir."
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow in confusion. "A large flash of white light?"
"Yes sir." Quartzite nodded. "It was seen by several guards on the city limits. And we have reports coming in from our pegasi patrols in that area of what appears to be some sort of activity. Large masses of creatures have been spotted in the foothills of the frozen mountains."
Shining Armor stood silent for a moment as he processed this information. For all purposes, nothing living should be present in the mountains to the north. Those mountains were trapped in year round winter and were only passable in late summer. The flash of light was a strange occurrence as well as that usually indicated a substantial output of magic somewhere and in the Crystal Empire's history that had not always been good for them. He needed to see this for himself.
"Rouse the 2nd Company." He said sternly to Quartzite. "Tell Captain Valiant that I will meet him and the Company by the city gates. We will proceed with one of the pegasi patrol ponies that will lead us to the sight of the incident. Got it?
"Yes sir. Right away sir." Corporal Quartzite saluted and made his way back down the hallway to deliver the orders.
Shining Armor sighed and turned around and headed towards his closet. After he opened it, he pulled out his armor and began placing it upon himself. Just as he was about to put on his helmet, he felt his wife place a hoof on his shoulder.
"What's going on honey?" She whispered.
"There were some signs of powerful magic off in the Northern Mountains." Shining Armor explained. "Reports are coming in of some kind of activity. I'm going with a patrol to check it out."
Cadence looked at her husband worriedly. She always felt uneasy when he went out on patrols. The Crystal Empire was a safe place but there were still many dangers beyond the city limits. Shining Armor saw his wife's worried look, smiled, and put a hoof to her face gently.
"Don't worry." He whispered. "I'll be fine. I just need to make sure that everything is safe for our citizens," he placed a hoof on Cadence's stomach. "And for you two."
Cadence smiled and kissed her husband on the cheek. "I'll be waiting for you." She whispered. Shining Armor smiled, placed his helmet on his head, and walked towards the door. When he reached it, he turned around, blew Cadence a kiss, and turned back down the hall and made his way to the city gate.
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Later in the Foothills of the Northern Mountains
Eighty crystal guard ponies and two officers stood at the base of the Northern Mountains. The wind howled and the snow flew all around them. The were knee deep in the snow that had already collected on the ground. The two officers at the head of the group looked up into the hills with caution. One was Captain Valiant, commander of the 1st Battalion, Crystal Guard Regiment. The other was his superior and sovereign, Shining Armor, who stared up into the hills for a few more moments before turning back to one of the pegasus guards.
"You are certain that this is where you saw the occurrence with your squad member?" He called out above the wind.
"Yes sir." The guard replied. "One hundred percent certain. No question sir."
Shining Armor turned back towards the hills and let out a long breath. "Alright then. No sense in waiting any longer." He turned towards Captain Valiant. "Let's take a look up there."
"Yes sir." Captain Valiant replied and then turned back to his company sergeant, Long Lance. "Patrol formation. Two lines left and right. We're going up the hill."
"Yes Captain." Sergeant Long Lance replied in his characteristic rough voice. He began to direct the company to form two line 15 yards apart. After they were set, Captain Valiant gave the signal to advance and the patrol began to trudge their way through the thick snow up the hill.
Ten minutes later and they were nearly at the top. The wind stung at their fur as they had no real protection from it. Shining Armor had to squint his eyes into slits to protect them from the ice and snow that whipped about. Looking ahead, he saw something different that the usual grey mass of fog and snow in front of him. Ahead of him he began to see four dark shapes coming at him and the patrol. His eyes widened as he realized there was indeed something out here.
"Captain Valiant!" He called out. "Defensive formation!"
"Defensive formation!!" Valiant called back to the patrol and immediately the guards began to form a semi circle that curved back down the hill. They then thrusted their spears out in front and waited for orders. Shining Armor and Captain Valiant stood in front of the guards and waited for the figures to come closer. They waited and waited and waited until.....
"Hold your fire! Don't shoot!"
The voice caught the ponies off guard. Shining Armor and Captain Valiant looked at each other with confusion. For a few moments the only noise that could be heard was the howling wind once again.
"Hold your fire! We're coming out!"
Shining Armor decided that whoever it was seemed to be lost and could possibly need their help. He nodded to Captain Valiant who turned back up the hill. "Come down slowly!" He called. "No sudden movements!"
Soon the shapes began to become more defined. Shining Armor could make out features that were definitely equine. Though when they finally came close enough to clearly see them, they didn't look like any ponies that Shining Armor had ever seen before.
Standing before him were four stallions, one all black coated and maned earth pony, one white coated and sky blue maned unicorn, another earth pony, this one dark blue with dark brown hair, and another unicorn with a lime green coat and ginger hair. They were all wrapped up in strange looking brown and green fur lined coats, except for the dark blue earth pony who was bundled up in a strange coat that looked like it was made of goat fur. They all were wearing heavy pants and black boots and had hats on their heads that were similar to those worn in the Griffon Kingdoms. The black and the blue earth ponies had these strange pole like devices strapped to their backs and all of them were wearing some strange looking saddlebags.
After a few moments of staring at each other, Shining Armor took a step forward. "My name is Shining Armor. Prince of the Crystal Empire. This is Captain Valiant of the Crystal Guard Regiment. Who might you be?"
The two unicorns stepped forward. The white coated one nodded at Shining Armor and Valiant. "Colonel Nelson Smith. 339th United States Infantry. This is Colonel Andrew Porter of the Royal Fusiliers. We have 6,000 confused and cold soldiers back up the hill. So would you mind telling us where the hell we are?"
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Back on earth, all across the Atlantic Ocean, two transport vessels, four battleships, and six destroyers all sailed into mysterious purple clouds of fog and never emerged from them. And high in the skies above Europe, two groups of airplanes flew into similar cloud banks and were never seen again.
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Meanwhile, in a distant land on the planet Equis, a nation was beginning to experience growing pains. The nation's citizens felt that their rightful place in the world had yet to be achieved. They demanded that action be taken to assert their place on the world stage. This nation was the nation of the Caribou, and they were about to get some outside help from an unlikely source.