Twilight began to open her eyes, her vision was still foggy but she could obviously see that the sun was shining bright in the sky beaming in through a window on the wall opposite to her warming her face and she was laying in a hospital bed. She attempted sitting up in her bed but she was stopped by a friendly voice.
"Whoa there, sugarcube. Take it easy."
"Applejack?" asked Twilight looking to where the voice came from blinking her eyes a couple of times in order to clear up her vision. She saw Applejack laying in a bed next to her with her neck wrapped in bandages where she had been bitten. "Applejack are you okay?"
"Don't you worry about me, Twi." Applejack replied, "That was some show you put on back there."
"Is it over? Did we beat Hoarfrost?"
"Well, it ain't snowin' no more and it's a whole lot warmer so I'd say we've done it," replied Applejack.
"Where is everypony else?"
"They're out helpin' to get everything back to the way it was. There's a lot of snow to melt and it ain't gunna melt itself."
Suddenly the door to the room they were in swung open and in walked Princess Celestia and Queen Galacia ,who was carrying a chest adorned with gold trimmings and precious stones with her magic, stopping at the foot of Twilight's bed.
"Looks like our hero is finally awake," said Celestia. "I hope you don't mind us interrupting you two but we have some important matters to discuss."
"I'm sure you have many questions to ask, Descendant..."
"Twilight," said Twilight interrupting Queen Galacia, "Please, just call me Twilight."
"Twilight," Queen Galacia replied with a smile. "I'm going to start back in the beginning and explain why all of this is happening."
"Some time ago there were three very similar empires each representing a different element of civilization and each was in charge of keeping their specific element kindled using special towers which were called the Conduits of Eternity by using a special power source to spread their element across the land. The Crystal Empire, which has already resurfaced, represented the element of love, The Ice Flow Empire, the empire I was in charge of, represented the element of hope, and The Empire of the Sands, which seems to have yet to resurface, represented the element of peace. When all the empires functioned properly, civilization flourished.
"However, each of these elements had their polar opposites called The Elements of Decay. Where there was love there was fear, hope, despair, and peace, war. Over time these dark elements began to manifest in the form of corrupted ponies called The Lords of Decay each consumed by their desire to see the world bend to their will. The first conduit to fall was The Empire of the Sands, which, to my knowledge, fell due to a civil war caused by the commander of the guard Colonel Bloodhoof.
"After Colonel Bloodhoof was appointed commander of the guard it didn't take him long to develop a lust for world domination but whenever he would appeal to the empire's ruler, King Sandstorm, to campaign for more territory he was immediately declined. Eventually, Colonel Bloodhoof formed a coup d'etat within the government and a civil war ravaged the city for three days before King Sandstorm cast a spell banishing the empire to the sands. Thus, the first conduit, the conduit of peace, was lost to the sands.
"The Ice Flow Empire was the next to fall due to Hoarfrost's greed for power causing him to turn on his own subjects. In a last ditch effort to prevent him from continuing his conquest, I sacrificed myself and used our power source, the Heart of Frost to freeze us both by forcing the heart into his heart. Without it's power source The Ice Flow Empire was unable to tame the storms of the north and quickly became a frozen wasteland sadly taking the lives of those who lived in it.
"Since you were able to defeat Hoarfrost, however, I was able to retrieve this," Queen Galacia paused to open up the chest she was carrying to reveal a heart made completely out of ice inside it. "The Heart of Frost. Soon after our discussion here I will travel back to the Ice Flow Empire to restore it back to power. Once I do, it should cause the land to be a more habitable place allowing for ponies to once more live in it's streets."
"How come we didn't know about these conduits before all this happened?" asked Twilight.
"I have a couple of theories myself," replied Princess Celestia, "The most possible being the fact that this happened when Canterlot was still being founded. Our only encounter with these conduits was when Luna and I led a campaign to stop King Sombra who had already succeeded in taking control of The Crystal Empire. Our only mission at that time was to stop him from attacking our kingdom. That and corrupted documents. My bet is that when King Sombra came into power he didn't want certain details about the conduits to be accessible to anypony which may have caused him to destroy certain text."
The door to the room they were in swung open once again and in walked Dr. First Frost and Snowblind stopping at Celestia and Galacia's feet and bowing before them.
"I am terribly sorry to interrupt your highnesses, but I have been sent down from the Crystal Empire to acquire infromation from the six ponies who ventured into the Frozen North for my studies."
Queen Galacia's eyes quickly darted towards Snowblind and seemed to widen in shock as her jaw dropped.
"S-S-Snowblind?" Galacia stuttered, causing Snowblind to look up at her. "I-i-impossible."
"Y-y-yes your highness?" Snowblind muttered shyly standing back up.
Galacia dropped the chest she was holding and ran to embrace Snowblind. Tears began rolling down her face. "I thought I'd never see you again. I thought I had lost you forever."
"E-excuse me your highness but I'm not quite sure what you mean." said Snowblind.
"Of course," Galacia said releasing Snowblind from her embrace, "You were too young to be able to remember, but, your my daughter."
Everypony's jaw in the room dropped at that moment.
"B-but how?" asked Galacia.
"I might be able to explain." said Dr. First Frost, "During one of my endeavors in the Frozen North I came upon a creature that resembled a bear only with white fur. At first I didn't know what to think but as the bear approached I noticed that it seemed to be cradling a small filly wrapped in cloth in one of it's arms. He came up to me and passed the filly off to me then turned around and left. I took the filly back with me to my facility and unwrapped it. Sure enough it was a filly alicorn. There was a name on the blanket she was wrapped in reading 'Princess Snowblind' so I kept the name. I decided to raise her as my own and once she became of age I made her my assistant."
"Frost Claw must've found you after I froze myself and took care of you." said Galacia, "I'm so happy to see you alive and well. You've grown up so much since I saw you last. When we go back to the empire I'm going to teach you how to run it and soon enough you will be the new ruler."
"I-I can't believe this," stuttered Snowblind, "My mother. I've finally met my mother."
Both ponies embraced each other once more.
"Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter all this time." Galacia said to Dr. First Frost, "If there is anything I can do for you."
"Actually," said Dr. First Frost, "Did you mention something about an empire in the Frozen North?"
"That is correct," answered Galacia.
"Could I possibly come along with you to continue my studies and live in this empire?" asked Dr. Frost.
"Of course you can." replied Galacia.
"Excellent!" said Dr. Frost, "I'm going to head back to the Crystal Empire immediately to put the expeditionary team. Please don't leave without me."
"We'll wait for you there."
"Excellent. Thank you ever so much your highness." Dr. First Frost turned and raced out of the room to catch the next train heading back to the Crystal Empire.
"Well, now that that is over," said Princess Celestia, "Now we get back to the problem at hand and that is since two out of the three conduits have resurfaced it means the last one is bound to resurface soon as well."
"Of course," said Galacia, "The third conduit is most likely to resurface soon and we all know what will be coming with it. Colonel Bloodhoof or, better known as, Warlord Bloodmoon, bringer of war. I suggest you use this period of time to build your military strength Princess Celestia. For with the conduit of Peace, comes the Lord of War."