New Age of Harmony

by Spirit Chaser

0: Prologue

The raging storm violently blew snow in all directions as far as the eye can see. The land was well hidden underneath its white blanket. The surrounding mountains were covered in the same cold powder as the ground beneath them. A large cave carved into one of the mountains was the only speck of black in the land of white. The arctic surroundings gave off an eerie feeling of loneliness to one of the two snow armor clad ponies hidden within the cave.

The larger of the pair stumbled around the dark space, practically begging for something to take his mind off his boring mission and chaotic surroundings. Even if he was severely lacking in things to do, he knew that it all came with the job and being loyal to his kind ruler, which was the only reason he would ever put up with his current conditions.

No matter how dull it seemed, there was something odd about his environment; every time he tried to tried to ignore it, the feeling returned. The nervous stallion felt the need to confirm his suspicions with his mare companion on the other side of the cave, however she was just as bored as he was and twice as cranky. After considering how many ways the conversation could end horribly, he decided to ease into it.

“Jeez, we've been here who knows how long and this place is still giving me creeps,” said the masked muffled stallion with contempt emerging in his tone as he wandered around the empty space.

The smaller, feminine pony continued to entertain herself by kicking around a rock as if her fellow occupant of the cave wasn't even there. Well, that approach didn't work, but if he gave up every time he failed, he wouldn't be a guard.

“Hey! Remember me? Swift Service? I’m kinda trying to start a conversation over here,” he said calmly as she continued to ignore him. Was he seriously trying to break the ice with a rude mare in the heart of an endless blizzard? He supposes he's been in worse situations. Still, he's never had to face a rude partner before.

“Y'know, Amber Spell,” said the male Earth pony angrily. “It would nice if you—I don’t know—acknowledged my existence, or just about anypony's existence besides yourself for once!”

“Hey, don’t you ever accuse me of something you don’t know the meaning of!” Amber shouted at him. Clearly he had upset her... somehow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Swift asked. He would scratch his head if it wasn't so protected from the elements.

“Nothing, I just...nothing. Was there something you were trying to tell me a moment ago?” Amber asked. She was holding something back, something she didn't want to talk about. Not right now at least.

“Uh, yeah,” said Swift Service. “I was saying that this place feels pretty creepy, but I guess it might just be me.”

“No, I feel it too, I've felt it for a while, but I didn't think anything of it. Guess I didn't care enough,” Amber Spell said, massaging the back of her neck.

“Good, I’m already bored out of my mind, I don’t want to lose it too,” Swift said, his lack of social skills becoming apparent.

“What are we even doing here?” Amber Spell asked, sitting down on the cave floor. “It’s not like we have an actual mission, we’re just sitting in this cave instead of defending Canterlot from Changeling invasions or something. That Celestia, would it kill her to not be cryptic for once in her life?”

Underneath his mask, Swift Service wore a surprised expression. He couldn't believe that Amber Spell felt that way about the princess! Sure, Princess Celestia never directly stated information even if it was important, but that was a good quality in a ruler, though from Amber Spell’s reaction, he may be the only one who thought so.

“Come on, Celestia was just being a good ruler. She can’t tell us everything, despite what the protesters say,” Swift Service responded. He remembered the anti-Celestia protests he would have to break up.

“Oh no? Then can she at least tell us something? Like anything?! I mean what did she even tell us about this mission? That we are to stay here and defend this cave right? Make sure no hostiles enter this place, and to stay put until further notice? What a joke, we’re going to die out here, and it'll be the most boring and pointless death in history.”

This must have been what Amber was thinking about, the confusion and hopelessness of their mission. After that rant, Swift wasn't entirely confident in their Alicorn leader after all. What was their mission here and if Celestia trusted them enough to guard this allegedly important cave, why were they completely out of the loop? Perhaps he should change the subject before the subject changed him.

The thing was that they used to be ordinary guards until Celestia personally promoted each of them to her own special squad. They were more secret agents than guards now, but apparently Amber Spell didn't appreciate that.

“Jeez, what happened to to the rest of our squad? They really should have been back by now and messing around in a blizzard is probably the worst idea of all time.”

"You mean besides accepting this job?" Amber mockingly asked.

Ignoring his partner's apparent lack of enthusiasm, he went back to thinking about their squad. It was true that they weren't alone out here, the rest of the squad they were assigned to had gone to scout out the area a while ago and still haven’t returned. Mapping out dangers in a blizzard was a pretty dangerous job....

“Anyway, wherever they are, they’re bound to be having more fun than we are. We should have gone with them,” Amber sighed.

“And leave the cave unprotected? Who knows what could have happened?”

“Weren't you listening to me at all? You know what, forget it,” Amber sighed, sulking back into the corner with the rock.

Seeing that the conversation was over, Swift Service returned to his wonderful boredom. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they have left the cave completely unprotected. Would a catastrophe just happen? Could reality just begin to unravel at the seams? There were too many questions unanswered for Swift Service to have any faith left in their mission. The only thing that kept him tethered to his duty was his loyalty to the princess and even that was beginning to be put in question.

“Swift, look outside!” Amber said, her panicked voice cutting through his thoughts.

Turning around at record speed, he stared into the icy storm, searching for whatever he was supposed to be seeing. After about four seconds, he finally saw it: a lone pony walking straight through the torrent of snow; walking straight towards them.

“Is—is he a squad member?” Swift Service gasped. “Why is he alone? Amber Spell, why is he alone?!”

“I don’t know! Look, he's almost here, let’s just ask him,” Amber said, moving slowly towards the entrance.

Swift copied Amber’s movement by moving closer to the entrance as well. The fact that this pony was alone was still biting at the back of his mind, he hoped that they had a proper explanation; he was growing tired of unanswered questions.

The stallion was feet away from the opening, but appeared to be slowing down, which in the middle of a raging blizzard, was a surefire way to get killed.

“Hey! Hurry up and get in here!” Amber shouted. Apparently, she also knew this.

Becoming even slower still, it seemed that there was no way the stallion would make it on his own. Swift Service looked over at Amber Spell, who returned the look. Silently, they agreed on the same plan. Together, they marched into the snowstorm, which attacked them with everything it had. After what seemed like it took a lot longer than it should have, the two reached the third. Swift Service hooked his foreleg around the mystery pony’s left foreleg and a slight tug to the right told him that Amber Spell had done the same.

Making sure he had a solid grip on the bulky stallion, Swift Service inched forward. Amber took the lead with the right foreleg and Swift followed her lead with the left. The stallion seemed to be either unconscious or just too tired to move as they weren't helping at all anymore and became harder to move as a result.

After a short few minutes, they re-entered the cave with their guest in tow. Allowing the fellow snow armor clad pony to gently lay on the cave floor, Swift checked his pulse and found a faint beat in response. Sighing in relief, he prepared to tell Amber Spell, but paused as he watched in awe at her prod the pony’s mask repeatedly.

“Having fun there?” he asked sarcastically.

“Just seeing if he'll wake up if I do this long enough,” Amber explained with a deadpan tone.

“Yeah...well have fun doing that for hours—”

“Alright, I'm awake already, you can stop,” the pony said weakly.

Amber practically jumped out of her mask as she backed away from the stallion. Ignoring Amber's reaction, he recognized the stallion as Eye Catcher, a fellow squad member known for womanizing anything that's female. He watched as Eye Catcher stumbled to his hooves, hugging the wall to keep his balance.

“Don’t mind my scratches, if you have questions ask ‘em," said Eye Catcher.

Swift had more questions than he cared to ask anypony, so he let Amber lead their investigation.

“How about you start with explaining where the others are, or maybe you wanna explain why you’re like this first, answer in any order you’d like. I could care less.”

“Your charm is unrivaled milady, I expected you to ask my name first, or maybe buy me dinner first," said the Eye Catcher, starting a laugh that quickly evolved into a cough. His attempt at his usual "charm" was not appreciated.

“Quit fooling around, this is serious!” Swift rushed towards the stallion.

Eye Catcher turned towards Swift Service and looked ready to attack him. Swift was prepared in case any battle broke out, but hoped that it wouldn't. Instead the self-proclaimed mare's stallion sat on his haunches with his head down.

“You're right, I'm sorry, it’s just that...right now I’m just happy to be alive.”

Swift and Amber looked at each other again.

“Sure, but why? What happened to the others?”

“I think you’re smart enough to guess what happened to them if they didn't come back with me,” Eye Catcher said somberly.

His fears confirmed, Swift edged slowly towards the defeated pony.

“What happened?” Swift asked roughly.

“It was huge and i-it just came outta nowhere, I know it sounds impossible, but I’m living proof aren't I?”

It seemed odd to think of the shivering mess on the floor as the womanizing pony they trained with, but whatever happened, it must have been awful. Swift Service calmly trotted past the stallion over to Amber Spell.

“How do you want to handle this?”

“Handle what?”

Swift Service couldn't even believe those words just came out of Amber Spell’s mouth.

“What are you talking about now? We have to do something about this, so many ponies just lost their lives to whatever’s out there and we have to do something about it.”

“Look, if you want to clean up Celestia's mess then good for you, but I wanna keep my life, thank you very much.”

“Ugh, look, this isn't about Celestia—”

“Then make it about her! Send her a report with the spell and let her figure out the rest.” Without another word, Amber Spell once again went back to her corner and searched for her little rock.

Despite her selfishness and negative attitude, she had a point. The only logical thing to do in this situation would be to send an SOS to the princess. He opened his saddlebags and took out a scroll, quill and ink.

“I just had to want a challenge didn't I? Let’s see here, Dearest Princess Celestia, I’m afraid the mission isn't going well...”