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Part 1

A haze. That is the first thing I felt as I came to. I was sore, but thankfully no bones were broken. My vision was blurry, ears ringing slightly. I felt rather energetic for a moment as I awoke. It was strange, but it wasn't painful at the least.

At last, I opened my eyes, and they focused as I sat up.

All around me, was a white, frozen wasteland. I swear, even my bones shivered from the cold, the remorseless winter cracking my skin. I was already numb- and it wasn't good. I looked down at my hand, panicking as the skin began to lose its color. I needed to move to keep my body's heat in, but it was no use. My legs were stiff.

Now I started to truly panic. In the distance, rushing at a full blast, was a wall of snow- a raging blizzard. "It's just a nightmare, it's just a nightmare, it's just a nightmare," I assured myself, before my hands began to burn from the cold. "Hnnng..." I groaned, closing both eyes.

When I opened them again, the wall was almost near me. I managed to finally free myself, and I ran. Each leg burned, still sore from before, but I ran as fast as I possibly could. The storm gained on me quickly. I wanted to swear, but it was hard to breathe, let alone talk at all. The bitter cold was biting at my back, threatening to swallow me whole as my legs begged me to stop.

Soon, thanks to my lack of stamina, I slowed down to take a breather.

It was the worst mistake I had ever made in the entirety of my life.

The temperature dropped far below freezing as snow covered me in little flakes, the cold smashing into me like a minotaur's war-hammer. With little choice in the matter, I fell to my knees due to the stress on my legs. I curled up into a ball, to keep as warm as possible, but the cold was remorseless.

It showed me no mercy. Not that I asked for any, but that storm was being a total piece of shit.

I succumbed to the effects of hypothermia. I want to say that I was totally manly and held out for a few minutes, but in the most were painful seconds of my life. Soon, I passed out.

Never to wake up again.

- - - - Almost a terasecond (32,000 years) later...

Hoofsteps trotted through the snow, leaving a trail. Muffled breaths gave off little clouds of water vapor into the air. It was almost strange, like this place did not want to have sound.

“When are we going to get there!?” a rather muffled, feminine voice shouted.

“Soon! If it weren’t for the blizzard I bet we’d be there already!” an aged, male voice replied, also muffled.

The voices belonged to a student, who was connected by a rope to a professor. Along with those two, a few other students, were all connected to one another by a rope of sorts. It was one big chain- one pony followed in the steps of the one before it. Everypony was wearing thick, protective, fur-lined clothing so that they wouldn’t suffer from the cold. Ski masks and goggles, along with petroleum jelly in their nasal cavities to prevent the cold from damaging the fragile tissue. While there were pesagi in the group, their wings were bundled up under the coats. This left them unable to fly, not that they could with the extreme cold anyway.

Suddenly, the line of rope became tense at the middle, and pulled everyone back as one of the team members screamed. Everypony fell down onto either their sides or their bellies as they went down. The professor tried to hang on as he came to the ledge, but his upper body strength wasn’t sufficient to hold up the team. The ice cracked as they all let out a yell, sliding down into the cave.

Just about ten seconds later, they all stopped sliding, bunching up together. “Is everypony okay!?” the professor asked. The only unicorn in the group started to use magic to help them up.

“Y-yeah...” one after another, they replied.

“Where... are we...?” the one unicorn of the group asked, panting slightly. A bit of light shone through the hole they fell into, but it wasn’t enough.

“We fell into a cave, it seems...” the professor said. “Karma, a light, if you would.”

The unicorn, Karma, nodded. “S-sure thing Indago...” her horn lit up, and the cave was lit.

“Grace, cut the rope. We’re staying here for the night, or until the blizzard settles.” Indago ordered. The pegasus in question nodded, and nuzzled around in her bag after taking it off, taking out a serrated blade. She quickly sawed through the rope on both her front and behind, holding the blade in her mouth as she walked around the pony behind her, cutting the rope. Everyone was free now.

“Professor, I can’t hold this light forever...” Karma warned.

Indago nodded, and took off his pack. He searched through it, until he found an ice pick and two lanterns. “Hold it for a few more minutes, would you?” he asked, as he used the pick to carve out two holders in the wall. He lit the lanterns, and placed them on the holders. They were long-handled lanterns, so they wouldn’t melt through the ice as quickly. “We have a source of light now... who has the kindling? We need a source of heat.”

“Not so fast, Inda, starting a fire in here would require us to be careful. Especially where we placed it- it could cause the ice to melt and collapse the cave. We’d have to make the fire low.” the other pegasus warned. “I suggest we all snuggle to maintain our body heat.”

Grace rolled her eyes at this, almost letting out a chuckle.

“Good point... good point.” Indago replied. “We should have enough supplies to last us a few days. Now I see that the cave extends further down, so I’m going to take a torch and explore. Now I want all of you to stay here, and work on setting up the camp. You can use any supplies you want, but please be sure to moderate your usage... especially with the fire fuel, that’s a necessity that we can’t toy around with.” the aged professor replied. “But I think snuggling is a good idea if we can’t make a fire. I’ve done that in some of my past explorations. Smart thinking, Karma.” he then took out a torch from his pack, and began to descend into the cave.

“Be careful, ‘Prof...” Grace said with concern in her eyes. She, along with the others, were still slightly shaken, but there were other things to worry about. Especially their survival. But, to a couple of them, this was their first foray into exploration. Of course, though, they realized the severity of the situation and helped each other set up the camp.

Indago couldn’t help but crack a small smile at this. “I will.” he replied. He stopped for a moment, taking out the flint and steel from a pocket in his jacket. With an experienced flair, he stroked them together, holding the steel in his mouth and the flint in his hoof. It was a dangerous move --one that almost made him blind in his left eye in the past--, but it created a spark and ignited the torch, illuminating the cave. He placed his flint and steel back in his pocket, and continued on.

The torch was soot covered. Which was a good thing. The earth pony occasionally tapped it hard against the ground, leaving a little bit of soot on the floor. The ice wasn’t melting below his hooves, so he didn’t need to worry. This technique was one he used quite frequently when exploring caves of ice- the soot stood out from the blueish walls and floors. Much like you would place something small behind you when exploring a forest, to find your way back.

The ground beneath the professor cracked. His trained ear and heightened sense of touch (and the fact that he was magically connected to the earth, due to him being an earth pony) felt the weak ground, even before it collapsed. He slid across the floor, looking back. It was a plummet into pure darkness- to where, nopony knew. Or wanted to know, for that matter.

He smirked, silently thanking Celestia for bestowing the gifts he had upon him. “Alright...” he ventured on, not stopping for a minute. Soon, he came to the end of the cave. It was one large room.

In the center of it was a lump of ice- a large one. It was formed in a very strange way, as though the ice was wrapping around something. The icy, ovaleptical room looked as though it was almost sheltering it from the cold. The rest of the cavern was made of brownish mineral and had ice as well, but it seemed to be made of stalactites. Eyes trained back on odd ice, he inspected it as he moved closer. There was something inside of it, that much he could tell.

Upon further inspection, his eyes widened. It was a body. Not only was it a body- it was wearing clothes. Its skin was pale, almost grey, from being frozen. Perfectly preserved in ice. “By the sun...” Indago took off his goggles, getting a better look at it. It was a bipedal creature- skinnier and shorter than a minotaur, but taller and wider than a chimpanzee. Its muzzle was also much smaller than anything he had ever seen. It was wearing what appeared to be a helmet, and some joint guards. Through the visor of the helmet, the creature appeared to be frozen while he was crying. “This must be the disturbance...” he muttered to himself.

A good question was, why would anypony be biking in the Frozen North?! And an even better question- why was this thing looking so fashionable? And how long had it been here?

The explorer began to formulate a plan in his head. Once he and his team returned to the train station, he would take a ride to Canterlot. After the others returned to their homes, of course.

Indago took out a compass, and marked the coordinates to the exact location down in his memory. He had an excellent memory, so he knew he wouldn’t forget it.

He began his ascension to the camp. He needed his rest, as he was getting rather exhausted. Then again, he had gone back into the cave to look for a way out.

- - - - Two Weeks Ago, in Appaloosa...

Indago never really understood why he loved living in Appaloosa. Maybe it was because he grew up there, and earned his cutie mark there. He just liked the town. The folk were friendly, and that’s all he ever needed.

He woke up, after a great night’s sleep. Indago yawned longingly, looking over to smile at his wife. He pecked her on the cheek sweetly, and got out of bed, stretching his limbs out. “Good morning...” his wife’s lovely voice said.

“Mornin’ honey.” Indago replied. “Rest well?”

She turned over, and nodded, yawning a bit. “Mhm...”

The explorer smiled at his wife, and walked out of the bedroom. He owned a small home, nothing too fancy, nothing too rural. It was casual, what could you expect from the town on the border of the wild southwest? He walked through the small living room, and out into the main hallway of the two-story home. Indago opened the front door, and trotted outside. He flipped open his mailbox, and pulled out a scroll.

But this was no ordinary scroll. It had the royal seal on it, not to mention the royal pegasi messenger waiting there for a response. What would the Princesses want with an old legend like him? “Thank you... sir,” Indago spoke. The messenger must have come only a minute before he came outside.

“A pleasure.” he replied.

His eyes widened, and he opened the scroll, taking it back into his home to read it over a cup of straight, strong coffee.

“Dear professor Indago Trail,

I, Princess Celestia of Equestria, send you this letter on the behalf of a deal. I have taken notice of your extraordinary skills as an explorer. I also know that you are not currently in your prime years- but I must ask you, as you are the most experienced explorer available, to escort a team of students through the Frozen North.

Normally, I would only send you alone to investigate this, but the head of the Equestrian University of Exploration and Archaeology asked me personally to send a team of rather inexperienced students along with you. This will give them the true experience of exploration. This is not just a learning experience, either. I need you to investigate a disturbance in the Frozen North.

You will be paid accordingly if you accept this offer. The UEA will provide you with any gear you and your team will require.”

“A disturbance...?”

- - - - Present Time, the Frozen North...

“Alright,” Indago Trail said as he returned to the camp, grabbing the attention of the students. “I found what I was sent for.” he informed the group.

“What did you find?” Karma asked, head cocked at the explorer.

“A body of a strange creature, encased in ice. I’m estimating that the ice is ancient- the creature was preserved like putting venison in a salt cooler.” when Indago was in the Gryphon Kingdom, he tried a delicacy- venison. He enjoyed it, especially after being marinated and slow-cooked. It was strange, since ponies were typically herbivores.

“Venison? Ew, you ate meat?” Grace asked in slight disgust.

“I was over in the Gryphon Kingdom when that happened.” he replied. “It was actually quite good.”

The others merely ignored the information, but thought about it. The pegasus stuck her tongue out in disgust and shook her head, making Karma chuckle a little bit.

Until she was hit by a drop of spit in the face. “Say it, don’t spray it, Grace!”

All of the team members had taken off their hoods and masks before he returned, since they got a fire up and going. A low, well-placed fire- odd, given the amount of air flowing through the cave. Then again, the camp wasn’t that far down; the hole was just about nine feet above their heads. Luckily, though, the bitter cold didn’t seep through into the cave so much, as the hill the cave was planted in was curved. Sleeping bags were set up as well, close but not too close to the flames.

“Well everypony, I gotta get some rest... we’ll continue on tomorrow. And, if anypony wakes up before me, use my pick to check if the blizzard’s passed by, if ‘ya would.” Indago snuggled-up into the covers, and shut both eyes.

Sooner or later, the others were huddled together, talking in whispers around the fire, as to not wake the aged professor. It seemed that they took to the idea idea of snuggling as responible adults. By totally making couples. “Y’know, I actually want to go see that creature...” Grace smirked.

“Oh please, I bet you’d scream your head off.” Karma remarked with a sly smile.

Grace frowned slightly. “Oh yeah? I bet you would too.”

“Girls, we... don’t even know what the creature looks like, so we can’t go around making assumptions.” the other pegasus reasoned.

“Good point Raincatcher...” Karma said.

Grace nodded in agreement, before yawning. “Well... I’m pooped.” she sighed, before trotting quietly over to the sleeping bag to the right of Indago’s. She slipped into it, and snuggled up. “Night, girls.”

“I’ll stay up and watch over the fire.” Karma said to Raincatcher.

“Okay... I’m not that tired though, so I’ll stay up with you.” the pegasus said. “Everypony needs a bit of company, afterall...”

“Yeah.” Karma smiled.

A few hours passed. Every so often, Karma would stoke the fire as they spoke quietly. Soon, Karma yawned. “I’m getting a bit tired... I’ll stay up a bit longer, then I’m going to sleep.”

Raincatcher nodded. “Okay, I’ll stay up for most of the night, then get a few hours of sleep, I guess.” she was still not tired; her sleeping schedule had been messed-up after going to a big party and passing out at four in the morning, waking up at two in the afternoon. Right now, it was just coming to midnight.

Outside the cave, the blizzard continued to rage on throughout the night.

- - - - The Trail's Home, Appaloosa, Present Time...

Mrs. Trail sat in her living room, a warm fire going in the wood stove. She was enjoying a cup of herbal tea. On the coffee table in front of her, she spied the scroll that her husband, Indago read. She levitated it and unrolled it to read it, as she was a unicorn. Her husband did inform her that he was leaving, but why and where were a mystery.

“Dear professor Indago...” she read the letter aloud. “Normally, I’d send you alone to investigate this... head of the UEA asked me personally to send a team of rather inexperienced students along with you...” she continued reading. “... to investigate a disturbance in the Frozen North?” Mrs. Trail stopped reading the letter, and thought aloud, “But why send an inexperienced team to do something so important? Shouldn’t the royal guard be sent to deal with something like that...? Or the Elements of Harmony even? Why would she even think of sending my husband without consulting me...? Isn’t he supposed to be retired?”

“Wait, what is the disturbance that would make Princess Celestia herself worry?” None of this was making sense...

Author's Note:

"Any criminal activity in this story is NOT condoned by me in any way."

"I try to be open to criticism, but I would appreciate it if you didn't come off as forceful or, demanding of a change. That's all I ask for. And by demanding I mean literal demanding, not just asking. Asking is fine, I'll try to get back to you."

- ZTB.

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