Phantasmare

by Emperor

Stasis: Iceheart

“So what were the deerfolk like?”

“The deer are mostly a gentle race. The bucks can be quick to anger, but their rage subsides quickly, and it’s rare for them to hold a grudge. Few of them practice magic, but what few shamans they do have share a lot in common with the zebra.”

“What about their kingdom?”

“Their kingdom has many forests, dark green as far as the eye can see, fruits and flowers of a thousand different colours, and streams that are so clear you can see the individual rocks on the riverbed. It's, it's like you can achieve inner peace within a few hours of staying in one of their forests, but a deer can feel just as home on a meadow as they would under the trees.”

The early morning excitement had faded away, and as day passed into evening, Trixie found she was no longer the one asking questions, and instead the one being interrogated as she had let slip that she had traveled extensively. Fortunately, Trixie was armed with many tales to tell, and she quickly fell into the camaraderie of the Crystal ponies around the dinner table, regaling them with gusto of her adventures in far-flung lands.

The Crystal Ponies had lost out on a thousand years of history, and they eagerly ate up her every word. These were the ponies that Trixie especially felt good about entertaining when that had been her career, the ones who lived in isolated places with little to do. That they were filling up her secondary pool of magic in their enraptured state didn’t hurt.

“If I ever get a vacation, I’d much love to take a trip overseas,” Snowpeak sighed. After he had been looked over by the nurse and given a clear billing, followed by his report, he had become acquainted with Trixie and Noire. A Crystal Earth pony, he had a dark blue coat with a mane of pure white, his crystalline body practically glittering. “Maybe a big island somewhere, someplace that has a high mountain and a jungle lower down.”

“Perhaps Haywaii?” Trixie suggested. “I’ve never been there, it’s an island chain formed from several volcanos, only two of which are active now. The inactive volcanos formed large, wide mountains, and there’s several tropical rainforests. It’s only about two days sailing from western Equestria.”

“Maybe. I’ll have to look into it,” Snowpeak said. “The Imperial government prefers us to abstain on collecting our pay so long as we have room and board here. From my understanding, they are still not quite finished converting to Equestrian currency.”

“It’s a slow process,” Diamond Dust said from across the table, having just finished off a piece of fish. “But we’re getting there.”

“Canterlot was what, barely a village on a mountain a thousand years ago?” Noire spoke up. “I guess some of you might have visited the old castle in the Everfree when it was the seat of the Princesses.”

“I did, at least. I remember it well, and it feels strange to have heard from others that it is now a run-down and abandoned castle, in the middle of an outgrown forest. I visited a few times as a courier between the Empire and Equestria before Sombra took over. While the Everfree existed at the time, it was merely a bigger version of the other forests I went to over the years in Equestria. It had wide paths and large clearings though, and ponies put effort into cultivating the individual trees and flowers. They let the flora grow on its own in other areas,” Iceheart said. "On occasion, you would be able to see some of the larger creatures such as an Ursa Minor out foraging for food from the forest. It was a rare treat to see an Ursa Major, something I never got to do, unfortunately."

Trixie shivered at the mention of the Ursa clan. Even years later, she would still wake up in the night, having broken out in a cold sweat, the yellow-and-red eyes of the star bear forever haunting her.

"It's apparently gotten a little bit better over the last few years. The Castle in the Everfree Forest is off-limits, though I expect there's probably the occasional looter and vagrant there, I don't think it's enforced that much," Noire said.

They probably think all the monsters in there would keep ponies away...unless you're a pair of foolish, idiotic colts, Trixie thought.

"Maybe when we finally get out of here, we can start a tourism company of our own?," Powder Blue suggested. "I'm sure there must be at least a few ponies and creatures of the other races who would view the north as an adventure, rather than just someplace that is really cold."

Diamond Dust wrinkled his nose at the suggestion, and he said, "That would seem to be more Polaris' thing, you know how he loves mountain climbing. A few more years of service, then I think I'll have had enough time outside the dome for a lifetime."

"There is the abandoned outpost east of here," Iceheart mused. "That would be better to launch expeditions of whatever sort from. There is no Windigo ice in the way from there."

It was amazing how, even under what were grueling conditions in the frozen beyond, the Crystal Ponies were still able to freely banter with ease. Trixie envied that of them. They had gone through a shared hardship, and showed no signs of being forced to their knees by their continuing duty. She might have been like that, had she graduated from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and achieved what had been but a fleeting dream of working in a research laboratory, butting heads with others over magical theory.

No, Trixie scolded herself. She needed to continue looking forward, never backwards. That way laid a pile of disasters she needed to leave behind.

The food disappeared all too quickly. Despite the limited variety, Powder Blue and her assistant did phenomenal work with butter and spices, and Trixie found herself wanting for more. If she tried hard enough, she could almost will the illusion of the taste of cooked vegetables onto her tongue, satisfying her pangs. After quickly helping to clean up, Trixie and Noire found themselves retiring for the night back to their room.

---

“Whew,” Noire let out a breath as she opened the door back up to their private quarters again, walking in. “I didn’t even know you went to the Minotaur country once.”

“It was something. Seeing that yeti this morning reminded me a little bit of seeing a minotaur wrestling match once. Because they stood on their hind legs and charged at one another, that is.”

“I wonder who would win in a wrestling match between a minotaur and Iceheart,” Noire said as she closed the doors.

“Likely Iceheart,” Trixie said. “I worked with an Earth pony once who was able to crush boulders with her bare hooves. Unless the minotaur was as trained as Maud Pie was, he wouldn’t be as strong as Iceheart.”

“Well, there’s more to wrestling than raw strength,” argued Noire. “A minotaur would have superior reach, and a pony with her smaller size would have a difficult time pinning a minotaur down. She would have to deliver a decisive first blow to leave him winded, and a minotaur is going to be far smarter than a yeti is.”

The amusing argument the two had going between them was interrupted by a knock on the door. Noire looked over at Trixie, and the two exchanged a look in which neither knew who it was. Noire gave a brief shrug before going over to open the door.

The batpony was surprised as she saw who had been knocking. “Oh, Commander Iceheart,” Noire said. “What can we do for you?”

Iceheart practically glided in, looking around the room. “I wanted to make sure your accommodations were acceptable,” the purple-coated Crystal pony said. “We do not get very many visitors out here, and I endeavor to make certain every pony who does at least has a comfortable time of it.”

“Well, it’s an old castle, though that’s chronologically. I don’t know how physically old it actually is, but what I mean is that a lot of the building technology here is outdated. I don’t know how many creature comforts your ponies are allowed to have, but I would have expected there to be at least warm water. I was able to heat it up with magic, but still,” Trixie commented.

“So I have heard before,” Iceheart said, not appearing to take any offense. “We had many magical glyphs engraved into the building, but the stasis adversely affected them. When we returned, we quickly repaired and repowered the ones that were responsible for the castle’s defense. When it comes to those that are for more personal use, we repaired what was required for our reduced garrison.”

“So these rooms didn’t get fixed up?” Noire asked.

“That is correct. All the unicorns who were competent have since left. In Sombra’s Empire, we never hosted ponies before, so we never expected the occasional tourist we got. I am glad that you were at least able to get warm water, albeit through a roundabout method.”

Trixie frowned, For a commander she is being unusually talkative with us. Why is that?

It didn’t take long for her to realise it. After all, Noire had said as much directly to Iceheart the day before. The Crystal Earth pony was lonely.

She had commanded a half a thousand ponies, only for nineteen out of every twenty to leave after losing a thousand years to history. Of those who remained, they looked up to her far too much for her to confide in. In this strange new world, the only other possible home she could go to resented her.

Trixie didn’t know if Iceheart was repressing her emotions, or if her near-perfect composure was simply the way she was. What Trixie knew was that life had dealt Iceheart a sad set of circumstances.

That’s it, isn’t it? She’s a lot like me. My desire to learn magic was ended by a fluke of bad luck. I bounced back though, but…My new, simple dream of travelling and bringing joy to other ponies was crushed in that miserable little hamlet. After father’s death, for two years, I hid myself away from the world. I had friends to confide in in Whinnychester, but none who knew our family’s closest-held secret, and how that changed almost everything.

“You didn’t come here just to talk to us about our room, did you?” Trixie asked.

Iceheart bowed her head at Trixie's words. Having been found out, she said, "You didn't just come here for research on Windigos either, did you?"

"It was the main reason," Noire said. "Not specifically research but, well, my tribe is tightly-knit, and we carry many ancestral memories with us. We remember the terror of the Windigos better than others do. I decided to come out here, with Trixie's help, to see what was going on first-hoof."

"That seems more plausible. Truthfully, however, I did not come to talk about that. Rather, I was more interested in hearing some more about your travails," Iceheart said, gesturing at Trixie. "It sounds as if you have journeyed across a large swathe of the continent, if not beyond."

"I've never been off the continent, but I have been across Equestria, as well as some of the neighboring countries."

"Yes, and I notice you never truly mentioned just what it was that you did while travelling, how you supported yourself. Were you a writer, perhaps? It is difficult to follow your prose sometimes, we are a thousand years out of date after all, but you painted some vivid descriptions."

Trixie said, "Not quite, but you're close. I was a travelling showpony. In some areas, I would show off magic tricks that were well beyond the capability of any local unicorn. In other locations, I would use magic and props to re-enact plays. Sometimes, such as here, I would merely speak as a storyteller, whether of legends and myths or of what I have seen wherever I have gone. It all came down to the culture of the location, really."

"And I truly appreciate that you came here, all the same," Iceheart said. "The ponies here are tough to have stayed here as long as they have, but even though they are my friends, I would not want them to stay here one minute longer if the Empire were to ever send us new ponies."

"Even you?"

A flash of emotion passed through Iceheart's eyes, almost too quick for Trixie to see. It wasn't annoyance, but Trixie didn't have enough time to quite analyse it, and Iceheart was always a hard pony to read. She was so well-composed, even the senses of the Changeling Trixie had inherited from her father were hard-pressed to get a feel for Iceheart. Whatever it had been, it didn't make it into Iceheart's voice, her tone the same warm near-monotone as always. "When my body begins to age and I can no longer patrol the north and deflect the wild creatures, I suppose. So long as that Windigo ice remains, however, I will be here. There simply is no other pony who can tolerate this cold as well as I can."

Trixie scrunched her muzzle. Even though she's said it before, what a depressing outlook...I feel for her, isn't there anything I could do? There wasn't, really. The Crystal Ponies had told her nopony known could destroy the Windigo ice. The Princesses might be able to, but Trixie was no Princess.

Wait...wasn't there one thing?

"You know, when I was travelling, I also learned magic from other ponies and even the other races. Not all magic was compatible with unicorns, and it was all informal learning, with no real direction. I might be talented in one field, and laughable in another," Trixie said, quickly drawing attention from both Iceheart and Noire. Even though the three had already been huddled in conversation, the way Trixie was speaking implied an intense subject matter. "However, something that I truly enjoyed, something I was able to easily do, was illusions."

"Illusions?" Iceheart asked, even as Noire frowned beside her.

"Yes, illusions. At its most basic, an illusion is a deception. It's possible to create an illusion without magic, through sleight-of-hoof techniques. When it comes to magic, however, there's a field full of depth and breadth. When I put on shows, I used illusions for the sight and sound components. Most wouldn't think of something like that as an illusion, but it is."

Trixie's horn shone, and then suddenly, in the air, there appeared an Ursa Minor. Trixie could feel her heart beating, could hear the rapid pulsing of blood in her head, but a rational mind reassured the body that this was merely something she had conjured up, and wasn't real. It was only a foot long, too, nowhere near the size of the real Ursa Minor. Trixie swallowed, and she said, "Something like this, a dozen times over, and you have a play. Many rural areas don't have a theatre—er, do you know what a theatre is?"

"Originally, it was a place where actors acted out a story, typically directed by a playwright on a stage with the use of props and magic. Today, in modern lingo, it is a place where ponies gather to watch a series of pictures scrolling at fast speed from a projector to create the impression of a seamless image called a movie," Iceheart said. The face cracked, though it was an expression of uncertainty than any real emotion. "Right?"

"That's—well, that's technically true," Noire said, biting a lip. "The real experience is far different than describing it, however."

"Right, well, um, most rural places don't have a theatre, so I provide them entertainment. But each of those illusions are temporary. They only last as long as the spellcaster fuels them with magic. Some spells can be anchored to continue indefinitely so long as there is a source of power. But some spells are so strong that they're essentially permanent, unless they can be dispelled by a magician even more talented at illusions."

This time, Noire was definitely alarmed, her eyes wide and eyebrows furled, lips open even as her teeth were clenched.

"I think the Witch King did something like that once, to hide the Crystal Heart. What I am told was that he used dark magic to achieve the effect, however," Iceheart said in a questioning tone.

"What I do definitely isn't dark magic," Trixie hastened to explain, as the Ursa Minor disappeared. Given the exposure of the Crystal ponies to King Sombra, it would be unwise to talk too much about anything they might reasonably compare to his own powers, and so Trixie needed to clear that up quickly. "Dark magic leaves a taint on a pony, and I've never used dark magic." It was a truth with a hole wide enough to pull a cart through. Even if she hadn't used dark magic itself, she had definitely once and still been affected by a dark magic artifact.

Iceheart narrowed her eyes. The talk of dark magic had appeared to really shake her. There was a tantalising hint of something lurking below the surface. When her father was alive, Trixie would sometimes describe to him her feelings of the emotions of others in colours, but this was a drab grey, lacking any identifying features. Still, Trixie could all too easily read the 'Go on' in the expression.

So she did. "Illusions, specifically magical illusions, isn't really a field that gets much attention by unicorns, or other races. It's a finicky thing to use beyond what I just did there with the Ursa Minor, which is why I doubt what Sombra used was even an illusion, but likely something else like a suggestion spell to influence ponies to not looking to deep into where ever his hidden passage was. I assume that's what it was anyways, since you said he hid the Heart away. Only those who delve deep into the field and get experience with it can truly move beyond the basics. I did so many plays and tinkered so much I was even able to get a coveted slot at the Greatest Outdoor Show in Equestria."

"I see. That sounds impressive, at least," Iceheart said. "If you stay much longer, perhaps you can do a full show for my ponies. I am certain we can clear out a space large enough for you to perform if you require it."

"That's a possibility," Trixie said. "But, well, for so long, I never really stepped out of my comfort zone. I specialised in my illusions, but I lacked the desire, the ambition to delve deeper. Until recently," she said, and swallowed, nervousness causing pinpricks of sensation on her forehead. "Recently, I was one of the very few who have been able to create a permanent illusion. I changed how something looks permanently. The only way anypony could tell otherwise is if he or she suspected there was an illusion, and was also powerful enough to dispel it. Maybe the Princesses could do it, but I don't know of anypony else powerful enough to do such a thing today." Trixie had, after all, used the power of the black moon to anchor Noire's new form.

"Trixie," Noire said, deathly calm. Trixie, however, could feel the damp-like fear lurking under the surface. Noire's eyes were narrowed, looking almost like the slit eyes some ponies for some reason thought bat ponies had. "Just what are you talking about?"

"Yes, I am curious, myself," Iceheart added. "While what you describe sounds intriguing, I am uncertain what relevance this has, given we were originally talking about the north."

"It took me quite some time, but the pieces are finally beginning to click together in my head," Trixie said. "I read a book recently that provided the final spark, but I know how to extend the power of illusions even further. An illusion is something meant to deceive somepony else, but even if nobody is still looking, it's still active. One could almost say that an illusion is attempting to trick reality."

Noire frowned. She was still angry, but now she too was curious about what Trixie was trying to say. "But an illusion only fools the senses, right? If you cast an illusion to hide an object, the thing is still there. If it's really good, you might be able to make a pony think something isn't there even if she can feel it, but that's it. If you create the illusion of a door over a wall, then a pony is still going to walk into a wall when she attempts to go through the door."

"And you would be correct. But what if an illusion could go beyond even that?" Trixie asked, looking over at Iceheart to see if the Crystal pony was following. To the commander's credit, Iceheart's eyes weren't glazed over like other ponies did when Trixie attempted to discuss magical theory with them, and she was nodding along with their conversation. "What if an illusion was so intricate, and so powerful that instead of merely creating the impression of your eponymous door in the wall, there actually was a door in the wall? An illusion so great that it actually does fool the world itself. No, more than even that, it wouldn't so much fool the world as basically make it believe there always was a door there. 'This is the way things were and always have been therefore this is the way things are', so to speak."

"That sounds less like illusions and more like...well, I'm not a unicorn, so I never had a reason to study magic in-depth outside of what the Windigos used and cold tolerance, but that certainly does not sound like an illusion," Iceheart said. "Well, it does sound genuinely interesting. But once more, what does that have to do with your being here?"

"I'm getting to that," Trixie said. Walking over to a small table, she found what she was looking for. "Say, what is the temperature in here?"

"Almost all rooms in the castle that are in use are set to around 530 degrees Flankine, with magical controls keeping it close to that level. This room doesn't have the magical control, so it should be slightly cooler. It seems to be rather warm in here, however. Did you keep the fireplace in here running earlier?" Iceheart asked.

Trixie walked over, hoofing Iceheart what she had found: a thermostat, measured out in an ancient temperature system that had gone defunct hundreds of years ago. The scale was reading over 560 degrees Flankine. "The reading on that gauge is no illusion. Or rather, it is an illusion, but it's not one on the thermostat. To do that, I'd have to cast a visual illusion over the thermostat, then use another spell to convince everypony through their tactile senses that it's getting warmer. Instead, I am convincing the world itself that the temperature in this world is 560 degrees Flankine, and the world is corroborating my illusion."

"This seems all to easy to deduce," Iceheart said. "You are using a heating spell."

Trixie shook her head, and she said, "Not a heating spell. Let me see...here," Trixie said, picking up a small snow globe off another table, presumably left here by a past tourist. With little fanfare, she set the globe on the floor. Trixie's horn glowed a pale violet, and the same colour of violet briefly enveloped the snow globe. "Here, try picking this up."

Iceheart frowned, "I don't see what purpose..." Iceheart trailed off, gripping the snow globe with a hoof, and then picking it up. Or at least, she attempted to. "What the..." Sitting down on her haunches, Iceheart used both front hooves to get a better feel for the globe, only to fail once more. Looking up at Trixie, she said, "It's not attached the floor. What is going on here, exactly?" Iceheart had her brows furled, in the first clear look of frustration Trixie had ever seen on the Crystal Earth pony. Iceheart's confusion flickered around the edges of Trixie's senses.

"Right now, that snow globe weighs several hundred kilograms. I have fooled the world into believing that that is the amount it must weigh," Trixie said. "If you don't mind me chipping the floor in here a little bit..." Casting magic again, she lifted up the snow globe. Then she stopped her magic from holding it in the air.

BAM!

"Commander, are you alright?!" Aurora asked, in the room within moments. She had been quick on her hooves, going from her guard position outside the room to opening the door and getting inside.

"I-yes, I'm alright," Iceheart said, not removing her eyes from in front of her.

The snow globe had shattered once it fell, a small amount of water and glass sprayed around the floor. What was more important to Iceheart was the solid chip of rock that had been scored off with the snow globe's impact.

"Trixie here was just giving me a demonstration of something magic. That is all. I apologise Aurora, I should have thought to inform you beforehoof so that you would not be alarmed."

Aurora took a deep breath in. A lifetime of developing observation skills allowed Trixie to tell that the other mare was deep into her fight-or-flight response: quick, rapid breaths, diluted pupils and twitchy muscles. Internally, Aurora was a chaotic whirlwind of emotions, panic, fear, excitement and surprise in her own unique mixture. To Aurora's credit, she had been nevertheless composed, and her frame became steady with calm breathing. "Very well, commander," the green-furred pegasus said as she retreated out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

Iceheart watched her leave, before turning around. Taking a brief glance at the water and glass over the floor, Iceheart looked back up at Trixie and said, "I do not know how difficult it would be, but it would seem to me magic to manipulate the mass, or perhaps the gravity exerted on an object would exist. But I do not believe you are trying to lie to me either, so what was the point of showing this to me?"

Trixie felt her throat run dry. It was now or never. She had already revealed her ability to Iceheart, now she would have to put herself out there. "I think, theoretically, I might be able to do something about the Windigo ice using my magic."

Iceheart attempted to reply, only to stop right before she could speak her first word. Her mouth hang open slightly, eyes as impassive as ever. Seconds passed, before finally Iceheart said, "Oh, was that all?"

Was that all? Trixie wanted to say most magicians would have been stunned if they even understood the ramifications of what she had done, but she was cut off as Iceheart laughed for the first time Trixie and Noire had been in her presence.

It wasn't a nice laugh. It was short, to-the-point, and bitter. It was so full of hurt that Trixie's heart nearly broke just listening to it, and it was coupled with a torrent of rage that had broken over the dam surrounding Iceheart's heart. "Who put you up to this?" Iceheart asked, her voice growing as cold as her as the barren outdoors. "Somepony thought it would be funny to send a pony to get my hopes up even for a second? Was it Frostbite? Or maybe it was that accursed Snow Sigil? Did they put this idea into your head, or did you know about their intentions and went along with the whole thing?!" Iceheart's voice grew louder and louder, until she was almost hollering, and Trixie was surprised Aurora hadn't come running back in yet.

"I-it wasn't somepony else's idea!" Trixie said hastily. Trixie was surprised. She thought she was good at standing up against others, but here she was, intimated by a seething Crystal pony. "I really mean it! I can really change how objects are supposed to be with illusions! That's why I think I can maybe destroy the ice!"

"Really? Really?!" Iceheart asked mockingly. Her jaw was clenched, the sinews of her neck visibly bulging. "I have tolerated those ponies in the Empire because they directly suffered under Sombra's rule. I accepted their resentment, but I did not realise they were so immature as to constantly harass me even from afar, and nearly banish me in all but name." The Crystal Earth pony had fully lost her composure, pacing back and forth across the floor, unminding of the water and shattered glass, occasionally swiping at the air with a hoof. "Perhaps they should come up here and see how they like exposure to the Windigo Ice. I highly doubt most of them would last five minutes vis-a-vis with a Windigo itself."

Bringing her hoof up to tug a lock of her white mane, Iceheart made to rant again, only to pause, jaw once more left hanging open. She quickly snapped it shut, and with a single breath, Iceheart's composure was restored, albeit with fissures and cracks not unlike the ice she was named after. Trixie could still feel Iceheart's anger, but now it was condensed, wound up again, perhaps waiting years before it could uncoil again in the heat of a moment. "I apologise that you had to see that. You aren't from the Empire, and it would be unlike them to recruit a foreigner into their schemes. Regardless, you said something about getting rid of the Windigo ice." Iceheart narrowed her eyes, as suspicious as any pony had a right to be under the circumstances given Trixie's claim to being able to perform a miracle, and she said, "I find that incredibly dubious. Even if what you say about your magic is true, I doubt it would work on an object the scale of the Windigo ice. Remember that the ice is also resistant to magic, so that is assuming you can even affect it in the first place with a spell."

Not just her throat, now Trixie's tongue was dry too. It was as if she had been chewing sand: all the moisture in her mouth had disappeared, and she found herself unable to speak. She was at an impasse, having foolishly revealed a new talent that even Noire had known little of, and squandering her goodwill with her host, all to achieve something Trixie was unsure she could even pull off. Why had she even spoken up about this?

Trixie looked around, fidgeting in place, trying to look anywhere other than Iceheart's face. It was of no use: Noire, the only other pony in the room, was also frowning. She wasn't happy either.

Wait. Maybe that was it. Forgive me, Noire, Trixie thought to herself. I hate to do this, but this might be the only way to convince Iceheart otherwise. Was she a foolish pony who still hadn't learned her lesson to be doubling down like this? Perhaps those above could tell her, but Trixie only had her own wits coupled with the empathy she had honed over a lifetime of being able to sense emotions without requiring them for sustenance. There was a chance she could help this pony and the entire garrison stationed here, and Trixie would forever feel guilty if she backed down now. Her conscience would haunt her with the question 'Could I have done something?' Trixie didn't want that, and questions of selfishness and selflessness be damned.

"This may sound a little bit of an odd question, but have you ever heard of the Changelings?"

Iceheart didn't frown, but she did cock her head as she said, "Of course. A strange subclass of equines with vaguely beetle-like features, capable of perfectly taking the shape of a pony, and feeding off the emotions of others. They were around before the stasis in small numbers, though Sombra executed any he found within the kingdom. It seems they hid away from the world at large shortly after we disappeared, and emerged for an invasion of Canterlot right before we reappeared."

Trixie stood up high, no longer slouching. Locking her gaze with Iceheart's blue eyes, she said, "Not every Changeling belongs to the hive that invaded Canterlot. A small number of Changelings married ponies over the year. I should know. My father was a Changeling and my mother was a pony."

Noire had by this time backed up slightly, head darting back and forth. Trixie flashed her a brief glance meant to be reassuring, before turning back to Iceheart. The commander was visibly surprised, as she said, "The child of a Changeling and a pony? I have heard of them, though they were rare. They were as anathema to the King as Changelings themselves were, and those who fled the Empire before the stasis would have died long ago."

Trixie breathed, relieved. She had gambled on Iceheart being mostly agnostic about Changelings, given her background as a Crystal pony, who had not reappeared until after the failed wedding in Canterlot, and adjusting to this strange new world. Now to press forward. "Yes, and I am one of them. I cannot transform like a Changeling has, not even close. But I was fascinated with my father's ability to transform. It isn't a simple illusion, either. Changelings actually change wholesale, their entire physical form morphs to imitate a pony or other species. But father said it is in fact an illusion, albeit an advanced one, but also one he does automatically without thinking. He never even thought to attempt to reverse-engineer, and I never thought to ask him before he died. But it's thanks to him I even was interested in illusions, and it might be because he was a Changeling that I even inherited some talent."

"Hmmm," Iceheart said, lowering her head until it almost touched the floor. The Crystal Earth pony was oddly retrospective, standing silent for a few minutes, before she at last brought her head back up and said, "You really think you might actually be able to do something to that Windigo ice?"

"Think," Trixie stressed, not wanting to oversell herself now that she seemed to have gotten Iceheart's ear. "I don't know for a fact. I could easily get rid of regular ice, but I don't know about magical ice." That, and no matter what she tried, using the spell on an animate thing such as an insect always fizzled out. Was there something about living creatures that resisted a change in reality?

"Very well. Get a good night's sleep. We will leave in the morning."

Trixie's head jerked in surprise, looking back up at Iceheart. "Pardon?"

"You wanted to go see the Windigo ice closer up. I will take you there, and Noire as well if she desires. The snowstorm should be tame tomorrow, so that is the best time to go. Unless you believe you need another day to prepare before heading out?"

Just like that? Trixie thought. A brief thought flitted through her mind, that Iceheart intended to take them out there to kill Trixie and perhaps Noire, but nothing she felt from the other pony hinted at deception. Granted, Trixie was no Changeling, and her senses were muted in comparison to her father's, but they hadn't failed her yet.

"No, I don't need another day. If I can't do it tomorrow, an extra day's practice is unlikely to help me the next day."

Iceheart regarded Trixie coolly. Finally, she said, "In that event, I hope you succeed. I would love to be rid of that accursed ice." With that, Iceheart turned around, pushing the door open, and trotting out. As she closed the door, Trixie could hear Iceheart and Aurora talking, though their words were muffled.

Trixie was immediately spun around, Noire having accosted her to do so. "What. Was. That?" Noire hissed. Trixie was nearly overwhelmed by a complex swirl of emotions emanating from Noire that she could only describe as a powerful feeling of being betrayed.

"She's a kindred soul, Noire," Trixie said. "She's spent so much time already here. Ponies don't think there's much of value in holding a fortress this far north when there's nothing but snow around. Even some of the ponies here think the same, but Iceheart doesn't care. She's determined to stay here until she dies so long as the ice is a potential threat."

"That's still not what I was talking about!" Noire said, thumping Trixie's chest with a hoof every few syllables. The batpony was visibly agitated, with her wings buzzing fast enough to generate a high pitch noise. "I was talking about your fool decision to talk about my appearance and our heritage!"

Trixie had figured as much. Keeping her voice calm and level so as to not agitate Noire any further, Trixie said, "I only mentioned that I had created a permanent illusion, not on who I had cast it. I didn't even say that it was a who I cast it on, it's far more likely to infer what I cast it on. The same for our heritage: I only said that I was the daughter of a Changeling. I never mentioned anything about you."

"She'll be suspicious anyways," Noire argued. "She'll wonder if I knew about you, and then she'll wonder about me, and from there it's not too much to put two and two together and think my dad was a Changeling too which, oh right, he was."

"If we fail, she'll still be here, at the castle. She seems unlikely to tell anypony else given her detachment from the world and not being around for the Changeling invasion. I doubt the ponies here are on orders to report any potential Changelings. If we succeed, Iceheart might leave, but she'll be too grateful to report us, especially since again, we're not even actual Changelings."

"Not if we succeed, if you succeed," Noire said, gritting her teeth together. Her body was tense. Noire closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she exhaled. Noire's entire body trembled with the deep breath out, as she relaxed her rigid pose. Opening her eyes, Noire said, "You think you actually have a chance, then? You can actually physically alter objects, not through transformation spells, but by convincing reality that an illusion isn't an illusion, that it's actually real? Really?"

"I know it sounds like bunk," Trixie admitted. "But no, it's actually real. Even before you came to Whinnychester, I already had an inkling that illusions might actually able to change reality itself. When I was able to permanently anchor the spell on you, my suspicions were confirmed: your actual Cutie Mark changed, something that merely changing your looks wouldn't have been able to. I toyed with it, and made a breakthrough shortly before we left as I was able to change a small wooden cube I had sitting around. I wasn't entirely honest a few days ago about that book I found, the one written by Blackbeak: his words on reality being a shared illusion might actually have some truth to them."

Noire brought a hoof up to her forehead, pressing it hard to stave off an incoming migraine. She had to think about this.

It wasn't really much of a decision. Setting her hoof back down, Noire said, "I'm coming with you tomorrow."

Trixie was relieved at that. "I was hoping you might, and worried you wouldn't. Thank you," she said, bringing her own limb up to give Noire a hug.

"Don't thank me just yet," Noire groused. "Actually pull this off tomorrow. You said you didn't want to talk to her until you found something to better yourself at. Succeed, and then we will have something good to report when we head south."

---

There was a marked hustle and bustle to the castle that Trixie and Noire hadn't seen in their first two days there. Ponies were running around in a frenzy. Even though Iceheart had made the offer only the night before, things had progressed quickly, a testament to the military precision of the Crystal ponies.

"Any time somepony goes out close to the Windigo Ice, the rest of us have to prepare," Powder Blue explained over their quick breakfast. "We'll double our watch on the north side to keep an eye out on the ice and trade signals with magical flares between the tower and the pony heading out to communicate ongoing weather conditions. In the event the expedition party runs into trouble, a quick response team will move out to rescue the party." Powder Blue paused, then she added, "Of course, given it's the commander who is taking you out there, I doubt we will be required. All the same, it is thanks to her drills and plans that we not yet lost a single pony."

The Crystal ponies had found new outfits for Trixie and Noire that were of better quality than the ones they had worn to the fort. Unlike what they wore before, this time the two ponies were fully outfitted, with clothes that covered every bit of their body, including tail-wraps and snowboots for their hooves. Masks covered their heads, with tinted goggles rounding it off for eye protection. In Trixie's case, a small hole was made for her horn to fit through, the horn of a unicorn being a poor conductor of heat and magic being too useful to block off physical spells. Other than that, only their mouths were left uncovered, so that the three could talk to one another when leaving.

Even Iceheart was wearing something when they first saw her, a great indicator of how treacherous the route leading up to the ice could be.

The day had yet to break. Visibility was slowly beginning to improve as the twilight hours were washed away, but Iceheart had decided to leave early so there was plenty of daylight left in the event something bad occurred. Trixie had promised to use her magic to light the way for the first bit until they had enough natural light.

"This is your last chance to back out," Iceheart said to Trixie as the three ponies stood at the castle's north entrance, having just gone over a final inventory check with Noire. "Nopony will think less of you here, and if you are certain that you cannot pull this off, it will be better not to waste time and effort going out."

"I said it was possible, and I still think it. Let's go," Trixie said.

In truth, Trixie felt her heart fluttering nervously. Even as she said those words, uncertainty gnawed away at her resolve. The idea that a mere illusion could change things on a physical level permanently instead of merely altering one's perception of the surface was ludicrous. Trixie had claimed she had done it. Her feelings had been backed up when she had changed the physical shape of an object, and felt it with her hooves to verify its dimensions had changed, from a square to a pentagon. No illusion that merely fooled the eyes would also fool the sense of touch. But was it something that Trixie had truly done, or was she merely pulling off a trick of a different scale, one where she deceived herself? And even if Trixie was right, and she had gone beyond what any esteemed illusionist before her had, would it be possible to perform her magic on something like Windigo ice?

But boldness had thus far taken Trixie away from Whinnychester to the Crystal Empire, and then beyond, into the frozen north. Trixie would not, could not shy away now.

"Very well," was Iceheart's response.

At last it was just light enough out that Iceheart judged that they could leave, and so Noire, Trixie and Iceheart ventured outdoors.

---

Iceheart lead the way, as she was the most familiar with the territory, giving terse remarks every so often to watch their step. The commander was graceful and patient, waiting for Trixie and Noire to catch up, since they were slower and awkward with their snowboots. The small, rolling hills the trio encountered quickly gave way to the more level ground that gave name to the ice flats.

Trixie found the tinted goggles a blessing she never knew she needed, having squinted most of the time on her way from the Crystal Empire to the fort. Fortunately, the cloud cover broke as the morning sun rose, so there was always a blue sky to look up to instead of a dreary white.

It didn't take long for her to feel the effects of the Windigo Ice. As she marched behind Iceheart, providing light from the rear, Trixie could feel the temperature beginning to drop, and the wind speed slowly picking up. At first, it was subtle: it was easier to tell they were getting closer by the larger and larger piles of snow deposited by the intense snowstorms that occurred around the Ice. Soon, however, Trixie found herself shivering even through the extra-thick layer of clothing she wore.

At last, Iceheart called a stop, for which Trixie was glad. Briefly taking a look back, Trixie saw the red castle in the distance, a shining beacon against the world of white. That's how far we got?! She thought to herself, astonished. Trixie and Noire had covered a far greater distance from the Crystal Empire to the fortress in a little over half a day. By contrast, the three had barely moved from the castle, and Trixie was still able to pick out individual features in the structure.

Now that they had treaded ground and gotten away from the castle, Trixie was able to see the outline of the Ice in greater detail, perhaps five thousand hoof-lengths away. She had expected it to be a large, glacier-sized block of ice, but the reality was far more subdued: it appeared to be no greater than the size of a few houses put together. Such a block of ice in the middle of the Crystal Empire would have supposedly destroyed the city upon its return.

Trixie swallowed. Somehow its smaller size just made the ice more intimidating.

"We won't be able to get much closer than this. The snowstorm is tame today, but if it worsens I do not wish to be caught too close to the fossils," Iceheart said. "Please use your heating spells now. Both of you."

Noire just about jumped, her eyes visibly wide even under her tinted goggles, "What are you talking about? I can't use magic like a unicorn can."

Iceheart wrinkled her nose, before saying, "So you mean to tell me you never learned a heating spell, or that you're not part-Changeling like your friend is?"

The living wind howled.

"That's...I'm not," Noire said. Even as she said those simple three words, Noire cursed herself. She had fumbled her secret even as she attempted to deny it, having been caught off-guard by Iceheart.

Iceheart looked out at the Windigo ice, before turning her head back to face Noire, and she said, "I don't care about your reasons for hiding it, Noire. I was given a single duty, to protect against the Windigos, and now that they're gone, the fossils they've left behind and the remains of the bitter north. Besides, don't normal Changelings dislike the cold, anyways?"

Noire thought about holding her tongue, but then she relented. Her secret was out, but somehow she felt more kinship with this strange Crystal Pony, in self-exile from the rest of her people, than with any other pony she had ever met besides Trixie. Perhaps Noire truly sympathised with Iceheart, after seeing her heart and emotions opened up the night before. Noire decided to take the plunge, and she said, "Not especially. The Windigos were an ancestral enemy of the Changelings, more than they were for ponies. They disappeared long before I was born, but my father told me the entire Changeling race released a breath of relief as one when the Windigos disappeared." As an afterthought, Noire added, "I can do a heating spell as well, don't worry. You won't see anything, though. I am not a unicorn, and so my magic does not glow."

With a sigh, Noire wrinkled her nose, and summoned the small amount of magic she reserved for spells.

At once, Trixie could feel the cold being chased away from her body. With heat came the sensation of body parts that had become numb, as she suddenly felt colder again, before finally the heat seeped through her coat and under her skin.

"How convenient. I wish I could be able to do that," Iceheart said at last. Looking over to Trixie, she continued, "There were a few Changelings in the Empire who went out openly before Sombra took over. Some of them were labourers, but others were artisans. What did your fathers do? That is, I am assuming it was Noire's father and not her mother who was the Changeling."

The question was like a punch to the gut for Trixie. Even though she thought of her father many times, actually remembering him and her mother and what they had achieved in their lives was something else altogether. Memories washed ashore in a great tidal wave, sweeping away the barriers she had put up.

"Father, yes father, works with clockworks. He enjoys taking things apart, and figuring out how they tick."

The terse reply from Noire surprised Trixie, as well as the present tense she used, making it seem like Cognito was still alive. Well, she supposed Noire still wanted to keep some part of her background secret.

Taking a breath, Trixie said, "My own father was a craftsman. He primarily did woodwork, building and repairing anything from wheels to whole houses, and sometimes metal work. He was really fond, however, of chiseling. He would do custom doors, custom signs, custom gates, especially for a pony's Cutie Mark paraphernalia."

"I see. Even today, Changeling civilians are little different from pony civilians."

"They are both equines, after all," Noire said.

Iceheart nodded her head in assent, and said, "That is true. That should be sufficient heat. Come now, let us be off again."

The piles of snow quickly disappeared as Iceheart lead Trixie and Noire closer. Instead, the terrain became a rough, bumpy mix of compacted snow and ice. Fortunately, with the uneven path came a reduced albedo, and Trixie found her eyes being able to relax more behind her tinted glasses.

At last, trudging up one final hill, Iceheart stopped their journey. "This is as far as we go," Iceheart said, looking up at the sky. "A little over two hours, we have plenty of time to return. I could go closer by myself, but I am not leaving the two of you out here alone. Whatever you think you can do, Trixie, you shall do it here and not a hoof-step further."

"Thank you," Trixie said, as she paced around, getting a closer view of the Windigo ice through the snow blowing around it. It really was unremarkable. Had she not been told what it was, Trixie would have assumed the block of ice was perhaps a large glacier, or maybe a geographical feature jutting out of the landscape with ice and snow covering it, obscuring the hill underneath. "That is it?" She asked.

"Yes," Iceheart said. "You have several hours if you need it, barring another yeti, but be certain to stay warm."

Trixie nodded in acknowledgement, exaggerating the motion to make sure the motion was understood through the layered clothing she wore.

She raised her head, pointing her horn towards the ice, and Trixie casted.

---

Two nights had passed since the black moon, and the calendar had refreshed, passing over into the next month. Though there was still only a sliver, Trixie could peer out the window and spot the moon, its meager light shining over Whinnychester's many windmills off in the distance.

Trixie sighed, and sat down on her haunches. Noire had already gone to sleep, having worked a long day labouring through a backlog of mechanical maintenance before they left Whinnychester in a few days' time. As it was still winter, soon to be spring, there had been little for Trixie to do but to read, study, and clean up the house left to her by her parents. She had already made arrangements with Straw Thatcher, a village mare, to take care of the house and possibly rent it out in the future, but Trixie knew she needed to get it updated on her own before she left.

That had been the day, however. Nightfall was for relaxing, and for unwinding. Trixie had already been out for a walk. The outdoors was warm that night, as winter was turning into spring, and it was all too easy to be lazy and sit on a bench, letting a warm breeze wash over her face.

It was while she had sat on the bench, eyes closed and the nearby street lamp insufficient to pierce her eyelids, that Trixie had thought.

What she had done only two nights before had been amazing, even if she had used the power of the black moon to perform it. She had changed New Moon, no, Noire's appearance and made it permanent. It could be dispelled, but it would have to be by somebody even more talented than Trixie was, and they would have to realise there was an illusion there to remove in the first place.

Trixie didn't like to brag, but years of performance shows had given her a lot of practice with illusions.

But there was something more to it still, something that she couldn't quite express. Noire's Cutie Mark...somehow, it had changed. That had been the power of the black moon, Trixie was certain of it. And yet, the magic should not have jumped the parameters of the spell and ritual circle Trixie had designed. So how had it happened?

Perhaps there was something more to illusions than she thought? Trixie always thought illusions were merely about fooling the senses in some way, whether through little things like creating displays for her show with magical fireworks, and the extreme end of that being what she had just done with Noire. But maybe she merely had to push and push and break through what was in fact merely a limit and not the hard ceiling of what the field of magic could do. Who would have thought that such a silly concept as friendship could result in apotheosis, after all?

Back in her household, Trixie held up a small wood chip to the window, letting the tiny bit of moonlight reveal it in her hoof. With a bit of tinkering, Trixie could make this woodchip appear darker, or make it seem like it was metal. Though it would require more complicated magic in layered spells, she could make it feel like it was a hundred degrees hotter than it actually was, or that it made a chime like a bell when dropped on the floor. What would be impossible through illusion magic alone would be to change the actual shape of it. Even if she disguised it as a marble, a pony would still be able to feel the edges and contours of the wood chip. There was no way around that without delving into another field of magic.

Or was there?

Trixie turned the wood chip over in her hoof. Perhaps it was in fact possible to fool even a pony's sense of touch with the shape of an object. It had to be complete, however: if somepony were to get a wooden sliver from this wood chip when messing with it, the illusion would be broken. So somehow, it had to not just be the pony, but also the object that was being tricked.

She paused. Her mind was beginning to hurt. This was beginning to verge on some of the 'nature of things' that she had studied up on over the years. Had Trixie been able to stay in school, she might have been able to hear about it from professors, who would have been able to explain it better than the books had.

But Trixie had an inkling she was onto something. Magic was a deep, wide field that extended every which way. A pony could never hope to learn all of what magic had to offer, even if she lived to be as old as the Princesses did. Illusionary magic had fascinated Trixie since she was young, even though most of what she had learned had been self-taught. If she was to ever get serious and commit to studying and exploring magic full-time, she knew precisely what she would specialise in. New magic was always accompanied by prestige, even as it shook up the institutions and forced through change based on new understandings.

"Change, huh?" Trixie mused aloud. "I think I know something about that. How's about this..." She trailed off, her horn glowing softly. Using her innate understanding of how a Changeling physically transformed, she bathed the wood chip in its magic. Let's see what this would do.

She gasped, dropping the object to the floor. It made a loud tap.

In the place of a wood chip was a small toy marble. As it had landed, the marble rolled over until it stopped against a wall. There was no way it could have been a wood chip anymore, or else it would not have rolled on impact.

---

Magic was...it was always hard to explain, extending something that wasn't quite the sensation of touch outwards to get a feel for one's surroundings. To Trixie, the soft glance of her magic flowing out of her horn to manipulate things at a distance was rather like a gas, yet not. She would struggle to describe horn-cast magic to a non-unicorn if asked. It just was.

She poked at the Windigo ice, and recoiled. Not one, not two, but three full-body shivers passed through her, leaving her almost paralysed. This was what she had bragged about possibly being able to destroy? This abomination against friendship and harmony left behind by the Windigos, able to induce fear in her even as a fossil? What had Trixie been thinking?

Trixie grimaced. No, she couldn't give up, not after coming so far. The fossils might feel hostile, but the Windigos who had given form to the magic within had been dead for at least several hundred years. There was no sentience left to guide the Ice's inherent power.

She tried again. Slowly, Trixie lost focus of her physical sight, eyes peering into the snow right in front of her tinted pink from the glow of her horn. Instead, she Saw the inner workings of the Windigo ice. Instead of being a solid whole, there were many small cracks and crevices, with tiny holes and tunnels snaking through the ice block, creating something which rather resembled an ant's hive. Unbidden, she traced one of the contours into the depths of the ice, following the intricate patterns that had formed. The ice appeared to have a half-life, disappearing bit by bit at a time, though it would take many more mortal lifetimes before it disappeared.

Gritting her teeth, Trixie changed the scope of her magic field, using it to attempt to heat the ice. Instead of what would happen with regular ice, the magic bounced right back at her, creating a tingle in her horn. That was unusual. There was such a thing as anti-magic metal capable of producing a similar feeling, but it was very rare. The only specimen Trixie had ever seen of the metal was during her brief attendance at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot. Somehow, the Windigo ice produced the same effect.

Just how had her ancestors survived the Windigos? The Hearth's Warming Eve tale was now beginning to look like a thoroughly sanitised version of whatever had really happened.

Trixie fumbled her way through, trying to find a way to manipulate magic against the Windigo ice, instead of using it to merely passively explore the inner makeup of the ice. She fidgeted, grasped, and threaded her magic every which way, attempting to find some way to make her magic work on the ice. But at last she had to admit the truth, both to herself and out loud to the others.

"I can't do this," Trixie said. "I try, and my magic just slips off the ice."

Nearby, Noire could be heard sucking in a breath of cold air.

"That is what I had expected. Many other unicorns, strong ones, ones with eccentric talents, ones who had studied the ice for years all failed. It was always worth a try, and I needed to scout out close to the ice this week anyways," Iceheart said, before she regarded the ice with a sideways look. "Other modern ponies have said the fossils are 'majestic'. Would you agree?"

"It does have a, erm, remarkable aesthetic to it," said Noire. "It looks like one solid mass. It sits in the middle of the ice flats, with nothing around it. I guess it looks a lot prettier when the sun strikes it just right, maybe around midday. But, well..." Noire trailed off.

"But it is something that is capable of causing untold catastrophe, even in its dormant state," Iceheart finished for Noire. "Of course, it's just ice. It's incapable of moving itself. This ice will not threaten the Empire. When the Windigos return, this won't be even that useful to them, except as a stronghold where ponies cannot approach. I have thought about it sometimes, if there is a point to staying at the fort. There are no Windigos to fight anymore, and it is unlikely they will reappear in my lifetime."

"You seem oddly introspective. Why are you confiding in us?," Trixie asked.

"I suppose your stories about your travels through Equestria and beyond have given me cause to think about my own life," Iceheart confessed. "I am not very good at expressing myself, and I have never needed to be. Only being able to command was a necessary quality. Maybe, one day, I would like to leave. The ponies in the Empire do not like me, so I would head south and explore this strange new world we Crystal Ponies have found ourselves placed in. But until I find somepony who can tolerate the cold and get close to the ice as well as I, that will not be an option. Come, let us leave before the snowstorm sets in again."

Iceheart started walking, and Trixie and Noire fell in behind her. Trixie, however, felt the conversation was unfinished, and she asked, "But you think there is somepony already who can command well enough, if not as good at resisting the weather as you are?"

The Crystal Earth pony continued walking, seemingly determined to get away from the fossilised ice as soon as possible. Despite her disdain for non-essential chatter while on their expedition to the ice, Iceheart was less cautious when going away from it, as she said, "Yes. Diamond Dust could easily take over if I decided to take a lesser role as a mere patrol, and if I were to die on the post, everypony knows they are to defer to him. Snowpeak is potentially also capable."

"That's..." Trixie struggled not to find the word to say, but to actually speak it out loud. Sad, she instead thought to herself. Barring her outburst last night, Iceheart seemed to have little will to live for herself. Even her interest in leaving the fort was predicated on an impossible feat. One which Trixie had failed to resolve.

Why was she beating herself up so much over this? As Iceheart had said, many had tried before her, and all had failed, with the exception of using the Crystal Heart. Trixie supposed she was disappointed because after riding the euphoric high of discovering what was potentially new magic, she had all too quickly found something that her magic was incapable of solving. Trixie knew she had to stop thinking about this too hard, lest she wallow in despair in those dark days before she put on the Alicorn Amulet.

Taking a deep breath, Trixie relaxed herself, purging her mind of conscious thoughts. It wasn't the safest thing to walk in the arctic wastes on autopilot, but she trusted Noire behind her and Iceheart in front of her could cover in the event Trixie had a mishaps.

Iceheart made a good pace, trotting a little bit quicker than she had led the other two to the ice. That the flats trended slightly downhill towards the castle helped, as well as the sun overhead reaching its zenith, slightly warming the air even as they got further away from the ice.

At least, Iceheart stopped upon a small hill, and surveyed the shining red castle below. "This is what true beauty is to me," Iceheart said, and Noire and Trixie listened. "The Crystal Heart tamed a part of the north so that we Crystal Ponies could live, survive, even thrive in the face of the Windigos. This castle may not fall under the Crystal Heart's protections, but we made it work. In the end, thanks to the stasis, we outlasted them. Look, you can even see the Crystal Palace from here."

Trixie followed Iceheart's hoof, looking past the castle and off into the distance. Though low-hanging clouds and localised drifts of snow kicked up by wind obscured the view, she could still make out the large, crystal structure that was the Empire's centrepiece. The sun shone on the Palace just right to make it gleam even from afar.

The Palace where the Crystal Heart was.

It was a feeling, something that the rationalist in Trixie screamed at her to ignore, gut feelings were nothing more than an aberration. The optimist in her decided to indulge it.

"Wait, please."

---

Dimly, she was aware of the background noise, the words of other ponies. Her attention was elsewhere, however.

Even at this great a distance, she was Aware of the Crystal Heart. It had seemed to be a benign object when Noire and herself had visited it to take a look, but there really was more to it than that. The Crystal Heart was alive, much like the Alicorn Amulet was.

That scared her. The Amulet was insidious, making her every move and thought seem so logical, as if she had thought of it herself. Perhaps she had thought of them by herself, and she was shifting blame onto the Amulet. Regardless, she had little desire to hoof control over to a quasi-sentient magical artifact again.

Yet the Crystal Heart was different. In the past, countless ponies before her had used it as a force of destruction, yes, but towards the end goal of destroying something that threatened their livelihood, even as the Crystal Heart gave them an environment-controlled habitat to live within.

The Crystal Heart greeted her, reading her intentions all too easily. It wanted to help her.

She swallowed. She had been given that same spiel, once before.

No, it said. It would not give her its own power. It would merely open the path, and make the Ice briefly vulnerable.

How could she trust it?

Sometimes, trust is a matter of faith.

She didn't know.

But it had been so long since she had been able to freely exert herself and truly show off. Would it be so bad to have one last hurrah?

She turned around.

"Noire," Trixie said. "Whatever you feel, don't panic."

---

Noire had other plans. Every time she had heard a pony use those words before, it had been followed by a fool action taken on a leap of faith. This far north, where exposure to cold could kill in minutes if not properly dressed, the stakes were increased.

"Trixie, you fool, what are you do—" Noire stopped herself, as she felt what Trixie had planned.

Power washed over Noire, the burst of magic radiating from Trixie's horn glowing so strong that it was nearly a blinding sun unto itself, a pink corona that chase away the world of white. There was more magic than any unicorn could possibly hope to output at a sustained rate.

She's using her pool of magic from emotions, Noire quickly realised. When Noire had tapped into her own pool, it had always been a brief thing. Pegasus and pegasus batponies were only supposed to be able to manipulate magic through their wings, and she had little desire to invite scrutiny onto herself by accidentally using magic from elsewhere. Noire had resolved she would only use a substantial amount of magic in an emergency, an occasion that had never come to pass.

If the amount of magic Trixie held within her lithe frame was around the same as what Noire could hold, then the unicorn would soon run dry.

Trixie's eyes opened.

Noire grit her teeth. She knew that look. It was the eyes of a unicorn who no longer had control of her own power, but had let the power take control of her. What had Trixie done?!

Wait. Noire looked closer, and began to use her magical senses, underdeveloped as they were.

"Wh-what is she doing?" Iceheart asked beside Noire, taken off-guard by the unicorn's sudden madness.

"The Crystal Heart," Noire said breathlessly. It had taken her several seconds to recognise its signature, but as benign as the artifact had been when they visited it in the city proper, there was no mistaking it. Trixie was acting as a vessel for the Crystal Heart's power.

Noire swallowed, her lips suddenly feeling dry. What had the Crystal ponies said about the Crystal Heart and its relation to Windigo ice in the past? She knew what they had said, but the thought refused to be elucidated.

"She's what? That's madness!" Iceheart said, turning her gaze between the Crystal Empire off in the distance, then back to Trixie, then back to the Empire again. "No, she's not, not completely at least. A partial use, otherwise the dome would have fallen."

"Wha—" Noire started to ask, only to be interrupted again as the amount of magic Trixie released increased even further. No longer was the magic merely bright. Now, it was beginning to radiate heat, kicking up warm wind currents around Noire. Just what was Trixie doing?

Noire's eyes widened. That didn't really matter, did it? She had trusted in Trixie once before, and Trixie had pulled through for her. Noire would trust her best friend, sister, to do what she thought best. And if Trixie needed a little bit of help, well...Noire walked closer to Trixie, and extended a paw out, touching the unicorn's shoulder.

If Trixie needed extra magic, she would get it.

---

Trixie acknowledged the hoof that patted her shoulder. The other pony willingly released the barriers that separated their magic flows, and raw magical power flowed into Trixie through her shoulder and out her horn.

The Windigo ice was something that could be manipulated. It was something that could be changed. The Crystal ponies may have been in stasis for a thousand years, but here was something that was physical and material in the moment. Now that the Crystal Heart had acted, no amount of anti-magic protection would save the fossils of Windigos long gone. The subtle underlying magic of the ice that had so easily repelled Trixie's magic before would now bow before her might. To melt it would tax the Crystal Heart and fell the dome surrounding the Crystal Empire. That was unacceptable. But Trixie would not be melting the ice.

She could no longer see, eyes blinded by the power of the magic being cast from her horn, but that was alright. She had moved past the old days, when an illusion merely meant tricking one's eyes and ears. All the world was a stage, and upon her stage she would deceive the world.

Trixie cast, and the ice disappeared.

The living wind subsided.

---

Noire fell over, her body heaving for oxygen. Sweet, sweet air rushed into her lungs. The cold air for once served a purpose, reinvigorating her even as her senses were numb, both from the magical glow and the power she had sensed. She at least still had consciousness, something Trixie didn't. The unicorn had stopped casting her magic, only to flop over into the snow. Only the systematic rise and fall of her chest reassured Noire. While Trixie might have other problems from what she had done, her steady breathing was a good thing.

Speaking of which, what had Trixie done? Noire had gathered a pool of power over many years. Now, that reserve was nearly empty, and Noire would have to horde her magic for the future, unless she could find somepony who was as good at supply love and happy emotions as her mother had been.

"Amazing," Iceheart said beside her.

"What's amazing?" Noire asked, lifting her head up. Iceheart hadn't had most of her energy consumed, but she seemed to barely be fazed by the bright light and display of magical prowess that had just occurred.

"I can feel it. The air temperature is already beginning to warm up. It's subtle, but the wind flows are changing, too. They're natural. They are what they should be, what they were before the Stasis, when there was no ice out here."

Noire's eyes bulged as she realised just what Iceheart was saying. Although weak, she was quickly able to pick herself up, two hooves at a time, before turning around. With a wild whoop of joy, she shook a hoof in celebratory triumph. "She did it!" Noire said. "That madmare really did it!"

Gone was the ice to the north. Where there had been a distinct feature jutting out of the ice, now there were only endless fields of ice flats going further and further north until they eventually terminated at the base of the mountain ranges off in the far distance. The snowstorm had already begun to subside, with the visibility in the area around the ice significantly improved.

Iceheart said, "Yes, she did. No illusion as I understood them could work like this. The wind, the temperature, even the ice underneath my hooves, I can tell. The ice is gone. And without sacrificing the defense of the Crystal Empire, either." Looking back south, she saw that the pale tint of the dome around the city was still there. Somehow, this unicorn who had come to visit the castle had done something she hadn't thought possible. Iceheart knew she owed Trixie, this unusual daughter of changeling and pony, a debt that she might never be able to pay off.

Well, there was no time like the present to start. Noire wasn't in too great a condition, suffering the classical signs of magical fatigue, odd as it was to see in a winged pony. That meant it was up to Iceheart. Bending over, she picked up the unconscious Trixie in her hooves, carefully maneuvering her over until Trixie was propped up on Iceheart's back.

"Come," Iceheart said to Noire, getting the batpony's attention, "The ice may be gone, but that does not mean it is now impossible to freeze to death out here."

Noire nodded wearily. She was glad Iceheart was able to pick up the slack. She barely had the position to walk herself, and even if her wings weren't restricted, flying was out of the question.

The two started to walk again, Iceheart taking the rear this time. As they began to approach the castle, frenzied activity could be seen taking place both outdoors and on the ramparts.

Suddenly, the body Iceheart was carrying began to stir. Iceheart paused to accommodate the shifting form, as Trixie slowly woke up to the world again.

"Did I do it?"

It was a tough thing for Iceheart to smile. Except for Sombra's fall, there had been little for her to smile about for so long, and the ponies she commanded took pride in merely having her there. Trixie also couldn't see Iceheart's face from her position draped over Iceheart's back. Nevertheless, Iceheart smiled, and she said, "Yes, Trixie, you did. The ice is gone, and the dome is still up over the Crystal Empire."

"Oh...good...I guess I did something right at least."

"Don't say that," Iceheart scolded her, unmindful of Trixie's current state, "You did something I did not believe possible. You more than 'did something right', you have made all our lives significantly easier."

"Ah. Thanks."

The mass that was Trixie turned limp again, as she fell asleep. With a bemused side glance, Iceheart took to trotting again.

"Thank you," Noire murmured to her. "She needed that."

"More than her, I needed this," Iceheart confessed to Noire. "When we get back, I will have many things to think over."

---

"Commander, Miss Noire," Diamond Dust greeted Iceheart and Noire as they approached the castle. "Does Miss Trixie need medical attention?"

The other Crystal ponies were less reserved in their reaction, as Powder Blue rushed out to inspect Trixie. Her horn glowing, she quickly announced her prognosis, "Magical fatigue, nothing more. Commander, what happened out there?"

"The ice is gone, where did it go?"

"What was that bright light? I thought the sun was falling!"

"Are the Windigos coming back?"

"Quiet," Iceheart said, and the Crystal Ponies all fell in line. Powder Blue was the lone exception as she continued examining Trixie. "We used the Crystal Heart's influence to destroy the ice, without the dome falling. I believe what happened is a magical one-off that cannot be repeated. The ice is indeed gone, as both the temperature and the wind patterns have begun to shift and warm up. The Windigos are not returning."

The ponies in formation let out a breath of relief as one.

"Lieutenant Diamond Dust," Iceheart said.

"Yes, commander?" Diamond Dust asked, moving forward a little bit as he was singled out.

"I will be leaving soon. You will be the new commander once I do." There were a few gasps of surprise at Iceheart's proclamation, but nothing past that. Her ponies were much too disciplined to descend into idle chatter while in formation.

"Understood, commander," Diamond Dust said. "When do you plan to leave, and should I wait until then to take over?"

Iceheart had to think over that a little bit, but it was not too difficult. She said, "I plan to leave in about three days, presuming both Noire and Trixie here are in good condition to travel. You may start making decisions immediately, but I will only relinquish my title upon leaving. I will only ask that Powder Blue, if you would please, help me take Trixie up to their quarters. Other than that, you have full control now, Diamond Dust, though you should make sure to send a runner to the Empire to inform them about the ice disappearnig."

"Very well, commander," Diamond Dust said. Turning around, he said, "Carry on with your assigned tasks and patrols. I have paperwork and briefs to work through, but I will start interviewing you one by one later, and one of you will have to carry a message back to the city."

Behind him, Iceheart left, smiling. She knew she had left the castle in good hooves.

---

Waking up was an uphill battle. She didn't remember much, but she did remember being cold. Wherever she was now, she was nice and toasty warm, and some ancestral instinct told her that to wake up would be to eventually forfeit that heat.

Nonetheless, it was a battle that her body would eventually win over her mind, and her body wanted to move around.

"Good to see you're awake," Noire said from her position at the side of the bed. "If it weren't for the fact every pony here is a trained military professional who has seen combat, we might have actually panicked. Magical fatigue is fairly easy to spot, and the best remedy for that is rest and good food."

Trixie groaned. "I see you weren't as affected as I was if you're in full spirits and capable of snarking," she said.

"Right back at you."

"Should I perhaps leave?"

Trixie looked over to the windows, where Iceheart had been looking outside. Even though they had only met a few days ago, Trixie could recognise that purple coat and white mane anywhere. Right. This was going to be an interesting conversation, "No, you can stay. We banter like this all the time."

"Ah. Very well then," Iceheart said as she strode over to the bed Trixie had been laid up on. "You certainly did expend yourself out there. You have been sleeping for the better part of the day. It is just after sunrise now, you destroyed the ice yesterday."

"Not destroyed, erased," Trixie said. Then she realised what she had just said. "I really did that?"

"You sure did, Trix," said Noire.

"Huh," Was all Trixie had to say. She gave it a few moments' thought, then said, "I would say this is the part in a tale where the heroes celebrate, but I didn't really save the world. Not even the Crystal Empire, or even this castle."

"No, you didn't," Iceheart agreed, "But you did make life significantly easier for us here. Visibility will be improved, temperatures will be warmer, the winds will be gentler, and we will no longer have to patrol around the ice. Now we can go straight through." Trixie delicately tasted the soft emotional mix Iceheart was leaking. It was gratitude. That made sense.

"Not 'we', but 'they'," Noire corrected her.

"Yes, they. You were not awake at the time, Trixie, but I have decided that I will be resigning my commission and leaving the castle within the next few days."

"Wait, really?" Trixie asked. A resolve that had seemed so sharp only a few days ago had already lost its clarity, but now she remembered. Mixed in with all the foolishness, bullheadedness and blind optimism that she could do something thought impossible, something which she actually succeeded in, had been a desire to help the Crystal ponies. Above all else, there had been Iceheart, a pony who Trixie thought was lonely at the top, serving as a pillar of strength for her garrison while jettisoning any personal dreams.

Hearing that what she had done had allowed Iceheart to finally leave her self-imposed exile should have filled Trixie with joy. For some reason, she just felt tired.

"Yes. I have been speaking with Noire over this. If you are alright, I would like to come along with you. I hear you plan to head to the southern reaches of Equestria next? To the Badlands?"

Trixie coughed in surprise, looking up at Iceheart, before her eyes flashed to Noire. The rage subsided as quick as it had come to her. Oh, right. Iceheart had easily figured out Noire's heritage, and it had been Trixie's own fault that Iceheart had the pieces to work with and deduce that information. After that, there really was not much of a need for secrecy left.

"Yes, that was our plan, to head to the Badlands after we visited the Crystal Empire," Trixie admitted. "There is a Changeling hive there where both our fathers came from. While things may have changed, we are likely to get some form of amnesty in attempting to visit. But are you sure you want to come along? The Badlands is the total opposite of here. It's dry, the pegasi don't like delivering rain to the Badlands and the Changelings don't bother, it's hot and dusty, it's, sorry. Um, just, why us? You could explore all of Equestria on your own, you're capable of protecting yourself. If you went with us, me and Noire have a specific location in mind that we don't know how long we'll be there for."

Iceheart said, "I understand what you are saying, but after seeing what you did out there, I am interested in you and Noire. You bring a dynamism none of us Crystal ponies can hope to match. If I am correct in my judgement, even among ponies who grew up in this age, there are few who possess the same spark that the two of you do. It would be remiss of me for us to go our separate ways. I feel that if I go with you, I will not only learn more about Equestria as it is today, but also be able to actively partake in it."

Trixie let out a hum, as she thought to herself. On the one hoof, she was hesitant. The Queen of the Changelings had only recently invaded Equestria, and Trixie was unsure as to how she would react if Trixie and Noire brought a pure pony with them, even if that pony happened to be one who had missed out on a thousand years of history. More ponies would also bog down Trixie's plans for travelling after visiting the Badlands, whatever they may end up being, including visiting Colt Springs on the west coast.

On the other hoof, this whole mess had started because she had strongly sympathised with Iceheart. She still did. Trixie didn't really have the heart to say no. Besides, even with Noire, it would be nice to have another mare along with, especially one who could both fight, and knew of their heritage and yet didn't care.

"What say you, Noire?" Trixie asked her batpony companion.

"I'm good," Noire said. "She asked me earlier, I've already had time to think about it. The more the merrier for travelling, I guess."

"Then I don't have any issue either, so long as you understand that the Changelings may be dangerous," Trixie said.

Iceheart shrugged, shaking her head to get her white mane to fall to one side of her shoulders. "I have fought Windigos, yetis, and polar bears for much of my life. While I suppose I am still afraid of dying, at least it would be someplace exotic."

Trixie laughed, feeling better already than she had even when she had been able to walk around. "So long as you can keep that sense of humour, they're less likely to bite. I'm serious! It's not love, but they'll take good humour too!"

---

There wasn't really much of a turnout to send Iceheart off from the castle that she had called home for five and a thousand years. This was mostly because there were so few ponies around that she had been able to speak individually with each one of them over the few days since she had decided to resign.

Only Aurora and Snowpeak were there, with Snowpeak just returned from the Empire, having been the messenger to deliver news both of the Windigo fossils' disappearance and of Iceheart's planned resignation. Were there more ponies around, Iceheart and Diamond Dust would have done a more formal send-off and relinquishment of the title of Commander of the Northern Fort, but the new commander was busy getting up to speed with his post.

"It almost seems like the end of an era," Snowpeak said. "When I came you were already leading here, and it felt like you would be here forever. I'm happy for you, you'll finally be able to leave, Iceheart."

Aurora just sniffed. It was clear to all that the green-coated mare would miss Iceheart.

"I am glad as well, Snowpeak. You and Aurora take care of yourselves. Time has passed us by, but that does not mean we need to stay in the past. Eventually, other ponies will come here to take up a post. When that happens, I hope the two of you, all of you truly, will be able to break free from this place. I will miss all of you, even this castle," Iceheart said.

"Be that as it may, I would like to talk to you one last time, about the proposal I would like to make later on," Snowpeak said.

Iceheart consented, and the two walked away, leaving Trixie baffled. Proposal? Her ears flicked in excitement as she recalled just what a 'proposal' could mean, and she wondered who the lucky mare would be, and if it was somepony at the castle.

"You two," Aurora suddenly said to Trixie and Noire, while Iceheart was out of earshot, talking with Snowpeak.

"Yes?" Noire asked.

Aurora grinned, and she said, "I don't know what it is you did out there on the northern flats, or what caused the ice to disappear, or what you three were talking about the night before you went out, but thank you. Whatever it was, you managed to break Iceheart out of that dismal state of hers. We all have our own lives that we want to lead, but we all saw the commander and knew hers was the saddest story of all. We have been hoping that something would eventually lift her spirits. I am sad that she is leaving us, but I know it is the best thing that can happen for her." Mismatched red and purple eyes squinted, and it would have been tough for Aurora's smile to get any bigger, even as Trixie and Noire could both feel the joy bubbling underneath the surface. "So once again, thank you."

Trixie bit her lip. She didn't want to give away the facts on just what had happened out there. While Iceheart thought it was a method worth reusing, all three agreed to keep what Trixie had done under wraps. Given there was no other Windigo ice around, and that it appeared to be a truly specialised technique that only Trixie was capable of, it was quite probable there would be nopony around capable of doing similar magic when the Windigos next appeared.

So instead, she nodded her head in acknowledgement, and waited for Iceheart and Snowpeak to wrap their conversation up before they could leave and head south to the Crystal Empire.

---

It had been less than a week since Trixie and Noire left the Crystal Empire. Despite that, they had forgotten just how long the trot from the Empire to the fortress had been. In their defense, there had been a lot of activity in the space of that week. With Iceheart coming along, however, they made better timing, as the Crystal pony took a hearty pace. What had taken Trixie and Noire the better part of a day before was now only half a day as they briskly moved to keep up with Iceheart. That they went downhill over the long term also helped.

Trixie had quickly dropped into the trance that she often fell into when she had been out on the road, delegating most of her conscious mental functions to looking out for threats even as the rest of her blanked out. In what seemed like no time at all, they quickly moved past the tinted dome that protected the Crystal Empire, and reached the northern gates.

"Halt! Who goes there—Commander Iceheart, is that you?!" One of the guards sputtered in surprise, nearly dropping his spear.

"I am glad to see you again, Solstice. Has life treated you well in the Crystal Empire?"

Solstice recovered his wits quickly, and gave a salute to Iceheart. He said, "I am doing well, Commander. I have a wife now, and our first foal on the way."

"That is good to hear. I apologise that I will not be around to see him or her, whichever gender it may be."

The other guard, a pegasus mare, blurted out, "Commander, we saw an extremely bright light to the north a few days ago. Is it true what Snowpeak was saying? That the ice is gone?!"

"Yes, yes it is," Iceheart said. "I do not know precisely what happened myself, though I have reason to believe the Crystal Heart was somehow activated, in a method that did not fell the dome." She sighed, and said, "I am tired. I have been the commander of the northern fort for many years already, and now there is nothing left to guard against but for wild yetis and polar bears, barring the Windigos returning within my lifetime. I have resigned my commission, and have come home to make it official."

"What? You, retire? That's, that's, well, wow, I never thought you would retire, no offence, Commander."

Iceheart's blue eyes gleamed with amusement, "Even I yearn for things, Solstice. The ice is gone. Now that the north is free of hazards, I have little desire to stay there until I am an old mare."

Solstice blushed appreciably, a difficult feat under his dark-blue coat. He said, "Well, we'll check you in, Commander, though I guess you won't be Commander for very long. Wait, you said you won't be around to see my child, does that mean you're leaving the Empire?"

"I am. These two mares here have done a fair bit of travelling and intend to continue. I intend to accompany them."

"I'm sorry, Commander," said the female guard. "We tried, we really tried, but the ponies here, they really don't want to listen, urgh!"

Iceheart turned her attention over to the mare. "That is alright, Snow Rose. We are all ponies of the Crystal Empire. Sombra's reign is over, and for some of us it will take longer to recover than others, if ever. Do not think that I am continuing to stay away from the Empire, however. I am actively choosing to go with Trixie and Noire here, because there is a whole new world waiting for us."

"As you will, Commander. Thank you for your service," Crystal Rose saluted Iceheart. "We'll sign you in, so go on ahead."

"Thank you both, Solstice, Crystal Rose. It was a pleasure to have you in my command," Iceheart said, as she at last took her first step into the Crystal Empire in more than a thousand years.

---

There had been many dirty looks from Crystal ponies who recognised Iceheart, and the underlying hostility was genuine, almost oppressive. With a startle, Trixie realised Iceheart had a rather unique Cutie Mark, resembling the Crystal Heart but with several snowflakes surrounding the heart. There were very few ponies who had Cutie Marks with the Crystal Heart on their flanks in the Empire, though supposedly the Princess was one of them.

Regardless, Trixie and Noire had taken Ice to the hotel at the south end of the Empire where they had previously stayed, getting a room for another night before heading out in the morning. It was just as well, as Iceheart had to go to the Palace to process her resignation, as well as to collect on her pay for her many, many years of service as a high-ranking military official. Iceheart had also said that she had a few other visits to make after, and would be gone until late.

It was while Iceheart was gone that Trixie fidgeted, and paced around the room.

"What's wrong, Trix?" Noire asked from her reclined position, sitting lazily on a bed. It was far too obvious that something was bothering the unicorn.

"What I did out there is what's wrong," Trixie said, briefly chewing away at a hoof. "I mean, it all turned out good in the end, but it honestly scares me, too. The power to do what I did, in a way that leaves no physical evidence there even was an object there? That's terrifying. Plus, what if I had a magical backlash? I was full of bravado, but I have no idea what would have occurred if the magic had been turned back on me."

OK, that actually was a good reason to fret, Noire thought as she hopped off the bed and onto the floor. Noire took a few seconds to think over what she wanted to say, and finally said, "Well, there's no point in beating yourself up over what-could-have-beens. Instead, focus on what-might-bes. If you say there's the possibility of a tragic magic backlash, then what would that entail, how can you reduce the chance of it occurring, and how can you mitigate the consequences should it actually occur?"

Trixie sighed, and she said, "Well, for one, I would never have pulled it off on my own. I needed the Crystal Heart to do it, but that would have just made a backlash worse. So, no using magical artifacts in the future." Left unsaid between the two was that the last time she had used a magical artifact, things had not turned out well. "Formulate a code of ethics and stick to it. Besides, both of you are former law enforcement so I doubt you'd appreciate me making money even if it's physically the same as the real thing."

"Royal guard, not law enforcement," Noire said, but she knew Trixie didn't really care about the difference.

"Right, right, royal guard. Um, don't dump that much power into anything either. That's the other thing I was nervous about. Before, I thought we would go south to see her with full reserves, either as a getaway option or a peace offering."

"And that's something we don't have anymore," Noire completed for her friend. "I have a little bit of emotional reserves left but not much, and I am guessing you were drained dry by that feat of magic you did."

Trixie nodded, and said, "Right. Um, the last thing is, though this fits with the code of ethics, no experimenting on anything living. I've tried it before, on insects, but they resist being changed. Not like the ice was, the ice had antimagic protection but it crumbled easily once that was removed, but living things seem to have an innate resistance."

"What about me?" Noire asked, "You were able to change my appearance."

"Yeah, but that was your surface appearance, how you look and sound to other ponies, it didn't change your magical signature or anything. I, um, I still don't know precisely about your Cutie Mark, but I guess it was influenced by the magic of the black moon. And you were willing to accept the illusion. But the point is, that's different. If I had tried to make you a half a hooflength taller in height, that would have been impossible on the other hoof. I think it complies with all the magical laws about living things resisting other types, but like I said, I don't want to try testing it."

Noire frowned. She was nowhere near as knowledgeable about magic as Trixie was, but something still seemed off. Living beings could resist magic, sure, but they couldn't outright nullify it, otherwise battle magic or healing magic wouldn't work.

While Noire thought about this, the door opened, and Iceheart strode in, wearing empty saddlebags. "Oh, hello Iceheart," Noire greeted the other pony.

"Good afternoon, Noire," Iceheart said. "Have you and Trixie been out to procure supplies?"

"Not yet," said Trixie. "We figured we would take the train south and pick up supplies there. There's a frontier town by the name of Dodge Junction right outside the Badlands. We have money already, don't worry, but out of curiosity, did you receive your pay?"

"I did. I left most of it with my sisters, and the rest I will keep in these 'travellers cheques'."

"I didn't know you had sisters," Noire said.

"They survived Sombra's purge and subsequent reign. The Witch King at least kept his word on that. They did not have the cold tolerance that I had, and so it was me who he was interested in."

Noire backed off, getting the hint that Iceheart didn't want to talk about her sisters. Instead, she said, "Well, they should be good in most of Equestria, even Dodge Junction since it's served by the train. It'll be more difficult to use in remote locations and really small villages though, as they usually don't have banking services." And so Noire went on, engaging Iceheart in idle chatter. Now that the greatest of loads had been removed from Iceheart's shoulders, the other pony was a lot more affable and easy to banter with, even if she still did live up to her name.

Off to the side, Trixie did some accounting, estimating what they would need to pick up in Dodge Junction and the price of those goods. In the morning, they would be off again. It had only been a week since they had first set hoof in the Crystal Empire, and yet it seemed like a lifetime, as Noire and her had picked up a new travelling companion.

What was it that Trixie had thought to herself as she left Whinnychester, leaving the familiar and the safe behind? She certainly couldn't have predicted the adventure that had just occurred.

"Ah, right," Trixie whispered to herself, her father's motto springing to mind again, "Who dares, wins." She would need those words as she marched into the Badlands to attempt a conversation with the Changeling Queen who had invaded Equestria many years ago.

Author's Note:

I originally thought every arc would run about 15,000 words, and the size of the New Moon arc deceived me into thinking everything would go as planned. Clearly it didn't. I could have split this chapter up into two but for thematic reasons I am attempting to keep each arc at three chapters.

Something I'll probably edit a bit shortly between this chapter and last is the Crystal ponies. Arguably they should be speaking in ye olde English, except nobody wants to read that crap for two chapters and I don't want to write it, and they were speaking perfectly-modern day in The Crystal Empire episodes too. But I've still tried to craft a distinct style of speech for them that's not very casual in tone to reflect their speech style being different.

The next arc will be 'Upon the Wings of Freedom', in which this story really begins to earn its Changeling tag

"Me, a Changeling? Hah! What Changeling would want to take my form?"

Comments

[DracoDarastrix]

Hmm... I don't agree with Trixie magic theory. What she's doing is clearly a transmutation spell rather then illusion. However any sorcerer (not academic wizard) will tell you that magic isn't black and white nor does it have boundaries in which is what. That's simple done for the ease of mind to comprehend what it is. It's need to put everything inside boxes that such a system as classes in magic is even created. In other words some spells blur the boundary between Transmutation and Illusion. This was clearly the case here.

If Trixie continues this path in her magical development then she will understand a universal truth. There are no classes in the end magic is just magic and spells only ease the path to cast it. In otherwords a being that becomes in total enlightenment in the arcana no longer need spells only will to do so. This is the ultimate achievement a sorcerer can reach. Willing magic without spell in doing what the caster desire simple by tapping the flow and guiding into its results.

Well enough about magic theory. Now for the chapter. I have no problem reading big chapters such as these. Overall it was entraining that in my opinion it fell that here and it reduced a bit of its overall pace. Perhaps a bit more open dialogue rather then inner dialogue could solve it. But this is just a minor nitpick and it was in my opinion a very good chapter. Keep on the good work.

[Jirodyne]

7346000 The end results are the same, but there are limits to Transmutation magic where as there are nearly none with Illusion.

Here's what I mean as an example. A Transformation would take 6 rocks and turn them into mice. Trixie's illusions (If she got creative enough) could trick reality into thinking 6 mice had always existed there, basically creating life.

What's more, Transmutation is changing a Physical object, into another Physical object. But an illusion is about bring Ideas into the Physical world.

In some ways, this makes 'Illusion magic' the most powerful branch of magic, as it can will into existence the other magical branches. This is actually seen in Dungeons and Dragons. More clearly, in the game Neverwinter Nights 2. There are high level 'Illusion' spells, that make a 'shadow copy' of other spells from other branches of magic. Such as Fireballs, and some buff spells. Bringing illusions to life.

There is also a far more darker side of it. Namely, in theory, you would be able to create the illusion that somepony couldn't do magic, and they would be unable to do it. A good example of this, is in the Fanfiction story 'The Star In Yellow', in which Twilight believes to give up her horn and magic to an entity no one can see as it's all in her head. We know this cause she is confronted shortly after, but never uses her magic because she believes mentally that she can't. Illusion magic would be able to have this effect people, in theory.

What you're saying about "Willing magic without spell in doing what the caster desire simple by tapping the flow and guiding into its results." This is basically Illusion magic mastered. Not all other magic schools, just illusion magic. They would be able to will their illusions, their ideas, into existence. They would be even more powerful than Gods in DnD, cause they would be able to will that a god wasn't a god, and in fact was a mortal, and reality would make it so.

[Dreams of Ponies]

I like how Trixie automatically stumbled upon the most lucrative use of her illusion magic, heh, literally making money. Still it's probably a good thing she decided against it, cause that definitely could have gone south, but at least it would have been warmer!

Finally time to head for the hive, Yay!

[TDR]

Windigo fossils.....neat idea.

[Jatheus]

Wow, wow, and wow! That magic poof-boom! Way cool. So, the best parts about all of this have really been the continuing character development. I've been really enjoying getting to know Iceheart, not to mention Noire and your version of Trixie.

I'm going with the theory that Trixie has accidentally tapped into the multiverse with her magic, and she is actually swapping multiverse realities from a different dimension with what is real in her dimension. So... Noire actually looked like that in another multiverse, where another Trixie was casting the spell to disguise her friend as New Moon (they traded places). Then, the Trixie that went to deal with the Windigo ice also cast simultaneously with an evil Trixie in a different dimension that wanted to create an endless ice-storm. Swappero, and boom! Don't tell me this theory won't work! It makes perfect sense with how the actual in-verse magic to do what she has done is way beyond her (a fact she freely admitted), and that the illusions would be impossible (as she also admitted).

Theories aside, great chapter, but I had to laugh when you mentioned each arc being 15,000 words, and this chapter was a little over 17,000. Still really enjoying the read, and I'm looking forward to the next arc!

[Emperor]

8387105

I wouldn't ever do something like that idea of yours. Just not my cup of tea, honestly. But yeah, it was pretty fun developing Iceheart out as a character, even if this arc blew out of my control for length. That obviously got a lot worse in the next arc.

Still, it's neat re-reading this myself as I edit everything because I know how it all comes together having spent many months plotting this out, so what seem like throwaway lines do make more sense to me. There's a bit of a maxim that what might seem like plot holes to some is really the author being too subtle here and there, and honestly even at points I have to stop and think what I was insinuating or foreshadowing.

[Jatheus]

8468888
Well pooh! You've got to give me props for a plausible theory though!

I personally think the multiverse theory is total garbage, but it makes for fun stories.

[Yubella]

So one teammate down about four to go?