Prologue
Hail ground her teeth to stay the tremors that wracked her jaw, threatening shivers and chattering teeth as the biting wind swept through her cloak like water through a floodgate. The crunch of packed snow under her hooves and the harsh rasp of her ragged breathing were the only sounds to grace her ears over the incessant howling of wind over the Maker-forsaken glacier she found herself on. The air before her clouded with her breath, the millions of water droplets freezing to ice instantly in the chill air and falling to earth like a silk drape.
Blinking eyes crusted with tiny icicles, she forced her vision into clarity through the driving snow.
“Polaris!”
Her shout sounded dull, muted. The wind gripped and tugged at her voice like the claws of hungry predators, snatching it from her lips to whisk it away down ravines and gullies, to be heard by no one. A weak, frustrated growl formed low in her throat as several seconds passed with no answer to her call. Head bowed low against the wind and cloak wrapped tighter around delicate ears, Hail trudged her way through the deep drifts with grudging acceptance. Polaris had told her where they would rendezvous, but had apparently not accounted for her reduced ability to navigate in the shrouding blizzard.
They had no use for timepieces this far from civilization, and that aside she doubted she’d be able to make any reading out with thick clumps of snow attempting to blanket her with every step. But still, she knew she was late. Worse still, she knew she was likely going in the wrong direction. The farther she walked with no striking landmarks drew her nerves ever tighter. A dull glimmer of hope prayed that Polaris would eventually come looking for her once he knew she was likely lost.
The louder, colder voice of reason cruelly assured her that the weather made fat chance of that outcome.
Mind numb to all other senses save the feeling of forcing numb limbs one after the other, Hail was unprepared for the sudden wave of tremors that buckled her legs under her, driving her into the snow. The sweet relief at the lessened awareness of wind and sound was replaced by the cold burn of frozen flesh. Snow encased her like a thick blanket, more and more piling atop her ineffective cloak and burying her in a void of cold darkness. A dull spike of panic lanced through her mind as she slowly became aware of her predicament. Her body struggled fitfully as her numb body tried to respond to the orders of her mind.
Don’t stop moving, the words echoed in her thoughts clear and sharp as glacier ice.
“Don’t ever stop moving, Hail,” Polaris told her, the thick blue fur along his neck and shoulders twitching this way and that as if possessed by the whipping winds. “Here in the North, priorities are different. Warmth, shelter and food, in that order. You have to stay warm, Hail. Heat is energy, energy is motion. Never stop moving. You stop moving—”
“—and you freeze.” She chattered past blue lips.
Limbs spurred by a burst of manic energy, Hail threw off the pile of frosty powder and exploded back into the waking world with a flurry of motion and a loud gasp that drew icy daggers down into her lungs. Hail shivered violently, the storm raging angrily as if upset by the denial of its intended victim. The memory of Polaris’ words hung about her, bringing forth that same image of the blue-coated reindeer. She’d never imagined what sort of pony would be brave enough or mad enough to make their home in this desolate territory until she’d met Polaris. He was a creature who embodied the frozen fields of his home, cold as a snowstorm and as expressionless as the wastes he patrolled. If she were to freeze out here, she doubted it would be of much burden to the grizzled survivalist’s mind.
“Fool pony. I told her not to stop moving.”
The thought of the cold bull’s colder jibes at her expense brought a fleeting rush of angry heat to her cheeks. She hated the smug jerk, with his cold eyes and colder attitude. Him and his thick, warm coat of fur.
Dragging her body from its depression on the pristine field, Hail stumbled blindly forward. Her eyes clenched tightly against the stinging gusts, Hail gave up all pretense of direction as she forced her way through high drifts and raging winds. The stinging of her chilled hooves had long since faded into emptiness, like wooden pegs for all the flexibility they offered, she forced them to move. Several more times her footing failed her, flinging her into the snow, and several more times she found the will to stand again and keep moving. Always moving.
She didn’t know how long she’d been walking, shuffling and tripping her way through bleak veil when she glimpsed movement out of the corner of the clenched vision. Not so much movement perhaps, more of a shift in the grey tones of her surroundings. Some deeper instinct stayed her hooves as her eyes darted this way and that, scanning the endless sea of grey fog and white specks for any sign of danger. Just as she finally took notice of her stillness and forced her ungainly body into movement, she saw it again.
It was right on top of her.
The large shape loomed out of the blizzard like a spectre, standing in her path like a solemn gatekeeper. A part of her brain told her she should be afraid, but the constant fatigue and cold left her only the energy to be angry. Brow furrowed and lip curled, she sneered at the dark figure and kicked a small drift of snow toward it where it landed a few inches away with a soft crunch.
“Look, Mr. Yeti, Abominable Snowpony, whatever you are, I don’t have time for this.”
The figure stood impassively, undeterred by her irate statements as she fumed.
“I’ve got somewhere to be, hopefully in a nice cave somewhere with a roaring fire and a few of those chewy tundra roots roasting on a stick, and I’m late enough as it is. So, if you’re not going to get out of my way, would you at least do something? I may be scrawny but there’s no way in Tirek’s fuzzy bath slippers I’m going to just let you eat me without a fight you slush-for-brains neanderthal!” Hail hoped her proclamation had been as intimidating as she hoped it would be, not that the constant chattering of her teeth had done anything to improve her odds.
The unbroken sound of the howling wind continued, the silent shape unresponsive and unmoving. Hail’s teeth ground together in frustration before she growled aloud, anger and cold overcoming good sense.
“Fine! If you don’t have the hailstones to start this throwdown, then I will!”
Heaving her stick-like limbs into the air, she threw a clumsy haymaker toward what she hoped was the beast’s jaw before a shaggy limb snapped out, faster than a snake and snagged her hoof in a grip like death.
“Leggo!” She yowled, tugging weakly on her hoof to no avail, it was caught tight. “Get your mangy blue mitts off...of...huh?”
The dark shape shivered and heaved in the grey fog, quaking like an avalanche. And then she heard it, like whispers through the howling storm.
Laughter.
The beast threw back its great head, its great, branching horns glinting in whatever dim light was available in the blizzard, laughing like a maniac. Its cloak blew back from its head, caught in a passing wind as its eruptions of joviality seemed to soak into the surrounding landscape.
“A rousing speech, Hail,” The beast cried as its laughter died to a strangled guffaw and finally to a small chuckle. “But if I were truly a yeti, I don’t think I would pick you to eat. You were right, you are very scrawny.”
“P-p-p…” Hail had trouble forming words past the incandescent fury bubbling beneath her skin. She puffed up so much she thought her eyes might burst from their sockets like frozen marbles to pelt the insufferable pony.
“Polaris!” She screeched, the words finally squeezing through the vice in her throat.”What in Celestia’s name are you doing?! Is it a northern pasttime to go strutting through a blizzard smug as you please—”
“You were late. I came looking for you, Hail.”
“Late?!” Hail spat, the words dropping like the frozen crystals forming from her breath.
The blue bull nodded solemnly, face blank and devoid of any trace of its previous hilarity.
“Yes. Late.”
“It’s not exactly my fault if a certain someone forgot to tell me about the Maker’s-damned blizzard! I’ve been wandering out here for hours looking for your damn landmarks when I can’t see two bloody hooflengths in front of my own muzzle! My hooves feel like they’re gonna fall off, you jerk!”
At last a small glimmer of concern sprang into the reindeer’s eyes, and the black orbs darted down to glance at the hoof trapped in his grip.
“Mm...frostbite. You stopped moving, didn’t you?”
“Excuse me?!”
“Come on, let’s get you warmed up before it gets any worse. Wouldn’t want you to lose those pretty legs of yours.”
“Oh no!” She snapped as the reindeer gave her limb a tug, turning around to lead her deeper into the blizzard. “Don’t think you’re off the hook, Polaris! You may have found me but it’s your fault I’m out here in the first pla—!”
Hail grunted as Polaris gave her a forceful tug, pulling her into his grip where he pressed her roughly against his barrel. Almost immediately, the thick, coarse hair of his coat blocked out the chill of the wind, and for what felt like the first time in years, she could feel a blazing warmth that began the arduous task of leeching the cold from her body.
Hail sagged against the bull as he supported her weight, cutting thick paths through the snowdrifts with the ease born of familiarity. She sighed contentedly, rubbing her numb cheeks in the warmth.
“I love you and your big dumb coat, you big dumb jerk.”
Wrapped in a thick blanket with a warm fire blazing in the hearth before her, Hail smiled drowsily. The raging storm continued unabated outside, but here in the cozy shelter constructed by her guide it was the furthest thing from her mind. Hooves and ears coated in a tingling salve and wrapped in thick bandages, she stared unseeing into the golden coils of flame. Polaris sat nearby, perched on a small outcropping of rock from the caveside as he whittled at a white object held in his hooves. A pleased glint flickered in the great reindeer’s eyes as he ran an enormous hoof over the object’s rough edges. Surprisingly gentle for such a giant, the delicacy manageable by those hooves never failed to surprise her.
“You could’ve taken me with you when you left for this place the first time you know, Polaris.” Hail griped goodnaturedly, her voice drunk with exhaustion. “I don’t know why you’d leave a poor defenseless mare like me out in the blizzard by herself.”
Polaris arched a heavy brow, his eyes never leaving his whittling. “Not my fault you wanted to stay and study the cave drawings. I told you we needed to leave but you were the one who kicked me out and told me to go set up camp as I recall.”
“Excuses,” She snipped.
Polaris sighed, the slightest hint of a grin tugging at his lips. “Are all pony women like you? If so, I feel pity for your stallions.”
“And just what exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“Only that I am confused as to why your princesses would send you to such a frozen corner of the mountain range on this wild moose chase if not just to get rid of you.”
“Hey, this isn’t a wild—...moose chase? Whatever, but this isn’t a waste of time I’ll have you know. The drawings on those cave walls could detail a pass or trail through these glaciers. The sooner we find it, the sooner we can contact the Crystal Empire.”
“Ah yes, your misplaced empire. I have lost many things in my lifetime in the northlands, but never have I lost an entire nation.”
“Because that’s impossible.” Hail growled, settling in for another heated discussion much as they had done many nights before since she had traveled up into the frozen wastes. “You’re right, you can’t just misplace an entire nation. So why have we lost contact with the crystal ponies? It’s been almost a year and we haven’t heard hide nor hair from them in that time. The princesses are worried.”
“Then why do they not just bring a larger force to search the wastes? They move the sun and moon, do they not? I do not think finding your empire would be so difficult a task were they to leave their thrones to see it done.”
“I told you,” Hail sighed tiredly, her muscles beginning to ache now that the warmth had restored some some semblence of their vitality. “They can’t leave Canterlot’s seat right now. There have been huge food shortages since the most recent winter lasted so long. They have their hooves full just keeping the panic and riots in check. They don’t have time to go strutting through the wilderness melting the occasional ice plateau.”
“So they send one Hail.” He grunted.
“Not just me, but yes.”
“Not just one Hail?” The reindeer’s large ears swiveled forward attentively, his attention caught. “You mean there are more ponies like you wandering around up here freezing their antlers off and looking for a lost city?”
Hail tsked, annoyed. “I told you, Polaris they’re called horns, not antlers.” She gave the pale spiral above her mane a soft tap for emphasis.
“Yes, yes, your not-antlers. There are more of you?”
“Well, not just unicorns like me, but yes.” Hail stared deeply into the flickering flames of the hearth that had been chiseled into the stone. She could see the ancient marks where reindeer from ages past had carved the stone with their antlers like iron. She frowned as she remembered the strain and fatigue so visible on the diarchs’ faces despite their brave frontss
“We’ve spared as many as we could to the venture.”
For a moment, the crackle of the flames and the dull roaring from outside were the only sounds in the small shelter. Then finally, the soft grating of a saddle knife scraping shavings resumed. Polaris grunted softly as he carved mechanically, his eyes watching her so intently that a faint blush sprang to her cheeks and she pulled the thick cover closer around her body.
“Is your need truly so desperate? Surely it cannot be as bad as you make it out to be.” His voice held an edge of uncertainty. In all the time she’d known the giant northerner, he’d never shown fear or doubt, even when facing down a Vhoer, one of the enormous polar bears that roamed these climes as solitary hunters.
“That’s just it, Polaris. We don’t even know how bad it will truly is. The winters are growing longer and the warmer seasons shorter, year by year. Then the Crystal Empire all but vanishes, with no word of an explanation. The ice and snow are creeping down into Equestria from the north and more and more ponies are migrating down to Canterlot to escape the cold. Even the princesses are at a loss for what to do.”
“And your princesses believe finding this empire of yours will yield the answers they seek?”
Hail frowned, listening to the popping of the dried timber and tundra grasses in the blaze. She glanced up to the reindeer, his dark eyes staring out at her from the shadows cast by the dancing flames.
“I don’t know, Polaris. I know they hope to find something. And whatever it is we find, I hope it gives us some clues.”
Outside their pool of calm and warmth, the blizzard blew on, scouring winds and blinding snow poured ceaselessly down from the mountaintops like the breathe a great frostwyrm. Somewhere, deep in the dark wastes of the North, lay answers, Hail knew.
She could only hope that when she found them, it wouldn’t be in an empty city peopled only by snow and frozen statues.