Prologue
Freezing cold wind and the sensation of falling was the first thing he became aware of. Before he could gather his wits, he slammed into the cold snow-covered ground. He breath was violently knocked out of him. He lay there for a few moments just trying to breath through the pain.
Eventually, he didn’t know how much time had passed, the cold made him aware that he needed to find some kind of shelter. Shivering, he painfully climbed to his hooves and looked at his surroundings for the first time.
It looked like he was in a frozen wasteland. Nothing but sleet and snow as far as he could see, which admittedly wasn’t very far. He could not make out anything further than about twenty pony lengths away. It looked like a snowstorm was in full swing.
As he looked around he suddenly only saw red on his left side. He brought up a hoof and wiped at his eye, when he pulled the hoof away to look at it, he saw it was covered in blood. He then felt his skull throb just above his left ear, he closed his eyes in pain and held his hoof to his head trying to get the pain to go away.
When the pain finally started to subside to a dull throbbing, he gave pained sigh he turned to his left in a slow circle, trying to find anything that stood out. As he turned, he saw a strange faint light coming from somewhere he couldn’t really see. He didn’t really have a choice, there was nothing else out here so he started making his way towards the light.
His progress was slow seeing as he had to force himself through chest high snow with the strong wind beating against him his left side. Every step was painful, it felt like liquid fire was running through his right shoulder.
After what felt like hours of forcing himself to continue through the snow and sleet, he finally saw the light brighten in front of him. The wind had died down slightly and he could see what the light was. Only thirty pony lengths away was a bright blue barrier. He looked to the left and saw that the barrier extended far further than he could see in the storm. He looked to the right and saw the same thing in that direction.
He had taken only a single step towards the barrier when he heard a chorus of ghastly howls coming from far behind him. The howls were faint but he knew whatever it was had found his blood trail and would now start to hunt him. Fear took a hold and spurred him into action. He made his way to the barrier as fast as he could.
As he came closer to the barrier, he could start to make out details on the other side of it. It looked like a paradise, green fields and cozy looking buildings that had no sign of snow anywhere. He could even see other ponies seeming enjoying their day in the warmth contained within the barrier. The howls had doubled in volume by the time he was only a pony length away. He stopped and hesitantly reached out a hoof to touch the barrier.
He pushed against it to see if he code go through, it felt solid and impenetrable, he had no idea what to do now. The howls were steadily drawing closer. His ears pressed tight against his skull as the fear started eating away at his last shreds of hope. He wished for the barrier to let him in but knew that he was not worthy of being let in to such a paradise.
Eight seconds after he had put his hoof on the barrier there was a bright flash of light from inside the barrier. When his eyes cleared, he could see that six grown ponies were standing there looking at him.
In a flash of light Princess Cadance teleported herself, Prince Consort Shining Armor and four of her Crystal Guards to the northern side of the barrier the Crystal Heart projects to keep the Empire safe. She was connected to the Crystal Heart and had felt it when a pony had touched the barrier and asked for entrance.
She knew that every single one of her ponies were accounted for before the storm hit and there were no tourists or any other ponies from Equestria scheduled to come to the Crystal Empire before the storm was over.
The barrier would not stop any Crystal pony or a pony from Equestria from just walking through it. Any other ponies who had no evil in their hearts and would do the Empire no harm were welcomed into it freely.
She looked out at the pony standing on the other side of the barrier in shock. It was a small dark-grey colt that couldn’t be older that her six-year-old daughter Flurry Heart. She couldn’t see a horn or wings on him but felt unease all the same. He was covered in snow and looked like he was freezing.
Her eyes tightened and narrowed as she remembered that that bastard Sombra had tried this once before. He had tried to fool them by posing as a lost and injured foal before bursting out in a blast of magic and tried to kill her. All of these years later and they have yet to find his body. She suspects that he would be back someday, she knew with certainty that he wasn’t gone for good. The colt on the other side of the barrier looked a lot like the Dark King did.
The colt had hunched in on himself in fear and mouthed something she couldn’t hear. The barrier didn’t let any sound through. The colt kept his head down but hesitantly looked up at her and waited. She couldn’t lip read but thought he had asked for entrance. Cadance drew herself up to her full height and frowned at him, she slowly shook her head in refusal.
The colt dropped his head in defeat. She could see a lot of pain in his devastated expression. The colt suddenly flinched and looked sharply behind him, as if he had heard something. He then turned away to his right and made his way away from the barrier as fast as he could with a limp.
Cadance stood there frowning out at where the colt had gone for ten seconds before she heard her beloved speak.
“Love, are you sure that was him?” asked Shining Armor.
“It had to be, he has tried this before remember? I’m not falling for that again,” said Cadance.
“I agree. That looked way too much like him to be anypony else. He must be growing weak. We haven’t seen any sign of him for four years now,” said Shining Armor.
The storm finally subsided and the wind outside the barrier stopped blowing snow everywhere. Visibility increased drastically and she could see the colt already quite far away and steadily becoming smaller before vanishing into the distance. Cadance sighed and teleported herself and company back to the Crystal Palace.
Had she stayed a few moments longer she would have seen a pack of five humongous frost wolves emerge from the snowy landscape, their white coats letting them blend in with their surroundings. They followed the blood left by the colt to the barrier, they paused there for a few moments looking maliciously at the Crystal Empire, before they turned and followed the colt’s trail again.
Princess Cadance paced in front of the Crystal Heart sighing every few seconds. She knew that she had made the right decision with the information she had available, but she still felt as if she missed something. The colt remained on her thoughts as she thought back to his hopeless expression when she denied him entrance.
She could see the pain in his eyes as he lost hope over and over again. Groaning she stopped in front of the Crystal Heart and placed her horn on it so she could more easily talk to the Heart with her thoughts.
“Did I do the right thing?” Cadance asked.
“Well done Mi Amore Cadenza. You just killed an innocent colt,” the Crystal Heart replied.
Cadance jerked away and looked on in shock at the Heart.
“What do you mean an innocent colt? That was the tyrant Sombra! Wasn’t it? The barrier would let in anypony who doesn’t have evil in their hearts,” Cadance said as she felt a pit form in her stomach.
“Not exactly, anypony who is a citizen of the Empire or of one of its allies are welcomed through the barrier as long as they hold no evil in their hearts. That is not true for other countries. If a pony comes from a country who is not an ally of the Empire the barrier would not allow them entrance until one of the rulers or the captain of the guard allows them entrance. When that poor colt touched the barrier, I could see the horrors and the pain he had already faced in his young life and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that he is an innocent and he deserves to be let into the Empire, and you have just denied him entrance,” explained the Crystal Heart.
Teleporting away into the throne room Cadance yelled out in her full Canterlot Royal Voice, “SHINY!”
The walls and floors vibrated with the force of her yell and a second later there was a flash of light as Shining Armor teleported into the throne room.
“Cady! What’s wrong?” asked Shining Armor.
“Take a squad and go get that colt we left outside the barrier. I made a big mistake,” said Cadance.
“Are you sure love? The barrier-” Shining Armor started.
“He is an innocent, I will explain after you get him back here,” Cadance interrupted.
“Very well. See you in a few love,” said Shining Armor.
He kissed his wife’s cheek before teleporting away again. Cadance started to pace again as she worried if they would find the colt in time. It was very cold outside the barrier after the storm and it was getting close to night-fall.
Please be alive when they find you. She thought as the day slowly drew to a close.