It had been a long evening, a very long evening. The rangers were more than used to staying in less than ideal conditions while operating on what little sleep they could get and Celestia herself was no stranger to staying up passed the setting of the sun, having ruled an entire country for a thousand years on her own. Upon exiting the mine tunnels, she had attracted quite the crowd, having nearly the entire town follow her around everywhere she went. They had many questions, many of which she did not have answers for. Even now, they crowded around outside the small hospital that she found herself in. The window to her room was not spared attention as the ponies peered through to get a glimpse of the princess, the last rays of sunlight now beginning to duck behind the horizon as they did.

Paper chuckled as he motioned towards the window. "You've got quite the following," he pointed out.

Celestia answered with a smile of her own as a doctor took his stethoscope from her chest and began to write down notes. "They are simply curious," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I can say with certainty that I myself would react in a similar manner if a being who existed a thousand years ago suddenly showed up on my doorstep."

"Speaking of which," Nightfall began from the darker corner of the room. "You were kind of vague in your explanation earlier. We're all a little curious as well."

Celestia sighed as she looked away towards the window, a small frown on her face. The ponies outside were a diverse group. There were unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, two changelings of blue and green, and a hippogriff. All of them took great interest in her, paying close attention to every move she made. A small sincere smile touched her lips before she looked back over to the thestral before her. "I'm afraid you must forgive my hesitation to share information," Celestia began apologetically. "It's just..." she trailed off before seeming to make up her mind on what she should say. "I find myself in a strange situation now. I am entirely ignorant of Equestria's current state of affairs and I..."

"You don't know if you can trust us," Nightfall finished for her.

Celestia just nodded, as if not wanting to fully admit it. "I know it must seem absurd to you, but when you live as long as I have, you begin to think in terms of hundreds of years if not thousands at a time. I have-"

"Wait a minute. Hold on. Time out," Paper interrupted, crossing hooves into the shape of a T. "Something is not making sense here. Exactly how long do alicorns live to be?"

Celestia looked at the two ponies with a blank expression. Her eyes darted between the two for a moment before she finally chuckled to herself a bit. "You may find it hard to believe, but we are immortal, although I myself believe that all things must come to pass. Only time will tell which is correct."

Nightfall just stood there in contemplation while Paper's eyes grew large and his eyebrows rose to top of his head. "Immortal?" he breathed. "That's crazy. That's... that's..." he ran a hoof through his mane as he tried to comprehend what he had just been told. Suddenly, something seemed to click inside his head. "Hang on a second. If that's true, then where are the rest of you? Why aren't there anymore alicorns in Equestria now?"

"There were only two of us to begin with," Celestia answered. "There was one naturally born later on, but five in total if you count the ascended, although I do not know if they share our life spans."

"So they're dead?" Nightfall asked suddenly.

"Goodness, no!" Celestia answered in a shocked tone. "At least, I pray that they're not. They shouldn't be."

Nightfall thought for a moment before continuing "And were they royalty like you?" he asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes. My sister and I ruled over Equestria for many years together. Her the night and I the day. The ascended were students of mine. One was originally a pegasus who went on to rule the Crystal Empire in the north. The other was a unicorn who worked to spread Harmony throughout not only our own land, but to others as well. Then there was Flurry Heart who was one of the kindest souls I've ever had the pleasure of knowing."

"Sounds cool," Paper said.

"Indeed," Celestia replied happily. "They were all very..." She rose a hoof to her chin, as if thinking her word choice over. "...cool," she finally said.

"So what happened?" Nightfall asked bluntly.

Celestia looked down toward the ground after hearing the question. She fiddled with her hooves as she thought, before finally looking over at the window. The ponies outside took notice and all greeted her with warm smiles. Celestia couldn't help but give them a soft smile of her own. This seemed to extract some heartfelt joy from the crowd, but the conduit to the outside world was cut off as Nightfall abruptly shut the curtain.

"Doc, is that everything or do you need some more time?" Nightfall suddenly asked. "We're going to need a moment here."

The unicorn at the other end of the room who had been simply watching the three for some time now suddenly snapped to attention, nearly fumbling his clipboard as he did. "Oh, uh. Y-yes. As a matter of fact, there is much to do." He began looking over his notes, but didn't sound too certain of himself.

"Really now?" Nightfall responded with a bemused look.

"Absolutely," the doctor responded. He frantically flipped through the sheets of paper on his clipboard in search of something to do. "There are many tests I still need to run. It's important to her health." Despite this claim, he couldn't seem to find what he needed in his notes.

Nightfall put a hoof on the clipboard and lowered it out of the doctor's face. "Look, I know what's going on here and I get it. We all want to gawk at the alicorn princess, but right now Celestia and I need to have a talk in private."

"But I-" the doctor protested.

That was all he had time to say, before Nightfall rushed him out the door. "But nothing," Nightfall said, cutting him off. "Last time I checked a good chunk of the town's guard force was recovering from being put on ice and we all know that MISA burns don't turn out well when not properly tended to. So, you know, get going." With that, he closed the door.

"That was a bit harsh, don't you think?" Paper criticized.

"I must agree with Paper," Celestia said. "I don't think it was necessary to treat him in that manner."

Nightfall rolled his eyes. "He'll be fine," he replied. "Now, please Celestia. I need you to answer my questions. It's important."

Celestia looked around the room in a thoughtful manner for several prolonged moments, as if trying to decide what to say and what to omit. "Before I begin," Celestia started. "Please, tell me what Equestria is like now. You claim that centuries have passed and I have seen for myself the conditions of the outside world, but I do not yet fully comprehend the entirety of the situation. I suspect an understanding of it may be necessary for me to adequately explain my own side."

Nightfall sighed, but not in agitation. He made his way over to the corner and took a place on a chair. "Geez, where to even start," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof. "I'm not really much of a history buff. Paper here is far better suited for that. As for current events, well..." Nightfall paused, taking a second to collect his thoughts. "Do you know what a windigo is, Celestia?"

Celestia just nodded in response.

"Well, it's widely believed that they're what's causing all these blizzards," Nightfall continued. "I don't know what Equestria was like back in your time, but we've always known it as a cold and unforgiving place, along with the rest of the world. The windigos make everything worse though, and no matter how many of those damn things we put down, more just seem to pop up."

"I see," Celestia said, a contemplative look on her face. "You said the rest of the world has these issues as well?"

"Yeah," Nightfall answered. "I don't pay much attention to political matters, but I do know for a fact that Equestria works closely with the Gryphon Kingdoms to ensure security. We supply them with magical means for combating the cold and in exchange they craft some of the finest weapons in existence. Most of it has to be adapted for the use of hooves, but you wont find a rifle that shoots straighter in all of Equestria."

"I am glad to see that Equestria still gets along with its neighbors," Celestia said. "What of the changeling hive and Crystal Empire?"

Nightfall and Paper both looked at each other, exchanging puzzled glances before turning back to Celestia.

"That's the second time you've said Crystal Empire. You're not referring to the crystal ponies," Paper enquired, taking notes as Celestia gave her side of the story. "Are you?"

"I am, indeed," Celestia answered.

"They had an empire?" Nightfall responded, sounding more than a little surprised. "The crystal ponies actually had their own empire?"

Celestia nodded. "Indeed they did. In the modern era, they were more synonymous to a city state. The word empire was more of a formality, but they did enjoy self rule for a number of years after their return."

"And what about the changelings?" Paper quickly asked, fully entranced by the stories of the past as he wrote every word onto his notepad. "You said they had a hive. Now a days, they're a minority that's thinly spread across Equestria. My old senior year history teacher was one, but never said anything about there ever being a changeling hive."

"It was on the edge of the Badlands," Celestia explained. "It was ruled by a malevolent queen for many years, but after its liberation, it became a place of great beauty." A sad frown began to spread across Celestia's muzzle as her brain processed the information she was receiving. Her eyes stared down to the floor, before finally returning to the ponies before her. "I do believe I am beginning to understand the broader scope of the situation and Equestria's current state. I have but one more question for you. Then I promise to tell you what I know."

"By all means, ask away," Nightfall said.

"Who do you work for?"

Nightfall and Paper looked at each other for a moment with mostly neutral expressions on their faces, before turning back to Celestia.

"We're the good guys, if that's what you're worried about," Paper assured. "I promise."

"By that, he means we work for Equestria," Nightfall clarified. "More specifically we're a part of the Tundra Recon and Special Tasks Initiative. Although we're not officially a part of the Equestrian Guard, we work closely with them to carry out special missions in the tundra where rule of law doesn't exactly exist. Most just refer to us as rangers. Since we operate outside the chain of military command, we're not bogged down by a bunch of rules and regulations so we're far more adaptable. We basically work for the Equestrian government as a sort of special agency."

"Do you like them?

Celestia's question was simple, but was aimed at extracting a great deal of information.

"I think we're all glad to say that Equestria's government is doing pretty good," Paper said. "If you're afraid that some tyrannical dictatorship took over in your absence, then I can tell you for sure that you don't need to worry about it."

"But do you like them?"

Paper just thought a moment, not entirely sure where he stood on the topic. "I mean, I'm not saying that everyone always likes the decisions that parliament makes or who they appoint into the chancellorship, but elections are held every few years for certain representative seats and for the most part we all get a fair say in how we're ruled. I don't think we could really ask for much more, all things considered."

"I'm inclined to agree with Paper on the matter," Nightfall added. "I've never paid too much attention to politics, but I've never had much to complain about either, so..."

The room fell quiet as Nightfall trailed off. Celestia used to be the leader of all of Equestria. Telling her she was basically obsolete, although not directly, had now made things slightly awkward. "I see," Celestia finally said after a prolonged silence.

"You don't believe us. Do you?" Nightfall replied.

"I don't think I have much of a choice in this instance," Celestia answered. "For now, I must play this by ear. At the moment, that means cooperating with you."

"Good," Nightfall said simply. "Now, about you're side of the story. Go ahead. We're all ears."

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Celestia sighed yet again. Before she began, she took a deep breath and found her center. "As you know, it was a long time ago," she started. "Equestria was far different than she is now. Back in my day, she was a beautiful land of rolling hills and dense forests, caught between the frozen snow covered mountains of the north and the barren deserts of the badlands to the south. The windigos that have plagued the land in this time were kept at bay by a magical force that we called the Fire of Friendship."

"I take it that something went wrong," Paper said. "With the Fire I mean."

"Yes," Celestia answered. "Tell me, are you familiar with Hearth's Warming?"

Both of the rangers just shook their heads.

"It was a holiday," Celestia explained. "It celebrated Equestria's founding and the original defeat of the windigos by the Fire. You see, windigos feed off of hatred and negativity towards others. The magic of this Fire expelled the windigos when the three tribes, the Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies, came together for the first time and founded Equestria. Every year, for thousands of years, ponies would come together in the winter to celebrate and keep the windigos at bay."

"That's great!" Paper said suddenly. "All we have to do then is re-establish Hearth's Warming and we're good. We can get rid of the windigos. Right?"

"Something tells me it isn't that simple," Nightfall countered.

"I'm afraid so," Celestia nodded sadly. "You see, the magic that our very world is founded upon, Harmony, was dying. We didn't know how, but it was. We could feel it. It was gradual and so slow that we thought that it had to be a mistake, but it was confirmed when we found the Tree of Harmony itself had begun to shrivel up. At first, we thought it was a plot by Discord, the Spirit of Chaos. He had been reformed a number of years before and we feared that he had gone back to his evil ways, but upon confronting him, we discovered that we were wrong. Chaos is the direct opposite of Harmony, always in conflict with it. Naturally we assumed that any discrepancy in Harmony was the result of Chaos, but Discord was able to show us that Chaos too was fading from existence. He was forced to isolate himself to his own dimension, lest he fade away completely. It would appear that with the death of Harmony, so too has the Fire of Friendship faded. I fear that without Harmony, there is no way to bring back the Fire."

"How did it die?" Paper asked.

"I have not the slightest idea," Celestia answered wearily. "Perhaps it was just time. As I said, all things must come to pass. Even the things that your entire world is built upon it would seem."

"But you did try to fix it, didn't you?" Nightfall said. "You said something about a spell earlier, something about a focusing crystal if I remember correctly."

Celestia nodded. "Yes, but we failed. We thought we could repair and restore both Harmony and Chaos temporarily by sacrificing a portion of our alicorn magic. It wasn't to be a permanent solution, but it could have bought us time. Twilight spent months working tirelessly on a spell alongside some of the greatest minds of our time. Each of us made further contributions in its creation and Discord provided us with a focusing crystal. We spent another several months testing and perfecting the spell, making sure that everything about it was perfect, but when we finally attempted to cast it something happened. The spell destabilized and began to rage out of control. Then there was a flash and..."

"Now you're here," Nightfall finished. His eyes had grown wide and his mouth hung open slightly. Paper dawned a similar expression, his pencil having stopped moving across his notepad.

Celestia just nodded.

As they all sat there in silence, the atmosphere around them seemed to grow heavy and no one seemed to know what to say. That was until Nightfall finally broke this silence. "Well shit."

The small hospital in the middle of this settlement wasn't much to look at. It was but one floor. A small reception area with a couch and some magazines connected to a short hallway that ran on the right to the back wall. On the left wall of this hall were five doors. One lead behind the reception counter which doubled as a pharmacy. The other four each lead to individual rooms where patients were treated. The equipment here, while perfectly adequate at fulfilling its role, was outdated by several years. All in all, the hospital was simple and affective only enough to help a small number of inhabitants at a time. They would stand no chance if there was a major disaster, like the one they had nearly had.

As an earth pony who had grown up in a small fishing village one the east coast, Bastion more than understood how hard it could be to get proper medical care all the way out here. His father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all fisherman, having to construct large platforms out on the ice without the use of magic in order to perform their trade. It was a hard and often dangerous job. Many inexperienced, reckless, or sometimes just oblivious individuals lost their lives on the ice plains. The hospital there was similar to this one here. It all reminded him of home.

After pushing his way through the crowd, an older unicorn in tow, Bastion was finally able to make it into the small hospital. Upon entering, he noticed that the facility was completely void of normal ponies. Instead, it was occupied only by the medical staff who were now working tirelessly to treat the town guards who had been frozen. His attention was caught when one of the doors down the hall suddenly opened and what appeared to be the head doctor was somewhat forcefully thrown out.

The doctor grumbled to himself for a moment as he returned to the reception area and began to file his notes behind the counter. "Kick me out of my own hospital," he complained to himself. "Who does he think he is?"

"He's a hardcore son of a bitch," Bastion answered jokingly with a smirk as he approached the desk. "Pardon my language."

"You've got that right," the doctor replied absentmindedly, without looking up from his notes. He took a second to finish sorting the files in front of him, before finally returning to Bastion. "Sorry about that," he said. "What can I do for..." The words suddenly died in his throat as he noticed the royal patches on Bastion's armored suit. He silently mouthed the words 'Oh shoot.'

"It's alright," Bastion assured. "I get it. Don't worry. The mayor and I are just here to see the princess."

"O-of course," the doctor stammered as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He gave a nervous chuckle before pointing them to the correct door. "Right through there."

Bastion gave a grateful nod before heading to the door in question. Before entering though, the unicorn spoke with the doctor for a few minutes to make sure everything was going okay. With the guard force currently being thawed and treated, the town's defenses were weakened, and he needed to make sure that their guards were going to make a full recovery. He was relieved when the doctor informed him that they would and that they would be back in action soon enough.

After the short chat, the two finally headed into the small room where Nightfall and Paper sat with Celestia. The three had been sitting in silence, each in deep thought about the current situation and how they were to move forward. Each was pulled from these thought as the two stallions entered.

Nightfall rose from his seat and immediately addressed the older unicorn without hesitation. "I take it you're the mayor?" he asked, but received no answer.

The mayor just stood there, his mouth open slightly to match the astounded expression on his face. "I didn't believe it when they told me," he said as he just stared at Celestia. "But here you are alive, well, and very much real.

"So it would seem," Celestia answered with a weary smile. "To whom do I owe this pleasure?"

The mayor stood there in a dumbstruck manner for a moment before answering. "Gale," he suddenly sputtered, managing to find his tongue. "Mayor Gale. And please, you're majesty. The pleasure is all mine." He suddenly threw himself down before her with a respectful bow. This got an eye roll from Nightfall.

Celestia gave a respectful nod of her own. "I assure you, there is no need for such formalities, Mayor Gale," Celestia said with a friendly smile that nearly made Nightfall sick.

He didn't know what it was, but something about Celestia bothered Nightfall. It bothered him even more because he couldn't quite put his hoof on it. Something just didn't feel right. It almost felt to him as Celestia had done this before. It was almost as if this exact conversation had been rehearsed and now Celestia was simply reading off her lines from a mental sticky note. He waved the thought away as he tried to focus on what was actually being said.

"I do hope you're stay so far has been a pleasant one," Mayor Gale said. "I would like to formally welcome you to our humble town and extend to you any service you may require."

"That is very kind of you, Mayor," Celestia replied, her demeanor remaining kind and friendly. Surely she knew this pony was but putty in her hooves. Nightfall sure did. She could get anything she wanted from him right now. Instead, she simply respected his own authority as the leader of this small town.

"I will not be staying long though, it would seem," Celestia continued. "Come morning, I will be making my way to Canterlot with these rangers. Until then, all I require is a roof."

"Of course," Mayor Gale eagerly replied. "I'm sure we can find you a more than sufficient place for the rest of the night."

"That's actually what we brought you here to talk about," Nightfall informed. "We need a place that's close to the center of the town. Sturdy, obviously, and not too crowded. I noticed you had a building with a stone base near the signal fire pit. Has a emergency bunker and everything."

"Yes, yes. The town assembly hall," Mayor Gale said. "Please, be my guest."

"Thank you," Nightfall said, before turning to his teammates and motioning towards the door. "Go get set up for the night," he ordered. "I've got some things to go over with our friend here regarding security."

Bastion and Paper both nodded casually, both complying without hesitation. They began to pack up the little gear that they had left in the room before heading out the door. Celestia followed close behind, but stopped to address Mayor Gale before leaving.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality," she said.

"It has been an honor, your highness," Mayor Gale replied with a respectful bow. "If there is anything, anything at all that I can do, please, do not hesitate to find me."

With that final pleasantry exchanged, Celestia followed her escorts out of the hospital while Nightfall went to work with the Mayor.

Outside the small hospital, it was now dark. The sun had fallen below the horizon nearly an hour ago and now the moon could barely be seen through the blanket of clouds. Despite the current time, there was no shortage of activity around them. A crowd of roughly thirty ponies had gathered around the hospital and now followed the group curiously as the made their way to the other side of the town.

Along the way, there was no shortage of invitations to dinner and to bunk at a pony's residence. At the moment, there is nothing that Celestia would have enjoyed more than a nice dinner with one of these families, especially after the recent revelation, but she knew that she could not. For now, it would be best to avoid distractions and cooperate with these rangers.

Despite the fact that she had not yet made up her mind on whether or not they were trustworthy, she did note that the ponies around her regarded them highly, not out of fear, but out of respect and some level of what seemed to be admiration. It brought comfort to her. From what she had seen so far, they did indeed seem to be the good guys that they claimed to be. Still, she was not letting her guard down.

When the group finally arrived at the building that Nightfall had spoken of, they quickly made their way inside. The downstairs area was even darker than it had been outside, but upon turning on a light, it was revealed that the room was still a mess. The room was littered with papers from a stack that had been knocked onto the ground and the furniture was toppled in a way that suggested somepony had deliberately thrown it aside to get it out of the way.

"This was definitely an out of control party," Paper joked. "I'm going to check the up stairs." Without waiting for a response he took off towards the stairwell. "See if you can, y'know, clean up."

Bastion just rolled his eyes as Paper disappeared up the stairs.

As Bastion began to pick up the papers and correct the furniture, Celestia looked around the room with great curiosity. Along the far wall was series of picture frames that immediately caught her attention. There had to be at least a hundred of them, each one of a single or several ponies. They seemed to be a historical collection, each depicting something different from the town's history. The most striking of these was the row at the very top. Each picture was of a group of young ponies in their late teens or early twenties. At the bottom of every frame was a small gold plaque that read 'Class of' followed by what appeared to be a date. The picture farthest to the right was dated with the year '937 SE.'

"What does SE mean?" Celestia asked, looking back to Bastion as he flipped a table back onto its legs.

"Uh, southeast?" Bastion replied, not entirely understanding the question.

"No, I mean when applied to year."

Bastion gave Celestia a confused look, before walking over and examining the picture frame for himself. "Oh, that means Snow Era," he said after realizing what Celestia was referring to. "This must be last year's picture. This year is 938 SE."

"Hmm, Snow Era," she said. "That's appropriate I suppose."

"Yeah, but in case you're wondering, the year's number isn't exactly what you would call accurate," Bastion continued. "For all I know, you disappeared another thousand years before they started calling this the Snow Era. Paper would know more about that kind of thing. He's kind of the historian of the group."

"So I have been told."

"What are you guys talking about?" Paper suddenly asked, his head popping out from the stairwell after the mentioning of his name.

"Nothing, you big nerd," Bastion replied. "You find anything up stairs?"

"Actually, yes," Paper answered happily. "There's a couple of couches up here and think one of them reclines into a bed."

Just then Nightfall stepped through the door, looking more than ready to fall down on a sack of hay and pass out right then and there. He placed his helmet down onto a table and began to undo a few of the tighter straps on his snow suit, allowing it to loosen and become much more comfortable. "Settle in, everyone. Tomorrow's going to be another early morning." He threw a few of his tools and weapons down on the table, next to his helmet.

"That was pretty quick," Bastion pointed out as Nightfall began packing the rest of his gear away for the night.

"Yeah, thankfully the guards here are somewhat competent and had the sense to not all get frozen by windigos," Nightfall replied.

"Does that mean nobody has to take lookout duty tonight?" Paper asked as he began to recline the first couch into a bed. Somehow he had managed to fit both couches down the narrow staircase with the use of basic levitation.

Nightfall gave Paper a knowing smile before flopping down on his bedroll. Usually, he was the one to take first watch, but tonight was different. And just like that he was out only a few minutes later and began to snore quietly.

Celestia giggled a little at this. "Well, it certainly doesn't take him long to fall asleep."

Before long the remaining three had for the most part settled in. Celestia had removed her shoes, chest ornament, and crown and set them on a table. Bastion and Paper had both removed their gear and snowsuits the same way Nightfall had. All their equipment was kept together, but was carefully organized to prevent certain parts from getting mixed up between their kits.

Bastion and Paper both agreed to share the bed, believing that it wouldn't have been right to make Celestia share with one of them. This did not prevent each of them from making a joke about the idea of sleeping with a princess though, something that neither of them could resist despite their efforts. What they didn't expect was for Celestia herself to join in on the fun with a joke of her own that was just a bit more suggestive than anyone had seen coming. This caused both stallions to grow red, only bringing satisfaction to Celestia's already teasing smile.

After finding her place on the soft couch, Celestia's mind began to wander. She quickly realized that this was the first time that the four of them had all been together alone after exiting the mine. It had indeed been a hectic evening, what with the navigating of crowds and medical examinations. She couldn't help but feel that despite this confusing new world she was now in, her escorts had now become sorts of friends to her.

The earth pony of the group, Bastion, had quickly made Celestia feel welcome with his kind demeanor and willingness to share a smile. He had a dark crimson coat and a dark brown mane that was so short it was barely visible, but his eyes were a gleaming light blue, that shone with life and optimism. The unicorn, Paper Cut, somewhat reminded her of Twilight with his energy and eagerness to gain new knowledge. He had fiery orange eyes, a cream coat, and brown mane that was just a bit lighter than Bastion's. The primary difference was length. Paper's mane was much longer and actually quite a mess at the moment, having been matted against his head thanks to his helmet. Then there was the batpony, Nightfall. He was far more strict than the others. He was focused and calculating and though he didn't show it, she could see it in his brilliant emerald eyes that he cared deeply for his teammates. His own dark blue mane was of medium length. Any shorter and it could have been considered a military cut. His own coat was of a dark bluish grey. One thing that they all shared, Celestia noticed and actually found quite amusing, was that their coats were much thicker and poofier than the ponies of Equestria she had left behind, clearly an adaptation from the cold.

When everyone had finally settled down, the room was silent. The only sound was that of breathing and the occasional hoofsteps of a patrolling guard outside. For just a moment, it seemed as if everything was normal and there wasn't a raging blizzard outside. Celestia was fully aware that she was in a land that she no longer recognized, but just for tonight she could pretend that she was still home. For now, all was quiet and all was at peace. She could take solace in that.

It was dark and it was cold in the place that Celestia now found herself. The snow swirled around her in a relentless torrent of ice that stung her face and brought only numbness to her hooves. The once endless expanse of sky was now fully obstructed by a thick and intrusive layer of clouds that mercilessly poured more and more snow upon her. That which had accumulated on the ground was well above her knees and encumbered her to the point that she was barely able to walk.

Three dark and mostly silhouetted figures surrounded her, moving slowly through the snow as the group trudged on to Canterlot. They were not at all recognizable through the fog like snow that obscured her vision. For some reason, she could not remember which one of her escorts had taken which position and the blowing wind was far to strong for her weak voice to overcome. Despite this, she too marched on.

In this frozen hellscape, seconds seemed to go by like minutes and minutes went by like hours. Hours were an eternity. It felt like they had been going on for days without any recognizable landmarks to provide them with some idea of how far they had come. Their surroundings were nothing but flat, snow covered tundra. Celestia could not even see beyond a few meters, making her feel as if she was in a void. For all she knew, they had been walking in circles, quite literally going nowhere.

Something suddenly caught Celestia's attention. She had gotten a sudden glimpse of movement on the edge of her vision, causing her to stop and look out in that direction.

"Celestia," a hushed voice that echoed just slightly said from somewhere beyond the veil of snow.

Celestia jumped in surprise at the mentioning of her name. She turned and faced the direction that she had come from, before looking back to see that her escorts were continuing on through the blizzard. She returned her attention back to where the voice had come only to find that a dark figure now stood before her, just at edge of visible range. The figure was that of a pony, but whoever it was did not move nor did they say any other words.

Celestia looked back again, but her escorts had disappeared, having been swallowed whole by the blizzard that they ventured into. She tried to call out to them, but found that yet again her voice had left her. Only the painful vibration of her mute vocal cords came, no matter how hard she tried. When she turned back to the figure before her for a final time, the pony had begun to recede back into the snow.

"Wait. Who are you?" Celestia's voice had not come from her mouth, rather it had come from the sky. It was if her thoughts had been translated for her by some unknown entity.

The pony only continued away from her.

"Wait." Celestia rushed forward, taking several large bounds through the snow.

Suddenly and without warning, the wind picked up, violently blowing more snow into her face. The figure then disappeared, having been blown away with the wind as if they were made from dust.

Celestia was now alone. She took several double takes at where the pony had once stood, but the wind only continued to build. The snow swirled around her, the blizzard raging harder than it had before and the wind began to blow so hard that she felt like she would surely be swept off her hooves. That is when she realized what had happened. She had gotten separated from her group.

The thestral had stressed the point to stay close so many times and yet here she was, all alone like a child that wandered off from their parent at a clothing store. Panic started to set in and her heart began to beat loudly in her ears. She looked around frantically trying to remember which way her group had gone. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have allowed this to happen?

Operating on pure instinct, she began to run, leaping in and out of the snow as she tried to desperately catch up. On her fifth jump, she stumbled and fell to the ground.

Celestia grunted in discomfort as her body came down onto the hardwood flooring of the town assembly hall. She moaned before finally opening her eyes to see that she had in fact rolled right off of the couch where she had fallen asleep that night, the short drop having woken her from her dream.

Seeing as she had become entangled in her blanket on the way down, it took Celestia a moment to make it to her hooves. Upon doing so, she looked around the room. Each of the ponies were just as she remembered. Nightfall was still on his bedroll while Paper and Bastion laid on the bed facing away from each other. All of them were still sound asleep.

Celestia sighed as she crawled back onto the couch and covered herself with the blanket. For now, all she could do was attempt to fall back asleep and hope that the morning would bring a new day. Indeed, in this world, one could only hope.

Author's Notes:

I decided to release this chapter earlier than expected, because it's done and there really isnt any point in waiting. Hope you enjoy.