The train had begun braking and was slowly arriving at the Crystal Empire's train station. The Crystal Empire was one of the last places in Equestria where the First Order had no presence. It looked just like it did a year ago before the occupation. Even though all the residents of the beautiful city knew that sooner or later the First Order would come and conquer this last part they made sure to enjoy as much time as possible before the occupation would come to them.

The train came to a full stop. The group of 7 ponies left the train. They were seven now. Because the unicorn guard had sacrificed himself to protect Princess Twilight Sparkle from death. Even though she didn't know the guard that well it still felt as if someone important in her life was gone.

The streets of the Crystal Empire had some snow in them. Mainly the outskirts of the city. The deeper you got inside of the city the less snow there was. The area surrounding the castle was completely snow free. There wasn't a single snowflake to be seen. The ponies knew how violent a snow storm in the north can get. But they always wondered how the snow dumping ponies were able to clean the streets so well. The answer might have been because they're used, but it could always be something else.

Infront of the castle entrance was the Queen of Love, Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess Cadance. To the right of her were Twilight's big brother and Cadance's husband. Shining Armor. Twilight approached the white-coated unicorn and gave the stallion a big hug. Maybe too big because Shining's face was starting to turn red. The Alicorn almost felt like a filly again, back in the good old days. Before the First Order. Before the Empire...

Onboard the Arrestor

"What is the status of the platoon?" Admiral Kejim asked.

"They've made it out of the Frozen North and are approaching a village of 5000 residents." The Captain answered.

"And the vehicles?"

"They've run into issues, sir. According to FN-117 the vehicles are going to be picked up and sent back to the Arrestor. He didn't say much but the drivers said that the legs of the walker were malfunctioning."

"Have the mechanics run advanced maintenance procedures. Deploy TIE Fighters to track down the fugitives."

"Understood."

Two TIE Fighters from the Special Forces branch took off from one of the hangars of the Resurgent-class Battlecruiser. Back on the ground, the platoon of 50 Stormtroopers had made it to the village. Snowy hills, which previously had no First Order presence was now under the Occupation of the First Order. Now there was only the Crystal Empire and the Forbidden Jungle that remained unoccupied. Everything else was controlled by the deadly regime. The Snowtrooper platoon had no intention of staying in the small village. According to the footprints, or hoofprints for the ponies, the group of seven stopped here. There were no hoofprints leading further. The Lieutenant leading the platoon ordered some of his men to ask the ponies if they knew where the fugitives went. The rest, search the buildings for them.

The residents surprisingly told the First Order where the fugitives went. To the Crystal Empire. The Lieutenant then relayed his orders to the Arrestor and the Tector. Making sure they'd get them. After that, he saw two TIE Fighters flying over him. Towards the Crystal Empire.

20 Minutes later, the Crystal Empire

The TIE Fighters had passed the city twice now, either they were patrolling or they were securing the airspace for the ground forces to arrive shortly. Both were likely theories, Cadance herself thought it'd was a patrol. It actually wasn't the first time the First Order's Starfighter Corps had flown over her Empire and not sent the ground force to her city.

"I'm worried about those air patrols. Do you think they know we have them here?" Shining Armor asked his wife.

"I'm sure it's nothing, they've passed through our city numerous times. I'm sure it's just another patrol." Cadance replied to her husband's worries.

"Yes but what if this time they actually invade?"

"Well, honey. You've said a thousand times yourself that our guards have been trained to handle a situation like this."

"I did say and I did train them. But what if they have those walking machines like the Empire did years ago, we barely even took down one back then."

"Not to mention that they have walkers much taller and with better stabilization." Shining Armor continued

"We'll figure something out. We always do..." Cadance finished the conversation.

Just as she finished, the TIE Fighters passed the city again. This time straight for the castle and then breaking off at the last second before crashing. Shortly after two Atmospheric Assualt Landers landed on the main street. Sixty Stormtroopers left the transports. They broke up into four squads. Two would go to the castle and the other two secure the escape routes. Just like they did in Canterlot a year ago.

"And you said they wouldn't be coming," Shining said.

"Okay, I was wrong, let's just get to safety before something bad happens to all of us!" Cadance said loudly.

The alicorn made her way to where the Main 6 were. The Throne room. An explosion was heard coming from the main entrance. Following this, they heard blaster shots. Time wasn't on their side again. But in situations like this, it never really was. They began to run towards the Throne room. Shining decided to look back at the end of the hallway and saw a Snowtrooper firing his F-11D at the two ponies. Luckily they managed to make it inside the room before being hurt. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were all in there. The living elements were safe. For now...

"We need to get out of here. They're coming!" Cadance yelled.

"But how? The only way out is the main door!" Twilight responded.

"That's what you may think, but. Shining, could you please let them in on the secret?" Cadance asked Shining Armor.

"Right. There's a hidden hatch behind the throne chair."

Cadance approached the chair and then went behind it. On the left side, there was a hidden camouflaged button. Only she and her husband knew where it was. The alicorn mare pressed the grey button and the door slowly crept open. The door led to a whirl staircase. Cadance went first, followed by her sister-in-law. At the bottom of the stair was a catwalk. This catwalk didn't lead to a secret underground base but about 5 miles inland. The direction was towards the Yaket Mountain Range. The Yaket Mountain Range was largely undiscovered. If the First Order had mapped every area they occupied then the mountain range amongst other areas would remain out of the map. It was also impossible to reach this place with ground vehicles. They'd have to walk.

A day later, onboard the Tector

Admiral Tarron was waiting on the bridge. Not waiting for the enemy to appear or for a status report. But for a special person. It wasn't a love interest but a human in the First Order with lots of knowledge on this world. More knowledge than the archives could tell you. He used to be a Brigadier in the Empire but for his heroic actions and bringing lots of systems into the First Order he had become a General. The General was none other than General Drant.
The door to the bridge opened. An officer in a dark uniform and hat approached Tarron.

"You wished to see me, Admiral?" Drant asked.

Tarron turned around. General Drant was standing at attention right in front of him.
"Do you remember when you used to be the highest commanding officer in this world? Not counting the High Admiral." Tarron asked.

"Yes. Yes, I do." Drant replied.

"Hmph. You see, we are quite in a pickle at the moment. Similar to 31 years ago, we have fugitives. Princesses."

"I see sir."

"Is that the reason you called upon me?" Drant asked.

"Yes, mainly because of that. But also because you know this world. You have been on it longer than most of us. Well apart from my colleague and friend Kejim who's already been a year here. But to be fair he's only visited the surface twice."

"Your orders are simple, capture the royalties and anyone that is following them on their journey. If the people of this world get to know that two of the royalties are currently on the run it will be used as a great motivator for conflict. And that is not what the Supreme Leader wants."

"Now go General. Make the First Order proud." Tarron finished.

The General saluted and left the bridge. Tarron resumed to what he was doing previously before the announcement of General Drant's arrival. Figuring out the most likely place the fugitives escaped to. He was thinking it'd either be the civilization to the west of the city. But the First Order had already captured it, no point in going there. Suddenly two red dots on the map began to beep. One was in the mountain range known as the Yaket Range and the second one in the mountains east of the Crystal Mountains. He looked at the map thoughtfully. Then a third red dot appeared in the Crystal Empire. Once that happened he had figured out the puzzle. Tarron triangulated the red dots and low and behold, he had figured out the likely area in which the fugitives were in.

The First Order Admiral immediately ran over to a console. He needed to call Admiral Kejim, General Drant, and FN-117. The Commanding Officer of the platoon tasked with finding the fugitives.

Elsewhere

The wind was howling strong with no sight in it ending soon. With the wind came the snow that was coming down hard. The winds were starting to get faster and faster. It was almost hard to keep the balance. None of the 8 ponies were used to this much wind and snow hitting at their face. And worse, because they had to leave quickly none of them got the chance to get their equipment for this sort of wheater. The Yaket Mountain Range felt like it continued on forever, with every step they took the more exhausted they got. Some of them wanted to just fall down into the cold thick snow and rest. While some wished to continue and make it to a shelter where they could heat themselves up using a fireplace.
Just when it couldn't get worse they could hear TIE Fighters flying in the distance. However, there was no visual contact. Neither the ponies or the special forces pilots could see them. It didn't take long for the TIE Fighters to leave the area due to the high wind speed. They didn't want to risk crashing because of the poor visibility.

While the ponies were having a hard time to find shelter, the Snowtrooper Platoon trained for climates such as this was having no problem at all. They had run this type of exercise a hundred times in training. For them, it was quite easy. Especially because their helmets were protecting them from the snow, the small visor was doing the same but from the glance, the snow could make. Their heating units were also keeping them warm. It made it much easier for them to walk. Not to mention that the hoofprints were guiding the Snowtroopers to the ponies. The Snowtroopers were about 7 klicks from the ponies. All of the sudden though, a loud noise was heard coming from the top of one of the mountains. FN-117 looked behind and saw an avalanche. Coming straight for him and his men. The Lieutenant and began to run. So did his platoon. Fortunately, they had already started to climb the next mountain so they'd have an advantage of height. The Platoon made it up safely. All except for one Snowtrooper who was unfortunate to be caught in the avalanche. Being a wise team leader, the Lieutenant ordered two of his men and a medic to look for the missing soldier. Meanwhile the rest of the platoon, now 46 men would continue looking for the fugitives.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading Chapter 3. I hope you liked it and feel free to comment feedback in the comments. If you didn't like it then please tell me what went wrong so I can improve for the next time!

Also, I have an announcement to make. This Friday I will be going on vacation so I will be unable to write while gone. This obviously means no chapters will come out until 2018. Don't worry though. I will try to release Chapter 4 tomorrow!