While the tournament went on in the city, an outlying village was starting its day like any other. Baking shops and taverns fired up their kitchens while street vendors began to set up their stands and sell their wares to the villagers and children the went off to school unaware of the danger that was looming just beyond the empires barrier.

At the head of this army was Prince Blueblood dressed in royal attire with his elite guardsman at his side. The traitor prince looked on with a smirk at the happy citizens going about their day without a care in the world and to see such a sight filled him with envy and disgust.

"Look at them. Filthy commoners." A noble in the princes company said in disgust while watching the families pass through the streets with happy smiles.

After the fall of the stonehoof regime, much of the Canterlot nobility was exiled from the kingdom and that left a huge power gap in the royal court. Most of the nobles who fled sided with Prince Blueblood in hopes of regaining their status and earning a place in what would be the princes new government. Having lost most of their power and influence, the nobles had resorted to hiring mercenaries groups from the dragon lands and gryphon kingdoms until they had amassed a huge army.

The trouble began when a nearby watchtower spotted the princes banners and sounded the alarm. Villagers began screaming in panic as they cleared the streets and rushed back to their homes while the enemy marched on through towards the city where a small battalion of soldiers were prepared to intercept them with Shining Armor, Marshall and Wulfric at the head.

The army came to a halt at their princes signal as he rode out to meet with a few escorts to meet the three heroes in hopes of negotiating a peaceful solution rather than attempting to lay siege to the city knowing that he would lose a great deal of his troops.

"Good morning gentlemen." Blueblood said in a casual tone with a friendly smile.

"I trust you are all doing well today?"

"Save the pleasantries boy. What's your business here?" Wulfric replied in a slightly annoyed voice to which Blueblood simply smirked.

"So rude oh great king in the north and after I came all this way just to see my family."

"With an army at your back?"

"Can't be too careful these days."

Wulfric would say no more and allowed Shining Armor to handle the negotiations as he stepped forward to meet Blueblood face to face.

"What's this about Blueblood? You know that you were banished by Celestia's orders."

"I simply came to see my family. Surely, you can't object to that and I wished to talk peace."

Shining Armor knew it was unwise to trust a traitor like Blueblood but with an army of mercs behind him and so many citizens gathered at the empire for the fair, he had no choice but to allow him entry.

"Marshall." He called to the warden.

"Have Bluebloods men make camp OUTSIDE the villages. I don't want any trouble."

"As you command my prince."

While Marshall handled Bluebloods army, Shining Armor escorted his traitorous cousin to the palace and as to be expected, many of the citizens did not approve of him being there and even began to throw hateful slurs at him.

"Bastard!!"

"Traitor!!"

"Go back to the pit you crawled out of!!"

While Blueblood simply smiled and waved at the unhappy citizens, Shining could see the resentment in his eyes and could already tell that he was thinking of imprisoning or killing those who would dare to speak to him that way and the only thing stopping him were the two guards at his side and Wulfric who was riding behind them and doing his best to not reach for his sword and cleaving the smug bastard in two.

"We're here." Shining said aloud as the reached the entrance to the palace where the Princesses awaited to greet them.

"Aunt Luna! Aunt Celestia! So good to see you after all this time." Blueblood said cheerfully with arms open for a hug but the only thing Celestia and Luna wanted to give him was a spear right through the chest.

"Welcome dear nephew." Celestia said calmly while she and Luna stepped aside to offer him entry.

"Please join us, we were about to sit down for lunch."

As the prince made his way inside, Shining Armor and Wulfric moved quickly to disperse the crowd and told them to continue to enjoy the festival. It was in the dining hall that Blueblood introduced one of his escorts who turned out to be the Saddle Arabian ambassador.

"Prince Shining. I must say your palace is truly remarkable." The ambassador said with a flattering tone while eyeing the palaces decor and servants as the walked towards the dining hall.

"Especially the maids~." He said while looking at some of the maids flanks as they passed by.

"Mind your manners ambassador. This isn't Saddle Arabia."

"Yes of course."

The group entered the hall where a feast had been laid out for the fair and a huge crowd of both nobles and commoners had gathered much to the ambassadors disgust as he watched the crystal citizens mingle with each other like good neighbors when one figure caught his eye. It was Applejack who was seated with her friends and family and looking very beautiful thanks to the efforts of Rarity.

"Who is that exquisite beauty?" He asked with intrigue when Wulfric brushed past him to give her a kiss.

"That is Applejack. One of the northern rulers and Wulfrics first wife." Shining Armor replied, catching the ambassadors interest.

"First wife you say?" He said before seeing Rainbow Dash give him a kiss as Beorn and Apple Jewel ran up to their mothers with smiles on their faces.

"I see they have children."

"Yes. Wulfric is not only a great king but also a great father and friend so a bit of warning ambassador." Shining paused for a moment to look him in the eye.

"Do not cross him or me or there will be consequences."

"Wouldn't dream of it your majesty."

As the feast went on, Shining Armor noticed Blueblood chatting with Celestia and Luna who introduced their two children.

"Blueblood, meet your niece and nephew. Imperius and Selena." Celestia said with a feint smile while keeping the children close and despite the grin on Bluebloods face she could tell he wanted nothing more than to strangle both of them with his bare hands since they were a threat to his claim to the throne.

"Hello Uncle." Imperius said politely with a bow while Selena curtsyed like a proper princess and for a moment Blueblood felt happy until he noticed the boys father waltzing up to them with a tray of horderves and a small glass of cider.

"Lord Marshall."

"Blueblood."

Given their past history, the two stallions were not on good terms with one another and the war seemed to only make tensions worse but Marshall knew better than to keep his children from their family even though one of them was a traitor.

"Selena, take your brother to the dessert table and see if there's any chocolate pastries left. Your...Uncle and I have business to discuss."

The children did as they were told and left while their parents had a little chat with their uncle but both could see that this was not a happy reunion.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Selena whispered as her eyes looked at her uncle who had a sinister grin on his face and could see he was already planning something.

Later

As the fair came to a close, a small council was assembled to discuss the recent events that had transpired during the princes exile but when Blueblood heard the stories of the undead army and the windigos he almost laughed himself silly.

"So let me see if I get this straight. An army of the dead is marching through the northlands and they are being lead by the so called ghostly spirits that nearly froze Equestria for eternity?" He asked aloud before breaking into another laugh but Wulfric was not amused.

"THIS IS NO JOKE BOY!!" The king roared furiously while slamming the table.

"The army of the dead is real and if we don't do something soon, they'll blanket all of Equestria in eternal ice! Not one soul will be left alive."

"Well if the threat is as big as you say then there's but one solution."

"If you mean becoming allies with Saddle Arabia dear nephew then I will stop you right there. We absolutely refuse!" Celestia said sternly much to her nephews disappointment.

"Honestly auntie, I don't know why you are being so stubborn. Saddle Arabia could give us the men and weapons we need to defeat this so called army of the dead."

"They also run an empire of slaves." Luna replied spitefully while taking a small sip of tea to calm herself.

"Equestria has not seen slavery since it was founded and that is not going to change."

After hearing his aunt make that declaration, the prince became impatient and arguments soon filled the room until Blueblood finally screamed out.

"If you will not see reason then it will be war!!"

The room stayed quiet with the members of the council stunned by the princes threat. Only Celestia stood up and glared hatefully at her disgraced nephew as she replied.

"Then war it will be."

End.