She was shivering in the cold. The air was freezing and the cold winds weren't doing her any favors. Starlight Shimmer cursed the patrol assignments. Nothing ever happened here in the North Plains. The Major had something against her, clearly. Her half-sister Sunset had been Celestia's most promising student until quitting the school and going into hiding somewhere. Even the Night Guard didn't know where Sunset Shimmer was. The Major seemed to think Starlight only get in to the Guard because of her half sister. That was obviously not true. Starlight had actually had a harder time in the academy than most. Everyone assumed she was an unusually talented, and arrogant about it like her sister. She had never been arrogant and those who knew her said was a harder-working and humbler than most. The Major didn't seem to care. She had only patrolled icy plains and dark forests since the moon was last full. Some nights ago she had gotten a refreshing change of pace patrolling the mountains west of Whitehorse. Zipping between the peaks had been an adrenaline rush and it wasn't as cold as these northern plains. Still, it was clear she was never going to just glide above the Neighvada desert for a few nights, or keep an eye on the buzzing nightlife of Los Pegasos. She was going to be working alone in the coldest, most remote parts of Equestria for a long time.

The whole situation with Sunset was an embarrassment. Usually the Night Guard were masters of intelligence gathering and working in the shadows. Princess Luna, the protector of the night, had helped and protected the Kirins. Selected few had served as her personal guards in the old castle. After Luna had been taken over by Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia had been forced to banish her, kirins had become outcasts. Some had tried to bring the Princess back, or take the throne from her sister as revenge. Most, however, has stayed loyal to Equestria. They had worked in the shadows. The 'Nighties' had actually stopped most attacks against Celestia before the E.U.P. Guard had even known about them. It had been a matter of honor for most kirins to serve in the Night Guard. They lived in the dark mountains and forests, unseen by ponies. Even now after Princess Luna's return, serving the Royal Court was the only major way they interacted with ponies. After Princess Luna had been freed, the Night Guard had slowly gained an official position as "the shields and swords of the night". Still, the thousand years in the shadows still showed in the way they worked. They were never seen in Canterlot, or anywhere else for that matter. They were the invisible shield. The first and last line of defense.

The noble history didn't help Starlight Shimmer much at the moment, though. Pride in a job well done didn't shield against the piercing cold. She looked down and saw the train tracks. They were almost completely covered in snow, and that was only thanks to traffic. There was a building next to the tracks. The old abandoned train yard. She'd seen that there were warehouses and more tracks down there. Thanks to the way the wind was blowing, almost everything was covered in snow. A glimpse of light along the tracks in the north, behind her. There was a train coming. At least someone shared the hardship of being out here in the cold. Starlight banked left hard and dove to gain speed. Her dark uniform made her almost impossible to see against the night sky but she wasn't going to take the chance. Night Guard protocol was still to stay unseen. Centuries has shown that the best way to learn of a threat was to be everywhere but be seen by no one. The turn had put a cloud between her and the train. Even if somepony was awake and looking at the night sky, they couldn't see her. Starlight took a deep breath and then winced. The air rushing to her lungs was like needles. She could feel the ice gathering on her wings and cursed between her teeth. She'd dived too close to the cloud and the moisture had formed ice on her wings. They were too stiff to flap. She was losing altitude and turning uncontrollably. With the little control over her tail she had left she balanced out the uncontrollable turn and stabilized the descent. She couldn't touch the protective amulet around her neck to form a force field. She'd just lose her balance and crash into the icy snow.

Below the clouds, the arctic wind started pushing her to the northeast. It was best to let it happen and concentrate on stability. Icy gusts threw Starlight Shimmer around. No matter what, she was in for a hard landing. Bloody patrol shifts. This was the worst part of Equestria to patrol, and probably the most useless. There was nothing up here. There was just a diamond mine an hour or so to the northwest. Kennecolt mining town was a small but lively community. The trains ferried at least as much gemstones as they did passengers. Many unicorns worked in Kennecolt as gem finders and even more Earth ponies as miners. Pegasi didn't feel comfortable up there, with the paralyzing cold and wind on the surface and tiny, suffocating tunnels underground. Equestria was usually a peaceful realm, but greed could overcome somepony and make them do something stupid with the train. Princess Celestia didn't think there was much risk so the train wasn't protected by the E.U.P.G., just whatever guards were in the towns it passed through in the south, hours later. Up here, in the middle of the night, only the Night Guard was keeping an eye on it. Right now however, the Night Guard's eyes, Lieutenant Starlight Shimmer, wasn't seeing much. She was spinning out of control and the icy ground was heading toward her fast. Stupid mistake. Stupid cloud. As a last resort, Starlight looked down on her uniform. There was a metal ring at chest height, seemingly a decoration. She reached toward it and pulled it out with her teeth. Pulling the ring pulled out a long gray-silver ribbon. Resting against a back of her neck was a black, practically invisible group of enchanted stones. When the ribbon came out, they started glowing and pulsing light.

In an underground situation room near Trottmonton, a unicorn kirin saw a red light flash on a massive, wall-sized map of Equestria. As soon as he saw where the dot was, he hoped the location was wrong. He looked at the number glowing next to the red dot. He then grabbed a folder from the shelf next to him and quickly found the paper slip he was looking for.

Operative 724, Lt. Starlight Shimmer 16th night of 2nd moon

Mission type and area

Air patrol, Kennecolt Air Defense Zone

Departure time

Scheduled: 22:00 Actual: 22:04

Arrival time

Scheduled: 06:00 Actual:

Team

None, solo patrol.

Notes

Operative's stamp

725

Lieutenant Starlight Shimmer

Shift commander's stamp

255

Major Nightbreeze

"Oh, for Luna's sake... Of course, of all nights for this thing to get the location spot on...", the blue-maned unicorn kirin muttered to himself before tapping on the communication stone. "Sir! This is flight control. We have a situation!"

There was an impressively large hole in the icy snow. In the middle of that hole was a decidedly less impressive-looking kirin. Starlight Shimmer could only curse. She was in the harshest wilderness in Equestria. Her head was spinning. The right side of her face hurt. There didn't seem to be blood, only a little swelling. All she could see in any direction was snow. She tried standing up. If nothing else, it seemed like she wasn't hurt. Taking off in this wind was going to be a challenge. She spread her wings. Right after, she wished she hadn't. Her left wing felt like it was on fire. Fire... Too bad pony-dragon hybrids almost never had the ability to breathe fire, just like they almost never had the ability to use unicorn magic. Right at that moment, either one would have been incredibly useful. She started thinking back to her flight route. The abandoned train yard. That was her best option. Even with the distress signal, it could take the rest of the night for a medevac team to get there. The cold made the locator stones weak. If they didn't last until the morning, it was best to stay close to the tracks and her original flight route. Starlight put her left hoof on the amulet on her neck. After a couple of seconds, it started glowing. A field of energy formed around her. The wind and cold subsided. Starlight went through her flight suit pockets. The pockets and their contents seemed to have survived the hard landing. She couldn't see the tracks, or any other landmarks for that matter. Looking up in desperation and frustration, she realized the moon was visible between the clouds. Thank Luna for that. Now she at least knew where to head. Even if she didn't make it straight to the train yard, she'd reach the tracks somewhere south of the yard. The important thing was to keep walking straight. If she reached the tracks north of the yard and started walking north, she'd only realize the mistake after walking for at least an hour and reaching the rail junction.

Major Nightbreeze was looking at the map. There was a red dot in the north. It kept disappearing and then reappearing but it was moving.

"Sergeant, why is the dot disappearing every few seconds?", the major asked.

"We've seen this happen close to powerful unicorn magic. It's extremely rare, sir. Some types of curses keep the stones from communicating with other stones.", the blue-maned unicorn replied.

"But she's moving at least?", he asked.

"Yes, sir. Looks like she's headed to the old train yard. Her navigation skill is impressive. The visibility there is awful. She can't have more than a few stars and maybe the moon to navigate by.", the unicorn replied.

"At least she's going to have shelter. Good. Who are our closest operatives there?", the major asked.

The sergeant looked worried and gulped. The major sighed.

"So we have nopony anywhere near this place?", the major asked, now looking mostly annoyed. "If she either doesn't reach the yard or starts moving away from there, let me know immediately. Also let me know if we lose her alarm stones completely."

The sergeant did a crisp salute as the major practically galloped out of the situation room. He didn't particularly care for Lieutenant Starlight Shimmer but he'd never leave one of his ponies in trouble.

Major Nightbreeze got to the colonel's office in a few moments. After taking a deep breath he knocked on the door.

"Come in"

The major opened the door and did a crisp salute.

"What is it, major?", the mare behind the desk asked in a firm but friendly voice.

"Colonel, operative 724, lieutenant Shimmer, is sending out a distress signal. We assume a forced landing because of the weather. She's now south of Kennecolt, moving very slowly towards a train yard. It looks like she's walking. We keep losing her emergency stones for some reason. Requesting permission to redirect our patrols from Whitehorse and Ancarriage.", the major summarized the events so far.

"So you can't communicate with her?", the colonel asked, cutting straight to the point.

"No, ma'm. We can barely see her locator.", the major replied.

"Redirect the patrols. Go back to your station and oversee the rescue. Let me know immediately if anything changes.", the colonel said.

The major saluted and galloped back to the situation room. He went straight to the podium in front of the room, took a deep breath and looked at the team. By now he already had most operators' attention.

"Listen up! As you may have already seen and heard, we have a patrol down in the north. The colonel ordered patrols from Whitehorse and Ancarriage be sent to help. The location in south of Kennecolt, as you can see on the map. Redirect the patrols. I want Lt. Shimmer to be home warming herself up with a nice cup of hot chocolate by sunrise! We can do it so let's make happen!"

The unicorn sitting a further back in the room rolled his eyes. Overdramatic much?, was all he could think. The controllers responsible for the patrols were already sending new orders to Ancarriage and Whitehorse.

In the arctic plains, Starlight Shimmer was struggling forward in snow and ice. Her cheek hurt. At least I don't need ice to keep the swelling down, she thought sarcastically. The cheek, or even the injured wing, didn't feel too bad. The pain caused by the cold helped keep things in perspective. Her thoughts drifted to the previous summer. She'd spent a part of her summer vacation visiting her cousin in Manehattan. He'd got her hooked in reading. Coworkers in the Guard had joked about how she was becoming "soft". Stralight Shimmer laughed out loud under the scarf she'd wrapped to protect her face. Reading was for eggheads. That's what she'd always thought. In Manehattan she saw a movie about Daring Do, an adventurer archeologist. She had been like a fanfilly cheering for Daring Do, and frustrated to no end when the movie ended with the villain still on the loose. Her cousin had all the Daring Do books. After some worrying about her 'cool' image a bit, she'd decided it was just as cool to do what the hay she wanted and spent the next week reading every single book in the series. She couldn't help thinking about the time Daring Do injured her wing but still managed to get to the temple and get the Sapphire Statue. Daring Do is fiction from some frail old writer's pen but I'm one of the real-life epic survivors, she told herself and pressed on in the dark, cold nigh.