Authors Note:Well, Strep throat sucks. I've been down for the count for a week, and only beginning to recover. I'll be fine in a few days though, and I'll try to be more consistent with my updates in the future!

I looked at the small group waiting nervously around me. I had finally made everyone complete their packing to my satisfaction. Ebon had been training survival skills with AppleJack and had proven useful for finding and foraging food. Pinkie Pie could carry a surprisingly enormous amount of supplies, proving her worth as a pack mule, so to speak. Rarity was also proven (slightly) useful, she was able to find many suitable places to make camp for a night, even if her standards were a little high. Twilight was of course my adviser in this whole ordeal, she would use her political power to possibly possibly pull a few strings and get us a few more pony's once we resupplied in the Crystal Empire. Iron Rust was our Reconnaissance, he would scout out our course and look for signs of King Sombra with RainbowDash. AppleJack and Pinkie Pie were going to cook and provide general maintenance for any broken equipment, although I strongly recommended that the entire group know how to maintain everything. FlutterShy would be their to talk down any Great White Bears or any animals we might anger and encounter. "C'mon!" Pinkie whined,"can't we go already?" I laughed and turned to Twilight. " last chance to call this off." I offered. "No, Sombra must be stopped, no matter what the cost." She declared and began to walk north slowly and surely. We all followed in tow closely behind.

We took the train to the Crystal Empire, where Twilight was able to recruit a buoyant teen named Mistral Paradise. She was a journalist for Equestria Daily who was investigating the rumors that King Sombra had returned from the dead. She insisted she joined us, and was fully willing to pay for her own supplies and even pay us. Twilight cautioned her to reconsider, but she would here none of it. This was her only big story since the original incident with King Sombra, and she was assigned to do whatever it took to finish the story. After several promises of fame and glory and a small bit of coin, Twilight allowed her to join, but let her keep her own money. So we had a week delay when Mistral Paradise informed her editor and prepared her own supplies.

We left the Crystal Empire and headed into the cold and Frozen North. After a week of searching, we were beginning to lose morale. I assured everyone, "this would be the last day of searching, I promise" I would say every time someone complained. The only ponies who never gave up hope were Twilight Sparkle and Mistral Paradise.

We were stumbling through a blizzard and saw an outline of an ice cave in the distance. We ran/galloped into it and hunkered down for the night. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.

Authors Note:

Hey everyone! I'd like to say that I apologize for the pathetic consistency of my updates, even with my many promises, none of which I have upheld. I have been thinking hard, and I'm thinking of making another continuous story. I'm thinking, MLP and Starcraft II, Like, a zerg invasion or something. PM me and give me some feedback on my idea, constructive criticism is always appreciated, even if it seems cruel. Favorite, leave a review, follow, all that good stuff.