//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Caladrius the Storm Bringer // Story: Knight of Equestria - On Distant Shores // by SupraMacPringles //------------------------------// The first thing he saw was a distinct orange glow. As his vision cleared, he recognized the light as a small fire a few feet away from him. To his left, just out of sight was a hooded figure, huddling near the flame for warmth. He looked around for nearly a minute, trying to ascertain his whereabouts, before the small fire erupted into a pillar of white hot flame. But instead of fire, he realized he was now in a snowstorm. His breath was ragged and his visibility cut-off. All he could do was wander ahead. Then, he heard the voices. "… You promised me you wouldn't bring anymore strange… people into my bed." "To be fair, you said 'strange stallions'." He recognized those voices from somewhere. They were female, the first sounding bored and the second sounding kind, yet subtly angry. Either way, he wasn't letting the comment slide. "… I'm not that strange, am I?" he muttered tiredly. He could tell that he surprised them with his sudden speech; the bored-sounding pony quickly shot back a response. "Well, not as strange as the Doctor, but nowhere near as normal as somepony like…I dunno, Applejack?" The Doctor? He began to recall the odd chestnut colored pony and his two friends. If he recalled correctly, their names were Lyra and Bon-bon. He sat up from the bed he was in to see the two aforementioned ponies looking towards him. But the Doctor was nowhere to be found. He couldn't see then sun shining outside, meaning he was probably unconscious all day. He also spotted the clothes he was wearing earlier that day, hanging on a string by clothes pins. He quickly glanced down to make sure he wasn't naked. He was relieved to see he was wearing a rather light, thick dress shirt and dark blue pants, which had suspenders attached to the belt loops. Bon-bon seemingly noticed his investigation of his attire. "Don't worry, we didn't do it. The Doctor did." "He's outside if you wanna go see him." said Lyra. He raised his index finger in confirmation. "I should do that." He stood and walked towards the front door. He noticed that the place he was in vaguely resembled a store of some kind. As he emerged, he spotted the Doctor waving around a small tool before retreating to the police box. Though it may be a tight squeeze, it would be better then standing outside. He pushed the double doors inward and looked around. The room inside was massively bigger then it should've been. He saw the Doctor running around a central console, clockwise. He approached and the Doctor finally took notice of him. "Ah, Matt Nabal. Here." The Doctor threw him a tweed jacket he had over his shoulder. He took the hint and donned the jacket. Meanwhile, the Doctor grabbed a monitor from the console. "Look at this. This is a satellite view of everything within ten miles of Ponyville." The monitor in question looked like a white screen. "Now, what's wrong with this picture?" The Doctor asked. "There is no picture." Matt replied. "Wrong." The Doctor responded, pointing to a small brown spot on the screen. "This is a mountain southwest of Ponyville. Whatever's controlling this unnatural snow is up there." Lyra and Bon-bon walked in from the door behind Matt. "We…" the Doctor began. "… Are going to trek up to the top and stop whatever it is. Any questions?" Lyra was first to ask one. "Why aren't we taking the TARDIS this time?" "Excellent question." He responded by running around to the other monitor on the main console. "This is the TARDIS's navigational systems." He said, showing the group a monitor of white static. Everyone got the point immediately. "I have a question." began Matt. "Why am I here?" "You don't remember passing out on our doorstep when the snow first hit?" asked Bon-bon. Matt took a moment to try and recall what happened. He could remember knocking on someone's door. "Why were you out there anyway?" chimed in Lyra. "Oh, Twilight threw me out of the library." He responded. The three ponies looked at him with an odd expression. "What? She was really in to you, right?" The Doctor harrumphed. "That's too bad…" "Hm? What do you mean?" Matt responded. The Doctor jauntily went around the console. "Oh, never mind. Aren't you going to ask why 'it's bigger on the inside'?" "No. It doesn't really surprise me. Nothing does after three weeks of being here." Matt responded. The Doctor smirked as he finished whatever he was doing at the console and sauntered over to him. "One more thing." He said extending a hoof in Matt's direction. Somehow clinging to his hoof was a dark blue bow-tie. Matt accepted the tie, and quickly fastened it to the collar of his shirt. "It's been awhile since I've worn one of these. I've always liked bow-ties." Matt declared as he straightened his newly-donned tie. "Bow-ties are cool." The Doctor said, slowly pulling down a big lever as the lights in the TARDIS dimmed down. The large room was now incredibly dark, save for the soft blue lights around the room. "Right then, on we go." The Doctor said, crossing the room and opening the doors. While Matt wanted to ask why he had to come along, he figured he owed them for saving his hide earlier. The four of them began their arduous journey towards the mountain's base. Matt was much warmer than earlier, probably thanks to the thick tweed jacket lent to him. The ponies walking with him didn't seem very cold, either. Having a fur coat probably helped that a lot. They walked in silence until finally reaching the base of the mountain. Matt had underestimated its size earlier. "It's… All the way up there?" Matt asked. "Yes…" the Doctor spoke mutely. "All the way up there." Lyra sighed loudly. "I wish we could just use the TARDIS…" The group started their ascent of the mountain. "Why exactly could we not take the TARDIS?" inquired Matt. "Not many things can scramble the TARDIS' navigational systems. On the list of things that can, there's Timelord tech and even that can't control the weather, and then there's…" he took a moment to ponder something, before quickly dismissing it. "… Well, it simply couldn't be that." Trudging onward, the group came across a small gap in the mountain. They were going to have to jump across. As the three ponies quickly made it over, they realized Matt was not with them; he was still standing on the other side. "Are you waiting on an invitation or something?" asked Lyra. "We don't have all night." Matt surveyed the area. While the gap wasn't too wide, the fall would certainly be fatal. Given the slippery conditions of the snow and ice around him, he began to reconsider the point of all this. "Remind me again why we're doing this?" he called out. "C'mon, we need to save the town!" shouted back Bon-bon. "We don't even know for sure if this storm is 'unnatural'…" he trailed off as a very sudden sneeze came on and another immediately after. The Doctor seemed to be looking at him oddly, like something was wrong. The winds around them began to howl louder and the snow began to fall faster. "What if he's right?" asked Bon-bon. "What if it is a normal storm?" The Doctor didn't respond, he was glancing around, seeming to take note of the changes in the snow. "You shouldn't have a cold…" said the Doctor, turning his attention to Matt. "Of course he would, he's been out in this frigid weather. Longer than any of us, anyway." said Bon-bon. "I agree." Matt replied. "I was out in this snow earlier; it's just a common cold." "And this is a common storm, too." rebutted the Doctor. The group's exchange was cut short by an unknown noise approaching from behind where Matt Nabal refused to jump. It sounded like moaning. Deep in the swirling white vortex Matt began to see what he thought was movement. Figures had appeared out of nowhere, slowly stalking in his direction with ghastly moaning following every step. He couldn't really see anything but their silhouettes and they varied in size and distinct features. There were at least four of them. The chill running up his spine easily outmatched the cold creeping around him. "Matt, you need to listen to me." He heard the Doctor call out. "You need to get over here, right now. Do you hear me?" he asked."Right. Now." "Yeah, I… I get it." Matt replied. Any reservations he had about jumping had vanished as he quickly hopped the short gap. Matt turned back to face the small gap and saw the figures grow closer. "S-should we…?" stuttered Bon-bon. A massive, white, clawed arm reached across the gap and dug into the stone of the opposite cliff. "Run!" finished Lyra as she, Bon-bon, the Doctor and Matt simultaneously turned to run. They headed into the white wind ahead of them, quickly becoming separated from each other. Matt could faintly hear what sounded like the Doctor relaying instructions on how to handle the situation. At the moment, he didn't care. He just kept running, the image of those frigid monsters flashing through his mind. He didn't know which way the others had gone and didn't particularly care. His only goal was to survive. He couldn't hear the moaning of those white silhouettes anymore. He couldn't hear anything anymore. His hands gently clasped his ears in an attempt to warm them and prevent frostbite. He was starting to understand what his pony friend had meant by an 'uncommon' storm. Especially since the amount of snow and speed of the wind changed seemingly at random. Before long, he had nearly walked into the side of the massive mountain. He decided to follow the rock wall, hoping to come across an opening of any size. His efforts were rewarded when he came across the entrance to a large cave. As he made his way inside, he began to hear voices from within. He proceeded cautiously. An odd buzzing sound was heard before light appeared a little deeper in the cave. As he drew near, he found a makeshift fire pit and his three pony friends sitting around it. Lyra and Bon-bon were huddled extremely close to each other as the Doctor paced back and forth, flinging around the small brass rod he was so fond of. "There you are!" exclaimed Bon-bon. "I thought you were a goner." said Lyra dryly. Her cream colored friend jabbed her shoulder. "What? It's true." Matt wasn't really paying too much attention to them. He was more fascinated with the random appearance of a fire pit. "Did you make this?" he said, staring into the flame, but not moving closer to it. "Of course not, we just found it all lying around. Looks like somepony likes to camp up here." said Lyra. "How fortunate..." He replied, leaning against the wall of the cave. "… You can move closer, if you want. There's plenty of room around the fire." said Bon-bon. "I'm fine, thanks. I, uh… I'm not that cold." He lied. He slid the tweed jacket off of his shoulders and began flapping it rhythmically, an attempt to remove the snow it was covered with. The Doctor seemed to be finished with whatever it was he was doing as he approached the fire. He flicked the rod one last time before tucking it into his collar. "Do you remember that thing I mentioned earlier?" he asked, before elaborating. "That thing I said could not be causing all this?" he paused to affirm that everyone understood. "Yeah, well, it's the only thing that could be. And those Frozen Shades out there confirmed it." "What exactly is 'it', Doctor?" asked Lyra. The Doctor paused a moment before sitting down and taking a breath. "There is a story they used to tell on my homeworld of Gallifrey. About how the coldest of seasons was not a natural occurrence and that it was simply the rage of a great beast. A magnificent bird they named 'Caladrius'." "Wait, you're an alien?" asked Matt who was now leaning against the cave wall. "Shh!" he was hushed by Lyra and Bon-bon in unison as the Doctor carried on. "Now, this mighty Caladrius was said to bring about Gallifrey's harshest of winters for centuries. Not just Gallifrey, either, but most planets nearby. And it made no attempt of hiding itself. It went wherever it pleased, did whatever it wanted. Its frigid snowstorms could last weeks and claimed many victims. These victims are doomed to forever walk the storm and seek warmth, usually from other unfortunates caught in the blizzards. Until eventually, the Timelords managed to trap it, and imprison it in another dimension. I guess now I know where they sent it." "So let me get this straight." Matt began. "Are you telling me that a giant bird from another planet and dimension is now wrecking havoc here? In Equestria?" "It's not too surprising. We handle stuff like this all the time." stated Bon-bon. Matt didn't have a reason to be surprised, so instead of reacting, he just sat in silence for a few minutes. "Any idea how to stop the bird, Doctor?" asked Lyra. "Yes, but we need to move quickly. I doubt the fire would attract the Frozen Shades this far into the cave, but stranger things have happened." He replied. Matt let out an audible sigh. "It's just my luck to be caught up in such nonsense." "Nonsense?" asked Bon-bon. "This is the fate of the town, maybe even the world we're talking about here." "I don't know if you recall, but this isn't my world." Matt replied. Bon-bon seemed surprised by his harsh response. Lyra, too seemed somewhat perturbed. "Geez, I don't know who's colder. You or the snow." said Lyra. For some reason, he felt her remark cut straight through him. It almost hurt, and was a feeling he was entirely un-used to. Perhaps because he knew what he said wasn't entirely called for. "… Let's just go." He said, sliding the jacket back onto his shoulders. "Lead the way, Two-legs." Lyra said. As the group exited the cave the storm had calmed to a minor snowfall, but the clouds still blanketed the sky. "Which way is up?" Bon-bon asked. The Doctor pulled out his trusty tool and after waving it about for several seconds, he pointed the direction of progress. The silence was deafening as they walked, sounds of snow-bound footsteps the only sound they could hear. No one had spoken since leaving the cave, almost as if the weight of what they were doing had finally set in. Though, this wasn't the case with all of them. Three marched to save a world, one marched to save himself and repay a debt. They continued passed dead trees and snow covered rocks, until finally the silence was shattered. "Guys? What's that...?" Bon-bon nearly whispered as her hooves came to a stop. She then pointed out an object half buried in snow. It looked like anything else around, except for the wing sticking off of it. The four hurried over as Lyra and Bon-bon began digging whoever it was out of their frigid prison. Matt was shocked the moment they happened to brush snow off of the pony's flank, revealing a cloud with multicolored lightning. "No… Rainbow Dash?" he stammered. As the two mares finally freed the pony, finding it was in fact Rainbow Dash, the Doctor knelt down and put his head against her chest. "Is… is she…?" Matt trailed off. "She's breathing. But she can't stay like this." "What do we do!?" asked a panicked Bon-bon. "We could take her back to the cave…" suggested Lyra. "Unfortunately, we can't afford the time for the detour." said the Doctor. "Are you suggesting we leave her here!?" Bon-bon retorted. "We may not have a choice." Matt chimed in. Lyra glanced at him for an instant, seemingly getting an idea. "Wait… It would take two of us to carry her, but you could do it, right? Put that upper body to good use?" she said. The other three apparently hadn't thought of that, and after passing a glance between them, the choice was obvious. "I can certainly try." After some help by his pony companions, Rainbow Dash was properly mounted on his back. Thankfully she was pretty light. The four, now five marched on as the unconscious Pegasus remained unmoving. "How'd she get here?" Matt asked aloud. "Dash is a weather pony, she probably rushed in when the clouds appeared." answered Lyra. "Then how'd she end up like this?" "I think we'll find out soon enough…" said the Doctor grimly. The group continued in silence as a whirlwind of emotion stirred within Matt Nabal. Part of him was still frustrated to be dragged along on this escapade, and another part was terribly worried about his sky-blue friend. If he didn't feel her heartbeat steadily beat against his back, he'd swear she was already gone. Rainbow made not a single movement as he carried her. Unfortunately, Matt wasn't exactly built for this kind of work, friend or not. He felt his back and shoulders begin to ache, but he continued to tough it out. Surely they'd reach the peak soon. Before long a distinctive sound could be heard in the distance. It sounded fairly reminiscent of a falcon's cry. "Is that it? That Cala-thing you were talking about earlier, Doctor?" he heard Lyra ask. Matt had just noticed how far ahead the others had got from him. They had even stopped moving. When he caught up, the Doctor was confirming everyone's suspicions. "It is. We must be getting near its roost." "Finally…" Matt muttered. "So what's the plan?" Lyra asked tiredly. "Simple. Walk up to it, tell it who I am, ask it to leave." answered the Doctor. Matt nearly had an aneurysm. "There's… There's more, right?" he asked feebly. "If that doesn't work, I'll improvise." If the winds weren't howling, a distinct shout of frustration would've echoed throughout Ponyville. "You dragged us up here and that's all you've got!? I doubt the giant bird cares about what you have to say!" Matt yelled. As if on cue, a sudden increase in ferocity occurred in the wind and snow, lowering visibility and dropping temperatures even more. Matt was still huffing after his outburst as his pony companions looked at him in surprise. They probably hadn't expected such anger from a normally reserved person. He had begun to calm down when he felt the Pegasus on his back begin to squirm. "What's with all the noise…?" Rainbow Dash said weakly. She awoke to three ponies staring at her and noticed she was higher off the ground than normal. "W-what's going on? Who are you?" she asked. "I'm Bon-bon, this is Lyra." said Bon-bon gesturing to herself and Lyra respectively. "I'm the Doctor." said the Doctor in his usual tone. "But that's not important. I need to know what the last thing you remember before passing out." Dash shook off her sleep and tried to remember. "There was… this huge… blizzard, tearing through Ponyville square. There wasn't one scheduled for today, so I… I flew straight into it to try and stop it… There was this big, white bird in the middle, and… That's all I remember. How long was I out?" "Probably a few hours." said a voice Dash was entirely unaware of. Finally realizing that she was being held up by something, she looked down to see the familiar shape of the only human in Equestria. "Are you alright, Rainbow? Your heart rate just increased…" Matt said. "Uh… yeah, I'm fine." She replied before a loud sneeze. There was an awkward silence and Rainbow Dash was glad no one could see her face. "… Anyways." The Doctor began. "Before your… 'Interruption', Matthew, if everything goes right, then be glad it did. But if something goes wrong, I will need your help." "Right…" Matt replied gruffly. "Not like I could do anything like this, though." Everyone understood what he meant, even Dash. "I-If…" Dash began. "I-If you guys are going after it, you should leave me behind." There was silence at first. Matt glanced around at his compatriots until he locked eyes with the Doctor. He was giving a knowing look and Matt nodded in agreement. Matt delicately began to lower Rainbow to the ground. "You can't be serious." Lyra reacted dryly. "But she can't…She might-" started Bon-bon before being cut-off by the Doctor. "She knows that." Matt set her down against the side of the mountain. "The needs of the many…" Matt said weakly. He knelt down and took off the tweed jacket he was wearing and blanketed it over her. "We'll be back for you." "I know." Rainbow replied as she smiled weakly. He began to walk away from her to the surprised expression of a certain cream colored pony. "We're just leaving her here!?" Bon-bon shouted. "We don't have a choice." Matt responded coldly as he continued walking, the Doctor and Lyra following suit. Bon-bon looked back and forth before following her comrades as Rainbow Dash looked on before slowly losing consciousness again, all while the storm raged ever stronger. Not ten minutes later, they had reached the peak. They were greeted by what looked like a wall off pure white and a distorted, falcon-like cry. "It's just through here?" Matt asked. A nod from the chestnut stallion confirmed his suspicions. "We have to go in?" asked Lyra. Another nod. They lined up, side by side, at the massive white wall. Then they each took one step forward and were immediately sucked into the swirling white vortex. When Matt regained his vision, all he could see was white. From what he could gather, the others weren't near him. All of them must've been sucked in and separated. He looked in every conceivable direction, seeing no difference in his surroundings. "Doctor!? Lyra!? … Bon-bon!?" he yelled out, getting no response. He was alone. Until he finally saw something. Something huge, circling overhead. Something that would make the most ear splitting eagle cry he'd ever heard. And it was slowly descending. Matthew Nabal looked on in horror as the massive white beast slowly lowered the altitude of its never ending spiral. On the long way up the mountain, he hadn't even considered that his life was at stake. As the bird grew closer and closer to touching the ground, he felt like there was no way escaping what it would do to him. He would become one of those white shadows he saw stalking near the cliffs, or freeze to death like Dash nearly had. He fell to his knees and began to cough, getting a cruel reminder of his apparent sickness. His lungs felt like they were tearing apart. He knew the bird would hear him. When his coughing fit stopped, he looked up to see the bird called Caladrius finally touch the ground, landing softly in the snow as the winds continued to rage around it. It had appeared to be brewing the storm at will. He thought the beast would soon notice him and end his life, but instead it merely faced the opposite direction and cleaned its wings. It didn't even care about him. Resigned to his fate of freezing to death, Matt had felt the familiar sting of regret pang in his chest. If he hadn't upset Twilight, he wouldn't even be in this situation. Twilight. He had nearly forgotten. If they failed in this mission, the entire town would be consumed by this monster. Even her. He wished he could've warned her, or at least figure out what he did to make her so upset in the first place. Though he didn't understand it, this hurt him the most. He closed his eyes for what he thought would be the last time and fell completely into the snow, images of the friends he would be leaving behind flashing in his mind. ….. Before slipping away, he noticed the howling winds begin to slow and the snow falter. He opened his eyes again and spotted Caladrius looking around, seemingly confused at why his storm had weakened. That's when Matt pieced it together. His mind flashed back to the events leading up the mountain. His refusal to jump a three foot gap and arguing with his new friends. His response to Lyra and Bon-bon's friendliness. His quickly made decision to leave Rainbow Dash behind, despite the risk to her life. His feelings of being helpless and the regrets coursing through his mind. "I don't know who's colder. You or the snow." Though it was a long shot he had to try. For himself. For his friends. For Rainbow Dash. For Twilight. With all the strength he could muster, he arose to his feet. The massive white beast still wasn't acknowledging him. "I think I understand." He said to no one. "I understand why you're doing this." If the bird had ears they would've twitched. Matt began taking steps towards the beast. "I guess, really… None of this is your fault. It's not the people of Ponyville, either… It's me. You don't create the frigid air and snow from scratch. It came… from me." His steps begin to falter but his legs stand strong. "You don't torment people for no reason… you show them the cold and sickness of their own hearts." He coughs. "I guess mine is the worst around here, huh?" The bird still wasn't facing him, but it had turned to glance a few times. "But I'm getting better. You've showed me what I am. Just the thought that this is all my fault…" Matt chuckles. "It's the worst feeling I've had in a while. I needed it, though. The magnitude of what you… and me, I guess, have put this town through just occurred to me. I was treating this like some kind of petty errand to pay back a debt. But I get it now." He paused to catch his breath. "This is my home now. Those ponies are my friends, and I'm theirs. They rely on me and me on them. You made me realize this. I'm not the loner I once was, the person you're getting this cold from." "My name is Matthew Nabal. Thank you, Caladrius." With these words, the white avian finally turned to face him. As their eyes locked, Caladrius began to glow. A bright yellow light had begun emerging from the bird's chest. It took to the skies, flying the opposite direction then earlier and the storm began to dispel. The warm light from Caladrius had nearly matched the sun itself and with one last cry, the beast dissolved into water, the storm had ceased, and the sun began to slice through the clouds. Matt glanced around to spot his friends, Lyra and Bon-bon huddled together and the Doctor smiling whilst gathering the water that was Caladrius with a bottle he got from… somewhere. When he was done, he happily trotted over to greet Matt. "Ah, Matt Nabal! I knew you could do it." He said, tucking the bottle into his collar… somehow. "You planned this? " Matt replied. "Nope. But good job anyway." …... Nearly an hour later, a still unconscious Rainbow Dash was placed gently on a bench in Ponyville. "Will she be alright?" she thought she heard a voice say. A buzzing was heard before another voice replied. "Fit as a fiddle. Might have a slight cold, though." As her vision began to return, she heard an otherworldly sound and something blue in front of her began to fade. "… Matt?" she called out softly. She blinked a few times and looked around. She was back in Ponyville, but she was alone. As she stood, a tweed jacket slid off of her body. She picked it up and smiled. …... As the peculiar police box's doors opened and two mares emerged, into their own home, nonetheless. Inside, there stood a man and a stallion. "I don't appreciate you giving my clothes away." said the Doctor. "It's not like you could wear it." Matt replied with a friendly smile. "Anyways, I should be going. Thanks for the, uh… Experience." Matt approached the doors of the abnormal box. "You can come along, if you'd like." he heard the Doctor call out. Matt turned around slowly. "To where?" "Anywhere, anywhen. That's the beauty of a time machine." He held his chin in mock concentration. "Can I sleep here for a couple of days?" "Would you like some books in your room?" "Can it have a toilet?" The Doctor paused briefly to look at him oddly. "… Yes?" "Then absolutely."