A female griffon with grey fur and navy feathers and tuft stood outside near the door to the bar. She tugged at her satchel's clipped on watch, “8:17”. She frowned and looked up towards the sky. Gray clouds had already gathered around the low-hanging moon. A soft chilled breeze kicked up snowdrifts around the bar. She sneezed and tightened her bright pink scarf wrapped around her neck. A laughter erupted from inside the building. “Better late than never,” she mumbled into her scarf as she opened the wooden door.
"To our first year!" A bulky crystal pony held a frothy mug of cider in the air. He stood behind a crystal counter-top that circled around the liquor lined walls of the bar. There were about a dozen patrons gathered near around the counter. A majority of them were crystal ponies who celebrated with various unicorns, pegasi, and griffons. The griffon slid the door shut behind her and sat at a small table near the stairs. Two small crystal ponies ran along the top of the bar, filling various empty crystal mugs with bubbling cider.
The griffon unhitched her satchel and set it on the table. One of the crystal filly’s waved and hopped of the counter. She mouthed something to the barkeep who smiled and pointed towards a tray with a small bowl and two glasses of water. The purple maned filly picked the tray up with her muzzle and scampered through the crowd.
"Hello Amethyst," the griffon grabbed the tray and set it on the table next to her bag. “I’m surprised your father is letting you two help out so late.”
“Yeah, but, tonight’s special and school’s already been cancelled for the next week!”
The griffon waved her paw around then grabbed one of the glasses of water. “That doesn’t change the fact that you need to practice good habits. Even if school’s closed, should still prepare like normal.”
“Ugh, you’re so bland sometimes.”
“And you’re still a filly.” The griffon used her other paw and messed with the filly’s crystal mane before she puffed her lips and stomped away.
The griffon looked down at the tray. Inside the bowl was shredded lettuce with small chunks of cooked fish mixed in with carrots and tomatoes. She stared at the food with a frown then grabbed her fork and stabbed at lettuce near the side of the bowl.
“Lucidia,” a deep voice said. She stabbed the mushed lettuce again. “Lucidia,” the voice was louder this time. A hoof touched her shoulder. The griffon shrieked and flung her arm, and the fork, at the pony.
The pony ducked and took a few steps back. “Whoa, Lucidia,” he said, “are you all right?”
Lucidia blinked once, twice, then jumped out of her chair. “Oh Celestia,” she dropped the fork, “I’m so sorry Beryl!”
The tanish crystal pony faked a smile and placed the fork back onto the table. He sat in the chair on the opposite side of her. “Are you-”
“Where is everyone?” She took a bite of her salad.
Beryl tilted his head. “What do you mean?” he said.
“Everyone’s gone now, it wasn’t like this five minutes ago.” She took another bite of her salad.
“Uh, Lucidia?”
“Yes?” She said with her mouth full of fish.
“It’s two in the morning.”
“Oh…” she mouthed. Lucidia tossed her fork onto the food and stretched her wings. “Do you care if I sleep on the couch tonight? I don’t feel like messing up my sheets or showering tonight.”
Beryl coughed with a mouth full of water. “You’re working tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” she picked up her bowl and walked towards the counter. “The Princess wants me to deliver a full rundown of who’s staying through the storm and help create a schedule for supply runs during it. I should be back before the storm gets too rough.” She set the bowl on the counter and grabbed one of the half filled bottles of liquor. “You care if I take this with me?” Lucidia held the bottle up while taking another bite of the salad.
“I- uh- sure. Yeah, that works. But you know that it’s a terrible idea.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “The liquor? You know my rules with it. Only for emergencies.”
“No, tomorrow’s jo-”
“I know. I plan on leaving two hours early. What the Princess wants is what gets done. She just to make sure everypony is accounted for.”
“No need to be so-”
“I also plan on checking in with Sapphire, I’m sure she’ll want an update on Amber and Amethyst.”
“Oh… I guess I’ll just go shower then.”
“Yeah,” she said between bites, “you go do that.”
Beryl crept up the stairs next to the bar. A few minutes later, Lucidia could hear the water running from the bathroom. She tossed the fork into the bowl and slid off the stool. All but two of the wooden chairs had been flipped onto their respective tables. The soft red glow of ceiling crystals hung in the room dark room while the moon’s reflection created patches of light along the walls. Each strong gust of wind howled as it blew past the windows and side of the building. She walked towards one of the windows and pushed aside one of the curtains. The crystal lamps were faint in the heavy snowfall. “Clucking Tartarus,” she grumbled, “I can’t wait can I?”
“Shining! Hurry up!” The griffon’s voice was hoarse. Cups of steaming honeyed tea did little to mask the salty smell of sweat that dripped off her brow and onto the chilled marble floor. She turned away from the cluttered oak table and trotted to the sole window of the room. The wind howled. Thick powdery snow battered the window. Snow my flank. Small veins of melted snow had frozen along the ridges, while more piled up along the base. She coughed into her bright amethyst colored scarf then wiped away some of the moisture that clung to her beak.
"Shining! Hurry your-" the wooden door swung open and slammed against the walls. The griffon turned around. A white unicorn stallion marched into the room, flanked by a light turquoise and bright rose pegasus.
Two ponies walked through the doorway; Shining Armor, who was wearing his golden trimmed regalia, and an orange pegasus and whose dark blue mane was combed upwards and backwards. The pegasus wore a similar styled regalia that weaved around his body and held two satchels, one on each side, in place.
“This,” Shining pointed at the pegasus, “is Flash Sentry. He’s currently our guard’s most capable flier. He’ll accompany you and assist you throughout the remainder of the storm. It was… foolish of us to not get you assistance sooner. I deeply apolo-”
The griffon scowled, threw her chair aside, and marched toward Shining. “You don’t believe me,” she said forcing a talon on under his chin. “That’s what you're saying, right? You don’t think what I saw was real.”
“Well, the snow does tend to play tricks on-”
“I don’t care about the snow! Are you telling me that what I saw- the blood splatters, the chunks of crystal fur, and even the,” her breath became short and raspy as she stumbled backwards into the table, “even the,” she looked down onto the rug and felt her breakfast slowly rising in her stomach. She shook her head and rubbed her temples for a few brief seconds. She looked back to Shining Armor and the pegasus who stood in a stoic posture and hadn’t budged from the doorway. “You can’t expect me to believe what I saw was fake.”
“Then you needed to provide some proof that it-.”
“I’m not going to carry a frozen eyeball in my clucking satchel!”
Shining Armor cringed then motioned for Flash. Flash stepped towards the table and unrolled a piece of parchment kept in one of the bags. “You said that you tallied those staying in Crystapolis before coming here and that everyone who is staying was accounted for, correct?”
The griffon nodded.
“And while I talked with Flash, Cadence tallied the those who are staying here for the storm. The entire registrar of Crystapolis is accounted for. No one is missing.”
“Then what about somepony from here then, or maybe a family from Equestria who decided accepted the colonization choice?”
“Lucidia,” Shining gently put a hoof on her shoulder. “It was just the snow playing tricks on you.”
Lucidia’s swatted his hoof away and her hind legs felt weak. She fell backwards onto the floor. “I, I,” she clutched the sides of her head and screamed into her scarf. “I know what I saw! It was real! I know it!”
When she ran out of breath, she stood up and mumbled to herself while pacing around the table. After her tenth circle, she stopped and took a deep breath in, and out. She wiped the sweat and saliva off her face and beak. “Alright, fine.” Her voice was soft and raspy. “We don’t have time, for now, let’s just say it was the snow then. Is there a plan in place to transport food and wood?”
Flash Sentry stepped forward. “Based off the weather pegasi’s estimates, the storm should last around two weeks. There will be very few breaks in the storm but based off what we understand from Windigos, those breaks won’t last long and they’ll mostly be at night.”
“Great…” Lucidia groaned and rubbed her temple. “How long will they last?” she asked.
“Anywhere between thirty minutes or four hours, it’s hard to tell what the Windigos are up to.”
“In the current weather, it took me three hours to fly here. Beryl tallied all the resources stocked up, we have enough for everyone for a week. Each trip, with the two of us, should let us carry food and wood for two families that can last the rest of the storm. That’s-”
“Six to ten hours of straight flying at random times throughout the week.” Shining said in a flat tone.
“And why can’t the same pegasi who scouted the storm help with transporting goods? They’re obviously good enough fliers to deal with the mess once enough.”
“Most were weather pegasi from Equestria. They aren’t trained enough to fly long distance in storms like this, let alone transporting stuff. And those who are, are the Wonderbolts.”
“Uhm, I’m going to go gather the goods.” Flash said. His meek voice was drawn out by Shinning’s and Lucidia’s. With a sigh, Flash trotted out the room.
“So? What, just because they’re special fliers means that don’t have to help out?”
“They’re military.”
“And I’m a griffon, what’s your point. Are they too good to help a neighboring country?”
“No, they simply have their own jobs to do.”
Lucidia stood face to face with Shining. “And those jobs are more important than keeping a fledgling city alive?” She shoved a talon into his plated armor and kept pushing with each word she spoke. “You should know we can’t do this alone and, no offense to your guard member, but if I’m going to struggle heavily in this weather, which I am used to, there is no way in Tartarus will he be fine. We. Need. Help. It’s as simple as that. And unless somepony, or griffon, can help us, either myself or your guard member will get injured, if not worse.”
“I’ll do my best to find somepony who can help.” Shining looked at the fireplace.
“Best? You better do better.” Lucidia spat.
“Look, I can’t make any promises okay?”
“I don’t need promises Shining, I need fliers or someone may die. And if that happens, it’s on you!” She hit the armor with a closed fist.
The opened door banged against the wall. Flash sat two bags of chopped would down onto the floor. “The food should be finished prepared in a few minutes.” Flash walked back out of the room.
“Good!” Shining and Lucidia said in unison. Lucidia walked over to one of the brown bags and lifted it up over her neck and wing then grabbed the other bag and put it over her other wing.
“Ugh.” She walked around the room, stopping occasionally to readjust the bags on her back. “I better get a medal for this.”
Shining chuckled. “I’m sure we can work something out.”
“So…” Lucidia gathered the scrolls of parchments and slid them into her satchel. She set her scarf on the table then picked up her crystal-light necklace. She locked the necklace around her neck then took her pink scarf and wrapped it both underneath and on top of the chain. “What should we do if we,” she looked at the snowfall. “What should we do if we find a body?”
Shining frowned. “Honestly?” There is nothing you’ll be able to do. It’d be the first recorded murder here, not to mention it would be impossible to investigate the scene with the weather outside. Best thing you could do is try and mark the location down.”
“Understood.”
Flash entered the room with his saddle bags of fruit and vegetables attached to his armor. “You ready to fly?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Lucidia followed Flash Sentry out the warm and cozy room. The white marble halls the duo walked through had large crystal windows that were frozen shut. Dim yellow and pink crystals hung from small chandeliers and illuminated the otherwise hollow hallways.
The two stopped in front of a stairwell near the exit of one of the empty hallways. “Would you like to dive launch or take off like normal?”
“In this weather? Let’s dive.” She said.
The duo walked a few flights up the narrow stairwell. At the top, there was a thick door with a wooden lever. Lucidia grabbed the crystals on her necklace and gently bit down on them. A bright pink light began to pulse once every few seconds. Flash pushed the orange crystals shaped like wings in the center of his regalia, which gave off a similar bright orange light. Lucidia wrapped her tightened her scarf and nodded.