//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17: Final Confrontation 
// Story: The Seasons of Equestria 
// by Lucaro 
//------------------------------//

	The Battle for Frostcrown: Resolution

Princess Cadance’s horn was glowing pink, and the engravings on the steel doors slowly lit up with her energy. Starlight could hear the mechanisms inside the door whirring, and the doors slowly started to retreat to the side. The air was filled with a grating as the parting doors revealed a large chamber with a balcony.
They slowly stepped into the cold room. The steel in this chamber had a particularly cold bite as they stepped over it. He shivered and gasped. At the edge of the balcony, he saw an alicorn’s cloaked figure. 
The wind was rustling his gray cloak, and they all jumped as the steel doors began sliding shut. “You’re the first visitors I’ve had in such a long time…” Snowhoof whispered in his cold voice. He turned around and faced them, dropping his cloak to reveal a heavy set of sleek looking armor covering his body and his snowy white mane tied into a pony tail which protruded from a hole in his helmet. He gave them a sick smile, his blue eyes glowing softly. “What brings royalty to my lair? I’m so flattered.” He did a mock bow, and they all steeled themselves. Cadance was about to speak, when there was sobbing from the door on the side of the chamber. “Ah,” whispered Snowhoof. “Lilyheart has been keeping me company.”
“You sick bastard!” Starlight yelled. “What have you done to her!?”
Snowhoof rolled his eyes whimsically. “Oh, nothing. She doesn’t seem to like me,” he put a hoof to his chin. “Maybe it was where I beat her bloody over at Silverleaf, or maybe where I chained her to my bed and fucked her so many times that she can’t even stand. She’s such a whiny little….”
“Shut up!” Cadance yelled. “You’re going to pay for all the people you’ve killed!” She stomped forward. “And believe me, I’m going to make you suffer for every life you’ve taken. For all the pain you’ve caused, for killing Amberleaf and raping Alandra!” 
Snowhoof grinned. “Oh, I’ve already done all my suffering in prison. My stupid whore of a mother caused all this, but she’ll soon be dead.” Snowhoof raised his hooves, laughing hysterically. “And the winter shall last forever!” The wind started to swirl around Snowhoof, his blue eyes glowing. “Only one more hour, and everything on this wretched world will freeze.”
“Not if I can help it!” Princess Cadance raced forward, and they all followed. Snowhoof leapt up and blasted them with a pulse of air, sending them all flying backwards. Starlight struck the cold wall of the chamber hard, the metal booming at the impact. He slid down, his vision blurry. Snowhoof was approaching him. He gasped, but shackles of ice formed around his limbs. Snowhoof cupped Staright’s chin with his hoof, so they were looking into each other’s eyes. “Oh, Starlight.  You believed in me, because we are so alike. You a Nightborn, me the Keeper of Winter. Both things we could not help, but they designated us as targets for hate and fear.” Snowhoof looked outside to the balcony where there was an army waiting. “I should thank you for your tremendous effort putting this invasion together, and I admire you for that. I like you. I shall grant you a quick death when this is all over.” 
A needle of razor sharp ice began to extend from his hoof, and Starlight could feel the cold biting into his throat. He could feel the ice pierce his skin and touch his blood. Immediately Starlight felt all the heat being drained out of him through the small cut. He felt himself getting colder and colder, and it felt as if his spirit was being yanked out of his body and replaced with something much colder and sinister. His teeth started to chatter and he began to tremble. 
“Stop!” Maelstrom yelled. He barreled into Snowhoof, but the alicorn struck the charging stallion with a solid crack, sending Maelstrom flying into a wall. His back hit the wall hard, and he then lay ominously still against the wall. Callista screeched and ran to her husband.
Starlight’s thoughts were racing, his vision shifting and changing. He was losing control of his body. He felt so cold….
Princess Cadance shot a beam of energy at Snowhoof. “You aren’t going to hurt anyone anymore!” Snowhoof met her pink beam of energy with his own beam of blue energy. The beams met, and a white sphere formed at the contact point. Shockwaves rippled throughout the chamber, and Cadance was screaming as the white sphere moved back and forth. “Even if I fail,” Cadance whispered. “Even if I fail, I have an army waiting outside. And another army already inside the citadel.”
Snowhoof laughed as the white sphere slowly neared Cadance. “It was an impressive display, I admit. But all futile.” Snowhoof grinned. “Very impressive, actually. Who would have thought the dragons would aid your cause? I certainly didn’t expect that.”
Starlight looked to the side. Callista was crying over Maelstrom’s body, wrapping him in her embrace and nuzzling him. “Please wake up, Maelstrom. I can’t…I can’t go on without you. Please….”
Starlight looked at her sideways, his mind echoing with a cold clarity. Oh, the poor thing is suffering so much, Starlight thought calmly. I should put her out of her misery.
Starlight stood up slowly and started to approach Callista. He unsheathed his blades, the transparent steel scraping the ground as he drew closer. Some small part of him that was still in control was screaming for him to stop, but he didn’t want to listen. Poor mare just lost her husband, I shall reunite her with him soon enough.
He stood in front of Callista staring down at her. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “Please, help him. Starlight, please….”
“Don’t cry, Callista.” He moved behind her, raising his blade to decapitate her. “I can make the pain go away….” Starlight swung down, but a hand grabbed his hoof, pulling him back. Lightheart glared at him, holding the blade in the air. “Hey, Lightheart.” Starlight said softly, “How’s it going?”
“Traitor!” Lightheart cursed, and pushed Starlight back. “You tried to kill her!” Callista was too busy hugging her husband, and no longer cared whether she lived or not. She hadn’t even noticed that he had tried to kill her.
“Hmmm?” said Starlight, dreamily. “Maelstrom’s dead, so I just thought….”
“He is not dead!” Lightheart screamed into his face. “He’s just—arrgghh!”
Starlight had driven his blade up the gryphon’s gullet. “Please be quiet,” he whispered politely. The gryphon fell to the ground, gagging and trying to stem the scarlet tide flowing from his neck. “Thank you.”
Starlight looked over at the center of the room. The white sphere was drawing closer and closer to Cadance, and Starlight watched in faint amusement as the sphere hit Cadance. She screamed and was sent pushed backward. Somewhere in his mind, a voice was screaming for him to help her. But it sounded so far away….
Cadance stood her ground, her pink mane singed and burnt. She was gasping, “You monster. Do you have any idea of how much suffering you’ve caused?”
Snowhoof faltered for a moment. Starlight cocked his head. He had seen something flicker in his eyes for a moment. Snowhoof smiled then. “Do you want to hear the sound your husband made when I killed him?”
Cadance flared and charged Snowhoof. Starlight gasped as a flurry of wings raced past him. Callista attacked Snowhoof from the rear, driving both her blades into his flank. “You murderer!” She ripped the blades out. “Rot in hell!”
Snowhoof cried in anguish, kicking away Callista. Then Cadance gored him with her horn. Starlight began walking forward. Those poor heartbroken mares have lost their husbands….
A hand grabbed his hindleg, and he couldn’t move. Starlight looked down in annoyance at Lightheart. “Please, let me go,” Starlight muttered. He looked back towards Snowhoof. Cadance had pinned Snowhoof against a wall, her horn in his chest. Snowhoof was crying in pain. “Ahh…you have impaled me.”
Callista struck him hard across the face, his helmet flying off. Cadance grunted, her horn glowing with magic. Snowhoof screamed, and blood began to pour out of his mouth. 
As Snowhoof’s power faded, Starlight could feel his own conscience returning. Snowhoof slammed his hooves down on Cadance’s head, and she screamed and pulled away from him. Her horn was covered in his blood, and Snowhoof collapsed. Callista tried to strike him while he was down, but he blasted her with magic, freezing her solid. Hot rage erupted within him, breaking Snowhoof’s icy grip on his mind. “Noooo!” he yelled.
Callista’s frozen body stood before Snowhoof, her face twisted in horror. Cadance stared at Snowhoof, tears in her eyes. Starlight charged forward, swinging his blades at Snowhoof. Snowhoof raised his hooves just in time to deflect Starlight’s blow. Snowhoof was pushed backward. Starlight roared in rage and swung again. This time he made contact. His blades had slipped off Snowhoof’s armor, but his hooves struck his jaw. Starlight grinned in satisfaction, Snowhoof’s warm blood wetting his hooves. Starlight attacked again, and every time Snowhoof was pushed back. Snowhoof’s defenses were weakened every time Starlight struck. Hot rage was coursing through his veins, and Cadance joined in. Starlight drove his blades into his gut, Cadance charged her horn with energy and made contact with his horn. Snowhoof howled in pain as his horn shattered. 
They continued their punishment, pushing Snowhoof to the balcony. Starlight had ripped open his belly and had shattered his jaw, Cadance had broken his horn. Starlight grabbed Snowhoof, wrestling him down. He nodded to Cadance. She grabbed the base of Snowhoof’s wings, and bent them backward with a crack. Snowhoof screamed, and once the bones had been broken, Cadance easily ripped his wings off. Blood gushed from the mangled bony stump, and Cadance slammed both her hooves down on the splintered bone stumps. Snowhoof cried in pain, and Starlight drove his blade into the wound on his chest. He twisted his blade inside, and he could hear the flesh ripping. Snowhoof sprayed blood onto Cadance as his lungs were punctured and he slowly began drowning in his own blood.
Cadance punched him hard, sending him sliding across the floor. There was a crimson streak where he had slid, and Snowhoof was weakly trying to drag himself away. “Enough…” he whispered. “Please.”
Starlight watched Cadance fume. “Your pain is only just beginning.” She rushed forward, and raised her hoof to strike him. Snowhoof weakly raised his hoof to deflect the blow. There was a flash of light, and Starlight gasped. A tall dark blue alicorn mare held Cadance’s raised hoof. Cadance gasped. “Princess Luna!”
“My queen! You’re alive!” Starlight exclaimed.