The Seasons of Equestria

by Lucaro

Chapter 9: Taken by the Storm

Amberleaf helped Starlight out of the tub, careful not to agitate his wounded wings. Maelstrom and Callista had raced ahead, and he was glad they had, because he didn’t want them to see Amberleaf drying him off with a towel and helping him into his armor like he was crippled.

Starlight couldn’t stand unassisted, so he put a hoof on Amberleaf’s back and she helped him walk to the control room. “Thanks,” he gasped.

“You’re welcome,” she said softly.

They arrived at the control room, and Starlight gasped. He had never seen gryphon technology firsthand, but this was amazing. In a brightly lit, white room there were radars detecting weather patterns, computers analyzing meteorological data, large pressure and temperature gauges, and in the back of the room he saw Callista and Maelstrom standing before the surveillance system console.

Starlight let go of Amberleaf and he tried to walk on his own, but his legs buckled and she caught him. “I had to revive all your dead nerves after all the ice there melted, so you won’t be able to walk for at least another few hours,” she said.

He nodded, and they approached Maelstrom and Callista. Maelstrom was fiddling with the thermostat, while Callista was trying to work the system controls. Starlight looked up at the cluster of blank white screens. The system seems to be functioning properly. These were live security feeds from cameras all over the refugee camp, but why are they all white?

Maelstrom laughed. “Hey, you can control the temperatures of all the main rooms and hallways with this one interface! Central heating systems rock!”

Callista hit a button, and one of the screens lit up. The camera feed depicted four ponies standing before the security console. Starlight immediately recognized himself, and the other three. He turned around and saw the camera trained at them, hidden in the corner. Callista sighed in frustration. “I don’t get it, all the cameras are working but why is it all still white?”

Amberleaf nodded. “It appears that the refugee camp is a complex of buildings, and we just happen to be in the maintenance building. All the buildings in the camp are connected with these long access hallways.”

Starlight agreed. “The security feeds from our buildings appear to be the only ones working. Not even the hallway cameras are working.

Callista shook her head. “No, all of them are working. They’re all just…white.”

“What the hell?” Maelstrom said. “Look at this.” All four of them drew around the central temperature control interface. Maelstrom pointed at what appeared to be a map of the entire complex. “For each room, the system tells the current temperature and what the heating system has been tasked to change it to.” Maelstrom pointed. “Look at the temperature of this building, and compare it to that of all the other buildings.”

Starlight looked at their building’s internal temperature: 72 Fahrenheit. That seemed normal enough. Starlight looked at the temperatures of all the other buildings and gasped. -40 Fahrenheit for the Common Room, -47 for the Living Quarters, and all the other building were about the same. “Why are the other buildings so cold? Any gryphon would freeze to death in there without heavy winter clothing.”

Maelstrom nodded and Callista wandered back to the security console. “The set point for the heating system is at 80 Fahrenheit, so it’s working full blast. Why is it still so cold in there?”

Amberleaf nodded. “There’s no way someone could survive such cold temperatures for an extended period of time.”

“Guys…” Callista whispered. “You have to see this.”

They rushed back to the security console and saw that Callista was playing the recordings of the cameras. “Stop. Look here. That’s forty seven hours ago.”

Starlight watched the screens. All the cameras were normal, and were showing typical gryphon activities. Refugees were eating in the Common Room, sleeping in the Living Quarters, and a group of technicians were wandering about in the Maintenance Room, and the outdoor cameras showed that flurries were falling outside. Then it happened. Starlight gasped and pointed at the camera in the upper left hand corner, where a strange alicorn had appeared in the camp courtyard. “Look! Is that Snowhoof?”

Amberleaf nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. It’s the middle of the night, what is he doing out there?”

Maelstrom looked at the screen in disgust. “What a creeper. He’s just staring at the camera.”

Snowhoof stared at the camera for three hours, not moving at all. There was something about his eyes that unsettled Starlight. There was definitely something wrong with Snowhoof. Suddenly, Snowhoof’s horn began to glow, illuminating the dark courtyard with a stark blue light. An entity’s outline appeared, and slowly materialized as Snowhoof channeled energy into it. Then it fully solidified. Amberleaf gasped. “A Revenant! I’ve never seen such a big one before.”

The Revenant, a cyclone of freezing air with a helmet and breastplate, towered above the surrounding buildings. Snowhoof appeared to be commanding the Revenant, and a group of Tempests and Frostbites appeared beside the Revenant. Snowhoof disappeared, and he saw some gryphon security guards appear around the corner with flashlights. Amberleaf gasped as the Revenant sent an icy blast at the surprised guards, freezing them solid.

The Revenant turned around, and using its giant warhammer, swung at one of the Living Quarter buildings, and ripped the entire roof off the building. The security camera inside that building showed a sleeping gryphon family, and then the roof was ripped off and they all awoke, screaming and frightened. The Revenant could be seen staring down at the frightened gryphons, and it opened its mouth, sending a blast of ice, freezing all the gryphons solid. Starlight gasped. A few Tempests came in and then collected the frozen corpses, dragging them out.

The Revenant then went to the neighboring buildings, killing everyone inside, and Tempests dragged out their frozen corpses. Amberleaf stared in horror. “I’ve never seen such aggressive elementals.”

While the Revenant was going on its killing spree, a blizzard was brewing. The Revenant was the monstrous heart of the storm….

Callista sobbed as one of the screens showed a dozen children cowering in the corner and being frozen by the Revenant. “Why!? Why is it killing everyone and taking their corpses!?”

Maelstrom cursed. “Snowhoof controls the elementals! He did this, that bastard!”

Eventually, the Revenant had killed everyone in the camp and the Tempests had taken the bodies. The blizzard was in full blast now and snow was collecting inside the ruined buildings. Soon, the snow covered the cameras, and that explained the blank white screens.

All the screens went white, and they all stood back in horror. There was a silence that elapsed a few minutes before Callista spoke. “Snowhoof has gone insane.”

Amberleaf nodded. “He obliterated the camp without remorse….”

The dark realization dawned upon Starlight. “I think…” everyone looked at him. “I think it’s safe to assume that everyone who is south of this camp is dead.”

Callista was crying. “But, there were two other refugee camps about fifty miles from here….”

“They’re dead,” Starlight said. “All communications were lost with all of them at about the same time.” Starlight’s heart felt like a rock in his chest. “I also think it’s safe to assume that everyone who was at Iceheart Citadel….”

The word remained unspoken. Dead. Dead. Dead. No, no, could Luna have? He shook his head vigorously, not wanting to think of the possibility. He felt a warm hoof in his, and saw that Amberleaf was holding his hoof. What was going to happen now?

***

They all sat down in front of the security console in numb shock. Starlight had wandered over to the weather radar, and saw that the monster blizzard was spreading farther and farther. Equestria had never seen a storm like this before. Did Snowhoof want to kill everyone for punishing him unjustly?

Starlight shivered, and sat beside Maelstrom who was staring at the temperature gauge. Maelstrom looked at him. “Starlight, the outside temperature is has dropped ten degrees for the hour we’ve been in here.” The temperature gauge now read: -62 Fahrenheit. It dropped one more degree in the time Starlight had been watching. Starlight blinked and stared at the howling storm outside. Maelstrom sighed. “It’s too rough out there for flying, and too cold to even go outside.”

Starlight nodded. “We’re trapped here until the storm subsides.”

Starlight walked away and left Maelstrom to stare at the dropping temperature. He saw that Callista was eating a ration packet, and Amberleaf was sitting down, staring at the storm outside. It was getting chilly in the room, so he turned up the thermostat and sat next to Amberleaf. She looked up at him with sad eyes, and pulled him closer. “What are we going to do, Starlight?”

“There’s nothing we can do….”

There was a ringing sound. Starlight immediately stood up and everyone was looking around. There was another ringing sound. “Hello?” A voice said. “Camp Alpha, please report. This is Lewis from Avendale. Please report.”

Callista ran to where the voice was coming from and saw that it was coming from a speaker, with a cone shaped receiver next to it. She picked it up, and spoke. “Hello, this is Callista reporting from Camp Alpha.”

“Oh, thank the stars! Is Commander Starlight and Keeper Amberleaf there?”

Callista handed the phone to Starlight. “Hello, this is Commander Starlight Mirror.”

“I have some dire news. The siege on Avendale has begun!"

Starlight gasped. “Where is Queen Celestia?”

“She has donned her armor and is preparing for battle! She will be personally defending Avendale along with our own gryphons!”

Starlight sighed. The queen shouldn’t be putting herself in danger like this, but at least Avendale would be defended for the time being. Lewis’ voice came through the speaker again. “Commander Starlight, what is the status of the refugees?”

“Dead,” Starlight said. “Snowhoof sent a force of elementals to kill the refugees. In fact, this is the only building still standing.”

There was a pause on the other end. “That is…unfortunate. We are receiving reports of entire towns being emptied overnight, and all that is left is the frost when the sun rises again.”

They all looked at each other, and Starlight’s demeanor became grim. “We were wrong. Snowhoof has broken his promise and has declared war on the rest of the world. We fear that Shining Armor, Luna, and all the other guests of Iceheart Citadel are dead.”

“That is the least of our worries, we…bzzzz…can’t…bzzzz.” The transmission was breaking up. “Avendale…bzzzz…heavy snow…bzzzz…trade has been paralyzed…bzzzz…a blizzard unlike anything…bzzzzzzz…..”

The transmission went silent and all that could be heard was the static. Callista screamed and Starlight dropped the receiver. Amberleaf gasped and Starlight flipped around. Standing at the window and staring in with piercing blue eyes was a vicious looking Tempest. Starlight looked in horror as more Tempest eyes appeared all around them. Maelstrom cursed. “Blow me, you breezy bastards!”

The Tempests all shrieked and the glass began to vibrate and crack. “Oh shit!” Maelstrom cursed again and they all held their ears, and ducked for cover.

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[Lucaro]

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