“Ponies are claiming that the current thunderstorm, which is evolving into a powerful blizzard, is anything but natural.” Rainbow Dash set her book down, then gazed at the holoscreen on the other side of the room, watching a man, a news reporter, as he overlooked the town of Ponyville, which was under a massive storm. “So far the pegasus weather teams have been unable to take control of the situation, and our orbital scans show that the storm has overtaken almost all of continent…”

Rainbow flinched as she felt a sharp sting on her side. She looked down at her wing, a black one made out synthetic muscle and feathers, then frowned. She reached down and pressed a small button on the side of her bed.

Soon, the intercom in the room crackled with static. “Yes, miss Rainbow?” a woman asked.

“You said it was good that I feel weird every now and then, right?” Rainbow asked, focusing and managing to move the new wing just a little bit.

“Indeed,” the nurse replied. “That just means the nerves are bonding with the receptors in the implant.”

The mare smiled. “Thank you!” she exclaimed, then let go of the button. She grabbed her book and prepared to continue reading, but was cut off as the door to her room slid open. She watched as Applejack walked in, soaking wet. The mare grabbed her hat and squeezed some water off of it, sighed, then made her way over to Rainbow.

“Darn storm…” Applejack muttered, grabbing a nearby rag and running it through her mane. “If this keeps up, I might lose the entire orchard this season!” She tossed the wet rag aside and sighed. “Anyways… How’re you doin’, Rainbow?”

“I’m…” Rainbow set the book down, looking out the window of her room and into a dark, rainy sky. “I’m fine. I can move it a little now, you know? Kinda hurts, but the nurse said it’s alright.”

Applejack cracked a smile. “Good to know!” She looked down, then laid her hoof on top of Rainbow’s, smiling at her. The two nodded at each other before Applejack turned to the screen on the opposite side of the room. “So,” she began. “You’ve got one of them new fabled huluscrins, eh?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow chuckled. “They’ve been showing stuff about the storm all the time today… Are those zebras?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, looking at the screen. “What about them?”

Rainbow picked up the remote. “They’re supposed be back in Zebrica, like, all of them...” She turned the volume up.

Becker folded his arms, looking at the main screen of the command center.

“Hundreds of Zebras are flocking to Apex as I speak,” the man in the screen said as the camera panned through the streets of Apex. Zebras could be seen gathering at the main entrance to the colony, towing carts with either supplies or their wounded.

Becker spoke up as he stared at the screen, “Any intel on why they’re doing this?”

A technician stood up from his post. “Reports say that they’re fleeing from something, sir. We don’t know much more than that.”

“Do we have eyes on Zebrica?” Becker asked, stroking his chin.

“Nothing we’ve been keeping tabs on,” a woman stated.

The Admiral huffed. “Show me. Anything.”

The screens surrounding the command center flickered as the images swapped. Becker frowned as he stared at a completely frozen landscape. Technicians all around the chamber stood up as well, looking at the visage.

Becker sighed and rubbed his temples. “How come a whole desert freezes like this?” he asked. “I don’t suppose this is a normal occurrence in this planet. Something’s obviously wrong with the weather.”

“What should we do, sir?” a woman asked.

“Organize shelters and relief efforts…” he muttered. “We need more intel on this… Send a dropship to Canterlot, and pick up Celestia. I need to speak to her, she might know more on this.”

“Get more blankets!” Abel shouted as he walked through the warehouse. He leaned down before a Zebra child and offered them a blanket, which they they happily took. Abel then stood up and looked around the massive warehouse he was in, completely filled with Zebra refugees.

“We’ve got wounded coming in!” another human called out, leading a hovercart with a few wounded zebras into the warehouse.

Abel stepped up, looking down at one of the zebras. He grimaced at the sight of a mutilated, infected leg. “They’ve got frostbite,” he muttered. “Get whatever we have to treat frostbite!” he shouted, tapping the shoulder of the human carrying the cart. “Go on to the far side of the warehouse, that’s where we’ve got the wounded, alright?”

The man continued walking, making his way between the improvised beds on the floor. “What the hell happened to them…” He stopped before one of the beds, looking down at the Zebra laying on it. Abel leaned down. “You doing alright?”

“Y-yes…” the zebra muttered, still shaking from the cold. “We have been journeying for days now… We did not expect you humans to be so hospitable, and for that, I thank you.”

“Need anything?” Abel asked, frowning.

“I’m fine,” the zebra said, nodding quickly. “Help the children and the wounded first.”

Abel looked to the side, grimacing. “What happened? What are you fleeing from?”

The zebra rubbed her hooves together, shaking her head. “It started to snow, very harshly, freezing the very sand beneath our hooves… Some speak of ice demons, but… most of us are simply running away from the unsurvivable cold.” Abel watched as a tear ran down her eye. “We had only heard rumors about this metallic city, but it was all we had. Zebrica is no longer capable of sustaining our lives…” She coughed and grabbed Abel’s armored hand with her hooves. “Thank you, Human. You are truly the best allies one could have.”

“Landing.”

The dropship rumbled as it set down inside one of the Vector’s hangars. Celestia sighed, closing her eyes while the ramp opened. Without opening her eyes, she walked out of the ship and into the hangar.

“Welcome aboard, Princess,” a man said.

She opened her eyes and met those of Becker, who was standing in front of her with his arms folded. He looked down at her and sighed, letting both arms hang down. Celestia’s eyes drifted away from the man’s.

“I’m sorry for pushing this little meeting,” the man began, “but recent events forced my hand.” He frowned, then turned away. “Follow me.”

Celestia didn’t reply. She knew what the man wanted to know, but she wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. She began following him, her eyes never looking at his person, instead drifting purposefully all around the Vector’s hallways. As she followed Becker through the long corridors of the Vector, she couldn’t help but stare at the humans that worked all around the ship. So dutiful, it seemed as if they never got tired. Of all the times she had seen humans, they were always doing something. They never lazed about, always working. She briefly wondered what it was that kept them in that state, as for her, it seemed unnatural that a person would work nonstop. Then again, the humans probably knew more about her race than she knew of theirs.

Becker stopped before a set of doors. Celestia almost bumped into the back of his legs as her attention was elsewhere. She finally looked up at him, meeting his eyes, those of an old man that had probably seen many things over his lifetime. She couldn’t help but feel observed. Perhaps Becker knew more about the current state of the planet than she thought at first. Either way, it was time to find out. The doors slid open, and Celestia followed the man inside. She found herself in what seemed to be a small meeting room, composed by a table and a holoscreen in the middle.

“Sit down, please” the man requested. Celestia did as told, taking a set by the table and observing how the man sat down opposite to her. She looked at him, waiting for whatever he was going to ask or do.

“Celestia,” he began, tapping a small control console on the table with his fingers. “Zebras are rushing to Apex, looking for shelter.” She nodded at his words. “We’ve got reports of foul weather in their country, and ours too.”

“It has been raining hard for over a week, getting colder with each day.” He tapped the console, prompting an image to pop up on the screen before her. “Why you’re so quiet is something I would like to know, but this is slightly more important to me right now,” he said as he pointed to the image, one taken from orbit.

“This is a picture of Zebrica, taken from orbit,” he stated. “As you can see, it’s a frozen, abandoned wasteland.”

Celestia nodded at him as he continued, “We don’t know much about how the weather works here. I was hoping you could shed some light into that matter.”

She looked down at the floor. “It’s… It’s strange to me, too…” she muttered, then looked at Becker's stoic expression.

“I see…” He frowned. “What’s happening, Celestia?” he asked, leaning over the table. The Princess grimaced and looked away. “What is it that you’re not telling me? You’ve never been this shy before.”

Celestia closed her eyes and sighed, “Fine.”

Becker raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

The mare swallowed a knot on her throat before speaking. “You come from a world very different from ours, Admiral.” She looked shot a concerned stare right into his eyes. “You have no gods, nothing that would control you or choose for you. You’ve fought for yourselves since your very beginning.” She stood up, sighing. “It’s much different here. My sister and I have been seen as deities by the ponies for quite some time now, but there are higher powers at play here.”

Celestia walked over to Becker, standing next to him as they both looked at the frozen landscape of Zebrica. “Here, Gods are high powers that can be as tangible as flesh and bone. Four of them are those who have ruled this world from the very beginning, even if their existence has fallen to the background over the eons. But they’re…” she sighed. “They’re making themselves present again.”

“How… how so?” Becker asked.

“They’re angry, Admiral,” Celestia continued. “They have been controlling what happens on this planet since its creation. Except… except for you.”

Becker was taken aback by her comment. “What do you mean?”

“Your arrival here was a complete accident, Becker,” Celestia said. “You have thrown this world off balance, and have disrupted the plans of these four gods. They… they want to erase everything, Admiral. Erase everything, then start over without you, without your contamination.” She pointed at the screen. “They have already started with the Zebras, turning their land into an inhospitable wasteland, and judging by the rest of the world, they will do the same with us.”

“So they changed the weather?” Becker asked in deadpan. “We can deal with that.”

“It’s not just the weather, Admiral!” Celestia exclaimed. “Things… Things are about to get much worse. For all of us. I know this is hard to understand, but you must try! It only gets worse from here and… and I’m not sure if we can fight it.”

“Listen to yourself…” Becker looked down at her with a frown. “Giving up without trying?” He leaned over the table and looked at the screen. “I don’t believe all of what you’re telling me, but I think it’s worth looking into. I’ll send some of my people over to the south, to Zebrica, and see if we can do anything.”

“Weavess…” Celestia muttered. “Goddess of Ice. She is situated at the south, where her temple is. I… I wish you luck, human, but you must take this seriously. Things here, they work differently from where you come from. Gods are real, and they are angry.”