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// Introduction - What Makes a Season 
// Story: The Seasons 
// by Scootareader 
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	Just as there are four seasons in Earth's yearly cycle, there are also four seasons in Equestria's yearly cycle. Four seasons of bipolar weather and rapidly changing climate. Depending on a slight shifting of the axis of the planet, a massive number of changes are undergone each time a new season is ushered in.

Spring brings with it all of the stinging, biting insects you can imagine. Flies eat laboriously prepared food by spitting on it, bees and wasps sting unsuspecting children for seemingly trivial reasons, and beetles find every little nook and cranny in our homes and pop out to bother us at the most inopportune moments. On top of this, allergies abound at this time of year; pollen laces the air, some insect bites can be lethal, and even the grass we walk on can cause rashes.

Summer is no better. The Sun constantly beats down with the heat of a sauna, cooking everything on the surface of the planet. Houses turn into thermoses, people become coated in sweat and misery, and exorbitant amounts of money are paid for just the small convenience of not having to die from the overwhelming heat. Even worse, the constant waves of burning bring with them a type of radiation, ultraviolet radiation, which causes skin cancer, shortening the lifespans of millions of people.

The next season is autumn. The best symbolism we can conclude from here is death. We watch as living things visibly go into their final months of existence. The plants wither and decay, and shameless creatures snatch up the slowly disappearing greenery in their final desperate attempts to survive until more food finally grows. Looking around at this time of year, one can see why bitterness and contempt exist all around us.

Finally, we have winter. If autumn is death, then winter is nothingness. Found everywhere at this time is the perpetual cold and persistent freezing, clinging snow that encourages all to stay indoors, away from the elements, comfortable to stay cozy in their little dens and homes. The best recommendation for surviving winter is to ignore it as much as possible and find every excuse not to go somewhere; when forced to go outside during this terrible time of year, it is best to go wearing as much protection as possible to shield from the harsh, biting wind cutting through the air and the treacherous patches of ice coating the ground.

This cycle of constantly forming and reforming limbo that is our atmosphere seems awfully turbulent and unstable. The seasons make hateful, despicable, selfish cretins out of the greatest of men. There is no reason why they should exist.

Yet, they do exist.

And so, rather than decry and despair and destroy, there are those who see the positive side of things. They choose not to pick out the cruel or wicked, instead focusing on the great and powerful. Happiness is far better than hatred.

Spring is a new beginning, a rebirth of that which was lost. New animals are born, beauty blooms everywhere that can be gazed upon, and the air is fresh, clean, and crisp. Brash birds suddenly burst into song, delicate butterflies alight upon timid flowers, and newborn foals shakily rise to their feet to begin their journey of the world.

Summer is a time of happiness and joy. Naps can be had on net hammocks suspended between two trees, youngsters play and relish in the bright, vivid sunlight, and local ponds and watering holes are filled to the brim with swimmers who enjoy their attempts to beat the heat. Even the air is infused with a warmth and vibrancy that can never be conveyed in any other way. Just as spring breathes life into living things, summer gives these living things substance, inspiration, and a reason to live.

Autumn is proof that even the darkest things in life can provide happiness. There is a unique beauty in watching as plants and trees relinquish what life they managed to produce and wisely conserve the energy they struggled so hard to obtain. Even in seeing the most desperate acts of survival that so many living things have to take, it serves to remind that there is beauty in all things. Mortality is an expected contention, and all living creatures must someday lose the life they fought to cultivate and nurture; this should not bring sobriety, or sorrow, but rather a reminder that we are all a part of the life cycle, and that, while all good things must come to an end, it needn't be on a regretful note.

Winter is the most interesting of them all. In the attempts to stay as estranged from the outdoors as possible, it brings family and friends closer together in a bonding that can be gotten nowhere else in existence. There is a certain magic to the season, walking outside and not hearing a single sound, apart from muffled, light breathing as it puffs quietly into the air. Watching as tracks are made in the fresh, clean snow. Winter cleanses the earth of all of the birth, the life, the death... and, in lieu of these things, it provides silence. A quiet that pervades the very ground being walked upon. Even in nothingness, there is beauty.

It is here that we find the unlikely stories of eight ponies. In these four seasons, love is found and cherished as eternal bonds are formed and strengthened. Strange circumstances, some may say. Far too predictable, will retort others.

It can be guaranteed, however, that these ponies have found something truly special.