SPRING
"Where am I? Hey, is anypony there?" Obsidian's voice echoed for what seemed like forever, but he couldn't see the space around him in order to tell exactly how far it could echo.
<Your father sent you here, you know.> The voice laughed. <He wants you to stay here forever and rot in your own skin, like he rotted in stone... you've taken his place, can't you tell?>
"No!" Claws raked across fur, blood ran down over sharp teeth, dripped onto the ground. "He wouldn't do that!"
<Oh, I have known him far longer than you have.> The bodiless voice crooned. <He has betrayed many creatures who thought he was an ally.>
"No! He's good! He's my dad! He's my friend!"
<Oh, we all must have our little dreams, I agree. We all want to have some little shard of hope to fall back on...>
"NO!"
<He hates you, Obsidian, you saw how he loved making fun of you...> There was a pause, a muffled snicker, <...I won't betray you. I'll give you everything you've ever wanted. Just think about it, and it will be yours...>
There wasn't a long pause. <Oh, that's all?>
He hadn't meant to think it, but it hadn't stopped tugging at the back of his mind. And now, the danger wasn't some imaginary rescue mission.
Sunrise might be in danger.
Obsidian jolted upright, feeling his back soaking with sweat. Realizing it was just a dream, he fell back on the pillow, sighing in a cross between relief and exhaustion.
What a nightmare.
Of course, he was still thinking about Sunrise... there was a good possiblity that his 'actions' the night before had caused his fever dream. He liked the young dragoness more than he wanted to admit, and knowing that Tigerjay was sweet on her too didn't help. He knew - in some mixed up primal instinct gained from his left claw - that Griffons weren't the best at sharing, and that included mates.
Even if the disemboided voice wasn't real, he did want to have Sunrise all to himself... he wasn't willing to resort to dulling Tigerjay, at least not yet.
The young Griffon stood on the surface of the dome, feeling the warm breeze run across his face. Although the Winter Wrap-Up had been cancelled due to lack of intrest, the snow was still melting, the animals were waking up, and the birds had begun flying back. Although the ground closest had been thawed magickly - it was needed to plant extra crops - the rest was slowly returning to the state it had three out of the four seasons.
The Griffon had a reluctant partership with Obsidian in taking care of the dome. Both knew Discord would reboot his old, trickster side once he felt up to it - his pneumonia had returned breifly in the last few weeks - and he could cause much more chaos once the animals were up. Neither wanted to find dulled ponies and make sure to note the memory spells needed, but Tigerjay had an eagle's eyes when it came to noticing the colour change, and only Obsidian could keep his father at bay while they were cured.
And the base line was that at least they hadn't killed each other yet.
Sunrise was helping raise the lower sections of the tarp. It had been built so that the lower portions could be rolled up and secured in order to still provide shelter from the rain and create a breeze as well. The torches had already been extinguished, and at the moment were being deconstructed for storage. The next week would be busy, but it would mean a lot more air traffic would be allowed and the Unicorns and Earth ponies to wander without crashing into a low flier.
Speaking of low fliers, Sunrise had begun thinking about Rainbow Dark, last seen in the scaly grip of a demon. She really hoped all of the ones taken were alright. She knew they were long past being able to save Celestia, but still...
She shook her head, dispelling the gloomy thoughts. The sun was warm on her back, filling her with a sense of belonging and joy. It was spring. Things could only go uphill from here.
The first thing Starlght was aware of was that he was lying in a very cold and wet pile of slush. Standing up, he shook off the wet chunks and looked up at the sky. Judging by the sun and the temperature, it was spring.
"I was out for longer than last time." He mused. "An entire season. Wow, beats the old three days..." Scuffing a hoof through the dirt absentmindedly, he sniffed the air. There were equine scents nearby, lots of them. At least that meant he hadn't run far from civilization, like last time...
Setting off at a trot, he really hoped this wasn't where he had last ended up. There would be far too many questions if he left without any trace and returned a season later. That had happened before, but it was a small camp, nothing like the destroyed town before...
Letting that thought trail off, he peered through the thick trees, following his nose to the edge of the forest. He hadn't seen this strange dome before, at least that he remembered, so it was probably safe. Night was falling already, and he would be happy if he could just get a decent meal before leaving. As he stepped out of the trees, an ornage blur tackled him from behind.
The voice was so familiar it made him wince.
"Where in Equestria were you?"
Scootaloo looked down at the scarlet pony pinned under her hooves. He looked normal, but she knew him too well to think that the skin on the surface was his only coat. At the moment, she was being angrily glared at, but she didn't care in the least. He was thin to the bones, and had none of the powerful aura most stallions exhumed. The last time she had seen this pony, he hadn't been a pony at all, decidedly more lupine, and had taken off silently into the inner Everfree. She had lost him in the thick leaf cover and prickly thorns, and felt genuinely saddened by the loss. Even as a wolf, he had been strong, handsome, gentle...
Now he seemed to have nothing. He was a bag of skin and bones, ears drooping and coat matted.
"Come on, let's get you seen to. You look worse than Rainbow Dash did after crashing that one time!"
Starlight could barely whimper as he was hoisted around the waist and pulled into the air.
Discord lay back on his cloud, swinging his tail in a supposedly bored fashion over the edge. He was intrigued by the way the dome was functioning. Everypony seemed to have a purpose in preparing for summer, or more unpreparing for winter. During his decades of imprisonment, Discord had come to the realization that he was the only one of his kind, and enjoyed this thought immensely. Every species had traditions, codes of honour, royal palaces...
Although the two latter had been discarded - he hadn't the patience to build a palace out of anything, and honour was below him - , he had come up with a set of events that he would soon begin celebrating. Anypony saying they didn't want to would be shunned by the others who still believed in 'inter-species relations' and 'universal acceptance'. Oh, these traditions would be lots of fun, for everypony involved.
And now that Celestia and Luna were out of the way, he ruled! This was not a thought that he believed would ever be realized, and was pleasantly surprised when it finally came to be.
"Ah, spring!" He yelled to noone in particular. "I've waited far too long for you to come!"