The Seasons of Equestria

by Lucaro

Intermission: The Siege

Her armor glowed as radiant as the sun, despite the overcast, stormy skies. She was the light in this cold world. She was Celestia, goddess of the sun, and she would shed light on this bleak situation.

It was dark outside, and streaks of fire descended upon Avendale. She could taste the acrid smoke mixed in with the cold snow, along with the dust of shattered buildings, and the fear of the civilians trapped inside the city’s walls. Celestia had failed to retain the world leaders in the city, and as soon as they left, the catapults were already at the Avendale’s walls.

“The audacity of these dragons!” she exclaimed. “How dare they attack this city against my wishes?”

Celestia was standing on top of the king’s palace, watching the battle going on at the wall. There was the rattling, popping sound as the flak cannons on the ramparts blasted shrapnel into the air.

King Lightheart joined her on the wall, his talons grappling with the icy domed roof. “Queen Celestia, our communications have confirmed that Starlight and Amberleaf have reached Camp Alpha. It is as bad as we feared.”

Celestia sighed. “We can’t worry about that now. We have to fend off Brightmane’s dragons and get these civilians out of harm’s way.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe you let Brightmane escape.”

King Lightheart sighed. “He’s very powerful, my queen. He has two armies at his disposal as well. Thank goodness we have that huge wall….” There was a tremendous roar, and all the buildings in the city shook at its might. A huge dragon appeared in the distance. Emperor Raelas!

The massive black dragon barreled into the wall, and there was the sound of a mighty upheaval as the shattered remains of massive stone bricks rained down on the buildings adjacent to the wall. Screams and terrified shouts filled the air, the ramparts destroyed and the Darrowshire infantry fanning into the city. Raelas roared again, standing before the massive breach.

King Lightheart gasped. “The wall has been breached! We must act now!”

Celestia took off into the air, towards the breach. She muttered an incantation and her horn began to shoot bright sparks into the night sky, and they rained down on the ranks of approaching Darrowshire infantry. The streets were lit with explosions, and there were screams of agony along with enemy fire. Their unicorns were shooting lightning at her, but her shields absorbed any electricity that came towards her way.

She dodged as a giant, ignited boulder flew past her and crashed into the ground. Those catapults have to be dealt with.
There was a giant wall of flame approaching her, and she gasped. She ducked for cover, but the flames washed over her shields, the heat making them glow and finally shattering them. She was forced to the ground, and saw Raelas approaching her. Behind the dragon were ranks of Darrowshire soldiers standing in the massive gap in the wall. Celestia looked around for the gryphons that were fighting in the frontlines, but there were none to be seen. They were probably fighting the dragon attack force, she thought. She would be getting no help from them.

Celestia confronted Raelas. She had been burned slightly from the wall of flame, but she was more than capable of fighting. The dragon grinned at her, and Celestia flared with anger. “Pull back your forces, and I will allow you to live.”
There was a rumble of laughter from the ranks of Darrowshire soldiers. Emperor Raelas grinned, baring his fangs. “You were always full of yourself, Celestia. I’m taking this city for Brightmane. At least he is an effective leader.”

Celestia growled and charged the dragon. She lowered her horn and aimed a bolt of energy at his chest. Raelas dodged it, and swung his tail at her. It clipped her hooves and she stumbled. “You’re mine!” he roared.

He descended upon her, and she got herself out of the way right before he slammed his fists down onto the ground. He roared in frustration and shot a jet of flame at her. She lowered her horn and shot a beam of ice to counteract it. Her ice met his fire and there was an explosion. Celestia stood her ground, shielding her face. Out of the smoke, Raelas charged forward.

Celestia was caught off guard, and Raelas knocked her to the ground. Her head spun at the jarring impact, and Raelas hung over her as she lay dazed. “Time to die!” he raised his claws up, preparing to decapitate her. Celestia couldn’t see straight, but she saw something approaching on the horizon. It looked like a tidal wave, or an approaching sandstorm made of snow rather than sand.
There was a flash of cold as the temperature dropped fifty degrees as the tidal wave of polar air washed over them. Her world became white as snow whirled around, and she heard Raelas howl in pain and his boiling blood splattered all over her.

Just as quickly as the blinding snow came, it was gone. A giant Revenant, standing higher than most of the buildings, had impaled Raelas on its sword.

Raelas groaned weakly, his blood pouring down on Celestia. She scrambled away, as the Revenant ripped out its sword, and Raelas collapsed, dead. The soldiers screamed in terror as the Revenant turned on them. It breathed a spray of freezing air over them, the sheer cold killing the ponies instantly.

The Revenant howled, and a pulse of paralyzing cold spread throughout the city. She saw dragons and gryphons being frozen in mid air, the streets covered in a sheet of ice, and the buildings entombed with ice.

Celestia gasped, the cold making her shiver. It was going to kill everyone in the city if she didn’t stop it! She gathered all the power of the sun in her horn, and blasted the Revenant. A golden beam of energy descended from the sky onto the Revenant. The Revenant shrieked, and there was a blast of air. Celestia opened her eyes and saw there was nothing left of the Revenant but a heap of molten armor and steam.

She shouted in exhausted triumph. “The city is safe!”

“No, it isn’t.” A voice growled.

She flipped around and saw him standing there. The Keeper of Winter stared at her sideways, some kind of sick joy on his face. Celestia stepped back, frightened. “Snowhoof.”

He smiled. “It’s nice seeing you again, Celestia. Too bad your sister can’t join us.”

Celestia growled. “What have you done to Luna!?”

Snowhoof ignored her, and his voice became soft and whimsical. “Oh, Celestia.” He turned his head sideways, staring at her like some awestruck child. “All those years ago, did you enjoy making me suffer?”

She remained quiet. Secretly, she had blamed Snowhoof for corrupting Luna. It wasn’t until recently she learned that Luna had acted independently. “I did what I had to do, but now I see that my actions were wrong.”

“I was in so much pain, Celestia. The only thing keeping me alive was the thought of seeing my lover again,” Snowhoof twitched. “But unfortunately, she couldn’t be at my Awakening.”

Celestia looked at all the frozen people all around her. “You have to stop this, Snowhoof. I’m sorry about what happened, but the past is the past!”

Snowhoof sighed, looking sorrowful. “I just wanted to say, that I…I forgive you, Celestia.”

Celestia blinked in surprise. “What?”

“I forgive you,” he said again. “I just hope you can forgive me as well for what I’m about to do to you.”

Snowhoof’s horn started to glow and before she could even react, the Tempests were upon her. They all began blasting her face with a steady stream of air, and she found herself unable to breathe. She choked, and blasted as many of them with her magic, but there were too many.

Her head spun from lack of oxygen, and she collapsed onto the ground. Snowhoof stood over her as her vision became blurry. “I’m so sorry, Celestia.” She choked, desperately trying to breathe in the blasting air. “You’ll be reunited with your sister soon.”

It was the last thing she heard before her world went dark.

Comments

[Raistlin]

4305490

Well, the scene doesn´t clarify if Luna is expressing indifference to the griphons tribulations plus what
Snowhoof´s winter will cause to their kingdom, or spite to the captured invasor who spilled her subjects´ blood, or both.

[Lucaro]

4310426

Someone very near and dear to her, Snowhoof, said that he no longer wants her in his life. She thinks herself as his mother, and imagine if your son said something like that to you. I'd be heartbroken. Snowhoof hates her now, and she feels like she has lost him forever

[Raistlin]

4311922

And how does it relate to the prisoner´s plight? While Luna surely doesn´t like the suggestion of putting his son in chains again, she should at least show some empathy for the griphon´s motivation, who is not begging for his life but for the lifes of his entire people.

[Lucaro]

4312146

Snowhoof has promised mild winters. That vow, Luna believes will diffuse the situation between the gryphons and dragons. And the gryphon's won't lose their territory either or any population.

They gryphon captain, justified or not, killed many of Luna's soldiers and almost killed Starlight. Snowhoof was serving justice, even though it was very cold hearted. Because that's just who Snowhoof is.

[RealRziga]

4296709 i agree with you all an all but starlight a real nigga

[LordRaimondo]

4313017 Seems like I started a craze.

[RealRziga]

4313038 but did you not hear what i just said. Starlight the man with the plan

[Maelstromfan232]

4313047 Starlight is nothing compared to Maelstrom. Maelstrom is a boss. He is easily the best character in this fanfic. Maelstrom for best pony.