The Seasons of Equestria

by Lucaro

Chapter 15: Fire and Ice

The Battle for Frostcrown: Part 1

The dragon attack formation had positioned itself. The fire squad who would clear the skies had lined up first, behind their ranks was the bombardment squad who had their boulders in their claws, and the farthest behind were the paratrooper transports. Starlight couldn’t imagine how this could have been possible without the dragons. Even the president of Darrowshire had been humbled by Vaelan’s prowess and had joined their coalition.

Frostcrown’s steel spires would soon rise up from the horizon, and the battle would begin. Starlight had been in many battles, and the anticipation was building up in him. He wondered how the battle would be like. No one had seen Frostcrown since Luna’s banishment, and he wondered if Snowhoof had altered the layout of the fortification in anyway. But sending out a reconnaissance squad would have been too risky and could possibly ruin their element of surprise.

The map Cadance had found gave them some idea of the layout of Frostcrown, but it told nothing of the defending garrison stationed there. A whole army could easily take refuge at the immense citadel. There were massive chambers below the citadel, and each one could carry a legion of Tempests. Starlight shuddered. They were flying right into Snowhoof’s heart of power.

He thought of Luna then. Where in that citadel was she being held? It would take days, of not weeks to search every corner of the place. Would they find her in time?

He shivered again, but it wasn’t the cold that was making him do so. He wondered how the inside of the citadel would look like. Starlight grunted in frustration. There was still a lot about the enemy they still didn’t know, but time had run out. There was nothing that they could have done.

A rumble from Vaelan stirred him from his thoughts. “Starlight, look ahead. It’s hard to see with the snow, but the citadel can now be seen.”

They all leaned forward, and he was right. In the snowy world around them, Starlight could see the silhouettes of the mighty spires of Frostcrown rising up. Maelstrom stared up in awe. “That’s a big ass castle.”

They all nodded. There was a vortex of snow, wind, and ice veiling the citadel. Starlight looked more closely, and he noticed a blue beam of light rising up from the heart of the citadel, shooting up into the sky from the epicenter of the vortex. Even from here, he could feel the pure energy emanating from it.

The energy filled the sky and the surrounding mountains with a stark blue light, and Starlight gasped. The vortex had twitched. Vaelan motioned to the fire squad dragons, “Line up and prepare to attack. Avoid that vortex of energy.”

The dragons flew ahead and took their positions in an arc. The vortex twitched again, the beam of energy began swaying. It began to shake violently and the beam of energy collapsed. Starlight shuddered in fright as thousands of Tempests poured out. The blue beam of energy had actually been a cyclone of Tempests. It was the light of their eyes that had been creating the beam appearance.

“Duck down!” Vaelan commanded. Starlight lowered himself, pressing himself as close as he could to Vaelan’s neck. There was a blast of air as the vortex collapsed and the Tempests fanned out to meet the invaders. “Now!” Vaelan roared.

The fire squad breathed their flame, their fire creating a wave that washed over the Tempests. Starlight couldn’t help but grin in satisfaction as they all burst the moment the flame made contact with their airy bodies. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something large approaching the paratrooper transports. What?

Before Starlight could say a word, something barreled into Vaelan and sent Starlight flying off his reins. His world was spinning as he tumbled through the air, and all he could hear was the howling wind in his ears and of dragons and ponies crying out in alarm. Starlight spread his wings, trying to stabilize himself. What the hell is going on!?

There were bright flashes of light and explosions going off in the sky. Dragons were roaring in alarm, and a jet of fire streaked past him. Starlight spread his wings and slowed himself down before he hit the ground. He crashed hard. He was filled with a blinding pain as he bounced down the mountain. His back hit a boulder and he was sent airborne for a moment before landing hard on the steel walkway of the citadel.

He lay still for a moment, his vision knocked blurry. The sky was lit with fire and light, and something large crashed down, shaking the ground. Starlight’s vision became clear enough to see the enemy. Having a crystalline appearance, and their serpentine bodies resembling that of dragons…The frost dragons!

Snowhoof himself had been created from their seed. They had gone extinct long ago, but apparently not! He saw the frost dragons tearing the paratrooper transport squad apart, and the air was filled with fighting dragons and ponies desperately trying to deploy their parachutes. The frost dragons were ignoring the other squads and were going for the transports!

The initial sequence had been ruined. He had to remember the plan. He charged ahead to the bridge that would lead up to the gates, as was the plan. The mountains surrounding him and the citadel up ahead, he had nowhere else to go. The ground shook again as one of the transport dragons hit the ground hard, his back crushing the three ponies that had been unable to deploy their parachutes. A frost dragon crashed onto him and ripped the downed dragon’s wings off.

Damn! The transports had been taken by surprise and most of them had been knocked out of the sky. Those ponies and gryphons who could fly on their own were trying to rescue those whose parachutes had failed to deploy or were protecting the paratroopers who were slowly drifting to the ground, vulnerable to the thrashes of the frost dragons.

Soldiers were landing all around him, only a quarter had made it to the ground alive. The rest were bloody splatters on the steel approach, or had been killed by the frost dragons. Starlight looked all around, the soldiers in a panic. Starlight howled and they all looked to him. “The battle is not yet lost! Charge!”

The other ponies snapped out of their panic and confusion and joined him. Starlight gasped as a dragon crashed into one of the citadel’s spires, and the air was filled with sound of wrenching steel as the tower collapsed. A giant boulder landed behind him, followed by the terrified screams and he could feel the hot gore splashing onto his flank. The bombardment squad….He looked up at the sky. The transport squad had been decimated, they being the most vulnerable. The fire squad had engaged the frost dragons and the Tempests who had survived the initial wave, but the frost dragons were trying to attack the bombardment squad. They were also extremely vulnerable, carrying giant boulders and they could not drop them, for the target fortifications were still up ahead.

Starlight looked back down as two fighting dragons swooped to the ground, chasing each other as they blasted jets of fire and ice. Another boulder crashed down in front of him, and he ran around it. “Don’t stop!” he cried. “We must make it over the bridge!”

The steel bridge’s entrance came into view, and a rank of small Revenants manifested to guard it. Starlight unsheathed his blades, and leapt up and struck the first Revenant. He tore right through its armor with his mirror blades, ripping through its heart. The Revenant exploded, sending him sprawling to the ground. His eyes caught a Revenant above him, lifting its sledgehammer to strike him. Starlight couldn’t get out of the way. He closed his eyes, and there was a loud clang of steel meeting. “Get up, you idiot!” Maelstrom cursed.

Maelstrom had blocked the blow, and they disengaged. Callista rushed ahead, pushing their advantage. Maelstrom joined her, and they coordinated their blows until Callista finally decapitated the Revenant. They all leaped back, and the Revenant exploded. Maelstrom faced Callista, “That was so badass,” he said as pieces of the Revenant’s armor rained down around them. “I freaking love you.”

Callista smiled, “I love you too.” She leaned forward and they kissed as another Revenant exploded in their wake.

Vaelan roared from up ahead. “Make haste! Frost dragon reinforcements are arriving from the south!”

With the skies contested, there goes our air support. Starlight grunted in frustration and looked around. The Revenants had thankfully been dealt with. King Lightheart rushed ahead, followed by his gryphon guard. “Get to the bridge! Move!”

Starlight joined him at the head of the charge, Callista and Maelstrom joining him. They rushed ahead, and Starlight was the first on the bridge. The bride was long, narrow and stretched out over a ravine, with spiked rocks on the bottom. They were all halfway across the steel bridge when there was a tremendous roar overhead. For a moment, everything slowed down. Vaelan crashed onto the bridge, his back slamming down on the steel and the whole bridge shook and the metal groaned. Many of their soldiers lost their footing and stumbled. Vaelan was dazed, terrible wounds covering his body. “There’s too many…” he said in a choked whisper. Some kind of aberration frost dragon of immense size crashed down onto the bridge, and Vaelan moved just in time to avoid the death blow. But the bridge hadn’t been so lucky.

The support beams underneath the bridge shattered and the steel path crumbled before them in a cacophony of shrieking and groaning steel. The whole bridge was collapsing into the ravine!

Starlight felt lightheaded as the bridge, scattered and broken, fell into the abyss. Ponies were screaming, and Starlight took wing. As soon as he lifted off, he was struck down by debris and knocked back down. “Gah!”

He looked down and saw the razor sharp needles at the bottom of the pit rushing towards them. This was it. They were going to die.