The Seasons of Equestria

by Lucaro

Chapter 4: The Infiltration

Starlight arose early the next morning on Luna’s bedroom floor. It was brisk in the room, and Luna was sleeping with her back turned to him. Starlight stood up and stretched his wings, before he kindled the fire in the hearth.

Luna was shivering, and he trotted over to her. He took the still neatly piled sheets at her feet into his mouth and drew the soft sheets over her. He tucked her in, and he realized that her eyes were open. She probably didn’t get any rest, he thought. He nuzzled her mane softly. “Do you want something to eat, my queen?”

She didn’t answer, but continued to stare blankly at the wall. Just when he was about to turn away, she said. “He’s gone. Snowhoof has returned to the arctic, and I’ve lost the love of my son.”

Starlight nuzzled her again, trying to make her feel comfortable as possible. “Rest now, I’ll fetch you some breakfast.” Luna sighed and spoke, her voice flat and defeated. “Forget me. I need you to stop this war going on between the gryphons and dragons. I want you and Amberleaf to mediate a peace process, tell them that Snowhoof is no longer a threat.”

Starlight bowed. “It shall be done, Luna.” She nodded, and closed her eyes. He turned away and left the room. He was glad that Amberleaf was coming with him. The dragons of summer hated the Nightborn. He looked back at the closed door of Luna’s bedroom. His queen would be fine, she was strong.

He wandered into the feast hall where he saw Amberleaf eating porridge alone. There was the faint buzz of a few conversations in progress on the other side of the room, but otherwise it was quiet. Starlight sat next to Amberleaf, and she looked at him with tired eyes. Starlight smiled for her. “Hey there. How was it?”

She smiled faintly. “He was very sweet, and for the most part gentle.” Amberleaf’s smile grew. “For the most part.”

Starlight was glad that she had enjoyed herself. “Good, and today is now the first day of winter. How did it feel when the ritual ended and Snowhoof took control of the world’s season?”

“It was exhausting. I had forgotten the power drain associated with the ritual. Snowhoof is now in control of the climate of Equestria, and for the next three months he will be the most powerful of all the seasonal alicorns.” Amberleaf stared down into her porridge. “I hope he’s all right. Sometime during the night, I thought I heard him crying.”

Starlight nodded sadly. “It’s tragic what happened, but hopefully everything will be fine.”

Amberleaf shrugged. “I don’t know, Starlight. Snowhoof was once very reserved and stoic, and to see him show so much emotion, it’s so unusual.” Amberleaf looked at Starlight. “You don’t think he’s gone insane, do you?”

Starlight honestly didn’t know. Last night had been very intense, and he had seen some signs of depression, but who wouldn’t be depressed after going through all that? Starlight sighed. “He’ll be fine, don’t worry. In the meantime, we have our own mission. We have to settle a peace between the gryphons and dragons. We have to tell everyone of Snowhoof’s promise to continue the mild winters.”

Amberleaf nodded. “Yes, we must go to the capital of the Gryphon Kingdom and inform the king of what has happened here. He and his people will be so relieved, the dragon’s tactical advantage will be eliminated, and things will slowly return to the way they were before Luna was banished.”

Starlight nodded, feeling optimistic. “A trip to Avendale, sounds fun. Let’s go.”

***

The wind roared in his ears as they flew back over the great evergreen forest. The air had grown cooler than what it had been on their way here, but it was barely noticeable. The air currents were also slightly more turbulent, but that too was normal for early winter. Starlight was distracted by a low cry from below. The sound had resembled the whistling of air one hears when there is a particularly powerful gust outside the walls of his house.

He looked down and saw a Tempest floating above the trees. The entity resembled a spectral pegasi pony with a translucent body, and eyes of icy blue fire. The Tempest gave another cry as it channeled and directed the frigid polar air which was responsible for ushering in the climate change associated with the change of seasons.

Starlight watched in fascination. He had heard of the seasonal elementals, but this was the first time he had seen one for Winter. Each seasonal alicorn had these entities called ‘elementals’ which were all under the control of the respective alicorn. They were the so-called footsoldiers of climate change, the aides of seasonal transformation.

For winter, he remembered there were three distinct classes of elementals. There were the Tempests, which always appeared first for they paved the way for the other two. Tempests controlled the wind patterns to induce colder weather, and intensify the other two. After that come the Revenants, which were disembodied in appearance and were a tightly compressed vortex of freezing air with a breastplate, vambraces, helmet, sword, and shield made from ice. They were the ones who brought in the precipitation associated with winter. Lastly there were the Frostbites, which resembled spectral wolves. They could only appear below a certain temperature, but they were the ones who initiated the dormancy stage in the trees and animals present.

The appearance of Tempests was common routine, and they would remain here on the edges of the seasonal boundaries. With winter now here, the other season’s elementals would fade away to allow the current season’s elementals to do their job. The Tempest cried out again, and this time there were several answering calls. It then looked right up at Starlight, its eyes of blue fire piercing him. Starlight shuddered, and Amberleaf took note of the Tempest. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Since Snowhoof promised mild winters, they should be passive and no threat to us. Although they do increase in number and strength as winter takes hold….”

They flew for the rest of the day, and when the sun was setting they saw the first gryphon town with its glimmering lights. They had only seen villages and trading posts before, so this was the biggest population center so far. They were reaching the more densely lived in parts of the Gryphon Kingdom, and soon they would reach Avendale, the heart of the kingdom.

He felt a touch on the tips of his wings. Amberleaf gestured for him to land, and to do so quietly. Starlight sensed her urgency, so he cautiously descended into a thicket of trees on the outskirts of the town. She immediately barreled into him, knocking him into a bush. He was about to protest, but Amberleaf stood over him and put a hoof on his mouth. Her amber eyes were wide with fear. “Something’s wrong. The streets and skies are empty….” Starlight realized the truth in her words. The place was unusually still, but perhaps the gryphons were sleeping off their hangovers from the Winter Festival the night before. “My gryphon friends who live here, they were supposed to be….”

There was a loud clamor of voices and she immediately fell silent. “I swear I saw two pegasi flying here a minute ago.” A stallion’s said, and Starlight and Amberleaf watched silently from the bush, holding their breath. There was a rustle and six more stallions appeared, suited in battle armor and armed to the teeth. Starlight recognized their insignias. These were soldiers of the Darrowshire Confederacy. The country was composed of many city states strung together by the Confederacy, and shared their eastern border with the Gryphon Kingdom. What were they doing here?

The stallions wandered the brush, searching for them. “I swear I saw them. I think one of them was Nightborn,” the same stallion said.

Another stallion snorted. “Seriously, Blackhooves? I don’t see anypony here.”

Blackhooves pawed the ground, grunting. “There must be no witnesses. Those were our orders. He will have our hides if we allow word to get out, Commander Fireclaw will literally eat us.”

Starlight gasped at the name. It was obviously a dragon’s name. This wasn’t a good sign at all. The stallions eventually gave up their search and returned to their patrol.

As soon as the sounds of their hooves crunching in the underbrush faded away, he stumbled out of the bush. Starlight spread his wings and immediately took off. Amberleaf gasped in surprise and followed him, weaving through the trees behind him. The sky was darkening as night fell, it was an opportune time for him to do some reconnaissance. Please don’t let it be what I think is happening here. Please….

He drew as close as he could to the city without losing the forest’s cover. He happened to be on a hill, and it allowed him to see much deeper into the city. There were no signs of life here, save for the Darrowshire patrols who were carrying torches, casting orange light on their verdant green and gold armor.

Amberleaf joined his side. “Why on Equestria are Confederate troops doing here? Unless….”

The unspoken thought remained heavy in the air. Starlight shook his head. “We have to find out what happened to the gryphons, and for that we have to enter the city.” Starlight felt confident in his ability to sneak in. He had the cloak of night, and his night vision. It was all he needed. A thought occurred to him before he began his approach. “Amberleaf, can you use your powers to create clouds to block the light of the moon? The darker it is, the better it is for me.”

Amberleaf shook her head. “It is no longer autumn. I’m not the dominant season anymore, and therefore I cannot alter the weather. I can still fight as well as any alicorn, but I cannot gather those clouds for you.”

Starlight sighed and nodded. “I guess we’ll go in together in then, we need to….”

“Starlight, look!” Amberleaf hissed, pointing her hoof down towards the town. Starlight gasped, and watched. A block away from where they were, there was a large patrol of Darrowshire soldiers filing into a square. Behind them, five gryphons were roughly pushed into the square and were forced against the wall. They were all in pajamas, looking worn and tired. Amberleaf gasped. “It’s the town council. There’s Mayor Lightfeather, she’s an old friend of mine.”

The soldiers backed away from the gryphons, and the Mayor stood defiantly where the others were cowering. A rank of five soldiers stepped forward, raised their crossbows, and there was the loud snap of them being fired. Amberleaf looked away, and Starlight lowered his gaze as the corpses of the town council were dragged away. His worst fears had been confirmed. It now appeared as if Darrowshire had banded together with the Fire Dragons to invade the Gryphon Kingdom.

Amberleaf was crying, but they weren’t tears of grief, but of rage. The air around her crackled with energy, and Amberleaf’s eyes were glowing with magic. “I will kill them all. We will liberate this town, and we will get to the bottom of this.”