Twelve
The expedition had gathered where the city ended and the path started. Two reindeer, one dragon and one boat-like sleigh ("Ackja" had Vigg reinforced - "It's a vehicle, like a chariot, not a toy like a sled, OK?") were ready to leave. One alicorn, one unicorn and a gaggle of reindeer (sub-description: one priest of a goddess of night, three guards dragged up too early for their own tastes, two court servants and an unexpected grazer jarl) were ready to say goodbye. In theory, in any way. Twilight had suddenly become a little too close to the description Spike had recently given her, and Spike was rather embarrassed.
"And you have enough food? And clothes? Cold can be dangerous to little dragons, you know?" she said anxiously.
"Yes I do!" said Spike. "We went through this in the evening, Twilight!"
"Don't worry, Lady Sparkle!" said Vigg. "I have made a checklist - I know everything is packed in order."
"He has a checklist?!" Spike moaned. "Not good!"
"He has a checklist? What a dork!" Saga snickered, but under her breath. Vigg was a prince after all, and while languishing in a dungeon was among the things Saga considered awesome and planned doing before she turned twenty, she'd rather do it for a better reason than taunting him childishly.
“He has a checklist!?” said Twilight to Spike. “How thoughtful! You surprise me, Your Highness!” she said to Vigg, smiling.
Vigg resisted bouncing.
“Of course! One can never be too sure!” he said.
“Does that mean we can leave now?” said Spike, looking mournful.
“Young Spike is right, Lady Sparkle,” said Luna. “The youngsters had better be on their way, and we have things to do ourselves.”
Everyone but Twilight nodded quickly, though for the the guards “things to do” was “go back to the barracks and our warm beds”. Eventually she nodded as well.
“Alright Spike, I suppose I am being silly! Have fun, be careful and obey miss Saga - and His Highness!” Twilight said as she raised her head and smiled at the Prince at the same time as she hugged Spike, who promised he would indeed do all that.
Saga smiled nervously and tried to look serious.
Vigg was as paralyzed and didn't really react when the courtiers bowed, but when Jarl Vidar butted him in the side with his antlers he woke up.
“Yes I will – oh wow, sorry Uncle Vidar! Didn't... didn't see you there!” he said.
The old sarv chuckled. “Now, stay alert, and don't let your manly parts do all the thinking, eh? Especially for such a lady!” he said and butted the Prince some more.
“What – whatever are you talking about?” he tried to excuse himself.
“Oh, it is clear to see! But be careful! Those witches can be death to a buck!” said the older sarv.
Vigg was going to protest when he realized Jarl Vidar was pointing to Saga with his antlers, not Twilight. He mumbled something about remembering his duty, then hitched himself to the ackja.
Eira gave Saga an grandmotherly hug – that is she didn't rise very high on her hind legs for fear of falling over. She tugged at Saga's jacket with her teeth and admonished her to be careful with it, since it was the only really wilderness-proof jacket they both had, and it was technically Eira's and a little too small.
“It really shows your flanks quite well,” the old vaja added. “Good for attracting the bucks!”
“Gramma!” said Saga who had her standards, including that your grandmother should not talk about your sexual assets.
“Which is why you should keep an eye on that Prince fellow! If he tries anything, curse him!” Eira whispered in her ear, looking fierce.
“Gramma.. how can you say something like that?” Saga said exasperated. “How?! You taught me one curse and it requires vermin, where am I to get that this time of year?” Saga growled.
“What, don't you have any fleas? Good grief, no fleas, is your blood healthy?” said Eira worriedly.
“Gramma, please!” Saga detached herself and hitched herself to the ackja as well, with somewhat less expertise than Vigg.
I know his father was a grazer, and he's some kind of health fanatic, she thought. I can't let him push me around. Can't be a helpless city doe.
Saga tried to relax and work slowly as she slipped into the gear, thinking of it as spell-casting. It didn't help much, but she did get into place.
“Come on deer, let's get moving!” Vigg shouted. Spike tried to jump up on the ackja, but was stopped by Saga.
“Oh no, only little kids, old ladies and the sick rides on it!” she admonished him. “That's why it's covered, it's for our stuff!”
“We're not going that fast, Spike” said Vigg. “Let's go!” The two of them started pulling the sleigh away.
“See you tomorrow evening!” said Spike and made a little rush so he could be walking in front of them.
There was generic waving and well-wishes. One courtier tooted in a horn.
“If there is any trouble, send a message!” said Twilight.
“I will!” said both Spike and Saga in a chorus, then looked at each other, stopping the sleigh, prompting Vigg to growl at them, before they shifted their gazes and Saga started walking again.
Now how to do it? Spike thought to himself. Saga is behind Vigg... who is it that is supposed to like to look at flanks? Is it males or females? He wished he had reached puberty before he was called on being a matchmaker.
“Your Highness?” said Twilight Sparkle as they were walking back to the castle, right behind the gossiping courtiers and yawning guards (“Can't the Squirt start going out dancing instead, like normal teenagers?” one of them moaned. “Maybe then we can start to get up at a sensible hour?”).
“Yes, lady Sparkle?” said Luna, looking more at the beginning forest around them, as if she was looking for something.
“Exactly what is it we have to do? Because I have an idea what I'd like to do, but I don't know what you will do and need me for – what I have to do,” she tried to explain.
Luna smiled. “You don't have to do anything, lady Sparkle” said the Princess. “I won't need your assistance today, other than the actual hoofmaidenly duties you have already performed” she continued as she shook her shining hair.
“So, what are you doing?” said Twilight.
“Her Highness is having a meeting to be briefed on the situation on the negotiations,” said Lord Eminence.
Twilight dived under Luna and almost tripped her.
“Where did you come from?” she shouted.
Luna straightened herself and frowned. “A reasonable question, Lord Eminence,” she said sternly. “Explain yourself.”
“I beg your pardon, Your Highness – I didn't mean to startle your... hoofmaiden,” he said and looked at Twilight with something that could be taken for sympathy in bad lighting. “I just had to reach you before you reached your meeting, and I hadn't the possibility to talk to you before you left the castle this morning.”
“And why is that, Lord Eminence?” Luna said.
“Because there are things you won't know unless you listen to me, I would be shouted down if I was at the meeting, and you absolutely need to know this before the others present their excuses,” he said and looked rather sad. “Will you hear me out?”
Luna sighed. “I guess I will. But make it quick,” she said.
“The people of Tarandroland is not your enemy," he began. "There is the usual grumbling based on jealousy, and some superstitious nonsense regarding the sun, but nothing serious. Their betters follow suit. The nobledeer of Tarandroland bear no ill will against Equestria or against Your Highnesses. I have talked to important deer and this seems clear.”
“Then why is there even a conflict?” said Luna.
“King Ukko,” said Lord Eminence. “The King has always had strange, reactionary ideas that originally appealed to the populace, but nowadays don't. That, and the reindeer race's natural disposition for depression and drunkenness, have rendered him a wreck of a buck and his administration wholly inefficient. He is the only hindrance to reach an accord.”
Luna looked out into the forest again and sighed.
“Your Highness should know that this situation originated long before your... intermezzo at the banquet. The whole mess is old,” Lord Eminence said, again with something remotely similar to sympathy, in the way seals and hedgehogs are both mammals. “When the King realized that other reindeer didn't want his 'old ways' back, they just wanted more folk music festivals and restrictions on Nightmare Night-themed merchandise in schools, he became like this,” he added and smiled smugly.
“Why Nightmare Night?” said Luna confused.
Twilight cleared her throat.
“It is not a traditional Tarandroland holiday, Your Highness, not even among the Russ. It was imported from Equestria by merchants less than a decade ago,” she explained.
“Your Highness, Ukko wasn't born a royal. He wasn't the heir named by the last king,” Lord Eminence said with some contempt. “He was chosen as the king when no one wanted the heir on the throne, because of his ideas. Such strangeness is common in reindeer politics, which lack a stable succession.”
“So you say everything would be solved, were he but gone, Mylord?” said Luna.
“Yes – that's the gist of it. The big problem is we can't give any big appeasement or aid to the reindeer, because it sets the precedent of 'attack Equestria, get foreign aid from them'. But they wouldn't ask for much. Maybe some changes in tolls regarding timber vs worked wooden goods, or some other such nonsense,” he said. “Such compensation removes any loss of face for basically obeying Equestrian orders, it doesn't seem as we can order them around as if they were a mere colony. For King Ukko, your crown wouldn't be enough compensation, Your Highness. That's the whole problem.”
“But King Ukko won't just up and disappear!” said Twilight with frustration. “Unless cirrhosis of the liver works much faster in reindeer than in ponies!”
“Yes, I realize this is all hypothetical,” said Lord Eminence and smiled. “The point here, which I will emphasize, and my colleagues at that meeting won't, is where the problem isn't – not with the admittedly less than dependable nature of cervines, nor with any actual conspiracy with the pirates, nor with Equestria having 'gone soft' since the Dismantling of the Empire. Don't let them lead the debates on wild goose chases because of their pet theories! That is all I ask for!”
Luna took a long look at him. “Instead I should listen to your pet theories, Lord Eminence?” she said.
He smiled broadly and smugly.
“Of course! My theories are correct, because they are based on empirical research, not idle speculations,” he said.
“Keep talking like that and I'll have you married off to my hoofmaiden!” said Luna.
Both Lord Eminence and Twilight looked slightly squicked at the idea.
“It was his choice of words, Lady Sparkle,” Luna finally had to say. “I must go now; I have gathered my entourage,” she added and took flight, flapping her big wings. To Twilight's great satisfaction Lord Eminence was genuinely surprised while Twilight knew where to look.
A huge swarm of birds rose from the forest – owls, crows, ravens and some small brown magpie-like things Twilight didn't recognize. The swarm followed Luna as she flew towards the palace. Lord Eminence remained shocked just a moment, then he started to gallop in a similar direction.
“Farewell, Lady Sparkle!” he shouted as his red cape behind him.
Twilight looked after them both, shook her head and sighed.
“I never figured folks like him ran,” said a voice behind her. Twilight sighed again. “I thought they only trotted slowly, all lord-like.”
“Jarl Vidar” she said without turning around. “You have been here all the time, I assume?”
The sarv stepped up aside her and nodded.
“That thing you ponies have on your butts... what does his mean?” he said and pointed in the general direction of Lord Eminence's red cape.
“I haven't the faintest” said Twilight Sparkle. “I haven't asked him about his cutiemark and it isn't an obvious one. You heard all we said?” she asked. He nodded again.
“Much as I wish, being the father of eight, I cannot shut my ears,” he said. “But it is none of my business and I agree with most of it, except for certain slurs against deerkind.”
Twilight cringed.
“I should apologize for...” she began.
“Don't. I don't apologize for the things said by Ukko,” he snapped. “He is a damned fool, he is. And so are many other reindeer who should know better. And I know him at least a little.”
Twilight turned to him.
“You do, don't you? Let me guess: when Prince Vigg calls you 'Uncle', it is just not an honorific for an older friend of the family,” she said.
He nodded. “I am the younger brother of Vigg's father, Peivas. He was Jarl before me; I gained the title when he married a Princess and became royalty, and obviously couldn't lead a herd anymore,” the reindeer explained. “The first months after they had married, he and Ljufa spent hiding in my hut.”
“Why?” Twilight asked. Vidar laughed.
“Because they didn't ask no frozen permission of Ukko, of course! She ran away from home and married him! Publicly, Ukko raved and ranted; privately, he apparently became Peivas' greatest fan,” he said. His eyes darkened. “Before he became a pathetic drunk, Ukko had the good characteristic, for a king, of being very commanding and forceful, but instantly respecting anyone who gainsaid him.”
Then he smiled again. “That is why he named Vigg his heir. The fawn always said what he thought about his grandfather, and was never afraid of him. You have seen how he bullies his housebucks, his sworn warriors, and these are deer who could face a nidhogg and stand fast,” he continued.
“How did Peivas die?” Twilight asked. Vidar looked up. “It is rather obvious he isn't around, and he didn't sound like someone who would abandon his wife and children” she explained.
“He was fighting Winter. It wasn't a monster; he and his deer simply froze to death in a blizzard. They were found when spring came, and the Winter was over,” Vidar said.
“I am sorry, Jarl Vidar,” said Twilight, but he merely shook his head.
“It was many years since my big brother died, Lady Sparkle, and he died doing something necessary. You ponies – always so sentimental,” he said.
“I wanted to talk to you... about something important,” Vidar said.
“Talk on, but do it as we walk towards the Palace,” said Twilight.
“As you wish,” he said as they started to trot there.
“I have got the impression that you are a powerful sorceress,” he began and Twilight nodded.
“I know. I was there when they told you” she said.
He stopped, then he laughed. “Oh, you speak Poatsi! Of course!” he said as he continued to walk.
“Only because of my diabolical cunning and evil witchcraft, I assure you,” Twilight said deadpan. “Horrible orgies with the servants might have been involved.”
“I don't care,” said Vidar. “If Äitsi himself – ptui! – had came here and offered me a hoof, I would have took it!”
They trotted in silence for a while, as Vidar built up for what words he was going to say and Twilight pondered his already said words. Twilight was thankful for that silence apparently wasn't automatically awkward for reindeer.
“We are dying. We are losing. Last year was horrible, and the offensive that doesn't begin until February is already here. The war – I know you ponies find the word strange in the context, but it fits – has began a season in advance. Winter has never been this strong, and we don't know what to do any longer” he said.
“And what do you want me to do about it?” said Twilight.
“Whatever you can,” he said. “Whatever you can.”
“I cannot do anything without knowledge” said Twilight. “Tell me all about the Winter, Jarl Vidar.”
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I love the blend of Norse mythology in this story, and this "War with Winter" reminds me very strongly of the Fimbulwinter, the legendary three winters without a summer that precedes the end of the world.
Wonderfully written, and a good blend of darker themes with more lighthearted moments.
Supposedly thats also the signs that a Ice age has begun
One thing that has been bugging me is lord Eminence a Lord of the Manor, a Laird, a Baron, a Viscount, a Count/Earl(depends on country) or a Marquess? All of them can be addressed as lords yet there is a massive gap between the highest and lowest.
29808
That makes me think of the start of an Ice Age.
Suffice to say, Winter Is Coming.
Two words can solve this very simply
POLITICAL ASSASINATION
6113026
Such a distasteful term. 'Regime change' is a much more diplomatic euphemism.