Author's Note

Dammit; I was so close to being able to stick to a daily publish! My laptops IP address became corrupted so I had to switch to another but only found that out after two days of diagnostics. Well, this chapter isn't as big as I was hoping but I promise a much larger chappy next time! ENJOY!

Can't Beat A Town

What lay before the poor unfortunate fillies of the town was a staggering tower of power. The base of the fort had been securely founded to the snowy ground with two even pillars shooting up to where the true fortification lay, the beams were made of snow and thickened with a fast polishing to create a solid piece of ice to help hold it up. The misshapen middle of the structure was rounded at the center and carved into, to provide a perfect vantage point and cover for sending relentless snowy fury down upon their victims; having small castle-like walls across it's center and getting a stock pile of extra snowballs ready beside them, almost exactly what an archers nest would resemble. The crowning achievement of the grand building was the tower on the top that looked exactly that of the Princesses small watchtower their parents had had built for them when they would take long journeys to the next country over or just allow them a fantastic view while keeping them secure and safe from harm; it was the lunar filly's favorite spot to sneak out at night and watch the stars passing by the night sky. She had spent near the entire half hour working on the single tower, making sure every detail was specific and exactly like her most favorite vantage point.

Lyric and Celestia had made a small tunnel-like staircase that went from the bottom all the way to the top; it's second purpose proving to be a quick slide for a getaway or fast distraction. They had made their way to the top and saw their little sister decorating the lines along her tower, drawing in the nooks and crannies with her small horn, "Holy cow!" Lyric exclaimed as he reached the top, bending his neck to look up at the magnificent tower above a few feet. "Sure know how to make it secure, my gosh..." He said astonished.

"When I said secure, I didn't mean the castle..." Celestia said just as shocked and mind-blown at the sight. The blue filly was still humming with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth in concentration when they had said this and back away a few feet to look at her work and squee'd in happiness.

"Hehehe, I thought it was perfect!" She said, looking at them with the brightest of eyes.

They nodded with a small slack jaw and shook themselves to get it together. "For the republic of Celunaca!" They all shouted with a hand and hoof together, holding them upwards and smiling sweetly to one another. Making their way to the edge of the ten foot tower of power, the children chuckled and pointed towards the smaller fort across the way; by no means was it a bad fort, but in comparison to the sculpture across the way, it was miniscule.

"No fair!" The grumpy Star yelled at them from the other side of the field. "I said no roof!" She screamed in outrage, accusing them of cheating.

Lyric looked up and starred at the small roof that belonged to the tower and climbed the side slowly, scrunching and shimming his way to the top as he punched each side of it to loosen the snow then picked up the solid chunk and hummed it off the building to the ground. "What about now?!" He screamed, trying to actually get an answer from her.

Her muzzle went a shade of red not seen by the fillies before and she fumed. "UGHHHH, FINE!" She screamed.

Lyric slid down the tower and landed on his bottom, "But brother, it was mine!" Luna told him sadly, pouting.

"Oh I'm sorry sis, but she was right; there was a roof and she said it wasn't allowed in the rules." The filly's mouth was wobbling. "It was absolutely amazing, Luna. I can't believe you did this from memory. How about when we get home I help you make the whoooooole castle out of snow?" He asked hopefully; and did it ever work.

"REALLY?!" She screamed, nearly sending the poor boy to launch off, the only thing stopping him being his hands holding onto the castle-like walls.

He crawled back over to her and chuckled, "You're going to do something intense one day with that voice, you know that?" He smiled. "You bet we are! From the top towers to the dungeons; it's gonna be great." He told her as he picked her up and placed her sitting on one of his shoulders, walking over to the side of the main wall with Celestia in tow. "Onward to victory!" He screamed and saluted towards the other side of the open battlefield.

"We are never going to take that out..." Blossom said incredulously.

Bloom shaking in fear as her pupils shrank to the size of pin pricks could barely speak, "N-no... Way..." She managed to get out.

"This isn't fair!" Star screamed across the way at them. "Your fort isn't a fort, it's a castle! I didn't say you could make a freaking castle..." She pouted and argued. The royal children frowned and Lyric jumped onto his bottom with Luna sitting in front of him as he slid down the tunnel; the white filly soon following him.

They walked across the field and met midway with the fillies running to meet them. "But you didn't say we couldn't." Lyric said with a slight frown and sideways mouth. This only seemed to annoy the young child even further.

"That doesn't mean you can just make a darn tower and hide up there." She said snootily, pressing her nose against Celestia's in anger. This did not sit well with the young princess.

"Are you kidding me?!" She screamed at her friend, pressing up against her just as much, starting a small back and forth wobble. "You said we could MAKE a fort. It couldn't have a ROOF; we took it off." She said assertively, pushing roughly against her.

"She's right!" Luna said, piping up and coming into view from behind Lyric's pant leg, defending her sister.

"Yeah, but it should be clear you can't make a darn castle that has no chance of even being taken." Blossom stood beside Star as their argument became a group discussion, grabbing the attention of the only filly scared to speak as she backed away scared and bumped into the young boy who was standing behind her, leaning up against a pile of snow he had formed.

She was startled but Lyric held his hands up and slowly reached his hand over to her head without saying anything; the shy pony almost cowering away until his fingers landed and he slowly pet her mane, giving even strokes through it as she began to soften into his touch. "Haha, I knew that'd work." Lyric smiled as he stopped and got a sad look in return from stopping.

"T-thank you, Lyric." She said timidly with small smile.

"Don't mention-" Lyric cut himself off as he gradually started turning his head to the slight and faint noise he heard. Bloom stood beside him and followed his gaze; squinting as she looked at the hills.

They could just barely make out the tops of a few ponies heads and Bloom got a excited, "Oh goody, maybe our mother came to...Visit..." Her words died in her mouth as her eyes widened and a small crowd of townsponies began showing up over the hill; galloping through each other with frightful yet excited smiles on every one of their faces.

"Uh... Girls?" Lyric said to them, now sharing the same look as his friend; eyes wider than the open sky and pupils smaller than pin pricks.

The horde of ponies was fast approaching and were holding the odd shield, wearing various sizes of helmets; a few of them even going as far as galloping with slingshots in their mouths. "GIRLS!" The timid girl finally let her voice be heard, the group turning their heads quickly to her.

"WHAT?!" They screamed in unison.

Lyric extended his hand and roared, "TO THE FORT!" He began running towards the castle of snow; the girls looking between him and the horde, instantly galloping passed him and scrambling up the tunnel in fear. "OH SURE, NOW LISTEN!" Lyric said loudly, sprinting his way up the tunnel and taking chunks of the tower and tossing it into the hole, stomping on it with one foot as he ran over to quickly peak over the side with his many friends; just as soon as he got to the edge he was watching a giant crowd of ponies rush into the middle of the field, completely decked in snow-gear with their many battle armaments clutched to their bodies. "When was the annual snowball war again..?" He asked as the line of ponies all looked down to Star at the end.

"I-I swear it wasn't for another week!" She stammered in fright. "They must have changed it a week early to keep Hearths Warming open..." She said with giant eyes.

"Hearths Warms." Lyric said aloud to no one in particular. "I've been hearing this all month and I still have no idea what it's about." He said with a confused and sad look on his face. "I mean; I get that it's all about the snow and having a good time, but what's the big deal?"

"WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?!" The fillies screamed together, quickly turning their heads and glaring at the young boy. Lyric held his hands up in defense, looking at his sisters for help.

"Let me tell you a story, Lyric." Celestia said as she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down into a sitting position...