The War for Summer

Commander Dreissen of the Night Guard strode boldly back and forth in his briefing room. His long and punctuated steps demanded respect from the stallions assembled in the room, in direct conflict with the vibrant tropical-flower shirt he wore. Twenty minutes ago an emergency session had been called for all Night Guard members on patrol in the royal castle. Over the last few minutes a mixed group of the Night Guard had arrived, ranging from bat-ponies in half their armor, sleepwear, swimming trunks, and beach toys filled with fine-grain San Palomino Desert sand.

The briefing hadn't started, but everypony could tell by their superior officer's pacing back and forth that the matter was of grave importance.

After taking a brief head count, Dreissen dimmed the lights in the room. From the ceiling, a small magic crystal on a mount began projecting a detailed map of the castle's interior on the wall behind him.

“Gentlecolts!” Holding a riding crop in his wing, he gave the image on the wall behind him a satisfying smack. “Thank you for arriving punctually when called. Let it be known that your loyalty to Her Majesty has not wavered in peaceful times.”

He continued to pace back and forth, waving his crop in the air.

“You have been called here today... To stand besides Her Majesty in a great crusade she had bravely decided to undertake this very afternoon! We the Night Guard, shall persist in--”

In the back row, one of the guards stood up and out of his seat before raising his foreleg into the air.

Dreissen stopped, and pointed his riding crop at him. “Yes, ensign? What's your name?”

“Gaza, sir!” The bat-pony stood at attention. “Will Her Majesty's crusade be be over in time for dinner?”

“Well ensign, I do--” Dreissen did a double take when he realized how casually he was about to answer such a silly question. Or was it an innocent question? He could never tell with his own soldiers, since half of the enlisted Night Guard had never seen combat outside of patrolling the Everfree forest.

“Very funny, soldier.” He shot him a glare. “Only Her Majesty decides when her crusades start and end. We do NOT ask royalty to fit their schedules around ours!”

Another bat-pony raised his foreleg. “Sir? If I took a vacation day today, do I get another?”

“I'm afraid not Galluss,” Dreissen watched the bat-pony's head droop in disappointment. “For that, I am truly sorry.”

"Sir? Do you know how long that castle beach and pool are going to stay open to the guards?"

"That beach is PRIVATE, and to be used by royalty only!" Dreissen said angrily. "I'm going to make an exception and pretend I did not catch some of you coming from there."

“Sir?” A bat-pony sitting next to the one that had asked about dinner before raised his foreleg. “I've got kitchen duty tonight with Petty Officer Jamru. Can we stop Her Majesty's crusade for dinner and start it again after?”

Dreissen groaned, stopping short from facehoofing in front of his stallions. He knew that the question being thrown at him were meant to be serious ones, but something about that irked him.

“Very well. I will ask Her Majesty if she would be willing to put her crusade on hold for dinner.”

A small chorus of cheers rose up from his assembled stallions, and Dreissen groaned again. As much as he enjoyed a proper fruit salad (the Day Guard always insisted on putting oats in the salads), there were standards to be had for professional soldiers. Standards that he had no faith in most of his stallions to uphold in the face of their strongest enemy: boredom. The Day Guard on the other hoof, despite Captain Shining Armor's leave for the Crystal Empire with his wife, was a model of dedication and efficiency.

Why did he have to get all of the good-intentioned rejects?

“Alright, alright! Everypony settle down,” Dreissen said, waiting for another few seconds for the chatter to die down. “This is serious, gentlecolts. I expect all of you to fulfill your duty to Her Majesty when the time comes. Which brings me to why you have been assembled here today...”

Every stallion in the briefing listened to their commander's dramatic retelling of events relating to what had happened. It was an emotional story that put them on the edge of their seats, all starting with an innocent question and an inappropriate response. Followed by the same innocent question, persecution, and finally exile and (twice) humiliation. Every stallion of the Night Guard had different feelings about what their duty to Equestria meant, but all felt united with each other over their loyalty to Princess Luna. An Equestria without Princess Luna was not an Equestria they wanted to live in.

If their princess was going to wage a war over summer, they would be sure to follow her into the gates of Tartarus and back.

But unknown to all, a magic wire in the ceiling had begun transmitting the moment when Dreissen had started.

♪~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~♪

Luna hummed to herself, pacing back and forth in her secret hideout. Her steps echoed off of the walls of her secret home, with her silver hoof-guards kicking small pebbles around as she walked. Chewing the tip of a pencil in her mouth, her brow furrowed in frustration as she racked her mind for an answer to her problem.

There was something about the Crystal Caverns bellow Canterlot her sister did not like, so it made for the perfect secret hiding place to get away from being in the spotlight of Canterlot castle. (She even had basic furnishing brought down in secret to her cavern home.) Being undetectable by most traditional magics was only a side-bonus, on account of the strange attributes the crystals growing in the walls of the cavern possessed. Uncut and unpolished, the crystals distorted and rejected magic flows that entered them. But by shaping and cutting them properly, they could be used to redirect or even amplify magic. Some of the secret projects of the Equestrian military were experimenting with adapting these crystals to amplify traditional power sources, and trial testing had shown promising results. (Luckily the fresh craters in her moon went unnoticed by the general populace.)

If Tia ever found out and objected for whatever silly reason, she could always claim that occupying the caverns would prevent any subversives from taking advantage of a blind spot in Canterlot's defenses.

Or something noble like that.

With a checklist held suspended by her magic, Luna continued to pace back and forth in thought. Some would say that tutoring Twilight on royal etiquette might have caused a habit or two to rub off onto her, but only a fool would challenge her older sister without planning ahead of time. Convincing Celestia to lighten up about summer would not be an easy task. In order to succeed, she would have to plan for everything.

Plan for today, plan for tomorrow, and even plan for plans today and tomorrow!

And such planning was...being done as she walked.

Convincing Celestia to lighten up about summer would not be an easy. Not after provoking her twice.

Tia's humiliation has been doubled, Luna thought to herself with a smirk.

She had hear the rumors in the castle about when Tia had noticed her moon. Right in the middle of talking with a foreign diplomat, no less! Perhaps mooning her sister (twice) was a bit immature, but Luna liked to think of it as a political statement (done twice) than an act of youth rebellion.

There were four alicorns in the world now, and the age where Celestia decided things alone was at an end. Had her older sister not proclaimed the day after her return, that it was her responsibility to hold up half the world just as much as hers? So too, Equestria was no longer a kingdom where the extremes of any season brought about danger and disasters. Did that not mean there was more room for flexibility on some things in the world?

There were some merits to not trying to fix things that were not broken, and yet...

...No. No!

Luna stamped her hoof down and shook her head. No! Even if her sister had her reasons, there was nothing wrong with her request! There was nothing wrong with not liking a hot summer! The burning humiliation of being evicted from the castle in front of countless doctors, nurses, and their staff over the weather!

As soon as her plans were completed, she would rally her loyal troops to make the next step in her plan against her older sister. Taking the pencil out from her mouth, she looked down at her check list at what had been completed so far.

Step 1: Declare intentions (half-check).

Step 2: Get Tia to take you seriously (check).

(Step 2.5: Humiliate Tia if possible [double check] and find out where our allowance has been going.)

Step 3: ?????

Step 4: Profit from a cooler summer (and  Article 0 of the Equestrian Millennium Charter).

Luna sighed, looking at the shadows of the caverns. Maybe she would have to stay hiding longer than she had planned.

Without warning, a sound echoing off of the walls of her hideout caught her attention. It sounded like something, or maybe somepony, had fallen over and was now tumbling down one of the abandoned mine shafts in the caverns. She looked around trying to discern the source, but the expansive tunnels in the caverns prevented her from telling what direction it had happened. After a few seconds, the echo of the sound tumbling stopped.

"Galbaldy? Is that you?" She called out, looking around. One of her closest guards (known for his rust-orange colored eyes) was no where to be found. He had escorted her down to her room in the caverns, but looking around it appeared that he had disappeared.

"Commander Dreissen?" She called out again, but still got no answer. "Is somepony there?"

Her voice echoed off of the cavern walls, becoming more distorted with every reflection. Taking one last look around with no answers to her calls, Luna breathed a sigh of weariness before laying down on her sofa.

"Just our imagination playing tricks on us. We must calm ourselves," Luna told herself, closing her eyes as she laid back. The comfortable cushions of the sofa caught her gently, and she could feel her mind drifting from their soft touch.

"Perhaps just a small...small nap before our...victory...would be fine..."

Whether she had meant to or not; it only took a few seconds for Luna to be snoring peacefully, her breathing in harmony with the echoing winds of the Crystal Cavern. It felt good to be at peace for just a little. She would need ever bit of strength in the coming times, if she were to stand even a little chance against her elder sister.

Emerging from the shadows around Luna, a group of Day Guard commandos ran to report their findings back to their princess.