Chapter Six - Smart Cookie
The clouds had not been cleared, so the day was a dismal overcast with a light drizzle. Everypony out in the rain was absolutely miserable, except for her. She sat there with the same blank emotionless face she held for everything. Everything except for when she was angry. It was like she didn’t even care that she was killing their last chance at freedom.
Clover stood in sodden robes with a sodden scroll, ink running as freely as the rain. “... and so it is a great honor for this council,” Clover belted out over the dismal crowd, “to introduce you to Celestia Solarius, first of her name! High Princess of Equestria! Ruler of the Sun!” Not even she could hold back the tone of contempt that overshadowed everything about the proclamation.
It had been there when Platinum had knelt and sworn fealty with sweet and humble lies. It had been there when Pansy had mumbled out words for Hurricane, who had declined to bear witness to this farce, along with every other Pegasus. And it had been there when Chancellor Puddinghead had said his own carefully chosen words, “The ponies of earth do not wish to war with you. We shall work together.” For how long? Who could say.
But there was another thing which filled the crowd when Celestia moved up to speak; fear. The audience looked up wide-eyed and silent, with only the occasional blink to betray them as living. They stood before the burned out husk that had once been the solar tower, its skeletal remains leaking black blood as the rains slowly trickled through the corpse. Who would have thought the Unicorns could be gelded so completely. The tower, once the horn which guided the heavens, was no longer.
“So much for the might of magic.” Smart Cookie thought as Celestia moved forward to take a commanding position on the stage. It had all been her doing.
Smart Cookie had been there when Celestia had laid the burden of the Sun solely on the machinations of Unicorns. Cookie had seen the tower only once before, when her group had first arrived to Canterlot. Its great beams and rods of brass and gold, gleaming in the effervescent glow of a hundred horns of magic. Great spheres of the clearest crystals, each as large as her head, whirling and throwing off great trails of sparks. They moved in great arcs about the chamber following a spell which Cookie could never truly hope to understand. Even with the knowledge of how unnatural and controlling it all was, it had been magnificent.
It was amazing how something could go so quickly from awesome to terrifying. When Celestia had given out her last cry, the whole machine began to hum and squeal. Cookie looked out over the horde of unicorns, as the spell intensified in color. What had been a simple stream of magic quickly formed into a raging torrent drawing from the hearts of those mares and stallions, bound in the works of the great machine.
All the while the fire mare, no... Celestia had sat there and watched blankly as the celestial mechanics began to tear itself apart. She was far from the enraged mare she had been just a moment ago. She was hunched and withered and still, like Cookie had seen at a hundred funerals. It was a look of mourning, but for who?
“No!” Clover had cried. The whole machine had began to spin faster and faster, a vortex of golden light forming like a cyclone of pure fire. “This can’t be!” Cookie could only imagine what it was that Clover could see in the mana spiraling above their heads, what it was Clover knew was being torn asunder. “Its impossible!”
Cookie had run over to Celestia and screamed over the roar of the machine, “Enough o’ this! Y’all proved your point! Take it back!”
She calmly looked down at her. She spoke in a hollow voice, “May the punishment fit the crime.”
Lightning had began to arc out from the cyclone, striking the walls and beams of the surrounding tower. Fires erupted from the old dry wood and soon the great space began to fill with a haze of smoke. Then somewhere in there, Cookie heard the first of them die. A cry, no more than a whimper as one by one the unicorns lives were drained to fuel the great calliope as it played its dirge of destruction.
A molten rod of brass flew past Cookie’s head and burst against the stone wall. Fire erupting wherever the metal splattered. “They’re dyin’ in there!”
“Indeed.” A tear ran down her cheek. “The mantle of the sun is burdensome.”
The smoke and heat became had too great for Cookie. She left Celestia to burn and fled the building to find Pegasi had brought over thick dark clouds to put of the flames. She could see Pansy leading them and shouting orders, but Cookie could see the fire was burning completely out of control. Ponies poured out the tower like rats, sometimes carrying others but more often than not merely escaping with their own hides.
Cookie looked up and could see the sun, drifting rapidly through the sky. It moved erratically, with jarring motions, and Cookie could feel it growing hotter and hotter. “Oh Gods,” Cookie whimpered. “We’re all going to die.” She heard screams of terror rising up all around her. Whether it was for the fire or the Sun, only the Mother knew.
Suddenly Cookie was knocked to the ground as a white blur ran past and toward the raging inferno. Before Cookie could react, the earth mare had lept through a hole and into the flames beyond. “The foal, there's no one left to save!” Cookie thought as she moved to follow but the fire flared up and she was forced back from the conflagration.
In the end, Celestia had taken back control of the Sun. She emerged completely unharmed by the flames, a dozen ponies hanging limply on her back. She tossed them effortlessly on the ground. Then turning slowly, she reared up and flapped her great wings. Winds like that of a hurricane tore through the enclosed yard and soon snuffed out the fire. She glowed brightly and the Sun shot back to its place in the sky, shining through her mane and casting a silhouette over those few who remained. Slowly she landed, her eyes white portals of pure iridescent flame.
Calmly she walked up to Clover, who sat, eyes wide on the wet and singed grass. “You will crown me tomorrow. Arrange the necessities.”
And so here they all stood, with as many ponies as the unicorn guards could force into the yard. Celestia moved up on the hastily built stage, a new shiny crown atop her head. “I will rule justly and wisely and do my best to ensure fairness in Equestria for all ponies, as the Cosmic Matron has commanded. Leave and spread the word.” Without so much as a goodbye to the crowd, she simply took off and flew over and into the castle.
As Cookie began to dismount the stage, Chancellor Puddinghead came up beside her, his hat sopping wet. “Come with me. We need to talk.” They entered the castle side by side and easily got to the apartment Chancellor Puddinghead had been given.
She could see his pack in the middle of being loaded , its contents sprawled all over the table. “Are we leavin’ so soon, Chancellor?”
He wrung out the wet fabric of his hat, letting the water fall to the floor. “Not we Cookie, I need you to stay here.”
Her heart fell. “Sir?”
“None of that now, Cookie. You know that with all that has happened I must get back to the parliament. They need somepony to lead them, especially now.” He tossed her a towel, white as everything was in Unicornia, and began to dry himself off with another.
“But why must I stay ‘ere then?” She sat and wiped away the mud from her hooves and began patting down her mane.
“Because it is you who has forged this alliance for our ponies. And so it is time that the smith tested her steel. And what a test it is too.” He shook his head and tossed the damp towel aside. “Who ever would have thought we’d have to contend with the likes of her?”
“Chancellor... I...” Before she could stammer out anything else, his lips were on hers. After a moment of surprise, she gave into his kisses and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. He was still damp from the rain. It made his mane strangely cool to the touch.
“We only have one night together,” he whispered when their lips finally parted. Tears freely flowed down his face, mixing with the rain. They nuzzled, pulling into a mutual embrace. “I leave in the morning.” He struggled with the words, “Earth needs you here to hold the Council together. You must make sure that we will not be yoked by this Sun Nag. Do what you can here, and I will at home. I... I want to stay... but... I swear I...”
Gently she pulled him toward the bed. “Please, no more words. No more goodbyes.” And there were none the rest of that night.