The Brightest Shine

by Cozy Mark IV

Ch. 2 Inauspicious Beginnings

The Brightest Shine

Written and read by Cozy Mark IV & Jan. McNeville

(Link to the dramatic reading on YouTube)

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan-made work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro. Please support the official release

Chapter Two: Inauspicious beginnings

The flight to the Unicorn city had been long and cold, and with the sky perpetually overcast, navigation by the stars impossible, making the task harder yet. After nearly ten hours on the wing they felt they should be getting close, and as they all peered down into the gloom ahead and below it was actually Flare who saw it first.

“Hey! Anyone else see that glow on our nine o’clock?”

A quick detour to see what was up soon made it clear that this was not some farmer's burn pile they were approaching. As the sky ahead grew brighter they found themselves shielding their eyes after so long in the winter gray, and when they crested the last mountain ridge they nearly collided with each other.

Spread out below them was a city with its own sun! The outer edges were still covered in snow, but whole blocks of homes were actually green and blooming with trees and flowers they had not seen in weeks beyond bearing. The awed silence persisted as they flew lower, basking in the golden warmth of the strange, earthbound sun.

It was only as they got closer that they realized something was wrong. The charred center of the city was the first to become visible, and not long after, the total absence of movement or ponies completed the picture.

Flare spoke up first.
“Sir, what in Tartarus is going on? They build their own sun and then leave?”

Squall agreed,
“Something isn't right here. We need to find somepony who can tell us what happened.”

“What does it matter?” Sand Storm grumbled. “The fool Unicorns can't handle a little heat, so they pack up and leave. Let's just grab this thing and get it home.”

“And just how do you propose we pick up a sun?” Flare spat.

“With his huge balls, isn't that right, Sand Storm?” Squall chuckled, and Flare couldn't help but laugh.

“You know, you're right! Picking up a sun might be just the thing for his cold blue balls!”

“Enough.” Steady Hoof interjected, “Squall's right, we have to find somepony who can tell us what happened. If we can't find anyone in a few hours we'll head back with the news, but for now we keep looking. Fan out and search, we meet back here in an hour.”

It didn't take long for Squall to find fresh hoofprints in his quarter of the city, and following the charcoal marks led him on a quick tour of the town, into an ice cream parlor and through the mares' bathroom. Soon enough the grinning pegasus was back at the rally point, where Sand Storm and Steady Hoof soon joined him to hear what he had found.

“See, look at those tracks down there.” Squall continued as they shielded their eyes from the sun. “They lead in towards the sun at the center of the city. There's at least one mare left here, so with-”

He suddenly stopped, frozen in the act of listening to the soft sound of a whine that was growing louder.

“MOVE!” Steady bellowed.

They moved.

Every pegasus with any military training was familiar with the deadly spinning weapons of the unicorns, and it was not uncommon for fresh recruits to dive for cover at the sound of a mosquito. While ridiculous looking, this behavior was actively encouraged, because mistaking a shrieking blade for a mosquito was a mistake soldiers usually didn't survive.

The tiny speck was upon them in an instant and with a loud 'CLACK!' it exploded into multiple spinning shapes that narrowly missed the three of them.

“Well, whoever she is, she sure has a temper!” Squall observed. “Let's go say hel-”

“RANGS!” Sand Storm bellowed.

They moved again.

This time Squall wasn't quite fast enough to miss the spinning, hoof shaped blade, and its razor edge threw sparks as it sliced through his back armor, nicking his flesh as it tumbled by.

“You okay?” Steady asked the shaking stallion as the thing whirled back to earth.

“Uh... Yes. I'm... I'm fine. Just a scratch.”

Steady nodded, “We land. Now. Whoever is left apparently isn't happy to see us, and I don't want to rush in until we know what we're dealing with. Keep it respectful and keep your distance.”

As they glided slowly down, Steady found himself wondering what kind of mare would take a shot at a unit of armored pegasi. Unicorns were ground walkers, spoiled, deformed ponies born without wings, and while their magic gave them an advantage, their... deformity meant that although most pegasi respected them, there was little warmth between the tribes.

“I don't like this, Sir. We should attack them from the air!” Sand Storm whispered as they trotted closer.

“And if there are fifty more of them? Don't start a fight without knowing who you're fighting, Soldier.”

As the distance shrank, Steady could make out not one but three unicorn mares gathered together in a defensive posture on the open ground. He almost missed the Ep hiding behind the kettle of what looked to be boiling water, not that it would have mattered. Two of them looked scared, but their leader wore an expression of competent disdain, her black mane blowing in the breeze as she fixed him with a steady stare.

“Why have you come here?”

The question was clipped, and if its' tone alone wasn't enough to get their attention, the two spinning disks hovering in the field of her purple magic were. The white unicorn with the yellow mane stood a few feet back atop a small mound of stones, the roulette she spun orbiting her body looked like the deadly ring of knives it was. Steady chose his words carefully.

“We were sent here on a diplomatic mission by Commander Hurricane.” 'Not exactly true, but let's not break the bad news all at once...' Steady thought. “Our forces have been waging a valiant war against the oncoming winter, a war you have already benefited from.” He added with a pointed glance at their leader. “But we aren't winning this fight. We were told of an weapon that could change the course of the war, but... we never imagined something as amazing as this!”

Their leader seemed to be warming somewhat, the whine of her blades dropping a note as she thought this over.

'Bad as the Commander is going to want this, we've got no idea how to move that thing. I hope one of these mares will help us out voluntarily... The alternative...' He managed not to grimace as he continued, “It seems your tribe has already left for the safety of the south. Will you help us take the fight to the winter so that we might drive it back and thaw both our homes?”

The white unicorn with the deep blue mane gave the leader an anxious look and said something he couldn't hear. She answered, and the blue-maned one put down her kettle and trotted closer to continue their whispered conversation. A moment later, things got loud.

“WHAT?!”

More frantic whispering from the deep blue-maned one followed.

“She wouldn't leave us! I asked her to let us stay!”

This seemed to have hit a nerve, as the blue-maned mare was no longer whispering.
“Yes, and that's probably the only reason we aren't being tried for treason!”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Shining, your sun burned down much of the city and melted the princess's castle!”

“But we would all have been frozen out eventually! She can't be that mad about this...” The gray unicorn looked around her at the charred remains of the city core before finishing in a small voice, “can she?”

Steady didn't know quite what to make of all this, but he felt a strange urge to hug the gray unicorn who had taken a shot at them not three minutes ago.

However, before anypony could make a move, a white-orange streak fell from above and flattened the yellow-maned unicorn to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. With a startled 'ooof!' she lost her hold on the roulette orbiting her body, and it did what it was designed to do – explode. The ring of knives flew apart and over the heads of the ducking pegasi glancing off the kettle that the Ep was hiding behind. Two of them buried themselves several inches into the hardwood rifle Shining had lifted to shield herself, but impressively, no pony was hurt.

Steady held out a foreleg to stop any further reaction from his unit and resisted the urge to facehoof.

“Thank you, Flare, for that heroic display of bravery against a friendly civilian.”

The grinning mare looked suddenly indignant from her perch atop the gasping unicorn.
“Friendly?!”

Steady did face hoof this time, but made sure to wink at Flare before continuing. “Do I have to remind you that this is a diplomatic mission, or have you now conceived of a way to pick up a a sun that doesn't involve Private Sand's equipment?”

The tension that had threatened to boil over into violence seemed to subside as Steady publicly berated Flare, and upon seeing a mare in their ranks, the blue-maned unicorn unconsciously stood up straighter and stopped crossing her legs.
Flare climbed off the bruised unicorn with an apologetic smile and offered a hoof to help her up, but the yellow-maned mare struggled to her hooves by herself, images of crawling things hidden under feathers still fresh in her mind.

“My apologies for this misunderstanding,” Steady continued as he took a cautious step towards the gray unicorn who was still looking distraught at the news of her de facto banishment. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

Behind him, Sand Storm whispered to Squall,
“What is he waiting for? Why doesn't he strike? We need to win this fight!”

Squall gave the younger soldier a knowing look and whispered back,
“You don't get to the rank of commander by being a fool. I think Steady might yet get us what we need without a fight. Maybe even without hurt feelings... How much easier will this be if they help us willingly?”

Sand looked uneasy.
“But they're deformed! Just look at them! How can we treat them like pegasi?”

Squall just smirked.
“It's that kind of thinking that forced you to wear a cup for the first three months after Flare joined the unit.”

Sand grimaced at the memory.
“Kick me once, shame on me. Kick me twice... uh... what was it... I don't want to get kicked again.”

Squall just chuckled.
“No. No you don't, so let him work and follow his lead.”

By this point Steady had managed introductions of his unit to the unicorn leader, Shining Mind and her two fellow physicists, the blue-maned Specular Reflection (whom everyone called 'Spec,') and yellow-maned Pie, and since it seemed worthwhile to be gentlemanly, he'd even nodded to acknowledge the presence of their Ep. Somehow these crumbs of etiquette had convinced Shining to put down the blades. As everyone gathered around he gently coaxed out the story of what had happened. When all three unicorns had finished their parts it was Sand Storm who spoke.

“Huh, figures. What kind of morons build a sun with no off switch?”

The three unicorns glared at him, but before they could reply a timid voice answered.

“It's... It's not their fault! The Princess was pushing us all so hard to get it working that they just forgot.”

There was stunned silence as the seven ponies regarded the shrinking earth pony who had come out from behind the kettle.

“And they work with Eps,” Sand spat. “Commander, why-”

“Hey! At least she doesn't have a dick stuck to her face like you four do!” Flare objected as she stepped between Verdant and Sand. The three unicorns wore expressions of shock at the vulgarity, but Sand Storm just grumbled and backed off a few paces.

“Well!... At... at least we're not crawling with mites and vermin!” Spec sputtered indignantly.

Flare seemed honestly surprised by the hostile looks she was getting. “What? Sand Storm's a dick. You have to stand up to him sometimes, and I didn't see any of you about to.”

Spec seemed to be winding herself up further
“And this is not a... a phallus! It is a fine white horn, and the match of any of the Ladies of Court!”

“Whoa there, settle down now, I didn't mean any harm,” Flare placated as she held up a hoof and stepped back. “I thought you knew what we called your tribe in the force.”

Steady was shaking his head at Flare, trying to avert further disaster, but her vision was fixed on the indignant mare advancing on her.

“And just what, pray tell, are we called?”

The yellow soldier pony with the brilliant orange mane looked vaguely ridiculous as she shrugged in her armor and took another step back, all the while answering honestly. “Well, the boys are twin dicks, and you'd be a she-dick.”

There was an indignant scream of rage and Spec was on her, flailing and doing her level best to beat the pegasus mare into the ground. Fortunately for both of them, metal armor and combat training meant this had little effect on Flare, who was dodging quite well.

As Spec finally succeeded in wrapping both hooves around Flare's neck, a bemused Squall interjected;
“Hey, didn't you just finish telling us that we're crawling with vermin?”

Spec froze absolutely still as her eyes took in the sight of her own hooves buried in Flare's yellow fur. A second later Flare caught up with the conversation and rippled the feathers of her wing.
“Oh, don't worry, you get used to the itching.”

“EEEWWW!!!”

Spec leapt off and began frantically scraping her hooves on the ground, trying to clean them of contamination. A second later she caught sight of the kettle of boiling water. Pie realized where she was going just in time to dump the kettle out on the ground, cooling the water to merely scalding before Spec plunged her front hooves into the muddy puddle.

Steady had one hoof pressed firmly against his face as he asked, “You do know those tales about mites and vermin are just propaganda, right?”

“Really?” Pie asked incredulously.

“But I thought-” Shining paused as everyone looked at her, then forged ahead, “I thought that was why we tell little ones not to touch birds.”

Steady groaned, but replied, “That's something we tell our foals too. We tell them not to pick up baby birds because we don't want more pets around the house. Pegasi bathe regularly, and as members of the force, we hold ourselves to even higher standards of cleanliness. You won't find anything nasty on us!” he added with some disgust.

Pie and Shining looked somewhat embarrassed while behind them Verdant was still trying to coax a shivering Spec out of the mud.

“At any rate,” Steady continued as he shook his head, “what do you intend to do now? If I heard right, you wouldn't receive a very warm welcome if you follow your tribe south, and they wouldn't have need of the sun anyway.”

There was a long silence before Pie spoke.

“He's right, you know. If we go home now we'd be lucky to stay out of the dungeon. There's no guarantee that some grand gesture would save our skins, but if you pegasi,” she glanced sharply at Steady, “give credit where credit is due then we might stand a chance. Goodness knows we could all use some goodwill about now.” she finished, watching Verdant trying to wash the mud from Spec's white coat.

Steady smiled, “If your sun can save our tribe from the winter I don't think you need fear a lack of recognition. We certainly couldn't craft such a thing on our own. But there is still the matter of how we're going to move it...”

Shining perked up noticeably as the conversation worked back to matters she could handle, and she turned and led them back towards the building.

“Oh, well, there you're in luck. We've been enchanting saddles with special shielding and tow spells to enable us to pick it up, and we already have three of the four done, and the last nearly done.”

Pie's face took on a look of concern.
“Uh, Shining? I thought we agreed we still had one more to start.” She prodded with a gesture at the three heavy canvas lifting saddles sitting in a pile near the door. “We still have one left to start on.”

Shining sniffed, “Honestly Pie, I thought only Spec had such an inflated sense of fashion. We're all physicists and engineers here, and we're not on a designer's runway. Come along...Commander Hoof. I still need to put the shielding into place, but it's otherwise ready, and more capable in some ways than the others.”

She opened the door to the smaller side room where they stored some of their gear, and Steady noticed her seem to steel herself before stepping into the room, though he couldn't imagine why. Claustrophobia was a rare affliction among a tribe that might spend hours in the clouds, unable to see to the end of their own noses. He followed a moment later and paused, momentarily stunned with one hoof forgotten in the act of holding the door as she continued.

“I don't know what the others think is so wrong about this saddle; they all chose good sturdy ones that will wear well, and I can't blame them, but they don't have so much as a single pocket between the lot. This, on the other hoof!” She proudly pulled on the saddle and snugged up the corset laces in the sturdy fabric. “This has little straps and clips all over! I've got space for both my good hammers here,” she added as she slipped them into the loop of a wide strap on her right side south of the navel, “and there's a matching one on the left for a couple of spell books, and two more up front! There's even a place for my reading glasses,” She added happily as she clipped them into the garter-belt clip on her left flank.

Steady couldn't help it. He was absolutely beet red, and as she turned in his direction he let go of the door and sat down at a convenient table very quickly.

“Uh... It's very nice...”

Steady had no doubt at all that the silk and satin outer fabric would be comfortable, nor that the wearer would be able to exert herself extensively without discomfort; that was what the designer had had in mind when they added the wide buckle tie downs to the bondage saddle and corset. Unfortunately, the fact that this mare was apparently so oblivious that she had selected strappy fetish wear over more conventional clothing... he couldn't decide if it was adorable or upsetting. And regardless of his personal prejudices, he also couldn't get up from the table at present. Steady tried to recall the math section of his training from the academy.

“Well, I'm glad somepony likes it, I already spent days working on the lifting and holding spells so this one can lift the sun. It was the prototype, so I added some other spells as well, but when I showed it to Pie and Spec they started acting really strange and insisted on sending the Ep out for another boring saddle.”

“Uh...”

The door opened again as Flare joined them.

“Hey Steady, I've got Squall and Sand helping the others set up for this next spell thing they've got to-”

The only sound in the room was the slow 'creeeeeeek clunk.' of the door swinging shut behind Flare as she and Steady stared.

“What?” Shining asked.

“Oh sweet buck you look hot!”

Shining Mind just smiled, “Actually, it's surprisingly breathable and cool –that's part of the reason I picked it out.”

The look on Flare's face had become unmistakably predatory as Steady reached out and whispered firmly.
“Friendly. Civilian.”

Flare gave her seated commander a sour look, then stepped over and ran a hoof admiringly over the corset/saddle. “You know, we are in something of a hurry... You said it takes four ponies to lift the sun, right?”

Shining nodded, “I might be able to do it by myself with this augmented saddle, but the others are simpler, and the wearer has to bear the weight directly. Three can carry it if they have to, but four is much more sustainable. If I finish the sun shielding on this one we could leave in a couple of hours.”

Flare's grin was growing larger.
“And if we have to build another from scratch?”

“It'll take another two days.”

Flare spun around into the full brunt of her commander's glare. “Sir. I propose we leave as soon as possible with what we have. Time is of the essence!”

“Exactly.” Shining amended. “We probably only have four days left until the sun explodes.”

“Explodes?!”
“Explodes!?”

Shining looked quizzically at the two startled soldiers. “Well, yes. I did mention that's why they evacuated, didn't I?”

“No!” Flare replied, advancing on her, “No, you very much did not!”

And with that, Steady began to laugh, a deep hearty sound that soon had both mares' attention.

“Well, then, it looks like we really are in a hurry. We have no choice now, do we? The four of us will have to fly the sun out as soon as possible, and as that last saddle won't fit any of the stallions, I suppose you get to wear it, Flare.”

The sudden change from predator to deer in the headlights was so fast he almost feared her face might stick that way.

“Won't that be a sight to see? Why, when we show up with the sun, our pictures will be in all the newspapers! Thousands of friends and soldiers coming out to see us! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the pictures wound up in the history books; the return of the four pegasi with the unicorn sun.”

It turned out that a yellow coat could turn white in mortification.

“I'll go help the others with that last saddle!” Flare squeaked as she galloped from the room, slamming the door behind her.

Shining gave the closed door a disapproving glance and muttered something about shallow ponies as she tucked another spell book into the front leg tie down. Steady sighed and finally managed to get up from the table.

“At any rate, we'll be back in a few hours. We'll work out the details then.”

An hour later, and for the first time in months beyond memory, the four pegasi had made beds for themselves in the warm, soft clouds above the shining sun, soaking in the warmth and getting their first sleep in nearly thirty-six straight hours.

Comments

[The Hood]

Take the italics code out of your short description, IT DOESNT WORK AND IT MAKES YOU LOOK STUPID.
(Sorry for the brutal honesty, but it's true.)

[Scarheart]

4779726 Hey look! An opinion!

[The Hood]

4780354 yes, and guess what? The mods have stated it's stupid before, as well.

[Arxsys]

You know there are trees above the arctic circle, right?

[Cozy Mark IV]

4780760 Sure, but we've all seen the Crystal Empire in the show; wide open spaces with hills in the background, yet there are no forests to be seen... Exactly as you said, the climate dictates anything not under plow should be forested, but it isn't. Something happened here, and this is the story of what and how, as told by those who lived through it.

Hope you enjoy it!

[Dapper Guy]

Why are the other tribes so rude to Earth Ponies?
Really? They're the ones who can grow food, an army can't march on an empty stomach and you want to talk down to them?