Long ago, it would take several unicorns to raise and lower the sun each day. Many burned out their magic in doing so - sacrificing it for the good of all ponies. To honor that, Starswirl the Bearded founded a small monastery to care for those who had given up so much.
Though the Princesses mean that unicorns no longer need to sacrifice so much, the monastery still remains centuries later as a place for unicorns with magical ailments to come for support, care and sometimes even healing.
Now freed from the Storm King, Tempest Shadow journeys with Starswirl to find both their aid and perhaps her own peace.
Original concept by PingZing.
Cover art by Rayne The Skunk.
Featured 01/14/2021-01/17/2021 and then basically every update day after that.
Chapters (16)
Nice introduction—the "cold open" was well-executed, and the dialogue between Celestia and Tempest was enjoyable to read through.
Looking forward to seeing this continue!
What a neat idea, PingZing! And TCC56's execution, as always, is nothing to sneeze at. This is a unique take on Tempest's character as well. I wonder, what exactly is the House like today?
Interesting. Tempest and Starswirl? Currently a unique pair of ponies.
This is visually captivating, the way the words flow off the page, it shall be interesting indeed to see where this goes...
Interesting...I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Oh, this should be most fascinating... though, thinking about it, why do we never hear about unicorns who burnt themselves out while raising the moon? Would they need a monastery or a sanitarium? Hmm. Something to consider in and of itself, but outside the scope of this story. Definitely looking forward to more. And to Meadowbrook's reaction to learning she's a syncretism.
Ok, I need this in my life.
Annnnd just like that, I'm sold.
Possible adventure with Starswirl and Tempest? I'm so in for that.
...And just because no one's done it...
~Skeeter The Lurker
10629332
Given that the sun's mass is several hundred-million times the moon's, I reckon that lifting the latter would be a comparatively easier feat.
10629332
THANK YOU. I knew there had to be a dang word for the myth-blending but for the life of me I couldn't find what it was.
10629362
No one tell Luna...
10629373
Happy to help! I can't help but think that the modern day heroes might meet a similar fate in a thousand years if Twilight doesn't work to improve Equestria's historical literacy. (Pinkie Pie in particular may be viewed as a wholly fictional parable delivery device for impressionable young ponies.)
10629357
While the proper song has only minimal link to the story's content, it was the inspiration-song I listened to while writing and needed a kickstart.
Though I will say I picked up this version as my go-to. (I find I write worse when there's lyrics playing - my brain keeps jumping to those words instead of the ones I want to write.)
10629400
Key word being comparatively. It'd still be excruciatingly arduous for a non-alicorn; just... somewhat less painful than lifting the sun.
Luna's job is/was secure.
Tempest and Starswirl? Oh, this is gonna be good!
10629400
That shouldn't be a problem - there's a reason the fandom keeps calling her "book horse". It's quite likely that at some point, she'd make it a priority to improve education in general in Equestria.
She also seems like the type who'd work to improve scientific literacy as well, encouraging innovation in science, magic, and technology - perhaps in the near future, unicorns such as Tempest would be able to be properly treated at the local hospital instead of trekking out to some monastery in the middle of nowhere.
The original purpose of the monastery agrees with my own fanon. In fact I go by the letter of the show (I think) and one of the books (I'm sure) that even doing it ONCE permanently blew-out 5 unicorns every dawn and every dusk.
I will be reading this. Upvote not guaranteed*, but I'm going to be adding this to my "Research" folder and am unlikely to remove it from there.
*I have some pretty strict moral standards that go against the norm for the fandom.
Post reading edit:
Unsurprisingly this brought a few tears to my eyes.
They came well after Golden Rays, but... he was just a BIT too brave. Just the tiniest bit.
I think I may add the post-Celestia (and in my case, Luna) purpose of the House to my own fanon.
Also, a link to a semi-related picture: Celestia's Eternal Burden.
I do hope that in future chapters you will be providing an explanation for why a young filly Fizzlepop Berrytwist never heard about this place.
Favorited and upvoted, at least for now, since I don't FORESEE this going in any directions I might find objectionable.
10629550
As I recall, exactly that was stated in "Horse Play". Not only that, it had gotten to the point where they were running out of unicorns before Celestia showed up. As such, one would expect that the wizard community would have made it top priority to find a cure for unicorns burned out from sun duty (just as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the medical community to redirect as much of their resources as humanly possible towards vaccines and treatments).
10629400
Not to sure 'bout that as Twi will be there keeping it in line, now after the second or third millennium ...
I love this bit. Too often we forget that, in the pilot episode, the ponies—including Twilight—were shocked to learn Luna was Celestia's sister. Apparently the fact that their solar princess and the solar princess of the legend were one and the same wasn't common knowledge.
10629400
We've actually seen her doing this, to her credit. The class she taught at the Friendship School was about Equestrian history, and the curriculum included several seemingly mythic but actually historical people and events.
10629332
A moonastery, or a lunitarium, you mean.
Oh, this looks good. I'm not much of a Tempest fan, regretfully, but this seems bound towards an interesting journey (both literally and metaphorically speaking) for her. Looking forward to reading more!
This idea is so dope, I can’t wait to see where this leads. Also a Tempest and Starswirl team up, I gotta get behind this. Can’t wait for more
10629794
And despite that this probably continued for MILLENIA... unless Discord "broke the sky" during his reign and the burning only happened between the Diarch's defeating him and them coming into their full power. Then again maybe DURING his reign he usually didn't mess with the sky too much after he broke it, but just enjoyed watching the most powerful of Unicorns destroy themselves.
Also, in case anyone got the wrong idea, I have NO problem with this story NOT going by the "10 Unicorns burned out per day" of canon!
Re-read.
The part that made me tear up this time was this:
It reminds me of this quote from near the end of Season 1, Episode 2.
"We were meant to rule together little sister."
The section surrounding that quote always makes me think of The Bible, when the Prodigal Son returns home... except instead of the Father greeting him and the elder son later griping about how celebratory the Father is, in this case the elder sibling could be argued to have beaten the Father to the punch*.
*A bit off the mark since NOBODY beats God in a race, and the Father represents God in that parable.
In other words, you got Celestia exactly right in what I consider the most universally meaningful ways.
An excellent idea, with a formidable author. Yes! Aboulatly brilliant!
This team-up of Starswirl and Tempest is too rare. Thank you TCC56 for putting it into words for our consumption.
10629550
It's quite possible that a small-town ER doctor (such as the one who would have patched up young Fizzlepop) might not have known about the place and simply told her "Sorry, there's nothing that can be done". It's also possible that at the time. she might have been so desperate (having thought that her friends had written her off as broken) that she didn't think to ask around Equestria's medical/magical community before running off to parts unknown (also at that time, she likely wouldn't have even given a damn about "support and care" if it didn't mean getting a new horn).
So what’s Starswirl been doing all this time? Hiding out in this little room as he fades into legend over the centuries?! Is he immortal like the Princesses, without being an alicorn himself? Liking the setup and the writing so far, definitely following, but just didn’t get this point.
10634324
You should probably watch Season 7, since that's kind of the plot of the season finale.
Interesting start, I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with this, but then I've already said that elsewhere.
10634324
Stuck in magical limbo FOR THE LAST THOUSAND YEARS (Well, more than that, but MLP chronology is dubious at best.) I'd rather not spoil the episode TCC56 mentioned in case you (or someone else reading this) wants to watch it.
10633930
Her medical insurance didn't cover Acts of Ursa.
10637544
And as a result, Equestria was nearly conquered.
This is why healthcare reform is so important, people!
i simply adore these two working together. i wonder if Treehugger might have any home made remedies or Zecora
Gosh, I wonder why Twilight conveniently neglected to mention the current state of the temple...
Truly, she has learned well from her teacher. Looking forward to the more epic leg of this journey. After beignets, of course.
10639965
Because she's a blithering idiot. Has that not been well and truly established by now?
10639948
"The Cutie Pox" kicks off with Zecora cooking up a potion to regrow Apple Bloom's chipped tooth. Here we're dealing with a much larger body part with special magical properties, so there's no guarantee that would work. Though perhaps if Zecora were to share her knowledge with Equestria's medical researchers, maybe it could be used as a starting point to one day develop something that could regrow other body parts.
Plus the hospital scenes in "Honest Apple" include a brief shot of an unnamed unicorn with a broken horn. If Tempest and Starswirl find what they're looking for in the old temple, hopefully they'd share it with the medical community so that he could get fixed as well.
You know what? I expected something like this. There was no way the Temple was in the same situation as it was back then... But an abandoned temple that apparently houses 'ancient knowledge?' I'm surprised they aren't calling Daring Do to help!
Definitely satisfied with a Starswirl & Tempest Adventure though! Who needs Daring when you have these two powerhouses.
10639948
Highly unlikely. Regrowing a chipped tooth is one thing, but regrowing a broken magical conduit like a unicorn horn, especially years after the initial injury, is another matter entirely.
10639965
I could go for some jambalaya, personally. Beignets do sound nice.
Silly charity manager, you're confusing magic and science. Unlike science, magic does not steadily increase it's capacity to do stuff, because magic comes with reality cheat codes which don't arise naturally from increased understanding: once lost (or carefully disposed of) they may never be rediscovered. (If had a dollar for every story in which powerful lost magic is rediscovered, I'd...have a lot of dollars.)
And one does wonder why Celestia never got around to having the temple dug up herself. Too busy waving to crowds and cutting ribbons on new department stores, I guess.
(And I know what Zimmerwald thinks, but I try to headcanon much of her portrayal in later seasons as a series of gumbo-induced nightmares.)
10640223
Why the sodium? The story just started, and it's no sequel. You seem to be butthurt from another fanfic.
10641845
Eh, yes and no - in a universe where magic is unambiguously real, it's absolutely fair game for the scientific method. From what we've seen, unicorn magic is studied and practiced more or less scientifically, with innovations in magic being made regularly. I remember hearing about some statement from the creators to the effect of "If you see any technology that looks unusually advanced for the setting, assume it's powered by magic".
Though there are plenty of instances of knowledge going missing and not being rediscovered for centuries (Damascus steel, Greek fire, Leonardo DaVinci's inventions). Part of the problem there is that most cultures didn't make scientific and technological progress a meaningful priority until quite recently. Equestria's society (on average) appears to be mirroring the part of human history where we just started to really grasp the benefits of doing that.
It feels like Starswirl effectively stopped appearing in fanfiction once he showed up at the end of season 7. I guess his typical role of mysterious historical figure is just out the window when people can actually ask him what happened but it's still a shame.
Anyway, I'm glad you decided to go with this unusual setup for this story. I've really enjoyed what I've read so far and I'm eagerly awaiting more.
An eternal blizzard, right where they need to go? I smell shenanigans.
There is no time pressure except in Tempest’s and Starswirl’s minds. The wise thing to do would be to go back to Canterlot, do some research on unnatural weather, gear up properly, possibly recruit a weather specialist like Rainbow Dash, and leave notice with Twilight so she can send backup if they’re gone too long.
Being sensible would kill the story pacing dead though so they’re not going to do that
Makes one wonder if this is the same blizzard that the director in Neigh Orleans talked about before.
10651403
Sensible characters are zero fun.
That's why I love writing Trixie.
(Trixie does not appear in this fic. Sadly.)
That line got me
10651618
Sensible characters are thier to give you a break from the others. Trust me with out a "straight man" type to play off of wild personalities get annoying.
I'm afraid I'd never heard the term "wildcat miner" before the author's note, but I appreciate your dedication to the pun.
In any case, this presents an interesting challenge. As has been noted, there's the reasonable approach, and then there's whatever these two will end up doing. Looking forward to seeing the particulars.
10651380
An eternal blizzard. At this time of the year, in this part of the country, localized entirely around a leyline confluence.
Yeah, seems legit.
I was half expecting their rescuer to be Rusty Bucket from Frenemies, but then I remembered that was a different inhospitable mountain.