//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Dreaming of the Sun // by Richforce //------------------------------// It had been a century and a quarter since the return of Princess Luna and much had changed in Equestria. The last of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had died twenty five years ago, with the exception of Applejack who had gone missing at that time but was now presumed dead. Ponyville had been turned into an amusement park shortly thereafter and in the Everfree Forest a separate nation calling itself the Kingdom of Dream Valley had been established, a nation that had cut itself off from the ponies of Equestria. In Equestria itself corruption and internal decay had started taking hold as power hungry bureaucrats and greedy business ponies had been slowly nudging the system in their favor. As a result Equestria itself was undergoing a recent economic depression as inflation and joblessness are starting to rise, though the country is still a wonderful place to live. In the midst of this tensions between Celestia and Luna had started rising steadily and a recent revelation is about raise them to the boiling point… “YOU BOTH DID WHAT?!” Celestia bellowed in the traditional Canterlot voice. She had brought Luna and Cadence into her private chambers along with Shining Armor and Sky Runner, the two stallions mostly because of they were the subject of the argument. “What I did was ensuring that one of Equestria’s rulers wouldn’t go mad with heartbreak and possibly restoring Nightmare Moon!” Luna said. “Aunt Celestia,” Cadence replied. “It was my idea to begin with. I couldn’t stand the thought of Shining Armor dying and me having to live on for a thousand years or more without him!” Celestia gave an uncharacteristic snort. “So what made you think THIS was a good idea!?” she gestured her wing to the two stallions. “Or how could you think you could hide it from me!?” The two consorts to the princesses stood at the edge of the room. Shining Armor looked nervous and moved like he was trying to blend into the wall. Sky Runner on the other hand looked more like he had something on his mind he really wanted to say, his wings flapping as if he was ready to move immediately. “That…was unexpected.” Cadence said submissively. “When I came up with the spell I just thought that it would make his lifespan match mine through the lifebond, I didn’t think it to turn him into an Alicorn as well. I only hid this from you because I knew how you’d react.” Celestia gave a sigh. “Cadence I don’t hold this against you. Since you were the first Alicorn born in over a thousand years we had no idea if you would also be ageless, that was why I approved of your wedding.” She then turned to Luna. “However I expected better from you sister, you could have told her that what she was doing would have alienated him from everypony he knows. But instead you chose to unnaturally extend the life of your own consort and risk throwing Equestria into chaos! Once other ponies find out about this the nobility and the masses will be breaking down our doors asking to be made into Alicorns!” “Sister,” Luna huffed. “The spell could only work through the lifebond. I couldn’t do this to anypony else if I wanted to!” “Do you think that would make any difference? It’s hard enough keeping Equestria together through a depression! We can weather this storm and continue to guide our subjects, but not if you keep imposing your ideas on what is best for our ponies, like the Tambelon Incident or Nightmare Moon before that.” Sky Runner had had enough and stepped up to Celestia. “With all due respect your highness, aren’t you doing the same thing?” “I beg your pardon?” Celestia asked in an offended manner. “In the past hundred years you have gone out of your way to keep this country from making any significant form of progress. For example I keep hearing complaints on how hard you’ve made it to get a patent or allow any invention to make it out to the public.” “I did that for the sake of the all the hard working ponies that would lose their livelihoods to automation. After the Film Flam brothers had started mass producing their Cider Squeezers and other harvesting machines small farms couldn’t afford, most of our food is now produced by a few large farms. The Apples, who once had orchards all over Equestria, now have only a few here and there; destroying a tradition that went back almost two hundred years! I had to keep that from happening to any other pony that depends on these small family run businesses.” “What about the ones who want to start a shop or business of their own? The laws you have been signing have been making it harder and harder for them to compete.” “I let those who know these sorts of things best handle them, but if those ponies want to thrive maybe they should focus more on co-operating than competing with others.” “In a perfect world maybe, but the way things are we need to improve ourselves if we don’t want to end up in another dark age. Are you so out touch with the common pony that they are practically begging to change the way things are done? I didn’t know her as long as you had but I’m sure Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t have wanted you keep us from the future.” Celestia glared at him like an injured timber wolf. “Get out, all of you get out! I will consider what to do about you two stallions later, but do not leave the castle! And nopony is to disturb me until further notice!” After the four Alicorns left they began to speaking as they walked to the gardens. “Wow, I’ve never seen Aunt Celestia so upset before,” said Cadence. “It seems like you really hit a nerve when you mentioned Twilight Sparkle, Sky Runner.” Sky Runner sighed. “It was around the time of Twilight’s death that Celestia had started becoming more withdrawn from her subjects. I can’t believe that losing her personal student would have had that big an impact on her.” “It was more than that my beloved,” said Luna. “Twilight Sparkle was like a daughter to my sister. Celestia was so proud of her, not just for her accomplishments but how she grew as a pony. The loss of her diminishes us all, but it hath affected her most severely. There are times when she tries to squeeze life and enjoyment out of every second and others where her mood becomes like a storm on the horizon. ” “Twilight was one in a million,” sighed Cadence. “Ever since she passed away things have seemed to be slowly going downhill for Equestria.” “At least Twily died happy.” said Shining Armor. “I never even told you this Cadence but I was there when she and her husband passed away. I know that given how much time had passed I was supposed to be in hiding, but when I heard my little sis might not have had a lot of time left I flew to her library myself in the middle of the night. I saw the two of them old and wrinkled and holding each other in bed. Twily must have been only half asleep because she then turned to me and asked if I was ‘there to take them home’. Given my wings and that I was supposed to already be dead she must have thought I was some kind of angel. I just hugged her and said ‘What’s a BBBFF for?’ She smiled and closed her eyes saying ‘It’ll be good to see the rest of the gang again’ then she turned back to her husband. I left and their children found them the next morning, passed away in their sleep.” Cadence used her wing to wipe away Shining’s tears. “If there was good way for a pony to die that would be it.” Sky Runner shook his mane. “I only met her a few times but from how special she was I can understand why Celestia reacted the way she did. Having somepony use the memory of Twilight Sparkle against her must have felt like her own daughter was going against her.” “But true none the less,” said Luna. “Twilight wasn’t the type to stand against my sister on anything but she wouldn’t want Celestia to deny herself love or separate herself from other ponies on her account.” The four then split up to return to their various duties. “How dare he!” Celestia fumed. As she paced around the room in an angry fashion she jostled the stand where Philomena and Helios, formerly named Peewee, roosted waking the two phoenixes. Before he disappeared Spike sent her the rescued hatchling when he started getting too big for him to handle. Celestia gave him the new name after his first burning, at which time Philomena began looking at him like a mate instead of a kid brother. “Insinuating that my faithful student would think that I was ‘out of touch’ with my own people!” “Squawk!” said Philomena. “Well of course she was free to make up her own mind! Her independent mind was one of the things I loved about her the most! She just happened to always think the best of me.” “Caw,” said Helios. “If she saw me now? Well I guess it would have scared her a little.” “Coo, coo,” said Philomena. “The last time I made a public appearance other the Summer Sun Celebration? Well there’s the last Equestrian dessert contest. Only it’s been close to a year and a half since this depression had lowered the number of entrants below the required number for the contest. Then there was the last Grand Galloping Gala, except that was mostly just the nobility and I only gave them a token greeting.” Celestia sat down in the middle of her chambers, the very same place she had come to usually read Twilight’s letters. “They’re right. I am out of touch with everypony. Am I that afraid of being hurt again? Have I worked so hard for my little ponies that I pushed them out of my life?” “Chirp Cheep!” said Helios. “You’re right!” Celestia said with a boost of confidence. “If I became out of touch with my subjects the best thing to do is be involved with their lives! Problem is that if they know I’m watching or asking, that and the guards won’t let me go unescorted.” A devious smile came across her face. “So I won’t be going as myself.” Celestia used her magic to levitate a quill and parchment then she started to write. Dear Sister by the time you read this I’ll have left Canterlot on a fact finding mission. Now before you start panicking I shall return in about a week’s time during which I expect you to run Equestria as if I had never left. Do not inform anypony outside the castle about this leave of absence, I am merely observing our subjects as they live their day to day lives so that I may be able to better serve them. As for the heated discussion we had earlier I have decided that while I disapprove of you and Cadence’s actions I see no need to reprimand you or your consorts (though I stress that they keep themselves hidden). Signed, HRH Princess Celestia “Now all I need a disguise.” Celestia stood in front of a mirror and started to morph her form when she was done she looked into the mirror and saw a normal sized white Pegasus mare with a pink mane staring back. She turned into profile and saw her cutie mark was slightly different, the rays of her sun were now straight and triangular. “Perfect, this is going to be more fun than when I picked the town for this year’s summer sun celebration by throwing a dart at a map! I’ll just sneak out when the day and night guard change and then I’ll just make a flyby of Equestria to see just what my little ponies are up to these days. And if anypony asks I just plain old Bright Dawn, a Pegasus who’s just going on a journey.” The disguised Celestia stepped towards her balcony the turned to the two phoenixes. “Make sure Luna gets that letter in the morning, I should be back in week.” After the two birds cawed in response Celestia waited until the coast was clear then flew off into the night. What Celestia didn’t know was that a humanoid figure was watching her through a vision in a cauldron bubbling with a noxious green liquid. “I knew if waited long enough Celestia would make herself vulnerable.” She cackled to herself. “How couldn’t she with me and my allies quietly nudging Equestria further along the path of decay.” She waved a green hand with sharp claw-like fingernails over the cauldron. “Soon she will be dead and before anyone notices I will put in the means to learn the secrets that will bring the Dark One the army it desires! Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!” The Pegasus stallion with a cobalt blue mane and bronze colored coat tossed and turned in his cloud bed. Visons started to swim through his sleeping mind. A pink maned Pegasus flying through the night sky. A violet bolt of lightning striking her. The mare falling through the clouds. Her landing unconscious in a clearing next to a large tree that resembled a hawk. Dream Catcher woke with a start panting for breath he looked at his cutie mark shaped liked the buffalo artifact he was named after. He had a very unique talent among ponies, his dreams gave him visions. Usually his dreams offered visions of the past, the future or of far distant places but he had no control over what saw or when the dreams came. This was the first time however his dreams showed him something he wasn’t at least familiar with. Who was this beautiful mare and was it already too late to save her?