//------------------------------//
// Synthetic Bottled Sunrise (XXII) 
// Story: Synthetic Bottled Sunlight 
// by NorrisThePony 
//------------------------------//


vi


The smell of smoke became more recognizable as Celestia and Philomena continued to fly North. 

She’d taken two short teleportation breaks to aid her, but she hadn’t wanted to expend too much of her magic along the way. 

As she flew, she’d guided the Sun carefully back into its normal morning orbit. She’d given the mortals a grace period of five minutes after she’d noticed its tug fading away, but nothing had come of it. No further attempt had been made to correct Equestria’s orbit, and the planet itself would ultimately go astray. 

It would likely take several years, of course, provided it was risen under ideal circumstances from then on. The fading was minute, and Celestia didn’t suspect most ponies would even notice the longer nights for at least a couple of seasons. And yet, the feeling of gradual drift was unmistakable. She could distinctly feel the path it was supposed to follow, and the current one where it was going, and they were not the same.

Celestia prayed it wasn't permanent, and corrected it with a grim frown. The last traces of Shining Armor’s magic had vanished completely. 

“Please…” she breathed as she flew, squeezing her eyes shut against the blowing wind. Philomena glanced over, confused, as she spoke up. “Not him, too.”

“Auntie.” 

She had been quiet. Celestia hadn’t noticed her wingbeats beside her. 

Starlight shone through too many missing feathers against Cadance’s decayed wing. “Auntie, don’t be scared.” 

“I am terrified for him.” 

“I want to see him again. I want to hold his hoof and tell him I do like I always dreamed I would.” 

“You’re not here.” Celestia breathed, shaking her head. “You’re not here, Cadance.” 

“That’s not my fault, now is it?” 

“Cadance, I can’t lose another. Please don’t make me.” 

“I’m not making you. I never did you any harm when I was living, why the blazes would I start now?” Cadance gave Celestia a small smile. Her wings had spread to catch some invisible breeze as she followed Celestia along her flight. “I’m just telling you how it is, now.” 

“I can’t lose--”

“You’re going to have to learn to, Auntie. Chin up and go do this.” 

Cadance was gone by the time Celestia opened her eyes. Her flight had slowed to a little glide, and she suddenly realized just how out of breath she truly was. 

Sighing, she lit her horn again. One last teleport. Already, she could somewhat make out the telltale lines of smoking ascending into the predawn light. A heavy cloud of smoke being quickly sucked North, into the Crystal Empire’s eternal fury. 

But still large enough to send an angry spiral into the Equestrian North’s sky. 

A flash, and suddenly the smoke was several hundred meters away. The teleport left her winded, her left wing was starting to ache. 

Or, really, her entire left side. 

She hit the snow shivering, her landing less than graceful. Ahead of her, a dozen kilometers over empty snow fields, a plume of black smoke was rising into the now darkling skies ahead. 

Nautical twilight. It was still likely much brighter back in Old Canterlot already.

Philomena continued flying ahead of her, spiraling down to a landing with far more grace than Celestia had and settling down in the snow next to her. She looked at Celestia with curious avian eyes, more focused on how she was planning on handling the destruction ahead than the destruction itself.

“You do not have a means of keeping your lungs clean, sister.” 

Celestia cast an irritated glance to her side. “Indeed. But we don’t know how dangerous this problem is unless somepony investigates. If we do not act immediately…” 

“We know that whatever this is, it likely killed those brothers. We’re willing to die for it, too?”

Celestia tilted her head behind her, towards the still dark night sky. “Equestria is waking up to it. How they handle it defines their future.” 

“Then let them handle it!” 

Celestia shook her head. “I have the right to help them with it.” 

“It might kill you!” Nightmare Moon spat. “At least wait for Sparkle, you madmare.”

Biting her lip, Celestia met Nightmare Moon’s glance. Back towards the rest of a waking Equestria. “Fine.” 

“Weather patterns. Get to checking those.” Nightmare Moon jerked her head towards the black smoke. “It’s blowing away, right now. But you know how unpredictable these arctic winds can be.” 

Celestia held up her left wing, narrowing her eyes. “Yes, let me spring up and get on that.” 

“Ah.” 

“So long as it’s blowing away, I can at least search for an appropriate vantage point and gauge how to proceed from there. If you can, tell Twilight to come as soon as she can and to bring a respirator for both of us. She should alert Raven and Blueblood of what happened as soon as possible as well.” 

Nightmare Moon didn’t answer. Indeed, when Celestia glanced where she’d been, the snow was once more uninterrupted. 

Ahead of her, the facility in flames was a truly unsettling sight. She nudged her magic towards the sun’s tug--still largely intact, though any trace of Shining’s magic stream was long gone. She didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or disappointment, so she saved it as she untensed her left wing and slowed her trot a little. 

As she got closer to the facility, its true size became a tad more clear. About forty acres worth of the arctic tundra had been devoted to it--at one point or another. The entire back half had caught fire, leaving a shuddering cauldron of smoke where at least four tall smokestacks had once been erected. Celestia could make out their remnants, scattered outwards across the eerily quiet tundra.

A small monitoring station had been built before the larger facility. It was no more than three rooms total, with a tall radio mast atop it jutting into the icy black sky. Celestia made her way over to it first, her horn aglow. It was noticeably darker than it had been when she had set out from Old Canterlot, and the actual light was needed to investigate the building proper.

The glass from the front window shone in her bright yellow magic as she trotted closer--she imagined the initial blast had shattered nearly all the windows in a decent enough radius. She kicked off the ice, her wings still aching a little even as she did her best to keep her wingbeats shallow and steady. Philomena took off next to her, beating her to the station and waiting perched atop an icy metal railing. 

She set down on a metal balcony circling the station, folding her wings against her side and perking an ear in the direction of the small building ahead of her. 

It was set up in a way not dissimilar to a ski chalet, Celestia noted, while she brought her glowing magic to the knob of a metal door leading inside, forcing the door open. She could see through the broken windows a tiny little common-area of several couches and not much more, as well as plenty of radio equipment lining much of the other side of the building. 

She exhaled as she entered, letting out a full-bodied shiver as she shook the snow off her back. There weren’t many windows inside the monitoring station, but their absence was still dearly felt. Long piles of snow lined much of the inside, already starting to coat the radio panels directly facing the miasma of smoke that was the bulk of the facility ahead. 

Celestia’s horn lit, but no magic emerged. Her light spell didn’t immediately extinguish, but Celestia had felt it waver a little and dim. The shield spell she’d tried to will around the shattered windows hadn’t even registered, and so she settled on physically forcing a bookcase over the window instead.

The CB radio panel ahead of her had been deserted, but a dim red light to one of the corners of the device was still illuminated. Celestia searched the thing for a switch, finding it tucked neatly away beneath the panel. She didn’t bother changing the tuned frequency, and instead simply wrenched the microphone stand in her telekinesis and began rattling off the Equestrian Navy’s S.O.S. sequence. She continued to do so as she searched around the station--wrenching storage lockers open in frustrated unison and scattering their contents with her telekinesis. 

Plenty of paperwork. A few binders full of timetabled lists of correspondences. In one locker, she found a respirator, and a hoof-full of filters. In another, a first aid kit, contained in a medic-style saddlebag. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a start, she supposed. She stuffed the respirator and filters into it and clipped the saddlebag onto her side, trotting over to the broken window. The arctic wind was biting, and she instinctively rose a wing to shield herself from the harsh blasts of snow howling through the shattered glass. 

Ahead of her, the rest of the facility was lying in wait. Red emergency lights were flickering--as though they were struggling to hold onto whatever power they were receiving, with much of the smouldering facility lit only by the bright flames engulfing the stacks. The entire thing was shrouded in smoke, which seemed to be permeating through the shattered glass with ease. 

Celestia had never used the respirators before, but they seemed fairly simple in concept. They clearly weren’t made to accommodate an alicorn’s larger snout, and it pinched at her mane somewhat painfully, but she supposed it was better than succumbing unceremoniously to preventable lung disease. 

"You," she said, turning back to Philomena. As she walked, she levitated one of the discarded notebooks closer, along with a pen she found amidst an avalanche of stationary. "...are not following me."

"Aurkk?" Philomena tilted her head. 

"No buts, missy." Celestia shook her head. She ripped out a page from the notepad and wrote a brief but thorough message.

To whom receives this first,

Please send help to the Frozen North as soon as possible. A great cataclysm has unfolded, and I fear our time to react is limited. Bring respirators and ponies trained in dangerous firefighting.

If this message receives you too late for me to welcome you in person, know this; every Longest Night that Equestria has faced has had an eventual dawn.

--HRH Princess Celestia


Philomena took the carefully folded note in her beak, understanding the gesture but still peering at Celestia with confusion and concern. Celestia reached a hoof to stroke the old bird's head and give her a small, comforting smile. It was a moment that lasted perhaps longer than it should have, with the destruction awaiting her outside, but still never long enough for her beloved bird. 

"Go to Raven, Philly. As swiftly as you can fly. I love you." 

Her wings were still a little sore, but the brief pause within the monitoring station had allowed her enough of a rest to cross the distance to the facility proper. As she flew on, Philomena flying in the opposite direction where they had come, she could make out the smouldering wreckage of an airship that from a distance she’d assumed had just been some other part of the facility. The telltale signs of a metallic ribcage and steel cabin car were all that remained, the rest claimed by the fires. 

A heavy steel door separated her from the facility, but Celestia was able to forcefully wrench the thing open with her magic, grunting a little from the exertion but thankful for the warmer air within the inside corridor. The facility itself was drowning in snow from broken windows, and the ear-splitting sound of alarms from deeper within the yawning maw of the entrance corridor lit by somber red emergency lighting. 

She slammed the door shut behind her and started her way into the facility.

“Hello?” She called out. Her voice sounded somewhat strange from beyond the respirator, but she knew better than to remove it just yet. “Is anypony here? I’m here to help.” 

She lit her horn, feeling for her Sun, though she felt her heart sink when she realized she couldn’t. It was as though she were back in the catacombs, when she’d recovered the Sunstone with Twilight Sparkle, but the steel ceiling of the facility shouldn’t have been nearly enough to block off her access to the Sun. Without having the Sun in her reach, Celestia felt a fresh panic course through her. Being cut off from it was a crippling feeling--as though one of her limbs had unceremoniously fallen off and she was now looking at it lying forgotten on the floor. Swiftly, she changed her calm, investigative stride to a more urgent trot. 

“Hello?” she called out again. “Captain Shining Armor? Can anypony hear me?” 

The red emergency lights seemed to be leading someplace, and in absence of any other reasonable direction, Celestia followed wherever they may be leading her. Past the common area, various other corridors snaked off in different directions--all labeled, thankfully, and with a flare of her horn she could read the signage properly. Kitchen and dining hall, bunks, electrical room. She ignored them all for now, and continued trotting along the main corridor instead. 

Eventually, she came upon a metal stairwell rising into a superstructure above the rest of the facility. Within, she could distinctly make out equine voices ahead, partially drowned out by the alarms echoing from all around the building. 

Celestia trotted up the stairwell and pushed the door open without wasting any time. She was immediately greeted to a control room shrouded in the same red light as everyplace else, with long panels of flickering dials and switches helmed by three terrified looking ponies--all of them wearing respirators. None of them were facing Celestia when she entered, and she doubted they’d hear her hoofsteps on the metal stairwell with all the noise around. 

“...nothing, the damn line is dead! I’m not getting any response from--”  

“Gold Sky, calm down and keep trying!” A unicorn mare returned, her voice harsh and commanding.  “I can’t focus with all of your shouting!” 

“There’s nothing to focus on, anymore! We’re all dead, Moon Dancer! All of us! You, me… dead!” 

“That’s enough,” A pegasus mare--dressed in a Wonderbolts-issue parka spoke up. She’d been lounging in one corner of the control room, watching the others work, but she rose to her hooves and started trotting over, her back to Celestia the entire while.. A guard, Celestia supposed, judging solely by her tone and posture. “You’re not makin’ it easier on anybody, Goldy.” 

Celestia took a step into the control room. “Good morning. Is there anything I can do to help?” 

Every single pony in the control room whipped around instantly to look at Celestia, who rustled her wings a little as she trotted inside. The stallion who had been panicking prior to Celestia’s entrance looked about ready to faint, and even the pegasus guard looked mortified.

“P-Princess Celestia…” The unicorn apparently named Moon Dancer stuttered.“P-p-please, j-just listen to us before you… We didn’t mean to…” 

Celestia rose a hoof for silence. “You rose the Sun, and it went wrong. That much is obvious. I have one question and one question alone. Shining Armor… where is he?” 

Moon Dancer bit her lip, not answering immediately.  Celestia took the silence and used it as a chance to examine the control room more thoroughly, casting her magic all around it to help build a more complete picture than her pitiful eyesight would allow her. Plenty of shattered glass, but large metal blast shields had been lowered down to keep the outside world at bay. 

In the corner of the room was a familiar earth pony mare, laying slumped down against the metal wall of the control room. 

“I felt his magic stream while I monitored your device from afar. Fading, but present. I have been in his position before, so don’t you dare lie to me.” 

“Shining Armor was in charge of… of operating the…” Moon Dancer squeezed her eyes shut as she spoke. “The SunTrotter.” 

Celestia grimaced. “You don’t know if he’s dead or not.” 

“W-w-we can’t know. Comms are down, and e-even with respirators, we’d be dead in five minutes out there.” 

Celestia exhaled. One thing at a time. She wasn’t going to get anywhere scaring the souls out of every pony in the control room. 

 “How many personnel, in this facility?” She nodded her head towards Spoiled Rich’s unconscious form in the corner. “And what the blazes happened to her?” 

“I… can, uh. Explain that one.”  The pegasus guard spoke up. “Mainly, honest to goodness fits of hysteria weren’t, uh. Helping our cause. She’ll be fine, I didn’t hit her too hard.” 

“A tragedy.” Celestia rolled her eyes. 

“There’s twelve in the facility total. Six here in this room, one unconscious thanks to Commander Lightning Dust, one was killed instantly when the front glass exploded.” Moon Dancer spoke up. “Two guards are presently unaccounted for. MIA, likely dead. Finally, four ponies--including Captain Shining Armor--in the firing building.”

“As if there’s anything left of the firing building,” The stallion who had been panicking earlier--Gold Sky, it seemed--spoke up again, growling out the words under his breath and earning a cold glance from Moon Dancer. 

“The firing building… that’s closer to the smokestacks?” Celestia prayed to any listening higher power that Moon Dancer’s answer wouldn’t affirm her suspicions, but her heart sunk as the unicorn nodded her head all the same. 

“Yeah. Whatever wasn’t destroyed in the first two explosions is going to be flooded in smoke.” Moon Dancer looked to her hooves as she spoke, unable to meet Celestia’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Princess Celestia, but anypony who was there is almost guaranteed to be deceased.” 

“They had respirators though, yes? Please at least tell me you fools had the forethought to supply them with those?” 

“They did.” Lightning Dust nodded. “But they’re the cheap ones the State gives us. They’re built for normal coal plants, not Moon Dancer’s project.” 

Moon Dancer winced at her name being linked to the apocalypse around them, but she nodded her head many times in rapid succession. “W-w-what she said.” 

Celestia let out a tired sigh. “You irresponsible fools…” 

“We tried to delay the test!” Moon Dancer protested, sounding as though she were on the verge of tears. She extended an accusing hoof towards the unconscious form of Spoiled Rich. “She ordered me to continue with it, after I told her this would--!” 

“I don’t give a damn who’s to blame!” Celestia snapped. “There will be time to worry about that later. For now, a friend of mine is in danger and I’m not resting until he’s either safe or I know that he’s beyond saving.” 

Moon Dancer bit her lip. The mare had gone deathly silent after Celestia had whipped around to address her. When she was finished, she took a long exhale and spoke with wavering conviction forced back into her voice. “Princess, it isn’t safe to go out there. The fumes from the stacks are lethal. You’ll be dead in minutes, even from a distance.”

“And even with respirators?” 

“Respirators will protect you from the immediate effects, but your long term survival is still… uncertain.” 

“Stars above.” Celestia brought a hoof to her snout, and took in a deep breath. “What about here? Are we even safe in here?” 

“The air filter alarm has been going off since the explosion.” One of Moon Dancer’s assistants--a green-coated earth pony mare with a nametag that read Winter Spruce piped up. “We sealed off the facility as best as we could, but the ventilation isn’t built to handle this much strain. If it doesn’t poison us, then the fire will consume all of the oxygen we’d need to breathe and we’ll suffocate.” 

Celestia exhaled. She had been completely expecting to fly into a death-trap, perhaps, but the cynical prediction did little to dull the profound sorrow inherent to hearing such from the ponies in it with her. She hadn’t known these ponies for very long, but the certainty in their terrified, wavering voice while they discussed their immediate survival was sobering all the same.

“Then we must evacuate,” Celestia said, firmly and matter of factly. “I saw a downed airship on my way in. Please don’t tell me that’s the only means of transport back to the mainland?” 

“It… was.” Lightning Dust gave a solemn nod. “Then, a supply airship arrives in two days’ time.” 

“We’re not going to last two hours in here.” Gold Sky shook his head. “If the arcane fumes don’t kill us, the cold will. Or… or the fire will keep on spreading, or the electrical systems will go haywire, or a godsdamned windigo will burst through--” 

“Ahem.” Celestia glared at the stallion. “Gold Sky, was it? You are not making it easy for me to come up with a plan, here. Please, if you don’t have anything constructive to add, be silent. I know you’re frightened. I do believe we all are. But we must keep our wits about us if we are to get out of this alive. Do you understand?” 

The stallion stared at her for a few seconds, gulping and giving her a tiny nod of his head. 

“Thank you.” Celestia nodded back, before turning to Moon Dancer. “How are your teleportation skills?” 

Moon Dancer frowned, swishing her tail thoughtfully. “Best I’ve covered is about fifty clicks, and that was after a week of practicing.”

“How many ponies?” 

“Just myself. Though, ever other pony I take would theoretically reduce that distance in half, according to Clover the Clever’s Third--”

“--Theorem on Teleportation, yes. I’m familiar.” Celestia waved a hoof. “That’s still enough to get you and your assistants a safe distance from the smoke’s effects.”

“Still less than a third of the way home. And directly into unrepentant blizzards. And that’s to say nothing of the possibility of the wind changing,” Moon Dancer said. “Which it will. Then that cloud of poison’s going to be blowing right back to Equestria. Or… or East, towards Griffonstone. Then… there’s going to be far more ponies than us in danger.” 

“We have no choice but to put off worrying about that until we have a weather team at our disposal. For now, teleportation remains a last-ditch option to buy ourselves some time.” Celestia turned to the pegasus. “Lightning Dust, was it?” 

“Yes ma’am.” 

“How many pegasi in your squadron, including yourself?” 

“Three. One was stationed with Captain Armor. He’s likely out of commission or dead, now. Second pegasus is MIA, like I said earlier. Which means I’m the only bird left in this facility. Sides you, of course.” 

“Okay. I can work with that. How are you with long distance flying?” 

“It’s where I earned my stripes, ma’am. Can’t do the tight maneuvering and trick flying like I could in my academy days, but I can still cover a lot of ground when I have to.” 

“Good. Okay. I’m starting to see a way out of this for us, then.” Celestia nodded her head at the plate-metal windows of the control room. “I can do my best to keep the smog away from us using my telekinesis. A small but hypothetical shield is within my ability--would that not help protect us from long-term effects of the fumes?” 

Moon Dancer pursed her lip. “It… it actually might, yes.” 

“I teleported twice getting here, I don’t believe I have it in me to do so to get all of us out. But I can at least help us hold off the smoke for long enough for a potential rescue party, provided we send for one immediately.” She nodded out the window, looking back to Lightning Dust. “How long would it take you to fly to civilization if you took off immediately?”

“Oh, gods above. Two, three hours? Longer, if the winds don’t co-operate.” 

“They rarely do up here.” Celestia gave a sad little nod.  “Another question, then. Where is the closest exit towards Shining Armor and his escort’s last known position? Is it possible for us to scout it without leaving the facility?” 

Lightning Dust rose to her hooves, trotting over to Celestia. “I can show you to it myself. Got two of my colts in there someplace." Lightning cast a glance over to Spoiled Rich's still unconscious form. "Moon Dancer, if she comes to and tries to… y'know, take the helm from us or the Princess--” 

“Then I have spells to handle her.” Moon Dancer waved a hoof.  “You two, don’t do anything stupid.” 

Celestia turned from Moon Dancer and started down the steps. She gave Lightning Dust a grateful smile as she led the way to the metal stairwell leading out of the control room superstructure. “Thank you, my dear.” 

“Be straight with me, your Majesty.” Lightning Dust turned as soon as they were out of earshot of Moon Dancer and her assistants, pausing with a wing outstretched. “Our chances?” 

“They… have been better," Celestia admitted. "What do you expect the chance of a rescue operation from the Industry is?” 

Lightning Dust laughed, turning and continuing her brisk trot down the hall. She grabbed for her respirator, wrestling it onto her snout and glancing back at Celestia.“Honestly? It’s about fifty-fifty in my mind. They have everything to lose, letting this get out. Assuming they don’t know you’re here. Spoiled would’ve been the one sending for them, and she’s… well, I have a meaner left-hoof than I thought.”

Celestia tried and failed to suppress a smirk as she put her respirator back, too. “Moon Dancer tried though, yes?” 

Lightning Dust nodded. “Shortwave radio lines in the control room are dead, along with the rest of our electrical power. The comms outpost is a ways out--I sent a guard and radio tech about forty minutes ago, but I haven’t heard back. The two MIAs I told ya about. Was going to go look myself, till you showed up.” 

“I saw the radio building on my way in. It seems like it is in good shape; to my knowledge, the radio equipment is still operational. I tried several frequencies but received no response.” 

“Gold Sky’d know how to tune it. Y'know, that squirrelly changeling that works for Moon Dancer?” 

Celestia blinked, tilting her head. “He’s a changeling?” 

“Yeah. Figured we’d have to rip that bandage off eventually.” Lightning Dust gave Celestia a sideways glance--almost sternly protective, as though she were measuring Celestia's reaction in case it was one of disapproval. “He’s a good colt, though. Changeling or not. Just tryin’ to get by in Equestria, same as the rest of us. I’ll send him as soon as we’re done looking around.” 

“Indeed,”  Celestia replied, a little uncertain how to answer. Fortunately, they’d arrived at their destination a long steel corridor framed on both sides by simple rounded doors. They looked as though they had been designed specifically to be locked efficiently--she’d seen similar designs during her first few escape attempts. A conspicuous lack of windows, and a focus on simple, streamlined designs. 

There were four rooms on each side, for a total of eight along the steel corridor. Most of them had been battered open by the initial explosion, the half-open doors revealing unremarkable barracks-style bunk rooms. At the end of the hall was a steel vault door, rather identical to the one Celestia had seen on her way in. 

“Shining Armor’s bunk is right there.” Lightning Dust nodded at a metal door that had largely survived the blunt of the initial explosion’s impact. “At four hundred hours this morning, we escorted him out to the SunTrotter’s firing building, which can be accessed by exiting that door and following the snow-cable.” 

“Okay,” Celestia said. “The building itself… you suspect it was entirely destroyed in the impact? It was… admittedly difficult for me to make out on my flight in. My eyesight is not the best.” 

“Mine’s okay. Problem is, we need to go outside to look.” 

“It will give us a chance to examine the wind direction while we are out there.” Celestia pointed out. “If we can get an idea whether or not it will continue blowing away from us, we will have a chance to plan our next moves a bit more efficiently.” 

“Good thinking, Princess.” Lightning Dust gave her a curt nod. “The door freezes easily, though. We’ll probably both have to give it a go to get it open.” 

Celestia nodded, already at the door herself with her horn lit. “On three.”

“Counting on you to keep us safe with your magic. We shouldn’t be any longer than a minute out there, tops.” Lightning Dust wrapped her hooves around the top while Celestia grasped it in her telekinesis. 

Celestia nodded. “One, two… three.” 

The door was, true to Lightning Dust’s word, a little bit of a hassle, but after several seconds Celestia could feel it turning. Whether it was more attributed to Lightning or Celestia, she really had no idea. 

It was still largely twilight outside, and the cold bit at both of them with a fierce vengeance as soon as the vault door swung open to the frozen tundra. 


vii


Twilight Sparkle rapped violently on the door of the duplex for what felt like the fiftieth time, breathing out a sigh of relief when it was finally opened by a peach coloured unicorn mare. She looked tired, and was still in the process of attaching her Royal Guard regalia when she opened the door. 

“Twilight Sparkle? The captain’s sis?” 

“Where’s Shining? I visited his place and he wasn’t there and it didn’t look like anypony had been there in months and I don’t know who else to turn to for help because the gods damned sky is on fire right now and--” 

“Woah, slow down there.” The guard--Aura Gleam, Twilight could distinctly remember her name being something similar to that--rose an eyebrow at Twilight’s panicked, semi-coherent ranting. “Boss’s needed on a diplo mission in Griffonstone.  He’ll be back later on this week. He didn’t tell you?” 

“I need help.” Twilight shook her head. “I need the Royal Guard. Something’s wrong. Have you looked outside?” 

Aura Gleam nodded, though she looked past Twilight again as if to verify that the pillar of fading light was still casting the north sky in a dull orange glow. “Aye. Probably some scheme those Industry bastards brewed up, gone wrong. Another wagon-wreck they’ll want us to mop up, no doubt.” 

“Princess Celestia took off to investigate it. By herself.” 

Aura Gleam frowned at that. “Shit. You don’t say. When?” 

“Like, an hour ago? Half an hour? I don’t know, I’ve been sprinting around Old Canterlot since five-thirty this morning!” 

Aura Gleam let out a little sigh, which tapered into a short chuckle. “Alright, alright. Listen, I’m already trying to get on the horn to the rest of my squad. We’re waiting on the okay from the New Canterlot PD to take an airship up there and have a look ourselves. Why don’t you come in outta the cold, catch your breath, and you can get a ride up with us when they okay it?” 

“When they okay it? Why in Tartarus would they okay an investigation into their shady crap?!” 

Aura Gleam gave a helpless shrug. “It’s just how it is. We don’t have an airship in our budget, so we’d have to go up with the Industry police.” 

“Gah, fine. Fine, I’ll wait.” Twilight groaned out. Aura held the door open a little wider for her, trotting her way back into the duplex. Twilight was close behind, closing the door to the horrible sight of the blood-red morning sky outside. 

Aura led the way up the stairs and into her humble little home--largely the same as when Twilight had last visited with Shining, with the only notable difference being another pegasus pony Royal Guard already lounging on the couch within. 

“Got the Cap’s sis.” Aura Gleam introduced with a nod in Twilight’s direction, closing the front door gently. 

“Mornin’, Miss... Sparkle, is it?” 

Twilight nodded. “Twilight Sparkle, yeah.” 

“Solar Wind, and you already know my roomie Aura.” The pegasus lifted her helmet from the coffee table as she spoke and put it over her head. “I’m guessin’ you want to go North with us?” 

“Yes, I do. Princess Celestia’s already gone, and I’m worried about her.” 

Solar Wind glanced over at Aura, who gave a somber little nod of her head from the kitchen. 

“Damn mare,” Solar Wind growled out under her breath. “Still runnin’ on ahead of us. After all these years.” 

Aura let out a snorting laugh, her horn lighting as she lifted a few steaming coffee mugs from her counter and passed them around. “Whaddaya take, Twilight?” 

“Er, just black.” 

Aura rose an eyebrow as Twilight took the mug in her own magic. “Fair warning, it isn’t the best coffee, so if you go changing your mind, just let me know.” 

Twilight sipped hers with immense gratitude anyway. “S-so, uh. How are we going to… y’know, secure an airship?” 

“Waitin’ on Shallow Step to show up,” Solar Wind replied. “He’s got friends in the Old Canterlot PD who just might score us a few seats on their scouting expedition.”

“What about Shining?” Twilight looked around, as though expecting him to enter from one of the small house’s spare bedrooms. “He’s meeting us there?” 

“He’s been in a bit of a communications blackout the whole time he’s been in Griffonstone, so it’s probably not likely until later on this week.” Aura shook her head. “Sorry, Twilight. So, Celestia went in alone...” 

Twilight stirred her coffee idly with her magic as she nodded. “Yeah, basically as soon as she felt the Sun shift on her.” 

“Mother Epona--” Solar Wind nearly spat out her coffee. “She what?” 

Twilight threw up her hooves helplessly, her horn glowing a little brighter as she held onto her mug in her magic. “Without warning! They just up and yanked it from her! She was sleeping when it happened!” 

“Saints above.” Solar Wind nearly growled the words out. “I say to Tartarus with their airship. How good are you with teleportation, Twilight?” 

Twilight rubbed a hoof. “I can do maybe… Seventy k? A hundred on a good day? Probably need a visual trigger of where we’re going for that, though.” 

“Woah, hold up, you two.” Aura frowned. “I say we wait for Shallow before we go discussing teleporting directly into the place where the Sun is literally being stolen from Princess Celestia.” 

“Not if we can help her by doing so sooner!” Twilight blurted out. 

“I know. And I get that, Twilight.” Aura Gleam shook her head. “But Celestia needs more than us going in horns ablazing, like some sort of corporate goons. She might need medics. First responders. Supplies. We have no idea what she’s getting into up there, and we don’t want to find out by being unprepared for it.” 

“Fine, fine.” Twilight took to sipping her coffee in silence as Aura and Solar Wind talked--largely inside jokes about the apparent upcoming nightmare that was the inner workings of the Old Canterlot PD. She’d taken to nursing the mug nervously in her magic and casting glances at the glimpses of a rainy Old Canterlot back alley. They were in one of the nicer sides of the city and it still had the same feeling of decay as the rest of the old capital. 

Shallow Step arrived after about ten minutes--the sound of a gentle rapping like music to Twilight’s ears as they sliced through her awkward fidgeting silence. Aura answered it immediately, greeting the earth pony stallion with a wide smile. 

Twilight herself gave a little wave. “Heya. You must be Shallow Step.” 

He nodded. “Twilight Sparkle. Voice’s familiar.” 

Twilight blinked. “Really?” 

“You’ve been on the radio enough for it, kiddo.” He laughed, and nodded his head towards the camera strapped around Twilight’s neck. “You’re coming up north with us?” 

“As soon as I can.” Twilight gave a curt nod. 

“Guessin’ Celestia’s already gone ahead.” He looked around Aura and Solar’s apartment, frowning. “Not… particularly surprising.” 

Solar Wind snorted. “Let’s just get goin’, already. She’s having fun without us right now.” 

Aura Gleam lit her horn, but then extinguished it and glanced over to Twilight, instead. “New Canterlot PD. You’re familiar, yeah?” 

Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle. “Could say that. I’m supposing Shiny told you?” 

Aura Gleam stifled a chuckle with a hoof. “Shiny. That’s new. Wait till I use that on him. Let’s just say your reputation precedes you, Twilight Sparkle.” 

Twilight blushed. “Y-yeah. I have, uh. History with them.” 

“Well, that’ll be fun,” Aura Gleam said. Twilight wasn’t sure if the unicorn was being critical or comedic, but she certainly hoped it was the latter. “Just… try not to piss them off too much. They are our ride.” 

“Just here to take pictures and help Celestia.” Twilight brought a hoof across her lips. “No sermonizing, promise.” 

Aura smirked, and lit her horn again--first to lock the door to her duplex, and then to mentally carry the four of them across the rock and murky morning sky between the old and decaying capitals of Equestria. 

The roof of the New Canterlot Police Station was the same, but still looked different to Twilight in the dark and dry weather. The terrible pillar of white light that had split the sky was obscured by the towering Canterlot Mountain, the old city like twinkling constellations as it woke to another morning in Equestria. 

A few pegasi officers were already approaching them almost immediately. One of them was gripping a firearm in their wing, though it was pointed away from them and relaxed in his grip the moment he recognized the Royal Guard armor. 

“It’s six-thirty in the bloody morning,” he called as he approached them. “The hell do you Royals want?”

Shallow Step scowled. “Cooperation between departments. A wet dream of mine, I know. We want to talk to Thundercloud.”  

The pegasus officer rolled his eyes. “Commissioner likes to sleep in till ten. Come back later.”

“Then just wake him up!” Twilight barked out. The pegasus officer’s gaze narrowed, as though he were noticing her for the first time. “How the hell didn’t that explosion?!” 

“They’re likely just blasting in the Crystal Caves again.” The officer shared a glance with his partner. “He hates bein’ woken up, and Commissioner Thundercloud’s pretty scary when he’s mad, so unless you’ve got a valid reason why--” 

“Gods above, you’re idiots!” Twilight blurted. Suddenly she became conscious of Aura trying to silence her with a few desperate sideways glances, but it was too late for Twilight to turn back now. “Tell him we know about the Sun! And if he doesn’t do something about it, we will! Tell him that!” 

The two officers both laughed aloud at that, and beside Twilight, Aura Gleam cleared her throat. 

“Princess Celestia is investigating an explosion to the far North of Equestria. As her Royal Guard and the State’s oldest guardforce, we’re requesting permission to aid her. Tell Commissioner Thundercloud something terrible has happened and we need his help putting it right.” Aura Gleam glanced over to Twilight at that. “Like she said. Tell him now, that’s an order.” 

It felt strange to Twilight, following the Royal Guards into the polished and gleaming skyscraper. They were led on by their reluctant pegasi escort, down a set of steps and toward a rather modern-looking elevator. It was like a pilgrimage in reverse--when she’d been arrested they had taken her inside on the ground level, and she hadn’t seen the rooftop until she’d been with Celestia the next day. Twilight had no doubts as to the efficiencies of dragging the controversial anarchist rebel through the street level of New Canterlot, and it felt a little liberating to enter it again with the roles as reversed as they were.

She was with the Royal Guard now. Part of her still felt like little else but their reluctantly protected basket case, but it was a dwindling feeling, as she followed them inside the Station. 


viii


The cold bit at them as soon as they were outside. 

Celestia winced, instinctively raising a wing and squinting her good eye against the howling winds. Beside her, Lightning Dust was lifting up the hood of her parka and fixing a pair of goggles to her head. Between them and the respirator, she looked like some horror figure Celestia would have expected to see from one of those sappy science fiction novels. 

“Two minutes!” Lightning Dust called out against the wind’s roar, and Celestia nodded. 

Ahead of Celestia’s squinted eyes, the entire horizon was a muddy haze of roiling black smoke dissipating into the dim morning sky. Celestia was unable to properly make out the SunTrotter Building that Lightning Dust had mentioned--simply that a large chunk of the facility was indeed in the midst of being engulfed in vicious flame. 

Fortunately, the flames themselves were being pulled away from them by the winds. Deeper into the forsaken tundra, instead of back towards where Celestia had come. Towards Equestria. 

“SunTrotter doesn’t look good, Princess!” Lightning Dust announced. Celestia tilted her ear in the pegasus’s direction. “Still, y’know… looks like the fire hasn’t spread to the entire complex yet. It’s mostly the reactors that blew, and blast damage for the rest of the structure.” 

“Then it is possible there are survivors. We need a rescue team immediately.” 

“Right.” Lightning Dust nodded. “But let’s worry about that when we’ve got one for ourselves. I’m on wind patterns--quick flap around the building, then we're goin' back inside."

“You will have to leave my magic’s influence to do so.” 

“Yeah, but it’s blowing away from us and we’ve both got a job to do.” 

Celestia smiled despite herself. “Be swift, dear. I will verify the orbital integrity of my--of the Sun.” 

“Don’t stray far.” Lightning Dust nodded again, and spread her wings. She jogged ahead of Celestia and lifted into the air with a few powerful flaps, vanishing into the blurry mush where Celestia’s line of sight ended. As soon as she was gone, Celestia lit her horn, bringing her magic into the air to once again search for her Sun. 

It had drifted from her again, in the time she had been inside the facility. It was further again, and she brightened her horn to hastily bring it back into its proper position. A minor adjustment, but not one she was used to having to do, and the very act of doing so was enough to put her on edge. 

Lightning Dust set down after a bit, immediately trotting way back towards the metal door leading into the SunTrotter facility and beginning to wrench it open. 

Celestia assisted, and together they quickly burst their way back into the building. 

“Wind patterns are all over the place,” Lightning Dust said immediately, yanking off her respirator and taking in a few much-needed panting breaths. Celestia lit her horn, conjuring up some light heat magic around them as she shook the snow off her back. “Ready to turn at the drop of a hat. How was the Sun?” 

“In an unusual place from where I am used to seeing it.” 

“Mother Epona.” Lightning Dust spat out. “We need to let Moon Dancer know immediately. This is officially out of control.”

Celestia’s horn brightened. A shorter range teleport, back into the main control room, where Moon Dancer and her scientists all jumped up in surprise. 

And somepony else, too. An earth pony mare, who was the first to discard their surprise and replace it with a sneer directed at Celestia. She was being attended to by one of Moon Dancer’s assistants, but she did her best to glare at Celestia through cracked and crooked eyeglasses all the same.

 “And here she is, here to save the day.” 

“Spoiled Rich, I do not have time for your pettiness. Either assist me or be silent.” Celestia turned away from her immediately, addressing Moon Dancer instead. She donned her eyeglasses as she spoke, the unicorn mare coming into the slightest bit more focus. “The Sun’s orbit is irregular. It should be rising into Equestria on its own, but I have had to correct it twice.” 

Moon Dancer’s eyes went wide. “H-how severely?” 

“Fortunately, they have been relatively minor corrections. I don’t imagine we would begin to encounter longer nights until several months from now if left unchecked. Perhaps an extra two hours by January, and not subsisting from then on.” 

“Our machine is in no state to offer any sort of correction.” Moon Dancer bit her lip. “You need to get back to Equestria, Princess. If something happens to you… our relationship with the Sun as we know it is in jeopardy.” 

“You are my subjects, and I will not abandon you to your fates. Besides, it seems that Equestria’s safety is in jeopardy even if we ignore the obvious issue of the Sun.” Celestia nodded her head at the barricaded windows of the control room. At the pillars of rising black smoke hidden by the plate metal.

Moon Dancer sighed. “Point taken.”

Celestia turned to Spoiled Rich as she spoke next. “I am taking the reins back now, dear. Please… just co-operate with me. You are in no state to do anything else at the moment, considering your concussion.”

She was, to Celestia’s surprise, silent by way of reply, not breaking her glare but looking away from Celestia and back to the assistant in the midst of dabbing her forehead with an ice pack. 

“She’s going to stab you in the back the first chance she gets, y’know.” Moon Dancer glanced over, keeping her voice low. “Try and claim you interrupted the test, or something.” 

“Fortunately for me, I have you and your assistants to testify otherwise.” Celestia looked back to Spoiled Rich, raising her voice a little in her direction. “Besides, that is a hurdle I will cross when we are safe enough to worry about it.” 

“Wind patterns are irregular,” Lightning Dust spoke up. “Could be a blizzard brewing up, which would be, uh. Not good. Assuming the station’s ventilation systems aren’t on.” 

Moon Dancer motioned at the dead control panel. “We have an hour of clean oxygen in here, tops.” 

“Then we send for rescue as soon as possible.” Celestia looked over to the disguised changeling Lightning Dust had mentioned. “Gold Sky. I am told you can operate radio equipment?” 

“Y-y-yes ma’am.” 

“Okay. Then I propose several of us head to the communications building immediately. We must work quickly if we are to get there and radio for help before the winds shift on us.”

“W-what? I’m not going back out there!” 

“My dear, I saw the building on the way in. It is far enough away for it to be safe for us.” 

“Then explain where Cicilia and Misty Zoom went!” Gold Sky shrilled in reply. “They went to the comms building an hour ago! For all we know, a windigo got them!”  

“And if something has indeed happened to them, our chances of finding and helping them increase exponentially if we go ourselves.” Celestia returned. “I cannot force you to go, my dear. Only you can make that choice.” 

He gave a helpless little whimper, but nodded his head shakily. “A-alright.” 

“Thank you.” Celestia looked back to Moon Dancer. “You mentioned the ventilation of the complex is compromised?” 

“Yes. If the winds shift, we are in very significant danger.” 

“Then we must act fast. Moon Dancer, you stay here and do your best to return power to the facility.” Celestia looked back to the changeling. “Gather your respirator and parka, dear. I can teleport us when you are ready.” 

“You seem to be teleportin’ a lot for a supposedly weak and feeble old mare.” Spoiled Rich called over, starting to shakily rise to her hooves. “Why haven’t you just taken us all back to safety already?” 

“Because long-distance teleportation is a physically exhausting task, and I’ve done so twice already. Shorter-distance teleports to recently visited locations are significantly less tiring." Celestia rose an eyebrow, a little amazed by the extent of Spoiled Rich’s gaslighting abilities. “No matter how much you would perhaps wish for me to be, I am not a goddess, Miss Spoiled Rich.” 

“In other words, shut the buck up and let the mare do her job.” Lightning Dust piped up, glaring daggers at Spoiled Rich. “She’s done a hell of a lot more than you so far.” 

“Thank you, dear.” Celestia gave Lightning a grateful nod. “Are you coming with us to the communications building?” 

Lightning Dust nodded. “Yeah.” 

“I’m ready when you are, Princess,” The disguised changeling said, and she lit her horn once again, depositing the three of them into the comms building. The earth pony winced, and Celestia once again rose her right wing to try and shield them from the worst of the growing blizzard around them. Beside her, Lightning Dust did the same, letting out a little grunt as the winds once again bit at them through the cracked glass of the communications building’s back wall. 

“This is bad.” Gold Sky breathed, frowning at the snow-covered radio equipment. “Y-you’re sure it’ll even work?” 

“I am sure that it is worth the effort.” Celestia lit the weather-battered shed with her horn, trotting closer to the equipment. “Who knows about this facility? There is likely somepony trying to contact you now to verify the test’s success.” 

Gold Sky shook his head. “There’s likely somepony wondering as to the best way to let it burn and pin it on Spoiled Rich. They’re just gonna be shifting into PR mode and we’re all collateral.” 

“You are not one for inspiring confidence, are you?” Celestia shook her head. “If you are nervous around me, I promise you I do not mean you harm.” 

“No, I know.” Gold Sky exhaled, nudging his snout into a saddlebag from his side and fishing out something that sounded vaguely like a keychain. He kneeled down before the radio equipment, and a gentle hum flooded the shed as the equipment came to life, the changeling letting out a sigh of relief. 

“I-I can show you my Residency Tags,” he said as he rose to his hooves again. “If you need to see them.” 

“I do not, dear. What I need from you now is your help in averting a major Equestrian tragedy.” She gave an inviting nod over to the newly ignited radio-equipment, which Gold Sky immediately turned his attention to. He lifted one of the pairs of headphones to his ears and began fiddling with the tuning dials on the radio console. 

“Alpha this is Sierra Tango. Please respond. Repeat, this is Sierra Tango requesting immediate assistance and evacuation.”

Celestia tensed as silence followed the stallion’s broadcast. Beside her, Lightning Dust rustled one of her wings, a frown on her face. Empty static responded to his broadcast--Celestia wasn’t entirely familiar with the mechanical aspect of these devices, but she’d never seen them capable of producing the sound without some manner of power. 

No, the radio equipment itself surely would have been functioning correctly. 

It was just that nopony seemed to be hearing. 

“I’ll… keep trying on different frequencies.” Gold Sky rubbed his forehooves together nervously, and began to fiddle with the radio tuner again. Lightning Dust rustled a wing again, glancing at Celestia. 

“If… I start now, I can likely make the mainland station in two hours.” 

“The blizzards seem to be stirring up, dear.” Celestia nodded her head out the windows. “You… likely would get lost quite quickly if they do. If not forced to land.” 

“I’ll take a look around for a compass.” Lightning Dust said, motioning around with a wing at the ransacked shed. “Either way, I don't exactly trust the Industry enough to sit around waiting for their rescue.” 

“If you insist, dear.” Celestia found a map pinned to a wall in the communications building, and she gently removed it with her telekinesis, offering it to Lightning Dust. “I can get you a headstart of several kilometers using this.” Celestia nodded to her lit horn as Lightning Dust took the map gratefully. “If you insist on flying out for rescue, it is best you head out immediately if you are to avoid the worst of the blizzard that seems to be rolling in.”

“Got it. Just let me get airborne before you zap me South.” Lightning Dust folded the map and tucked it into an inner pocket on her bomber jacket. Together they trotted back to the deck surrounding the south-facing wall of the communications building. “You take care of these ponies, Princess. They're relying on you."

“As long as you take as much care of yourself, Commander Lightning Dust. I will see you again soon.” 

“Let’s hope.” The pegasus kicked off the porch without ceremony, starting to flap her wings against the growing trade winds of the Frozen North. Celestia waited until she’d reached the stride of her ascent before lighting her horn again. 

Ten kilometers. The best she could spare and not risk exhausting herself too much to be of any use to the ponies waiting for her back in the control room of the SunTrotter. Pennies compared to the vast sum that would be Lightning Dust’s perilous flight back to Equestria. 

But a little nudge forwards all the same. 

Gold Sky was still engaged in a one-sided conversation with dead static when Celestia returned to the inside of the communications building, looking back at her with a frown. “Commander’s gone?” 

Celestia nodded. “To get help. We should get back inside with the others. Nopony is answering us.” 

“I’ll stay. I’ll keep trying.” 

“Dear, the winds are blowing in our direction. The fumes from that fire will blow directly through those windows.”

“Princess, I’m a changeling. We… have quite durable respiratory systems.” 

Celestia blinked. “...respiratory systems?” 

“We can hold onto fresh oxygen for longer. Keep running on it. We’re naturally immune to a good many of the worse effects of the Industry’s pollution.” ” 

Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of that sooner? It only made sense. She nearly slapped herself on the forehead for not recalling. 

She had been kept largely from reliable knowledge of the changelings during her… gods, what could she even call it anymore? Now that she was here at the end of it all? Her exile? Her banishment? No words she picked seemed to be sufficient. 

She’d gone over the memories, though. She’d read and reread the newspapers, that Raven would bring her. Back in her cell. She’d reread the older ones with somber regret, and hastily devour the newer ones in a sort of horrified, tense sadness. Moreso, seeing how often they’d been bent as a dagger into the remnants of her legacy. 

At the genocide they claimed she, at least in part and through inaction, supported. 

Why hadn’t she been on good terms with Queen Chrysalis before? Why hadn’t she been more upfront about changelings to Equestria as a whole? 

The relationship with the changelings during the last year before Tirek’s attack was a turbulent one, to say the least. Attacks had been rare, but not entirely impossible. There had been a few. Celestia would have continued looking into them, but Tirek and Sombra hadn’t been ones to sit by and let her figure them out. 

The newer headlines over the next twelve years had been relentless. As best as she could tell, after Tirek, Equestrian had been sent into a tailspin. Chrysalis hadn’t returned, but there had still been many fringe groups of minor changeling invasions across the drastically weakened nation. 

Then, they had vanished entirely. Declared extinct by many Equestrian scholars. A former enemy of Celestia’s, now gone forever. Like the changeling Queen that her own subjects and guard had watched her kill. 

And now, here was a changeling offering to stay behind for a few of his Equestrian friends. The changeling himself had shed his pony disguise sometime during her nostalgic reverie, peering back at Celestia through reflective blue eyes. 

“If it gets too bad, I’ll head back inside.” He gave her a shaky nod. “Can just follow the snow cable back. You should be back in there with Moon Dancer, though. Making sure Spoiled doesn’t try to take things out of her hooves.” 

"Are you sure, dear? You would be all by yourself. It may be dangerous."

"Yeah, well. That's what we changelings are for." 

Celestia sighed. "That is not right at all."

Gold Sky shrugged. "It's how it is. Just because the Equestrian governments's welcomed some of us onto their soil, doesn't mean its ponies are ready to consider us one of them." 

“Perhaps...” Celestia said, shaking her head sadly. "Something to talk about together, when this is all over, hrm?"

"Yeah. When this is all over." 

"You take care, Gold Sky. We will get through this together.” 

“Good luck, Princess Celestia.” 

She trotted to the south-most deck once more, glancing back for a moment at her teleportation destination a short distance north. The inner common area, as she recalled it in her memory. A simple hop. 

She reached out with her magic for the sun one more time, though. 

She readjusted its orbit with Equestria once more. The inner walls of the SunTrotter facility seemed to interrupt her abilities to do so, so she figured she would correct it while she could. Still, the Sun was drifting on her. It hadn’t corrected itself like she had hoped it would have by now. 

She shook her head. The common area. There were still ponies within the greater facility who needed her. 

The short teleportation back inside hadn’t been kind to her. A sharp pain in her lower thigh. She winced the moment it hit her, leaning against one of the common area couches for support. 

“Damn you, Tirek.” She hissed out aloud, announcing it to the empty common room. She limped on towards the corridor, and retraced the winding sterile halls of the facility towards where Moon Dancer was waiting for her. 

Celestia could hear Spoiled Rich’s hushed voice as she reached the metal stairwell leading into the control room, doing her best to straighten her step as she climbed the metal steps. They creaked all the same, and Spoiled was quick to go quiet by time Celestia re-entered the control room. 

“So?” Moon Dancer’s frown intensified the moment Celestia entered alone.  “Bad news?” 

Celestia nodded. “Nopony seems to be hearing us.” 

"The weather?"

"Worsening. A blizzard, with the wind direction blowing north to south."

“The Sun?” 

“Drifting from me, still. In need of constant correction.” 

“Gods and goddesses above. It’s the damned Fourth Longest Night.” Moon Dancer murmured. “Where’s Lightning?” 

“Gone to go get help, though as I stated, there is a blizzard brewing. How far she gets into it… I am admittedly a little wary about. But... she at least has a head-start on the trade winds.” Celestia trotted closer to Spoiled, glancing at the same dead keyboard and monitor she had been when Celestia had left. “She states that if she is fortunate, she might be able to make the nearest outpost in two hours.” 

“Well, that’s something to look forwards to with our one hour of clean oxygen, I guess.” 

Celestia turned to Spoiled Rich. “Who knows that this facility is here, besides you? Who can we expect a rescue operation from?” 

Spoiled Rich scoffed. “I seem to distinctly recall you stating your adamant refusal to partner with me, Miss Celestia. Why would that change now?” 

Celestia blinked. “You can’t seriously be that petty. Do you honestly think there is any way I can allow you to stay in power if this is the limit you are willing to go to in order to prove it?” 

“Shocking statements from the alicorn. I have no obligation to indulge every detail of my life with you, Miss Celestia.” 

Moon Dancer let out an audibly annoyed groan from the other side of the room, and Celestia turned away from Spoiled Rich immediately. She was wasting her time. 

“She likely doesn’t even know, Princess,” Moon Dancer said aloud as Celestia limped her way back to Moon Dancer’s corner of the control room. 

“How have you fared with the air filtration?” 

“We… haven’t made any progress, Princess.” The assistant named Winter Spruce piped up, glancing at Celestia. “The explosion knocked out most of our electrical power systems.” 

“Can they be powered by another means? Some manner of diesel engine?” 

“Nothing we’d have available to us right now,” Moon Dancer said, nudging her head towards Celestia’s awkward gait. “How are your mana reserves, Princess?” 

“They are fine. It’s simply that a frustrating old splinter from Tirek is… quite irritating me right now.” 

“Convenient,” Spoiled Rich said with a scoff. Celesta ignored her. Beside her, Moon Dancer’s tail was swishing irritably. 

“Princess, how long do you imagine you could keep back the worst of the SunTrotter’s fumes with your magic? Long enough for a rescue expedition?” 

Celestia pursed her lips thoughtfully. “If I pace myself and work calmly and safely, I believe I can buy us as much as four hours.” 

Moon Dancer glanced to Spoiled Rich. “How long until somepony comes looking for you?” 

There was no response. Celestia had another stern retort on her tongue as she whipped back around, only to see the mare herself lying unconscious, both eyes shut. The earth pony medic--Clary Sage, it seemed, according to her nametag--that had been tending to the older mare gave them a helpless look, both ears sinking against her head. 

“Damn it.” Celestia stomped a hoof. “Please, try and wake her up. As soon as she’s lucid, let Moon Dancer and I know.”

The earth pony medic gave a single nod. “Of course, Princess.” 

Celestia looked back to Moon Dancer. “The ventilation system. We evidently need to find some way to power it if we are to survive this incoming blizzard.” 

“Princess Celestia, it is… a legitimate concern of mine that Equestria may not be able to survive the effects of the blizzard.” 

“I am aware of the potential impact of things here. Nonetheless, it is possible for us to weather the worst of it with the time we have” Celestia gave Moon Dancer a patient smile. 

The unicorn hardly reciprocated it, though. The grim, barely restrained look of panic on her face remained, as she looked around at her two remaining assistants and the still-unconscious form of Spoiled Rich. “Princess, can I… can I speak with you in Private? Please?” 

They made their way back down the stairwell and around the first corner of the corridor ahead, Moon Dancer stopping in her tracks as soon as they were out of earshot the same way Lightning Dust had. Outside them, the cold wind was already battering on the elevated superstructure Celestia and the remaining crew of the SunTrotter were hiding within. They would have to relocate soon--the superstructure would likely be the first to fill with toxic air. 

Moon Dancer was silent for a moment, leading the way on through the hall with a somber expression. “Princess… the reason I wanted to talk to you... if we do make it out of this, I want you to know that I’ll have your back for whatever follows.” 

“You mean with Spoiled Rich.” 

“I mean with the fallout of this. I...  I’m not wrong in assuming you’re… ahem, taking control of the cleanup here? If we survive long enough for a rescue party?” 

“It was my intention, yes. I hope that does not seem overly bold of me.” 

“Overly bold is letting that mare send the planet’s orbit into a tailspin.” Moon Dancer sunk her head, staring at her hooves as she walked. “Overly bold is spending six months helping her to do so.” 

“Contingency, I presume.” Celestia looked around at the polished metal corridors of the SunTrotter Facility. Moon Dancer gave a little nod.

“That’s what I’ve spent the last few months telling myself. The justification doesn’t feel as strong now, though. Now that the thing I helped build might…” She broke off, squeezing her eyes shut. “Whatever happens next, I did it. If we die today, I did that. And when the SunTrotter poisons the skies of Equestria, I did that, too. When the Sun goes adrift and the lands freeze, that’s on me.” 

“It is not that simple, Moon Dancer.” Celestia brought a hoof to the unicorn’s sunken chin, gently lifting it up to look her in the eyes. “And… and the doom that you seem to be projecting is not a guarantee.”

“It’s a probability, though. A strong one. Stronger than it's ever been in my lifetime.” 

“And certainly not in mine.” Celestia shook her head. “I thought Tirek’s destruction of Equestria was inevitable, once upon a time. I thought there was no way we could turn the tides of the Crystal War. And… I thought that the very idea of a mortal pony so much as touching my Sun was an arcane and scientific impossibility. For what it’s worth, dear, I am impressed. If you can believe that. I… I just wish I had been involved. I wish I could have helped. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Moon Dancer nodded, slowly and sadly. “I know. I’m sorry, Princess.” She rubbed a forehoof against the other, nodding back down the hall towards the metal stairwell into the control room. “I just wanted you to know where I stand. I know you’re not the… the smiting type, but in case the worse does happen, I wanted you to know. But you’re right. We should get back and prepare for what’s coming.” 

“Yes, we should. I am right behind you.” 

Moon Dancer trotted on ahead, vanishing around the corner of the corridor. The moment she did, a sudden shimmer of purple light lit up the hall beside Celestia, and she didn’t need to glance over to see that Nightmare Moon had arrived once again.

“Sister, if the Brothers are still alive, they will likely kill you to stay in power. Or capture you once again.” Nightmare Moon said. “There is a significantly high chance the mare feigning unconscious back there will be using this as a potential opportunity to do the same.” 

“You predict… some manner of cover-up operation to arrive here before a proper rescue?” 

“Yes. Everything that Twilight has discovered points us to that being a likely possibility.” 

“I am aware. I am also confident in the fact that Twilight herself wouldn’t let that occur without interfering.” 

“You would trust Equestria with that assumption?”

Celestia frowned. “The two do not equate.” 

“Don’t they?” Nightmare Moon tilted her head thoughtfully. “I am begging you, just this once, to admit to your own mortality, Sister. Not for yourself, but for Equestria.” 

“You think I should have stayed home.” Celestia frowned. "I should have sent Twilight handle it.” 

“I did not say that.” 

“You implied it quite strongly, sister.” Celestia afforded herself a wary smile, despite everything. “P-perhaps I should not have run ahead alone. I will give you that much.” 

“I trust Twilight with Luna’s Moon. Evidently, you do the same.” 

“Of course I do.” 

“If that is the case, she deserves a chance to help with the Sun, too.” 

“And she will. I completely trust Twilight Sparkle to be the first hooves off the first airship here. I would bet the damned Sun itself on the probability.” 

“That’s obvious.” Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “I am simply trying to make you admit the reliance you have on that mare right now.” 

“Of course I do. I’ve needed it every second since I escaped.” 

“Then don’t run off ahead without her. Ever.” 

“I will apologize to her profusely when I see her in a few hours.” 

“Uh-huh. Don't go dying before you get the chance, Sister.” 

Outside them, the halls of the SunTrotter facility had started to shake more against the enveloping blizzard. Still, it sounded too rhythmic to be natural. Too forceful, too. Like rapping on the walls and ceiling of the SunTrotter Facility. Like claws dragging themselves down the metal walls, searching for weakness or purchase.

As though something was trying desperately to get in. 

A trick of the wind, and the cooling metal, no doubt. She told it to herself as she trotted on where Moon Dancer had been, Nightmare Moon once again a memory in her consciousness. Still, there were the tales, of course. Celestia was no stranger to them. The claims that the windigos had gone extinct were still claims, to this day. Celestia had thought it to be true of the changelings, too, and she’d been proven wrong about that. 

At the thought of the changelings, her mind returned to Gold Sky’s panicked ramblings. They’d been the first thing she’d truly heard, upon arriving in the SunTrotter Facility, after all. Disregarding them proved to be more and more difficult as the blizzard around them battered against the facility. 

She lit her horn to correct the Sun again, but her magic still could not seem to penetrate the facility’s ceiling. She continued her way back where Moon Dancer had headed, instead, pushing the fear in her heart down one more time.

 She’d had many final stands before, after all. What was one more?


ix


Twilight’s first encounter with Commander Thundercloud was as unpleasant as she’d predicted it would be. 

He’d stormed in nearly two hours after the officer had vanished to go wake him. Twilight had been pawing at the waiting room carpet the entire time, her ears perking the moment she heard the elevator chime out from somewhere down the corridor. 

He stormed in without ceremony, glaring at Twilight. “What in Tartarus is this punk doing in my office at this hour?” 

"Likely wondering why her brother isn’t having this conversation with you.” Aura Gleam stepped forward, giving the pegasus stallion a quick salute. “Commander Thundercloud. Warrant Major Aura Gleam, sir.” 

Thundercloud gave a somewhat half-hearted salute back. “What do you want, Warrant Major?” 

“Access to a medium-sized, arctic fitted airship as soon as possible,” Aura Gleam said, quickly and urgently.

“Denied. Are you out of your mind, mare?!” 

Twilight groaned. “Princess Celestia felt the Sun move. There was an explosion someplace out there large enough to shake Old Canterlot.” 

Thundercloud gave Twilight a cold glare, evidently disgusted by the prospect of talking to her. “I didn’t feel anything. The Sun is rising as usual. I’m not about to throw you lot the keys to a multi-million bit airship because you’re worried about your senile marefriend.”

“Sir.” Aura Gleam cleared her throat. “There have been several confirmed eyewitness reports of smoke someplace to the North of Canterlot Mountain. At least four separate provinces have reported them by now.” The unicorn gave Thundercloud a look that seemed almost sympathetic to Twilight. “However you wish to address this, and your previous experience with my guard division disregarded, it will get handled for you eventually if you don’t act first.” 

Thundercloud glared, and then let out a long sigh through his snout. “Fine. You and your guards can go. She most certainly does not.” 

Twilight scowled at Thundercloud’s pointing hoof. “Why? Afraid I’ll see something I shouldn’t?” 

He laughed. “The mare with the camera around her neck who talks to herself? Yes, I’m terrified.” 

“Sir, she’s in the company of the Royal Guard.” Aura Gleam piped up. “We’re with her as an escort. Wherever she goes, we--” 

“Don’t care. She’s been nothing but trouble the entire time I’ve known her and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Sending her along on a highly hard-to-sell-at-this-hour airship ride doesn’t exactly seem like a worthwhile use of fuel and oxygen.” Thundercloud shook his head, looking back to Aura and the other uniformed guards surrounding Twilight. “You lot are welcome, she goes home. I’ll even pay for her Air Taxi fare.” 

Twilight gawked, hardly believing her ears. It felt like the entire office was imploding, crushed into a singularity by the morning outside the brightening windows. “L-look. I need to get up there. If Celestia is in danger then the Sun is in danger and if the Sun is in danger, then I can’t not be there for that!” 

Thundercloud scoffed. “You’re out of your mind, mare. Do you have any idea how much trouble I could be in if the Industry finds out I sent along Twilight Sparkle on a highly secret state investigation? I’d lose my job.” 

“B-but... I’ll be quiet, I swear! They won’t even notice I’m there!” Twilight was practically begging now. After everything, all the promises she’d made to always be there for Celestia… it couldn’t end here! “Please. I… I have bits. Nearly… nearly a million. Nopony has to know that I went along…”

“You have bits.” Thundercloud rose an eyebrow. 

“Yes! From Princess Celestia’s inheritance! Prince Blueblood gave it to us.” Twilight nearly winced at how shrill and irritating her begging voice had become. “P-please, Thundercloud. This has nothing to do with me or the Industry. I’m… I’m just worried about my marefriend. I swear. Nothing I see will get published.” 

Thundercloud let out another mighty sigh. “Ugh. If it’ll save me from enduring any more of your sobbing. But that camera stays on my desk.” 

Twilight had to wrestle down the snide remark before it left her tongue. Instead, she vented her frustrations into a spiteful tug of the camera strap with her telekinesis. She tossed it angrily onto Thundercloud’s desk. “There. T-thank you.” 

“W-well, alright then…” Aura Gleam glanced around. “Which way to the airship hangar?” 

“Oh for the love of… you want to go now?!” Thundercloud let out a groan. “Let me finish my godsdamned coffee first!”

“Drink it on the way down.” Aura shook her head. “We need to act fast.” 

“Yeah?” Thundercloud laughed. “How do you figure?” 

“An explosion means smoke. Smoke spreads, obviously,” Twilight said, wrinkling her nose in disbelief that she even had to explain. 

“Right, and you’ve seen signs of this smoke?” 

“Yes! You can smell it from the top of Old Canterlot mountain!” Twilight gawked. “Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said?” 

“Yes, and none of it particularly convinces me of much besides the obviously pitiful retail value of Old Canterlot.” 

“Sir, I can confirm what Miss Sparkle is saying.” Aura Gleam looked from Twilight to Thundercloud. “Similar reports from Neighara Falls and Trottawa also confirm that something to the far north of Equestria is expelling black smoke at an alarming rate. The last time this happened, the Royal Guard was the one entrusted with responding to it.” 

“Yes, and we all know how swimmingly that went.” Thundercloud rolled his eyes. “Your boss made sure of that, leaking State secrets to the press. Damned treasonous traitor.” 

Twilight glared, a retort on her tongue, but Aura Gleam was quicker on the draw. “Don’t you dare say that of Captain Armor. You’re not even half the leader he is.” 

Thundercloud laughed. “Don’t say it, or what? He’s going to come all the way from the Dragonlands or Griffonstone or whatever hole the State shoved him in? He’ll come all the way back to scold me using all that power he’s still got, right? A squad of irrelevant relics in silly armor. I’m terrified, really.” Leaning forwards in his chair, Thundercloud tapped his badge with a hoof. “If I’m not half the leader he is, why do I have the authority to send him out of the country when he becomes a nuisance? I am allowing you to take up important resources that I could be trusting my own stallions with instead, Warrant Major Aura Gleam. Do keep that in mind.” 

Beside her, Aura Gleam’s glare had grown even more venomous than Twilight’s, but she forced her head into a single nod. “Yes sir.” 

“I’ll send for an airship at eleven, when I’ve got enough officers in to send along. You ponies can ride along with that one.”

“At eleven?” Twilight shrilled. “Are you crazy?! That’s in, like, three hours! If the fire is as bad as it seems, they could all be dead by then!” 

“And if it’s not, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do to the Industry. If you don’t want the free ride up, just let me know, Sparkle.” Thundercloud narrowed his eyes. Twilight bit her lip, shaking her head. “Uh-huh. Didn’t think so.” 

“Isn’t there any way you can send a ship sooner?” 

“Plenty. But I’m not going to. And I’m behind the desk, not you, so that’s how it’s going to be. So, if you want to join an investigation effort, then you’ll follow my orders, and if you make any trouble for my officers...” Thundercloud jabbed a hoof in Twilight’s direction. “...then you can walk back from the Frozen North for all I care. That clear?” 

“Crystal.” Twilight gave a defeated little nod. “Thank you, Commissioner. I guess.” 

“Uh-huh. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” 

Aura quickly ushered them out into the hall again, marching them onto an elevator and hitting the button for the airship hangar immediately. “This isn’t good.” 

“I can’t believe that stallion. Celestia might be in danger up there!” Twilight stomped a hoof on the elevator floor. “How can he not know that?!” 

“Unless… maybe he does.” The earth pony guard, Shallow Step, piped up. “It’d match what we found with Captain Armor, about how the Industry behaves about its secrets.” 

Aura Gleam gave a little nod. “Shallow’s right. It’s what I worried would happen. They’re probably sending a clean-up crew before us. Wiping the place down of hoofprints and individual accountability before we show up. Y’know. Like we were supposed to do.” Aura glanced over to Twilight as the elevator rattled on. 

“What are we going to do?!” 

“Our best damned detective work when we get there, I guess. Hate to say it, but Thundercloud’s right. He makes the call, and if we go against his officers, it’s well in his power to just arrest the lot of us and keep us here.” Aura gave a helpless shrug, glancing over to Twilight. “I’m sorry about what he said, by the way. Y’know. Bout your brother.” 

Twilight let out an annoyed whinny. “T-thought you were going to deck him out for a moment, there.” 

Aura laughed. “Wanted to, trust me. Still, ponies like him are everywhere they shouldn’t be, and we have a job to do that kinda requires keepin’ him on our side.” 

“Guess so.” 

Aura Gleam shifted a little, taking off her helmet to scratch at her mane for a moment. “Dunno how I feel about what he said about Shining’s redeployment, though.” 

“Yeah, he’s an asshole,” Twilight said. “I get it.”

Aura shook her head, putting her helmet back on. “Not that. It’s that he changed his story. Subtly, but he did. First, he said ‘Dragonlands or Griffonstone or wherever they sent him’. They. And then, ‘I have the power to send him out of the country.’” 

Twilight blinked. “W-wait. Yeah.” 

“Just on the back of my mind, is all. I guess three months without proper contact with him fills me with theories and suspicion.” 

Before Twilight could ponder the intricacies of such suspicions, the elevator chimed out its own arrival, its metal grating doors opening to the New Canterlot PD Airship Hangars. They were greeted by a long metal mezzanine, lined on both sides by sleeping airships lit by bright spotlights. They were all lying in silent wait, their tall, goldfish-like forms looming on both sides of them as their hooves clanked on the mezzanine. The Royal Guards led on to a waiting lounge at the end of the mezzanine, where two Canterlot Police officers ushered them in with quick salutes. 

It was another silent agony to Twilight, sitting within the lounge and watching the clock tick on the hours of what could quite possibly be Equestria’s demise. Celestia had feared as much, after all, and it was all the convincing Twilight had needed to share the fear herself. 

She ran a hoof along the cool polished gem of the Sunstone while she waited. She couldn’t imagine what Nightmare Moon would have to say about her idleness, but there was truly nothing she could do shy of teleporting herself aimlessly into empty air. 

So instead, she tensely watched from beyond the glass of the waiting lounge. Already, one of the more narrow and streamlined airships was being awoken, although it looked far too small to have much use as a rescue vessel. It was rumbling to life as if it were a living thing--smoke billowing from its sides like a dragon, the sound of its warming engines drowning out most other sounds along the metal strut connecting the various sections of the airship hangar. From within an observation deck, Twilight and the Royal Guards had watched the procedure. Twilight watched with her face pressed against the glass, while the Royal Guards waited in patient formation behind her. 

“Is that our ship?” Twilight frowned, pointing it out to Aura, who was closest. 

Aura trotted over, a frown on her face. She glanced back to check the lounge clock, and shook her head. “Way too early. But it does look like its been built for arctic travel. Look, you can see the reinforced plating jutting out from the balloon near the front and back, and the engine cars are much bigger than normal.” 

Twilight blinked. “Wait. Do you think it’s…”

“Wait here, Twilight,” Aura said, and before Twilight could protest she quickly trotted out of the lounge, the sound of the waking airship growing much louder for the brief moment the door was open. Twilight watched her talking with the ponies attending to the airship’s fuel lines, Aura seemingly a little upset about something as she continued to speak to them. 

When she re-entered, she motioned for Twilight to come closer and spoke in a hushed voice. “I think that’s the one, Twi.” 

“What?!” 

“Shush! Keep your voice down!” Aura Gleam snarled, but then nodded her head. “They’re filling it with alpine diesel. You can tell by the way it smells. Officers are refusing to tell me where they’re heading--calling it a State secret. I very much doubt it’s just a coincidence.” 

“I need to get aboard…” Twilight whispered. “If we let them get there before we do… and Celestia’s in danger…” 

Aura Gleam nodded again. “Well, it’ll be taking off soon. How good is your blind teleportation, Twi? Moving target, but it’s a big one. Even a ship that size is going to have a cargo bay. About thirty square feet wide, right in the main balloon below the hydrogen cells. If you can handle the cold and know how to keep your head down, you might be able to hitch a ride aboard their top-secret attempt at kicking Celestia back down into the little hole they’re digging for her.” 

Twilight nodded eagerly. She didn’t need the extra convincing; she was already itching to let loose with her teleportation spell the moment Aura had returned. 

“Wait till they’ve cleared the hangar, Twilight Sparkle.” Aura Gleam gave Twilight a little pat on the shoulder. “Trustin’ you with a lot, but Celestia’s already done that, so. Trust well placed, I think.” 

“You’re not coming?” 

Aura nodded her head to the ceiling, where a dozen floors but still only one short intercom call separated them from Commissioner Thundercloud’s influence. “Probably best if somepony sane is aboard the rescue ship, eh?” 

Twilight managed a little smile, despite everything. “A-alright.” 

Outside, the last of the mooring lines had already been detached from the airship. It was lumbering above the metal struts freely now, its powerful twin propellers already starting to spin to life. Aura gave Twilight one last nod, taking off her helmet to do so. “Good luck, Twilight. Go save the Princess.” 


x


Moon Dancer and her two assistants had already donned their respirators by the time Celestia made it back into the control room. Spoiled Rich was conscious again, in the middle of putting her own respirator on between spiteful glares in Celestia’s direction. Thankfully, she remained silent, apparently no longer trying to interrupt Celestia’s control over the crisis. 

 Moon Dancer trotted over, giving Celestia a grim look. “We have about twenty minutes before the ventilator goes. Think you’re gonna be ready for that, Princess?” 

Celestia nodded. “Not only am I ready, but twenty minutes may be enough time for me to show you the gist of the spell myself. If I pass out, you can take over and buy us a bit more time.” 

“Let’s not delay, then.” Moon Dancer nodded eagerly. “Show me what I need to do.” 

Both of Moon Dancer’s assistants approached, too. Of the two, only Winter Spruce was a unicorn, but Clary Sage abandoned her care of Spoiled Rich in favour of watching Celestia and Moon Dancer all the same. Hopefully, Celestia thought, that was some indicator towards the stability of Spoiled Rich’s condition. As much as she hated the mare, it wouldn’t exactly bode well on her to allow her to die before the rescue arrived. 

She demonstrated the spell to Moon Dancer in quick, simple instructions, and despite everything, she felt somewhat comfortable doing so. She forgot about the outside world for a brief moment, and ignored the sounds of the blizzard and the pounding and scraping on the facility walls--she wasn’t even fully convinced that they weren’t a symptom of her own madness anyways. For the moment, the only thing that mattered was a quick little magic lesson taught to an eager young unicorn. 

It was, of course, not a particularly simple lesson; shield magic rarely was, and in her time Celestia had only seen a few unicorns excel at it. It was less a true shield, and more an elaborate modification of outwards telekinesis. Pushing matter away from the caster, instead of drawing it closer or specifically manipulating it. She’d already done it, back in the fields of Hollow Shades, and fortunately smoke should ultimately be easier to push away. 

It certainly helped that Moon Dancer herself was no arcane slouch, and quickly seemed to get a general understanding of Celestia’s explanations as the minutes ticked on. 

“Oxygen is still going to be a problem,” Clary Sage said, tilting her head thoughtfully. “Even if we’re able to make ourselves an airtight bubble with positive pressure. We just have until we exhaust the oxygen in that bubble.” 

Celestia pursed her lips thoughtfully, nodding. “You have an infirmary in this facility, I hope?” 

Clary Sage nodded. “Of course. Down the hall, two rights.” 

“Go there, and take in any external oxygen tanks you have,” Celestia said, earning a quick nod from Clary Sage. “Spoiled Rich, are you fit to walk?” 

Spoiled Rich let out an irritated hiss, her ears perking at being addressed. “Yes, if need be. Why?” 

“Go with Clary Sage and help her, please. And do make haste.” 

“Obviously.” Spoiled Rich rose to her hooves begrudgingly, and together the two earth ponies scurried out of the control room. 

Twenty minutes passed sooner than Celestia would have liked. It was time in which Moon Dancer was given little opportunity to practice the spell Celestia had flung at her, but still enough time to imbue her with some fragment of understanding towards it. She listened intently and interrupted only when necessary, and by time Spoiled Rich and Clary Sage returned she had gained some manner of purpose to replace the crippling dread Celestia had seen in the corridor outside.

“Smoke’s already in the north-wing of the building,” Clary Sage said as soon as she entered. The earthpony mare was helping Spoiled Rich walk while also carrying a few oxygen tanks on her back, and Celestia took one in her magic as she approached to relieve some of the pressure. 

“Okay. Everypony, please stay close.” 

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Moon Dancer glanced up at Celestia with widened eyes. The other two assistants nodded themselves, and even Spoiled Rich gave Celestia a little bow. 

“Hope you know what you’re doing, Celestia,” Spoiled said, coming out of her bow and double-checking her respirator. The assistants and Moon Dancer did the same, and Celestia took to staring down the steps leading back into the rest of the facility. 

She took in one deep breath--or, as deep as she could through the respirator. She let it out, again. If she would’ve known it would be the last breath of untainted air she’d be getting, she perhaps would have savoured it a bit more. 

But she did not. She lit her horn, and the crew of the SunTrotter had gathered close to her, each wearing some variation of fear and anticipation on their faces. Even Spoiled Rich seemed to be looking up at her with widening eyes, wordlessly hunting for some assurance that they weren’t about to all choke on the arcane fumes penetrating the SunTrotter Facility.

Celestia couldn’t offer such assurance through words. Not anymore. Instead, she simply lit her horn brighter and began to calmly cast magic away from her--away from all of them, and outwards towards the south-wall’s exposed ventilation shaft. Telekinesis, but with direction. With a flow, like the babbling brooks that had once lined the outskirts of her little pony’s cities and towns. A warm orb of magic had enveloped the Princess of the Sun, and the rest of the Sun’s unexpected new caretakers as well.

A steady mist had begun to creep up the walls of the control room, rolling off the walls of Celestia’s magical barrier and crawling across the ceiling. The mist clung to corners in the control room like a rot, making the air feel heavier and heavier by the second. The ceiling had become a rolling ocean of smoke, which Celestia pulsed her horn against, fighting desperately to push it away from them and out through the exposed ventilation shaft. Outside of them, the pounding on the facility walls had resumed with an angry vengeance. Celestia winced, and Moon Dancer did, too. Whether it was from the sound or the sight of the princess struggling, Celestia didn’t know. 

Celestia squeezed her eyes shut, and felt a hoof on her back the moment she did. 

“N-need a break, Princess?” Moon Dancer’s wavering voice sounded out. 

“No, my dear. I’m fine.” 

Celestia’s wings quaked. Her muscles tore themselves apart. Her breathing was pained and labored. She wasn’t a triumphant hero, she was a weak, old mare. 

And she was going to die here. Die in a museum of her own subject’s desires to do away with her. 

Why had she ever hoped for anything different?

The blizzard winds outside the walls of the SunTrotter Facility had resolved into a constant, furious shrilling. Windigos. Celestia didn’t know how she knew, but some part of her did. How fitting that they would be here, at the end. How fitting they would be here to consume her, as the SunTrotter had consumed the Sun. As the smoke that was suffocating them would continue to consume the skies above. As the fear and paranoia that Spoiled Rich had fought so hard to incite would consume the last traces of equinity that her ponies might still have throughout the dying days of Equestria. 

She fought to calm her breathing. A difficult task, through the respirator, and through the knowledge of what lay beyond her closed eyelids. Moon Dancer’s hoof on her back remained,  though. It felt comforting, to Celestia. With effort, she straightened her posture once again and brought her focus back to her task. For two thousand, seven hundred, and fifty eight years she’d been dragging her old carcass across the aging, cooling world. She could handle a few more hours. 

They ticked onwards in a hazy blur. A blessing, Celestia supposed, of the excruciating focus she was forcing her body through. She could feel her mana pools draining the whole while, a horribly headache splitting through her head. Her eternally blurry vision was a mess of brightening colour now, the faces of the ponies she’d been protecting lost to her panicking, misfiring brain. 

Too much magic. She was nearing her limit. She knew it as her legs started to waver, her head thumping harder than the clawing, angry blizzard battering the lonely superstructure. It was all she could hear--a constant angry war drum, like her brain was noisily tearing itself apart. 

Whether it had been twenty minutes or two hours, she had no idea. She was distinctly aware of the fact that she was crying, but every other feeling was gone to her. The pain of her strained magic wasn’t growing, anymore. It was numbing. Fading. Not subsiding, she was just losing her own grasp on it entirely. 

It was the last thing to go, before nothingness consumed her. A vague feeling of relief, squashed by the realization that this could be it. She was losing consciousness, that much she was certain of. And, for the first time in her life, she realized how likely it may be that it would be permanent. This wasn't the bold little stunt she pulled in the Hollow Shades, after all. This was far bigger than that.

The Sunstone, Twilight Sparkle, Nightmare Moon… Had it been enough? If she fell here, would she ever know?

Her brain ended the last of the world around her before an answer arrived, everything collapsing back into blackness.