//------------------------------// // V - Thieves // Story: Sunrise // by Winston //------------------------------// Sunrise ​    Chapter V - Thieves ​    When Celestia woke just before dawn the next morning and went to the kitchen to get breakfast, she found Luna already there, making toast for herself. “Do you want some?” Luna offered. “Yes. Thank you.” Celestia sat down at the table, still half asleep, her unbrushed mane messy and hanging in her face. A few minutes passed before Luna joined her at the table, setting down a plate stacked with slices of toast and a jar of jam. Celestia used her magic to hover some toast and a knife in front of herself, and spread jam in a thick layer. The deep purple-black color and tiny seeds told her it was blackberry. The label on the jar also said so, once the haze of sleep started lifting enough for her to bother reading it. “Congratulations, by the way,” Luna said between crunchy mouthfuls. “What for?” Celestia asked. “Well, you may not be back on the sun control team yet, but at least it looks like you’re not on that terrible earth pony project anymore.” “I guess not.” Celestia shrugged. “But I can’t help thinking that by getting Clover’s attention, I might have been pulled out of the frying pan and gotten us both tossed in the fire.” “I—” Luna yawned and blinked with slow, heavy eyelids. “I hope not.” “Still tired?” Celestia asked. “Very,” Luna said. “Sorry. Did you get much sleep?” “No.” Luna shook her head. “None, actually. I stayed up all night.” “What?” Celestia cocked her head and looked at her sister. “Why?” “I’m too used to the night schedule.” Luna shrugged. “I’ve learned that the fastest way to shift over to a day schedule in a hurry is to stay awake. Trying to sleep through it doesn’t do much good. Besides, even if I’d wanted to, I just…” “What?” “I can’t stop wondering what Cardinal Clover must think about me after yesterday.” Luna examined a piece of toast. “I know she told us both to be here, but you don’t really think she’s going to want anything to do with me, do you?” “Why wouldn’t she?” Celestia asked. Luna lapsed into silence. I think we both know why was written all over her embarrassed face. Celestia understood only too well. A fragmentary recollection of the beautiful mare lounging in Luna’s bed flashed through her mind, unbidden and unwelcome. She pushed it aside in a disgusted instant, breaking eye contact with Luna and staring at her breakfast instead. She tuned out everything else and let herself be completely fascinated by the texture of the toast: the crunch of crispy, dry, warm bread and the way the constellation of hard but tiny seeds in the blackberry jam felt between her teeth. Both of them resumed eating in awkward silence, finishing without speaking. Just after they were done, there was a knock at the door. Celestia stood up and went to go answer it. Luna stayed in the kitchen, hiding at the sink where she was taking an extraordinarily long time to wash two plates and a knife, focusing on scrubbing them with meticulous deliberation as if nothing else existed. As Celestia expected, it was Clover at the door, wrapped in her forest green cloak just like the previous morning. “Please, come in, Cardinal,” Celestia welcomed her. “Thank you.” Clover entered, shaking off the early morning’s frosty cold. She removed her cloak, hanging it on the coat rack. “I brought coffee for us all this time,” she said, pulling a thermos out of her saddlebag. “That’s appreciated.” Celestia smiled. “I’m sure we could all use it.” “Don’t mention it. It’s the least I can do, considering the imposition of this unexpected reassignment and what I’m afraid it might demand.” “You make it sound ominous,” Celestia said. “Should it sound ominous?” “Maybe it should.” Clover’s voice became grim. “I’ve come to some conclusions, but I’m not sure you’ll like what I have to say. We need to have a very serious talk.” She looked past Celestia, toward the back of the house where Luna was still hiding out in the kitchen. “All three of us, if we could.” “Luna, would you come over here, please?” Celestia felt bad even as she called her sister over, but there didn’t seem to be any choice but to take that elephant head-on after all. After a moment, Luna entered the living room with her head held low, dragging her hoofsteps. Clover watched Luna’s demeanor with concern. “Is something the matter?” she asked. “No… I just… I didn’t know if… you know…” Luna trailed off, mumbling. “…If you’d even want me around, after yesterday.” “Ugh.” Clover rolled her eyes. “Look. I understand that it was an embarrassing moment for us all, and if you’re still hung up about it, then, again, I’m very sorry. It was my fault. But, while I don’t want to seem insensitive here, frankly we all have to get over it right now because we don’t have time. There are important things to deal with, and we’re going to need to work together to address them. I’ll forget all about it if you will, alright?” Luna lifted her head a little, finally able to look at the other two ponies, and nodded in a small motion. “Good,” Clover said. “So, let’s have some coffee and get woken up, and go over where we stand so far. Do you have cups?” Celestia led the way into the kitchen, where she retrieved three mugs from a cabinet. Clover poured coffee for each of them after they sat down at the table. “First things first.” Clover pulled two sets of papers out of her saddlebag and slid them across the table to Celestia and Luna along with their coffee mugs. “Your transfer orders are ready. You two officially work for me until further notice.” Celestia looked at the papers in front of her. She took a moment to read them, and couldn’t help but feel impressed. Anypony else probably would have taken days or even weeks to get personnel transfers wrangled through the administration process. It said something about Clover that she was able to make it happen in a matter of hours. At the same time, though, it sent an anxious twist through Celestia’s stomach. Until this moment, all the events of yesterday—going to the Royal Palace, dreamwalking, being appropriated into the personal staff of a cardinal mage—felt like a fantasy, some kind of surreal joke being played on her. “You’re serious about this,” she mumbled, eyes fixed on the orders. Staring down at the proof right there in black and white, the gravity of it hit her all at once in a way that was very real and very sobering. “Yes.” Clover nodded. “I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to the situation we find ourselves in. What I realize is that every time I look at a different facet of it, the timing only becomes more extraordinary. At exactly the moment the Unicorn Kingdom is about to start starving and freezing because farms are failing in an icy climate we’re slowly losing the struggle against, we’re shown a place that’s warm and filled with rich grasses and fertile land. Right at the moment when earth ponies would have their future taken away, we find a place where they would be able to prosper again. I don’t think it’s hard to infer what’s meant to happen.” “We have to go south,” Celestia stated. “Just like Luna said.” “Right.” Clover nodded. “And not just us. We need to take earth ponies with us. It has to be a colony, a whole resettlement, as many earth ponies as we can. All of them, if possible.” The two sisters stared at Clover with wide eyes for a moment. “That’s—” Celestia rolled one hoof slowly in the air, searching for words. “—very drastic, and, umm, not something me or my sister know much about. We’re not farmers, or explorers, or leaders, or any of the things it would take. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how we’re supposed to do something like that.” “Nonetheless, you’re the ones who had the vision.” Clover shrugged. “I’ll be honest, I don't exactly know how this is supposed to work either, but I also don’t know what choice we have. I just know that this is the option we've had thrown in front of us. Either we take it, or we sit back and watch earth ponies, and then maybe unicorns, die out.” Celestia sighed and slumped her withers. “Well, when you put it like that…” “I know.” Clover smiled sardonically. “No pressure or anything.” Celestia groaned and buried her face in her hooves. “Where are we even supposed to begin?” “That’s a good question,” Clover said. “Actually, there are many good questions. I think I have an idea of which one we should start with.” “Which is?” “The first question is, are we even going to be allowed to try?” Clover said. “And I can already tell you the answer is ‘no.’ The Unicorn Kingdom would never let a significant number of ponies just leave their borders to start a new settlement outside of their control, even if it was their only choice between survival and extermination.” “Then how are we supposed to move ponies south, if that’s what we have to do?” Celestia asked. “That’s the part I’m stuck on, so far,” Clover said. “What if it’s not a settlement outside of their control?” Luna suggested. “What if you ask them for support and make it a territory of the Kingdom? Isn’t that better for everypony?” “I don’t actually think so, because it wouldn’t solve the underlying problem.” Clover shook her head. “The Kingdom would send military oversight to enforce their policies and maintain control. Earth ponies would still be nothing but tenant farmers on unicorn land. Besides, the Kingdom wouldn’t even want a new territory somewhere distant in the south. It would be seen as an expansionist move that would upset things with the Cloud Empire and tempt pegasus competition for new settlements, which would be too expensive to defend against, and too politically difficult to create enough support for. The princess and the noble houses would never let it happen. There’s not enough for them to gain even if everything goes right, and everything for them to lose if anything goes wrong.” “So on one hoof, they won’t let us try on our own, and on the other, they won’t help and even if they did it would only make things worse,” Luna said. “There’s not a lot of options left if those two fairly broad avenues are both categorically eliminated.” “Right, it leaves us with the options that don’t involve getting the Unicorn Kingdom’s permission,” Clover said. “Basically, either being sneaky or using force.” “Can we be sneaky about it?” Celestia asked. “We can’t.” Clover shook her head. “Believe me, that was my first thought, but when big swaths of earth pony village populations just start moving away and nopony’s left working the farms, that’s not something that can be hidden. Nor is all the logistical effort before a migration can even start, for that matter. Sneaky isn’t practical on this scale. Might as well try to hide a herd of tap-dancing elephants.” “Well, that’s just great,” Celestia mumbled, feeling uneasy about where this was headed. “All you leave us is force,” Luna said unhappily, stating what her sister was thinking. “How are we supposed to force the Unicorn Kingdom into letting us do something like this?” “That would be the next logical question.” Clover shrugged. “I don’t suppose you girls have any highly advanced secret weapons or doomsday devices lying around, do you?” she asked sarcastically. “Do we look like domestic terrorists?” Celestia responded sourly. “Of course we don’t have any weapons!” She felt the flush of angry warmth in her face, and heard her voice come out louder than she’d intended. Her heart was suddenly beating harder and she could feel hairs standing up on the back of her neck. In the moment of uncomfortable silence that followed, Clover stared at her and slowly raised one eyebrow. “I’m sorry, Cardinal,” Celestia said, shrinking back down in her seat as she remembered her place. “It’s just that what you’re saying is… forgive me for being blunt, but…” “It’s a little upsetting?” Clover suggested. “Yes.” Celestia nodded. “Exactly. Maybe more than just a little. What I think you’re asking us to do… well, I don’t know how else to take it.” “It’s alright. Believe me, it is, because this should be upsetting.” Clover sighed. “It’s upsetting to me, too. I didn’t see things ever coming to this. I mean, my goodness, I personally work directly for the princess. I’m the last cardinal mage you’d ever think would be sitting in a house with a junior thaumite and an apprentice, thinking we’d have to plan rebellion against the Kingdom.” She looked back and forth between Luna and Celestia. “But here we are.” Luna cleared her throat. “I have to be honest,” she said hesitantly. “I really wish we weren’t talking about this. It’s crazy to even discuss. I don’t know how it can end well for anypony.” “I know, Luna.” Clover stared into her coffee mug. “But the alternative is letting things happen that are even crazier. I know it’s an insane response to an insane situation, but I’m desperate and I don’t know what else to do.” “Do you really think there’s no other way?” Luna asked skeptically. “We’d never even met before yesterday. It’s a little fast to jump to this, don’t you think?” “I understand your doubt,” Clover said. “From your perspective, you’re right, this must seem very sudden. But try to understand that there’s a lot that’s been kept from you and most other ponies. Please believe me, this isn’t a decision I just made in a day. The truth is, I should have tried to do something before now, but I’ve been too scared—” Clover’s face took on a pained expression while she fidgeted with her coffee mug. “—The truth is, this has been a long time coming,” she continued. “The problems with the climate and the way we’ve been dealing with earth ponies have been getting worse for years. Decades. Your sister can tell you. She spent months doing field research on it. The writing’s on the wall, Luna. Has been for a while. I’ve been trying desperately to ignore it, or find some way around it, but I admit now that’s been a big mistake. We’ve all got to start reading it, and fast.” Luna looked at Celestia. “It’s true.” Celestia nodded with a sad sigh. “I wish it wasn’t, but I see evidence piling up, and it doesn’t look like anything is about to just get better on its own. Seasons are getting colder. Farming is getting harder. The food surplus is going to run out, and that’s the point of no return. I think, once that happens, it’s just a death spiral from there, especially if the Unicorn Kingdom uses the crisis as an excuse to figure out how to generate artificial earth pony magic, and then uses that as an excuse to deem earth ponies unnecessary and begin exterminating them.” “Alright.” Luna nodded. “But even so, we still don’t know how to run a colony, and we still don’t know how to make the Unicorn Kingdom let us. If it’s a matter of force, we don’t have it.” “I agree,” Clover said. “It’s something we’ll need to find.” “How?” Luna asked. “When you want somepony to cooperate with you, it’s about either having something they fear, or something they want,” Clover said. “Maybe we should think about how other polities get the Unicorn Kingdom to come to agreements with them.” “Usually it’s been about the balance of power to control the environment,” Celestia said. “The economic triangle made that happen. The sun and the moon are controlled by unicorns, the weather’s controlled by pegasi, and the land by earth ponies. It used to keep us, if not always totally friendly, at least working with each other.” “Right, there’s that model.” Clover nodded. “But obviously it’s been falling into power being concentrated in the unicorns, since the Unicorn Kingdom essentially owns the earth ponies and their farms now,” Celestia said. “I don’t know how we could ever create a power shift so huge it brings us into a position of being able to manage a mass exit of earth ponies against the Unicorn Kingdom wanting to keep control of them.” “Yes, imagine us bending the entire Kingdom to our will. If we’re dreaming that big, why don’t we just grab the sun from the sky while we’re at it?” Luna grumbled, rolling her eyes. Clover had been about to say something, but she lapsed into silence and stared curiously at Luna instead. “That’s not very helpful, Luna,” Celestia scolded her. “Sheesh, sorry,” Luna said. “I was only joking.” “Well, we need real ideas, not jokes,” Celestia said. “Because to me, it seems pretty hopeless from here.” Clover was still staring thoughtfully at Luna, slowly running one forehoof around in idle circles on the table. Suddenly her hoof stopped and her eyes went wide. “Cardinal?” Celestia looked at her. “Are you alright?” Clover responded slowly. “Celestia, would you stand up, please?” she asked. Celestia stood, though she scrunched her muzzle slightly in confusion about the request. “And you, Luna,” Clover continued. Luna stood too, also looking unsure. “Turn sideways,” Clover instructed them. “Let me see your cutie marks.” Luna and Celestia looked at each other in puzzlement for a brief moment, but turned as Clover had asked, standing with Celestia’s blazing yellow sun over white coat next to Luna’s silvery crescent moon and black cloud over midnight blue. “I must be losing my touch.” A smirk came over Clover’s face. “Why didn’t I think of that?” “Think of what?” Celestia asked. “The sun—” Clover pointed at Celestia. “—And the moon.” She pointed at Luna. “Luna, you’re a genius!” she proclaimed excitedly. “I… am?” Luna tilted her head, looking dubiously at Clover. “It’s so obvious!” Clover grinned and laughed. “I’ve been thinking about it all wrong. You two aren’t just a junior thaumite and an apprentice. You’re a solarite and a lunarite. Not just any solarite and lunarite, either, two of the most talented ones the Unicorn Kingdom has seen in generations, and a sibling team besides. No wonder you were the ones with the vision. It’s so crazy it might just work!” “What might?” Celestia asked. “Exactly what Luna said.” Clover’s grin widened. “We’re going to steal the sun.” Luna stared at Clover, dumbfounded. “You, umm. You know I was joking, right?” “Oh, but I’m not.” Clover shook her head. “We’re going to snatch it right out of the Kingdom’s hooves, right out of their sky. Or, you are, Celestia, when you’re ready. And I’m going to get you ready.” “But the solar thaumocontroller and the solarites who work there control the sun,” Celestia protested. “Even if they didn’t, it’s still too big for just one pony. Moving the sun takes the thaumocontroller’s machinery and a dozen unicorns working together.” “Bah. A dozen merely average mages and thaumites,” Clover waved a dismissive hoof. “Most of them aren’t wearing the sun for their cutie mark, though, are they?” “No, but...” “And we’ll deal with the thaumocontroller when the time comes,” Clover continued. “Don’t ask me how yet, but I have complete confidence that we’ll think of something.” “What makes you so sure we’ll be able to do any of this?” Luna looked at Clover with a skeptical eye. “Because, Luna, in my various adventures through life so far, I’ve found that you can do anything when your back is against the wall,” Clover proclaimed, lightly pounding one hoof on the table. “...Or you can just lie down and die, of course, but I hope we’re not opting for that route.” “Well, if you’re really determined, it seems like you and my sister have a lot of challenges and a lot of work ahead of you,” Luna said. “All three of us do,” Clover said, staring intently back at Luna. “Me?” Luna recoiled, looking puzzled. “What about me?” “What do you mean, what about you?” Clover was suddenly exasperated. “How else could this ridiculous idea possibly work?!” she exclaimed, waving her hooves as if it was obvious. “It wouldn’t do much good to take the sun without also taking the moon, now would it?” “That’s... true, actually.” Celestia nodded slowly. “If we only controlled the sun, the Unicorn Kingdom could just keep it perpetually eclipsed with the moon. They’d still have complete veto power over everything as long as they’re the ones who can cut off the light, not to mention how important the moon is in regulating tidal forces on the planet and the lifecycles of living things. They could do a lot of damage with it out of spite.” “Exactly.” Clover nodded. “You’re just as important, Luna. We can’t do it without you. So what do you say?” “Oh no.” Luna turned to look at Celestia with pleading eyes. “What have I gotten us into?” With a wry smile, Celestia put her front leg around Luna’s withers and pulled her close. “Whatever it is, dear sister, once again it looks like we’re in it together.” Luna facehoofed and shook her head. “I should have just kept my big mouth shut,” she lamented.