Sunrise
Chapter XI - Castles in the Sky
Clover, Celestia, and Luna trudged through a desolate field, pushing their way through a blanket of fresh white powder nearly half a meter thick and still piling up with flakes pouring from the sky. Their hoofsteps were exaggerated, lifting high to get above the snow before plunging back down, making what would have been an easy walk into hard work. In these conditions, Celestia was finding the old cold-weather adage—It’s not so bad if you just keep moving—to have some problems with the details in distribution: the exertion and the phoenix feathers in her cloak were making her back and sides uncomfortably warm and sweaty, while her legs were freezing.
“If only the cloudwalking spell you had us learn also worked on snow,” Luna huffed, looking up at the gray sheet of rolling clouds covering the entire sky. Large flakes drifting down through the air settled on her long eyelashes, glittering there like white crystals before she blinked them away. “This weather team is really laying it down, aren’t they?”
“Makes better cover for us.” Clover had no problem talking while she continued striding along easily. Celestia didn’t quite understand how the cardinal wasn’t tiring out like they were. It was all she could do to try and keep up.
Clover pushed another few hundred meters into the heart of the blizzard, then finally stopped. She looked around, appraising their position. “Right, this should be close enough.”
Celestia noticed intermittent flittering movements overhead, silhouetted forms darting between cottony billows of gray clouds like candy-colored dragonflies. She realized they were pegasi. It made her nervous. She’d never actually seen one in person, except once or twice through a telescope. Even then, it was always across such a huge distance that the flier was barely anything but a dark speck against the sky, drifting lazily upward on a thermal in a slow spiral.
But she had a general impression of what they were like – at least so far as could be gathered from the stories.
There were a lot of stories.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Celestia’s voice shook a bit with apprehension.
“Well, the arrangements are made, and we’re already here.” Clover’s horn started glowing and she shot a fountain of rainbow sparks into the air, sending a bright signal flare a hundred meters high. “It’s a little late to back out now.”
Seconds passed in silence while the three unicorns waited. One of the pegasi started descending towards them. Tiny and distant at first, the pegasus was followed by another larger object Celestia couldn’t immediately identify. As it closed in, she started to be able to see that the pegasus was a mare, and the object following her was some sort of cart, being drawn through the air by two other pegasi harnessed side by side.
The lead pegasus folded her wings partway and stooped like a falcon, diving with forelegs held straight out in front of her and hind legs trailing behind. The three unicorns watched while she accelerated to a high speed, then in the final stretch, suddenly flared her wings and flapped to airbrake herself and pull up, sending the falling snowflakes swirling around to either side of herself in twin vortices. She lowered her legs under her body and touched down gracefully on the snow, sinking into it as she landed.
The pegasus took a few steps toward the unicorns, stopping about ten meters away. She sized each of them up swiftly with darting pale green eyes. Celestia had difficulty making out her precise features, thanks to her coat being as white as the snow she stood in. Entangled snowflakes sparkled in her blue mane and long dark eyelashes like tiny stars.
“You’re the unicorns I’m supposed to pick up?” she finally asked. Although she spoke the common language, her voice had an exotic accent that Celestia couldn’t place. The logic in her head supposed this might just be how all pegasi spoke, after such a long cultural divide from ground-living races.
“That’s us.” Clover nodded. “I’m Clover. This is Celestia, and Luna.”
“Alright, cool.” The pegasus nodded back. “I’m Gale Winds. Cart’s right behind me.”
True to her word, the cart landed a few seconds later. The two pegasi pulling it, a mare and a stallion, didn’t speak. They just stood and waited, stomping the snow and looking around at nothing in particular while they periodically exhaled clouds of foggy white breath. Celestia noticed with surprise that none of the pegasi were wearing any clothes, seemingly totally unfazed by the winter weather.
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road.” Gale Winds waved the unicorns to the cart while she opened the back gate. Clover walked over to it and climbed in, followed by Luna and Celestia. Gale Winds unceremoniously closed and latched the gate once they were inside.
“Hold on to something. Here we go!” She took off and started flying upward at a leisurely pace. The cart jolted when the two harnessed pegasi took off after her lead, shaking the three unicorns and sending them bumping into each other awkwardly until the flight smoothed out and they regained their balance. Freezing wind and stinging snow whipped around them with increasing ferocity as they built up speed and moved higher into the storm.
Gale Winds flew a short distance ahead, clearing the way through the rough weather for the cart. After a few minutes, they were soaring up and punched through the cloud cover, past other pegasi working on the blizzard, then they were over the clouds in calm blue skies. Above the storm, conditions were much better. The sun shined down on them with a little bit of welcome warmth as they travelled onward toward their far-off destination.
☙ ☀ ❧
After several hours of flight, Cloudopolis, the great pegasus city, came into view. Celestia was awestruck by the way it looked like everything Quartz City was not. The architectural differences were night and day: Where Quartz City imparted a fortress-like sense of solidness with heavy stone walls, most of the structures making up Cloudopolis were ringed arrangements of pillars, spires, or ionic columns supporting a light roof, or even no roof, making the city open and airy. Instead of marble or granite, structures were made from what Celestia recognized as cloudstone. It was as hard as rock, but being made from cloud, still passed some light through it. Like the pegasi themselves, this substance was something she’d heard about, but never seen up close before. Mere descriptions and ink sketches in books couldn’t do justice to the effect it created. Everything seemed to glow in the sun, filled with glorious light. Whatever the pegasi themselves proved to be like, Celestia couldn’t deny the breathtaking beauty of their city.
The cart flew in and landed while Celestia and Luna both looked around in wide-eyed silence. Pegasi flew back and forth in every direction, organizing themselves into ad hoc flight lanes between huge clouds floating both above and below where the cart had stopped. Where unicorns sprawled their construction horizontally, it seemed the pegasi also did so vertically, taking advantage of all three dimensions of space. Celestia silently admired the efficiency, and the way this made natural sense for a race endowed with flight.
Gale Winds walked around the cart and opened the back gate. Clover stood up and immediately jumped out. Celestia’s heart leapt into her throat for a split second, with terrible visions of the cardinal dropping through the clouds like a stone and plunging to her certain death. Fortunately, when she hit the white fluff it supported her as if it was solid ground.
Celestia stood at the back of the cart and reached out with a forehoof, poking cautiously at the fluff. To her relief, the cloudwalking spell seemed to be working. She stepped out gingerly, testing more of her weight on it until she was sure it would hold her. It felt pillowy and soft under her hooves, but firm enough to walk on easily.
Luna followed, equally hesitant at first but quickly gaining confidence once it was clear she wasn’t going to fall through.
“Nice magic trick,” Gale Winds commented. “Had me worried for a second there. I was wondering if I was about to have to move quick to catch you.”
“Thank you for your concern.” Clover nodded. “But we’ll be fine.”
Gale Winds looked around. “Somepony here to see you.” She pointed across the cloud to a pegasus walking towards them.
“As expected.” Clover nodded. “We’ll need to speak to this contact in private, if that’s alright.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Gale Winds shrugged. “Go. Talk. We’ll wait here for you here, whenever you’re ready for the return trip.”
“Thank you.” Clover started walking over to meet the other pegasus with Celestia and Luna following close behind her.
The approaching pegasus was wearing a blued steel chestplate over her pink coat. Her blonde mane was pulled up through the top of a matching helmet to form a thick crest. “Excuse me. Are you the cardinal mage? Clover the Clever?” She had a surprisingly soft voice with the same accent as Gale Winds, and studied the group intently with her copper-colored eyes.
“Yes.” Clover nodded. “That’s me, and these are my colleagues, Celestia and Luna.”
“My name is Pansy. Welcome to Cloudopolis. I’ve been expecting you. I’m an adjunct from Commander Hurricane’s office. She sent me to receive you and take your message.”
“Message?” Clover looked nonplussed. “Oh. I see. I was hoping… well, fine. Where can we talk privately?”
“Oh, um, over there should be fine.” Pansy pointed to a flat square area of a cloud that had been shaped into a small open-air forum surrounded by pillars, currently empty of any other ponies.
Clover nodded and the group walked to the forum. There were some benches, carved from cloudstone with fluffy normal cloud on top as cushioning. Once they sat down, Clover cast a soundproofing spell, enclosing them in a sphere of silence to the outside.
Clover spoke first. “May I ask your rank, Pansy?”
“Private,” she replied.
“A private?” Clover sighed with exasperation. “Not even an officer. I ask Commander Hurricane for a meeting, she says, ‘sure, I’ll arrange a cart, fly on out!’ …and then she sends a private to take a message?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Pansy said with downcast eyes. “But Commander Hurricane is very busy, and—”
“No, no.” Clover waved it off. “It’s not your fault, Private Pansy. I suppose I should have known I’d get brushed off.”
“Again, I’m very sorry,” Pansy continued. “But as I said, I can take a message and get it back to Commander Hurricane for you. What should I tell her is your business in Cloudopolis today?”
“Our business?” Clover stared at Pansy, incredulous. “An impending major power shift in the Unicorn Kingdom, which she needs to know about. That’s our business.”
“Well, that sounds serious,” Pansy said. “I’m sure she’ll be wanting to get back to you about something like that. Are there any further details I should tell her?”
“Probably not that she’d believe,” Clover muttered. She stood up and paced for a few seconds. “Not without—”
She stopped suddenly. “You know what? A message. Yes. Actually, I think a message might be just the thing. And I think I know how to send it.”
Clover gave Celestia a meaningful look, and nodded her head up at the sun.
“You’re going to have to make it move,” she said.
Celestia was silent for a moment, trying to decide if she’d heard correctly. “It’s the middle of the day,” she pointed out. “The solarites at the thaumocontroller will notice for sure. There’ll be an uproar. Probably a big investigation while they try to figure out what happened and who did it. We’d be at least partly tipping them off and showing them the most important card in our hoof.”
“I know.” Clover sighed. “But we don’t have a choice, because it’s even more important to show that card to somepony up here. You heard the pony. We need a message for Commander Hurricane. It needs to be one she can’t ignore.”
“Excuse me, but, umm, what did you say you’re going to move?” Pansy asked, quietly alarmed.
“Just watch the sky, Private Pansy.”
“You’re really sure about this?” Celestia asked.
“It’s the only way I can think of for us to get Hurricane’s attention,” Clover replied. “And we have to succeed here, whatever it costs us. We’ll deal with the consequences later.”
“Fine.” Celestia nodded. “If we must, then we must.”
“Hey, just a second!” Pansy demanded, moving to position herself in front of Clover. “Listen to me!”
All three unicorns fell silent, their attention suddenly focused on her.
“Explain what you’re doing. I was told you were only here to talk. Nopony said anything about magic or moving things. We have strict regulations about that kind of thing! If you’re about to do something that might break Cloudopolis law, I should warn you that I might have to arrest you!” she announced as sternly as she could in her soft voice. “It would be, umm… very unpleasant!”
She stared down the unicorns, chest puffed and wings quivering.
“Alright, alright, I’ll explain,” Clover relented. “No need to get excited. My colleague is going to move the sun.”
Terrible an idea as it may be, Celestia thought.
“Everypony’s going to wonder what in Tartarus just happened, including Commander Hurricane,” Clover continued, “so you’ll go explain to her that we’re responsible, and that it’s extremely urgent that we speak to her immediately because this is a sign of an imminent massive power shift in the Unicorn Kingdom, which will be of vital strategic importance to the Cloud Empire. With my crazy magical unicorn powers of prognostication, AKA common sense, I predict that a miracle will occur and she’ll suddenly find the time to meet with the three of us. Now… just to make sure, none of that is illegal, is it?”
“Oh.” Pansy nodded, wide-eyed. “Uhh, okay. I— I guess that’s…”
“Thank you.” Clover smiled warmly at Pansy, then turned to Celestia. “If you would, please?”
Celestia nodded. She focused on her horn, opening herself to the ever-present field of solar magic. The inrush was immediate and dramatic, even moreso than usual. For the past two weeks of practice since first learning how, she’d only done this at night during the times when her experiments and manipulations would go unnoticed. The sun lent her power enough even when the entire planet had been in the way. Now, with a clear path, it felt even easier and freer flowing.
She thought it felt limitless before. But this! This was even more incredible!
Taking the sun in her grasp was like the comforting embrace of a warm bath on a cold day. Relishing the chance to soak in it, to bathe in its power, she started moving it. But something fought against her, in a way she’d never encountered at night: The sun felt like a ball attached to a mesh of strong springs, and the more she tried to pull it away in any direction, the stiffer the resistance became as it was yanked back to its original position. She realized it was the thaumocontroller trying to fight her and keep the sun on its assigned track.
She scowled under her glowing horn. This wasn’t right. The sun was hers. Hers! This interference would not stand! Clover had said it was time to send a message, and with sudden jealous resolve burning fiercely in her mind, Celestia agreed.
Send a message? Yes. I will send a message!
She resolved that she would send a message indeed – she would show everypony what destiny had decreed, and who was truly meant to harness the glorious sun.
Nothing else for it, now, anyway.
And so, terrible idea or not, she threw the gates of magic open with wild abandon. All her being surged with the solar energy she drew into herself. The glow of her horn, already so intense it was hard to look at, became even more blindingly actinic and shifted from the rose color of her irises to the brilliant white-gold of sunlight. Her mane and tail began to drift lightly in the air, floating on some unfelt ethereal breeze. Gentle shimmers of green and blue appeared, mingling with the usual pink color. Her eyes started glowing bright white, abundant stray magic pouring out through them to manifest as thaumoradiant emission.
The competing grip on the sun felt feeble to her now in comparison to her own power. She made her move and wrenched it loose, tearing and brushing away the tattered remains of the machine's grip and revelling in the control she now possessed. It yielded solely to her, and she pushed the sun without any resistance.
Triumph rose in her heart. The sun is mine!, she wanted to cry out, to scream loud enough for all the world to hear.
Still, she knew it would be a victory tempered by fleetingness. The thaumocontroller was still out there, and it groped like a pony fumbling in the dark, trying persistently to reestablish its grasp. Although she easily kept it at bay for now, she could feel it clamoring for what she held. The prize was hers for but a moment. Soon, grudgingly, she would have to let go and give it back.
But not yet.
Not yet!
So she savored the seconds. For a just few wonderful, incredibly satisfying moments, she drove the sun wildly through the sky however she wanted.
She sent her message.
☙ ☀ ❧
Fifteen minutes later, in a spacious office in one of the few walled buildings of Cloudopolis, the three unicorns stood before a large cloudstone desk.
A pegasus mare in ornately chased shining steel armor glared at them from behind it. Her blue-green eyes and stone face were difficult to read, making Celestia apprehensive about not being able to tell if she was impressed or enraged.
“Good afternoon, Commander Hurricane,” Clover offered.
Nopony moved. Celestia and Luna were too nervous, and Clover seemed to know better. From behind her desk, Commander Hurricane just stared for a few more seconds.
“Do you think that stunt of yours was clever?” Hurricane finally asked, breaking the tense silence.
“Clever is what they call me,” Clover replied.
Hurricane frowned and crossed her forelegs across her chest. “I see you’ve still got a smart mouth, too.”
“Like a fine wine, Commander.” Clover shrugged apologetically. “It only seems to get better with age, I’m afraid.”
“Obviously.” Hurricane chuckled with a crooked half-smile. “Gonna get you in real trouble one of these days, though. You know that, right?”
“Well, they call me—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Hurricane cut Clover off with a wave of her hoof. “Clever, not wise.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Clover asked. “We’re here in your office, instead of being dismissed by your errand-mare private.”
“Hey! You show some respect for my soldiers,” Hurricane barked back. “Pansy’s not just an errand-mare. She may not be high-ranking, but I trust her with a lot of responsibilities. Her job wasn’t to get rid of you, it was to evaluate you. She’s one of my personal adjuncts because she’s good at screening who’s going to waste my time and who isn’t. But obviously, you thought it would be better to short-circuit the process with magic stunts, so here we are.”
“Sorry.” Clover shrugged.
“Well, what’s done is done, and you have my attention now, so…” Hurricane held up a hoof and rolled it slowly in a get-on-with-it gesture.
“Right.” Clover nodded and cleared her throat. “To get straight to the point, we’re here because we need your help, Commander.”
“Oh yeah? With what?”
“We need an army,” Clover said. “And you have the best one there is.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask.” Hurricane raised one eyebrow. “What does a unicorn cardinal mage need a pegasus army for?”
“For keeping the Unicorn Kingdom’s army off our back.”
“Interesting. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it sounds like someone’s turning rebel,” Hurricane said.
“Huh.” Clover rolled her eyes in thought. “You know, that’s what Chancellor Puddinghead said, too.”
“Oh, Puddinghead? Rousing the earth pony rabble too, are we? Trouble down there amongst the ground-dwellers?” Hurricane asked. “Or has being a powerful wizard finally gone to your head enough that you think you should be the one in charge of it all?”
“No, no, nothing like that.” Clover shook her head. “The truth is, I’m sorry to say we’re having a Platinum problem. She’s taken some very foalish ideas into her head, and they’re not going to end well. My colleagues and I need some cover while we fix what needs fixing. I was hoping you’d be willing to hear us out and understand why helping us is a good idea, for your sake as much as ours.”
“I’ll give you a chance to explain. But as much as Platinum isn’t my favorite pony, I have to tell you upfront it’s going to be hard to justify fielding an army in a way that threatens hostilities with the Unicorn Kingdom.” Hurricane frowned. “The Cloud Empire has a long-standing deal with them, as you’re well aware, and that deal is not lightly trod upon.”
“You might have noticed that my colleagues have gained control of the sun,” Clover pointed out.
“And?” Hurricane asked.
“The world is changing, Commander. There’s a new deal now.”
Every pony in the room looked at Celestia and the ethereal streaks which had still not fully faded from her mane.
“Alright.” Hurricane leaned forward, ruffling her wings for a moment before she settled them at her sides. “I’m listening.”
☙ ☀ ❧
After the end of Clover’s explanation, Hurricane sat quietly for a few moments. “So… no more earth ponies,” she finally commented, her voice carefully neutral.
“That’s the gist.” Clover nodded.
“Kinda messed up.” Hurricane shook her head. “I’ve seen the Unicorn Kingdom do some sketchy stuff in my time, but this is way out there.”
“So you’ll help us take them south?” Celestia asked hopefully.
“I don’t know yet.” Hurricane shrugged. “From what I’ve seen, you obviously have progress made on the start of an ambitious plan, but I’d also like to see something more before I commit to possibly risking open hostilities with the Unicorn Kingdom. I want to know you’ll actually get this thing off the ground once push comes to shove. I want to know if there’s really something here.”
“What gives you reason to doubt?” Clover asked.
“What have you really shown me so far?” Hurricane asked in return.
“Enough to get us into your office,” Clover pointed out. “Enough for you to see that the sun is under new management.”
“It looked that way, for a few minutes,” Hurricane said. “But you have to admit it’s hard to verify whether that stunt is repeatable, and in any case a few minutes hardly tears down and redefines one entire side of the economic triangle. It’s not exactly like you’re the only game in town. What about the Thaumosciences Authority and all their mages? What about the thaumocontroller?”
Luna stepped forward. “We will deal with those in the proper time,” she said.
“And when is the proper time?” Hurricane peered at her.
“Soon,” Luna asserted confidently.
“Oh?” Hurricane’s ears perked up. “It sounds like you have a plan for that, too.”
“Of course we do.” Clover smiled slightly, presenting a confident front alongside Luna.
Celestia was aware of no such plan, but she played along and said nothing, standing fast next to Luna and Clover and trying to put on as fearless and certain a mask as they were wearing.
“Care to fill me in?” Hurricane asked.
“I think it’s best kept between us, for now,” Luna said, indicating herself, Celestia, and Clover. “But I promise this: We will seize the sun, as surely as we stand in front of you right now. And when we do, everypony will know it.”
“Alright…” Hurricane gave them a curious look and raised one eyebrow. “I’ll give you the chance. Impress me. Do what you’re going to do, come back here, and show me. If you can do your part, I’ll do mine and the Cloud Empire will help you take those earth ponies south.”
“Deal!” Clover nodded vigorously. “Thank you, Commander. I knew you’d be reasonable. Much more than Puddinghead, anyway.”
“Ha!” Hurricane chuckled. “If you’re trying to flatter me, you might want to set a higher bar than comparing me to the chubby chancellor.”
“Oh, I’d love nothing more than to try again for old times’ sake, but regrettably, we really should be going,” Clover said. “Our cart is waiting, and it’s a long flight back. And I’m sure you have other pressing matters to attend to. I’m afraid it’s time to say good day, Commander.”
“Right, then.” Hurricane gave them a nod. “I’m not sure if I’m terrified or looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. Good day, Cardinal. Celestia. Luna.”
The three unicorns turned and walked out of the office.
After a few minutes of walking across the cloudscape back toward their waiting cart, Clover spoke once they were alone. “So that went well, I think,” she said.
“For the most part, yes,” Celestia replied. “Although I wasn’t aware that we had any specific plan yet.”
“Nor was I.” Clover shook her head and looked sidelong at Luna. “Thinking on our hooves, were we?”
“Sorry,” Luna said sheepishly. “But you said we had to succeed here, whatever it took, and deal with the consequences later. It seemed like a plan was what Commander Hurricane was looking for, so I thought we’d better give her what she wanted.”
“Well, you’ve certainly given us an interesting consequence to deal with,” Clover said. “You two are the sun- and moon-moving experts. How fast do you girls think you can come up with a plan?”
“Actually, I wasn’t entirely bluffing back there.” Luna grinned. “I already have something in mind…”