Year: 120 BE (Before Equestria)
Unicornia, one of three capitals in the Federation of Pony tribes (F.P.T.)
6 unicorns were standing in the middle of an open field. They looked at the moon before them with visible trepidation. There were three mares and three stallions in the group. A mare with a blue coat, dark blue mane, and tail. A mare with a purple coat, pink mane, and tail. A mare with an orange coat, blond mane, and tail. A stallion with a pink coat, purple mane, and tail. And finally, a stallion with a red coat, black mane, and tail, all of the unicorns appeared to be around 30, all except the last stallion.
He had a grey coat and a white mane and tail with streaks of grey going through them. He was wearing a blue cape with stars on it. A hat with a similar pattern with a bell on the end of it sat on his head. This stallion was much older than the others around him, he looked like he was nearing eighty but was in fact nearly three hundred years old. The reason he was still alive had to do with a chronomancy spell he had personally developed. The spell slowed down the aging process significantly. Although not immortal he would be able to live at least five times as long as his fellow ponies according to his calculations.
All of the other unicorns had differing expressions. The orange-coated mare looked resigned, simply staring at the ground. The red-coated stallion looked resolutely at the setting moon. The pink-coated stallion and purple-coated mare looked like they wanted to run away and were frequently glancing at the surrounding guards. The blue-coated mare had tears in her eyes and looked pleadingly at the old stallion.
"Please," the blue-coated mare begged the old stallion. "Don't make me do it, I'll do anything you want just choose someone else."
"Stop," The red-coated stallion ordered still looking at the moon. "We were all chosen by fate to perform this duty, we all knew the day we would have to give up our magic would eventually come for us. As it does for all unicorns."
"Except for the 'all mighty Star Swirl the Bearded'," the pink-coated stallion shot back with contempt oozing from every word gesturing to the old stallion.
"You should be grateful, if not for Star Swirl we'd be standing here with ten unicorns."
"I don't want to lose my magic," the blue-coated mare muttered sobbing lightly.
"Why did I have to be chosen, my magic is all I have," The orange mare muttered to the sky.
"Enough," Star Swirl said softly but with finality to his tone. "I know this is difficult, I for one could not imagine my life without magic. But we have little choice in the matter, it is either us sacrificing our magic or the destruction of our entire world." Star Swirl said, despite his seemingly sympathetic words. His voice had a cold emotionless tone to it like he was merely having a casual chat.
"Then why don't you do it on you're own!" The pink stallion said firmly, irritated by Star Swirls' tone. "If you're magic does not disappear after you take the duty of five unicorns why can't you take our place as well."
"I am already taking as much of this duty as I can," he responded with a slight exasperation in his voice, like he was trying to explain to a particularly stupid student why 2 + 2 = 4. "If I were to take over for all of you I would lose my magic, and then we would have to once again sacrifice ten unicorns instead of five. Incidentally, If I were to take over for even one more unicorn I would be unable to practice magic for the rest of the day. That would leave me unable to do my duties as a court sorcerer and leave the unicorn tribe all but defenseless."
"But, I-"
"But nothing. You have been chosen to participate, it doesn't matter what you're opinion is on the matter." Star Swirl said cold eyes meeting the pink stallion's frightened ones.
The pink stallion shrunk back after that, he looked at the exit to the plaza where multiple unicorn guards were stationed. They were staring at him expressionless waiting in case he ran off to drag him back and force him if necessary. Even if he somehow managed to slip away he would be proclaimed a criminal to be hunted down, and then brought right back as the majority of the unicorn tribe would go after him. It was in fact common for convicted felons to partake in this ritual. The criminal would no longer be able to use his magic, and one less innocent unicorn was forced to sacrifice theirs. It was why most unicorns were almost excited when they heard that a band of unicorn bandits had been rounded up. The pink stallion had often celebrated with the rest of his friends at the tavern when it happened.
The pink stallion sighed in resignation and lifted his head to the sky.
"Ready your horns," Star Swirl said as a grey aura began to cover his horn and he lowered his head. The other unicorns followed his lead their auras forming on their horns as they all reached out to the moon. "pull!"
the unicorns pulled with all their might. They felt a cooling chill on their horns. That chill slowly began to cover their entire bodies. Then they became colder and colder. Soon it felt like they were standing in the frozen north, then it felt like a blizzard had swept over them while they were visiting the frozen north. The five unicorns barring Star Swirl started to shiver and clack their teeth rapidly. Star Swirl having done this process for decades was less affected by the cold. Slowly agonizingly the moon disappeared below the horizon. As the unicorns gathered their breath they gathered themselves. Most of them had just performed the most exhausting spell of their lives. Even Star Swirl was panting lightly, the pink stallion and orange mare even allowed a small smile to form on their lips despite the fact they were still shivering. Even though it was tough, they reasoned that they could probably handle that one more time since Star Swirl was able to do the job of five unicorns maybe they could handle taking over for just one. They were decently powerful magic users, maybe not as strong as Star Swirl but they could use some advanced magics like teleportation. And the strength of their telekinesis was far above that of the average unicorn.
'Maybe I could even become part of this regularly,' The pink stallion thought. 'It would pay better than my current job.'
If the pink stallion had just looked beside him at Star Swirl though he would not have been so arrogant. Star Swirl had braced himself for what was about to happen and glanced at all the unicorns surrounding him, all of them too focused to notice his gaze.
And then there was pain, agonizing pain, pain like none of them had ever felt before assaulted them. All of them, even Star Swirl, who had done this ritual a few thousand times by now. Were screaming in pain. They screamed until their throats grew horse and then screamed even louder. The pain was agonizing nothing in the world even came close to it. It felt as if they had taken a literal dip in the center of the sun. They should have been instantly turned to ash by this intense heat. But for some agonizing reason, none could ever hope to understand in their delirious state. They didn't die. The reason for their continued existence was that they were not physically on fire. But because they were using their magic directly on the sun, the most potent source of natural pure fire magic in the solar system, the sun's heat was in direct contact with their magic. The problem with this was that a creature's magic was directly linked to the soul. Hence it wasn't their bodies that were burning but their very souls. They weren't even able to dissipate the spell as the sun was absorbing their magic. And so they could do nothing more than scream.
Raising the sun should have only taken a couple of seconds but to the unicorns, it felt like a hundred lifetimes. Finally, the sun fully entered the sky, and all the unicorns felt a final wave of pain more intense than even the previous one. Like their souls being pulled out of their bodies. Then it was finally over and they collapsed to the ground. Even Star Swirl stumbled to the ground hacking up blood and nearly lost consciousness. After lying there for a few minutes Star Swirl rose and started walking away. The pink stallion raised his head having regained consciousness after he passed out. He looked at Star Swirl as he passed him.
Star swirl walked up to the guards wincing slightly with every step. "Sun raised successfully." He said as he passed the guards.
The guards nodded as Star Swirl passed them and disappeared into the castle.
Star Swirl slowly walked through the castle halls trembling with every step, no matter how many times he did this it was always painful. He slumped against a wall and started to violently cough up blood again.
"Fuck," he muttered before taking a couple of big breaths.
'The unicorns are becoming weaker, less and less care for training their magic to more than a basic level. I can not even blame them, there is not much use for training a skill that will eventually disappear. But now, unicorns are not strong enough to defend themselves. If this goes on the unicorn tribe will fall apart and after that, the other pony races will not be far behind.'
"Star Swirl!"
Star Swirl straightened at the voice, not wanting to look weak in front of his student. Quickly whisking the blood away with a spell he turned around to see a unicorn filly with a white coat and a pink mane and tail run towards him. Her pink eyes glistened slightly with tears and her cheeks were puffed out in an angry pout.
"Blue is being a meanie!" She said angrily.
"Am not!" Another unicorn filly shouted, she had a blue coat and a light blue mane and tail. She simply rolled her eyes as she walked up behind her sister.
"Yes, you were. You stole my haycake!" She said pointing accusingly at blue.
Star Swirl allowed himself a small smile at his student's bickering.
"I don't know what you mean, there were only two haycakes for each of us."
"WE WERE EACH GIVEN THREE, AND YOU HAD FOUR! I SAW YOU EAT THEM!" The white filly yelled as she pointed an accusing hoof at her sister.
"You must have not seen right, sis. Besides, where's your evidence."
"IN YOUR STOMACH!"
"Now, now," Star Swirl said, deciding to interrupt the two fillies before things escalated further. "Blue, you should not be eating your sister's food, if you wanted more you could have just asked the chefs."
Blue looked down with an apologetic expression while her sister gained a smug smile.
"Same goes for you White, you should have talked to the chefs before resorting to fighting with your sister," White looked down guiltily as well. "Remember you should always remain calm and control your emotions. That is how you avoid making mistakes."
"Oké," Blue said with a small sigh before turning to her sister. "I'm sorry for stealing your food, White."
"I'm sorry for yelling at you blue," White said before wrapping her sister in a hug.
Star Swirl watched the fillies for a little bit, seeing how healthy they now looked made him happy. He still remembered how malnourished they were when he first met them.