//------------------------------// // Prophecy // Story: My Little Teelo: Winter's Silence // by Ardwolf //------------------------------// In which a princess is astonished, a troll refuses to take offense, and the discussion turns to astronomy. Evelyn’s bombshell was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Enter.” Princess Luna said, raising her voice but thankfully forgoing the Royal Canterlot Voice. Pinstripe Tock entered the room and bowed to the Princess. He seemed shaken. “Your Highness the Snøskred wishes to speak with you.” The dark gray pony began. “He is—not himself. If I may be so bold as to offer my opinion, I believe it might be prudent to grant him an audience.” Luna blinked down at the pony. “Thee seems ill at ease, Organizer. Is the Snøskred threatening to go on a rampage?” “No, Your Highness. Quite the opposite.” He glanced uneasily at the humans. “The Snøskred said it was a matter for either you or your sister alone.” “That does not explain why thou art ready to bolt, Organizer.” Luna noted. “Thou mayest speak freely, We trust Lady Teagan and her companions.” “He begged me, Princess!” Pinstripe blurted. “He actually got down on his knees and bowed his head to me!” “Excuse us? Didst we hear thee correctly, Pinstripe Tock?” The princess asked, wide-eyed. “Yes!” He nodded rapidly. “It’s unnatural, Your Highness! He didn’t stamp once all the way here!” “It must be a matter most grievous indeed. Very well, bring the Snøskred before us.” Luna decided. The pony bowed so low his dark green forelock brushed the floor. “At once, Your Highness.” He trotted to the door and swung it wide. Luna stood and motioned for the humans to do likewise. Matt had already done so, well versed in etiquette. Evelyn was almost as fast, leaving Teagan to bring up the rear. “The Princess has granted your boon, Snøskred. Please enter.” When the troll did the pony backed out of the room and closed the door. “Thank you for seeing me, Your Highness.” The troll said in a low voice. “As you can imagine I would not do this if there was any other way.” “A troll being humble is no small thing, Snøskred Mot Lyn. We cannot imagine what would prompt such behavior.” The Princess said, not hiding her curiosity. “Surely only the end of the world could bring about so radical a change!” She smiled, rather proud of her little joke. The troll nodded. “Yes, Your Highness. That is exactly what has done it.” “What?” She asked, taken aback. “Tišina plans to feed the entire world to the Sun before the month is out.” The troll said in a flat voice. ooOoo The chariots landed a little over two hours after they took off. The tired pegasi that had pulled them gratefully went back to their barracks while fresh members of the Sun Shield took over. Celestia bid goodnight to Twilight, directing her to the Ghrian suite and asked one of the guards to have Fairie Mist find lodging for the Stonespeakers Celestia then conferred with Spring Water on assembling a team of skilled unicorn surgeons for the morrow. There was no real urgency since time wouldn’t pass for Garnet, frozen in stone as she was. The frantic effort to save her life would come only after the stoning spell was undone, and that was going to be tricky indeed, since the resulting flare would destroy the operating room. Unfortunately the surgery couldn’t be performed safely in the open air either, for a variety of reasons. Tentative plans were laid and alternatives discussed. The palace architect was summoned and the plans continued. After two more hours Celestia was free to seek out her sister’s chambers and blessed sleep. She was staying with Luna until her own chambers could be repaired. She had been told the damage would take weeks to put right. Although she’d been careful to hide it from her student the repeated surges had extracted their toll. Celestia felt like someone had taken a board and beaten her savagely. It was all she could do not to sag and wince with each step as she made her way along thankfully deserted hallways. But the guarded habits of a thousand years are not so easily dismissed. Even now she could not be sure a random pony would not come upon her unexpectedly, and it would never do to have that pony see her looking anything less than regal, especially after the recent unpleasantness. Sometimes Celestia loathed the role that had been thrust upon her by an uncaring fate. She had had no idea what was in store for her when she cast the Great Spell. If she had…well, she’d have done it anyway. She sighed. She couldn’t even grumble to herself about it convincingly… With relief she came to Luna’s chambers, nodding to the guards who flanked the door. A simple flare of her horn caused the magically warded doors to recognize her and open quietly. She stepped through the doors and made her way through the foyer as they closed behind her, allowing herself to shed her regal bearing at last. She stepped into the receiving room, already lifting the crown off her head with her magic when she realized to her shock, the room was occupied. She blinked as a large troll met her gaze. “Greetings, Shepherd of the Sun.” The troll rose respectfully to its feet. “Snøskred.” She said, automatically straightening and letting the crown return to its accustomed place on her brow. Now that she was paying attention she realized the room was full. The Bearers were present, as were the humans. Another troll, small and slender, sat next to the Snøskred. Subtle Dancer, Fairie Mist, and Sun Hammer were also there. Not to mention her sister. “Well met, sister.” Luna said gravely. “Now that thee hast arrived, take thy rightful place in our council of war.” “Oh my. How quickly things change.” Celestia commented drily as she walked to the empty cushion between Luna and Subtle Dancer and sat down. “When I left Canterlot just this morning Equestria was at peace with all her neighbors, as she has been for a thousand years. Who has declared war on us, sister?” “Tišina.” Luna replied. “The Snøskred has been kind enough to share an ancient trollish prophecy with us. It speaks of Tišina feeding the world to the sun. He says the signs have been fulfilled, and our doom will come upon us within a month’s time.” Outwardly, Celestia accepted the news calmly. But her mind was racing. “May I hear the prophecy please?” She asked politely. The slender troll stood up. “And it shall come to pass in the fullness of time, that in the land of the ponies a great battle shall be fought against the Mother of Silence. In that battle shall the ponies prevail and cast down the Mistress of Cold and there shall be great rejoicing for the span of but a single month.” “And the statues, green and gleaming shall stand in the field, and adorn the houses and yea even be found sleeping in their beds. All but one shall be freed to join in joyous dance.” “Yet ere the moon wax full a second time shall the Watcher of the Stillness come upon the world in her fearsome vengeance. On that day the Sun shall smite the entire world, and in great hunger consume it. Thus shall the last days be ended with the stolen life of an innocent child. For on that day the world will stand alone and none come to give it aid. Thus shall be the end the world. It has been said” He bowed and sat down. Princess Celestia closed her eyes, tracing through the lines of the prophecy, looking for the inevitable ambiguity that could twist it to their favor. She smiled suddenly. “The prophecy has already been negated, Snøskred. Tišina may yet end the world, but it will not be because the world stands alone, for we do not. Do we, Lady Teagan Laoise of the Clan O’Gara?” “Who, me?” Teagan squeaked, her eyes wide. “Indeed.” The Princess said, chuckling. “Nor has Tišina managed to steal the life of that child just yet. She still lives.” “Your Highness, I’m sure you’re aware prophecies are never straightforward.” The PI spoke up. “For example, the innocent life stolen. She hasn’t died, but that isn’t what the prophecy said. It said her life was stolen. If she can’t live her life, because she’s become a statue, isn’t that still stealing her life?” “I had not considered that.” The princess admitted, frowning. “When I was younger we used to play a game, Your Highness.” The PI continued. “It was called Dungeons and Dragons. It was played by a group. One person, called the dungeon master, created an imaginary world based on the game’s rules. The other players would become characters in this world. Prophecies played an important role in those games, and a good dungeon master deliberately tried to make prophecies misleading. Players had to consider every possible interpretation of prophecies—or just ignore them altogether to win the game.” “I see. Are you saying you’re an expert on prophecies, then?” The princess asked. Evelyn hesitated. “I’m an expert on the pitfalls inherent in interpreting prophecy, Your Highness. A prophecy is very much like an untrustworthy witness. You can’t assume what you think it means is actually what it really means. Like an innocent life stolen. We already know the battle has occurred, which proves the prophecy is a true fore-seeing—assuming the prophecy wasn’t created today.” She stared mildly at the Snøskred, who snarled. The smaller troll put a hand on his arm. “Investigator, you are newly come to our world.” The troll said smoothly. “So I will not take offense at your words. But know that I am Alene Dalen. In your language that translates as Walker in the Valley. I am forbidden from saying things that are not true. This prophecy comes from our oldest legends, from the time ponies first appeared in the world. I have said this, and thus you may believe it.” “Investigator Lewis, if the Alene says this prophecy is authentic, then I believe him.” Princess Celestia said gently. “My apologies, Alene.” Evelyn said, bowing her head. “I accept your apology, Investigator. Your title is strange to me. Is it really your profession to do nothing but ferret out secrets?” Dalen asked. “Yes, Alene. The difficulty arises when there are those who do not wish the truth reveled.” She said with a smile. “Among humans that generally means every single investigation. It makes my job—interesting.” “Your species sounds fascinating. When this is over I would enjoy talking with you.” “Likewise, Alene.” She nodded. “Now that we have come to understand one another.” The princess said quietly. “The question is how to deal with Tišina before she destroys the world.” “I’m curious what feeding the world to the Sun actually means.” Matt spoke up. “Assuming your world is built anything like ours Equestria orbits the Sun from millions of miles away. Is she planning to stop Equestria in orbit and let it fall into the Sun? Is that even possible?” “It is not, Lieutenant.” Celestia shook her head. “Raising and lowering the Sun or the moon does not involve changing Equestria’s orbit or rotation. That is beyond even my abilities.” “Sister, should these things be revealed?” Princess Luna asked uneasily. “Such knowledge could be dangerous.” “Could anyone other than the two of us affect the sun or the moon, my sister?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow. “Before today we would not have thought so, sister.” Luna said meaningfully. “But that was before Tišina. Who is to say that there are not others out there who could prove a threat to the world?” “We have faced threats to the world before, my sister. We will do so again. It is part of the price we pay.” Luna looked unconvinced but stayed silent. “To answer your question, Matthew Sanders, you must understand our world is very different from yours. It circles its star, yes, just as your world does its own star. But our star is nothing like yours. Ours is small and dim and much further away from the world than yours is. It is not, in fact, the Sun. Also, Equestria has no moon as you understand the term.” The princess’s words left everyone in the room stunned and speechless. “There is no moon?” Bevis Mot Lyn asked incredulously. “Then what, pray tell, rises in the sky every night? And how did it do so before Princess Luna existed? Likewise, who raised the Sun before you existed?” The white alicorn shrugged. “I do not know, Snøskred. As you say, they existed before my sister or I did. They rose and fell under their own power. They no longer do so. Also, I did not say Equestria had no Moon, I said Equestria had no Moon as Matthew understood the term.” “So exactly what are the Sun and Moon, Your Highness?” Matthew asked. “They are—well I suppose you could call them magical devices, Lieutenant. They circle Equestria at a great distance, exactly how far away they are I don’t know, but it’s much closer than our star. One is the Sun, the other the moon.” “Geostationary orbit!” Evelyn said excitedly. “Your Highness, if you didn’t do anything would they stay exactly in the same place in the sky from the point of view of a pony on the ground?” “Yes.” Princess Celestia nodded. “How did you guess?” “We use the same principle for communication satellites, Your Highness. Anything in geostationary orbit doesn’t move from the point of view of someone on the ground.” “Your species can put things in the sky, Investigator?” Dalen asked, startled. “Yes, Alene. Although it’s very difficult and expensive. So much so only the largest countries have the resources to do it. We only do it when it’s impossible to do something any other way.” The Alene sat back, a thoughtful look on his face. “So what you’re saying is the Sun and Moon were built by somebody, right?” Teagan asked. “All you do is push them around?” “Thee make it sound trifling, Lady Teelo.” Luna said in an aggrieved tone. “We can assure you it is extraordinarily difficult to raise the sun!” She shuddered. “We do not envy our sister having to do it every day.” “So if Tišina had managed to kill you the Sun would have stayed in one place?” Teagan asked. Celestia nodded. “And then the Sun would have caused that spot to grow unbearably hot while everywhere else froze in the darkness. Now that I come to explain it to someone I realize how oddly the Sun behaves. It takes a lot of power to make it start moving but once it begins to move it moves steadily for exactly 24 hours before it stops again. Unless I exert effort to speed or slow it.” Luna cocked her head. “The moon also, sister. We had not considered the matter before now. Interesting.” “So what exactly does feeding the world to the Sun mean?” Matt asked again. “Surely you have some idea, Princess?” She considered for a moment. “It might mean bringing down the Sun to crash into Equestria.” She said doubtfully. “However I do not believe that is possible. I can move the Sun to the west, but not to the east, and certainly neither nearer nor farther away. I have tried several times over the last thousand years to do so, and failed utterly.” “Tišina uses gates, right?” Matt asked. “Could she open a gate between the Sun and the surface?” “We’ve determined the maximum range of the portal is somewhere around five thousand miles.” Subtle Dancer said. “If the Sun is within five thousand miles, then yes.” “Oh, that would be nasty.” Evelyn said, wincing. “But fortunately geostationary orbits are like 22,000 miles up. Good thing, too!” “Why is that, Investigator?” The Snøskred asked. “Because it would—” Her eyes widened. “It would do exactly what the prophecy said! Anything near the portal would be instantly destroyed. Further away you’d see massive firestorms. Put up enough portals like that and the entire world would burn. In minutes.”