//------------------------------// // Book 3 - Chapter LI // Story: The Sunset Trilogy // by ocalhoun //------------------------------// Book 3: Equestria Abides Chapter 17 Sunny Daze stared intently at the little pebble in front of her... more intently than she had ever looked at anything before. She was giving it her full concentration, just like Twilight said. “Okay Sunny,” Twilight continued, “Now do the channeling exercise we worked on earlier, but keep the rock in mind.” Sunny strained herself, drawing from her newly accessible magic reserves... but the energy just sparked and sputtered at the end of her new horn. The pebble did manage to be surrounded by a light yellow glow for a brief moment though. She broke off her attempt, breathing heavily and a little tired already. “There you go!” Twilight said, “You're starting to get it now!” “No I'm not!” She protested back, “I can't even lift a little pebble... How am I supposed to move the sun?” “You're progressing really fast though!” Twilight told her, “Most unicorns take weeks before they can even get that far. We'll get there. Now, just take your time... this time I think we'll try something a little different...” “But we don't have time!” Sunny interrupted. “You heard what Apollo said... if the sun stays up too long, it'll burn everything.” Twilight sighed. “And that's why he's not allowed to be with us for our little practice session. You need to take this nice and slow with no pressure. If you try to rush it, you're going to fail... Now, this time, I want you to channel the energy first, then focus on the rock, okay?” Sunny sat back down dejectedly and stared at the stupid little rock again. Why were they even doing this? There was no way she would be able to do it... she couldn't lift the dumb rock, she couldn't move the sun... she was just a little earth pony, or at least she should be... why was all this being put on her now? “Okay Sunny, now channel up a little energy.” With an exasperated sigh, Sunny complied, drawing up energy and causing her horn to spark a little. This all felt so weird... “And now, look at the rock, and think about it.” Obediently, she looked at the little pebble. It still didn't make sense to her at all that she could move things just by thinking about them... thinking only happened in her head, right? Gradually, though, the little pebble began to be surrounded by a yellow glow again – and it stayed there this time. “Good! You've got a grip on it now!” Twilight said in excitement. “Now just think of it being pulled up.” “Pulled?” Sunny asked. “Yes, with telekineses you always want to do it like you're pulling the object around. It's a little counterintuitive at times, but it's really important. As Shadow Dancer wrote in his memoirs, a pushing impulse with telekineses tends to have... interesting results, but the object in question is rarely intact afterwards... that's because it's a totally different type of energy actually, and...” Sunny tuned out from Twilight's lecture as she had quickly learned to do over the course of their lesson. Once the unicorn got to talking about some magical subject or other, it would just go on and on... and besides, she had already gotten her next instruction, right? Just think of pulling it up... She renewed her concentration on the pebble, pleased to see it was still surrounded with the yellow glow that she was starting to become familiar with as her magic... and she pulled up on it. * * * “And that's why negative-neutral energies should never be mixed with anti-positives; it always results in–” Twilight was startled out of her lecture as the little yellow glowing pebble she had been vaguely watching suddenly shot straight up into the air, almost too fast to see. She followed its path straight up, quickly losing it in the glare from the sun, but she could tell it was going really high, really fast. She looked down at the little yellow alicorn in front of her in amazement, and Sunny stared right back at her in utter shock, horn still glowing, wings now spread in surprise. “Wow,” Twilight said, simply. Sunny Daze just kept staring back, looking a little fearful now. Shaking herself out of it, Twilight said to her, “Okay... that was, uh... really good! ... Now, let's let go of the rock... just stop thinking about it and cut off the energy flow at the same time...” Her little yellow head shook for a moment... clearing her thoughts maybe? At any rate, her horn soon stopped glowing, and the little filly looked upwards expectantly. Without thinking about it, Twilight looked up, too, expecting to see the rock coming back down, perhaps. If so, she was disappointed. No falling rocks met her gaze. “Okay, Sunny, so now we know for sure you can do magic... and that you've got plenty of raw power!” Sunny just looked back at her a little sheepishly. “So, how's it feel?” Twilight asked, curious to find out if Sunny was taking it well or not. She folded her wings back down and stared at the ground a little before looking up again sharply. “It's weird!” The look on her face grew pleading. “It's just not right, I shouldn't be doing this!” “Aw,” Twilight cooed, moving over and wrapping her hooves around the frightened little alicorn, “It's okay, you'll get used to it, I promise.” Breaking from the embrace, she went back to business... they were working on a time limit, after all. “Now how about we start working on toning down the power level so we can control how high the rock goes, hm?” As if to enforce her point, the pebble finally came streaking down, surprising them both as it struck the ground between them, driving down deeply and making a little crater. “But aren't we trying to move the sun?” Sunny asked. “We need more power!” “You'll have to learn control some day, Sunny,” Twilight insisted. * * * Apollo Dawn flew over the field where he knew the two would be practicing. He knew he wasn't supposed to interfere, but the sun had been up at its zenith for fourteen hours now. The weather was already getting noticeably hotter, and the sun showed no signs of moving. He swooped around to the back side of a hill; perhaps the two had gone over here... and back-winged furiously to stop before a huge yellow glowing log shot upwards in front of him, just barely missing it. “Okay, that seemed to be a little slower this time,” he heard coming from below... it sounded a lot like Twilight Sparkle. He spiraled downwards towards the voice, trying to simultaneously watch out from above and below, not wanting to be hit by that log on its way back down, but also wanting to keep a watch out in case anything else decided to shoot up in the air at him. He hoped that flying log was an indication that Sunny's crash course in sun moving was going well. He hadn't mentioned it to anypony else, but there was a plan 'B'... unsavory as it was. If Sunny couldn't get the sun to go down, he would be presented with a terrible, awful choice... a choice he desperately hoped he wouldn't be forced to make. He knew the sun had gone awry the first time because of the death of Celestia... and while it had caused problems, the pattern it fell into wasn't about to imminently destroy all of Equestria like this permanent noontime was... He knew there was another way to get the sun to go down. Could he sacrifice an innocent little filly like that if it was to save his whole crew? The whole world? He really didn't want to have to make a choice like that, but if the sun didn't go down soon... His thoughts broke off as he landed on the far side of the hill, finally spotting Twilight and Sunny Daze hiding under an overhang... why were they down there? He wondered. Wouldn't they be more comfortable in a less cramped space? “Look out!” Twilight called out from inside, waving her hooves at him. Huh? Look out for what? What was she going so crazy about? “LOG!” She screamed out this time, as loudly as she could, pointing upwards. Apollo put two and two together just in time, looking up, he could see the dark brown blur heading towards him, and he jumped to the side as quickly as he could, just in time to get showered with dirt and splinters flying away from where the log impacted on the ground behind him. As he stared back at what was yet another close call for him, he heard Twilight and Sunny approaching behind him. “And did you have some reason to come here, besides projectile avoidance practice?” She asked irritably. Shaking the debris from his mane, he just asked, “How's the training coming along?” “Just fine,” she snapped. “Well, good,” He replied, a little sarcastically. “Because I really hope we can get the sun down soon.” “It takes time and practice,” Twilight insisted. “It can't just be done all of the sudden.” “It needs to be done all of the sudden!” Apollo insisted right back. “We can't just ignore Sunny!” Twilight said, apparently unaware that she was doing so at that very moment. “We have to take her wellbeing into account.” “Look at you sitting there sweating,” he said... and it was true, beads of sweat were going down her face... it was really starting to get hot. “I'm taking Sunny's wellbeing into account and all of ours! If that sun stays up too long, she'll bet burned right along with the rest of us!” With that, he flew off, not even wanting to hear her response. He had said what he came to say. He just hoped that she would realize that babying the little alicorn too much would kill them all... or maybe just Sunny... he thought darkly. He really hoped Twilight would get their new little alicorn working in time... he didn't want to make that choice. * * * “Well, now with that behind us, we can get back to work!” Twilight said, happy to have Sunny to herself again. The little filly really didn't need that kind of pressure on her during her first lesson. “You think you can get the log to hover within view this time?” “Twilight!” Sunny protested back. “Huh?” “Twilight, this isn't doing any good! The sun's still up there, and we're not doing anything about it!” “I told you, we need to start off slow, with the basics, and work up to it, okay?” Twilight chided back. “Now, if you could...” “No Twilight!” Sunny said, exasperated. “Apollo's right. We have to start working on the sun, or it's gonna be too late!” Twilight sat down and gaped a little. She wasn't used to the foal being so authoritative... did that come with being an alicorn or something? But she needed more time... With a start, Twilight realized she wasn't even thinking of Sunny, really. Twilight needed more time. She had been teaching Sunny what she knew... and she didn't know anything, really, about moving celestial bodies... This was all so different than the peaceful life in Ponyville... it all seemed so long ago now. With a gulp, Twilight gave in. It was getting hot, already, after all. “Okay, let's see you give it a try.” “Really, that's it?” Sunny asked back. She winced a little, being called out on her very real lack of knowledge about it. “Um... just try. I want to see... um, what you've got so far before we begin.” The little alicorn seemed placated with that, and she sat down and looked at the sun, horn starting to glow. Her face took on a look of increasing concentration, which built into strain, and eventually became obvious overwork, the filly giving her all into trying to budge the sun... but it stayed stubbornly in its place. Finally with a grunt, Sunny gave up and flopped to the ground, exhausted. “Did I do it?” she asked. “Um... I think it might have wiggled a little...” Twilight lied. “But maybe we're taking the wrong approach... were you trying to move it like you moved the rock?” “Uh huh... what should I do?” Sunny asked. With a sigh, Twilight admitted, “Okay, I don't really know much of anything about it... But Celestia once told me about it, and she said it wasn't like other magic at all... she said that on some level, she was the sun... and that she just tapped into some kind of connection with it, and told it to move itself... that's all I really know.” * * * A connection with the sun? Sunny wondered... was that it? She had felt a little like that when she was napping earlier... This time, she didn't try to look at the sun, or focus on it... she just closed her eyes and felt it shine on her, remembering what she felt when she went to sleep. With that touch of the sun on her, she tried a little to touch the sun back... and to her surprise, she felt like she could... she could just reach out and touch its wonderfully warm surface, she could immerse herself in it... and it felt wonderful! She began to feel it again, like she was looking down at herself down there on the grass. She looked down closer and saw her own peacefully closed eyes, and Twilight Sparkle staring in wonder. So... it was now or never, she decided. From her perch high above, she made a move to dive down, not into her body back on the grass, but off towards the horizon... and she could feel her point of view shifting, feel her massive new body in motion as it fell down towards the horizon... At the last moment, before it was out of view, she tried to jump back into her body... and it was a little bit of a strain, but with an odd popping sensation, she was able to. Quickly, she looked up to see the last light of the sun vanish as it sank below the horizon. “I did it! I did it Twilight!” She shouted. Twilight scooped her up into a hug, excitedly shouting right along with her and holding her close. Sunny turned and watched the sun, her sun's afterglow fade from the sky with pride. She had really done it! She moved the sun... it was still hard to believe, but there it was, she, little Sunny Daze, had done what no other pony could ever do! “Can you believe it?” She asked Twilight. “It really worked!” “Mmhm,” Twilight replied, “and for the next lesson...” “Aww,” Sunny cut in. Twilight squeezed her closer before continuing, “For the next lesson, maybe we can work on getting it to rise and set from the right horizons.” “Huh?” Sunny asked, looking a little confused now. Twilight giggled and nuzzled her. “You just set the sun down to the northeast, my little alicorn.” * * *