//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Team Awesome Short Stories: Dream's Reality // by Caustizer //------------------------------// Chapter 14: Raising the sun is a challenging business for the unicorns, but it is their duty in the world and to not do it would be considered unthinkable. Without it the grass wouldn’t grow, the birds wouldn’t sing, and everywhere would be bathed in eternal darkness and cold. Ever since the last war between the unicorns and the pegasi a generation ago the former has been ascendant, constructing castles and establishing new domains where previously only hostile creatures have dared tread. During that conflict thirty years ago Castle Nightstar was merely an outpost, and after it ended the King saw fit to assign it a noble house and a commission to build a fortified bastion near Manehatten to take advantage of the trade opportunities there. That part of it had only been partially successful – the earth ponies there had little interest in favouring one side over the other politically (after all they needed both the sun and the rain to grow food) and despised any attempts by the unicorns to establish dominion there, which Solon had experienced earlier to his displeasure. This morning all the unicorns in the castle had gathered together in the courtyard and raised the sun with only minor difficulty, the presence of Solon and his guards Zephyr and Sky Sparkle tipping the balance. His mother Lady Nightstar acted as the focus, and had none of the trouble her husband did the previous day. Solon found her strength reassuring, though such emotions couldn’t take away the stinging pain of the cut over his eye. That morning as he proceeded to breakfast with the rest of his kin his thoughts burned with hatred for the pegasus that had penetrated his guard. The navy blue unicorn resolves to train more frequently and harder to be better prepared for their next encounter. “I can’t help but notice the absence of a certain guest of ours,” comments Lady Nightstar as she walks at the head of the procession to the dining hall, flanked by Solon in brooding silence. “I suspect she needs her rest… raising the moon all on her own must have been exhausting,” he replies, but his mind is elseware at the moment. “Do send for her to join us this morning Selese,” insists Lady Nightstar, referring to one of her hoof maidens. The servant bows courteously and then proceeds quickly off towards the guest quarters where Luna is staying. Tradition demands that the Lord and Lady of the castle as well as their offspring are seated in the dinning hall first, with the other residents entering only with their blessing, and today is nothing different. Lady Nightstar and Solon come in the through the chamber doors and find their places at the head of the table. Notably Lord Nightstar’s chair sits empty, pending him getting well. “I sense that your thoughts are plagued by yesterday’s events,” pries Lady Nightstar. Solon doesn’t answer. He just stares down at the empty space between the cutlery in front of him. Mother means well, but she doesn’t understand what truly happened. Up until the day before he had thought himself untouchable, but Pridewing was so much more skilled she could have easily killed him if she wanted to. Every part of him wants to go out and find her to have another go at it, but reason tells him he needs to prepare – to train more intensely then he ever has before. Then he will show her what it means to mess with a unicorn. Lady Nightstar rings a bell that lies at the top of Magnus’ chair, signifying that her subjects may enter for breakfast. Almost immediately the door clanks open and a stream of unicorns pour into the dinning hall. Rapid conversation interweaves the crowd as they take their seats, sitting down at the table in order of their status within the grounds. On the immediate left of Solon sit the chief artisans… the baker, the bricklayer, the blacksmith and so on. In Magnus’ court they are responsible for overseeing their apprentices and ensuring that their tasks are accomplished quickly and efficiently. The most favoured amongst them sit to the right of Lady Nightstar and to the left of Solon with Lord Nightstar sitting between them in the grandest chair in the hall. “Be seated,” commands Lady Nightstar, and the entire hall obeys. Once they are all settled, she speaks up once more. “My servants, I’m sure you are all wondering why none of you were called to raise the Moon last night to bring on the night. Let me assure you that we have not been replaced in our duties, as some rumours going around suggest, but that we owe a debt of gratitude to a very talented guest of ours for her assistance. Ah… here she is now.” The door to the hall creaks open slowly, and everypony turns their eyes towards it. Nervously, Luna steps into the chamber and politely closes the door behind her. Solon looks up from his brooding to see that she appears confused and a bit disoriented… he can tell she doesn’t like this many eyes on her. The next thing he notices is her attire – a streaming cyan night gown that he knows comes from the guest room. The elegant cuirass and glass horseshoes she had been wearing the previous day have been discarded, leaving him a perfect view of her natural shape. Solon feels his interest in her rising… in more ways then one. “Honoured guest Luna, come and take a seat up here with me,” insists Lady Nightstar. Walking along the row of curious unicorns, the Princess of the Moon appears uncomfortable and cautious. Lady Nightstar bids her to stop right before Solon’s seat, and turns to her hoof maiden. “My dear Selese, would you bring up another chair next to Solon please?” The female unicorn servant obeys immediately, displacing the first of the chiefs and forcing the entire line of unicorns on the right side to shift down the table one space (causing a few grumbles). Gingerly, Luna seats herself and gets comfortable. “Very well then,” concludes Lady Nightstar, “let us dig in.” … Breakfast in the hall passes quickly and uneventfully for most of those in attendance, but for Solon the hot meal was refreshing given the aches and pains he still endured. With his stomach full and his spirits heightened, the new target of his attention is Luna. He watches her intently, waiting for an opportunity to talk to her. After a moment, he realizes he can’t think of any way to start the conversation. Thankfully a few minutes later her guards begin to come down naturally and she breaks the ice. “Are you feeling any better today Solon?” asks Luna thoughtfully. “No,” replies Solon, a bit more hoarsely then he wanted to sound, “well… a bit better I guess.” “Oh,” answers the princess with a bit of disappointment, “I’m sorry… it’s just that I wasn’t used to that kind of fighting. Whenever my sisters fight I usually just hide.” “You can’t act that way around pegasi, whatever you do,” insists Solon, “they’re mongrels who’ll trot all over you if you let them.” “It’s not that I can’t defend myself,” corrects Luna with a hint of hardness, “…it’s that I don’t want to fight.” Solon blinks and looks at her twice, surprised to hear such a statement coming from a female. Sure his mother is similarly tough, but he had never encountered a unicorn this much like her before… at least not in Castle Nightstar. Impressed with Luna’s attitude, he decides to gamble on some flattery. “What you did last night… you’re incredible, Luna. I don’t know what they teach you where you come from, but if I had your powers that flapper wouldn’t have stood a chance.” “Really?” asks Luna with a hint of shyness, “I… I was just playing around. I write messages in the sky so Mom can see them and write me back. Can’t you do it too?” “Hah, only if we all try at once,” replies Solon cynically, “and even then we can only manage the moon… moving the stars would probably kill us.” The lively conversation is interrupted by a loud banging on the double doors of the dining hall, which attracts the concerned gazes of all present including Lady Nightstar. “Let them in,” she commands, knowing that the guards would only interrupt them for an important reason. With a clank her hoof maidens open the metal lock and open the doors. A single unicorn bursts in, covered in sweat and struggling to catch his breath as if he had just ran a hundred miles. Solon assesses him immediately, and takes note of the silvery attire and crested helmet that he is wearing bearing the symbols of the crown and a sealed parcel. A messenger from Platinum Castle! “A message for Lord and Lady Nightstar,” utters the regal pony in an official tone after he gathers himself. “I’ll take it, good sir,” replies Lady Nightstar, beckoning him. In a moment the royally dressed courier rushes over to her side, and places the sealed scroll magically in front of her. Satisfied that his duty is done, the messenger departs as quickly as he came without further courtesy. As he leaves all eyes turn to the Lady of the castle as she breaks the seal and unfurls the note. She scans the page eagerly, reading it multiple times for clarity. Though his mother isn’t raising a fuss, Solon can tell right away what it says is very important. “Mother, what does it say?” Solon insists, knowing from experience how rare messages are from the royal court. It could be about anything, which only heightens his curiosity. “In three days time the High Lector will be visiting our castle,” Lady Nightstar states calmly, addressing it to not just Solon but everypony in the room, “to investigate a ‘magical anomaly’. My dear Luna, it appears you have attracted some attention.” At once the hall bursts out in loud conversation. Castle Nightstar has never had such an important visitor ever before, being for the most part a frontier outpost compared to the splendour of Platinum or Diamond Castle. Artisans boom to their neighbours about how they will bring forth their best of this and make their best of that, while the hoof maidens whisper excitedly about the news. From what he knows of Starswirl the Bearded, Solon isn’t entirely surprised he’s recently added Castle Nightstar to his schedule. The High Lector is eccentric and is known to rigorously investigate complex and unknown branches of magic. Given all that has happened in the last two days with Lord Nightstar’s spell injury and Luna’s sky painting it’s no wonder he is so interested. Solon thinks about the news for a few minutes as his mother directs the other ponies towards getting the house ready for their important visitor, before reaching the conclusion that it doesn’t matter that much to him. If anything, it’ll keep his mom distracted while he goes outside to practise his martial skills. Silently the navy blue unicorn slips away from his seat and heads towards the doors, leaving the hall and Luna behind to attend to their own needs. … A small boulder hurls through the air as Sky Sparkle magically throws it up for his noble master to attack. Straining through the pain surrounding his sore muscles, Solon snarls and looses a bolt of lightning towards his target. The spell misses by no less then a hair, and the son of Lord Nightstar growls in frustration. He is drenched in sweat, and the wound over his left eye is starting to swell from being forced open multiple times throughout his training. Any reasonable pony can see that Solon is driving himself too hard, but the couple of times Sky Sparkle had tried to bring it up he had only been shouted down. He can tell that the wound to his master’s pride is deep, for why else would he have forbidden Zephyr and him to speak about any of the details of the fight? Unable to do much else, the male unicorn guard simply obeys Solon’s will and continues to throw rocks despite his own exhaustion. The exercise in futility comes to an end a few minutes later when an unexpected guest arrives to view the navy blue unicorn’s progress. Luna has gotten rid of her morning gown and switched to more serviceable daytime wear consisting of her usual kit combined with a light blue back covering. Evidently the Castle dresser, Fantasy, has gone into her personal stock to make the Princess of the Moon look less naked for one of newly acquired importance. Solon can’t help but notice her, and halts his training immediately. “You look aweful,” comments Luna, “maybe you can use a bit of a break?” Solon brushes away the wetted sides of the top of his mane before turning in her direction. More relieved at the pause is Sky Sparkle, who uses it to catch his breath and gather more scattered rocks. “I suppose so,” replies Solon without enthusiasm, unwilling to express his real anger to one so blameless and beautiful. Thankfully Luna was thoughtful enough to bring a large urn full of water with her, and the navy unicorn downs almost two thirds of it in one session. Wiping the remaining drops away from his chin with one hoof, Solon sits down next to her and relaxes. “I’m worried about you,” Luna states with concern, “all these injuries and still you seek to make more.” “A few cuts and bruises won’t kill me,” shrugs Solon dismissively. “But a blade or a hoof might,” she continues, “I fear I won’t be around all the time to take care of you like I did yesterday.” “…you won’t?” probes Solon. Right away the navy unicorn regrets asking. “Wha… what do you mean?” returns Luna with a hint of confusion. “Never mind, I was just kidding,” recovers Solon with embarrassment. Quickly, he changes the topic. “You said before that you write messages to your mother in the sky. Does that mean she is as powerful as you are?” “Oh a lot more,” insists Luna, “she made our palace all by herself.” Solon tries to hide in his expression how much he doubts it… nopony is that powerful. “Maybe when she gets here she can give me a few pointers then,” he answers sarcastically. A few moments pass as Sky Sparkle finishes gathering all the rocks in the training ground into a single pile, a look of annoyance on his face. Suddenly Luna gets an idea. “I can help you,” she suggests. “Hah, unless you’ve got a pair of wings under that dress I don’t see what you can do.” Luna adopts an expression of fear. Given her lack of desire to take part in any kind of fighting, even for practise, Solon isn’t surprised. Females aren’t built for combat anyway. “I’ll see you later then,” the princess of the moon replies, but there is an edge to her tone. She gets up suddenly and walks away, adjusting her mane with a light shake. Ignoring her, Solon picks up the urn to take another drink of water but Luna plucks it out of his hooves with her powers and takes it away with her. Solon looks back at her with a hint of indignity… was it something he said?