//------------------------------// // Chapter 25 // Story: Shadow of the Sun // by Starwin //------------------------------// Shadow of the Sun By Starwin Chapter 25 Twilight stood transfixed by the blazing column of golden light. It was like a waterfall that was tumbling upwards from the ground and falling into the sky. But instead of water it was made from parts of the Sun. The pillar was so bright that it turned the night of Ponyville to day, although there were still stars in the sky above. “What do you mean it’s too late?” asked Rarity. Twilight gave a little jump. In all that had happened she had completely forgotten there was anypony else there beyond herself, Luna and the glowing column of light. “It is too late for us to save Equestria,” said the golden column of light. “No,” whispered Twilight. “That… that can’t be… we worked so hard…” “I am sorry my faithful student,” said the light. “This is not what I wanted.” “Surely there must be something we can do?” asked Rarity in desperation. “We have the elements! Together we can fix whatever is wrong!” “I am afraid that not even the elements have the strength to stop what has been set in motion,” said the light sadly. “Even if you were not trapped in the æther.” “If we weren’t… what?” asked Twilight in surprise. Her mentor’s words echoed in her mind. It was almost like she had remembered something, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was. “It is not possible for me to explain it to you, but I can show you,” said the light. The ground beneath their hooves shook. Slowly the light began to expand, moving outwards. Luna took a step back, but the light enveloped her all the same. Twilight closed her eyes as the light washed over her. It felt safe and warm. She felt her body relax slightly. She had the strangest sensation of being hugged. Of being loved. Then as quickly as it had come the feeling was lost and she simply felt like herself once more. When she opened her eyes, she was standing back in the throne room in Canterlot, sort of. The ground beneath her hooves was still the wooden planks of the stage in Ponyville. Yet, in a wide circle around her, the wood ended abruptly, giving way to a stone floor. It was like being inside a tiny bubble of another world. Twilight felt groggy, like she had just woken up. Memories of Ponyville, of the place she had just been were fuzzy in her mind, like a fading dream. But they had not completely left her. It was like she was both awake and still in the dream. “I don’t understand,” said Rarity in surprise. “How... where… what is going on here?” “You are trapped,” said a voice that made Twilight’s ears perk up. Her eyes snapped forward and found Celestia standing before her. The tall white mare glowed with shining golden light. Twilight leapt forward, excitement and relief welling up inside her at seeing her mentor freed from stone. However, Celestia lifted a hoof and stopped Twilight in her tracks before she could embrace her. “You must forgive me Twilight,” said Celestia. “But I am afraid you may not touch me.” Unbidden tears suddenly came to Twilight’s eyes, she tried to hold them back but she couldn’t. Celestia looked at the lavender unicorn solemnly. “I know you do not understand yet, but I will make it clear soon,” explained Celestia. “First, I believe my sister has something she wishes to say.” Celestia turned her head towards where Luna had been standing. Twilight felt her eyes widen as she followed the gaze. For half an instant, Twilight had expected to find Nightmare Moon standing there, but the mare she found was still Luna. “No,” said Luna looking away. “I’m not sorry for what I did.” “You… you turned your sister to stone!” exclaimed Rarity, a note of surprise in her voice. Twilight felt shocked by her friend’s sudden accusation. Yet, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t said it herself. It was so obvious. “You did this?” asked Twilight, the slightest quiver of anger in her words. Luna shook her head, backing away. “You stopped the Sun? You turned everypony to stone!” “No!” said Luna, her voice breaking. “I didn’t turn anypony to stone! That wasn’t what I wanted! I didn’t mean for any of this…” “Yet this is partly your doing,” said Celestia. “If you had simply done as I had asked…” A flash of momentary rage crossed Luna’s face. “You just want me to pretend everything is fine,” said Luna, her voice rising as she spoke. “You just want me to forget all that’s happened? You want me to live in a cage forever because it’s what you want?” shouted Luna. “It is what’s best for you,” said Celestia calmly. Luna scoffed. “Princess…” asked Twilight. Celestia’s eyes turned towards Twilight and it was the first time the pony had ever seen something like anger in her mentor’s eyes. Twilight mustered up all her courage and continued with her question. “What does Luna mean ‘live in a cage?’ What cage?” “My sister never bothered to explain what you did to me, did she?” asked Luna, the smallest bit of humor in her voice. “Of course she wouldn’t.” Luna looked away. “Why would she bother to tell you…” “Tell us what?” asked Rarity. “We never really brought back Luna,” whispered Twilight softly, putting together Luna’s meaning in her head. “What?” scoffed Rarity. “Of course we did!” Twilight shook her head. “We fixed her. We used the elements to change her back. I saw it!” “Magic can do many things,” explained Celestia. “But it cannot change who we are at the very core of our being. The elements may have made her look like Luna and force her to act like Luna, but you can only pretend for so long before you have to face the truth.” “You didn’t want to face the truth, sister,” said Luna harshly. “No,” whispered Celestia. “I did not. I do not…” “My sister has never bothered to tell you why she banished me to the Moon, has she?” asked Luna, turning her attention back to the two mares. Both Rarity and Twilight shook their heads. “She had the elements, she could have changed me back, but she chose to send me away instead. Do you know why?” “Because…” said Twilight, Luna’s eyes snapped to her. Twilight swallowed hard. “Because you weren’t Luna anymore. She would have just turned you into a lie.” Luna looked impressed by Twilight’s answer. “You knew didn’t you?” asked Twilight, looking with sad eyes towards her mentor. “Why didn’t you tell us?” “When you defeated Nightmare Moon,” said Celestia, her voice soft. “You returned my sister to me. I had not seen her for so long. For a time I wanted to believe it had worked. That Nightmare Moon had been a curse to be cast aside. So I accepted the lie. “But I knew something was wrong. I knew she had not really returned to me,” continued Celestia, looking sad. “I did not want to lose her again. I thought she would get better. That she would be happy, just like she was when she was younger. “When I found her in the throne room, holding the elements, I finally had to accept the truth. That Luna is not but a memory.” For a long moment they were all silent. “The time we have grows short,” continued Celestia. “There is still much you must know about your friends, yourselves and the world.” Her eyes fell on Twilight and Rarity. Then she lifted her gaze and looked behind them. Both Twilight and Rarity turned. Twilight felt her eyes widen. Standing behind them, gathered in a semi-circle were four nightmares. They stood, motionless, dull eyed and silent. They stood… exactly where her friends in Ponyville had been. And each had an Element of Harmony around their neck. Twilight moved towards them but as her hoof left the golden ring of light, fire blazed into existence around her leg. She pulled back and her limb returned to normal. “In this room, the æther is weak,” said Celestia. “It was damaged when my sister attempted to use the Elements of Harmony upon herself and when I attempted to stop her. For the moment, I can free your minds from the nightmare. However I cannot keep you here forever. Soon you shall slip back into the dream and all I have told you will fade away. “You will forget the world and its troubles,” explained Celestia. “You will forget me. The dream shall become your lie.” Her eyes turned towards Luna. The ground shivered again beneath their hooves. “A fantasy your reality.” “Wait, are you saying we are stuck as nightmares forever!” cried Rarity in horror. “No, not forever,” answered Celestia. “Unlike my sister you did not seek out this change. It is little more than a spell placed upon you. Which is why you cannot touch me. If you did, you would spread the curse to me as well. The spell will last for as long as we have left.” “What… what do you mean?” asked Twilight, dreading the answer. Celestia’s eyes looked upwards. As she did, the ground shook again. “Twilight, if you could cast a simple transparency spell upon the ceiling,” asked Celestia. Twilight felt confused as to why Celestia hadn’t done it herself, the spell was easy, but Twilight nodded. Her horn glowed and as it did, the ceiling above shimmered with magic. It became transparent as if it were made of glass. Twilight felt her eyes widen in horror. The blue of the sky was gone, replaced with an unending wall of white and gray. It took Twilight a moment to comprehend what she was seeing. The Moon. It was the surface of the Moon. It had come so close that it filled the entire sky. “Luna!” cried Twilight. “You have to do something! You have to stop it!” Luna looked just as shocked as Twilight, but she nodded. The dark mare’s horn began to glow with midnight black magic. Her eyes closed tight under the strain as she tried to push the Moon away, but it did not move. “I can’t,” panted Luna after a moment. “It isn’t falling, it isn’t even moving!” “Of course it is!” cried Rarity, pointing a hoof at the great white Moon. “It’s falling out of the sky! It’s going to crush us!” “No,” said Celestia calmly. “Luna is correct, the Moon is not moving. It is we who are falling towards it. Or, more accurately, we who are falling into the Sun.” Everypony stood silent for a long while, Celestia’s terrible words sinking into them. “WHAT!” shouted Twilight. “I… we can’t… it isn’t…” “Equestria has been getting hotter, not because the Sun is stuck in the sky,” said Celestia. “But because we are gradually getting closer to it. Slowly our speed will increase until the whole planet falls into the Sun.” “And Luna did this?” cried Twilight in disbelief. “By turning you to stone she caused all this?” “I didn’t turn anypony to stone!” objected Luna angrily. Twilight opened her mouth to argue but Celestia spoke first. “She is correct,” answered Celestia. “I turned myself and all the ponies of Canterlot to stone.” Twilight didn’t have any words for that. Her mouth simply hung open, her brain buzzing with a sort of static. She couldn’t have heard that right. “Why… Why would you do that?” asked Rarity in shocked disbelief. “It was the only way to keep my sister safe from the darkness inside her,” said Celestia. “A spell powerful enough to imprison her, would also imprison me… and all of Canterlot.” “So you knew this would happen?” cried Twilight in surprise. “You knew this whole town would be turned to stone.” “Yes,” answered Celestia simply. For a moment, Twilight was taken aback by her direct answer. “Yet, it did not work. At the moment of the spell’s casting, my sister did something I did not anticipate. She used the elements against me.” “And… that worked?” asked Rarity in surprise. “No,” said Luna. “We were both attempting the same thing, to balance opposites. My sisters for imprisonment and mine for freedom…” “You have no doubt seen what mixing magic can do,” said Celestia addressing Twilight. “It can be terrible and dangerous when two unicorns are not compatible and try to cast the same spell together.” Twilight nodded. “My sister and I… have never been able to multicast. We are naturally opposite of each other. We attempted to cast the same spell, but with different goals, focused through the elements. “As I felt my spell taking hold, turning me to stone I felt my sister’s magic trying to set us free,” continued Celestia. “I felt a multicast spell. The most powerful magic I have ever encountered. The force of the spell flung the elements apart, spreading them across Equestria. “In that moment the spell broke and twisted, becoming something neither I, nor my sister were prepared for. The resulting devastation from that spell has damaged the very fabric of magic in our world. The very same magic that holds us in place and allows me to raise the Sun and Luna to raise the Moon. Like a pegasus with a broken wing, we are tumbling down out of the sky.” “So… being stone isn’t what stopped the Sun?” asked Rarity. Celestia shook her head. “There was magic before mine, and there will be magic after mine, that will move the Sun,” explained Celestia. “While my change to stone may have kept the Sun in place, it does not hold it there.” “And the elements?” asked Twilight. “What happened to them? Each one we came across was protected, did you do that?” “I did not,” answered Celestia. “You did that.” Twilight felt confused. “The elements are focuses but their true power comes from within you. Even when they were not with you, the elements still tried to help you, to help the world. They created what each of you thought was needed.” “Someplace cool and protected from the Sun,” said Twilight, thinking back to her element. “And Pinkie… more friends?” “Applejack encountered a great forest of apple trees,” said Luna with a nod. “She has been very concerned about the food supply.” “And I encountered a castle made from water,” said Rarity. “Protected and cool under the Sun. Yet dignified and refined.” “And I think Fluttershy and I found a sort of animal sanctuary to the north,” said Twilight, trying to think back and remember. “But what about Rainbow? She didn’t even want to go under ground.” “Actually, hers went up into the sky,” explained Luna. “It made a maze of clouds high above Canterlot. But when all the clouds evaporated, it must have crashed to the ground.” “So they were trying to protect us,” said Twilight. “More than you know,” answered Celestia. “The element locations were not random. They were arranged around a focal center, projecting a shield around Canterlot to keep the damaged æther from spreading. “Now that you have brought the elements here I am afraid the problem will quickly grow worse, and as it does, we will descend faster and faster, into the Sun.” “But you can still fix this, right?” asked Twilight hopefully. “I mean, we used the elements to change you back! So now you can set things right and set the Sun!” “No,” said Celestia with a sad shake of her head. “I cannot help you. The elements did not free me, not in the waking world. Like you, I only exist in the dream. I am still stone.” “This can’t be,” whispered Twilight to herself, looking down at the ground. The golden ring around them suddenly flickered. For a moment, all four of them appeared as they really were. Luna became Nightmare Moon. Rarity blazed with flames and Celestia stood motionless in stone. Then they were back in the half-dream world once more. “We are almost out of time,” said Celestia. “What do we do!” cried Twilight. “There is nothing you can do,” answered Luna. “There is nothing any of us can do.”