//------------------------------// // Ch. 6 The Frozen North // Story: The Brightest Shine // by Cozy Mark IV //------------------------------// The Brightest Shine Written and read by Cozy Mark IV & Jan. McNeville Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan-made work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro. Please support the official release Chapter Six: The Frozen North Shining felt her world swirling gently around her as the dreamscape dissolved gradually back into the waking world. She was dimly conscious of the scratchy sheets around her and something caught on her horn, but the most pressing feeling came from her bladder. With a low groan she sat up, and the draft immediately chilled her exposed back and shoulders, making her shiver. She reached out groggily to shut the window over her bed, only to feel her hoof strike something solid that felt oddly like rock. Still only half awake, she stood up to look around, only to hit her head on the low stone ceiling. The darkness around her was nearly complete, and as her mind woke up she realized where she was. Inside the tiny cave. Her breath was already coming in rapid gasps as she felt the tightening feeling around her throat, cutting off her air. She managed a single strangled shriek and was dimly conscious of sparks flying from the end of her horn as a steady voice called out, “It's okay, just calm down and follow me. The door outside is this way.” She just about bowled the pony over in her rush to get out, and in a moment she burst through the wicker door and out into the free air! As her mind slowly calmed enough to permit rational thought, she looked around to see she was inside the igloo she dimly remembered building last night. The green light source following behind her was totally inadequate for a room this large, and without thinking, she tried to light her horn. Nothing happened. “Easy there, let's get that off you.” Steady admonished as he quickly undid the buckle under her chin and pulled off the horn cap. Light streamed out from the tip of her horn now, showing the huge igloo more or less as she remembered it from her sleep deprived state. She gave Steady a long searching look as her brain tried to catch up with the events of the last thirty seconds. “Wow, look at that.” Steady whistled softly as he eyed the mangled end of the cap, “You nearly melted it! Looks like you really could have brought the mountain down on us all.” The accusation died before ever reaching her lips, and the still air around her seemed even colder than she remembered. With a shake of her head that flung out her black, sleep tangled mane, she asked simply, “Could you please point the way to the facilities?” Steady looked uneasy, but pointed to the ice capped door in the outer floor. “We've been going outside for now, but I'm not sure you'll want to; it's really cold out there...” Without a word, Shining turned, made her way to the door, and opened it with as much dignity as she could muster. The icy blast that came howling in as she shifted the ice block stole her breath away, and it took everything she had not to turn back, but her imagination of the smug look on his face was enough, and she slammed the ice block behind her. Outside she would normally have trotted some distance for privacy, but the utter featureless blackness of the landscape was alarming enough without the intense biting cold. She was no stranger to winter, but this was a cold unlike anything she had ever felt before; It actually hurt just to stand still! She did her business as quickly as she could, but before the door was closed again everything had already frozen, and she was shivering badly. Steady was waiting as she stumbled back in and by planting his front hooves he was able to buck the ice block back over the hole to seal out the cold. “I wasn't kidding about the cold, you really need a proper coat and then some! Are you okay?” Shining couldn't help but smile at the concern in his voice, though he didn't seem to notice over her shivering. The inside of the igloo was still below freezing, but it felt balmy after the cold outside. “Yess, I-I'm O-Okay...” She paused as he wrapped a blanket around her, “Shoulddn't it be w-warmer out there by now? And shouldn't w-we have l-left alreaddy?” The worried expression on the face of the same stallion who had flown into a blast zone to avert an explosion made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “You were out for quite a while, and we've learned a few things. We should go talk to the rest of the group...” The look of fear on her face as she stared at the impromptu door they had built over the cave entrance made him pause. “I'll... tell them to bring their coats.” … Half an hour later, eight warmly dressed ponies were gathered around an ice block table near the center of the igloo under the green light from one of the lanterns. Their plans for an early start with the dawn were long dashed, and no pony had been sleeping very well, leaving the entire group irritable and snappish. The basic facts had been explained, but beyond the increasing cold and their inability to travel, nopony could agree on much of anything. “Okay, slow down for a moment,” Shining objected, holding out a hoof, “If I'm hearing this right, it's not too cold to fly, but it is too cold to fly very far, right?” “Yeah. I just said that.” Sand Storm grumbled. Shining ignored the interruption and continued. “And according to all of you, it's been getting colder and darker as we've traveled north, culminating in the current nipple freezing blackness out there,” Shining jabbed a hoof at the door as though the cold was a personal offense to her, “and yet nopony has any idea why?!” “Of course we do! The few demons that survived the war must be hounding us.” Sand Storm explained, “We just destroyed their forces, and now they're out for revenge.” “Oh for buck's sake, haven't you listened to anything I told you?” Spec fumed, brandishing a notebook, “I have detailed temperature records for nearly a year, and the temperature is still falling! Our sun and your war didn't make any damn difference!” “But that's not possible!” Squall objected, “We put everything we had into this war! With the aid of your sun, we won! How can that not matter?!” Shining was looking downcast and suspicious as she responded, “Well, how do we know they're connected?” “That what's connected?” Steady asked, eyebrow raised. “The windigos and the cold... All this time we've been taking it for granted that the windigos cause the cold weather, but did anyone ever actually check?” “They're demons of ice and cold! How can they not be the cause of this?!” Sand Storm objected. Pie was starting to look suspicious as well as a nasty thought occurred to her, “Fish are creatures of water, but only an idiot would try to stop a flood by killing all the fish...” “You think we transposed the correlation and the causality?” Spec jumped in, clearly not happy about where this was going. “We might have, though I'm not sure how we could find out...” Shining trailed off with an unhappy look. “But regardless of who or what's causing this cold, what's more important is how they're doing it. Do we have any idea why it's gotten so much colder as we've traveled north?” “Sure I know why.” Sand Storm replied irritably, “It always gets colder and darker as you go north.” The other pegasi nodded while the unicorn physicists looked stupified at this juvenile answer, but before they could reply, an unexpected voice lashed out in frustration, “It's high summer, you dolt! The sun should be nearly overhead at noon at this latitude, and you've seen it up there, just where it should be at least twice in the last week!” All seven of them looked in surprise at Verdant as she glared at the golden brown soldier pony. “And just what would some dumb Ep know about the sun anyway?” Sand Storm spat as he came around the table towards her. “We dumb Earth Ponies know plenty about the sun; it's only the single most important factor in growing food! We all know the basic information like sun angle above the horizon on a given day at a given latitude. You don't seem to have any problem telling us all about solar mechanics, even though you don't know the first thing about it!” Sand Storm had now rounded the table and shrugged off his coat to show off his armor as he tried to stare Verdant down. “And you think you do?” Verdant seemed to have finally reached the end of her patience, and for the first time in her life, she was mad enough she didn't back down, instead taking an aggressive step towards the armored stallion. “Well, we're only here because we built a bucking sun!” As she closed the distance between them, something strange happened. Like all earth ponies, Verdant showed deference to members of the other two tribes, and growing up in that culture, it showed even in her shrinking posture. No more. For the first time she could remember she was standing up straight, shoulders forward as she advanced on the stallion before her. A stallion who was suddenly reminded that for all his military training and armor, even being male as a pegasus meant he was still physically smaller than the very angry, very large earth pony advancing on him. “Uh, well yes... you did help with that...” Sand Storm muttered as he took a hesitating step back. “Yes, I did! In fact I saved all your lives!” She continued as she swept a foreleg to indicate everyone at the table. For once, no one lashed out to tell her she was wrong, and to her surprise, Spec actually took a step over to stand beside her. After a long pause, it was Shining who asked in amazement, “You mean... You added the safety shut-down to the sun?!” Verdant nodded. If they had all been staring at her before, their looks of shock now were unprecedented. “But... you're an earth pony! How could you...” “Have none of you ever been to a rock farm?” As they all exchanged vacant glances Verdant sighed as her anger seemed to ebb. “Earth ponies can make things grow and bloom, but that ability isn't just limited to plants. Some more talented earth ponies can use our magic to make rocks and stone grow, and though it takes far longer, we do have some ability to imbue magic into stone, just as we can into plants. “You were all working so hard to get the sun to burn at all, none of you thought of how to turn it back off. I was able to build in a shut-off that would kick in if the sun went into free fall, and that's why we're all still breathing right now.” The expressions around the table ranged from astonished to alarmed, and Verdant could feel the dread of accusation, forgotten in a moment of passion, returning all too quickly. “Thank you so much!” Spec's hug caught the earth pony completely by surprise, and her mouth fell open as the physicist continued, “I was so worried when they told us about the danger and flew off with Shining! We waited and waited, but they came back! They came back because of you!” To Verdant's utter astonishment, Shining extended a hoof to shake hers. “It seems I have underestimated you; I had no idea you were so capable. Please accept my apologies, Ms...?” It took her a moment to realize what Shining meant. In nearly eighteen months of daily work together, this was the first time her boss had bothered to ask what her name was. “Verdant, Verdant Growth.” She replied, a smile slowly spreading across her face. For their part, Steady and Squall and Pie stared slack jawed at the earth pony before them as they tried to process the fact that, directly or indirectly, they owed her their lives. “But, how can you-” Whatever Sand Storm was about to say was cut off by a dark look and whispered word from Flare that made the stallion take another step back and cross his legs protectively as she continued forward. “I guess I owe you an apology too.” She added warmly. “I've never had the opportunity to work with such a capable earth pony before. You just don't meet many up in the clouds.” Steady cleared his throat loudly and, after a moment, continued. “Thank you, Ms. Verdant. Unfortunately you still haven't answered the original question: If the sun is high in the sky where it should be, how is it still so cold?” There was a pause as Pie, Shining and Spec looked at her expectantly, making her blush. Not every unicorn was involved in raising the sun and moon, and Verdant suddenly found herself the expert in the room. “Well... There could be a number of causes...” “Such as?” Steady pressed. Her face took on a frown as she thought about it. “Well, given that the sun is still in the right place, but it's getting colder, there are only a few options that make any sense. One way or another, less sunlight must be reaching and staying at the ground, so that means either we're getting less sunlight from the sun – maybe the sun is getting dimmer, or further away from us, or something is getting between the sun and our world, blocking or reflecting the sunlight before it can warm us.” Even Pie was getting interested now, their differences in rank already forgotten as they worked on the problem as a team, “Is that even possible? That the real sun could dim or move away?” “Well, yes, but I can't imagine a way it could have dimmed this fast. A dimming like this is absolutely possible, but it should take many thousands or millions of years. And as to moving away, that would almost certainly involve some kind of major change in the orbit of our world which would have split continents and sent up huge volcanoes unless the unicorns knew about it and managed the catastrophe...” She trailed off as she looked at Shining. “I don't claim to know all the inner workings of the sun raising team, but there is no way they could have kept something that big a secret.” Shining stated flatly. “But regardless of the speculation, how are we going to figure this out?” “We need an experimental test!” Spec said excitedly. “Exactly! What if we were to measure the intensity of the sun's rays and compare that to what they should be?” Pie agreed enthusiastically. “Well, we would need a device capable of monitoring the power output of the sun. It should be about one thousand watts per square meter.” Verdant amended. “Yes, but that will only tell us about the sun; we also need to measure the brightness of a known star, something that hasn't changed so we can compare the two readings. The north star should be clearly visible this far north, shouldn't it?” Shining critiqued thoughtfully. “Of course, but we'll have to get a picture of each one using the same camera and the same film with a known filter for the sun. After we develop the pictures, we should be able to calculate out what's going on.” Verdant said with a grin as she turned to looked across the table at the pegasi, “Please tell me you have a camera in one of these baskets.” There was a long pause as the soldiers tried to catch up with the rapid back and forth that had just taken place, but to everyone's surprise, it was actually Sand Storm who answered. “Yes... we have a couple... They're in that basket over there.” He stated uncertainly, his eyes never having left Verdant. “Could you show us?” She asked with the beginnings of a self-conscious smile. … It took them several hours to gather all the parts, setup the developing lab near the warmth of the cave and put everything in readiness, but eventually the camera was fitted with it's sun cap and set before them on the table. “Excellent!” Shining beamed, “Now we just have to take one night and one day photo. Volunteers?” Three unicorns and one earth pony turned as one on the four pegasi, each wearing an expectant and slightly unsettling expression. “Uh... why don't-” Steady sighed. “So you need a pegasus to fly above the cloud cover and get the photographs, right?” “If you want to have any idea what's going on? Yes.” Shining replied as though this was obvious. There was an uncertain exchange of glances among the pegasi. “Hey, I don't mind flying high, and normally, a job like this would be a breeze, but its really cold out there!” Flare complained. “Then we draw for it.” Steady gestured at a basket full of hay. “Short straw gets the job.” A moment later, an annoyed looking Squall stood holding the shortest piece, and with a grunt of irritation he ground up and swallowed the offending stalk. “Fine. I'll get suited up.” A few minutes later, Squall stood before them bundled up to the ears and took the camera out of Pie's hooves to swing it around his neck. “Now I just snap a photo of the north star or the sun right?” “Yes, and remember to use the filter if its the sun, but please hurry okay? It's really cold out there...” Pie said with a bit more concern than might have been expected. Squall paused in mid step as he noticed her tone, and turned see what might have been the slightest hint of a blush. “And don't forget to work the horizon into the shot if you can.” Shining butted in, completely oblivious. “I'll keep the beacon on so you can find your way back.” The ice block was moved, and Squall pulled his goggles into place before disappearing outside in in a blast of icy cold so intense it made their sub zero igloo feel like a warm hearth. The minutes ticked by as they waited. And waited. Before long they were all beginning to feel the pressure and Pie had started trotting in a circle around the outer wall. After her twentieth circuit she shook her head and blurted out, “Shouldn't he have been back by now? How long does it take to climb above the clouds?!” Her answer came with the sound of grinding ice as the door block shifted with the impact of a pony's buck. Pie nearly sent the two hundred pound ice block flying as she reached outside, grabbed Squall and yanked him back in. Shining shifted the door block back into place and helped Pie get the shivering pegasus to his feet. “B-B-Bucking B-B-Balls itt's c-cold out t-there!” Squall managed as he tried to wipe the snow from his face with numb hooves. Shining relieved him of the camera, passing the device to Spec for development, and then helped Pie guide him towards the cave mouth. While the modest warmth blowing from the mouth of the cave felt wonderful after hours in the cold, Shining could already feel the tightness around her neck as she stood near the entrance, and she let the two of them go in on their own. Spec's white coat was hard enough to see against the igloo wall, while her deep blue mane was almost invisible as she worked on the chemical baths. After some time, the ponies waiting eagerly by the table could see her approaching with a look of worry, the photograph held in her magic. She laid it on the table for them all to see. “Well, that's the sun all right...” Steady said simply. It was actually a pretty good photo, the disk of the sun had several darker specs in one corner, the sun spots clearly defined. Unfortunately, Spec's worried look had rapidly spread to Verdant and Shining as they stared at the picture in alarm. “What is it? What's wrong?” Shining looked up slowly, a numb expression written across her face. “This was taken without a filter.” It took a moment for that to process, but a quick glance back at the photo showed no sign of clouds, fog, or the telltale red of their filter. Squall had been well clear of the cloud cover, and had been able to take a clear photo. Of the sun. Without any need for a filter. The deathly silence stretched on for several seconds before Flare demanded, “Well?! What does that mean?” “It means that our sun's output has fallen well below life sustaining levels.” Shining stated with a far away look. “What? What does that even mean?!” Flare shouted in mounting alarm. Spec stepped around the table and put a calming hoof on Flare's shoulder, a tear running down her cheek as she spelled it out. “It means that, unless we do something, we may be the last generation of ponies.”