//------------------------------// // In Which the Sun is Finally Raised // Story: Celestia Sleeps In with a Vengeance // by Admiral Biscuit //------------------------------// Celestia Sleeps In with a Vengeance Chapter 3: In Which the Sun is Finally Raised Admiral Biscuit The streets of Ponyville were calm and nearly silent. Only the soft weeping of a piebald colt could be heard above the silence.  Two times, Luna had come to Ponyville, and two times she had not visited Pipsqueak. In the years since Twilight Sparkle had come to Ponyville, the town had witnessed more than its fair share of disasters. From parasprites devouring all the food and many of the buildings in town, to an overgrown dragon destroying several buildings, to an Ursa Minor destroying several buildings, to a . . . in short, Twilight's arrival had been a boon for construction ponies, who were constantly repairing monster damage. The rest of the ponies in town had just accepted this new reality. Twilight had taught them all that panicking didn't solve anything, so as the night dragged on, they made their way in droves to Sugarcube Corner, buying comfort food they could enjoy while waiting to see what sort of new doom was coming. The Flower Trio grabbed the first stallion they could find who was willing to help them repopulate Equestria if that became necessary, and dragged him down to their reinforced bunker. His grin only got wider as they dogged the blast door shut. Most ponies stayed in their homes, doors barricaded and welcome mats pulled in. Rarity frantically stowed all her dresses in fire-proof, flood-proof, parasprite-proof, CMC-resistant storage containers she kept on hoof for these—or other similar—contingencies, such as sleepovers. Then she calmly brushed her mane and tail in the soft glow of a kerosene lantern, and gracefully made her way to the treebrary. Applejack put on her hat and headed into town. Her family could rebuild a barn in no time at all, and the trees generally survived whatever shenanigans the monsters got up to. Rainbow, as was her custom, shirked her weather duties and flew to the treebrary, followed by Pinkie. True, the bakery was doing brisk business, but they were presently out of supplies. The Cakes felt that was for the best; they could huddle together as a family and wait for the end without worrying about turning away business. None of the girls were surprised that Twilight wasn't there. Spike informed them that Luna had summoned Twilight to Canterlot, and showed them to the meeting room. He passed out the necklaces, and then waited hoof and hoof on Rarity like the hormone-driven adolescent that he was. “Where's Fluttershy?” Rarity finally asked. “Isn't she usually here?” “She'll turn up,” Rainbow offered. Fluttershy hadn't noticed the lack of a dawn. She only ever catnapped, because so many of her animal friends were nocturnal, and it just wouldn't be fair to ignore them. She danced happily around her living room, talking to the bats and owls and opossums and such who were gleefully frolicking in the darkness. She looked up when Discord walked out of his room, wearing mismatched striped pajamas. He had a bottomless cup of coffee in his talon, and was rubbing his eyes with his paw. He glanced around the peaceful scene, checked his watch, and broke into a broad grin. Producing a silly straw with a flourish, he emptied his coffee and then looked through the open bottom, stretching it like a telescope. “Oh my, I spy with my little eye no sun in the sky.” “You're up early,” Fluttershy whispered, nosing a ripe strawberry to a little brown bat. “Couldn't you sleep?” Discord shook his head. “Do you want to watch the bats with me? They're really quite cute.” Discord raised an eyebrow, but stretched out on the floor, and began watching them flutter around her living room. Some of them darted at insects which had been drawn through the unglazed windows by the soft glow of a firefly lamp; others took up roost in shady spots in the rafters. “Fluttershy, dear?” Discord pointed with his tail. “What are those two doing?” “Oh.” Fluttershy's cheeks turned slightly pink. “They're . . . making babies.” “If his head is up there, and her head is down—“ “To prolong the, um . . . female bats sometimes. . . . Isn't nature fascinating?” “Indeed it is.” Discord leered at the bats. “Quite fascinating.” The two alicorns stood side-by-side on the balcony, facing the eastern horizon.  Their horns were blazing underneath the pan-holders, and their eyes were half-closed in concentration. The object of their attention—a blazing sphere—was surrounded by a blurple light that was the combined field of the two alicorns. "Careful, careful," Luna muttered. "Ngh," Twilight replied.  Sweat was pouring off her body from the intense magical expenditure.  A full eighty percent of her concentration was devoted to the sphere; the remainder was equally divided between regret that she had not practiced sharing a field more often, and wondering if Luna had remembered to turn off the faucet after she'd used the firehose.  Sometimes hoses burst, and water and books didn't mix—everypony knew that—and she just couldn't remember if the library's insurance policy covered inundation.  It probably did—with a dragon in the house, she'd been forced to buy a fairly comprehensive policy—but it was distressing that she couldn't remember. As soon as we get this done, I'll have to teleport back home and make sure—well, if I have enough energy.  Or I could just have the Princess send a letter to Spike.  No, she's asleep.  Well, maybe Luna can.  Or maybe I can. I'm a princess now, I ought to be able to use dragonfire spells.  Why haven't I tried yet?  Oh yeah—because I've never needed to send a letter to myself.  Twilight chuckled at the thought.  Spike would be so confused. "THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!" "Eep!"  Twilight snapped her head around, and lost focus of her levitation spell.  She tried to get it back, but it was too late.  The orb plummeted, and shattered on the ground.  For a moment, flames flickered around the edges, before darkness fell again. Luna glared at Twilight. "We could . . . put it back together?" Twilight said hopefully "Nay, Twilight Sparkle.  Such a task is impossible.  Even were we able to gather all the shards, we would never manage to re-light it."  She scraped a hoof against the ground, giving off an ear-flattening screech as her steel shoe slid across the granite.  "'Tis a pity; our sister did favor it so." Twilight's eye twitched.  "Ah, maybe we can just not tell her." "She will know, Twilight Sparkle.  Thou cannot lie to our sister." "Can, too.  I concealed a parasprite invasion from her." Luna looked at her sharply.  "Were those the same parasprites which ravished Fillydelphia after a crazed pink one-mare-band set them loose in the Everfree?" "No."  Twilight shook her head.   "After Pinkie led them into the Everfree, I had Zecora brew a special potion which caused them to mutate into tapeworms. It's interesting how many uses a potion like that has." "Tapeworms?" "Voracious eaters . . . it seemed fitting." "We understand.  Once you had changed them into a form which could not fly away, you destroyed them." "In a manner of speaking, yes."  Twilight smiled disarmingly.  "Now, about the sun—" "You did not destroy them?" "I wanted to, but we took a vote.  Fluttershy was against killing them, of course.  Applejack didn't care, so long as they wouldn't hurt her crop or barn.  Rarity was all in favor of wiping them out, and naturally, Zecora encouraged their destruction as well."  Twilight sighed.  "But then Rainbow and Pinkie came up with an idea that not only rid us of the parasprites but also funded repairs to the town." "Thou should have petitioned the Crown." Twilight shrugged.  "After we'd pretended there had never been a parasprite invasion? Yeah, that wouldn't have gone over so well.  We sold them as a weight-loss supplement." "Twilight!  That's immoral, barbaric, and also illegal." "Oddly enough, no it isn't.  Not illegal, anyway.  We made certain that the bottles were correctly labeled, stated that all ponies should consult their physician before and during their 'diet,' and said that this miracle weight-loss drug would soon be banned in Equestria.  We sold out in an hour."  She turned to face Luna.  "Besides, is it any less moral than stealing Celestia's prized possessions for a magical experiment?"  She waved a hoof in the direction of the courtyard where a janitor was already sweeping the broken fragments into a large dustpan. "Thou dost make a good case," Luna admitted.  "Very well."  She turned to a box of Celestia's personal Hearth's Warming ornaments, floated another one in her aura, poured lamp oil over it, and lit it on fire.  With an expert flick of her head, she flung it over the courtyard as it flamed to life, and nodded at Twilight.  "Let us attempt again." After another hour of practice, the alicorns had graduated from Hearth's Warming ornaments to bowling balls, and then to boulders.  Luna grinned as the two of them delicately moved a hundred-ton boulder over the courtyard, much to the dismay of the janitor.  To his good fortune, they did not drop it, and once the flames had died down,  Luna gently set it back down on the mountain where they'd found it. Twilight rubbed her hooves together.  "Shall we light the moon next, and try with that?" "Thou shalt not deface Selene," Luna said.  "We are now ready to try with the sun.  However, we should go to my balcony.  The runes there will amplify our power." "Is that why you and Celestia prefer to raise your respective heavenly bodies from your balconies?" "Yes," Luna replied.  "There is a cost to this.  Such magic concentrated in one place corrupts the surroundings.  It's why the Everfree is so wild—magic has been leaking from our old castle for centuries." "So then, why do you do it now in a populated town?" "The seat of government?  Nopony notices it slowly becoming more corrupt.  'Twas a brilliant choice by our sister." The two alicorns stepped to the edge of the courtyard balcony and took flight.  Luna gracefully leapt into the sky, her broad wings quickly giving her altitude.  Twilight’s liftoff was more spectacular: just as Rainbow had taught her, when taking flight from a height, the proper method to gain speed was two barrel rolls, a loop, and a forward slip.  She came very low at the end of the last maneuver, and had to gallop along the courtyard to get her airspeed back. Luna was waiting on the lunar balcony when Twilight arrived.  The youngest alicorn’s finishing move—transition to vertical flight until she lost her airspeed, and then delicately hooves-down—went badly awry, but the Lunar Guards had quick reflexes and caught her. And then they shoved her into a lighted window, and let go. Luckily, it was above the balcony, and Twilight was an expert at short-range teleportation, so after a very brief, princess-like falling scream, she simply flashed in at Luna’s hooves. “Who dost thou seek to impress?” Luna asked curiously.  “We have seen more graceful flight from a buffalo.” “Buffalo can’t fly, Princess,” Twilight reminded her, slicking back her mane.  She’d have to see about getting a toothpick to chew on.  It would really help her image. Luna gave her a strange look, but Twilight didn’t notice: she was looking at Luna’s heavenly body. “We shall begin by lowering the moon.  Once Selene is just brushing the horizon, her momentum shall help us loft the sun.” “Doesn’t the sun come up on the other side of the tower?” Twilight asked, looking at the obscuring mass of stone behind them. “Yes, but thou wilt not need to espy it.  Simply reach out with thine field for the largest thing thou canst find.” “If it’s that easy, Princess, why did we practice with all of Celestia’s Hearth’s Warming Ornaments first?” “Because we told her again and again that if she didn’t have them put up in the attic we’d set them aflame and toss them into the courtyard.  Hearth’s Warming was over a month ago,” Luna said flatly.  “Oh, and to practice sharing fields." “I’ve already done that with Cadance and the tatzlwurm, you know.” “Tis an euphemism unfamiliar to us.”   “What?  No!  It’s not—Discord was involved, and—“ “We have see thine dreams, we needeth hear no more.”  Luna turned to face the moon.  “Remember, Twilight Sparkle, first a little push to get her going, and then pull for all thou art worth.” Twilight nodded, and rubbed her forehooves together.  If she’d had a toothpick, she’d have spit it dramatically on the balcony.  As it was, she had to settle for sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth. Luna reached out with her aura, gently caressing Selene.  With a gentle sigh, like a spring breeze playing over a field of tulips, the moon retreated to the horizon. The restful simile was broken by Luna’s voice.  “Now, Twilight.  Now!  Pull for all thou art worth.” Twilight’s horn flared to life, and with an almighty grunt, she dug her hooves into the stone.  Her eyes flashed white as she concentrated every fiber of her being into the spell, reaching out and grasping hold as Luna had instructed her.  It would be hard, hot, and heavy, but she was the mare for the task.  She could handle it, and the stylish pan-holder on her horn would prevent burns. With a feral grunt, Twilight snapped her head upward. Two blocks away, a five-story statue of Prince Blueblood achieved escape velocity, blazing upwards like a giant stone bottle rocket. “Further and heavier,” Luna said.  “As far as thou canst reach.” Twilight nodded, and bent her head to her task.  Luna raised an eyebrow as Sirius flickered in the sky. “Slightly closer,” the nocturnal diarch whispered.  “You overshot by eighty-one tetrillion kilometers.” “Is that far?” “We do not know.  Metric was invented during our banishment.”  She let her field out, reaching for the sun.  “Here, follow us,  interleave thine energy with ours, and together we shall find the sun.” The pair of alicorns reached together, their fields coursing around the corona of the sun.  Slowly, carefully, they lifted it into its place in the sky. Both were dripping sweat when it finally broached the horizon.  Twilight’s breath was coming in short gasps, but Luna had better endurance, and showed no other visible signs of strain.  “Just nudge it a hair to the left,” she instructed.  “Right . . . there.” Twilight collapsed on the balcony.  “I don’t mean to criticize, Princess,” she panted, “but there’s hardly a difference in positions.” “Not at all.  A mere shift of three arc seconds is enough to shine the sunlight directly in our sister’s eyes.” Twilight glared at her.  “You wanted to move the sun to blind Celestia?” “To encourage her to wake.”  Luna pulled off her pan-holder and tossed it off the balcony, bopping her horn experimentally.  “Our horn feels as hard as ever; how does yours feel?”