Chapter 3: The Sun Will Come Out.
Big Macintosh sighed peacefully as he strolled through the orchards of his family's farm.
He loved this time, the peaceful early morning just before sunrise, just him and the apples and the dawn. He often liked to start his day early before Celestia raised the sun so he could enjoy the peace that the early hours brought him before he started on his chores.
"Eeyup," the large pony sighed contentedly.
As he reached the West orchards, he began to notice that the dawn hadn't yet appeared like it usually did this time of year by this time of day when he made his rounds. It was still very dark out, the moon prominent in the sky still.
"That's odd," he mumbled to himself, maybe he had read the time wrong before he left?
Then something even more unusual caught his eye.
It was another pony. He wasn't anyone that Big Macintosh recognized, and he knew everypony in town, including regular visitors.
This pony was small and lean, with a silvered pelt that actually seemed to gleam in the moonlight, and dark mane pulled into a serviceable loose pony tail. Large eyes, greener then an apple leaf stared into the horizon in the exact direction of where Celestia raised the sun each morning.
"Huh," he muttered to himself, wondering what in the hay the pony was doing here.
He was about to call out to the stranger and ask why he was on his lands, when the horn on the unicorn's head began to glow.
It was, at first, a pale silver light, but then it pulsed and grew bigger and bigger, taking on a golden hue. It consumed the pony entirely for a moment, and nearly blinded Big Macintosh as it exploded outwards and upwards, blowing the stallion off his hooves and into a tree with a grunt.
When Big Macintosh got his bearings, the light had dissipated to a soft deep gold aura, like the light of the sun, hovering around the Unicorn who was grunting and panting with extreme effort.
Then another golden light literally dawned over the horizon as the sun, rather raggedly and haphazardly, strained to rise.
Big Macintosh took in the dawn, then the straining golden glowing pony, who was barely keeping his hooves under him, then back and forth. It didn't take him to long to come to the conclusion that, as inconceivable as it was, this lone unicorn was trying to raise the sun!
"Eeyup," he said to himself with a decisive nod, and trotted over to the straining pony.
He didn't need to ask any questions. He could tell that the stranger was in a great deal of distress, and that whatever was going on, he would help him until he was told otherwise. After all, it was indication that something serious was ahoof, or else Celestia would be doing the deed as usual, and would have likely been on the stranger in a hoof beat otherwise.
"Excuse me," he said, keeping his tone his usual calm slow baritone, "can I help you?"
The unicorn opened his eyes and turned two small glowing green suns on the other pony.
"Please…" the stange pony gasped, as he began to fall, "it's to much! I..."
Big Macintosh caught him around the middle and maneuvered the overly warm pony onto his back and began making his careful quick way back to the family stead.
"No one can know," the unicorn said faintly into his ear, "please, no one can know…"
Big Macintosh veered away from the direction of the family home and instead towards the barn where he kept his quarters above the stalls.
After some rather tricky finessing, he got the two of them in his bedroom and gently placed the glowing unicorn onto his bed.
With no other idea of what to do, but remembering the time when Granny had taken care of him when he was sick, Big Macintosh filled a bowl with cool water and using a cloth, he spent hours wiping the sweaty pelt, as the stranger struggled feebly.
When Big Macintosh tried to remove the shawl from the pony to reach his back, it suddenly sprung at him, as if alive, whipping his hoof away with a stern shake of a clothed corner before settling back into place.
Deciding that it was best to leave it alone he continued to care for the unicorn though occasionally he would take a break to check on Granny Smith and Apple Bloom who had returned from the festivities at the town hall and told him everything that happened, and that his sister and some other ponies were venturing into the Everfree Forrest to deal with this Nightmare Moon, who, before now, had just been a figure from old pony's tales. Big Macintosh told the two ponies to remain inside, despite their jubilation that the sun still appeared to be rising despite Nightmare Moon's threats, and they were under the assumption that Celestia was struggling against the evil pony's magic.
Big Macintosh knew differently, and worriedly told them that he would be in his rooms for the day, and quickly retreated, much to their confusion.
"Keep fight'n now, you can beat 'er, just give my sister and her friends' time," he said to the struggling unicorn. He had faith that his sister would see to matters, as she always did. In the meantime, he would continue to protect and help the strange unicorn that seemed to be doing the near impossible to best of his abilities.
Ooo ooo ooo
Nightmare Moon was not pleased.
Her goody four hooves sister was locked tight in her quarters in her castle in Canterlot under a dome of Nightmare Moon's magic and powerless to raise the sun, yet, instead of bowing to her majestic nighttime, a group of ponies had penetrated the Everfree Forrest and were making their way to the Castle of the Two Sisters were the elements of Harmony resided, trying to defy her glorious reign and ignite the elements of Harmony against her, something that was a great deal of an immediate danger to her rule. She contemplated destroying them right away, but she was eager to see those who would dare defy her broken in spirit as she destroyed their only hope in front of them.
Then there was some other ponies, ones that she could not find or see, that had the audacity to try to raise the sun against her wishes! to end her glorious ever night! She was unsure who the perpetrators were, But once she dealt with the 6 mares that sought the Elements in the Everfree Forrest, the more immediate and identifiable threat, she was going to destroy these unicorn upstarts soon following.
Ooo ooo ooo
It seemed ages to Dusk, as he lay struggling with the immense magic it was costing him to raise the sun and fight against the dark menacing magic that was trying to keep it from happening.
Everything burned and hurt, he felt exhausted and tired, but he persevered, he fought and didn't give up despite how every particle of his being was looking to just letting go.
But he couldn't. He had to do this, he had to keep the balance or everything would be screwed. He would keep trying even if it cost him his life.
Some part of him would later bemoan the fact that he had ended up in a world where everything from the weather, to the animals, to the bloody sun, moon and stars were dependent on the whims of ponies, instead of fending for themselves.
How Celestia didn't have a nervous breakdown...Grrrrrr!
Occasionally, his personal hell would be soothed a little by the cool cloth being bathed along his flank and the soothing words of encouragement in his ear. He had no idea who it was, but he was grateful for whatever little respite he could get.
And so it went, for eons it seemed, and then suddenly, the opposing pressure receded, and his hold on the sun was gently lifted, and a kind, calm voice whispered in his mind.
:I don't know who you are, but thank you, the darkness has past, you may let go now and rest:
The voice held a warm soothing quality, and was familiar from the times he had seen her address the people of Canterlot, during his colt days, and the familiar taste of warm intense magic from the first time he had sensed it when he had arrived in Canterlot when he witnessed his first sunrise, disbelievingly so, during his first Summer Sun Celebration in the big city. It seems that Princess Celestia was back in control.
Letting out a relieved sob, he let go of the sun, and groaned as his tense aching muscles seemed to melt in relief.
The world shifted and whirled to reveal a face looking down at him in concern, the face of what he dimly recalled must be the one who had been caring for him this entire time.
"Everything's fine now," Dusk rasped, "Celestia has the sun again."
The stallion nodded, and put away the cloth and then hopped up onto the bed and settled next to the smaller male, gathering him against his side when Dusk began to cry his relief and exhaustion.
"Merlin I thought I was going to die! it hurts so much!"
Big Macintosh had no idea what a Merlin was, but he just held this strange pony whose name he didn't even know. He just held the other in stalwart silence, much as he had the day he held Applejack when she had been a filly and there parents had died.
The silvered pony sighed, leaning into the large side, letting the scent of fresh apples and tilled earth fill his nostrils.
"Sleep then," the stallion soothed, "I"ll be here watchin' over ya."
Dusk sighed, the last of his tears spent, and did just that, though the last thought he had was that he was likely to never do that again.