To Rekindle the Sun

by Donraj


Chapter 1

“Princess Celestia wishes to be alone,” the guard standing sentry in front of the royal bedroom said firmly.
Academian Twilight Sparkle’s eyes flashed behind her glasses. She stomped her right hoof primly on the marble floor as she looked up at the larger unicorn. The guard stirred uneasily, as did his companion on the other side of the door.
“What part of ‘critical importance’ do you not understand?” Twilight demanded, looking entirely too imposing for a slightly built mare in glasses and a lab coat.
The two guards remained at rigid attention. Twilight’s lips pressed into a thin line. She looked out the tower window to the panoramic view outside. The guards intuited from her expression that the unicorn prodigy they had known since she was a filly was either thinking of calling in her brother or throwing them off the mountainside Canterlot Castle was built into and seeing if they spontaneously ascended into alicorns. They decided to stand aside and open the doors. Twilight gave them a sunny smile as she pranced past them. “Thank you, sirs!”

Celestia sat in her bed facing the general direction of her balcony. The curtains were drawn and both the room and her eyes were far too dim to fit the Princess of the Sun. Hooves clopped on the marble floors. Celestia knew that they could only belong to one little filly. Celestia did not wish to rise to greet her most faithful student, but she knew her protegee deserved better after blessing her with years of youthful cheer and enthusiasm.
“Twilight,” she said with a practiced tone of gentle authority. “Have you been bullying my guards again?”
Twilight didn’t say anything. Celestia lifted her head a bit to see the unicorn filly more clearly. She wondered if she had teased the impressionable little filly a little too hard. She brushed a hoof through her limp mane as she did. Twilight was standing midway between the door and Celestia’s bed. She looked stricken. She also looked much too big to be called a filly. That’s right, Celestia remembered distantly. Her faithful student had grown up.
“Twilight?” Celestia asked. The royal tone had slipped away. Genuine concern replaced it, the emotion muted but real. “Are you alright?”
Twilight started. “Yes, yes Princess, everything is fine,” she said. The words came out in a rush. A more alert Celestia or any other pony who was paying attention would have inferred that everything was in fact not alright. Celestia took the statement at face value and settled back down into her pillows.
“Good, that’s good,” Celestia said, her voice half a whisper. Twilight waited for her to ask another question. She did not.
“So!” Twilight said in a tone of forced cheer. “Did you read my research proposal?”
Celestia sluggishly searched her memories. Twilight had sent her some sort of report or paper or book draft again.
“No,” Celestia admitted. “Not yet.”
Twilight’s shoulders slumped. Shame forced Celestia to add, “Not all of it. I’m sure it’s as good as all of your work.”
Twilight blinked rapidly as she changed the subject. “It’s just, I need you to approve some paperwork so I can finish preparing the Summer Sun Celebration for this year.”
Twilight pulled some sheets of paper out of her lab coat and offered them to her teacher. “The part about detaching Captain Shining Armor and an escort from here to the Ponyville area,” she said helpfully.
“Ah yes. Ponyville,” Celestia said listlessly. “The Everfree. Lu—”
Celestia forced herself to focus. Her horn glowed with a gentle light and a complex symbol appeared on the bottom of the papers where her signature was required. She looked at her student blearily. “Is there anything else, Twilight?”
Twilight trembled. She composed herself and said, “No, Princess. I look forward to reporting my findings to you.”
With that Twilight ran out of the royal bedchambers with tears in her eyes. Celestia did not watch her go.

“I’m just saying,” shouted Shining Armor over the rush of the wind. “You need to follow regulations when seeking an audience with the Princess.”
Twilight made a rude noise as the chariot touched down. The two armored pegasi who had brought them saluted as their passengers disembarked. Twilight ignored them. Shining Armor returned the gesture smartly as he followed after his sister.
“I’m being serious, Twily. Those procedures exist for a reason. Once my guards get in the habit of ignoring them for you that compromises palace security.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Who else could take advantage of that even if they wanted to?”
“What if some sort of shapeshifting bug creatures with mind control powers impersonated you to ambush Princess Celestia, replace her and seize control of Equestria?” Shining Armor countered.
“That’s dumb!” Twilight shot back. “There’s no such thing as changelings!”
Shining looked uncomfortable. “Actually, I was talking to Cadance and—”
Twilight cut him off with a snort. “Is this like when she used to tell me about the terrible moaning ghost that haunted your room every time she stayed the night?” Twilight asked sarcastically.
Shining Armor’s cheeks turned red. He stopped talking.
“Besides, “Twilight continued. “You know that if I went through proper channels I’d never get to see her.”
Twilight’s ears drooped. “The Princess never wants to see anypony lately,” she said quietly. “Least of all me.”
“Twily, you know that’s not—” Shining Armor began awkwardly.
Shining Armor was cut off when he realized he was about to walk into an aggressively pink earth pony.
“Oh, sorry ma’am,” Shining Armor began. He was cut off yet again when the pink pony inhaled a huge breath, leapt straight up in the air and then vanished so quickly both unicorns could have sworn it was teleportation. They stared after the stranger.
“Well, that was weird,” Twilight said.
“Eyup,” said a passing stallion.
Twilight and Shining Armor looked at the speaker. It was a large red earth pony.
“Oh, hello!” Twilight said brightly. “Do you know where the Golden Oaks Library is?”
“Eyup,” the earth pony replied.
Twilight waited for him to elaborate. He did not. She smiled awkwardly.
“Would you be willing to tell us where?” she asked.
“Eyup.”
More silence. Twilight’s next question came out tinged with annoyance. “Is that the only word you know how to say?”
“Nope.”
Frustration began to charge Twilight’s sarcasm generator to full power. Before she could say more a new voice cut in.
“Big Macintosh, stop teasing that there filly and answer her question.”
Twilight turned to see an earth pony mare with a long blonde mane, a battered Stetson and a big smile walk up from behind the stallion.
“Sorry bout that,” she said. “Big Mac’s usually a right serious pony, but give him a straight line like that and he’ll run with it every time.”
“I see,” Twilight said. She did not actually see the joke, but Twilight had learned at an early age to pretend otherwise in these situations.
The earth pony offered her hoof in greeting. “Name’s Applejack. Reckon you’re new to these here parts.”
Twilight stared at the proffered hoof as if unsure what she was supposed to do with it. Shining Armor extended his own forehoof and bumped it firmly. Applejack raised an eyebrow and gave Shining Armor an appreciative look.
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she said, clearly impressed.
“Likewise,” Shining Armor said with a disarming smile. “I’m Shining Armor and this is my sister Twilight Sparkle. Twily is in town on royal business and—oww!”
Twilight jumped in as her brother rubbed his shoulder where she had smacked him.
“Yes, and we’re very busy, so if you could just point us toward the library we’ll be on our way.”
Applejack blinked. “Well sure thing, sugar cube. Just head past the market there and turn right. Library’s built into a tree. Can’t miss it.”
Twilight beamed at the influx of new information. “Thank you so much!”
So saying Twilight trotted off. Shining Armor followed at an awkward pace.
“Enjoy yer stay, and hope to see y’all again!” Applejack called after them. “We at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love making new friends!”
Neither unicorn answered. Applejack and Big Macintosh watched them go.
“Reckon we’ll be gettin’ an invite from Pinkie Pie soon,” Applejack remarked.
“Eyup,” Big Macintosh agreed.

“She seemed nice,” Shining Armor commented after catching up to his sister.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight replied. She was clearly not paying attention.
“So…” Shining Armor began. He knew that trying to distract his sister when she was like this was probably futile, but he had to make the attempt. “Do you think—”
Something blue and moving very fast smashed into Shining Armor from above. There was a huge whumpf of impact and the next thing he knew Shining Armor was on his back in the mud dazed and staring into a pair of magenta eyes from a couple inches away.
Being knocked half-senseless wasn’t enough to stop Shining Armor from coming up fighting. Training took over. He wrapped a foreleg around his attacker and rolled hard to the left. There was an aborted “Hey!” and a moment later their positions were reversed. The magenta eyes narrowed in anger as the stranger bucked awkwardly beneath him. He adjusted his weight to keep her pinned under him and took a hard right hoof to the chin for his trouble. The blow knocked him far enough off balance that the other pony managed to slip out from under him and roll out of reach before he could react.
Training kicked in again. Shining Armor focused magic through his horn and threw up a round purple shield just in time to intercept a rear hooves buck that would have sent him flying into another zip code. Instead the attack bounced off his forcefield. A few concentric rings of light rippled through it as the spell nullified the impact. Shining Armor took the opportunity to regain his hooves and take his first good look at his opponent.
An athletic looking pegasus mare with a rainbow mane was bouncing on her hind legs in front of him and punching the air with her forehooves.
“Oh, so you want a fight, huh?” she shouted. “Well bring it!”
Shining Armor sighed and lowered his forcefield. “So you were the one who crashed into me. Who—”
The instant the purple shield was gone the mare darted in and sucker punched Shining Armor in the face with a quick left jab. It wasn’t enough to put him down but it was definitely effective in cutting him off. And it hurt. He tried again.
“Listen, I—oww!”
The mare continued to bob and weave. Shining Armor sighed, took a step back and grabbed her tail with his magic when she rushed in for another blow. She jerked to a halt right in front of his face, just inches out of hoof range.
“Hey!” she shouted. “Lemme go!”
Shining Armor glared at her. “Featherbrain, I was just minding my own business when you slammed into me. I thought you were attacking me and I reacted. Can we please stop this?”
That finally seemed to get through the angry mare’s skull. She stopped straining against his telekinetic grip and looked a little sheepish.
“Oh, yeah. Right” she said, running a hoof through her mane as she did. “Sorry. Uh, could you maybe let me down?”
Shining Armor let go of her tail. He remained wary in case she came at him again. Instead she landed a few feet away from the mud slick. She looked at it, then back up at Shining Armor and his mud splattered coat.
“Yeah, uh… guess I sort of overdid it,” she said. Embarrassment had started to set in. “See, I was practicing this wicked new stunt and…”
She trailed off. “Wow,” she finished lamely.
“Yeah,” Shining Armor said deadpan. “Wow.”
The mare shrugged. The cockiness flowed back into her. “Eh, whatever. You know how much most colts would pay to roll around with the Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash struck a pose. Shining Armor looked annoyed.
“The Rainbow Dash?” she reiterated after an uncomfortable pause. “Won the Best Young Flier competition in Cloudsdale? Set an academy record qualifying for the Wonderbolts Reserve?”
“I’m still wondering how much these colts paid you,” Shining Armor said. A glob of mud fell off his mane.
“Oh, a lot,” Rainbow Dash said airily. She puffed out her chest as she did. “And worth every bi—HEY!”
Shining Armor smirked as he turned around. “Let’s go, Twily. Hope this library has a working shower...Twily?”
His sister was gone.
Shining Armor was scanning for her when a shadow fell over him. He looked up to see a heavy rain cloud hanging just a few feet above him. Rainbow Dash’s scratchy voice issued from it.
“Need a shower, huh? Here, lemme help you with that.”
With that she started to hop up and down on the cloud. Pegasus magic hit the cloud and produced an instant downpour. Shining Armor tried to move out from under it, but his hooves slipped on the suddenly slick ground and he fell. Hard.
Rainbow Dash landed next to him. “Heh, oops. You alright?”

Twilight sighed in relief as she took over her saddlebags and laid them next to the desk of the library’s cozy second floor bedroom. Shining Armor had vanished somewhere along the way, but for once Twilight was happy her BBBFF wasn’t around. She levitated a book and a small wooden box out of her saddlebags, placed them on the desk and opened the book to a familiar bookmark.
“On the longest day of the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal,” Twilight read aloud.
Twilight looked at the cutie mark on her flank before opening  the box and inspecting the specially prepared gems inside. Two of them already glowed with an amber and magenta light. She smiled. Then she turned to stare out the window into the bright afternoon sky. “For you, Princess,” she whispered. “I’m going to make you happy again.”

Rarity didn’t look up from her work as Carousel Boutique’s door chimes rang. “Just a minute!” she sang. “I’m in the zone, as it were.”
A coltish voice answered, “Hey, uh, Rarity, right? Got a pony who needs some help here.”
Rarity sighed and turned to see a pegasus she recognized from around town supporting an incredibly handsome stallion with a soaking wet coat that showed off every line of his superb physique.
Rarity fainted on the spot.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh, super.”