Frigid Miracles
The Canterlot Castle Palace Labyrinth; a beautiful well maintained garden, tourist trap and (secret) prison. It never spends a day unoccupied, whether it is filled with busy gardeners maintaining its beauty, or curious pony tourists who wish to take in the sights, or even laughing foals playing hide and go seek while their parents shuffle about worrying about offending royalty.
Today, however, is a unique day. The sun shines at the very top of the sky, no weather obstructing its light or warmth. It’s usually about at this time that the Canterlot Palace Labyrinth is busiest, though it remains curiously scarce of visitors. Signs are hung above any and all locked entrances to the tourist trap, reading ‘Closed for maintenance.’
Despite the signs, no gardeners are within the hedges maintaining anything. There are only two ponies present, alone within the confines of the greenery.
One such pony is a familiar snow white alicorn. Her shocking height easily dwarfs others of her species, measuring at twenty-four hooves tall when standing on all fours. Easily the most striking and memorable feature of her being would be her mane and tail, their ethereal nature rendering the hair nearly weightless, with a curious effect of eternally blowing in a nonexistent breeze. Her mane is multicolored, a soft rainbow of pink, light blue, purple, and sea green. Interestingly enough, if you look into the mane for a long enough period of time, you would notice that the colors don’t quite flow with the hair, giving it the feel of a shockingly colorful ocean wave. Her eyes are pale magenta, though if you looked closely enough for long enough, you would see misty swirls within her irises, as if her eyes are filled with pink smoke. Her horn is five hoofs long, ending with a point, and her wingspan is roughly twice her body length. Adorning her person are four stylized identical golden horseshoes, clearly intended for image rather than comfort. She wears a golden breastplate, which has several swirling patterns engraved onto the surface with enough detail to get lost in for hours, and a large purple amethyst gem in the center, briolette cut. Upon her head is a golden tiara, engraved much like the breastplate with another amethyst set within the center of it, identical to the one set within the breastplate. Embellished upon her flanks is her iconic sun cutie mark, also seen upon Equestria’s flags and currency.
One would have to be an alien not to recognize the world famous image of Princess Celestia, Monarch of Equestria and Patron of the Sun and Moon. One should wonder what such a figure is doing within the closed off hedge maze; shouldn’t she be working? Surely an individual of such influence must be very busy. Which she is; very very busy. However, she is taking a leave of absence from court duty this day. Why? The answer lies with her significantly less iconic though quite famous companion.
Excitedly hopping about at her heels is an earth pony colt, no more than three years of age. His coat is slate gray, and slightly matted with dirt and grass stains from the day’s activities. His mane and tail are short, messy, and black. His hair tends to flow in the breeze, though unlike his companion, his hair stops when there is no breeze to be flowing in. His eyes are light brown, and if you look very closely you can see that his irises are still, in fact, light brown with no ethereal qualities of smokiness. Adorning his person is a single brown twig, with two green leaves on the end entangled in his little mane. He probably got it stuck in his mane when he wanted to see if he could tunnel through one of the hedges with nothing but confidence and his face. He couldn’t.
You would be forgiven if you didn’t immediately recognize him as the first adopted son of Princess Celestia herself. If you were told you were going to see Princess Celestia’s only son, and he was then introduced to you, you would probably double take at how shockingly… average he appears. Most would agree he is rather monochromatic, his only colors being grey, black and brown. He is formally and widely known as Prince Solstice. He is informally known to Princess Celestia, a few servants and some pieces of documentation as Sundial.
Sundial and his adoptive mother are the reason the tourist trap is closed. The signs say ‘Closed for maintenance’ because there isn’t enough room to fit ‘Princess Celestia is taking a break to spend time with her only son and due to unusual circumstances this is the only place to do it.’
Celestia sighed wistfully. If only every day could be like this…
Sundial trotted ahead of his mother, excitedly taking in the sights of this new place. This is one of the few times he is allowed outside, unfortunately. Celestia hates isolating her child, but precautions must be taken. At least, they must be taken until he is old enough to control his… conductivity.
As if to prove her point, electricity arced from Sundial’s hoof to a random spot upon the beaten dirt path that makes most of the ground in the maze.
Celestia took her son to the labyrinth (after finding an excuse to close it down for a while) because it is isolated when unoccupied, big and fun to explore, and also very peaceful. Celestia watched with amusement as Sundial concentrated on two particularly large stones he had found, and steadily levitated them.
He loves his telekinesis. Celestia has no idea how the little colt does it, but he plays with it every chance he gets. He’s getting a lot more dexterous with it, and it is becoming stronger as well. She watched as the colt levitated the rocks so they orbited around his head with ease. She has no idea why he does things like this, but it is obvious to her that he finds it immensely entertaining. Celestia supposes that if she could levitate things at such a young age, she would probably find games to play that no one else would understand as well.
One of the rocks suddenly stopped its orbit around Sundial’s head in front of his face, while the other dropped lifelessly behind him.
“Mommy! Look!” He excitedly shouted. Celestia cringed a bit at the unnecessary volume and high pitch, but shrugged it off. She swears that the colt is going to have some shouting voice when he grows up.
Celestia obediently trotted behind her son, and gazed over his shoulder at the stone he levitated.
Upon the rock is a small snail, its little shell an almost identical grey to the rock it inhabits.
A side effect of having a colt not old enough to read confined indoors for the safety of others; he will inevitably be clueless about wildlife.
“That is a snail, Sundial.” Celestia helpfully informed as Sundial continued to stare at the snail as it made its slow and steady way across the rock, his brown eyes filled with wonder only a foal could have. Celestia couldn’t help but smile at her son’s reaction. Leave it to the young to find wonder in something so mundane.
Suddenly the snail was popped from its perch upon the stone and floated even closer to Sundial’s face. The stone it was on dropped to the dirt, forgotten. Celestia saw her son squint as the snail slowly curled back into its shell, soon invisible from his eyes.
“Why’d it go in there?” Sundial asked his mother without diverting his attention from the shell.
“Because it feels vulnerable. Like most creatures, snails seek safety when they feel like they’re going to be hurt. A snail feels safest in its shell.” Celestia patiently explained.
“Why’s it think it’s gonna be hurt?” Sundial asked. Celestia merely smirked.
“Well, how would you feel if you were suddenly lifted into the sky?” Celestia asked.
Sundial looked straight up into the sky, as if contemplating how he would feel up there.
“I dunno…” Sundial eventually responded.
Celestia smiled, knelt down and nuzzled the side of her child’s face.
“I would imagine it being quite scary.” Celestia said, as Sundial turned to look at her.
“Maybe.” Sundial said, grinning a bit. Celestia idly noted that the snail had stopped levitating and had been dropped onto the ground forgotten.
“Maybe?” Celestia asked.
“What if you fly?” Sundial asked, grinning wider. Celestia isn’t certain why her child is so amused by this line of questioning. She grinned. Foals.
“Then I guess it wouldn’t be very scary then, would it?” She said as she stood up.
“Uh-uh.” Sundial affirmed.
With that, Sundial seemed to believe the conversation over. Celestia sighed. She didn’t spend nearly enough time around children before Sundial. A conversation with a foal is a bewildering experience.
A butterfly, specifically a very vibrant purple-blue one, fluttered in front of the pair. Sundial’s eyes lit up with delight and curiosity at the creature, and he quickly trotted towards it. The butterfly started to fly away down the maze, and Sundial trotted after it. Celestia giggled at the sight. A foal chasing a butterfly much like a cat would.
Celestia’s humor at the situation quickly vanished when Sundial’s back hooves slipped out from under him in a clumsy blunder, and he fell to the ground on a small upturned rock. The butterfly continued unhindered, forgotten.
Sundial whimpered as he cradled his right hoof, which had a little red scrape. Celestia wasted no time rushing to her child, laying down next to him and cradling his tiny form between her arms.
“Shhhhh. It’s okay, it’s just a scratch.” Celestia cooed to her whimpering son. Celestia vaguely remembered what her mother would do every time she would get hurt as a little filly.
“It hurts~” Sundial whimpered. Celestia nuzzled him while she gently pulled the offending injury to her gaze.
“Let mommy kiss it better.” She whispered lovingly, as she leaned her head in, and lightly kissed the little red scrape.
Sundial opened his eyes, which had been clenched shut up to that point, and looked at Celestia’s loving gaze. Celestia smiled softly; glad she was able to comfort her son.
Celestia eyed the scrape. It isn’t deep; it isn’t even bleeding. But Sundial is only three, after all. He has yet to develop a pain tolerance. It’s moments like these that bring Celestia back over a thousand years ago, before her ascension. How everything in her little world was perfect, and yet seemed to fall apart at the slightest grievance. How any problem in the world could be solved by her parents, how they were the mightiest beings in her little world. Nothing bad could ever really happen, because mommy was there.
“I feel better now.” Celestia was brought out of her memories by Sundial’s voice. Her eyes came back into focus, and she looked down at her son. She noticed a recent detail is missing.
The scrape is gone.
Celestia’s eyes widened. The tiny scrape had disappeared. There was no trace of it ever being there, no scab, even the tiny amounts of fur that were scraped off seemed to be there.
Celestia also noticed that she is a little chilly. This is even more alarming.
An alicorn has some rather impressive temperature resistance, but an average alicorn (if average is such a term you could use to describe a rare being such as the alicorn) still feels cold and heat normally. Celestia, however, is the patron of the sun; she simply shouldn’t get cold at all. She can feel heat fine, she can feel a breeze, but it takes nothing short of a blizzard to get Celestia to even notice a cold temperature.
Celestia looked down at Sundial, who still looked up at her curiously. Her brow creased with worry when she saw the ground beneath Sundial looks slightly… glassy.
It was at this point that Celestia noticed the fur on her arms had frost on them. The golden breastplate she wears also seemed to have a light blue sheen to it, as if it had just been taken out of ice water. Despite the obvious freezing temperatures that appeared out of nowhere, Sundial seemed completely fine.
She soon realized why.
Sundial is the source of this freezing effect.
Strangely, Celestia could still feel Sundial’s body heat, despite everything around him suddenly frosting over. She noticed that the effect had stopped, seemingly right after the little wound had healed.
“Thanks mommy.” Sundial squeaked, throwing his tiny hooves around Celestia’s neck in a hug. He is still so tiny that his hooves cannot even reach all the way around her neck, but his hug has quite a bit of surprising force behind it.
It’s not the first time she has noticed the little colt’s surprising strength. If Celestia had to gauge it, she would say that Sundial’s strength is about equal to that of an average adolescent pony. Despite the amount of force being exerted, Sundial has no visible muscle mass that would hint at this strength. Celestia would attribute this to some form of magical effect if she wasn’t dealing with her son. However, as the three years of raising him have gone by, she has long since understood that all of the things Sundial is capable of are completely isolated from magic. Celestia isn’t too worried about his strength; she could withstand the strength of ten earth ponies and exert just as much. Celestia didn’t have any muscle mass to suggest this either, but the key difference is that her abilities are attributed to her alicorn connection with magic.
The strength is nothing new; neither is the electricity or moving things with his mind. He at points seems to have rather scary good memory, explaining his quick grasp of Equestrian speech. Celestia swore she saw him levitate once, but she hasn’t seen him do it again. But this strange freezing effect and the quickness of his healing? These are new.
Celestia’s brow furrowed at the thought. Could it be he is gaining more abilities over time? Of course, maybe he could always heal really quickly and she never noticed, and maybe the frost is simply something he does as a reaction to pain; something he does not feel at all in his day-to-day.
But it’s a scary thought; giving such a young colt even more power. He is already a potentially fatal accident waiting to happen for anypony besides Celestia herself, and if this freezing issue becomes a common development, and if he becomes capable of even more than that…
…Then it would seem that the best thing she could do is isolate him and teach him to suppress his destructive nature to the best of her abilities.
Celestia sighed. She’d cross that bridge if she comes across it. At least Sundial is slowly becoming better about accidentally discharging electricity all the time… and accidentally releasing bolts of lightning powerful enough to kill an electrically adapted pegasus every time he’s startled.
The sun is making its descent, marking the time of day as 1:00 pm. Celestia deduced this without looking up; she can always feel the position of the sun, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, Celestia can rarely get an entire day off. As it stands, she got a few hours. She needs to be in court in a half hour. She would much rather spend time with her son than listen to nobles dribble on about their selfish mandates, or solve small problems that her citizens could have gone to the mayor of whatever town they hail from. Don’t get her wrong; she loves her citizens and takes her duties very seriously. It just seems like the real problems that deserve her attention are rather few and far between these days.
Regardless, she has to bring Sundial back to his room so she can go to court.
“It’s time to go, Sundial.” Celestia said while her son was still latched to her neck in a hug. Sundial did not react beyond pulling his head back to see his mother. He seemed a little disappointed, but voiced nothing.
Celestia’s horn began to glow a familiar golden, before the mother and son were consumed in a bright flash, and vanished.
--0--
Celestia and Sundial appeared inside the center of Sundial’s chambers. Most teleportation spells would cause nausea, vertigo, and discomfort upon being cast on anything besides a unicorn, but Celestia had perfected a slightly more complicated and intensive spell that removes such symptoms. After all, it is Sundial’s main means of transportation. Can’t have him getting a tummy ache every time he leaves his room.
The room is largely a void, with few objects being in the room. There is a queen sized bed with a red quilt, white sheets mattress and pillows. An average toddler would most likely have difficulty getting into a bed so big, but Sundial is easily able to clamber on top of his bed. The frame of the large bed is largely basic metal, but has some intricate patterns engraved onto the surface using gold. The bed is made neat and tidy, by Celestia herself, as she cannot let servants into Sundial’s room for their own safety. Placed on one of the pillows is a previously wall mounted clock, with a basic black finish and white display. Celestia smiled. That clock is what she named Sundial after. He telekinetically levitated that clock off of the wall of his room when he was still in a crib and slept with it, and now he refuses to sleep without it. Celestia thinks the ticking of the clock is what he is attracted to. She theorizes that it soothes him. The clockwork ticking of a time piece lulls him to sleep, as if he’s afraid time would stop if he was unaware of the seconds ticking by.
The room’s floor is covered in a soft light red rug, and the walls are stark white. There is a single unremarkable wooden chest against the wall opposite the bed. It’s filled with various little toys and trinkets that Sundial has taken a liking to. To the right of the chest, there is the door that leads into the room. To the left of the chest, there are windows overlooking Canterlot.
Celestia stood up above Sundial, and began walking towards the large gold-lined door that leads into Sundial’s room. She halted her stride when she almost stepped upon a large white canvas next to some hoofpainting supplies. Ah, yes. She had brought some art supplies before they left for the Labyrinth. She carefully stepped around the items, before stopping at the door.
She looked back at Sundial. “I’ll be back in a few hours. I love you, Sundial.” She said, the never ending feeling of guilt surrounding her, just like every time she has to leave her child by himself.
“Love you too!” Sundial said happily, not put off in the slightest. Celestia smiled softly, before opening the door, leaving, and locking the door behind her. At the very least it has taught him to be largely independent.
She didn’t need to worry too much, however. She wouldn’t leave her child completely unsupervised, even if he’s in a room where hardly anything can happen. She has some powerful spells in place on Sundial’s room, and she can detect any amounts of his distress while away. She can’t be there all the time, but she will be there when he needs her, at least.
Sundial, meanwhile, had been left alone again. He is only three, so naturally he doesn’t quite understand why his mother is always busy. But he has become used to entertaining himself. He loves his mother very much, as she is always there in the mornings, and always there to say goodnight. She’s also always there when he gets a boo-boo, regardless if she watched it happen or not.
Sundial looked around the room, seeing the painting supplies and canvas sprawled on the floor. He walked to the new items, remembering what his mother said about them. Painting. She said you can paint anything if you’re creative. Sundial approached the canvas, and the large palette where the paints are supposed to go. He finds himself wondering what to paint.
Suddenly, inspiration strikes. Sundial telekinetically lifts a few of the paint tubes, and deftly squeezes the blue paint onto the palette. Not entirely aware of his actions, Sundial then dips his right forehoof into the newly dispensed paint. He then begins to rapidly paint on the canvas, trying to get the image in his head onto a physical surface.
Mom’s going to think he’s so creative!
--0--
Celestia was trotting through the halls of the castle, idly nodding in acknowledgement towards the passerby. Her hooves clip-clopped loudly enough for everypony to know exactly who is walking down the halls. It is now 5:00 pm, and she has had an exhausting court session. Her day isn’t done, as she now has to delve into what is known to most as the seventh circle of Tartarus; paperwork. Mountains of paperwork. You’d think as the one who raises and lowers the sun and the moon, she would have some ponies to do paperwork for her. But no, even one thousand year old immortal sun-raisers cannot escape that particular section of Tartarus on Earth. Before she delves into Mount Pigeonhole, she wants to check on Sundial.
She knew she was getting close to her son’s room when the guard detail began to thin out. She began to feel various security spells cast by herself wade around her as she walked. Despite the lack of guard detail, her son’s room is the most secure location in Canterlot barring the Canterlot Palace Vault.
She continued to walk until she came across a familiar gold-lined door. She used magic to open it, before peaking her head inside.
She saw Sundial hunched over the canvas she had left in his room earlier, though the canvas had a very intricate looking image on it. She saw that most of the darker colored paint tubes had been emptied, and the palette had many darkened colors mixed into it. She couldn’t see the painting besides the edges because of Sundial’s position.
“Sundial?” She called. Immediately Sundial’s head whipped around to look right at Celestia. It took a tremendous amount of willpower not to yelp in alarm at what she saw.
Sundial’s eyes were a milky white. His irises and pupils had completely disappeared, and all that was left were these milky white spheres. She almost shouted in alarm, until Sundial blinked and his brown eyes returned. He seemed to light up at the presence of his mother.
“Mommy, look what I made!” He said, clearly excited over his painting.
Celestia swallowed her concerns temporarily, because what she saw next made her heart stop.
Sundial moved out of the way, his right hoof lifted slightly off the ground, dripping multicolored paint.
Celestia never told him about Nightmare Moon, let alone show him what she looks like.
She slowly turned her gaze from the painting to Sundial, her expression one of horror.
What does this mean?
\----------/0\----------/
List of Manifested Abilities
(In the order in which they were manifested/discovered.)
Telekinesis: The ability to cause kinetic energy of varying precision and strength with the mind. This ability can be used to create an invisible force thin enough to slice through various materials.
Electrical Manipulation: The ability to generate, manipulate, direct, and discharge electricity. While the host is immune to their generated electricity, they can still be harmed by electrocution from other sources.
Enhanced Memory: Similar to eidetic memory, this ability allows for perfect recall, though theoretically on a much larger scale of information storage.
Enhanced Strength: The ability to exert force several times stronger than any natural limit, regardless of muscle mass. A possible side effect of this ability could increase the durability of the user, as some feats of strength that should break the host’s own bones can be done with no injury.
Rapid Cellular Regeneration: The ability to heal at a vastly accelerated rate. This ability allows limbs and organs to be grown after they have been severed, and also displays the capability of reviving a dead host as long as nothing is hindering the healing process.
Refrigeration: The ability to significantly lower (but never raise) temperatures. Note that this ability can only function when physical contact with the target is made. The host is also immune to cold or freezing temperatures.
Abstract Precognitive Depiction: The ability to draw, paint, or otherwise visually depict future events. The inevitability of depicted predictions tends to vary.
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Absolutely brilliant good sir. I am imensly enjoying this
Ah, that last ability, it takes me back to Doctor Who, when Van Gogh predicted something happening, (Not gonna spoil it for those who are currently watching doctor who) and it was almost exactly in that style. Anyway, great chapter, really enjoyed it.
3197358
Pretty sure he didn't get it from Doctor Who, mostly because painting the future is a cannon ability in Heroes. Though Isaac Mendez had to have a lot of practice before he could paint without heroin. So the real question is, did Sundial shoot up while we weren't looking?
3197413 Eh, it's just what I relate it to the most, but yeah, what you said. Also, he has freaky electrical powers, how do we know if he can't just grow stuff instantly, if you know what I mean.
Never watched the show. I know of the show so I get the idea of what going on here. I am loving it tho I might not know all of the aspects of the show Heroes. The way your pulling off this story its really great from that point of view of the reader never saw the show. That last part kinda made me have chills tho. Wow that was insane! You got my like and fave from me man if stuff like that keeps up I might start screaming at the computer screen! No joke and in a good way. I am impressed dude.
3197413
Sundial is best druggy!
This must be Sylar turned into a pony.