Celestia: a filly of twelve. A cynical, hungry pauper, with a young sister to protect and feed.
But the food has run out. Winter has gripped the land for too long, and now the pair face starvation.
The cynic in Celestia knows she can't move the sun. But the child in her wonders... and so she tries.
(Inspired by the Donovan song of the same name.)
(Now with a dramatic reading here, by Crafty Arts, and here, by KeyframeProductions.)
(Now with a Spanish translation here.)
Wonderfuly chilling while not being too grim.
I always felt that the Hearth's Warming Tale was more of a metaphor than true history. The idea that Celestia was once a lowly gravedigger would probably throw all the nobles into apoplectic fits if it were to come out (not that they would believe such drivel about their sun goddess).
Loved it.
Wow. This is some great world-building. I've seen my fair share of pre-ascension Celestia and Luna stories take place in some crapsack dystopia before (I even took a crack at it myself,) but this is the first one I've seen without Discord being the one ruling over it. Using Princess/King Platinum in this role instead was quite unique, and the endless winter was conceptually terrifying. I've always seen the Hearth's Warming Eve tale as a pretty big plot-hole in the show's lore, and this story seems to remedy that somewhat.
I can't help but wonder how King Platinum is going to react to this whole thing though, and what position his reaction will place the sisters in. Ah well, at least we know it all turns out alright in the end.
EDIT: Neat touch with Celly's wings, too. Missed that the first time around. Although having wings slowly grow out of nothing sounds like it'd be kinda painful.
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I think she has not too much to worry over, when the metamorphosis has already begun. She is marked in more ways than one, now, and old hatreds fall before such destiny.
This was an absolutely beautiful story.
Wow that was amazing. Liked and added to favorites. This story needs to be featured.
Oh wow, this was beautiful. Brought a tear to my eye.
Great worldbuidling, great characterizations. And making the sun a strange kind of sapient being that Celestia is the only one able to communicate with - that was brilliant.
This was beautiful.
Needs a sequel, ASAP.
this is the best celestia story ever! it is a very immersive text and i loved it! I think it needs a sequel or at least more stories like this.
So well written, I loved it! All of it!
And....I want more....a lot more, what will king platinum do? Will celestia get her wings? Will the grass grow!?
SEQUEL. NOW.......PLEASE!
Would be nice to see one more chapter showing Luna getting her link to the moon
Welp
What about little Luna?
Up until now I called Paradise the best origin story for the Sisters. But this... struck so many personal chords that it hurts. I loved this story and everything about it, even as it drove me to tears (even still knowing the end).
So thank you for a wonderful story.
please if you love your fans give us some more. I would love to see how the unicorns react to the sun coming up like this. I would love to see tia become an alicorn and luna as well.
I like this story a lot. I hope there might be more to come of it, even sequels maybe, like how Luna gets her cutie mark.
I love this a lot! Please do more, like with Luna?
we need luna story now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry
Top marks on this one. Raising the sun was a foregone conclusion, but you still brought out immense feels and anticipation. (Much like Titanic. You know what's going to happen, but still get carried away with the movie anyway. Spoiler: The boat sinks)
I'd like to see Luna raise the moon now.
SEQUEL!
A fool king and his court
Kept the Land asleep
In Cruel defiance to an Enemy
By Keeping the Sun from its path
The townsfolk froze in his city
And more flowed in from the outskirts.
Months passed and the river flowed stronger and stronger,
Yet more died in its movement.
Two little children,
One Eight, One Twelve
Lived amongst the Spring at the end of the River.
But the Spring was cold and stagnant.
And the Fool King And His Court still Kept the Land Asleep.
One, The child of Eight Summers,
Still dreamed and kept compassion in a blaze.
The other, The Child of Twelve Winters,
Had awoken and kept compassion frozen in a tundra to protect her fire.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
The Blazing One stayed at home
As the Frozen One kept secret her work for Seven Days.
Everyday she would bury another villager, another dreamer and put them all to their final rest
Underneath a blanket of Earth.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
On the Seventh Day of each week,
A poorly named Sunday,
She would bring home food and wood
For the Long Sleep still went on.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
Each Sunday, she came,
And Each Sunday, the Blazing One would warm the Frozen One
Just a little, so that the Frozen One would remember what compassion was
And remember that stillness and stagnancy was part of a greater movement.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
But the Blazing One's fire was just a bit too warm.
For you see, dear rememberer,
Fire cannot be controlled.
It burns, yes,
But it also gives warmth.
And the Blazing One's warmth wanted to be free to all.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
Thrice she had done this,
And the third time,
The Frozen One barely kept her hidden passion asleep.
For she found that the Blazing One had given away their hard earned survival
To another young Fool who wished for the Stars.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
For she very, oh so nearly cried,
Alerting the Blazing One to her pain.
And like fire,
Water is its weakness.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
But she kept it.
Oh how she kept it
With a cracked lie
That very nearly did not fly.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
But innocence was kept,
The fire kept blazing,
And so,
The Frozen One slept with the Blazing One to keep warm.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
As she slept all she felt was burning anger.
Anger at the fool who had tricked her sister.
Anger at the fools who defied the king.
Anger at the king who was a fool.
Anger at the Fools who follow a Fool King.
And...
And anger at herself.
And the anger fell away.
Oh, it wasn't frozen.
It simply burnt itself out.
And for the first time in a long time,
The Frozen One began to feel a terrible coldness.
She had not thought that the Land could sleep so long,
But when Fools fight fools and control the Sun,
All will freeze.
But she did not think that.
All she knew was one rule.
It was not golden, silver, nor bronze.
But it was a rule she adhered to.
To keep the Blazing One, her sister, alive.
And the truth came to her as it had so many times.
She could not keep true to it as long as a Fool King and His Court kept the land asleep.
And so she stepped out.
Out into the cold.
She wrapped her sister in the meager remains of what was once a blanket
And hoped to bring back warmth.
And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep.
She cast out her magic.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
And fell back in shock.
And the Fool King And His court still kept the land asleep.
She had touched something.
Something warm.
A feeling she had forgotten.
And it had spoken to her,
Not in words,
But in feelings and images and emotions and so many things,
All of them alien.
All of them familiar.
It wished to come back.
It was the Sun!
The Sun wished to come back.
And so she guided it.
It followed the path.
And the Land awoke,
Rose from its blanket of ice,
Shook off the vestiges of fall,
And began to put on the green clothes of spring.
And the Frozen One and Blazing One?
What of them?
I wish I could say they lived happily ever after,
But there are still roads for them to walk,
Lands to explore,
And time to enjoy the company of others.
But is that not what life is?
Walking, exploring, enjoying the company of others?
I'm glad to see this story in the featured box. It's a grear tale and I think it deserved a bit more visibility. Congratulations!
This is a great day, because another story joins the elite ranks of the platinum shelf. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing something worthy of that shelf and its other stories! I don't presume to think that my little shelf means much in the eyes of anyone else, but in my own eyes this is the highest honor I can give. Needless to say, this story is also headcanon now.
This is just.. wow, seriously wow!
This story managed to convey so much with so little, and I am loving every second of it!
I do believe this fic leaves me no choice but to adopt a new headcanon for the Royal Sister's origins (and another headcanon for the not so "kid friendly" version of history behind Hearth's Warming Eve)!
This story is astounding. I meant to sample the first page and was pledged after a paragraph.
To everyone calling for a sequel: I sympathise, but how could a sequel add to this? Let it end where it ends.
I loved this! Thank you!
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I definitely wouldn't mind a followup about Luna. Not at all.
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...did you just write an entire ballad?
I can imagine what follows. Celly and Luna flee the city as the Fool King and His Court try to find and eliminate the one who keeps raising the sun against their plans. They arrive in an earth pony settlement and, after proving that Celestia is the one raising the sun, get food and safety. The sun begins twisting her body into an alicorn to make sure it is not suppressed again. Celestia starts working the fields with them to have something to do, leading to her Sun-granted magic developing her earth pony traits. Her wings gradually develop over years.
War begins to stir as different factions seek to control or kill Celestia, who goes on the run with Luna again. Civil war breaks out in all three tribes as some feel that letting the young mare keep the sun moving is more important than the threat of darkness again. Celestia's ascension is completed as she and Luna run. Her magic provides enough food. Eventually, Luna joins her in ascension and the two forcibly conquer the parts of the tribes that did not defend them.
6608878 I would read this.
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A sequel would be a simple matter (in theory); this story explains how Celestia got the Sun, and the sequel would be about how Luna got the Moon.
However, I'd like to believe that Luna's actual talent is dream walking, and that when she grew powerful enough, Celestia simply relegated the Moon to her. After all, Luna may mean Moon, but Celestia comes from the Latin word Caelestis, meaning sky (specifically, the more "far away" parts of the sky, such as the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets). They could have just as easily named her Solia or Solaria (from Sol, meaning Sun), but they went with sky instead.
Fan Theory Alert:
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After thorough research and back-tracking of similar wording and style, I have determined that God of Physics has, to the best of my knowledge, written an entire ballad.
That is a nice bit of writing you have here. The only downside is that it feels like the start of a story which ends just when it is about to truly begin.
6608878 This absolutely needs to happen.
6609521 I like your theory. I tend to think that it is closely related to some form of selflessness. Twilight finds her alicornhood when she fixes Starswirl´s the spell to include her friends in a way, I don't remember the details but it was something along the lines of standing alone something something to standing together something something. According to some book Cadence got hers by defeating some evil pony with amplified love. Probably Celestia and Luna got theirs in a similar fashion. Hell, the CMC almost ascended when they got their cutie marks.
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I don't feel that the CMC were close to ascension so much as the writers got a bit too hammy with the scene. As much as I love the show, their "critical event" episodes tend to have more ham than a Hawaiian Luau. As awesome as I think a guest appearance by Brian Blessed would be on this show, I fear that the sheer volume of ham would clog our arteries so much that half the fandom would have heart attacks and die on the spot.
This is one of the best-written works I have ever read. Seriously.
The intensity of the writing style, the amount of detail conveyed in such a short period of time. It's glorious and riveting.
Fantastic job sir. I look forward to reading more from you.
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She probably keeps them in some form of power, though. As in, maybe Blueblood is Platinum's descendant after Celestia was adopted into their family.
As a general note, this makes Celestia's words to Twilight about how Starswirl didn't understand friendship... a little cruel and unfair.
wow that was beautiful. very well written keep up the good work
One person does not recognize true brilliance
What a lovely surprise this was. A truly magnificent piece, I can only hope to see more. Upvoted, faved and followed, and that is not something I do often or lightly. Well done, my good Sir or Madam. Well done indeed.
Sequel! :)
That was... beautiful
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lovelace-media.imgix.net/uploads/86/10d8c640-0dc4-0131-933a-168dd56d763b.gif?
6610804 Thank you.
Sequel! Come on! Luna must have followed shortly
6610940 No! Imagine all the delicious scenarios where she had to take her sister and run after defying the Fool King And His Court.
Imagine the drama! The suspense!
Starswirl could just as easily become Discord!
Drama!
Things!
Religion based on the Celestial Sisters!
War!
SO MANY AWESOME THINGS!
I guess... it's time to read the first piece of pony in a long, long time.
Yeah, worth the read.
I reviewed this story!
My review can be found here.
Totally not her wings.
Oh this needs more, so much more to be written.
6595018 Where can I read that story?
6611970 Right here, good sir/madam! Thank you kindly!
(Hope you don't mind a bit of steampunk though. I know it can be a polarizing genre for some.)