Shears

by Antikythera

Bridges, 1

Among Princess Celestia's royal duties is the daily raising of the sun, heralding the hours of the day in which ponies are to live their lives. This is performed publicly once per year at the Summer Sun Celebration in Canterlot, but otherwise occurs within the privacy of her quarters in Canterlot castle. The sunrise has become a metanym for Princess Celestia's reign as a whole, appearing on almost all royal iconography and every national seal. In other countries, they speak of the Crown; in Equestria, ponies speak of the Sun.

The magic strength required to cast the sun-raising spell is a testament to the Princess' unparalleled ability; prior to the Princesses' coronation, the entire unicorn tribe pooled their forces together each day in a trying ritual now known as "Daybreaking". This was fairly unreliable. The unicorns' spell contrasts with what Celestia now uses in that it was merely large-scale brute telekinesis, and as such they required line of sight with the clear sky. This rendered the process susceptible to the whims of the cloud-clearing pegasus tribe, who were left in a precarious position between the opposing pressures of the unicorn and earth pony tribes. Leaving the sky clear each day to permit a path for the sun would mean forgoing the regular rain crucial to the successful growth of earth pony crops, the food source for all three tribes. This was one of many stressors and sources of contention among the tribes which ultimately attracted the attention of the Wendigos. As unicorns and pegasi succumbed to hunger, control of the sun waned, and further strain was put upon the crops, already agitated from the cold. Having become a cultural symbol for the brutal, uncaring nature of the elements, the image of the sun finds much warmer purchase in Princess Celestia's iconography. The reader interested in celestial dynamics magic is directed to Spiral Flare's What Goes Up, a review piece compiling all facts about the Princesses' magical abilities that are in public record.

The earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns flourished together for the first time under the Princesses' hooves. It was under their rule that Canterlot, beating heart of Equestria, was founded and constructed, along with almost all sizeable modern settlements. (Notably, certain cities on the outskirts of Equestria (e.g. Ponepeii) predate the sisters' involvement.) Common sentiment is that an Alicorn ruler, harnessing the magic of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, is exactly what ponydom needed after the turbulent Reunification of the three largest tribes. The compassion and magnanimity of the sisters afforded nascent pony society the egalitarian support that, it was thought, any one representative from any one tribe could not.

The diarchical paradigm served Equestria well for several thousand years, staving off numerous external threats. However, the first substantial challenge for the kingdom came from within. One night, on the eve of the summer solstice, the sun simply failed to rise. In addition to the immediate, drastic obstacles to survival, this instigated panic among the ponies regarding the fate of their rulers. Cold, hungry ponies anxiously awaited a royal announcement that one of the Princesses had died. When the royal announcement finally came seven long days later, it was Princess Celestia, crownless, revealing that Princess Luna had betrayed her sister and her kingdom by refusing to lower the moon to make way for the sun. Princess Celestia explained that she had wielded some toolkit of magical artifacts known as the "Elements of Harmony" to banish her sister to the namesake moon she was so fond of, and that the remaining Princess herself would assume the mantle of positioning and animating both the sun and the moon. The elder Princess' role in the so-called "Dark Solstice" is largely unknown; despite theories that she spent that time battling Luna, or that she was verbally trying to dissuade her, or that it simply took her that long to find the elements or decide what to do with them, there is no fact of the matter known to ponydom.

Whenever pressed for comment, Princess Celestia reliably maintains that "Princess Luna's reasons were her own". It remains unclear whether this is to be taken as an admission of ignorance or as a gesture of respect for the younger royal's privacy, as nopony else knows the details of that final fateful conversation between the sisters. Some historians (notably Silk Feathers et al.) have noted that the only report of Princess Luna's betrayal comes from her sister, and since the fate of Princess Luna remains unknown to this day, this bias casts the events of the Dark Solstice in a questionable light. No plausible alternative to Princess Celestia's narrative of Princess Luna's deliberate betrayal has been supported by contemporary accounts, however.

Common theory, supported by terse intimations in Princess Celestia's speech, is that Princess Luna had grown resentful of the ponies' treatment of her night. Ponies, biologically and culturally diurnal, slept through the night with rare exception, while daytime and the sun remained powerful icons for the ponies' hope and survival. Perhaps Princess Luna had tired of her night being shunned, or taken for granted, despite its important role in daily life. Perhaps she had simply grown lonely. The reader is reminded that Princess Luna was pony herself, and that living nocturnally was kind to neither her body nor to her mental health. She lived every day alone; this fact was seen as a concern until well after her betrayal. And Princess Luna, if she is still alive, if she is indeed stranded alone on the moon, certainly has no more friends now than before.

The Elements of Harmony themselves are a subject of great mystery and intrigue, but the nature of their existence is currently understood to be a manifestation and reification of certain virtues esteemed in pony culture, namely generosity, honesty, kindness, laughter, loyalty, faith, and an unknown seventh. They take physical form in seven jewels of varying shape and color, typically affixed to golden jewelry. The origin of the elements has previously been of great debate, although interest has waned in poverty of any new developments in the past thousand years. In fact, the only two appearances of the Elements in pony history are the petrification of Discord and the banishment of Princess Luna. It is of important note that the Elements have never been seen to hold any destructive power. Such ability is thought to run contrary to their nature, one of patience and forgiveness. The Elements, too, have come to be seen as a symbol of the Princesses' rule, representing their refusal to condemn a foe to a permanent demise, while still uncompromising in their devotion to their kingdom.

Discord's petrification was the critical moment for the Princesses' political inception. It was Discord who cleaved the pony tribes apart and "unstuck" the sun and moon from their natural cycle, both of which issues the Princesses' hooves were instrumental in resolving. The exact moment of the Princesses' appearance, silhouetted against the solar eclipse in Discord's sky, is emblazoned in the memory and mythology of ponydom to this day. The Princesses were wearing the Elements on extravagant golden bangles, necklaces, and tiaras. After a brief confrontation, they encased the draconequus in stone, ending his rule. However, instead of taking the throne themselves, they absconded back into the twilight toward unknown ends, until their reappearance several hundred years later. This held ponies accountable for the integrity of their own society, and anarchy continued to reign even after the spirit of chaos was vanquished. The power vacuum was so absolute that the seeds Discord sowed bloomed fully into inter-tribe hatred, and the events that followed comprise the well-known story of Reunification, retold in the popular dramatization play performed yearly on Hearth's Warming Eve. For a more thorough account of Discord's rule and its lasting effects or on the Reunification, refer to chapters 6 and 7. It is of special note here, though, that in the battle with Discord, it was Princess Luna who wore and wielded the Element of Loyalty. This somewhat confounds the narrative of Princess Luna's betrayal, but provides not much more information on which to theorize.

In great contrast to the very public display of Discord's demise, Princess Luna's banishment occurred away from pony eyes. There is no record of the event except the almost pareidolic image of a mare's head in the topography of the moon. Princess Celestia decreed that Princess Luna be quarantined from anypony she might hurt, and that was that.

The fate of the Elements of Harmony is the subject of debate, considering their incredible power as magical artifacts and the curious bridge they build between harsh, angular nature and the soft warmth of the pony mind. They have only appeared in pony once, but in their legacy they stand as the de facto royal jewels. For a comprehensive history and reference guide to the little information available on the Elements of Harmony, the reader is directed to Soul Shimmer's report The Elements of Harmony.

---

Twilight Sparkle, lying alongside a slow Canterlot riverbank, staring at the midday sun overhead, following larger, more wandering thoughts, shuts the book.

Author's Note:

This is the first segment of a story intended to spin the world of My Little Pony into something a bit more mature and a bit more internally consistent. One of my primary goals is to bring the reader into a world where both friendship and magic make sense, foundationally. It's relatively close to a single-point-of-divergence fic (by which I mean it isn't one at all). I like MLP quite a bit (obviously), but this is intended to be readable by those with no standing knowledge of canon.

Any and all feedback is appreciated; I've never written fiction before this work. Feel free to comment here or on the corresponding thread in /r/rational.

Comments

[4l3x]

Overall it's seems pretty interesting so far. It's hard to know what's part of the AU tag and what isn't, or alternatively what's just misinformation from the book Twilight is reading. I'll just list the various thoughts I had throughout and preemptively assume most issues I noticed are due to either AU or misinformation:

The magic strength required to cast the sun-raising spell is a testament to the Princess' unparalleled ability

How does the cutiemark of Celestia play into this? My assumption would be that because it is her special talent it wouldn't require all that much power for her to raise the sun compared to a tribe of ponies who just use telekinesis.

The unicorns' spell contrasts with what Celestia now uses in that it was merely large-scale brute telekinesis, and as such they required line of sight with the clear sky

What does Celestia's spell do differently?

I Like your rendition of the three tribes and the whole balancing the weather vs sun bit.

The earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns flourished together for the first time under the Princesses' hooves. It was under their rule that Canterlot, beating heart of Equestria, was founded and constructed, along with almost all sizeable modern settlements.

I thought that the Castle of the Two Sisters/The Everfree Castle was the original capital up until Nightmare Moon?

One night, almost one thousand years ago, on the eve of the summer solstice, the sun simply failed to rise.

When the royal announcement finally came seven long days later

So how long was the Dark Solstice? Just one night or the entire week?

despite theories that she spent that time battling Luna, or that she was verbally trying to dissuade her, or that it simply took her that long to find the elements, there is no fact of the matter known to ponydom.

If Celestia beat NMM in the one night then I doubt there'd be theories that she spent the time looking for the Elements of Harmony, and if it took an entire week I have no clue how no pony would have noticed one of their rulers going crazy and recorded something about it. I suppose Celestia could have removed any recording of it but that's also difficult to imagine.

generosity, honesty, kindness, laughter, loyalty, peace, and an unknown seventh.

This seems like the most obvious AU change in the chapter so far. Seven elements of harmony means that one of the sisters wielded four of them during the battle with discord while the other only wielded three, sort of upsets the balance a little bit. Same with what I'm assuming is going to be the seven element bearers later on, with just six you had two of each of the ponies represented but with seven there'll be an odd one out.

It was Discord who both cleaved the pony tribes apart and "unstuck" the sun and moon from their natural cycle

This makes some sense at explaining why the moon and sun work the way they do, but it makes me wonder why there hasn't been some sort of large repercussion from it. If our sun and moon started randomly moving through the sky I'm pretty sure the whole planet would be lifeless.

And that's pretty much all my thoughts regarding the chapter , I'm interested in seeing more and how much this AU differs from the canon!

[Eruantalon]

Not an attractive beginning, I'm afraid. We don't have any characters or action to draw us into the story, but just an infodump. If I hadn't read your Reddit post talking about this story, I'd probably have closed the tab after the first paragraph or two. If you must deliver all this history near the beginning, I'd recommend interspersing it with something else, like Twilight and Spike researching, or (even better) delivering it just-in-time over the next several chapters.

But, let's see how the next chapters are...

[book_burner]

You definitely need a few more paragraph breaks.

Also:

This was one of many stressors and sources of contention among the tribes which ultimately attracted the attention of the Wendigos.

Windigos are the MLP monster that freeze everything into permanent winter. Wendigos are basically Algonquin zombies: humanoid demons driven by an unyielding hunger for flesh. Both are associated with winter and noncooperation: Wendigos at least partially functioned as a taboo-monster about cannibalism and greed in harsh winters, when one person might survive at the cost of group unity by stealing from (or even eating) another person.
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Not quite seconding this comment, but it would have been much, much better if you'd opened with Twilight Sparkle reading, and interspersed the book's text with her thoughts about it.

As it is, we spent an entire first chapter getting Expo-Speak dumped on us by a potentially Unreliable Narrator, before receiving one actual sentence about the mainmane character.

[StarrySkies]

It took me a few days of reading this in bits to get through the first chapter - it's not bad, but the tone is definitely a bit dry.

[Bad Horse]

Apparently this used to be the first chapter. It was a very good idea to insert the one you did. Now you're a bastard for inserting a scholarly infodump just where I expected to find out what Twilight was going to say. But that's the good sort of bastard.

(First chapter needs more proofreading, and fewer adjectives in the intro, IMHO. Also, it plays cagey with things that it shouldn't, like the identity of the foal. Revealing that it's Twilight isn't a good reveal, as there is no natural reason to conceal that info, so doing so indicates the author is playing with us for some reason and highlights the artificiality of the narrative.)

I like the infodump's distinctive pedantic style, but I'm a nerd, and a fan of antique styles.

I learned a new word: pareido... para... I forgot a new word.

metanym: (taxonomy) A name that is rejected because a valid name (based on another member) already exists for the same group.