Of Heaven and Earth

by Garuda IV

Chapter 8- Dawn of a New Day

Author's Note:

Yes, I know that the title is a reference to Majora's Mask, but ever since I got Breath of the Wild, I've had Zelda on my mind and couldn't stay focused on writing, hence the lack of new chapters these last few weeks. But now that I've finally beaten it (minus a perfect completion because of how long I've been keeping you guys), I can get back to releasing chapters on a regular basis.

Sol found himself unwilling to wake up this morning. While he used to almost always rise with the sun each day, the lack of sleep he got last night didn't help him much. Besides, the softness and comfort of the beds from this era was too much for him to want to leave as he pulled the blanket up over his head to shield his eyes from the sunlight, and hopefully get some more sleep.

"Mmmmm... five more minutes."

Comfortable and safe from the sunlight, Sol found himself drifting back to sleep when a series of knocks sounded from his bedroom door.

"Yes?" he tiredly grumbled.

"Excuse me, Sol? It's Spike. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Taking that as his cue, Spike opened the door and saw Sol's form under the bedsheets. Wishing he was in his place right now, Spike walked over to Sol's bedside.

"Sorry if I woke you, but we figured that you'd like some breakfast before we headed off to the train station for Canterlot."

"Do I have to?" Sol asked with a yawn. "I barely got any sleep last night, and this bed is really soft. It's far better than any bed that we had back in my time, including beds made of clouds."

"Sorry, but the train leaves in an hour, and it'll be around noon by the time we get to Canterlot. Besides, it'll still be here when we get back."

"If I come back."

Spike gave Sol a curious look. "Why wouldn't you come back?"

"Besides not wanting to encroach on you guys more than I already have, I'm not so sure what'll happen after I... meet with Princess Celestia."

"I can understand that, but it's really no problem. And I wouldn't worry about Princess Celestia. If what you said was true and she did take you in like that, then if we explained things to her, I'm sure that she'd understand and let you stay with us if you wanted to."

Sol bit his tongue as he thought it over. While he did enjoy the company of Twilight, Spike, and their friends so far, he was also starting to really miss Celestia and Luna, and was sure that they missed him just as much, if not more. Sliding out of the bed, he grabbed his belt and necklace off of the nightstand. His belt strapped on is waist with his Bit pouch dangling at his side, and his necklace hanging from his neck, he followed Spike out of his room towards the kitchen.

"By the way, what's a train?"

Spike looked back at Sol before remembering his situation.

"Oh, right. I guess you wouldn't know what a train is, huh?" he chuckled. "Well, a train is a... well..." Spike pondered on how to best describe them so that Sol would understand. "Okay, how about this? A train is like a giant metal carriage that moves on a set of metal tracks laid in the ground."

"Okay..." Sol said, motioning for Spike to continue.

"Anyways, they're powered by a giant steam engine and are able to pull several thousands of pounds of weight behind them. It's what we use to move large shipments of supplies and to transport large numbers of ponies all around Equestria."

"How safe are they?"

"Pretty safe. The only time I've ever heard of a train accident was during some winter storm when the tracks iced over and threw the train off of them." Spike shuddered. "Thank goodness it was a cargo train and not a passenger train."

"Otherwise they're okay?"

"Yep. We pretty much always use them when we want to get to somewhere out of Ponyville, unless the princesses send us a chariot or something."

Humming to himself, Sol continued to follow Spike until they came to the kitchen where Twilight and Starlight were in the middle of their breakfast.

"Good morning, Sol," Twilight greeted with a welcoming smile.

"And a good morning to you too, Twilight," Sol said with a bow.

"Please, Sol, you don't need to bow to me."

"Sorry. It's a force of habit. My mother taught me to always be polite and respectful to mares, and I'd much rather prefer to not have her find out that I didn't."

"... and how would she know exactly?" Starlight suspiciously questioned.

"Mothers know everything. They may not know of it immediately, but in the end, they always find out."

Twilight shivered as she recalled several times where her mom found out about something that she or Shining did as foals, and the punishment they'd received afterwards. Pushing those unpleasant memories to the recesses of her mind, Twilight levitated a spare plate of food over to Sol.

"Here you go. I hope you like them."

Sol looked curiously at the fluffy golden discs. "What are these?"

"Pancakes," Twilight happily chirped. "They're really good. I made them myself."

"All hail the Pancake Princess," Spike snickered.

"The what?" Sol asked.

"It's an inside joke. But really, Twilight does make really good pancakes."

Sol looked down at his meal. "Okay. So how do I eat it exactly? Just cut it into pieces?"

"If you want to. You can also put some syrup or fruits on them to make them better."

Seeing Spike push a bottle of syrup over to him, Sol took it in his claw and examined it for a moment. Pouring some of it onto his pancake, he grabbed his fork and cut a slice off before putting it into his mouth.

"So? How is it?" Twilight asked.

Humming to himself, Sol ate the fluffy pancake before swallowing it with a satisfied sigh.

"It's really good," he smiled. "Thank you for making this, Twilight."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling back before glancing up at the clock. "I'm sorry to say this, but you might wanna hurry up if we're going to make it to the train station on time."

"Do you know exactly when it's coming?"

"Thanks to the clock on the wall I do."

Sol glanced over at the clock too, but just gave it a confusing look.

"What's a clock?"

"A clock is what we use to tell the time of day," Spike answered him. "Didn't you have anything like that?"

"Sorry, but the closest thing we had at that time was a sundial, and even that wasn't anywhere close to what this thing is."

Humming in thought, Sol proceeded to finish his meal. After which, Spike took his plate and quickly rinsed it off and set it on the rack to dry before he followed after Sol, Twilight, and Starlight down the entrance hall.

"Alright, is everypony ready?" Twilight asked, only to frown when Sol draped his makeshift cloak over himself.

"I am now."

With the four of them ready to leave, Twilight led them out of the castle and into town. Having a good look at the town now with it being daylight, Sol looked around to see ponies going about their business while they greeted one another as they passed by. Seeing how peaceful everypony was here, Sol smiled and felt himself relax.

"I think I could get used to this place," he idly commented.

Starlight glanced over to him. "Really?"

"Mhmm."

"But you've only been here for a single night. Don't you think that it's a bit too soon for you to be thinking that?"

"Compared to what it was like back then, this place is like a peaceful slice of heaven. It's refreshing to me."

"... well, when you put it like that, I guess I can understand."

Sol nodded, but his smile soon turned to confusion when he saw a giant hole in the ground.

"What happened here?"

"Remember when I said that Tirek escaped?" Twilight asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, when he came after the alicorn magic, he destroyed my home here."

"Yeah," Spike sadly sighed. "I really miss that place."

"Looks kinda small for a castle," Sol commented.

"It wasn't a castle," Twilight corrected. "It was a library built into a tree."

"Really? Well, that's interesting, but where are the roots of it at? Did Tirek destroy them too when he destroyed the tree?"

"No. My friends dug up the roots and turned it into a chandelier that's hanging in the throne room." Twilight watched as Sol's eyes narrowed as he hummed in thought. "Something on your mind?"

"Sorry. It's not important," he dismissed. If only my magic didn't leak out during my sleep, then I could...

"Then let's get a move on," Spike said, interrupting his thoughts. "We're cutting it close enough as it is, and if we waste anymore time, then we might not get our tickets in time."

Spike went on ahead while the others followed after him. Once they'd caught up to him, Sol looked over to Twilight.

"Just so I'm clear, do you ponies still use Bits as currency?"

"We do," Twilight nodded. "We also use gemstones as well, depending on where you go. Most places will accept either, but some will only take Bits."

"And how much is it for one of these train tickets?"

Twilight glanced over with a smile. "Ten Bits, but you don't need to worry about that. I've got you covered."

"But, Princess-" Sol paused when he saw the disapproving look she was giving him. "Er... Twilight, I'd rather not trouble you more than I already have. I can pay for it myself with what I have."

"I know, but I really don't mind. Besides, you're limited on the amount of Bits you have right now, right?"

Though he didn't like the thought of taking advantage of her hospitality like this, Sol knew that she was right. With a bit of reluctance, Sol silently nodded and accepted Twilight's help, much to her delight. Several minutes later, they came to a building that Twilight explained to Sol to be the train station. After waiting for her to get their tickets, Sol followed Twilight, Starlight, and Spike to the waiting platform where the others waited for them. But, as he looked around, he noticed that one of the ponies from yesterday was missing.

"Where's Miss Do?" Sol asked, not seeing the adventurous pegasus anywhere.

"Shhh! Not so loud!" Rainbow hissed, pointing over to her side where a tan mare in a purple cloak with red glasses and a silver hat stood.

"And haven't I told you not to call me 'Miss' anyway?" she asked.

Though he didn't recognize her, Sol did recognize her voice. Confused, he approached her to get a better look.

"Daring Do? Is that you?"

She nodded. "Yes, but while I'm like this, I'd prefer if you called me A.K. Yearling."

Sol raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I like to keep my personal life and work life separate," she replied. "While I'm like this, I'm A.K. Yearling, author and writer of the Daring Do series. And while I'm in my vest and pith helm like when we first met, I'm Daring Do, explorer and treasure hunter."

"... alright. I think I get it."

With that little matter out of the way, they were about to go take a seat on the waiting benches when Rarity halted Sol with a hoof to his chest, and an appalled look on her face.

"Forgive me if I sound rude, Sol," she apologized with a hint of disgust, "but what is that thing you're wearing?

Sol looked at the cloth covering him. "You mean my cloak?"

"That is supposed to be a cloak? Pardon me for saying this, darling, but it looks more like somepony tried making it out of old drapes."

"... actually, that's exactly what they are," Sol said, earning him a horrified look from Rarity.

"Oh, no, no, no, no! This will simply not do!" she stated with a stomp of her hoof. "I cannot in good consciousness allow for somepony to just walk around wearing old tattered drapes like that! I'm sorry, Sol, but we're going back to my boutique and replacing that with a proper cloak at once!"

"Sorry, Rarity, but Ah don't think that there'll be enough time," Applejack said, pointing to their left where the train could be seen coming towards them. "Looks like you'll just have ta wait until we get back."

Rarity frowned in displeasure. "Fine. But mark my words, the first chance I get, I'm going to get rid of that thing and make you a cloak worthy of royalty... which is what you are since you are technically a king, but my point still stands!"

Not really sure what to make of that, Sol just silently nodded and went along with it. As he did, he felt the rumbling coming from the train and watched as it approached with a trail of smoke. Feeling a sense of unease for seeing it for the first time and from the rumbling, Sol glared at the train, even as it started to slow down and eventually stop at the loading platform.

"I'm kinda surprised that you handled that so well," Starlight commented.

"Yeah!" Pinkie agreed with a bounce. "For a moment I thought that you'd probably get all defensive and start growling at it or something."

"Why would you think that?" Sol asked her, only to get a shrug in return.

"Anyway," Twilight began, "we should get on board. Once you get inside, just take a seat anywhere and relax and enjoy the ride."

Following after her, Sol cautiously walked inside the train car and looked around at the interior of it. Seeing the rows of lounging seats along sides of the walls, leaving a walking isle in the middle, Sol went up and laid himself down on the seat opposite of the one that Twilight and Starlight shared. Getting himself comfortable with it, Sol started to relax when he felt the train suddenly jerk. Alarmed, his head snapped up and looked around for what caused it, but stopped when he heard a giggling from across from him where Twilight sat.

"Easy there. It's just the train pulling out of the station is all."

"Does it normally do that?" Sol questioned.

"Sometimes, but you get used to it pretty quickly."

Glancing out the window, Sol watched as they were exiting the train station and let out a yawn.

"You alright?" Starlight asked.

"Just tired," Sol said, rubbing his eye. "I barely got any sleep last night with all that's happened yesterday."

"In that case, why don't you go on ahead and get some rest?" Twilight suggested. "It'll be a few hours until we get to Canterlot. We'll wake you up before we get there."

Thanking Twilight, Sol yawned again and curled himself up beneath his cloak. Resting his head on his folded arms, he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

---

Despite it only being a few hours of sleep, Sol found the nap he took to be quite refreshing, and would've stayed asleep like that if it weren't for a hoof gently nudging him awake.

"Sol?"

Grumbling, Sol peeked his head from under his cloak to see Twilight there.

"Sorry to wake you, but we're almost to Canterlot."

Nodding, Sol opened his mouth to reply, but instead let out a yawn that showed his fangs.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"I-It's okay," Twilight nervously said, feeling slightly unnerved from seeing the fangs in his mouth for the first time.

"How much longer until we get there?"

"Just a few more minutes. If you look out the window, you can see Canterlot."

After stretching out his legs, arms, and back with a few audible and satisfying pops and groans, Sol looked out the window and saw the capital city of Canterlot built on the side of the mountain. While at first he questioned why somepony though it would be a good idea to build a city like that on the side of the mountain, it was soon forgotten as he took a better look at it. Though it was a very beautiful city by Sol's standards, he could also see a few elements of the Undercity that were incorporated into Canterlot's architecture.

"So? What do you think?" Twilight asked, having noticed the way he was looking at it.

"It's beautiful. And in a way, I can kind of reminds me a little bit of the Undercity."

Twilight looked out the window at Canterlot. "I suppose I could see a resemblance between the two," she admitted. "Then again, we did arrive at the Undercity around sunset, so I would need to see it again during the daytime to better compare them."

Sol closed his eyes in thought for a moment before speaking.

"While I would prefer to keep the Underkingdom sealed as much as possible until it's to be properly used, if you want to, you can go back down there."

"Really?" Twilight asked hopefully, eager to go back down and explore it further.

"Consider it my thanks for all that you have done for me since my awakening," he said with a smile.

Smiling back and thanking him, Twilight then began walking Sol through what Canterlot is like. As they got lost in their conversation, they felt the train give a small jerk, signaling that they were coming upon the train station.

Checking over himself again to make sure that nopony could see him under his cloak, Sol then followed after Twilight and Starlight out of the train and grouped on the platform. Taking position in the center of the group, he walked with the eight mares and baby dragon into the city.

"So, what time are we seeing the Princess at?" Starlight asked.

"Actually, there isn't a time set since we decided it last night," Twilight replied. "So, since Princess Celestia doesn't know that we're coming, we're not really in any rush."

"In that case, can we stop somewhere to eat first?" Rainbow whined as she rubbed a hoof to her stomach. "I'm starving here!"

"Ah wouldn't mind gettin' somethin' ta eat either," Applejack agreed.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have some lunch before meeting with the Princess," Twilight figured.

"In that case," Rarity began, eyeing Sol out, "after we're done with lunch, could we perhaps make a quick detour over to my boutique here in Canterlot?"

"I don't see why not. Is there something going on there that you need to attend to?"

There was a glint in Rarity's eyes. "Oh, there will be. After all, I said that I would do something about Sol's cloak the first chance I got, and by Celestia, I intend on doing just that!"

Sol looked around nervously. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Afraid not, sugarcube," Applejack sighed. "When Rarity gets like this, there's not much that'll stop her. It'll be better for ya ta just go along with it."

"Alright!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So first we're off to Doughnut Joe's for some food, then to Canterlot Boutique, and then the castle to see Princess Celestia!"

Watching Pinkie bounce up ahead of them, Sol followed after her and the others. However, despite the pleasant aura Twilight and the others had about them, Sol was becoming increasingly nervous, not because of what Rarity had in store for him for him, but because of the pony residing in the castle.

Comments

[Dark Nightshade]

"Yeah!" Pinkie agreed with a bounce. "For a moment I thought that you'd probably get all defensive and start growling at it or something." Isn't that what Dark did?

[Snowfyre]

Sol glanced over at the clock too, but just gave it a confusing look.
"What's a clock?"

how does he know the word clock when he doesnt know what it is? no one even says clock around him before

[Garuda IV]

8108548
33.media.tumblr.com/ad3eb16cbb8645a41c48c6bb2995ccc2/tumblr_ni5asuS8Nq1u8r3soo8_540.gif
Thanks.

8108546 Nice catch.

[peacefighter1996]

"No. My friends dug up the roots and turned it into a chandelier that's hanging in the throne room." Twilight watched as Sol's eyes narrowed as he hummed in thought. "Something on your mind?"
"Sorry. It's not important," he dismissed. If only my magic didn't leak out during my sleep, then I could....

Really...I wanted to do something similar in my story that I'm currently working on.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

The meeting that everyone is waiting for is about to begin... but how will Celestia take it?

[Archy the Hobo]

I just found this story and I find myself wanting more. Just one complaint; unless/until she has some later purpose, Daring Do's presence in this story is completely pointless and mildly distracting

[Always Breakfast]

FYI, water powered clocks date back to like 2000 BC. They weren't commonplace until the 1300s or something, but they weren't entirely unheard of.

[Asolem2]

"Yeah!" Pinkie agreed with a bounce. "For a moment I thought that you'd probably get all defensive and start growling at it or something."

You're thinking of the other guy

[HeartfireFirebrand 2]

Are you still writing?