Chapter 27
Shadow of the Sun
By Starwin
Chapter 27
It was very odd to walk down the halls of Canterlot. The magical window between the dream world and the waking one followed the group of ponies as they trotted through the castle. Twilight and Trixie seemed to be at the center of the spell, connected by a shining golden thread between their horns. The two stayed fairly close together, unsure what would happen if they got too far apart.
One of the odd sights caused by the gap in reality around them was that the group was half in Ponyville, or at least some dream facsimile of it, and half in Canterlot. Their hooves pattered against the dirt road upon which they walked while above them the white stone ceiling of the west hallway moved past.
There was still a visible golden boundary around them about neck high. It extended out a few dozen hooves in both directions, as the hallway’s walls didn’t permit it to be a complete circle. Yet, even this was not completely true. On the Ponyville side of the window, there were no walls and if Twilight lowered her head far enough she could see out into the nighttime of the dream world Ponyville.
As the group walked, the boundaries of the dream would wash over other ponies that had been turned to stone. For a brief instant the stone ponies would flicker back to life as they entered the dream. However, the momentary freedom into dreams did not last. After only a few moments they would change into some inanimate object inside the dream, such as a lamppost, or a tree, or, even one unlucky pony, a trash bin.
In short, it was all very strange.
“What are we going to do about all these poor ponies in Canterlot?” asked Fluttershy, unable to stop herself from being concerned for them. “How are we going to change them back?”
Twilight felt herself choke on the response in her throat. Changing them back hadn’t even entered her mind, not since they had first come to Canterlot so many days ago. There were more problems, bigger problems. If these ponies remained stone for what was to come, perhaps they would be better off.
“I’m sure Twilight will think of something,” said Applejack encouragingly. Twilight felt a little pang of guilt in hearing her friend’s confidence.
“Yeah,” answered Twilight automatically, before whispering, “Something…” so quietly that nopony heard her. “For now there isn’t anything we can do for them. We need to focus on the task ahead.”
The hallway ended in a large open courtyard, laid with intricate stonework around a large dry fountain and what had once been a lush garden, now turned to dry barren dirt. Above, the Moon filled the entire sky from edge to edge. It was enormous and extremely dark, not it’s usual bright white. It was even bigger now than the last time Twilight had seen it.
“We don’t have long,” said Luna, her horn glowing slightly. “If you are going to do something, you must do it soon.”
In the distance a column of lightning streaked down out of the sky. It was so bright that it actually lit up the dark surface of the moon. Then, a few moments later, a boom that made the very ground shake crashed into them.
“Woah, what was that!” cried Spike in alarm.
“Lightning,” shouted Twilight, the sound of the thunder still ringing in her ears. “But I’ve never seen such a powerful…” Another strike, just as bright cut Twilight off. The lightning bolts were coming from the Moon, streaking down through the atmosphere and smashing into the ground below.
“Come on!” shouted Rainbow Dash, her voice loud enough to be heard over the deafening noise. “Get to the tower!” She hovered in the air, pointing at the tall tower across the courtyard. The friends broke into a gallop, going as fast as they could while lightning flashed on every side of them every few seconds.
As the edge of the dream window touched the tower, the stone was transformed from stone to… bark? And that door… Twilight had to force herself not to come to a halt.
The moment they were all inside the tower, Spike shut the door behind them, then backed away from it in alarm.
“Twilight,” said Spike, pointing a claw at the door. “This… this is…”
“Ourlibrary,” said Twilight with a nod. She looked around. Above the golden line that split realities was a stone tower, with a winding stairway that led upwards. However, below it was the unmistakable carpet of the library tree in which Twilight and Spike lived back in Ponyville.
“How strange is that,” said Rainbow Dash, rubbing the carpet with her hoof. “It even feels real.”
“We need to keep moving, we aint got time to stand around admiring the carpet!” cried Applejack.
“Applejack is right!” said Twilight. “We need to get to the top!” Twilight signaled for them to go up the stairs.
The stairs in the real world didn’t seem to accurately accommodate the library however and they soon found themselves climbing an extremely elongated version of the staircase.
As they were nearing the top, the stairs changed from wood, to clouds. Twilight hardly gave it a second thought though. It was just a dream, it didn’t have to make sense.
Rainbow Dash opted to fly, rather than climb the stairs, however while she longed to race ahead, she couldn’t go beyond the dream boundaries without reverting to a nightmare once more.
Even inside the tower they could still hear, and feel, what seemed like explosions, one right after the other, with only a short pause between them. It was a stark contrast to the quiet night of Ponyville.
At last they finally reach the top of the tower, which in the dream world was actually a cloud. Twilight felt a terrible dread wash over her as she got her first good look out across Equestria. Hundreds of bolts of lightning were streaming down like rain all across the countryside. Great whirling tornados churned and spun, lifting dirt and trees and rocks into the air.
The wind at the top of the tower felt like a gale. The clouds around them creaked and moaned like they were made from wood instead of water vapor. Then, with an ear splitting crack that was heard by almost nopony, a large chunk of the cloud above them was ripped away. As it sailed out of the dream window it changed back into the roof of the tower.
“So, I guess this is it,” said Twilight, looking up into the Moon filled sky. “We have to stop this thing, here and now. We have to give it everything we’ve got because if we don’t…”
“We’ll all be pancakes!” cried Pinkie flailing her front legs in the air before toppling backwards.
“Uh, yes, that,” agreed Twilight.
“Are the elements really going to be enough?” asked Trixie.
“They are all we have, so they better be,” answered Rainbow.
“Are you ready girls?” asked Twilight. Uncertain nods but no words told Twilight they were willing to try, but none of them really believed it could be done. Except maybe Rainbow who looked like she might fly up to hold back the Moon herself if this didn’t work.
Twilight looked up towards the Moon that filled the sky. If nothing else, they would try. They would give it all they had. And if they failed, at least they would be together at the end.
The Elements of Harmony began to glow but even as they did, even as Twilight felt their power welling up inside her, she knew it wouldn’t be enough. Ribbons of multi-colored energy swirled around her, flowing to her from her friends.
The gem in the tiara atop Twilight’s head glowed with magic. There was a flash of brilliant white light as the elements harmonized with each other. A stream of dazzling rainbow magic erupted from Twilight’s element, speeding towards the Moon.
The torrent of energy crashed into the white surface, turning a small patch from white to rainbow, but only for the briefest of instants. Twilight felt the weight of the Moon press down upon her. Her hooves dug into the cloud beneath her, which cracked as though it was made of stone rather than water.
For a moment, it worked. Twilight could feel it. She could feel the whole planet shudder beneath her hooves as it stopped. The moment passed and the entire weight of the Moon pressed down upon the magic of the elements. The rainbow beam bent and fractured and broke. It shattered into a thousand glittering shards of light that tumbled out of the sky, before they were lost in the flashes of lightning. The power of the elements had failed.
“No,” whispered Twilight as the glow faded from her gem. She looked around desperately at the others as each elemental gem went dark one by one.
“It… it didn’t work…” said Rarity in surprise.
“What do we do now?” asked Fluttershy softly. No pony answered.
“Come on you guys!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “We can’t give up now! We have to try again!”
Twilight looked away, but could see that Rainbow seemed to be the only pony who couldn’t accept that they had failed. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, even Pinkie Pie all didn’t seem to hear Rainbow’s words. They all looked like they had given up hope and accepted the inevitable.
Luna’s eyes were fixed upon the Moon. Yet, she seemed to be the only one looking up at it. Everypony else was looking at their friends and Twilight couldn’t help but feel a sad little smile come to her face.
If this was it, if this was where they would meet their end, then Twilight was glad she was with her friends, all of them.
“All of them…” repeated Twilight out loud. Her eyes suddenly turned to look out over Equestria. “All of them!” she said again, even louder this time.
“All of what, sugarcube?” asked Applejack in confusion.
“Luna!” exclaimed Twilight suddenly. “How many nightmares are out there?” Luna looked taken off guard by the question, but answered all the same.
“I believe that at this point there would be few ponies who are not nightmares,” replied Luna. “Even those who stayed out of the Sun would be completely overcome with fear by now, given the current situation.”
“So, all of Equestria then?” asked Twilight. Luna nodded slowly. “Perfect.”
“How is that perfect!” cried Rainbow Dash in confusion.
“Can you give them orders,” asked Twilight, looking seriously at Luna. “All of them, from here, right now?” Luna nodded slowly again.
“Yes,” answered Luna. “Their fears control them and I control their fears. While their minds are within the æther I can reach them through their dreams. What is it you want them to do?”
“Multicast with us,” said Twilight with a smile. A long shocked moment of silence passed over her friends.
“That’s impossible!” exclaimed Trixie at last. “Every unicorn in all of Equestria! Multicasting with you? We could barely get it to work with two of us!”
“Not every unicorn,” said Twilight with a shake of her head. “Everypony.”
“Twilight, I think this whole ‘end of the world thing’ might have made you forget that only unicorns can cast spells,” pointed out Spike. But Twilight shook her head and continued to smile.
“No, I didn’t forget Spike,” answered Twilight. “Only unicorns can cast spells, but everypony has the power within them to help others. Our elements are proof of the strength within everypony.
“Luna,” said Twilight, turning away to face the great white sky. “Tell everypony to look up at the Moon and… push. With everything they have, with all the strength inside them that they can find.”
“Is this really going to work?” whispered Trixie to Applejack.
“If Twilight thinks we can do it then I believe in her,” answered Applejack.
Luna closed her eyes and midnight black energy streamed outwards across Equestria.
“It is done,” said Luna after a moment.
Twilight closed her eyes tightly, willing every ounce of strength she had into her horn. In the faintest reaches of her mind she could feel other threads of magic in the æther vibrating. Other unicorns were starting to cast as well, she could feel their spells.
Her horn flared with magic and a brilliant burst of energy erupted outwards. A single stream of purple light stretched out from Twilight towards the Moon. The light hit the white surface with a thunderous crash. Twilight let out a grunt of effort, her strain increased, but the beam held and the falling Moon seemed to slow.
“Twilight!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “You’re doing it! You’re doing it!”
“Woah,” said Spike. He was standing near the edge of the tower, looking out over the darkened Equestria below.
Far below them, the world seemed to glow with a hazy light, as if Equestria were covered in thousands of tiny glow bugs. Then, from one miniscule point off in the distance, a tiny line of blue-ish light raced up through the air, before softly reaching the Moon. The blue-ish line of light raced across the Moon’s surface before connecting to Twilight’s beam.
Then another line of light, green this time, began to reach up into the sky. And then another, and another, and still another. Then hundreds of them, thousands of them. From every direction, from every town.
“Unicorns,” whispered Fluttershy. “They’re all helping, every one of them.”
“Not just unicorns,” said Applejack. Twilight could only spare a partial glance behind her, but she could see that all of her friends were starting to glow. Swirling tendrils of mist danced through the air, making their way towards Twilight. The instant they connected with Twilight a swirl of rainbow light wrapped around her beam and raced up towards the Moon.
“I… I can feel it,” said Rainbow in surprise. “I can feel magic! And it is totally awesome!”
“So this is what it’s like to cast spells?” asked Applejack, lifting a glowing hoof. “It does feel kinda warm.”
“Oh yes, I like it very much,” added Fluttershy.
“You guys! You guys! Do you know what this means?” asked Pinkie excitedly. “This makes us honorary unicorns!” shouted Pinkie.
“Huh,” said Spike, examining his non-glowing scales. “I guess I don’t count?” An aura of pale blue magic wrapped around Spike and lifted him into the air before setting him down upon Rarity’s back.
“Oh, nonsense Spike,” said Rarity. “You can give me and Trixie a hoof.” Rarity gave Trixie a smile that seemed to catch her off guard.
“But… we can’t,” said Trixie uncertainly. “I mean, it’s never worked for us before, even after you said I was your friend.”
“What’s the harm in trying one more time,” answered Rarity, still smiling. Trixie opened her mouth to argue but closed it again and finally smiled. She moved up beside Rarity.
The air was oddly quiet, the lightning seemed to have stopped, as had the winds. The only sound came from the tingling of magic that made the sky hum. From every direction there were beams of light of all colors reaching up into the sky. Some were grouped together in large clusters, others were out on their own.
Trixie and Rarity’s horn’s touched. A second blast of light, mixed with swirling green, blazed up into the sky, joining the thousands that were already crisscrossing the surface of the Moon.
The Elements of Harmony flickered to life once more. As they did the hundreds of thousands of beams began to focus, to change. A rainbow ring stretched out around the Moon, completely encircling it.
The tower beneath their hooves trembled. The Moon was starting to move away, the rainbow light carrying it upwards into the sky.
“But I don’t understand,” said Luna, her horn glowing. “The Moon isn’t moving.”
“No,” answered Twilight. “The Moon was never the problem. We, we were the problem.” The Moon was shrinking rapidly back to its normal size in the sky. “Magic was the problem.” Luna gave Twilight a sideways glance, unsure what the unicorn meant.
At last a tiny ring of sunlight appeared behind the edge of the Moon. As it did, the elements of Harmony went dark. One by one the beams of magic from Equestria began to recede from the sky, withdrawing from the Moon until only Twilight’s initial spell remained.
Twilight opened her eyes and the magical energy coming from her horn evaporated into the air. The rainbow ring around the Moon remained, although it was very difficult to see against the Sun.
Then, the strangest thing happened. The eclipse ended and the Sun began to move across the sky.
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"Main chapter"? You mean that, after the next, there will be an epilog or something like that?
Now, since Twilight apparently figured It out, I'll just have to wait till the next chapter for my understanding.
Slipped up a little here:
Walking through the Canterlot palace while the immediate surroundings change to Ponyville... You have a knack for imagining some very surreal scenarios. The destruction taking place during their race to the tower reminded me of Fantasia tearing itself apart at the end of The NeverEnding Story. So yes, it was exciting. Exciting enough to make me think of one of my favorite superhero themes while they were all saving Equestria:
It's kind of a shame Spike didn't factor into the final push. Is it because dragons aren't tapped into the same magical reserves as the ponies who guide and moderate Nature? That's my guess, but then it wouldn't make sense that he was able to activate the map to find Applejack's Element (if that was actually explained in previous chapters, I hope you'll forgive me for letting it slip my mind...).
3134133
Corrections made, thank you very much
Actually, Spike does get to help with Rarity and Trixie, although perhaps it is a little vague. I might revisit it later on.
3134191 From the sound of it, Rarity merely asked him for moral support, and only to make him feel involved. Did I miss something?
HOLY CRAP!! THAT WAS BLOODY AWESOME!!!
So. Either they repaired the aether or they removed magic from controlling the sun and moon and the planet rotates now.
They may have just fixed their planet's requirement to use magic to move the celestial bodies which I guess was caused by Discord inadvertently during his rule.
Spike may have been a magical dampener of sorts between Trixie and Rarity's magic
I had honestly thought you'd have the nightmares push the moon away
Well that was...woah!
i listened to this when they were stopping the moon
it made it SO EPIC
3134221 It seemed like Spike was the key to Rarity and Trixie being able to dual cast, which gave their magic a greater power than if they cast separately. So I'd say he was every bit as much a part of it as anypony else.
This reminds me of Goku's spirit bomb.