> A Ballad For The Ones Who Try For the Sun > by Philosophysics > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > One More Try > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Fool king and his Court Kept the Land in cold Slumber, In Cruel defiance to an Enemy Different From Them, By Keeping the Sun from its path Unicorns that studied the world Pegasus that migrated the sky And the ones who moved the Earth No matter whether one wore horn, nor wing, nor hoof All froze in the Winter turned Weapon. All who flew sunk low to the ground, Those who lived outside walls travelled in, And those who lived inside huddled closer. For a moment, they survived But after, they began to freeze. Cold and Brittle Hope Drove the Search for Warmth Months passed and the river flowed stronger and stronger, Sending more and more ponies into the city And yet more died within the galloping arch. And the Fool King And His Court still Kept the Land Asleep. 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 cold seeped past skin, Brittled the bones, And seeped into soul. One, The child of Eight Summers, Still dreamed and kept compassion in a blaze, giving those near death a few more breaths. The other, The Child of Twelve Winters, Had awoken and saw glittering, cutting truth And kept compassion concealed in frozen shelter To protect her fire, to save it for her sister. The Blazing One stayed at home, waiting Waiting 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 Kept the Land Asleep On the Seventh Day of each week, A poorly named Sunday, She would return to bring home food and wood Brought with coin earned with corpses buried For the Winter turned Weapon still went on. In her journey home, She would be alone with her thoughts And her thoughts were never kind They were always filled with Anger. Anger at King, Anger at Court, and Anger at Winter Anger upon Horn, Anger upon Wing, and Anger upon Hoof She was angry at everything that caused this War of Three Tribes That caused this Winter And Anger At self Oh, how she hated all of everything, But she hated herself most She never truly knew the time under the eternal gray But on somedays And on somenights, The Frozen One would despair and look with longing Longing to join that Final Slumber. Blanketed by Cold to find the Warmth of Death's Embrace And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep. But so long as her sister, the Blazing One went on So too must herself, the Frozen One continue Every Sunday, a poorly named Sun Day The Frozen One returned home to care for the Blazing One, Giving her younger sister food and wood to tide her over till the next time. Since her oldest memory, the Frozen lived by this simple rule, The Elder cared for the Younger Provided food and warmth And made sure they survived. Every Sunday, a poorly named Sun Day The Blazing One waited for the Frozen One to return home Waiting to give her elder sister warmth and hope to tide her over till the next time. Since her oldest memory, the Blazing lived by this lesson, One Learnt and Learned and still Learning its intricacies The Elder was always cold and always sad always often forgot warmth and hope and fun, So the Younger must give Hope and hide fear to show Warmth to the Elder 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 made sure that when survival was done, Life could be lived to its fullest and funnest extent. As Fire Hoped and Frost Toiled They stoked and cooled one Another Helping One Another to Live Live through the Long Winter turned Weapon 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 memory-seeker, Fire cannot be controlled. It gives warmth But it burns It burns and burns and burns. Without inner restraint, It burns to give warmth And the Blazing One's warmth was oh so great And her Warmth wanted to be oh so free. Free to be kind to all And be beloved by all. And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep. Thrice the Blazing One had done this, Twice the Frozen One Had Scolder her for this And Once, the Frozen One nearly broke For she found that the Blazing One had given away their hard earned survival Given away food and wood Brought with coin paid in the burial of Cor To another young Fool who wished for the Stars For what she feared was the final time And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep. Each and every time prior was grievous A gamble with resources needed to fight off Death's Alluring Embrace But this time was especially deadly It was a long time into the long winter And as the bodies grew So did supplies dwindled But the coin stayed steady As steady as the Frozen's One work Anger cracked Apathy And the Blazing One was near doused in despair By the Frozen One's Fury For the Frozen One, very, oh so very nearly cried, Alerting the Blazing One to her pain, to her despair At a near impossible task of survival Pushed past the precipice into impossible With that final act of thoughtless kind generosity To that Star Addled Fool. 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 fell apart as soon As its intended looked away And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep. But innocence was kept, The fire kept blazing, And so that night, The Frozen One slept with the Blazing One to give warmth. And to feel hope. And the Fool King And His Court still kept the Land Asleep. But 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. That familiar anger came back And burned and burned and... And fell away Oh, it was not frozen. It simply burnt itself out. And for the first time in a long time, The Frozen One began to feel a terrible coldness. Kept warm by hope, kept warm by anger, kept warm by hate Now all she felt was that cold bite of despair clawing out from within her heart She had not thought that the Land could sleep so long, But when Horned Fools fight Winged Fools fight Hoofed Fools When those who control cycles, When those who control sky, When those who control Earth When those who control fight and feud And show no restraint All will freeze. And the Fool King and His Court Still Kept the Land Asleep 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. The Elder Must Take Care of the Younger 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 with anger. Twice with despair. Thrice with hope. 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 only felt Through small hugs of the Blazing One. It was warm. So warm and filled with hope. 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. Guided it with hope that burnt despair Guided it with strength honed by pain Guided it with a dream so hidden but made big with reckless bravery And the sun 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. Winter had Ended And the Fool King and His Court Tried to Return them to Sleep But the Frozen One simply guided the Sun back Against the heavy strength of hate and anger The Frozen One Used Hope and Dream to give the Sun Strength To walk the first Day after a long Night And that is the story of how the Sun returned. ... You ask about the Frozen One and Blazing One? What of them? I wish I could say they lived happily ever after, But as the Frozen became Blazing So did the Blazing become Frozen As Moon was Eclipsed by Sun, Sun forgot Moon And the rule was broken and the lesson forgotten And a bond between sisters was broken for millenia. Shh... Shh... Don't cry, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie!? Stop giggling, Luna! You're not helping. Wait. When did you all come in? And stop crying, me and Luna are fine! We're better now! Seriously, Luna stop giggling! Not helping. At all. Oh never mind, don't answer that, it doesn't matter. Come in. Com in for a hug. It's fine. It's fine. There, doesn't that feel better? Luna. Get in here. Stop laughing or I'm banning mooncakes. That's better, but I still don't-- There, group hug. Let it all out. All out. Anyways, I'll let you in on a little secret. All of you. Though the bond was broken between the sisters, it was eventually repaired. It took millenia and more fights and pain than you'd think, but it was still repaired, stronger than ever with better understanding.Their story stillhasn't ended. There are still roads for them to walk, lands to explore, lessons to be learned, and all the time in the world to meet and enjoy the company of others. The important thing is that I tried, we tried, and we still are sisters, best friends, and family. We lean on one another when we're tired, we fight, we cry, we live, we try one time to as many times as it takes for us to live happy. It never ends so long as we live which means we can always try to be better. Now hugs.