> The New Dawn
>  by gjhorst
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - Princess Platinum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter One - Princess Platinum

Princess Platinum sat upon a gilded throne with the eastern window at her back. Ahead she could see the full moon coming to rest over the heads of her nobility. Even with the throne room lit with torches in every sconce, it was dismally dark. Normally, she wouldn’t be caught dead being awake at this ungodly hour, but this was to be the event that would cement her place in the annals of history forever. It was important for such things to be done right. Powerful nobles from the other houses stood waiting below the raised table, murmuring and whispering to each other as young fillies would in the schoolyard.  If only those foals from the other tribes would get here; she could only have the dawn delayed for so long, and everything had to be absolutely positively perfect for this moment. Leaning over to her hoofservent, she whispered, “What is taking those cretins so long?”

“I know not, Milady,” the servant muttered humbly.

Between forced teeth in a forced smile Princess Platinum angrily whispered, “Then perhaps a certain hoofservent should go and find out why his lady has been kept waiting before he finds himself pulling back to back shifts in the solar tower? Hmmm?”

Her servant’s face went pale as he stammered out a, “Yes, Milady.” Just as he was rushing out to find their honored guests, the trumpets sounded and the grand gilded doors to the great throne room swung open, revealing the whole of the earth pony envoy that had braved the climb up the mountain to Canterlot Castle.

“Oh gods,” Platinum thought as she maintained a regal smile, “The dirt ponies came naked.” Indeed the whole lot of the hornless freaks had come clad in nothing save a few hats and scarves. At their head, their leader wore a strange puffy hat made of the tackiest brown cloth. She knew that this stupid hat represented the office of High Chancellor to these dirt ponies. “Chancellor Puddinghead,” she choked out as he ascended the raised dais, “It is good to see you once more.”

Puddinghead; If ever there was a name that less aptly described the pony affixed to it, it was his. It was easy for Platinum to see how this one time confectioner had become the ‘duly elected’ leader of all the dirt ponies. He exuded a presence about him that could in one moment command and in another console. From what her spies had said he had a strong voice apt to giving speeches and was difficult to rouse in a debate. At the same time, at the bargaining table he was shrewder than even the most blackhearted bussinessmare, as she had seen more than once when debating the damnable agreements for this alliance. She had given up more than she had liked to this stallion, but she knew the choicest gems were still hers.

“I still don’t see why we have to go through all this ceremony, Platinum.” He left off her title again, just as he did every time they spoke. She knew he did it just to irk her. “I feel like some actor on a stage.” Not this again. When she had suggested the ceremonial signing of this constitution, they had suggested they do it in some field, down in the mud no less! Where “Everypony could gather ‘round” and “see it in the glory of the Earth which nurtured all of creation,” the heathen dust mites. The thought of even letting her carefully manicured hooves near such grimy filthy muck made her shudder.

“We have been over that Chancellor,” at least a dozen times now she added in her head. “It is for the good of our citizens so they know how important this agreement is for all ponies. You couldn't expect the birth of our glorious nation to have less fanfare than the birth of a newborn foal now could you?”

“I suppose,” Puddinghead acquiesced as he sat down at the great table before the crowd, “Still doesn't all this seem a bit much? A proclamation at first dawn of a new year still sounds mighty... symbolic.” She knew what he had meant instead of symbolic however. He had meant mystic, arcane, magical. He was still wary of the art, she knew all those dirt foals were. They still saw it as wild and unpredictable and dangerous. They still saw it from their crazy shamen with their unpredictable tonics, as liable to kill as it was to cure. They saw magic as something one did not mess with, even something so simple as ceremony.

Superstitious foals, the lot of them. The unification of a race long splintered before living memory was a magnificent event and one that deserved all the splendor that could be afforded. To be free of this war and cure the blight cast over them by the Windigos had required a unified friendship, or so her chief adviser had said. Clover wasn’t it? She must have felt herself so clever when she and those other two found their friendship capable of fending off the ethereal beasts who had caused all this snow and ice.

It may have been her idea to unite the three races of ponies, but it was Princess Platinum who had made it happen. She prided herself on that. After all, why did one need to enslave the dirt farmers when one could simply trade their already needed services for food. After all, no pony could live without the Sun and it was the unicorns and their Celestial Mechanics who made sure that it rose and set as necessary. Thats how it had been for centuries, ever since Sunlight the Dark had forged the Crystalline Spheres that allowed them to guide the Sun and the Moon.

There was a tapping on the great glass window behind her. She turned in her ornate throne to see the one pidgeon who Clover had become so enamored with hesitatingly tapping. “Do they intend to enter through the window?” thought the Princess. When no pony moved, Platinum cried out, “Well... let him in!” A servant scrambled to rush over and open the window. A rush of cold windy air rushed through the hall as Private Pansy fluttered in, adorned in dress armor.

Pansy stood by the door and cried out, “Announcing her Lord High Commander of the Great Cloud City Pegasopolis and leader of the Seven Rainbow Swords, Commander Hawker Hurricane!” Then Pansy pulled out this ridiculously large horn and blew out a deep brassy note, that sounded not unlike a certain bodily function.

“Serves the blowhard right,” smirked Platinum as the Grand High General herself flew in wearing the brightest, shiniest set of armor she imagined the old gal could lift. Hurricane was old by anypony’s standards, but in her youth she had united the pegasus warbands under a single rainbow banner through force. It had been so much simpler to get weather back in those days, if the local brigands became too uppity, simply find some other tribe and trick them to kill and take over their territory. But once they had united under that prismatic mare, they could collude for more tribute, and turn their extensive military groundward. More than once during her childhood, Platinum had been forced into the crystal mines while her father’s castle was bombarded during the war, all thanks to this mare.

The years were starting to show on the old gal, the hues which had once been song of had faded to a hint of their former glory. Her frame was wiry and thin, yet dense muscle still coursed underneath. She had several scars which coursed across her body, displayed like medals. When the grey bird finally landed, Platinum could see the stiffness in her walk. Undoubtedly she was slowing in her old age. The dull clop of unshorn hooves resounded through the hall as the rest of the band landed and took up positions near their window entrance, wing blades clinking against their plate.

“Commander Hurricane,” as Platinum rose from her throne to greet the rusty pidgeon, “it is good of you to finally come. I was worried you had died and I’d have to bargain with some other.”  Perhaps “hope” was a better term. “What did take you so long?”

“I wait for no mare,” Hurricane replied with a predicative smile, “I figured you two would be good enough to wait for me, as I see you have.” Hurricane stiffly sat down next to Puddinghead and at last the signing could begin.

If it weren't for Puddinghead. “I thought we had agreed to come unarmed. What do you mean by this Hurricane?”

Hurricane shrugged, “I’ve never seen a Unicorn remove their horn for one of these meetings, why should a Pegasus Knight remove their blades?”

Platinum’s first instinct was to have her stallions silence the parrot for once and for all, but instead she took a deep breath, “I sure the Commander meant no offense by this, Chancellor. I’m certain that such an insult was merely a slip up of forgetfulness. After all, why would she give up such a generous opportunity for her ponies?” Even a rabid diamond dog could be bribed with a big enough jewel.

Hurricane paused a moment, then slowly uttered, “Yes, my apologies, Chancellor. I meant no insult to you or the Princess. It was merely meant for protection for my entourage. There are still foul beasts on this mountain.” The way Hurricane looked at Platinum left no mystery as to which foul beasts she spoke of. “The air currents are just so... treacherous around the peaks.”

It was at this point three ponies walked forward to the table. Clover, Smart Cookie, and Pansy stood with a large roll of paper held in Clover’s indigo aura. This ceremonial speech had been worked out between them to ensure that each of the pony tribes would receive a fair  representation in the proceedings. The three spoke in unison, “We three present to you, the leaders of the whole of Ponydom, an Alliance forged,”

“By Hoof,” announced Cookie.

“By Wing,” echoed Pansy.

“And by Horn,” finished Clover.

They spoke in unison, with a cohesiveness that blended their voices into one. The scroll was unrolled and spread across the table. Its clear hornwriting spelled out the agreed rules of their alliance in plain Equestrian. “As your first Equestrian Council we have written these words in oath to unity and friendship between our ponies. To this oath of unity do you swear?”

Puddinghead stood first, beating out the aged Hurricane, “I, Chancellor Puddinghead, Son of Trifle, do swear by the good green earth.”

Hurricane, clearly miffed that she had not gone first, stood and practically yelled, “I, Grand High Commander of the Great Cloud City Pegasopolis and dutiful head of the Seven Rainbow Swords, Commander Hawker Hurricane, do swear by the open blue sky!” My, did she love to hear herself talk. Could she have added any other titles,or did she just run out of breath?

Finally Platinum stood, “And I, Princess Platinum Tiara, Lord over all of Unicornia, do swear on all the stars in the sky.”

The council smiled as all three left their mark at the bottom of the document, now a constitution. As one, the three friends said. “We three welcome the dawning of this new age of Equestria.”

That was the cue, Platinum knew, for a servant to signal the Solar tower. There the Crystalline Spheres would be activated by the hundreds of Unicorns and the Sun would crest over the eastern horizon where it had been held. So it was odd when the first rays of light did not immediately appear behind her, filling the entire hall with her dazzling glory.

In its place, a wind began to pick up within the great hall. Platinum looked to the Pagasopolin soldiers but saw them still holding their rigid military stillness. Then there was a sudden pulse of power which knocked back the six from the raised table. Falling backwards over her throne, Platinum righted herself behind the toppled chair. What had been a wind had risen to a horrendous gale. Ponies cried out and guards moved to protect their charges. Above the table where the Constitution still rested serenely, a sudden piercing bright light emerged from nowhere. The little yellow star cast a heat more powerful than any fire Platinum had ever seen. The edges of the great wooden table began to smolder and blacken and great bolts of white lightning cast out and stuck the floors and walls, creating great booms of thunder which broke the great glass windows of the opulent halls.

Everypony had huddled down, shards of glass flying through the air. Guards struggled to approach the maelstrom of energies to protect the three leaders. Platinum shouted for somepony, but her words were lost in the terrible noise of it. The wind became stronger and stronger and Platinum hid under her throne. She closed her eyes and shouted for help. But no pony could hear her, no pony could reach her. “I’m too important to die!” cried out the princess.

Suddenly, the wind and lightning stopped. Debris dropped to the ground suddenly as the air gained an eerie stillness. All that was left was she sound of whimpering and cries as ponies carefully looked out from their hiding spots. Platinum looked over her throne, her Crown askew and bent.

Standing atop the table was an equine mare as bright as the noonday sun and seemingly made of white hot iron. Her mane and tail were of orange flames which licked across her body to an unseen wind. She was easily three times as tall as the greatest stallions, and yet as graceful as the most silken of dancers. Wide wings longer than chariots spread from her back, and a long tapering horn sprouted from the mare’s forehead. Just above, she wore a golden crown set with flawless red rubies that matched with the chestplate set around her graceful neck. Each of her long legs was shorn in solid gold shoes which ran up to her ankles. She stood there looking about, blinking with bright yellow eyes. When her gaze finally met Platinum’s, a smile crept across her muzzle. With a tremendous voice which bellowed louder than a dragon’s roar she said, “GREETINGS MY LITTLE PONIES! I AM CELESTIA SOLARIUS, RADIANT LIGHT OF THE SUN! I AM YOUR NEW DIARCH!”

The puny little pony princess huddling behind her broken throne had only one thought at that exact moment. “Oh buck me.”

> Chapter 2 - Private Pansy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Two - Private Pansy

Private Pansy fluttered along in a hurried manner, his Thunderforged armor clanking as he bounded up the marble staircase. Every so often the plates of the hard suit would rub against the burn on his left flank, making him wince. Filling his front hooves was a mountain of scrolls that Clover kept consulting with her lavender aura. As the three swiftly climbed the stairs and began to cross from the archives Clover had sequestered in, one or two of the scrolls fell out of his grip and landed by the wayside. Silently Pansy wished he too could fall by the wayside, and not have to face this creature that appeared from the aether.

“Such a creature has never been theorized before, let alone documented!” Clover yelled with that special brand of fury only a scholar could muster, “It bears traits of all three of the pony races. Alicornical formations alongside Pegasonical wings, madness! The bone structure of a Pegasus that's built for flight just doesn't mesh with the structure of a Unicorn's horn, it would be riddled with hollows and unable to properly channel the mana! And don't even get me started on the muscle mass! That kind of muscle should crush flight lightened bones! Sure, Pegasi have been known to have highly developed wing muscles, but the expense of muscle mass elsewhere! She had the body of the Terran Caballus, albeit a very tall one...”

She was starting to speak in Latin. Soon she would simply start foaming at the mouth unless somepony interrupted her. Pansy had seen it before. It was not pretty. Luckily Smart Cookie, ever the pragmatist interrupted with, “Maybe she is who says she is.”

“What? A Sun god? I thought you were better than that, Cookie!”

“Look, all I’m saying is that its looking to be the easiest explanation right now. The easiest answer is usually the best one. I seem to recall you having some argument about shaving for it?”

Clover rolled her eyes, “That would be Ock Ram’s Razor, but just because it is easier doesn’t mean it allows the impossible. There are no gods, Smart Cookie.” She stamped her hoof with hard on the stone tile. “Stinking Heretic’s 14th theorem proves that! You all can defy whatever Heretical law you like with whatever ‘harvest traditions’ you have down there in the valleys, but the Sun is not a god, no more than the moon is! It is simply a massive ball of superheated plasma arcanely held together since time immortal!”

It was Cookie’s turn to roll her eyes apparently. “Yeah, simple.”

“You know what I mean, Cookie. It cannot be what it claims to be, therefore it is lying, therefore I must find out the truth!”

They crossed the long hallway of portraits and statues, finely gilded and studded with precious stones, just as much of Unicornia was. Each Unicorn depicted seemed to be of whiter coat than the last. Large windows let in the light of the morning sun making the whole hall sparkle. No doubt whoever it was who had decorated had intended for this effect. The stone was whiter than that of the fluffiest clouds, Pansy noted. But unlike the good cloud architecture of his home, the whole hall resonated with every step the others took. The three were alone as they made their way through the opulence. No doubt everypony of importance had fled, while they went deeper into the dragon’s den.

“I think she is a she, Clover, not an it.” Pansy’s input was ignored by the flustered unicorn, perhaps due to its low volume.

“Perhaps it was created from some sort of spell.” Pansy often wondered how Clover could keep so many thoughts going at the same time. “That would help explain the incredible aura. Or perhaps some sort of high level illusion?” Sometimes he thought her head must be like a game of Captain of the Cloud. Her ideas clashing and scrambling over each other for dominance. “But even the best illusion would show Bluffer’s radiation, at least afterward. Its clear it has some affinity to the plasmatic dominion, perhaps a chimaera with a pony and phoenix base? Ugh, but the wings are all wrong. And only its mane was fire!”

“Please lets not talk about the fire,” but his words were once more ignored by the other two. Pansy had somewhat gotten used to that. The line of Pansy was a proud and noble one, but he was the black cloud of the family. Only Commander Hurricane had ever really seen the potential in him. Perhaps that was why he had been assigned her assistant.

“No, there is only one thing for it. A thorough and detailed physical and metaphysical examination.” Clover was getting that fire in her eye, Pansy could see.

“Clover,” Cookie began, “all we’re ‘supposed to do is talk with it. Find out what it really wants. Get it to go away.”

“Go away!?” Clover suddenly halted causing Pansy to run into her at the base of the stair leading up the tower. More scrolls bounded down the carpeted stairs to join their companions in the papyrus and parchment trail leading from the archives. “This could be the greatest find in cryptozoologic history! What if it is one of a race? What must their land be like? What kind of society do they have? There is so much we could learn!”

“Like why it’s here an’ why it wants to be our ‘diarch.’”

“Precisely!” The three they finally stopped before a heavy oaken door at the top of the marble staircase. The room was one of the many royal apartments that littered the palace. Specifically it was the one that was the furthest from anywhere else. There was no guard posted at the entranceway. Every guard Clover had tried to assign the position had threatened to resign rather than stand before that doorway. In the end, Clover had to go on the creature’s word it would remain there for them to return.

Private Pansy pushed open the thick oaken door. Inside the opulent room was awash in the dawning light. True to her word, the creature who had dubbed herself Solarius was laying on a mound of velvet cushions. She was far too large to lay on any of the delicate furniture scattered around the apartment. She was no longer on fire, nor was she as brilliant as she had been. Her mane had become one of ordinary hair, pink in hue, like that of the dusk sky. Upon her flank she bore a strange mark, that of a drawing of the sun, yellow and gold upon the white sky of her coat. He hadn’t gotten the chance to look at her so closely earlier, in all the panic. Clover had told him of the Zebrican races who would bleach and scar their hides with dyes and inks, using their bodies as an artist would canvas. Mayhaps this mare did the same?

Before the mare was a bowl of fruit filled to the brim. She idly plucked plump and juicy grapes off of the vine and ate them, seeds and all. As she picked them they glowed in an aura much like Clover’s, only her’s was of a golden translucence. As she ate, her eyes wandered to the window, towards something in the distance. Her words broke the silence like a stone shattered the ice on a frozen pond.

“It took you three long enough, I thought you would argue about me all day. Is it customary for all you to talk that loud?” It was disconcerting how she spoke, how mechanical and forced the words sounded. She finally turned her head from the window, coral eyes piercing.

Clover did her best to put on a cheerful face, “Yes... Well, Miss Celestia...”

“What is the highest title your race offers?” She interrupted. Her voice was like bells, hollow and resonant. On the surface it seemed fine enough, though there was something disconcerting in those tones, like the iron bells the Earth Ponies would ring during a burial.

Clover thought about what it had said for a moment, “Well I suppose the highest title would be Princess as Commander and Chan...”

Interrupted once more, “Inadequate, but it will suffice for now.”

It was Pansy who spoke up this time, “What will suffice?”

“That title,” she coldly returned, “You should call me Princess Solarius, or Your Highness as the situation suits.”

Clover was obviously flustered by this, “Now see here! You can’t!...”

Smart Cookie and Private Pansy moved as one and quickly stopped the irate unicorn. Pansy hurriedly stammered out a, “Of course, Your Highness, of course,” while jamming a hoof in Clover’s muzzle. The scrolls had scattered all over the floor and they rustled like dried leaves as they dragged Clover back to the door, “You’ll excuse us one moment Princess.”

Behind the door, Cookie was the first to begin berating Clover in an angry whisper. “Just what in tarnation do you think you’re doing?”

“It can’t just declare itself princess,” Clover responded in as hushed a tone, “You don’t do that!”

“Look, it don’t much matter what she is wants to be called now does it? Lets humor her, alright?”

“Why should I? She is disgracing the title.”

“Why should you? You saw what happened to them pegasus fellers who had disagreed with her in the throne room.” Too late she realized the words she had just said.

Pansy’s hooves went slack as that morning suddenly rushed back in frightening detail. Four of the bravest Pegasonian Knights I’ve ever known, Pansy thought, reduced to ashes in glowing plate. Tears began to well up in his eyes. Their Thunderforged Lances melting like candle wax in that beast’s fury. Sir Nimbus first, then Lady Stratos, followed by General Havok, and finally, in a croaked whisper, “Father.”

> Chapter 3 - Luna
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Three - Luna

She looked down on the darkened mountains and valleys of the Earth; its blues and greens and browns all muted to the pale grey in her light. Once in a long while, a little twinkling of light hinted at some torch or fire lit way down there amongst the little ones, although most were asleep and dreaming. She wondered if her sister was down there, near that twinkle of light, or another. There were just so many of the little fire-lights, but only one of the Sun. She had thought she would have had an easier time finding her by now. It had always been so easy to find her before. She just looked to the light. Wouldn’t her sister be the brightest of the lights?

She turned her gaze once more toward the light that had been her sister. It sat there, silent. She tried calling to it once more. There was no response from the orb. Sister was not there. She wanted to go over and be near the fireball once more but the push from the Earth wanted her to go a certain way. She saw no need to argue with it tonight.

Turning away from the Earth who had swallowed her sister and the Sun who was not her, she busied herself with work on the stars. They dazzled brilliantly and shone their very brightest. She gave a cosmic smile. Sister had always enjoyed her stars. When Sister went away she had busied herself making sure each and every one of them were at their very brightest for when Sister came home.

She and her sister had always been together, circling the great orb of the Earth. Together they made the light for all the world to see. For as far back as she could remember, they had circled around and around the great blue ball. She wondered what it had been like before them, how dark and cold it must have been. It was much better now that they were here. Well, now that she was here.

Sister was going to come home soon, wasn’t she?

“Sure”, she spoke to herself, “why wouldn’t she? She’ll be back just as soon as she is done.” She had told herself that when her sister had gone away. That felt like an eternity ago. She wondered how long it had been since her sister had left. An hour? An eon? Time seemed to stretch on and on when she was alone. Alone with her stars. Why did the stars seem so empty?

What was she doing down there anyway?

“Something very important of course. She wouldn’t just go down there and leave me here, all alone,” She spent some time and focused on Cassiopeia, despite the constellation already being rather shiny already and immaculately arranged. She gripped one of the stars and gently tuned it’s fusion. It glowed brighter and brighter as she worked. “She said it had something to do with the little ones.” Sudden worry crossed her amorphous features.

“She couldn’t have gotten angry with me for looking in on the little ones? Would she?” Still the star glowed brighter. “Its not like its any harm, right?” Brighter and brighter the star went as she rubbed it in her aura, completely absorbed in her own thoughts. “They are just dreams, and sometimes they are so funny. But Sister never liked when I talked about it.” The star burned intensely but she did not take note. “Its not like that is why she left me, she is on a mission. Sister said so. A very important mission.” The little star struggled to maintain itself as its energy was pummeled and abused. “She wouldn’t leave me forever, right?”

The star burst into a Supernova, her agitation of it’s aura just become too much for the little thing. “Oh no!” She looked on in horror as it’s stellar cloud expanded and became more and more dissolute. “I didn’t mean to do that! Oh no! My baby!” She cradled as much of the stellar mass as she could, like a mother would her foal. “Its okay, its not your fault. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry. Mama didn’t mean it.” The star, or what remained of it, did not respond. The stars never responded. They were nothing to her. Just little quiet balls of plasma, just like the Sun was without Sister. The stars were not her. She was suddenly reminded of that fact.

“What am I doing?” She let go of what nebulous cloud she had collected and let it disperse into the cosmos. “The stars can’t hear me! Nothing can hear me, save Sister and the little ones.” A thought spawned in her head, “But if she went down there, then so can I!”

She gathered her conscious close to the lunar surface, in the bright dusty wastes of a crater. She had to focus as her sister had. She had to gather her will and condense it. Distill it down to its very essence and use that to manifest the matter that would make her form. Take moonlight and dust and everything else and make a body like that of the little ones. She had done something like this when she had made her stars so very long ago.

“Oh won’t sister be surprised when I arrive? She was probably getting lonely without me after
all.”

The soundless vacuum began to pulse with the galactic energy that was to be her heart. Gently, the black folded with the grey soil and the white regolith. Swirling in the cosmic winds, energy formed down into the very building blocks of matter. Tiny quarks meticulously were arranged, bit by bit and particle by particle. Bonds formed from her will, and she began to materialize. What had started as a ghostly haze slowly became more substantial. In mere moments a body lay upon the dusty ground, dead and cold and lifeless.

She had based its design off of Sister’s. She wanted to make sure they would still be sisters, even in these new forms. It was dark blue and black primarily, for she had always liked the darkness of the veil. It was covered in hair and had two large appendages sprouting from its spinal column. She knew these were for propulsion through the air. She had seen many of the little one’s dreams that had described it as flying. In addition, there were four thinner appendages she knew were for locomotion on the ground, or walking. Firmly attached to the skull which held the tightest nerve bundles was a long bony spike which she was pretty certain was used to manipulate mana.

Most important she had marked it with the image of her orb upon the field of stars. “Sister might not recognize me without it.” She had placed her markings where her sister had, on the rear. She thought the cartoonish impression of her true form was more than a little cute.

Now, all that was left to do was animate her new form, like the puppeteer would a doll. It looked so small, she was certain she would not all fit in there. “If Sister could fit in her’s, then so can I!” Gently probing, she began to pour her essence into the inanimate creature through the spiral horn. What had started with only arcanal pulses soon transferred to chemical action. The body began to warm from the subzero cold as more of her dissolute essence channeled down. She felt herself being compressed down into her purest form, gently imploding into a pure liquid energy within the body’s structure. It felt cramped and tight, forcing herself into the form. She knew however it was necessary else she could lose herself that deep within the earth’s aura.

She opened her eyes, feeling their limitation. They could see so very little. She sighed in the airless vacuum, and then realized she had begun breathing. How novel! She took the moment to notice the small intricacies of her heartbeat. It thumped in a slow rhythmic pattern as it moved viscous red blood to the various tissues of the body. “Enough of this lying about! Time to walk!” She sprung to her hooves, and immediately tumbled about in an uncoordinated fashion. This was tougher than the breathing part.

It took her some time before she was able to get the new form bounding about on her own four hooves. It was so strange just how big everything had become in this tiny form. Her moon seemed so massive below her hooves and Sister’s sun seemed just so very far away. When she finally felt comfortable enough trotting about in the dust she looked up at the earth orb high above her. “Soon Sister, I will see you soon!”

As if all at once, she noticed something was wrong. There was something... No... A lack of something. She turned to the giant star. The eternal aura that had always pervaded that space had suddenly dropped away, she was certain. The solar aura her sister had always held was gone. She focused on the plasmatic husk that had been her sister. She could see it’s subtle movements from even here. When she realized what was happening she gasped in the soundless void.

The sun, was falling to the earth.

> Chapter 4 - Pot Shine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Four - Pot Shine

“Pot Shine, this duty is yours.” Kettle gestured to the silver tea set on the table. A sadistic grin was painted on her black muzzle. The other maids released their held breath as they were relieved of the potential burden.

“Of course it would be mine,” thought Shine as she went over and carefully maneuvered the heavy tray onto her back. Kettle always gave poor little Shine the toughest jobs in the hope that she would fail them, just so she could reprimand her afterwards. Kettle was a right mule that way.

“Just make sure you don’t slobber all over the tray this time, Pot,” remarked Kettle as she made her way out of the kitchen. Several of the cooks giggled at that.

Shine gave them an angry glare. “No Ma’am.” She wondered what it would feel like to buck the tea set up into the air and fire one or two of the heavy pieces of silver right into the back of Black Kettle’s head. It was enough to make Shine smile imagining a fork jammed right next to her stunted horn.

But then she remembered just how important these bits were to her and her father. That stayed her hoof, just as it always did. Food was so expensive even now that the rations had ended. The war was over, and trade between the growers had opened again, but that didn’t make the trek up the mountain any easier. Even with the both of them working, it was tough to scrape enough together to pay the landlord at the end of the month. The bright red apples the cooks were peeling for a pie must have cost the crown at least 20 bits each!

Shine carefully made her way up the thin spiraling staircase of the servants’ east hallway. It was a tight fit, given the ornate tray being easily twice as wide as she was, luckily this section of the castle was evacuated right now. Unluckily, the reason it was abandoned was the same reason she was heading this way.

The Fire Mare.

Pot Shine had heard all the stories about her from the other maid’s gossip. They said she was a giant with great bloodthirsty fangs and fire for a mane. She had killed a whole mess of ponies during the signing ceremony with just her eyes, shooting out great gouts of fire and crisping them to cinders. They said she had decorated herself with terrible tattoos and had the giant wings of a griffin. Of course she hadn’t gotten to see the creature herself since she wasn’t allowed to be there. Instead she was scrubbing pans in the kitchen. Shine thought that was a far better place to be in hindsight.

The creature had demanded a place in the castle and so she had been given the east tower. A whole tower all to herself. Then of course, Shine could easily see how nopony would want to be near her. The last day had been a rush of servants moving valuables and the stuck up noble’s possessions. Even without their fancy magic, Shine was sure she had moved twice what those other maids did. All on her back. They hadn’t insulted her then. Well, they hadn’t insulted her that much.

When Shine pushed open the small doorway out of the servant’s corridor and into the east stair, the latch scratched her ear. She cursed the blacksmith who had forged the blasted thing and the Pinheads who would never have minded that the latch was sharp. The entire palace was filled with things with sharp edges, barbs and splinters that Shine was endlessly cutting herself on. Then of course, they would never notice would they? They never had to carry those things. Only she did. “Stupid Magic.” Shine found herself cursing under her breath.

More and more she found herself muttering that curse, above all others. She cursed her fate of being born without a horn. Her father told her over and over that she was special and had wonderful gifts of her own, but she couldn’t see it. If she had magic they wouldn’t be living from hoof to mouth. These stuffy nobles sit in their gilded thrones and use ponies like her and Father without ever doing an honest day’s work themselves.

It wasn’t like they had any real choice but to live under the horn of the aristocracy. What other choice was there? Go hide in the hovels with the farmers, where pegasus brigands would harass them? Her father couldn’t live like that, she knew. There was so much blood out there, outside the city’s walls. She had heard the soldiers speak of it during the great feasts, from the guards who patrolled the walls. Perhaps some abuse was better than death. Barely.

After traveling for what had felt like forever, she arrived at the entrance to the Fire Mare’s chambers. She wondered what had happened to Goblet, the last servant to go in there. All Shine knew was that he had wheeled the Mare her breakfast this morning and she had sent him to the infirmary. Rumor said she had broken all his legs when she sneezed from the pepper grinder. Idle Gossip had said she had drained all his blood, but Shine knew that then he wouldn’t be in the infirmary, he’d just be dead. Knowing Goblet, Shine thought he had probably shown up drunk again and slipped climbing up the stairs. In any case, it was now her duty to serve the mare.

Shine took a moment to straighten out her uniform. The black skirt clashed horribly with her white coat and was always riding up. The massive frilly bow on her back always caught on things and made balancing objects a chore. Finally the tiny cap made her head look huge. At least she wasn’t the only one who had to wear it. The hallway had endless amounts of reflective surfaces for her to straighten herself up in. She brushed at the thin trickle of dried blood coming from her ear. “Stupid latch.” When she had made herself presentable, she moved up the the great oaken door.

Just in time to dodge out of the way as it swung open and hit the wall, the latch driving itself into the marble.

“Just where do you think you’re goin’?”

“I have been in this room long enough.” She was huge, having to stoop below the door jam as she passed Shine and continued down the stairs. She was followed by three other regular sized ponies.

“We are not done here yet!” the Purple one called.

The great white one replied, “Oh I do believe we are done here.”

And just like that, they had turned down the stairs and left Shine blinking in their dust. “Who was that? What was that? She was huge and white and... had wings... and a... oh horse-apples that was the Fire Mare wasn’t it?” A cursory glance into the chamber confirmed it, the room was now empty.

For a moment, Shine considered just leaving the set there and fleeing back to kitchens. It would be simple and nopony would know the difference. With the Fire Mare loose wandering the grounds, one unserved tea would easily go unnoticed. Shine sighed as she took off after the four down the stairs, moving as fast as the tray would allow. Her orders were to serve tea to the Fire Mare, and by gum she was going to follow through with them.

Shine moved into step behind the strange herd as they continued to argue. “I still have questions to ask you,” a purple unicorn sternly spoke. Her scholars robes fluttered as she hurried to get ahead of the mare.

“Nay, you do not have more questions, just the same ones thou have asked for a day and a half.” The large white mare moved quickly despite her slower strides. Her voice was eerily clear, like the song given off by ringing crystals.

“Couldn’t we talk about this?” a timid pegasus soldier requested. His armor clinked with his tremors whenever the Fire Mare spoke.

“Is that really her?” thought Shine as she followed. “She doesn't appear at all on fire. Maybe she’s only on fire when she’s angry.”

“Nay, the talk has gone on for long enough.” Shine was certain if the pegasus retreated any further back into his armor, it would be left standing there empty. “I will survey my kingdom now. If I am to rule this sorry state I must see what sorry state the state that I rule is in.”

“Wait, what?” The unicorn seemed confused.

“I will begin with this castle.” Then, with a crash of broken glass, she lept out the window.

Shine had been fairly certain that they were still several stories up, and that the side they were on looked out over the cliff edge. Even so she gasped as she looked through the open hole and only saw the distant valley floor below. Then suddenly the great mare flew past, startling Shine into nearly dropping the tea set once more.

“Oh fer Landsakes! Pansy git after her. Clover you’re with me,” the naked farmer ordered to the other two.

“Where are we going?”

“We got to tell your soldiers not to be takin’ shots at her! I’d hate to see how’d that turn out.”

The pegasus, apparently Pansy, nodded and followed after the great white hawk working her way over the parapets and castellations. For a moment, Shine stood there gawking as the Fire Mare sailed off. How was she to get the tea to her now? Instead of backing off as as any normal pony would do, Pot Shine gritted her teeth. “So you’re gonna do this the hard way, huh? I can do this the hard way.” Shine threw off the cap and set off at a gallop down the staircase. She needed to get outside.

> Chapter 5 - Gentle Prod
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5 - Gentle Prod

Prod ached. He had been standing at attention for far too long. The sun beat down on his dark velvet uniform and made him sweat. He had an itch that he so desperately wanted to scratch right on his nose. Then there was the fly who just would not stop buzzing around his head. He wanted to go back inside and go to sleep. Instead he stood ramrod straight and looked straight on. Such was the duty of the Canterlot Royal Honor Guard.

Standing guard over the entrance to the solar tower was more a tradition than a necessity. Inside the Celestial Mechanics whirled away, concentrating and amplifying the aura of the hundred or so Unicorns feeding mana into the sigils. Only Unicorns could feed the energy necessary and maintain the network of mana transfers and channels, so fear of it being captured by Pegasi or Earth ponies was nill. Only a madpony would want to do anything to the mechanics, lest the sun once more wander aimlessly through the sky like the days before the harnessing. So, the work of guarding the tower fell to the duty of the Honor Guard.

While most ponies would assume those of the Guard were merely the rejects not good enough to get into the Army, they would be mistaken. The Honor Guard were important to the function of the day to day life of the castle. They were a tradition founded centuries ago when the first castles had risen from the stone Mottes of the first Unicorns. Like his father and his father before him, Prod had trained his dock off to get the privilege of wearing the same uniform they had worn. He stood guard on the honor of the whole of Unicornia.

Or was that Equestria now?

Prod was still getting used to that. This was a new nation, the “dawn of a new age” that Princess Platinum had called it a few days ago. On the base of it, however, it still felt like good old Unicornia to him. Each day he got his assignments and he would dutifully follow through with them, just like always. So to him, Equestria seemed very much the same. Maybe it took longer for things to change. Perhaps it was foalish to think that change would just drop out of the sky like that. Change would come slowly, maybe even to the Honor Guard as well.

The honor guard was very much a Unicorn thing, from what Prod could work out. Would this new unification bear ill news for the Horns of the guard? The Earth ponies he had met during his off hours told him that when the need arose, all Earth ponies took up arms in defense, so the idea of a specific guard seemed kinda wasteful to them. They seemed to not like the idea of doing anything on ceremony.

The Pegasi he had met these last few weeks thought it odd there was a branch of the military who specialized in not fighting. He had tried his best to explain how important it was to have ponies who would guard their traditions, but then the Pegasi only asked what kind of traditions didn’t have fighting already included?

He would have sighed if that hadn't meant he’d have to move. The frilly peacock feather tickled the back of his neck as the wind blew, making him twinge. “Being a member of the castle’s ceremonial guard was an honor,” he reminded himself, “and with so many guests in the castle, it is important that everypony and everything look their best. You know they are working very hard right now.”

Still, why hadn’t he gotten a break for 6 straight hours?

Where was Short Haft anyway? Had he fallen asleep in the brothel again? Prod knew he had agreed to trade his morning shift with him, but now this was just getting ridiculous. Prod was now most of the way through his original shift. Next time, Prod just wasn’t going to help that lazy lout. Well, okay. Only if he had a really good reason next time.

A butterfly gently fluttered past and Prod let his eyes follow the little wandering bug. Slowly drifting on the little gusts of wind, dipping down onto the blooming flowers. “The worst part of the job has to be the boredom. If only something would happen to make things more exciting.”

No sooner had the fates heard his plea, something big landed in the yard right in front of him. Great gouts of wind blew and Prod closed his eyes to save them from the stinging grit. Dust and dirt flew up in all directions. Debris and stones struck him and the wall behind him. He tensed, anticipating the scene in front of him. Had a pegasus dropped something? Was it a magical mishap? Did one of the towers collapse? Was this an attack?

When he opened his eyes, he was confronted with a great white face inches from his own. Golden eyes staring directly into his. She was covered in dust from the landing, but even so he could tell her coat was an almost blinding white. She leaned in even closer, noses almost touching. Instinct told him to flinch, but training held him firm. “Can I help you ma’am?”

She backed off, presumably satisfied he was not some sort of statue. He saw that a lot from the public. What he didn’t see a lot of were ponies as large as the one before him. Great white wings flared from both sides of her figure as she got up from the stoop that had been required to bring her head down to his level. As she moved aside he could see the yard in disarray and a divot had formed where the mare had presumably landed. She wore fantastic glittering golden jewelry about her neck, so she must be some foreign dignitary. There were a lot of them about in the last couple of days. Perhaps she was one of those horse lords he had heard tales about. He had never heard of them having wings and horns though, or being tough enough to leave craters in packed earth. Still, it was rather rude to wreck the landscaping like that.

A voice that rang of authority asked him, “Tell me, what be this place you guard?”

What was she talking about, was it not obvious? “This is the Solar Tower, ma’am.”

“Oh is it now? A whole tower dedicated to me.” She looked up at the tower and cocked her head. “Mayhaps I should have been sequestered here instead then.”

“Um... there are no living spaces in the Solar Tower, ma’am.”

She smiled as she continued inquiring. “Then what does reside in this tower? Mayhaps a shine?”

She really must be from far away. Every foal knew what was in the solar tower. Still, best not to be rude. “The Celestial Mechanism which controls the sun, mam.”

Her head snapped back, and she gave him a furious glare. “What?”

Prod grimaced from her look. Her eyes burned with an intensity he had never even imagined before. “Um... the machine we use to control the sun?”

The mare looked outright furious. Smoke, literally began to rise off her features. “You do not control the sun.”

There was the flash of a teleportation. “Yes we do!” Prod looked to see a sweating scholar who was clearly out of breath. He recognized her as Clover, the princess’s chief magical advisor. She was with an armored pegasus and an earth pony, but he did not recognise who they were. “You see ‘Princess’, that is why we know you cannot be who you say you are. It is we Unicorns who control the sun and the moon! Not some mythical goddess!” She seemed a bit smug in her logical victory.

The earth pony merely pressed a hoof to her forehead, “Clover, I swear I’ll...”

The Mare cut her off. “You really are such little foals, aren’t you?” She glared at Clover, “You really have no clue what you have meddled with.” She turned and began to walk to the tower entrance.

“Guard, stop her! Do not allow her entrance!” Stop her? Me and what army? Prod moved in front of the entranceway, his spear held in his telekinetic grasp.

“Step aside guard. You are dutiful, but you cannot stop me from entering. I must see what crimes your kind has committed.” The look on her face shot bolts of lightning up and down his spine. His stomach churned and his knees shook. He had heard the bards sing of dragons draining the strength from otherwise able stallions. Perhaps she was a dragon? Looking into those eyes, he did not doubt this assessment.

“No ma’am.” Somehow he managed to squeak out the words despite every fiber of his being telling him to flee and never look back. To go and hide in the deepest darkest cave in the land, as far from this mare as his legs could carry him.

“You are made of stern stuff,” she sighed, “and so only force will teach you.” Suddenly, his world was a flash of white as one of her great wings batted him aside. It was like being struck by an avalanche covered in feathers. Prod tumbled end over end for a dozen or so yards before he crashed into the castle wall. He slumped into a crumpled heap.

The pain was overwhelming. He could feel his heart pound and every movement brought a new wave of pain.  As he slowly lost consciousness, he heard the Mare yell, “IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE YOU CONTROL THE SUN, THEN YOU CAN HAVE IT!” All went to black.

> Chapter 6 - Smart Cookie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Six - Smart Cookie

The clouds had not been cleared, so the day was a dismal overcast with a light drizzle. Everypony out in the rain was absolutely miserable, except for her. She sat there with the same blank emotionless face she held for everything. Everything except for when she was angry. It was like she didn’t even care that she was killing their last chance at freedom.

Clover stood in sodden robes with a sodden scroll, ink running as freely as the rain. “... and so it is a great honor for this council,” Clover belted out over the dismal crowd, “to introduce you to Celestia Solarius, first of her name! High Princess of Equestria! Ruler of the Sun!” Not even she could hold back the tone of contempt that overshadowed everything about the proclamation.

It had been there when Platinum had knelt and sworn fealty with sweet and humble lies. It had been there when Pansy had mumbled out words for Hurricane, who had declined to bear witness to this farce, along with every other Pegasus. And it had been there when Chancellor Puddinghead had said his own carefully chosen words, “The ponies of earth do not wish to war with you. We shall work together.” For how long? Who could say.

But there was another thing which filled the crowd when Celestia moved up to speak; fear. The audience looked up wide-eyed and silent, with only the occasional blink to betray them as living. They stood before the burned out husk that had once been the solar tower, its skeletal remains leaking black blood as the rains slowly trickled through the corpse. Who would have thought the Unicorns could be gelded so completely. The tower, once the horn which guided the heavens,  was no longer.

“So much for the might of magic.” Smart Cookie thought as Celestia moved forward to take a commanding position on the stage. It had all been her doing.

Smart Cookie had been there when Celestia had laid the burden of the Sun solely on the machinations of Unicorns. Cookie had seen the tower only once before, when her group had first arrived to Canterlot. Its great beams and rods of brass and gold, gleaming in the effervescent glow of a hundred horns of magic. Great spheres of the clearest crystals, each as large as her head, whirling and throwing off great trails of sparks. They moved in great arcs about the chamber following a spell which Cookie could never truly hope to understand. Even with the knowledge of how unnatural and controlling it all was, it had been magnificent.

It was amazing how something could go so quickly from awesome to terrifying. When Celestia had given out her last cry, the whole machine began to hum and squeal. Cookie looked out over the horde of unicorns, as the spell intensified in color. What had been a simple stream of magic quickly formed into a raging torrent drawing from the hearts of those mares and stallions, bound in the works of the great machine.

All the while the fire mare, no... Celestia had sat there and watched blankly as the celestial mechanics began to tear itself apart. She was far from the enraged mare she had been just a moment ago. She was hunched and withered and still, like Cookie had seen at a hundred funerals. It was a look of mourning, but for who?

“No!” Clover had cried. The whole machine had began to spin faster and faster, a vortex of golden light forming like a cyclone of pure fire. “This can’t be!” Cookie could only imagine what it was that Clover could see in the mana spiraling above their heads, what it was Clover knew  was being torn asunder. “Its impossible!”

Cookie had run over to Celestia and screamed over the roar of the machine, “Enough o’ this! Y’all proved your point! Take it back!”

She calmly looked down at her. She spoke in a hollow voice, “May the punishment fit the crime.”

Lightning had began to arc out from the cyclone, striking the walls and beams of the surrounding tower. Fires erupted from the old dry wood and soon the great space began to fill with a haze of smoke. Then somewhere in there, Cookie heard the first of them die. A cry, no more than a whimper as one by one the unicorns lives were drained to fuel the great calliope as it played its dirge of destruction.

A molten rod of brass flew past Cookie’s head and burst against the stone wall. Fire erupting wherever the metal splattered. “They’re dyin’ in there!”

“Indeed.” A tear ran down her cheek. “The mantle of the sun is burdensome.”

The smoke and heat became had too great for Cookie. She left Celestia to burn and fled the building to find Pegasi had brought over thick dark clouds to put of the flames. She could see Pansy leading them and shouting orders, but Cookie could see the fire was burning completely out of control. Ponies poured out the tower like rats, sometimes carrying others but more often than not merely escaping with their own hides.

Cookie looked up and could see the sun, drifting rapidly through the sky. It moved erratically, with jarring motions, and Cookie could feel it growing hotter and hotter. “Oh Gods,” Cookie whimpered. “We’re all going to die.” She heard screams of terror rising up all around her. Whether it was for the fire or the Sun, only the Mother knew.

Suddenly Cookie was knocked to the ground as a white blur ran past and toward the raging inferno. Before Cookie could react, the earth mare had lept through a hole and into the flames beyond. “The foal, there's no one left to save!” Cookie thought as she moved to follow but the fire flared up and she was forced back from the conflagration.

In the end, Celestia had taken back control of the Sun. She emerged completely unharmed by the flames, a dozen ponies hanging limply on her back. She tossed them effortlessly on the ground. Then turning slowly, she reared up and flapped her great wings. Winds like that of a hurricane tore through the enclosed yard and soon snuffed out the fire. She glowed brightly and the Sun shot back to its place in the sky, shining through her mane and casting a silhouette over those few who remained. Slowly she landed, her eyes white portals of pure iridescent flame.

Calmly she walked up to Clover, who sat, eyes wide on the wet and singed grass. “You will crown me tomorrow. Arrange the necessities.”

And so here they all stood, with as many ponies as the unicorn guards could force into the yard. Celestia moved up on the hastily built stage, a new shiny crown atop her head. “I will rule justly and wisely and do my best to ensure fairness in Equestria for all ponies, as the Cosmic Matron has commanded. Leave and spread the word.” Without so much as a goodbye to the crowd, she simply took off and flew over and into the castle.

As Cookie began to dismount the stage, Chancellor Puddinghead came up beside her, his hat sopping wet. “Come with me. We need to talk.” They entered the castle side by side and easily got to the apartment Chancellor Puddinghead had been given.

She could see his pack in the middle of being loaded , its contents sprawled all over the table. “Are we leavin’ so soon, Chancellor?”

He wrung out the wet fabric of his hat, letting the water fall to the floor. “Not we Cookie, I need you to stay here.”

Her heart fell. “Sir?”

“None of that now, Cookie. You know that with all that has happened I must get back to the parliament. They need somepony to lead them, especially now.” He tossed her a towel, white as everything was in Unicornia, and began to dry himself off with another.

“But why must I stay ‘ere then?” She sat and wiped away the mud from her hooves and began patting down her mane.

“Because it is you who has forged this alliance for our ponies. And so it is time that the smith tested her steel. And what a test it is too.” He shook his head and tossed the damp towel aside. “Who ever would have thought we’d have to contend with the likes of her?”

“Chancellor... I...” Before she could stammer out anything else, his lips were on hers. After a moment of surprise, she gave into his kisses and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. He was still damp from the rain. It made his mane strangely cool to the touch.

“We only have one night together,” he whispered when their lips finally parted. Tears freely flowed down his face, mixing with the rain. They nuzzled, pulling into a mutual embrace. “I leave in the morning.” He struggled with the words, “Earth needs you here to hold the Council together. You must make sure that we will not be yoked by this Sun Nag. Do what you can here, and I will at home. I... I want to stay... but... I swear I...”

Gently she pulled him toward the bed. “Please, no more words. No more goodbyes.” And there were none the rest of that night. 

> Chapter 7 - Sweet Dough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Seven - Sweet Dough

Rain fell down in the sodden forest, leaves ringing out the percussion that is a storm in the woods. Critters hid safe and warm and dry in their burrows as a peal of thunder broke through the quiet night. Tonight was a night for all the animals to stay where it was warm and safe and dry. All save for one little pony.

Sweet Dough ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, galloping through the soft mud and slick leaves. Her breaths came hard and heavy and the overburdened bindle around her shoulders bounced wildly. She ran headlong through the darkened forest, headless of the hidden dangers underhoof. Another flash of lightning lit the woods before her in stark blues and blacks for just a moment. Just enough to see the diamond dog leaping out from her right. She ducked, narrowly missing him as the crash of thunder hid her scream. Skidding in a turn, she pulled off into the undergrowth.

“Get the Pony!” one yelled as the pack once more moved to encircle her. Her legs burned but still she ran onward, trying to put distance between her and the pack. Another flash of lighting and a stone was revealed too late. Sweet Dough tripped and came down hard on her side, skidding to a stop in the thick mud. Her bindle burst open, and what few possessions she had were scattered in the darkness. Trying to right herself, she felt the sharp pain running down her side. She would be running no further.

Sweet looked about panicked, gasping for breaths. She could hear them, cackling as they surrounded their wounded prey. “Little Pony... What is wrong?” More cackling as another said, “Little pony fell down and get boo-boo?”

“Go away!” Sweet Dough cried. She could see their eyes glowing in the darkness as they padded about her.

“Go Away!” one of them mocked. Laughter filled the night as another lighting crash revealed them. There were seven surrounding her, prowling on all four legs. Their fangs were glistening with drool as they looked down on their prey.

A glint of light and she could just make out one of them picking up the perfect little gemstones from the mud. “Doesn’t Little Pony know not to take what isn’t hers?”

“They weren't yours! They weren't anypony’s! I found them!”

“And we find you! Guess that makes you ours!”

They moved to attack, but before they could leap there was a flash of fire and sparks and smoke. The acrid smoke filled Sweet’s lungs making her cough and hack. The diamond dogs were no better, wheezing on the thick haze. A voice boomed around them, “BE GONE FROM HERE YOU  DIAMOND DOGS! LEAVE MY FOREST, LEAVE MY BOGS! GO BACK TO YOUR STONE AND TO YOUR CLAY! OR ELSE I’LL EAT YOU UP THIS DAY!” A cackle deep and booming echoed in trees.

Sweet could hear them scamper away, whining and sneezing. They clearly had no desire to stay behind. Sweet tried to move, to drag herself away, but pain was the only thing to greet her as she struggled. She became woozy from the struggle. The smoke began to settle in the heavy rain, and Sweet could make out a figure in the darkness approaching. Before she could make out the figure in the dim, exhaustion finally took it’s hold over Sweet Dough. But just before all went to black, Sweet Dough could feel herself being lifted up and carried away.


***


A strange melody filled Sweet Dough’s dreams. Its melody was unfamiliar, yet calming. She could feel warm woolen covers wrapped tightly around her. She shifted and felt only a dull ache where there had been great pain before. Slowly, Sweet opened her eyes. She was greeted by the soft glow of candlelight casting its orange radiance and long shadows. She was in some sort of wooden room, filled to the brim with jars and boxes of all sorts of sizes and colors. They stacked the walls on shelves and the floor in piles. Everywhere there was a clutter, even leading up to and against the bed Sweet Dough found herself upon. A clink of iron and Sweet turned revealing a door slowly opening. A mare in long brown robes backed into the room, a tray of tea set firmly in her teeth.

The mare was a dark blue hue, with a mane to match. She seemed to almost blend into the shadows of her cloak. She set the tray onto a pile of books, which seemed to serve as a bedside table. “Ah you are awake I see. Care you for some herbal tea?” She poured out a cup without waiting for a reply. “You have had quite a fearsome night. Those diamond dogs were quite a sight. Why would they have chased you here? Deep into the woods they fear.”

Sweet took a sip of the tea, it was hot, and sweetened with honey. It quickly warmed her bones and cleared out her groggy thoughts. “Why do you talk like that?”

“What is wrong in how I speak? It helps me hone my tongue technique. But my question you still dodge. Is there not truth I can dislodge?”

“I was hungry,” Sweet began. “And I saw these little gems in the mud. I thought I could trade them for some food, but they saw me and chased me into the woods.”

“Those dogs live in Gem Ravine. There many stones are seen to gleem. For them to chase is not unknown, but why were you there all alone?”

Sweet looked away from the dark shrouded pony. “Well... I...”

“I’d bet bits in any bank, it deals with what is on your flank.” Of course she would have seen them. Those marks that had ruined her life. A loaf of bread on each of her flanks, broken in half.

“They called me a demon. They said I had made some demon pact and had to be banished for the good of the village.” Sweet’s tears fell into the tea held in her hooves. “But I didn’t! I don’t know why I’ve been marked! I didn’t do anything wrong, but everypony chased me out anyway. I wish I had never been branded by these hideous things.” She threw aside the cup, splattering the floor in the sweet tea. She moved to leave the bed but was held down by the larger mare.

“Healed and well you still are not. For now you must stay in my cot. Despite my cup which you did hurl, I think you not a demon girl. In towns oft they much appalled, and Demon I am often called. Yet when they need my remedy, then Wild Flower once more I be.” She picked up the unbroken cup once more and brimmed it with more tea. “Drink this up and rest your bones. I promise I will cast no stones. Tell me now of where you fled, and how you grew these loaves of bread.”

Sweet took another sip of the tea. “Your name is Wild Flower?” The mare nodded silently. “Thats a pretty name, not like Sweet Dough. Sweet Dough is boring.”

“Sweet Dough is a lovely name. I do not think that it is plain.” The mare named Flower pulled up a stool and sat beside the bed, taking a sip from her own tea.

“Thats what Mom always said... well without the rhyming anyway. I come from Whinneyvale, do you know where that is?”

“I know this village of which you speak, beyond these woods and up the creek.” Flower gestured as she rhymed pointing in the vague direction to the village.

“Yeah, thats it. Mom is a baker there. She makes all the bread for the village. She would trade the bread for everything we needed with everypony else and in the mornings everything smelled delicious. I’d help her bake sometimes, when she was busy. Two days ago I was taking some of the stale bread over to Old Mare Donald for chicken feed when I saw somepony in the alleyway. He was wrapped up in dirty rags and looked all skin and bones. Well I couldn’t just leave him to starve, could I?”

“You give to those who are in need, a most welcome gift indeed.”

Sweet sipped once more at the tea.“Yeah well I gave him some bread and he thanked me and I felt real good about it and all, but I went on to take the rest to Donald, and I was going through town but nopony was going anywhere near me. Like, several were cowering from me... and I couldn’t figure out why. These had shown up,” she gestured to her flanks and the marks upon them. “Maybe that guy was a demon or something, and cursed me when I gave him the bread.” Sweet drank once more from the tea, finishing it. She set the sturdy cup with the kettle.

“A curse for good deeds, would not be wise. Perhaps your curse is a blessing in disguise.”

“How could that be? Its caused me nothing but trouble!” Sweet yawned as the warm tea in her belly slowly relaxed her.

“Do not not let your gifts bring you to tears. It is only their mistrust and fears. What I suggest is to follow your heart, for no pony truly knows the diviner’s art. The future is yet yours to shape, and I’m sure your’s will leave their mouths agape.”

“You are very kind, Miss Flower. You’re not at all like they say witches are.” Flower recoiled as Sweet called her a witch, but Sweet was a little too drowsy to care. Sweet Bread yawned once more, her eyelids drooping.

“It’s time now that you got some rest. Trust my words, it’s for the best.” Flower took the blanket and tucked the young filly in. As Sweet began to finally drift back into the land of dreams, she could have sworn she heard Flower hum a soft lullaby and nuzzle her gently. And she could have sworn, half awake and half in dream, that when Flower got so close she could see a stub of bone broken off but protruding out from her forehead. Like it was the base of some broken horn.

> Chapter 8 - Commander Hurricane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Eight - Commander Hurricane

Once more the sun rose over the sea of white puff spanning to the horizon, another day given with no promise of returning. Below, Hurricane saw the brightly colored specks she called soldiers patching the thin veneer of cloud. Above, she nothing but the endless blue and the relentless sun. The treacherous, relentless sun.

She pulled on the heavy steel armor that had become her badge of rank. Her shoulders ached with the weight of it, but if she intended to save this strange band she called a nation from itself, she needed to appear strong. Strength is what Pegasi respected. Strength had forged them into the mighty nation they were now. Strength was control.

But her own strength was waning, the years had not been kind. Even now, they were nipping at her heels to keel over so that they could take the reigns. “I’ve been leading Pegasopolis for what? Thirty years? Forty? Yet those feather brains would dash it to pieces before my ashes were even cool.”

“Commander, urgent report!” A messenger interrupted her thoughts.

Hurricane sighed, “What is it, Private?”

“Word from the cloud banks, the reserves have run dry. They can’t continue this cloud cover any longer.”

“What?” Hurricane spun around. “Those eggheads said they could get me five days of cover. It’s only been three!”

The private recoiled back, “I... I...” He was just a messenger, she knew; he had nothing to do with this. Hurricane pushed past him and grabbed her helmet as she spread her wings. She leaped from the landing balcony and dived, rushing past various ponies performing various duties. Keeping the command complex alive, like a bee hive. She pulled up sharper than she had meant to, feeling her shoulders pop as her wings strained to arrest her descent. She winced momentarily from the pain but pushed it out of her thoughts. “That spear in ‘82 had been worse,” she told herself.

She trotted forward and pushed open a mist veil to reveal an empty cavernous space in the base of the complex. The cloud bank. Normally it would be filled with large, grey, moisture laden clouds, ready to be used for anything from construction to rain. It was a strategic reserve, and one of the main reasons Pegasopolis ruled over all pegasi. Yet when Hurricane walked in, the place was empty, save for a tiny white cloud no bigger than a bed and two ponies with goggles.

“Stratos!” she bellowed. Stratos cringed as he saw his commander angrily stomping over. “What is this I’m being told? Why are there no clouds in here! You said I would have five days of rain, soldier!”

The pegasus with Stratos shook in his armor, “Ma’am, I...”

“I don’t give a plucked feather what you have to say, soldier.” She turned on the other soldier, Aileron. “I’m here wondering why the troops coming north from the Bucking Mountains are going to have no cover to shield their movements.”

“We would have had five days Mam,” Stratos calmly replied, “If you hadn’t taken all the ponies off moisture farming.”

“Just where did you think I was going to get the wingpower to mobilize this cover then?” Hurricane stopped herself. She took a deep breath and stopped yelling. “How much longer do we have?”

“The reserve is dry, Commander. And all this has driven the humidity down, so the clouds we do have are dissipating faster than usual. I’d give it half a day at most.”

“Nonsense, The 35th needs at least another twenty four hours.”

“I’m just telling it as it is Ma’am.”

“And I’m telling you as it has to be, Stratos. I don’t care how you do it but you are getting me a full day or I will personally cut both your wings off!”

“Just where do you expect me to find all that moisture, Ma’am?”

“How the hay should I know? Bucket out a lake! Dismantle the complex! Use your own piss if you have to! We need every pony in steel around that mountain and your clouds need to be under them! Now quit asking questions and get to work!” She paused, then acquiesced slightly. “I’ll give you as many hooves as you need, but this needs to be done, Stratos.” Hurricane ignored the pain as she launched right there and flew out from the reserve.

As Hurricane lazily circled in the rising thermal on the way back to her office, she heard a call from behind her. She turned her head to see another messenger huffing as he fought the thermal to try and intercept her. Hurricane let the air spill from her wings and she lowered to his altitude. “Urgent scroll from Canterlot, Ma’am!”

Only one pony in Canterlot could be reporting at this point. Hurricane took the scroll and was not surprised to see Pansy’s mark pressed into the wax seal. Hurricane opened the scroll and hurriedly read the neat writing.

“Commander Hurricane,” the letter read. “It seems that the situation is worse than originally predicted. The creature who calls herself Celestia is as powerful as her initial claims. I have been working closely with Smart Cookie and Clover to ascertain what she might be and...” Hurricane rolled back up the scroll. It was no good, Pansy was too infatuated with the other tribes to see what was really going on.

“Private, go to the cell layer. Tell them to bring to me Prisoner E immediately. I’ll be in my quarters.” The soldier, out of breath saluted and flew off.

When Hurricane reached her office, she saw three ponies were there waiting for her. Two she recognised from mere moments before, Stratos and Aileron from the cloud bank. The last couldn’t be mistaken if the room had been filled with fog. The rainbow mane and the armor to match made her more vibrant than a clown in a paint factory. This outlandish style came to a head with her over confident smirk. “Commander Hurricane, so good of you to show up.”

“General Lightning Dash, this is my office. I was bound to show up here sooner or later.”

“It seems later in your case. Stratos here has been telling me some distressing news.”

“Oh I bet he has.” The Commander glared at the young cloudwatcher. “Perhaps we should speak in private then?”

“Oh no no no no,” Dash tisked. “I need a witness for my challenge.”

So this was her game. It did not surprise Hurricane, but she thought she would have held out for just awhile longer, at least long enough to get the mountain operation underway. “Dash, you’re a greedy arrogant fool and if it weren't for the fact you are a halfway decent general, I’d have gutted you years ago for your insubordination,” Hurricane growled.

“I’m the fool? I’m not the one who has wasted our entire reserve of clouds on some silly exercise. If it were me, I would have attacked Canterlot...”

Hurricane cut her off, “If it were you, we would have had enough dead pegasi to stuff every mattress in equestria.”

“At least then we would have died with honor then with this slaver’s peace. You sell out all the wings of your tribe to the pinheads and for what? Peace, you said! Ha! We should have struck when we had the chance.” Dash really was being a fool if she thought they had a chance to take the might of magic head on. Especially now.

“Enough! Are you going to cut me in the air or talk me to death, Dash?”

“Noon tomorrow,” she calmly replied. “With wing blades.”

“Make it dawn, I have an operation to oversee thanks to some weatherpony running out of cloud.” Hurricane glared at Stratos again.

“So eager to die, Old Crow? Fine then, make it dawn.”

As Dash moved to leave the cloud room, Hurricane turned and said, “Tell your husband I’m sorry for his loss.” Dash didn’t acknowledge the comment as she left, taking to the air and flying away.

Hurricane turned to the two weatherponies still in the room, “What in the three hells are you still doing here?”

“Ma’am, I..”

“Is that all you can say, Aileron? Find me those clouds or I’ll burn you two alive on Dash’s corpse come tomorrow!”

The two scrambled and she was soon left alone in her office. She pulled the scroll from under her breastplate and tossed onto the desk. “It had been so close, Pansy. You had almost guaranteed a lasting peace for the pegasi. No more midnight raids by the light of the moon. No more stealing food and killing to get by. They were so close, but then they pulled the cloud right out from under us. They clearly had summoned this creature from beyond the veil or some such place. Having one being to power the sun, it was a show of power. They even had the audacity to give her wings.”

Hurricane was still brooding when the guards interrupted her thoughts. “Ma’am, we’ve brought Prisoner E.”

“Good, bring her in.” The guards carried in a large thunderforged steel plate. Chained to the plate by her neck was a unicorn, blue and shivering. Most non-pegasi found higher altitudes to be rather cold. Her coat was dirty and matted and she was clearly starved. She lay there on the plate as it was rested on the cloud. “Leave us.” The guards saluted and left, leaving the two of them alone in the cloud room.

“Zoe Lulamoon, good morning.” Hurricane smiled, “Tell me what you know about the sun.”

> Chapter 9 - Zoe Lulamoon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Nine - Zoe Lulamoon

“They really do twinkle.” She put out a hoof and felt the tiny orb. It slowly pulsed as she held it loosely between her hooves. The star gently inquired if she was its Mommy. “No little one, I am not.” The star began to fuss. “Now now,” she comforted it. “I’ll help you look for her. What does she look like?” The star hesitantly began to describe its mother. Its brothers and sisters came up and added details. Soon she was surrounded in a nebula of tiny lights. She was huge one said! And she is round shouted another! She’s bright, sometimes. She’s always looking down they all agreed.

Zoe slowly pieced together their shouts. “Be she the moon?” They cheered at her guess. Yes Yes she is the moon. “What mean you? The moon is right...” The moon was indeed gone. In its place there was a tear. Zoe went over and looked through the hole. It was absolutely crammed with nothing, filled to the brim with it. Nothing overflowed. And the nothing stared back, angry. “I’m sorry, I thought you were somepony else.”

Turning back to the stars, they looked as though they were about to burst into tears. “Now now little ones? I’ll find her do not worry. When did she leave?” She left with Auntie Bright. Auntie went to go see the little ones below. “Auntie Bright?” Yes Yes! She is just like us... only big like Mommy! Zoe looked back to the Sun, but instead of the Sun there was a seam. Sewed shut by cosmic threads, and sealed with a thick and creamy magic spell. Zoe carefully tasted the galactic spackle. It tasted of age and buzzed on her tongue. Strange.

Something was strange. “Something is wrong?”

“So she finally sees.” The voice was distant yet everywhere. He voice was jovial in only the way that a stabbing knife could be. A single yellow eye staring at her though the sound, looking deep into her soul, into the nothing. Only then did Zoe realize she had been drowning. Her lungs burned for air but as she gasped nothing came. There was no relief. Her heart raced and sweat boiled off her brow. All at once the nothing stared through her, piercing all that she was.

“Oh stop your struggles, its so cliche.” The voice was male. “Now come on! Wake up criminal scum!” The voice became real in a way it had never been.

“Wake up?” Already the stars swirled around her in a vortex, screaming. They kicked and clawed and yet the hole swallowed them whole. The black lessening unto it eased into the pure white of everything.

“Wake Up!” The guard kicked her and her eyes shot open to the blinding white of cloud. She blinked as her eyes screamed in agony from the assault of light. Everything was light. Everything but her, the guard and the plate. The guard’s kick had shifted her very close to the edge of the metal raft.

“It was...” she hacked up phlegm. The wind blew as she tried to spit the thick mucus off the edge of her prison, making her short of her goal. The was blood mixed in with the yellow. That probably wasn’t good.

“The Commander wants to talk to you, Pinhead!” It was a dream. The stars were a dream. The dreams were getting worse with the fever. She put a hoof up to her head. The slick sweat and heat agreed; the sickness was not going away. “Do you hear me?”

“Yes, I hear you.” Her voice was weak, but the guard seemed to hear it all the same. “Are you going to kill me today?” It had become a kind of sick game she and the guards had begun to play these last few months. She would ask them if they would kill her, and the guard would tell her how they planned to do it. One day it would be by hanging. Another they would would burn her on a pyre. Another they would just let her walk off her platform and say hello to the ground below. It was all great fun.

“Not today.” Wait what? “Today you’re talking to Hurricane.”

Perhaps it would have been better to die.

Hurricane was a legend even amongst the ground bound Unicorns. A brigand who rose above herself and for more than half a century built up a nation from the chaos of her race. They said she feasted on lightning bolts everyday to keep her strong. They said her eyes could see further than a hawk and pierce even the densest fog. Her wings could summon up tornadoes with every flap. She birthed dragons to use as her personal guards. Whatever Hurricane wanted, it could not be good.

The guards tossed her a scrap of cloth. “Bind your eyes, prisoner.” Zoe did as they asked, her weakened telekinesis tying the thick cloth around her eyes. She knew why they wanted her blindfolded, it was the same reason they kept her in the bank of cloud, surrounded on all sides with the white puffy oppression. They had seen the Blink Troops and the terror they had brought to the battlefield. One could hardly blame them for wanting to prevent that again.

As the guards flew her over on their backs, she pondered her ultimate fate. Why was it that Hurricane wanted to see her? The guards shook her plate for some unknown reason and she clung to it with all her strength, fearful that they had finally decided to just dump her and watch her fly.

“Ma’am, we’ve brought Prisoner E,” one of the guards said.

“Good. Bring her in.” That was a feminine voice. Perhaps Hurricane? “Leave us,” she said after the the plate had been set down. Roughly a hoof pulled away her blindfold. Before her there was an old greyed mare in bright steel plate. Her mane was a muted prism of color that clashed with her faded yellow coat. She bore a scar on her left cheek and several more down her front legs. She was thin and hard as a wire.

“Zoe Lulamoon, good morning.” Hurricane smiled, “Tell me what you know about the sun.”

Zoe blinked, “The sun?” What was there to say?

“Yes. The sun.” The mare turned her back to the prisoner and walked over to a cloud table full of steel. She carefully lifted a bright wingblade and began strapping in on her left wing. “Tell me what you unicorns have been doing with the sun.”

Had they begun trying to use the sun as a weapon in the war? She had not noticed how the the pattern of light and dark had fallen in her cell. Were the fools in canterlot really that desperate? “The sun is controlled from the solar tower in...”

Hurricane cut in, “Don’t lie to me, Lulamoon! We already know of the Sun Mare! How did you make her?” Hurricane moved up close to the mare, glinting steel under pale plumage.

“I don’t...”

“You were a high caster of the court, Lulamoon. It was you they entrusted with deciphering the thunderforge. Surely such an important undertaking must have been known to you.” She was visibly angry, wings flared and ready to strike.

Zoe tried to choose her words carefully, “Um... The sun is guided by...”

Cold steel on the edge of her throat, “Choose your next words wisely, Zoe. They may be your last. I have little time to listen to dogmatic lies. What do you know of the being who controls the sun?”

“She... Um, She...” Zoe panicked not knowing what to say. “She knew she was coming to Earth. She left her throne sealed.” Why had she said that?

This seemed to satisfy Hurricane. She pulled away the razor thin blade. “Go on.”

A dream, that was all that is was, brought on by fever. However, it seemed to satisfy the mare. Perhaps the Earthen gods were true and one had paid her a kindness. In any case, it was all she had left to say. “Um... She still left with haste, telling no one save her sister.”

Hurricane’s ears pricked up. “Sister?”

“The moon.” The words came easy, like water from a glass. “She has fallen too, but she has left Nothing in her wake, and that Nothing is angry.”

Hurricane seemed confused at that, but she let it slide. “Where is she then?” Hurricane looked back to the open window.

“Where? I...” This had not been part of the dream. “She is here, on Earth?” It was a guess, she knew.

“But where?” Hurricane’s words were almost as sharp as the steel.

Zoe’s words fumbled, “I... I... I don’t know?”

Zoe had thought this would make the mare angry. But instead she merely walked over to the entranceway. “Guards!” she called. “Make preparations to take Prisoner E to Operation Skyfall.” The guard saluted silently.

Turning back to Zoe, “You have made yourself useful today, Lulamoon. As such I am going to tell you something very important.” She sat down, “One; the war is over. We are all united now together as Equestria. Two; they do not know you are still alive. So if you intend to ever feel earth under those hooves again, you are going to help me.”

“Help you? With what?” She did not like the way this was going.

“You might have caught us off guard with your first one, Miss Lulamoon, but we have intercepted the second.” She grinned, “As we speak we are surrounding her with every wing in Equestria. You, Lulamoon. You are going to harness her, for us.”