Light of Day

Somnambula

A small bead of water fell to the dusty ground with a tiny splash. As it did, the brown-coated hoof of a stallion stepped onto the spot where it landed. As the earth pony trotted forwards, more droplets fell on the ground in front of his hooves. He paused and brushed his brow with his right forehoof, clearing the cascading sweat from his forehead. He heaved a deep sigh and then carried on, tugging behind him a wagon with a stack of barrels.

It was an unusually hot day in the village of Somnambula. The sun was radiating heavily on the tropical town and the usual bustling pace of the citizens was heavily curtailed by the abnormal climate. In spite of the circumstance, some ponies braved the conditions in order to carry out their responsibilities.

At the local bazaar, the stallion unhooked himself from his cart and sauntered under the tarp awning that shielded the bazaar from the sun.

"Oasis Fronds," he said, calling to the refreshment vendor inside the bazaar, "I really need a break." He took off his head wrap as he entered out of courtesy, revealing his short platinum mane beneath.

The orange-colored unicorn mare on the other side of the refreshment counter turned towards the sound of her name. "Sandy Storms, this isn't the best day to be out," she replied, chiding the stallion for his insistence on working on day such as this. She lowered the hood around her own head and revealed her straight blue mane.

"The water won't bring itself to the fountain, sadly," Sandy Storms said. "Someday we should have a plumbing system installed."

Oasis Fronds levitated a wooden cup beneath a pitcher of water and poured the liquid into the cup using her magic. She set down the pitcher and slid the cup towards Sandy Storms, who caught the cup with his forehoof.

"What do you think is causing this weather?" Oasis asked Sandy as he drank from the cup. She was only met with a confused shrug.

"I've seen hot days," Sandy Storms said, "but this is insane, even for this part of the world."

Meanwhile, at the edge of civilization, a mysterious figure was slowly walking towards the village. They were pony-like in frame, with four long legs, but unlike most ponies had both a horn and a set of wings. The creature's mane and tail seemed to be naturally flowing, despite the lack of a breeze, and took the appearance of a raging orange flame behind it. With every step, a small singe mark was left on the ground where the creature's hooves set down. The presence of the creature seemingly intensified the already strong sun.

"I swear it's getting hotter," Oasis Fronds said back at the bazaar, waving her hoof in front of her face to generate a breeze. Sandy Storms finished his beverage and returned the cup to the counter.

"Well, as refreshing as that was, I do have a job to perform," Sandy said, getting ready to set out once more. He returned his head wrap around the top of his head and slowly walked back towards his wagon and was preparing to hitch up. He turned back towards the sun and shielded his eyes from the bright circle in the sky. As he did, the silhouette of a four-legged creature seemed to be making its way towards him.

"Hello...?" he called out to the silhouette, hoping to get the unknown figure to identify itself.

Suddenly the creature leapt into the sky and spread its large wings, partially eclipsing the sun. Sandy Storms could now make out that the creature had a long horn out the top of its head, recognizing the creature as an alicorn. However he could not recognize the blazing orange mane of the alicorn as any of the known princesses. As he was trying to process what he was seeing, a large orange ball appeared in front of the alicorn and the mysterious pony hurled it towards Sandy Storms' cart. Sandy's eyes widened and he direly flung himself out of the way of the energy ball, which collided with his cart and caused a large explosion, setting all his barrels aflame.

"What?!" he shouted, still confused and fearful about what was happening. He covered his head with his hooves and trembled on the ground. The alicorn cackled with a vile laughter as it flew towards him at great speed, its bright orange mane leaving behind a flame-like streak through the sky. The alicorn flew directly above him and past before turning back towards Sandy and the bazaar.

"What's going on?!" Oasis Fronds said, running outside upon hearing the commotion just in time to see the alicorn charge up another energy ball with its mouth. "Who is that?!" she said, the unknown pony catching her attention. The alicorn took aim at the statue of the town's namesake heroine before launching her energy ball, which destroyed the statue when it collided. The shockwave of the destruction blew in Oasis Fronds' direction and she shielded her face from the backblast with her forehoof. Now no longer obscured by the sun behind it, Oasis and Sandy could see that the alicorn was wearing what looked like a dark orange armor plate on its chest and a helm covered in sharp points. The chest plate bore the insignia of a fiery sun. Numerous sharp teeth could be seen its mouth and its eyes looked like the orange flames of a candle.

"Day has come!" the alicorn proclaimed. Its voice sounded distinctly like a mare's. "Embrace it!" A hint of snide sarcasm could be heard in her voice.

"Stop this!" Oasis Fronds pleaded as she tried to help Sandy Storms to his feet.

"Oh but I'm having far too much fun!" the alicorn replied. As she spoke, her long horn began to glow a bright red. "But I won't trouble you much longer!" With those words, she fired a wide beam of magical energy towards the nearby Pyramid of the Sphinx from her horn. She was aiming for the top of the pyramid. The magical beam hit the historical landmark and blew off the tip of the pyramid in a eruption of stone and dust. Immediately after destroying the top of the pyramid, she charged up another magical beam and fired it towards the fountain that Sandy Storms was taking his barrels of water to, likewise turning it to rubble. The alicorn laughed with gleeful malice at her destructive swath before taking flight and leaving the village as quickly as she arrived.

At one of the nearby homes, a peach-colored pegasus mare emerged when the sound of explosions and laughter reached her ears. Her jade-green mane was covered by a white headdress while her tail was tied off with a pair of gold rings at the tip. She was wearing a transparent shawl and her eyes had distinctive black outlines. It was Somnambula, the legendary Pillar of Equestria for whom the village she currently inhabited was named for.

"What is going on?" she asked to anypony who might be listening. At that moment, the alicorn entered her field of vision and she saw it flying off into the sky. She looked back towards the village and could see the smoldering smoke of the chaos left behind by the alicorn's terrifying inavsion. "Who did all this...?" she asked herself when confronted by the wreckage. She flew over the village and saw Oasis Fronds and Sandy Storms trying to collect themselves after the attack.

"Somnambula!" Oasis called out when she saw the pegasus flying above. She waved her hoof in an effort to flag her down. Somnambula touched down in front of the besieged pair.

"What happened?" she asked, concerned for the well-being of the citizens. "Who was that pony?"

Both Sandy Storms and Oasis Fronds shook their heads. "We don't know," Sandy Storms said. "She was clearly an alicorn but none of the alicorns in the land look as she did."

Somnambula frowned and looked off in the distance in the direction of the alicorn's flight. "Something is very wrong..." she muttered.