Sol and Lune

by Waxworks

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, The Pillars, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Princess Luna, Science Fiction, Horror, Starswirl the Bearded
Length: 10621

Starswirl the Bearded conducts experiments with light. He finds a connection between the sun and moon he couldn't have imagined.

Starswirl the Bearded had always been curious, but when he conducts experiments with light, studying both the sun and the moon, he learns there is something more there than just two heavenly bodies. There is something on the moon, and the sun is causing something to happen to Equestria. He must tread carefully as he performs his research, because does anypony want to offend something as dangerous as the sun?

Published 2018-07-07 17:30:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-07-07 17:30:07 UTC

The Experiments

Starswirl the Bearded was the greatest wizard of his age. Everypony knew his name, and everypony knew that he was capable of. He was the best and the brightest that had ever lived, and possibly ever would live. When it came to matters of magic, ponies came to him. He was one of the few that had ever attempted to raise the sun and have his magic survive it.

But now, with the alicorn sisters here to take that burden away from him, he could focus on what he had learned from his days of raising and lowering the sun. There was power, to be had there. The alicorn sisters proved it. Their bodies were energized by the movements of the celestial bodies, and their youth retained. Starswirl was old when the two of them had arrived, and that promise enticed him. The promise of power, of energy, and… of youth.

What he learned while raising the sun was that the sun was not a chemically balanced thing, if you could call it a “thing” at all. It was more than that. It was beholden to magic, but it was also made of magic itself. Heavily reactive to it, one might say. Like sodium was to water. The unicorns that would burn themselves dry while lifting the sun were feeding it power, making it stronger, though their magic was naught more than a drop in a bucket to something as large and impressive as the sun. That’s where their magic went. Starswirl had felt that happening to him the very first time, and refused to help until he had studied the phenomenon more. He had left them to their fates while he himself learned how to protect against it, then not shared his findings.

It wasn’t out of malice, it was that he knew no other unicorn would be able to perform the complex trickery that he had engaged in with the sun. They were like two partners in a dance, he and it. He fed it magic, and from the subsequent reaction, he had taken the ensuing burst of energy and transformed it into a usable form. Through rough experimentation he had created a reaction his body could feed off of to re-energize itself, keeping his magic. It was yet imperfect, and he would have run out eventually, but it kept him magically fit until the sisters arrived.

Ah, the sisters. They were an enigma. Unfortunately, they were an enigma with personalities. He could not simply walk up to them and ask to study them. He had tried once, in private, after earning their trust. He had approached the younger of the two and asked to study her. Things had gotten awkward very fast, and he had been forced to withdraw. She still made eyes at him sometimes.

The elder sister was dangerous. He dared not try the same thing with her. Not with the younger one watching him and waiting for an opportunity. The sheer drama might end with him getting exiled from the castle, and that would set back his research. Instead, he bided his time, avoiding the younger, and waiting. Waiting each morning for the sun to be risen.

He observed in quiet while the two of them traded their celestial position to the other. The moon was not as reactive as the sun, he had learned. It did not take magic from ponies, it merely gave it to the younger sister, Luna. It drew magic from the sun, leaving her free from its terrible influence.

The older sister, Celestia, she was different. Her body was similarly reactive in an equal and opposite way. The two fed off each other in horrifying fashion, siphoning magic, changing it, molding it, mutating it! They threw it back at each other in a deadly dance, one which kept both of them alive and firey. She was as dangerous as it. The mere thought set Starswirl’s beard on edge.

As time passed, however, he was able to learn of magic the moon possessed. As a result of the terrible assault from the sun, the moon’s magic had been changed. There was something there. Something dark, living on the surface of the moon. A mutation or an anomaly of some sort. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it was there, in his telescope.

Something moved.

The idea set his mind awhirl. The sheer concept that the sun’s energy could affect life or create it was new and terrifying. He considered this as he watched the sister’s work. Was it possible it came from another dimension? He’d been exposed to several in his time, but if there was the entrance to one on the moon, that would mean something had created one. The only possible answer there would still be the sun, though. The sun’s rays, beating down on the surface uncontested, had opened a portal or created life.

Starswirl knew, from observation, inference, and experimentation that the sun was a dangerous, energetic force that was uncontested in its sheer, unflinching, and uncaring malevolence. The only being capable of interacting with that malevolence with no repercussion, was Celestia.

She was dangerous.

He needed to understand her and her function for the safety of Equestria, and the safety of ponies everywhere. The sun must be understood.

In secret, Starswirl took some energy from the sun. Just a little by a little every day. He examined it, stored it, secreted it away and hid it in one of his many hidden laboratories across Equestria. He even took it away to other dimensions through the magic mirrors he possessed. He wanted to test it, study it, experiment with it.

He found, to his surprise and consternation, that the sun’s energy was not changed throughout any of the worlds that he found. There was one strange world where he lost his hooves and gained feet. In this world there was no alicorn princess, but the sun still rose and fell. There was no magic, yet they still lived. No unicorns or tribes or anything. Yet still the sun rose and fell.

That gave him pause.

If there was no cost to make the sun rise, why did their sun need a princess to do it? Where did this requirement come from? Was it similar to the changes on the moon? Was magic a mutation caused by the sun?

In his continued studies, Starswirl found something unusual. He discovered that the sun’s energy—its magic, as it were—was indeed what was changing pony physiology. It did it in response to some outside influence, though what that influence might be, he didn’t yet know. The changes came about to force ponies to expend their magic, so that there would be no danger to the world of Equestria. A sort of… magic heatsink, if you will. The response, of course, was the creation of the alicorns. A mutation. One that could keep the sun’s magic at bay, and allow ponies to live their lives in peace, with a modicum of joy and entertainment.

Starswirl had to admit that he thought himself one of these mutations. He was smart enough to take the sun’s energies and steal right back. That made him wonder if he could take the energy and force a mutation in himself further, so that he might become an alicorn himself. An ascension to godhood, where he could take the sun’s energy and use it to prolong his life. He was getting old, he had to admit, and his death loomed ever-present on the horizon.

To that end, he took what he knew of the sun and began his work of collecting it. He stole from the sun, little by little, day by day, until he had what he determined was enough to work with. He kept them in specially prepared jars. Containers built to contain the light. Illumination spilled from under the lids, and he had to spread them out among different laboratories, as too many in one room became far too hot.

The next step was the most dangerous and would require careful planning and speech. With the younger of the two sisters interested in him, he had to first see if she would respond to the direct sun’s light the way he imagined, or if he would somehow have to get close to the older sister and experiment on her directly. He feared he already knew the answer.

“Princess Luna, I must speak with you,” Starswirl said, approaching the princess as she raised the moon.

“It can be Luna between we two, Starswirl.” She turned to look at him with a smile. “What might thou need of us?”

“I wish to test some of my magic, if I may, but it relates directly to alicorns. I do not want to offend you or your sister, and much of this must remain secret, but may I get your assistance?”

“Thou hast piqued our curiosity, Starswirl. What is it thou seekest to understand?”

He told her, though not everything. He told her of his journey to understand the sun and how it functioned. Why it was stealing magic from unicorns, and why it was not doing the same to Celestia and herself. How it was a leech of magic, yet Celestia was unaffected.

“We know not why we are immune, but we suspect we may be unaffected by our association with the moon. Thou sayest thou saw an entity on the moon itself?”

“Indeed. Something moves there. A mutation, I believe, caused by the sun’s rays.”

“It may be that we are unaffected because the moon absorbs the harmful magic of the sun before the rest gets to us. That would give us the benefit, with none of the harm. We are not well-versed in science like thee, however. We would… not mind being taught, ‘privately.’”

“Princess, please! This is important! I am concerned that there is something sinister going on with the sun. This is not the time nor the place.”

“Then make time, and we can find a place. We are a princess. None can make us do what we do not wish.”

Unsure how to respond. Starswirl knew he needed to keep her goodwill for his experiments. He also knew he could not engage her or her sister without either bringing Celestia’s or Luna’s wrath down on his head. He answered carefully.

“I will get back to you when I have more information, princess. There is something I must check, and I need to see if I can find that entity on your moon again. I think that is something we can look at together.”

“We look forward to it, Starswirl.” She winked.

Starswirl left Luna behind with a grumble. She was receptive, but she wasn’t the one he needed. He really wanted to avoid abusing her goodwill, but if it helped him reach her sister then he might have to. Still, there was plenty of activity on the moon that he could examine first, because she did have a point; did the moon absorb the harmful effects of the sun?

Starswirl returned to his laboratory and to his telescope. The moon was high in the sky by the time he got there, and he whirled his telescope around to point at it. He furrowed his brow up at the orb before putting his eye to the lens. The moon’s surface zoomed into view, and he scoured it, looking for clues.

“The moon may absorb the harmful rays of the sun,” she had said. If that were true, then there should be some evidence of it. The moon’s rocky surface might be as simple as just that, a surface, but if he could find that moving thing on it, he might be able to learn something.

Some of the questions he had were: Did it eat? What would it eat? Was it physically present, or was it merely a cloud of the sun’s magic? Did it seem aware? The questions came one after another as he swept he telescope back and forth. Time passed, until his eyes burned.

He pulled his head away. He had found nothing, and seen nothing. He turned from his telescope and went to his books, looking through them for information on the moon. Maybe there was some long-lost tidbit of information that some enterprising pony had put down long ago that may prove useful. Anything he could find would be welcome at this point.

The Discovery

It was after much of the night had passed that he found something useful. Not in his books, as he had suspected, but from his telescope. After reading a passage from one Gloaming Shelter, he had returned to look at the moon, seeking out a particular crater. Gloaming had mentioned there was something odd about it, and Starswirl wanted to verify this pony’s information.

Upon seeking it out, Starswirl saw nothing of import, but his telescope caught something smoky passing in front of it. He pulled his head away to gaze out a the moon with his naked eye, but saw nothing. He put his face back to the eyepiece again and saw something smoky floating in front of the lens. It coalesced into a face, resting on the moon, smiling up at him. It winked, directly at his gaze.

He staggered backward. The image of the winking face was in his mind. Was it a trick of the light? Was it merely his imagination? He glared up at the moon. From this distance it was small and insignificant. Nothing about it seemed to stick out to him, and it was unassumingly harmless. So what was it?

Tentatively he put his eye up to the telescope again and looked through it. The crater he was looking at appeared to sparkle in the light. The strange, reflected sunlight truly did appear to “live”, as Gloaming had written. If he turned his telescope to the left and right, the sparkles changed. There was no face as he had imagined before, and no smoke, but something about the sunlight was affected by that crater.

Starswirl stared, moving his telescope inch by inch, trying to see what it was, until he became light-headed. He stepped away, done for the night. He began to write his own notes, making careful note of everything he had seen, including the winking face.

In the morning, after only an hour’s sleep, Starswirl hurried into the throne room to meet with the two sisters before they began their day. He needed to catch them both before Luna went to sleep. He couldn’t be caught with Celestia alone, or risk Luna’s wrath. Not yet, at least.

“Princesses! I have some possibly urgent news!” he blurted out as he barreled into the throne room.

“Starswirl! What a pleasure it is to see you. Luna was just talking about you,” Celestia said.

“Oh, was she?” He glanced over at Luna. She smiled a small smile at Starswirl and winked again. He winced.

“This pertains to both of you, as I believe I mentioned to Princess Luna last night. Did she tell you what we were talking about?”

“Most of it, I believe.”

“Then please, tell us what you found.”

“Yes, Starswirl. Do tell us,” Luna said slyly.

He informed them of his discoveries. Of the notes Gloaming had put to parchment so long ago, and his own discovery. He mentioned the face, though he did not tell them it had winked at him. He merely said that it “seemed aware” of his gaze. His concern was plain, but he kept his worried minimal. He didn’t know if it was dangerous.

“So it would seem there may be somepony living on the moon. How curious,” Celestia said.”

“We believe such creatures must be wondrous indeed, to live on such a beautiful thing as the moon. Dost thou know if my magicks affect their lives?” Luna said.

“I don’t know, Princess. It seemed harmless, and unharmed, even as you moved it through the sky, but I am concerned of the sun’s effect on it.”

Celestia’s eyes flashed. “And you believe the sun to be… dangerous?” she said.

“Yes, princess. As you know, before you arrived it was tearing the magic out of unicorns permanently. It was only thanks to your… unique physiology that we were saved from it. For that, we thank you.” He bowed deep.

“T’well may be that the moon counteracts the sun’s deadly rays, as raising and lowering the moon never did cause such terrible problems,” Luna said.

Celestia’s lips went tight. “I should like you to research this creature on the moon, and the moon itself. It concerns us, and our alicorn physiology. If there is anything you need, do not hesitate to ask.”

“Of either of us, Starswirl,” Luna was quick to say. She winked at him again. He bowed and took his leave.

Starswirl crowed inwardly at the success of his conversation. He had their help! He had Celestia’s promise to assist him, and Luna was there! He was safe! He could ask either of them for help, and they would give it. Though he would still need to be circumspect about asking Celestia for help, as Luna might still get jealous. As long as he stayed away from Celestia, and made his requests via the servants, he should be able to get away with anything.

The first thing he did was return to his laboratory to make a list of supplies. He wanted to have pieces of the sun’s light from Celestia herself, and a sample of her mane. Its curious properties held some portion of the magic that kept the two sisters working, he was sure. If he could examine it all, he may get to the bottom of their confusing abilities quicker. He just needed a sample, and he would be able to study it in peace.

He drafted a quick letter to each of the sisters, asking for materials they may be able to grab for him, and some that he didn’t know if they could, but would be useful to have.

From Celestia: Light from the sun. A piece of Celestia’s mane. A sample of contained alicorn magic. The reflected light from morning dew. The first peek of the sun over the horizon. A glowing rainbow, and evening’s last light.

From Luna: Light from the moon. A piece of Luna’s mane. A sample of her alicorn magic. The reflected light of the sun. The center of a moonbeam. A sample of the moon’s rocks, and a piece of that crater Gloaming mentioned.

He had no idea if they could get some of them, but he made his request, then he waited.

Supplies began to trickle in. They were clever girls. He had taught them personally, and although he had no idea how to procure some of the items he requested, with their newfound powers, they were more than capable, and far more powerful (though not as clever), as he.

Luna came to him first. She had traveled to the moon directly for hers and had a piece of everything for him. Her eyes twinkled strangely in the moonlight when she appeared in his bedroom, all the items on the list laid out in an array at the foot of the bed. Her teeth gleamed in the dim light, the brightest part of her save the twinkling light of the stars in her mane. Her eyes looked… different? He wasn’t sure how, but she seemed far more “hungry” than usual. He had to rebuff her, stating that it was for the good of Equestria, and his work needed to come first for everypony’s safety, but it was a close thing. She was intent on him, and he was worried about that.

She left, but not without one last look at him and a small, wicked smile. He turned to the items she had brought, gathered them up in his magic, and carried them off to his laboratory for study.

There would be no more sleep tonight.

His request to Celestia took far longer to fill. He had more than enough time to study Luna’s items closely while Celestia sought the things he wanted. They trickled in while he studied, and he learned a great deal. More than he’d imagined.

To no great surprise, his and Luna’s thoughts were confirmed when he studied the moon rocks. Using the sunlight he had stolen from Celestia himself, he verified that the light of the sun was absorbed first, the moon’s rocks keeping the terrible energies of the sun within itself. The light that it subsequently sent back to Equestria was filtered. Clean. Safe. The moon’s light, while dim, was not the terrible, bare, hideous burning energy of the sun.

By the same token, it did not carry the same potential power that the direct sun’s rays did. It was dimmer, safer, but ultimately neutered. It did not charge the same way a unicorn might have. It could not be drawn from. It was useless. Sterile.

That did mean, however, that the moon was chock-full of potential energy. Using the moon’s rocks, he was able to create powerful effects. The rocks themselves were charged with the wicked energy available to the sun, but getting more of them without the help of the princess of the moon was impossible.

…at the moment.

Studying the sun’s rays might yield some powerful energy that could be used to get to the moon, where more could be gathered. He would have to experiment further. The possibilities were alive, however.

The Confrontation

Starswirl’s experiments continued apace, and secrets continued to be unlocked. Celestia was having difficulty acquiring the morning and evening sunlight, as she was in control the sun’s movements during the time when it was transitioning. He trusted her to her work, and focused on his own.

During this time Luna became more of an obstacle, however. She was paying more attention to him, and she seemed much more forthcoming after her trip to the moon. He paid her no mind and dismissed her time and time again, requesting to be left to his work. But his work continued, and he reached a point where he had questions that could not be answered without Celestia’s final deliveries. When Celestia could not acquire the sun’s light, he decided he might need to take things into his own hooves.

Without her permission, Starswirl left the sister’s castle, traveling to the edge of the Everfree forest. He took with him several small pieces of moon rock, and two of the jars he had created that could contain the sun’s light. He waited on the edge of the forest, between the sun and the sister’s castle, and prepared to capture evening’s last light.

As the sun lowered, he used the chunk of moon rock as a draw for the sun’s light. Its light-absorbent properties drew the sluggish light of the evening sun in, and his own magic siphoned it into the jar. The rich, colorful light of dusk slipped inside the container, and he sealed the lid, then hid the jar in his cart. With his prize, he packed up and returned to the castle, hooves clopping on the stone pathway.

Luna found him in his study as he was unpacking. His magic held the jar aloft, covered in a blanket when she barged in. He jumped in surprise, thankful that he hadn’t yet opened the passage to his hidden workroom. He turned to face her, forcing a smile onto his face.

“Princess! How are you this evening?” he said.

“We saw thee remained awake even after our sister completed her duties and retired. She was unable to acquire an evening’s last light yet again. Are you positive that thee dost not prefer to use more of our moon stones?”

“I could always use more of your moon’s rocks, princess, but I’m trying to understand both the moon and the sun. I can’t understand the sun by using the moon.”

“We think there is no purpose in understanding it with our sister’s help, since she doesn’t understand it well enough to capture its power herself.” She noticed the floating jar for the first time. “Speaking of capturing, is that not one of the devices thee gavest her to capture it? What hast thee contained?”

“Oh, uh…” Starswirl debated telling her the truth or lying. If he told her the truth, would she tell her sister? If he lied, she might find out, though, and get mad. He didn’t want her mad, but he didn’t want Celestia to know what he had done without her permission.

The answer was taken from him when Luna gripped the cloth in her magic and pulled it away. The dusk light filled the room. Despite its bright presence, Luna seemed to just become darker.

“Thou hast captured it thyself! How?”

“I… used one of the moon rocks you gave me to draw it in,” he said, deciding truth was better than a lie at the moment.

“Of course, of course!” Luna’s eye turned to thin slits as she stared at the light. Her mane turned a dark, inky blue. “The moon captures the sun’s light, and makes it its own…”

“Princess, please do not tell your sister. I needed merely to continue my research, I do not want to offend her.”

“Nay, thee hast our promise of silence.” She blinked and turned away, shaking her head. “We shall keep thy secret. Good… luck, Starswirl.”

She left suddenly, without any further words. He didn’t know if she was mad or if she was pleased. She seemed happy to know that the moon had helped him, but he wasn’t sure what else she was thinking. Nevertheless, he didn’t let that distract him from his work. He turned back to his laboratory and opened the door to his secret workroom, carrying the jar inside. Within, he began his studies of the light of dusk, carefully putting it through its paces.

What he discovered was a well of power much like the sun’s normal light. It was a slower magic fuel than the other, but with more potential. It almost seemed to coagulate as night fell, the moon’s presence congealing the light into a more concentrated form. A useful tool, and more indication that the two celestial bodies worked together to create a livable surface of Equestria.

Starswirl tested the sun’s light as far as he dared, using up what he had gathered within a few days. He tested it on attack spells, where he made some of the hottest fire he had ever felt. He tested it on defensive spells, creating a shield that was impenetrable to anything he could bring to bear. He tested it on creation spells, smithing a crude suit of armor with it in a mere hour. He was no smith, but it had bent and taken shape with ease. He tested it on transportation spells, breaking through his own teleportation defenses, much to his surprise. When he was tired, he tested it on energizing himself, and was pleased to see that it functioned far better than the sun’s light had helped him before. He was given the energy of a full night’s sleep in an instant!

Starswirl was giddy.

Using the moon as a filter, he had removed any noticeable negative effects from the sun’s light. He could use it however he wished, empowering himself, and suffer none of the consequences. He didn’t burn, he had more than enough magic, and he was energized. He didn’t need to sleep! With the moon rock and the sun together, he was unstoppable!

The princesses were unstoppable.

He sobered up instantly. If the two of them were to ever work together, they could be completely unstoppable. Princess Luna could be the focusing lens for Celestia, drawing out the dangerous energies of the sun, allowing the older sister to be the most destructive force Equestria had ever seen. That raised the questions of what was holding the older sister back? Did he tell them, or did he wait and observe, guiding them from the sidelines?

It was probably best to guide them for the moment. They had only had their abilities for a comparatively short time, and to give them ideas would be dangerous at best, and catastrophic for Equestria at worst. He needed to ask them personal questions, though. About their health. If Celestia was taking in the sun’s energy directly, was she being affected? Luna might be as well, but he loathed the idea of taking with Luna privately. He waited until the middle of the day to approach Celestia in one of the few moments she had to herself. Being their mentor, he did not think it out of line.

He approached her in the garden, stomping loudly to announce his presence. “Princess, might I speak with you?” he asked.

She turned to look at him and smiled. “Of course, Starswirl, what can I do to help you?”

“I have some questions about your health, if I may.”

“My health? I feel perfectly fine, what were you wondering?”

“In my research—”

She sighed. “I know. I have had difficulty pinning down the sun’s light you want. I’m sorry. It seems to slip away from me when I grasp at it. I don’t know why.”

“No, not that at all. I’m in no hurry. But my questions pertain to you, but that is interesting. But let’s come back to that. When you raise and lower the sun, does each action make you feel different than the other?”

She looked thoughtful, but nodded. “Yes, it does. Raising the sun feels far more energizing than lowering it. Lowering the sun feels like I am letting out a large breath of air after holding it for too long, if that makes sense.”

Starswirl was furiously writing this down. “Yes, that makes sense. A sense of relief, like something was pent up.”

“Yes, exactly. Conversely, as I mentioned, raising the sun feels like I’m stepping onto a road for the first time. Energizing. Like I’m preparing to run, fly, swim, or jump. A huge amount of potential energy. Though sometimes I feel… angry? It doesn’t happen often, but there are times I feel like I’ve been insulted. That doesn’t happen very often, and it passes quickly.”

“Oh?”

She laughed. “I’m sorry, I can’t describe it any better than that, save that it’s irrational and it passes quickly.”

Starswirl nodded and stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Alright. Thank you, Princess. I am concerned for your health, and my studies into the sun and moon have raised some curious questions.”

“Quite all right. I know you’re just doing your best. It’s what we appreciate about you, after all.”

“Of course, of course. I’ll be asking your sister the same questions, soon. But I don’t want her to think about them beforehoof. Please don’t tell her about this at all. The answers must be candid.”

“I won’t claim to understand, but you have my word, Starswirl. Thank you for your continued help.”

He nodded and left the princess behind. The only part of the conversation that had him on edge was her mention of anger. The sun was a powerful force, and Celestia, in the controlling of it, was a grounding of sorts for that force. She threw the sun’s earlier attempts at draining unicorns into question, preventing it from doing whatever it was it was doing. The motion on the moon, the power inherent in the sun. The more Starswirl learned about it, the more he was certain there was something else at play. Some power he couldn’t quite fathom. It was worrying.

Help

As the days went by and the more he observed, the more Starswirl began to believe he was overreacting. Celestia was young, and she was prone to fits of anger in a position she was as yet unfamiliar with. She would learn, given time, and he would help, but he saw no fits of anger. Instead Luna was the one acting strangely.

Luna, compared to Celestia, held the night court. It was usually empty, without much for her to do. She found herself with free time where she had nopony and nothing to manage. She would come to visit him, asking him questions about his work, what he had found out, and beg for answers about the nature of the sun and Celestia’s power.

She had been pleased to learn about the sun’s weakness to the moon. The fact that the moon was absorbing some sort of power from the sun. He warned her not to get overly excited, as it seemed to be taking only the dangerous energy of the sun, but she delighted in hearing it. She would sit and watch as he worked, clinging to his stories of magic and adventure and his insights into the workings of the sun and moon. He eventually had to send her away so that he might work in peace. Her coy grins and constant winking at him, along with her inappropriate smiles made him uncomfortable. Like Celestia, however, he pushed it to the side as young mare behavior, trying to keep it out of sight, and out of mind.

Unfortunately, Starswirl didn’t realize that treating a young mare that way, especially one with a princess’s power, was a terrible idea. She was young, yes, but she was powerful. Powered by the same energy he himself had used to capture the sun.

With the princess distractions dealt with, and not seeing any untoward actions from Celestia, Starswirl began his collecting again. Celestia was unable to control the sun’s rays without help from the moon, so he took matters into his own hooves again. He collected morning light, noon light, evening light, every manner of light he could imagine. He gathered it all and he tested it, finding himself more powerful and more energetic than he could have imagined.

With his newfound energy, he ignored Celestia when she came to him complaining of headaches, mood swings, and depression. He gave her a quick physical and proclaimed her health, sending her to the doctor for further assistance, as he had much he wanted to test with the sun’s energy.

With his power he found other ponies that exemplified power and stability in Equestria. Five others who were the best at what they did, and that had stories told of them far and wide. He created the Pillars of Equestria with himself at the helm, solving dangerous problems and stopping evil wherever it hid. He was popular, he was powerful, and he was winning.

The more work he did as a pillar of Equestria, the more of the sun’s energy he needed. With it, he didn’t need to sleep. He could continue his work late into the night while the rest of the pillars slept. He could seek out evil on his own, teleporting further than every before, to take care of a problem before the others were even made aware. He had always been powerful, but with this, he was even moreso! More powerful, more magical, and greater than any other pony in the land. He was Starswirl the Bearded! Nopony could stop him!

Thus, he was unaware of what he was creating.

As his own power grew, so too were the emotions of Celestia. She became irritable during diplomatic meetings. She was upset at the smallest slights. She snapped at the servants. Luna saw it all, but she said nothing. It was only when Celestia struck one of the staff when they spilled her tea that Starswirl began to imagine anything was wrong.

“Why did you do that?” he asked.

“Do what?” Celestia said calmly.

“Hit her.”

“She spilled the tea.”

“That doesn’t warrant hitting her.”

“What does, then?”

Starswirl was silent. Luna just smirked.

He sequestered himself inside his laboratory for some time, leaving the other pillars to deal with whatever came their way. Something had changed, and he needed to know. He tested, studied, and examined everything, and came to a startling conclusion.

There had been drought before, but it was summer, and although the pegasi were working their hardest to keep the weather tolerable, it was warmer than it had been in previous years. When the sun came up, it was hotter than it ever had been, and many of the crops were dying. He had reports coming in from all over Equestria that there was going to be a shortage of food for the winter if something wasn’t done. It was even a problem the pillars were helping with, diverting rivers and helping to irrigate the crops wherever they could. In addition, there were some who were complaining of increased monster attacks. All of these reports were coming from the same areas. Starswirl was a scientist at heart, but although he couldn’t prove correlation between the two, he wasn’t one to dismiss something just because it seemed far-fetched. He was both a scientist, and a wizard. This bore further exploration.

So Starswirl traveled. He went to each of these places where the heat was becoming unbearable. To the locations where monsters thrived, and he studied them. As he studied, and as time passed, he became tired. As he became tired, he used his skills with the sun’s light to energize himself. The fate of Equestria hung in the balance and ponies needed him. He needed to help them, and he had the power. He had the skill. He had… the energy.

Or… the sun did.

He brought with him a piece of the moon that Luna had delivered, and with it he pulled the sun’s light to himself. He consumed it, and he was powered by it. Like the princess herself he was given the energy and magic he needed, and as he traveled and worked, the hotter it got.

Monsters swarmed from the forests. They swept over the land, consuming smaller towns and fields. They drove ponies from their homes and they attacked wherever and whenever they could. The lush villages and cities of the south were swamped by the encroaching heat, dying acre after after under the sweltering sun. Dust blew in from the badlands and covered the fields, eating away at the livable Equestrian landscape.

In desperation, unable to stop nature herself, Starswirl Teleported home to the Everfree where the castle of the two sisters lay hidden and safe. He begged for an audience with the princess of the sun herself, but he was rebuffed. She didn’t want to see him. She was tired, and irritable, and didn’t know how to fix the reports of ponies dying and suffering she had surely been privy to. Starswirl found himself outside of her inner circle, too caught up in playing the hero to see when a far larger problem was rearing its head.

Until Luna found him.

“Poor Starswirl,” she purred, sneaking into his room as he pored over scrolls. “Unable to help, unable to talk to our sister, and unable to think thy way out of this. Whatever wilst thou do? Perhaps a different princess could help. A princess with the ability to… contain the sun’s light?” she laughed.

He turned to look at her. She was all sinuous grace and sinister darkness. She stared at him, and he tried to figure out what was different about her eyes. She caught him looking and moved closer, putting a hoof over his withers.

“Wasn’t it thee who told us the sun’s light could be fixed by the moon? That there was danger in the sun? We are of the moon, but surely we can help thee. We could… take that light away from the poor cities. Give them a reprieve. Put it all where nopony can be harmed by it. We just need to… hide it in the moon, yes?”

It was a good idea, but something in the way she said it disturbed him. She was talking about containing the sun’s light. He was wary at first, but it sounded good. It sounded promising, even. He agreed.

“I have nothing else at the moment, so we may as well try. Your idea has merit, Princess.”

“Of course it does. We had a very good teacher.” Her lips tickled his ear. He was worried, but it was a small worry. He was more concerned with preventing the growth of the encroaching desert, and his assent was swift. Anything to help. The Pillars existed to help. It was with some difficulty he agreed to take her with him on his next expedition. She promised to be good and return home soon, and that sufficed. That was all he needed from her.

That wasn’t all she needed from him.

The Moon and the Sun

Princess Luna came south with the Pillars. They traveled down to the once-lush fields of Equestria, where crops were grown in abundance and there was much to see and feel. Now, there was naught but desert.

Sand choked the fields, and dead plants lay everywhere, half-hidden in the sand. There were houses, skeletons, and trees dying everywhere they looked, and the sun’s light, harsh, red, and angry, baked down on them. Luna stood, looking pleased.

“So this is what our sister has allowed to happen? We shall fix it. Fear not, my little ponies.”

She placed a helmet on her head. Where she had gotten it, Starswirl didn’t know, but it made her look a little sinister, in his opinion. Her eyes gleamed green, and he wondered if they always had been that color. He tried to remember, but he was tired, his mind frazzled. He had been working non-stop to save the ponies from this terrible weather and come up short. He needed somepony else’s help, and the princess of the night seemed a good candidate. He watched as she stepped out onto the desert sands, head held high.

He wasn’t sure how to describe what happened next. The baking midday sun had been there one moment, but then the next, Luna had hovered up into the air above the terrible sands. Her wings opened and her mane flared in… darkness? She glowed, then. Both dark and light at the same time. It was a harsh glow at first, which slowly dimmed to a faded, muted light, not unlike that of the moon. The temperature dropped, and when she landed, she was carrying with her a large chunk of stone. She passed it to Starswirl, smiling coyly.

“Enjoy it, Starswirl. Our gift to thee.”

He took it, at first in his magic, but he dropped it immediately after his aura touched it. Luna caught it in hers again, clucking her tongue.

“Be careful, Starswirl. I’m sure you can feel it.”

He could. It was powerful. More powerful than he could have imagined. It was filled with sun energy. So much so that his magic wavered near it. The other Pillars took a step backward, warily eyeing the rock, Starswirl, and Princess Luna.

Tentatively, he grasped it again.

Power flooded into him. His beard prickled from the sheer strength of it, and the world grew brighter. His field of view seemed to stretch, and his horn sparked. Luna’s helmet shone bright, and he could see through her with this power in his grasp. He saw Princess Luna herself, shrunken and cowering beneath something else. Something connected to the helmet, and he realized what it was made of then. The mare looking at him from within Luna was all shadows and sharp teeth. Dark eyes and sinister smiles. Terrible strength and simultaneous beauty. He idly wondered how long Luna had been suffering.

From the stone came more power, filling him until he thought he would burst, but with it also came another entity. A dark entity, one that grasped at him and his magic. It lashed out at him with impossible strength, but Starswirl had used the sun’s power for his own gains for too long. With the new power given to him he took the creature and idly tossed it aside, banishing it to darkness… somewhere. In his giddy delight at the power and his confusion at princess Luna’s state, he didn’t know where, but it was gone. The power was clean. The power was his.

“Thank you, Princess. I will be careful,” he finally said. She looked at him, clearly aware of what he had done, but her smile never faltered.

“Full glad we are. We do not believe we can do anything more for this place. It has been under the yoke of the sun for too long. If it will recover, it will do so on its own. We are heading home.” Without waiting for a reply, Luna cast a teleportation spell and disappeared. Somnambula gasped. Rockhoof cleared his throat.

“Guess we’ll be heading off too,” Rockhoof said.

“Yes, there’s a lot to do now that ponies are safe here again. I’ll look for anypony that needs food, shelter, or water,” Meadowbrook said. There was muttered agreement from the others, and they all went their separate ways. Starswirl was unsure if they were scared of if they just didn’t want to talk about what had happened. Had they seen what he had seen? He didn’t think so, but he had bigger problems than just deserts. Luna was in trouble, and he had given her information to use against Celestia. He teleported back to the castle of the two sisters himself and descended into his laboratory with his new moon rock. There was research to be done.

Confirming his suspicions, Starswirl found that the stone had been a prison for some beast. He had carelessly thrown it away, and he was worried what that might mean, but in addition, he found that the amount of sunlight Luna had taken from the sun might mean there was a greater problem. It was a powerful artifact, but she had cooled the sun completely. Or at least, taken the light it was sending and injured it. After a day of study, he went in search of Celestia. He needed to talk to her.

Celestia was ill.

She lay on her bed, her mane and tail changed to the normal solid colors and hairs of a regular pony. Her wings were shedding feathers and her face was pallid. She breathed normally, but she was told that her moments of lucidity had been sparse. She was not feeling well, that was clear. He was let inside her room on the condition that he leave her be, but he could not afford to be kind at the moment. Something was happening. He forced the servants out of the room with his magic and shut the door. He leaned in close and told her what had happened.

“I am sorry, Princess. Your sun was killing southern Equestria. Deserts and badlands have grown out of what was once lush and green. I enlisted Luna’s help in restoring them and she stole light from the sun.” He looked away from her a moment when her eyes shifted to his. He couldn’t look her in the eye. “I fear something—that shifting shape I saw on the moon—has taken your sister away and put itself in her place. I know not what it might be, but I fear it comes from the sun. If there is anything you can tell me, please, I must know!”

Celestia breathed in slowly. Her exhalation brought with it her words and he listened carefully. “Starswirl, the sun has never been kind to me. I fight it each morning for the power it wants, and I combat it each night as I force it below. Surely you felt some of that when you took part in the ritual?”

Starswirl shook his head. Though he felt it stealing—or trying to steal—his magic during the ritual, he had never needed to “fight” it, like she said. It wasn’t what he would call a fight, anyway. More like tucking in an unruly foal.

“The sun is a creature,” she said. “A magical creature, made of light and aether, not unlike a timberwolf or cragadile, made of sticks and mud. I… trade with this creature, and our magic sustains each other. In taking that small sample for you, I enraged the beast, and I vowed I would do no more. But you…” she looked at him and blinked slowly. “It tells me that you have been consuming it. Devouring it piece by little piece, and it is angry. It has been attacking me and Equestria little by little, and I am at the end of what I can do to protect my little ponies. If Luna has a way to stop it, let her. For Equestria.”

Starswirl didn’t know what to say. Celestia’s claim that the sun was alive was ridiculous. Inconceivable. Mad even! It had no face, no arms, no legs, and it didn’t even have anything it lived on. That it was responsible for life on Equestria was ridiculous! Such a thing couldn’t happen. He had touched the sun with his magic. That… didn’t feel like a creature.

Not a creature he was familiar with, at least.

But the sun wasn’t following the usual rules creatures obeyed, did it? Like that movement on the moon. What was that, then? Was it something of the sun, or something of the moon? Was the moon a creature as well? He needed to talk to Luna.

He searched the castle, but he could find no sign of her. Nopony had claimed to have seen her recently, and though he tried well past the rising of the moon, he couldn’t find her. She wasn’t even where she usually stood to raise the moon. He eventually had to give up and returned to his laboratory. Inside, he brought out the rock she had given him, pulsing with power and light. He placed it on the table and looked at it with a critical eye. It stared back, unblinking. Unflinching.

A rock.

He reached out and touched it with his magic. Like before, he could feel the power inside it. Contained. It was pulsing, throbbing on his desk with magic energy. Potential, just waiting to be unleashed, veins of magic straining against the prison of stone around it.

…not unlike a magical heartbeat.

He shook his head to clear such a thought from his mind and studied it more intensely. He needed to understand it to understand what was wrong with Celestia. Was there a life in there? Was the magic part of a creature he was unaware of? Was him consuming it why he no longer felt the need to sleep? To eat? To do anything? Was he living off the life energy of a beast that he did not know was a beast? Was it lashing out against him?

So many questions that he couldn’t answer, until he heard a voice in his ear.

“Yes. To all thine questions,” Luna said.

Starswirl jumped, almost dropping the rock off the desk. Luna caught it and gently lay it back on top.

“Be careful, Starswirl. What thee possesseth is a weapon more than it is anything else. We are sure thou hast noticed it? In thy visit to our dear sister, we are sure she mentioned it?” She smiled a wicked smile. “We are the moon, and our sister is the sun. We are opposing forces locked in terrible battle. We consume her as she attempts to destroy us. You, here on Equestria, pass unnoticed, save for thy feedings daily. She useth thee, and we useth her, though she knows it not.”

“She? You mean Celestia?”

Luna looked at Starswirl. Her eyes were green, catlike slits. She still wore that helmet from before, and her coat was darker than ever. Her mane and tail were black, speckled with few stars. Darkness upon darkness, she was. Her eyes narrowed. “We refer to our sibling. The sun.”

Starswirl took a step back. Her answer told him nothing, but it implied too much. Worrying amounts of information were present, though he missed enough pieces to put it together. “So, Celestia?”

Luna followed him, stepping forward as he stepped back. She smiled, and he saw her teeth had become fangs. Not ponylike at all. His eyes widened. “You’re… not Luna.”

“We are Luna. We are us. We have always been us. The moon, versus the sun.”

The creature on the moon! The moving being he had seen through his telescope, this was it, contained within Luna, the same way the moon contained the sun’s light. But was the creature possessing her part of the sun birthed on the moon, or was it the moon itself?

Starswirl looked into those dark eyes and saw himself, reflected, disappearing into her with every slow step she took toward him. He wanted to cry out, but to whom could he turn for help? He was one of the pillars of Equestria. A powerful wizard. The unicorn among unicorns. He was the bar by which others were measured. If he needed help, what could he do?

“Thou seemest fearful of us. We are not thy enemy, Starswirl. We are merely here to watch as the sun perisheth. We shall take from her the light and protect Equestria from her terrible gaze. None shall fear the burning power of the sun whilst we rule, as is our right.”

“Nothing will grow.”

“Everything shall grow. We can protect everypony from it as we have been doing so for these many years. It is only by the foolish energy of the unicorns that the sun even hath power. Thou takest from it, as I do. Thou knoweth the truth, and thee canst make thine own decisions. Stand not in our way, Starswirl. We bringeth darkness soon.” She disappeared in a dark cloud of smoke, and Starswirl was alone again. When he had collected his thoughts, he picked up the moon rock once again and teleported away. He needed the pillars.

He found the rest of them in the southern desert where he had left them. They were trying to get the ponies there back on their hooves and save as many lives as they could. There was no life to be had there, unfortunately. The sand had choked out everypony, filling houses, buildings, gardens and fields, everything was gone. Even trying to cool the sun was having no effect on the sand the land had become.

“It’s getting worse,” Meadowbrook said.

“What is?” Starswirl asked.

“The heat.”

“But Princess Luna…”

She shook her head. “The heat’s coming back. The sun’s getting warmer again. Surely you noticed it when you arrived?”

Starswirl hadn’t. To him it had felt fine. He wasn’t overheating even with his long robes and prodigious beard. He felt… balmy, even. “I must admit I didn’t notice.” He looked at the others. Every one of them was sweating save for Somnambula, who was used to such heat. “How hot is it?” he asked.

Rockhoof shook his head. “It’s terrible, and it’s climbing constantly. We’ve received messenger birds from all over Equestria, and the heat is getting worse. The south is taking the brunt of it, but if it continues, there’s not telling how bad it will get.”

Starswirl stroked his beard. He wasn’t feeling any of it himself, but he had to assume that was because of his consumption of the sun’s energy. If Luna was any indication, then it was aware of what it was doing. But if that were the case, how did one communicate with the sun? By lifting it?”

“I must try something. I think I know what is wrong. You must continue what we all started, even if I do not return.”

“What will you do?”

“I’m going to talk to the sun.” He stood and teleported away, not waiting for a response. It wasn’t going to make any more sense than that.

In his laboratory, Starswirl collected the jars of sunlight he had amassed over the years of his research. He collected every moon rock he had, every different type of sunlight, and carried them all to the upper parts of the castle of the sisters. It was the middle of the day, and the sun was high. There would be no better time.

“Hello, Sun,” he said. He couldn’t be sure, but he felt like the temperature rose a degree or two. He didn’t want to imagine what that might mean. He placed the jars and rocks in a circle around him, then sat down in the center. “We have a lot to discuss.”

He looked up at the sun and sighed, then prepared the familiar old spell he used to cast with the unicorns of the newly-founded Equestria. His horn glowed, and he reached up and out toward the sun. He grasped ahold of it with his magic, a tentative grip, and heard a cry from somewhere in the castle.

His spell dropped.

Celestia’s screams died away, and he tried again, touching the sun gingerly with his magic. He heard nothing, and just had to pray that the princess would be alright. She was weakened, but that was his own fault. He could only pray that this would help.

When he grabbed hold of the sun, he heard—or rather felt—a presence in his mind. It was furious, angry, and lashed out at him. It, unlike Celestia, was not in a weaker sort of state. It was powerful, terribly powerful, and it hated him for what he had done. He felt its rage and anger at him for taking away its magic, and even more it hated him for consorting with the creature on the moon. Starswirl felt the temperature around him rise another few degrees. He felt nothing, but he could visibly see the plants in the forest around him wilt. A bird fell from the sky.

He felt more than heard a command, and when it came he implicitly understood. He opened one of the jars in front of him, and held it up above his head. The light within disappeared, and the presence in his mind faltered in its rage. Starswirl felt a glimmer of hope.

Again and again he returned his jars of light to the orb in the sky above him. Each time he turned the light he collected over to it, he felt cooler, and calmer. The sun was taking back what belonged to it, and Equestria was doing better. Starswirl smiled.

But… he didn’t want to give it all back. The moon’s rocks were his, and he enjoyed their power. The endless wellspring of magic with which he could perform miracles of all kinds far beyond the limits of his own magic. How aware was the sun? How clever was it? How intelligent?

After the last jar was turned over to it, he found out.

The final jar sat empty next to him. The deep colors of the sunset swirled in the sky above him, then raced back to their source. They mixed into the overwhelming rays of sunlight coming down from above, and then were gone. He looked down at the moon rocks and waited, holding his grip on the sun. He wanted to know if it was aware of everything he had taken. There was calm for a short time, then a beam of light shot down from the sun directly onto him. He felt the air around him heat up, wavering before his eyes from the temperature.

“Alright! Alright! I understand!” Starswirl held up one of the moon rocks and the he watched in morbid fascination as it became superheated. He winced, protecting himself with a small shield as the rock melted. It was gone in an instant, vaporized into nothing as the sun stole back the magic the moon had taken.

He lifted up the next, and the next, and they disappeared as well. Then he held up the largest. There was a loud CRACK as it exploded in the air, releasing a dark, swirling cloud. The cloud, however, did not travel up to the sun. The shadow grew eyes just for a moment, hissing in pain at the powerful sunlight bathing it. Starswirl wanted to capture it, but it was all he could do to protect himself from the sunlight. If it was another one of those creatures from the moon he could have learned more to find out what happened to Luna, but his own hubris was catching up to him. He could only watch helplessly as the shadowy beast disappeared away from the sun, heading to the east in the direction of Hollow Shades.

When all the rocks were gone, Starswirl looked up helplessly at the sun. The heat was still present, and still unbearable. It was pounding down on him, demanding more. He tried to let go, unable to give it anything else, but it demanded more of him. A greedy, terrible creature, exactly as Luna had said. It wanted more, and if he couldn’t escape or stop it, it was going to take more.

He could feel his magic slipping out of him. He heard wordless speech in his head and although he couldn’t understand it, he knew it was trying to take back what he had already used. He felt himself weaken, his legs giving way beneath him as it tried to take his magic. He slumped over, panting and sweating from the immense heat.

Then… shade.

A figure landed in front of him. The afterimages from looking at the sun were blinding him, but he saw wings, he saw a horn, and he saw a glowing mane and tail. He felt the grip on his horn loosen and then he blacked out.

When he awoke, it was night, and the cool light of the moon was shining down on him. He felt a hoof on his forehead, and a cool cloth. He winced at the sting of it touching his skin, and realized he must be sunburned.

“Shhhh, Starswirl. Thou hast been a fool, but thy heart was in the right place. Thou shouldst not have faced the sun so directly.”

“Princess Luna?”

“Tis the moon, yes. The returning of our gifts to the sun hast calmed her fury, but though she acts so regal and important, she is fierce and dangerous. Thou wouldst do well not to cross her so soon.”

“And… Equestria?”

“Thou hast helped us a great deal. Releasing one of our brothers. We know not where he hast gone.”

“Brothers? Sisters?” Starswirl was confused. His head hurt, and his body stung.

“Shhh, rest. Thou will discover more thyself, we are sure.” He felt the hoof disappear, though the cool cloth stayed. He blinked, but saw nothing save darkness moving away, then he slept again.

He drifted in and out of consciousness for a few days. Mage Meadowbrook and Somnambula came to visit him, but strangely, Celestia never did. When he finally got well enough to walk once more, he went to visit her to question her about the sun.

“Good day, Princess Celestia. I would speak with you.”

“Approach, Starswirl.” Her demeanor was cool, and her eyes hard. He came closer. “What wouldst thou ask of the sun?” Her eyes blazed a fiery orange. Starswirl bowed and retreated.

“Nothing, Princess. All my answers have come in your presence,” he said. She watched him go, and when the doors closed he breathed a heavy sigh. There was more to the sun and the moon than he knew, and he did not know if he would live to keep their secrets safe.

He would try.

He would try.

The End.