On a mountain top above a ruined city, the sun sleeps peacefully. Those below have grown used to light that never moves, to lanterns that suck in light to render blessed shade. Reflectors keep the light on the trees at all angles and the vegetation is plush and verdant as the light never ends.
Too close to the blaze and rain evaporates before it can fall. The ground lies in ashes and powder and the city lies unplundered, for those that approach too close go from sunburn, to burns, to ashes.
And each clock-measured morning, the citizens bless the sun, thankful, for they know that it could be so much worse...
He stepped out of nothingness into nothingness. The darkness was so absolute he thought he had gone blind. Underfoot, gravel crunched as his weight moved. The air was freezing cold, a faint scent of woodsmoke hanging on it.
His vision was adapting slowly, and as his eyes adjusted small lights danced in the sky above, like aircraft, but no aircraft ever moved like these. The dark sky was dotted with stars, but as he looked down at a certain height midnight blue turned to true black, and the 'stars' gained an orange tint. Campfires dotted across the hillside. The sight made him homesick.
His fingertips were losing feeling, and he crossed his arms, burying his hands in the sleeves for warmth. If he waited here, he'd freeze, or have to remove his collar for that cursed warmth and perhaps ruin his mission entirely. Cursing his lack of a torch he shuffled forward, hands groping in front of him. Grass crunched beneath his foot as he felt his toes hit something like stone. A path then, and he had the line of a curb to follow and no time to think about either as he heard the woman's shout.
"Who's there?" He tensed, looking for the speaker, and saw the light, an odd yellow, growing larger, blinking as if it were making its way through trees. It bobbed as it approached and he tensed, reminded of certain deep sea angler fish. One hand rose to the collar, but he would wait. As it came closer he saw the faded trunks and yellow leaves it threaded its path between. Dying trees, but not dead, so this darkness was not the natural state of this world. As it reached his feet, the light shone on dying yellow grass and stone fragments that laid out a path. The gravel had been kicked into the grass along the way, probably by him. And then he saw it.
A horse, tiny, with the flickering light of a lantern bobbing on its collar. The fur seemed more orange than he was used to, the hair of mane and tail yellow.
"A Steppes pony?" he said aloud, and it stopped, looking at him with unequine eyes too big for its face.
"Ain't never been to no Steppes. This here's Sweet Apple Acres." He froze, staring unabashed. A Case 53? A bio-tinker's creation? It was wearing clothes, what he could only think of as a parka, and boots. "Ah think you're lost."
"Yes," he said, still staring, knowing he was being impolite. The small horse didn't seem to care, trotting closer and relaxing. "I believe I am."
"Ain't never seen nothing like you before. Ah thought you were a monster, but they don't talk." It was definitely a girl's voice, and an accent he was unfamiliar with.
"I do," he said, stupidly.
"Do you eat ponies?"
"No!" Not ones that talked to him, but that qualifier was not one he would add until he knew more of the situation here.
"Rainbow, he's safe!" she called, raising a hoof to her mouth as she looked passed him. He turned on reflex.
One of the lights above was falling, becoming the shape of a pony with wings. In a land of talking ponies, why would they not have wings? It was only as the blue pegasus abruptly diverted that he saw how close he had come to being kicked in the head. It hovered, flapping gently, its blue fur matching the tight fitting bodysuit that covered legs and left wings free.
"Sorry, can't take chances you know. All the monsters about." Another girl oddly. Among the ponies he knew, the stallions guarded the herd, but those ponies did not talk. Despite her words, this one did not actually sound sorry, but he could forgive the lack of welcome.
"Those alone in the dark are easy prey for monsters," he said, too knowing. He didn't have to guess that there were things moving in that cold darkness as he shivered.
"Who're you calling prey?" Rainbow huffed, and the orange one chuckled.
"C'mon Rainbow, it's true. We got the Everfree right on our doorstep. When the sun went out, all the creatures in there came explorin'."
"Wh-what h-happened to the s-s-?" His teeth chattered from the cold. The orange one said something like 'horseapples', and turned away, head turning back over her shoulder as she went.
"Come on. House's full, but the barn's closer 'n yer freezin'."
The barn was warm, packed with sheep that raised their heads silently and stared at him wide-eyed, the single dim lantern a comfort after the nearly absolute blackness outside. Huddled in the blanket that the pony, Applejack, had lent him, he was finally warming up. By the time he was up to talking, the blue one had returned with a small purple unicorn bundled up in a thick coat, boots, and scarf, something he felt he was taking far too calmly.
"This is Twilight, she's working on bringing the sun back." Rainbow said. He nodded blankly, wondering if these names were as literal as they seemed, or if the translator was malfunctioning."Told ya, Twi, you'd never seen a - hey, what are ya anyway?" He tried not to jump as she hovered in front of his face.
"A Parahuman," he answered, and then added his own question over her interested chatter of who and what and why. "What happened to the sun?" The small purple unicorn looked down, and he noticed the rings below her eyes that in a human would mean exhaustion. Her voice was tired and weak.
"Moon and Sun both vanished at the Summer Sun Celebration." It was not the first world he had walked where the sun had died. In that other, greeted by a blizzard and a starving people, they had fed a child to the flames for their warmth. Disgusted, when they mobbed him to tear his flesh for food, he had let them pull the collar from his neck and feed themselves to his fires. He had expected censure for his choice from his sponsors, not a cool and dismissive 'sacrifices must be made', and another assignment. But then, that world had already been considered lost, the people doomed, or he would not have been sent.
"And you are trying to bring them back?" he asked tentatively, suspecting there was more to the story. She nodded, sitting down by the lantern.
"I'm spending most days creating lanterns and light," she said. "Unicorns used to raise the sun, but that spell doesn't work anymore." The tangles in the shortcut mane, and the exhaustion in the huge eyes spoke of sleep sacrificed for research time.
"But you bring a small sun up over the orchard!" Rainbow protested.
"A time-limited illusion," Twilight said. "We've been using them to keep the plants alive."
"Light's not right." Applejack scuffed a hoof at the yellowed grass by the door. "Trees're still dying, just slower. We need more light, 'n' brighter."
"Why do you not lid your lanterns?" He was curious. "More light could be reflected to the town."
"Then how'd I know where to land?" the blue pegasus scoffed, and he nodded.
"Apologies, I do not often fly."
"No probs." Quick to scoff, quicker to apologise, and quickest with a grin. Much as he resisted it, the only word that applied to her was flighty.
Silence fell uncomfortably, as Twi's eyes were drifting closed. Applejack was fidgeting, obviously wanting to head back to her orchard, but torn between checking on her guest and her work. There would be no further progress at the moment, so instead he rested a hand almost casually against his collar, ready for their reaction.
"I know a way to create a sun upon the land." It was not false, but he saw no need to give them the full truth at this time. Twi's head snapped up, suddenly awake. Rainbow dropped from her hover to a perfect one-hoof pose. Most disturbingly the sheep surrounding them looked up and began muttering. Was there anything in this world that did not talk?
"Then why ain't ya casting it already?" Applejack snapped.
"It would be harmful." An understatement, he knew, written in the mile-wide trail of ash and ruin left in his path.
"Couldn't be worse'n this!" The mare scuffed her hoof in the dead grass again. Innocence was never so stubborn. Twi raised her head, patiently.
"Applejack, our atmosphere reduces the sun's light to something we can stand. Princess Celestia governs-" her voice broke "-governed the solar output so Equestria receives equal light. Otherwise we would burn. Sunlight, unshielded, at ground level would be dangerous."
And something had happened to this Celestia. Twilight was continuing. "However if Rainbow can gather a solid pool of clouds, I could shape a refractory lens to direct the rays in appropriate...." He had a sudden picture of the small purple unicorn earnestly directing what amounted to a giant magnifying glass over a town, tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth in concentration. It was disturbing.
"Can your Celestia not raise the sun?" he asked, ending the more worrying train of thought.
"We don't know where she is." The problem revealed, finally. "We think she's trapped. That they bound each other simultaneously." A mysterious 'they' emerged from the story, a sense of a much longer tale untold. "How far can your sunlight reach? Could you light the town?" Twi's question was hopeful and transparent: if another lit the town, she could research into bringing the true sun back. It was exactly as he intended.
"I do not know your units of measurement," he confessed, and Twilight blinked.
"Do you know how fast a pony travels?" she asked, and he nodded. Even city-born as he was, his parents would have him grow up in saddle for camel and pony. A horse galloped at forty kilometres an hour, for conservatively six seperate hours a day with rests. Six forties were two hundred and forty kilometres, and he had been visible on the flat of the deserts for further, on the brightest days.
"If my mathematics are correct, I believe six days' gallop or further." There was a sudden hush. "Though I may not be as bright as your sun. Those within -" he tried to do the maths, failed, and hoped his translator could cover measurements. "- a one kilometre radius would not survive." The wide-eyed looks they were exchanging spoke of less horror and more hope than he had expected.
"Six days is more'n just Ponyville, Twi," Applejack said. "If we could get it further, could light out to Appleloosa..."
"Put it on a mountain," Rainbow interrupted, as they looked at her. She shrugged. "The sun's meant to be in the sky, duh." Twi thought about it, ears twitching.
"Canterlot," she said, finally.
"You sure?" Rainbow asked incredulously, coming to a stop in mid-air.
"It's central, and once the spells holding the city failed..." Her ears turned back. "No one lives there any more."
"How far is it?" he asked, curiously.
"Used to be a day's gallop, but it' be longer in the dark," Applejack said. "The trains ain't running." There would be better uses for coal and fuel in a world where the light had died and the heat went with it.
"If I were to walk?" he asked. The thought of walking, as human or himself, brought memories of fire and a trail of ash.
"Flight's faster." The blue pegasus cut in.
"Flight's dangerous," Twilight objected.
"Danger's my middle name." The pegasus' confidence verged on arrogance.
"Safer than walking," Applejack added.
"Ladies." He brought them up short as they began to argue. "I cannot fly." Rainbow gave him a grin that he could only consider rakish.
"That's not a problem." Unless she was stronger than she looked, she could not have intended to carry him and he could not fly there himself for his control of his wings was too poor and he did not know where it was. "So I get you to the top of the mountain, you cast it." Rainbow said confidently. "And then I get you back to help Twilight get Celestia back."
"Impossible," he said, quietly.
"You won't help?" Rainbow's immediately hostility met only tired resignation.
"Once I begin, I shall not be able to. I doubt we shall be able to speak."
"Continual casting." Twilight's ears went flat. He considered, then nodded, accepting it as close enough.
"Should I move the sun will move with me. Anything within its range-" He was cut off as Rainbow interrupted.
"Not cool."
"No. Extremely hot."
"So how long will this sun last anyway?" Rainbow asked.
"Until I cease casting." He stopped, considering."If you can take me to this mountain, I shall shine the sun for one year. Should your Princess be returned within the time, one who controls the sun should be able to speak to me. Or you will find alternatives."
"A year?" Twilight said, thoughtfully.
"It gives you time." In truth he expected little of them in the time, but they could stockpile food and organise themselves. Should it be needed, he could stay longer, for time was the one thing he had too much of and they had had too little.
"But, food, water…" With surprise he realised that her concern was for him, and he smiled.
"I can sustain myself for the duration." The fires kept him whole, if not wholly of the same shape. The purple unicorn shook her head.
"We need to plan-"
"Twi, food's runnin' out. The trees are dying." Applejack cut her off grimly. "Ponies are dying. We gotta move now." Twi began to pace.
"If Dash takes him there now, Applejack can warn the town." She grimaced. "I'll speak to the Pegasus Mail Service and the Town Hall. We'll need to get word out, so people don't think the Princess is back. Derpy can co-ordinate with the mail, if I write a mailshot that can be distributed efficiently once the sun comes up. A guard of pegasus to stop ponies approaching..." he wasn't sure where the scroll had come from, probably one of the saddlebags, but her head was down over the paper as a floating quill scribbled a checklist. Her tongue was, in fact, sticking out, just as he'd imagined.
"Is she always-"
"Yes." Blue and Orange answered in exasperated tandem, and he laughed.
Hot air balloons weren't something he'd ever travelled in before, and never at night. There was something peaceful, yet eerie about it. Careful not to unbalance the basket he peered over the edge, clutching the blanket close for warmth despite the burner close to his head.
Below them lines of light marked the few roads fully and continually lit. Small sparks, probably caravans and convoys, moved along them and some few specks out on their own pressed on through darkness to the orange and white lights that marked towns.
The canvas above vanished into darkness, and he could just see the dim shapes of the two pegasi towing the balloon, the others flying escort, their lanterns carefully dimmed. The sound of wings scarcely reached him, the muffled silence oppressive as if the night itself was listening.
Ahead, where they were flying, there was nothing.
A blue shape formed in the dark, lantern close, keeping easy pace with the basket. She held something out, attached somehow to a hoof that acted as a hand.
"Here." It was an airsick bag, though he found himself more curious about how she was holding it. Her voice was muted, barely a whisper.
"I am fine." His own voice was as low, the sensation of danger hidden in the dark so close it was terrifying.
"Good. Just stay quiet." The dark pressed down on him, stifling, and he kept his voice low to draw no danger as he answered.
"There's something out there."
"Yeah. We're over the Everfree," she sounded almost subdued for her. "Sound carries. Let's get there without monsters."
"What happens if they hear us?" Her grin was far cockier than he liked, yellow lantern light glinting on white teeth.
"We've gotta reputation to uphold."
"And a basket," he reminded her, and she laughed. The steady beat of wings filled the air as he let the conversation die, feeling the brush of air on his face as the balloon travelled onward. Rainbow kept pace by the basket, glancing round eagle-eyed. "What happened to your Princess Celestia?"
"You don't know?" Rainbow sounded surprised.
"I thought you would give me the faster answer." A courteous lie, but Twilight had been impossible to distract from her list once she had begun to make it.
"Princess Celestia was about to raise the sun, and this other alicorn appeared. Said she was Nightmare Moon, Celestia's sister, and kicked Celestia clear to Canterlot. The sun and the moon kind of collided and set. It's been dark ever since." That told him enough to know that he knew nothing at all, but the sun had died and he did not need to know more to help the people he had met here. When gods fought, mortals suffered.
"You hear that?" Suddenly Rainbow was alert, all business. He looked round, listened in the dark. All he could hear was the sound of soft wingbeats, the pegasi flying and all he could see were the lanterns.
"There!" He pointed, voice raised slightly, as one of the lanterns blinked. Something had flown in front of it, between the balloon and the pegasus guard. Rainbow was moving as he pointed, straight to a patch of blackness darker than the night, and kicked out at something that folded and fell.
"Take 'em down! It's not like we haven't tangled with monsters before and totally whooped their sorry butts!" She matched words to actions, another birdlike shape briefly illuminated by her lantern before two back hooves knocked the creature out of the sky.
"Harpies!" He heard her warning shout as the pegasi split up, to engage their enemies. It wasn't a fair fight, The pegasi were stronger, faster, but they were wearing lanterns, The harpies could see in the dark, falling on the pegasi from impossible angles, ambushing them from what should be empty sky. Their own dark feathers blended in with the night, making them near-invisible.
Above him, fabric ripped. The basket tilted horribly and began to descend, dragging the pegasi in the traces down with it. Clinging to the edge of the basket he fumbled for the bolts, pulling at them with numb fingers until the metal turned. Suddenly free, the two pegasi shot forward, vanishing into the darkness. Praying there was enough of a balloon left to act as a parachute, he clutched the ropes, trying to stop them tangling with the burner.
A sudden gust came from behind him but no lantern light, and he ducked as something whistled over his head. He lashed out blindly backwards, feeling feathers break under his fist. A outraged animal shriek let him know it wasn't a pegasus he'd struck, and he caught a handful of the dark pinions, yanking them out as a huge talon struck for his head. Slashing claws opened his shirt, drew a line of fire across his chest as the ropes before him parted. Crying out in shock as he lost his grip, he fell, hearing the creature's screech of triumph, reaching for the collar, knowing anyone nearby would not survive his transformation - and was caught.
Blue forelegs hooked under his arms from behind, slowing his stop proficiently with barely a jolt.
"Come on!" she shouted, wings driving them forward.
"The others?"
"Want us to go on ahead." She didn't sound happy about it, but then the easy confidence returned."You get the sun up and we can beat these things easy. Get on my back. You're screwing up my aerodynamics." Unsure what to do, he was suddenly dropping again, yelping as he landed awkwardly across a blue back."Get your legs outta the way of my wings." Obediently, he folded his legs as far forward as he could, gripping with his knees as he'd learned since childhood, and clung onto her neck.
"Hang on!" The wind stole his reply as she tensed and leapt forward in the air. Fast as they had been going, it was nothing to this. Behind them he caught glimpses among the lanterns of the bird-bat-things as they wheeled in mid-air, tossed helplessly in their wake.
He buried his face in blue fur to shield it from the wind and the whipping rainbow mane. As the world dissolved into colours he could see behind his eyelids, a chord thrummed through his bones, felt not heard, and sound ceased.
Slowly he raised his head, cracked an eyelid a fraction. A rainbow was retreating ahead of them. Carefully he looked down. As the waves of light passed, he caught glimpses of towns, villages, ponies looking up amazed, lanterns held close, for the scant moments as it passed, falling into droplets of light that slowly faded. He snatched a breath from the wind, and it felt like facing into a gale. Quietly he breathed the only word that fitted.
"Awesome."
"Course it's awesome," she shouted without looking back."I did it!" Confident as always, but he wasn't sure if it counted as arrogant when she could back it up.
She glided down to a perfect stop on the mountain top, posed up on back one hoof. He spoiled it when he tumbled off, laying flat on the ground and gasping for breath.
Rainbow stretched her wings, checking the flight pinions. With a quick birdlike jerk of the head, she pulled a broken feather free and smirked at him.
"Bet ya don't know any ponies who could do that."
"Yes." He smirked back as her glare became indignant, and pointed a hand towards her."You." It was amazing how fast her expression changed. While she was still preening, he rolled over, getting his feet under him, and raised the lantern.
It was a square plateau, maybe one hundred feet across. The mountain peaked on one side, high beyond their lanterns, dropped off into nothingness and darkness below. There was scarcely space to move or stretch. Hard granite wouldn't burn like dirt.
"So, do your thing," she said, impatient.
"Is the mountain clear? If there is anyone on it, they will die."
"It's been clear since the Princesses fought and Canterlot got kicked off the side," she said, tartly."The city's in the lake." That was definitive, unless in this world fish spoke.
"I will cast once you are away from here," he reminded her, drawing a difficult breath in the thin air."After one year, the darkness will return. I shall need food and water then. Nothing will survive here, perhaps not the rock itself." Shivering in the cold he began to disrobe, folding the clothes carefully. She wheeled, turning away, and then peered back.
"What are you doing? This for the spell?"
"It is not a spell, Rainbow Dash. It is simply being what truly I am." It would be a long year, but he had been alone for longer. And for less cause. His gift usually brought death. Let it now bring life.
"So you're like a baby sun, or something?"
"Something. A young sun is close."
"Hey, does this make me the only pegasus to raise the sun?" He laughed as she struck a proud pose on the mountain, and slapped her rump like the ponies he knew. She jumped and nickered indignantly.
"Get," he said fondly, picking up the folded clothes and passed them to her. She stuffed them in the saddlebags, folded down for lower air resistance."Please, bring these back at the end of the year."
"Got it." She nodded, waiting. It was so cold up here now he could hardly breathe, but that would not be a problem for long. His fingers found the collar, sticking lightly to the icy metal.
"Fly for your town, do not look back. I shall give you a count of ten before I begin."
"Awesome. Hey, you only have to give me five." In a swirl of feathers she was gone, her voice fading behind her. He gave her twenty. His fingers unlatched the collar. The sun rose.
On a mountaintop in a land of equines, the sun sleeps peacefully. Sometimes it is a lion, sometimes it has wings, and always it shines. Those below have grown used to light that never moves, to lanterns that suck in light to render blessed shade. Under its constant light, they farm and study, stockpiling the food and fuel they need to live.
They have learned to live with cellars and blackout curtains, and have grown skilled with the use of shades and reflectors so the trees do not green on only one side. The vegetation is plush and verdant as the light never ends. The houses bleach in the side facing the light, and spell stones drink in the light to store it against Year End when the sun will go out.
Too close to the blaze and rain evaporates before it can fall. The ground lies in ashes and powder and the city lies unplundered, for those that approach too close go from sunburn, to burns, to ashes.
And each clock-measured morning, the citizens bless the sun, thankful, for they know that it could be so much worse...
Author's Note
Written for the Worm challenge to find a non-destructive use of Ash Beast's power (being a sentient fusion reaction).
