The Sun Up North

It was the happiest day of my life, we were all chanting, celebrating, partying like there was no tomorrow.

A few minutes earlier we had received a crystal projection announcing the results for this year’s SGU entrance exam; not only was Milegold on the list of admitted students—he had also received a personal congratulation letter from Celestia herself.

"Third place!" my mother let out a tear of joy. "Third place in all of Equestria!" she almost fainted from the emotion —but i managed to wake her up just in time. A dozen letters appeared in the living room from neighbors and acquaintances alike—some of which i didn’t even know by name—all congratulating my little brother’s achievement.

Suddenly, the entrance door opened—unveiling Milegold’s bright and calm face. My mother galloped towards her little golden mare, caressing him with her hoof while letting us all know how happy she was and how proud Milegold made her. It was a little annoying—i have to admit.

I walked towards him in turn. "Milegold... You made it! I always knew you were one hell of a smart unicorn!"

He let out a smile. A subtle yet priceless smile. "But i would never have done it without you sister, you taught me everything about this!" i blushed. He was not completely wrong. I remembered the countless days and nights we had spent scouring the library—trying and practicing hundreds of spells—cracking hard objects over and over again to make sure that on this day; he would make it. So much time we spent chatting, laughing, crying in this place.

The entrance door suddenly slammed—kicking me out of my thoughts. "Looks like our gifted unicorn arrived in advance!", it was dad.

"Sorry for the delay," he took off his helmet. "Those new pegasus automatons are still not nearly as fast as good old magic... Or the originals, for the matter."

Milegold’s eyes turned wide open, like he had just seen a specter. "Dad?!" he exclaimed. "I thought you were on coast guard duty in Vanhoover."

It was true that we only saw dad once in a blue moon. His work was tough. Most of Equestria's navy had been lost at Haukland—something about advanced antimatter weaponry being able to sink a carrier in a single shot—and a landing by Griffking forces has very much become a possibility.

Sometimes—there were news of cities on the coast being shelled with unprecedented vice and precision—and there was nothing that could be done about it—thank Celestia we weren't on the littoral—dad however...

At least—the air force was still protecting the skies from bombers and missiles—but for how long would this last?

"You know my little pony, there is something poney about this war. It has been raging for nearly a year at this point, but do you see any battles in here?" he petted Milegold on the mane. "That's exactly what i said to my lieutenant; and he gave me the day, just for you," he winked at me and Milegold. "Don't tell anyone, of course." shhh.

I admired my dad—he was on the forefront of the war—yet he tried his best to be the best father he could to us. Even though we rarely saw him—he always did his best to cheer us up and tell us that—despite the war on our doorstep—everything would be alright.

And unlike mom, he also supported my obsession with veil-hunting—which—with hindsight—might not have been such a good thing—but he just wanted to see me be passionate about something.

What's veil-hunting? You might ask. Well. As i hope you know—since the great war—Hyperbearia and the rest of the world have been separated by a massive veil. Blocking all light and waves trying to pass through it.

I'm sure you know a pone who knows a pone who courageously—and stupidly—crossed the veil to see what's on the other side—never to return to Equestria again. Well I—as well as other pones, deer, and griffons on the Crystanet—were kind of like this. Of course—we never tried to go through the veil ourselves—we weren't stupid—we knew it was pure suicide.

We mainly experimented with all kinds of things to try and learn more about the veil—and Hyperbearia. Obviously—it was dangerous—even merely tripping and falling to the other side of the veil could be fatal—and sometimes, pones who hadn't even crossed the veil went missing—but trust me—it was fascinating. That's why i loved doing it so much.

But anyways—I was just happy that dad could come home to celebrate with us—it was all that mattered for me—and so was Milegold—as he placed dad's helmet on the hat stand with magic.

The next few hours were the last time we truly enjoyed ourselves—mom had prepared a feast that would have made even the kings of old jealous: a massive apple pie, apple cupcakes, caramel apples, candy apples, apple cheese, apple chips—okay, it was all apples but i can assure you it was delicious.

We chatted for hours on end—about the future—about Milegold’s accomplishment—and about what he would do in Equestria’s most prestigious unicorn school—he was so excited. He had always admired the elements of harmony—especially Twilight—ever since he was a little foal he was always telling me how much he wanted to be Celestia’s student like her—to master the powers of friendship—to be a force for good in a world that so many sought to burn.

I knew that he had what it took—he was a certified gifted unicorn now after all—that’s why i tried my best to be his guardian pegasus... Despite not having wings.

Of course the celebrations would not last forever—and as the clock began to reach it’s latest hours—sleep began to claim it’s rightful due. Milegold fell first—then my dad—and—before i knew it—mom too was sleeping like a little filly.

I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon though, I and Milegold had plans for tonight—I slowly walked towards my room—on the tip of my hooves—while making sure i didn’t stub my hoof—or accidentally turn on a crystalvision—it would have been silly to wake somepony up-

CLINK!. A vase fell from a table as i hit my sloppy knee on it—shattering into tens of pieces—my heart almost stopped.

Did i just wake everypony up? Was this my mom’s favourite vase she kept talking about?! I’m going to spend the rest of my days in a dungeon for sure! As tens of images of the inpony punishments that imagined myself going through for this mistake flashed before my eyes—i realized...

I could just repair the vase. In a few seconds. It's one of the first tricks you learn at unicorn school... sometimes i forget that I’m a unicorn.

I tried to forget what had just happened — and finally got to my room. I gathered everything i had prepared.

"Jetset-packs: check, applebars: check, cupcakes: check, flashlights: check, telescope: check, PERITON-II drones: check, How to Survive a Bear Attack in Five Simple Steps Deluxe Edition by Summer Song: che—»

I had almost forgotten batteries—would have been quite stupid to not be able to fly those drones!

I thought i was about to make a breakthrough—of course, i was not the only one to have tried to fly drones through the veil—many before me had attempted this—even the EIA—but even the most advanced crystalline drones simply stopped transmitting the instant they broke through the veil. Cloaked or not. It didn't matter.

Here came my ‘master plan’—instead of using a regular modern drone and hoping to catch a few low quality frames before the signal got cut off—i had prepared ancient models of drones from the third north zebrican war—which still used radio waves for communication, and not the much more recent crystal waves. Stupid? Absolutely.

Once i had everything in hoof—i quickly packed my bag and got back to the dining room where everypony was sleeping.
"Pssh! Milegold!" i shook him, as his eyes slowly opened. "I hope you didn’t forget what we had planned, gifted boy."
I showed him one of the drones i had packed up—Milegold quickly understood and let out a smile through his tired face.

We both carefully left through the entrance door—and galloped to a nearby skatepark at the outskirts of the town. There was nopony there—and nopone was looking. It was the perfect place to do sketchy things at this time of the night.
I strapped one of the jetset-packs to my back and the other to Milegold’s.

"Ready? We’re going far this time!" Milegold didn’t fully share my enthusiasm. "Remember to always follow where i am on the map!" i hoofed him one of the tablets.

"Y-you have everything set up r-right Brine!?"

"Of course, what kind of pony do you think i am?"

"The one who forgets their parachute!" he quietly laughed as he pointed his hoof at the open case on my jetsetpacks.

"Oh that uhm i-" i quickly got the parachute out of the bag and loaded it inside the device "I was going to do it of course!"

"You know..." he yawned. "It’s getting late, we could do it tomorrow instead so we have a good night’s rest."

I pondered for a moment—on the one hoof—Milegold definitely had a point—it would have been wiser to get some sleep first. On the other hoof though...

I pressed the big red button on my and Milegold’s ‘packs to begin takeoff. "What did you say? Couldn’t hear you!"

Before he could pronounce a single word—our jetsetpacks began firing—we both zoomed hundreds of meters above the ground in the span of a second.

I adjusted my jetsetpacks to rush straight towards the north—and watched as the ground flashed before my eyes. I had practiced for weeks for this moment with Milegold—yet, there was one thing i knew about jetsetpacking: i would never get used to it.

The ground was flashing before me faster and faster by the second—houses, buildings, and mountains soon began to look like tiny succinct flashes of light—barely crossing my sight for a tenth of a second.

I could feel the speed go higher and higher—the thrill—the adrenaline!

"Woohoooo!" i couldn’t even hear my own scream of excitement quickly disperse through the wind—but at that moment i felt like a true wonderbolt. I was going so fast—i thought i was going to cause one of those sonic rainblooms.

I took a glance at my map—three hundred kilometers—it would be ten minutes before i arrived at the place—i was reassured to see that Milegold’s yellow dot was almost on the same coordinates as mine.

We might have some advance i rejoiced at the idea of putting my ‘genius’ idea into action. Soon, veil-hunters from all over Equus would be acclaiming me and Milegold for our discovery, or so i thought.

Excitement started kicking in—i was literally flying like an alicorn—of course i had to enjoy it to the fullest! Despite the likely risk of burning the mane i had worked for months to maintain—i did barrel roll after barrel roll—loop after loop—and hammerhead after hammerhead. I felt like the master of the skies! Faster! Stronger! Better! Invincible! Even hail rain and thunder couldn’t stop me! Soon all pegasi would know their new lead—

The massive veil that separated the lands of Hyperbearia from Equestria suddenly appeared on the horizon.

"Wait already?! I’m still at full speed!" i began panicking—i hadn’t even started decelerating—and it was already a few kilometers away from me at most!

I quickly glanced at my map—two hundred kilometers from the place.

Impossible, how could it be so close?!—i should have known never to trust those pesky maps made in Kiria!

I was flying right towards the veil and there was nothing i could do to slow down or change direction! I scrambled to try everything i could: parachute, brakes, magic, even applebars (don't ask how)—nothing was working! And my jetset-packs wouldn't respond!

The map had fully gone mad. Dots of all colours flashed all around the screen—before the whole device completely went dark.

The veil got closer and closer. I could see the sky distorting and bending. Almost as if it was preparing for it’s next victim.

Veil-hunter safety guides were clear: nopony had ever crossed the veil and come back to tell the tale—by land, by air, by sea it didn’t matter—once on the other side, even all-mighty Celestia wouldn’t be able to save me!

I closed my eyes—was this it?

I couldn’t hear anything anymore. I couldn’t feel the warmth of my overheating jet-packs.

I couldn’t even open my eyes again.

I tried to utter a word, a plea, whatever—but nothing came out of my muzzle.

Who was there to listen anyways?

Before i could contemplate my fate—a sharp orange light pierced through my eyelids—like somepony was pointing a flashlight right at me.

The sun?!