The Sun Up North

When i regained consciousness—and my feeble eyes adapted to the blinding white light coming in my direction—i was greeted by a small—nearly empty room.

"Am i in... The heavens?” was my first reaction—before the slightly more rational part of myself remembered i had done the unthinkable: i was on the other side of the veil.

There was a single small window behind me—way too high and way too small for me to get through—from which enough light came to illuminate every corner of the room. I noticed that my watch was still on my pastern Four O'clock in the morning, it showed. How was this possible?

All the gear i had taken with me was missing—except my watch and my now empty bag.

I was lying on a few pillows of all colours—unusually warm and comfortable for their small size—i almost wanted to stay a few more minutes.

But the poetic quietness of the place was quickly interrupted by voices coming from the other side of the door. Several voices. I tried to focus but i could hear nothing intelligible.

I jumped out of my makeshift bed and slowly walked to the door as the voices got louder, yet even less comprehensible.

CLI-CLICK—locked. I looked around for a key of some sorts but quickly realized there was nothing—i would have seen it with all this light. While i was pondering what to do next—the voices got even louder, before briefly turning into some sort of roaring—then to an awkward silence.

"Bears sure do know how to talk," i nervously giggled to myself—but i still knew nothing about what they could be discussing behind my back.

Panic began settling in as i realized how bucked i was—i sure wasn't in the heavens—but i hope you realize that being exiled and locked in a cell at the place i was exiled to was not the best of predicaments—especially in a country nopony had ever returned from.

But this was the least of my worries.

Where in Tartarus is Milegold?! my mind began asking the real questions.

I knew that he had been much wiser than me with those jetset-packs—but what if his map has failed too? What if he had decided to follow me to the other side? What were those bears going to do to him!? I'd go to Tartarus if something happened to him by my fault—going for this expedition was all my idea—i couldn't believe i had dragged him into this!

I needed to get out—i couldn't just stand here and wait for my fate!

I checked every corner—ripped apart every pillow i was lying on to look for something inside—i attempted to jump like a zebra to try and reach the window—to no avail.

"Only one option left," i said as i trotted towards the door.

I turned around—and pawed the ground in preparation for the biggest kick in my lifetime.

I took a long, loud breath—so loud in fact that i hadn't realized that the door had opened behind me...

My back legs launched a kick with the power of a yak—like i had been holding it back for six, no, for seven years waiting for this moment. However—what i heard was not the loud wood cracking noise i was expecting...

"OW!"

I turned around and saw the unfortunate bear who had taken my kick right in the face.

"Oh dear sorry sorry sorry sorry!" the only logical choice would have been to run as fast as i could—hoping to find an exit, a hiding place, anything— but my equine instincts got the better of me.

The bear could more accurately be described as a cub—he was barely larger than me—and the sound he made when i kicked him was not what i expected from such a beast. I stopped and crouched down to him to help—and used my magic to try to ease the wound—it was rather superficial—five to ten minutes of magical healing and it would be all over.

But before i could begin my magic—i was pushed away.

"That's cute," he got back up and began smiling "but there's no need." The wound on his muzzle disappeared in the blink of an eye. He gave me his paw to help me get back up.

I raised my eyebrows—despite his recovery, you can guess that i was not expecting to get away with kicking a bear in the face.

"Come on, I'm not gonna eat you," he clutched his paw.

I finally got the courage to take his paw and got up with his help—still shocked by what was happening.

The bear began walking down the hallway and signaled me to walk alongside him. I obviously obliged.

"Sorry for the rough reception, it's not every day that we see pones around here," he said calmly. "But you kicked me in the face so i think we're even."

"Sorry about that," i felt a little ashamed.

"Forget it, you saw how fast it went away right?" he haughtily smiled and closed his eyes. "Anyways, the name is Elinbjörn, son of the great Björnling."

Son of whom? i thought—this name was definitely familiar—something from the great war history books. Then i remembered—it was the bear who had founded Hyperbearia and stabbed the changelings in the back.

"He's still alive today?" i tried to call a bluff. "It's been two centuries."

"We live much, much, longer than you pones. Besides, Golden Morning too is still alive and kicking right?"

He had a point—but i did not completely buy it. I decided to change the subject.

"Anyways my name is Briny Heart," i responded. "But you can call me Brine."

"I already know that," he said almost as if he was correcting me. "I had a talk with your lil' one, Milegold right?"

My heart pounded faster than ever as i tried to hide the sweat going down my neck—at this instant my biggest fear had just materialized.

"I left him at the town's daycare—i ain't good with cubs so don't start with colts," he continued.

I wanted to believe him—but what if it was simply a lure? What if i was just walking along to my death? I didn't have the guts to question him about all the ponies who came here before me. But then i remembered how fast Elinbjörn's wound had healed—i had studied magical healing of all sorts for years. Yet i had never seen such an recovery with no intervention. Those bears had something i didn't know about, and if he had truly meant us harm; I would have been in the depths of Tartarus already.

The corridor abruptly stopped—as we reached a door at the end of it. Elinbjörn stopped and took a strange, glowing white crystal out of his pocket. He shook the strange object—like it was a rattle. The crystal glowed even harder for a few seconds in his hands.

Before i could muster the strength to question him about this artifact—the wall in front of us disappeared into nothingness. I still wasn't used to how bright the sun was up here—as Elinbjörn could probably see as i covered my eyes with one of my hooves.

Unbothered—he looked at me and pointed towards the outside with his paws.

"Ladies first."

I slowly walked out of the building—looking down so my eyes didn't get obliterated by this blinding light. But as i began adapting to the sun—i was thrown off by the sight before me.

This 'town'—it was not a town—it was everything except one—and nothing like what i had seen anywhere. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief trying to make sense of what i was looking at. This settlement was not made of houses, buildings, or whatever beings build in towns these days—instead—a dozen marble pyramids filled this exotic settlement. Each measuring the size of several buildings stacked on top of each other. Even Manehettan—the jewel of Equestria and city of all grandeur—appeared like a puny hamlet compared to this place.

The streets seemed empty—i could only see a few bears walking around—but i was quickly proven wrong as i looked up to the sky. Hundreds of ursines were zooming around at speeds that would have put even the legend herself, Rainbow Dash, to shame—yet no jetset-packs or wings of any sort were in sight—i knew about the old fairy-tale of Ulrik the aviator, and I'm sure that he would have been proud.

How are they doing this!? i couldn't fathom what i was seeing.

Elinbjörn didn't bat an eye—despite having seen how wide mine had opened.

"Impressive huh?" he winked at me. "I know how small your cities are down there in Equestria."

The demons of curiosity had gotten the better of me after a few hours in this place.

"How in all of Equus is this possible?" i looked at Elinbjörn straight in the eyes. "First the wound then the door then THIS! If you're going to reduce me to cinders like all the ponies before me then at least tell me what's up in this place!" I blocked my muzzle with one of my hooves before i could get even more carried away.

"Ursinochrome," he looked calmly at the horizon—like he had only heard the first few words of my sentence.

"Ursino-what?" i was not more enlightened by this answer. But the bear purely and simply ignored me and began walking down the path in front of us.

We walked for a couple hundred meters as an uneasy silence had settled in.

"Sooo what's your tribe anyways?" i asked to try and break the massive wall of ice between us.

"Tribe?" he looked at me like i was from another planet—although that was practically true.

"Well yeah," i pushed my curiosity. "Aren't you all bears part of some sort of tribe?"

"First, it's Hyperbears, second, you mean my clan?" he corrected me, twice. "Those haven't been a thing since my dad came around. But I'm surprised you know about them."

"I've opened a history book more than once in my life," i remarked.

"Oh so that means you know about Björnling's betrayal, the razing of Vesalipolis, the fall of Dachaig and the new Aquil—"

"Yes I do. We all know about the great war," the urge to correct him for once became stronger than me. "Also, it's Nouvel Aquileia, please respect this beautiful language."

"You're smarter than most of the pones I've met," i blushed a little for a moment. "So like... three of them," my cheeks quickly turned back to blue. "Nice cutie mark though." it was the same colour as the veil—i got it the day i fell in love with veil-hunting.

"Anyways," Elinbjörn continued. "Walking's boring, time to speed things up a little..." he grabbed one of my hooves with his paw.

"What are we doi—"

All the colors around me abruptly changed—the sky turned black—the grass red—the pyramids blue—and the sun... i don't know which word can describe it. All the bears who were scouring the skies suddenly disappeared as a deafening silence settled in—it was only me and Elinbjörn in this place.

"Where are we!?" i thought he had given me some of those mushrooms that grow in the badlands. But all he replied was utter and complete silence. The world began disintegrating around us—one after another the pyramids phased out of existence, leaving nothing but massive slabs of marble on the ground—then—everything started to turn black—the ground, the clouds, the sky—all that was left was the sun. I tried to scream—scream as loud as equinely possible—but nothing would come out.

Soon—even the sun was fading into the dark—and, as i observed in shock—i was being consumed too. I tried everything to awaken Elinbjörn—hitting—kicking—scratching—but nothing would do. And soon—there was nothing more i could do to fight—all that was left of me were my head and my horn.

I gathered all the strength i had left to muster one last thought.

So that's what happened to all of them...

"We're there!" i heard Elinbjörn's voice.

I gasped for air like i had just spent an hour underwater. The sun, the ground, my hooves, my body—it was all back! I frantically checked almost every part of my body to see if it hadn't somehow disappeared along the way.

Elinbjörn chuckled. "That's how i felt the first time i teleported, you'll get used to it it's not that bad."

"Not that bad?! Not that bad?!" i looked at him like he had just killed somepony "How am i supposed to begin to call what just happened 'Not that bad' !?"

"Listen, it was this or walking for ten whole minutes," he was somehow surprised by how upset i was. "Aren't you glad i spared you all that? Besides, it's all over now."

I did my best to resist the impulse to do something that would have gotten me reduced to darkness for real. Getting mad was the number one worst thing to do in my situation—but i nonetheless gave him a death stare.

All of a sudden—a white shock wave blasted out of Elinbjörn's pocket.

What again? I thought—it was this damned crystal. Elinbjörn took it out and brought it closer to his head. It seemed like some sort of telephone—but neither him nor the artifact were producing a single sound.

"Something came up, gotta go now" he put his crystal back in his pocket. "The daycare is at the second floor, tell them the Älderbjörnen sent you alright?"

Milegold, i almost forgot about you I nodded as he turned around and walked away to cast this freakish spell again.

"One more thing, take this" he threw a blue crystal over his shoulder at my direction.

"Take wha—" the hyperbear vanished before i could finish my question.

I examined the crystal Elinbjörn had given me—it was the exact same colour as me—blue like the brine in the sea. I couldn't exactly make out what i could see inside it—but it was neither my reflection nor the sky behind.
Could this be this Ursinochrome thing? my imagination came back for another round. All the strange happenings i had seen there seemed to originate from those things—but for now—mine was doing nothing but wait—ominously.

I had dodged tens of ill-mannered looks from hyperbears in the corridors—fruitlessly asked half a dozen ursines for directions—and bumped into one or two of them on my way—but after an hour of struggle i finally found my way to this daycare. Hyperbears weren't very talkative—in fact—they did not talk at all. When i tried to interact with them they simply looked at me—and stood silent for a few seconds before continuing their way.

Yet they seemed to somehow communicate with each other. Maybe it was some sort of telepathy? In any case—i couldn't get a single word out of them.

I walked through the entrance looking around the place for anything yellow—dozens of little ~~cubs~~ hypercubs were hibernating in small pods all around the main room—some were reading books—some were breaking toys in the play area—but none of them was the mare i was looking for. I checked all the rooms one by one for Milegold—they all looked the same: layout, paint, lighting, down to the type of toys and the titles of the books, it was starting to make my head spin. This place was a literal maze—like the rest of the pyramid—there was nothing to help me navigate around the place; no map, no indications, no windows, nopone else other than the cubs—nothing.

Soon, I was going around in circles, or at least i think i was—i did not have a single idea where i was going—maybe he had gone somewhere else, or i was in the wrong place... right?

Eureka! The word echoed in my head as i saw a room with a slight difference from the others in the distance—this one was painted in some sort of purple colour instead of the usual aqua blue—that was it, the only difference—but this was enough to give me some strength to continue. I galloped carelessly into the room sensing the long awaited end of this madness but...

There was not a single bear or pone there.

The room turned out to be a small corridor lit up by a large chandelier made of crystals similar to the one Elinbjörn had given me. I walked carefully towards the door at the end of the hallway. As i got closer and closer i started hearing voices coming from the other side. The exact same as the ones i was hearing in my cell.

I peeked through the lock—nothing i could see. But unlike when i was in my cell i could hear everything that was being said.

"Wonderful! Truly wonderful!"

"I told you, this mare is the one."

"He could put what happened to Vesalipolis to shame!"

"Soo, that means i did good?"

Milegold! It was his voice there was no doubt. But those three hyperbears... i had no idea who they could be.

"You did very, very, very good! You should be proud of yourself."

"Damn right you did well!"

"Your performance was marvelous! We'll be back to you shortly you can be sure," then, the conversation turned into pawsteps.

Uh oh. There was nowhere to hide in this bloody room. It was all open. All lit up. Even the blindest mole from Klugetown would be able to see me here. And boreas forbid i got caught here snooping on them! I needed to come up with something quick! I began casting the first invisibility spell i could think of. But as invisibility was slowly covering me, the pawsteps got louder and louder. I braced myself. And hoped i would make it on time...

The door opened.

And the three hyperbears all came out one by one.

One of them succinctly glimpsed at the corner i was hiding in.

I closed my eyes, preparing to beg for my life.

Had the spell not covered a spot?

However—the bear simply looked at his two fellows.

"Björnling gave us five minutes for this, and you know damn well what happened last time we were tardy,"

The invisibility had worked; Milegold might have eclipsed me at every spell—but my magic wasn't that rusty yet.

"Wait a silly-second." one of the bears raised his paw and sniffed. "I sense some equine presence here." the bear looked near my direction.

Please please please don't see me My eyes almost grew to the size of a watermelon as i fully held my breath to make less noise. However the sound of my heart beating like a drum might have compensated.

"Quit making stuff up, Nitta, we'll talk about it when we don't have four minutes left to get to the palace," the hyperbear grabbed the paws of his fellows, and all three disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I decided to wait a moment to make sure they wouldn't return—it was a very close call—i was glad to still be around—what if they had been given ten minutes instead? I still wonder to this day.

I reappeared—still sweating and hyperventilating—i took a long beath—and opened the door to Milegold's room.

"Surprise surprise!" i dashed through the entrance—while he was reading a book in some sort of play area.

"Brine!" he rushed towards my neck as he saw me.

Words can't explain how happy i was that Milegold was alright—i thought I'd never see him again after what had happened.

"I'm sorry for everything, I'll never drag you into such danger again." i hugged him, and shed a small tear.

"Sorry? You're sorry?" he looked at me in disbelief.

"Listen, it's okay if you don't forgive m—"

"Sorry for what?" Milegold raised his eyebrows. "This place is awesome applesauce!"

"I know it's awfu- wait what?"

It took a lot of restraint to not tell him every single reason why i wanted out of this place.

"Look! There's applebars, cupcakes, pie, everything!" he grabbed a mysterious looking white cake from a table and hoofed it to me. "Here have a bite!"

"No thanks." i slightly shook my head. Had i never told him not to eat food from strangers? Especially this kind of strangers.

"And the bears they're so awesome!" he continued. "They're so cool and their books are amazing!"

I looked around me for those 'amazing' books—they did indeed look decent—i could notice several titles The Coming Bears by Edward Bearwer Lytton, The Sun Above the Sea by Nita Wolmark, The Den by H.B Lovecraft. But one of them caught my attention.

Powers and Properties of Ursinochrome by nopone else than... Björnling.

I quickly took hold of it with my magic and put it somewhere in my bag.

"They look uhm, nice, I'll take a look later."

"Told you the bears are great!" Milegold hopped in excitement. "Check this out!"

A crystal—it was one of those damn crystals—a yellow one this time.

"Oh they look uhm, really great, but i have a question." it was time to finally know what's up. "Who were those three bears exactly?"

"You don't know them? It's Osolveig, Nitta and Melvedev," i knew that already. "They said my magic was really cool and they want to see more! They told me i might perform in front of Björnling himself soon!" he said, way too proudly for my taste.

"And why do they want to see you perform exactly?" i looked him straight in the eyes. "I mean they have an artificial sun and everything, they can teleport anywhere and anytime, and they-they have this massive veil around their country," i stopped for an instant. "Why would they even care about magic!?"

Milegold shrugged "I dun'no."

"Listen..." i put my hoof on one of his shoulders. "You're my brother and I'll always be looking out for you, i don't care about what happens to me here; but I'd go to Tartarus if something bad happened to you."

I struggled to find words for a moment. "I don't know what's up with this place, but i know for sure that it's not safe for us. No matter how much they want us to think it is. And..."

The enthusiasm in his eyes disappeared—leaving place to inquietude. I felt horrible for breaking it to him—but i knew i had to.

"I miss mom and dad."

Even if this place was safe—even if the hyperbears were the kindest and most benevolent race in the world like they let us think they were—it was obvious we would never return home—to the other side of the veil—and there was nothing we could do about it. It was hard to imagine—what if you suddenly woke up and found out you'd never see your town, your home, your loved ones again?

Milegold almost fell off his hooves as he realized the same thing as me. He remained quiet—eyes wide open—but i knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Hey... hey!" i snapped him out of it. "We'll find a way, like we always do."

"R-really?" he was still in shock. "B-but what about the other pones?"

"We're not like the other pones; especially you," i rubbed his mane with my hoof. "We'll make it out of here and we'll be the very first, i promise."

"You promise?" he looked up to me in the eyes.

"I promi—"

I was was interrupted by the crystal Elinbjörn had given me. It emitted a shock wave of it's own. A blue one this time. Followed by a strident continuous noise. I took it out of my bag but nothing happened. I tried to hold it near my head. Like Elinbjörn had done it. But i could hear no voice. Soon. Milegold's crystal was doing it too.

"W-what's happening?"

"I have... no idea."

This went on for a whole minute. As we plugged our ears to bear the noise.

And then.

The world around us went dark.