Sunbringer

The two ponies made their way back to the tribe in silence. Square was not quite in the mood for small talk and Light seemed content with the fact.

The others, however, were anything but. By the time the duo arrived at the Tribesmother’s hut, nearly the entire tribe was gathered behind them. They kept a few hoofsteps’ worth of polite distance, yet the air was coloured with plenty of impolite whispering amongst their ranks. Square could have sworn she heard twice as many “ooh”-s and “aah”-s than she ever had up to that point in her life. Barren Earth seemed initially unimpressed, staring at them with her usual bored look coloured with slight irritation, but nonetheless courtesy was due and she invited Light inside with a curt nod of her head, leaving the others to steep in uncertainty around the great fireplace at their village’s centre.

It would be left to the unwritten annals of history whichever pony brought it up first, but one of them uttered a sentence and that sentence took the crowd by storm. Could it be? That Light wasn’t just a mere pony? That the horn and wings were more than mere oddities of their body? More and more voices joined in and the whispers grew in volume. Had their prayers been answered? It was part of their prophecy after all. The old tale that all from the youngest colt and filly to the eldest mare and stallion could recite by heart. The myth of Celestials. Mythical ponies of unbelievable power, said to deliver the tribe in their greatest time of need.

Square could see their logic, mostly, though there was still one thing bothering her. One nagging little thing that couldn’t leave her mind even when Barren reappeared, her eyes ablaze in zealous glory. She announced to the tribe that they were under divine protection, causing the quiet excitement to explode in a furious eruption of cheer. Square could not find it in her heart to join in. She chewed on her lip as her tail kept sweeping side-to-side, kicking up the snow on the ground.

The thought could not be chased away. She didn’t want to say it. It felt wrong, like she was about to insult somepony to their face on their happiest day. But as she sat there in silence, she just could not hold it back anymore. Her ears flipped down as her voice trembled across the clearing.

“But... isn’t the Celestial a she?” Another thing hit her mid-sentence and she doubled down, “And shouldn’t there be two of them? Isn’t that what the myth says?”

Her questions slashed through the jubilant crowd. Like a candle blown out, the celebration silenced instantly. Square found herself the target of several dozen irritated and half a dozen more confused glares as everypony turned towards her. She meant no harm, yet she found no sympathy, only tribesponies rolling their eyes or shaking their heads in silent disapproval.

“Filly.” Barren Earth was the one to answer. Her voice was frigid and gravely deep. “You might be kin, but you forget your place. You need not concern yourself with things you’re not nearly smart enough for.” She scoffed, before turning sharply towards Light and bowing deep. “I am ghastly appalled that this young mare remembers the myth wrong. It was always about a single stallion. Please forgive her!”

Some ponies looked at each other with a couple of them furrowing their eyebrows in confusion. After a few seconds of silence, more of them started to nod along, only a few at first, but soon the entire group moved as one single being. “Yeah, that’s right. There was always just one pony,” murmured someone in the crowd as the tribe stared daggers at Square Hole. Then a boo followed, then another. “Who are you to question the Tribesmother anyway?” A stallion in the front of the crowd stomped towards her. “We should have sent you away a long time ago! You just eat our hard work whilst you waste time muttering to yourself in the forest!”

Square’s ears flopped down and she shrunk back slightly. “But... That’s not true... I... I have helped...” Her muttered pleas were drowned out by the jeering. The filly could not see it through her gathering tears, but Light followed the events with a silent smirk from the hut’s door. Finally, he stepped forward and began to speak.

“My ponies,” he said with a rich, warm voice. The crowd immediately quieted down and turned towards him. “Let’s not trample this young mare down for her mistake. Surely, she is merely in awe to see a pony like me and cannot believe her own eyes.”

Moments later heads began to nod once more. “Uh, yeah. That’s right,” somepony said. “That must be it,” another continued. “She’ll come around,” a third one added. Various agreements rang out through the group.

Square wiped away her tears and looked around. Though the suffocating aura of being directly threatened had evaporated, she felt no less on the edge. Under their placated guises she still felt plenty of resentment aimed at her coming from her folk. She searched for words for a few seconds, perhaps an apology or an explanation, but she found none. And so, she merely nodded as the crowd parted in front of her and she made her way towards her home in dead silence.