Chapters A heavy thud rang out behind Square Hole as she took a moment to breathe. The ropes around her shoulders and neck dug deeply into her caramel coat and, judging by their stiffness and the weak but incessant tingling she felt, she was sure to find bruises tomorrow in their place. She shook some snow off her black mane and glanced back, first at her cutie mark depicting an evergreen, and then at her precious cargo—a boulder easily as big as her, chiseled down into a near perfect cube. Next her eyes followed the path it had carved into the knee-deep snow and she sighed deeply.
She’d received her name both because there were already too many ponies named after their similarly plant-based cutie marks and, more importantly, in the hopes that she would grow up to be of a cheerful and agreeable attitude and could mesh with pretty much anypony. A noble idea in principle, but at that moment all she felt was bitter irony that she wasn’t named “Square Haul” instead.
With another heavy sigh she rolled her shoulders and looked forward, taking a look at the Tower in the distance. She was not taught in the ways of the sage so she could only rely on her own intuition, but to her it seemed like had grown about two or perhaps three rows of cubes taller. Even in the biting cold a sense of warmth filled her briefly—if nothing else, at least they were getting closer.
Knowing the next hauler would still be some distance off, she spent another minute searching for the Sun above. Not that she was unaware of where it stood, as it hadn’t moved ever since the world had frozen over, but that still didn’t mean her task was easy. With each passing day it felt like it was harder to find that tiny, barely brighter speck above as the raging cloud-blanket overhead grew ever thicker. Square closed her eyes and focused on the spots where her hooves connected her to the earth. A sense of vague, yet inherent understanding flowed into her from below and to her dismay, it was a warning. The soil cried out to her that even with their bond it could only sustain her people for a few more moons before it, along with everything and everypony, would give in to the frost. Square mustered her courage and reached deep inside, emanating a wordless reassurance to Nature that she would not let that happen, begging it to just hold on for a little longer, that it’d be...
“Square!”
The sudden noise caused her to yelp and look around wildly, her gaze finally coming to a halt on another mare behind her. A mare whose pleasant mint coat, teal mane, and mud-ball shaped mark stood in stark contrast with how incensed she looked. A mere glimpse of her face was enough to make one forget the ice and cold around them. Yet, the moment she opened her mouth to speak, Square felt like the snow suddenly became twice as cold and the world dingier than a pit of coals.
“Are you daydreaming again? Filly, what if next time there’s a snowstorm and I accidentally smash into your cube? Will you take on both of our duties then, huh?”
“No, ma’am. I’m sorry, ma’am,” Square droned, whilst trying her best to avoid eye contact. The mare had other ideas.
“Don’t ‘sorry’ me. You of all ponies should know just how important our work is. After all, you were the one—” to Square’s chagrin, the mare’s voice turned smooth and almost song-like as she stared into the distance at the Tower “—to find the Celestial.” A moment later she was back to her original self. “But enough gawking, we’re already behind schedule. Get back to work!”
“Yes, Tribesmother,” Square said in the same sullen tone as before. Deep inside, she was happy that the conversation had ended so soon. The mare’s name was Barren Earth, a moniker she’d received after ascending to become the village’s leader for her purported ability to lay bare any secret a pony may hold. Square couldn’t help but find the name fitting, though not for the same lofty reasons the Tribesmother liked to boast.
As she picked up the slack and began pulling again, Square admitted to herself that for better or worse she had to agree with Barren about the importance of the task, even if their reasoning couldn’t be more different. With nothing better to occupy her mind, her thoughts wandered to where they usually did those days. Back to where it all began.
Square wasn’t entirely sure—it was impossible to tell in this world of greys and whites—but her intuition told her that it must have been about nine moons ago when the Celestial first arrived. Back then Nature was still full of browns and yellows, and it only snowed for about half a moon at a time. Though deep down she already felt an unnerving tinge whenever she headed outside, she was too busy making friends with the world to care any more than that. Even in its weakened form Nature welcomed her warmly and sheltered the little filly from the encroaching reality around them. In return, Square kept Nature company and enjoyed long chats with the nearby forests and meadows, spoken one hoofstep at a time.
It was the same on that fateful day as well. She was out on one of her lone (yet very much not lonely) excursions, focused entirely inwards, muttering and giggling as she listened to a babbling brook nearby, when she almost bumped into a pony she nearly didn’t notice in front of her. That alone wouldn’t have necessarily been a rare occurrence, had the first thing she noticed coming out of her stupor not been the fact that the pony in question had wings. And they weren’t some bird’s wings, they were honest to the Earth pony-wings. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. Square’s hooves moved on their own as she took a step back in shock, her eyes wandering onto the pony’s head, upon which sat a curved horn, only further fueling her utter bafflement. Square fell to her haunches trying to process what she had seen. Facts such as the visitor’s pale yellow coat and orange mane hardly even registered in her mind.
“You... I... what?” she stammered, now thricely confused. The pony, however, merely cast a charming smile towards her.
“Warm days to you, Miss...?”
As Square tried her best to calm her mind, the answer slipped right out of her mouth. “Square Hole. Bountiful earth to you as well...”
“I’m Light Bringer. I have arrived, sensing that this domain needs my help.”
“Y-your help?”
“Indeed. Did you, ahem, ponies of the earth perhaps not notice the ailing of the world?” Light’s smile turned cold.
Square frowned. She was used to her folk making fun of her for her preference towards nature instead of her kin, but being questioned in such a manner after just meeting somepony hit her differently. Still, she quieted her heart and tried her best to give a polite answer. “Well, yes. There were some slight problems, but...”
“So you do need my help,” Light finished her sentence, then continued without pause. “But before that can happen, I must know a few things about your tribe. How many of you are there? How much surplus food have you stocked up? Where’s the nearest source of easily extracted stone? Are there any ley-lines nearby I could tap into—”
“Okay, stop!” That was it. Square stomped on the ground, interrupting the stranger whose self-importance was getting more and more on her nerves by the minute. “Just who do you think you are? Firstly, I don’t know you. Secondly, you’re asking stuff I have no idea about.” She huffed a little and her ear flicked. “And with this kind of attitude, I’m not sure I care to figure out the answers for you.”
“Hmph! That’s fine by me.” Square felt two piercing yellow eyes staring her down. “I suppose you’d rather freeze than offer a crumb of hospitality to somepony who merely wanted to help. I’m sure there’s plenty of other places that could use the warmth I bring much more than you.” With that Light turned sharply around, flashing a mark resembling a sun towards Square, and began to trot off.
A pang of stinging guilt washed over Square Hole. After all, as much as she hated to admit it, this mysterious pony was spot on. Nature’s voice had been growing quieter every day and crops hadn’t been as plentiful as before. Not to mention, whilst her thick coat kept her warm at all times it was also true that the recent moons definitely felt a lot colder, than the ones of yore. If there was even a chance that this pony could really help them...
She took in a deep breath, then sprang up from the ground and cantered after Light. “Look, I’m sorry for my outburst. Can we please start the conversation again?” She cleared her throat. “I... still don’t really have any idea about the stuff you asked. But if you want, I can bring you to my tribe and then you can figure out if we have lines and all that.”
Light stopped and smiled at the filly once more. “Of course. Lead the way, Miss Hole.”
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.
With the frost on everypony’s mind, time quickly healed the worst of the wounds. Yet some scars still remained and ever since Light descended upon her village Square never quite felt herself at ease. But then how could she forgive and forget, when merely days after the Celestial’s arrival he once again shook up the entire tribe by revealing a grand plan. He gathered the tribe around the communal fire as the embers reflected from their shining, captive eyes and shouted in ecstatic glory that they would build a stone Tower to reach up to the top of the sky. A building so unfathomably tall that if a pony were to climb it they could just walk up to the Sun and bring it down.
And that’s exactly what Light promised.
With the Sun in his grasp, no longer would the tribe ail and hunger, he said. Ponies could grow as much food as they wanted and the frost would be no match for its radiance. No creature or foreigner would dare intrude upon them. All he asked in return was the measly price of the hooves necessary to accomplish the task. That night the tribe forgot the frost for a few hours. As they stared into the fire, each of them saw the Tower with themselves as the one to place the final stone on it and the glory and warmth it would bring. All of them, except for one.
Planning out the work started early the next day with great enthusiasm. Nearly the entire tribe was divided up to start carving huge blocks of rock out of the nearby mountain with the rest to haul them to the intended place of the Tower. Even the younglings and the elderly were roused from their homes to help out wherever they could to achieve the noble goal.
With spirits high and the goal so distant and abstract, things truly seemed to take a positive turn, at least for the time being. The unity with which the tribe worked together seemed to even make the eternal winter a little more bearable and the sky a little brighter. Not even Square could stay gloomy any longer. She was ready to swallow her pride, especially seeing how even Light showed great interest in making the tribe’s life easier in return for their services. He carved boulders in seconds and levitated them with such ease, as if they were mere feathers. His magic also melted the snow effortlessly, returning long-missed colours like pale green and brown to the tribe, a feat its ponies could previously only achieve with great effort and carefully protected flames, until not even those could fight off the encroaching frost.
Yet, as moons passed, Square couldn’t help but notice that everypony’s enthusiasm began to fade as the work dragged on, especially Light’s. First he stopped melting the snow, claiming that he needed to preserve as much of his magic for the big day as possible. Perhaps nopony could have faulted him for this, but then he completely stopped helping out and preferred to instead merely watch from the sidelines whilst urging ponies to work even faster. Finally, one day the tribe found his usual place completely empty. It took several minutes of shouting from Barren Earth to finally calm everypony down; Light wasn’t gone, he’d simply made himself at home in the Tribesmother’s abode so that he could focus even better. From then on the only times the tribe ever saw him appear were the rare moments he stared out a window to watch their toil.
The work continued, though with each day passing Square noticed fewer and fewer smiles. Ponies who previously helped each other pull their stones now either ignored each other or outright competed to see which of them could deliver more and garner the Celestial’s favour. As the Tower kept climbing higher, the excavation site on the mountain nearby grew as well, looking more and more like a diseased black wound surrounded by pristine snow with each and every day.
During those days, Square herself began to feel doubt growing in her chest. She often thought to ask, if the Sun was so hot to melt all of the snow, how would Light even grab it, let alone how would her tribe stay near it. Yet anytime she opened her mouth to voice her concerns, a multitude of disapproving looks were sure to silence her quickly. Not that there would have been many opportunities to ask anyway as ponies no longer talked to each other. Nopony had time or energy to sit around the fire anymore and families and friends no longer played together, all choosing to instead collapse into their beds and gather the little strength they could in order to toil for another day.
With each day of progress, things turned only worse. As if sensing their strife, the winter redoubled its efforts and it felt like every morning bit deeper into the bone than the last. The village itself became buried more and more, its once clear outlines now a vague hint between the taller and shorter mounds of snow. Both the carving and delivery of rocks slowed considerably as ponies simply couldn’t work fast enough to outpace the storms.
Some still sought solace in Light’s presence, figuring all hardship was worth it as long as they could bask in the Celestial’s gaze. But even this came to an eventual end once the lower floor of the Tower was finally finished. Their saviour sequestered himself in a closed-off room inside, allowing only food and—after getting tired of her endless groveling and pleas for worship—Barren Earth inside, otherwise insisting on the need for privacy so that he could prepare the spell to bring down the Sun.
In all honesty, Square didn’t mind this approach nearly as much as she thought she would. Resentment was the only thing she didn’t mind resenting and the less she saw of Light, the less she had to think of why things were like they were. Instead of him, she could just project all of her pent up anger and homesickness for the forest into carrying the stones and clearing away the snow, leaving behind only the little hope she still clung to that what they were doing was for a purpose.
The monotonousness of her days made time fly and soon enough the small filly grew into a strong mare, far faster and capable than any of her kin. And with strength and diligence came respect. No longer was she that little day-dreamer who everypony made fun of behind her back. Even the coldest of ponies couldn’t turn a blind eye to the fact that she did three others’ work in one day. But whilst Square was respected, she still never found warmth. Light’s influence never faded even after his seclusion and the tribesfolk never forgot her insolence. The affront was so great that not even moons’ worth of backbreaking work could redeem her in their eyes.
Days, weeks, moons passed... With nopony to even tend to the flames, pacing around the village was no different than the depths of wilderness. With such desolation, there wasn't a single soul who could bother to keep track of time when every single one of them was like the last or the next.
That is, until one morning Square woke up feeling funny and she had no idea why. And it wasn't the usual funny feeling which was really just her body's pleas to not do any more work. She felt like she’d forgotten about something... something very important. She stared for a few seconds into the gloom of her room, but time for thinking was a precious resource these days, so she quickly left her daydreams behind and hurried across her room to eat her meagre ration—a few chewy potatoes and a sad-looking carrot. She blessed her kind's physique for still being able to keep going on this little, but even an earth pony had her limits and she knew this much wouldn't suffice for much longer.
As she ran her tongue across the inside of her mouth to get the bad taste of dry potatoes out of it, she walked to the other end of the room to gather her ropes and supplies. She finally steeled herself and opened her door, the chilling frost smashing into her face like a hammer... only for a moment later to be almost actually smashed in the face by another pony, who came to a skidding halt in front of her home's entrance. Square didn't like stumbling into ponies like that. From her experience it always resulted in more trouble than it was worth. The pony muttered something like an apology, then hurried away, leaving Square to stare after her and wonder what the reason could be for such a rush.
She was about to resign herself to another snow-grey day, when she looked around and a moment later her mouth fell open. Square blinked twice in disbelief and even rubbed her eyes into her fetlocks thinking she might have gotten snow blindness, but no, she wasn't seeing fantasies. She was witnessing a miracle. In the distance at the very edge of the village, the Tower stood tall and proud, finally finished.
What? How could it be? Square thought to herself. I could swear yesterday it was still much shorter... She pawed at the ground a little, trying her best to recall the recent past. Or was that two weeks ago. She stood there stunned for a few seconds, then she shook her head slowly. Gawking there stupidly would only get her a cold. Instead, she carefully locked her home and began trotting towards the base of the Tower.
By the time she arrived, most of the tribe was already present. Nopony really noticed her presence with everypony's eyes glued to the stone monument before them. Barren Earth stood in front of the group, her usually gloomy face contorted into utter awe. The wind wailed undisturbed in the pregnant silence, until the gate of the tower began to glow in a faint yellow magic and opened, revealing Light inside.
Amidst loud gasps of the crowd, the Celestial walked out, silencing them with a mere wave of his hoof.
"My ponies," he said solemnly. "Today is the day. We shall have the Sun."
With that he turned around and entered the Tower once more, deafening cheers following him.
The jubilation was slowly taken over by an uneasy silence as ponies tensed with bated breath for Light to arrive at the top of the Tower. Many thought back to the work they accomplished, others imagined they already felt the sunlight on their faces. Square herself remained silent even when Light appeared at the summit, hardly visible from down below.
Everypony stared in awe as Light walked to the edge of the Tower. Though they couldn't see it, his face was one of utter serenity and concentration. He had been preparing for this moment for quite some time, after all. Flaring his wings, his horn burst into flame and magic began to gather into it. Even from down below, one could see how it became brighter and brighter, like a beacon in the desolate wasteland of snow. The spell tensed like a bowstring. And then, it snapped.
For a moment, the world waited with nervous anticipation. Even the wind itself seemed to die down, humbled by the display of force.
Then...
Nothing happened.
Light opened his eyes for a second, confusion spreading across his face, before closing them again and regaining composure. He tried again, this time his horn glowing even brighter than before. Magic crackled in the air, manifesting as bolts of yellow lightning which arced across the sky. The clouds around him swirled in a panicked hurry. When the Sun was still no closer, he leant forward a bit, as if those five or so inches were all that kept him from wresting his celestial opponent into submission. He even took a step forward, without letting his magic blink out for even a second as a bead of sweat rolled down his face despite the frost. Then another... Then...
The ponies who were present nearly all described it as if time stood still in that moment. One second the pony they all put their hopes and dreams upon was a hoofstep away from victory, the next he plummeted with a scream that made the howling winds seem like lullabies. Those who hadn't instinctively cowered on the ground or closed their eyes spoke of witnessing a miracle, just not one that anypony, including its recipient, had expected.
Light continued screaming for seconds after he stopped falling. He still screamed as he looked down and realised his body was lying on the ground, broken into pieces. His wails turned into something of a dumbfounded grunt as he beheld the bush that had sprouted in mere moments to break his fall. He slowly quieted, closing his mouth and forcing a modicum of decorum upon himself as he followed the bush's roots, his eyes finally coming to a halt upon one mare. Square was panting, body tensed up as her every breath wafted away in hazy clouds. She looked down, noticing great wines wrapped around her hooves which slowly began to wither away, causing a still completely-dumbstruck Light to find himself soon lying on a pile of mush.
"How?" he muttered as he looked up at the Tower, then at Square. "Why?" No answer followed. The dejected stallion rose from the ground and tore off his wings, which fluttered to the ground, nothing more than paper as the illusion cast on them faded away. "I really thought it would work," he said quietly, as if such a sentence could begin to excuse all that happened.
"Don't tell me." Square scoffed mid-speech. "You sold a lie of your own creation to my tribe and you grew to believe in it?"
Light hung his head. What was there for him to say? "They said I was gifted," he muttered. "That I could accomplish anything I believed in."
Square felt a storm of emotions inside her. She felt grateful that Nature had come to help her even in its dying moments. She desperately wanted to be angry at the pony in front of her, but in truth, one feeling overpowered all the others. She was afraid that they were out of time for any of it to matter.
"I... don't see any point in passing judgement on you." As she spoke, she turned towards her tribe. "Any of you. I know that all you did, you did out of wanting to survive this horrific winter, but don't you see that all we did was drive ourselves even further apart?" She felt a sense of hot anger ignite in her chest. "And for what? This oversized tombstone?" She spat the last word out. "Was this truly our only option?"
"Filly... I—" Barren began to speak, but Square interrupted her.
"No." She stomped and her tail flicked. "No more 'Filly'. I... no, all of us put our necks on the line for the past ten moons. I will no longer take your condescension. You allowed this charlatan to wrap you around his hooves and allowed this tribe to nearly fall to its own mistrust!"
"I only did what I thought was necessary to survive," Barren countered, but Square was taking none of it.
The others were staring at them in dead silence, their gazes dangling between Square and Barren.
"No, you followed your own fallible judgement and never once listened to my or anypony's problems." Square stomped once more, her tail fluttering, but not from the wind. "You've almost doomed us all. You are no Tribesmother of ours."
This elicited a series of overlapping gasps in quick succession from the tribe, yet this time, nopony came to the crestfallen Tribesmother's defence. Barren opened her mouth and closed it a few times, but no words came out.
It was finally Light who broke the silence, seeking guidance from Square. "But then... what do we do?"
Square turned towards him and soon towards the others, scanning across them and her disappearing village. "We must leave this place, all of us, if we don't want to perish with it. This pony—" she pointed towards Light "—is the living proof that there are more of us out there and the only way we stand a chance is if we seek them out and survive together. Not by bringing down the Sun, nor by putting our faith in any one saviour, but by working as ponies, no matter whether they have horns or wings or neither."
Just as she spoke the words, a column of pink flame burst out on the horizon, followed by a shockwave which, at least briefly, banished the clouds from the sky. Square was ready to say more and yet she didn't need to. For the first time since forever she, Barren Earth, Light Bringer, and every single pony present felt a sense of true optimism and the same exact calling in their hearts:
Ponykind was out there, waiting for them. The Tower was abandoned.
