Redemption of the Sun

Redemption

of

The Sun

Chapter 1: Magic

January, 21st Year of The 8th Age.

Daylight was forced to abandon his attempts to scrounge up enough money to buy food for another week when he heard an urgent knocking at his door. On his way to answer, he considered how his current situation came about. The reason was simple: the tax collectors had gone into overdrive. Everypony knew that there had been no contact with the capital for quite a while, yet the tax collectors kept going, even increasing the rates. Nopony could do anything about it because the collectors used the extra bits to bribe the guards. Hopefully, it wasn’t them at the door.

He opened the door to the icy blizzard outside, and was immediately frozen not by the cold, but from the shock of what he saw there. Standing in his doorway, almost completely covered in ice, was the mare he had met three months prior. As she saw the door open, she looked almost surprised that he had bothered to answer.

He stepped aside to allow her entrance. "You comin' in?"

"Right. Sorry."

She she stepped through the door, shaking the snow off of herself before she got too far inside. Daylight closed the door, and found himself staring at the sight before him when he turned around again. The unicorn mare had wings. "Celestia... It really is you..."

"You didn't think it was?"

"Well I was fairly certain, but... Actually seeing the wings..."

"You didn't call the guards because you weren't sure if it was really me... Now that you know it is, you're going to call them!"

"No, I-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Celestia ran off to try and find another way out. "I'm sorry!"

"No, Tia come back! I'm not calling the guards!"

Celestia's head peeked around the corner of the room she had run to. "Did you just call me 'Tia'?"

"*That's* what you got from that sentence?"

Celestia completely broke down in tears. "My sister used to call me that..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Once again cutting him off, Celestia galloped back into the room and nearly picked Daylight off the floor with her hug. "Oookay..."

Nearly falling over in the process, Celestia quickly let go and scrambled backwards in an attempt to rectify the awkward situation. "It's okay. I just... really miss her sometimes. I think... You should be allowed to call me that."

"Really? I just kind of used it to get the whole thing out faster. Shouldn't I be addressing you as 'Princess'?"

"No. Do not call me Princess. The entire point of this is to get away from all that."

"Right. I forgot about that. I'm just kind of in a constant state of confusion lately. I'm gonna lose the house soon if the taxes keep going up..."

"What!? What does Luna say is the reason?"

"Ha! Oh sorry. You really don't know."

"Know what?"

"Basically, the government is completely corrupt and nopony has heard from Princess Luna for years."

"What?"

"Haven't you been in contact with her? I mean, she's your sister."

“‘Sister’?” She asked skeptically, “When last we spoke, she hesitated to call me such. I’ve been avoiding speaking with her.”

"Tia...?"

"Yes?"

"Who have you spoken with over the last twenty-two years?"

"Uh... you."

"Celestia... that's not healthy."

"It is supposed to be a punishment."

"You don't need punishment, you need rehabilitation. You feel you owe a debt to the world, correct?"

"Yes..."

"Well then let's head to the capital. You can talk to your sister, and we can help the rest of the ponies by fixing the tax problem at the same time."

"Yes... Why didn't think of that?"

"I'm pretty sure there's a lot of things you'd normally be able to think of that you won't be able to right now. No offence, but... I’m pretty sure you’re a bit messed up in the head."

Celestia started crying again.

"Aaand you took offense... Listen, I'm sorry." He reached a hoof to her...

She screamed and curled into a ball, hyperventilating.

"What the...? Tia, calm down." Deciding to risk a potential attack, Daylight lunged forward and wrapped his forelegs around the alicorn mare. It was half an attempt to comfort her, and half an attempt to stop her from hurting herself.

After a few seconds, her struggling ceased, and she quietly murmured, "I guess I should have warned you about the panic attacks..."

"You have panic attacks? Celestia, what happened to you out there?"

"I don't want to talk about it..."

"I understand. But you need to remember that I'm a friend. You need to trust me."

Celestia was about to answer, but stopped with her mouth hanging open. She blinked twice. "Are you holding me?"

"Uh..."

"Thank you."

Daylight furrowed his brow at a sudden thought. "How many ponies have you had physical contact with?"

"... You. And there were almost none before my exile either."

"I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did before losing it- Gah! Sorry!"

"No, you're right. I kept myself distant from my subjects, then got angry when they were too formal with me. Everything was my fault."

"That's not what I meant, but even if that's the case, you can always try again."

"Second chances and all that?"

"Exactly. So, when do you want to go?"

"Maybe in a while."

"You want me to let go?"

"... No."

"Why don't you tell me about something that makes you happy. We need to get you out of this mood."

"I'm not in a mood!"

"You're curled up in a ball, crying. You're in a mood."

"Alright, so I am."

"What's the happiest thing you can think of?"

"You know, there actually used to be a Royal Psychologist..."

“That’s nice, but I’d prefer to not have to play psychologist for too long.”

“Too bad. You’re good at it. If I may ask, what is your special talent?” She asked, gesturing to the Enochian ‘A’ on Daylight’s flank.

“Magic.”

Celestia jerked very slightly. “Is that so?”

“Yes... Is something wrong?”

“My... Former... Student. Her talent was magic as well.”

“You were close?”

Celestia gave a whimsical sigh. “She was like my daughter...”

“Why don’t you tell me about her?”

Celestia got a far off look in her eyes as she remembered Twilight’s antics. “When I first sent her to live in Ponyville-”

“Where’s that?”

“It used to be where the wasteland is now.”

“Sorry...”

“It’s fine. Anyways, when I first sent her there, I tasked her with making some friends. I asked her to send me reports on her studies of the magic of friendship. For some reason she got it into her head that these ‘friendship reports’ had to be sent once every week. One week, she forgot to write one, and started to worry that I would punish her for it. She got all worked up about it, and ended up trying to create problems for her to solve and use as lessons on friendship.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Oh, yes. Definitely ‘uh-oh’. Her assistant managed to get a message to me, but by the time I arrived, she had enchanted her childhood toy with a want-it-need-it spell, and had the entire town trying to beat the hay out of one another in an attempt to get it.”

“That must have been embarrassing...”

Celestia giggled, surprising Daylight with the first show of happiness that he had seen from her. “Embarrassing for myself as well. She was my student after all. I disenchanted the toy, then informed Twilight that she was only supposed to send a report when she actually learned something to report. I tried to act disappointed with her, but really I was nearly laughing at how silly the entire situation was.”

“Celestia?”

She looked up at daylight, still grinning at her memory. “Yes?”

“You’re smiling.”

“So I am. You really are a good psychologist.”

Daylight shook his head in defeat. “Alright. Maybe I am.”

Celestia’s eyes drifted to the window. “The weather’s calmed down a bit. It’s been really nasty now that the pegasi can’t control it...”

“Yeah. I’ve noticed. Things are getting pretty chaotic these days.”

Celestia stiffened, then jumped out of Daylight’s grasp. “We need to go. Now.”

Daylight watched in confusion as Celestia quickly put her cloak back on. “Why? What’s the matter?”

“Has anypony made it far enough into the wasteland to reach Canterlot?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Come on. Is the market open today?”

“Yes, why- Celestia you’re acting all Princess-ey again. What’s going on?”

“It’s probably nothing... Probably... Follow me.”

Daylight rushed to get all of his winter gear on as Celestia walked out the door, and started in the direction of the market at a brisk pace. He caught up to her halfway there, and glanced at her steely expression with worry. “Celestia.”

Her only acknowledgement of the fact that he had spoken was a neutral, “What?”

“...Tia”

This time she looked at him. “Yes?”

“I’m your friend, not your subject.”

Her gaze softened, but she still looked a bit unwilling to let her mask drop. “I’m sorry Daylight. This is just... Something I’m used to dealing with by myself.”

“Just remember that you’re not by yourself.”

Celestia responded with a curt nod, then looked at the ground as she walked, then smiled. “I’m not, am I?”

When the duo reached the market, Celestia moved through the crowd with a purpose. She clearly knew where she was going, and their destination turned out to be a stand which was selling dragon eggs of all things. Celestia began tapping her horn to each one in turn, causing the earth pony shopkeeper to narrow his eyes in suspicion. Daylight came up behind the cloaked alicorn, and nodded to the shopkeeper. “We’re buying a dragon egg?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Celestia turned around with a mischievous grin. “For your entrance exam of course.” She went back to whatever she was doing, mumbling “No, no. Too aggressive...” as she tapped her horn to a bright crimson egg. Suddenly, something caught her eye. “My, what’s this?”

The shopkeeper intercepted her before she could reach the bluish-white egg sitting by itself on a separate section of the stand. “Sorry miss, but I highly doubt you can afford that one. I heard that ‘entrance exam’ comment, and I’m not about to sell something so valuable to one of you ‘Gifted Unicorn’ wannabe’s at anything less than full price.”

“How much?”

“Just give up, mare.”

“How. Much.”

“One thousand bits.”

Daylight’s jaw dropped. “By the time somepony could afford that, you’ll be old enough to retire!”

Celestia was still grinning. “Or maybe I could buy it, and he could retire early.” She pulled a massive bag of bits out of her pocket-dimension, and placed it on the stand. The shopkeeper picked up the bag, then stepped out of Celestia’s way. She levitated the egg over to her, and headed for the nearest exit from the market.

Daylight finished staring at the bag of money, and ran after her. “What the hay was that!? The entire royal treasury!?”

“Keep your voice down!” After making sure nopony had heard Daylight’s outburst, she leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I only got half of the treasury.”

“Well that was a lot of bits. How much do you have left?”

“I expect I could afford to buy a few more of those eggs.”

“Oh... My...”

Celestia chuckled. “You know, you’re pretty funny when you’re not in psychologist mode...”

Once they reached the treeline, Celestia cleared away some of the snow, and placed the egg in the middle of the clearing before backing away. Daylight looked at her in confusion. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Hatch it.”

“Pardon- You want me to what?”

“Hatch. The egg.”

Daylight ran a hoof through his mane, exhaled, and then approached the egg. ’Dragons... Fire... It needs heat to hatch.’ He was about to cast a fire spell, but paused. ’No, wait... White... It’s a Frost Dragon... Ice.' He quickly switched spells, and encased the egg in a contained ice-storm. He looked to Celestia for confirmation that he was doing it right, but she was busy erecting a golden force-field around the area. “Uh, What’s that for?”

“You are dealing with massive quantities of magic. I’m placing a precaution.”

“Will it be necessary?”

“Only if you’re successful.”

He responded, “Great!” a little too cheerfully before turning back to his little blizzard, and placing a weak aging spell on the egg within. He normally used the spell to help with his compost pile, but it seemed appropriate. ’Only one thing left to do now...’ He began sending a stream of pure magic into the egg, increasing the flow exponentially. Eventually, he reached the point where he had his eyes clenched shut.

The snow on the ground melted, then reformed into a sheet of solid ice. A spiderweb of cracks ran through the ice until it shattered into small crystals. The crystals floated into the air, reflecting and refracting Daylight’s golden aura in all directions. The sky-blue stallion slowly floated into upwards, and his eyes opened to reveal solid white energy. The moment he did so, a shock wave was released, which blasted Celestia’s shield into glittering drops of molten magic. With a flash of light, the surrounding area was laid flat, and Daylight fell to the ground.

When he regained consciousness a few seconds later, he opened his eyes to find Celestia grinning down at him. He blinked to clear the blurriness from his vision, then slowly started to stand up. Celestia moved out of his way, and allowed him to survey his new surroundings. All of the trees within a sixty hoof radius had been knocked to the ground, arrayed in a circle facing away from the clearing. Most of the trees were alternating between frozen solid and in flames. In the very center of the blast site, there were a few fragments of white eggshell, as well as a new baby dragon. “Hah! I did it!”

“So you did. I’m now going to tell you a secret. The goal of the exam was to test your ingenuity, as well as your total magical output. It’s completely impossible for any living unicorn to hatch a dragon egg.”

“But I did it, right?”

“Yes... Yes you did. And that is a secret for another time.” She walked over to the baby dragon. It’s scales were white, and it had sapphire-blue eyes. “It’s a girl. What are you going to name her?”

Daylight looked at the dragon, then up at the clouds above them, then back down to the dragon. “Snowflake.”

“That’s a beautiful name. Very fitting too. Now there’s still one more thing that we need to do before we leave. She pulled a fragment of a purple dragon egg out of her pocket-dimension. “Did you know that when eaten, the shells of a dragon’s egg  can cause any dragon other than the one hatched from it to mature rapidly? Even more curiously, it will also pass on the knowledge of the dragon whose eggshell is eaten.” She passed the purple shell fragment to Snowflake, who began to gnaw on one corner of it. Within seconds, she began to grow until she was about up to Daylight’s hips.

Snowflake looked around in confusion. Then she spoke. “One, rapidly maturing is incredibly awkward. Second, the dragon whose knowledge I got must have lived in a library or something.”

“Yes, something like that... Daylight, Snowflake is now your new assistant."

"Why do I need an assistant?"

"To... assist you. Just keep in mind, an assistant is not a slave."

"Of course not! Hey, what happened to the dragon whose egg that was?"

"I honestly don't know. I expect that if he's still alive, he'll be living somewhere in the wasteland. He probably- Oh dear."

Daylight followed Celestia's worried look, and found himself looking at nearly every single pony from the market. The shopkeeper who sold them the egg was near the front of the crowd. "When I sold you the egg, I didn't think you were actually going to hatch the thing!"

"How did you know that's what we did from all the way back in the market?"

"I figured it out when I saw a dragon suddenly sprout into existence in the woods.", he said, with a bemused look.

Daylight looked back at Celestia, who seemed to be trying not to draw attention to herself. She noticed his questioning expression and said, "I forgot to mention that part. She shrunk back down before you woke up."

The shopkeeper leaned around Daylight to see who had spoken. His eyes widened. Daylight turned around, wondering what warranted that reaction. "Uh... Your cloak fell off."

Celestia narrowed her eyes at him. "Thank you daylight. I hadn't noticed."

Amongst all of the whispers from the crowd, the shopkeeper could be heard muttering, "Well that explains where the money came from..."

Along with the shopkeeper, a couple much angrier voices could be heard. Daylight facehoofed. "Great. Now by the time we're done our quest or whatever this is, they'll have burnt my house down..."

Celestia ignored his sarcasm and said, "Grab Snowflake, and let's go."

"I'm serious here! What about my stuff!?"

"Daylight, I'm sorry, but we really need to go. That magical discharge could have been detected from the wasteland."

"Why does that matter!?"

"Because- Did you see that?"

A pony in the crowd said, "Fantastic. The Princess is losing it again..."

Somepony else responded, "No she’s not, what the hay is that thing?"

Some creature that closely resembled a hare was circling the clearing... in the air. Celestia cried out, "It's a skvader! Kill it before it reports our position!" She immediately started firing beams of golden light at the winged hare. Some of the crowd started cowering when the Princess that had once nearly killed them all started unleashing combat spells into the air. Others stared in confusion, but a few started to help. Daylight shrugged, then started adding his own attacks.

A lucky shot from some unicorn in the crowd caused the skvader to burst into flames. The moment it hit the ground, another burst out of a bush and took off to the south. Celestia stomped one hoof and screamed, "DAMMIT!" That time, there wasn't a single pony who didn't flinch. Once she calmed down and stabilized her breathing, she addressed the entire crowd. "Everypony here needs to evacuate. The skvaders act as scouts, so the wyverns shouldn't be far behind."

Daylight started looking around wildly. "Wyverns!? I've heard stories about the wyverns! they're supposedly dragons crossed with regular lizards, and instead of forelegs, they walk using the claws on the tips of their wings! They're horrible monsters bred only to devour ponies!"

Snowflake ran over on four legs, then stood on her back two, and slapped Daylight in the face. "My great uncle was a wyvern!"

Rubbing his face with one hoof, Daylight apologized, "Sorry Snow, I'm sure your great uncle was a really nice wyvern, but judging from the way Tia said it, these ones are coming to eat us, so I suggest we do as she says and 'evacuate'."

While the crowd argued about whether or not to believe her, Celestia wandered off to recover her cloak. When she returned, Daylight levitated Snow onto his back, then started walking. Celestia hurried to catch up with him. "Where are you going?"

"To the capital. It’s way up in the frozen north."

"What about all your things?"

"Like I said, I know very well where wyverns come from. I think this is a bit more important. Tia, I'm sticking with you through this. I know what you face, and I won't let you face him alone."

Meanwhile, a stallion with shimmering crystalline armor was running, panicked, through the darkened halls of the royal citadel. He burst through a set of large double doors, and yelled out, "Your Highness! Something happened to the elements!"

A large, dark figure jumped up from her throne. Her features were obscured by the shadows, save for her mane, which glowed with stars, and had a multi-hued aurora running through it. "Show me!"

The guard took off again, his Princess close behind. As they ran, the guard began to recall what he saw. "There was a flash of light from the vault, so I went in to check. All of the elements were inactive, except for magic. It had turned purple, and it looked like there was a star inside it or something. It also had a slight imprint of- I don't know, a key?"

By the time the guard finished, they had reached the vault, where a faint violet glow was still emanating from within. The Princess shoved the guard out of the way, and practically broke the thick steel door off it's hinges as she entered. Arrayed in six glass cases were five grey rocks, and one shard of amethyst with an Enochian letter 'A' etched into its surface.

Princess Luna's face could be seen twisting with fear as she gazed at the swirling energies inside the glowing gem. 'The elements are selecting new bearers, and chaos rises in the wastes. Sister, I don't know how to deal with this... I need your help.'