Power of the Sun
Summer in the Frozen North is sort of a misnomer. When it’s winter, it’s so cold that nopony ventures outside city limits without a full outfit of warm clothing, coat and hat and all, but in summer, one can get away with just a scarf. Barely. Inside the city limits, ponies only wear clothing for formal events, as is the custom across Equestria, but that is only because the city limits are defined by the radius of the shield that covers the Crystal Empire, powered by the Crystal Heart and the love of all the ponies within.
Neither Celestia nor Luna remembered that, which is why they were standing there in the empty field of snow before the shield and pretending they’re not cold at all.
Finally, the shield parted, revealing the self-styled King Sombra, all decked out in his red cape and armor. Behind him, in a sinister, writhing mass of shadow, highlighted with the green and purple of dark magic, trailed an object more akin to a large morningstar without a handle than just about anything else.
“Ah, the mighty suzerains of Equestria,” Sombra began with a sneer, dissolving into a short, low, guttural laugh. “Why have you not sent an envoy ahead? We would have prepared a welcome party worthy of such important visitors. What is your business with the Crystal Empire?”
“You know well what our business is, usurper,” Luna replied dryly.
“No, I do not,” Sombra replied. “The terms of the Equestria Accord state plainly, that the Alicorn Sisters shall not have any say in how the kingdoms of Equestria conduct their internal affairs. Your role is but to guard the signatories from an external threat. You have no business here that I know of.”
“Slavery? Labor camps?” Celestia said coldly, colder than the air and snow. “Even if crimes against equinity do not fall under the purview of the Accord, which is a problem we will remedy soon, we’re not here as your suzerains. We won’t sit idly by when you murder our friends. Nopony would.”
“You have certainly taken your time getting here, then, Princess-s-s-s,” Sombra hissed back. Luna looked away. The news of the death of Princess Amore, delivered by Radiant Hope, who had to make the long and dangerous trek across the snow, alone, before she finally stumbled into the nearest pony settlement, hit Luna harder than her sister. Who was just getting really angry.
“YOU DARE TAUNT ME, MONSTER?!” Celestia bellowed out, slowly but surely turning from white to glowing amber of a miniature sun, her mane bursting into flames.
“That’s king of monsters for you,” Sombra replied with unexpected dignity and calm, and made a step to the side. The object behind him came into the sisters’ view, a complex design of crystal and metal, a sea urchin floating where one has no business floating at all. “No rash moves, princess! Have you heard of the newly discovered earth pony magic of nuclear fission? Crystal Empire is an earth pony kingdom, after all.”
Celestia made a step back, her flames winding down slightly, the expression of fury on her face giving way to abject horror.
“It… it is but a theory!” Luna stated. “None have so far been able to isolate sufficient material to start a chain reaction, or even to determine how much is required, it just doesn’t grow that way!”
“Grow?!” Sombra laughed. “Why grow it, when mining will do just as well? Throw enough pony power at a problem, and everything becomes possible!” Sombra declared, motioning with his hoof towards the device, still gently floating in his bubbling and writhing shadow. “Shall we test it?”
Luna lit up her horn and fired off a quick scanning spell. That confirmed her suspicions, and she made a step back to stand next to her sister, no longer bothering to conceal the tremor of her legs. It was, after all, winter, and not everyone can be a sun princess.
Celestia looked at Luna, who stared back. They needed no words to conclude between themselves, that there was no easy way out. Were they to retreat, Sombra would forever hold this trump card, free to visit untold destruction on Equestria whenever he wants. Were they to fight, there was no guarantee that they would survive, but there was no doubt that many, many crystal ponies would die.
“What do you really want?” Celestia whispered at the king of monsters.
Sombra appeared to actually consider this seriously, as the grin on his face gave way to a grimace. “Revenge for years of torture by Crystal Heart? I don’t need you for that. No, I don’t want anything for myself from you,” he said, pacing around the device. “You ponies have invaded these lands, stolen the Crystal Heart from a dragon who found it, used it to seal my people away from this world, and you dare to ask me what I want?!” He stared at Celestia from behind the sphere. “Swear fealty to me, that would be a start!”
“You know we cannot do that,” Celestia replied, slowly working herself up to fury yet again.
“Then this discussion is over!” Sombra bellowed out, raising the fission device up above his head. “Let’s test this! I know I can survive it. Let’s see what happens to an alicorn princess!” he shouted, sending a surge of dark magic into it, which triggered the explosive components.
A lot of things can happen in the merest fraction of a second. It helps if they start a little before that.
As Sombra has been lifting the device up in the air, Luna sent a bolt of magic into it, crushing several of the explosive charges into dust, while Celestia enveloped herself and her sister into the strongest shield she could muster, putting every available ounce of power into the spell. That was all they had the time to do. That, and cover their eyes with their wings. Celestia’s were bigger.
In that merest fraction of a second, Sombra became nothing but a shadow on the surface of the city’s magical shield… scratch that, this is exactly what he has been in the first place, a shadow pony, an Umbrum given form, so nothing much changed for him. The tremendous force of the explosion shook the earth, and as the ball of Celestia’s shield magic was rolling across the snowy plain, buffeted by the shock wave and bouncing on the typhoon of steaming, evaporating snow, the only thing Luna could think of was that she didn’t destroy enough of the explosive charges. Enough to decrease the yield significantly, but still not enough to prevent the chain reaction at all.
Luna was the first to come to her senses and dig herself out of the snow. She had to spend a few minutes digging further for Celestia, but eventually found a posterior sticking out, the distinct cutie mark prominently displayed – untouched by the flash of the explosion, which was, after all, only as powerful as the sun. The same couldn’t be said for Luna, who was singed, scorched, and had her coat burned off completely in a few places, revealing pasty, tender skin. At least she still had most of her feathers, unlike her sister.
Celestia’s first words when she awoke were, “Luna… Where is the Crystal Empire?”
Instead of the Empire, or even the crater one would expect to see, there was a gigantic mushroom cloud rising to the heavens – but not even the merest sign of the magnificent crystal city. “I think the Crystal Heart actually saved it,” Luna said.
“What do you mean?” Celestia stared.
“Amore told me she designed some really strong protective magic into the very structure of city streets,” Luna said, trying to straighten her feathers with a hoof. “In the event the environment around the city becomes incapable of supporting pony life, it can fold the entire shielded area outside space and time, and keep it there until the danger passes. She was worried that some really cold and long winters would come if the unicorns could no longer raise the sun…”
“Oh,” Celestia said, sitting up and observing her own wings. This would take some magic to restore. “I didn’t know that… Where’s Sombra?”
“Sucked in with them, I think,” Luna sighed.
Celestia stood up and spread her wings, sending a wave of magic across them. “How long do you think it will be?”
Luna looked up at the mushroom cloud, which was already starting to disperse in the upper atmosphere. “Can’t you feel the poison in the air? It will be at least a thousand years… Let’s go. We’re not safe here. And I’m freezing.”
✶ ✶ ✶
“And that’s how the Crystal Empire was made…” Pinkie completed her story. “Or unmade? But it’s here, so it wasn’t. But without that it wouldn’t be, and your mama wouldn’t become the Crystal Princess, and maybe you’d be born in Canterlot, but your name definitely would not be Flurry Heart, and I think I’m rambling and you should sleep, silly filly.”
“Awww…” Flurry Heart whined, making the cutest eyes possible, but Pinkie pretended to ignore that and wrapped the little princess tighter into her blanket. “But I want to know what happened next! Tell me, auntie Pinkie!”
Pinkie just smiled at Flurry – a soft, friendly, encouraging smile, rather than her more usual excited, jumpy one. “They all lived happily ever after. All of them. Princess Celestia still raises the sun every day, and Princess Luna raises the moon every night. You were born right here, when the Crystal Empire reappeared, and the crystal ponies are still sending waves of love and happiness across Equestria as they always did. Even King Sombra returned, was defeated again by your mama and papa and auntie Twilight and Spike, and then came back one more time. His friend Radiant Hope actually convinced him to repent for everything he has done, so they’re still out there, searching for all the shards of Princess Amore, and I’m sure that one day, they will restore her, too. Sleep, little princess. Tomorrow will be another day, and another story, and another party,” Pinkie said, turning off the night light crystal.
“Can they… can they make another bomb like that?” Flurry Heart whispered into the darkness.
“No,” Pinkie said, stopping in the door. “I’ve been born on a rock farm, I should know. Uraninite really just doesn’t grow that way.”
When Flurry Heart fell asleep, her dreams were peaceful, and when the next day came, there was another story and another party, just like Pinkie promised.
Out of the left field, you say? Can't happen, you say? Well, maybe it can't. After all, it's just Pinkie telling Flurry Heart a fairytale, what do you think happened? Maybe she's just being Pinkie.
But once you decide, ask this guy. The yellowish stallion in the back row, with a cutie mark for nuclear physics. He was there when the Crystal Empire vanished, after all, and he was there when it came back.
He might have a darker story for you, or he might tell you it's an atom of lithium and he's actually a psychopharmacologist. It's your call which to believe.
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Atomic theory maybe?
7071696
No idea. But it's another short that got stuck in my head once I started thinking about this screenshot and what it could really mean.
And then I remembered your "RATS" and decided to frame it as Pinkie's fairytale to make it less definitive, because I really don't know what else the cutie mark could be for. In popular consciousness, this is the symbol for nuclear physics. Nuclear physicists laugh at that, because, you know, lithium, but use it anyway.
7071716
Well I don't consider the comics canon so I doubt we can say our stories happen in the same continuity, but it's still a fun chapter.
7071739
I did not think they could, but Pinkie being Flurry's favorite babysitter I can totally imagine, and thank you for noticing that. :)
Earth ponies invented the first atomic weapon?
That that, unicorn supremacists!
7071763
Canonically, Crystal Empire was supposedly ruled by a unicorn princess, but the overwhelming majority of the population are earth ponies, with a small fraction of pegasi, with unicorns being very rare. So yeah, if such a weapon could exist... earth pony
magicscience and back-breaking work is the only option. :)That was certainly interesting. The tension you had in the confrontation was exquisite, and Sombra certainly seemed insane enough to set off a nuclear weapon at point blank range (even if he would survive).
7072171
Thanks. :)
I wouldn't even call him insane, myself. Sombra as he is detailed in the comics canon is primarily a tragic villain, deprived of things ponies consider the basic building blocks of happiness through no fault of his own, and then choosing to embrace his nature rather than keep struggling against it, and even turn it up to eleven. This kind of character goes very well with potentially suicidal attacks like that. :)
That's what the setting needs: nuclear proliferation!
Power of the sun is fusion, not fission.
But then the little tiny sun of Equestria probably runs off magic rather than atomic processes anyway.
Hmm, unless it was specifically designed as a dirty bomb, fallout from a nuke just doesn't remain at dangerous levels for a thousand years. A few decades, a century if you want to be cautious, but a millennium? No. I think Pinkie is just making crap up again. (See, mystery on the Friendship Express: Pinkie isn't one to let actual facts get in the way of a good story).
Also, the problem with a Uranium 235 bomb is not the basis physics, but separating out the -235 isotope from the more common sort of atoms. That's not a physics problem as much it is an engineering problem. The Crystal Empire seems a bit small for projects on this scale... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-12_National_Security_Complex
Or is isotope separation part of Earth Pony Magic?
(Personally, I purelyhate the comics version of Sombra: so he's an evil mage with shadow powers because he's a black shadow creature of evil nature? Way to be essentialist, writers. Let's have some more "all dragons are jerks" episodes, why not? And his powers aren't achievements, they just come with the species package. I'm sticking with Unicorn genius in my head canon. )
7086680
Multiple factors at play here.
* Luna broke some of the explosive lensing, bringing the point blank blast (barely) under the capacity of Celestia's shield, but causing much more fallout than would happen otherwise.
* Amore's snowflake (that is, the streets of Crystal Empire) is a pretty paranoid spell, meant to survive ending up on the unlit side of the planet until the sun drifts back into view. Once triggered, it wasn't taking any chances.
*
NaquadahDark magic infusion for extra yield also increases half-life a lot.Or Pinkie's just making the whole thing up because she's Pinkie. :)
Methods we know involve industry on much higher scales than ponies appear to have to get anywhere. Sombra needed to enslave the entire adult population to do it, and it horrified them into complete near-comatose PTSD for what had to have been weeks for them... What do you think? ;)
Actually, it's that very "enslavement of Crystal Ponies" referred to in canon quite frequently that gave me the idea, neither the comics nor much of anything really explained satisfactorily why he needed it.
7087278
Personally, my head canon is that the enslavement of the Crystal Ponies wasn't to build or create anything: it was just to create so much negative emotional energy that the Crystal Heart would become permanently corrupted.
7116903
That works too, but isn't appreciably different from "Let R = { x | x ∉ x }, then R ∈ R ⟺ R ∉ R... or is it?" that I have in my profile, which is what this conversation was a reference to, if my memory serves me right. :)
Ah, fun with heavy nuclei. Though now I'm wondering if pitchblende grows better than uraninite...
In any case, this looks like it's going to be a lot of fun to read. Looking forward to more.
7122664
Well, I do have a couple of outlines waiting for when inspiration strikes. :) The next one will probably involve Flim, Flam, and a certain clock...
7125783
But have you ever wondered, why does Vinyl's music always involve, well, vinyl, but everything else is always live? ;)
For that matter, when was the last time you listened to a live cello? :)
Nah, I know that pony. He invented the Spirograph.
7125788 The last time I listened to a live cello was today. And then I went home and turned on Pandora.
7219196
It might be that you understand ponies better than most. :) I lived next door to a world class cello player for over two decades and heard her play exactly once.
I'd be more worried about ponies discovering fusion before trouble with fission. All those sun-related cutie marks and little ambitious equines who had spells to manipulate the solar body before Celestia even came along...
7263218
Their sun is far too tiny to involve fusion, so nah. :)
An apt invocation of one of the more horrific manifestations of the bombings.
7071716
7071739
…?
7843492
Those RATS.
Just read this chapter. Really interesting. Never noticed that pony in the crowd there, although, I think the ponies should be safe. It's not like he has this for a cutie mark...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Coat_of_Arms_of_Zheleznogorsk.svg
7930372
Incidentally, he also appears much earlier – in Equestria Games, he asks Spike for an autograph.
Was mostly here to see Sombra going nuclear, since it was mentioned in Aporia's comments.
...That was certainly something.
Before the modern understanding of orbitals it was believed that each orbit can hold several electrons. Up to 2 on the 1st, up to 2 on the 2nd, up to 6 on the 3rd. Three orbits would then mean anything from boron to neon.
I thought you were indicating the mustachioed pony for a few seconds too long there.