It all started with another innocent question.
Percy had been casually steering the Sun Chariot during one of his daily lessons when he spotted a small, shiny dial on the dashboard. His curiosity got the best of him, and he reached for it.
"Apollo, what's this?"
Apollo, lounging in the passenger seat with his feet up, grinned. "Ah, kid, that's the Solar Radio Control. Best invention ever. Lets me blast tunes while driving across the sky."
Percy's face lit up. "Wait—you mean the Sun has a radio?!"
Apollo flicked his wrist, and suddenly, the Chariot was filled with blaring 70s rock. Percy winced as an electric guitar solo practically shook his bones.
"What is that?" Percy yelled over the music.
Apollo gasped in mock offense. "That is Led Zeppelin, my dear nephew! A classic! A masterpiece! The pinnacle of human musical achievement!"
Percy groaned and immediately started turning the dial. "Okay, no offense, but for the God of Music, you have terrible taste."
Apollo gasped even louder. "Excuse you?!"
Percy, ignoring him, kept scrolling through stations. "Where's the good stuff? Where's the 2000s pop? The Y2K hip-hop? The real beat?"
Apollo glared at him. "You did not just say 'that.'"
"I did, and I stand by it," Percy declared.
And that's when all Hades broke loose.
The Battle BeginsWhat started as an innocent station swap quickly turned into a full-blown war.
Percy switched to a 2005 pop hit—Apollo immediately flicked it back to an 80s ballad.
Percy switched to a hip-hop station—Apollo cranked it back to classic rock.
Every second, the music changed, stations flickering so fast that the speakers started crackling. The Sun Chariot shook as the radio strained under the battle of divine wills.
From Earth, people might have sworn they heard strange music and shouting coming from the sky. But surely, that was just their imagination… right?
The Consequences of Petty BattlesThe real problem started when Apollo tried to cheat.
"Oh, that's how you wanna play it?" he said, grinning as he reached directly into their divine connection to the Chariot.
Percy yelped as the radio force-switched itself back to the 70s. "HEY!"
Percy, not to be outdone, pushed back, using their link to hijack control and crank the volume all the way up on a 2004 dance remix.
Unfortunately, neither of them realized that messing with the Sun Chariot's systems too much had consequences.
Somewhere deep within the Chariot's magical core, the Particle Regulator hiccupped. Then, the Magnetic Booster overloaded.
For a split second, the entire Sun flickered.
The next thing they knew, a massive geomagnetic storm exploded from the Sun's surface.
On Earth, people marveled as the most spectacular auroras lit up the sky, stretching across continents in dazzling ribbons of green, pink, and purple. Scientists scrambled for explanations, but all they could determine was that something had mildly disrupted the Sun's magnetic field.
Meanwhile, in the Sun Chariot, Percy and Apollo froze as warning symbols flashed red on the dashboard.
Apollo blinked. "Uh… did we just—"
Percy swallowed. "I think we broke the Sun a little."
They both stared at each other. Then at the swirling solar storm behind them.
Then back at each other.
"…We don't tell Zeus about this," Apollo said quickly.
"Agreed," Percy said immediately.
Apollo hastily reset the Chariot's systems, muttering something about "divine interference" and "totally planned auroras." Percy, wisely, kept his mouth shut as the warning lights faded back to normal.
Aftermath: The TruceOnce everything was stable again, Percy sighed. "Okay. Maybe we went a little overboard."
Apollo ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Maybe."
They sat in silence for a moment.
Then Percy grinned. "So… can we agree to split the music selection from now on?"
Apollo sighed dramatically. "Fine. But only if we set rules—no more constant switching mid-song."
"Deal," Percy said, shaking his hand.
From that day forward, the Great Solar Music Battle ended in a truce—though sometimes, if people looked closely, they might notice that certain sunrises had an unusual rhythm to them.
And if anyone ever asked why the Sun occasionally pulsed to the beat of a 2000s pop song, well…
That was just a coincidence.