//------------------------------// // The Dragon's Invasion // Story: Eternal Solace // by D Styles //------------------------------// The Dragon's Invasion . [Golly, I'm so unoriginal.] An Alicorn. He sat at his throne, his white coat gleaming and well-groomed from the royal caretakers. His mane, flowing, as bright as the sun, yet soft like silk. A little filly, no, a small foal, slept quietly upon his lap. The male alicorn looked down at his foal. "You look just like your mother..." He whispered, stroking the foal's dark coat, and nuzzled her mane, it was a light shade now, but when she grows up, her mane will be as dark as the night... much like her mother's mane. The small foal giggled at the touch upon her mane. There was a knocking on the entrance door, all royal guards on each of the alicorn's sides tensed up, in case it was a breach or ambush. The two royal guards by the door looked to their king on what they should do. "Brother?" A deep, masculine voice asked, "May I?" The tone of the voice was unmistakable, and the alicorn gave a nod toward the two door guards. The door opened, to reveal two figures. One, a male alicorn just as big as the king himself, if not bigger. His coat was a somewhat dark shade of brown, his black mane running down his back, and yellow eyes, with his red pupils looking around, intimidating the 'Rock-Hard' royal guards. The second figure, much smaller, a white filly with a pink mane, also an alicorn. "Daddy!" The filly shouted, running toward the king. "Solace." The other large alicorn said. The filly jumped on King Solace's lap, waking up the young napping foal, pushing the foal into a crying fit. "Celestia, look, you made Luna cry." Solace informed the young white alicorn. "Oops! Sorry Luna!" Celestia said, nuzzling her young sister Luna. Luna stopped crying, and began to giggle at her sister's touch. "Why don't you two go and play in your room Celestia?" Solace suggested. "'Kay! C'mon Luna!" Celestia galloped off into the main hallway, poor Luna crawling after her. Everypony there just watched in an awkward silence as the foal crawled out of Solace's throne room, the door guards shut it once the two young alicorns were out. "Discord, my brother." Solace stated, Discord rarely took things into his own hooves, if he did, it was important. "King Solace, my brother. I have an important announcement." Solace's brother stated. "And what must that be?" Solace asked, leaning to one side, board of such things like 'Announcements.' "The Dragons have declared war against us." Discord told him. "Excuse me?" Solace hoped he was getting old, and his ears were merely playing him a jest. "The Dragons. They have declared a war against us." Discord calmly repeated for his elder brother. Solace was shocked by what he was told, he looked around his throne room, astonishment and shock painted over the normally blank expression of his royal guards, their faces confirmed his fear that what Discord told him, he didn't mishear. "Just like that? Was there no negotiation of any type?" Solace asked, a hint of panic clear in his voice. He cleared his throat and spoke again, calmer this time. "Did they not demand anything?" "They did. They demanded quite a lot, land, foods, you know? Also the enslavement of everypony alive." Discord responded. Not seeming distressed. "Why wasn't I informed of this?!" Solace asked, shouting. "Because, I was the better choice for this. Obviously." Discord answered. "Brother!" Solace lost his composure, and began to yell. "Do you know what you have done?!" "So what? Things could have been even worse if you had went and attempted to negotiate!" Discord exclaimed. "How could I have made it even more worse?! I'm the King! I've done this many more times then you!" Solace argued. "But look at yourself brother! You're a wreak! You've been like that ever since the Queen died!" Discord brought forth. Solace flinched at the mention of his deceased wife. "How? How am I a wreak?!" Solace demanded, getting off of his throne to face his brother face to face. Discord raised a hoof, and put it upon his elder brother's chest. "Look at you right now. You would never argue before. You've changed brother. You're yelling and screaming. If you were really yourself, you would've had no problem with me taking this problem upon myself. You would've been thankful." Discord was correct. Solace had changed. He was just too foolish to realize it. The ground began to rumble beneath them. "Guards! Get out! Protect and secure the perimeter!" Discord commanded, to which all the guards obeyed without hesitation. Discord looked back at his brother frozen in realization. Discord raised a hoof and slapped Solace, the King of Equestria. "H-huh?!" Solace recoiled from a sharp pain on his cheek. "Come, we've got company." Discord addressed Solace, a stronger rumble this time, sending some fragments of the roof ro rain down. Solace hesitated a bit. "The guards are out, get Celestia and Luna." Discord commanded his brother. Something large hit the side of the throne room, sending a few pillars to collapse, one was to fall on Solace, but a gray aura enveloped it. Discord stood there, horn glowing. "Then get to my castle at the Everfree Forest." Discord discarded the pillar to his side, the room beginning to collapse. "Hurry!" Solace shook himself awake. He was the King of Equestria, he needed to save his little ponies. But first, he needed to save his little fillies. Discord exited the throne room, galloping towards the balcony of the castle. Solace galloping to Celestia and Luna's room. Discord exited out onto the castle balcony, his hooves hitting the polished stone stairs, a shame, as the dust from the roofs and walls were coating the recently polished stairs and floors. As Discord stepped onto the balcony, he looked out. The chaos around him filling him with fear. His name may be related to chaos, but he scorned the thought of chaos, opting for peace. Dragons left and right, destroying buildings, looting farms and marketplaces, and crushing any resistance they encountered with ponies. A Pegasus, not one of his or Solace's royal guards flew up towards him. "Lord Discord!" The Pegasus shouted upon decent. Discord looked at the Pegasus, a rainbow mane, or it would be, as it seemed to be more of a gray-ish hue with a grayish coat. Simply put, this was a pretty gray Pegasus. Discord hoped his personality wasn't gray as well, though he wasn't sure it mattered. "Who are you?" "Thunder Chaser! My Lord! Where's the king?" The Pegasus asked. "Securing the citizens." Discord stated. "Ah-" Thunder Chaser meant to say something, but a large dragon landed in front of them on the balcony. "Well... Isn't it the negotiator..." The dragon said, voice deep and gruff. "Thunder Chaser..." Discord addressed the Pegasus as the alicorn began to spread out his wings. "Help me kick this dragon's flank, will you?" Solace galloped down the long hall, the walls on either side of him collapsing, there is no actual route back any more, he'd need to use a teleportation spell to get out. With his two fillies of course. Solace came to a door, it was cracked and dented, likely from all these hits the the castle is taking. Using his magic, he chucked the door off it's hinges and charged into Celestia's room. What he seen was a white filly guarding a bawling foal from a medium sized dragon that crashed into Celestia's room. "Stay back you meanie!" Celestia yelled, once she spotted her father, she screamed out. "Daddy help!!" The dragon turned around to face Solace, who promptly chucked a chunk of a wall on to it's face, knocking it over and out of the room via the hole it made coming through. "Daddy!! What's happening?!" Celestia cried out. "War. Now come, we need to leave." Solace picked Luna up on his front hoof and put Celestia on his back, he looked up to see the roof falling in on them. "Daddy hurry!" Celestia screamed. Solace didn't need to be told, he teleported promptly outside of his castle and into Canterlot. It was Chaos. His little ponies, his responsibilities. Being crushed left and right. There was nothing he could do, there were too many dragons for him to possibly have a chance at stopping their reign of terror. His Castle, it was being relentlessly plumbed down by multiple dragons. There was nothing he could do. "D-Daddy?" Celestia called from behind him. Solace kept quiet, and merely teleported to his brother's castle. Discord fell upon the old pavement of the streets, the street moist from his blood. He struggled to stand up, but his right hind leg was broken, making it difficult for him to keep a balance. He looked up to see Thunder Chaser in the dragon's grip. It'll be it for him if Discord didn't do anything. Discord stood up, and utilized a simple teleportation spell to get on the eye level of the dragon. The sight of Discord teleporting in front of the dragon temporarily shocked him, giving Discord enough time to use his good left hind leg to buck the dragon in it's left eye, causing it to recoil in pain and release Thunder Chaser. "Hot Damn!" The Pegasus shouted. "Let's Go!" Discord yelled, putting a hoof on Thunder Chaser's head and teleporting toward his castle. Nowhere as majestic or royal as his brother's castle, Discord's castle was a few sizes smaller then Solace's yet, it was still a castle none the less. When Discord and Thunder Chaser teleported into his castle, Solace was there, attempting to comfort his two fillies. "King Solace!!" Thunder Chaser exclaimed running towards the King. Solace didn't want to talk, in fact, he wanted to smack the Pegasus. Couldn't he see he was busy with his fillies? But would a real king do that? Solace just looked up upon the gray pony. "The Dragons are invading every one of our settlements! Even Cloudsdale! You need to do something!" The Pegasus panicked. Solace looked down at his two fillies. Every one of our settlements! Solace was their king. He had failed. For that, Equestria was burning from the flames of his failure. He could've prevented this, but he let it happen. Now, as the King of Equestria, he had to end it. He nuzzled Celestia and Luna, then stood up, and proceeded to exit Discord's castle. "D-Daddy?" Celestia whined. "Pegasus." Solace addressed Thunder Chaser. "Watch my fillies for now." "Yes my Lord." Thunder Chaser saluted. "D-Daddy!" Celestia tried to gallop after her father, but was held back by the strange Pegasus. "Let me go!" She screamed. Now outside of Discord's castle, the two brothers looked out at the chaos upon them. Three dragons much more larger then Discord's castle, had landed in front of them. "Well look, the king of ponies. Who would have thought he'd just let us burn down his cities and towns, you know? Just watch while his ponies die." The one in the middle stated. Solace just wanted to beat the living potato sacks out of that dragon. "Who do you think you are?!" Solace demanded. "Well, I'm the one leading this invasion. I like to actually be doing something. Not like you should know. Pitiful really. Now, begone." The Dragon leader stated, and motioned for one of his dragon grunts to kill him, the dragon to the right of the alicorn brothers had took a mighty swing against Solace. It never did hit. Discord teleported in front of Solace and put up a magical barrier, though dragons are naturally imbued with magic, and broke the barrier, shattering it before colliding with Discord, flying him into his castle's front wall. "Ha ha ha... how amusing. Your little or... regular pony went and tried to save you... and ended up ending himself! No matter, you're still going to die." The Leader spoke, as the dragon to the left of Solace prepared to strike. Solace closed his eyes, and reminisced on his past. He was a great king. Not boasting, but merely truth. He remembered most of his every day activities.When he would stroll through Canterlot, greeting his loyal ponies. When that shop keep spilled her items, he spent an hour helping her fix up her little stand in the marketplace, and gave her bits to help her with her broken items. When a small colt's clown fell ill, and their parents needed entertainment for his party, Solace made a puppet show for all of the little ponies to enjoy. And when a certain mare's house collapsed after a feud with a unicorn, Solace spent three good weeks helping her to rebuild her home, only for it to fall yet again from Solace's bad carpenter skills. So he brought the mare to his castle to live with him. Were they fell for each other... Discord was right. He changed, he just couldn't accept the lost of his wife. He neglected his duties and his responsibilities. Worse of all, he neglected his ponies. Now he had to fix this problem that he was responsible for. He looked back to his brother, on the ground, limp figure. It was time, to use a spell nopony would dare to use. He was to re-write history, and prevent this from happening. Even if it meant he had to write himself out. Discord seen it all. After that bright flash, Solace was gone, and the dragons. Everything was normal, Canterlot was okay. Discord wasn't in pain, in fact, he wasn't hurt at all. He stood up, Thunder Chaser ran outside, two young alicorns on his back. "My Lord Discord! Where is King Solace? What happened?" Thunder Chaser asked, staring in awe at the peaceful landscape. Discord was silent. "Uncle Discord? Where's Daddy?" Celestia asked. Discord stood there, looking at the three ponies. "Da...da?" Luna uttered. Discord then began to tear. Luna's first words. About him. And he wasn't there to witness it. It has been 7000 years since Solace had took himself out of reality. Discord sat at the King's throne. He smiled as Celestia came up the isle. She wasn't going to be Celestia anymore. She was going to be Princess Celestia. Luna bounced along side her sister up to where Discord sat. "Celestia, are you ready to accept your rightful place as ruler of Equestria?" Discord asked. "I am." Celestia nodded in response. "Do you swear yourself to Equestria and it's citizens?" Discord asked. "I do." Celestia nodded again. "Do you promise, that no matter what happens, in life and in death, that you will protect your little ponies in all your entirety?" "I promise." "Then," Discord stood up. "Welcome, Princess Celestia." Celestia and Luna took care of the royal duties. Discord was free, so he decided to take a trot through the Everfree Forest. Solace's castle was now Celestia's, and his was Luna's. So he figured he could drop by and see how the young filly, though technically mare, was doing. Discord wasn't sure where he was, but that's when it happened. The Voices. "Hey. Alicorn." "What?" Discord looked around. "Who's there?" "More important. Why are YOU over HERE?" The voice asked. "None of your business." Discord began to walk, but the voice didn't fade, in fact it seemed to follow him. "You should be in Canterlot. On the throne." "What?" Discord stopped. "What do you mean?" "You ARE the rightful ruler. Not Celestia." "It doesn't matter. She's the ruler, not me." Discord began to trot, more quickly now. "Why? Why do you refuse the throne?" "Because." Discord stopped. "I'm too weak. I couldn't even save my brother." The voice was quiet for a bit, then spoke up. "If it's power you seek, then I can help you." "How?" Discord stopped his trot, and merely spoke with the voice. "I am also an entity, you see. I can give you the power to save the ENTIRE Equestria, if the time came." "What's the catch?" "Hmm?" "The catch." "Ah yes, just your form, instead of an alicorn, you become a powerful being named a draconequus." Discord stood there. Deep in thought. He wouldn't take the throne, just help with his increased abilities. He'll trick this voice into granting him power, and use it against it. "Fine." Discord said. "Excellent. We'll begin now..." Discord levitated into the air, he could feel power surging through his veins as his body changed. His right hand turned into a lion's arm, his left an eagle's claw. He felt taller. But a pain hit his head, so great, causing him to black out. Missing his transformation. The cloud of smoke vanished. Revealing a new creature. A draconequus. Discord. He then began to speak. "Ah yes, I forgot to mention that I'll take over your mind, didn't I?" Solace must've messed up, because when he woke, he was still on Equestria. Not in Canterlot however, there was a sign in front of him. Welcome to Ponyville!