The Year Before Chaos

by FlareF

The Solar and Lunar Empire

Chapter 1: The Solar and Lunar Empire

Now, unbeknownst to most, Discord, the bringer of chaos, wasn't always the sarcastic, villainous pony we all know. In fact, his reign over Equestria has a much darker theme than we are all led to believe.

However, Discord did not always control Equestria. Before those events, is where our story begins.

"Celestia! Luna! It's time to get up for breakfast, dears!" Queen Sunbright shouted.

Now, the rulers of Equestria at this time were Queen Sunbright and King Moonbeam, the parents of Celestia and Luna. They had been ruling over the land for 500 years. Today was the 500th anniversary of their rule over Equestria, as this was the longest anypony had ever watched and ruled over the Empire so far.

"Come on, you two! Get out of bed and come downstairs and eat!" Sunbright shouted again. "You need to eat quickly or you're going to miss the anniversary parade!"

"Coming Mother!" the two sisters yell in reply.
"So, today is the 500th anniversary of our parents' reign over this land." Luna said to Celestia with a yawn.

"Yes, I know," Celestia replied with a smile on her face. "I just can't believe it's already been 500 years since they were married and became the rulers of Equestria."

The two ponies trot downstairs to the dining hall to eat breakfast. Once finished, they prepare for the parade and head off.

~~~

The 500th annual anniversary parade began in a beam of color and light, as fireworks were set off with a "Bang!", the citizens of Canterlot, and some from other cities, cheered as the many parade floats rolled by. King Moonbeam and Queen Sunbright, along with Celestia and Luna, sat in the very last float which was dubbed "The Royal Float"; Saving the very best for last, if you will.

"This year's parade is the biggest we've had so far!" King Moonbeam exclaimed. "The 100th annual parade was large, but that's merely a piece of this year's parade."

"Yes, indeed. I'll take your word for it, father." Luna replied.

As the parade begins to end, ponies everywhere are waiting ecstatically for the Royal Float.

However, things did not go any way according to plan

~~~

Just as the Royal Float was coming down the central stone pathway of Canterlot, a bright, fiery streak filled the sky. Most ponies brushed it off or thought it was a firework. That was a grave mistake.

The great fireball hurled itself quickly down towards the Royal Float. The Royal Guard used whatever magic they could, but nothing was slowing it. Queen Sunbright tried to use her magic to disperse the fireball away, being the fact that she controls the sun, she can also control fire. That tactic was not of greater success than that of the Royal Guard.

"We must jump off of the float now!" Celestia yelled to everypony on the float.

The ponies jumped from the float just as the fireball was mere feet above their heads. The float erupts in a lumbering roar of fumes. Some helpful ponies walked over to the family to help them up, but a few seconds after the ponies got to them, the float exploded a second time, causing large pieces of debris to be thrown from the float. Many spectating ponies ran away to escape the falling wood and objects from landing on them. Queen Sunbright was not so lucky. A sharp piece of wood landed face down upon her chest, embedding into one of her lungs.

"Mother!" Celestia and Luna cried in unison.

"No!... NO!!" King Moonbeam sobbed over her dying body.

"You... h-have to s... save yourse-" Queen Sunbright said with her last dying breath.

Just then, the platform of the float tilted off of the beam it was sitting upon and fell upon her, crushing her and nearly hitting King Moonbeam. What was left of the Royal family fled to the castle.

~~~

"I... I can't believe..." Luna sobbed.

"I know. I can't believe it either," Celestia whispered to Luna with tears in her eyes, hugging her with sadness and grief. "Who could have done this?"

King Moonbeam had locked himself upstairs in his chambers. Several servants of the castle had tried to get him to unlock the door and get him back to his royal duties, but they were unable to do so. After a few hours of sadness, King Moonbeam knew he needed to find out who had caused all of this. He rallied up the leaders of the Royal Guard into the meeting room. The conference began slowly, as the room was filled with depression.

"Leaders of the Royal Guard. My friends. Family," Moonbeam said. "The obvious question is 'who could have caused any of this to happen?'
"In all of my years ruling over this land, nothing as horrible as this has ever happened. Not to the people. Not to my family."

"Sir, we are very sorry for your loss," said Commander Starlight. "We will solve this mystery, and hopefully bring the pony responsible for this to justice."

"Thank you for your inspirational words, Commander Starlight," King Moonbeam replied. "However, words will not bring a pony to justice alone."

The days to come were full of depression, anger, and confusion. The Royal Guard were unable to find any clues to this mystery, as there did not appear to be any traces of anything regarding the pony who had done this. Dead ends were abundant. No routes to success were found.

4 days after the death of the Queen, another conference in the castle was held.

"Commander Starlight, have you uncovered anything yet?" King Moonbeam asked.

"No, sir. We have not been able to find anything related to the cause of this." Starlight replied. "Unless the pony behind all of this can control magic that powerful, I can only assume this was by accident. Possibly a firework was set off incorrectly at the parade?"

"That is possible." Commander Sunlight, Commander Starlight's brother, proclaimed. "We need to investigate the ponies in charge of the fireworks station."

"Agreed. We shall inquire them in the morning. For now... rest." said King Moonbeam.

End of the 1st Chapter

Comments

[Swirls]

A bit rushed, try to elaborate more and make the king seem.. Sad.

[Lab]

This story has some potential, although that might just be me being a MLP history fic fan. I did enjoy reading this and look forward to more of it.

However, you may have gone a bit overboard with the italics. Try to only use them when you need to emphasize a singular word or, occasionally, a character's thoughts to themselves. Other than those two, italics are supposed to be used for certain titles, like television shows.

You had a couple issues with tenses; if you're going to use past tense, 'says' and 'replies' should be 'said' and 'replied'.

Other than that, I only noticed a scant few punctuation errors, so you're pretty good on that point.

For further, excellent information, this guide by Ezn is worth a read. http://eznguide.rogerdodger.me/ if you don't trust people linking things in the comments, you can find it on your stories page when you click '+New Story'.

[FlareF]

2696250 Okay, I'll make him have a better part in the castle before the first conference. :)

2696302 I understand the tense errors, the italics can be changed if needed, and could you possibly point out the punctuation errors, please? Thanks. :)

[Lab]

>>Fireburst
I'll do what I can, but I am by no means a skilled editor.

"Agreed. We shall inquire them in the morning. For now... rest." said King Moonbeam.

You need to use a comma at the end of the dialogue since this is a 'said tag.'

I'm lazy, so you'll have to comb through the dialogue to find the other instances of this.

Other than that, there's only one itty bitty thing.

However, things did not go any way according to plan

You missed the period/full stop :P

[Swirls]

2696333

Thats good, he seems kind of bland currently.

[FlareF]

2696394 Ah. Okay, now I see. I'll keep looking for errors. Thanks!
2697531 No problem. If he still seems bland after I'm done editing, then feel free to say so.

[Swirls]

2698651
Okey dokey smokey lokey!

[CartsBeforeHorses]

You keep shifting tenses a lot. I can't tell if this is past or present tense.