//------------------------------// // Burning Red Inferno // Story: Afraid of the Light // by BiniBean //------------------------------// Chapter Seven: Burning Red Inferno Celestia stood on her balcony. The one that leads from her room into a stainless marble balcony. Overlooking all of Canterlot in all its glory. The pride of Equestria. Specifically the pride of the unicorns since they were a large part of its completion. Most of the unicorn population lived in the city after all. Just like the Pegasi mostly live in Cloudsdale. Or the Earth ponies mostly live in Applelosa. Of course, something was wrong. Something was always wrong. Never a moment of peace. Whether it was Celestia running from her nagging persistent overwhelming emotions that she feared or...or the fact the sun was a burning red inferno of rage. A burning red sun with a blood-red sky was hanging over the capital. She didn't know why the sky or her sun was like that. She knew the whole country was now looking up at it in a mixture of awe and horror. She stood on the marble balcony. Her mane still moved despite the lack of wind. Her magenta eyes were finding it difficult to look away. That red sun. The horrifying red sun was beautiful in a way. She was scared. She was so very scared of her sun and that blood light that poured across the land. Across the world. The more she thought about it, she couldn't remember much of anything before this moment. What was she doing before this? Where was she before this? Only she could manipulate the sun. Only she could...corrupt it? "It's beautiful." A voice. A voice she had heard since the moment she ascended to be an alicorn. A voice that sounded like her own but always a little...off, hidden in the deepest reaches of her mind. Locked away to avoid being heard because the things this voice would say, were dangerous. Only to be heard in the deepest of nightmares. Celestia took a large gulp as she tried to remember to breathe. "Don't you think my sun looks beautiful?" Go away, her rational mind ordered. As if she was barking at a guard who was running from battle to stay in place. Go away. You do not belong here. "I am you. You are me. I am the better you. I am not afraid of my light. My beautiful light." Celestia wanted, no, needed to back away from the burning inferno in the sky. Her heart beat loudly in her chest but her hooves would not move. I am not you, she whispered in her mind. Into the dark cells that held its prisoner. I do not want to hurt my ponies. I do not want to control them as you want to. "Control. More Control wouldn't have had so many ponies killed. If only they listened to the word of the sun, maybe they would have survived the wars. The diseases. Maybe if Luna had bothered to keep her mouth shut and listened to the word of the sun, she wouldn't have been banished to the moon." She did not need to listen to me. I was wrong. Starswirl was wrong about how to lead. "Starswirl was a fool. He tried to control the sun and failed. Miserably might I add. Forever trapped in a hell of his own creation. Ironic. Ironic and so much like Luna and Nightmare Moon. So much like Sunset Shimmer and that portal..." Celestia was terrified of that voice. It was getting strong. Breaking free of its holding cell and moving, using fear and the need for stability against her as it reached for the red inferno in the sky. "My sun. Our sun. One day the sun will have control. One day the sun will answer to no pony commands. One day the sun will finally be free." Celestia hated that thought. She was free. She had to be. She was an alicorn ruling over a country that loved her. She made orders and laws, she...she... She was chained under the command of mortals. Mortals were too busy with their own lives to see how they were affecting the future. Even if they could, she doubted they could care. Death fixes the need for caring. Why care about what happens after you are gone? It's not like you will be around to deal with the consequences. She wanted to burn the nobility's houses to the ground. Take away everything and restart. The country was corrupted. Too many thoughts condensed into one country. Conflicting thoughts, ideas and emotions could easily lead to the collapse of a nation with one wrong move and she was letting it happen. She was losing control. She knew best. She was an alicorn after all, she had more experience than those nobility had in their whole lifetimes. She saw the bigger picture, outside their mortality. She bit her lip, the voice was becoming a bit too real. The voice was starting to make too much sense. She was starting to listen to it. "I wonder why you love the darkness so much. The darkness is Luna's domain." She felt a chill down her spine despite the temperature growing warmer as the seconds passed. "Is it because you can hide? Hide away from all the seeing eyes, the knowing glares, the confused innocence that isn't aware their ruler is a monster. Is it so you can gallop away from all your useless complex emotions?" She begged the voice to leave her alone. Begging. Pleading. Her eyes drifted downwards as something flickered below. "Why are you afraid of your own sun? Your own beautiful sun?" The sun caused this madness. The sun latched onto her soul before she was even born and yanked her into immortality. She hated the sun. She hated what she was. She hated what the voice wanted her to be. She hated she was listening to it. The city was burning. Soon sounds of ponies screamed into the air as their homes, streets and shops burned. As chaos erupted in the streets with blind panic the sun grew brighter in the sky. She flared her wings, trying to go into the air and dive below to help. Instead, her mouth opened, letting a deep chuckle turn into a manic laugh of joy as the world burned. Her mane of colours soon burned as the city did, turning to pure fire. Her warm magenta eyes turned to a solar eclipse of madness. The world the ponies of Equestria knew turned to ash, one day, rising again to be an empire. A ruthless empire of the sun. Daybreaker loved it. "Princess? Princess Celestia?" She was yanked violently out of the nightmare and back into the living. Her bloodshot eyes shot up as a figure jumped back in surprise and fear at the sudden movement. She groaned as she flexed her stiff wings. Stretched out her stiff joints. Try to ignore the throbbing of her heart as she slowly lifted her head and gave her eyes time to adjust to the room. It was her room. She was in bed. She found Raven Inkwell staring back at her a few meters away with wide eyes. "S-Sorry Princess. I didn't mean to s-scare you." "Raven?" She muttered. She tried to shove the need for sleep away as she sat up, allowing her blanket to fall off her. Exposing her to the cold air of the room. "What is it?" "W-Well..." Raven didn't seem sure how to explain herself. She had that look on her face when she expected somepony to know something as if it was obvious. But it wasn't. At least not to Celestia. "Princess, you overslept. S-sorry, I had to wake you. The sunrise is a few minutes late and ponies are already starting to panic, as well as-" Raven started to go off about something, whatever it was, Celestia didn't hear it as suddenly all her thoughts came rushing back. For the first time since she rose the sun, it was late. She overslept. That was not natural. That should have not happened. She leaped out of bed and immediately used her magic to slam open the balcony door, galloping onto the balcony in a blind panic. She looked to the moon with the unicorn symbol still burned into it, and without a second thought yanked it down with nearly all her force. It hurt a lot. The moon always resisted her. Usually, she was kind and managed to wrestle it down in a gentler fashion but this was different. It was pure ruthless violence. She cried out in pain as the moon gave a short-lived attack back, not used to such an action it gave up fast and disappeared as she drove the sun upwards faster than she usually did. She cried out in pain again as the magic wore off and the blinding headache she gave herself soon hammered into her skull. Raven was soon next to her in a panic. "PRINCESS! W-What- Are you ok?! Do you need a Doctor?" "No, no, no, no," Celestia repeated whispered. "Silence. Raven. SILENCE." So Raven fell into an uneasy silence. Celestia took deep breaths as Raven watched the city start after such an unnatural sunrise. It was a tense and unnatural feel in the air. Celestia, after who knows how long, raised her head from staring at the marble floor and looked at Raven with a small apology smile. "Sorry." Celestia awkwardly cleared her throat as she tried not to flinch from the pain. "Perhaps I am working too much. I haven't overslept in ages. Please, speak. We have to start the day after all." Raven nodded before she awkwardly pointed to the clipboard being held in her magic with a nervous look. "Ah, well, Twilight Sparkle asked me to remind you, Princess, that you have a lesson planned with her which is supposed to start...ummm...now." As if it was timed, a frantic knocking came from Celestia's bedroom door. "You might need to calm her down, Princess." Celestia groaned with a roll of her eyes. She guessed she did deserve this based on the show she just performed. Not only would she need to calm down her best student but also the rest of the nation. "Also," Raven continued as she squinted at the second item on a long list. "You have a meeting with the town and city mayors after the lesson to discuss the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration in three days. They are very insistent on knowing who is hosting the next one, Princess." "Right," Celestia mumbled as the knocking became louder. "Let's go. Best not to worry anypony any longer."