Uprise

by Ems

I: Tea

^{(Credit to lumelya@deviantart & evehly@deviantart)}

“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

---

Word of Luna’s death and a certain, missing Celestia spread across the borders of Equestria like wildfire. The citizens could not contain their panic. With both princesses gone who would be able to perform the day-night cycle?

Of course, it was possible to raise sun and moon through several unicorns, but at the same time nature was very risky. Full magic could be drained from a regular pony if forced to handle such heavenly bodies. Perhaps alicorns like Twilight and Cadance had a better chance at the task, still it inquired they needed help. Perhaps the elements of harmony could keep the system in check, although that was only in theory. There were no safer means of keeping the celestials up but with the two magically inclined sisters themselves.

The six bearers were to be gathered to find the threat. Plenty of wardens had already begun in the search. Progress was slow however, for the outbreak of the news was still fresh. Not a real piece of evidence on who or what exactly happened were traced. Only ashes that matched the DNAs of Luna and the two guards were found.

Thus, rumors started to roam around the planet. Some said that an old, or maybe even new villain killed Luna and the two guards with arson. Some said that one of the royal chefs must have accidentally caused a fire while delivering breakfast to the princess. Some said Celestia escaped and was currently in hiding, ponynapped or even dead. Despite the different stories going about, nopony considered Celestia provoking the crisis. She was flawless in their eyes, to which no sort of evil could become of her.

Only one other mare suspected her to be the culprit. Starlight Glimmer.

She had seen this before. But, only in particular hallucination. The dream where Nightmare Moon reappeared from the fabrics of space. The dream where she fell down with whispering pancakes, the faces of scary monsters. The dream where Celestia tried to stop her from going mad and,

The one dream where Daybreaker came to life.

Yes; she, the egotistical maniac, twisted, corrupted version of the most majestic mare in the universe. That demonic laugh still echoes in Starlight's head until the very day. If anything, Celestia shouldn't have been chosen to help solve the delusional issue. She didn't even know what to do. It made Starlight realize how insecure the so-called ’sun goddess’ actually was. Even with a thousand lives of experience, Celestia barely knew her personality. She was constantly focused on attaining the kingdom that she ignored her own emotional and psychological needs. That explained why she wasn't too surprised to see an evil embodiment of herself. For, she learned too well, it was too much of a likely opportunity to happen.

Twilight knew about the whole ordeal yet decided it was nothing but another friendship lesson. When the map called out to settle the dilemma it was for Starlight to fix, not the royal sisters. Everyone assumed the trouble was over when it really wasn't. Had not either of them bothered to monitor the aftermath of the map? Starlight could sense something was still up.

The problem was already there, the poison buried deeper and deeper into Celestia's skull; it was profoundly cancerous. But, the odds were, nopony, and nopony in the history of a millennia tried to at least just check on the princess.

Starlight was alone. They thought she was full of horse feathers for thinking such things. This was coming from a cunning communist who once manipulated a village, almost destroying the entire universe by sabotaging an ancient time travel spell.

But in the end she wouldn't be so crazy after all.

Heavy. The world around Celestia felt heavy. The suddenness of the event lingered on. Her guts begged to scream but Celestia would not let them. A single sound might attract unwanted attention.

She was currently invisible, on a little lake away from crowds. It was a sunny day; and it had been sunny for a longer period of time. The clock already ticked to eleven in the evening, five hours after the incident. The sun was still up. The elected authorities were probably arguing whether to hastily recruit magical users into raising the moon. They were hanging on to the hope of Celestia’s return as soon as possible. But she didn’t return, and wouldn’t.

The sun was openly scintillating heat, but Celestia couldn’t care less. Her mane was practically on fire, what’s a little shed of hot ray compared to that?

She stared at the reflection formed in the water. The pond was calm. Noises made by crickets and frogs could be heard but they added more serenity to the atmosphere. However, her reflection amidst the lake itself wasn't so peaceful. Celestia could see how much she had changed; not only did her hair and tail burn, but her cutie mark had an extra blazing inferno surrounding the regal sun. Her wings were ruffled and sharp. On a more positive note, her facial features remained the same; Celestia still looked somewhat innocent. Her teeth hadn't grown into pointed fangs, at least not yet. But most importantly, her eyes were as normal as they always were. She would've been a dead doppelganger if those purple irises turned into aurelian snake eyes, with a devilish dark orange at the back. All that would be needed was the armor and makeup, and she would look exactly the way she had feared to become.

Celestia hated it. Using a hoof she smashed the water, wishing that awful sight would begone. Instead it continued to mirror her into a more disoriented shape, due to the moving ripples.

The whole ordeal was still unbelievable. It was hatred that sprouted these malevolent new appearances. She had been infested with some sort of dark magic ... coming from within.

Celestia knew the right thing to do was to give herself up to the guards and confess; but she didn’t want to. While she felt morally obligated to do so, the consequences would be painful. Nobody just kills the princess without getting punished. One fact remained yielding to her, however.

Liberation.

She wanted this, didn’t she? She finally spat her outrage and diminished the enemy. She was free. Oh, the wonders of being the hailed and glorious queen of Equestria! First she would get rid of those unsightly and putrid moon colors ... yes, she could have the halls painted in vibrant crimson. Tapestries of the night could be torn down and not one creature should even have to remember such a thing exist. Symbols of the sun and ember will stand as the main decor in every room. The royal guard armor should redesign in fiery gold through a touch of iron smoldering. The old ceiling must shatter and replaced with new window panes portraying her prestige and grandeur. She would rule the kingdom the way she saw fit and —

She stopped right there.

Of course. How could she forget? The Elements of Harmony. Discord. Threats.

It was better she finished what she had started. This would all go to waste if she gave herself up. Maybe Celestia just needed a bit more motivation by the goal she had in mind. With the invisible spell still lingering on, she flew from the sky to see the distances. Buildings, landscapes and creatures. But she was looking for something else.

Then, her wings started to flicker faster. Like a meteor, she threw down towards the direction of area she wanted to go, her body picking up on agility. Celestia concentrated intensely on her horn. It started to pop small magical bits. Her eyes were shut tight, but the wind pierced through them from how fast she was scudding. Her descent caused a light of friction to form on her body. The light grew, and grew, until ...

... she was in Ponyville, standing next to a cottage for animals.

---

CLANG CLANG ... CLANG CLANG ...

The tolling of Ponyville’s clocktower bell rang by the stroke of twelve midnight. It was supposed to signal that a day had passed by and the princess had not returned. The sound barely annoyed anyone. Nopony could sleep. Besides anxiety of the international crisis, with the sun still up it was a tricky misconception to believe that it was currently daytime. Not a lot can shut their eyes through it.

Normally, this would be a time when Fluttershy and Discord would have their late-night sleepovers. It was more convenient to have Discord rest in for the night until the hour of the tea party. True, he was a powerful being that can arrive in the cottage with a snap of his claws. But he found it much more enjoyable to flicker a flashlight under a blanket and talk ghost stories with his pony friend in the night.

But they couldn't use a flashlight. With the bright sun gleaming on the cottage windows, a lit candle would be pointless. Fluttershy was surprised to see the radiant orb still hadn't gone down in turn for the moon. Immediately she knew something was wrong, and needed to act quick.

The other five girls were probably already on the move. Fluttershy counted on that fact. She just had to find them. However, before she could leave the house, she had to take care of her responsibilities.

Scrambling to her hooves, Fluttershy hastily gathered all the animals in the room and fed them. She couldn't starve them, who knows how long she would have to be gone and leave them famished? She could hire a pet-sitter but none of the little critters would eat food handled by a different pony, not even a regular visitor like Discord.

And speaking of Discord ...

The annoyed draconequus was pouting nonstop. He couldn't care less by the emergency at stake. Of course, he could raise the moon and lower the sun effortlessly, but it was not like he had the authority to do so. It had crossed his mind that Celestia and Luna were missing or dead. Once again he couldn't care less. He just wanted to have the tea party.

“But what about me?” He whined, the way a naughty little foal would throw a tantrum.

“I’ll come back for you later, Discord.” Fluttershy answered, not even bothering to look at him. She was too busy guiding the creatures back to their personal shelters. “But right now I have an emergency on my hooves.”

Feeding the last few pieces of carrot to Angel Bunny, she galloped to the door when suddenly the draconequus popped into view, blocking the path. She tried to go around him but he wouldn’t let her.

“Discord, let me out this instant!” She asserted, stomping a hoof for effect.

“No.” Discord replied. He shook his head and folded his arms. “Besides, Celestia is probably hiding for a reason. She couldn’t be bothered.”

“That’s mean!”

The two continued to blabber nonstop. Not then did they notice a sinister figure creeping by the window sill ...

It took a while for Celestia to regain her composure. After the massive teleportation spell she just cast, the invisibility spell she covered herself with wore out. Luckily, she managed to duck behind a wall before anypony could have seen her. With a few retries, she once again successfully formed another hiding craft.

The next thing Celestia had in mind was to murder Fluttershy and Discord. They were an obstacle to the case. She couldn't be queen when someone as dangerously powerful as she was waited to attack. The Elements of Harmony would zap her up like a bug. It would be unfair, but Celestia needed to eliminate these right away, and the best way to do it was to ambush them. It was a bit cowardly, yes; but it was more on playing smart.

When Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, she did not plan her intentions carefully. She failed to retrieve the elements thus leading to her banishment on the moon. Celestia would have fallen on the same trap, if she had not acted quickly her fate would be on the spots of the sun.

Mostly, Fluttershy would be easier to deal with compared to the other five bearers. As to her knowledge, she knew that Discord constantly lounged with the filly.

She broke behind the small shelter. All the animals were inside the cottage. Celestia stole a glimpse at the window.

“My dear Fluttershy,” said a rather nutty draconequus. “Can you at least settle down for a bit?”

Discord snapped his claws, and he and his pegasus companion were seated upside-down. He motioned a gravity-defying watered cup in place of Fluttershy's lips. “Tea?”

“No, Discord.” The mare replied, pushing the cup aside before flying towards the door.

Perfect, Celestia thought to herself. She had both of them together. There was no need to spend any more time tracking either of the two down. She simply just needed to take the element of surprise. With a hoof, she discreetly stepped inside the cottage.

One creak of it, however, sent a million nerve of shockwaves through Discord. His spine wiggled uncontrollably related to a shaky balloon. Fluttershy noticed his sudden change in movement. “What is it?" She asked.

“Something’s not right in here ...” Discord brushed past aside, caressing his white beard.

Then a sinister figure ran to one side. Fluttershy and Discord snipped towards the direction only to realize it had disappeared. The critters were shaking violently — somehow, they had sensed this creature too.

Everyone seemed to have circled in the center of the room, scanning on their surroundings. Not long after, Fluttershy decided to breathe out a sigh and relieve the tension.

“I’m sure it was nothing, Discord,” She assured softly. “There’s no need to get uptight.”

“It’s not over yet.” Discord anxiously exclaimed. Through catlike reflexes, his talons stood straight up, telling him that the problem was not indeed finished. He was still very much alarmed.

The pegasus sighed. “You need to calm dow —”

At mere remark, something — or someone — immediately caught her eye. Someone very sinister. It was coming out from the sunlight that tinted on the windows, and it was going after Discord.

“LOOK OUT!”

Before the draconequus could react, he was suddenly wrapped in a blast of magic. He struggled against it, but the spell restrained him from doing so. A slight twinge of numbness filled his void. There were flakes of cement beginning to crawl over him. Discord was being turned to stone once more.

After transforming into a complete statue, he fell down on his side with a clank.

“Discord!” Fluttershy cried out, straddling on her rocky friend. But then, she had to hastily step backwards. Her eyes glimmered into the form of the character who was walking towards her.

“Who are you?” She asked, her tone horse and frozen.

The character smiled an ominous smile. At first it cackled evilly, placing its fronthoof on the still body of Discord. Its head cocked to the light.

“YOU'RE ... you’re ... P — princess Celestia?”

“That’s my name, dearie. Don’t wear it out.” Celestia posed on the shining rays of the sun. Her features became overwhelmingly apparent against the light. “Oh, but truly, I’m not the same princess you speak of, am I? Perhaps I need a better nickname.”

Celestia tapped her chin, remembering the former. However, she was forced to decide in saving the cause for later. Fluttershy was irritatingly distracting her thoughts with questions.

“Wha, what happened to you? Did you kill Princess Luna?” The small pegasus was confused and angry. A zillion mysteries roamed into her mind, and she demanded answers.

The witch laughed again. “Let’s just say that I have gone into a glamorous transformation. I look prettier, don’t I? These new changes gladly give me the power to burn anything I want.”

She continued to boast on her god-awful doings. “As for your other question, I did kill Luna. Aw, it was too easy really. The stupid foal let her guard down and I managed to cut her in sleep.”

Fluttershy hesitated for a moment. A notion itched at the back of her conscience. It would have been obvious to answer, yet she couldn’t help but ask. The whole ordeal just didn't morally make sense to her. “Why ... why are you doing this?”

“Because I want to," Celestia responded quickly, pressing her hooves on the rocky surface even harder. “I want the throne. I want to be Queen. And I can't have any of that with my sister around. Or Discord. Or you.”

With a glare of her horn, Discord’s statue began to snap. There was light inside the cracks that only continued to spread like the branches of a tree. Much to the pegasus’ horror, the statue detonated furiously. Shattered pieces of Discord sprawled on the floor. His parts would not be the same as they once were, even if somepony tried to put them back together.

Celestia squinted even closer to the smaller pony until they were practically eye to eye with each other. Fluttershy could only cower behind. “Don’t do this, princess! This isn’t you!”

“I was always like this,” She demurred. “I just didn’t have the chance to show it. Until now.”

Her eyes pulsated into narrow slits from the ulterior black magic. The animals started to pound from their cages seeing their owner get attacked. Fluttershy started to cry; she failed to activate the elements and failed to save her friend.

Now, she was going to greet the face of demise.

Twilight paced back and forth in her palace, waiting anxiously for the bearers to meet. The golden crown of magic glistened on her head, with the significant purple gem encrusted on the front. The outbreak of the news would have been a sad event, but for now, it was more of a panic scenario for the friendship princess.

“Oh, what’s taking them so long?” She muttered impatiently, frowning at the wallclock.

“Relax, Twi.” Spike hushed while mopping the floor of the hall. “They’ll be here any minute now.”

“Yes,” Twilight breathed. “I know ... but this is an emergency, Spike. Princess Luna is dead, and Celestia is missing! What would Equestria be without them?”

“Uh ...”

Knock, knock.

Spike ran towards the door and swung it open to reveal a few familiar faces standing on the sill. “We’re here!”

“Hi, guys.” Spike waved and smiled, most especially to Rarity, who gave him a little kiss and a nice ’hello Spikey-wikey.’

“Thank Celestia!” Twilight turned around to welcome her friends inside. She froze. Saying her mentor’s name, for some reason, compelled her to feel guilty.

The girls walked in the gigantic aperture. But this led Twilight to stay dead on her tracks even more. She blinked once, and could only see four mares jaunting inside. She shook her head.

“Where’s Fluttershy?”

...

The others looked expectantly at each other, assuming at least one of them had an answer.

“Ah’ ain’t got no clue, sugarcube.” Said Applejack. “Maybe she needed to talk to Discord for a bit. Ah’ heard they were s’posed to have one of their fancy tea parties.”

“OOOh, I just saw her this morning,” Pinkie was bouncing, as usual. “She dropped by Sugarcube Corner to buy eight pieces of yummy-triple-fudged ice cream oreo-sandwich cookies! But I haven't seen her after that!”

“That ... is rather strange, is it not?” Rarity enunciated eloquently. “Fluttershy is always regularly on time. Unless she is unavailable of course, but she would take the utmost care of arranging the matter with us. I wonder what happened?”

Pinkie gasped. “What if she got abducted by slimy green intergalactic aliens who made her the queen of their sad and lonely planet? Or no! What if she was turned into an orange ... wait that wouldn’t work ... hmm, how about an apple tree? Yeah! An apple tree! And AJ chopped down that apple tree who happened to be Fluttershy and —”

Rainbow Dash shoved a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth to shush her. “Or, Fluttershy’s just a tad late today. I mean, come on, she always has her hooves full with birds and whatnot.”

Everyone in the room nodded. “Well, whatever it is ...” Twilight added.

“I'm sure she’ll get here — soon?”

The lavender alicorn gawked into the red aura outside the window. Seeing their friend’s prospect, the girls looked distantly over the open doorway. The clouds had disappeared and, just as Twilight observed, the sky was a bright crimson. There seemed to be a commotion in the streets.

“What’s goin’ on?”Applejack asked, as all six of them galloped out of the entrance. Citizens gathered around in confusion, staring at the demeaning atmosphere.

“I — I don’t know,” Spike said, hugging behind Twilight’s leg. “But it doesn’t look so good.”

There was a figure soaring on the sky. The figure kind of looked like a star, but ... brighter. The aura of its fire enveloped the town in dry humidity. It started toying around ponies as if it were about to claw them bare. They fled in all sorts of directions.

“What is that?” Rarity asked.

“Is it a fire-breathing dragon?” Pinkie guessed.

“No, it doesn’t seem to be a dragon.” Twilight's eyes peered over the figure. Somehow, it looked familiar. To her revelation, she did notice the cutie mark. That left her completely baffled.

It ... it couldn’t be; she rapidly shook her head for what seemed like the fifth time. But, based on the events of today, they had pointed to the worst possibility.

The figure decided it had enough playtime, and descended onto the ground. Everypony gasped.

Just like how Fluttershy reacted, it was shocking to see how much Celestia had changed. But what was dumbfounding at most were her eyes; the once lovely purple irises the princess wore were replaced with aggressive, blazing predator ones, accompanied by a darker red at the back.

For a moment, the crowd was exchanging looks with one another on what to do. Nobody knew how to react to the princess’ transformation. Despite the turbulence, the only thing they could think of was bowing down to her as often. They lowered their heads skeptically to the taller mare.

But Twilight did not move. Her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their skull. She could not comprehend what she was seeing; she was starting to hyperventilate, palpitating the sweat forging out of her. Although she was taller than most, Twilight was hidden amongst the crowd. Her four friends stared at her in concern for a second, before turning their ears on Celestia’s booming announcement.

“Good evening, my little ponies ... or, well, good morning.” She chuckled, not so much in a friendly manner. “As all of you may have noticed, I have raised the sun despite being a supposed midnight, but I stand before you in honor of a new regime.”

The crowd looked bewildered. The girls stayed on their ground, anticipating to hear the rest.

“In the days leading up to this fateful event, I have been gone missing.” She spoke briskly. “As it has probably already been reported to you, Princess Luna is dead. But ...”

Celestia cleared her throat. “I murdered her. It is also worth noting that I have killed the bearer of the Element of Kindness and the Lord of Chaos.”

"You WHAT?”

Another wide gasp escaped from the populace. Celestia irritatingly snipped to the direction of the voice's owner. At the back of the crowd, she could see six mares gaping in horror.

“You killed Fluttershy?!” Yelled a cyan blue pegasus, flying over the crowd. Rainbow Dash’s face wrinkled in pure resentment. Her jaw was clenched into a tight lock and her pink pupils were shooting daggers.

Celestia cringed for a second, but remained her nonchalant composure. “Indeed I have.”

“Why ...?” Another face appeared, this time a purple alicorn princess.

The sight of Twilight Sparkle caused Celestia to wince even more. She sneered. The answer was clear, and obvious: both Discord and the elements were potential menaces to her rule. But she could not say that in front of all these ponies. She didn’t want to look vulnerable.

So, under gritted teeth, Celestia mocked. “Because, I am Queen now. And I don't want some stupid little busybody snooping in on my business.”

She spun towards Dash, and resumed her cruel insinuations, sharing the same disgusted scowls they tolerated with each other. “She was just pathetic, truly. The foal did nothing but weep and kiss on my hooves. Discord was at least more bearable, and this is coming from the king of annoying.”

“Why you little!” Rainbow Dash had enough. She plunged towards the tall mare with her hoof and was about to punch her. “Take ... THIS!”

Celestia simply flew to one side, which caused Dash to slide over her.

“Whoooooa ...!” She stumbled, flailing around until she eventually crashed onto the ground. Speed didn’t matter at the moment.

The white alicorn watched the scene for a bit, before flapping her wings above the crowd for one last announcement. “From now on,” She loudly spoke, and snarked to herself. “All of you shall address me as the Queen —

“Daybreaker.”

Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morning, sailors warning.

It was such a deliciously notorious name. This is what she had in mind when she interrogated Fluttershy. No wonder Starlight Glimmer’s dream had preceded to use that alias. The splendor of the sun peaked finest through the daybreak. No more of the night would beknownst to ponykind. The morning would be all that they would have, and everyone just needed to be contented by it.

With that, the once former Celestia cackled like a maniac. She swept up into the air, and bluntly disappeared.

Everypony panicked. Some blabbered with each other over what happened, while some were running here and there. Similar to the incident in Canterlot, Ponyville was in total pandemonium.

Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Spike and Twilight rushed over to their remaining pegasus friend, who was sore all over the ground.

“Rainbow Dash, what in the hay were you thinkin’?” AJ scolded, as she and the others pulled Dash off the ground.

“Well, you can’t blame me, guys!” Dash protested. “Don’t tell me you wouldn't have acted the same way I did!”

“It wasn’t very smart of you to just jump like a deranged pony, though.” Rarity commented.

“I don’t care!” Dash yelled, swinging her hooves around the air. “She killed Fluttershy! She deserves to die! And if nopony is going to do that, I’m going to do it myself!”

All of them had to grab Dash before she could fly away into nowhere. “Rainbow Dash! Darling, please calm down!”

“No! I won’t calm down!” Dash thrashed around, trying to break free from her friends’ grips. “Let me go! I just want to see the look on Daybreaker’s ugly face once I beat her! I just want to punch her with my bare hooves! I just want to kill her! I just want to —”

... She stopped thrashing.

The girls looked confused. Then it became very apparent to them that there were tears trickling down Dash’s cheek.

“Oh, who am I kidding?” She cried, lowering her head in defeat. “I ... I’m no match for somepony like Daybreaker. But ... it’s ... I ...

The red sobs on her face became too much to bear. Her colorful mane drooped into monochrome. “I just want my best friend back.”

There was a moment of silence. Everyone was too blank to comprehend what Dash had said, only to watch her sympathetically. Eventually, Pinkie started crying heavily.

“I — I admit, I h — haven't been a goody-good friend to Fluttershy,” The pink mare sobbed. "I was such a big meanie weenie. A — and now, it’s ... it’s too late for me to say sorry.”

“M — me too ...” Applejack gained a few sad hiccups, which took the others by surprise. She was muttering something sour under her breath.

“First mum and dad get taken away from me ... an’ now Fluttershy is gone ... a — an’ Discord ... too.” She tried to wipe the tears that were forming on her eyes, but she couldn't keep them from coming out. She grabbed her hat and scrunched it in her hooves by her chest. “Ah’ ... ah miss all of them!”

The depressing realization of the situation struck in. All six of them huddled and started crying together. Tears mixed up in other tears, with cold hugs after hugs, apology after apology. The screams of other ponies only came by as a distant blur in their minds. It was a messy sort of party, but, it was very therapeutic, to say the least. They all loved Fluttershy, and forever being separated from her was a harsh slap. Everyone felt bad that they hadn’t been there for the yellow pegasus when she died. Though, they couldn’t be blamed. They tried.

Twilight sprang up, and shot a commanding hoof. “You know, Dash has a point. I say we avenge our friend!”

“But how?" Spike asked, breaking apart from the group hug. “There’s only six of us ... and an army of her.”

“I have just the rebellious idea.”

Comments

[titanhades70]

Man. You people really don't know what Communism is....

[Ems]

8709308
This chapter has nothing to do with communism.

[Ems]

8710980
Why thank you.

[Pony_Person_123]

They don’t feel like they are truly grieving thier world was practically destroyed

[Ems]

8906997
Not quite. They lost Fluttershy and Discord, but they still have Ponyville and the others. It's still devastating, of course, but not to the point where everyone is going to get all depressed. The mane six are one of those characters that fix problems instead of further moping about it.