• Published 8th Apr 2021
  • 888 Views, 8 Comments

Child of the Sun - LordofPenAndPaper



Into the twisted world of the Solar Empire, enter Orion, the sole son and heir of the God-Empress. His alicorn heritage and destiny has the potential to shape that of Equestria—if he can break out of his ivory tower...

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Chapter I: Alighting a Beginning

All I could see was white. Everything, and all. It was bright, uncomfortable, and seemed to last for an eternity. An eternity wherein I floated in a world of Nothing, formless and shapeless.

"Child..." The voice echoed in the Nothing. "You are Ours. You will be reforged in Our image."

A flame flickered to life out of the blank Nothing. It grew and grew to consume everything, to fill my view. Heat flooded my system; I tried to shy away- but found that my body could not move, if there even was one, for I floated in the Nothing. Blinking, I tried to struggle, to kick, to do anything, though nothing changed, despite how much I struggled and pain washed over me, floating in the flames. It was surreal, actually. The flames around me grew still larger, consuming the Nothing and filling it with fire and blistering heat that caused me to try to shrink back again, though I knew it was futile. It danced and twisted around me, whatever I was- before a shape appeared in the raging inferno.

It was vague at first, like the flames, before its contours became clear and a form was made permanent. It was a pony, tall and fair, with a mane that shone and moved like fire. A proud, white horn on its head, a wing extending from each alabaster flank. An Alicorn, and by the looks of it, a Royal one. Viewing this image, pure, tantalizing magic rushed past and through my shapeless figure as two slitted, white eyes looked upon me.

The Alicorn offered a faint nod. And it all went dark.


I woke up in an expansive round bed that stood at the end of a rectangular chamber. Bookshelves lined the white walls, barring the one behind my bed, it turned out, as I scrambled to my hooves. Behind the semicircular bed from which I clambered, a mural was embedded in the wall, depicting a rising (or setting, I wasn't sure) sun.

Shrugging and folding my wings on my back, I climbed from the bed, looking through the familiar room: the grandest of my quarters in the Celestial Palace. Cantering to one of the bookshelves, my horn glowed with the rich golden colour that signified my magic, trying to telekinetically lift the book from its shelf. It glowed with the same colour as my horn before it, ever so slowly, came to shakily drift from the shelf in my telekinetic grasp.

"Prince Orion-" The book hit the ground, my tentative magical grasp broken "-Her Divine Radiance demands your presence in the Throne Room." The voice of my steward, Graphite Quill, announced from the doorway leading into the room. I glared up to the Steward, standing between the golden doors that led into my chambers. The unicorn shrank back at my glare: "Y-your Radiance?"

"We are on our way. You may lead us to the Throne Room." I said, getting up to follow the elder unicorn, and soon joining him in the red and gold hallway of the resplendent Imperial Apartments. Gold and marble decorated the walls; my hooves trod on the burgundy carpet that covered the floor. Cantering down the long, maze-like hallways of gold, marble, and shades of red, mostly with fire motifs, I zoned out--mentally preparing myself and my filly form for what was to come--and followed Graphite Quill to the room at the centre of everything: the palace, the Empire, and the Imperial bureaucracy. Coming to a halt in front of a massive golden door inlaid with a rising sun, Graphite Quill turned to me: "You may enter, Your Radiance." The unicorn bowed his head submissively, took a step back, and prepared to knock loudly on the gong announcing an arrival. 'Why does She want to see me?' I wondered as Graphite's horn alighted with a white glow.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Thrice, the gong rang out, and with nary a sound, the grand door to the Throne Room opened. Suppressing any thoughts, though the Gods know I was shaking on my spindly legs, I held my head high as I had been taught and slowly entered the Throne Room, the grand golden door slamming shut with another boom behind me.

The room was dark; no torches lined the walls, or magical fire was present to light the immensely tall room. Darkness was over me but ahead of me was a bright light. Moving through the darkness over the carpeted--red, I guessed--floor, my hooves softly treading on the carpet leading to the end of the room. I was forced to begin squinting when I came close enough, my eyes taking time to adjust from the darkness to the glowing radiance.
Seated there on Her throne was Celestia, Empress of the Solar Empire, known to her enemies as the Daybreaker. She is divinity incarnate.

The Alicorn Empress was tall, towering over all even while seated on Her throne--or maybe especially while seated on Her throne. A mane of liquid fire spilt from her neck and hindquarters, flowing down to rest like dancing flame on the ground around Her. Celestia shone with inner luminosity, the only light present in the expansive throne room; the light was echoed and reflected on Her alabaster skin--something we shared, apparently. A tall horn came from her head; two large wings, also white, extended from Her back.

Baleful red-gold, slitted eyes came to rest upon me as I humbled myself before Her throne, kneeling before the God-Empress. "Hail, Your Divine Radiance, my Empress! Ever, I am at Your service!" I cried as I had been taught, although my voice seemed oh so small in the darkness before the Day Incarnate. At least She seemed pleased.

"DO NOT BE AFRAID, OUR CHILD. RISE," The uncomfortably warm, haughty Royal Canterlot Voice of the most Divine God-Empress of the Solar Empire thundered through the throne room. Then, it softened: "Humble thyself not before Us, thine own mother."

Author's Note:

So, I hope y'all are enjoying it thus far! This is my first MLP fanfiction, so bear with me while I write this; new chapters will come out as soon as I write them.