Empire of the Sun

by Jumalponi

Chapter 1 - The Eyes of Chaos

She was in that cold, dark, endless void again. It made her scared and she felt alone. She was again on the verge of tears. As always, there was no sounds and no light. Not until the dim glow in the distance appeared. At this point, she always felt a huge power flowing in her veins. It made her feel that if she'd reach the light, she'd be able to do just about anything. The divine light would make her a god, capable of anything. But always, as she tried to reach that light and it grew bigger and stronger, something stopped her. She didn't know what it was or why, but it always happened. She reached out to the light, and just when she was about to touch it, she froze, and something pulled her further from it. She never saw what it was that pulled her away, but it felt familiar and somehow pleasant, even though it pulled her away from what she wanted the most. She felt frustrated, as she never got to touch the light. And always, as she was pulled further from it, she felt the magic in her veins weaken, until she was again just a regular old unicorn again. And as the coldness grew stronger again and the loneliness in her heart grew unbearable, she was suddenly embraced by her.

Of all things, in this dream, it was always Princess Celestia that appeared in the end to embrace her, and when she did, Twilight felt her warmth transferring into her and her loneliness faded to nothing. She felt loved, and she felt no need to become a god. The light in the distance was barely visible anymore, and it felt pointless.

"You don't need a power such as this", she always told her and smiled, and Twilight always cried at this point, tightening her grip of the princess, feeling ashamed of ever even trying to reach the light. Usually at this point the dream would have kept going on for a short while, but it all faded away quickly as a faint, alien sound intruded her dream.

"Wake up", the voice said, sounding less alien this time.

"Wake up, Twilight", the voice said, sounding more familiar.

He sounded nervous. More nervous than usual. Twilight opened her eyes and was blinded by the brightness for a few seconds. Then a blurry image of the familiar purple dragon appeared in front of her, with a worried look on his face.

"You need to get up, Twilight"

"But it's saturday", she replied as she yawned and rolled over, turning her back to the dragon.

Spike was unamused.
"This is important. You have get up."

She closed her eyes and mumbled "I'll get up in a minute."

"No, you need to get up now. The Royal Guard is here."

It took a few seconds for the words to actually sink in her head.

"...The Royal Guard?"

She sprang up nervously, jumped out of her bed, and hurried downstairs. She knew that the princess wouldn't send the Royal Guard to her on casual business. And for official, she'd be there herself.
She almost tumbled down as she ran downstairs to see four royal guards in their golden armor standing at the door.
The guards immediately noticed her. The apparent captain of the group, judging by his uniform, greeted Twilight with a formal salute.

"Twilight Sparkle, we are here on behalf of her royal highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, to retrieve you. It's a matter of national safety. If you are ready, please, come with us."

She stood there dumbfounded. What could be so important, especially since Celestia herself couldn't show up? She was quiet for a second, until she snapped back into reality from her thoughts.
"Is she alright?" She quickly asked.
"The princess, she's alright?"

"Yes, she is.", The captain replied.

Twilight immediately felt a weight fall off from her shoulders.
"Oh, thank heavens. Of course we'll come, let us just grab some---"

She was interrupted by the captain.
"The princess insisted we'd only retrieve the Keepers of Harmony. No one else." The guard said, sounding stern as he did and glanced at Spike who had descended downstairs on Twilight's trail.

She looked over her shoulder at Spike and hesitated for a second.
"Well, okay... I guess. Spike. You'll just have to wait here. I'll let you know everything as soon as I can, okay?"

"Of course. I'll wait here. Just let me know if you need anything", he replied eagerly.

"Good. Thank you, Spike."
She turned back at the guards.
"I'm ready. Let's go."

"Good. This way, Miss Sparkle."
The guards escorted her outside the library, to a carriage in where she was placed next to the captain of the guards.
They took off lightly, and rose quickly upwards.

"There has been an incident in the royal castle. We need you and the rest of the keepers of harmony in there. Her highness couldn't leave the castle for security reasons. That's why we were sent to get you. The other keepers of harmony are being retvieved as we speak."

Twilight was confused.
"What kind of incident? What's happened?"

"Unfortunately I'm not completely aware of the situation either - I just follow orders. The princess however assured us that there is no immediate danger."

"Good. I guess."
She didn't know what else to say. She clearly wasn't going to get any more information from the guards.
She sat there, watching the scenery. The normally short travel to Canterlot never felt so long. After what felt like hours, the carriage landed in the middle of the royal gardens in Canterlot Castle. She hopped down from the carriage and noticed that there was already several other carriages on the lawn outside the castle, indicating that others had already arrived. She was greeted by more guards, who walked with her through the garden inside the great hall. She felt relieved as she saw her friends and princess Celestia, standing next to her throne. The alicorn noticed her presence.

"Ah, you're finally here. I'm terribly sorry for the crude awakening, but this is a matter of great importance."

"What's going on? The guards didn't tell me anything."

"That's because the didn't know anything. So far the only ones who know about this are me and Luna. And soon the six of you. I couldn't risk this information reaching the citizens. They would most certainly panic and cause even more damage. Follow me, to the inner sanctum."

Twilight felt an uncomfortable twist in her stomach. The Inner Sanctum was a sealed hall, far under the city. After they had defeated him and turned him into stone, Celestia had placed the statue of Discord in the inner sanctum, and sealed the room with her magic.
They walked down on the large corridor leading up to the sanctum. In the corridor outside the sanctum was several of her royal guards. They all greeted when she appeared.
The large door in front of them was open. Not only open, it had clearly been destroyed. Almost as if it would've been melted open. Inside the sanctum Twilight saw what she had feared the most. The statue of discord was gone. Almost immediately she saw the red color in the corner of her eye, and rose her head to see the wall on her left.
On the wall were large, red letters that spelled crudely

"THE REIGN OF CHAOS IS UPON US"

She then noticed the four body bags in the corner of the room.

"They were guarding the sanctum last night. Whatever it was, it came from outside the sanctum. And it was powerful. My guards are no pushovers, yet they were slain before they even could set the alarms. And magic like this isn't something that comes by every day. This was done by an incredibly powerful unicorn."

"Or by an alicorn."
Princess Luna stood at the doorway, walking towards them.
The princess glanced at her.
"But there are no alicorns in Canterlot other than me, you and Cadence."

"Not that we know of", Luna continued.
"What if there is someone else? We never found Chrysalis either, did we?"

Celestia shook her head slowly.
"No, sister. This magic isn't Chrysalis'. This is something else. But it matters not. The most important thing now is to find out where Discord is. We cannot leave the castle. Discord is sure to return here eventually. I need to protect Canterlot. If the city falls, we have no chance against him."

She turned her head towards Twilight and her friends.
"That's why I'm sending the six of you to find him."

"But where should we even start looking?", Rarity asked.
"Equestria is huge. Way too big for us to even start looking for him. He could be anywhere."

"If there's one thing that Discord can be counted on, it's leaving clues. Everything's a game for that lunatic. Even last time he gave you clues. There's something we haven't noticed yet."

Pinkie started jumping up and down excitedly.
"Oh! I know! The last time he said he'd make Ponyville 'the chaos capital of the world!' Maybe that's where he's hiding!"

"...And he sure has some unfinished business with us, doesn't he?" Applejack added.

Celestia nodded in agreement. "This is our best lead. You must return to ponyville immediately. If you find him, destroy him at any cost. He's too dangerous to be contained anymore"

Rainbow looked confused.
"Why don't you just send a huge army in there?"

"I need as much soldiers as I can to protect the city. And Discord isn't stupid. If an army were to march to ponyville, he'd use the chance to attack Canterlot. We need to be as discreet as possible. And if the news of Discord's escape were to reach the ears of the citizens, it'd cause chaos. They're disgruntled enough as it is."

Twilight knew full well what the princess meant. Lately there had been several incidents all around Equestria that had shook Celestia's popularity in the eyes of the ponies. First the food aid sent to Phillydelphia after the storm had disappeared on the way there, and the soldiers that were sent there to help had reportedly been terrorizing and plundering in the storm wrecked city. Then there was the explosion in the rainbow factory in Cloudsdale that killed eight workers, and it happened right after the inspectors of the Equestrian Weather Ministry had left it. These, and several other incidents all around Equestria had happened, and by dumb luck they had made it look like Celestia and her government were to blame.

Twilight watched her mentor as she explained the situation, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She knew that Celestia had been under huge stress lately, and as if it wasn't enough, now Discord had escaped. She also knew that not only would the news of his escape cause panic among the nation, but it would yet again make Celestia look responsible. The press would no doubt blame her for neglecting the security in the castle.

Celestia told them about her plan. They were to return to Ponyville to retrieve the elements of harmony, and then proceed to track down Discord. The identity of the culprit behind his escape was of secondary importance, as nothing indicated that he or she would pose any immediate threat to the safety of the ponies, unlike Discord. Celestia herself were to remain in Canterlot with Luna to keep an eye against Discords possible attack against Canterlot. Discord was imprisoned by them centuries before, and he was no doubt eager to return the favor to the alicorns. As strong as the royal guard the Equestrian army was, if he were to attack Canterlot, they'd be the only thing besides the keepers of harmony to stand a chance against him.

"We must hurry. The guards will escort you back to ponyville."

------

Twilight sat next to her friends in the carriage, watching outside silently and thinking while Pinkie Pie tried to lighten the mood with her crazy antics. She felt Fluttershy shaking slightly as she sat next to her. She had been silent since they were briefed by the princess at the castle. Applejack looked serious and Rainbow was boasting about how she'd snap Discord's neck with one hoof. Rarity remarked about Rainbow's brutality, and the two of them started arguing about it. Twilight really couldn't focus on her friends shenanigans, as she tried to focus on what's happened.
Their orders were clear.

"Gather the elements of harmony. Defeat discord."

She made it sound so easy. The last time they faced Discord they barely managed to defeat him. And even that was simply because he underestimated them. Discord might be insane, but he is by no means stupid. He'd be prepared. He wouldn't let them catch him off guard this time.
But she was worried about something else. Something wasn't right. Whoever it was that set Discord free must have had some kind of motive. And no one that strong could be so stupid as to think that they could work with Discord.

There was something strange going on, but she couldn't quite wrap her head around it. It just didn't make any sense. Why would anyone in their right mind set Discord free, even if they did have something against Celestia, or Equestria in general? What good would it serve to plunge all of existence into eternal chaos?

Maybe there wasn't any logical reasons. Maybe the culprit was just as insane as Discord is. Maybe they just wanted to end everything.

She was snapped out of her thoughts, when the carriage landed. Pinkie was already jumping around the cart cheerfully, spouting on about going on an adventure together again. Sometimes Twilight felt that the pink pony didn't fully realize what was going on. This was one of those moments. Once again Pinkie seemed to be outright excited about the situation. In a way she felt sorry for her, thinking that if anything ever would go wrong, Pinkie couldn't handle it. Then again, something in her exaggerated optimism and naiveté was equally cheering and made the whole gang feel a bit easier about the task at hand.

"Easy, Pinkie. We need to plan things first. We can't just rush things.", Applejack tried to calm Pinkie, as she hopped down from the cart.

Rarity descended from the cart gracefully and continued soothing the over-exited pink pony right after Applejack.
"I need to agree with Applejack, dear. We simply cannot go after that beastly creature, not without proper accessories. I have a magnificient cape I've been wanting to test, and it'd be perfect for this occasion."

Behind her, Rainbow imitated Rarity as she spoke, doing her best impression of her. Rarity noticed Pinkie's and Applejack's suppressed laughter and turned back at Rainbow and started preaching about the cyan pegasus' lack of manners. Fluttershy was still in the carriage, clearly gathering her nerves to join the rest of the ponies. Twilight noticed how she was unusually quiet, even for herself. She finally hopped down and they started heading towards the library, accompanied by Pinkie's singing and the fighting between Rarity and Rainbow.

Pinkie's high pitched voice and her surprisingly dark lyrics lulled her into a slight trance as they traversed trough the town. Her words were the only thing twilight was focusing in.

We sprint around, searching high and low
We come around, having fears and doubts
But in the end we'll all come through
For even if there' a storm about to brew
Friends always help you out, it's true

We must find what we're seeking for
We can't stop, no matter how far we go
It's the fate of the world in our hoofs
We can't let it burn away our homes
It'd leave behind only crying foals

We need to save their lives
We need to bring about their smiles
To let the sun rise and shine bright
Even if there's no hope or salvation in sight
We must stand up for those who can't and fight

Twilight felt lightheaded. Unreal, even. It was like she was dreaming.
Her thoughts were blurry and she couldn't focus on anything. For some reason her thoughts kept returning back at her dreams. The dim light in the darkness was distracting her. She had seen the light in her dreams for years, and she never quite understood what it meant. She just knew that the light was full of power, and she wanted it. She wanted to fill the emptiness with immeasurable power. But Celestia always stopped her. She always pulled her back into the darkness. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. She always saved her. She didn't need to fill the emptiness with such power, as long as she had other ponies in her life.
That's what she thought that the dream meant.

The strangely hypnotic and upbeat singing was stopped suddenly as they reached their destination, and Twilight snapped back into reality.
At the library they were greeted by Spike, who immediately prepared tea and snacks for the ponies and joined them in the library afterwards. Twilight explained the situation to him, and he was getting increasingly worried as she went over the details.

"So... He killed those guards? It's not like him. I mean, last time he got free he didn't kill anyone. It just isn't like him. Sure, he's evil and insane, but he never seemed like someone who'd just go around killing folks."

"He isn't exactly predictable, Spike.", Twilight explained, "And it was certainly he who had smeared the wall with their blood, there's no question about that. And as said, someone else freed him. It's likely that whoever it was, they were the ones who killed the guards. Discord was propably the one who maimed the bodies afterwards. You should've seen it. There was barely anything left of them"

"Maybe it's good I didn't. But you're right. Discord isn't the most sane creature around. It happens when your trapped in stone for a few centuries." Spike muttered. "But who would be crazy enough to free that lunatic?"

"I don't know. That's all that I've been thinking since we found out what happened.", Twilight stated.

"I think it's like an conspiracy or something" Rainbow interrupted them.

"A conspiracy? Really?" Applejack asked Rainbow, not sure if the pegasus was serious.

"Yeah! Like, someone high up plotted this whole thing! There's something to be gained in all of this, and when we found out who's the one to gain anything from this, we'll found out the real culprits!"

"But that's just it, Rainbow. No one could possibly gain anything from freeing him. And who of the 'high ups' do you think could be behind this? There's no one except the members of the royal family and the higher officers of the guard in Canterlot that could be behind this, unless it's somepony we don't know of."

"You're such a killjoy, Twilight. At least I have a theory."

"Well, whoever it was, it's just as the Princess said. We need to focus on Discord for now. He's a bigger threat than the one who freed him. Frankly, I'm surprised he haven't shown up yet. He's not the kind who'd just lay low, waiting for his opportunity. We need to plan this right. And I think I know where and how we should start.
Pinkie, I'll need you to stay with me. I'll have something else I need the rest of you to do. Rainbow, you need to go and get us something from Cloudsdale. The rest of you, I need you to pay a visit to a friend."

------

Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity were heading to the Everfree forest just outside of Ponyville. Twilight had said that it would be good if they'd get in touch with Zecora, for she might have some information or some other way of helping them. The Zebra knew Everfree forest better than anyone else, and if anyone would know a suitable hiding place for a draconequus in there, she'd be the one. They travelled onwards on the very same route they had been using for so long, yet it felt somehow different. It was as if someone was watching them. The eerie sensation grew stronger as they neared Zecoras home. They quickly realized something was terribly wrong. A pillar of thick, black smoke rose beyond the trees in front of them. They stopped for a second and stared at the smoke in sheer disbelief, when the silence was stopped by Fluttershy gasping.

"She could be in trouble! We must get to her, quick!"

The three of them rushed towards the zebra's house, just to find it in ruins. Whoever had done it, left nothing intact. The tree in which she lived was cut down and burning, her home consumed by the flames. There was no sign of Zecora to be seen. Fluttershy flew up and tried to scope the nearby area, but to no avail. Zecora was gone. She descended back to the ground. Applejack noted how she was trembling and biting her lip just to prevent herself from crying. She didn't say anything.

Applejack noted the hoofmarks on the ground. She recognized them to be that of a zebra. And following them were multiple other hoofmarks. She looked at Rarity, who nodded in agreement, and the three of them started running after Zecora. It was clear that she was in trouble. As they galloped through the thickly grown trees and bushes, Rarity couldn't help but wonder out loud what everyone was thinking.

"What if we're too late?"

"We wont be. She's fine. If they'd want her dead, her body would've been at her house."
She didn't believe it herself either. She just wanted to calm Fluttershy, who had already been scared before they even knew that Zecora was gone.
Fluttershy stumbled on a tree root and whimpered as she fell down.

Rarity quickly stopped and turned around to help her up.
"Fluttershy, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"

Fluttershy stood up, ashamed of her weakness. Everyone else had the courage to put their life on the line to track down a god of chaos, when she couldn't even focus in running because of her fear.
"You two should go on without me, I'm no good when I'm so nervous. I can go back to Twilight and tell them what's happened"

Applejack knew that she was right. Fluttershy was on the verge of panic, and if she'd break down, they'd have to tend to her too, on side of tracking and saving Zecora.
"Okay. You go and tell them. But we need you guys. Please, fly as fast as you can, Fluttershy. We need to save her. They're after her for a reason. She must know something"

Fluttershy nodded in agreement and uttered a feeble "thank you", as she rose upwards and disappeared into the sky.
Applejack and Rarity continued the tracking deeper into the dark forest.

Fluttershy flew towards the edge of the forest, where she'd turn towards ponyville. If she'd be fast enough, she could reach Twilight and the others before they'd leave. They were planning to search the mountains for any sign of Discord, for it was an ideal location for him to make a temporary base of operations, as it was secluded enough, yet still close enough of both Ponyville and Canterlot.
She already saw the silhoutte of Ponyville on the horizon, when the sky suddenly blackened over her. She glanced upwards, only to see a gigantic creature blocking everything else. And the creature was looking back at her. She was nearly petrified from the sheer horror, as she looked deep into the eyes of chaos.

Comments

[Jumalponi]

I finally got the first chapter done. I've never written fiction before, and I really don't even read that much of it. I've read like 4 or 5 fics before. And before you say anything, if this story resembles any other story, it's purely coincidental. I've got no idea whether or not this same idea has been used, and how often. It propably has been used already, I don't think that it's all that original. But we'll see. This will propably be a long one anyway, I think that it'll last at least 10 chapters, and their length will vary quite a bit. And I have absolutely no idea when I'll get it done. But anyways, I'll try to get it done. Some day. And I'll just say it again in case someone missed it: I've never written fiction before. So if it sucks too much, please, keep that in mind before you verbally assault me about me being the absolute worst writer in the history of mankind.