Ch. 1: Sealed With a Kiss
What is the true meaning of life? Is it equality of rights and finance? Is it worship of a deity to ensure a secure afterlife? Is it acceptance of all ideas as valid ways of thinking? Is it figured out by the most complex mathematical formula that ultimately results in a cliched, two-digit number?
Nay, I say. The only meaning in life is power! Some ponies are born with the power to rule. Others are born to be weaklings that need those rulers to show them their place. All ponies are not made equal! Differentiation must be made! All weaklings, bow to the might of the Lunar Republic!
~Emperor Sombra, Year A.F.(After Faust) 2216
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Sealed With a Kiss
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"Sunny, get back here!" hollered Shining Armor, "You've been absent from too many classes as it is!"
"I don't see what the big deal is!" Sunny Skies called back, "I already have top marks in all of my subjects. Plus, I have all those hours put into extracurricular activities."
She practically dove down the open space in the middle of the spiraling staircase. The rush of air against her flowing, pink mane was so exhilarating. Then with just a slight thought, she caught herself in her yellow magic and hovered a bit just before landing soundlessly on the ground floor.
"Hi! Bye!" she greeted quickly to the two staring students before she galloped away.
"Was that Sunny Skies?" wondered the student on the left.
"Yeah," sighed the student on the right, "It's her... again."
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"So, Sunny," piped up Cadance while driving the motorized bike with sidecar, "What happens after high school?"
"I'm not sure, Big Sis," answered Sunny Skies honestly, "There's college, but I'm tired of being a student. On the other hoof, I'm not quite ready to look for a job either. I guess I'm kind of stuck."
"Well, I'm sure you'll figure out something," assured Cadance.
They rode in relative silence all the way to the Exosphere Casino. The name was very misleading as it really only went up to the stratosphere.
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"Target is on the move."
"Tracking."
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"I believe that's checkmate," said Sunny confidently.
The chess player known as "Black Bishop" stared in shock. But there was no denying it. Her king was cornered with no way out.
"How is this possible?" she pondered aloud.
The gathered crowd shared her disbelief. How had one of the world's chess champions lost to a high school filly?
"Oh, relax," chuckled Sunny, "I won't tell any pony."
"Maybe," said Black Bishop suddenly smirking, "But people are going to start spreading rumors... about how a stinky kid cheated the Black Bishop in a game."
The crowd's expressions of disbelief changed degree.
"But it's chess!" exclaimed Cadance, "It's impossible to cheat."
"Who are the people going to believe?" chuckled Black Bishop, "An influential billionaire or an anonymous student?"
"You filthy, lying mare!" insulted Sunny. She was shaking in fear and frustration simultaneously. She was so distracted that she didn't notice the Black Bishop's right-hand colts until they had pinned her to the floor.
"Sunny!" yelped Cadance.
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A greater threat made itself known. Large pieces of the ceiling dropped sporadically. Ponies at machines, tables, and bowling were now running around in random directions trying to find ways to escape. Following the ceiling, some giant mechanical ponies known as Lancelots crashed in and started raining bullets in several directions.
The elevators were getting ridiculously crowded with escapees.
"Dumb earth ponies should go use the stairs," shouted some pony over the crashing.
"This way!" shouted a voice as Sunny found herself being grabbed by a flyer's hoof.
"What? Wait a minute!" yelled Sunny trying to figure out what was going on. She ended up running into another pony and the first one let go of her.
"Sunny?" cried Cadance, "Sunny!"
"L-Let's try the stairs!" yelled Sunny over the cacophony of noises.
The two sisters headed for the barely used and dusty stair case and were galloping as quickly as they could. This first set of stairs ended on a floor that was still high up. The next set was across a long storage room that had crates scattered around. Sunny and Cadance could still hear bullet noises from somewhere above. So, they needed to keep running. As they ran over a slightly glassed section of the floor, some of the ceiling crumbled and fell.
"Look out!" Cadance cried as she quickly shoved Sunny out of the way. In doing so, however, the block landed on top of Cadance and broke through the floor beneath her. Her wings couldn't move with that much debris in the way and her magic wasn't that strong either. She was at gravity's mercy.
"Big Sis!" cried Sunny running over to look down the open floor, "Big Sis!"
"Celestia," murmured a voice. Sunny turned her tear-streamed face and saw a red stallion. Where did he come from? Who was he? What was he doing here? Why did his cutie mark look like the alicorn amulet?
But before Sunny could vocalize any of her questions, something popped. A hole in the stallion's chest was opened and his blood spilled through it. His eyes shared as much shock as Sunny had in hers. Without even thinking, she dove under and caught him on her back. His eyes slowly closed and his breath was silenced.
Sunny started looking toward where the bullet had come from. She was surprised to see a Lunar Republican Lancelot and five foot-soldiers. The Lancelot's driver and the rest of the soldiers all wore midnight blue armor representing their loyalty to the Lunar Republic.
"I...I don't understand," sniffed Sunny, "Why are the Lunar Republicans shooting the innocent?"
"It seems the terrorists are rather interested in you, Sunny Skies," chuckled the Lancelot's driver.
"Me?" echoed Sunny, "Why me?"
"Well, you lured out D-5 just fine," was the response.
"D-5?" she echoed as she turned her head to look at the apparently dead stallion, "You mean him?"
"Though, it would seem your usefulness is over and done with," continued the driver.
"Tell me!" Sunny yelled while turning back to the driver, "What do I have to do with all of this?"
"Heh," snorted the driver, "I'd be wasting my time explaining to some pony that's about to die."
The soldiers levitated their magical firearms and prepared to fire on the clueless alicorn.
I can't create a shield strong enough to fend off that many attackers, thought Sunny, Is this... really how I'm going to die? Without even knowing the reason? I...I need something powerful. I need something to...
"You already have it."
"Huh?" she opened her eyes and turned to the face of the pony that was on her back.
He's alive? Sunny was rightly confused.
"Remember your true self," he whispered, "Dawn."
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He kissed her on the lips.
Suddenly, Sunny's eyes were filled with rushing lights and nonsensical pictures. Galaxies were spinning on each other's edges. Daggers collided with exploding firearms. A unicorn's horn glowed as giant wings flapped behind it. After some time, the chaos merged back into distinguishable visions.
"Wait..." muttered Sunny.
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"I got it!" panted Luna, "I really got it!"
"The moon?" asked Celestia, "Or your cutie mark?"
"The moon of course," pouted Luna, "I don't... have..."
She trailed off as she looked back and noticed what was on her side.
"I raised the moon and earned my cutie mark!" she cheered.
"Really? I didn't notice," teased Celestia.
"Tia," grumbled Luna.
"Just kidding," Celestia smiled.
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"Promise to keep this contract, and I shall grant you a power untold," whispered the changeling.
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"Would you be so kind as to give me your Lancelot?" asked Celestia sincerely.
At once, the stallion that was facing her gained an abnormal red tint in his eyes. Where he had been levitating a spear before, he now held out his vehicle's key.
"Understood," he affirmed, "The user password is 'nights'."
Celestia grabbed the key in her own magic as she walked on by.
"Thank you," she smiled.
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A mare in full-body armor that shone like gold stood in front of the camera's view. The armor made her flowing mane shine in multiple shades of blue and pink. Beside her were several other ponies in slightly more revealing armor, but still with face covers. Above their heads flew a flag composed of two alicorns chasing each other around the sun and the moon.
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"Results obtained through empty desires are meaningless," stated her friend, "The system needs to be changed from within."
"Following rules and doing things by the book only leaves you in chains of slavery like dogs," spat Celestia, "I refuse to believe that peace is like that!"
"I'm doing this for your own good," said Twilight Sparkle tearfully, "After all... aren't we friends?"
"Twilight Sparkle!"
"Celestia!"
*BRRZAP*
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"I remember now," muttered Celestia coming back to reality, "I am Dawn: leader of the Solaris Knights. We aim to overthrow the Lunar Republic and we will succeed."
"And you already have the power you need," said the red stallion.
Celestia nodded, "Please step aside, D-5."
D-5 smirked as he complied.
"How is he still alive?" wondered one of the soldiers.
"He was shot in the heart," added another.
Celestia stared directly at them. Her left eye was filled with a red light in the shape of an alicorn's head and wings. She raised a hoof before holding it straight off to the side.
"By order of Princess Celestia," she declared with a bit of forced emphasis, "I command you all to climb through the nearest window!"
Normally, trained soldiers would never listen to a high school student, let alone obey them. But, something in that suggestion just felt so compelling. Maybe it was that light in her eye. It was such a pretty light. Pretty, pretty light. They felt like they would be all right as long as they listened to the suggestions of that light. It wanted them to climb out a window? Okay.
Celestia and D-5 watched the affected soldiers march out in single file. One after the other climbed out the window. What they hadn't been told by the order was what to do after leaving by way of the fortieth floor above ground level. Fall came early for these soldiers.
"I know your Mesmer requires direct eye contact," commented D-5, "But, were those theatrics really necessary?"
"You'd know all about acting," retorted Celestia still smiling, "Wouldn't you, changeling?"
"I can see criticizing you won't result in any gain," sighed D-5 while looking away.
Celestia then took a look at the empty Lancelot standing open and without a driver.
"In hindsight," thought Celestia out loud, "perhaps I should have asked that one colt to give me his key and password before leaving."
"Micromanaging was never your strong suit," remarked D-5 in his typical half-serious tone.
But, Celestia was already thinking about something else. It involved how her current memories conflicted with her falsified ones.
I have a younger sister, she thought, but not an older one. But then, who is Cadance?
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