Chapter 1 - Taking Cloudsdale, Part 1
"Don't be stupid, he doesn't have the courage. He wouldn't try if he could," said Ochre, not perfectly sure of his words, but fairly confident that the Solar Flare he knew wouldn't do what he said he would.
"You never know, Ochre, he might have suddenly become a completely different pony." Caelum wrinkled his muzzle in faux-thought, pretending to have genuine fear about the state of Solar Flare's sanity but being unable to stop himself rolling his deep blue eyes, "Though I doubt it, with his incredible brains!" he stifled a laugh. Nopony was as stupid as Solar Flare, not even Derpy, and she wasn't particularly bright. The clouds absorbed all of their movements as they elected to trot through Cloudsdale rather than take the normal route through the sky. They felt like relaxing today, and being above the clouds the sky was always crystal blue, the warm sun enveloping them in its warm glow.
The two stallions continued their trot through the clouds, steadily making their way to a similar goal: cake. The bakery near Caelum's house was noted for its incredibly moist cake, and it was nearly always full. Luckily, today most ponies were out working, producing extra rainbows for the mayor's birthday. Ochre was a maker of furniture, and Caelum was a weather pony, though not on duty today. The smell of mint and orange drifted through the lane, prompting Ochre to begin salivating.
"Caaaaaaaelum," he started, smiling crookedly at the pony in question. "I forgot my bits. Can you buy me some cake?"
Caelum rolled his eyes and slowed outside the bakery and pushing open the door with his hoof, being greeted by Éclair with a smile as he waved a hoof and shouted his order over the patrons already seated; "I'll take three Orange muffins and a medium choco-"
He was cut off by a scream outside, and turned on his hooves to see a bright red pony beating its wings at an unbelievable pace, blurring the space around her, flying up and down, trying to shake the pony that came shortly after. The chaser was covered in a layer of weak flame, his mane and tail still intact however. He seemed to stop instantly outside the bakery, his horn glowing brightly as the window began to slowly crack. He beat his wings heavily, smiling as shards of glass began to fall either side of the window-pane.
"Ochre... is that..."
Caelum didn't get an answer as a bolt of flame shot through the glass, sending its fragments in all directions and scorching the tail off of Ochre. He let out a screech of pain, and tears began to form on the rims of his eyelids, threatening to stream down his face. The stallion stepped inside, smiling grimly at the cashier before turning towards Ochre and Caelum.
"I told you everything. I told you about the spell I found, how I could use it to fulfil all of our wildest dreams. I stole the potion, gave myself the horn, and cast it permanently. I'm your new friendly neighborhood alicorn, and I'm here to inject a little chaos into your day. You should have run, fellas. Sorry it had to end like this.”
Every word that left Solar Flare's mouth made him seem more distant, more alien to the two stallions before him. He'd been planning their painful deaths for a few months now. He knew that even when he asked them to, they wouldn't leave. He picked them up with his long orange horn, and levitated them through the streets, and despite the fight they gave, the struggle they put up trying desperately to break free from the maroon aura around them, they were going nowhere. He made his trot to the centre of Cloudsdale as drawn out and deliberate as possible, letting them wear themselves out so he didn't have to. By the time they reached the middle of the city, where a crowd had formed to watch the tyrant, Ochre had passed out and Caelum was fighting for air, the aura partially cutting off their airflow. He dropped them onto the raised platform where the mayor would normally stand, and announced his arrival to the citizens of Cloudsdale.
“My name is Solar Flare, and I'm here to display to you what happens when you refuse to fear,” the pony began, unrecognisable from the Solar Flare that Ochre and Caelum knew. He bent down to whisper into their ears, the scent of blood and cookies drifting through the air, “My name is Solar Flare, and I'm about to end you.”
At that, Caelum swung wildly at the voice, having regained his breath and some of his strength. Solar simply stepped back and allowed the other stallion to roll onto his hooves, gritting his teeth. The two ponies stared at each other for a moment, Caelum with a grimace and Solar with a wry smile, before Caelum staggered forward, lunging at Solar with a hoof. Expecting the manoeuvre, he simply stepped out of the way and sent a sharp kick to Caelum's knee.
“I expected a lot more from you, to be perfectly honest. I never thought you'd go down this easily.”
Caelum made his way to standing again, turning to catch the brunt of a ball of pure flame, hitting his side and knocking him off the stage. The drop was short, but it felt like an eternity before Caelum connected with the ground head first, emitting a loud crack that let the crowd know exactly what was happening. Caelum struggled to hold onto life, but as his eye went limp, the crack in his skull allowing crimson blood to pour over the floor around him, he could do nothing but reach out towards a rainbow haired pegasus as his eyelids flitted shut.
“If you run away, the same happens to you,” Solar Flare shouted, a vengeful look etched across his face, and another fireball already forming at the tip of his horn.
The crowd remained completely silent as Solar Flare walked over to Ochre, his next victim, aside from one brave young colt in the front of the crowd, who seemed to think provoking the alicorn on stage would improve the situation for him.
“What the buck is wrong with you? Who messed your shit up, you jumped up prick!”
Needless to say, his lifeless body was laid across the ground in moments, engulfed in flame with a hole straight through his abdomen.
"Celestia won't save you now."
Scootaloo woke in a cold sweat, beads of ice cold liquid forming on her muzzle and dripping down her face. Was it really all a dream? She dragged herself out of bed and onto the small beanbag in her little - or as the carers called it - 'cosy' room, clutching at a stack of comics. Trying to force the mental image of death out of her head, she found it only etched itself deeper, embedding itself in her eyes. She spilled out of the beanbag, burying her head back into its warm embrace, its chocolate colour encasing her body. She struggled to her hooves and almost tore the soft purple curtain off its railing, the naked light outside nearly blinding her.
She had to bite on her lower lip to stop herself screaming every obscenity known as the radiant, yet incredibly bright, sun beat down into her room. She squinted before finally fully opening her eyes and taking in the day. There seemed to be more clouds today than there were meant to be, almost like the Cloudsdale citizens were pre-occupied. Strange, seeing as the weather ponies were meant to have the skies completely clear everyday this week. She stretched her wings revealing her cutie mark. She'd had it for a week, and she still wasn't used to the feather emblazoned on her flank. She sighed a little and threw on a loose black hoodie before heading to Sugarcube Corner without even so much as a goodbye to the carers. She kicked off from the dirt track and let her wings carry her upwards. Flying was still relatively new to her, but she was already good enough to have a race against Rainbow Dash, the mare she was meant to be meeting today. They were going up to the Wonderbolt Academy, to see what they could do about getting her in. Scootaloo dropped into a wooden seat and waited, assuming that either Rainbow Dash was 'fashionably late' or trying to avoid Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be in an extremely happy mood this morning.
Ochre's eyes were heavy as he came about, finally waking up from the shaking Solar had given him earlier carrying him to the stage. He saw the crowd gathered around him, and then the two dead bodies on the floor. Looking up to his captor, he was stared back at with firey eyes, and no solstice was found in them, nothing but a harsh view into a damaged pony.
“Your turn, then.”
Ochre was lifted off his feet again, nearly throwing up from the sudden jerky movements. Solar Flare lowered his head, bringing forward a short blade of pure magic, forcing it to appear from thin air. He saw Ochre was going to scream and he instantly sent the knife in, raking around in his throat and causing the victim to bring up a cough of blood and flesh. The limp body spun in mid-air, Solar trying to consider how next to attack this. No aid had come to the ponies, despite the silent desperate pleas from the crowd.
The knife's movements were swift but designed not to kill, but fatally wound. It went straight through Ochre's stomach, causing him to grip tightly toward it, opening his neck for the next slash. The blade ripped through coat and skin, before Ochre was dropped to the ground, trying to scream but producing only gargles as he slowly choked on his own blood.
“As I said earlier, ladies and gentlecolts, my name is Solar Flare. I am far superior to all of you, but you're not all useless; in fact you're anything but. You will be armed shortly. Celestia and Luna are away fighting their own battles, preparing for a war with Twilight's own army.” This came as a shock to many of the ponies, unaware of the goings on down on the ground. “The Traditionalists fight for supreme rule, with a single Princess to rule Equestria. The Liberalists want a democracy to keep peace. We are the Anarchists. You and I will destroy what little order there is left in Equestria, and I will rule with an iron fist. Of course, being my loyal soldiers, you will receive slight benefits. Who's with me!”
Nopony wanted to shout gleefully at the prospect of Solar Flare's rule, but nopony dared to resist. Today was the start of a terrible revolution.