The Sun Has Fallen

The Sun has Fallen

Chapter 1: The Chaos Ends

By: Clue Tzes

She shook her head slowly, her ears still ringing as she climbed to her hooves. The ground around her had burn marks and the castle in front of her had holes in the walls, as if it had been attacked.

The castle…?

Looking down at her hooves, she saw bruises and scrapes on them, tattered bits of her dress still cloaking the upper parts.

My dress… Wh-where am I?

She quickly looked over her body at the rest of the outfit, the blue cape-like dress missing scraps here and there. The dress had lost its fluff, now resting directly on her back. Her friend would be angry that her dress for the Grand Galloping Gala had been ruined. She paused, trying to place the friend who had made it.

R-Rarity… Yes, that sounds about right but the Gala… Th-the Gala?!?! I haven’t gone to that for the past three years, why now…?

She kept thinking, trying to find the reason, “Come on…” she wondered aloud, trying to recall her own name, “T-Twilight! I’m Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s favorite and only pupil… That’s right, but what am I doing here…? Everything since wasn’t just a dream or something, was it?”

Twilight fluttered her wings as she kept thinking, trying to see if there wasn’t any way she could prove to herself it wasn’t.

Wings… Good, it was all real. So why the Gala? Why would I come here after everything la-

Her thoughts cut short as all the memories came flooding back. As she was forced back to her knees in pain, she saw flashes of what had happened three years prior, Fluttershy went mad with the animals, Rarity had a bad date with a snooty prince, Rainbow Dash knocked down the statue trying to save it, Applejack tried to force her apples on to everypony there, and Pinkie Pie’s party etiquette wasn’t the same as the snobby ponies at that party. Celestia said the party was always dull and that Twilight and her friends had been the best thing to happen to it in years… Spike had been there too, except at the Donut Shop stuffing himself full of sprinkle-covered donuts in a fit of depression. Twilight giggled at the thought as she lie there, wincing as a sharp pain ran through her underside.

My friends, good. I remember them too. But wh-what happened to me? Where’s Spike, m-maybe he can he- her thoughts cut off as she gazed around, finally realizing she was alone on the path to the castle.

Debris and rubble were scattered around her, she assumed both had come from the castle walls. Curiosity urged her up once more and she began moving forward, giving a slight limp with each slow step. The large doors were cracked open, bits and pieces missing from the top. She began nudging the open one forward, moving into the entry hall slowly. Corpses scattered the ground inside, each surrounded by drying blood. The fancy-dressed, blood-stained bodies were in groups, as if they had been together at the time of their demise, with the occasional guard randomly scattered about.

Makes sense, it was a party. Something crashed it though, something terrible and deadly. What could have caused this…? Would the Princess kn-

“THE PRINCESS!?” Twilight shrieked, urging herself forward as quickly as she could with her limp.

She kept her gaze away from the bodies, her stomach churning at the mere thought of them lying there. She kept going, moving towards the staircase where the Princess would stand and greet the guests as they came up to her. Her mind flashed, remembering all the ponies she had to meet, back before she was royalty of any sort. She had still just been Twilight the try-hard student on a quest to understand friendship in Ponyville. She sighed as she reached the top of the staircase, finding it void of all but a single corpse, directly in front of where Celestia would’ve stood. Twilight stomped hard on the ground, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, partly from pain and partly from the frustrating lack of knowledge pertaining to her mentor and her friends’ locations.

She turned and went back down, fluttering her wings to help ease each step. They weren’t as sore, but they still hurt nonetheless. Moving to the side room, she quickly looked left and right to make sure nopony was waiting. On the left stood the empty area where a statue once stood, knocked down by a collaboration of Rarity, Blueblood and Rainbow Dash, the latter with good intentions. To her right the room extended, corpses and party decorations scattered among the walls. The decorations were off though; they weren’t what she remembered last time.

These streamers… Are those balloons…? All of these just scream… Pinkie Pie!

Another flash hit her, more memory coming back. Celestia had worked to make the Gala into something more different, less boring for her and others. She enlisted the best party planner the two cities had known, and then invited the friends to come too. She had had faith that they’d make it a truly grand Grand Galloping Gala, just like the last time.

Only the Gala doesn’t seem so grand now… So I know why we came, but I don’t know what happened…

Twilight moved up to the stage where the band had been set to play, their instruments still in their places, untouched. She sat next to a large cello, leaning back and resting on it as she felt her strength still barely returning. She kept trying to think and pull together any memories she could find about what happened, but all she could get out of herself was the letter from Celestia and the train ride up here. She began thinking back on the prior, tying to recall anything that would chain together with a further memory.

“Come on Spike,” Twilight said, “What’s the letter say!”

“Can you give me a second? I mean, I’m not only letting out scrolls,” he replied, rubbing his stomach as he stayed bent over the trashcan, expecting to get sick.

“As of now you have been, but of course this is what you get for not listening to me when I said not to eat those five rubies before bed!” Twilight scolded him, levitating the scroll to herself to read.

Dear Twilight,

I am inviting you once again to the Grand Galloping Gala.

Oh joy… Twilight mused to herself, rolling her eyes before continuing onward.

I know that you are already uninterested, but I also know that you will read any letter I send all the way through. This time things will be different because I hired a special party planner for this Gala and made her make a special promise she would not tell you anything about it until you received your tickets. I have sent you six tickets contained with this letter, your friend already has her own ticket stored in her mane; however she does that I will never understand but that is not the point of this letter. I hope you will not leave your friend, or your mentor, disappointed by not gracing us with your presence; after all, ponies have been wondering if Princess Twilight Sparkle will make an appearance this year. As a matter of fact, I believe I can still require you to come as an assignment but I will leave it up to you to decide.

Yours jokingly,

Princess Celestia

Twilight groaned as she pulled the tickets out of the envelope to look at them, “I think Celestia and Pinkie Pie would be good friends, as much as Celestia likes to tease and torment with her jokes… When is this thing anyways,” she asked herself as she looked for the date on the back, “T-tonight?! I-I need to go get the girls. Spike, hold down the library tonight if you’re not feeling well enough to go, I’ve got a Gala to attend!” Then she tossed Spike his ticket and had sprinted out, leaving the unconscious baby dragon behind.

That was all she could get at the time, but why had Celestia wanted her to come so bad? Maybe it was due to her being royalty now, but to have Pinkie plan this party didn’t make much sense.

I guess I should’ve known this was Pinkie’s work after all…

Balloons and streamers decorated the walls and ceiling while popped and torn versions of both coated the floor. She noticed two wheel marks on the ground, partially covered by the ruined decorations, obviously from Pinkie’s Party Cannon.

“I bet it looked beautiful Pinkie…” Twilight whispered aloud sadly, desperately breaking the silence, as tears came to her eyes, “Wh-where is everyone…”

She lowered her head and wiped away the tears with her wings, now wasn’t the time for crying. She began trying to think, what could’ve caused this? She quickly used a spell to summon herself a pencil and notebook, causing her head to hurt once more. Fighting through the pain she used her magic to quickly write a checklist composed of a few things. First on the list were her friends and the two princesses, next came finding out what had happened and last came stopping whatever it was. She thought for a few seconds before quickly scribbling down Summon Discord.

He has power, just like Celestia and Luna did, and it’d be very hard for Celestia to let him come and keep the guests from panicking so he’ll be my best bet at getting help. I can’t do much of anything without my magic causing my head to bring me to my knees though.

Twilight began breathing slowly in preparation for the pain, focusing everything she had on her thoughts as she began casting the summoning spell for Discord. As it began, her horn suddenly stopped glowing which only meant one thing.

Discord’s already here… b-but he didn’t do this… He c-couldn’t have, right?!

Twilight quickly amended the final object in her notebook, crossing out the word Summon and replacing it with Find before putting it on her back and climbing off of the stage. The first step she took landed her in a small bit of blood, causing her to stare at her hoof in grim silence. She quickly brought her other hoof up to her mouth, on the verge of throwing up as she pulled the one hoof from the puddle and shook it rapidly, getting what she could off.

Ew ew ew! I-I… I’m going to pass out… wh-whose blood did I-I step in?!?

She quickly gazed up to make sure the victim in question wasn’t one of her friends or anypony else she knew but stopped as soon as she looked. There was no corpse creating the blood she had stepped in, only a trail leading up a set of stairs next to the stage. Twilight sighed to herself and wiped the rest of the blood off of her and onto a decimated streamer. As she silently apologized to Pinkie, she began limping her way towards the stairs, following the trail as she did. She looked up the staircase and decided it was dark enough for her to have to light her way. She lit her horn and began to ascend the stairs to whatever waited above.

Stairs… I think I…

Before the thought could finish she fell to the ground, doing her best not to slide down the stairs as another memory pushing through caused her head to enflame in a searing pain.

“I can’t believe you got to set up for the Gala, Pinkie! That must’ve been quite the enchanting experience!” Rarity told Pinkie as they climbed off the train.

“I know! Celestia told me she absolutely loved it and that it was perfect in every way! She even let me use my Party Cannon! She was acting a bit weird though, and then she told me she was just a little teensy bit nervous, but I corrected her and let her know she was nervouscited!” Pinkie exclaimed bouncing after her friend.

“Still not a word,” Twilight told her.

“Word or not, I’m still awe-struck we got everything done in time! I mean, I know we’ve worn them before, but nopony will remember the dresses we wore over three years ago… The most surprising thing of all was that you of all ponies had kept yours Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, grinning at the pegasus above her.

“W-well uh, y-you’re my friend, that’s why I kept it!” she blatantly lied, her face reddening in embarrassment.

“I find it adorable Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy whispered, walking next to Rarity.

“Come on, even ah can admit ah like to wear the occasional girly stuff Rainbow, and ya know me well enough to know most ponies wouldn’t expect that of me,” Applejack explained, trying to coax her into telling the truth.

“Alright, maybe I do like it a little bit…” Dash grumbled to Applejack.

Twilight giggled as they made the rest of their way up to the castle doors. They climbed the staircase as the doors opened, a bright light shining-

-from my horn…

Twilight gazed up at her lighted horn as the memory cut off before she saw what was casting the light. She picked herself up and continued climbing the stairs until she reached the top. A heavy looking oak door blocked her off from the rest of the trail. She put her hooves against it and began shoving, most of her strength returned to her now, hearing it slowly creak open. She pushed it about halfway open before falling through it, barely missing the trail of blood as she landed. She quickly scrambled back up and shone her light ahead, finding herself face to face with-

Discord was on the other side of the castle doors, opening them for them.

“Well, well, I see the Princess is finally out of her stable,” He mused, curling himself around Twilight. “It’s such a nice treat to see the six friends all together for a good time!”

“D-Discord, why are you here!?” Twilight asked in shock.

“Well, Celestia thought it only seemed fair that I come to a party fit for only the most esteemed guests. You six are on the list, correct?” He asked, materializing a book out of thin air and pulling reading glasses from behind his back and putting them on as he leafed through it.

“W-we have tickets after all Discord,” Fluttershy told him, holding hers up.

He took it and bit it before pulling on it some and watching it bend, “Your ticket checks out and look here! You are on the list! What a delight!” Discord cheered, showing them crudely drawn pictures of themselves in the book before causing it to disappear. “And dear Fluttershy, I told you, you can call me Dissy, we are friends after all!” He let his claw crawl up her beck and scratch behind her ear as she nuzzled against it.

The others awkwardly stared before Rainbow Dash finally spoke up, “M-maybe we should get in, I think the Princess wanted to see Twilight and us.”

“Hmph, nobody has seen that elusive Princess all night. Even her socially inept sister has mingled some, so good luck with that. I’ll hopefully see you all again inside!” He curled up against Rarity, “And don’t worry, I’m on the lookout for any rough royalty as long as you save me first dance.”

Rarity giggled awkwardly, “S-sure, I’ll most certainly keep that in mind!” She quickly made her way through the doors, her friends following close behind.

Twilight was suddenly pulled back towards Discord, whose mouth detached and made its way up to her ear, whispering, “Between you and me, I’d keep a lookout for anything at all if I were you. Something is off here but I can’t put my claw, paw, or hoof on it. Know though that since I’m your friend and all, I’ll make sure your back is covered.” Discord finished, pulling out a blanket and covering Twilight’s back.

“Alright Discord, hopefully I can trust you,” Twilight told him before entering the Gala and seeing-

Nothing but darkness. After shaking herself from the memory again, she looked for the blood trail and began following it through the room. Statues of armor lined it on either side of her, making it look more like a hallway than a room. The blood trail moved to the right, leading to a cracked open door next to a toppled suit. She sat on the now-vacant stand, pulling the notebook off of her back and beginning to take down notes. She scribbled down what she had remembered so far in the hopes she wouldn’t forget again, but she knew she needed a back-up just in case. She closed it after scribbling for a few minutes and put it back on her back, deciding to rip a bit of her dress off and tie it on her.

Better than doing a balancing act with it… The dress is already ruined; I hope Rarity doesn’t mind it getting a little worse.

Twilight stood back up and used her magic to move the fallen armor aside, putting it back up in its place. She walked to the door at a normal pace, her strength now fully returned and her wounds not aching as badly, and nudge it open the rest of the way. She shone her light throughout the entire room, seeing that whatever was leading the trail had to be in here. Following it with her eyes, she saw a huddled mass in the corner, shivering. As she got closer she saw it was surrounded by-

Ponies everywhere in the hall. Twilight made her way up the stairs to where Celestia would normally stand, seeing one pony waiting there with a bored look on his face.

“Um, excuse me,” Twilight said, “How long have you been waiting here?”

“Since the start of the Gala… I wanted to be the first to shake the Princess’ hoof, but she hasn’t shown up…” The green, tuxedo wearing pony replied.

“Well, I’m not Celestia but I’m still a Princess, if it matters,” Twilight said with a reassuring smile, holding out her hoof.

The pony took it and shook it gently, “Thank you Princess Twilight. I still wish to wait for Celestia nonetheless.” He turned away from Twilight unaware he’d wait the rest of his short life.

Twilight kept ascending the staircase, looking for Celestia’s room as it led into a hallway. Looking left and right, she saw Celestia’s tail disappear through a halfway open door and decided to follow her. Twilight quickened her pace as she went towards the doorway and began pushing it open, the sight on the other side causing her to recoil.

Celestia was looking through a book, muttering to herself as her eyes lit bright red. Twilight took a step back and immediately regretted it as her mentor snapped the book shut her stared directly at her, her teeth bared and a psychotic look on her face. Her eyes were still red but not glowing as she got to her hooves and began moving towards Twilight.

“My star student,” Celestia began, her voice raspy and low, “The guest of honor has arrived I see. Just in time to watch Equestria fall. There will be no one there to stop me now once I take you out of the picture.”

Twilight slammed the door shut and ran as Celestia’s horn glowed in a mix of her normal aura along with the same shade red as her eyes. The door blew off behind her as Celestia let out an earsplitting screech, beginning to take chase after Twilight, blasting another shot of magic at her. Twilight turned a corner, the spell barely missing as she heard the Princess screech once more. With fear circulating through her body like blood, she bounded out into the Gala, her friends waiting for her right in front of the still-waiting stallion.

“Twi’, ya look like ya saw a ghost or somethin’” Applejack said.

“We have to go now! I-I don’t know how to explain it but something is wrong with Celestia. Sh-SHE TRIED TO KILL ME!” Twilight screamed, the music cutting short and everypony staring right at her.

“Calm down dear, you’re making quite the scene,” Rarity told her, putting a hoof on her shoulder, “Maybe you’re just mistaken?”

Before Twilight could explain she wasn’t, the door behind them was blasted off its hinges as Celestia stepped through, her evil gaze and smile still on her face as she stared directly at Twilight and her friends, “YOU WILL ALL WATCH AS YOU FALL PREY TO THE NEW EQUESTRIA!” Celestia shouted, her horn glowing once more.

They all huddled together as Celestia shot her blast of magic right at them. They could see the lust for-

Blood. She wanted it from us. Then everything went black… Why Celestia… WHY?!?!

Twilight cringed, tears from pain joining the ones caused by the memory of her mentor as she got up again, the blood surrounding the creature still where it was. She set a hoof on its back as she lit her horn again.

The creature turned its head and looked directly at Twilight, “A-and here I thought you didn’t like me…” Discord mused, blood running down from the corner of his mouth as he coughed into his claw.

Twilight looked over the God of Chaos, noticing one of his horns was missing as well as his hoof. Gashes and bruises covered his multi-species body with blood coming out a few of his wounds. She softly caressed his cheek, even more tears in her eyes now as he looked back weakly.

“Wh-what happened?” She asked him.

“Before… Celestia attacked you… I teleported you and your friends out of there… I don’t know where they went... E-except for Fluttershy… I made sure she went to m-my house so she was safe… I-I couldn’t do that for all of you but she was the first one I thought of… Your friends aren’t any farther than the Everfree Forest though,” Discord paused as he coughed up more blood, “A-and even then, n-now that I’ll be out of the picture, you can have your harmony… No m-more chaos… S-so you can have your fun without me, evil old Discord n-now,” Discord coughed a few more times as he set his paw on Twilight’s hoof.

“D-Discord no, p-please… You’re supposed to b-be immortal… A-and I like your chaos no matter how much it seems I don’t… I-it may be irresponsible, b-but it’s exciting… a-and without you things won’t be the same…” Twilight wrapped her hooves around Discord as a few tears feel from her eyes.

“Spoken like a true friend Twilight… N-no matter what though, I’m done for… She was too much… I-it was terrible. After all of you were safe she just… attacked e-everypony and then I tried to st-stop her… She did me in well… I barely got up here to hide…” Discord whispered, crying softly as well.

Twilight moved back a few steps and closed her eyes tightly as she focused her magic, “I-I can fix you… I know tons of sp-spells,” she said as she began casting healing spell after healing spell, each one leaving her more hopeless than the last. She lied down on the ground, weakly casting them as she held back more tears, “I c-can fix you, r-right…? You don’t h-have to d-die… r-right?”

Discord set his claw on Twilight’s mane, stroking it softly, “You can’t fix what’s always been broken my dear… And sometimes it’s better not to…” He gave a harsh cough, wheezing some with it. “I-I’d love to help you and all, b-but unless you have some way to make time’s effect on my wounds stop, you’re on your own.”

Twilight perked up, hope in her bloodshot eyes, “I’ll go get the Elements of Harmony a-and I can turn you back to stone until we find a w-way to fix you!”

Discord gave a half-hearted chuckle as he pulled Twilight to him again, “You gave them up, r-remember? And even then, by the time you did find all of your friends, I’ll be long gone and making chaos for ponies elsewhere.”

Twilight whimpered softly and rested her head against Discord, “Wh-why did she do this? O-of all the ponies to do this, why Celestia?” Twilight began silently crying as the draconequis shivered in her hooves.

“You’ll have to find out for yourself k-kiddo, this is Discord’s final show,” he said, pulling out a violin and playing softly as it fell apart in his grip. “Figures… I have faith in you Twilight, I’m sure everypony d-does,” Discord winced again and Twilight could feel him nearing the edge of life, “Just find your friends and Luna if she escaped. Which it’s almost certain she did because even she wouldn’t be so foolish to try to fight her sister when she’s that powerful. So odds are she’s somewhere too, maybe the moon again,” he chuckled weakly, “And tell Fluttershy I said goodbye, the same goes for the rest of your friends but I mean her especially. She really did open my eyes to what I could have by actually being more restrained and good with my powers, I only wish I saw it sooner…” Discord began coughing violently before suddenly stopping, his eyes closed.

Twilight nudged him with her hoof, the worst coursing through her mind, “D-Discord?!”

He gasped and rose up a bit, “Sorry, dying hurts a bit,” he said sarcastically as he barely managed to roll his eyes. “But, if you’re gonna find Fluttershy first, which I assume you will since you actually know where she is, you’re going to need to know where I live… But be warned, my house is more violent than one would assume, so tread carefully T-Twilight. I’ll tell you exactly where to find my home,” Discord said before poking her horn gently, sending a small jolt through her body, “There we go…” Discord managed before lying back down and sighing, “Well, here I go actually…”

“Th-thank you Discord, you saved us and we owe you everything for it,” Twilight whispered clutching on to him tighter.

“And I th-thank all of you as well… Now I hope to see you again one day… Goodbye Twilight Sp-Sparkle…” Discord said before taking his final breath and losing the last of his life.

Twilight gently closed his eyes as she watched a small ghost form of Discord float up, waving solemnly at her, “G-goodbye Discord,” she said, fully crying as she waved back, the deceased draconequis in her hooves.

After a while, Twilight let go of him, letting his body lie limp on the floor as she retreated to the prior room. She knew where Discord lived, so she had a jumping off point for her journey. She didn’t know what she planned to do; all she knew was that she didn’t have too much time to do it. She walked out of Celestia’s Castle through the same doors she had entered from and began making her way in the direction of the chaotic home known as Discord Manor.

End Chapter 1