Sun's Fire

Chapters

What Makes a Monster
Names and Questions
Out There
A Trip Outside
Heaven's Light
The Days After
The Gala... Invitation
The Gala/Chaos Returns
Sun's Fire
Years/The Final Battle
Epilogue: Visiting a Friend
Bonus: Whatever Did I Do?
Prologue: Discord & Chaos

What Makes a Monster

Sun's Fire

What Makes a Monster

Solaris sighed as the sun started to peek over the hilltops, its golden rays bouncing off his sunray mane and pouring out light into the world. He had done his job well, as always and the morning was beautiful, peaceful, and quiet. Raising the sun was becoming less and less of a chore and more of a joy. It brought so much beauty to the world, so much warmth. He took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and exhaled heartily. "Ah, this morning is perfect, peaceful," he said and flapped his wings to get a good feel of the breeze again.

Prince Solaris trotted away and wanted to go into the city for a while. He wondered if Artemis would like to accompany him, but Arty still being a young colt, would probably be very fatigued after guarding his night. He shook his head and smiled. Artemis was getting very good at his powers he should be very proud of himself. Anyways, he would let his brother sleep. For now he would go visit with his subjects alone...

Canterlot was an amazing place, filled with all kinds of ponies, animals, and plants. He must put a castle there at some point, it was such a beautiful place and his subjects were all so kind and courteous to him. As he passed the ponies all greeted him with elegant bows with a mixtures of dialogue involving, "Good morning, your highness", "Prince Solaris", "Good day, my prince". While he did like the politeness, he felt like he was so detached from everyone else. Really he had no reason for coming into the city other than to observe. He had no close friends other than his brother, even then Artemis preferred his seclusion. No pony ever tried to get close to him anyway, it was as if he was untouchable. While that train of thought was somewhat helpful for his protection it was also very intimidating to others he would rather be close to. While he was musing about his situation he stepped into something gooey and lukewarm. Solaris stopped in his tracks and looked down. He had stepped in what seemed to be a puddle of mud, but before he shook his hoof clean he got a whiff of the sticky substance and stopped for a second he raised his hoof to his nose and took another sniff and scrunched up his face in curiosity. Finally after thinking it over and wanting to be sure he stuck out his tongue and licked at his hoof. "Chocolate?" he asked to the air.

Then he looked around for an explanation. It was too big to be a spill something small, too small to be from something big. Solaris took another sniff of the air and swore he could still smell it faintly on the breeze. Way to strong to be just from that one puddle. He flapped his wings and hovered several feet over the street. He looked around and saw that the stuff was also stuck in the gutters of houses, puddles spotted the street, chocolate was everywhere! "What is the meaning of this?!" he cried and floated back down to the ground.

A small colt was walking down the street, trying to avoid the puddles as well and heading passed Solaris before he spoke up. "You there!" he called. "What is all this? What happened here?"

Solaris waved his hoof over the mess and the colt shook his head in wonder. "It was the strangest thing, your highness," he started. "Last night it just started to rain chocolate and only on this street. It was the oddest thing I've ever seen."

Solaris scrunched up his face again, in thought and looked back down at the chocolate puddle. "Indeed very odd," he mused and kept trotting down the street wanting to inspect the damage before he got rid of it.
As far as he could tell no one was harmed by the... unique whether and besides clogging up a few drains it didn't do any real damage to the place. With a sigh Solaris stopped at the end of the street and the mess, waved his horn and with a flash of light made the street crystal clean. The ponies around him cheered for him before going back to their duties. Solaris was pleased with his work, but he was still curious as to how it had happened. It had been the first time ever that something like this had happened and there really was no reason for it. It didn't make any sense! Frustrated that he didn't have an answer he would consult with his brother before continuing further...

Artemis snored softly in his bed, his mouth parted slightly letting a string of drool leak out of a corner of his mouth. He slept easily it seemed. Solaris quirked an eyebrow and smirked at his little brother. He nudged him gently with his horn. "Artemis?" he whispered. "Artemis?"

Artemis groaned and rolled over on his other side. Solaris narrowed his eyes at him and then decided to take more forceful measures. "Arty!" he cried and pushed him sharply with his hoof.

Artemis snorted violently and grumbled groggily. He sat up and blinked a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes. "Huh, wha?" he groaned. "I wazn' sleepin'!"

Solaris walked in front of Artemis and smirked at him. "Uh-huh," he teased. "You got a little something right there."

Solaris signaled the spot with his hoof up next to the corner of his mouth. Artemis growled with frustration and wiped furiously at his mouth and chin. "What is it Soly?" he asked and stood up from his bed. "You know this is when I take my morning nap."

"I know, I know, but listen brother! I found something very strange in Canterlot this morning," Solaris explained.

"What another animal that you catalogued, I can read it later!" Artemis protested.

"No, no!" Solaris growled. "It's very strange, apparently there was a chocolate rainstorm last night on only one street!"

Artemis quirked an eyebrow at his older brother as if he had just told him that fairytales were real. "Chocolate rain?" he asked. "Are you sure? It wasn't just some strange tasting and smelling mud puddle?"

Solaris stomped a hoof in frustration. "I mean it, Arty!" he protested.

Arty threw up his forehooves in mock surrender. "Alright, alright," he said and smiled teasingly. "But if it was a 'chocolate rainstorm' as you say, what was the cause of it?"

Solaris shook his head. "I don't know, I thought you might have an idea," he said.

Artemis scrunched up his nose in confusion. "How should I know?!" he asked.

"It happened during your night, your patrol!" Solaris pointed out.

"Then it must've happened before or after I passed over Canterlot, because I saw nothing of the sort!" Artemis said.

Solaris sat down and stared at the ground hard as if willing it to give him the answers. "Look, did it hurt anyone, cause any damage?" Artemis asked.

"Nnn, well, no," Solaris sighed.

"Then it shouldn't be that much of a problem, maybe while I'm on my rounds you could stay in Canterlot, see if it happens again," Artemis suggested.

Solaris nodded thoughtfully. It was a good idea, Artemis couldn't be tied down to just one part of their kingdom, he had other duties while protecting the night. If Solaris watched Canterlot, he could be sure it wouldn't happen again.

"Alright then, that's settled, now let me get back to sleep so that I'm not tired for my night," he groaned and flopped back onto his bed...

Soon enough it was time for the moon to rise. Artemis stood proud and watched as Solaris brought down his glorious sun. Sometimes he envied his brother, after all everyone was alive and awake during the day, while they slept at night. They didn't see his beautiful moon, his dazzling stars that he placed so carefully around the sky. Artemis shook his head to dispel the thoughts, it was beautiful anyway! Even when no one was around to see it, he saw it, he knew! Now it was his turn. Artemis' horn glowed deep blue and the moon's glow peeked over the horizon before he started to flap his wings and carry it's awesome weight up and up fully into the sky. He sighed as he looked at his work and nodded proudly. "Well done, brother," Solaris congratulated and gave his shoulder a shove.

Artemis grinned and rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah, it's nothing special," he said as they kept flying lazily over the landscape.

"Don't be ridiculous," Solaris protested. "Your night is absolutely amazing!"

Artemis smiled shyly and looked down as they flew over Canterlot. "Well, this is where you get off," he said and nodded toward the city.

"Indeed, good luck, my brother," Solaris said and went into a shallow dive toward the city.

"The same to you as well!" Artemis called before flying off and away from him.

Solaris landed on one of the rooftops that overlooked the street that was disturbed that morning and sat down to keep watch over it. Perhaps it was a little presumptuous to assume that this street would be hit twice, but what other choice did he have? As the night went on without any disturbance Solaris started to get very tired. He struggled to keep his eyes open, he shook himself furiously, and sometimes kicked himself, but it wasn't working all that well. He groaned as his head slumped forward and he was about to give into the temptation of sleep when he suddenly heard a disturbance. Solaris snapped back to attention and tipped his ears this way and that to find the source of the noise. He heard something topple in a nearby alley and decided to investigate. He floated down to the ground and slowly crept forward. He noticed a bunch of food crates had fallen over, well it had been the source of the noise, but what was the cause? Then he heard a strange skittering a few feet away. His head turned sharply and he saw something quickly disappear behind a corner. Solaris trotted toward the corner and peered around it. At the end of the alleyway there stood a strange figure. He couldn't discern the shape, but it definitely wasn't a pony! From what he could see it stood on two legs and had two other limbs, a long neck, two stubby wings, a long dragon-like tail, and two different horns sticking out of its head. Apparently it had spotted him too and it crouched down on all four legs before "slithering" away as fast as lightning. "Hey, wait!" he called and gave chase to the figure.

It was fast, he had to give it that. It was already an alleyway's length away from him, by the time he reached that corner. He would never catch up to it at that rate! Then he opened his wings and started to flap them furiously to give him more propulsion and speed. "Stop!" he called again.

Before he got very far he felt his hooves go faster than he wanted them to and was suddenly struggling to keep them under control. He tried to stop himself, but found his hooves sliding and slipping out from underneath him. Finally a slam to a wall stopped his advance and he groaned in pain as he shook himself off and tried to stand back up. When he slipped again he looked down at the ground and saw that it looked slick and... bubbly? He gave it a sniff and his eyes widened. "Soap?!" he said and slowly made his wings hover above the ground. "The streets are made of soap!"

Before he could fly off and inspect the rest of the city he heard a high-pitched, mischievous giggle. He looked around, his head turning this way and that, he even turned his whole body around in the air, but saw nothing. The strange figure had escaped and was apparently mocking him...

The next morning, Solaris woke groggily to the sun trying to rise, but failing without his magic. He had slept on a rooftop while he was still keeping watch for the figure or more unusual events. He shook himself off and his horn glowed bright orange as he flapped his wings and rose the sun once again. He sighed and groaned as he landed back on the rooftop. "What a night," he said as he rubbed at his eyes.

"Brother!" Artemis called as he floated down next to him. "How went the investigation?" he asked.

"See for yourself," Solaris said and waved his hoof at the streets.

Artemis turned and his eyes widened. All of the streets were bubbling and slick, all of them were made of soap! "Soap?!" he asked. "What happened?"

"I think I found the source of this mischief," Solaris said.

"Well, that's good, what or who is it?" Artemis asked.

Solaris lowered his head in defeat. "I don't know," he said. "I only saw a vague shape of what they were."

Artemis blinked a few times in curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that whatever it was, it wasn't a pony or any creature I've come across," Solaris explained.

"Hmmm, curious," Artemis mused and stroked his chin.

"Indeed," Solaris agreed.

"Well, it's obviously intelligent if it can wield this kind of magic," Artemis thought aloud.

"Yes, I suppose," Solaris said and his horn glowed once again before making the soapy streets right again.

"So what do we do now?" Artemis asked.

"I'll stay in Canterlot for awhile, see if anything else happens or if that creature comes back," Solaris said.

Artemis nodded. "I think that's best."

"Until then we continue with our duties and stay vigilant," Solaris said.

"Sir, yes sir!" Artemis teased and saluted his big brother.

Solaris smirked and waved farewell as his brother took off and back to the Castle...

Prince Solaris stayed in Canterlot for a few days staying at a popular inn, but nothing else happened. He got accustomed to sleeping during the day after he rose the sun and then to wake up when it was time to set it. It was really screwing with his schedule. Sometimes he couldn't sleep and would wander around the streets, greeting his subjects and just wearing himself out. That day was no different. The sun was very insistent on keeping him awake by poking its rays in between the curtains of his room. He growled and stood up from his bed shaking himself off he trotted out of the inn and into the streets to see if the creature would try something during the day. It never did, but one could never be too sure. "Greetings Prince Solaris," a pony said and bowed elegantly to the prince.

"Greetings friend," Solaris said and nodded back. "How are you this morning?"

"Oh quite well, my prince," he said and kept bowing.

Sometimes that kind of courtesy annoyed him. Surely it hurt their backs to keep doing that. "Except I do have a question, your highness," he spoke up.

Solaris turned completely to the colt and waited attentively. "Yes?"

"Those clouds," the colt said and pointed up toward the mountain. "They're wonderful, really, they bring so much color to the sky, but um..."

The colt shuffled his hooves nervously and thought about what he was going to say before spitting it out. "Aren't they a little oddly colored for mid-morning?" he asked.

Solaris looked up at the mountaintop and narrowed his eyes at the sight. Before his eyes spied the summit, there was a mass of swirling, pink clouds surrounding the top. Not that pink clouds were odd, he often saw them at sunset, but right now, when it was almost high noon? Indeed, the rest of the clouds around the mass were pure white. It was absolutely strange. "Indeed, they are," he said and opened his wings before he started to take off toward the odd formation. "Go about your day, I'll see what the disturbance is."

The colt nodded quickly before he trotted away, leaving the prince to take care of the clouds.

Solaris flapped hard against the mountain winds, he wasn't really used to the air around it and the winds were almost gale force. He stopped just below the clouds and then started the ascent to find the source. The climb was rough and he was always in danger of slipping on some loose rocks. However, having wings, he didn't worry about it that much. It was just kind of annoying to keep slipping every few steps. He was now in the middle of the formation and he looked out at the clouds swirling and moving around him. Suddenly a breeze kicked up and before he could brace himself for it a "piece" of the cloud came out and smacked him in the face. It felt sticky and smelled like sugar. Solaris snuffled and snorted trying to get the substance out of his face before his tongue came out and licked it away. "Hmmm?" he said as he swallowed it. "Cotton... candy?"

Now it was really strange. Cotton candy clouds? Chocolate rain? Soapy streets? This thing had a real sense of humor or no sense at all. He was going to find out soon enough! A few more paces up and he came to the entrance of a cave. It was dark and dank as caves are wont to be, but he noticed that the clouds seemed to be leaking out of the entrance. Solaris stepped inside and crept further in. "Hello?!" he called.

No answer. He swung his head around, but saw no movement. "Hello? Anypony home?!" he tried again.

Suddenly he heard a sound behind him, he whipped around, but only saw the creature's tail tuft disappear behind a rock. "Hello?" he said and walked forward to where he thought it was. "Come on out, I won't harm you."

Again no answer. Then he heard more shuffling and slithering behind him again. He turned and quickly followed the creature deeper into the cave. "Come on, I just want to know who you are!" he said. "And why you're doing this!"

"Doing what?" a voice asked.

A decidedly "female" voice. Solaris stopped and looked around the cave trying to find the keeper of the voice. "Why you're making chocolate rain, and turned the streets to soap, and making cotton candy clouds," he explained and started to trot around the perimeter of the cave.

The voice giggled. "Because it's fun!" it answered simply. "It's always so dull around here, so hum-drum, same-old same-old. I was just trying to bring a little excitement, a little... chaos."

Solaris glared. "Who are you?" he asked again.

"Why don't you tell me who you are?" the voice asked back. "After all you are trespassing in my home."

Solaris suddenly stopped his pacing and stood straight, tall, and proud. "I am Prince Solaris, ruler of the morning sky, and of Equestria," he said.

"Oooo, forgive me, your highness," she said her voice dripping with venom. "I was unaware I was speaking in front of royalty."

Solaris growled angrily at her sarcasm. "Now I'll ask you again, who are you?!"

"You tell me, princey," she said.

"Enough of this, show yourself now!" Solaris demanded.

"Ooo, a little bratty princey, huh?" she teased. "What if I don't want to, huh? What if I refuse to show myself?"

"Then what are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything!"

"Then prove it!"

"NO!"

Solaris growled and his horn started to glow brightly in the cave. "Hey watch it with that thing!" the voice cried.

Soon the cave was flooded with ethereal light and everything was revealed. The creature stood not a few feet away from him, cowering behind her arms. Solaris blinked at the thing and once she lowered her arms she blinked back. He didn't know what made him do it, but slowly his mouth opened and he gave a drawn out scream. She screamed back and they backed away from each other into their respected corners! "What are you?!" he asked.

"I don't know!" she said.

"Who are you?!" he tried again.

"I don't know!" she said again.

Solaris breathed heavily as he tried to calm down. The creature looked like it was a fusion of so many creatures it was hard to tell which one had true dominion over her. She had a griffin's claw, a lion's paw, a dragon's tail, a deer's hoof, a lizard's foot, a long neck, a pony's head, and a deer's antler with a goat's horn. She was the most amazing and strange thing he had ever come across. Finally he got up the courage to walk over to her and inspect her up close. For the moment, she let him. She seemed more scared than he was and probably wouldn't even notice how close he got. Her ruby irises were wide and rested in pool of sunlight yellow. They were kind of pretty, but in a very strange way. "Hmmm, amazing," he mused as he stepped back. "I thought you had wings before though."

The creature blinked and turned around for him. "Oh, you mean these?" she asked.

Sure enough she also had a bird's and a bat's wing. "Interesting," he said and started walk around her.

She crossed her arms and waited for him to stop gawking at her. "So you are the one causing all the trouble," he said.

"Trouble?" she said. "Hardly, I was just having some fun."

Solaris smirked at her and stopped circling her. "Well, you're fun is kind of inconvenient for the other ponies," he said.

"Inconvenient?" she asked. "I think it brings some excitement to this boring place."

Solaris quirked an eyebrow at her. "How long have you been up here?"

She shrugged and looked at the floor. "A while."

"Are you going to give me straight answers?" Solaris asked and stepped forward. "You know ones that make sense."

The creature smiled also showing off a growing fang that poked slightly out from underneath her upper lip. "Oh what fun is there in making sense?" she said.

Solaris narrowed his eyes at her. She only giggled and started to float on her back without any help from her wings. "I was only experimenting on that city, I've only really gotten used to these powers just now," she explained. "But it was rather fun watching you little ponies fumbling around my chocolate puddles and when you slipped down that alleyway..."

She started to snort and choke down her laughter. "I almost died!" she cried and started to laugh in earnest.

Solaris frowned, but couldn't help one side of his mouth to quirk up at the sound of her laughter. "Glad I could amuse you," he said.

"Oh you did, ha ha, very, very much!" she said and got herself under control.

Solaris grit his teeth in embarrassment and shuffled his hooves. "Look I don't have much time, but I'm here to tell you now that if you don't keep your magic under control and don't stop this mischief I'll have to use force," he said and his horn glowed to emphasize his point.

Her smile dropped and she looked at him thoughtfully. "Alright, alright," she said and then floated down to the ground before snapping her fingers. "Sheesh, you ponies can't take a joke."

Solaris smiled softly and then shuffled his hooves trying to find something else to talk about. "So you really don't know who you are or what you are?" he asked.

She only shrugged. Solaris stroked his chin thoughtfully. He didn't know either, but it was really tragic that a creature didn't know what it was or if it had a name. "Look, how 'bout we make a deal," she spoke up. "I won't cause anymore mischief if you find out who and what I am."

Solaris looked up and frowned thoughtfully. "Alright, sounds reasonable," he said and offered a hoof to her.

She scrunched up her face at it, but gently gripped it with her lion's paw. "It's a deal," he said. "I have to go now, I'll be back probably tomorrow and I promise I'll have something!"

With that he opened his wings and took off across the sky. The candy clouds had disappeared and everything was back to normal, but he knew he had a full day of reading to find out what the creature was and if she had a name at all. He would have to find a name for her as well then...

She watched him fly away from the entrance of her cave. The colt was definitely something new, something strange to her. He had been frightful at first, but then generally interested in her. In her appearance anyway and most ponies were just not in the way he had been. He was quite interesting too. Prince Solaris? Royalty too, no less! She had just been trying to make some fun and then had a colt come in and demand to know her. It was shame that she couldn't give him a name, but the ones that were given to her she didn't really enjoy herself. She wasn't a real judge of beautiful, honestly anything that looked bizarre or different to other ponies she enjoyed greatly. She thought that maybe ponies would find the Prince beautiful, but well she... kind of did too. She shook her head and glared down at her reflection in a puddle of water. "Did you hear that?" she asked her reflection. "A prince came to see me, he's going to find out what I am!"

The reflection didn't answer back. Sometimes it did though, maybe it was just tired. "I'll find out and then have more fun!" she said and looked out at the horizon.

She could still see a tiny dot in the distance and knew that it signified the prince.

Author's Note

This idea just came to me! Normally I don't ship Celestia x Discord, but I'll give it a shot. After all every writer strives for a challenge and this will definitely be challenging. Just to clarify as well, this is ONE, AKA MY version of what "Discord's" origins could be. If you don't like it then that's your problem, there are plenty of other versions out there. Their ages are around teenage years, 16-18. The rating will stay for everyone for now, but I might get naughty and put in some adult stuff later on, until then it stays appropriate. Also the names for the gender-bent versions are kind of the general consensus of what they would be named (as I have seen from Devientart), so yeah. Enjoy!

Names and Questions

Solaris lifted another book to his muzzle and puzzled over it. As soon as he had reached the castle he had scoured the library and the reading room for books, scrolls, and anything else that might have given him some kind of clue as to what 'she' could've been. Her form was different and odd, but Solaris couldn't help thinking that he had seen it somewhere. He scratched his head with a hoof and slammed the book shut. His ear twitched at the sound of hoofsteps, but he didn't pay them any mind. Artemis stepped lightly down the marble steps and into the reading room. He yawned widely and shook his head to wake himself up. "Still awake?" he asked.

Solaris nodded. "Good morning, Arty," he said and gave a reassuring smile.

"Afternoon by now," Artemis pointed out.

Indeed the sun had long ago risen and was sitting proudly in the middle of the sky. Solaris nodded and continued onto the next book. Artemis looked over at the pile of books he had already gone through. He knew his big brother was a persistent pony and wouldn't give up his search until he actually found what he was looking for. However, at the rate he was going he would fill up the entire room with all the discarded books that didn't have what he was looking for. "I take it you found the cause of all the unique weather?" Artemis asked and trotted over to read over Solaris' shoulder.

"Hmm, sort of," Solaris said thoughtfully and shut that book as well.

"So, what is it?" Artemis asked.

"It is a she and I don't know."

"Well, does she have a name?"

"Apparently not.

Artemis tilted his head in confusion. Solaris sighed and started to scour the nearby shelves. "I have to find that too," he grumbled just loud enough for Artemis to hear.

"Wait, you have to give her a name?" he asked.

Solaris frowned as Arty started to chuckle. "Do you have to name her species too!" he snorted.

Solaris rolled his eyes. "No!" he said simply. "Her appearance is odd, but it seemed familiar to me. I was hoping one of Milky Way's journals would have an explanation."

Artemis watched his brother pace the room trying to find what he was looking for. Finally a title on the top shelf stuck out to Soly and he floated it down to his eye level. After skimming a few pages he finally stopped on something of interest. "Aha!" he said and smiled as he set the book down so that Artemis could see. "That's what she is! She's a Draconneques."

"Draca-who-now?" Artemis asked.

Solaris' hoof pointed down at a crude sketch of what could've been one of 'her' relatives. There were a few differences in appearance, but otherwise it seemed to be a perfect match. "A drac-con-eh-quis," he pronounced slowly. "A creature comprised of many animals, but highly intelligent."

Artemis turned the book more towards him to read it better. "Mostly having the traits of a griffin, a lion, and a dragon, other traits may vary," Solatis continued. "Though possessing slightly higher intelligence than ponies, very few actually excel in magic."

"So, it's rare for them to know magic," Artemis mused. "So, she's special."

Solaris smirked and kept going. "Those that do possess such talent have seemed to have tapped into a reservoir of very primal and raw power making their magical limits near non-existent," he said. "Their numbers are unknown, but are supposedly very few and family groups are dispersed throughout the land."

"So, if she is a rarity then, that makes her very special," Artemis said. "Is that all?"

While it was a good amount of information it wasn't that welcoming. 'She' might very well be the last of her kind. Solaris wondered how she would take that. "Now for a name," he said and started searching through different types of books, ones that told of ancient mythologies long since forgotten.

"This whole naming thing is kind of strange," Artemis said as he laid down completely. "Like she's a new pet or something."

"Well, I can't keep calling her, 'her', or 'she', or 'you' anymore, can I?" Solaris pointed out.

Artemis shrugged. Solaris snorted and went back to reading. "Besides how can you be sure she'll like the name that you give her?" Arty asked. "What if it'll be like that fairytale? You're just gonna name hunt for eternity!"

Solaris rolled his eyes. "You've been sleeping too long, Arty," he said.

"And you don't know when to quit, Soly," Arty quipped back.

It took awhile of scanning the page when finally he landed on a name. His hoof slammed down on the page in triumph. "Aha!"

It was perfect!

"Eris," Solaris said confidently. "Your name will be, Eris."

Eris sat across from him her serpentine body hunched over with her head in her hands until she started to tilt her head and kept tilting until it made a complete three-sixty. She tilted again in the opposite direction to make her neck crack. Solaris scrunched up his face in mild horror and surprise. He wasn't used to this kind of behavior. The way she flaunted her magic as if it was second nature. Her personality was also a bit sporadic, bouncing from bored to excited to thoughtful and then back to bored, and he had only spent a few minutes with her. When he had actually arrived he had found her sitting cross-legged on the ceiling. She looked down at him and smiled. "Well, well, if it isn't the little princey come for another visit." She was rather blunt and direct about her feelings though and that was a little refreshing. Since she also wasn't accustomed to being around royalty she didn't see the need to keep being courteous and polite around him either. "What does it mean?" she asked, not really looking all that interested.

"Well, it's from a legend, Eris was called the goddess of chaos and discord," Solaris explained.

Eris hummed thoughtfully and stood up before looking at her reflection in a puddle nearby. She turned her body this way and that before she said anything else. "Hmmm, Eris," she said softly, trying out the name. "Goddess of chaos."

Her tail swished in the dust and suddenly she spun around on him and was a few inches from his face. "I love it!" she said and beamed brightly.

Her eyes shone happily and her tail moved excitedly. The smile she wore stretched from ear to ear. Soon enough she started to hop and prance around like a young filly. "Yay, you named me!" she cried. "I have a name!"

Solaris watched as she bounced around him and smiled at her filly-ish behavior. Finally she stopped and turned back around to Solaris with a big smile on her face. "I'm glad you like it," Solaris said with a smile of his own. "I thought it would be perfect for you considering how much you love to uumm... have fun."

Eris smiled even brighter and her tail swished again. "Now I have some questions for you," Solaris said. "I'm not sure if you're prepared to answer, but I would like to know anyway."

Eris tilted her head in curiosity. "Questions?" she asked. "Yeesh, princey, if I wanted a quiz I would've gone to a sphinx."

Solaris smirked at her. "Solaris, please," he said.

Eris' eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. "Alright, well, first I want to know, where did you come from?" Solaris asked.

"Hmmm, how shall I explain this?" she said. "When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much-."

"Not what I meant!" Solaris barked and blushed a slight shade of pink.

Eris laughed heartily. "Aw come on, you set me up for that!" she said. "Ok, in all honesty, I don't really know."

Now it was Solaris' turn to tilt his head. Eris frowned and furrowed her brow, trying to remember. "All I can really remember is this cave, I know that I was pretty young maybe a few years old, but as for parents or family I can't recall anything," she said.

Solaris frowned at that. It sounded like a pretty lonely existence and a hard one at that. He couldn't imagine life without his brother, never mind being completely alone in the world. "How did you survive then?" he asked.

Eris shrugged. "I got plants to feed off of, fresh streams, and all the animals around here too," she said. "I just hunted alone."

Solaris scrunched up his face in slight disgust. "You eat other animals?" he asked.

"Oh yes, especially rabbits, they're delicious!" she said proudly and her tail swished again.

So she was omnivorous like an Ursa. "Ok so if you've lived up here all alone how did you learn to speak or do magic or any of your skills?" he asked.

Eris started to float off the ground and she crossed her legs in mid-air. "Well, I've always just kind of known how to do magic, but back then it was pretty small stuff like teleporting and floating," she explained. "So I teleported into your little pony city down there and observed other young ones like me and learned how to speak."

"I'm guessing you don't know how to read or write," Solaris mused aloud.

Eris shook her head. "Hmmm, interesting," he said.

Eris blinked a few times and waited for his next question. It didn't come for a while so she decided to speak up. "Well, there's one other thing you haven't told me," she said.

Solaris gave her a confused look. "What am I?" she asked.

"Oh, uummm," Solaris said scratching his head with his hoof.

He started to pace back and forth wondering how best to present his findings to her. He decided to go with the honest answer. "Well, your species is called the Draconneques," he said.

"Draco-what-now?" she asked.

Solaris smiled at the almost near identical answer that Artemis gave him. "Drac-con-eh-quis," he pronounced. "Not much is known about your kind, but from what I found, your species was rare at the time the book was written and is probably near extinct now."

He was facing away from her, so he didn't see her expression. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to probably be the last of a species, knowing you were truly alone in the world. No, he knew what that felt like, it wasn't a good feeling. "Hmmm, so I'm special?" she asked.

Solaris turned around and saw that Eris was still smiling, she didn't seem at all deterred by the fact that she might be the last one. "Heh, I suppose," he said.

She grinned toothily and gave a kind of squeal of joy. "I didn't think I was special!" she said and started to rock in mid-air. "I've never felt special before!"

Solaris found this to be a very odd observation. How could she not feel special? As far as she could've known she had been the only one to look the way she did and act the way she did. He wondered how that simple thought never entered her mind. "Well, I think I'm out of questions for now," he said. "I'll leave you to whatever it is you do."

Eris stopped rocking around in the air for a second and watched him trot away. "Wait a sec!" she called.

Solaris stopped and turned back to her. "Hmmm, this doesn't seem fair," she said and crawled on all fours to him.

Solaris quirked an eyebrow at her and watched her approach. "I mean, you've named me, but I haven't given you a name," she said.

Solaris smiled nervously. "I already have a name," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's not MY name!" Eris insisted.

Solaris watched as she scrunched up her face in thought and started to mumble to herself. "Hmmm, let's see... Sunny? No. Sunbright? No. Hmmmm, oh I know!" she said. "Your name is Shiny!"

Solaris backed up a few steps in surprise. The nickname sounded foal-ish, absolutely ridiculous. "Yep, your name is Shiny, because the sun is shiny!" she said and grinned up at him.

It was such a hopeful and happy look, he couldn't stand to tell her how he really felt about the name. Well, he supposed it wasn't that bad, much better than Soly anyway. He chuckled and smiled back at her. "Alright, Shiny it is," he agreed.

"Yay!" Eris said and bounced back up to the ceiling where she started to hop upside down.

Solaris continued on his way out of the cave when he heard her speak up again. "Hey!" she called. "Are you coming back, will I see you again?"

Solaris smiled and turned back to Eris who was still hanging upside down. "Of course," he said. "I still have to teach you how to read and write."

Eris made a kind of cringing smirk that could've been a try at a smile, but was failing at it. Solaris only chuckled and left the cave.

So now she knew what she was and she had a name. It had been a big day. However, she wasn't really sure if she liked being a rare species. After all she had been alone for the majority of her life with no memory of parents or even friends to speak of. Looking back on the years of spending her life in the cave she couldn't even really remember if she had even felt loneliness. Then Solaris had walked in and now that's all she seemed to feel. Sure she had spurts of it every time she watched the ponies in Canterlot and she always had questions that she couldn't answer, but now it was a constant feeling of just being the only one in a large cave. No company to have except her own reflection and the echo of her voice. Slowly she started to float her way back down to the ground, still staring at the cave entrance where Solaris had disappeared. Then she turned and looked at her reflection again. "You are Eris," she said to it. "Goddess of Discord... and you are special."

Author's Note

Something that I forgot to mention in the other note is that I love criticism! I don't mean criticizing for the sake of being mean, but constructive criticism. If there's something you think I need to improve on, please let me know in a civil manner. Also the perspective might change up from here and be more centered around Eris, just so you're aware. Otherwise, enjoy!

Out There

Solaris was speaking, but Eris wasn't listening. The words on the page that he was constantly pointing to started to blur and blend together. She couldn't make sense of the squiggly and round symbols already. Shiny's explanation of them wasn't helping at all. Eris tilted her head every which way to make them seem less boring, but it wasn't working that well. She wanted nothing more than to snap her fingers and have the book flap its pages and fly away. Before she could do just that, Shiny's voice broke through. "Are you listening, Eris?" he asked.

Eris looked up and blinked. "Yes, of course I'm listening!" she protested.

"Oh? Then how do you say this word?" he asked and pointed his hoof at a word.

Eris looked down and her brow furrowed in concentration, slowly turning into a look of frustration. "Uuummm," she hummed and her ears turned down in embarrassment.

Shiny rolled his eyes. "Come on, Eris!" he groaned. "I just said it a few seconds ago!"

Eris pouted in defeat and let her hands drop her head where it flopped unceremoniously to the ground. "This is boooorring!" she cried. "I don't like reading!"

"It's not that hard," Shiny encouraged. "I bet once you get the hang of it you'll be a natural."

"Puh, yeah, a wonder to behold," she drawled sarcastically. "A draconneques that can read."

She propped her head back up on her claw and used her paw to draw little circles in the dust. “If you just try-,” Solaris started.

“I thought teachers were supposed to make learning fun!” Eris interrupted. “You’re a terrible teacher!”

Solaris blinked, but before he could get a word in, Eris spoke up again. “I think you need to be disciplined, young colt!” she said and snapped her fingers.

Suddenly Solaris was sitting on a wooden stool with a cone-shaped hat on his head with the letter ‘D’ in the center blaring bright red. “Hey!” he shouted and shook off the hat furiously.

He climbed off the stool and looked at his difficult pupil who was laughing and cackling away on the ground. Eris rolled around on her back, holding her stomach and didn’t notice Solaris’ glare. Then he looked down at the hat and stool and wondered how she had known about that kind of punishment. “You can speak perfectly, know about social norms, but you can’t read or write,” he grumbled and waited for her to stop laughing.

“Ha, ha, ha, hhoooo!” Eris breathed as she got herself under control. “What?”

Solaris looked at her with an exasperated look. “How do even know about that?” he asked pointing to the hat.

Eris shrugged. “You said you’ve rarely been outside your cave, how do you know about school punishments?” he asked again.

Eris rolled her eyes. “I said ‘rarely’ not ‘never’,” she explained. “I’ve hidden around enough to see a lot of things. I’ve spied on homes, businesses, and yes even schools. I do like the way that the foals are punished, the hat is really funny.”

It was true. When she was hiding she would often poke her head out to spy through a school window. Speaking was easier to learn there considering the teachers were actually teaching young foals how to speak correctly anyway. It was also easier to learn how ponies functioned in society, she knew about bullies, friends, elders, students, almost every social status that came with their society. Eris had to admit she didn’t like it that much and knowing about bullies only made far too eager to keep hiding herself. Solaris smirked at her taste in humor. Then he sat down and looked at her thoughtfully. “Why don’t you go out more often or at least during the day?” he asked. “Why didn’t you show yourself to the ponies?”

Eris frowned and looked at the ground. “Well, from what I can remember when I was little, I noticed how… different I was from the other ponies,” she explained and looked at her claw as if examining it for an imperfection. “I mean it doesn’t take a genius to know that ‘one of these things just doesn’t belong here’!”

Solaris frowned at that. Even as a baby she had known that her presence would’ve disturbed others and/or she knew she wouldn’t have been welcomed warmly at least. At a young age she had been very intelligent and was more so still. Eris remembered coming down from the mountain, still not having a full grip on her powers and having very weak wings at that, she had stumbled and clawed her way down only to find that she was very strange. The ponies all looked the same and their bodies made sense. It wasn’t a nice feeling to have to know that you are very different from everyone else. “When I came down I noticed that there was no one else like me, no one I could talk to anyway,” she continued then she chuckled lightly. “Heh, I even remember trying to converse with a manticore once, it didn’t end well.”

Solaris tried not to chuckle himself, but it was rather hard. After all the thought of a young Eris trying to speak to a fearsome beast like that seemed actually rather cute and terrifying at the same time. Eris also thought about that time and how she had run through the Everfree forest, screaming at the top of her lungs with the manticore right on her tail. A climb up a very tall tree was what saved her in the end and then she made even rarer trips to the Everfree afterward. Solaris looked at her thoughtful face and felt rather sad for her, she could easily make friends. Her personality was very likeable, but he knew that ponies weren’t the most accepting creatures in Equestria and knew that it would take a while for them and her to adjust. The only thought that pervaded his mind was ‘what a sad existence she must have’. “Oh well, past is past and I have benefitted from what I did anyway,” she said trying to keep positive.

“Is that why you started causing so much chaos?” Solaris asked.

Eris blinked in confusion. “Did you start to feel lonely?” he asked.

Eris snorted. “Lonely?” she asked. “Well, if I was, that’s certainly a long time for me to feel it.”

Solaris could see that she was putting on a brave face, but he didn’t buy it. At some point everyone feels lonely, even if it takes years for it to sink in. Eris probably didn’t know how loneliness even felt. All she had ever known was being alone. “I just wanted to have some fun,” she said simply.

“Alright,” Solaris said, letting the subject drop for now. “But I feel like you should get to know more ponies, so that it’s not just me being your friend.”

Eris didn’t like the sound of that it had taken awhile for her to get used to Shiny’s daily visits and now there would be someone else poking around? It all just sounded very tedious to her. “Say don’t you get tired of the atmosphere around here?” Solaris asked suddenly looking around her cave. “I mean couldn’t you add a few… homey touches?”

Eris looked around as well and knew that it wasn’t much to look at, basically a cave with a fire pit and a straw nest to sleep in. “Yeah, I must admit it is kind of bare-bones,” she said and snapped her fingers. “Guess I didn’t really notice, oh well, if I’m going to have more company might as well.”

A bed popped up where the nest had been, a table and two chairs set up on the right side of the cave and a kitchen on the left. “That’s a start,” she said and smiled up at Solaris.

He nodded and picked up the book with his magic. “I think one day you’ll be able to enter the world of ponies, Eris,” he said. “I know that once they see past the exterior they’ll see a funny and fun… uh, female who is also a great home decorator.”

Eris giggled at that and watched Solaris leave. “We’ll pick up the lesson later and I’ll find a way to make it more fun for you,” he said. “Good-bye Eris.”

She watched him fly away, back to his castle and watched as the sun started to set. “Good-bye Shiny,” she said, knowing he couldn’t hear her.

She sighed and looked down at Canterlot and all the ponies meandering around the streets, talking and laughing with each other. She hadn’t felt lonely before, but now it seemed to be the only thing on her mind. “Enter the world of ponies,” she said to herself. “Safe behind the tall heights and these colossal stones,

gazing at the ponies down below me.

All my life I watch them as I hide around alone,

hungry for the histories they’ve shown me.

All my life I look upon their faces,

seeing them as they will never see me.

All my life I’ve wondered how it feels to pass a day

not above them,

but part of them.

Eris floated further down the mountain to get a better look. All the ponies didn’t see her and continued with their errands. They didn’t see Eris, twirling and singing and waving her arm over them.

“And out there living in the sun!

Give me one day out there.

All I ask is one

to hold forever.

Out there where they all live unaware

of what I’d give,

what I’d dare,

just to live one day out there!

Out there among the unicorns,

earth ones,

and pegasi.

Through the shadows and clouds I see them.

Every day they cheer and play and go about their lives.

Not knowing what a gift it is to do that.

If I was in their skin I’d treasure every second

out there flying through the skies.

Not being shunned out there

and never asking why

am I strange?”

Eris then started to fly straight up to the very top of the mountain where she belted out the last line with all her heart.

“I’ll be out there

just one day and then

I swear I’ll be content

with my share.

Won’t resent,

won’t despair,

old and bent

I won’t care

I’ll have spent one day out there!”

The sun set with glorious colors reflecting on the mountain and the last rays seem to stand perfectly still just for her as if to give her some hope that, yes, someday it will happen.

Author's Note

Well, I hope some of you saw this coming. Bet you didn't expect this song though! Hope you enjoyed my parody of it.
Song: (Parody of) Out There
From: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney version)

Don't SUE!

A Trip Outside

It was the strangest thing yet. That word had been on Artemis’ lips and mind for the last few days, but seeing Solaris act the way he had, that was the crown on the prince’s head. He met every new day with such enthusiasm. He was always excited to tell him all about his new friend, the female draconneques, and her achievements or antics. This new development of teaching her how to read was a rather amusing event though. Solaris was trying to find easy reading material, but their library was usually stocked with scholarly scrolls, magic spells, and history. Nothing that a foal would find fun or even have the capacity to read. Besides that he had been asking for teaching lessons, not that Artemis would know anything about that, he didn’t much like foals or keeping their interest (or anyone with the mentality of one). When it came to teaching he had always been the one to be taught. Solaris was the older brother and had taught him almost everything he knew. He couldn’t remember how Solaris kept his interest. Maybe it was because he was his older brother that it just came easily. To the matter at hand though, it seemed that teaching Eris was becoming rather difficult considering Solaris’ mood of the moment. He was searching for a childhood book that had long ago been misplaced and he was making quite a mess of it. “Brother, please,” Artemis spoke up as he stepped carefully over the discarded books.

Of course, Solaris wasn’t listening, too engrossed in his search. “Please, Soly!” Artemis cried. “This is madness!”

Solaris turned to Artemis and sighed. “It’s just a little mess,” he said.

Now that wasn’t like Solaris at all! He despised any kind of mess! Artemis was more prone to let things go, but Solaris kept him in line. “Brother, I have a feeling that this Eris has taken up the forefront of your mind if not the entirety of it,” he said and sat next to his older brother. “You seem to be very intent on impressing her.”

Solaris sniffed and he could’ve just been seeing something, but Artemis could’ve sworn he saw a slight shade of pink splash across Soly’s cheeks. “I just really want her to know how great reading can be,” he explained.

“Mm-hm,” Artemis hummed with disbelief.

“Anyway, I did want to take a break from the lessons for a while,” Solaris said.

“Oh, that’s good,” Artemis said. “Now you’ll have a chance to get to know each other.”

“Well, that’s not exactly the plan.”

Artemis raised an eyebrow at him. “I was hoping that you would come with me this time,” Solaris said. “Eris needs to meet someone else. I feel like she doesn’t understand how important it is for her to have friends.”

Artemis listened with interest, but also felt like Solaris was being a little hypocritical. After all he didn’t have many friends either. However, actually meeting up with the mysterious Eris sounded interesting as well. It definitely sounded like an experience, for sure. He shrugged and stood back up. “Alright, I’ll meet her,” he said.

Solaris gave a pleased smile and nudged his younger brother’s shoulder playfully. “Alright, I’ll be leaving soon, so make yourself presentable,” he said and started flipping through the pages of another book.

Artemis sighed and decided to find some kind of welcoming gift for the draconneques…

The two brothers trudged up the mountain, gravel and sand slipped out from under their hooves and Artemis was having a hard time keeping up and keeping balanced with the flower in his mouth. “Almost there,” Solaris said.

They had flown the majority of the way, but Solaris thought it would be easier for Eris to be introduced to Artemis slowly. He would sit outside her cave until Solaris told him to come in. “Ssank goodnesh!” he said through his clenched teeth.

Finally they made it to the entrance of the cave and Solaris walked in first. “Hello?” he called, his voice echoing around the walls. “Hello, Eris?”

With a ‘poof’ and a gleeful cackle Eris appeared. “Ooo, yay!” she cried and hugged Solaris around his neck. “Shiny’s here!”

Shiny? Artemis thought as he waited patiently for them. The nickname sounded childish and endearing at the same time. It certainly suited him. “Yes, I’m here,” Solaris said with a cheerful smile.

Artemis could hear that he was running out of breath, Eris must’ve had a strong grip on his neck. “Tee-hee!” Eris giggled and started doing backflips in the air. “So what lesson are we going over today?”

“No lesson today, Eris,” Solaris said. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Ooo, a present for me?!” she asked excitedly. “You shouldn’t have, Shiny! It’s not even my birthday!”

Solaris smirked and walked back to the cave’s entrance. “Not that kind of surprise, but I think you’ll like it anyway,” he said and waved his hoof out in Artemis’ direction. “May I introduce the Prince of the Night, Co-ruler of Equestria, and my little brother Artemis!”

Artemis stepped out from around the corner and looked at Eris who gently floated back down to the ground. She looked at him curiously as if not really knowing what to make of him. For a better way to speak, Artemis gently set the flower down on the ground and looked at her with determination and pride. “Greetings, lovely Eris,” he said. “It is an honor and a privilege to meet one of my brother’s dear friends.”

With that he gave an elegant bow and gripped the flower stem between his teeth again. He walked up to Eris who only kept watching him. “For oo,” he said and offered the flower to her.

The flower was actually something very special to Artemis, the night lily that only bloomed when the sun went down and it would give off its own beautiful golden glow. At the moment it was just a bud, but she would definitely see its beauty soon enough. Eris plucked it gently from Artemis’ mouth and examined it closely. So far she hadn’t said a thing and this unnerved both of the pony brothers. She looked at Artemis then at Solaris and then back at Artemis. Her look was almost unreadable, more thoughtful than anything else. Suddenly she pounced and wrapped her arms around Artemis’ neck! “Oh, Shiny he’s absolutely adorable!” she cried and squeezed him hard. “Can I keep him?!”

Solaris tried to choke back his laughter as Artemis choked for more air. Finally she let him go and hovered back into mid-air. “Hello, Artemis,” she said. “Your brother has said so much about you, he never said how handsome and how dashing you are.”

Artemis blushed deep red. He knew what his brother had told him about her brash personality, but he hadn’t expected her to be so forward. “And the flower is so pretty, well, at least I think it is,” she continued and examined the flower again.

Artemis smiled at her confusion. “It’s a night lily, it only blooms when the sun is down,” he explained.

“Oh, wonderful!” she said and twirled around in the air.

Eris snapped her fingers and a vase full of water appeared on the table. She placed the flower delicately into the vase and smiled at her work. “There, perfect,” she said and turned back to the brothers. “So, Prince of the Night, huh?”

Artemis smiled shyly and scratched his neck with a hoof. “Well, yes,” he said. “Solaris makes the sun rise and set and I make the moon rise and fall.”

While Eris floated she also looked like she was sitting in some invisible seat. Her legs were crossed and she rested her hands on one knee. The pose was so casual and also so jarring to Artemis. He had never seen anypony flaunt their magic the way she did. “How interesting,” she said. “I always liked the night, easier for sneaking.”

Artemis smirked at that. At least someone appreciated his beautiful night, if not in the way he expected someone to. “The stars are also really pretty, I’ve studied them for a while, you really do have an eye for patterns, Arty,” Eris continued, lapsing into his nickname.

“Well, uummm, thank you,” Artemis said and bowed his head in thanks.

Eris couldn’t help her girlish giggle. “He’s just too much!” she said to Solaris who only shook his head in defeat.

Needless to say, Artemis wasn’t used to this kind of attention. Eris was very curious and very bold. He had never met anyone like her. During his visit he had told her how he arranged the stars, how he raised the moon and what it felt like. Eris was never empty of questions. She in turn showed him what she could do with her own powers. She showed him the chocolate rain, cotton candy clouds, soapy floors, and even how she seemed to defy the laws of nature by switching certain traits on him and Solaris around all with just a snap of her fingers. She even summoned up a lunch for them, salad for them and rabbit for her. That was also a little disturbing to him too, he knew that other creatures ate meat, but he never met one that was more intelligent than a dragon. “Solaris has told me about your past, I must say it’s very rare for anyone to be orphaned at such a young age,” he pointed out. “If I can and if you would let me I would like to know what happened to your family.”

Eris frowned and started to poke at her lunch. “If the subject is too hard for you-,” he started again.

“No, I mean,” she also started. “I’d like to know as well, I can’t remember anything beyond the first time I came down to Canterlot and as far as I know, I didn’t have a family.”

It sounded horribly sad. Artemis at least remembered his own father and he still had his brother. How lonely she must be. “But I’d rather not know,” she continued.

The two brothers looked at her in surprise they thought that she would want to know just as badly as they did, but it seemed that they were mistaken. “I don’t really care about what happened before, I am who I am because of it and that’s good enough for me.”

With that she popped a piece of rabbit in her mouth and let the subject drop.

The brothers trotted over to the entrance of the cave and looked back at their new friend. Eris smiled and hugged Artemis again this time more gently. Artemis returned the hug and smiled sweetly for her. She turned to Solaris and did the same. Their hug lasted a bit longer, but soon they parted. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Eris,” Artemis said and bowed elegantly to her.

“And you too, Prince Artemis,” Eris said and gave her own bow.

Artemis nodded and shifted nervously before nudging Solaris. “Well, aren’t you going to ask her?” he asked.

Solaris shook his head nervously and nudged him back. “Ask me what?” Eris asked.

Solaris scratched his neck with a hoof, but didn’t say anything. Artemis rolled his eyes and turned to Eris. “Apparently there’s going to be a get-together in one of the fields near Canterlot, Solaris was wondering if you would be interested in going?” he said.

Eris blushed as well and twiddled her thumbs nervously. “Well, I mean, umm,” she started. “I’ve rarely ever been outside of my cave and I’ve always been hidden and stuff.”

“So you’ll think about it,” Artemis replied for her.

Eris’ eyes widened, but didn’t object. “Again a pleasure, good-by Eris,” Artemis said and took off. Solaris, however, turned back to her and looked at her curiously. Eris shifted around nervously. “I know what you’re going to say and it’s not going to change my mind,” she said.

Solaris nodded. “I know, but I wanted to say that I think you’re right,” he said.

Eris tilted her head at him. “You are the way you are, because of what happened to you,” he continued. “And I think the you now is pretty great.”

Eris smiled and blushed a slight shade of pink. “Goodnight, Eris,” he said and took off into the sky.

It wasn’t like she didn’t know that. She knew she was great, amazing even. Not being seen by other ponies or having many friends didn’t really matter to her. What mattered to her was, well, her and she wanted to prove something that night. It was probably stupid considering she was using most of her magic to float around and dodge trees, but she had to do it, she had to prove herself. Eris yawned widely as she turned around another tree and kept floating along. After the colts had left a thought crossed Eris’ mind, about the last time that Solaris was there and when she had told him about the time she had talked to a manticore. The memory stung and the feeling of remembering it stung even more. Sure she had laughed at it at first, but that’s what she did. She tried to laugh it off and forget about it afterward. Now that the memory resurfaced she could feel that feeling of helplessness and humiliation. So there she was in the Everfree Forest just wandering around, trying to find the stupid manticore and show him what a wonder she was now. However, it was becoming more of a wild goose chase. “Come on, you weren’t so hard to find before,” she grumbled.

Eris’ eyes started to drift downward and she wasn’t paying attention anymore to where she was going or what she was doing and then felt herself bounce against something. However, she didn’t notice until the fourth bounce against the thing before she looked up and saw the growling maw of a manticore. “Ah, there you are,” she mumbled sleepily. “Do you know what I have been going through to find you?”

The manticore only kept growling at her, even as she started to poke him in the middle of his chest. “I’m really tired and have been floating around for hours,” she said and kept poking him. “So let’s get this over with so that I can go to bed.”

The manticore, of course, got annoyed by her actions and roared mightily in her face. Her hair was blown back and her fur puffed up from the moisture. “You need to do something about that breath,” she said and snapped her fingers.

Something fizzled for a second, but then nothing. Eris looked nervously at her fingers and the manticore waited patiently for her to do something. Eris laughed nervously and snapped her fingers again, still nothing happened. She started to snap them repeatedly and even did it with the other hand before turning back to the manticore and smiling sheepishly. “Heh, heh,” she chuckled. “Well, looks like I’m all out of juice, maybe we should continue this some other time?”

The manticore growled and roared once again. Eris screamed and took off away from the vicious beast. She ran back to the mountain with the manticore right on her tail. Tears were starting to leak through her lashes. It was happening again! Nothing had changed at all, she was just a scared little draconneques running away from something that was too big for her to swallow! Then came something much unexpected, a cliff. Eris skittered to stop and looked up at it. It was steep sure, almost a straight up if not almost less than a ninety degree angle climb. She had to try! Her paw and claw gripped at the stones and she started to scrabble her way up. The manticore was closing in, she could hear it huff and roar as it ran full tilt at her. Eris tried, she tried so hard even with tears streaming down her face and fear making her heart pound harder against her ribs. Suddenly a stone gave and she slipped all the way back down the cliff side. “No!” she cried and landed back on the ground.

She turned around to find the manticore staring down at her, its dripping white teeth glistening in the moonlight. It growled deeply and moved its face in closer to get a good whiff of her, its teeth inches from her neck. It reared back, but before it could strike a flash of light exploded above them, distracting the manticore and blinding both of them. “Back foul creature or we shall vanquish thee!” a deep voice commanded.

The light didn’t fade until the source landed on the ground and Eris could see that it was pony shaped. The pony pawed at the ground and pushed the manticore back before the beast took off in the other direction. The light then faded out and Eris could now see that her savior was Solaris...

It had been a very beautiful day and it was going to be a very peaceful night. For some reason Artemis said he didn’t want to patrol over the Everfree forest. He said it unnerved him a bit and tonight it felt as if something was a bit more off about it. Solaris agreed that he would briefly check it over before he would turn in and took off over the trees. The Everfree Forest had always been an enigma to the ponies. It had stood for many years and was wild, untamed. Things grew and thrived there without any help from ponies and that was what disturbed them the most. Solaris thought that Eris would’ve liked the place a lot. The brothers had tried to tame the forest by building their castle in the center of it, but no amount of magic or love or nurturing would keep the woods down. He flew up over the tall trees and looked down at the ground between the branches. It seemed fairly quiet. He thought that maybe Artemis was just being paranoid until he heard a roar from deep within the forest. He looked down and saw a manticore barreling through the trees. It was obviously after something. Solaris flew down to see what it pursued. A lithe and quick form flickered between the trees ahead of the manticore, it slithered, hopped, and ran from its attacker before it stopped and started to climb. It wasn’t long before Solaris realized that the form was Eris! “Eris!” Solaris called, but she didn’t hear him.

She was trying to climb up the cliff away from the beast and she slipped right back down. Solaris growled and horn glowed bright. “Back foul beast or we shall vanquish thee!” he shouted in his Canterlot voice.

The manticore fled within seconds of him appearing and then he turned back to Eris who was whimpering and crying at the base of the cliff. “Eris, what in the name of Equestria were you thinking?!

he asked and stomped towards her.

He was partially angry and partially relieved that he had found her, but angry at why saving her was necessary. “Do you have any idea of what would’ve happened if I hadn’t-!”

Eris’ arms came up and wrapped around him tightly. She started to cry into his chest. Solaris blushed, very surprised that Eris was behaving in such way, but seeing how she was distraught he tried his best to comfort her. “Hey, Eris,” he whispered. “Eris?”

She didn’t respond beyond more sniffling. “It’s ok, you’re ok,” he said and nuzzled her gently.

Eris sniffed and stopped crying but didn’t let go of him. “Can you fly?” he asked.

Eris shook her head. “Alright, climb on, I’ll give you a ride back,” Solaris said and spread his wings so that she could get on his back without difficulty.

She clumsily got onto his back and held onto his neck as they flew back to her cave. It was a short ride, but it didn’t matter, Eris was out cold by the time Solaris landed. “Eris?” he whispered.

He looked back and saw that her eyes were closed gently and she was breathing evenly. Her grip had slackened significantly as well. “Oh Eris,” he grumbled and started to walk her over to her bed.

He gently set her down on the mattress and clumsily tried to tuck her in, before looking at his work. Solaris had never seen Eris sleep before. She looked so peaceful, so unlike her. It was beautiful anyway. Solaris smiled and nuzzled her again. “Sleep well, Eris,” he said. “I’ll scold you in the morning.”

She must’ve heard on some level, because she groaned and rolled over. Solaris chuckled softly and walked back to the entrance of the cave. Looking back one more time he watched her sleeping form for a few more seconds before taking off. He did want to know what she had been doing that night and he wasn’t going to let it go that easily. However, Eris falling asleep on his back almost made him forget about that entirely.

Author's Note

So, you're all probably wondering why I decided to use Canterlot voice here now... Well, I always had a feeling that Celestia/Solaris would only use it in times when it was mostly needed to get a meaning across or when "resonance" was needed and not as excessively as Luna/Artemis would use it... Or maybe I'm just lazily and don't want to put in all the fancy wording and "thee"s and "thou"s in. Oh well, enjoy!

Heaven's Light

Heaven’s Light

“What were you thinking?” Solaris said as he paced in front of Eris.

This was probably the third time he asked that question and every time she tried to answer him, he spoke up again, just like now. “You could’ve been hurt or worse killed!” he said and continued pacing. “What if I hadn’t gotten there in time?! What is wrong with you?! Why didn’t you poof away or make his teeth disappear or something!?”

Eris opened her mouth and inhaled deeply, but still didn’t get a word in. “What were you thinking?!” he asked again.

Eris waited patiently for him to be done, waiting for a few seconds before finally answering. “Oh, you’re finished?” she asked.

The verbal assault of questions was the first thing to meet her when she woke up that morning. Eris had woken up slowly. Blinked her eyes slowly and tried not to drift back to sleep. It was a hard task considering her head pounded and something in the core of her being ached painfully. Not a few seconds out of bed and trying to pour herself a glass of chocolate milk did Solaris burst in and demanded her to tell him what she had been doing last night. He had been doing it for an hour at least and she was still achy besides, his attack on her wasn’t helping at all either. Meanwhile, she just sat there her tail swishing in the dust and watched him pace back and forth in front of her. “Well, to begin with, I was thinking that I would just… take a little float around the Everfree, you know get some fresh air and that exercise that ponies are always preaching about,” Eris said and smiled nervously.

“Eris?” Solaris said, not buying her story for a minute.

Eris pouted and crossed her arms. “What?” she asked. “I can’t take a stroll without being interrogated?”

Solaris stared at her not letting up his psychological assault either. Eris squirmed and fidgeted under his look, but wasn’t budging. “Come on, Eris,” Solaris urged. “I thought we were passed lying to each other, we’re friends after all, and friends don’t lie.”

That made Eris break and she growled in defeat. “Alright!” she said. “I was trying to seek out the manticore and show it who was boss!”

Solaris looked at her as if she was crazy. Eris looked back at him and frowned. “Don’t look at me like that!” she said.

Solaris looked down and tried to make sense of her sense. “You know that manticores aren’t very intelligent, it probably wouldn’t have remembered your face even if it saw it a few seconds ago,” he said.

Eris blushed and looked away. “I know, but I just wanted to try,” she said softly.

Solaris saw something then, something he had never seen cross Eris’ face, disappointment, disappointment in herself. Solaris was shocked and a little sorry for her, she had just wanted to conquer a foalhood fear (one that could’ve seriously harmed her), but still a fear and she had failed miserably. “I’m sorry, it didn’t work out well,” Solaris said. “But still, you had me worried sick and what’s worse you could’ve been hurt. You have to think about the consequences of your actions, Eris.”

Eris nodded sadly. Solaris walked over to her and gently placed his hoof over her paw. Eris looked down at it and blushed brightly. “This probably doesn’t mean anything, but you were pretty brave to try and conquer your fear,” he continued.

Eris smiled sheepishly and twirled a lock of her hair. “A little reckless, but still brave,” Solaris said.

“Thank you,” she replied.

Solaris smiled at her and then took his hoof off of her paw. “Well, now that we have that out of the way, I do have another question for you,” he said and this time sat across from her. “Why didn’t your magic work? I’m assuming it wasn’t working, because you didn’t do anything when the manticore was on top of you.”

Eris scrunched up her face. “Well, I suppose my magic goes out when I have been using it constantly for long periods of time or when I’m tired and can’t focus,” she said. “It’s never really happened to me before. I’ve gotten so good at my magic that I never thought it could.”

“Hmmmm, seems like your magic does have its limits after all,” he said and looked at her thoughtfully.

“Apparently so,” Eris said and shrugged.

Solaris got up and started pacing again. Eris watched him and for a good long while, neither of them spoke. It was hard to think about what to say. Eris could’ve said many things. However, those things had already been said or sounded too… gushy to say aloud, so she thought of something that had been said the day before. “Didn’t Artemis say that there was going to be some party today?” she asked.

Solaris stopped for a second and looked at her curiously. “Well, to make up for my stupid mistake I would like to accompany you to this… get together,” Eris finished.

Solaris blinked in surprise and blushed at the thought. Was she asking him on a date? “Are you saying that this is-?” he started.

“I mean as friends or as acquaintances or as a safe way of getting me out of this damp and dreary cave like you wanted me to!” Eris interrupted.

Solaris saw how nervous she was and smiled softly before he nodded. “Alright, well, it doesn’t start until later so I think I’ll go for now see what I can do to help with the festivities or to prepare and what not,” he said. “I’ll erm, pick you up later.”

With that he trotted out of the cave and out into the morning sunlight.

Eris scrubbed herself furiously as she stood under the waterfall. Every sweet smelling plant and herb was piled next to her and she tried her best to scrub the scents into her skin. Lavender, rosemary, mint, eucalyptus, anything to make her smell better than what she thought she smelled like. After several minutes under the water, Eris conjured a towel and dried herself off. She sniffed at herself and was a little satisfied that she didn’t smell terrible at least. Then she breathed on her claw and sniffed, not getting a good enough scent, she conjured up a second nose that hovered before her mouth and she breathed on it. She cringed in horror at her own breath and coughed. Frantically she grabbed a handful of mint leaves and rose petals before she jammed them both into her mouth and she chewed quickly. It was her first date! Correction, “get together” with a… friend she’s ever had, she didn’t want to disappoint or offend.

Meanwhile, Solaris stared at himself in the mirror and tried to work on his “winning” smile. He rose an eyebrow here, quirked his mouth up there, but nothing seemed to look right. “Brother, what did mother tell you?” Artemis said as he walked in on him. “If you keep making faces your face is going to stick that way.”

Solaris rolled his eyes. “Very funny, Arty,” he said and turned away from his reflection.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this flustered, especially over a little harvest festival,” Artemis said as he started to walk with his brother.

Solaris frowned. “Well, it’s not just the festival,” he said.

Artemis smiled knowingly. “Yes, it’s also a festival… with Eris,” he said and nudged him playfully.

Solaris flushed with embarrassment. “Come on, Solly,” Artemis said. “Just admit that you like her!”

“I do like her,” Solaris said.

“But?” Artemis urged.

“But, but nothing,” Solaris said. “She’s something special, Arty, probably more special than either of us think.”

“That has nothing to do with your feelings about her.”

“I know, but I honestly don’t know what I feel towards her, yet.”

“Yet, but this night might just be the push you two need.”

Solaris sighed and only hoped that his brother was right.

It was sometime during mid-afternoon to early evening when Solaris landed at the entrance to Eris’ cave. He looked in straightened up his mane and coat and walked in. “Eris?” he called.

Eris popped in front of him and smiled. “Hello Shiny!” she greeted. “Ready to go?”

Solaris smiled and nodded. “Well, I’m not,” Eris said. “I still need to add… a few more touches.”

She snapped her fingers and then her usual chaotic form was gone in a puff of smoke to reveal a new form, one that certainly looked odd on her. Eris had gone from draconneques to pony in less than a second. Granted she looked a little different from other ponies, but still a pony. She was gray colored from head to neck and then brown on the rest of her body. She had chosen to be a unicorn and her horn was an entwined blue and white as if her original horns had combined into one. Her wings were hidden and her hair or mane looked the same, white on top and black near the back of her neck and down. She constantly blew at her bangs that refused to move over from the one side of her face. They covered up one eye, but Solaris kind of found the look attractive. Her eyes were the same as well, two rubies floating on a pool of sunlight. “Eris, why-?” he asked.

“I don’t think everyone is ready to see my usual form,” she said and walked forward. “I practiced this all today, what do you think?”

Solaris looked at her pony form one more time and smiled softly. It wasn’t her amazing original form, but it was her anyway and that was good enough for him. He nodded appreciatively and offered a hoof to her. “Shall we, my lady?” he asked.

Eris smiled and blushed lightly. “Yes, we shall,” she said and hooked her leg with his before they parted and made the walk toward the entrance.

“I guess I should carry you then?” he asked and spread his wings.

“Pfft, I can fly myself, we just have to land a little ways away,” she said as she summoned her wings.

Solaris smiled and took off with Eris right behind him.

Soon enough they were gliding over a wide open field. The hay waved in the fresh cool breeze as if it was greeting them. Solaris made a shallow dive and Eris followed suit. They landed in the waving grass and started to walk towards the sounds of shouting and cheering and laughing. Soon enough the hay parted and revealed a trampled clearing full of farming ponies, most of them of the Earth Pony variety, but others had shown up as well. A cart had been parked at the front as a kind of makeshift stage and a band played vigorously. Eris’ mouth stretched into a wide and excited smile as she looked around at all the sights and smells and sounds. An open fire was at the heart of the clearing and most of the ponies danced around it. Barrels of cider were stacked on another end and a big colt was serving up mug after mug of it. Two other barrels were used as legs to a table that was lined with buckets of apples, plates of pies, and other assorted baked goods! Eris didn’t know what to do first it was all so bright, shiny, and new! Solaris looked at her and smiled with amusement. She looked like she was ready to explode with anticipation. He nudged her shoulder and signaled to the table. “Let’s go get some pie,” he said.

“OK!” Eris said and almost ran full tilt at the buffet.

Solaris followed after her. “YEE-HAW!” a voice called over the crowd.

“YEE-HAW!” the crowd responded in kind.

“Alrigh’, y’all fillies and colts, y’all havin’ a good ol’ time?!” the colt called.

The crowd cheered loudly back to him. “Alright, alright,” he continued. “We’re about to kick it into high roll now, so this may be the last y’all see o’ me until sunrise. If ya do, can tell me I left my hat on some filly’s rear?”

The crowd burst out laughing and Eris couldn’t help laughing as well. Solaris gave his own polite chuckle the joke not really being for him. “Alright, so y’all better dance and play ‘til ya drop or else yer not doin’ it righ’!” the colt said and bowed before he jumped off the cart to join the party.

The crowd laughed before they started to stomp their hooves and then continue with the festivities. Solaris shook his head and turned back to Eris who was already stuffing her face full of pie. She looked up at him, her cheeks stuffed to brimming. “Wha?” she asked with her mouth full.

Solaris snorted before he pointed to the cider. “You want to try?” he asked.

Eris looked over at the cider nervously. She had never tried it before and from what she had seen from other ponies drinking it, it had some pretty weird effects. However, since when had she been turned off by anything strange? She shrugged and followed him to the cider barrels. The big colt haned them each a mug and they used their magic to hold them up. “To friends,” Solaris said.

“To freedom!” Eris answered back.

They clinked their mugs and each took a long slurp from them. Eris had to admit that she liked the taste, bitter, tangy, and sweet all at once. It was very… chaotic! Soon enough they had both gone through their first mugs and were working on their second. At the time they had only been a part of the furniture. They stayed off to one side and chatted about the party, the food, the ponies, and the cider even. They haven’t gotten up once to try and dance. However, Eris was starting to feel a little braver and a little crazier than usual so she nudged at Solaris. “You wanna dance?” she asked.

Solaris blanked and looked over at the dancing ponies. He shook his head ‘no’. “I’m not so good at this kind of dancing,” he said.

“Aw come on, it looks fun!” she encouraged and started to push him onto the dance floor.

Solaris tried his best to resist, but it looked like he wouldn’t have any luck now. “Alright, alright,” he said and started to awkwardly dance to the music.

Eris was having a little trouble keeping up with the rhythm as well, but she didn’t mind. She wanted to dance and she would dance her own way. All the while she was wearing an ecstatic and happy smile on her face. Solaris couldn’t help smiling along with her, it was incredibly infectious. They danced and danced and danced until their hooves were sore and they could’ve given out right then and there. They laughed and cheered with the crowd and had so many drinks that their cheeks were painted permanently red. They staggered off to the side and then Solaris noticed that Eris’ bat wing was showing. “Uumm, Eris,” Solaris said with a giggle and pointed at her wing.

“Whoopsie, I’m showing!” Eris said and started to laugh.

Solaris snorted and choked before he started laughing as well. “Well, if I’m flashing I might as well strip down,” she said and suddenly her pony form was gone, replaced with her original form.

Everyone stopped and gaped at her as she stood there snorting, giggling, and guffawing at her own bravado. She looked out at the crowd and smiled innocently. “Hi!” she said and waved.

The crowd screamed collectively and started to gallop this way and that. However, Solaris and Eris kept laughing at their own little joke before taking off away from the ruined party.

They both snorted and laughed the entire way back to the cave. Their cheeks hurt from laughing and so did their stomachs and ribs. They didn’t seem to care all that much. Eris stumbled as she landed, but couldn’t stop the hysterical giggling. “Well, that was fun,” Solaris said with a chuckle and tried to help Eris back up.

“Tee-hee,” she giggled as she wobbled back to her feet. “Yeah, I never had cider before. I never danced before!”

Solaris chuckled as Eris leaned against his shoulder for support. “Want to watch the moon rise before I go?” he asked.

“Don’t you need to lower the sun first?” she asked.

Solaris shrugged softly so as not to disturb her. “I can be a little late, besides I can lower it from here.”

Eris smiled and rested her head up against his neck. If his face wasn’t already red it would’ve gone brighter, in fact it might have! He smiled softly and his horned glowed just as softly as well. Slowly the sun went down below the hills and they could just make out Artemis’ silhouette as he rose the moon. They sat there and sighed as it came to an end. “I suppose you have to go,” Eris said as she stared at her feet.

“I’m afraid so,” Solaris said as he stood up.

Eris tried not to feel sad, he was a prince after all, he had more important things to do besides spending time with crazy, different her. Besides she should’ve been used to it by now! It seemed to be getting harder and harder to watch him go. “Eris?” Solaris spoke up.

He lowered his head so that they could meet eye to eye. Eris followed his eyes back up. He smiled and moved closer to her. “Today was amazing,” he said. “You’re amazing.”

Eris’ blush grew deeper and she looked away shyly. She felt a foreleg come over her shoulder and felt herself being pulled closer to him, until she could feel his warm, soft lips press firmly against her cheek. Eris gasped softly and her eyes widened in surprise. Was her heart outside of her chest?! It really felt like it! Solaris’ hoof brushed back her bangs and he smiled sheepishly. “Goodnight, Eris,” he whispered and flapped his wings gently before taking off.

She watched him fly away until he was nothing, but a speck on the horizon. The blush remained and her heart wouldn’t stop hammering away in her chest. Now she felt a kind of strange mix of sadness and joy overwhelm her as she started to think about Solaris and what “this” meant to her and what he meant to her as well. “So many times out there

I’ve seen a happy pair

of lovers walking in the night.

They had this sort of glow around them.

It almost looked like Heaven’s light.

I know I’ll never know that strange, yet loving glow

though I can fool myself all night!

No face as hideous as my face

was ever meant for Heaven’s light.

Then suddenly somepony has smiled at me

and kissed my cheek without a trace of fright.

I dare to think that he may even care for me

and as his sun goes down tonight,

somehow the darkness feels so bright!

I think this might be Heaven’s light!

Eris looked out at the starlit sky and while she was tired and happy, she also felt like she could sky-dive and cry out Solaris' name to the entire world. For now she walked back into her cave and fell onto her bed. She hugged one of her pillows and giggled gleefully into it before falling asleep minutes later.

Author's Note

Yeah, here's where some adult stuff comes in. Sorry about that, I just wanted to be a little silly and come on who doesn't get drunk at a field rave?! Not exactly accurate to what it was, but ok. Anyway, I'd like to think that the announcer colt and the big colt are ancestors of the "Apple" family I just wanted to throw some obscure references in there. Besides that enjoy the drunken silliness and probably going to mark this as Teen now, just in case, don't want the admins on my back, ya know?

The Days After

Artemis trotted down the halls of the castle looking frantically for his brother who was late for the sunrise. It was extremely rare if not a near impossibility for him to be late for his duties. He came to Solaris’ room and knocked softly. The door slowly creaked open a crack just enough for him to see that his older brother was definitely still asleep or was asleep. Solaris groaned and Artemis saw his covers shift to show that he had rolled over in his sleep. Artemis squinted slightly in thought. There could only be one logical explanation as to why Solaris was still in bed at that hour. He was hung-over. It had only happened at least once before, after one of his birthdays when he had one too many ciders. Artemis only hoped Soly hadn’t done anything stupid the night before, especially to Eris. He pushed the door open completely and walked over to Solaris’ bed. “Soly?” he said and nudged his brother with his hoof. “Solaris.”

Solaris groaned and rolled over again. “It’s too early brother,” he said.

“Actually, brother, it’s late,” Artemis corrected. “And you haven’t raised the sun yet.”

Solaris snorted and stumbled out of bed. “What why didn’t you say so!” he cried and galloped out of his room.

Artemis smirked and slowly followed him out. Solaris galloped all the way out of the castle his horn glowed garishly before he even burst out of the doors and flew straight out into the sky. The sun burst out from behind the hills and into the sky in its proper place for the time of day. He sighed and panted as he landed, stumbled and fell flat on his face. Artemis stood before him not long after. He looked down at Solaris expectantly and waited for him to collect himself. Solaris sighed and stood back up. He shook out his bed-tangled mane and looked at his brother with the same expectant look. “So, how was the party?” Artemis asked.

Solaris scrunched up his face in thought. He honestly couldn’t remember that much ofd the party, he remembered most of the beginning and some of the end, and the middle was a muddled mess of drinking and dancing. One thing that did stand out in his mind, however, was the kiss he had given to Eris. His face lit up like his glorious sun, red and hot. Artemis quirked an eyebrow at him and wondered what had happened himself. “It was good,” Solaris said simply and started to walk back into the castle.

Now Artemis was very curious, he wouldn’t give a reaction like that and just leave it at ‘it was good’! “That’s it?” he prodded further. “Just good?”

Solaris shrugged. “Not amazing, not fun, not unique, interesting…?” Artemis kept going. “Beautiful?”

Solaris paused for a second and gulped. The memory of Eris that night, not just pony Eris, but true Eris. True and unique and beautiful in her own way. The blush on his face grew much brighter. “Yes well,” he started. “Eris was certainly at her best that was for sure.”

Artemis smirked at him. “Uh-huh,” he said.

Solaris walked back into his room and looked at his reflection in the mirror and tried to straighten himself up. He felt like such a filly doing it, but he did want to look nice when going to greet Eris that morning.

Eris groaned as she woke up and her head pounded hard between her ears. She could feel horrible pressure building in between them. “Never again, no more cider!” she groaned and rolled over making herself fall over the side of the bed in the process.

Not just fall over, fall down as it were. The bed was hovering up on the ceiling and everything else was in complete disarray. The kitchen was full of floating dishes, pots, pans, and even food was up in the air. The table and chairs for her “dining room” were standing on the side of the cave and all around her the cave was painted in all sorts of different colors of the rainbow and even some colors she didn’t even know existed! She looked around her cave and couldn’t help herself, she burst out laughing. Even through the pain she could laugh at how she had gone completely crazy and made her cave the way it was. In fact she rather liked it that way it was more her than the way it had been. She just wondered when it happened. Perhaps she had been sleep-snapping and made all of it appear. She wondered if Solaris would like it. The thought of Solaris stopped her in her tracks and she blushed furiously. That night had been, paw and claw down, the best night of her life! Not only did she get to go on an actual date with somepony, but she had gone on a date with Solaris! She danced with him, drank with him, and at the end of the day she even got a goodnight kiss. Eris giggled and started to rise in the air. She made flips and turns in mid-air as she kept giggling. Finally she gave out a squeal and screamed with absolute delight. Solaris kissed her! He kissed HER!! It was an unbelievable thought, an even more unbelievable reality. With those feelings of joy and elatedness she also had feelings of dread and fear. What if he wouldn’t come back, what if he was too embarrassed, what if it was out of pity, or worse what if it was some cruel joke!? Well, she would find out soon enough.

Eris’ ear twitched at the sound of flapping wings and hooves meeting stone. She turned around and saw Solaris standing in the entrance with saddlebags strapped onto his back. That could only mean one thing, he had brought books. More lessons just sounded like an even bigger headache and she was a little disappointed that he was just going to make her read. “Hello Eris,” he said as he came in and started to undo the saddlebags. “We have a lot to cover since we skipped a few days, but I am confident that today you will get the hang of it!”

Eris blinked at him and could feel something in her chest starting to fall. That was it? He was just going to forget about it? Just not mention it and pretend it never happened? “Your place it… looks different,” Solaris spoke up again when he noticed how the table had been arranged.

He ducked his head as pan soared at it. “This seems a little bit dysfunctional for a learning environment,” he said. “Perhaps you could set it back the way it was?”

Eris glared at him, but didn’t do as she was asked. “Why should I?” she asked. “I like it this way.”

She was being defiant and a bit of a brat, but if he was going to forget about last night he had another thing coming! “Well, wouldn’t it be rather unpleasant if one of us got hurt by the flying kitchenware?” he asked and dodged the dishes as he tried to walk towards her.

Eris huffed and turned away from him. She still left the cave as it was. “Eris is something wrong?” Solaris asked.

Eris rolled her eyes before turning back to him. “I’ll say something’s wrong,” she started. “I had the best night of my life and got kissed by a gorgeous stallion and all he wants to do is move on and forget about it, like it never happened!”

Solaris blinked at her. “Eris,” he whispered in near disbelief.

She had called him gorgeous. Eris just floated in the air and then a pink cloud formed over her head and started to thunder. “You’d think I’d hear something about it, but noooooo, not a word just more reading lessons!” she continued.

“Eris!” Solaris stopped her. “Can you come down please so that I can talk to you properly?”

Eris didn’t even notice that she had floated several feet off the ground and she was almost touching the ceiling, even the pink cloud had expanded enough to fill the entire cave. She cleared her throat, made the cloud disperse, and slowly came back down. “Alright, I didn’t finish what I was going to say before I noticed your… redecorating,” he said.

Eris quirked an eyebrow and waited patiently. “Well, I was wondering if maybe after the lesson we could go on a little picnic in the Everfree forest, somewhere quiet and private and hopefully not dangerous?” he asked.

Eris’ eyes widened and her heart could’ve burst from its pumping. A second date, he wanted to go out on a second date! “I-I-I,” she started and a blush started to scorch its way across her face. “I would love to.”

Solaris smiled and set the book down in front of her. “Perfect and if you are going to keep it like this then we might as well start,” he said.

Eris looked around gave a thoughtful look. “Well, I guess we can do without the floating dishes,” she said and snapped her fingers.

The dishes clanged and clattered to the ground from where they were floating. Solaris flinched at the noise, but otherwise smiled happily at her and began the lesson.

Solaris actually had a very good idea for teaching Eris. He suggested that she use her magic to show what the words meant or symbolized. It had been fun for the both of them to see her take on what the words were. Every now and then he would also ask her to spell out the word in the air. Her handwriting was atrocious, but it was nothing that good old practice wouldn’t fix. It also gave her chance to practice her magic and have better control over it. Soon after they made the slow glide down the mountain toward the Everfree forest and they started talking, really talking. Not about their pasts or their misfortunes, but about likes, dislikes, interests not that Eris had that many, but she was interested to hear about Solaris’ hobbies and activities. Once they reached the spot, a beautiful sun-filled clearing. Solaris undid his saddlebags again and started to take out a blanket and food. All of it was vegetarian food, but Eris didn’t mind. They ate and kept talking and even shared a few laughs.

It was the second best day of Eris’ life. They had fun and it was just the two of them no one to judge or point or to get in the way. They even stayed longer than intended, after all the food was gone and after the sun started to disappear behind the trees. “Come on, I’ll walk you home,” Solaris said and started to pack up what was left.

For the walk back up there was mostly silence, lasting up until they reached the entrance to her cave. They were both too absorbed in their own thoughts to make more conversation and probably too nervous or sad to try anyway. Then Solaris turned to her and smiled shyly. “I had a wonderful time, we should do this again,” he said.

Eris nodded. “Yeah, me too, I had a wonderful time too,” she said.

Solaris kept smiling and didn’t know what to do. They both stood there for a while neither knowing what to do after that. Finally Solaris made a move, but Eris was quicker and she pecked him on the cheek. Solaris blushed and Eris returned it. “Bye, Shiny,” she said softly and started to retreat into her cave.

“Good-bye, Eris,” Solaris replied saying her name as if it was a rare treasure.

The pattern repeated for a few days. The lessons kept going and Eris showed significant improvement every day until she could read a full page and only stumbled over a word at least once. They had picnics, Solaris gave her air tours over the kingdom, and he even let her use her own brand of chaos over certain areas usually to help his subjects. Solaris showed her how valuable she was to the kingdom and how her powers could be used for good. Making it rain in certain areas, clearing paths, using humane population control for certain animals that were bothersome. Eris didn’t much like her powers being controlled like that, but it made Solaris happy and she was all too willing to do anything that would make Solaris happy. However, the pattern soon changed. Solaris was being secretive, coming by less and less, not speaking as often and always stayed deep in thought. Things were about to change and Eris didn’t think she would like it…

Author's Note

So here's the next chapter wonder what will happen next!? Only the author knows... lol. Anyway, besides that I'm going to get a little... desperate here, since everyone else seems busy or won't pick it up. I'm looking for an editor/proofreader/pre-reader for this story and most likely for the next story that I'm going to write. So, if one of you lovely peoples who read my story meet any of these preferences and would like to take a crack at this please shoot me a PM. :)

The Gala... Invitation

It had been an Equestrian tradition for generations and would be for generations after. The founding of Canterlot was a joyous occasion and was celebrated every year. However, only the crème de la crème attended and it was usually a bore anyway. The planning for it had to happen anyway, so Solaris was always preoccupied by catering plans, decoration, guests, seating, and everything else. Artemis tried to help in any way he could, but it was honestly a job for more than two stallions. Solaris had to juggle that along with his meetings with Eris, which was becoming a bit of a hassle as well. Eris was starting to get suspicious and unfocused when it came to her lessons. Perhaps, because he wasn’t really focused on her lessons either. He walked the length of the courtyard and with a scroll floating in front of his face. A quill made small checkmarks on everything that had been done. Artemis was overseeing the supplies and deliveries, but he also kept an eye on his brother. He made sure that he stayed on track with the Gala and with Eris. If his suspicions were correct, Solaris wouldn’t have told her about the Gala and she would be suspicious about his activities. The problem with his older brother was that he was so concerned about other ponies’ feelings that he didn’t think about other ponies’ feelings! For the past several minutes he had been looking over at Solaris impatiently waiting for him to leave for Eris’, but there was no movement. “You highness?!” a colt called.

Artemis pulled his attention away from Solaris and back to the task at hand. “Yes, yes, that’ll do,” he said and hurriedly waved his hoof. “If you’ll please excuse me for a second I must have a word with my brother.”

He walked away before the colt could answer and walked up beside his brother. “Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere?” Artemis asked.

Solaris looked over at him for a second then made a few more checkmarks before answering. “Perhaps, but it’s down to the line, Arty, I don’t think I’ll have time,” he said.

“Really?” Artemis asked. “And I suppose she’ll completely understand considering you haven’t told her a thing and you’ve been absent from your visits for a few weeks!”

Solaris put down the scroll and sighed. “What do you want me to do, Artemis?” he asked, his voice turning into a growl. “Tell her and then say she can’t come? Or worse tell her and invite her along?!”

Artemis wasn’t expecting such an angry answer from his brother, but he supposed Solaris was under a lot of stress and he hadn’t even told Eris about the Gala. He had no idea how to bring it up, but knew he had to or have her overreact or get the wrong assumption. It must have been hard for him. “Go,” Artemis said and picked up his scroll.

Solaris looked over at Artemis and his eyes widened. “Arty, I can’t ask you-!”

“Of course you can,” Artemis stopped him. “We’re brothers after all and you have Eris to think about now.”

Solaris smiled and Artemis smiled back. “Go on, I’ll take over from here,” he said.

Solaris nodded and took off without another word.

Eris paced around her cave and kept watch at the entrance of her cave, he was usually there right after he raised the sun. Lately he had been coming more around early afternoon sometimes later, but never this late! She was starting to get nervous she had a right mind to fly down to Canterlot and give him a piece of her mind. Regardless of the other ponies she would do it! Her wings flapped and she was about to take off until she saw a speck getting closer to her location and knew it was Solaris. She growled as he kept coming. She should’ve been ecstatic or at least relieved that he was coming at all, but all she could think about was how he had little to no explanation for his absence and that he was absent at all. She marched away from the entrance as he got even closer. Eris heard Solaris land, but didn’t even acknowledge his presence. “Hello Eris,” Solaris said nervously.

She didn’t respond. “Come on, Eris, don’t be mad,” he pleaded.

Eris’ growl grew deeper and louder. Solaris stepped back a bit, a little taken aback by her behavior. He had never seen Eris this upset, it was rather frightening. “I’m not mad,” she growled, her voice sounded absolutely unearthly. “I’m not mad, I’m, I’m confused.”

Solaris was really starting to get frightened now, besides the effect on her voice she sounded way too calm! “I’m confused as to why you came today,” she said and started to pace in front of him.

Solaris couldn’t see her face, for one thing she was in the deeper part of the cave where there was little light and her hair perfectly covered her face, so he couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all. Solaris cleared his throat before speaking. “Well, I wanted to see you, of course, and to tell you something,” he said.

“Oh wonderful, I do hope that it is something worthwhile of my time!” Eris continued to growl.

Solaris didn’t like this side of Eris. It was so menacing, so horrible. She seemed so much like the monster that she was trying so hard not to be. Now he stood his ground and took a deep breath. “Eris the reason why I haven’t been coming around as often was because I was preparing for something very important,” he said.

Eris finally turned around and he saw her eyes glowing horribly angry and red. “More important than me I suppose,” she hissed.

“No, of course not!”

“Then I suppose you’re attending to someone else besides me and that ‘important thing’?”

“No!”

“Then what is this thing you’re planning for that takes up so much of your valuable time or I suppose the time you spend with me isn’t valuable at all as it can easily be traded for your ‘planning’!”

“Eris, stop it!” Solaris shouted.

Eris froze and her eyes returned to normal, she stopped speaking at least. “Look,” Solaris started. “I know these few days have been hard for both of us, but I am a prince and I have other duties that come first, surely you can understand that?”

Eris crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of the cave. “And what if I don’t?” she asked.

Solaris glared at her and as much as he wanted to be brutally honest with her, he also knew that her feelings came first as well. “Then I am deeply sorry for my inattentiveness to you as well,” he said. “But it is true.”

Eris looked down at the floor and she looked a little shamed, at least she felt apologetic. “So what is this thing then?” she asked hurriedly.

Solaris blinked and sighed, it would have to come out eventually. “Me and Artemis have been preparing for an event that has been celebrated for several years now,” he explained. “It’s called the Grand Galloping Gala.”

Eris looked up at that. So he had been preparing for a party? Seemed like a weak excuse to be skipping out on their daily visits. “It’s not just some party as you might think, it celebrates the founding of Canterlot, it’s very important to the gentry,” Solaris continued. “We must do all we can to impress them.”

So he was planning it for hoity-toities? That explained it. Much like how she tried every day to impress him. It took time, patience, practice, and care. “I see,” she said.

Now for the hard part, he was going to tell her that she couldn’t attend. That was fine by her, she didn’t want to go to a boring royal party anyway. Being a unicorn was so boring anyway and tedious besides, using magic all the time instead of her hands, absolutely lazy if you asked her. Before she could even get word in about her opinion about it, however, Solaris interrupted her. “And I’ve been doing some thinking while I was coming here and you can feel free to say no, but I think it’s a good idea,” he said.

Eris drummed her claws along her arm impatiently. “Well, I was thinking that I could introduce you to my subjects, you know as you in your normal form,” he explained.

Eris froze and her eyes widened. He wanted her to go, more importantly he wanted her to go… as herself! It was stupid, insane, absolutely ludicrous! She loved it! How could she have ever thought that Solaris would disappoint her?! How dare she even think that something else was more important than her! Solaris was always thinking about her just like she always thought about him! “So what do you think?” he asked.

Still she didn’t want to just drop her façade right then she wanted to keep her somewhat grumpy demeanor up. “What exactly are you asking me, Solaris?” she asked.

She lapsed into his real name that meant she was really serious. He had to word this right. Solaris cleared his throat again and gave an elegant bow. “Eris, will do me the honor of having me escort you to the Gala?” he asked.

Eris smiled and it was so full of joy that Solaris almost burst out laughing. “Oh yes!” she squealed and scooped Solaris up into her arms. “Yes, absolutely yes!”

Solaris smiled from ear to ear and hugged her back. “Eris, you are the most amazing thing to happen in my life, how could you think that I would just leave you?” he asked.

Eris blushed and let him out of her hug. “Well, I mean, I’m not exactly the best candidate for courtship,” she began. “I mean look at me.”

Solaris frowned at her, a little disappointed that she still couldn’t get passed that. “You are so much more than your looks, Eris,” he said. “Why can’t you see that?!”

Eris shrugged, a little ashamed of herself as well. “It’s kind of hard to get passed.”

Solaris sighed and nudged her towards a puddle on the floor and they looked down at their reflections. “Do you want to know what I see?” he said.

Eris looked over at him in confusion. “I see a talented, intelligent, playful, passionate, and beautiful female that does everything with all her heart,” he started. “She can be a bit irrational and chaotic, but she always wants to have a good time.”

Eris looked down at her reflection and tilted her head at it. She couldn’t see it, no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t get passed how different she looked compared to Solaris. Now Solaris… Solaris was handsome, brave, intelligent, dignified, regal, majestic, everything that she wasn’t. How could she ever hope to be equal to him? “Eris,” Solaris said and turned her back towards him. “I meant what I said, I would be honored to have you as my date to the Gala, don’t ever think differently.”

Eris looked down in shame and embarrassment. She couldn’t look at him now, it was too much to take in. “Eris?”

She looked up and suddenly she felt something strange against her mouth. Something warm and tender and Solaris’ face was too close! Why was he so close?! Then her mouth moved and was reacting back to the very new sensation. Eris’ eyes closed softly and she returned his kiss. They stayed that way for a few more seconds before parting. Solaris blushed and Eris gulped. “So that was…” Solaris started.

“Nice,” Eris finished.

“Yeah, nice,” he said.

In all seriousness it had been amazing. He had never kissed anypony before and that his first real kiss had been Eris, well that made it all the more special. Eris was on a whole other planet! The kiss still lingered on her lips like sugar. It made them all tingly and warm. She could barely speak. The sun was starting to set then. He really had gotten there pretty late. “I must go,” Solaris whispered.

“Y-Yeah,” Eris replied.

Solaris turned away, but his eyes never left her. She waved slightly as he opened his wings. “So, I’ll pick you up tomorrow night,” he said and took off.

Eris smiled and watched him leave as always and watched him lower the sun below the horizon. Tomorrow night? What was she going to wear?!

Author's Note

Whoo! Two in one day, that's a record! Anyway, just a short-er chapter here, because I didn't want to fit this and the rest of the Gala in one chapter, so here's this. And I'm tired. All I know is, I'm going to have a lot of fun with the next few chapters... You know what's coming up people... I know you do. [Insert evil chuckle here] Anyway, enjoy!

The Gala/Chaos Returns

The next day passed so quickly that barely anyone knew what to do with themselves. Artemis and Solaris ran in different directions trying to get the finishing touches ready and trying to get themselves presentable enough for the nobles attending the Gala. Meanwhile, Eris was also getting ready. She scrubbed herself down, combed out her hair, tried on a few dresses that she conjured up, freshened her breath several times, and even tried on some jewelry. She decided that she looked better without the trimmings and tried to pass the rest of the time by practicing her magic, she conjured up items from nowhere and either decided that they fit in the cave or, with a snap of her fingers, made them disappear back to wherever they came from - often ponies house’s.

Solaris growled as he tried to fit into his armor. He pulled and jerked at it until it was perfect. Artemis walked into his brother’s room and they both looked in the mirror. “Well, at least we look good,” he said and chuckled.

Solaris did his best to follow his brother’s light-heartedness, but it didn’t work. Artemis nudged Solaris and smirked. “Relax, brother, everything will be fine,” Artemis said.

Solaris sighed and looked back at their reflections in the mirror. He never really noticed how different they were. Besides his brother being a head shorter than him they also had opposite coat colors and his armor was different from his as well. His golden armor shined like the sun and Artemis’ silver armor gleamed like the moon. He looked over at his brother’s face for only a second, but Solaris could’ve sworn he saw a look of envy cross Artemis’ face. “Well, you better go get her,” Artemis said as he turned away from the mirror and started for the door.

Solaris nodded and decided to shake it off. Eris would be waiting and he didn’t want to keep her that way.

Eris sat at the entrance of her cave and looked out at the slowly receding sun as it disappeared over the horizon, it’s beautiful last rays showered the whole land in a spectacular array of colours. Solaris had yet to show himself and she was nervous when it was noon, now she was terrified. Her first entrance into the world, Eris could hardly believe it. She was going to be introduced in front of an entire crowd of ponies that would probably point and laugh or worse scream and run. Had she chewed through her talons already? She saw a speck start to approach and knew that it was Solaris on the horizon. Her stomach flipped and her heart beat backwards. She felt a pit in her stomach, she was going to be sick, she knew she was. Solaris landed and looked at Eris expectantly. “Ready to go?” he asked.

Eris held her stomach and looked at the ground. “Uuugghh, no, no,” she said. “I think I’m going to be sick!”

Solaris looked down at her and quirked an eyebrow at her. “Oh well, we’ll just have to do this some other time, when I’m not deathly ill!” Eris said and started to walk back into her cave.

Solaris’ horn glowed softly and a bright aura encased Eris before it dragged her back to the entrance and plopped her back down. “Come on, Eris, what are you afraid of?” Solaris asked.

Eris looked up at him incredulously and waved her arms theatrically. Solaris did his best to not roll his eyes, but it was a challenge. “Eris, you can’t keep hiding behind your looks forever,” he said.

“Who’s hiding?” Eris asked and pouted to the ground.

Solaris tapped his hoof impatiently. Eris rolled her eyes. Solaris nudged Eris to her feet and opened his own wings. “Come on, I think it is time that you join the world outside,” he said confidently.

Eris sighed and opened her own wings. They both stared at each other until their gazes softened and they took off both not giving away how truly terrified they were on the inside.

Once they got to the Castle of the Two Brothers. Eris looked at it and felt her heart do flips once again. It was all she thought and more: a vast, grand and majestic estate - much more aesthetically pleasing than the buildings she was used to seeing in Canterlot. No doubt there would be much more ponies than what she was expecting. She gulped as they landed on a balcony and Solaris turned to her. “Alright, so the plan is that you stay behind the curtain until I announce you,” he said.

Eris nodded nervously. She hadn’t said anything the entire way there and she had only put up a fuss at her cave. She must’ve been more nervous than Solaris thought. He sighed and smiled reassuringly at her. He put a leg around her neck and pecked her cheek. “Everything is going to be ok,” he said.

Eris nodded again. “You’ll see, everything will turn out perfectly,” Solaris said and walked through the curtain and into the fray.

Eris waited behind the curtain. It felt more like she was waiting for the world to end.

The Gala was going off without a hitch. Granted it was fairly dull, but otherwise it was going very well. Artemis was doing his best of keeping the guests entertained and happy. He mingled as best as he could as well, but he wasn’t really used to small talk. Artemis didn’t really like events like this where he was forced to participate. The entire event was being held in the ballroom and out in the courtyard, it was a lot of ponies to mingle with, but everything looked great. The decorations were all in the colors of gold and silver, tables were piled high with wonderful foods and desserts, and the band was amazing as well. All in all Artemis and his brother had planned out the Gala very well. He wondered what was taking Solaris until he saw him trot down the stairs toward him. “How did it go?” Artemis asked him quietly. “Quite well, I think,” Solaris replied. “She’s waiting behind the curtain.”

Artemis nodded. “Well, we probably shouldn’t keep her waiting long, Faust only knows how long it’ll take until she makes a run for it,” Artemis said.

He meant it as a joke, but the look on Solaris’ face told him that he wasn’t that far from the truth. Solaris nodded and started for the balcony. Artemis followed, but seeing as it was his brother’s job to address the public he decided to just stay at the very front of the crowd. Solaris looked out at the crowd and hoped that Eris was ready, because it was now or never. He cleared his throat and inhaled deeply. “Welcome honored guests!” he said as his voice carried out over the entirety of the ballroom, deeper than usual with it seeming as though he were shouting but without the horrible tone that accompanies the yelling.

The guests stopped what they were doing and looked up at their regal prince. “To the Grand Galloping Gala,” Solaris continued. “I do hope the event has been enjoyable to all of you.”

The crowd cheered enthusiastically and Solaris gave a princely smile and continued. “Thank you and to further celebrate this wonderful occasion of Canterlot’s founding, we have a surprise for you all. She’s a very special guest who you might have never seen before, but she’s here now. Please give a warm welcome to my friend and your neighbor, Eris!”

Solaris waved his hoof to the curtain, but Eris didn’t appear. After a few seconds of silence and then some gathered curious whispers, Solaris tried again. “My friend, Eris!” he cried.

Still Eris didn’t appear. Solaris looked down at Artemis who shook his head and then started for the curtain to check and see if she was still there. “Eris?!” he tried again.

Suddenly all the lights went out and the crowd gasped and some let out screams before everyone fell silent. “Why thank you Solaris,” Eris’ voice echoed around the room. “For that marvelous introduction, but I think I’ll do my own from now on.”

Artemis and Solaris looked at each other before joining everyone else in looking around for the source. The lights whooshed back to life and fireworks went off as Eris revealed herself floating above everyone else. “Hello Equestria!” she called. “I am Eris, Lady of Discord, and I am here to bring some excitement to this shindig!”

The ponies looked up and stared at her without saying or doing a thing. Solaris and Artemis were also too shocked to do anything either. “So let’s pump up this party!” she continued and snapped her fingers making the band play something more lively.

Solaris blinked as the music started and before anyone else could do anything he brought his hooves together and started to clap. Artemis did the same until everyone else started to clap in turn. Solaris sighed with relief and wondered what sense of bravery had taken over Eris at the last second. She snapped her fingers again and poofed down to Solaris. “What did you think about my entrance?” she asked and preened in front of him.

Solaris smirked and nudged her playfully. “It was quite a show, you did have me going there for a second,” he said.

Eris smiled and looked out at the crowd who only gave her fearful or curious glances. She would have to show them that she wasn’t something to be feared. “Hmph, well, time to break the ice,” she said and poofed away only to poof in the middle of the room while she was standing on top of a ball. “Well, now I couldn’t help but notice how this party is lacking some entertainment, how about we fix that.”

With that she started her own balancing act and while she took plates of food, torches, and even ponies and started to juggle them around. At first the ponies were very reluctant to join in on her fun, but soon enough after a few tricks and gags they all started to laugh and cheer with her as well. Soon enough she was really getting into her role of the entertainer. Hey, maybe this is what I could do now? she thought excitedly. Solaris and Artemis watched from afar and were very pleased that she had went over so well. However, they were a little worried that ponies were looking at her more as an attraction, a freak show, rather than someone like them. They decided to think nothing of it, but they both exchanged concerned looks before they parted to watch over opposite sides of the room. They’re eyes never strayed from Eris any longer than a few seconds. Soon enough the ponies around her started to yell out requests and she tried her hardest to fulfill them and to keep everyone happy, but then the requests started to get a little overwhelming. “Hey juggle more torches!” one called.

“No, more knives!” shouted another.

“Alright, alright!” Solaris called over all of them. “Thank you, Eris, for that wonderful show, but I think you need a bit of rest from that.”

Eris nodded and climbed off the ball before she made it disappear. “Come on, more dancing!” Solaris called and waved for the musicians to start up again.

He pushed at Eris to move forward and she obeyed readily. A deep frown was plastered on her face after what she had just witnessed. “Was I just a clown, a freak to be gawked at?” she asked more to herself than anyone else.

“No, of course not, you were just so good,” Solaris said quickly. “How about a dance?”

Solaris offered his hoof and smiled. Eris tried to smile back, but it was too half-hearted to go unnoticed. She did take his hoof and started to follow him in a waltz. This kind of dance was very different from the dances they did at the field. It was so calculated and slow, everything was so coordinated and orderly. Eris didn’t know if she liked it or not. However, she was very close to Solaris and that made the dance just a little bit more likable. The waltz ended and Solaris bowed to her while Eris did a bow of her own. “Prince Solaris,” Artemis said as he approached the two. “I do hate to break this up, but you do have to mingle with the other guests.”

Solaris looked out and saw the many mares lined up to take the next dance. He sighed and shook his head. He looked over at Eris with worry before he turned back to his brother. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after your special guest,” Artemis said and took hold of Eris’ elbow with his own.

Solaris smiled as a young mare grabbed him and started to drag him back to the dance floor. Artemis sat down next to Eris who kept her eyes on Solaris. “Why does he have to dance with the other fillies?” she asked.

Artemis shrugged. “It’s kind of a courtship ritual, to find his consort and or his princess,” he explained.

Eris was a bit confused by this explanation. “But he doesn’t need to do that anymore, right?” she asked. “He’s got me now.”

Artemis felt like he had just said the wrong thing and he cleared his throat. “Yes, well,” he started. “It’s also out of politeness and courtesy. I mean even if he had a princess he’d still have to do it to show that he loves his subjects equally.”

Eris grimaced and watched as he danced and laughed and smiled at every mare he danced with. Over the course of his dancing her heart slowly started to fill with poisonous jealousy. Her frown deepened and would’ve turned into a snarl if Artemis hadn’t snapped her out of it. “Maybe we should share a dance as well,” he said and smirked. “I know you would prefer my brother, but perhaps you would settle for a friend.”

Eris wanted to say yes anything to keep her mind off of Solaris, but she could see him moving away and off with a group of other stallions. “I think I’m going to... make a visit to the ladies’ room,” she said and poofed away.

She reappeared a little bit behind the group of stallions and she slowly and silently followed behind them. They went out into a private part of the courtyard where they all handed out strange drinks to each other. “Solaris, you’ve outdone yourself with this Gala,” a stallion said before taking a sip. “Especially with that little, erm, ‘guest’ of yours.”

Solaris blushed and smiled sheepishly. “Where did you even find a thing like that?” another asked.

A thing?! she thought. Eris held back her anger and tried to keep blending into the bushes. She had cloaked herself in invisibility so as to go unnoticed by the group in their current environment, but it was hard to maintain with her emotional state. “That ‘thing’ is called Eris and she sort of found me,” Solaris said.

The stallions laughed heartily at that. “Now that I wish I had seen,” another one spoke. “ ‘She’ is quite the entertainment though.”

The stallions nodded in agreement. “Perhaps we could hire her out to foal parties and other events,” he continued. “She is quite an oddity and a rare act to find indeed.”

Solaris frowned, but before he could get a word in the other stallions started to put in their own opinions on what to do with the female draconequus. “We could study her as well,” another said. “She must be the only one of her kind, we could see how her species developed the way it did.”

“Or analyze her magic it seems far more raw than any unicorn or alicorn could tap into!” said another.

So that’s it, they all wanted to study her or use her as a sideshow. Eris started to growl angrily and she was even angrier when Solaris didn’t say anything. He seemed to be completely snubbed from the conversation. She zipped out of the bushes and slithered back into the castle. “Please, gentlecolts, if I may!” Solaris spoke up. “Eris isn’t a creature to be studied and to be prodded at, she’s a living, breathing, feeling thing just like you and I. I will admit that she is interesting and it would be an advantage to study her, but I will put the welfare of my subjects first and as of today she is one of them.”

Eris growled and fumed as she marched down the halls of the castle and back to the ballroom. She entered and was greeted by no one. There was no sight of Artemis and she wanted a drink. She worked her way to the punch bowl and served herself a glass. She turned around to look for Artemis again, but she bumped into a mare and her drink spilled all over her. The mare screamed and scowled at Eris. “You clumsy fool!” the mare cried. “How dare you disrupt me!”

Eris just stared at the mare and saw the look in her eyes, one of complete disgust and that she believed herself above Eris, far above. “Apologize to your betters, you freakish creature!” the mare commanded.

Eris’ eyes glowed dangerously and her grip shattered her glass. “Apologize to my betters?” she asked, her voice now a venomous snarl. “Very well, I apologize.”

The mare didn’t know whether to smile or to cower so she started to back away. “I apologize, I apologize that you don’t know who YOUR betters are!” Eris snarled. “Shall I show you?”

She snapped her fingers and the mare was suddenly covered in feathers. She screamed or more like squawked and started to run around the ballroom. Eris chuckled menacingly and she snapped her fingers again. This time everyone’s punch was turned into popsicles. A stallion had his tongue stuck inside it as he tasted it. Eris’ chuckle grew louder and she snapped her fingers again. Every mare’s hair was made three times bigger than it normally would be. Eris laughed uproariously. Artemis galloped up to her and looked at her sternly. “Eris, I know you like to have fun, but doesn’t this seem to be going too far?” he asked.

“Why no, Arty,” Eris growled. “In fact I think I could go even further.”

She snapped her fingers and lightning flashed indoors before it started to rain chocolate milk. Eris continued to laugh. “Come on, little ponies!” she called. “It’s a party isn’t it, we’re supposed to be having fun! So smile!”

Things were getting out of hoof. Artemis galloped away and set out to find Solaris. Eris continued her onslaught on the ponies, turning their coats different colors, making the food sprout wings, and making dishes fly as well. With every trick her laughter grew louder and more manic filled. Artemis soon galloped back in with Solaris on his heels. Solaris looked around at the catastrophe around him and at the heart of the storm was Eris laughing away. “Eris?!” he called.

Eris ceased her laughter and looked over at him. “Well, hello, Solaris,” she said and floated down to him. “Don’t you like what I’ve done with the place, I think there are too many ponies, but I think I can change that.”

Solaris backed away from her. “Eris, what have you done?” he asked.

Eris frowned slightly and looked at her handy work. “Why, I livened things up a bit is all,” she said. “It is all for you Solaris.”

The ponies looked over at Solaris and he frowned at her words. “Don’t you see, I showed you all I can do,” she explained softly. “This... all of this beauty, this disharmony, this chaos, it’s all for you.”

Solaris gasped and felt his heart start to plummet. Something had happened in his absence, something that made her do this, he had to correct it. “Please, Eris, change it back,” he pleaded.

Eris’ expression turned blank. “Change it back?” she asked.

“Please, Eris,” Solaris said and started to approach her. “This isn’t right, it’s not natural, they don’t understand.”

He was floundering and he knew it, but he had to try. Eris looked around once more and sneered.

“You’re right they don’t understand, I’m not natural,” she snarled. “And I have yet to show you what beauty I can really create when I get creative!”

With that smoke enveloped her and she vanished with a maniacal laugh.The ponies screamed and started running in different directions trying to get away to find somewhere safe to hide from the oncoming storm. Solaris and Artemis looked at each other and exchanged frightened looks. Whatever had happened to Eris it had made her snap and they had to fix this soon.

Author's Note

Ok, fun stuff is coming. Don't know why, but I just love making tragic characters. This chapter was edited by mattstheman, who is a wonderful person and great editor. I would recommend him, but I also don't want him to be overworked. So enjoy!

Sun's Fire

Sun’s Fire

Eris had thought that it took a lot to become a monster, turns out it was the easiest thing in the world, almost natural to her. She didn’t even have to try in most cases. She would just poof out of nowhere and they would all scramble in fear and in some ways, this made her angry but in some ways it made her ecstatic. They didn’t even need to see her powers, they didn’t want to see anything else, and this above all else, made her indignant towards their fear for her. Just because of the way she looked, not even the things she did, and she tried plenty of things. At first it was just small things like making the chocolate milk rain and soapy roads. Other times it was big things, making the roads move, making trees come alive, and even huge weather changes. Tornados would rage in orchards, blizzards would cut through the clouds, and the sun burned in every city without remorse or mercy.

Eris had no idea her powers could have stretched so far. She even tried to raise the sun and moon herself. She did it with so much ease it almost frightened her. Every time she got bored during the day she would raise the moon and make it night time. She had yet to see the brothers try and stop her even though her influence was starting to stretch far beyond Canterlot. It was so easy to become a monster. It was easy to become something that she always was. In the eyes of the ponies she was something unnatural, something evil, all because her kind of fun was a little disruptive and she didn’t quite fit in with their norms in appearance. She would show them, she would show them all what chaos’ beauty was like!

She lounged on a cotton candy cloud and watched as the ponies galloped away from all of her creations and she couldn’t help laughing at their frightened faces. They looked ridiculous, did they even know how stupid they looked running away from a fluffy rock or a flying clock. Ha, time flies! she thought and laughed at her own internal joke. It had already been a few days since the Gala and neither Solaris nor Artemis bothered to show their faces. Every day she grew hopeful that Solaris would come and tell her how beautiful Equestria was now that it had no rules to abide by, now that it was free and full of magic and wonder! He didn’t come and when he did it wasn’t to congratulate her…

Solaris and Artemis stood inside their castle, they each stood before their throne and looked at their brave soldiers. Solaris stepped forward and looked out at their solemn faces. No doubt most of them were scared about what would happen to them, but it was no where near the kind of fear that Solaris felt. “Our brave soldiers!” he addressed them. “You are going up against a force that not many know about, not many have had the privilege or honor of fighting the might of a draconneques.”

The soldiers collectively gulped and made faces at Solaris, as if fighting something unknown was the honor of the century sounded like the biggest blunder of a joke they had ever heard. “It’s frightening, we know, and we won’t ask you to face her head on. All we ask is that you get all of the civilians to safety or at least out of harms way.”

The soldiers looked at their rulers and knew that the last thing they wanted was to bring them into the fight. Their noble and brave rulers stood tall and straight. Their armor shined like the planetary objects they represented. It was as if they were staring up into the faces of the sun and moon themselves. “We ask that you also remain safe and unharmed, stay out of the way, let us handle Eris,” Solaris said.

Artemis looked over at his brother with concern. He wasn’t supposed to have lapsed into the informal. They discussed it. Eris was now the enemy, the oppressor, the object of fear and hatred throughout the land. It had to be ‘her’, ‘the draconneques’, or ‘the enemy’ especially when directing the soldiers. He knew that Solaris hated this arrangement and hated that things had to be that way, but what else could be done? Artemis hated it too. Just when they were starting to become friends, just when things started to go their way, things crumbled down around them in landslides. “Dismissed!” Solaris called and turned away from them.

He kept the strong and brave pose until he heard the double-doors close behind them. He dropped his facade and everything about him slumped down in defeat and misery. His head bowed, his shoulders slumped, his knees buckled, Artemis had never seen his brother so thoroughly defeated. “What will we do, Artemis?” he asked softly and dragged his hooves to his room.

“What we must,” Artemis said simply.

It was such a simple answer. The taste of it on Solaris’ tongue made him feel sick. ‘What they must’? As if they didn’t have a choice, they had plenty of choices, but he wondered if any of them were even the right ones besides the one that they decided was the right one. “What we must,” he growled. “How do we know this is what we ‘must’ do?!”

Solaris turned on Artemis and his eyes glowed dangerously, madly. They burned through him like his proud sun. He never saw Solaris like that not even at his angriest he never lost control like that. “Why do we have to do this?” he asked him and approached him slowly.

Artemis backed away and cowered at his brother’s aura. It slowly became more and more physical. His magic radiated off of him like the heat off of the sun. “Why couldn’t you keep an eye on her?” he growled. “Why couldn’t you have kept her busy like you were supposed to?”

Artemis’ heart hardened with each word his brother spoke. “Why couldn’t I have stayed with her?” he continued. “Why did you have to get in the way?!”

Artemis reared back and his hoof came down on his brother’s cheek… hard. Solaris slammed down onto the ground and he groaned from the pain. Artemis looked down at him with disdain and disgust. Solaris in turn looked up at him with confusion and hurt. “Do you think you’re the only one that blames himself?!” Artemis shouted in his Canterlot voice. “Do you think you’re the only one who’s lost something here?!”

Solaris cowered before his younger brother. Artemis stopped using the voice and just looked down at him, his eyes brimming with unspilled tears. “You didn’t just lose a lover,” he said and turned away from him. “I lost a friend.”

Artemis walked away and started for his own quarters, no doubt to prepare for the oncoming battle. Solaris stood back up and felt the sizeable bruise that Artemis had left on his cheek. He had never seen his brother have so much command before. In all things Artemis was usually the level-headed one, the logical one, but sometimes his emotions got the better of him and he would act out - fortunately, though, it was usually for the better. Solaris even thought that sometimes Artemis was more fit to rule over Equestria than him. Soon the brothers met in the courtyard armed to the teeth and ready for battle. They exchanged looks of worry, sadness, and resignation. They had to do this, they had to try.

Eris cackled as lightning struck the tail of a stallion and he ran around with his tail on fire until he dunked it into a puddle of chocolate milk. “Ooo, that’ll be sticky later!” she said and continued to snort and guffaw at her own humor.

Soon she heard the flapping of wings and the clink of armor. She looked up and saw two figures flying for her. She knew who they were, but ignored the warnings her mind concocted and waited for them to land. Solaris was the first to touch the ground. He looked up at her with stern resignation and she knew that this was going to be her last chance to cooperate before they were forced into action. Well, now they had her interest, what were they waiting for?

Solaris and Artemis landed gently and waited until every pony had evacuated the area before they spoke. They knew her attention would be on them, she would expect them to talk her down and wish that they would join her side instead as they also wanted her to do as well. She was a valuable ally and would be even after all of this. There had to be a way to get through to her. “Eris!” Solaris called up to her.

“Yes, Shiny?” Eris called back.

Even in such circumstances she still called him by that name. It struck him low and she knew it would. “This has gone too far!” he continued. “Surrender to us and we can work this out, we can repair the damage that has been done if you give yourself over quietly.”

Eris poofed off of her cloud and floated in front of them with a sneer on her face. “Really, just like that?!” she asked, her tone sounding very exaggerated and sarcastic. “Oh that sounds so generous of you two, but I have another deal in mind!”

With that she poofed before Solaris and her claw gently caressed his face lovingly. “Why do we have to fight, Shiny?” she asked, her voice soft and pleading. “Why can’t you just accept that this is the way the world is? You two could join me and we could show Equestria the passion of chaos, the beauty of disorder.”

He wanted to, her touch was so soothing and so loving. Her words made sense and he wanted to forget this whole thing and be with her again as they were before and more. “Join me, Solaris,” she whispered again.

He leaned into her and was almost about to comply until Artemis spoke up. “You must stop this, Eris!” he cried and stepped between them. “This isn’t our Equestria, you have thrown off the balance of harmony and order and we must protect it as its rulers!”

Solaris blinked and shook his head to clear it Artemis was right, of course, but what had Eris done to almost dissuade him like that? “Ha, you two have learned nothing from your own home!” she said. “Has the Everfree forest taught you nothing?”

They both looked at her curiously. “Hasn’t it shown you that the world is full of chaos and disharmony?” she asked. “That the world can live and thrive and be beautiful without order.”

The brothers looked at each other and then back to her. She had to be joking, the Everfree Forest was perilous and dangerous, full of monsters and wild magic surely she could see that it also had many flaws and drawbacks? “No? Well then, I’m afraid I’ll have to show you myself,” Eris said and her hands glowed with a powerful aura.

The brothers ducked as her energy beam whizzed passed their heads and landed on a plant. It was a rose bush and it grew and grew and grew until it engulfed half of the houses on the street. Eris cackled maniacally. “Such beauty, such power, such splendor!” she called and hovered above the city. “This is how the world was born, this is how Equestria will be reborn!”

She looked down at the brothers and smiled on what she thought was very innocent, but to them looked menacing. “Together we can show this world and its ponies that they don’t need order, we can open their eyes and make them see the beauty in chaos!” she said.

“No.”

Eris looked down in shock and Solaris looked back at her with a glare. “No?” she asked.

“No, Eris!” Solaris reaffirmed.

He opened his wings and flew up to her. “The world has its share of chaos and disharmony, yes, but there is also a balance of harmony and order as well,” he explained. “You have thrown off that balance and as much as we don’t want to do it, if you don’t put a stop to this madness now, we will be forced to stop it for you.”

With that Solaris took out his sword and brandished it before her. Eris looked at the blade and at Solaris. So many emotions flashed through her: hate, pain, hurt, sorrow, shame, and most of all anger. She ducked her head and let her white bangs fall over her face. “I thought you’d understand, Solaris,” she growled. “I thought you, of all ponies, would understand me, but it appears you are just like everyone else.”

She looked up and her red eyes glowed with raw power. “I will show you and all of Equestria what I am capable of!” she growled and a blast of pure energy flew straight at Solaris and punched him in the chest.

Solaris was knocked back to the ground with little air in his lungs. Eris burst out laughing. Artemis quickly took up his brother’s place and drew his own sword. “Aaaww, come to join the fun, baby brother?” Eris taunted and flung another energy beam at him.

Artemis dodged and ducked away from her onslaught and was right on top of her until…

WHAM!!

A boulder slammed down on him from out of nowhere. “BWUAHAHAHA!!” Eris laughed. “That gag never gets old!”

Solaris righted himself and growled with frustration. He flew full tilt at her. His sword came out and sliced at the air. Eris blinked and hissed as it narrowly missed her just nicking off a piece of her hair. Solaris veered back around and came at her again. This time he wouldn’t miss. Eris hissed at him and disappeared in a puff of smoke Solaris coughed violently and looked around feverishly for her. “Come out, Eris!” he shouted. “Face me!”

“If you insist,” her voice echoed around him.

Suddenly he got a face full of cream pie. “AHAHAHAHAAA!!” Eris’ laugh echoed.

Then he was hit with another and another. At this point he knew that she was just playing with them. Soon enough it was just raining cream pies from the sky. “Mmmm, tasty weather we’re having,” Eris said as she sat back on her candy cloud.

Solaris huffed and puffed as he landed. Artemis shook himself off and limped over to his brother. “She’s too powerful,” he gasped.

“I know,” Solaris replied.

“There’s got to be another way,” Artemis said.

“We’ll have to regroup, there has to be something that will help us defeat her,” Solaris said and ran in the opposite direction before taking off.

Artemis followed close behind. “Please come back soon!” Eris called. “This was the most fun I’ve had in days!”

The brothers retreated back to the castle and limped their way to the library. “Why did we come in here?” Artemis asked as he tried to straighten out his wing. “Ow, she’s too strong, we have no hope of beating her like this.”

Solaris ignored his brother and started to scour the shelves for something. He searched furiously, he knew it was there, he knew there was a way! “What are you looking for?” Artemis asked and started to duck from the books being flung around the room.

“I remember reading something about a deep magic, something powerful, but has been lost for years,” Solaris explained.

Finally he stopped and flipped another page before landing on what he was looking for. “The Elements of Harmony,” he said and dropped the book next to Artemis.

Artemis scanned the page and thought that they could work against Eris, but there was a problem. “It says here their location has been unknown for centuries,” Artemis pointed out. “Where do you propose we look?”

Solaris looked down at the page himself and pointed out a passage. “It also says that their last known location was in one of the wildest places in Equestria,” he said and looked out the window to the Everfree forest. “At least we have a starting point.”

Artemis looked out as well and frowned deeply. Suddenly they heard something ramming against the double doors of the castle. Eris was no doubt right on their tails, they had to leave! “Come on!” Solaris said and dove through the window with Artemis following close behind.

It had been a few days since that little incident and Eris now knew the full extent of her powers which was anything and everything. Frankly the only things she hadn’t been able to do had been the things she hadn’t tried yet. She even managed to do a sort of mind control, more like mind manipulation which was pretty easy to do considering most of the corrupting thoughts pre-existed anyway. Taking over Solaris’ forces was easy and using them was even better. She sent them out to capture their own rulers’ castle. If she was going to be a Goddess she was going to need her own castle. For the time being, she hid out in her cave, it had a few more modifications. She looked out at the sky and knew they were still around, the sun went down as always and she watched it fall. Solaris’ proud and radiant beams of light caressed her and at the same time left burning trails all over her skin. He had rejected her at first, but soon he would see things her way.

“My dear Solaris,

you know that I am chaos itself

of my powers I am justly proud.

My dear Solaris,

you know I’m so much greater than

the common, boring, weak, and cruel crowds.

Then tell me Solaris,

why I see you standing there,

why your smoldering eyes still scorch my soul!

I feel you, I need you!

Your sun caught in your sunray hair

is blazing in me out of all control!

Like fire!

Sun’s fire!

This fire in my skin.

This burning desire

is scalding me within!

It’s not my fault!

I’m not to blame!

It was that alicorn

the one that set this flame!

It’s not my fault!

Let chaos reign.

If love is perfect chaos let it be again!

Come join me Solaris,

don’t make yourself cast that spell.

Don’t let your fire sear my flesh and bone!

Destroy this Order

and let chaos free this world!

And then you will be mine and mine alone!”

There was the clattering of hooves as one of her drones came galloping in with a new report. “My goddess, the brothers have escaped,” he said and bowed low to her.

“What?!” Eris hissed.

“They’re no where in the castle, they are gone.”

“But how-?! Never mind, get out you idiot! I’ll show him, I’ll show him even if I have to disrupt all of Equestria!” she screamed.

“Your fire, Sun’s fire!

Now Solly it’s your turn.

Choose me or your order

be mine or the world will burn!

Please forgive me my love.

Please have mercy on me.

But you will be mine or

the world will burn!”

Eris laughed out into the night to spread her glorious chaos and to show Equestria just how far she would go to reclaim her missing prince.

Author's Note

Finally up! Sorry this took so long, but life and stuff! Anyway, more fun stuff to come, but also the last few chapters are coming up, so enjoy this incomplete status for now. This chapter was also edited by mattstheman! Thank you!

The song was inspired by these two songs, I used the female cover because I do imagine Eris' voice being somewhat like that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NhVkDTP8bo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTx6jmKp6_o

Years/The Final Battle

It had been a long time; too long in fact. Eris floated just below the clouds and looked down at the world she created. The clouds above her were all made of cotton candy, the landscape below wasn’t made of grass, sand, or rock anymore, but instead, of all kinds of textures and colors and patterns. She even made a living chess set out of an entire town. The citizens of the town being forced to play as living chess pieces, knocking other ponies down and trying desperately to get to the other side and leave, but then the “board” would reset and they would have to keep playing. She giggled every time somepony was knocked down. Eris had even changed the ponies to suit her tastes. Pony coats were changed from short to long, long to short, white to black, different colors, patterns, different horns (if they were even turned into other horns), different wings (if they were even replaced with other wings). She never took notice of the miserable or fearful faces that looked at her as she passed. For the past few years she never noticed. For the past few years she had only been looking for one face, one face that she hoped would smile at her and laugh with her again. However, after the huge show last time that dream slowly started to fade…

After taking over the castle changing Equestria was easy. Her power stretched further and further across the land and nothing could hinder her. Nothing tried and if something or somepony even thought of stopping her, she soon changed their minds. Although this fact only made her more frustrated and twitchy, she didn’t even feel his presence anymore, but she knew they still lived. The sun and moon rose and fell as always, no matter when she made them rise or fall herself they always rearranged back to their proper places. They were still out there and having their own little act of defiance against her. Eris now looked to the sun and growled venomously at it. Its gentle rays that used to soothe and comfort her now burned and rejected her. The moon gave her a melancholy stare every night as if it pitied her. She didn’t want to think of them that way, but after so many years of ruling Equestria with pure chaos it was hard to not see their faces in that last moment, staring at her with a mix of betrayal and sadness. She wondered now where they were and what was taking so long for them to come back to her…

Solaris and Artemis continued to walk through the deepest part of the Everfree. Solaris didn’t know how long they had been searching, but he knew it had been too long. They were both tired and wandering around this forest had taken its toll. Artemis’ resolve had only strengthened with the months, but there was something else that had grown inside of him something that felt wrong, bitter, and was growing stronger by the day. Any longer and Solaris feared that he would lose his brother to something that wasn’t a physical threat and wouldn’t be easy to fight off. He flipped through another page of the book and tried to find something useful, but he had read and reread the entire thing from cover to cover and it was still the same thing: “the Elements of Harmony are held in the wildest location in Equestria.” Solaris closed the book with a frustrated slam. It wasn’t like this escapade wasn’t affecting him either. Slowly his hope was starting to fade as well, it seemed like the Elements were what they seemed to be, a story, a myth, a legend lost to the world. Solaris looked to Artemis who had a hard glare plastered on his face. “Perhaps, we missed something?” Solaris said.

Artemis didn’t respond, but he kept walking. “Maybe if we backtrack-“ he tried again.

“They’re not back there!” Artemis snapped. “The only place we haven’t gone is forward, so be quiet and focus on the task at hand!”

Artemis huffed through his nose and his walk became more determined. They hadn’t left the forest, not once. It seemed they had both underestimated how big it actually was. They didn’t want to risk missing anything either so they kept to the ground. It was too cramped in the forest to fly around in anyway. The feeling of the forest had started to weigh on them a long time ago. Sure their castle lay inside the forest, but there was a clear path, they could fly out, or they had their castle for refuge against the melancholy and the terror. Now they were very downtrodden and were giving up hope fast. They just had to find the Elements of Harmony, they just had to. After all the trouble they went through, all the monsters they fought, the entirety of nature seemingly turning against them.

“Wait!” Artemis whispered frantically. He paused in his determined walk, his ear perked up as if he had heard something. Solaris’ own ears perked up to try and search for what Artemis had heard, but he heard nothing. “Do you feel that?” Artemis asked and started to creep off in a different direction. Solaris stopped and listened carefully. Turned out there was something, something that couldn’t be heard, but he felt it like a tickle against his coat. He followed close behind his brother and kept at the same pace. Slowly he could feel the tickle grow more and more until it felt like a physical tingle. Solaris and Artemis’ pace grew faster and faster until they broke into a full gallop.

Slowly something that had a strange light could be seen in the distance. It had to be the source of the physical presence of power that they felt. They broke through the tree line and froze at the magnificent sight. A great tree stood in the middle of a clearing and looked like it was made of pure diamond or crystal. It radiated with so much power as if the sun itself had landed right inside its crystallized bark. Artemis stepped forward cautiously and stared up at the massive trunk. “What is it?” he asked.

Solaris walked towards it as well, but started to make a wide circle around it, trying to get a view from every angle. “I think…” he started. “I’m not sure, but I think Milky Way mentioned it before. The Tree of Harmony.”

“The Tree of Harmony?” Artemis asked.

Solaris nodded. “It’s the central force of the Everfree Forest and it keeps everything in balance even outside of the forest itself,” he explained.

Artemis looked over at his brother suspiciously. “How do you know about that?” he asked.

“Milky Way told me about it, I only just remembered,” he said.

Artemis still looked suspicious. “Is this what we were looking for the whole time?” he asked.

Solaris furrowed his brow and looked back at his brother. “I’m not sure,” he said and pulled out the book again. “The book didn’t say anything about the tree.”

Artemis glared at his brother and with a small energy blast knocked the book out of view. “It stands to reason that the Elements of Harmony should be within the Tree of Harmony,” he stated blankly and stepped up to the tree.

Solaris watched his brother inspect the tree up close and felt a little put out by having the book blasted out of his grip. “Hmmmm,” Artemis hummed thoughtfully and poked at the tree with a hoof. “There has to be a way.”

Solaris looked up into the branches and saw that five jewels hung at the very tips of the branches and then another jewel sat at the center of the trunk. They must’ve been the Elements of Harmony. They just had to find a way of extracting them. “Brother look!” he said and pointed up to the gems.

Artemis looked up and squinted at them curiously. “Are they it?” he asked.

“They must be,” Solaris said. “We just have to get them down.”

Before they could formulate a plan however, they heard something approaching. The noise became louder and closer. The ground shook underneath their hooves, grunts and roars could be heard as whatever creature it was got closer. The thing broke through the trees and roared mightily shaking the air around them. “Hydra!” Artemis cried.

The two brothers scattered in different directions and looked up at the many glaring heads. Really it only had four heads, but even then it would be a formidable enemy. Its skin was a sickening brown and looked rough in texture. The heads were all identical, glaring green eyes, sharp spines from forehead to back, and sharp white teeth. The heads all growled and split off, going after the two brothers. Solaris and Artemis galloped away and dodged every attack as the Hydra furiously snapped at them. “How is it here?!” Artemis called. “I thought they only frequented watery areas!”

Solaris couldn’t figure out the reasoning either. Usually most creatures in the Everfree needed to be provoked before they attacked. The Hydra had come out of nowhere and struck without warning. Something wasn’t right. The brothers landed back on the ground and stood next to each other, observing the beast. It had now inserted itself between them and the tree. The two made identical expressions of suspicion and disbelief before looking at each other. “Do you think?” Artemis asked.

“Perhaps,” Solaris affirmed.

The brothers flew up as two heads tried to grab at them. “We have to defeat this beast before we can reach the Elements!” Solaris said and charged toward a head.

Before he could reach it something slammed into his side and sent him soaring straight into a tree. The offending head laughed uproariously as Solaris flinched and groaned as he got back up. Artemis tried his own attack and released an energy blast at one of the heads. It opened its mouth and swallowed the blast effortlessly. It burped loudly and licked its lips in satisfaction. Artemis’ eyes widened and another head knocked him back as well. “Augh, Now what?” he groaned and shook himself off.

Solaris looked around the clearing and then back to the Hydra as he tried to come up with a plan. “Attacking alone and head on obviously isn’t going to work,” he mused. “We have to work together.”

Artemis nodded decisively. “So what’s the plan?” he asked.

Solaris leaned in and whispered hurriedly in his brother’s ear. Artemis continued to nod and he smiled with confidence before they again split off in opposite directions. “Hey, swamp breath!” Artemis called to the Hydra. “You want this nice little snack?!”

Two of the heads snarled furiously and charged at Artemis. Solaris whistled at the other two and started waving his tail at them. “Come on, you slimy lizard!” he called. “I’m right here!”

The two remaining heads charged at him as well. The brothers dodged and looped in and out of the tangled mess of heads until, finally, they glanced at each other and with a shared determined nod, charged directly towards one another. A single second before impact, the brothers simultaneously raised their front hooves and presented them to each other. They both used the others force to slow down and change direction resulting in both of them making a leap either side of two of the hydras now limp, and unconscious, heads. Artemis and Solaris laughed generously at their brilliant plan. Unbeknownst to them one of the gems on the tree started to glow. The Hydra roared with outrage and the other two heads redoubled their efforts and went after just one brother. Artemis cried out in surprise as they rushed at him. He flew away and tried his best to stay out of reach, but was gradually losing that race. Solaris tried to catch up, but then he thought of another idea. “Arty stop!” he called.

Artemis looked back at his brother in horror. “Are you crazy!” he cried.

“Trust me!”

Artemis gulped and stopped in mid-air. The heads flew right past him and into two tree trunks. Solaris cheered in victory and Artemis sighed with relief. Two other gems started to glow on the tree. The Hydra tried to gather itself back up, but it was thoroughly dazed and confused. The brothers landed in front of it and their horns glowed brightly. “We should dispose of it!” Artemis growled.

Solaris shook his head. “No, brother, it was just doing its job,” he said.

His horn glowed brighter and a soothing light shimmered around the creature. Artemis nodded. “You’re right,” he said and his own horn glowed.

Slowly, the Hydra was starting to collapse from exhaustion, its eyes closed and it started to snore loudly. “We’ll take it to where it belongs then figure out how to get the Elements down,” Solaris said and his horn glowed again making the beast levitate. Before they could walk away with it, however, all the gems on the tree glowed brightly. The brothers turned around and watched as the light grew brighter and brighter until it was absolutely blinding. They closed their eyes and tried to shield out the garish light. Then it was gone. Solaris lowered his leg and looked over at the tree to his surprise the gems were off of the branches and at the base. The Hydra was nowhere to be seen. “What?” Artemis asked.

Solaris walked over the jewels and touched them gingerly. “This is it,” he sighed. “The Elements of Harmony.”

This day felt different somehow. Eris couldn’t put her claw on it, but she felt like that day was going to be a special day. She paced around the castle and looked out at her kingdom every so often and even though things were exactly the way she had wanted them, something was amiss. She stood next to the big double doors of the throne room and looked around the room. Two guards stood at the door and stared ahead with vacant expressions. “I think I’ll take my floating throne around the kingdom,” she mused to no one in particular.

“Very good, my goddess,” one of her soldiers droned.

Eris rolled her eyes. “Honestly is that all you can say?” she taunted. “Yeesh, taking over you guys was more fun than having you praise me all the time.”

She snapped her fingers and appeared outside of the castle on her throne that was very high-backed and had antlers sticking up proudly. It floated around on a piece of earth and its destination was anyone’s guess. She looked out at her perfectly chaotic kingdom and smiled with satisfaction. Everything was perfect. The land was paved with different colors, fish swam in the air, and birds flew in the water, pieces of the earth floated high above the ground like the clouds that now covered the floor like plushy bushes. No one was around though to share in her delight, all the ponies tended to hide themselves away whenever she flew by. As far as she could tell it was just another boring day. Now she had to liven it up a bit. Eris snapped her fingers, but nothing happened. She had intended for the moon and sun to be up at the same time, but they didn’t obey. She tried again still nothing. Indeed, it was going to be a very special day.

Once they got out of the forest the brothers looked around and were horrified by what they saw. Everything was different. Nothing was the way it was supposed to be. It was absolute chaos. “She did all this?” Artemis asked.

Solaris shook his head in disbelief. He didn’t want to believe that Eris would do all of it. He didn’t want to think that his friend might truly be lost to the element she created. Artemis watched his brother and frowned deeply. This was going to be very hard for them both. Before they could take a step out into the new, chaotic world a blockade of soldiers were already on them. “Halt!” one of them called. “Prince Solaris and Artemis you are trespassing in the kingdom of Eris, the Goddess of Chaos, by order of her supreme rule we are to apprehend you and take you to her at once!”

Solaris and Artemis stared at their once loyal and strong soldiers, now slaves to Eris’ control. They looked at each other with deep regret before they looked back at their guards and charged headlong into the fray…

“My Goddess!” a soldier called as he galloped into view.

Eris turned to him with a bored expression, but it was soon replaced with one of surprise when she saw his condition. The soldier looked beat up and looked like he was about to collapse, but he managed to stay on his feet long enough to bow before the Goddess of Chaos. “What happened?” she asked.

“Solaris… Artemis…” he wheezed before falling down. “They’re back.”

Eris could’ve sworn her heart stopped. They were back? Truly that could’ve been the only explanation for the behavior of the sun and moon and the feeling she had all day. They had returned and much more powerful than they were before. She growled defiantly and her throne floated away from fallen soldier. He would live, so it wasn’t any of her concern if he stayed where he lay. She floated out into a clearing and took out a bag of some black seeds as she saw two specks in the distance approach her slowly. This was going to be fun…

Solaris and Artemis walked proudly and determinedly toward Eris who had her floating throne turned away from them. Solaris’ heart wouldn’t stop hammering inside his chest. It had been a few years and the time spent away had shaped both of them, obviously not for the better in Eris’ case. What was he going to say to her now? Before he could answer though, Eris turned around to face them. She chuckled maniacally and held herself up proudly as well. “Oh-ho this has been so much fun!” she laughed. “You should come around more often, princies!”

The two brothers glared at her. Eris sniffed at their stoic expressions. “Too bad I didn’t really prepare to have guests, but I think we can make up a few games of our own,” she said. “Oh, I know, how about a game of pin the tail on the pony?!”

Eris lifted up her lion paw and revealed that she had stolen Solaris’ tail! Solaris looked back at his rump in horror to see that indeed it was his real tail in her paw! He growled with frustration and continued his approach. “Play time is over for you, Eris!” he cried.

Eris fished around in the bag of seeds and started to munch on them. “Oh I doubt that,” she said bluntly before stuffing her face with the seeds. “Mmmm, hungry?”

The brothers weren’t amused and barely reacted as seeds bounced off their heads and onto the ground. Eris shrugged and continued to eat. “Eh, suit yourself,” she said.

Solaris glared at her and stomped his forehooves down in frustration. “Eris!” he shouted. “This has gone on long enough, release your hold on Equestria and I promise that your punishment will be light.”

Eris chuckled and then laughed loudly. “Punishment?” she asked. “Oh Shiny, you really think you’ll be able to punish me? Or do you not remember the last time you tried that?”

The last line was delivered with so much venom behind it Solaris cringed and flinched back. “You couldn’t even get a hit in!” she continued. “Meanwhile I got all of chaos on my side.”

She snapped her fingers and the earth moved beneath them as it split and another section of earth rose up into the sky. Eris laughed uproariously. Solaris had had enough, he had tried to reason with her, entreat her, please her, and it was all for naught. Nothing would change her mind now. He looked over at Artemis and he nodded. Solaris and Artemis’ horns glowed and the Elements flew out of the saddlebags they had carried them in and circled them. Eris looked up and stared at the gems with interest. “Ooo, what have you got there?” she asked.

“The Elements of Harmony,” Solaris said gravely.

“With them we shall defeat you,” Artemis finished.

A force field flew up around them and a great source of power started to build and build around them. Eris had never heard of something so ridiculous! Elements of Harmony, what kind of children’s story book was this?! She laughed very hard and held her ribs as they started to ache. “Oh, you should see yourselves right now!” she cried.

The brothers weren’t deterred and they focused all their energy into the Elements. “The expressions on your faces, so intense, so sure of yourselves!” she laughed.

Suddenly a bright rainbow spiraled up and out of the field and arched its way down to where Eris sat. Solaris watched in fascination and horror at the change that befell his former friend. “Hilarious!” she cried and continued to laugh.

The rainbow struck her and a light started to encase her. Something started to grow around her body. It started to envelope her, freezing her into place, and freezing the delighted expression on her face. Soon enough the power dispersed and the gems fell to the ground, spent. Solaris and Artemis walked up to Eris and inspected her closely. “Stone,” Artemis said and knocked his hoof against her. “They had turned her into stone.”

Solaris couldn’t speak, he didn’t know what he could say now. There was so much that he hadn’t been able to say that would come pouring out if he didn’t say it then and there. Artemis looked at his brother and frowned in sorrow. He knew that this was hurting him deeply. They hadn’t known what the Elements would do and this seemed like a horrible punishment even after all she’s done. Solaris still held onto the hope that he would’ve been able to change her. “We have to go,” he said and started to walk away from the statue. “We have to fix all the damage she has done.”

Solaris only nodded absently. Artemis frowned deeply, but said nothing and flew off. Solaris stared at the Eris statue and felt tears coming up to the surface of his eyes. He closed them and they came spilling out. He leaned his head against her now hard, cold flesh. “Eris, I’m sorry,” he sobbed. “I wanted to save you…”

Author's Note

The final chapter! Until the next one anyway. This chapter was edited by: mattstheman who is wonderful person and awesome editor!

Epilogue: Visiting a Friend

He didn’t know how long it had been since the last time. It could’ve been weeks, most likely months. Seeing her always made him feel so horrible though, but at the same time she made him feel relieved too. The Canterlot garden was immaculate and beautiful like always. Everything trimmed and pruned and tamed in perfect order. Solaris stepped into another part of the garden where stone statues sprang up like wildflowers. Ponies and creatures in all shapes, sizes, and poses, but he wasn’t there for them. At the center of this stone garden stood a figure on a pedestal, laughing merrily for the rest of eternity. Eris stood and cackled at him, but for some reason he never found it malicious, in some way it just looked like her old self, before the Gala, before the war, before everything. She was just herself in that stone prison. “Hello, Eris,” he said softly.

There was no response, of course, there never would be. “I’ve been doing well or maybe I haven’t,” he continued. “I don’t know if you heard or noticed, but Artemis isn’t around anymore. He…”

Solaris trailed off and sighed. “We got into a fight and he won’t be coming back for a while,” he continued.

This was hard, harder than the last time, but he had to say it, he had to tell someone even though they couldn’t say anything back. He inhaled deeply and puffed out the exhale through his cheeks and mouth. The hardest part was not breaking down in front of her. It wouldn’t have been the first time though. Ever since she was turned to stone things had slowly gone down to Tartarus first it was her uprising, then Umbra’s tyranny was brought to an end, and then Artemis who felt unappreciated and oppressed by Solaris had risen up as well and threatened to plunge Equestria into eternal darkness. Solaris had tried his best to convince his brother that his role wasn’t a minor one and that Solaris needed him more desperately now more than ever. It was all for naught. Artemis didn’t listen or didn’t want to listen and Solaris was forced to use the Elements of Harmony on his own brother and he sent him away to spend a thousand years on his beloved moon. A tear escaped and rolled down his cheek. “My own brother, Eris,” he said, his voice husky and full of hopelessness. “I couldn’t even save my own brother.”

Finally hot, flowing rivers of tears rushed down his cheeks and all of his trials and woes came bursting out of him. “I miss you, Eris,” he sobbed. “Ever since you left, everything…”

He choked and whined pitifully. He was a pathetic excuse for ruler, a brother, and a friend. Everything that he touched was bound for disaster and ruin. Now he was completely alone in the world. The only one he could talk to now was trapped in stone. “Ever since you left everything went wrong,” he continued. “Umbra tyrannized an entire city and race, we defeated her, but she made the entire city disappear and then my brother… I don’t know what went wrong, he didn’t feel like anyone appreciated what he did and I was too blind to see it until it was too late.”

Eris stood there as always, laughing, almost mocking him now. “Please Eris,” Solaris whispered. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

He laid down and buried his face in his hooves and wept in front of a statue that would never return any sympathy or kindness to him again. “I’m so sorry Eris!” he cried.

He remained that way for hours and still wouldn’t leave for a few more afterward. However, he was now the only Prince of Equestria and though he didn’t want them he had obligations and duties that required his attention. He reluctantly turned away from the statue and didn’t look back.

Author's Note

'Tis finished!! It's over and I can truly say that I have actually finished a multi-chapter fanfic. I would like to dedicate the finishing of this fanfic to all my beautiful followers, favoriters, likers, etc. Without you guys I wouldn't have the motivation to continue. I would also like to thank SeanoftheDead who was my inspiration for this story (thank you for all the good ideas). I'd also like to thank mattstheman for putting up with my long absences in writing and my constant nagging and for just being a wonderful editor all around. For all of you just tuning into this fic and for my long time followers I have another treat for you... If I get a certain amount of views I will add a "bonus chapter" for your viewing pleasure. It's just something that I came up with while writing the rest of this, so tell your friends, get some people on board with this so you can see the awesome bonus chapter!

Bonus: Whatever Did I Do?

Whatever Did I Do?

Dusk Shine and his friends left the castle and out to the labyrinth without hesitation and with determination in their eyes, they wouldn’t let their prince down. Solaris watched them go from his window with a thoughtful and slightly saddened frown. He turned from the window and walked sadly to the middle of the room. “Alright Eris, I know you’re here!” he called. “Come out!”

“Hmmm, you just love spoiling all my fun, don’t you Solaris?” Eris’ voice echoed around him as she slowly faded back into view.

She floated in mid-air her hands behind her head and with a kind of bored smirk on her face. She had a wine glass filled with chocolate milk in her griffin claw that she swirled around absently, waiting for him to say what he had to say. Solaris looked at her and saw something different than the one he had fallen in love with. This “new” Eris had a newfound confidence in herself, probably from ruling over Equestria for a few years thinking she had scared him and Artemis off until they found the Elements. It was one thing to have confidence; however her level was near cocky and arrogant, nothing like her younger self. “Eris, you must stop this,” he said.

Eris rolled her eyes and poofed away before reappearing on his throne. “I think this throne suits me nicely, don’t you?” she asked and draped herself over the arms. “Sure it could use a few changes, but I think I look good on it.”

Solaris growled angrily. “Eris, stop this foolishness now!” he said once again.

“Foolishness? Now that’s just mean, Soly,” Eris said and poofed out of the throne to hover just above his head. “You used to like my little pranks.”

“This is far from a prank, Eris,” Solaris said and looked up at her. “Stop this whole mess now and we can talk this over, we can-.”

“Save it, Solaris!” Eris spat and poofed back down to the floor, still hovering a few inches over it. “What, you thought that just because I came back I would forgive you?”

Her eyes hardened and her fists clenched as she crossed her arms over her chest. “That everything would go back to normal, because I had a one thousand year time-out?” she continued.

Now she started to stalk around him like a timberwolf. The frown on her face turned into a menacing and venom-filled grin. “Or did you think that after a few… tearful and near-heart-filled talks that I would come back and express my love all over again?”

Solaris’ eyes closed slowly and he tried to hold back the tears, he didn’t know. “Oh yes, Solaris,” she hissed in his ear. “I could hear everything. Your pathetic pleas, your whiny confessions, and I couldn’t help but notice that I was still turned into stone!”

Now she stood in front of him and glared at him. If glares could kill came to mind. Solaris looked up and glared back at her. “You knew I couldn’t do it!” he growled through his teeth.

“Why not?!” Eris asked. “It would’ve put so much more emphasis on how much you missed me.”

“I did miss you!”

“LIAR!!”

Solaris stopped and stared at her. “One thing’s for sure, Soly, things will be far from normal once I’m done with this place.”

Solaris was horrified and stunned. No, he hadn’t thought that things would go back to normal, but he had expected her to be a bit softer. It seemed that the years encased in stone hadn’t improved her at all. If anything it had made her cold, hard, bitter, and cruel to the world around her. “Please Eris, I beg you, I implore you to stop this now and let me help you,” Solaris tried again.

Eris burst out laughing! “Oh that is precious, Solaris!” she cried. “How can you help me when you couldn’t even help me before? Hey, you couldn’t even help your own brother!”

That remark stung, but Artemis was better now. He had learned and he had seen the error of his ways. “Oh, but that’s just you Soly,” she continued. “Always on this futile crusade to help those in need, even though the ones most in need are right in front of your stupid nose!”

The last few words were delivered in a snarl. Solaris flinched at her verbal attack, but didn’t make a move to defend himself. In so many ways he had failed as a ruler, as a friend, as a brother, and even as a lover and he had no one to really blame, but himself. Eris scoffed and finally started to use her legs to pace in front of him. “Without your precious Elements, you’re as weak and vulnerable as I am,” she said. “Come on, why don’t we settle this without those pesky neck accessories,” she growled.

Solaris looked up and shook his head. Eris scoffed again and started to float back up and to her window. “Please, Eris you should know by now that what happened was an accident, a mistake, a misunderstanding,” he said.

“Perhaps,” Eris replied.

“If you stop this we can start over, be stronger than ever,” Solaris tried.

Eris looked down at him then at the floor until he heard a low chuckle from her until bubbled up into full blown laughter. Tears leaked out of her eyes and she held her sides. “Oh that is priceless!” she said. “Come now Soly, that time is long past. I had a thousand years to get over it and so did you.”

“…You used to call me Shiny,” Solaris said as he looked up at her with a forlorn expression.

Eris looked down at him with an expression that he couldn’t really read, all he knew was it was very devoid of emotion except for mild annoyance. “You used to love me,” she whispered and continued to float there.

They stared at each other for a few more seconds before Eris looked at her wrist that was devoid of a watch and gasped. “Oh look at the time!" she said. "It's well passed disorganized and moving swiftly to chaotic and I still have your precious ponies to disharmonize, see ya on the dark side Soly.”

With that Eris snapped her fingers this time leaving for good. Solaris lowered his head and sighed. The Eris he knew was gone and was replaced with this confident, bitter, and proud Eris. It was a shame really, he had loved her a long time ago, but now they both knew that time was over and the future didn’t hold anything for them.

Author's Note

I reached 500 views a few days ago, so I decided to celebrate this occasion by giving you all a bonus chapter! I feel like this dialogue between the two be they Solaris & Eris or Celestia & Discord had to happen in order for my own ship to happen. They both had to move on from each other and this talk had to have happened at some point. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!

Prologue: Discord & Chaos

Sun's Fire

Prologue: Discord & Chaos

She sat on her throne and looked out at her beautiful work. She couldn’t help it anymore, the laughter just came so easily now. A chuckle worked its way through her teeth and lips, it dripped out of her like syrup. What should’ve sounded sweet and carefree now sounded ominous and foreboding. The ponies scattered every which way to get away from her various pranks of chocolate milk rain, flying pigs, and the occasional soapy road. That gag never got old, neither did the slippery banana peel. Eris, now Goddess of Chaos and ruler of Equestria laughed and snapped her fingers at every interval when the laughter stopped. It was so easy to fool with them, it was almost starting to get boring and then she would snap her fingers and turn one of their coats checkerboard. Now that was funny!

She closed the curtains to give herself a break and returned to her sanctuary inside the Castle of the Two Brothers. Eris remembered her first time there, how she had looked, how he had looked and how his image had forever been blackened afterward. The thought alone made her heart shatter all over again. Why did she do that to herself, thinking about him! Thinking about how he had worked his way into her life and how he had turned her into what she was now. He was gone now, but she had given him a choice and he had refused. That thought also didn’t sit well with her. She had GIVEN him a CHOICE! He REFUSED! It angered her, frustrated her, and left her heartbroken. Oh well, she had a kingdom to disharmonize and he wasn’t around to control her or stop her ever again…

Author's Note

Just thought I'd add this. The thought came to me while I was typing out the last chapter, so here ya go.