Flawed Harmony

Canterlot Castle

Celestia sat on her throne, worry overtaking all other emotions. Yes she was happy that her father had returned, but she was also afraid. King Solaris treated the ponies of Equestria with respect but had an extreme distaste for other creatures. She didn't worry for the ponies of Equestria, she feared for the human family and other inhabitants. She didn't know what to do, she never expected her father to reappear.

Deep down she wanted to accept him and his return to the thrown, but most of her wished that Anon would kill him. She knew her time as ruler was over, Solaris would take control and start a full on war with the Shadow Empire. Without their mother there to keep him in check, Solaris would not rest until his enemies were wiped out. He would not show mercy, he is from a forgotten age and will refuse to let go of the old ways.

He will reinstate punishments like whippings and executions, the ponies of this age could not handle anything like that, it would break them and destroy them. Celestia knew she could not let Equestria fall into her fathers hooves, if he returned he would most likely be injured. That would be her chance, she could restrain him and make him see reason or she could put him down.

Dread began to replace worry, Equestria was about to enter a dark age, and it wouldn't be Anon that would guide it to such an era. Wiping a tear from her eye she charged her horn and summoned a set of gold plated enchanted chains and hid them behind the throne.

With a flash of light Solaris appeared with many cuts and bruises, a large stab wound in his chest and in between his wings. Celestia narrowed her eyes and stepped off the throne allowing her father to shakily walk onto it.

"Get your soldiers ready Celestia, we are going to tear the Shadow Empire apart, and then we are going to whip the ponies of today into shape, they've become too soft and need to be hardened." Solaris commanded as he sat down.

"Father, there is no need for that, things are not like they used to be, all species live in harmony now and the only conflict in the world right now is with the Shadow Empire. My little ponies could not handle your disciplinary actions."

"And yet they are in uproar over the Rainbow Factory? So what if a few peasants are taken away, they can always make more." When I said that he treats ponies with respect, I meant those that are hardened and have great social power.

Celestia narrowed her eyes and took the chains in her magic. "No father."

Badlands, Empire Castle

Anon watched his subjects from a balcony overlooking the underground settlements, the soldiers of his empire gearing up for what was to come. His eyes glowed purple as the energy from the Element of Magic flowed through his body, gifting him with greater magical abilities.

His generals and family stood behind him with Rainbow Dash and her family, all of them with confident smiles as they watched their leader look down at his people. They saw him hold up his hand which now glowed purple and he cast a voice amplifier spell.

"Attention everyone!" All of the beings below stopped and looked up at their King. "What will happen over the next few days, weeks, months and maybe even years will shake the world. The return of King Solaris was unexpected, but it's nothing we can't handle. You all will be fighting for the freedom of this nation, but know this, we are no longer fighting the Solar Empire led by Princess Celestia, we are now facing a powerful foe with hidden armies. We may find ourselves with allegiance with a good portion of the Solar Empire in order to take down the tyrant that will shape Equestria into his own image with discrimination, force and downright awful actions. I have confidence that each and everyone of you will make a difference in the battles to come, and fight on knowing your loved ones are safe and under our protection. Now prepare for the true war, for the freedom of Equestria and the world, for the Shadow Empire!"

"FOR THE SHADOW EMPIRE!!!" Each and every soldier, baker, carpenter and villiage rebounds called out in support and loyalty. Anon smirked and turned to his generals who nodded.

"Well then my friends, what's say we get this show on the road?" He gave an evil chuckle before walking down the hallway with his family and friends following his lead. "Sonar?"

"Yes my King?" The armoured Thestral asked.

"Go to the airship ports and take a ship to Ponyville, with Solaris back in power any races other than ponies are gonna be in serious trouble. Get the family of humans and bring them to me, we're getting them out of there." Anon ordered with a serious tone.

"But King Anon, aren't the humans subjects of the Solar Empire?" Sonar asked with uncertainty.

"They are civilians that will be targeted by a tyrant, if you see any other species there offer them a ride, this is more than just us trying to get people to support us and bring a balanced harmony, now we need to focus on making sure that Solaris is dead as soon as possible. Now go."

The Thestral nodded and flapped her wings, taking flight and shooting down a separate hallway. The group pressed on until they came across a large door with an emblem of black wings and a sword. Smirking Anon opened the door and the group all stared in awe at the sight before them. "Are we really gonna use that?" Moonlight asked.

"Yes son, I present to all of you my personal battleship, The Reclaimer." Anon gestured to the huge airship in a private dock. It was the size of a large air carrier with a huge dark blue balloon attached to the hull by silver chains and rope. The hull was planted with black and blue enchanted steel, six large cannons were lined up on the sides of the deck, three on each side and each having two huge barrels. On the bottom of the hull was a section filled with six small airships that were used to drop off troops. The emblem of the Shadow Empire was painted on the sides of the balloon, smaller cannons dotted the hull and various soldiers and workers walked around preparing for takeoff when it was ordered. "We will be using this to lead a fleet of airships over Canterlot and prevent Solaris from taking control before he can set up a good defence. Now everyone get aboard, we leave in half an hour."

Anon looked back to Rainbow Dash and gave a sad smile.

"Rainbow, it is your job to go to Ponyville and warn your friends of what's to come, we already have an agent there working to get one of them to join us. Your family will be safe here, now go." The rainbow maned Pegasus nodded and flew out through an open hatch in the ceiling.

Outskirts of Ponyville

Abigail and Slender looked down at the rioting town of Ponyville, clouds of smoke rising into the air. The children in town were taken to a safe location away from the violence with the help of Screwball and SweetieBot.

"How is anyone supposed to stop all of this madness, it's out of control." Abigail said as she sat down on the edge of the cliff and sighed. "The whole nation had been thrown into chaos, and it wasn't the Draconequi that caused it."

"Hey!" The two turned around to see Screwball walking towards them. "What was that you said about Draconequi?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm half Draconequus!" Screwball yelled in frustration.

"Oh right, for some reason I keep forgetting that." Abigail chuckled and Screwball merely sighed and sat down with them and looked out at the chaos created by the exposure of the Rainbow Factory.

"Hello friends." The group looked to a bush and saw SweetieBot jump out of it. "All children and elderly have been evacuated to the abandoned diamond mines and are being watched by Sparkler, Lyra and Time Turner."

"Great job Sweets, thank you." Abigail praised while patting the spot next to her, which the robot walked over to and sat.

"Whatever happened to that adventure we were going to have?"

The group looked to each other and shrugged. "I guess things came up and we forgot during the chaos."

SweetieBot narrowed her eyes and looked up at the sky. "I don't buy it, I just think someone was lazy and forgot about it."

The group looked at her with raised brows. "You feeling alright Sweets?"

The robot blinked and looked back to her friends. "Sorry, I appeared to have suffered from a glitch, rebooting software." The robot went limp before sitting back up. "Restart successful, what were we talking about?"

Abigail rolled her eyes and looked out at the carnage. "I think we should leave here." The group looked at her in confusion. "I mean leave Ponyville, find somewhere safe and hide until this is all over, the war, the riots and the panic. I'm sure we can just find a secluded area and just stay there."

"What about our friends and family?" Screwball asked.

Abigail remained silent, staring at Golden Oaks Library where her family was currently holding out. "I don't know."

They all remained silent until they saw a familiar rainbow trail and the silhouette of an airship behind it.

Canterlot Castle

Celestia lay on the floor, severally bruised and wrapped in the enchanted chains. Solaris walked up to her and glared. "Did you really think your chains would have any effect on me? I have power comparable to a God! An ancient enchantment is nothing against me!"

Celestia shakily lifted her head and looked up at him in fear. "Please father... Don't do this." Her plea fell on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry my little sunflower, but these ponies need to learn to look after themselves and this land needs to be purified of the filth of the parasites that have made this place their home!" Solaris snarled and began walking towards the door.

'Anon if there was a time where you were planning to attack pleas let that time be now.'

As soon as Solaris took the door handle in his magic the ground shook and the wall behind the throne exploded. The two alicorns watched as the dust settled revealing Anon with his mouth covered by his bandana and a soft purple aura outlining his body. "Sorry pops, but Equestria is mine."

"Oh really, your empire is outnumbered by the Solar Empire which I now control. If you were to attack we would have a defensive line set up within days, we have scouts all over Equestria feeding us information on all activity in the sky and on the ground, if you were to launch and attack we would know before you even got here!" Solaris boasted, taking a fighting stance. "And I have fully recovered, and have regained my strength after being trapped in the sun for all those years, I am twice as strong as I was when we fought."

"Well you see Solaris, when you blasted me with that little beam of alicorn magic, I happen to have the Element of Magic tucked away under my clothes." Anon spread his arms and smirked.

"No... No you didn't." Celestia said in horror.

"Oh yes dear sister, I most certainly did." Anon gave an evil laugh before snapping his fingers, revealing his giant airship and hundreds of others in the sky, all converging on Canterlot that had been undetected thanks to an advanced cloak spell. "I AM NOW THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC ITSELF!!! AND ON THIS DAY, THE SOLAR EMPIRE SHALL FALL AND WE WILL UNITE THE WORLD UNDER ONE FLAG AND BRING PEACE TO EVERYONE!!!"

Solaris and Celestia looked up in horror as Anon gave a psychopathic laugh and glared at them with piercing purple eyes and a sinister smile behind his mask.