Empire of the Sun

There was a rush of cold air that blasted them as they passed through the portal. The ponies and Draconequuses slid on… ice? When the portal closed up behind them, a bit of the plaid aura exploded behind them and vanished. The group gasped at once when they found themselves sliding, except for Pinkie Pie who was in mid “weeee!”

Discord and Event Horizon, however, found their balance. The ponies collapsed to the ground, surprised, and after a second passed, appeared to be struggling to get up.

The Spirits of Chaos and Destruction looked on in confusion at the sight of ponies. It was if some invisible force was pushing them down, a heavy weight on top of them. Their legs shook wildly and their eyes looked as if they were to burst. It wasn't until they began turning very pale, quickly, that it dawn on Horizon.

“It's the gravity,” he said to Discord, blurting out the solution.

“What?” for some reason that hadn't exactly made sense to him yet.

“The gravity of this planet is too strong!” Horizon fumbled, watching the ponies slowly die, “Their blood is being drawn away from their heads…”

He flipped through a million things to do, but a simple snap of the talons from Discord turned his whole world upside down. Literally— Horizon yelped as his legs suddenly were grabbed by something that flipped him upside down, putting the floor on the ceiling. The ponies had taken to the air… all of them. They levitated at different altitudes from the ground, gasping and breathing heavily, only Pinkie Pie being upside down with Horizon.

“Gravity you say?” Discord inquired, “Well that's not a problem at all.” As the ponies’ caught their breath, Dash began complaining.

“What…” Dash coughed, “... gives?!”

Discord shrugged, but his shoulders kept going up, detaching both his arms off his body to have his lion paw yank one of Horizon’s black horns, and slam him into the floor at normal gravity.

“Oof!” he gaked, a burst of fire igniting out of his mouth upon impact.

“Thank you Discord,” Fluttershy said, levitating in the air at eye level with him. He grabbed her and hugged her protectively,

“Why of course, my dear Fluttershy! Anything for you!” All of them returned to normal gravity, dropping softly back to the ground.

“You saved us, Discord,” Twilight looked grateful, “I don't know how we can repay you.” He looked slightly embarrassed by that,

“Yes- well, it's nothing, really.”

At that, they took to admiring the beautiful icy cave they were in. There were a few tunnels, each going in a few directions, but all looking carved from some sort of river. They stared in silence, the seconds dropping by before one of the Earth ponies broke the silence.

“It almost looks pony made,” Applejack commented, taking her hat off and quickly putting it back on once she recalled how cold it was, for the rush of cold flooded her head.

“It must go on forever!” Pinkie Pie screamed, and then listened with satisfaction as “forever” echoed down a few halls.

“Oh… my…” Fluttershy said, hiding half her face under her mane, “That would be very bad.”

“Where even are we?” Rainbow Dash shook off her coat, rising up to hover in the air, “Twilight you just dragged us here with that weird spell.”

Now Twilight finally remembered to be confused.

“I saw Sirius open up a portal to a very hot world, that looked like the surface of Mars.”

Rarity approached her, “Twilight, darling, not all of us speak ‘egghead’, I'm afraid you're going to have to use layman’s terms.”

“Don't you mean laypony’s terms?” Applejack asked, to which she received a glare from Rarity,

“I know what I said.”

Discord yawned obnoxiously loudly, catching the attention of everypony,

“You see Twilight, because you favor me oh so much, it appears you used a bit more Chaotic magic than you could handle in that handy teleportation spell of yours,” he reached out and grabbed her cheek.

She looked completely irritated, and responded in a voice of flat disbelief.

“What?”

“My magic may have changed a just a bit of the outcome,” he explained, looking as sly as ever, backing away from the Alicorn, “but only because you took so much.”

She looked from side to side as if processing what he was saying.

“What's the change of outcome, then?”

Discord stared at her in a moment of complete stunned surprise, proceeding to slap himself across the face afterward, clearly agitated.  Her pony friends began to shuffle in embarrassment for even they knew the answer.

“Nopony tell her,” Event Horizon was holding the urge to burst out into laughter.

“Um… Twilight?” Fluttershy stepped forward, “We’re—”

“WE’RE ON THIS ICY DEATH TRAP INSTEAD OF MARS!” Pinkie Pie hollered at the top of her lungs, once again listening for the echo through the vast tunnels that disappeared into darkness.

Twilight had closed on eye in the shock her ear was feeling from Pinkie’s screaming, responding with, “Okay… thank you Pinkie.”

“So, once again,” Rainbow Dash hailed the attention of every pony, “Where exactly are we?”

“Good question, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight stood up tall, putting on her leader face, “I'm sure since the Tree of Harmony helped me cast the spell, that it’ll help us n—” her sentence cut short. For a few seconds the entire crew waited for her to finish, their anticipation heightening.

“... help us…?” Rarity edged her on.

“I can't feel the Tree…” Twilight frowned, “It's faded from sight.”

“Well, DUH,” Discord threw his arms up, “I could have told you that.” Twilight’s frown remained, “What… why?”

Now it was Horizon’s turn to slap himself across his face,

“Do you know how far away you from the Tree?” he asked her impatiently, “Do you think it can feel you here? You're on another planet.”

“Wait, we’re stuck here?” Rainbow voiced.

Rarity, Twilight and the two Draconequui shook their heads in response simultaneously. Then the other three looked at Rarity with surprise, to which she looked confused.

“What…? Even I can feel it.” The non magic users were now completely lost, and their faces showed it.

Twilight looked at them, “There’s a concentration of magic, somewhere, and I think it's close by. We might be able to fix whatever happened if we access it.”

“Well that's the best news I've heard all day,” Applejack commented, “What are we waiting for?” The magic users started to look uncomfortable, and Twilight’s answer stopped them cold,

“It feels of Sirius’ presence.”

Stunned silence froze everything as jaws dropped open.

“To be fair,” Horizon stated, “It does feel slightly different than normal.”

Discord shrugged yet again, “Though, really, that could mean anything.”

“Seriously?” Dash threw herself back, sighing, “We just can't get a break.”

“Well, it's unmoving and calm,” Twilight responded, taking position in front of one of the tunnels, “So maybe we have a chance.”

“Maybe…” Fluttershy said, “Or maybe he’ll wind up turning us all to stone.”

“Fluttershy, you are surprisingly pessimistic,” Applejack noted.

“Can we just go?” Dash ushered on, “I just wanna get off this strange death ice rock.”

Twilight nodded, casting a spotlight in one of the icy tunnels, the clear blue walls illuminating as she passed the yellow light over it.

The two Draconequui melded into opposite walls, becoming animated drawings of themselves on each side. Discord became his stain glass shape, while Horizon looked more like a crude cave painting.

The ponies walked along in silence, not a single sound to be heard anywhere except their hooves and breathing. Darkness was closing in on every step behind them, and Fluttershy was having a very hard time skipping constantly ahead of it, constantly bumping into other ponies. A few grunts from Rarity and Applejack caught the attention of the others, while the squeaking of Fluttershy’s “S-sorry!” sparked annoyance of everyone.

Because of how focused Twilight was inspecting the tunnels with her search light spell, it became very easy for the Draconequui to make fun of her, intentionally placing themselves on a spot where her light would pass by, to reveal one of them making a ridiculous face. She growled a few times after making a small gasp, in a while just yelling at them to cut it out entirely. There were a few chuckles from the ponies, but they did stop.

The frozen tunnels let up in a wide clearing.

Twilight expanded her light to fill up the room, making everypony gasp when they found what was waiting for them on the other side. A figure was still and motionless on the far wall, signaling the end of the tunnel, for there was no other place to go but this large, icy room. It was Sirius, but confusingly to Twilight and Discord, (who was back to his normal form (and Horizon, too)) undamaged with burns and scars. His eyes had normal white eyelids, that were closed, peacefully.

He was sitting, just on the floor, his forelegs perfectly in front of him to support his upper body, his back legs just resting on the cold ice. His armor was silver, not gold. Instead of five Cataclomn crystals, he appeared to only have one. His pose resembled remarkably of that of Celestia; still on her throne while she was available. He made no movements when they entered, or when the group eventually approached him.

Curiously, the two Draconequui eyed him.

“He has been asleep for a long time,” Discord noted, “his magic is idle.”

“That's impossible!” Dash blurted, “...unless we time traveled, too?” It was a possibility, and if Twilight had to take a guess, this looked like the past. Before his burns, his excessive amount of Cataclomn crystals, and— another thing bothered Twilight; Sirius looked visibly smaller than how he looked before, though not terribly. This seemed to support the theory of them being in the past. The size change was a large enough difference, though, where she could guess he was actually smaller than Celestia, but still being bigger than her sister.

Luna. Twilight’s thoughts drifted back to watching her turn to solid stone, crushed by the grief of losing her sister to an unknown, and more than likely, restricted place.

If they were still in the same time period, now a doubt thanks to Discord’s crazy magic, she was still in the Canterlot Castle tower, frozen forever in her mourning state. We’re going to save Celestia, she swore, just have faith in us.

Moving out of those thoughts, she placed a hoof on Sirius’ foreleg. It was cold to the touch, feeling as if it hadn't moved in a thousand years, yet she could still feel the hairs of his coat and the small, flickering light inside him that was his presence. It was buried… deep, under layers and layers of thick ice. But it was there, a small flame. It felt of good hearted spiritedness and brief heroism. Then, she realized something critically important, while getting lost in this long lost presence.

“This isn't Sirius A,” she said, confidence growing inside of her, “This is somepony entirely different.” She paused for a moment, giving her friends the chance to pay attention. Smiling, she said the magic words,

“This is Sirius B.”

Upon hearing his name, his eyes flung open, causing everypony to jump back, even the Draconequui. Twilight did not, only stared into them. They were a dull blue, long lost of vibrance. Despite his eyes opening, his soul was still very much in deep sleep.

That was, until his look changed to panic.

He yelped, jumping away from Twilight’s gaze, every joint in his body popping so loud that it sounded of a symphony of firecrackers. Skidding on the ice, he stood defensively on all fours, a look of terror on his face.

“W-wh-who are you?” he stammered out to them, “How do you know my name?”

Confusion stopped Twilight from forming a coherent response. What was he scared of? His legs were shaking as if trying desperately to keep balance on something, and his ears were flat, clearly not a threat, but feeling threatened.

“Well, um…” Twilight didn't exactly know how to answer his question. Catching a glimpse at the two Draconequui, his eyes widened even further, backing himself into one of the corners,

“What are those?!” he said, pointing wildly at them.

Discord’s face of shock melted into irritation as he was to make a reply before Fluttershy tapped him, giving him a stare that clearly told him to stay quiet.

The Pegasus mare then brushed past Twilight, approaching him slowly,

“There there…” she said in her soft voice, “It's okay. We’re not here to harm you… everything is safe with us.”

Despite clearly not being an animal, her tactic seemed to have effect. Sirius B looked visibly more comforted, but still very alarmed.

Fluttershy took care of this by holding her two front hooves out to him in offering after she sat down in front of him. His eyes wildly looked back and forth between each one, before reluctantly resting one of his armored silver hooves in both of hers. She held it, shaking it gently, “My name is Fluttershy. What's yours?”

He looked at her without hesitating, “S-Sirius B… M’am, from Halott.”

“Would you happen to know where this place is?” she asked him softly, smiling.

“W-what do you mean?” he asked.

“What planet this is?”

“Planet?” he suddenly started to warm up, straightening himself. He thought for a moment, and a very long one at that. After some time, he responded, “GIC 13005.” That told them nothing. Fluttershy looked back at Twilight to see if that had helped anything, but with a small shake of the Alicorn’s head, she continued.

“What about the star system?” she pressed further. Now he looked really confused,

“Are you all lost? This is the Cataclomn Star system.” The Cataclomn star system! Twilight thought with a breath of victory— they had made it after all.

Twilight nodded at Fluttershy to stop, and she stepped forward when the mare let go of his hoof and backed away.

“What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on Halott?”

He looked a little shaken to flick his tail and respond: “Wait… who are you ponies? What are they?” he pointed at Discord and Event Horizon, “and what is she?” He pointed at Rarity, “the rest of you look to be Halott… but you're clearly not from here.”

Twilight frowned in uncertainty at one question in particular, “Rarity? Rarity’s a unicorn.” Sirius B said nothing and instead approached Rarity, inspecting her sides as she uncomfortably shifted,

“Um… excuse me?”

“Where did your wings go?” he asked, mystified.

“Are you telling me you've never seen a unicorn?” Applejack asked, “but you've seen us Earth ponies, Pegasai and alicorns?”

He looked at her, “Earth ponies? I do not know this term… although you are all too big to be of Halott.” Despite sounding calm, Twilight noticed his legs were still shaking. She smiled a bit, amused that an Alicorn from an alien planet would be actually nervous about meeting them.

“Sirius A came to us,” Twilight said, as Sirius B continued to inspect the ponies. He stopped dead, staring at her in horror.

“Oh no,” he said.

The ponies, in turn, stopped in hesitation, getting serious. There was a history behind Sirius A.

“Care to tell us what's on your mind?” Applejack inquired.

***

They sat in a circle. Discord kept detaching his talons and plucking them back on in boredom, as Sirius began.

“There were four tribes,” he started, “a very long time ago. About two thousand years.” Halotten years, Twilight took a mental note.

“There was a tribe of Pegasai and land ponies in the north, and likewise in the south.” No unicorns.

“Halott looks terrible now, but, it was not much better in the past. Even the tribes ponies knew that the planet was barren and substandard, despite never knowing anything else. In joint sarcasm, they called the land ‘Halott’, meaning ‘perfect’ in Halotten. They knew the land was the way it was because of one factor and one factor only.”

Twilight recalled seeing the harsh blue sunlight in the small view she had gotten through the portal. The burns on Sirius A, the heat waves off the land…

“The sun,” she said. Sirius looked at her, frowning.

“Privileged group you are, being from a system with one Sun.” There were two? Everypony’s eyes widened in surprised. Sirius continued,

“The Pegasai were the most complex life to be seen, able to fly through the air against gravity.”

“That's why he freaked out when he saw the Draconequui,” Rainbow muttered.

Sirius seemed not to hear, and continued,

“We had no war between us, for there were not nearly enough of Halottens to have war. But one day, we received an omen. A mysterious bright light could be seen in the sky. It came out from behind the Jabb cloud.”

“What's the Jabb cloud?” Twilight asked.

He looked shocked, “Did you not see it on your journey over here?” Everypony shook their heads.

“Well you are still alive… I suppose that should have answered my question. The atmosphere is poisonous up on the surface. The Jabb cloud is an enormous cloud of blackness that covered our view what was beyond the planet going out of our system. We have never been able to see what lies beyond it, for it looks like a black space lightning storm.” Twilight was lost in words, living every moment of them. She envisioned herself on the barren, hot world of Halott… to one side of their sky, lay two bright burning blue Suns, the other, was clouded by a mysterious black lightning storm that never seemed to fade.

“It has a very high magic concentration, in fact so strong only Sirius and I could sense it. It has been believed that it is a presence among us, for it never left our sky like the Suns did. Others said it was the lair of a sleeping monster, here long before the Halottens and hasn't woken up. But, whatever it is, some object came from behind it, looking like a meteor,” he kept describing, his voice now becoming more enriched, “And some bright lights flung from its pass down onto our planet, but it kept continuing itself. When they landed in their spectacular booms, the tribes gathered around them. We saw… glowing, blue, vibrant crystals.”

The Cataclomn Crystals. They had arrived from a meteor in space… yet how could they be from the stars like Sirius A had said?

“I do not exactly remember the events, but the tribes of the North combined to one, as did the tribes of the South. Each took back with them their share of the crystals, until somehow I wound up becoming connected with them. I transformed,” he said, looking down at himself, “into what you see here before you today. I was from the Southern Tribes, and Sirius A was from the Northern. We met, eventually, looking practically identical, and united all the ponies of Halott. The crystals gave us mysterious horns, and I, being a land pony, grew Pegasus wings. Sirius A was the first to demonstrate the crystals’ only purpose for us, and using his magical horn, he took control of Cataclomn A, the bigger of the two stars. I quickly took Cataclomn B, but Sirius Major took all my crystals except for one,” he tapped on his chest plate at the glowing Crystal, “justifying his actions by saying he needed more power to control the bigger Sun.” He paused for a second to catch a bit of his breath.

“So what happened to Halott?” Rarity asked.

“Sirius Major went mad. Our job was to keep our stars in rotation. An Alicorn, by the name of Lindous, the Savior, had been with us, keeping Halott in orbit around the Cataclomn stars. But she relied off of no external power, only her own, and consequently unable to keep Halott far away enough for tolerable temperatures. This is why all were powerless when Sirius A broke Cataclomn A’s  orbit away from its usual path and brought it closer to Halott. We tried to stop him, but before we confronted him, Lindous abandoned me, disappearing. The day before our world was destroyed, our Astronomers had found this planet, the only one we managed to find beyond the Jabb Cloud. So Sirius was able to banish me here, GIC 13005. I have lay dormant since,” he said, now standing up, concluding his story, “I did not know Sirius would manage to find a way out of the Solar System… but I am not surprised.”

“Well he came to our planet,” Twilight stood up, urgency sparking up again, “And now he’s wreaking havoc on it! He managed to teleport our leader to Halott, and we’ve come to save her! But we landed here, first, and need a way to Halott.”

Sirius B nodded and yawned, “Easy enough. I’m sure, you, alicorn, and your weird powerful magic friends can get us there without much effort.”

He wound up leading the group back out through the tunnels they came in, into one of the ones they skipped over when they arrived in the world before. It turns out, they lead up to the surface. The magic users had to further help the non magic users not die from the poisonous air by protecting them with spells, and they finally saw sky.

The surface was a never ending blizzard. Snow and ice stretched on infinitely in every direction, and winds howled louder than any heard by the Equestrians before.

Sirius had a passage through the tunnels they had used to get to the surface, and the sky was a clear blue.

Two Suns in very close proximity shined doubly bright, but at a very great distance, a blueish tint to their light giving indication they were two giant stars.

Upon surfacing, Sirius looked up in the sky, and became very wild.

“What?!” he exclaimed, shouting over the wind.

“What's wrong?” Rarity responded.

“It's not here!” he frantically searched the sky, but the only visible objects were the two Cataclomn stars, taunting him in their brightness.

“The Jabb cloud is gone! But how could this be?”

***

The Princess of the Sun stared at the scene in front of her. Some of the observatory was rusted and broken, but the telescope looked like it hadn’t been used in… weeks. Scribbled writings with a light coat of dust looked like it had only been abandoned for a little while.

She blew the dust off them, suddenly aware that the movement caused her to start sweating from how hot it was, and scanned the writings. They were in a different language, but the format they were written in from the book that Luna stole from Sirius’ room was the same.

This was indeed Halott, and Sirius A had been here.

Aware of this, she stood still and became in tune to the energy attached to the room. She could feel Sirius’ angry pace, his insistent muttering and frustration.

She could recall the schemes he made… the planets he was watching with his… telereceiver magic.

He was all alone. The last living being on his own world. He was mad.

His scars caused pain everywhere he rubbed the rusted metal on them. His curses made her flinch as she could practically hear him swear vengeance. Once he had left here, however, the once civilization was completely gone, for he was all that remained.

For the past few weeks the entire planet was abandoned: no wind blew, or foal stirred. No chatter of ponies, or downpour of rain could be heard.

For miles, there was nothing but the heat of the binary star system of Cataclomn. Now Celestia was among it all. The history, the pain— the long gone and the just lived; Celestia was trapped on this godforsaken world.

Yet, there were hoof steps that opened the door behind her, terrifyingly causing her to whip around.

“What?!” she exclaimed, spreading her wings in case of emergency, “Who are you?”

The pony looked back at her, “Though I could ask the same of you, I shall tell you… I am your Savior.”