Solstice

Chapter 2: Twilight

Strangely, Celestia’s mind was perfectly clear, despite her world having turned completely upside down. She knew exactly what she had to do. She had to save Luna. She must. There was no other option. The only question was how.

She could barely comprehend the fact that a team of gray unicorns had encircled the group. She took no notice of the cries for help and the small skirmishes, quickly beaten back, some ponies killed. She did not truly see the flash of magic, as the group of captives were teleported away. Those ponies who had remained behind and who could not fly were aided by those who could. The army had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, save a few who were now acting as guards.

Celestia simply took to the sky, finally taking time to truly think about what had happened. As soon as she began to realize that Luna was gone, gone, to be used as amusement for a king, to be killed, or worse, becoming his slave, she broke down. She was still just as determined to rip this Discord and his minions to pieces for even touching Luna, but she now felt the tragedy in its fullest. She felt the loss. And it caused her to fly even faster toward Canterlot.

Celestia arrived in Canterlot at record speed. Just as the gray stallion had said, the flag of Discord flew over what had once been the Silvermane Kingdom’s capitol city. Before she could be spotted by one of the guards, she placed an invisibility spell on herself, that would most likely be too advanced for Discord’s troops to counteract. She began frantically searching for the “Maze of Chaos” that the stallion had mentioned. As she flew over the tallest building in Canterlot, she saw it. A large hedge maze stretched out toward the horizon and an audience was gathered at the nearest end of it. From her height, Celestia could see a mass of different colors gathered in front of the audience, but separate. Undoubtedly, they were the ponies gathered from Fillydelphia and other cities.

One figure stood out from the audience. Standing tall and imperious he combined pieces of all types of animals to make up his body. Celestia turned up her nose a bit. Discord did indeed fit his name well. Celestia descended and hovered silently above the cheering audience, all completely and utterly gray. For most of them, their cutie marks were barely discernible.

Discord held up his hand, a lion paw, to quiet the crowd. He spoke, and Celestia had to remind herself that she hated him, his voice was so alluring.

“The Maze of Chaos is about to open! Now, allow me to go over the rules of our little game.” He flew over to the front of the crowd of captives, and in full view of all of them, he continued. “First, no horns or wings. That would provide an...unfair...advantage.” The ponies looked around in confusion at how this would be accomplished, and then Discord snapped his fingers. Every unicorn’s horn and every pegasus’ wings disappeared. There was no build-up or impressive looking magic. They were simply gone. There was a collective scream from the captives. Celestia’s jaw fell open. To do such powerful magic with no obvious effort was impossible. Discord had paused, enjoying the effect on the captives, and went on. “The second rule is: Reach the center of the maze. At the center is a Fire Ruby. Claim it, and you win.”

Many of the captives were now shivering with fear. Discord finished, “There are not other rules. The Maze is now open. If you elect to stay behind, you will be disposed of immediately. Have fun!”

Before the ponies could take a step, Celestia shot a laser beam of magic at Discord, which he caught without flinching, took in both hands, twisted it into a dog shape, and threw it off to the side where it deflated. Discord then spun around, pointed his eagle claw into a gun shape and shot at where Celestia was, as smoke came from his fingers. Celestia became visible and fell to the ground, where she landed on her hooves. Discord blew the smoke from his fingers and placed his hands on his hips. “Well, it looks like we have a filly that broke the rules. What’s your name, filly?”

Celestia looked straight into his eyes, adamantly refusing to show him respect. “My name is Celestia. I am from Fillydelphia, the town you ruthlessly took ponies from to compete in your sick games. And you took my sister. I won’t stand for that.

Discord feigned surprise and laughed. “Oh, your sister. Well, we cant keep the mare from her sister, now can we?” he asked the crowd. They cheered in response. Discord looked back at Celestia with a smugly amused look. Well, let’s see if you can find your sister, in the MAAAAAAZZZZEEEE!!!!!” he laughed as he snapped his fingers again, and the other ponies and herself disappeared from existence. When she looked up again, large hedges surrounded her. She was in the maze, and Luna was too. Now they both were in danger.