Princess Emerald, Daughter of Solaris

It has been several years since Equestria had been saved from the tyranny of Lucifer, a unicorn stallion who had used the powers of dark arcane magic to rule the kingdom under his hoof. He had committed many heinous and sickening crimes not so long ago, having slain Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle. Banished to sleep for a thousand years by the Elements of Harmony by Princess Celestia, he had awoken and confronted the alicorns, single-handedly killing them in cold blood as ponies feared the power he wielded and relishing in their terror. Little did he realize that his destiny was not to be fulfilled as the tyrannical ruler he believed would last for a lifetime, his end met by the hooves of a young alicorn prince, and son of Princess Twilight Sparkle, Solaris.

The young alicorn, the first alicorn male ever known in recorded history, was hidden away in a mountain not too far from Ponyville. Though the newest alicorn princess was killed along with Celestia and Luna, Solaris was cared for by Spike, Twilight's scribe and surrogate younger brother, along with visits from the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony: Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Though the elements had returned to the Tree of Harmony, hidden deep in the Everfree Forest, there was nothing they could have done to stop Lucifer, or else risk killing the tree after Discord's plunderseed vines nearly sapped it away of all its magic so long ago in a failed attempt many years earlier. All hope fell on Solaris, destined to fight Lucifer and free Equestria, returning it to the peaceful kingdom it once was under the princess' rule.

Unfortunately, the alicorn's journey was not as easy as it sounded. On his fifteenth birthday, he learned the truth about the fate of his mother after questioning why she was never around and why he couldn't leave his home under the mountain. Not only was the news heartbreaking, along with the stress of bringing peace back to Equestria, but throughout his journey, his depression grew worse with each moment. Lucifer discovered where he was hidden, Spike urging his nephew to flee into the Everfree Forest and stay in the ruins of the old castle made for Celestia and Luna a thousand years ago. But Solaris, not wanting to lose the uncle he had been raised by all his life, decided to fight back before he was truly ready, showing himself to the unicorn. The purple dragon sacrificed himself to save the alicorn, transporting him into the forest with his dragon fire while also inheriting his power as a final gift before his demise.

Once his aunts had found him, they set off on a journey across the land for Solaris to complete five trials to earn pieces of armor that would help strengthen his power and unleash his full potential, his first test inside the Everfree Forest. But with each test came a dangerous price: a sacrifice was to be made after he accomplished each one. One by one, each test he completed, he would lose the mares he knew as his aunts, losing the ponies who were his family. Each loss made him lose more hope, making the young alicorn spiral further into sorrow and mourning, but he struggled through the pain in his heart for the sake of his home, for his future subjects' sake.

But that didn't mean he would remain alone forever. As he left his mountain home for the first time, he met and ironically befriended a young changeling princess named Trill. Annoyed and bothered by her at first, he began to warm up to her and considered her his first friend since the start of his journey, despite not knowing what her kind had done in the past to his long-lost aunt and uncle from the Crystal Empire. Once they arrived in the crystal kingdom to the north, that was where he met his Aunt Cadence and Uncle Shining Armor, his mother's older brother. It was a shock at first to know there was another aunt and uncle he was never told about, but he was relieved to still have blood relatives after all the pain he had experienced so far. He had also befriended a blind griffon around his age, named Gale, a member of the Resistance group that fought to protect other kingdoms from Lucifer's reign and stop him to keep the peace of the world. Gale may have lost his sight since he was but a hatchling, but his improved senses made him a swift and deadly force to be reckoned with as one of the youngest members of the retaliating army.

The battle against Lucifer was long and harrowing, Solaris losing the ones he knew growing up and falling into despair as he blamed himself for their deaths. He didn't give up hope, finishing the last of his trials, earning all of his equipment that helped him realize his latent potential, and confronted the dark unicorn head on. He had also gotten help from Chrysalis, Trill's mother and queen of the changelings, to assist him against Lucifer's army that tried to stop him. The battle against the unicorn king and the alicorn savior was evenly matched, but Lucifer decided to unleash the full power of the dark magic he used, turning him into a monstrous demon and nearly winning with the unstoppable force of his transformation.

Solaris never backed down, unleashing the pieces of the Elements of Harmony held within his golden gauntlets, a hidden gift given to him after completing his first test along with the gauntlets. Combining them together the platinum plate halves added to them from his final trial, which was also his own element. His own transformation brought him overwhelming power, the inherited green flames from his dragon uncle changing from white to an aurora of rainbow light, destroying Lucifer's beastly form and shattering his horn as the unicorn's power waned. Lucifer met his demise as Solaris showed mercy, not stooping as low as him to kill for what he desired, falling to his death off the balcony with no magic to save him.

With the end of an age of terror and darkness came an age of light and prosperity. Solaris was crowned the new prince of Equestria, helping lead his kingdom back to restoration, following the benevolent hoofsteps as Celestia, Luna, and his mother. Granted, he had no idea how to run a kingdom, but luckily, his aunt and uncle helped him as he learned. And he didn't have to do it alone with his beloved forever remaining by his side, increasing the ties between Equestria and the changelings as he and Trill discovered a better method to feed changelings without them stealing it from their victims. But now that peace has returned, that didn't mean Solaris's life would remain that way for long, and it didn't have to be disturbed by another evil threat wanting to take over the kingdom...or destroy it.

Solaris sat on his throne as he took part in another of the many meetings he has with his council of trustworthy advisers, though the one who was talking was someone he loathed hear every time he opened his mouth. The older unicorn stallion was Blueblood, apparently Celestia's nephew, but he doubted there was any relation between them as the documents he found of Blueblood and his family were actually adopted by the princess centuries ago. He didn't really like going through these meetings, pretending he was listening as his thoughts wandered off to something that didn't lull him to sleep. He hated when the egotistical stallion took the stand and spoke of different ways to "help Equestria" when all they were was about how he wanted to get rid of lower class citizens to make room for more lush and expansive buildings.

"-and with these plans perfectly made by yours truly, Canterlot will be more sophisticated in stature, and we can get rid of the poor. If we want this city to be as it was when my Auntie Celestia was alive, this must happen for all our sakes." Solaris had finally began listening after hearing the same speech revised several times over with his horrible plans. Even the other members in the council were getting fed up with Blueblood's ideas as much as he was. Solaris couldn't suppress his yawn, the unicorn noticing the bored gesture. "I'm sorry, 'Your Highness'. Am I boring you?"

"No, I was up all night last night trying to control Trill and her insanely overblown libido," the prince replied, earning an irritated groan from Blueblood while the other members were a bit flustered by Solaris's statement. "You have no idea how hard it is to keep a changeling like her from jumping me on my bed when I try to relax. Even if I sleep, I have to keep an eye open. But other than that, I was also getting bored of the same ideas you've had...since I took up the throne."

"Yes, Blueblood, I agree with His Highness," one of the members spoke up, an elder mare his Uncle Shining Armor suggested to have on his council as he knew her well in the past. "You're talking about tearing down ponies homes to make more businesses, businesses that your family owns, might I add, and kick the hardest of working families out and making them homeless."

"We don't need those ponies in the slums dirtying our streets every day," Blueblood defended, and quite poorly. "What good do they do besides wallow in their filthy, decrepit homes and beg for my money?"

"Well, Blueblood, here's some food for thought." Solaris stood up from his throne and stepped down, approaching the unicorn as he stared at him with a calm, yet menacing gaze. "Who actually works hard in every single company to make everypony's lives better? Hard working ponies who live in those slums just to get by. Who grows the food that sits on your thirty something plates for those annoying twelve course meals you eat every day? The filthy earth ponies who have no eye for sophistication if it smacked them in the face, as you 'kindly' called them. Who does all the hard work to build homes, help families who lost their homes in the fifteen years Lucifer took over, and restored this land to its former glory while you sat on your immature, self-absorbed, and spoiled rich plot and counted your bits?" He waited for a response as he stood before Blueblood, but the appalled stallion opened and closed his mouth like a fish trying to breathe. "Well, I know it isn't you, that's for sure."

"How dare you speak to me that way, you little ingrate!?" Blueblood shouted, pointing a hoof at the alicorn. "Do you know who I am!?"

"...An annoying stallion who doesn't know when to stop gloating about how he's related to Princess Celestia?" At Solaris's response, some of the council snickered at his honest opinion about the insulted stallion before him.

"You don't even deserve the throne, you brat!" he continued, growing irritated by the prince's calm expression. "If that unicorn didn't ruin my family legacy, I would have been sitting there in place of my aunt! You're still not worthy enough to lead this kingdom! Not even in a thousand years will you have that worth!"

Solaris sighed and brought a hoof up to his head, growing the hundredth migraine of his life from Blueblood alone. "Your family legacy was not being treated as royals under Princess Celestia's wing. You are a noble with the title prince, in name only. And unlike you, I have gone through many sacrifices, but not to take the throne. I stepped forward because I needed to, as it was my duty to help lead everypony in this kingdom back to the peace that it once had." He held up his foreleg, summoning the green flames around his hoof, his late Uncle Spike's magical fire given to him with his last breath. "I had lost many ponies I considered family. I never knew my parents personally, but I've gained a lot more after everything I've gone through.

"If I wasn't born, if I didn't stop Lucifer, what would happen to you, Blueblood?" Solaris waited for an answer, the stallion glaring at him with his wavering gaze, too afraid to speak as his eyes kept glancing at the fire. The alicorn snuffed it out and brought his hoof back down. "You'd be dead. He wouldn't show anyone any mercy if he succeeded in taking over the other kingdoms." He was met with more silence, Blueblood unable to find his voice. "Now, the next time you want to talk about making Equestria better, not just Canterlot or your own selfish demands, then I suggest you think long and hard about your next 'grand idea'. Otherwise, if I'm uninterested in the same, selfish, and outright dumbest blueprints to add in a strip mall over other families' homes living in lower districts, then my answer will always be no.

"Do I make myself crystal clear, Blueblood?" No response, which lead Solaris to Blueblood's answer. "Well, alright then. You're fired."

"What!?" Blueblood exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry. I think I should clarify it better." Solaris cleared his throat and leaned closer, blowing out a trail of green smoke out of his mouth and into Blueblood's face. The stallion choked and coughed as he backed away, unable to see the grin on the alicorn's face. "You are F-I-R-E-D. That spells 'fired'."

"Y-You little-" Blueblood continued coughing as he tried to breathe, the magical smoke clearing up as he glared at the alicorn walking back to his throne. "You can't do this to me!"

"Guards, please escort Blueblood out of the castle," Solaris commanded, the guards in the room gladly obeying, wearing the golden Royal Guard armor that was issued back then before Lucifer arrived.

"You will regret this!" Blueblood shouted as the stallions easily dragged the flailing old unicorn out of the room. "I am the nephew of Princess Celestia! I deserve to rule this kingdom!"

Solaris groaned in relief as he sat back down in his throne, feeling his headache going away the farther away Blueblood got and his complaining shouting turning to silence. As wrong as that may have been to behave around the members of his royal council, it felt good to get rid of Blueblood after all these years since he began his duties as a prince. And from the expressions on the older ponies' faces, they agreed with his decision, and action. They were about to go into the actual meeting, but the magical alarm in the alicorn's head rung, signalling the end of the day's meeting.

"Oh, great," he mumbled. "I'm sorry to say this, but meeting adjourned." The council members grumbled along with him, Blueblood's long business proposal while they were all supposed to be discussing about what needed to be done in Equestria wasting all of their times, again. "We'll try to pick up whatever we actually left off on on Monday."

The council left the throne room and headed back to their homes to enjoy the weekend and rest easy knowing they won't have to deal with Blueblood again. With the day coming to an end, Solaris got off his throne and stretched, slowly making his way through the halls to his royal bedroom upstairs. He passed through the hallway murals, the old ones destroyed by Lucifer brought back to their former glory that had depicted greatest moments in Equestria's past. There was Nightmare Moon's banishment to the moon by Celestia, the Mare in the Moon stopped by Twilight Sparkle and her friends using the Elements of Harmony, Discord turned to stone, the Crystal Empire saved by Spike, Twilight's coronation. The latest one made him stop as he looked at it, a reminder of his long, sad adventure to where he is now.

The bottom showed a dark land filled with dread, while the upper half showed a prosperous city. Lucifer and Solaris were seen in the center, the unicorn on the left and himself on the right, both of them ready to punch each other as they flew toward their opponent. Lucifer looked more like a demon, the artist who designed the stained glass detailing his demonic form during their fight years ago. Solaris, however, was a lot like the form he took when he used the powers of the Elements of Harmony within his gauntlets: his hair highlighted similar to his aunts' and mother's coat colors with his golden mane, his eyes were lit up like a fire in a myriad of colors, along with his gauntlets, and the fire around his hoof glowed in the colors of the rainbow like his irises. In between them were the cutie marks of the Elements of Harmony and a silhouette of a green dragon head, all seven images surrounding his cutie mark: the upper half of the sun rising over the horizon, a small white star in each of the seven triangular rays around it.

Solaris sadly sighed as the memories came back to him. Though that moment had helped bring Equestria back to normal, the pain he went through as he lost his family was still hard to let go. They left him far sooner than he had liked, and his surrogate cousins also suffered as they lost their mothers while they were only a few years younger than he was. He never knew what happened to his own mother, her death happened when he was only a few months old, and he found out as soon as he was fifteen. At least he was able to find closure after figuring out Twilight was the one who gave him his first test, given a small amount of time in Equestria to test him and say their goodbyes before she left for Paradise again. He still didn't know anything about his father, or who he was, but he wouldn't have the time to search for him or see if he was still alive during Lucifer's reign.

He continued on his way to his room, lost in his thoughts. Ever since he had reached adulthood just a couple years ago, he began to think about what it would be like to be a father. They were thoughts that not many stallions think of, especially at such a young age, but part of him wants to know that feeling of fatherhood from growing up without one. Sure, Spike was like a father figure to him, but he was his dragon uncle, and ponies would think he was weird if he blurted out his dad was a dragon. It would have been cool to say if he was a colt, but it would still be a bit awkward if he tried to explain that possibility.

Though, as much as he wanted to have a foal of his own one day, the few options available didn't seem plausible with his desires. One of them is adoption, seeing as many foals were without families, left at an orphanage whether their parents left them because they couldn't take care of them financially or their parents had died and were dropped off by a relative or family friend. As much as this solution was good for both him and the foal he adopts, he wanted to have his own child to conceive.

That answer would be the improbable solution, considering who he was in love with. Ever since Solaris met Trill back in the Everfree Forest, he knew so much about the changelings that no one else dared to know because of the wedding of his aunt and uncle they had crashed many years ago. They were known as love-sucking parasites, turning into the victim's lover or crush and sapping away their love to feed on. But Trill was a lot more than that, and her hive: she had feelings to express, even though she was, and still is, a nuisance at times, she was able to feel love, despite her customs saying it was forbidden to feel anything for a pony, and their actions for crashing the wedding was because they were starving and were desperate for food, and considering how they looked and acted, no one wanted to confront fanged, bug/pony hybrids out of fear from their appearance. And one sad bit of information he learned about from Trill was the fact that he couldn't get her pregnant because of their incompatible DNA. Changelings were more insect than mammal, so the chances of them having a foal together is practically impossible.

He didn't want to sound selfish about denying adopting a foal who wants to have parents, but the topic began to weigh heavily on his mind as the years had passed. Solaris shook those thoughts from his head, not wanting to stay up all night trying to figure out what to do about this issue and get no sleep. It was exhausting enough as it was hearing Blueblood drone on and on about his boring and nonsensical proposal, and he wanted to get some sleep.

As the alicorn opened the large doors to his room, he heard a song being hummed by someone inside. He spotted a green unicorn mare with a red mane and tail, wearing a maid's outfit and swiping some of the shelves with a feather duster. The skirt was a bit too short to be a proper work uniform for a mare, the skirt showing a lot more rump and a pair of white panties underneath. She had her back turned to him, purposefully shaking her rump as she hummed the song she was singing. Sighing, he walked inside and closed the door, staring at the unicorn mare blankly.

"What are you doing?" he asked, the mare turning her head to him.

"Hello, Your Highness," she said, fluttering her eyes as she sauntered over to Solaris, swaying her hips lasciviously with a sultry grin. "I was in the middle of freshening up your quarters."

"...It was already clean earlier this afternoon," Solaris blandly replied, not amused by the "maid's" advances.

"Ah. That's the problem," the mare said, teasing the prince by brushing the feather duster against his snout as she held it in her green aura. "Some help don't really check everywhere. Like under the bed." Solaris snorted as the feathers tickled his nose, the "maid" slowly approaching the bed with her tail raised high. She then bent down to look underneath the king sized mattress, leaving her rump up in the air and slowly moving her hips, making sure she gave him a good look. "Oh dear! Look at all the filthy dust under here! So dirty!"

"Mhmm." Solaris walked up to his bed, lighting up his horn as his golden aura grabbed the mare by her waist, pulling her head out from underneath and standing her back up. Her eyes were lidded as she grinned, satisfied with teasing him enough. "Trill, cut it out."

"I'm not Trill. My name is Feather Duster," "Feather Duster" said as she twirled her duster in front of her. Having enough of the charade, Solaris flicked his hoof against her horn, making her yelp as she erupted in a veil of green flames. In place of the unicorn was his changeling lover, Trill: black chitin skin, holes in her legs and clear wings, a crooked horn on her forehead, a dark green mane and tail, sharp fangs, and her eyes a bright green. Trill whined as she rubbed her horn, pouting cutely at the stallion. "You suck at role play."

"I'm too tired for any of your random fetishes you want to fulfill. And you've done the maid bit three times the last six months." Solaris leapt up onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. "And 'Feather Duster'? How original."

"You've gotten less fun the past few years since your coronation." Trill stripped out of her maid cosplay outfit, leaving them scattered around the floor. "Finally ran out of steam to please your wife, grandpa?"

"You know I'm twenty-two, and I'm not going to grow that old for the next several millennia." He lifted his head up as he looked at the pictures on the dresser next to the bed.

The first he saw was a group photo of him and his family and friends after his coronation. Solaris stood in the front with five younger ponies in front of him, the two colts and three fillies looking like spitting images of their mothers: an orange earth pony colt with a dirty blonde mane, wearing a red bandanna and his mother's stetson named Apple Seed, a yellow pegasus colt with slightly long pink bangs named Butterscotch, a red earth pony filly with poofy red hair named Cherry Pie, a light blue pegasus filly with rainbow streaked hair named Prism, and a white unicorn filly with a dark purple and curly mane named Gemstone. Next to Solaris were Trill, his Aunt Cadence and Uncle Shining, the ex-Royal Guard captain wearing casts around his forelegs after a very painful injury made by Lucifer, his grandparents Night Light and Twilight Velvet next to his uncle, Chrysalis with a neutral expression next to Cadence, his griffon friend Gale next to Chrysalis, surprisingly looking at the camera for being blind, and in the background behind them was Discord holding his talons up in a peace sign.

The next few pictures his eyes trailed over were photos of his and Trill's wedding, which thankfully wasn't overtaken by the changelings, though there were lots of them that came to "see" the ceremony take place in the castle. There was a picture of Solaris and Trill kissing at the alter, Cadence the presider behind them as she smiled happily, greatly excited about weddings being the princess of love. There were some at the reception: Solaris and Trill alone on the dance floor for their newlywed slow dance, Solaris dancing with his surrogate cousins, Gemstone hugging very closely to him as if she was begging for a slow dance, the couple sharing a slice of cake, though Trill had smeared icing on Solaris's nose and licking it off him as he blushed, pictures of the alicorn and his family, even one where he and Trill were with Chrysalis, though the changeling queen wasn't all that excited. There were so many pictures during the happiest moment in his life, marrying the mare he loved and she the same, and once the evening wound down, with the two of them in the privacy of their bedroom in the castle, it only got better as it got steamy.

Solaris was pulled out of his reminiscing when he felt the bed shift and something crawl over him. He rolled on his back and bumped his muzzle against Trill's, the changeling rubbing his nose with hers.

"What'cha thinkin' about?" she asked.

"Just some fond memories," he said.

"Yes, and I can see the fond memories right by the bed." Trill pointed at the many wedding pictures on the dresser with her hoof. "And there's a lot of our wedding pictures. I kind of want to ask why you set those up. Is it because you're afraid I'll end up cheating on you and remind me we're married? You know I won't do that to you."

"I know you won't." Solaris tapped Trill's head, slightly annoying her. "But I will if you keep voicing any of those thoughts if you think I won't trust you again."

"Mph. You're going to keep reminding me about the bits I spent when we were in Saddle Arabia until the day I die, aren't you?" Trill asked as she sulked at that moment.

"Oh yeah." He chuckled as she smacked her face into his chest with a whine.

Solaris gently cupped Trill's cheeks in his hooves and lifted her head up. He pulled her close into a kiss, her eyes opening wide in surprise but quickly closing them as she kissed back, her hooves sensually rubbing the alicorn's chest. She moaned as she was being filled by the love he willingly gave her, something they had discovered back in the Crystal Empire when they shared their first kiss in a surprising way. Even if she was completely full from the love she was given to feed on, she always craved more. Sadly, Solaris pulled away, making her whimper.

"More, please," Trill begged with a loving smile.

"Of course. But do you want to know why I put those pictures up?" Solaris asked. Trill nodded her head out of curiosity. "They remind me that, no matter what terrible moments had come up in my life, I'll always know that you and my family will be there for me. Whenever I feel down, you help me up when I doubt myself. And when I proposed to you, I meant every word when I said you make me the happiest stallion in the world, even when the worst had happened to us back then."

Tears welled up in her eyes, recalling those same exact words he said before he surprised her with his proposal and showing her her wedding ring. Trill leaned closer and kissed Solaris, short, brief, yet loving, breaking away to nuzzle his neck.

"I love you, Solly," she said, feeling the alicorn's hooves wrap around her.

"And I love you, Trill." Solaris held Trill tightly as he drifted off to sleep, truly happy to have somepony like her to be there for him. As he drifted off to dreamland, he felt a light tickling sensation around his hind legs, starting around his inner thighs and slowly moving up. Grunting in slight annoyance, he rolled onto his side, bringing Trill with him as she yelped in surprise, squinting his eyes open as he looked down at the smirking changeling. "I said I'm tired."

"But I could go for a little ride while you sleep," Trill suggested, licking her lips seductively.

"You are so incorrigible," he grumbled, flipping her around with her back to his chest, grabbing her waist tightly as she scooted her lower half a good distance away from his. "And ruined a romantic moment."

"But those moments always end up with some good ol' loving sex," she reasoned, flicking her tail up to his side. "You know you want to."

"When I'm not tired, in the middle of planning important events, or sick. Now, go to sleep or I'll transport you to Ponyville." He buried his head in his pillow and tried to get back to sleep.

"Hey, that's the stallion's job to be put in the doghouse if he ticks off his wife. So I should kick you out because you don't want to please me." Taking a deep breath, Solaris breathed out a plume of green flames around Trill, the magical fire teleporting her out of the bed and into the hall outside their room, the fire not even leaving a single burn mark on the bed sheets. Trill's ears perked up when she heard the door lock, turning around and turning the handle, but it wouldn't open. "...Uhh, yeah! That room's your doghouse! That'll teach you not to make me mad!"

"Good night, Trill!" he called out with a giggle, making himself comfortable as he went to sleep.

Outside, the changeling princess sighed in annoyance, grumbling to herself as she walked into the bedroom on the other side of the hallway, this one her "doghouse" whenever she went a bit too far with her friskiness when the alicorn wasn't in the mood. She climbed into bed and pulled the freshly pressed sheets over her, her pouting turning to a grin, always enjoying teasing him even if she was kicked out of their room. She knows he still loves her, no matter how annoyed she made him with her antics.