So here's the sequel to my rushed release. This will have been on deviant art before fanfiction and the ponies in it will be put up on deviant art as they appear in each chapter. Each chapter will have its own set of drawings, or line art. Stay tuned. Deviant art: Dracuto
just because its easier, I will be switching to an omniscient narrator as my ponysona has been changed. It will be up on deviant art within the week. Sorry, but i will only update once a week, every Friday at 8:30 eastern standard time (U.S. and Canada). And as this one is not on a Friday , I will not be posting art for this one.
The sun, now setting, cast dark and menacing shadows that crawled upon the bleak surface of Ponyville. Everypony had been told to stay indoors due to the recent changeling invasion and the disappearance of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's regalia. As the shadows began to broaden, the light began to vanish, giving the appearance that life was vanishing from the land.
A lone stallion, in a dark billowing cloak, mottled with green and gray, stood alone in an alley. He looked at a wanted poster on the wall.
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Gambit Roulette
REWARD: 100,000 bits
Contact Gunslinger if you have any information on this fugitive pony
"Heh, so that's how much I'm worth? I thought that last job would get me into the millions." He ripped the flyer down and crumpled it. He looked around, glancing up the street, looking to see if anypony was outside at this time of day.
The sun had just set, and all the shops were closed, windows shut, blinds blinded. It was a ghost town, eerily quiet except for the footsteps of Gambit, who's face was so obscured, even the most observant pony could never see what it looked like. As he slowly cantered along he saw a black mist fly overhead, with a midnight blue mist in fast pursuit. He wondered what was going on as a phantom sun was being eclipsed by a phantom moon in the sky. He decided he'd follow these strange objects, his adventurous daredevil spirit kicking in as he galloped in hot pursuit.
Soon, the smooth paved streets of Ponyville gave way to rough trails, pockmarked with holes and grown over with weeds. Soon even these partially civilized trails gave way to dense forest and dark prickly underbrush, scratching Gambit's legs as he witlessly followed the strange beings. As he climbed higher, following the beings to the top of a mountain, known to all as the mountain of the changelings.
He climbed steep inclines, knocking loose stones and vegetation, leaving small avalanches in his wake. As Gambit reached the peak, he saw two alicorns, talking in little above a whisper. One was tall and regal looking, with a wise air about him. The other was a bit taller than an average pony, and he looked like he was quite young, just out of college. He snuck closer and hid behind a large boulder, teeming with mountain spiders, and listened to their conversation.
"Sunrise, I know you aren't the one to ask about feelings, or emotions, or anything sentimental for that matter, but I have to ask you something important. I'm going to ask Fluttershy to marry me. And as my cousin and best friend, helping me these last few months to adapt to my new body and magic, I want you to be my best stallion. It would mean a lot to me. Since the last royal wedding went terribly wrong, and with four alicorns there, it would also make me feel a lot safer. Even if the changelings aren't a threat in my eyes."
"Thunder, it would be an honor. But, Chrysalis would be shamed and hated if she went there. After the fiasco that was the wedding of Cadence, I doubt anypony would give her a second chance." Sunrise looked down in a dejected manner, maddeningly hopeless, and began pawing the ground. Suddenly the boulder behind which Gambit was hiding began to tremble. Then quake. Then it scraped along the ground with a deafening noise. As it moved it revealed an opening that was filled with steps, leading into a dark and glowing chasm. As the glow intensified, Gambit could see the changeling queen walking out into the night air. Her horn glowed with an eerie light as she ascended the steps, but dimmed as she stepped outside. As she walked past, she had a smile on her face, the only one she had ever known.
Six months ago
Thunder Eclipse comes upon a massive stone door set into the rock face behind the waterfall of Thundering Hooves. He observes the arcane symbols on it, reading a scroll given to him by Celestia herself. He had come here looking for his cousin, hoping to find an alicorn he could relate to, having had his regalia taken away recently. Thousands of years ago, Sunrise had been banished and sealed away by his own mother and aunt. For the crime of treachery and attempted usurpation, he had his regalia taken away and had been sealed in stone in a secret cavern, where he lay docile ever since.
Thunder had moved over to a small opening in the wall near the center of the doorway. He read the scroll again, making sure he hadn't missed anything.
"Geez, why did she have to make this so difficult?" He said as his white tipped horn glowed bright purple as he prepared a spell. He inserted his horn into the hole all the way to its base. As he released the energy into the door, a massive rumbling erupted from the cliff face. The arcane carvings began to glow with the magic from the spell, illuminating scenes of sadness and remorse. As the magic reached the edge of the door, it began to pulse. Once, twice, three times, then it stopped. Immediately, the door began to swing outward, creating an opening in the waterfall.
Within this new opening, nothing but darkness could be seen. As Thunder walked in he created a ball of light that illuminated his path, but soon extinguished it as torches that hung unused on the ceiling for a millennia or more flared to life, bathing the area in a warm glow. As the procession of torches came to a conclusion a large chandelier, with six glowing spheres surrounding a stone pony lying on another, much larger sphere, all glowing with the purple magic of Thunder.
The chandelier began lowering closer and closer to the top of a temple, its chain supports creaking with age and showering rust onto the ground. As the monolithic chandelier hit the ground, a resounding thump echoed throughout the room. It rested on a pedestal, with several hundred flights of stairs leading up to it, and stopped glowing. Thunder climbed the stairs stepping lightly in case there were any traps that were pressure activated. Once he reached the top, he read the inscription on the pedestal.
'To whoever is unfortunate enough to learn the secrets of the location of this prison, do not release this prisoner unless though art of the royal family Eclipse. If thy blood is pure, spill only a drop upon the stone. It shall revive the banished stallion.'
Thunder gritted his teeth as he swore under his breath, cursing at the naivety of the princesses at the time they created this tomb. He took out his multi tool and flipped out the small knife. It was dull, but still sharp enough to break skin. He dug the cold steel into his foreleg and squeezed out a few drops of his magical blood onto the stone floor in front of the stone monolith. As soon as the drops hit the floor, the eyes of the stone alicorn began to glow a deep yellow and orange. Cracks spread out from the eyes, sending out pulses of magical energy that extinguished the torches. The remaining light from the newly awakened alicorn bathed the area in an eerie luminance. As the cracks engulfed the head of the alicorn, an all encompassing light struck out into the night. When the light finally faded, nothing was left except the spheres. Thunder walked out into the night fully aware of the deed he had done, and the possible retribution that was to come.
Three months later
In the caverns below MT. Changeling, Queen Chrysalis was struggling to stay upright. There had been no love in the land strong enough to feed her ponies, and she was trying to find a replacement in vain. She paced around her room being watched carefully by attendants. She had taken to giving her subjects some of her energy as a source of sustenance, and it had taken a grave toll on her. One of her advisers had come in and announced that somepony had come with a solution to her problems. She had urgently told him to bring whoever it was in. Now she could only wait.
The door to her chamber creaked open, revealing a tall and dark alicorn, who seemed to be gawking at her.
"I assume you are the one they call Chrysalis?" He said to her.
"In that you are correct. May I ask who you are and why you've come here?"
"I shall be brief as we are being listened to but my name is of no importance, let's just say I was scandalously named the god of evil a few thousand years ago."
Chrysalis stepped back in fright. The god of evil was the name of the one who had gone insane with power and tried to conquer all of Equestria under one ruler and plunge the world into eternal eclipse. He had been the reason the changelings had attacked Canterlot, in response to the princesses letting something like that occur. He was the reason that they were in this predicament now, her predecessors had labeled him as their greatest enemy.
"Now, I have been awakened from my prison and wish to enact revenge on my mother and aunt as quickly as possible. I have only to give you the power, and you shall act on my demands."
"Why should I, the queen, trust you, the greatest evil we ever knew?"
"Because you have no choice..."
A week before the changeling invasion of the royal wedding of Cadence and Shining armor
Sunrise sighed, feeling the crooked horn of the changeling queen rub against his temple. Since he had been learning about what he had missed in the millennia he was imprisoned, he had grown closer to her, feeling what he had lacked before he had been imprisoned. He had been able to see that what beauty she lacked on the outside, she held copiously on the inside. And he loved her all the more for it. She loved him for who he was, and he her. For once he felt like he was wanted, needed, and he didn't feel like he had to force himself on ponies anymore. He was still going to act on the princesses, but now to help the love of his life to feed her people, not out of revenge. But something kept nagging at the back of his mind; who would release him, and why?
The day of the changeling invasion
Sunrise walked down the corridors that he knew lead to the royal chamber of his aunt, princess Luna. He examined the tapestries hanging on the walls, admiring their depiction of recent events. He cantered at a leisurely pace, not wanting to rush the moment he had been planning for thousands of years. As he came to the moon engraved door, he came to a stop. He opened the door to see his aunt standing on her balcony.
"Hello, Sunrise, it's been a long time."
"Hello Aunt Luna. I see you still remember me in your cold heart." She turned to face him, pain clearly showing in her eyes.
"I treated you with privilege, and showered you with love that you never deserved." Her horn began glowing but Sunrise was faster. He had prepared his spell while she was talking, and shot a bolt of magic at her.
It made contact and she slumped to the ground, a massive hole in her side, cauterized from the heat of the magic. A shuffling of hooves was heard in the corridor, and Sunrise turned to leave. However his path was blocked by a midnight blue alicorn who looked like Luna in all likeness except for his coloration. His eyes were glowing white and he was surrounded by an orange glow. He seethed with the aura of magic meant to kill. The pony had teleported there moments before, and had watched as his mother had been brutally attacked. He spoke in a voice that chilled even Sunrise to the core.
"TO THINK WE SAW IT FIT TO RELEASE YOU FROM YOUR PRISON, AND LET YOU ROAM FREE. NOW WE MUST CORRECT THE WRONGS OF OUR ACTIONS." He turned to princess Luna and healed her wound, wrapping her in an aura of purple. Then he set his eyes on Sunrise.
The alicorn teleported Sunrise to the palace where the royal wedding was being held. The building was in ruins and overrun with changelings, tormenting the citizens. Chrysalis was in battle with Celestia and seemed to be losing. Suddenly Chrysalis closed her eyes, and Sunrise felt a strong tug on his life force. The beam from Chrysalis' horn intensified and engulfed Celestia's. Celestia became wide eyed as an explosion shook the room. Sunrise felt conflicted emotions come over her. He cried out as his mother looked into his eyes and let out a single tear and spoke to him.
"I forgive you..." she closed her eyes and didn't stir.
"No, no. This can't be happening, this isn't how it was supposed to be." Sunrise broke down and began crying. When he looked up, he saw the same alicorn from before.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT BEFORE YOU CROSEED US, NOW YOU WILL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR CROSSING THUNDER ECLIPSE, HEIR TO THE LUNAR THRONE."
Thunder looked down upon the pitiable wretch that was his relation. He watched as he cringed in anticipation of what was to come. He looked over to Celestia and shared part of his energy with her. She began to stand up again. He then looked at Sunrise again and released the energy of the elements of disharmony. He had finally unlocked their secrets after finding them in the same cavern as Sunrise, the cavern of chaos. He walked over to his cousin and gave him a hug.
Sunrise flinched at the contact first, but then realizing he wasn't going to die began to cry into his cousin's shoulder. He never showed emotion, except with Chrysalis, and rarely at that.
"Why are you doing this to me?" He stuttered out between sobs.
"Because you need to be told that you're needed. I've been through it before, I know, but I need your help too. I need you to be the heir to the solar throne again. When I assume the throne in replacement for my mother, Celestia will step down as well, there needs to be an heir."
"But she disowned me, her only son."
"She did not disown you, and you are not her only son. There is another. But he has been removed from the family tree, and is the one who was disowned. She loves you." Celestia walked over and looked her son in the eye.
"You will always be welcome here, but i think it is best you convince the changelings to leave, otherwise your cousin will act against his pacifist nature and destroy them all for what they've done to his love." Thunder's eyes went red, and his magic turned black.
"What have they done," he said in a deadpan voice, he looked grim and emotionless. Sunrise knew that look, he had the same look when the first changeling princess, his first love, had been tortured for treachery against the throne by feeding off his love for her.
"Don't, just don't do it. That kind of thinking is what started all this. We'll leave but you have to swear to feed the changelings."
"I shall do better, I shall lift their curse. From now on, they will be able to eat normal food."
Sunrise flew off taking an obstinate Chrysalis, who conceded when she felt the magical concentration within Thunder, and returned to with the changeling hordes.
A week later
Sunrise was sitting on Mt. Dragonspine, waiting for his cousin to arrive. Right at the appointed hour, his cousin appeared next to him in a flash of purple light.
"You really must tell me why your magical aura's color changes sometime Thunder."
"It's simple really, since I was rejected by harmony and accepted by disharmony, my aura matches the mood of chaos within my body. It's the simplest way to control it. If I didn't express it, it would all be bottled up and then it would explode out like you... oh I'm so sorry."
"Don't be, I see the error of my ways. Now, why did you bring me here?"
"It's about maturation as a male alicorn. I've got some questions."
"Like...what per se...?"
"Well..."
Twenty minutes later
"Well. That's a lot of questions... here's the few answers I can remember..."
Three hours later...
Thunder stood there with a red face, awkwardly sitting there as Sunrise explained every little detail of alicorn maturation and the short period of the year nicknamed fatal attraction, where they became irresistible to the point where mares would kill to sleep with them.
Four months later (current time)
Chrysalis walked over to the two alicorns at her doorway. She had been quite well lately, being able to eat again, and had attained beauty comparable to that of Celestia and Luna. Her mane had regained a neon green luminescence which matched her dark velvety black coat quite nicely. Her wings were now black with neon blue tips, solidified from the pale, frail, insect-like ones she had before. She had filled out her figure and now was quite curvy, but many would not recognize her or her ponies if they saw them again. The now all looked like normal ponies, even if all were black with blue eyes and green manes.
"We would love to come to your wedding, and Sunrise would be ecstatic to come to such a noble pony's wedding as his best man. Its the least we can do to repay your kindness to my little ponies."
"Alright then its decided, I will see you all on Hearths Warming Eve."
As a side note to Sunrise he added,"You know, we could make this a double wedding for the two heirs. If you marry Chrysalis the changelings will become citizens of Equestria. And all the ponies will accept them if you vouch for them."
Thunder teleported away leaving a conflicted Sunrise in his wake. Sunrise had been given two weeks to reply so preparations could be made. But what would he choose?