The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 17: Eclipsing

When the screaming started, they knew they had to get help.

Applejack had been ranting to Big MacIntosh again about Doctor Whooves and Twilight. It seemed that they always had their tongues down each other’s throats nowadays. They were sitting on the couch, practically on top of each other, and Applejack had been unable to get a word in edgewise.

The colour was gone. She wasn’t sure where it had gone, but Applejack only knew that it was gone. Colour was no longer in Equestria, but it wasn’t worth questioning. It was the little things. All of the cereals tasted the same. Every building was cookie cutter, with few or little adornments.

Grass, and once beautiful garden landscapes had been replaced with trimmed grass, each blade precisely the same length and growing in the same direction. Much of the world seemed like this now, though. It wasn’t worth questioning. Too much trouble.

MacIntosh seemed so unsettled, he was always glancing over his shoulder nervously, as though someone was going to come along and stab him in the back, a rather puzzling attitude in general for him.

“You alright, Mac?” She finally asked, staring at him and cocking one of her eyebrow.

“Yeah. Ah’m just fine…” He mumbled, a faraway look in his eye as he wandered off. Just then, the screaming started.

Ear-piercing, shrill cries and sobs for help, bloody murder, stopping only to catch breath permeated the walls of the room. AJ barreled downstairs. “WHAT? WHAT’S WRONG?”

Pinkamena was on the floor, screaming, wailing, and sobbing, thrashing in a seizure-like manner. She was forming no coherent sentences, just screaming and thrashing and pounding, keeping everypony away from her. Twilight finally had run down the stairs, and restrained the earth pony using her magic. The pink pony continued to scream and attempt to flail until Twilight had finally muffled her.

They had gone to Canterlot on emergency. They didn’t know what else to do. Pinkie had simply continued to scream nonsensically, crying and wailing. She was able to walk on her own, but Twilight continued using her magic to keep the screams issuing from the party pony at least slightly muffled. In her desperation, she had sent Sweetie Belle across the road to the Boutique to get Rarity and Spike; an urgent letter needed to be sent to the princess.

The two, in spite of all of their previous misgivings with Twilight from the other day, had obliged without a second thought. Friends fight all the time, but they weren’t about to let anypony get hurt seriously because of some misgivings that would eventually pass. Spike had sent the letter Twilight had written to the Princess, warning them that they were coming.

After a full two minutes of waiting, they had decided they couldn’t wait any longer, something was seriously wrong with Pinkamena. Twilight had entrusted restraining Pinkamena to Rarity and had teleported the group just outside Canterlot castle, where they stood now.

“Come on!” Twilight beckoned, flinching as she yanked the door open, everypony hurrying inside, hoping that Princess Celestia would be able to identify whatever was wrong with the hysterical mare.

“Princess!” Applejack shouted, tripping over her own hooves as she stumbled into the castle. She hadn’t been here since the gala. She was the last to enter, slamming the large door behind her. Though everypony was silent, nothing could have prepared her for what she would see when she looked up.

The colour had gone from everything. Everything except the Princess. She sat there, her ivory coat gleaming fabulously, unchanged. But her eyes. Her eyes were a deep, red-orange, reflecting and fracturing light, giving off a gemlike quality. They glittered with every blink. Her eyelashes were wide and long, extending beautifully from her eyelids.

She was larger than usual, giving off an imposing vibe that didn’t seem much like Celestia. Her shoes were golden, ornamented with a single ruby on each foot, matching her breastplate. A golden helmet sat on her head with a fiery crest burning and smoldering just on top of it. Her cutie mark seemed to emanate a warm glow.

Above all, the predominant change in the Princess’ appearance was her mane. It was, quite literally, composed of flame. Flares shot from its basis of nowhere. It didn’t give off the appearance of hair. It was plasmatic, and Applejack could hear crackling and burning though there was nothing to burn. Near the base of where her mane was growing, was a white-hot flame that guided down to a bluish-purplish, then a yellow and red colour. Tentacles of flame spired out to lick the outside air as though gasping for more oxygen to burn.

The group sat in stunned silence as the Princess, if it was even still her, smiled serenely. “Hello, my little ponies.” Her voice boomed, echoing through the throne room. She leaned over them imposingly, her sizzling mane still traveling on an unseen breeze. She smiled.

Her teeth, as opposed to being square or rounded equine teeth, carried a malicious sharpness, and Applejack briefly wondered if they were sharper than Spike’s. Pinkie’s muffled hollering was still audible.

“P-princess!” Twilight gasped out, taking a step forward to leave Whooves in shocked silence behind her. “What happened to you?”

“Ah, Twilight. Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. My most faithful student.” Celestia smiled again, the corners of her mouth creeping upward, and Applejack winced. “I suppose I’m going to have to walk you through this, aren’t I?” She stood up slowly. None of her guards made any moves. The alicorn circled around the group, Pinkamena still struggling.

“Princess!” Twilight seemed to catch up with what was at hand, as opposed to her earlier silence. “Pinkie needs help! It’s an emergency.”

“Oh, there’s plenty of time for that.” Celestia snapped, causing them to jump. “Why the rush, Twilight Sparkle?”

Rarity’s magical grip on Pinkie broke for several seconds. The party pony snarled. “It’s YOU! You’re the one that’s doing this!”

Silence.

Rarity made no attempt to hush Pinkamena. The pink, straight-haired pony was no longer speaking, only glaring at Celestia, who clucked her tongue slowly and deliberately, whilst shaking her head. “I suppose I should explain to you what Discord did not.” She paused, still circling around them slowly. Her shoed hooves clicked against the tile. “But, what fun is there in explaining everything when you have no recollection?” Celestia tapped  Pinkamena briefly on the head.

“What did you do?” Pinkamena demanded. Celestia only smiled, lowering her horn. A shockwave blew through the room, electrical pulses shivering throughout in the aftermath..

The floodgates opened as truth washed over Applejack in waves. Braeburn had died. He had died alone. He had no children. Pinkamena had married and had a daughter.

Discord.

Shock rang throughout her body as memories of the draconequus came back to her. The way Pinkie Pie would always look at him, a strange sense of adoration glimmering in her blue eyes. The way, sometimes, He would rest a paw on her head and mess up her mane, just to frustrate her.

Guilt weighed her down, and everypony around her sat, stunned. All except for Pinkamena. “WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!” She roared. “What did you do?” She cried out, running straight for Celestia with tears running down her face. She bonked, almost comically, into Celestia’s shoe. The solar goddess glanced down with disdain, as though she had just stepped on a bug, as Pinkamena lay quietly on the floor, her hair’s texture unchanged.

“Now, now, everypony.” Celestia smiled. “No need to be alarmed. I’m merely cleaning up Equestria. Chaos is a bad thing, harmony is a good thing, right? Besides,” Her smile faded. “I wouldn’t want to have to hurt anypony. Discord has had this coming for a long time, now. You don’t know everything.”

Pinkamena sat alone, quivering on the ground. Fluttershy moved forward to go help her, but was met with a wall of fire between her and Pinkamena. The yellow Pegasus let out a fearful cry, shrinking back with her face under her mane. Big MacIntosh lunged forward, pulling her back and getting in front of her.

“No, no. She’s an anarchist.” Celestia murmured lightheartedly, in spite of the dark weight that her words carried. “We don’t help her.”

It was then that the true horror of the situation they were in hit Applejack. Celestia was… Was evil? Was she evil? Or was this one of Discord’s tricks? She could hear Pinkie’s frightful wail from the side of the room and shivered.

“Now, I’m sure you’re all educated on the history of the draconequi, now. But, I know Discord let out a few details.” Celestia smirked knowingly; her intricately adorned hooves still walking circles around them as the group, save for Pinkamena, huddled closer together. “First off, you may wonder why there are no other alicorns in Equestria. He murdered them all. He tried to proclaim his undying love for me. I told him I wasn’t interested. So,” The alicorn flinched. “So he killed them.” She finished with alarming finality. “To get back at me. It was a lover’s quarrel. So, I finished what he started. I killed the rest of them.” She shrugged. “He didn’t know how to be a ruler.” She passively examined a front hoof. “Though, I do suppose I’m partially to blame. As I sent the dragons to destroy Discordia in the first place. Spite does have its funny little ways of getting around, doesn’t it?”

The ponies were blown away by her reveal, staring blankly at her. Finally, Twilight stepped forward, dumbfounded, and choked out, “W-why would you tell us this?” She said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Simple,” Celestia stared sadly at Twilight. “Because I’m going to have to get rid of you, if I want to have a perfect world. Discord has corrupted you all too much. Each of you, and your foals, are going to have to be executed. The chimera’s reaching the end of his rope, anyway.” She grinned madly.

“What about P-princess Luna?” Rainbow stepped forward, turning her nose up. Figures, she’d be the first one to strike a rebellion.

“Where she belongs. On the moon.” Celestia snarled suddenly, stamping a hoof. The sound echoed through the chamber, reverberating through their bodies and giving the area a haunting chill. “But, this time, she won’t be coming back. Now,” She turned to Pinkamena. “The anarchist first, I suppose. You.” She laughed darkly. “You… How does it feel? You’re responsible. Maybe, if you’d never freed Discord, your friends wouldn’t be about to die.”

“I don’t regret it.” Pinkamena leapt to her hooves. “Fine! Do whatever you want! I… You’ll get… bad things! Bad things will happen to you.”

Celestia only chuckled, a red hot power charging at the tip of her horn. Everypony tensed, unsure of what to do, their breath caught in their throats. Applejack clenched onto Blueblood, tears springing to her eyes as the power at the tip of Celestia’s horn grew. Heat seemed to emanate from her, and she reared her head back to strike.

A flash of burning, white-hot energy exploded throughout the room, sending everypony screaming. Applejack smelled flesh burning and hair singing as she was blown back by the blast. The light began to fade away, and her green eyes scanned through the smoke and dust to assess the damage. Pinkamena was shielding herself with her hooves, and Celestia looked puzzled. Then Applejack’s eyes rested on the limp body of the draconequus that lay just in front of a certain pink pony, splayed across the ground. His coat was singed, the feathers on the tip of his tail nonexistent. Scorch marks dotted the floor, as well as his body.

Applejack heard a gasp behind her and craned her neck to see over her shoulder. There, in plain daylight, stood the six foals.

Everything exploded.

A crack ran up the ceiling, sending a small shower of dusty plaster raining down upon them as it dissipated into the already smoggy air. Solar Flare could only watch Celestia’s horn slowly light up in anger as beams of energy burst straight from it, bright, scorching beams that burned anything and everything they came in contact with.

She wasn’t sure quite how she had gotten here from the ballroom with Clockwork, but she was here. And she had heard everything that was said by Celestia.

Discord had been right.

She gasped as she both heard and felt another shudder sound from the internal support system of the castle. The beams and rafters screamed in protest as they began to bow. Tapestries and flags bearing the royal Equestrian crest lit up with flame, reaching up and craning to touch the ceiling with the red-hot plasma tentacles.

An alarming groaning noise sounded above her. She shrieked, running just out of the way as the six foals scrambled. She thought something glittered on her flank, but it was unimportant. She continued running, her hooves slapping against the tile as pillars began to fall and crack, withering away at the slightest touch.

Celestia stood calmly at her throne, watching the chaos before her erupt as the building crashed down around them. Between the gaps in the stony shrapnel and debris, the Pegasus saw Discord lift his head weakly, exchanging a furious glare with Celestia.

Solar Flare felt a hoof shove her out of the way of a falling hunk of stone as she barreled toward the door, reaching forward and attempting, in vain, to yank it open. Celestia’s laugh resounded deadly through the chamber. “No, no, no.” She heard the alicorn say. The door was locked.

They were trapped, struggling to find an exit before the entire building’s support system collapsed, while Princess Celestia stood there quietly and calmly.

Solar Flare noticed a pink blob lying next to the body of the potentially dead Discord. She darted toward Pinkie Pie, hollering. “Come on!” and snatched the pink hoof in hers, dragging the earth pony along after her.

“There’s a back way!” Soarin’s yell was audible from the other side of the chamber. Solar Flare squinted through the dusty air, making her way over large chunks of marble and stone, slick from the thick coating of powder it had accumulated over the past few minutes. She heard Soarin groan.

“It’s locked!” He announced hopelessly.

The entire building shuddered again, and everypony froze as their eyes fell upon a small purple unicorn, her horn glowing profusely, magic spilling out from it and encompassing the entire ceiling. Six lengths of ribbon-like magic were streaming out from her, each one connecting from each of the six foals. She didn’t bother to trace each of them specifically, but she was sure of it. Colour was spilling out around her, resembling heat waves coming off of pavement in the summer, emanating off her as though she was some kind of source. The coloured area around her became more and more wide as she actually physically lifted off of the ground. “I can’t believe this!” She roared. Her voice was odd, as though two ponies were speaking at once. “I trusted you!”

The building had stopped shaking, and hunks of debris had stopped falling from the ceiling. Gaps of light were now filtering in from misshapen holes in the ceiling, illuminating the billows of smoke and dust floating about the room freely. The only movement was from the lavender unicorn herself. A brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark that Solar Flare had never seen before stepped nervously forward.

For a moment, Celestia laughed carelessly, evidently blowing Twilight Sparkle off as some sort of child’s play. She rolled her glimmering eyes, staring blankly back at Twilight. “You’re kidding.”

The lavender unicorn landed, all four of her hooves braced against the ruined floor of the throne room, her eyes beginning to glow. “No.” She hissed. “I’m not.”

A rush of magic surged forward, hitting Celestia directly, head-on. A loud fizzling sound filled Solar Flare’s ears and the room as colours exploded, lighting up the grey world in its entirety and filling her eyes with pure white as they melded together into a single hue.

Standing in Celestia’s place was a pathetically small pony. Smaller than Solar Flare herself, with a white coat, and a pastel pink mane. Two streams of magic were floating out of the lesser alicorn, one, a bright green that surged from her white coat to Discord, who lay brokenly on the ground. There was no sign that he was alive.

Another was dark blue, floating directly upward, as though being dragged by some invisible force, through the clouds and the atmosphere and as far as the eye could see. It seemed to be carrying the very stars themselves on its stream. After several seconds, the flows were both cut off, and the tiny white alicorn was left, standing alone, looking fearful.

Pinkamena’s first reaction was to run across the room, dodging around boulders and hunks of debris and whatever else may have fallen. Her hair was, for whatever reason, straight.

Solar Flare watched with a creeping sense of dread as Pinkie prodded the draconequus, poking him and shaking him, though he did not move, or show any signs that he was going to. Flare immediately glanced behind her at Candied Chaos, who, still, for whatever reason, with her odd draconequus limbs, fang, and tail. The hybrid was frozen in shocked horror, any and all colour or joy drained from her face. Anything else in the room was put to a halt as Chaos slowly drifted across the room, eyes the size of dinner plates with her jaw slack.

A slow, tentative lion paw moved forward to pat Discord. “D-dad?” She choked out, chest and the rest of her body heaving with sobs, but no tears rolling down her face. “We… It’s okay, now. Y-you can… You can wake up.” She whispered in silent room. “You can wake up. It’s not funny.”

A hoof and paw began to shake the draconequus simultaneously. “Dad! Please! Come on. We… it’s gonna be okay now!” Candied Chaos was screaming now, tears rolling down her face and leaving wet splotches on the floor. She wiped her face with her paw. “You can stop! Just stop playing around!” The hybrid’s shoulders began to heave while she rested against Pinkamena, who also had a single tear rolling down her face, but was doing her best to hide it, saying nothing.

“Twilight Sparkle.” The purple unicorn turned around when addressed.

In the half-collapsed, ruined doorway of the castle stood a single alicorn that Solar Flare recognized as Princess Luna. The pony that was once the great Princess Celestia squeaked, running and hiding behind one of Luna’s legs. Luna stared down grimly at her older sister. “I never thought you would do this again.” Luna murmured sadly, cocking her head. “I thought we came to a compromise. You cheated me out of a thousand years, but I forgave you for that, Celestia.” Luna frowned. “There is only so much forgiving that one can do.”

“F-fine, then! What do you intend to do? Twilight won’t let you do anything. Right, Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia looked back to the lavender unicorn and flashed a smile, but Twilight only continued to frown back at her, causing Celestia to scowl. “Fine!” She growled. “Do whatever you like! What did you have in mind?” Celestia hissed.

A small, morbid smirk appeared on Luna’s lips as she glanced up into the sky, to the shining yellow orb of a sun above her head. “Oh, I know somewhere just perfect for you.” Her horn glowed briefly, and Celestia disappeared.

Luna’s face turned upward, her eyes turning onto Discord. Any trace of satisfaction that had been there previously had now dissipated into disappointment and worry. Her brow furrowed and her lip quivered as she slowly approached the chimera, bowing her head and resting a hoof on his upper torso before smiling. “He will be fine.” The lunar goddess looked up and smiled.

A moment of silence passed, but it seemed that a breeze rolled through Pinkamena’s hair, and immediately, it curled and puffed and frizzed back up to its lovable state. “REALLY?!” Pinkie gasped, getting to her hooves. “Oh; I know what this calls for! A PARTY!” She squealed, hopping delightedly into the air and running, bounding in circles.

For Candied Chaos, it took several more moments for this to sink in, and she smiled at Luna. Several small words passed between them. In spite of the general shock of the information that they had received in the past several minutes, the moment was, more or less, jubilant, in an awkward way. The brown stallion from before walked up to Twilight, and they shared a kiss, which confused her immediately. She had no time to dwell on it though, before she was barraged by Soarin, kissing her repeatedly on the forehead and cheek. “Oh, hell, I’m so proud of you!” He whispered, hugging her tightly and rocking like that for several moments.

Solar Flare remained tense at first, before succumbing to her father and relaxing in his arms, exhaling. She realized Rainbow had come up at some point as well. “I love you guys.”

“I love you guys, too.” Rainbow murmured, resting her head on Soarin’s shoulder with her muzzle in Solar Flare’s mane.

The moment was somewhat short-lived, however, when Solar Flare heard Twilight’s attempt to get the attention of everypony around her. “Guys!” She yelled. Evidently, she was going to reason everything that had just transpired out later, like the analytical flank she was. “Has anyone seen Clockwork?”

Solar Flare’s blood went cold, she leapt to her hooves. “He’s not here?” She swallowed, looking around anxiously. She flapped her wings desperately for a moment, managing to get a couple of feet of air, and dropped down immediately. However, she had seen everything that she had needed to see. Her eyes rested upon the brown and purple form several meters away, and she immediately dashed through the debris and clawed her way onto a large hunk of stone, potentially the largest in the room, and jumped past several pillars. She came upon him.

He laid there, completely still, eyes closed, face pale, but his expression frozen in some sort of silent agony. He had several random dark red, sticky spots seeping through his sandy brown coat, making it seem almost as though he had been crushed by something.

Solar Flare felt sick. The world spun around her, and she collapsed. “Here.” She croaked out, shutting her eyes. No, no, no.

He didn’t look like Discord. The blood was smeared across the tile. He was cold to the touch. He didn’t look like he was sleeping peacefully like poets and writers always spoke about. He didn’t look like a beautiful angel or any of that crap.

He looked like he was bucking dead. A candle with the flame gone out, unliving. He was still. No muscles twitched beneath his eyelids, and his his chest didn’t palpitate with any kind of heartbeat. He was still. The room spun, and she tried to breathe.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Twilight come over the rise of the mess, and a quiet whisper, a quiet murmur, of, “No…”

Solar Flare sat in agonized silence, her entire body heaving with silent, dry sobs. After several minutes of this, being the only one to sit beside the dead colt, the only thing she could do was brush back his purple mane back from his eyes. It crossed her mind that she’d never get to see his eyes again. They always reminded her so much of the sky in Cloudsdale, where the air was thinner and not so muddled up with pollutants. She was overcome with an urge to go home. To go home, forget any of this happened. To die.

It should have been her. He could do things. He was useful. He was smart, and funny, and good-looking, and knew things. She was a failure. Discord had made sure of that. She should have saved him. She should have pushed him out of the way, or… Or, or something.

She finally let out a small, strangled whimper of a cry. Though she knew it was entirely pointless, she didn’t hesitate to sob out, “P-please… Come back… Come back.” She repeated this multiple times, briny tears running down her face and plopping down onto the tile as those around her merely stared while she sobbed hopelessly. “Come back.” Her eyes burned.

“Please.” She whispered, trying to control her erratic breathing. “Please…” She cried out, uncontrollable sobs wracking her body. “I love you.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 18: Endgame Estimated time remaining: 9 Minutes