Solar Flare

Don't get close to her when she's like this. I'm warning you.

Lately, I've seen some interpretations on what Princess Celestia looked like when she is corrupted by bitterness akin to how her sister was. She looked menacing and somewhat more frightening than Princess Luna. She seems like the most jovial royal in all of Equestria, and to see her descend into the most vile creature in a heartbeat is a rather scary thought. She's depicted as a hothead (literally and figuratively) that plans to bring an everlasting bright instead of night.

Though what events would follow after the initial transformation? This illustration depicts my thoughts on what would happen. The cause would be unknown at the moment, but the transformation occurs almost instantaneously. Her gentle celestial mane glows, progressively becoming brighter with each second. When it becomes what seems infinitely bright, there is a burst of heat, varying in temperature depending on your distance. It is a burst that mimics that of an explosion's shockwave. After that, one could see her coat has become a dark orange and her mane is not the celestial pattern we're all familiar with, but a blaze that incinerates anything it makes contact with. Her eyes are now yellow with slits for pupils. Her body temperature is not what it used to be, extraordinarily higher than usual. She can change this at will and adjust her body temperature. She can bring it as low as her normal temperature or bring it as high as the surface of the Sun itself. She would be immune to the heat and effects: her extreme temperatures can cause molecular distortion in the air, a lack of oxygen, and even temporarily break down the air in her general vicinity. Her hoofwear and regalia even become searing, surprisingly not melting at the inhuman heat.

Not only does she have a fiery form, but a fiery attitude as well. Solar Flare doesn't feel the need to speak, and her prime objective is to terrorize. Her mind has been completely overshadowed by distaste and destruction. She seldom flies. She slowly travels by hoof, keeping in mind to set fire to anything. She knows she'll get to wherever she wants anyway. Since her secondary objective is for eternal day as well, she keeps the sun risen. She will even raise its temperatures to aid her with her task. She is not Princess Celestia anymore. She is somepony different. Not the busy and cheerful royal she used to be. After an undetermined amount of time, she transforms back, seeing the extent of the damage she didn't know she caused. She had no idea she transformed at all. 

Here's a scenario to go along with this. If you were ever in this sort of situation, what would you do?

    It's another calm day in Ponyville. The birds tweet, the leaves rustle from the gentle breeze, the colts and fillies enjoy spending time with one another, their parents supervising them, and other ponies attend their occupations. Down by the markets, some converse with one another, others purchase their commodities from regularly visited vendors, and few complain about a sudden jump in orange prices. It seems like any other day.

    It is midday, and you are merrily making your way down the dusty road from the market and back to your residence. The heat from the sun as well as the breeze skidding across your coat creates a comforting temperature balance that prompts you to take a deep breath and exhale, reminding yourself that a day like this cannot get anymore pleasant. Saddlebags hang loosely down your sides containing enough necessities to last for another a week an a half. The content of the bags may slow you down a tad, but you consider it a negligible inconvenience since you are greatly enlightened by the positive atmosphere. 

    You make your way home and evenly dispense the different contents to their assigned area of storage. After completing your task, you walk right for the door leading to your patio. You open it and walk out, sensing the all-familiar climate disperse itself evenly across your smooth coat. The patio is conveniently positioned in the direction of Canterlot, offering a magnificent view of the kingdom for anypony you welcomed to your patio. But this was your time. You sit on the chair set beside the exit and produce a pair off sunglasses, which you promptly equip. You release what little tension you have left packed into your mind with a deep inhale and exhale. As you gaze at the distant Canterlot, the background noises of town life persist, aiding in your relaxation. As you bask in the sun, the heat your coat is absorbing starts to feel like a warm blanket. You feel genuinely relieved, slipping into this trance of focus and serenity. Your eyes become heavy, and you feel as if you are going to close your eyes and fall asleep momentarily.

    As you doze off, you hear a distant bang, snapping you out of your trance. Scrambling to stand yourself up, you notice the explosion rang from in front of you... at the Canterlot Castle. You come to this realization after looking ahead at a fireball that rose from the tallest structure there. After the obtrusive noise, the sounds that once surrounded you have been dramatically reduced. The noises coming from town are mumbles and nothing more. The ponies on the streets stare in awe. 

    You toss your sunglasses aside. You trot to the front end of the patio to capture a better image of the scene miles away. Confused, you wonder to yourself: What happened? What and who could've caused this? Are the Princesses okay? It's the only thing coursing through your mind in lieu of this surprise occurrence. It's a thought that is running through practically all the Ponyville citizens.

    As you prepare to head to ground level, you notice the heat becoming greater than how it was today. It feels like it's steadily increasing, generating a discomforting feeling in your coat. One second, perfect seventy degree weather with an accent of breezes, the next second, no wind at all, and ninety degree weather and counting. With the sudden spike in temperature, you feel like you've been inserted into a preheated oven. This slightly hinders your progress in making it downstairs. 

    Once you make it to the street of puzzled and frightened ponies, you pay a short glance toward Canterlot. The explosion now took form of a rising mushroom cloud, and its origin, the high tower, was demolished. A bright orange glint took it's place. You assume that glint was a fire, but you go around parts of the street anyway to inquire what they thought happened. Though the glint you saw was no fire.

    You take another look at Canterlot as you spoke to another pony. You kept your focus on the glint, hoping this 'fire' would soon be extinguished and the guards would find a cause. Magical accident? Static electricity? An attack, perhaps? You really hope the results didn't connect to the last possibility. As you look on to what seemed like an accident, you notice the glint...rising, then falling. It takes you a second to realize it's getting closer. Getting bigger. Taking a clearer form. You immediately snap to a conclusion: a projectile of some sort, as if launched from a catapult. Other ponies get identical thoughts and panic, scrambling in the opposite direction all while screaming, or picking up personal belongings or their young. You decide to do so as well since you feel it's the only option. Perhaps it was an attack and the offenders set a catapult to fire straight at Ponyville! But that wouldn't make sense to you. You would think they would fire on the rest of Canterlot before shifting to Ponyville?

    The object crashes into a field separating Ponyville from the distant Canterlot, sending a searing shockwave in all directions, launching you and other ponies for a short distance. You slam into the side of a building with such force powerful enough to break your right foreleg. Other ponies manage to get to their hooves and flee the same way they did before, but you are left going significantly slower, limping evident in your trots. Luckily, somepony approaches you and volunteers to aid you in your escape. You respond positively before he could finish his sentence, and he supports your body, enough for the both of you to gallop at a steady pace. 

    You look back at where the object crashed. This occurred only moments ago, and what you see is horrifying. The part of the field where the object landed was engulfed in flames. You could feel its heat already overtaking the uncomfortable temperature you once felt. The projectile itself was very bright in itself. It rose, formed an orange silhouette, shot a menacing glare in your general direction, started walking, and...wait. What?

    You notice it wasn't an object, but somepony. Now you ponder on if this was some creature straight from Tartarus, but upon closer inspection, careful not to blind yourself from the intensity of the brightness, you discover that this pony was the beloved Princess Celestia. You were too exhausted from the heat to notice your heart skipped a beat. Not only are you disheartened at the sight, but upset as well. What happened to the Princess? Is she going through a phase of anger and bitterness like how Princess Luna once did? You disregard the question since you'd think it would be a waste of thought. The only thing you really needed on your mind was to get away, because you didn't know if you were going to be burnt to a crisp.

    The screaming pain in your foreleg and the ever increasing temperature just shouts to you subconsciously, Give up! You're not getting away! You start to feel a little lightheaded and you collapse. The pony carrying you stops to pick you up, but predicting how everything will go in the future for the both of you, you decide you should only suffer that kind of future. With a few urging statements, you convince the pony to leave you be, and to just go on. He hesitates, but he accepts and moves along. 

    You are left limping in the same direction as everypony else, but lagging significantly. You look back. You see Princess Celestia is making her way closer to you, albeit slowly. Seeing there's no hope in progressing any further, you collapse and await your inevitable fate. As she gets closer to you, the sky is no longer a bright cyan, but a burning red. The heat becomes unfathomable and unbearable. You feel it, but for some odd reason, it's not effecting your physical self. Your coat is completely absent of any burns or fire. You scan your body, confused, and finally look up at Princess Celestia. She's dangerously close to you, but now stationary. Everything seems to be caught in her inferno, even objects next to you, but you aren't. 

    You take what seems to be your final moments to analyze her. Up close, everything seems to have more clarity now. Red-orange coat, white-hot regalia, yellow, slit eyes, and a blaze replacing her once gentle and colorful mane. You focus the most on her face thought, because an expression became clear now: disgruntled and angry. She has a wry expression. She maintained that expression silently, even when shooting her field of view toward you. She looks at you, but she shuts her eyes and shakes her head a few times, then looks back up to you. You see she lost her enraged expression. Now she's looking upon you with despair, a face that says at any given moment, a single tear will trickle down her face. Those yellow eyes are not present anymore, They are their familiar magenta, elliptical shaped form. She looks at you with that expression, and you start to feel more compassion than fear. She shuts her eyes with again, this time a groan accompanying the action. Her former expression returns as well as her intimidating slit pupils and yellow eyes. Her horn glows. Fearing the worst, you close you eyes and suddenly become unconscious. 

    You wake up to a few ponies standing over you, questioning the status of your life. That was confirmed when you shoot up and quickly take in the scene around you. Everything is scorched. All that remained were piles of rubble where structures used to be. There happened to be a lot of ponies snapping from unconsciousness at the same moment alike to you. Other ponies are surveying the damage and clearing out wreckage. Disregarding everything around you for a second, you consider asking yourself a question regarding Princess Celestia herself. Recalling her momentary expression of sorrow, you wonder: Why was the Princess like that in the first place?

Sidenote: I finished the drawing itself weeks ago, but this was while everything was going on in France, and I thought it wouldn't be a good time to put this up.

Another Sidenote: There are some explanations down in the comments below if you wish to know some things.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © Hasbro and DHX Media
Art © Atteez

The character Princess Celestia belongs to her aforementioned owners.