After a long pause I am back tending to my drawing hobby and what is a better way to return to one of my favorite activities than using a new drawing style. Well, not really drawing style, more like tools I use to draw. This is my first MLP picture for which I used my watercolor markers to intensify the colors and make certain features more distinct. I hope you like it, cause I sure do and propably will be using the markers for the rest of my works.Anyway, its story time:So here we have Solar Flare, the ruler of Celestial Empire and a self declared goddess. The world “egoism” is an uderstatement when describing her. The best way to demonstrate her self-centered personality is propably by showing some of the titles she gave herself:Her Celestial Majesty, Divine ruler of Equestria, The Wise One, Holy master of the universe, The most beloved and kindest pony (well-liked by animals is sometimes added to this title). Modesty is a prominent noble feature, no?However she actually isnt as reckless and cruel despot as one would believe. It could be said her narcissistic nature compels her to be kind from time to time. How can she love herself if her acts give off a brutal impression all the time, right? She does not just sit in her huge palace, enjoying comfort of her luxurious life (although she does it quiet often). She wants to live up to her ideals and does so in many ways, some of which are a little bit contradictory.For instance, she vaporizes the batpony who dared to lead a rebellion against her rule and idea of eternal day to demonstrate her power and devotion, only to release all the rebels (who were lucky enough not to face her wrath) afterwards to show how endless (well, almost endless) her mercy is.She is also quiet a skilled ruler. Her effort to appear noble-minded prevents her from downright abusing her power and investing the treasury into construction of various monuments commemorating her greatness (again, that doesnt mean she doesnt do so with great enthusiasm at times). She percieves the empire as her own legacy, so she makes sure that it is developing and that everypony has its place in her “paradise” state (thats fancy talk for: “You must do everything I tell you to do because I am the smartest and you are an idiot if you think otherwise.”)To those who have not figured it out yet, she obviously is not very concerned about a specific group of ponies carrying aspects of the night. But dont worry, if you have a dark coat or are a batpony you wont be sent to any death camp. That would be a waste of workforce which can be utilized for the well being of “everypony” within the Empire. As stated before, there is a place for everypony in Flares “utopia”. If you are lucky, you might rise up to some better position. Flare might be disgusted by dark cold colors, but that doesnt mean she wont see your “inner light and devotion”, being the most beloved and kindest pony (well-liked by animals) she is, she will grant you a better life if you prove to have the abilites to serve the empire (and if you generate a lot of bits to the “common” treasury).Beside that, the things she really does not tolerate (and which results in painfull death by her magic) are lying and deception. On the other hand, she greatly values the so-called high virtues of light and day: honesty and courage.She makes sure she never lies to her subjects. It is quiet easy, unlike in a democracy where she would have to hide all her possesions and ideas because the populace would have something to say about it. Since this is the Celestial Empire, she can just shout: “Hey, I am rich and I am spending most of your tax money to built another palace in Fillydelphia so that you can marvel at the incredible beauty of the eternal day (while working for 6 bits an hour to earn your living). What’s that? You dont like it? Well too bad CAUSE I AM THE GODDESS HERE.” You should be more concerned about making sure that YOU are not the one not letting any lies slip from your tongue. You could lose it, along with other more or less essential body parts.She has a very helpful magical ability to aid her in rooting out dishonesty in the empire. Being a powerful alicorn of the eternal day makes her a walking unmistakable lie detector, which is a deadly combination with her magical burning mane. It emits comforting heat when she is calm but for liars it is an image of the impending godly firestorm.If you have some sort of an secret agenda or conspiracy and are aproached by Solar Flare, you might as well accept the fact that you are screwed and say the truth right away. You will save yourself from a lot of pain, as she is likely to value your straightforwardness and will lock you up in a prison, condemn you to community service or at the very least guarantee you the quick (mostly) painless death. It is certainly better than enraging an alicorn, thats for sure.Speaking of magic, I guess you know all the ugly stuff she can do anypony who stands in her way. Lets talk about her weapon of choice. You see the thing she is holding? That is the (trademark) hoofgun, a medium-range firearm designed by imperial battle R&D for officers so that they can invoke respect, look badass but mainly buck ponies (over long range, without using their hooves and making them explode afterwards).As hard as she tries, she is not a very skilled strategist. Propably because she believes that nothing can stand in the way of her might and honestly, she is pretty much right. Along with the imperial guard (the mean looking unicorn in the bottom right corner) she literally stomps (or shoots) anypony and anything that might even slightly force her to alter the trajectory of her charge. No strategy requiered for that.Now if she does not directly take part in the onslaught the course of the battle is not really in her favor. Trotting forward while disregarding the strenghts of the opposition does not seem to be a viable plan when you are not an overpowered alicorn.