//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The Last Alicorn Princess 
// Story: The Last Alicorn 
// by moviefan-92 
//------------------------------//


“THE LAST ALICORN”


Chapter 1: The Last Alicorn Princess

There were lots of rumors surrounding the Everfree Forest. Some said it was enchanted, others said it was haunted, and yet others said that the forest itself was alive, and that any who ventured into it would be attacked for trespassing.
But while there were many stories surrounding it, one thing was certain, it was a magical place, protected by the magic of those who lived beyond it. Few, if any, humans dared to enter the forest; fearful of what kind of mysterious creatures lived within it. For rumors aside, the forest was home to many dangerous creatures, and that wasn’t even counting the mysterious beings that lived in the land the supposedly magical forest encompassed.
That wasn’t to say that there was no way to the land beyond it. Creatures capable of flight could simply fly over the forest. And currently, an entire swarm of dragons were flying over the trees, disappearing from view from the two humans following them.
Gloriosa Daisy and her brother Timber Spruce had been following the trails of dragons for the past day or so, wondering if the flying reptiles sudden and unexpected migration was due to the strange events that had started not too long ago. However, as they approached the Everfree Forest, the horses they rode refused to go any further.
“Hey, whoa there,” said Timber as his horse shuffled about nervously, but refusing to get any closer to the forest entrance. “What’s up with the horses?”
Gloriosa pointed ahead of them. “It’s the forest,” she told him simply, looking uneasily at it herself. “They’re wary of it. This is the Everfree Forest. Surely you’ve heard the stories.”
Timber wobbled his head in disinterest. “Ah… maybe. I don’t really pay attention to those superstitions.”
Gloriosa fixed her brother with a glare. “Trust me, this is no superstition. Beyond the Everfree Forest is Equestria, a magical land inhabited by Equestrian ponies.”
Now that Timber had heard of. “Equestria? You mean that mythical land where those magic horses are supposedly from? Come on. That place is just an old wives tales.”
Gloriosa shook her head. “Not horses, little brother, Equestrian ponies. You know, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. They’re a similar species to horses, yes, just like humans are to apes, but they’re very different. And Equestria is no myth. Many old stories that are passed down have a basis on reality. There are numerous fantastical and magical things in the world, is it really so hard to believe that Equestrian ponies originated from a magic land untouched by humans? I’m telling, it’s a place as real as you and me. And ruling over it are the alicorn princesses.”
Her eyes became downcast, and a look of sadness appeared in them. “Recently, I’ve been hearing rumors that the reason why the sun hasn’t risen for the past few days is because the alicorns have gone missing.”
Timber smirked in amusement. “You mean you really believe that nonsense about Princess Celestia raising and lowering the sun and Princess Luna doing the same for the moon?”
In response, she nodded to the moon in the sky. “The sun hasn’t been rising and the moon hasn’t been descending for a reason. If something’s happened to the alicorns, then it would explain why.”
“Hmm,” Timber muttered skeptically. He looked back up at the dragons flying through the night sky. “Well, whatever the reason, we’re not going to find it out from the dragons if they’re heading into the Everfree Forest. Lets go back.”
He received no argument from Gloriosa, and the two of them turned their horses around and headed back the way they came.

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Miles into the Everfree Forest, the trees finally cleared as the land of Equestria began. As the stories told, it was home primarily to unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. While similar in appearance to horses, there were notable differences that separated them from the far less intelligent creatures that humans used for transportation and manual labor.
Unicorns possessed power and magic, and they used it to help the residents of Equestria in many ways. The pegasi patrolled the skies, controlling the weather and changing the seasons. And the earth ponies held a special connection to nature, particularly plants, animals, and the land, and were often found taking care growing and harvesting food and tending to nature.
And as the stories told, they were governed over by the four alicorn princesses. Eternal and powerful Equestrian ponies that held the traits of all three. It was said that there were originally only two, until a third appeared millennia later. And only a few short years ago, a fourth appeared.
However, no one had seen any traces of the alicorn princesses for the past few days, and within that time, the sun had never rose. This had sent the residents into a paranoid frenzy, most having flocked to the royal city to get answers to their questions, or simply locked themselves in their homes.
One home, however, was made out of a giant tree. And the door opened for the first time in days as the youngest of the alicorn princesses emerged. Though resembling a horse, she had many notable differences in body shape and color. Lavender horse hair covered her from head to hoof, and a dark sapphire blue mane and tail with a strip of magenta and violet hung down from her head and rear, upon which rested a mark on each side of her flank that resembled stars. Large purple eyes looked around the empty town as a frown crossed her face and questions filled her mind.
“Wait,” she said in confusion as she looked up at the dark sky. “It’s night? But that can’t be. I may have gotten caught up in my reorganize of the library, but it should be day right now.”
She closed her eyes as she began doing the math in her head. She may still have been relatively new at being a princess, but she was highly intelligent, which was why she couldn’t believe her calculations were off. Three days prior, she had decided to spend the weekend reorganizing her library. And while she may not have seen the sun during that time, she was sure that it should be shining in the sky right now.
“No, it’s definitely supposed to be day time,” she told herself. Confused, she looked up at the sky again. “It should be mid-day right now. What are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna doing?”
As she looked up at the moon in the sky, she noticed a flock of dragons flying by. At first she thought they were headed for Canterlot, the royal city where the alicorn sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna lived, but as she followed the flock, she realized that they were not. It seemed like they were simply trying to get away. But where could they possibly be heading?
Amongst the dragons, she saw a group of them seemingly bullying on a much smaller one. A frown crossed her face at the mistreatment. She knew that dragons were much more aggressive and ruthless creatures, some even downright mean, but she still didn’t like to see bullying. As the Princess of Friendship, it was her job to spread friendship everywhere she went, and so it really upset her to see one creature picking on another, even if they were of a different species.
One of the dragons, a big red one, used his tail to smack the smaller one out of the sky, and the little dragon sped to the ground in a free fall. Gasping, she used her magic to materialize a large cushion, and the little purple dragon plopped down on it.
Making her way over to the small creature, she saw that it was a baby purple dragon with green spikes. Large green eyes blinked up at her, and she gave him a look of concern. “Are you alright?”
The little dragon rolled off the cushion and dusted himself off. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks.”
Seeing that he was indeed alright, she let out a sigh of relief and offered him a friendly smile. “No problem. I’m Twilight Sparkle.”
“Oh, um, I’m Spike. Nice to meet you.”
He held out a clawed hand to her. Twilight smiled and placed her hoof in it, and the two of them shook. “Very nice to meet you, Spike.” She glanced up at the other dragons. “What was all that about?”
The little dragon sighed. “Oh, that was just Garble. He and his friends like to pick on me since I’m the youngest. I only got my wings a little while ago.”
Twilight gasped in reference to his treatment. “That’s horrible.”
Spike, however, didn’t seem that bothered by it. “Nah, it’s kind of the dragon way. It’s supposed to toughen us up, or so I’ve heard.”
There was a mocking laugh from up above, and both Twilight and Spike looked up to see the red dragon that had knocked him from the sky flying a short distance above them. “Making friends with ponies now, rookie dragon?”
A low growl escaped Spike as he glared at the older dragon. Twilight, however, was not going to take this bullying lying down, and spread her wings while making her horn glow with magic. “That’s enough! You leave him alone!”
The red dragon, who Twilight assumed was Garble, looked surprised to see her. He got over it quickly though, and gave Spike a glare of his own. “We’ll finish this later, you pony loving pipsqueak.”
With that, he flew back up to rejoin the flock. An arrogant smirk crept up Twilight’s face as she folded her wings back up and turned back to Spike. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed that he too was now looking at her in surprise.
“You’re an alicorn!” he practically bellowed, not having noticed her wings while they were folded up.
Twilight blinked. “Um, yeah. I’m the Princess of Friendship. I’m guessing you weren’t expecting to run into one of the four alicorns.”
Spike shook his head, getting over his surprise. “Actually, I was more surprised that you’re still here. We thought all the alicorns had disappeared a few days ago.”
Twilight frowned at that. “Disappeared? What do you mean disappeared? Where’d they go?”
Spike shook his head. “No one knows. But they say that they vanished three days ago, and no one’s seen them since. I’m surprised you don’t know.”
An embarrassed blush filled Twilight’s cheeks. She had been holed up in her library the past three days and nights and hadn’t received any news on anything, even magically locking and soundproofing her front door so no one would bother her. When she dedicated her time to her books, she really dedicated her time to them.
A suddenly realization came to her. “Wait, is that why it’s night right now?”
Spike nodded. “Yeah, the sun hasn’t risen for the past two days. Night fell, and it just never stopped.”
Now Twilight was beginning to worry. Had something bad happened to Princess Celestia? And what about Princess Luna? And Princess Cadance? “Spike, listen to me, this is very important. What happened to the princesses?”
Spike crossed his arms. “Hmm. Well, to be honest, I don’t know much. Just the gossip that’s been going on amongst the dragons. When the sun never rose, the dragon emperor got a little concerned. He sent out some dragons to find out what was happening. On the second day, he learned from some Breezies that the alicorns had disappeared, and that’s why the sun hasn’t been rising. On the third day, he decreed that we were no longer safe where we were, and so we began migrating. And, well, that eventually led us to right here.”
Twilight’s mind began racing. The princesses, gone? How was that possible? And how could she have not known? Wouldn’t somepony have contacted her? Surely one of her friends would have at least.
A guilty grimace crossed her face. Maybe one of her friends had, but she hadn’t heard them due to her soundproof spell. As for anypony else, they probably went to get answers from Celestia herself. After all, who better to ask why the sun hadn’t risen other than the very pony who raised the sun? It only made sense that they would go to Celestia instead of her. After all, she had only been an alicorn for a few years; she didn’t even have her own castle yet. And when her friends hadn’t gotten an answer when they came to see her, they too probably went to see Celestia.
Deciding to rethink how she went about things the next time she decided to reorganize her library, she returned her attention to the baby dragon. “But what happened to them. Where did they disappear to? Did you hear anything about that?”
Sadly, Spike shook his head. “Sorry, couldn’t tell you. But the rumor is that King Sombra has returned, and he’s the one responsible for their disappearance.”
At Spike’s explanation, Twilight’s anxiety briefly gave way to a disbelieving chuckle. “Oh, Spike, King Sombra’s not real. He’s just an old story made up to scare young foals.”
Spike shrugged. “That’s what I heard. And the dragon emperor seems to think it’s true. Speaking of which,” he looked back up at the other dragons, “I better rejoin the others before he realizes that I fell out of line.”
Twilight’s worry for the little dragon returned as she thought about the bullies. “But what about Garble and those others that were picking on you.”
Smirking, Spike just waved off her concern. “Ah, don’t worry about those guys, I can handle them. Besides,” he lowered his voice, as if he were telling her a secret, “I’m friends with both the dragon emperor’s daughter and Garble’s sister. They’re not going to be too happy with him when they learn about this. See ya.”
With that, he took to the air again, flying up to rejoin his brethren. A relived smile spread across Twilight’s face now that she knew that the little dragon would be alright, but it soon became a worried frown as she thought about what she had learned. Could it really be true? Were the princesses really gone? And what more, was Sombra really real, and was he responsible for their disappearances?
She thought back to the stories she had heard about Sombra. He was a mighty and powerful unicorn with a heart as black as the night who ruled with an iron hoof over a thousand years ago. As a wicked king, he lorded over his subjects as a ruthless tyrant, eventually using his magic to enslave them all, turning everypony into a mindless puppets who would obey his every command.
Eventually, a group of powerful ponies, including Celestia and Luna, rose up against him, and used their magic to turn him to shadow and vapor, and banishing him to the frozen north. However, Sombra returned, more powerful than every, having become one with the darkness. In order to defeat him, Celestia used her magic to create the Crystal Heart, a powerful artifact that acted as a protection from evil. With it, Sombra was banished to the ether, never to return.
Twilight shook her head. Surely such a story couldn’t be true. While Celestia had indeed accomplished many amazing feats, there were many stories that were either made up or exaggerations about her over time as well. Celestia was practically a goddess, to think that there was a pony out there who was stronger than her was laughable, let alone somepony who was powerful enough to make her, Luna, and the third alicorn, Princess Cadance, disappear.
Her thoughts turned to the other two alicorns. Luna, the younger sister of Celestia, who raised the moon and ruled the night and the dreams of everypony. And Candance, the Princess of love, who could turn even the greatest of enemies into lovers with her power. Twilight’s own power was similar, only involving friendship instead of love, though she still hadn’t fully grown into her role or gained complete control over her friendship powers; she didn’t even have her own castle yet.
Could the three of them actually be gone? No, she couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t believe it. She had to make sure. But as she knocked on door after door, she found most homes abandoned, the residents having fled to Canterlot to seek protection from the royal guards. The few that did answer only confirmed that the princesses had indeed disappeared, and that they had thought that Twilight had vanished as well since nopony had seen her for days.
There had never been a time where there weren’t alicorns in the world. They were the most magical of all creatures, and were as eternal as time itself. They weren’t immortal though, and could be killed by other creatures, but Twilight had never heard of them simply vanishing into thin air. Something must have happened to them.
And so with great reluctance Twilight admitted the truth to herself. “I am the only alicorn there is. The last.”
She felt a panic attack begin to come on, and she started to hyperventilate. But she knew that she couldn’t let herself give in to fear, and so she quickly rushed home and dove into the library she had just finished reorganizing.
Despite her skepticism that Sombra was indeed real and had somehow returned, she looked up whatever information she could on him. She was devastated to see that there was very little, nothing that gave her any real help, or that would suggest that Sombra was anything more than a myth. What she did discover though was that the final confrontation with him had taken place in a land far beyond Equestria, outside of the Everfree Forest.
Biting her bottom lip nervously, she looked out her window It seemed that if she wanted any real answers, she would have to look for them beyond Equestria, past the Everfree Forest that had kept them safe from outside forces. She didn’t very much like the idea of leaving her home, but if the alicorns were indeed out there, and they needed her help, then she had to go to them.
Her thoughts turned to her friends. From what she had learned from asking around, when she hadn’t answered her door, they had thought that she had gone to Canterlot for her own answers as to why the sun hadn’t risen. Knowing her friends, when they got there and discovered that the princesses had disappeared, they were probably doing all they could for the citizens.
It would be best to let them stay there instead of dragging them along on what could end up being a dangerous journey, or a fool’s errand. She may not find any answers where she was going, but still, she had to at least take a look.
“I must go quickly,” she told herself, “and return as soon as I can.”
Working up her up her courage, she made her way over to the Everfree Forest, coming to a stop at the entrance to it. The trees and branches seemed to part for her, inviting her in so she could make her way to the land beyond.
Taking a deep breath, she worked up her courage, and stepped into the forest.