//------------------------------//
// The Third Reason 
// Story: The Last Alicorn 
// by Cerulean Swirl 
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	It was a peaceful drive down to a butterfly garden to spend a nice, peaceful family afternoon. The carriage was heavily guarded, and there were not very many ponies on the road that they were travelling on. There were no survivors, and debris had scattered at least twenty feet away from the carriage. That was the first thing that the princess noticed, at least. 
There was a single witness; and she was the hardest pony to speak to at the moment, as she was being questioned by every authority pony on the field. She was traumatized beyond her limits, and she kept repeating herself, over and over and over again. The story had found its way to the lavender mare in no time at all, passed to her through frantic guards who took it upon themselves to be running to and fro, looking for something they could do. 
The witness stated that she had been taking a peaceful mid-morning walk when she saw the carriage plummet from out of the sky. She had heard the screams of the ponies inside of it, and had galloped closer, wondering what she could do. The next thing she knew, there was a deafening sound of something splitting apart, a high pitched and very feminine scream, the sound of something skidding across the soft green grass, and then silence. When the witness had gone to check, there were no eyes that showed life. She went for help then and there. 
Paramedics rushed this way and that, and the calm field that the carriage had landed in was polluted with shouts, flashing lights, and sobs. Police were blowing whistles, and gathering bystanders were demanded to move back, behind the yellow tape. Investigators were busy drawing chalk outlines and gathering shreds of evidence, and guards of all armors were beginning to creep in. Reporters were crawling outside the boundaries, trying frantically to get a precious snapshot. 
And yet, all this chaos did not faze her. She was well used to the word 'accident' by now, and when this particular word was spoken she knew she would have to say another word. The word she could not say. Not even if she forced it out of herself. 
As she dwelled on the word that she would not speak, a ripple was going through the crowd, along with whispers. She turned her ears to these whispers, and relief flooded through her as she discovered that she was not the topic of interest. If she listened close enough, and blocked all other emotion rising up inside of her, and heard swatches of conversation. 
"......say that she will rule now....."
"When are the princesses getting here?"
"..........too awful......"
"........soon, the carriage is coming this way...."
As she continued her trek through the frenzy, a paramedic found her and saddled up beside her, as if he wished to speak to the royal privately. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, and he returned the glance. The throng continued to bustle about like shoppers on Christmas, and took no notice of the royal and the paramedic. Checking to see that no reporters were following them with their cameras(her picture had been in the papers lately), she gave her attention to the paramedic once more. 
"What is it?" she asked, speaking softly yet loud enough for him to hear over all the commotion. 
"Your majesty, you may want to come with me." he said, and with that, he disappeared into the flow of ponies.
Carrying her emotions with her, the princess followed the paramedic through the crowd, past one outer corner of the wreckage, and straight to an enclosed white ambulance carriage. Stark white, and with the red cross logo shining like a beacon of hope. The paramedic opened one of the double doors, and entered, and glanced at her to see if she'd follow. 
Before she could hesitate, her violet eyes found two someponies in front of the double doors. They were two guards, both in golden armor. Feeling a bit safer, she slowly trudged beyond the guards, and in front of the carriage's doors. Just as she was about to ignite her precious magic, one of the armor-clad guards ignited his first and opened one door for her. Taking one last glance behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed by reporters or anypony suspicious(ever since U popped up, she wasn't taking any chances), she grabbed the handle of the opposite door with her hoof, and hoisted herself inside.
There was just enough light for the seemingly cramped space. There were two wooden seats on either side of a slightly plush gurney. The walls of the enclosed space were lined with miniature clear plastic shelves of a sort, and each pulled out to a drawer filled with supplies. A prominent color was a dulled, soft white, like a cloud on a clear summer day. 
Despite the lack of space, the carriage was quite crowded. There were four, now five occupants. The paramedic that had spoken to her initially sat in one of the wooden seats, the body of a very recognizeable bubblegum hued alicorn lay on the gurney, and the sun and moon princesses themselves. There were no tears. There were only grave looks, mixed in with grief and concern.
"P-P-Princess Celestia?" she asked, her voice shaking like a leaf. The sun princess's pale violet eyes met her former student's, but this time they weren't filled with their usual warmth. 
"Princess Luna?" her voice echoed off the enclosed walls, and she had the moon princess's attention as well. Her look mirrored that of her sister's. 
"And Princess....." her voice cracked and trailed off as she let her eyes lay to rest on her now former sister in law. 
She was just as lovely and as delicate as always, and despite a few cuts and bruises here and flecks of sawdust there, she appeared unharmed. Externally, at least. Her extensive magenta, violet, and honeycomb mane was sprawled gracefully across the gurney, curling over the edge. Her tail was matted slightly, but still held it's glory. She was uncrowned; eyes shut carefully, and the way she had been positioned on the gurney appeared like she was in mid gallop. 
The very sight of the princess of love made the tears come up all over again, even though she had so tirelessly kept them in as she trudged through the noise. Except this time, she didn't fight them. She allowed them to race down her soggy cheeks, and allowed tiny rivers of snot to find their way out of her nose. The carriage was silent for the longest time, and the princesses and the paramedic didn't stop the lavender mare from sobbing once more. They allowed it. 
Familiar flickers of rage sprang up and down her conscious, and the tears concluded the race immediately. Taking a large and very unladylike sniff, she wiped her nose with the back of her hoof, and the violet eyes commanded attention of all pairs that weren't paying so in the room. Slowly, surely, the blue-green eyes of the moon princess found the violet ones first. Then, the paramedic's. Finally, the sun princess allowed her eyes to be taken ahold of the violet ones.
"Why have you brought me here?" she asked, quietly, but loud enough so that everypony's ears would hear. The paramedic's pale blue eyes flickered with fear, but his muzzle's expression showed the usual poker face as he opened his mouth to speak. 
"I asked him to, Twilight." 
The violet eyes darted to the paler ones in the room as quick as a blink. The sun princess seemed to be in the beginning stages of where she was currently, with her multicolored mane in a slight disarray and the gray bags already finding places under her eyes. 
"Why?" she demanded, masking her tidal wave of emotions that was coursing through her very blood.
"For three reasons." said the older alicorn, sighing softly and patiently. A flicker of yet another emotion joined the others. Jealousy. How could the sun princess be calm at a time like this? And why wasn't she suffering as the lavender mare was? Why wasn't she tearing out her rose, mint, sky, and teal mane out from her very head? Why wasn't she sobbing as the moon princess was about to? And why couldn't she recognize the internal suffering that had taken permanent place behind the mare's eyes and comfort her? Why leave her in the stupor that she was, cold and alone?
"Why?" she repeated aloud, tears threatening once more, cold suffering shooting across her, cooling the rage for the time being. 
"What are your reasons?" 
The moon princess's eyes found her sister's, and the mare watched a look being silently exchanged. The sun princess's eyes reassured the moon princess, and that seemed to calm the air between them. The paler violet eyes found the deeper ones again.
"First, I have gotten all your letters and have heard your theories about your friend's alleged murders. I did not believe you at first. Neither one of us did." said the white alicorn, motioning to her sister and the gurney's occupant. 
"I believe you. And I also believe that we have a real emergency here. Something maybe of Equestria-wide importance. As of today, I am stationing as many guards as possible around Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire. The railroad stations and the airways are to be patrolled at every moment of every day. We......are declaring a national search for this U. I know tha-"
"Princess.....with all due respect...." the mare interrupted, shakily. The white alicorn's eyes found the violet ones this time. 
"If it is alright with you....I would rather find U on my own.....and though a search would be nice, I'd really rather do it alone." 
The sun princess's face slowly filled with shock, and all eyes found hers again. The shock drained, and calm resumed once more.
"Alright, if you insist. I know how much this might mean to you. So, secondly, as you know, now that Princess Cadence is.......the way she is, we now have nopony to look over the Crystal Empire." 
The lavender princess was quiet once more, and she put her eyes on the floor of the enclosed carriage.
"Now....circumstances being what they are, we've had to resort to drastic measures. Twilight, I know you have your own place here in Ponyville, but I have no choice. I need you on the next train down to the Crystal Empire, as fast as you can. Your guards will lock your castle up, and the mayor will oversee things while you are away. I understand that this is a huge responsibility, but I know that you'll be just fine. It won't be for very long, either. With time I will figure something out. But for now....I need you there. Do you understand?"
Silence ensued from the mare. The sun princess exchanged glances with the moon princess once more, as they watched the younger alicorn work through the request. 
"You want me to....stay at my dead brother's and dead sister in law's castle? To....to remind me of how they used to live there?" Rage boiled up and over her senses, and bled into the cold suffering. The sun princess nodded.
"And what, stay in their bedrooms as well? Sleep on the same sheets and pillows? Well, guess what? They won't be coming back to their castle! I can't just castle sit. I can't not knowing I won't hear their voices again and I won't hear....their daughter asking me for advice on how to run a kingdom! I won't smell Cadence's peppermint mane shampoo or hug my brother ever again! They're gone! Gone, Princess! And they're NEVER COMING BACK!"
Her yells reverberated off the enclosed space and hit everypony deep down. Silence ensued, and the only things that were heard was everypony else's noise outside. The sun princess opened her mouth. 
"You don't think I don't miss them too?" 
The mare recoiled.
"I've always been very patient with you, Twilight. All those times that I needed help, you were always there, helping me. Even if it was the littlest or the stupidest thing." the sun princess breathed heavily, and the moon princess put a midnight blue hoof on the white alicorn's back in comfort.
"I need you. There is nopony else to run the Crystal Empire. Your friends can no longer help me, either. You are the only one I have left." 
More silence from the mare's end. Part of her wanted to get even angrier at the sun princess for no reason at all. She wanted to scream and yell and demand that the bubblegum alicorn sit up and comfort her....to tell her that everything was okay and that her friends were alive.....and that her brother was as well....and that everything would return to the way it was.....the way it was before U.....
The other side of her wanted to run into the sun princess's arms and cry her eyes out for good. To have tears run down her face and to have snot coursing out of her nostrils. To have sobs come barrelling forward in a joyous abandon. To never leave the sun princess's embrace. To stay with her and the moon princess always. 
Still
Her friends were gone. She was the only one left. She had a duty to the ponies of the Crystal Empire, to Equestria, and to the two princesses. Without another word, she resumed studying the floor of the carriage and nodded, tears still threatening with every blink. 
"Thank you." said the sun princess, voice tinged with emotion. 
"What....is the third reason?" she asked, quietly. 
Wordlessly, the white alicorn ignited her horn with golden hued magic, and levitated a greasy and painstakingly familiar letter into the mare's line of sight.



There goes the princess of love
Flying from this world on the wings of a dove
Yet one thing remains, the one thing that doesn't fit like a glove
But of course you of all ponies would know what I speak of
My demand still remains. My patience with you is wearing thin. I've been very generous with you with time, but you still have not been convinced. Do as I have instructed, or I will continue. This is your one and only choice. 
Do watch your hooves with the blood on the front of this envelope. Your brother bled sparingly. 
-U