The Spotted Alicorn

by Tartpelt dah Poneh

Chapter 1: The Tragedy that Started It

December 20 1995; an undiscovered territory untouchable and unseeable by the mortal habitants of Equestria lied just beyond Cloudsdale. This unknown land was invisible to ponies for it was of another realm; the Heavens. Except, unlike that realm of which you'd expect to come to upon death, this little patch of cloud was semi-separate from the rest of the spiritual sky world. In fact, it was a kingdom all its own. However, this kingdom was a tad different from Equestria and the go-to place of the deceased; everypony in this spirit kingdom was an alicorn. However, they weren't just any old regular alicorns, who in Equestria would always be referred to as Princesses; they were their own race and they were actually pony angels and they came in both genders rather than exclusively female. Size differences were also quite apparent; the king and queen were, of course, as big as Princess Celestia, but the subjects grew up like regular Equestrian ponies in both height and body structure. They pretty much looked like Cadence did back when Twilight was still a filly, except they stayed like that.

This day was the first birthday of the King and Queen's son; Prince Blueberry Pancake. The King and Queen were setting up for the Prince's birthday celebration starting at noon in the ballroom of their castle. It was a quarter 'till, and they had made pretty good time being almost done with the decor.

"Toasty," Queen Maple Spots called to her King. "Are you finished yet with those streamers?" The waffle-colored, burnt-sienna-spotted alicorn was carrying with her magic a piñata that looked like a pancake with blueberries and whipped cream. But that wasn't the only thing she was carrying...

"Almost...nngg," King Buttered Toast grunted as he reached to hang up the last of the streamers. "Almost done honey! Nnngggg...gahhh. Got'em! So how's the foal doing?"

At first, Maple thought he was referring to Blueberry, who was playing with Toast's parents and former King and Queen, Huckleberry Muffin and Hazelnut Cocoa. But then she realized he was commenting on the foal squirming within her stomach. The pregnant mare was almost ready to have the foal, but it wasn't due for another two weeks.

The Queen chuckled. "Good," Maple giggled. "And, you do realize you could've just used levitation on the streamers, don't you?"

Ironically, Toast had forgotten about that. He suddenly realized the epic fail he'd made by spending half an hour just to put up all the streamers manually!

"Uhhhh...y-yeah," Toast stammered, blushing with embarrassment. "yeah I knew that, I knew that. I just wanted to...work up some front-leg strength. Heh heh...so what's left? Are we done?"

Maple scanned the room. The decorations were up, except for the piñata still grasped in Maple's magic, the refreshments were out, and the music was ready.

"Oh my gosh," Maple fretted. "Where’s the cake?!"

"Oh shit," Toast cursed quietly with a face-hoof. "I knew we were forgetting something!"

"You mean we don't even have it?!"

"Oh, no we do. It's just not, uh..."

"Not what?"

"It's, uh...not been delivered yet...eh-heh."

"Queen Maple," Peanut interrupted as the small, tan mare poked her head into the ballroom. "The bakery truck is here. I believe they're here to deliver the Prince's birthday cake Your Highness."

"Will you look at that," Toast replied excitedly. "Perfect timing!"

*~*~☾~✿~✧~★~✧~✿~☾~*~*

It was quite a big birthday party for just such a small colt, but that's the beauty of being royalty. The fillies and colts had fun playing games with the Prince and his grandparents on one side of the room, while the parents had their conversations on the other side with Toast and Maple. Blueberry busted open the piñata easily after all the other foals tried. He won in a game of hide and seek, and almost floated away to the very high ceiling when he grabbed four balloons at once! After he'd opened all his birthday gifts, it was time for the cake. The cake was very large, and had a single candle smack-dad in the center. The cake, just like the piñata, resembled a pancake, but with real whipped cream and blueberries, said "Happy Birthday Prince Blueberry Pancakes" on it, and it was a chocolate cake.

"Alright everyone," King Toast announced to the foals. "Who's ready for the cake?"

The young fillies and colts began shouting and cheering as they dropped what they were doing and ran over to the tables for cake. Maple came over, picked up her son, and sat him down in his little chair in front of his cake. Maple and Toast stood at either side of him. When Blueberry glanced back at his mother, he froze, gazing at her swollen belly that held his sister or brother, his excited expression fading to a spacing out sort of expression. He saw a vision of an older pony; a unicorn, a young mare. She was an adolescent and she looked very, very sad; miserable even, and she was lying down with her head up, looking at her hooves. The image was toned in black and white. She was some darkish color, and in said dark areas, he could just make out some slightly lighter speckles on her. She was chained up in shackles on her neck, around her waist, and on all four ankles, and she bore several deep cuts and scars. Some were old and healing and some were fresh and bleeding. The unicorn's mane was completely straight and lighter than the rest of her coat, but much unkempt and had a few white streaks in it. Suddenly, she began to cry. She began to cry harder and harder and harder until finally, she began screaming.

Outside Blueberry's vision, the other alicorns were murmuring exchanging confused glances. One other little tan and brown colt with sky-blue eyes prodded him with a hoof, and asked,

"Blueberry? A-are you ok?"

Pancakes didn't answer. He continued to stare frightened at his mother's stomach, his expression getting worse and worse as he endured the sight of the young, chained and scarred mare's physical and emotional pain. His mother took one step toward him, her belly moved, and Blueberry jumped in his seat, out of the horrific image in his mind, and shrieked in startlement, and the crowd became concerned. He then began to cry.

"Oh honey," The Queen comforted to her frightened son, embracing him. "Shh, shh it's ok it's ok. Mommy's here, nothing to be afraid of."

"What's gotten into him," The King asked. "It's like he saw something from a horror movie."

"Maybe it was a vision," Hazelnut suggested. "There have been some occurances of random visions here and there among our ponies. Sometimes, me and Huckleberry sent them to the mortals to help them, just out of our own kindness."

"Well, um..." Maple intervened. "why don't we move on and light the candle now shall we?"

Blueberry calmed down as his father lit his birthday candle, and the crowd sung the birthday song.

"Go on," a young tan-and-flowery-patterned filly enthusiastically encouraged Blueberry. "Blow it out and make a wish!"

Blueberry thought for a few seconds as he thought of something to wish for. I wish I knew what that vision was about. Who was that pony? Where were her wings? And with that wish, he blew out the candle with a few tiny blows and the crowd cheered. Suddenly, Maple shrieked in pain. Her foal was about to be born! The crowd became shocked and worried and some ponies even shrieked in return.

"It's alright everyone," Toast alerted the crowd with a raised voice. "Remain calm! The foal is on its way, and I'm just going to take the Queen to the hospital."

The Queen shrieked again, even louder this time, as another contraction came. Blueberry was frightened once more, worse this time, and started to cry again.

"Mom! Dad," Toast exclaimed. "Take Blueberry and the other foals to the park ok? And don't forget the cake!"

"Ok then," Toast's father replied as he levitated the cake and Hazel took Blueberry. Peanut had gotten the stroller and the party guests made their way out of the castle and towards the park. Blueberry stopped crying and looked back as his father and Peanut both carefully guiding his mother out-back after being put into his stroller. As his mother's belly moved again, the image of the chained-up mare wailing in despair and pain, eyes pouring out tears mixed with blood, flashed in his mind. At the vision, he jerked his gaze away from his parents to the front doors with a gasp. What does it mean, he thought. Somepony tell me what does it mean?!

*~*~☾~✿~✧~★~✧~✿~☾~*~*

"Nelly," Strawberry, the young doctor, called to her assistant. The pink and gray very young mare was tending to the tired Queen. "Are you finished yet with that foal?"

"Almost," Nelly replied. The small gray, dusty-pink and light gray nurse was cleaning up the newborn. She examined it, and found its gender.

"Congratulations Queen," Nelly announced happily. "Say hello to your new Princess!"

"Oh my goodness," Maple gasped excitedly. "Let me see her, let me see her!"

The filly was a beautiful milk-chocolate brown with and a red spot here or there. Her tiny horn and wings were slightly more golden brown, and her short mane was a dark blonde with little white streaks. Nelly picked up the filly with her magic, who was about to wake and begin crying, and was about to hand her to the Queen when she slipped and fell! And upon landing on the ground the filly was sent careening from Nelly's magical grasp, out the window, and through the clouds to the mortal world below!

"NOOOO," Maple wailed in distress. "NOO! MY BABY!"

Maple tried to get up to rescue her daughter, when Strawberry pushed right past and flew down to retrieve the Princess.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was heading to SugarCube Corner to make some of her famous cupcakes. RainbowDash happened to be flying by overhead.

"Hey Pinkie," Rainbow shouted from above. "Where are you going?"

"To get make some cupcakes," Pinkie stopped to reply. "and then some muffins! Wanna come to taste test?"

"Ok."

As the young fillies headed to the sweet shop, she noticed something falling in the distance. It looked like it was coming from beyond Cloudsdale. What is that? Rainbow thought. She strained to see, and noticed it was a small pony. It looked like a foal! Fast as lightning, she zipped away towards the falling pony.

"RainbowDash," a voice screamed from below. Rainbow looked down and was astonished to see Pinkie running after her.

"Pinkie," Rainbow exclaimed back. "What are you doing?!"

"Trying to keep up with you silly! What are you doing?"

"It's a young foal! It doesn't look big enough to fly, it seems to be unconscious or something and it's to be falling from somewhere beyond Cloudsdale! It's gotta be saved!"

"Oh! Don't worry! I'll help you catch it in case you miss!"

The two friends were rushing as fast as they could in attempt to save the tiny pony. But then, Rainbow noticed another figure rushing for it as well; this pony looked a little older than her, like he or she wasn't a colt or filly anymore, but they weren't an adolescent yet; they were right in between. Confused, then surprised, RainbowDash noticed the foal and the bigger pony were alicorns. Wait a minute, Rainbow queried in her mind. But that's impossible! There aren't any other alicorns except... Rainbow pushed the thought away and rushed faster and faster and almost had the brown foal, who she noticed was a filly. When the other alicorn, pink and gray, tried the grab the filly at the same time, she bumped into RainbowDash, and sent her spinning to ground and the filly flying towards Canterlot! Rainbow shook her head regained control and watched in mid-air as the pink and gray alicorn flew away towards the tiny filly.

"What happened RainbowDash," PinkiePie shouted to Rainbow as she halted below her.

"I missed," Rainbow replied, hanging her head. "And now the filly is headed towards Canterlot! There's another pony going after her, and there's no way either of us could reach it in time now."

"I just hope that little baby pony will be ok."

*~*~☾~✿~✧~★~✧~✿~☾~*~*

Nearly 20 minutes had gone by until Strawberry had returned. The doctor looked very disappointed and wasn't holding the Princess.

"Where's my filly," Maple fretted.

"I'm sorry," Strawberry sighed. "She disappeared above Canterlot. She's with the mortals now."

"What," Toast exclaimed in disbelief and anger. "You lost her?!"

"Well I would have gotten her if it wasn't for this other dumb, blue, rainbow-maned pegasus filly that got in the way and bumped her from above Ponyville to Canterlot! And the only solution we have now is --"

"Death," Toast interrupted. "She'll have to die, and when she does, we can get her back."

"I'm afraid that's not how it's going to work," Strawberry informed. "You know how the fairytales go. She's gotta grow up to at least an adolescent before she learns of her royalty and where her true home lies. And I have this unbearably certain feeling her life is going to be a fairytale of its own."

"Well it won't hurt to try now will it?"

Maple had begun sobbing, but brought herself to ask to Strawberry, "Wait. What's that you have in your hooves?"

"This is all I managed to grab of the Princess Your Highness," Strawberry replied as she showed the items she grabbed from the newborn Princess. All Strawberry had managed to grab was an angel halo and the princess's wings. When the King and Queen returned home, Maple took the wings, halo, and a little tiara and chest piece already made for the Princess, and put them on a mannequin of a pony's head. Blueberry had waddled into the room, and looked up at the mannequin. The wings were brown and had a few red spots. I have a little sister now, Blueberry thought, beginning to frown. Because his mother was brought in crying and only had these things she put on the mannequin, he realized they must've lost her somehow, but that maybe she's still alive. He began feeling very sad that he wouldn't have his little sister around to play with, but it changed to sudden horror as he examined the wings closer. Could she have been the unicorn in what I saw at my birthday party? Blueberry wasn't sure, and he had no idea what his sister looked like. So he crawled to the window, and looked down upon Equestria. Finally, he caught sight of a couple in a hospital with their newborn foal down in canterlot. The father was a dark sky blue with a black mane and hooves, and the mother was pink with a brunette mane and patches. In the pink mare's hooves was a little brown unicorn filly with a white chest and belly and a few red spots here and there on her body. It can't be! My sister was the unicorn with the dirty, jingly, shiny things?! But why? What's going to happen to her?!

Comments

[RainbowDangerDash97]

I don't think tragedy, dark, or sad go with comedy XD But apart from that, I love it!

Also, I love how you write RainbowDash so they don't change to Firefly XD

[Tartpelt dah Poneh]

392290
lol x3 and i know they don't go together but isn't it an interesting mix?