• Published 3rd Jun 2017
  • 636 Views, 2 Comments

The Last Alicorn - NightmareTRXY32



What if you woke up to find that you were the last of your kind. That everypony you knew just up and vanished one day. Well, Twilight will find that out, and the Question will haunt every corner of her mind.

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Infected

Dark magic infections were not something to laugh at. They've been recorded through out history. Twilight was well aware of them. She had always been told by Celestia to never practice that type of magic for fear of how dangerous it would have been in her hooves. She was the element of magic after all. The last thing Celestia wanted was to see Twilight succumb to its temptation. Back when she was a unicorn Twiligiht had easily used it to find Sombra's hidden lair where the Crystal Heart had been stored away.

"Dark Magic Case Number 34: Subject has shown increased hostility to those that were once friends and family. Subject has mastered even the highest form of teleportation with having little to no knowledge of it beforehoove." That was just the first case that had documented. The previous cases hadn't been due to the fact the transcribers in all of them had been killed during the observation phases.

Every case after that had been conducted with better safeguards enforced. There was one case of note that caught Twilight's attention.

"Subject Number 35 Case Study: Name: Trixie Lulamoon. The subject has shown a tremendous increase in Magical ability after being subjected to the affects of the notorious Alicorn Amulet. The color of her magic aura has been altered from a calm Azure blue to a deep crimson Red. Subject shows outright hostility towards the name Twilight Sparkle.

Of note the offensive side of her is extremely dangerous. She was observed casting Fiery Bombardment, Spectral Missile,Bound Sword,and several fire and shock spells that could leave scorch marks on its intended target. The subject complains of hearing voices and claims to see that of a shadowy figure attempting to beckon her further into the darkness. Its our estimate that she is able to be released, but needs to to find a cure before it consumes whats left of her body and soul." Twilight felt a cold chill go through her. She felt bad now for how she had treated Trixie when she first saw her with Starlight.

There was no way to get word to them seeing how they on vacation. Even though they were in the Everfree forest it was difficult to send telepathic messages through that place. It was as if somepony had set up a ward that prevented that from happening. She had to wait until they returned on their own so she could tell them what she had just discovered.


Starlight and Trixie had been dating for the longest time now. There were ups and downs but the two of them were going to see this through to the end. An end that included marriage. They had to consider how their friends would feel about the engagement. Both of them knew that Twilight would be more understanding then some. Trixie had hoped that this little camping trip would be able to square any small problems that still existed between them.

She clutched her chest for a moment. She could feel some sort of burning sensation. Not the kind you'd get from eating spicy foods or indigestion. This was something else. Her vision started to darken and she could hear voices. It was like the shadows of the trees were moving and trying to claw at her. That was when it struck her what was happening to her.

It had been twelve years at the least since the incident involving the ALicorn Amulet. She thought back to the warning the store owner had tried to give her about it. At the time she just nodded and left the shop. But now it was all coming back to her. The Alicorn Amulet was an artifact created by a powerful unicorn mage. A mage that had been corrupted by dark magic and became the consort to the King of Shadows, King Sombra.

A Unicorn that her and Twilight had both looked up as foals. Clover the Clever.

Even now though, she could feel that something was wrong. Trixie didnt feel right. In fact she felt something that she had not felt in a long time. She felt cold. Isolated. Abandoned. A part of her knew she wasnt really alone. She had Starlight to warm her heart, among other things. But this felt different. This was a dark magic infection.

It slowly dawned on her that this had to have been from her experience with the Alicorn Amulet. But what would happen if Starlight found out. Could Trixie stand to tell her what was happening? Or would she continue to hide it from her marefriend. Later that night Trixie decided that she had to say something to Starlight about what was happening to her. She just had to figure out to break it to Starlight without making her friend panic.

Dark Magic infections were not the most pleasant thing to go through. They were known to start slowly and once past a certain amount of time corrupt and destroy the users body. The pony would cease to exist on all planes of existence, there was no way to bring them back save for the most forbidden magic known to exist. It required a Blood Pact with a powerful Necromancer, and those were rare in Equestria after the royal sisters came to power.

There was one that was rumored to still exist, but seeking her out meant death in most cases. Her name was Dead Loyalty, and upon close examination was a dead ringer for Rainbow Dash, minus the color scheme. Trixie had heard of her on one of her road trips outside of Ponyville. When Starlight was asleep she snuck out the trap door she had in her wagon to avoid waking her friend up and started off in the direction of where Loyalty's cottage might be. She knew from a map she had that it was near their location in the Everfree Forrest.

When she finally got to the general area of where it might be, she heard a raspy voice calling out from a nearby tree.

"What the buck do you want, I'm trying to take a nap here.", Out of the branches came a grey coated and black maned pegasus. All the descriptions Trixie had heard were spot on, outside of her name she looked exactly like Twilight's friend Rainbow.

"I wasn't expecting you to be Rainbow Dash's evil twin,", Trixie huffed. When she looked back at the mare after saying that under her breath, Dead Loyalty was giving her the most bone-chilling stare, one that rivaled Fluttershy's.

" You mention that name again, and i kill you where you stand." Loyalty said, trying to hold back her rage. That was a name she didn't want to hear. Trixie didn't know that Dead Loyalty was related to Rainbow in a way that would break time itself. And it was mostly because of Starlight fucking with the Timeline.

Years ago, when Twilight came back from preventing Starlight's tampering of the main Timeline, she returned to find a magic anamoly engulfing her castle. when the distortion faded, Dead Loyalty was standing in front of her, the mares eyes full of grief. She automatically hugged Twilight, kissing on the lips and saying that she was so glad she was alive. Twilight asked her to remind her how they knew each other, and Dead told her that they were on their honeymoon when Canterlot was attacked by Chrysalis and her Changeling army, she thought that Twilight had been captured, so she went to find help and saw a bright light in the sky. Then she woke up here.

Twilight explained that she had been pulled into a time distortion as a result of Twilight's battle with a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer. After hearing that and being shown a photo of Rainbow Dash and Twilight together, Loyalty told Twilight that she needed some air. That was about 12 years ago from Dead Loyalty's perspective. She hadn't been back to Twilight's castle since. So Dead Loyalty started studying the Dark Arts to see if there was another way for her to get back to her own timeline.

Trixie could only stare at her perplexed as she told the showmare everything that had happened to her and why she was here now. Trixie stared at the ground for longest time before finally getting it off her chest.

"Starlight is why I'm here, she's reformed herself and is doing what she can to atone for her past crimes. And so am i, which is why i need to know if you're familiar with Dark Magic type infections." She said.

"They're not easy to overcome, you know that right?", Loyalty said with some remorse in her voice.

"I have to try, I love Starlight too much not to at least make an attempt to cure this,", Trixie's eyes were filling with tears. Dead Loyalty opened her cottage door and rummaged through a bookshelf before pulling a spell tome off the shelf.

"This may be able to help you out, but you need to be careful,", Trixie nodded as she levitated the tome into her saddlebag.

"You know, Starlight and i are friends with Twilight, i could at least tell her that your ok if you wanted,", Loyalty paused before opening her mouth.

"Thanks, but I'm gonna do it myself."She said that before taking to the air. Good luck Trixie thought to herself, to both of us.

Twilight's Castle

Right as Twilight and Rainbow were about to sit down for dinner, Spike came in and told her she had company. Ponies were disappearing, Starlight and Trixie weren't back from their trip yet, and she already had a sneaking suspicion who it was that had come to visit. She couldn't even tell Dash that she met her exact double and had felt the same emotions for Loyalty that she had felt for her Twilight.

As if in on que, Dead Loyalty walked into the room. Rainbow's jaw nearly hit the floor. She was looking at an exact double of herself, minus all the grey and black. She was even more perplexed when Twilight walked right over and hugged this mare.

"Look Twi..", she stammered before being cut off.

"I know why you left Dead, and i don't hold it against you,", She held her close, she understood that Dead Loyalty need time to find a way home, and if that didn't pan out, come to terms with starting a new life here.

There would always be that part of her that loved Twilight. The part that found it harder and harder to let go of her. Loyalty turned to Rainbow and stared at the mare for what seemed like hours before speaking.

"I wont get in the way,",she started,"But know this, if you ever think of hurting her.. I'll put you in a world of hurt."Rainbow could tell she wasn't joking. It was almost like staring into a mirror. She could see the anger and pain in her green tinted irises. Rainbow Dash would never think of hurting Twilight. And yet she started to wonder about her mirrored reflection standing in front of her right now.

"I need to know, what was your reality like?" Dead Loyalty stared at her for a moment before telling her what her life was like in her reality.

"Well, in my timeline Twilight and I were friends for years. Hell, Rarity and Applejack are married where i come from. The same events that happened here also happened in mine. We beat Nightmare Moon and restored Princess Luna. Discord was another matter."Rainbow could tell just be her inflection that the encounter with Discord must have had a different outcome than in her reality.

" Discord got free from his stone imprisonment and started wreaking havoc. It wasn't until he laid eyes on Fluttershy that something in him changed," Dead Loyalty continued," It was as if he had found someone that he had lost over a millennia ago. He helped us when The Changelings attacked Canterlot. That was also the same time that Twilight, my Twilight, and I were on our Honeymoon." As she spoke those last words, Rainbow took a step back.

The brash pegasus stared at the ground for awhile. Im not ready for that kind of commitment , she thought to herself. Yea, she loved Twilight, and dating her had some great benefits. But Marriage? She didn't feel she was even remotely ready for something like that. She had seen how Twilight reacted around Dead Loyalty. The way they talked to each other, the way Twilight had just pulled the mare into an embrace like they had always known each other.

As the three of them took some time to get a grip on everything that was occurring Twilight decided she needed some much deserved rest.

"Dead, you can use my shower and spare room if you like, I'm gonna get some sleep."Twilight then turned to Rainbow Dash. "I'll see you tomorrow Rainbow." Boy she was tired. All this tension in the room and the following exposition really took a lot out of her.

"Yea, i need to go check on Scoots when i head home," Rainbow flexed her wings as she opened the balcony window and flew off towards her cloud home. Dead Loyalty could only hope that she didn't spook her too much with what she had just said.

It really was a lot for the mare to process. Not only did she meet a doppleganger from a parallel universe. This double also had the same feelings she did for Twilight. She figured that she was only getting in the way of them working things out. Yes she still cared about Twilight, but it was also clear that Dead Loyalty cared deeply for her too. For the time being Rainbow decided it was best if she stayed out of the way so to speak.

She hoped that Twilight would understand. She couldn't imagine what Dead Loyalty must have suffered through after she told Rainbow Dash her story. Dash wasn't the most level headed mare at times. She was brash and impulsive. Something she noticed was sort of there in Dead Loyalty, but seemed more tempered with patience and time.

"Maybe this really is for the best," she thought to herself. Rainbow opened the door to her cloud house to find Scootaloo asleep on her bed. She smiled softly as she climbed into bed and patted the filly on the head. She made sure it wasn't too much to fully wake her. She looked like she was having a fun dream by the way she was kicking the air with one leg.

Despite the disappearances of most of the town, things seemed to have quieted down for now. It was as if half the town had just up and vanished. Twilight had gone to check on Applejack when all of this first took place. Something crossed Rainbow's mind. Everything had stopped after Dead Loyalty showed up. She wasn't an egghead like Twilight, but the more she thought about it, the more she started to realize that it was as if they had been erased from history.

Maybe she was overthinking it. She'd find out in the morning if her little theory had any merit to it. Rainbow Dash wanted to believe that this Dead Loyalty wasn't going to do anything to hurt Twiligiht herself and her threat earlier was in jest. She wanted to sleep on this until the morning. That night she had the worst nightmare. She was in Canterlot yelling Twilight's name. She searched every room and couldn't find her. She ran down the hall thinking she saw her turn the corner. When she got there she reared back when saw who was in front of her.

"One little pony all by herself,"somepony said as they came out of the shadows. Queen Chrysalis. There was something wrong with her though. There were parts of exposed bone and scratches all over her body. Rainbow backed up until she was up against a pillar.

"Waht are you doing here?" Rainbow stuttered. This was the last creature she wanted to see. For all her bravado she knew that she could never taken on a being like Chrysalis all by herself.

"Dont worry, I know this is a dream," She said,"Im contacting you because I wanted to."Out of all of them Rainbow Dash was the one that she wanted to contact. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be honored by the Queen's presence or not. Chrsyalis had her attention she could tell.

"That pony Dead Loyalty is from the same timeline I'm from, and somehow Im stuck in this null realm because of her and a pony named Starlight Glimmer. I don't know why but when i hear that name I'm filled with rage. Maybe you can tell me why."Rainbow Dash decided to tell her, she earned that much.

"Starlight Glimmer and our version of you got into a battle not too long ago. She freed the Changelings from your control." The look she was giving Dash after hearing that last part was enough to kill a dragon a hundred times over. It was a look of seeing rage.

"Your telling me that i lost everything to a single mare!!" Chrsyalis screamed in the confines of the halls." that was it she thought to herself, this Rainbow Dash was going to help her whether she wanted to or not. She bring her into the real world and from there they'd part ways.

She was going to kill this Starlight Glimmer for taking away her empire. It was the least she felt she could do. She would also find herself in this timeline and tell her that their plans were nearly successful. They had nearly replaced the PRincesses before this Starlight Glimmer showed up. She wanted to smirk but that could wait till later.

"I want you to concentrate hard while i hold on to you,"Chrsyalis told Rainbow Dash. And as much as she thought this was a bad idea, Rainbow Dash decided to do as she was told. As she woke up she turned to see a dark figure curled up in a ball on the floor of her cloud house. She poked at it to see it was alive.

"This is where we part ways," a voice said. Chrysalis got to her hooves and stared at Rainbow Dash for a moment. She wasn't sure why she was doing this but Rainbow got up from her bed and put her head against Chrsyalis chest. She heard the faint echoes of.. a heartbeat. She had always been lead to believe that Changelings had no hearts like Ponies did. The Queen noticed this and decided to educate the mare.

"If your doing what i think your doing, then let me explain something to you. We had hearts at one point, until that bastard Discord severed our connections to them. And Starswirl the Bearded cursed me before then. Now if its alright with you, I'll be going." Chrysalis wasn't mad, or even annoyed when she spoke. She just needed time to herself.

She'd come back here if she needed to. She wanted to reward Rainbow for being loyal enough to listen to what she had to say. She knew exactly how she'd repay her.