> The Missing Princess > by PopsicleLove > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Celestia's Grave > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle wandered sadly towards the princess's grave. Thirteen years with no trace of her. Not a sight seen by the guards, not a hoof on the ground. Princess Celestia's grave was very grand, with wilting flowers and new ones. It was built at the edge of a sturdy cliff, where the sun rose each morning. Princess Luna had to take on the responsibility of raising the sun each morning. Princess Luna hardly ever got sleep now, she had to do her work in the night, raise the sun in the morning, and do all the royal responsibilities throughout the day. Princess Celestia's grave was created from white marble, with a sun painted in the lower left corner. Princess Celestia Loving Sister and Princess of Equestria The Greatest Teacher of Equestria Loved by All We all live for the hope that Princess Celestia has only lost her way and will return home soon. We wait for the day she comes back. Missing: 13 years ago The grave had been enchanted to change each year. The grave was covered in yellow roses, with the occasional red one from the Princess of the Night. Yellow roses had been Celestia's favorite flower. Twilight Sparkle lit her horn to grab a bundle of yellow roses from her satchel, and then she laid them on the grave. There was six in total, one from each of her friends. Today was Twilight's birthday, and as she had done for the past thirteen years, she brought this bundle of flowers. Twilight turned away sadly before she started to cry. Twilight heard fussing around when she returned to her castle. She tilted her head and scrunched up her nose. What was happening in there? "She's HERE already!" hissed a quiet voice that could only belong to one unicorn. Rarity. "We know that, that's why we need Pinkie Pie to hurry UP!" hissed back another voice, this one raspy. Twilight rolled her eyes. Definitely Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, it's not her fault that-" "I'm here!" Twilight declared. Titters and muffled words got louder and more apparent. It was all mostly, hurry up, and I told you so. Twilight slowly creaked open the large door. Then she heard Pinkie Pie's giggly voice. "OOOH! I'M HEEEEEEEEEEEEERRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she shouted. "OH! SHE IS TOO! ONE SECOND DASHIE!" The door was halfway open. Twilight saw her friends and then she heard a cannon blow and the door slammed from the force. Twilight just opened the door now. "Happy birthday Twilight!" shouted her friends. The party cannon had decorated her whole room. Twilight managed a smile. "Thanks... guys." she said. "Since it's your 21st today, we couldn't just do nothing!" Rarity exclaimed. "First party in thirteen years!" Rainbow Dash whooped, showering her friend in confetti. Twilight brushed it out of her face. "PARTY!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Twilight smiled weakly. "Thanks guys." she said. They had never been away since the Celestia went missing. Ponyville had become grayer, Canterlot darker and more problematic... Not only had the Princess of Sun gone missing, so had the Princess of Friendship. After a couple hours of fake smiles, forced smiles, and weak smiles, Twilight headed to bed. But before heading in, she looked at her pictures. The one when she had first learned about Friendship, with just the six of them. Rainbow Dash stepping on Twilight's head, Pinkie Pie leaning on top of Rarity (and Rarity reacted after the picture had been taken thank goodness), Fluttershy calmly on the grass, and Applejack just off to the side. Then Pinkie Pie with her face smothered in buttercream pie, and Rarity looking disgusted while Rainbow Dash nudged Applejack, laughing, and Applejack was just giving a nervous smile. Flip forward a couple years and Twilight saw pictures at the Funeral, and even Pinkie looked sad. Her hair was straight too. They were all wearing black, with Rarity wearing a Victorian style black and purple dress with a white handkerchief. Her mascara was running. A sad attempt at a party, with Pinkie Pie disapproving of herself. A couple more sad pictures, fake smiles disappearing and being replaced with frowns. Twilight sighed as she put away the photo album and went to bed. A pony awoke. It was unsure what happened. Who was it? What was it? Was it alive? Oh wait... memories flooded back. Parts of them anyways... She remembered. She was a she. She was a pony... an important pony... A memory flashed... somepony was angry... she remembered... being... hit... by... by somepony... Who was that pony? The pony was too blurry. What was her name? Where was she? The pony stood, but it took a couple tries. She stood bravely and tried to dig through the... substance around her... What was that? She raised a pale hoof. Dirt. Definitely dirt. She tried to dig her way out... but she was too hungry... too tired... too... The world turned black around her as her eyes shut. > A Mysterious... Unicorn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pony's eyes adjusted. She only saw... dirt... crash this way, crash that way, it was all dirt. As the pony stood to her full height she groaned, and fell back down. What had she just hit? Her horn had hit the- Her horn. She had a horn, didn't she? A long one at that. But something was still missing. Her horn blinked a couple times, until it glowed bright blue. She craned her neck around at her flank. It was blank. She was just unicorn. What happened? Somepony did something... what did they... she blacked out again. "I swear, there's a pony in there!" shouted Rarity. "I was just looking for gems, and I found something living, breathing, it was warm! There. Is. A. PONY. There!" "No one has been in these caves for years, except for you. No one is in there." reasoned Luna. "THERE IS A PONY IN THERE!" repeated Rarity, screaming at her princess. Since Luna was the only princess, other than Cadance, they had renamed her the Princess of Balance. She was the Princess of the Sun and Moon, she was Nightmare Moon, yet she was also Princess Luna. Luna sighed at her loyal subject. She supposed she owed her a favor, after all the things she and her friends had done for Equestria, including leading a search for her dear Tia, and trying to restore the Princess of Friendship. Luna sighed, blowing through her nostrils. She lit her dark blue horn. "Where?" she asked, rather exasperated. Rarity nodded to herself, and galloped off into the cave, Luna racing behind her. She finally awoke again. She heard footsteps. Galloping ones. "H... he-e-ee... h...el...p..." she whispered, with all the strength she had. "Shush, I heard something!" a voice hushed. They stopped, and listened. "I-... I'm... he...." she blacked out for a couple seconds to dirt rushing upon her white coat. Her eyes were half open now. Her dull blue eyes stared into a pony's blue ones. And a pony's turquoise ones. Her eyes winced as she tried to stand, only to fall again, and drop down to her knees. The pony with blue eyes brushed a white hoof through her purple mane's curls; and she gasped. Princess Luna lifted the mysterious unicorn out of the ditch, which was rather easy because she was rather weak. The mysterious pony was blacked out, and Princess Luna had a headache. She awoke on a comfy bed. A bright room, it had books, a white dresser, and pictures of an oh-so-familiar sun. Why did it all feel so... natural? "Ah, you've awoken." called a regal voice. The mysterious unicorn groaned. "Not a morning person?" the regal voice lightly joked. The unicorn slowly sat up in the bed. "So, what's your name?" asked the blue pony who had the flowing blue main and turquoise eyes. "I... I... I don't know." the pony replied. "Well, I'm Luna." said the blue pony. The unknown unicorn nodded slightly. "Would you like us to give you a name?" Luna asked. The unicorn nodded. Luna smiled. "How does Dawn Orchid sound?" Luna asked. The unicorn smiled, and then collapsed into bed. Luna's comforting smile dropped into a concerned frown. She was no doctor. Nurse Tenderheart strode in, and assured Luna she was just blacked out. Luna nodded, and smiled weakly. She'd never seen this pony before. The pony had long pink hair, blue magic, a white coat, and purple eyes. Yet, she was a full grown pony without a cutie mark. She was tall, taller than... Tia had been. She missed her sister. Very much. She sat down in her throne, and she looked at her sister's throne. She had ordered for it to not be removed. It was clean. Someone came to dust it every day. In the middle of their thrones was Twilight's. Hers was dusted. Behind her throne, sat a great pillar that held her clean crown, and the Elements of Harmony as well. "Princess Luna, the Princess of Balance..." she muttered. It didn't sound right. She was the Princess of the Moon, not of Balance. She was far from balanced. > Dreaming > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dawn's eyes fluttered open. This wasn't the bright, white, comforting room she had gone to sleep in. She was in a cage. It was buried. The cage was metal, and it was covered in dirt, there was no light. It was pitch black. Her hair was flowing, her eyes were bright, and she felt something on her sides. She felt... strong. But she was trapped. Suddenly, the cage melted into burning, liquified metal. The dirt melted away, and as the liquid metal engulfed her, suddenly, she found herself awoken on a starry path. A pony with straight bangs, a purple coat, purple eyes, and a purple mane with a pink streak was looking at her. She stared back and the pony broke into shards of glass. Dawn rushed to the glass, but alas, the pony was gone. She tapped the glass, and it became a mirror. She did not see herself. She saw a great pony with a flowing mane, a white coat, great wings, a golden crown and necklace, and- The mirror shattered off of the clouds. Then, Dawn fell. She fell back underground, in the hole she had awoken in. "Help!" she exclaimed, but her voice sounded different. Something stared at her with bright, white eyes out of the darkness. The voice that went with the majestic eyes sounded like a child's, but distorted. "You will find no help. You will no longer be yourself, you will disappear off of the face of the Earth!" the voice cackled, and it echoed before the eyes blinked and disappeared. The hole started filling with burning, blood red lava. Dawn scrambled to the back of the hole, but the lava engulfed it. The eyes appeared again, just as the lava was to touch her. But this time, they were tinged with blue, and it had a face. A familiar one. Luna. Dawn awoke in sweat and tears. She was panting. Luna sat beside her. Dawn started to cry. Luna and Dawn trotted in Ponyville. It was odd to see a princess just walking in a small town like Ponyville. Dawn had calmed down, and they were now trotting about. A paper hit Dawn in the face. She spluttered and then brushed out of her face to read it. It was a new paper, with a picture of six ponies. The Mane Six Awards Ceremony Six ponies will be honored to be named: - The Honesty Award -The Generosity Award - The Loyalty Award - The Kindness Award - The Laughter Award And last but not least, THE MAGIC AWARD "Ah yes, the MSAC. It's happening tomorrow. Would you like to go see it? It's really quite a show. I think you'll enjoy it." Luna smiled, leaning over Dawn's shoulder. Dawn didn't answer. She only stared at the six ponies shown in the photo. Why did so many things seem so familiar? "Who's the purple pony?" Dawn asked. She seemed to be the most significant in the photo, since she was in the middle of the photo. And she also seemed very familiar. "Twilight Sparkle." Luna smiled. "She is the Princess of Friendship. She was quite the student at Celestia's School for Gifted Ponies." "Could I meet her?" Dawn asked. Luna smiled. "Of course. She will be at the MSAC." They trotted a bit further before Dawn spoke again. "Who's the purple haired pony?" Dawn asked. "Rarity, she was the most fashionable pony of Equestria, and a fantastic dress maker." Luna replied. Dawn paused. "Was?" "Yes, when the princess went missing thirteen years ago, Rarity closed her shops in both Canterlot, and here in Ponyville. That blue pony there," Luna said, pointing towards the pony with the rainbow hair and blue coat. "She moved back to Cloudsdale to help the Wonderbolts." "And the orange pony?" "She's working hard and strong on her farm. She's still here in Ponyville." "What about the yellow and pink pony?" "Oh, she's still here as well. You don't really see her often though, she's usually busy working with her animals." Luna replied. "The pink pony?" "Oh." Luna laughed. "She's never quite in one place. She's all over the Equestria. She's a real party planner. 'The party must go on!' she says." Dawn smiled. "Do you think we could go meet these ponies?" "Of course! They will all be at the MSAC." Luna said. They trotted further, with smiles upon their faces, and small talk through their mouths. Dawn sniffed the air. "Something smells good, Luna." "Mmm..." Luna sniffed too, and then smiled. "Are you hungry?" Dawn nodded, smiling. "We should go get food at Sugarcube Corner. It was my sister's favorite." "Oh! Where is your sister now?" Dawn asked. But the question saddened Luna. "She... died." Luna replied, with great difficulty. "Oh..." Dawn said, eyes casting downwards. "I'm sorry." Luna gave back a weak smile, and reached out a hoof for Dawn. Dawn smiled. The two of them were sitting at one of Sugarcube Corner's colorful tables. "What would you like today?" asked a pony with a blue coat and pink eyes and mane. "Oh, and my name is Mrs. Cup Cake!" You could practically shove a smiley face emoticon in her quotations. "Um... Maybe we could just have a minute more, please?" Dawn asked. "Oh of course, darling!" Mrs. Cup Cake smiled. A squeal echoed throughout the shop. "CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSTOMERSSSSSSSSS!!!" squealed a voice, very loudly. Mrs. Cup Cake and a yellow pony who also appeared to be working there gave no notice to the shout. Dawn assumed this happened often. "SO! Would you like apple cupcakes, cherry cupcakes, sapphire cupcakes, orange cupcakes, zap apple cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes, coffee cupcakes, drenched cupcakes, lemon and lime cupcakes, apricot cupcakes, pudding cupcakes, pineapple cupcakes, liquid cupcakes, peach cupcakes, passion fruit..." a pink pony said, before heaving and panting. She took a BIG breath and then... "cupcakes, ice cream cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, paint cupcakes, swag cupcakes, banana cupcakes-" "Um, could I have a strawberry cupcake please?" Dawn asked, cutting the pony off. "Um, me as well, please." Luna smiled. "Okay!" the pink pony squealed, and then jumped to get their cupcakes. "That would be Pinkie Pie." Luna laughed.