> Jollybaker and the Lost Alicorns
>  by Jollybaker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Golden Jollybaker is a red golden pegasus. He has been looking for his sister, Harmony Flavorcake, with his friends, Appleworm (an honest, bright green unicorn with long yellow tail and backwards blue hat hanging on his horn) Sonic Boom (a loyal white pegasus with big wings and long fiery mane and tail) Siltstone (a grey earth pony with short black mane and tail) and Blue Diamond (an energetic, happy blue unicorn with frizzy mane and tail) in the Graffoldine Forest.

"Hey, Jolly! I don't think she would be here! This forest is way too wild!" Appleworm called out to Jollybaker.
Jollybaker stopped flying and turned around to his friends. He saw they were having trouble keeping up with him and Sonic.
He sighed. 
"Sonic. Can you find your way back to the bakery?"
"Yeah."
"Then you lead the others back. I will continue a little more, okay?"
"Okay. Sure. Don't take too long. It'll be dark soon," he said before going to lead the rest back and leaving Jollybaker alone.
Jollybaker continued on and after a few minutes, he found an old cave.
"Hey! I found a cave!" 
He looked back towards his friends, but they were too far away to hear him. He heard a noise from inside the cave.
"Jolly! Help me!"
He turned back towards the cave. 
"Harmony?" He headed inside the cave. As he got farther into the cave, the voice got louder.
"Help me!" 
"Harmony. Where are you?" 
He then heard a different voice. 
"Turn back, Jollybaker! Your sister is not here!" 
He seen a giant pony. He tried calling out but his voice was silent. He got closer but he started to feel weird. He fell down and couldn't move. He thought he saw a horn and giant wings on the figure. He heard Sonic calling his name right before he passed out.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jollybaker stirred around in his bed and opened his eyes. He seen Blue Diamond staring at him right in front of his face. He started screaming, then she started screaming.
"Blue Diamond! Don't do that!"
"What did I do?"
He sat up.
"What happened?"
"Sonic said you passed out. You've been out for days."
He looked at her.
"What is in your mane?"
"Oh. It's a mane band made from Daises. Sonic made it for me. You like it?"
Before he could answer, Appleworm came into the room, and seen Jollybaker up.
"Thank goodness. You're awake. How do you feel?"
"Okay. I guess. Where's the others?"
Appleworm gave him a worried look.
"Well, Siltstone is looking through some books to see what she can find out about the alicorns, and Sonic is... how should I say this?.... Well, he has been really weird the last few days."
"Weird how?"
Appleworm and Blue Diamond looked at each other for a moment before Appleworm finally answered, "Well, sometimes he is alright. But other times...," he lets out a little sigh. "I think he blames himself for what happened to you for some reason."
Jollybaker sat there thinking and he finally remembered what happened.
"I need to talk to him. Where is he right now?"
"He is out making laps around town. He has been really busy lately. He has actually managed to get the other ponies to trust one another more, what ones have stayed. There are hardly any pony left in Equestria. I guess he thinks it will help you feel better if they are getting along."
Jollybaker got out of bed and headed down stairs and out the door. He found Sonic trying to blow up some balloons for a few earth ponies. He walked up to him.
"Hey Sonic."
Sonic let go of the balloon he had and it when flying. He turned towards Jollybaker.
"Oh, Jolly. You're ok." He gave him a hug.
"Yeah. I'm okay. I have something to talk about with you. You have a minute?"
"Of course. I am always here to help a friend in need." He let a nervous laugh.
"Uh-huh. You remember what happened to me, right? In the cave?"
"Of course. I heard you calling out that you found a cave and when I found you inside, you were laying on the ground, passed out. I shouldn't have left you alone. It's my fault."
"That doesn't matter. Who else was there when you found me?"
Sonic gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean? You were the only one there. You were mumbling something about alicorns, though. You don't remember that?"
"No, I don't, actually. Are you sure it was about alicorns?"
"Yeah. That reminds me, Siltstone was wanting to talk to you when you got up today, which I thought was rather weird. Like she knew you would be up today. She said she found something about alicorns in the Sparkle Library."
He went flying off to help out a pony that was carrying a bunch of stuff.
Jollybaker headed off to find Siltstone in the library.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

He managed to find Siltstone sitting at a table with a bunch of books surrounding her.
"Hey, Siltstone. You wanted to see me?"
She looked at him, holding a book.
"Yes I did. Does this look familiar to you?"
She showed him a picture of an alicorn.
"Yeah. This is exactly what I saw in the cave. Who is it?"
"An old alicorn called Minty Lavender. It says here, 'Minty Lavender, the successor of Luster Dawn, was the last known alicorn ruler of Equestria. She was never able to find a true princess to take over as ruler, so she retired and left the citizens of Equestria to make their own decisions. When she did, she locked her magic up somewhere, hoping one day that a true leader would one day find it when it was necessary. If this magic was found, then whoever claims it would be the most powerful pony ever. But it can only be acquired by someone who has suffered through loneliness and must have a loss in their life. Then, have a group of five friends that are not so much alike.' I think you might be the one that it refers to. Because you have been alone with the loss of your sister and now have a group of friends."
Jollybaker thought about this for a moment before saying something.
"But it says a group of five friends. I only have four. You, Appleworm, Sonic Boom, and Blue Diamond. Who's the other?"
"I do not know. But I am certain that you are the one that is meant to find this magic when it is necessary. I guess it's not time to find it. In the meantime, I think we should continue to look for your sister."
"But we have looked in the Crystal Empire, Griffinstone, the Castle of the Two Sisters, the Everfree Forest and all the other old old places, and have found no sign of her at all. Where else can we possibly look?"
She pulled out another book.
"Right here, of course. The one place that has not been touched in a very long time. Not even the old alicorn princesses of the sun and moon have been in there. The legendary land of Glitterhoof."
"Sounds promising. We must leave as soon as possible. The sooner, the better."
She closed the books up and put them away.
"Agreed. I have already told the others. I will meet you there at the border of the Graffoldine Forest. Believe it or not, the way there is not too far away from the cave you found. But it is very hard to get to."
"Ok. I'll meet you there but why can't you just come with me?" He looked at her with a confused look.
"Because I will have to go get someone to help out with the forest. And he would not be willing to help if I showed up with you." 
She walked away before Jolly could say anything else. He had no choice but to trust her on the matter so he headed toward the forest.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Jollybaker got to the border of the Graffoldine Forest, he seen not four but five ponies waiting for him.
"Okay. Who's that?"
He asked, pointing towards the extra pony. 
"Oh. That's my brother, Keyward. He wouldn't let me come alone. Sorry, Jolly," answered Blue Diamond.
"That's okay. He can probably help out."
Keyward looked at him with a frown and said, "I am not here to be your friend, Mr. Jollybaker. I'm just here to protect my sister."
"Okay. Geez. Someone is need of a cookie."
"I hate cookies, and anything sweet, okay? And don't think that just because my sister is friends with all of you, I am going to trust you. I still hate that you tricked my sister into letting you go."
"But they didn't-" Blue Diamond started saying.
Keyward looked at her with a stern look.
"Zip it, Frizzy."
She shrugged.
"I told you I don't like that name. My name should have been Blue Diamond."
Jollybaker didn't say anything else to these two and turned to Siltstone.
"So where is the way to Glitterhoof?"
"Just follow me," she said.
They all followed her through the forest. When they got to the cave, she stopped and looked at a map.
Jollybaker stared at the cave. He could see the ghost of Minty Lavender staring at him.
"You all see that, right?"
He pointed towards the figure and they all looked, except Siltstone. They all looked confused.
"No one can see her except the one destined to receive her powers," said Siltstone, still looking at the map.
Minty started walking down a path and then stopped and looked at Jollybaker.
"I think she wants us to follow her."
He started following her and the others noticed him but couldn't see Minty, so they just followed him. 
They walked until they seen a giant stone wall in front of them.
Jollybaker looked over it.
"So now what? It's just a brick wall."
Siltstone looked at it, then at her book.
"Look around for anything out of the ordinary. It could be anything."
They all started looking.
Appleworm was the first one to say something while looking at an apple tree.
"Hey. I found something. It looks like my cutie mark though. Why?"
Then Blue Diamond spoke up over at a weird blue rock.
"I found something that looks like my cutie mark over here."
Siltstone looked at each one.
"Hmm... everypony start looking for their cutie marks."
They continued looking and Sonic found his weirdly on a cloud, and Siltstone found hers on some stone. Jollybaker had trouble finding his until he seen Minty standing next to a lonely statue of an alicorn.
He found his cutie mark on the statue's flank and called out to Siltstone.
"So now what?"
She looked closely at her cutie mark on the stone and put her hoof in the center of it. It started to glow.
"You just touch them, I guess."
When all the others touched theirs, they started to glow but nothing happened.
Blue Diamond looked at her brother, who was standing right there beside her.
"Hey, Keyward. What is your cutie mark?"
He frowned. 
"I am not taking part in this. I'm just here to protect you."
She shrugged before saying, "Just do it or we will be here all day."
He sighed and started to take off his armor. Blue looked at Keyward's cutie mark shaped like a key and started looking around around for it.
Keyward seen something like that on the brick wall itself. 
"Is this it?"
Blue Diamond looked over from her spot.
"Touch it and see."
Keyward touched it and it started glowing. Then six weird-looking portals appeared on the brick wall.
They all gathered in together and looked at them.
Jollybaker was a bit confused.
"So which one do we take?"
Siltstone looked at the book for a moment.
"I was afraid of this. We're going to have to split up. Each portal is for the each of us."
"So what's on the other side?" asked Appleworm.
"I don't really know.. But whatever it is, you must be prepared for anything."
"So we're separating? Great. You all be careful okay?" said Jollybaker.
All but Keyward gave a big group hug.
"But I can't leave my sister. I'm supposed to protect her!"
Before he could do anything, they went through their own portals.
Keyward tried to go through Diamond's portal, but no matter how hard he tried, there was something keeping him from entering.
He shrugs and goes through his own portal.
"Okay! Fine! Have it your way!" He shouts, clearly annoyed.