Dark Monarch's Rising

“Um Monarch?” Said a voice. I snapped out of my flashback to find Luna sitting beside me looking at the things I was holding.

“You miss them don’t you?” She asked.

“You wouldn’t believe how much I do.” I replied.

“You were so young when they first brought you here.” She said as she started to smile. “Cmon, I wanna show you something.” She took me the main hall with all of the stain glass windows. She took me to the one of Alicorn Twilight. “Remember this?” She asked. “This was one of the first things you looked at when you where here.”

“How old was I” I asked.

“Ten, not even. Maybe 11. No one really remembers.” She said. “But after hearing what Fluttershy said that day of how she found you, you had to be only a few months old when she found you.”

I started to remember her. Fluttershy. The pony who took me and raised me as her own. I felt the urge to cry but didn’t want to in front of the Princess. I looked upon the stained glass at Twilight feeling sick to know the last time I studied it was when my mom was here.

“You okay?” Asked Luna.

“I'm fine.” I replied.

“We better go. Celestia wants you.” She said.

I went with her to Celestia. I felt as if time slowed down and started to go back. I passed out on the floor with Luna beside me.

“Monarch?” Said her voice as it faded away.

I was out. I was going through my past until I got to where Twilight was there teaching me simple magic spells. I remembered everything. I was still 10 years old. I saw the field we were in with just us two Alicorns.

“Lets try just making light from your horn. Okay?” She said.

“Alright!” I said cause heck, I knew how to do that.

“That’s great!” She said.

“Lets try lifting okay?” said Twilight.

“Um yeah sure.” I replied. She then lifted a rock from the ground and moved it to her. “Now you try.” she said.

I stared into the rock but nothing happened. I thought of Chrysalis saying “You cant do magic, you cant fly, what can you do?” I felt the same feeling again. The rock lifted but didn’t move. It shattered into pieces.

“Hey!” Twilight said as she grabbed me. “Snap out of it!” She said as she shook me. I then felt as if I was lifting something heavier. I was. I had both of us in the air. I finally snapped out of it. We began to fall to the ground when Twilight used her wings to catch us both from hitting the ground.

“What was that all about?!” She asked.

“I don’t know. I get like that when I think too much.” I replied.

“Look”, she said as she walked me to a patch of flowers. “You have to be gentle with magic. Gentle like this little guy.” She pointed at a butterfly. It was a monarch butterfly the Most common of large butterflies. I watched as I flew flower to flower.

“Whats it doing?” I asked.

“Pollinating, its when they take the pollen of one flower to another to help them survive.” She said.

I thought about it. How can a butterfly so small help such a large community of flowers? I put myself in place of the butterfly. I am small and seen as useless to the unknowing pony. I thought about my purpose in life. Why was I here.

“You ready to try again?” asked Twilight.

“Sure.” I replied.

I walked back over to the same spot as before. This time with a different rock. I focused on it. But not as hard as before. I was thinking of that rock as a butterfly, a fragile object. I closed my eyes and felt a more gentle tingle in my horn. I opened my eyes to see the rock levitating in front of me.

“That’s it!” Said twilight with a smile.

“Now wake up.” She said. “Wake up!”

My vision faded slowly back into present time.

“Monarch!” Said Luna. “Snap out of it!” She yelled as she slapped me in the face.

“What!” I yelled back.

“You were just out for about five minutes!” Said Luna

“I was?” I said unsure if I was living in the past or not.

“You keep doing that. Whats wrong?” She asked.

“Its nothing.” I said. But no, it wasn’t nothing. The times I had before my royalty were some of my most memorable times. My friends, and my mom were still alive then. Why couldn’t I just have been a normal pony and not be a Alicorn? I decided to change my thoughts as I walked with Luna to see Celestia. When I got to the room Celestia greeted me.

“Monarch, so nice of you to join us!” She said.

“Sorry for taking so long, I've just been thinking a lot.” I replied.

“That doesn’t matter now. We have bigger matters in our hooves now.” She said looking at a letter.

“Like what?” I asked.

“The saddle Arabian ponies are still frantic after 2,000 years due to the superstition that your arrival is the coming of the rapture.” Said Luna.

“Wait, they think I’m God?” I asked.

“Yes, a Alicorn being found with no parents and being male made them think this.” Said Celestia as she shook her head. “I'd like you to go to them and tell them you mean no harm and you are no god. Okay?”

“Okay, but will they try to attack me?” I asked.

“No, they believe that the death of you is the death of all.” Said Celestia. “You're free to go now”

“Thanks your majesty.” I said as I walked back to my room.

When I got back to my room I noticed Luna sitting on my bed. “You miss them don’t you?” She asked.

“Miss who?”

“Don’t play stupid. You miss your mom and your marefriend.”

“N-….no I…”

“Yes you do!” she said as she walked towards me. I started to cry. She hugged me as I cried on my bed over the ones that I loved that I've lost long ago. I started to remember what it was like after learning magic. When Rainbow Dash taught me to fly…

“Alright Monarch! Are you ready to learn form the best flier in Equestria!?” Said Rainbow Dash.

“I uh um sure?” I said unsure if I was going to get out alive from this. We were on a cloud since Rainbow and Fluttershy helped me up. I was still young. Maybe 11 years old. I already knew some flying but I really wasn’t a speed demon or skillful.

“Stand here.” Said Rainbow Dash.

“Oh um okay.” I said as I moved to the edge of the cloud. Goggles were put over my eyes from Rainbow Dash.

“Now what?” I asked as I saw Fluttershy bury her face in fear while almost crying.

“You fly!” Yelled Rainbow as she pushed me off the edge. I panicked and started flailing around until she down beside me.

“Just calm down! Flap your wings!” She said. I started to flap as fast as I could. I finally stopped falling and was now hovering over Ponyville. I've never been this high before.

“Now! Catch me!” Said Rainbow as she flew passed and spanked my flank. I started to stride my wings in her direction. I started to slow my strides as I got closer to tag her. She then took off in another direction. I followed. I was going pretty fast! But the faster I went the less control I had. We went over Sweet Apple Acres where Rainbow sat on the barn. I flew into the barn with a Boom. Wood splintered my coat as chickens flew from the hay loft. I looked back through the hole to see rainbow laughing at my abilities to stop.

“Now all you need is some breaks there speedy!” She said chuckling. I moved out of the barn and went outside with Rainbow.

“What in tar'nashion is going on?!” Said Applejack walking towards the barn seeing the hole made by me.

“Just teaching the new Alicorn how to fly is all.” Said rainbow as she nudged my side.

“I'm terribly sorry! Ill fix it!” I said as I started to use my magic to fix it. It took me a while to fix it. I don’t do very well with people watching me. When I was finally done I went back down to Rainbow and AJ.

“I thank y'all for fixing that there, Monarch.”

“Oh its nothing.” I said as I saw Fluttershy coming down from the cloud.

My memories then changed time periods again. This time now was with somepony very special. Someone I met because of Rainbow Dash. I was about 13. Her name was Radiant Skyline. She was a Pegasus from Ponyville. She was dark blue with gold eyes. Her mane and tail where blond but with some dark streaks. She was overall my only friend my age and best friend at that. We were out at night in the fields. I liked to look up at the stars. I always thought of them to be rather unique.

“Hey.” Said Sky, “Follow me.” I followed her. She took off flying and led me through the cloud layer. “Wait for it.”

I waited for a short amount of time. I looked at her the whole time. The feeling I got when I was with her I could never find the right words to explain it with. I saw a patch of black coming from the north. I thought it was bats. It wasn’t. It was butterflies. Dark black and purple ones too.

“What are those?!” I asked Sky.

“Those are monarchs.” She said.

“Monarchs are orange though.” I said.

“These I call dark monarchs. Since you know… kind of match you.” She said as she turned to me. I thought about it. I’ve seen these before. With twilight in the fields practicing magic I saw them. I saw my flank start to glow. I knew I was so close to these monarchs I could be one myself. These aren’t normal monarchs. Normal ones are orange. I wasn’t normal either. I kept thinking of reasons of why I love this place more than anything in the world. Just to be beside the one I felt love for and see that its okay to be different because not everyone can hate something as long as you like yourself the way you are.

“Your flank!” She said as she pointed. It was the dark monarch on my flank.

“I don’t get it! How is that my special talent!” I asked.

“Its resembles your love for those things different.” She said as she moved close to me and looked into me with those gold eyes. I saw them close as she pressed her soft lips against mine. My wing became erect with excitement. I just had my first kiss with someone I've truly loved.

I then saw everything fade to black. I woke up in my bed with Luna beside me. I must have cried myself to sleep thinking about my past. I didn’t move. I watched her as she slept. She was very still and peaceful as she breathed. She then opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times. She yawned.

“Good morning Monarch.” She said as she sat up.

“Good morning to you too.” I replied as I too sat up. I was wondering why she was looking at me a lot.

“So um, you did something interesting last night.” She said looking at me. My face turned red. I could only think of the most embarrassing things that I ever would’ve done.

“I did?!” I asked hoping the answer wasn’t bad.

“Yeah you did.” Luna said moving towards me.

“What! Tell me!” I demanded.

“You kissed me.” Said Luna as she leaned against me.