Age of the Alicorn

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – The Age of the Alicorn

Written by: Non-Brony Supreme

Prologue: A Twist in Fate

Standing in front of the glistening, crystalline Tree of Harmony in a cavern deep in the Everfree Forest were eight figures.

The purple-coated and violet eyed, winged, single-horned, four-legged pony with a dark blue and purple and pink striped mane and tail moved closer to the polygon-shaped chest that stuck out from the tree.

Nearby, her friends stood around the piece and watched on, ever hopeful.

Then, the purple pony allowed the magic of the chest to transform her recently acquired golden amulet into a key that was quickly inserted into the last of six locks.

As one, the six pony friends twisted the keys, unlocking the chest.

Suddenly, the box burst open, sending a beam of magic toward the tree itself, which lit up with flows of magical light shooting from the central Element of Magic to the five other Elements of Harmony in the tree’s branches.

The Tree shone with a bright light, bathing the six ponies in pillars of equally beautiful light before they seemed to disappear into the chest, and then a new rainbow of colors shot upward.

In the air, the six mares were transformed.

The purple pony, a young Alicorn Princess named Twilight Sparkle, changed to where her mane and wings grew and shone with dazzling shades of purple, pink, dark blue, and yellow, while her body was now adorned with shining marks that resembled stars that matched the recently returned mark on her flank.

One of the simple-winged Pegasi of the group, a usually light yellow with pink wavy-haired mare, was now floating in the air, her flashy locks and wings much like Twilight’s, but with pink and dark and light cyan lines winding through them, and a series of pink butterflies circled around her legs and on her chest, complementing her aquamarine blue irises.

The only Unicorn of the team, her regularly classy violet mane and tail with curls at their ends, was now bedazzled with bright golden-yellow, a light purple, shiny purple, and another shade of pinkish-violet, along with diamond symbols over her mane, tail, and milk-white body, and her eyes shined with sapphire blue.

An Earth Pony with poofy, hot pink mane and tail, cotton candy pink body, and sky blue eyes was now lit up with rainbows of light yellow, orange, and blue, five-pointed stars showered on her hair, marks of balloons and hues of yellow covering her hooves and lower legs, and a brand new bright blue bow with a shining white star clipped onto her mane.

The second Pegasus, a bright reddish-purple eyed, sky blue mare with a mane and tail of rainbows, now sparkled with zingy, lightning-like hair, small zaps of bolts lining along her face and body.

Last, yet not least, there was an Earth Pony with a sunset-orange body, sunbeam yellow mane and tail, emerald eyes, and freckles on her cheeks, and who favored a cowpony-styled hat and red bows to tie the ends of her mane strands on her head or the tail that extended from her rear quarters. Now, her hairs had blossomed with ruby red, yellow, and cherry blossom pink, her body was spotted with pictures of apples, the bows in her hair were a granny smith green, and her hat was topped with a red delicious apple piece.

These five – Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack – weren’t merely especially beautified, for they had been changed in a very special way: they now all each had a single swirl-point horn and a pair of regal wings. In other words, every one of the friends had all become ALICORNS!

Of course, they barely noticed as they were lifted up into the sky in an orb of bright, colorful magic, soaring above the earth, where the gigantic monster that was Lord Tirek now stood.

It was on this day that the Mare Six would defeat Tirek, return peace and harmony to Equestria, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends would find that they had a new, special place to spread friendship and love through the land, from their castle in Ponyville.

A month later, things had changed.

Now, there stood the Castle of Harmony in the center of the town of Ponyville, the crystalline tree-like structure overlooking the quaint, homey buildings that stood all around.

Many ponies, whether Earth Pony, Unicorn, or Pegasi, went about their regular business, doing what they did best. But, there had been a large number of new faces who had come to live in the new Ponyville as it had become, namely the home of a princess.

After being magically planted into the earth, the Castle of Harmony was no longer void of life, as Princess Celestia had set up a new division of the EUP Guard as the elite defenders of Princess Twilight, her friends, and the castle. It had been during the very first week alone that volunteers from all around, many of them from Ponyville, had joined the new Guardians of Friendship. Plus, the ponies of Ponyville openly volunteered their services to the Princess and her castle.

Throughout the halls and chambers of the grand structure, ponies cleaned up, shined the crystal walls, and put together meals, the scent of which filled up every portion of space.

In the middle of this castle, sitting in the six and “a half” thrones of the central chamber, were the famous friends of the team known as Mane Six.

Although they had been doing their best to go on with life and do what they were talented with, the new changes in the recent days had altered their positions and forced them to adjust as such.

Applejack had continued tending to Sweet Apple Acres and taking care of her family, but now she also had the responsibility of ensuring a steady supply of apples for food in both the town of Ponyville and the dinners of the Castle of Harmony. To keep everything simpler, she had even hired new farmhooves to maintain and work at Sweet Apple Acres. She had Mr. and Mrs. Cake, plus Pinkie Pie, to thank for plenty of pastries to help with it all, too.

Rarity, as the fashionista who she was, still worked from her booming business in the Carousel Boutique, but had also taken on the burden of supplying the uniforms of the castle staff.

Pinkie Pie, the residential “Super Party Pony” of Ponyville, was far busier than she had ever been before. As per her role, she had been hosting a slew of parties for all of the new ponies who had moved to town.

Rainbow Dash attended to her duties as head of weather control in Ponyville, but she also began establishing a new addition to the Guardians of Friendship – her very own ‘Wonderbolts’, if you will – even though she was a member of the actual Wonderbolts Reserves.

Fluttershy, as always, acted the role of the local provider and caretaker of the native wildlife. And yet, it was proving difficult to care for the little critters when she, like the others, was caught up in important matters.

Twilight Sparkle, although she had been a princess for many moons, now had a long list of new duties to go along with being a Princess of Equestria. Not only did she continue to deal with her royal duties that Celestia entrusted her with, Twilight had also been organizing the town of Ponyville and the numerous new additions to it, and continued to work along her own schedule. Thankfully, she could always rely on Mayor Mare and friends to help lighten the load.

Now, for the first time in weeks, the girls finally got the chance to get together and have an important meeting about their progress and what they could do involving their new role as the Council of Friendship, and possibly, hopefully, have the opportunity just to enjoy having a moment to spend with one another.

“It’s so nice to see you girls!” Twilight started the conversation off with, looking around at her friends.

“You too, Twi’,” Applejack said with her country accent, her head hanging low, “but Um plumb tuckered out.”

“Here, here,” Rarity agreed in a drearier fashion of her usually classy, sophisticated speech without barely flinching her head.

“You said it, sister,” Rainbow Dash muttered while lying back in her throne with her hoofed legs spread out.

Twilight looked over to the other two. “How about you, Fluttershy?”

“Well, um…” the usually soft-spoken Pegasus began, “I-”

“I’m so pooped that I don’t think that I could even think about another party for all of the new ponies in town!” Pinkie Pie cried out, before drooping into her own throne with a sack falling down and bursting open to release a shower of confetti and the sound of party blowers.

“Would you guys keep it down?” Spike said from his tiny ‘half-sized’ throne beside Twilight. Then, the pint-sized purple and green baby dragon yawned aloud before setting his head down on one of the seat’s arms and closing his eyes.

Everypony in the room glanced at the little guy before returning their attention to each other.

“Anypony else feel like Spike’s got the right idea?” Rainbow added.

There was a collective murmuring of agreement at that.

“I know everypony’s tired from all of the hard work the past few moons,” Twilight said, doing her best to put on a strong face, “but we can’t stop now. Princess Celestia is counting on us to show all of the ponies of Equestria what friendship truly means.”

“That is a tall order when we are too busy helping take care of the town with every little detail, dearie,” Rarity stated with a wave of her front right hoof.

“And we barely get anytime on our hooves to jest have uh picnic an’ enjoy what’s most important,” Applejack interjected. “’Cause before any of this, we’re friends.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed, lifting herself into the open air of the crystalline and stone room, the light of the multiple windows on the round walls shining brightly off of her wings, before settling back into her throne. “After all, OUR friendship is the reason why we’re the Council of Friendship.”

“Um… I might have an idea,” Fluttershy tenderly voiced her opinion.

“Yes, Fluttershy,” Twilight answered, redirecting the focus of everypony to their gentle friend.

“Well, um, there is the dinner that is being prepared by the townsponies,” she said before blowing a tuft of her pink mane out of her eyes.

“Yeah,” the rest of the girls muttered.

“We could just ask Princess Celestia if we could take the rest of the day off,” Fluttershy finished.

“Oh, Fluttershy darling, that sounds perfect,” Rarity piped up, clapping her hooves together for a moment.

“Huh, why didn’t I think of that?” Twilight questioned herself.

“Because, silly-filly,” Pinkie Pie burst forth, standing a mere hoof’s step away from Twilight’s face before slipping away back to her own throne, “the ponies of Ponyville, plus like half of the rest of Equestria, are throwing a HUGENORMOUS PARTY to celebrate how they were freed from that BIG ol’ meanie pants who was going around and sucking the magic right out of everypony!” Then, she threw another sack into the middle of the circle of thrones, and a cloud of confetti surrounding a huge sign that had the golden embroidered words ‘After-After-Victory Party Invitation’ popped out. “Duh!”

“Oh yeah,” the other five mares huffed.

“Well, we at least get to spend that time together, right?” Twilight said with a wide smile, hoping to lift her friends’ moods.

“That’s tha’ spirit, sugarcube!” Applejack said, “We’ll get tha’ chance ta’ jest sit back n’ relax.”

“Ooh, Applejack! That is perfect!” Rarity declared.

“Uh, what is exactly?” AJ asked, only guessing at what her friend could mean.

“I mean, we could have some nice stallions carry us around on sofas while we lay back and watch the ponies party.” She emphasized her statement by lounging back into her throne, doing her best to be relaxed, especially since she had added a few cushions to the crystal construct.

“That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea, Rarity,” Twilight said, grinning at the prospect of just relaxing.

“As long as there’s enough room for Angel,” Fluttershy added, pointing a hoof at her pet bunny as he tapped a paw on the ground with a straight face that screamed “It better”.

“Now, wait a minute!” Rainbow interrupted. “No matter how whipped I am, I won’t let anypony carry me around like a pile of hay.”

“That goes double fer me,” Applejack stated in agreement.

“A mare can dream, can’t she?” Rarity said, waving a hoof in the air, as though she had been defeated.

“Well, speaking of dreams,” Twilight took back over, “does anypony else remember what happened before we sent Tirek back to Tarterus, or was I just dreaming?”

“You mean when the Tree of Harmony turned the rest of us into Alicorns before the magic wore off and we were changed back into our regular selves?” Pinkie asked, flailing around like she was flying before posing to show off her cutie mark.

“Ya’ know, I do remember that,” AJ answered.

“Yes and how gorgeous we looked!” Rarity exclaimed, looking at herself as if she was trying to visualize herself imbued with the magic from the Tree of Harmony.

“You did look beautiful, Rarity,” Fluttershy complimented her purple-maned friend.

“Are you kidding? We all looked awesome!” Rainbow Dash bellowed out, once again ascending into the air, but this time she began circling around the room. “I mean, we were all like pow, boom, zap,” she said with a series of punches and kicks before landing back in her throne, “and then we shot all of those beams that looked like a rainbow, and beat Tirek!”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Twilight replied. “I wasn’t just an Alicorn. You all were too! Come on, doesn’t that make you the least bit curious?”

“Now that you mention it,” Rarity continued, “I do wonder as to wh-”

But, before another syllable could be said, the conversation came to a halt when a series of magical spheres, with lightning crackling around them, surrounded the six mares and Spike.

“What tha’-” Applejack declared, trying her best to buck in the confined space of the magical field that surrounded her.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy whimpered as she cringed inside her orb, her aquamarine blue peepers wide with terror and her lips quivering.

Outside of her bubble, Angel Bunny ran around in a frantic panic attack.

“Wee, pretty!” Pinkie Pie chuckled while staring at the sparkling magical energy that contained her.

“Whoever is doing this, please make this less tight! You’re ruining my manestyle!” Rarity cried out.

Meanwhile, Rainbow was busying her own self by attacking her own field, trying to break it open.

“Twi’!” AJ called to her friend. “Can ya’ do anythin’ ‘bout this predicament?!”

“I’m trying my best, Applejack,” Twilight stated while her horn sparkled as she attempted to dispel the individual field that trapped her. “But my magic’s not strong enough.” The Princess gasped when her horn’s magic fizzed out, with no success.

Spike continued to snore even louder than before, dozing through his own experience from the insides of a cramped magical bubble.

Then the orbs began to glow even stronger, the lightning that ran across them growing ever more erratic.

“Girls!” Twilight shouted, gaining the attention of her distraught friends. “No matter what happens, don’t be scared! I’m sure that we’ll be-”

As that last word slipped from her lips, the seven magical spheres vanished in a flash, leaving only blackened, slightly smoking rings where the seven friends had been.

Merely seconds later, a mysterious shape began swirling out of what seemed to be nowhere until it grew and unfolded like origami, revealing it to be the reformed Discord, former master of chaos, and now loyal friend to the six mares of the Council of Friendship.

He stood tall, his serpent-shaped body with mismatched parts ever picturesque of his nature. From the top of his head, there were two horns – one a jagged thing that resembled a warped Unicorn horn, and the other a short antler that appeared to belong to a deer – resting on the grey fur that was upon his lean pony-like skull, which was adorned by the ears and facial hair of a goat plus a single hooked tooth that protruded from between his lips. Along the back of his elongated neck was a black mane, followed by a brown furry torso and lower region. On his back, there were two wings, one a bat’s and the second a blue Pegasus wing. In the place of upper appendages, Discord’s right side was a lion’s leg and paw and for the left there was the leg and talons of a Griffon. To support his collection of barely functional features, he had a small green dragon’s right leg, and the cloven-hoofed left limb of a brown goat. Jutting out from his back quarters was the spiny red tail of a reptile, ending in a messy clump of white hair.

“Hmm, I wonder what that strange feeling could have-” he said, before examining the room with his yellow-rimmed and red-pupiled eyes, seeing the empty thrones, the bunny that was nearly hyperventilating close to Fluttershy’s, and the black marks that were upon them.

Without a second thought, Discord hovered over to the little critter, and scooped him into his grasp, placing a brown bag onto his mouth. “Breathe deep, my small rodent friend.”

Angel proceeded to grab onto the paper sack, inhaling and exhaling before slowly gaining his calm enough to breathe properly.

“Now, tell me, why am I looking at an empty space where Fluttershy, and the rest of our friends, used to be?” the Draconequus asked the bunny, crisscrossing his eyes and aiming them at the thrones adorned with an expanding star and a triplet of butterflies.

Almost rapid-fire squeaks and paw motions burst forth from the creature as he tried his best to talk to Discord.

“Whoa, hang on there for a minute, you’re going too fast,” Discord stated, having straightened his sights and waving his ‘palms’ in front of him while floating Angel back to the ground.

In response, the bunny ran over and hopped up onto Fluttershy’s seat, beginning his squeaking again.

“Uh-huh. Yes,” Discord replied while rubbing his goatee with his lion’s paw, which was rested on his horizontally-oriented Griffon’s limb. “Wait!” He declared, jumping into the empty space above, continuing to float where he was and looking down at the bunny. “You’re saying that Twilight, Fluttershy, and the rest of the ponies were just zapped away by magical spheres!”

Angel responded by swinging his head back and forth before sighing and falling back into the throne.

With a gasp, Discord threw his ‘arms’ up into the air (quite literally), exclaiming, “Guards! Guards! Fluttershy and the girls have been ponynapped!”

Two of the guards of the Guardians of Friendship, their armor glistening with the insignia of their Princess – Twilight’s star cutie mark and her friends’ other marks surrounding it – on their chest-pieces, burst in to see what all of the commotion was about.

Soon enough, every royal guard, castle staff member, and citizen of Ponyville was searching high and low for their Princess and her friends, and a messenger was flying off to Canterlot to inform Princess Celestia of the terrible news.

Little did any of them know of the future that awaited them all…