Golden Dawn: Dusk of an Empire

Sunlight burned her closed eyes as consciousness returned to her mind. The scent of grass and earth filled her nose, a cicada and a songbird chirped in the distance, complementing the soft rippling of water. She slowly, groggily opened her eyes and found herself at the bank of a pond, bordered by a vast meadow dotted with flowers. A simple dirt road lay to her left a short distance away, with a forest further beyond. It led to a bridge that crossed the stream that fed the pond... fresh water. She felt thirsty. She clawed at the ground with her hooves to pull herself up-

...Wait a second. Hooves?

She looked down at her arms to find they weren't arms at all. They were peach-colored appendages with hooves at the end. Hooves.

Something wasn't right. Something wasn't right at all.

With this newfound confusion, she dragged herself to the pond to see her reflection. Confusion turned to terror and bewilderment as she registered what she was seeing. Her body had been disfigured and contorted into an equine form. Her fur was peach in color with a long mane as blue as the sky, striped with two streaks of yellow and one of orange, with a tail to match. Wings jutted out from her sides, and a horn protruded from her forehead. Horrified, she touched a hoof to her face, her eyes widening further as she realized her reflection matched her actions.

With a loud scream, she fainted.

The sun had climbed higher into the sky when she awoke again. Everything felt so dreamlike until she remembered. She stared into the pond once again, this time more prepared for the shock.

It wasn't quite so bad this time. As she stared into the pond, she found familiarity in her new form. She still had her turquoise-blue eyes, although the right eye seemed to be a different shade if she looked at it too long. The top ridges of her ears still had their golden cuffs in place, and her simple turquoise-colored pendant still hung around her neck. Her face, though now with a muzzle, still resembled her own. But... where were her clothes? ...What were her clothes, anyway? All she could think of were clothes that could fit an equine form, not whatever she used to be. It was then that she realized she couldn't remember a damn thing about herself, only that she wasn't supposed to be... this. She gazed into the water again, as if it had an answer.

"Good morning over there! Lovely day, isn't it?"

The shock of hearing another voice startled her out of her trance. She looked up towards the voice to see a stallion trotting up the road. His coat was a light shade of blue, his mane and tail a darker shade of the same, but what really struck her as strange was the image of a wooden wagon on his flank. He was pulling a large wagon carrying several smaller versions of itself, which clattered as he crossed the bridge. And further down the road past the bridge was a town. Maybe someone there could help her figure out what was going on.

"But..." she thought again. "This seems like the norm so far, being some kind of horse. Perhaps they'd be as confused as I am about my situation."

Her thoughts were interrupted by her stomach, which gurgled uncomfortably. She briefly considered whether she should just eat some meadow grass before shaking her head and resolving to go to the town instead. Climbing to her feet, she glanced at her new hooves before setting out down the road.

Despite thinking she would have difficulty walking on four legs, the peach pony quickly found herself at the entrance of the town. A sign above read "Welcome to Ponyville!", and from the looks of it, the town was stuffed full of ponies. A calming din of many conversations helped her feel more at ease as she began walking down the streets, exploring her new surroundings. She quickly noticed that all of the ponies had coats of candy-colored fur, with equally colorful manes and tails. Some had wings, some had horns, some had neither at all. In fact, the only thing all of the ponies had in common were the unusual markings on their flanks. One had a lyre, another had sweets, yet another had musical notes. Though some shared the same elements such as stars, fruits or plants, each and every marking was unique. This made her glance at her own two flanks, and wonder if the lack of a mark was considered strange.

"HI THERE!!!" a voice suddenly screamed right in her ear. The peach pony let out a yelp and tripped over her own hooves. Looking up from the ground, she found herself suddenly staring at a pink pony with a curly fuchsia mane and tail. The marking on her flank was a trio of balloons, two blue and one yellow. "Ooh, ooh! You must be new around here, because I haven't seen you before! And you have both wings and a horn? Yep, I'm pretty sure I'd remember you if I'd met you before, which I haven't! Oh my goodness, are you a princess just like Twilight?!"

Picking herself up, she did her best to rub her ear with a front hoof. "Oh, um... hi there. Yea... I guess you could say I'm new in town-"

"What's your name?!" The pink pony bounced up and down. Her smile was wide enough to fit an entire melon inside of it. The peach pony opened her mouth to answer, but closed it upon realizing she had no idea what her name was, not even what letter it started with. Her face scrunched up as she thought.

"Er... not sure, actually..."

The pink pony stopped her bouncing, raising an eyebrow. "Not Sure? That's a weird name. You're definitely not from around here, huh?"

"Wha? No, I mean-"

"Well, Not Sure, as the official unofficial welcoming party of Ponyville, allow me to welcome you to Ponyville! Welcome!" Suddenly, a large fanfare of music blared and confetti rained down from the sky. The pink pony somehow pulled out a cannon from behind her and yanked its cord, which produced a bang and a blast of colored streamers. The peach pony could only stare in utter disbelief at what just happened, despite no other pony nearby even turning their head to watch.

"...Th-thanks?"

"You're welcome! Now come on," the pink pony exclaimed as she grabbed the peach pony's front hoof. "Don't want to be late for your own 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!"

"But... but I just got here!" the peach pony protested.

"Nonsense! I always throw every new pony to Ponyville a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party! Everypony loves a party! Especially a party thrown by Ponyville's number one party planner, Pinkie Pie! ...That's me, by the way," she winked and lowered her voice to a whisper. Seeing how she couldn't get away from Pinkie's vice grip on her leg, the peach pony sighed and resigned herself to her fate.

The peach pony's new friend led her a short distance towards a quaint little cottage turned bakery called Sugarcube Corner. "Hey everypony, the guest of honor is here!" Pinkie shouted as they entered. "Meet Not Sure, from out of town!"

The peach pony could only stare, mouth agape and completely baffled that Pinkie Pie seemed convinced that her name really was Not Sure. Despite not knowing her real name, she was pretty certain it wasn't that. The other ponies present - a rather large crowd, surprisingly - turned to look at her. Gasps were gasped, followed by quiet murmurs and intriguing glances amongst themselves. Listening in as well as she could, though, it seemed the crowd's feelings weren't negative, but rather in awe of her. She turned to Pinkie Pie, only to see her rapidly stuffing her face full of chocolate cupcakes. Her mouth closed into a slight frown from the scene of sheer gluttony.

"Hey, Pinkie. Who's the party for today?" a voice came from behind. The peach pony turned to see a group of five ponies and a small purple creature coming towards her.

"Oh, hi guys!" Pinkie Pie garbled through half a cupcake before bouncing towards her friends. "Everypony, this is Not Sure! Not Sure, these are my bestest of friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Spike and Twilight Sparkle!"

She could easily tell why the sky-blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail was called Rainbow Dash. She hovered in the air with her wings next to another winged, yellow pony standing on the floor, her long pink mane covering one of her eyes. To her left was a white pony with an elegantly curled, dark purple mane and tail, a gleaming horn pointing out from her forehead. Beside her was an orange pony with a blonde mane and tail gathered into very loose ponytails, wearing a hat. In front of her was the purple creature, a bipedal, lizard-like thing with large green scales lining his spine, the topmost one resembling hair. He grinned with fangs sticking out of his mouth as he lightly jabbed the final pony in her front leg with his elbow. Her coat was a shade of vibrant lavender, with an indigo mane and tail streaked with purple and pink. Just like herself, she had both wings and a horn.

"Ah... Pinkie, I don't think her name actually is 'Not Sure'," Rainbow Dash spoke as she raised an eyebrow.

"'Ya think?" the peach pony sighed.

"Check it out, Twilight! She's an Alicorn, just like you!" nudged Spike.

"But, there aren't any other Alicorn princesses, are there?" asked Rarity, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. "Surely I would have known of another."

"What is your name?" Twilight slightly tilted her head to one side.

"Well..." the peach pony started before letting out another sigh. "I... don't know. I can't remember anything, actually."

"Amnesia?" Spike shrugged. "Happens to more ponies than you'd think."

"Ah, maybe? But... there's just this nagging feeling," she looked at the ground as the other ponies leaned closer. "I... just don't feel... right. Like... this isn't what I'm supposed to be. Even though I feel fine and normal otherwise."

"Like yer not supposed to be a pony?" suggested Applejack.

"...Yes, actually," the peach pony nodded after a moment of thought. "I don't think I'm really a pony. I woke up just outside of town this morning and came here hoping someone might be able to help."

"Well, you came to the right place!" Pinkie Pie bounced especially high into the air. "Twilight is the best at magic and books and stuff, I'm sure she can help you!"

"I'd be happy to try," Twilight smiled warmly. "Come on, we'll walk to my castle together."

"Castle?" Twilight nodded in response. "Do... all Alicorns have a castle?"

"Well, seeing how every other Alicorn we know is a princess, I suppose the answer is yes," said Rarity.

"Alicorns are princesses? Does that mean I'm one, too? I have so many questions."

"Well, ask us anything!" Twilight giggled as the group began to head for the door. The peach pony was about to follow them until they were interrupted by a loud gurgle from her stomach.

"Um..." she lowered her head sheepishly. "I could use a bite to eat first, if you don't mind. Pinkie Pie did throw this welcoming party for me, after all. I never did say 'thank you', even." She looked at Pinkie Pie apologetically.

"Don't worry about it! You're welcome, new bestest friend!" Pinkie Pie beamed as she suddenly squeezed the peach pony around her neck. She and the other ponies smiled, and the group gathered around a table together for some refreshments.