Alicorn: The Lost Princess

King Sombra paced the floor of his chamber. Hung before him was a grand mirror spanning nearly the whole wall beside his bed. The metal of his armored boots clacked against the tiled floor. He looked into the mirror through clouded eyes, hardly able to recognize himself.

He wondered how some pony could escape fate, to defeat a prophecy. Though, he believed he’d done it once before:

Sombra was born in a far away land. And his birth was one of great excitement. The first male born to their city in the generation. He was intended to woo the unborn princess, due to proximity to the throne. These proceedings were extraordinarily common at the time of his birth. Which, perhaps… he did not even know the date of.

Born to a mother, without a father, or rather: one who had since passed. A warrior for their nation, his father had been killed in the line of duty. To add insult to injury, Sombra was born in his father’s spitting-image. Save for a severely bent horn and other abnormalities.

Still, he was born royal, and from the time they had found him male, it had been decided that he would be duke someday: once the, remindedly, unborn princess became queen. Additionally, there was one other extraordinary circumstance surrounding his birth.

A memo, of sorts, sent from a kingdom ruled by Unicorns on the brink of prosperity. It was received just days after his arrival. Stating that: Sombra had been born from incredible darkness. And that he would be the last born of his kind. All others would need to be forged by prophecy. To contain the darkness, the powers that be had determined it too dangerous, for such a horrible evil to spread through such powerful ponies.

“He is just a baby, a foal. There is no darkness in his soul he is pure!” His mother plead with their leaders. Though she was lowly compare to them, his father was the regal of the pair and he was not there to stand at their defense.

The pregnant queen was wary. Uninterested in having her child corrupted, and displeased with the fact that her daughter and all children in their kingdom were foretold to be born… lesser. “You have brought the spirits and terrible foretellings to our land.” She declared.

Only, the mother was innocent. What had caused this, she had no clue. She had no part in it. Clinging to her child…

“Your child must be banished, for fear of contagion.” The royals decreed. “Until resolution and prophecy have come to fruition-“ she stopped, holding her hoof to her rounded stomach. “We must prioritize our own.”

Shining Armor stood in the plaza with Big Mac, waltzing home as Spike bound towards them. The pair of stallions stood, smirking, rather amused at the baby dragon’s stumbling run. “Shining!” He shouted, the tone sent a chill down his spine as their smiles fell.

“What happened?” Shining Armor asked urgently.

Spike began to ramble aimlessly, until he spotted the pair of girls. “Wait- I know those ponies… they were Twilight’s school… classmates?”

The stallions could not piece together what he meant. “What are a couple of unicorns doing here?”

Spike huffed. “They’re after Twilight… and well Cadence and Celestia, too.” He replied as if that were obvious given his disjointed speech just moments prior.

“After them?” Big Mac asked, finally speaking up. He was a pony of very few words, but he never lacked in action.

In that moment, the mares turned and made eye contact with their fellow unicorn. Trotting toward him, though they didn’t seem to recognize him at all. “You.” Starlight said demandingly. “Do you know of any Alicorns, you seem like a sensible stallion.”

She attempted to charm him, but he was far from a fool. “Because I’m a unicorn, I seem sensible?” He asked sarcastically.

Trixie chuckled, as the response was clear. “Of course.”

Starlight shooed her off. “I just meant, you look strong and wise.” She insisted phonily.

“We haven’t seen any Alicorns.” The stallion replied. It was simple, believable.

Starlight stamped one of her hooves on the broken cobbles of the plaza. “We are the world’s worst bounty hunters.” She mumbled under her breath.

Spike smiled cockily as it seemed she had believed Shining’s simple statement. “Yeah, and even if we had, why would we tell you?” Spike added with an exaggerated grin. Starlight leaned towards him, her eyes burning into him. Soon his ego had begun to fall, Shining and Big Mac staring daggers into him. “What I meant to say was-“

Big Mac was a broad stallion, tall, intimidating. Years of pulling in the fields had made him strong and stocky. Pushing Spike slightly to his side, he took a step between the baby dragon and the two mares. “You’d best be on your way.” He said sternly.

Starlight and Trixie fell back, relenting. “Fine.” The leader said. Turning, she huffed out a breath. “They know something.” She muttered.

“Let’s follow them…” Trixie suggested lowly so that the men couldn’t hear her.

Emerging from the dark clouds stood a complete stranger. So similar to Celestia, only… if her colors had been inverted. Regal, but dressed head-to-toe in metallic blue armor. “Twilight Sparkle.” She said, so certain and monotone.

“H-How do you know my name?” Twilight murmured as she stumbled backwards, falling flat on her rear.

The Alicorn before was so obviously the fourth they’d been in search of, but her intimidating demeanor made Twilight second guess that fact. “I know all about you and your prophecy.” She said. “I come to you, as you are evidently the most intelligent… and Twilight- the most beautiful time of day, like mine, is a time of darkness.”

The purple mare was unsure, confused, actually. “I’m not sure I know what you mean…”

The strange pony wore a dark coat and multi-shaded blue mane that moved in some kind of unyielding breeze-motion. “You’ve never been much for friends, have you. Nor was I.” She monologued. “The two of us, we could rule this land. Consider it: your knowledge of magic, and my capacity to rule.”

To Twilight, this seemed all too familiar, it began to strike against her nerves. “I will not help you rule a thing!”

The stranger scoffed. “No, of course, how could I forget. You’re loyal to the Unicorn King?”

Twilight’s wings flared as her horn began to glow in a ball of rage. “I am loyal to no ruler, loyal only to the freedom of all ponies!”

She laughed now. “Interesting, you sound like my mother.” She leaned over her. “Luckily for me, my mother is dead.” She stamped about embracing herself in an orb of magic. “And you’ve not even noticed… all this time, your friends are missing… you really ought to be looking for them.” She said, before seeming to poof out of existence.

Celestia weakly used her magic to light the pitch-black cave she’d been pulled into. In the glowing light sat a broad stallion. One so familiar it brought tears to her eyes. He sat, yellow fur without a hair out place, his red mane plush over his face, hat on his head.

Just as she’d remembered him. “Bright Mac!” She shouted. Deluded momentarily by the trickery. She rushed toward him and embraced him. The gravity had begun to set in as she pulled back. Looking him over, her brother. Though he couldn’t be. “Bright?”

He smiled ear to ear, actually it was an unusually large smile. “Sis!” He said in a bizarre tone. “I’m so glad I found you!”

She gulped back her disbelief, only comforted to see him again after all this time. “What happened? Where have you been?”

He ignored her. “No time for that, let’s get out of here!”

Celestia looked back, although she wasn’t quite sure which way she had come. “I can’t leave now… I have something I have to do…”

The pony rolled his eyes. “More important than hanging out with your own brother?” He asked playfully.

Celestia grumbled, in actuality, it was incredibly important. This was all incredibly impossible… the tears spilled over her white cheeks. “You’re not him.” She swallowed. The conversation growing unsettling. “He’s gone…”

Celestia jumped back away from the identified imposter, but as she moved to wield a blast of power, he was gone.

Cadence sat, unamused in the darkness. Around her sat a group of uniformed Pegasi. They could’ve been the wonderbolts to unknowledgeable ponies, but Cadence was anything but a fool. “What?” She asked.

Their leader was a small mare with a firey attitude. “Cadence, you have to join us. A skilled flyer such as yourself?”

Cadence scoffed. “Yeah, uhuh.” She waved them away with disinterest. If they weren’t in a group, she’d have bolted away from them in an instant.

The three ponies realized they were getting no where with her. “You’ve always wanted a place to belong, right?” She spoke. This caused Cadence’s ears to perk up. This was true… she had always dreamed of fitting in… the strangers took note of this. “You could belong with us.”

Cadence pulled a face, shaking her head. She began to think of the past few days… she opened her eyes, returning to disinterest. “I know where I belong now.” She said finally.

The huntresses tiptoed about the barn house. Peering into the windows, they watched the three males convene with what must’ve been their family. “What are we looking for now?” Trixie whispered loudly.

Starlight hushed her harshly. “Just listen.”

“We’ll hide in the orchard.” An old stallion reported from inside. “The mares won’t find us there, and even if they do, at least it’ll be a diversion from them finding the girls.”

All the ponies seemed to concur. “They’re probably well into the forest now.” Apple Bloom chirped up. This earned agreement as well.

“Catching a couple fugitives would surely throw a wrench into their plans.” Shining Armor groaned. The three eldest of the group enveloped everyone in hugs.

“Did you hear that, they’re fugitives!” Trixie whispered happily. “We’ll probably get some kind of bounty for turning them in!”

Starlight scoffed, dead set now on finding the Alicorns. “You missed a more crucial detail: the Alicorns are in the Everfree Forest.”