Today, our story starts with a dream… a remarkable dream.

A dream where all of our heroes were alicorns, flying through the skies in an unknown part of Equestria, but honestly? They were having too much fun to care. “Look at us!” Sunny shouted to Misty as they flew side by side through the clouds. “We’re ALL alicorns now!”

“This is the best!” Zipp cheered as she flew past them. “I love it!!” Hitch laughed in agreement. But then... disaster struck. Hitch suddenly reverted back to earth pony form and began falling from the sky!

Sunny immediately gasped when she saw this. “HITCH!!”

But suddenly, as the others watched in horror, everyone except Sunny lost their alicorn forms and began to plummet from the sky and into the darkness below the clouds. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Sunny screamed and dove down after them into the darkness.

XXXXXXXX

Suddenly in the Brighthouse’s bedroom, an alarm clock started ringing as Sunny woke up with a gasp, panting out of fear at what she just experienced. “It was a dream...” Sunny panted as she turned off her alarm clock and pulling off the covers, revealing her messy mane. “It was just a dream...”

Zipp flew into the room holding a bowl of cereal. “Now, that is what I call bed-mane,” she chuckled at Sunny's messed-up mane before noticing something was wrong. “Everything okay, Sunny?”

“I just had the worst nightmare!” Sunny said, her face visibly showing immense fear. “We were all alicorns, and we were--”

“Whoa. All alicorns, huh?” Zipp asked, liking the sound of that. “But then everypony fell out of the sky! And I ended up... alone...” Sunny finished with a frown, causing Zipp to frown as well. “That sounds scary...”

“I think I’m just worried, Zipp,” Sunny admitted. “What if I’m the last alicorn in all of Equestria? I mean... the only other one we've ever met... was Opaline.”

The laughter of Opaline seemed to echo in Sunny’s ears, causing Sunny to wince and whimper. “Come on, there's got to be other alicorns out there,” Zipp optimistically said with a smile. “Do you really think so?” Sunny asked hopelessly. “Totally,” Zipp assured. “So, I think it's time to do a little investigating. And the rest of our friends can help too! I can text them to meet us there when they're done with their activities for the day.”

“How do we even know where to start?” Sunny asked in wonder. “I have an idea,” Zipp said as she put on her sunglasses with a flip of her mane. “But you're not gonna like it.”

XXXXXXXX

Unfortunately, as soon as the Marestream arrived at their destination, they arrived at the ruins of Opaline’s castle, with the Together Tree on the other side of it, lightning striking around it.

And Zipp was right about one thing-- Sunny was not liking this idea at all. “Opaline's lair?!”

“Think about it. She was the only other alicorn we know about. Maybe she knew something,” Zipp pointed out. “Don't worry. This place is totally abandoned now.”

Suddenly, the sounds of music started emerging from the castle. “Yeah, that doesn't sound very abandoned to me, Zipp,” Sunny said fearfully, but Zipp smiled rather confidently. “Relax. We've got this... especially since we've got backup.”

Sunny turned around at this, relief filling her body when she saw Misty, Izzy, Hitch, Pipp and Sparky coming up to them. “Man… am I glad to see you guys.”

However, she paused when she saw that Paradise Moonray, Misty’s biological mother and Opaline’s former adoptive daughter, standing with them. “Paradise?” Sunny questioned. “What are you doing here?”

“Mom was actually in town for a visit when Zipp shot us all that text,” Misty said. “We thought maybe we could help you search Opaline’s lair for any kind of sign that other alicorns might be out there.”

“Any friend of my butterfly is a friend of mine,” Paradise agreed with a smile. “We’re here for you, Sunny… no matter what we find.”

The group approached the castle doors and opened them slightly before activating their cutie mark magic.

“Hope!”

“Courage!”

“Kindness!”

“Confidence!”

“Empathy!”

“Creativity!”

And just like that, their cutie mark magic combined into an orb of light for them to see by. After a while of walking, they heard music coming from behind a huge set of doors. “Whatever’s making that music,” said Hitch, “it’s coming from in there!”

Then, in unison, Zipp and Pipp pushed open the doors. Out in the open, a crowd of racoonicorns were dancing and blasting loud music from the speakers, and it looked like they've been partying for a while now. “This is the exact opposite of abandoned!” Paradise told the others. “WHAT?! I can’t hear you!” Izzy shouted. “This place is SO not abandoned!”

“We just gotta get past them and look for something... alicorn-y!” Zipp agreed, and they moved around and over the racoonicorns before continuing on.

XXXXXXXX

After leaving the racoonicorns behind, they entered what was left of Opaline's study room, and Zipp took a video recording of the whole thing. “Opaline's lair is in total ruins since she's been gone from Equestria for so long. We could find anything in here.”

“Hey guys!” Hitch exclaimed, popping out of the dust with toys in his hooves. “Check out what I got!”

The others looked at the figurines in surprise, discovering that they looked just like Sunny, Zipp, Hitch, Pipp and Izzy. “Was Opaline THIS obsessed with stopping us?” Zipp asked, holding one of the figurines. “Unfortunately… I think so,” Sunny shivered, holding her own figurine. “Weird and creepy…” Pipp singsonged.

XXXXXXXX

But as soon as the group entered the next room, Paradise found what looked like an old throne in the center. “...this sure brings back a lot of memories…”

“Isn’t this Opaline’s throne room?” Izzy asked as they entered the room. Unfortunately, Sunny didn't hear her, for images of Opaline and her terror flashed in her mind. “Hey, guys! Guess who I am!” Zipp excitedly said as she flew up to the throne and sat on it with her chest up proudly. “I'll get you pathetic ponies if it's the laaaast thing I ever--”

Before she could finish her sentence, Paradise quickly pushed her away from the throne that was now crushed by the rocks that were above it.

XXXXXXXX

But even after 30 more minutes of searching, they still came up completely empty-hoofed. “Ugh... everything important must've been destroyed when we defeated Opaline,” Sunny said while giving a sad look. “And “even if there are other alicorns, how are we ever going to find them?”

Zipp put a hoof on Sunny's shoulder at this. “Sunny-- the one thing I do know about alicorns is that they never give up,” she said. “Also, they have the coolest friends. Come on, let's keep looking. No detail is too small!”

But, in an instant, she tripped on some debris and landed in a large pile. “Zipp! Are you okay?!” Izzy asked with alarm. Zipp spat out some dust before speaking again “I'm better than okay! Look!”

When the others looked, under some rocks was an ancient tapestry with alicorns on it, making Paradise gasp. “An alicorn!”

Paradise quickly removed the rocks so they could pull the tapestry out. “This... this tapestry! It looks just like my dream!” Sunny said as the tapestry seemed to show many different alicorns flying around floating islands in the clouds. “And look at all those alicorns!”

“I knew we'd find something!” Zipp cheered as Paradise hummed in thought. “It’s funny… I always thought that I saw all the tapestry Mother-- I mean, Opaline had in her possession, but… I’ve never seen this one before.”

“Do you remember Opaline ever saying anything that might be useful?” Misty asked her mother as Pipp took pictures of the tapestry. “To be honest, Opaline never really talked much about her past with me,” Paradise admitted. “She did tell me she had sisters many years ago, but… every time she mentioned them, it was with disgust and sadness, so I never really asked many questions.”

“Hmm… this may seem like a stretch,” said Zipp, holding out her FlyPad, “but do you remember Opaline ever saying their names?”

Paradise seemed to think about this for a long moment before suddenly remembering something. “...I believe she said the names… Celestia and Luna on more than one occasion.”

Sunny gasped deeply, her eyes going wide at this. “Celestia and Luna?! Those were the rulers of Equestria before Twilight Sparkle! Opaline was really their sister?!”

“I guess so,” Paradise sighed. “Like I said, I never asked many questions about them.”

“Well, we at least have some answers,” Hitch said. “That has to mean something.”

Suddenly, the entire group began to glow just like the tapestry was, before they looked down and saw the alicorns on it moving and the stars combining to reveal a big golden star, similar to Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark, and the alicorns seemed to circle around it. “Whoa!” Misty cried out with wide eyes. “Sunny, isn’t that…?”

“The Starscout crest!” Sunny finished in delight. “This has to be what we’ve been looking for!”

Suddenly, their cutie marks began to glow, and their magic sparked out a portal that sprung to life on the wall nearby. “Aw man!” Zipp groaned. “These quests always seem to call us at the worst times!”

“Sparky and I can continue the search while you’re gone,” Paradise reassured. “You all go on and do what you have to.”

“Thanks, Mom!” Misty smiled at her mother, Hitch setting Sparky on Paradise’s back before the Mane 6 jumped into the portal on their next adventure.

XXXXXXXX

However, back in the mortal world, Allura was preparing for her and Twitch to exact the next part of their plan as well. “Twitch, I’ve done it!” Allura declared. “I’ve figured out how to use the shard’s magic to cast a spell to change our appearances!”

Twitch muttered in confusion, wondering why they would need to do that, causing Allura to sigh out of frustration. “Because we don’t want those meddling ponies to recognize us and try to stop us before we can find the next piece of the star, you idiot! Now, prepare to have our forms altered!”

She held the star shard up to the sky, letting its magic begin to shift their bodies and change their appearances in a flash of light. When the light finally disappeared, Twitch saw himself as a bright purple squirrel while Allura's appearance changed... more drastically than she expected.

Allura now had the appearance of a light blue pegasus with a dark blue mane and tail, green and gold highlights within it, golden-brown eyes, darker blue feathers on her wings and a cutie mark of a crashing wave.

However, even with her changed appearance, Allura smiled, pleased with the change. “Perfect! We must assume new names as well, which I have heavily thought of. I shall go by the name Uliana, and you, Twitch, shall go by the name… Shiver.”

Twitch chittered in confusion, causing Allura, now going by Uliana, to sigh. “Just go with it,” she muttered with spite in her voice before activating another portal using the star shard. “Come, Shiver-- the next segment of our destiny awaits!”

And so, the two of them leapt into the portal to continue their own mission… unaware that the Mane 6 were on their next adventure as well.

Author's Note

Marina by IfIJustLayHere on DeviantArt

This is the pony who I am using for Allura's altered appearance.