After many sunrises and sunsets - well to be specific 1,095,750 sunrises and 1,095,750 sunsets. Everypony learned the news that the ancient Pillars of Equestria and Stygian - the pony of shadows - were finally freed from Limbo after thousands of years. But what they didn’t realise was that they weren’t the only ponies freed. A young lost Alicorn Princess Aurora Borealis was finally freed from thousands of years trapped inside Limbo.
What she first remembered after being freed was the memory of Starswirl telling her that she had to come with him. His voice hardly ever showed any form of emotion, only an element of mystery that was known to confuse everypony. But on that one occasion that day it sounded almost full of concern, showing her an urgency to the situation. Aurora on the other hand had no idea what was happening, where he wanted to take her, and why he needed her.
All she could ask was if her sister’s were coming.
But Starswirl didn’t answer her. Instead he used his horn to teleport her away forcing her to come with him.
But that was all she could remember, everything else was almost blurred out images in her mind, or the endless blackness of Limbo lasting for an unknown length time. Part of her assumed that it was the reasoning for her memory loss.
Aurora slowly felt herself begin to regain her consciousness - she could hear the sound of some pony talking to… The Starswirl The Bearded. As soon as she opened her eyes she realised that she was trapped in the middle of a dark forest. But much to her luck, she woke up behind a large boulder - hiding her from The Pillars and those other ponies. As she listened in to the pillars conversation with the other ponies, and their fight with The Pony of Shadows, she realised that they did not have the same symptom of amnesia. They were able to explain to the ponies exactly what happened. However she couldn’t even remember her sisters, what they looked like, their names- Only that they were also Alicorn Princesses. ‘Did he cast a memory loss spell on me’ She thought to herself, as she glanced towards the ponies from behind the giant boulder.
She felt hurt that for an unknown reason Starswirl The Bearded could not trust her.
Hours had passed since The Pillars and those other ponies had left the clearing in the forest, but Aurora had stayed in the same place. She remembered the purple pony mentioning to Starswirl that they had been gone for a few thousand years. All Aurora wanted was to find her sisters, but now she had no chance. They were most likely gone..
She slowly began to walk through the trees of the forest staring down at the ground. She thought the best plan of action was to choose a direction and walk in it. Until she found another pony. Much to her annoyance: despite being born as an alicorn for some unknown reason she could not fly. So she wouldn't even be able to get above tree level to find any form of life. So she walked using her magic from her horn to provide herself some light. After walking for days… and days, she started to question if there even was another pony in the direction she chose. But just as she started to give up hope, the sound of rustling in the bushes echoed throughout that part of the forest. “Who’s there?” She asked, as she prepared to blast it with her magic if it was about to attack her. She turned towards where the rustling was coming from, to see a shadowed figure in the bushes.
“Oh, it’s just me.” A voice spoke out as they slowly walked out of the bushes, revealing a pegasus with a ruby-red main tied up with a bow, and mint skin with hints of pink fading in throughout it. It was only a pony.
“What are you doing here?” Aurora asked, confused as to why she suddenly found a pony.
“I’m from a part of Equestria where there is always a lot of snow around the outskirts of it and inside there is rarely any roses.” The pegasus explained, as she glanced over to the other pony noticing wings and a horn. “Wait, you’re an alicorn? Are you a princess? How come there’s no mention of a sixth alicorn in Equestria? Do the princesses know you are here? Were you born an alicorn like Flurry Heart…”
Aurora zoned out as the pony asked her questions, she realised that she couldn’t tell or allow anypony to see that she was an alicorn incase they thought of her as a fraud and a fake. “I don’t know.” Was all Aurora could say, as she glanced back to the ground below them. “No pony can know I am here.”
“Why not?” The pegasus asked as she noticed a sad expression across the alicorn’s face. “I’m sure somepony can help.”
“They might be able to, but you have no idea who I am, and you said that there is five other alicorns in Equestria.” Aurora began to explain. “ It will be a huge risk for other ponies to find out, I don’t want to risk something happening.”
“You know what: I have this cloak that covers my wings.” The pegasus explained, gesturing at the cloak she was wearing. “I can let you borrow this cloak… take you to where I live and we can try to figure something out!!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course!!!” The pegasus exclaimed as she taken the cloak off and handed it to her. “I’m Crystal Ruby by the way, but everyone calls me Ruby.”
“Thank you. I’m.. Aurora Borealis.” Aurora replied as she put the cloak on.
“The plan is that we are going to walk back to the nearby town, take the train to The Crystal Empire where Iive.” Ruby said. Aurora felt good with the plan but she couldn’t help but wonder what happened to her sisters. Maybe two of the alicorns Rose talked about were her sisters.
Days had now passed since Aurora Borealis met Crystal Ruby in that forest, and now they were both on a train to The Crystal Empire. As much as Aurora thought that Ruby bringing her to The Crystal Empire was the best idea, she couldn't help but worry. While The Empire provided her a place to stay, it still didn't guarantee she'd find her sister's or her bringing back her lost memories. While she had grown more aware than she was when she was freed, she still could not remember her life before Limbo. When she thought back to her life before Limbo she remembered the memories of her sisters slowly slip away. Close to the beginning she always thought about her sisters, but her memories slipped away leaving her to hardly even exist. But she could not bring herself to tell Ruby the extent of what happened.
As the train pulled up to the train station Ruby jumped up from the bench. “WE HERE!” The pegasus shouted, with her voice sounding full of excitement. “My house is close to the outskirts so we won’t need to go anywhere near the palace and risk the princess seeing you.”
All Aurora answered with was a nod of her head, as they both left the train. She couldn't believe the amount of ponies that surrounded the train station, it was more ponies than she had ever seen in the one place in her life. "Aurora She slowly glanced around at an all the different ponies, unaware Ruby was still speaking, and the buildings inside the empire. She found the way the everything in The Empire was designed mesmerising, part of her felt like she'd be happy if she lived here. "Aurora, Aurora, AURORA!"
"Oh sorry." Aurora replied awkwardly, as she glanced towards the pegasus with an apologetic look across her face.
Ruby quickly left her house with Aurora left there, she decided the it would be best to speak to Sunburst sooner rather than later so she can create a game plan before Thursday - today was Monday - when the Equestria games starts on Thursday all four of the known alicorn princesses will be in The Crystal Empire, and knowing how Aurora doesn't want anyone meant she didn't have much choice for a plan.
As Ruby walked up to Sunburst's front door she reached her hoof out and knocked on the door.
Knock! Knock
"Come in!" A voice shouted from inside the house while an orange glow opened the door. "Is everything okay?"
"How likely is it that there could be unknown alicorns who are not princesses living in Equestria." She quietly asked as Sunburst raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Just interested."
"Okay well, It's not impossible..." Sunburst began to explain as Ruby stared at him focusing on what he said. "There's a legend of an ancient alicorn civilisation just outside of Equestria, and when the civilisation was attacked a few young filies escaped. But no pony ever agreed whether there was just the two of them or three. But that was like three thousand years ago, it's hard to know what happened and what didn't happen. If there was three Alicorn's the third most likely died along time ago."
"What happened to the other two?" Ruby asked with tears forming in her eyes.
"It's said that they became the rulers of Equestria."
"PRINCESS CELESTIA AND LUNA!?" She shouted, causing Sunburst to flinch.
"Yes," He quietly replied, as Ruby quickly sat up.
"I should probably go..." The pegasus said as she flapped her wings and quickly dashed out of the door
"That totally wasn't strange..."
Princess Twilight Sparkle slowly walked through what felt like near endless hallways of Canterlot Castle. Thinking back to when she and her friends freed Starswirl The Bearded and The five Pillars from limbo, but also Stygian The Pony of Shadow's who had escaped and now was somewhere in Equestria.
All she could do now was tell the Princesses about her mistake.
As she walked towards the doors of the throne room she taken a breath in to try and calm herself down. Once the guards opened the door she quietly walked up to the two Princesses. "Twilight, Is everything alright?' Princess Celestia asked, noticing the concerned and guilty look across her face.
"I have good news but also bad news," She began, as she lowered her head in shame. "I sort of freed Starswirl The Bearded... But also The Pony Of Shadows. Ponies really need to keep the myths and legends accurate, although then they wouldn't be myths and legends. Please don't lock me up in Tartarus. I can fix it!"
Celestia and Luna both stared at her with a blank expression across their face trying to process what Twilight had just said to the. "Why would we lock you up in Tartarus?" Celestia asked with a confused look across her face.
"Because I accidentally freed a monster from Limbo..."
"While The Pony Of Shadows being freed isn't good, You managed to figure out where Starswirl The Bearded and the other Pillars were and free them." The princess explained, with a smile across her face. "Now all we need to do is keep an eye on where the pony of shadows is, and transform them back into a pony. It's okay."