The Forgotten Prince

Chapter IV: The Dark Alicorn

The six friends, the young dragon and the three Cutie Mark Crusaders had been walking close to the edge of the Everfree forest for quite a long time. Although neither the sun nor the moon were anywhere to be found in the sky, in order for them to even tell apart if it was still daytime or already nightfall, they deduced they must have been marching for several hours, which had rendered them terribly exhausted.

The dark clouds and the tempest had vanished completely some time ago, and the sinister gray, dense and cold fog had returned to cover entirely the landscape, making it a little more difficult for them to orientate. However, they had found it much easier to simply stay close to the tree line growing on the edge of the forest, that way maintaining a rectilinear trajectory towards the mountain where the capital city was built on.

During the whole time they had been walking, not a single word had come out of either of their mouths, being the only disturbance to an absolute dead silence the sounds of their hooves and paws treading on the moist, wild grass, and snapping the dead fallen leaves.

Not even a soft breeze could be felt blowing from any direction, yet the air all around was freezing all the time, reaching the point that their breaths became visible. Eventually, Spike, shaking every bone of his body, had to get closer to Twilight in search for some warmth.

The purple unicorn was leading the group, followed closely behind by Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo, all mute, frightened and saddened. After them, followed Rarity and Pinkie Pie, with Fluttershy in the middle of both, and in the rear of the group were Applejack, aiding a still torpid, limping Rainbow Dash to walk.

The rainbow-haired pegasus had already recovered her full senses, but her legs still felt quite numb. She would have tripped and fallen to the ground countless times if her faithful friend was not there to help her with each step. Rainbow Dash being incapacitated was also the reason why their pace was so slow, otherwise Twilight would have wanted to meet with princess Celestia as quickly as possible.

The air appeared to be getting chillier gradually. Spike was beginning to feel very sleepy, and found it difficult to keep his eyelids open, let alone to keep up with them. Twilight lifted him up with her magic grapple, and laid him down on her back.

“Rest, Spike...” she said to him in a low tone “I understand you must be very tired. It’s been a hard day for every one of us.”

Before long, the young dragon fell asleep profoundly on Twilight’s back, lulled by the slow, calming stirrings of her shoulders with each step she took. His little, adorable snoring became audible, and added up to the sole sound of hooves traipsing.

Sweetie Belle took a prolonged, wide yawn, as she was also feeling very tired from all the marching. She leant against her elder sister’s moving body, placing her little head gently on her fur, and resting her eyes for a bit, while the small legs continued walking almost unconsciously.

Applebloom and Scootaloo were the next ones to surrender to the sleepiness, leaning each on one side of Pinkie. The four youths looked so peaceful sleeping that the pink pony let out a low “Aww...”, and Fluttershy showed a tiny smile, forgetting for a moment the shock she had felt before.

“Poor things...” Rarity sighed, as she admired the serenity with which they all were sleeping, despite everything they had been put up with the whole day. She envied the way his young, innocent minds could simply turn off and forget even the worst life-threatening situations, while she, as well as the other elements, could not find any rest or solace for their concerns.

In the rear, Rainbow Dash began trembling from the cold air. She cursed a little, though it was so low that only Applejack was able to hear clearly.

“First that stupid fog, then that crazy storm with all those... things!... Now we’re back to the stupid fog again. Ugh, I can’t take it anymore! I wanna know who’s behind all this, and teach him or her a lesson!”

“Sure thing, sugarcube,” the orange pony said, while patting on her back with her hoof in a friendly way “sure thing.”

The cyan pegasus then changed swiftly to a more worried expression, as she let out a nervous sigh and turned her head down.

“I just hope that this isn’t the end of Equestria, you know? I... I fear that this might be the end.”

“We’ll work this out together like we did all the other times, RD. Don’t you worry.”

Back to the front of the group, the designer white unicorn whispered to Twilight, very carefully not to startle her younger sister or any of the other youngsters, who had their eyes closed but were still moving leisurely.

“Twilight, dear, do you think that there’s still much left to get to Canterlot?”

“I can’t tell for sure, Rarity, but this is definitely the right way” she answered, while taking a confirmation glimpse at the dim silhouettes of the peripheral trees to their side.

“I hope we get there fast...” Pinkie sighed, as Applebloom and Scootaloo began snoring smoothly and adorably on both her sides.

At the city of Canterlot, nopony seemed to have had any rest in the previous hours, since the bizarre events started.

Messengers were arriving from all corners of Equestria, delivering the same unpleasant news to the princesses, that every single city, town, or village had been attacked by a mysterious tempest of enormous dark clouds, striking the earth with a powerful lightening, all at the exact same time.

Some of the Canterlot royal guards had been dispatched to help the local guards in those areas defending their citizens, but the reports of failed attempts to save as many ponies as they could, as well as countless casualties would never halt to arrive to the ears of the two royal sisters.

In the meantime, the city of Canterlot itself had been under attack by the same force, with the strange ethereal figures wandering around the streets and mutilated ponies lurking in the shadows of their homes, lunging themselves at the guards that would pass by them, unaware of the citizens’ creepy and unexplainable possession.

Only the castle, however, had remained utterly intact and impenetrable against the evil force sown right outside its walls.

Celestia felt terrified and desperate, like she had not felt for thousands of years. For the first time in her millenary life, she actually feared her powers would prove themselves to be useless against this threat, and she would not be able to protect her beloved subjects, whose safety she worried more about than her own wellbeing.

By the time the storm lifted and the thick haze came back, everything calmed down a bit, as all the shadowy silhouettes seemed to have faded away into thin air.

The guards proceeded to scatter around the streets, trying to help as many survivors as they could find and to recover the bodies of the deceased ones on the once resplendent capital city, now reduced to piles of scorched wreckage and debris that remained after the havoc.

Only a few mangled ponies could be found still wandering on the streets, not counting those who were probably hiding inside the houses, but the soldiers tried to avoid them every time they encountered one, as much pleading for help sounded its cry. The ones outside kept limping or crawling around, continuously emitting painful, heartrending shrieks of agony, as their bodies appeared to be putrefying and growing mouldy at a fastened pace. Because of that, a strong, disgusting scent of decay became quite noticeable on the streets, almost unbearable.

Back at the castle, one pegasi class captain wearing a golden armour with cobalt-blue feathers on his helmet landed on the floor of the throne room, right before the two unquiet princesses, who were the only ones in there, and took a quick bow before reporting them the current situation.

“Your highnesses, we have managed to gather about one hundred citizens unharmed so far. They’re now being escorted to the city bunker, deeper inside the mountain. But I’m afraid to inform you that the losses are... quite uncountable.”

“I feared as much...” Celestia lamented, trying to hide her immense anxiety behind her graceful, regal pose “that is why I’ve decided it’s best to hide everypony in Equestria where is safe: out from under the sky. At least for now...”

Princess Luna shared the same apprehension as her elder sister. She had remained silent every time a guard entered the throne room to deliver some information, only conferring quietly with her elder sister when the soldiers left them both alone again.

Celestia ordered the captain to quicken in guiding the citizens gathered so far to the bunker, which he responded with another muted bow, taking off hurriedly. The vast, empty room became dead silent once more.

Luna walked closer to her sister, each slow, apprehensive step echoing throughout the entire chamber, as the silver horseshoes stepped on the cold marble floor.

“The magical fog has returned, but I sense that it’s going to get dark again very soon...”

“Yes, I’m afraid you’re right, Luna...” Celestia replied simply.

“What do you think it’s causing all of this?”

The elder alicorn sighed in both dread and exasperation for not being able to provide a reasonable answer, not even to herself.

“I have no idea, Luna.” She closed her eyes “No idea at all...”

“Is it possible that we’re dealing with the same thing that ravaged the entire land, and... killed our parents and our race, more than a thousand years ago?”

Celestia shot her eyes open and faltered a little. It was like something had struck her right in her most painful memory, reopening the worst scar in her mind.

“That is what I fear the most, my dear sister.” She turned around to face her. The princess of the sun could not hide the fear in her eyes, but she also bore quite a resolute expression “But if that is the case, then, this time, WE’ll be there to protect our defenceless subjects.

We’re NOT fillies anymore, you and I; we WON’T stay hidden while we watch others sacrifice themselves for something that is as much precious to them as it is to us: peace and harmony!

We ARE going to defend Equestria together, Luna; and we’re going to take back what’s ours for right, or should we not be deserving of our cutie marks, or our heritage as the last direct descendants of the ancient alicorn race! And we WILL avenge mother and father!”

Luna stood quietly while listening to Celestia’s speech. Though her determination was definitely the one of a true monarch, the princess of the moon could not help but to feel a little frightened by her words. Still, she understood that her sister was right.

Even if the last time that something like this had happened resulted in the obliteration of the primal race of the alicorns, their family, the two of them had undoubtedly grown much strong together, and have defeated many enemies with their combined powers. Maybe they have even surpassed the powers of their ancestors, and should be able to finish now the war they have lost before.

Luna nodded affirmatively, as she finally made up her mind “I’m with you, sister!”

Celestia smiled. “Thank you, Luna. You have no idea how good it is for me to have you by my side in this. Let us go get in our armours.”

That said, they both left the throne room, and headed to the royal armoury.

Meanwhile, the six elements of harmony plus the sleeping Spike and Cutie Mark Crusaders continued marching straight forward, parallel to the Everfree forest, without stopping even once.

Some of them were starting to feel intensively annoyed and exhausted, constantly complaining or grunting, but Twilight simply ignored them, determined to get to the Canterlot castle as swiftly as they could, so a quick stop for some rest would only be a waste of time, as well as the fact that their safety was depending on how soon they would get there, which the purple unicorn was well aware.

Rainbow Dash, who had already complained many times before for multiple reasons, shouted once again from the back of the group.

“Twilight! Don’t you think that we should be there already? We’re walking for hours! My hooves hurt, and I’m freezing here! Are you sure you haven’t got us all lost?”

“For the last time, Dash: we’ve been walking close to the edge of the Everfree forest so that we wouldn’t stray from our trail. This IS the right way, so stop whining!”

“Whining?! In case you’ve forgotten, I got struck by a lightening AND I can barely walk, let alone FLY! I have plenty of reasons to be complaining, but I don’t whine! Whining is for little fillies...”

“Well then, you should quit acting like a little filly!”

Those words hit the rainbow-haired pegasus’ pride harshly, so much that she gritted her teeth and gave a hint of wanting to lunge at her, but was impeded by Applejack, who was still holding her.

“Easy there, partner!” The orange farmer pony tried to calm her down.

“No, Applejack, I’m sick of this! Some things must be said!” The cyan pegasus yelled at Twilight, who was put to a halt and turned to her, followed by the entire group, confused with her friend’s unexpected change of behaviour “You think this is easy for me?! Or for any of us?! Or are you just so stubborn that you haven’t noticed it yet?!”

“Rainbow Dash? What are talking abou-”

“THIS! This whole thing that has happened today, and is still happening right now! I saw my friends die, my house get destroyed, and my hometown get reduced to ashes! I know Fluttershy must feel the same way, now that her house was burned down, and all her animals are all dead!”

The sensitive yellow pegasus irrupted in a profuse cry again after being remembered of the heartbreaking trauma that she had sought to forget just hours ago. She sat on the grass, covering her face with her front hooves. Pinkie and Rarity promptly walked over to console her.

The three crusaders and the young dragon began to wake up a bit startled from the sudden noisy argument and the stifled sound of crying.

“Hum?... What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked, still very drowsy.

“Nothing, Sweetie Belle, everything’s alright. Go back to sleep, dear...” Rarity spoke up, still holding on to Fluttershy kindly “You shouldn’t talk like that, Rainbow Dash. Look what you did to the poor thing.”

“Oh, I’m not even done yet!” Rainbow Dash turned her gaze to Twilight again, her eyes piercing the librarian pony like daggers in flames “I thought you were different, Twilight! After all we’ve seen and suffered today, what do you do next?! You run away! You run away and seek for hiding at your teacher’s castle, like the coward egghead you are!”

Everypony stood shocked to what they were hearing, as they could not recognise her friend anymore. Those accusations were not of Rainbow Dash at all, not even when she was being brash.

“Shut up, Rainbow Dash...” Twilight said, leaning her head slightly forward in order to cover her eyes with her purple fringe.

“And Celestia herself has only proven to be a royal disappointment! While everypony was out there dying or losing their homes, where was she?! Comfy, inside her BIG castle! Big ruler, if you ask me!”

“Shut up!”

“Now I know why Celestia has chosen you as her apprentice! You two are just the same: two pathetic, hypocritical cowards!”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

The purple unicorn swiftly lifted her head up, revealing small tears forming in the edges of her infuriated eyes, and, in just a split second, she shot a beam of lavender magic aura out of her horn, which hit Rainbow Dash right in one side of her face and caused her to be thrown to the ground, loosen from Applejack’s holding.

All the others were more shaken and perplexed than before, after witnessing what had happened right before them.

Twilight closed her eyes, letting all the tears roll down her cheeks, and began breathing heavily, in an attempt to pull herself back together. Only after she finally managed to slow down the breathing did she realise what she had just done: she had attacked one of her best friends, who was badly injured, to make it worse. She immediately felt crushed by remorse.

“Oh my goodness, Rainbow Dash!” She ran towards where the pegasus was lying immobile on the ground “Rainbow, I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to...”

“No, it’s okay, Twilight...” She rustled leisurely on the grass, not wanting to face any of them “I’m the one who should be sorry... I know that you would never run away from a fight. I don’t know what took over me, I’m sorry...”

All of a sudden, a freezing, tumultuous gale rose up incredibly fast. As the thick mist seemed to be lifting, it revealed a cloudy sky above them, which was getting darker and darker.

“It’s happening again!” Applejack observed, holding her hat with one hoof.

With the haze gone, they managed to spot a distinct silhouette of a mountain with a majestic city built on it in the distance.

“There’s Canterlot!” Twilight pointed “Come on, there’s not much time left!”

After the farmer pony picked the rainbow-haired pegasus back up from the ground, and between the deafening howling of the strong winds, they hurriedly regrouped together and scampered as hastily as they could towards the capital city.

The dreadful blood-red lightening with ear-splitting thunders returned soon after they had reached the base of the mountain.

When they finally arrived, they stated that the main entrance to the city was unguarded and the gates had already been knocked down from their large, metal hinges by the force of the tempest.

The streets seemed completely empty, as if all the citizens had already been evacuated. Canterlot was nothing but a frightening and devastated ghost town.

“Not here, too! This is horrible!...” the pink pony whimpered.

“I know, Pinkie...” Twilight responded “But we still need to get to the castl- AH!”

She was interrupted and put to a full stop when an unexpected crimson lightening clashed with the stone pavement right in front of them. A terrifying black, faceless and bald head of an abnormally tall and thin pony appeared, staring at them with no eyes. It was almost like... that thing, whether it was real or not, was able to sense their presence from their fear.

It took a few steps towards them, while emitting the same bizarre sounds of static noise, painful breaths, and rapid demonic whispers, until a group of royal guards showed up and guided them away from it.

“What are you still doing here?” one white pegasus soldier in a golden armour yelled as they were running down a street “Haven’t you been instructed to head to the bunker, like everypony else?”

“We’re not from Canterlot!” Twilight answered right away.

“What?! Where are you from, then?”

“We’re from Ponyville!” Rarity responded.

They stopped by a small, dark alley between two tall buildings.

“Ponyville?!” the guard repeated, incredulous “So how did you ended up here? Did you run away from your escort?”

“They all died, so we had to flee from our town all by ourselves!” the purple unicorn informed.

“And you decided to come here?” the soldier retorted in a scolding tone.

“I have to speak with princess Celestia!”

All of a sudden, they were startled by shrieking, pleading voice coming from the alley they were standing right in front of.

“WHO’S THERE?! PLEASE!... DON’T LEAVE MEEE!!!”

A female pony jumped out of the shadows and landed in the middle of them. This one was awfully maimed, being perhaps in the most appealing state they had seen so far, for not only her eyes and jaw had been ripped out, she was also missing an ear, a great portion of her mane and, worst of all, the whole bottom part of her body. She was surrounded by an unbearable stench of putrefaction, as her skin had already lost its colour to an unhealthy, cadaverous pale tone, and she was leaving a large trail of blood behind as she crawled swiftly in their direction.

With the guards distracted by the hostile possessed pony, Twilight and her friends took the chance and fled from the scene. Before long, they found themselves standing in the middle of the Canterlot central plaza, an extremely vast space where all the main streets would lead, well adorned with a beautiful pattern in the stone paving and a glorious fountain in the centre. But most importantly, right in front of it was the stairway to the tall doors of the castle.

The winds became stronger and louder than ever, and the lightening more frequent, tearing the skies from all direction unceasingly. Yells, thunders and magic shots came from absolutely everywhere, as the royal guards were battling both on the sky and on the ground against the outnumbering dark figures and mutilated ponies.

Suddenly, Twilight noticed a familiar beam of golden magic aura shooting from high above in the sky.

“Princess Celestia!” she called.

As soon as she recognised her pupil’s voice, the princess of the sun descended very swiftly, landing on the ground near them. She was wearing a shining golden chest plate with archaic symbols carved in it that covered all of her ribcage, two pairs of golden horseshoes with the same patterns, taller than the ones she wore casually, covering almost the entirety of her long legs, and a beautifully ornamented golden war helmet on her head.

“Twilight! What are you all doing here? This is not safe, you should go hide in the bunker!”

“But princess, what’s going on?”

The alicorn gave an impatient sigh, but felt like her student deserved a truthful answer.

“I can’t tell you for sure Twilight. But I’m afraid that we’re dealing with the worst crisis Equestria has ever seen in more than a thousand of years.”

“Do you mean that this has already happened before?”

“Yes, and the last time this happened, my race was annihilated from the face of the earth.”

They all stood in great shock and concern after hearing that, but still, Twilight was determined not to hide and stay idly by while the princesses and the guards battled arduously until their last breaths to defend what was so endeared for them as it was for eveypony else.

“Still, we’re here to help in any way we can!”

“Please understand, this is no time to be stubborn, Twilight! You mus-”

An abrupt deafening blast muffled her, coming from a higher part of the castle, where their attention was instantaneously drawn to; one of the towers had just fallen and clashed with another below, consequentially knocking it down.

“LOOK OUT!” Celestia opened her wings and used them to propel all of them aside, just before the falling tower hit the ground so hard it quaked, and every stone was reduced to a massive pile of bricks and dust.

As soon as the princess had finished coughing, she looked back up at the ruined high walls of the castle and, upon seeing the gigantic gap left, with all the floors exposed to the feeble red light of the sky, she let out a desperate cry.

“LUNA!” She hurriedly turned to her apprentice once more and, though still a bit reluctant about putting her in such a perilous situation, she designated them a task “Twilight, listen carefully, if you truly wish to help, then go up there and search for my sister. She was somewhere in that wing that just collpased. Please, hurry!”

“Already on it, princess!” The purple pony hastily helped her downed friends up and led them through the pile of debris and up the stairs in front of the tall doors of the castle.

All of a sudden, and for aggravating the panic, an incredibly blustering roar smothered all the tumult, coming from high up above, far beyond the murky clouds; for those more astute, they recognised it sounded just like a dragon. Twilight and the others stopped at the already half-open door, also trimming the sky with their eyes.

The thunders ceased, and all the ghostly silhouettes froze completely where they stood, like dark, smoky statues. The guards stopped fighting, and everything went dead silent, as everypony turned their heads upwards, expecting to see a dragon piercing through the clouds at any moment.

And so it did, only it was not a normal dragon: it was colossal, about ten times bigger than the largest dragon ever seen, with three pairs of large wings, and its overall appearance resembled that of the dark figures, all made of dense, black smoke, and bare of any facial features.

It landed on the main plaza with such violence it wrecked the fountain in the centre. It let out another loud roar, before lowering its massive head. Everypony’s bewilderment only grew even more with this strange behaviour of a giant ethereal dragon, but not as much as with what they saw next, as through the smoke that was the dragon’s head came out the silhouette of a large pony.

“A... a dragon rider?” The guards stuttered, baffled at the sight.

It was an alicorn. A male one, judging by his form, slightly bigger than Celestia, and he wore a full-body armour made of a mysterious-looking black metal, revealing only his lengthy, flat mane and tail, both black as his heavy armour, and his long horn and grandly spread wings of dark grey. A mask was attached to the helmet frame, hiding his face completely, and a thin black crown rested on his head, in front of his horn.

He was treading patiently towards Celestia from the other side of the plaza, when the royal guards moved in.

“Don’t let him get near the princess, come on!”

The unicorn class soldiers started shooting magic spheres at him, but the shots seemed to phase out in the air before even touching him, like he had a magical invisible barrier around him, so the other classes charged towards him with the sabres ready on their mouths.

However, before they got too close, he created a sonorous explosion of a powerful gust of wind and an intense light that blinded Celestia, Twilight, and all of her friends for a few seconds.

When they looked up again, he was still walking in their direction, and all the guards were scattered throughout the area, most of them unconscious, as they had been thrown brutally through the air.

Without turning her gaze around, the princess of the sun muttered to her pupil and her friends, who were still standing in the middle of the hide stairs.

“Twilight, get inside immediately and go find Luna like I told you!”

That said, the group hastily headed inside, shutting the heavy doors behind them, and began scampering through the prolonged entrance hall, heading to the first stairway upwards.

Princess Celestia regained her pose, spreading her wings imposingly, and walked over to the armoured new arrival. The both of them stopped face to face, standing only scarce meters away from each other, and engaged first in an unarmed dialogue.

“Who are you?” Celestia vociferously inquired.

His response came in a terrifyingly grave voice, and in a truly soulless and apathetic tone. It echoed from everywhere around them, and literally sent uncomfortable chills down their spines.

“I am the last alicorn.”