Here you go Majestic Wren! I really appreciate your amazing reviews. :D Thanks to everyone else who's been following and reviewing too! Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Please continue to review, you have no idea how much it means to me! ;) BTW I decided to go ahead and raise the rating to T, since Twilight will find herself in...a bad situation soon.

The three princesses lit their horns, summoning their magic. And then the most amazing thing I've ever seen happened—right before my eyes.

Each princess opened her eyes—they glowed white with power. A glowing orb appeared directly above Twilight before slowly absorbing into her horn. Twilight levitated, her eyes glowing, mane and tail flowing in wind no one else felt. Meanwhile the other princesses slumped from exhaustion, their cutie marks gone—their magical strength gone as well.

Twilight settled back into her normal form and looked forlornly at Celestia. The teary-eyed sun princess repeated her earlier command. "Flee. And do not look back."

Rainbow Dash hurried up next to me. "Come on, Tara!"

"We can't leave the princesses!" I argued.

Rainbow's hooves hooked under my arms. "No time!" She flapped her wings furiously and barely lifted me a foot off the ground. "Man! Lose weight!"

"Rainbow Dash, don't worry about Tara. I'll take care of her. You take Applejack and get out of here!" ordered Twilight. The rainbow-maned pony dropped me on the floor and picked up Applejack instead before speeding away in a rainbow trail.

Twilight motioned to me with a hoof. "Hope you can run fast." She galloped through the palace hallways as I did my best to keep up.

"How can the smallest alicorn run so fast?!" I panted.

"Practice," Twilight answered without batting an eye. But as we reached the gate even she froze. "Uh-oh."

The dark cloud had expanded and was beginning to enshroud the Equestrian palace in dark magic. Our escape route was blocked.

Twilight backed up in worry. "We've got to get out of here somehow!"

"But how are you and I going to get past King Sombra?" I asked in desperation.

"The library has another route to the outside. Maybe we can escape that way." Twilight set off galloping again. "Come on!"

I ran as fast as I could.

Meanwhile the sky grew darker as the cloud expanded. I could hear deep, dark laughter that seemed to be making Twilight shudder. King Sombra was powerful and he knew it. It was only a matter of time till he found the princesses—wherever they had gone.

Twilight suddenly engulfed me in her magic and pulled me through a door, slamming it shut behind me. "We're here," she announced, panting and lit her horn.

The Canterlot library archives had to be the dustiest room in Equestria. Twilight must have been one of the only ones who got any pleasure out of these books.

She began searching for the aforementioned passageway while I read the signs telling me what section I was looking at. Starswirl the Bearded's section intrigued me. Twilight had told me about the time spells she had found there before.

I pulled one book off the shelf and it fell open to an elaborate two-page drawing. A grassy hill at the bottom held a Pegasus, a unicorn, and an earth pony around its base. On top of the hill were the four alicorn princesses—Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight. But above them all, hovering with magnificent wings outspread, was the most majestic alicorn of all. Her long, flowing mane bore each color of the Elements of Harmony, and was so perfect and beautiful I couldn't believe such glory had been captured in a drawing. Her hooves were covered by baby pink horseshoes. Her coat seemed to glow silver and gold and white all at once. But her cutie mark really caught my attention.

It was a small cloud divided into six sections—each section was the color of one of the Elements of Harmony.

In the center of the cloud was a broken sword.

"I found our way out!" Twilight shouted just then. I jumped and dropped the book, still open to the drawing that had caught my attention.

Twilight approached me. "What are you doing? We've got to—" She spied the drawing and stopped mid-sentence. She seemed to have a flashback moment—then looked at me. "Oh…by Celestia…can it be…?"

"Twilight?" I asked in confusion.

"The prophecy," Twilight whispered. Using her magic, she grabbed the book and flipped through it. "Where is it? Where's the spell?"

"I thought you said we had to get away from King Sombra!" I cried.

"We do," Twilight answered without looking up.

"Then what in the name of—"

"We can't let Sombra capture the magic I now carry within me," Twilight explained. Finally she set the book down. "And I can't transfer the magic to you. You humans can't bear the power of even one alicorn, let alone four. I'm going to put it in something that we can carry and hide if we must."

"But what spell were you looking for?!" I demanded.

"The magic transfer spell. Starswirl the Bearded wrote that he used his time spell to see what would happen in the distant future—he was only able to go once, but he wrote everything he saw. He foretold my becoming a princess alicorn. But he also foretold a fifth and final alicorn who would rise when Equestria needed her the most. She was not born an alicorn, but when she becomes one, no magic in Equestria can stand against her."

"But who is she?"

"Nopony knows." Twilight sighed. "And the spell in the book contains the only known way to transfer this much alicorn magic to an inanimate object. The spell also contains prophecy—but nopony understands it."

A thunderclap alerted us that Sombra was very near. Twilight charged her horn. "You may want to step back, Tara."

"Will we be able to escape?"

Twilight looked at me long and hard. "Only one of us can," she finally answered. "You. Sombra doesn't know you are here. If he finds me, he will be satisfied."

"Twilight, no!"

But Twilight was determined. She used her magic and pulled something from a frame on the wall. It was a tiny alicorn made of carved gemstones. I noticed that the figurine had come from a shadow box with multiple carvings of ponies—three prominent ponies near the bottom clearly represented a unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth pony. Four small alicorn carvings above them were obviously Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight herself. But the fifth alicorn—the one Twilight now had—had been the most prominent of all, her mane bearing all the colors of the Elements of Harmony. It was exactly like the drawing I had just seen.

I was confused. Who was this final alicorn princess?

But before I could ask Twilight, I noticed what she was doing.

Twilight levitated the small alicorn amulet with her magic. She plucked three long hairs from her mane, her magic rapidly braiding them into a cord on which she suspended the alicorn like a necklace charm. She sighed deeply. "Here goes nothing. Let's hope this ancient spell works." And she quietly began to chant.

"Oh alicorn of gemstone made,

This I command of thee today.

Bear the magic of the land,

Place the power in her hand.

The Element inside is strong,

For she has borne it all along.

And if she be worthy of thy flame,

Give her hooves and a new name,

Wings to fly, a magic horn,

And let rise a new alicorn.

If she wears thee both out and in,

Then shall the spell ne'er be broken.

This magic I seal thee within."

Twilight's horn lit up and a stream of purple alicorn magic flowed into the amulet. I heard her groaning with the effort.

The door into the room began to give. Twilight quickly finished the spell and picked up the necklace with what remained of her magic. She seemed to struggle even with the simple task of levitating a small necklace but she was determined. Quickly she placed the amulet around my neck. "The escape route is behind the third bookshelf on your left. Be careful with that necklace; that is virtually all the alicorn magic left in Equestria. I've kept just enough that Sombra will think he has stolen all my magic when you have it." She bit her lip. "You must never, NEVER, become enraged when you wear the necklace. Negative energy can twist the alicorn magic within that amulet into dark magic—and Equestria will be ruined." The door cracked and Twilight looked at me forlornly. "Run, Tara."

"But Twilight—"

She pushed me. "Run!"

I ran to the bookshelf and jumped into a secret passageway. About ten feet in I paused. Twilight had entrusted me with almost all of her magic, plus she was giving herself up so I could escape. I owed it to her to try to save her. Carefully I began to sneak back.

But just as I arrived at the doorway, just out of sight, I saw him.

King Sombra.

He was levitating Twilight in the air. Her hooves were tied together with streams of dark magic, and the energy swirled around her in a sickening black tornado. She was struggling but plainly trapped. Sombra laughed in triumph. "Now hold still, Sparkle."

A stream of dark magic shot from his horn and made contact with hers. Twilight writhed in agony and screamed as what little bit of her magic that remained was forcibly ripped out of her. Sombra absorbed her power and laughed mockingly. Suddenly he released the dark magic holding Twilight prisoner and she dropped to the floor. She lay there without stirring, her ribcage barely moving as she breathed.

I realized I was growing angry and quickly tried to suppress it. Too much anger could twist the alicorn magic in my amulet into dark magic.

A cloud of dark magic swirled in front of Sombra and formed into three long, heavy chains. Two of the chains wound themselves around Twilight's hooves—the third went around her neck and dragged her to her hooves. Sombra jerked on the chain on her neck. "Move it, slave."

Twilight choked and gagged as the chain tightened painfully. Sombra growled. "I said move!"

With a groan Twilight dragged herself along. I touched the glistening alicorn around my neck. I didn't have a moment to lose. I knew exactly what I had to do.

I had to follow them.

Wherever they were taking Twilight, she wouldn't be their prisoner for long.