Chapter 2

Celestia, Luna, and Blueberry had walked for several minutes before Celestia plucked up the courage to speak again.

"Umm, Mr. Blueberry?" she asked.

"Just Blueberry is fine kid, I don't think too much of titles," Blueberry said pleasantly.

"Okay, Blueberry. What exactly is this land called?"

"This is Equestria. It's a nice enough place, I suppose, but since I've never lived anywhere else, I've really got nothing to compare it to."

"Are there monsters?" asked Luna anxiously.

"Not if you know where to go. If you stay close to the coast without going too far north or south you should be alright. Nothing plagues us around here except the odd timberwolf. Say, I just realized that I never got your names."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry," Celestia said quickly. "My name is Celestia, and this is Luna, my little sister."

"Nice to meet you!" Luna piped up.

"Nice to meet you, too," laughed Blueberry. "It's nice to see unicorns again, haven't seen one of them in a good long time."

He thinks we're unicorns, Celestia thought. She noticed that she and Luna were so covered in dirt and grime from their recent excursions that their wings were hardly visible since they had both instinctively kept them tucked in.

By this time they had arrived at Blueberry's house. It was a quaint little wooden farmhouse, painted red, surrounded by berry bushes of all kinds. Tending to some shrubs sitting against the front of the house was a mare. She had a tan coat with a dark brown mane. Her eyes were blue, like Blueberry's, and she hummed to herself as she watered the plants. On her flank was a cutie mark in the shape of a nut.

"Chestnut, darling," called Blueberry, "we have guests!"

Chestnut turned and, when she saw the two filthy fillies, gasped, dropping her watering can to the ground.

"Good heavens!" she cried. "Wherever did you find them, Blue? Oh come inside, dears, I must get you cleaned up!" Before Celestia or Luna could speak, Chestnut whisked them into the house and steered them straight toward the tub. What followed was the most intense scrubbing Celestia had ever experienced. Luna fidgeted and complained at first, but a sharp glare from her big sister quieted her down

As Chestnut finished cleaning the girls manes and went on to their bodies she exclaimed, "My, what large wings you have! I don't think I've ever-" then she stopped speaking. She also stopped scrubbing. Celestia saw her eyes move from her large wings to her horn, and then back again.

"I, I've never seen anything like it!" exclaimed Chestnut. "Blueberry, come here, quickly!"

"What is it, Chestnut?" asked Blueberry, trotting in. "You're not have trouble, are-" he then caught sight of their wings too.

"Well, I'll be darned! I can't believe I didn't notice before! How in the world is it possible?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier!" cried Celestia desperately, worried for a moment that they were going to be kicked out.

"There's nothing to apologize for," said Blueberry. "I'm not so foolish as to think I've seen everything in the world, but we'll talk more after you've been fed."

Celestia and Luna finished their bath, and when they walked out into the kitchen they saw that Blueberry had whipped them up a batch of blueberry pancakes. Celestia was starving, and she and Luna ate more than they had ever eaten in their life, more than Celestia believed polite, but the pancakes were so good that she set aside manners, just this once.

When they had both eaten their fill, Celestia sent Luna out to play in the front yard and then sat down at the table with Blueberry and Chestnut.

"Now," Blueberry said gently, "why don't you tell us your story?" Celestia nodded and took a deep breath.

"My sister and I are alicorns," she began. "It is a race of magical beings from an island far to the west of here. My father was the king there, and he ruled a happy and prosperous kingdom. Our kingdom was not large, or exceptionally rich, but it nevertheless made enemies. In the south of the island there was a large mountain, and living in the mountain were gargoyles."

"Gargoyles?" asked Blueberry. "You mean those things you read about in storybooks that are stone statues during the day but come alive at night?"

"Yes, exactly," Celestia said. "My father had thought that if we just left them alone they wouldn't bother us, but he was wrong. One night a great horde of them descended on our capital city and-" Celestia stopped, as she felt a lump forming in her throat and tears in her eyes.

"It's okay dear," said Chestnut, putting her hoof on Celestia's. "You don't need to say anymore."

Celestia shook her head, regained her composure and continued. "As the gargoyles were attacking, my father told me to take Luna and fly away. He told us to not come back no matter what. So we flew as far and as fast as we could. Gargoyles were chasing us. It was midnight. Just as they were about to catch us I summoned all my magic and-" Celestia paused, wondering if they would believe her. "I raised the sun." she finished in a small voice. She waited, but Blueberry and Chestnut didn't speak, so she continued.

"The gargoyles stopped chasing us after that, but my sister and I kept flying. We flew away from our island, all day as fast as we could. By nightfall we had arrived here." She finished and looked at the two ponies, wondering what they would say. Blueberry's face showed no emotion. Chestnut had tears in her eyes. Finally, Blueberry spoke.

"That's quite the story," he said. "It almost defies belief, but it also doesn't change anything. I don't really know for certain who you are or what your capable of, but I do know that you're in trouble. My wife and I will still do whatever we can to help you. What do you plan on doing?"

"I don't know," Celestia said. "Do you know if there are any alicorns in this land?"

"Not as far as I know," said Blueberry, "but I'm hardly the person to ask. You'd want to talk to somepony who's been all over Equestria, somepony who knows everything about this land and its magic."

"You want to talk to the unicorns," said Chestnut. "They'll help you."

"Where can I find the unicorns?" asked Celestia.

"That might be difficult," said Blueberry uneasily. "There aren't a whole lot left since-"

Blueberry was cut off as Luna dashed into the room, looking quite excited.

"Celestia!" she cried. "Come outside, you've got to see this!"

"Huh?" Celestia was confused, but hurried out the door after her sister. Once they were outside, Luna pointed up at the sky to the east. Celestia, squinting in the midday sun, at first saw nothing. Then she could make out the shape of something flying through the sky. At first she thought it was a dragon, but then she noticed that it had a lion's paw, an eagle's talon, and a goat's hoof. In fact, she found this creature to be composed of several different creatures.

Blueberry walked up beside her. His face wore an expression of fear.

"Celestia," he said. "Take your sister and get in the house. Now."

"Hurry!" cried Chestnut. "Don't let him see you!" Celestia was filled with a sense of foreboding. She rushed forward, picked Luna up, and dashed back into the house, with Blueberry and Chestnut on her heels. Once inside, Blueberry shut the door and turned to Celestia and Luna.

"Okay," he said. "We should be safe."

"What was that thing?" asked Celestia. "Why were you so scared of it?"

"That was Discord," said Chestnut. "He rules this land."

"Rules is a loose term," said Blueberry bitterly. "More like, everypony's too scared of him to stop him from doing whatever he wants, and what he wants is to simply cause chaos wherever he goes. He doesn't usually stray from the cities, however, that's where he has his most fun. I wonder where he's going?"

"Probably to Ponyville," said Chestnut. "He's probably on his way to another World Leader's Summit..."

Author's Note

My first chapter was me testing the waters of this site, now I can really get going. Next chapter, I will introduce the rest of the characters in this story, mainly the major players in the world politics of Equestria. I haven't done fanfiction since I was seventeen, so bear with me. I'll try not to make too many mistakes.