Magic of Little Blueberry’s Love

Twilight for the fourth time tried to concentrate on the book of spells she had found in the castle of Two Sisters. The book was written in ancient Equestrian. Twilight had been fluent in the language of her remote ancestors since her childhood, and the alphabet presented no problem, but today the intricate flourishes of the ancient characters danced in front of her eyes not wanting to line up or to make sense. At last Twilight, aggravated, put the book on the table with a bang and left the library.

To sort out her tired brain she decided to use the long ago tested remedy – circle the palace along the corridor that went parallel to the outer wall around the entire building. While passing the back door she heard timid knocking.

Her friends usually entered through the front door and never knocked – after all, it was their palace too. The citizens didn’t bother her when Equestria wasn’t facing attacks from another villain or any other sort of serious trouble. The library had a separate entrance – up the stairs and to the second floor, and the subscribers knew it. So, who could it be?

Twilight opened the door, went outside and saw a young Earth pony – younger than Twilight herself, but obviously older than Applebloom. The unknown guest looked at her with deep-purple eyes, darker than Twilight’s and a bit different in hue. There was a lot of sadness in those eyes.

To tell the color of her coat or mane wasn’t possible – the poor thing, apparently, had walked a long path, so her fur was covered with a thick layer of dust. Her saddle bags, as dirty as their owner, were filled up to the brim, so the tired filly could no longer hold their weight, and her legs were about to give way.

During those horrible, though, luckily, brief days when Ranhorn occupied Equestria, the country was full of such sad, hungry, dusty ponies not knowing where to go. But Ranhorn had been locked in Tartar for a month, encased in an indestructible jar where the magic chest of the Elements coupled with the Crystal Heart sent him. Nothing was heard of the escape of any other villains – and the last letter from Celestia had arrived just half an hour before – so what made this young one undertake such a long trip?
‘Good day!’ said Twilight. “I can see you are very tired. Would you like to go into my palace and have a cup of tea? My friend has sent me a fresh apple pie.”

The stranger’s eye showed astonishment with the unexpected kindness of the royal being. She mumbled something – just like Fluttershy on the day of their first meeting – but then she seemed to get her bearings and uttered ‘Thank you, Your Highness, but how can I enter your beautiful palace? I’m so dirty!’

Twilight smiled. It was a piece of cake for her to apply the cleaning spell she had learned from Rarity ages before – maybe during the first or second week of their friendship. The stranger’s coat turned out to be a pleasant shade of light-blue – lighter than Rainbow Dash’s but darker than Soarin’s. Her mane and tail were pink – slightly darker than Fluttershy’s. Twilight then used levitation to free her guest from her heavy saddle bags and carefully put them near the door. Now she could see the cutie mark – bright-red cranberries that looked beautiful and very real. Twilight felt a silly desire to eat them, but managed to conceal it and invited the stranger to enter for the second time.

Tea and Applejack’s apple pie revived the hungry traveler, and she agreed to tell her story.

‘My name is Blueberry Ice’ she started ‘I live in the village named Cranberry Marsh. We are in the north of Equestria – a bit to the south from the Crystal Empire. Most ponies in our village grow berries – cranberries, blueberries, cowberries and bilberries’. They are northern berries, which don’t grow in places like yours, so ponies from the southern provinces gladly give good money for them. That’s what my family did too.

‘A month ago a terrible black storm-cloud flew above our village and threw a bolt of lightning. All houses, and ours among them, immediately burned to the ground. The second bolt of lightning destroyed our berry bushes. We didn’t know what to do and just stood there and cried. But a few hours later magic light came, and our houses and plantations rose from the ashes like the Phoenix bird, about which my mother read to me when I was little. Even all our things were intact. We were happy that everything was back to the norm. Only I don’t know what happened to my parents that day. I didn’t notice anything at first, but the next morning they packed, took nearly all the money we had made selling berries and went out. Mom said they would be back soon, but they never returned. I started worrying and writing letters to mayors or different cities and towns asking them if two ponies resembling my Mom and Dad had been seen in their places, but nopony wrote back. I couldn’t hire a private detective, for I had very little money left. So I decided to go to Ponyville to ask Your Highness’s help. Grown ponies in our village often travel to the south to sell berries, and they all tell me that you are very kind and always help everypony. While I was on the road, I spent all my remaining money, and hotels no longer accepted me. I had to sleep on bare ground and eat wild grass. But I couldn’t turn back before I learned anything about my parents.’

‘Outrageous’ thought Twilight when Blueberry finished her story. ‘About time I sent a proclamation to my subjects and reminded them about the importance of helping those in trouble. After all, my friends and I never charge them for driving villains out of Equestria all the time! And that’s a harder task than giving a roof for the night to this poor kid!’

‘I will help you, Blueberry’ she said out loud. ‘You are tired. Spike will take you to the guest room where you can have a good sleep, unpack and take a real bath. I need time to talk to my friends and decide how to act.’

Blueberry, completely floored with such hospitality, mumbled her thanks for a long time yet, while Spike dragged her stone-heavy bags along the circled corridor. The guest room was done in Blueberry’s own colors – blue and pink – and the exhausted traveler, as soon as she could reach the luxurious bed, fell onto it and was lost in heavy, worried slumber.