Alicorn Song

Alicorn Song

Chapter 1

A new home

Candy Cane was exhausted beyond belief. He had returned to the town he had been born in today, to take ownership of his parents home, but never had he imagined how much work it was to move one Ponys posessions. Since he didn't have a lot of money, he had organized most of the move back here by himself. His horn ached from carrying all the furniture into the house....

He thought that he deserved a little respite, taking a little walk at the beach. Celest, his cousin on his mothers side, had shown up to help, but by the time the white Unicorn mare had shown up he was almost done. While he took his walk she was preparing a meal back at the house, so he would have some "decent" food, as she had put it.

The young Unicorn stallion sighed heavily in the moonlight. He hadn't seen Celest in several years, but he didn't remember her to be this... fussy. Literally the first thing she had done, after seeing that there was only one box left in the cart, had been to the kitchen and start preparing dinner. Even this little walk had been her idea.

        "It's almost as if my mothers spirit is possessing her somehow...” he thought as his hooves splashed through the late night waves. Suddenly, something knocked him off his hooves and he fell face first into the cool seawater.

For a moment, the young lavender stallion thought some piece of drift wood had been washed ashore, and collided with him. Then, in the semi darkness at the shore, he saw the outline of a mare in the water. The waves that washed against her body made her limbs move slightly but otherwise, there was no sign of life from her.

Candy scrambled to his hooves, getting closer to her in a heartbeat.

        “At least she's breathing.” he mumbled as he put an ear to her muzzle. Only the slightest trickle of air came out of her lungs, and he could only assume that, in addition to the bleeding wound under her horn, she had been close to drowning before being washed up here.

Something, however, seemed quite off to him. For one, she was almost twice his size. Where had she come from? Saddle Arabia? It seemed quite likely. He had heard of Saddle Arabian Unicorns, who were mixed breeds. According to what he knew however, they rarely ever inherited the ability to use magic at all.

Candy Cane drew his cellphone from his jacket, only to see that his brand new apple phone 5 was now nothing more than a dead brick. He sighed as he realized that, even though his horn felt ready to fall off, he'd have to do some more heavy duty lifting.

Acorn island had no hospital, and there was only one doctor he knew of and that mare was currently on vacation. The only option he had left was to take the mare to his house and treat her as best he could. Maybe Celest had an idea on how to continue after that...

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Celest was humming to herself as a knife was cutting some fresh vegetables she had bought on the market today. She was excited, to say the least. It had been almost ten years since she had seen her cousin who, by this time, was her only family member left alive. If he would allow it, she'd gladly move into this big house with him, even if it was just so neither of them had to be alone all the time.

Just as she wanted to dump the small mountain or carrots, paprika, chillies and garlic into a pot, Celest heard the door to the house slam open and somepony calling her name. Immediately she dropped everything and ran out into the hallway. The mare almost hit the wall as she skidded around the corner to the entrance hall.

She had been expecting anything, but not what she actually saw. Celest wouldn't have been too surprised if her cousin would have been mugged or something, but seeing him floating a giant Unicorn mare next to him was certainly something unexpected. It was due to that, that she just stood there for a moment, trying to process what she was seeing.

The mares short blue mane was definitely dripping wet, and the rest of her body didn't seem to be dry either. But there was something else... a red liquid mixing with the water that was slowly forming a puddle in the entrance hall.

Celest was in full motherly care mode in an instant as she spotted the rather large gash on the mares forehead, taking her out of her cousins faltering magic.

        “Get me the first aid kit!” she instructed, as she carried the unconscious mare into one of the empty bedrooms and put her down on the dusty bed. A small cloud of dust rose into the air as the mares big body hit the sheets, but Celest didn't care at that moment. Her magic went to work almost instantly, drying the mares coat and dumping the water out of a nearby window.

She was definitely beautiful, but as Celest reached her flank, she paused for a second. It was quite unusual for a Pony to trot around without clothes nowadays, even though some still did it. This wasn't what caught her attention though. There was no Cutiemark on the mares flank!

Loking up into the mares face, Celest estimated that she was about thirty or something, so she should have had her mark by now. Hay, she herself had gotten hers when she was still just a foal, and couldn't even remember how it had happened, or what her special talent was.

The white Unicorn mare shook her head vigorously as Candy Cane came rushing into the room, carrying a first aid kit in his magic. She took it from him, narrowing her eyes as she followed his gaze. It was, as expected, on the mares flanks. There was a reason most Ponies wore clothes nowadays after all...

        “Out!” she demanded, using her magic to shove her cousin out of the room and shutting the door in his face.

        “Stallions... really...” she thought as she got to work on the mares injury. It didn't seem to be quite as serious as it looked. It would leave a scar though...

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Two hours later, Celest was finally finished dressing the mares wound up and taking care of her other various cuts and bruises. While examining the mares body, she had discovered old scars that looked like they had healed a long time ago. Some where on her belly, while there was a whole landscape of scars on her right foreleg. It looked almost as if... She shook her head again. Surely, something like torture was impossible nowadays...

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Candy Cane had taken care of dinner while his cousin was taking care of their unexpected guest. Sure, he wasn't a great cook by any means of the word, but he could at least produce something edible.

So it came that, when Celest came out of the now occupied bedroom, she was greeted with a decked table. Her smile, and subtle shake of her head made it apparent that he had most likely messed up some things, but he didn't care. At least they would have something to eat now.

        “So... How is she?” he asked, as he floated a small bowl of rice over to his cousin, who was just helping herself to some slightly overcooked vegetables and mint soup.

        “Her injury isn't that bad, but... Candy... Where in Tartarus did you find her? She looks almost as if she's been tortured.” Celest said, not meeting his eyes. The young stallions ears drooped as he heard this.

        “I found her on the beach. I think she washed up there, and I literally stumbled over her in the darkness.”

        “Well... Wherever she comes from, I don't think it would be a good idea for her to go back there. Once Plunger is back from her vacation, I suggest you go and let her examine her. After that, we should call the police about this. Whoever did this to her has to be held responsible.” Celest said firmly, now finally meeting his eyes. There was a fury in them he had never seen in anypony before. It was almost as if her eyes burned with the fury of a thousand suns.

He sighed heavily.

        “Ok, well... I guess then she's staying here for the time being. What about you? Shouldn't you get going? It's getting late.”

Celest looked away once more at that without answering. She had hoped to ask him about staying here while moving his belongings into the house, or while they ate together, but the arrival of their guest had complicated everything.

        “Well... you see... You inherited this big house and... didn't you live in a one room apartment in Canterlot? Do you even know how to take care of such a huge place?” she blurted out in response before she could stop herself.

Candy Canes eyes narrowed slightly as he understood where his cousin was going with this.

        “You... want to move in here, don't you?” he asked in a matter of fact tone, to which the other Unicorn could only nod dumbly. He threw his hooves up in resignation.

        “Seriously, what's wrong with this island? In Canterlot, no mare wanted to get closer than ten feet of me, and now two mares drop into my life in the course of one evening? Well alright, you can stay as well. There should be a room with a separate bathroom on the third floor, if I remember correctly. It was my mothers atelier. It's nothing fancy but...” he began, chuckling, as Celest jumped over the table and hugged him.

        “Thank you! You won't regret it!” she said, giggling like a little filly.

As the two relatives were embracing each other, giggling, the door to the living room opened ever so slightly. Neither of them noticed the cold, teal, eye that was watching them from the dark hallway, or the soft shimmer of silver magic as the door was pulled shut once more. It didn't make the slightest sound.

The mare listened to them some more from the dark hallway, feeling weak and confused. For some reason, it was hard for her to concentrate. Images were running through her head that she couldn't place. How had she gotten here? What was that feeling inside her head?

Why had she wanted to tear those two kind Ponies, who had taken her in, to pieces the moment she had seen them? It didn't make any sense to her. Just... who was she?