Book 1: Foundation of Equestria

Celestia wanted to go back. she wanted to be back with all of her pony friends, not on some ship on the waters. Because there were extra passengers, she had to share her cabin with others. Thankfully one of them was her guard and Novo the Hippogriff, but the other would be her little sister, a filly she hadn’t talked to since the storm that nearly killed the Umbrum King. The incident that made her hated enough they had to get a Draconequus to protect her. it was cold, it stank of salt, she always felt sick from the rocking motions and was tired. The beds were like shelves in her opinion, and she’d been given a lower bunk, forcing her to endure the stench of salt-soaked wood.

The Alicorn was sitting on her said bunk, her mattress not comfortable enough for her to sleep on, under her mommy’s bed was more comfy than this. another storm was outside, its roars scaring her. Celestia climbed under her covers as there was a loud bang from the darkened heavens, a feather or two leaving her wings from the quick movement. She didn’t like admitting she was afraid, but she was. after what happened during that last storm, she was afraid of the power of storms. Her ears dropped back further when the door to her cabin opened. Someone was here.

Not surprisingly, people didn’t like to talk to her. they still thought it was her fault that Medianoche had been struck by lightning and almost died, and they were right. She’d nearly killed a king. She really was her mother’s daughter… Celestia waited, listening for whoever came in. nobody wanted to be around her, other than Novo and her guard. Some of the shadow ponies talked to her, but they didn’t say much. She was the least favourite of her and her sister.

“You don’t need to hide you know.” Celestia poked her head from under the covers, seeing her guard, though he wasn’t in armour. She hadn’t seen him out of his armour before, so she could see him a lot better. He was slimmer than she expected, but it wasn’t all that bad “There you are. I brought you something,” he said, plopping a small plate next to her “Got a long journey until we’re in Drapan.” it’d take a whole two weeks by boat. They were going to use teleportation, but they couldn’t risk it thanks to the rogue energy flickering around.

“Can you tell me about it?” she asked, her ears twitching. Without his armour, he had a kinda cute face, like a little goat? “What’s Drapan like? what’re their trees like? what does their water taste like? do they have those pink clouds? What’s my name in Drapanishses?”

“It’s Drapanese, and your name would be セレスティア.” He loved telling the Equestrians about Drapan, they were such funny creatures “Our trees are large with leaves of pink, and every century there is a star alignment that makes them shimmer with the colours of a rainbow.” Discord made an illusion of one in his paw, the filly’s pupils widening at it’s beauty “I think the water tastes the same, but a bit fresher. No Drapan doesn’t have pink clouds, though it’d be a little funny if they did.”

“So, it’s just like Shadowlogia?”

“Oh heavens no. we have much more! We even have floating mountains.” The next image in his paw was what looked like an island that had been pulled from the earth, water flowing from one of the sides, covered in plant life and other things she didn’t understand “We have ponies there, but they’re a lot different to you. they have long tails with hair on the end, their horns are curved like Skiadrum’s, the pegasi have much larger wings and our earth ponies have the strength to push boulders. Pretty cool huh?” she nodded, her attention away from the storm outside “If I play my cards right I could have you meet the princes, so that’s fun.”

“You have princes? What’re they like?”

“They’re called Mirāju and Gyakusetsu, I’ve never met them before, I only recently met my own king! And I’m apparently going to meet my own princess as well, so, first for everything I suppose? A little adventure where neither of us knows what to expect! Like a live action anime adaptation!” wait, what the hell as that? he didn’t even know what anime was and he used it as an example? What was live action for that matter? the insane chaos energy must be affecting him. She was confused, but this was a Draconequus, they were a little mad.

A loud screech of thunder nearly made her wet herself, shivering from fright. Discord decided to push the odd thought out of his mind and more towards the scared filly. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep at this rate. He got an idea to help out, not that many would be willing. Discord leaned over, biting onto the scruff on her neck and picking her up.

“Hey!” Celestia said in surprise as she was lifted off of her mattress in the jaws of the Draconequus. He pulled her mattress onto the floor and hopped onto it, curling around until he looked like he made a circle out of himself. Discord dropped her into the middle, the filly surrounded by warm feathers. She looked at him curiously, and he just smiled back. he’d made a nest out of himself for her. it was, comforting, knowing that someone was there. She heard another crash of thunder, making her cower against his body.

“Night Tia.” He pulled the blanket over her, letting her wrap herself in it. for the final touch his bat wing stretched over, like the lid to a pan to insulate the heat and block out some noise. He’d done it to a couple other young creatures, they seemed to like it. he waited until he was positive she was asleep, and then went off to Gaajirus’ realm after her.