Pale as winter's first snow, Celestia soared amongst the clouds underneath the guiding radiance of the moon.
Despite the whirring of the crisp cool air between her ears, and the beads of moisture forming along her flank, Celestia felt no discomfort, no compulsion to descend towards the glistening rivers and expansive evergreens below. The moon was her companion, and the clouds her confidantes as she paced on, her wings tirelessly beating against the forces that pulled her to the ground. This was her domain. Here, she was the master, beyond kings and families and brothers, earthly woes and concerns.
The moon crested at its zenith, casting a pale light throughout the land. The land, Celestia thought. Kingdom of the Alicorns. It had always struck her as improper and irresponsible for the land to exist without a name beyond its title, for who could respect and acknowledge a kingdom with no name? It must have taken quite the lineage of unimaginative alicorns for this to happen, Celestia mused, chuckling to herself slightly.
Hearing herself chuckle was in many ways therapeutic; she had not deliberately chuckled, and, reflecting, she assumed she had begun to feel better. The notion that she was analyzing herself in this way seemed profoundly absurd, and she chuckled again, louder, though the wind snatched away her voice as it did the last time. Through her fit of laughter, Celestia closed her eyes, mind wandering into oblivion. Peace was something flying had always brought her, and even in her most despondent moments, it seemed this time was no different. She flew on, the metronome of her wings keeping pace in the way only an alicorn could, graceful as the most elegant of songbirds, and powerful as the mightiest of griffons. She had become the heartbeat of the night, and the whole world catered to her whims. Her wings flapped of their own accord now; in the way only a practiced flier's wings could, they beat purely from memory. The allure of dreams beckoned, and Celestia fell into a curious half-sleep.
Celestia awoke to the sight of sand and rocky crags.
Alarmed, the alicorn snapped her head towards the sky, breathing a sigh of relief as she realized it was still night. The moon had descended far below its zenith. It would take only a few hours now before it reached the horizon. Celestia tilted, bringing her wings perpendicular to the ground to abruptly halt her momentum before leveling herself and adopting a hovering state. Although the alicorn felt relatively little fatigue within her body as a whole, her wings had begun to ache, and every beat brought with it the unpleasant sensation of her wings being stretched too far.
Celestia took a turn, taking in her surroundings with mild worry. A treeline was nowhere in sight, and there were no settlements or defining features in the area. Dust and tooth-like crags were the only thing in sight for leagues, even in the air. There were no clouds, and the air felt dry and hot, even in the night. She had never flown out this far, and she had never intended to. Mild worry evolved into near-panic as it dawned on her, her flowing pink mane standing up in fear. She had absolutely no idea where she was, and she was tired.
"Oh Makers..." muttered Celestia, both as a prayer and a curse. There were spells that could teleport her vast distances, to the far sides of the world if she desired, had she simply the ability. Again, Celestia cursed herself and whatever deity existed for her lack of such abilities, and kicked, frustrated more than ever at her conspicuous lack of magical talent in a magically gifted family. She could feel the tendrils of jealousy inching over her heart once again, and she clenched her teeth against it, repelling her feelings of anger and self-pity.
A voice spoke, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Come."
A wave of presence crushed every feeling within the alicorn's mind, smothering every vacuous thought and desire in a bombardment of emotions and memories that were not her own. The aching of her wings did not disturb her any longer, and she could feel the presence lending her strength, empowering her, drawing her into its embrace.
It was old. Terribly old. More ancient than anything Celestia could have ever conceived of. She had met the king once; a haggard old alicorn, famously powerful and rumored to have reigned for ten thousand seasons, if not more. An atmosphere of antiquity was something Celestia had become familiar with in the short time she had spent with him. But the thing that was with her, inside her now, was beyond age. It simply was, and always had been, of this Celestia had no doubt.
A sharp pain gripped Celestia's chest, and she cried out, and for a moment, she felt nothing but malice, power, and, most potently, an all-consuming hatred that threatened to snuff out the alicorn's existence. The corruption seeped, spreading, and Celestia felt helpless against its influence, fearing that nothing would remain of her in the ensuing moments to come.
And then, nothing. Celestia opened her eyes. Quickly as it had came, it had passed.
Celestia did not feel anger, jealousy, or frustration, although she was acutely aware of the fact that she had felt those just moments before. She had never been more aware of those emotions as she was then. She felt for a moment the desire to wrench herself away, and fly into the night sky as fast as she could, but only for an instant. The presence pinched the thought away, dismissing it like a troublesome insect. Celestia could no longer distinguish which thoughts had been hers, and whether or not she had chosen to think or act of her own volition. The entity had become Celestia, though the alicorn could feel it within her, writhing, laughing at her, although why it was laughing Celestia was no longer certain of, for it had plucked such musings away and discarded them just as easily as before.
She alighted upon the sand below, a small cloud of dust rising into the air at the gust she created. Celestia did not feel fear. It was beyond her capacity. Nor did she feel curiosity at the being's motives, for it was no longer within her ability to be interested. She felt numb, but wholly at peace. In many ways, she likened this to a dream, where she was unable to control what she was doing and how she thought. The presence allowed her to keep this thought, although Celestia did not particularly care.
She began to walk. Celestia could not feel the muscles within her legs moving, and she relaxed completely. It felt as though she were being carried by her father; effortless, comforting, almost loving. The presence within her cackled, and shattered the thought violently, like a hoof upon glass. Celestia winced, although a moment later she was not sure why.
The moon hung low in the sky, barely cresting over the horizon now. The veil of twilight had been thrown over the desert, and the stars above had become dimmer, their companionship waning as they night went on. And still Celestia walked, carrying the presence with her on her inexorable march into nothing.
Highlights of blue had begun to paint the eastern sky, the first signs of dawn. Celestia could feel the temperature rising, the last remaining bits of vapor in the air evaporating, leaving nothing but dust and sand, but she did not feel bothered. The cackling within her mind has ceased, but still she walked, the numbness in her legs shielding her from pain and the lethargy of her mind protecting her from bodily fatigue. She could feel them approaching their destination, although whatever that could be eluded her interests. She had, instead, become fascinated with the way the sand shifted beneath her hooves, and had been watching herself walk for some time. The closer they came to their destination, however, the less interested she became in her footsteps; a sense of dread had settled upon her, slowly, but surely, and the presence made no effort to conceal or dismiss it. Anticipation filled her every moment, and, with small surprise, she realized it was not her that felt it, but rather the presence inside her, metaphorically standing on its toes, waiting and hoping for it to arrive faster. In its excitement, it had allowed Celestia the liberty of free-thinking, although her body still moved of a foreign desire.
Then it appeared.
As they vaulted over a dune, Celestia witnessed what the presence had been searching for. A black, cavernous hole, fifty or more hooflengths in height, stood in a bowl of sand. Red and orange lightning seemed to arc along its length and into the center, where Celestia could see only an abyss. The portal swirled, like a whirlpool taken out of the water and laid perpendicular to the ground, and a steady stream of sand was drawn into the maw of the abyss. Celestia's sparkling magenta mane was thrown in front of her, and her entire body lurched forward. The presence had exited Celestia's body, of that she was sure, but she was still unable to move. The malignant aura surrounding the portal had enveloped her, and she recognized it for the same presence that had possessed her. The sand beneath her hooves crawled up her legs, and she glanced at her body for only a moment, too stricken to take her eyes off the portal. The sand flew forward, creating a new stream between Celestia and the abyss. Slowly, her hooves slid along the sand, towards the portal.
Celestia could not speak, could not move, but her mind screamed at her, willing every bone and muscle in her body to move, to listen, to take some action outside of stark stillness, but some maleficent influence prevented her from doing anything other than stare at her impending doom. Further along the sand she was drug, closer to blackness. Talon-like tendrils, black as the portal itself, erupted from the void and reached for her, raking at her skin and closing around her neck and horn, increasing the speed at which she moved towards it. This time, her mouth opened, and she screamed, but her voice was swallowed by the void.
She was too close to think. Her face was nearly touching the unnatural blackness, and her horn had already been submerged into whatever realm was on the other side, if there was anything at all. Two more appendages reached out and grabbed her, but they were different. Despite the fear, despite her screaming, and in spite of the doom in front of her, Celestia saw that they were not formless black tendrils, but instead a griffon's talon and a lion's paw.
Her head was drawn into the portal, and blackness consumed Celestia.
There was nothing in the realm she had entered. Oppressive darkness consumed the world, though Celestia could feel what was in it. She felt so much pain that it was impossible to discern what was happening around her, though. Her skull felt as if it had been cracked down the middle, and slowly pulled apart to release the contents within. Her mind felt addled with the pain, and she could no longer think straight. She could hear the cries of monstrous creatures within, each with a pain like her own, but she could feel no sympathy, only the bolts of lightning that surged across every fiber of her being. She was somewhat aware that her legs had not been consumed, but were slowly being drawn into the portal after her. A part of her felt that if she let herself be taken, she would never leave whatever hell she had entered.
And there had never been something she had desired more in her life than to leave this horrible place.
A primal surge erupted within Celestia. It was base and coarse, a desire that filled her up and protected her from the pain. She opened her eyes to darkness, and she screamed, not in fear, but in effort. She poured all her strength into her limbs, willing them to move. Her flank had been sucked into the abyss; now only her legs remained. She screamed again, and, without thinking of it, her horn began to glow. The darkness within the realm did not disperse, but she could see its glow; a light in a world without hope. She did not think of a spell, nor word it. The spell took form of its own accord, and it drew upon Celestia's reservoir of bodily strength and magic. It felt raw, like her entire life's energy was being drained into something she could not control, something so immensely powerful that it was worth being taken into.
The light of her horn grew brighter, more brilliant than irons in the forge, a white hot intensity burning the magic into the realm. The darkness groaned, aching; the unwelcome light burned and scorched the tendrils which faded back into the blackness. Only the lion's paw and griffon talon remained.
Celestia felt her eyes begin to flutter, her mind's grasp on consciousness ebbing. She felt the magic in her horn, but could not release it. Her body almost completely consumed by the darkness, she felt herself slipping into oblivion.
The talons gripped her neck tightly desperately, and their claws pierced her skin. A surge of pain exploded up the side of her body, but she could not summon the strength to scream. Suddenly, she felt herself moving, flying through the darkness, impossibly fast, faster than she or any alicorn, griffon or dragon could fly. Something clung to her, a weight that was not her own, and their combined momentum hurtled them across the expanse. Her ears were filled with the sound of ringing, and her body was pelted with the sensation of stinging grains. As she began to believe this was the beginning of her life in eternal darkness, she collided with a wall that gave in and smothered her.
The world faded to black.
The echo of stones clacking against each other awoke Celestia, and her eyes beheld not but an inch in front of her own muzzle.
This is it, she silently cried, trapped forever in this demon's home.
Two stones broke against each other once again, their echoes sounding throughout the blackness. Celestia turned her neck to the origin of the noise, and cried out, falling upon her side once again. Her neck burned, although from what she was not sure, and it pained her to move more than a trifle.
"You shouldn't move very much."
A chill crept into the mare's spine, and drowned out the burning sensation in her skin with a hail of icy fear.
"Who's there?" The question came out almost as a whimper. Celestia inwardly cursed herself for letting her terror seep into her voice.
The rustling of leaves and a scratching against the hard floor sounded from somewhere behind Celestia, and ceased with a mild thump. Celestia imagined whatever was there had been lying down, and now had taken some other stance. Perhaps it was sitting, if it could sit.
"Please don't be afraid. I didn't mean to scare you." The sadness in the creature's voice was so plainly expressed that Celestia almost felt guilty for being afraid. The voice was obviously male, although it seemed somewhat... young. Celestia likened it to an alicorn colt that was only just becoming a stallion. It was sonorous, and pervading, and somehow, Celestia felt like she had heard its voice before.
The alicorn stirred, attempting to turn herself, but the pain was too great. She resigned to not seeing the creature, and simply stared at the void in front of her. "Who are you? Are you an alicorn?" She asked, voice trembling only just.
There was a pause, and Celestia thought perhaps the creature had left without her noticing somehow. She laid her head down, and began to close her eyes once more, when the small voice spoke.
"No. Not an alicorn, I don't think. Are you?"
The question threw Celestia off. How could anyone not know what an alicorn was? She had met no living thing as yet who had not known the privilege of beholding one of her kind.
"Yes," she said, drawing out the syllable. "Yes, I am an alicorn. I am Celestia, from Lopingshire. May I ask what your name might be?"
Another pause, longer than the last. Celestia trusted an answer would come eventually, but as the minutes passed, she began to doubt whether the creature had heard her at all.
"A-hem," she coughed, and a rustle of hair against slab signaled she had the being's attention. "May I ask what your name is?" She inquired again.
This time, it muttered something underneath its breath, incomprehensible to the alicorn.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that..." she apologized, feeling only mildly frustrated with the creature's seeming incompetence.
"I..." it spoke softly, as if about to proclaim a secret it did not wish to tell.
"Yes?"
"I... I don't know." The creature spoke with a sense of finality, and it seemed to try to increase the weight of its own words.
"What do you mean? Everyone has a name." Celestia spoke, slightly confused, and agitated a little more.
"I don't. It's funny, really. I just don't." It laughed, a slow, quiet laugh. Celestia felt fear creep up her spine once again. The laugh seemed vaguely familiar, although she could not determine from whence she had heard it.
Celestia shuffled herself, keeping her neck straight, and pressed her hooves against the slabs to turn her body. It took a great deal of effort, but she had enough of staring into blank nothingness. The reward of her ordeal was more nothing. Where they were was dark throughout, except for one blaring hole of light about a hundred hooflengths away. The sight made Celestia's heart soar. Perhaps they were not trapped at all.
"Where are we?"
"In a hole. It was too hot outside."
The creature's words melted the fear Celestia had felt deep within her bosom. She had not been absorbed by the demon's portal. She was still in her own world, without pain and eternal darkness.
She dragged herself a little nearer to the source of the voice, and she could hear it scamper away, whatever appendages it had scraping along the slabs they laid upon. "Please, I want to see you. Did you save my life?" She pleaded.
This time, the creature did not hesitate. "No, Celestia. You saved mine." Its voice drew long echoes from the deep cavern. "I don't think you'd want to see me though... I'm not very handsome." It chuckled, a lighthearted and naïve chuckle, like a foal's. His answer had both puzzled and intrigued Celestia, and, somehow, lessened the fear she had felt for the creature.
"I'm sure you're just fine. If you're not an alicorn, I probably wouldn't know in any case." She returned his playful tone, feeling almost jovial in the cave with a complete stranger. The thought was odd, but she dismissed it. Whatever it was, it had saved her life, at least in her opinion.
She craned her neck, and searing pain ran through it again. She tried to resist and keep her neck upright, but it proved too great an effort. She fell to her side once again with a small cry and a thud. Suddenly, she could feel a light breath upon her flank, and her chest tightened, her legs tensing with instinctual fear.
"I can try to fix it, if you want." It spoke.
Celestia was confused by the answer. Only the alicorns had developed magics beyond the elements. Other races, like the griffons, could only control the most primal forces of nature. Healing was an art, and could not be attempted lightly.
"I... guess so. Can you?" Celestia asked, her voice slightly tense.
Already she could feel talons against her shoulders, gliding up and along her sand-swept mane and unto the wound upon her neck. Again the odd sensation of familiarity struck Celestia, but she shrugged it away.
"I can try. I think I've done it before, to myself."
Slightly comforted by the answer, Celestia nodded, a useless gesture in the inky blackness. "Just be careful."
The fact that she was trusting a complete stranger with a form of magic that could potentially have devastating effects upon her body was a notion that Celestia had taken into account, but, oddly, she felt little to no trepidation as a paw, light and gentle, alighted itself upon the torn skin, pressing against the flesh with the weight of a feather. The creature's presence at her side comforted her in a way she could not describe, and though she knew not the appearance or motives of the stranger, she slowly began to trust him, despite all logical evidence screaming at her to do the opposite.
A warm, prickling sensation grew deep into the wound, and she could feel her blood flowing faster, the heat within her body rising. Then, a cool wind blew, and chilled her open flesh, the old feeling of magic against and within her body as familiar as the hair upon her muzzle. A light emanated from the paw, and, for a brief moment, Celestia could see the outline of the form along her side. She squinted, attempting to clarify the view of the stranger. A lion's paw was lit dimly, but mostly clearly, and adjacent to it was what seemed to be -
The light went out, and all the pain with it. Celestia started slightly at the sudden darkness again, and her eyes opened as widely as they could, hoping to readjust to the void once again. She was in awe; not even the alicorns, in all of their mastery of the arcane, could ever hope to heal a wound so quickly and flawlessly. It had taken only seconds, and dubiousness filled the alicorn. Tentatively, she lifted her neck. No pain. She turned it, and place one hoof on the floor upright, pushing herself to her feet. Although her body ached from exertion, her neck felt as though it had been through no ordeal at all. It was impossible, but the stranger had achieved in the course of five seconds what would take at least. a minute for even a powerful alicorn.
"How...?" She asked, dumbstruck.
Deep within the darkness, she imagined the creature blushed. "I've always had a knack for magic." Its tone had become almost companionable compared to how it had been only minutes before. Like an old friend.
"Thank you... May I call you 'friend?' If you have no name."
She heard a small intake of breath from the creature. It hesitated until, with a quiet outlet of air, it spoke. "That would make me very happy."
Celestia pondered for a moment, and then stood up, her body creaking and complaining. She ignored it. "I'm going to walk outside friend. It's much too dark in here, and I've had too much dark in my life recently."
The creature suddenly adopted a very serious voice. "You may not want to. It's not very pretty."
Celestia crooked her head, but after a moment's pause, she shrugged, and walked slowly towards the light in the distance, taking care where her hooves landed upon the slab. Best not to trip and re-injure her already battered self. "If we are still in the desert, I imagine it doesn't ever look very pretty. It surely couldn't have gotten much uglier."
She could hear the creature behind her, and, as it walked along, she suddenly she realized that it was not as small as she had originally imagined. It was, at the very least, her size, perhaps bigger. The lion's paw she had saw before attested to this, though in her daze of pain she had taken almost no note.
"If you insist..." It sighed, and she could hear it dragging whatever feet it had along the rock.
As they came closer to the light, Celestia felt the urge to turn and behold what it was that trudged in her wake, but she resisted the desire. She could only just see the whiteness of her coat, and she wanted to see her companion in good light.
They walked along, silently, exchanging no words and being considerably less friendly than they had been before, although Celestia dismissed it to her own fatigue. The light grew brighter still, and she could see the blue sky beyond the mouth of the cave.
She set her hooves into the sand, and daylight bathed her incandescent form, the sun reflecting upon the shimmering white of her coat, unscathed and untainted by the glass winds that blew. She closed her eyes and raised her head to the heavens, breathing in the air, reveling in the glorious day, and grateful to be alive and well.
"You're..." her companion spoke behind her, stuttering. "You're very... something. I..." He went silent, seemingly at a loss for words.
Celestia smiled, lowering her head, but kept her eyes closed, still admiring the moment. "I'm very happy right now friend. Happy to be out of the dark."
Her companion shifted behind her, the sand scrunching together underneath his feet. She turned, facing him directly, and opened her eyes. "Now let's see - " She gasped, cutting herself off.
The creature before her was unlike anything she had ever seen. An amalgamation of different body parts, it took her a painfully awkward span of seconds to take in all of what she was seeing. As she had seen before, his right foreleg was a powerful lion's paw, sinuous and strung with muscular cords along its length. His left foreleg, however, was covered in bird's scales, a long, dexterous talon that served as a hand for the creature. She continued down, still gazing stupidly at her companion. His body was that of a griffon; thick, feathered, but strangely elongated like a serpent's. His right leg was scaled in green dragon's scales, and was tipped with a dragon's claw that boasted toes of long, wicked-looking nails, as intimidating on him as the actual creature it originated from. His left hind leg was very similar to an alicorns, a dusty brown equine leg extending from his hip, but again had a strange elongation, as if it were adjusted to some other mode of movement. From beyond that, a red dragon's tail slithered behind him, sliding back and forth in nervous movement within the sand, burying itself.
She wrenched her gaze away from his body, and instead turned to look him in the eye, stifling another gasp. To her surprise, his head was exactly that of an alicorn. It was gray and large, but no different in any aspect or feature, except for a small goatee that hung from his chin like a goat's, only smaller. Her stare turned up to the crest of the creature's head, where an antler and a ram's horn protruded forth, both angling away from each other in proper fashion, if proper were a useful description in this situation. Movement caught her eye, and as she went along the black mane on her companion's back, she beheld two wings sprouting from his shoulders; one an alicorn's, one a bat's, both flapping slightly in anxiety.
For a few moments, she stood stark still, unsure of how to react or what to do. Terror was instinctual, but she forced it down, deigning to calm herself before making a decision. Her eyes locked with his again, which were somewhat small and beady, and tinged yellow. Despite his frightful appearance, his eyes were surprisingly mellow, and held no malice. The creature forced a slow, sad smile.
"Did I not say that it was not very pretty?" The creature spoke, the humor in his voice small and weak. He let out a chuckle, although to Celestia it sounded much more like a cough.
Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but no words came forth. She paused, unsure of what to say at all, and closed her mouth, feeling slightly dumbstruck. The creature hesitated, then turned its gaze towards the earth, and slumped, its slender, serpentine body crooking over in a hunched position that Celestia imagined looked akin to a dragon taking a drink from a lake. Altogether, it proved a very pathetic sight to Celestia; a large, monstrous creature bending over in seeming submission or despair. It was odd, to say the least.
Celestia, after some thought, finally found her voice. "Looks can be deceiving." She managed to force out, feeling rather stupid at using such a common foal's mantra. The creature heaved, and for a moment Celestia's muscles tensed, preparing to take flight at any sign of aggression, but after a moment the creature retracted, and at once Celestia realized it had merely been sighing.
"So you say." It muttered.
Celestia's innards roiled; she felt completely lost as to what to do. The creature obviously was not aggressive, yet she could not help but feel threatened by its proximity. Even then, she couldn't simply leave him here, in this desert. It didn't sit right within her heart.
Tentatively, Celestia took a step forward. The creature did not seem to notice; another step forward elicited the same ignorance. One more step forward landed Celestia virtually a nosebreadth away from the creature's head. A profound boldness filled Celestia, and she placed her cheek against the creature's own, in a semi-nuzzling gesture of affection. All at once, the creature's eyes widened, its breathing stopped, and for a moment, Celestia wondered if perhaps that had not been the wisest of actions...
"Thank you again..." She whispered, muzzle close to the creature's ears. "For saving me. Even if you think it was the other way around." At that, she backed away slightly, and the creature turned its eyes upwards. Celestia smiled gingerly, embarrassed, and with a twinge of fear. Seconds past, and finally the creature smiled back, a tender and genuine smile that washed away the fear Celestia had felt.
"Welcome." He spoke, in a subtle teasing voice.
The creature stood on its hind legs, putting its height at a decent amount above Celestia's own head. Somehow, Celestia imagined that the creature was young still, from its body to its mannerisms. It was only a thought, and soon it passed from Celestia's head. The creature's smile widened, and he motioned to the east. "Oh, and it's not very pretty over there too. Not that it ever was, but, well, how bout I just show you?" He seemed somewhat delighted by the prospect of seeing whatever it was he wanted to show.
Celestia, confused, complied anyway. "Sure. I'll follow. Can you fly with your..." She hesitated.
The creature laughed, a throaty laugh that sounded almost like a gryphon's, but distinctly held its tone as a pony's. "Of course. They're not just for show, you know." In one surging motion, he bent his body into a coil, and sprung upwards into the air, flying lithely and delicately towards his destination. As Celestia followed him with her eyes, she noticed a brown cloud in the distance that he was disappearing into. She assumed he was heading towards the mass of dun.
"Guess I don't really need to follow after all." She commented to herself before galloping forward and jumping into the air, wings beating against the crags below.
The two stopped short of the cloud, instead electing to alight upon the sand at least a mile away. Celestia, having flown low, had not been able to see what it was the cloud was made of, and she felt frustrated at their early descent.
"Why did we stop so early?" She asked, her anxiety barely contained.
The creature didn't turn to her, but instead began walking along the hot sand towards the cloud. "It looks like it's far away, but we're actually kinda close. It's a sand cloud."
Celestia's frustration turned to worry. "Shouldn't we head away from it? What if it's a sandstorm?"
Again, the creature did not turn. "It's not, don't worry. You'll see."
Celestia contented herself to walking alongside her companion in silence, assuming that whatever it was they were journeying towards would be worth the wait, without the questions.
It was not long after that they approached a massive crater in the dunes. The sand had been swept back at the fringes, like a rock hitting water sends waves upwards in a bowl. Towards the middle, the sand had been glassed over, broken crystals and large, unbroken slabs thrown about in the bowl where whatever strange calamity had taken place. In the center, far below Celestia and her friend, lay only the bedrock, cracked and charred. Above them, a massive mushroom cloud of sand swirled, the particles very slowly beginning to float back down towards the desert below. Celestia stared, taking in as much as she could of the wanton destruction, mouth agape at its magnitude. The crater was at least a half-mile wide, and incredibly deep.
"How did this happen?" Celestia sputtered, still in awe.
The creature raised its eyebrows, and smiled. "Why, you did it of course. How else did you think we made it out of that... place?" It shuddered at the mentioning of its former prison.
Celestia shook her head, then turned to her companion, wide-eyed and afraid. "How... What... I couldn't have. I can't even fix scratches in the floor with my magic. I couldn't have possibly caused this. The magic that caused this - " Celestia stopped, her eyes still wide, but no longer with fear. She felt something, something she had not noticed before, but now, in retrospect, she realized had been there all along these past few hours. Magic. It coursed through her like she had never felt before. It felt familiar and strange, but undeniably hers. She felt light-headed; the new feeling had overwhelmed her, and suddenly she no longer felt like she could stand.
Celestia dropped to a knee, and shook her head. "This is impossible. I've always been such a failure at magic, but now... Now I can feel it. I can feel all of it, all the magic in me. It's so different... Is this what all alicorns feel like all the time? Is this what you feel like?" She turned to her companion.
He hesitated, then spoke. "I don't think so... I'm not an alicorn after all." He forced a smile, but Celestia did not notice in her reverie.
"Why did this happen? Why do I suddenly have all of this power? Does this happen to all alicorns? I don't know what to think. I don't know what to do..." She paused for a breath. "What do you think, friend?"
Again, her companion hesitated, then spoke softly. "Perhaps you just needed some... inspiration?" He inquired, just as lost as her. "I didn't know you thought yourself less than adequate at magic, but then again, my first impression was this amazing power." He gestured at the hole in a flamboyant manner, raising his arms up very triumphantly.
Celestia smiled at his act. "I... was. I was terrible." Her horn began to glow, and the sand shifted beneath her feet slowly. She concentrated for a moment, and the sand imploded upon itself, a ball of hard rock sitting in front of her encased in a potent magenta aura. Releasing the magic, the ball rolled down the crater side, falling into the hole below. "I... I don't know. This is strange. But it's so great at the same time." A tear fell down her cheek, and fell to the sand below. At that moment though, a splitting pain surged through Celestia's skull, and the whole world went black once again, albeit only for a moment. She opened her eyes, and the pain was gone, leaving her blinking at the sunlight reflecting upon the sand. She felt weaker, but she was not sure in what way, or why.
Her companion seemed to notice her sudden silence. "Something wrong?" He asked.
Celestia shook her head. "I... don't think so. No, everything's fine. Just a little headache is all. But yes, this is great indeed!" She pranced happily. "I need to tell my family about this immediately!"
She wheeled suddenly, and galloped away from her companion. "Come! I'll find you somewhere to stay, let's just go!"
Surprised, the creature stumbled before coiling upon itself and springing into the air, in hot pursuit of his shimmering companion as she shone in the sunlight once again. "Beautiful," he whispered to himself. "That's the word I was looking for." His wings beat hard, and he took off in full speed into the distance, unsure of his destination, but sure of what he wanted to follow in this new, strange place.
Author's Note: Ugh. I'm sorry this took so long. I've been so busy recently it's killing me. The worst part? I know this whole thing was terribly written. Definitely not two week's worth of work. In retrospect, I think this whole thing is terribly written, but at the same time I feel compelled to finish if I can.
Oh well. Hope you like it. Also, as a side note, all of my submissions are completely unedited and submitted as soon as I finish them. Which is probably why they suck. :P