As Celestia walked out of the library and onto the balcony, she was blinded by the sheer bightness of what was in front of her/ Celestia put her hoof up to block light out. Luna and the phoenix had followed, luna doing the same, soon celestia got used to the light she put her hoof down and saw it was the sun rising steadely and shakely. she whisperd "Mother" under her breath and smiled, it then faded when she saw the land around them. Celestia and luna gasped at the ruins; Trees broken and fallen over, debris all over and the smaller castles around them half destroyed. Even part of their castle had crumbled around them but they didn't seem to notice
"Celly" Luna said as she got the courage to speak "Whats happened"
Celestia was speechless for a few seconds until she answered "i-i don't know"
"where do you think mummy and daddy are? they must be somewhere the suns coming up"
Celestia had the thought that her parents had perished due to the fact of all the destruction, and the fact that a couple of days earlier she over heard them talking about an attack. Could this have been the attack? where was all the other ponies? she soon put that idea to one side because she did not want to believe that her parents were... gone. Also she didn't want to tell poor luna that as well.
"they must be missing" Celestia said as she faced luna who was still looking over at the ruins, the phoenix snuggled in her mane and looking too. "how about we go looking for them"
luna looked at celestia who was smiling, but she could tell that was the smile she put on when she was hiding something form her. Luna cocked an eyebrow and elbow "well shouldn't we stay here incase mummy and daddy come looking for us"
"Dont worry sister" celestia said as she wraped a hoof round her sister " were going to look for them, they must be lost because they haven't found there way back" Celestia giggled a little
"well okay" Luna said with some doubt in her voice "mummy is always forgetting stuff"
"yes she is" Celestia said the two giggling about it "and haven't you always wanted to go traveling on an adventure to a mysterious land"
Celestia came close to lunas head and pointed out in front and waved her hoof from side to side while saying it. Luna lit up thinking she could see the world and all the joys it would offer,
"ooooh okay, i'l go get our saddle bags and put some food in them for the journey" Luna said happily as she zoomed off into the castle.
Celestia waved and smiled at her as she went, it soon faded and she looked forward at all the destruction
"Don't worry mother i'l protect her" Celestia said, she put her head down and a tear ran down, off her nose and onto the floor.
Luna soon returned beaming and saw celestia crying it died down, she went up to her "Celly whats wrong" she said in her sympatetic voice
Celestia faced luna tears rolling down her eyes "i-it's just" she manged to say before luna hugged her and let go again.
"don't worry sis we'll find them, as long as were together we can do anything. remember mean chef" luna said smiling
Celestia smiled back and wiped her tears, remembering the chef incident was when celestia and luna once had a chef who was really boring, so they played a prank on him by making him trip, going head first into an apple juice barrel causing him to slip about everywhere when he got out. He also made a bag of flower fall on him while covered in juice.
"yeah" celestia said the both giggling at the thought.
Luna used her magic to placed the saddle bags on celestias back, it was full of food and some equipment like; a map each, rope and some books on basic magic
Celestia noticed the book and said "why are you bringing that"
"oh" luna said "i want to teach myself some magic so i can show daddy how well i'm doing"
"oh" Celestia said interested "i could help if you like"
"oh will you, thanks celly" luna smiled and the two left the ruined castle and went west to leave the forest
~~~~
The sun was just about to go down and it was getting dark, Celestia didn't like staying out in the dark for too long but luna did, but neither of them liked being cold
"how long have we been traveling sis" Said luna tiredly
Celestia was started using her illumination spell as the canopy of trees were blocking out the lowering sun she was very tired and wanted to rest
"um- i think about six hours" Celestia said
"Celly" luna said sounding scared, her voice livened celestia up and straightend up "whats that"
Luna pointed at what seemed to have been a large tree, with a door and windows around it, there were lights coming from it and there was movement inside
"i- i think somepony lives there" Answered celestia curious as well
the two soon ducked behind a bush, as they saw a figure come out of the door and tend to what seemed like flowers and gone back in.
"Should we go see who that is" Luna said still watching the door
"No! we can't" celestia snapped "what if he tries to hurt us"
"He wouldn't hurt a little filly like me" luna said putting her best puppy dog eyes on " i dunno about you though, he will probably think your fat and kick you out"
"Hey" said celestia defensively "im not fat"
"have you seen the amount of cake you eat" luna said looking straight at her plot
"how do you know that" celestia said confused
"i'v seen you scoff your face, that and your plot is getting... bigger" luna giggled and jumped out of the bush towards the house
Celestia was flabbergasted at her sister for saying that and went into a sulk, not realizing her sister had left. When she saw her walking to the door she ran after her. Celestia found her self inches away from luna as she knocked on the door of the house, grabbing her at the same time she pulled her into the bush at the side of the house with her. Putting her hoof onto the fillies mouth, she struggled until the door to the house opened. The two fell silent as a cloaked figure popped its head out, it moved its head around surveying it's surroundings. As soon as the figure seemed happy that no one was their, he shut the door.
Luna broke away from her sisters clutches and jumped out of the bush, twigs and dirt still caught in her mane.
"Why did you do that sis" Luna whispered angrily
"You don't know who that is, for all we know he could have made all that mess" Celestia said pointing to the door and where their castle was residing.
"well... neither do you, plus i'm hungry. He could have some food in there that he would want to share with some very hungry little fillies who are looking for their parents" luna said sweetly with her puppy dog eyes back on again
Celestia still couldn't resist those eyes of her, it was like they were hypnotic. Before long it overtook her and she gave in
"oh fine" Celestia sighed "but boost me up to that window first"
"Why"
"i wanna see if his house is crazy or not" Celestia said with a determined look
"No way!" luna shouted "you boost me up, your way too heavy, im only tiny."
Celestia scowled at her sister who was already smirking her self. Celestia sighed and said "get on my back then"
Celestia stood by the window as luna jumped on top of her trying to regain balance, she then stood up on her hind legs and placed them on the window ledge. Unfortuately she was still to small.
"lift your fat rump i can't see anything" Luna said while giggling a little
Celestia did just that straining to lift her rump further up so luna could reach, and she could, "i seriously need to get some more exercise" Celestia thought intently looking at her own raised rump
"ah thats better" luna said
As luna looked in, she could see very odd masks on the wall, all covered in markings and symbols that luna couldn't understand, odd styled decorations covering the room and in the middle was a large pot with a shimmering flame underneath. Inside the pot was a greenish liquid that was seeming to be cooked under the fire "Wow!" luna whispered to herself, but celestia still catching that she said something
"What- What is it, whats wrong"
she was immediately cut off by luna shushing her, Luna saw the figure still in the cloak walking over to the "stew" and pour some powder into it. The figure then pulled down it's hood, which revealed some kind of striped black and white pony. The striped pony took hold of a wooden laydal next to the pot, dipped it into it and sipped it.
"Well" Celestia strained "whats happening"
Luna looked down and said "there's some wired black and white pony in their, he looks fine to me" Luna looked back up to suddenly notice the pony had moved to the windowsill and was now looking with it's bright yellow eyes directly at Luna. Luna jumped away screaming and fell on top of Celestia, both collapsing to the floor.
"well that wasn't your best plan" celestia made out, blowing a her hair that had landed on her face
Luna giggled "sorry" she got off her sister and looked up to see the figure had walked out of the house and was towering right in front of them
"Oh um hi" Luna said as she gave a wave to the new pony, Celestia stayed quiet she wasn't very comfortable meeting new strangers, she would normally hide behind one of her parents legs when meeting somepony new. This time though she couldn't do anything so she stood close to her sister in silence.
"You little ones should not be out all alone at night" the pony said in a gruff voice "you could give your selves a terrible fright"
"we-were sorry" luna piped out "but were looking for our parents, have you seen them"
"isn't it too late for you two to be out at this time" the pony said "especially for you little tykes"
"Zerant what are you doing ou- " a female voice said as another figure stepped out from the house, it was another striped pony. "Oh what do we have here"
The new pony looked at the two fillies when the stallion spoke "it seems these two are lost, and are out here with jack frost"
"oh well we can't have that now can we" the striped mare said as she trotted over and picked up the two fillies. Luna was smiling and Celestia was still silent for this, yet weary of the two new seemingly nice stripped ponies. The mare placed the two fillies on a makeshift couch that seemed to have been made from wood with amazingly comfy cushions.
"you two just stay here i'l go get something to warm you up" the mare said as she smiled and walked out of the room closing the door behind her. The room inside was quite large filled with unusual decorations, Celestia was admiring the interior with a glint in her eye. Never had she saw something like this, it scared her a little. She noticed the male stripped pony, whose name was apparently Zerant was using some sort of ladle to stir the contents of a stew. It was green and made the two fillies feel queesy.
Zerant looked up to find the two ponies staring at her, they quickly looked away once he did "Don't you know it's rude to stare, or is there a question you do bare"
Celestia finally found the courage to speak to this new pony "um w-why are two ponies so striped"
"Oh your so sweet" the two jumped as they heard the female pony "we are not ponies, we are zebra. We come from a land far away from your Equestria"
"you're zebra" luna said sounding the name confusingly "i'v never met somepony like you before"
"Well hello to you too, my name is Varna and this"-she places a hoof on the other zebra's shoulder - " is my husband Zerant"
"it is a pleasure to meet you on this fine night" Zeran said bowing with honor "apologies for giving you such a fright"
"Oh it's okay" luna said laughing "right celly" Luna looked at Celestia who was deep in thought, not listening to the conversation. Luna nudged her to get her attention. Celestia sprang her head round and back to the zebra
"Oh yes!, of course" Celestia said not knowing what had been said but answered with the first thing in the mind.
The two zebra looked at each other giving each a disconsering look for the white filly
"Are you feeling well?..." Verna said slightly drifting off into thought that she had not asked these two little ones their name "which reminds me what are your name?
"well my name is Celestia and this is my sister, Luna" Celestia said getting more confidence in talking to the mare standing in front of her, Luna gave a slight smile and a cute wave
Suddenly a light tap on the window could be heard by the door, everypony looked around to see the baby phoenix tapping on the glass, looking tried
"PHILAMENA" The two alicorns screamed in unison, the two fillies ran to open past the two confused zebra the door but they were to short. They had decided while on their journey that they would call their pet phoenix by that name, as they had read it in a fairy tale book and the little bird seemed to have liked it also. Celestia used her magic to try to open the door but she was having trouble, Verna giggled and went up to the window and opened it. The tiny phoenix flew in and perched itself on a high shelf, The two fillies looked at Verna and blushed, embarased by their little endevor the two blushed and Luna jumped off of Celestias back.
All of them burst out in laughter at what had just happened. After the brief fun Celestia said "Zerant can i ask you a question?"
"An answer you seek, will soon come form my cheek" Zerant said smiling
"that's a yes" Venra said translating for her in within the humor
"Why are you always speaking in rhyme?
"that my little pink friend, we shall save for another story"