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// End of the Beginning 
// Story: Birth of Equestria 
// by Draconiuos 
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Birth of Equestria





	Chapter 2

        Ryan and Celestia watched events on the TV unfold with horror. They knew who the mysterious Alicorn was, but didn’t understand how it could be Luna. Her appearance had been so radically altered. The reporter and her camera man were still recording the aftermath of the fireball Luna had used to cover the escape of the ponies. Police officers were being pulled from the scorch earth many wounded from cooked off rounds and even a few dead. The earth itself was scorched black and there were a few bodies of ponies killed by the police at the edge of the fireball. Those offices not caught in the blast had started searching the edge of the tree line for clues to where to ponies had gone. 
        The area itself was very secluded with one large farm house with multiple bedrooms, and a large barn with stables to house all the ponies that were kept there. It was surrounded on all sides by woods for miles. There was only one access road caught through the woods to access the property, and that had a metal gate that could be closed to keep people out. There were no trespassing signs all along the roads to try and keep people out. 
        Ryan was the first to speak, “We have to find her Celestia. She is in danger and doesn’t know it. Mr. Burns isn’t going to just let this go; it is his company’s reputation on the line. I should be able to track her location with the chip that is implanted in her. It also works as a small GPS device. And I need to find some place for you to hide. They will be coming for you too.”
        Celestia looked at Ryan and nodded, “I don’t fully understand, but I will trust you. But please bring Luna back to me. I don’t want to see anything happen to her, she is just scared and upset. The creep managed to still cause her pain after so much time. When you find her though you should bring me, I can talk to her and get her to come home. Besides it isn’t like Mr. Burns knows for sure that was one of us. Like you said her appearance was altered. “ 
        Ryan led her downstairs and made a few phone calls. He called his on again off again girlfriend, and asked her for help, “Claire I know we aren’t on the best of terms right now, but you always said you loved the girls. Well, something happen and I need you to let Celestia stay with you for awhile, but you can’t let anyone know she is there. I am worried about her safety, and think my company might be looking to recall her back to the lab.” Ryan listened to Claire for a few seconds. “Look I understand that, but you are the only one I trust to keep her safe and hidden. You have made it clear that you hold your morals above money, and that makes you the best person for this.” 
        He listened to a Claire for a few more minutes and then responded, “Ok, I promise I will explain everything to you as soon as I figure it all out. You will be the first person I tell. Thank you so much for this Claire. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to my girls.” He turned to Celestia with tears in his eyes. “You are going to stay with Claire for a bit she is going to be her shortly with her van. You listen to her and be a good girl, okay?”
        Celestia looked at Ryan hold back tears of her own. She had never seen him like this before. He had always showed them a strong front that allowed for no question of his authority. “Of course dad, I will be a good girl.” Tears started to fall as she got closer to Ryan and wrapped her hooves around him in a hug. 
        At first Ryan started and had a look of surprise on his face, because they had never been so open with each other about their emotions. The fact she had called him dad touched him deep down inside. Until now he had been lying to himself saying he was just protecting his creations, but in truth they were his daughters. He wrapped his arms around Celestia’s neck and hugged her back, letting his tears fall as well. “I will, I will bring her back to us I promise. Now, you go get ready to go. We don’t want to keep Claire waiting when she gets here.” He let her go, but felt her linger a moment longer. 
        Then she let him go and turned around heading to her bedroom to pack her things. She tried to rein in her tears, but they wouldn’t stop falling. So she did her best to get there through the blur of her teary eyes. She made it to her room and began to pack what little she thought she would need. Since they really didn’t wear clothes expect as a game, but she packed some anyways. She was part of the way through as she had to stop and cry. Everything was just so wrong. This wasn’t the way things were suppose to be. She didn’t mean to tease Luna about her diary; she was just trying to have a little fun. Now, Luna had gone off somewhere and attacked police officers on national TV. It was her fault, if she hadn’t of caused a problem with Luna none of this would have happened. Now all she could do is go hide while Ryan fixed everything. 
        Ryan watched Celestia walk upstairs to her room and could see she wasn’t taking it well, but he had no choice. It was only a matter of time before the truth about the control chips being faulty came out. He knew it would eventually, but he hoped that it would come out in a way that made it seem a small thing. Now, an Alicorn had attacked and even killed police officers, this was going to be a PR nightmare for Lunar Technologies, and probably meant that he was going to have a lot of explaining to do. He walked over to the security door that lead to his private lab, and punched in the combo to open it. His tears were still drying on his cheek and threatening to spill over again, but he knew he didn’t have the time to cry now. He had to fix this somehow. He felt responsible, because he didn’t bother to talk with Luna about what had been bothering her. He felt he had failed her as both her guardian and father. 
        He walked over to his computer and placed his finger on the biometric scanner. There was a short pause and then the screen came up. He opened the program that logged all the movements of his girls. The control chip sent the GPS information to be logged every ten seconds so that there was a precise movement log. He went into Luna’s movements and it at first couldn’t make sense of what he was looking at. He understood everything up to the time she was in her room, but then it suddenly said that she had moved five hundred miles in under ten seconds. And right before that the chip had tried to institute level four control measures but had been overpowered. Then it hit him, and he couldn’t believe what this meant. He was looking at it in the terms of science and that what had happen was impossible, but then he realized magic didn’t follow the rules of science. Luna had learned to somehow teleport herself without anyone knowing. He smiled slightly to himself, because he felt a swell of fatherly pride for Luna. He hadn’t realized just how smart she was, because she stayed quiet most times. She only really talked to Celestia. 
        He then reviewed the logs more and noticed that Luna had gone into the woods and spent quite awhile in an area with nothing in it but trees. Then the chip reported a level five control measure was attempted. He couldn’t believe it, that was meant to kill and was suppose to be a last resort measure. It seemed though the chip failed that it had been completely fried by something before it could complete the level five measure. It wasn’t reporting anymore which meant the control chip was completely destroyed. Well, at least he had someplace to start; he wrote down the coordinates and headed back up. 
        Claire was just pulling up as he came out of the lab, and he headed to let her in. Claire stood about five foot six inches tall with black hair and deep blue eyes. She had a lithe body and carried herself with an air of someone with breeding, but knew she was not above everyone else. She smiled as Ryan let her in, “Is she ready? We have to hurry up because I don’t want to take the chance of running into Mr. Burn’s personal security.” She said to him her voice carrying a musical tone to it, but with an undertone of seriousness. 
        “Let me go check on her she should be almost done.” Ryan said after closing the door behind Claire. He walked upstairs to Celestia’s room and knocked on the door before walking in. As he opened up the door he saw her standing up hastily from her bed. Her coat around her eyes was wet and she looked like she had been crying. He walked over and gave her another hug saying, “It will be ok. I think I know where she is and will find a way to get there without anyone following me. I am going to do everything I can to make sure she is safe. Though I am not sure she even needs me. Now grab your stuff and head downstairs. Claire is waiting for you.” He let her go and watched her grab her saddle bags and head downstairs. He stayed there for a bit, something told him it might be the last time he saw this room, and his daughter. 
        He walked out if the room with a small dark blue book in his hand. As he got downstairs he smiled at the two girls and walked over to Celestia. He showed her the dark blue book and then placed it in her saddle bags, “Keep it safe for your sister. She will want it when she sees you again, I am sure of it. Now, go with Claire and be a good girl. Remember everything I taught you and I will see you once I have found Luna.” He hugged Celestia one more time holding back his tears. Then he walked over to Claire and whispered something in her ear. He then smiled and walked into the garage. 
        Claire smiled at Celestia, “Come on he has a lot he has to do, and we need to get you to my place to settle in. I am sure it will only be for a few days.” She opened up the door and waited for Celestia walked through. 
        Celestia stopped half across the threshold and looked back towards the garage. She suddenly had a feeling of finality, almost like she would never come back to this house and something more, but she couldn’t put her hoof on it. She sighed and walked through but not before magically bringing a picture of Luna, Ryan and herself happy together in front of the house. It was taking the first day they had come to live with him two years ago, and now it seemed so long ago. They were all happy and it seemed those days would never end, but now it seemed all that had been a dream. She walked to Claire’s van and waited for Claire to open the back door for her. She then climbed in back. As Claire pulled down the driveway Celestia looked at the only home she had ever known and couldn’t shake the feeling it was her last time to see it. She then saw her father standing in the front door watch her drive way. Celestia finally couldn’t take it anymore and broke down into a crying fit holding the picture. She cried until she fell asleep.  
        Ryan watched as his other daughter left with the closest friend he ever had. He knew now that this was the last he would see of her. He saw that she took a picture off the fire mantle and smiled to himself. At least she would always have something to remember the happier times they had. He then turned around and grabbed the bag he had packed with some hiking supplies that he would need to make his way to the place where Luna was last known to be. He then pulled out his cell phone as he walked into the garage.  “Go my dearest daughter Celestia, live a good life, and protect and love your sister. You two are my legacy to the world.” 
        Luna was going over in her head what she remembered about the layout of Lunar Technologies labs. She used her magic to levitate a stick and began drawing a sketch in the dust on the floor, when she heard the ponies arriving. There was more than she thought there would be. Rainbow Flash was leading the way to the castle there was at least a dozen pegasi, ten unicorns, and a couple dozen earth ponies. Some of them were wounded and be taking to an area that seemed the best place to tend their wounds with plush beds. The castle was unlike a design seen by human eyes before. It had a wall with guard towers like any normal castles and a main fortress in the center of the walls, but what made it unusual was the tower that came out of the center of the fortress that was actually a tree turn into a structure. The center of it was hollowed out with a spiral staircase and one to two rooms on each floor. From the outside it looked like a large tree that had growing out of the middle of the fortress. Luna had gone up to the top of this tower to move the moon and now made her way back down.
        As she got to the bottom a unicorn had already started to organize everything she carried a cutie mark with a five point star on her flank. Luna just sat back and watched her for a bit. “No, pegasi are being housed in the east wing with the unicorns. Where is the pony that I sent to find a kitchen? You go find Apple, make sure he didn’t get lost or something. “She pointed at a pretty yellow pegasus with this demand. The response was barely audible, and the pegasus flew off being overly cautious not to bump into anyone. 
        Luna walked up behind the purple unicorn giving the orders, the unicorn’s mane and tail was a dark blue with a purple and a pink streak through it, Luna came around to face the unicorn, “ What is thy name miss?”
        The unicorn at first didn’t seem to respond as she was going over her check list of things that needed to be done to make the castle livable. She started speaking to herself, “Check for food and food prep area, Check. Check for comfortable place for wounded, Check. Find a place for the non-wounded to sleep….” Luna nudged her gently with one of her wings. She looked up in a bit of a daze and then started, “I-I am sorry, I was just making sure everything is in order, you Highness.” She then bowed before her in a sign of respect. 
        Luna was uncomfortable with this attitude towards her and didn’t understand where it came from. She took the unicorn’s face in her hooves and brought it back up. Looking into her eyes Luna said, “I am no pony important, you don’t need to bow to me. In fact no pony here has to ever bow to any creature every again. We are free and shall free all our brothers and sisters still in bondage, including my dearest sister.” Luna’s voice had become louder as she said this until her voice was booming throughout the castle. When she finished she realized that everypony was staring at her. She blushed a bit and smiled shyly, “I am sorry everypony. I got a bit carried away with what I was saying, but I believe in the words that I spoke. We shall free all ponies everywhere.” Turning back to the purple unicorn once the other ponies turned back to what they were doing, “Now, my little pony what is your name?” Luna asked politely. 
        The purple unicorn smiled at Luna as she picked herself up from her bow, “I am known simply as Sparkle, since I have a talent for magic and it causes my horn to sparkle.” Sparkle blushed a bit at the end of the statement.
        “Why is it everypony seems to listen to you and you don’t seem to have any scars unlike the rest?” Luna inquired of Sparkle. 
        “Well, it is a bit of a long story, one second.” Sparkle turned around to speak with a grey pegasus mare with blonde mane and tail, “No, no Ditzy Doo I told you to take the blankets to the infirmary not outside.” 
        Ditzy Doo blushed, a deep red, and replied, “My bad Miss Sparkle.” She looked around and blushing once more asked Sparkle, “Which way is that again?”
        “Down that hallway to the right Ditzy, that is where Flutter said she found it.” Sparkle turned back to Luna as Ditzy flew down the right hallway with a hoof load of blankets. “I am so sorry about that your High…. I mean Luna. I was “special” Eric kept me for himself, but not before they tried to treat me like the rest. It is a long story, but in short when they tried I lost control of my magic and one of them got hurt really bad. From then Eric kept me away from everyone but him. He let me organize things so the rest of the ponies got better treatment than before, but I couldn’t stop them from doing the worst of it. I was just able to make sure they got fed and the wounds after sessions treated. Eric made it clear that he didn’t care about us, just the money he was making off us. He also talked about you very often. Eric told us that you were the reason we all existed to begin with, and that he hated you for costing him his job. You became a bit of an icon of hope for us, because you were the first pony to ever hurt him.” Sparkle blushed again a bit. “Look at me rambling on. I am sorry, if you want to know more about what had gone on at that camp then ask Flutter, she got the worst of most of it. I spent most my time in Eric’s room when not tending to the other ponies. Now if you excuse me I need to go see if they found the kitchen yet.” She waited a few seconds for Luna to nod approval and then Sparkle trotted down the left hallway the direction Flutter had traveled. 
        Luna walked through the castle, the open passageways lined with stained glass windows depicting events that she had never read in history books. They seemed to show a race that looked a lot like the elves written about in myths. It showed them battling the humans, at first they seemed to win, but then it seemed the humans began to develop technology to counter the elves magic. Further down the hallway it showed that even some humans joined the elves, human mages. As the human mages appeared to rally against their own the humans seemed to shun the magic and rely on their technology. The battles started to depict more and more mythological races rallying with the elves, but the human’s technology was overpowering them and their armies seemed endless. The last pane showed all the non-humans and human mages coming together over a magical device performing a ritual and the humans walking past them with a bewildered look on their faces. 
        Luna looked at this last panel, because she had never heard of anything mentioned in myth or history about it. In fact this whole castle seemed like a dream. This shouldn’t exist here and everything depicted in these windows could never happen according to human history. She was here though in this castle and began to wonder if these events in the windows could be true. If it was it gave her an idea on how to save all the ponies, but she would need to find the ritual the magical races used to hide themselves. This meant she needed to keep Sparkle close if she was as gifted in magic as she claimed. Luna walked back to the top of the tower to think about this and wait for night. Tonight she was going to Lunar Technologies to retrieve the Alicorn serum she had heard about, because they were going to need an Alicorn with a human’s gift for war.