Chapter 1

“I remember I was falling. Not the gentle free fall where you could just open your wings and be free of it, but a harsh plummet. My brains felt like they were in my feet and the heat from my descent was nigh unbearable.

“I was passing in and out of consciousness. The ground was approaching, but from what I saw between gaps of the fire, and gaps in my mind, I could not tell how fast.

“Eventually I passed through the high altitude cloud layers. The deceleration jarred me into consciousness as the moisture around the planet started to reduce the heat of atmospheric reentry.

“The ground was approaching. I was only a few kilometres above it before I felt something I had not felt for many thousands of years. Fear. The fall would not kill me, that wasn’t the point of banishment, but it would hurt, and it would be completely unavoidable and extreme in its nature.

“I felt the impact from the ground, a soft crunch that seemed more muffled than it should have, and then I passed out.”

Where am I? I remembered falling. I remembered hitting the ground. I remembered nothing else.

Attempting to look at my surroundings proved futile, as when I moved my neck, the searing pain caused me to cry out. Alone. The thought caught me off guard, but it made sense. My eyelids were growing heavy, so I closed them, content with lying in whatever position I was in. While I slept, I dreamt of fire.

I was awoken by the pointy end of a wooden stick. Unsure of whether I should be grateful or angered by the disturbance that broke me from the dream, I opened my eyes. A shrill cry echoed through my now pounding head, as I cringed and attempted to snuff out the bright sun by closing my eyes again. “Gabriel?” I asked, as if the name had meaning.

Shifting my weight, I looked over towards the offender. The sun was bright, and I was surrounded by what seemed to be a moss covered ravine. The entirety of my body ached, but it wasn’t nearly as terrible as when I fell asleep.

What I saw confused me greatly. A small, white, winged unicorn was looking at me with fear I hadn’t thought possible. It’s eyes were wide and panic stricken, and its wings were flared to make it look larger. Between myself and it was the stick I had been awoken with.

I looked around for the voice I heard, but I was surrounded by hills on all sides. One other thing caught my attention however; a long trench that got increasingly narrow the further away it got. I was on the bottom of a rather large crater.

“Where did she go...” I mumbled, scratching my head as I looked back to the scarred creature who had backed itself as far away as it could, without flying.

“Hey, I won’t hurt you.” I said, addressing the creature in as soft a voice I could manage.

“What are you?” My eyes widened as the sounds escaped its mouth.

“I...” I tried to find an answer, but after several long seconds of finding nothing, I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

Where am I? What am I? The thoughts echoed cruelly around my head. I must have had a pained look on my face, because the small equine lowered her wings, and went from looking terrified to weary.

“What are you?” I mirrored its question, creasing my brow as I became increasingly frustrated by my lack of knowledge.

“I...” She blushed. I knew where this was going. I had just said the same thing. “I don’t know.”

Looking around, trying to find any semblance of recognizability, I asked the next question on my mind. “Where are we?”

The pony looked around before completely dropping its defensive act. Looking to the ground, she whispered an answer. “Were in the San Palomino Plains.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” I responded, keeping my voice low.

“Everyone here thinks I’m a freak.” her head lowered and her eyes closed. I felt sympathy for the creature. I understood rejection, but I could not recall from where.

“I do not think you’re a freak.” I responded, as much for her benefit as mine. I had no idea if the surrounding creatures were hostile, and if she was to be my first link with society, then I needed a friend.

"You... you don't?" She stammered, her body shaking with uncertainty now. "No. I do not" In more ways than one, this was true. I have yet to see another of her kind, so I cannot yet determine if she is indeed a 'freak' compared to the rest of them, as she would say.

For a while, she stood there, staring at me. Her face contorted into a multitude of conflicting emotions. There was, of course, the earlier fear she wore along with the uncertainty, but now, intermingled with these, I saw sadness, regret, and... a twinge of hope. Once again, she spoke, trepidation dripping from her face.

“Are... you sure? This... isn’t some kind of joke or trick... is it?”

I shake my head from side to side, and I think I can hear a small, but audible sigh escape her lips. The situation of this poor equine greatly disturbed me. I laid there and pondered for a moment just how she came to be in her present state, with her leaf and twig strewn coat and mane covered in a layer of grime and dirt. And then the question came.

“If I may, however... why are you out here all by yourself?”

Again, she is apprehensive. She took several steps back, looking at the ground before her forehooves as though she was guilty of some terrible crime. “Ummm...I’d rather not talk about that...”

A delicate subject no doubt. I will need to remember this. For now, my mind turns to less personal queries directed towards the equine.

“Oh. Very well then.” I asked as apologetically as I could, “May I ask of thee, your name instead?”

She still seemed to be taking a keen interest in the dirt at her hooves. I move my mouth to speak, but she speaks first.

“It’s...” What I heard next was either a faint breeze, or her whispering something.

My brow furrowed. “Come again?”

Her face contorted from one of fear to one of silent courage. “My name is Celestia.” The gusto that had come to the filly left just as it came, and Celestia found herself cringing in fear; Her eyes again focused on the ground.

I brought my hand to the underside of her muzzle, and she, not expecting that, jumped backwards. Her eyes were wild again, and her wings were flared. An unnatural glow accompanied the horn on her head this time, however.

“S... Stay back!” She stammered. “I’m... I’m warning you!”

“Celestia,” I brought my hand back to my side, letting my voice grow firm, but gentle. “I will not harm you.” The look in her eyes told me she was not as convinced as I. “Have I given you any reason yet to suggest that I would?”

Confused, her mind tried to come up with a suitable answer.

“Well... no...” She began, looking off to the side, “But, uh... could you please... not touch me... I’m... not exactly fond of that...”

It was then that I noticed a slight... bruise atop her forehead. A small welt that would be easy to miss to a casual observer, but that I found to be unmistakable at such close proximity. Once again, my mind takes note of this as something to bring up in future conversation.

“Of course.” I say with certainty, but perhaps a bit too quickly, “If you so wish it, I will not.”

Celestia let out a breath I did not know she had been holding and her stance seemed to slacken a bit, though her horn was still firmly aimed in my direction.

“Now then, may I ask where we are?”

“Uh... we’re in the San Palomino Plains... er—” She said, rubbing that spot on her head where the welt was with a forehoof and closing her eyes in concentration, “I think...”

“You think?” I quirked an eyebrow.

“Well... I don’t exactly have a map on me and have just sort of been... wandering...”

“Wandering?”

“For a while...”

I brought a hand to my chin and ponder for a moment. “Tell me... while you were... wandering, did you happen to see how I came to be here, in the, San Palomino Plains, was it?”

Celestia looked away and rubbed the back of her neck anxiously.

“Yeah. It was... actually hard to miss...”

“How so?”

“Well... how do I say this... gently...” She said, fighting to keep her eyes away from mine, “You sort of, kind of... um... fell from the sky going at a speed that would make most Pegasi proud, and you hit the ground so hard that you made a crater ...”

“Ahhh.”

She continued. “At first, I thought that a shooting star had just landed and I wanted to check it out.” She rubbed her hooves together nervously. “You see, I read that they had special magic properties, and well... I was hoping that I could use it to... become... normal...” Her eyes welled up with tears, as her voice lowered.

I did not know how to respond to this display of sadness. Part of me wanted to reach out and hug the small heart-broken creature before me, but another part of me was reminded of the fact that doing so, currently, would likely just make matters worse. Instead, I opted to not press the matter and let her wipe her eyes clean.

“Look at me...” She began with a melancholy chuckle, “Here I am being miserable with my life while you’re the one with a missing wing...”

I raised a questioning eyebrow, before looking over my right shoulder. There was nothing there. Looking over my left, I noticed what would have been a fifth appendage, had it not been cut short at the second joint. I struggled to find my thoughts as my head began swimming.

I heard Celestia gasp in surprise as I found myself closer to ground, clutching my head. I was scared, and I had no idea what was going on. Where am I? What am I? Who am I? The questions still compounded without being answered.

My vision was fading, and my headache was growing, as I watched the ground flip sideways. There was a pressure on my shoulder as Celestia placed her hoof on it, mouthing words that I could not understand.