Welcome to Eden
It was a soft, cool October night in Canterlot. The Royal castle could be seen for miles, the moon light hitting it at just the perfect angle making the castle walls illuminated and the windows glisten with the bright, bright light. The stars in the sky were especially beautiful, forming amazing constellations of animals, ponies, and unspeakable ferocious beasts from a forgotten time. All of this was the work of the Princess of the Night, a well-deserved title for Princess Luna.
At that time of night, Princess Luna should have been sifting through paper work, or casually sipping a beverage in the dining area, relaxing. But no, she wasn’t doing either of these things. Luna loitered the hallways, taking unknown twists and turns deeper and deeper into the welcoming arms of the dimly lit castle. She found this activity enjoyable because it gave her time to reflect on life, and she also thought of the castle walls like an indoor maze, which was quite amusing. The castle had changed very much over the time span of 1000 years, so for her it was very easy to get lost. Every once in a while she would pass a night guard, dressed in their regal dark armor. They would salute her, and she would give a nod of acknowledgement back.
After about one hour, Luna grew weary of wandering, and decided it was time to get some work done. She tried to find her way back to her bed chambers, but after 3 minutes of wandering she realized she was lost. Luna let out a slight chuckle, lost in her own home? Ridiculous. Finally, she bumped into another night guard, who most likely knew the way to get back to the sleeping chambers.
“Excuse me.” She addressed the guard. “But can you please inform me on which wing of the castle we are on, and how to get back to my room?” she asked simply.
“We are currently in the west wing, your highness. Your sleeping chambers are located in the northern wing, keep going straight down the hall and take a right, then a left, and keep going straight, that should take you to the castle entrance.” The guard replied. “Would you like an escort?”
“Thank you for the information, but I do not need an escort, thanks.” Luna said as she took off down the hall at a leisurely pace.
Luna did as the guard had said, but only came to a dead end of the castle. Darn, had she miss heard him? Was he not properly informed? Luna pondered these questions for a brief second before she felt a slight breeze and something caught her eye. To the left of her was an open doorway, with no door, that led to a small garden. She looked around; she had never seen this place before. She poked her head inside and took a peek. The small little haven was overgrown with berries and the small bird bath in the middle had long since dried up. She decided it would be best to get outside and check the garden out, because she could easily take off with her majestic wings and fly her way to the castle entrance.
Luna took a few steps into her new environment and surveyed her surroundings. Although beautiful flowers were everywhere and the amazing night sky was perfectly visible, the garden had a slightly abandoned and ugly feel to it. The grass was over grown, reaching Luna’s knees, and the small walls around the garden were cracked and falling apart, not to mention covered in vines and bird feces.
Using her Alicorn magic, she picked a clean looking berry from a small bush next to her; she surveyed it before taking a small bite. It didn’t taste bad. She was just about done with this little garden when she noticed a large figure in the far right corner. It was covered in brush and plants and she couldn’t see it to well. With a flick of her mighty magic she wiped off all the brush and laid her eyes upon one of the strangest looking things she had seen.
It was a statue, but of what, she did not know. It was a tall figure, standing up on its hind legs. At the end of its front “legs” (if they can even be called that) were things similar to griffin claws, but they didn’t seem sharp. It wore something similar to cloths, Luna saw it had a shirt and jacket, but there was something wrapped around its back legs that made it look silly, they looked like they were made of denim. The beast didn’t appear to have a tail, but the most disturbing part of it was the face (if that WAS a face). The eyes didn’t seem big enough, they were small. The ears were located on the sides of the head, which made the beast seem even stranger, and the nose was rather pointy. Its mane was also very long, which looked terrible without a tail.
At the base of the statue there was a name and a small poem.
“HOMO SAPIEN.”
“Oh beast that walks on two legs”
“Why must you be so ignorant?”
“When love and tolerance has spread into your culture”
“The night will set you free to where you truly belong.”
Luna, being very literate, was slightly confused on what meaning this poem had. She also didn’t know what a “homo sapien” was. She knew that “Beast on two legs” was referring to the creature, so it must be a “homo sapien”. The rest confused her, except for the line “The night will set you free to where you truly belong. It must have had something to do with her; she ruled the night, after all. But the statue look like it was made a while ago, during the time she was imprisoned in the moon. She took a step closer, examining the statue and noticed something of interest at the bottom of the poem. It was a small cylinder going deep into the statue’s base. It was similar to the magic lock on the elements of harmony, only alicorns have enough magic to unlock them. She took a step closer and examined it. Nothing seemed to be wrong. She might as well try it. She lowered her head to the base of the statue when-
“STOP!” a tyrants voice bellowed. Luna jumped five inches in the air, startled, and spun around. There before her was her sister, celestia. She had an angry look on her face, and it looked as if she had just woken, because she had none of her royal “armor” on and her hair wasn’t flowing as usual, it just hung there lazily.
“Ah! Sister! You startled me-” Luna began before being interrupted by her sister.
“Luna, what are you doing?” celestia said in a monotone voice.
Luna seemed shocked, was her sister really…. Angry at her?
“Sister… are you… alright?” Luna asked.
“This isn’t about me, Luna, what are you doing?” repeated celestia.
“I was admiring this statue… what does it mean?” Luna replied, taken aback by her sisters sudden burst of emotion.
“Nothing of importance, why are you here, Luna?” celestia said.
“I was trying to get back to my chambers and got lost; a guard pointed me this way.”
Celestia took a step closer and raised her voice, yelling “this portion of the castle is OFF LIMITS to everypony, including me, we must go, sister.”
Before Luna could object, her sister used her magic to pick her up, and placed her back into the hallway of the castle, waiting there were two standard royal guards, followed by one night guard.
“Luna, I need to do something important, the guards will escort you back to your room.” Celestia said.
Luna looked her sister over before saying “Wh… well… okay Celestia.
She looked at the guards and nodded, showing that she was ready to be taken back. However, before she was out of sight of the door, she took a little peek back and noticed celestia standing in front of the statue. This was last she saw of the garden for a while.
Time passed, first slowly, but then started to whiz by. It had been 2 months since Luna had been in that mysterious “garden”. Her sister must have forgotten about it by now, and celestia probably thought Luna had forgotten herself, but the garden had always lingered in the back of her mind. The first week after the incident in the garden, whenever Luna tried to bring up garden, celestia always changed the subject. Luna had long since given up trying to talk to her sister about it.
Luna had thought about going back to the garden, but she didn’t want to get lost again, and she definitely didn’t want to abuse Celestia’s trust either. After all, she did say it was off limits to everypony, which was a little silly. Why was it off limits? Was it the berries that grew there? Were they poisonous…? No, she would have been sick. The only things there besides the berries were the bird bath, ugly overgrown plants, and the statue. Out of those three the statue seemed more intriguing.
Princess Luna had been lingering the halls for quite some time, an activity she found herself getting into more and more, but she never went to the west wing because she feared she might stumble upon the garden again. If she did, she knew her curiosity would get the best of her and she would go “exploring” again. Well, it didn’t really count as exploring, because she already knew what the garden looked like and where it was, but still it would be an adventure to look around there again.
The princess explored the eastern wing of the castle, but there wasn’t much left to see there, for the dining area was located there and she often spent as much time there as she did in her bed chambers or the throne room. She never pondered on the thought that she may one day explore the entire castle, it was just too big. She had been on the earth for more than two years now and she still hadn’t seen the entire castle yet. Even at the rate she explored, the castle was so big that it would take her another two years to see it all.
Luna was getting ready to take another right turn when a royal guard from the opposite end of the hallway emerged and called for her.
“Your majesty?” he called.
“Hm? Yes? What is it?” she called back, not even bothering to turn to look.
“Princess Celestia seeks an audience with you at once.” He said, not taking his eyes off of her.
She turned and faced him, she was about to ask for what, but then realized that he probably didn’t know himself. She noticed her sister never properly informed her guards about their tasks.
“Thank you, I will go to her at once.” Luna said.
The guard nodded, thanked her, and went back down the hall. Luna had no idea why her sister wanted to see her, but it must have been something important. Who knew? She might even get to go back to Ponyville and meet her sister’s student. She really did enjoy the company of her and her friends, they were all so nice.
…
Luna entered the throne room and took in the welcoming sight. The checkered floor, the single throne (soon to be double, her throne was still being made), the beautiful waterfall on the side of the throne, the amazing tainted glass windows. Luna could have gone on and on about how amazingly beautiful the room was.
There on the throne was her sister, and next to the throne’s stairs were two standard unicorn guards. Luna took a few steps closer to the throne; Celestia looked up from a letter and at Luna.
“Ahh, hello Luna, my favorite sister.” She said jokingly.
“Hello Celestia.” Said Luna.
“I was just in the middle of reading Twilight Sparkle’s letter. Would you care to take a look?” said the sun princess.
“I’m sure that is not why you called me here…” replied Luna.
Celestia put down the letter and laughed a little bit. “Getting right to business are we?”
Luna just gave her a smirk.
“Well, I have called you here to inform you that I am hosting a social gathering.” She said.
“However, I say ‘social gathering’, and not ‘ball’, because not many ponies are invited. Only my most trusted acquaintances are coming.” Celestia said, looking away from Luna and at the stained glass window.
Celestia paused for a moment and looked back at Luna, saying “So I ask you make yourself present and maybe even invite some of your own friends.”
Luna hadn’t made many friends since her imprisonment had ended, just Twilight and her friends and four very nice servants that cleaned her room and made her bed.
“Uhh… sister, do you really… need me to be present at this…”
“…party?”
Luna should have seen it coming, of course her sister would want her to go, and now she was going to have to sit through a speech about why she should go and the importance of social interaction.
Luna braced herself, and sure enough, it came.
“Oh Luna! Of course you have to go! It would be silly not to. Why don’t you ever talk to anyone but me?” Celestia said smiling.
“Well… it’s because…” Luna started.
Celestia interrupted her and said “Oh my, is it because you were gone for so long? Do you need any help coping? If so I’d more than gladly take time out of my day to help you, sister.”
“Well no, I think I’m just a littler ner-” Luna tried to say, before being interrupted, again.
“Oh! It’s because you lack friends? Oh sister, all you had to do was say so! I too had trouble be-friending my little ponies at first, but soon they came to not only see me as princess and a leader, but a friend as well. Would you like me to introduce you to some mares I met just last month? They’re so nice, and I bet you would love their company!” As Celestia said this, Luna noticed that Celestia was starting to get on her nerves.
“No thank you sister, I’m fine, but I’m tired and would just love to get some sleep.” Luna said, happy that she finally got a chance to finish her sentence.
“Oh.” Said celestia, “I’m sure you really would have enjoyed their company, but please Luna, will you come to the party?”
Luna didn’t like it when her sister said “party”, it didn’t fit her personality, but none the less, Luna said “Well, if you insist big sister, when is this… party?”
“Oh good! The party is in two days from now, I’m so happy you decided to come!”
“Well, thank you for inviting me.” Said Luna, mostly out of courtesy though, she wasn’t too ecstatic about going.
Luna turned and started walking; she felt a little upset that her sister just practically called her a loser, even if she didn’t mean it. Celestia absolutely had to point the fact that she didn’t have to many friends out, and the fact that she had difficulty coping.
“Good day, sister.” said Luna, leaving the throne room and heading for her bedroom.
This was one of the difficulties of being the princess of the night; she slept through the day and was only awake during the night. But times had changed, and she wasn’t alone during her beautiful nights. Many ponies spent their nights working, such as the night guards, attempting to protecting the royal sisters from any harm, even though Luna knew her and Celestia could handle themselves. So Luna wasn’t completely deprived of chances to practice social interaction.
She had just made it to the castle entrance area when she stopped. To prevent ponies form getting lost on tours (many tourists came to the royal castle and took tours, Luna voted against it but Celestia insisted), they had put maps of the wings they toured and ways to get back to the castle entrance. They didn’t map the entire castle though, partially because it would take too long, and they didn’t want to reveal the entire castles structure to just anypony. The maps were placed in a neat pile on a table, which was conveniently placed right next to the castle doors.
She looked around, no one was present for touring hours started in two hours, and all guards were on patrol at the moment. Luna wondered…
She walked over to the table and took the map in her mouth, unfolding it and placed the open map on the table.
The tour took the on two wings of the castle, the eastern wing… and the west wing.
Luna looked at the west wing map, she wanted to see if the garden was mapped, if there was some way of knowing that the place had actually existed, or if she was going insane. The only problem was that the map seemed foreign, like the abode that was mapped wasn’t her castle home.
It took the princess a good five minutes, but soon enough, she found the hallway she was lost in, she traced the halls, found the one the garden was linked to, and sure enough…
It wasn’t there. Just a hallway. Luna sighed, could she have just imagined it? The entire thing? No, that was impossible, but even her elaborate, thriving mind could make up such a place, it had to exist.
She folded up the map and looked out the nearest window. It had been 15 minutes since her sister had raised the sun, and she could just see the yellow orb poking over the hills. This meant it was time to sleep. As she made her way to her sleeping chambers, the thought of the garden still stuck in her mind.
She opened the large, gold doors to her room, closing them behind her. She kicked her shoes off and used her magic to place her crown on the bureau, not even bothering to put all of her regal armor on the mannequin in the corner of her room. She walked over to her large, king sized bed made of dark blue satin. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed, but it looked very nice.
Luna, rather un-princess-like, flopped on the bed, covering herself with the blankets and getting ready for her sleep. She let her mind wander on things, like how the party was going to be, or the garden. She was getting awfully sick of calling it that, maybe she could call it something else… hmm, yes; she might as well give it a name. But what?
She thought for a moment, scrunching her face and thinking. What to name it… haven? No… how about sanctuary? No… it didn’t fit it… she thought for a couple more minutes before finally picking the perfect name. “Eden.” She whispered to herself. “Perfect.” She said again, finally drifting off to a peaceful slumber.
Luna stood in front of the mirror in her room. She surveyed herself in her royal armor. Today was the day, the day of the dreaded party, where she had to mingle. But it wasn’t too bad, there weren’t that many ponies there, and twilight was going to be there, so that was an upside. She looked down at her horse shoes, they were always too tight and she never liked the armor, it was always too heavy and it clung to her fur, threatening to rip tufts of it out when she pulled it off. But Luna had to admit, she did look beautiful.
She turned around and made her way towards the door. The party started in an hour from now, and she had to make her way towards the dining hall, that was where the party was being held. She walked down the steps leading to her room, and saw the unicorn guards hired to escort her. Luna sighed, she didn’t understand why her sister needed to beef up the security for the party today, she thought it was going to me “small”.
“Princess?” said one of the guards.
“Yes, I am ready.” She said, walking in between the two guards, they stuck to her sides.
Luna never really did understand why they had guards; they weren’t much use for protection, the only practical use they had was as servants. Sure they might be powerful, but Luna’s magic surpassed the magic of the entire army combined by far, so she could defend herself.
They made their way in silence to the eastern wing; the only sound was their horse shoes hitting the black and white tiled floor of the hallways.
“Will there be many guards at the party?” Luna said, starting to feel awkward due to the silence.
“By the order of Princess Celestia, security is at a maximum your highness. There are 43 guards stationed at the party.” said one of the guards.
Luna let out an audible groan. She was getting tired of seeing guards. Guards, guards, guards, guards, oh what do you know, more guards, that’s refreshing. They all wore the magic armor that temporarily tinted their coats white, making them all look the same. It was like seeing the same pony every day, again and again. One time she actually saw one take his enchanted helmet off on duty once, he must have thought he was alone. When he took it off, he looked like a regular stallion; he had an orange coat, an amazing brown mane, and a boxing cutie mark. He looked just as good as he did with a white coat, but he had much more diversity this way.
She looked down at the two guards escorting her. She wondered what they looked like under their armor.
They made their way into the castle entrance area only to run into a small tour group led by another guard. All the ponies in the group stopped and stared at her, let out gasps and “oohhs” and “aahhs”, they also snapped pictures of her. This made Luna feel very uncomfortable, but she put a fake smile on her face and tried to look happy as she walked by them.
They made their way into the dining hall, only to be met with a bedazzling sight. Blue and red streamers hung from the ceiling, some of them dipped three or four feet above the dining table, which was 15 feet long and covered will all varieties of food and other treats. Blue and red confetti was also all over the floor, matching the streamers. Balloons hung in the corner, tied to a chair. Luna looked around and saw her sister conversing with a servant at the end of the table.
“-I understand, but can’t you just get somepony to mix the two frostings to make red…?” her sister said.
“I’m sorry your highness, but if we did that the flavor of the frosting would be awful, we tried it…” the servant she was conversing with said.
“Oh we-” Celestia started before realizing Luna was finally there.
“Oh hello sister! Im so glad you decided to show up, and forty five minutes early too! You must be very excited to be here.” Celestia said with a smile.
“Thank you, sister…” Luna replied, not sure if she had the guts to remind her sister that she asked her to come early.
“Well, while you are here, why don’t you help me?”” said celestia.
Luna didn’t really have a choice, so she nodded and made her way towards her sister.
…
Celestia had a good time choosing the flavor of the punches and pies that they were going to present at the party, however, she could not say the same for Luna. Sure she nodded and smiled at her, but deep down, was Luna really having fun? Was she happy? She didn’t seem happy… and Celestia knew that If Luna wasn’t happy, then she wasn’t happy.
Celestia tried to spend as much time with her sister as she could without smothering her. She didn’t want a repeat of the nightmare incident, so she made sure she paid extra close attention to her sister. But the attention Luna craved oh so long ago seemed to have vanished along with nightmare moon. Celestia knew it must have been hard being the younger sibling in a sister-sister relationship without a mother or father, two lonely pony pioneers and their quest for proper order and civilization. Though that was why Celestia had created her little ponies; they made them feel less… alone in the vast majority of nothingness that was the universe.
Celestia also saw herself as a type of mother figure, although she knew Luna didn’t see it her way. Sometimes she tried to be a little bit too motherly, she often went into Luna’s room and tried to make her sister put on make-up and talk about gossip. Luna said it embarrassed her and that they looked silly, and Celestia kind of agreed. Two of the most powerful forces in the known universe and they were putting on make-up and gossiping about what Photo Finish did at the last beauty pageant. But Celestia knew it was healthy to do “girl” things every once in a while, tyrant or not.
She was snatched away from her thoughts by somepony talking.
“Princess, the kitchen is ablaze.” said a chef, trying to remain calm.
“Excuse me?” Celestia said with a look of confusion.
“The kitchen is on fire…” said the chef again, more urgently than the last time.
“How did this happen?” Celestia asked.
“There was a mishap with the salad…” said the chef, looking embarrassed now.
Celestia tried not to, but didn’t succeed; she let out a giggle and covered her mouth with her hoof.
“Oh my little pony, how did you manage to do that? Isn’t salad tossed, and not baked?”
The chef’s face turned bright red now and he looked away from the princess.
“I accidentally put the bowl in the oven instead of the cupcakes, okay? It’s a common accident…” he said, trying to justify what he had done.
“Oh my yes, happens to me all the time. There is a fire extinguisher around the corner, take the hallway to the right. If you can’t find it have a unicorn guard put the fire out for you.” said Celestia, still smiling.
The chef let out a little chuckle before scurrying as fast as he could around the corner and down the hallway.
“Sister, I think he wanted your help, and not the help of a guard.” Luna said from across the table.
“Hm? Oh my no, he couldn’t have. And besides, what could I have done that a guard could not have. I need to stay here and makes sure everything goes okay.” Celestia replied.
“Bu-”Luna started, before Celestia interrupted.
“And I also want to make sure everything goes absolutely swimmingly for the most beautiful, elegant, amazing sister in the world.” Celestia said, beaming at Luna.
Luna gave a look of embarrassment at her sister and smiled nervously, looking around the room to make sure no one heard the mushy gushy talk. Celestia never understood why her sister acted so embarrassed.
“Ahem, thank you sister.” said Luna, looking up at the clock.
Celestia looked up at the clock too. Only five more minutes until the first of the guests should arrive.
“Oh good! The guest should be coming soon, and by the lack of smoke, I’m guessing the fire is out.” Celestia said, “Everything is perfect.”
She looked around at the décor of the room, the streamers, the balloons, the confetti, all placed perfectly. A proper social gathering indeed.
…
Luna stood by her sister at the “greeting center”, as her sister called it. It was just the door leading to the hall from the dining area. They greeted all the ponies that walked through the door with hospitality, shaking hoofs with them and greeting them with the standard “Hello, welcome to the party.
Her sister had told the truth, not many ponies were there. The ones that were invited were either royalty of very close friends of the princess. Finally, the only guest that Luna actually wanted to be acquainted with showed up, Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
Luna took in the sight of the ponies. She heard Celestia say something to the extent of “Ah hello my faithful student!”, but Luna wasn’t really listening. She saw all six of them were well dressed, like the princess had asked, but not overly dressed. Except of course Rarity, which was in one of the biggest, most beautiful dresses Luna had ever seen.
“Oh hello Princess Luna.” Said Twilight, looking away from her mentor and at Luna, her friends also gave a “Hello” or “Hi”, but in Fluttershy’s case a squeaking noise.
Luna smiled back at them. “Hello everypony, welcome to the party, I hope you do all have a swell time.” She said.
“AW yeah! Is that zap apple cake?!” Rainbow Dash said, darting away from the group and to the refreshment table. This caused the others to disperse around the room; the only pony staying was twilight, who was having an intricate conversation with the princess.
The conversation held nothing of importance to Luna, from what she heard, Twilight was just telling her sister about her adventures in Ponyville. She stood there feeling a little awkward for a moment more before celestia and twilight walked away, still talking to each other. Luna was all alone at the greeting center now, terrific. Now she had to greet all the ponies she didn’t know or-
“Hello! Welcome to the party.”
-even want to converse with. This seemed like something celestia would do, just leave her sister alone-
“Ah! Welcome to the party. Please have a good time.”
-to greet her friends. Luna hated the way her sister treated her sometimes, like a space-
“Hello, welcome to the party.”
-filler. Ugh, Luna was already getting sick of greeting ponies. She looked around, nopony was looking. She decided to sneak away from the door and over to the food table, a decision she was thankful she made. All 15 feet of the table was covered with different varieties of food, some local and others foreign, but all looking and smelling amazingly tasty.
Luna picked up a rather tasty look cracker and put some cheese spread on it. She looked around the room. There couldn’t have been more than 17 ponies or so. All of them seemed to be having a good time, most of them chatting with one another. Except for Rarity, who was threatening anyone who came near her dress while eating food. She also saw Fluttershy in the corner of the room looking rather nervous. She felt a little bad for her; Fluttershy was worse off than her after all. She decided to have a few words with her.
She made her way over to the shy yellow pony and tried to start a casual conversation.
“Hello Fluttershy, you remember me, right?” said Luna.
“Oh, my… um, hi… yes….” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Good, I can’t thank you enough for befriending me; you and your friends are all so nice after all.” Luna said.
Fluttershy just smiled, blushed and let out a little “squee.”
“So, how are the others?” Princess Luna said, trying to keep the conversation, if it can even be called that, alive.
“Oh, they’re fine…” said Fluttershy, actually not mumbling.
“Oh, but Rarity’s cat is a little sick, so I have to take care of him this week…” Fluttershy added.
“Ah, pity.” said Luna, still contributing to the dying conversation. She had just realized how bad of an idea it was to socialize, even with ponies she knew. Why couldn’t things be like Nightmare Night? She had such a good time back then. There were a few moments of an awkward silence before Princess Luna turned.
“Well I guess I better get going, it was good talking to you, Fluttershy.” She said over her shoulder.
“Oh, um, goodbye princess.” said Fluttershy, looking at the ground.
Luna trotted towards the door; all she wanted to do was leave. She wanted to go back to her room and sleep. She couldn’t believe she could not even hold a conversation with Fluttershy, the Fluttershy, one of the nicest pony’s in Equestria. Ugh, she knew it was a bad idea to try and make “friends” like he sister wanted. Why couldn’t she realize that Luna just wanted to be alone…?
She was right about to go through the door when a voice calling her name stopped her.
“Princess Luna, wait!” she heard. She turned to the voice and saw it came from Twilight Sparkle, she was trotting towards her with a smile on her face.
“Oh, hello Twilight.” Said Luna, still walking towards the door but slowing her pace, she really wanted to get out of there.
“How are you Luna?” Twilight said. Luna liked how she remember the fact “Princess Luna” just liked to be called “Luna”.
“I’m fine Twilight, thank you.” Luna replied.
Twilight gave Luna a look of concern.
“Princess, are you sure? You don’t look too well…” said Twilight.
“Nonsense, I am fine, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said, coming to a full halt now and turning to Twilight. Twilight still looked at Luna, concerned. Luna didn’t really know what to do, she just looked at Twilight, it felt awkward.
“Princess, can we talk?” Twilight said, finally breaking the silence.
“Sure Twilight, what do you wish to speak about?” Luna said, hiding her desire to just run away to her room.
“Well, can we go somewhere, private?” said Twilight.
Luna just nodded and Twilight led the way out the door. They started down the hallway.
They were half way down the hallway when Twilight started to talk.
“Now, Luna, I don’t want to-” Twilight started, before being interrupted by a “Halt!” coming from down the hallway.
Both of the ponies turned to see two royal guards trotting down the hallway after them. The duo stopped a few feet in front of them.
“We ask that both of you please return to the party, Princess Celestia has asked that all ponies attending the party stay in the dining area until the party has ended.” Said one of the guards, the other just nodded at what the first had said.
“Oh, Uhh, sorry, we’ll go ba-” Twilight started, but was interrupted by Luna putting her hoof against her chest lightly.
“No Twilight sparkle, we will go where we please.” Luna said. She was getting really fed up by these guards, it was time to show them who was boss.
Luna took a step forward and looked the guards face to face.
“You dare tell your princess what to do?” she said, raising her voice and walking forward, causing the guards to take a few steps back.
“wh…what? No Princess, were just enforcing the laws of Princess Celestia.” stammered one of the guards, confused by the sudden change of the usually calm Princess. Luna could tell both of them were intimidated by now. They continued to step backwards as she advanced on them.
“May I remind you of who is more powerful then whom, and who can banish whom at the flick of a hoof?” said Luna. When she said that she used her magic to zap both the guards slightly on their flanks.
“How dare you, an insolent pest, tell your princess what to do?” she said, raising her voice even more. Both the guards were really scared now. Luna didn’t stand by what she said, but it felt rather good to finally tell the guards off, she was getting sick of them.
“Why, I should have both of you-” she looked back at Twilight, then down at the guards. One of them looked ready to pass out and the other was on the floor covering his head with his hoofs.
“-EXICUTED!”
Luna felt bad for making a threat like that; there hadn’t been an execution in a very, very long time. Heck, she only remembered one execution. But still, it felt rather good to let that pent up anger about the guards out. Both the guard’s heads popped and they looked at her with mortal fear.
“Wait! Wait! No princess, please! W-were sorry!” said one of the guards.
“You’d better be! Now be gone! Both of you pests!” Luna said, zapping them on the flank again.
The guards didn’t waste a single second, they bolted down the hallway in the opposite direction neighing and whinnying. Pft, these were our top men, “Equestia’s finest?” pathetic.
Luna smiled at the sight before turning around only to see a shocked Twilight Sparkle.
“Princess I… I don’t… you just… WOW!” said Twilight, smiling.
“You had me scared! But, you didn’t mean the part about the execution… right?” verified Twilight.
“Of course not Twilight, but how else would I get them to leave?” Princess Luna assured.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief.
“Now, what is it you wished to talk about, Twilight?” said Luna, walking down the hallway side by side with Twilight.
…
Twilight and Luna had been wandering for quite some time, about an hour or so. The ponies at the party were probably wondering where they were by now. But Luna didn’t really care, her conversation with Twilight was far more important. Luna soon remembered why she liked Twilight so much, she was… on her level. They understood one another and could see eye to eye.
“So, sorry I took the princess away from you earlier.” said Twilight.
Luna smiled back and said, “Oh it fine Twilight, I know you haven’t seen her in a while, and you are her favorite student after all.”
Twilight laughed a little, blushed slightly and gave a “Thanks.”
There was a ten second period of time when nothing could be heard except the sound of their hoof’s hitting the floor as they went deeper and deeper into the castle before twilight broke the silence.
“Luna, is something wrong?” Twilight said.
Luna gave Twilight a confused smile, before replying “Twilight, nothing is wrong, I am fine.”
“Princess I don’t know, at the party you looked awfully sad…” Twilight started.
Luna looked down at Twilight, then back in front of her. She knew Twilight was very persistent, and could read her like a book.
Luna sighed and said, “Well, I haven’t been exactly… in the best mood lately.”
“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Twilight asked.
Luna looked down at the floor; they were going awfully deep into the castle. She could tell because the usually checkered floor had turned into hard stone, a sign that this particular part of the castle was old. She also had no idea what wing she was in, which meant it was going to be a pain to try and get back.
“Well, it’s just… I haven’t been feeling… appreciated, lately, that’s all.” Luna said.
“But Luna, we need you to raise the moon!” said Twilight.
“No, you don’t. Celestia did that without me for 1000 years.” Luna said.
“Well, yeah but I mean…” Twilight started, “…your one of the only alicorns in existence! You are important, princess, and I appreciate you, and I’m sure others do to.” Twilight said.
Luna smiled. Twilight was really nice, and talking to her boosted her self-esteem slightly.
“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, you’re very kind.” Luna said.
“Thanks Princess, but really, you are important, and you’re a very nice pony to be around.” Twilight added.
It was Luna’s turn to do the blushing now.
“Well I don-” Luna began before stopping and having an icy cold chill ran down her back. The hallway they turned down seemed awfully familiar, so familiar that…
“Twilight, do you have any idea what wing we are in?” Luna asked, coming to a halt. Twilight too came to a halt and gave the Princess a confused look.
“Err, I think we might be in the west wing, Luna, I’m not sure though.” Twilight said.
Luna couldn’t believe it, had she really found her way back to the hallway? Could she really be this close to the garden, to her mysterious Eden…? Luna took off in a trot down the hallway, if she was right, and Eden was here, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of feet away. This was just blind luck, getting here. It was almost as if fate had brought her here.
“Princess wait!” Twilight called, running after her.
Luna was in a full sprint now, only a few more feet and she would be there, she didn’t have a clue why she wanted it so much, to be there, she just had to know it was real, to feel it again. She ran and finally reached the end. Just… The end. The end of the hall, a simple, brick wall blocking her from the outside world. Luna came to a halt and surveyed the walls around her. Nope, no door, no cracks, just an empty hallway.
As Luna stood there Twilight, gasping for breath, caught up to her.
“Princess what’s wrong?” She said in between breathes.
Luna didn’t answer her, she just stood there. Could it have been the wrong hallway? Surely it had to be, but what type of architect, no matter what time period, makes a hallway with no rooms or windows?
“Princess?” Twilight asked.
Just then Luna had an idea; she remembered something about her sister saying nopony being allowed in the garden and her having to do something “important”… Luna wondered…
She felt the hallway walls with her hoofs, tapping the walls.
“Twilight, check this wall for anything… out of order.” Luna said.
“Okay Princess, but may I ask why?” Twilight asked.
“You’ll see, Twilight.” Luna said. She hoped she was right, because if she wasn’t, she would look like a nutcase.
Luna kept on tapping the walls, looking for any signs of a fake door or sealed up wall. Every now and then she would look over at Twilight, only to see she was doing the same thing. After about two minutes of tapping and 15 feet of checked wall, Twilight piped up.
“Luna, I think I found something.” Twilight said.
“What is it, Twilight?” Luna said, still tapping the walls.
“This wall sounds… hollow.” Twilight replied.
As soon as Luna heard that she stopped and ran over to Twilights location.
“Here?” Luna asked, pointing to the location Twilight was standing in front of. Twilight nodded back at her.
Luna eagerly tapped at the wall, and sure enough, there was a hollow “thunk” instead of the usual tapping noise.
Luna took a few steps back, saying, “Okay, Twilight Sparkle, stand back.
Before Twilight had a chance to ask why or what was going on, Luna blasted the false wall with a bolt of concentrated magic. The false brick wall fell, creating a pile of broken stone and a cloud of dust to fly into the two ponies faces. Luna swatted at the dust, trying to get it out of her face. Twilight only coughed and covered her mouth with her hoof. They waited for the dust to settle and both of them eagerly peered into the hidden room.
It was Eden. Just as she left it, the statue, the plants, the everything, all just the way she left it. Luna almost ran inside, looking around and spinning, she probably would have yelled in sheer joy that she hadn’t imagined it if Twilight wasn’t standing there watching her.
“Princess Luna, what is this place?” Twilight asked.
Luna Turned to her and said “Eden!” with a joyful grin.
“Eden?” Twilight asked, looking around puzzled. She noticed the odd statue in the corner of the garden.
“Princess, what is… that?” Twilight asked, pointing her hoof at the statue.
Luna stopped spinning and giggling and looked at what Twilight was talking about, but the grin still didn’t leave her face.
“Oh, that’s uhh, what was it called again?” Luna took a step closer to the statue and read the base.
“Ah! Yes, a ‘Homo sapiens’ I think it’s called.” Luna said.
“Really? Ew, it looks…” Twilight started.
“Gross?” Luna interrupted.
“Yeah, kind of.” Twilight said.
Both of them looked at each other and shared a good laugh. They both took a couple of steps closer to the statue, examining it.
“What’s this?” Twilight asked, pointing to the base of the statue.
She quickly read the poem and asked, “What does ‘The night will set you free to where you truly belong.’ mean?”
Luna shrugged and looked down at the base, and saw something she had forgotten about. There was the small magic lock that only alicorns could un-lock. But it was still an odd thing to put on a statue; those type of locks only belonged on doors or chests. Well, she might as well see what it did, what’s the worst that could happen?
She lowered her head down to the base of the statue and inserted her horn into the small lock. A few seconds passed and nothing happened, it was probably broken or just there for a design. Luna was about to withdraw her horn from the lock when she heard an audible clicking noise, and something locking her horn in the small hole. Confused, Luna tried to pull her horn out of the lock, but to no avail.
“Twilight… I think I am… stuck.” Luna said, still trying to get out of the lock.
“P-…Princess, LOOK!” Twilight screamed, pointing at the top of the statue.
Luna couldn’t see too much because of the angel she was stuck at, but what she did see was odd. One of the appendages of the “Homo sapiens” statue was moving, creating a stone-on-stone rubbing noise. It was rising rather slowly, and pointing one of its fleshy talons out. A small ball of magic could be seen glowing at the end of the fleshy talon, growing larger and larger. As it got bigger, Luna could feel herself getting weaker.
Twilight was trying desperately to pull the Princess out. She also was calling for help, but Luna didn’t really see a point in that because they were in a secluded part of the castle. The orb of magic had grown as big as an apple now, and just when Luna thought the statue was going to drain her completely, she heard another clicking noise and was released from the statue. She pulled away, now able to fully see what was going on.
The statue, even without Luna’s magic, was still doing… whatever it was doing. Luna had no clue what it was trying to do, but she did know that it must have been something that required a lot of magic power. A soft hum was emitting from the statue, which was accompanied by a rapid shaking and the wind around them blowing so fast it was alarming, and none of these things seemed like a good sign.
Finally, everything just stopped. The wind, shaking, humming, all came to a halt, except for the magical orb, which had now grown to the size of a soccer ball. Luna wanted to go check it out, but before she got the chance, the orb started to melt, creating a small, uninterrupted stream of magic flowing straight to the ground. The stream separated into two streams, at first only about an inch or so apart, but they were traveling in opposite directions very fast. Finally, when they were about four feet apart, the rest of the remaining orb melted, creating a nice thin layer of magic stretching from one stream to another, creating a perfect seal.
Luna and Twilight were both speechless. They looked at each other, then back at the statue. The shape of the magic oddly resembled a large O. Luna took a few steps closer to the statue.
“Princess Luna is this really such a good idea!?” Twilight said.
“Hush, Twilight” Luna said, almost fixated on the magic.
Luna, followed closely by Twilight, made their way to the statue. Luna examined both the statue and magic, looked back to twilight, and said “I think it’s safe.”
“Princess is it really the best idea to be so close to… it?” Twilight asked.
Luna didn't answer, but instead, foolishly, stuck the tip of her hoof into the magic. The magic rippled, like a pool of water, and made a terrible noise, like pots dropping on a tiled floor. Luna pulled her hoof away from the magic.
“Princess, what have we… discovered…?” Twilight asked.
Out of the clear blue, they heard a voice. They didn't hear what it said, but they definitely heard a voice. Luna looked around for a source, but saw nopony. She looked back at the magic and jumped back, startled. There was a black shadow in the in the magic. They heard the voice again, but it was faint and barely audible.
“-well yeah, that seems like something you would do.” said the voice. Luna finally realized that it wasn't coming from a pony; it was coming from the magic.
“No, but really, what on earth is that thing?” said another voice, this one a little bit more high pitched than the other.
Luna realized two things at this moment. The first being that the shadow vaguely resembled the “Homo sapiens” statue, and that the “magic” wasn't actually just pure magic… it was a portal, a portal to wherever those voices were coming from.
“Princess, what's going on? How did those ponies get in there?” Twilight whispered, not wanting the things on the other side to hear them.
“You hear something?” said the shadow.
“Yeah, I think it came from… that.” said the other voice.
There was a brief silence, until Luna could stand it anymore; she let the curiosity get the best of her.
“hello? Who goes there? friend or foe?” Luna said.
“JESUS H. CHRIST!” said the shadow that was right in front of the portal, jumping back.
“Princess, what's a ‘Jesus’?” Twilight whispered.
“What!? What is it?” said the other voice.
“There’s someone in there!” said the first voice.
“what?” said the other.
“There is! I thin– What are you doing!? Don’t go near it!” said the other voice.
“Oh, why? What's the worst that cou-” the other voice didn't finish his statement.
There was the pot-on-tiled-floor sound again, only this time it was ten times louder. The Portal was also rippling at an alarming rate. Princess Luna And Twilight both stepped back and watched in awe at what was going on. Then, just as fast as it began, it ended, but only with a product. A creature fell from the portal and hit the ground hard, making an “Of!” noise when it hit.
It stayed there for a moment before screaming some cuss words Luna didn't even know herself. It scrambled and stood up on its hind legs, Luna didn't know what type of beast would do that. The two ponies looked upon it with gaping mouths. Although the face was different, the body structure of this beast was the exact same as the statue. The beast looked around, confused.
“What in the fu-… where the hell am I?” it said, before resting his eyes on Luna and Twilight.
There was a long silence. A really long silence. Both ponies stared at the Homo sapien, and the Homo sapien stared right back at them. The voice from the other side of the portal was calling, but none of them really cared.
Finally, Luna figured she had to say something to it.
“Homo sapien?” she said to the beast. It just stood there looking at her, still shocked.
“welcome to Equestria.” Luna said.