//------------------------------//
// A Whole New World 
// Story: CSF: Beginnings 
// by XeRom 
//------------------------------//

    The flights is not what I would call an exciting one. It was about an hour before we reached the castle and the whole way the Royal Guards were silent, despite my attempts to get more information out of them. They were as stout as well, stallions in there resolve, so my ride was spent contemplating what would become of me when I met Celestia. I was anxious to say the least, I've never heard of an orphaned pony being called before her, but then again, I always was different...
When we arrived at the castle I was told to dismount by the same guard who approached me, only this time they both took up positions at my flanks. "Where are you guys taking me?"
Shaking his head the guard replied, "Foals these days... We're taking you to meet the Princess, as I said earlier."
"But why are you escorting me? I can easily enough find my way there." I came back at him.
He just shook his head again with a grin, "Because, we're not taking you to her throne room, you're going somewhere" he paused, "Special."
As if on cue, we turned away from the main courtyard, into the imperial gardens. I could only stare in awe at the multitudes of flowers, trees, animals and all around life the reverberated around here. Manehatten had nothing like it, even Central Park with it's high trees couldn't nearly compare to the grandeur of this magical place.
As we walked, all I could do was stare in awe as the birds flew across our paths or a rabbit came up and sniffed my hoof. Yeah, definitely not like Manehatten. I was so transfixed by my surroundings that I jumped when the guard said, "We're here."
"What?" I said hastily, all I could see was a grand oak tree. "All I see is a tree."
Shaking his head once again, the same guard walked up to the tree, magical aura spewing from his horn, when the bottom bark of the tree opened up in the fashion of a door, the bark peeling backwards on itself as it opened. I stared dumbfounded and only when the other guard hit my back, "Get a move on you lazy foal!" Yeah, I definitely was not going to get along with HIM.
They both took up positions on my flanks and we entered the... tree. Some people might think I'm crazy when I tell them I've been inside a tree, but I really have. As we entered, the bark rolled back in on itself, enveloping us in darkness. Almost as soon as the, doors I guess, were closed the guards used their magic together and light a series of lanterns along the walls, showing a long staircase leading further into the ground. What seemed about two hundred hoofsteps down, the stairs leveled off into some kind of room.
Guard #2 nudged me again, me and him are going to have problems if he keeps doing that, and we started our descent. Our hoofs clacked on the stairs, leaving an echo the reverberated each time we stepped. After about five minutes we reached the bottom, and the room we walked into impressed me far more than the gardens above our heads.
Made entirely out of earth and bark, the room could easily fit a large house, which is ironically, what it seemed to resemble. In the "living room" there was a large mat on the floor with a high backed chair in which sat... The princess! She sat there staring at me with an uncomfortable gaze, eying me from head to hoof, and her eyes lit up when she looked at my flank. The guards, upon entering the room, took up positions next to the princess, looking at me with the same type of gaze as her.
Her voice was as melodious as authoritative and commanding when she spoke, "Aces, I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival, you see, what I have planned for you and your friends, who will be arriving shortly, will change the course of history in Equestria, and help to bring prosperity to the land.