To say that the Canterlot gardens were boring would be an understatement. A huge one, I could argue. I should know, I've been stuck here for… what was it… ah yes, three hundred sixty-five thousand, four hundred and forty-two days.
Those numbers sound too big when I think about them. Too wordy. I don’t want to believe, I don’t want to even fathom that I’ve been stuck here for that many days, but my unmoving eye and the landscape around me changing over and over again tell me otherwise. Ponies come. Ponies go. Some linger longer than others, even Celestia has stopped by to glare at me once in a while, likely reminiscing about whatever misery she thinks I caused.
She’s half right of course, but missing details as busy monarchs with a kingdom of millions to worry about often do. I don’t blame her, really.
…Okay, I couldn’t keep a straight mental face when I said that. Yes, I do blame you sun horse, I blame you 100%. If you hadn’t been so blind, I wouldn’t be stuck here in a literal stone prison for three hundred and sixty-five thousand, four hundred forty-two days, sixteen and a half hours.
Regardless, holding past grudges right now wouldn’t do me any good. Better to keep my mind, or whatever part of it that hasn’t been ravaged by a zombie virus, focused on the present. I focused my wandering mind forward and was able to notice a single ladybug, sitting on a leaf about 24 feet from my statue. That’s nice I guess. Oh, and also what looked like a class of fillies trotting down toward my stone prison. Judging by the path they took, they must have seen Discord on the way here. That was a statue I definitely needed to make a priority of smashing once I was out of here.
“All right fillies and colts, settle down.” A mare with a dark pink coat and lighter pink mane with stripes of white through it spoke up as she neared my statue. “You’ve all seen Discord, now this is the next step on our little garden tour.”
‘Garden tour?’ So Celestia was just letting a bunch of fillies and colts wander around gardens filled with past enemies? Smooth, sun horse. Real smooth. A bit insulting too, honestly.
“Now we’ve talked about the statue that represents chaos, what do you think this statue represents?”
“UGLINESS!” A rather snotty looking filly spoke up from the back of the group, earning a giggle from a silver coated mare near her.
“It’s not ugliness.” A little white filly with a purple and pink mane spoke up near the front while casting a disdainful glare towards her two cackling classmates. “Whatever it is, it’s huge. Definitely bigger than the last statue was, and it looks scary. If that statue was chaos, I’d say this is…. Fear?”
“Well-” The teacher started, but was interrupted by an orange filly who jumped up near the front. “He’s not that scary! I bet Rainbow Dash could take him!”
“You think Rainbow Dash could take anyone.” The other filly remarked with an unamused face.
“Well that’s because she can!” She ran up in front of me and casually leaned on my leg. “And since he’s not that scary, it can’t be fear. Look at that sneering face he’s making, he looks pretty angry! I’ll bet it’s anger!”
“Girls, I-” The teacher tried to speak up, but again was interrupted.
“You’re both wrong!” A young little yellow filly stepped up this time. “He’s huge! Looks like he could easily uproot several of our apple trees without even breaking a sweat! I’ll bet it’s strength!” She flexed to emphasize her point.
I really, really wished I could speak up or say something to correct them, but the schoolteacher cleared her throat.
"Girls please!" The class quieted down. "Now as I was saying, this statue represents Vengenace."
Vengeance?! I mentally blanched.
"Long ago, Vengeance came to Equestria though unknown means, though many ponies say he came from the Everfree. In a fit of rage, he tried to destroy Equestria, but through the efforts of the princesses and some very special ponies, he was beaten and forced to flee. He didn't stop there though, legends say that he chased those ponies all across Equestria, seeking vengeance for having defeated him."
Oh god that's so stupid. History is written by the victors, it seems, however wrong it may be. I mentally rolled my eyes. Though, also somewhat accurate I suppose, since the original Nemesis was named after the Greek goddess of vengeance. Still, what’s with Celestia claiming the statues encasing her enemies represent something?
“Well, however ‘ugly’ he might be,” The yellow filly near my foot gave a disdainful glance to the pink pony with the tiara. “He still looks loads better then that statue we just came from! What was its name again, Discord?”
“That’s right, Apple Bloom!” The teacher pony praised. “Before we start backtracking though, let’s continue on our garden tour. Come along, girls.” The teacher pony ushered the kids away from my prison. I watched them go, but noticed the small pony wearing a tiara seemed to linger around the path leading to wherever the class was going, continually casting a glance in the teacher's direction to see if she was watching. As the small white filly cantered past, the tiara-wearing filly stuck her hoof out and the white filly face planted into the dirt.
“Better watch out, sweetie butt!” The tiara filly teased. “Don’t want vengeance to get you, do you?” A filly with a grey coat and a spoon for a cutie mark snickered next to her.
The filly on the ground screamed and turned to face me, but she breathed a sigh of relief to see me still stuck. Her tormentors trotted off laughing, and the prone filly was helped to her hooves by her friends.
“You okay, sweetie belle?” The red maned filly wearing a bow asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just…. Gosh she makes me so angry!”
"Couldn't agree more." The yellow pony frowned. "Granny smith has always taught us to never wish harm on anypony, but… I can't help but wonder how she'd like a taste of her own medicine sometime."
"Yeah!" The orange one spoke up, her small wings fluttering as she temporarily became airborne and plopped down next to her two friends. "Someone should definitely teach her a lesson or two. Have her running scared and see how she likes it!"
As the three fillies dreamt up some sort of revenge plot, I felt a sudden tingling sensation in my chest.
What the-?! I suddenly desperately wished I could look down at myself, but my head and shoulders were still stuck in the same position they had been for the last thousand years, despite my attempts to investigate what was happening with my body. It was definitely a tingle though, and it was getting stronger. I felt it spread to my arms and legs, and the sensation was working its way up my neck. The stone around me began to crack and crumble.
"You knoooow, we're still hosting the annual spooky corn maze at my farm next month… maybe we could take the opportunity and-"
She never finished her thought, because as soon as the stone around my face cracked free, a low growl ripped from my throat.
All three fillies froze in place, then slowly turned to face me, eyes wide in fear as more and more of my stone prison cracked and crumbled around me. The tingling sensation had escalated into a full on flame that spread to every end of my nervous system, and I could feel every stretch of muscle, and crack of bone as I was finally free to move for the first time in over a thousand years.
I flexed my right arm and it broke free, exposed to open air once more. Once that was free I immediately set to work on ripping the rest of my stone prison away, the cracking noises only too satisfying as my cage was reduced to a pile of rubble laying at my feet, and I was free to collapse forward, barely catching myself with my arms as I hunched over.
Air! Grass! Finally! my mind reveled in the bliss of freedom, but it came crashing back to reality as I heard three distinct shrieks from in front of me. I raised my head to see the three fillies staring at me in wide eyed horror, hugging each other as if to give themselves some extra layer of protection. I slowly lumbered to my feet, my enormous frame casting a long shadow over the fillies.
This isn't the best first impression, I should probably at least try to thank them. Slowly, my tattered, infected lungs expanded with the first breath they'd taken in centuries, and I vocalized my immense gratitude.
"Staaaaaars…." I growled in a low voice. Wait, that's not what I wanted to say! Fuck, I forgot I can't say anything else!
The three fillies, understandably, screamed their heads off and went galloping after their teacher. Undoubtedly, the guard would be soon to follow.
Wait, come back! I'm honestly trying to be nice, here! "STAAAAAAARS!" I screamed after them in a deep, growling, menacing voice. I reached out for them, but they were already well outside of my reach and on their way to tell other ponies all about my escape.
"Miss Cherileee!" I heard them shout in unison as they galloped around the corner and out of my sight. I clenched my fist, then quickly glanced around for the most immediate exit. I saw a path, and without thinking twice, I started running.
~*~
"So Princess, as you can see .." The noble who took the stand at the front of Celestia's throne room droned on. "If we route some of the yearly allocated rainfall amount from the poorer sections of Canterlot over to Sweet Apple Acres, we could meet our yearly end quota and see our profits rise by almost .5%. This would, of course, lead to our investors gaining confidence in our ability to deliver our product in time, and…"
Princess Celestia had largely tuned whatever the rest of what the noble had said out. Her head laid in her hoof as she gazed out a nearby window.
She of course had said that anypony was welcome to these appeals day to request whatever they needed from her, but Celestia hardly had the time nor the patience to pay attention to yet another noble's request to take away resources from her less fortunate citizens to meet their bottom line.
"For the last time Penny Pincher…" the Princess rubbed a hoof into her temple. "We will not be routing the poor district's water supply so you can meet your quota."
"B-but princess!" The insufferable business pony droned. "You are practically bending over backwards for Watchful Wings, surely you can understand-"
"I do what I do for Watchful Wings because they actually help ponies." Celestia frowned. "Not because they seek to line their own pockets. Your time at the appeals is done, guards please escort him out."
No sooner had she given the command than two large stallions seized Penny Pincher and began dragging him away. "P-princess please…!" He called after her, before the entrance doors slammed shut.
Princess Celestia heaved a sigh of relief, one that was cut short as she heard the sound of galloping hooves approach her throne.
"Y-your majesty!" One of her guards called.
Celestia quickly perked up, face serious. "What is it, Lieutenant Bulwark?"
"Something's happened in the gardens!" He answered quickly, face serious. "From what the castle guards have told me, it's-"
"STAAAAAAARS!" A very distinct noise from outside echoed into the throne room. Celestia's eyes widened.
"Your highness, it's-"
"I know who it is, Lieutenant." All warmth and friendliness vanished from the Princess' face in an instant. She immediately began to scribble down on a scroll. "Gather the guard ponies, and do everything you can to hold that virus monster in the garden. I will join you shortly."
"That's not all, princess…" Bulwark continued. He almost cowered under the Princess' intense stare as she shifted her gaze to him once more. When she said nothing, he continued. "Discord… has also escaped."
The resulting silence was unbearable, and Bulwark flinched as he heard Celestia draw in a deep breath.
"Very well. I will have Twilight and her friends deal with Discord, meanwhile we are going to do what we can to hold Nemesis here." Celestia's attention returned to her scroll, and Bulwark felt as if he'd just taken refuge in the shade from the intense heat of the sun.
"As you command, Your Highness. He bowed and quickly backed out of the room, but as soon as he left, Luna charged into the room.
"Sister, we have heard the cry of that terrible beast! Has he truly returned?"
Celestia met Luna's gaze, but could offer no loving smile to answer her sister's worries. Instead, her following words told Luna everything she needed to know.
"Yes, Luna. Nemesis has returned."