Rust-colored leaves rustled in a strong breeze, a few fluttering from their perches, joining their brethren on the ground. The surrounding hedges, while still beautiful and trimmed to perfection, no longer held the bright sheen of months prior. Even the grass was beginning to show its age as cooler weather made its way across the land. A slow running stream could be heard some distance away, beautifully intertwining with the soft thud of hoof falls and the chorus of other gentle sounds that engulfed the area.
She once loved to accompany me on these walks, a white mare reflected as she made her way down the dirt path. The garden was always a place where we could both relax. To her left was the outer wall of Canterlot’s infamous hedge maze, stretching a great distance in either direction. Not too far in front of her was an opening in the shrubbery, the entrance to the labyrinth that few dared to enter in fear of never returning, but this particular mare held no such fear. She had traversed these gardens enough over her lifetime that she had all but memorized the maze in its entirety.
To her right was a small field, the wind billowing over the green and brown grass, creating beautiful waves, as if it were part of the ocean itself. Only the occasional tree interrupted the uniformity of it all. The mare looked up over the field as the sun reached ever closer to the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant reds and oranges, only having a sparse cloud or two obstructing the splendor of it all. The wind briefly increased its speed in a vain attempt to move the mare’s pastel mane, the rustle of the surrounding foliage increasing in kind. Instead the mane continued flowing the direction it had been, unimpeded by the wind’s ferocity, as if following its own invisible wind.
Sitting in place, Celestia sighed, still facing the sun, which had seemingly frozen itself on the edge of the skyline. Her long horn began to glow a bright golden sheen as she focused her power towards the bright orb in the sky. With little effort, she pulled the sun from its resting place so that it would descend beyond the horizon and make way for the stars and moon. When the celestial body was no longer in sight, she released her hold, turning her head towards the castle back the direction she came, which was planted firmly against the mountainside she called home.
The moon was just beginning to rise, giving the darkness of the night a faint blue glow, but Celestia was paying no mind to that. Her attention was instead on the balcony of one of the tallest towers of the castle where a dark pony-shaped shadow could be seen, watching the moon as it took its place alongside the copious number of stars that littered the heavens. After which, the dark pony retreated to the tower in silence.
Sighing once more, Celestia rose to her hooves and continued her walk through the gardens, the only source of light being the pale blue of the moon and the occasional flash of a firefly. My beloved sister was once a kindred spirit, always wandering about and causing trouble. You could never get her to sit down. Celestia smiled weakly at the thought, but it vanished as quickly as it had come. But ever since her banishment and return… She thought back to earlier that same day. She had insisted that her sister join her for dinner instead of having it delivered to her room. Her sister had stubbornly refused once again and despite Celestia’s best efforts to convince her otherwise, she would not budge on the matter.
Celestia grimaced as she recalled the events that unfolded thereafter. The normally level-headed mare’s patience had been growing thin on the matter over the past few months. Celestia was well aware of her sister’s plight in trying to reintegrate herself into modern life, but she would not succeed in doing so if she continued to lock herself away from the rest of world. She had put her hoof down and demanded that her sister come with her and to stop wallowing all alone in her room. This only led to an argument betwixt the two sisters that Celestia would rather care to forget. She stopped her slow trot and hung her head as she recalled her sister’s face as she had slammed her bedroom door on Celestia. On the surface, her anger over the trivial matter was more than apparent, but Celestia knew better. She knew her sister more than she even knew herself. Underneath that guise of anger laid more pain than she had assumed her sister to be in, and all she did was make matters worse.
“Luna,” Celestia whispered as she looked back up to the tower that held her sister’s room. “I’m so sorry.” A tear fell as Celestia picked herself up and entered the maze.
After a few minutes of well-practiced turns and navigation, a quiet high pitched sound stopped her in her tracks. What was that? Celestia looked around for the source of the noise. Finding nothing and believing it to be a trick of the wind, she continued onward. After following her memorized path closer to the clearing she was looking for, the noise sounded again, this time much nearer than before. That sounded like a cry of some sort, Celestia thought. “Hello?” she asked the air around her. “Is somepony there?” She waited only a moment before the whimper sounded once more. She turned her head in the direction of the sound. They are close, she thought as she approached the final turn of the maze.
Peering around the corner, she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. In the small clearing that was the center of the maze stood many statues, some marking the great success of ponies past, others marking the defeat of evils from long ago. Littered amongst the statues were incredible flowers and bushes that, despite the time of year, were still very bright and lively. Blossoms of nearly every color dotted the clearing, either small and still in the ground, or large and in beautifully crafted vases and pots near the statues of the heroes. Celestia was always amazed at the amount of care the royal gardeners put into their work.
As she wandered further into the garden, something unusual caught her eye. Just in the shadow of one of the tallest statues laid a dark figure. It appeared to be a quadruped of some sort lying on its side. Cautiously, Celestia stepped closer to it, only for it to release a pained whimper exactly like the ones she had heard previously. Her impulse to help those in pain quickly overcame her caution and swiftly approached it, lighting her horn as she did so. When her illumination fell over the creature, she immediately took note that it was a large canine, almost the size of an average pony. Its fur was long, and it was brown everywhere except along its underside and paws where it was white instead. Its muzzle was long and thin and its mouth hung slightly ajar as its breathing was labored. The fleeting thought that apart from its size, it greatly resembled the canine companion of one of the element bearers ran through her mind before she shook her head and refocused her attention. Just above the hock on its hind leg was what appeared to be a cut with mostly dried blood staining the nearby fur, and it was heavily coated in dirt, almost hiding the little bit of white its fur contained.
Celestia’s mind reeled as she inspected the dog further. What was it doing here in the middle of the maze? How did it hurt its leg? How long had it been lying here in pain? She took note of the fact that it lacked a collar, possibly meaning it was a stray. After inspecting it both visually and with her magic, she determined that it had no serious injury apart from a possible infection. I must get it to a vet immediately.
Just as she was about to teleport them back to the castle, the dog must have finally sensed her presence. Celestia paused as it cracked open an eye, though it appeared incapable of focusing on her imposing figure and released one final whine before falling completely unconscious.
“You poor thing,” Celestia whispered as she gently nuzzled the dog’s neck. She began to ponder what she would do with it after the trip to the castle’s veterinarian. The last thing she wanted to do was leave it in an animal shelter while it was injured, so she thought of alternative housing for the canine. Her pet Philomena would probably not take kindly to another animal residing in Celestia’s room with her, so she knew she couldn’t keep it herself. The majority of the other residents of the Castle were also out of the question since ponies of their ‘caliber’ would never willingly take in a stray. Celestia sighed to herself. “You’ve probably been all alone for your entire life.” A thought struck her. Alone… After a few moments of consideration, a soft smile made its way onto her muzzle. They say a canine is a pony’s best friend. Her horn lit up as she prepared a teleportation spell. Let’s see how much of that reigns true. With a flash, the two vanished from the garden, leaving the wind to sweep across the very spots they once occupied.