Tricks of the Tropics

Soon, the ponies were in an enormous dark room, stretching out to either side of them. Their footsteps echoed hauntingly in the huge chamber, as they looked around curiously. High above them was what looked like the inside of a chimney stack: a tall, tapering roof with a hole in the top. Pale white light shone into the room from the hole, filling the room with an otherworldly atmosphere.

"Pinkie, what is all this?" Twilight asked.

"Well, you took so long getting here that the sun set," she said, "but you should still be able to see this when the moon rises. It's going to blow you away, I can promise you!"

"This really is strange..." Rarity said. "Why would something like this be out in the middle of the jungle?"

"A long-lost civilization may have built it," Twilight Sparkle said, "but I've never seen something like this! How could they have done it?"

"What's that thing up there?" asked Applejack, pointing to something only half-seen on the opposite wall, up from the floor. The ponies had to crane their necks to see it. It was hard to tell what it was, but the ponies could see it was some kind of tableau, carved into the wall. Thunderstorms and vast jungles were half-seen in the pale light, and a great mass of strange creatures gathered underneath it all. All the images on the tableau seemed to be focused on something in the centre, but whatever it was, it was shrouded in darkness.

"What is that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I've never seen anything like it!"

"It looks like it's from a storybook," Fluttershy said, "but really, really big. I wish we could see it properly."

Pinkie Pie craned her neck further, up towards the open ceiling. She could see the full moon sliding into view across it.

"Well, you've got your wish, Flutter," she said, "here it comes!"

As the moon crested over the top of the chamber, a huge spot of brilliant moonlight moved across the room, illuminating the tableau, and it was as if the moonlight made it come to life, right before the pony's eyes. The lightning bolts in the thunderstorm glinted for a moment before disappearing again, lined with veins of silver to make them seem like frozen claps of lightning. The rain in the storm shimmered as the moon passed over it, making it look as though it were a heavy downpour. Thin veins of silver glistened on an enormous sea, brightened by a stone sun above. The crowd of creatures became illuminated, lined with silver as they shone out from the wall. They looked a bit like the ponies, but there were certain unusual things about them; they did not have manes, like the ponies, they were simply covered in bushy fur, almost like a large sheep. They had very long necks and skinny legs, and large, woeful eyes, all focused on the large object in the centre.

The moon climbed and climbed, and the room soon filled with the intense, unearthly white light, which left the ponies in awe. It was then, just as the room became so bright it was as if it was day, that the centre of the tableau, the main image, suddenly appeared. The ponies all gasped in amazement.

In the middle of the tableau, surrounded by rainstorms and thunder and sunlight and vast jungles, adored by the throngs of strange animals, was a crescent moon. Standing atop the moon, looking down at them all with a kindly, if stern face, was a pony. Long threads of silver flowed from her dark mane, her wings were spread wide in glory, and a horn protruded from her forehead, stretching into the heavens. And when the moonlight above was fully on her, her single large eye, staring down at the assembled ponies, gleamed with an exquisitely brilliant light, as if the pony's eyes were filled with stars.

"I-is that..." stammered Fluttershy.

"It can't be!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, it is," Pinkie Pie said, coyly.

"...PRINCESS LUNA!" they all cried in unison. She was rendered a bit strangely on the tableau, as if its carvers drew her similarly to the other creatures assembled beneath, but the resemblance was unmistakable. This was Princess Luna, the same one that fell from ponykind's favour thousands of years ago, and was exiled to the moon when she was twisted into a wicked beast of darkness. The same one that staged a coup against her older sister in the hopes of creating an eternal night in Equestria, to plunge the world into a never-ending nightmare.

And yet here she was, being worshipped by a long-vanished civilization. As Twilight Sparkle looked up at the tableau, at the Princess' blindingly glistening eye, she began to imagine the jubilant cries and praises in the strange, ancient language of these strange animals. She imagined why they would be praising her, what Princess Luna meant to them, and why it was not her own Princess Celestia, her own deity they looked up to that moved the sun and moon in the sky, that these people did not worship.

And as soon as it had come, the tableau was gone again. The gleam dimmed from Princess Luna's eye, the assembled animals withdrew, and the clouds and the jungle and the sea vanished once again into the gloom. The ponies still stared at the place where the image once was, astonished by what they had seen.

"Pretty cool, huh?" said Pinkie Pie, the first to break the awe-inspired silence.

"That was incredible," Rarity said.

"I've never seen anything like it..." said Fluttershy.

"Do you know what this means?" cried Twilight Sparkle, suddenly extremely animated. "There was a civilization here that worshipped Princess Luna, even after she was imprisoned in the moon!"

Twilight Sparkle began to pace in front of the ponies, rocking her head back and forth as she continued to ask questions.

"How did they know about her? Do you think she knew about them? What did she do for this culture that they worshipped her? Does Princess Celestia know about them? I can't imagine what kind of things we could find here, now that we know this! We could find out so much! There's so much to discover! We have to–"

"Twilight?" interrupted Pinkie Pie. Confused, Twilight Sparkle looked up at her. With a mischievous smile, Pinkie nodded towards a set of stairs underneath the tableau, leading out of the room.

"Maybe we should finish our vacation first..." she remarked. Twilight Sparkle looked away bashfully.

"Oh... um, yes, of course," she said, "our vacation."

The ponies all shared a good laugh, and with one last glance at the dark space where the tableau was, they left the great chamber.