The Planet of Eden

Apollo stirred in his sleep.

Twilight grit her teeth as she took the necessary few seconds to end her spell without causing any neurological damage or leaving behind any evidence.

After completion, she cautiously and wordlessly stepped up the stairs. Twilight dragged herself into bed and attempted to rest her disrupted mind. It took about two hours for Twilight finally settle down and gain what limited relaxation she could get so late in the night.

Next morning:

Twilight forced herself out of her bed after minimal rest. She attempted to extend her nap, but the will to do so vanished when Twilight recognized how late in the morning she had awoken.

Once she managed to trot downstairs, Spike told her that Apollo had left for the town square. Twilight nodded her head, barely having heard what Spike said, then sat down near the table.

Apollo trotted in a few minutes later. Twilight was still exhausted.

“Hey Apollo! Twilight just got up a little while ago.” said Spike.

“Really? Seems like the situation has been reversed.” Apollo redirected his attention to Twilight. “You had a spellbook lying on the floor over there this morning.” He said calmly. Apollo pointed to a spot on the floor near a bookshelf.

Twilight immediately shot up from her saggy position.

“Don’t worry, I kept the bookshelves organized." Apollo said reassuringly. "You shouldn’t be reading so late at night. That’s what you were telling me not to do.” Apollo laughed a little.

Twilight, on the other hand, was wide-eyed with one of her eyes twitching.

Spike spared her from further torture. “I think Twilight is still a little tired…”

Apollo nodded, then proceeded to trot outside.

“Could you make it any more obvious!?” Spike hissed at Twilight. “I told you it was a bad idea!”

Twilight calmed down as she looked towards the floor and sighed. “No… it’s not that.”

Spike’s irritated expression shifted to a raised eyebrow.

“I saw something that doesn't make sense... No, that's not it... Something I didn't think he would know...? Ugh! I just don’t know how to say it!”

Spike hushed her. “Apollo’s only just outsi-" *THUD*

Everypony's attention was diverted to the noise from upstairs. After galloping upstairs, Twilight discovered the source of the noise: A grey mare whose clumsy flying crashed her into the treehouse. Spike followed Twilight momentarily.

The pegasus's head had collided with the floor of the balcony, resulting in an awkward laid down position with her flank up in the air. Spike facepalmed at the sight.

"Why are you here, Derpy?" Twilight confusedly asked.

"Oh, hiya Twilight! Princess Celestia sent out a letter to everypony. Here you go!" Derpy bent her head into her satchel. She brought out a scroll and gave it to Twilight. Apollo came into the room.

Twilight picked up the letter magically and read it aloud.

"'Dear citizen of Equestria,

I am delighted to announce that a great threat has been eliminated from Equestria. Some of you may or may not have heard about the dangerous creatures called humans which recently appeared in the Everfree Forest. All four of them were apprehended last night near the border of Canterlot. They were found with exotic and highly deadly weaponry. Although it is not expected that any more of them will appear, please be cautious in the event that they do.

From your loving leader,

Princess Celestia'

Whew, that's a relief. I knew the princesses could handle it on their own."

Spike spoke up. "Wait a minute, why did we get one from Derpy when- Urp!"

"Well, there's your answer." Twilight said confidently.

Spike burped out a green flame which solidified into a scroll. It was nearly identical to the previous letter. Twilight swiftly dropped the old one and opened the new one.

"It has the same content, except written specifically for me."

"Woops! My bad! Everypony but Twilight, forgot. Can I have that one back?" Derpy pointed to the unrolled letter on the floor.

A purple glow re-rolled the letter and floated it over to Derpy.

"Thanks!" She flew off ineptly towards the next house. Spike shook his head as he watched.

"I guess I underestimated their highnesses. They seem to have done a great job handling those four." Apollo said.

"Of course! They've led a nation for over a thousand years. A handful of humans with metal sticks can't overthrow them." Twilight replied proudly.

"You'd be surprised..." Mumbled Apollo. "Although this letter does mean one bad thing for me... I have to hide my identity even more than before." Apollo said gloomily. "I assume you and your friends can trust me, but anypony else wouldn't know enough about me to trust me."

"I assume so too. Rainbow Dash might have a few things to say, but even she should be convinced by now." Twilight said.

"You and your friends should be careful about what you say, too. No blabbering about who I am and where I'm from. Be sure Pinkie Pie knows this..."

"Of course. I'm sure she'll see the seriousness of the situation."

That night...

So that's that... Hermes, Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus are out of the picture.

Apollo rolled over on the couch to look through the window and at the Moon.

It's been a while since it happened now. I wonder what they thought when I disappeared and one escape pod was missing? Did they think I just left? Did they think that I died?

Apollo pivoted himself to look at the ceiling.

Either way, at least they had a safe landing unlike me. Twilight and her friends saw a fairly neat landing site from what I heard. Speaking of which, I recall that they didn't bring anything back, even though the place seemed to have been hurriedly evacuated. They could have left something very important there...

Dammit! My nanocomputer! If that thing is found when the pod is investigated... and then if they find the journal function... God dammit!

Apollo stealthily slipped off of the couch, opened a window, and jumped out. He had remembered that the door had creaky hinges.

Now it's a left towards the Everfree Forest and then...

Then Apollo let his hooves leisurely carry him to his destination in order to avoid gaining unwanted attention. He noticed a light drizzle begin pouring water droplets onto the ground somewhat noiselessly.

It makes sense, I guess. I haven't seen a single day of rain in Ponyville yet.

Apollo soon arrived at the entrance of the Everfree Forest, specifically at Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen, but there were a few nocturnal creatures scuttering around the cottage. Apollo couldn't discern the types of animals due to the darkness, but he could see their silhouettes from a light in the cottage.

Then he trotted along the border of the Everfree Forest for about five minutes until he grew impatient. The occassional pair of eyes stalking you can be unnerving after seeing them over and over again.

Apollo broke into a canter and eventually a gallop. Soon enough, he came to the hill where escape pod one had landed.

The clang of water droplets on metal disturbed the area. Its source was clearly visible after Apollo had finished his ascent up the hill. The escape pod was a cylinder on its side with a tripod supporting it, with one leg at the cockpit and two at the back. It stood about three times as high as Apollo, including the landing gear. There was a burnt out campfire that stood out as well. Besides that, some uninteresting twigs and some holes in the ground littered the area.

There isn't much here at all, I have to admit. But what about inside the pod? Only one of the princesses could possibly hope to get inside there without the password.

Apollo flipped up an unassuming patch of metal to reveal a hidden keypad. He poked several buttons with his horn, then the airlock door let out a burst of air and slid to the side. He trotted into the vehicle with the distinguishable noise of hoof on metal.

In the inside there were no windows due to safety precautions. Instead, an inconspicuous camera on the exterior relayed what it saw to a screen in the cockpit. There were three seats at the cockpit: one for the pilot and two for the co-pilots. Near the walls in the center of the escape pod, two fairly comfortable seats were welded to the floor. A chair in the back was present directly in front of the controls of the defense systems.

First, the glove boxes of the cockpit.

After slipping the compartments open, they revealed entire containers full of nothing.

Great. Apollo thought sarcastically. Is it a different story for the defense controls?

Again, there was nothing.

Hmm... Where else to look... under the seats?

Apollo probed under the seats in the middle of the pod, but the only things there were were some tags from when the chairs were manufactured.

Huh. I guess not. Wait... I left my nanocomputer back on the Moon. Can't do much to get it from there. I guess I better head on back.

Apollo then trotted the half-an-hour-long walk back to Ponyville. The returning trip was about the same as the journey towards the landing site, except that Apollo didn't pick up his pace throughout the entire time. The drizzle began to dissipate slightly, but it still persisted.

As he was staring at the sky, hoping that the skies would not get cloudier, Apollo arrived at the treehouse library.

Apollo opened the door and- *SCREeeee*

He flinched an inch backwards before recognizing what he had forgotten. Apollo then slipped inside and closed the door as steadily as he could.

Twilight came downstairs not long after the door had been closed.

"Where were you?" Twilight asked curiously. She obviously was not angry in any way, causing Apollo to come close to sighing out loud.

"Just a nighttime stroll."

"You should've told me you were awake. There's a total lunar eclipse going on tonight!" She said eagerly. Twilight swiftly galloped back upstairs. Apollo followed more casually.

"It's going to start in about twenty minutes." Said Twilight as Apollo was nearing the top step. She was gazing at the Moon through her old-fashioned telescope made mostly of wood. Spike rolled in his sleep.

I've seen them before. They're all the same. Apollo thought regretfully. Except for one...

Apollo reminisced about when he was eleven years old.

On that vacation to Australia, my mother's birthplace, we drove across the southern plains. My dad nearly fell asleep in the car, so we pitched the tent which we used earlier in the vacation. Then I saw the night sky in all of its glory.

It was an indescribable beauty. The nebulae were clearly visible because there was no significant artificial light for miles. Until then I never thought the night sky could be more than a collection of tiny bright lights. When you add another brand new discovery for me, the lunar eclipse, it couldn't get much better than that.

Then my dad got my hopes up by telling me about the Southern Lights. Apollo smiled. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to see them. I did get absurdly lucky a couple years later, though. That was when I visited the house my greatgranduncle's father built in Maine. Who knew you could see the Northern Lights from there... Apollo sighed nostalgically as he brought himself back to reality.

Apollo decided to trot to the bookshelves to find a book to read while waiting. His eyes met with a familiar green spellbook. He plucked it from the second-to-lowest shelf of a bookcase and flipped the pages until he thought the book was around the same page as it was before. Seeing it was not the page he was looking for, Apollo progressed carefully until he saw the page format he remembered.

A telepathy spell. Interesting. This might be the kind of spell that Twilight thought I could have used to communicate with Zeus and company.

His curiosity satisfied, Apollo shut the book and neatly placed it back on the shelf.

I'm glad they're out of the picture, though. Although it's kind of sad, too. We're the only humans on this planet and the last humans from our time. Perhaps even the last humans in the universe, if everyone back home didn't create technology for mass transportation quickly enough. I especially feel bad for Poseidon... He could have done so much more.

Apollo exhaled deeply and returned to the top floor to watch the skies.

A few minutes later, Apollo asked: "How do they pull this off, anyways?"

"Huh?"

"The princesses. How do they coordinate this?"

"They're just a good team. They used to be the bearers of the Elements, after all. Although it must take a lot of concentration for Princess Celestia. All Princess Luna has to do is make a full moon."

How the hell does this "Raising the Sun" thing work, anyways? It's just not possible, nor is it necessary. Gravity does it all for her. But she isn't someone who would lie... or is she?

Apollo shook his head widely.

Now isn't the time to think about that. Anyways, how would she get enough energy to move a star? It would require millions of Joules to move it for only a second...

Apollo's eyes widened. "Wait, what did you say about Princess Celestia?"

Twilight thought for a moment. "I think I said that Princess Celestia needs a lot of focus to coordinate a lunar eclipse." Twilight stated plainly.

Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit!

"Why?"

"I knew they were capable of more... Remember the humans that were caught at Canterlot? I think they're plotting a jailbreak. It must have been a part of their plan all along..."

"Why would Zeus's plan involve being imprisoned?" Twilight's jaw dropped after a moment of thought.

"Ponies aren't very familiar with human weapons and human clothing. One of them must have concealed an explosive or something, either him or..."

Apollo stared at Twilight.

How do you know Zeus's name?"

"W-Well... you must've-"

Twilight's nervous mumble was cut off by Apollo. "I specifically avoided mentioning two people: Zeus and Hades. How do you know Zeus's name? And how do you know Zeus would be the person to make the plan?"

"I-"

"I mean, unless I was sleeptal-"

Then Twilight erupted. "I READ YOUR MIND!"

Apollo's eyes widened.

"Why did I say that... Why the hay did I say that..." Twilight muttered.

Apollo took a couple of steps back, then bolted towards the ground floor.

"WAIT! You're going to need..." After following Apollo's path for a moment, Twilight noticed that Apollo was already out the door.

"...help..." She fell to the ground. "Why did I say it... Why..."

Water barraged the leaves and branches of the gigantic tree.

I lost motivation to get a proofreader. :/

The first one I contacted gave up on proofreading because he didn't have enough time. Then there's people who won't do it because I already have 5 chapters done.

So that's how this chapter got delayed by a month. Tomorrow I'll start a week-long vacation, so I'll try to upload the next chapter once I get back.

I was in a rush to get the italics/underlines done (I use notepad), so notify me if I messed up somewhere.

Fun Fact: The name of this chapter is not cliche.