It's a pleasant summer afternoon, the clouds drifting lazily across the azure sky, vibrant green leaves dancing and rustling in the warm breeze.
Birds flutter and chase one another, some settling in the foliage, others resting on the roofs of dilapidated and overgrown houses. This valley cradles the remains of a town not lived in for many years, the once-bright and colourful walls of homes and stores now worn and dulled by mother nature's tough embrace, used only now by wildlife.
Long ago, this place had been called Ponyville. None of the humans knew its name, only that it had never been inhabited by their kind. Now, nobody, Equestrian or human, lived here. Only the birds and the mice, the rabbits and the deer. All was quiet, all was peaceful.
You sit surveying the expanse of what once was a town from a small hill, basking in the shade of a large oak tree and observing the activity of the animals amongst the ruins. The sun, large and bright and golden, hovered above, behind the sporadic clouds which carried on their merry way from West to East.
About a mile beyond the town, the foot of Mount Canter begins to rise upward, its gently sloping peak raising into the sky, the highest point for many miles. You'd heard so many rumours about it, about what lay inside and underneath it. But was any of it true? Well, there was only one way to find out. Today was the day.
Crossing the town to get to the mountain, it really did look as if life had frozen in this little town. Wagons, boxes, belongings, all strewn hither and thither, as if a mass exodus had taken place. It was quite unnerving, and you found yourself feeling uneasy, certainly not wanting to be caught here after sundown.
House after house, street after street was desolate and soundless. Even a large, grand building, the remains of the town hall most likely, seemed soulless and unwelcoming. What on Earth could have caused this? Bedtime stories led you to believe that the ponies of Equestria were always opposed to co-existing with the humans, and open conflict, from which humanity emerged victorious, led to the exile and imprisonment of the evil pony aggressors. You wondered how much of that was true, you always had. The remains of this seemingly pleasant, colourful town, the picture of innocence, was only reaffirming your belief that not all was as it seemed with the stories you'd been told when you were little. Your desire to continue forward and find out more increased with each step towards the mountain.
The rising slope loomed closer and closer as you left the town behind you and made your way across empty fields, sporadically dotted with foliage and the occasional shack or empty cart. You felt the ground gradually begin to slope upward beneath your feet. Fifty feet or so above was what appeared to be a small plateau on the mountainside, surrounded with trees and bushes. That looked as good a place as any to search for some kind of entrance, the rest of the face of the mountain was barren, only grass or small shrubs swaying in the wind across it.
The slope had become quite steep by the time you'd reached the plateau, the ground rolling back into a near-flat surface which you stepped up onto. The small plateau became dark quickly under the canopy of trees, the vegetation thick further in from the edge where you were standing, but something resembling a path seemed to subtly cut its way through the mess of green.
Following the faint trace of a path, you pushed through the bushes and tall grass, before noticing a large, yawning space behind a mass of hanging weeds and vines. An entrance to something? Turning around, the town looked small from up here, the quiet buildings still silently standing in the valley below you in the distance. The thought of turning back and going home flickered in your mind as you saw the pleasant sunlight drenching the countryside beneath, but you quenched that thought and turned once more, pushing forward towards the chasm between the mass of trees.
Pushing through the curtain of weeds and vines, a very dark space swam into your vision as you stepped over the invisible threshold - outside to inside. There was a faint light a few dozen feet ahead, there must be a hole in the ceiling. Stepping forward carefully, you approach the only point of reference in this light-starved cavern. Getting closer, the illumination of the floor and walls increases, and you can see that this open space in the grey rock around you is quite large, with some vegetation snaking across the floor. In the centre of the natural room is an opening, an almost-circular hole in the ground. You walk over to it, squat down, and dangle your feet over the edge. Looking between your legs down into the space, a patch of amber flowers rests upon a grassy knoll, illuminated by the sunlight flowing in from the opening directly above it. It's a good ten feet down, but the flowerbed should break your fall.
If you commit yourself to going down, you won't be able to come back this way. It's quite a risk. But the tidiness of the flowers, the clean, cut grass... someone must be down there.
After a few moments of deliberation, your mind is made up - your curiosity overtakes any sense of fear or hesitation.
You slide yourself forward, gently tipping over the threshold, falling down onto the flowers which quietly whump beneath you. Laying on your back, you slowly open your eyes, disturbed pollen floating around and above you. Overhead, you can see up out of the hole, the clear blue sky and the fluffy clouds still unchanged. You contemplate the fact that you might not see that sight again for some time.
It's pleasant, laying here against the yellow flowers. But you can't stay here forever. The natural light illuminates a corridor ahead of you, the only way out of this room. You stand and brush yourself down, turning to look at the flowerbed. It's obvious now that it's maintained by somebody, and you suspect that somebody isn't a person.
At the end of the corridor, to one side, stands a doorway. Yes, it is a doorway - not a natural gap in the rock face, a constructed doorway, perfectly tidy and symmetrical, leading into... something.
Stepping through, more natural light seeps in from above. You see in the centre of this small room, no more than twenty feet or so from one side to the other, a statue. A very strange statue - the figure isn't any animal you can recognise, and certainly not a human. It's an amalgam of a number of species, it seems. Mismatched horns on its head, mismatched limbs, a pair of mismatched wings - very strange indeed.
Perhaps it was a trick of the dim light, but as you step closer, the statue's grey colour seems to alter into multiple colours. Yes - it is changing! You freeze, seeing each mismatched part of this peculiar creature take on a distinct hue.
After a pause, the multicoloured statue gains a quality of liveliness, as if a spirit had entered it. You stare in quiet horror as the bright red eyes turn downward to meet your gaze, a single oversized tooth sticking out from the creature's grinning maw.
"Haven't seen a human in quite some time. Oh, they're so much more fun to play with!"
This wasn't good.
"Don't tell me you're not in the mood for some fun and games, little one. What do you say?"
You politely decline his offer.
"Charming. Unfortunately, that's the wrong answer. Goodness, it's been far too long. Your kind are so much more fun to corrupt!"
As his clawed hand extends outward, meaning to wrap around your body, a beam of what you can only assume is sunlight strikes the side of his face, sending him reeling.
"Gah, how dare-"
Another, more powerful lance of yellow light punches into his chest. He topples over, collapsing against the hard floor, coughing and wheezing.
"Dammit. I won't forget this, Celestia."
His burning gaze focused on you.
"And I won't forget you either."
In the blink of an eye, he shrinks down to a barely perceptible size and zips away.
"I'm so sorry I didn't come sooner, child. I was unprepared, he... what a horrible thing to do to a defenceless little human."
It would have been nice if they'd come sooner, but you were certainly glad they hadn't come any later.
Your saviour drew nearer - it was a pony! A rather large one, at that, with a pristine white coat and a flowing prismatic mane and tail, dressed in a simple beige robe.
"My name is Celestia. I guard this place and try to keep any vulnerable visitors out of reach of the likes of him."
His bright, red eyes are still clear in your memory.
"The important thing is that you're safe now. What is your name?"
You tell her your name and she smiles.
"That's a nice name. Well, I don't suppose you'd like to dawdle around here all day. Follow me."
Through the next doorway was a hall, much larger than the previous room, with staircases leading up to another doorway.
"I used to live further inside with the rest of my kind, but things... changed. Let's just say the 'ruler' and I don't see eye to eye. Besides, ensuring the safety of lost humans like yourself is too important a task to not carry out."
You explain to her that you came down here by choice. She frowned and looked at you.
"Oh? Is that so? Now why would that be?"
You told her, with enthusiasm, about the stories, the rumours, what you know and don't know, and what you'd like to know.
Celestia's reaction seemed mixed, but she did manage a faint smile eventually.
"Human curiosity, does it know no bounds? Well, I'm afraid for better or worse you're stuck down here for the time being. But I can look after you."
You express your surprise that this underworld only has one entrance, the one you came through, and can't exactly be considered an exit.
"Don't worry yourself with any of that. It's a big place down here, but I don't think it's safe for you to try and make it out by yourself. Come along, we can sit down and have a rest in my home."
She led you out. It was surprisingly roomy down her, hardly different from being indoors above ground.
"I'd be lying if I said it's not dangerous down here. Sure, there are nice folk, but don't let your guard down."
Sure enough, a few moments later, Celestia stopped. You followed her gaze - at the far side of this garden-like room was... a pony, grazing nonchalantly on the grass. Celestia spoke, keeping an eye on the pony.
"One of the few remaining inhabitants of the ruins. Nearly all of the ponies down here moved on to better living spaces some time ago, but some of them just didn't want to let go."
You asked her why.
"They lived here, it was their home. At least after they lost their home above ground. But goodness, terrible things happened here. Separation, beatings, sometimes worse. Some lost their parents, others... others lost their children. All because of our self-appointed ruler. I should have stopped her, but I couldn't. I didn't want to hurt her, but she - she had no reservations like that. I'm lucky to be alive. Luckier than many who were buried here. That pony over there, she lost someone here. I can remember it so clearly. I think you can understand why she doesn't want to leave."
You said nothing, but nodded solemnly. She turned to you.
"You must remember this - our ruler is a master of deception. She has layered lie upon lie until truth and fabrication have become indistinguishable to most of the populace down here. Some of the oldest ponies remember the time before we were down here, and know what the truth is. But they've learnt to hide that if they want to remain... unharmed."
You understand.
"When our exile to the underworld was complete, she told her story - her false story explaining our burial here. She told the ponies of the evil, heartless humans who refused to agree with her plan for, in her words, a great and positive change for the world. To allow everyone to experience and appreciate the night - instead of sleeping through it and never seeing it. She told of how I was a ruthless usurper, using the Sun's power to dominate her and her Night, and that I planned to one day banish the night forever.
Of course, the humans would never agree to an eternal night. Like us, for them it was a time for sleep, a time for resting and preparing for the next day. But that reality could not be accepted by her. By my sister.
Just over a thousand years ago I banished her to the moon to save life as we knew it, to stop Nightmare Moon. And when she returned, and tried unsuccessfully once more to bargain with humanity's greatest magicians - she did the one thing she thought she could do - the only alternative to the eternal night that had again been denied her. Take me out of the picture, and bring us here. Where the sun can never shine, and where night and darkness are eternal."
So there was much more to this than met the eye - but not even in your own scepticism did you think it would be this different to the stories you'd been told.
"She showed an iota of mercy in letting me live. But if I ever leave here... I don't think about. I thought after I'd welcomed her back after her long lunar exile that she'd have really changed - for the better. But I was wrong. She was still as bitter and cold-hearted as the day I'd banished her to the moon all those centuries ago. I let my guard down, and that was the undoing of all of us."
By now, the pony had seen you, and was moving toward you. She didn't look happy.
"Stand behind me, child."
The mare was fuming, and she soon let the two of you know.
"How dare you, Celestia! How dare you shepherd another one of them through here. I really wonder who's side you're on. I'm starting to wonder why you weren't executed, to be frank with you. It's disgusting."
Celestia stood resolute, but you weren't very happy with how she was being spoken to.
"I've told you so many times, Sugar Song, it's not their fault. But I know you won't listen so I won't explain myself again. Please leave us be."
Sugar Song didn't seem too happy with that response.
"I can't believe you. You know what? I'm done talking with you, done looking at you. It's too difficult. Do what you like, I don't give a damn. Just stay way from me."
Celestia looked to you and moved on, and you shuffled quietly past Sugar Song, avoiding eye contact.
"Scum."
After an almost pleasant walk through more spaces filled with neat, vibrant bushes, trees and the like, you reached a small house at the end of one of the garden-like rooms.
She pushed the door open with a hoof and waved you in.
It was quite simple, modestly decorated, but homely.
"Come through, let's sit down."
The living room was warm from the log fire burning merrily. You each took a seat in a cushy arm chair, the heat of the flames gently caressing your skin.
"You must understand something, child. If I allow you to leave, I can't guarantee in the slightest that you'll be safe - let alone unharmed down here. The last thing I want to see is you getting hurt... or worse."
You point out to her that it's not just about sating your curiosity - you'd quite like to return home as well, and staying here wouldn't solve either of those problems. Celestia considered this, and lowered her head.
"Yes, I can't deny that. I don't really have a choice, do I?"
She laughed quietly and leaned back in her chair.
"If you want to get home, the key to your return lies with the Queen. But you must do it alone. I can't come with you, though. She'd ki-"
She stopped.
"It wouldn't work. I'm sorry. It's your choice, and if you want to go, I won't stop you."
After a walk down into the basement and along a lengthy corridor, a large door stood between you and the rest of this journey. Celestia stood before you, eyes twinkling.
"This is it, the end of the line for me. I hope we meet again, little one."
She wrapped a hoof around you and you leaned into her, hands resting against her soft fur.
Her long horn glowed, an aura appearing around the large doors. They shuddered, dust falling from them, and slowly inched open.
After a large enough gap had opened, you stepped out into the cold air. You turned, looking into Celestia's eyes once more, thanking her and wishing her well.
"Good luck, stay safe."
The heavy doors drew inwards once again, and closed with a dull thud. You were on your own now.
