The Canterlot Gardens' Guardians

***The Canterlot Gardens' Guardians

Author: Technopony

Pre-Reader/Editor: None***

Picture by/from: The Canterlot Gardens Convention

Before we start, I should introduce myself... Sorry, I'm not too good around others. Anyways, my name is Advocate, but some ponies call me Phloe for whatever reason. I may have known it before, but I don't anymore. Alright, well, we can start now.

Short History of Equestria

The Beginning

In the beginning there was nothing.

Suddenly, the nothingness lit up as the sun first appeared as a great flaming ball of gas in the middle of nothing.

Then, along with he sun came the universe, and endless expanse of stars like the sun. Then came the planets, and oh were they beautiful. So many in so many places, all rotating around the stars. These were called 'Solar Systems' and millions of these 'Systems' would make up one Galaxy.

In one certain 'Solar System' there stood a planet like no other. Four grand masses of land, the rest water. On this planet, Equis, life started. The creators, whoever they were, made plants, deciding there should be beauty that other things could appreciate. Then, deciding that a world with nothing to appreciate beauty was not enough, they created animals, small ones at first, bugs, birds, and sea creatures. Then they made greater creatures, Dragons, Manticores, and other manor of deadly things. Then, finally, the Ponies.

The Ponies had three main races, the Earth Ponies, which stayed on the ground with nothing but strength and stamina, the Pegasi, who flew with wings of beauty with speed and agility, and the Unicorns, magical creature with a pillar of bone protruding from their skulls that helped them control their magical abilities with nothing less than the smarts of the gods and the imagination of creation.

Immediately after their creation period ended, the creators disappeared, never to be seen again. With the disappearance of the creators, the species' of Equis were alone, to be acted upon by anything, even each other.

The Middle Times

With the world in a constant state of chaos, a creature arose. A creature combined of all the major races in the world, combined into one, seemingly evil, chaotic being. This being called himself 'Discord', and he ruled the lands populated by Ponies.

One thousand years later, after being held under the iron appendages of Discord, the ponies could not take any more of it. Together the races combined and, with the might of three armies, fought a long war with Discord. One hundred years later, the war still raged.

Soon two powerful sisters arose out of the war, mysterious mares who combined the power of the Pegasi and Unicorns to become a new race, the Alicorns. Together, the sisters defeated Discord and banished him. With Discord gone, the Alicorns, too, disappeared.

Years after that, the Ponies had a hard time, really nothing else can describe it. There was racism, the Unicorns ruling over the Earth Ponies with iron hooves, forcing them to become serfs. The Pegasi were alone in the clouds, a military race of ponies who fought constantly. Soon, a horrible winter hit.

Creatures made of wind and cold and hate, called Windigos, began assailing all three races. Soon the ponies would be completely wiped out, frozen and never to be un-thawed in a never-ending blizzard. Soon, the ponies were forced to come together and find a new home, and so they migrated... though not exactly far. Long story short, they stopped the Windigos and began a new era of peace.

The Rise of Equestria

One thousand years later, the land that the three races found back in their time of hatred, called 'Equestria', was once again thrown into chaos as Discord returned from afar, back to control his lands again. This time, however, it did not last. Not but a decade after he rose to power again, Discord was defeated again by the two Alicorns.

His defeat was quick, hardened into stone in a clearing on a mountain. The clearing was large, nothing inhabiting it but dirt, no plants. All that could be seen was a large stone monolith, engraved with the markings of the ancient races. The two Alicorns knew not what the place was, but it was where their enemy Discord was defeated. So here, around this clearing, was where they built what was to be the capitol of Equestria.

After the battle the sisters united the three races into the 'Mighty Equestrian Empire'. Together they ruled as 'Princesses Celestia and Luna' the goddesses of the sun and moon.

After that, Equestria went into an era of peace that lasted for millennia...

But, the rest is history. It's obvious and does not need repeating...

The Canterlot Gardens Tour and History

A History and the Creation of the Guardians

Soon after the creation of Canterlot, the Gardens were first made, nothing more than the 'Royal Hedge-Maze', the beginnings of the 'Statue Gardens', and the main 'Canterlot Gardens' outside the castle. Carelessly, they hired simple gardening ponies from the towns surrounding their new city, ponies who didn't know what they were getting into.

Little by little enemies were being turned to stone in the 'Statue Gardens', filling up space. Many were dangerous, others had been asked to be put there. But with there being so many evil beings in one place, powers only dampened by their stone forms, it became dangerous. Small blasts of power kept emanating from that section of the gardens, injuring the workers there and even killing some of them.

With no idea what to do, Princess Celestia, who had for a while been thought of as the head of the sisters' Empire, set up a temporary solution that would stop any of the emanating powers from hurting the rest of Canterlot and the Gardens, but restricting access in and out of the who area.

As the temporary fix held, the Princesses were forced to search for a better solution to their problem. Together they searched for something, anything to help them. They tried many things, including using their 'Elements of Harmony' which they yielded together for some time then. None of these solutions worked, not for any determinate amount of time.

One day, while reading through the libraries in Canterlot, the younger sister, Luna, found an old spell-book which explained a long and complex spell that would create two sentient guardians to do the bidding of their creators. Excited, Luna showed the book to Celestia, who then took it and spent a fortnight reading it thoroughly. When she finally emerged, she was confident she and her sister could complete the spell.

Several days later, items and ingredients all accounted for, the two princesses began the spell. It took them four long days of hardship and work, but they finally finished their spell. Once the smoke had cleared from the room, before them stood the Guardians. Me, Advocate, and my brother, Safeguard, were summoned.

Long story short, together we solved the problem and began taking care of the gardens full time, eliminating the need for other ponies to be put in danger when two powerful beings were there instead.

As the centuries went by the gardens expanded with the care of the Guardians, with little need of help from the Princesses.

The Hard Part

4000 years later, when Princess Luna as Nightmare Moon tried to bring about an endless night and was then banished to the moon instead of being turned to stone like the rest of Equestria's enemies the Guardians had their first taste of hard work. Half the power of the spell that bound them to the world of Equis had been drained and a new area was added to the Gardens, the entrance to the Everfree Forest closest to Canterlot.

With that new area, the two were spread thin for their first time. To make matters worse, when the entrance had been made a new threat was uncovered. The threat of the 'Slenderpony', an old mare's tale that was used to scare foals away from the Everfree Forest.

It took some work, lots of it in fact, but Princess Celestia and Safeguard were able to make an alliance of sort with Slenderpony. What really sent it through was when Safeguard discovered that this pony had a family. A sister and a father. With a want to reform from their old ways of killing, they decided it would be better if they were to help the Guardians with their part of the gardens. And with that, Advocate and Safeguard were able to do their job once more without any complications.

What's Up Now

Well, you know of how 1000 years after the Nightmare Moon incident happened, Luna returned, and Princess Celestia, with the help of six new friends who now bore the Elements of Harmony, she was turned back to her true form.

About a year after that incident, Discord escaped and wreaked chaos again, but you know that story. We replaced him in his spot in the Gardens, expertly avoiding the notice of the Bearers.

Then after that, not even a year later, the events of the  'Royal Wedding' took place and the 'Changelings' were shown as a major race. Around that time a new territory was added to the Gardens, called the 'Cloud Vines'. It was the domain of another Draconequus, the species that Discord is, named Eris, and it had just recently floated over the mountain range that Canterlot was built on.

Curious, Eris flew down to the city and accidentally (on purpose) wreaked Chaos. With no other option, Princess Celestia herself went down and threatened stone imprisonment if she didn't stop. With a sigh, not unlike the ones Discord used to make, she nodded and stopped. Signing a treaty that put the Cloud Vines as part of the Equestrian Empire, Eris disappeared into her palace there and hasn't been seen since.

But with the addition of the Vines, the Guardians are spread thin again and now Princess Celestia must find a new helper from the masses to learn how to control the Gardens.

And, well, that's pretty much all that's happened since the beginning of time... well, it's what some ponies think it is, but the beginning is a bit sketchy as to how everything actually came along. But yeah, that's about it.

-Advocate