Golden evening sunlight spilled onto the forest floor, trickling in through large holes in the tree canopy. The leaves were all different shades of orange, red, and even purple; the illuminating sunlight seemed to make the colorful, freshly fallen leaves on the ground glow.
Princess Celestia trotted through the forest, a dirt pathway that had long since grown grass and trees, becoming part of the forest itself. But Celestia knew this forest by heart, and no thousands of years would change that. Any trained eye would notice small, stone carvings of some sort sticking up out of the dirt and grass, zigzagging across from each other forward. Celestia smiled sadly, momentarily stopping to scrape the dirt of one. Once long ago, they had marked the pathway, each little statuette easily noticeable; but now they were half-buried in dirt, grass concealing them while vines and even tree roots curled around what little was left sticking out of the ground.
Celestia continued on her way, keeping steady pace, enjoying the golden rays warming her fur. Finally, her destination came into view. Her heart quickened, as did her pace ever so slightly. Up ahead, was a barely standing wooden gate. Standing on two wooden legs with one wooden bar on top holding them together, the gate would have fallen down long, long ago were it not for the vines, extending down from trees and curling around the legs. The wood itself was rotten, and one leg was actually broken in half. Once there had been an emblem on the top, depicting a golden sun and silver moon; but the plate had long since fallen away.
She hesitated, standing inches from the gate. Then passed on through. It almost felt as though she were stepping into the past, into an age long forgotten. The village looked even older than when she last saw it. Of course it did, she had not been here in… quite a long time.
“Hey, I’m home…” she whispered softly, not even quite aware she had said anything. Small wooden houses were scattered about, all of them falling apart or long gone. Each standing slightly taller than Celestia, the architecture had stone around what were once windows, and the doorframe also had stone around it; but the rest was made of various woods. The roofs, or what the roofs used to look like, was hay; held together by clay, carefully molded by unicorns and earth ponies. But next to nothing was left; the elements having ravished everything inside. Massive trees stood in places where Celestia knew they had not been before, but it mattered little. Vines curled across the ground, half submerged in a sea of colorful leaves. Celestia trotted forward, passing long-abandoned homes and places where homes used to stand. Up ahead, behind a tree Celestia saw a statue, and sighed to herself. Moving forward, she found what she was looking for.
A statue. More specifically, what used to be a fountain. Cracked and broken with age; was a stunning depiction of her. Reared back on two legs, forelegs stretched out triumphantly. One of the flared wings was broken off completely, fallen into the part of the fountain where the water went. Where the Cutie Mark had been delicately carved into the flank of the structure had been smoothed down by wind and rain over the years, making it impossible to distinguish. Moss and dirt flecked over its body; and it was headless. The head, half buried in the ground had a gentle expression, a soft and kind one. The horn was missing. Celestia closed her eyes, head bowed for a long time. A gently breeze blew her mane into her face and she lifted her head, smiling sadly. It was as though the village itself wished to comfort her. What had once been the dirt road circled around the fountain, branching off in four directions. The one she’d come from; along with two others was simply where more houses were set up long ago. Ahead, a stone temple could be seen, cracked with age and nearly hidden in the thick vines and other plants that had curled around it mercilessly. A tree actually was growing out of the side from a hole; curling upwards it was small, and naked of leaves. The temple itself was glorious in its own right; despite being covered in cracks and falling apart.
The front had long, thick steps leading up to two double-doors. A canopy structure had once been held over the long expanse of steps by large pillars, but what was left of the ‘roof’ had caved in, ancient debris scattered over the steps. Three out of the ten pillars had fallen over, and the rest save for one, the last one standing, were broken in half.
Celestia spread her wings and glided over the debris and up the steps to the entrance. One door had fallen away; the other was undoubtedly not going to move, forever held in place until it too crumbled away.
Without a moment to lose, Celestia went in. The entire room was lit by the setting sun, and Celestia couldn’t help but tilt her head in awe. The ceiling had a massive hole on one side; and the sun’s rays spilled in at just the perfect angle, reflecting off of the floor and into the jeweled eyes of a massive depiction of an alicorn. The massive statue took up the entire far wall, sitting back on its cracked and broken haunches. Shockingly, two cracked but intact wings extended outward, not at her back but at her sides as though extended over invisible young pony statues. A broken at the tip horn protruded from its forehead, and its gentle eyes seemed to radiate wisdom and warmth.
Celestia felt a small smile cross her lips; the statue was easily hundreds of times larger than her. She stepped up more cracked stairs, looking around. She could see the roots of the tree that had grown out of the wall; that wall had caved in slightly and dirt had spilled in from outside. Apparently the sun had been able to get it at just the right angle to allow the tree to grow in the forest place. The walls, once adorned with carvings; each one telling a story of ponykind’s history were worn down, covered in moss, flecked with dirt, and unreadable.
At the top of the steps, Celestia faced a stone alter sitting just in front of the statues massive hooves. What would have normally been cold, gray-blue stone looked golden in the sun. It was breathtaking.
Celestia looked up, craning her neck to see the faded eyes of the statue. Tears formed in her own, and she smiled gently. “…Hey, Mother. I’ve come to visit, like I promised I would long ago.”
Author's Note
Proofread by Crimsongraph
The idea came to me this morning. Actually, more like I got a mental image: Princess Celestia standing in a crumbling temple, lit entirely by sunlight.
