The Beast in the Garden (Patreon)

 Celestia poured herself another glass of champagne and then continued her tale of Phoenix's past to Luna in my Equestria dreamscape.  The Beast in the Box 

  "It took a couple days to figure how to even transport her back to Canterlot. Unfortunately the initial observation about her being unable to talk were correct. This seemed to confirm the opinion of the doctors that examined her later. They figured she'd been forced to start fighting at as young as 2yrs old." 

  "Interviews with several of the prisoners who'd been tasked with care of "it" as they called her said they never spoke to her. In fact they expressly told to never come in physically contact with her. Apparently one twisted genius there had figured how to make a tunable, frequency specific teleportation network. That's why she could only teleport into the arena when it was time to fight. Her handlers were all unicorns, and they wore rings that permitted them ability to teleport things into or out of the cage while keeping her trapped. 

  
  The Princess of the Sun finished her glass of champagne. "In fact the only times her cage got cleaned at all was when she was in the arena was fighting. Then one of them would slop some water in it. The other way they'd clean her cage was douse it with kerosene and burn the contents." Celestia closed her eyes. "It was also how the would force her to teleport into the arena when she was being stubborn. " 

  Luna looked at her sister. "Celly, what did the troops do to the ponies who'd done this to her?"

 
  Celestia face became stern. "It's a testament to their training and their commanding officer and the NCO's that they didn't kill them on the spot. Understand Luna the troops had no love for Phoenix, but they seemed to understand that she was the way she was because these monsters." 

  The elder sister finished off the bottle champagne by refilling hers and her younger sister's glass. She took a sip and the continued. "All the suspects who were not killed in the raid were transported back to Canterlot where they were charged and put on trial. Most were found guilty. A couple were given modest sentences. Several were found to be clinically insane and were sent to facilities for treatment. The rest of them received life sentences without parole. A couple have died in prison and the others continue serve their sentences. 

  "However the more pressing concern back then was what we were go to with the filly. Some of the doctors wanted her put in a warded cell, but to me that was just another cage. At that point I made a decision." 

  "There's a small, private, enclosed, garden attached to the Royal Bath. We've had afternoon tea there several times. However 17 years ago I had that secured with a large locking door and a series of extensive wards. Just as in her original home, only ponies with encoded horn rings or myself could enter the area." 

  "It's not a large garden, but compared to the cage she'd spent years in it was gigantic and palatial. It has a stable, pleasant temperature year round. Lots of sunlight and lots of plants, flowers, and grass. It even has a large goldfish pond. This became her new home." 

  "We had a simple lean-to structure set up for her to sleep in but initially she slept hiding in the bushes. In fact the staff almost never saw her, and after a couple of close calls I told them to not enter the garden. We no longer had a beast in a box, but a beast in the garden instead." 

  "Attempts to reach out to her were unsuccessful, and all of staff said they felt like they were being stalked while in the garden. Because of the danger of being attacked the gardeners were not allowed in there. Very soon the garden looked more like an overgrown game preserve. Also she wasn't using any of the bathroom facilities we'd set up in there. To be blunt the situation was deteriorating, so after a month I took the initiative."

 
   "It required juggling my schedule a lot, but I started taking care of the garden and cleaning up after her." 

  Celestia winced. "Over the centuries I've learned many skills. Unfortunately gardening and pond maintenance are not my strong points. The staff helped and instructed me as best as they could, but unfortunately the garden suffered some at my care." 

  Luna giggled. "Yes sister. I remember you're attempts at gardening from long ago. I seemed to remember you liked herb gardens the most because herbs are hard to kill. Herbs are weeds we like is how I remember you describing them." 

  The older alicorn sighed. "Everyday I brought her food and cleaned up the little messes she was making around the garden. At same time I watered and took care of the garden. For the first couple of months I rarely saw her. She was ghost I occasionally caught glimpses of peering at me from beneath the undergrowth. I never tried to force contact with her. Slowly she became comfortable with my presence." 

  Along with my daily delivering her food, I began taking my lunches there in the garden whenever possible. It was during one of these meals that I looked up to find her standing a couple of yards away from me. Up to this point I'd always caught glimpses of her from behind or under the foliage, but there she was standing on lawn." 

  "Her mane and tails were still a tangled mess, but she'd been observing splashing around in the goldfish pond which I guess passed for bathing at that point. The introduction of a regular diet had helped erase the gaunt appearance she'd originally had." 

  Celestia shrugged her wings and ruffled her feathers. "Our eyes met for a second. Oh Lulu she was such a tormented thing! Confusion, fear, anger, mingled with a desperate want to be close to another pony. It was written across her face. Then she was gone. Like a ghost she'd vanished back into the undergrowth, but the next day she was there again on the lawn." 

  Celestia looked at her champagne flute then over at her sister. "Would you care for another glass dear." The Prussian blue mare nodded her head, and Celestia used her levitation to retrieve another chilled bottle of it from the wet bar. After refilling their glasses she continued.  

 
  "Over the next few months or so she became more and more trusting of me. Slowly coming closer a step by step. Finally she began lying done on grass with me and eating her food in front of me. Up to this point she'd been silent, but she started making various nonverbal sounds to me." 

  Luna for her part remained silent. She seemed to understand that it was important for her sister to just talk about this. Years of memories danced in Celestia's eyes as she told her tale. The princess took another sip of champagne and then continued. 

  
  "There were setbacks along the way, but slowly I was able to gain her trust. Up to that point she'd had no real name. She'd been the filly. I'd considered several possible names for her but hadn't settled on one. However one day on a whim I brought Philomena with me. At first she was terrified by it and wouldn't come out from under the foliage, but eventually she cautiously approached me and this strange new being that was sitting on my back."  

 
  "Then something very unexpected happened. Without warning Philomena took off and started flying around the garden. the filly bolted, but not to the undergrowth as she usually did. Instead she sought shelter under one of my wings. For several seconds she hid; then slowly she peered out and watched brilliant red and orange bird fly around." 

  Slowly a smile began to creep across Celestia's face and a single tear trickled down her cheek. "As she watched Philomena flying I saw her smile for the first time; then a few seconds something amazing happened."  

 
  "She started to giggle and then laugh. At that point I knew I had another Phoenix and this one was beginning to be reborn." 

 To be continued.