The young world seemed at first so perfect. The plants grew in gardens and jungles. All sorts of creatures flew in the skies, swam in the waters, and roamed free across the plains. The Makers lived in paradise and shared it with the creatures they had designed.
But a complication soon arose. It had become evident that the two heavenly orbs were destructive if left ungoverned. They needed to be regulated, to be balanced so that the warmth would not scorch and that rest might have its time.
And soon came the day, as she lay under the tree, My Lady told me as though through a dream that she was to be given command over the Sun above, and her Closest would receive the Moon. Together they would part the day from night, dusk from dawn.
This was most delightful news. Then I told Her—somehow, I told her—of all that we could enjoy with this new privilege. Our mischief would have no end!
At this she sat up quickly. “It is not to be abused,” she told me. Her eyes were stern. I had not seen this side of her. I told myself I could come to like it. But it soon left as she laid back down again, and I was glad.
Then as we parted for that time, a truly fantastic idea came to me. I had been preparing a gift for her. Some time ago I had discovered how I could create as the Alicorns did, though independently, without the congregation they required. I could have formed a great and many things, I suppose, but I had instead strived to perfect a most excellent vision, an absolute masterpiece. It had been long in coming, but it was nearly finished. It would be ready by the time of her inauguration—I would give it to her then! It was perfect!
And more, why should it not be then that I confide in her and ask the question, the question that had pained me since its conception: Would she be willing to spend the rest of eternity with me?
We would be together until the world or time itself met its end. Nothing would separate us. Nothing could separate us. Our enjoyment would never end.
And to ask her, I decided, I would present myself to her in physical form, and then shower her with my gift. She would be awestruck, unable to refuse. And if she could, why would she? What did she have to lose? It was all so perfect.
The time soon came, as it would. The gift was ready, as was I. Not far from where the ceremony was to be held, I found a pond of still water. Suspended, it became a looking glass. And I took form beyond that of a concept, a mere thought. I became, and I was real, solid and true.
I found that I could appear as I wished. Inspired by the magnificence of the Alicorns, I took an imitation of their shape. I had their arms, their legs. I spared the wings and the mark—I dared not forget myself and overstep in my tribute. I was tall and my features were sharp, as were my eyes, though I found I could not alter their color. They would remain a bold crimson. A permissible inconvenience.
I found I liked my hair comparatively short. I could not decide between the black and the grey, so I settled for putting the grey in front of the black, then touched my chin with a tuft of the same grey.
Then I clothed myself, taking the garb also in the style of Alicorns. The top and bottom halves were a pair, and of a red to match my eyes. There was also a green strip of fabric I had difficulty affixing around my neck by manual means. Even compared to their robes, the formal wear of their males had always seemed to me so tasteless, but as I stood in them before my reflection, I must say I looked astonishing.
I gathered the most impressive flowers and plants I could find and arranged them into a decorative bundle. I checked myself in the water’s surface a final time before returning it to the stream.
And then I released my gift out into the world. Everywhere they emerged, and I gathered a few to present to Her at the ceremony.
On the way I spied by a stroke of luck a proud stallion as it appeared from over the nearest hill. It was then that I decided I would appear to Her on horseback, high and proud with flowers in hand. Why, it would all be so perfect!
But as I approached him, he retreated. He matched me step for step, keeping a constant distance from me. I called out to him, promising to do him no harm. I knew he could understand me, yet he ignored me. I could not guess at his game, but I would not stand for it. I would not let this simple, mortal being ruin this day for me. “You insolent, pathetic brute!” I shouted, and with a mere flick of my new fingers, the beast belonged to me. I rode him back to where I had left those of my gift, and waited for the ceremony to begin.
Seeing as I did in my prior form, I overviewed the grounds from behind the hill. A tholos of white marble the Makers had erected stood out in the grassy field where they had gathered. Rather modest for such an occasion, it seemed to me, but when one lives in paradise there is little need for embellishment.
The could have been of scores or legions for all I cared to notice. And when She and Her Closest stepped to receive their honors, the applause could have been a tremendous cacophony, blasted to resound off the mountains to echo for days to come—it was but a whisper to me.
Then She bowed as the orator bestowed upon her a magnificent necklace, a beautiful pearl set on a thin chain of the finest gold. Her Closest followed, hers a sapphire deeps as the oceans and set in silver. It would be through these that they would command the heavenly globes above.
It was then that I appeared from over the hill. The sea of faces, featureless to me, quickly parted from me and my company. Once at the stereobate I dismounted, then to my knees I lowered myself and said to Her, “My Lady, I come to you on this most joyous of days, bearing gifts in homage to your grace.” I motioned to those behind me.
They were marvelous. Surely she would adore them. As it had been with myself, their form was also in tribute to the great Makers, with their arms and legs, though no wings or crest. Curious they were, these beings whose flaws constituted their perfection. They were reliably inconsistent; they knew what was right and what was wrong, but whatever they did was justified—only others deserved to be punished. What advantage one had over another was by right, never by happenstance. Vows to them were empty words, vengeance was immeasurable and could never be settled. Such beautiful, unstoppable, inconceivable beings they were. For many, many years I had labored over them, and now I had given them to Her.
I had given her Man.
But then from behind—murmurs, rumblings. I tried to catch what was said. “What does he think he’s doing?” They were hushed, but I could just make them out. “Do you see those eyes of his? Unmistakable.” What did he mean by that? “How dare a thing like that show his face here, and now of all times!” “We can’t trust him, he’s one of them. They only can destroy.” They wouldn’t stop. “Does he realize what he’s done, bringing those here?” Something was happening. “Will we be able to reverse the damage? Can we still cleanse the taint in time?” Something—to my body.
Something wasn’t working. I began to tremble. I felt my eyes dart but I could not turn. My skin grew moist. My body heaved, and I realized I could not breathe. This new body, so automatic in its immediate care that I had barely to give it active thought had suddenly lost the ability to perform its most basic of functions, and I could not breathe! Rain from no cloud dripped down my neck and back.
Still I pressed on. I had to. “An—And I come... to ask humbly... if—if you would grant me the honor... of your company, from this day until the end of—until the end—” The words would no longer come.
Yet the whispers! Still, the whispers! “And what audacity, taking this hour of theirs for his own.” “How could he even know her?” “He’s after her power, no doubt. It can be the only reason.” The fools! The insolent, damnable fools! Had it not been I that had prized Her before any other?
She was staring at me. No, with those misty, distant eyes She was staring through me. I found myself pleading to her, not with words but thought alone.
The orator came from behind her, and leaned to her to whisper. His face nearly touched her hair—how dare he! “You couldn’t possibly be familiar with—with him, could you?”
I saw a thousand thoughts swirl through her eyes, but could catch only one: Recognition. She knew who I was.
“We have never met,” She said flatly.
And with that, it was over. The flowers, withered by unnatural means, dropped from my grasp. My shoulders fell, and I was free to inspect the leak from my eye. Shallow sobs seethed through my clenched teeth. Though I had covered my face with my arm, I felt innumerable sets of eyes on me as I made my way through the crowd. I couldn’t have cared less.
There may have been more murmurs, but to me there was only silence. My company did not follow me; the horse had long since fled. On my own feet, weighted by lead and chain, I surmounted the hill alone.
I knew there would be no more rests under the tree, no more winds of petals and scents, no more of our play and laughter. Those times had passed.
“We have never met.” The words rang through my mind a perpetual echo, slamming the sides of my head as it resonated. They were the incantation of a deplorable curse that took hold of me and pulled me from my core, as though to strip me from my new body, tearing at the unprotected flesh inside. This form’s only purpose it seemed was to actualize my pain.
But the pain made real was negligible, next to the pain of the truth. That could not manifest in my body.
And it demanded solace.