//------------------------------// // I - An End and Beginning // Story: The Handmaid // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// She sat at the edge of a precarious jutting cliff, legs dangling over the beautiful sea below. She kicked her feet back and forth in a playful pendulum motion, her red robes swirling in the high winds. She was leaning forward, chin in her hands, an innocent smile on her face. A ten-toothed gear symbol was imprinted on her chest, only a slightly differing hue than the rest of her robes. Her eyes were a brilliant, but deep, yellow, matching the sunrise she gazed into perfectly. Her mouth was curved in the smile of a child about to receive candy or a birthday present. Her gray skin, despite its dullness, still managed to shine slightly in the sun's rays, as did her orange ram-like horns. She remembered a time when sunlight would have been painful, if not deadly, to her. Luckily, that was no longer the case, and she would now be able to witness the awe-inspiring event that was about to occur in this fine world. The sun rose over the ocean, its peaceful glow declaring the arrival of a new day. The life of the sea shouted in joy - fish jumped, dolphins trilled, and ground-dwellers awoke. It was beautiful, the heralding of a new beginning! And then the sun exploded. Something deep within it had decided 'enough' long before its proper time. The center collapsed, imploding into itself, shedding the outer layers of fire in a burst of energy that, after the initial implosive instigation, was a rather calm event to witness. What started with violence bled into acceptance as the fire of the cosmos spread out into eternity, painting the sky with a radial inkblot of fading light. The blues of the sky faded, allowing the trillions of stars - the family of this young sun - to join in the event. The joy of the sea vanished in a single instant, replaced with wails of mourning from those who understood, and cries of confusion from those who didn't. They would not perish in fire like their cosmological mother - they would survive the oncoming flames. They would have to wait until the deep freeze for their end, fighting valiantly against the end. Aradia Megido saw all this and kept smiling - it was so beautiful, the dance of death. She truly had been lucky to witness it, despite her awareness of time. Seeing such events was an honor few had, and though she had seen similar things before, she still found it wondrous. But this event was particularly special, even if it wasn't immediately apparent. She stood up, her dark hair flapping back and forth in the wind. Her brilliant red butterfly-esque wings unfolded, and she raised a hand to the stars. A translucent mesh of red gears surrounded her, the metaphysical clock hands rotating rapidly around her form. Her smile didn't falter for a moment as the universe aged around her. The fires of the sun hit the planet, giving it one final burst of heat before vanishing forever. The stars became eternal watchers of the freezing rock. Icebergs formed up on the water, drifting across Aradia's eyes like little bugs. Snow fell around her, piling up to multiple feet quickly. Animals scurried to and fro, but they couldn't escape the cold embrace of death. The ocean itself soon became a flat plane of salty ice, sealing the depths of the oceans away. The atmosphere itself began to freeze - oxygen snowflakes falling down to the icy ground below, creating yet another layer of frigidness. The world became ice - dead. But only in a certain way. In others, it was very much still alive. Aradia increased the flow of time again, to vast sweeps of age that even the most ancient struggle to put in context. The cliff beneath her gave out, crumbling into nothing. Elsewhere a volcano erupted. Continents shifted, ice cracked. Mountains drove themselves through the frozen shell while other land fell into oblivion. The ocean lost its smooth surface in favor of more brutal, rigid land. The stars shifted overhead as the planet drifted and churned, struggling through this life in death it maintained. Then everything was suddenly bright. Aradia cut the time displacement, becoming one with the present flow of time. A brilliant white star dominated the sky - the new sun for this world. The icy landscape was running with liquid water, slowly becoming an ocean once more. Aradia flew over to the volcano, her grin growing. She saw green. A simple moss-like life form had survived off geothermal and chemical heat all those millions of sweeps, retaining the genetic code to photosynthesize when the time was right. Life in death, death in life. The most beautiful of things. Aradia drew back from the sight, slightly giddy from the experience. In all the innumerable worlds she had visited in her long life she had never come across a moment quite like this one. Such a simple idea too, and yet, so rare. Of course, the dead planets and the half-dead planets with geothermal or sub surface ocean life were good too, but finding a new star to regain full life? It - well it was just too perfect of an analogy. But it had been seen and was done. She supposed she could go back and witness it again, see how the mechanics of time travel functioned in this world, but she didn't feel like it right now. It was fine to go somewhere new. She rose to the sky - she didn't need to, it just felt natural. She closed her eyes, feeling the universe around her, a single point on the vast Sea of nothingness. Hundreds of strands branched off from her world, connecting each to another point, another world. Some connections were short, leading to worlds similar to her current, or just popular worlds to exist within. But she wasn't the kind to seek out similarity or monotony, no - she went futher out. The most distant connection was easy to pick out. She knew exactly where it led, a place she would probably return to one day, but not now, insomuch as 'now' could ever be used to describe her existence. She reeled back her perceptions a bit, examining the essences of worlds distant, but not too much so, careful to avoid returning to her home cluster. That would be a bad idea. She focused, looking at the distant worlds, unable to tell much about any of them. This was good - she wanted to be surprised. There. That world. It called to her, requesting her presence. Almost politely. Wouldn't take too much energy to get there. Granted, she was ancient enough to have plenty of practice - in her early days of this, such a jump would have been beyond impossible. Now it just needed a simple thought. There was no clockwork or fancy time powers used - she was just gone from one world and in the next one. Aradia found herself standing in the center of a mystical forest composed of many purple and blue hued trees and other flora. She was currently within a small clearing - a clearing which held a surprise. She turned to it and gasped - it was a tree. No, a Tree. A Tree made entirely of beautiful crystals, mostly a pristine sky blue. In the center was a tremendous starburst amethyst, surrounded by five other gems on five separate crystalline branches. Aradia put her hand on the tree, her mouth hanging open, and yet somehow still smiling. She felt the magic energy of harmony flow through her. "You..." Aradia said, her voice bright and young. "You called to me...!" The Tree didn't respond. It didn't have to - Aradia knew. She took a step back, breathing in the enchanted air. What a wonderful place - who cared if she'd been in other mystical forests before? That was no reason to think this any less amazing. She circled the Tree, taking in the whole clearing one step at a time, her wings twitching in the soft breeze. Then she stopped in her tracks. There was something engraved on the back of the Tree. It was her symbols - the ten-pronged gear of time with the glyph of Aries within it. She smirked and raised an eyebrow. Chances were high that she scrawled that on the tree - that is, her future self - so that her past self - that is, her current self - would notice. She supposed it could also be an alternate timeline version of herself, or perhaps just another Aradia from the vastness of everything. Though really, it was probably just her future self. She'd already decided to stay on this world for a while anyway - now she just had a gleeful mystery in addition to that. Why had she written that there in the simultaneous future and past? Was it to ensure she knew how to find herself? To stabilize some time loops? Or was it written just because her future self had seen it in her past and felt the need to close the loop? Aradia chuckled softly - any result would be interesting, as they always were when she didn't already know what was coming. She extended a leg and set out into the forest proper, bidding the Tree a cheerful goodbye. She opted to use her wings after a few minutes, drifting through the forest, taking in the scenery. It was oddly dark for a metaphorically 'bright' mystic forest, but that just made it better. Some leaves rustled to her right - some local wildlife! She drifted over to the pink-and-blue shrub to get a better look. To her surprise, a giant predator leaped out - part lion, part scorpion. It was very obviously hungry for flesh considering that it was leaping at her with its mouth wide open. Aradia just stopped it in time mid-lunge, kept in place by a rotating red gear. In roughly three minutes local-time, the beast would resume its lunge, hitting nothing. Or something that hadn't been there before, depending on what happened in those three minutes. Aradia drifted on, not giving the beast another thought. She continued enjoying the beautiful scenery for quite some time, though always in the back of her mind she was waiting for something to happen. She didn't have to wait long - or maybe she did and it just didn't register in her ancient mind. She came to a hut built into a tree - a house designed for creatures nowhere near as tall as she was. The doors were short and the doorknobs slightly flat. The decorations were those of a shaman - ribbons, skulls, and many handmade trinkets composed of flora Aradia had seen elsewhere in the forest. She took particular interest in the skulls - she wondered what had killed them. Was it the hands of the mysterious as-of-yet unseen inhabitant of this place? Was it the jaws of a brutal predator? Was it just salvage? Regardless of the reason, Aradia found the decoration in good taste. She alighted on the front step, stooped, and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Aradia even jumped ahead a minute to see if they were just slow. She frowned, disappointed. Well, she wasn't going to break in - that'd be rude - but it struck her as odd that she found the place with nobody to do anything with. She began to consider going forwards in time until the proprietor appeared, and failing that, just going back to when the hut was built. But those thoughts were never acted upon, for a young voice interrupted them. "...What're you?" Aradia blinked and turned around to see a small yellow filly at her feet. Aradia wouldn't have thought the tiny adorable being had been the one to speak were it not for the loose pink bow and intelligent, curious eyes. Aradia grinned. "I'm a troll! and you're a little horse with a cute accent!" The filly gave her an odd look. "...Cute accent?" "Oh - is that offensive? - sorry if it is." "Uh... No? Just not somethin' Ah've heard before... ...you don't look like a troll." "Oh? What do I look like then?" The filly scrunched up her muzzle - a gesture Aradia took to suggest confused thought. "Ah dunno - some kind of ram-fairy? ...With hands." Aradia put her hand to her mouth, chuckling. "Do fairies not usually have hands?" "Not here. If they exist. Which they probably don't." "You might be surprised what exists and doesn't, little one, in this place and beyond!" "Uh... What?" Aradia shrugged. "Probably nothing important. Though by saying that I make it more likely that it will be." "...That's crazy talk, things don't just become important because you say they aren't. Or are." Aradia shrugged. "Well, let's just say my experiences say otherwise little... Hey, do you have a name?" "Applebloom," she said, standing a little taller, proud of her name and heritage. Aradia found this absolutely adorable. "Well, Applebloom, my name is Aradia." "That's an odd name," Appelebloom blurted. She realized what she said immediately afterward. "Ah mean, uh, it's a great name!" "It's okay!" Aradia said. "You name seems odd to me. Also, you're a talking horse. I haven't seen many of those!" "Really? Wow, you must be from really far away!" Aradia's smile shifted to a coy, knowing grin. "I do indeed come from somewhere far away..." Applebloom sat down. "Where?" "A place called Alternia. It doesn't exist anymore." Applebloom sagged. "Oh... Ah'm sorry." "Oh, it's not sad! Well, okay, it is, but it doesn't have to be that sad. My life ended in that place - it only really began after I left." Applebloom blinked. "...That doesn't make any sense." Aradia smirked. "Doesn't it though?" "...No." "Oh." Aradia paused for a moment, not really sure what to say to that. "Anyway, Aradia, are you here to see Zecora?" "Hm? Zecora?" "Well, you're waiting in front of her hut..." "Oh - well I might have thought I was waiting for her but I really think I was waiting for you!" "...For me?" Applebloom said, cocking her head. "Yes! Well, probably yes anyway." She shrugged. "Hey! Where do you come from?" "Ponyville. Just down that path right there. Can't miss it." Aradia looked at the path. "Nice! I think I'll check this 'Ponyville' out! Should I expect lots of ponies?" "...Er ...Yeah?" "Great! See you later Applebloom!" She flew down the path, ready to see more adorable pony creatures. Applebloom stared at Aradia's retreating form in disbelief - that creature was definitely an odd duck. Applebloom made a mental note to ask Zecora about trolls and fairies when she got back. Applebloom hoped Ponyville made a good impression. ~~~ The Handmaid came to our world at the beckoning of the Tree of Harmony, in an era not recorded, be it past or future we know not. We do know she entered without any knowledge of why she was here, or what she would do. She came looking for something - nothing in particular, just something, like she always did. She ended up finding many somethings during her times here, both related to her reason and not. But to the relatively young being who entered, all of this was beyond her. She was going in blind. Delightfully blind, as she would have put it.