Celestia sat in the throne room of Canterlot, troubled. Sombra had recently begun conquering the lands to the north with his enslaved crystal ponies. While he had not attacked Equestria directly yet, Celestia feared he would. Even if Equestria was larger and had more resources than the Crystal Empire, the last thing they needed was a war. They were not fighters. They were peacekeepers. Friends. If they fought she had no idea what it would do to them.
Her dreams had told her little besides assuring her that if she chose war, there would be a price. They had been silent on all else, all specifics. Luna had been of no help either - she was convinced action was necessary, despite the price. She'd even said that if the price was her own life, it would be a just price to stop Sombra's monstrosities.
Celestia had forbidden any military action after hearing that. She didn't think she'd change her mind... but she was still haunted by it.
"Princess...?" A guard said.
"Hm? Yes?"
"An audience has been requested."
"Now is not the time Aberfourth..."
"Uh... It's the Handmaid, Princess."
Celestia's eyes widened, and she sat a little straighter in her throne. "Let her in right-"
"-Now?" Aradia said, appearing with a smirk on her face.
Celestia nodded, taking the sudden appearance in stride. She was the Handmaid all right, the ram horns, the red cloak, the hands... It matched the glimpses Celestia had seen of her over her long, long life. Most of which were strangely seeing her doing menial chores in the castle and then vanishing inexplicably with a coy smile on her face. But Celestia had never seen her this close before - in such plain view. She looked... oddly innocent.
"...Why now?" Celestia asked.
"Because you asked me to, a long, long time ago. Millenia, my time. Both less and more by yours. It was when I met you."
"What did I ask?" Celestia said, narrowing her eyes.
"You wanted me to tell you to go to war with Sombra."
Celestia blinked. "...I ...wanted this? Why?"
"Because I am telling you to, now. You will see the wisdom of this later and remind me to take my role as the Handmaid by returning to the Tree of Harmony, and to come tell you once I was done with that." Aradia smiled brightly. "Don't get too depressed, princess, things will work out!"
Celestia sighed. "...I ...I'll trust you. I may not know you but in all your stories, you are never malevolent. Though you are creepy. ...Why do you hang around the castle like a ghost doing menial chores anyway?"
"For fun!" Aradia said. "Actually it's to remind you I'm here and exist, but frankly, I could have done that many different ways. This was just the most enjoyable. Got to watch ponies freak out at me all the time!" She spread her arms wide and giggled.
Celestia blinked. This certainly was not the Handmaid she expected. "...What is the price of war?"
"Thousand year punishments," Aradia said. "Two different kinds, slightly differing. One will be a direct result of the war and affect thousands. The other might have happened anyway, and will affect you and your sister." Aradia put a hand to her chin. "You're lucky I jumped around a few times before coming here, otherwise I wouldn't even be able to tell you what was coming!"
Celestia looked at Aradia, pained. "Can you... Tell me what these future horrors are?"
Aradia shook her head. "I mean, I could, but that'd defeat their purpose and ability to shape this world. It may seem horrible, but they will bring about some amazing things. Trust me, you'll be glad in the end."
Celestia nodded slowly. "...I suppose I have a war to prepare then... Maybe... I... I will consider what you've said, and make my final decision later. Regardless of what I decide, thank you for speaking to me."
"I already know what you choose, but okay. Don't mention it. I think I'll drop by again sometime, so you can look forward to that! But, for now, it's time to figure out why I got stabbed."
"Until then," Celestia said, barely fazed by the 'stabbed' part of the comment. Aradia flew out, accelerating her time until the moment she had appeared an eternity ago. She hid behind a cloud, so as to not interfere with her past self. She looked down - and furrowed her brow.
There was no Sombra waiting for her to appear.
Was she off in her timing? No, that was impossible, the time was exactly the same as when she appeared and got stabbed...
An Aradia appeared exactly in the spot she should have, but there was no sword driven into her chest. This Aradia looked around, curious, and saw the brown colt - the Doctor. The cute colt ran up to her other self, eyes wide with wonder. They began to talk...
Aradia blinked. She was in the other timeline - the one her future/alternate selves had come from. How had she gotten here? Had she changed something? From her experience, this world didn't allow change, it followed causal loops or split timeline messes that needed to be resolved, depending. Nothing could be changed permanently - not under normal circumstances anyway.
She rewound time to before her other self appeared, and this time she saw Sombra. She saw her past self appear, get killed via sword, revive, and then talk with Celestia and Luna. Sombra fled as his black magic cloud...
Aradia decided she wanted to talk with him. She froze time around the two of them, revealing herself. "Sombra."
Sombra's face took form in the dark cloud. "You... YOU'VE DONE IT! I can kill you!" He roared.
"Oh for the love of..." She sighed. He might have been right - with enough bad luck this could be called a Heroic death since she had caused the war. Not to mention played dozens of pranks on him and his kingdom over her time that probably seemed like devastating attacks to him - he just couldn't take a joke. She may have done it a bit much, but it was just so fun to mess with him to no end. Regardless of if her actions were to be considered Heroic or just meddling, she couldn't take the risk. She raised a psychic hand and collapsed his cloud form into a ball, choking it.
"I really don't have the patience for this right now, but all the time. I... ...I really want to make a passing the time joke but I think I'm just too annoyed right now." She threw him, jumped into the future, and caught him again like the ball he was. "Ah, that was fun! I do enjoy these moments we have."
He just roared in infantile rage.
"Oh good grief..." Aradia rolled her eyes. "Just tell me when you found out where I was going to appear so you could murder me."
"NEVER! I will not give up my secrets! YOU WILL SUFFER HANDMAID!"
Aradia really wished she could be told exactly what to do at this moment so she could make Sombra crack. She didn't want to deal with him for a moment longer than necessary.
"Threaten to remove all his magic. Start to break his horn," a version of her from the future suggested before vanishing back to the future.
"Oh, what a great idea me!" Aradia forced Sombra's head to retain form, reaching for his horn. "This'll only hurt a little bit..."
"I captured your Doctor and fooled him into telling me a week ago!"
Aradia let him go and allowed time to move once again. Then she went back to the past to give herself advice on how to break Sombra. Then she simply left, leaving Sombra to Celestia and Luna.
Aradia's smile was gone - something weird was going on. She went back a week, to Sombra's castle. She did indeed find the Doctor in his presence. She took a hidden position on the rafters of the throne room, narrowing her eyes.
"You are like her," Sombra was saying to the Doctor, a fully grown stallion here in the past. "You must know something of her!"
"I barely am even sure the Handmaid exists, you lout!"
"When did you first see her?"
"I... I was young, and don't recall it very well because it was very traum-" He stopped short, recalling a long suppressed memory. "Oh my sweet sea urchins it was you."
"Oh..."
"You... No..."
Sombra grinned. "You saw me kill her! Oh this...This is fantastic news! It means I am destined to be her downfall! Ha! You are free to go, Doctor, you and that Rose pony you travel with. You have proven yourself useful."
Aradia frowned - she went back to the future, and there was no Sombra to stab her. Her other self went and talked to the young Doctor, presumably to start teaching him the ways of time. She went back to the throne room with Sombra again. The Doctor was there, but this time the conversation was different.
"How do you know the Handmaid?" Sombra asked.
"She basically raised me," the Doctor said, smiling. "There's nothing you can do to her."
"Really? Nothing?"
"Nothing at all! She's just too far beyond you."
"I doubt that, Doctor."
"Even if you knew exactly where and when she'd show up you wouldn't be able to do anything!"
"...If you tell me a time and a place she appears, you will be free to go."
"Me and Rose?"
"Yes."
"Agreed." So the Doctor told Sombra where Aradia would show up, knowing full well that she didn't die that day and would - should have been - perfectly fine.
Aradia facepalmed - she hadn't been fine. The Doctor had intentionally given away information about time, information that would be acted on. Normally that would just create a split timeline mess to clean up later - but this became a special sort of mess.
The Doctor gives Sombra the information, Sombra then interferes with the information, creating a trauma the Doctor puts behind him, and then Sombra can't get the information and believes he is destined to kill the Handmaid, so he doesn't kill the Handmaid, and the Handmaid gets to raise the Doctor, and the Doctor gives Sombra the information...
The Doctor created a flip-flop paradox.
That's what Aradia decided to call it anyway. The result? The timeline was switching to an 'up' and 'down' position, from 1 to 2, from A to B. That was not good, universes were not meant to exist in superstates of uncertainty. At least not this one.
Usually, in her role as the Handmaid, she'd keep these things from happening at all or resolve them easily. But this one was key to her own existence. It had been a while since Aradia had gotten a time headache - but she had one now. How was she going to fix this one? She'd either need to resolve the events to a single timeline instead of two or make it so both sequences took place on one timeline...
A lightbulb went off in her head for a problem she hadn't even been thinking about. Her alternate selves! She'd almost forgotten about them!
She jumped to the future, finding them quickly. "I HAVE A SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM!"
Singed Aradia blinked. "How long have you been gone...?"
"Millennia."
"Cheater. It's only been a second for us. We would have figured it out eventually."
"I already knew we solved it I just couldn't say anything," another Aradia said.
Core Aradia looked at the Aradia once known as past Aradia and nodded.
Aradia cleared her throat. "So, here's the deal. I found the knot that split the universe's timeline into two - it's the Doctor and the moment we meet him. With that moment a flop-flop paradox has been created - two instances exist, the one where you all remember, and the one where Sombra stabs me, traumatizing the Doctor."
There was a seven times facepalm combo.
"But, that's not actually important here. While I was dealing with that I remembered this problem and a solution for this problem - we're going to singularize the timeline."
"Oh! Duh!" a nondescript Aradia said. "Just tie the sequence of events to Twilight - keep her perceptions of the event in time and discard all the others."
Singed Aradia raised a hand. "That'll either kill seven of us, doom seven of us, or make there be seven distinct versions of us. The last of those isn't much of a problem, I know, but the other two are still chances! I'd like to exhaust other options first!"
"None of the above!" The past/alternate Aradia said, smirking. "My plan hinges on me. You're forgetting, right now I exist from a flop timeline, I can use my powers to rectify this flip timeline from outside and congeal all eight of you into one continuous timeline! That ends with you over there, the one who already knows we succeeded. You have the memories of all eight don't you?"
"Yeah. It's a bit disconcerting but really cool!"
"Awesome! Give me your arrival timestamp, I need to create a time knot where everyone eventually becomes you."
Core Aradia blinked. "Wow. This is a cool and awesome idea. We can do this right."
The future-most Aradia gave away the timestamp - and with a wave of hands, there were only two Aradias. They looked at each other - then giggled.
"So, stabbed?" the other Aradia asked.
"Yep! I'll show you in a minute, but we should resolve this to Twilight first..."
"I did it before you came back. Notice how you didn't have to jump timelines?"
Aradia blinked - then laughed. "Me, solving a problem that I'd already solved! So cool!"
"That's this problem only, remember? We've still got a flip-flopping universe that could fall into the Sea if strained too much."
"Well yeah, I know that. But we can't solve it in the way we just did. We are both separate Aradias and I don't have your memories, and there's no third Aradia we can shunt them into. Not to mention reconciling two versions of ourselves might just make more problems for the timeline, considering how messed up our timestream is."
"Yeah, I know, I am you after all."
"So we have to collapse this into one timeline. I think it has to be mine since I haven't marked the Tree yet."
"How though?"
"Well, we need to change something."
"We'll need to interfere with our own timestream... - but to do that without creating another offshoot timeline we would need to-"
"-jump universes to a world where the laws of time are different to escape causality! Yes!" She rubbed her hands together. "Take a trick from our old masters. For once...."
"The Horrorterrors certainly had a mastery of this sort of thing. Hard to believe they messed up so badly with that."
"One of the multiverse's mysteries..." The two Aradia's held hands, preparing to leave the world - but Aradia stopped short. "Wait..."
"Wait, what?"
"I haven't scrawled the gear on the Tree of Harmony... I need to do that so we know we're in a flip-flop timeline."
Other Aradia nodded, and they moved to the Tree of Harmony. Aradia moved to carve the symbol, but other Aradia stopped her. "I'll do it. It's supposed to be me."
Aradia nodded. "By all means."
Other Aradia - the first Aradia, the true original, kneeled at the base of the Tree of Harmony and scrawled the Gear of Time into the trunk, followed by the Aries symbol within. She stood up and smiled. "And now... We're done."
"The last loop was the first one."
"It connects my end to your beginning."
Aradia nodded. "...Let's go." They held hands, and vanished - entering another world far enough away to not be linked temporally to Equis.
They were in an office, deep underground. A human man in a general's uniform looked at them, disoriented. The plaque on his desk read 'O'Neill.'
"What in..."
"Don't mind us!" Aradia said. "Just passing through!" Then they returned to Equis, leaving a bewildered man behind. Aradia knew exactly what to do. Her alternate self didn't because she hadn't experienced this timeline. Aradia took them to the moment the Doctor would be unable to tell Sombra where Aradia would be. Sombra was starting his questioning when they arrived - and stopped time for all but them and the Doctor.
The Doctor gawked. "...No way... I told you this was a bad idea!"
Aradia cleared her throat. "Doctor, you will need to tell him about the day you saw us killed. Tell him so the loop may be completed."
"But... But I don't remember!"
"Outside your village precisely eleven months two days and six hours from now, on the east side just past the bakery," Aradia offered.
"...You want to die?"
"Oh, I don't stay dead," Aradia chuckled. "It just looks like that to you."
Other Aradia snickered. "You are now responsible for your own stabbing."
Aradia found this amusing as well. "Yes. Your timeline no longer exists though."
"Oh. Right." She blinked. "That was it? That was all we needed to do?"
Aradia nodded. "We just removed ourselves from continuity and returned to beat the time loops and offshoot timelines. Kinda like what John did, but we did more bending the rules than outright breaking them."
The Doctor shook his head. "You... You all need to back off from me. It's bad for time."
The other Aradia looked hurt. "But... I spent a lot of time with you..."
"No you didn't, you avoided me!"
"Only because you told me to," Aradia said. "I think now that this is over, we'll all interact with you more. Or I will. We are the same."
The Doctor blinked. "I'm not sure how to feel about that..."
"Be happy!" other Aradia said. "You are going to help her get stabbed to death!"
"Your jovial morbidity appears to be a constant..."
The Aradias shrugged. "Eh, it's what we do. Now do your part - we shall go."
The Doctor barely began nodding when they left. They returned to the moment of the stab and replayed it over and over again - and Sombra drove his sword into her every single time.
"So...." Aradia said. "Guess I'm the 'alpha' now."
"Yep. Now what?"
"I'm going to talk to Celestia. You?"
"Well, since the causal removal has ensured I'm not doomed, I think I'll just go back to being the Handmaid."
Aradia smiled. "It's always good to have an extra life! See you!"
"Likewise!"
Aradia traveled a few years into the future. She entered the center of the Everfree Forest at night. The moon was high in the sky, imprinted with the Mare - imprinted recently. The Tree of Harmony was notably missing the six crystals - the Elements of Harmony.
Aradia sat down atop the Tree and looked down - Celestia was standing there. She looked up at the red robes.
"...Aradia."
"Celestia."
"Are you sure this will all turn out for good?"
Aradia nodded. "I've seen the future clearly. And I know you've had visions. You know it'll all work out as well."
"But you were in a vision once. One that suggests everything I see can be overwritten with but a simple thought from you."
Aradia's smile fell. "Yeah. I just did that. Wasn't even hard. Your world would have fallen into nothing if I hadn't."
"But the only reason it was going to in the first place was because of you."
"I was called here, Celestia - called to protect the weak timeline you have. I haven't even really started - what you've witnessed was just me dealing with self-fulfillment and paradoxes. I, for all intents and purposes, have only just arrived. I will buckle down on time now and protect you from others of my kind that may come from outside in addition to the internal threats." She patted the Tree of Harmony. "It's why I"m here."
"How did we survive without you?" Celestia asked - Aradia sensed the question wasn't fully rhetorical.
"I'm not sure you would have," Aradia said. "Though I'm not entirely sure you'd exist at all without me..." She thought back to the Tree of Harmony's birth-death. Had it only stopped because she was present? But how had the Tree been able to call her if it couldn't have existed without her presence?
Aradia didn't know.
For once, she wasn't excited by the mystery. She wasn't sure why.
"...You don't know everything do you?" Celestia asked.
"Not even close," Aradia admitted. "The multiverse is a treacherous place beyond the comprehension of gods. Gods much, much more powerful than me - they make me look like a small bug. I'm happy to be a fly on the wall - but that doesn't mean the immense power isn't terrifying. Beings exist that could destroy this universe with a finger snap and there'd be nothing you, I, or the Tree could do about it. Fascinating as that is, well, it'd be disappointing. All this effort for nothing."
"...That's common out there in other worlds, isn't it?"
Aradia nodded. "Yes! Universes are created and destroyed on whims. It's - well it's honestly amazing to see on a grand scale, but we can never see full scale. We aren't meant to handle it."
"Who is?"
"Whoever the Tower decides is," Aradia shrugged. "It's not something I understand well, I'm the Time troll, not the troll of the unspoken rules in all events and stories. I'm here to make sure time loops are fulfilled and that other people - including other mes - know how to fulfill them."
Celestia shook her head. "How big... is it? Infinite?"
Aradia shook her head. "True infinity does not exist. Every instance of it cheats in some way or other..." She levitated a blade of grass to herself. "Inside this single object here is trillions of tiny building blocks that make up everything."
"I know what atoms are..."
"Good! The number of universes total is roughly equivalent to the number of atoms in this universe. That's how big it is. Even the higher gods and lords of trillions of worlds cannot dip their hands into the immeasurable vastness of it all." She smirked. "I only know this because I've been told and seen secondhand information. From personal experience, there might as well be no edge to the worlds."
Celestia frowned. "This sounds beyond dangerous."
"It is."
"I'll make sure we avoid it..."
"Already too late for that. Those mirror portals of yours have already forged connections. The chances of you going unnoticed now are near zero."
"...Why?"
"There are very few universes that uncover dimensional technology on their own. They are rarely allowed to live in peace - the Songs of the Spheres lead them into the harmony of everything, one way or another, eventually."
Celestia shook her head. "How... How can we prepare?"
"We can't. Nearby universes may appear on the same timeline as this one, but the vast majority of them won't. I cannot foresee those things, and there's no way for me to kno-" She felt something deep inside her, shaking her very core in that instant. "...But I can feel when something does happen..."
Celestia looked at her, nodding. "Go. Find out what has come. Do what you can."
"I always do and always will!"
Then she went forward about a thousand years, flying to a grassy field just outside Ponyville, only a few hours after her initial arrival. She saw a translucent being of energy and crystal running across the field in fear - and then a unicorn appeared out of nowhere, pursuing him.
Aradia sensed Twilight Sparkle nearby.
She knew, right then and there, things were never going to be the same.
~~~
The man of light fled across existence, and the enchantress followed.
~~~
I myself have seen the Handmaid a few times. Most were the usual shadowed instances of her doing the chores in Canterlot, but there were others. I've seen her hanging around the Starswirl the Bearded Wing of the Royal Library, investigating the time spells, a look of confusion on her face - as if there was a mystery eluding her.
She was holding something I now recognize as the modified spell Starlight used to change time - the Handmaid must have been the reason it vanished at the end of the encounter.
She saw me, smiled, and told me she was proud of who I become. Then she was gone.
I got the impression she was thanking me for something I have yet to do. I await that moment eagerly, but with trepidation. Until that moment comes, however, I am left to simply ponder what exactly this encounter meant.
It serves as a reminder that the Handmaid doesn't know everything. There are mysteries even to her. Part of me wants nothing more than to seek out the answers - but another part says I don't want to even know what the questions are. They could be too much.
Maybe one day I'll know. Maybe not. I'll just have to wait and see, like with so many things in life.
-Princess of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle.