//------------------------------// // Ch.08: The Grand Foyer // Story: Tapestry: A World Apart // by Star Scraper //------------------------------// Gold Will blinked. There were no restraints on her. The noose around her neck was gone. The air was warm. Long blades of grass came up to her belly, tickling her as they were blown by strong gusts of air. Her nightgown had been replaced by a wide-brimmed straw hat and a loose, white sundress. Her eyes went wide at the sight above her. The sky was brilliant bright blue, a million points of light shone within it. Some almost hurt her eyes to look at with their intensity, while others were barely visible. An enormous cluster of the points sat close to the horizon. She let herself fall backwards onto the soft grass and laugh, tears coming to her eyes at the brilliant sight. It was the same ecstasy of the first sun-house she'd ever seen, all over again. She lost herself in the glorious display of a million sparkling points of light for what felt like a short eternity, before sitting up and looking around herself again. The horizon was close, with only a few blocky, towering mountains of rock in the distance. The air was clear like the inside of a dome, yet warm and lit with brilliant light like the roof of a sun-house. Faint memories echoed from her fillyhood, but she couldn’t remember more than a feeling of joyful bliss. As she scanned around, she yelped in surprise when she saw a pony nearby – with both the wings of a pegasus and horn of a unicorn – sitting next to a blanket spread on the grass that had a wooden basket on it. As amazing as the strange hybrid was, stranger still, she looked identical to Gold Will. Her eyes were closed, and she was sitting and smiling, wearing an outfit similar to her own, but had a scarlet bow on her right arm and a gold plate necklace. “Don't be afraid. I’m a friend. I’ve been waiting for you, Gold Will,” the hybrid called out to her. Her voice was like her own, but carried a gentle, but powerful confidence. “Come, sit with me.” She opened her eyes, and looked at her. Gold Will hesitantly stood up, and started walking over. As she did, she noticed the distant mountains in front of her didn't move quite right against the horizon with the hills around her – the pony that called her had the blanket spread out on what looked like a peak of a hill. But as she came closer, she began to realize there were no hills beyond it, before finally realizing with a gasp – that the blanket rested a stone's throw from a cliff, and far below spread out to a grand vista of open, sparkling water that met land nearby. The lights in the sky reflected off the ocean below like an enormous mirror, creating a second sea of lights. “It's called an ocean, and far above – those are the 'stars' you heard so much about. But I picked a special world - the sea is much calmer than it ever was on yours, and the stars far brighter. Together the stars act as the sun, bringing a warm summer day. You remember, don’t you?” She blinked as the memory came back to her as though it had happened hours ago. She was a mere foal at the time - but she could remember before The Great Nightfall in Hatten. “Y-yes. I remember! I remember now! - what the domes were like before they went dark! But where are we? How did I get-...” she cut herself off. Somehow, if only for a moment in her excitement, she’d forgotten. The pony gave her a sympathetic look. “Come, have a seat,” she invited with a warm smile. Gold Will walked over, catching another long glance at the glimmering ocean as she went. The other pony unpacked the basket, then just sat and waited silently, taking in the ocean view, herself. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she eventually asked. Goldie snapped back to attention, realizing she’d lost herself in the mesmerizing sight. “Yes, but-” she turned to the other pony, “did you say it’s another world? Who are you? How did you know I was… ‘coming’? What does that even mean? Why do you look like me!?” She felt a gnawing fear in her gut she couldn’t let lie. “...Is this just in my head or am I…?” “One at a time,” she gently chided, raising a hoof. “It’s another world, yes. There’s more wonders in the heavens than a mortal mind could imagine. I’ve spent eternities in awe and study. And I knew you were coming because I heard it.” She looked up at the stars. “All of existence rings with a song of Harmony. If you learn to hear it, then there is nothing you cannot know or do. It is a song of guidance, knowledge, and power.” She only faintly grasped the metaphor, but she did. “Can I hear it?” The pony faced her again. “You’ve begun to, a little. But it will be awhile yet before you can sing it, but you will. As for the reality of this place… it is just as real as the world you came from. It’s no delusion - you gave your life to finding truth, so your mind would rather accept death than lie to itself, so you wouldn’t fool yourself like that.” “But… how can I be sure?” she asked. “At any moment, what if I just - just -...” She was suddenly shaking. Deep, loving gentleness and honesty showed in the pony’s eyes as she put a hoof on Gold Will’s shoulders. “You will never cease existing. Memories are made and fade, moods and sensations come and go. But your soul,” she looked over to the stars and waved a hoof over them, “shall outlast this world and the stars in the heavens, and all that will come after them. “For without a dreamer, there is no dream. Without a beholder, there is no reality. You and I both - and all other beings - are the beholder. You are existence itself. Gold Will is just one manifestation of it. An existence that doesn’t exist is an impossible contradiction, so you will last forever, and already have.” Gold Will's confusion grew, though she had stopped shaking. She didn't understand fully, but at least there was some answer, and that was enough for now. But now of the questions that flooded her mind, one stood clearly above the rest. “Who are you?” “I’m someone who has woken up a little more than you, and I am you, and you are me.” She took her hoof off her shoulder and gently explained, “I'm a pony in a position... that your world had no real concept of. You worked in gardens your whole life, so let me explain with this story... “I knew the plants you grew. Every so often they felt warmth touch them, and their roots gently handled, and their fruits plucked. One plant called this Vishnu, and imagined it was some being that created its world. Another called it Zeus, and imagined it was a being like itself that only wanted sunlight, water and to grow. Another called it Ra, and believed it brought the warmth and light that it experienced on its leafs. Another called it God, and believed it was omnipotent, omniscient, loved and looked over its world. “All of these plants come to you, asking if you are each one of those things. Are you?” “Oh, I see...” Gold Will answered. The pony's voice bore no conceit or arrogance, only the tone of a genuine, kind, and patient explanation, continuing as a mother to a daughter, “to you, Gold Will, I am The Gardener, and this –” she waved her hoof over the sky, “– is my garden. Except unlike plants, you can – and will, become like me eventually when you grow up. I'm just... a little older.” She smiled at her, then poured some tea into two teacups. “Please, try some,” she offered. Gold Will looked down at the spread – on the blanket was an assortment of scones and biscuits on small plates, two cups on saucers and a teapot, all made of a gold-trimmed, ornate ceramic. Whatever this being was, she knew she didn't want to displease her, nor did she have any reason to reject her kindness, so she accepted her offer. What's the worst that could happen? I'm already dead... Aren't I? But… A light breeze punctuated her hesitance. “I… I promised my brother I’d listen to him… Can I do that? Listen to him read me a bedtime story...” she felt her face flush a little and her ears fold. “For - for his sake, of course…” “Of course,” she answered with a gentle, knowing smile, “but later will be a better time to say goodbye than now. I wouldn’t want the shock of this encounter to drown out your deep feelings for your brother, as they would if we had this conversation after he reads to you... Now, try some of the tea!” her tone turned jovial as she urged excitedly, like an eager filly trying to show her mother a drawing. The tea was an odd, orange-ish white color she didn’t recognize, but the smell was tempting, and she couldn't turn down the strangely adorable excitement. She took a sip as The Gardener did the same. She didn't recognize the taste, but it was tangy and fresh, yet sweet, and a host of other things she didn't have words for. “This-this is amazing! I – nothing like this existed that I can remember!... You really are some kind of god, then?” she asked. The Gardener chuckled. “The tea isn't that good. It's just herbal mandarin orange with sugar and a milk base... But I'm glad it's good enough to make you think I'm a 'god',” she gently joked. Despite everything, Gold Will couldn't help but laugh. It was as though her life was nothing but a nightmare, and now she got to wake up and have fun again. It nagged in the back of her mind that she was leaving her entire life behind, but it was easy to ignore with so much overwhelming her at once. “Try some of the biscuits. If the tea made you think I'm a god, I'm not sure what the biscuits will do,” The Gardener flashed her a smile like playful filly. Gold Will couldn't help but chuckle in response at the pure, almost innocence of the being’s joy. She looked down at the blanket and took a scone. It had small bits of squishy flavor – again her mouth was alive with things she had never before experienced, that she had no words to describe or even imagine – it was entirely new. She wolfed it down then swallowed with another sip of the tea. “Raisins. Dried forms of a fruit lost to your world, but that used to have it. One of my old favorites for snacking.” The Gardener explained with a smile. “Just wait until you taste apples. Those are great! But you can try one of those a little later...” She looked down and took one of her scones, herself, taking a hearty bite and groaning with delight as she ate it. The enthusiasm and pure joy she ate with made her seem even more like a child. "You know... you're... not quite what I would've expected from a god." She pulled up a hoof to cover her mouth as she finished chewing while she asked, "Oh? But what is a 'god'? This is why I didn't want to be called that, and gave that whole parable with plants and all. I mean, it's not wrong, but it carries a lot of connotations and misunderstandings." "Hmm.” Gold Will looked down for a moment, thinking back over that part. “I dunno... It's just, you're some almighty being who can create and destroy worlds with a thought, right? You said reality is just a dream, and a garden you tend, so, does that mean you can just... bend reality like a dream?” “Something like that,” she confirmed with a nod. “Isn't that a god?" The one who'd just been called a god swallowed the last of her treat, leaned over to Gold Will and tapped her on her chest, a playful smile on her face as she looked her younger self in the eyes, "then you are a god already." She leaned back to her previous spot. "Imagine a world where the ground is made of biscuits. Now picture in your head, this world explodes. There, you just exercised the power of creating and destroying worlds with a thought. I'll admit It's not the same as all this, though," she acknowledged, nodding and glancing around their surroundings, "but it's a start. You can practice with sandcastles before building stone castles. “And I like building sandcastles… A child instinctively knows the joy of life – of building a sandcastle. They don't think it's work, how they must move material and be careful not to break their creation. They just take joy in building, despite the fear of failure or the fact that it won't last forever..." Gold Will spent a moment looking at her cup, swallowing all she'd been given before speaking again, "That's... that's what I mean about 'you're not quite what I expected from a god'. I guess I expected throne rooms, maybe a parade to your greatness and glory - the supreme commander sure loved parades. But you talk about sandcastles and tea and make jokes and eat scones with some newcomer..." "I have my parade and my glory -" Her voice was soft with emotion as she set a hoof on Gold Will's shoulder, "- right here. Oh, Goldie. Castles, armies, parades and uniforms aren't even real – they are but a dream, and dreams fade away. But while dreams fade, dreamers awake, still existing, ever eternal." The Gardener moved so that rather than sitting across from her, she was sitting next to her right side. She put her left foreleg back over Gold Will's left shoulder. "And you mistake joy for childishness. The greatest state of existence is joy – a joy mostly forgotten from your world, except in children! I’m just happy to be with you! To get to speak to you directly like this!" She brought her other hoof to Gold Will's shoulder and hugged. "And you did so well, too! You know that? You really made me proud back there, Gold Will." The dead pony just blinked in surprise at the hug from this strange, childish being – this god – that was some future form of herself. But her words began to sink in. The politicians who ran her world wanted parades, honor and power. But this god-being saw them for what they were. Nothing but a dream. And she loved her – none of their powerful armies or grand palaces impressed her – they weren't even real to her, but she was proud of her, of all ponies? The Gardener pulled out of the hug to sit next to Gold Will again. “Really, those governors and commanders – they make me sad,” she said, genuine sympathy coming to her voice, “they grasp for meaning, and find only the lonely pit of narcissism, and the despair of resentment. But in your last moments and many others, you conquered narcissism, despair and resentment, and broke free of those bonds forever. You knew what meaning and joy is, and many of them never taste anything half as sweet in their palaces and grand chambers, as you tasted on that tower, in your brother's hooves...” she reflected, a gentle sweetness in her voice. She shuddered at the memory. “Can't I...” she hesitantly started, The Gardener herself giving her a terrified look now, knowing what she would ask, “can't we go back and change that?” she asked. “No,” she replied, her look suddenly intense, dark, and solemn, averting her gaze into her own teacup. All levity was far gone as she muttered darkly, “Why would you want to remove the most meaningful moment in your life? Because you shrink from suffering? Yet, we can do that – remove that meaningful suffering. And one day we will. And in that day you will see why I want to say 'no'. Now, perhaps you only see some vague shadow of how some suffering is necessary for meaning. But one day I will take you on that dark, terrible, horrible road at your request, and you will see clearly...” She looked back to her younger self, her gentleness returning, “But today is not that day... Is that okay with you?” she sincerely asked. Gold Will hesitantly nodded. “I'm sorry,” The Gardener apologized, the heaviness and darkness vanishing, but not yet back to her chipper self. She continued respectfully. “All in due time. Once your journey to that world from where you came is through, you will have experienced what is needed to see, and I will show you. But for now, rest a little, in the hooves of your brother and your grandmother – if you are ready, the time has come for you to fulfill your promise to your older brother, that you would listen to his bedtime story. But I must warn you... It comes at a heavy price. “When we go, we will leave all of this behind. You'll forget your time here for a season, and move on, until you remember again. Gold Will will truly die, but only for awhile, and you will enter your next life. Your entire life as Gold Will will be forgotten...” Goldie was immediately taken aback by the offer, her ended life suddenly returning to her mind. “I - but - what about meeting my parents here, if this is the afterlife? Or being here to greet Crimson Fire and Scarlet when their times come? Or to meet Astilbe again where I can properly thank her for the journal? Why do I have to forget all of that?” The Gardener's tone was not judgmental, condemning, condescending nor cold, but factual, and still laced with patience, “I could explain to you that it would hold you back from experience, and learning about meaning, but my words will seem shallow and devoid of meaning until you experience it. So for now, I can only ask you trust me that one day you will understand if you choose to. And you will, when we meet again. But there is another reason that will hold at least some meaning to you; “To truly understand reality, you will learn to speak, walk, talk, and live all over again, because you will learn them differently than you did before. Your tea will taste different to you, voices will sound different, and you will never have learned to dread the word ‘spring’. Instead, it will be a delight to you.” She shivered as she remembered the mantra The Order of the Hatten Vanguard loved so much, for spring to come. “You will not spend eternity without the chance to learn what it is like to grow up on a sunny farm. You will have that chance. You are growing up on a sunny farm right now. You have grown up on a sunny farm already. Since this place is chronologically disconnected – a separate reality from any other – there is no measure of time in-between here and there. So do not dread eternity, Gold Will, as some endless chore to work through. You have already spent it as Applejack. It is already done. And yet you still have it to look forward to. “And that means each time you come back here will be unique. You are in your first life and your last. The nth and the second, the nth plus one, and infinitieth infinity. Time has no meaning across realities – for your memories are your only clock across them. But since you will forget this meeting, the time will be endurable, for it has already passed.” Gold Will felt small and lost - she could scarcely imagine or understand - then she remembered how quickly she’d forgotten her entire life just minutes ago as they had laughed. Then she understood, but only slightly, as some vague idea. “As for meeting again the ones you love - I’m afraid it’s not quite time for you to re-unite with your parents, yet… Your time with that world is not finished. This is not the end of your life, really, only an intermission. Because your next life spans two worlds, you are two in one, and you have yet to live as the other. But Big Mac and Pinkie are already in the world I will take you, and Applebloom will come shortly. You will get to live your life with your family again - but this time, in a world brilliantly lit with sunshine every day.” It struck her that she somehow knew Big Mac was Crimson Fire, Applebloom was Scarlet and Pinkie was Astilbe, but the thought was wiped from her mind as she was told she would get to see the sun. “The sun!? The sun gone from my world!?” “Yes,” The Gardener nodded with a small smile. “It is greater than you can imagine, and you will see it so much you will take it for granted often. The very word ‘day’ will even have a completely different meaning to you.” She felt ready to excitedly leap for The Gardener’s hoof - living with her family in a world that still had its sun? It was almost impossible to resist. But she hesitated. “...But will I forget how much I love them? Crimson and Scarlet? I won’t take them for granted like the sun, will I? And will my parents - will they still be around? Since there’s summer there wouldn’t have been The Delphi War, or even the domes at all, so...” The Gardener solemnly bowed her head and spoke heavily, “Choose one or the other. Since you will forget this conversation, I may tell you plainly, if your parents are alive, you won’t love Big Mac or Applebloom as you loved Crimson Fire or Scarlet. In place of maternal care for Applebloom will be jealousy for your parents’ attention, and so will Big Mac feel towards you and Applebloom both. There will be some familiarity, but nothing compared to the bond you have with them now.” Gold Will was frozen. The elder being raised her head with a sympathetic look, “It’s a hard decision to make, I should not have asked you to -” “No! I’ll…” now Goldie bowed her head, thinking for a moment before facing her older self again. “If this is tied to my past life in some way… Will I ever get to meet my parents?” she asked. The Gardener nodded. “That you cannot now is a rare and hard exception.” “Then… I’ll go through that. I know what it’s like to not have mom and dad around… but to not have Crimson or Scarlet?” The Gardener nodded. “It is decided.” She put a comforting hoof on the mortal’s shoulder, looking into her eyes. “You’ve made a hard, and wise choice yet again. And have courage - because of this choice, those you love so much, and the bond you have with them, will endure. You will not dread this journey as an endless chore to wade through - you will find contentment and love in your life in Equestria, and when the time is come, you will remember all. Now come, keep your promise, then forget and begin the second part of this journey.” She offered her hoof. She paused for a brief moment, looking at the brilliant display of stars, contemplating forgetting her entire life. But Crimson Fire and Scarlet would be there for her. That would be enough. She felt the stars call to her. As fantastic as this place is… I want to see them again. There’s noone here for me, except this ‘Gardener’ asking me to leave. This is some palace of gods. I don’t belong here. I belong with my family. She took her hoof. The Gardener smiled at her. “One day you’ll belong here, Goldie. The second time we meet will be solemn, but the third, we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder.” The world melted away around them, replaced with a whirlwind of scenes and emotion as her view of the fantastic world was replaced with the cold, solid black sky inside the Delphi dome. They were down to the courtyard where she’d been executed. The Order had required her body to hang for twenty minutes to ensure her death, and Major Crimson Fire ordered the cart to be cleaned, then steeled himself to fulfill his promise. He reeled the rope up, himself, lifting her two and a half stories so she wouldn't have to be dropped or handled by pegasi. He set her limp body on his back and carried her down the stairs to lay her in the cart. He sent for an undertaker to embalm her and put her in a coffin for a long, expensive rail trip across the dark, arctic ice sheets back to Hatten. She felt his fear of being accused of desertion for taking time off to personally take her body to the family's mausoleum, only for the governor herself to give him her blessing. Then finally, after just a minute, the whirlwind rested with a scene only two days later: The dark and cold mausoleum of her aunt's prestigious family line. Crimson Fire parked a cart next to a tomb, followed by three stallions Gold Will recognized as cousins. They helped him lift her coffin off the cart, and lower it into a tomb next to the tombs of her parents. He nodded and sent them off, to finally fulfill his promise. “I guess... this is it,” he said, pausing for a moment, it sinking in once more that he was the closest family she'd left behind. He took a book off the cart and returned to the tomb. He knew the embalmer had done a fine job and what a short time it had been, so he lifted the coffin's lid. Inside, her body rested on soft cushioning. He sat next to the tomb, and began to read to her. Gold Will closed her eyes as he read, relaxing to the simple fairy tale, and the calm sound of his voice. She knew her life was over, and she had taken The Gardener's hoof, accepting that the time had come to move on. She could feel herself lying on soft fabric. “Don't be afraid. One day, these memories will come back, but for now, rest, my little child... The time has come.” The Gardener's voice comforted her. She felt a hoof over hers as her brother read. “There once was a wise king in an ancient kingdom. The king had two sons, a foolish prince, and a wise prince. He gave a land to each of his sons. One day, a great dragon came and terrorized the land of the foolish prince, eating their sheep and cows and burning the town. So all the knights of the kingdom came together and fought off the great dragon with their armor to protect from its claws, and their swords to pierce its scales, and it fled forever. “Many years passed, and a hateful, angry drake came to the land of the wise prince. The wise prince said, 'you are a drake full of hatred and spite! Begone from this land!', and the drake was chased out. So the drake went to the land of the foolish prince. The villagers cried, 'a dragon, a dragon!'. The drake told them, 'no, I am not a dragon – I am a drake. I do not want to eat your sheep, but to save you from the dragon!'. 'What dragon?' the ponies of the foolish prince asked. 'The knights!', the drake answered, 'Look at them with their swords and armor, those are the claws and scales of the dragon!' Then the people went to the knights, saying, 'you are the evil dragon! Give up your shields and armor or we will fight you like the heroes of the past fought the dragon!' And the knights gave up their shields and armor, not wanting to fight the villagers. “And the people loved the drake for saving them from the knights. Then the drake laughed, and terrorized the land of the foolish prince, eating their sheep and cows and burning the town. All the knights of the land of the foolish prince came together to fight the dragon, but they had no shields and no swords; they had given them up so they wouldn't be the dragon. And so the foolish prince's land was lost to the drake, who was the son of the dragon. “So the wise prince saw his foolish brother's land, and went in with his knights with their swords and armor, and they drove the drake off. And the king said, 'the wise prince has saved his brother's land, so to him I give all the land.' And so the people of the foolish prince's land were ashamed forever, for they had been foolish and forgotten what the dragon was like, but the wise prince lived happily ever after, now the prince of both lands.” Big Mac closed the storybook in the dark bedroom at Sweet Apple Acres. He was only a young colt. Crickets filled the warm, humid night air with their gentle, calming, rhythmic chorus just outside the window. Buttercup watched him say goodnight to his sister from the doorway nearby. Big Mac looked over his baby sibling. She laid peacefully sleeping in her crib. “Goodnight, Applejack,” he told the sleeping foal, waking her up for a brief moment with a little kiss on her forehead, thus closing Gold Will's life, and creating Applejack's earliest memory. She would live the rest of her life – go to Manehatten as a filly, return and earn her cutie mark, learn to farm, make friends, defeat Nightmare Moon and a slew of other villains, learn about her alicorn friend's book, then one night, remember her life as Gold Will because of a hair put in a book – if only for a moment, before re-entering the dark world again, but this time to save Rarity with her other friends... and this time, as Applejack.