Stirring in his sleep, the prince slowly woke up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before realizing that he was currently lying on a nonexistent surface made of what looked like water in the middle of a clear day reflecting below as above merging in the distance and making it impossible to see the horizon or distinguish between the two.
Confused, he sat up and started to look around for any clues or landmarks to orient himself by.
Where the hell am I now?
"Blueblood?"
The prince was startled and jumped back when he saw Desire lying behind him, equally confused and still apparently, recovering from their duel, judging by how she was occasionally panting and holding her chest where he last struck. "What are you doing here?"
Confused, he tried to reach for his weapons only to find them missing. With suspicion, he eyed the dragon and a raised eyebrow. "You mean to tell me this isn't your doing?"
"No, in fact, you shouldn't be able to be here without help. And none of my siblings would take you here, not even Discord. He would never play such a horrible joke like this."
"What is this place anyway?"
To his growing surprise, she looked down in grief. "It is a plane of existence outside of your reality. My siblings and I all have our own. Think of it as our home universe with emphasis on home, but this place?" She looked around. "It once belonged to someone dear to all of us, one that is long gone."
"Don't lose faith, sister." In shock, Desire looked up and then around frantically for the source of that voice, one that Blueblood was more than familiar with. From the water emerged the same alicorn specter that had been aiding him so far, only this time her body was foggier and in constant changing, growing from an infant into a senior and back in a loop. "I'm still here" With a calm smile, she addressed Blueblood. "And I apologize for bringing you to my domain, your highness, but I'm afraid there is much to discuss and not a lot of…."
"DESTINE!" Wailing her eyes out, Desire stood up and launched herself into the alicorn, hugging her tight as if fearing she might disappear if she were to let go. "You're alive! Oh, thank all the heavens above! You're alive and well!…sort of, but how? Why? the last we knew you…."
Destine returned the gesture and allowed her sister to bend a little, recovering from the surprise. Blueblood decided to stay quiet as he didn't have the heart to ruin their moment.
"I'm happy to see you too, sister" Eventually, Destine ended the hug, "And nothing would make me happier than for us to catch on lost time. Unfortunately, as I said, time is of the essence, and the Prince must hear my pleas." She pointed at him. "Now that he has overcome the alluring lust and reached the halfway point of his trials, the ripples in fate are finally weak enough for us to speak properly at long last, even if only briefly." She then looked at Desire once more with a calm smile. "But I would appreciate it if you could tell our family that I'm ok."
"I will." Desire nodded a couple of times, cleared her eyes, and sniffed before looking at her again. "I will, sis."
"Uh, excuse me, I don't want to ruin this family moment, but what do you mean by 'pleas'?" Blueblood took several steps toward the reunited siblings, having waited enough for an answer.
"Of course, allow me to explain." Destine nodded and stepped forward, stomping on the water, sending out a ripple that changed everything from a clear sky to a dark void where thousands of golden strings could be seen moving and intersecting in all directions serving as the light source. "Before, I could only speak briefly due to my cage's chains and constraints, but now my prison has weakened enough and long enough for us to meet. Allow me to finally explain the true nature of these trials and why I'm so invested in you changing your preordained fate."
Now more invested, the Prince sat down and listened intently. "Yeah, I have been trying to wrap my head around that too. By all intents and purposes, shouldn't I be your enemy or something? I mean, Blueblood was supposed to be…."
"…a background character meant to serve as nothing else but a lesson in how not all that shines is gold and was fated to blend into the crowd, be forgotten, and eventually perish unloved, alone, and with only one soul to remember his memory? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."
"Yep, I figured, no need to pull your punches or anything, Desire." The prince reply sarcastically and more than dejected by her brutal honesty.
"I'm with him, sis. You could have at least tried to soften the blow."
"I apologize. It has been more than a millennium since I could speak properly with anyone. Furthermore, this only reinforces my plea. Though before reaching the point, a little context is in order." Destine nodded and pointed to one of the strings. "As your teacher has already explained, ever since my existence, I have been in charge of registering, mapping, and determining the flow of destiny and fate of all that exists in the universe even after its conclusion."
Isolating one single string, she brought it closer to them. "Contrary to popular belief, the supposed road in anyone's life is anything but organized. No, the true nature of destiny is that three key factors mark it. The things set in stone by actions taken in the past. The current 'here and now", where each decision you make could be described as taking one path when at a crossroad with multiple directions. Lastly, there is the dark void of the unknown road yet explored. As the mare of fate is my duty to know everything and determine where every possible route will lead you and shed light on what might happen or how you could reach a certain goal by following precise steps."
The end of the string was lost in a dark void until she illuminated it, revealing how it continued expanding, changing direction, and even splitting in various directions where one path glowed. In contrast, the others lost their lights and crumbled into dust. "Nothing is guaranteed, nothing can be predictable, and nothing is impossible. That is how destiny operates. It is the ever-moving machinery of choice and chance. Like a scale constantly exchanging its weights between the plates, a cosmic dance, random and unreadable beyond a couple of steps ahead.
but most importantly, it IS harmonious." She explained, spinning in place with her forehooves in the air in happiness. All the while, the strings continued to move and change directions creating shapes and even alluding to explosions and a starry night all around them. Generating a calming and appealing kaleidoscope of colors.
"Things were way more fun with you in charge, Desti" Desire nodded, reminiscing about the old days.
"And it means there is still hope for me yet, right? I mean, you said it yourself. Nothing is set in stone. Which means anyone can become anything, right?"
All of a sudden, the movement ceased, and the golden light dimmed down, making everything colder Desire stomped down forcefully, causing Blueblood to flinch as Destine sighed in frustration for a moment. "It was supposed to be like that." She managed to utter in barely contained anger until Desire approached and put her hand on Destiny's neck.
"Pay attention to this young Prince, for this is how everything really should be." Having calmed down, she sighed and walked towards him once more while looking at his strings, still frozen in place. "This crazy web of strings in front of you? Free will to build and march down your path and nothing already predetermined? This is how things were before that dreadful day."
Suddenly the sound of ripping paper can be heard all over the place, and the strings start to move and tear apart like crazy as they are pulled and tightened to their breaking point. "The day my book was split, the damage went beyond my current predicament. The disaster also put the stream of fate under tremendous pressure until it cracked and brought everything to a screeching, sudden stop."
Stopping the ground again, the group found themselves in the middle of a busy street with ponies going about their daily lives. "I believe you are familiar with the events before my arrival. That is not how I announced my presence, young Prince. That is what happens when I lose control of my given chore." Hearing the ripping sound once more, the Prince saw how things turned gray and left everything frozen.
"Destiny is not only the notion of a predetermined or chosen path, but we are also directly linked to the concept of time and space, since without destiny. There can't be a future to explore, present to choose, or past to record."
"Reality itself… all frozen in place?" Blueblood asked in total shock at the revelation as Destine nodded and proceeded.
"Then, as a blessing in disguise, my brother Discord, in one of his many pranks, kick-started my work once more thanks to his nature of escaping logic and brought forth the era of chaos. I don't need to remind you what that entailed then, right?" Behind them, appeared the mosaic of Discord terrorizing Equestria with screams in the background and Discord's laughter.
"The region of Discord!" Blueblood's eyes widened in horror. "But how? Without time or space…."
Both sisters give him a deadpan look, "…right Agent of the illogical, so…he resumed time then? Also, he didn't interfere during the times of the three tribes or when the pillars were around because of you?"
"In a way, although not being his opposite, each time my brother messes around with the lives of others, I move some ‘strings’ here and there to make sure to tip the balance to prevent a reign of chaos. So, when my power went out of control, he truly didn't have anything to stop him. Not until the birth of the elements of harmony, which put an end to his antics and kick-started the flow of time once more. Unfortunately, with my current condition, I could not control my powers. Instead, I was immobilized and trapped inside my stream of destiny as they cluster around me and advance incorrectly."
Everything returns to black, and the golden strings reappear from the darkness. Though, instead of forming a web, they all spiral wrap around Destine until her body is engulfed by a rope that rocketed upward within an intense golden aura while rotating clockwise. "And so, our invisible cage was formed" Illuminating her horn, she revealed her body inside the cluster of strings with her division branching in and out occasionally in an attempt to escape.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Blueblood raises his hooves at her. "You're telling me that everything happened after Discord was turned into stone…."
"Has it been predetermined? That is exactly what happened. Do you understand when I say that you were supposed to be a background character and nothing more than a lesson? That is not so much an insult as it is a prison sentence, just like Twilight is meant to be a Princess and Pinkie is meant to host parties. Everything was already decided even before you were born, a blessing for those destined for greatness, a curse for all meant to die, live in misery, or fade into the background with no hope of changing their life." She sighed and looked down in sorrow.
Blueblood looked at Desire neutrality. "Why didn't you do something? Aren't you outside the stream too? This realm you talked about. It seems like you could break this straight line anytime you wanted."
The dragoness only shook her head. "We could not even if we tried. It's one thing to try our hand at each other's job. It is entirely another to do the job. You saw what happened with Discord? He took over, and nothing changed. It just stopped, and he was and still is the best option. Not many ponies realize it, but for all the time he was in charge, time didn't flow. Everything was filled with chaos and contradictions, including how babies born years apart were now twins, and no matter what happened, nothing aged.
If I or any other of our family had tried, things might have turned the same or even worse." She defended herself. "That is why Destine is our strongest sibling. Only she could truly control the flow of time and space, and all of us, even Discord, to a minor degree is linked to her stream of fate."
"It is as she says. This cage encompasses all, your highness, even the eternal spirit. Correcting it will be like asking an ant to move an elephant by itself."
"But is it ok for this ant to try then?" He raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself.
Destine can only nod in pity. "But not as an ant. Rather, as the anomaly, you are. You are possibly the only one who can break this cage, free us and bring back free will at long last."
Charging her horn, Destine shows Blueblood's string growing stronger despite having a pitch-black section in its middle. "As we established, you were meant to be a background character with no impact in the great story, even in the end. Your death wouldn't have been anything else but a stepping stone for another plan, but now, for the first time ever, a new story is being written as we speak. In doing so, like a magnet, you slowly have allowed others to escape their determined roles and choose their own paths."
As if to demonstrate her point, other strings start to pull away from the original cluster and are drawn to Bluebloods. As they entered, the golden aura surrounded the clustered string. "But the act of going against destiny is not enough. Like gravity, the force trapping me is also doing what it can to set you back onto the path of what was supposed to happen from the start, just like what has happened with others attempting the same." She shows memories of Starlight's travels in the past and to different worlds. As a result, each time a jump occurred, her string made a U-turn to a specific point in time and diverged into a new future, but all of those strings bounced back against a golden aura that placed them back on the same track.
Only his string remained, fighting the barrier as it trembled while advancing to the edge that obstructed it.
"Wait, so all these trials are that strange barrier acting as a prison trying to force me back into what should have happened from the start?" He gulped at the implications. "It's trying to kill me as I was supposed to die in the first place?"
"Not only kill you but make your death serve the purpose of another, one specific pony to be precise. I wish for you to ascend, Blueblood." Destine pleaded to him, sounding desperate. "Because you were fated to die a unicorn, with not a friend to weep for you and only one to remember your passing, if you were to ascend, then that fate would no longer be possible, and the resulting chain reaction would break the barrier at long last." Showing a dramatization, Destine created a copy of Blueblood sprouting wings, generating an explosion that unraveled the string and made them all flow back into the earlier pattern as well as freeing Destine.
"If you become an alicorn, it will herald not only my release as a new destiny was forged beyond the original plan, but once more the concept of choice could return to everyone, so I plead and beg you, your majesty. Will you aid me in saving us all from this cage?"
After recovering from the surprise, Blueblood smiled and nodded. "You can count on me, Destine, just you wait. For no matter what happens, I will become the stallion that would reach the skies and beyond."
Pleased by his answer, Destine nodded and shed a tear. "Thank you so much, your highness. At long last, I can let myself have hope once more." Her body then started to fade. "Our time grows short. You must return to reality soon." She waved her hoof into the air. "Be careful on your path ahead, young Prince. This is what was originally fated to happen and the barrier if fighting to make it a reality."
Desire's eyes were wide in surprise at her sister's proclamation, as Blueblood could feel his body pull back and everything around them started to fade.
Blueblood could read the words 'Sharp Shooter subtly assassinates Blueblood' in thin air, but the word 'subtly' was beginning to fade. "Each trial passed will erase more of this prophecy, keeping it from coming true. But make no mistake. Fate will not give up so easily, and in its final moments, it will not care how it happens just as long as Sharp Shooter is the cause."
"Wait! I have more questions! Why me? Will the same result happen if my killer can't do it? Can I see you again?"
"We'll aid you all we can. Unfortunately, all we can do with our current power is awake the golem of your roots to aid you should it be required! For now, keep persevering, young Prince. You are halfway to your goal." Destine was encouraged while he struggled to see both spirits as if through a long tunnel.
"Blueblood! Please find me when you wake up. I want to help too and need to warn you. I messed up big time!" Desire suddenly yelled at him, "It's my sister! … Please…trust…let me help…." He couldn't make sense of anything else she was saying as everything faded to black, and the next thing he knew, Blueblood was gasping for air as he awoke back in one of the hotels' rooms.
"Blueblood!" Looking to his right, Blueblood saw Cadence with a slightly messy mane carrying a wet towel and a bucket before she promptly dropped it and ran toward him, embracing her cousin. "You are awake! Thank the stars you weren't affected!" She tightened the hug and nuzzled the side of his head as he tried to recover.
"Affected?" He looked at her confused as she ended the hug before clearing a tear from her eye and nodding. "A lot of things have happened since you passed out. There is so much I need to tell you, but it can wait a bit. The important thing is that you're back, now let's get you something to eat. You must be starving."
Indeed, as his cousin said those words, the prince held his stomach as he felt particularly famished, and the organ in question made its displeasure known with constant growling. Other than that, he could also detect a thin film of sweat all over his body and the faint scent of body odor, clueing him in on how much he needed a bath.
"Candy, how long was I asleep?" The question made her pause and sighed in pity before looking back at him. "One week."
"That long, eh?" He sighed too and looked down as she nodded. "You spent so much energy and magic in that last duel that I was afraid of moving you too much. Luckily the hotel had a doctor on site who told us you only needed rest. I have been tending to you ever since."
"Oh, Candy, thank you" He smiled and wanted to hug her again but refrained from doing so after remembering his condition. "Once I take a bath, remind me to give you a hug."
"Duly noted, and it was nothing, Bluey. I'm sure you would have done the same for me if our roles were reversed" She chuckled and nodded once, hiding the twitch of her nose, not doubt trying her best to be polite.
"Indeed" He nodded once before his expression turned grim. "But what about your kingdom? Oh, my god, how are the other Princes and Princesses! Are they okay? Are they affected too? Or our aunts? I'm grateful and sorry I forced you into cleaning up my mess, but…."
She silenced him by shushing and placing her hoof on his mouth. "As I said, there is plenty to discuss, but regarding The Crystal Empire. As much as I wish I could go help Shiny, there are more pressing matters to attend to." She approached the curtain and grabbed one edge with her magic, "And I just didn't have the heart for you to wake up to this image."
Pulling the curtains open, Blueblood's eyes widen in surprise and fear when he notices how the sky is all wrong, and it is currently showing both night and day at the same time.