//------------------------------// // Millennia of Sky // Story: Shattered Worlds // by Midnightshadow //------------------------------// The CONVERSION ►Bureau ═════════════════════════════════════ Shattered Worlds Millennia of Sky ═════════════════════════════════════ An MLP:FiM Fanfiction by Midnight Shadow Aching pumps, shuddering with every cycle, finally ground to a halt. The noise wasn't defeaning, but the sheer presence of tonnes of specialized machinery failing at distinct point after distinct point was palpable. In the deserted complex, lights flickered as whirring dynamos spun down and sought to distribute suddenly-excess load across failsafes which hadn't ever been used. Somewhere, in an empty control room, a single red light lit up. Then another, and another, and another. Flash after flash lit up the confined space in a sea of red and amber. Finally, the control system let it be known that the worst of all possible occurences had taken place. Outside the confines, on high fences ringed by miles of curled razor-wire, warnings lights lit up and began to spin as deep mournful sirens wailed. Deep below, on a pedestal of rock, lay a chest. At first glance it was quite a simple chest, nothing ornate. It was obviously made for one purpose - to keep whatever was inside it on the inside. It was a whitish-grey, though the tubes leading from it were filled with a deep red liquid. The same warm, sticky liquid pooled around the pedestal, dripping from the tubes where the seals were failing. The distant, now-silent pumps had been attached to these tubes, and had been responsible for siphoning off the red liquid, and spiriting it away to where it was measured out, processed, managed and supplied to the few, specialized places that had a need of it. Now, of course, the pumps were silent, and the red liquid was building up. It was small, at first. The drips became a steady stream, and they in turn became spurts, and soon to rivulets of red. The pool beneath the chest - never small - grew and grew until it formed a large puddle and then, charitably, a small lake. Pressure built up behind the tubes, and could not be denied. Inevitably, the latches popped. The seal broke, and the lid of the chest burst open. Outwards poured a sticky, red stream. It steamed, like hot breath on a winter's morning, but the heat did not dissipate. For a while, there was silence. The lid remained open, though the torrent had subsided. Slowly, however, the lid raised. Millimeter by millimeter, centimetre by centimeter, until it was clear that something inside was growing, pushing the lid further and further up. Weight shifted, until the box fell from the pedestal, disgorging it's contents into the red puddle. The box fell, the impetus of it's fall arrested by the sizeable puddle, splashing away, to leave a shapeless mass of flesh and bone writhing. The mass moved. It squirmed, it wriggled, it shook. Most of all, it grew. It was an odd lump of flesh; two ear-like protuberances, matted and swollen from being submerged in the red liquid, two wildly-staring orbs that looked like eyes, two large cavernous nostrils, and all of this attached to an elongated skull-like frame, over which was stretched white fur, tipped with a long, pearly-white horn. As the mass grew, it changed, it firmed out. It solidified. A neck, first extending like some macabre scaffolding, then filling out with sinew, muscle and skin, draped from the back of the head. A chest appeared, a backbone, legs, a tail. Inside this grisly spectre of modern art, specks of flesh blossomed into being like fungus. Almost as an afterthought, a plump, roughly spherical organ began to beat in a regular rhythym. It was a heart. When the lungs and vocal chords were both reformed, the creature screamed. It screamed long, it screamed loud, and it screamed painfully. The scream itself, born of an aeon of darkness, loss, loneliness and torture, hurt in ways which were barely describable, even to the creature itself, which had withstood an eternity of oblivion. Even as flesh regrew, even as wings sprouted feathers, even as every outward sign of injury melted away like morning mist, the creature screamed. Celestia, last princess of Equestria, ruling goddess of the day, regent of the sun, though she barely remembered her own name, got to her hooves, and screamed. She spread her wings, stretched out her head, and screamed. And she screamed. And she screamed. And she screamed. She looked up, and saw a box, only larger than before. Boxes. She would stand no more boxes. She would bear no more cages. She would suffer no more chains. Her primal scream of pain and loss thundered through the air between here and the rock, and the rock melted under the assault. With a single great flap of her wings, she rose upwards. Caring not for mere mass and matter between her and the open sky, she pummeled her way upwards. Rock, metal, earth - none of it would stand between her and her goal. Moments later, her great white wings slammed their way up through the ground, to emerge into burning bright sunlight and blue skies. For a singular moment, a single moment of peace, she was free. Then euphoria gave way to anger, and anger became rage. She had been sequestered away in darkness and eternal pain, cut off from her children, denied her liberty and denied even the simple dignity of her own body. It had been an outrage, a travesty, and an insult beyond measure. She had only one need, retribution. All her rage, all her pain, it all demanded an answer. Feathers burning with the heat of a thousand suns, Celestia forged through the skies on wings of flame to descend upon her enemies, mankind, who had sought to strike her down. *** The Custodian stretched as he stood up. Breathing deeply, he seated his yen and finally allowed his eyes to open. All things within balance, he told himself. Lifting an aged staff into his hands, the man smiled softly to nothing in particular, and strode from his simple wooden dwelling. His tasks were close at hand, as they always were. Oracle knew best where he would need to be. "Little One," he called out, "tell me of your problems." Sweet Blossom looked up, pouting. "It's this dumb weather tower, it won't listen to me!" The Custodian chuckled to himself, "are you sure you have the right words?" "I do! I know I do!" "Sing them to me, then!" The Custodian laughed, good naturedly, as Sweet Blossom sang a few bars of her favourite nursery-rhymes. "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!" Sweet Blossom looked up, but the clouds still resolutely swirled, promising water from the sky. She tried again. "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man's snoring!" Nothing. Not a drop, either. "Hmm, oh my, yes. Come then, weather tower, away with you now." The Custodian beat his staff against the ground twice, and waited as, grudgingly, the vast crystal monolith sank into the ground. Sweet Blossom's muzzle fell open. "Where did it go?" "Back into the Earth, dear Sweet Blossom, where all things must go in the end, even you and I. But look! A fresh weather tower springs forth, even now." The Custodian pointed, and what first appeared to be a tiny little hillock, soon burst into an open mound, from which the sharp protrusion of a crystal weather-tower could be seen. In moments, the diminutive spike had blossomed into a full-blown edifice, towering above both man and pony alike. "Now try, my dear Sweet Blossom. Sing to it with your heart, and it shall answer. The weather will always be thus for you ponies." "Well, alright then." Sweet Blossom closed her eyes, and sang again. "We're all going on a summer holiday!" As she opened her eyes, a wide smile filled her muzzle. The grey, forboding clouds fled, leaving nothing but the sun behind. "Yay! You did it!" The Custodian shook his head, tousling the mane of the little pony. "No, my dear, you did it. I shall be off now, but call again if you need me." He bowed, then straightened and turned around, Oracle nudging him towards his next task for the day. He smiled inwardly as the pony behind him began singing to herself. He heard the ground sigh as it parted beneath her plough, and the seeds rejoice at their new home as she planted her crop. It was a simple affair - carrots, onions, potatoes - but she did it with such relish and gusto. Suddenly, The Custodian found himself stopping. He turned his head to the side as he felt a presence before him. Oracle couldn't see it properly, which was very odd, but could feel it's effects. As his steps slowed, he realized he could feel it, too. Heat, warmth. "Hello?" he called. He blinked, he could feel the heat now, it was like a massive bonfire. "Is anyone there?" "Human," hissed a voice. The malice and anger in such a voice startled him. "I... madame? Forgive me, I know not who you are." "You do not know me, human? You do not recall the goddess you imprisoned, the deity you trapped, deep within the earth, in the endless dark?" The Custodian stumbled, shocked. He leaned against his staff, and then fell back onto his backside. "I do remember," he said, "They called you Celestia." "They call me, human! Call! Do you not see what is plainly in front of your face?" The voice was haughty, angry, spitting mad. Sadly, The Custodian shook his head. "Madame, I am blind." There was a moment of silence, and then the heat dissipated, almost at once. "What?" "I am blind, your highness. I have little need of sight, but I regret to inform you this body is blind." "You... are blind? I would have my rage dashed against a blind cripple?" The voice grew harsh and angry again. "Fetch me another of your kind, cripple. I would have them see me before I end their miserable existence!" The Custodian stood up and dusted himself off, reaching a hand inside his robes. Gently, he took out four objects. They had been given to him a long time ago, and he had thought that he would never see their use. Smiling softly and indulgently to himself, he caressed the strange devices as he placed them at the hooves of the interloper. "Your Highness, I can fetch no others. There are no others. I am the last." "The... last?" "The last human. Before you, kneels the last of mankind." The Custodian dropped to one knee. "And my life is yours, but I beg of you nothing but one final request - hear me out." There was a snort, but the voice echoed through his ears, "Go on." The Custodian touched the first object. "This is a diamond, from Equestria. Shaped through our tools, it is nevertheless Equestrian through and through. It is the repository of thirty billion souls, ten billion of which exist without any backups. We give you this, the most precious thing we have, ourselves, for you to do with as you please." There was an outraged silence, then Celestia spoke. "Thirty... billion?" "Within this crystal, run circuits powered by sunlight, computation and storage rolled into one. Enough exists in this one crystal for a thousand earths, and each one populated by the data-ghost of a human. They... live as in a dream, your Highness. And at your will, they will cease to be. Crush them beneath your hooves, as is your right." "Crush? But..." "Long ago, you were wronged. They have decided that this is to be their penance. A life for a life. We know not how far the devastation reached in your world, but it is likely to be far. We give a fair trade." "Enough! To talk so easily of slaughter! What else have you, human?" "Two flasks, one of potion, one of poison. Should you not wish to end my life by your own hooves, I may end it for you. If I take the poison, it will eat me away, and I shall turn to ash." "You would..?" The voice sounded horrified. "I understand that... you may not understand the weight of lives in the gem. So my life, the life of the last of humans, is yours to do with as you please." "And the final object?" The Custodian lifted the small, round object carefully. "A pearl unlike any other. Millennia ago, terrible weapons burned a world. Where these weapons touched, matter collapsed into nothing. In the blink of an eye, the field these weapons produced ceased to exist, but that brief moment was enough. Total collapse of the signature waveform followed, annihilating all matter everywhere within that mode of existence. This pearl contains all that is left of the gateway between here and there. We... could not open it again, but we could protect it. It is now yours. I await your decision, your Highness. The Custodian bowed his head, listening only to the hoof-beats of the pony as she stomped back and forth. Finally, she spoke again. "What happened?" "Your Highness," The Custodian replied hesitantly, "A thousand years passed, or more, since you were imprisoned. We... grew. We flourished, and we did it with your children. Your children... became our children. And our children outgrew their cradle." The Custodian pointed skywards, where he could feel another source of heat. "Do you see that cloud? It looks so very, very far away?" "I do." "At the centre of that cloud lies a star, drained of many heavier elements. Surrounding it is a swarm of smart-matter, rocks that can think. Our children dismantled the inner solar system, prising apart the planets for raw materials. They devoured the outer rings, the gas giants, and the rockier planets. But... they kept the Earth. They sent it all the way out here, to the Oort cloud, the very edge of the system, with a new, artificial sun to warm it, whilst they populated the inner spaces. Out there, in that cloud, lives a society a billion, billion times larger than that which lies spread out upon the face of this planet. They are what humanity became, but they are not human. With me dies what used to be the race which wronged you." The Custodian heard the pony turn, and heard her wings flutter. She sighed. "I sought to burn you, and your world... but I cannot." "This world... we gave it to your children a long time ago. Only I remain, servant to their needs. With your freedom, planned by Mankind's children once they were beyond your reach, I serve no purpose. For three hundred years, I have walked the green fields and dark forests of this Earth. Now, all ten thousand of my alternate selves have breathed their last, as we have shared words." "What?!" "I am... truly the last. Everything they were, I now am. Ten thousand mornings..." The Custodian was silent. "I saw through their eyes, and this planet is beautiful. Now, it is yours. From pole to pole stretches an endless expanse of life, a world holding six billion ponies, tens of millions of griffon, millions of diamond dogs, an unknown number of dragons, and enough terran-based life to support them all for a million millennia." A hoof pushed a vial forwards. "Drink, then, and accept your fate." Trembling, The Custodian lifted the proffered vial, unstoppered it, and drank. As he fell over and felt sleep claiming him, he was grateful atleast that his end would not be painful. *** The ground beneath his feet was grassy, and wet. Custodian blinked. Slowly, shapes began to form. Those shapes resolved themselves into blades of grass. It took him a moment to work out what he was seeing. Then it struck him, he was seeing. "Are you going to lie there all day?" asked a regal voice. Custodian looked up to see a huge pony, much larger than he remembered from his other bodies. She was large, white, with a horn and wings. Gingerly, he got to his feet. "I... must apologize. I had not thought to be doing much walking, once I was dead." "Well we all have to die sometime, but that's no reason to take it lying down. Come with me." "As you wish, your Highness." Custodian got to his feet, and began plodding after the large mare. What seemed like several hours later, Celestia grew tired of waiting for him, and she grabbed him in her teeth and hauled him onto her back. Moments later, and the creature had sprung into the air. Custodian gasped as the ground fell away, to reveal an expanse of empty greenery. There weren't many trees or bushes, and there seemed to be no birds or animals. Looking up, he couldn't spot the sun. It made sense, he guessed, that there would be no sun in the land of the dead. He hadn't really expected to travel through the land of the dead with Celestia, though. He hadn't really expected to travel through it at all. As they travelled, he thought he heard hoofbeats, thunderous staccato impacts of countless ponies, but he could see none of them. When they landed at an abandoned, broken-down city built into a mountain, the feeling of hooves and motion surrounded him even heavier, but still there was nothing he could see. He kept spotting movement out of the corner of his eyes, but he chalked that up to not having had sight before entry into this strange netherworld. Dutifully, he trotted after the alicorn, through door after door, until they reached an empty throne room. Countless stained-glass friezes surrounded what was an otherwise unremarkable, run-down room. He could tell, though, that it had once been opulent beyond belief. The carpet was bare, if whole. The thrones were intact, even the curtains held the promise of gloss. Celestia stood to one side, and gestured. From somewhere up above, a perfect golden shaft of sunlight spilled down into the room, illuminating a single spot before two thrones - one golden, the other a dark royal blue.. "This is now your last task, human. Walk into the light." "And... I will die?" "Walk into the circle of light, and the last human shall be no more." "Then, may I just ask that with this one deed, you forgive us." Custodian steeled himself, and stepped forwards. As the light hit him, he had expected it to burn. It didn't. It felt warm, comfortable even. In moments, he found himself standing in the middle of the light, on all fours. He hadn't really noticed the conversion, but as he thought about it, he realized he was no longer humanoform. He was shaped like a pony. He seemed to have, in fact, the body of a pony, perfect in every way. He could twitch his ears, swish his tail, and his nostrils flared wide with barely a thought. "Celestia?" he asked, "I... thought you said I was going to die?" "Well you will," the alicorn replied airily, "eventually. I didn't say it would be today." "But... but..." the surprised ex-human turned around and around, finally turning back to see Celestia had walked right up to the edge of the shaft of sunlight. She leaned closer. "Gotcha." *** The pearl was tiny, and yet it contained within it everything that millions of ponies and their world had become. The hoof that came down upon it was vast, but nowhere as near as vast as the infinities barely constrained inside the relatively mundane-looking jewel. The pearl split open, and from it poured forth the universe. A roiling mass of energy swirled chaotically around the shattered remains of the rock-like object for a brief moment, before swelling and growing, exploding outwards in a soundless, ceaseless mesh. Where it passed, the ground stretched and swelled. Rocks became mountains, puddles became oceans, trees became forests and bushes became savannah. As the animals passed through, they shook themselves as if having woken from slumber, and then they looked around with new eyes, and a new understanding. And where the ponies passed, they changed beyond measure. Their coats became brighter, their eyes sparkled, their manes shone. For some, marks appeared on their flanks, for others, they sprouted wings, or horns. And all through this tempest of change, one creature stood firm and tall, and when the rupture turned in upon itself and sealed the human world away, Celestia threw back her head, and sang. Two worlds, one a dream that was not a dream, another the waking expanse of the before and after, burst into colour and light, and billions upon billions of hooves converged upon their goddess as the sun rose once more. There would be day, and there would be night. There would be the sun, and there would be the moon. On her chest hung a jewel, the promise of thirty billion futures, and at her hooves stretched her people. She would need to heal, but she had time. They all had time. They had millennia, and they had their sky.