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// II - The God 
// Story: The End of Days 
// by InfiniteBrony 
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	It was dark, and empty, utterly so. All the world was nothing, a blank void in which the absence of everything and anything was absolute. The nothingness was great and terrible, stretching out into infinity until all that was, was naught. 

Quite suddenly, the not-space was violently rent in twain, and filled with sound and light as a fissure tore itself open the fabric of the not-space itself, spilling forth the endless existence of another reality. As it did, the not-space gained substance, and became whole. It filled, and grew, until there was a simple expanse of solid light and swirling mists. Slowly, two figures emerged from the rent in space. 

They emerged side by side, gingerly stepping hoof upon the glowing field of solid starlight as the cosmic doorway silently shut behind them. As soon as the portal closed the loss of its energy caused the two of them to collapse as gravity reasserted its hold upon them. Slowly, they rose to their hooves, shaking their heads to clear the disorientation. Blinking to clear and adjust their eyes, they both gasped in awe at the strange and alien beauty all around them. All around was a softly glowing field of multi-colored solidified light beneath their hooves, slowly shifting and fluctuating through the spectrum, and changing in reaction to their presence as they moved by.  Swirling around them was an ever shifting and flowing mist of cosmic dust and ice, giving the whole space an alien and ethereal quality as it muted and blurred the various lights that danced within its depths. There was something more to this strange place though, something that could be seen or felt. It was a strange thing, a distant sensation and a close feeling, like they could feel gazes on their back and tugging at their hearts. Most of all though, the whole space simply sung with a sense of pure alien power. 

“Sister, what is this pace?” they younger of the two asked breathlessly, gazing around in wide-eyed wonder, carefully reaching out with a hoof to touch a were-light floating in the cosmic mist, only to flinch back as it danced away from her probing hoof. 

“I don’t know, but I’ve never seen anything like it,” Celestia answered just as breathlessly, albeit more composed than her little sister. She began to step forward tentatively, putting each hoof down carefully as if the ground beneath her would suddenly give way and shatter like glass at any moment. 

After several moments of careful examination on the part of Celestia and gazing about in wonder on the part of Luna, Celestia was satisfied that the ground was stable and began walking, calling over her shoulder, “Come on Luna, don’t forget that we came here for a reason. Let’s find whatever it is we’re looking for.” 

Nodding absently, Luna turned to her sister. “Yes sister, let’s—“ she began, before she was cut off by a sudden and terrible presence. 

Before they could begin searching the strange and alien space, Something appeared before them.  

The sight of it was too much for them to bear, and they both turned away before they were blinded, the thing glowing hotly like a million stars. Its mere presence was overwhelming, driving both the divine sister to their knees and stealing the breath from their lungs as it crushed them, the very space around them reacting to it, the mist swirling and ebbing ever faster and the lights flaring brightly. It spoke to them, and its voice was like the shrieking of the heavens and the gnashing of the earth, searing and tearing at their suddenly feeble minds as they struggled to comprehend it, madness driving itself into their hearts. 

“Sol-ka-Diem? Selene-ka-Nocte? Salem na veridos? Muud, na kae lut arred seit ma kae Aren? Duos seit wveit Equii?” 

The two sisters were unaware of the strange words the great being spoke, they only knew madness and agony as they writhed upon the ground, hooves clamped tight against bleeding ears to block out the eldritch noise and eyes bleeding from the alien light, as raw and agonized screams tore from their throats. All their world was pain and suffering and insanity and screams. They could not think or hear or see or feel and all they knew was painful, abrupt, forced mortality and insignificance as they were slowly destroyed bit by bit, wholly and utterly, simply by being in the mere presence of this Greater Being. 

And then, it stopped. 

The blinding light faded, leaving a soft glow and harsh after-images in their eyes. The pressure of Its presence dissipated until it was no more than a soft breeze or a gentle wave, washing upon them and caressing them. The noise died away to a soft whisper. 

For several moments the two of them simply lay there, panting and recovering from the metaphysical beating they just endured. After a while they both managed to shakily rise to their hooves and catch their breath, their backs to It. They waited for the residual shaking to subside, and looked at each other, trepidation clear on each other’s faces. Nodding once to each other, they steeled themselves, and turned to face whatever it was that had found them. 

Naturally, it was nothing like they expected. 

There before them stood an Alicorn. And what an Alicorn it was. He was absolutely massive, standing no less than over a dozen times the height of Celestia herself, not including his enormous horn which was easily the height of a small building by itself. His coat was a deep and pure gray, His mane, tail and eyes a solid, glowing, stark white. Strangest of all though, were His wings. Unlike any creature they had ever seen before, instead of a single pair of wings He had six, three on each side, some of them doing their best to wrap and conceal His faintly glowing body and others stretched out and flared, seeming to reach up to the heavens and fill the cavernous space. His expression was rather hard to read, due most in part to His eyes being not much more than glowing orbs, but it seemed to be neutral. He spoke to them, His mouth not moving as His voice came from nowhere and everywhere, soft as a feather and deep as a mountain. 

“My apologies. It has been quite some time since any being of flesh stood in my presence. I had forgotten how fragile you could be, and just how easily my true visage and true voice can destroy you.” 

The two sisters only stared in awe as He spoke. Their eyes trailed up and down His massive frame, doing their best to take it all in. For while after He spoke, there was only a quiet and reverent hush as they did their best to take in His words and form. After a while, Celestia finally managed to work up the courage to speak, all her regal bearing and decorum long forgotten. “Wh-who are you?” 

“I am no-one,” came the simple reply.

The two sisters looked at each other, similar thoughts going through their heads as their expressions showed perplexion and confusion. Just what was this great being before them, to answer such? After a moment, Luna’s greater curiosity got the better of her, and she cautiously took a step forward, looking up to him and innocently asking, “Um, what are you, exactly?’ 

They couldn’t be sure, but the two sisters briefly got the impression that He was smiling for just a moment before He answered, even though His face never moved. 

“I am everything, and I am nothing. I am the sea and the sky, the bend of the river and the stones of the earth. I am the beating of a bird’s wings and the cries of a child, the growth of a forest and the crackle of flames. I am thunder and lightning, crashing waves and trembling earth. I am the flow of time and the curve of space, the beginning and the end. I am the wind in your mane and the grass beneath your hoof, your hopes and dreams and the light of the stars. I am all that is, was and will ever be; fate, destiny and truth made real. I am all things, and I am nothing. I simply am.”

The divine sisters sat in silence, taking in all that was said as the various images and sensations that assaulted their minds as the great thing spoke slowly abated from a steady stream into a trickle and finally ceased. Slowly, it began to dawn on them just what it was that stood before them, and their knees became to shake with trepidation and fear. Many ponies, as well as changelings, gryphons, zebras, minotaurs and just about any other race of Terra believed Celestia and Luna, with their immense power, unending life and control over the celestial bodies to be goddesses. Most believed the two sisters to be living deities, the divine given flesh, and over the centuries there had even been worshipers, temples and offerings, prayers and pilgrims as the more mortal races sought out them and their guidance. After so long, the two sisters had even begun believing some of it themselves. 

Such notions had been completely shattered. 

Before them now stood a True God, divine and powerful in such ways they could not begin to comprehend. They were less than insects before Him, for He was so greater than them they were simply beneath His notice. If they had not intruded upon His domain, they could have gone their entire lives and beyond, until the very sun burned out and their world was dust and He could have never even known that Terra existed, let alone any of the creatures that lived upon it. He was something that had existed long before them, long before their very universe itself had been born, and He would continue to do so long after even the last star in the sky faded to ash. He was more than a mere entity, He was a force, a constant, a concept, a weaver of the very fabric of reality, existing in a manner far beyond their understanding and comprehension. He was the forces that be, fate itself, a True God. 

He shook them out of their trembling near catatonia when He spoke again. “I have told you of myself. Now, tell me of you,” He said in his great and terrible voice, in a tone indecipherable between angered demands and kind curiosity. 

Immediately, Celestia dropped to her stomach, prostrating herself before Him, Luna quickly following suit. “He Who Is,” Celestia spoke, her tone reverent, “I am Celestia, and this is my sister Luna. We are the wardens of the Sun and Moon of our world, leaders of our people and the Last Children of Alicornia.” 

Celestia briefly felt a strange and alien sensation as she finished talking, a sort of tight constriction all over her body as a flare of heat from inside threatened to burn her to ash for a split second and the gaze of a thousand eyes burning into the back of her neck from just out of sight. 

“I know of your kind. Tell me, why have you come to my domain, to this place between places?”

Without moving or even lifting her gaze from the ground beneath her, Celestia answered again, “We have come because we must, and to seek aid. Our world burns, and our people languish. War has consumed all the creatures of earth, sea and sky, and soon there will be nothing left but blood, pain and suffering. Even the very heart of our world itself lies besieged. Many ages ago, our greatest sage gave us the key to this place, and told us to use it only when our need was at its greatest. So we came here, seeking aid and not knowing what we would find, placing the fate of our people and our world in what may come of it.” 

For a single, unbearable moment, there was only silence. Then, He spoke.

“Why should I aid you?”

The sister’s hearts broke in two at the words, Luna barely managing to hold back a chocked sob and more crimson tears beginning to run down Celestia’s face.  “Please,” Celestia begged, her voice becoming clouded with emotion as it began to seem that all her efforts were in vain, “please, help us. If you don’t they’ll all die.”

Several long, painful, unbearable moments passed in silence, as the fate of their little ponies and their very world was decided by the God before them, the two sisters helpless to do anything but hope. After what seemed like a torturously long time, He spoke again. 

“What would you give?”

Both sisters gasped, leaping to their hooves as Celestia looked into His eyes, her own face marred again with red tears even as hope burned brightly in her eyes and she breathlessly exclaimed, “Anything.” 

For the briefest moment, both sisters got the distinct impression that he displayed some unreadable emotion, even though his face never moved. 

“Very well.”

The lights all around the strange not-place in which they stood dimmed briefly, as the two sisters felt their breath steal from them, showing in front of their mouths in a glowing silvery golden vapor as if it were a cold winter’s day,  and a chill ran down their spines. 

“It is done.”

For the first time since time since He appeared, He moved, leaning down until his muzzle occupied the space between the three of them, where two symbols had appeared, floating in the air. One was a simple pentagram, bobbing up and down slightly as if on an unseen wave, the other a side-ways figure eight contained in a circle, slowly spinning around. 

“He is my most devout child, and my greatest Paladin.”

“So you will help us then?” Luna exclaimed, speaking up and barely able to contain her joy as a wide filliyish grin split her face. 

“Oh, child…” He said, honestly smiling for the first time, even as everything went dark, and the two sisters knew naught but nothingness as they were once again hurled through the space between spaces, this time to home. 

“I already have.”