Bright light.
So beautiful.
So incandescent.
So serene.
The peace that the wall of white light gave Princess Celestia as she flew behind it was indescribable. The silence that surrounded her had helped to calm her frantically crazed mind, and she was tranquil in its caring embrace. She could still see in her mind’s eye everything that had transpired since recovering her memory: the flames coursing off of her human incarnation, then falling through a sea of nothing, only to find herself ready to slaughter the Queen of the Changelings back in Canterlot. A drop of guilt and melancholy entered her heart as she thought about the scene. Seven hundred years of constant care to transform herself from a radical, war-hungry tyrant into a compassionate, collected world leader, and in a matter of minutes all her forward progress had been stripped away.
The white light before her, which had brought her peace for who knew how long, was suddenly broken in its uniformity. Blue now tinted and swirled throughout it, and with the new image came a sound: the first sound Celestia had heard in what felt like an age. It started as a low grumble but slowly grew in pitch and volume, as if the noise itself had been drawn out over a long period of time.
ssssssttoooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOP!
The voice. She had heard it before she now realized: first when it had told her to banish Nightmare Moon to her lunar prison, then it inspired her to bind the Elements of Harmony to the moral principles Starswirl the Bearded had created, and finally it had commanded her to end the Changeling Queen’s life. The voice had convinced her to do things which had ultimately ended in some form of good in the past. Still, she was uncertain what benefit killing her insectoid counterpart would have had. Thinking that perhaps she owed it some small chance to explain itself, the Princess began to slow down.
The blue light quickly shrank into the distance beyond her ability to see. Darkness quickly replaced the light, with a few stars glimmering brightly against the backdrop of space. Small chunks of frozen vapor and mineral surrounded her, and to her right she saw a bright yellow sun. Initially she smiled as she basked in its rays, but as she looked at the vast background of celestial patterns it faded quickly. These stars weren’t the ones she recognized. Nothing matched up with what she knew from her many years studying astronomy in Canterlot or from her trips to high orbit around the earth. She unconsciously tried to speak, but as she opened her mouth she remembered that there was no atmosphere.
Just where am I anyway? She thought to herself as she drifted through the vacuum, while minute particles began to lazily orbit around her body.
You are near Gliese 3347 A, the voice replied to her at its usual speed, one of the many stars that make up the constellation of Orion.
Orion? she thought in confusion.
An image constructed of blue light appeared before her eyes against the dark backdrop. Small points of light shimmered to life while thin lines began to join them into a pattern she ultimately recognized: a minotaur brandishing a sword in one hand while holding a snake in the other.
In our world he is known as the Hunter, the voice replied before the familiar constellation shifted into the image of a swordsman holding aloft a lion, but to the humans he was Orion.
You know about the humans?
I know a great many things.
The blue light erupted silently into a portal that seemed to have no visible end.
Come. Destiny awaits.
I don’t believe in Fate, the Princess thought matter-of-factly.
You will believe in me soon enough, the voice replied, and the light engulfed her.
As the brightness faded Princess Celestia realized with a start that her hooves were suddenly on a crystalline floor: before her stood a similarly crafted dais with ivory columns sprouting up to create a dome over an equally crystalline basin. Hoofsteps softly echoed down to her, and she turned to look towards the sound.
A robed white stallion descended from out of the darkness above, crystal stairs appearing seemingly out of nothing to support his descent. As he reached trotting distance to the platform she stood on, the crystal of the levitating stairs merged with the structure beneath. When his last step from the stairs was completed, they dissolved into the platform altogether as if they had never existed. As he approached, the Princess observed new details of the mysterious unicorn. His mane and tail were a collection of different shades of blue that began to slide into grey, presumably because of advancing age. The robe he wore was deceptively plain in its appearance, but upon closer observation she realized that very thin lines of gold were woven into the fabric, seemingly clustered in some areas while microscopically thin in others. As he continued his advance toward her, though, the patterns and clusters seemed to fluidly shift, as if the whole garment was one fashionable optical illusion. His pupils were a deep blue, almost royally so, and appeared to be as fathomlessly deep as the ocean.
He finally stopped several feet away from the Princess, and looked at her with a gaze that seemed passive. His horn lit up with a blue light, and without warning Princess Celestia experienced a sensation unlike any she had ever felt. She saw within her mind an exact copy of herself and the stranger. The meaning of the conversation being had by the two passed through her mind so quickly that she didn’t have time to hear the words exchanged at all. A second scenario appeared alongside the first in her mind, once again containing the stranger and herself, and once again comprehension was forced on her, though this time somehow different. A third and fourth event occurred in tandem with the first two, then four more, then eight, sixteen, and thirty-two, sixty-four, then one hundred and twenty-eight. Princess Celestia experienced two hundred and fifty-six slightly different but similar conversations, and each offered her something new, as if each exchange was a reprise of a song, each with unique timbre, key, and tempo, but all simultaneously working in harmony.
Abruptly the vision ceased, and she whirled around to look at the mystical pony before her.
“I’m sure I’ve asked this before,” she realized aloud even as she tried to comprehend all of what had happened, “but who are you?”
The unicorn gave a slight smile, “You are right: you have asked that question many times, but only once here.” When he noticed Princess Celestia’s silent confusion, he bowed his head a little, “My apologies. It’s been so long since I’ve had direct interaction with another being, let alone another equine, that I’ve forgotten my manners. I am called Janus.”
“You were the one guiding me throughout my life,” she said for her own confirmation, “You were the voice in my head?”
“Yes, I am the voice,” he replied simply, “and I have directed many lives towards a great design.” He turned towards the dais and began to motion towards it, “Walk with me, please.”
Taking his request, she followed alongside him as they approached the dais, out of which grew a basin.
“This place is not governed by the reality most beings know,” Janus declared as he took the step up onto the elevated platform, “From here I can see and influence events all along our timeline: from before Equestria or even humanity’s existence, to the many ends of all things.” He turned to look at the Princess with a sad glance as he stepped in front of the basin, “It’s because of this that there is still hope, albeit growing fainter by the minute.”
“I don’t understand,” she replied as she took a place next to him in front of the basin, “Are you saying we’re in some sort of other reality?”
“Yes, just not as elaborate of one as Equestria’s, but more like a smaller dimension all its own; comparing the two would be like the difference between an ocean versus a cup of water.”
Princess Celestia nodded unconsciously as she processed the new information, and then looked intently at the unicorn sage, “When I was still being influenced by Discord, I heard you command me to kill the Changeling Queen. Does this have anything to do with the ‘fading hope’ you were talking about?”
"I’m afraid it does,” Janus replied before he looked down into the basin intently.
The Princess watched him for a second before she followed his gaze into the clear liquid below. An alien but also far too familiar world greeted her. She recognized the continents, but the landscape was a nightmare of clashing terrain, flora, and fauna. The ecosystem was in utter turmoil: animals had been so severely mutated that they could no longer digest anything around them, and each individual one was so genetically different now from any other that they could no longer even produce viable offspring. Plants could barely get enough energy to survive because of erratic weather patterns. In the middle of this forsaken wasteland sat a large dome composed of magic, roughly a third the size of Equestria. Inside that small dome was something similar to the land the Princess had always known. A false sun provided heat and light for the population underneath the shield’s protection. A large stone wall meandered its way from one edge of the dome to the other. There was a small section of land that was completely surrounded by two forks of the wall, as if they cupped it between its split lengths, only for them to rejoin and continue on to the other side of the dome.
“What is this?” the Princess asked so quietly it was almost to herself, “What happened?”
“The end of the world,” Janus intoned with a sigh, “and life afterward.”
Princess Celestia shook her head softly, “but how is this possible? How far into the future is this?”
“Almost one hundred years.”
The Princess' confusion deepened as she thought about the situation further, “This is impossible! I wasn't gone for one hundred years. I couldn't have been!”
“This may sound very strange, but you were and you weren't. When you left Equestria, you were subconsciously doing everything in your power to escape from a situation you didn't understand. Your innate talent for light related magic allowed you to travel nearly as fast as it could. Time bent around you, so what was nearly one hundred years for Equestria was only one year for you.”
The Princess shook her head again as she tried to reconcile everything that the unicorn had said, but finally she sighed and gave up, “This sounds like a riddle Starswirl would have deeply enjoyed.”
Janus gave a slight smile, “I expect he would have.”
The Princess pointed down into the basin with her hoof, “So this isn't the future? This is happening right now?”
“For ease of understanding I’ll say yes. This present is the product of a past without your help or involvement.”
The image of the sheltered civilization grew as the point of view flew into a small but fanciful estate. An older mare sat on a floor pillow alone. Her purple and pink wings were folded up close to her sides as she nestled into a thick, warm blanket. Her magic was holding aloft an old photograph of a young white stallion in a royal guard uniform.
“Cadence,” the Princess whispered in pain.
“After your departure from the earth, she was struck a great blow by the Changeling Queen. While she survived, the child she was carrying did not. Since you were not there to ease the tensions of the populace created by the Changelings, a terrible and bloody civil war broke out. After many years of conflict, Cadence was able to broker a peace between the two sides with the help of her understanding of emotional magic. The love she felt for all ponies was enough to get them to end hostilities, but not enough to end old grudges. Those that considered themselves Solar Empiricists or who wished to remain neutral in the conflict joined her in creating the Harmonious Union.”
The image in the basin changed. A dark room greeted Princess Celestia’s eyes. Books lay scattered about the chamber, while many boards that appeared to be made of light surrounded Princess Luna, who was feverishly scribbling onto them with some sort of metallic rod.
“Those that chose to stay with your sister banded together to create the Lunar Republic. Both your sister and your niece are effectively public figureheads now: neither actually rules their respective nation. They both hope that reunification will take place one day, but neither is optimistic when faced with the stubborn nature of their herds.”
“What is she doing?” Princess Celestia asked as her sister quickly paused to look at a scroll before she began to write again.
“She’s plotting a course for the stars, with the intended destination being another planet like this one once was; one that will be able to sustain life.”
The point of view of the basin changed once more, this time to the city encircled by the wall dividing the two equine nations.
“The micro-nation of Academia proposed the colonization of another world at the behest of their Council of Technocrats. The learned elite are culled from the other two nations to work on the project. Those that prove intelligent and skilled enough are invited into the Council, though they themselves still answer to a Potentate.”
An alicorn towered in the basin before the Princess’ eyes, but not one of flesh. Metal plating and synthetic muscles were prominent in its structure, evoking a stallion-like build for the robotic organism. A hub of light was present on each major joint in its skeletal structure. It didn't have wings per se, but instead had mechanical phalanges that extended out to create magically constructed feather-like force fields. At the center of its chest the Princess could see a gap, through which she glimpsed a perfectly spheroidal green crystal. The crystal began to glow as it brought the machine to life, and the robotic alicorn’s eyes snapped open, staring unflinchingly off into the distance.
“At the end of the Battle of Canterlot, Bunsen Burner was able to force Discord to leave Equestria under the threat of his use of a chemical warhead that could even end the lord of chaos’ life. Knowing it would only be a matter of time before the draconequus returned, he spent every waking moment left in his natural life studying the advanced technology left behind by humankind. Their science is what helped him transcend his mortal body. The dome you saw holding the lost world outside is also of their design, as well as the ship that is being built to leave this barren world behind.”
“What happened to the Changelings?” the Princess asked.
Janus looked downward in shame, and he gave a heavy sigh, “After the damage they had caused, nowhere was safe for them. Between Bunsen Burner’s cold ruthlessness and Shining Armor’s rage, the two of them enacted an extermination of the Changeling species: not a single one survived. Though Cadence never stopped loving him, Shining Armor’s obsession for revenge drove him apart from everyone, including his own sister.”
Princess Celestia looked hopelessly up to Janus, “Twilight?”
Janus looked sorrowfully down to her, “She always had faith that you would come back one day. She spent her last years looking out to the stars for you, waiting expectantly for your return like a little child.”
A numbness invaded the Princess’ mind as she tried to process all the new raw information she was being fed.
All this pain.
All this suffering.
The agony of an entire world: it was almost too much for her to bear all at once.
“This world,” she tried to say, but at first it came out a quiet rasp, “This world. It’s become the way it is because I wasn't there?”
Janus looked back down into the basin before looking to the Princess and nodding solemnly, “I’m afraid so, but that is not the only reason it is the way it is.”
Princess Celestia looked back at the unicorn, her expression pleading for him to explain.
He stepped down from the basin’s pedestal, conjured up a sitting pillow for each of them, and then sat himself down comfortably before continuing.
“I've been steering the course of Equestria’s history from the very beginning,” he declared as he looked out into the blackness beyond his crystalline platform, “Every major event that has occurred in the first 1400 years of its history I had influence in. I helped your mother create you and your sister, I created Nightmare Moon to turn the tide in battle, and I helped you seal her away when she nearly proved too much for this world.”
The Princess turned to look at him in bewilderment, which gave way to no small measure of disgust and anger, “You caused my sister’s suffering intentionally?”
“I am not proud of what I had to do,” Janus replied as he continued to stare off into space, “and I wouldn't have done it if it weren't absolutely necessary.”
The Princess’ anger began to burn even hotter, “What possible cause could justify what you put her and the rest of the world through?”
“The end of Discord, forever.”
Princess Celestia’s rage was not abated by what the unicorn had to say, but with practiced patience she silently allowed him to continue.
“As the time approached for what was to be my mantling, I had to intervene more and more. When my link to the physical world was severed, I could no longer nullify Discord’s power, nor could I avert the disasters that befell Equestria. In this way, its future state, what it is now, is also my fault.”
“So there’s nothing we can do now?” the Princess asked.
Janus shook his head, “No, we still have a chance to make things right. Even though the events we will try to change have already happened, they are not firmly set in time. We can fix the damage done and make sure this world never has to exist.” He paused briefly, then looked to her, “If I gave you the chance to go back and set things right for the both of us, would you do it?”
The Princess stood up and nodded, “Absolutely. I’ll do what I must to make sure that nothing that I saw here ever happens.”
Janus nodded, “I have no doubt that you will, but in order for that to prove true the Changeling Queen will still have to be removed from the situation.”
“But you said we were the ones ultimately responsible for this horrible future,” Princess Celestia asked, “Why is ‘removing her’ so important?”
Janus blinked and then turned his head to look at her. Wordlessly he undid the cloak from around his neck. The garment was abruptly cast off when he flared his wings.
The Princess could only stare aghast at them. They were predominately white, but their tips were royal blue like his eyes.
“Because I was murdered before I could help the world,” he said matter-of-factly.
“You,” the Princess tried to say, but she was so caught off guard she had to recollect herself, “You were Cadence and Shining Armor’s son?”
“I was, and I will be again.”
Magic coursed along his horn, and the Princess could feel her body begin to vibrate rapidly.
“Protect my younger self at all costs, and I will see to Discord. Just remember one last thing: there are always more than two options for every choice we make.”
With his peace made, he completed the spell, and the Princess disappeared in a burst of light.