Recently, I’d considered myself quite self-sufficient. I’d built my own home, and I was so secluded that zoning laws, property taxes, and door-to-door salesmen were nothing more than annoying memories. However, I had to fetch running water by the bucket, build and maintain my own outhouse, and walk miles to buy groceries from the source. But if it meant less real social interaction, then so be it.
But things had changed of late. I might or might not have a new guest, and I might or might not have dangerous minerals obtained from questionable sources. All these ‘may or may not’s’ forced me to go into Ponyville carrying a bag of lead and a scroll with Val’s measurements. It was difficult enough to get ink, a quill and measuring tape for her, but considering neither of us had any artistic talent, nor any talent at all at using a quill, I thought we were very lucky that we had managed to write something that legible. I decided to drop by the forge first, if I could find it. Unluckily for me, a very excited guide had come to see me.
And by that, I mean Pinkie nearly made me piss myself.
I was walking through the streets of Ponyville, avoiding getting too close to any of the others on the dirt road, when I stopped by an alleyway to get my bearings.
“Where would they build a forge?” I muttered to myself.
“I KNOW!” I jumped a good meter into the air before I landed on my face. Pinkie’s head was poking out of a barrel, a wide grin across her muzzle.
“Candy,” I groaned, “could you please not do that in the future? I’d like to keep my messes in the outhouse."
Pinkie smiled sheepishly as I dusted the dirt off my muzzle.
“Sorry.” Her grin may have said otherwise, but I decided not to bother myself about it.
“Do you know where I could get someone to turn some metals into a crude set of armor?”
“I don’t know why you would want rude armor,” Pinkie said. “You’d put it on and it’d say: ‘Grrrr! You stink!’ and I just can’t imagine armor that will hurt you instead of protect you ̶ ”
“Candy!” I stomped a hoof. “Focus. Forge. Where is it?”
“Oh! Sorry!” She giggled. “Continue onwards to Pine Timber’s place, but turn left before you get into his lumber yard.”
“Thank you.”
I followed her directions, yet the pink pony persisted in pursuing me. She continued following me, prattling on about things I didn’t bother to listen to. I quickened up the pace, and she followed. I began galloping, but she caught up to me in leaps and bound, quite literally, talking all the while. Finally, I stopped.
“Candy!”
“Hmm?” The mare beamed.
“Listen,” I sighed. “I think you’re a nice girl. And you do tend to bring a smile to anyone’s face. But I’m here on business, and your presence kind of breaks that. Not to mention how our first conversation…disturbed me.” I said the last part under my breath, but she still heard me.
“Our first conversation?” Pinkie squeaked. “But it was completely normal! We talked about my Pinkie sense, you told me you were crazy, I gave you directions to Rarity’s, and then we talked about cupcakes!”
“What? N ̶ You know what?” I groaned. “Yes. That’s exactly what happened. It makes everything easier for all of us. I’m just going to accept that as the truth from now on.” No you’re not.
“Okey Dokey Lokey! We’re here!”
“Finally.” I walked into the stone building as Pinkie waved ecstatically before hopping away.
I’ll admit, I’d lived far north for the majority of my life. I’d spent my years living with Father in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I had even moved to Washington to start again. I would have thought that my mother’s Cuban blood would have prepared me for the heat of a smithy. But apparently the owners didn’t know that the furnace was supposed to be, you know, a part of the smithy rather than the entire building.
An orange stallion with a red mane bulging with muscles was striking at a red-hot iron bar. Without a hammer. A diminutive gray unicorn mare with a white mane was firing jets of flame into to furnace, her tongue sticking out in concentration.
“Excuse me?”
They both stopped and turned to look at me. Instantly, the temperature began to drop to manageable levels. The stallion dropped the bar into a trough of water with a loud hiss and walked over to me.
“Howdy,” he said. “I haven’t seen you around these parts. My name’s Hammerstrike, and this is my wife, Anvil. What ‘cha here for?”
“A request. I need something made.”
Hammerstrike visibly cringed and scratched the back of his head. His wife grunted and shook her head.
“Sorry fella. We only sell weapons to royal guards. So unless you’ve got a permit from a commanding officer…”
“I don’t need a weapon. I’d like a special set of armor using this.” I grabbed the bag off my back, manipulating it easily despite the weight due to the flow of energy I directed into my foreleg.
I passed the bag over to Hammerstrike, only for him to almost lose grasp on it.
“You’re stronger than you look.” The stallion noted, before bringing the bag closer to his face. “What’s in this thing, lead?”
“Yup.” Anvil rolled her eyes and facehoofed.
“Why would you want an armor made of lead?” Hammerstrike asked. “That’s all sorts of bad material for armor.”
“It’s necessary for a science thing. It’s not like I’m going to go gallivanting into battle in lead armor.”
“Do you have the bits to pay for a commission work?” He cocked an eyebrow.
“I have plenty. How quickly could you get this done?”
“Hay, right now we’re making nothing but spare wares. We could get started right now and be done by evening,” Hammerstrike said as his wife nodded.
“Perfect. Do you need my measurements?”
“Yup!” Hammerstrike just stood there, staring at me for a while. There was an awkward silence until Anvil jabbed him in the barrel. “Oh, right! The measurements. Give me a minute!”
Hammerstrike dove into a pile of various knick-knacks as Anvil just shook her head.
“Dunderhead.” She muttered.
After a few minutes of prodding and measurements, I made my way to the Carousel Boutique, thankfully without a companion. When I opened the door and the bell rang, prompting Rarity to panic and throw a sheet over a dark purple costume. Chronologically at Mare-Do-Well. Interesting. Rarity nervously turned to look at me.
“Hello again, Marshmallow.” Rarity forgot her nervousness and harrumphed.
“Honestly, Mr. Windell. There is no need for such coarse nicknames. I suppose you were satisfied with the cotton?”
“The cotton was perfect, thank you. I’m just here on the behalf of an… acquaintance.” So much for there being no connection between the two of us. Hopefully it won’t be too noticeable. “She needs an outfit that covers her entire body.”
“Why would I ever make something that hides a mare’s beauty rather than accentuate it?”
“Et pourtant, vous êtes en train de fabriquer un costume pour des raisons moins nobles que les miens,” I said under my breath, learning from my experience with Pinkie.
“Was that…Prench?”
“Never mind that. She just needs it for very personal reasons. Here are her measurements.” I tossed the scroll, and she caught it in her light-blue magic.
Rarity unfurled the paper, and her eyes widened slightly. It may have looked strange, but Val and I had thought ahead and split it into a pair of pants, a shirt, and gloves that could be opened to reveal the palm. Comfortable interior, resistant exterior, and a hood so she could hide her face even further. The pants might look backwards, but she only need to turn them around to fit a human rather than a minotaur. Unfortunately, she would have to wear her old shoes because we couldn’t come up with any reason a minotaur would need human shoes. It was only with superb luck that she had been wearing sneakers when she was whisked away from home.
“Ah, a minotaur,” Rarity said. “I suppose I know very little of their customs. I’ll begin once I’m finished with my current project.”
“Thank you.” I walked out.
I could have admonished her for the convoluted plan. I could have suggested they simply talk to Rainbow. But I chose not to. It worked out in the end, and I would remain an observer in the timeline, so I could know what would come to pass. I made my way back to my cabin only to find Val still swinging the hickory staff I had gotten for her. In the same way. Every time. Steel Fang was watching on curiously and turned to look at me before tilting his head in her direction.
“What are you doing?”
“I was bored, you got me a staff..." she said between swipes. "I want to be good at using it. No hesitation, just good strikes.”
“By making the same movement every time?”
“Bruce Lee once said something about fearing the man who had practiced one punch one thousand times.” Val grunted as she swung the staff once more.
“‘I fear not the man who has practiced ten-thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten-thousand times.’ A wise strategy. But remember that you are weak compared to most other creatures. So you’ve got to learn how to improve your own speed alongside your strength. Something you’ll need in spades if you’ll be in disguise the entire time.”
“I understand the need, but I’m just not a fan of lying so much.”
“Deceit is the armor that will protect you from malice and treachery. You’ve got an advantage because you’ve got fewer tells than anybody else. Fewer, not none. We’ll work on that later. As for the whole moral ambiguity of lying, just take solace in the fact that you can trust in yourself. Not everyone is lucky enough for that.” Val slumped slightly, her eyes avoiding mine. “If you want to build more muscle, you can help me with a particular chore.” I entered my home to get some tools I had bought in my last trip to Ponyville.
“What’s that?”
“Building a shed.” I tossed her a shovel. “When we’re done, we can reapply the healing salve. You shouldn’t be completely healed yet; you could also help me get some on my wing."
Val leaned on the shovel a bit before turning towards me.
“Why do you need a shed? And where are we going to build it?”
“See the cart full of rocks over there? In the trees? We’re going to build next to it.”
“Why so far away from your hut?”
“In the cart there are crystals. Do you see them?”
“I guess. The glossy gray ones on top of the pile?” She squinted.
“Bingo. That’s Uraninite.”
“…Gag me with a spoon.”
“And if you thought that was the only radioactive material in there, you’d be sorely mistaken.”
<><><>
“I didn’t know that there were so many competitors!” Cadence bounded about the stadium, dragging Shining behind her. “Are all of these ponies going to compete?”
“No.” Shining shook his head. “Most are going to be spectators. But a lot are going to be in the tournaments because there’s a wide variety of them.”
Cadence cocked her head quizzically before looking over huge crowd in the indoor hoofball stadium that had been refurbished for the event.
“What types are there?”
“Well, there’s Juniors, for the foals competing. Then there’s Intermediate Tourney, for those that haven’t officially competed in anything yet. But since I’m already listed, I’ll be playing in the Expert Tourney. And finally, there’s the Master Tourney, for those with cutie marks related to tactics or chess.”
“Those sound like they’d take a long time.” Cadence mused.
“You’d think that,” Shining said as he walked towards the sign-up, “but ever since Spearchess and Steep Cyan had their match a good century back, the officials realized that true masters would be able to play with a minute per turn. So while every other match has a limit of five minutes to make a move, the Master Tourney usually gets done much faster.”
“That’s pretty interesting. Do you know any other competitors?”
“Well, there’s a few friends from the Guard. Hawk Eye would have loved to play, but he’s on a mission. Good Move may be here. Then there’s our high school friends.” Shining finished signing his name and began walking with Cadence towards the Banner marked ‘Experts’.
“Like Pointdexter and Deep Thought?” Cadence asked.
“Yeah, and if I’m unlucky, then ̶ ”
“Hey! Shining Armor and a pony who looks a lot like Cadence!” a chipper voice rang out.
“Oh, sweet Celestia,” Shining moaned, “not her.”
A beaming mint-green unicorn trotted over to the couple, a cream earth pony mare by her side.
“Lyra?” Cadence rose an eyebrow.
“Lyra.” hissed Shining through gritted teeth.
“Lyra!” Lyra chirped.
“Lyra…” The earth pony groaned and facehoofed. “Could you just introduce us?”
“Okay! This is Shining Armor, and the mare next to him is nearly identical to his special somepony, Princess Cadence.”
“Actually, Lyra, it is me. I’m just hiding my wings.”
“Oh. Cool!” Whereas Lyra didn’t miss a beat and smiled, her friend paled and began bowing. “Oh, none of that, Bonnie! Cadence doesn’t like it when her friends bow to her.”
“Bu-But she’s a Princess!” She stuttered.
“Not right now.” Cadence waved a hoof. “Any friend of Lyra’s is a friend of mine, and friends don’t have to be formal.”
The mare trembled, but nodded.
“Anyways,” Lyra continued, “this is my best friend and roommate, Bon-Bon. She’s the one who suggested I come back here.”
“Oh, really?” Shining glared at her, and Bon-Bon glared in return.
“Anyways…I’ve got to go sign up. C’mon Bonnie.” The two mares trotted over to the sign-up counter.
“Why were you so…like that around Lyra? She was one of my best friends in high school.”
“Because she ruins any game I play!” Shining threw a hoof in the air. “She killed twenty of my characters when she GM’d Ogres and Oubliettes, she’s unpredictable in chess, and somehow, she always beats me on Snakes and Stairs!”
“Wow, Shining.” Cadence giggled. “I didn’t know Lyra was your nemesis. I imagined your arch-enemy to be a bit more…intimidating.” Cadence looked back to the two mares as Lyra signed her name onto the sheet, Bon-Bon smiling at her all the while. “I know she can be a bit obsessive about certain topics, but that’s just Lyra. Say, when she played Ogres and Oubliettes with you guys, how was the…dynamic?”
“It was awful.” Shining moaned. “Gaffer and Eight-Bit constantly tried to flirt with her, but it just flew over her head. And I think she got some sort of perverse pleasure by introducing difficult choices and seeing me fail. After about a month, she got off her ‘Ogres and Oubliettes’ kick and started getting obsessed with chess.”
“Oh, I remember Lyra’s kicks! Usually it would start with some song or some myth, and it would lead to something she’d get obsessed with to understand the music or the story better.”
“I won’t lie, she was a fun mare, but I can’t imagine living with her. That would be exhausting. I pity her roommate.”
“Yeah…” Cadence smiled as she looked back upon the two giggling mares. “I wonder how she does it.”
Shining turned to look at Cadence and recognized her ‘I know something but I won’t say what’ smile. Shining pulled her close and nuzzled her neck.
“Cadence, I promise that after I win the tourney for you, I’ll have something special ready.”
“Oh, really?” She gave a coy grin.
“Really.”
The two separated and got into place. Cadence sat in the bleachers, watching Shining win match after match. Sometimes his match was barely won; sometimes Shining crushed his opponents. But in the championship, Shining found himself facing a smiling green face and golden eyes. His eye twitched. And he moved a white pawn forwards.
On the bleachers, Cadence and Bon-Bon sat side by side, watching the two unicorns move pieces around. There were a few moments of awkward silence before Cadence spoke up.
“Would you mind if Lyra became one of my bridesmaids?”
“Huh?” Bon-Bon did a double take. “Where did that come from?”
“Well, Shining and I have been a couple for a few years, and he’s never gotten the chance to ask…the question. I’m hoping that silly stallion will get on it soon. Lyra…Lyra’s an old friend of mine, and I would like it if she became one of my bridesmaids. Who knows…” Cadence gave a modest smile and turned towards Bon-Bon. “She might catch the bouquet and catch an interest with matters of the heart.”
Bon-Bon blushed and turned away. Cadence considered going further, but decided it would be best to go slowly. It would be the first time a relationship like that one would take place, after all.
Shining was forced to make a choice. Again. His bishop was in place to take either Lyra’s queen or her knight. The queen would put him in check, then checkmate, whereas the knight would need a few turns to get a check. It was so obvious, but Lyra kept looking at her knight. Was it a bluff? Did he really have a choice? Time was running out. So he decided.
Shining took the queen, and Lyra moved her knight.
“Checkmate!”
“What?”
Lyra had moved her Knight in such a way that her rook and her bishop trapped Shining’s king against his own knight. And with his bishop out of the way, Lyra’s second rook had moved into place, putting the white king into checkmate.
Shining facehoofed.
“And the winner of the Expert Chess tourney is Miss Lyra Heartstrings!” The announcer declared as Shining Armor thumped his head on the table.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go console my special somepony and try to get him to propose to me.” Cadence trotted down the crowded bleachers before turning back and giving Bon-Bon a knowing smile. “Good luck in the matters of love, Bon-Bon. Don’t give up.”
The candy-maker blanched before nodding and walking down towards Lyra. Cadence quickly lost sight of her in the rustling crowd as the ponies began to go home, the longest of the tourneys done. The crowd dissipated, leaving a dejected stallion and what seemed to be a pink unicorn walking slowly to him.
“I’m sorry Cadence.” Shining stared sorrowfully to the ground. “I couldn’t win this in your honor…I don’t deserve to be with you.”
“Shining, that’s…ridiculous.”
“Whuzzah?”
“Shiny, let me tell you about my favorite color: Blue.” The princess smiled as she looked into Shining Armor’s eyes. “Blue for the skies I want to fly in happiness to after having spent a second with you. Blue is how I feel without you. Blue is the ocean I love to lose myself in when we stare into each others' eyes. Blue is the color I see every time we kiss. Blue is what I want to wake up next to every morning for the rest of my life.”
Shining looked up to her and gaped.
“I love you, Shiny. More than any pony I’ve ever met.” Cadence smiled, one that Shining only knew too well. The simple yet powerful ‘I love you with all of my heart’ smile. “I know the question you want to ask me. Look inside yourself. I think you already know my answer.”
Cadence dispelled the illusion spell hiding her wings, uncaring if there were any stragglers left inside the stadium. Shining gulped.
“Cadence.” He took a deep breath and took out an engagement ring. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes. Yes! A million times yes!” Cadence bounded forwards and their lips met. In the embrace, the two fiancees were smiling, tears of joy pouring down the alicorn's cheeks. Or in the stallion's case, liquid pride.
<><><>
I was human once more. I was in the middle of a city of pure white, perched upon a floating pillar in the wide expanse of the skies. Cloud City was bustling with activity, every creature a memory of the various species that I had encountered across the stories. Mostly humans, but there were a few elves, orcs, trolls, and various other creatures. Heck, there was even an alicorn in the crowd. They went about their business in the dream I had created, flowing around me in a stream of diversity. Ignoring me. No pointing, no mocking, no whispers. Just me, Windell Green, a face among millions.
As it should be.
A presence made itself known. This time, I didn’t push it away, I just willed the entire populace to disappear. Including myself. I was prepared to talk to what might be Luna, but I wasn’t ready to reveal myself to her. The dark alicorn swooped down from the skies above the city, directly towards me. She landed a respectable distance away and stared at me.
“Thou hast let me enter thine dream.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To apologize for what I said to you.”
Luna stepped back, confused.
“Apologize?”
“Yes.” I let out an audible sigh. “Truth be told, I was in a difficult situation then. I still am, but I realized shortly thereafter that I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. I am sorry for that. My burdens are mine to bear.”
“Dost thou have anypony to turn to? A friend, mayhap a lover?”
I snorted.
“A friend, sure. A lover? Heck no. I once had someone I called a lover, but they ended up hurting me.” Luna pouted when she realized I had managed to avoid giving her a clue about my identity. “And that was before I learned of my…condition. When I did learn of it, I promised myself that I would never fall in love, so that there would be no chance of my child suffering the same fate as I had.”
“What!?” Luna squawked. “But…that’s…”
“Necessary. I am flawed, irreparably so. It would be cruel to fall to desire and prolong the existence of this fault. It is for the greater good of the population.”
Luna looked away dejectedly before changing the subject.
“Thy city is quite beautiful. Didst thou make it thyself?”
“It wasn’t my idea, but I managed to give it more detail.”
“A city in the heavens…I wonder where thou foundest such an idea.”
“In a story that takes place among the stars.” I shifted the landscape so that we found ourselves within a stone chamber consisting of an altar and a door that led to an elevated pathway outside.
“Where are we now?”
“In a different city.” I answered, before willing two chairs to appear on both sides of the altar. “Where you may be able to help me.”
“How so?” Luna took a seat, and I took the other. Her eyes followed my presence, but she still didn’t try anything.
“We’ll play a game.” I willed a board into existence on the altar. “Chess.”
“Why should we?” Luna asked, smirking.
“You want incentive then?” I harrumphed. “Fine. I pledge to reveal myself if you win. If I win, you will leave me alone. Which isn’t saying much, but it is quite annoying to avoid you. So…black or white.”
“Black.”
“Confident, are we? That’s fine. Winning isn't my primary objective.” I moved a pawn.
Luna raised an eyebrow but moved a pawn of her own. Time passed as each of us made our turns.
“So how was your night?” I asked, moving my knight.
“If thou dost not wish to share thine experiences with us, why should we talk about our day to thee?” Luna narrowed her eyes.
“Cut it out, Luna. I know you’re as lonely as I am, if not lonelier. And I know the life of a princess isn’t all secret meetings and cake, but tedious bureaucratic sludge.”
“Thou art correct.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “It was naught more than petty nobles and confused ponies. Aside from the odd dream a stallion was having, there was nothing of note.” She moved a rook.
“Dream?”
“Yes. It was a series of strange images; dark alleyways, shapeless blobs, odd creatures and concepts, and various landscapes on fire. ‘Twas…surreal. I believe the unicorn’s name was High Salary. We must have a talk with him later, as some of those images were quite…suspicious.” A few more moments of silence passed between us as we began to concentrate on the game.
“Hmm.” I stared at the chessboard. “A thought occurs to me. I had originally thought that, as a part of my delusion, I would be able to defeat you in a game of wits, you being nothing more than a subservient personality. But I still know very little of my delusion. You could be influencing my subconscious decisions, or could already know what moves I plan on making. I had thought that if you would win, I would know if this was a delusion or not. I suppose I won’t find out this way.”
Luna shook her head.
“If thou still refusest to accept what is and isn’t, we cannot help thee.” She took my rook.
Sure enough, within a couple moves, all that was left of my pieces was my pawn and my king. I willed the chessboard to disappear and got up. I began to walk towards the outside pathway, the ledge of Minas Tirith. Luna slowly followed, keeping her distance. Once she cleared the doorway and saw the high walls of Minas Tirith, her eyes widened. And they only widened more when I revealed myself to her.
Before her was a creature she had never seen before: a biped with backwards legs, the lean torso of a minotaur and a flat face with a black mane and a white streak on its head. It was clad in odd garments. It had no ears on its head, but on the sides. And when she looked into my eyes and saw fear, she tried to step forwards to comfort me.
“Don’t.” I held out a hand, and she stopped moving towards me of her own volition. I gritted my teeth, trying hard to ignore the openness of the ledge, the feeling of space pulling infinitely outwards.
“Art thou…afraid of heights?”
“Not at all.” I looked to the ledge behind me and to the ground below. Being down there seemed a lot better than being in the open here, even if it was just a dream. I took a deep breath. Just a dream. A dream I need to wake up from. “But I am afraid. So I am alive. It is on the precipice of death that we feel the most alive after all.” I took a few steps backwards. “All you need is to…leap.” I fell backwards into the void, letting myself fall. Luna raced after me. But right before I hit the ground, I woke up.
I touched my muzzle with a hoof.
“I think I fucked up.”
<><><>
Traveler flies across the wasteland south of the Draconic Mountains, following the dangerous radiation back to its source. Despite its name, the wasteland is not normally completely devoid of life, but full of hidden life and odd creatures. It had passed an oasis a few miles back, lacking any sort of life. Nothing more than an empty pool of water.
The being comes upon a lone plateau with an entrance leading inside. Deep within the grotto lies a creature not native to the universe. It is purple, moving about on two trunks that constantly writhe and twist. It has two arms with three digits and an egg-shaped head with wide blue eyes without pupils or irises. Traveler recognizes the creature and feels wary. Something isn’t quite right. It shapes itself into a fiery silhouette of the Onipalian and shifts into her visible spectrum. She jumps back, but Traveler reassures her.
“No need to be alarmed. I chose this form because I found it…poetic.”
“How is taking the form of Jinkara, the god of life and death, poetic?”
“If I am correct in my diagnosis, I am the first living thing you’ve met?” Traveler asks, ignoring her question.
“…yes. How do you know?” She hesitantly answered.
“…Are you aware you are in a different universe?”
“Wh-what? I thought I properly calibrated my teleportation device!”
“You did not. Worst part is, you ended up in a universe belonging to a different ‘set’.”
“What does it mean?”
“Those inhabitants of the same ‘set’ of universes can survive in universes of that ‘set’ because the physics are either identical or nearly identical. Most of the time, when an organism from a different ‘set’ enters one not of their own ‘set’, they ...fall apart. Rarely, they are given different effects, and it is nearly impossible for it to remain unchanged.”
“Does…that mean despite escaping my dying planet, I will still die?”
“Of course.” The Onipalian tenses. “You are still mortal after all. Unfortunately, I will have to hasten the process.”
“What! You’re going to kill me? Why?” Her hearts begin beating faster, and Traveler can detect her sadness and fear pheromones in the air.
“Have you noticed you haven’t seen any biological life? Not even a sprig of grass?” She nods slowly. “It is because of you.”
“Me?” She gawks and points at herself.
“Ever since you came here, you’ve been emitting dangerous radiation that instantly disintegrates everything within miles. It is a byproduct of your foreign biological processes. I am here so that you will not inadvertently kill everything on the planet, by killing you.”
“How are you alive, then?”
“I am not, by the strictest definition, alive. I am a mixture of conscious energies, capable of feeling the world around me through various forms of kineto-echolocation. And I can tell from your tense muscles that you will try to escape, but that would only end in an earlier demise. I doubt you can run faster than light.”
The two stand still, the Onipalain staring at the one that had taken the form of her god of death…to save lives. She could do nothing. She is hungry, she is weak, and this creature is obviously powerful. If it wanted to kill her she holds no doubt that it could, in an instant. So she wonders why it hasn’t done so.
“What are you waiting for, then? Kill me.”
Still, it stares at her.
“KILL ME!” she screams.
“Not yet. You are not satisfied with life yet. I may have a duty to kill you, but it doesn’t mean I do not have morals. I am not like others who have power, who seek to change their world, following their own code.”
The being seemingly summons a glass of water for the female and offers it to her. She tentatively accepts the beverage, as it will help calm her nerves.
“...Thank you for the drink…May I ask why you don’t act upon your morals? Surely one who can create water from nothing would be powerful enough to change worlds for the better.”
“I did not create the water from nothing, I just extracted a bit from the air. The glass is in actuality a part of myself. I’m glad that I could offer you a drink, albeit one your kind takes recreationally. As for why I do not act, it is simple. This is not my world either. I truly believe in a type of balance between chaos and order, good and evil, dark and light. But I cannot let my own ideologies taint a universe, because it is up to the inhabitants to decide their own fate. I cannot kill those I consider evil, because redemption exists, and I cannot praise those I see as good, because power corrupts.
“There is no pure good or pure evil in any universe I have seen, simply actions done by those of varying shades of gray. Some are lighter, some are darker. I do what I do so that the inhabitants will have a chance to find their own balance. Outsiders such as yourself may introduce new ideas, stories, and experiences, but it is up to the locals to either keep them alive and integrated within their own society or shun them until they are forgotten in the winds of time.
“I do evil actions and good actions alike, for one simple thing that everything wants: Existence. And now, this part of Existence is unstable because of the proximity of several universes. Causing a split in the central universe through outsider interference would cause two universes to collide, which would be apocalyptic for all ‘nearby’ universes.”
“So…my death would save billions of lives?”
“Potentially, septillions.”
“Not a difficult decision, I suppose.”
“But difficult nonetheless. I’ve learned long ago that every life is precious, far more precious than one would originally think.”
“…Can I ask you something?”
“That is what I am here for.”
“Am I the last of my kind?”
“Never.” The female sees the being shake its head. “Your kind still exists across many universes, and still in yours. About eight thousand escaped in shuttles before your planet burned.”
“A shadow of our former glory.”
“But you will rise again, just as your kind in all the other universes did when their planets suffered the same fate.”
“So… our legacy will live on?”
“Every species that does not pose a threat to Existence has a legacy. They all live on, throughout Infinity.”
The two stare at one another in silence for a bit longer.
“I think I’m ready now.”
“I know. I could hear your hearts beat slower.”
“Will you remember me?”
“…I could not forget. And even if I could, I would not allow myself to do so.”
After having incinerated her body, the entity zooms back towards Equestria, full of questions. It knows that universes have a particular ‘taste’ from a combination of idea and energy released into the Void. It is true that several sapient species may exist in a universe without ever knowing about one another. Universes are quite huge, after all. In fact, Traveler has never really been able to explore all of the larger universes it has been to. It would be a waste of time, after all. It simply follows ideas back to their source, and Traveler does its duties from there. Occasionally it would find a new world, and it would be able to track them from the ideas they released in the Void.
But something wasn’t right about the Onipalian. It had memorized the ‘tastes’ of all the realms in the cluster before jumping in, and none of them were universes that had Onipalians or could support Onipalian life. Either Onipalians had come about independently in a universe in the cluster, or something had brought her from the Beyond, chosen exactly for the dangerous byproduct of her life processes. It was only by chance that she was deposited far away from true civilization. Not far enough from a few dragons in the southernmost Draconic Mountains, but far enough to prevent any major disturbances in the necessary timeline.
It could be a coincidence ̶ Traveler is very much aware of how nothing is ever truly impossible ̶ but it does not believe that.
Traveler will be wary.
For there is something that seeks an End.