Today is a very big day, and I mean big...in a...well hehe, I guess charming doesn't fit quite as well as I hoped...Cosmic is more like it. Yes yes yes, that's right. Oh! I should introduce myself! I'm Razzaroo! I suppose you could call me a proto-Concept.
I've been spending the last...well, time isn't really important out here, but it's been a really long time trying to become Concept. First was Concept of Magic, but Twilight beat me there. Am I jealous? No, she beat me fair and square, but that's not the only reason. I could fit magic...but well I don't know why I didn't realize it from day one! There was a Concept I think fits me a lot better: Wishes and Miracles. I always did love Winter Wishes festival, the looks on ponies faces when they got the wish they'd been waiting all year for! I always took pictures of each one!
...And now...I guess that's another reason I wanted to become a Concept. Anasi, or as I knew her in my world Abracadabra, knows why really well...Because becoming a Concept means you'll exist forever. And if something from a world that's gone always exists and remembers it, doesn't that mean it still exists? Even just a little bit? That's how both of us think about it!
Oh, where am I? I'm...in what's left of home. My home. I...I'm the last living pony from that world. It felt right to stay here.
"Razzaroo, it's time."
"Oh, Thanks, Twinkle Wish!"
I guess that's my call...I wish Rainbow Dash and her friends were here...Oh, not that Rainbow Dash, the...ugh, multiple versions of the same pony are confusing! I mean the one that...ended up with Eclipse...I hope she finds what she's looking for somewhere out there…
"Congratulations, Razzaroo."
Huh?
I look over to the border. Oh! What do I mean? This is a...boarder area. On the edge of Entropy's realm. Same place I met Twilight when we fought. Normally the Shadows of...my friends and everypony else who no longer are can't crossover...but…
I trot up...oh my…
On the other side…Puzzlemint. One of my friends who got erased...Behind her was...all of them.
I...I don't know what to think about this. Shadow of Existence...I've had to accept a long time ago my friends' Lights aren't in there anymore. Toola Roola, Fiesta Flare, Starsong and every one that hadn't found their way into something more were there…
"H-Hello...girls...what is this about?" I asked carefully...Shadows could be tricky. When I'd first started, I admit I may...have had to be saved from them a few times.
I slowly stepped through the boundary. I didn't have to worry about them harming me anymore...physically. Being attacked by your friends was never fun…
To my surprise...Puzzlemint hugged me...well, as close as a Shadow can. I didn't feel anything but...The others landed on the 'ground' and joined in. Not trying to attack me...just hug me.
"G-Girls?"
They all backed up and looked to me. "...Gracias, senorita," Fiesta Flare said.
I blinked. "F-For what?"
"Razzaroo...you're becoming a Concept," said Puzzlemint. "...A part of our world that never was...is becoming always will be."
"...You're about to become proof we existed," Star Song explained. "...A part of our world will always exist now...forever."
"And...that's the closest we've felt to anything in an eternity," Toola Roola explained.
"We...almost feel proud of you...and for us, almost feeling is the best thing we've felt in a very long time," Cotton Candy explained.
And...all my friends bowed to me.
"Thank you, Razzaroo!" they all said.
I...I'm crying, yes yes yes! "You're welcome...I've always done my best to remember everything...so I'll make sure to not forget any of you."
"That's all we're asking of you, senorita!" Fiesta Flare called. "Now get going, La Madre de Todas Las Cosas is waiting!"
Twinkle Wish hugs me and I wave goodbye, heading off...Hehe, I guess I already granted one wish just by ascending…
Limbo is...Limbo. There's really no other way to describe it! It's just...Limbo! Oh and it's really echoy!
"Razzaroo."
Oh! "Hello, Father…" I said, bowing.
The Father of All Alicorns is...well, going to be My Father! He's really nice, and also Pony Heaven! Do I know His Birthday? Of course I do! It's the first day, first month, and first year, of every calendar system ever invented! Though we normally list 'Beginning of Time' in place of year. Though that's only because the Elders created time! They were born before time!...If They were born! No pony, Concept, or Being in creation knows!
"Hello, Razzaroo. Some Ponies In Me Wish To Say Something To You."
"Huh? Who?"
I saw a few of the stars in the Father come forwards.
"Hi Razzaroo!" called Tiddlywink. "You too Twinkle Wish!"
"Long time no see!" Tra La La called.
"Hi girls!" I called, waving.
"Congrats on becoming an Alicorn, we just wanted to say hi before you did!" Flights Flighty called, all of them smiling.
"Thanks!"
The Breezies all hugged me and Twinkle Wish. They've always been so nice!...Oh? How'd they get to Heaven?...A miracle, which, hehe, I might be going to have been involved in!
After that, I walk up to the entrance to Fauna Luster's domain. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shaking! I've been working so long towards this, of course I was excited! I don't think there's a number for how long I've been trying!
And the trials? Those were the hardest part! Yes yes yes!
The first trial...was...I'm sorry, it's hard to talk about...I walked into a world...everything as it was back then, in my world! Minty loved green, Sparkle Works covered the town in glitter, Berry Sweet made her giant cakes, Unicornia, Butterfly Island, everything! And me with my book of dates, times, and birthdays! Me and my friends having fun and playing for eternity...but...in the end, I realized something...for that to happen, for the world to go back to being that...to force that to happen, I'd be just as bad as Eclipse. I'd be destroying what is to get what I missed back...I'd be taking their Lights from the ponies who had them now...and I can't do that. It'd just be plain selfish! And the Perfect Wishes and Miracles...aren't selfish. They're selfless!...I cried, yes yes yes...but I knew this wouldn't be easy.
The second trial...I saw a world where my world and the new one existed at the same time! My Rainbow Dash and the new Rainbow Dash having tea together as cousins! Twilight and Minty were there together as long lost twins! First Ponyville was right besides New Ponyville! Santa Hooves and Santa Claus flew every Christmas/Hearth's Warming together! It was so beautiful...but...then I realized...Just like my world, this was two things that couldn't exist together happening at once. If you tried to make two worlds exist at the same time...they'd tear each other apart...Just like my world did. Two wishes that try to share space...twist and turn each other till they break. That was the problem with my world...and I knew wishing that on the world again wouldn't just be selfish, it'd be not learning from the past...The Perfect Wishes couldn't let two wishes clash and crash, or she couldn't grant either.
Yes, I cried again. And yes, I know Twilight already did that! But...there's a difference...She didn't get my world back, she made a new one. She fixed the problem in a new world...without sacrificing what was or endangering what is.
The last trial was different...I was standing in an endless field, ponies of all ages, genders, and races standing in various scenes. Some were children praying next to their dying grandmother's bedside. Others were adults wishing to win the lottery. There was even a filly wishing for a cookie. All sorts and all types of wishes. Some were easy to do, like a mother wishing for the strength to lift a cart off her foal. Others were obviously wrong, like a mean bully wishing for a pony he hated to die, so I didn't grant them...but then...I realized something.
A brother stood next to his sister's bedside, the young filly's leg now crippled due to an accident he felt responsible for. He was praying, wishing, begging for her leg to be healed...but...I looked into the future (Potential Concept who lives outside reality, I was allowed to do that)...if the filly's leg wasn't healed, she'd go on to discover a way to use unicorn style magic despite being an Earth Pony. She'd become smarter, she'd even be Celestia's student...and give Twilight a friend growing up. And her brother would become a hero himself. If the wish was granted, she'd merely be a much more cautious farmer than other versions of her...too cautious to make an adventure another version of her would make. And her brother would still act in her stead, Twilight would still grow up with no friends. I think you know this universe. I...decided it was best for her, and others she would touch, if the wish wasn't granted. No, it wasn't easy…
Another pony wished he and his fillyfriend had never broken up...but if they'd never broken up, then he'd have never learned to be more sensitive to the feelings of others and not be so self-centered.
There was a brave stallion and captain who wished he'd never gotten into a fight with a gang of Diamond Dogs that got him stabbed in the chest as a arrogant colt, leaving him with a clockwork heart... but without that moment of almost dying... he simply drifted through his career, waiting for greatness to come to him, instead of becoming determined to make his mark after seeing every day could be his last.
Another wish was a girl who wished to be an Alicorn. Listing all the good she could do, how she'd make everypony happier and how she'd make it so no friendship would be broken again. She made a very compelling argument. And a look into the future made it clear why she hadn't been able to ascend on her own, and why she shouldn't.
Yet another wish was a stallion who wished for the power to kill another pony...but a look into the context revealed the stallion he wished to defeat was an evil tyrant and absolute monster. The pony wasn't a knight in shining armor, more a rogue type, but he had a good heart deep down...I compromised and answered the spirit of the wish. I lead him to an area where he found a mythical weapon that could defeat the tyrant...it was his choice if by then he'd be willing to kill him or would spare him. What? He asked for the POWER to do it, not to actually kill him! And I decided to maybe grant the overlord's daughter's wish to help her redeem her father, even if it'd be his choice in the end.
Another one...was a filly wishing a superhero would finally kill off some of their villains...A FILLY. Instead I just granted another colt's wish for more secure prisons so the bad guys wouldn't keep escaping.
Another was a rich filly who never met her mother, but was told only good things of her, wished for a chance to talk to her mother's spirit and finally meet her...but in reality her mother was...ugh, this feels so wrong to say for somepony from my world! A gold digger who never cared about her or her father at all. Only her father's money. She was heartless and had she lived she would have been...it makes me feel sick to think about...I chose not to grant it so the filly could remember and act on the good person she thought she was. I may have granted a wish of another little filly for a friend who understood her own pain of never knowing her parents though.
One of the ponies managed to actually bind me and make me have to grant their wish! They wished to become the strongest man in the world so he could take it over...I had to grant it, I had to think quickly...so I decided to grant it but he didn't specify which world and made him the strongest on a world where he was the only sapient pony there.
Another pony wished for a world without despair...and I won't lie, I wanted to grant it so badly. Same with one without hate, or evil...but to grant those wishes...would be to remove free will, to take away what makes ponies ponies. Ponies...they needed to choose to make a world where despair doesn't exist, not just magically remove their ability to feel it.
I realized something...the problem with my world...the reason it failed. Our world didn't think of the consequences, it didn't think of the context. It only didn't grant directly bad wishes...but it could grant ones with bad consequences. Ones that conflicted with each other were granted just the same. The wish granting spell didn't have a conscience, it simply was. It followed its programming without a thought...And the Perfect Wishes and Miracles couldn't be like that. I couldn't be like that, no no no!
And...I accepted it'd hurt sometimes...a lot of the time to not be able to grant a wish or give a miracle. That some simply shouldn't be for one reason or another. That sometimes a wicked person might get a wish from something I made and I'd need to twist it back on them for the good of others. That sometimes a good person would make a selfish wish I'd need to twist to good.
Wishes and miracles are contextual, like everything...and that's what I'll need to be. Mortals needed to think their wishes through, and so did the wish granter. And that's how I beat the trial, by realizing that fact. That was what let me pass the test.
I took a deep breath and walked through the portal to Fauna Luster's domain. She's beautiful, beyond beautiful...She was in my world. She was everywhere there...Empathy. I felt like I was home.
"Hello, Razzaroo," Abbatissa said, smiling. We're going to be co-workers, and family. "You've already been told the consequences, is your answer still the same?"
I nodded. "Yes, thanks for double checking though!"
I knew the cost...but...well, so did Anasi, and we were doing this for the same reasons. I'd already done everything when I passed the trials, I merely asked to wait because of Other Rainbow Dash...I hope you find what you wanted, Rainbow.
There was...one question though...one that was hard. When I'd finished the trials...I was asked by Mother Deer (somebeing neither Alicorn nor Draconequus)...if I could let go of my bitterness towards the deities...for what happened to my world...for what happened to my friends. If I could forgive them for what they had to do...The thing is? I...I finally realized why they had to do it. When I realized what was wrong with my world...I was just looking for somepony to blame for something that no pony wanted or could've predicted...After billions of years of holding onto that...I felt so light to finally be able to say 'I forgive you all.' Ponies in my world didn't know what a grudge was and it just felt so much better to not have one in my heart anymore. I was free.
"I see you've finally made it, Razzaroo."
I turned to see Anasi standing there. We hugged. "Thank you!"
We smiled to one another, we'd found something that meant the world to both of us and grew from then.
"For those who are no longer here," she started.
"For our friends who can never be again," I continued.
"For our worlds that never were."
"For events only we witnessed."
"We live," we both finished. Like it? We came up with it together! What? Who said deities and potential deities can't have a little fun?
"ARE YOU READY, RAZZAROO?" Fauna Luster asked.
I nodded, bowing. "Yes yes yes."
"Wait!"
Pinkie Pie suddenly ran in out of nowhere and hugged me. "Good luck, Razzaroo! When you're done we can have an Alicorn Party!"
Hehe. She's Pinkie Pie, you expect anything else.
"Then as the High Priestess Alicorn, I unlock your untapped wisdom and power, and gift you with the touch of my magic as well, and open the doorway for you to be recreated," Abbatissa explained, giving me a kiss on the forehead.
And so, I, Razzaroo...well, entered Fauna Luster...Am I doing a bad job of acting? Sorry...just in my world, no pony did those things or had fillies except Star Catcher, so it's not as weird to me...Well...sort of…
Meadowlark. That was my first life. I was a famous pony, I had a husband. I had parents, a family. I...I remember having a child. When the world changed, I wished to be there to chronicle the best memories of the ponies I cared for...to never forget one precious memory ever again...And for my little sister to live up to her wishes.
Yes, I know Minty was Clover and her family all together...it freaked me out when I first remembered being Meadowlark, but now...I realize it was her wish and in the world Starlight and her friends made did it to keep the family together.
It's ironic when you think about it. In my first life, I was Clover's big sister. In the life I'm becoming, I'm going to be Amicitia's little sister…Funny how Rota works, huh?
What I'm becoming isn't Meadowlark the star or Razzaroo the town memory keeper...not one or the other, but both. More than both…
What happened next...it reminded me of when the world changed in the Wish Spell, but so much bigger! I was unmade and then remade...but never once did I feel scared. I was in Fauna Luster after all! What place is safer or more loving?
Oh, and Pinkie Pie kept sneaking in to say hi! She's Pinkie Pie, what else would you expect?!
It took a really long time! Billions of years even! Becoming a part of creation isn't an overnight thing you know! And inside her, Fauna Luster made sure I understood I was a part of everything. I wasn't a servant, and I wasn't a queen, I was a law of creation. But...when it was done, I finally was born.
My new sisters and brothers were all around me, following their numbers! Even the Minor Arcana (which I was about to be) that had gotten their spots filled!
Oh and Pinkie Pie, who was crying tears of joy and blowing her nose. Hehe!
I spread my wings for the first time, I stretch my new legs, they feel so strong now! My mane and tail? They're made of flowing sand, colored like my mane but with a slight gold tint to it, Constantly flowing but never falling. You know, like the desert in the Saddle Arabian Knights?! I love that story. Speaking of which, my barding sure fits the part! Oh, and my Cutie Mark gained a wishing star!
Oh, right! Dramatic Alicorn birth speech! "I am the answer to every wish or prayer! I do not follow the rules! I am the rules!"
"MY LITTLE PONY, I GIVE YOU YOUR NAME: PRINCESS JINIRI MIRACULUM PONYLAND. THAT IS WHO YOU ARE, YOU WERE, AND WHO YOU SHALL BE."
"Ponyland? Not Equestria?" I questioned, feeling so small to ask.
"YOUR PONYLAND LIVES ON IN YOU, MY CHILD. SO IT IS, SO SHALL YOUR NAME REFLECT!"
I teared up a bit. "Wishes are belief rewarded! Miracles are faith in action! A wish without belief is merely a request, a prayer without faith asking something you don't expect to be heard!"
And so it was. That was that.
"I can see it all! How everything works together! How all the little pieces fit! How day and night, life and death, how it all works together as one! I understand...and I understand how much you were with my world, Fauna Luster, BDZCM! You...you were everywhere in it! I understand!...But not perfectly, I'm not that Concept...I am Perfect Wishes! The Perfect Miracle! The Nine of Cups, Concept of Wishes and Miracles!"
Everypony clopped their hooves, Pinkie pulled party whistled out of nowhere and played them!
Anasi hugged me.
Pinkie kept her word and threw me one big Alicorn Party!
After so long...I've finally done it...I'm finally a Concept...Princess Jiniri Miraculum Ponyland, the Nine of Cups, Concept of Wishes and Miracles...and you know what? I feel like it was worth it. Yes yes yes!