Celestia let out a soft yawn. It wasn't that the explanation as to why Equestria needed to enact trade tariffs on the griffon scone industry wasn't fascinating. It wasn't. Normally, she'd never reveal any outward sign that she was tired, or bored. She relished in her ability to remain resolute when facing her little ponies. It was what she believed they deserved.
Today, however, was a different story. "Oh, my. My apologies. I recommend we resume this at a later date." Celestia signaled that the meeting was over. "Ms. Raven, please see to it that the rest of the Day Court petitioners are rescheduled for tomorrow's session." She said while the ponies leaving their session were still within earshot. Best not to hurt their feelings, after all.
There were, of course, no other ponies awaiting their moment in front of the princess, Celestia had seen to that beforehoof. There were far more important things that needed to be done today. After securing a sugary snack from the royal kichen, the white Alicorn made her way to the depths of the castle.
"We see that the diet of yours is still in full effect." Luna stated sarcastically as she emerged from the shadows.
"Leave my diet out of this, Luna. Besides, we've still got a sizable distance to travel yet. Or would you prefer to suffer the sound of my stomach as we make our way into the Crystal Caverns?"
Instead of further antagonism, Luna simply turned and opened the large steel door that marked the boundary between castle and cave. "Are you sure about this, Celestia? We can still back out. " She said, turning to her sister once more, the previous subject abandoned.
"We shall proceed, Sister. In all honesty, I believe this meeting has been a long time coming."
"What did you expect when you made Discord your courier?"
"No. If what I'm told is to be believed, this Aaron has been living in our world for some time now."
"And because of this character's secretive nature, this meeting has been difficult to set up until now, I'm guessing?" Luna concluded.
"If our current surroundings are any indication, then yes, that is at least one of the reasons for such a delay." Celestia acknowledged. "There are others, of course, but if Ms. Do's report is any indication, our mystery guest may leave our world for long periods of time."
"Then I suppose that means that this meeting will go smoothly, then."
Celestia paused for a moment. "Oh? How so?"
"Because that means that this Aaron person and I seem to have at least one thing in common." Luna teased.
~~~~~
The two sisters traveled in silence for most of their journey. The last time these caves had been occupied, they were not used for anything remotely pleasant. Celestia shivered at the prospect of being trapped in a cocoon again. Thankfully, her thoughts were quickly forgotten when she felt herself passing through an invisible barrier of some kind.
One minute she was walking through the cavern, the next, she and her sister appeared to be in a catered dining room of sorts. They were still in the Crystal Cavern, but whatever magic they had passed through had kept this particular place hidden from sight.
"Welcome, Alicorn rulers of Equestria." Said the slightly grayed canine standing beyond the table. "I am Aaron."
"The pleasure is ours." the elder sister said with a polite dip of her head. "I am Celestia, and this is my sister, Luna."
"Charmed." Luna said copying her sister's gesture.
Celestia eyed their guest carefully. He looked very similar to a diamond dog at first glance. On top of that though, something was off. It quickly dawned on her what it was, once she recalled her discussion with Daring Do. Aaron had no discernible Aura. He had no magic.
"I suppose the rumors that you aren't what you appear to be are true after all."
"And I take it you can read the flow of magic to a degree, then. Although I am not a Canis, myself, I do intend to represent them here."
"We were informed of some your magical feats. How then, can you not possess any magic?" Inquired Luna. "Does your form hide your Aura?"
"Not precisely. I'm almost certain that my true form would fail to express whatever it is that you are looking for. Humans have never possessed magic. I haven't a clue what this 'Aura' you seek even looks like."
"Then how are you able to wield this Geamancy?"
"Oh, but we are getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? Please, sit. The food is still warm, and I'm sure you'll enjoy at least some of it." Aaron said while gesturing towards the spread. "We can discuss such things after we have eaten." Aaron finished with a warm smile.
Celestia did her best to ignore the smug 'bet you wish you hadn't eaten that cake now' look her sister was giving her, and made her way towards the plate holding some sort of cheese-stuffed peppers.
The food smelled and tasted as delicious as Daring Do had described it to them. Spices and herbs that had either split from their cultivated siblings some time ago, or were downright wild in origin, but whose altered flavors had been expertly used to season the array of dishes before them.
The elder alicorn eventually regretted having that snack before departing. Her own chefs were experts in the field of cooking, but whoever prepared this was an artisan.
"Enjoying the meal?" Aaron asked, to which he received in answer, two thankful nods. "Now imagine what I could do with access to ingredients outside of the ones I keep in the Den's Garden."
Luna choked back a bit of her desert at the proclamation. Celestia momentarily wondered if her sister simply had not been paying attention to that part of the brief. Putting down her own, freshly cleared dessert plate, Celestia properly thanked her host. "So you did make this? I think I speak for both of us when I say that you've done a marvelous job. Though, I must ask, how did you prepare all of this?"
"I might explain that little trick later. For now though, I'm pleased enough just hearing that you've enjoyed it."
After she was sure she wasn't going to choke to death on a sugary berry topping, Luna cleared her throat. "These are all made with ingredients from your own garden? I commend you on your work, Sir Aaron. This is likely the closest I've come to food that tastes as I remembered it."
"Luna isn't a fan of modern, processed foods, I'm afraid." Celestia interjected in an attempt to change the topic away from her sister's banishment. "You were saying something about acquiring new ingredients? Is that something you intended to discuss with us today?"
"That's certainly one of the topics I want to cover, yes. I think that it would be a good start, opening up trade between the Deep Ward and the rest of Equestria. Despite pony-kind's past transgressions against us, these last few months have proved that your kind has matured a bit since that dark era."
"Thank, you. I- We've worked hard to make Equestria, and its ponies what they are today. But I'm not certain such an agreement needs this level of seclusion." Celestia said gesturing towards their immediate area.
"That brings me to my other topic." Aaron said, his face hardening in seriousness. "The reason for this secrecy, is that no-one outside of this field is ready to learn about what I'm about to show you."
"Then shouldn't the other Alicorn be present as well?" Luna asked. "Surely Cadance and Twilight, at least, should bear witness to something of such importance?"
"I understand your reasoning, Ms. Luna. But there is a very specific reason I agreed to meet with just the two of you. You're not the same as the others, are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that this Cadance and Twilight, two of the other three or so Alicorns living among ponies, were born naturally."
"Are thou implying that-" Luna snapped her hoof down at the table, only for it to be caught in Celestia's magic before it could strike the table.
"Calm yourself, Luna." Celestia said soothingly before turning back towards Aaron. "I urge you to choose your words carefully, there are precious few who are privy to that kind of information, Mr. Aaron."
"I know that you both are what I've come to term as a Guardian. You are two of the beings that were created to assist with this world's upkeep. The hows, and ultimately, whys of needing beings such as yourself are not yet fully understood, but here you stand. You two aren't the only two guardians, either. I know of at least a few more of them, some of them a little more than I'd like to, honestly."
"Then why choose to contact us, specifically."
"Because, out of all the guardians I know I can contact, you two have a history at being the most stable. Once Deep Ward is officially revealed to the world, I can attempt to contact a few of the others, but for now, you two are the most logical choice to start sharing this information."
The two sisters looked at each other before coming to a decision. "That's a terrible explanation, but we will listen to whatever it is you have to say."
"Now, what I'm about to tell you will, no doubt, be difficult to believe. This world still lacks the progress needed to even develop the terms that I need to express the situation with any clarity." Aaron explained. "And while I know that I'm asking you to accept what I say as truth, without sufficient proof or evidence, I'm not above making it worth your while."
"In what way?" Celestia asked.
Aaron pulled out a pair of bracelet-sized objects and placed one in front of each princess. "Have you seen one of these bangle's before?"
Picking up the jewelry with her magic, Luna noticed that the gem started changing color, ever so slightly. While the silversmithing of this piece was unfamiliar to her, she did recognize the gem. "Yes, I have seen a few of these before. A few of the petitioners were wearing them to Night Court."
Celestia noticed the gem changing color as well. "I take it there's something imbued into the gem? Or do you simply mean to bribe us with fancy trinkets?" She said with a teasing, questioning glance.
"This, ladies, is the solution to Equestrea's Changling problem."
"How so? I fail to see how, whatever enchantment these gems possess, will be able to thwart an attack. "
"For starters, you are thinking about the problem from the wrong angle. Changelings attack only when their hive exceeds their food supply."
"Which, need we remind you, is stolen from whatever poor creatures they can trick!"
"Exactly. The reason you two can even see the enchantment, is because you share a bond. These are marketed towards young couples as a sort of 'commitment' item. the stronger the love between ponies, the more the gem changes. The development and marketing teams have done a great job, by the way. But, unlike the changelings, which are content to sap every ounce of love out of a few targets, these gems can do so in a much more subtle way. Using economies of scale, the minuscule amount of love these gems collect, will accumulate in such quantities that a hive will never go hungry again. And when word spreads among the other changeling hives, your attacks will be a thing of the past."
Setting the trinket down, Celestia noticed that the gem ceased to glow. "If this is indeed the solution you claim it to be, then I would have no qualms about listening to your claims with an open mind."
"I agree." Said Luna. "Please, divulge to us your tale."
"I could not ask for anything more at the moment." Aaron said in a cheerful tone. "For starters, though, I need to ask how much you know about Starswirl and his theories, specifically the ones involving multiple worlds."
"An odd question." Stated Celestia, who, while having kept a close eye on the stallion in question, back in the day, had not seen some of his later works as important as his achievements in standardizing unicorn spell-casting.
"Shortly after the initial disappearance of the Crystal Empire, and all of its inhabitants, Starswirl theorized that the whole city must have gone somewhere. He believed that the city had been transformed into energy that was then relocated to mirrored region on another world. His later experiments involved tracing the energy and looking for a way to transport himself between the two zones, if I remember his published journal correctly. It is theorized that he actually managed to complete his experiments, which led to his abrupt disappearance in the late Classical Era." Luna finished, surprising both her sister and Aaron. "What? Am I not allowed to look into the past exploits of a friend? His journal has been published for years now."
"Right. Well, yes, those are the basics of his theory, that there were other worlds that mirrored this one. For the most part, Starswirl was correct, there were, in fact, countless worlds that were nearly identical to this one. What his theories lacked, however, were the hows and whys. His final experiment was more concerned with breaking through the structure of this world in hopes that he'd make the same journey as that Empire, but without knowing its exact coordinates, or even how to properly move through the Void, the chances of him ending up there were slim. To top it off, his method nearly destroyed this world."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"Because he told me as much when I rescued him." Aaron said proudly, to the looks of cynicism that both princesses were wearing. "Well, to be honest, there wasn't too much to do, and I had already been in the area, but his lack of knowledge is what I hope to teach you about today." Aaron snapped his fingers and the table started to vanish. Emptiness oozed into the space the table once occupied until the it was gone, then it spread to the floor and finally consumed the area within the force field until nothing surrounded the trio but a shapeless void.
"What kind of spell is this?" Asked Luna.
"This is no spell. I've just altered the instance we were in for a demonstration." Aaron stated before centering an image of their world between them. "This is the world on which your version of Equestria resides." Suddenly their world was surrounded by a sea of similar-looking worlds scattered in every direction. "These are just a few of the alternate worlds that existed in what we call the Sandbox. I won't go into too many details just yet, but suffice it to say that all of these worlds existed in a universe that lies beneath, or rather inside, the one I am originally from."
"Existed? As in they don't anymore?" Celestia inquired.
"Correct. When it was discovered that beings such as yourselves could break free from their worlds, as Starswirl once did, a plan was enacted to essentially restart the universe."
"T-That's horrible. Why would you do such a thing!" The two sisters said in unison.
"I agree, for the most part, but you must understand this event from Humanity’s perspective. Even though I know you are you, that your little ponies have families, and hopes, and dreams, et cetera. My brain constantly tries to convince me that you are all just a figment of my imagination, that you are all following some clever set of instructions that make you appear to be people. To the system, and Humanity in general, it was these sets of instructions that were destroyed."
"Then why was our world spared."
"Because I've come to call this place my home, for the most part. Despite what my brain tries to convince me of, I believe that you are all people. My interactions here have altered my perceptions of you in such a way that I believe it would be beneficial if you all survived."
Each sister was now deep in thought. Aaron had already revealed so much, but deep down they both realized that they still didn't know the reason he would reveal any of this. "Why inform us of this now?" Luna asked.
"And more importantly, how can we be sure what you're showing us is the truth?"
"It's true that I haven't really given you a reason to trust my reasoning just yet. But before I give you one, let me explain why I'm revealing all of this to you. We've already established that this world is essentially all by itself, which brings me to my next topic. I've witnessed, and encouraged, the development of the people here. I may be partial to the Canis myself, but I can't say I haven't noticed that there are at some aspects of other cultures that have started to advance, rather quickly, I might add. What that means is, all cultures will eventually struggle to compete for territory, and more importantly resources. It might not be next week, it might not even be a thousand years from now, but it will eventually happen. There just isn't enough room on this little world for all of the Sapient species to thrive."
"You can't possibly mean for us to-" Luna started to outcry.
"No, Luna. Sir Aaron is correct." Celestia interrupted.
"Sister?"
"Long before your," Celestia coughed, "recent return. I petitioned a group of scholars to look into Equestria's resources. A safegaurd to determine our survivability if another episode like yours were to repeat itself." Luna sat quietly in concern, her sister did not bring up Nightmare Moon's actions lightly, especially not in front of a strange guest. "I tried to keep myself detached from the project, but in an effort to please me, the group went above and beyond what I'd asked of them. This was a few hundred years ago, but they'd managed to predict our current population and basic technological needs for some time to come. They had also managed to predict the exact decade for border skirmishes with both the dragon clans and the griffon kingdom. From what they'd uncovered, our races expansion was more or less exponential in form. The best course of action would be to colonize unpopulated, yet resource rich regions, before the other races could, and hope for a technological stalemate once all discovered resources were claimed. After that, the only hope for continued coexistence would be to discover some way to colonize another planet, or radically change the way all species operated. The former option might continue the trend of progress, but the other..."
"If there is one things humans have discovered, it is that stagnation, as a species, is a death sentence." Aaron finished.
"Then there are other species in your universe that have failed to leave their world?"
"Sadly, yes. Humans were the only ones to make it past our original star system. Which brings me to my dilemma. This world was never designed for anyone to make it even that far. The system was designed so that no species ever moves beyond their initial system."
"And you intend to change that?"
"Essentially, yes. I wish to relocate this world's population into a suitable world within my universe. If it were requested, I could even separate the races and distribute them among whichever world they chose. The infrastructure is already in place for the most part, but..."
"But there is a catch, isn't there?"
"As magic does not exist in my world, no race will have access to it in any form."
"Is there no way around that limitation? There are many who could not live without access to their inherent magic."
"There is literally nothing I can do about it. The laws that govern our universes are too different. If there are those who refuse to learn, they may stay behind. I will not force the choice on anyone. Others may even be able to return, eventually. I'm still hashing out the return protocols."
A world without magic. It was madness under normal circumstances, but every so often, there had been those who had shunned the advantages that magic gave them. Magical abilities have even caused strife between the Pony races on more than one occasion, but even then, nopony had ever lived without any magic whatsoever. No-one except Aaron, anyway.
"What do you gain from all of this? Does humanity benefit, in some way, from uplifting other races?"
"Sometimes, I wish we could have. In truth, our universe lies mostly barren, no other species could ever be fully uplifted to sufficient levels until now. Granted, there are a slew of rules devised in case we ever found potentials, but I feel as though I can disregard them for now."
"Is it wise to reject the rules set up for just such an occasion. Do humans not hold themselves to their ethics?"
"Had I not already broken the first law concerning no contact when I arrived here, maybe. Since then though, I've realized that I'm the only one still playing by the rules. Not because of some moral high-ground I hold myself to, but because there is no-one else left to hold me accountable. Humanity is functionally extinct, and has been for some time now." Aaron said sheepishly. "Even now, calling myself human would stretch the definition a bit. What do I get out of this, you ask? I get the possibility that some piece of humanity carries on into the future. I get to see some semblance of humanity survive through you and your people!"
The two sisters were dumbfounded by this revelation. It was Luna who finally broke the silence. "Is it true? Are you the last of your kind?"
"As far as I know, it is the truth. When I came to this world originally, it was so that I might find a clue, some vain hope that might save my kind. What I found instead was the hard truth. Humankind's time is over, but for as long as I live, I must work to see successors take our place. " Aaron said, his ears swept down. "That is the only thing I have left to work towards."
"You've obviously suffered through much to reach this point," Celestia observed after a moment of silence, "and while it pains me to say it, I am not sure if we can assist you. Even if ponies decided to live in a world without magic, what of their children? Could they even bear children? Most of our technology, medicine included, has some element of magic involved. If we were to go through with this, would all of that progress you speak of, be reset?"
"What you are forgetting is that, the longer you wait, the harder the transition will be. This meeting is just my way of showing that I'm playing by the rules. If I willed it, I could force you all into my world without so much as a 'hello'. I'm not asking you to make a choice, here and now. I only ask that you seed the idea of transition into the minds of your ponies. Let them discuss the outcomes of such a life. Let them make the choice for themselves." Aaron said in earnest. "Besides, at least one pony has already made that decision for herself, from what I understand."
"She?"
"Yes. A small lavender unicorn who I believe has a strong connection to the magic of her world."
'Wait a minute.' both sisters thought as they conveyed their realization to each other. 'Does he mean?
"Lavender Unicorn?"
"Strong connection to magic?"
"Yep. She even managed to steal my ship in the the process. Why, do you know a pony like that?"
"Umm...."
"Well, Uh... I mean, how could we? This pony lived on another world, did she not?"
"Oh, I suppose you're right. Probably for the best anyway. I'll have you know that Grand Theft Starship is a very serious offense." Aaron stated in all seriousness. "I really liked that ship..." He whimpered.
"There, there, I guess?" Luna comforted. "I'm sure that, that pony, had a good reason for doing what she did."
"Well then, I suppose we've all gained a great number of things to think about." Celestia added, eager to change the topic once more. "What's say we call this meeting adjourned? Yes?"
"Of course, of course." Aaron said, returning the three to the cave system. "Do you think our next meeting will be so secretive?"
"That depends on if you are the one doing the cooking." Luna answered, while grabbing another dessert from the reappearing table. "I'm not sure if I want to share."
"Yes, well, enough teasing. Luna?" Celestia asked as she turned to go. "I think she means to say that our next meeting should be in an official capacity. After that, who knows?"
"And what my sister means to say, is that she wishes she could also have another piece of cake!"
"Luna!"
"Goodbye Aaron! Let us meet again!" Luna sang as she deliberately passed her second helping in front of her sister's nose.
"Yes, well. If you ever need somepony to talk to, you know how to get in touch with us." Celestia said before chasing after her sister.
"I look forward to it." Aaron called after them. "but don't wait too long." he whispered to himself. Once the Royal Sisters had left the area, Aaron opened his console. "Bookmark current location, and take me home."
And with that, the Crystal Cavern was empty once more.