Tales of First Contact: Tragedy

by Banjo64

The Late Letter

My dearest daughters, I pray this letter finds you well, for it bears ill tidings. If my enchantments work and it has been delivered, it is because a terrible event is likely occurring as you read this, and action must be taken swiftly to prevent disaster. A threat to our home’s very existence will emerge if nothing is done. You must start rallying your forces and what allies you can.

Once you have done so, please read on and learn why.

You see, our world is but one of many. I’m certain you already know this. But of all worlds in existence, there is one special plane of existence that houses a species unlike any other. For these people are born with an incredible ability: the power to create life with but a thought. Not all of them utilize this power, but those who do are like deities to the worlds they create.

But you see, among these beings, very few ever learn about the power they posses. Most simply believe that they are storytellers or fiction writers; that the worlds they create exist only within their minds and their works. But rarely, one of them will discover the truth. Some gain the ability to look into their creation, while other find themselves able to travel into them.

And yes, I myself am one of these beings. I was not born the alicorn you two have always seen me as. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to not only view the world I created, but enter it. And once I did and realized the power I wielded, I made every effort to make the world a safe and wonderful place.

I created a beautiful land full of life and energy. I created numerous races that I had heard of in my other life. And I created you two. My children. I never expected to become a mother when I first entered my own world, but you two have always been my greatest creations. I have loved you just as much as any other parent would.

It wasn’t perfect, however. My world was build from my dreams and fears as much as my wishes and thoughts. Monsters and dangers emerged from the depths of my consciousness, and I did not have the power to remove what was created. I could only seal the worst of it away and give you the means to fight back. The darker parts of life, I learned, are necessary for life to exist at all, unpleasant as they are.

But there is another, more pressing problem. Worlds created by beings such as myself are not entirely stable. When a stray thought can change everything about the world underneath your hooves, such worlds are, shall we say, fluid in nature. This isn’t entirely a bad thing. Such worlds are impossible to travel to or from by any except the creator. No foreign invader can ever attack a fluid world.

But such fluidity does not last forever. For as powerful as my people are, we are still bound by mortal bodies. One day, a fluid world’s creator will die. And when that happens, the world will become solid. It will be independent of the creator’s influence and be just a real as any other. It will be able to connect to other worlds, including the home of the creators.

And here lies the reason why I have prepared this letter. Once I finish writing this, I intend to return to my other life, and never return. While I could change my body as I saw fit while I was here, my physical body remains as it is back home. I am not longer the young woman who first stepped into this place, and will soon pass away.

I know I didn’t tell you as much face to face, but what could I have said? You two are still so young as my time nears it’s end. Could you accept that your mother is leaving forever? Would you somehow come to blame the world I would seemingly vanish to? I decided it’d be best to simply tell you that I was going away for some time and let you to figure out the truth for yourself when you were grown.

But this is not why I have asked you to rally what army you can. As I have said, it is rare for a creator to know the power they posses. Beings such as myself have no way to prove the others that the worlds we create are real. And because they do not know their worlds are real, they sometime create things that, once their worlds are solid, become a threat to life in other worlds.

I have enchanted this letter to appear in the event that one such world has become solid, and is now connected to my other home. When beings such as I learn of our own worlds, we usually make them less of a threat and warn them of the dangers visiting our home will cause. Those who do not never leave hints to the location of their world. So if a created world has connected to the creator’s world, it must be the result of an invasion.

And here is where the threat lies. While dangerous worlds always become solid regardless, they usually do so in a limited fashion. Limited enough that other solid worlds can stop them. But if so many creators were to die in rapid succession, it would likely result in an unstoppable force of dangerous worlds being unleashed upon the multiverse.

My world, your world, is surely solid by now. Should this terrible force be unleashed, our home will be in grave danger. Therefore, though it pains me to do so, I must request that you use what you can to aid the world of the creators. If not for the sake of protecting the people of your mother, than protecting your world.

I beg of you, please, do everything you can to stop this invasion. Stop them from destroying everything and dooming the multiverse.

I trust you two to do the right thing. You were always-

The letter fell from Luna’s magic grasp. She was unable to continue reading through the tears that flowed from her eyes.

“It appeared in the throne room. With both of you out here, nopony knew it was there for weeks. We hurried to deliver it as soon as it was discovered but…” the guard pony trialed off.

Luna didn’t respond. She simply turned away and walked towards her sister. Celestia was standing near a window, her expression haunted. She had read the note first, before also dropping it in horror.

Luna sat down next to her sister as followed her gaze. As far as they could see was the ruined remains of what once was the greatest city of humankind. Now, the city burned, and countless human bodies lay broken and burnt among a few pony ones.

It was some time before either spoke. And even then, Luna's voice was barely audible.

“Sister… what have we done?” whispered Luna.

Author's Note:

I don't like putting words in the mouth of real people, so I'm going to say this involves someone other than Lauren Faust.

We all know stories about doomed worlds. But how about a story about a doomed world that still has a few years to live, and has time to reflect on how this doom was brought about by its own actions?

Comments

[Wanderer101]

I want to see this as a full story so badly...