The Meeting
Border Chronicles: An Introduction.
Dearest Twilight Sparkle,
It is with a smile in my heart that I congratulate you on finding your purpose as the princess of friendship. I could not be more proud of all that you have accomplished as my student, and as the element of magic. you have done so many great and wonderful things in such a brief period of time that I hope to see it continue on now as you fully mature into your role.
That said, there is a matter of great importance that I must have you attend to. This is not a request from your former mentor and friend, but a request as Princess Celestia and every bit of responsibility that comes with that title. I need you to meet a representative of a very far away land, one not too dissimilar to the place Sunset Shimmer had taken your element to. He is here to inform you of other responsibilities not yet revealed to you, For they were not within my power to tell you. Please do make haste, he will be here for only a few days. If you were to miss him, it would be all that much harder to go through at another time.
Signed,
Princess Celestia
Twilight had read the letter for the third time, as she walked down the hallway toward the throne room. It didn’t make much sense, who was this representative? Why was she not given a name? Was the Representative a human like Shimmer now was? Were they mare or colt? Too many questions, too few answers. Even though she had always loved and respected her once mentor, sometimes the often cryptic messages, made her frustrated beyond belief. Just for once could she just tell me directly?
She stopped just outside the two massive and beautifully ordained doors. One had a yellow allicorn with the wings spread and a shining sun with several rays shooting off in multiple directions, representing Princess of the sun, Celestia. The other door showed a darker blue allicorn standing regal with her head held high and under a crescent moon with a single light blue ray shining down upon the central figure, representing Princess of the moon, Luna. The two Royal sisters, who ruled all of Equestria for centuries, prior to Nightmare Moon, and were, most likely to do so, for another several centuries to come. With a deep breath, Twilight stepped into the royal chamber.
Celestia smiled down on her once student, turned princess. It was a smile of pride, respect, and lastly motherly. She didn’t often think on the matter of being a mother, such a thing was impossible for her and Luna as the alicorns they were. They would have to give up their rights as rulers, and their near immortal lives, to have the chance for such a blessing. Dark beings like Sombra, and the changeling queen, were too grave a threat against her ponies for Celestia to justify such actions. Plus her appointed task of maintaining the near utopian state of Equestria, less it fall under his control, was such a great responsibility to just drop everything for. Maybe, with some time, Celestia could abdicate her rule to Luna, or Twilight, to begin a true family, but that was a day was too far ahead to consider such thoughts now. She already had enough guilt throwing Twilight to the wolf waiting to meet the newest royalty. It showed ever so slightly in that smile as well despite Celestia's efforts to hide it.
Twilight had noticed, Celestia’s smile was not one entirely made of sincerity, but rather one of sadness, or pity. It was not a pleasant thing to see. Sure the colorful range positive emotions were there in that smile, but Twilight knew some great moment of burden only she could bare was about to be revealed to her, much like when Nightmare moon, Discord, Sombra, and finally Tirek's return to bring darkness to the land of Equus. What is the danger I’ll have to face this time. She thought concern flashing across her face. Celestia had noticed this, took an inhale of breath, and began to speak.
“My dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am happy to see that you were able to make it here in haste.” She nodded approvingly.
“I came as quickly as I could, Princess Celestia,” she bowed. “In your letter you said that there was something important you needed me for…to meet a representative from a world like the one I had visited not to long ago.”
“Indeed. Though I must say it is not so much a single world he represents, but several…” she paused frowning, “Even this one if we princesses were to vanish with no one to take our place. Only at that would he rule, if such a thing were to come to pass.”
Twilight’s jaw dropped to the ground. The implications of such a statement! Just who was this Colt? How had she not even heard of him? Or even what could make the princesses vanish? But the most important question she had was, Why reveal this now? Celestia gaze caught the unasked question.
“Fear not Twilight,” Celestia calmly stated, hoping to put her at ease, “There are no threats, nor any major disasters you need worry about,” she chuckled briefly, “Consider this your final task before you are a full fledged princess. As for why I did not reveal him to you, it was at his request for secrecy. He would rather be an unknown here, he does not like being a po—,” she caught herself, “Let us just say he does not like what this land does to him…” She finished cryptically.
“So…” Twilight paused unsure how to politely ask, so she just barred through, “So, where is he?”
“Where the mirror lies.”
“Then why are we here in Canterlot? I thought the mirror was still in the Crystal Empire?”
“It is not that mirror,” she paused, sadness took hold of her features, “It is the mirror where my belov—Where we fought…myself”
“I thought that mirror destroyed. you didn’t—“
“No. It still remains, in many broken pieces and unusable, but still is. The Representative is there, we must make haste though, for he will not be here for long.”
****
Down in the caverns located beneath the castle, was Starswirls athenaeum. Located here, were his vast and incredible skills had shaped the very way in which the magic of the world of Equus is used, stored scrolls and tomes of all the magic he discovered, kept deep in the caverns under the royal sisters castle. Piles of finished and unfinished spell matrices bound in scroll form strewn in layers across desk after desk. Dust from centuries of neglect, layered upon them, turning the once parchment yellow scrolls into grey tubes and all but destroyed without years of careful preservation and restoration spells. Several magical artifacts, many unused, locked away behind enchanted glass looked as if they where made mere seconds ago. Despite all of the history of one of Twilight’s second most favorite historical figure surrounding her, (Celestia was, the still living figure she is, first on that list) she ignored it all because it was the Representative that held her attention.
He’s an alicorn…how…what…why?
He stood even taller then Celestia by a good three inches, his horn however was shorter then her once mentor. His coat was an olive green, and covered all his body and most of his wings. As she stared at the wings however, she noticed them greying into black the further away from body the plumage went until the color change ended at the inky black tips of his primaries. His main a darker blue along with a rust red stripe as an accent. Adorn on his flank a cutie mark of a highly ornamental skeleton key. Then Twilight saw his eyes… pools of a soul gazing emerald green held her in place, but that wasn’t all. They seem to flicker back an forth from the emerald gaze to a very disturbing solid white constantly. As she took him in only several things came to mind, power, anger, anguish, sadness, brutality, compassion, but most of all just a single thought held fast above the others. I don’t like him. He can't be trusted with power or rule. But for the life of her, Twilight couldn’t find a reason why she thought that having never met him before.
“Greetings princess,” a voice cold, raspy and dead began, “My name is Rupert Skeleton, but it would be kindly favored if you could just address me as Skeleton” he said sincerely, but a faint trace of annoyance, and anger could be heard.
“It’s a honor to meet you too,” Replied Twilight cheerfully as she could manage being nervous making a slight bow, "I would very much like to get to know you."
“I would say the same, yet I have no such time for ceremony.” Skeleton responded curtly, “I have a trinket I would have you examine. I want you to tell me exactly what you feel in what you see therein. I can tell when anyone, including pony, is lying to me.” He warned.
He handed to Twilight a small piece of stained glass work, no bigger then a sheet of paper, but its artwork was a myriad of changing shapes. Reds morphed into greens, blues into oranges. The lines that made the shapes rotated from straight to curved, square to circle and many many more. That was, until, it was captured in Twilight's magical aura.
At once the glass froze in a piece of art work in Twilight’s eyes. To Skeleton and Celestia the glass held no stable image, the shapes continuing to change, and yet, for Twilight it held an image of a beautiful mare. A gorgeous Golden mane flowed from a rich ruby coat of another alicorn figure. Stars, planets, trees, ponies, griffons, all of the life on Equus had some form or another indicated on the surrounding glass in an equally beautiful fashion. For all of this, the cutie mark held her attention for a brief moment, a sideways figure eight shining in a sapphire hue, screaming this mare’s station for all and everything. There in the magical glass Twilight held, the alicorn’s eyes held nothing but a solid white, the same white that flickered in Skeletons ever attentive gaze. Twilight only felt one thing staring at the glass work. Awe.
“I don’t really know how to say what I’m feeling…but it’s something that I don’t think I could ever forget much less want to.” she paused, “Who…Who is this?”
“It is the All Mother, Twilight dear,” it was Celestia’s turn to speak, “She is what gave birth to the sun, stars, life, death, all that make existence, our histories have called her many names, The Matriarch, Nova, Atropos, Faust, Falona, but by far the most common name for her is Fate.”
“It is for her that I am a representative for.” began Skeleton, “I am one of her, to use a less accurate but still true term, Guardians. I protect and guide humanity in my official duties, but I am second in command of all. This is because, humanity drives everything, it’s what they were meant to do. It’s their imagination, or perhaps because of it, that other species of sentient beings came to be. It is how you came to be, princess.
“This is not to say you are not real, but the idea came from them. It was in their acceptance that you could exist, that Fate made it so. But I digress. My purpose here is to give a brief but important indoctrination in your new position as one of the newest guardians of your kind. However a change in scenery is needed for me to continue. Walls not of my making have ears, and knowledge without wisdom is dangerous. This is a discussion that is to be between us, alone. I am afraid that Princess Celestia can not partake in what I have to discus with you.” Celestia’s face grew to frustration and anger at the comment, but it quickly changed to sadness and guilt. "She has already been apart of this indoctrination, and need not participate again.
"If you could be so kind as to step through this door." With a sweeping gesture he revealed a door that had not been there moments prior. "We can continue your learning without prying eyes or ears
Twilight stood confused, the door had not been there previously. Also the fact the door was not attached to any walls, In fact, it reminded her when she conjured and slammed a door on spike. With a sound like the snap of fingers, a skeleton key popped into existence. Quickly snatching the same key from the air in a crimson aura, Skeleton unlocked the door. With a slow creak the door swung open, revealing a swirling blue mist pouring out into Starswirl's library covering the floor like a miasma. Twilight stared into the blackness held within the door frame, and she felt as if something had been taken from her, but she couldn't say exactly what. Still curious about the nature of the door Twilight made a quick circle of it. She had thought that the blue mist would be pouring out from both sides, but upon closer inspection on the other side of the frame confused her more. It appeared as if it wasn't open at all.
"If you are done wasting time, princess, shall we go? I have items of great importance that must attend to, and little to no time to do them. So make haste!" Snapped Skeleton. Hesitantly Twilight made her way forward nervous step after nervous step until she was through. The darkness the door held back permeated around her for the briefest of moments before it gave way to light. At once she recognized her surroundings. It was the principle's office at Canterlot high school. Confusion apparent on her face. How did she get here without the mirror? Even more confusion when she realized that she was still a pony as compared to a human.
"This really isn't canterlot high school, just a pocket dimension so we can chat in our true forms." Skeleton informed her. Taking a white stick and a small brass device from his jacket pocket
*fla-tink*
*fft*
Skeleton took an inhale of breath
*crackle*
*tink*
Twilight turned her neck to take a look at Skeleton and stood in shock. He wasn't an alicorn anymore. Instead he was human, standing at an impressive six foot three with what looked like a white stick hanging out of his mouth burning. Buzz cut rust brown hair, an olive green shirt under a black hooded jacket stained with something like oil or dirt, and worn by years of use, jeans with holes in them not place there intentionally for fashion. Frankly, he looked like a bum. His thin gangly form seemingly at odds at the power he emanated. Twilight haven seen him in his pony form quickly deduced that Skeleton had carefully crafted the appearance to disarm and mislead any he dealt with. Skeleton released his smoked filled breath, the foul order making Twilight scrunch up her nose.
"Pardon the cigarette," Skeleton began,"it helps keep me sane against all that I have to do including intra-realm crossings. This is the proper form of myself princess, being a pony," Skeleton all but spat the word, "Is degrading for a human. Walking on all fours is considered less then human, in most if not all, cultures humanity has ever developed. It does not help that Equus does not have any cigarettes either. Celestia doesn't like her little ponies to do things that are poisonous in their personal use. Being immortal, however, makes all the hazards of such a habit, effectively mute.
"Now to our discussion and lesson. How many parallel universes does Equus have?"
"I don't really know. I mean Starswirl had catalogued anywhere from fifty to two hundred at least. But I've only been to two, the one we dubbed Reflection and the human Equus." Twilight answered if a little excitedly about seeing more.
"Ah yes, the human Equus. Tell me did you ever come across your double there?" Twilight just shook her head no. "This brings us to the most important lesson. Unforeseen consequences. It is to my understanding that your predecessor, Sunset Shimmer, had stolen your crown and element and spirited it away to the human Equus. Where you had followed her almost without thinking in an effort to get it back." Another inhale and exhale of smoke, "Are you aware that the realm you went to was, in part, under my control?" Again Twilight shook her head no. "In your time there, I'm absolutely certain that you came across the humanized versions of your friends. Which begs a question. So if Fate had made it so your friends, regardless of what ever realm they inhabited, would be destined to always come together. Where was your human duplicate?"
"I just assumed she lived somewhere else, or, if not that, on vacation somewhere." Twilight stated.
"First lesson, it's a dangerous thing to ASSUME when you enter an entirely new realm. More so with a realm with almost NO relation to Equus' realm of origin. Would you like to know what happened to your duplicate?" Twilight hesitantly nodded, "The moment you crossed the barrier you erased the existence of their Twilight Sparkle. Everything she was and would ever be, was completely removed from reality when you came through the mirror. All that's left of her now is just an echo. A familiar ghost of a memory never to be recalled, like the annoying itch of knowing but not being able to answer the question asked."
Twilight just stared on in horror. She had no idea she had done that. The only thing on her mind was just getting her crown back. She never thought that her presence would be an issue. Never thought that she had all but killed, for all intents and purposes, the human Twilight Sparkle. Tears start to role freely down her face as the words Skeleton spoke sank into her thoughts.
"I-I...never...never meant to..." Twilight broke down and started crying.
"The truth, however, is that had you not chased recklessly after Ms. Shimmer, chased her through the mirror, she would have subjugated the humans, turn them into her enthralled slaves, and used them to invade Equestria. She would have lost ultimately, but the impact of such a brutal war would be etched in the very fabric of your word for at least two millennia before it would be even close to the near utopia it is currently. Which brings us to the Second lesson. Deciding what is more important, one individual, or the lives of many. There is no right answer to that question, only the on which you hope, you could live with. So, given that millions would have died had you not followed Ms. Shimmer, would you make the same choice again?" Skeleton inquired.
Tears still streaming down her face, she couldn't find the answer. How could she answer? The Twilight she had replaced deserved to live. Hay, she might have been able to stop Shimmer on her own without me crossing the barrier, thought Twilight. But she might not have. A world without magic, against her crown made with magic. With the element of magic there, what defenses would prepare her double to fight such a foreign force. There wasn't any, if her double was any where close to the wallflower Twilight had been before going to ponyville, and with out Celestia's guidance, failure was all but guaranteed.
"If it helps..."
She heard a snap of fingers and a scene of a blood soaked Equus filled her vision. The countless bodies of both pony and human kinds littered the landscape, a new set of tears fell. The smells of the dead and decaying corpses filled Twilights nose. The very earth she stood on a darker brown color, stained by the dried blood from the once living. it did not take long before the horror of what she was seeing finally caught up to her stomach as she began to retch.
"This is what would have happened had you not followed shimmer" Skeleton stated coldly, before another snap of fingers brought the much more tranquil office setting back, filling her vision once again, in place of dead equines and humans.
If that's what...if I hadn't followed...I don't know how to answer. It hurts inside that I took away the Twilight here, but I can't let that happen. Oh, Celestia forgive me...I think I would do...
"Yes." Twilight sighed, defeated.
"There is a silver lining here, it touches on the third lesson and leads to the forth. The human version of yourself, might still exist."
Twilight's demeanor changed immediately.
"REALLY!!" She shouted interrupting Skeleton. His gaze filled with an icy anger quickly subdued and silenced Twilight.
"A SLIM CHANCE," pointed out Skeleton, frustration coloring his voice, not appreciating Twilights outburst, "Third lesson, corruption of a realm. Equus Magic from your crown may offset Twilights erasure, but it will also change every human here. Like a cancerous growth it will spread across the world releasing both the magical potential of humanity, and the darker beings banished there from their starvation of magic. Much like the Sirens you had dealt with not that long ago. Corruption is only the precursor to convergence.
"Like what happened with the reflection realm of Equus, the more corruption that occurs the chances of both realms merging becomes a possibility. Do you know how close your dear and precious Celestia," Skeleton sneered, "came to destroying every instance of Equus there was or will be? Had your efforts failed, nothing would have saved your origin, the template on which all other versions of your Equus are based. Had you origin fallen to the twisted versions of your royal sisters, or worse yet been destabilized, former being dark lives for every living equine, or the latter meaning every realm would have been erased. Lesson four. Convergence only ends with two possibilities, the stronger of the two merging realms becomes the primary influence, or they destabilize and erase each other. If the worlds are similar the merge is relatively successful, but if they are different erasure is more likely. Which brings me to the final and most important lesson I can impart. The origin realm must be protected under all costs. It is the basis for every single version of your species. If an origin realm falls, ALL ITS RESPECTIVE REALMS FALL.
"If you take only one thing from this discussion it must be this." Skeleton paused taking a final breath from his cigarette before putting it out, "Never send anything or anypony including yourself to a realm under my COMPLETE AND UTTERLY UNDER MY CONTROL WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION FROM MYSELF. Else the punishment will be worse then exile to the moon, or incased in stone for thousands of years. You will wish yourself dead and forgotten long before the punishment is even a quarter of the way served. That is the most important rule I can instill."
Twilight shrank back in fear, almost as if it was an instinctual action, from the power emulating from Skeleton. Skeleton, having been at his post longer than any living guardian, knew this was the only way this fact could be instilled. If anything crossed between the realms, risks of too much corruption or worse convergence could destroy the lives of all the beings that had, do, and will live in both Universes. This was something that Skeleton could never place enough emphasis on. Time and time again, so many had failed this task. Time and time again Skeleton had to be vicious in his punishments. He never felt guilty, or worn by such actions, just annoyed and furious. He hoped, a little intimidation would keep Twilight from breaking the cardinal rules, but still expected her to do so.
"Having covered the most important parts of what needs be told. I am afraid I must part with you. Celestia will take care of the smaller details for me. I apologize for being brief but there are matters that require my immediate attention elsewhere, and I can put them off no longer." Skeleton bowed then gestured toward the door to the office, "I sincerely hope, not to be rude, I never have to see you again princess. Yet, I fear sooner then later we will cross paths again. Good day, and good bye Twilight Sparkle."
And with a snap of his fingers Twilight felt herself forced through the door and back in Starswirl's athenaeum. Celestia there waiting to comfort Twilight with the many implications she had just dealt with. Celestia truly hoping, that she never had to meet, the avatar of her mistakes and the dark reminder of her greatest failure, the king of Equestria again.