> The Handmaid
>  by GMBlackjack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> I - An End and Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

She sat at the edge of a precarious jutting cliff, legs dangling over the beautiful sea below. She kicked her feet back and forth in a playful pendulum motion, her red robes swirling in the high winds. She was leaning forward, chin in her hands, an innocent smile on her face. A ten-toothed gear symbol was imprinted on her chest, only a slightly differing hue than the rest of her robes. Her eyes were a brilliant, but deep, yellow, matching the sunrise she gazed into perfectly. Her mouth was curved in the smile of a child about to receive candy or a birthday present. Her gray skin, despite its dullness, still managed to shine slightly in the sun's rays, as did her orange ram-like horns. 

She remembered a time when sunlight would have been painful, if not deadly, to her. Luckily, that was no longer the case, and she would now be able to witness the awe-inspiring event that was about to occur in this fine world. The sun rose over the ocean, its peaceful glow declaring the arrival of a new day. The life of the sea shouted in joy - fish jumped, dolphins trilled, and ground-dwellers awoke. It was beautiful, the heralding of a new beginning! 

And then the sun exploded. Something deep within it had decided 'enough' long before its proper time. The center collapsed, imploding into itself, shedding the outer layers of fire in a burst of energy that, after the initial implosive instigation, was a rather calm event to witness. What started with violence bled into acceptance as the fire of the cosmos spread out into eternity, painting the sky with a radial inkblot of fading light. The blues of the sky faded, allowing the trillions of stars - the family of this young sun - to join in the event. The joy of the sea vanished in a single instant, replaced with wails of mourning from those who understood, and cries of confusion from those who didn't. They would not perish in fire like their cosmological mother - they would survive the oncoming flames. They would have to wait until the deep freeze for their end, fighting valiantly against the end. 

Aradia Megido saw all this and kept smiling - it was so beautiful, the dance of death. She truly had been lucky to witness it, despite her awareness of time. Seeing such events was an honor few had, and though she had seen similar things before, she still found it wondrous. 

But this event was particularly special, even if it wasn't immediately apparent. 

She stood up, her dark hair flapping back and forth in the wind. Her brilliant red butterfly-esque wings unfolded, and she raised a hand to the stars. A translucent mesh of red gears surrounded her, the metaphysical clock hands rotating rapidly around her form. Her smile didn't falter for a moment as the universe aged around her. The fires of the sun hit the planet, giving it one final burst of heat before vanishing forever. The stars became eternal watchers of the freezing rock. Icebergs formed up on the water, drifting across Aradia's eyes like little bugs. Snow fell around her, piling up to multiple feet quickly. Animals scurried to and fro, but they couldn't escape the cold embrace of death. The ocean itself soon became a flat plane of salty ice, sealing the depths of the oceans away. The atmosphere itself began to freeze - oxygen snowflakes falling down to the icy ground below, creating yet another layer of frigidness. The world became ice - dead. 

But only in a certain way. In others, it was very much still alive. 

Aradia increased the flow of time again, to vast sweeps of age that even the most ancient struggle to put in context. The cliff beneath her gave out, crumbling into nothing. Elsewhere a volcano erupted. Continents shifted, ice cracked. Mountains drove themselves through the frozen shell while other land fell into oblivion. The ocean lost its smooth surface in favor of more brutal, rigid land. The stars shifted overhead as the planet drifted and churned, struggling through this life in death it maintained. 

Then everything was suddenly bright. Aradia cut the time displacement, becoming one with the present flow of time. A brilliant white star dominated the sky - the new sun for this world. The icy landscape was running with liquid water, slowly becoming an ocean once more. 

Aradia flew over to the volcano, her grin growing. She saw green. A simple moss-like life form had survived off geothermal and chemical heat all those millions of sweeps, retaining the genetic code to photosynthesize when the time was right. Life in death, death in life. 

The most beautiful of things.

Aradia drew back from the sight, slightly giddy from the experience. In all the innumerable worlds she had visited in her long life she had never come across a moment quite like this one. Such a simple idea too, and yet, so rare. Of course, the dead planets and the half-dead planets with geothermal or sub surface ocean life were good too, but finding a new star to regain full life? It - well it was just too perfect of an analogy. 

But it had been seen and was done. She supposed she could go back and witness it again, see how the mechanics of time travel functioned in this world, but she didn't feel like it right now. It was fine to go somewhere new. 

She rose to the sky - she didn't need to, it just felt natural. She closed her eyes, feeling the universe around her, a single point on the vast Sea of nothingness. Hundreds of strands branched off from her world, connecting each to another point, another world. Some connections were short, leading to worlds similar to her current, or just popular worlds to exist within. But she wasn't the kind to seek out similarity or monotony, no - she went futher out. 

The most distant connection was easy to pick out. She knew exactly where it led, a place she would probably return to one day, but not now, insomuch as 'now' could ever be used to describe her existence. She reeled back her perceptions a bit, examining the essences of worlds distant, but not too much so, careful to avoid returning to her home cluster. That would be a bad idea. She focused, looking at the distant worlds, unable to tell much about any of them. This was good - she wanted to be surprised. 

There.

That world.

It called to her, requesting her presence. Almost politely. 

Wouldn't take too much energy to get there. Granted, she was ancient enough to have plenty of practice - in her early days of this, such a jump would have been beyond impossible. Now it just needed a simple thought. 

There was no clockwork or fancy time powers used - she was just gone from one world and in the next one. 

Aradia found herself standing in the center of a mystical forest composed of many purple and blue hued trees and other flora. She was currently within a small clearing - a clearing which held a surprise. She turned to it and gasped - it was a tree. No, a Tree. A Tree made entirely of beautiful crystals, mostly a pristine sky blue. In the center was a tremendous starburst amethyst, surrounded by five other gems on five separate crystalline branches.

Aradia put her hand on the tree, her mouth hanging open, and yet somehow still smiling. She felt the magic energy of harmony flow through her. "You..." Aradia said, her voice bright and young. "You called to me...!"

The Tree didn't respond. It didn't have to - Aradia knew. She took a step back, breathing in the enchanted air. What a wonderful place - who cared if she'd been in other mystical forests before? That was no reason to think this any less amazing. She circled the Tree, taking in the whole clearing one step at a time, her wings twitching in the soft breeze.

Then she stopped in her tracks.

There was something engraved on the back of the Tree. It was her symbols - the ten-pronged gear of time with the glyph of Aries within it. 

She smirked and raised an eyebrow. Chances were high that she scrawled that on the tree - that is, her future self - so that her past self - that is, her current self - would notice. She supposed it could also be an alternate timeline version of herself, or perhaps just another Aradia from the vastness of everything. Though really, it was probably just her future self. 

She'd already decided to stay on this world for a while anyway - now she just had a gleeful mystery in addition to that. Why had she written that there in the simultaneous future and past? Was it to ensure she knew how to find herself? To stabilize some time loops? Or was it written just because her future self had seen it in her past and felt the need to close the loop?

Aradia chuckled softly - any result would be interesting, as they always were when she didn't already know what was coming. She extended a leg and set out into the forest proper, bidding the Tree a cheerful goodbye. She opted to use her wings after a few minutes, drifting through the forest, taking in the scenery. It was oddly dark for a metaphorically 'bright' mystic forest, but that just made it better. 

Some leaves rustled to her right - some local wildlife! She drifted over to the pink-and-blue shrub to get a better look. To her surprise, a giant predator leaped out - part lion, part scorpion. It was very obviously hungry for flesh considering that it was leaping at her with its mouth wide open. 

Aradia just stopped it in time mid-lunge, kept in place by a rotating red gear. In roughly three minutes local-time, the beast would resume its lunge, hitting nothing. Or something that hadn't been there before, depending on what happened in those three minutes. 

Aradia drifted on, not giving the beast another thought. She continued enjoying the beautiful scenery for quite some time, though always in the back of her mind she was waiting for something to happen. 

She didn't have to wait long - or maybe she did and it just didn't register in her ancient mind. She came to a hut built into a tree - a house designed for creatures nowhere near as tall as she was. The doors were short and the doorknobs slightly flat. The decorations were those of a shaman - ribbons, skulls, and many handmade trinkets composed of flora Aradia had seen elsewhere in the forest.

She took particular interest in the skulls - she wondered what had killed them. Was it the hands of the mysterious as-of-yet unseen inhabitant of this place? Was it the jaws of a brutal predator? Was it just salvage? Regardless of the reason, Aradia found the decoration in good taste.  

She alighted on the front step, stooped, and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Aradia even jumped ahead a minute to see if they were just slow. She frowned, disappointed. Well, she wasn't going to break in - that'd be rude - but it struck her as odd that she found the place with nobody to do anything with. She began to consider going forwards in time until the proprietor appeared, and failing that, just going back to when the hut was built. But those thoughts were never acted upon, for a young voice interrupted them.

"...What're you?"

Aradia blinked and turned around to see a small yellow filly at her feet. Aradia wouldn't have thought the tiny adorable being had been the one to speak were it not for the loose pink bow and intelligent, curious eyes. 

Aradia grinned. "I'm a troll! and you're a little horse with a cute accent!"

The filly gave her an odd look. "...Cute accent?"

"Oh - is that offensive? - sorry if it is."

"Uh... No? Just not somethin' Ah've  heard before... ...you don't look like a troll."

"Oh? What do I look like then?"

The filly scrunched up her muzzle - a gesture Aradia took to suggest confused thought. "Ah dunno - some kind of ram-fairy? ...With hands."

Aradia put her hand to her mouth, chuckling. "Do fairies not usually have hands?"

"Not here. If they exist. Which they probably don't."

"You might be surprised what exists and doesn't, little one, in this place and beyond!"

"Uh... What?" 

Aradia shrugged. "Probably nothing important. Though by saying that I make it more likely that it will be."

"...That's crazy talk, things don't just become important because you say they aren't. Or are."

Aradia shrugged. "Well, let's just say my experiences say otherwise little... Hey, do you have a name?"

"Applebloom," she said, standing a little taller, proud of her name and heritage. 

Aradia found this absolutely adorable. "Well, Applebloom, my name is Aradia."

"That's an odd name," Appelebloom blurted. She realized what she said immediately afterward. "Ah mean, uh, it's a great name!"

"It's okay!" Aradia said. "You name seems odd to me. Also, you're a talking horse. I haven't seen many of those!"

"Really? Wow, you must be from really far away!"

Aradia's smile shifted to a coy, knowing grin. "I do indeed come from somewhere far away..."

Applebloom sat down. "Where?"

"A place called Alternia. It doesn't exist anymore."

Applebloom sagged. "Oh... Ah'm sorry."

"Oh, it's not sad! Well, okay, it is, but it doesn't have to be that sad. My life ended in that place - it only really began after I left."

Applebloom blinked. "...That doesn't make any sense."

Aradia smirked. "Doesn't it though?"

"...No."

"Oh." Aradia paused for a moment, not really sure what to say to that. 

"Anyway, Aradia, are you here to see Zecora?"

"Hm? Zecora?"

"Well, you're waiting in front of her hut..."

"Oh - well I might have thought I was waiting for her but I really think I was waiting for you!"

"...For me?" Applebloom said, cocking her head.

"Yes! Well, probably yes anyway." She shrugged. "Hey! Where do you come from?"

"Ponyville. Just down that path right there. Can't miss it."

Aradia looked at the path. "Nice! I think I'll check this 'Ponyville' out! Should I expect lots of ponies?"

"...Er ...Yeah?" 

"Great! See you later Applebloom!" She flew down the path, ready to see more adorable pony creatures. 

Applebloom stared at Aradia's retreating form in disbelief - that creature was definitely an odd duck. Applebloom made a mental note to ask Zecora about trolls and fairies when she got back. 

Applebloom hoped Ponyville made a good impression. 


~~~


The Handmaid came to our world at the beckoning of the Tree of Harmony, in an era not recorded, be it past or future we know not. 

We do know she entered without any knowledge of why she was here, or what she would do. She came looking for something - nothing in particular, just something, like she always did.

She ended up finding many somethings during her times here, both related to her reason and not. But to the relatively young being who entered, all of this was beyond her. She was going in blind. 

Delightfully blind, as she would have put it.
> II - Land of Ponies and Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aradia poked her head out from behind a large tree at the edge of the Forest. The first thing she saw was a farm - it seemed disappointingly average to her. Apple trees everywhere, a large red barn to the left, and more than a few animals in pens. She supposed the pigs were interesting- ponies were herbivores, at least the ones she was familiar with. Maybe these ones ate meat?

She could see the town proper in the distance - probably a 'village' of 'ponies', but she was in no rush. She flitted over to the pig pen, scaring half the pigs and confusing the other half. 

"Hello, little pigs! No need to be scared, I'm just seeing the sights!" She grinned fully - the brilliant smile scaring the rest of the pigs away, all of them cowering in their sleeping area, squealing like crazy. 

Aradia floated there, eyebrow raised. "I... I didn't even say anything creepy. Yet." She heard a back door open behind her, accompanied by what sounded like the grumblings of an old woman.

"Darnpigs, what's gotten them riled up this ti-" The aged green mare stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Aradia. Aradia just smiled and raised a hand in greeting. 

"Hi!"

The mare groaned. "Not another talkin' one..."

Aradia cocked her head. "You've seen others like me?"

"Well, not exactly, but whenever somethin' talkin' comes out of the Everfree stuff starts happenin'. Like makin' my pigs start freakin' out."

Aradia made a mental note that the Forest must have been called the Everfree. "I was just looking at the adorable little things! I had just barely started talking!"

The mare chuckled. "That was your first mistake. Unusual things talkin' will drive just about anythin' bonkers."

"Perhaps I am pretty unusual for here..." Aradia pursed her lips, glancing at the hiding pigs before looking back at the mare. "...By the way, how old are you?"

"Uh... Hundred and sixty-two. ...Wait, that's a pretty odd question."

"It is, but I don't know anything about ponies, I have to start somewhere! I mean, I know how long of a time that is simply by the way this plane of existence ticks... nearly the same as an Earth year, though slightly less. But, I don't know how long that is for your kind - it could be super long, or it could be just a scratch on the impressive ages you can attain! How long do you ponies usually live?"

The mare backed away, giving Aradia a cautious look."...Ah know a mare who hit two-hundred. Not countin' the princesses of course."

"Wow! My caste would only live for... thirty of your years. Isn't that crazy?"

"...Yes?"

"Oh, how rude of me." She extended a hand. "I'm Aradia."

The mare hesitantly put out her hoof. "Ah'm Granny Smith."

Aradia shook the hoof, stooping down so not to stretch Granny's limbs. "it's a pleasure to meet you Granny! Oh - are you related to Applebloom by chance?"

"Yes! What'd she do this time?"

"Nothing! I just saw her in the forest at... Zecora's house, I think it was. Great taste in decorations there."

Granny raised an eyebrow. "If you say so. Why are you here, Aradia?"

"To explore a new place! Learn about the life here, the earth, the sun, the moon - if there is one - and I have all the time to do it!"

Granny shook her head. "Things don't come out of the Everfree Forest talkin' just to have a look-see."

"Oh of course not, I was called here for some reason, I just don't know what it is yet! Probably something to do with changing history, I doubt this place is causally related to where I just was. Maybe I'll even know what I'm doing soon!"

"...Yer sayin' a lot of weird stuff."

"Oh, am I going too fast? Sorry, I've just been around a long time, I forget sometimes."

"Ah thought you said you only lived to be thirty?"

"Oh, that's normally. My age can't even be measured with calendars anymore."

"Ah'm not gonna ask."

"Yeah, probably best. I don't think I could explain that one - sorry!"

Granny was about to say something else when one of the pigs decided enough was enough and rammed through a rickety piece of the fence. 

"Snuffer!" Granny shouted. "Get back here!"

"I got him!" Aradia said, flapping her wings, launching over the pig. She landed in front of the squealing animal. She raised a hand and picked up the best with her telekinesis and plopped it back into the pen. She then rewound time around the fence, repairing it. "There you go!"

Granny let out a sigh. "Always with the magic... Shoulda known you had some, with the horns and all."

Aradia blinked. "Well, it's not magic. Or maybe it is? The definition gets muddled quite a bit depending. ...You associate horns with magic power?"

Granny rolled her eyes. "What are you, from the moon?"

"Might as well be," Aradia winked.

"...You really are just here to see the sights for now aren't you?"

"Yeah!"

"Well... Not much here besides pigs, chickens, and apples. Ponyville's out that way, though there's not much there either besides the Castle and Sugarcube Corner. And ponies."

"But ponies are exactly what I want to see! Their houses, their lives, their families, their graveyards..."

Granny shook her head. "Word of advice to ya' - ponies spook easily. Ah don't think it'd be a good idea to just skedaddle in there. They'll expect a rampaging monster.

Aradia took a moment to appreciate the idea of a rampaging monster in a pony town. "Oh, that'd be fun..."

"...You aren't goin' on a rampage are you?"

"Oh jegus, no! I'm going to sneak around! Stealth mission, gather intel! Like some kind of secret agent! Hey, I can't believe I've never been a secret agent before... Officially anyway..."

Granny decided she was done questioning. "Well, have fun. Try not to cause any heart attacks."

"I solemnly vow that I shall not cause any heart attacks, merely observe any that occur!"

"Mhm," Granny said, numb at this point.

Aradia spread her hands and slowed time down to a crawl - everything around her moved like a snail. She could even watch the wings on a nearby bee slowly rise and fall in a slow beat. No pony would see her like this - she was too fast to notice. She lazily flew to Ponyville proper, taken in by how colorful things were. Besides the ponies themselves, who came in every color imaginable in every combination, the buildings were the greatest example of vibrancy to be seen. Pink was a dominant color, but there wasn't so much that it dominated the scene. It was mostly an accent alongside the other colors. Most of the houses were simple, homey constructions that definitely gave off an inviting aura. There was a bakery - presumably Sugarcube Corner - that almost looked like it was made of sweets. There was a round town hall - and a crystal castle in the distance. Aradia looked at the castle in mild confusion - it looked like the Tree, but somehow it wasn't as... unified. It looked a bit gaudy if anything.  A ruler probably lived there. Aradia supposed she could go there right now, but where'd the fun be in that? She still had to look closer at the ponies themselves!

Some of them had wings - pegasi, probably. Others were graceful unicorns, presumably imbued with 'magic' power if what Granny said was true. Aradia'd have to observe them in real-time to see about the powers. Aradia briefly wondered if there was much difference between the three kinds of ponies, or any class divisions. 

What was most interesting about the was their rears - or, rather, the marks upon their rears that seemed to define the pony wearing it, like Aradia's own gear. Young ponies didn't have them, suggesting that the earning of such a mark was possibly a coming of age moment. She wondered what the marks were called, what they represented, and how such defining symbols were chosen...

Aradia flew to the top of the building that was probably Sugarcube Corner and hunched down. She let time resume, and she watched from above. She found herself mesmerized by the way the ponies trotted, how their four legs all moved in a flowing sequence. She watched them talk, play, and live. Almost all of them were smiling brilliantly. This was a place of joy and - dare she say it - magic.

Oh, she was sure the powers coming from the horns of the unicorns had an explanation, just like her own, but she didn't know now. At the moment, the telekinesis, the blue one's fireworks, and the pink one's teleportation - all of it was beautiful magic to her. She took it all in like a hungry child, giddy at the facets of this society. She had learned so much in just a few short minutes but already had so many questions!

"Hi!" A high and chipper voice made itself known. Aradia turned to her left and saw a pink normal pony sitting next to her. Aradia was certain the newcomer hadn't been there before, and there was no way she could have gotten up here in such short time without Aradia noticing. She would have felt a teleport spark...

Aradia shrugged the thought away. "Hi yourself! I'm Aradia!"

The pony giggled. "I'm Pinkie Pie! Like what you've seen of Ponyville so far?"

"Yes, I do, in fact!"

"Good! So now that you've seen it, what next?"

Aradia put a hand to her chin. "...Frankly, I think I'll look around some more, possibly even for a few years, see how lives begin and end..."

"YEARS!?" Pinkie shouted. "That's so... Boring! And LONG!" She pulled a calendar out of her mane stretched her neck towards Aradia at an impossible angle. "See this? This is time you could be doing things!"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I dunno, a party!?" She pulled out a party cannon out of... somewhere and blasted confetti all over Aradia. 

Aradia laughed. "Interesting abilities you have there. Must make it really easy to throw parties!"

"That's my job! I am the party pony! It's what I do!"

"Does that mark on your rear signify that?" Aradia asked, pointing at Pinkie's symbol - three balloons.

"Yeah, it does! It's called a cutie mark!"

Aradia didn't even try to stifle the laugh. Pinkie joined in, realizing the name was rather silly. "You know, I wonder why we call it that... I mean I know there's a reason, but I'm talking about a reason, you know?"

Aradia raised an eyebrow. "I... Think I do actually. Though I suspect... ...Are you a First Guardian, by chance?"

Pinkie giggled in response.

Aradia smirked. "Thought not. Though you obviously know what one is..."

"The Tree of Harmony is probably as close as you'd get to one of those here, Aradia."

"I was just curious, is all."

"So am I! What are you really going to do next?"

Aradia raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you know that?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Do I look like I have any control over what I do and don't know?"

"Huh," Aradia said, pondering this thought. "I hadn't thought of it that way before. I guess neither of us knows where I'm going."

"I could take you to a party!"

"Corpse party?"

Pinkie's smile faltered. "Uh... No. Let's not go there."

Aradia shrugged. "I mean, if you say so, it's just that I always like those kinds of parties, and I don't get to have them so often. Regular funerals always take the fun out of it."

"I said shush!" Pinkie said, shutting Aradia up with a cupcake. "Shushamusha!"

Aradia was about to continue anyway, but then she noticed the taste to the cupcake. "...What flavor is this?"

"Blue," Pinkie said with a completely straight face.

"It's the best thing I've ever tasted. And I've tasted a lot of things."

Pinkie shrugged. "I try."

"Can I have more?"

"Come now, we can't have you getting addicted! You have an adventure!"

"I do indeed."

Pinkie's ears perked up. "Huh. Looks like you'll be having a visitor soon."

Aradia put her hands on her hips and smiled coyly. "Hey, it's my job to know what's happening before it happens!"

"Oh come on, you already knew, I only knew because you knew!"

"You only know because I know because it would be funny in this particular instance!"

"Buuuuuut you only knew that I knew that you knew it'd be funny because you, by chance, decided to check nearby time!"

"Oh, but my dear little pony, it doesn't end there - clearly my future self is involved in this, possibly making information available to both of us subconsciously by way of knowing both parts of our minds in advance!"

"...Now you're just pulling random words out of your hood!"

"Ah, but you only know that because-"

Pinkie shot her hooves in the air. "Augh! Too much! I surrender!" She laid down on the roof, hooves still held high.

"Nice corpse impression. Eight out of ten."

Pinkie shivered. "You... Yeah, there's no way to tone down your obsession with... that, is there?"

"You mean death?"

"Don't say the D-word!"

Aradia blinked. "Wow, okay, that's a buzzkill. Can't even say it here..."

Pinkie realized the word 'buzzkill' had just been attributed to her. "Oh noooooooo...." She facehooved. 

"Hey, hey, it's not a big deal, I'm weird-"

"So am I! I should be fine with this! I should grab a chainsaw and go nuts right now just to prove-"

"Ah, no, don't do that. Just... loosen up a little." Aradia looked into the distance wistfully. "You don't have to see the wonder in it, but you shouldn't hide from facts of life..."

Pinkie nodded slowly. "Yeah... You're right. But enough of that, you should prepare for your visitor!"

"Oh right!" Aradia slowed time back down to a crawl. She was unfazed when Pinkie's speed remained unchanged. "You going to watch?"

"Mmmmm - nah. I'm going to go back to regular pony-speed and go bake a cake. Adios, Aradia! It was nice to meet you!"

"See you around!" Aradia called as Pinkie vanished. Aradia took one look around, chuckled, and moved to the closest thing to an alley she could see. She saw her visitor long before he got close - he was a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark and a tie Aradia found herself describing to herself as clever. He was holding a device in his front hoof that went ding every few seconds - how the heck could ponies hold things in hooves anyway? He hit it a few times - apparently, it was acting up - and then rolled his eyes. It must have been working somewhat, since he turned down the alley Aradia was in. 

The thing made a really loud ding, and Aaradia allowed time to return to normal.

The stallion raised an eyebrow. "Here? Really? Why I-" He looked up and froze.

Aradia waved. "Hi!"

"...You're the time disturbance?"

"Really? Calling me a disturbance?" She rolled her eyes "...But yeah that's definitely me."

"What... Are you? I've traveled the world over and never seen anything like you..." He narrowed his eyes. "...I think..."

"I'm Aradia. I'm a troll - though I don't think I'm the troll kind you're familiar with."

The stallion narrowed his eyes. "Where are you from?"

"Realllly far away."

"How far exactly?"

Aradia shrugged. "Can't really be measured in physical distance."

"...I'm trying to decide if I should feel threatened or not."

"Well, I don't think so, but I haven't been here long enough to figure out what your kind should find threatening... But I do want to be friends. Hey, you never told me your name!"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Hello Doctor!"

The Doctor paused. "...I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Welcome to Equis. What brings you here?"

"I'm just here to see the sights. Though that Tree of yours did call to me. So I'm here for another reason I don't know yet!"

"Great whickering stallions, you're excited about not knowing."

"Wouldn't you be if an amazing adventure was coming?"

The Doctor grinned. "Would I ever!"

"Great minds think alike! I take it from your hourglass mark that you are a pony of Time?"

The Doctor hesitated a moment before shrugging. "Oh, I dabble. After a particularly traumatic experience as a foal, I devoted myself to..." He looked right at Aradia's eyes for a moment, something haunting him and cutting off his thought process."...Uh... what was I saying?"

"Traumatic experience. I'm curious about it - please go on."

"Er... that's private. What you probably would find more appropriate and interesting is that I sought to understand the world around me and eventually uncovered the secrets of time, traveling to understand the universe around us! It's an absolutely fantastic place!"

"I can't wait to see more of it! Are there other time travelers?"

"Well, besides the occasional loose time travel spell that goes off, it's just me and the Handmaid, but I've never met them..."

Aradia squealed slightly. "Well, now you have! Probably!"

"Come again?"

"I'm the Maid of Time, and my Ancestor was known as the Handmaid! I mean, who else would it be?"

"...Great whickering stallions, you're right..." He said, jaw dropping. 

"Awesome! How do I start?"

"I have no idea!" the Doctor blurted, taking a step back. "You're an ancient being that keeps time in check! You've been around longer than the sisters!"

"Future-me probably just went back to the dawn of time for this universe. It's a thing I like to do."

"You... Just arrived, didn't you?"

"I've maybe been here an hour my-time. I dunno. Wasn't always paying attention."

"I... I should stop talking, there are so many paradoxes I could make by just telling you things. There's a good reason you never cross paths with me directly!"

Aradia pursed her lips. "Are paradoxes bad in this world?"

"I'm not sure, I always avoid them! I steer clear of loops as well if I can help it!"

"Wise move, but I may have to test it... If you can't tell me anything, maybe I should just go ask myself."

"No, no, bad idea, meeting yourself could have all sorts of unforeseen consequences..."

Aradia reached into time and created a loop. She took a version of herself from five seconds in the future and fistbumped them, and then she became that future self and fistbumped her past self. She grinned. "No trouble here, Doctor!"

"...And I thought I was crazy..."

"So, where do you think I can find my future self? She'll know what she can and can't tell me!"

The Doctor shook his head. "Wibbly wobbly... go back precisely one local year and three days. There's an event that splits the main timeline. You should be in the castle to get the best feel for it."

"Thanks! See you around Doctor! Or maybe not, if I avoid you for whatever reason."

"...It's at least nice to have a face to the name now."

"I'll be sure to come to your funeral!" Aradia said, jumping back into the past. She quickly froze time again and drifted into the castle. It was still as gaudy in the past. She resumed the flow of time when she was inside. The room didn't change, there was just a table that felt a lot like the Tree of Harmony with seven seats surrounding it. Aradia drifted over to the one with the balloons on it and sat down - closing her eyes.

She could feel time branched off from here in seven different ways, not counting the timeline she was on. She smirked, grabbing ahold of one.

She was suddenly in a burning landscape being ravaged by a giant centaur. She saw pony bodies everywhere alongside wildlife of all kinds, magical and mundane. The centaur saw her - and launched a burst of energy towards her. 

Aradia shifted to a new timeline, this one a world of pure desolation and death. Nothing here but a brown, irradiated Wasteland. 

She smiled - first her sighting of how ponies could die, and now a dead timeline! She was already hitting the jackpot! She knew that such terrors and places existed only to be fixed later, reaffirmed to the alpha timeline - assuming that was how things worked here, anyway - but that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate them. She wondered what had changed to alter history so drastically here.

It looked like she might get some answers. Five alternate versions of herself appeared to her left, all of them smiling and talking among themselves about a plan of some kind...


~~~


The Handmaid needed counsel upon arrival, and of course the Handmaid herself would provide it. She did not fear herself -what she was or what she'd become. She was one of those rare few who was comfortable with who they were. A gift needed for her very existence.

There are two conflicting stories about how she provided herself counsel - both possibly true, even if we cannot understand how. The first states that she met herself in a wasteland to solve a problem that involved our existence. The other says she met herself in the deep past to learn the ways of time. 

It is unknown if the two different stories have any significance.
> III - The Handmaids
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aradia flew over to her alternate selves, smiling at them welcomingly. They smiled back at her, but didn't say anything - they were in the middle of a discussion. 

"...and as we can plainly see, we've got ourselves a wasteland here. Total annihilation."

"Cool," another Aradia said.

"Well, yes, but the point is not to stand in awe here - though you can feel free to. The point is that a lynchpin of sorts has been broken. Timelines have diverged from utter desolation to pointless chaos to war to... probably more boring things. A mixture really."

"This isn't new news," yet another Aradia said. "We get it, the six of them are the heroes of this world, yadda yadda."

"Again with the yadda yadda," the previous said. 

"Don't you get that we are functionally the same person?"

"You didn't have a zebra drop a bucket of anti-changeling goo on you five minutes ago."

"Fair."

Another Aradia - possibly the first one who had spoken, Aradia had lost track of her other selves - spoke up. "Look, we can compare notes on how different or not time has made us, but I think that'd be a waste of time."

"We are maid of time," another Aradia said, causing all six of them to chuckle. "How can we waste it?"

"We still could stand to actually get to the point: finding why this happened. What broke the lynchpin of those six friends? We know there was someone messing with time who wasn't us."

"Wasn't the Doctor either," a new Aradia said, appearing from nowhere, making past Aradia - that is, the Aradia this story is about - relieved to no longer be the 'latest' one to arrive. Though this new Aradia seemed pretty... singed.

"What happened to you?" one of the Aradias asked. 

"Centaur beam of death," she muttered, dusting herself off. "Before we fix this I want to go back and make sure he knows not to mess with the Handmaid..."

There was that title - the Handmaid - again. Why had she - or her future self anyway - taken the title of her Ancestor? She didn't know... She didn't say anything about that though, her future selves had things to deal with. She did say something else, however. "Oh! I was just in that timeline. Got out of there before I could get singed!"

Singed Aradia chuckled. "Ah, the wisdom of your alternate versions..."

"I know right?" an alternate Aradia said.

"Has anyone gone back to the lynchpin yet?" yet another Aradia asked. 

"I have. Can't tell you what I saw yet though."

"Oh. Okay. Which of us goes back to become you then?"

"Her," the Aradia pointed at an Aradia that had just appeared. "Go to the rainboom."

"The what?" the new Aradia asked as she dusted herself off from industrial soot. 

"The rainbow-y thing."

"Oh! Okay!" She vanished. 

The Aradia the recently-vanished Aradia would become eventually shuddered. "Jegus, it took me a painful amount of time to find it..."

"What did you see?" past Aradia asked, feeling like she should be part of the conversation instead of just watching her future selves. She didn't think they realized she was from their past yet - a bit confusing since usually she was good at remembering these things, but still fun!

"Starlight.  A unicorn that we frankly have ignored a lot. She's got it out for Twilight and wants to make her suffer."

"How'd she do this?" Singed Aradia asked. 

"Starswirl's spell."

Every Aradia facepalmed - except past Aradia because she had no idea who Starswirl was.

"You know something we don't?" an Aradia asked her.

"I couldn't tell you if I did!" past Aradia snarked.

Several of the Aradia's giggled - self-trolling was always fun! They didn't see why their old friends had hated it so much.

"Enough of that," another Aradia said, appearing right then and there. "Turns out Starlight's redeemed."

"Which timeline you from?" Singed Aradia asked.

"Core - Twilight turned her around and set the timeline back to normal - by their perceptions anyway. We've still got a mess to clean up here. Time is still fractured eightfold."

"Think it could be... her?" an Aradia asked.

"Seeing as we haven't seen her since the use of the Juju, I doubt it. It wouldn't happen here."

"You know saying that makes it more likely."

The wasteland winds blew through core Aradia's hair. She just smiled. "Yes, I know. Maybe I'm just hopeful."

"We're all hopeful!" An Aradia that past Aradia was pretty sure hadn't spoken yet said. 

"We're Maids of Time, not Hope," Singed Aradia mentioned. 

"Who cares? Anyway, core Aradia, what did you do?"

"Nothing," core Aradia responded. "I really just took notes and waited to see what happened. They think the issue is taken care of, no need to worry them with unstable timelines. Obviously, we want the Core timeline to win out, but the other seven need to retain some manner of existence to ensure their loop continues as it should."

A ninth Aradia appeared. "We'll need to make sure the points we, Twilight, and Starlight exist are kept stable."

"Where are dream bubbles when you need them?" core Aradia muttered.

Singed Aradia rolled her eyes. "...Well, that could work and - wait. Hold on. One, two, three..." She counted all the Aradia's. "Nine. There are only eight timelines! Who's using loop clones?"

Past Aradia frowned - everyone was shaking their heads. Did they really not remember being her in their past, even now? That was... disconcerting. She raised her hand anyway. "...I'm from your collective pasts."

Core Aradia blinked. "Not possible. I have no memories of entering this mess before. Where on the timeline are you?"

"Just arrived on Equis, saw the Tree of Harmony and the symbol on it, and was just in Ponyville." she shrugged. "Sorry for not coming clean about that earlier, I was just curious about what you were doing... ...Why do you all look like you've seen our ghost?"

"The Tree of Harmony has no symbol on it..." core Aradia said.

"...no Aries Gear?"

"No."

"...Okay, what is going on?"

Core Aradia grinned. "I have no idea."

Past Aradia gave her the finger guns gesture. "Ah, you!"

An Aradia furrowed her brow. "Hey, what prompted you to come here?"

"The Doctor told me to!"

There was a facepalm times eight combo. Core Aradia groaned. "That... he knows better than to do that what the heck..."

"That would have created a timeline offshoot though!" Another Aradia said. "I don't feel one!"

"Yes... None of us do..." Core Aradia pondered. "...Someone must have done something to the core timeline of us that didn't affect the world's timeline that much... somehow. Initiated a paradox of some kind or other... But how would we be able to encounter the changed version of ourselves at all if that were the case?"

Past Aradia grinned. "Ooooh! I know this one! You exist, right now, in a state of temporal uncertainty in these bifurcated timelines! You can exist in both areas at once because these timelines can't handle splitting for us seeing as their final stable arrangement is uncertain!"

"Past us is smart," an Aradia offered.

"Though this means we can't leave the timelines. Or maybe we might not be able to leave them, can't really know for sure," singed Aradia said. "We can't know how to fix this right if the rest of time has changed for us..."

"You must figure out something eventually, I was in the local future," past Aradia encouraged. 

"Thanks for the hope, but we already know that through other means. You know, we did appear at the Tree of Harmony when we arrived as well, only there was no symbol..."

The most recent Aradia scratched her chin. "Hey, what else did you see that might have been different? How'd the Doctor act?"

"He... Well, he only seemed to know of me - you - from legend."

"That's wrong," core Aradia said. "...You are supposed to teach him the ways of time, starting when he was very young. He would have treated you like a mother. Or should have."

"You should go back," another Aradia said, summoning a red gear construct. "Go to the moment you were supposed to meet him, as a foal, see what changed. Find out what happened to the timeline, then report back to this time and the rest of us."

"Good plan," singed Aradia said. 

Past Aradia took the gear and nodded. "Where should I be to activate this?"

"Go north. Find the snowdrift thirty-six miles that way."

Aradia looked around the wasteland and narrowed her eyes. "Which timeline?"

"...Core," core Aradia said. "I'll take you." They shifted timelines, returning to the castle and the land of blue sky. They flew out to the north, time accelerated so the journey would only take a few seconds. "Here," core Aradia said, stopping them and pointing at a snowdrift. "That's the spot."

Past Aradia grinned. "Thanks! See you soon!"

"Of course."

Aradia landed and activated the gear, shooting slightly over a thousand years into the past. She took in the cold scenery and smiled - it didn't look all that different, even this far in the past. She saw a town in the distance that wasn't there in the future - or at least not in the core timeline she'd just been in. She saw a small brown cutie-markless colt staring at her from the edge of the town, staring right at her.

She waved at him.

Then a sword rammed her through the back, poking right through the gear symbol on her chest. Her burgundy blood sprayed out in an impressive arc, splattering over the white landscape. She fell to a knee, eyes wide, smile gone. 

She... Well, she hadn't expected this.

She fell the rest of the way to the ground, the sight of a fleeing, traumatized colt leaving her vision. The last thing she saw was a tall, dark unicorn glaring at her with a look of utter contempt...


~~~


 The Handmaid's enemy was Sombra - or at least Sombra said so. The war with the Crystal Empire is one of the few events that can be traced back directly to the Handmaid's influence, without question. He became obsessed with her - as a true rival, the enemy he was really fighting all these years rather than the armies of Equestria. But when he began to lose the war, he went even further into self-indulgent madness. He wanted to kill the blight on his history in a murderous rage.

He knew he wasn't going to win. So he wanted nothing more than her dead for her meddling. 
> IV - Self Fulfillment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Far, far away, further than could possibly be understood, something stirred back from where Aradia had come. There was a large, dim room in this distant location, inside of which stood ten clocks, proud and tall. Each one was motionless, pendulums stationary at a direct upright position. Each of the timepieces was adorned with a single symbol in their upper window. Six of the symbols were unique, four were not. Two of those four were imprinted with suns, while the other two held ten-toothed gears.

One of the clocks with the gears began to tick without warning, the pendulum swinging to the left, then the right, then the left again. It seemed to stop at times at either end but would keep going just when it seemed like it would never move again. Left... Right... Left... Right...

Center. 

The clock stopped, the pendulum squarely in the middle. It glowed with an awe-inspiring light that sped through the heavens...


~~~


Aradia's eyes flew open, new life filling her body. Powers beyond even her control restored her to life, demanding that she wasn't done yet. 

She stood up and removed the sword from her chest, examining it closely. It obviously wasn't meant to be wielded by one of her size, or even by hands, but she just used her telekinesis to compensate for that. Her own blood dripped off the blade to the ground, pooling on the white ground in a fascinating pattern.

She grinned. "That was fun!"

The black unicorn - evidentially royalty, if his robes and armor were anything to go by - growled. "No... No! You were supposed to die here and never cause me trouble again!"

Aradia shrugged. "Can't really give me a Heroic death if I haven't done the thing you hate yet, can you?" She thrust the sword at him, stopping it millimeters from his face. "Though you do have my attention now, whoever you are."

He notably did not find the fact she didn't know him odd. He seemed to be expecting it. "I am King Sombra, the one who will be your arch enemy!"

"Really? Do we duel across time? Oh that'll be so cool when it happens!"

Sombra growled, summoning a crystal pillar under Aradia with intent to impale her. She just aged the crystal to dust with ease, continuing her smile. "I'm beginning to suspect we aren't really rivals and I just ticked you off somehow. That was a pretty... Generic move there."

Sombra tossed thousands of crystals after her, but she just jumped three seconds into the future to avoid them. She yawned. "Not really looking forward to those confrontations anymore..." 

He twitched. "You... I went to such lengths to kill you here..."

"Oh, I did die just there, you succeeded. I came back after because it was a pretty meaningless death, from my perspective anyway. Dunno about yours yet."

She saw Sombra slowly realize that his plan - to kill her before she could cause him whatever trouble she was going to - was doomed to failure because the criteria to kill her permanently couldn't be without her already having done these things. 

Aradia put on a pitying smile. "There there, I'm sure it's not that bad! You'll probably get to a future me sooner or later!" She was pretty sure he wouldn't - she was particularly careful - for the most part - not to get herself in situations where she might suffer a Heroic death - or Just, she supposed, though the chances of her going out with a Just death were always pretty low.

Sombra roared in rage, throwing more attacks at her. She shrugged, allowing herself to take a crystal to the forehead, dying again. 

"Ha! Ha!!!"

She got up again in less than a minute. She had some difficulty removing the crystal from her forehead, and she had a headache now, but she felt fine. "See? Not happening, sorry Sombra. Oh, well, not really, since I like being alive, and you seem preeeeeetty evil."

Sombra was in a complete rage at this point. Aradia considered just leaving this time and doing research elsewhere, but a beam of white light from above caught her attention before she could follow through with the idea. It hit Sombra square in the face, sending him flying. A brilliant white winged unicorn descended from the sky, her soft multicolored mane weaving in the cold air. A darker, smaller winged unicorn landed at her side. The smaller one saw Aradia first. "Sister... the Handmaid."

The white one turned to Aradia, her eyes widening. 

Aradia waved her hand. "Hi!"

"...Do you know me?"

"Nope!" Aradia grinned. "But you obviously know me!"

"Yes. I am Celestia. You told me to give you a message when you met me."

"Oh?" Aradia asked, loving what she was hearing.

"Return to the Tree of Harmony, Handmaid. Return to the moment of its inception, and take the place you are meant to take. Witness our history."

Aradia nodded. "Okay... And?"

"When Sombra begins his reign of terror, use the reputation you've built up to get me to listen to you - and declare war."

"It isn't something you'd do otherwise?"

Celestia shook her head. "I don't believe so. I was too deeply rooted in my pacifism. I almost ignored your counsel on the matter... I fear what would have happened if I had done nothing."

Aradia nodded - she was, however, grinning like a child on her birthday. She was going to see the origin of the Tree and gain some insight into her purpose - her role as the Handmaid. She was about to become the figure of legend, and this was how! This was a bit arbitrary, but considering that this was an altered timeline, the original reasons for these actions might have been muddled...

She did have a question though. 

"Any idea why I call myself the Handmaid?"

"That was a name we gave you," Celestia said, "you never told us yours."

"Aradia. Aradia Megido."

Celestia let out a mildly exasperated sigh. "And that's probably why you never told us right there..."

The dark sister nudged Celestia. "Sombra's getting away."

A dark cloud of magic energy had risen into the sky and was taking off to the north. 

"We'll get him, Luna. He knows he's doomed," Celestia said. "Handmaid - Aradia, will you do as asked?"

"I kinda think I would have done something like it anyway, but okay! Bye!" She flew south - away from Sombra and the Sisters and towards the Tree of Harmony. She felt time powers activate from a version of herself, stopping time. Aradia didn't care at the moment - she'd figure out why she was here stopping time eventually. She didn't even bother to look, she just continued her journey. She began to rewind time as she did so, gliding over towns that vanished beneath her, roads that were replaced with trees, and rivers that shifted back and forth. Canyons were filled, mountains collapsed, continents moved slightly. Reverse timeflow on a geological scale was something to behold.

She arrived at the Tree relatively quickly, checking it for the symbol. It didn't have it. She considered making it just to complete the circle here but remembered she was going back through time right now and would see it if she was going to do it. The brain-burning nature of the dilemma brought forth a chuckle. 

She accelerated her backward flow of time to eons. The Tree was a constant with its six crystals centuries back - but eventually it shrunk, becoming a seedling, then a seed, then nothing, nothing but the Everfree Forest... But Aradia could still sense the energies here, the energies of Harmony. A sixfold power that had been with this world since... Will, since near the beginning apparently, because the forest was shrinking, the atmosphere was thinning, the world was becoming a lifeless rock...

And then she felt when Harmony was gone. It was a jarring feeling, forcing her to stop. She was now on a dead rock... 

Aradia re-entered time in a forward manner. Something had happened too quickly for her to see, something that had added the energy of Harmony - but hadn't happened yet, obviously. She was on a lifeless rock with no sun, only the distant glow of stars was available to warm it. No Tree, no life, no evidence of anything. The planet was a dead world, well and truly. It had two moons, both roughly the same size, though one was slightly larger than the other, albeit further away so it looked the same. 

Then Aradia saw something else. One of the stars in the sky was shaking, growing in size - coming closer. Aradia paled - it had to be going somewhere really close to light speed for it to be moving at that apparent velocity. While the star would have had to wait decades - if not centuries - for its journey to be over... if the light was reaching Aradia now that meant that it was almost here. A star was coming right for the planet and it would arrive within moments. 

A tremendous blue star dominated the sky in an instant, stopping just short of engulfing the poor planet and its moons into the heavenly fire. Aradia knew in that instant this Star was alive, and that it knew she was here. Aradia felt enthralled but also terrified at the immense being before her. She momentarily was shocked into forgetting she had almost complete dominion over time, overcome by the beauty and power.

And then the star died - the second star death Aradia had seen in twenty-four hours. This one was very different - a black sphere cut right through the blue Star, upsetting the solar forces of the cosmic being. The dark assassin flew off into the inky blackness without so much as changing speed or giving a thought to its actions. 

The Star roared, shaking the cosmos with gravity waves as it died. Blue lights shot out of its dying form, purposefully directed away from the planet so not to harm it. Aradia's jaw dropped as the star shrunk from an impossibly huge scale to that of a tiny point, fire jetting off into the darkness. Eventually, only a tiny part of the Star's core remained, and it fell to the planet, crashing into the ground mere yards from Aradia, planting itself deep in the earth. It somehow didn't make that large of a crater - merely a hole. 

And then it grew - crystal shapes sprouted up from the crystal seed, driving themselves out of the hole. Six colored gems flowed out of the hole, demanding to be seen, to be cared for by the rest of the crystals. These six essences dissipated into six Harmonious energies, swirling around the point of impact. The light of life sparkled, defying the will of the Stars for it to die. 

It would live. 

It would fill this entire world with life through its continued existence!

Magic surged through and around the planet - the world's two moons reacted, the larger one summoning the blue fire the Star had ejected to itself, igniting and transforming into a brilliant sun. The other moon shone with the thoughts and dreams of what lay beyond. Some lichen began to grow around the Harmony Energies - magic itself - despite the current lack of atmosphere or water. All it needed was magic and the light of the new sun. 

Aradia put her hand on the newborn magic of the world, smiling. "You are the First Guardian of this world... The equivalent, at least."

Aradia felt... Affirmation from the forces that would become the Tree. 

"Is this what you called me here for? To witness?"

Aradia felt like this was only part of the reason, and that she should already know the other part.

"I... I am here to protect this world... and to fix time wherever needed... For you are cursed with a weak timeline, one that could break completely if strained. That's what the future me's were doing... Their job, their purpose, why they were called."

The Harmony Force gave feelings of gratitude.

"Thanking me before I begin? Well, I accept!" She chuckled, putting her hands on her hips. It was time to see this world take shape - and help it through its past. She barely knew what the future held, but something told her it was exactly what would come about because of her actions. 

She watched as the sky turned blue over time and how magical life flourished. The Everfree Forest sprung up around her, serving as the nexus for freedom and magic - and as the origin of life. She saw how the races came into existence - dragons, centaurs, demons, griffons, dogs, and of course, ponies. They were simple-minded at first - the demonic beings were powerful and cruel, keeping the others from their full potential with ease. But they were eventually driven away, the worst sealed in a prison deep within the world's mantle, a prison called Tartarus. 

Aradia watched all this time - jumping forwards and backward through the temporal knots regularly, watching events closely, nudging them when she thought it was needed, or knew it was needed. She inserted herself into the past, taking the role that was needed. Demonic kings attempted to use time as a weapon - but so did the good-natured unicorn wizards, and she was cleanup every time just to keep the structure of time from falling apart at the seams. She guided the world towards Harmony that she had seen in the future. She became especially attached to early Equestria and the halls of Canterlot, becoming a mysterious ancient presence that was sighted every few years, almost like a ghost. She watched Celestia and Luna particularly closely, their lives bringing joy to her own. She became instrumental in giving the Harmony Forces the physical form of the Tree. 

The legends of her soon surpassed her exploits - she was not the force behind every major event in history. Remarkably few, in fact, but the stories claimed she was, even if they couldn't prove it. She rarely interfered large-scale beyond simple timeline cleanup, ensuring all loops remained stable, and that unstable ones were made to be stable. Small scale she interfered regularly - sometimes as a benefactor, other times as a simple troll who wanted a good laugh. And yet, even these actions guided the world to Harmony. 

It was one moment where she had played a prank and brought peace between two feuding families when she knew why she allowed herself to take the title of her Ancestor. Damara had guided Alternia as the Handmaid, so was Aradia guiding Equis. She was a force not originally intended to be present, but fundamentally needed nonetheless. The world may have been destined for Harmony anyway, but Aradia not only ensured it, she kept it stable. 

And now she was going to walk up to Celestia and have an actual conversation with the monarch. This would be the second one through Aradia's perspective, but the first by Celestia's. 

Aradia was excited, though she was almost perpetually excited nowadays. 


~~~


While she has her own reasons for accepting the title of Handmaid that are beyond us, we can trace back to why we came up with the name. The 'hand' part is easy to discern - she is one of the few beings in our legends that have full hands, a feature rare in this world's biology. It has become one of her distinguishing features in myth and legend, followed closely by her distinctive horns. 

The 'maid' half does not come from the many sightings of her doing menial chores within Canterlot castle, it refers to her role in our world. She once revealed that our world's time is very prone to splitting with very little strain. She is there to clean up the mess of time when it breaks; when we break it. She is our maid. IT was why she was called. The Tree of Harmony knew it needed someone to do what it could not - keep time in order. She was the one who answered the call.

But even she wasn't perfect. There was one moment in time that affected her own flow of time. A moment that involved her counterpart, the Doctor...
> V - Songs of the Spheres
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia sat in the throne room of Canterlot, troubled. Sombra had recently begun conquering the lands to the north with his enslaved crystal ponies. While he had not attacked Equestria directly yet, Celestia feared he would. Even if Equestria was larger and had more resources than the Crystal Empire, the last thing they needed was a war. They were not fighters. They were peacekeepers. Friends. If they fought she had no idea what it would do to them.

Her dreams had told her little besides assuring her that if she chose war, there would be a price. They had been silent on all else, all specifics. Luna had been of no help either - she was convinced action was necessary, despite the price. She'd even said that if the price was her own life, it would be a just price to stop Sombra's monstrosities.

Celestia had forbidden any military action after hearing that. She didn't think she'd change her mind... but she was still haunted by it. 

"Princess...?" A guard said.

"Hm? Yes?"

"An audience has been requested."

"Now is not the time Aberfourth..."

"Uh... It's the Handmaid, Princess."

Celestia's eyes widened, and she sat a little straighter in her throne. "Let her in right-"

"-Now?" Aradia said, appearing with a smirk on her face. 

Celestia nodded, taking the sudden appearance in stride. She was the Handmaid all right, the ram horns, the red cloak, the hands... It matched the glimpses Celestia had seen of her over her long, long life. Most of which were strangely seeing her doing menial chores in the castle and then vanishing inexplicably with a coy smile on her face. But Celestia had never seen her this close before - in such plain view. She looked... oddly innocent.

"...Why now?" Celestia asked.

"Because you asked me to, a long, long time ago. Millenia, my time. Both less and more by yours. It was when I met you."

"What did I ask?" Celestia said, narrowing her eyes. 

"You wanted me to tell you to go to war with Sombra."

Celestia blinked. "...I ...wanted this? Why?"

"Because I am telling you to, now. You will see the wisdom of this later and remind me to take my role as the Handmaid by returning to the Tree of Harmony, and to come tell you once I was done with that." Aradia smiled brightly. "Don't get too depressed, princess, things will work out!"

Celestia sighed. "...I ...I'll trust you. I may not know you but in all your stories, you are never malevolent. Though you are creepy. ...Why do you hang around the castle like a ghost doing menial chores anyway?"

"For fun!" Aradia said. "Actually it's to remind you I'm here and exist, but frankly, I could have done that many different ways. This was just the most enjoyable. Got to watch ponies freak out at me all the time!" She spread her arms wide and giggled. 

Celestia blinked. This certainly was not the Handmaid she expected. "...What is the price of war?"

"Thousand year punishments," Aradia said. "Two different kinds, slightly differing. One will be a direct result of the war and affect thousands. The other might have happened anyway, and will affect you and your sister." Aradia put a hand to her chin. "You're lucky I jumped around a few times before coming here, otherwise I wouldn't even be able to tell you what was coming!"

Celestia looked at Aradia, pained. "Can you... Tell me what these future horrors are?"

Aradia shook her head. "I mean, I could, but that'd defeat their purpose and ability to shape this world. It may seem horrible, but they will bring about some amazing things. Trust me, you'll be glad in the end."

Celestia nodded slowly. "...I suppose I have a war to prepare then... Maybe... I... I will consider what you've said, and make my final decision later. Regardless of what I decide, thank you for speaking to me."

"I already know what you choose, but okay. Don't mention it. I think I'll drop by again sometime, so you can look forward to that! But, for now, it's time to figure out why I got stabbed."

"Until then," Celestia said, barely fazed by the 'stabbed' part of the comment. Aradia flew out, accelerating her time until the moment she had appeared an eternity ago. She hid behind a cloud, so as to not interfere with her past self. She looked down - and furrowed her brow. 

There was no Sombra waiting for her to appear. 

Was she off in her timing? No, that was impossible, the time was exactly the same as when she appeared and got stabbed... 

An Aradia appeared exactly in the spot she should have, but there was no sword driven into her chest. This Aradia looked around, curious, and saw the brown colt - the Doctor. The cute colt ran up to her other self, eyes wide with wonder. They began to talk...

Aradia blinked. She was in the other timeline - the one her future/alternate selves had come from. How had she gotten here? Had she changed something? From her experience, this world didn't allow change, it followed causal loops or split timeline messes that needed to be resolved, depending. Nothing could be changed permanently - not under normal circumstances anyway. 

She rewound time to before her other self appeared, and this time she saw Sombra. She saw her past self appear, get killed via sword, revive, and then talk with Celestia and Luna. Sombra fled as his black magic cloud...

Aradia decided she wanted to talk with him. She froze time around the two of them, revealing herself. "Sombra."

Sombra's face took form in the dark cloud. "You... YOU'VE DONE IT! I can kill you!" He roared.

"Oh for the love of..." She sighed. He might have been right - with enough bad luck this could be called a Heroic death since she had caused the war. Not to mention played dozens of pranks on him and his kingdom over her time that probably seemed like devastating attacks to him - he just couldn't take a joke. She may have done it a bit much, but it was just so fun to mess with him to no end. Regardless of if her actions were to be considered Heroic or just meddling, she couldn't take the risk. She raised a psychic hand and collapsed his cloud form into a ball, choking it. 

"I really don't have the patience for this right now, but all the time. I... ...I really want to make a passing the time joke but I think I'm just too annoyed right now." She threw him, jumped into the future, and caught him again like the ball he was. "Ah, that was fun! I do enjoy these moments we have."

He just roared in infantile rage.

"Oh good grief..." Aradia rolled her eyes. "Just tell me when you found out where I was going to appear so you could murder me."

"NEVER! I will not give up my secrets! YOU WILL SUFFER HANDMAID!"

Aradia really wished she could be told exactly what to do at this moment so she could make Sombra crack. She didn't want to deal with him for a moment longer than necessary. 

"Threaten to remove all his magic. Start to break his horn," a version of her from the future suggested before vanishing back to the future. 

"Oh, what a great idea me!" Aradia forced Sombra's head to retain form, reaching for his horn. "This'll only hurt a little bit..."

"I captured your Doctor and fooled him into telling me a week ago!"

Aradia let him go and allowed time to move once again. Then she went back to the past to give herself advice on how to break Sombra. Then she simply left, leaving Sombra to Celestia and Luna. 

Aradia's smile was gone - something weird was going on. She went back a week, to Sombra's castle. She did indeed find the Doctor in his presence. She took a hidden position on the rafters of the throne room, narrowing her eyes. 

"You are like her," Sombra was saying to the Doctor, a fully grown stallion here in the past. "You must know something of her!"

"I barely am even sure the Handmaid exists, you lout!"

"When did you first see her?"

"I... I was young, and don't recall it very well because it was very traum-" He stopped short, recalling a long suppressed memory. "Oh my sweet sea urchins it was you."

"Oh..."

"You... No..."

Sombra grinned. "You saw me kill her! Oh this...This is fantastic news! It means I am destined to be her downfall! Ha! You are free to go, Doctor, you and that Rose pony you travel with. You have proven yourself useful."

Aradia frowned - she went back to the future, and there was no Sombra to stab her. Her other self went and talked to the young Doctor, presumably to start teaching him the ways of time. She went back to the throne room with Sombra again. The Doctor was there, but this time the conversation was different.

"How do you know the Handmaid?" Sombra asked.

"She basically raised me," the Doctor said, smiling. "There's nothing you can do to her."

"Really? Nothing?"

"Nothing at all! She's just too far beyond you."

"I doubt that, Doctor."

"Even if you knew exactly where and when she'd show up you wouldn't be able to do anything!"

"...If you tell me a time and a place she appears, you will be free to go."

"Me and Rose?"

"Yes."

"Agreed." So the Doctor told Sombra where Aradia would show up, knowing full well that she didn't die that day and would - should have been - perfectly fine. 

Aradia facepalmed - she hadn't been fine. The Doctor had intentionally given away information about time, information that would be acted on. Normally that would just create a split timeline mess to clean up later - but this became a special sort of mess.

The Doctor gives Sombra the information, Sombra then interferes with the information, creating a trauma the Doctor puts behind him, and then Sombra can't get the information and believes he is destined to kill the Handmaid, so he doesn't kill the Handmaid, and the Handmaid gets to raise the Doctor, and the Doctor gives Sombra the information...

The Doctor created a flip-flop paradox.

That's what Aradia decided to call it anyway. The result? The timeline was switching to an 'up' and 'down' position, from 1 to 2, from A to B. That was not good, universes were not meant to exist in superstates of uncertainty. At least not this one. 

Usually, in her role as the Handmaid, she'd keep these things from happening at all or resolve them easily. But this one was key to her own existence. It had been a while since Aradia had gotten a time headache - but she had one now. How was she going to fix this one? She'd either need to resolve the events to a single timeline instead of two or make it so both sequences took place on one timeline...

A lightbulb went off in her head for a problem she hadn't even been thinking about. Her alternate selves! She'd almost forgotten about them! 

She jumped to the future, finding them quickly. "I HAVE A SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM!"

Singed Aradia blinked. "How long have you been gone...?"

"Millennia."

"Cheater. It's only been a second for us. We would have figured it out eventually."

"I already knew we solved it I just couldn't say anything," another Aradia said. 

Core Aradia looked at the Aradia once known as past Aradia and nodded.

Aradia cleared her throat. "So, here's the deal. I found the knot that split the universe's timeline into two - it's the Doctor and the moment we meet him. With that moment a flop-flop paradox has been created - two instances exist, the one where you all remember, and the one where Sombra stabs me, traumatizing the Doctor."

There was a seven times facepalm combo. 

"But, that's not actually important here. While I was dealing with that I remembered this problem and a solution for this problem - we're going to singularize the timeline."

"Oh! Duh!" a nondescript Aradia said. "Just tie the sequence of events to Twilight - keep her perceptions of the event in time and discard all the others."

Singed Aradia raised a hand. "That'll either kill seven of us, doom seven of us, or make there be seven distinct versions of us. The last of those isn't much of a problem, I know, but the other two are still chances! I'd like to exhaust other options first!"

"None of the above!"  The past/alternate Aradia said, smirking. "My plan hinges on me. You're forgetting, right now I exist from a flop timeline, I can use my powers to rectify this flip timeline from outside and congeal all eight of you into one continuous timeline! That ends with you over there, the one who already knows we succeeded. You have the memories of all eight don't you?"

"Yeah. It's a bit disconcerting but really cool!"

"Awesome! Give me your arrival timestamp, I need to create a time knot where everyone eventually becomes you."

Core Aradia blinked. "Wow. This is a cool and awesome idea. We can do this right."

The future-most Aradia gave away the timestamp - and with a wave of hands, there were only two Aradias. They looked at each other - then giggled. 

"So, stabbed?" the other Aradia asked. 

"Yep! I'll show you in a minute, but we should resolve this to Twilight first..."

"I did it before you came back. Notice how you didn't have to jump timelines?"

Aradia blinked - then laughed. "Me, solving a problem that I'd already solved! So cool!"

"That's this problem only, remember? We've still got a flip-flopping universe that could fall into the Sea if strained too much."

"Well yeah, I know that. But we can't solve it in the way we just did. We are both separate Aradias and I don't have your memories, and there's no third Aradia we can shunt them into. Not to mention reconciling two versions of ourselves might just make more problems for the timeline, considering how messed up our timestream is."

"Yeah, I know, I am you after all."

"So we have to collapse this into one timeline. I think it has to be mine since I haven't marked the Tree yet."

"How though?"

"Well, we need to change something."

"We'll need to interfere with our own timestream... - but to do that without creating another offshoot timeline we would need to-"

"-jump universes to a world where the laws of time are different to escape causality! Yes!" She rubbed her hands together. "Take a trick from our old masters. For once...."

"The Horrorterrors certainly had a mastery of this sort of thing. Hard to believe they messed up so badly with that."

"One of the multiverse's mysteries..." The two Aradia's held hands, preparing to leave the world - but Aradia stopped short. "Wait..."

"Wait, what?"

"I haven't scrawled the gear on the Tree of Harmony... I need to do that so we know we're in a flip-flop timeline."

Other Aradia nodded, and they moved to the Tree of Harmony. Aradia moved to carve the symbol, but other Aradia stopped her. "I'll do it. It's supposed to be me."

Aradia nodded. "By all means."

Other Aradia - the first Aradia, the true original, kneeled at the base of the Tree of Harmony and scrawled the Gear of Time into the trunk, followed by the Aries symbol within. She stood up and smiled. "And now... We're done."

"The last loop was the first one." 

"It connects my end to your beginning."

Aradia nodded. "...Let's go." They held hands, and vanished - entering another world far enough away to not be linked temporally to Equis. 

They were in an office, deep underground. A human man in a general's uniform looked at them, disoriented. The plaque on his desk read 'O'Neill.'

"What in..."

"Don't mind us!" Aradia said. "Just passing through!" Then they returned to Equis, leaving a bewildered man behind. Aradia knew exactly what to do. Her alternate self didn't because she hadn't experienced this timeline. Aradia took them to the moment the Doctor would be unable to tell Sombra where Aradia would be. Sombra was starting his questioning when they arrived - and stopped time for all but them and the Doctor.

The Doctor gawked. "...No way... I told you this was a bad idea!"

Aradia cleared her throat. "Doctor, you will need to tell him about the day you saw us killed. Tell him so the loop may be completed."

"But... But I don't remember!"

"Outside your village precisely eleven months two days and six hours from now, on the east side just past the bakery," Aradia offered. 

"...You want to die?"

"Oh, I don't stay dead," Aradia chuckled. "It just looks like that to you."

Other Aradia snickered. "You are now responsible for your own stabbing."

Aradia found this amusing as well. "Yes. Your timeline no longer exists though."

"Oh. Right." She blinked. "That was it? That was all we needed to do?"

Aradia nodded. "We just removed ourselves from continuity and returned to beat the time loops and offshoot timelines. Kinda like what John did, but we did more bending the rules than outright breaking them."

The Doctor shook his head. "You... You all need to back off from me. It's bad for time."

The other Aradia looked hurt. "But... I spent a lot of time with you..."

"No you didn't, you avoided me!"

"Only because you told me to," Aradia said. "I think now that this is over, we'll all interact with you more. Or I will. We are the same."

The Doctor blinked. "I'm not sure how to feel about that..."

"Be happy!" other Aradia said. "You are going to help her get stabbed to death!"

"Your jovial morbidity appears to be a constant..."

The Aradias shrugged. "Eh, it's what we do. Now do your part - we shall go."

The Doctor barely began nodding when they left. They returned to the moment of the stab and replayed it over and over again - and Sombra drove his sword into her every single time. 

"So...." Aradia said. "Guess I'm the 'alpha' now."

"Yep. Now what?"

"I'm going to talk to Celestia. You?"

"Well, since the causal removal has ensured I'm not doomed, I think I'll just go back to being the Handmaid."

Aradia smiled. "It's always good to have an extra life! See you!"

"Likewise!"

Aradia traveled a few years into the future. She entered the center of the Everfree Forest at night. The moon was high in the sky, imprinted with the Mare - imprinted recently. The Tree of Harmony was notably missing the six crystals - the Elements of Harmony. 

Aradia sat down atop the Tree and looked down - Celestia was standing there. She looked up at the red robes.

"...Aradia."

"Celestia."

"Are you sure this will all turn out for good?"

Aradia nodded. "I've seen the future clearly. And I know you've had visions. You know it'll all work out as well."

"But you were in a vision once. One that suggests everything I see can be overwritten with but a simple thought from you."

Aradia's smile fell. "Yeah. I just did that. Wasn't even hard. Your world would have fallen into nothing if I hadn't."

"But the only reason it was going to in the first place was because of you."

"I was called here, Celestia - called to protect the weak timeline you have. I haven't even really started - what you've witnessed was just me dealing with self-fulfillment and paradoxes. I, for all intents and purposes, have only just arrived. I will buckle down on time now and protect you from others of my kind that may come from outside in addition to the internal threats." She patted the Tree of Harmony. "It's why I"m here."

"How did we survive without you?" Celestia asked - Aradia sensed the question wasn't fully rhetorical.

"I'm not sure you would have," Aradia said. "Though I'm not entirely sure you'd exist at all without me..." She thought back to the Tree of Harmony's birth-death. Had it only stopped because she was present? But how had the Tree been able to call her if it couldn't have existed without her presence?

Aradia didn't know. 

For once, she wasn't excited by the mystery. She wasn't sure why. 

"...You don't know everything do you?" Celestia asked. 

"Not even close," Aradia admitted. "The multiverse is a treacherous place beyond the comprehension of gods. Gods much, much more powerful than me - they make me look like a small bug. I'm happy to be a fly on the wall - but that doesn't mean the immense power isn't terrifying. Beings exist that could destroy this universe with a finger snap and there'd be nothing you, I, or the Tree could do about it. Fascinating as that is, well, it'd be disappointing. All this effort for nothing."

"...That's common out there in other worlds, isn't it?"

Aradia nodded. "Yes! Universes are created and destroyed on whims. It's - well it's honestly amazing to see on a grand scale, but we can never see full scale. We aren't meant to handle it."

"Who is?"

"Whoever the Tower decides is," Aradia shrugged. "It's not something I understand well, I'm the Time troll, not the troll of the unspoken rules in all events and stories. I'm here to make sure time loops are fulfilled and that other people - including other mes - know how to fulfill them."

Celestia shook her head. "How big... is it? Infinite?"

Aradia shook her head. "True infinity does not exist. Every instance of it cheats in some way or other..." She levitated a blade of grass to herself. "Inside this single object here is trillions of tiny building blocks that make up everything."

"I know what atoms are..."

"Good! The number of universes total is roughly equivalent to the number of atoms in this universe. That's how big it is. Even the higher gods and lords of trillions of worlds cannot dip their hands into the immeasurable vastness of it all." She smirked. "I only know this because I've been told and seen secondhand information. From personal experience, there might as well be no edge to the worlds."

Celestia frowned. "This sounds beyond dangerous."

"It is."

"I'll make sure we avoid it..."

"Already too late for that. Those mirror portals of yours have already forged connections. The chances of you going unnoticed now are near zero."

"...Why?"

"There are very few universes that uncover dimensional technology on their own. They are rarely allowed to live in peace - the Songs of the Spheres lead them into the harmony of everything, one way or another, eventually."

Celestia shook her head. "How... How can we prepare?"

"We can't. Nearby universes may appear on the same timeline as this one, but the vast majority of them won't. I cannot foresee those things, and there's no way for me to kno-" She felt something deep inside her, shaking her very core in that instant. "...But I can feel when something does happen..."

Celestia looked at her, nodding. "Go. Find out what has come. Do what you can."

"I always do and always will!"

Then she went forward about a thousand years, flying to a grassy field just outside Ponyville, only a few hours after her initial arrival. She saw a translucent being of energy and crystal running across the field in fear - and then a unicorn appeared out of nowhere, pursuing him. 

Aradia sensed Twilight Sparkle nearby. 

She knew, right then and there, things were never going to be the same. 


~~~



The man of light fled across existence, and the enchantress followed.



~~~


I myself have seen the Handmaid a few times. Most were the usual shadowed instances of her doing the chores in Canterlot, but there were others. I've seen her hanging around the Starswirl the Bearded Wing of the Royal Library, investigating the time spells, a look of confusion on her face - as if there was a mystery eluding her.

She was holding something I now recognize as the modified spell Starlight used to change time - the Handmaid must have been the reason it vanished at the end of the encounter. 

She saw me, smiled, and told me she was proud of who I become. Then she was gone. 

I got the impression she was thanking me for something I have yet to do. I await that moment eagerly, but with trepidation. Until that moment comes, however, I am left to simply ponder what exactly this encounter meant.

It serves as a reminder that the Handmaid doesn't know everything. There are mysteries even to her. Part of me wants nothing more than to seek out the answers - but another part says I don't want to even know what the questions are. They could be too much.

Maybe one day I'll know. Maybe not. I'll just have to wait and see, like with so many things in life. 

-Princess of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle. 

> Update: Songs?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is not a chapter. Not surprising, since this story is already complete. This is just letting everybody who has this in their shelves know that the larger story this was a prelude to is finally on Fimfiction!

May I present Songs of the Spheres. 

I hope you enjoy! See if you can spot Aradia!

-GM, master of red.