Links to the Past

" What do you want from me? " Hase began the conversation.

" Nothing, really. " the black stallion smiled.

" Than why have you called me here? " the scientist wondered.

" Try to guess by yourself. " the other pony challenged him.

Hase thought about it for a second. Why would the pony need him?

" You want my machines? "

" No. "

The earth pony frowned. He was almost sure that was the reason. If he wanted to manipulate the Mane 6, the Cutie Mark Crusaders would have been enough. Than he remembered somepony, whose attention would be attracted as well.

" You want to manipulate the Princesses in some way? " he guessed.

" Think harder. " the unicorn made an annoyed expression.

Since he had no other ideas, Hase decided to reply with the obvious:

" You want to have a conversation with me. "

" That's close. " the other stallion complimented him.

That surprised Hase. Did this unicorn just want to talk?

" You want me to tell you something? The weak spot of... " Hase thought the ponynapper wanted information, but he stopped mid- sentence, as he saw him shake his head. Than he went with the option he was sure was wrong:

" You want to tell me something. "

" There. Was it really so hard? When somepony requests a conversation with you, usually they are the one, who wants to say something, aren't they? " the least probable answer turned out to be right.

" So... what do you want to tell me? " the befuddled earth pony asked.

" Let me first get out of this disguise. It's getting annoying. " the inventor expected the ponynapper would take of some suit he was wearing, but instead he got up and his horn glew in the same colour as his mane. He was shrouded in some sort of mist, which was lighter violet than his mane. That mist stayed there for a minute, leaving Hase completely confused. He was even more confused when the stallion came out.

Only his face, the colour of his coat and his cutie mark, a dark purple swirling vortex had remained the same. The stallion had grown in size, reaching the height of Princess Celestia. He wasn't a unicorn anymore. His horn was still on his forehead, but a pair of black wings, as big as Celestia's, protruded from his back. His mane and tail had dissappeared, only to be replaced with strange half- transparent dark violet mist- like clouds. Those were an ethereal mane and tail, but instead of falling forward, as it was with Celestia and Luna, they went back. Also, they weren't single clouds, but split in streaks close to his head and his rump, streaks, which took separate paths in the air, and the end of which couldn't be differentiated, since the mane and tail literally blended with the air at some point.

Hase couldn't believe his eyes. He was seeing a fifth alicorn! True, one could become an alicorn, but this one was too big to be newly alicornified, also, he had an ethereal mane, meaning he was at least 2000 years old. Hase stood up and walked to the other end of the room.

" Who are you? " he asked the black alicorn.

" I'm Vortex, former Emperor of Equestria. " the alicorn stallion replied.

" Are you coming to take Equestria back from the Princesses? " the earth pony wanted to know if this stallion was a threat to Celestia and Luna.

" No. If you'd like to know why I'm here and I'm talking to you, sit down and listen to my story. "

Afraid, but also a bit curious, he sat on the chair on the right of Celestia's throne, one of the furthest from the emperor.

" Unlike you might think, I'm not a villain. At least I didn't want to be. All the good I did was forgotten because of a single mistake. But I'll turn my attention to that later. As a scientist, do you believe our world isn't the only one? "

" Yes. " Hase confirmed.

" The universe is big enough to be home to many populated planets... "

" I'm not speaking of another planet in our world. By world, I mean dimension. Do you believe there are other dimensions? " Vortex asked him.

" Maybe. We have no proof. "

" Yes, we do, as you'll understand later. But let's start with the beggining, as we should.

I wasn't born in this world. The world me and my brother lived in was also named Equestria, just as this one... "

" Our country is named Equestria, not the world. " Hase interrupted him.

" The country was named after the world it is in. I know better. I was one of those, who created it, after all. "

" You created our world? " Hase's amazement had no boundaries.

" We'll get to this part later. " the alicorn hoofwaved it away as it was nothing.

" As I was saying, me and my brother, Solarion, were born in another world, with the same name. We were born alicorns, if you're thinking about that. We were born in a noble family, and at the age of 500, both of us were already skilled magic users. Solarion was satisfied, I was not. So I chose to become a chaotic... "

" What's a chaotic? " the inventor had found the story interesting by so far, and wanted to know what the alicorn ment.

" I'll explain, in just a minute. " Hase sighed as Vortex passed another importrant detail without explaining it.

"  After another 500 years, I was very skilled at that too. But Equestria was coming to an end. Eventually, it was destroyed. "

" How do you destroy a world? " the earth pony wondered.

" There's only one way - Voidians.

Before you ask me what is that, I'll explain it, along with several other things. The multiverse, as anypony, who had seen it from the outside (Hase raised an eyebrow) can confirm, can be visualized very simply.

Imagine a dark, endless aquarium with countless shining balls thrown inside. That's the multiverse. The worlds are the balls. The aquarium is the Void, whose inhabitants are the Voidians.

Unlike you may think, the Void doesn't kill immeadietly, as the vacuum of space does. If space is a pool of physical nothing, vacuum, then the Void is a pool of magical nothing, which is not vacuum. It is... nothing really. If you ever found yourself in the Void, you'll find out there are large salty plains, slow muddy rivers, high rocky mountains, all of which look like they're something, but they are actually nothing. It's hard to explain. The only things in the Void, that are actually something, are the Voidians. "

" Wait a second. Our universe is endless. The Void is endless. The universe is our world. How does it happen, that we're not the only world? " Hase was confused.

" Physically, our universe is endless. Magically... well, from the inside it's endless, but from outside, from the Void, they are somehow only as big as the largest stars. If you start getting to the roots of magic, unlike it's with science, I suppose, things only get more confusing and start making no sence at all.

However, a chaotic like me may place a portal to the Void, or another world, anywhere. Since from the outside the portal to another world looks like a small line, connecting the edges of the two worlds, we can conclude the end of the world is everywhere... and nowhere.

But let's get back to the Void. When something alive enters the Void, it is somehow drained of all of it's life force, and colour, who knows why, and it becomes a Voidian. They keep their form. Voidians have the form of some creature, that exists or has existed, but has either been thrown in the Void through a portal, or its world has been destroyed. The Void has a magic of its own,endless amounts of magic, that one would expect is powered by the lifeforce of the Voidians. However, it isn't so. It simply exists. Free chaotic magic, unbound to any creature. "

" Wait, what happenned with the Voidians? Don't they die when their lifeforce is drained? " Hase asked.

" No. A piece of chaotic magic sneaks in them, barely enough to keep them alive, leaving them with a great hunger for more energy. There are only three sources of energy for them. Other Voidians, worlds, since all worlds are created with energy, and the sweetest of them all, world dwellers. "

" World dwellers? " the earth pony was confused.

" Creatures, that live in the worlds. Us, ponies, birds, lizards, snakes, hydras... anything, that breathes, lives and dies. "

" Do the Voidians revert back to normal, when they consume enough energy? "

" No. The piece of chaotic magic inside them prevents any other energy from building up. Any energy they consume becomes free chaotic magic, and so the circle is closed. "

" Does this mean, that the Void is alive, and that it is something like a parasite? " the scientist wondered.

" No. It's not more alive than a stone. Nopony knows why all of this happens that way, and we won't know either. But now let's go to the chaotics I skipped earlier. When something, that's not living, some object, a stone , a necklace, a coin, any object enters the Void, it is charged with free chaotic magic. When it returns to a world, unlike a Voidian, who would start eating it and opening direct holes to the Void, from where more Voidians would come, it does no damage. However, if a living being touches the object... "

" ... they become a Voidian. " Hase thought he knew what would happen.

" ... no. They become a chaotic. A connection is created between that living being and all of the free chaotic magic, meaning that none of the chaotic magic is actually free. Even if a single chaotic exists, true free chaotic magic does not exist. It is called free simply because a chaotic cannot use all of it at once, they only use a small part, if they do, of course, and most of the chaotic magic is left to do what it does, as if it was free.

Non- self- conscious beings can't really use the skills of a chaotic. Only sentient beings, like ponies, can use them. The chaotic magic can do anything any other kind of magic can do. It can do everything if you can imagine that. It's the shadow copy of any magic that ever existed or exists. It's probably much more, but we can't realise it. Having such a connection with chaotic magic, a chaotic can enter the Void anytime he/she wishes; they won't be effected, won't be turned into Voidians. Having a piece of chaotic magic inside of them, Voidians can be bound to serve a chaotic, if they are skilled enough to keep them under control.

But now more about the Void itself. Worlds hover like suns above the Void when you're in it, but that's only an illusion. The void itself is probably an endless sphere with many levels, the worlds in the center. One can only see the level they're on, all others, along with Voidians or chaotics on them, are invisible. That makes you think the Void is a flat field, but that illusion breaks, as soon as you find passages.

Passages are the only way to change levels. They're always placed on the top of mountains, or in deep caves. The moment you blink, you'll find yourself somewhere else, since on the exit in the level you have arrived, there may be no mountain or cave. However, the worlds will be just as far away as before. The only two ways a Voidian can enter a world are if it's summonned by a chaotic by chaotic magic, or if a two- way Void portal is left open. It sucks Voidians into that world like a whirlpool. "

" A two- way Void portal? " Hase was completely befuddled.

" Portals, as you know, can be created with magic. The most used kind is the one, connecting two spots in a single world. One can also connect two worlds with a portal, as I have said. But if one needs a portal to a Void, and since only Chaotics use such portals, the chaotic should limit the access to themselves or whoever and whatever they're taking with them. Chaotics can protect living beings from the effect of the Void, yes. But if an unexperienced chaotic conjures such a portal, as many Voidians as possible will enter. They'll eat the world, untill it's destroyed and its inhabitants become Voidians as well.

But enough of the Void, the Voidians and the chaotics. Let's return to the story. After our world was destroyed, I managed to put my brother inside a shield cocoon, so both of us would be able to roam the Void safely. I don't know how much time we spent in there- probably only a few weeks. Eventually, Solarion decided, that it was our duty, as probably the only ponies left from Equestria, to rebuild the world. I agreed, and with the combined strength of chaotic and normal magic, we created a new world. We hadn't read much about world creation, only about the way it's done, so we expected we'd be able to literally duplicate our old world. The world, however, developed on its own. All we could do was speed that up, so instead of millions of years, the formation of the world only took hundreds. We came to the closest inhabitable planet and chose it for our new home. Since it took us some time to find it, ponies had already appeared in this world, however the three races - earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns were constantly fighting eachother and trying to conquer the others' lands. Those wars led to the rise of windigos, creatures we didn't know about, but as I said, all we did was speed up the creation of the world. It formed on its own. Luckily, Clover the Clever got ponykind rid of this threat. Pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns finally realised peace was needed.

Clover the Clever wasn't named that way for nothing. She knew she'd have to be very careful by picking the new king or queen. She told us, that before she met us, she had no idea how all of the ponies would be satisfied by the new ruler. After she heard our story, she thought our experience, and the fact, that we're alicorns, seemingly all the three races in one, made us the perfect rulers. She crowned me and my brother Emperors of Equestria. For 5000 years we ruled in peace, just like Luna and Celestia... untill somepony decided to burry out the old tomahawk. A feast was held in Manehatten, and the heir to one of the most influential unicorn noble lines was poisoned. The unicorns were smart enough not to press any charges, untill they find out who the killer was, but the nobles of the pegasi and the earth ponies accused eachother and started a bloody war. My brother tried to stop them, with words and with force, but his brave army was mercilessly slaughtered by the opposing forces, who united just for this very battle, and sent Solarion a message: not to interfere, untill the killer is found. He decided there wasn't anything he could do but sit and wait. I thought differently. I gave those fools an army they couldn't defeat. An army of Voidians.

Back in the old world, it was well known a chaotic could call out an army as big as they wanted. Such an army could cost the world, so a contract was signed by all the chaotics; all of us promised we wouldn't call out armies. Our king was a skilled chaotic himself, who could bring out a Voidian force to face such threat. However, even he didn't have 5500 years of practice. By that time, I had become more skilled than any other chaotic I have ever seen or heard of. I learned on my own. It was a well known fact I was a chaotic, it was a well known fact what chaotics do. Just nopony could imagine one could summon a whole army.

My Voidian army entered the unprepared cities of Cloudsdale and Trottingham, bypassed all of the soldiers, but murdered all of the members of the pegasi and earth pony nobelty, ending their lines of nobles forever. I thought this would end the war, but it only made it worse. The three races united as never before, as they are today in Celestia's age, and all gathered under the banner of my brother, who accused me of high treason. Trottingham had sealed its gates, and so had all of the other cities, and I was a sitting duck with my army in the field. I retreated to the sea and waited for Canterlot's army, while I created the perfect sentinels, who'd stop the two armies from colliding and enable me to speak with my brother without the two armies confronting. I created them three days and three nights long, five pegasi, tall as alicorns, and with infinite power over one of the five natural elements: sea,fire ,storms... "

" ... rock, rivers? " Hase was amazed.

" How do you know that? " Vortex was even more amazed.

" Wait... it all makes sence now! You created the Elements of Havoc! Well, not to wreak havoc, as it's commonly believed, but to stop the war! They did so, and your brother accepted to speak with you. Solarion is Celestia and Luna's father! You're their uncle! While he was heading for you, some Voidians have probably slipped out of your control and killed him, making the ponies believe you did that, while he thought the Elements did it! He cursed them, making them evil, which is the reason all of our adventures happenned! "

" You got it all right. Wait, what adventures? " the former emperor asked. Now it was Hase's turn to tell stories:

" Oh, two months ago they kidnapped me and my friends, although we still weren't friends back there, and took us to world, controlled by them. We had to fight them together, which made me become friends with Twilight, Pinkie, AJ, Spike, Dash, Fluttershy and.. Rarity and renew my friendship with Luna and Celestia. "

" Is that Rarity you're speaking of the lady of your heart? " the tone gave Hase away.

" Yes. " the earth pony blushed.

" You had luck those lords were weakened. They were made to stop two armies, as you already know. " Vortex siad.

" When they regain their true form, they should be the way I created them: guardians, not villains. Anyway, I had no choice but to dissappear, leaving the Voidians free of my control. They didn't enjoy their freedom long though. Disguised the way you saw me earlier, I pursued them and brought them back to the Void. But the country was in a crysis. Celestia and Luna had ran away in some alternate dimension, and nopony knew who to crown. Complete anarchia reigned. Chaos ruled. Apparently it was enough for him to appear, one of the many creatures the existence of which we never suspected.

Discord.

From than on, the kingdom was thrown into its darkest age, an era of chaos. Discord caused chaos. Chaos caused Discord. I could interfere, but I thought I'd be even more hated than Discord. So I waited. I waited five hundred years, untill I was completely forgotten. The day I planned to end Discord, I found out he'd already been beaten. By Celestia and Luna. You know the story from than on, I'm sure. I simply had no choice but to retreat, take on false identities and live in their kingdom. My life was meaningless, untill I found her. Her life was ruined by fate, just as mine. I'd show her to you by sharing one of my memories.

Hase closed his eyes, and when he re- opened them, he saw he was standing next to a semi- transparent Vortex. When he looked at his own hooves, he saw, that he was in the same state.

The place they were in was somehow familliar. Yes, the dark- violet maned unicorn, Vortex's disguise, was there, standing next to a bed. But where was the mare? Where was his love interest? Ah, there she was, sitting in the lower end of the bed. A white earth pony with a blue- green mane and tail... wait. A blue- green mane and tail?

" There. " Vortex from the memory stepped aside, his horn stopped glowing. The last signs of the magical oreol around the object in the bed dissapearred. Hase saw it was a small foal. A foal with brown mane and beige coat. And blue eyes.

" That should fool the guards. I must go now. " the unicorn moved to the exit of the strangely familliar room.

" Will I ever meet you again? " the mare asked. No, that voice....

" Some day. In the future. " Vortex left the room and ran down the street. The memory ended.

The voice had made it all clear. The room was familliar for a reason.

" Look in the mirror. " Vortex told him with a trembling voice.

With his peripheral vision Hase noted a magical mirror, surrounded with Vortex' dark violet magical oreol, placed on the wall right next to the throne Hase was sitting on. He turned his head and looked.

That was a trick of some kind. Instead by him, the chair was taken by a black pegasus with the same height as him. The stallion had the same manestyle as him, but his mane and tail were with the colour of the zenith, the darkest blue in a clean summer sky. Hase smiled at this joke, and ignoring the mirror stallion, who smiled as well, leaned back. However, he felt the chair press against his...

What the hay was there on his back?

The worried Hase got up. He felt sweat gather on his forehead and he wiped it with his forehoof. His black right forehoof. He looked at his other forehoof. It was also black. He turned back, hoping to see his smooth beige coat again, when he saw them.

Two hanging wings. Normal wings of a normal size, with black feathers, but... wings? His tail was zenith blue.

Hase turned back and looked at Vortex:

" The foal in the memory... was it male or female? "

" Male. " the black alicorn replied with a trembling voice.

" How long ago was he born? "

" About a 1000 years ago. "

" Did you see him after that? "

" Yes. Many times. Once he even used a robot to serve the Princess tea. " Vortex smiled.

That made all clear, but just to be sure, Hase asked:

" Are you my father? "

The stallion with the dark violet mane nodded. Hase approached him. Vortex had no idea what he'd do. He was afraid he'd be angry. Or sad. So he closed his eyes. He was ready to endure anything, now that he was reunited with Hase, once the little Hase, that had now grown up.

The pegasus did none of the expected things. He simply embraced his father.

" Hase, I'm afraid I have other importrant news. We need to start your training. "

" What training? " the confused pegasus asked, as he separated from the former emperor.

" Didn't I say that chaotic magic is always inherited? " Vortex grinned.

" We start right now. "