I wish so much I could finally just go home. I am a traveler of sorts, but not of places like you would normally think. I do not transverse locations, across space, or even through time. My fate is far crueler, as I travel into different planes of realities. I say travel, but it’s more of a violent yank by an unknown force into the next dimension. They are always completely different, but the formula is always the same. I am dropped into a world beyond strange and must set some event into motion before I can move to the next place. I am not always the hero, in truth I am only what I am needed to be.
“I have finished the work I was sent to do,” I said standing before a crowd of thousands. “The old king is dead; you may build your land however you wish now.” The crowd cheered, being the hero always felt good, but it had lost its luster as my longing for home grew exponentially with each new realm I visited. “I will leave you soon, and hopefully will finally return home, but first,” I said focusing. I reached a hand to Kent who had acted as my general in the battle. He extended his fist, allowing me to cover it with my hand, as was the custom in their realm. It was like the honor of a military salute with the kinship of a bro-hug.
In that moment I willed my armor, which had chosen me to be its wielder for a time, into liquid state, and transferred it to him. “Kent,” I said, “I know you well enough to know you will lead these people in the way that is right”. He looked at me with shock. I stepped back as the armor bonded to him, making him the people’s new leader. As the armor set, and the crowd cheered, I felt it. I looked down to my core and saw the saw the white light. I knew that the armor was my last tether to this place. The light grew and a gasp echoed through the crowd as they noticed. Brighter and brighter it grew till I was completely engulfed in it. I closed my eyes and waited. The light burst out like a bomb, and instantly I was gone.
I reopened my eyes when I felt air on my skin. Though it was night, I could tell this new world was rich with color. Everything seemed serene but, things are never that simple with me. “I’m in the sky again,” I said with realization of freefall. “Realm 1010 is off to a great start,” I thought. I fanned out my body, back to the ground to slow my fall. I took a deep breath, and calmly began yelling for help. This happened all too often but it always meant there was some flying species nearby. I fell for longer than I was used to, but looking over my shoulder proved the ground would be coming soon.
I looked back up and saw a dark figure that had not been there before, racing for me with great speed. My rescuer reached me far too quickly for me to clearly see their face. The angle and speed that they pulled up at made the blood drop from my head, I have no idea how I even stayed conscious. Several seconds went by before we landed. I was dropped to the ground. “Are you okay?” came the feminine voice of my rescuer.
“Uh, ya,” I said sitting up. My eyes were closed as I rubbed my forehead trying to get the world to stop spinning. Most everything was fuzzy and numb, but my senses were slowly returning. “Thanks for the rescue by the way.” I looked up trying to see her face, and as sight returned I saw the face of a dark blue unicorn staring back at me. “Looks like this is going to be an interesting realm,” I thought.
I stood slowly staring strangely, confused as to where the magical creature’s rider had gone. The pony was almost as tall as I was, with her head easily reaching my chest. “Might I inquire as to what you are? I am curious as to how one without wings got so high into the sky or made such an impressive display of magic with no horn,” the creature said, rustling a pair of wings I hadn’t noticed before. I was slightly surprised by it speaking, but it explained the missing rider.
“Well,” I said, “where I am originally from, we’re called humans. As to how I got in the sky, and the light, I am currently a traveler of sorts.
That elicited an unsatisfied look. “Do not toy with me,” she said with slight malice. “I may not know all, but one does not become ruler of the night by being a fool. My sister and I have powers over sun and moon, but I have never seen such a massive surge of magic as to illuminate my beautiful night as though the day had come. Now tell me, who you are, how you got into the sky, and what you are doing in my Equestria”.
“I would be more than happy to your highness”. I began to elaborate, “My name is John, and this is the 1010th... world I have come to visit. I am brought to these worlds by an unknown force, but my purpose is either start or fulfill an important event that is about to happen or already is in the process of happening. That bright light you saw, that was how I entered your world, though, I cannot speak for certain that it is magic, for all I know it’s an incredibly advanced technology. I’ve kept a detailed journal of my journey thus far if you’d like to look at it,” I said removing my backpack.
“That will not be necessary,” she said. “I believe you, somewhat. I have witnessed things far stranger than your story, but not much stranger. Tell me John, do you always enter new worlds through the sky, and how far away in my sky are these other worlds that you speak of”.
“I’d say counting this one; I have probably dropped from the sky about the two dozen times, so not normally, no. As for these other worlds,” I paused looking skyward, “it’s impossible to tell, because the stars are always the same. It’s more like I'm being dragged into different planes of reality. That's why personally I call them realms instead of worlds, but that usually confuses the unintelligent”. Her scowl softened, as she processed the information. She nodded slightly, still skeptical but at least no longer seeing me as threat. “If I may,” I said raising a hand towards her head.
“What are you doing?” she said recoiling, fire rising in her eyes.
“Forgive me,” I said retracting my hand slightly. “I forgot you are royalty. I was merely going to do what I call imprinting. Basically it is an ability I have for these journeys letting me take on the general appearance of whatever I touch. It’s very helpful for not standing out in a crowd of beings that are not human in appearance”.
She looked at me for a minute, studying me, trying to discern if my words were true. “Very well,” she said removing a hoof from its shimmering shoe. “You may imprint on me, but only to keep you a secret from the general populous,” she said lifting the hoof towards me. “There’s no telling how much of a panic something like you could cause.”
I reached out and cupped the hoof gently. The energy caused by the transformation rushed through me. I could feel my bone shifting, growing, and changing. It was agony. My skull felt as if it were breaking, and regrowing in a new shape and then breaking again. My hands and feet were turning into hooves, but it was not as if the bones there in where simply disappearing. They were grinding in upon themselves, splintering and turning to dust, so they could reform differently. I became aware of my tail bone as I felt it grow through my skin. My back felt as though my shoulder blades were living up to their name, as I felt something actually rip through from under my skin. Then in an instant it was done.
The pain was over, but I was drained from the ordeal. I slumped down on my hind, landing painfully on my new tail. I looked down at my new forelegs. My fur was a very rich shade of brown, and my hooves were gray. Turning to see my tail, I learned that I possessed wings. My tail I discovered to be two toned, one color matching close to my actual hair color and the other being a much darker color that only shown through if I let my hair grow especially thick. Panting heavily, I mustered myself up on all fours. I looked up to see that I had lost a good foot and a half in the transformation. Scraps of memories circulated in mind that had unintentionally been leeched in the imprinting. “You’re only… the princess?” I asked looking into her eyes.
“How do you know that?” She was stunned, “I said only that I was ruler of the night, I made no mention of being princess!”
“I’m sorry,” I said holding my hoof to my head. “It’s not an exact science. Sometimes I accidentally draw a few memories from whoever I imprint on. It was not my intent please forgive me”.
“Listen to me well,” she said so solemnly, I could feel her scathing glare. “You look like a Pegasus now, and it will do you well to act like one. I never want to see nor hear you again. I do not trust you, and an interloper such as you is sure to only cause trouble, so mark my words. If I even smell something wrong that makes me think of you, I will see to it personally that you are plunged into the depths of my sister’s sun.”
“Celestia, the high princess, she’s been slacking a lot lately, why is she so mopey? It’s not like she should be sad with how much everypony enjoys her beautiful day,” I said, not even process my own words till the last one left my mouth. I realized that she had triggered another memory scrap in my mind. I looked up and her face was filled with wrath.
“You keep those thoughts of mine to yourself,” she said barely controlling herself. “I must return to my castle, Celestia will be worrying if I am gone much longer”. She raised her wings and was about to fly away, when the scraps processed enough to be able to discern them.
“You’re not wrong to be mad at her,” I said finally removing my hoof from my head. I looked her in the eyes, “not with how much more she has. Depressed or not, she has no excuse for how she’s been treating you. You don’t deserve her slacking her responsibilities with the sun onto you because she’s sad, it not fair to you. You’re not wrong to be upset Luna, you deserve better”.
She tried to raise an angry facade, but anyone could’ve seen past it. She felt no one understood her plight, until now. As her eyes began to water, she turned her head and shut them. Then she was gone, flying far away into the night sky. I sat again, letting the scraps do the job of piecing together information of this world. It might take quite some time to make sense of them all.
The imprinting had drained me more than was normal. I rarely needed to use it, and even then, the most drastic changes before this one were still humanoid. I had been on my side for almost an hour, body aching, mind burning. The dawn was starting to show, so I decided to get up and try to find my way out the forest. I knew from the memory scraps that there was a young town somewhere to the east called Hoofington. I forced myself to all fours and struggled toward the rising sun, hoping this world’s sun rose in the east.
It was strange having four legs, and it took me a few minutes to figure out the timing between them all. My new set of wings was also confusing. I had imprinted winged beings before, but their wings always replaced my arms; these were new appendages entirely. I’d occasionally try to flap my wings to get a feel for how a pegasus would fly. I must have looked quite strange staggering through the forest.
After a few hour of walking, I stumbled onto a road. There were no road signs, or any other kind of markers. I decided it probably best if I sat roadside and just wait out a traveler for directions. It also gave me a chance to rest my still aching body. Unfortunately I discovered sitting had become a bit awkward as well. Maybe ten minutes passed and a very ornate grey unicorn finally appeared.
“Pardon me,” I said approaching him, “could you help me out a little?”
He scowled, giving me a once over, “Pegasus filth, your warmongering kind disgusts me”. He lifted his nose and continued past me.
“Hey, I don’t appreciate the stereotype, but I’ll over look it if you just tell me which way to Hoofington from here, I’m kind of lost.”
He stopped and turned, “Why don’t you just fly into the sky and get your bearings like a normal pegasus?” His words dripped with spite.
“I… can’t,” muttered back. His face reddened and he fought an explosion of laughter.
“Did I just hear you say you can’t fly?” I turned and began walking away, I had wasted enough time waiting around. “Wait a minute, turn back towards me,” he shouted in laughter.
“What?” I shouted back in anger, turning my body to the side to face him.
“You’re a blank flank,” he cried, no longer able to control his laughter. He pointed to my leg almost falling over. “I can’t believe it! A full grown stallion that doesn’t have his cutie mark? This is hilarious!”
“I’m a what-now?” I looked at my hind leg, and then noticed an image of four gems on his hip. ‘Great even when I’m biologically camouflaged, I still stand out,’ I thought to myself. I turned and kept walking.
“Hey blank flank! Just keep following the road north and you’ll find hoofington before too long, maybe if you’re lucky you’ll find you talent on the way there!”
I walked quickly and was soon out of his sight. “Geez, sure hope all the unicorns I meet are not as big of… jerks, as that guy”. I kept on in my direction figuring that he would have mocked me for not knowing directions if I was going the wrong way. “I think I’ll save myself some harassment next time and just say my wings are injured”.
I didn’t need to walk for long before I finally stumbled upon the town. ‘Now to get some info on what’s happening’. I unfolded and stretched my wings over my back to cover my lack of a cutie mark. If I was going to figure out what I was here to do, I’d need to be the one asking the questions. It was midmorning and the town was beginning to bustling. I couldn’t help but notice that, except for the young, every pony I saw had these cutie marks, and they were all different. I wandered to the town square, which was surprisingly developed; the whole place actually looked like it was graduating from a pre-colonial village, to a bustling business town.
A giant ornate fountain rested at the center of everything with two large equine figures balancing something on their horns. I trotted to the guard rail and placed my front hooves on top to try to get a better look. “Luna?” I recognize that one was modeled after her, but the other was still a mystery to me.
“You talk like you know her, but haven’t got the slightest clue who she is”. I looked right to see a mellow, cream colored stallion staring at me intrigued. “Pardon me, I’m known around here as Dr. Phil E. I’m the local psychologist”.
Show time. “Hello doctor, my name is John, I was just admiring our dear princess here,” I said with up most confidence.
“John? Well that’s an odd name. Pardon me don’t you mean princesses? Both Celestia and Luna are represented here”.
I looked back to the twin statue balancing the spiked orb. ‘So that’s Celestia,’ I thought. I should have been able to piece that together with the information I had, and given more time, I would’ve but I was never upset by timely information. “Well ya, that is very true, but Celestia didn’t save me from certain death last night”.
“Say what?” I had him hooked now.
“Ya, so get this, I’m flying along last night, clear sky and everything, then out of nowhere this huge explosion of magic in the sky paralyzes my wings. I go into free fall, scream for help, and next thing I know Luna is landing me on the ground, safe as a squirrel.”
“Wait, you got caught in that huge discharge last night?”
“Ya, did you guys here in Hoofington see it?”
“Well, most of the town was asleep, but I was working late in my office, and I saw the thing through my window, darn thing lit up the sky like Celestia’s sun”.
“Luna said about the same to me”.
“Did she ask you if you knew what caused it?”
“I’ll say, she thought it was me that did it!”
“Oh yes, well, things have been tense lately,” he said.
‘Now we’re getting somewhere!’ “Really, how so?”
“You can’t be serious, how have you not heard any of the rumors?”
“Oh well,” I was caught off guard but was thankfully able to recover quickly. “You see, I’ve never been too involved in politics, and my job doesn’t bring me to town too often. Before today, I didn’t even know we had two princesses”.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry; that was a bit of an overreaction on my part. Well, allow me to bring you up to speed. Well, I imagine you at least knew the unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony nations united about 10 years ago. Most are citizens have integrating well by now, but there is still some lingering resentment among some. It’s nowhere near as bad as it was before the divine sisters appeared. It was about 7 seven years ago, the warm fuzzy feelings were starting to wear off, and the heads of the nations were starting to get at odds again. Things were at the boiling point, unicorns were threatening to stop raising the sun, pegasi were saying they’d stop managing the weather, and earth ponies were about to stop providing food. A day was set that the leaders were to finally resolve the issues, but many believed that it’d be the day one nation would finally declare war another. The neutral city of Canterlot was picked for the negotiations. The day came, and word is you could hear the arguing on the other side of the city. Then just when everything seemed lost, the day went to night, just like that. The council almost went berserk, but then in the pitch black room, she appeared, lit up the whole room. Celestia introduced herself and everypony in the room was just gawking at her. There she stood, the impossibility, equal parts earth pony, unicorn, and pegasus. Then to make sure they were thoroughly stunned Luna walks up beside Celestia, and has all the same traits.
“Wait, whoa, hold on”. So many strange new concepts. I was trying to keep up and wanted to ask about so much, but since manipulation of weather and celestial bodies seemed to be common place, I decided to ask about something that didn’t make me seem too suspicious. “How do you know they have equal parts earth pony? To me they just look like they’re just winged unicorns, or… would it be horned pegasi?” I asked looking to the stautes, then turned back to Dr. Phil E.
“Not a bad question actually. That’s not quite my area of expertise, but I’ll tell you what I do know about it. The short version of it is that they wouldn’t be twice as tall as most of us if they didn’t have a fair share of earth pony. Legend says we all came from ponies just like them. No one is quite sure how or why we split but the fact that they exist is nothing short of miraculous. Celestia and Luna have never outright said how old they are. Best we can figure they are at least 600 years old, but some people believe that they were among the first”.
“The first? The first what?”
He glanced around subtly and leaned close. “The first ponies,” he whispered. “I know a few who think that those two specifically are ultimately the mother of us all”.
‘Well, in an odd way for me, that is true of Luna,’ I thought. “Okay, this is almost too much, how about we just stick to the story”.
“Fair enough my friend. Now then the sisters popped up in the meeting just in time. The two show them their cutie marks, and it’s said the unicorn leader almost passed on the spot. One mark bares the sun, the other has the moon. The two just took the unicorn’s bargaining chip off the table. Luna steps forward and says that she can use the draw of her moon to pull the clouds wherever they’re needed and Celestia, not missing a beat, step forward and says she can enchant the sun to help double the growth of crops. Just like that, the sisters voided everything the other two nations had on their side.
“Wow, talk about dowsing a fire”.
“It was more like flooding a well. They didn’t so much take away the resources, as make them a hundred times more useful to the other nations. So the whole council doesn’t have much option but to turn to them as the new leaders, they’d be fools not to. None of them really wanted to, pride tends to cloud reason when your that high up. It didn’t take long with those silk smooth voices to convince each of the nation’s respective rulers. They even propose the idea to be referred to as princesses; allows them to rule together equally, and doesn’t hang the word queen over everypony’s head. A vote was held and the two were unanimously declared rules of Equestria. If there was any lingering uncertainty it was immediately dispelled as an explosion of color and light filled the room and when it was done, the spirits of harmony had encompassed the two. The six spirits split evenly among the two and formed elements that related to the sister’s ties to the individual nations. Luna received the honest spirit of the earth ponies, loyalty of the pegasi, and generosity of the unicorns. Celestia got the laughter of the earth ponies, kindness of the pegasi, and magic of the unicorns. Shortly thereafter they also named that Canterlot would be the new united capital of Equestria”.
“Wow, talk about divine providence, but tell me, how does kindness relate to pegasi? I got called ‘warmongering’ on the way to town”.
“Regardless of the sorted past of the Pegasus nation, your people have always been willing to lend a helping hoof to anypony that was treated unfairly”.
“Okay, but well, how does that relate to things being tense in the present?”
“Ya, that”. The story of the past had him all but giddy. Now he seemed very melancholy. “It doesn’t help that the citizens were already starting to get a bit doubtful of our leaders. Now keep in mind what I said before has had plenty of time to be documented, but this is mostly just hearsay and bridle gossip. Word is that something is wrong with Celestia. Starting about a year back she has been a lot less in the spotlight. Luna has been doing the speaking at most of the public functions and about four months back Celestia stopped showing up to them all together. Now here in this last four weeks, the days haven’t been getting longer as they should be, but are holding the exact same length.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s almost summertime. I don’t have a time cutie mark, but I know that it sun should be coming up before 8 o’clock at this point”.
The information was enough to complete what hadn’t been imprinted. A smooth rise to power such as theirs rarely lasted long before citizens started to question their rule. Odds are the criticism was getting to Celestia. Luna must be trying to keep up appearances and take on Celestia’s job while she was dealing with her depression. That would certainly explain why Luna had been so harsh to me the night before. It would also explain the shorter days; it was a little surprising that she could even move the sun at all. Most importantly I had narrowed down what my goal in this realm was; the biarchy was on the verge of failure. Balanced or not, the two sisters did not seem that they were meant to rule together. I would need to be careful, the fall of one might strengthen the rule of the other, but it could just as easily crush their will to live. It didn’t seem I was going to be a good guy this time. “Thank you so much for your help Dr. Phil E. Now could you help me with one final question?”
“Of course friend, what is it?”
“Which way is Canterlot?”
