Prologue: The Way Is Open
Julius Caesar had prevailed, he had done Rome good. His countless victories had thrown Rome into a much longed for, time of peace. The Republic, which took grateful notice of Julius, had closed the large bronze doors to The Temple of Janus. In a raging ceremony of drinks and feasting, Rome was finally able to rest quietly, not in fear or concern of the empire.
Janus had seen this coming, of course. The doors closing, the ceremony, the victories. They were all memories to him, he'd seen them long before they'd come true. He's seen everything, well, he likes to say. He mentally orders himself to halt his searching through time at certain dates. The latest one had been to stop at the 1900s. Janus thought this time would really get him excited to look again in the next month, things for humanity had really been getting...heated.
Though, even he'd give himself cliffhangers, he still predicted, without "cheating", what would happen. He's grown extremely used to calling things out correctly, even without using his portals to see it himself.
"I highly doubt this time will be any different, hm?" Janus spoke to Vesta, the roman Goddess of Domestic Living and Tranquility. The two deities had accompanied one another quite often. They spoke always of their days and their nights. Janus refused to look into Vesta's future, for he did not want to grow bored of her. Though, she could never get bored of Janus, his stories and explanations were like no other.
"Knowing you, you'd be correct on your next guess. Though, I do hope you are wrong someday, Janus. We wouldn't want you to be disinterested in your own purpose." Vesta said. Janus hummed in agreement, opening a rabbit-sized portal in his metallic palms. He viewed an odd world, made of only sides and edges.
"Only cubes, everything is a cube. Who is that little man, there?" Janus said to himself as he amused his own mind. Even the leaves on the trees were made up of cubes, a cube cow, a cube man, a cube sun. How lovely. There were so many different places Janus wanted to visit. He'd been planning to tell Vesta about this, for when he leaves she will be without a companion. Vesta was not "anti-social", just really paranoid that everyone would be wanting to court her. She already shut down Apollo and Neptune. Janus would not be one of them, though. He will not be interested in relationships for as long as he lives, and Vesta knew this. Maybe this was the reason she was comfortable with Janus?
"Janus? What are you thinking about? I can tell you are in deep thought." Vesta called out. Janus looked up from his hands, and closed the portal.
"I was hoping you'd ask, Vesta." Janus replied, floating towards her. Once they were shoulder to shoulder, Janus opened a very large portal containing a vast amount of smaller ones.
"What is this for?" Vesta asked. She reached out and stuck her hand into the portal, it had a funny feeling and she giggled.
"I was thinking of traveling to one of these places, Vesta. Like you said earlier, the others wouldn't like for me to grow bored of my own purpose. So I am going someplace else for a short while to add some more variety into my life. I do hope you can understand what I mean, and support my decision. Though, take note that your opinion will not change my mind, dear"
Vesta nodded at Janus and continued to stare into the galaxy of dimensions. She pondered on Janus' plan for a brief moment before answering.
"I think it's wonderful you are trying to engage yourself into the unknown, do know that I do really support your decision on this. It will be very good for you, plus, a vacation is in order for you"
Janus was so relieved that Vesta liked his plan. The two relaxed with one another until Janus decided it was time to depart. They said their goodbyes, and Janus opened the portal.
"Here goes nothing! Hmm, I will close my eyes and choose my destination" Janus said. He covered his hollowed eyes with one hand and pointed at a random spot. He uncovered his eyes and looked at where he was headed.
"Ooh, it's colorful, and full of life" Vesta said, taking interest in the place.
"Let's hope it's inhabitants are just as colorful as the world they live in, hm?"
Janus focused on the small portal-within-a portal, and enlarged it big enough for him to float through. The colorful lights flashed before him as he stepped through.
"The way is open!"
Janus looked down upon the small village he'd started at. He was really high up, to avoid the civilians. He did not know of their attitude or origin. So he played it safe and kept his distance. Being a god, he wasn't scared of them, of course. Janus just did not want a panic or an entire parade in his arrival. He decided to take it slow.
"How adorable! Little colorful ponies!" Janus squealed with excitement. He couldn't wait to tell Vesta al about this. Janus looked though a one-way portal between his palms, using it as a magnifying glass. He took in every detail about the place, admiring how it actually looked tons better than what Rome did right now. Something Janus realized is the immense amount of energy coming from everywhere. Almost as if everything was created with, or at least harnessed, magical power.
"Seems as if there is more than meets one's eye for this place, hm?"
As usual, no one really responded. When you get wrapped up in power like this, the ability to see all. You start asking yourself questions. Janus made his portal larger, and no longer one-way. He viewed different areas of the town, he figured going one place to another would be the best plan. It's about time he got to meeting the locals.
"How intriguing all of these wonderful places are!" Janus said as he flipped between places in Ponyville. Some, more interesting than others. For example, an interesting one being the glorious tree castle. An uninteresting one being a farm. Janus has had enough farms in his life, but, giant castles made to look like shiny trees? Absolutely not. He didn't want to go to something too big, like the castle, he wanted to start of simple. Like the classroom he stared at. There were no ponies accompanying the small desks, but there was one pony at the front desk.
"I assume that's the teacher, hm?" Janus asked himself. He has chosen the school! Time to get in and see how this pony will act. Janus was os excited to meet his first little pony! He flew through the portal, and his vision was blurred with white. Before clearing, he heard a light gasp a few feet in front of him. The portal closed and Janus blinked a few times, before taking sight of the small pony he'd seen before. She was a darker magenta, and her mane and tail were a matching light pink and darker pink. The pony looked at him in either shock, or horror. Janus hoped it was the former, he did not want to strike fear into anyone. Unless it was needed, which has never come up yet.
"Why, hello, miss. I am Janus, god of portals, time, and beginning and endings" Janus introduced himself, giving a light bow.
No response, just more staring. Janus understood the reaction, a foreign creature suddenly warping into your life at a moment's notice can be shocking. Eventually, the pony got over it and cleared her throat.
"H-hello, Janus. I am Miss. Cherilee and this is my classroom. If you're here to see the children, school ended about three hours ago."
Children? Why would he want to see the children? Janus believed children were too young to be truly interesting to look into. They did not have enough memories, but occasionally, their future was dazzling. Janus looked around the room some more, he was in front of Miss. Cherilee's desk. There was a large stack of papers on top, not-so neatly organized and they poked out haphazardly. Janus fixed the stack with some simple "magic". Cherilee stood next to her chair awkwardly, waiting for a topic to pop up. Janus picked up the first paper in the stack and looked at it with an attentive glare.
"This is homework from two days ago..." Janus said to himself. Cherilee thought he was speaking directly to her.
"Y-yes, um, I still have to grade them. I am really behind because of... complications?" She stammered. Janus just nodded at her. He wanted to know what those complications were, he's here to help, to interact.
"What are those complications that are distracting you from your job, Miss?"
She hesitated to answer, Janus knew it must have been personal. Call him nosey if you want, but Janus just looked for himself. Cherilee tried to find the right words to probably evade the question. While Janus just watched last night's events unfold before him.
"Well, that's kind of personal busi-"
"It's about love, isn't it?" Janus interrupted. He looked at Cherilee straight in the eyes, and she looked away.
"H-how did you know?"
Silly question, Janus knew all. He didn't know if she'd be comfortable knowing that he could just look into her past, so he lied. Something Janus did actually quite rarely, he's a very honest person. But he knew he'd be rejected by this pony if he told her what he'd done. Because, he saw if for himself. Miss Cherilee freaked out and tried to get Janus to leave the classroom, which he did.
"It's just a guess, miss. I can tell your an adult, an adult that needs someone in their life. And, in fact, most adults are always having trouble with love, these days."
He was right. Cherilee knew trying to change the subject know would be fruitless, like taking a meal from a manticore. Cherilee had so many issues with the guys she meets, and she blames herself for it.
"My, uhm, date last night didn't go exactly the right direction" She admitted, looking down at herself.
"Yes, and actually, it went directly south. And, because of this, you think it's you that is the problem"
Cherilee didn't say anything, but she nodded. Janus flipped his face around, to the more elderly one. It used this one when he was about to get serious. Not that it changed anything in particular, it just looked more professional to him.
"Cherilee, please know that this is not meant to hurt you. But, it is your fault your date last night went horribly wrong"
Cherilee looked up in disbelief, how could someone just flat out say that? Cherilee was about to say something back to defend herself, but Janus spoke first.
"My dear, you are still picking up the pieces from your last heartbreak. You've completely guarded yourself, too, because you don't feel comfortable giving another stallion the power to hurt you so much, again. You tell yourself that you don't like someone, then it turns out you reflect it on the outside without even realizing it." Janus finished his little monologue. Cherilee stared at her desk. Janus felt her pain, almost as if it was flowing into him. She had let out a silent sob.
Cherilee couldn't believe what just happened. Some random person claiming to be a god just gave her a pep talk about love. She'd tried talking about this with a lot of people, but none of them could help. Three of her students tried to get her a date with Big Macintosh, and by the end of the day it was quite the disaster. Cherilee by now was just going out, just to do it. She lost most of her flare for even dating, it's just something she did to try to fill a black void in her life. Now, though, she feels like the void was filling up in some way. Like it wasn't love that she needed, more like the knowledge of love.
Janus just floated idly, watching Cherilee tears ever so slowly fall. He kind of felt bad, but how could you feel bad for giving the truth? It's just the way it is, you can't sugarcoat the truth, you might as well just lie.
Maybe it wasn't a good idea going into this topic? Smooth move, Janus.
"You're right, Janus, You're completely right. Thank you so much, I've felt like I knew this was it. But hearing someone else say it, it just really helps me, y'know?" Cherilee blurted out of nowhere, but she was smiling a little. She needed someone in her life, not to love, but to listen too. Being a teacher doesn't mean you can't still learn a few things every now and then. Even from the strangest of people.
Janus floated next to Cherilee and gave her a soft, metallic hug. She gladly returned it and smiled. Janus liked Cherilee, he really did. She was interesting. After a few silent moments in a hug, Janus shifted away.
"So, how about we get to grading this homework?" Janus suggested, picking up the same sheet he'd looked at before. The name "Featherweight" scribbled across the top-right. Cherilee smiled and nodded.
"That'd be fantastic, Janus. But I feel like you've done way too much for me already"
"Oh, non-sense, you can never do too much for someone that deserves it."
