The Many Shaped One

Visitor from a forgotten future

   “What?!” repeated Francisco, unable to believe what he had just heard. “That’s impossible! I mean... Dammit, that is just impossible! The red planet is two or three times bigger than Earth!”

   “It has been feeding,” explained the drooling god. “Its mass has increased.”

   “No!” the black stallion tried to scratch his head with his hooves. “This cannot be... This is just... Oh... Oh, good Heavens...” finally, he gave up. If the drooling god had said it, it had to be true. “When it happened? It was just after I died, or when?”

   “It will never happen. The red planet was one of the futures of Earth, but not anymore.”

   “Wait... what?”

   “I will try to explain it, listen carefully... The Past is carved in stone, while the Future is undefined. However, undefined is not the same as nonexistent. Just like the branches of a tree, the Future sprouts from the Present and divides itself in millions, maybe billions of possibilities, all of them different in several degrees. Obviously, at the end, only one of those possibilities will become a new Present, and the others will disappear in the Sea of Probabilities. While they are in this state of pre-happening, the futures exist as mere concepts, shadows of what they may become. Do you follow me?”

   “Yes... I think.”

   “In one of the futures of Earth, mankind will develop a system to transmit information, images and thoughts directly from one mind to another. To put it shortly, humans will invent telepathy. Eventually, as biotechnology progresses, they will be able to store thoughts, feelings, personalities; whole human minds in machines, as if they were data from a computer. At first, this system will be used by scientists, to preserve their intelligence and knowledge after death; and by rich people, who will pay overly large amounts of money to avoid the Grim Reaper or to have their minds downloaded into more suitable bodies. In time, every human will have access to this technology, and changing bodies will be as common as changing clothes.”

   Francisco was listening, without interrupting, almost holding his breath.

   “Then, one day, the humans will improve this technology to its ultimate form,” continued the drooling god. “They will connect all of the Mind Storehouses of the Earth into one worldwide biomechanical web of consciousnesses. Thousands... no, millions of souls united in the same artificial container, sharing thoughts and information, while their original bodies rest in cryogenization chambers. They will call it ‘the Hivemind’. However, something will go horribly wrong (or maybe horribly right, depending on the point of view), and the Hivemind will become partially sentient. It will consume all the human consciousnesses inside of it, eliminating individuality. Then, it will assimilate not only the frozen human bodies, but also plants, animals and machines. The Hivemind will parasitize the land itself, reaching the very core of the planet and becoming one with Earth. And so, the blue marble will transform into a red abomination, and it will start to wander the Cosmos, swallowing other worlds and stars... until nothing is left. This was one of the possible destinies of Earth, but recent events in the actual timeline have caused this future to become completely non-viable. Following the normal process in this cases, it disappeared in the Sea of Probabilities.”

   “Then, why is it here, now?!”

   “Because something unexpected happened. By means I do not know, the red planet made the impossible: it stopped being a concept and acquired an existence of its own. It escaped from its dying timeline and entered in the Present, in the Multiverse, when and where it will fulfill its goal of consuming everything.”

   “What were the events that made that future non-viable?” asked Francisco.

   The drooling god also looked reticent to answer that question.

   “Tell me!” insisted the black stallion.

   “You.”

   “What?!”

   “Do you remember that person you save from the fire? He was destined to die there. In the future, his descendants will be important opponents to the telepathy technology. Without them, the Hivemind had a small chance of becoming real. Now, the possibilities are absolute zero.”

   That answer hit Francisco like cold water. Once again, he was the main cause of Equestria’s imminent peril.

   “No...” he mumbled, falling to his knees.

   “Look it in this way: you saved your Earth.”

   “But I doomed my new world!” Francisco smashed his head against the stone ground.

   “Hey, do not do that!”

   “Why?!” shouted the black stallion, while smashing his head again, this time harder than before. “Why do I keep bringing menaces to Equestria?! Why?!”

   “Calm down, you did not know that this would happen. Not even I saw it coming.”

   “I’m such a... useless... And let me guess, the red planet came to Equestria following me, the cause of its inviability, right?”

   “I can not assure it... but it is a possibility.”

   Francisco roared in rage, and smashed his head against the ground one more time. The drooling god picked him with one of his tentacles and lifted him. The black stallion tried to transform, but for some reason, he couldn’t.

   “Do not forget who gave you your powers,” said the entity.

   The shapeshifter, fought a bit, moving his legs frantically, but eventually, he gave up.

   “Do not moan more about this, it is useless,” said the drooling god. “Complete your training, and save your world of colours.”

   Francisco looked at him. The forehead of the black stallion was bleeding, and his eyes, crying.

   “But what will I do after?” he asked. “What if more monsters keep coming to Equestria by my fault?”

   “You will be there to stop them. Besides, the ponies are not defenseless. It is just that the red planet is too much for them.”

   “But I will not live forever. Who will protect Equestria then?”

   “You can still ask for eternal life. I will give it to you.”

   Francisco looked directly at one of the enormous eyes of the drooling god. Yes, he could become the eternal protector of his new home, and work alongside Celestia and Luna. However, he would also see his friends pass away, and the children of their friends, and their children... He would see the world change before his eyes, century after century. That idea was terrifying for him. He was not made for immortality.

   There had to be another... Yes, yes it was.

   “Call your stone creatures,” said Francisco. “I must train.”

***

   “Yes, I remember now,” said Adam. “It was a unit named... Lauren Faust?”

   “Correct,” confirmed Eve. “A female unit. She passed away many years before the Great Assimilation. She created a cartoon show based on a previous cartoon show, I think.”

   “And that cartoon show had a remarkably huge success. Do you remember the name of the characters?”

   “Besides our three guests, I remember the names Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Celestia, Fluttershy, Spike, Rarity, Discord, Derpy Hooves...”

   “How do you know all those names?” asked Twilight.

   “Because we have data about all of you,” explained Eve. “Many years before the Great Assimilation, there was a cartoon show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and you were the main characters.”

   “What is a cartoon show?” asked Rainbow Dash.

   “A work of fiction.”

   “A what?! Wait a second, are you saying that, in this planet, there was a work of fiction about us?!”

   “Yes.”

   “How is that possible?” asked Luna. “How could your people know about our world?”

   “I think they didn’t,” answered Adam. “They just created it. They created all of you.”

   The three ponies were punched in their souls. They created all of you. How would you feel if a creature said to you that everything you know and love is just a work of fiction, created by the inhabitants of a planet which was about to eat you?

   “I must say, this is amazing!” said Adam, unable to see that they had just caused a breakdown to their guests. “We’ve just met the characters from a work of fiction from our own past! What were the possibilities of that?”

   Rainbow Dash jumped on the table.

   “Quit that nonsense!” she shouted, angered. “We are not fictional!”

   “Oh!” exclaimed Eve, excited. “Does that mean that the evolution of your world has given origin to creatures that look exactly like a work of fiction from our past? What an incredible coincidence!”

   “Maybe the unit Lauren Faust did know about the real Equestria,” said Adam. “Maybe she had access to a dimensional portal, and we don’t have data about that.”

   “It’s probable. We lost several data when we escaped from the Hivemind.”

   “Enough!”, shouted Luna. “I don’t want to hear anymore of that!” her horn was glowing. “We’re going home!”

   And the three ponies disappeared in a flash of light. For the next seconds, Adam and Eve remained sit, silently looking at the spot where their guests had been. Then, still holding their hands, they came out of their cottage and looked at the red horizon.

   Soon, everything would end...

***

   The main square of Canterlot was empty, except for a few ponies who had decided to stay and wait for their friends.

   Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna appeared in a flash of light. Immediately, their friends and family approached to give them a warm welcome. They didn’t know it, but the three ponies really needed one.

   “Welcome back, sister,” said Celestia, hugging the blue alicorn. “I’m glad to see that you are safe.”

   “Oh, sister!” cried Luna. “What a horrible place that planet is!”

   “Don’t worry, you will never have to go there again. Say, have you discovered something useful?”

   “Nothing!” shouted Twilight, almost instantly. She was sweating, and a bit pale. “We’re sorry, but we have discovered nothing about it!”

   “Don’t worry, it’s ok,” said Applejack, while hugging a very nervous Rainbow Dash. “We’ll just wait for Francisco.”

   “That’s right!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “He’ll save us all!”

   The purple unicorn, the blue pegasus and the moon alicorn looked each other. They had learned a terrible truth about their world, about their friends and about themselves... but they couldn’t tell it to anypony. The red light was filling the air, and that monstrous planet was over their heads. They had managed to maintain hope even in those dark times, but if anypony knew about that horrible truth, their spirits would break.

   The three couldn’t help it, and cried. Their friends comforted them, thinking that they were just stressed due to their nightmarish journey.