Letters for the Living, Papers for the Past (Prologue)
Young Among the Timeless; Letters for the Living, Papers for the Past
Negative Two Hours (Nexus time)
Modern Equestria
“Spike, I’m going to need you to send these letters to Celestia and my friends... No, not a letter, it’s much more important than that. Spike, I need you to send These Letters to Celestia... No, that’s too dramatic, I don’t want to make anypony scared... Spike, I’m going to need you to take these to Celestia... Argh!”
Twilight Sparkle was frustrated. She had known that she would need to send Celestia a letter ever since she had made the discovery, but it was simply too difficult to phrase. 'How do you phrase something like this, anyway?' She floated a new paper to her desk and pressed her pen against the paper.
“Spike, I’ve prepared several letters for you to send, and a very special letter for Celestia. I think you’ve noticed my friends and I acting strange recently. That is because I have made an important discovery regarding the Elements of Harmony. If you find this letter, please send the other letters immediately.”
Twilight sighed. It certainly wasn’t great, but hopefully the other letters would make up for that. She pulled a new paper to her from the shelf and began to plan her letter.
“To Spike; first of all I would like to say... Ugh. Too impersonal. This’ll take a while.”
Negative Five Months (Nexus time)
5042 years B.E.F (Before Equestria’s Founding)
Void Shift was an earth pony. His mane and tail were a vivid green and deep blue coat, each were matted and tangled. His cutie mark was what appears to be a heat wave. His flank constantly shifted and blurred, which made it hard to look at without getting a headache. Void Shift was also in the unfortunate condition of being forced to wear the prison garb of the 12th king of the United Legion of Monarchs, generation six. He sighed softly and leaned against the wall of his cell. He was afforded the privilege of room to lean due to his rather unique position as the 15th king of the U.L.M.6.
A sharp click brought Void back to alertness. He looked at the source of the noise and smiled good-naturedly. Void casually batted the source of the click and settled back on his haunches. The noise had been caused by the resident changeling, who had taken the name Chirpy. Chirpy pushed Void on the shoulder and pointed at the metal door to the hallway which joined the prison cells.
“That time again, huh?” Void asked in a slow yawn. Chirpy nodded and pushed Void again. Void pushed himself to his hooves and shoved Chirpy back before trotting to the door, which was opened as he neared it. He was pushed roughly into the hallway by an earth pony guard and escorted to the source of his greatest pleasures and darkest torments; the design room. He walked into the room and the door slammed behind him, the same way each day passed around this time. He felt himself begin to numb, as usual, and he trotted dejectedly to his desk. But then something happened that was not normal, something that would change the history of the world in ways that could never have been imagined before. A unicorn popped out of the air and landed on his desk.
She had a coat of pale lavender, a mane of deep blue with stripes of rose and violet, and a tail of matching colours. Her hair was neat and even, her tail the same. Her eyes were a gleaming purple and they seemed to gaze into his being with a familiarity afforded to none but his deepest friends. And then she spoke. As she spoke his calm broke, and he seemed to choke.
“Void! There isn’t much time before the spell ends. I need to you to take these plans, fix them if they are wrong, leave them if they’re fine. You need to find five ponies who you can trust with your life! Oh, and take this book. You told me to-ahh! No, wait, I wasn’t supposed to tell you about the-”
Void spluttered wildly and fell backwards away from his desk. The pony had been pulled back out of the world within a burst of raspberry magic, leaving only the papers and book she had given him. Void gasped frantically, heart racing with a speed he hadn’t felt in years, and climbed unsteadily to his hooves. He swallowed until his throat stopped feeling dry before trotting to his desk and looking over the papers. His eyes glazed as he read the papers and recognized the goal of the project. The papers described a system to link ponies to others, without harming any of those involved, and even to increase the power exponentially. However, it was heavily flawed and entirely theoretical. But something struck a chord in the mind of Void Shift. He had never known what his cutie mark was for; certainly not the smithing job he was sentenced to. Perhaps this could be it, the purpose for his existence.
Void read, reread, and read again. He focused on the papers for hours until he realized something so simple, in his mind it was the most obvious thing he could imagine. He had never spoken to that mare before in his life. And yet she had mentioned that they had communicated in the past. It could have been a changeling or illusion, or it could... No, if he had been the one to discover the secret of time travel he would have simply stopped himself from being arrested. But then again, the longer he looked at the papers the more similarities he noticed between the writers style and his own. ‘And if it was him... No, me,’ Void thought. ‘I would have set up the code. If it turns out it wasn’t me I won’t have enough time to build the weapons for the council. But if it was me, or rather will be me, I could finally fix this broken world.’
And so it was that Void set to work decoding the set of flaws he had designed for secret plans. The hours passed in a haze as Void worked at his desk. He had no choice but to hope that he had done his work correctly. He cantered to the forge and began his final task. The final task passed agonizingly slowly, dragging on until the last seconds. before he would be forced to turn over all his work. In those seconds Void sat slumped against the wall, a tired smile across his face. He held in his hoof a collar of gold with an amethyst set in the center. The door slammed open, the guards having obviously made a point to show their strength.
“Hey, what’s he got?” The first guard, a muscular earth pony, asked.
“I don’t know. Prisoner! Drop the object and come with us,” The second guard, an old but equally muscular unicorn, commanded. Void Shift simply smiled and slipped the collar onto his neck, exhaling softly as it tightened to a safe, if snug, level.
“He said drop it, prisoner! We’ll kill you if we have to!” The first guard asked, his panic clearly showing. Void Shift simply waved a hoof at them and took a single step. A step farther than any before.
Two guards stood numb in an empty room, their limbs twitching as they looked at each other. They knew they would be punished, but their torture could perhaps be lessened if they captured him again soon. They looked into each others eyes and began to scream the alarm as one. In a universe separate and yet bound to the other, two ponies look into the eyes of the other much as the guards were. The two conspirators shared a moment of confusion and relief.
“Oh, hello. I didn’t expect it to work. Thank you for working with me. Or both of me, whichever it may be,” Void Shift cordially began to ease away some of the tension. Twilight Sparkle had a less dignified response.
“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
