The sounds of gentle knocking stir Golden out of his long slumber. Why did I decide to sleep here again? He thinks, opening an eye. A picture of Solacia laying on a cliff edge looking out toward the sun fills his gaze. He groans, then gets out of bed. With a yawn, the stallion glances around. It's a guest bedroom of sorts. The bed itself is quite plain. The flooring is a deep blue carpet that looks as good as new. With a sigh, Golden slowly trots to the bedroom door and opens it.
"Yes?" He asks. Meeting his gaze is Riloxia, a blue coated and black-maned stallion with a neutral gaze. Riloxia's hooves brush against heated linoleum flooring and shifts on his hooves slightly.
"Solacia and I would like to have a talk with you," Riloxia says bluntly. "I need you to come with me. I'm afraid something has happened and you must be made aware of it." He turns and begins trotting down the hall followed by Golden. Golden glances back at the door, then ahead at the seemingly endless hallway. With every passing door, nervousness slowly creeps into Golden's heart.
Something is up, right? Something must be up otherwise he wouldn't look for me. Is it Solacia? I-is something wrong with her?
"Solacia is fine, Golden. I am aware that you worry about her whenever anything goes wrong." Riloxia says dryly, looking back at Golden with a gaze the alicorn could not read. "It gets a tad irritating, but that mushy emotion... stuff is apparently what you are here for." Golden bites his lip and ignores Riloxia's words. He keeps his eyes locked to the path ahead. The hallway progresses onward for what feels like ages. Eventually, Riloxia stops by an elevator door and pushes the only button on the metal panel next to the door. The stallion steps to the side and waits.
"You really don't want to tell me what this is for?" Golden asks, looking at him. His tail and ears flick a bit and he paws at the floor.
"This is for stuff that just transpired." Rolixia says. "Big things I'm sure your mind would be able to handle," He rolls his eyes and steps into the elevator.
"The fuck does that mean?" Golden asks. "I'm more than capable of handling this."
"We'll see," He states while pressing a few buttons on the interior panel. An LED screen embedded in the top corner of the elevator lights up, displaying a string of coordinates and a timer. The timer starts counting down as the elevator begins to move.
Golden sits down and closes his eyes. He attempts to reach out to the emotional centers of Riloxia's mind but finds that there is nothing of value within it. He scowls a bit. I just want to know what you're feeling. Let me in. With a gentle sigh, he opens his eyes and looks up at the display. As the seconds drag by, he paws at the floor once more, anxiety creeping into his body as it does every so often.
"Things will be fine, Golden," Riloxia says. "Trust me."
"You clearly don't trust me enough though." Golden says.
"I am going to need to trust you if I am going to tell you these sorts of things despite your erm... instability." Riloxia replies, glancing at Golden.
"So, tell me why you brought me here." Golden pokes at the wall next to him and looks at it.
"The timeline has shifted." Riloxia states. "In a more... negative way that I am still trying to understand."
"This doesn't involve me though, does it?"
"I wouldn't tell you if it didn't involve you somehow." Riloxia sighs heavily. "One of the alternate Equuses that we watched over," His horn sparks. "Version A-184?"
Golden racks his brain for the specific name. He then shakes his head. "I don't... understand." He says. "As far as I know, I've never heard of it in my life. How does this involve me?"
"I am sure you will find out soon enough. As will we all." Rilxoia huffs a bit. "Tell me, what do you remember of last week?
"W-well," Golden sighs. "I met my dear friend Arcanus. We had tea together in Filly and I distinctly recall having a good time." He smiles a little. "He told me of version A-152 and how some group known to bring harmony to the land defeated a king of shadows. It was a fun little story. Why do you ask?" Golden tilts his head.
"Oh, I just... wanted to know," Riloxia says, voice softening a bit. He sighs a little when a gentle ding is heard. The elevator doors open and brighter light floods the area from the rooms beyond the elevator doors. He leads Golden through a smaller hallway. Golden peeks into every room he passes by, lit or unlit. Every lit one is empty. As they near a door at the end of the hall, Golden fidgets a bit. Riloxia opens it and steps through.
Beyond the door is a large circular room. LED screens span across the entirety of the room's walls, each displaying a different civilized part of Equestria. Solacia breaks her gaze from a screen and looks over at Golden.
"Hi Goldie," She says softly and pats a cushion next to her. "Sit down with me."
Golden approaches and flies onto the couch, laying down and looking at her. "What do you want?" He asks softly. "Why did Riloxia bring me here to the observatory?"
Solacia's gaze softens and she sighs. Her horn sparks and a projector in the center of the room turns on. It projects a view of the planet after a moment. Golden looks at it. From what he could see, it's basically Equus in all its glory. Several landmasses dot the planet, the largest of which spans nearly from pole-to-pole. Even without a map of the world to guide him, Golden could spot out Griffonstone and a few cities along Equestria's western ocean.
Riloxia sits nearby. "Well, I can tell you that we didn't bring you here to talk about small stuff." His horn glows and the projection restarts, displaying the same planet. "Meet Equus number A-184. It is a much more militarized version of the happy little planet and kingdom we live on. To put things into perspective, you need to think of weapons that can kill from a distance and anypony can just... buy one and use it."
Golden shivers a bit and shakes his head. "That's... odd. Why are you telling me this?"
"To put it extremely lightly, the planet was erm... messed up. Messed up to the point where those higher up on the totem pole decided to fix it." Solacia says.
"Recall the little war Celestia had against the Twin Creators? Imagine that scale but much larger and spanning multiple kingdoms." Riloxia says. "Imagine bloodshed and death that never ends. The hate and suffering ponies feel both innocent and-" Solacia glares at Riloxia and he shuts up.
Golden starts to quiver. Solacia wraps her wings around him and holds him quite close. "Now now, Riloxia. Don't... scare the poor stallion." She says.
"What? He needs to learn that not everything is normal outside of the walls that surrounds this damned dimension." Solacia glares at Riloxia again but he doesn't seem to really care, continuing on much to Solacia's displeasure.
"Imagine a conflict that makes those times look pacifistic. The two main factions never saw eye-to-eye on anything whether it was something major like who deserves to live and die or minor shit like the best place to get hay burgers from. This was clearly a mistake. This is what we in the business of unfucking intangible things call an uncorrectable error." He waves a hoof in the air and every screen in the room turns off along with the lights. After a moment, the lights turn on and the screens are nearly touching one another. On each, a single string of white text appears before it fades to black:
Transmission #15 from A-184 [7/5/2078]
With a gentle head tilt, Golden looks at the screens, unsure as to what's going to happen next.
#
"Solacia," An image of a white coated unicorn appears on multiple screens in the front of the room. He's looking slightly up and directly into the center of the room. His horn has a gentle blue glow. Every screen in the room is pointed at a different part of his body, and there is no overlap between the contents of each screen.
Golden's eyes widen a bit and he breaks the hug to shift forward. A-Arcanus? He thinks. W-when did you get there? W-why are you there?
Arcanus smiles a bit, but the gaze he gives one of the many cameras causes Golden to go cold inside. All at once, the cameras swing out and Golden gasps, shifting forward and going pale.
The plains all around him are in flames. Thick black smoke fills the air, casting the area in near darkness. A few bodies are strewn around him, impaled by spears. He starts advancing through the plains, the flames licking at the cameras. He sidesteps some of the bodies and sighs heavily. A few loud roaring noises pass by his head and multiple pops are heard in quick succession.
"Solacia it... didn't have to come to this. When you sent me on this mission, I thought it would be a routine one." Arcanus states with a soft voice. He gently brushes some grass aside, revealing a few dandelions. "I said it time and time again, but this shit isn't normal. Yeah, you know. I know you know. Look, I have some things to say and I hope you brought Golden with you because he's... gonna need to hear this too."
Golden looks at Solacia, the curiosity in his gaze overtaking some of the horror. Solacia keeps watching the screen, ears pinned back. He too can't seem to read her gaze. Something inside him tells him not to look back at the screens, but he does so anyway.
"You know, these ponies were my friends." He stops by one of the bodies further into the plains. The fire has long since stripped away any defining features, leaving a burnt husk of bone and underfur. Golden's gaze lingers on the body. When he tries to look away, but finds that he can't, so he begins to take deep breaths. At that moment, he wished he had the constitution his unicorn friend seems to have.
"I had friends on both major sides. Nopony ever talked about the third side that operated unseen for years, I assume. Look, I don't know. I just came here a few days ago. Regardless of the time span, I have friends there too. They just wanted everypony to get along. They wanted to... set things right. They wanted to do the same thing I wanted to do, so we became close since my last message a few days ago." His gaze and voice soften slightly.
"It's just... it's a shame that our methods to achieve peace were so wildly different. I get it. I really do. When you've known nothing but bloodshed and war for years, you want a respite from it but you can't fucking leave. These folks do not have anyone to bring with them. They have nowhere to go. There's war to the north, what remains of the Crystal Empire isn't safe. Cities to the east and west have been turned into strongholds. The few pockets of civilization that remain are in remote areas where very few ponies dare to tread. Either you risk your flank making the trip to the deserts or the badlands, or you risk your flank just staying." He sighs and progresses further down the plains. Another pop is heard, and something ricochets off his shield.
"They call those implements of destruction 'guns'. They use it to kill each other from a distance sort of like what some of the unicorn royal guards are trained in. What's... different and much scarier is any pony can use them provided they have some way to trigger the mechanism that fires the... usually deadly bullet. I'm protected from it." A beam of blue magic rockets off from his horn in the direction of the shot. A scream is briefly heard and then there is silence. "I've been putting down as many of these suffering souls as I can, but all of this is... tangential to why I'm sending this message."
"But why-" Golden begins.
"Forces outside of my control have decided that this ends today." Arcanus says. "All of it." He stops moving and sits down, watching as the fires slowly chew through the grass. Yelling is heard in the distance, but Arcanus does not move. He also doesn't move when an explosion goes off nearby, throwing dirt and grass up into the air and rumbling the grounds. "Every soul in this kingdom will know peace."
The cameras swing back in to show Arcanus. His head is tilted up toward the sky with his eyes closed. "Solacia and Riloxia," He says. "I have rescued the wolf folk you requested me to rescue. The rescue was a bit rough because they initially didn't believe my stories but you both know that I pull through. That being said, I do hope you know what you're doing. The stories I heard of them spooked me. I do hope you both know that I trust you more than some random feral. Though, there is also a more pressing matter." He lets out a soft sigh, then looks right at a camera. "This is my final message. I appreciate what you three have done for me but I... I don't think I'm coming home from this one."
Golden's eyes widen a bit. "W-what?" He says quietly. "W-what Arcanus no, no you..." He shakes his head and shifts away.
"I know. Riloxia, you won't care." He smiles a bit. "Just another casualty, am I right? Solacia, I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear that I won't be able to escape this time. My teleporting has been disabled by things I do not understand. It's magic more powerful than my own. Hell, all of their magic is more powerful than my own so I'm surprised it took that faction this long to... find me." He fires another beam at somepony unseen in the smoke. Another scream is heard, causing Golden to wince.
I don't understand. Golden thinks. W-what's going on? What is he going on about? H-He has to be coming back.
The area around Arcanus' horn sparks a bit and he grunts and shakes his head. "Here comes the magical interference." He stands and resumes trotting, taking it slow this time and looking around.
"There isn't much left to see," He says. "There is only fire and death in these plains. I'm sure Celestia is holed up in her castle looking down at these fields. She isn't turning her gaze outwards to what remains of Ponyville and the Everfree. What remains is... well... something you all will shortly see. Legend has it that-"
His ear flicks and the air around his horn sparks more. He winces again. After a moment, he shakes his head. A pulse of blue magic slips by him. The camera feeds cut out a bit but then flick back on. One of the southwest cameras swing out away from Arcanus and toward smoke choking the air. With a gentle whisper from the unicorn, a light breeze starts driving the smoke away. Burning plains stretch on for miles. Toward the horizon is a faint orange glow. Arcanus watches as well-armed pegasi patrolling the clearing stop what they're doing and scatter.
"Golden," He says softly. "I hope you're here. Nay I... I know you're here. I feel your presence. I just pray to Luna and Celestia that you're okay." He looks right at one of the cameras. His gaze sweeps around the room and he looks at the center of it. "I-if you're not, then I don't know what to say. Look I..." He glances back a bit, a hint of fear crossing his gaze. Shooting out over the horizon is a towering wall of flame crossing over the landscape. The camera zooms in, showing a few pegasi getting swallowed up by it.
His voice gets a bit more panicked. He paws at the ground and looks back at the center of the room. Golden starts to shake as his gaze locks onto the flames swiftly cutting across the plains. W-what? He thinks.
Arcanus chuckles a bit, then whimpers as his ears flatten. "I-I'm a fool. I should have told you this m-months ago b-before I really got into this position. H-hell, I was q-quite surprised you couldn't sense it but I... I like you. Nay, I c-considered you f-far more than a friend when I d-departed last week. There's just something about you that I j-just can't help but love. I just..." He tears up a bit. "I just wish I-I was there. I-I'm so s-sorry. I-I" In a flash, the fire slips through the shield and the cameras cut to black.
Golden sits on the couch, staring at the screens in disbelief. He waits for the cameras to turn back on. He waits to see his friend's face pop up on the screen. As seconds turn into minutes, he starts to shake. "No." He says quietly. "No that can't be." He laughs lightly and shakes his head. "He has to be lying. He... he has to. He..." Golden hops off the couch and trots up to one of the screens. He sits down in front of it, staring closely at the screen. "It's gotta be fake. H-he can't be gone."
Solacia looks at Golden and shakes her head. She hops off the couch, trots to him, then sits down by his side. Solacia pulls him into a hug. Golden keeps staring at the screen, starting to shake a bit. He then starts to lean into the hug, biting his lip. "I'm so sorry Goldie. T-there was nothing I could have-"
Golden tenses up at her words, pulling his head away a bit and looking at her. "B-bullshit. I-I don't believe you. M-my friend is still out there. A-Arcanus is still alive."
"G-Golden please," Her voice breaks a bit and she looks away. "T-this hurts me too." She holds Golden tighter. Golden tries to break from her embrace. Solacia sighs a bit and releases him.
"N-no he... h-he's a-alive and w-well... h-he," He sniffles. He starts quivering. When Solacia reaches over, he collapses into her and bursts into tears, burying his face in her neck. Solacia holds him close and rubs at his mane. When she looks back, she finds that Riloxia is gone. Her ears flatten slightly. She holds Golden closer, continuing to stroke his mane.
F-fuck, I-I should have done something. I-I shouldn't have listened to R-Riloxia, so t-this was my fault. Solacia closes her eyes and looks down.
Golden nuzzles heavily at Solacia's neck and tightens the hug. "W-why did he h-have to d-do this, Sol? W-why did he have to l-leave t-this planet o-only to d-die?" He buries his face harder into Sol's neck. "I-it's not f-fair!"
Solacia nods shakily, fighting back tears. Her wings tighten around him and she shakily strokes down his back and sides. Golden occasionally nuzzles at Solacia's tear-stained neck, trying to find comfort in the softness of it. Slowly, over what feels like hours, Golden's sobbing quiets down to a faint whimper. Sleep slowly overtakes him, and he goes limp though it takes a while for Solacia to notice.
Solacia keeps watch over the sleeping alicorn. She continues to gently stroke his neck. Only then, does she feel tears sting her eyes. F-fuck, she thinks. N-not... not now. She tries to blink them away, then rubs at her cheeks with a forehoof.
"F-fuck I... I-I gotta p-put him to bed," Solacia says shakily, sniffling. She teleports both herself and Golden into one of the many beds in the compound. She takes a quick look around and sighs shakily.
N-no, h-he needs to be home. The space goddess whimpers softly, teleporting the both of them into Golden's realm.
#
In front of the two is a large lake. On one side, a squirrel perches on a tree branch overhanging the lake. On the other, a deer on the other side scatters into the thick brush. Solacia turns her head to the sound of rustling leaves and spots the deer tail disappearing into it. She glances toward the sky and gently places Golden down, cutting the flow of magic that has kept him held in the air for the past half hour as she was heading through the jungle.
Here will d-do. Endless blue sky, she thinks. I don't often see it anymore. She ruffles her wings and lays down. Sol drapes a wing over Golden. She looks down at him and sighs. She's calmer, but there's something in her gaze she gives Golden that betrays how she's really feeling.
"I'll always be here for you. I'm just... s-so so sorry for t-the shit you had to go through today." She says, regret slipping into her voice. "A-all of this was my f-fault and I p-pray that you'll... forgive me." Her horn sparks and she extends her mind out to one of her sisters.
H-hey Raikia, y-you awake? She asks, being careful to not display her sadness through her voice but letting her exhaustion slip through. I d-don't need you here, I just need you to... comfort Golden. Y-your touch is far kinder than mine.
From the connection, Solacia detects affirmation before she's forced to withdraw from her sister's mind. With a soft sigh, she stands and trots away, leaving Golden in the clearing to sleep. She heads into his mansion, progresses past the foyer, and hops up on his living room couch. She looks out the window and tries to relax.
I... promise that I will make up for this when you wake. She thinks. She rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling, kicking the air with a hind leg. Just as she loses herself in thought, the voice of a mare pops into her head.
Hey Sol, I know you didn't want me here but I'm coming anyway. I want you to tell me what's going on with him and I'll see what I can do, the voice says. Solacia rolls onto her side and slides herself off the couch. She trots to the front door and steps back out, looking around. She rubs her eyes a bit.
"Nnf, fuck," She says softly.
Raikia appears next to the front door in a pink flash, causing Raikia to jump. The pink alicorn looks at Sol and giggles a little. "Hi there, sis," She hugs her and nuzzles at her cheek, then lets go.
"Hey, Rai," Solacia says. "Would you like to see him?"
"No, I already have my plans for the guy. What happened? Everything seemed fine earlier today and suddenly I felt as if something went wrong. Brushed it off because I'm somewhat used to it but what was it? Also, you look really worn out," She pokes at her chest.
Solacia pulls her into an even tighter hug. "We lost someone," She says.
"We did?" Raikia's ears flatten slightly. "I didn't know."
"That's the point. Nopony but Rily and I w-were supposed to... s-see the transmissions. I guess he stepped over me and decided that Golden needed to know what was going on too. I don't get him sometimes." Solacia starts leading her into the mansion.
"You've lived with him for one and a half millennium, Solacia. I can guess that you can guess that you know why." She rubs Solacia's side once inside the mansion.
"I wish I could understand him. I can't see the most important bits of the timeline so any decision that he makes within that space," She pauses. "I guess is hidden from me."
"Well what if he didn't base his decision off of what he saw in the timeline?" Raikia asks. "I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. Who did we lose? I'd like to... inform their family." Her ears pin back a bit.
"We lost Arcanus." Solacia says somewhat shakily.
"Oh, he was close to you, wasn't he?" Raikia asks softly.
"Being directly involved with my line of work, yes. Willingly a puppet to the space and time gods. It's a story as old as Equestria itself, you know? The stories that never tell of what sorts of attachments those bring," She looks at the floor, then shakes her head.
"Why was it his time?"
Solacia shrugs and sits on the couch. "We have no god of death so that means I have no immediate way of knowing. All I know was that it happened in real time. It... it was a live feed."
"Did Riloxia know ahead of time?"
"As far as I know, no. Arcanus was set for extraction not long after he died. We might have been too late. It... hurts. Rily warned me it was going to be close and that interfering might move the timeline forward. Whether or not it would have been is another story. H-him bringing Golden along showed off more forethought than I would usually see from him which is... a-awfully strange."
Raikia hugs her gently. "Sis, you should not blame yourself."
"If Riloxia wasn't so... insistent on following his little rules, Arcanus would have been alive." Solacia shifts away and looks out the window. A hind leg twitches. Raikia looks at her with a softened gaze, then rests her head on Solacia's neck.
Solacia looks at the floor after a moment. "I am not in the best mood right now but thank you for coming either way. I might not want to blame him, but it's his job to make sound decisions. I don't think that willingly risking and discarding the life of my close partner and destabilizing my brother some more was a smart decision in the long term." Solacia relaxes a bit when Raikia gives her neck a rub.
"He might have fucked up, yes," Raikia says. "But even the best fuck up."
"Perfection isn't relevant, sis. It never was. Some mistakes carry more weight than others. You know this better than almost everyone else on this team."
Raikia winces. "Not this again, Sol."
"I'm sorry," She looks over at her. "I didn't mean to bring that sore spot up."
"You're frustrated. I don't need our little emotion sensing stallion to see it in your eyes," She nuzzles her neck. "I'd like you to take a break."
A b-break? Solacia thinks. She perks up a bit, then deflates and paws at the couch. "Rily won't-"
"Who cares what he thinks? You need it for your health right now. Golden does too. I'll make sure he gets the break he desperately needs and I want you to take one as well, okay?" She kisses her cheek.
Solacia sighs shakily. "B-but what would I do?"
"I hear that the Crystal Empire is a good place to visit if you're getting tired of the summer heat," Raikia smiles. "Besides you don't need to take a boat or spend precious energy teleporting across the ocean. Nothing is more relaxing than a train trip to a place outside your jurisdiction."
Solacia tilts her head slightly, giving her words some thought. "M-maybe I'll do that. Might take my mind off... G-Golden."
"I'll buy a train ticket for you. Would a few days work?"
"I don't know."
"Then a few days." She pats Solacia's head. "Worrying about those close to you will be my job, okay?"
"I don't want anypony else to take the role, so you'll have to do it. Are you okay with it?"
"I'm okay with it, silly. Gods help each other out." Raikia giggles and pokes her.
"W-when should I go?"
"Any time. Again, I'll handle stuff on my end." Raikia tilts her head as Sol shifts back. "Am I being too forceful? Just... take time to decide, okay?"
Solacia sighs shakily and nods. "I-it is feeling a little forced, but I can h-handle it."
"Good," She smiles. "I'm off to check on Goldie." She teleports away, leaving Sol alone to watch over the mansion once more. After a while, she too teleports away.