EoU Ch. 6 - The Promises we Take

>"Alright Eris, go ahead."
"YES!"
>She hopped up to your level like a spring and cracked her knuckles.
"This one's gonna be great, even better than last time."
>"Don't go overboard, remember, control.  Keep it localized.  We don't want it spreading halfway across the galactic plane."
>You were going to blow up a star today.  Or rather, Astra and Eris were.  Up until now you've only been setting them off early by messing with their cores and speeding up the nova process.
>The girls have set off stars before, but almost always by accident and without any specific direction.  But galaxies were starting to form on a larger scale, and the one that you were based out of has finally become stable enough to support a viable solar system.
>You were going to give the place a head-start on making a habitable world.  You wanted your children to see the entire process step by step, and that began with blowing up a star.  And it was enormous.  It had to be.  Eris floated in space before you, her thin snakelike body outlined against the green swirls of a nebula and the star she had to test herself with.
>Astra straightens up and spouts a tiny huff.
"I don't know if she -has- control.  She's probably going to just turn it into a bunch of whirly-gig sparkles like last time."
>Eris deflates.  Her scaly little tail loosened and curled up underneath her.
"You didn't like those?"
>"Settle down.  Eris, you do have to take this seriously.  You can have some leeway with this one, but remember -long term.  Think about how what you do here will look like tomorrow, or in a hundred years.  A million.  A billion."
"But I don't like knowing what it's gonna look like."
>She crossed her claws and pouted.
"It's less fun that way."
>"Hey, hey  -you don't need to know the specifics.  We want this to go a little wild.  Just keep it contained.
>You whisper into the little draconequus's ear "Besides, you have to leave something for her to play with."
>She giggled.
>Astra hopped at your legs.
" What are you saying?  What are you talking about?"
"A secret, but you're not cool enough to know about it."
>Eris stuck a forked tongue out as the ultimate confirmation.   You bop her nose and send her spinning end over end.  Astra looks like her heart was about to fall into a milllion pieces.  You scoop her up before she gets the chance to cross her hooves and turn haughty.  Eris cracks her knuckles and winks.
"Okay Dad, no sweat.  I got this."
>She takes a deep breath.  Her serpentine back goes into a high arch.  Her jaws filled with tiny sharp teeth smacked in excitement and concentration.  She wanted to make this special.
"Contained...but loose, make it neat.  Super neat and super neat-o."
>She wiggled her spine.  White light sparked from her fur and scales as she charged herself up.  Her eyes lit up in her evident excitement as she charged her energies and focused the over-abundant ambient magic that sorrounded her.  She flexed her shoulders, pulling lightning down her arm and flexed her eagle-clawed wrist.
>She would not stop giggling as the energy fed down into her arm.
>It was white hot and buzzing.  She heled it far out and snapped her finger.  The sound echoed across all wavelengths and spectrums, piercing through the clay of space and fudging with unseen numbers.
>Eris held her breath.
>The star wobbled as though someone dropped the largest pebble onto its surface.  The light diffused and flared.  The glare of its atmosphere sizzled as her power ate around it, pushing the star into itself.
>It turned a brilliant blue before its gigatons upon gigatons of energy were pushed to their absolute threshholds and tore itself apart.
>Nuclear fire raged across the edges of space, spreading in all directions, far enough to ensure that everything would not collapse upon itself again, but close enough to know that a new stellar neighborhood could be forged with its remnants.  Eris raised her arms into the air.
"AW YES!  Did you see that?  That star was all "hey look at me, I'm all round and boring" and I was all "Not anymore you're not" and it was all "What are you talking about I'm jus-KABOOOM!"
>She laughed and twirled in the air before popping up in front of your face.
"Did I do good, Dad?  Huh?"
>You rubbed the puff of white hair on her head and smiled.
>"Nicely done, Eris."
>Little twists of light zipped away like rigotoni from the star's gargantuan death-throes.
"Really?"
"I couldn't help myself."
>The burning field of cosmic flames were lit up further by flashes of after-reaction.   The ranges of color made it look like a rainbow cloud floating in space.  Even now superheated bits of iron, uranium, and silicon were being blasted into existance.
>You lifted Astra into the air and let her flutter away from your arms.
"Alright, little princess, it's your turn.  Bring it together."
>Astra's job was different.  Eris was good at making things go boom.  Her personal flair and love for the unexpected ensured that as many compounds and elements as possible would be made from the supernova.
>Exactly the kind of variety needed to build a system that could one day support life.
>Astra would reshape the wild and unpredictable components and lead them down a path that would lead to stability.
>The alicorn floated space on undersized wings.  She straightened up her mane and clapped her hooves.
"I'm going to make this look really pretty."
"Just don't mess up the good job I did, or else I'll have to go and blow up another one."
"Like you would complain."
>Eris draped herself over your shoulders and started to wipe away the residual energy from her claws.
"It's tiring stuff, you know.  Being an artist and everything."
>Astra flicked her blue and gold tail in annoyance.  It was very clear to you that they were trying to out do each other in order to impress you.
"Well.  I'm sure I can make something nice from the mess you made."
>"Astra."  She focused herself immediately.  You can tell from the brief darting in her eyes that she was embarrassed at having to be put back on task.
"Yes, Father," she said curtly.
>Your daughter adjusted her wings as she positioned herself, finding the best place to catch the loose energy around her.  Her horn lit up in blue light as it fed.
>Her eyes likewise radiated with her otherworldly focus as she applied her will to the universe around her.
>The thundering cloud of raw materiel and stellar aether shifted as lightyears worth of matter was repositioned and reformed into more complex constructs.
>She pulled together the loose things and set them on rails that would lead to a stable a long way down the road.  The clouds warped and groaned as they moved into impossible shapes.
>She began to sweat.
>"Astra."
>Thunder crashed where it shouldn't and chain reactions were being led along by metaphysical hands at speeds far beyond what they were used to like a run-away train. Her wings began to beat unevenly and her head began to tremble.
>"Astra, that's enough."
>Explosions rocked the interior of the multi-colored mass as she forced uneven pressure throughout the field that nearly caused time-dillations.  Large, spherical shadows formed within and fell away almost instantly..  Strands of light began to weave away from her eyes and you could see her lips quiver.
>"Astra!"
>You pulled her towards you.  She inhaled heavily as her eyes broke free from their glow.  She shivered in your arms and buried herself into your chest.
"I'm sorry!  I'm sorry! I was trying to- I just wanted to-"
>You held her close.  "It's okay, little princess.  You just got a little excited."  She whimpered in your arms.
"I thought I could hold it, but it kept going so fast."
>Eris snaked down your elbow and embraced her sister, holding her still and not saying anything.  Her eyes started to water as well.
"There was just so much...so much *stuff* in there, I couldn't keep track of it all!  I could have done better.  I SHOULD have done better."
>"No, this is my fault."  You cursed yourself on the inside.  "We should have gone slower.  Have done more practice runs.  I'm sorry, you two."
"I didn't mean for it to go wrong."
>You held them up.
>"You were doing  great.  Both of you.  I'm very proud."  You did your best to hide how terrified you were.  "We just need to work out a few more things."
>Once again you were reminded of how dangerous they could be.  Eris and Astra were already far older than nearly any other thing you've known to live, but they were still young.  They still didn't know the limits of their powers.  You didn't even know if they had any upper limits to begin with.
>Astra was the daughter of an extra-dimensional immortal and a cosmic goddess who had enough energy to kick-start reality.  Eris was...well, you still weren't entirely certain as to what she was.
>Thankfully, *accidents* have become far less common as magic began to form its own streams and currents, becoming less prone to overtaking the girls in sudden discharges.  But it was still there, able to be plucked by the two of them at will.
>Even floating in space sometimes your mind would mistake them for ordinary children that would alternately bicker and laugh together.
>But there couldn't be any room for mistakes here.  It's only you here, Anon.  No one is going to come along and help if you bung this up.
>Eris stroked Asta's mane, comforting her.
"I'm sorry Eris, I messed it up.  I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"No, it's alright Astra.  I mean it didn't look that cool anyway..."
"It did.  It was really pretty, I liked it!  It was, I mean it. And then I -I-I-I"
>The formerly brilliant nova field turned gray.  Burst of light would web along its edges as chain reactions failed and Astra's set pathways crashed into each other.
"We can always make another."
>Astra closed her eyes and nodded quietly, sniffling.
>She was going to be fine, thank god.  She just seemed more scared than anything else.
>"I think we've done enough for today.  We'll rest now.  Later we're going to talk about exactly what went wrong and how we can fix it."
>Astra wiped the tears away and looked up at you.
"You're going to let me try again?"
>You kissed her forehead.
>"Of course I am.  Mistakes happen.  But the important thing is that we learn from them.  We have to figure out why they happened in the first place, so that we can make sure they'll never happen again."
>"That goes for both of you.  You're very special girls, incredibly special, and I love you both.  But you have to be careful.  The moment, the very instant you think something is going to go wrong, you stop what you are doing and let me know."
>They nodded solemnly.  You had to get serious.
>"I'm not angry, but I need you to understand how important this is.  One day there are going to be 'others' besides you and me.  They won't be as...able.  That doesn't mean they're going to not be important.  They're going to be the most important things in the universe, and we'll have to take care, of both them and ourselves.  There will be no room for accidents around them."  Eris look at you, puzzled.
"Like, they're...squishier than we are?"
Astra mouthed silently as she tought.
"Do you mean the others that I dream about?"
>"Yes, exactly."
>They frowned and cast their gazes downward in almost-understanding.
>You rummaged for a way to make them comprehend easier.  "One day, you're going to understand.  A lot of things are going to change between now-and-then.  But just know that right now, in the time that it's just us, you have to learn how to be careful.  Control is key.  Get what I'm saying?"
"Yeah Dad."
"Yes, Father."
>"Good.  Now get some rest.  We're going to have a lot to go over later."
>They snuggled around you as they prepared to slumber.  Huge outbursts of their abilities drained them significantly.  It would be a few millenia napping for them.
>Plenty of time to think.
>You stared at the dead nova field.  It was useless for your purposes.  You were angry at yourself.  Furious.  The girls were not at fault just because you were stupid and blind enough to try to rush them along with your plans that you weren't even too sure would work.
>They needed to learn.  YOU needed to learn.  You were lucky this happened now, instead of further down the line.  You didn't want to have a whole planet full of innocent people  blown to bits because the girls tried to make a rainbow or wanted to see snowfall early.
>God.  The thought of what you were trying to do overwhelmed you once again.
>You craned your head, looking for a certain star.  You saw her.  Ridiculously far off, but twinkling all the same.
>You wish she was here.  If only you could talk with her for a moment.  Just so she could tell you if you were doing the right thing or not.
>But she had done enough already.  More than anyone could ever expect or ask for.
>It was all on you now.
>Astra yawned quietly.
"Goodnight Eris.  Goodnight Father."
"'Night Astra.  'Night, Dad."
>"Goodnight Astra, Eris.  I'll be here when you both wake up."  You always were.  Always will be.
>They smiled with closed eyes.
"Love you."
"Love you more."
"Nuh-uh"
"Yah-huh"
>"I love you both infinity times ten, now go to sleep."
>They did eventually and with minimal fuss.
>They snored in your arms, which will be incredibly sore and stiff by the time they wake up, but oh well.
>The sight of them sleeping almost made you think of them as perfectly normal children, even as you floated amongst the ethereal glow and void of space.
>And maybe in the small, quiet moments like these, they almost were.
>You couldn't let yourself think that way for too long, however.
>You looked at the nova cloud again, now useless to your purposes. Granted, saturated with the wills of Eris and Astra, it could still go on to form something useful and magnificient in its own way.
>But there were some things you simply weren't willing to leave to chance.
>Things would be better next time.
>They had to be.
---------------
>Time has passed.  Time does nothing but pass.
>You are standing on a black, rocky outcrop next to a tumultous sea, rife with organic molecules on the verge of condensing into something with a will of its own.
>The atmosphere is stifling.  Thick with gases and volcanic excrements.
>You breathe deep.  Your lungs object and you choke as the unfriendly, heavy atmosphere enters your system.
>But it's still the first true breath you take in...god, you don't even know.
>The air is heavy with the taste of iron.
>It's storming.  You close your eyes and lean your head back.
>You open your mouth and taste the rain.
>The fat droplets of water patter into your mouth.  It's hot, almost boiling. A little gritty as well.  Your tongues stings, but it actually doesn't taste all that bad.
>Or maybe your pallate is just warped from eons of disuse.
>You let the primordial water sit in your mouth for a moment before swallowing.  Time to find out if your digestive system still works.
>The sky is gray and cloudy.  The sun still manages to filter through dimly as nothing but a vague disc in the sky.
>Your ears are filled with the sound of rainfall, crashing waves, and thunder.  Somewhere off in the distance you could see a massive outburst of steam signifying a place where magma was feeding into the surface and running off into the ocean.
>You bend down on your knees and pick through black, spongy rocks, twisting them carefully in your hands and crushing them down into dust before examining their composite pieces.
>You were optimistic.  Cautious, but optimistic.  There was still much work to do, but everything was on the right track.
>You dust your hands as you stand up.  You were alone on this newborn planet.  Astra and Eris were settled on the world's moon, tucked away in a cave you carefully carved out for them.  They whined, wanting to go down and see the new world they played a large part in making.
>They've made great strides as far as their abilities went.  They were finally at a point where you could leave them alone for a few hours without fear of them ripping apart whatever galactic sector they were nestled in.
>Astra learned the necessity of the gentle touch.  Eris kept the applications of her powers in tight, controlled bursts.  You had them do drills and exercises on countless objects adrift in space.  They complained and whined, but they eventually saw the sense in it and were soon ready to try another round of star-bursting.
>It took you a little while to find a prime location for the future planet you planned to call home.  You were thorough in your search, but you eventually find one that satisfied your exacting standards.  You gathered the girls, and you reviewed and drilled and practiced even more.
>And then you set them loose.
>Space lit up with the blossoming light of a dying star.
>It was perfect.  You couldn't have asked any better from them.  The progression was natural and easy.  They set it off and pushed it back together, and you dove into the nova mass, nudging everything a long little by little, maintaining optimum conditions for the formation of a new solar system.
>You made sure the newly formed primary star was the correct size, and would have a better-than-average life expectancy.
>You guided rocks and dust, letting them gather and condense on orbits sufficient distance away from the star.
>But most importantly you stepped back from time to time, and let nature run its course.
>And then planets were made. Hot ones, cold ones, gas giants and moons. Nine in total.
>A good number. True, you were a little biased, but you were working off memory here.
> But there was one you were particularly interested in, so you flew down to investigate.
>You wanted to survey the planet by yourself first.  You fully intended to bring the girls onto the surface and show them the world and teach them its stages, but you wanted to get a feel for the place first.  Gauge your hopes and aspirations for this world.
>You wanted to tell them what to expect.  Didn't need them to get spooked.
>You stared into the water.  It was black, thick, and frothy.  You expected a massive tentacle to break the surface and try to swing itself onto the land at any moment, but that was a silly thought.
>After several hours of intense investigation you were skimming over the the still-forming atmosphere.  Lightning arced along coastal edges.   Sunlight played hell with the colors of the planet's edge as it filtered through to the lower layers.
>You brought the girls down.
>Astra sat on the ground.  Eris skittered around happily on the solid rock surface.
>"Beautiful, isn't it?"
>Astra stared at you in horror.  She was absolutely drenched in rain.  Her mane was plastered over her face.  Eris twisted overhead.
"I like it.  The sky keeps moving."
"We're supposed to live on this?
>"Not yet.  It's going to settle down, in time.  Don't get too excited, but I think this place will look better and better every day."
"If you say so..."
>Astra looked the violent and thrashing planet over with uncertainty.  She pointed towards it.
"Can I just-"
>"Nope.  We have to leave it alone for a little while."
"Can we leave? I'm all...all..."
>She looked at you with big desperate and golden eyes.
"Father, what am I?"
>"You are wet."
"I'm all wet."
>She shakes her mane in an attempt to rid herself of water, but to no avail.
"I don't like it."
>"Don't worry.  This is a very special kind of rain.  It SHOULD be a one-time event for this planet."
"I hope so."
"Aw man."
>"Eris, you're going to see a lot more exciting things than this rain.  Trust me." Astra scoffed.
"I'm supposed to be excited about that?"
"Oh calm down Ms. I Don't Like Anything Ever.  This is cool!"
>"I wanted the two of you to see this.  This planet is still very, very young.  It's a rough stage.  You'll enjoy it later, I promise.  But use this time to take in something new."
>She dipped her hoof in a puddle testily and pulled it away in a flash.  She poked the puddle again, a little harder.
>And then she slammed it down again, making it splash.  She giggled.
>She forced her hoof down once more.  The ground below cracked and you nearly slipped from the resulting tremors.  She zipped up into the air on tiny wings.
"That wasn't me."
>Eris broke into giggle fits.
>Astra gathered a ball of rain and threw it at her, making the draconequus even wetter, if such a thing was possible.
>Soon a water war was being waged above you.
>"Alright, I think that's enough for one day.  We'll pick this up later."
"But we were just starting to have fun!"
>"The two of you are not allowed to have more fun than me.  Those are the rules, sorry."
>They snickered.
>"Now let's go.  If you're wet for too long then all of your fur falls off and you shrivel up into a wrinkly ball."
>Astra shrieked and covered her hed with her hooves.
"Ew."
>"Very much so, alright, up and up, back to the moon." You didn't want the first excursion to last too long.  The air in conjunction with the higher gravity of the planet was liable to upset them if left to overexposure.  Small steps.
>You never saw Astra fly so fast.  Eris teased her the whole way up.
>Back on moon outpost one Astra immediately trotted into her room to groom herself with a mirror she made.
>She actually had a lot of mirrors.  Granted, there was little else that she actually owned besides some trinkets and sculptures that you made for the girls to play with.
>You based them off basic animal and plant shapes in order to better acclimate their minds to strange forms.  It would make them more readily accepting when they had to deal with the real thing.
>Eris was sitting in the central room playing with a few right now.
>You were running numbers in your head while sitting back on an asteroid that you shaped into a chair.  It looked a little rough, and was a pain to lasso in, but it was surprisingly comfortable.
>Eris balanced an eagle made of black stone on her claw.  She put it down and looked over her small army of animals, planets, and people.
"Dad?"
>"Yes?"
"How do you know about...everything?"
>"What do you mean?"
"Well, every time Astra or I have a question, you know the answer.  Sometimes I don't even ask one, or didn't even know I was gonna ask something, and there you are telling me what I wanted to know.  And you have something different to talk about every day!"
>She blinked.
"You talk a lot, Dad."
>She was going to get existential again.  You couldn't help but laugh.   You put your arms on your knees and thought for a moment.
>"Yes, I do. But there was one point in time where I hardly said anything."
"No way."
>"Way.  But that part is boring, you don't want to hear about it."
>"To answer your question, the reason why it seems I know so much is because I've been around for a long time."  She raised onto her hind legs.
"That's it?"
>"That sounds boring, I know, but it's really just that simple.  It took me forever to start paying attention to things, even longer to remember it and start putting it to use."
>"But I don't think it's right to say I know -everything- I'm still taken by surprise quite often."
"By what?"
>She slipped onto your lap.  You scatched behind her ear.  "You.  Astra.  Every day by how much you're learning and growing.  How hard you work, and how glad I am that you're both here."
>She wrapped around you in a hug.
"I'm glad you're here too."
>"I'm even more surprised how the two of you have not driven me absolutely bonkers by now."  She grinned fiendishly.
"Do you want Astra and me to try harder?"
>"You're trying hard enough, thank you."
"Alright, I guess."
>She floated away from you.
"I'm gonna go clean myself off now.  I don't want to smell like wet all day."
>You wave her away.  You stand from your bizarre chair and look through the glass ceiling you've made for the edge of the cave.
>The planet was in constant view, loud, spinning, and ever-changing.
>The next phase of your plan.  So far everything was going well.  You had little enough to complain about.
>You hear Astra yelling from her room.
"THAT'S MY MIRROR!  MAKE YOUR OWN!"
"You have million of them, I'll give it back!"
"You're just going to make it all warped so I look fat whenever I look in it!"
"You're already fat!"
>She laughed, but was soon cut off as Astra initiated a round of tussling.
>Oi.
----------------
>The atmosphere calmed down.  The skies cleared, turning from black and gray to a vibrant blue.  On the surface the sun was yellow, and occasionally hidden behind large, puffy clouds.
>You decided to settle in a valley, ringed by forests and snowy mountains to the north and west.
>Fields and plains stretched far and wide to the east, while a robustly sized river flowed south.
>You built a house in a clearing.  Nothing too elaborate.  Wood and stone, with some more intricate metalwork where needed.  Everything topside was made traditionally by hand.  The foundation, the roof, the walls, chimney.  You may have fudged a little bit on the tools, but no one was around to say you were cheating.
>It was exactly the same as your long pioneer period.  Going to far off worlds and gaining a foothold for others.  That was always fun.  Landing on some backwater planet and carving a place out for yourself.  You kept a workshop deep underground.  The girls weren't allowed in there.  You had some delicate equipment, documents, and notes that you didn't want them nosing through.
>Not that you actually needed to write anything down, but old habits died hard, and you felt comfortable knowing you had hard copies of everything.
>The air was sweet.  The three of you have been living here for a while, but you still couldn't get over the rush of god-honestly breathing and filling your lungs with clean oxygen.
>And then there was eating. That was fantastic.  You remember the first meal you prepared for the girls.  Nothing heavy.  A salad and bread.
>Up until now they haven't eaten.  They largely subsisted on background radiation and magic.  It kept them even and they never mentioned it, even in passing.   But you knew it was not enough to fuel the growing needs of children.
>You could have passed out from laughing as they worked their way through the intricacies of chewing food. The table was an overblown mess afterwards.  Astra was most pleased because she managed to keep everything in her mouth.
>Eris had a tomato speared on her horn.
>They spent their days chasing each other through the clouds or running through the forests.  They took to life planetside like fish to water and birds to the air.
>The rising and setting of the sun awakened your long-forgotten circadian clock.  Your biological state worked its way back into old habits.  You found yourself getting tired at night, and hungry two to three times a day.
>In fact you started to think in days again.  Some were short, others positively dragged.
>You and the girls slept for hours instead of centuries or millenia.  Mostly, at least.  Sometimes you three would doze off and long swathes of time would pass.  It was a very transitional period.
>But they were having fun with this.  Every day you had something new to show them.  You taught them about the trees, plants, flowers, grasses, the ever-evolving scaly or furry things that ran across the fields, and how it all fit together.
>They began to grow along with the rest of the planet.  Astra started to move beyond her filly stage.  Her wings started to fill out a little, and her hair began to catch a little more on wind that wasn't there.  Eris lengthened out, her horns grew a bit longer, a little sharper.  They both still had a long way to go.
>And for a good while it was just the three of you.
>Until one day -they- arrived.
>You should've been expecting it.  All signs were pointing to an inevitable zenith, but it took you unawares nevertheless.
>You were sleeping, for how long, you can't say.  But definitely longer than you were intending.
>You were woken up by Astra hopping onto your bed and bouncing all over your mattress.
"THEY'RE HERE!  THEY'RE HERE!"
>She ran along your walls. Her wings fluttering all the while.
>You crashed head first into consciousness. "What, who?  No solicitors, I don't have any money."
"What are you talking about, Dad"
>Eris came in through a window.  What were you talking about?  "Nothing.  Nevermind. You said they're here? You do mean they-they, right?"
"YES!"
"I saw them coming down in between the mountains."
>"Did you get a count?"
"Uh.  Thirty, I think.  Lemme check."
>Eris winked out of sight.  She winked back in.
"Thirty two."
"THIRTY TWO, Father!"
>"I heard her, I heard her.  Alright we're going to stay put.  Open the doors and windows.  If they come this way, that's fine, but we're not going to do anything to draw attention."
>You pointed at both of them.
>"Promise me."
"Yes, Dad."
"Awww, fine."
>You went out to stand on your front porch.  Astra perched herself on the roof.  Her wings were spread out in excitement.
>Eris paced nervously behind you.  You patted her head reassuringly.  She was nervous.  Eris had dreams of her own.  She never told you much about them.  Less to do with the oncoming lifeforms that had Astra bouncing off the walls.  But you heard her talk in her sleep.
>The line of them walked down the valley.  They had rough, but sturdy wraps and satchels bounded to their backs.  Things for tents and materials for fire.
>They looked mostly like earth p0nies, but you saw a unicorn in two amongst their ranks.  Some were old, others were young.  Newborns were bundled up and being carried by their mothers.
>Someone saw you.  They looked the house over.  Not quite with fear, but were clearly unable to work the sight out for themselves.
>Several of the younger ones stepped closer, but were corralled in by their elders.  What you supposed to be the leader began to confer with the others.
"What are they doing?"
>"They're nervous.  They've never seen something like this before.  They're probably more scared of me than anything else."
"Why would they be scared of you?"
>"Because I'm tall and funny looking.  It's very unlikely they've ever seen anything like me before."  You briefly recall the first day you showed up in Equestria all those lifetimes ago.  There was a long period of explanation.  This would be no different."
>The group seemed to have come to a decision.  The leader, an old graying earth p0ny, along with several others approached you.
>You took a step off from your porch.
>"Alright girls, time to introduce ourselves."
>You held your arms open in friendship.
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>The first meeting went as smoothly as you hoped.  Their group was a travelling one, as all civilizations are in the beginning.  They grew accustomed to the sight of new creatures and wonders they encountered during their travels.  They're language was rough, but flexible.  With a little bit of linguistic intuition, and magical assistance, you were soon able to clearly understand each other.
>They found Astra to be a strange thing, at first.   Pegasi existed, as did unicorns, but they never saw an alicorn.
>You were ecstatic, but hid it well.  Here they were.  After so long.  They were back, living, breathing and perfectly healthy.  You wanted to pick them up and squeeze them, but that would make for bad first impressions.
>Eris, they were more unsure about.  Her skittishness and more predatory appearance made introductions awkward, but Astra's enthusiasm and bubbling excitement helped grease the wheels of acceptance.
>You, however.
>They had no idea what to think of you.
>They asked questions about you.  Where were you from?
>You pointed to the sky.  They laughed.  You obviously didn't have wings, how could you fly?  You let the matter slide.
>They pointed to your home, they asked who built it.
>You told them you built it yourself.  They were impressed.  Never before have they seen a dwelling so...constructed.  They asked how you made it.  You explained carefully your methods, showed them your tools and compared them to their own, which were very similar, if a little more roughshod.
>They quickly dubbed you the Builder.
>You rather liked the title.
>They stuck around for a while, gathering food from the bountiful area and told you stories of their travels and ways of life.  Astra and Eris were enraptured.  They listened to the elders' stories, and played with the other children, and danced with them at night as they played primitive instruments.
>It was a very exciting time for them.
>Astra made friends.  She seemed especially attached to a yellow earth p0ny with whose side was marked with paw prints.
>You spoke with their leader, whose name you learned was Way Maker.  You knew the landscape well, more well than they could possibly imagine. You told them safe routes, and optimal locations for camping and foraging.  Where rivers met and how they flooded in the spring and dried up in the summer.
>He was thankful for your knowledge and help, saying that you were strange sight, even taking his long life into account, but you would always be friend to his people.
>And one day they left.  Astra was upset that they had to go, and asked why they couldn't stay with the three of you.
>You told her they had their own way of life, and must be allowed to develop on their own.  If they returned and decided to stay in one place, then you would help them, but it was to remain their own decision.
>She didn't understand completely, but eventually just nodded her head sadly and took off to fly in the sky.  Eris grew fidgety with the comparative lack of excitement.  She wandered through the woods more often by herself, setting off small chains of magic, making trees grow faster, or into strange shapes.  She shrunk down her favorites and kept them lined up on the wall in her room.
"Do you think they'll come back, Dad?"
>"I'm pretty sure.  This valley has more food than anywhere else around here.  The directions I gave them would let them loop through here every year or so, if that's what they want."
>Astra was excited at the news.
>And sure enough, two years later, a familiar line came marching through the mountains.  It was a little longer.  Its members looked fuller and more well-fed.  The design of their tools were a touch more sophisticated.
>Way Maker led the line to your home and greeted you like an old friend.
>Astra immediately zoomed in towards her friend.  She was puzzled because he grew a little taller, while she stayed exactly the same.  But her confusion soon washed away as they began laughing and chasing each other as though nothing had changed.
>You immediately saw where that was going to head.  You considered having a talk with her, but chose to remain silent.
>She would learn on her own in due time.
>The process repeated itself.  They would stay for a few weeks and then move on, but always returned.
>The line grew longer.  The faces changed.  Their equipment expanded and developed, little by little.
>Way Maker died after eight more rounds.  They say he went peacefully in his sleep.  He was incredibly revered and respected, and stories of his courage and powerful will would be told to children for ages and ages.
>You didn't know if he would eventually form the kernel of some grand-spanning pony myth or legend, but you were glad that he would be remembered.
>You considered him a friend, and no matter what time did to his name, you would always remember him.
>You consulted with new leaders, strong able p0nies whose character you judged excellent. They were in good hands.
>They left and returned, left and returned.
>Astra's friend grew bigger and bigger with each trip.  He was less willing to gallivant around with her, but was still all to eager to converse.
>His name was Ground Finder.  He was smart one.  In time he too earned his position as a leader amongst the p0ny caravan, and they flourished under his direction.
>One year he had another mare by his side.  A while later he had children who scrambled in between his legs.  Astra quickly made friends with them as well, and then they too grew up and had children of their own.
>While she hardly changed at all.
>The concern on her face became more evident with the passing years, as his mane turned gray, and his steps unsure, he wasn't able to raise his head quite so high, or see as sharp as he used to.
>But he still smiled when he heard her sweet voice.
>You remember sitting out in the field with Eris.
>She was pulling at flowers on the grass, spinning them around in her hand and flicking them into the air, turning them into snow, or burning them in quick flashes of fire to blow away on the wind.  She knew better than to do that indoors.
"I'm bored."
>"You're always bored."
"But I'm bored-bored.  Double bored."
>She looked at the mighty mountain off in the north and shook her wings.
"That mountain is like, always there.  Sitting around, not doing anything."
>"It's a mountain, nothing is what they do."
"It's dull.  What if I blow it up, or flip it upside down, that'd look cool, right?"
>Your slowly looked at her out of the corner of your vision.
>She twirled a blade of grass in between her lion paw.
>The thumb and index finger of her eagle claw rubbed together absentmindedly.  You could hear the low buzzing of magic building up.
"Yeah...maybe turn it purple while I'm at it.  That'd be pretty..."
>"Eris." She was broken out of her mediation.
"Huh?  Wha?"
>"You know the rules."  She pouted
"Turning asteroids inside out is only fun for so long.  I want something new to play with.  You hardly let me touch this place."
>"I don't let Astra have her way all the time either."  She snorts.
"She'd put all the trees in a straight line and never let the leaves fall."
>"Maybe."  Astra did like her things to be nice and tidy.  "But I don't let her."  Eris rolled onto her back.
"I guess."
>The wind blew a small gathering of dandelion seeds over the field.  She snapped her fingers and turned them all into fireworks that buzzed around like butterflies before dissipating.
"FATHER, ERIS, THEY'RE BACK!"
>Astra soared over the field and circled around the pair of you.
>You stood up from the grass and Eris uncoiled herself.
"Well, at least those guys are cool."
"Come on, let's go!  Straighten out your hair, Eris, we have to look presentable for them!"
>Eris gathered a wad of grass and dirt from the ground and ruffled it all throughout her hair.  She gave Astra a toothy grin.
>The alicorn rolled her eyes.
"Honestly.  You have to make everything difficult."
"I have to make your life interesting somehow."
>The line marched.  The leader approached you, but it was not Ground Finder.  It was a unicorn instead.
>Astra flittered around him and did several fly-bys of the line before landing in front of the new leader.  She looked stressed.
"Where is Ground Finder?"
>The unicorn shook his head sadly.  He told her he was gone.
>She asked why.  It was because he lived to a great age.  He died.
>She asked if he was coming back.
>You told her he can't come back.
>She didn't understand.
>You asked the leader for his forgiveness and took her back to the house and explained something to her that was a long time coming.
"I don't understand, Father, why is he gone?  Where did he go?  If he left somewhere, then we can go find him."
>"I can't find him."
"Of course you can.  Where is he?"
>"I don't know.  When someone dies...they go somewhere, I don't know where, but they don't come back.  Ever."
"But...you know everything!  You have to know.  You can bring him back, he was my friend, why can't you?"
>"Astra, that is the one thing I absolutely cannot do, no matter how much I may want to.  Once someone has died, that is the end."  You rub the back of your head.  "There have been others before me, that knew more than I do who have tried, but they failed."
>She's sitting in your lap. Her eyes are a storm of anger and sadness.
>"The best we can do is remember them.  We have to be glad that they were here, and we were able to be their friends."
>She was quiet.
"But...I don't want to just remember.  I want them to stay here with me, and you, and Eris."
>"That just isn't the way things are."  She rubbed her hooves together.  Eris peeked in through the door and slipped onto the bed.
"Does everyone have to die?"
>"Just about everyone.  Except for the two of you and myself."
>They both  grew still.
"So...I'll never see Ground Finder again?  I'll never know where he went to?"
>"No.  You won't.  But he's in a good place."
>"For a while you're going to be sad, and you're going to be angry.  You're going to want to yell and hit things, and that's okay.  But just know that you're going to be alright in the end."
>She buckled in your lap.
"I DONT WANT TO BE FINE!"
>Eris reared up in surprise.
"It's not, it's not fair!"
>You kept your voice even.  "No.  It's not.  It's the most unfair thing in the world, but that's how it is."
"Is he in the same place as Mom?"
>"It's possible."
"WHY DOES HE GET TO BE WITH HER?  IS THAT WHERE ALL THE OTHERS WENT?"
>She began to levitate.
"They ALL get to be in a good place?  What's wrong with this place?  It's good TOO!  YOU MADE IT! IT'S BETTER THAN GOOD!"
>She was taking this a lot harder than you had imagined.  "Astra, you need to calm down."  Her hair started to lift.
"WE have to last and last and stay the same, while they get -get OLD and TIRED.  And then they LEAVE and not even say good-bye!?"
>She shook her head and sobbed heavily.  The alicorn began to spark energy along her horn.
"It's not FAIR, It's not RIGHT!  EVERYTHING should last forever!"
>Her eyes began to glow.  The things in her room were being tossed around and being set ablaze.  The glass in the window turned red-hot before shattering completely.
"I CAN MAKE THINGS LAST.  I KNOW I CAN!"
>You tried to reach out for her, but her body kept pulsing energy that pushed you back.  It was all you could do to keep from  being thrown through the wall.  Eris's eyes were wide with shock and her mouth hung open.  She was pulled into the air.
"Hey, Hey!  HEY!"
>"There are some things you can't change!" You yell, "YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THAT!" The outline of her body began to warp and distort the air around her.  Afterimages of your daughter bounced all over the room.  Her voice echoed.
"I DONT WANT TO ACCEPT THAT!  It's HORRIBLE!"
>She turned towards the window and stared down the trees and mountains beyond it.
"I'll change what I can instead.  If I can't make them live forever, then I'll make everything ELSE last forever."
>All sound in the world dropped and there was only her voice which mounted in intensity.
"Everything."
>The room filled with lightning and there was a massive burst of air displacement that blew out the entire corner of your house.
>You tore the debris off of you.  Eris popped her head out from under the woodwork.  She snapped her finger and summoned a small raincloud to put out the fires.
>Astra floated in mid-air.  The side of her hip was smoking.
>A glowing infinity symbol on a blue field rested there.  Eris coughed the dust out of her throat.
"Holy crap, Astra!"
>She poked at her new symbol.
"Talk about a beauty mark."
>Eris looked at you.
"Do I get one of those?"
>You stare astounded.  Astra's eyes cleared, but they were irritated and red with tears.
>The line of pony nomads were in shocked silence.  You wave to let them know everything was fine.  It wasn't of course, but no need to get them upset.
"Father."
>"Astra."
"You said...you have a plan.  That's why you keep teaching us things, and...and...why you keep track of everything."
>You nodded.  "Yes.  Yes I do."
>She stood there, hyperventilating.  Her senses slowly came back to her and she looked at you with a focus she never had before.
"I want to know everything about it."