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Shard: The Dark King Returns

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Chapter 1: Prologue

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Author's Notes:

This is more exposition for a background for this world and the events tied to them. While it is relevant, it is not necessary to read in order to enjoy the rest of the story. As such, I hope that viewers shall read and enjoy it, but it is unnecessary.

"Alright," a deep booming voice called out. "That's enough. It's time to begin. Now, I'm sure that you are wondering why you are assembled here today?"

"Yes, sir," four voices called out.

"Well that part is simple enough," he continued. "The princess has asked me to explain to you a concept known as 'the multiverse.' Now this is a a rather complicated matter, but I will try to keep it as clear as I can."

A hoof went up in the air.

"Before you ask," the teacher said with a sigh, "I don't know why Princess Temporal wants you to know this. I only know that she asked me to teach it to you."

The hoof went down.

"Now, let's begin."

The lights in the room began to dim, sending the teacher and the four ponies sitting at a table into darkness. A bright white light shined from the back of the room, hitting a screen that was set in the front. With the click of a button, a tree appeared on the screen.

"Imagine this tree as reality." He pointed at the base and traced up along the length. "The trunk is what we will call The Alpha Universe. It is where the major events first occur, with outcomes affecting the future, or how the tree shall grow."

There was a click and the picture shifted to show the branches separating from the trunk and growing leaves.

"However," the teacher stated, "life does not go a single way. Everyday we make multiple decisions and have events beyond our control occur. The choices we make, and how seemingly random events play out, all affect our lives and lead on to future decisions and probabilities.

"Imagine if you made a different choice -- say, you decided to go to a different place for dinner than you actually did -- or that by luck or chance an event wound up going differently -- say in you dropped something, but managed to catch it instead of having it shatter on the floor."

He pointed at one of the joints where a branch separated from the trunk.

"That leads to the branches, which is where the theory of multiple dimensions come in."

There was a click as the slide changed. The new image showed three shapes. One was a silhouette of a pony. Below it on the left was a circle, and on the right was a square.

"Let's say -- hypothetically -- that the captain of the guard was to hire a single new recruit. Through the proper screening process, he is able to narrow it down to two choices. Unfortunately he is now stuck as the two are equally matched. Needing a way to decide, the captain decides to leave it up to probability and flips a bit."

The next slide had a check mark over the circle.

"By chance, the bit lands sun side up so the captain chooses the pony on the left. This means that she becomes the newest member of the guard, which means she will go on assignments, work around the castle, and possibly even meet a mare or stallion that she could have a relationship with."

The slide switch to one where the circle was crossed out and the check mark was over the square.

"According to the theory of the multiverse, however, there was an alternate reality created when the coin flipped. In the other reality, the coin landed sun side down, so the captain recruits the pony on the right. That means he would be the one to go on assignments, work at the castle and meet a potential love interest.

"That seems like a minor difference of course," he shifted to a slide of just the circle, "but consider the first pony once again. Now that she has not become a guard, a whole new list of possibilities begin to expand before her. What will she do instead? Who shall she meet? Will she fall in love, and if so, with whom?"

A hoof came up.

"Yes?"

"So you're saying that there might a world where I don't work here?"

"Correct," the teacher said. "There may also be a world where you rule, or another where there isn't even a Canterlot to begin with."

"Wow."

"Yes. Now."

A picture of a tree came up again. This time it had a branch broken off and lying on the ground.

"Returning to the tree mentioned earlier," he continued. "While many of these choices spread off to create their own realities with their own eventual off shoots, sometimes, something goes wrong. Much like how this branch has broken off from the tree, sometimes a possible dimension will not be able to survive on its own.

"Now, does anypony know what 'grafting' is?"

A different hoof raised up.

"It's when they attach a branch from one tree to another, isn't it?"

"Correct," the teacher said with a note of pride. "Now this is a point where the metaphor breaks down a little."

He switched to a picture of a branch that was broken in five nearly equal pieces with double-sided arrows pointing between them.

"Instead of a single universe, imagine that there are -- for the sake of this demonstration -- five. Each one, for one reason or another was unable to survive on its own. However, if the 'healthy' portions from each of these five universes -- five separate branches -- were to be grafted together before being re-attached to the main universe -- the trunk as it were -- then it's possible that they would essentially heal, creating a new reality that would be stable and able to exist."

A hoof went up again.

"What would this... healed universe?...look like?"

"It's hard to say," the teacher said. "First, it would depend on what the five fragmented universes were like before they were combined. After all, features from each of the pre-existing realities would still remain behind in whatever new reality was created. Second, the only way to tell it was such a universe would be from an outside point of view. After all, the creatures that exist in the... Shard Universe I guess, would see their reality as perfectly normal. In point of fact, any sentient creature in any reality that knew of the multiverse would more than likely believe that their universe it the primary 'trunk.'"

The room was silent.

"Any more questions?" the teacher asked.

There was no response.

"Very well then. Dismissed."

The lights came back up and the four students got up from their seats.

"That was... uhm.... interesting."

"Indeed. I wonder why Princess Temporal wanted us to hear all about that. To say nothing about them."

"What do you want to do now."

"All this talk about trees makes me want to go to the garden."

"Can we play hide and seek?"

"'I don't mind. What about you two?"

"It's fine with me. What about you?"

"Your it."

"Oh. Okay. Uhm... Wait, we aren't play- no running in the halls! You especially are supposed to know better."

The other three ponies ran off, giggling loudly.

Next Chapter: At the Castle Doors Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes
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