In ancient times, when the first pony began telling stories, an unseen presence was born.
It had no physical form, yet existed within every legend.
It had no name, but Star Swirl the Bearded called it the “Story Weaver.”
The Story Weaver could subtly alter the “possibilities” of events, making coincidences seem inevitable.
For example, a lost pony might happen to stumble upon a hidden treasure.
In its possession was a book called the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence.
It recorded everything that had happened, everything happening now, and everything that would happen in the world.
The Story Weaver also possessed a pen called the World-Drawing Pen.
It held the power to create anything and rewrite the “predetermined endings” recorded within the book.
Legend says that the King of Chaos once wanted to add some “interesting” illustrations to the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence.
The Story Weaver merely smiled and used the pen to play a little trick on the King of Chaos.
Star Swirl’s additional note read:
“The two of them together are like dipping cotton candy in hot sauce. Completely unexpected, yet somehow it works.”
One day, the Story Weaver grew bored.
Even though its “friend,” the King of Chaos, was always coming up with ways to entertain them, the Story Weaver began wondering why everything in the world always followed the path written in the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence.
Why had there never been a true “accident”?
“Why must everything happen exactly as planned?”
“Why has even an ‘accident’ become inevitable?”
The King of Chaos was hanging upside down beside them.
He was chewing on a chocolate pipe, despite having absolutely no need to smoke.
He grinned.
“Ooooh~ So you’re finally bored?”
“How about we try some real ‘chaos’?”
The Story Weaver hesitated.
Then they picked up the World-Drawing Pen.
They quietly added a single sentence beside the fate of a certain pony.
“Today, he will find a star he has never seen before.”
The result?
That “star” was actually the King of Chaos in disguise.
The moment it landed, it exploded into a mountain of dancing cotton candy.
“Hahaha!”
The King of Chaos grinned from ear to ear.
“Well? Is that written in the book?”
The Story Weaver said nothing.
They simply opened the book.
The words on the page suddenly began moving, rearranging themselves into the shape of the King of Chaos’s head.
The King of Chaos stared at the page.
“Can your stupid book predict that I’m going to steal your pen?”
The Story Weaver calmly replied,
“Page five hundred and twenty says, ‘At this moment, Chaos will pretend to steal the pen, but in truth, he will steal the reader’s attention.'”
The King of Chaos fell silent.
“…Fine. You got me.”
He then ran across the page and secretly drew a silly face in the corner of the book.
The Story Weaver smiled.
To them, true chaos was not about destruction.
It was about reminding the world that it could have been shaped in countless different ways.
Yet even this original chaos had been recorded in the book.
If Chaos itself was destined to perform chaotic acts, was that not simply another form of order?
The Story Weaver continued searching for the “unexpected.”
They constantly tried to create new possibilities.
They did not directly rewrite the contents of the book.
Instead, they subtly encouraged the ponies within its pages to stray from their predetermined paths.
But it was impossible.
No matter what they tried, the future of everypony and everything was still known in advance by the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence.
The Story Weaver became increasingly puzzled.
Even when they handed the book and pen over to the King of Chaos and let him scribble all over them, nothing changed.
They stood above the story.
They were the Story God.
Yet more than anything else, they wanted to give the characters within their story a chance to control their own destinies.
So they made a decision.
They would seal away the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence.
They would seal away the World-Drawing Pen.
And they would seal away themselves.
The story had to begin with no one knowing how it would end.
As the Story God sealed away their own existence, their consciousness gradually became blurred.
But at the very edge of their fading awareness, they sensed something strange.
The anomaly was not coming from the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence or the World-Drawing Pen.
It was coming from the world itself.
The world that had always moved according to a predetermined pattern had suddenly begun to produce fluctuations that could not be predicted.
The ponies they had once guided were now free from the restraints of predetermined destiny.
They began making choices that made no sense according to the original story.
Some ponies abandoned peaceful lives and set out on unknown adventures.
Others changed the fate of their entire communities through their own efforts.
The King of Chaos watched everything unfold from the side.
His mouth hung open in amazement.
“Hey, look at this!”
“Now this is real chaos!”
“Now this is a real surprise!”
He cheered excitedly.
Within the seal, the Story God felt something they had never experienced before.
Joy.
They finally understood.
Even after being sealed away, the world could still flourish without a predetermined path.
It could create possibilities of its own.
Perhaps…
That was the “unexpected” they had been searching for all along.
Star Swirl wrote one final note:
“…I knew those two would cause trouble the moment they got together.”
“But perhaps the occasional ‘unexpected turn’ is exactly what makes a story beautiful.”
…
Back in the present, Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Glow looked at each other.
Both of them had disbelief shining in their eyes.
“So…”
Dusk Glow tilted his head.
“Are you saying every coincidence in this world is something written in a god’s book?”
Twilight took a deep breath, trying to process the unbelievable information.
“If that’s true, then…”
“Was our entire lives already planned out?”
There was a hint of uneasiness in her voice.
Spike looked up from his pile of gems.
He was holding half a turquoise in one claw.
“Whoa.”
“So does that mean the time I sneezed fire and accidentally burned Twilight’s homework…”
His eyes widened.
“That was planned too?!”
Was destiny setting me up?!
Dusk Glow gently patted Twilight’s shoulder.
“But the Story God sealed themselves away along with the book.”
“The world is full of unexpected events now.”
“Maybe our destinies really are in our own hooves.”
“And besides, this is only a legend.”
“Whether any of it is true is still up for debate.”
“But this was written by Star Swirl the Bearded.”
Twilight frowned.
“Star Swirl was incredibly knowledgeable. Some of what he recorded might actually be true.”
“And Princess Celestia specifically gave me this book.”
“There must be something she wants me to understand from it.”
Honestly, Twilight was partly hoping the story was true.
The idea of the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence fascinated her enormously.
As a magical scholar, Twilight had always held knowledge in the highest regard.
If a book really existed that recorded everything, then it must contain an unimaginable amount of knowledge.
But at the same time, she did not want it to be real.
If everything in the world had already been written down in advance, then what meaning would anypony’s choices have?
The thought left Twilight looking troubled.
“All right, Professor.”
Dusk Glow gently closed the ancient book for her.
He grinned.
“No matter how many legends were passed down from the past, and no matter how many prophecies may exist about the future…”
“Right now is the moment when we get to choose what we do.”
Twilight looked at Dusk Glow.
His words seemed to reach her.
The uncertainty in her eyes gradually disappeared, replaced by determination.
“You’re right.”
“Rather than worrying about whether our destinies were predetermined, we should focus on what we can do now.”
She carefully put the ancient book away.
Then she and Dusk Glow returned to their studies.
For Dusk Glow, improving his own abilities as quickly as possible was the most important thing.
Once Nightmare Moon returned to Equestria, he might be one of the first ponies she sought out.
He had promised Princess Celestia that he would help Nightmare Moon find her way back to who she truly was.
He had no intention of breaking that promise.
As for the Story God, the Book of Omniscience and Omnipotence, and everything else…
They were legends.
There was no way to investigate whether any of it was real.
Surely not every legend in Equestria could possibly be true.
The moon slowly climbed into the night sky.
The challenges awaiting them were drawing closer.