String Theory AU
My name is Professor Diane, my pen name of course I like separating my academic work from my personal life. I am the leading theoretical expert on “String theory”, and this is for a rather rare and unique reason which will be explained later.
What is String theory? String theory is the theory that the universe we call home is held together and guided by billions of strings made of magic. The ambient magic that exists all around us, the stuff that’s invisible and undetectable to most. Everyone and everything has strings of magic, you do, I do, our princesses do, the sun and moon do, it’s an inescapable constant and fact. Theoretically of course.
What do the strings do? Each one is color coded and does a different thing. White strings are the strings of life, guiding you from point A to B since birth and until your death, immortals like our dear princesses get golden strings of life since theirs are unbroken for the rest of time. Objects with no life source don’t have white or gold strings, like a statue.
Red strings are well known as the strings of fate, or the strings of romance. They guide you to your soul mate. Princess Cadence has said she can see this one, part of the job description I suppose.
Light blue strings connect blood relatives, not necessarily considered family but just related by blood. Dark blue is family and friends, those who you have close platonic and familial bonds with, blood relation doesn’t matter.
Green is daily actions you might take, the paths you might choose. Highly connected with the white and gold strings, although objects can have green strings due to interactions with living things and natural processes like wind or water flow. It shows branching paths and patterns, a timeline of sorts. Will you pick up your favorite cup today or choose another one to use? This line is ever changing and mailable.
Yellow strings show the past and the potential future. Will that mountain grow bigger or smaller with time? How tall will you grow? How big does your hometown become? What did these ruins used to look like? It’s hard to tell the difference between past and potential future, anything you may be able to gleam is vague and not entirely reliable. But it’s not supposed to be, because you’re not supposed to normally see it. So why would it be a reliable source of information?
A lot of strings interweave and wrap together like a large web, the world a large colorful canvas of magical threads. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to look at, sometimes you just want to stay inside because the webs are so sparkly and it’s starting to give you a headache. How would I know this? Good question, Funny question.
When I was a little filly I came into contact with a rather rare magical phenomenon, I won’t say which for privacy sake. But that magical phenomenon triggered something in me to be able to see the world in a way a pony just shouldn’t be able to see it. Seeing one or two strings like Princess Cadence can? Not unheard of, plausible, realistic even. Something strange but apparently not UNHEARD OF happened to me. I was able to see every single string. And it was beautiful, overwhelming.
I’m the current leading expert on string theory for a very good reason. Many don’t believe me, but many do also. I don’t care if you do or don’t. It doesn’t change that I see the world in this wire mesh mess of strings and things. So you may be asking, how is it not unheard of?
I have been in contact with Princess Celestia since my childhood due to my condition, apparently she knew someone a thousand years ago who claimed the same. To see everything. At the time she didn’t believe him, but then he mad. He tried doing impossible things to those strings. And he succeeded in some ways and failed in others. I am of course talking about Discord.
Discord could and still can see the strings. He thinks he doesn’t have strings, he thinks he’s severed his strings. He hasn’t. All he has done is tangled himself up so badly he looks like a knotted up ball of yarn in the middle of a field of beautifully crafted spider silk. He of course has gold strings of life being an immortal and all, took a while to find amongst the madness however.
It’s sad to see him like that, pitiful even. He considers the strings like puppet strings, something that controls instead of guides. Strings are more like a script that can be improvised. The strings are flexible, they bend and sway with you. They are a suggestion not a hard set rule. Discord is so set in his ways though that he cannot tell between a gentle nudge and a harsh push.
I theorize that he got some of his powers from manipulating the strings around him. You’d think he’d notice how flexible they are if he can do the things he does but he’s a stubborn old fart. Like turning a Pegasus into an earth pony, he just twisted the strings a little. Technically still a Pegasus you just can’t see their wings. If that Pegasus could see the strings themselves that trick wouldn’t have worked.
Can I manipulate strings? I don’t know I’ve never tried. It seems icky to me. I don’t want to mess with things like that you know? I don’t mind following strings around to see what I’ll find, and usually my strings mind you. I have gotten my friends permission to investigate their strings, my similarly academic friend seemed very interested in the idea and wants to join me sometime for research. It feels a little silly, it’s like I’m hunting for truffles or something and she’s giddy behind me.
But that’s beside the point. Let’s talk about string shaping. Strings will often take on specific shapes. You’ll see that most often with yellow strings, but it happens with others as well. Like life strings. Celestia and Luna have sun and moon shaped strings above their heads like halos. If somepony has the potential to become an Alicorn they’ll have sparkly strings in the shape of wings and/or a horn. I’ve already mentioned Discords mess. Those who have close relationships with immortals may have a string in the shape of that immortals domain type, like Shining Armor has a heart on his horn just like a wedding ring!
My strings I wish I could talk about more. But I can’t besides the ones that branch off. Anything attached is as good as invisible to me! They don’t appear in mirrors you see, and strangely don’t appear in Princess Luna’s dream realm. It could also be a thing where my more important strings are invisible to me even though I can see everything else. Maybe it doesn’t want me to see spoilers? My red string can’t be properly followed so that means it’s not time yet. It’s fun to follow the green and white ones though!
Sometimes I wonder if there’s this big magic spider weaving the universe together. Or perhaps some older person knitting it together an endless scarf. Or maybe those who pass on take turns knitting before coming back as someone new? It’s fun to theorize about isn’t it? If the strings are truly there and who creates them?