A Matter of Time
By Dana Quell

     The circle goes around, and around.  It has no
beginning, no middle, and no end.  Some of the Old Ones had
tried to put their fingers on the beginnings of time, but
they failed to realize that time was not linear.  Time was
the circle.
     In posession of the knowledge of the universe, Unicorn
understood this.  She knew that Dragon knew this as well, and
that they both knew, deep down in their hearts, that one day,
when time was back at the top of its cycle, they would meet
again, horn to horns.
     Unicorn shook her thoughts out of her head.  She had
time enough yet, for it had not begun to pass.  There was no
light, either, and nothing of great import could take place
without light.  Therefore, Unicorn began waiting.
     She began to grow restless, and so decided to begin
creating.  But then she rememered, nothing could be done in
the dark.  SO she lowered her alicorn and began concentrating
on light.
     "Let there be light," she whispered in the fashion of a
faction of the Old Ones.  And there was.  Brilliant pinpricks
of light shone from all over the universe, as far as Unicorn
could see, both with her mind's eye and her regular eyes.  To
her right, a star was close, very close.  Unicorn judged it
to be about eight unpassing minutes travelling at what the
Old Ones called light speed.  She named the star, "New Sol",
and decided the spot she was in was the perfect spot for
rebuilding civilization.
     And so she lowered her alicorn once again, and
concentrated.  There popped an orb, a green and blue marble.
In it, she created gorgeous paradises, and animals to enjoy
it.  Then, she recreated the Old Ones.
     Unicorn stepped back to admire her handiwork.  It was
exactly like the Old Ones' former planet, down to the last
grain of sand on the beach.  She had even recreated every
single Old One, and put them in their proper places.  And
thus, New Terra Firma was formed.
     Turning, Unicorn realized that the New Ones should not
be left alone in the universe.  Once they realized that there
were others similiar to them, they would have hope, and peace
would reside over the universe again.  And so she created
many other worlds, with many other beings.  THese other
beings resembled the New Ones, but she made them each
slightly different.
     Now the last detail was ready to be put into place.
Unicorn simply bowed to the universe, and time began to pass.
Had she not known she was immortal, the sensation of time
beginning to pass would have been enough to convince her she
was dying.  Instead, it just brought her to her knees with
pain.
     The animals below began moving, and the New Ones began
living.  Unicorn smiled slightly, then nodded to the
universe.  Her work was, for now, done.  Once the New Ones
had had time to evolve, she would reveal herself, but until
then, she'd build herself a nice, out of the way planet, one
far away from New Sol, but close enough for her to observe
the New Ones.  That would be the tricky part.

     Dragon watched all Unicorn's creating with dispassion
from his small blackhole at the edge of the universe.  He
knew as well as she did that his exile was only momentary.
Now that she had started time and allowed it to pass, his own
time would come.  He already felt more powerful...
     It was just a matter of time.