War of the Wise and Ripped Fabric

The First Rip

Chapter 1

There was a great deal of banging and commotion in the Great Halls now. Screams of the servants and the clashing of blades from the dead and the Royal Guard's creating a sick, never ending chorus of horror. The Great Castle was falling and bringing with it the power of the princesses. The land was in total chaos now and there was nothing stopping it.

"Aye, Star! Hurry it up! They're going to come through here any minute now unless we make haste!" Starswirl's personal guard said while constantly checking the door and the windows. His brown mane was covered in dust and blood and he was on the edge of sanity. He jumped as the screams of a nearby nurse pierced the air. They were close.

"Time is all we have, my friend. Don't you worry about that." Star said with more fear than certainty. He had to admit that he was getting uneasy around here and he needed to make another leap through time as soon as he could but not before gathering a few things. He finished his letter, signed it and stuffed it in his old satchel.

"Alright, let's be done with this place!" He shouted over the sounds of nearby magic discharges and rushing air.

"Are you absolutely sure you have everything you need? Once we leave, there's no way we're coming back. Well alive at least." His guard said while constantly shifting gazes between Starswirl and the door. He wasn't trying to stick around.

"Relax, take a deep breath and focus for a minute, will you? I can't work if we have no stone or portal and there's no telling myself in the past what's to come if I'm dead!" Star said loudly. A loud rumble went through the castle and the floor shook violently, sending Star into his desk and his Royal guard on his face. The guard quickly jumped back up and unsheathed his blade. "I swear I've had enough of this damned conflict!" He said under his breath while brushing dust off of his face.

Star recollected himself and checked his satchel to make sure nothing was damaged. "We have to move now!" Star said while urging his guard forward. They took a few quick breathes and stepped out into the hall. On looks alone traversing the grand hallways would have been impossible with the size of the castle and all the twists and turns. Everything looked the same with very minor differences but he's lived here for years now. They quickly covered distance, avoiding halls that seemed suspicious and staying away from the many half eaten corpses. He's seen the castles birth and destruction many times. Too many times.

They quickly rounded another corner and saw the great red double doors of the Royal Chambers "There! We have to move!" His guard stated as they rushed down the wide corridor. They both stopped when they heard noises of to their side.

To their left down one of the hallways, another guard was in a battle between two dead ponies. One was so bloody and mangled it was beyond recognition. The other he could see was a young servant pony. Easily 16 or so. The guard didn't hold back as he unsheathed his short sword and cut the servant down with a quick slash of the blade. The mangled one came from his side and tackled him, sending them both tumbling over. The creature ended up on top and the guard struggled on his back to get the creature off but he left his neck exposed. The creature let out a terrible screech of anger and quickly began stabbing violently at his neck with a piece of broken glass. There was a small spray of blood and the struggle was over in an instant as the guard lay dead and the creature let out another screech. But the thing was far from done.

Star looked on in horror as the corpse starting violently gorging away at the neck of the guard, tearing flesh from bone. "I'll be damned..." Star said grimly to himself while charging his horn. He was stopped by a quick tug at his satchel and the aura around his horn dissipated. He turned quickly to see his guard and frowned.

His guard quickly returned the gesture. "We don't have time! Too many have died already and we can't afford to risk anything!" He shouted while urging him along. They wasted no time, shouldering through the Royal Chamber doors and quickly turned around to bar them from anything that might have been tailing them. Feeling secure they turned around and saw in horror the sight ahead of them. His guard vomited.

There was about a dozen or so undead ponies in the center of the room tearing away at the flesh of one of the Elites Guard. The creatures were screaming in joy as they were covered in the blood of royalty. Upon closer inspection Star noticed it was Sage, the princesses personal escort and guard.

"God's be damned.. It's happening again!" Star said to himself while looking around the room. He kept searching for the stone until he saw it on the queens bed. There was no way they could quietly move around a group this large with all the movement they were making. Just then a thought suddenly struck him.

"Where are the princesses?" He whispered. "Damned if I know!" His guard shot back. Star started hacking and coughing heavily. His age and the time spell was starting to catch up to him. The dead never took notice of them. He recollected himself and took a deep breath. The guard shook his head. "They left for Canterlot shortly before this whole thing happened so I'll assume that's where they're staying. Bet they're lollygaggin' about sipping tea.. Damn it! They probably don't even know what's happening here!" He spit off to his side. "Yeah, we'll let just the Everfree be consumed." He said in a mocking manner and glanced at the feasting dead. He shook his head. "Damn those two!" He finished angrily.

Starswirl sighed. Turning the guard into a visual replica of the Princess wouldn't work unless he had her within range and sight. He doubted the pony would allow him to do it anyway. The dead may be stupid but they know who their target is. There had to be another way. "I need to get the stone." Starswirl mumbled to himself. He kept staring at the mound of undead feasting in a heap of the corpse of the once famous Elite pony. He sighed and slowly started walking to the feast.

"You're mad! What do you plan to do?" His guard quickly grabbed for his satchel again but Star quickly tugged it away. He stopped to face his guard "We don't have a choice here. I won't be stopped by the dead. My goal is too important to just sit around and stall.. You see what happened to Sage? We're here because unlike him, we have magic my friend." Star finished boldly.

The guard let out a nervous laugh. "Of course you do. Not everyone is a master of the Arts." The guard said as Starswirls horn started charging. The guard looked at him one last time and scoffed. "You can't be serious!" Star kept advancing slowly, but surely. He was getting close now. "They'll tear you to pieces!" He said while watching as the Great Starswirl lowered his head and kept moving forward.

The glow on his horn intensified as he got closer. Star grinned. "Right where I want you." The dead noticed him and they all started screaming. A large gray and blue pony covered in blood and missing half his face got up and began charging from across the room. The guard started panicking "Don't be a damn fo-" The guard's words were cut off as a loud boom rang out through the chambers and everything went white. There was a violent tremor in the ground. He lost his footing and almost fell as the floor began cracking beneath him. He looked up and quickly leaped off to the side just as the ceiling caved in on itself. It crashed into the floor and shook the whole room. He stopped and took a look at the large hole not two feet away from him. He closed his eyes and started taking deep breaths. Star was already on the other end of the room, a fragment of The Shiv in his hooves. The guts, limbs and blood of the dead ponies were flayed all over the room in the chaos.

The guard finished taking his breathes and stood up. He slowly began moving over to where his sword was sticking out of the wall a few feet away. He didn't remember losing his grip on it. "You could have destroyed the whole castle! Are you mad!?"

Starswirl didn't respond but kept looking at the smooth stone in his hands. It was engraved with strange markings. "I hope you didn't forget that we're at the top of the damn castle!!" his guard said while tugging at the grip of his short sword. It finally came loose. He slid a hoof along the edge of it and frowned. "You bent my blade!" He said while waving it in the air for Starswirl to see. Starswirl ignored him.

Star turned around and held up his head proudly "I bested them in the art of magic!" He announced proudly as if there was an audience. The guard slowly shook his head. "You are truly mad." Starswirl chuckled to himself while stuffing the stone in his satchel. "We're not in the clear yet." Star said while taking a moment to flop on the royal bed and think. "Yeah I can only imagine why not." The guard said, There was another tremor through out the building. The fighting hadn't stopped yet and it wouldn't until every Royal Guard was either dead or turned.

"I'm going to need two more stones." Star said. He sighed. "Only problem is one's destroyed and the other is in the Shiv's control." His guard started laughing manically. "You're not serious." Star looked straight at him and the look on his face told him everything. The guard scoffed "You can't keep going through time trying to save Equestria if you keep doing that damn spell." His guard said while slowly walking across the massive chambers to the bed. "You'll die or be damn near dead if you do it again." Starswirl still wasn't buying it. "Not to be rude, but you're too old" He said as seriously as he could.

"I've got to try damn it!" Star shouted in frustration as he was thinking of all the possible ways that things would end if he used this spell again. He nearly lost his soul in his last attempt. Powerful or not, the spell isn't meant for mortal use. His guard stopped in the center of the room where the most gore was and looked around. He shook his head and then looked back up to Star. "I think it's madness, but if it's the only way, so be it."

Star laughed to himself and looked at the room around him. "You think everything is madness. I must be the most powerful pony in Equestria. I'll be damned if I die to a spell. Especially one that I made." He finished seriously.

"You can't keep telling yourself that Star! You'll be dead unless you know where you're going! The jump can't be too far in time or else you'll end up like.. That other fellow. I forget his name" The guard said while pawing at the ground.

"Then I won't jump very far." Starswirl said simply. He had an idea. He took back out the note he wrote to himself and checked it over. "This will work." He said to himself. He charged up a spell the paper burst into flames. He floated a scroll, a small piece of broken wood and an inkwell off of a nearby desk. "I won't go too far back." He mumbled to himself while dipping the wooden shard in the ink. "Just far enough." He finished writing on his scroll and signed it. "He'll have to take this seriously."

His guard was confused. "What are you going to do now?" He asked. Starswirl looked back at the guard. "Well.. To be honest I initially thought that I could just go back 1000 or so years and stop the cultists who birthed this demon.. But that's out of the question. In doing so, I would rip down the very foundation of time we have now, and the spell would probably just kill me before I can even do so." He said while looking out over the land in a nearby destroyed window. "The Great Death happened for a reason but nopony remembers it." He said with a sigh.

"So how far are you going to go back?" The guard questioned. They stared at each other for a good three seconds before a loud banging noise went through the door. The guard spun around, sword at the ready. Starswirl jumped out of the bed and threw up a quick shield on the door. They were wasting time.

The guard turned around and they locked eyes for a few moments. "I have an idea. The scroll I've written will help me learn the spells I would need to keep the spell. That's a last resort if my body doesn't make it." Starswirl said finally. "I have to go to my prime." He finished.

The guard screwed up his face and eyed him curiously. "You're what? You can't be serious! It took you ages to learn what you did! If you try leaking your spells into your mind at such an age, you'll surely kill yourself." The guard said. Starswirl kept looking at him and then suddenly started laughing. Another thud went up against the door. The shield would give them a few more minutes at most. Whatever was on the other end had to be big.

"You really think that an influx of knowledge is what's going to kill me? In my strongest days? I say sir, you're the mad one." Star finally said. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm sure I'll understand everything. Besides, I was one of the most gifted unicorns of my time!" Starswirl said. There was more thud's against the shield as whatever on the other end was starting to get angry.

His guard was starting to lose it. "Fine! Just do the damn spell and be done with it! I refuse to be turned into one of those creatures." He said stubbornly. Starswirl just shrugged and began charging his horn. This was a one way trip and he hoped he would make it to the other end. He wouldn't have much energy after he rips through the current existing time. He would have to touch horns with his younger self and transfer his memories, knowledge of magic and erase his own memories before he would get sucked back into the portal. After that, he would fade into nothing.. Hopefully.

He started getting that tingly feeling from his tail to his horn as if someone was tickling him. It wouldn't be much longer now until he had to release his grip on the time spell. The door was hit hard and this time the shield that covered it completely shattered. The screams of the dead could be heard beyond it. "You better hurry up and get going. I wish you luck sir! Don't let my death be for nothing!" Was all his guard said while keeping his eyes locked on the large double doors. A heavy bash sent the doors inching forward. There wasn't any time left. His guard got in stance.

"Thank you for everything." Starswirl said. Everything was slowly turning white in his eyes. Another hit and the doors still held but barely. Sounds were beginning to muffle and he felt the castle start trembling on itself. Not much longer now. "Let my blade feast..." Was all Starswirl could make out from the guards muffled shouts at the dead behind the door. Everything began to slow down and the light slowly came. Starswirl kept his eyes on the last moments as the doors burst open, ripping off their hinges in a slow  explosion of dust and rocks.

He released the spell and felt his body weight shift, slowly from one end of his tail to his head. He barely saw the guard run into the opening of the room and cutting down as many dead ponies as he could in slow motion before everything began to fully whiten out. The guard was in the center of dead army now and Star barely got a glimpse at the beast that had rammed the door open. It was nothing more than big mass of flesh. He could barely make it out as he closed his eyes to shield them from the light. 'So they're changing..'. Was all he could think as time completely stopped. He channeled as much of his remaining magic as he could into a second time spell to stack the previous effect.

The fatigue was on his body now and soon his soul would be separated from his body and there would nothing but the feeling of constant suspension and that sinking feeling in his gut. There was nothing but white and gray moving lines around him. He was in another realm now and all he could do was hope that he stopped the spell precisely when he needed to. He didn't move and didn't try to. He was the only pony in existence that was mortal to cast this spell and survive. This was his third time. He closed his eyes. The long wait has begun.

This was going to be his last stop.